City Council - Regular Meeting

absolutely expensive. It's ridiculous. Yeah. With insurance. So, they're they're billing my insurance for 45 minutes of physical therapy. My insurance gets build $345 and I still pay $93 tax out of pocket. Okay. And I'm like, that's just Hi, Danny. I need to open a physical therapy place that that all I have to do is own what they bill and what the insurance pays. Oh, that's all funny. This is just made up. Absolutely. Have no basis. Could not agree more, right, Mr. Lane? Yeah.

How are you not into what's the prognosis? Are we better? Yeah, it's been good. The swelling's all went down now and I can move it a little bit. Oh, good. So, it's good. That's good to hear. I'm doing squeezing a ball and Oh, they started on Facebook. Yeah. Starting me on this rolling marbles. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So, got stitches need to come out. Yeah. Yeah. They're down through here. So, I got to get them out. They don't have have you reaching down through a five gallon bucket of rice to get this the ball?

No. No. That one's fun. I got a ball and a crawl make it to go through the rice. Yeah. The suppleation of turning. Yeah. See, that's what you

expert. Did you go on the tour? I did. and their clients are like a big engineering firm or a big law firm instead of having all their servers hosted at their place. And so a lot of what they do not just provide the space. Yeah. The coolest thing.

They have this backup power generator sitting out, you know, in one area. Power goes out, they fire up. But there's this 5 to 10 second period where the power goes out before the generators. But they have to like power the whole facility for like five seconds. And there's this room. They have these banks that look batteries. But they also have things have a lot of physical therapy. What do they call it? Flywheel a kinetic energy storage. They have these massive flywheels that are just spinning like crazy. And if the power goes well, the flywheels kick in the generator and they generate power

until they spin about 10 seconds is all they last. Wow. So, there's this big habit of this big metal flywheel and they're just spinning like crazy all the time. 247. Wow. Yeah. I thought I mean I've never seen anything like that. Like kind of a big spring. Um was it Josh? Was that his name that spoke? Uh Jason. Jason. Yeah. I was like good for maybe a little I know here. I kind of said I kind of I already kind of made the comment because I went introduce myself to Oh, maybe that's why you offer I was like uh something I said whether it be

I'll be right there. Hold on. No, I like town hall or maybe our city council meeting. But I think this is it was a good educational moment in general. But yeah. Yeah, you can tell he does it quite a bit. I think he's still testing out some of those jokes. Yeah, I think he is too. I was like, "Okay." And they were very they were timed almost exactly the exact same part that came with exact time. Yeah. Brett, did you go on the tour? I did. Yes.

Okay. That's what it's doing. Did you uh send an email to Nick? I gave you his email. Oh, that I'm my kid. No, I was like um No, I sent him a text though today. Check on the snow. I did. He said um he's worried to their

Oh, you got a response. I did. Amazing. Because I said I I asked him last week. I'm like, "Hey, any follow up on this?" And he hadn't responded for maybe it was two weeks ago and he hadn't responded to me. So, I'm like, "You know what? She asked for his email. I'm going to give it to I only just said I just said, "Oh, you I think I said don't mind Joe St. P." I didn't say anything else. just wanted to follow up and I didn't like forward those emails or anything you know and then um yeah he replied the I can't remember the title somebody it's the like it's starting I can control the audio

there's so many people over there I'm sure.

So, so

yeah. No, we're being sold. Sold. So,

we're up for sale right now. We've had there's uh seven private equity companies that made an initial bid and now they're all doing uh their own tours and assessments and then they all have to have a final bid in by some kind of date. That's the only information I have that's not private. But yeah, they've they've made their money off of us and they want to sell and free up some cash and I just want to stay there long enough to get I might get% a little going away present. So

makes you wonder a little Do they have in mind? Um, they want everybody to have their stuff in quick. Hey, we're coming back by uh March 31st. Okay, that is that is hilarious.

Okay, I'm ready. Valentine's Day. No. Oh, look at that. That's cute with the candy. So, did they do that or did they did it? Yeah, she did it

um Okay, that is adorable. She's got some more hair. I think the one photo is all pretty good hair, but maybe it wasn't. Yeah, she

likes her. Oh, she's smiling now, huh? She's getting a personality. This is my dog. Not my dog, my granddaughter. He was helping me roast coffee. So, that was cool to watch. That was You know, one of my cutest pictures, the cutest pictures I have of my oldest kiddo when he was probably that age when my parents lived out in the Ravenswood area is a picture of him in her sink in the kitchen. She was giving him a bath and

you know they had a big sink. That's what she was giving him. That's one of my cute pictures I have. All systems go. Yeah, I know. I was already working pretty me in the past after meetings.

I'll talk about that after. Sorry, I thought you had it up there. There was some up there too. There's like I remember from earlier meetings show up every now and then.

We got a little weather coming. Yeah, I heard that. And then had one. Yeah. Saturday. And we had that cold snap in December. That's about it. And it looks like we're going to get two and a half days now and then right back into the 50s and 60s. Yeah. I couldn't believe the temperature when I walked back out. I mean, I've done that for a long time. My wife's getting excited because the green stuff's coming up in all some of her plants are coming up in the backyard after this last week. Yeah. Same thing here.

Like you better you better get your planners ready to cover them up. Something I always wish I could have done when I was younger. Yeah, I should be back. People complain they don't do anything. 12:45. Yeah, I moved my appointment from 11 all the way up till 8.

Buses out 12 12:45 and you'll be standing here. So, I'll I'll hurry along as soon as I can. Okay. Yeah, perfect. I should be here. Got a bus? We do. Not a bus. We have a coach.

Now that is fall over. Yeah, exactly. And I was like, we went to dinner. Both of you were I thought they were paper. We were going to do a paper airplane. That would be more entertaining. I like that idea.

I like them. only connect.

Yeah. Yeah. We haven't done anything.

Yeah. I mean, we have those real that wagon mirror this weekend and I think they can see that

I need to tailgate windows pretty nice. Yeah.

No, of course. That's the goal.

Yeah, there's Hi. How are you doing? How are you? I'm doing good. Good. How are you? So, this was

Oh, yeah. It was way cold after that. You got a heater on that thing? Got a heater on that thing.

So, yeah. Yeah. kind of popped up.

Yeah.

Okay. Oh, a secret conversation. Yes. Yeah.

Mike, the

during that week. You see that J? chairs are already

the presentation.

There you go. Thursday night connect. That's why I turned around looked the other way.

Uh it's actually right in front. You know where my face sits? Right in front of her. my right.

Yes.

Nice to see you. What's up? How you doing? weather.

It was really nice. 230 grand. Yeah. My wife, she was with my granddaughter birthday and they were out. Beautiful. And I went out one time. It's cold.

I know. happen within 10 hour. Aren't you guys looking at just yesterday? I didn't have to He had to sign. So because I started on firstear

is your audio.

I do hear

Yeah. Let's go. You okay? Very cool.

I left What is this? Got a taste of that. What's up? Okay, it is 7 o'clock. I'd like to call the February 19th Dotto City Council meeting to order. Please, we'll start with roll call.

Lane here. Patterson here. Sabo here. Mcmaran here. Bradley here. All present.

All right. I would invite you all to please rise and join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance 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. Our first item on the agenda tonight is our consent agenda. Tonight on the consent agenda, we have item A, approve minutes from the February 5th city council meeting. Item B, approve pay ordinance number 1013. Item C, approve dates for the 2026 city town halls. Uh, item D, approve revised agreement with IWork Systems, Inc. And item E, approve change order number one with Toshiba for the records digitization digitalization project. Is there any item anyone would wish to remove for further discussion hearing? None. Can I have a motion to approve the consent agenda?

Motion to approve the consent agenda. Second. All right, we have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Lane, yes. Patterson, yes. Seo, yes. Macy, yes. Bradley, yes. Motion carries.

Item two is called to public. Members of the public are welcome to use this time to comment about any matter relating to city business not listed on tonight's agenda. The comments that are discussed under call to public may or may not be acted on by the council during this meeting. There is a 4-minute time limit. Does anyone wish to address the council under call to public? All right, I'm not seeing anybody. Item three is old business and we don't have any. So, we'll go to item 4 A. Consider purchase and installation of shade structure. All right. Good evening. Um Jay, would you mind pulling that microphone up to you a little closer? Thank you.

