Kansas Municipal News
CodeRED notifications come to city of Emporia
Emporia residents have a new option to receive city notifications, according to city communications manager Christine Johnson. Johnson told the Emporia City Commission that the CodeRED Mass Notification System will allow the city of Emporia to send notifications by text, email, and automated phone call to any residents who sign up for the service via text message or the city website. She said the system was adopted to “create a way to get messages to residents,” about non-emergency issues like waterline breaks and street closures and just general information. Right now, the program will not be used for weather notifications or Integrated Public Alert & Warning System (IPAWS) notifications designated at the county level.
Source: Emporia Gazette
Emporia to allow residential chickens beginning Jan. 1
The Emporia City Commission approved an ordinance allowing residents to keep up to four chickens on their properties within city limits Wednesday morning. Chickens have not officially been permitted within city limits since 2012. City attorney Christina Montgomery said Ordinance 22-48 goes into effect Jan. 1, 2023 and allows a resident to keep up to four chickens in residential districts with a domestic farm animal permit. The permit includes a $50 per year application fee, mandatory annual inspections and requirements for size, location and maintenance standards when it comes to chicken enclosures.
Source: Emporia Gazette
Ellinwood awarded construction funds for new hospital
Ellinwood’s work to secure funding for a replacement hospital through the USDA has proven to be worth the hard work and efforts. The Ellinwood Hospital District Board of Trustees has been notified that the $25 million in requested funding has officially been obligated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Construction of a new hospital and clinic and is expected to begin late this year or early in 2023, CEO Kile Magner stated in a news release. “This has been quite a process to say the least, and we are thrilled that all of the team’s hard work has paid off,” Magner said.
Source: Great Bend Tribune
KDOT shortages could hinder efforts this winter
The Kansas Department of Transportation is committed to keeping the highways cleared when inclement weather impacts the state, but staffing shortages continue to affect the agency with not enough snowplow operators in many areas. These ongoing shortages could affect KDOT’s ability to clear snow and ice from highways in a timely manner, said Transportation Secretary Julie Lorenz. “We want motorists to know ahead of time – it’s not a matter of if the highways will be cleared this winter, but when,” Lorenz said. “KDOT crews will be proactive by shifting crews and pretreating surfaces whenever possible but having fewer employees could cause delays in removing snow and ice from all the affected roadways.”
Source: Great Bend Tribune
Schwan’s to build new distribution center in Salina, bring more jobs
Schwan’s Company announced Thursday it plans to build a 140,000-square-foot refrigerated distribution center at its pizza-manufacturing facility in Salina. Company leaders joined government and civic officials in Salina to share details of the new project and thank the Salina and greater Kansas community. The distribution center is a new project in addition to the 400,000-square-foot expansion currently underway, the company said. The project, which is expected to begin in 2023 and be completed in early 2025, will expand the total distribution center space to 245,000 square feet. The new distribution center space will be used to store food produced by employees at the company’s pizza plant.
Source: KAKE – News
Wichita Superintendent Alicia Thompson plans to retire at end of school year
Alicia Thompson, the first woman and first Black superintendent of Wichita Public Schools, will retire at the end of the school year, district officials said on Thursday. Thompson, 53, has held the top position for the state’s largest school district since 2017. She has worked for USD 259 for 31 years, starting as a kindergarten teacher at Ingalls Elementary School. In a letter sent to parents on Thursday afternoon, Thompson said she will be eligible to retire through KPERS — short for Kansas Public Employees Retirement System — at the end of the school year.
Source: Wichita Eagle
Parsons voters to decide fate of public safety sales tax increase
Next week Parsons voters will decide the fate of a public safety sales tax. Parsons voters will be asked to increase the current half-cent sales tax to a one-penny sales tax that would go into effect on January 1st, 2024. This will provide money for both the Parsons Police Department and the Fire Department for things like ensuring competitive wages to retain staff, modernizing and replacing old equipment, as well as house fire and police together in a new modern facility. “The sales tax, again it is critical for police and fire this year that an increase will help us to you know stabilize our wages for police and fire over the past 25 years. Both the police and fire department have really been a training ground for other agencies, larger agencies. They can pay much more competitive wages,” said Robert Spinks, Chief of Parsons PD.
Source: KSNF/KODE
Osage City has new highway: K-31 opens after monthslong closure
Kansas Department of Transportation announced yesterday through social media that state Highway 31, between Osage City and U.S. Highway 75, has been reopened, as of Nov. 2, 2022. KDOT reports work will continue along the sides of the highway, with the project expected to be completed in January.
Source: Osage County Online
Parsons Police to participate in No Shave November, preparing for Shop with a Cop event
In past years, No Shave November was observed by members of the Parsons Police Department. With the COVID-19 pandemic and mask mandates for officers, that tradition was halted. This year, officers can choose to participate in this tradition. Officers and staff members allowed to participate in this year’s No Shave November event will contribute to the department’s Shop with a Cop program, which helps support underprivileged children in the community. Working in conjunction with the Duke Mason Band and other community members and organizations, the department, with the help of Labette County Sheriff’s Office, Kansas Highway Patrol, Parsons Fire Department and Labette County EMS, 25 children got to shop with first responders last year.
Source: Parsons Sun
John Brown’s Underground is proposing a change to Lawrence city codes on downtown liquor sales. The bar’s survival depends on it
John Brown’s Underground, a speakeasy-inspired craft cocktail lounge in downtown Lawrence, has made a creative addition to the local bar scene since it opened in 2014. But a city code that was designed to limit liquor sales downtown is now threatening the business’s future. This 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, including Louise’s and Harbour Lights. The code still exempts new bars that open in the same buildings as any of those original 29.
