Kansas City, MO-

Elevators- On August 7th, Sam Alpert testified before the KCMO City Council Operations Committee about owner reservations regarding KCMO performing state codes inspections in conjunction with the local inspections. As a result of HAA’s testimony the Committee instructed the KCMO Department of Codes Administration (DCA) to draft a letter to the State Elevator Safety Board urging a recognition that KCMO’s standards meet the state “equality” requirement. Meanwhile, the Committee and the DCA have requested that HAA and BOMA appear with legal counsel at the August 21st meeting of the Operations Committee to set out our liability concerns. On behalf of the HAA and BOMA, Paul Sinclair will appear with Sam Alpert to present a legal perspective to the Committee. 

Overland Park-

Storm Water Utility- We are requesting that each of you who have property in OP to submit copies of your storm water utility assessment and provide us with a rentable square foot expense allocation, as well as impervious square footage ratios (relative to rentable square footage). A committee comprised of Jim Beverlin., Rick Oddo, and Doug Price has been convened and is working on gathering data and creating a cost impact comparison model to be taken before the Overland Park City Council. 

Johnson County-

Waste Water Assessment- On July 11th the Johnson County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to adopt the previously proposed water consumption based method of assessing system O&M charges. Owners will realize an off-setting savings on the previous Waste Water O&M portion of their property tax bill (this line item will be eliminated). There will be some disparity in expense accounting between properties that sub-meter water and those that don’t. County Commissioner Doug Wood has raised questions with the Waste Water District as to the reliability of their water usage assumptions and has suggested to Sam Alpert that some temporary relief may be available to owners who do not pass through the cost of water to their residents. 

Johnson County-

Property Taxes- Barring any significant organized opposition, the Johnson County Board of Commissioners is poised to pass a one mill levy property tax increase on August 22nd as part of the Board’s acceptance of the County Budget. Revenues generated will be used to acquire additional park land. The increase would result in an average $6.00 - $7.00 per unit in additional taxes. Recent news articles appearing in both the Star and the Sun would indicate that recent communication to the Board has given them pause in rubber stamping the county budget. If you haven’t already done so, please communicate your objection to a tax increase by calling or writing the Commissioners. We have right up till the Board’s deliberation on August 22nd to influence their action.

HUD / FHEO- 

We are still needing your help in assembling frivolous claims case histories. Please understand that if you are currently under investigation, the current case will not be subject to discussion. We need to establish a pattern of frivolous claims that were either dismissed or unreasonably settled with prejudice to avoid a costly defense.