Month: April 2020

Downtown redevelopment project moves ahead

A redevelopment project in downtown Kansas City, Kansas, moved ahead on Monday night with a committee approval of an agreement concerning the Reardon Center.

The Unified Government Economic Development and Finance Committee voted to advance the agreement to pay Brancato’s Catering $51,000, which would end the company’s agreement to manage the Reardon Center at 5th and Minnesota on May 31, a year early. The funds are to cover the costs associated with early termination of the existing agreement, according to UG officials.

The company had a five-year agreement, expiring in 2021, to manage the Reardon Center, according to UG officials. The Reardon Center will be demolished and a smaller one built.

Under the proposed agreement, Brancato’s would stay as a vendor available to serve Memorial Hall at 600 N. 7th St., but it would not be the only vendor there.

Any planned events at the Reardon Center will be canceled after June of this year, and with the stay-at-home order currently in effect, no events are anticipated to be held at the Reardon Center until then, according to UG officials.

This agreement next would go to the full UG Commission meeting for approval.

Lanier United, a development group led by Willie Lanier Jr., has received UG approval to redevelop the Reardon Center area, building a smaller meeting center, an athletic facility, apartments and some small retail space at the site.

According to UG officials, demolition is scheduled to start this summer on the project.

The EDF Committee and Neighborhood and Community Development Committee met in a Zoom internet and telephone participation meeting.

In other action, the UG NCD Committee approved the transfer of several properties from the Land Bank to the Unified Government for the Wolcott water treatment plant.

The UG EDG Committee also heard a report on motor vehicle registration in the county treasurer’s office.

According to the presentation, Wyandotte County residents have expressed interest in improving wait times in surveys.

A shortage of staff in the office, with many vacancies, has affected its performance, according to the presentation. Some improvements have been made, and they discussed pay increases for those on the front lines.

Currently, UG offices are closed to walk-in customers because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

To view the meeting, visit https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=unified+government+of+wyandotte+county

To see an earlier story, visit https://wyandotteonline.com/downtown-campus-redevelopment-center-sales-tax-renewal-small-business-grants-on-thursdays-ug-agenda/

BPU offices closed April 10

The Kansas City, Kansas, Board of Public Utilities administrative offices will be closed on Friday, April 10, according to a BPU spokesman.

It is a usual annual day off in the BPU schedule of work days.

Also, the BPU’s customer service lobby is currently closed because of COVID-19. Some kiosks are open in area grocery stores for walk-in payment of BPU bills.

Although BPU’s business offices are closed on holidays, emergency service is available seven days a week, 24 hours a day. For power emergencies, customers should call 913-573-9522. The water emergency number is 913-573-9622.

Three more COVID-19 deaths reported in Wyandotte County

The Unified Government’s COVID-19 page reported statistics for Tuesday morning. (UG COVID-19 page)
A graph showed the number of cases of COVID-19 in Wyandotte County increasing. (UG COVID-19 page)

There were three more COVID-19 deaths reported on Tuesday morning in Wyandotte County, according to the Unified Government Health Department’s COVID-19 webpage.

The number of deaths increased from seven on Monday to 10 on Tuesday. There were 190 positive COVID-19 cases and 53 patients hospitalized, according to the UG’s COVID-19 page. There were 190 positive COVID-19 cases in Wyandotte County on Tuesday morning.

On Monday, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported 845 positive cases in the state.

Doctors emphasize good hygiene

Doctors at the University of Kansas Health System on Tuesday continued to emphasize good hygiene, staying at home, washing hands and keeping at least six feet away from others.

They had about 33 to 35 positive COVID-19 patients at the University of Kansas Health System on Tuesday, and recently had some discharged patients, according to Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director for infection control. There were around nine patients on ventilation, with some coming off ventilation recently.

According to Dr. Steve Stites, chief medical officer at KU Health System, they have not hit a surge yet, and are currently in good shape with the number of ventilators.

Dr. Hawkinson said he hoped that they would continue to flatten the curve.

He said KU Health System is participating in some trials of medications to see how effective and safe they are.

Doctors also said they are seeing some reductions in hospital admissions for patients in the health system. Some elective surgeries have been canceled.

On Tuesday, the doctors’ presentation included information about mental health hospital facilities available for youth, and the importance of having advance planning for care in case of emergencies.

Dr. Mitchell Douglas, medical director of the Marillac Center, said the number of youth coming to the center is down during this coronavirus epidemic, but the number who have attempted suicide is up. He said some families may be afraid to bring family members in to the hospital currently because of the fear of coronavirus. He urged parents who are concerned about their adolescents to call a helpline, doctor or a health facility.

He said measures are in place at the hospital to mitigate the risk of the coronavirus spreading. Temperatures are checked, visitors are limited, surfaces are cleaned, staff members are wearing masks and social distancing is taking place, he said.

Dr. Karin Porter-Williamson, director of palliative care for the KU Health System, said they are trying to overcome how hard it is for patients to be separated, and using telemedicine to bring families together. She said one of the most important things to do currently is to talk to loved ones about what is important in their living, maintain a connection with them, talk to doctors about management of any disease they have, and what concerns the doctors would have if they became sick from COVID-19.

“The more people can do to prepare themselves and their loved ones in this way is really important now,” she said.

Triage protocols also were discussed. If a time comes when health care is out of resources to help, a coalition of medical providers, medical ethicists, nurses and other professionals will be working to say how they can save as many lives as possible in a horrible situation, she said. Kansas and the military already have such guidelines, according to the doctors.

To view the doctors’ video news conference, visit https://www.facebook.com/kuhospital/videos/525731598374443/

The Unified Government’s COVID-19 website is at https://www.wycokck.org/COVID-19.

To view Kansas Department of Health and Environment COVID-19 information, visit
https://public.tableau.com/profile/kdhe.epidemiology#!/vizhome/COVID-19Data_15851817634470/KSCOVID-19CaseData.

Information from the Centers for Disease Control is online at
www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/.