District 5 Advisory Board

District 5 Advisory Board Minutes Monday, December 7, 2020 • 7:00 p.m. Virtual meeting via Zoom Attendance Members Present Staff Present JV Johnston Chief Tammy Snow, Wichita Fire Department Trevor Kurth Acting Battalion Chief Colby Roberson, Wichita Alissa Unruh Fire Department Angela Breer Deputy Chief Josh Pavelski, Wichita Fire Dennis Clary Department Jose Gutierrez Chief Allan Gattis, Wichita Fire Department Jill Kerschen Officer Lori Kimrey, Wichita Police Department Nancy Duling Sean Mellies, Public Works & Utilities Roman Rodriguez Bill Perkins, Public Works & Utilities Council Member Bryan Frye David McGuire, Park and Recreation Trey Rios, Youth Member Tracie Partridge, Wichita Public Library Cory Buchta, Community Services Representative, City Manager’s Office Members Absent Troy Palmer Rachel Murphy-Thomas • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Order of Business Call to Order: The meeting was called to order by JV Johnston. Approval of December 7, 2020 Agenda: Motion PASSED 9-0-0 Approval of Minutes from November 2, 2020: Motion PASSED 9-0-0 DAB 5 • December 7, 2020 •Minutes• Page 1  • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Public Agenda 1. Scheduled Items None 2. Off-Agenda Items None Action Taken: Received and filed. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Board Agenda 3. Updates, Issues, and Reports CM Frye: Finished year-end items. Last week did the year-end budget, approval of contracts for 2021, salary adjustments for 2021. We did approve an increase on water and sewer rate adjustments for 2021 due to the capital improvements we are making for the Northwest Water Treatment Plant. Much lower than the national average and still lower than our peer cities in the region on average monthly water bill. Approved design improvements for 13th Street between Ridge and Tyler north of Northwest High School. It’ll be much safer. That will be done next year. You’ll hear about a pilot project for Fire Stations 16 and 17 a little later on the agenda. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Staff Reports 4. Wichita Fire Department Report Captain Colby Roberson reported: District 5 had about 300 incidents in November. 300 incidents - 254 medical – 41 service alarms – 5 fire alarms. 2 were significant fires that resulted in high dollar loss. 1 determined to be arson, the other still investigating. 5. Wichita Police Department Report Officer Lori Kimrey reported: Catalytic converter thefts are a big problem. We have caught people red handed under cars, but they are getting charged with petty theft because the loss is under $1,000. The toy run on Wednesday for Domestic Violence shelters. Christmas patrols in higher volume shopping centers. Q (DAB): Do you know what happened with the accident at Partridge and Chambers where the elderly man died? DAB 5 • December 7, 2020 • Minutes • Page 2  A (CM Frye): I talked with Captain Duff and he said that there was a suspect. I don't know what happened after that. A (Officer Kimrey): We had video from a neighbor that showed where he lives. So we did go pick him up and I think we're waiting on toxicology reports on that. I don't know if he's been formally charged because usually we wait for the test results on that before we make an official arrest. C (DAB): I noticed there was a city bus that had dropped off several people at Central Park and Maize. Then they went to the corners with their signs asking for money and stuff. I wanted to make sure you were aware of that. I always see people there on the weekends trying to panhandle. A: We are very aware of it. If they are out in traffic we can give them a citation. We’re kind of short staffed right now with COVID, so we’re just trying to keep up with 911 calls. 6. Park and Recreation Department Report David McGuire reported: Last night we had our Virtual Christmas Tree Lighting with the Mayor at Naftzger Park. CAPRA is certification program that National Parks and Recreation Association uses to make sure agencies are using best practices. 28,000 Park and Recreation agencies across the country and only about 200 are accredited. We started the process in 2016. Second round of visits are coming up. We have been working hard on getting standards met and documentation ready. They will be coming in March. Proud to be an accredited program. We will then apply for gold medal award. Small capital improvement in Swanson Park due to Cowskin Creek banks caving in. Starting at end of December/first of January. Will be rerouting the walking path. We then need to replace the footbridge. Will be part of 2021/2022 CIP process. We’ve had to cancel a lot of programs recently including Night with Santa. Trying to get some classes at recreation centers. Renting out centers as much as possible for people to practice sports. Still have light display at Watson Park. Q (CM Frye): I was by Auburn Hills golf course the other day and the driving range was packed. One of the bright spots of COVID is people were playing golf. That course isn’t slated to close for winter maintenance or anything? A: No, in fact November was the best month of the year for that golf course. We have surpassed our revenue goals. Perfect time to get out and go golf. Q (DAB): Any specific time for drive through Botanica Illuminations. A: You have to buy your tickets in advance and there will be specific times listed. Have to prepurchase tickets for walkthrough and drive through. 