District 3 Advisory Board

District III Advisory Board Minutes for July 11, 2012 District III Advisory Board Minutes July 11, 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; seven City staff and eight members of the public were present. Members Present Roger Smith Jody Bennett Paul Davis Staff Present Elena Ingle Officer Claudale Cavanaugh, Patrol South Gay Quisenberry Mark Manning, Finance Wendy Ratliff Capt. Jim Wilson, WFD David Robbins Darren Matthews, WFD Connie White Joshua Brubacher, WFD Council Member James Clendenin Alan King, Public Works and Utilities Janet Johnson, Neighborhood Services Members Absent Terry Brewster Guests Danny Johnson Listed on the last page ORDER OF BUSINESS At 6:30 p.m. Council Member Clendenin called the meeting to order. Minutes from the June 6, 2012, meeting were approved as submitted. PUBLIC AGENDA Scheduled items No items Non-Scheduled items Jane Byrnes, representing Democracy is for People, said she and some other concerned Wichita citizens would like the City Council to pass a resolution that communities across the country have adopted to defend democracy from the corrupting effects of undue corporate power by supporting an amendment to the United States Constitution to establish that only human beings, not corporations, are endowed with constitutional rights; and money is not speech, and therefore regulating political contributions and spending is not equivalent to limiting political speech. She said there is a huge grass roots effort taking place because people don’t like the fact that democracy is being purchased. She suggested that citizens look at www.democracyisforpeople.org and on Facebook We the People of Kansas. Action: Receive and file. STAFF REPORTS Community Police Report Officer Claudale Cavanaugh, Beat 26 Patrol East, reported a humongous increase in auto thefts, larcenies, larcenies to autos and burglaries on her beat. She said she had one suspect who was arrested seven times in seven days. He had a garage sale and the neighbors recognized their stolen property at his sale! She said another burglar was arrested and he was in possession of so much stolen property that they started 1  District III Advisory Board Minutes for July 11, 2012 logging the items in at Property and Evidence at 8 a.m. and at 2 p.m. they were still going. There are still some issues with the vagrants panhandling at Wal-Mart and the 24 Beat is still having quite a few larcenies, but other than that things are pretty quiet in the Patrol South area. Connie Klassen wanted to know the best way to contact her Community Police Officer; Cavanaugh said either call 462-2777 or e-mail them. Connie White asked what can been done to keep these repeat burglars off the streets; Cavanaugh said there are a lot of reasons that they don’t serve a lot of time such as jail overcrowding, jail funding issues, etc . She did say they were able to charge one of her suspects with some felonies instead of just misdemeanors. Jody Bennett said she read an article in the newspaper about different gangs now working together; Cavanaugh said they are doing that to take over more territory – mainly for drug dealing. Wichita Fire Department Report Captain Jim Wilson reported in June the city had 17 fires; he said only two were in District III. (The playground equipment fire at 25th and Hiram is actually in District IV). Capt. Wilson said the preliminary reports indicate there were three structure fires started by fireworks and lots of grass fires. He said a complete report should be coming out in the next week. He reported that thanks to the special number for fireworks complaints, there was never a time that 911 couldn’t handle the call load. Paul Davis asked if complaints called in to the special number were actually dispatched. Wilson said it is very hard to catch/prove/enforce the use of illegal fireworks. Dave Robbins asked if the rubber mulch that they use around some playgrounds is difficult to put out; Wilson said yes. Action: Receive and file. NEW BUSINESS Budget update: 2013 – 2014 Mark Manning, Department of Finance, reported they believe they are going to be in a position to balance the budget, and there will be no increases in property taxes. He then reviewed the 19 items that will allow this to occur. This document is available on the City’s website at www.wichita.org Dave Robbins and Jody Bennett had questions on the Pre-Sentencing Investigation fees. Manning said the State used to collect those fees, but now it will fall upon the City to do that. He said they are primarily related to DUIs. Bennett also suggested that the City look at partnering with organizations like the YMCA on the Aquatics Master Plan. Manning said even though there have been reductions to the Neighborhood Cleanup fund, he doesn’t believe that the service will be negatively impacted in the neighborhoods where it is truly needed. Bennett asked what will happen if Wichita experiences a natural disaster; Manning said, as in the past, the City will figure out a way to deal with it. Manning said the City Manager will present the budget to the City Council on July 17. 2  District III Advisory Board Minutes for July 11, 2012 Elena Ingle wanted to know if the convenience payment fees will include online banking. Manning said he wasn’t sure – that the plan is not yet fully developed – but the thing that costs the City money is credit card payments. Gay Quisenberry asked if the entire budget is available online; Manning said it will be on July 17 after the Manager makes his presentation to City Council. Quisenberry asked how detailed the budget will be, i.e. would the plan for the Cow town subsidy reduction be available. Manning said, detailed plans like that won’t be available by July 17, but citizens have every right to expect a plan to be developed and for it to be accessible to them. Council Member Clendenin said he can assist DAB members in accessing information of that nature. Manning encouraged anyone with additional questions to feel free to contact him a mmanning@wichita.gov, or to contact Janet Johnson and have her forward the questions to him. Action: Receive and file