City Commission - Regular Meeting

We will call the Thursday, July 23rd, 2026 City Commission meeting to order. All five commissioners are present, one by Zoom. First item of the order, business consideration and approval of minutes from July 9th, 2026. Questions, changes, or comments?

I have nothing.

OK. Those will stand as presented. Next up, the financial statement for the month of June 2026. Mr. Rupp.

Good afternoon, commissioners. Kim Rupp, director of finance. This is a financial summary of revenue and expenditure activities for the City of Hays, month ended June 30, 2026. Revenues in June totaled $14,266,659, an increase of a little over $4 million compared to the same period last year. Some notable areas of revenue increase, the largest contributor mentioned is the economic development grant received from Groh Hays for the Exit 161 project. That was in the amount of $2,944,794. Another large factor is the timing of receipt of sales tax. May receipts came from the state on June 1, and June was received on June 29, so we had two receipts in June there. So that line across all funds was up $1.8 million compared to a year ago. We didn't have any notable areas of revenue decrease. Expenditures in June totaled $7,393,017. That's a decrease of $1,313,791. Some notable areas of increased expenditures when we compare back to June of 25. Health insurance and employee benefits was up $188,000 due simply to the timing of those invoices. IT other contractual rose $87,000 compared to last year for the purchase of public safety software. And water reclamation repairs increased $138,000 for the budgeted sanitary sewer line cleaning project. Notable areas of decreased expenditure. The largest factor in the decrease mentioned was the ongoing hail claims a year ago in the amount of $829,000. Another large factor included the timing of the payment to NPR for property and liability coverage last year, totaling $572,000. Mid-year transfers was the final factor. Some were not completed at this time, which included transfers totaling $522,000 in solid waste. Those will be completed at the end of the year. Month-to-date general fund sales tax collections were at $869,247. That's another great increase of $53,247 or 6.5%. Year-to-date general fund sales tax is up $337,524 or 7%. The six-month average was at 7% with a year-over-year increase of 4%. And county sales tax collections were up $606,610, up $26,387.

Any chance you see where July is going?

I did get it today, and it's not as good. It's not as good, okay. We dipped a little, about 40,000, 4%. Brings us back to 5% year-to-date. Still very good. Thank you. And that's fresh. Haven't had a chance to do the very next report I was going to go towards, so I don't know what category is yet. Great. Thanks. So the report of top 10 quarter-to-date sales tax collections by classification was up 181,631, or 6%. Those top 10 represent 72% of the total of the collections for the running quarter. The larger double-digit category increases on that report, which were all over 13%, included car dealers, food services and restaurants, building material, and electronic shopping. It occurred to us that we haven't rebalanced that report for a while. And so we did that. And so before you is an updated quarter-to-date report. Two categories fell off. That was electric, solar, wind, gas distribution. And the other category was clothing, shoes, jewelry stores. The two that came on were miscellaneous store retailers. Those are things like Office Supply, Smoke Shop, Flower Shop, Goodwill, those sorts of retailers. And then the repair and maintenance was the other category that came on. That's appliance repair, auto collision repair, small engine repair, things like that. We'll probably maybe continue that every six months or so, rebalancing that report to see what happens there. The total of the portfolio certificates of deposit on June 30, 2026 was $61,648,075 with a weighted average rate to maturity of 3.7. That is down .77. The par value of T-bills was at 15.52 million with a rate to maturity of 3.75. That's down .45 from a year ago. Total balance of the money market account on June 30 was 4,146,969 with a current weighted average yield of 3.9. That's down a tenth. Compared the same period last year and total investments were up 6,904,292.

I'll move that we approve the June 2026 financial statement. Second.

Motion by Commissioner Musil. Second by Commissioner Jacobs. Questions or comments for Kim?

Kim, I just have a question. Do you have, like, a crystal ball where you forecast, like, six months out what the sales tax you anticipate it being?

We do. Early on in my tenure with the city, I tried to do that, but it is such a roller coaster, it's near impossible.

Does the state, do they put anything out where they're forecasting six months?

I think for themselves they do. Just for themselves? I haven't necessarily found anything, but I think because they do like a rolling budget or a monthly budget, so they're budgeting monthly, budgeting revenue monthly, and so I think they do try to guess. Those guys will tell you. Forecasting like that, I think it's throwing darts at it.

I get that. Thank you. Appreciate it.

Any additional questions or comments? David?

Nothing. Okay.

