City Council - Regular Meeting

To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Roll call, please. Mayor Larky, here. Council member White. Council member Thompson here. Council member Davidson. Council member Bryan here. Council member Lawson here. Council member Richardson here. Council member McCllum present. Council member Johnson here.

We have a quorum. All right. So we got something that's not on the agenda. So we are got a park thing we're going to talk about right now. Is it on? Okay. Um, good evening. My name is David Daniels. I live at 16402 Eastern Avenue in Belton. And I'm representing the parks tonight, Belton Parks and Wreck. Um, and I'm here to introduce uh Mr. Kevin Feedback, who's been promoted to our new park director. Um, little background on Kevin. He started with us 29 years ago. What are you 10 like 10? Um, in the maintenance department. um strong technical skills and leadership potential led to his promotion to maintenance manager in 2017 where he managed the team to responsible for maintaining our parks, trails, and facilities. In 2021, Kevin moved up to assistant director taking a broader responsibilities that included overseeing the maintenance, recreation, and aquatics departments. He's worked to streamline processes, foster collaboration, and mentor staff along the way. Kevin credits much of his success to the mentorship he's received throughout his career. So, um, Kevin's looking forward to improving community engagement and park services. So, please join me in congratulating Kevin as our new park director.

All right, we've allocated an hour for your speech. You ready? We've allocated an hour for your speech. Just an hour. Okay, I'll trim it down then. Congratulations. Thank you. I'm very I'm very excited for this opportunity and I look forward to um the growth in this community and the parks growing alongside the community as well. So, I look forward to that. Also, I'd like to mention that the staff that we have in place is phenomenal and I'm lucky to have each and every one of them. So, looking forward to still working with them just in a different capacity.

Perfect. Anybody else? All right. Item D, professional appearances. Number one, BT and company FY24 audit. You're up.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Um, I want to introduce Emily Sheldon. She's with BT and Co. Uh, she's here to present our FY24 audit.

Thank you, Casey. And good evening, everyone. Again, my name is Emily Sheldon. I'm a principal with BT and Co. Um, you have received a report to city council. The report summarizes matters that we are required to bring to your attention about the fiscal year 2024 financial statement audit. And for my presentation this evening, I'm going to be going through the key points in that report. Um, we start on the report by addressing our responsibility to perform an audit in accordance with specific accounting standards. Those standards require us to perform procedures to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement. Our procedures include examining on a test basis um evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. We also assess the accounting principles used and the significant estimates made by management as well as evaluate the overall financial statement presentation. In the accounting policies and practices portion of the report, we would bring to your attention anything identified in the procedures we performed relating to significant alternative, adopted, changed, or controversial accounting policies, significant accounting policies in emerging areas, or any significant unusual transactions. During the fiscal year, the city adopted Gatsby statement number 96, subscription-based information technology arrangements and Gazsby statement number 101, compensated absences, which updated the recognition, measurement, and reporting guidance for such arrangements and for such absences. The city also changed its methodology for recording capital asset depreciation during the fiscal year. In the report to city council, we mentioned that the city had several significant estimates. Those are the fair value of investments, the allowance for doubtful accounts, pension related items, other post-employment benefit related items, and lease related items.

Our responsibility as auditors is to analyze the processes that the city has in place to record these estimates. And as a result of our work, we concluded that the city's estimates did appear reasonable. Next in the report, we note that a audit adjusting journal entries were recorded as a result of our audit. These adjusting journal entries include standard adjustments, city provided entries prepared subsequent to the start of the audit, and what we call entitywide entries, which are standard entries prepared solely to convert the city's fund level financial statements to their governmentwide financial statements, which use two different methods of accounting. You can find copies of those adjustments at the end of the packet followed by uncorrected misstatements. Three uncorrected misstatements were identified during the audit. Those adjustments were determined to be immaterial to the financial statements though future impacts of these adjustments will be monitored. In the departures from the standard uh auditor's report section of the report, we describe the modification of our audit opinion and the emphasis of matter paragraphs which fall after our opinion. In terms of the modification of our audit opinion, we did not observe the counting of physical inventories at the end of fiscal year 2024. Further, we were were unable to satisfy ourselves by performing other auditing procedures concerning the inventory held at year end. As such, we qualified our opinion on the water fund where inventory was material to the financial statements. We were able to observe the fiscal year 2025 inventory count. So, we do not expect that qualification to continue into the fiscal year 2025 audit. Outside of the effects of the inventory issue, we determined that the fiscal year 2024 financial statements were presented fairly in all material respects in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles. And we issued an unmodified audit opinion for all opinion units outside of the water fund. Unmodifying being the best kind of

opinion that the city can receive. The emphasis of matters paragraphs that are included also just pertain specifically to the implementation of those Gazsby statements that I mentioned earlier. For the observations about the audit process portion of the report, I'd like to inform you that during our audit, city management and staff were responsive and transparent with our team members and we encountered no disagreements, significant issues or difficulties in performing the audit. The shared responsibilities for independence section be beginning um on page four of the report describes our shared responsibilities for independence. We as auditors are required to maintain independence both of mind and in appearance when providing audit and other attestation services. We also must maintain a system of quality management over compliance with independence rules and firm policies. The city is responsible for timely informing us if there are new affiliates, directors or officers or changes in the organizational structure or reporting entity and analyzing arrangements with our firm to ensure no management decisions on behalf of the city are being made. Finally, there are two attachments to the report. A management letter describing our identification of material weaknesses, significant deficiencies and control deficiencies in internal control and management representation letter. The management letter details certain deficiencies in internal control that we identified during the audit. A deficiency in internal control exists when a design or operation of a control does not allow for management or employees in the normal course of performing their assigned functions to prevent or detect and correct misstatements on a timely basis. During the audit, we did identify certain deficiencies that we consider to be material weaknesses and significant deficiencies. A material weakness indicates that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the entity's financial statements will not be prevented or detected and corrected on a timely basis. A

significant deficiency is less severe than a material weakness, yet important enough to merit the attention by city council. We also provide descriptions of other identified deficiencies in internal control that we determined did not constitute significant deficiencies or material weaknesses. Management of the city has provided responses to each of the identified deficiencies and they are included in the management letter for your review. I would like to point out that the city through management's hard work and dedication resolved the fiscal year 2023 material weakness for lack of controls over financial reporting and segregation of duties over accounts payable. The fiscal year 2023 significant deficiency for lack of evidence of review of journal entries. in the fiscal year 2023 control deficiencies for lack of evidence of review of payroll reports and risk related to credit card transactions. So those were result. The city had one new identified significant deficiency relating to the utility billings accounts receivable and allowance account balances being overstated by collected balances. The city also had one new control deficiency related to the clarification in the city's formal purchasing policy about Belt and Parks and Rex's purchasing authority and documentation of review of a selected purchase. Finally, management's representation letter which follows the management letter puts into writing matters that we are required by our standards to be represented to us by management. We provide this report to you because we believe it will help you as a governing body better understand the city's representations about its financial statements and help you fulfill your fiduciary responsibilities. With that, audits are time and effort intensive. As such, we'd like to give special thanks to Casey Grace and the rest of the city's team for their assistance with the audit. That concludes my formal presentation. Any questions?

