Q & A: New Wichita mayor talks about business incentives, money for police, night meetings

When her beat was local government, Lily Wu showed up at the Wichita City Council chambers every Tuesday to report the news of the day.

Now, she chairs the meetings.

Wu was sworn in as mayor Monday, taking over for Brandon Whipple, who she defeated 58% to 41% after running on a promise to increase police spending and restore trust in City Hall.

The Eagle sat down with Wu after her first City Council meeting to discuss, among other things, her plans for an economic development advisory board that would review requests for city incentives, how much money she’s willing to spend on the Wichita Police Department, and if city meetings should be held at a different time to increase public participation.

The following responses have been edited for length.

Eagle: What do you want your first 100 days in office to look like? Do you have specific goals in mind for what you want to accomplish?

Wu: I’m going to start off with getting my bearings. But already starting with a lot of things that I’ve promised this community. We need better engagement with our community, and I was just told as I was walking in that in the last few weeks, we’ve had just under 10 folks get online to watch City Council meetings. Today, there were about 80 . . .

We want to be true public servants, so I’m asking more people to come to City Council meetings. As I said [Monday] as well as this morning, and I’ll continue to say, please come join us on Tuesdays at 9 a.m. because I really want to hear from the community, and I know that our council members do too.

Eagle: During the campaign, you told me you were interested in starting a conversation around if there’s a better time than Tuesdays at 9 a.m. to hold meetings for better public engagement. Have you thought any more about that?

Wu: I actually have to shop it around to City Council members . . . First and foremost, I want to be mindful that I’m just one person on the council of seven. I want to talk to each of the council members first before we move forward. But I do want you to know that I’ve asked communications to already start thinking about if that was something that we could consider, what would that look like? . . .

I attended that evening meeting last year that was for the budget, and I really appreciate when folks can be able to come out after work and be able to come and share their thoughts with the council.

Eagle: Is there anything in particular that the last council approved that you’re hoping to undo as mayor?

Wu: Well, I think you’ve seen from today’s council meeting, you saw that something will be coming back next week regarding campaign finance. [District 4 rep Dalton Glassock introduced a motion directing staff to draft an ordinance that would undo the newly established ban on corporations making political contributions to candidates for city offices. Wu voted in favor of the motion, which passed 4-3.]

This is something that even [Monday], it was joked about by a former council member. But really, it’s not a laughing matter. Council members need to hear from all constituents. They include people. They include organizations, nonprofits. They include business individuals in our community, job creators here. We need to have, again, better engagement of more voices — not just a few, but more voices.

Eagle: Council members all have their district advisory boards. The mayor does not have their own district advisory board. You’ve mentioned wanting to establish something along those lines. Do you have any idea what the timeline is going to be for establishing something like that?

Wu: In the first 100 days, I’m going to start working really diligently with staff to further those conversations. They know that one of the things that I want to focus on is restoring trust in City Hall . . .

Specifically, one of the boards that I would like to start — and I’ve already had conversations about how to do this moving forward — is a board that will look at some of these incentives that the city provides for economic development. Number one, we need a board that will have to be able to sign nondisclosure agreements but see the projects before even the council gets to see them. Business professionals who may be retired, that have no skin in the game except for what’s best for the city of Wichita. Maybe retired accountants.

We just need folks that care about Wichita and want to . . . be mindful of taxpayer dollars, and so I’d like to create a board that will look at those incentives.

Eagle: How available do you plan to make yourself to members of the press and the public?

Wu: I am willing to engage with media. I believe, as someone who came from media, having a mayor that is accessible for the community is critical to helping with restoring that trust with City Hall. I want to be that mayor that you can come up to and say, “Hey, Lily, can you give me your thoughts on this?”

But I’m also going to be very mindful that I have staff in communications that do a really great job communicating with the media. And so I would like to have a proper channel to have those conversations, because my schedule does get full.

Eagle: A little over 40% of the city’s general fund budget is dedicated to the Wichita Police Department. The last council approved bonuses and raises for officers. We’re entering another round of negotiations this year with the police union. Do you expect police spending to go up on your watch? And if so, do you believe there should be a cap on how much of the city’s budget goes toward policing?

Wu: I’ve had conversations with the police department as well as the finance department about what we’re facing moving forward. Number one, yes, we have a contract that we will negotiate this year. But also, I have to be mindful that the city of Wichita also needs to look at the bigger picture — not just the police department.

In looking at that, I’ve already asked how I can be of better service to not just the police department but the fire department as well, and public works. These three departments are the ones that are part of public safety, and that is what I ran on . . .

I don’t believe that there should be a cap, but rather what is the best usage of the limited resources that we have? And we have to look at the whole big picture first.

Eagle: Are there specific areas where you see wasteful spending at the city level? Are there areas where the city is over-regulating or where you would like to see the purview of government reined in?

Wu: Covering the basics has to be the first priority that we focus on. When we look at all the other things that the community also wants — for quality of life, for economic development — we have to be mindful that there’s only so many dollars that we can utilize . . .

Over the last year, what I’ve heard from the community is, they want public safety as the number one priority, followed by making sure that there are jobs in Wichita so more Wichitans stay and more Wichitans come.

Eagle: Are there any misconceptions coming out of a long campaign season that you would like to clear up for people?

Wu: One of the things that I hope people will walk away with from learning about my story is, it was a whole community that came in and invested in Lily Wu as a young person. From being a Wichita Public Schools student to a WSU student to a local reporter to now the mayor of the city of Wichita — people have invested their time, talent and treasure into me, and now it’s my time to give back to this community.

Eagle: What’s the best piece of advice that you’ve been given about taking on this new role?

Wu: Best piece of advice has been from Mike Hoheisel, who told me to take it easy. We all make mistakes. Be honest and transparent about it, and then have fun.