City Council - Regular Meeting

If you will stand with me, I will lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance 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.

Thank you. You can be seated. So I'm actually going to be reopening the open meeting, because we had opened it previously and it went into closed session. So I'm going to call the open meeting back to order. First item on the agenda is confirmation of a quorum.

Council Member Kaler.

Present.

Bolin. Present. Rommel.

Present.

Erickson.

Present.

Markworth.

Present.

Rowan.

Present.

Mayor Levesay.

Here.

We have a quorum.

Next item is the consent agenda. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Is there a second?

Second.

Is there any discussion? Yes, sir.

Yeah, Council Member Erickson.

Item E, as in ECHO, I'm just really happy that we're doing the sign on Main Street and 7 Highway in 2019 when I ran for City Council. That was one of my major objectives, and I didn't have anything to do with it without all of you guys, but I'm really happy that that's happening.

Yes, Councilmember. Actually, we have in the audience Ms. Kim Compton, who is the owner of the property at Seven and Main, and just want to thank her for her participation. Give her a round of applause. I think that's worth it. This has been a great example of a public-private partnership working well. I think this process probably didn't go as fast as she wanted, but she stuck with us, and yes, I think at least the 08 Downtown Master Plan, probably going back to the Priority 90s plan or the Downtown Master Plan before that, There's been a desire to have a downtown monument right at Seven and Main, and so this allows us to do that because of the participation of the Seven and Main property and Ms. Compton, and so excited to get this done. Across the finish line, the CID board voted to contribute to some funds to this as well, and so it's gonna be a pretty big opportunity for us to make that happen, so good comment, Council Member Erickson. Any other discussion on the consent agenda? Okay, with that, then roll call.

Council Member Kaler.

Aye.

Boland. Aye. Brummel.

Aye. Erickson. Aye. Markworth. Aye.

Rowan.

Aye.

Mayor Levesay.

Aye.

Motion carries.

Next, item four was withdrawn by the applicant, so we'll go to the public hearing of the annual budget. And I see Ms. Cates over there ready to go. Do you have any items to read? Okay, city clerk has some exhibits to read for the record.

Mayor, the city has one exhibit to enter into the record. City Council information form dated August 19th, 2026, with the following attachments. Budget and brief, notice of public hearing, and bill adopting the 2026-27 budget. This is all we have to enter for the record.

Okay, Ms. Cates, I do have to swear you're in because of the public hearing, so if you'll raise your right hand. We swear the testimony about to give in this case be the truth, so help you God.

I do.

Then give us your name and address for the record. And is that mic on? You might get close to it. It is. Is that better?

Yep.

