Latest / The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert / PJ Morgan In-Studio

Transcript

PJ Morgan In-Studio · The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I am your host, Gene Stothert. Peyton Highlock, my producer,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: is also here. Good morning, Peyton.
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: Good morning, Gene.
• 0:05
  Speaker 3: How are you?
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: I'm going to check your mental status later today because
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Peyton just told me he was playing soccer starting at
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: 10 p.m.
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: Last night.
• 0:13
  Speaker 3: Oh, yes.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: In the rain? Come on now. What is wrong with you?
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: A blast. Was it really? Oh, so much fun. How
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: could you see?
• 0:21
  Speaker 4: Barely.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: Barely see. That's okay, though. You could see the ball.
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: That's all that matters. Yeah, exactly. Were you sliding and
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: falling down? Yes, but on purpose. Slipping, sliding around.
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: You had fun with it, but I do question your
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: sanity for doing that. But thank you all for being
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: with us today. We want to hear from you. We
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: want to get your feedback. We want to hear your comments, questions, concerns, complaints.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: Anything goes, city, state, national, or the world. We will
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: have plenty of good guests on this show, and we
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: have a great guest today. And, of course, you will
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: hear plenty of opinion from me. But it is your
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: chance to speak up and sound off. You can send
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: your emails to comment at kfab.com. You can call us
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: at 402-558-1110, or you could leave us a recorded message
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: on the talkback mic, and we will play it on
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: the air. We are very happy that you are with
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: us today, and we are very happy that PJ Morgan
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: is here with us today.
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: Good morning. Good morning. And how are you?
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: I'm good.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: Good. I'm glad that you agreed to do this, PJ.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: I used to see you so much down at City Hall,
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: but you have got such a to me, an interesting
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: past politically, business-wise. And I want you to talk about
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: it again a little bit today. But, you know, as
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: an elected official, PJ, there's nothing we can hide, is there?
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: And we can't hide our age. Everybody knows, I always
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: say I'm 70-ish, but I'm 72. PJ, you were born
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: in 1940. That makes you 86. Yes. That is amazing.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: I mean, you look amazing. And you are still– I mean,
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: you're kind of like Hal Dobb. You're just like– you've
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: got so much energy. You just keep on going because you.
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: Love what you do.
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: I think work keeps you healthy.
• 1:59
  Speaker 5: And when I go out to schools, I always tell
• 2:02
  Speaker 5: young people– I know you hear it from your parents–
• 2:06
  Speaker 5: to work hard and study hard. But the most important
• 2:09
  Speaker 5: thing about that really– and I say this to them–
• 2:12
  Speaker 5: is– Your education is going to let you choose what
• 2:16
  Speaker 5: you want to do. And if you choose what you
• 2:18
  Speaker 5: want to do, then you're going to like it, hopefully.
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 2:22
  Speaker 5: And I love what I do, and I'm thankful I can.
• 2:26
  Speaker 5: And people ask me, why are you still working? And
• 2:29
  Speaker 5: I say, because I can.
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: Uh-huh.
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: And it motivates you.
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: It keeps your mind sharp, too.
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: Well, hopefully. We'll find out this morning about that.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: But, you know, it forces you to keep– that's why
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: I like doing this show is because it really forces
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: you to keep current. I mean, I feel like I've
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: got to read all the newspapers every day. I've got
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: to listen to the news. I've got to keep up
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: with what's going on in the legislature. And so do
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: you with a county board. You absolutely do.
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: And the world scene.
• 2:56
  Speaker 5: I mean, that incident with the plane yesterday.
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: Oh, my goodness, yes.
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: I mean– Just.
• 3:02
  Speaker 5: What a miracle that was that the door was opened by.
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: That captain, even though he had been stabbed.
• 3:11
  Speaker 5: I mean, you think of those 174 lives, it's just
• 3:14
  Speaker 5: a miracle that those people survived. And if you looked
• 3:18
  Speaker 5: at the tail section of that plane, you know it
• 3:22
  Speaker 5: didn't have many miles to go had it gone down
• 3:25
  Speaker 5: further and One of my career things was being the
• 3:28
  Speaker 5: CEO of Duncan Aviation.
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: I don't know if you know that.
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: Yes, I do.
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  Speaker 3: You know, they're the largest in the world.
• 3:34
  Speaker 5: And, you know, I know a little about airplanes, but
• 3:39
  Speaker 5: not a pilot or anything. But that was just really
• 3:42
  Speaker 5: great what happened and the citizens.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: Took place they're unbelievably fortunate with that you know my
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: husband is a pilot oh really you know he's a
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: he's a physician a doctor but he also is a
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: pilot and he has an airplane so i at any
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: time i hear anything like this jet or twin engine
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: he has a single engine Okay.
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, he is a Mooney. He's had it for years
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: and years and years.
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  Speaker 3: That's great.
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: But P.J.
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: Morgan is currently a member of the Douglas County Board
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: of Commissioners for the 4th District. You know, P.J., when
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: I looked at your history, too, and politics, you've had
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: wins and losses just like I have. I mean, you know,
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. That's what it is
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: about running in a campaign. Nobody cares who comes in
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: number two. They just care who wins. But just to
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: remind people, you ran for the Nebraska legislature and served,
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: didn't you, in the 70s? You were mayor of Omaha
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: from 1989 to 1994, that's six years. You were elected
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: to a second term and you resigned that second term.
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: You know, I had just moved here. I had lived
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: here one year because I moved here in 1993 from Texas.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: And I remember all of the talk when Our mayor, P.J. Morgan,
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: decided to resign. And wasn't that so you could go
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: work for Duncan Aviation?
