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After multiple months of work and discussions, the 15th Street fire station is now officially under City of Liberal authority.
A contract regarding the matter was unanimously approved by the Liberal City Commission at its most recent meeting Tuesday evening.
With an adopted budget including a 14.8-mill increase over the Revenue Neutral Rate for Seward County, discussions continue regarding how to fix it, and the budget was much of the discussion during the county commission’s most recent meeting on Nov. 3.
At the beginning of the meeting, as part of a list of items added to the agenda, Commission Vice Chair Steve Helm added a budget discussion to the agenda, and when commissioners and staff got to the item, Helm’s first concern was how much of the 14.8-mill increase would go to paying back Arkalon Energy as part of an appraisal dispute between that company and the county.
The USD 480 school board heard from administrators about needed improvements throughout the district at its most recent meeting Monday evening.
Superintendent Dane Richardson started those discussions during his report early in the meeting.
“We’ve had some professional development days recently, and part of the purpose of all of that was to go over the USD 480 school survey,” Richardson said. “Some of the subject areas covered was safety, having input on school initiatives to help with the physical operations of the school and what resources are there to help the students and teachers. We talked to teachers, administrators, students and parents. One of the things we really looked at was parent engagement – parent engagement is way, way down, and we found on average, 152 parents regularly engage with their students’ schools. Parent engagement is a very important part of any program, and it’s a requirement to seek parent input for decisions so we can be compatible with certain aspects of Title 1. Parent and family engagement is also important because studies show it leads to higher student achievement, better social-emotional development, improved behavior and increased graduation rates. We know more needs to be done to help increase that parent/family involvement, and those discussions with principals are continuing.”
A large portion of the discussion around the 13-mill increase over the Revenue Neutral Rate for Seward County has been the county’s health department, and much of that discussion has centered on grant money being used for bonuses.
The county’s Women Infants and Children (WIC) office at the health department has gotten much of the focus, particularly the hours the office operates and the funding it will receive with a shutdown currently place at the federal level.
At the Nov. 3 county commission meeting, WIC Director Tammie Thompson said the department had received nearly $29,000 from the state for October and November.
The United Ways of Kansas Board of Directors are pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Jessica Dorsey as the new State Director for the United Ways of Kansas, effective Dec. 3.
Dr. Dorsey brings a wealth of leadership experience, community engagement expertise, and a deep commitment to improving the lives of Kansans.
In her new role, she will lead and strengthen the collective work of local United Ways across the state to drive collaboration, advocate at the state level, and build partnerships that expand our impact for youth opportunities, financial security, healthy communities and community resiliency for Kansans.
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