Lenexa considers on-site health clinic for staff

Lenexa city staff and City Council are discussing the possible implementation of an on-site health and wellness clinic.

The clinic, which would be open to city employees, their spouses and dependent children, could save about $1.4 million in three years, City Administrator Eric Wade said.

"That is our conservative estimate," he said. "It’s a savings to the health plan, which is shared by both the city and the employees. … We’re not adding cost, we’re changing the delivery of certain services and better managing through this some of our costs."

Employees and their families covered by the city’s health plan would be eligible for clinic services. The clinic would be operated by Wellness Innovations & Nursing Services, referred to as WINS, which is part of the University of Kansas Hospital’s corporate wellness program, and would be funded by the city’s health plan.

State's first 'stream team' will monitor water quality in Leawood

Leawood has fielded some new teams to tackle water conservation.

The city’s Sustainability Task Force recently formed volunteer “stream teams,” which will be charged with monitoring some of the streamways in the northern part of the community on a regular basis. The groups will be looking for any adverse changes that might signal water quality problems.

While Missouri has had stream teams for 20 years and now has hundreds of the groups statewide, this is the first one to form in Kansas.

Leawood City Councilwoman Debra Filla, who chairs the sustainability task force, does not foresee Kansas reaching Missouri’s level, but she does have a dream.

“What if we had every waterway and stream monitored in our city,” said Filla. When she says city she does not mean just Leawood, but the Kansas City metropolitan area.

Seven county historical projects receive funding

The Johnson County Board of Commissioners has authorized funding from the Johnson County Heritage Trust Fund for seven historical projects in five cities.

They are:

• $50,000 for the Shawnee Indian Mission Foundation to renovate the West Building at the Shawnee Indian Mission in Fairway;

• $49,500 for the Olathe Park and Recreation District to implement repairs, preservation activities, and exterior improvements to the Ensor Farm Site and Museum;

• $20,800 for the Johnson County Museum, 6305 Lackman Road, Shawnee, to digitize and provide public access to roughly 80 bound volumes of The Squire newspaper, ranging in date from 1961 to 1999. The digitized newspapers will be available through the county’s JoCoHistory.net website;

Sun invites readers to 'Burger Wars'

Sun Publications invites readers to The Sun’s first “Burger Wars.”

Each Wednesday from Sept. 8 through Sept. 29, readers are invited to sample complimentary burger bites at each of the following restaurants while enjoying specialty drinks from their cash bars. Guests will rate burgers at each restaurant and at the end of the month we will announce the People’s Choice winner.

Please go to www.bestofthesun.com/burgerwars to sign up to attend. Attendance is limited to 100 people at each restaurant.

Events are:

• Sept. 8, 5 to 7 p.m., Five Guys Burgers & Fries, 12025 Metcalf Ave., Overland Park;

• Sept. 15, 4 to 6 p.m., BRGR Kitchen + Bar, 4038 W. 83rd St., Prairie Village;

• Sept. 22, 5 to 7 p.m., Smashburger, 6551 W. 119th St., Overland Park; and

• Sept. 29, 5 to 7 p.m., Blanc burgers+bottles, 10583 Mission Road, Leawood.

Questions? Contact Chris Rodgers at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 385-6056.

Lenexa council OKs capital improvement program

The Lenexa City Council has approved the 2011-15 capital improvement program. The total capital improvement budget is $163.2 million, including prior year expenditures, and includes 46 funded projects. Nine of the new projects are mostly funded with revenue from the three-eighth-cent sales tax and county public safety sales tax. Some of those projects are: replacement of three fire engines/pumpers; Sar-Ko-Par Trails Park improvements; Freedom Fields improvements; and playground equipment replacement.

Other major capital projects include: 87th Street Parkway from Pflumm Road to Interstate 435; 87th Street, Renner Boulevard to Lennox Drive; Renner Boulevard north of 87th; Quivira Road from 99th Street to I-435; and service center facilities.

Citizens may review the 2011 budget on the city’s website, www.ci.lenexa.ks.us.

Two Overland Park hotels on 'Best of MidAmerica' list

The Sheraton Overland Park Hotel at the Overland Park Convention Center and the Overland Park Marriott have both been honored with a “2010 Best of MidAmerica” award by Meetings MidAmerica magazine.

“We are extremely pleased to learn that the Sheraton and Marriott were selected for the ‘Best of MidAmerica,’” said Jerry Cook, president of the Overland Park Convention and Visitors Bureau. “We appreciate that our customers recognize the quality of Overland Park’s facilities and our dedication to making events a success.”

County honored for programs

The National Association of Counties has recognized Johnson County for implementing innovative county government programs to better serve residents.

The 2010 Achievement Awards winners were recognized July 26 during the NACo’s 75th Annual Conference and Exposition in Washoe County, Nev.

Among other programs, Johnson County is recognized for implementing a modern Legislative Information Management System designed to improve citizen access to information, foster government transparency, and streamline manual processes. The county’s LIMS uses an electronic document management systems to file, research, retrieve, and maintain a variety of records, as a program to support all meeting management activities including agenda creation, streaming video, minutes taking, and web publishing.

Bernice Duletski, deputy county manager, said the system “helps Johnson County government keep the general public, local media, and other government entities informed, and makes local government more open and transparent.”

Overland Park student interns at White House

This was not your ordinary summer internship.

Paul Connet of Overland Park got to be up close and personal with some of the nation’s top leaders over the last couple of months at the White House.

Connet, 19, worked as an intern in the Office of Presidential Correspondence, helping respond to all manner of citizen correspondence directed to President Barack Obama.

Though he never talked directly to the president, Connet said he was at three events that included Obama.

Connet did have the opportunity to exchange small talk with former Kansas governor and Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius.

He even had a brief exchange with Vice President Joe Biden, who was among a series of speakers who addressed the White House interns from time to time. And he chatted briefly with Biden’s wife, Jill, while working on a USO project at Walter Reed Hospital.