Lenexa City Council taps Dan Roh to fill vancancy for next two years

Dan Roh is the newest member of the Lenexa City Council.

Nominated by the mayor and appointed last month by the council, Roh will fill the Ward 3 position vacated by Amy Slater, who resigned in September after serving more than 18 years.

Roh will serve the remaining two years of her term. He has lived in Lenexa for more than 30 years and retired from Hallmark in 2015 after a 35-year career in management.

Now, Roh is assistant to an adjunct professor for the University of Kansas.

The city said his community activities include the Learning Exchange Mentoring Program with the Kansas City Public Schools, the Institute of Industrial Engineering, Junior Achievement, and Little League baseball and softball.

He has been a board member and president of the Oak Hill Homeowner’s Association in Lenexa.

Construction to start on Gardner project

The public is invited to a groundbreaking at 10 a.m. on Dec. 11 for the Excelligence Learning Corporation’s 646,400-square-foot facility in Gardner, which is expected to be finished a year from now.

The city and the Gardner Edgerton Chamber of Commerce will host the ceremony at the building site, which is located in the Midwest Commerce Center, 17001 Mercury St., across from the Coleman building.

The city said that Excelligence, based in Monterey, Calif., is a leader in the childhood education industry, providing learning tools and solutions to early childhood and elementary teachers and parents.

Its Gardner operation will include manufacturing, distribution and a call center.

The Southwest Johnson County Economic Development Corporation reported this fall that the company is expected to employ 250 people after three years at the $38 million facility.

Household hazardous waste collection Dec. 9

All Johnson County residents can dispose of unwanted household hazardous waste Dec. 9 at Olathe’s drop-off event.

Items like aerosol cans, batteries, automotive fluids, pesticides, paint, and mercury light bulbs can be left between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. at the Household Hazardous Waste facility, 1420 S. Robinson Drive, behind Public Works and Customer Service.

Residents will be asked to provide a photo ID and a general description of their items. Electronics will not be accepted.

Visit OlatheKS.org for a list of acceptable items or for more information.

Book sale this weekend at Olathe library

The Olathe Public Library’s “Stock Up on Winter Reading” book sale — with thousands of titles available — concludes Dec. 10 at the library’s Teen Commons,16160 W. 135th St.

Sale hours were scheduled 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Dec. 8-9, followed by the Six-Bucks-A-Sack Sale from noon to 3 p.m. on Dec. 10.

Visitors can buy a plastic sack at the door for $6 and fill with it materials. If they buy two sacks, they get four for free.

Cash or checks will be accepted.

Customers are asked not to bring book carts or strollers, because of space limitations.

Hugh Libby gives $2 million to JCCC

The Johnson County Community College Foundation has received a $2 million gift from Mission Hills resident Hugh L. Libby to help construct a new career and technical education building.

The gift is part of a private funds drive by the JCCC Foundation to support a $102.6 million multi-year campus transformation initiative approved by the college Board of Trustees.

Recently, the JCCC Foundation received a $10 million gift from the Sunderland Foundation for the project.

Libby owned the Libby Corporation, with two manufacturing plants in Kansas City that made military generators and starters for fighter jets, among other items.

“There’s a real need for the technology center because I think a lot of young people are graduating high school, and they’re not really prepared, or not that interested in a four-year degree,” Libby said in a news release. “Some of them are interested, but then they come out of college, having incurred a lot of debt, and they still can’t find a job.”

Instead, those students could have entered a career program and entered the workforce more quickly.

This story was originally published December 7, 2017 at 11:39 AM with the headline "Lenexa City Council taps Dan Roh to fill vancancy for next two years."