Cuts looming for city staff as Manhattan looks to increase its cash balance

Manhattan city commissioners are talking about laying off as many as 70 city employees as they consider cost-cutting measures to avert what they say is a potential budget crisis. City officials during Tuesday’s meeting weighed options to increase the general fund. The fund’s cash balance is expected to drop from $11 million to $6 million by the end of 2024. Officials have said they like to keep the cash reserve above $10 million. Commissioners have initially targeted a combination of staff reductions and tax increases. Personnel currently makes up around 70% of the general funds’ expenses. Commissioners are looking at cutting 35-70 staff, with limits of 36-32 hours a week for remaining staff. This is predicted to save between $1 million-$4 million a year. City staff also suggested that putting a 1% sales tax increase on the November ballot to fund a proposed indoor aquatics project would free up money in the general fund. Another option is dipping into $4 million in city ARPA funds. The city also plans to halt replacing vehicles and equipment through the end of 2025. It may also halt capital improvements, filling vacancies and pay increases.
Source: 1350 KMAN

info2024-07-02T10:00:19-05:00July 2, 2024|News|

Fort Scott City Commission talks tax incentives for downtown buildings

Fort Scott City Commissioners on June 18 discussed Reinvestment Housing Incentive Districts. Bourbon County Regional Economic Development Director Robert Harrington said a RHID for the downtown area would fund “any upper-story living,” while the lower level must be commercial. The RHID would not pay for such items as appliances and furniture. A RHID is a program designed to aid developers in building housing within communities by assisting in the financing of public infrastructure improvements. RHID captures the incremental increase in property taxes created by a housing development project for up to 25 years. The revenue can be used for reimbursement for incurred costs or to pay debt service on bonds, according to www.kansascommerce.gov.
Source: Fort Scott Tribune

info2024-07-02T09:53:36-05:00July 2, 2024|News|

Political signs not allowed on right of way

It’s a sign of the season – political campaigning and the posting of campaign signs. The Kansas Department of Transportation reminds the public that all political campaign signs or billboards are prohibited from being placed on state highway right of way.
By law, all right of way on state highways is exclusively for public highway purposes. Only regulatory, guide signs and warning signs placed by KDOT are allowed on the 9,500-mile state highway system. KDOT has jurisdiction over all interstate, Kansas and U.S. routes.
When KDOT maintenance crews find political signs on state highway right of way, the signs will be removed immediately and without notice. All such signs will then be taken to the closest KDOT Subarea office. Political campaign signs not retrieved from the Subarea offices will be disposed of after the election.
Source: Great Bend Tribune

info2024-07-02T09:52:25-05:00July 2, 2024|News|

Cities need citizen help in complying with KDHE regulations; How cities in Harvey County are meeting the requirements

All community and non-transient, non-community water systems must develop an inventory to identify the materials of service lines connected to the public water distribution system by Oct. 16, 2024, according to Jill Bronaugh, communications director of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE). She said that the inventory must include all service lines connected to the public water supply distribution system, regardless of ownership status to the exterior structure wall and must be made available for public review.
“The customer should voluntarily assist the water system in identifying line materials,” Bronaugh said. She said the state will compile the data and review it for completeness, then report the data to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Until the state receives Primacy from EPA, all enforcement of the rule will be conducted by the EPA. Local communities are asking residents to fill out voluntary surveys. The Harvey County Now asked cities what they were doing to meet the KDHE requirements. The City of Bentley contracted with WaterWise Enterprises, LLC, out of Oxford, Kansas, in January 2024 to manage surveys and compile information, according to City Administrator James T. Bryan. City Manager Ethan Reimer said that Halstead’s survey is based on an example survey that KDHE provided and includes questions both about the direct service line (the line running from the meter to the house) as well as the internal plumbing within the house/building. The City of Newton began its lead and copper rule process in February 2023 with a letter and plumbing materials survey mailed to its utility customers, according to Erin McDaniel, the City of Newton’s director of communications. She said they also made the survey available online. The City of North Newton issued a paper survey and included it in the monthly utility bill in November of 2023, according to City Administrator Kyle Fiedler. He said they then sent a second notice and a final notice to those accounts that did not return a survey. The deadline for the final notice is Monday, July 15. City Administrator Kyle Nordick said the City of Sedgwick is trying to collect the customer-side inventory information of the water distribution system through a survey they have mailed to residents twice. The survey is also available on the city’s website, cityofsedgwick.org, and at City Hall.
Source: Harvey County Now

info2024-07-02T09:51:21-05:00July 2, 2024|News|

Restrictive covenants can be released from county deeds

As of today, property owners in Johnson County can review their legal ownership documents to identify and release historic covenants that discriminated against race, religion and national origin. In April, Kansas Governor Laura Kelly signed House Bill 2562 into law, effective July 1. The law authorizes the release of discriminatory covenants from land records. Existing state and federal law already prohibited these restrictions as unlawful and unenforceable, yet the discriminatory wording remained as part of the official documents.
The new law provides an avenue for property owners to determine whether their land records contain discriminatory language. If the documents do, owners can record a Certificate of Release of Prohibited Covenants to formally acknowledge the unlawfulness of the covenants and release the property from those historic restrictions. It also requires homeowner associations to remove discriminatory restrictive covenants from their governing documents within 60 days after July 1, 2024.
Source: Johnson County Kansas |

