The Dam Jam asks the County Commission for a revote

WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — One week after the Sedgwick County Board of Commissioners said no to holding The Dam Jam Music Festival at Lake Afton, the music festival organizer was back and asking for a revote.

CJ Wilson, the festival promoter, was one of several people who spoke at Wednesday’s commission meeting and asked for the commission to let The Dam Jam continue. The festival is scheduled for July 19-20.

Organizer explains process

“I’m going to speak from my heart today,” she said. “We love Sedgwick County, and we love Lake Afton. We want to figure out how we can resolve this issue.”

At last week’s meeting, the commissioners cited concerns from the sheriff, the fire department, and EMS that providing safety for the music festival would pull those resources from other areas of the county.

At Wednesday’s meeting, Wilson said she wanted to clarify some of the issues raised last week.

She said the festival hires off-duty sheriff’s office personnel and that when they couldn’t find enough off-duty deputies to work, they increased the wage from $50 to $75 an hour to get them to sign up.

“With that, it was a large price tag of $18,000 that we paid to have the off-duty volunteer sheriffs on-site,” Wilson said. “In addition to that, our contract requires us to follow all of the things that Sedgwick County sees fit for an event of this magnitude.”

She said the festival paid $5,200 to meet EMS requirements.

“In addition to that, we also hire our own private security company with 35 officers or, I guess, security personnel on staff, which is an additional $23,000,” Wilson said. “I’m sharing this information with you to let you know that before we even get to the artists, the stage, the staff, the ticket booths, the tents, the fencing, we’re already in quite a bit to have an event at this location.”

After last year’s event, she said they got an email saying they did a good job.

“We received an email with the safety information on there, praising us for what we did and how well we did at the event with no arrests and minor injuries,” she said.

Wilson said events like The Dam Jam can bring millions of dollars into the local economy.

“We want to pull people to Kansas for tourism,” she said. “That has always been the ultimate goal. It has always been what our vision is. If we can put more money into our economy, that’s more money for our businesses. That’s quality of life for our residents.”

She said concerns about children being exposed to potentially obscene song lyrics should be left to the parents.

“We want to work together and figure out a plan and I’m really asking if you would please consider a revote,” Wilson said.

When she finished speaking, other supporters took the podium.

Sober area

Travis Shain spoke of being a drug addict and alcoholic. He said Wilson and others with The Dam Jam took him in as a family, and now he is 29 months sober and clean.

He told the commissioners that the music festival would have a sober area where alcohol is not allowed.

“We believe that everybody, regardless if you drink or don’t, should be able to have a safe place and a good time to watch the music,” Shain said. “I hope you guys can give us another opportunity, another vote because this is going to be a special thing that we’re starting right now. It’s going to grow into something huge down the road.”

Security measures

Preston Klick said he heads security for The Dam Jam.

“I’m head of security, event manager for Intrust Bank Arena, back-up manager for Hartman Arena, WSU, and the casino,” he said.

He said his security team knows how to de-escalate situations before they become problems.

“If you get a little tipsy and you’re bothering the people around you, we will eject you,” Klick said. “When you get to that point, even at Intrust Bank Arena, Hartman, casino, WSU, we eject you at that point before any problems even happen. Therefore, we keep a safe environment for everybody.”

Commissioner Jim Howell asked Klick about something that was said last week about El Dorado Lake no longer wanting the festival because of so many problems with the festival.

Klick said a different company was in charge of security when the festival was at El Dorado. He said it is all in the training of the security personnel. He said his people are taught how to talk to drunk people.

“If you’re nice to them, you can eject them very easily,” he said. “If you go up to them and you’re kind of a bully … they’re going to retaliate. They’re going to come right back at you.”

Good for the economy

Rick Rangel with Flat Branch Home Loans said his business is a sponsor of The Dam Jam.

He said the music festival has brought in people from many other states, like Wisconsin, Minnesota, New Hampshire, and California. He said those people are learning that Kansas is a good place to be.

“The family from California has actually asked us to run numbers. They actually enjoyed coming here and seeing property. They actually got to see the value of Kansas,” Rangel said. “We are not a flyover state. We are where they can raise their family. They had a great time at the concert. They are looking at investments. They are looking at moving their family here.”

He said a family from Wisconsin also pledged to come back.

“I am willing to invest my money as a small business to say let’s grow our community,” Rangel said. “That’s why my plea is to reconsider your vote to allow Dam Jam to happen.”

Hire a management company?

Commissioner Howell asked if the county has ever considered hiring a management company to oversee events like The Dam Jam. He gave the example of the company that manages Intrust Bank Arena.

“They take care of all the planning and requirements and security and whatever, they have to have the insurance,” he said.

Howell also said people ask him why The Dam Jam should be treated differently than Riverfest concerts.

“Well, Riverfest is on the streets of Wichita, and if you don’t know, I think there’s about 40 fire stations in Wichita. They have 400 police officers. They can, they have plenty of security right in the heart of Wichita. They’re not leaving their community to go do something 20 miles out of the way,” he said. “This is different for us because it’s not downtown. It’s 20 miles away, and it is, you know, it’s depleting resources that we need elsewhere.”

Howell said that was the compelling reason he voted no last week. He again suggested the county should change how events like The Dam Jam are handled.

“I don’t want to have to have contracts with Dam Jam,” he said. “I don’t think that’s what we should be doing here. We should have someone else that’s managing that type of thing.”

County Manager Tom Stolz agreed with Howell and explained why the county is involved with the music festival decision.

“This is a public park owned by the county that belongs to the people,” he said. “The public park is still open while this event goes on. They take a part of the park and run the concert, but there are still campers and people in the rest of the park.”

Stolz said the challenge with having someone else manage that for the county would be deciding if they are managing the whole park or just pieces of the park.

Stolz used to work for the City of Wichita.

“We had a robust policy over there on special events. There was many layers of application and security and fire and public safety and ingress/regress traffic,” he said. “We have no such policy in the county which we’d have to draft.”

He said staff could look into a policy if that is what the commission wants.

Commissioners respond

After the public comment part of the commission meeting, Howell said he was unhappy that some of the media implied that last week’s no vote was a censorship of some of the music acts.

“What I said was I don’t personally like the lyrics. I don’t. I don’t like them. I am bothered by them, OK? Am I allowed to have an opinion? Yes, I am. I have a First Amendment, too,” Howell said. “I also said I’d probably vote for it, OK? Go back and read the minutes.”

He said the commission’s number one priority is public safety, which is why he voted no last week.

“If the public safety part of this can be worked out in a way that doesn’t put our people at risk that when, if someone drowns out there, or if there’s a shooting out there, it’s not going to come back and be negative comments to the commission for being sloppy on this, by not having a good plan, if that can be assured, then I would be interested in a reconsideration, but not until then,” Howell said.

Commission Chairman Ryan Baty agreed with Howell that the vote had nothing to do with any of the music acts. He also said it has nothing to do with security personnel at the event.

He said the concern was always about something happening at the event and depleting resources from the core of the county.

“If you have a child choking in the middle of Wichita and EMS is depleted, that is a challenging situation that has to be considered,” Baty said. “There’s a lot of complex factors that go into this.”

He said he is not a public safety expert and that he leans heavily on what the sheriff, EMS director, and fire chief advise.

Baty said the commissioners must balance public safety with quality of life and festivals.

“That’s not to say quality of life and festivals are not important. That’s not to say that at all,” he said. “It’s to say it’s a tough balance. It’s a very difficult balance.”

Baty said he would be happy to have a conversation with Howell to work some things together, but he was not specific.

Ultimately, the commissioners voted 5-0 to receive and file the public comments.