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: Well, partly.
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  Speaker 5: But what happened is I had a son that committed suicide.
• 5:08
  Speaker 5: And that was on March 3rd, going through a tough divorce.
• 5:13
  Speaker 5: And what happened is March 10th was his funeral. And
• 5:19
  Speaker 5: I was back to work then in Duncan. as it
• 5:25
  Speaker 5: soaked in, I just felt at some point that grieve
• 5:29
  Speaker 5: and I was also dealing with trigeminal neuralgia after his death, stress,
• 5:35
  Speaker 5: and also in the hospital for another nerve situation and
• 5:41
  Speaker 5: realized I never did the grieving. You know, the mayor's
• 5:45
  Speaker 5: deal was where you're always going. It was 95 when
• 5:49
  Speaker 5: I left office and just felt I needed to have
• 5:54
  Speaker 5: some time away from people, basically.
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: And I've always kind of taken that kind of a break.
• 6:01
  Speaker 5: In the 70s, I was also on the county board
• 6:04
  Speaker 5: for one term, didn't seek re-election, left politics for about
• 6:08
  Speaker 5: 15 years.
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: And then in 89, there.
• 6:11
  Speaker 5: Were six people running. I didn't know that Mike Boyle
• 6:14
  Speaker 5: was going to run. And I got in the race,
• 6:17
  Speaker 5: and then he announced late because I helped him.
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: Not To be recalled, I didn't feel it was the
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: right thing and.
• 6:25
  Speaker 5: Probably wouldn't have run but did and was fortunate enough
• 6:29
  Speaker 5: to be elected and really appreciated that opportunity. And then
• 6:34
  Speaker 5: after that, stayed out until about 2010, 11, and then
• 6:39
  Speaker 5: came back as a county commissioner. Mike had talked to
• 6:42
  Speaker 5: me about running again for the county board. We'd served
• 6:45
  Speaker 5: together and we did. And I hopefully can touch on
• 6:49
  Speaker 5: one thing that he and I worked on.
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: Oh, sure.
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: But anyhow, you know, I'm just thankful.
• 6:55
  Speaker 5: I have a great wife, family, and I love Omaha.
• 6:59
  Speaker 5: My parents were born in Omaha, believe it or not.
• 7:02
  Speaker 5: I started school at Mason School. We lived at 23rd
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  Speaker 5: and Pierce. And then we moved a lot, about 17
• 7:11
  Speaker 5: times while I was growing up in Omaha. I went
• 7:14
  Speaker 5: to Washington School later. And then to Loveland School and
• 7:18
  Speaker 5: then to Westside. So, you know, I know Omaha well.
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: Yes, you certainly do. And you've served it well, too. And,
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: you know, PJ, I can.
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: Obviously, you know this, and I think all the listeners
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: do too. I can relate with the suicide issue because
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: while I was mayor, I had a husband that died
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: of suicide. And to come right back to work and
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: to deal with everything that you have to deal with.
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: And you know how social media is different now than
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: it used to be. I mean, people said really mean things,
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: and it was really hard to deal with it. So,
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: I mean, I understand. Everybody deals with grief differently. I
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: went back to work. to distract myself, but it was difficult.
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: So I certainly understand that. And, you know, I wanted
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: to go back with your political career a little bit too.
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: You even ran for the city council once too, didn't you?
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: Yeah, they got lost by about 800 votes to John Riddams.
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: Like in the 60s, didn't you?
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: Who was an apartment builder.
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: And you know what?
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  Speaker 1: I mean, I think that's great because I always want
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: to tell people there is no shame whatsoever in running
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: for an elected office and losing. There has been many
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: great politicians. There have been presidents of the United States
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: that have ran, lost, and ran for something else and
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: had a very successful career. So good for you for
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: hanging in there and for being on the county board.
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: What I really wanted to ask you today is just
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: about the county board. And I really wanted to, first
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: of all, to let the listeners know what are the
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: main responsibilities of the Douglas County Board. And then let's
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: talk about what your priorities are and what you think
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  Speaker 1: is the most important thing. issues that the county board
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: is dealing with now. So what are the main responsibilities
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: of the Douglas County Board? Because one thing, you are
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: not lawmakers, but you are policymakers. The city council are lawmakers,
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: but the Douglas County Board are really policymakers. But you
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: oversee a lot of various administrative functions, and you make
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: sure that you are in compliance with state law too.
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: So talk about what the Douglas County Board's responsibilities are.
• 9:22
  Speaker 5: And you mentioned priority. you know, a priority, of course,
• 9:28
  Speaker 5: for me is public safety. And I'll say this, we are,
• 9:33
  Speaker 5: and didn't plan to say it, but I think about
• 9:37
  Speaker 5: it because of public safety. We are so lucky to
• 9:41
  Speaker 5: have someone like Don Klein as our county attorney.
• 9:44
  Speaker 4: I agree.
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  Speaker 5: And so fortunate to have a sheriff that's so on it,
• 9:50
  Speaker 5: Aaron Hanson, and those two make our community one that
• 9:56
  Speaker 5: we can be proud.
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: Of compared to some of what you see going on internationally.
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: other cities. I agree.
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: I'm a big fan of both of them.
• 10:03
  Speaker 5: And so that's, you know, something you can be thankful for.
• 10:07
  Speaker 5: The other thing that's a priority for, I think, all
• 10:11
  Speaker 5: county commissioners right now, and especially myself and Mike Friend,
• 10:16
  Speaker 5: Roger Garcia, our chairperson, And we've been working on this
• 10:20
  Speaker 5: diligently and hopefully to get something to happen. We thought
• 10:24
  Speaker 5: we were close with one situation would be the youth center.
