Riley County OKs city issuing bonds for Meadowlark Hills

AJ Dome, The Manhattan Mercury, Kan.
·3 min read

Jun. 21—Riley County commissioners unanimously approved a request from the Manhattan city government to issue industrial revenue bonds for Meadowlark Hills.

During their meeting Monday morning, commissioners discussed a measure from city commissioners to authorize issuing bonds for Meadowlark Hills. Those bonds, not to exceed $50 million, will be used in part to refinance a prior bond given by the city to help pay for a new "home plus" facility near the town of Riley.

County counselor Clancy Holeman said there is "no fiscal impact whatsoever" on the county by approving the bond. According to state law, a city is allowed to issue bonds for properties outside of its limits if the county government approves.

"Routinely, the board has approved this in the past," Holeman said.

The bond that triggered the county's involvement stems from 2017, when city commissioners passed an effort to help Meadowlark Hills acquire two of what they call "home plus" facilities. The one of the facilities is at 7621 Falcon Road near Riley. The bonds also will refinance the retirement agency's other outstanding debt and allow the agency to pay off that debt at a lower interest rate.

"This bond doesn't directly affect anything to us financially," commission chair John Ford said.

Tax sale

Earlier in the meeting, Holeman outlined the schedule for the upcoming Riley County Tax Foreclosure Auction.

The auction is set for 10 a.m. Friday. Pre-registration is required, and Holeman said he is seeing "a good number of pre-registered bidders."

The auction will be in the Riley County Public Works building, 6215 Tuttle Creek Blvd., in the lower level conference room.

The buildings for sale in the auction include a home at 514 14th St. in Ogden and a home at 301 W. Chase Ave. in Leonardville.

In other business, commissioners heard a presentation from Riley County EMS director David Adams. Adams said EMS received 416 calls for ambulance service in May, with 21 of those calls in northern Riley County. The most calls happened on Saturday with 103 out of the 416 calls happening on the five Saturdays in May. That equates to nearly 25% of all calls for the month.

Adams also said the Riley County Safe Kids program will resume car seat safety check lanes next month. Officials haven't announced dates and times for the check lanes. The program helps families install or double-check car seats in their vehicles to make sure they are properly secured.

Additionally, county clerk Rich Vargo gave a reminder on how the primary election for USD 383 school board will work. He said those people who are not registered to vote in Riley County, and who live within the boundaries of the Manhattan-Ogden School District, must register to vote by July 13 if they want to participate in the election. Advance voting begins July 14 and ends Aug. 2. The primary election will take place from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Aug. 3.

Vargo told The Mercury earlier this month that the last time the school district had a primary election was February 1995, when 10 candidates ran.

The primary election will cut the pool of candidates from 10 to six. Vargo said regardless of how many candidates initially file, a primary whittles the field to six.

For the general election on Nov. 2, voters in Riley County who live in the district will choose who among the remaining six candidates will fill three open seats on the board.

Elections for the school district are non-partisan.