Kansas Municipal News
Emporia commission to discuss homelessness taskforce findings this week
The Emporia City Commission will receive its first report on the homelessness taskforce, created to find workable solutions for the community last year. The taskforce is expected to recommend that a camping ordinance be maintained in the City of Emporia through July 8, in order to give the group more time to study the ordinance and formulate longterm solutions and recommendations for the city. The homelessness taskforce was established in Dec. 2022 following the city’s approval of an “unlawful camping” ordinance on Nov. 17, 2022.
Source: Emporia Gazette
Wichita City Council approves multi-million dollar pickleball complex
Drive around some Wichita parks on a day like Tuesday and you’ll find people enjoying the nice weather by playing pickleball. It’s a sport people like Patti Mackey love. “It all started, my husband was at the downtown Senior Center and he called me and he said, ‘Patti, there are some older people on this court with a little yellow ball and I just keep hearing, ping, ping, ping.'” Mackey is a volunteer ambassador for USA pickleball and was in the crowd Tuesday as the Wichita City Council voted 7-0 to put an additional $3.15 million towards its proposed pickleball complex at South Lakes Sports Complex.
Source: KAKE – News
Wichita approves $300,000 for improvements to city’s dog parks
The City of Wichita has approved spending $300,000 to make improvements to the city’s dog parks this year. The City Council unanimously approved the measure during its regular meeting Tuesday. A total of $600,000 is set aside in the city’s Capital Improvement Program for the project. Half the money is available this year and the other in 2024. “Not only do people love pets, but really want the best for their pet, and if we want to keep Wichita a vibrant city, we have to respond to the wishes of the public,” Wichita Mayor Brandon Whipple said. Whipple said the push for the project came from public feedback. Lily Graham visits K9 Rooster Dog Park in northwest Wichita with her dog Winnie almost daily and said any improvements are welcome.
Source: KAKE – News
A lack of affordable housing in Kansas prevents Section 8 tenants from using rent subsidies
Kamber Corpening felt relief when she first landed a Section 8 voucher in 2020, a promise that she qualified for substantial rent subsidies from federal taxpayers. Then came the hard part — finding a landlord willing to deal with the accompanying red tape and to open units to lower-income tenants. She tried almost 100 places over the course of a year and found few that took Section 8 vouchers. In the meantime, she crashed at shelters, in the homes of friends and with family.
Source: KCUR News
Pratt voters to decide on USD 382 school bond issue
Advance mail voting begins in Pratt for the school district’s special election. Election Day is May 9. Residents are deciding whether to support a $16.6 million bond. The money would renovate the ACE building or the old high school into a fourth and fifth-grade center. It would also add four new classrooms to the elementary school, which could double as a storm shelter. “We’re going to have our PreK there, and we can expand our PreK to all day three-year-olds, which is also part of that answering the challenge for child care and helping people get their kids to preschool so they don’t have to manage that,” said USD 382 Superintendent Tony Helfrich.
Source: KSN-TV
Take a closer look at northeast JoCo’s newest playground
The long-awaited playground at R Park in Roeland Park is finally open, completing the final phase of a three-part plan to revitalize the park on Juniper Drive. Improvement efforts for the park on the site of a former elementary school began in 2015. Weather-related delays this past winter set the playground’s completion date back earlier this year. Now that the playground is open — and the days are sunnier and warmer — children and their caretakers are flooding R Park to play and enjoy the new amenity.
Source: Prairie Village Post
Rural childcare shortage
Kansas is now facing a need for more childcare options for working parents. The problem is significant in our rural areas of Kansas. The COVID-19 pandemic further exasperated the shortage; many in Kansas now refer to this as a childcare crisis. According to Child Care Aware of Kansas, Kansas meets 49 percent of the needed childcare slots. Since 2020 Kansas has lost 344 childcare providers. Currently, Kansas needs 85,000 childcare slots to meet the current demand. Our local area faces similar childcare challenges as the rest of the state. The Meadowlark Extension District, which encompasses Jackson, Jefferson, and Nemaha counties, needs approximately 977 more childcare slots to meet demand.
Source: Sabetha Herald
Riley County talks with residents about city levee project
Riley County officials on Monday attempted to address two residents’ concerns about the Manhattan city government’s levee project. Amanda Webb, planning director, and Darrin Hobbs, planning compliance specialist, provided information and answered questions about the project during the county commission meeting. During the March 20 commission meeting, residents Richard and Angela Britt raised concerns about the project to the commission. Richard specifically pointed out what he said was the city’s lack of a “no-rise” certificate for the entire project, which is needed for floodway projects. To receive a certificate, a state-license engineer needs to determine the project won’t increase flooding risks.
Source: themercury.com
One year after tornado, Andover YMCA preps for May waterpark opening
Closed since it was struck by a destructive EF-3 tornado nearly a year ago, the Andover YMCA branch is targeting a May 27 reopening of its outdoor waterpark. “We’re cautiously optimistic about that, a few things have to fall into place but we’re working toward that,” said Ron McMahon, CEO of the Greater Wichita YMCA. “The waterpark will have all new features.”
Source: Wichita Business Journal
Clay Center takes next step toward child care center
In response to what officials say is a child care crisis in Clay County, the Clay Center City Council approved moving forward with a grant proposal seeking up to $2.8 million to design, build and begin operating a child care facility in Clay Center on the Lincoln school grounds. The action does not obligate the city to any expenditures but is required for the proposal to be considered by the funding agency.
Source: www.ccenterdispatch.com
Municipal Bond Trends for April 18, 2023
The interest rate table above illustrates recent changes in a sample of MBIS “investment grade” yields. Every issuer’s credit is different, and other financing sources may be available. To obtain comprehensive Financial Advisory services for your local government, contact your Ranson Financial Municipal Advisor, Larry Kleeman, Beth Warren or Henry Schmidt.