7. Wichita Public Library Report Tracie Partridge, Wichita Public Library, reported: Library back to curbside and drive through only service due to COVID. Offering more services than we did back in May. Can place holds on online catalog and then pick them up. We are doing copying, faxing, printing, offering library cards. Not able to do in-building public computing. Go to wichitalibrary.org/covid19 to see what we are doing. Doing virtual series Cooking Matters with YMCA. On Tuesdays around lunch hour. Target adults, parents, pregnant women. Showing how to shop and cook healthy meals on a budget. It’s a virtual series. Participate in 3 classes and complete a survey will get a $20 gift certificate for groceries. Have to register online. NEA Big Read event. Mostly online. Partnering with KPTS Channel 8 to do live Kickoff event. More information at BigReadWichita.org. Can get a listing of all our virtual programs on our website. 8. Public Works & Utilities Report Sean Mellies, Public Works & Utilities, reported: DAB 5 • December 7, 2020 • Minutes • Page 3  Projects Under Construction 13th Street, Cowskin Creek to 135th Street Two-way traffic on 135th open in both directions and 13th in both directions 119th to 135th. Wrapping up sidewalk work. Will have to come back in second quarter of next year to put final layer of asphalt on top. 37th & Tyler Traffic Signal Poles expected to be here by early 2021. Working on things before those get here, pouring bases. Projects in Design Harvest Park Pool underground work in progress. Expecting it to be complete in time for pool season 2021. Pavement Preservation work continues. 2020 program everything complete mostly. Some Westlink streets will be completed in January. 2021 program – asphalt overlays – 119th from Maple to 13th, Central from Maize to Tyler, Central from Woodchuck to Ridge, Maple from 119th to Maize – will start 2nd quarter. Microsurfacing – pavement repairs first then thin surface on top. Crack seal – 135th from ½ mile south of 13th to 13th, Maize from Maple to Central. Residential streets – several. Check out the maps. 3rd quarter. Preservation seal – Ridge from 21st to 96, Central from Tyler to Woodchuck, Central from Ridge to 235, then Maple from 119th to 135th. All in 3rd quarter. Aquatics Master Plan – phase 3 – still under design. Phase 1a, 1b, and 2 under construction. Hoover bike path – looking to signalize Hoover and Zoo intersection. Ridge and Village Circle traffic signal. Still working on that. 37th St Sidewalk, Ridge to Ridgeport. Working on designing that. Plan to construct in 1 st quarter of 2021. Action Taken: Received and filed. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • New Business 9. Evergy Substation Design Proposal Bill Perkins, Public Works & Utilities, presented an update on the preliminary designs for a new Evergy substation that will supply power to the new water treatment plant project. The proposed location of the substation is approximately a half mile east of North Ridge Road on West 13th Street North. CM Frye gave a little background on the project. Perkins presented a slide deck (available here: https://www.wichita.gov/Council/DABAgendasMinutes/2020-12- 07%20%20DAB%205%20Evergy%20Substation.pdf). Public meeting for more information was held October 7th. Received a few public comments. Noise and lighting was a big question. People asked if it will be lit up all the time. Only if there DAB 5 • December 7, 2020 • Minutes • Page 4 are no security issues or emergency maintenance. There will be a traffic impact during construction. We don’t know the future of the land development in this area. There was also concern about the aesthetics of the site. Showed aerial view of Northwest Water Treatment Plant. Will be quite a bit of construction going on there. Working on getting lines underground, working with Evergy. Showed aerial view of planned substation footprint. Currently no plan for the tract of land south of the planned substation. Leaving a corridor for access into that area. Showed a concept layout produced by Evergy. Comparable site at 5151 S Webb Rd. Showed images. Q (DAB): Did you consider moving site deeper into the lot? A: Yes, but at the north site it can be built at existing grade, but anywhere farther south it will have to be built up 4-5 feet and there was concern about aesthetic and cost. Floodplain issue farther south on lot. Q (DAB): Will there be landscaping on the front wall? Will Evergy own property? Zoning issue? A: Evergy will only own substation and not the land. It will be zoned conditional use. We don’t have specifics for landscaping yet. It will be required, and they are planning some landscaping around it. C (DAB): Tall trees would be nice. A: There is a fence row and some trees there. We are working on keeping as many as possible and adding more. A: We cannot put vegetation below the transmission lines that are already there. We will be adjacent to the water line. I