Some Kansas City services are still down a week after outage. What can residents do?

Kansas City’s website is back online after an unexpected outage last week, but several of the city’s municipal services are still unavailable.

The lingering disruptions are affecting those hoping to obtain city permits and pay their water bills. Some groups had raised concerns about their ability to give online feedback on city ordinances.

Mayor Quinton Lucas announced a 30-day grace period for late water payments in a press conference Wednesday afternoon, adding that the city is looking at “workarounds” for permit applications while the online systems remain down.

He declined to comment on whether the outages were caused by a cyberattack, as similar recent outages were in Wichita and the Jackson County courts system.

Here’s which departments are still experiencing online outages, and what you should do in the meantime until full service is restored.

KC Water bill payments

As of Tuesday afternoon, the city’s municipal water department is still unable to process bill payments online or over the phone. A banner on KC Water’s homepage advises customers to only call the department if they have an “URGENT water or sewer matter.”

According to a notice posted on KC Water’s website on May 6, late fees will be waived starting that day — but the notice does not specify when they will go back into effect.

“Effective May 6th, penalties will not be assessed for customers who have been unsuccessful in making their payments via the online customer portal or pay by phone service by their due date,” the page states.

Mayor Lucas noted Wednesday that the department is accepting payments via postal mail, adding that return-addressed envelopes are being included in customers’ upcoming paper bills. Some water customers are also driving to the department’s offices near Swope Park to make their payments in person.

In several posts on social media, residents shared photos of a paper notice stating that KC Water can only accept check or cash payments. The bill payment kiosk is also out of order.

To pay a water bill with a check or cash, customers can go in person to KC Water’s building at 4800 E. 63rd Street from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Compass KC permitting system

The city’s permitting department is still seeing outages of its online system, Compass KC, as of Wednesday morning.

“We apologize for any inconvenience but CompassKC is currently unavailable. We are working diligently to get it available again,” a notice on the system’s webpage states.

This impacts everyone from construction crews to local event planners, who rely on the system to obtain noise, street closure and other permits as well as temporary catering and liquor licenses.

But unlike the water department, the city’s planning and development office doesn’t offer residents the option to come in person to obtain their permits. Mayor Lucas said Wednesday that that could change as the department studies workarounds, including paper applications.

“Our hope is that our computer systems are up and able to handle these transactions as soon as possible and we don’t have to use these workarounds,” he said. He did not share an estimated timeline for these repairs.

Public comments on city council ordinances

A local advocacy group has raised concerns about residents’ comments on city ordinances not being easily accessible to Kansas City Council members.

The local chapter of the Sierra Club, a national nonprofit environmental group, had encouraged supporters to email and call officials to give feedback on a new ordinance that would weaken enforcement of the city’s green building codes.

City officials’ email service had been down, but it was set to be restored in the latter half of last week.

The group said in an email sent Monday that two of their members printed off comments to give to officials ahead of a meeting Tuesday afternoon after learning of the technical difficulties.

Kansas City residents should now be able to call and email their council members directly to give feedback on pending legislation. To have feedback entered into the city record and circulated to council members, residents can also email public.testimony@kcmo.org.

Do you have more questions about accessing city services in Kansas City? Ask the Service Journalism team at kcq@kcstar.com.