District 3 Advisory Board

District III Advisory Board Minutes for May 2, 2012 District III Advisory Board Minutes May 2, 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; eight District Advisory Board members were in attendance; nine City staff and 10 members of the public were present. Members Present Staff Present Jody Bennett Officer Mo Floyd, Patrol South Terry Brewster Officer Erik Guzman, Patrol East Paul Davis Mark Stanberry, Housing Elena Ingle Mark Manning, Finance Danny Johnson Battalion Chief Ernie Schuler, WFD Gay Quisenberry Seth Goodin, WFD Wendy Ratliff Justin Camfield, WFD David Robbins Robert Turner, WFD Council Member James Clendenin Janet Johnson, Neighborhood Services Members Absent Guests Listed on the last page ORDER OF BUSINESS At 6:30 p.m. Council Member Clendenin called the meeting to order. Minutes from the April 4, 2012, meeting were approved as submitted. PUBLIC AGENDA Scheduled items No items Non-Scheduled items No items STAFF REPORTS Community Police Report Officer Mo Floyd, Beat 29 Patrol South, said there were two areas in his beat that really got hit – 63rd and Hydraulic and 55th and Clifton. He said the Sheriff’s Office, Fire Department and Police Department are to be commended for the job they did in responding to the storm damage. Additionally, he said the Patrol South area is experiencing auto thefts and residential burglaries. A lot of vacant homes are being broken into and the copper stolen. They have been doing a number of special assignments to address this issue and have made 15 arrests. A couple of staffing changes include newly assigned Community Policing Lt. Dennis Wilson and Capt. Max Tenbrook. Officer Erik Guzman, Beat 33 Patrol East, reported the East side CP Unit was called in at 1:30 a.m. in response to the tornado and ended up working about 12 hours. He said Officer Lloyd did a great job in setting up the Command Center quickly. Officer Guzman reported residential burglaries are also an issue in the Patrol East area and vacant homes are being burglarized as well. He also announced that applications are being taken for the Planeview Activity Camp for Kids and that the Meadowlark clean up was a success. He noted that Council Member Clendenin’s help at the clean up was appreciated. 1  District III Advisory Board Minutes for May 2, 2012 Paul Davis said the City enacted a new ordinance regarding scrap metal and he thought the State was going to adopt something similar so there is more accountability. Officer Floyd said apparently the State didn’t do that because the thieves are taking their stolen goods out of the County in order to sell them. Council Member Clendenin said the Meadowlark Clean up was successful, as was Love Wichita, which was held on the same day. He also shared that he was with Officer Nick Long today at Jardine Middle School teaching an active citizenship class. He said working with the police department on these activities has been very rewarding. Wichita Fire Department Report Battalion Chief Ernie Schuler reported in March there were 718 calls in District III compared to 573 last year. Of those there were 21 fires, 567 medical and 130 service calls. Of the 21 fires, five were investigated and two were accidental, two were incendiary and one is still under investigation. The five fires investigated were in the 900 block of S. Bleckley, 2200 S. Victoria, 1700 S. Topeka, 1800 S. Windsor and 1900 S. Pattie. Current activities in the Fire Department include the Citizens Fire Academy and a challenge against the Police Department in softball. Elena Ingle asked what service calls include; Schuler said anything that’s not a medical or fire call. Dave Robbins wanted to know if Department staff are working normal shifts, or if they are working a lot of overtime; Schuler said other than the tornado response, they are working regular shifts. Council Member Clendenin said the City is applying for FEMA money to help cover the overtime incurred as a result of the tornado response. Jim Gulick asked what an incendiary fire is; Schuler said it’s one that is intentionally set. Action: Receive and file. NEW BUSINESS Preliminary Budget Overview: 2013 – 2014 Mark Manning, Department of Finance, provided information on the development of the 2013 – 2014 Proposed Budget. The process is at a preliminary stage, and community input is being sought to define priorities and develop ideas to incorporate into the budget. Manning said while the financial forecast for the City isn’t great with a projected deficit of $5 million in 2013 and $6.5 million in 2014, Wichita is still in better shape financially than a lot of other jurisdictions. Jody Bennett asked if this means there will be draconian measures taken, such as employee layoffs. Manning jokingly replied the difference between a recession and a depression is a recession is when your neighbor loses his job; a depression is when you lose yours. He said the City does not expect to have layoffs, but it would be fair to say they will review all options. One DAB member asked when the last time was the City ran at a deficit; Manning said he thought it was around 2001. Dave Robbins asked if the City has a carry forward; Manning said yes, it’s about 11 percent of the budget and they like to keep it between 10 and 15 percent. Terry Brewster said he was baffled by the continuing increases in insurance costs; Manning said it goes up around 10 percent a year. Brewster asked how the City balances that; Manning said it’s hard. And as with many things, about 10 percent of your people drive most of the costs. Brewster said one way to address it is to increase the co-pays. Manning said sometimes that works the other way because people don’t practice preventive health care and then end up incurring even more medical costs. 