Voice For Liberty

Category: Wichita city government

  • The Wichita baseball team’s name

    The Wichita baseball team’s name

    Is the name of the new Wichita baseball team important? Yes, as it provides insight.

    Whatever you may think of the name of the new Wichita baseball team, it’s important. Important because the city is spending many millions on the stadium, much of it borrowed through bonds that must be repaid if the team doesn’t generate as much success (and tax revenue) as planned.

    Additionally, the city is depending on the team owners to successfully develop the four acres of surrounding land that the city gave to them. (Well, almost gave to them. They paid about four dollars.) Without successful development, the city and its residents are in trouble.

    But given that the reaction to the name is near-universal scorn, I don’t have a lot of confidence in the team owners and their judgment.

    Still, there are knowledgeable Wichitans who are praising the team’s ownership and management. I would suggest asking the people of New Orleans what they think of the promises made to them by Lou Schwechheimer, the majority owner of the team. See Coverage of Wichita baseball owner Lou Schwechheimer and Wichita vets its baseball partner(s).

    Can a city’s political and bureaucratic leaders want something so badly that they make bad decisions regarding who to choose as partners and how to structure the partnership? Yes, I’m afraid so.

  • Wichita consent agenda reform proposed

    Wichita consent agenda reform proposed

    The Wichita city council will consider reforms to the consent agenda.

    Next week the Wichita City Council will consider changes to the form of city council meetings, specifically the consent agenda. 1

    A consent agenda is a group of items — perhaps as many as two dozen or so — that are voted on in bulk with a single vote. If the consent agenda is passed, each individual item on the consent agenda is also considered as passed. An item on a consent agenda will be discussed only if a council member requests the item to be “pulled.” If that is done, the item will be discussed. Then it might be withdrawn, delayed to a future meeting, voted on by itself, or folded back into the consent agenda with the other items. Generally, consent agenda items are considered by the city to be routine and non-controversial, but that is not always the case.

    The city proposes two main changes. First, a draft, or proposed consent agenda will be presented to the mayor and vice mayor one week before a council meeting, with the finalization on Friday. City documents explain:

    A draft consent agenda will be presented to the mayor and vice mayor one week before the scheduled city council meeting. The mayor and vice mayor will make a preliminary designation of the items to be included on the consent agenda. The consent agenda will be considered only a draft until it is endorsed by the city council during its regular Friday agenda review meeting.

    Second, there is a list of items considered appropriate for inclusion on the consent agenda, as presented below.

    In the past, the city has placed major items on the consent agenda, such as authorizing a $2 million contract with the city’s convention and visitors’ bureau. 2

    Notably, this summer the city placed a long-term lease with a proposed airport hotel on the consent agenda. Before the meeting, it was found the contract had many errors. 3 At that time, Wichita Mayor Jeff Longwell expressed frustration with items such as this being placed on the consent agenda and said he would propose changes. 4

    Items appropriate for consent agenda

    From the proposed ordinance:

    In order to provide City staff with additional guidance, the following items are considered appropriate for the consent agenda:

    1. Applications for licenses
    2. Community event requests
    3. Street closures
    4. Preliminary construction estimates
    5. Petitions for public improvements
    6. Design services agreements and supplements to design services agreements
    7. Sale of remnant parcels and property previously designated as surplus
    8. Purchase of property for right-of-way
    9. Second reading ordinances
    10. Property acquisitions
    11. Minutes of advisory boards and commissions
    12. One year agreements, agreement amendments or agreement extensions with a value of $100,000 or less
    13. Grant applications and awards if the local match is less than $100,000
    14. Change orders
    15. Settlement agreements
    16. Establishing public hearing dates for the repair and removal of dangerous structures
    17. Authorizing note and bond sales
    18. Zoning applications that have no protest and are recommended for approval by the DAB and MAPC
    19. Nuisance assessments

