Rebecca Galati, Prairie Village Representative for Evergy, joined us to give an update. She reminded us that Evergy does a full tree trim (around their lines) every 4-5 years, and they also spot trim every 2-3 years. There are 168 trees per mile in Prairie Village compared to the average of 58 trees per mile in the KC metro. About 2/3 of the poles we see belong to Evergy and the other 1/3 belong to AT&T. We also have over 20 circuits feeding into PV from our bordering municipalities, which is partly why you may not have power during an outage event and your neighbor right next door does.

The Renewables Direct program that Prairie Village signed onto in 2019 will begin service to PV city-owned buildings in October of this year! Our Renewable Participation Charge to the City will be $0.01986 per kWh. (The original Energy Cost Adjustment charge has ranged from $0.01418 to $0.02783 over the last 3 years.)

If you have any Evergy service or billing questions, call 816-471-5275.

Committee Reports

Teen Council

Teen Council chairperson Piper Reimer said that we haven’t received many applications for this school year. The deadline was 9/30, but they may extend. If you know of a PV resident high school student who would be perfect for this, please share this information with them. This does count toward service hours!

Arts Council

The Arts Council update included the annual State of the Arts juried show, which is now taking submissions HERE, and a new Arts Council MEMBER/Alumni Show going up this month to fill our bleak gallery during these COVID-19 months. Watch for more info on these on our social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

City to City Challenge

*The City to City Challenge update is that we’re in the lead currently, but not far enough ahead to get comfortable!

We are now 2 weeks into our city to city competition and 40 days out from the election! Seems like a good time for an update on our leaderboards.
Most Ambassadors: 1. (t) Prairie Village, 6
1. (t) Mission, 63. Roeland Park, 54. Westwood, 3
Most Contacts Added: 1. Prairie Village, 4222. Mission, 3143. Roeland Park, 564. Westwood, 35
Highest % of Low Prop Voters: 1. Prairie Village, 50%2. Mission, 40%3. Roeland Park, 25%4. Westwood, 9%

We need more PV ambassadors! Sign up HERE. It’s super easy. Sign up as an Ambassador, then add 4-10 contacts to your list who aren’t consistent voters, and then we help them with reminders, resources, reminders, information, reminders, and…. you get the idea. 🙂

*I didn’t have this info in the meeting, but I’m sharing it here now.

Racial Justice

Non-Committee-related, but Racial Justice-related: I also shared that my family and I took the Dividing Lines audio tour last Saturday morning. The full name is: Dividing Lines: A History of Segregation in Kansas City. This was an effort between Johnson County Library and Race Project KC. The driving audio tour took us about 2 hours. We started at Shawnee Mission East High School and drove through Prairie Village, Mission Hills, Brookside and further on into KCMO back and forth across Troost, the so-called “dividing line”. It was very interesting and informative in regards to redlining and racist HOA covenants, and I recommend it to ANYone living in the KC metro, but PARTICULARLY for those living in the neighborhoods I listed above. It was truly SO well done.

Mayor’s Report

We’re still in the grips of this COVID-19 pandemic.
Current standings:
- Numbers are going in the wrong direction based on JCDHE: our 14-day moving average for new cases is 12.4%. (as of 9/21, see below for update as of 9/23)
- New cases per day have gone up to about 95 per day.
- New hospitalizations are at 0.9 per day.
- Mission Chateau’s small outbreak appears to have been contained at 6 cases total with no deaths, and 22 days since last onset.
- SO, AS ALWAYS, KEEP FOLLOWING THE GUIDELINES
  - wear masks
  - wash hands
  - socially distance
  - stay home when you’re not feeling well
- **Also, Schedule a COVID-19 test!!
  - Those who live or work in Johnson County, KS can schedule a free COVID-19 test at the Department of Health and Environment’s Olathe location.
The Diversity Task Force’s first meeting is tomorrow Tuesday, September 22nd at 6:30 p.m., and will be available to view online.
- Will include a creative brainstorming of ways to make PV more inclusive.
Special thanks to the heroes and heroines of our police department. It’s a particularly tough time to be a police officer in the United States right now. There is extremely divisive rhetoric in our world today. Please know that our PVPD goes the extra mile in setting an exceptionally high standard for themselves, and it IS possible to support Black Lives Matter AND Back the Blue.
Mayor, Wes & Jamie have met with First Washington once since the last Council meeting.
- Not much new, but there has been a lot of interest in the Macy’s space. It will probably be new retail, at least for now.
- Corinth Quarter is on pace to open next year (Corinth South of 83rd Street).
We’ve been contacted by several groups that may turn into official proposals for “workforce housing” with a net-zero environmental impact. Wheels are turning thanks to the UCS Housing Summit.
The Village Vision 2.0 community meeting had a successful discussion last week.
CFD2 Chief Lopez has announced his retirement on April 1, 2021, leaving very big shoes to fill in our local fire department.
The Mayor’s Tree Lighting ceremony at Corinth Square is a major fundraiser for the PV Municipal Foundation, but will not look the same as it has in years past due to COVID-19. Same for the annual Volunteer Appreciation Dinner. Watch for more information.

