This newsletter is a special edition to answer questions some may have about recent happenings.
You may have heard about or read recent stories in the Wichita Eagle regarding how the City Council selected Wichita Water Partners, the team chosen to provide our residents and surrounding communities a high quality and dependable water treatment facility.
I’d like to share my perspective and voting history on this subject.
On July 10, 2018, City Council voted to approve staff moving forward with a Request for Proposals for a new Wichita Water Facility (sometimes referred to as the Northwest Water Treatment Facility) and to submit a Letter of Intent to apply for a favorable loan from the federal government to fund part of the construction of the Wichita Water Facility. I voted yes for this recommendation.
On November 20, 2018, staff presented the City Council with a recommendation to accept a contract with Jacobs. During that meeting, Mayor Longwell moved to negotiate with both teams that submitted proposals (Jacobs and Wichita Water Partners). Council Member Frye and I voted against the negotiation. My decision was based on the recommendation by an 11-member selection panel, which included Council Member Frye, which unanimously recommended Jacobs for the project (though they did not disqualify the Wichita Water Partners).
On December 18, 2018, staff presented the City Council with a recommendation to accept a contract with Jacobs. During that meeting, Mayor Longwell made a substitute motion for a design contest. Even though it was presented that both teams were capable of delivering on the Wichita Water Facility project, I decided that based on the selection panel’s recommendation, Jacobs would be the better choice. I joined Council Members Frye and Johnson in voting no to a design contest. The motion did pass 4 to 3. This vote created a new process for the project.
At that point the recommended company, Jacobs, pulled out of the design contest and actually closed their Wichita office. This left just one company, Wichita Water Partners, to compete in the contest.
At our February 12, 2019, meeting, City Council gave the final approval for Wichita Water Partners. By this time, Jacobs was no longer an option. In order to be eligible for the federal funding, the City had to move forward with the project. Staff had indicated that Wichita Water Partners was capable of the project. I voted to accept the Wichita Water Partners’ proposal.
To provide information, we have created opportunities for residents to engage with the City on this very important topic of our water system. I want to encourage you to visit
wichita.gov/water
for more information about our water system and join us this Friday (10/11/19) at 1 pm on the 10th floor at City Hall to observe this project's Oversight Steering Committee meeting. These meetings will be open to the public and the media.
There are also a series of subsequent Wichita Eagle articles that have questioned City Council Members’ commitment to ethics as a governing body.
First and foremost, I want to highlight that the thousands of individuals who work for the City of Wichita operate under the principles of honor and integrity and do their best to serve the citizens of our City. That is the culture that I have seen from the day I had the honor of being sworn in to represent District VI.
I believe that all processes can benefit from review. I support revisiting our Council Code of Ethics to improve and strengthen it where needed to ensure that we are held accountable to ourselves and the residents we represent. This review would ensure an effective process was in place in the unfortunate event of any inappropriate behavior.
Currently, the process is vague and provides little guidance to the City Council. It was in place when I joined City Council in 2018. Under the current code, each Council Member is left to their own principles to make decisions. This leaves room to question our commitment to ethics. It is important that you know that I have witnessed my fellow Council Members abstain from various votes when a perceived conflict of interest arose.
As for the other allegations against Mayor Longwell, I encourage each of you to ask him any questions you may have. He is open to answering your questions.
Sedgwick County District Attorney, Marc Bennet, has announced he is reviewing a number of complaints that were sent to him regarding allegations against the Mayor, and we are awaiting his findings.
If you have any other questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to me.
Most sincerely,
Cindy Claycomb
Wichita City Council
District VI Council Member
