Kansas Municipal News
Kansas lawmakers say new audit shows ‘epic fail’ in COVID-19 aid spending
Hundreds of thousands of dollars of COVID-19 relief funds spent by state and local governments could have violated federal rules or was ill-advised, a report released Wednesday by the Legislature’s nonpartisan auditing office showed. The audit, which took into account funds spent under the CARES Act, comes as state officials are still grappling with how to spend millions in federal pandemic relief, with the process to dole out the money coming under fire over transparency concerns. Of the $18 million in expenditures by county governments, nonprofits and businesses reviewed by the Division of Legislative Post Audit, officials flagged $1.1 million in spending as ill-advised, with an additional $264,000 considered wasteful or excessive.
Source: CJonline
New Topeka city manager Stephen Wade wants government to be more transparent and customer-friendly
Making Topeka’s city government more transparent is key to new city manager Stephen Wade. So are improving customer service, making the city more developer-friendly and facilitating community conversations, he said. Ensuring that “voices that normally don’t get heard have a chance to speak” is what Wade sees his role as city manager as being during such talks, he said.
Source: CJonline
Local govt officials share how public service has — and has not —changed
A panel of three local government officials shared Thursday with participants in the Wichita Business Journal’s Emerging Leaders program how public service has — and has not — changed over their years in the industry. What’s remained steadfast, city manager Robert Layton said, is government’s core mission of making life better for the people that it serves.
The public’s perception of government, though, has taken on a new tone the last few decades. “We have to work harder to earn the public’s trust, and when you see things in the media about the times that we stub our toes… People still hold us accountable and expect the best from us,” Layton said.
Source: Wichita Business Journal
School districts are increasingly turning to four-day school weeks as a way to attract and retain staff, despite objections from some parents over child-care demands
Districts facing teacher shortages are increasingly turning to four-day school weeks as a means to attract and retain staff, despite objections from some parents over child-care demands and some evidence of lower test scores. So far, the trend has been particularly pronounced in rural communities in some Midwestern and Southern states. Dozens of districts in Texas, Missouri, Colorado and Oklahoma have adopted four-day weeks in recent years.
Source: Wall Street Journal
Municipal Bond Trends for September 14, 2022
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 and Beth Warren.
Audit reveals two-thirds of $48.5 million in broadband aid allocated to southern Kansas
Nearly two-thirds of $48.5 million in COVID-19 funding earmarked for expansion of broadband services to Kansas homes and businesses was invested in upgrading internet connectivity in the southern half of the state, an audit report said Wednesday. The Kansas Legislature’s auditing arm told a joint House and Senate committee the three southern regions of the state absorbed 35 of 66 grants or $30.4 million approved by Gov. Laura Kelly and legislators on the State Finance Council. The four northern regions took on the balance of the projects budgeted at $18.1 million. Overall, auditors said, the state didn’t find a suitable recipient for $1.5 million available for broadband improvements in unserved or underserved locations. State evaluators rejected 16 applications.
Source: Kansas Reflector
Johnson County expanding public trails onto former Sunflower ammo plant site
This week, Johnson County’s Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners approved the latest step in the county’s efforts to expand Kill Creek Park trails onto the former Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant site. Johnson County is expanding its Kill Creek trail system into the former Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant site. Johnson County’s Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners at a special board meeting Monday approved an agreement paving the way for JCPRD to eventually expand the Kill Creek Streamway Park trails onto the site of the former Sunflower Army Ammunition Army Plant.
Source: Shawnee Mission Post
Derby business community’s input sought on sales tax future
With the pending sunset of the Derby Difference sales tax in 2024, the city has started efforts to generate public feedback to shape the direction of future sales tax utilization. In line with that, the city hired Wichita State University’s Public Policy and Management Center to direct feedback efforts and create a community survey regarding the Derby Difference sales tax. As part of that, WSU staff will be holding focus groups to shape the survey – with members of the Derby Chamber of Commerce the first to participate in one held at a luncheon on Sept. 8.
Source: Derby Informer | News
Wind turbines going up in Marion County
Pieces of wind turbines for Sunflower Wind Farm will be seen on highways and roads in the county starting Oct. 3, planning and zoning director Sharon Omstead told county commissioners Monday. Erection of turbines is expected to begin Oct. 6. Omstead told commissioners excavation of turbine locations was 70% complete and turbine foundations were 40% complete.
Source: HILLSBORO Star-Journal
School security a top priority for districts
Keeping students safe in Jackson County’s three school districts remains a priority for the districts’ superintendents, particularly with a new school year just getting started and the effects of one of the deadliest school shootings in the nation’s history still reverberating with educators across the country. Officials in all three of the school districts — Holton, Jackson Heights and Royal Valley — worked with law enforcement agencies this past summer on how to bolster security in school buildings, with those efforts led by Joe Romans, a deputy with the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office who, as Royal Valley Superintendent Aaric Davis noted, serves as a “school safety specialist” for all county schools.
Source: Holton Recorder
‘It’s a numbers game’: Residents asking when downtown Wichita will finally get a grocery store
“We get that question a lot and really what it comes down to in that industry is it’s a numbers game,” said Jason Gregory with Downtown Wichita. Gregory with says right now there are about 3,500 people who live in what he calls the core of downtown. But, while there is a gap there, Gregory says it could be closed pretty quickly with businesses locating downtown and the potential of another school, WSU and KU’s joint health sciences’ campus, coming in the next few years. “I think we’re on the precipice of, you know, an explosion of growth. It’s really exciting times for downtown and I think the next five years are going to be some of the most exciting that we’ve seen yet.”
