City Council - Regular Meeting

Okay. Whoops. Welcome everybody. I really appreciate you being here tonight. I'm Nancy Daniels. I'm a community vitality specialist with KState Extension. Um my office is in my office is in Manhattan and uh but I live and and since the pandemic mostly work from my home in Topeka, so I'll be going back to Topeka tonight. I'd like to introduce Charlene Miller. Charlene is your um local extension director for Butler County. Charlene, you want to say a thing?

Yes, thank you for having me tonight. Um I'm excited to be here with you guys. Our office is located in Elorado. So we're KState Extension Butler County. We have programming available from family and consumer sciences to horiculture, um 4H and youth development and also agriculture. So we have a wealth of resources available for you guys as community members in the city as well. So, thanks Nancy.

Thanks, Charlene. Well, so here's the process of um first first impressions. Coffeeville actually applied first for the the first impressions and we look for another city that's about the same size and within, you know, not too close together, so you're not familiar with each other. Um the visitors were trained on what to look for and how to fill out the the evaluations, the assessment reports. They came in August, so they saw a little bit different view than I saw in November. Um, and um, two of them came in on August 4th and one on August 20th. Sometimes you'll see um, differing opinions, but that's because they were different p people that came. I took photos on a very soggy day right before Thanksgiving. Um, and then tonight we'll present this. And we hope that something is said tonight um that you can use and in your discussion your planning as you see how things look to a firsttime visitor. And because of the setup tonight, they're recording it and doing online. Uh we won't probably take discussion until I'm done. But I I invite you to think about the things that you're seeing and thinking about just exactly this. Um, what do you see that makes you proud? What do you see that makes you whether they comment on it or not, these pictures kind of give you a third-hand vision of it and um you can think to yourself, you know, uh we invite your comments on what it is you see in here. Sometimes you won't um agree with the observation, but just be curious. Why is it they thought that? What did they see? Is it even worth considering? or were they just um wrong? [laughter] So, it's just a just a perception. Ben Winchester is a real sociologist. He does what I do in Wisconsin, but he's more of a researcher. And he says that

for 50 years, uh we've been talking about brain drain, but we should be also talking about brain gain because in, uh we need to change the way we talk about things. People leave our community to go off to college and to their first jobs. They may have their um stereo and their clothes in their car when they leave. When they come back later on to raise their families or to come to choose a new community that's got a lower cost of living, why they come with lots of assets and skills and we need to be talking about that. Ben says that people research a number of places before they move to a rural town. Um, and and as I said, brain gain is something that's been happening for 50 years and we just don't talk about it. I live in Topeka. I found a job 60 miles from home that I wanted to have and for five years I drove five days a week, two hours a day to get that job. It's not just rule is in the middle of everywhere. That's how we live now. We can live one in one place and work another place and have our our recreation another place. And not only that, 14% of canons move every single year. Um, but what matters isn't the geography. Those county lines, those city lines are really just all made up, aren't they? And so if we work together, we can um attract communities in between. Before I took this job, I was looking at a job in southeast Kansas. And frankly, if I thought about the fact I looked in that community for housing and said, I I don't see anything there. If I thought about the fact that 10 miles away was another lovely town, I mean, so we really do have to think about um that that um regional approach. Uh Ben and his colleagues did a survey

in Wisconsin and Nebraska, quite extensive survey, and uh believe it or not, the reason that people lived move to rural communities, a job isn't even in the top 10. We say and we think that in small count communities, everyone knows everyone. I grew up in a town of 150 and they didn't know everyone. I mean, people move in, people move out. Uh, Ben says, Ben says the best $150 you can spend would be to have a newcomer's dinner. Um, he invites you to have a a quarterly or, you know, in some way um, a city-led um, social event for newcomers and only newcomers. so they can see they're not the only newcomers in town, that there's a bunch of them, you know, and uh but Kansas Sampler Foundation said, "Don't make it that hard. Just be friendly. Don't talk about your town as if you have to live here 20 years to be an insider." Um instead, make make it clear that to people, welcome. We're glad you're here. And just um do it that simply. Uh and small small efforts do make a difference. If you bring 20 people to a 2,000 person town every year, in 10 years you'd have a 10% increase. That's a big increase. I don't think it'll surprise you except the numbers are pretty hard to look at. 75% of rural homeowners are baby boomers and older and 30% of them are over 75. And so they may be living in a home that they raised three or four children in. If we could create a situation where they could move over to a different home, uh one that's more manageable, then housing would be freed up for those

that workforce um living. Okay. So by the data, what's the data that I have on Augusta? Um we use two different sources. One is the state of Kansas division of budget numbers. That's the top one there. And according to those the latest numbers from Kansas certified budget um you've gone down uh 2% um since 2015 in in 10 years. According to the census numbers it's um different 10 years 2010 to 2020 it was just a drop of 2%. [snorts]

