District 3 Advisory Board

District III Advisory Board Minutes for Feb. 21, 2012 District III Advisory Board Minutes Feb. 21, 2012 www.wichita.gov The District III Advisory Board meeting was held at 6:30 p.m. at the Wichita Water Center at 101 E Pawnee; seven District Advisory Board members were in attendance; three City staff and three members of the public were present. Members Present Members Absent Terry Brewster Jody Bennett Paul Davis Elena Ingle Staff Present Danny Johnson Mark Manning, Finance Gay Quisenberry Gary Janzen, Public Works Engineering Wendy Ratliff Janet Johnson, Neighborhood Services David Robbins Council Member James Clendenin Guests Listed on the last page ORDER OF BUSINESS At 6:30 p.m. the meeting was called the meeting to order. Minutes from the Feb. 1, 2012, meeting were approved. DAB members asked Gary Janzen questions about various District III projects while waiting for Council Member Clendenin to arrive from another engagement. NEW BUSINESS 2011-2020 Proposed Capital Improvement Program Budget Mark Manning, Finance Department, presented the proposed 2011-2020 Capital Improvement Program (CIP) budget and Gary Janzen, Public Works Engineering, responded to questions about specific projects. Manning gave an overview of the CIP and explained that if left in its current form, the CIP would cause the City’s debt level to increase significantly above the acceptable bench mark (around 67%). Dave Robbins wanted to know if that would impact the City’s AA bond rating; Manning said it certainly could. Gay Quisenberry wanted to know how a bond rating is established; Manning explained the process. Quisenberry also asked what improvements would be made to Century II with the money allocated; Manning said some basic maintenance things to keep the facility looking nice. Danny Johnson asked if the South Seneca Street project would improve the drainage in the area; Janzen said in order to achieve optimal drainage in all the adjacent neighborhoods, the project would cost millions and millions of dollars, which the City doesn’t have. He said drainage will definitely be improved on Seneca and on 31st Streets, but won’t improve significantly in the adjacent neighborhoods. Terry Brewster had questions about the debt level and asked how the City feels about going above the bench mark. Manning said staff is working diligently to come up with options for the City Council so the debt increase can be avoided, but he deferred to Council Member Clendenin for a more specific answer. The Council Member said all of the Council is very concerned and uncomfortable about increasing the debt level above the bench mark. He said the City recently refinanced some water debt, which saved the City around $17 million and refinanced some GO debt that saved $7 million. He said Council Members have 1  District III Advisory Board Minutes for Feb. 21, 2012 devoted a lot of time to this subject and all of them are looking for non-essential projects in their Districts that can be post-poned. Brewster asked Manning for a ball park figure on the difference between interest rates when refinancing. Manning said it’s typically not even a full percentage point, but because the amount of money they are dealing with is so great, it results in thousands and millions of dollars of savings. Dave Robbins asked if there are re-finance charges; Manning said yes. Terry Brewster asked if the City’s infrastructure is so bad that it has to be repaired now; Council Member Clendenin said some of it is, like the water and sewer infrastructure. Judy Dillard said she is concerned about legislation that is being considered regarding farmers use of water from the aquifer that Wichita is paying for via the ASR project. She wanted to know if the farmers will be able to use the water from the aquifer that the City of Wichita is paying for. Council Member Clendenin said yes, but during their recent trip to Topeka, in the discussions with every Legislator, the ASR project was brought up and Council Members voiced their concerns. Paul Davis wanted to know when was the last time the City’s debt level was above the benchmark. Manning said in the late 70s and 80s, the City’s debt level was up in the 90% range and the City had no flexibility on initiating projects because the vast majority of its money was going toward debt. He said a new City Manager was hired in the mid 80s and it took until 1995 to get the City’s debt level back to an acceptable level. Elena Ingle said she is concerned about the lack of attention to infrastructure maintenance. She said it doesn’t make sense to ignore it and then end up paying twice as much to fix it because it’s become so deteriorated. She said it seems there is a lot going on downtown and a lot of City money is being spent there at the expense of other existing infrastructure. The majority of the DAB members expressed a desire to keep the debt level below the 67% benchmark and saw postponing non-essential projects as a viable solution. Terry Brewster asked what the purpose of the meeting was since this was a Receive and File item. Council Member Clendenin said it was to get the DAB members perspective on the CIP, and he felt like he heard what the members concerns are. Action: Receive and file Motion was made, seconded and passed to adjourn the meeting. Meeting was adjourned. The next meeting for District Advisory Board III will be held at 6:30 p.m., March 7, 2012, at the Water Center at 101 E. Pawnee. Respectfully submitted, Janet Johnson, Neighborhood Assistant – District III Guests Connie Klassen Judy Dillard Roger Smith 2