June 2022 Newsletter
The Board of County Commissioners serves as the Chief Legislative and Executive Branch of the County Government. Composed of five members, with each Commissioner representing a district of the County.
The duties of the Board of County Commissioners include:
- Approving the County budget and expenditures
- Appointing the various department heads of the County
- Exercising powers of local legislation
At the May 25 Board of County Commissioner Meeting, a proclamation was made declaring June 10, 2022, as "MARC 50-Forward Day" in Leavenworth County. For half a century, local governments in the Kansas City region have come together through the Mid-America Regional Council (MARC) to partner on regional initiatives and develop innovative solutions.
Elections
Register to Vote!
You need to update your voter registration if you:
- You are registering to vote for the first time
- You have changed your name
- You have moved
There are several ways you can register to vote. Visit the Register to Vote section of our website for all of the information!
You could develop a heat-related illness if exposed to high temperatures and humidity for too long. Your body's natural cooling system could fail if you sweat heavily and don't drink enough fluids.
Heat-related illnesses include:
Heat Cramps:
Heat cramps are muscle pains or spasms-usually in the abdomen, arms, or legs-that may occur in association with strenuous activity. Heat cramps may also be a symptom of heat exhaustion. If you have heart problems or are on a low-sodium diet, seek medical attention for heat cramps.
Heat Exhaustion:
Heat exhaustion is a milder form of heat-related illness that can develop after several days of exposure to high temperatures and inadequate or unbalanced replacement of fluids. Older adults and those with high blood pressure, and those working or exercising in a hot environment are most prone to heat exhaustion.
Heat stroke:
Heat stroke is the most severe heat-related illness. It occurs when the body becomes unable to control its temperature:
- The body's temperature rises rapidly.
- The sweating mechanism fails.
- The body is unable to cool down.
Body temperature may rise to 106 degrees or higher within 10 to 15 minutes. Heat stroke can cause death or permanent disability if emergency treatment is not provided.
For more information, go to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Extreme Heat.
Please review the safety tips:
· Slow down, and avoid strenuous activity.
· Wear lightweight, loose-fitting, light-colored clothing. Light colors will reflect heat and sunlight and help maintain normal body temperature. Protect your face with a wide-brimmed hat.
· Drink plenty of water regularly and often, even if you don't feel thirsty.
· Limit intake of alcoholic beverages. They can dehydrate your body.
· Eat well-balanced, light, regular meals.
· Stay indoors as much as possible.
· If you do not have air conditioning, stay on your lowest floor, out of the sun. Electric fans do not cool the air, but they help evaporate sweat, which cools your body.
· Go to a place where you can get relief from the heat, such as air-conditioned schools, libraries, theaters, shopping malls, and other community facilities that may offer refuge during the warmest times of the day.
· Cover windows that get morning or afternoon sun with drapes, shades, awnings, or louvers. Outdoor awnings or louvers can reduce the heat that enters a home by up to 80 percent
· Avoid too much sunshine. Sunburn slows the skin's ability to cool itself. Use sunscreen with a high SPF (Sun Protection Factor) rating when outside.
· Never leave children or pets alone in a closed vehicle.
· Do not leave pets outside for extended periods. Make sure pets have plenty of drinking water.
· Check on family, friends, and neighbors regularly.
As we get ready to celebrate Independence Day, many of us plan to attend fireworks displays or backyard picnics with family and friends. Leavenworth County wants you to enjoy a fun-packed, safe holiday and offers these tips you can follow over the upcoming holiday:
FIREWORKS SAFETY
The safest way to enjoy fireworks is to attend a public firework show by professionals. Stay at least 500 feet away from the show. Leave any area immediately where untrained amateurs are using fireworks. Never use illegal fireworks such as bottle rockets. Make sure your City allows fireworks before using them.
If you are setting fireworks off at home, follow these safety steps:
1. Never give fireworks to small children, and never throw or point a firework toward people, animals, vehicles, structures, or flammable materials. Always follow the instructions on the packaging.