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: The Douglas County Youth Center. Okay.
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: And that goes back seven, eight years.
• 10:34
  Speaker 5: And when that was going on, I publicly spoke at
• 10:38
  Speaker 5: a county board meeting that we could add a floor
• 10:43
  Speaker 5: and it was just over a million dollars. And not
• 10:47
  Speaker 5: finish that floor, but have it because Omaha is going
• 10:50
  Speaker 5: to continue to grow.
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: So rough it in, basically.
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Build one extra floor.
• 10:57
  Speaker 5: Mike Yandy was supportive of the idea, brought it up
• 11:00
  Speaker 5: at the county board, could not get the votes. They
• 11:03
  Speaker 5: did footings, which I said, the footings aren't going to
• 11:06
  Speaker 5: help us because you're not going to go back in someday.
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: And I built probably 12, 15 different.
• 11:14
  Speaker 5: Apartments in my younger days and over 200 homes in Omaha.
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: PJ's talking about the existing Douglas County Youth Center. We'll
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: get into the newer building in a second, but go ahead.
• 11:25
  Speaker 5: And so that's a priority to make something happen there.
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: And we can talk about it if you like.
• 11:32
  Speaker 5: And then the other priority is doing something about property taxes.
• 11:36
  Speaker 5: And I've worked with more citizens as far as personally
• 11:43
  Speaker 5: and my assistant, Sharon Barsh, that's worked for me 18
• 11:47
  Speaker 5: years in my own office. We do comps if somebody
• 11:52
  Speaker 5: is protesting their taxes, and I take those with them
• 11:57
  Speaker 5: to the Board of Equalization, meaning when they're meeting with
• 12:01
  Speaker 5: the referees. And Try to be helpful to them.
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: If somebody's protesting what their valuation was.
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah, they've had that 30% increase, 50%. Right.
• 12:11
  Speaker 5: 15th and Pierce, Roger Garcia sent me one last year.
• 12:15
  Speaker 5: They had 100% increase down on 15th and Pierce, just
• 12:20
  Speaker 5: south of Leavenworth. So that's something I enjoy doing, and
• 12:24
  Speaker 5: it's important to help the citizens of our community.
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: What do you think?
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: Let me ask you, because I dealt with property taxes
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: a lot as mayor. What do you think? I mean,
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: because all property taxes are levied locally. And I always
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: come out with the school districts are anywhere from 60
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: to 70 percent of your total bill. City of Omaha
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: is about 22%. Douglas County is about 12.5%.
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: But even if.
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: You lower your levy, you're lowering the levy of 12.5%.
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: People aren't going to get a big bang out of it.
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: What do you think the solution is? Is there a
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: solution legislatively even though we levy locally?
• 13:02
  Speaker 5: Here's what– and I appreciate that question. You and I
• 13:06
  Speaker 5: didn't talk about what you were going to say.
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: No, not at all.
• 13:09
  Speaker 5: I just came and I like it that way because
• 13:11
  Speaker 5: then you don't think about it, Peyton.
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: You just do it.
• 13:15
  Speaker 5: So here's what I've– Mike Boyle and I worked on
• 13:19
  Speaker 5: this seven years ago, eight years ago.
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: The idea is to do a.
• 13:24
  Speaker 5: Lot similar as what 20-plus other states have done, and
• 13:30
  Speaker 5: that's this. If you buy my home for $ 600, 000 and
• 13:34
  Speaker 5: it's currently assessed.
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: At $ 480, 000.
• 13:37
  Speaker 5: It immediately goes to $ 600, 000. This would be a constitutional amendment.
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: The price that you purchased it.
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: Right. Immediately.
• 13:49
  Speaker 5: The second part of that is from then on, unless
• 13:53
  Speaker 5: you build an addition or something, that home can only
• 13:57
  Speaker 5: be raised a maximum of 5% if it's justified. Okay.
• 14:03
  Speaker 5: We have the fourth highest property taxes in the United States.
• 14:09
  Speaker 5: And many states have it that way. In Colorado, you're
• 14:13
  Speaker 5: paying about a third. Tennessee, you're paying about 25% of
• 14:17
  Speaker 5: what you'd pay on the same price home. Michigan is
• 14:21
  Speaker 5: also the same way, about a third of what ours are.
• 14:25
  Speaker 5: And I'm not going to California.
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: That's Prop 13 out there, and that really didn't work.
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: That limited it 1%.
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: 1%.
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 14:33
  Speaker 5: And some other things. I think if you stayed in
• 14:35
  Speaker 5: your house, they couldn't even raise it 1%.
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: Right. So I'm not going there. Okay.
• 14:39
  Speaker 5: That, to me, would be a constitutional amendment that the
• 14:43
  Speaker 5: people would vote on. That bill has been introduced. Mike
• 14:46
  Speaker 5: and I really worked hard on it.
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: Mm-hmm.
• 14:49
  Speaker 5: And it hasn't passed, and I'm still working with state
• 14:54
  Speaker 5: senators trying to get it introduced again.
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: To see that we can get a vote of the people. Mm-hmm.
• 15:01
  Speaker 5: And I know there's other organizations, Doug Kagan and the
• 15:04
  Speaker 5: Nebraska taxpayers that support that idea and feel it would
• 15:08
  Speaker 5: be a right step.
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: You know, the EPIC tax is something people have brought up.