Good. All right. Um here to uh pass along a recommendation by the park board. Um this year uh for 2026 uh the board has $30,000 um dedicated to them and for either upgrades or additions to the park system and the board talked about multiple projects uh in the months of November, January and February at the regular uh meetings and u at the February meeting uh they voted to um uh recommend purchase an installation of a shade structure that would cover the first base bleachers on Miller Park Beefield. Um this location was selected due to the lack of trees and shade versus uh the other bleacher locations if you're familiar with the other fields at the park. Uh we received uh bids from four different companies. um three of them uh on the materials themselves and three on the installation. And the recommendation uh for council to authorize uh staff to purchase the materials from Shade Systems and contract with Cloverleaf Incorporated for the installation. Um, just a little side note, we've worked with Clover Leaf in the past on was it last year, the year before when we um had a lot of new installation of playground equipment at Miller Park, so we're familiar with them. Um, stand for any questions that you may have.

Okay. Any questions for Jay on the shade structure, purchase and installation? Jay, I have a question for you. Um, can you describe the the actual part of the shade structure itself? What it's made out of? Is there maintenance that's going to be required for that? And does it need to be taken down in the winter, kept out of harsh environment?

Yeah, typically. Well, there's, if you've been to the aquatic center, um, it's the material is similar that mesh material. Um so it would be a steel post system with the mesh material um which can be taken down and should be taken down uh in the offseason to prolong the life of it. Um also can be you know depending how how dirty it gets um if not an annual pressure wash soap with some soap and water some you know chemical to kind of keep it clean. So thank you. Yep. Danny, is the top of it like a sailcloth? It's a

nylon. Call it a It's a mesh material. It's a It's a fabric, but um kind of like I'm trying to just think of what I could compare it to. Um have you seen the windcreen that we put on our ball field fences? The windcreen on the outfield fence. So, it's that similar type of mesh material that does allow um you know, if you get a good gust of wind, it's not going to just take off. So, it's a um kind of an open weave, I guess you could call it, material. So, it actually lets rain drip through. Well, you might get some drips, but I you're not the rain, but yeah, you might need a little bit of moisture. Yeah. Okay.

Yeah. Okay. So, it does have a little give and play. Yeah. Okay. Yep. Yep. Okay. Any other questions? Ready for a motion? I'll make a motion. We accept the bid for Shade Shade Systems in the amount of $18,919 and Relief Incorporated the amount of $10,950. Second. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion of the motion? Roll call, please. Bradley, yes. Mcmaran, yes. Sabo, yes. Patterson, yes.

Lane, yes. Motion carries. Thank you. Thank you, Jay. Item B, CIP discussion.

Uh, yes, council. Um, this item's on the agenda tonight. After better part of last year, we spent compiling the current version of the CIP, which really was an overhaul of uh of a a previous effort. Obviously, every year it's kind of a five-year rolling plan, but we kind of wanted to take a complete reset on the CIP. So we spent a good part of last year identifying projects between staff and the community and going out to the community getting feedback in several forums on you know desiraability for the projects and and were able to rank those. Um if you'll remember we came up kind of with several categories of projects. One would be uh we called them mandatory projects. Those were uh ones that were already uh working on and had already had funding sources and we just needed to complete but they still needed to stay in the CIP because of the funding allocation. Another were pipeline projects and these were the bigger efforts the three of them 83rd Street corridor, the community center and the 95th street corridor. Those were the pipeline projects understanding those are larger scope and take several years to implement. uh and then we have uh top priority projects which kind of resulted from uh the community the feedback and the prioritization of of uh of the projects that had been suggested throughout the year. So for way of background on the staff memo I included the website page that we have on that um a couple staff memos. The last time we really discussed this was in December and we we went over some projects there and we went over some different funding arrangement for the different projects. Uh since then we've had uh members of the community attend council member or a council meeting or two uh expressing um uh their disapproval of one project

particular corass road wreck path. Uh so based on that we've removed that we'll get to that a little bit later. Um so what I have compiled really for tonight is is just kind of a summary of that but um it's in raw form and what I what I hope to reach tonight is some consensus of uh the general projects the funding plans for those projects and the general scope of uh scope and pace of implementation uh for each one of those. Um, again, this is kind of in raw form and with your uh with your direction and consent tonight. We'd like to be able to wrap this up into a single document that kind of articulates the process that we've been through um and and lays these out kind of for public consumption. I wouldn't I wouldn't say this is kind of a technical document that you've got in front of you here. If you love spreadsheets, you'll like it. If they make your eyes crossed, then your eyes will be crossed. Um, but I I kind of like to get general consensus moving forward because we have a couple things that actually a couple of them later on in the agenda that are kind of contingent on uh agreement about some of these projects. So, in general, what I tried to do, we all know that when you start a capital improvement process, you're going to have more projects than funding availability. um and and you're going to have uh different priorities about about uh when things are timed and and and all the rest. So, what I what I hope that we were able to do, especially considering kind of the rapidly changing landscape of what our budget is now and what it's likely to be in the future, what our needs are now, what our needs are in the future, and just the diversity of um potential uh projects that we have for for consideration. I hope that the plan that we have in front of you does several things. First of all, it gets these pipeline projects going and builds momentum. So there's

funding in here for the early phases of those uh whether it's uh maybe act act acquiring some land or acquiring rightaway or preliminary engineering or or pursuing outside funding source. There's funding for those so that those projects we can recognize meaningful implementation steps and help build momentum for those projects going forward. I think it also immediately implements some of the smaller stuff, some of the uh easier target stuff so so that we can start putting um projects to work for the for the folks and there could be some immediate uh tangible benefit for for the um for the community. It also delays some of the larger debt issuances for a year or two until we can get a little better picture of our revenue streams considering uh economic development other opportunities uh going on. Um and it also clearly defines uh a funding plan for some of those larger projects. So, um, with that, I'll kind of start in I I do kind of need to, uh, go over some specifics about some of the projects, specifically really, um, the 26 and 27 sort of allocations that are in here. Um, I don't know if you remember, but when we formulated the 26 budget, we kind of threw a placeholder in there on CIP expenditures because we really did we knew we were halfway through this process and we really didn't know what we wanted to uh specifically target for 26. Um, now I hope we are there where we where we do know that. So, we want to take a real close look at the 26 expenses and we also want to take a real close look at the 27 expenses because that'll be our starting point for the budget discussions as we start as we start this spring. Um the the outy years I'll call 28 through 31. It's kind of a six-year project projection because we're including the current budget year.

um those out years I mean this is all of course subject to future um future approvals from this body whether it's a contract for engineering or a pursuit of a grant opportunity or a or a bid on a particular project oh those are all independent decisions that we will make uh this is a planning document at its core this is not necessarily allocating dollars toward this um but but it is important to understand what the plan is because it does have a few things that uh that we will be tackling real soon in 26 and in the 27 budget. Um so the first the first part that I wanted to talk about so um just for reference there I'll just breeze through uh we'll have just a quick look at these exhibits to the staff report. Exhibit A is you might and I know you can't see it on the screen so I don't mean to belabor it. Um, this is an articulation of the new projects that we submitted to the community and we discussed as a council and we prioritized specifically uh these aren't projects that are currently ongoing but these are uh the project we call them top priority projects uh because these are the ones that rose to the to the top of that uh of that discussion. Uh this is the category under which the Corless Road multi-use path uh was identified based on those public feedback surveys. It just ranked higher than some of the others. So, but it was at the bottom of this list. Um you'll see it's still shown there, but it's crossed out. So, uh the funding for that and implementation of that is not not recommended. Exhibit B contains the mandatory projects that we talked about. Again, these are the ones that um are either necessary because of a critical infrastructure uh component uh will fail and we'll be faced with an emergency um repair if we don't address these or they're already funded and they're

already planned and and they're already beaten. So, that's exhibit B. Um exhibit C really, and again, I'll apologize again for this spreadsheet uh sort of focused on this. I know it's it's not the most polished thing, but um exhibit C really is what I would like to get uh some consensus moving forward with. This is our five-year projection for the capital improvements fund. Um and it really represents kind of the the fundamental mechanisms of what the CIP is. Uh the first uh several sections talk about um funding sources. So the funding sources are broken down into reoccurring funding sources. These are the ones that happen every year. Um each year we get excise tax. Each year we transfer money from special highway funds and parks funds. Um uh and and some other sources with just just ongoing annual uh revenue streams. They tend to be on the smaller side because we get them every year. The second box is one-time funding sources. And these are things primarily grants that we you know get for particular projects. So uh we have identified several one-time funding sources um within that category. And then the last one is bonds. Um so with regard to the one-time sources um we'll see within uh within the project implementation in the one-time sources we have um sources that are already in the CIP in black text but then new sources are in red text um and that includes $3.2 million for implementation of a small part of the 83rd Street corridor project. It includes $13 million for outside funding sources for the construction of the 95th Street project,

