Walton continuing to evaluate sinkhole problem

After multiple sinkholes opened up on Osage Road, the Walton Township has been doing what it can to find out how to move forward with fixing the problem. Mike Spangler, the Walton Township trustee, said he’s working with a Wichita contractor to find out how deep the sinkhole is. Spangler said they completed a core drill a couple weeks ago that drilled down 30 feet into the Earth to complete a check of the ground structure underneath the sinkhole. He is still waiting on the results of the core drilling. Kelsea Abney, the township clerk, is also working on the issue. Abney reached out to the University of Kansas’s geological survey. “They specialize in everything geological,” Abney said. Abney got in touch with Rick Miller, who is a sinkhole expert with 40 years of experience dealing with them. Abney said she’s waiting to hear what the next steps will be but was told they needed to know how much solid soil is under the road. Walton initially came to Harvey County for help with the sinkhole at the end of May, saying they weren’t sure how to deal with it. At the time, they were just dealing with one. Since then, another sinkhole appeared on the other side of the road. The sinkholes are on Osage Road, which is the road between Harvey and Marion counties, making it the township’s responsibility to manage. According to past reporting from Harvey County Now, the road was closed temporarily at the beginning of June. It has stayed closed ever since. Spangler last visited the sinkhole a couple weeks ago. “It’s still growing,” Spangler said.
Source: Harvey County Now

info2024-08-28T10:10:39-05:00August 28, 2024|News|

Lengthy Walton boil advisory from lack of kits

Boil advisories generally last no more than a couple days at most, but delays in testing kits extended the advisory in Walton to a week. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment issued a boil advisory on Wednesday, Aug. 14, but it wasn’t lifted until the following Wednesday, Aug. 21. Walton City Clerk Stephanie Ashby said the delay was caused by a lack of available testing kits. Ashby said they hadn’t dealt with a boil advisory in so long that the test the city had on hand was expired. The city had the kits overnighted on Thursday but didn’t receive them until late Friday, meaning they had to wait over the weekend to turn the kits in. The city tested four different sites across town. On Monday, Ashby drove the tests to the testing center in Topeka. On Tuesday, the city got the results back and found that one of the four tests had shown up with coliform bacteria. Ashby said it was the tap they used for testing that was the issue. “That was the fault of the faucet that had a dirty tap,” Ashby said. “It shows something in the water.” The next day the city found a testing site in Wichita and sent the second round of tests there. Ashby said it was more expensive, but the city was able to rush one-day tests that way. Those results came back clear, and the department of health and environment lifted the advisory. The waterline the city was repairing during the incident was fixed by Thursday, Aug. 15. “It wasn’t a major leak,” Ashby said. She thanked the EMS in the county for helping spread the word about the advisory. Ashby said she’d been going to every house individually to give notices, but the EMS was able to put out a phone notification. Ashby said the reason for the advisory was a standard caution. While city employees worked to repair a water main break, the water pressure decreased at the distribution center. This lack of pressure can lead to bacterial contamination in the water. “When we don’t have pressure, we can’t guarantee safety,” Ashby said. “It’s not necessarily a bad thing, just a precaution.”
Source: Harvey County Now

info2024-08-28T10:08:27-05:00August 28, 2024|News|

Pickleball Court Comes To Uniontown

Pickleball has come to Uniontown, with equipment provided by community members and a court provided by a grant. Pickleball resembles tennis in which players use paddles to hit a perforated plastic ball over a net, according to Oxford Languages Dictionary A grant provided the concrete court to play the sport on. Recently, the court had been marked for pickleball play. Last Thursday, pickleball equipment was made available in a storage container located under the community bulletin board at Uniontown’s City Hall on the east side of the town’s square. “There is no charge to use the equipment and we ask that you put it back, or the community loses it,” City Clerk Sally Johnson said. “Return it and take care, so everyone can use it.” “All the equipment has been donated,” Johnson said. “The bin, which houses the equipment was donated by Amber Kelley; the net, paddles and ball were donated by the Frank Johnson family; and the benches around the pickleball court was supplied by Skeet George.” A grand opening/ribbon cutting is scheduled during the Old Settler’s Picnic at 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, September 1 at the pickleball court, located west of the new public restrooms in Uniontown. The grand opening falls between two family activities that day at the town square, bingo is slated for 2 p.m. at the southeast shelter house, and then the Family Fun Night starts at 6 p.m. at the gazebo, Johnson said. “They will incorporate the ribbon cutting in the family fun time,” she said. “The public is invited to all the events.”
Source: Fort Scott Biz