Go ahead. Why do you think I looked at you?

In terms of So, I heard of at least one thing that we could have done better that looks like we already have corrected for 2025. Do we What is it you anticipate from your current findings that we might see again coming into the 2025 audit? Um if you're able to take a look um at the management letter that's provided the city has provided and nearly all of the responses um their their timelines for it. Um a majority of the items there are um resolutions that have gone through um this year even where they are resolved. Um and looking at the listing briefly, one item that can be an issue um that I don't know if it will, you know, if it will continue in perpetuity or I'm sure it will be resolved ultimately relates to just lack of controls over inventory of capital assets. That's a common um issue for governmental entities um and tracking all of the assets that the city maintains. This is something that may repeat um going forward.

Okay. And any So that was those are the biggest things I guess that you found from that perspective that we might look forward to in coming audits. Yeah, I would say um in reviewing the management letter um speaking with Casey specifically, she could probably address which ones she would see being continued at least for fiscal year 25 and potentially 26. Um but in terms of the modification of an audit opinion um for the water fund, we do not expect that to continue for 2025.

Yeah. And I know I've I've Casey and I have talked about what we can continue to see, but I just I guess I wanted to double check with your um independent opinion. So thanks. Anybody else? Go ahead. Do you make any recommendations for correcting any of the control or or deficiency issues that you observed?

Yes. Um in the um management letter that lists out the control deficiencies and the significant of deficiencies and material weaknesses. Each one has a response from the city and it has our recommendation as well. So um obviously the city may choose to act upon it in a in a manner different than what we suggest but and we do include an idea Go ahead.

And were most of the things from my reading of your management report, most of the things that you found that were deficiencies or concerns were things that were historical. I'm sorry. Sorry. Were historical and and not necessarily responsibility of the current administration or staff? That is correct. A majority of the findings were repeated from the fiscal year 2023 audit for the ones that remained. Obviously, I had mentioned the ones that the city had resolved during for the fiscal uh year 2024 audit. Um, and there were only the two additional items that I had mentioned, but the majority were carried forward from the 2023. Anybody else?

Thank you. Thank you very much for your time. Item E, number one, motion approving final reading of bill 2025-59, an ordinance approving a final platform for Main Street Civic Center, a three lot subdivision on 1.36 Morus acres located east of Ellis Street and south of Main Street in the city of Belton, Missouri. Present. Second. A motion, a second. Any discussion? Hearing none. Roll call. Council member Lawson. I. Johnson.

I. Richardson. I. Brian. I. Mallum. I. Mayor Larkkey. I. Thompson. Yes. Motion passes. Item two, motion approving the final reading of bill 2025-60. an ordinance adding section 40-3 subsection 31 and amending section 40-1 I and appendix A of the unified development code to accommodate short-term rentals present second we have a motion a second any discussion hearing none roll call council member Bryan I Thompson yes Johnson I mllum I Lawson no Mayor Larkkey Yes.

Richardson. I. Motion passes.

Item three, motion approving final reading of bill 2025-61, an ordinance approving an intergovernmental local match agreement with the Mid America Regional Council Operation Greenlight Program for participation in the advanced traffic management system software between the city of Belton, Missouri, and Mid America Regional Council. Resent. Second. We have a motion, a second. Any discussion? Hearing none. Roll call. Mayor Larkkey. Yes. Council member Johnson. I. Brian. I. Richardson. I. Mallum. I. Lawson. I. Thompson. Yes.

Motion passes. Item four. Motion approving final reading of bill 2025-62. An ordinance approving the 2026 intergovernmental agreement with the Mid America Regional Council Solid Waste Management District for participation in the regional household hazardous waste program. Present. Second. A motion a second. Any discussion? Hearing none. Roll call. Council member Richardson. I. Thompson. Yes. Brian. I. Johnson. I. Lawson. I. McCllum. I. Mayor Larkkey.

I. Motion passes. F. New business number one motion approve first reading of bill 2025-63. An ordinance approving a reszoning from C2 to R3 for a 87 more or less acre property located north of B Street between East Walnut and Chestnut Streets. Present. Second. We have a motion, a second. You're up.

Yep. Thank you, mayor and council. Before this evening is a request to reszone property on the north side of B Street between Chestnut and Walnut Streets from C2 General Commercial to R3 Multif Family. Uh the half block totaling 87 acres and addresses 301 through 320B Street, 308 East Walnut Street, and 307 Chestnut. It includes multiple two family buildings and a multifamily building as well as an auto repair business located at 307 Chestnut which is attached to the multif family building. Uh, since the property was reszoned to C2 in the 1980s, the residential uses on the site have been legal non-conforming. The new owner of the property is requested to renovate a vacant two family building at 321B Street. Um, since it has been vacant for more than a year, it cannot be reused as a residential building under the C2 zoning. Uh, the applicant is requesting to reszone the property to be able to renovate the property. um uh reszone the property to R3 for that renovation uh which would make the multif family uses legal and the auto repair legal non-conforming. Um staff believes that the requested re reszoning is better aligned with the future land use plan for the block which is mixed use. Uh this resoning also preserves and adds housing unit options to downtown. Um the planning commission held a public hearing on November 4th at which one resident spoke in favor of the request so she wanted to make sure that their housing was protected. Um, the commission unanimously recommended approval and staff also recommends approval. And I'm happy to answer any questions.

Go ahead. I think the only thing that maybe we didn't cover when we talked about this at the work session was what happens if we do not approve this. What would what would become of that building? Um, so they they have basically two options. They could turn it into a commercial space, which would be a bit of a challenge with parking there. Um, otherwise there's really no other use for that building at this time. Thanks. Anybody else? Go ahead. Seeing none, all in favor?

I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Item two, motion approving first arena bill 2025-64, an ordinance adding section 15-187 to chapter 15 of the city of Belton code of ordinances relating to monetary prizes. Present. Second. Have a motion and a second. You're up again.