don’t think we can put vegetation on east side. Q (DAB): County owns the land to the south? A: City of Wichita. Q (DAB): Is this the first time to have a substation this close to a neighborhood? A: No, this happens a lot. Not unusual at all. A: We have smaller electric yards in other parts of our city, maybe not of this magnitude. Q (DAB): Existing poles seem pretty high. How do those compare to new poles? A: Don’t know for sure yet. Only plans right now are to build structures on the north side and south side of the substation to feed into it. That’s the only thing planned for sure right now. The structures inside the substation will be 75 feet tall. About the same height as the structures just to the south, but we haven’t started design yet to know exactly how high they will be. Q (DAB): Taking out the view of the lake from the homes on the east side. What is their view? A: They will have a view of the concrete wall. They have lower level walkouts and those will be at the same grade as the substation. As far as their upper level views, I don’t know what that elevation view would be. One of the people who lives in one of those houses was at that public meeting and he said this was much better than some of the other proposed uses for that land. DAB 5 • December 7, 2020 • Minutes • Page 5  C (CM Frye): A lot of developers have looked at this area in the past for a lot of dense use and increased traffic uses. Nobody wants to look at the wall, but they are trying to preserve those trees. Q (DAB): Are substations usually this far away from water plants? A: Ideally, you’ll have substations near where the lines are already in place so you don’t have to build a bunch more. Q (DAB): Will any of this construction cause 13th traffic lanes to be closed down? A: There might be some times during construction intermittently for delivery of things. A: For a period of 3-4 hours at a time. There will be a lot of trucks coming in and out until the site is built. Q (DAB): Was this discussed when they discussed site selection for the water treatment plant? A: The site of the water treatment plant has to do with the water coming in. This is the perfect location to save costs. It’s also a good place for the substation because of the existing lines. We will also be able to bury this line. This fit. Q (DAB): So closeness to the lines was a factor in the final location choice? A: Right. The oversite committee looked for alternative sites in Sedgwick County Park, but we decided we didn’t want to do anything to the park and our county friends might not like that idea. And maybe we can add a walking path to the south through that land. It is unique that way. Something with low use and low impact. The neighbors there were concerned about that. C (DAB): A bike path there connecting into Sedgwick County Park would be nice. 10. Fire Station #17 Pilot Program Status Update Chief Snow, Wichita Fire Department, presented an update on the status of the implemented pilot program at Fire Station #17 at 10651 West Maple, which serves District 5. Chief Snow presented a slide deck (available here: https://www.wichita.gov/Council/DABAgendasMinutes/2020-12- 07%20DAB%205%20WFD%20Station%2017%20Pilot%20Program.pdf). Discussed: • Guiding principles for decision making o Station 17 Current and Past Alarm Data o Operational Effectiveness and Taxpayer Equity o Public Safety System- County wide  Core Function o Pending Data Upgrade • Station 17 Primary Response Area o Primary response area: 27.87mi² o Average 5.6 alarms per day (2019) DAB 5 • December 7, 2020 • Minutes • Page 6  o Average response time in Station 17’s primary response area approximately 6.13 minutes • WFD Primary Service Areas • 2019 WFD call density • Station 16 and 17 comparison for 2018, 2019, 2020 • A timeline for pilot program considerations o 1999 TriData Report o 2000-2010 Service Adjustments o 2009 Inception of Truck Company Operations o 2010 NIST Study o 2016 Optimized Deployment Program o 2018 ICT-1 and Medical Priority Dispatching  Deputy Director Paul Misasi spoke about Medical Priority Dispatching – way to achieve efficiency across departments to assign callers into different priorities (which resources respond and how) o 2019 ICT-1 Pilot Program (modified) o 2019 Functional Consolidation o 2020 Station 17 Pilot Program o 2020 WFD/EMS Joint Response o 2021 Predicative Analytics Software • 2000-2010 Service Adjustments o Addition of 3 new WFD Fire Stations o Daily staffing increased to 117 personnel/shift o Dedicated Truck Company staff o Engine 21 and 22 relocation o Mobile Computer Terminals o Truck Company Program • Optimized Deployment Program o Established call-type prioritization that did not exist in 1999 o Reduction in low-acuity medical alarm response o Increase in higher priority medical emergencies indicates need for additional first-arriving personnel • Evolution o Four-person crews completed fireground tasks (on average) nearly 25% o faster than 3 person crews o Five person crews, i.e. 3-person Engine with 2-person Squad, did not decrease overall fireground task times o Four-person Truck Companies facilitate early search/rescue operations in conjunction with ventilation functions upon arrival o