Author: Brandon Peoples

The fate of a proposed quarry expansion near Wheaton won’t be known until at least next week. Pottawatomie County commissioners voted 4-1 Monday to table action on a conditional use permit sought by Hamm Companies to expand current operations in Sherman Township. Commissioner Merl Page opposed. The decision came after staff requested additional time to review and update the proposed resolution and conditions. Citizens, including Kaylene Plummer, of Westmoreland, expressed concerns about the impact of heavy truck traffic on local roads. To view the full article visit theMercury.com. Click here for more Pottawatomie County news.

The Manhattan Board of Zoning Appeals on Wednesday advanced, on a 2-1 vote, a request from the Manhattan Mennonite Church to reduce the number of off-street parking spaces for a planned new church building at 821 Poyntz Avenue. City code requires places of assembly, such as churches, to have one parking space per five people based on the occupancy of the space. Since the church would have a maximum occupancy of 220, city code would require 44 spaces. The church sought an exception to reduce the number of spaces to 20, since the size and layout of the lot makes…

The Manhattan City Commission on Tuesday will consider a new vendor for its utility billing software as well as an incentive package for the Unger housing redevelopment project. City officials are planning to enter a master subscription agreement with SpryPoint Services, Inc. after current vendor Central Square withdrew support from their customer portal in 2021. The city currently utilizes Paymentus to accept online payments but their software doesn’t provide detailed billing information for customers. According to agenda documents, the city began searching for a new vendor last October and settled on SpryPoint based on its customer portal, interval data management…

Officials with Riley County EMS are adjusting to their newly opened headquarters facility at 1115 Charles Little Road. The new 15,000 square foot facility officially opened in June. Among the significant upgrades has been the department’s ability to modernize supply chain and medication management. “We used to do that with systems and processes that were based in paper, and to kind of take a giant leap into the 21st Century, we have a lot of technology and systems and processes that support that technology in the new station,” Assistant Director Josh Gering said. To view the full article visit theMercury.com.…

The Manhattan City Commission on Tuesday directed city staff to cap the mill levy increase for the 2026 budget at 1.75 mills, trimming back the previously proposed cap of 2 mills at last month’s budget work session. That would take the mill levy to 54.859 and could mean as much as an 8.5% average increase in property taxes for Manhattan residents, based on a 5% average increase in existing, single-family home valuations. For example, a homeowner who paid $610.75 in property taxes on a $100,000 home in 2025 would pay $662.42 on a home worth $105,000 in 2026, or  8.45%.…

Plans are in motion to construct a new shelter on Bluemont Hill near the scenic overlook. The Manhattan Parks and Recreation Advisory Board moved Monday to recommend the city partner with the Manhattan Kiwanis Club on the project. It’s now up to the city commission to decide the shelter’s fate. “We felt that a shelter up there would be nice, rather than just picnic tables,” Mark Maxwell, past president of Manhattan Kiwanis, said. “It would make it more enjoyable to come up and have events for your family and stuff up there.” To view the full article visit theMercury.com. Click…

It’s been a summer of swift changes at Manhattan Regional Airport. Travel ticked up during the month of July, with 7,835 passengers boarding flights at MHK. Envoy Air general manager Brennan Walter told Manhattan’s Airport Advisory Board on Monday it represents an 82% load factor, the metric used to calculate the percentage of occupied seats on an aircraft. “That’s phenomenal,” he said. “We want to be at 80 or above. That sends a really good message to American (Airlines) on how well our market can do supporting more service.” To view the full article visit theMercury.com. Click here for more…

Pottawatomie County commissioners on Monday took a step toward bringing a new fire station to Blue Township. The board unanimously approved a resolution, declaring the need for the facility in Fire District Number 5, which serves the southwestern area of the county, east of Manhattan. The resolution authorizes the county to issue up to $2 million in general obligation bonds to help fund construction. Commissioner Dee McKee questioned what happens to the county’s debt obligation if the City of Manhattan chooses to annex any portion of the fire district. Attorney Mitch Walter, with public finance firm Gilmore Bell, explained how…

The City of Wamego is looking for a new chief of police. City officials announced late Friday afternoon that Paul Schliffke, who was promoted to lead the Wamego Police Department in July 2022, is retiring at the end of the year. Schliffke has spent 12 years with the department, including nine years as deputy police chief, prior to his promotion. He also previously served in the Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office and the Kansas Lottery in a law enforcement capacity. To view the full article visit theMercury.com. Click here for more Wamego news.

Manhattan Public Works is quickly finishing summer road projects and looking ahead to more long term projects across the city. Two projects have had crews working diligently to finish in time for the school year. A concrete maintenance project along Browning Avenue, in front of Marlatt Elementary, was recently finished. Public works director Brian Johnson said crews also improved a traffic signal at the intersection of Browning and Hobbs Drive. “That signal is very old, and it runs off an old system,” he said. “We did some upgrades to the signal with some underground wiring to try to get it…