City Manager

A Wichita man receives internal injuries after being handcuffed.  He sued the police department and a judge ruled the city if responsible.  Both sides reached a settlement for $925,000.  Now the city manager is calling for a citizen review board to look at the case. At 24-years-old, Jason Price had breathing tubes and open wounds from what he calls excessive force by Wichita police.  "He laid with his stomach open and the incision open for about four weeks," said his attorney James A. Thompson.

Substandard, that's how the City of Wichita rates its own streets.  The city spends millions less than the average amount spent on street maintenance for cities similar in size.  City Manager Bob Layton knows there's a need for improvement and he says he now has a plan for it.  It's part of the preliminary 2012 budget which he'll present to the public Wednesday. Orange cones are common on major Wichita roads, but you could eventually find more of them in your neighborhood.  "Some areas are really in bad shape, those should have a priority," said driver Don Boleski.  He and other drivers say it can be a bumpy ride on many side streets.  "They're real tore up, not taken care of," said driver Laura Bird.

The city of Salina is looking for a new building inspector, and it’s not the usual job hunt. It comes after former inspector Paul Curry was arrested and charged with poisoning and killing his wife in California. "We definitely had a lot of attention the first couple of days after it was known about Mr. Curry's background,” says Salina city manager Jason Gage. "It’s really died down since then and it has been business as usual," added Gage.

Despite recent rain, the long-term drought leads the city of Abilene to declare a water emergency. The emergency follows 287 days with the city under a water warning. In a press release, Abilene city manager David Dillner says, while recent rain and snow has been good for ground level conditions, it will not affect the public water supply for several months. Under the water emergency, the city of Abilene will implement several regulations to help reduce non-essential water use. The city says the plan includes three levels.

A fresh coat of paint can go a long way to improving the look of your home.  And now if you live in Hutchinson, the city can make you get out the paint brush.  The city council approved  an updated property maintenance ordinance, giving the city authority to write citations if your house isn't painted properly. When paint chips, Lucinda Ward does her best to scrape away the problem.  But she says keeping up can be tough.  So she's not happy Hutchinson is cracking down on property maintenance rules, especially paint and siding.  "I don't think they're fair to the homeowner," Ward said.  She says if a home looks run down, it's usually not done on purpose.  "I think they don't have the money or aren't able to do the work themselves," she said.

An investigation clears two school resource officers in an incident where a student was tased at Derby High School. The Derby Police Department says after receiving the report on the incident this week, Derby city manager Kathy Sexton asked for several new managerial initiatives in the police department. The incident happened in April when a teen says a school resource officer asked him to pull up his saggy pants, but he refused saying school was over. The student said another officer pushed him and tried to use a taser on him, but his jacked stopped it from going through.

The Derby City Council decided to wait two more weeks to make a decision on the controversial issue of whether to continue negotiations with labor unions.  The decision came after more than 100 people spoke at a public forum during a city council meeting Tuesday night. The issue was first raised by the city manager last month.  She is advising the council to no longer negotiate with unions, which it has done since 1987.  Her concern is that union contract negotiations sometimes drag on beyond the point when state law requires the city council to have passed the next year's budget.  That happened this year.  The Fraternal Order of Police still has not reached an agreement on a new contract with the city, even though their current contract runs out at the end of the year and the city had to pass its 2013 budget last summer.

by Kim Hynes (WICHITA, Kan.) Lower trash bills and mandatory recycling, that's what Wichita's city manager is hoping to accomplish by changing the existing trash system.  And for the first time, locally owned hauler's say they'd support a change. Lies Trash stops at 30,000 homes across Wichita each week. But instead of driving all over town, Lies could soon focus on 30,000 homes in one area. "This maybe the best option for us. Take this while the city is offering it," said owner David Lies.

If Wichita residents think a 4% water rate increase is high, imagine a 14% increase.  That's the increase consultants say is necessary for wholesale customers, which include communities like Derby and Bel Aire. As we told you last week, the City of Wichita is considering raising water rates for the 11th time in 12 years.  A group of consultants reviewed the water system and came up with a recommendation of what's needed in order to keep the system going into the future.

The insurance check is in. That means the City of Winfield can move forward with rebuilding its playground. Last month it burned to the ground for the second time. 5-year old Alyvea Bolges can only look at the park she once played on through an orange construction fence. "There used to be castles and swings and a lot of stuff," Bolges said. "Beautiful Sunday day like this, we would have had hundreds of children out here enjoying the playground," said Winfield City Manager Warren Porter.