Kansas Municipal News
Kansas attorney general concludes Junction City Commission broke open meeting law
An investigation by Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach revealed the Junction City Commission violated the Kansas Open Meetings Act by convening a closed-door meeting to discuss an economic development project that included a livestock slaughter facility on the outskirts of the city. Public opposition to the once-confidential project, which could have forced sale of farmland for construction of roads and a traffic exit from Interstate 70, appears to have derailed the meatpacking project that was to have been built by Foote Cattle Co. During debate on the proposal, landowner Michelle Munson filed a two-part complaint in July 2023 with the attorney general containing allegations against the city commission. Munson, part of the Munson Angus Farms family, said the commission didn’t take steps during a public meeting nearly three years ago to approve expenditure of $5,000 used to secure a right of first refusal for the option to buy 150 acres of real estate for the project. That land on the west side of Junction City was bought by Foote Cattle, but the city had their eyes on adjacent land owned by the Munsons. In addition, Munson asserted the commission broke the open meetings law two years ago by failing to precisely describe the subject to be discussed in an executive session. That closed session was also about the meatpacking facility project. Amber Smith, first assistant attorney general in Kobach’s office, issued a letter to Munson’s attorney that said the “preponderance of the evidence” indicated the commission didn’t violate KOMA while considering the $5,000 option. However, the attorney general’s office found the commission failed to follow the law in a later meeting by trying to limit public knowledge about the project.
Source: Kansas Reflector
Kansas Tourism Announces Participating Attractions for the Sunflower Summer Program for Kansas Families
Kansas Tourism is pleased to announce the lineup of attractions participating in the 2024 Sunflower Summer program. Designed as a benefit for Kansas families with school-age children, Sunflower Summer offers a way to explore and fall in love with Kansas by providing complimentary access to tourism attractions across the state. The 2024 Sunflower Summer season will run from May 25 through August 11. More than 220 tourism attractions are participating in the program – a 97 percent increase from 2023. In order to participate in the program, Kansas families with school-age children must download the Sunflower Summer app and claim tickets to participating attraction venues. The digital tickets are redeemed at participating venues upon their arrival. Each user can only use tickets once per venue during the 2024 season. “The Sunflower Summer program plays a pivotal role in making in-state travel affordable for Kansas families,” Lieutenant Governor and Secretary of Commerce David Toland said. “It offers amazing opportunities for parents to nurture their children’s love for travel and appreciation for our incredible state and everything it has to offer.” Participating attractions are located in all regions of the state and include museums, discovery centers, historic sites, arboretums, water parks, amusement parks, zoos, guided trolley tours, live theater events and professional sports events.
Source: Kansas Department of Commerce
Governor Kelly Signs Balanced Budget Strengthening Workforce and Economic Development Opportunities; Addressing Water Issues
Governor Laura Kelly today signed the state’s budget, Senate Bill 28, which allocates funding for Fiscal Years 2025, 2026, 2027, and 2028. The budget makes expenditures to continue the Kelly administration’s progress to make Kansas the best place to live, work, and raise a family. “Thanks to the work we have done to get our state’s economy where it is, we can use our record surplus to make a positive impact on communities across the state,” Governor Laura Kelly said. “The investments we make now in our infrastructure, our workforce, and our economic development put Kansas on a path of continued growth.” The budget Makes critical investments in water projects and programs (…), Strengthening economic development opportunities (…), Ensures Kansas has a robust workforce and increases funding for post-secondary education (…), and Invests in state employees. (…) Governor Kelly also line-item vetoed aspects of the budget.
