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THE KANSAS CITY STAR.
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2012
WWW.KANSASCITY.COM
Badges and big smiles The Lee’s Summit Police Officers Association Shop-With-a-Cop program has provided help for needy children from the community for more than 25 years. Richard Thompson, 10, tried on his skateboard/bike helmet and Officer Matt Hargrave double-checked their math as they shopped for Christmas gifts at Walmart in Lee’s Summit on Tuesday. SHANE KEYSER | THE KANSAS CITY STAR
Local
WATER SERVICES DEPARTMENT | ‘We’ve come a long way,’ consultant tells city
KANSANS SIGNAL A RIGHT TURN
IMPROVEMENTS ARE TOUTED Customers in Kansas City had faced long stretches on hold and days waiting for repairs. By LYNN HORSLEY The Kansas City Star
DAVE HELLING
C CO M M E N TA RY
T
he last time we looked, Kansas Republicans were engaged in a dash to the right side of the political spectrum. That dash turned into a stampede last week, as party leaders wrestled over who could get farthest to the right, fastest. In the U.S. Senate, Pat Roberts and Jerry Moran voted against a U.N. treaty designed to help the disabled in other countries. Roberts’ motives seem fairly clear: He’ll be 78 in 2014, when he plans to run for re-election, and is likely worried about a conservative primary challenge from pesky Kris Kobach. Moran’s flip-flop on the treaty also wasn’t a surprise. Sure, he endorsed the U.N. treaty last May, but he has changed his mind before. In 2003, Moran was for a prescription drug benefit in Medicare before he was against it, some party leaders said. On the other side of the Capitol, freshman U.S. Rep. Tim Huelskamp was booted from the Agriculture Committee because he was too conservative for House Speaker John Boehner. Closer to home, incoming Kansas Senate president Susan Wagle said the Legislature might want to reopen the redistricting mess. Wagle apparently wants even more legislative control than veto-proof conservative majorities in both houses provide. In the middle of all of this, Gov. Sam Brownback seemed the epitome of moderation. He said he’d protect public school funding and hinted he’ll push to keep all of a 1-cent state sales tax, part of which is supposed to go away next year. Sure, sales taxes are regressive, and sure, the Kansas tax structure has grown more regressive since last spring’s tax deal. But Kansas needs to keep the lights on, and the sales tax might help accomplish that. Still, Brownback may have decided his conservative bona fides needed a booster shot. So he issued a proclamation supporting a Topeka rally by ReignDown USA, a revivalist Christian group. “Many of our families have slid into poverty,” the proclamation said. “Our lands are parched by drought, our quality jobs are scarce, business and industry are struggling to expand, and many of our people have fallen into despair.” Wow. Was the governor describing the state over which he has presided for almost two years? Most Democrats and even some Republicans are wringing their hands over conservative hegemony in Kansas, but I’m not among them. One-party control can be a deeply clarifying reality: Kansas conservatives now fully own the state’s government, its economy, its schools, its tax structure, perhaps eventually its courts. Most conservatives welcome that fact. If their theories work, they’ll govern Kansas for a generation. If they don’t, it’s likely even prayer won’t make much of a difference.
To reach Dave Helling, call 816-234-4656 or send email to dhelling@kcstar.com.
ustomers have long described Water Services as among Kansas City’s most dysfunctional municipal departments. But a consultant said Tuesday the organization is finally starting to act more like a professional utility. Retired Kansas City Power & Light President Bill Downey was hired nearly a year ago as a $250-per-hour consultant to bolster the Water Department’s lackluster performance. Now, he told the City Council, “I think we’ve come a long way.” He outlined major improvements to the de-
partment’s customer service and pipeline repair efforts. “Answering the phone, and repair and restoration,” he said, “were symptoms of a broader set of issues.” For too long, Water Service customers endured endless waits on hold when they called with a question or complaint about their bill. Or they watched water run down their street day after day from leaky pipes that took seemingly forever to fix. Or they endured hours and days without water because of water main breaks. All the while, they saw rates skyrocket to fix a poorly maintained system. City Manager Troy Schulte and others said they couldn’t continue to tolerate substandard service while charging 170,000 retail customers more and more money. So Schulte
drafted Downey at the first of this year to bring in an outside utility expert’s perspective. “In every element of the business, we’ve been focusing on building competency,” Downey told Schulte, Mayor Sly James and other City Council members on Tuesday. Among the improvements that managers described: ❚ A beefed-up call center. Customer service agents answer most calls within 30 seconds, and cases that require research are closed much more quickly than in the past. ❚ Faster fixes. Ninety percent of critical main breaks are repaired within 24 hours, when it often used to take 48 hours or more. Street restorations now generally take less than 20 days, when they used to take months.