2  District III Advisory Board Minutes for May 2, 2012 Dave Robbins asked if the City is self-insured; Manning said yes. Gay Quisenberry asked if the City gets any of the revenue generated by the Arena. Manning said the City gets reimbursed around $250,000 for public safety services provided and it collects 58 percent of the sales tax generated. Jody Bennett said the State hasn’t been very good about sending the demand transfers; Manning said that is correct. Connie Klassen asked if more money could be generated by doing more enforcement on building permits. Manning said the City currently collects around $5 million a year in building permits; during good times they used to collect around $7 million per year. Gay Quisenberry asked if the DABs and public will have another chance to provide input on the budget. Manning said they are going to try very hard to make that happen by having an all DAB meeting on June 27th and visit the DABs again at least once before the end of the budget process. Action: Receive and file Request for Resolution of Support for Application for Housing Tax Credits (Residences at Linwood) Mark Stanberry, Housing and Community Development, made the point that Housing Tax Credits have absolutely nothing to do with the City’s budget, before he presented a request from Brent Hurst of MH Development, LLC, for a City Council resolution of support for an application for 9% Housing Tax Credits in connection with the renovation of 180 units of the Linwood Apartments. The Linwood Apartments complex is located at 2002 S. Hydraulic. According to the application, a total of 180 apartment units would be renovated under what is to be considered as “Phase 1” of the project. This includes 34 studio units, 112 one-bedroom units, and 34 two-bedroom units. The renovation plan includes refinished hardwood floors or new carpets, new countertops, vanities, sinks, light fixtures, plumbing fixtures, and HVAC systems, as well as full interior repainting, plumbing upgrades and electrical system upgrades. Exterior renovations include new roofing, landscaping and lighting, as well as brick repair and tuck-pointing. Brent Hurst, owner, stressed that this is a local project and said he may be applying for Historical Tax Credits as well. Terry Brewster asked Hurst about his track record; Hurst said he owns and has successfully renovated hundreds of apartments in Wichita. Dave Robbins asked if the units would be suitable for Section 8; Hurst said yes. Terry Brewster asked if the units would be handicapped accessible; Hurst said some of them will be – it will depend on the market demand. He said it’s not feasible to make every single unit handicapped accessible with the wide doorways, lower counters, etc. Jody Bennett asked what the current occupancy rate at Linwood is; Hurst said 12 percent. Terry Brewster said his wife has some clients who live there, and he wanted to go on record as saying that the proposal is a great project. Jody Bennett asked if there would be a commons area; Hurst said that would be a part of phase two in conjunction with Medical Lodge. He said one of the reasons he chose to purchase Linwood Apartments was because of the close proximity to Linwood Park and all the amenities that it provides. 3  District III Advisory Board Minutes for May 2, 2012 Hurst said there are 90 buildings on the site and he plans on spending between $25,000 and $30,000 on rehabbing each unit, which will equate to around $90,000 per building. Paul Davis asked what about the apartments makes them historic; Hurst said they were built as World War II aircraft housing and one of the President’s actually held an event there. Gay Quisenberry asked if all the units will be Section 8; Hurst said no, but it will be low income, i.e. income limits of $27,000 per year for a single person and $30,000 per year for a two-person household. Anya Clifford, the manager, said they do extensive background checks to ensure they are getting responsible renters. Dave Robbins (Ingle) made a motion that the District Advisory Board approve a recommendation for adoption of the resolution of support for the Housing Tax Credit Application, with partial waiver of the 20% market-rate unit requirement in order to allow for a total of 18 market-rate units, subject to further review, in accordance with the City of Wichita’s Housing Tax Credit Policy. Motion passed 8-0 UPDATES, ISSUES AND REPORTS Council Member Clendenin said he is very concerned about the future of the Transit system. Last year it ended the year with a $700,000 deficit that had to be paid from the contingency fund and this year it is expected to have a $500,000 deficit. He said one of the things the City is considering is running routes every half hour during peak times and only every hour at other times. The Council Member said the City needs $10 million per year to run the current system, which isn’t even a good system. He said we need to be using a grid system instead of the current wheel and hub system, but the initial investment for that is very expensive. He said one of the solutions that has been discussed is using a quarter of 1% sales tax. He pointed out that Wichita is one of the few cities that funds its transit system with property tax revenue. Elena Ingle said she has been advocating getting the City to provide a decent transit system for years. Danny Johnson said the hub system is one of the biggest issues – it makes the system so inconvenient, people with transportation options won’t use the bus. Terry Brewster said he doesn’t understand the City’s attitude about the transit system; in his opinion it’s infrastructure and it should be treated and funded as such. Judy Dillard said in the past when the City has cut routes, it just resulted in more people applying for the handi-capped services and ultimately drove the expenses up even more. Betty Strickland asked if the City could save money by purchasing smaller buses; Jim Gulick, a member of the Transit Authority Board, said most of the costs incurred are the driver and the maintenance, not the initial cost of the bus. Gay Quisenberry said the transit system needs to be appealing to everyone, like young professionals, not just low income people with no other options. Council Member Clendenin announced the Sedgwick County Commission will be hearing the Southfork TIF on May 9th, so citizens need to plan on attending and voicing their opinion. 4  District III Advisory Board Minutes for May 2, 2012 Terry Brewster asked why the DAB meeting doesn’t start earlier; CM Clendenin said it can be hard for working people to eat after work and get to the meeting. Dan Johnson said regarding Transit, another benefit of a good system would be a greener city with improved air quality. Paul Davis agreed and remarked that he serves as the District 3 representative on the Wichita Initiative to Renew the Environment (WIRE) and air quality is one of their concerns. Elena Ingle has worked with AARP for a number of years providing free tax service to seniors and low income citizens. She presented an award to the Colvin Neighborhood City Hall for being a host site for 10 years. Jody Bennett said the City did an excellent job of cleaning up the storm debris. Dave Robbins reported Fabrique Neighborhood Association is working on getting word out about their neighborhood cleanup. Meeting was adjourned. The next meeting for District Advisory Board III will be held at 6:30 p.m., June 6, 2012, at the Water Center at 101 E. Pawnee. Respectfully submitted, Janet Johnson, Neighborhood Assistant – District III Guests Connie Klassen Tom Strickland Betty Strickland Kathy Manny Larry Manny Jim Gulick Judy Dillard Joan Winters Brent Hurst Anya Clifford 5