Source: Governor of the State of Kansas
Severe weather rocks Kansas, other Midwestern states
A tornado ripped apart a family barn Saturday just outside of Dexter in Cowley Co. KAKE News spoke with the owner of the barn, Jim Lindley, shortly after the twister passed through. He said he and his mother never expected to lose the barn this way. “We built this house and she’s lived here. 40 some years. I thought she would be okay. We have a good safe place in the basement. But I was not prepared for this,” Lindley said. “This was a century farm and a family over 120 years old and finally the buildings aren’t that old, but we tried to take care of the place and keep it up and it’s just really just depressing and disappointing to see this much damage.” Cowley County emergency management said Saturday night much of the area was without power due to high winds snapping off the power poles. To the east in Elk County, heavy rains led to flooding conditions in some places. At one point forcing the closure of Highway 160 between Elk Falls and Longton. And Kansas wasn’t alone, the storms ripped across several states in the Midwest this weekend, including Nebraska, Iowa and Oklahoma, where the state Governor, Kevin Stitt, said that four people have died.
Source: KAKE – News
City of Hays buys bank to expand police department
The City of Hays has bought a bank to expand its police department. Commissioners signed off on the purchase on Thursday. The police department currently shares a building with the Ellis County Sheriff’s Office. The Hays city manager says they outgrown it. “A myriad of reasons. One is Hays grows, and then we require more officers, more administrative staff. Ellis County Sheriff’s Office shares the first floor of the law enforcement center and they’re growing as well,” said Hays City Manager Roby Dougherty. Dougherty says buying the bank is more cost-effective than starting from scratch.
Source: KSN-TV
Storms lead to flooding, water rescue
Water rescue teams arrived in Allen County this morning to help with recovery after severe storms pounded the area overnight. Flooding left limited routes into or out of Iola, with the U.S. 169/54 intersection closed to traffic. Motorists who need to get to Iola from the east can take a detour east on U.S. 54 to Moran, south to K-39 to Chanute and north to 169 to the Minnesota Road exit to State Street, or take the old highway from Humboldt to Iola. Emergency management officials were working to set up a shelter for those displaced by flooding. A water rescue team from Anderson County said it helped with two rescues this morning. The Register’s reporting team saw several vehicles stalled in high water. Overnight storms from Saturday into Sunday caused severe flooding throughout the county. A tornado warning was issued at one point for LaHarpe, Elsmore, Savonburg and Moran, though it does not seem as if there were confirmed reports of a touchdown. The Register will update this article as more information becomes available.
Source: The Iola Register
New Kansas law provides way to remove racist covenants from property records
A new state law allows Kansas homeowners a way to more easily remove racist language from their property records. Signed into law by Gov. Laura Kelly on April 19, an amended section of House Bill 2562 makes racially restrictive covenants — such as those that exclude Black and Jewish people within homes associations deeds — unenforceable under state law. At the federal level, racist covenants in property deeds have technically been unenforceable since the 1948 U.S. Supreme Court case Shelley v. Kraemer. The new Kansas law now offers homeowners ways to remove racist covenants from their property records. This comes after the cities of Roeland Park and Prairie Village struggled for years to find ways to remove racist covenants from local property records. Last year, Roeland Park officials worked with local state legislators to introduce legislation in Topeka. Racially restrictive deeds and exclusionary covenants are still scattered across the Kansas City metro, embedded deep in the bylaws of homes associations and subdivisions’ rules. They’re no longer enforced and homeowners are often unaware they even exist, but some residents and city officials say their lingering presence is a stain on their communities. The new law largely deals with real estate consumer protection such as financial exploitation and housing discrimination. But an amendment to the bill states that any restrictive covenant in property deeds that violates state housing discrimination laws are “void and unenforceable.”
