Kansas Municipal News
County to transfer former hospital building, COVID-19 funds to Legacy Health; specifics not revealed
Bourbon County officials are making the next steps toward the future of health care in the county. On Tuesday, Bourbon County Commissioners approved a series of motions related to a potential future project involving the Bourbon County Medical Building, formerly the Mercy Hospital building. County officials will sign agreements with Legacy Health LLC, a California company.
Source: Fort Scott Tribune
Fed’s Waller says he’s open to a half-point rate hike at December meeting
Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said Wednesday he’s open to reducing the level of interest rate increases soon so long as the economic data cooperate. The rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee is set to meet Dec. 13-14, with market expectations running high that policymakers will approve another rate hike, but this time opting for a 0.5 percentage point, or 50 basis point move. That would come after approving four consecutive 0.75 percentage point increases.
Source: Economy
Giant Communications receives grant to expand service in Denison
Giant Communications has been awarded nearly $900,000 in grant funds from the state to expand internet services to residents living in Denison and the surrounding area, Gov. Laura Kelly announced on Monday. “This grant will allow Giant to build fiber-to-the-home to the town of Denison and close surrounding areas,” said Austin Taylor, Giant Communications general manager. “This was one of our largest problem areas during the COVID pandemic, when attempting to connect homeschoolers, anyone in need of telemedicine and folks who needed to work from home.” A total of $15.7 million will be awarded to seven service providers, including Giant, that will bring high-speed broadband service to underserved, economically distressed and low-population areas of the state, it was reported.
Source: Holton Recorder
Hays USD 489 discusses potential branding changes
The Hays USD 489 community could soon be debating on whether or not to change the high school’s mascot: The Hays High Indians. That’s why the district held a community conversation Tuesday night. The district’s superintendent says the goal of the meeting was not to make any final decisions or changes but rather to create a “launch point” to gauge how the Hays community feels about the district’s branding moving forward.
Source: KSN-TV
How a Kansas ghost town got its name
Tucked away in Butler County, not far from a bend in the Little Walnut River, lies the ghost town of Boder. There’s not much left of the town itself. There’s the old post office which closed shortly after the start of the 20th century, a farmhouse, the ruins of a grist mill, and the Little Walnut Pratt Truss Bridge, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. However, Boder isn’t the town’s true name. It’s not even Bodarc, as it was often pronounced.
Source: KSN-TV
Commissioner contends new Emporia policy prohibiting ‘unlawful camping’ on public property is aimed directly at local homeless population
Emporia City Commissioners have enacted a new policy that will make “unlawful camping” in a public space a misdemeanor crime. The ordinance will establish a new city code prohibiting camping on public property without a permit. According to City Attorney Christina Montgomery, the city, in cooperation with the Emporia Police Department, will now begin developing the permit application process. Commissioners approved the ordinance 4-1 with commissioner Susan Brinkman serving as the lone no vote. During the meeting, Brinkman stated the ordinance was full of “sanitized language” and believes the ordinance directly targets the city’s homeless population.
Source: KVOE Emporia Radio
Planners to consider container facility
A Rose Hill man’s application to create a facility to modify shipping containers a mile south of Hillsboro will be reviewed Dec. 1 by the county planning and zoning board. Quentin Heidt wants to build a staging and operating location to modify new and recycled containers to customers’ specifications. Heidt listed one of his reasons as providing assets for community members.
Source: PEABODY Gazette-Bulletin
Bodycam video shows Leawood Police pull woman from burning SUV
Bodycam video released by Leawood Police show officers pulling a woman from a burning vehicle. A 51-year-old woman suffered severe burns Monday afternoon after her SUV crashed and caught fire near the Tomahawk Creek trailhead, just east of Tomahawk Creek Parkway and Town Center Drive. First responders got to the scene just before 2:10 p.m. and found the SUV flipped on its side, its front engulfed in flames. The video clip released by Leawood Police is just under minute long and shows the perspective of one arriving officer, who approaches the SUV as other officers and Leawood firefighters are attempting to extricate the woman.
Source: Prairie Village Post
Task force seeks retail ban on single-use bags, Dillons working on phased elimination
Lori Lawrence, of Bag Free Wichita, and Sheila Regehr, of Dillons Food Stores based in Hutchinson, outlined on the Kansas Reflector podcast strategies aimed at taking a bite out of demand and supply of plastic bags. Lawrence is part of the Wichita City Council’s task force studying potential of an ordinance prohibiting use of plastic bags by businesses starting in 2023. Regehr is on Wichita’s task force but said Dillons, which is part of Kroger Co., has a plan to eliminate use of these bags in its stores by 2025. “I’ve been an environmentalist for some time and plastic bags are something that cannot be avoided in our city at this point. They are everywhere in the stores, but they’re also everywhere on the streets and in the trees and in our parks,” Lawrence said. “We finally got the single-use plastic bag task force set up with the city of Wichita, and we’ve had a great group of people working on this. We’ve come to a decision on banning bags.”
Source: Pratt Tribune
Future of Kansas town’s library uncertain after outpouring of support at commission meeting
Following public outcry about censorship, the St. Marys City Commission decided to table a vote on renewing the Pottawatomie Wabaunsee Regional Library’s lease. The lease is under threat because the library refused to comply with the commission’s request to remove all LGBTQ, sexual, racial or otherwise “socially divisive” content from its shelves. But with the lease ending in December, the library is still in a precarious situation. Every chair in the commission meeting room was filled for Tuesday night’s discussion about the library, with residents lined up against the walls to listen to debate. The majority of residents who spoke said they wanted the library to stay open.
