Recently the Kansas Water Authority (KWA) met in Wichita for their December meeting. The KWA received updates on water priorities in the state but two main topics were the focus: 2019 Surplus Water Report and the Annual Report to the Governor and Legislature.
The KWA received updates on vital water projects and issues in the state including current interstate compacts, the Kansas Water Reservoir Protection Initiative, Harmful Algal Blooms as well as the Water Technology Farms.
The KWA approved the 2019 Surplus Water Report, and agreed to allow the Kansas Water Office to enter into Feasibility Cost Sharing Agreement with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the Kansas River Reservoirs Flood and Sediment Study.
The KWA approved the 2019 Annual Report to the Governor and Legislature and they also heard a presentation regarding non-public household water wells. The host was American AgCredit and the lunch was sponsored by KITS and 96 Agri Sales.
The KWA is responsible for advising the Governor, Legislature and Director of the Kansas Water Office on water policy issues.
They also ensure that water policies and programs address the needs of all Kansans as well as serve as advisors of the Kansas Water Vision and Kansas Water Plan.
The KWA was established in 1981 and consists of 13 voting members who are appointed by the Governor or Legislative leadership. State agency directors serve as ex-officio members.
The next meeting will be in Topeka, Kansas in January. The KWA meetings are throughout the year and for additional information and other upcoming meetings, visit www.kwo.ks.gov.
Bourbon County Economic Director Jody Hoener is working on a strategic plan.
“The overall economic development goal is to increase the tax base and lower taxes,” Hoener said. “I’ve been looking at ways to increase the population, looking at strategic activities and programs.”
“I’ve been putting together a strategic plan for the county,” she said. “It’s a process though. I’ve had talks with business and community members.”
“We will partner with the Chamber of Commerce to complete a business retention and expansion survey,” she said.
She hopes to be able to engage and fit small, medium and large businesses in the strategic plan.
Bourbon County Collaboration To Replace Ambulance Service
Bourbon County residents were stunned when Mercy Hospital Fort Scott announced that they would be closing Dec. 31.
Since then Hoenor, along with other county and city officials, have been collaborating on the retention of an ambulance service to fill the void following the closure of the hospital.
The Bourbon County Emergency Medical Services ambulances will be stationed where they currently are: one station at the Fort Scott Fire Department downtown and one station at the Mercy location south of town, Hoenor said. Mercy donated four ambulance trucks.
“The idea is and the current understanding is that the current employees (will keep their job),” she said.
Mercy will be running the EMS until April 1, when the branding and signage will change, Hoener said.
“It’s been pretty fast, everybody understands the strong urgency to it,” she said.
Hoener’s office is located in the Bourbon County Courthouse, 210 S. National Avenue and she can be reached at 620-223-3800 or mobile 620-215-5725 or www.bourboncountyks.org
The Design Review Board will meet on Thursday, January 3rd, 2019 at 4:00 p.m. at the City Hall Commission Meeting room at 123 S. Main Street, Fort Scott, Kansas. This meeting will be held to discuss a Certificate of Appropriateness for the building at 7 South National Avenue, 6 East Wall Street and 124 E. Wall Street. This meeting is open to the public.
The City of Fort Scott Public Works Department will be picking up discarded Christmas trees at no charge for City residents again this year. The pickup dates will occur on Friday, December 28th, 2018, Friday, January 4th, 2019, Friday, January 11th, 2019, Friday, January 18th, 2019 and Friday, January 25th, 2019.
The Public Works Department asks that you place the tree at the curbside off the street and call City Hall at 223-0550 with your address and name to schedule the pickup.
The discarded trees will be used to enhance fish and wildlife habitat in the City owned water structure properties.
The City of Fort Scott Administrative offices will be closed on Tuesday, January 1st, 2019 in observance of the New Year’s Day Holiday. The regular offices will reopen on Wednesday, January 2nd, 2019.
The City’s tree and brush dump site located on North Hill will also be closed on Saturday, December 29th, 2018 for the New Year’s holiday. It will be open again on Thursday, January 3rd, 2019 from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Kansas WIC Program Would Remain Open During Potential Federal Government Shutdown
350 Kansas stores would continue to process WIC transactions
TOPEKA – The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) is letting citizens know that if the Federal Government shuts down on Friday, Dec. 21, the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program would continue to operate. This would include providing nutritional food benefits, nutrition education, breastfeeding support and referral services. WIC is the USDA funded nutrition program for low-income pregnant women, infants and children from birth to age 5.