info2024-08-28T10:05:53-05:00August 28, 2024|News|

Newton BOE contracts for future planning

A company will soon begin work drafting an overarching plan for the future of the Newton School District and its facilities. The Newton Board of Education approved spending $93,500 at its Aug. 26 meeting to contract with RSP and Associates of Overland Park for the work. “There’s boundary analysis, enrollment analyses and they look at utilization of the facilities,” Superintendent Fred Van Ranken stated. “It’s a facility master plan, essentially.” The group will provide data and analyses to predict enrollment and help the Board of Education evaluate future needs, according to its presentation. The data could be used in redrawing building boundaries as enrollment and demographics change. It could also be used for other future planning. Van Ranken said the information could show if the district needs a future bond issue and also direct it toward the right questions to ask moving forward.
Source: Harvey County Now

info2024-08-28T10:03:41-05:00August 28, 2024|News|

Bus drivers needed in Hesston as routes cut

It’s a skeleton crew when it comes down to the USD 460 bus driver situation, and the problem doesn’t just exist in Hesston, but rather across the state. With very few bus drivers, the USD 460 transportation crew is stretched to the thinnest of levels. This lack of drivers forced the district to eliminate the in-town school bus routes. “A few parent emails had some concern,” Superintendent Kevin Logan said. “It’s a change and there’s not an easy solution for us, unless we can find a driver. There is a lot of emotion because it’s a change.” One driver would fill in routes much like USD 460 had a year ago, but it’s not a full solution. This problem is plaguing districts. A driver has to have a CDL with passenger endorsement and districts, including Hesston, would actively take applications. For more information along with the list of requirements, interested parties can contact the transportation department of USD 460. “Right now we should be good on activity drivers,” Logan said. Ideally, Logan said two to three drivers could split the morning and afternoon routes, too. “We can share routes, as long as people are licensed and willing to learn and to be good to kids and have their best interests at heart,” Logan said. Logan was going to be part of a Zoom meeting with Safe Routes to Schools to see if routes for children were ideally safe for children walking to school or if Safe Routes could give options for walkers and bike riders but a time had not be finalized. He was looking forward to learning more about the rubrics of the safest routes to school.
Source: Harvey County Now

info2024-08-28T10:00:06-05:00August 28, 2024|News|

Lenexa commission deals big blow to Johnson County homeless shelter plan. What happens now?

A plan to convert a Lenexa hotel into Johnson County’s first permanent, year-round homeless shelter will head to a City Council vote next month — without the support of city staff and planning commissioners. On Monday night, the Lenexa Planning Commission voted 9-0 to deny a request for a special use permit to operate a homeless shelter at the La Quinta Inn and Suites hotel off of Interstate 35 and 95th Street after a public hearing when more than 70 members of the public spoke. It’s a significant blow, though not necessarily fatal, to the county’s plan to address a growing need in Kansas’ most affluent and populous county. City Council will make the final call. The decision came after city staff recommended denying the permit, writing in a 540-page dossier that the proposed shelter was “inconsistent with the character of the neighborhood” and would draw “negative external impacts” to nearby homes and businesses. Staff also said it anticipated needing increased law enforcement to oversee the proposed shelter, which they said the city doesn’t have money for. And they wrote that the shelter was too close to Johnson County’s temporary winter shelter.
Source: Joco 913 News

info2024-08-28T09:58:30-05:00August 28, 2024|News|

Wichita school board approves $450 million plan to rebuild some schools, close others

