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Shawnee committee reviews six policy updates, considers new fire department standby fee
Summary
At an October committee meeting, Shawnee officials reviewed revisions to six city policy statements — including a proposed fee for fire/EMS standby at private events — and clarified changes to tax abatements, cemetery rules, park reservations and the user-fee schedule. No public commenters spoke and the meeting adjourned by unanimous voice vote.
The Shawnee City Council committee reviewed proposed revisions to six municipal policy statements at an October meeting, with discussion centered on a proposed fire department standby fee, changes to tax-abatement timing, delegation of easement approvals to staff and adjustments to park and cemetery rules, Deputy City Manager Colin Duffy said.
The discussion matters because the changes would alter how the city recovers costs and manages developer accountability, parks reservations and cemetery operations. Several items affect fees charged to private event organizers and the timing of excise tax abatements tied to development projects.
Deputy City Manager Colin Duffy opened the review by saying, "we have 5 or excuse me, 6 policy statements to review," and ran through each in numeric order, pausing for council questions. The most detailed discussion focused on Policy 56, which would establish a fee to recover costs when the fire department provides standby services at privately run events.
Fire Chief Potter told the committee the standby-fee proposal is intended to "get proactive with what we're anticipating happening in the future with the transition to providing advanced life support services here in '26, '27 time frame." He said the city sometimes provides standby medical teams at events such as triathlons or SwiftWater deployments at Shawnee Mission Park and currently lacks a mechanism to charge private event organizers for those services. "We're kinda looking for a mechanism with this and a fee structure, to be able to charge with that," Potter said, noting that some external providers already bill for similar coverage.
Councilmember Tony Gillette asked whether the fees would apply to local high-school football games or city-sponsored community events. Deputy City Manager Duffy and Chief Potter clarified the intent: the fee is aimed at private events that charge participation or admission and request city standby services (for example, triathlons or private concerts), not at community groups, schools or city-sponsored events. "The intent is not any kind of community events like, schools or churches or anything like that," Duffy said.
On Policy 21, Duffy said the city would change how excise tax abatements are handled by moving from an upfront abatement to a post-completion rebate so an award would occur only after a project is finished. Duffy said the city believes that structure "puts the city in a better position to hold those projects accountable and the developers on those." Councilmember Lauren Birchfield voiced support for the change, saying it increases accountability.
Policy 33 would delegate authority to city staff to enter into right-of-way and easement agreements for projects, a change Duffy framed as an efficiency measure to reduce the number of routine items returned to the council after project approval.
Cemetery-administration revisions would remove the reservation process for single grave spaces while continuing sales of single spaces, expand the mowing schedule dates and remove some restrictive language to allow maintenance staff to determine placement of grave markers and monuments, Duffy said.
The annual review of the comprehensive user-fee schedule includes several clarifications: copying fees for public-record requests will be set "at cost" for Quora requests; community development refunds will change from an 80% construct to full refunds when an erroneous permit was charged; fees for new Garrett Park shelters will align with existing park-shelter rates and a new pavilion fee will be added; and engraving costs will be passed through at contractor cost.
Duffy emphasized that the proposed standby fee would be structured to recoup costs and that the city already has mechanisms to recover costs when staff deploy outside city limits. Council members pressed staff on where revenue would go and whether reimbursements are paid to the city or directly to personnel; that detail was discussed but not finalized in the meeting record.
There were no preregistered public commenters. After staff questions concluded and councilmember comments, Jeanne moved to adjourn the committee and Sierra Whitted seconded. Council President Kurt Mappin called for the voice vote; members said "aye" and the motion passed.
The committee took no formal votes on individual policy revisions during the meeting; staff presented recommendations for council consideration and indicated additional follow-up and implementation steps would be handled as directed.