Um the median household income is $60,000 uh plus. Um high school or GED rate is a little higher than Kansas's at 94%. At least the BS degree 24% of you have that median age is only slightly um higher than the Kansas rate at 39 years. Uh and 25% of your citizens according to the census are 65 or over. Your poverty rate is right at the same level as Kansas, 11.3%. Uh 90% white, um 7% Hispanic or Latino, um and 2% other races, uh two or more races, and 1% American Indian. According to the census, um 17% of the people in Augusta moved um in the last year. And that's all kinds of movement. It might have been house to house or in city or and um even out of the country social media and website. We asked the visitors to make these observations, but I've spent some time on the website, too. Your visitors said it's clean and well organized. They love the popup job listing. Um there's a link from the city website to other important city sites, including Go Augusta. Um and the Go Augusta site for the chamber and tourism was helpful. Um events are listed on the Go Augusta website and um I thought it was really interesting because one point in the later data I'm going to talk about the number of people that don't have access to internet. You have an event on the Goa website that talks about Cox affordability and I thought that was interesting because I don't not sure I would have looked for it there. I mean, I think it's a neat resource. I'm

guess I think I'm encouraging you to put it as many places as you can. And both websites came up near the top of the page, which is good news. The community page on the city website, um, I was confused by the fact that the veterinarian was listed there and then I realized as I looked further in that that's also your community shelter, and that's why you consider that a community um, asset. the calendar of events on the um city website um doesn't have any community events listed on it and I kind of lost that calendar events right there at the top of the page that you know without anything listed under it I barely noticed it. I thought it was cool that you had mission, vision, and values and your Athenian oath on the website. I I don't know that I've seen that very often and I thought it was neat. We asked the visitors to make a five-minute impression, drive through the city for five minutes and just give their overall impressions. Um, these pictures I've had the experience when a rainy day actually brought out the color, but this is that isn't the truth. That isn't true for this one. So, I feel badly that I hit a bad day for you. Nothing stood out as good or bad on the initial drive-thru. Um, they did notice the bricks streets. They were beautiful and in good repair. Um, brick streets, that's just the nature of brick street. It says the bumpiness, but I would protect them always. I think they're really neat. And the fact that they are in such good repair is great. Um, I'll bet you've been thinking the same thing. The welcome signs need need cleaning as you look at this. And the visitor said, I only say that because we just got ours done and it made a big difference. But the visitor said, and I thought it was true, that the downtown really gave the vibe of the city,

downtown business area. And that's this the picture that I go, I'll bet you're thinking the same thing. They didn't see downtown signage. And I think there isn't much more to it than that. I think what they're talking about is directional signs that tell you to downtown. But I have to confess as I looked at my pictures, I also wondered and and we'll see in a moment. I wondered if they were talking about signage on the actual buildings too, but I I really think it was directional to downtown. They love the park right downtown. It creates a destination. They got a great feeling about the downtown businesses and they there were so many businesses and the citizens I spoke to indicated the businesses are well supported. um they talked, you'll see the words well-maintained over and over throughout this um thing. And like I say, if you look at the pictures, I called out the fact that the Department of Commerce has um signs applications right now that are open for the next two year two week two weeks, not two years, two weeks. But let me give you a chance to look at the pictures. see if anything reveals itself to you. [clears throat] Like I say, feel free to they won't hear you at home, but if there's anything you want to make note of, why do for later? They thought you had a great variety of stores, um, tattoos, retail, barber, and unique offerings, too. Very few empty buildings. Uh, most storefronts were appealing and welcoming. There were maybe a few that needed improvement. The Fudge Shop was great and the owner was wonderful. He sells out almost every Saturday.