which is one of our pipeline projects. And it includes $500,000 uh of an EPA grant uh that we actually awarded for the Astro Water Tower but didn't use. And now we would like to reallocate those and and there's a process to do that. And with council's approval, we can implement that process, reallocate that to um another project which is the 80 82nd street force main uh improvements. So those are kind of the outside uh non or one-time uh funding sources. Under bonds, we are showing uh of course the existing bonds that we have already have in place. Um but then there are future proposed bonding sources. Um a couple categories on that. Um the first category is general obligation debt. Um and these are the ones that could be authorized to fund general public improvements that don't require a voter approval. And largely those are anything that's not parks and wreck related. If you're going to bond, typically uh if you're going to bond for park and recreation improvements, you have to have a vote authorizing that. Uh so this first category would just be regular general obligation debt issued by the city. And um I'm I'm suggesting a total to fund the program of about of $8.5 million of that type of debt. The first issuance would happen next year. Um and then the second would be in 208 and then the last one would be in 29 or 2030. So uh that's the plan on that. The second category is um is the potential parks and wreck general obligation debt. Now this is the one that would have to

be voter approved and we're showing $5.1 million GEO debt in 2029 for that. And largely these would this would fund uh the linear improvements the the trail improvements that uh that were prioritized from the community that we'll look at a little bit later. The last thing in terms of go debt I'm showing is a three $13.5 million uh general obligation debt to fund the community center. Uh so I'm showing that as a specific uh a specific debt issuance in the outy years as we work through the community center master plan this year identify of course you know we're going to work toward uh funding solutions that will a variety of funding solutions for that. Um my expectation would it would be grants and in kind contributions and uh you know partnerships and maybe I think it will be a combination of all of those but so so that is is specifically listed here. the um and we'll see as we work through the um the paperwork here that these debt issuance have an impact on the future debt service mills. Um and the impact of the capital improvement if we just focus uh look at that is relatively rel relatively minimal. uh but uh impacts of something like a $13.5 million or a $5.1 million would certainly have to be um accommodated uh by default by a mill levy increase of some sort. So we'll talk about that in just a minute. So those are the uh the funding sources as as we shown them there on the table. And I want to go back then, bear with me to the spreadsheet here because it talks about the bond. So, uh, talk about the bond

and its impact on the debt service fund. So, this is a five-year uh projection for the debt service fund. Um, and it shows the impact of those $8.5 million in uh regular general obligation debt to fund the the kind of the regular public improvements. This doesn't include the 5.1 million in uh parks and wreck and also wouldn't include uh the any community center debt. So I'm showing here is um the fund balance in the debt service fund. debt service fund gets a portion of its funding from sales tax revenues. And you know, if you've been around the last several years, we know that those have soared le uh uh recently. Um and as a result, um by the end of 2025, we have quite a healthy balance of reserves in the debt service fund, over $2.5 million. Um and so you could see that we could implement this sort of a a financing structure over the years indicated uh without a whole lot of input impact to the mill. In this scenario, the mill would raise from 1.4 mills to about 1.8 mills by the end of so not a horrible impact. Still some uh but not you know the the impact of that sales tax on the debt service fund is is very beneficial. And this is the sort of thing that we you we talk about when when we talk about the the the benefits of economic development and how that funds in the general fund. You know, being able to issue $8.5 million of debt over the next five or six years without a drastic impact to the mil is something um something of note. Um we already talked about the the other debt issuances then. So the 5.1 million in for parks improvements would fund these these linear improvements. the Killil Creek Road pedestrian path that would be

from 83rd down to K10 or 95th. Uh parking lot at Riverfest, Miller Park restrooms, uh a small amount for Lex Lexington uh Commerce Park devel development, and then a multi-use path along 83rd Street. So those two larger linear uh projects would be funded by that. Um and then we also talked about the community center uh land debt issuance there as well. So that's kind of the revenue uh picture. Um I want to step through I hate to I hate to be too longwinded and I hate to be too one direction. So if we if anybody has any questions or comments or thoughts, you know, as we go through this, happy to have those.

Sorry. Can we uh stay with the revenue for a second and talk about that because you talked about some the geo bond. Um, so the P25, the 83rd Street multi-use path meter coilless. Yeah. If we bond that before the engineering is done for the 83rd Street expansion, is that not kind of putting the cart before the horse, if we don't have the road engineered yet?

Well, um, sure. So, there is a very good argument to make that if you're going to improve that section of 83rd Street, why don't you why don't you include it with it? uh for these purposes it could be done standalone. Um the the thought would be that I mean this might be adjacent to the road but it might be off the roadway uh some some distance but that's a good point. um depending on the timing of when the engineering would happen because we really don't have any really good feel for what section what segment of the 83rd Street um pipeline project is is going to be prioritized. you know that I think the general assumption would be that that we might prioritize uh the section closest to K10, but that's not necessarily the case if if you have a safety issue somewhere else. So, good point. Um that the go bond and of course, you know, this $5 million GO bond happens in 2021. So, there's room. I mean, there's time to figure that out. So, that's a good point. A lot of these have those sorts of tieins um with with other projects. So that's the other thing about a CIP implementation there.

Thank you. Yeah, sure.

Okay. So let's talk about then the expenses and I want to just talk primarily about 26 27 and we'll hit the highlights on the rest. So in your staff report these are colorcoded and they're colorcoded in the spreadsheet too. Uh these ones in purple are the pipeline ones. Those are the three, the 95th, 83rd Street, um, and the community center. The orange ones are street pedestrian projects, blue are water projects, green parks and wreck, and then gray are facilities. So, when we look at uh 2026, again, this is uh this is current year, so uh this is what we'll be spending our our resources and time with this year. We got uh $50,000 in there for preliminary engineering on the 83rd Street corridor. Uh 1795 for the community center master plan and actually that's already uh started implementation. And then 25 grand in there for a land purchase option on the community center. Um so those are the pipeline projects. Uh within the street category, uh there's 2.6 million for the 83rd Street Bridge construction. This is the one that's kind of been delayed and held up because of some disagreements with with Kad about vertical clearances. Um, it's probably a discussion for a later time, but Joe's found out recently that we we did get funding through the Mid America Regional Council for this and they have extra funding to spend and they're looking to spend extra money on projects that are kind of ready to go. So this one might get an additional infusion of cash that may allow us to meet that clearance requirement without impacting our bottom line. So that's regardless the 2.6 would be the plan as we have most recently um presented it which would be kind of at the same pro a little higher than it is now a dra drastic uh raising of the

bridge. We have $160,000 and you'll see this in all the years. It's the annual sidewalk replacement program. That's up from 100,000. No, it's up from from 80,000 or 60.

So, we've increased this substantially. Uh sidewalk replacement program. We're familiar with that. 100 grand for the annual CDBG projects. You'll see that in each one. There's 150,000 uh to look at heated storage bay at the public works facility. 650,000 for 89th Street cover replacement. Um, this is just east of Kil Creek Road. Uh, that one lane box cover culvert that's there now. 300 grand for the design of 95th Street Kill Creek Bridge Rehab. The bridge there over 95th. The deck is just falling apart and needs to be replaced. So, we would design that this year. It would be constructed in 2017. Uh, 150 grand for the downtown streetscape project. And so um this is again we're beginning implementation of this. This is really for the master plan of that. And you'll see in the subsequent years, we've got kind of a trickling of six figure allocations for the downtown streetscape project, knowing that the results of the plan are going to kind of guide that, but also understanding that we want to implement some uh some form of improvements and enhancements sooner rather than later rather than waiting for the entire thing. There might be opportunities to do that as we go. uh 125,000 for a Lexington Avenue lighting project. It would be kind of similar to the one from Commerce Drive uh to to light kind of the darker sections along Lexington. Um and that is the street and road projects. For the water, we got 1.9 million to build Waverly Water Tower. So that one's that one's been designed and we're going to be building that this year. There's $400,000 for a water line project along 103rd Street and it's shown as a betterment. This line is already in KOT when KOT was redoing the road. We had an 8 in line there and we wanted to upsize it to a 12 in. So they

did that but we had to pay the upsize cost. So we agreed to do that years ago. They haven't sent us the bill yet. So we're just holding on to the money period. So in the event the bill comes this year, we'll have the money to pay. Um 1.9 million for the soccer field project. So this is later in our agenda. Um, we've increased that funding level from previously it was 1.2. Um, we have done and and and I don't want to steal any thunder. Brandon and Jay have just worked so hard on this project trying to figure out ways to implement what we need to do at the cost that we can live with. We really thought we could make it a lot better uh than that. The fact of the matter is uh the work that has to be done costs this much. So I'll I'll leave that discussion for later.