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: But when you look at that, and here's the difference
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: between the city of Omaha. I want to back up
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: a little bit. City of Omaha's main source of revenue
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: is sales tax, followed by property tax. Douglas County, you
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: are basically almost all property tax, correct? You don't use
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: a lot of sales tax for revenue in your budget.
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: We don't have any sales tax.
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: Okay, okay.
• 15:33
  Speaker 5: You know, it's a real challenge because the sheriff's office,
• 15:40
  Speaker 5: for example, and the county attorney lose deputies and attorneys
• 15:45
  Speaker 5: to Sarpy County.
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: We were paying.
• 15:50
  Speaker 5: And the same is true at the correction facility on
• 15:53
  Speaker 5: 17th and Leavenworth. We had to give them pretty substantial
• 15:57
  Speaker 5: increases because we were 65 people short at that facility
• 16:02
  Speaker 5: in the last few years. And I've been fortunate enough
• 16:06
  Speaker 5: with my colleagues to be the finance director or co-chairman
• 16:10
  Speaker 5: of that for the last 12 years and worked together
• 16:15
  Speaker 5: recently in the last five years with my friend. We
• 16:19
  Speaker 5: work hard on that, and I pledged when I ran
• 16:21
  Speaker 5: unopposed four years ago, and I continued that.
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: It kind of scared the audience a.
• 16:28
  Speaker 5: Bit if you talked to neighborhood groups and so on,
• 16:31
  Speaker 5: and I said, if I had an opponent, I probably
• 16:34
  Speaker 5: wouldn't be making this statement, but I'm pledging to you
• 16:37
  Speaker 5: that under no circumstance will I raise the mill.
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: Levy, period.
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: I was going to ask you that, so you led
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: right into it.
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: Good. I was going to say, would there be an
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: instance that you would want to raise– That you would
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: agree to raise the property tax.
• 16:50
  Speaker 5: No, and I've stayed with that policy because of the
• 16:53
  Speaker 5: property taxes. And I think if you go door to door,
• 16:56
  Speaker 5: which I've done, that's what the big issue is. And
• 17:01
  Speaker 5: so that's of paramount importance to me. At the same time,
• 17:06
  Speaker 5: just so you know, my friend and I in the
• 17:08
  Speaker 5: last year, not the last five years, the last 12
• 17:13
  Speaker 5: months or less, have met with all the non-mandated services
• 17:19
  Speaker 5: from the state. We're mandated to do certain things, to
• 17:22
  Speaker 5: run the correction facility and so on. We've looked at
• 17:26
  Speaker 5: our non-mandated service and had public meetings in the county building,
• 17:33
  Speaker 5: city county building, to talk about their services and exactly
• 17:38
  Speaker 5: what they're doing because we need to look at that.
• 17:41
  Speaker 5: because at some point we may have to take some
• 17:44
  Speaker 5: steps on non-mandated service, whether it might be the law library,
• 17:48
  Speaker 5: the extension office, or what it might be as we
• 17:53
  Speaker 5: continue to go forward, because we know that we have
• 17:56
  Speaker 5: to continue to fund public safety and other things. So
• 18:00
  Speaker 5: that's what we're up against. And we have an excellent
• 18:04
  Speaker 5: finance director. We always have. Joe Lorenz was And now
• 18:09
  Speaker 5: we have Lori Persh that's been there the last five years,
• 18:13
  Speaker 5: and she's just.
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: An excellent individual CPA. Mm-hmm. It helps us very much
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: with our work.
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: People love hearing, I think, what you're saying. P.J.
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: Morgan is with us this morning because they don't like
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: it when government just keeps things going because we've already
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: done it. We've always done it that way. We've always
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: had this department. We've always done it that way. They
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: like you to really dig in and make sure that
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: everything that is being done is appropriate.
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: And is needed today. Let's just go through what.
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: Different departments are under the county, because I think that's
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: important for some people to know. Even though they are elected,
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: you brought up the Douglas County Sheriff, you brought up
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: the Douglas County Attorney, there is the Assessor of Deeds,
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: the Assessor and the Register of Deeds under the county,
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: Clerk of the District Court, Yes.
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: Is under the county. That's elected. You have a comptroller.
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: That's Dan Ish, right?
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 19:14
  Speaker 3: The clerk. Okay.
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: That's the clerk. Okay.
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: And any other of those elected positions that are county positions?
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: The treasurer.
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: The treasurer. Okay. All right.
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: Would be also there and the sheriff and all of that. Okay.
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: Now, let me ask you this. I should have done
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: my homework, but have you already approved your 27 budget?
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 19:35
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: Was there a levy increase, decrease, or stay the same?
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: Stay the same. Okay. And I want you to know
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: that last year's budget.
• 19:45
  Speaker 5: And Peyton, this is important for you as a young
• 19:48
  Speaker 5: married man, for your family to be.
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: The way it works is.
• 19:57
  Speaker 5: That the levy is set, and last year's budget compared
• 20:03
  Speaker 5: to this year's, We spent two and a half. It
• 20:06
  Speaker 5: increased the total budget two and a half percent. And
• 20:10
  Speaker 5: when you think about inflation and what's going on in cost,
• 20:15
  Speaker 5: that's pretty significant that that's the increase. It wasn't six
• 20:20
  Speaker 5: percent or four percent.
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: Considering the cost of living increases.
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: That's right. So that's what it was.
• 20:26
  Speaker 5: The budget of a year ago, around $ 600 million, 2.5% increase.
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: Your general fund budget is around $ 300 million, isn't it,
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: in that area?
