KMAN Local News 2023 Year in Review: January to March

All this week we are taking a look back at some of the top news events in the Manhattan area for 2023. Today we take a look back at the first quarter of the year from January through March with KMAN News Director Brandon Peoples….

January began with a leadership change in the 22nd district State Senate seat as long time Manhattan City Commissioner Usha Reddi was sworn in to succeed the retiring Tom Hawk Jan. 5th, following a vote by the Riley County Democratic Party. Reddi defeated Katie Allen, who would go on to be elected to the Manhattan-Ogden School Board in November. Reddi served simultaneously in the legislature and on the city commission, resigning her seat on the latter in May. Her decision prompted the city commission to adopt an ordinance, prohibiting future commissioners from holding dual office. City Attorney Katie Jackson….

“This change says that there’s no dual office holding. After the term has been assumed a newly elected city commissioner who holds another office has to resign that other office before they take the city’s oath. The ordinance says that an incumbent commissioner who takes second oath of office is presumed to have vacated the seat as of the date of that oath,” she said.

Later in the month, local developer Back 9 Development broke ground on a $50 million Midtown project in Aggieville. President TJ Vilkanskas…

“We’re going to elevate Aggieville. We’re not going to redevelop it, tear things down, we’re going to elevate, we’re going to enhance what is already a great district and historical district and we’re really excited about it,” he said.

The project was paused in March after an investor pulled funding, causing months of uncertainty over the

project’s future. By the fall the city had granted Back 9 an extension on the project after some revision of the project and an added hotel and parking garage to the plan. That project is now slated for completion in 2026.

2023 also saw residents living in the crumbling Royal Towers apartments forced to vacate after city officials condemned the site in March due to deteriorating walkways and stairwells. Deputy Manhattan Fire Chief spoke with KMAN at the time about issues dating back to 2019 at the complex.

“The owner didn’t have that further evaluation go and the only people we had on site was we had done some fire inspections, but we hadn’t seen anything that led us to believe at least those fire inspectors to believe that there was further deterioration from what it looked like in 19. And reviewing those pictures, a lot of it looks the same, with some concrete now actually coming removed on the bottom,” he said.

A few months later, Back 9 Development acquired the complex for $2 million and is planning a complete renovation of the property into condominiums.

Another project that spanned most of the year for city officials was activity at the T. Russel Reitz Animal Shelter. Assistant City Manager Wyatt Thompson at a February meeting of the city commission..

“Should the city continue to dedicate significant additional staff and resources to address these challenges that we’ve talked about? Should RCPD assume enforcement responsibilities of city ordinances relating to animals, including employment of animal control officers? Should the city explore potentially outsourcing its animal shelter services to a third party group,” he asked city officials.

The city ultimately signed a contract with Prairie PAWS of Ottawa, Kansas to assume shelter operations beginning in the new year.

In February, the city unveiled their new joint maintenance facility, located south of Highway 24 on Levee Drive. The new location is named after longtime former Public Works Director Robert K. Ott. City Manager Ron Fehr delivered opening remarks at the ribbon cutting.

“This area replaces about four buildings and operations. We’ve got fleet and street maintenance. We’ve also got the parks, forestry, cemetery, horticulture and aquatics crew coming in here. We’ve got our water and wastewater, maintenance divisions, our meter readers,” he said.

Ott was part of the ceremony as well  and said the hard work put into the new facility will support workers both today and for many years to follow.

“It’s an investment and acknowledgement of their past hard work and their future hard work for the community and our elected officials. It’s an investment to the future so that we can recruit, retain and develop the future leaders that will meet the needs and demands for the community, so we can all call this place home,” he said.

Ott passed away in October at the age of 50, after a long battle with cancer.

The first quarter of the year was also a busy time for the courts. After three and half years of motions and pandemic delays, former Bob’s Diner owner Bob Iacobellis was sentenced in February to 24 and half years in prison for two counts of rape. Iacobellis had reached an Alford plea with prosecutors almost a year prior.

Former teachers Allen and Deborah Sylvester pleaded guilty in Pottawatomie County District Court in March to sex crimes involving a former Wamego High School student. The former was then sentenced in June to five years in prison while Deborah was sentenced to probation. According to County Attorney Sherri Schuck, Deborah was credited with handing the victim to her husband for sex.