Can we back up from there? We can um that up above there on the bay that you were talking about the the heated storage bay. Is that the worst station that we were wanting out there?

So, yeah. You know, I think what we need to do on this one, um so, so there's kind of two project. There's a there's a there's a wash wash bay and then a heated storage bay that we want to do. Um, this money is not enough to do either one, but it is enough uh to plan because there's also some drainage improvements that we want to do inside the building that require a grease trap. And so there's some there's some improvements that we need to make there. So this money really, I think, will go this year toward designing that, get a better feel for the scope and scale and location of those projects so that we can readjust and come back with a So it's really two things in one. This is kind of two or three things in one.

Yeah. This money won't be enough for a heated wash bay. It won't um that money is enough to plan and get a really good good design and a good plan to move forward with. Okay. Thank you. I'm sorry. No, you're good. I'm going pretty pretty quick, so don't we can do that.

Okay. Where were we? Uh 150 grand this year for some uh playground equipment at the Riverfest uh park. Um, so that's under parks and wreck. Um, so under facilities, the only thing we have is 770 grand for the renovation of city hall. That's just finishing up this project. Just the rest of the invoices that'll come through in the road uh projects, 1.3 million as the city match for the 103rd and Lexington projects. So this this again is our portion of the work the $82 million that KOT's already did that's already there. Uh we committed uh through an agreement with Kot that we would we would pay that. The bill hasn't come yet so we haven't paid it. So that's in there. Same u with the $2 million for the cars allocation. So the county essentially committed $2 million in cars funding for that project, but that gets funneled through us. Uh we haven't got the bill yet. We haven't got the scars funding, but when we do, it'll be an end. It'll be an amount, but we're just budging it. Uh, first to remind us that we owe it, so we got leave it in there. And second, in the event that it occurs. Um, and then on the Oh, I guess there's another facilities here. Riverfest monument sign that's that's already there. I think there's some uh there's still some outstanding bills on that that we just need to finish up. So, that's the 26 program um in a nutshell. Like I said, some of these we're already implementing and and the rest are on slate, I would say. Um it's pretty ambitious, you know, for for the staff that we have we have here. Uh so um so then 27 just kind of quickly, I don't want to belabor too much of this. I know we don't want to spend too long. Um uh so 27 on the pipeline projects, 200 grand for preliminary engineering in pursuit of outside funding sources for

83rd Street. Um $250,000 for again this is another part of 83rd Street design of intersection improvements u potentially at Lexington and Penner. So um and again you know this one certainly could change based on um what we find out in some preliminary preliminary engineering pursuit of outside funding sources might direct this. If we find a funding source that can uh that can help us out with a particular intersection. It's not this one. We may switch switch gears here. Uh but but regardless, this is the design of that um intersection and and again, I think it's a meaningful commitment toward uh implementation of that of that overall um pipeline project. There's $750,000 in here for a traffic signal at 95th and less. Um I think we've recognized the need there uh for a signalization of that interchange. folks trying to turn left out of that. Really, at any time during the day, it's tough. So, that's estimated at 750 grand. There's uh and again, I'm calling this pipeline because it's kind of part of a 95th Street uh corridor, which remember would would kind of up completely update 95th Street from Lexington Avenue to Sunflower Road, including a traffic signal at that intersection there. Uh there's also $500,000 for design and rideway acquisition of that stretch of that project and there's $200,000 for again incremental progress toward the community center uh design effort for that in 27. So under uh road uh projects, we got a million and a half dollars for the construction of the 83rd Street Bridge. So, that would be uh a multi-year project there

that would be going on. Again, 160 grand for sidewalks, 100 grand for CDBG. Uh we have 1.2 million for the construction of the 95th Street Bridge over Kill Creek, the one that needs rehabbed. Design it 26, build it next year. And then again, $100,000 for uh downtown streetscape uh to kind of keep momentum going there. There's 700 grand uh for the replacement of the force main along 82nd Street. You might remember uh there's a sewer force main that range runs from the main lift station down by engineered air all the way out to a wastewater treatment plant on 79th Street. A portion of that main has been failing and we replaced uh several blocks of that along 83rd Street between Ottawa and about John E. replace a couple years ago. Well, the rest up to up the wind up needs a be replaced as well. So, this would fund uh that project. And remember, this is the one we would like to switch the e the grant application, the 500 grand from the water astro water tower. Switch it to this project. It won't fully cover it, but um we think from EPA's perspective, this is a really I mean that should be really attractive project for them. Uh couple of parks projects, too. So, there's 300 grand for a splash pad at Miller Park. Uh and then 875 grand for restrooms and concessions uh at Riverfest. Uh so these would be um in accordance with the with the master plan for that. These would be uh augmenting the soccer field effort that we're embarking on this year.

So yeah.

Oh yeah. So, um, you mentioned earlier about the mark money going towards, uh, really ready to go projects, ones that have completed preliminary engineering or or completed design phase. They tend to award money more towards projects that are closer to implementation. Um, I see, you know, we've got 200,000 in next year for preliminary engineering and pursuit of funding for the A3rd Street corridor project. Is there a disadvantage to proceeding with preliminary engineering this year? Because it seems like the earlier you get that done, the more likely you are to get money for it. And seeing the growth happening, it seems like that would be a priority.

Yeah, that wouldn't be a problem at all. So, um, you know, really when you're talking about sliding years, you just have to look at the fund balance, you know, and we're good, right? I mean, if you look at the fund balance this year, I think we're going to wind up a little over two million in the CIP. So, a sliding a couple hundred grand, I think I think would, you know, the only the only kind of um reservation one might have is just staff resources and time to dedicate to devote toward that. Um, but if if that's direction the council wants to go, we'll certainly make that adjustment. So from you would think from 27 instead of having uh Oh, I missed it. 200,000

instead of having this 200 grand from 20 27 just move that up to add it to the 26 effort.

Yeah. O overall my thinking on it is that uh as we see this growth happening 83rd Street I think has to be a priority as we talked about eventually uh K10's going to be a project. We know it's a known project for KOT to to rework K10. And if we have both of those going at the same time, that's going to be a disaster. So I think the sooner we can get the preliminary engineering done so that we're eligible. And I know that there's certain grants at the state and federal level that require you to be 30, 60, 100% whatever done with your your preliminary engineering in order to receive that money. that if we have that done, we're not missing out on opportunities to have it funded by somebody else.

I think with the MARK funding, we're probably in a pretty good shape already having done the the study through them, but you're right for other potential funding sources uh closer you are to shovel ready. Uh um certainly can put a priority on a project through some FH other FHWA funding that's happened in the past and some one-time programs as well. Hard to argue that. So, um, we have 50 grand in for 26. We just make it 250. Very good. I like that idea.

All right. Um, okay. So, I said I wasn't bel labor really the 28 through 31, you know, the lists here for your for your consideration there. Um, if you want to talk about any of those, happy to do that. Um, again, what we're asking for tonight is is general consensus that kind of this this plan that I've laid out, the one that's showing in all these crazy spreadsheets I I throw in front of you, um, is one that the council supports and that'll allow us to will allow me to formulate the full document, which I think we probably should adopt by resolution. Um, so as soon as we can get that done,

I agree. I just have a question. It's not an opposition, but the K10 monument signage. Could you describe that a little for people who might not be familiar with it? Say the same thing. Yeah. So, we've had an effort. I think this one has been on the CIP in some manner since I started working here in 2000. Uh there's some desire to provide some sort of city signage out out by the highway. Uh you know, uh if you Odora did one a couple years ago, it just looks great. Um and we've had plans. I can I can bring the plans. We've we've gone as far as to have bids and and uh we were at the point of actually awarding. We came in about 10,000 over the bid or over the estimate in u

that would have be 2010 about that sounds about right.

