Voice For Liberty

Category: Sedgwick county government

  • Today I may become part of the system

    At today’s meeting of the Board of Sedgwick County Commissioners, my nomination to become a member of the Sedgwick County Board of Zoning Appeals is on the agenda.

    Karl Peterjohn appointed me. Initially I said yes, I would serve on this board. But then I got to thinking. I wondered how I could be part of the system that I cover (and often criticize) in my role as blogger and government watchdog.

    I posed this question to a national network of blogger/activists that I belong to, and everyone said there shouldn’t be a problem with me serving on this board. Karl also said I should serve.

    So I decided to go ahead. Hopefully my nomination will be approved by a majority of the commissioners.

  • More money to Wichita government

    A letter in today’s Wichita Eagle places a lot of faith on things not yet seen, and in things we know don’t work.

    “I think it is dumb that people are complaining about the new Intrust Bank Arena. It will bring money and tourists to Wichita, not to mention great entertainment. That means more money brought to our government, and that’s a good thing. — Caleb Beeson, Wichita”

    First, since the Intrust Bank Arena is not yet open, it has no track record. We have absolutely no idea how well it will do, financially or otherwise. A lot of people think it’s “dumb” to count chickens before eggs have hatched.

    Then, there’s this letter writer’s idea that more money in the hands of government is a “good thing.”

    To believe that paying taxes to the government is good requires believing that government spends wisely. There’s little evidence of that.

    Perhaps the writer means that when tourists from out of town travel to Wichita and spend money, our local government will be gathering tax revenue from out of our area. Better to tax someone else than ourselves — that’s the underlying message.

    These taxes serve to suppress travel to cities that levy them. How does it feel to have a city add 13% to the cost of your hotel room, as I have paid in some cities? Or how do you think travelers feel when a city levies fees and charges that add 26% to the cost of renting a car, as some places do?

    Since demand falls with rising prices, these high taxes reduce demand for travel to high-tax cities. Probably worse than that, they leave a bitter aftertaste for those who pay them. Do we want travelers to Wichita to feel that they’ve been soaked by our local taxes? They won’t feel good about coming back again.

  • On the wall of Karl Peterjohn’s office

    Earlier this week I stopped by the Sedgwick County Courthouse to visit with newly-elected commissioner Karl Peterjohn. Next month I’ll have a feature about Peterjohn’s first few months in office. Until then, here’s a photograph I took of a cartoon that hangs on the wall of his office (click to view a larger version):

    Karl Peterjohn cartoon by Richard Crowson 1996

  • Wichita downtown arena contract seems to require Sedgwick County approval

    Sedgwick County, owner of the Intrust Bank Arena (the downtown Wichita arena), has a five-year contract with SMG that outsources the management of the arena.

    Yesterday, SMG announced a 10.5 year lease with the Wichita Thunder hockey team. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, and SMG is resisting their release, as explained in Wichita Eagle reporting referred to in my post Wichita downtown arena open records failure.

    But this much is clear: SMG has committed to a contract that lasts longer than their contract with the county.

    Sedgwick County could choose to renew SMG’s contract, of course. The contract also contains a provision where if the county receives at least $1,700,000 from the profit sharing agreement with SMG, the contract automatically renews.

    But it seems like SMG is getting a little ahead of itself.

    It also appears that the lease contract SMG made with the Thunder requires approval by Sedgwick County.

    The management agreement between Sedgwick County and SMG grants authority to SMG to negotiate contracts without county approval, but there is an exception: “… if any such license, agreement, commitment or contract other than those involving the license, lease or rental of the Facility in the ordinary course has a term that extends beyond the remaining Management Term or, if this Agreement has been renewed, the Renewal Term, such license, agreement, commitment or contract must prior thereto be approved in writing by the County (which approval shall be at the County’s sole discretion, not to be unreasonably withheld) …”

    (The management term referred to is five years.)

    So it seems that this contract, extending beyond the management term as it does, is subject to Sedgwick County approval.