Source: Johnson County Post
Jackson County dropped the ball, so Kansas making last-minute drive to lure Chiefs, Royals
Kansas House and Senate members worked Monday to consider whether to approve an economic development package designed to attract the Kansas City Chiefs, Kansas City Royals or professional hockey or basketball franchises to Kansas. The legislation would specifically limit the state’s incentives to sports facility projects costing more than $1 billion and the state Department of Commerce would be authorized to negotiate and make offers to no more than two sports teams. The bonds issued for the projects could be used for all costs associated with stadiums and other infrastructure and would be repayable over a 30-year period. The incentive packages would be available until June 2025, but the legislation would allow that deadline to be extended for one year. “Sorry for the short notice,” said Rep. Sean Tarwater, a Stilwell Republican and chairman of the House commerce committee, told five other legislators on a negotiating committee. “I think it’s important to have this done before we adjourn the session. It’s just important to send a very positive message to the sports community that we’re here and we’re very serious about this.” A bipartisan team of three negotiators from both the House and Senate were considering the proposal. The package, if it moves forward, would be amended into House Bill 2663. Majorities in the House and Senate would have to vote for the bill before it was sent to Gov. Laura Kelly.
Source: Kansas Reflector
Few short-term rentals have registered with Wichita since the city passed regulations last year
The first deadline for owners of short-term rentals like Airbnb and VRBO to get a license from the city of Wichita has passed, and only 13 properties have registered so far. Five short-term rentals have their license, while eight properties have a license pending, according to a city database of short-term rental licenses from last week. The March 12 deadline only applied to owner-occupied properties, according to the city. Short-term rentals where the owner does not live on-site still have until Sept. 12 to be in compliance. The city is aware of more than 400 short-term rentals in Wichita, said council member Brandon Johnson. It is unclear how many of those are owner-occupied. Johnson said the city isn’t strictly enforcing the March deadline to get licensed right now, but he predicts leniency will go away as the September deadline gets closer. “Right now, we are just trying to make sure as many people know – and especially now that that deadline has passed – to let them know that they are out of compliance and try to get them in compliance,” Johnson said. “We try to do what we can to make sure folks get into compliance voluntarily before we hit them with the enforcement, especially as this is something new.” The regulations that passed last September require licensing, a fee, liability insurance and a set maximum occupancy limit. They also permit the city to fine owners up to $500 a day for operating without a license.
Source: KLC Journal
Push emerging to recognize gap-filling community paramedicine
Kansas emergency medical workers respond at a moment’s notice, no matter if they just sat down for dinner or laid down to sleep. Many are volunteers with full-time jobs and families. First responders in the Sunflower State are trained to deal with a multitude of calamities, from traffic crashes to plummeting blood sugar levels in diabetic patients and everything in between. But they often provide non-emergency care that doesn’t receive much recognition or funding. Emergency health care professionals across the state are working to bring awareness to non-emergency practices long implemented by local ambulance crews and paramedics, for the purpose of categorizing those services to potentially receive state and federal funding. The practice is called community paramedicine, and for Deb Kaufman, former Sheridan County EMS director, it’s just another phrase to convey what her staff of 20 volunteers have been doing for years. “It takes a lot of dedication,” she says. “We don’t fill all the needs (of our community), we still have patients who need additional care who aren’t getting it.”
Source: KLC Journal
Tornado touches down in Westmoreland [VIDEO]
A tornado touched down in Westmoreland on Tuesday afternoon about fifteen miles north of Manhattan damaging homes and buildings, displacing many and also leading to the fatality of one individual and several injuries. The tornado touched down around 4:40pm following the issuance of a tornado warning by the National Weather Service in Topeka. At 4:43pm, reports came in saying the tornado had damaged homes in the area, particularly around Walnut Street. The tornado finally dissipated around 4:50pm leaving many without power, approximately 925 in the city of Westmoreland. (…) At this time, a number of power outages are still active in Riley, Geary, Pottawatomie, and Wabaunsee Counties according to Evergy. Pottawatomie County has also issued a notice that county offices will be closed on Wednesday. Rock Creek Schools have announced that they will not be in session on Wednesday to allow time for families to recover from the Westmoreland tornado. The National Weather Service has announced that it will also dispatch personnel to Nemaha, Pottawatomie, Shawnee, and Jefferson Counties to conduct storm surveys. Results will be posted as they become available.
