Brandon Whipple: Wichita council should sacrifice for city employees

Our current crisis has put a spotlight on the role of the mayor of Wichita and how it compares to the roles of other mayors in our region. Unlike in the Kansas Legislature, our form of government places great trust in our City Manager to make many of the major administrative decisions. The City Manager exercises executive authority without a vote or public meeting of the City Council. Such an exercise of executive authority came recently when 300 employees were furloughed for the foreseeable future.

In this unprecedented time, Wichita’s working families are leading the way, and this includes our city employees. I am overwhelmed to see the generosity and support workers are showing each other by pooling their unused vacation days together, so that paychecks will continue for the next 30 days.

I believe those of us to whom the people of Wichita have given this extraordinary authority should do more for our employees in return. Since I became aware of these furlough orders, I’ve fought for all our city employees to be paid. However, I have only one vote. Now I’m asking my fellow council members to follow the example set by our hardworking city employees.

While we, as members of the council, do not have vacation days to add to the pool, there are some items in the council budget that, in this time of crisis, we can certainly do without. I am asking for at least three other council members — and, hopefully, all of them — to publicly join me to direct the City Manager to use the remainder of our $47,000 travel budget, the $23,000 “commodities” budget that pays for office supplies, snacks and lunches, and whatever is left in the $200,000 “other” fund allocated for 2020 for employee relief during this crisis.

In this crisis, we at the council should follow the lead set by Wichita’s working families. As such, the City Council packing their own lunches, switching to online education instead of traveling to conferences, and tightening their belts should be a no-brainer. As elected officials, we need to recognize our city employees led by example and sacrificed for each other. Now it’s time we council members support our city staff by putting our budget priorities where our mouth is.

Please wash your hands and maintain safe social distances.

This story was originally published April 9, 2020 at 11:26 AM.