Mea Culpa….

I think I have let myself down.  I think I have let you down.  I’m talking about this whole city hall project.  As you know RATIO, the architectural firm, will have a public presentation Monday at the City Hall.  That’s why I’m blogging.  I expect a lot out of me, and right now I feel like my work, representing you, on city hall has been, well, let’s just say I’m not very happy with myself.

As you remember, one of my earlier blogs was about city hall dying.  Little did I know about the true state of structural disrepair.  We knew we had a problem when, by the late spring of 2014, the fourth engineering study was complete.  The first study was in 1978, a scant 14 years after the dedication of City Hall, and it said that the roof structure was bending down.  The engineers confirmed that and went on to say that doing nothing was probably not a long strategy worth pursuing. 

Having said all this, here is where I failed as your commissioner. Simply put, I got focused on the project of renovation or new build with all the intendant controversy, without really thinking ahead on the “how do we pay for this.”  And that‘s what really got to me.  I always think about the money.  Well, until this time.  Regardless of what the news media may opine, we cannot rebuild or renovate a complete City Hall, in my view, without a stable, long term funding source of unencumbered money.

I continued to fail you by not thinking clearly about a third alternative to new build or renovate City Hall, a step-by-step, pay as you go heavy repair of the existing structure.  Hopefully, this will be apparent by isolating those costs within the renovate model of City Hall provided by Ratio Architects.

Finally, I never really had a discussion with the other commissioners or the mayor about the road we were taking.  Of course, they didn’t engage me either.  So much for my acting in isolation and ignoring the benefits of collective wisdom.

Well, that’s about it.  As I said, I’m not very happy with me.  I think I could have been a better commissioner.  I’m sorry to have let you down.

Allan

Now, about that Aleve...

This morning as I began the daily ritual of shaving I noticed that the bottle of Aleve was upside-down.  I asked my wife, Johanna, if I should get more Aleve when I go grocery shopping.  (And yes, I do most of the shopping.)  She asked if I had a headache.  Given The Sun’s editorial that I had just consumed I probably needed some sort of a restorative. 

Last time I checked my pocket for coins and actually found one, it still had two sides.  That’s not counting the edge, so we will just say two sides-- that will suffice.

I can’t stress the point enough that my line of communication with the county is completely open on the subject of E-911, and that I want what we all want-- to get the best service for all of us.  There is a lot of conversation about regionalization of service.  Where is it said that only KSP can wear that mantle of offering “regional service?”  What if the city does such a superior job with E-911 that others would like to join in a city-sponsored regional service business model?  Nothing like a little good old American competition, is there?  Besides, with Frankfort in disarray, who is to say they will provide the best solution?  My head does throb at the thought of reorganization of E-911 and only getting a two-year contract for service from KSP.  How might the terms change after they have gotten us in?  I feel your local elected officials are far more reachable in managing our own local E-911 than the KSP would be when we are merely a contract customer with no representation on their board.

Now that I have brought up board members, I might point out there are 11 members on the local E-911 board.  Three are from the city, and eight represent the county.  If the city has about 60% of the call volume and 60% of the expense, as a businessman I think for us to have 27% of the board representation seems, well, unbalanced. 

As my headache continues, I might point out that the current inter-local agreement on E-911 expired in 2011.  Not a typo.  We are required to give six months notice to renegotiate the agreement, so we had to give notice by December 31 or wait another year.  Shouldn’t the city make a business plan on how an E-911 department would look?  With a plan, we might be able to go to the county to offer them a “better deal” on staying together on E-911 services. 

The KSP proposal is a very different one.  You might say it is like comparing apples and oranges.  My personal “Aha!” moment of the KSP proposal came when we learned that the addition of the city and county to KSP would increase the call volume by 100%, and yet the number of call answering people would only increase by 50%.   Fire Chief Steve Kyle, chair of the E-911 board, asked KSP for a new proposal recognizing the differences, and we are still without that proposal.  I’m not sure that exactly qualifies as the city “walking away.” 

Writing a blog post is a bit different to me than writing an editorial.  It’s not something to strike from my “to do” list and move on to the next thing.  I’ll keep this E-911 issue in the forefront every day until we get the best solution for all of us, city and county.

Now, where is that shopping list?  I really need that Aleve.