    —
    Notes

    1. Wichita City Council agenda packet for November 19, 2019, item V-2. ↩
    2. See, for example, For Wichita, another agenda surprise at https://wichitaliberty.org/wichita-government/wichita-another-agenda-surprise/, Naftzger Park costs up, yet again at https://wichitaliberty.org/wichita-government/naftzger-park-costs-up-yet-again/, In Wichita, spending semi-secret at https://wichitaliberty.org/wichita-government/wichita-spending-semi-secret/, A consultant to help Wichita’s confidence factor at https://wichitaliberty.org/wichita-government/consultant-help-wichita-confidence-factor/, For Wichita City Council, discussion is not wanted at https://wichitaliberty.org/wichita-government/for-wichita-city-council-discussion-is-not-wanted/, In Wichita, a gentle clawback at https://wichitaliberty.org/wichita-government/in-wichita-a-gentle-clawback/, Wichita, again, fails at government transparency at https://wichitaliberty.org/wichita-government/wichita-fails-government-transparency/, and Wichita open records issue buried at https://wichitaliberty.org/open-records/wichita-open-records-issue-buried/. ↩
    3. Lefler, Dion. What’s up with the new airport hotel? Wichita scrambles to correct errors before vote. Wichita Eagle, June 24, 2019. Available at https://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/article231911503.html. ↩
    4. Lefler, Dion. Longwell proposes changes in city process after airport hotel blunder. Wichita Eagle, June 28, 2019. Available at https://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/article232088887.html. ↩
  • City comeback bingo

    City comeback bingo

    Wichita has amenities that are promoted as creating an uncommonly superior quality of life here, but many are commonplace across the country.

    A recent graphic appeared on several sites that comments on the efforts of cities and their residents to create distinctive amenities and characteristics. I’ve reproduced the text of the image below, because some of the text is difficult to read due to the busy background. (The image may be seen here.) How much of this is present in Wichita or your city?

    —

    This-City’s-Makin’-A-Comeback Bingo

    Sure to become a favorite of every southern, mid-sized or rust-belt city, this game implores you to explore your city and find out what makes it unique … like every other place.

    10 Brewpubs
    Ramen, Ramen, Ramen!!!
    Axe-throwing bar
    Absurd rent in once-affordable places
    “Crazy” donut recipe
    Many empty lofts
    Cupcake shop
    Regional Banksy
    Instagram wall
    Spinning, crossfit, and yoga
    Bar with “Whiskey” in name
    Barcade
    Restaurant named (Something) & the (Something)
    Tea shops
    Those scooters
    Chicago cows, but it’s a local thing
    One good food truck out of 30
    Quirky, local T-shirt industry
    Unaffordable boutiques
    People telling you how good it “used to be”
    Dueling farmer’s markets
    Empty apartments used for AirBnB
    Vibrant kickball scene
    Unused community garden
    That one band/artist who made it
    Guy with stories about band/artist who made it
    Indie radio station with cult-like following
    Displaced minorities
    Airport that requires connection to somewhere interesting
    Local fat-guy food
    Regional influencer
    Robust private schools for rich white transplants
    Arts district
    Local ice cream shop with “cornbread” and “Earl Gray” flavors

    —

    (I left off a square with foul language and corrected a few misspellings.)

    These things are good to have, although people will disagree on items like scooters and absurd rent, and I suppose an unused community garden is, well, unused.

    But often we hear Wichita’s boosters speak as though these things are unique to Wichita. By having them, they say, Wichita is a leader, and good things such as a flourishing economy will follow.

    But we can’t afford to be lulled into complacency or a celebration of grand achievement when so much data says otherwise:

    We should keep striving to grow our city, its economy, and the prosperity of its residents. What we’ve done, however, hasn’t worked very well, yet most of our leaders think we’re doing fine. With a new mayor, perhaps that will change.

    For more about this and references to other writers on this topic, see Wichita, not that different

  • From Pachyderm: Save Century II

    From Pachyderm: Save Century II

    From the Wichita Pachyderm Club: Speakers promoting the saving of the Century II Convention and Performing Arts Center in downtown Wichita. Speakers were, in order of first appearance, Greg Kite, Dean Bradley, and Celeste Bogart Racette. This video was recorded on November 1, 2019. View below, or click here to view at YouTube.

    There is other material on this topic:

  • Longwell: ‘There is no corruption’

    Longwell: ‘There is no corruption’

    Wichita Mayor Jeff Longwell says there is no corruption involving him, but this is only because of loose and sloppy Kansas and Wichita laws.

