After Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach warned that the city was in violation of state law, the Wichita City Council voted Tuesday to ordinance changes for the placement of billboards and political signs.
The city's law department says they have been working on the proposed amendments for over a year. They will allow an unlimited number of temporary signs, regardless of content, on private property 45 days prior to and the two-day period following any election. The signs can't exceed 8 square feet in area or be more than 5 feet in height and cannot be located closer than 8 feet to a side property line.
Signs in the public right-of-way must be less than 4 square feet, no more than 30 inches from the ground and cannot be placed in the median, attached to stop signs or placed on city bridges or overpasses. They also can't be placed near or on other public property, like city parks or at City Hall.
All signs must be removed immediately following the election period.
Council member Brandon Johnson, while in support of the amendments, says he wishes the AG and Legislature would work on more pressing matters, like revoked driver's licenses and KanCare.
Political signs were not the only item discussed at Tuesday's Wichita City Council meeting. We learned the Wichita Fire Department will soon see major upgrades to its operations.
The City Council approved $1.87 million in ARPA funding for the replacement of their alerting systems, located within each fire house.
Radio signal boosters, which act as a backup in case of radio system failures, are also part of the plan and that project has already been completed.
The city will also create a Department Operations Center that will assist with significant incident responses and extended operations.
In other news, the council selected UMR/UHC for its health insurance plan, RxBenefits - Optum Rx for its prescription plan and MetLife for life insurance. All plans are for three years, begining in 2024.