Water Utilities Customer Improvements Alan King, Director of Public Works and Water Utilities, said when the City sought feedback on the Water Utilities rate increase, they learned that citizens were as upset of the lack of customer service as they were over the rate increase. He reviewed three primary customer service goals:  Eliminate long and short reads (only one water bill per month with the appropriate number of days included)  Eliminate inaccurate water meter reads  Improve customer service and dispute resolution King said there have been some problems with the equipment that was installed to do the automated reads. With equipment changes to a better product, King said the City can save $1 million per year, by using the automated read system as opposed to the manual one. Right now approximately half of the city is manual and half is automated. King said they are also looking at revamping customer bills and they will be seeking citizen input on that, they are going to assess utility billing software for long-term usage and also work on improving the phone system capabilities. One of the biggest challenges now, is the fact that the software system is old and slow. It takes a long time for a customer service clerk to be able to pull up someone’s water bill, so calls tend to back up in the call center. The new meters should be able to alert the Water Utility when usage goes up significantly (for example a water leak) so customers can be made aware of it as soon as possible, instead of when their first big bill shows up. Jody Bennett said she hopes to see the ASR project continue because it’s so important to our future; she said she also believes that continuing to address storm water issues is also very important. Paul Davis commented that he has some issues with how the City treats businesses and storm water, but regardless, he wanted to know why the City treats the water before it goes into the ASR and then again when it comes out. King said they are required to do so by State and Federal law. Elena Ingle wanted to know what it would cost the City to put fluoride in the water. King said it would be around $2 million in capital improvements and then a couple hundred thousand per year in ongoing costs. He said there is already some fluoride in Wichita’s drinking water. Connie White said a young man came to her door with a petition he wanted her to sign supporting fluoride in the water. 3  District III Advisory Board Minutes for July 11, 2012 Jane Byrne said it might be good to educate the public on water conservation. King acknowledged it’s a challenge during peak demand times, but that you can conserve yourself right out of money for your fixed costs if you’re not careful. He shared a story about a community that cut their water usage so much; rates had to be raised in order to cover fixed costs. He did say Wichita is in the process of doing an in-depth evaluation of its water resource plan. Dave Robbins said some utility call centers have you leave your phone number and they call you back so you don’t have to sit on hold for so long; King said if Wichita’s Call Center can’t get where it needs to be, that would be an option to look at. Todd Brown said it sounds like the Call Center might not have enough people working there; King said they want to look at working smarter first with software improvements, etc. before they consider hiring additional staff. Paul Davis asked if the City still sells water to Derby; King said yes. Connie Klassen asked how accurate the automated meter reading systems is; King said it’s very accurate as long as the batteries don’t fail. He said many of the City’s current water meters are under-reading because they are so old. The City is going to put in new meters which will be more accurate. Action: Receive and file UPDATES, ISSUES AND REPORTS Dave Robbins reported the Fabrique Neighborhood had their clean up and they filled nine skids. Jody Bennett said the South Area will have a small clean up in September. Elena Ingle said Grandview will have their clean up in September and one of the landlords in their area is purchasing the nice street side mail boxes and the Neighborhood Association is going to help put them up. Gay Quisenberry said Hilltop will have its clean up in November. Wendy Ratliff announced the Planeview Activity Camp for Kids will end next Friday. Connie Klassen said she is very concerned about fireworks and she doesn’t want to be like the guy in Hutchinson whose house burned up because of them. Council Member Clendenin said he is also concerned about illegal fireworks, but that if Sedgwick County doesn’t also enact a ban, it won’t work. He said it really needs to be a regional or state ban, because even if the City put every single available Officer on the street during the holiday, it still wouldn’t be enough personnel to address everyone who is breaking the law with fireworks. He also announced that the redistricting process has begun and he has appointed Dave Robbins to serve on the Redistricting Commission. He said the process has to be completed by the end of the year, but he would like to see it done sooner rather than later. He said District III will see the most growth as a result of the redistricting. Council Member Clendenin encouraged everyone to find his City Council page on Facebook and to watch there for important updates relating to District III. 4  District III Advisory Board Minutes for July 11, 2012 He also announced they are receiving encouraging feedback from the business community concerning passenger rail. He said the next step in the process would be to do an environmental study. That costs around $4.4 million. Connie Klassen asked about the status of the South Broadway Bridge; Council Member Clendenin said they are in the land acquisition phase of the project. Meeting was adjourned. The next meeting for District Advisory Board III will be held at 6:30 p.m., August 1, 2012, at the Water Center at 101 E. Pawnee. Respectfully submitted, Janet Johnson, Neighborhood Assistant – District III Guests Trisha Epps Sue Eddy Todd Brown Jane Byrnes Yvonne Cather Connie Klassen Hazel Drummond 5