Month: July 2016

by Alex Smith, Heartland Health Monitor

One of the Kansas City area’s leading mental health organizations is cutting services for more than 800 adults and children.

Wyandot Inc., an umbrella organization for four nonprofit agencies in Kansas City, Kan., said Wednesday that it would need to cut services due to revenue losses and Gov. Sam Brownback’s decision earlier this year to reduce Medicaid reimbursements by 4 percent.

“I’ve been with the organization since 1993,” said Randy Callstrom, president and CEO of Wyandot Inc. “And this is really the first time where we are going to have to learn to have to say, ‘I’m sorry, we are going to have to refer you to someone else in the community to meet your needs.’”

Callstrom said the cuts will mainly reduce the availability of psychiatric services.

He’s hopeful that clients with less critical needs will continue to receive help from primary care providers but said the loss of established relationships with mental health providers may be difficult.

“That relationship is so critical to a treatment process,” Callstrom said. “Having to change treatment providers is going to be disruptive to our clients.”

More than 600 adults and 200 children will lose services.

On July 7, Unified Government Administrator Doug Bach announced an additional $250,000 would be in his proposed budget to Wyandot Mental Health Center, bringing the total allocation for fiscal year 2017 to $790,000, and the increase is still in the budget. The UG budget is scheduled for a final vote tonight.

Wyandot Inc. provides counseling, crisis intervention and housing assistance for more than 4,500 adults and around 3,000 children, mostly in Wyandotte County.

The organization will eliminate seven full-time positions and 12 part-time positions and leave 18 job vacancies unfilled, according to officials.

Wyandot Inc. is the parent company of Wyandot Center, which is Wyandotte County’s designated community mental health center and operates Rainbow Services Inc.; Paces, which addresses emotional and behavioral problems among children and adolescents; Kim Wilson Housing Inc., which helps develop housing options for the homeless; and City Vision, which promotes sustainable economic development in the urban core of Kansas City, Kan.

Wyandot Inc. has suffered a series of losses and cutbacks since late last year, including the elimination of the KanCare health homes project, which was a revenue generator for the organization.

— Alex Smith is a reporter for KCUR.

The nonprofit KHI News Service is an editorially independent initiative of the Kansas Health Institute and a partner in the Heartland Health Monitor reporting collaboration. All stories and photos may be republished at no cost with proper attribution and a link back to KHI.org when a story is reposted online.

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Besides approval of the budget, tonight’s Unified Government Commission meeting at 7 p.m. includes several zoning issues.

The meeting will be held at the Commission Chambers, lobby level, City Hall, 701 N. 7th St., Kansas City, Kan.

The UG Commission reached a consensus on the budget at the Monday night meeting, and the consensus is nonbinding.The UG anticipates an additional 12 mills in the budget from the payoff of the sales tax revenue bonds from Village West. The budget has several initiatives, including building up fund balances, which are like reserves, acquiring new equipment and vehicles for the police and fire departments, more funds toward street repairs, police body cameras and a blight reduction program. On July 7, Administrator Doug Bach announced that his budget proposal included an additional $250,000 to Wyandot Mental Health for fiscal year 2017, to reach a total of $790,000. On Monday night, the UG Commission reached a nonbinding agreement to increase property tax relief to 2 mills.

Among the items on Thursday night’s agenda:

• Change of zone from single-family district to planned commercial district for storage units at 7756 Holliday Drive, Steve Warger with Warger Associates.

• Change of zone from single-family district to agriculture to keep existing accessory buildings at 4600 Sortor Drive, recommended for denial, Joe Jennings.

• Change of zone from planned limited business district to planned general business district for an 89-unit hotel at 3440 Rainbow Blvd., Korb Maxwell with Polsinelli.

• Change of zone from single-family district to two-family district for a duplex at 2912 N. 47th Terrace, recommended for denial, Jennifer Pautz with MDS Realty Investment Group.

• Special use permit for a beauty salon at 6246 Parallel Parkway for current residents, Parallel Senior Villas.

