District 3 Advisory Board

District III Advisory Board Minutes for April 6, 2016 District III Advisory Board Minutes April 6, 2016 www.wichita.gov The District III Advisory Board meeting was held at 6:30 p.m. at the WATER Center, 101 E. Pawnee, Wichita, KS 67211; Councilman James Clendenin, ten District Advisory Board members, three City staff and three signed in members of the public were present. Members Present Members Absent Elena Ingle Eric Bell David Robbins Connie White Staff Present Paul Davis TeiaWair, Community Services Gerald Henry Officer David Hinners Bruce Gass Officer Christopher Chrisman Cindy Miles Marjorie Griffith Guests Jessica Hutton Listed on last page Emily “Emy” Winterhaltor Councilman James Clendenin ORDER OF BUSINESS At 6:30 p.m. Councilman James Clendenin called the meeting to order. Minutes from the March 2, 2016 meeting were approved. The agenda for the current meeting was approved. Councilman James Clendenin, informed DAB as well as the guests that Terry Brewster resigned as a DAB board member due to a major health issue. At this time Mr. Brewster needs to concentrate on his health. Please call, text, and email or send a card wishing him a get well. This is a sad situation to think about and is wishing him a miracle and speedy recovery. STAFF REPORTS Fire Report Facts for February in District III, there were 11 structure fires, 759 medical rescue alarms, 193 service alarms. One fire was determined to be an aggravated arson with four determined as accidental. In the month of March the Arson squad worked seven fires, one was aggravated arson the other six were accidental. 1  District III Advisory Board Minutes for April 6, 2016 Reminder: If you smoke or have lighters laying around, please keep them inaccessible to children. In the Planeview neighborhood a fire was started by a child playing with a lighter the entire duplex caught on fire. There was another fire where a 12 year old was playing with a lighter and started a fire. To some children fires are interesting but children don’t understand fires are dangerous. There was a fire on Fabrique which was started by someone smoking in their home. Be cautious when smoking, make sure to submerge the cigarette in water. DAB? Are there a lot of grass fires in Wichita like the fires burning in the southern portion of the state? A: No there have not been any fires as bad as the ones burning in the southern portions of the state. About 45 days ago there was a neighborhood fire by Brooks Middle School. Public? How many fire stations are there in District III? A: There are six fire stations in District III. Public? What type of engines do the fire stations have? A: Wichita is an engine driven city. Every neighborhood fire house one engine which is important to known in the event of an emergency. There are also ladder trucks and squads but not every station has squads. There are squads at Stations 22 and 11. Public? Are the trucks fueled by diesel? A: Yes DAB? Is there still a high call volume at Station 22? A: Yes, closing Station 6 created a high call volume for Station 22. Public? Is there a special emergency team that responds to emergency calls such as a heart attack? A: Yes, that would be an EMS alarm. Public: Those calls do not require a ladder. What distinguishes the two? A: The fire department augments the EMS. Every alarm receives an EMS. The ladders go out as first responders which may not be needed, it all depends on the situation and dispatch level. It varies based on call volume. Public? Is EMS a private entity? A: No, EMS is a County agency. DAB? Are mobile homes considered structures? A: Yes, mobile homes (double/single wide) are considered structures. They are private dwellings. Public? How often are analysis efficiently brought in to conduct assessments? How often are things examined to ensure things are done accurately? A: Consulting firms are not brought in that often. In the past three years one was brought in and at that time they examined things to ensure the fire houses were strategically placed in the correct areas. The fire chief is the expert so outside sources are not often required. The chief examines things and runs numbers all the time to ensure things are running accurately. Public? Why doesn’t one person go to the grocery store? Why does the entire crew go to the grocery store or to run errands? A: Everyone goes in the event that they receive a call, they have the entire crew. This allows them to get to the emergency faster. DAB? Is the fire department fully staffed? A: Yes, the fire staff is fully staffed and are currently launching interviews for another training class. Councilman James Clendenin, stated that the Safer Grant allows to ensure that the fire department stays fully staffed. 2  District III Advisory Board Minutes for April 6, 2016 3  District III Advisory Board Minutes for April 6, 2016 Fire Academy is a great thing to do as well. They usually occur in May. Councilman James Clendenin created an action item to have a meeting with command staff to discuss what they are doing ensures they are running efficiently. Police Report Officer David Hinners provided the police report for beat 35. He stated that this is the last year for Southeast High school on S. Edgemoor, the new high school will be at a new location in Far East Wichita. Officer Hinners spoke with the intelligence guy, whom reported that crime and criminal activity has remained the same, although, there has been a small increase in auto thefts but that’s mellowing out. There are no huge increases or new trends of crime. Around beat 31, they are working on a few burglary cases to homes and sheds. Some of the