eNewsletter October 3, 2011

From City Council . . . to the Business Council

Prepared by Rich Groves, Executive Director, North Kansas City Business Council

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The following topics are covered in this e-Newsletter:

• 2011-2012 City of North Kansas City Budget
  
• Analysis of possible savings of once a week trash pickup
  
• City employee benefit programs
  
• New LiNKCity Director Byron McDaniel
  
• Outsourcing of LiNKCity Installation and Dark Fiber Project Approval
  
• Update about the major mixed used re-development project
  
• Proposed Community Center maintenance and upgrade projects
  
• Sign Ordinances

City of North Kansas City Budget for Fiscal Year 2011-2012 (Oct 1, 2011 – Sep 30, 2012)

After an opportunity for citizens to speak about the budget at a Public Hearing on September 13, the City of North Kansas City budget for fiscal year 2011-2012 was approved by the City Council. The budget had been presented at an earlier special session which was covered in a previous e-Newsletter from this office.

• For my September 9 summation, go to this link:
  http://nkcbusinesscouncil.com/pages/html_newsletters/09_9_2011.html
• To examine the final approved budget in detail go to this link:
  http://nkc.org/UltimateEditorInclude/UserFiles/Common/Document/FY_2011- 2012_Budget_09-15-2011_040911.pdf
• To view the July 12 “financial outlook” presentation given by City Administrator Matt Shatto, go to this link: http://nkc.org/UltimateEditorInclude/UserFiles/Common/minutes/Special_Meeting_- _City_CouncilMinutes_07-12-2011_021851.pdf

The only comments from the public affirmed the approach being taken to significantly reduce the deficit and to reduce the dependency on Gaming revenue. There were also suggestions that the City Council consider implementing a hotel/motel tax, consider an increase in the sales tax and consider reduction of trash pickup from 2 times a week to 1 time a week to further reduce the deficit. Staff was directed by City Council to calculate the cost savings and service impact that might occur by reducing the frequency of trash pickup and make a recommendation at a future City Council meeting. Staff will also evaluate a possible hotel/motel tax and sales tax increase.

Analysis of Once a Week Trash Pickup

An analysis of the cost savings of once a week trash collection was presented to the City Council by Public Works Director Pat Hawver on October 4. By consensus of City Council members, the estimated savings of $48,575 out of a total of $214,539 was not considered significant enough to reduce the collection frequency from two times to one time a week.

City Employee Benefits

City Council approved renewals for vision care insurance and life insurance policies for City employees at the Sep 13 meeting. At the City Council meeting on Sep 20, the City Council approved additional insurance policy renewals – dental care insurance and long-term disability insurance policies for City employees. Nearly all of these policies will have no increase in premium for the next two years.

New LiNKCity Director

The new LiNKCity Director is Byron McDaniel. He began Sep 21 and attended his first Business Council Membership Luncheon the next day. Welcome, Byron! We are hopeful that liNKCity will emerge to be even more successful as a provider of high speed fiber optic internet service to the commercial as well as the residential markets in North Kansas City.

Outsourcing of LiNKCity Installation and Dark Fiber Project Approval

Two of the first acts by LiNKCity Director Byron McDaniel were 1) to request approval to contract with Enterprise Communications, Inc. for installation services to improve response time in setting up new LiNKCity customers and 2) to request approval of a dark fiber license agreement with Wholesale Data Center, LLC. The latter agreement should bring in approximately $300,000 additional revenue over the 10 year term of the agreement..

Special Session Updating LADCO Development

A special session of the City Council was held October 4 to allow City Administrator Matt Shatto and LADCO executives to give an update on the planned mixed use development project on the parcels of land along the east side of I-35/I-29, south of Armour Road. A similar session, open to the public, was held Wednesday, October 5.
Critical objectives for the project were defined as being pedestrian-friendly, responsive to available population density and inclusion of mixed use occupants (retail, office, medical, entertainment, food, residential). The site benefits from having over 100,000 vehicles per day pass by on I-35/I-29 plus many thousands more on Armour Rd/MO Hwy 210, proximity to downtown North Kansas City, proximity to North Kansas City Hospital, Cerner Corporation and Harrah’s Casino and Hotel. That area along I-35/I-29 could effectively be regarded as the “north gateway to downtown Kansas City”. It could offer many of the benefits of downtown KC without requiring patrons and employees to actually need to go to downtown KC.
It is estimated that approximately 1 million square feet of facilities can be supported by the available exit lanes from adjacent highways without creating a traffic problem.
Six alternative conceptual drawings were displayed. Other options may be possible. The six alternatives can be summarized as follows:

• Wellness-oriented, supporting North Kansas City Hospital, requires expensive structured parking, utilize approximately 700,000 s.f.
  
• Retail and entertainment focus, mostly surface parking, utilize approximately 400,000 s.f.
• Technology and retail focus, structured parking, utilize approximately 1 million s.f.
• Combination of technology and wellness, several 5-7 story buildings, including restaurants
  and perhaps a movie theatre, utilize approximately 1 million s.f.
• “Junior big-box” retail and supporting retail, mostly surface parking, utilize approximately
  700,000 s.f.
• Big Box with miscellaneous other tenants on the south end, utilize 400,000-500,000 s.f.

LADCO, a major development company based in Des Moines, IA will continue to seek potential tenants and to firm up the appropriate configuration of the site to provide the optimum benefits to the developer and to the City of North Kansas City.
In a related announcement, City Administrator Shatto said that the City officially took ownership of the ADM property on October 4. Elimination of that facility will begin in the next few months.

Proposed Community Center Maintenance and Upgrades

In the time allowed for Public Comments at the Oct 4 City Council meeting, several citizens spoke emphatically against spending large amounts of money on the Community Center. There was acknowledgement of the need for some maintenance work, but no support for expanding and enhancing the facility.

During the City Council’s discussion on this topic there was a failed attempt to table the set of 10 resolutions representing contracts for work on the Community Center. The first resolution was defeated by a vote of 3 to 5. That was followed by a new motion to table the remaining nine items and ask that only the items that are truly maintenance-required be re-presented at a later date. That motion was seconded and approved.

Report on Sign Ordinances

Fire Chief Dave Williams and Code Compliance Manager David Harris made a presentation concerning signage codes. This was prompted by a request by Sam Scarfino, owner of Bridge View Hall at 1041 Burlington. His digital sign had been cited as non-conforming to code because it displayed businesses which are not actually located within 1041 Burlington. Each business with a display on the sign had gone through a process to utilize 1041 Burlington as a “virtual office” for various activities.

David Harris offered four alternatives for the City Council to consider.

• Allow virtual offices to be exempt from onsite only display activities.
• Allow off-site signs on Burlington by creating a Burlington Corridor Sign District and
  potentially design guidelines consistent with the intent of the Burlington Overlay District.
• Do not allow additional off-site signs on Burlington but allow existing off-site signs to
  continue with “Certificates of Legal Non-Conformance”.
• Leave the Sign Code as it is.
  
  

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What is this?

This is the 10th in a series of e-newsletters that will bring to you, twice a month, any relevant news for the business community from the City Council meetings that I attend each week, as well as other happenings at City Hall.

Why do we do it?

This communication is intended to be an additional Benefit of Membership for members of the North Kansas City Business Council. If you know of other businesses who are NOT members – but who probably would benefit by being a member – please let them know this is one thing they are missing.

If you have good "leads" for prospective new members, please let me know. Call 472-7700 or e-mail richard@nkcbusinesscouncil.com.