** My add.

Staff Reports

⚠️⚠️⚠️

Keith Bredehoeft, Public Works Director, reminded us that 71st Street just east of Mission will close starting Monday for the culvert repair and will be closed for 60 days. Detour to Tomahawk to the North or 73rd Terrace to the South to get around and into those neighborhoods.

I snapped a picture today while sitting at the bicycle sculpture of the crews staging the barriers to prepare:

⚠️⚠️⚠️

New Business

Consider Memorandums of Understanding with two new vendors: KC Can Compost for commercial composting and GlassBandit for curbside glass recycling.

Council voted unanimously to approve these two additional vendors for our curbside composting and glass recycling partnerships. Watch for an information page coming soon to pvkansas.com with all of the details.

Consider Resolution in support of Climate Mayors Network and the Paris Climate Agreement

Council voted 10-2 to affirm this resolution and join both of the efforts. I believe all those voting no, supported the Mayor’s network; just not the Paris Agreement which has been politicized for no reason and is now a polarizing issue. It shouldn’t be.

Consider final approval of the purchase of Dynamhex carbon emissions tracking software

Council voted 11-1 to approve this contract. The funding will come primarily from the Environmental Committee budget and the remainder from the contingency fund.

Watch for more information on this as it’s rolled out because the models get even more accurate if homeowners participate. Once the models are created, the data will be available to the Council and to residents, and the Environmental Committee will use the data to prioritize recommendations to Council for city initiatives to reduce Greenhouse Gases.

Approve pool replaster project – leisure and wading (BG850002) Change Order #1

Council voted unanimously to approve this work, the cost for which still falls within the original project budget.

Council Committee of the Whole

Council update regarding Collection Bureau of Kansas, Inc. (CBK) for collecting outstanding court fines and fees

Deana Scott, Municipal Court Administrator, updated Council on the positive benefits of a decision made in 2018 to switch from serving warrants for unpaid fines to using a collection service. It has reduced staff time, court time, and interactions with the County jail. The program has saved defendants $50,000 in warrant fees and potential jail fees, and the City has collected over $6,000. The program allows for payment plans, and it helps decriminalize the inability to pay, which can just set folks back further and further where they are never able to catch up and get ahead.

That’s all for now, folks.
Thanks for hanging in with me!
I hope you found this engaging.

Check out our new sidewalk on State Line:

Just a Couple Reminders:

Residents and visitors are STILL required to wear masks or cloth face coverings in Prairie Village and ALL of Johnson County as well as most of Kansas and the KC Metro on the Missouri side.

See short video from Friday of Dr. LeMaster addressing the new changes that happened as a result of the Governor’s extension of the Emergency Declaration for Kansas including affirmation of that order by Johnson County below:

Upcoming Events

September 22nd – Diversity Task Force Meeting on Zoom via Facebook Live which is accessible to ALL residents even if you don’t have a Facebook account.
September 23rd – Environmental Committee Meeting via Zoom, 7:00 p.m.
September 28th – Council Work Session via Zoom, 6:00 p.m.
September 30th – Tree Board Fall Seminar, 7:00 p.m.
October 5th – City Council Meeting via Zoom, 6:00 p.m.

STAY WELL & enjoy the week!