2. Keep a supply of water close by as a precaution.
3. Make sure the person lighting fireworks always wears eye protection.
4. Light only one firework at a time and never attempt to relight "a dud."
5. Store fireworks in a cool, dry place away from children and pets.
6. Place all DUDS in a container away from people and pets and fill the container with water.
7. Sparklers cause injuries and should be closely monitored around small children.
5 Pet Health and Safety Tips for the Fourth of July
· Keep Your Pets in a Quiet Room at Home.
· Don't Console a Frightened Pet During the Fireworks.
· Make Sure Your Pet Has ID Tags and a Microchip.
· Consult Your Veterinarian for Easily Stressed or Anxious Pets.
· Exercise Your Dog Before the Fireworks.
A few tips on livestock consideration for the fourth of July
- Keep horses and livestock in safely fenced areas and as far from the excitement and noise as possible.
- Take a current photo of your cats, dogs, cattle, horses, and other livestock; just in case.
- Evaluate your options, choose the safest area for your animals, and make improvements if needed to make the space more secure. Check your fences.
- Check your pastures and remove debris to protect horses and livestock.
PICNIC SAFETY
1. Don't leave food out in the hot sun. Keep perishable foods in a cooler with plenty of ice or freezer gel packs.
2. Wash your hands before preparing the food.
3. If you cook on a grill, always supervise the grill when in use. Don't add charcoal starter fluid when coals have already been ignited. Instead, use the long-handled tools especially made for cooking on the grill to keep the chef safe.
4. Never grill indoors. Keep the grill out in the open, away from the house, the deck, tree branches, or anything that could catch fire.
5. Make sure everyone, including pets, stays away from the grill.
Are you looking for a new career?
Leavenworth County is a great place to work!
You can find all of our current job openings on our job opening section of our website.
One of our greatest resources at Leavenworth County is our hard-working employees. Weekly we take a moment to post an employee spotlight to recognize a job well done and to help our residents understand a little more about how local government works.
The first spotlight of the month is to congratulate each employee celebrating a work anniversary milestone! We are proud to have dedicated employees on our team!
Appraiser's Office
What is the best or favorite part about your job?
What is most challenging about your job?
If there was one thing you could make Leavenworth County residents aware of about personal property, what would it be?
Second, we are here to work with you. Don't be afraid to contact us with questions.
What do you enjoy doing on your time off work?
Cindy O'Toole, Records Account Specialist
Register of Deeds
This employee spotlight is on Cindy O'Toole, Records Account Specialist, Register of Deeds. Cindy joined Leavenworth County in January of 2021 and has been hard at work ever since. Let's take a moment to get to know about Cindy and her role at the County.
Cindy, tell us a little more about yourself?
I am a mother of two children, a son and a daughter. They are both grown and married, and each has given me a grandson. I love to travel to see my kids & grandsons. I have 30 years of Title and Mortgage Lending experience and five years of legal experience.
I love this job because I put my knowledge to use every day, and my team is great to work with, as everyone brings a lot of knowledge and different skill sets to the office.
What is something you would like to share about services offered by your department?
I love helping people & solving their problems.
It is a joy to find the document they are looking for or be complimented for answering their need so quickly. It is satisfying to see people helped by a notification from Property Fraud Alert, especially with such an increase in fraud. The Property Fraud Alert program is free to the homeowner, and I know I am helping properties owner when they sign up.
What does your day-to-day look like as a Records Account Specialist?
Back Indexing :) Filings, back indexing, PFAs, back indexing, help at the window, and back indexing! I like setting and achieving my goals. This week my goal was to get to under 500 documents left in the queue by Friday. At 3:30 pm, I hit 500 and called my boss to show her I had surpassed my goal!
Back indexing is preparing a document previously available only by microfilm to be available online and searchable by Grantor, Grantee, date, type of document, legal description, and other fields.
When I started in January 2021, there were about 45,000 documents to be processed in the queue. "Cindy has not only kept up with the daily recording requirements but additionally added sometimes nearly 200 documents per day to the online availability," states TerriLouis Mashburn, Register of Deeds.