• 20:36
  Speaker 5: Yeah, but the total budget would be over $ 600 million.
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: Now, let's go back to when we talked about the DCYC,
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: the Douglas County Youth Center. That building still exists. There
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: are still youth in that facility. Let's talk briefly, because
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: we could talk for hours, about the new facility that
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: was built. The juvenile judges are over in that newer facility,
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: which is right across the street from the courthouse. Talk
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: about what the county's plans are for that building, that
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: a lot of it remains vacant now.
• 21:10
  Speaker 5: Well, there's some things we can't do with that building
• 21:13
  Speaker 5: because of the bond issue. It's bonded with the county
• 21:17
  Speaker 5: attorney and that other building that cost about $ 100 million
• 21:20
  Speaker 5: next door.
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 21:21
  Speaker 3: This building costs around $ 25, $ 27 million.
• 21:24
  Speaker 5: We had a $ 5 million grant on it from the community,
• 21:27
  Speaker 5: but we haven't received that because we are not operating.
• 21:34
  Speaker 5: We're trying to work toward and have some things working
• 21:39
  Speaker 5: to maybe something that would have to do with youth. And,
• 21:44
  Speaker 5: you know, we see the things happening that weren't happening
• 21:47
  Speaker 5: as much eight years ago before COVID, like yesterday at
• 21:52
  Speaker 5: Burke High School, what happened with that shooting.
• 21:58
  Speaker 4: There.
• 21:58
  Speaker 5: So, It's a serious problem. We're running in the 60s now.
• 22:03
  Speaker 5: We're up as high as 90. But that's why initially
• 22:09
  Speaker 5: I felt we should add a floor so we could
• 22:11
  Speaker 5: finish it.
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 22:12
  Speaker 5: But we're still trying to figure out where do we
• 22:14
  Speaker 5: partner in the community to do a better job with
• 22:18
  Speaker 5: our youth to give them the hope and put them
• 22:20
  Speaker 5: on that right path for their Do you.
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: See in the future a chance that the youth center,
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: that we might have youth in that facility? Or do
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: you think it's going to be repurposed and used for
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: something else? Or can you just not say?
• 22:35
  Speaker 5: You can't use it for something else unless it pertains
• 22:39
  Speaker 5: to the youth. And the bonding company would love to
• 22:42
  Speaker 5: get rid of those bonds because they're at a lower
• 22:44
  Speaker 5: interest rate.
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: They're municipal bonds.
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 22:47
  Speaker 5: And maybe we're not supposed to mention other stations, but
• 22:49
  Speaker 5: I think it was KETV. in the last 24 hours
• 22:53
  Speaker 5: or 40 hours, had something on that the cost really
• 22:57
  Speaker 5: is around $ 20, 000 a month, $ 20- some thousand.
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: Just to keep the utilities and.
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: Well, and pay in the bond debt.
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: Okay, in the bond debt.
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that would be the biggest part of that.
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: Have you had anybody reach out to you with interest
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: in that building?
• 23:13
  Speaker 5: We've had some things occur that we worked on and
• 23:17
  Speaker 5: thought we had a chance of a state that would
• 23:21
  Speaker 5: have been for youth, but that did not materialize yet.
• 23:27
  Speaker 5: That's been more than a year ago. We were thinking
• 23:30
  Speaker 5: we had an opportunity going. But if you said, what's
• 23:35
  Speaker 5: your number one priority, it's tough.
• 23:39
  Speaker 3: The priority, as I said, is public.
• 23:41
  Speaker 5: Safety, and then it'd be, you know, budgeting and that
• 23:47
  Speaker 5: kind of thing, but the youth center is right in
• 23:49
  Speaker 5: there with it because I want to see it occupied
• 23:52
  Speaker 5: very much. It's very controversial right now.
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: People hate to see tax dollars being spent on something
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: that ends up not being used.
• 24:02
  Speaker 5: And I met with people where the community college had
• 24:04
  Speaker 5: an idea maybe of something to do with youth and
• 24:08
  Speaker 5: that didn't materialize the way we would have liked it,
• 24:12
  Speaker 5: but we're on it and that is a big time priority.
• 24:16
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 24:16
  Speaker 3: Without question.
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: We can count on you. Douglas County Board has seven
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: members right now. Roger Garcia, Jim Cavanaugh, Chris Rogers, PJ Morgan,
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: Brian Fahey, Marianne Borgeson, and John Friend.
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: Marianne is not running again, correct?
• 24:29
  Speaker 5: Yeah, Marianne dropped out of the race and Jim Cavanaugh
• 24:33
  Speaker 5: lost in his race. And I was fortunate enough to
• 24:38
  Speaker 5: do okay in the primary, so I don't have an opponent.
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: You don't have an opponent. Okay.
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: And let me ask you something. This might be a
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: hard question for you, but I got to ask you.
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: You are a registered Republican. You've taken a little criticism
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: for supporting Democrat candidates. I'm going to give you an example.
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: Right now, OPPD. There's Christian Mapes, who's a Republican, and
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: Sarah Cohen, who's known, I don't know her really well,
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: but known as quite a liberal Democrat. Go ahead and
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: explain how you chose to do that. I'll let you
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: do it.
• 25:09
  Speaker 5: I didn't support Sarah Cohen when she ran for the
• 25:11
  Speaker 5: city council.
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, she ran against Amy Melton. That's right.
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: Yeah. And I've known Amy Melton and her family a
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: long time.
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: Mm-hmm.
• 25:18
  Speaker 5: I've known Sarah Cohen the last, I'm not sure what
• 25:22
  Speaker 5: it'd be, five years there, about six years in her
• 25:26
  Speaker 5: work with the JCC.
