ROBERT PIERCE
• Leader & Times
This year’s session of the Kansas Legislature kicked off in January, and officials from Seward County and the City of Liberal spent a few days in Topeka that month attending a few events and meetings in the state capitol.
The first event came with the annual Pancakes at the Capitol, and Seward County Administrator April Warden said she and Commission Chairman Scott Carr were joined by officials with the city, the Liberal Convention & Tourism Bureau and the International Pancake Day Board to serve pancakes, sausage, fruit, juice and coffee to House representatives, senators, Gov. Laura Kelly and staffers at the capitol.
Warden said Kansas 125th House District Representative Shannon Francis plays a key part in the event and its scheduling.
“He introduces us to key stakeholders and issues we’re there to address and that have an affect on our community,” she said.
At Pancakes at the Capitol, Warden, a Pancake Day volunteer, said local leaders get to share some history of the local celebration and what it is about, and they are also allowed to invite state leaders out for the festivities.
One project that has been addressed for some time is the Massoni Bridge near Kismet, and during their time in Topeka, Warden said local leaders made some headway with that issue.
“This year, we were able to actually visit face to face with Ben Jones, who works with Union Pacific Railroad,” she said. “While we’ve had conference calls or Zoom meetings, we’ve never been able to meet with him face to face, and it was nice to have that opportunity.”
Local leaders also attended the winter meeting of the Kansas Legislative Policy Group, and Warden said the meeting featured many good presentations.
“We got to hear from the Honorable Justice K.J. Wall,” she said. “He’s with the Kansas Supreme Court and the chair of the Kansas Rural Justice Initiative Committee. He really had a good overview of the shortage we have on attorneys in the state of Kansas and posing the question of how do we draw those attorneys to our rural communities, bring them home to the state of Kansas and recruit them here.”
Warden said the group likewise got an update on tax policy from House Committee on Taxation Chair Adam Smith, and they also heard from K-State Professor Dr. Alan Featherstone, the head and director of the Master of Agribusiness Program for the Department of Agricultural Economics at that school.
“He talked to us about agriculture valuation and land use value methodology,” Warden said of Featherstone’s presentation. “That was a really interesting presentation. There was a lot to understand about that one and a lot of good information. We probably needed more time to wrap your head around all of it and absorb all of it.”
Also at the KLPG meeting was Kansas Administration Secretary Adam Proffitt, who provided an economic outlook for the state, as well as KLPG legislative representatives Doug Smith and John Pinegar, who updated the group on happenings in the legislative session’s first month.
Lastly at KLPG, local leaders heard from the House Appropriations Chairman Troy Waymaster, who Warden said provided a good update on the state’s budget.
“Things are moving along quickly at the statehouse this year,” she said. “They are really trying to stick with a 90-day session. While we were there, there were hundreds of bills that were being heard, and they said there were 500 more that had been proposed to bill writers to try to get presented in the session. They used to do committee meetings just on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. This year to stay within that 90 days, they’re meeting Monday through Friday and trying to get things through.”
Next on the local leaders’ schedule in Topeka was the Kansas Association of Counties’s Local Government Days, and Warden said the group joined with the Kansas League of Municipalities as well.
Warden said a big item for KAC was the installation of its new Web site and membership portal, and those on hand got to see some of the features of those.
“It had a lot of new features, including group chat,” she said. “They have a reference library that’s populated by the members of the KAC. They have searchable databases and a whole host of county-specific data points I think is really going to be a tool for us.”
There was also a discussion of the cost of state-required services provided by counties, and Warden said the information presented was somewhat eye opening.
“There were 32 counties that reported so far, Seward County being one of them,” she said. “Of those 32 counties, there was $591,601,356.47 that was spent on required services in 2023 that we are required to service by the state, but we’re not given allocations to fund those. They’re unfunded mandates we have to do. What will be interesting is where other counties will report where those numbers will be.”
Tax exempt properties too came up as part of the KAC conversation.
“It was a concern because so many properties in the state of Kansas that are exempt such as churches, non-profits we still have to provide services to, but we’re not receiving any taxes to help provide those services due to exemption,” Warden said. “It was suggested to KAC they do a survey possibly regarding that and to find out what that means to the state of Kansas.”
Warden said work is still being done regarding law changes for legal notices.
“The law would allow counties options for posting on Web sites or newspaper or both,” she said. “There were many counties there who reported they no longer have a local paper, or their local paper might only print weekly or a few days a week. That’s still on the table.”
The three-mile radius between cities and counties and the planning and zoning regulations that go with those was also talked about in Local Government Days.
“There were many who felt this needed to be thought through before we implement anything that could cause unintended consequences that can occur,” Warden said. “My opinion on that is you need to have the city and the county and both planning and zoning departments and boards at the table when there’s discussion about that.”
Warden said the group later joined KLM for a legislative panel.
“They talked about affordable housing, state and local incentives for economic development. Rising property taxes came up,” she said.
Workforce shortages, Tier 3 of the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System, mental health and infrastructure were part of the discussion too, as were balancing state oversight and local authority.
Warden said much of the talk about workforce shortages focused on the skyrocketing enrollment in career and technical schools.
“We need more individuals with technical skills,” she said. “We have engrained for so long to get a good job, you have to go to a four-year college and get a degree. Job markets are softening in some ways, and increases in pay are helping. It is difficult to find people who want to work.”
With KPERS 3, Warden said it will likely not go away, but she did say some changes are needed.
“The state has worked tirelessly to fund the deficit,” she said. “We can’t compete with private sector wages, so KPERS was an incentive tool.”
With mental health, Warden said homelessness is a big issue.
“They are working on cold weather shelters and transitional housing,” she said. “Insurance is simply not covering services they need. Wichita is currently building a mental health hospital.”
Water was the main focal point of the aging infrastructure discussion, and Warden said that discussion included working on cost share programs, fully funding the Kansas Water Authority and protecting water resources, as well as reducing the ways water is used and finding crops that use less water.
Lastly was the discussion on balancing state oversight and local authority.
“Partnerships are important,” Warden said. “Each county or city has unique needs and wants to defer to local as much as possible.”
Warden said she feels local leaders spending time talking to state leaders is beneficial for life at the local level.
“I’m a firm believer if we’re not traveling to Topeka and meeting with our legislators in person, developing those relationships, sharing what our community needs are and the impact we are making on the state, we will be forgotten,” she said. “We do make an impact out here. For me, I learn somethig every time I go to Topeka, and I believe they take away something from us as well. It’s very beneficial to us, and it’s much needed for us to continue to make a presence in Topeka.”
Warden said she felt all of the events in Topeka went quite well.
“We always have a good turnout for Pancakes at the Capitol,” she said. “It’s always nice when you’re making that trip to make it advantageous to meet with other people, schedule other things while you’re there and make the most out of your trip of traveling there.”