Call for a vote. Then all in favor please say aye. Aye. Opposed? Passes 5-0.

Thank you.

Thanks, Kim.

All right.

Next up is citizen comments for non-agenda items. Anyone wishing to skip the commission on non-agenda items may do so now. Then we'll move on to the consent agenda. Only thing on there is the mayoral appointment for approval for the Hays CVB Advisory Committee, same one as we talked about last time.

Move approval of consent agenda. Second.

Motion by Commissioner Jacobs, second by Commissioner Cunningham. All in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Opposed? Passes 5-0. Okay, 161, first edition, final plat. Yes.

Good afternoon, Jesse Rohrer, Director of Public Works. My item today is to ask for your consideration of approval of the final plat of the 161 First Edition. The property is located north of I-70, east of Commerce Parkway. Zoning and annexation were completed already on this property. Preliminary platting was also completed. for the entire property. And what we're talking about today is the picture on the right there is the area outlined in blue. That's the area we're looking at for final platting. So here's a general concept or the layout of the plat itself. There are 13 lots that range in size from 1.2 to 9.7 acres. The southeast corner of the plat does include a stormwater reserve area for the required stormwater management that's required by ordinance. for this developed or soon to be developed property. There are a couple streets included as well. Those are Crossroads Avenue and Midpoint Drive, as you can see labeled on the picture on the left there. There's also currently utilities going in place. The water and sewer is currently being installed in the property. A street will be soon to follow by mid-fall or so, late fall at the latest, all that should be complete. Ready to be extended into the lots upon any request of development that we hope to soon see So this plat as all plots are was reviewed by the utility Advisory Committee and The Planning Commission and was ultimately approved unanimously by the Planning Commission and asked to be moved on to the City Commission for your final approval your options here are presented on the screen and approve as submitted request any changes that you might desire or do not approve the plat an action requested would be to ask for your approval of resolution 2612 I move to approve resolution number two zero two six dash zero one two and

accepting the 161 first edition final plat as submitted.

Second. Motion by Commissioner Cunningham, second by Commissioner Musil. Questions or comments on the plat?

Nothing directly on the plat. I'm just excited that we're at this point and look forward to some good marketing of the property and something good come out of it. I think that we're kind of leaning on Grohase a little bit, which they've already been doing a lot of work, but getting that really out in front of them, maybe some billboards and things, I think that I think it's going to make a difference. I'm excited about it. Absolutely.

David, anything?

Nothing.

Okay. All right. Then I'll call for a vote on that. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? Passes 5-0. Thanks, Jesse. All right. The ordinance to authorize the issuance of industrial revenue bonds Chick-fil-A Inc. project

Good afternoon, Jared Kuckelman, Assistant City Manager. So today we will be discussing an ordinance to authorize the issuance of industrial revenue bonds or IRBs for Chick-fil-A. The developer, Chick-fil-A, has been working on constructing a new fast food restaurant at 3404 Vine Street. Part of this project has been, of course, the construction of that restaurant facility as well as then the parking and internal site improvements. Currently the plan is for the restaurant to be open later this fall. You may recall that the IRB resolution of intent was approved for this project back in March of this year. We are discussing this IRB ordinance a bit earlier than we maybe typically would, and that's partly being done due to the way Chick-fil-A's ownership structure works between the local franchise and then the main corporation. And without getting too much into the weeds about all of that It is necessary to go ahead and has been requested that this ordinance be approved to get the bonds issued as they have been making fairly significant progress on their construction and have been able to get at least most of their Materials purchased so the timing has worked out for us to go ahead and do this now Here's the star to show an image of where and Hayes we're talking about and Here's the exact location for the project, right there between 37th and 33rd Street off of Vine. I do always like to show the impact of these projects, so here's a before image of the site. And then here's a fairly updated photo of the current site as they've been moving right along every day, I think, making new progress.

We have to sit out there a lot to have the current progress report.

This is yesterday, so I don't know what else has changed since that. I got chicken. So we have been discussing a few of these recently, but just as a reminder for IRBs, these are an incentive-granting vehicle where the city is only the conduit, and these do not affect the city's debt limit or rating or require any sort of taxpayer commitment. And for this particular project, only a sales tax exemption on materials was utilized as part of the incentive, so there was no property tax abatement associated with the project. IRBs are a unique bond issuance. They are, in my opinion, rather complicated and state statute does require that the bond issuer, which is the city, to have an interest in the property. This is done by creating a site lease and project lease, and then those lease payments on those documents are used to pay the debt service on the bonds. And since the project only used a sales tax exemption, the bond process itself is actually set up to be fairly quick, and it only lasts for this year, and the developer does buy their own bonds and then pays themselves back. And so once again, the city is never responsible for the repayments, and if there's any default, there are remedies that can be taken, including terminating the bonds. So for financial consideration, again, the developer is solely responsible for all payment obligations that are associated with the IRBs, and there's no impact to the city. So these would be the options before you today. and then this will be the action requested.