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: Out on 132nd with young people.
• 25:30
  Speaker 4: Mm-hmm.
• 25:33
  Speaker 5: And I'm talking about young people being 5, 12 years
• 25:37
  Speaker 5: old and her work there.
• 25:40
  Speaker 3: She is an attorney.
• 25:41
  Speaker 5: I think she has some ideas to hopefully be an
• 25:46
  Speaker 5: excellent director of OPPD. She contacted me. And I have supported.
• 25:52
  Speaker 5: I think we all have to work together. And that's
• 25:56
  Speaker 5: the trouble with Washington. People work for the party. instead
• 26:01
  Speaker 5: of for the people.
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: You said it right, boy. I tell you.
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: And one thing, you know, we got to wrap up here, PJ.
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for being on here today. But
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: one thing I absolutely forgot, we were talking about your
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: political career, but you had a very successful real estate business.
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: And you have a nice office there on Dodge. You
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: had moved to have that nice office, but now you
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: have sold that business, right?
• 26:21
  Speaker 3: I sold that over seven years ago.
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: Okay. It's still PJ Morgan.
• 26:25
  Speaker 3: To my employees, and they wanted to keep the name.
• 26:28
  Speaker 3: And after a year.
• 26:31
  Speaker 5: I left there and started because I'm the biggest Elvis
• 26:33
  Speaker 5: fan in Omaha. I started TCB Real Estate.
• 26:38
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 26:38
  Speaker 5: I've worked in over 100 cities on commercial real estate
• 26:44
  Speaker 5: for some national companies. I was in Modesto, California last
• 26:48
  Speaker 5: week working on a warehouse situation there.
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: So you're still involved.
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: Davis and Tracy.
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: In real estate.
• 26:54
  Speaker 3: Hey, I love it.
• 26:55
  Speaker 5: And my dad worked in real estate, and I really
• 26:59
  Speaker 5: enjoyed it a lot. And my mom built homes. They
• 27:03
  Speaker 5: were finally able to build a home, and she saw
• 27:06
  Speaker 5: how the contractor did it. And she said to my dad, Paul,
• 27:09
  Speaker 5: I'm going to get a driver's license and try to
• 27:11
  Speaker 5: build homes.
• 27:12
  Speaker 3: And she built homes all over Omaha.
• 27:14
  Speaker 5: 35th and Center is a duplex she built as one
• 27:18
  Speaker 5: of her first things and all over by Washington School.
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: It's a family business.
• 27:23
  Speaker 3: And that's why we moved. She'd build a house.
• 27:26
  Speaker 5: They'd make maybe $ 1, 200 back in the 50s and we'd
• 27:30
  Speaker 5: move and I'd go to a different school. And she's probably.
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: Building houses for $ 20, 000 back then too probably.
• 27:38
  Speaker 5: Or less.
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: Or less, I know.
• 27:40
  Speaker 5: Yeah, on 60th and Woolworth and some of the other locations.
• 27:45
  Speaker 5: It's amazing what homes cost today.
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: Oh, it is.
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: And, you know, you had some– I just think you've
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: had some people that work for you in real estate
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: that went on to be successful on their own, like
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: John Lund.
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: John Lund used to work for you, didn't he?
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: Yes. And now he has his own business. Congratulations on
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: all your successes you had with your political career and
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: also with your real estate career. Boy, you just can't
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: keep you down, PJ.
• 28:11
  Speaker 5: Well, I'm most thankful, and I know you are too,
• 28:15
  Speaker 5: for the opportunity to serve the people.
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: We're here for that.
• 28:19
  Speaker 5: And I'm also real thankful to be involved in public service.
• 28:23
  Speaker 3: I was on.
• 28:26
  Speaker 5: The United Way Board, the Cancer Society Board, Cerebral Palsy Board.
• 28:30
  Speaker 3: Salvation Army.
• 28:32
  Speaker 5: You know, to work in those kind of things over
• 28:34
  Speaker 5: 50 years ago even, doing that.
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: And people appreciate that.
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: In the community, they appreciate seeing you there and they
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: appreciate your involvement.
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for being with us today.
• 28:45
  Speaker 5: No, thank you for inviting me. And if there's some
• 28:49
  Speaker 5: question in the future that you or Peyton have.
• 28:52
  Speaker 3: I'm glad to come here.
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: Okay, all right.
• 28:54
  Speaker 3: And thanks.
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much.
• 28:56
  Speaker 5: And congratulations to you for doing this. It's a fun
• 29:00
  Speaker 5: thing to be. I like KFAB a lot. I listen always,
• 29:03
  Speaker 5: especially in the morning here in the drive times to
• 29:06
  Speaker 5: get off the Interstate 80.
• 29:08
  Speaker 3: It's going a little different way.
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: Peyton and I have a good time in here, don't we? Yes,
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: we do. It's a blast.
• 29:13
  Speaker 3: And then he's on with Baker in the afternoon.
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: Four hours with Baker in the afternoon. I said, I
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: don't know how they do it. I barely get through
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: the one hour, but I could babble for one hour
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: easy a day.
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's nothing for you, Gene.
• 29:27
  Speaker 5: You probably set a trend because there'll probably be other
• 29:30
  Speaker 5: mayors that'll try to do the same thing.
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: You know, I don't know why they asked me to
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: do it, but it is fun, and I really enjoy
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: doing it. So thank you so much. Peyton's giving me
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: a look. We got a break for a commercial.
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: P.J.
