The Water Services Department is the hellhole of Kansas City government. Bill Downey&#x92;s big challenge is to change that fact.</p><p>The city is paying a consultant&#x92;s fee of $250 an hour to Downey, the recently retired president of Kansas City Power & Light Co., to put together a comprehensive plan aimed at dramatically improving the agency and restoring public confidence in it. Done correctly, that plan will be worth every dime spent on it.</p><p>In a lengthy interview with The Star, Downey showed he already has an encouraging grasp of the department&#x92;s problems.</p><p>They include poor customer service, a historic number of broken water lines and a reputation for laziness on the job. Plus, the organization has had four weak acting directors and only one &#x93;permanent&#x94; director in the last four years.</p><p>Kansas Citians are desperate for a much better return on the hundreds of millions of dollars they send to the agency. Last week, City Manager Troy Schulte proposed eye-popping rate increases of 17 percent for sewers and 12 percent for water later in 2012. Like the generous rate boosts last year &#x97; 15 percent for sewers and 10 percent for water &#x97; this year&#x92;s increases are almost guaranteed to be put in place by the City Council.</p><p>That&#x92;s because the city simply must invest more in fixing its ancient water lines, repairing its pumping facilities and following through on its federally mandated $2.5 billion sewer upgrade program.</p><p>However, people and businesses aren&#x92;t going to put up with skyrocketing rates for much longer if they don&#x92;t see significant progress in how the department operates. They will vote with their feet and leave Kansas City. The agency&#x92;s actions directly affect the city&#x92;s ability to compete for residents and jobs.</p><p>So Kansas Citians have a lot riding on Downey&#x92;s recommendations later this year to Schulte and elected officials.</p><p>One certainty on that list is showing a commitment to better, faster customer service. Too many Kansas Citians have horror stories of long waits on the phone only to get an unsatisfactory answer or be shuffled off to someone else who can&#x92;t help. Resolving problems in one call, Downey says, &#x93;is really important.&#x94;</p><p>Better training is one obvious solution. Also, in a positive public-private bit of cooperation, call takers from the highly ranked center run by KCP&L are expected to offer advice on how the city can enhance its customer service.</p><p>Downey said several times he wants to hold employees &#x93;more accountable&#x94; for their actions. The message should be clear: Those who have long coasted on less-than-stellar work records ought to be forced out. He correctly calls for top water employees to move from being reactive to handling troubles in a coordinated way.</p><p>&#x93;The (management) team needs strengthening, there&#x92;s no doubt about that,&#x94; he said.</p><p>Downey wants the water department to work with other city agencies on completing repair jobs in a more timely fashion. Good point. If water service workers fix a pipe in the street, another department needs to quickly repair the asphalt so the road can be reopened. Also, the city&#x92;s Human Resources Department has to funnel qualified employees to water services, which for too long has been a dumping ground for burned-out city workers.</p><p>Downey says he wants to &#x93;re-establish pride&#x94; in working at the agency. That&#x92;s the right attitude. Kansas Citians deserve a water department that truly serves them, not one that too often rips them off.