HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Work continues sifting through protest petitions that were presented to Reno County by landowners objecting to the NextEra project.
The county scheduled two meetings on Tuesday to address the protests but several legal issues surfaced and the time needed to study the legal information was too great.
County Counselor Joe O’Sullivan says the county received more than 250 petitions on the project. Out of that, about 40% have been deemed invalid due to the landowner not being eligible. Only landowners within 1000-feet of a property with a turbine are allowed to protest, according to O’Sullivan.
The petitions are being reviewed by O’Sullivan, County consultant Russ Ewy and the attorney representing Reno County Citizens for Quality of Life LLC.
O’Sullivan says the NextEra case also brings along many other scenarios. The County Attorney tells Hutchpost.com that he expects the issue to go to court regardless of how the county commission votes on the matter. “There is a lot invested in this,” O’Sullivan said. “We could see a lot of new case study that doesn’t exist.”
O’Sullivan says the legal issues could also set a precedent for future wind development in the state.
” A lot of other counties are looking at us that are in some phase of a similar project,” O’Sullivan added. He noted the legal issues could make it all the way to the supreme court depending on the outcome of this protest. If the protests are deemed valid the County Commission would have to vote 3-0 to approve NextEra’s conditional use permit for the wind farm. But as O’Sullivan said that would likely not be the final say.
The hearing for the NextEra project is tentatively set for Tuesday, June 11.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Hutchinson Police Department is getting a second K-9 unit. Nika is a one and half-year-old female Belgian Malinois. She received her training at Hill County Dog Center in Pipe Creek Texas. Nika is trained in narcotics detection and tracking.
Hutchinson Police officer Cory Schmidt poses with his new partner Nika. Nika and Schmidt will become the second K-9 unit for HPD.
Her handler is Cory Schmidt, who has been with HPD for four years. Schmidt is a member of the Reno County Emergency Response Team, as a sniper/observer.
As with the first K-9 unit, Cause for Paws is once again making this happen as they have funded and given assistance in making not only our K9 program happen, but by making the 2nd dog a possibility.
Swearing in for Nika will be Tuesday, May 28, at 3 p.m. at the law enforcement center.
NICKERSON, Kan. —The Nickerson USD 309 School Board will hear the results of a recent survey on the proposed school bond issue during tonight’s agenda session.
The district conducted the phone survey to gauge patron support for any spending on the district’s facilities. According to Superintendent Dr. Dawn Johnson, the survey contacted 267 homes and studied that information over the past six weeks.
Once they hear the presentation this evening the board hopes to have a retreat to decide how to proceed with a possible vote for the bond issue. The district hopes to have that meeting in the next two weeks.
The $34 million bond issue calls for controlled entries along with a new early childhood addition, a new multi-purpose room and two new classrooms in South Hutchinson.
At Reno Valley Middle School, work would include wrestling and weight room additions. The high school work would include a remodeled science and culinary study area and a new media center. A second portion of the bond issue would provide a new fine arts center.
Tonight’s meeting of the Nickerson USD 309 School Board begins at 7 p.m. at the school district offices at 4501 W 4th Avenue, just west of Fun Valley.
SOUTH HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Reno County Public Works announced Monday that Fountain Green Rd. between Worthington and Woodberry is closed until further notice starting today.
The recent flooding cause damage to the support wall of the small wooden span. The bridge is located six miles southeast of Haven is the third one damaged by flooding and is.
No timeline was given for when the bridge will be repaired.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — After coming to a consensus that the city should apply for a transportation grant, the Hutchinson City Council will take action on funding that application.
The application is for funding the proposed Woody Seat Avenue A interchange. Recently the city received results of a study on how to deal with the traffic on the interchange and the two aging bridges over Avenue’s A and B.
The proposal from KDOT would mean a $6 million-plus reconstruction of the interchange. It would also mean the closing of Avenue B between Adams and Madison. The proposal adds roundabouts at Adams and Avenue A and Woody Seat eliminating the interchange and the two bridges. The freeway would incline up and over the K and O and Union Pacific Railroad tracks and continue on as normal.
The contract with WSP USA totals $42,686. The matter comes up for action during Tuesday’s council meeting at 9 a.m. at the Hutchinson city offices.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Hutchinson City Council will hear the final report from GreenPlay regarding the parks and rec study that was performed over the past several months.
Officials with GreenPlay will present their findings that are part of a 180-page report. The study was conducted after Hutch Rec received a grant from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas to pay for the work. The study is part of an overall master plan for Hutch Rec and city facilities.
During the initial report presented in April, GreenPlay addressed some issues it feels the city needs to do a better job addressing. GreenPlay suggested more active transportation where people can walk and bike around the community, better nutrition programs that will help make food available, and addressing social equity. GreenPlay also talked about developing an adventure park near Fun Valley and making general improvements to the city parks and recreation facilities.
The study included meetings with Hutch Rec’s board of directors, the city council, and members of the public and business sector.
The council will consider acceptance of the study during its meeting Tuesday at 9 a.m. at the Hutchinson city offices.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — A heavily-used road in Hutchinson will be closed starting Monday. Public Works announced that State Fair Road between Main and Plum will be closed for an extended period of time.
Work crews will replace a collapsed storm sewer culvert crossing on State Fair Road on the west side of Plum Street.