Adoption of CCR (Pit Group) instead of CPR • Operational Profile o WFD Station 16  Total Personnel  Pre-Pilot – 6  Post-Pilot – 7  Truck 4  Pre-Pilot – 3  Post-Pilot – 4 DAB 5 • December 7, 2020 • Minutes • Page 7   Engine 16  Pre-Pilot – 3  Post-Pilot – 3 o WFD Station 17  Total Personnel  Pre-Pilot – 5  Post-Pilot – 4  Squad 17  Pre-Pilot – 2  Post-Pilot – 0  Engine 17  Pre-Pilot – 3  Post-Pilot – 4  Tender 17  Pre-Pilot – Cross Staffed  Post-Pilot – Cross Staffed  Brush 17  Pre-Pilot – Cross Staffed  Post-Pilot – Cross Staffed • Primary Response Partners o WFD considers several partnering organizations in determining effective deployment of staff and apparatus o Partnering organizations include Sedgwick County EMS, Sedgwick County Fire, Eisenhower Airport Police/Fire/EMS, Wichita Police Department, etc… • Functional Consolidation o Cooperation between Wichita Fire Department and Sedgwick County Fire Department o Citizens of Wichita and Sedgwick County receive overlapping response, resulting in increased services and decreased response times o WFD and Sedgwick County Fire cross-train regularly to ensure quality and efficient service • Predicative Analytics Software o Data analytics software program  Will provide first comprehensive report of WFD resources and responses since 1999 TriData report o Predicative analytics software approved for purchase in 2019, and expected to launch in 2021 • Future of Station 17 Pilot Program o Program consistently evaluated o Pilot program intended to extend throughout data collection and analyzation phases associated with the implemented predicative analytics software o Adjust services as needed Deputy Director Paul Misasi spoke about the software they use that aids 911 dispatchers and field supervisors in real time to make decisions about resource placement and unit deployment. Q (CM Frye): What kind of results are you seeing right now with the Pilot Program? DAB 5 • December 7, 2020 • Minutes • Page 8 A: I don’t have the numbers in front of me, but from what I recall the response time in 2019 was about 6.13 and response time now is about 5.6, right over 5 and a half minutes. In reality, the implementation of the pilot program has decreased response time which is our big performance measure. Q (CM Frye): And you’re not seeing any loss in service at 17? A: No, not at this time. There will always be voids, I can’t plan for a void. You can put a thousand units at that station and at some point in time there is going to be a void. There are voids. C: That’s what Paul was talking about, trying to best manage resources that we have. I wanted to make sure everyone at DAB had seen this. People see we are losing a firefighter or losing a truck, what is that going to mean? They are concerned. What Chief is trying to do here makes a lot of sense. It’s not something we are just rushing. There was a lot of work done leading up to this. As our demand has changed, more medical calls. This month 254 medical calls and only 5 fires. Trying to adjust and meet that demand. I just want to make sure you had heard this and why we are doing this and what we are trying to achieve. C (DAB): I compliment you on taking on this effort and working together. A: It wouldn’t work without our partners. I have been on the WFD for over 32 years and this is one of the first times that I can recall the leadership of all the public safety have truly had their focus on the best interests of the community and best utilization of all the resources to provide those services. To me it is very exciting and I’m honored to be on this team. Q (DAB): The phrase taxpayer equity was used several times. What does that concept mean when making decisions? A: We are taking a look at all the taxpayers that reside in the city in regards to emergency services and associated funding that would overlap. The fire department is one piece of a bigger system. The WFD has to serve the entire city. Q (DAB): So predicative analytics. Sounds exciting and like more efficiencies for WFD. Are your counterparts at the county using predicative analytics at the city? A: We have it and I can share it with the county I certainly will do that. They share a lot of things with us. It would be better for the entire county if I can share that information. Q (DAB): Did you say consolidation studies have been going on since 1979? A: Consolidation studies have been going on since 1979. About every 5 or 10 years those are done. This year instead we did a study of what areas functionally can we better serve the city. It’s about outcome. Q (Tim): We are talking about the TriData study from 1999. A lot of the neighborhoods we live in weren’t even built then. The streets weren’t even in. We’re moving pieces around based on an old study. I worked for the fire department for 29 and ½ years. I retired from the fire department. I have a bit of experience as well. The lack of the number of units able to respond can truly impact our citizens. In the time you have done your study, I know of 2 or 3 incidents where we had critical patients, patients in cardiac arrest and the unit was not available from Station 17. Tonight, about 6 this evening engine 17 or ladder 1, went on a medical call, there