District 3 Advisory Board

District III Advisory Board Minutes for June 6, 2018 District III Advisory Board Minutes June 6, 2018 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. Council Member James Clendenin, 10 District Advisory Board members, seven City staff, and seven members of the public were present. Members Present Staff Present Ron Tracy Lt. Drew Seiler, Wichita Police Department Daisy Olivar (WPD) David Robbins Sgt. Chad Remy, WPD Cindy Miles Officer Joshua Hayes, WPD Paul Davis Officer David Inkelaar, WPD Michael Loop Officer Brandon Faulkner, WPD Gerald Henry Battalion Chief Sidney Newby, Wichita Fire Catherine Johnson Department (WFD) Marco Alcocer Brian Coon, Traffic Engineer Bruce Gass Maddy Campbell, Office of Community Service Council Member James Clendenin Members Absent Jerrod Cerullo ORDER OF BUSINESS At 6:34 p.m. Council Member James Clendenin called the meeting to order. The agenda for the current meeting was approved. The Minutes for April 4, 2018 were approved. STAFF REPORTS Police Report Officers Joshua Hayes and David Inkelaar and Sgt. Chad Remy, WPD, presented crime updates for District III. Officer Hayes reported:  Burglaries, larceny, and auto theft are up from last month, while robberies have leveled out.  There was a significant bank robbery at Valley State Bank with no current suspects.  WPD has several auto larceny suspects under investigation.  The Broadway Corridor Team is producing excellent results and recently had a successful joint effort (with South Patrol) John Sting. DAB asked and made the following questions and comments: Q: Was Valley State Bank’s security off duty when they were robbed? A: I do not know. Q: Did they get away with a lot (in reference to Valley State Bank robbery)? A: “Oh yeah.” Q: Why is there so much crime on Broadway Street? 1  District III Advisory Board Minutes for June 6, 2018 A: There is a lot of traffic, an established culture, and poverty is concentrated in the area. Q: How do your (John) stings affect prostitution traffic on Broadway Street? A: You see displacement. One side (North or South) will have a sting leading traffic to pick up on the other side of Broadway Street. Officer Inkelaar reported:  There was a homicide (by gun) on the 1700 block of South Elpyco Street. WPD was able to get an individual in custody within 30 minutes due to witness assistance.  Auto thefts are rising in the Patrol East Bureau.  Patrol East is working with Park and Recreation to promote the sayYES! program—a program designed to enhance the lives of children by providing a free pass to allow access to educational opportunities, activities at recreation centers, and transportation on City buses among others—and to implement more activities. The goal is to lower juvenile crime by keeping children occupied and building them into stronger citizens. DAB and public asked and made the following questions and comments: Q(public): Is sayYES! A city-wide program? A: Yes. Q/C: There is a YMCA program that allows kids to go to the YMCA every Saturday night. Has anyone taken over for Officer Robison in that role? A: Officer Alex Recio is taking over for Beat 99, but I am not sure who is taking over for the program from WPD. Sgt. Remy informed the group about the responsibilities of the Crime Response Team (CRT). CRT is in charge of responding to robberies, larceny, shootings, and burglaries. CRT works overnight, 3rd shift, 5 p.m. – 3 a.m. They work hand in hand with investigations to get people charged and linked to additional crimes. DAB and public asked and made the following questions and comments: Q: How are calls (to 911) prioritized? Can it take hours for WPD to respond? A: Sedgwick County dispatch has their own priority list. Q: Did you replace SCAT? Is there a team focused on drugs? A: SCAT was renamed and they still work with undercover detectives to address drug crimes. Q: Do you have three shifts of detectives? A: No. Detectives work Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. However, detectives can get called in on overtime for homicides, shootings, etc. Q: What is a good contact number to call to follow up on cases? A: (316) 268-4407. Q: Have there been any changes in police conduct since the swatting incident? A: “I can’t speak for commander and executive staff. I know it’s being looked at, but I’m at the bureau level.” A(Officer Inkelaar): I am a hostage negotiator. Hostage negotiation staff has increased to eight people. We are implementing change to how we operate business. We are using CIT officers and crisis negotiation officers. Our command staff is reviewing policies. Q(public): We keep having bike/car collisions. I have noticed if you are going east on an eastbound side and a bicycle is coming wrest that is an accident waiting to happen. I would like to see somebody say we have rules for bicycles and I never see officers addressing this. A: That is going to come down to education and getting enforcement to problem areas. Q: Is it illegal for someone to operate a bike on a sidewalk? A: Yes. They are supposed to operate on the roadway no more than three feet from the curb. Q: I called in an in-operable vehicle. How fast is response time to go check and get it tagged? I called Patrol East a month ago and the vehicle is still there. 