Month: March 2020

Kansas reports sixth COVID-19 case

The sixth Kansas COVID-19 case has been reported in Butler County, Kansas, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.

A man in his 70s who had traveled outside the United States is a presumptive positive case, with testing sent to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment’s Kansas Health and Environmental Laboratories, according to a KDHE spokesman. The man is now in isolation.

The results will be verified by the CDC lab but will be treated as positive unless determined otherwise, according to the spokesman.

Butler County is adjacent to Sedgwick County. Sedgwick County includes the Wichita area.

KDHE will continue to work with the local health department and CDC to identify and contact people who may have come into contact with the individual while he was infectious, and will monitor those persons for fever and respiratory symptoms, the spokesman stated.

“Kansans should remain vigilant,” Dr. Lee Norman, KDHE secretary said, in a news release. “It’s important to live your lives, but it’s also important to take basic precautions like exercising good hygiene practices. It is up to each of us to do our part.”

People should exercise vigilance when attending large public gatherings, particularly those people over age 60 and those with weakened immune systems or chronic medical conditions. There are mass events guidance documents from the Centers from Disease Control available on KDHE’s website, www.kdheks.gov/coronavirus.

If you have symptoms such as fever, cough or shortness of breath and believe you may have had contact or have had contact with someone with a laboratory confirmed case of COVID-19, stay home and call your healthcare provider, the KDHE spokesman stated.

You may also call the KDHE phone bank at 1-866-534-3463 (1-866-KDHEINF) today Monday – Friday, 8 a.m.–5 p.m. For more information about COVID-19, visit KDHE’s website and Frequently Asked Questions at www.kdheks.gov/coronavirus and www.cdc.gov/coronavirus.

Stormwater rate increase vote postponed until later

A stormwater rate fee increase was postponed at the Unified Government Commission meeting on Thursday night.

Unified Government officials announced in advance that they would not vote on a new stormwater rate proposal at the meeting – it was placed on the agenda earlier this week. The reason for the postponement was to discourage crowds from gathering because of the COVID-19, according to an earlier statement from the mayor.

During the past year, UG staff has made presentations stating that there are many stormwater projects that need to be done, and the current flat fee of $4.50 per address doesn’t cover the costs. The proposal to set the fee according to the amount of paved or hard surface of the property was opposed by some businesses and residents.

UG Administrator Doug Bach read a statement from Mayor David Alvey at the March 12 meeting that recommended the commission table the item. It was tabled, unanimously. Commissioners did not offer comments on the proposal Thursday.

“I feel that this further discussion is vitally important,” Mayor Alvey wrote. “We as a governing body must get to a place where we all understand and can explain to our constituents the scope of the deterioration of our stormwater infrastructure across all areas of our city.

“We need to get to a place where we can understand and can explain to our constituency the urgency of addressing deterioration before failures increase and create greater risk to the safety and welfare of our residents, or even greater damage to private property, and to our budget,” Mayor Alvey wrote. “We need to get to a place where we all agree and can explain to our constituents the need to allocate costs to our stormwater utility based upon the amount of hard surface the property contains. We need to get to a place where we all agree and make the case to our constituents that we increased rates because we understand that our responsibility is to take care of our utility as a public service to our residents and our businesses.

“We need to get to a place where we balance the urgency of repairs to our stormwater utility with the cost to users of that utility, so that we do not increase our risk in the future, but do not overburden users,” Mayor Alvey wrote. “As a commission we are not at that place, and we’ll be devoting more special sessions to each of these needs over the course of the year. We need to engage this issue, and we need to engage our public, and we need to move forward to invest in this utility for the sake of our residents and businesses across the city.”

Also on March 12, the special session discussion on municipal ID was postponed, in order to discourage crowds from attending, to try to prevent the spread of COVID-19. UG officials stated they plan to address the issue at a later time.

Rain, cool temperatures ahead

Snow is in the forecast for areas to the north of Wyandotte County on Saturday. (National Weather Service graphic)

A rain-snow mix will be possible north of the Missouri River on Saturday morning, mostly north of St. Joseph, Missouri, according to the National Weather Service.

In Wyandotte County, from a half-inch through 1 inch of rainfall is possible this morning through midday Saturday, according to the weather service. While there is a very slight chance of snow, the temperatures are forecast to remain above freezing in Wyandotte County.

The temperature was 41 degrees at 9 a.m. Friday. There is a 10 percent chance of rain after 5 p.m. Friday, with a high today of near 49, the weather service said. There will be an east northeast wind of 5 to 8 mph.

Tonight, there is a 100 percent chance of rain, mainly after 10 p.m., with a low of 35, according to the weather service. An east wind of 8 to 15 mph will gust as high as 20 mph. Between a quarter to half-inch of rain is possible.

Saturday, there is an 80 percent chance of rain, possibly mixed with snow, and becoming all rain after 10 a.m., the weather service said. The high will be near 40 with an east northeast wind of 14 to 16 mph, gusting as high as 23 mph. Little or no snow accumulation is expected.

Saturday night, the low will be around 33 with an east northeast wind of 6 to 9 mph, according to the weather service.

Sunday, it will be partly sunny, with a high near 46 and an east wind around 6 mph, the weather service said.

Sunday night, it will be mostly cloudy, with a low of 35, according to the weather service.

Monday, there is a 30 percent chance of rain before 1 p.m., with a high near 52, the weather service said.

Monday night, there is a 40 percent chance of rain, with a low of 41, according to the weather service.

Tuesday, it will be cloudy with a high near 57, the weather service said.

Tuesday night, there is a 40 percent chance of showers after 1 a.m., with a low of 44, according to the weather service.

Wednesday, there is a 60 percent chance of showers, with a high near 60, the weather service said.

Wednesday night, there is a 70 percent chance of showers, with a low of 52, according to the weather service.

Thursday, there is an 80 percent chance of showers, with a high near 65, the weather service said.