I am a personal fan of downtown living. I have a frozen need to live downtown. And so when I look at these uh pictures, um, I wonder about downtown living. And according to one of the visitors, um the owner of the fetch shop told us about upstairs apartments in the downtown areas. I don't know whether these are apartments, but they sure look like they'd be attractive. I I can say from I don't know how many of you visit Topeka, but I've been in Topeka for 50 years, and Topeka has changed once people started living downtown. It just evolved into I mean eyes on the street makes everybody want to be there and so when you have people downtown why it it really turned around

I think that's our downtown. Are you kidding me? No. [laughter] That is I thought that was that is really interesting. I wonder if that's Coffeeville.

I mean I wish it was. It looks nice. I wonder if that's Coffeeville. That's very interesting. Okay. It It looks like it'd be your size of town. The marketplace had a wonderful selection. I I'll take that out before I put posts to the website. I'm glad you said that. The marketplace had a wonderful selection of items from gifts to clothing and more. It made you feel like you were in an old-fashioned store. A great feeling for small towns. It kind of reminded me of Weavers and Lawrence. It's really cool. The drugstore had a little bit of everything and it gave you that another old time vibe.

Are those apartments?

Yeah. [clears throat] So, I thought maybe that that was the side of this building, but obviously not. The one that you said wasn't you. It's it is different color brick. I see that now. Everyone was friendly. Um, no one was very chatty and I have to confess sometimes I want people to kind of leave me alone, but they waited for us to ask questions and engage. I don't know about you, but in my neck of the woods, it's quick shop. Quick shop. Y'all, welcome to Quick Shop. And if they don't yell it now, it's like, "Hey, [laughter] do you see me here?" A business owner who owns multiple businesses. Is that person here tonight?

Maybe. He has a passion for downtown and Augusta. Very friendly people. I was greeted when I walked in. I tell u my colleague actually trained these visitors and then he took another job. So I don't know what he tells him. I tell my visitors, oh, you can either make up a story and pretend to be strangers or you can just tell people who you are because I my experience of doing 84 first impressions is that canons just show you who they are. They just they they don't care if you're in a KState car. They'll be rude to you if they want to. I don't recognize Granny Jay's. Are you kidding me?

I'm not kidding. Apparently, when I moved my pictures in, I didn't get it precisely. So, Granny Jay's doesn't belong there either. Granny Jay's in Coffeeville. Must be in Coffeeville.

That's us. [laughter] That's That's really embarrassing. I'm sorry about that. They love the downtown park and and the way it creates a destination for visitors. Um, and there was we the reason they're commenting about the public restroom is because our questionnaire says is there down to is there are there public restrooms or are there water fountains? Are there benches? And and so they comment on it and you know at first I thought oh you should have a downtown. No, there's like five places in Kansas that have downtown restrooms and then there's a reason for it. Um, the car charging station made an impression on me. That's pretty cool. They saw trash recepticles in good locations. They saw uh smaller pots with plants that are well cared for. That was in August. Um, and you know, I like the fact that they aren't sitting there with dead plants in them when I was there in November. They looked well cared for then, too. Trees had mulch around them with no grass. The parking spa places were well marked and plentiful. [snorts] [clears throat] Other retail is meant to be um like the highways going in and out. and they said um they saw there were multiple areas including the main street corridor but also near the lake and the other main roads. Industrial parks are an important part of the city but we don't expect you I mean people don't find industrial parks by driving through. So this is not a big it's not really a first a um secret shopper type of observation just need to be listed in the right places

healthc care services their dentists and optometrists um one visitor said I really like this part of the visits I saw lots of offices for medical several family practice offices there was urgent care but no hospital which might be worrisome. I'll be interested in seeing your comments about that when we get done. We think we saw several senior living services, but their signage was not obvious. And you know what? I'm not sure that's a problem. Online, we were able to locate several. And I do I have them locate. Um, are those senior living? That's how I did it, too, is I went online to see which pictures I took was senior living. great variety of housing for low, middle, and higher income. They said in August they didn't see a lot of for sale signs. However, we did see a new housing development and I agree with them. We saw very few dilapidated homes, um, new construction. Um, your visitors gave you an A+ on this. The homeowners really seem to care and everything's well cared for. One of the when I was here in November, I was kind of struck the other direction like, wow, there's a lot of really nice houses for sale. I almost wondered if I would should be worried for you because this is the kind of selection we hope to find when we go into town, but I'm sure not used to seeing it. And there is that new construction and even available lots. The visitors said that they were able to get a list of landlords. So, we know there are several properties. And that's all we hope for is that if they asked the city offices or the chamber, um, somebody would be able to tell them who the landlords are. Um, we can't possibly