When we bet it we had the design done maybe 11 um 10,000 and um uh times were tough then and 10,000 was a lot of money and the project didn't go forward. So it it was and and I don't know if you've seen the renderings, but I mean it's hard to explain, but it's a a monument sign. You can see from the highway the location was pretty much where Bernin's barbecue is kind but in the KOT right ofway. So K we get permission from K to do that. That's the general intent. I think it's probably worth another look, you know, as to location and size and scale and scope and and that. Um so yeah, I don't I don't know how much more detail I've got on that. because I see it's in 2028. So, another couple years.

Yeah, we have a couple and then you mentioned it just been discussed since many years ago. Really? Really has. Yeah. Mhm. And it was, as I recall, it was about a $75,000 project in 2010. Uh that was about 10,000 over the uh the project estimates. So, we had estimated like 65. The bid came in about 75 or 80. And we didn't build it. Now you can see it's a $200,000 estimate. Well, things don't seem to get cheaper. They do not.

To to Ron's point about um doing it sooner from 28. Um and I know we have the downtown streetscape programmed in there. Just from my observation, it seems like the monument would go before we did that because it's I or maybe not. I don't know. Is there some reason why we have one before the other or not? Is it

not really? You know, at a certain point, um, you kind of stop programming this based on the dollars and you start thinking about resources, you know, uh, to put toward toward effort. So, there's some of that. So, there's no magic to it. We can slide this, we can slide it up back if that's the if that's the the desire. We can certainly do that. I would say as far as the downtown streets, sorry about my voice. Um, that also I know I've seen information back to 2014 where that's going to have been done. So, I do think that that is a priority outside of even other infrastructure things. I think that's something that has has been on the list for a long time and as long as we can at least get started and get some minor things done that provide celebrating the public and I just think I think the downtown streetscape should definitely still be a priority in you know in addition to some of the other musthaves I guess. Okay.

So, do we want to slide them on to sign up a year or two or or where it's at? I'd move it up at least one year. Uh, yeah, I agree. At least one. Very good. Every time I drive to Lawrence and go through your door, I just shake my head. It really is a really nice looking. It It is a pretty nice looking sign. A couple of years ago, Mike, that's uh St. You know, I think because the Odora sign was up when we were looking at doing our side in like 2010. So, the Odora sign. Has it been that long? I Yeah, I'm going guess it went up like 2006 or seven. No way. Hey, maybe eight. All right. Wow.

Okay. So, we moved the monument sign up to 27. We moved 200 grand of preliminary 83rd Street up to this year. So, those are the two adjustments. Okay. Um, I don't know that I need a motion, but I think general consensus head nod is a good enough for for me. Um, so you'll bring back then a um bring back a much less spreadsheet intensive document that articulates all this. It'll Yeah, it'll talk about what a CIP is and all this. And then we'll

I should know the certification question on the um the 25,000 to finish up the Riverfest monument sign. That doesn't mean there's still work to be done on that. It was just bills to be paid. Yeah, it's the there was some issues with the LED lighting. If you've been out there, they just fixed it today. I'm going to go check it. So, I would imagine the next pay ordinance will be the last payment of that. I was just going to wonder if there I was just like, what else is there to do? sort of tangential to this discussion um and the staff time and work that goes into this. At some point with all of these projects, do we need to consider additional staff at some point to to handle this um

engineering? You know, that that's a larger budget discussion. Uh and we have been adding we've been adding, you know, we're adding staff this year. So, the answer is yes. I think we have some of it worked in. I think we have most of that worked in. Um, but we might not we not not be over doing that. I appreciate the question because it is something that uh that that concerns us you know and me specifically. So I appreciate the question. I I think you know and we'll address it again during budget time. Uh we can start thinking about that. Yeah. Good point. Okay. Yes. Thank you, council.

All right. So, with that in hand, we will move on to item C to consider contract with Mid America Sports Construction for the Riverfest Park Soccer Field Project.

Good evening again. Um Mike stole most of my thunder earlier, so um somebody smack him for me. But anyway, um here before you give you a little bit of history, uh on the soccer field, um project uh property-wise, we're this would be at Riverfest Park on the south side of 79th Street. Um just for um Sorry, Mike, I didn't There we go.

Um just for reference. Um, this project uh will include a 400x 400 400x 400 ft uh irrigated natural turf soccer field uh associated gravel parking lot and supporting site uh improvements u for the facility. Uh project we've actually bid twice. Um first time in the spring of 25 and then again kind of end of 25 early 26. um was the second time we uh bid this. Um after the bids came in the first time, um kind of sat around with Mike and um the mayor and Brandon and Justin and myself of kind of where where do we go and uh the mayor came up with the idea of reaching out to GBA and and changing over to a uh design build model in terms of a bidding process. Uh let me back up. The first one was just a standard um bidding process um in hopes that we would uh you know get get more people interested and you know based on means and methods be able to reduce the cost. Um Garney did support uh the project kind of as a community service and Joe was uh very helpful in this um work that had been going on at the water plant. Um there was extra fill um from that project um that I don't know if Joe if you talked him into it or or how it went, but Garney was willing to to move um materials from there to this soccer field location because we knew we needed to bring the grade up because it's in the uh in the floodway, I'm sorry, flood zone. Um, and then a lot of background material that we've

attached to try to get everybody up to speed on on uh what's going on with this what has gone on with this project and where we are. Um, we did receive two bids on January 15th for the current bidding cycle. Uh, one from Mid America Sports Construction and one from Heartline Construction. Um the proposals were evaluated based on qualifications, project approach and cost. Uh Mid America submitted the lowest responsive proposal and received the highest median score for the proposals. Um spending authority does exist in the CIP. Um staff anticipates construction will begin in the spring and be completed by late fall with the spring of 27 being the first season that uh we would use those for uh parks and recreation for our parks and recreation soccer league. Um Mid America has worked on uh athletic fields and site development of Kansas City region in the past you know including grading drainage and and park infrastructure. Um, as I mentioned earlier, wanted to thank Mayor Walker, Joe, Mike, Brandon, Justin, and the and the Garnney team for, you know, assisting with this project. So, I won't bore you with all the old history details. This has been in the works for a few years now. Um, a lot of back and forth and trying to figure and all those good things. So, um, it all started with just wanting to provide, um, a nice place for the kids to play soccer. Um, I don't know if you know right now we uh basically find uh anywhere there's green grass or could be brown grass. Uh anywhere there's grass. Um for example, we play at Miller Park depending on the season kind of in the open area. Um we use the ball fields out at Sunflower in the outfields in the fall. Um we also

use the uh what we call inside the peanut road at Riverfest Park um which is also doubles as a parking lot. So, um, just wanting to, we're not asking that this isn't going to be a Garmin or, you know, other examples like that, but providing a nice, uh, facility, um, for these kids to play. Um, so recommendation is to approve the contract with Mid America Sports Construction, amount not to exceed 1.845872 845872 million plus a 10% contingency and authorizes city administr administrator to execute the contract. Uh if you have any questions

so just summarize it gets the the the the playfield the the flat playfield uh with irrigation uh and fencing. Yep. It gets a parking lot that is gravel or paved gravel. Gra So it gets a gravel parking lot. We're not paving it yet. Right. And no restrooms, no. Right. We'll have to use portaots. Mike's programmed in for 26. No, I'm sorry. This is 26. So, it's just really getting us a playable field and a place to park uh so that we can um right facilitate our soccer program. I'm sorry. Fencing. Yeah, it'll be fenced. Yeah. How many fields is it?

It's a 400 by 400 foot pad. So, what we'll do is um you know, depending on the season, how many kids we have, um that's that's not that could be our setup. Uh what we're going to do is rotate to try to keep the grass as nice as possible. So, in the fall, try to use an area in the spring, try to use as we get bigger, that's going to become harder and harder. Um we're guessing what, three4s of that pad we would probably use per season and then just try to move things around. Um just for example right now between games and practices we we have three fields for PKK, two for first and second um and then one for um third through eighth graders is what we set up currently between our practice and our games at we use multiple sites as I mentioned earlier.

I have one more question. The amount on the suggested uh motion and the recommendation of 1,845,872 is a different amount than on page two of the design build agreement which is1,846,241. Is that just a typo or is there some reason why they're different amounts? It's not a lot. Just kind of 846 846241. Yeah, the contract is Yeah. Yeah. Not sure. Is it a typo? I mean, I would say that's a typo. So, yes. So, apologize. We'll need to use the the amount on the contract. Okay. In the recommendation.

And if you could authorize the mayor to sign the we already had the contractor sign the contract and what they signed has the mayor signing. So, any qu other questions. Okay. Been a long road, hasn't it, Jay? Yeah. Little windy, little up and down. Yeah.