    In an advertisement in the November 3, 2019 Wichita Eagle, Wichita Mayor Jeff Longwell defended himself against charges of corruption. Referring to a recent investigation by the Sedgwick County District Attorney, the ad states:

    In 2018 and 2017, Bennett found I was 100% compliant. In 2016 he found only one instance where I was $21.33 over the annual $500 threshold allowed for “goods and services” received from local companies.

    Here’s what the District Attorney found in his investigation:

    Given the failure of Kansas Statutes Annotated 75-4301a to define “good or services,” the Mayor explained to an investigator with the Office of the District Attorney that he did not believe a round of golf constituted “goods or services.” He further explained that charitable golf outings where the entire expenditure went to charity (situations where the golf course donated their greens fees to the charity) led him to the conclusion that, because the charity received the entire donation, the golfers (including him) derived no financial benefit. As such, he did not believe it necessary to report these outings on his substantial interest form. 1

    This reasoning by Longwell is hairsplitting to the extreme. What’s important is that Longwell accepted gifts from people he later steered a large city contract to. However large or small the gifts, this is wrong.

    In his conclusion, the District Attorney wrote:

    And while I am confident, having exhaustively researched the issue, that, as an act of entertainment, golf qualifies as “goods or services” under Kansas law, it is also true that Kansas Statutes Annotated 75-4301a, et seq., governing Substantial Interest Form filings, offers little guidance. I am not filing a class B misdemeanor under these facts.

    It seems that sloppy Kansas laws are the problem, along with a mayor willing to exploit that weakness.

    Does the city have any laws or regulations on this matter? Here’s an excerpt from the Wichita city code as passed in 2008 (full section below):

    “[Council members] shall refrain from making decisions involving business associates, customers, clients, friends and competitors.”

    We also have statutory language that reads “business associates, customers, clients, friends and competitors.” But the city attorney, in a question involving former mayor Carl Brewer, felt that these terms are not defined, and therefore the mayor and city council members need not be concerned about compliance with this law. 2

    Today, city hall ethics, at least in the mayor’s chair, have not improved. It’s reasonable to conclude that people who pay the mayor to play in expensive golf tournaments are his friends. People who pay for dinner for the mayor and his wife and describe it as a social gathering (as the district attorney found) are friends. Or, maybe they just want something from the mayor and see an ersatz social relationship as a means to an end. But as we’ve learned recently, the current city attorney says council members “are left to police themselves on that city law,” according to Wichita Eagle reporting. 3

    Is it true, as the mayor’s ad screams in capital letters?

    THERE IS NO CORRUPTION LIKE YOU’VE BEEN LED TO BELIEVE

    There is none, but only because of sloppy Kansas and Wichita laws. But under any commonsense definition, yes, there is corruption. It is not necessary for an act to be illegal to be corrupt; that it is dishonest or fraudulent conduct is enough.

    Should Longwell be re-elected, can we expect reform? I don’t think it’s likely that someone will support laws criminalizing their own past behavior.

    Wichita city code

    Sec. 2.04.050. — Code of ethics for council members.

    Council members occupy positions of public trust. All business transactions of such elected officials dealing in any manner with public funds, either directly or indirectly, must be subject to the scrutiny of public opinion both as to the legality and to the propriety of such transactions. In addition to the matters of pecuniary interest, council members shall refrain from making use of special knowledge or information before it is made available to the general public; shall refrain from making decisions involving business associates, customers, clients, friends and competitors; shall refrain from repeated and continued violation of city council rules; shall refrain from appointing immediate family members, business associates, clients or employees to municipal boards and commissions; shall refrain from influencing the employment of municipal employees; shall refrain from requesting the fixing of traffic tickets and all other municipal code citations; shall refrain from seeking the employment of immediate family members in any municipal operation; shall refrain from using their influence as members of the governing body in attempts to secure contracts, zoning or other favorable municipal action for friends, customers, clients, immediate family members or business associates; and shall comply with all lawful actions, directives and orders of duly constituted municipal officials as such may be issued in the normal and lawful discharge of the duties of these municipal officials.