know what's available. Just call the landlords. And they were aware of apartments that that city workers often live in. I highlighted the 3.7% vacant houses because that's that's really good compared to what I see housing data. I don't know what Josh would say about this, but you know, I don't really consider I think that's the reason that that the Department of Commerce has created the housing assessment tool is because the national data isn't all that reliable. But according to what we um see online, the best that we know is that you have just fewer than 4% of your homes vacant. I've seen as many as 20% of the homes vacant. Um and that's a lot of houses. Um it's becomes a you know when we're all looking for housing and and many of them are sitting empty. That's a problem. I was just telling Owen that tomorrow morning I'll be leading a can Kate housing transdisciplinary team but the housing resources um you know I'd be curious in here at the end whether or not you've done a housing assessment tool Kansas plays well together right now I mean all of the housing resources are on one page so that you can find them no matter whether they're KHRC's or um federal home loan banks or USDAs or commerces. So, we try to make that real accessible. Schools. Your visitors said there was a great variety of preschool, Head Start, and other grades, including private schools, and lots of elementary schools. My poor dark pictures.

I was curious what apparently I looked today and it wasn't hard to see the sign on this the school because the trees are all empty but um I looked to see what they saw from the front because I did take this picture from the side and um the trees are covering the the name of the school so you can't tell what it is. I was a little mystified by this comment, but I put it in there because they said it um they felt that it was the only um building and school building that was not aesthetically pleasing. And I don't know what they were seeing. I thought it was just fine. And in fact, one of the things I don't think I you can see it on here, but I always appreciate a school building. There are so many entrances on school buildings and I believe that you have one of these pictures it shows that it's the gymnasium. Yeah. Because you know at some point everybody comes for the first time and you want to know where do I go to see my kid in this player or um to be the visiting team on the basketball team. School information. This is very very very common that the school information is helpful for the students that are there. But we need to remember that you know prospective students are also looking too. And I have been for five years using a good example from Mound City, Missouri that I found by accident when I was doing Mound City, Kansas. And this last week and this month I did Scott City, Kansas. and I think they've got it. Uh Scott County schools have a pretty good illustration of potential school students. Um on the front page, it gives a good description of the type of school settings, traditional classroom, multiple teachers with electives, and then they show the

awards. You know, we all love our schools and um tell us why, you know, don't make us live here for 20 years. Tell us why you love your schools right up front so we can see it. This is another area that is not a first impressions stronghold, but it's important to the community. In fact, um what we hear constantly is from large or small, child care and housing. Child care and housing, those are the two big things. Um I did see one child care here as I was taking pictures. Um but neither the chamber nor the city was able to give much information about child care. Our child care aware um data indicates and and this is not an unusual number but you've got um only about 40% of the potential child care need has been met here in Butler County. Faith and religion. They saw lots of churches and there they were in good shape. Um well done. Landscaping was well done. We always ask about evidence of faith community activity and we don't ever see it unless we happen to be there at the right time, but I did notice even tonight the Methodist church has it said free COVID test. Um but we don't very often see that as visitors. I know I didn't nearly get all the all the pictures, but as far as civic activity or civic groups, um the visitors said the only thing we saw was on the way out of town, we saw there was a sign for Lions and VFW on the side of a shed. Um, I took a picture of the senior center and certainly I didn't include that picture,

but there were lots of cars there, so I think it must be very well utilized. And that week there was a free Thanksgiving Day lunch. So, in terms of civic activity, again, we seldom see it, but um, I was there at the right time to see the Thanksgiving dinner. We ask about lighting, but again, when you're when you're coming from an hour and a half away, you're not going to stay until dark to find out if it's well lit. Although, I don't know whether these visitors actually saw it, but they said um some areas were well lit. There were nice sidewalks and parking, and some were just okay, but all seemed mostly taken care of. Again, they love the brick streets. They commented again about the brick streets. City Hall was surrounded by buildings that were not very well taken care of and it left the impression that the city building was in a bad area. And I was mystified in November when it said the city hall needed to be painted. I I paint I paid special attention and I don't know what they were looking at. Uh the white there looked very well maintained to me, but maybe you see something different. And the community development building was awesome and looked like a new construction, which mystifies me. It doesn't look new construction, but it does look very well taken care of.