Ready for a motion? I move to approve the contract with Mid America Sports Construction with the Riverfest Park Soccer Field Project in amount not to exceed $1,846,241 as indicated in the design of the agreement plus a 10% contingency and authorize the city administrator to execute the contract. The mayor slash mayor mayor mayor to execute the contract. Second. All right, we have a motion and a second. Any any discussion? Roll call, please. Lane, yes. Patterson, yes. Sabo, yes. McMan,

yes. Bradley, yes. Motion carries. I really appreciate it. Kids will too. All right. Item D, consider agreement GBA for the owner's representative services for the Riverfest soccer field project.

Uh, yes, Mayor Council. This is a followup to the soccerfield um construction project. Um, we are um asking permission to hire GBA to be the owner's rep, essentially doing the day-to-day um managing of this project. Um the $32,120 is roughly 2% of the total construction cost, which is kind of in line with the standard of about 3% of total uh construction costs. Um what GBA will be doing will be keeping track of the project uh on a day-to-day basis. They'll review pay requests. Um help us with change any change orders and answer contract questions. Um we will be doing the inspection in house. Um I would like to thank Joe. um he has offer offered up Walter, our city inspector, to um kind of alleviate some of the costs with GBA. So, they'll be out there doing the inspection work. But, um essentially, um we're going to be using GBA, who was the contractor that um did the design work on this to manage the day-to-day project. So, Jay and I can do our day jobs. U if any question, I'll stand for them.

Questions? So, this is essentially serving as a contracting officer's representative for the project. Um, just going back to what I was asking about in the future needing staff to manage projects, would this be in line with that if at some point we hired additional staff to manage? Yeah, hard to say. Um, usually on bigger projects like it's kind of project specific, so you don't tend to hire folks, but good point. I just meant more like if we had someone on staff, that would be something they would do. Good. And likely we would have a designer construction phase agreement any you know. Yeah. Typically normal we the designer does get some

work through the construction phase um just to deal with questions that arise about the plans or different issues that might arise during construction. But yeah, that daily processing, pay, you know, pay orders or pay requests and those like would be a could be a staff function. Any other questions? Is is part of their contracting to verify construction is on time? Yes. So, basically to kind of do the day-to-day management of the the project

and and it's limited to so many visits. Yeah. Um there's they'll be there uh was it 14 site visits, five hours at a time r it ends up being roughly every two to three weeks, but there'll be weeks where might be out there twice um in one week just depending on what's going on. Okay, ready for a motion. I move to approve the contract with Mid America Sports Construction for the GBA.

Oh, sorry, GBA. Wrong one. GBA has presented for the Riverfest soccer field project in the amount not to exceed 32,120 and authorize the city administrator to sign proposal. God talking second. All right, we have a motion and a second. Any any discussion of the motion? Roll call, please. Macaran, yes. Bradley, yes. Lane, yes. Patterson, yes. Sabo, yes. Motion carries. All right. Item E, consider agreement with the Dodto Chamber of Commerce.

Yes, council. Um, for your consideration is an agreement that will formalize really formalize the relationship with the chamber and EDC that the city has had at least since I've started. Um we've uh the practice has been annual budget allocations for uh for investments in the chamber EDC. Um and and last year when we formulated the budget realizing the import increased importance of chamber and economic development activities uh in in town and also realizing that the organization was going through uh quite a significant restructure and kind of reorganization there and and refocus of its uh of its efforts there. We substantially increased that level of commitment from about what had been 90,000 to 190,000. So, we have specifically allocated in the 26 budget an amount of $190,000 uh toward the EDC chamber. Um and and and again, that has in past been kind of an informal uh allocation. We've we've we've typically paid that quarterly based on um an invoice that we get from the chamber EDC. Um and then we've also long had a policy of allocating transient guest tax revenue to the chamber EDC organization. That that funding is is is very specifically um curtailed to just economic development tourism activities and the city doesn't necessarily do have a function like that. So we've typically transferred whatever we get we give uh to the chamber. So um in order to formalize that relationship and recognize uh the changing and increasing role of that organization after the restructure uh we thought it was a good idea to to have this agreement before

you. This is very typical other other cities have similar contracts with their chamber and EDC. The contract is there proposed to exhibit A. This the form of agreement for professional services is kind of our boiler plate that we use for engineering and other consultant services. And then the scope of work is there shown as exhibit A. Um and it does articulate all the different things that that organization does. Um, some of these are uh, you know, increases of of kind of what has been the practice in the past, but some a lot of it is is what they've what they've done before. So, um, strongly recommend approval of the contract. I know Tim is here and, uh, Kevin is here as well. They might want to say a word or two, mayor. Uh, or if, uh, or if not, maybe, uh, maybe we just go on.

Okay. Um, well, that's what they have. They'll stand stand for any question. Sure. Um before we ask them any questions from council before we I do y questions that would be for Kevin not nec okay it might be for those guys we want to hear from them first it doesn't matter okay

um just on a couple on the scope well first I do like just I like there's something formalized with that um they have been doing a a really good out um down there. So, I just had a couple questions on the um the support and facilitate retention and expansion of existing businesses in the city. It does mention um conduct annual visits with or and collect standardized data from existing city businesses. Would that uh data be collecting like information to include employees maybe that live in Dodto to collect that type of information? Tim, you want to Sorry, Tim.

Oh, no. Uh, no. Mayor, council, appreciate the opportunity to be with you here this evening. Um, Tim Holverson, president of Dotto Economic Development Council. U you may or may not know the gentleman behind me, Kevin Hanamichels, the 2026 Economic Development Council uh chairman. Uh appreciate the opportunity to be with you here and the opportunity to really to to formalize this, put some more meat on the on the bone, if you will. Um I've been on board for about a year and a half and uh I remember going back to my interviewing process and Mike was in on that. you know, we talked a little bit about um scope of service, but but formalizing a contract arrangement and such with more deliverables and um we've kind of worked on this and think that this is a you know a good start um uh for the community. But, uh, more specifically to to your question, Councilwoman Patterson, um, I don't know if they will release that, uh, information, but, uh, that would that is certainly one of the questions that in conversations that that I have had and will have uh, with HR directors and and leadership of our local employers, uh, will certainly be uh, asking that. and then I will um obviously I'm you know protective of that information but with permission uh would be uh willing to to share that as appropriate.

Yeah. Thank you. I just know a lot of organizations it seems like companies are talking about uh how many how many jobs are going to be available and that and then you wonder well how many of those residents here how many community members are actually applying for one they don't apply they're not going to get the job but how many might actually work in those those companies that we currently have around here just

exactly yeah I know at this point we tremendous amount of inmigration obviously uh which is you know certainly uh uh good but but understanding that uh should we have more residents then they're able to we are able to capture more of the the dollars uh both day night and and weekends and such. Sure. And then um on I think it's G.

Yeah. The maintain membership and participation with team Kansas. Yes. I was just curious what type of it mentions that provide updates on marketing activities to the finance team. I was just curious what correct

marketing activities that would be. So, Team Kansas was something that uh I had been familiar with for for several years and was uh I think Mike, the mayor, uh council members probably got tired of hearing me uh talk about it last year that I felt like it was important for us to dip our toe in the water and that and to start participating in some of those regional marketing activities. The state of Kansas, they are always touting Dodto everywhere. uh you know even when um oh where was I at most recently that uh you know oh well at the announcement of of the chief's relocation uh got invited over to that and two of the three uh communities that they highlighted uh it was Dotto because two of the three projects they highlighted were were uh Merc and Panasonic. So we are top of mind. So this is the time to really to take advantage of that. And so we did uh uh set aside a little bit of money in last year or in the 2025 budget to go on a couple of marketing trips. Um admittedly we don't have a an extravagant budget. this will actually help us to be able to do more in that regard and participate in some of those networking activities uh with site selection consultants from around the country. And so um after going on those I usually glean some good information from those and and want to share that uh as as appropriate uh you know with with the finance team with the economic development team uh so that we can try to to learn from it and position ourselves even better going forward.

Thank you. Sorry, I have a couple more. Um on the on H there explore enrollment in the Kansas Main Street program. Of course, the downtown streetscape is near and dear to my heart. I since it's been on the books for a few years now to to do something down there and really support our local businesses that are there. Um I'm familiar with the Kansas Main Street program, but I thought maybe might give you an opportunity just to um explain maybe a little bit about that for those that aren't maybe familiar with that.

