News

ELLY GRIMM

   • Leader & Times

The City of Liberal now officially has a new permanent city manager with Scarlette Diseker.

Diseker began working with the City of Liberal in August 2022 and has served in multiple leadership roles, including as the director of finance and Chief Financial Officer. Diseker has managed operations as interim city manager since Oct. 1, 2024 after the firing of Rusty Varnado.

ELLY GRIMM

   • Leader & Times

The City of Liberal offers multiple building programs for citizens to use and recently, the Liberal City Commission got to hear updates on those programs.

Building & Code Enforcement Director Keith Bridenstine was on hand to give the updates, and he began by promising more frequent updates about the programs. 

“At the commission’s last meeting, the city manager brought up how we need to bring these updates to the commission earlier, and going forward, we’re going to try and bring these programs before you every December so everything can be ready for the next year in January,” Bridenstine said. “These all have a few changes needing to be approved for this year, which is normal.”

ELLY GRIMM

   • Leader & Times

AUTHOR’S NOTE: This is part two of the story recapping last Friday’s special meeting of the USD 480 school board, and will share some perspectives from staff and thoughts on overall students achievement.

While FlexMod has been relatively successful since its implementation, those in attendance at the meeting agreed there can always be changes and improvements made.

Kansas Department of Transportation

The public is invited to attend a meeting on Kansas Highway 156 Pavement Widening and Bridge Replacement Project in Finney County on Tuesday, Feb. 11, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Kalvesta Methodist Church, 32740 E. K-156, in Kalvesta. The Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) is hosting the event.

KDOT is investing more than $100 million to enhance highway infrastructure in Finney and Hodgeman counties to help address safety concerns and foster economic growth in the region.