“All eligible participants would continue to receive WIC benefits and new applicants would be certified and receive benefits,” said Rachel Sisson, MS, Director of the KDHE Bureau of Family Health. “There are 350 stores in Kansas authorized to provide WIC foods to clients. During a shutdown, all stores would continue to process WIC transactions and would continue to be paid for food purchased by WIC participants.”
The WIC program is administered by KDHE through contracts with county health departments. There are 120 county WIC clinics in Kansas where eligible participants may apply for services.
Information about the Kansas WIC program is located on the web at www.kansaswic.org.
Fort Scott City Manager Dave Martin gave the attendees of the Chamber of Commerce weekly coffee an update on the 2018 happenings in the city on Dec. 20.
“We got a lot accomplished in 2018,” Martin said. “We had some things thrown at us, but I think we stepped up to the plate.”
The following, provided by Martin, are the completed projects that were a high priority:
Tourism:
The city welcomed more than 5,500 visitors to the new tourism office at the office shared with the Chamber of Commerce, 445 visitor tours on Dolly the Trolley since July, a new lavender festival event, a new Boos and Brews Event, a new Veteran’s Weekend Celebration, the assumption of operations at the La Roche Complex and a Division 1 World Series proposal, the county law change on 30 percent food requirements allowed for the local microbrewery business.
Emergency services:
The city installed the Nex Gen Att and Hosted ITI at the police and fire department, signed a contract with the county to collaborate on Emergency Medical Services and will provide the Human Resource assistance with the services, and added a police K-9 unit with no impact to the budget.
Human Resources:
As of December 2018, there are 97 full-time and 29 part-time employees of the City of Fort Scott. There are monthly KMU training sessions and continued education for all departments. The city is working with Craw-Kan Telephone on a phased upgrade to the IT infrastructure. The city provided a physical activity initiative for its employees and also updated the employee handbook. The city provided an FSA vendor administration transition.
There are four city personnel retirements: Jon Garrison on Sept. 9, Kenny Howard on Dec. 28, Johnny Keating on Jan. 3. 2019, and Shaun West on Dec. 20. There will be a reception for Howard on Dec. 28 at 2 p.m. at city hall and reception for Keating on Jan 3 at 2 p.m. at the fire station.
Promotions this year: Rhonda Dunn to Director of Finance, Jerry Morgan to Streets Supervisor, Jason Pickert to Police Captain, Jacob May and Clint Roberts to Fire Dept. Captain, Alex Schafer, and Clint Lawrence to FSFD Lieutenant Reserves to full-time.
Dav Mohler and Cody McGehee graduated from the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center.
New employees are Robert Uhler, Director of Community Development; Seth Simpson, airport manager; Bill Rost, WWC maintenance.
Those who have taken the Certified Public Manager designation, a program to prepare managers for careers in government: 2001-Dave Martin, 2014-Paul Ballou, 2015-Travis Shelton, 2016-Dave Bruner, and Traci Reed, 2017-Jason Pickert, 2018-Chad Brown and Larry Gazaway, 2019-Robert Uhler and Michael Mix.
Streets and streets:
The city spent $200,000 on streets in 2018.
The 2018 Sidewalk, Curb and Gutter Program approved six grants in the amount of $12,000 with owner investment of $24,595.
Water utility:
The city maintained 220 miles of water and sewer lines, including 3,100 water connections, rebuilt pump no. 1 and the Fort Scott Community College booster update, added pickleball court lighting, generator load bank, and valve leash, PACP Certification, Vactor training from Key Equipment, added GIS map update, announced refusal to accept grease loads, and provided multiple repairs to the sanitary sewer system.
Community Amenities:
There was a new public golf cart shed constructed, expansion of Craw-Kan Telephone Cooperative fiber network and updates at Lake Fort Scott.
Finance/Codes:
There were 309 building permits issued for revenue of $8,340.
The number of codes cases resulting in a letter or ticket was 473. There were 27 demolition projects: nine were torn down by the city at a cost of $31,043; ten were torn down by the owner which saved $35,000; four were owner repaired; four are in process.