How do you enjoy spending your free time?
I have a passion for reading, spending time with my family, jazz music, and my dogs.
Bill Noll, Infrastructure and Construction Services Director
Public Works Department
To round out our June Employee Spotlights, we are excited to feature our Infrastructure and Construction Services Director, Bill Noll.
Mr. Noll joined the Leavenworth County team in 2020, bringing his years of knowledge and multiple areas of expertise with him. The goal of the Public Works Department is to see that its efforts result in improved public streets, roads, bridges, rights-of-way, and traffic safety.
Let's take this opportunity to learn a little more about Bill Noll and the Public Works Department.
Bill, tell us a little about yourself and your background.
I attended Missouri Western University in St. Joseph on a football scholarship and received a Bachelor’s Degree in Construction Engineering. After college, I surveyed for six years to complete the required apprenticeship to test to become a licensed surveyor. I passed the mandatory testing and became licensed surveyor No. 1599 in Kansas. I worked for three years as the Jefferson County Zoning Administrator and seven years as the Public Works Director. During that time, I completed the necessary courses to become a Certified Floodplain Manager through ASFPM and a Certified Public Manager through KU’s Public Management Institute. After that, I completed my Master’s Degree in Public Administration. I came to Leavenworth County in February 2020 to be the Infrastructure and Construction Services Director.
I have three children who will be in the 4th, 6th, and 8th grades next year. My wife is a charge nurse at the Oncology Center at Lawrence Memorial Hospital.
As the Infrastructure and Construction Services Director, what programs do you oversee?
I oversee the Public Works Department comprised of the Road Department, Construction Project Engineering, Surveying, Noxious Weed, Fleet Management and Equipment Procurement, and GIS
What makes Public Works an essential service?
The roadway network is comprised of over 700 miles of roadway and 143 bridges is the only county service that is relied upon daily by nearly every county resident.
What is the most frequently asked question at the Public Works Department?
When will my road get paved?
What Goals do you have for the Public Works Department?
My goal for all of the programs of the Public Works Department is for them to be leaders in their field within the State of Kansas. When others are trying to improve their services, I want our professionalism, quality of service, and productivity to be used as a model for others to follow.
I also want to continue working on positioning the department so that we can successfully submit future grant applications. Whenever our department is eligible for a grant, I would like to be competitive during the application process in order to try to shift some of the burden off of the local taxpayer.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the Public Works Staff. I am lucky to have such a hard-working staff. None of our success would be possible without them.
We are happy to announce that many of our services are available again. If you need Family Planning Services, including STD, Birth Control and Well Woman, Well Child Physicals, Immunizations, or a TB test, please call our office at 913-250-2000 to set up an appointment.
So many factors go into planning the B&G daily and weekly schedule of repairs, but the weather is probably one of the most important. Nice weather allows us to get our grounds looking top-notch, and rain provides us time for the indoor projects. We make the most of our days and appreciate everyone's patience as we work towards taking care of facility needs!
Crisis Stabilization at Cushing has interior walls up, and final details are in the works to adjust their room sizes.
When warmer weather starts, we usually realize cooling units are down. To date, at the Courthouse, we've replaced a mini-split for Emergency Management and are waiting for an AC unit for the I.S. server room. In addition to the weekly mowing, we've repainted exterior handrails on the North and West doors. A little storm damage kept us busy as well.
The carpet was recently completed in the Judge's areas of the Justice Center. We're currently working towards updating the Court Services office area. Also, a rock way has replaced a worn grass path to enhance the landscape, and a generator failed during the recent power outage.
The new loader has been put to work, helping us to be more efficient at the Sewer District. Unfortunately, recent heavy rains caused water to infiltrate our pump station on Metro Avenue. Very soon, we'll dig it up and seal around the structure.
Please report all maintenance issues to maintenance@leavenworthcounty.gov.
