Elmer to join KCC Friday January 17, 2014

(AP) – The Kansas Senate has unanimously confirmed the appointment of Sen. Jay Emler to the state commission that regulates utilities.

The vote Thursday was 38-0 on Gov. Sam Brownback’s appointment of the former Senate majority leader to the Kansas Corporation Commission. Emler abstained, and another senator was absent.

The KCC scheduled Emler’s swearing-in ceremony for Friday afternoon.

Emler is a Lindsborg Republican who has served in the Senate since 2001. He is a former chairman of the chamber’s Utilities Committee and served as majority leader in 2011 and 2012.

Emler is giving up his Senate seat to serve a four-year term on the KCC. He will replace former KCC Chairman Mark Sievers, who stepped down in December citing personal reasons

KCC Chairman Resigns December 10, 2013

(AP) – The chairman of the Kansas Corporation Commission has submitted his resignation to Gov. Sam Brownback.

Mark Sievers submitted his resignation Monday. He will stay on with the KCC until Brownback appoints his replacement in early 2014.

Sievers was named to the commission in May 2011 and elected chairman on May 17 of this year. He was serving a four-year term that was to expire March 15, 2015.

Brownback issued a news release announcing the resignation, saying Sievers wanted to spend more time with his wife and return to private life.

The three-member KCC regulates natural gas, electricity, telephone and transportation operations in Kansas, including the setting of rates charged by utilities.

Push for KCC to Have More of Its Sessions in Public November 1, 2013

(AP) – A consumer advocacy agency’s top attorney says he’ll petition the Kansas Corporation Commission to rethink new policies that would let it continue holding some discussions in private.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that David Springe (SPRIHNG’-ee) of the Citizens’ Utility Ratepayers Board says the new KCC policies wouldn’t comply with the Kansas Open Meetings Act.

CURB is a state agency that represents small businesses and residential customers before the KCC, which regulates utilities. KCC officials declined to respond to Springe’s criticism.

Springe objects to the new policies because the commission still could have private discussions, although any official action would have to take place in public.

The commission rewrote its policies after scrutiny of a practice in which members meet individually to approve rate increases without holding a public hearing.

Embattled KCC Gets New Chief June 26, 2013

(AP) – The commission that regulates utilities in Kansas has hired a top-level state Department of Agriculture official as its new executive director.

The Kansas Corporation Commission announced Wednesday that Kim Christiansen will supervise its staff of more than 200 employees. It did not say exactly when she would begin working at the KCC full time.

She will replace Patti Petersen-Klein, who left the executive director’s job earlier this month.

Petersen-Klein’s departure came after The Topeka Capital-Journal published contents of a consultant’s report based on interviews and surveys KCC employees. Petersen-Klein criticized people who worked for her at the KCC, and the consultants concluded that the rift between her and the staff couldn’t be repaired.

Christiansen is an assistant secretary at the Department of Agriculture and its general counsel.

KCC Chief Dumped After Scathing Audit June 14, 2013

The Topeka Capital Journal is reporting the Executive Director of the Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC), Patti Petersen-Klein, “is no longer employed by the KCC as of today”, according to a KCC spokesman,cited in the article.
The KCC regulates some of the sate’s biggest utilities in Kansas, including electricity, oil and natural gas and phone service.
Last month, the newspaper reported on a management audit that was critical of how KCC operates on a day-to-day basis. In it, auditors reported Peterson-Klein used a management style called “Theory X”.
“Theory X” developed at MIT, assumes employees are naturally lazy and can only be compelled to do their work through if management stays on top of their every move.
The audit reports Petersen-Klein’s management style was hurting KCC employee morale, and leading to some workers leave the agency.
The authors did not think the rift between the Director and the KCC staff could be mended.