In the summer of 1990, Wichita, KS was hit with a very real problem that would put their city manager to the test and could cripple the city to the tune of $20 million and 20 years; creating their key problem, economic fallout. While the city was in a slump, investors were trying to rejuvenate a large downtown area. During the initial stages of planning and development a six-square mile area was found to be grossly contaminated by a variety of industrial and commercial chemicals. One key issue that was averted in this case is federalism which occurs to put limits on cities and their immediate powers. Federalism in this case is the separation of powers between the different levels of government; the city of Wichita,…show more content… This is a top down form of regulation, the EPA sets the standards and KDHE upholds these standards and can tighten them down and finally the city receives it’s powers and regulations concerning the environment from KDHE. This allows for cities and smaller towns to be able to handle small issues at the lowest possible level before taking it up to higher powers. Federalism here was sidestepped possibly because of the relationships between these different levels of government. This enabled the city to make a proposal that would eventually save them millions over the course of the cleanup. Had the EPA been left to solve the problem it would have come at a tremendous cost the city.
Luckily, for the city of Wichita, they were able to reach out and make use of some good intergovernmental relationships to achieve their goals. The term intergovernmental meaning…show more content… It was going to be a complex collaboration reaching across many political levels (intergovernmental) such as the city manager’s office, the city council, the county commission, the school board, lenders, Coleman, KDHE, the state legislature, the governor, and the EPA. There was a matter a funding the project, not only in the current period but in many fiscal periods to come. This is something that city budgets were not equipped to handle. The banks were quickly on board to begin lending in areas that were affected because if the Superfund took place they could very realistically be held liable. Property owners in the affected area were able to apply for documentation that would clear them of any involvement and in turn allow development to continue in the area. The biggest challenge was in the tax increment finance (TIF) district that was created to help generate funds for the project. Wichita would have to get an exception to the Cash Basis and Budget Law, which prevents local governments from committing operating revues beyond a year. They would also have to have an amendment to the TIF law, in order to use the TIF revenue for environmental cleanup efforts. Both tasks seemed daunting and there was a very small window of time to have the approval before the EPA would have to step