Christine Cates, 903 West Main Street, Louis Springs, Missouri, 64015. Good evening, Mayor and members of the council. We'll give an abbreviated budget and brief from the presentation we provided at the budget work session on August 13th. Most notably, I will mention a couple of times in this presentation that our total budget number has changed. During our final review of the budget, we realized that we had not included the debt service for the Public Safety Sales Tax Fund. So that's one number, almost $1.4 million that was added to the total, which brings our overall total of the budget $1.4 million higher. The proposed budget is for fiscal year 26-27 and runs from October 1st through September 30th, 2027. We'll take a look at three things in this budget in brief. We'll look at high level of the numbers, where the money comes from and where it goes, how the budget ties to the city's strategic plan, and then also the capital improvement program that was approved by the council in July. You will notice the budget reflects two specific things this year that is different from previous year's budget. First, this budget was balanced by our team without cutting services this year. The departments individually submitted their budgets and identified areas where reductions could be made if there was a general fund gap to close. At the beginning of the budget process, when we put all the numbers together, we had a gap of $1.6 million. And that was closed by including vacancy allowances in the personnel budget, where it made the most sense, and taking the department recommendations for further reductions. The other thing you'll notice in this budget is that the budgets have been rebuilt. They are ADA accessible, which means the budget document is longer now, but it's easier to read, and for people that have disabilities, it makes it accessible for them. And we also rebuilt the entire budget to incorporate the strategic plan throughout the budget document. So all of the capital improvement program and then all of the departments tie all of their goals and objectives back to the strategic plan. The total proposed budget, oh this has the old one, I'm sorry. This is not the proposed budget. Everything is right on this page except the total budget number. In your documents, you will see for the approval and for the ordinance, the total proposed budget is $136.3 million, which is at 20% over the adopted fiscal year 25-26 budget. That total now from this number includes the addition that I mentioned of the Public Safety Sales Tax Fund debt service. The only debt service that we currently pay out of the Public Safety Sales Tax is on this building. When the tax was approved, the debt service included both funding for the payment of the radio system as well as this building, and now we are just making the payments on this building. The capital improvements and capital outlay total $55.8 million, covering streets, parks, utilities, and public safety. Full-time positions equals 343.13, a net increase of three positions. These three positions are all real-time crime center operators for the Drone First Responder Program. Two of those positions are currently filled, and then the new position becomes effective on October 1st. This is the build-out of the capability we've been working toward, which is also in the strategic plan. On reserves, the general fund balance must stay at or above 25% of operating expenditures. For 26-27, that requirement is 10.2 million, and we need it. A reminder on the reserve policy, each year, 50% of the growth in unassigned fund balance is allocated to the preventive pavement management program. That is how we've been converting our fiscal discipline and savings into additional work on the streets without asking for additional revenue at that point. Total projected revenues are 136.3 million. The number that will change on this related to the public safety sales tax payment is the use of cash reserves. From 6.9 million, that number goes up to 8.3 million. The correct budget and brief is included in your packet. Utility service fees are the single largest source of revenue at roughly 25 million, followed by city sales tax at 11.3. Revenues are up in nearly every category. The largest increases are taxes at 1.32% or $648,000. Charges for services at just under 6% and fines and forfeits at 18%, which is about $121,000. Licenses and permits are the only category projected to decline and only slightly. That is a development activity we are watching. It's not a red flag, but we monitor building permits to anticipate what may be changing in the economy. We will also be closely watching interest income as the interest rate environment changes and we spend down cash reserves and bond proceeds. So with less money invested, we earn less money on interest income. At the next council meeting, we will set the 2026 property tax levy. We do not have the final adjustments related to the 2023 Board of Equalization hearings, which are what the county is using to base their property tax credits on. So there may be an opportunity in the future for a property tax recoupment, but we do not have those numbers and cannot consider that yet at the next council meeting. So once those numbers are known, we'll be able to have discussions about a recoupment in a future year. So that is an area we did not anticipate or Plan for reductions in the budget is on the property tax credits since we don't know the numbers yet So we'll monitor that closely as the tax bills go out in November We will watch and see has the revenues come in our revenues for property taxes come in Pretty steadily from the end of December through February and so we'll be able to get the final numbers of the tax credits and then be able to anticipate how they might impact our budget next year and We will likely recommend the use of unassigned fund balance next year to maintain our operating budget if the tax credits impact our overall budgeted revenue for property tax. And so we will keep you updated as that comes through so that we can make the necessary and anticipated adjustments. Total budget expenditures match resources at 136.3, again, with the inclusion of the $1.4 million for public safety sales tax debt service. The three largest categories are capital improvements, debt service, and public safety. But the category view is not the most useful view, and that is the change we made this year. We have mapped operating expenditures to the strategic priorities that you adopted in the strategic plan. You can see that on the right of this slide. When we take the entire budget and break it down by strategic category area, you can see $9.6 million for balanced growth, $620,000 for community identity. Infrastructure is the $97.5 million plus the $1.4 million for the debt service, $22.4 million for community safety and well-being, $4.8 million for organizational health for a total budget of $136.3 million. Capital improvements, as mentioned, is 55.8 million. Parks is the largest category at 36.1, driven primarily by Southwest Park construction, which was originally scheduled for completion in December 2028. and will likely now be at full completion in 2029, but construction will start in 27, with most of it being completed in 28. On November 10th, we have planned on your calendar an update from the Parks Master Plan that will also include a detailed update on this project, as well as Central Park, what's planned for Central Park next year, and our status update on the Adams Point Conference Center. In addition, the other projects that we have working on, as you know, is a downtown streetscape, this Niobar wastewater treatment plant improvements, Highway AA improvements that we have a grant from Mark and MoDOT on. That work is ongoing through 2027, but construction won't begin until 2028 once we have all the environmental studies completed. Wyatt Road East construction, the public works facility renovation and expansion, Southwest Park, a continuation of the preventive pavement management program, and ongoing water and sewer maintenance. We have a full project list and cost detail in the capital improvements program section of our budget. This is a slide that we use when we often discuss with residents how the property taxes and sales taxes that they pay, how they are distributed. The number for property tax currently on the slide is the 2025 property tax. Once the levy is adopted, we will update this, and then the sales tax graph will have no changes. This page is a summary of estimated fund positions across all of the funds for the year. Across all funds, we begin the year at $105.6 million and end at 97.3. That is a plan decrease and it represents the use of cash reserves. The general fund ends the year essentially flat at 16.18 million, which is well above the 10.2 million reserve requirement. Three funds worth pointing out. Park sales tax shows 37.8 million in revenues against the small beginning balance. That's related to the fact that we will be issuing bonds in the next fiscal year to complete the construction of the park. Sewer utility ends the year at 27.6, some of which will be used to finalize the plans for the Sniabar plant and start construction. Public safety ends at 9.9. That fund now carries the $1.4 million in debt service not reflected earlier. And if there's any questions about any specific funds, we can walk through those individually.