The Wichita School Board has unanimously approved a plan to significantly reshape the state’s largest school district — a plan filled with school closings, consolidations and new “right-sized” buildings as the district braces for shrinking future enrollment. School district officials also laid out the stakes of a $450 million bond issue that would be needed to pay for the plan. The specifics of the bond issue are expected to be discussed and voted on by the board on Sept. 9. A bond issue would require approval from voters during a special election. Superintendent Kelly Bielefeld said the “newer and fewer” plan is necessary because the district has $1.2 billion in future deferred maintenance needs that it can’t afford and declining enrollment. The school district already closed two middle schools — Hadley and Jardine — and four elementary schools — Clark, Cleveland, Park and Payne — earlier this year. The plan approved Monday calls for closing L’Ouverture, OK, Pleasant Valley and Woodland elementary schools and converting Isely and Cessna elementary schools to K-8 schools. Adams, Black, Caldwell, Irving and McLean elementary schools and Truesdell middle school would be demolished and rebuilt. The district would also build a new Coleman Middle School while the old school would be renovated and repurposed for relocated Chester Lewis, Gateway, and EI Academy schools. Little Early Childhood Center, Sowers and Dunbar would also be relocated. Sowers would relocate to Wells, placing the two alternative schools on one site. The plan also calls for building a new Future Ready Center at East High School for construction trades such as plumbing and HVAC. “More closures are inevitable,” Luke Newman, director of facilities for the district, said. “This plan positions us for more sustained future-ready success by providing new and innovative spaces for our kids to learn, and it’s an investment in the future of our city, communities and kids.” Newman also said the district is working to offload some of its closed schools, including Jardine, for other community needs. It has approved selling Park Elementary School to the city of Wichita for $1. That will be the site of the future homeless shelter and service building called the Multi-Agency Center. “We’re in really early discussions with the city and some community groups down there that have some pretty strong interest in the Jardine building. And that was something that, as we got into this plan, that was really important, that something meaningful happened with that building, with that land, you know, particularly in that community and what’s done to serve them.” Newman also said the district is in discussions with the city of Wichita about possibly swapping Columbine Park – and possibly other city parks – in north Wichita for the closed south Wichita middle school. “My preliminary discussions with a city representative has been potentially a sale. We’re also looking at trading some parkland. McLean is one where we’re actually, they’re appraising the parkland adjacent to McLean, and we’re appraising Jardine, and we’re going to look at numbers and see what makes sense. And then there might be some other parkland that makes sense to swap to make it an even trade.”
Source: Local News | Wichita Eagle

info2024-08-28T09:52:26-05:00August 28, 2024|News|

Inclusive playground opens at Newton elementary school

Slate Creek Elementary in Newton officially opened its inclusive playground, designed for all students to play together. The kids started the project by raising $20,000 in the spring of 2021. “It’s absolutely wonderful to hear the screaming and the laughter to see them all playing together. It just brings my heart so much joy. I’m so proud that the students noticed this was an issue, and this is where we ended. It’s amazing,” Lenae Alfaro, Slate Creek Elementary principal, said. The principal says the original goal was just to have a swing, but the idea grew, and the entire playground cost over $450,000.
Source: KSN-TV

info2024-08-28T09:49:27-05:00August 28, 2024|News|

K-9 helps find lost hearing aids after man thrown from horse

A sheriff’s K-9 helped recover the lost hearing aids of a man thrown from a horse. The Geary County Sheriff’s Office says over the weekend, deputies responded to a report of a man being thrown from a horse in a pasture out in the county. As the man was being assessed at the scene for injuries, deputies learned that he had lost both of his hearing aids after being thrown.
Deputy James Regaldo and his K-9 partner Klesto began searching the pasture. Klesto found both hearing aids 10 feet apart, and they were returned to the injured man.
Source: KSN-TV

info2024-08-28T09:47:41-05:00August 28, 2024|News|

Wichita mayor: Paid parking plan target date on pause for now

Wichita’s mayor says the implementation date of Jan. 1 for paid parking in downtown, Old Town, and Delano has been paused. City council members, business owners, and community members met at a town hall on Monday to discuss their expectations for the policy. The town hall conversation was somewhat heated. Nortons Brewing Company organizers tell KSN that their goal with this meeting was to facilitate a more solution-minded discussion. “What we’ve done is put a complete pause. And getting feedback,” said Wichita Mayor Lily Wu. People and business owners are still not happy with the proposed switch to paid parking, which led to Monday’s discussion. “I think that we need parking for our customers to come and eat with us,” said Natasha Gandhi-Rue, chef and co-owner of The Kitchen. “If we don’t have places for them to park, to come to our locations, that is going to be a huge hindrance.” “We want to find some solutions that don’t put the burden on the people that patronize these businesses downtown or are employed by these businesses,” said Nico Leitner-Goddard, a brewer at Nortons Brewing Company. Mayor Wu says that she understands concerns, and the city council has halted movement on the proposed parking change. “We heard some, even, innovative ideas from some of these community members of how parking can be paid, but in a more innovative way,” said Mayor Wu. City council members say innovation is necessary, and the money still needs to come from somewhere Now, the conversation has shifted to finding solutions to the deficit while still keeping affected citizens and businesses happy. “I think that a solution is the next step. We want to be a big part of that step. This is our way of making our voices heard in terms of coming to a solution,” said Leitner-Goddard. The Wichita City Council members who attended this town hall say they hope to continue the conversation on paid parking. Some of the proposed ideas include allowing businesses to validate parking or offering a parking day pass. The next information meeting will be held on Wednesday from 10-11 a.m. at Envision, 610 N. Main. The public will not be able to ask questions during this meeting.
Source: KSN-TV

info2024-08-28T09:46:29-05:00August 28, 2024|News|

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