Mayor addresses 9-1-1 issues and Cerner concerns

By Jill Draper

The main speaker at the Sept. 9 meeting of the South Kansas City Alliance was city manager Brian Platt, but Mayor Quinton Lucas also was there, stopping by for a surprise visit in the middle of his talk at the South Patrol Police Campus. Both took questions from the crowd, including concerns about the city’s 911 system and progress on a new city jail.

Lucas admitted the 911 system needs improvement. “You gotta answer 911 calls,” he said. “We haven’t addressed this issue as much as we should.”

In the audience at the meeting was Brad Lemon, president of the KC Fraternal Order of Police, who observed that Kansas City’s 911 system was understaffed and having trouble finding new employees. “It’s a generational problem. It’s hard to get younger people in police and public safety. There’s constant bickering going on, and money can only do so much.”

On the positive side, Lemon said KCPD Chief Stacey Graves was doing a good job, and this is the first time in 10 years that 911 hasn’t lost more people than were hired.

Mayor Lucas added he had just talked with Chief Graves for more than an hour about various issues, including the idea of opening a booking and holding space for detainees in the downtown police headquarters building. Meanwhile, he said the city continues to make plans for building a new jail, possibly adjacent to Jackson County’s jail which is under construction in northeast Kansas City.

“That is an ongoing conversation,” Lucas said.

Another big ongoing conversation is being had with Oracle Cerner, the giant health information technology provider that closed its campus in south KC, said Platt. Members of the audience asked about ways to clawback some of the city’s economic development incentives promised in return for jobs, as well as a timetable for reopening Hillcrest Road.

“We’re having conversations now about legal pathways we could pursue,” the city manager said. “The deal we were handed was not the best one.” He added that 5th District At-Large City Councilmember Darrell Curls “is on it.”

Before taking questions from the audience, Platt touted the city’s recent achievements, including converting some 90,000 street lights to money-saving LED bulbs, repaving 519 miles of streets last fiscal year, supplying 170,000 trash carts to residents, and planting many trees in public spaces.

He said the trash carts will make possible a future phase of trash collecting that uses trucks with side arms, allowing smaller crews for each route. “We won’t be eliminating positions, but using resources better,” he said. He also noted the city is focusing more on litter hotspots, citing the entrances and exits to Bannister Road from Highway 71 as one example.

Also at the meeting was a description of how the senior citizens service fund works in Platte and Clay counties by Dan Fowler, a former KCMO City Council member. Fowler is now the attorney for the Platte County fund, which provides help for residents 60 and older. 

“The mandate on how the funds are used is very broad,” he said, citing adult day care centers, minor home and safety repairs, in-home personal care, respite care, personal safety monitoring at reduced rates, and transportation. “It’s all about aging in place in your own home.”

Jackson County residents will vote on whether to approve a new tax to fund a similar senior services program on Nov. 5. The tax would be a levy of 5 cents per $100 on real and personal property (houses and cars).

The meeting concluded with a tribute to first responders who served the nation during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001.