Kansas Municipal News
Labette County hears about drug shortages
The Labette County Commission, meeting Monday as the Labette County Board of Health, heard from pharmacist-in-charge Tracy Gilmore that pharmacists and providers are seeing a lot of drug shortages and are hoping the Labette County Health Department does not see it in its daily work giving vaccines and antibiotics. For now, the Health Department reported no shortages. “It is kind of a scary situation in some aspects,” Gilmore said.
Source: Parsons Sun
Merriam reignites plan for old community center site
Merriam is relaunching efforts to transform the site of the former Irene B. French Community Center. A special committee previously charged with finding a use for the land at 5701 Merriam Drive is being reconstituted for the first time in four years and will work to finalize a design for the now-empty green space. Anna Slocum, parks and recreation director, told the city council on Monday that the committee, dubbed the 5701 Committee, would soon seek a landscape design architect for the project.
Source: Prairie Village Post
Manhattan city commissioners want to prevent members from holding 2 government positions
State Sen. Usha Reddi, D-Manhattan, said Tuesday she would “eventually” resign from the Manhattan City Commission as some suggested changing the rules to prevent a commissioner from holding another elected position. Last week, the Riley County Democratic party elected Reddi to fill in for the remainder of state Sen. Tom Hawk’s position after he announced his retirement. The Mercury previously reported that Reddi said she will resign a few days after she was elected, but on Tuesday, she didn’t commit to that timeline. But she said she doesn’t plan on staying on the commission for her entire term.
Source: themercury.com
Kansas officials pursue new megadeals with semiconductor makers
Kansas officials are pursuing megadeals for six new projects, including two companies that make semiconductors, by using the same tax incentives that landed Panasonic’s $4 billion investment last year. Paul Hughes, deputy secretary for business development at the Department of Commerce, briefed lawmakers Tuesday on the status of Panasonic’s operation and the potential to reach multibillion deals with more companies, providing thousands of jobs. Panasonic plans to start pouring concrete this month for its facility in DeSoto, where the company will make batteries for electric vehicles.
Source: www.joplinglobe.com
KHP outlines persistent recruiting, retention obstacles despite 30% salary bump for troopers
The Kansas Highway Patrol said Wednesday the state agency continued to struggle with recruitment and retention of qualified law enforcement officers despite the 30% raise in base salary for newer troopers implemented last year by the Legislature and Gov. Laura Kelly. Capt. Mitch Clark told state senators the KHP was competing with police and sheriff departments in urban centers in Kansas and law enforcement agencies in neighboring states. Nationally, he said, the applicant pool was diminished, training classes where smaller, and retention of young troopers and people eligible for retirement persisted. The economy, COVID-19, the “great resignation” and negative news coverage contributed to staffing woes, he said. “We are all fishing out of the same pond that’s drying up, that’s more shallow,” Clark said. “This is a national crisis.”
Source: Kansas Reflector
Lawrence city leaders express support for hybrid form of government with members elected by districts, at-large and a directly elected mayor
City leaders have expressed support for asking Lawrence voters about changing the city’s form of government to a hybrid system that includes some commissioners elected by districts, other commissioners elected at large and a directly elected mayor. The Lawrence City Commission discussed the potential changes as part of its meeting Tuesday. The commission considered a task force recommendation for potential changes last year but did not come to a clear consensus on how to proceed and directed city staff to defer the discussion until this year. Commissioner Brad Finkeldei said he continued to be in favor of the task force’s recommendation, which called for six commissioners elected by districts and a directly elected mayor, but since there had not been enough support on the commission for that option, he was proposing the hybrid format as an alternative. “For all the reasons I support six (districts), I think that setup would be better than the system we have now,” Finkeldei said.
Source: LJWorld
Lawrence city leaders express support for moving forward with a ban on single-use plastic bags
Lawrence city leaders have expressed support for moving forward with a ban on single-use plastic bags in the community. As part of its meeting Tuesday, the Lawrence City Commission directed city staff to bring back an ordinance for future consideration that would ban certain single-use plastic bags. The commissioners also discussed the possibility of charging a fee at checkout or creating an educational campaign, but they agreed that a ban was the best option. “This has been discussed for a long time, since I’ve been on the commission, and I do believe that it’s time to initiate an ordinance on a ban on plastic bags,” Mayor Lisa Larsen said. “The idea of a fee, I think, complicates it way too much.”
Source: LJWorld
$400 million STAR bonds district could be coming to former golf course in Park City
Park City on Tuesday took the first step in the possible creation of a new STAR bonds district at the former Echo Hills Golf Course. The City Council voted to approve a resolution to hold a Feb. 14 hearing about the sales tax and revenue bonds, which would create a potentially $400 million district that could include an aquarium and other museum and entertainment venues, restaurants, hotels, athletic complexes and residential uses. “To me, it’s a win for Sedgwick County and south-central Kansas,” said city administrator Sean Fox. “We’re talking millions of folks who will be coming to south-central Kansas on a regular basis.”
Source: Wichita Eagle
Municipal Bond Trends for January 10, 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.
Fed’s Bowman says there’s ‘a lot more work to do’ to bring down inflation
Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman said Tuesday she expects more interest rate increases ahead, with higher rates to prevail for a while until inflation is subdued. “I am committed to taking further actions to bring inflation back down to our goal,” the central bank official said in remarks prepared for a speech in Florida. “In recent months, we’ve seen a decline in some measures of inflation but we have a lot more work to do, so I expect the [Federal Open Market Committee] will continue raising interest rates to tighten monetary policy.”