The three officers and director have achieved Kansas Certified Code Enforcement Officer status.
Community Development:
A Fort Scott Landbank was established.
A new direction is being taken by the Food Alliance, with the possibility of a community food bank.
A healthcare task force was formed between the city and Bourbon County.
Economic Development:
Business assistance for relocation, expansion and new businesses was provided by Bourbon County Economic Develpment Council.
A City of Fort Scott Five-Year Comprehensive Plan was approved.
The city reapplied for Kansas Housing Tax Credits to support redevelopment of the Union Building, downtown. This project will add much-needed housing for the workforce.
The city approved nine Downtown Building Improvement Grants totaling $38,904 with an owner investment of $54,898.
The airport revenue increased 75-percent in jet fuel sales from 2017 to 2018. The airport received $286,522 in Kansas Dept. of Transportation Aviation Grants from the Ks. Airport Improvement Program. Grants were completed for future airport expansion.
The Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) requests comments on an amendment to the FFY 2019-2022 Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) document.
The STIP is a project specific publication that lists all KDOT administered projects, regardless of funding source, and includes projects for counties and cities as well as projects on the State Highway System. The list of projects being amended to the STIP can be viewed at http://www.ksdot.org/bureaus/burProgProjMgmt/stip/stip.asp
The approval of the STIP amendment requires a public comment period, which concludes Jan. 2, 2019. To make comments on the amendment, contact KDOT’s Bureau of Program and Project Management at (785) 296-2252.
This information is available in alternative accessible formats. To obtain an alternative format, contact the KDOT Office of Public Affairs, (785) 296-3585 (Voice/Hearing Impaired-711).
TO PREVENT THE TRANSFERS FROM THE STATE HIGHWAY FUND
GALENA- Senator Richard Hilderbrand (R-Galena) pre-files SCR 1601to prevent transfers and limit expenditures from the state highway fund to only those items related to transportation set forth in the amendment.
“The state of Kansas has swept $3.35 billion from the state highway fund over the last several years. This last fiscal year the state swept over $290 million. This has left a devastating effect on not only the safety but the long-term economic impact of our great state.
The state of Kansas currently has 25 T-Works projects delayed because of a lack of funding. The total cost to fund those 25 projects would be $553 million. In just two years after this bill becomes law, all 25 of those T-Works projects could be funded.
We must stop robbing from Peter to pay Paul, and bring fiscal accountability back to Kansas!
I will continue to work hard in Topeka to continue infrastructure investments in Southeast Kansas, to encourage growth and allow us to remain competitive throughout the state and entire nation.”
9:00-Commissioners to have a meeting regarding Economic Development
Justifications for Executive Session:
Personnel matters of individual non-elected personnel
Consultation with an attorney for the body or agency which would be deemed privileged in the attorney-client relationship
Matters relating to employer-employee negotiations whether or not in consultation with the representative(s) of the body or agency
Confidential data relating to financial affairs or trade secrets of corporations, partnerships, trusts and individual proprietorships
Preliminary discussions relating to the acquisition of real property
Matters relating to the security of a public body or agency, public building or facility or the information system of a public body or agency, if the discussion of such matters at an open meeting would jeopardize the security of such public body, agency, building, facility or information system
Division of Vehicles announces extended holiday hours
TOPEKA—Driver’s license offices statewide will offer extended hours the week of Christmas and New Years for added customer convenience, the Division of Vehicles announced Tuesday.
The hours for the two week holiday schedule beginning December 24 are:
December 24 — CLOSED Monday
December 25 — CLOSED Tuesday
December 26 — 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday
December 27 — 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday
December 28 – 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday
December 31 — 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday
January 1 — CLOSED Tuesday
January 2 — 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday
January 3 – 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday
January 4 — 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday
Many customers can skip the office entirely and renew their license using the iKan app, available for iOS, Android, and at https://ikan.ks.gov/.
Customer seeking Real ID should come in to the office with the required documents that can be found on a checklist at ksrevenue.org/realid.
Normal business hours will resume on Monday, January 7, which for most offices statewide is 8 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Monday through Friday. To find hours for specific locations, visit https://www.ksrevenue.org/dovstations.html