The Leavenworth County Meals on Wheels program works to fight both senior hunger and isolation, allowing older adults to live independently in their homes and community longer. The need for services is rapidly growing, and is the need for your generous support. Each year, the COA works to raise awareness and money for the meals on Wheels program. This year, the COA will host a Family Fun Night at Haymarket Square in July and a Dueling Piano dinner in October. Successful fundraisers ensure we are able to serve over 97,000 delicious lunches to congregate and home-bound seniors, regardless of their ability to pay.
The requested donation for each meal served is $2.00. Unfortunately, many seniors with limited or fixed incomes struggle to pay that donation. Nearly 40 % of Meals on Wheels participants in Leavenworth County face food insecurity and financial challenges. With your support, we can continue to address senior isolation and hunger in our community. Contact the COA for more information.
We hope to see you at one or both of our fundraising events!
Come visit the Council on Aging at the fair!
If your last name begins with the letters H and I it's time to renew your tags.
- Taxpayers may renew their vehicles up to 60 days in advance of their renewal deadline.
- Driver's License renewals are open at the Annex by appointment only, Tuesday through Friday. Please call the Annex at 913-364-5730 to set up an appointment.
For more information about renewing your vehicle, visit this section of our website: Renewing Your License Plate.
Here is a map of May's Planning Commission Cases. The Planning Commission heard these cases at their June 8, 2022 meeting.
The purpose of the Planning Commission is to make recommendations to the Board of County Commissioners on land use applications, regulations, and policies presented by the Planning and Zoning Department.
These cases will be heard by the Board of County Commissioners for a final determination. The Commission Agenda is posted on the Leavenworth County website and is available for public viewing.
Here are links to the Planning Commission Schedule and Board of County Commissioner Schedule.
NEWS AND UPDATES FROM THE REGISTER OF DEEDS OFFICE - June 2022
NEWS AND UPDATES FROM THE REGISTER OF DEEDS OFFICE
June 2022
Property Fraud – with a Happy Ending!
Even though property fraud was committed, with early notice provided by Property Fraud Alert, the valid owner was able to intervene immediately and change a disastrous outcome to a happy ending of restored ownership! Watch this brief news report.
What do you do in the Register of Deeds office?
We daily record Warranty Deeds, Mortgages, Death Certificates, Surveys, Subdivision Plats, Easements, Military Discharges, and various other items. The Register of Deeds also files financing statements and security agreements on personal property under the Uniform Commercial Code, Federal and State liens. These may come by mail, electronic submission, or walk-in customers.
The Register of Deeds is also responsible for safe keeping and preserving documents. Part of that task includes getting old, usually hard to read, microfilmed documents available in a more legible form and providing online searching capabilities.
To make a document searchable online, staff must read the document and back index, i.e., manually enter the information into specific fields such as the name of the person selling their property (Grantor), the person buying the property (Grantee), the date of the document, the type of document (Deed), the legal description, associated document numbers, special notes (Memo), and other information.
It is a detailed and time-consuming task but very helpful to the professional researchers looking for the needed document and the novice researchers who want to find gems of information on their family history. We have begun adding the 911 address (common mailing address) with the required legal description to help out novice researchers looking for their own personal documents. Our star back indexing staffer is Cindy, pictured below pointing to 500 records left in the batch; it started with about 45,000 records in January of 2021!
Shortly, all the remaining microfilmed documents back to sovereignty will be added to the online inventory, meaning hundreds of thousands of pages will also need to be back indexed. So, one document at a time, we are bringing all of Leavenworth County land records to you in an easier online format!
Sharing the FREE Property Fraud Alert from Register of Deeds
May 14th Keller Williams “Safe at Home” Seminar 1 PM at Basehor VFW Hall- 155th Street
May 26th Veterans of Basehor VFW
In these uncertain times, I encourage you to protect your property by researching the benefits of theTransfer on Death Deed and talking with your attorney about any questions you may have about how that would affect your property ownership. We have forms you may print off for free on our website.