Source: 1350 KMAN
More rules proposed for owning dogs, cats in Wichita, including mandatory microchipping
A new proposal could require Wichita pet owners to microchip their cats and dogs. Jan Jarman, assistant city attorney, presented the recommendation from an Animal Control Advisory Board subcommittee last week during a Wichita City Council workshop at City Hall. “We think it would help get animals back into their homes when animals are found running the streets,” Jarman said at the April 23 workshop. “If every animal was required to have a microchip, it would help us keep them out of the shelter, which is our goal, and we think we could implement that.” A microchip is roughly the size of a grain of rice and is implanted between a pet’s shoulder blades. The chip includes a 15-digit code with the owner’s information, but does not have GPS or tracking capabilities. “It is the best thing your animal can have, other than a collar and ID tag, for any rescue, shelter, or vet to return them to you,” Jordan Bani-Younes, director of communication with the Kansas Humane Society, said in an email to the Wichita Eagle. According to Bani-Younes, 1 in 3 pets go missing over their lifetime, and having a microchip could help return pets to their owners. The proposals will likely be presented to the council in early June, City Spokesperson Megan Lovely told the Eagle via email.
Source: Local News | Wichita Eagle
Municipal Bond Trends for April 30, 2024
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, or Henry Schmidt.
Municipal Bond Trends for April 29, 2024
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, or Henry Schmidt.
Kansas Supreme Court: Cities and counties may enact broad zoning ordinances and procedures so long as they do not violate state zoning statutes
Cities and counties may enact broad zoning ordinances and procedures so long as they do not violate state zoning statutes. State zoning statutes do not prohibit zoning authorities from treating applications for multi-family residential planned unit developments as zoning amendments governed by K.S.A. 12-757. Zoning authorities are not prohibited from applying the protest provisions of K.S.A. 12-757(f)(1) to multi-family residential planned unit development applications. When neighbors file a valid protest petition against a zoning amendment pursuant to K.S.A. 12-757(f), the zoning authority can only approve the amendment by a 3/4 majority vote. If a zoning authority fails to approve a protested zoning amendment by 3/4 majority vote, the protested zoning amendment is denied, and the processes for resubmission of failed zoning amendments in K.S.A. 12-757(d) are inapplicable.
Read the case: AUSTIN PROPERTIES, LLC v. CITY OF SHAWNEE
Municipal Bond Trends for April 26, 2024
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, or Henry Schmidt.
Kansas sets higher bar for police seizure after accusations of for-profit policing
Kansas reformed civil asset forfeiture — the law enforcement tactic of seizing property suspected of being used in a crime — to be more limited in scope and requiring higher standards of evidence. … The legislation comes after a committee made up of legislators, litigators, law enforcement and local government officials conducted a study on civil asset forfeiture in 2023. The study found that Kansas law enforcement agencies collected over $13 million during about 2,000 incidents over a three-and-a-half-year period.
Source: Hutch News
SculptureTour Salina 2024 kicks off with UNwrap Party
The 2024 SculptureTour Salina is almost here and downtown visitors can have a chance to see all of this year’s pieces of art after they are unwrapped over the weekend. The UNwrap Party begins at 11 a.m. May 4, with all 22 sculptures simultaneously unwrapped throughout downtown Salina. After the unwrapping, people are encouraged to find a walking tour ballot and taking a walk on the full Sculpture Tour, seeing all 22 of this year’s pieces.
Source: Salina Journal
Municipal Bond Trends for April 25, 2024
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, or Henry Schmidt.
Feds approve $452 million Kansas broadband plan
Kansas is getting $452 million in federal funds to be used to expand broadband across, and state officials are getting closer having shovels in the ground on infrastructure projects. … With the approval, Kansas can now designate project funding areas where applicants can competitively bid to provide service. Bidding will begin in July, but in the mean time, the state will open a pre-registration portal for applicants to start submitting documentation of their qualifications and capabilities.
Source: Hutch News