STRUMMING ON THE OLD BANJO
❚ Better engineering. A mandated disinfection program that was expected to cost $140 million came in on time and $40 million under budget. The department is also more systematically repairing or replacing broken valves, hydrants and mains. ❚ New hires. The department has filled more than 100 crucial vacancies. “We need to make sure we offer customers the same experience they get from other utilities,” department communications manager Kip Peterson told the council. Downey said the department still has a lot to do to improve its business processes and long-range planning. To reach Lynn Horsley, call 816-226-2058 or send email to lhorsley@kcstar.com.
Amid flap, city wants its $15,000 returned Floyd Mayweather Jr. was to appear at an anti-violence, youth enrichment program. By LYNN HORSLEY The Kansas City Star
FRED BLOCHER | THE KANSAS CITY STAR
The Christmas season brings street performers like Gerald Pruitt of Kansas City to the Country Club Plaza. On Tuesday, he was strumming his banjo and accompanying himself with bells on his left ankle and using his right foot to drum on his suitcase; a passing shopper provided a gift.
A family effort makes a big difference For eager team of helpers, fighting childhood hunger means “you understand how blessed you are.” By LAURA BAUER The Kansas City Star
Piper Bold understands why some people may not think childhood hunger is a problem. “I think it’s hard for people to understand things they don’t see with their own eyes,” said Piper, a senior at Blue Valley North. “But it’s a big problem, bigger than people think.” Piper, 18, of Leawood, has been to Latin America and seen poverty there. She knows that some kids in this area, including Johnson County, don’t always have enough food at home. And she’s surrounded by family and friends who also get it, including her sister, Kylie, and their mother, Sharon Bold. Late last month, the girls and Sharon Bold’s fiance, Rod Hennig, went to Harvesters to volunteer and present a check for the BackSnack program. The $5,000 check from the families’ Offering Hope foundation will pay for 20 students to have a backpack for an entire school year. Harvesters provides BackSnacks to 17,000 students in the 26-county area each week and hopes to increase that to 19,000 by the end of the school year. “You understand how blessed you are,” said Hennig, a regional vice president of First Watch Restaurants. “We can always open the refrigerator and pantry and find food. It’s not fair.” In the KC Challenge virtual food drive, donors can sponsor one child’s
FRED BLOCHER | THE KANSAS CITY STAR
Flanked by Piper Bold (left) and Kylie Bold, Rod Hennig and future family members and friends recently packed BackSnacks at Harvesters.
weekend pack of food for a full school year for $250. Inside each BackSnack is 4 pounds of food, enough for two breakfasts, two other meals and some snacks. “You have to realize not just one person can make a change,” Piper said. “You have to have a support system that gives you the opportunity to do what needs to be done.” To reach Laura Bauer, call 816-234-4944 or send email to lbauer@kcstar.com.
HOW YOU CAN HELP The Star is again partnering with Harvesters in a virtual food drive for the BackSnack program for kids. Go to feedingkckids.harvesters.org to make a donation. If you’d like, you can designate your donation in the honor or memory of someone. The Star will publish the dedications on Christmas Day.
23,000 Number of additional students in Harvesters’ 26-county area who could use a weekend BackSnack by the end of the school year.
Kansas City is formally trying to recover the $15,000 that it issued to bring a controversial boxer from Las Vegas to Kansas City to counsel young people. City Manager Troy Schulte on Tuesday sent a letter seeking to recoup the $15,000 from the P.O.S.S.E. Program and Ossco Bolton, who had proposed the idea of bringing worldchampion boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. to the Gregg Klice Community Center on Saturday for an anti-violence, youth enrichment program. Schulte says in the letter that the check was cashed but the promised event didn’t take place. “Because the proposed event didn’t occur, this letter officially requests and demands the entire $15,000 to be immediately returned to the city in FULL,” the letter states. The city set a Dec. 20 deadline and said it “will avail itself of remedies allowed under the law” if the money isn’t returned. Bolton said Tuesday he had not received the letter or seen its contents. He said he still hopes the city will allow him to spend the money to bring Mayweather’s father, Floyd Mayweather Sr., to Kansas City on Feb. 8. The controversy surrounding the Saturday event has prompted an internal auditor’s investigation and has caused council members to begin work on new policies to prevent similar situations. Schulte authorized the payment in late October, at the request of Councilman Michael Brooks. Both Schulte and Brooks said that Bolton had worked well with Kansas City youth for years, and they wanted to build on the positive momentum of this summer’s weekend nightlife program. Schulte said he didn’t initially realize that Mayweather had spent time in jail this summer on domestic violence charges. Bolton and Brooks initially argued that Mayweather could still be a positive role model for youth and could counsel them to avoid the mistakes he has made. But after they received public pushback about Mayweather’s domestic violence record, Bolton said he postponed the event. He argued he should still be given a chance to change the speaker. City Council members have said there needs to be a better way to vet proposals from individual council members. To reach Lynn Horsley, call 816-226-2058 or email to lhorsley@kcstar.com.
FOR PHOTO ALBUMS OF EVENTS ACROSS KANSAS CITY, SEE COMMUNITY FACES AT WWW.KANSASCITY.COM