The Unified Government Commission on Thursday night tabled a proposal to adopt new stormwater fees.
The vote was 7-2, with Commissioners Angela Markley and Jane Philbrook voting no. They had wanted to adopt a new tiered stormwater fee on Thursday.
Commissioner Philbrook said during discussion that the UG just doing a few stormwater projects, when there was a need for more extensive stormwater work, was “like saying I want to buy one tire for the car.”
Commissioner Tom Burroughs said there had been a lot of confusion expressed by commissioners at the meeting, and they should consider the stormwater fees at a future commission meeting, expected to be Dec. 16. The UG has until Jan. 15 to submit its application for a Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) loan, according to UG officials. The local stormwater fee plan was to be a part of the documents submitted in the application for the loan.
The lengthy discussion on stormwater started with Commissioner Brian McKiernan, who had proposed an individually calculated stormwater plan based on square footage of hard surfaces, saying he wanted to withdraw the plan from consideration Thursday night, as there hadn’t been enough time for it to be presented to the public.
The UG Commission earlier in the meeting had voted to approve filing an application for a revolving loan with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment under the Kansas Water Pollution Control Revolving Fund Act. If that is approved by the state, it would result in $70 million in a low-interest loan. The UG then planned to use that amount as its local match for a WIFIA loan.
Commissioner Burroughs said they raised the stormwater fees last budget cycle, and were looking at raising it again. A little more time may give the commission the opportunity to discuss alternate plans such as Commissioner McKiernan’s plan, or to sit down and work through the financial numbers, according to Commissioner Burroughs.
Commissioner Burroughs noted that the burden on citizens was at the breaking point. He just received his UG tax statement, he said. Property tax totals went up for a lot of residents, who saw increases in their home valuations.
UG Director of Public Works Jeff Fisher made the case for adopting a new stormwater fee structure, saying if no further action takes place, people would continue to suffer from flooding and roads are going to deteriorate.
There are $160 million worth of stormwater projects that need to be done in eight basins, he said. Jersey Creek and Muncie are two of nine large projects that will total $70 million.
The current fees bring in only about $3 million to $5 million a year, and they need about $10 million a year, he said.
He has been calling attention to the need for more stormwater funding for three or four years. The UG hasn’t done any large stormwater projects recently because of the cost, according to Fisher. Without the additional funding, they may continue to lose streets as pipes fail underneath them, he said.
Mayor David Alvey said the UG has delayed an adjustment to the stormwater fee for about 15 years.
Keeping a flat fee of $4.50 a parcel for 15 or more years was irresponsible on the part of the UG, he said. They should have brought a proposal forth to make sure they were sufficiently funding stormwater infrastructure to protect life and property, he said.
Commissioner Melissa Bynum said that this was the first time the UG Commission had seen the figures in the new tiered stormwater fee plan. They had seen the older figures last year, which have now been updated. In the tiered system, there is one flat fee for residents, while there would be five tiers for all others, based on the square footage of hard surfaces of the property.
Commissioner Christian Ramirez said residents now feel taxed and fee’d out of this county. He said he understands the UG has stormwater needs, but if they raised fees, people would continue to move out. “At the moment we’re not listening to their voice,” he said.
Commissioner Gayle Townsend, who said she liked the tiered option, said even though they have been hearing about the burden on the electorate, the other side of the coin are complaints about what is not being done because the issue is delayed.
“The can has been kicked so far down the road that something has to be done now,” Commissioner Townsend said.
Commissioner Jim Walters also mentioned the burden on local taxpayers, and said the UG had tens of millions of dollars sitting in the bank now from federal grants this past year.
UG Commission vote advances demolition of historic church
In other action, the UG Commission made a determination that the UG had done everything it possibly could have done before allowing the demolition of a church on the local historic site list, the 7th Street Methodist Episcopal Church at 7th and State. That determination makes it easier for the church to be demolished.
UG Planning Director Gunnar Hand said this was the opportunity to save the historic church, built about 1888, which is the only example left of High Victorian Gothic architecture in Wyandotte County. The church members included some founders of the town of Wyandotte, the precursor to Kansas City, Kansas, including Armstrongs, and local historical figures such as the Conley sisters. It’s possible that there are federal funds available for historic preservation, according to Hand.
The UG planning staff favored more measures that could be taken to restore or move the church, while the Landmarks Commission had voted in favor of giving a certificate of appropriateness to tear down the church.
The church is currently owned by the UG, after being placed in the Land Bank. It is on property that Kansas City Kansas Community College is developing into its downtown campus. According to Hand, there are several requirements the college has to meet before the building can be torn down.
Dr. Greg Mosier, KCKCC president, spoke at the commission meeting. He pointed out the agenda called for the commission to consider the certificate of appropriateness, although that was changed at the meeting to a determination that the UG had done everything it could.
He said it would take about $5.5 million to restore the church.
“The college has no intent and will not go further to seek funding from other sources to restore or actually rebuild that church in its current form,” Dr. Mosier said. “It is not the mission of the community college to do this.”
Their mission is to provide education and training, and better improve the economic status of the community, he said.
The church had been abandoned for about 25 years, he said. It has been owned by the UG for a few years.
The UG’s legal staff agreed that the agenda was not correct. The commission was voting on the determination that the UG had done everything it could, because a UG ordinance requires the vote when there is a public owner of a landmark that is being demolished.
Commissioner Harold Johnson said the church was dear to his heart, but the site has become detrimental to public safety. He discussed how there are always calls for renovating facilities like this, but money never comes forward. He also said the statement that the UG has done everything it could to save the property was subjective. He added he wanted to move the campus project forward.
Commissioner Christian Ramirez was the only one who voted against the statement that the UG had done everything it could to save the church. That is because he was raised with an appreciation for history, he said. He also said he supports the new college campus and the mission of the college.
Union contract agreements approved
In other action, the UG Commission approved several contract agreements with unions.
The union agreements were with plumbers, AFSCME, painters, general laborers, carpenters, and service employees.
Juneteenth approved as UG holiday
The UG Commission also unanimously approved Juneteenth as a new UG holiday.
Bridgette Cobbins, assistant county administrator, said the total cost for adding the holiday would be $397,000. That includes overtime costs that would have to be paid for the holiday, she said.
Juneteenth now is a federal holiday, but not yet a state holiday in Kansas. Other areas that have adopted Juneteenth as a holiday include Johnson, Leavenworth and Shawnee counties in Kansas, and Cass, Clay and Jackson counties in Missouri, she said.
Juneteenth celebrates the news of the emancipation proclamation reaching slaves in west Texas, a few years after the proclamation was made.
The UG will celebrate Juneteenth on June 20, 2022.