BPU customers are looking for answers to questions about PILOT reimbursements

KSHB 41 reporter Rachel Henderson covers neighborhoods in Wyandotte and Leavenworth counties. Share your story idea with Rachel.

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Board of Public Utilities customers want answers about why the PILOT fee is still on their bills nearly a month later deadline of October 1 missed to abolish the fee.

William Rogers said he was not aware of any complaints about the BPU’s failure to eliminate the PILOT fee until he began commenting publicly on another issue at a meeting of the Wyandotte County Board of Commissioners.

Chris Morrison/KSHB41

“Personally, I’m not one of those citizens who has a complaint,” Rogers said. “What I have a complaint about is the mayor not cooperating with the commissioners. He doesn’t inform them, he doesn’t keep them informed.”

Rogers reviewed KSHB 41 stories on the BPU PILOT reimbursement issue, including a story in which I discovered the BPU email Warned Kansas City, Kansas, Mayor Tyrone Garner and Wyandotte County Administrator David Johnston that the October 1 deadline was unrealistic.

“And then the mayor said he was shocked when he found out on social media,” Rogers laughed. “No, you didn’t, Mayor. You discovered that in that email. Come on man, I’m smarter than that.

Garner said a telephone interview on Oct. 18 that he was trying to clear up the confusion over compensation.

The mayor, who has declined in-person interviews on the subject and would only talk to us by phone, said he was confident the PILOT fee would be eliminated.

“I trust that our administrator and our staff will advise me on certain matters,” Garner said.

Rogers did something on Monday we didn’t succeed Since this news broke, he went to the ninth floor of City Hall to meet with the mayor.

Chris Morrison/KSHB41

He took documents with his property tax and BPU PILOT reimbursement information.

Chris Morrison/KSHB41

Rogers said he wanted to use his own public records to support his statements.

“I want to tell him it’s okay to make a mistake,” Rogers said. “It’s okay that you and the manager jumped the gun. But right now you are creating division in this community and it has to stop. How to fix it? That’s his job, right? He is the mayor.”

It’s almost over one month since the October 1st deadline from Johnston.

“When they just said it was going to go away on October 1, even I was like, ‘Yeah, it’s never going to just go away,’” Rogers said. “The mayor and the district administrator kind of did this themselves.”

Committee meetings with public comment sessions were held between August and October.

But since news of the fee failed to break, there is no longer a platform for customers to ask questions about the PILOT fee fiasco.

On October 17, there was a special meeting of the United Government, but there was no public comment. There was also a town hall on Oct. 19 for Wyandotte County officials, but questions were submitted in advance and the Q&A at the end had a time limit.

“It’s not us versus them, but they’re starting to look like this, and that’s a bad thing for Wyandotte County,” Rogers said. “Personally, I think we are better than that.”

I’ve received several questions from viewers since we started discussing the PILOT reimbursement issues.

After the interview with Rogers, the mayor called me to answer some viewer questions that I sent to the mayor Monday morning.

The questions I was able to ask Mayor Garner in our 15-minute phone conversation are below:

Who sets the agenda?

The agenda is sent from the clerk’s office to the mayor and commissioners. It is determined by a combination of staff and the mayor, with occasional committee input. Then it goes to the clerk and she puts everything together before sending it to the mayor and commissioners. Legal affairs review the agenda as necessary.

Do supervisory directors have the meeting agenda in time to ask well-considered questions?

The mayor said he would love it if he and the commissioners were given a week to two weeks to review meeting agendas.

“That’s been a challenge since I’ve been mayor,” Garner said. “Sometimes it’s a day, sometimes items come out on the day, so it depends.”

The agenda is typically set on the Friday of the Monday before the committee meets, and by Tuesday that information is available to the public.

That is the average time frame for releasing the meeting agenda.

If residents pay a PILOT fee or increase the amount in the fee structure, what is the difference between paying the same thing but calling it different?

“The most important thing to me when I ran for mayor, and one of the things I’ve advocated for, is that it’s a work in progress,” Garner said. “Residents tell me that they have a problem with not having a real energy bill. We’re not just talking about BPU, but we’re talking about through waste, through stormwater, through sewer, and all those other costs associated with the BPU bill. Many residents have problems with this. The PILOT is another one of those deals. When someone gets cut off, they get cut off from all these other perks that leaders here in the city have decided to do for decades to increase people’s utility bills.”

Do you feel that you have answered all residents’ questions? Are there other opportunities for residents to comment (on the PILOT)?

“That’s my goal,” Garner said. “One of the things I can say – that I’m proud of, just like being mayor, is listening to the people who say, ‘Mayor, we’d like to have an outlet to be able to talk to you and the commission and other leaders about our concerns. One thing I came up with was Mayor Tyrone Tuesdays. I have listening tours. And most importantly, I have open mics, consistent open mics, where people can come and talk about issues.

The mayor’s office told me they will send email responses to remaining viewer questions, and we will publish them as we receive them.

Next joint meeting of the United Government and Council of Public Utilities is Wednesday, October 30 at 5 p.m.