Johnson County fills newly created housing coordinator position

26 Thursday, January 26

Johnson County fills newly created housing coordinator position

info2023-01-26T00:01:14-06:00January 26th, 2023|

The newly created housing coordinator position plays a key role in the community by focusing on these main areas, addressing homelessness, preserving existing housing and developing attainable housing and promoting homeownership. After an extensive search with many qualified candidates, Megan Foreman was selected as the best fit for the position. Foreman began her role as housing coordinator on Monday, Jan. 23. In this role, Foreman will bring together community stakeholders that provide housing services and initiatives to work together to improve efficiency on how the county serves people. The position will also be a central resource for relevant data. Source: Johnson [...]

25 Wednesday, January 25

Newton BOE discusses dropping enrollment

info2023-01-25T23:59:58-06:00January 25th, 2023|

USD-373’s enrollment has dropped by 441 students, or 13 percent, from September 2015 to December of this school year. Superintendent Fred Van Ranken provided the numbers in a presentation to the Newton Board of Education at its Monday meeting. “We need to start having difficult discussions on where we’re going to land next year and start down the road after that,” Van Ranken said. Van Ranken noted that the statistics represent the number of students in the building, not actual full-time enrollment numbers, and the numbers weren’t audited. Source: Harvey County Now

25 Wednesday, January 25

Hill’s Pet Nutrition finishes construction on Tonganoxie plant, its fourth manufacturing facility

info2023-01-25T23:08:43-06:00January 25th, 2023|

Hill's Pet Nutrition has completed construction on its $250 million manufacturing facility in Tonganoxie, which targets a third-quarter opening and will create roughly 80 jobs. In 2021, Hill's bought 84 acres in Tonganoxie Business Park at 21795 Kansas Ave. The city then entered a development agreement with the company to build a 300,000-square-foot manufacturing and distributing facility. Source: Kansas City Business News

25 Wednesday, January 25

Manhattan gives initial approval on rule banning commissioners from dual offices

info2023-01-26T07:11:24-06:00January 25th, 2023|

Manhattan city commissioners on Tuesday unanimously gave initial approval of an ordinance prohibiting members from holding two elected offices, a move they proposed after Usha Reddi’s ascent to the Kansas Senate. But Reddi won’t be kicked off the commission because of a “grandfather” clause. The ordinance, which still requires a second commission vote for approval, states that a person holding another elected office must resign that position before being sworn in as city commissioner. It also includes a “grandfather” clause, stating any city commissioner serving in more than one elected office when the ordinance is adopted shall be entitled to complete [...]

25 Wednesday, January 25

Firefighting team unified as one unit

info2023-01-26T07:13:17-06:00January 25th, 2023|

Jessica Ellerman has been with the Atchison Fire Department for two years and Courtney Keegan has seven plus years (only one year in Atchison) in the dangerous profession. Both ladies stated the hardest part of being a firefighter is the physical demand. Both said that they must stay in top shape because of the heavy lifting and climbing up and down the fire truck. “Whether male or female, we are treated equally and the job does have a lot of demands,” Keegan said. Training is almost constant with many courses that all firefighters must take. However, the main part of their [...]

25 Wednesday, January 25

Salt makes icy roads less dicey, but it poisons the land. Here’s what Kansas is doing about it

info2023-01-25T13:10:40-06:00January 25th, 2023|

Rock salt saves lives by helping tires grip icy roads. It avoids broken bones when homeowners use it on slick sidewalks, driveways and parking lots. And in Kansas, one of the country’s top salt producers, rock salt generates paychecks. But it also costs Americans billions in corroding cars and bridges. It adds so much sodium to drinking water in some places that it can affect people’s health. And in some places, toxic salt levels kill or harm plants, animals and crops. Experts say we can take immediate steps to curb this toll without sacrificing road safety. The Kansas Department of Transportation [...]

25 Wednesday, January 25

Municipal Bond Trends for January 24, 2023

Henry Schmidt2023-01-25T08:36:41-06:00January 25th, 2023|

The interest rate table above illustrates recent changes in a sample of MBIS "investment grade" yields. Every issuer's credit is different. For rates that may be applicable to your municipality, contact our Municipal Bond Advisors, Larry Kleeman, Beth Warren and Henry Schmidt.

25 Wednesday, January 25

10K more Wichitans will have access to fiber internet by end of 2024. What to know

info2023-01-25T07:37:43-06:00January 25th, 2023|

More than 10,000 residents in Wichita could have access to higher-speed internet by the end of next year, thanks to a new project to expand fiber-powered broadband. “The city of Wichita has reached out to us saying they need more connectivity, and we agree,” said Jim Jamison, the president of AT&T Kansas. “So it’s really just a win-win, and we found a way to reach those homes.” Once the project is finalized, AT&T will be awarded $2.2 million from the Kansas Office of Broadband Development and use AT&T private investments to fund the $10.4 million project. Source: Wichita Eagle

25 Wednesday, January 25

Meeting will gather input on recommended changes to development code that determines how city grows

info2023-01-25T07:36:44-06:00January 25th, 2023|

Consultants working to update the development code that determines where and how Lawrence grows have drafted a list of 80 recommended changes and are seeking public input on the proposal. A community meeting will take place on Thursday to gather feedback on the recommended changes, which consultants with Clarion Associates developed following a four-month assessment of the code. The code assessment outlines issues with the current code and the main focus areas for the code changes, according to a project overview. ... The 80 recommended changes span the various sections of the existing code and also include general suggestions. Recommendations are [...]

25 Wednesday, January 25

I Know It When I See It – What is a Capital Expenditure?

info2023-01-25T01:02:46-06:00January 25th, 2023|

According to Wikipedia, the fount of all knowledge, the phrase “I know it when I see it” is a colloquial expression by which a speaker attempts to categorize an observable fact or event, although the category is subjective or lacks clearly defined parameters. This phrase was famously used in a U.S. Supreme Court decision to describe the threshold test for obscenity. (See Jacobellis v. Ohio, 378 U.S. 184 (1964)). Although this blog post will, unfortunately, likely not become as well known as the Jacobellis case, it will discuss, “What is a Capital Expenditure?” My guess is that a lot of tax-exempt bond advisors [...]