Source: The Lawrence Times
Kansas might let homes take more toddlers amid child care shortage. Critics worry about safety
Corinne Carr has about a half dozen seven parents the waiting list to enroll their children in her home day care business. Changes pending with state regulators would let her take in more children, but she’s not headed in that direction. “I don’t feel that it’s safe for the children,” she said. Currently, a child care operation with two workers can take in four children younger than 18 months. Now the state is looking at loosening the rules so that family child care providers with just one worker could look after up to four toddlers, or children under 12 months old, at once and still enroll two children between the ages of 1 and 5 years old.
Source: The Lawrence Times
Planners begin to outline Chanute’s 150th celebration
Planners for Chanute’s 150th anniversary celebration will meet next Thursday to begin their work. Chanute Area Chamber of Commerce & Office of Tourism Director Jane Brophy told members of the Tourism Committee at Wednesday’s meeting that the 150th anniversary committee will meet at 5:15 pm Thursday, Nov. 10, at the office of Main Street Chanute, which is partnering with the Chamber to take the lead on the anniversary celebration. Brophy shared the results of a survey of proposed events, which the committee will review, she said. It will also set a year-long timeline for events, and plans to be on the city commission agenda Nov. 14 to present preliminary ideas.
Source: www.chanute.com
Municipal Bond Trends for November 2, 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.
Reno County puts liquor by drink without food sales on 2023 ballot
The next round is on the voters. The Reno County Commission on Tuesday agreed to put a question on the ballot this time next year asking voters whether to allow businesses to serve alcohol by the drink without a minimum food sales requirement. The issue was raised in September when Hutchinson microbrewery owner Pippin Williamson ran into trouble with state regulators who threatened not to renew his license because he’d not met the state requirement that 30% of gross sales come from food. The community rallied around Williamson and Sandhills Brewery during a week of nightly events, and he raised more than $35,000 from food sales to meet the minimum.
Source: Hutch News
Garden City discusses childcare crisis
The local childcare shortage was discussed at the Garden City Commission’s regular meeting Tuesday. Community member Brock Kendrick voiced his concern on the shortage of daycare within Garden City, especially among the temporary closure of the Community Day Care Center this week. While temporarily closed, Kendrick said the center is battling through “its last title wave before it’s set to sink”. The Community Day Care Centers Board held an emergency meeting on Oct. 28, choosing to close for a week with the possibility of closing within three to five months if no help is given. The day care has been struggling in multiple areas for some time now, Kendrick said. On the financial side, it’s been operating in the red for an extended period of time, on remaining open until recently because they were using the government provided Paycheck Protection Program funds which were originally supposed to be a loan COVID-19 relief but was later chosen to be forgiven.
Source: Garden City Telegram
Fed rate hikes could go even further than expected as Powell commits to stomp out inflation
Going into this week’s meeting, markets were hoping for a sign that the Fed, after a fourth straight 0.75-percentage-point rate increase, might soon pivot to a slower tightening pace, and perhaps an outright pause. The Fed statement released at 2 p.m. Wednesday suggested it would: “In determining the pace of future increases…the [Fed] will take into account the cumulative tightening of monetary policy [and] the lags with which monetary policy affects economic activity and inflation.” The resulting jump in stock prices and the fall in bond yields was short lived. Soon after Mr. Powell started his press conference at 2:30 p.m., he explained that even if rate increases slow, “we may ultimately move to higher levels than we thought at the September meeting.”
Source: WSJ
Fed approves 0.75-point hike to take rates to highest since 2008 and hints at change in policy ahead
The Federal Reserve on Wednesday approved a fourth consecutive three-quarter point interest rate increase and signaled a potential change in how it will approach monetary policy to bring down inflation. In a well-telegraphed move that markets had been expecting for weeks, the central bank raised its short-term borrowing rate by 0.75 percentage point to a target range of 3.75%-4%, the highest level since January 2008. The move continued the most aggressive pace of monetary policy tightening since the early 1980s, the last time inflation ran this high.
Source: CNBC – Bonds
Washington County to receive almost $1.6 million from wind farm over next decade
Towers will be at least 1,500 feet from non-participating occupied primary residential dwellings and 1.2 times the tower height away from non-participating property lines from the center of the base of the tower. Towers will be setback at least 1.1 times the tower height plus 30 feet from any county, township, state or federal right-of way currently in existence, excluding private roads. No turbines will be installed within a mile of a town. Four agreements with High Banks Wind, LLC, were unanimously signed by the Washington County Commission on Monday for the High Banks Wind Project, including a development agreement, road use agreement, contribution agreement and decommissioning agreement.
Source: Backroads News
Panasonic breaks ground on massive De Soto battery plant predicted to transform KC region
Panasonic officially started construction of a new electric vehicle battery plant in De Soto, Kansas, on Wednesday. It’s the largest economic development project in the history of Kansas. The Japanese company said it will begin mass producing batteries in De Soto for the booming electric vehicle market by March 2025. Panasonic said building cylindrical “2170” lithium-ion batteries in De Soto will spur innovation and provide critical production capacity to fuel economic growth and other opportunities for the entire region.
Source: fox4kc.com | FOX 4 – WDAF
City of Emporia set to rollout new mass notification system Monday
The city of Emporia is set to expand communication with local residents with the rollout of a new mass notification system. According to City Communications Manager Christine Johnson during the Emporia City Commission’s regular action/study meeting Wednesday, beginning next week the city will be utilizing the CodeRed mass notification system for non-life threatening emergency situations and general notifications. This includes water line breaks, street closures and the like. Johnson says increased communication with local residents has been a major goal for the city in recent months and this is a great tool to help reach that goal.
Source: KVOE Emporia Radio