I move we adopt ordinance number 4103 to authorize the issuance of industrial revenue bonds for the Chick-fil-A Inc. project. Second.

Motion by Commissioner Jacobs. Second by Commissioner Cunningham. Questions, comments on this?

Bring it. Exciting. Toby, I do have a question on this. I get asked this almost every time somebody talks about Chick-fil-A is Any ideas of changing anything up there? Because it could be a real mess for a while up there, which is a good mess.

Right now, no. I mean, PD will monitor during the grand opening, because we like openings of new restaurants here. So they'll monitor that. But beyond that, the way the property is laid out and structured, they have a ton of stacking capacity on the property itself. And traffic goes in and out of there in a pretty measured manner, so I don't think it'll be an issue.

It's been flowing really good at Seven Brew.

It's located right next to it. But when they have a special or they run a pre-sale, it gets a little crazy. I've had conversations with a couple of different people, and I don't even know if it makes any sense, but there's so much ability, I think, to go through parking lot, Hobby Lobby, actually having some kind of a street that comes from that going back to those businesses and in those areas? Is there any thought to that at all?

Right-of-way would have to be acquired, but it could possibly be a possibility, but right now we don't have any right-of-way to do something like that.

I think Chipotle will be crazy, crazy, crazy for a while, and it still is. When you go to the city and you get in, there will still be three lines, kids taking orders outside, and I had a granddaughter that worked there, and it's just nuts, but that's a ton of people.

we don't have that ton of people so hopefully it'll just be good steady business for them but I wouldn't be surprised for it to be an issue for a while my fear is the station towards the end going around there because I see a lot of people going out and it's pretty tight there and I just wonder we're going to have issues there people coming and going right there it could so that property owner has the right to block off access

When that was all reconfigured, that property owner wanted access, wanted that connection. And so, yes, people do cut through there at times, but if they deem it unsafe or problematic, they can cut that off. And I would add McDonald's at times can be very busy up there, but the traffic is pretty measured in and out.

It's so much easier to come back and get, even if you're going to have to go south, still to come back, go up north around that roundabout and go down, rather than trying to go through that gas station. I think it can be dangerous there. And I wouldn't be surprised to have them block it off, but I think it might be to their detriment to do that. They don't want to do that.

Just curious. I just hate that. Terrible problem to have. Yeah. Terrible problem to have. Terrible. Yeah.

I remember meeting with the franchisees, and they did meet with Chief Scheibler as well, saying that they were going to communicate with them, make sure that they're aware of what's going on. I think Jesse was there too, so that Public Works and PD are aware when it happens. Yeah, it's nice to have that kind of a problem where you're like, hey, something's going to be so exciting that we've got to watch people for it. That's a good problem to have.

Kim's going to have a great report in the fourth quarter. Yes, he has. He better.

Yeah, he better. David, anything from you?

No, I don't have anything.

All right, then I'll call for a vote on that. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? Passes 5-0. Thanks, Jared. All right. R9 updates. Various city staff.