Yep. Thank you, mayor and councel. Before this evening is a proposed addition of section 15-187 related to monetary prizes to chapter 15 of the code of ordinances. Um, this code amendment would prohibit entertainment devices that provide monetary prizes, um, including no chance gaming machines, which have become increasingly common in convenience stores and other commercial businesses in the city. Um, no chance gaming machines tend to be located in businesses that have limited or no security in place. Um, this creates an increased risk to public safety and potential offenses that may occur due to theft or altercations over gaming machines. Uh this risk is further enhanced by machines being located in businesses that are typically open later into the evening and overnight hours. Uh many which are located in areas that are adjacent to residential uses. Um the purpose of the code amendments is to prohibit entertainment devices um that provide monetary prizes, not to shut down businesses. All of the businesses that currently have gaming machines are allowed to remain in operation as their primary business use, which includes retail, restaurants, and bars. Uh this is just one component of the larger business. Um other legal forms of entertainment games could be provided that do not provide monetary prizes. Uh the proposed code amendments also ensure uniform regulation across the metro area as Kansas City, Missouri adopted similar regulations in October. Um if adopted, staff will provide notification to the known businesses that have no chance gaming machines of the January 1st, 2026 compliance date. And I'll turn over to Joe Warren if he has any additional comments or if there are any questions for either of us. Yeah, Mr. Mayor and Council, um this as uh Matt said, the city of Kansas City did pass an ordinance number 2550832 and that was um passed October 16th. Uh so just last month. Um and that came on the heels of the city of Springfield had passed an ordinance previously to ban these machines. Um and then they were essentially caught up in litigation with the the company that provides these

machines um to see if they their ordinance was going to be legal and and with withstanding and they've since won that um that suit. The city of Springfield has been proven to be uh in their within their authority to limit or outlaw these machines. Um ultimately these are kind of a kind of a loophole machine essentially is what this is. It's very similar to a slot machine and you put in money, you push a button and you hope to get, you know, a larger prize back. Um, the state legislature has not acted on these. They have not made them legal, but they also haven't made them illegal. So, it's kind of in this big gray area. Um, of note, you might notice that in the past few years there there has been a number of uh legislation introduced uh that would legalize these types of machines, but each time those failed. They never got to the floor for a vote. Um, so there was not the widespread support necessary to make these legal. Um, I think there's been some attempts in the past um by uh different leg uh jurisdictions to confiscate and ban these. And I think the problem they've run into is is not that they're legal, but it's it's that there is not a statute or an ordinance uh on the backside to enforce. And so, um, when you're, uh, a prosecutor and you don't have a law that you can point to that says, "Hey, this is why this is this is not allowed." Um, they don't have a whole lot of standing. So, uh I know for instance two years ago in Harrisonville, you might have heard about an incident where the sheriff's office uh went in and confiscated some machines and uh and then of course that ended up not being prosecuted because there was not a statute or an ordinance for them to tie to to say yes, these are these are no longer legal. And so, um, so yeah, so essentially, like I said, the the the litigation has recently just been, you know, essentially upheld by the Missouri, uh, appeals court. And,

uh, and so that's that's where we are. We we don't I don't believe that the city of Belton wants to be, uh, kind of the respit for this. If, if Kansas City is going to ban these, we don't want um, uh, you know, folks to say, "Okay, we can go to Belton to do that." Um there uh there's not always the uh uh the type of activity that occurs along with it with gambling type of activity isn't necessarily what I think we'd want to welcome in Belton. And so that's why we have the ordinance before you today. Mayor, may I address? No. No, you may not. Go ahead.

Um looking at the council action report, I see that public safety is a concern for bringing this up. Do we know how many incidences we've had? What kind of incidences? Um, uh, this is for what for as much as we know, these are fairly new. Um, and so we don't have a necessarily a list of of offenses or or anything of that sort at this point. Um, this is just we brought it to your attention and in a in a with our rationale to be uniform with what's going on in throughout the metro area. So, thank you. Go ahead.

Since they aren't deemed gambling devices, I take it there's no regulation and they can adjust them to pay out as little as they want. Correct. And I think that's one of the big issues. I mean, you'll see that the state gambling association's even opposed to these because there is no there there is no regulation on these at all. And so, um, you know, the state doesn't regulate them. Uh, you'll find that in the neighboring states, they all recognize what these are and either regulate them or ban them outright. Um, and Missouri seems to be the outlier on that. So, go ahead.

Are they and this this may you may not know, Matt, are they typically owned by the stores? Are they rented from a company that has them? I mean, does the stores make money on I I I'm just saying there's got to be a cash trail here somehow or another. And I I'm just curious that, you know, someone someone's the winner and I would prefer Anyhow. Yes. Just that's just what I have to say. Go ahead. Are we mirroring the ordinance in Springfield that was upheld by the circuit court? Yes, we followed the language essentially that was upheld um in the Springfield case, which is exactly what Kansas City did and we we followed suit. Thank you. Go ahead.

How many of these do we have in Beldon? Do you know the numbers? The total number of machines, I don't have those. The estimated number of businesses is around a dozen. Around 12. We don't know that for a fact. We don't have the That's kind of an estimate. We don't know, but we know of 12. We know somewhere in that range potentially. We basically know of 12 places that have them if we're going by a dozen. And have we gone around and talked to those businesses and they know this is coming up? We have not yet.

So, this kind of like a backdooring this so people have been doing this and we're going to come out and come up with a ordinance so they can do it. I'd more liken this to as if a business went out and purchased some slot machines and then we said, "No, you can't have the slot machines." This is these are very similar in nature. Yeah.

I'm sure they're not cheap, though. Um, but this is basically gambling issue and causing crime, criminal activities. Um, I mean, I know out on the golf course, we bet. I don't have any issues with any crime going out there. I mean, pool tables, um, dart boards down here at the end of the street. I know they bet down there. I I haven't heard of many criminal activities. I'm just saying we've allowed it. There's nothing saying we can't do it. We've got these businesses coming in having these machines, and now we're going to come up with an ordinance saying, "Yeah, you can't have them." Now, there's there's a little bit of a cost there. Um, what are we going to what are we going to do next? I know there's an axe throw in place down here. Are they going to start betting on axe throwing? We going to shut them down? I'm just saying there's a lot more to the the situation that I see than what we're what we're talking about.

In every one of the instances you brought up, Council Member Richardson, the state actually has a has laws against those and the state would be in charge of regulating that and the fact that the state hasn't stepped in to help with this situation is why the cities are left to do this. Go ahead. Just to clarify to your point and to your point, my understanding is that the businesses lease these machines and they retain 50% of the profits in the company they lease them from takes 50%. So I I don't expect that anyone has purchased a machine. They're typically leased. We don't know that for a fact though, do we? Do we have we have numbers on that? No, but that is all I want. Business model.

Go ahead. Does this in any way affect lottery? Say, you know, a business wants to do kino or whatever, you know, lot Missouri lottery. Anything run through the Missouri lottery is is essentially regulated by a state gaming commission of some sort uh in any state. And so that's again part of the problem here is that the state hasn't forayed into this and so they left it left it to the cities to try to handle. Yeah, I understand the latter part, but I guess I just so any of the places that are dozen or so places that are using they can, you know, potentially look at opportunities within the lottery to maybe get the same kind of, you know, whatever.

That's Yeah, that's you know, that's out of our jurisdiction. Go ahead. Just for clarification, I think you used the number 12, but you're not positive that there are 12. That's kind of an estimate that there are 12 correct potential machines. We just don't know for sure. Yeah, we we don't know 100% sure where all the locations are and we're just being proactive basically with this ordinance in a sense. We know there there are some out there but we don't know how many and we just want to stop. Correct. And with Kansas City's ordinance there is the concern that more will will come to Beldon based on Kansas City pushing them out. Thank you.