2  District III Advisory Board Minutes for June 6, 2018 A: We have a database we put those into. When we get calls they go into the system. Sometimes systems have issues. We have migrated to a new system and it is possible it got lost. You can call 911 to report. Do not feel bad about that. We do not have a non-emergency line. You can also call the substation. Fire Report Battalion Chief Sidney Newby, Station 22, WFD, presented the fire statistics for District III for the month of May. There were 39 fire alarms, 90 service alarms, and 644 medical alarams. He also reviewed the new Fireworks Ordinance and passed out fliers to the group. DAB and public asked and made the following questions and comments: Q: Are we doing designated areas for fireworks? Is it illegal to go into the golf course and set off fireworks? A: We are not doing designated areas this year. It is illegal to shoot off fireworks in parks, golf courses, and playgrounds. Q: Have you gotten those 22 positions filled for the enforcement effort (in regard to fireworks)? A: Between us and WPD, yes. We have to rely on WPD a lot because we are not enforcement-based. We go and scout the area and then have to call WPD to deal with any issues as our people are not trained to handle escalated situations. A(CM Clendenin): Increased tent fees will pay for increased officer presence (overtime). Q(public): I though in the proposal they were going to have it so WFD could write tickets? A: We can write a citation. We want to make sure we have WPD presence for any escalated situations though. C(public): I have concerns about property owners being held responsible because of tenants shooting off fireworks or trash blowing onto the property. A(CM Clendenin): The aim is to catch those illegally shooting them off, not to punish landlords. The ordinance states property owner and/or occupants. I encourage landlords to send letters to tenants so they know the law. Q: Is Tannerite (an explosive material) illegal? A: We are unsure. Having explosive materials in the city is illegal. We understand many things can be explosive, e.g. gasoline, so it is about the intent. I recommend calling Fire Prevention/Investigation for more information. Action taken: Received and filed. PUBLIC AGENDA None NEW BUSINESS Department of Public Works & Utility Brian Coon, Traffic Engineer, presented a proposal to convert Victoria Street to a one-way southbound street between Donnell Street and Tulsa Street in an effort to relieve some of the traffic congestion near Anderson Elementary located at 2945 S. Victoria St. A petition has been received from adjacent residents in support of this conversion. Julia Hutchinson, USD 259 Transportation Field Services, was present to show support. DAB and public asked and made the following questions and comments: Q: With the help of USD 259, will you put up anti-idling signs? Parked school buses can become a problem. A: We may already have some. There is at least one. Q: Would any other action need to be taken, other than City Council approval and the addition of street signs, to implement this? Will you put up a flier or educate people in the area? A: We will do door hangers in the surrounding area. 3  District III Advisory Board Minutes for June 6, 2018 Q: What about electronic traffic signs? A: That is possibly doable. We will need to work with engineering. When a big change is made they often put up a big sign. C(public): With the change, I highly recommend going to Pattie Street and putting up no parking signs on the school side. A: We will be doing a traffic study and putting up parking signs on the east side. Action Taken: Motion made by BRUCE to SUPPORT the proposal. Seconded by TRACY. MOTION PASSED 10-0-0 PUBLIC AGENDA Off-agenda items Jane Burns, Bike Walk Wichita, passed out cards and spoke about the walkability of Wichita. She informed the group that 30-40% of people do not drive. She encouraged the group to visit the website and take the survey to help improve Wichita’s walkability. BOARD AGENDA Catherine Johnson, Neighboring Movement by SoCe Life, provided fliers and information regarding their Hyatt grant-funded project. She informed the group of a job opening and application on their website. Paul Davis reminded the group of the 3rd anniversary for the new airport. Council Member Clendenin commented on low-cost airlines. Council Member Clendenin reviewed police staffing and the City’s Proposed Budget for 2019-2020. He reported:  The City is in phase one of staffing the recommended police positions. They are adding 32 positions to WPD. The City cannot rely on sales tax to fund policing services due to a nation-wide downward trend.  Property tax is the main source of revenue for the City. Other sources are franchise fees, sales tax, and fees/fines. We are one of two cities in the state without a city tax. We need to address current trends (technology and purchasing) and how they affect our ability to collect income to provide services to the city. We are behind the times.  There is an untrue rumor 40-70 positions are being cut from WFD. The City is exploring different ways of responding to fires. Squads will be replaced with smaller, more agile trucks that are cheaper to operate. Wichita is one of few cities that uses a squad to respond to all calls. Eighty percent of WFD’s calls are medical and it does not make financial sense to send a squad to those. The Chief is working on a pilot project to address efficiency in the department. There has been a proposal to house Sedgwick County EMS at WFD stations to mitigate the costs of WFD responding to calls EMS should be responding to.  Tall Grass and Weed (TGW) cases strain the budget. In 2017 at any given time there were over 500 cases pending. Neighbors should be encouraged to address TGW problems amongst each other. Meeting was adjourned at 8:33 p.m. The next District Advisory Board III meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m., July 2, 2018, at the WATER Center, 101 E. Pawnee, Wichita, KS 67211. 4  District III Advisory Board Minutes for June 6, 2018 Guests Sheri Johnson Vernie Woolard Julia Hutchison Jane Byrnes Lonny Wright Richard Hill J.C. Respectfully submitted, Maddy Campbell, Community Services Representative of District III 5