    There’s more from the SMG-Sedgwick County agreement: “SMG and the County will have joint approval rights (which approval right shall be at each party’s sole discretion, not to be unreasonably withheld) for all major revenue streams that can impact the profitability of any Facility, including ticketing, sponsorships, food and beverage, and tenant leases with terms of one year or greater.”

    The Thunder is certainly a major revenue stream for the arena. In fact, they’re the anchor tenant. The lease, at 10.5 years, is much longer than the one year mentioned.

    So there’s another clause of the contract that seems to indicate that Sedgwick County has approval rights for this lease agreement.

    Here’s a question: can Sedgwick County give its approval to a contract that SMG will not let the county see?

  • Wichita downtown arena open records failure

    Yesterday, the company that manages the Intrust Bank Arena (the downtown Wichita arena) announced a lease with the arena’s flagship tenant, the Wichita Thunder hockey team. But we don’t know the details of the lease. Unbelievably, some Sedgwick County Commissioners and managers are okay with that.

    The Wichita Eagle article Details of Intrust Bank Arena contract with Thunder are a secret reports the details.

    I believe that the Eagle will be successful in pursuing a copy of the lease agreement from SMG (the company managing the arena for Sedgwick County) under the Kansas Open Records Act. Here’s why:

    The KORA states that “‘Public agency’ means the state or any political or taxing subdivision of the state or any office, officer, agency or instrumentality thereof, or any other entity receiving or expending and supported in whole or in part by the public funds appropriated by the state or by public funds of any political or taxing subdivision of the state.”

    Although immediately next comes an exception, excluding “Any entity solely by reason of payment from public funds for property, goods or services of such entity.”

    I believe the exception is meant to prevent a company who, say, sells pencils to the county from being subject to KORA.

    But the relationship between SMG and the county is different. Sedgwick County has outsourced the management of the arena to SMG. The county is paying SMG, too. According to the contract, $8,000 per month at this time.

    The county and SMG have a broad nondisclosure agreement in their contract, although this can’t override the KORA.

    Besides the legalities of this, SMG and Sedgwick County need to find a way where this lease agreement can be made available to the public. I recently obtained a copy of the existing lease agreement between the Thunder and the county in anticipation of comparing it with the new agreement, the one shrouded in secrecy.

    If SMG decides to keep this contract secret, it will be a public relations disaster for them.

    It’s also a strike against the Sedgwick County managers who negotiated the contract with SMG that contains this provision, and against the commissioners who voted for it. Sedgwick County Commissioner Tim Norton seems to be the prime apologist for the secret contract.

    Let’s hope that SMG changes their mind soon and releases the contract.

  • Wichita downtown arena costs increases start

    The Intrust Bank Arena, better known as the downtown Wichita arena, is adding $2 to the cost of a ticket for hockey games once the arena opens. (Cost of tickets at Intrust Bank Arena increased by facility fee, March 5, 2009 Wichita Eagle)

    We shouldn’t be surprised at this. Expect more price increases.

    Some of the comments left by readers should remind us of the issues surrounding this arena.

    “Get over it, you lost the arena vote” wrote one person. I hate it when democracy produces winners and losers. Especially when we’re quarreling over an entertainment facility.

    “That’s great! The more people who come downtown, the better.” I wonder what people who have invested in areas other than downtown think when government builds and/or subsidizes attractions that compete with their bars, restaurants, and other businesses?

  • Sedgwick County Courthouse Message

    Sedgwick County Courthouse, Wichita, Kansas

    The people of Sedgwick County may drive by or enter their courthouse without seeing and contemplating the message above its doors.

    Here’s a photograph I took. The message reads: “Free and independent courts for a free and independent people.”

  • Who Makes the Money in Sedgwick County?

    Here’s a story sent to me by a friend.

    A local, newly elected official went to his church late in 2008 in Sedgwick County to pick up some family members. When he went in, he saw two deputy sheriffs and a third person at the information desk in the church’s atrium. This official knew one of the deputies and stopped to say hello.

    The official was introduced by the deputy to the second deputy as well as told that the third person there also worked for county government. The elected official asked, “what part of the county do you work for?” to the third person who was working on a laptop computer.

    “I work for the money making part,” the third person with the computer said.

