Shawnee Mission Post – Community news and events for northeast Johnson County

A Johnson County judge on Thursday sided with the progressive activist who sued Election Commissioner Ronnie Metsker after Metsker refused to hand over a list of provisional ballot voters requested under the Kansas Open Records Act. Davis Hammet, who heads Loud Light, an operation focused on increasing voter engagement and participation, was the plaintiff in the case filed in conjunction with the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas in September. Hammet and the ACLU took legal action after Metsker’s office denied a request to produce a list of voters whose ballots were rejected because their signatures did not match those the [...]

The Prairie Village governing body will consider a city-level ordinance that would regulate drone usage in the city — but some city councilmembers are skeptical of the need for a new law. On a 6-4 vote Tuesday, the council directed staff to bring a draft ordinance crafted in conjunction with city attorneys back to the governing body for a formal vote at a later date. At present, Mission Hills is the only northeast Johnson County city with an ordinance on the books restricting drone usage. The question of whether and how to regulate drone usage in Prairie Village has been an [...]

Commercial developers building in Roeland Park will now have the option to make a financial contribution for public art instead of incorporating art into their project. Roeland Park’s “1 percent for art” resolution requires business developers to spend 1% of total project costs on art, and previously these funds could only be used for art projects displayed on the development’s property. The resolution change was prompted by a request from Aldi to donate funds for art rather than incorporate an art piece into the $3.6 million teardown/rebuild plans for their store located at 4801 Roe Blvd. Originally the city thought the [...]

Details on the settlements, and how much will be repaid, will be worked out over the next 30 days, said city administrator Laura Smith. But the city has unanimously agreed to authorize settlement agreements in two pending lawsuits, ultimately to repay TUF dollars to the Heartland Apartment Association and 10 individual plaintiffs in that case, as well as a class action case brought by Rex Danley. In general, the plaintiffs and the city have agreed to terms in both of the cases. “The city has taken strong positions all along,” said Mission City Administrator Laura Smith. “We feel like we have [...]

New Prairie Village Mayor Eric Mikkelson used his swearing-in ceremony on Monday to map out a set of guiding principles for governing of the city into its 70th year and beyond. Mikkelson, who served a full term representing Ward 3 on the city council before rolling off early last year, said that matters of public safety, fiscal responsibility and infrastructure maintenance will continue to be the foundations on which good city government is built — and he credited outgoing Mayor Laura Wassmer with handing over the city in excellent shape on those counts. But, he said, the city will face a [...]

Removing dead trees in Nall Park, finishing a high priority sidewalk project, and maintaining the city’s art were among 2018 objectives completed by Roeland Park. Twenty tasks, with a total budget of $330,000, were planned for completion in 2018. Two-thirds of completed tasks came in at or below budgeted cost. “We got a lot accomplished in 2018,” said Roeland Park Mayor Mike Kelly during a council workshop. The city is also continuing work on two 2017 objectives, the most notable being a $1 million task to find a new location for Public Works. According to a staff report the city is [...]

The number of mental health-related 911 calls continues to climb in northeast Johnson County. And to meet that growing need, Johnson County Mental Health is deploying a second mental health co-responder to assist law enforcement agencies in the Shawnee Mission area. This second staff member will split focus on assisting the police departments of Prairie Village and Leawood. The existing northeast area co-responder will continue responding to mental health-related calls across five police jurisdictions and eight other cities in northeast Johnson County. Tim DeWeese, director of the Johnson County Mental Health Center, said the need for mental health co-responders is “definitely [...]

Lenexa city leaders have taken first steps to change the city administrator’s title to city manager. Discussion of the title change comes ahead of the pending retirement of Lenexa city administrator Eric Wade, who plans to stay on staff for a few months alongside his replacement to facilitate a smooth transition next year. The Lenexa council in its Dec. 18 meeting voted 6-1 on an ordinance for the title change. Councilmember Bill Nicks cast the single dissenting vote. Councilmember Thomas Nolte was absent for the vote and council discussion. Lenexa city attorney Cindy Harmison said that in a presentation earlier this [...]

Convinced that problems with the new electronic voting machines have been resolved, Election Commissioner Ronnie Metsker told county commissioners that he is ready to sign the papers and cut the check to vendor ES&S. Payment on the $10.6 million system is expected to go through as soon as the county legal and tech departments give it the final okay, Metsker said. Metsker said his office is satisfied that the problems that slowed the vote reporting software to a crawl in the August primary have been successfully addressed. The coding problem that led to hours of delay in reporting vote totals was [...]

The Bridj van-hailing service that debuted with the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority two years ago ended in failure because of low ridership. Eventually, the company closed down. Nevertheless, KCATA and Johnson County are willing to give micro-transit another shot, this time with a similar test program in parts of Overland Park, Merriam, Shawnee and Lenexa. County commissioners on Thursday approved spending $250,000 on a six-month pilot program to see if it will eventually provide a viable and more sustainable alternative to the full-sized city buses that now serve the suburbs. This time around, the micro-transit service will be offered through [...]