It is Halloween, and trick treaters will be out and about Wednesday evening.

In Junction City the hours set aside for that activity are 6-8 p.m. The witches wail ( emergency warning sirens ) will sound at 8 p.m. signaling an end to trick or treating.

Police Captain Trish Giordano said the JCPD will have regular shift working, taking calls for service. “I’m going to have four of my detectives and then our community involvement unit will be out so we’ll probably have an extra eight officers out just driving around making sure everybody is safe and having a good time.”

Some tips: children should trick or treat with an adult, cross the street at corners while walking using traffic signals and crosswalks, and when choosing a costume stay away from long trailing fabric.

Work has been under way to prepare the foundation for a stone structure to display two plaque reproductions of the Grand Army of the Civil War Arch in Heritage Park. Contractor Randy Heldstab is working on the project.

This is the Junction City Rotary Club’s Centennial Project for the community.

( Photo courtesy of Charles Volland )

The 8th Judicial District Nominating Commission has sent the names of three nominees for district judge to Governor Jeff Colyer, who has 60 days to decide who will fill the vacancy created by the January 1 retirement of Judge Maritza Segarra.

The 8th Judicial District includes Geary, Dickinson, Marion and Morris counties.

The nominees are Courtney D. Boehm, Hillsboro, Marion County Attorney; Andrea E. Purvis, Abilene, Dickinson County Attorney; and Britain D. Stites, Junction City, the city attorney for Junction City.

 

Who will pay for the street improvements and how much are still issues being decided as planning continues for a new Junction City High School.

The first draft of a development agreement was outlined for a joint city – county – school board audience on Monday at the C.L. Hoover Opera House. The Chief Operations Officer for the school district, David Wild, reported that the district and city are close in their initial proposals and he is hopeful an agreement can be reached soon.

They are talking about a roundabout and paving of what will be called Blue Jay Way on the east side of the school property. Wild outlined the proposed development agreement,  subject to Board of Education approval. “The district would share 70% of the soft or non-construction costs of the roundabout. KDOT is paying for the roundabout itself at $1.25 million. Those soft costs right now are identified at about $200,000.” The district would about $140,000 and the city $60,000, although there did not appear to be agreement on the city’s part when it came to the $60,000 share. The district would pay full cost of a 31-foot road on the east side of the school at a cost of $1.95 million. The wants to expand that to a 41-foot roadway and would pay the additional cost.

Farther north on there is interest on the part of the city in extending of the road from the northern part of the school boundary at a cost of about $2.2 million. But no final action is close right now.

On the west side of the school site the boundary line is being finalized and there will have to be future discussions with county officials about improvements to Munson Road, which is not currently paved. Who will pay for that work and how much must still be determined. Wild stated. “The big concern on the west side is whether the county has the funds to extend improvements of Munson Road north of the high school property north to Rucker Road. We heard that discussion tonight. They would hate to see that left as gravel road.” There have only been minimal discussions at this point.  County Commissioner Keith Ascher said, “My standpoint on it is, I think they need to be looking at all their options or what it’s going to take surrounding the school, and not focus so much on the building.”

There are talks ahead for city, county and school district officials on infrastructure funding for this project.