County official: Innovation Campus building plan breaks law
The Law Enforcement Training Center is said to host classrooms for 500 criminal justice students.
Wichita State is in the center of a controversy surrounding the bidding process on Innovation Campus.
Wednesday, Sedgwick County officials accused the city of Wichita of breaking the law with its plans for the Law Enforcement Training Center. The training center, set to open in the spring of next year, is planned as a training facility for Wichita and Sedgwick County law enforcement agencies. The building would also serve as the new home of WSU’s criminal justice department.
Construction on the training center began in December on the northeast corner of campus, behind the Marcus Welcome Center and Woodman Alumni Center. The proposal started as an idea by Michael Birzer, professor of criminal justice at Wichita State and director of the WSU School of Community Affairs. City and county law enforcement agencies, whose officers have been training in a former elementary school built in the 1950s, have been trying to find a new training center for years.
After a closed session with County Counselor Eric Yost, the Sedgwick County commission sent a letter to the city about the handling of the project.
“It’s really not fair to the city for them to not understand right now that it’s our intention, or your intention, not to buy half this building if it is not done properly and according to the city code, or state law, on competitive bidding,” Yost told the commission.
“Rather than waiting until this building is built, even though it’s not being done according to the law, and then tell them we don’t want to buy half, it’s better to convey that now,” Yost said.
Part of the problem is the city and county do not own the land the building sits on. That land belongs to the university — through the state.
“Their own city code requires them to own the land that they do a development on through a development agreement, and they don’t own this land,” Yost said of the city.
“(City code) also requires that the construction not begin until after the development agreement has been approved by the City Council, but the construction began in December,” Yost said.
Yost said even if the agreement made it through Wichita’s codes, it would still be bound to follow state law.
Last May, the county, city, university and non-profit organization created to manage Innovation Campus — Wichita State Innovation Alliance — and the developer MWCB, LLC signed a letter of intent to complete the project.
The creation of a non-profit organization allows projects to be awarded while avoiding the normal bidding process required by a state-owned university.
According to the letter, the city and county would each pay half the cost of the $9.5 to $10 million building to MWCB, which would own the building.
MWCB was also awarded the Airbus Americas and The Flats at WSU projects on Innovation Campus.
County Commission Chairman Dave Unruh told the Wichita Eagle he hopes the city and county can reach an agreement to salvage the deal.
“We’re not saying we don’t want to be a partner in a building, we’re not saying we don’t need a building,” Unruh said.
“We have these concerns about the process, the procedure for financing the building, that we think might prevent us from in good conscience buying at the end.”
Last May, university President John Bardo said the training center, the university’s partnership with the city and county, was an important step toward “social innovation” for the local community.
“When you think about safety—we’ve got to get that right,” Bardo said.
Chance Swaim was the Editor in Chief of The Sunflower from fall 2017 to spring 2018.
Swaim was a graduate student in the English Department working...
Real Shocker • Feb 16, 2017 at 1:55 pm
As I read all his stories, Chance has done a nice job of connecting dots. In his story on the group that owns the flats (part is below) he noted the connection of one person. I think that is an interesting timing connection with KBOR. The only story left to write is about the death of investigative journalism in Wichita as it relates to the Eagle, KWCH, KAKE, and KSN. It seems Chance and the Sunflower staff are the only ones looking at things.
Part of other story on MWCB, LLC owning the Flats apartments:
All four partners have been active in the local business community and politically engaged for decades. In total, the four partners of MWCB, LLC have given at least $576,920 to conservative PACs, Super PACs and joint fundraising efforts, according to campaign finance disclosures.
Murfin is the Chairman and CEO of Murfin, Inc. That company’s interests include Murfin Drilling Company and Murphy Tractor and Equipment Company. He graduated from the University of Kansas. In September of 2015, Gov. Sam Brownback to appointed Murfin to the Kansas Board of Regents, where he is Vice-Chair serving a four-year term, and the Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors. As a regent, Murfin disclosed his ownership interest in MWCB, LLC (and four other companies engaged in working relationships with Kansas universities: BGC Developers,LLC; Executive Airshare, LLC; Gladiators, LLC; and Air Capital Flight Line, LLC) to the board in fall 2016. The board ruled he must now excuse himself from participating on behalf of the board in “matters involving or related to the contract or transaction” between his companies and universities. Murfin gave $291,250 between 1999 and 2016 to conservative politicians and committees.
Real Shocker • Feb 16, 2017 at 10:29 am
The article says the Wichita State Innovation Alliance (WSIA) was created to avoid normal bidding processes required by WSU. Is that true? The article says MWCB, LLC is doing the law enforcement building, the airbus building, and the apartment building. Did they also do the infrastructure work as well? I don’t understand why WSU would want to avoid normal bidding processes. Any information on why that would be the case?
Real Shocker • Feb 16, 2017 at 10:07 am
If there are not options, make them up as issues arise! Don’t worry about rules! That is called Rule Innovation!
Jason Carmichael • Feb 15, 2017 at 10:51 pm
Several Options:
– Make it the UPD training facility. The Wichita State University Police Department are not Wichita or Sedgwick county sheriff police departments.
– Rezone the area, not unlike the Downtown Development Zone, pretty much let anything and anyone build and make business.
– Add to the city code with one small paragraph or sentence or a few words added to the law, “Except on Wichita State University, between 21st and 17th street and Hillside and Oliver”
– Stop whining about it, nobody cares, just get it done.
If this was a closed session, why are we reading about it?