Go ahead. But the ones that we know of, there's been no issues with crime or criminal activities that have happened in those locations. Nothing ever been reported to the police department for can't speak for the police department on what may have been reported to them on that. We can't definitively say either way. We don't know of any that that have that has taken place, but we haven't studied it to the point where we know that certain areas have certain crime rates at this point since that this is a a fairly zero situation. From what we know, there's zero. We don't know. We don't know of any. Okay. I mean, I'll just say what was reported on the news uh was that there was at least one that took place that a a uh um theft.

Yes. Can I address the council? No, you may not. Just to clarify, only the council can speak. Anybody in the audience can't speak unless they call ahead. prior to the meeting and get on the agenda. So that's why nobody can speak out of it on council. So obviously this will be the first reading. The second reading will be in two weeks or whenever the next meeting is. You can call city clerk's office and she will put you on the agenda. Thank you mayor. I appreciate that.

Yeah. Just to clarify that because more of you are wanting to speak. Anybody else? Hearing none. All in favor? I. Any oppose? No. Motion carries. Item three, motion approving first reading of bill 2025-65, an ordinance amending chapter 13, article 12, parades and processions, an appendix A, schedule the fees and charges of the code of ordinances to update and improve the effectiveness of the parade code. Present.

Second.

We have a motion, a second. You're up. Uh based on our conversation through the work session, uh we are putting forward uh the materials you have tonight, the resolution. Um you'll see in the resolution that there are uh we've incorporated the decisions for no charges in regards to parades. They will be uh no cost at all. The police department will be taking over the resolution. Um um we will not be back charging them toward what I meant for no cost. We will not be charging them for the services of the officers that provide the security. Uh we're doing one route. The application will come through the records department. It'll be routed through the police chief's office. I'll approve it and assign somebody to actually uh facilitate it.

Any questions? Go ahead. Um uh we also talked about the uh weekend after a holiday. I didn't see that in the That's not in the That was removed. That was removed. Okay. Yes. Okay. Thanks. Go ahead. So, just real real quick on that because I had the similar question on that topic. Um can we could we talk about why that was removed and or can we just get a better understanding of what happened with that discussion? It was based on the discussion uh that uh we wanted to provide those for the community and provide it as a service to the community even on the holiday after the weekend

because I I understand it became a police work life balance issue, right? I mean, I'm assuming that's why we discussed it previously. Well, at this time we only have four parades. So, okay, go ahead. And just to state the highlights here, permitting for parades will move from the city clerk to the police department. It will incur a $25 application fee, which is similar to events where the streets are closed. And we are not passing along any fees for police department time and labor for safety of the parades. That's the highlights. Correct. Okay. Thank you. Anybody else? Go ahead. She asked.

Go ahead. Uh, okay. I notice that the Let me use a different word there. I see that we removed the notice of issuance section. Can you talk to me about that? It might be a It might be a clerk question.

My technical expert is going to answer that. notice of issuance. Um, that's worked into the application process already. So, it's not a codified process. Gotcha. Okay. So the reason Okay, that makes a lot more sense because um because I was going to follow up and say so can we so since it's now part of the application process, can you talk through a little bit who is noticed then at that point?

Yeah, when the application comes in, the police will obviously be noticed because they'll receive the application. Fire department, public works, and the community development department are notified. At this point, I would also be notified so I could check to see if there were anything else on the calendar that we know of an event that's already happening. so we don't overlap and they will each provide their approvals or their comments and then it will be approved from there.

Okay. I guess the only ask is I noticed specifically I just think it makes sense that the council be at least informed um and maybe doesn't need to be codified. Maybe it doesn't need to be part of that process. So the council is also informed with the resolution coming to the council with the application attached showing the uh particulars of the parade. So you will be approving the street closure as well as the parade. And also attached to the application will be a list of services provided by the applicant as well as services provided by the city. Perfect. That is what I was looking for. Thank you. Thanks for asking. Um oh, anyone else have anything before I

Go ahead. Um, I know in the work session most of our conversation, probably 90% was about cost and and and I get that it cost the police department to pay overtime and all that. And we do have the public safety tax and I believe there's what $3.6 million in that. That could that could be used for playing paying the police overtime also though, couldn't it? Uh, overtime is out of the operating budget. Uh that would be a finance question, but my understanding is that it is for the salaries of police and fire and the benefits, which is what the cost is that we're paying for the parades, but Well, I just there's no

I'm just saying Yeah, I was just saying we could use some of that if we had to. Public safety sales tax is completely budgeted in terms of financing the operations of the police department, including salaries and benefits. And so, um, it's there. We're not flushed with a bunch of extra cash sitting there for for public safety, if that's what the So, we can't use the public safety tax to help if we had extra cost. We're already using the public safety sales tax in the budget to cover the expenses of the operations is what I'm saying. Gotcha. Okay.

Go ahead. in section 13708. Um while I anticipate this would be an extremely minimal um a rare occurrence, uh why would city council not have the ability to revoke a permit if something were to occur? I would see the revocation happening if something were to occur by the police department who would be there at the event. The council's approval is typically one to two months or more ahead of the parade. It would be the police chief revoking that,

right? And likely it's going to, like I said, I I it'd be an extremely rare situation where it would come to council. I just noticed that specifically I believe was removed in there and I was just trying to understand I mean if it's just because we're saying hey it doesn't really make sense. The police are already going to be there. They're the ones that can we're going to revoke it if there's an issue that requires revoking. Um so it doesn't really it logistically doesn't make sense to have counsel on it. But I guess I was just trying to figure out why we would take that away from council. No particular reason.

Mr. Mayor, if I may. Uh since the council is going to approve these via resolution anyway at any point be before the event occurring if the council were to choose to revoke they could simply resend the resolution or you know bring forth legislation to overturn the resolution if that were if something were to change between the approval and the event taking place. Got otherwise on the on the ground there's no there's not a meeting actively taking place during an event. So that would be up to the police chief to handle. So what you described makes perfect sense then because we don't need to codify something that we would just do anyways. Okay. Anybody else? Hearing none. All in favor?

I. Any oppose? Motion carries. Item four, motion approving first reading of bill 2025-66. An ordinance approving the Belton, Missouri Police Department municipal Jail 2025 housing contract for inmates of the Lake Wnebago, Missouri Police Department. Present. Second. Motion a second. You're still here.

Uh what you have in front of you is the inmate housing contract. It's a standard uh document that we have for housing prisoners for other cities. We uh this is for Lake Wnebago. uh we previously held prisoners for them previous to the CO uh procedures when we reduced our MA population to those just those prisoners from the city of Belton and the city of Raymore and that is due to we have the same prosecutor and the same judge. Um, we have now since opened our jail as you know. Uh, we've also re uh re Oh, sorry I touched the mouse, the magic mouse. And uh we actually have uh u staffing available to bring on one more agency and we're bringing them back. And so the contract is for the standard $63.93 um per day per housing inmate. Any questions? Go ahead.