Looks like it on the inside. Huh? It looks like it on the inside. Oh, does it? They must have visited inside. Okay. Yeah. [clears throat] So, the comment is that does look new on the inside. I had to look hard to see whether I had the right building though because the door is just on the Is this building in use? It is. That's a home. It used to be a church. Yeah. Google image says it's the Crossroads Community Church. I couldn't tell whether it's

Uhhuh. The sign is down now. So, wow. A home. Um, you have [clears throat] very impressive public fil safety facilities. Very impressive at the library. Somehow or another. I mean, I took a picture right across the street, but somehow or another, I didn't get a picture of the library while I was here. So, I had to retrieve it from Google Earth. And um, but it's not too old. August 2025. That love the children's area. The staff was so nice and helpful and we love them. Nicest people in town. It's a nice compliment. One time in one city uh comment visitors said I said do you want me to include this comment? They said the librarian didn't seem to like children and they said no leave it in there. That's true and he needs to hear it. [laughter] So I I would say that if I have a criticism of first impressions is that we are so Kansas nice that sometimes I wonder what you learn from it. So I do try to include the the critical remarks because maybe there is something there. [snorts] So many great parks. Uh this was this one out um north is just beautiful. Um two unique playground attractions. Love the lake area and the walking path. It wasn't a great day for me to walk it, but it sure looked attractive. It would make a nice place to retire. That's not my comment, but it was make a nice place to live. Period. Got disc golf playground community building. Another park. Nobody wants to be swimming November 24th in the rain. I'm sure it looks different in July.

We ask are you is there are you well known for any attraction or event? Um they said the depot park as an item of pride. Not sure about events although multiple people remarked about a recent car show that would have been in August. In December a Christmas I could see a Christmas drive-thru display was very evident and um the area for the outdoors stage was very intriguing to me. I could imagine that you might have some fun there. And these WPA projects, these buildings that were WPA projects are I think are cool. I took a picture of the restroom because I always remember our um mayor in Topeka when they were building a restroom just like that said, "That restroom costs more than my house." And so it made me really appreciate what an investment that is. [snorts] The visitors center, they thought it was difficult to find the chamber office. There are no signs on the street or the building to indicate what it was. And even after they asked around, they they couldn't weren't even sure and they weren't sure where to enter. um they didn't see very many much visitor information um inside and they just felt that people were nice but not very engaging. The lake and the walking trail were great. Oh, for natural and man-made features that can draw people. The roundabout was a with a clock was a nice touch, but the area beyond it was run down and a bit dis disappointing. I'm seeing nods in the and but I didn't feel that way at all. Although, this is my comment. I was surprised to find those things there because it was almost I I didn't notice any signage. I came up

from the other direction and then it was like, "Wow, I was this close to it and didn't know it was here. And your visitors did not notice this museum. Maybe they weren't the target audience. I thought it was kind of intriguing. So, what would bring you back? They love the marketplace. They love the fudge shop and the bouncy fitness place. I have to admit, I miss the bouncy fitness place. um they would bring the kids to the downtown park and the castle park by the lake. And um one visitor says, "I'll be bringing the grandkids back to see the marketplace and the tattoo parlors and the bungee jumping classes." Um they love to see that your businesses were open 8 to 2 on Saturday. It makes it easy to come back on the weekend. Um boy, that's a difference from when I was little when Saturday was the big day, but it really is a a difference now. the most positive observations, and I I use almost every word for word what they say because I think these are important to hear. Clean and well-kept homes and yards. In fact, it took some driving around town to even find an area that seemed more rundown or less desirable or safe. Uh unique family attractions and parks. Love to shop downtown. It all seemed so inviting. On a Saturday, we could go shopping, grab a beer, play some cornhole while while our dogs hang out with us on the uh dog patio. Then we could head to the park and the castle, watch a movie at the theater in the afternoon, grab lunch. They have their whole weekend planned. Then some fudge, and finish up by going to the bowling alley for some dinner and fun. There's a lot going on in Augusta and a lot going