info2024-07-02T09:35:25-05:00July 2, 2024|News|

New Shawnee traffic sculpture result of collaboration between rival high schools

A two-year art project brought two rival schools together for a common goal — to create and build a sculpture. The result of the collaboration between students at Mill Valley and De Soto High Schools, through USD 232’s Cedar Trails Exploration Center’s CAPS program, which provides career and technical education for students in the district, is the sculpture “Flight of Fluorescence.” The project has been a top-to-bottom student-driven work, from its inception now to its installation at a Shawnee traffic circle. “The kids got this cool, collaborative opportunity and (they’re) building friendships from what typically would have been rival high schools,” Tim Mispagel, the district’s CAPS administrator, said.
Source: Johnson County Post

info2024-07-02T09:32:50-05:00July 2, 2024|News|

Prairie Village poised to move forward with plan to get city to net zero emissions by 2050

The city of Prairie Village plans to develop a community-wide climate action plan aimed at zeroing out the city’s net carbon emissions by 2050. After embarking last year on a climate action plan focused on municipal operations with Indianapolis-based consultants Keramida, Prairie Village is now poised to expand the effort to businesses and residents. This comes three years after the city committed to the “Cities Race to Zero,” an international campaign with the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. At that time, Prairie Village pledged to reach the commitment’s goal of net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Source: Johnson County Post

info2024-07-02T09:31:45-05:00July 2, 2024|News|

Company wants OK for 62-mile transmission line route in western Kansas

A company that wants to transmit solar and wind energy from Kansas to other places in the Midwest is asking Kansas regulators for permission regarding the route of 62 miles of transmission lines in western Kansas. Grain Belt LLC wants to site two 345-kilovolt transmission lines. One line will run from Meade to Dodge City, and the other will run from Bucklin to Dodge City. The counties affected are Ford, Meade, and Gray. The Kansas Corporation Commission already approved the Alternating Current (AC) Collector System in 2011 as part of the Grain Belt Express project. In 2013, the route of the Grain Belt Express line was approved.
Source: KSN-TV

info2024-07-02T09:27:53-05:00July 2, 2024|News|

Fire departments across Kansas challenged to attract young volunteers

Fire departments across Kansas are feeling the heat. They are dealing with the challenges of attracting volunteers to fill their staff. Jason Mundell has been a volunteer with the Mulvane Fire Department for roughly 30 years. He said volunteerism has changed over his time giving back to the community. He said they’re struggling to recruit younger people to lend a hand. Mundell has been with the Wichita Fire Department for more than 25 years but gives time to volunteer in his hometown, Mulvane, on his off days. He said it’s difficult for the small community to recruit young volunteers. “Seventy percent of our members are over 40 years old, so trying to get those younger kids, younger adults to show an interest in volunteering their time, is going to be the biggest challenge,” said Mundell. He said most young professionals who live in Mulvane do not work there, and as a bedroom community to Wichita, people are often unavailable to volunteer there. “Most jobs are out of town, so they are gone during the daytime, so it’s hard to get that daytime response from people because they’re out of town working,” said Mundell. Steve Hirsch, treasurer of the Kansas State Firefighters Association, said the KSFFA was awarded $1.3 million in grant funds last year to help recruit and retain volunteer firefighters. “We’re just kind of getting started now. That’s going to include some leadership training, it’s going to include training on recruitment and retention, it’s going to include some gear for people, physicals,” said Hirsch. It will be rolled out over four years. Hirsch hopes it will improve stations across Kansas.
Source: KSN-TV

info2024-07-02T09:25:25-05:00July 2, 2024|News|

New city manager highlights focal points in Topeka

Robert Perez is officially one week into his new job as Topeka city manager. Monday, 27 News sat down with Perez about what he looks forward to tackling in his first year on the job. Entering his second week on the job, Topeka City Manager Robert Perez is hitting the ground running in his new role. From finding a new police chief, to working on the homeless issue in the Capital city to the upcoming budget, Perez is getting input from the city on how they want things done. “Making sure that we have a sustainable budget for the coming years is going to be of great importance to me,” Perez said. “We are holding budget listening sessions that start next week, that go for the next several weeks, so we can hear from the community before we put the budget together.” When it comes to finding a new police chief for the Capital city, whether they be internal or external, Perez is casting a wider net with a national search to get the best of the best. “As part of that process, before we do anything,” Perez said, “I want to seek official feedback from the community and input from the community on the attributes that are desirable for the next police chief to have.” And homelessness. It’s been an ongoing problem in Topeka. Perez said the city can’t do it by itself. It needs the help from people right here in our community.
Source: KSNT 27 News

info2024-07-02T09:20:56-05:00July 2, 2024|News|

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