Just a clarification on the contract because it states that we'll provide three meals to the inmates from Lake Wnebago. And my recollection is our contract is with Belton Regional to provide meals or somebody to provide meals, lunch and dinner, but not breakfast. Yes. But but you have the means to provide breakfast. Yes, we have the means to provide the breakfast. Just that's just a clarification point for me. Thank you. Go ahead. I thought you were ready. Anybody else? Hearing none. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Item five, motion approving resolution number 2025-087.

A resolution adopting the updated city of Belton emergency operations plan. Present. Second. Motion in a second. You're up. Thank you, Mayor and Council. This resolution is for the adoption of the updated 2025 local emergency operations plan uh which we reviewed during the November 10th work session. This comes before council um again every two years for adoption to ensure our emergency operations framework stay current. Um and then tonight's action just formalizes that update and keeps us eligible for our certain state and federal emergency management funding and in line with state. Any questions? Go ahead. Any changes from our work session on this topic?

It's all the same. Okay. Yeah. Anybody else? Hearing none. All in favor? I I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Item six, motion approve resolution 2025-088, a resolution adopting the 2026 legislative policy for the city of Belton. Present. Second. Motion in a second. You're up, sir.

Mr. Mayor and Council, before you is um the resolution to formally adopt our 2026 legislative policy. Um you'll recall that we went through the policy a little bit more. Uh it was presented to you guys. We had some discussion during work session at the previous meeting and uh the typo was fixed and uh and so it's ready to go unless you guys have any amendments or changes you'd like to make. Um assuming this is approved in some form tonight, we have currently scheduled a uh an open house I believe before the December 9th council meeting. Um and we have invited our local, state, and uh federal official to attend. Um, and of course I'd be open for the public to attend as well. So, uh, I guess it's contingent on us formally approving this. I'll stand for any questions.

Any questions? Go ahead. Have we already invited the uh, state and federal elected officials? Have we gotten any confirmations? We've got one most likely yes, saying they may may have to leave early because they have another event later in the evening. Um, This point we have one. Last time we didn't get anybody. Correct. Last year we had two uh two RSVP. Yes. And then backed out within the day before the thing happened. So we did not end up having anybody. We'll try again. Thank you. We'll try again. Anybody else? I I have a question. Is

it's not unusual to ask them to come and talk to us about that. Correct. I I mean it's not unusual for open houses to occur for to talk to legislative officials. I mean there aren't necessarily a lot of cities that are doing this like this. Um is it unusual for them not to come?

That's a good question. I mean like I said I don't know that there are a lot of cities doing this. So it's kind of hard for me to say what's usual and unusual. Most of the time the elected officials, state reps, state senators, US reps, they do their own events and they um they'll sometimes go to other events that they're invited to if it's a big event um and attend. This is something that uh kind of new we're trying tried last year, trying again this year to give it another chance to uh for success just to to get our legislative policy in front of their eyes, allow our Belton residents a chance to to have conversation with them about issues that affect us.

Would it be worth constituents calling them and asking them to please come to this because it impacts the city they live in? Of course. I would never say that constituents shouldn't contact their elected officials for Well, I'm not saying that either, Joe, but I'm just wondering if if if there was enough squeaking of that particular wheel. Would that help?

Generally, that's an effective way of getting participation from elected officials is for constituents to contact them. That's the most effective method I've seen outside of um making campaign contributions. But that that could be something that um like high school students or something could write letters to their uh state represent and say, you know, come to this open house. You know, it that's just an idea I thought I'd float out. That'd be highly welcome. Okay. All right. We can get you contact information if you want it.

Anybody else? Go ahead. If at any point we um I know we kind of set this annually at this point, right? Yeah, we've uh this is I believe the third year now that we've adopted our officially adopted a legislative policy. Yes. Um so if at any point we we decide or we look at something the state makes a change on something whatever and our policy changes we'll we can update this as time goes on.

Sure. and and we have changed it from year to year because there have been things for instance last year's legislative policy discussed um sports gaming. And so now that that's been essentially taken out of our hands or taken away uh through the referendum process, obviously we took it out of our policy because it's no longer more of a a topic for consideration. All right. Thanks. Anybody else? Hearing none. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Item seven, motion approving resolution 2025-089.

A resolution approving a contract between the city of Belton and FNG Mechanical Services, Inc. to replace one Linux 15 ton RTU at station 82 in the amount of $33,500. Present. Second. Motion in a second. you're up.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. It's hard to believe that our new fire station is now over 17 years old. So, as such, the mechanical units of that are starting to age out. And so, we've been working on a process to make sure we change those out in timely fashion so that we don't have breakdowns. And so, we had an open bidding process or we had, I believe, five different companies submit bids. Um, FNG came out as the lowest and best bidder. And it's a company that we have dealt with many times and has done a good job. So, we awarded them the bid for this unit. I believe this is number three of five that we need to replace. So, we're trying to keep that on a replacement program to spread those costs out. Happy to answer any questions you might have.

Any questions? I'm already getting the nod from Casey, but this was in our budget. My apologies. I did uh did not say that. Yes, it was within the budgeted facilities replacement costs that we had worked in the capital improvement budget this year. Thank you, sir. Anybody else? Hearing none. All in favor? I I. Any opposed? Motion passes. Motion approving resolution 2025-090. A resolution amending the tourism council membership and changing the council name. Present. Second.

Motion a second. You're up. In 2022, the tourism council was established. It was citizens, business owners, community organizations. There were also staff put on that committee. Um, it's been recommended that the tourism council be changed to tourism committee as an advisory committee to be more consistent with our other advisory committee names as well as to remove the staff from that board and make them exeicio members. Uh, that way it is a citizen and a business owner comprised board. Any questions? Go ahead.

Um, have we had any applications for the two vacant seats, the citizen at large and the restaurant retail representative? No, I don't believe so. Gotcha. That's why we uh we're changing the two retail just to retail, not a small and a large because it's, you know, hard to get some corporate person to come in here from a large place. So that's why we just change it to two retail.

Okay. Um, and then the second I it's not really a question, but um I see council member Johnson is listed as a permanent representative um for the Belton Main Street Coalition and that council member White would be the city council liaison for this. Um I've said this before and I feel this is true now. The more people that we can get involved and help helping to row the right direction, the better. So to have two council members serve and and interact as a committee member and also be council members I think is a missed opportunity to have more representation and involvement from the community. Um so I would just like to see the council member liaison seat filled and the rest of the um positions be filled by others in the community that aren't also on the council. It also brings up the question of which hat are you wearing when when the handful of us are involved in things over and over and they overlap.

Go ahead.

