Patrick Tuohey, Director of Municipal Policy at the Show-Me Institute, raises an interesting question about KC Water, two questions really.

The first is why did the Water Department choose to pay $24,541.28 for a video less than two minutes long that would not have won a middle school animation contest. Although unobjectionable, the “Kansas City Water” video is simple enough that a clever teenager could have put produced it in his basement before breaking for lunch. Most of the cost likely went to producing the original music that accompanies it.

The second question is why did Mayor Sly James refuse a request by then State Auditor Tom Schweich to audit Kansas City’s troubled water department. The proposal to produce the video went out in the summer of 2013. On August 28, 2013, the Kansas City Star headlined an article, “KC mayor says ‘no’ to Missouri auditor’s request to audit the water department.”