You bet. Appreciate the opportunity to talk about that. Um main street programs are uh abundant in small communities throughout the United States. There's a national main street program. Um, and we have a strong one here in Kansas that is now being decently funded again after some bumpy years in the 20 years, if you will. Um it is a great resource that um I know you and I have actually had some conversations and and other council members we've talked about it as well that downtown being the heart of the community. It's important to protect that and develop it, redevelop it and and nurture it and and uh it's authentic. That's what's so neat about it. you go almost anywhere. Uh, and and they're building new developments here and there and and they're trying to create something that we already have. Ours just maybe needs a little bit more polish to it. And so I'm excited about this uh streetscape and in in and such in the downtown. And with the resources of the Main Street program, uh, we need to be able to demonstrate that we're going to have the staffing resources and such. that's your chamber staff and and a strong volunteer base to be able to uh uh rally resources uh to be able to implement things. Uh but it would give us access to design um capabilities through their program. Uh there used to be and and there are still some I'm not sure how prevalent they are of facade grant opportunities and such either through the Kansas Department of Commerce or certain national ones. And so to be able to uh have access to those um you know would be something that that we would intend uh to really to be able to pursue as we go forward. So that um

the message is conveyed that we the city of Dodto value the downtown and and and see it as a good place to invest just like we've done with Astra Enterprise Park w with Flint and and we're doing a great job in terms of that in in terms of our um commercial and in industrial u areas but there's an opportunity to do that even more uh you know literally fig figuratively on our main street and reinvest there and and uh make it a real destination place. I know you and I have talked about maybe it's uh the water tower district. I still like that one. It is.

Okay, that's all. Thank you. Okay, thank you. I understand and I think we see a great return on investment from the uh funds that we provide to the Chamber of Commerce and EDC. Thank you. Uh, I did have a question from a constituent that that asked why do we fund it instead of it being completely self-funded by membership and I mean I understand why but you mind taking a moment to explain.

Yeah. Yeah. Um, I'm happy to answer and Kevin you may have some things to chime in as well. Um it it it's hard to grow our membership in DODTO proper as much as we need to to to have staffing programming um to have you know all all those operational all those overhead costs to be able to grow it adequately um and and have anything left to to be able to to uh take it to the next level. And so, um, it's quite common to do these as public private partnerships, uh, you know, virtually, uh, any community, um, in in Johnson County and and all over Kansas. Um, there there's there there's always that public private partnership of of of some sort. Um, and the return on investment, hopefully you see that and realize that time times over uh is is what we strive for and hope to grow into. So,

thank you if you'd like to.

Yeah, I might chime in a little bit as well. Um, Kevin Hanichel, 9837 Post Oak Drive. I get to actually do that. It's awesome. I appreciate the opportunity to be back here. Great question. Um, and to that end, I would say that uh if you think of it rather than funding the chamber like a chamber member funds the chamber, you're this is the city of Dotto's investment in business. So, it's the way that you're making sure that there's resources being given available to support local businesses in a variety of way as well as attract businesses. So, Council Bradley kind of relates to some of the questions you've been asking so far about staffing and staffing resources. It's typically not something that would be done in house. Um, but this method now is contracting out services that the city is providing or needing to make sure that the businesses that are that are supporting the community overall, providing to the tax base are given resources to continue to be retained and to grow. So, it's both existing businesses as was asked before. How are we checking to see what local businesses need in terms of leadership development, workforce resources, education and training, um other barriers to um to uh being able to grow as well as the sales effort and that's the economic development side. So, it's typically not the city's job to go out and be business developers and salespeople. And that is the economic development entities role. And to be able to do that, um, you need good staff. And we're really getting good staff in the chamber now with Tim and with Laura to be able to both focus on business, and I won't say small business because it's multinational, large and small businesses in this community and make sure they're that they're successful and engaged. So it's it's really about your investment in business both existing and growing rather than

just funding the chamber entity in itself. So just like it's important for the city to do that. You know you were at the event this morning. Um it's it's really important that we're continuing to reinforce with the people who are investing in the chamber and in the EDC that their money is going to provide good staff to support the mission and the objectives of these of these agencies. So it's truly a public private partnership. So good question. Thank you. Thank you. Great explanations. Any other questions from council? any comments that you'd like to add, Tim?

Uh, just to, you know, it it has been uh quite a ride over this past year and a half and um it's been a lot of fun and um I will say I'm learning every day and I and challenged every day. Uh, but it's been an awful lot of fun to work with some great people and to be able to kind of um stand on the shoulders of those that that have done all the work for all these years and hopefully keep things moving forward because I I really think that this next decade is is going to be an awful lot of fun around Dotto. I think we're going to see some tremendous growth and some tremendous opportunity. Um and and I I hope to play a small part in that. So, thank you.

Sorry, I have one followup. I just thought of uh in course of council member Patterson's questioning about the jobs. Is there and I understand the need to keep the proprietary information within the business. However, do you think it'd be possible to get a deidentified aggregate number of employees that live in and out of without, you know, identifying them to the business? Um, if if I can get them to give it to me. Yes. Confidentially, yes. Then I Yeah, I'm sure we can do that. We can do an aggregate on that if I can get the individual businesses to release that. It would be helpful to

switch some of the concerns that the community has about hiring local. Right. Right. I was just thinking about that. Sorry. Thank you very much. All right. Thank you, Tim. Okay. Thank you. Anyone else? Um, ready for a motion? a motion to approve the agreement and authorize the mayor to sign.

Yeah, I make a motion to approve the agreement with the DInnesota Chamber of Commerce and authorize the mayor agreement as presented. Second. All right, we have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Bradley, yes. Lane, yes. Patterson, yes. Mcmaran, yes. Sabbo, yes. Motion carries. All right. Item F, consider letter of support for build grant application for 95th Street rebuild project.

Thank you, mayor, council members. So, this is part of the the requirements for the bill grant is for a funding commitment letter from the city uh to be included with the the grant application. Um, as Mike went through the capital improvement program a little earlier in 2027, we've got about $1.25 million budgeted for 95th Street, $750,000 in the in a potential traffic signal or traffic signal at 95th and Lexington and $500,000 for design and rightway acquisition. So that's where we come up with the $1.25 million. Actually having this the city uh put money toward the project also improves uh the application being reviewed uh to hopefully be successful. Uh so it's always good when a city is able to participate even of the size of our city we could get 100% of the cost uh covered by the grant. Uh it always makes it much easier to uh if we were grant where the city has some skin in the game. Um, so tonight just asking uh council's approval for the letter uh the funding grant letter and authorizing the the mayor to sign.

Okay. Questions from council? Have you seen the application? Is it uh nearly complete, Joe? Have they sent you the package? It should be I mean I've seen parts of it and it's they've done a really good job. Okay. And we, you know, based on this, um, I would provide the the letter to them tomorrow then and probably tomorrow we would look at submitting it. The due date is February 24th. Yeah. But it's pretty much done. Uh, this is kind of the final item to to wrap it up. All right.

Any other questions? Motion. No, I support the signature, but I have a question about the Can Brandon. Can Can you guys fix There's something weird about the letter head. Kansas is like got a space in the middle of it. It's kind of weird looking on there. Sorry, I just I think that's just formatting because it said Oh, yeah. Yeah, I agree. I was just saying like if before we send it to them, if we could, you know, like fix Yeah, that's not right. No. So, Oh, yeah. I see what you're doing. Yeah, it's

so I'd make a motion that uh the council authorize the mayor to sign the build grant uh commitment letter uh once the letterhead is corrected. We have a second. All right, we have a motion and a second. Roll call, please. Lane, yes. Bradley, yes. Patterson, yes. Sabo, yes. Mcmaran, yes. Motion carries.

All right. Item G, consider agreement with I work System, Inc. for 2026 road assessment project.

Y council member. Thank you. So, this was budgeted for 2026 um I think three years ago, four years ago. Um, side works is the um program we use. It does a lot of our um building permits. It does our streets vehicles. So, this piece specific is to look at having them come back out again and and do a vehicle and electronics in the vehicle, do a condition assessment of our roadways at the same time, pick up all of our signs and do an assessment of of our signs on roof connectivity. Uh then we use this information to look at how we prioritize streets um that we're going to repair. Um and so this was a budget item for 2026. And tonight we just ask the council to approve the contract with I works in the amount of $29,500 for I works and and authorize the city administrator to sign and then we would be looking at here probably in April for them to be in town to do their assessment of our streets and signs. Okay,

questions from council. motion. I move to approve the contract with I work for the pavement assessment and sign data collection in the amount of $29,500 and authorized the city administrator to sign. Second. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion of the motion? Roll call, please. Mcmarine, yes. Bradley, yes. Lane, yes. Patterson, yes. Sabo, yes. Motion carries.