Good afternoon, commissioners. I'm Sean Brown, project manager for R9. It's been about six months since our last update of the R9 project back in January. I reported then that the design was substantially complete, and for your reference and the benefit of the public, I'll review the highlights of those design plans. The scope of the project really hasn't changed since that last update. The well field will include seven wells, a half-million-gallon storage tank on site there at the ranch. A pump station, an elevated storage tank will be erected just to the north of the Smoky Hill River near Shenshan. This map here simply shows the seven well locations from R1, which is... There we go. located up here far to the northeast and then R8 through R13 going down to the southwest. The red line is the on-site collection pipelines. The gray locations and the blue lines, those are all reserved for future project if necessary. And then the pump station is located here about midway between R1 and R8. And then the transmission line would head north straight from the pump station. The 70-mile raw water transmission line, which I just referenced leading up out of the – there we go. Thank you. The 70-mile water transmission line would be at 24 inches in diameter to accommodate the future flow rates that may be required. The design still allows for the pipe material to be either PVC or HDPE pipe to assure that we have competition in pricing materials. This map shows the route that I'm sure you're familiar with. The pipeline runs north out of the R9 Ranch, crosses the Arkansas River, and continues north about a mile west of Kinsley. Before getting to Roselle, it makes some jogs to where it aligns about three miles west of 183, parallel with that, and continues north through Pawnee County, making one last jog which gets it to about two miles west of US 183 with a straight line shot north through all of Rush County until it hits the Ellis County line. where it jogs east and crosses to the east side of US 183 and then heads north past Shenzhen and the Smoky Hill River until it connects to existing pipeline two miles north of the river. As mentioned in previous project updates, the pipeline route was selected or finalized back in in 2023 and appraisals and just compensation valuations were calculated official offers were made to the city's right-of-way made by the city's right-of-way consultant back in march of 25 to owners of 130 tracks along that 70 mile route As of this day, we have recorded easements and paid compensation to 117 of those 130 tracts. So that leaves 13 remaining, four of which are in Edwards County, three of which are in Pawnee County, and six are in Rush County. The most recent construction cost estimates have the well-filled portion of the project costing approximately $28.5 million and the pipeline portion of the project costing $92 million, which brings the total cost of construction and construction-phased engineering to just over $120 million. While we continue to research and pursue funding resources for this project, I'll discuss four outside sources of funding. The EPA Community Grant. This is the funding mechanism for the $11 million CDS appropriation that was included in the federal fiscal year 26 budget. City staff has been working with EPA over the last few months to make sure we have committed all of the paperwork and checked all the boxes to receive this funding secured through the efforts of Senator Moran and his staff. As far as the brick grant, city staff applied for a $20 million brick grant through the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Applications were submitted or needed to be submitted through the Kansas Department of Emergency Management and KDEM, Kansas Emergency Management, submitted our application last week. So it'll likely be fall before any selections or announcements are made. John yes that's the revitalized program that we were basically going to get last time and then was pulled in like March of 20 rack yeah this is really what I would consider our third swing at this so hopefully it's not strike three but yeah we submitted in in 24 and we weren't selected In 25, we were ready, and it was canceled in the 11th hour or suspended. And then it was reinstated, and we're submitting it now. And for all practical purposes, I mean, I think it will probably continue. But, yeah, I think we have a pretty good chance at this.

Thank you.

The WIFIA loan, the WIFIA is a low interest loan program through the EPA that could be used to finance the project costs that are not covered by other means. The loan application was submitted to EPA in March and we've been working with the EPA on credit processing and other federal requirements. that to secure the loan the loan agreement could come as early as could as January before we would close on the loan And then the Build Kansas Fund has approved $15 million in matching funds to cover the required non-federal share of the WIFIA loan program. This will reduce the amount of local cash needed to meet the 20% non-federal cost share requirements. So if you have any questions about funding, easements, or design, I'd be happy to take them now. Otherwise, I'll turn it over to Chris to give you an update on the operations of the ranch. Thank you.

Thanks, John.

All right. Your turn, Mr. Arnine.