Source: The Lawrence Times
Lawrence City Commission wants to consider a moratorium for rule on downtown liquor sales
Lawrence city commissioners on Tuesday deferred an amendment to city code that would have allowed John Brown’s Underground to keep operating — but they want to look at ways to expand the opportunity to other businesses, too. A long-standing city rule requires establishments with liquor licenses to derive no more than 45% of their sales from liquor. Passed in 1994, the rule allowed exemptions for 29 existing locations. The code still exempts new bars that open in the same buildings as any of those original 29. JBUG had maintained compliance with the rule in recent years by factoring in food sales from Wake the Dead, a brunch restaurant that was located directly above the bar. But the owner encountered health issues, and Wake the Dead closed its doors in 2021, leaving JBUG in a precarious position and out of compliance with that ratio.
Source: The Lawrence Times
Fed’s Daly sees rates rising at least another percentage point as ‘pausing is off the table’
San Francisco Federal Reserve President Mary Daly said Wednesday she expects the central bank to raise interest rates at least another percentage point, and possibly more, before it can pause to evaluate how the inflation fight is going. Daly told CNBC in a live interview that her most recent estimate in the Fed’s summary of economic projections puts the benchmark overnight lending rate around 5%. She added that the right range is probably from 4.75% to 5.25% from its current targeted range of 3.75%-4%. “I still think of that as a reasonable landing place for us before we hold, and the holding part is really important,” she told Steve Liesman during the “Squawk on the Street” interview. “It’s a raise-to-hold strategy.” Thus far, the Fed has hiked the fed funds rate, which spills over into a slew of other consumer debt products, six times, including four consecutive 0.75 percentage point moves. Looking ahead, market pricing is largely in line with what Daly suggested. Traders see the central bank adding another 0.5 percentage point when it meets again in mid-December, then moving a bit higher before stopping around the 4.75%-5% range.
Source: CNBC – Bonds
Lenexa taking Republic to court over trash pickup problems
Complaints about missed trash collections and slow response to customers by Republic Services are on the rise in Lenexa — so much so that the city has issued a citation. Complaints have been increasing the past few months about failures of the Phoenix, Ariz.-based company to pick up trash and recycling in a timely manner, said Scott McCullough, Lenexa community development director. To that end, the city has charged Republic with a code violation based on one of those complaints. The citation carries a possible $2,500 fine and is on the municipal court’s docket for Thursday, Nov. 17.
Source: Prairie Village Post
Bicyclist injured in crash on wet Olathe trail sues, says city didn’t maintain path
A bicyclist is suing the City of Olathe for $75,000 after crashing on a city trail, according to documents filed in Johnson County District Court earlier this month. According to court documents, Joyce Coker-Dreier was riding her bike along Meadow Lane Trail in September 2021. While riding, Coker-Dreier said she encountered a stretch of wet payment. Even after slowing down, she said her bike fell immediately because “the City allowed algae, mud, and/or other substances to accumulate” on the concrete, making it “extremely slick,” the documents allege. … Coker-Dreier is suing Olathe on four counts of liability and negligence-related claims. She is asking for a trial by jury.
Source: KC Star
Hesston Grocery Store plans unveiled
Hesston’s downtown will be reshaped by an 18,000-square-foot grocery store and long-promised TEFFI dollars. That’s according to the plan members of the Beneficient Company and its Beneficient Heartland Foundation presented at the Hesston City Council meeting Monday night. “The great thing about a store that size is it has the potential to drive 2,500 unique customers through the doors each week,” said Denise Goevert, Beneficient Heartland board member. “This will benefit all of our Main Street businesses in having the foot traffic generated through the store.”
Source: Harvey County Now
Royals considering several sites for new stadium, owner says
The Kansas City Royals have selected several potential sites to build a replacement for aging Kauffman Stadium, owner John Sherman said Tuesday. In a letter to fans posted on social media, Sherman said the sites are in or near downtown Kansas City, but he did not elaborate. Kauffman Stadium and Arrowhead Stadium, the home of the Kansas City Chiefs, are located far from the city’s downtown. … He said supporters envision a ballpark district around the new venue, with restaurants, shops, offices, hotels and affordable housing. After a push in the early 2000s to build a stadium downtown fizzled, Jackson County voters in April 2006 approved a sales tax increase to fund $250 million in renovations to Kauffman and Arrowhead. The new proposal will rely on continuing the team’s current public-private partnership and investment with several local jurisdictions and the state of Missouri, said Sherman, who pledged that Jackson County residents would not be asked to contribute more tax dollars to the stadium than they currently do.
Source: 1350 KMAN
Municipal Bond Trends for November 15, 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.
City of Eudora has ‘considerable concerns’ with proposed quarry right next to existing Hamm Quarry
A permit to establish a new quarry in Eudora is on the Lawrence-Douglas County Metropolitan Planning Commission’s agenda for approval Wednesday, and Eudora’s city staff has “considerable concerns” based largely on anticipated growth south of the city. The applicant, Topeka-based Mid-States Materials, is seeking approval to break ground on a limestone quarry at 1174 East 2300 Road, just southeast of Eudora and right across the road from the existing Hamm Quarry. According to a summary of the application, Mid-States Materials wants to operate the quarry on a 242-acre parcel — with no more than 50 acres open for quarrying activity at any time — for 20 years.
Source: LJWorld
Saline County stops using grading method after poor results
After gathering feedback from community members and observing results of a road grading method, Saline County has decided to stop using a technique on county roads that has left its residents unsatisfied and with complaints. The county has been testing a three-pass method of road grading that has both pros and cons, said Road and Bridge Administrator Darren Fisher, but has decided to stop using that method. Fisher presented his department’s findings to the County Commission a week ago. He cited the method’s pros and cons and heard from commissioners who passed along community concerns.
Source: Salina Journal
Municipal Bond Trends for November 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.