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: Morgan on the Douglas County Board now, former mayor of Omaha.
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: I still like to call you mayor. Well, I still
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: call Fahey mayor.
• 29:48
  Speaker 3: I say call me P.J.
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: P.J. works.
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: That's your name.
• 29:51
  Speaker 3: Yeah. All right.
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for being with us today.
• 29:55
  Speaker 4: Gene Sothern in the KFAB comment line here on News
• 29:57
  Speaker 4: Radio 1110 KFAB. Gene Stothert in the KFAB comment line.
• 30:02
  Speaker 4: My name is Peyton Highlock, and we have a lot
• 30:04
  Speaker 4: of questions and comments coming in today.
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: I really want to thank PJ Morgan again for coming
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: on the show. Like I said, he has been involved
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: in Nebraska-Omaha politics for many, many years since the 60s.
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: And like I said, he's had wins.
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: He's had losses. He lost city council.
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: I mean, he's had different races that he's won, but
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: he moved on to try something else. And I always
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: bring up my favorite quote that says, success is not
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: final and failure is not fatal. It's the courage to
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: continue that counts. And that's by Winston Churchill. And I
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: really like, I always tell myself that.
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: Keep going.
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: Don't worry if you don't succeed in one thing. Just
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: keep moving. And I really appreciate PJ coming in here
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: and being on the show today.
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 30:52
  Speaker 4: And just as we look at some of the things
• 30:55
  Speaker 4: that we've talked about this week, sewers, sewer tax.
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: I know more about sewers than I ever wanted to
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: know or thought I needed to know, but I do
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: know a lot about sewers and about that CSO, which
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: is the combined sewer overflow, $ 2 billion unfunded federal mandate
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: by the EPA that we are currently working on that
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: is currently supposed to be completed by 2037.
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: So a long way to go on that one.
• 31:24
  Speaker 4: A long way to go. And I actually got a
• 31:26
  Speaker 4: message about that yesterday, Gene. We didn't have time to
• 31:29
  Speaker 4: get the phone call in, but it came from Alan.
• 31:32
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 31:32
  Speaker 4: And Alan suggested, and I'm paraphrasing his question here, suggested
• 31:37
  Speaker 4: that there was some sort of grant that the city
• 31:39
  Speaker 4: of Omaha could have applied for to try to help.
• 31:43
  Speaker 4: get some money to fund this project. And Alan said,
• 31:47
  Speaker 4: why didn't Omaha apply for the grant?
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: Well, I don't know what Alan is talking about, but
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: not that I am aware of, are there any grants
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: that we did not apply for? If there wasn't a
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: grant out there, we applied for them. We got grants
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: from the NRD, that's the resource district. We got grants
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: from Nebraska Environmental Trust, We got grants from HUD for
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: economic development. We get annual funding from the state of
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: Nebraska Water Sustainability Fund. I remember we got a grant
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: from the EPA for sewer overflow grant. And then we
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: worked with the state to get some 0% interest loans.
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: So I don't have an exact dollar amount, but if
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: there was something out there available, Alan, we were trying
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: to get it. And so those grants that I just
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: named you, we all applied for and received. So if
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: you know of another one that you think we didn't,
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: please call back and let us know because I don't remember.
• 32:52
  Speaker 2: Like I said, if it was out there, we applied
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: for it.
• 32:54
  Speaker 4: It seems silly to not want to apply to any
• 32:57
  Speaker 4: and all grants that are out there because if you
• 32:59
  Speaker 4: write a good grant, it's basically money that's in the pocket.
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: Like I said, we were looking for state. We were
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: looking for federal. And those grants that I mentioned that
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: we applied for, we did receive. So I'm not sure
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: what Alan is talking about there. And then one caller
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: yesterday did ask the question about why don't we do
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: a ban on new sewer taps? And he was basically saying,
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: why don't we ban any new connections? And what I
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: said was, I'll explain it a little bit more thoroughly,
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: but our sanitary collection and treatment system, it does have
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: the capacity for growth. And so taps would only not
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: be allowed if we didn't have the capacity and if
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: we were in violation of our permits with the state
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: and with the EPA. So we have our wastewater treatment
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: plants along the river, and we have the capacity to
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: add more into our system. If we would ban all
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: future taps, it would really restrict growth. And it would
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: restrict growth in our surrounding communities that use our wastewater
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: treatment plants. So you don't want to do that.
• 34:11
  Speaker 4: The question came out of, you know, let's say the
• 34:13
  Speaker 4: city of Omaha decided not to go through or not
• 34:16
  Speaker 4: to actually go through the sewer project.
• 34:20
  Speaker 2: We have to.
• 34:21
  Speaker 4: And so then the federal government would say, yeah, okay,
• 34:23
  Speaker 4: no more taps for you guys, more as a punishment
• 34:26
  Speaker 4: for not following guidelines.
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: No, they wouldn't say no more taps. They would sue us,
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: and that's what they would do. Into the ground, probably.
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: Right, and it would cost the city a lot of money,
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: and we would undoubtedly have to do the project again
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: because other cities that have done that and said we're
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: just not going to do it, they got sued, and
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: they ended up doing it again, too. So I don't
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: think it would be a wise idea at all for
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: the city to do a ban on new sewer taps
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: because that would really restrict growth there. in our surrounding
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: area that use our wastewater treatment plants that we have
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: the capacity to take on.
• 35:01
  Speaker 4: So that's why we would not do that. I have
• 35:03
  Speaker 4: one more question for you before we take a quick break.