Good. Could you repeat, maybe just for the public, the difference between the $136.3 million and the lower figure? What was that attributed to?

Yeah, when we did the final review of our budget after the budget work session, we identified that the debt service for the public safety building in the public safety sales tax fund was not included. So we had time to adjust it and put the correct number in, in which increased the budget by 1.4 million. Thank you. You're welcome. This is a balanced budget that maintains service levels, fund reserves at 10.2 and puts 36.1 million into park improvements, our largest capital category this year. The departments, I thank them again each time we can with the budget process. We all work together to find solutions so that we're not looking at layoffs or reducing services to maintain our budget. Throughout my tenure here, that's not always been the case, so when we have a year when we can pull it together without having to make big changes and still be able to accomplish everything that we have in next year, we're very pleased with that. We'll continue to monitor the property tax credits. I think that's the biggest unknown that will impact our budget this year. And we're available for any questions about the budget.

Any questions for Ms. Gate from the council? Okay, this is a public hearing, so I will go to the audience. Does anyone in the audience like to speak in support of, in support of? Anyone speak in opposition to? Okay, any comments from the council while we're still in public hearing? I'm gonna go ahead, I'll add my comments now rather than waiting for a discussion. I just want to again thank staff for putting the budget together. I see Ms. Lurie in the back there. Thank you for all your hard work. I think we've talked about a lot. A budget is not just a financial document, it's a policy document. And as Ms. Cates pointed out, I appreciate we attaching those to the strategic plan because this budget is heavily focused on infrastructure, which is what we hear from the residents, not only street maintenance, but keeping up maintenance of our existing facilities. keeping up maintenance of our utilities and so a heavy focus on that heavy focus on public safety and keeping residents safe and really i think especially in the last few years this council has really started to show results and making sure that we're doing what the public says we want them to do and i think this budget reflects that again so i want to thank everybody again for their putting that together with that if no other comments and i will close the public hearing this is first reading only so i just need a motion to approve on first reading

So moved.

Do I need any more than that, or is that good enough? Okay, I need an introduction first. So Councilmember Kalit, would you like to introduce? Yes, Your Honor. It's not just a resolution, it's just first reading. Okay, I have an introduction from Councilmember Kalit.

First reading of bill 5 4 2 6 an ordinance approving adopting and appropriating the annual operating and capital budgets of the city of Blue Springs Missouri for the fiscal year October 1 2026 to September 30th 2027 your honor I move to approve on the first reading Okay, I have first reading only do I have a second second is there any discussion on first reading?

Okay, then this is a voice vote all in favor aye any opposed no motion carries Okay, I don't have any speaker appearance forms on the public comments for the following ordinances. So next item on the agenda is item eight, introduction and reading of bill 5427, amending the code of ordinances regarding offenses. I'll introduce it.

First reading of bill 5427, an ordinance amending chapter 220, offenses of the code of ordinances, city of Blue Springs, Missouri, regarding unlawful transactions with a child, unlawfully gaining entry into a motor vehicle, and interference with first responders.

Your Honor, I move to approve on the first reading and proceed to the second.

Is there a second? Second. Any discussion? I'll just add for the purposes of the public, this item here, this bill, and the following four are all just updating our code to be reflective of state law, either updated state law or federal law, Supreme Court rulings. And so we're just codifying these to make our code of ordinances apply to existing state law. There's no other discussion. All in favor, aye. Aye. Any opposed, no. Motion carries. Second reading.

Second reading, Bill 5427, an ordinance amending Chapter 220, Offenses of the Code of Ordinances, City of Blue Springs, Missouri, regarding unlawful transactions with a child, unlawfully gaining entry into a motor vehicle, and interference with first responders.

Your Honor, I move to approve the second reading and sign the appropriate ordinance number. Is there a second? Second. Any further discussion? Roll call.

Councilmember Tholen? Aye. Brummel?

Aye.

Erickson?

Aye.

Markworth?

Aye.

Rowan?

Aye.

Kaler?

Aye.

Mayor Levesay?