So I was going to have similar questions on the consent agenda and I wasn't this is I'm just going to talk about it now because I think it's probably relevant to talk about now. For one, for anybody listening, anybody here or anybody at home listening, uh, as you just heard, we are looking for, um, you know, uh, volunteers that want to that are interested in tourism in Belton. Um, so if that's something that you think you're passionate about, please put in an application. Um, so that's a that's an important thing. The other thing is I do I would I understand what we have done with the situation. Um, but I would love to see the liaison be one of our council members that are on that permanent position board and that permanent position board be somebody that's not a council member. Now, I know I'm asking an outside entity to then step somebody from that board to then step up. Um, so I don't know if that's even possible, but I just think that would be a a better fit. Um, but just throwing that out there into the ethers for the two council members involved in that organization.

And I was going to say I'm going to abstain from the conversation since I'm on the ordinance or the resolution. So, I'm not going to participate in the discussion. Go ahead. Well, I imagine someone with the Belton Main Street Coalition would jump at the opportunity because the tourism council and their organization are so aligned. Um, and then to double down on your call for folks that are interested, to me it looks like a restaurant representative, a local restaurant representative would be perfect for this kind of role. And we've got locally owned restaurants. I I have reached out to several waiting on answers. Perfect. Okay.

And I don't I don't think we have a problem asking anybody on on the coalition board to take a spot. I I mean, we I don't think we have a problem with that that at all. I I'm just saying I understand that maybe they won't want to for whatever reason. I don't know. I don't I understand that occurs, but that would be my request just given, you know, more input. Well, we won't meet again until January, but we certainly can talk about that then.

Yeah. I mean, we can Would you like to postpone the resolution that's on the consent agenda actually appointing the individuals? We can do that if you guys want to look at that. Yeah, when we get to that, we'll look at that. Talk about that. So, so for a point of clarification, this resolution is changing the membership and the name, but not appointing an individual. Correct. Okay. Thank you for the clarification. Yeah. Anybody else? Hearing none. All in favor? I.

Any oppose? Motion passes. Consent agenda. One motion nonvailable to approve recommendations noted. Any member of the council may ask for an item to be taken from the consent agenda for discussion and separate action. Present. Second. Motion in a second. Any discussion? Number three, please do it. Do we need to Okay, never mind. I'll shut up. Yeah, let's officially postpone it. Any other debate? Hearing none. All in favor? I.

Any opposed? Motion passes. Motion approving resolution 2025-091. A resolution appointing and reappointing members of the tourism committee. present. Second a motion and a second. You're up. I would like to postpone this until our first or second meeting in January. City manager, do you have a suggestion on date?

No, I don't have a suggestion on that necessarily. I I might make a suggestion. This is uh what if we took the two terms for the Belton Chamber of Commerce and the Belton Main Street Coalition representative and rather than the council formally appointing those, we leave those as representatives of those organizations. those organizations can appoint their own member to that committee. So if the chamber chooses just I'm assuming the chamber would would would appoint Diane and then the the Main Street coalition appoints whoever they choose and then they they come to serve on this board and then it's not even in our hands at all. Yeah. Should we just make

I I have no problem with that as long as there's not a legal issue from the fact that we're not appointing someone specifically. And I know I'm I'm looking at the empty chair, which is our city attorney. Um I don't I don't believe there would be, but I I mean again, if we if we just decide to point those there's no rush in this. Let's just postpone. We can set this aside and find out the the I mean because we can clarify several things, right? If we postpone it. Yeah. So we'll just When's your meeting? January. January the third Tuesday. Okay. So, do we want to just put just push this to the the first meeting in February? First meeting in February. Yeah. Yeah. February 10th.

Wait, if they did I hear you correctly that your meeting is the third Tuesday. Then technically we need to move this to the to the second meeting in January because the council February first meeting February. That's after January. Ah, I didn't realize that. January. All right. So, we have a motion to postpone to the first meeting in February. Is there I've clarified the motion to February 10th. All right. Just to February 10th. I second. We have a motion and a second to postpone till February the 10th. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion carries. And I have council member Johnson abstainating. Yes. Sorry.

Thank you. communication for city council. Council member Johnson, I attended the National League of Cities Conference in Salt Lake City um last week. Um learned a lot about a lot of things that are pertinent to Belton and we'll be sharing those with staff and other council members. Um it was a great conference I thought and the mobile workshops they have were really good. Um, I went to the one about art, um, housing and, um, tiny homes for and solutions for homelessness, and those were all very good and great suggestions, some of which I think we could implement. Um, also too, the coalition is working still on getting everything finalized. I think we're just about there uh, for the Christmas events. Um, and looking forward to the mayor's Christmas tree lighting. So, and wishing everybody a happy and safe Thanksgiving. Council member McCllum.

Uh first I want to just again say congratulations to our new parks director uh Kevin on his promotion. Uh I look forward to continuing to work with you in the future. Um I also want to thank the park board uh for taking the time and going through the uh arduous process of getting us a new park director. So thank you very much to the team that uh um did that. I also attended the National League of Cities conference and um that was quite the experience. There was there was so much I couldn't possibly well I could but you guys would really start throwing stuff at me if I tried to possibly go over everything that occurred there. You're three minutes.

Uh yeah, see I've already been told by the mayor I got three minutes. So, but um there's a lot of really great things for brevity purposes. is I'll just highlight a couple things that I um came across that I hope that we might be able to potentially apply here, which there was ideas about the planning and zoning codes, which I know we're in the process of going through. Uh adding art to the city. I think that's something we I know we're already focused on. I know we've already got our first mural, but I'm looking forward to more on that front. Um master plan communities. Wow, there's some some really um good ideas that can be taken from that. Even if we aren't looking at a master plan community, I think there's some ideas there. For example, looking at historic and sought-after neighborhoods, um, for planning our future neighborhoods. Um, and then one of the things I thought was just really neat, um, was this idea that I heard a couple times of building a team of quote unquote rivals, right? So, um looking into having the best um people um on whatever board on council and whatever um even if the ideas aren't always the same, uh it's about getting the the best of the best, right? So, I just wanted to share that some of those things from that conference, it was uh like I said, it was there was sometimes information overload. Uh the TDD board I do have an update on uh in that I was unable to attend that because I was at the National League of um cities conference. So I will have to get you guys an update at a later time. Um and uh and as regarding parks, um I'm not going to go over the whole list of all the upcoming things because there's a lot of them. Um but I will just point out that parks will be attending the light parade which will be taking place um this weekend. And um and I've heard there's over 60 entrance at this point, so it should be a lot of fun. I hope to see everybody out there. Uh Wallace Park Playground has already

started the process of being torn out. They have officially received um the the green light to go ahead. So that's really exciting for everyone except my kids who are going to be disappointed. They're going to have to wait now until spring to play on that playground. Um but that should be should be an awesome outcome. And uh high blue will close tomorrow at 400 p.m. and remain closed on Thursday for Thanksgiving. So just wanted to remind everybody that. And then of course we still have Operation Santa underway. Um barrels are around town um for food and toy donations through December 5th. That is everything on my list. Um Councilman Richard,

I want to congratulate Kevin Feedback on the new appointment as parks director. Thanks. Um, also I know we have the light parade this Saturday. Um, small business Saturday. There's a lot of stuff going up on uh Main Street Saturday. I think it starts at like 4. I think it's going all day, but light parade I believe starts at 5:30. Um, also I want to say that I I attended the youth forum meeting on the 13th of November. Um, they have a new place to meet and they are looking for donations and I believe I was the only person from council that was there, but they are looking for donations for food. Um, they need rides, um, money to to purchase things that they need. So, I'm sure all our c I mean, I donated a few things, so I'm sure the rest of our council can donate some stuff to them, too. So, I appreciate the uh the meeting that we had and it's it's a pretty good thing for the Belton School District and the city in general. So, thanks.