good afternoon commissioners Chris Smith our nine property manager and I'll like John mentioned I'll be giving you an update on recent operations and activities I thought I'd start off with the restoration efforts The 2026 grass plantings, this year's plantings, were completed the first week of June. It was a little later than I had hoped, but however, it worked out just right because the rains arrived within days after planting, so it worked out well. For the month of June, the properties received 7.63 inches of rain, so I couldn't ask for more, although one of those rain events produced 3.2 inches that came all at once, but things look pretty good. Ceilings have begun to emerge, and the planting locations look pretty well. You can see on the right there, that's a strip through an open area where there were a lot of weeds. You can see that there's a pretty good stand of grass coming on. So far it looks good, but it's been really dry and pretty hot the last few days, so we need some rain. I think there's a chance tonight. These are the highlighted locations of where we planted this year. This year's total acreages basically includes about 235 acres, is what we did. I thought I'd also talk on last year's plantings. This is a before photograph taken in late summer of 2024 prior to us planting this pasture in 2025. It's about 160 acres in size and was a solid stand of sunflowers that was about seven foot tall and underneath it there was nothing but sand and Russian thistles. looks pretty but it's not good for a whole lot for what we're looking for if you pay attention I use that little tree in the middle there's a reference points for this next slide and this is what it looks like earlier this year so we're having some pretty good success and luck with the restoration efforts I'm really happy with it along with location there were two other smaller locations that were planted last year and they both look pretty well pretty good as well the previous pasture we did a herbicide application because of the weeds present but this one I decided to hold off because it looked good there weren't as many weeds and it's at least less expensive to mow it versus applying herbicides so we've got two more locations that we mowed this year and we'll probably have to mow it one more time to get it through and then next year we'll be able to graze it and we should be done with the manual treatments. This year, based on the success of last year's herbicide treatments that resulted in natural reproduction due to the lack of competition from weeds, we treated additional pastures and these are the locations that were treated this year. The yellow highlighted area is actually the area with the sunflowers in it. That's the one that we treated for post-emergent weeds as well. It's worked pretty well. Wrong button. Maybe. Uh-oh. I broke it. What did I do, Kim? Oh. Okay. I'll try it. This is a recent picture of one of the pastures treated to reduce the competition from weeds. As you can see, there's very few, if any, weeds in this picture. So the native grasses, the mature grasses are thriving. We treated about 745 acres this year. And here are a couple photographs of the results we're looking for through the reduction of competition by weedy species. These photographs show two spaces within that same pasture, the previous picture, that were occupied by weeds prior to the herbicide treatments. And you can see we're getting natural reproduction in the spaces due to the lack of that competition. The goal is to fill these voids with the native grasses that they can eventually outcompete the weeds and we won't have to worry about that. So it's working pretty well. One of the projects we have this year is, I think I've mentioned in the past, we have one piece of missing fence and this is it. We'll soon be working on this. It's a small section that partitions off where the headquarters are and the cattle working facility. We hope to have this completed and next year we'll be able to more easily graze this pasture to the left of the blue line. Over the last three years, we've constructed roughly five miles of perimeter or cross fences that were not previously in place. Invasive species work is still ongoing. I know I've probably mentioned this every time, but we're still working on it. One lone honey locust tree can quickly create an invasive scenario, and you can see on the right there, we've actually removed all of those trees this year. But it's just an example of what can happen.

How fast does that happen, Chris?

Well, these trees are probably, the small ones on the right are probably three years old. So it's fairly quick. If you don't keep on top of it, you'll look around, it's like, oh no, here we go. So we've really made a big dent in it. We're getting them whittled down, so we're making a lot of progress there. So far this year, I think we've cut and treated just over 200 trees. So like I said, we're making progress and starting to get rid of them. Johnson grass continues to be an issue on the property. We've been spot spraying pastures along the east side of the property to prevent it the spread. Most of the Johnson grass is on the west side of the property along the river, but it's crept throughout the east side as well. It's in smaller pockets, so it's somewhat manageable, but if we don't treat it and don't get on it, it can really take over and cause a lot of damage to the grasses. This is the stuff that at times can be poisonous to cattle as well, so it can affect our grazing program. Property cleanup, I've probably mentioned this a couple times, we've continued this work this spring and summer. We picked up several loads of miscellaneous debris. There's a little bit of work left, but we've made a lot of progress here. Removed a variety of items that include old stock tanks, tires, windmills, piping, feed bunks, old fencing, miscellaneous iron that's just laying around out there. So we've got the obvious ones. There's a few more locations where there's some stuff and we'll continue to work on that as we get time. Oh, I thought I'd touch on the walk-in hunting contract. The Weehaw contract ended, the 2025 Weehaw contract ended on May 31st. So I thought I'd provide you with final monthly figures of the public's use of the R9 property over the term of this year's contract. based on our traffic counters. The term ran from November 1st, 2025 to May 31st, 2026, or this May. This histogram reflects public access in relation to the different hunting seasons pretty well.

What's that say?

North entrance is the blue. I think it's blue. The black is the south entrance. Oh, okay. Thank you. As you can see here, November, December, you know, November upland bird season starts to take off. There's a lot of activity, a lot of interest. And then in December, it gets amplified because that's when the deer season kicks in on top of it. And then as January rolls in, deer season ends, pheasant season ends at the end of January, and so use starts to drop off. And so as you can see in February and May, there's very little use. I think, I know there's been some activity, but I think most of the activity in February and May is from predator hunters and people out hunting deer sheds. And so there's not a lot of other hunting seasons going on at the time for that property. And then in April and May, you can see it tick back up, and that's due to the spring turkey season, and it runs during that period.

I have a dumb question. I don't know anything about hunting. Talk to me about what's predator hunting.

People will go out and call coyotes or bobcats.

Are they successful?

Yeah.

The whole new world I know nothing about.