    Council members shall conduct themselves so as to bring credit upon the city as a whole and so as to set an example of good ethical conduct for all citizens of the community. Council members shall bear in mind at all times their responsibility to the entire electorate, and shall refrain from actions benefiting special groups at the expense of the city as a whole and shall do everything in their power to ensure equal and impartial law enforcement throughout the city at large without respect to race, creed, color or the economic or the social position of individual citizens.

    —
    Notes

    1. District Attorney Bennett’s findings concerning Mayor Jeff Longwell. Available at https://www.sedgwickcounty.org/media/56094/520-pm-oct-17-mayor-longwell-finaldocx.pdf. ↩
    2. Weeks, Bob. City code on ethical conduct in Wichita. Available at https://wichitaliberty.org/wichita-government/city-code-on-ethical-conduct-in-wichita/. ↩
    3. Swaim, Chance. Wichita’s mayor steered multi-million-dollar water plant contract to friends. Wichita Eagle, September 29, 2019. Available at https://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/article234701932.html. ↩
  • Questions for Mayor Jeff Longwell

    Questions for Mayor Jeff Longwell

    Wichita Mayor Jeff Longwell urges Wichitans to reach out to him with questions through email and social media.

    I’ve posed a few questions to Wichita Mayor Jeff Longwell on Facebook, usually tagging both his personal profile and campaign page. But he hasn’t answered any, despite urging citizens to contact him. Here are some recent questions:

    October 17
    A question for Mayor Jeff Longwell and Mayor Jeff Longwell for Reelection:

    Mr. Mayor, the city may be looking at several large investments soon, like a convention center or performing arts center. How can you assure us that your influence over these items can’t be bought with a few gifts and eerily flattering emails?

    —

    October 18
    Mayor Jeff Longwell, I have a question regarding the use of cash as an economic development incentive. You’ve said that the city does not, and will not, give cash as an economic development incentive.

    Here’s a passage from December 2017 regarding the Spirit Aerosystems expansion in Wichita. Specifically, this is from the Memorandum of Understanding for Project Eclipse, Section I.B. It was contained within the agenda packet for Wichita City Council meeting for December 12, 2017.

    “The COUNTY participation of $7 million US is anticipated to be available cash; the CITY participation would consist of cash in the amount of $3 million US, forgiveness of $3.5 million US in future COMPANY payments associated with the CAPITAL COMPONENT and an agreement to make additional capital improvements relating to the WATER AGREEMENT in an approximate cost of $1 million US.”

    Am I reading this correctly: The city gave Spirit $3 million cash, and forgave a debt of $3.5 million?

    Can you tell us how this is different from using cash as an economic development incentive?

    —

    October 21, 2019
    A question for Mayor Jeff Longwell and Mayor Jeff Longwell for Reelection:

    Where do we go to find the city’s checkbook spending? Posting this elementary and fundamental data is something that almost every governmental jurisdiction mastered years ago.

    I ask because you have said you champion transparency, but I can’t find this data on the city’s website.

    —

    October 22, 2019
    A question for Mayor Jeff Longwell and Mayor Jeff Longwell for Reelection:

    Earlier this month the Center for Economic Development and Business Research at Wichita State University issued this forecast for Wichita:

    “For 2020, growth is expected to be more modest, as the Wichita economy is projected to add approximately 1,600 new jobs and grow 0.5 percent.”

    Do you agree with this forecast, and if yes, how do we reconcile this with your desire to “keep the momentum going?”

    —

    October 23, 2019
    A question for Mayor Jeff Longwell and Mayor Jeff Longwell for Reelection:

    Last night during the debate on KAKE, you said, “We have a diversified economy now that’s not just centered on aviation, although aviation is still important to us.”

    One way to measure the diversification or concentration of an industry in a local economy is location quotients. These are calculated and provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Since 2014, the concentration of employment in NAICS code 3364, aerospace product and parts manufacturing, hasn’t changed much. Can you tell us the basis of your claim that the Wichita economy is diversifying?

    More about this topic is at:
    Wichita aerospace manufacturing concentration

    —

    October 30, 2019
    A question for Mayor Jeff Longwell and Mayor Jeff Longwell for Reelection:

    There was unusual interest in Michigan about the Wichita airport contract decision in 2012, and the campaign bank account of Wichita City Council Member Jeff Longwell benefited financially. The Michigan party that was interested in Longwell’s political future was Walbridge, a Michigan-based construction company that partnered with Wichita-based Key Construction to bid for the airport job.

