BUHLER, Kan. — The Buhler City Council was in agreement during Tuesday’s regular meeting to cut a proposed half mill increase from the budget.
Capital improvements and regular cost increases were said as the reason for the $3,500 increase in the numbers, but the Council informed City Manager Merrill Petersen to trim the budget so that the mill levy would stay at 51.2 mills.
Petersen says he will move some numbers around and cut $1,000 from the general fund to hit the Council’s target.
With that, the new proposed budget totals $1 million 645 thousand on total taxes levied of $351,959.
The Council also moved the proposed date for the public hearing to Tuesday, Aug. 20 at 7 p.m., at the Buhler city offices.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Another First Friday lunch is available for all first responders at Waldron Place in Hutchinson.
The assisted living center has been providing free lunch on the first Friday of each month. First responders can either dine-in or pick up the lunch on the go.
Serving is from 11:45 a.m. until 12:45 p.m. at Waldron Place at 1700 E. 23rd Avenue.
The lunches are served as a way to say thank you to all first responders in the area.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Archer Daniels Midland Company is slated to report second-quarter results before the bell Thursday.
According to Zacks, a glimpse of the company’s performance in the trailing four quarters shows that it delivered an average earnings beat of 3.9%. However, ADM witnessed a negative earnings surprise in each of the preceding two quarters.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for second-quarter earnings is pegged at 63 cents per share, indicating a significant fall from $1.02 earned in the prior year quarter.
Revenue is projected at $15.63 billion, an 8.4% decline from the past year. The oilseed giant, which has five elevators in Hutchinson, has also felt the pressure of the trade war with China and the midwest flooding.
BUHLER, Kan. — IdeaTek Telcom announces it will deliver gigabit-speed fiber internet service to over 4,500 unserved or underserved locations in rural Reno, Sedgwick, and Harvey counties.
More than 650 miles of new fiber-optic broadband infrastructure will be laid, representing a direct investment in the local rural economies of more than $8 million within the first five years. IdeaTek expects to utilize multiple local contractors and add up to 10 full-time high-tech jobs to its workforce based out of Buhler, Kansas.
The internet build was made possible by the FCC Connect America Fund (CAF II), which assists in funding projects in rural areas that lack broadband services. IdeaTek is the only fiber-optic service provider in Kansas to commit to delivering gigabit fiber-optic infrastructure under the CAF II federal awards.
Those who live in the area should visit ideatek.com/freedom and enter their address to see if their home or business is in the planned build. The project will take three to five years to complete, and IdeaTek will prioritize the rollout to areas that show the highest interest first.
“This project represents true Internet freedom for the first time to the rural residents and businesses of our deployment areas. Our gigabit internet will be 200 times faster than their current service, providing equal to or better service than can be found in the largest cities in Kansas,” Daniel Friesen, IdeaTek’s CIO and managing partner said. “We see ourselves as internet freedom fighters, working to free rural Kansans who are burdened with poor service that doesn’t keep up with the demands of modern life. A dirt road is no longer an excuse for poor broadband service.”
Service deployment in Reno and Harvey counties has begun. Currently, most Sedgwick County deployments are on hold due to permitting complications being encountered with the Sedgwick County public works department.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. —The spring flooding has left some farmers with fields that have suffered damage due to soil erosion.
Darin Busick with the Reno County Extension Service says the erosion was significant in some areas. “Defiantly some gully erosion…a foot deep some a foot and a half deep,”Busick said. “There was a lot of topsoil that was swept away by the water.”
The damage was done over a period of several weeks but takes much longer than that to recover.”It takes years…I mean hundreds of years to create that topsoil so it’s not a good thing to lose that,” Busick said noting that the topsoil in this area is very shallow.
“Our topsoil isn’t much. You can get into some areas like Iowa and Illinois and some areas like that, they have feet of topsoil while in our area we have inches and so it’s easy to lose it.”
Another problem from the erosion can be water pollution due to chemical and nitrogen runoff. “ You can lose nitrogen that way, it leaches…that’s how it moves through the soil is water,” Busick said. “ Sometimes that can get in your water tables but I haven’t heard of any major cases where water was contaminated.”
Busick says the extension service has advice and tips on how to get your field back into farming condition and help stop erosion. For more information go to www.reno.k-state.edu.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — It appears the aerial spraying completed earlier this month to combat the large mosquito population has been successful.
Nick Baldetti, director of the Reno County Health Department, gave an update on the spraying that was done last week. “We were still counting above 2,000 Culex species mosquitoes in traps (before spraying),” Baldetti said. “A week after, or post-spraying, we caught 65.” Baldetti says the number of other species of mosquitoes has declined sharply, too. The Culex mosquito is the one most commonly known to carry West Nile virus, thus the concern for its extremely high population.