Is the south entrance just better hunting land?

It's probably mixed. Like you see in December, the Well, yeah, south entrance. I'm not sure what the difference is. I would think during deer season, the north entrance probably has more activity because you've got bird hunters and deer hunters. It's closer to the river in that type of habitat. But it's equally dispersed, and a lot of this may be the same hunter hunting from the north end, and he gets down and he goes to the south end and hits both areas that way. I'm not sure. I just thought it was interesting that the use really followed the hunting seasons and the time of year. The Bobowak quail research project is still ongoing. The University of Georgia and the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks research project has been monitoring nesting habitats, brood sizes, and survival rates. The picture on the right is a recording device. They're located throughout the property or the research area and they can actually identify and record quail whistles to aid in determining quail population and distribution. So it can single out a quail from a crow, for example, and record it. It's kind of cool. Early this spring, they trapped 38 birds. 25 birds were fitted with radio collars for tracking this upcoming year, and 13 with leg bands. So it's still ongoing. I think this is the last year for the current graduate student who's leading this part of the project, so we should have a summary and a report when she's completed her research, so that might be kind of interesting. To end on a little bit of a lighter note, I did incorporate a new security system, or attempted to, and we'll see here, whoops, wrong one, back.

You might have to use the mouse to get it.

Oh, there it goes. Here's our new security system. I thought a watchdog might come in handy from time to time. So I saw quite a bit of activity where they'd been running around the trailer there. So I brought out a little dog proof at home. And sure enough, it worked. This is caught on our security camera, our actual security camera. And no sooner than did he show up, our security dog, this guy showed up. And I don't know if you can tell what that is. It's not the greatest video, but anybody know what that is? Is that a roadrunner? It is a roadrunner.

Really?

Yeah.

I'll be darned. That's crazy.

That's pretty cool. They're fairly rare. I mean, they're typically in southwest Kansas or the lower tier counties in Kansas.

Yep.

Yeah, hopefully we won't see an anvil fall off the top of the building. But, yeah, they're a pretty neat bird. They're carnivorous, so they eat lizards, snakes, and bugs and things like that, so they're like a little dinosaur running around in there. But they're pretty cool. That's all I have for you this afternoon, but I'd be happy to take any questions.

It's really good stuff. Great update. Yep.

Good?

Thank you. Thank you, Chris.

All right. Thank you, Chris.

Next time, clean your window.

Yeah, you can take a little better care of the vehicle, right? You can see the Roadrunner.

Couldn't even tell it was a bird. Couldn't see through the window.

Toby Doherty, City Manager, I want to give you a quick legal regulatory update. I can pretty much summarize it with this slide right here. So the original challenge to the conversion of the water rights went to the Supreme Court. There was an oral argument in December. According to the attorneys any day now we could hope the Supreme Court rule The transfer application has been approved We are waiting on the transfer panel to hold their final hearing to give their approval for it They have chose to wait until the Supreme Court rules.

So therefore we are still waiting Toby do I remember correctly you get some kind of information that shows when it's actually on the docket or when they're going to

So they release the case.

Friday mornings.

Yeah, they release them on Friday mornings. They release the decisions. But now they give a, on Wednesday afternoon, they will list the cases that they're going to release on Friday. They don't tell you any resolution. They just say these are the cases that will be released on Friday. So we get a day and a half notice that it will be coming out. No, it's not. I checked.

every week did you say out of out dawn it'll be december did i hear you over there no i said it i doubt it will be during the summer oh okay i'm probably more accurate with the other one

So then the other thing we have going on is the suit we had to file against Edwards County for their illegal zoning practices and So once House Bill 2043 was signed into law and entered into the register we use that ruling or that law bill as a basis for a motion to judgment on the pleadings that motion was filed in April and then There were a couple of amicus briefs that were filed in the process, so the judge gave a little time for the briefs to be filed responses. The Kansas Natural Resources Coalition filed an amicus brief in support of the county, and the Kansas Rural Water Association filed an amicus brief in support of us. The judge allowed that, gave some time for responses and replies, but I believe that time has all passed right now, so now we're just waiting on the judge to either hold a hearing or rule on the motion for judgment on the pleadings. So we really are just kind of waiting right now. Other than what John and Chris are doing to actually further things along, we are just kind of waiting right now. So with that, I would stand for any questions if you have them.

It's probably a dumb question. The Supreme Court, so if the constitutional amendment passes in August here, do we know what the process is if that passes, when the next election will be for Supreme Court judges, and what happens to all the existing cases if all the judges are replaced? I don't, John.