burglaries have happened to homes with open front doors/sheds. Be cautious when you are driving today there has been an increase in auto accidents roughly 20 on the east side today. In July will be the 25th anniversary of summer of mercy. There will be a group present in July to protest around town. Roughly 300 to 400 people will be coming to town for this event. We are not looking forward to this but it’s a great opportunity to boost revenue for hotels and businesses. DAB? What is the best thing to do to secure your shed? A: Lock the door. People are leaving sheds open and unsecured. Hide all your valuables. Use a wall safe, lock the safe, and lock the door that goes into your home from the garage. Officer Christopher Chrisman, is the new coordinator for beat 25, he reported that it’s pretty much status quo on the Southside. Auto theft and auto larceny is up but most are from known drug houses. We are putting together a special task force to combat these issues. With auto larceny, lock your doors, and don’t leave anything valuable visible. Many gain entry by walking by, checking door handles and gaining entrance to vehicles. Councilman James Clendenin, stated police arrested 22 people in January on theft crimes. He congratulated the officers as well as thanked them. The public seldom hears about all the arrests made. Officer Christopher Chrisman, stated that they have a daytime SCAT team that is very successful at tracking down people and stolen property. DAB? Will the H.O.T team gain officers to staff a second shift? When calls are made after hours regarding panhandlers, they are routed to the voicemail. A: At this time the HOT team is not scheduled to receive a second shift or additional officers. A lot of people that panhandle are not necessarily homeless. DAB? There was a group of people fundraising in the area of Maple and West Street. Are permits required for organizations to conduct fundraisers? A: Yes, permits are required to conduct fundraising activities with specific times and dates. Organizations can only fundraise in the street at specific locations throughout the city. There was an organization that took advantage of fundraising in the street. In which they would come into town utilizing different names. Only a certain number of fundraisers are allowed per year. 4  District III Advisory Board Minutes for April 6, 2016 Public? Are beat officers and community police officers two different things. A: Yes, there are four beat officers, one beat coordinator with two relief beat officers and one community police officer for almost every beat. Currently a few community officers have been promoted. Community policing double dip, they act as both beat officers and community policing. Public? How under staffed is WPD? A: As of now 30-40 officers short. They are completing as many training police training classes as they can. The current class in Hutchinson has 22 trainees learning to drive. DAB? Is there a traffic division? A: Not at this time. There are several officers that are traffic officers but they are also 911 driven. Discussions are needed in restoring a traffic division. DAB? What are the plans for the old Southeast High School? Will that be the training center for WPD? A: USD 259 will utilize about 1/3rd of the building. Councilman James Clendenin stated that the city and county are working out the details as to who will control and regulate things. Ideally it will be a 50/50 dual control and regulations. The WPD training will be held at WSU Innovation center. This will allow for an opportunity to recruit from WSU criminal justice majors. DAB? What was the price tag? A: Councilman James Clendenin stated that the price is roughly 6 million from the city and 6 million from the county. The original price was 15 million from both city and county. They felt that the 15 million was too much. The original idea was to build it up north in dual coordination with the National Guard. This posed an issue because the National Guard is not at the training site enough. The idea was to work in collaboration on natural disaster training. The price tag was too high to rehabilitate the soon to be former Southeast. PUBLIC AGENDA Scheduled Items NONE Off-agenda items Public? What are the plans for economic development south of Kellogg? Councilman James Clendenin said the city is looking at selling the Hyatt. The Hyatt makes money and costs the city nothing. The Hyatt gives the city a two-hundred thousand dollar check at the end of the year. Selling the Hyatt will possibly help pay for other assets across the district which will have an impact for 20 to 50 years. South Central neighborhood has vocalized the need for a grocery store ever since the Dillions closed. There are negotiations underway with a possible organization looking to add a grocery store in the former Dillions located on Harry and Broadway. The negotiation portion is that they can add the grocery store in that location but they are looking to franchise. The crime is so high in that area, therefore in order to add the franchise they have to hire an off duty police officer or extra security to ensure the franchise investment is safe. Currently there is a Wal-Greens and Family Dollar on that same corner, however, they do not sell fresh produce or meats. Hopefully there will be an announcement in about two or three weeks. Public? Will this area be opened to smaller businesses or entrepreneurs? A: Councilman James Clendenin First off the crime in this area needs to be addressed full frontal as well as on S. 5  District III Advisory Board Minutes for April 6, 2016 Broadway. He has had conversations with Chief Ramsay about this