on for them. Very well-maintained neighborhoods. That was a very strong noticeable thing. The uh biggest obstacles or challenges entrances could be more inviting like lights on the bridge or some colorful trees or plants. Could use better signage to to the main street. Maybe a type of overhead large sign that says Augusta downtown. Um city and chamber need more visibility in their building. maybe that would make them more welcoming to visitors and prospective residents. And they talked about things that they thought you could um brag about on your brochures and flyers. Talk about the education system, the child care, housing, business opportunities. And I don't know if it's Germaine, but Doug Griffith is the author of 13 Ways to Kill Your Community. And when he talks about um talking about your city, he says decide for yourselves who you were and tell tell about this who you are, what's the culture here and who are you're becoming, what's your vision. We have a first Friday e call that I hosted until um December and now somebody else is taking it over. But Doug was our visitor in um August of 2024 if you want to hear Doug talk about how to transform your community. What will you remember about Augusta? We'll remember that Augusta is growing and doing good in the downtown area and the new housing develop. And I think this is the nicest compliment ever ever. This would be a good place to live. I think about when you're looking for a new home and you start to visualize where you're going to put the couch, you know, maybe you're in a good place. And I think that's the kind of comment that is.

So that is our presentation and I invite you if there are people watching at home, we'd love to hear your voices. And as awkward as it is, if you don't mind coming to a microphone either at the back, Josh is pointing to the back. Um, what what did you hear? What what uh did it make you think, positive and negative? or you could make your comments and I'll repeat them. [laughter]

I think everybody in here I appreciate the information you gave us. I think everybody in here loves their town or they wouldn't be here tonight. And and that's what I feel. And I'm always, you know, sometimes my wife and I feel like we did a lot, but then we keep looking around say, "We got so much more to do. We're just starting." You know, we get overwhelmed. But I like our community. I love our community. And uh I love hearing other people brag on our community. It makes us feel good. Makes for like all the risk and all the [laughter] investment is worth it, you know? So

I do think that's a strength of first impressions is because you can see what's wrong. you can see what you'd like to improve. And I do think we're pretty good at reminding you how much you have done. And we need that because I've got I got other uh colleagues that can list 25 things that's wrong with our town right now. This this this and when you go on social media, it gets discouraged when you see people throwing rocks at your town and beating you up. It gets discouraging. And so, um once in a while, we need a little sava boys, you know, to help us out a little bit. So, I appreciate everybody. I appreciate everybody who came out here tonight though. Sincerely,

one of the one of the comments I would make is um I feel like it it reinforces at least the the feedback that I saw in the presentation, it reinforces some of the investments that we have made and the focus that we've had on trying to build out our public spaces and uh develop engaging places for people to be. Um, it's one of the observations I made when I first moved to town in 2009. I I had lived in Nashville for four years when I went to college. I lived in Lawrence after that and then I I moved to Augusta and went downtown and didn't see another body for I I could stand down there for hours and not see another person.

And so just trying to figure out, you know, how do you how do you build out spaces that will generate energy? And um I think the the business community has really picked up, but we invested a lot in the public spaces and the downtown park and just trying to create excuses and opportunities for people to be in the downtown area. And my own personal observation is that there's been a lot more energy. There's people you see people walking and moving and going to the businesses or or just walking. And that's a very different experience than when I first moved here. And we had talked about the the downtown park being a lure to draw people off of the highway

and and the importance of those public spaces. And so just seeing that feedback reinforces some of those investment choices that that we've made. I concur. Now, if you come down on a Friday night, um you'll have a hard time finding a place to park on Fridays and Saturdays. Now, that's our next If they would have came down on a Friday night, they would have said parking is your big problem. But, um that's something that we're looking forward on the future to try. Now, what happens on Friday night? We're we're open. Everybody's open. You know, we've got got Park Bench who does a great job. We've got the bowling alley. They do a great job and they bring people. Our theater brings a lot of people. And there's other businesses that participate as well.

Very good. I would also reflect on what what his comments were, but in the other parts of the city as well. We live by Garden Park and we commented multiple times how great it is to see all the activity in the park. That park is used extensively and throughout the year. It's not just in the summer season as well. throughout the year that um we [clears throat] we feel like there have been significant improvements to the park over the last 10 years

and have really appreciated that. That has really made a huge difference in usage. Love seeing those public places. [clears throat] Agreed. all the stuff which like you said there's people there all the time

the the comments and the rumor about how much they appreciate the investment and the improvements and the activity at Garden Park as well that wasn't pictured [clears throat] agree amilies. Those are spread throughout town, not just isolated. That's awesome. An appreciation for the parks throughout the communities, including several that weren't shown. The skate park and the dog park and splash pad as well. Splash pad. I missed the splash pad.