Source: KAKE – News
A giant solar farm project is pitting neighbor against neighbor
Frank Gieringer rides a flatbed trailer toward rows of apple trees loaded with Galas, Crimson Crisps and other varieties, ready for the picking. His family owns this bucolic orchard and berry farm outside Edgerton, Kansas. Just beyond its borders lie 2,000 acres of land, a potential location for the state’s first utility-scale solar farm. Gieringer says he’d welcome the new neighbor. “To really look at ‘em, it’s not a heck of a lot of difference than looking at an orchard or a vineyard really. It’s just rows of panels,” Gieringer says. “They’re harvesting sun. Same thing I’m doin’. All of agriculture sells the sunshine.”
Source: The Lawrence Times
Sedgwick County threatens to bill Wichita for minor marijuana cases after city decriminalizes
The Sedgwick County Commission has ordered a cost analysis of the Wichita City Council’s decision to decriminalize marijuana, exploring how much it would cost the county to book people in jail for misdemeanor marijuana offenses and pursue charges in district court. Commission Chairman David Dennis said Wednesday he plans to bill the city for any future costs of jailing and prosecuting people on misdemeanor marijuana charges. “At what point do we start charging the city of Wichita for this process,” Dennis said. “Because we’re going to bill them for all the people that go into our jail.”
Source: Wichita Eagle
Pickleball court ready for action in Sedgwick
Sedgwick Park is a new destination for pickleball enthusiasts. In the past week, the city finished converting the west side of its basketball slab into a pickleball court. City council member Monty Leonard, who spearheaded the project, was at the park last Friday afternoon applying a special paint to the concrete surface. “I grossly underestimated how much it takes to paint a pickleball court,” he said.
Source: Harvey County Now
Wichita, Sedgwick County growing more slowly than predicted
The populations of Wichita and Sedgwick County are growing slower than predicted. A 2015 city-county comprehensive plan predicted that, by 2035, Sedgwick County would reach a population of 610,000 and Wichita would reach 448,000. Now, the city-county planning department is predicting this won’t happen until 2045.
Source: Derby Informer | News
Why are people moving to a Kansas town of 120?
There’s no stoplight, no high rise, not even a Mcdonald’s. However, what the small town of Damar, Kansas, lacks in infrastructure, it makes up for in heart and personality. “It’s wonderful because most of it is the people here. They want to be here. They are not here just because they are born and raised here. They want to stay here,” said Jim Desbien, the treasurer for the Damar Community Foundation. Desbien’s family settled in the French Canadian heritage town, also known as the “Acadia of the West,” in the late 1800s.
Source: KSN-TV
Wichita City Council votes to decriminalize marijuana and fentanyl test strips
The Wichita City Council voted Tuesday to reduce the penalties for people caught with marijuana or fentanyl test strips. It was an issue that has been up for discussion in the past several months. Fentanyl strips would no longer be classified as drug paraphernalia, and marijuana possession would be decriminalized in the city. An average of 850 cases for illegal possession of marijuana are filed each year in municipal court. Possession of marijuana and marijuana paraphernalia would remain illegal under state law. Any charges for these crimes would need to be filed by the district attorney.
Source: KSN-TV
Pratt firemen honor 9-11 with bell ringing
It was a quiet Sunday morning in Pratt, but at specified times the big bell in front of City of Pratt Fire Department on Jackson Street rang out in honor of those who lost their lives, particularly first responders and fire fighters in New York City during a terrorist attack on the Twin Towers. Pratt City Fire Chief David Kramer, joined by firemen Mac Calloway, Eric Welch, Justin Garrett and a few others throughout the morning, rang the bell at 8:46 a.m. when the north tower was struck, again at 9:03 a.m. when the south tower was struck, and then at 9:37 a.m. when the Pentagon was hit by an airplane. “It’s been 21 years, but we still remember,” said Kramer. “We have had a busy week and at least of a third of our department is still on a training weekend so we didn’t plan a big public ceremony. But we are here because this is such a very important day in the history of our country. We hope others took the time to remember those who lost their lives in service.”
Source: Pratt Tribune
Bond yields continue climbing, 2-year Treasury tops 3.8%
U.S. Treasury yields continued to climb higher on Wednesday as investors digested the previous session’s dramatic market route triggered by a hot inflation reading. The yield on the 2-year Treasury, the part of the curve most sensitive to Fed policy, was trading 1 basis point higher at around 5:00 a.m. ET to reach 3.773%, at one point hitting as high as 3.805%, its highest level since November 2007. Tuesday’s session saw it surge 17 points. Yields move inversely to prices, and a basis point is equal to 0.01%. Meanwhile, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note was up just over one basis point, trading at 3.439%. The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond was up just over half of a basis point at 3.517%.
Source: CNBC – Bonds
Wichita beer festival, on hiatus since COVID, is making its big comeback at a local park
Beer lovers used to look forward every fall to the big Midwest Beerfest, which in its heyday would fill Century II with local, regional and national breweries passing out samples of their best brews. That event — which was always put on by the Wichita Chapter of the American Institute of Wine and Food — hasn’t happened since before the pandemic and still isn’t back this year. But another growing beer festival, which also has been on hiatus since the COVID-19 pandemic, is making a 2022 return and will be set up at a new venue.
Source: Wichita Eagle