Source: CNBC
SEC, market need to hammer out uncertainties in muni disclosure law
A controversial new law requiring cities and states to standardize their disclosure raises a bevy of questions that market participants and regulators will need to answer to pave the way for implementation. That’s the message from Ernesto Lanza of Ballard Spahr, who wrote a white paper on the newly passed Financial Disclosures Transparency Act along with the firm’s Teri Guarnaccia and Kimberly Magrini. “The ability to collect data in a structured way makes a lot of sense, but it’s going to be an interesting journey to get to something that works,” Lanza said. “There’s a lot of uncertainties to be dealt with and decisions to be made by regulators, hopefully along with people who understand the market.”
Source: The Bond Buyer
Iola weighs merits of development costs
Iola City Council members will mull over a request for an incentives package to entice a developer to build a series of duplexes at the north edge of town. The request from Gabriel Woodman of Merak Development, Springfield, Mo., comes with a stiff price tag, Council members acknowledged Monday. Woodman has requested the city extend at least two blocks of streets into the undeveloped land at what was once Cedarbrook Golf Course, at an expected cost of $1 million. Woodman is also asking the city to donate the land for what will be 10 duplexes.
Source: The Iola Register
Lawrence and Douglas County seek public’s feedback on draft wind regulations
Lawrence and Douglas County community members are invited to a meeting Thursday and an open house on Jan. 30 to discuss a new draft of wind energy regulations. The Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission directed city staff members to review Wind Energy Conversion System (WECS) regulations “in order to better align the wind regulations with recently adopted solar regulations,” according to a news release from the city. The draft regulations are now available for public comment… According to the release, “A WECS is a system of wind-driven generators that convert wind energy into electrical power. An individual machine is also referred to as a turbine, wind tower, windmill, or wind pump. A WECS may be for personal or commercial use, these two varying uses are referred to as P-WECS and C-WECS, respectively.”
Source: The Lawrence Times
Kansas House leadership lay out united plan for 2023 session
There are eight major areas that Republicans are calling their “a better way” platform. It covers almost everything impacting Kansas today, from taxes and workforce development to education and healthcare. “Yesterday was pretty much a ceremonial today, [now] we get to work and we all are ready to get to work,” said Representative Dan Hawkins. For the Republican leadership of the Kansas House and Senate, getting back to work Tuesday meant laying out their plans for this year’s legislative session, releasing its platform called “a better way.” “The senate president and I started talking four months ago,” Hawkins said. “And the one thing that we wanted to do is we wanted to have a legislative session that was keyed in on what was important to our members.”
Source: KAKE – News
Stocks (and Interest Rates) Tick Higher With Fed Officials’ Comments
U.S. stocks rose, as investors parsed Fed remarks indicating a higher-for-longer rates outlook and awaited comments from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell. Yields on U.S. government bonds edged higher Tuesday. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note climbed to 3.595% from 3.516% on Monday. … Mary Daly, president of the San Francisco Fed and Raphael Bostic, president of the Atlanta Fed, in comments Monday both highlighted that interest rates would need to rise above 5% and remain there for some time. The Fed’s benchmark rate is currently a range of between 4.25% and 4.5%. “The critical question on everyone’s mind right now is: When are we going to see the Fed’s tightening peak?” said Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management. “We keep seeing the Fed come out and make these really hawkish comments, but the market isn’t really pricing that in.” Fed Chair Jerome Powell said Tuesday that the central bank is strongly committed to lowering inflation, even though interest-rate increases to restrain economic growth could fuel political blowback.
Source: WSJ.com: Markets
Topeka to punt on car insurance
Motor vehicle insurance is mandatory for all drivers in Kansas. But city governments aren’t required to carry it, and Topeka city manager Stephen Wade has decided to not renew the city’s vehicle coverage. Topeka’s city government is consequently becoming self-insured, in a move anticipated to save it $250,000 a year, city attorney Amanda Stanley told The Capital-Journal. Topeka’s city government has alternated over the years between carrying vehicle insurance and exercising its option of being self-insured, Stanley said. Lawrence’s city government self-insures its vehicles, with accidents involving those vehicles being investigated by the Lawrence Police Department and the city’s risk management division, according to its city website. Stanley talked this past week about the reasoning behind Topeka’s city government’s recent decision to self-insure the vehicles it maintains.
Source: CJonline
Reno County Commission expands
The Reno County Commission expanded from three commissioners to four on Monday, during the commission’s first meeting of 2023. Voters had extended the commission in November, during a countywide vote, moving the body from three to five commissioners. Due to the resignation of Mark Reese in late December, a new commissioner needed to be appointed. The Reno County Republican Party nominated John Whitesel to fill the vacant position.
Source: Hutch News
Lawrence City Commission to discuss potential ban or fee for single-use plastic bags
City leaders will soon discuss policy options to reduce the use of single-use plastic bags in the community, including banning them, charging a fee at checkout or creating an educational campaign. As part of its meeting Tuesday, the Lawrence City Commission will once again take up the topic, which has been in discussion for more than four years. A group of elementary students from Kennedy Elementary brought their concerns about the harmful impact of plastic bags on the environment to the City Commission in 2018.
Source: LJWorld
Lawrence City Commission to discuss ballot measure for directly elected mayor, other potential changes to form of government
Lawrence city leaders will soon discuss whether they should ask Lawrence voters about changing the city’s form of government, including the possibility of having a directly elected mayor. The Lawrence City Commission will discuss the potential changes as part of its meeting Tuesday. A task force previously considered the issue in 2021, but the commission did not come to a clear consensus on how to proceed and directed city staff to defer the discussion until this year. The city has not reconsidered its government structure in 70 years, and in 2021 the commission created a task force to study the issue.
Source: LJWorld
Municipal Bond Trends for January 9, 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.