Aye.

Motion carries and given ordinance number 5519.

Next is item 9, introduction and reading of bill 5428, amending the code of ordinances related to panhandling and handbills.

Your Honor, I'll introduce it.

First, reading of bill 5428, an ordinance amending chapter 220, offenses of the code of ordinances, city of Blue Springs, Missouri, regarding panhandling and distribution of handbills.

Your Honor, I move to approve on the first reading and proceed to the second.

Is there a second? Second. Any discussion? All in favor, aye. Aye. Any opposed, no. Motion carries. Second reading.

Second reading of Bill 5428, an ordinance amending Chapter 220, Offenses of the Code of Ordinances, City of Blue Springs, Missouri, regarding panhandling and distribution of handbills.

Your Honor, I move to approve the second reading and assign the appropriate ordinance number. Is there a second? Second. Any further discussion? Roll call.

Council Member Brummell?

Aye.

Erickson?

Aye.

Markworth?

Aye.

Rowan?

Aye.

Kaler?

Aye.

Boland? Aye. Mayor Levesay?

Aye.

Motion carries and given ordinance number 5520.

Next is item 10, introduction to Arena Bill 5429, amending the code and ordinances related to authorized emergency vehicles.

Your Honor, I'll introduce it.

First reading of Bill 5429, an ordinance amending section 310.070 of the Code of Ordinances, City of Blue Springs, Missouri, regarding approach of authorized emergency vehicles.

Your Honor, I move to approve on the first reading and proceed to the second.

Is there a second? Second. Any discussion? All in favor, aye. Aye. Any opposed, no. Motion carries, second reading.

Second reading of Bill 5429, an ordinance amending section 310.070 of the Code of Ordinances, City of Blue Springs, Missouri, regarding approach of authorized emergency vehicles.

Your Honor, I move to approve the second reading and apply it via appropriate ordinance number. Is there a second? Second.

Any further discussion?

Roll call.

Councilmember Erickson?

Aye.

Markworth?

Aye.

Rowan?

Aye.

Kaler?

Aye.

Bolin? Aye. Rummel?

Aye.

Mayor Levesay?

Aye.

Motion carries and given ordinance number 5521.

Next is item 11, Introduction to Amendment Bill 5430, Amendment Code of Ordinances Related to Stunt Driving.

I'll introduce it, Your Honor.

First Reading Bill 5430, An Ordinance Amending Chapter 340, Miscellaneous Driving Rules of the Code of Ordinances, City of Blue Springs, Missouri, Regarding Stunt Driving.

Your Honor, I move to approve on the first reading and proceed with the second.

Is there a second? Second. Any discussion? All in favor, aye. Aye. Any opposed, no. Motion carries, second reading.

Second Reading Bill 5430, an ordinance amending Chapter 340, Miscellaneous Driving Rules of the Code of Ordinances, City of Blue Springs, Missouri, regarding stunt driving.

Your Honor, I move to approve the second reading and assign the appropriate ordinance number. Is there a second? Second.

Any further discussion?

Roll call.

Councilmember Markworth?

Aye.

Rowan?

Aye.

Kaler?

Aye.

Boland? Aye. Brummel?

Aye.

Erickson? Aye. Mayor Levesay?

Aye.

Motion carries and given ordinance number 5522.

Next is item 12, introduction of reading of bill 5-4-3-1, approving an intergovernmental agreement with Jackson County. I'll introduce it.

First reading of bill 5-4-3-1, an ordinance approving an intergovernmental agreement between the City of Blue Springs and Jackson County for 2026 infrastructure grant funding for Central Park improvements.

Your Honor, I move to approve on the first reading and proceed to the second.

Is there a second? Second. Any discussion? Yes, Your Honor. Councilmember Erickson. I would like to just, for the public again, because I'm excited about this, could someone tell us the amount of money and what we're going to use it for, for Central Park?

I think I know, but staff, why don't you do it so I get it right.

Yeah, this pavement is from Jackson County for $250,000, and we are going to use it along with some CDBG funding this year to create the gathering space at Central Park.

This is a part of the ARPA funding that the county had left over, yeah. Thank you, and that's nice.

Exciting to continue to make progress on Central Park and add to the downtown amenities. Okay, are we on first reading? Any other discussion? All in favor, aye. Aye. Any opposed, no. Motion carries, seconded.

Second Reading Bill 5431, an ordinance approving an intergovernmental agreement between the City of Blue Springs and Jackson County for 2026 infrastructure grant funding for Central Park improvements.