• Special use permit for a kennel for five dogs at 2819 N. 100th St., Jami S. Applegate.

• Preliminary plan review for a new building for the Kansas City, Kan., Police Department’s South Patrol Division at 2100R Metropolitan Ave., Justin Hunting with Crossland Construction.

• Special use permit for a used car lot at 402 Osage Ave., Zachary Rubio for Los Cuates Auto Sales.

• Vacation of an alley between 609 and 631 Central Avenue, Rezek Muslet with Muslet LLC, recommended for denial.

• Ordinances amending construction code sections, the electrical code, building code, fire code, plumbing code, property maintenance code, mechanical code and residential code for one- and two-family dwellings.

• Ordinances expanding the UG’s ability to place a lien for damage to a structure. The ordinance would allow the UG to place a lien on the proceeds of any covered claims for damage to a structure in excess of 75 percent of the face value of the insurance policy.

• An ordinance authorizing the UG attorney to start proceedings to acquire land for the Central Avenue and 18th Street intersection improvement project.

• An ordinance authorizing the issuance of $14 million of community improvement district sales tax revenue bonds for the Legacy Apartments Parking Project. These bonds are for the public parking garage area of a luxury apartment building at 1879 Village West Parkway at The Legends Outlets. There is a six-tenths of one percent community improvement sales tax in effect from July 1, 2016, to June 30, 2038, to provide funding. The $14 million in bonds will fund a debt service reserve fund, fund certain improvements and pay the costs of issuing the bonds, according to agenda information.

• A resolution of intent to issue $12 million in industrial revenue bonds for Rainbow Legacy Investors LLC for the Rainbow Village Project, an 89-room hotel near 34th and Rainbow Boulevard. The TIF project and development agreement was approved on June 9.

• A resolution authorizing the UG to request a Brownfields Area-Wide Planning grant from the Environmental Protection Agency.

• Nominations to boards and commissions, including:
• Susan Maier to the Demolition Appeals Board, submitted by Commissioner Melissa Bynum;
• David H. Spero to the Wyandotte-Leavenworth Advisory Council on Aginging, submitted by Commissioner Hal Walker;
• Dwight Depriest, to the Demolition Appeals Board, submitted by Commissioner Walker;
• Carolyn Wyatt to the UG Board of Park Commission, submitted by Commissioner Gayle Townsend;
• Carole Newton to the Demolition Appeals Board, submitted by Commissioner Townsend;
• Paul Soptic to the Demolition Appeals Board, submitted by Commissioner Brian McKiernan;
• Erin Stryka to the Demolition Appeals Board, submitted by Commissioner Ann Murguia;
• Bob Laubsch to the Demolition Appeals Board, submitted by Commissioner Harold Johnson;
• Jim Grohusky to the Demolition Appeals Board, submitted by Commissioner Mike Kane’
• Don Jolley to the Demolition Appeals Board, submitted by Commissioner Angela Markley;
• Don Bozich to the Demolition Appeals Board, submitted by Commissioner Jim Walters;
• Lou Braswell to the Demolition Appeals Board, submitted by Commissioner Jane Philbrook;
• Paul Soptic to the Law Enforcement Advisory Board, submitted by Commissioner Johnson.

• An ordinance establishing a downtown Self-Supporting Municipal Improvement District. On June 30, the commission approved the downtown SSMID, and made changes to the boundaries of it, so that the new ordinance contains the changes to the boundaries.

• The UG budget and related budgets.

• Several Land Bank applications:
• Side-lots:
• 36 S. Hallock, Distant Vista Properties LLC.
• 38 S. Hallock, Distant Vista Properties LLC
• 3014 N. 17th St., Maria Fernandez.
• 1716 N. 25th St., Claude Johnson.
• Rehab:
• 3023 S. 23rd Circle, Residential Revival LLC.
• Transfer from Land Bank:
• 4714 Vista Drive, Argentine Betterment Corp. ABC will build a single-family home using CDBG funds.

Before the meeting, at 6 p.m., the UG Commission is scheduled to hold a closed meeting on litigation.