    Here’s an abbreviated timeline of events:

    July 16, 2012: John Rakolta, Chairman and CEO of Walbridge, and Terry Rakolta contribute $1,000 to Jeff Longwell’s campaign for Sedgwick county commission.

    July 17, 2012: Wichita City Council on 5 to 2 vote found Dondlinger Hunt bid to be non-responsive. Key/Walbridge is presumptive contract winner.

    July 20, 2012: Other Walbridge executives contribute $2,250 to Jeff Longwell’s campaign.

    Walbridge made no other political contributions to city council members.

    Mayor Longwell, do you think it is proper to accept campaign contributions that are so closely linked to a decision you made?

  • The cause of the low unemployment rate in Wichita

    The cause of the low unemployment rate in Wichita

    The unemployment rate for Wichita and the nation is nearly equal over the last eight years. Job growth for Wichita, however, has been much slower than the nation, and the labor force for Wichita is actually smaller than in January 2011. This is what has led to a low unemployment rate in Wichita: Slow job growth paired with a declining labor force.

    How does the Wichita metropolitan area compare with others regarding employment, labor force, and unemployment rate? A nearby example shows data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, part of the United States Department of Labor. It compares the average of all United States metropolitan areas to the Wichita metropolitan area. The chart starts with January 2011, about one and one-half years after the end of the Great Recession, and ends with August 2019, which is the most recent data for this series.

    We observe that the unemployment rate for Wichita and the nation is nearly equal over the time period. Job growth for Wichita, however, has been much slower than the nation, and the labor force for Wichita is actually smaller than in January 2011. This is what has led to a low unemployment rate in Wichita: Slow job growth paired with a declining labor force.

    This illustration came from an interactive visualization I created from BLS data. Click here to learn more and use the visualization.

    Click for larger.
  • Wichita jobs and momentum

    Wichita jobs and momentum

    Given recent data and the CEDBR forecasts, Wichita’s momentum is a slowly growing economy, with the rate of growth declining.

    The Center for Economic Development and Business Research at Wichita State University provides forecasts for the Wichita economy. In October, CEDBR wrote, “Total nonfarm employment in the Wichita metropolitan area grew 1.2 percent in 2018, with 3,500 new jobs created to bring the area’s employment to 298,600 workers. This was a turnaround after Wichita’s total employment declined by 2,200 jobs in 2017.” 1

    The October update didn’t forecast employment growth for the remainder of the current year, but in May, the report forecast, “Wichita’s employment expansion is forecast to continue in 2019 with 0.9 percent employment growth, adding more than 2,700 new jobs to the metropolitan area.” 2

    For the first nine months of 2019, Wichita jobs have grown from 301,600 in January to 302,600 in September, using seasonally adjusted data. That’s an increase of 1,000 jobs, or 0.3 percent. If that rate stays unchanged through the end of the year, Wichita jobs will have grown by about 0.4 percent. Given this data, it seems unlikely that the CEDBR forecast of 0.9 percent will be met.

    For 2020, CEDBR wrote in its October forecast, “For 2020, growth is expected to be more modest, as the Wichita economy is projected to add approximately 1,600 new jobs and grow 0.5 percent.”

    Click for larger.
    The reports mention declining unemployment rates. By itself, the unemployment rate tells us little, as it is the ratio of two numbers, the number of unemployed people divided by the labor force. Wichita’s low rate is mostly due to a declining, then slowly growing, labor force.

    To summarize, job growth in 2018 was 1.2 percent, forecast to be 0.9 percent in 2019 (but unlikely to meet that), and forecast to be 0.5 percent in 2020. (Recall that Wichita lost jobs in 2017.)

    Some candidates for local office in Wichita are campaigning on their record while in office, saying Wichita needs to build on its momentum. Given recent data and the CEDBR forecasts, Wichita’s momentum is a slowly growing economy, with the rate of growth declining.