Yeah, I haven't been made aware of any process. And I would assume they would have to do it in such a way that doesn't disrupt the docket.

I would assume that they do one or two at a time.

Okay. Good question, though.

Yeah, I'm just, because I'd hate to start all the way over. Okay, thank you. That's what I needed to know.

A little dinosaur pause? Is that a coyote?

all right mr. progress good afternoon Colin Belzer deputy city manager so service division employees have been busy painting center lines bike lanes crosswalks and other various pavement markings in all areas around Hayes they've also completed repainting the line work and stenciling for the boundaries for the common consumption area And they've been braving the heat, it has been hot lately, to over the Fourth of July weekend, replace 20 yards of concrete that was removed due to a water main break in the area. And then we've also been replacing, our water resources have been replacing some fire hydrants, so here at 13th and Haney, they had to replace the concrete at that location as well. And then also making minor road improvements, so here's at 24th and Canal, some pavement repairs were made. Firefighter Eli Rohr completed all requirements to become Kansas certified EMTB. And then firefighter Aiden Stevenson rode to Children at the Hays Public Library. Staff in the Parks Department continued to spray and green spaces for weeds and then with all the rain they've been continually mowing and trimming parks and green spaces. And then on July 10th, there was a bit of a windstorm, so staff had to clean up tree branches off the streets, parks, and other green spaces throughout town. Staff started the installation of the new playground equipment that was purchased by the Women Who Lead. It's expected that the playground will open for, or will be available for public use tomorrow.

There's great pictures out there of our staff out there utilizing it. They're making sure it's safe before they open it.

Gotta be safe.

We also had some drone footage taken of each hole at the fort. That will be used to update the website and give a more interactive view of the course. From the IT standpoint, the police department remodel project is moving from the design and vendor oversight phase to early implementation phase. All data cables have been terminated in the new data center acts, and power and lights have also been finalized. Within the next two weeks, an environmental partition will be added to close off the racks and network equipment will start to be installed in preparation of serving devices for the entire building as each area reaches completion.

Everything's on schedule?

Yes.

Very good. Remind us all what the completion date hopefully is?

I think around October 15th. I'd have to double check for sure, but we've always said the fall, so... I was hoping tomorrow, but that's fine. On July 3rd, members of the Hays Police Department, Honor Guard Corporal Ethan Henderson and Officer Schnabel demonstrated flag etiquette and folding at the Hays Public Library as part of a youth summer program. Water Resources staff responded and repaired to a water leak at 8th and Milner on July 8th. Water Resources staff also was able to participate again in the Wild West Fest Parade on July 4th. And then recently, Jeff Crispin, John Brown, and Chris Smith hosted two employees with the EPA Region Team for a tour of the R9 property. The team is actually responsible for administering some of the congressionally directed spending funds set aside for the R9 project by Senator Moran's office. Water Resources Stormwater and the KSU Watershed Specialist Stacey Minson sponsored the Larks game on July 6th. Water Smart Wally and Stormwater Dog T'Chola threw out the first pitches. Commissioner Cunningham assisted with handouts as well as Mayor Ruderman's attendance and city staff threw out t-shirts to the crowd in between innings and handed out coupons for free food items from the concession stand. It's important to note sponsoring and participating in these types of events does qualify to help meet requirements for our KDHE stormwater drainage permit. Water resources staff responded to and repaired a water leak at 20th and Vine on June 30th. CVB staff have welcomed new students and their families at five Fort Hayes State orientation events held in June and July, handing out 1,225 welcome packets of information. And then on July 4th, the CVB partnered with Historic Fort Hayes to host Prairie Picnic at the Fort, welcoming an estimated 1,800 attendees from 40 Kansas communities and 15 states. The event featured live music, historic reenactments, vintage baseball, bookmobile story time, a free hot dog feed, and the Wild West Festival fireworks spectacular. And there were many other sponsors, too many names, that helped with the event. CBB staff supported the tour to Capellan bike ride and bus tour by preparing participant packets and swag bags and assisting with early packet pickup at the Welcome Center. The new police station project continues to take shape. Underground utilities are underway. This is actually the storage facility behind the fire station three out on 41st Street. Footers have been poured and the metal building materials are on site. And then the north side multi-use path is also progressing. The Vine Street crossover just work started this week. And the pedestrian bridge is set to be placed next Friday is the plan. The Exit 161 project is moving along nicely. As Jesse Rohrer mentioned, they're focusing primarily on the actual site utilities at the site, and then street work will start thereafter. And that's it. Any questions?