Fed’s Bullard says recession fears off-base and urges more hikes
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said he favored continued interest-rate hikes to counter persistent inflation, while recession fears are overblown. “Wall Street’s very engaged in the idea there’s going to be a recession in six months or something, but that isn’t really the way you would read an expansion like this,” Bullard told Reuters in an interview published Tuesday. Fed policymakers have penciled in one additional quarter-point hike this year, lifting their benchmark rate to 5.1% according to their median forecast in March. Investors see that move happening at their May 2-3 meeting. Bullard, who doesn’t vote on rates this year, was cited by Reuters as supporting pushing rates 50 basis points higher than the median estimate, to a range of 5.5% to 5.75%. That’s in line with the view that Bullard laid out on March 24, when he disclosed that he had raised his forecast for where rates would peak.
Source: The Bond Buyer
Charlie Hunt will head Johnson County’s Department of Health and Environment
Charlie Hunt, MPH has started as the new director of Johnson County Department of Health and Environment on April 17. Hunt joined JCDHE as deputy director in 2021 and has served as interim director since November 4, 2022. If you go back to nearly the beginning of his career, Hunt worked at JCDHE as a communicable disease investigator and then became a health educator. His career includes 18 years in various positions with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, culminating with serving as the state epidemiologist and director of the Bureau of Epidemiology and Public Health Informatics for seven years.
Source: Johnson County Kansas |
Community raises concerns after City of Wichita proposes ordinance for Airbnb, short-term rentals
The City of Wichita has been looking at big changes for local Airbnb and other short-term rental owners since a deadly shooting that took place in April of 2021 in east Wichita. Thomas Carter and his wife have owned and operated an Airbnb for six months, a house that used to be Carter’s childhood home. The couple put at least $45,000 into it. Now, they say a proposed ordinance could put their dreams of expanding their business on hold…. Metropolitan Area Planning Commission (MAPC) planning director Scott Wadle says the majority of Wichita short-term rentals are in violation of the current code. “If you’re located in the majority of our residential zoning districts, you know, single family, you are required to, you cannot rent it for less than seven days,” said Wadle.
Source: KSN-TV
License plate readers coming to smaller towns in Wichita area
FLOCK cameras have been used in Wichita and parts of Sedgwick County for some time now to read license plates to locate suspects. Now the system is expanding to smaller towns like Rose Hill. “There are some valid privacy concerns, and I understand that,” said Rose Hill Police Chief Taylor Parlier. “These cameras are placed in very specific locations so as to only get the vehicle leaving. So it doesn’t see who is driving the vehicle. We can’t target individuals. We don’t have a live-stream access, so we can’t just sit there and watch the individuals that are driving or watch certain areas. It’s only meant to be reactive.”
Source: KSN-TV
Study: Kansas’ 2 biggest counties have a major difference in traffic deaths
Although Johnson County has roughly 80,000 more people, Sedgwick County currently has between two to three times the number of deadly car crashes. It’s what prompted the Wichita Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (WAMPO) to commission an analysis last fall in conjunction with the Kansas Department of Transportation to compare crashes between the two counties. Now that the analysis has been released, several Sedgwick County Commissioners are calling for change. “There’s about eight or nine different measurements, and again, we were worse, drastically worse, on every one of those,” Sedgwick County Commissioner Jim Howell.
Source: KSNT 27 News
Visioning process continues for city of Emporia
Research continues into Emporia’s future direction. Last fall, the city and Tunica County, Mississippi, were approved to split $250,000 in funding through the US Department of Agriculture’s Rural Placemaking Innovation Challenge. The early public work has already seen a round of input meetings and is into a short 10-minute survey available at rpa2023.com/emporia. City leaders and the city’s partner, Atlas Community Studios, say the survey — along with last month’s public input sessions — will develop a snapshot now to help the city later.
Source: KVOE Emporia Radio
Chase County Commission approves application for CDBG grant to assist with construction of new fire department HQ
Chase County leadership is now awaiting word on potential grant funding to assist in the construction of a new multi-million dollar fire department headquarters in Strong City. According to Chase County Commission Chairman Tony Hazelton, the recent public input hearing held this past Wednesday gave commissioners a lot to think about as the process unfolds. Hazelton says the main focus at this time is securing Community Development Block Grant Funding through the state to help offset a portion of the estimated cost of construction.
Source: KVOE Emporia Radio
Emporia Police Chief offers gratitude to telecommunications officers to close out National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week
Though National Public Safety Telecommunicator Week has wrapped up for the year, Emporia Police Chief Ed Owens says telecommunications officers are deserving of recognition and praise year-round. During a recent appearance on KVOE’s Talk of Emporia Owens spoke to the relationship between local dispatchers and law enforcement officers saying it is extremely important to ensure everyone involved in an emergency situation comes out safe. He echoed comments from Lyon County Emergency Communications Center Director Roxanne Van Gundy from last week saying “It takes a special person to do what they do.” Much like the men and women on the front lines, Owens says the work of dispatchers can take a tremendous toll on one’s mental health.
Source: KVOE Emporia Radio
Detter: Experience near metro areas, rural settings will help in new role as Emporia assistant city manager
Mark Detter says he sees a lot of potential, which is why he moved back to Kansas to become Emporia’s next assistant city manager. Detter tells KVOE News Emporia is in a solid economic position, in large part because of its manufacturing base. Detter also sees Emporia’s educational base and events as attractions for people wanting to spend time here. Detter has been serving as the city manager in Valdez, Alaska, but he also has been a prior city administrator in Rose Hill and Andover — bedroom communities for the Wichita area. He says his experience in those settings will help him here.
Source: KVOE Emporia Radio