All right. Item H, discuss process to review and revise economic incentives policy.

Uh, yes, council. Just a discussion here tonight. Um, direction forward, I guess, as well. There's been kind of consensus that we need to look at the economic incentive policy. uh you'll remember the format of that is kind of a map of the whole city and we have in areas of particular areas identified to incentivize um and then some incentive levels that we're to consider with those and I think for you know at least a year or so there's a a desire to look back at those now considering the current state of development in the community and and changing priorities. Um, we initially implemented kind of the current version of this in 2000 and we last updated it in 200 I'm sorry, we initially the initial version was 2020. Sorry, wasn't back that far. 2020 and we did uh the last revision we did was 24. Um, and since then we've we've completed a strategic plan overhaul and we've done the southwest growth area plan. Excuse me. This year we're set to do a comprehensive uh plan. So the comprehensive do plan document uh and a downtown streetscape master plan which might include uh some economic development um discussions as well. So I think there's agreement that time is now to take another look at this. I think it's going to be a little bit more than just kind of a brushup. So, um, I'm suggesting we kind of get together a committee to look at this and do it on a time frame that parallels the comp plan and maybe the downtown plan so that we can incorporate some of that uh into this. Um, I'm taking several months. Of course, we can accelerate if we want to if we really need to accelerate that, but I just want to open it for discussion. And I know, excuse me, there there's a desire on the part of the EDC chamber to be involved with the discussion from the business development community. Certainly appropriate there. You know, like like your thoughts on

other stakeholders uh for that. You know, the school, the fire district is is another one. You know, they're impacted by incidents. Um so just get some thoughts on that and maybe some mild arm twisting about who would uh be interested in serving on a a small committee there. No more than two council members could uh could join that. So I'll stop there. Okay. Thoughts from uh council on um membership and partic membership of the committee and then participation in the committee among the body. So anyone I'll volunteer as tribute.

Uh I think the school district and the fire district obviously and our uh economic development group are uh certainly great uh partners to include in uh discussions about our policy. So appreciate you stepping up, Zack. Anyone else want to be part of that? Uh Danny raised his hand. So we we have our first two. Um uh schedule-wise these activities you think we would initiate uh it's kind of up to near term.

Yeah, we'll certainly get started here in the next month or two. Um but the schedule is kind of up to us. you know, I foresee the comprehensive plan is going to take, you know, till into the fall to kind of wrap that up, but some of the early the demographics information, some of the early findings, the community outreach kind of largely be done by the summer. So, I think that process will be able to inform this to the degree that it's going to uh probably by the middle of summer. The downtown plan might lag that just a little bit. Um, and that's one, like I said, you know, as Tim was talking when he's talking about downtown Main Street, um, you know, defining what the physical improvements might look like. That's kind of easy. Uh, harder part is um finding ways to incentivize and encourage redevelopment, reinvestment in that, uh, you know, re reinvigoration in that way. And then we also have this thing about the fire, the old fire station building. We need to figure out what we want to do with that. And so I think just throw that into that plan too. So uh you know that plan's a little less straightforward. I that's a long way of saying

what the you know I'm thinking this this effort should probably last through the summer. Okay. Um unless again unless we just really want to accelerate it. Um I think we're you know we're the comp plan update. We're at consultant selection now right? Yeah, we have uh we've got the qualification statements now. Yeah. Working through that. Working through that and we'll follow that up with a similar probably consultant selection on the downtown plan in the next month or so. It'll lag a little bit. Okay. Um anything else needed on that at this time? No, sir. All right. No.

Okay. Thank you. No executive session tonight. So, we will go on to advisory reports. Uh, city administrator, Mike. Uh, nothing this evening, mayor. Thanks. City attorney. Nothing for me. City engineer. I'm good tonight. Brandon, what do you got? City. I will clean a clean slate. I have nothing. Okay. Um, council comments. Joe, you want to start us off?

Sure. Um, I'd like to uh consider uh moving our April 16th meeting as uh three of the council members on that Thursday will be uh traveling to Salina for uh uh a leaders academy. Um unless you want three of us in the in the bar virtually. Um um so I'd like to suggest moving that may possibly to Wednesday the 15th or the following Thursday.

All right. Uh Brandon, any thoughts yet? Yeah, I looked at the council chambers. I didn't see anything. Okay. That day. Um if there's agreement, I'll just throw something on consent like I did the Okay. until the 15th. Yeah. What? That there's nothing on the council chambers that day. That still work perfectly. Okay. Thanks. That's it. Zach.

Yeah. Uh I'm going to knock on wood for this one. I noticed we didn't have anything again with the city hall project. So that's two meetings in a row. I'm very happy for uh and again and I'm last time at the last meeting I said some stuff but it was hard to hear but I wanted to uh say thank you to the city staff and especially Kevin's been working very hard on this project and if you guys haven't been upstairs I don't know if is it open right now for them to walk or Yeah the hall's open yeah

so if you haven't seen it I'd suggest you go upstairs cuz it's we've really gotten our money's worth out of it I think and it you know for aund year old build thereabouts they've done a great job and the building is just it's fantastic up there. I'm sure that when we're down around here, it'll be just as good and I want to say thanks to the staff for that and making that happen. Aside from that, anything else? Thank you. All right. Thank you, Rhonda. My gosh, my voice. I will be gone on March 19th. Okay, spring break week. I have a senior and he's not going alone.

All right.

And I just wanted to say thanks to Victoria for everything you've done. I know this is your last meeting. Is that correct? So, thank you. Wish you well um with everything personally and professionally. And then just a shout out, I was also able to attend the EDC breakfast this morning. And um uh just a shout out to the EDC crew and the chamber crew for putting that on uh nicely attended. And for those that you that weren't able to make it, just to give you an idea, the title was gigawatts pipelines data centers. Oh my. So it was very uh full of information and if there's potentially the connection to get with the speaker and maybe have him join a council meeting or town hall or something to provide just a little snippet of what he did during that meeting. Might be educational for everybody involved. I really I learned a lot. Plus, I'd love to see the slides again because I've already forgot some of that. So,

but that was that was a great that was a great event to me. Can I go back a second and add some

Yeah, sure. Um, so I also attended and one of the things was interesting was the tour of the data center there uh over at the Meritex complex and the um one of the things very noticeable is the lack of noticeable noise I thought. Uh now when you're in the switch gear room uh which is a noisy place cuz electrical stuff in there it's kind of loud but outside of the switch gear room there's no no noise and outside the facility uh there was very very little noise. Um and one of the things that we were offered by the facility staff um was at some point if there is interest we can arrange for community uh to visit their facility. Uh they're very um open and very welcoming folks there and they're local business. Uh I mean they're in Lanexa but they're local. Um and and I think that it's a great opportunity for people if at some point there's interest in the community to see it probably work with them on that. If people are interested to see exactly what a data center is. Obviously the way theirs is set up is a little bit different. They have uh designated spaces for each company that contracts with them and some of the organizations are more private than others but they have certainly spaces you can see working inside the business.

So I just want to add that and say also thank you. Great. Thank you Danny. Anything tonight? Just uh thank Victoria for her service and it's been a pleasure working on the council with you and wish you the best wherever you wind up. Thank you. And thank you for your service. All right. And that's it, Mayor. All right. Thank you, Danny. Victoria,

um I'm sorry I I told you I wasn't going to do big speeches, but yes, it is my last meeting. Um I'm sad to go. Um this has been a unique opportunity and I've learned a lot. So, thank you to everybody. Um yeah. All right. I just want to give you the opportunity for the last word one be and so u on behalf of the city I want to present you with this plaque in recognition of your service. So thank you so Brandon you want you got your phone I can't sneak around the other It might make sense in front of your

mind watching.

You can do the motion to I'm also going to get a picture while you guys are Oh, this is going to be way better than mine. Oh, no. I don't have my camera on me tonight. Here we go. Actually, do you want to take it out of the boxes? Oh, yeah. color coordinate.

All right, I got enough in there that Whitney probably will be at least moderately happy. I'm going to get a closer one up soon. Okay. Okay. Perfect. Thank you guys.

And so that's all I had tonight. So Victoria, you want to make um I'll make a motion. Second. All in favor say I. I. Oppose. We're adjourned. Thank you.

All right. Yeah. No, no, I know this is Oh,