District 3 Advisory Board

District III Advisory Board Minutes for August 5, 2015 District III Advisory Board Minutes August 5, 2015 www.wichita.gov The District III Advisory Board meeting was held at 6:30 p.m. at the Wichita WATER Center, 101 E. Pawnee, Wichita, KS 67211; nine District Advisory Board members, six City staff and three signed in members of the public were present. Members Present Elena Ingle (Pro-Tem) David Robbins Staff Present Marjorie Griffith Case Bell, Community Liaison Connie White Officer Dautrich. Wichita Police Paul Davis Officer Doshier, Wichita Police Gerald Henry LaShonda Garnes, Public Works Terry Brewster Trisha Epps, Public Works Cindy Miles Wichita Fire Department Bruce Gass* *Arrived after agenda approval Guests Members Absent Listed on last page Eric Bell Vice Mayor James Clendenin ORDER OF BUSINESS At 6:30 p.m. Pro-Tem Elena Ingle called the meeting to order. Minutes from the July 1, 2015 meeting were approved. The agenda for the current meeting was approved. STAFF REPORTS Wichita Fire reported on District III and the City. There were 22 fires City-wide and five in District III. Of the five District III fires, one was incendiary, three were accidental, and one is of unknown cause. One of the fires carried a $1 million structure loss. Officer Doshier, Wichita Police, reported on Beat 25. Currently they are working with MABC to address nuisance violations. Officer Doshier handed out 146 flyers to people on 25 Beat with violations or with things that could be cited by MABC with the purpose of trying to educate people about the ordinances. Burglaries in the area are jumping up but they have a suspect. Officer Doshier gave some tips about avoiding being victimized by burglars: keep your home locked up, don’t leave clues on the voicemail that you’re away, and put lights on timers to confuse people that may be watching. People are looking for quick opportunities for scrap metal. Make sure that everything in your house has the serial number recorded somewhere and communicate with your neighbors. 1  District III Advisory Board Minutes for August 5, 2015 Officer Dautrich, Wichita Police, reported on Beat 33. Burglaries were on a rollercoaster this year with some months up and some months down. Last month there were 10 burglaries and this month there were four. Larcenies are a problem as well and people in Planeview are reporting having their sheds broken into. DAB? Have we added any new officers? A: The 22 Officers that graduated the Academy will be getting on the streets in September. A new class also started in July. PUBLIC AGENDA Scheduled Items None Off-agenda items Lonny Wright spoke regarding the Citizen Water Advisory Board’s discussion about having selling bonds to Pension Plans so that the City pays lower than average interest rates while the Pension Plan makes more than the usual percentage return. Mr. Wright was in favor of this. Janice Bradley and Russ Pataky, Peace and Social Justice Center, spoke to the DAB to discourage the City from pursuing Private-Public partnerships for the water distribution and treatment system as they believe it would lead to privatization. Privatization in their opinion would not have the accountability that a public organization would have and would not have the best interests of the people in mind. LaShonda Garnes, Wichita Public Works, reported that the Public-Private partnerships being discussed are as a funding mechanism, evaluation and analysis, not a step towards privatization. All assets would still be under public control and in fact any proposal that looked at privatization was dismissed. Public? What protections are there for the private organizations using sub-standard organizations? LaShonda Garnes: It would still have to meet all the same standards that the City uses and the City would be involved in any construction. DAB? Will it be one partner or a coalition? LaShonda Garnes: It would be a coalition. DAB? Is there any cost associated with the contract for oversight? LaShonda Garnes: The cost for oversight would range from $800,000-$1.5 million depending on the contract details. DAB? What are you asking for? LaShonda Garnes: They are asking for an assessment of our infrastructure and to look for financial opportunities that the City doesn’t have access to to aid in the renewal process. DAB? Is there a reason we’re going outside the City departments for this? LaShonda Garnes: Multiple reasons: the partners will have access to financial resources that we do not and we also do not have the people in-house to fill in the knowledge gaps. 2  District III Advisory Board Minutes for August 5, 2015 NEW BUSINESS Scheduled Items Scott Knebel, Planning, reported on the 2015-2035 Community Investments Plan. In 2011, the City of Wichita and Sedgwick County initiated a process to develop the Community Investments Plan to replace the current joint City and County Comprehensive Plan which dates back to 1993. A more current and relevant plan is needed to help set public infrastructure investment priorities and provided a decision-making framework to guide future public investments out to the year 2035 in municipal buildings and infrastructure (e.g. libraries, public safety buildings, streets, bridges, parks, water supply, sanitary and storm sewer, culture, and recreation, etc.). DAB? Do the areas of the County where both the City and County have authority affect this plan? A: It really doesn’t. Wichita and Sedgwick County have the same zoning code and share a planning commission. DAB: Regarding the housing stock in Wichita, the City really needs to focus on salvaging/saving neighborhoods, maybe with more public/private partnerships for the areas where it is entire blocks of blighted houses. Feels that neighborhoods are getting progressively worse and it leads to crime. DAB: Feels that it is a well-developed plan. Motion: That the District Advisory Board recommend that the adoption of the 2015-2035 Community Investments Plan be APPROVED. Result: Motion passed 10-0. BOARD AGENDA New DAB Member Cindy Miles was introduced. Meeting was adjourned. The next meeting for District Advisory Board III will be held at 6:30 p.m., September 2 2015, at the at the Wichita WATER Center, 101 E. Pawnee, Wichita, KS 67211. Respectfully submitted, Case Bell, Community Liaison – District III and IV Guests Catherine Johnson Janice Bradley Lonny Wright 3