Public Works says it hopes to have the project completed in about two weeks.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — A group that ranks nursing education programs in the country recently named the LPN to RN nursing program at Hutchinson Community College the fifth best in the nation.
This is the third year that registerednursing.org has ranked various colleges and universities for their nursing programs.
Here is what the group had to say about HutchCC:
“Hutchinson Community College of Kansas provides interested practical nurses with an LPN to RN online bridge program to transition to an associate degree in registered nursing. The program consists of 69 credit hours, to include courses in Health Maintenance Promotion and Restoration, Human Growth and Development, and more. HCC’s unique approach to the clinical portion of the program means that students can self-schedule with the help and approval of faculty, meaning that many students are able to keep working full-time through the program.”
The four colleges ahead of HutchCC included Allegany College, Indiana State University, North Dakota State University and Sampson Community College.
The website used an extended five-year weighted scoring methodology to show first-time test taker, pass rate and consistency of program graduates. The methodology can be found at www.registerednursing.org.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Hutchinson USD 308 announced its year-end honors for three employees.
Robin Getting, secretary at Graber Elementary School, has been named Classified Employee of the Year. Laura Benscheidt, health sciences teacher at the Hutchinson Career and Technical Education Academy, and Angela Allen, Reno County Head Start teacher, have been nominated as the district’s entries in the Kansas National Teacher of the Year competition.
The Davis Foundation will formally announce finalists and winners at the district’s back-to-school convocation in August.
Robin Getting
Classified Employee of the Year
Graber Secretary
For Getting, family and families play a major role in her life.
Robin Getting
As a mom, her children attended Hutchinson Public Schools and Graber. Now she finds that she’s serving some of the same individuals as parents she served when they were students at Graber. She started at Graber in August of 1998. The job of school secretary has changed during her 21-year career at Graber. While she still greets visitors and takes attendance calls, Getting and other secretaries are called to do more today.
“I enjoy my visits with parents,” she said. “So many, though, are struggling. A lot of my job becomes parental support, encouraging parents to ‘Keep going. Keep going.’ Sometimes I get calls from parents who just want to talk.” She and her husband, Gary, have been active in the community as long as they have lived here. When their four children were in Hutchinson Public Schools, they attended many sporting and music events their children were involved in.
Now that their children are grown and have careers of their own, the Gettings continue to attend USD 308 activities to watch the next generation of Salthawks. Even though the current school year is winding down, Getting will not have an extended break. She will be back in the office all summer for Stay to Play at Graber, the Hutchinson Recreation Commission’s summer program for students who have finished kindergarten through sixth grade. The program begins May 28 and ends July 26.
This is the second time Getting has won the Classified Employee of the Year honor, first winning it in 2008.
Laura Benscheidt
Kansas Teacher of the Year Nominee
Laura Benscheidt
HCTEA Health Sciences Teacher
When Laura Benscheidt applied for a job at the Hutchinson Career and Technical Education Academy, her program didn’t yet exist in the spring of 2009. Coming from the private sector, Benscheidt was the new health sciences teacher at HCTEA. Since that time, many of her students have gone on to health careers, including students who are able to work as CNAs and CMAs as they pursue their education in health or other areas.
Benscheidt is active in numerous professional organizations related to career and technical education and to health sciences. She is a member of the Association for Career and Technical Education, the Kansas New and Related Services, HOSA and is a SkillsUSA advisor.
During her tenure, Benscheidt has been involved in efforts to bring diversity to career education. She was asked to participate in a pilot project for the National Consortium for Health Sciences.
“I implemented cultural diversity in healthcare curriculum into my classroom and provided feedback to the National Consortium as well as presented my program at the national conference,” Benscheidt wrote in her nomination application. “This leadership has not only gained professional development for myself but has been an outstanding activity for my students and has gained HCTEA some recognition at KSDE (Kansas Department of Education) for participating in this pilot program.”
Benscheidt takes a one-on-one approach in working with her students. “The biggest strategy I use is to connect with kids,” she wrote. “In order to teach secondary, you need to get to know them as people and connect with them. I strive to learn their names by the first week of class and learn something about them personally that I can use to connect with them.”
Angela Allen
Kansas Teacher of the Year Nominee
Angela Allen
Reno County Head Start Teacher
A colleague of Angela Allen described the educator as a calming power in her building.
“Angela brings a quiet force to our program,” the colleague wrote in nominating Allen for the honor. “Her calm and confident demeanor helps her students experience an emotional safe place, which is important for a lot of our littles. She models for her students a soothing method of expression, accountability, self-advocacy and, in turn, models it for us, her co-workers.”
During her career, Allen has brought innovation and relationships both to Wichita and Hutchinson schools. Relationships are important. “My greatest accomplishment in education is the relationships I have built with families over the course of my teaching career,” she wrote in her nomination application. “I became a presenter for the Families Together Training of Trainers program back in 2001-02. I spoke with several attendees about how I established a relationship with my families, how I involve my families from the first day of meeting them, how I am not afraid to get personal with families so that they can judge my sincerity and decide what kind of relationship they want.”
Allen has been involved in a wide range of leadership activities at several age levels from pre-kindergarten through elementary school. She has also served as an on-site technology specialist in her past district.
The county scheduled two meetings on Tuesday to address the protests but several legal issues surfaced and the time needed to study the legal information was too great.