Things are in progress. Good, good, good. Okay. A's happenings. CVB Director, Nikki Burke.

We'll see if I get it right the first time. Do I have to reintroduce myself? Good afternoon. We've got a lot of great events coming up here in August. First, though, to lead off, just a reminder that we still have the downtown Hayes Market going on Saturdays from 7.30 to 11.30 down at the Pavilion. And then you've got the Hayes Fresh Produce Market that occurs on Wednesday and Friday at 6.30 and Saturday from 7.30 to 11.30 at Baumgart's. And then on, or as part of the 150-year celebration of the Volga German Heritage, we are hosting the 56th Annual Convention of American Historical Society of Germans from Russia. That will be on the 5th through the 7th all day at the Hilton Garden Inn. Then the Aquatic Park will be hosting the Hayes Duck Derby for Big Brothers Big Sisters on the 5th from 5.30 to 7.30. Then you can catch your lemonade anywhere around town the weekend of the 6th through the 7th as part of the Arc of the Central Plains Lemonade Stand Challenge. And that, like I said, is gonna be throughout the community for you to be able to go buy lemonade and those proceeds support the Arc. The Fox will be hosting a couple different concerts this month. On the 6th, they have Logan Ryan Band, and then George Burge will be on the 28th. Concerts for both of those will occur at 6.30. The 29th annual Youth Outdoor Festival will be out at the Hays Sportsman's Club on the 15th. That'll be from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. And then later on that evening, Fort Hays will be hosting the 17th annual Tiger Auction and Dinner. And that will start at 7.30 and be the second year that it's hosted out at Gross Memorial Coliseum. the 21st you can go downtown at 7 30 to be the hayes symphony or to see the hayes symphony symphony excuse me present an american tribute also going on that day rpm speedway will have the rca races that'll be the only race this month and will be at six o'clock at the rolling plains motor speedway Then the aquatic park will close out their season on the 22nd from 11 to 1 with the annual dog swim. I don't think anybody wants to swim in that water after that event. Then on the 25th is the 38th Annual Education Appreciation hosted by the Chamber. That's from 5 to 7 at the Hilton Garden Inn. Also going on that evening is the return of March to Maine, which welcomes Fort Hayes students students Fort Hays Tech North Central and Hays Hair Academy students to the community. And that'll be from 5.30 to 8.30 downtown. They'll start at the quad on the Fort Hays campus and then march all the way down to the pavilion where there will be a variety of activities set up for them there. Then we'll close out the month with the Hays Art Council Fall Art Walk, and that will be on the 28th from 6.30 to 9.30 downtown. Any questions?

It's just hard to hear closing out August. Summer gone. Thank you. Thank you, Nathan.

Thank you.

All right.

Commission inquiries and comments. David, we'll start with you.

I just appreciate the staff's hard work on everything they're doing. The city's keeping busy. Anybody who says they're bored in Hays, they obviously have. Check the CDB's website. There's a lot going on in Hays. All they've got to do is look, and there's plenty to do. That's all I've got.

Thank you. Commissioner Jacobs?

I've got nothing.

Commissioner Musil? Mr. Cunningham.

Well, I hope everyone's enjoyed a little bit cooler weather the last few days. It's over. It's over. I know. I know. So I do hope you enjoyed it. But I also hope that, well, I know Nikki was talking about what's coming up. We're wrapping up July, and Bazaar on the Bricks is this Saturday. So go enjoy the market. Go downtown. Lots of activities. So not only can you hopefully find some bargains, but there are activities for people The youth and everyone involved so get out and enjoy our downtown that has vendors even from outside of downtown Yes. Yeah, so I don't know how many vendors they have but it should be a good Time and it's always I always enjoy getting down there and just seeing the amount of people that gather downtown.

So Absolutely

Yeah, I mean, there's lots to do this weekend too. Big Boy shows up into town tomorrow. It'll be here about 1.30, so it'll be here all weekend long too.

Oh, they don't leave Saturday?

Nope, they leave Sunday at 9 a.m. So when you're done shopping at the market, and then you go to the Bazaar's on the bricks, and then you walk over and look at the big train. eat some lunch, take a nap, and then High Plains has their Masquerade on Main Saturday night, so downtown's gonna be a hopping place all day long, all weekend long. But that's all I have, too.