The owner I move we approve the second reading and assign the appropriate ordinance number. Is there a second? Second. Is there any discussion? Okay, roll call.

Councilmember Rowan.

Aye.

Kaler?

Aye.

Folin? Aye. Rommel?

Aye.

Erickson?

Aye.

Markworth?

Aye.

Mayor Levesay?

Aye.

Motion carries and given ordinance number 5523.

Next is item 13, introduction and readings of bill 5432, accepting a cross-access easement with America's Community Bank, downtown Blue Springs.

I'll introduce it, your honor.

First reading of bill 5432, an ordinance accepting cross-access easement between America's Community Bank and the city of Blue Springs.

Your Honor, I move to approve on the first reading and proceed to the second.

Is there a second? Second.

Is there any discussion? Yes, sir. Council Member Erickson. Could staff please say for the public why this is so nice? Please.

Our Director of Strategic Initiatives.

Hello. Yes. So this is a cross access agreement with America's Community Bank. Currently the city and America's Community Bank share what we call the Smith Street parking lot which is in front of the public safety building. So this cross access easement formalizes I guess use of a shared parking system between the two property property owners. But the next item on the agenda is the approving of a memorandum of understanding between the city and America's Community Bank for the Smith Street Improvements Project, where we will be widening Smith Street to be a two-way street. It's currently a one-way street. And with that, we will reorient the parking lot and create an up-to-code, up-to-MUTCD standard parking system.

Your Honor, I have to compliment George for answering my next question. So thank you very much.

Yes, we are improving parking and access in downtown Blue Springs. Again, adding to the downtown amenities started off by Ms. Compton at the beginning of the meeting. And lots of exciting things happening in downtown Blue Springs. Any further discussion on first reading? Okay, all in favor, aye. Aye. Any opposed, no. Motion carries, second reading.

Second reading of Bill 5432, an ordinance accepting cross-access easement between America's Community Bank and the City of Blue Springs.

Your Honor, I move we approve the second reading and assign the appropriate ordinance number. Is there a second? Second. Any further discussion?

Roll call.

Councilmember Kaler?

Aye.

Folin? Aye. Brummel?

Aye.

Erickson?

Aye.

Markworth?

Aye.

Rowan?

Aye.

Mayor Levesay?

Aye.

Motion carries and given ordinance number 5524.

Okay, this one is just a resolution, so I just need a motion to approve the resolution.

So moved.

Okay, is there a second?

Second.

We already had some discussion. Any discussion added to this? No. Just more excitement happening downtown. This will add to the project with the streetscape and Central Park, so just continue to make progress. So with that, all in favor, aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. That is all of our business items on the agenda. I have no speaker appearance forms for tonight's meeting. So we'll go to council member comments. Any council members have some things to add tonight? Anybody attend any football games? Anything fun?

Council member Erickson, what'd you got? I went to my least favorite city in Missouri, St. Louis. and I shouldn't say that. My grandson's soccer team won the tournament, the Nike tournament. They got first place, obviously, to win. They went 4-0, and it was fun and hot. Very exciting.

I think both of our football teams had their home openers this past Friday night. I know Blue Springs South won. Anybody remember Blue Springs High School today? They lost in overtime. Lost in overtime, okay. But community unity game is this Friday, so I think South is the home team. So it'll be exciting. Any other council member comments to add? Okay, I got a few things to add. I mentioned it at the last council meeting, but yesterday was the final day that the outside part of Blue Surf Bay was open and our splash pad. My family did go out and join everybody out last night. I rode all four water slides just to make sure they were still in good condition headed into the off season. It was exciting. It means I had to climb up that three stories like six times because I had to ride it with both kids, of course.

What time of day was that? I saw this big guy with his mayor hat on. Yeah, that was probably me. Huffing and puffing going up those stairs a bunch of times.

But yes, Splash Pad and Blue Surf Bay outside is closed, but CRCRC is still open for the rest of the season. The indoor natatorium is still open, so lots of exciting things. There are lots of parks events coming up. Final thing I want to add, which is on a more serious note, is this Friday is the 25th anniversary of the September 11th attacks. That's one of those seminal moments that we all remember where we were, and so just want to make sure, have some time to think about that. I don't know if any memorial is happening in the region, but Friday is September 11th, so be sure to commemorate that with your family or how you would like to do that. Those are all the comments I have. Did I miss anything, council or staff? We do not have to go in closed session. We settled all our business previously, so I just need a motion to adjourn.

So moved.

Is there a second?

Second.

Any discussion? All in favor aye. Aye. Any opposed no. Motion carries. We are adjourned.