City Clerk
We are proud to announce that City Clerk Denise Duerksen this week was awarded her Master Municipal Clerk designation from the International Institute of Municipal Clerks. This is the highest recognition a city clerk can achieve. The MMC program has an extensive and rigorous educational component and a professional and community contribution component. Through advanced continuing education programs, participants receive further development to perform more complex municipal duties.
Denise has worked so hard on her continuing education to achieve this goal. In her 33rd year with the City of Newton, she has become a leader, mentor, and valuable resource for clerks across state. Congratulations, Denise!
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Building & Development
Another new single-family residential home permit was issued this week to Prairie Construction at Autumn Glen in the 500 block of Glen Creek Street, valued at $420,000, with permit fees of $2,302. This makes 20 new single-family residential permits for the year so far.
Fire/EMS
 It was another busy week for Newton Fire/EMS. At Monday’s Board of Education meeting, members of Newton’s first responder community along with USD 373 recognized Newton High School student Ethan House for his quick actions in performing life-saving interventions on a fellow student who was choking.
 On Tuesday, Lt. Thomas Jones provided a fire safety presentation to residents and staff of Bluestem Communities. These talks are a great way for our customers to learn about us and who we are, while also gaining valuable safety information.
Additionally, this week, our crews have been busy doing search and rescue training in an acquired structure. The ability to train in actual structures is extremely valuable. It lends to environments and situations that are not easily replicated in the classroom, while also allowing for greater flexibility with scenarios.
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Parks & Cemeteries
This week our Park team shut down the splash park for the season and provided service at the cemetery for two burials.
Sand Creek Station Golf Course
 This week we were honored to welcome the PGA Tour with professional golfers traveling from all four corners of the United States competing for a PGA Tour membership. Players are raving about the course and love the layout, providing a true test to their golf game. The Tour is considering returning in 2024 with this prestigious event. This adds another great accomplishment for our Championship course.
September is looking to be another great month of financial performance. Several new events, including the PGA Tournament, could provide record-setting revenues. If this pace of events and play keeps up, this year looks to generate the highest gross revenue performance ever for the golf course.
Wichita State will host its Men’s Collegiate Invitational in early October. This event, originally hosted at Crestview Country Club in Wichita, changed based on our partnership with WSU. We are thrilled to bring this event to Newton.
Sand Creek Station hosted our annual Folds of Honor tournament over the Labor Day weekend. We are pleased to report our event raised thousands of dollars to provide educational scholarships to the spouses and children of America’s fallen and disabled service members.
Sales tax
August 2023 sales tax receipts were reported last week and show continued steady growth. Year to date, the City’s receipts are up 9.52% over the same period of 2022. The continued growth of this revenue stream is important as it helps us diversify away from dependence on property tax.
Police Department
Newton PD is pleased to partner with Norm’s Coffee Bar for an upcoming community outreach event – Coffee & Cops. In honor of National Coffee Day, Newton officers will be at Norm’s on Sept. 29 from 7 – 10 AM helping to serve delicious drinks. By special request, the donut waffle will be on special. Stickers, toy cars, high fives, and a look inside a police car will be available for any kiddos in attendance. This kind of event is a great way for our officers to interact with our citizens out in the community!
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Street & Sanitation
Bulky item tagging program, Sept. 5-8: Inspectors tagged 11 locations for having junk at the curb. Three called for service and were charged the regular $10 fee; five didn’t respond to the notice and were charged the $20 fee; three were forwarded to the Environmental Control Officer for further follow-up and remediation.
Water/Wastewater
This week, crews:
- Responded to seven after-hours calls.
- Provided 22 One-Call locate services for work being performed by Ideatek (six of these were updates to previous tickets).
- Lead and Copper Rule task updates:
- 2,474 plumbing surveys have been received to date.
- Staff has completed 23 excavations and material inventories.
- Staff assisted 26 customers with completing their surveys.
Upcoming Events
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Annual Newton Area Chamber of Commerce Banquet: The City is pleased to be a Platinum sponsor for the 102nd Annual Chamber Banquet on Sept. 21 at 6 p.m. at Meridian Center.
- Third Thursday, a downtown shopping event, is Sept. 21, with extended downtown shopping hours until 7:30 or 8 p.m.
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United Way Annual Chili Cook-Off: Downtown Newton, Sept. 23, 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
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Blues, Brews & Barbecue: Athletic Park, Sept. 23, 4-11 p.m.
- KDOT 36th Street Interchange Meeting: Join KDOT officials from 4-6 p.m. on Sept. 26 at the Chisholm Trail Shopping Center to hear the latest about the plans for the reconstruction of the 36th Street bridge.
- City of Newton facilities will be closed on Oct. 9 for an all-employee conference and in-service trainings. Trash pickup was already altered for this date due to it being a federal holiday, and the County transfer station is closed.
See all of the upcoming events at our Community Events listing on Choose-Newton.com.
Meetings & Reminders:
- 7:30 a.m. Sept. 21 – City Commission agenda review
- 7 p.m. Sept. 26 – City Commission meeting
- 7:30 a.m. Oct. 5 – City Commission agenda review
- 7 p.m. Oct. 10 – City Commission meeting
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