• 35:06
  Speaker 4: And this is a follow-up question from yesterday. The question
• 35:09
  Speaker 4: yesterday is what happens when the sewer project is paid off?
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: Will that fee be removed or reduced for my bill?
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: You said yes. Yes.
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 35:18
  Speaker 2: A follow-up today from Edward.
• 35:19
  Speaker 4: Can you please clarify which charge will be removed once
• 35:22
  Speaker 4: the sewer project is complete? Will the $ 5 water infrastructure
• 35:27
  Speaker 4: charge be removed? My thought process was the city of
• 35:31
  Speaker 4: Omaha sewer charge would be removed if as that increases
• 35:35
  Speaker 4: every year. I'm sure a lot of people thought the
• 35:38
  Speaker 4: same thing as the biggest portion of the bill would
• 35:40
  Speaker 4: be removed, not just the $ 5.
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: No, you would still be paying for your water that
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: goes into your house and irrigates your lawn. Businesses would
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: still be paying for the water that they use, the
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: extra charge. And I would have to look exactly what
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: the language is, but that extra charge on there for
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: the CSO, program is the one that will drop off
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: in 2037. And again, that annual rate increase is determined
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: by the Omaha City Council in a rate ordinance. It
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: goes up every year. However, it was projected in the
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: beginning to go up 5% to 6% a year, and
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: now it is going up about 1.4% a year. So much,
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: much less than they originally estimated because we're finding new
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: technology that we don't have to do. The tunnel at
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: the end of the project.
• 36:36
  Speaker 2: So that's it.
• 36:37
  Speaker 4: Gene Stothert in the KFAB comment line. My name is
• 36:39
  Speaker 4: Peyton Highlock. We've had a lot of really good guests
• 36:42
  Speaker 4: this week, and you can always find these full episodes,
• 36:46
  Speaker 4: this full hour of radio uploaded to the podcast page, KFAB.com.
• 36:50
  Speaker 2: Or on your free iHeartRadio app. Absolutely.
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: And you know, I was listening while I was out
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: of town, and I know there was one show with
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: Chris Baker that you two were talking a bit about
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: the flock cameras and a bit of a controversy about them,
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: about what are they recording and what are they actually doing.
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: And I wanted to bring that up because I wanted
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: to let people know that Omaha Police Department does not
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: use them. So we are not using flock cameras. We
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: are doing some beta testing right now on Axon.
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: Cameras. It's A-X-O-N.
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: And if you don't know what beta testing is, it's
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: basically a phase in software development where a nearly finished
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: product is released to a limited group of users and
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: it allows those real users to test in a real environment.
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: And that's what the Omaha Police Department does, kind of
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: to work out the bugs before the official launch. But
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: the reason that we, the city of Omaha, picked Axon
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: over Flock is is because they have much stronger safeguards.
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: And when I mean safeguards, it is just what you
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: and Chris were talking about. It's how long that data
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: is kept and what data is being received. Flock was
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: keeping all the data from everything across the country. The Axon,
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: they purge the data and they only keep local specific
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: data that we tell them to keep. So there's a
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: big difference there between what Flock was doing. I think
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: Lucy and Scott were talking about Flock, too, and what
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: this Axon cameras do. And like I said, we use
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: the term they have better, stronger safeguards that we determine
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: what specific data is being kept and what is being
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: purged and not kept.
• 38:43
  Speaker 2: And I think that's important to people to know. Absolutely.
• 38:47
  Speaker 4: And I always like to make this distinction. When you
• 38:49
  Speaker 4: say flock cameras, that's kind of like saying, oh, hand
• 38:53
  Speaker 4: me a Kleenex when really you're looking for a tissue.
• 38:55
  Speaker 4: Flock is one brand, but we've kind of just called
• 38:59
  Speaker 4: all of the surveillance cameras flock cameras. So Axon is
• 39:03
  Speaker 4: a different brand, but it sounds like they have much safer.
• 39:07
  Speaker 4: much better safeguards in place. And I think just fundamentally,
• 39:12
  Speaker 4: that sounds pretty encouraging to me. I like the idea
• 39:14
  Speaker 4: of that. Yes.
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: And I think, you know, they will be very, very
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: helpful in many instances and many, you know, if we
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: have any kind of an event here that we really
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: need to get down and find out what we're happened.
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: But at the same time, people don't like that idea
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: of you are watching me, Big Brother is watching me,
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: and you are keeping this data.
• 39:37
  Speaker 2: And what data are you keeping?
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: And so I think that's important to know what the
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: Omaha Police Department is going to be using and why
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: they are doing the beta testing on it right now.
• 39:47
  Speaker 4: It does give me the heebie-jeebies, but just like Hurley
• 39:49
  Speaker 4: said in the email, we have a phone that records
• 39:52
  Speaker 4: every number, every text message, every conversation, every keystroke made.
• 39:56
  Speaker 2: How different is it really going to be?
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: Your cell phones, you are so right with that. It's
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: kind of creepy when you're sitting there, Peyton, and you
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: might be talking to your wife about something, and then
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: all of a sudden, both of you start getting emails
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: about what you were just talking about. Talk about creepy.
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: I mean, boy, I tell you. So we could talk
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: a lot more about that on another day. Tomorrow, I'm
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: going to have Jessica Flanagan back in today, tomorrow, to
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: talk about the Pete Ricketts campaign and where they are
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: right now. But that's it for us today. Once again,
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: I want to thank PJ Morgan for being on the show.
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: I want to thank you all for spending this hour
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: with us. We'd love for you to join us again tomorrow.
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: I'm Jean Stothert, and this is 1110 KFAB.