Future Presentations by Register of Deeds
July 13th Leavenworth/Lansing Chamber of Commerce Coffee 8 AM County Courthouse
If you are part of a club or organization looking for a speaker, I am available to share this community service message in person. Call or email requests to our office at either 913-684-0424 or tmashburn@leavenworthcounty.gov. I would be happy to share a program on Register of Deeds services with your group.
For more information or to subscribe to Property Fraud Alert, call the Register of Deeds at 913.684.0424 or email tmashburn@leavenworthcounty.gov.
Do you know what the purple bin at the Transfer Station is?
It is a Ripple Glass container, and Leavenworth County residents can bring their glass to the Transfer Station to recycle.
Ripple Glass is a Kansas City company that started in 2009. They have their purple collection bins throughout the metro area. Today, they collect and process over 45,000 tons of glass annually keeping all of that glass out of landfills!
Leavenworth County Transfer Station's customers recycled 35.66 tons of glass last year!! Which makes us proud!
Types of Glass ACCEPTED:
- Glass food and beverage containers
- All colors. No sorting required
- Labels and caps can remain on the glass
- Glassware, such as wine or pint glasses
NOT ACCEPTED:
- Windshields
- No ceramic, porcelain, or milk glass
- No boxes or bags
- No laminated glass or mirrors
Glass recycling makes a significant impact. Glass bottles are 100% recyclable.
One recycled bottle = One new bottle
714 recycled bottles = enough fiberglass insulation to insulate an entire attic
Across all ages and lifestyles, residents generate, on average, approximately 70 pounds of waste glass each year! So for every 10,000 people who recycle their glass, we could keep 700,000 lbs out of the landfill!
The Recycling Center shares the same hours as the Transfer Station.
Tuesday - Friday 8:00am to 3:45pm
Saturday 8:00am to 1:45pm
You don't have to wait in line to use our Recycling Center. Pull up, unload your recyclables, and exit.
You can also recycle cardboard, paper, plastics #1, 2, and 5, aluminum cans and tin cans at our center.
Community Corrections
OPEN HOUSE!
We would love to thank everyone who attended our open house for a tour and to show their support..jpg)
We invite people to stop by and celebrate staff throughout the week.
The week of July 17th, 2022, Community Corrections will be celebrating the 23rd annual Pretrial, Probation, and Parole Supervision Week (#PPPSweek).
What is PPPS Week?
In 1999, APPA began lobbying for every state to proclaim that one week in July is "Pretrial, Probation, and Parole Supervision Week." This was a simple and powerful statement each state could make in celebration of the nearly 100,000 men and women who spend their days working to improve outcomes, both for the individual AND for the public safety of our communities. The first #PPPSWeekProclamation was made by Governor Bill Owens of Colorado that year. Since that first Proclamation, all states have joined in the celebration.
In the past few years, APPA Executive Director Veronica Cunningham and a team of dedicated staff have visited offices in 10 states to show our appreciation. That can mean bringing small baskets of goodies, trumpeting your achievements to our membership, and learning new ways we can help make your lives easier. We have since implemented many of the ideas suggested. Ideas like APPA Connect, which is an online community that gives pretrial, probation, and parole professionals the ability to reach out and talk to each other. Another example is student membership rates for those continuing their education on the career hunt.
JOIN OUR TEAM
We are now hiring for a dual Adult Intensive Supervision Officer/Juvenile Intake Officer. To view a full description of the job and find out how to apply please visit the Job Opening section of our website.
Leavenworth County has multiple job openings in the Public Works Department. 
County Surveyor
County Surveyor Assistant
Survey Technician
Project Engineer
Engineering Assistant/Intern
Noxious Weed Operator I
Heavy Equipment Operator I
Please visit the job opportunities on the County website to learn more information.
Leavenworth County would like to communicate with as many residents as possible. Subscribe to our Monthly Newsletter and a variety of other alerts and news from our County Departments.
Leavenworth County is also on Facebook , so residents can follow their local government and stay informed about the latest news and events.