    “Oh, what part of the county treasurer’s office do you work in?” the elected official asked.

    “I don’t work for the treasurer,” the third person behind the information desk said while adding a contemptuous glance, “I work for the appraiser.”

    This story indicates that the real challenge in Kansas is soaring tax appraisals. Since the real estate boom that has driven appraisals has turned into a “bust” these values should not be increasing. The 2009 appraisals are due in March. Property prices are declining nationally. This should be reflected in the annual appraisals. Stay tuned to see.

  • Derby Reporter Gives Up

    The Wichita Business Journal reports that the Derby Reporter is going out of business. (Derby newspaper shutting down)

    The cause of this is attributed to Sedgwick County’s recent decision to print its legal notices in the Wichita Eagle instead of the Derby newspaper. This quaint practice of publishing legal notices in newspapers is mandated by state statute. The best thing to do, of course, would be for Sedgwick county to post its legal notices online, something it could do right now at very low cost. (I don’t think they have them online. At least I can’t find them.)

    The county should also post these notices online in a way that search engines such as Google can find them. The way the legal notices are posted in the Wichita Eagle is very difficult and inconvenient to use. My experimentation also tells me that the notices are not visible to Google and other search engines.

    This means that the residents of Sedgwick County — and the City of Wichita too, as its notices are published the same way — are missing out on a very useful way of reading legal notices. Also, they’re not able to use tools like Google Alerts. This very useful tool can automatically notify you when something appears on the Internet that you’re interested in. I make extensive use of these alerts.

    But this is not the entire story. The decision of the county commissioners went against the recommendation of the Board of Bids and Contracts. The vote was three to two, with commissioners Kelly Parks and Gwen Welshimer in the minority.

    Estimates are that the switch to the Eagle will cost the county about $50,000 more each year. So what was the reason for the commission voting against this board?

    The reasons stated by commissioners Dave Unruh and Tim Norton and former commissioner Tom Winters in the minutes of the meeting had to do with increasing the visibility and readership of the notices. As I’ve shown above, the best way by far to increase readership and visibility is to post the notices online. The county would still, it appears, have to publish them in a newspaper, which means that the Derby Reporter would be best, as it is the low-cost provider of this service.

    So this reasoning strikes me as a little hollow. Put the notices online, if the commissioners want to really increase their availability.

    There may be two reasons why this switch was made. First, sources tell me that the Eagle hired former commissioner Ben Sciortino as a lobbyist. Here’s how the Eagle’s now-defunct Hall Monitor blog described Sciortino’s new business venture on April 25, 2007:

    Former Sedgwick County Commissioner Ben Sciortino is now working from the other side of the commission bench. The man who lost his seat in November to Commissioner Gwen Welshimer is now starting up his own lobbying business: Sciortino & Associates. … “After eight years in the county, I have a very good idea of how things work,” Sciortino said. “I have maintained excellent relationships with the electeds on both sides of the street. If a company needs help with a zone change or help lobbying a particular item, that’s what I’ll do. … Probably more companies than everyday citizens because I probably won’t come real cheap,” Sciortino said with a chuckle.

    Then, there’s something potentially more disturbing. Around the time of this decision, Sedgwick County Manager William Buchanan was in contention for the job of Wichita City manager. The Wichita Eagle strongly endorsed Buchanan for this job on its editorial page.

    Could the Eagle’s endorsement of Buchanan be related to the county’s decision to switch their business to the Eagle? At least one person thinks so. In a news story Derby paper considers suing county, KSN television reporter Jessica Oakley reports this:

    Bush [Derby Reporter publisher Kent Bush] believes it’s all politically motivated.

    “After an endorsement of Bill Buchanan on a Sunday, the next Thursday he goes to the bid board, which he appointed, and made a 10-minute presentation on behalf of The Eagle,” he said.

    It’s important to remember that Bush has an agenda, perhaps even an ax to grind. Both Buchanan and the Eagle have denied a connection.

    The Wichita Business Journal has more reporting in the story Wichita Eagle beats out Derby newspaper for county contract, but fight is brewing.