and ways they can combat the crime. The Chief’s concern are recruiting, he plans to recruit differently. Hiring officers that are seeking a second career. There has been a big success recruiting officers utilizing this manner. Once this is enacted, it will allow for a full slate of officers that can combat crime in an efficient way. Public? The motels have to go. You have to get in there and clean-up those illegally operated businesses. A: There was a bar that shut down roughly three years ago. This bar had gang issues, prostitution, shootings and a lot of police calls. The community plan that was implement in 2009 states that if a bar goes out of business then sits vacant for two years, it cannot be a bar again. Councilman James Clendenin, stated that he had a group of Young Professionals come to him about 2 weeks ago. They stated they had never been south of Kellogg. They go east or west but never south of Kellogg. Most live downtown. He has set up two weekends of bus tours for them to tour south of Kellogg. They will do a bar hop (legitimist bars) to socialize responsibly. He hopes to select 50 things for them to do and see in south Wichita like the Herman Hill Park, The Water Center and the museums in the Water center, the aviation’s museum, fire fighter museum and Watson Park. He is going to talk to this group to insist they purchase property in South Central later when they are ready to settle down and raise a family. Public? In District III we have the best of everything right here. The main strip (Broadway) right before you get to the John Mack Bridge. The river which is a natural resource, yet property values are less in this area. A: Councilman James Clendenin, stated that it is great to hear a citizen say that about our city. He stated that he receives complaints from citizens that think this is a horrible place to live in. Tourism is a one billion dollar industry in Wichita. The city hired a Los Angelo’s group to conduct a marketing survey to show how the city can improve. The results were, 1/3 of the citizens saw Wichita as a great place to live, 66% of the citizens don’t value or think the city is a great place to live, 90% of the tourists enjoyed Wichita and they think that the people in our city are the best assets. It starts with each of us. Go out find something to do in Wichita and then vocalize your experience. If you need help finding things to do go to visitwichita.com. There is not much the city can do aside from code enforcement around Broadway and Harry because the area is not city owned. South Broadway is a federal investment area. There are all sorts of programs available but getting the neighbors involved is the issue. Two summers ago Councilman, Janet Johnson and two police officers walked the area handing out invitations to a meeting held at the Water center. The meeting was an attempt to get the businesses involved. Three to five business showed up. If anyone has any suggestions or ideas to help improve the area please present those to Councilman James Clendenin. He secured more funding for streets than any other district this year. It took citizens being vocal. Watson Park was able to remain open from citizens being vocal. Councilman James Clendenin invited everyone to the District III Breakfast will be April 30, 2016 from 9:00 am to 10:30 am at Mindfire Academy and the guest speaker is Chief Gordon Ramsay. Please come out and present questions to chief. He is a great speaker and great at answering questions. There is a company called Lang enterprises that purchased the strip mall where K-Mart is located on 47th and Broadway. There are plans to do great things with that shopping center. The mobile home park on south Seneca is being purchased. Councilman is convinced that the investments made downtown will flow south towards Broadway. It’s only been five years since they have been rehabbing downtown. It will take time. Councilman James Clendenin, encouraged citizens to pay attention to what is happening at the state level. There is a cell phone tower bill on the governor’s desk that states that city’s will no longer have jurisdiction over where a cell phone tower is placed. This will allow for cellular towers to be installed in residential neighborhoods. Verizon is pushing for this to happen. AT&T attempted to place a tower in a 6  District III Advisory Board Minutes for April 6, 2016 residential neighborhood in Wichita in which council voted no to. There is also a property tax lid bill that states if the value of property tax goes up in the city or in a municipal area there must be a vote. If this occurs this would mean the city would not gain revenue from that. Those are somethings to look at and to be thinking about. Call your local legislature and voice your concerns. Cindy Miles, encouraged DAB and guests to support the local Law Enforcement parade on April 23, 2016. The parade starts at noon around 500 N. Main St. She handed out cards regarding Child Abuse prevention. The cards read, help stop child abuse report suspected child abuse by calling 911 or 1- 800- 922-5330. Visit childabusewichita.org. NEW BUSINESS Scheduled Items None BOARD AGENDA Meeting was adjourned. The next District Advisory Board III meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m., May 4, 2016, at the WATER Center, 101 E. Pawnee, Wichita, KS 67211. Respectfully submitted, Teia Wair, Community Services Representative – District III Guests Tom Strickland Betty Strickland Lonnie Wright Trisha Epps 7  District III Advisory Board Minutes for April 6, 2016 8  District III Advisory Board Minutes for April 6, 2016 9  District III Advisory Board Minutes for April 6, 2016 10