By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Hutchinson City Manager Jeff Cantrell is calling on the city council to give him some time to untangle the Gordian knot that is the conflict between property owners and code enforcement in Hutchinson.
"It's still a heated topic," Cantrell said. "It's still driving a lot of the discussion. I see it as an opportunity for me, because I spent 10 years building an award-winning department in Johnson County that led these very issues. I have a lot of ideas as to how we can make it better. I understand the issues. I understand that they are debatable. I understand the difference between proactive enforcement and complaint-based enforcement only. There's a lot of tools in the basket that we can employ to make cognizant change in this area."
Cantrell wants owners of property to know that the city intends to look at things differently under his leadership than maybe they have in the past.
"I think one of the changes and perhaps one of the most meaningful changes will come internally from the city and its management and its leadership and the culture that you guys speak of," Cantrell said. "I have had phone calls from individuals that own rental properties, that have investment properties in town and I know the difference of having properties back on the tax rolls and selling utilities that once weren't. I know the value of that. I appreciate it and I think staff that I'm working with does too. What they may not understand is that I have a mindset that is going to be slightly different than what they could be accustomed to. This will take a little bit of time for me to do."
Cantrell is going to take a few months to figure out the issues and he wants to see policy stay where it is until he can see what the problems are.
"I drive around," Cantrell said. "I look at the properties. I look for myself. I determine what the case file history has been. How have they been treated? I think that's important, too. Even if you're in violation and you're going to be taken to court and prosecuted, I think there's a tactful way to present that message with compassion. Most people in this community would make the repairs to their property if they had the money and the means to do so. It's not normally people wanting to just defy the city in an ordinance."
Cantrell wants to reset the relationship and have the opportunity to try that before changing any more policy. He has asked the council to give him the time for that and they appeared to have a consensus to allow him a few months in that endeavor.