Edgerton city officials shared their eligibility requirements and details for their newly implemented senior property tax rebate program at Thursday’s city council meeting. ... To be eligible, residents must own their home, be 65 years old or older, have a valid proof of ID and be current on their property taxes and any special assessments. Source: Gardner News

On a bright, sunny and mild Valentine’s Day afternoon, Edgerton’s new and lifelong residents participated alongside city officials and local businesses to sign the final steel beam for The Greenspace building. Mayor Don Roberts said city officials invited everyone to participate in the historical moment for Edgerton. “It is your opportunity to put your name on our building,” he said. Source: Gardner News

The Johnson County Board of County Commissioners renewed a $538,858 contract last week for Edgerton to continue receiving law enforcement services from the sheriff’s office in 2024.The issue was discussed during the board’s Thursday meeting. Brian Seidler, Johnson County Sheriff’s Office budget director, said the county has held the agreement with Edgerton since 1996 since the city does not have its own police department. According to the agreement, the sheriff’s office patrols a district that includes the Johnson County line on the west and south, West 167th Street on the north and Gardner Road/Center Street on the east. Source: Gardner News

Two years ago, the City of Edgerton approved a $75,000 project to explore repairing the Edgerton Lake Dam as part of the city’s 2022-2026 capital improvement project. During the Edgerton City Council meeting last month, city council members agreed to pay Affinis $115,000 for a draft scope and contingency covering various project expenses related to city engineer time and printing materials. The draft scope fee is $105,425, and the contingency portion of the project is $9,575.City officials said the additional $40,000 will come from a special park and recreation fund, with the original $75,000 from the park impact fee. CIP project [...]

A year after local residents voiced their desire to the Gardner City Council to have an inclusive playground for disabled and special-needs children, a large crowd gathered at Veterans Park Friday morning to celebrate the city’s first play area of its kind.Community advocate Jennifer Smith said she wanted to thank her children for teaching her how to advocate and be their voice when they did not have one.“And for also teaching me how to be a better human towards others,” she said. Source: Gardner News

Lynne Hermansen Gardner News School officials discuss cell phone usage The Gardner Edgerton Board of Education is joining a class-action lawsuit for vaping ads targeting youth on social media. Board officials decided to join the suit at Monday’s monthly board meeting. Superintendent Dr. Brian Huff said the lawsuit was similar to a previous class-action lawsuit several Johnson County school districts participated in against Juul tobacco and vaping products. Source: Gardner News

Edgerton History Museum prepares for 10th anniversary in October Tucked away on the other side of City Hall on Nelson Street in downtown Edgerton sits a two-story house holding all the historical treasures of stories from the city’s past. Local lifetime resident and historian Charlie Troutner has meticulously curated artifacts, scraps, donations from residents past and present to share the story of Edgerton. Troutner said he volunteers out of love. “I feel like it is important for our residents to know the history of the town they live in..." Source: Gardner News

Edgerton city officials are reviewing the community’s streetlights as they develop plans to modernize them after a 2022 citizen survey showed residents were dissatisfied with the quality and number of streetlights throughout the city. ... The city has 294 streetlights within its city limits. Of those, 120 residential street lights are 10 to 15 years old and owned by Evergy, but leased to the city. The lighting at Logistics Park and the Homestead Street interchange bridge are owned by the City of Edgerton. ...[engineer's] staff used a collector app to document each fixture with photographs and looked at inventory types of poles [...]

Cemeteries are on my mind a lot lately, due to the time of the year I suppose, although I tend to think about them often. I sometimes watch videos on how to clean headstones and about people who repair headstones that have fallen over, I research people and photograph headstones for others. Before my dad passed, my family would sometimes ask why I spent so much time in our cemetery. It seemed odd to them. The answer is simple. It’s the history. It’s only been in the last couple of years that I have realized that I’m the type of person [...]

DeSoto City leaders reviewed the first set of plans for the new Panasonic $4 billion electric vehicle battery plant, Tuesday, December 20. A site plan was submitted to city leaders from SSOE Group, an architecture and engineering firm representing Panasonic. The tentative plans for the new battery manufacturing facility show a two-story, U-shaped building to be constructed near the southwest corner of West 103rd Street and Dual Drive. The plans for the 2,739,000 square-foot manufacturing building includes several parking lots surrounding the main building and three detention ponds to the east of the main facility. Source: Gardner News