    —
    Notes

    1. Center for Economic Development and Business Research at Wichita State University. Wichita Employment Forecast. October 3, 2019. Available at https://www.cedbr.org/content/2019/eoc/2020-wichita-forecast.pdf. ↩
    2. Center for Economic Development and Business Research at Wichita State University. 2019 Wichita Employment Forecast. May 2019. Available at https://www.cedbr.org/content/2019/2019-ict-forecast-may-revision.pdf. ↩
  • Checking a Jeff Longwell for Mayor political ad

    Checking a Jeff Longwell for Mayor political ad

    An ad from the Jeff Longwell for Mayor Committee contains a false claim.

    An advertisement advocating the re-election of Wichita Mayor Jeff Longwell contains a claim about economic development that is false.

    The ad appears in the October 20, 2019 print edition of the Wichita Eagle. Under the heading “Let’s Set the Record Straight,” we find this item: “Multiple large scale business development projects like the Cargill Downtown Headquarters which created 850+ jobs.”

    Click for larger.

    It’s the use of the word “create” that is false. It’s wrong because Cargill’s headquarters was located in downtown Wichita at the time it announced it would build a new headquarters in another part of downtown Wichita. 1 Whatever the number of jobs, they merely moved from North Main Street to East Douglas Avenue in the same zip code. 2

    It’s possible that if Cargill’s threat to build a new headquarters in another city was genuine, we could say the city and state “retained” these jobs. But using the word “create” to describe these jobs is false. Regarding the retention of these Cargill jobs, voters can decide whether the cost was worthwhile.

    Regarding the cost of retaining Cargill jobs, since Mayor Longwell raised the topic, here is a list of the known subsidies and incentives the city offered to retain the Cargill jobs. 3 As summarized in the agenda packet:

    “In exchange for Cargill’s commitment, the City has negotiated the following:

    • Issue Industrial Revenue Bonds (Letter of Intent approved April 18, 2017) 100% property tax abatement; 5+5 year basis
    • Sales tax exemption
    • Acquisition of a 15 year parking easement for public access to the garage in the evenings and on weekends (estimated cost of $6,500,000)
    • Expedited plan review (50% reduction in time)
    • Reduced permitting fees (50%) (estimated savings of $85,000)
    • Assign a project manager/ombudsman for a single point of contact for the company”

    The Wichita Eagle reported the value of the tax breaks as $13.6 million. 4 More information about these subsidies is here: More Cargill incentives from Wichita detailed.

    The agenda packet for the city council meeting doesn’t mention this, but from the state of Kansas Cargill is likely to receive PEAK benefits. Under this program, the Kansas state withholding tax deducted from Cargill employees’ paychecks will be routed back to Cargill. 5 (Not all; only 95 percent.) Some very rough calculations show that PEAK benefits might be worth some $2 million annually to Cargill. 6

    —
    Notes

    1. Cargill to keep headquarters in Wichita, but new site still unknown. Wichita Eagle. Available at https://www.kansas.com/news/business/article79516092.html. ↩
    2. Cargill selects site for new Wichita headquarters. Wichita Eagle. Available at https://www.kansas.com/news/business/biz-columns-blogs/carrie-rengers/article105193381.html. ↩
    3. City of Wichita. Agenda Packet for July 18, 2017. Approval of Development Agreement with Cargill Meat Solutions Corporation. ↩
    4. Cargill’s job guarantee to city could count 1-day workers as full time. Wichita Eagle. Available at https://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/article161882968.html. ↩
    5. Weeks, Bob. In Kansas, PEAK has a leak. http://wichitaliberty.org/kansas-government/kansas-peak-leak/. ↩
    6. For the first year of the agreement, Cargill is expected to have 750 or more employees at an average salary of $66,814. That annual salary / 26 pay periods = $2,570 biweekly. For a family with two children (this is just a guess and could be way off), there are two withholding allowances, so $2,570 – ($86.54 x 2) = $2,397. Using the new withholding tables for married workers (another assumption), bi-weekly withholding is $48.17 + 5.7% x ($2,397 – $1,298) = $48.17 + $62.64 = $110.81. That means $2,881 annual withholding, so Cargill’s 95% share is $2,737. For 750 employees, this is an annual subsidy to Cargill of $2,052,750. ↩