was a cardiac arrest, we sent station 35 which is 6.6 miles away. That’s an 11 minute drive time if you’re driving regular traffic. Driving emergency traffic you might make it 9.5. If someone is waiting to get CPR for 9.5 minutes they’re going to die. We can’t put a fire station on every corner and we can’t staff every station tremendously. When you first started almost every single fire station had 2 units in it which provided us capacity. We can take care of the little alarms as well as the big alarms. A huge portion of our alarms are medical in nature. With trucks in the station you have the ability to handle your response area. Station 17 is probably the largest response area. I live in Station 21s area, but my understanding is when there’s a building fire downtown the station at Main and Murdoch goes to that fire. DAB 5 • December 7, 2020 • Minutes • Page 9 Engine 21 will leave their area and go downtown to Main and Murdoch and fill in so now we have Station 17 not only handling the large area out there but they have to handle Station 21’s area as well. I feel like we are setting ourselves up to not serve the citizens effectively. I understand the core area has a lot more fires. The fringe area. District 2 and District 5 probably pay 60-80% of the taxes and we get 30% of the services. A couple years ago we took a unity out of station 6 and put a smaller unit in there which was far east Wichita and now we’re taking from far west Wichita. I know it’s not going into the center of town but we are reducing the number of units able to respond by the Wichita Fire Department. I think we are reducing our capacity to respond to emergencies. EMS can send an ambulance to sit at a QuikTrip if they need to. Fire departments work out of fire stations. It’s harder and harder to find units to fill in. We need a WFD staffing study to determine how many people we need. We have grown as a city and we have not added additional fire personnel. A: Captain Carr I appreciate your comments, but let me help with some of the information. You talked about backfill in the core of the city. That is part of our collaboration with our partners in the county. One of the county partners will backfill Station 21. In response to capacity and voids, we’re always going to encounter that. Often times we can’t predict when people take vacation time or another staffing reason. Chief Pavelski knows more about moving apparatus I’ll let him respond. A: 2019 started working more with Sedgwick County Fire on functional consolidation and part of that was discussing things we’ve been helping each other out with. We really started to work on functional consolidation with guidelines and SOP and communication. You are talking about 1 instance of a fire in the core. That does happen but Sedgwick County Fire helps cover. Apparatus taking care of alarms in areas reflective of call density and population density. We are ready to make the call but it looks different. Shave a minute off response time with that apparatus driving around. We look different now then we did during your service. That might be the future of this department. When you mention the one incident that happened tonight, we will have those one situations across the city. There can be a void. We can’t fix every single problem unless we put a fire truck or ambulance at every single corner. C (Tim): These will happen but if we put ourselves in this situation more will happen. As far as apparatuses driving around, that’s fine when the weather is nice but in the middle of winter that’s not going to be good for our fire trucks if they sit out in the cold too long. I think we need to look at a fire department staffing study before we make changes that will affect people’s lives. When Station 17 opened there were 2 apparatuses. I don’t know what changed that it needs less fire fighters. A: We appreciate your comments. That is the feedback we need to make sure we are providing the best service to the community. CM Frye: Tim I appreciate your comments as well. We have had an ongoing conversation about this and I know you are coming at this from the right place. Thank you for your input and sharing your knowledge as well. This is a constantly evolving challenge, not just for us but for EMS and Sedgwick County Fire. I’m pushing for a long-term master study, not just staffing, station houses, and equipment. It’s time for fire to have that kind of information. We’ll continue to provide updates to Chief Snow’s study. This is all part of a bigger solution. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Adjournment DAB 5 • December 7, 2020 • Minutes • Page 10 The meeting was adjourned at 9:06 p.m. The next District 5 Advisory Board meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, January 4, 2021. It will take place virtually via Zoom. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Guests Jay Newton D. Henry J. Eck Julianne Paul Misasi Andrew Calvert Jessi Veach Brian Meier Alan Kailer Don Sherman Tim Jose Ocadiz J. Wilson Doug Williams • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Respectfully submitted, Cory Buchta, Community Services Representative, District 5 DAB 5 • December 7, 2020 • Minutes • Page 11