Yes. Yes. Do do you know if anyone happened to go around Santa Fe Lake which is just a couple miles out of town which is a cityowned I don't think so. They didn't comment on it and um it's not unusual for us to stay almost in the city limits and because they're coming from Coffeeville I don't think they would have thought of that. And did they make any comments about our city lake which is right by Garvin Park? Any comments on that? Do you That's not the one with the walking trail. Oh yeah. Okay. Okay. I didn't catch that.

I'd say one of um at least based on the feedback that that we as staff here from the the community, one of the things that did surprise me was the amount of comments about the uh the the the level of maintenance in neighborhoods. Cuz one of the biggest complaints we get is just that we're not doing enough. Oh wow. to to clean up the community and and you know certain times you come in the summer months you you will see grass growing on a on a number of properties. There are um there are some areas that I I would describe as more blighted than others. Um, but you know, we're we're kind of in our own little bubble and we see that stuff every day. And again,

I go and look at other communities as well and we were a part of this process and it made me feel better about what we were doing, but that wasn't what I was expecting to hear. Yeah. Um, so um, yes, I agree. I totally agree with you and and again in November the grass growing wasn't a problem [laughter] when I was here, but I'm I am curious, Josh, and whoever knows about this. Does that 4% empty houses sound right? Wow, that's fantastic.

Well, that's true. I think everywhere, but in a lot of towns, they're just not for sale. You know, mom and dad died and nobody's doing anything about it. Um Ben Winchester said, you know, you don't want to interfere because that's that's that family home and that's their decision, but it's your city's asset until it becomes a liability and then it's the city's liability. Um that's the place that is going to get phone calls to the city manager saying somebody needs to do something about this house. So that's fantastic that they're that they are turning over. Like I say, that's not the problem. And every town, that's what I hear. This houses go like this. But I've been in towns just recently that the data told us that 20% of their houses were empty while everybody else is looking for houses.

We've got some new housing coming in the very near future that we're very excited about. Do you see a lot of small towns doing a lot of new housing or N? Okay. But we're excited about ours. Yeah. [laughter] Yeah, it's that's good news, Owen. Yeah, that's great news.

Three. Three and then my own. If I have a different or something to add, I I will add it. Two of them came in one car and one by themselves, but we always encourage them to give their own perspective. So, we expect to see at least three observations. And as part of that process, you also encourage them to do online research and Yes. and speak to people when they're in town. So you try to push them outside the car. I'm just here to take pictures. But I was impressed with the number. They acted like they really went into the all the buildings and I was impressed.

They were walking down the street and I had to almost put a light on them to tell me who they were and where they were from because I engage I engage with everybody as you all know. And uh and they were, "Oh, we're from Coffeeville." And go, "Oh, tell me about Coffeeville." And so they that's why they thought I was nice. I was just being nosy to be quite frank with you, but I'm just trying to figure out. I don't I I usually take my own private car because I'm living in Topeka and I don't want to go to Manhattan, get a KState car. But yeah, just like you, Shane, people are like, I don't recognize that car. Who are you? [laughter]

Yes, online research. So I'm wondering you give an example of a school district that are there other examples that maybe

well I [clears throat] I I actually can only think about that community events thing thing you know um the opportunity to you've got so much on your website it's hard to figure out how to make it any more visible, but I do think community events are something that are fun, make it look like a quality place. When you're out in other towns, do they do you have any insight on how they market their town to other communities and how they try to bring people into their community? I do not I do not have any insights in that. Just curious. Yeah, I'll bet the signage.

Yeah. Do you think a big sign that says Augusta entering the downtown area, a big arch, would be helpful? To tell you the truth, I'm I'm a person my exposure to Augusta is going to Whimfield to the to the concert from people

and and I've never seen downtown. So, I do share their um idea. I mean, even Yates Center, it says historic downtown this direction. you know, it doesn't even have to be that big of a deal, but um what's here that we'd like to see? Even the historic area that um I I really don't know why people think thought it was shabby looking. I thought it was appropriate u appropriately historic. There's there's an abandoned building and there's a few older homes on one side and and then uh a bunch of railroad property that a lot of times is overgrown.

