Work From Home

After a four-month service delay in repairing a dangerous, live, high-voltage power line at St. Pauls Presbyterian Church in Kansas City, Missouri, the line was finally repaired Thursday.KMBC 9 Investigates first exposed the issue on Monday.Thursday afternoon, a city inspector approved the work completed by electrician Brandon Fields and Evergy. Fields obtained the permit to do the work on July 2.He said that typically, after placing a request for service with Evergy, the process takes two to three weeks. This time, despite multiple follow-up phone calls to schedule the workonly possible after Evergy cut the powerthe job was scheduled for Tuesday morning, following the KMBC 9 Investigates report.It makes me question what their process looks like from the time the ticket is called into the time the job is executed, Fields said. Maybe there needs to be some sort of review or process to ensure this doesnt happen again.Church elder William Bryan said he called every day for three weeks after a tree branch knocked the line to the ground. Barriers and caution tape were put in place to discourage people from approaching the line, which still provided power to the church.People had trash back here, and they were coming back here, and I didnt want anyone to get hurt or even die. If Channel 9 hadnt come and done a story, I think wed still be fighting this battle to get it resolved, Bryan said.Its a liability, and thats not something you want lying on the ground for four months, Fields added.Im just upset, angry, and bewildered. I dont understand why, when they had two project managers come out and look at it, it wasnt done, Bryan said.The nonprofit group Neighbor 2 Neighbor is a tenant at the church. The organization feeds the homeless Monday through Friday and also refers clients, like Knikkia Jefferson, for services and job leads. Jefferson said she has survived four fentanyl overdoses and is becoming a better mother for her three children thanks to Neighbor 2 Neighbor.It does a good thing for me; its gotten me off drugs. God saved me, and hes showing me Im here for a purpose for my children and everything, she said.The June storm also knocked out internet service, which couldnt be repaired until the power line was fixed. The lack of internet has made it more challenging for Neighbor 2 Neighbor to refer clients for services and job leads.Well, Grandma says better late than never, so thank you, Channel 9, for bringing this issue to Evergys attention. There are many people suffering from poverty and addiction, and we want to continue to serve them, said Greg Parr, Neighbor 2 Neighbor director.Parr is also disappointed by the lengthy repair process. Sad comes to my mind. I dont know if we were a Fortune 500 company or connected to Elon Musk, but this might have been done faster. Were just glad that its done, he said.The repair also means that once the internet is operational again, the church can share worship services online.We have a congregation thats mostly elderly, and many like to watch online. I havent been able to put it online for at least four months, and we have at least ten couples outside the Kansas City area who watch the service online, Bryan said.In a statement Tuesday, Evergy said workers were at the church that morning to lift the line off the ground and then scheduled the repair work with the electrician for Thursday.We process millions of requests each year. In this case, it unfortunately came down to human error when work orders were entered, causing follow-up requests to not be delivered properly to our operations team. We sincerely regret our error and have apologized to the customer and the church, the statement said.Parr hopes this issue will bring more attention to the work Neighbor 2 Neighbor is doing. He said the group is always looking for donations, and more information on how to help is available on the groups website.