Go ahead.

Uh I'll also throw in the congratulations to Kevin Feedback as our new parks director. Excited to see you lead our parks forward. Um I will mention that the Oldtown Redevelopment Corp has been meeting and discussing refinements to the policy. These would be the first changes since the policy was implemented in 2021. Um, and it should clarify some things and and maybe make some distinctions between commercial, residential, and just make the policy more effective. Along with that, we will also have a new open seat possibly too for a resident or local business owner to join that board as well. So, again, just opening up uh seats to folks to come and have a say and help shape these policies, I think is a good thing. Um, and then I'll just say thanks to city staff for all their hard work this year as we head into the Thanksgiving holiday. Thanks to the Belton Youth Commission reps for being here and our teachers, Joanie and Chandler. Thank you so much. Uh, and thanks to folks that have to work over the weekend. So, that's what I got.

Welcome, Kevin. I'd be remiss if I didn't say hello. So, um, thank you to the youth council that came and talked with us. I It was eye opening and you had some really good questions. I enjoyed talking with you and I think we definitely need more of this. So, look forward to working with you more in the future. And I am also looking forward to the parade of lights and the mayor's Christmas tree lighting. It's it's that time of year to get together and have some fun.

Thanks for the youth council for coming tonight and and giving me all sorts of ideas that I needed to write down and I need to do that before I forget. Um, I also went to Salt Lake. I cannot tell you how overloaded my brain is at this point. Um, I talked about parks, I talked about equipment, I talked about uh road blockage things that have to be moved with heavy equipment, Greg, and um, I I talked to a lot of people, but most importantly, I found ideas that can be brought back and put into practice from a very big city to a very small town. And I like that. And I like the connections I made to adjoining uh Overland Park and Kansas City. I made some connections there that I think that we can work on. Um several issues from homelessness to, you know, transportation. I made some real good connections there. Um I'm probably going to give Matt Wright fits for the next couple months about all the volume of notes I took, but it was it was it was fun. Um the railroad is very excited about the holiday Santa Train. Um, and we're we're first time in many many years that we've done that. So, we're very excited about that. And that'll all be part of the downtown main street Christmas stuff. All right. Anybody else? All right. Uh, again, Kevin, thank you. U, thank you for the youth council for being here. Look forward to working with you guys. Uh, hope everybody has a happy holiday this week. And uh I I too went to the National League of Cities. Uh it was very it was a good conference this year. It was a lot of good information. Um the two big things, well there are several big things, but I'm still processing a lot of it. But one of the things was how Salt Lake City has u taken homeless on

and um and tackled it pretty good. I think uh they created a semi-corporation about 10 years ago to start dealing with it and then they developed a small city, small house city about 60 units on the first phase and the second phase is going to be like 460 more. But they uh they didn't make housing the center focus with these with these people. They've focused on the people and trying to rehabilitate the people and give them a purpose in life. And in this corporation, they they've created businesses that the formerly homeless people work in now. And one of them, they created a doughnut shop that is generating about a million dollars a year in revenue. Uh, and they also 10 years ago they started a moving company with one truck. And this year they got 70 trucks and generating about $4 million a year in revenue. and they got several other businesses. So, so they've taken it taken the bull by the horns and they've created something. So, it it'll be interesting to see how that works out with them. So, another thing that sticks to my mind right now is another tour was about zoning. Of course, they got housing problems just like every city in the country. and they they've taken 67 zoning uh areas and they converted it down to six. So that was a surprise that they were able to do that and still be successful. So with that, that's all I got. So you have anything, sir?

The only thing I have, Mr. Mayor is with the holiday of course um city hall and city uh offices will be closed on Thursday uh for Thanksgiving and then of they also will be closed Friday. Uh so after tomorrow the next day the city offices will be open as Monday. Uh definitely want to thank all of our first responders who'll be working through the holiday because they don't get to take those days off. Um and then just also just a a kind of a warning u winter weather is coming. I want the public to know that that's uh there's even a possibility of something as soon as this uh weekend and into next week. So, our public works crews will be out if there is winter weather and working on the streets. So, please help help them. Thank you.

I will add I know everybody's talked about it, but Mayor's Christmas tree Saturday, December 6th at from 5 to 7 here at the Peace Park. So, uh items for review and discussion. Item K, state statute amendment relating to liquor law during FIFA tournament.

Yes, thank you. On August 28th, 2025, the state approved a new section to the alcoholic beverage statute in RSMO 311 extending the hours for the buy the drink sales from 6:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. during FIFA, which is June 11 through July 19 of next year. The extension expires on July 20. Retailers are not required to apply to the state or the city for any additional licensing to allow this extension. They'll automatically receive it. The new statute allows the city to opt out of the extended hours provisions or to modify the hours by adopting an ordinance. While the police chief and I are not specifically recommending the city opt out or modify, we wanted to bring this matter to the city council's attention and to also receive your feedback. And Chief Lions has a PowerPoint he's going to share. She basically said everything that I was gonna say,

but he has pictures. I get points for a PowerPoint. And so, uh, currently under our ordinance, the sale of alcohol is between 6:00 a.m. and then 1:30 a.m. the next morning. And so, with this new, um, addition to the state law, uh, it'll be from June 11th to July 19th. Like uh Andrea said, it is extending it to 500 a.m. which is three and a half additional hours. So it would be alcohol being sold for 23 hours during those days. Why not just make it 24?

So the businesses are allowed to stay open 24. They're only allowed to sell 23.

Yeah. And so uh it's pretty simple. Uh we've had a number of cities around us that have considered this issue. I think some of them actually have been on the news. You've probably seen them. Um, some cities have chosen to opt out um but allow the businesses to uh continue um just selling food and other items just not alcohol. Um that's why they chose and they chose to opt out. Then other cities have chosen not to do anything and then to allow these businesses just to let free enterprise uh determine what what um consumer demand is. Um we're there's been some discussion amongst our police command staff. Uh we really don't believe that you're going to find a lot of FIFA parties going till 5:00 a.m. because most of the games are already going to be done and the games are in Kansas City that most people are going to be concerned about or West Coast. So it might be a situation where some bars decide or businesses decide to stay open only a couple hours. Once again, that's just the that's just uh economic decision that they would make on their own. And then uh this will expire on the 20th of July.