Baldetti wanted to thank the county IT Department, Emergency Management and his staff for keeping the public informed on the spraying, especially after several delays because of high wind.
The spraying was fully funded by a federal grant through the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
HESSTON, Kan. — A pair of area farms will be part of a statewide tour to view and learn about the latest technology in water conservation.
Jacob Weber and R&E Goering farms will be two of eight stops the Kansas Water Office will use to present its annual Water Technology Field Days. The Hesston stops are the only ones in the area and are set for Aug. 8. The Weber Farm is located just north of Burrton. The Goering farm is just south of Moundridge on the McPherson/Harvey county line.
The field days are designed for producers to see how the newest research and technology is being applied in real-life settings in different areas of the state. Five more Water Technology Farm projects were implemented in 2019 with a total of 15 Water Technology Farm projects on more than 40 fields throughout the state, but concentrated overlying the High Plains Aquifer.
KWO provides financial assistance to Kansas State University’s efforts to give technical support for some of the technology farms. “K-State Research and Extension is committed to developing and promoting new irrigation technologies that will be environmentally and economically efficient while conserving and protecting limited water resources,” Ernie Minton, dean of the College of Agriculture and director of K-State Research and Extension, said. “The K-State research and extension services conducted at these Water Technology Farms significantly advances the knowledge of the most efficient water management technology and practices.”
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Reno County commissioners approved a study to bring at least one road near the city of Buhler out of the flood plain.
The board approved the contract with WSP USA Inc. for $26,709. The firm will study both Buhler Road and 82nd Avenue to see which one would be the most feasible to bring up out of the flood plain. Both roads are subject to flooding, even during minor events.
According to County Administrator Gary Meagher, WSP will study both roads and then decide which one would be the most cost-effective to elevate out of the flood zone. The study will gauge 25-, 50- and 100-year flood events. Meagher noted that simply doubling the length of the flood event from 50 to 100 years won’t necessarily double the cost of the project, but could triple or even quadruple the price tag.
WSP plans to have the study completed and ready for the commission by Nov. 29.
CHENEY, Kan. — Reno County Public Works says the portion of Rayl Road between Smoots Creek Road and Maple Grove Road will be closed to all through traffic Wednesday and Thursday for crossroad pipe replacement.
Photo courtesy of Google Maps.
The area is located a mile south of St. Joseph Catholic Church or two miles east of Cheney Reservoir.
If you have any questions about this or any other county project, contact Reno County Public Works at 620-694-2976.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Hutchinson Fire Chief Steve Beer said that 10 years ago outfitting firefighters with a bulletproof vest would have been unthinkable. But times have changed and six Hutchinson firefighters have started on a new program where they will be part of the Emergency Response Team (ERT).
Members of the Hutchinson Fire Department train in Kansas City to become part of the Emergency Response Team. The firefighters would provide medical aid as needed in a tactical situation.
It’s called Tactical EMS. What it means for these six firefighters is that they will be going into active situations along with the ERT to provide any medical care that could be needed.
“There’s definitely a need across America for this type of service in teaming with police departments to provide that medical aid for them,” Beer said. “It’s just a perfect marriage with HPD and HFD working together again for a common goal and that’s really the safety of the ERT team.”
Beer says a similar program was in place when he left Wisconsin. He immediately approached Police Chief Jeff Hooper about putting the program in place in Hutchinson.
The new program certainly is different from what firefighters were originally trained to do. “They’ll learn to operate in what we call a hot zone. A place that is not safe or secure,” Brice Burlie, head of the ERT, said. “They’ll train to learn how to operate with emergency response team members to learn how to do things such as how to treat people in those hot zones.” Two T-EMS personnel will accompany the ERT in each situation. The crew will be stationed out of firehouse five at 11th and Hendricks and will have its own specially equipped vehicle.
One of the six HFD personnel that will be a part of this team is Ron Kaufman. Kaufman says he joined the unit to expand his service to the fire department. “I’ve always wanted to do something more for the fire department,” he said. “When this came around and they asked if anybody would be interested in it I went home and talked to my wife and we said, ‘yeah, let’s try it.’”
Kaufman and the others recently completed a SWAT tactical course in the Kansas City area where he says the training was extensive. “It was very good,” Kaufman said. “It was applying tourniquets, packing bullet wounds, some more advanced stuff with airways and things like that, and there was a lot of lifting.”
The new addition to the ERT is another major step in the fire department working with law enforcement to keep the community better protected. “We’re doing so much more training together. We just spent four days of active shooter training at the (Prairie Hills Middle) school,” Beer said. “The more we practice together the more we’re going to be prepared in the event of a real situation.”
The six firefighters will be outfitted with bulletproof vests, but will not be armed. They’ll carry special gear designed to administer medical care. One medical pack attached to them is to be used to treat themselves by a second person if needed. The new unit will train with the ERT on a regular basis.
