HUTCHINSON, Kan. — You will notice some changes with the Hutchinson Police Department. On Tuesday, the officers started wearing their new blue uniforms.

The uniform change comes after a decision by Chief Jeff Hooper to wear a more traditional blue.

The change also includes new outside vests. The change ends the long tradition of Hutchinson police officers wearing brown shirts and brown or green pants.

At the time of the announcement, Hooper said it was difficult to make the decision, but felt it was a necessary change.

The change cost the department between $29,000 and $36,000 and includes several different versions of the uniform, including formal dress blues for honor guard duty and formal events.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Hutchinson City Council discussed, but took no action, on a request by Councilman Steve Dechant to change the configuration of South Main from C Avenue to Carey Park. Dechant wants the street restriped similar to East Avenue A, which would eliminate two lanes of traffic, install bike lanes and change to parallel parking.

The council delayed action so that business and property owners along the corridor have a say in the proposal. The delay can’t be a long one. Jeff Petersen of Public Works says they need to have an answer by July 4. The issue could stir up significant discussion from both sides. A similar proposal for most of Main street four years ago was met with staunch opposition.

“I’m an advocate of the strong town’s philosophy, but there are a lot of people that are just punching and punching out from their daily job at Tyson or some of these businesses that don’t care at all about this,” Jade Piros de Carvalho said. “We have to care about their opinions as well.”

Piros de Carvalho wanted to know if such a proposal would be better than what is offered up in the hike and bike trail master plan developed several years ago. That and other studies recently conducted show a need for better access to city parks. But Mayor Dave Inskeep says such an addition needs to be considered. “We talk about subsidizing the Salt City Splash and one of the arguments I heard was improper placement in the first place,” Inskeep said. “We can’t undo the fact that’s in Carey Park, but we might make it a little more accessible.”

Some of the other concerns about the change included a large amount of truck traffic on South Main and the interchange with the Frank Hart Crossing.

With that, the council decided to wait until the July 2 meeting to make a decision on the street.

NICKERSON, Kan.— Lt. Governor Lynn Rogers kicked off his Rural Prosperity Tour with a stop in Nickerson Monday night.

The evening started off with the audience breaking down into groups to discuss three issues. What they see as prosperity, what the community is doing well and the roadblocks stinting prosperity.

After that, each group showcased the important points of their discussion. The most discussion centered on the community’s strong education system, attractions and a strong chamber. The challenges centered around substance abuse and treatment, housing and declining tax base. All things that Rogers says they expected. “There’s a lot of issues similar to urban Kansas, mental health issues, rehab issues and drug use,” Rogers said. “They don’t necessarily surprise me but I’m glad people are talking about that because it shows involvement with the local community.”

This is the first of more than a dozen stops on the tour. Rogers says after some rest they will breakdown what they learned from this stop and if they will change anything during the second go around. “We’ll talk about it a little bit. I’m not sure there’s a lot we will change,” Rogers stated. “I really feel energized by all of the comments and the thoughts and the support. You know, there’s great interest in rural Kansas and I think that’s a message I’ll take back to Topeka.”

The tour is intended to foster new ways to help rural Kansas communities by hearing from the residents themselves. The tour serves as the first phase of the new Office of Rural Prosperity, which has been approved for a $2 million allocation in the newly approved FY 2020 budget.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — It’s been nearly a month since the Hutchinson Zoo was inundated with floodwater, but Hutchinson Parks Director Justin Combs said the water shows no signs of leaving the zoo area anytime soon.

“We’ve been trying to find someone to help us predict that,” he said. “We’ve seen it drop … vertically probably 3 or 4 inches in the past couple of weeks, but were still feet above where the pond normally is.”

Combs says the flooding has caused damage to the basement of the gift shop and extensive damage to the service barn. The damage is covered by FEMA, and Combs said the city expects help to make the repairs. He also said once the water goes down, the city will begin a study to see what can be done to steer the water away from the zoo. The animals continue to be housed in the quarantine area and in other parts of the zoo.

As for the golf course, Superintendent Tyler Swensen said damage to the south end of the course is not as bad as feared, but the damage to fairways and other areas of the course will become apparent as summer progresses.

The city fishing pond continues to be well out of its banks, flooding the disc golf area and the southeast part of the park.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Hutchinson residents will see a lot of activity at the Kansas State Fairgrounds on Tuesday as Hutchinson Community College holds its annual emergency field operations event.

More than 400 EMS, first responders and other agencies will gather to practice emergency medical situations. It also includes both Eagle Med and Life Team so residents around the fairgrounds will see significant helicopter activity.

Jackie White with Hutchinson Community College said the exercise is a vital part of improving medical emergency care while teaching potential job candidates.

“We’re using the National Emergency Management Incident Command Program,” White said. ”It gets all levels together. It gets everybody from dispatch who takes the initial calls in emergencies all the way through … the ER nurses … who will set up a triage at the fairgrounds.”

During the exercise, 14 different scenarios will be set up for emergency personnel, including active-shooter situations. White said 21 EMS agencies and 11 different schools will take part.

Hutchinson Community College is the only school in the country that conducts this type of full-scale field ops exercise.