Any questions? Any question? I have a question. Yes. And it may not in it may not involve this although it could and this is a Kevin question. Have we been contacted about practice space or do we know that we have teams coming here to practice that they would have a fan base following them around drinking until 5:30 in the morning or I mean we have not been contacted by anybody. Okay. So So okay I mean and they would have already right? Yeah I'd imagine.

Anybody else? Any questions? Just for clarification, there's no games going on that late. This isn't a worldwide event where games are happening at 5:00 a.m. No. The as far as the United States concerned, if they were happening at another time zone, they would probably go into those those early morning or late morning hours. Go ahead. I don't believe they've even made the announcement of who's playing here in Kansas City yet, have they? Uh, they coming out December 5th, right? It's an inside.

So, nobody could even contact if they don't know they're playing here. So, I mean, it could be a possibility where they need to practice space, but we won't know until we know what teams are coming. So, I I mean, I'd be okay adopting the the deal that they're coming to Kansas City with the extra five hours. So, the businesses will automatically receive it and there's nothing that the city needs to do to allow it. Okay. the city would need to opt out of it.

Got is I'm not seeing a lot of consternation from you as our police chief. Uh we're not anticipating there to be, you know, undue hardship on our police force through this.

I don't believe through this. Uh we're already suspending vacations. We've already suspended vacations a year out and any type of personal leave during this period. In fact, we're staffing up above at our maximum levels. We're probably putting an additional three officers on the road. At any one time in Belton, there's only three officers and a sergeant or a supervisor. Uh we're upping that to eight plus maybe a couple more running 49 highway and 58. At night, we're going to be running more towards our hotels because we expect our hotels and our retail areas to be a little bit more active. And so we anticipate using those night cars for that. We're also going to be using some of our MDOT uh hazardous enforcement grants to be running some enforcement operations while we try to keep police officers concentrated on calls for service. But we're providing no officers to go up and work any of the FIFA events. In fact, it's been a com conversation amongst most of the police chiefs in Kansas City metropolitan area that we're not going to participate in putting officers up there on off duty because we don't know what our own citizen citizens are going to need and we don't want to take any of our manpower that might be needed here locally and put it in Kansas City.

And have you um have you talked to our part our like local partner like the sheriff for example or Raymore? Do we know what they're doing intending to do similar to us or We've been talking about this for quite some time. I think as we get closer it'll start to get a little bit more concrete, but I think I'm I'm I'm actually probably one of the more open-minded um about this and even me, I'm saying keep our police officers here locally.

Okay. In fact, I know Kansas City's actually reached outside the metropolitan area to get officers to work off duty to take stress off of their officers. They're trying to look for communities that are not not impacted by the hotels. U but we already know that hotels reservations are as far south as Witchah and as far east as Colombia. So on that so similar but not exactly the same. We usually have a fairly big event occur during that time period put on by our parks. No. Is it before that? It's at the end of May. Yes.

Ah, that's right. I was thinking Okay. Okay. Never mind. Perfect. Glad that doesn't coincide and create problems. Okay. Anybody else? So, if the business wanted to opt out, they could just not be open. It's not a requirement. It's just allowing them to do that if they want to. So, it's nothing again nothing that we need to do if we unless we want to opt out as a city. Correct. We do have 21 lenses that would be allowed to do this. 21 21.

So, if we're clear with the direction from the council, there's no desire for us to try to opt out or change this in any way. I don't think we need to. if if the business owners get to decide if they're going to stay open. I mean, yeah. Is there a time period we have to decide to opt out by? I didn't see that in any of the material or the statute. So, for some reason, I mean, I I agree with what council member Thompson there just said, which is I'd rather leave it up to the businesses to make that decision. Um, but if for some reason something came up unforeseen that we go, you know what, we do want to opt out of this, we can do that at a later time.

I if I'd like us to try to come up with a way, and we council can can choose to do this how they how they choose. I I think that it would be tough for a local business to plan on this eventually buy a bunch of inventory because they're going to have a few extra hours of and and and then come June, the first week, they come in and and then the council says, "Oh, well, we want to do an emergency ordinance to change this." That'd be kind of a tough a tough pill to swallow for local businesses. And so, I think I think we should give them the opportunity to at least plan if they so choose to do so. Um, I was just thinking if something unforeseen came up that made us want to opt out, but I don't.

Fair enough. See that personally? All right. And I I take it that you like the PowerPoint over the discussion. It's much better. Yes. Man, that's kind of mean. All right. I'm told we're postponing item two. So item three, economic development policy committee.

Mr. Mayor and Council, this is just simply um just trying to get direction from you and feedback from you. It is my intention, assuming you don't direct me a different direction, that we would bring forth a resolution to create an economic development committee. Um that would essentially uh what I'm proposing is that we it would include uh the city manager, the economic development director, and um the mayor and uh probably two council members, two additional council members. Um the rationale behind creating this committee is uh as you heard this evening from different council members, there are different trainings um that take place throughout the year um that council can potentially opt into and and attend. things like MML, NLC, things of that of that nature. Um, and then there also at times might be an opportunity that comes forth to the city to look at an economic development proposal or or some potential possibility of of of a of a potential, I don't know, go look at this in this city to see if it's something the city of Belton would be interested in trying to attract, that type of thing. and just just kind of essentially codifying that a little bit. Um, and so we don't have any kind of policy right now in economic development when it comes to okay, do we send council members, do we not send council members, do we limit council members? We don't have a policy on well how many council members go to trainings or how many council members, how many trainings can they go to? Um and and I think it's really contingent that the council kind of for lack of a better term polices itself when it comes to that. And so what I would recommend is we create this committee. The first task of the committee would be that we just we say okay come up with a proposed policy on travel and training. Um craft it, shape it, bring it to the council for for a recommendation. Uh the

council would have to formally approve that. Um, and just kind of and and if there is an instance where we find something that's pretty interesting that could maybe work well in Belton that this is the council, this is the committee, the economic development committee that's charged with kind of um running through the paces and seeing if this is something worth pursuing or not or at least recommending to the council to pursue. Does that does that all make sense? Yep. Go ahead. Oh, I thought you had your hand up. Any questions? You're looking for volunteers. I'll throw my hat in the ring.

Well, the next step would be to to create a a resolution and create a committee essentially. And then um once that's done, uh and assuming the council has created the committee, then it'd be an appointment to the committee. And then after that, it'd be what kind of uh activity do you want the committee to take part in and what kind of policy do you want them to craft? So, also be interested Okay, fair enough. We'll move forward.

Anything else? All right. Item L. I'd entertain a motion to enter in executive session to discuss matters pertain to legal actions according Missouri state statute 610.021.1 pertaining to the leasing purchase sale of real estate according to Missouri statute 610.021.2 pertaining to negotiated contracts according Missouri state statute 610.21.12 and the record to be closed in the meeting adjourned from there. Is that second? Mr. Mayor, if I may. We do not need one necessarily if we'd like to go ahead and cancel and the whole line. Oh, okay. So much for all that reading. Motion to adjurnn. Second.

We have a motion and a second to adjurnn. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor? I. Any opposed?