Okay. So, that's what they were looking at. Yeah. Once you get south of that roundabout,

I thought they were they were being critical of the historic area and I didn't see that. But I but I do think that the you know the signage to those event things would be cool. And I'm trying to get a connection with the Patterson Family Foundation because I taught a grant workshop in Cherokee County um in January and one of the person from Big Brutus was there. Um now I'm talking about your historic sites and your motorcycle museum and so forth. Um the person from Big Brutus was there and he said that Patterson had actually reached out to him and said that they were interested in funding school trips to um these sites. And I would echo we don't know the places our own places. I mean I'll bet 95% of Topekans have never been at Brown versus Bourne. And that's a cool site and it's memorable and will stick with you if you've gone. Um, it's not just us though. We're preparing a trip to Amsterdam and I reached out to a friend who grew up there and she said, "Do you know I left Amsterdam as an adult and did not know that the Anne Frank House existed." [laughter]

So, we're not the only ones. But but I do think it would be cool if our kids um knew about these places. And and to that point, another resource that we have is called youth community perceptions. And because we don't lead that, we never know whether anybody's using it. But it's meant to be the youth giving their own perception of the city and then reporting back to the, you know, the city council what it is that they saw. It's all online so it's meant to be utilized by a class or a you know community group for group um to say what they think about their own stuff. We do grant writing. I'm going to retire in six months. So the inperson grant writing will be disappear after July, but we'll still have online grant writing classes and our students have reported writing $116 million of successful grants within a year.

[snorts]

um the first Friday call that I talked about. Oh, and I I didn't mention yet, but these are all going to be online probably in a in a day or two, including the complete um um observer comments. We used to make um reams of paper and set them on your chair, but then you were torn between looking at the paper and looking [clears throat] at the screen, so now we just post it. First Friday still does exist and and um it's a way to find out what the resources are in at at in the state and at Kate Pivot. We have a remote work um online initiative um and you can get certified in four weeks as a certified remote work um professional if you um supervise people remotely. I've taken this class. I took the work professional one and even as a a longtime um worker I thought man I wish I'd known some of this stuff when I was um younger when I was starting out and likewise our leaders who had to learn how to supervise staff uh during the pandemic said wow I wish I'd known this before the pandemic they are pretty good and you guys have grocery stores but we've got some great rural food initiatives include include including um a group and it's now funded by the Patterson family because we had lost our funding, but they've been really successful in helping small food businesses get up and running. Um and so if you know anybody that's starting a small food business and they want to get more successful, um send them to us. So that's our program for tonight and are there any other comments or

questions? Uh when did you say that the uh the full comments from the observers would be available? Um I don't know whether she'll be able to get them up tomorrow, but by Monday probably for sure if she doesn't have any other conflicts. It doesn't take too long if she's available. Do any do any of you out there have any feedback that could help us? Well, thanks for coming.

Good.

Yeah, I I heard a comment. I was worried. [laughter] Uh, you know what? I like I say if I have any criticism of first impressions it's that we all come from situations I mean often the comment is just like us you have problems with this you know and if anything we're we're so Kansas kind that sometimes I wonder if there's anything you can learn other than just as Shane says a pat on the back and a and a come on keep on going we see what you're doing and that I think we do very well I do think I've seen a preliminary draft of of some of the comments though and so I I do think there'll be more there than

than what was in here. So it may have a few specific callouts for us to dig into and work on.

I asked um Josh about one comment. There was a comment there that said that they thought that the realators were um making disparaging comments to get people to go to more expensive housing. And I learned in the process of this from a realer friend that that's illegal. That a realer can't make comments about any demographic information in a city. They can they can say if you want to know then here's the site that you look for but um any any part of it they won't they won't make any demographic comments. No, no. This was a city that actually the visitor was quoting this from a city resident that that resident thought that that the realators were not Yeah. Oh,

and I think Oh, yeah. Good. Glad that was helpful. Thank you. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you.

You're welcome. If you I I don't know. um given the situation, we didn't have that much discussion, but if you would leave at least the demographics there. On the other side, there is the opportunity to give us um some feedback about whether or not this had any influence on your perspectives of your town, and we'll welcome whatever you're able or willing to give us. We're researchbased organization. We're always looking for the feedback. Thank you all. And Charlene is right here to help you at any time. And got a great staff. Thank you. You bet.