City Council - Regular Meeting

Heat up here. Heat. Heat. Good evening everybody and welcome to uh tonight's council meeting. Roll call, please.

Rooster here. Walters here. Rarden here. Here. Cloier here. Horton here. Myers here. Thompson. All right. So, the invocation tonight will be given by Jeffrey Jones from Hazel United Church. Welcome.

Let us pray. God of wisdom and justice, we gather to seek clarity, fairness, and unity for our community. Grant this council the insight to make decisions that uplift every resident and courage to act with integrity and the humility to listen with open hearts. Bless our city with peace, safety and the and opportunity and guide us toward choices that honor the common good. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen. Amen.

Please 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.

All right. So, uh we have a special order of business tonight. We have uh several. The first will be a proclamation regarding child abuse prevention month. So, I'll uh I'll go and read it, then I'll I'll meet you up there. This mayoral proclamation, child abuse, child abuse prevention month, April 2026. Whereas every family and child is filled with tremendous promise and possibility. We all have a collective responsibility to prevent adverse childhood experiences, ACEs, foster potential of every child and promote positive childhood experiences, PCES. And whereas families who receive the support they need before a crisis occurs are better equipped to provide safe, healthy, and nurturing environments, leading to children who are safer, healthier, and more hopeful about their futures. And whereas primary prevention of child abuse and neglect can reduce the lifetime economic burden associated with child mal uh maltreatment. And whereas effective child abuse prevention activities succeed because of the partnerships created between child welfare professionals, education, health, community and faith-based organizations, businesses, law enforcement agencies, and families. And whereas investments in prevention initiatives such as home visiting programs, family strengthening policies, economic supports, and community-based child abuse prevention efforts are essential to building safer, healthier communities for children and families. Now therefore, I, Russ Kesler, mayor of the city of Hazville, Kansas, do hereby proclaim child April 2026 as child abuse prevention month in the city of Hazville and urge all citizens to recognize this month by declaring by dedicating ourselves to the task of improving the quality of life for all children and

families families. Uh proclaimed uh today, the 13th day of April, 2026. I'll meet you at the podium. So, I do appreciate you uh you both coming and uh we appreciate this. Thank you. All right. So, you're welcome. Actually, we already got a picture. Oh, perfect. All right. Excellent.

About to say, you know, say who you are and who you represent them. Yeah, if you don't mind. Oh, definitely. Appreciate. Yes. Thank you. Uh, so thank you for inviting us today and for signing the proclamation declaring child abuse prevention month. My name is Rachel Harper. I am the assistant director of the Prevent Child Abuse Kansas chapter at Kansas Children's Service League. And standing here with me is I'm Randy Lane with Department for Children's Family. I'm the community engagement administrator.

And so Kansas was the first state to establish its own chapter 50 years ago. KCSL is also the Kansas chapter of Circle of Parents and a multi-sight system of healthy families America. April has been recognized as child abuse prevention month since 1983 with the blue pin wheel adopted as the national symbol in 2008. Each year, KCSL along with our community partners coordinates statewide activities, provides support, and strengthens local efforts to raise awareness. Together, we work to foster community action and promote policies that ensure the safety and well-being of children and families. The national theme for this year's Child Abuse Prevention Month is pinw wheels of possibility. Celebrating the limitless potential of children and families when communities come together to support them. The spinning pin wheel shows us what support can look like when we center f when we put families at the center of that. Each turn represents the networks, programs, policies, and everyday acts of care that strengthen them and help them thrive. From home visiting to health and economic policy, every turn unlocks new possibilities, showing how supportive systems and communities expand what's possible for every child and family. In many ways, the pinmill is also a call to action, highlighting the shared responsibility all our cross- sector partners have in centering families. Families, communities, policy makers, and organizations must work together to provide economic and social support, including affordable child care, paid leave, and financial stability, community- based solutions, ensuring access to local resources and networks, and stronger prevention policies with investments that uplift those uplift families before harm occurs. Prevention isn't just about avoiding harm. It's about creating opportunities for families to thrive. Positive childhood experiences, including stable relationships and nurturing environments, help children thrive and mitigate adverse childhood experiences. Prevention is hard work, but it's also heart work. So, to celebrate Child Abuse Prevention Month, you can help plan a

pin garden. It's a visual reminder of the world we want for all children to grow up happy, healthy, and prepared to succeed. And thank you again for having us and for signing the proclamation. Sure. Definitely happy to have you both here today and appreciate the pin wheels that you uh left up here. So, yep. Appreciate that. Thank you.

All right. Next will be uh item B, a proclamation regarding public service recognition week. So, public service recognition week, May 3rd through the 9th, 2026. In honor of millions of public employees at the federal, state, county, and city levels, whereas public servants at every level of government perform essential roles and work tirelessly to uphold the safety, well-being, quality of life in our communities. And whereas public service recognition week is an opportunity to express gratitude and appreciation for all the hard work and commitment of our public servants across all levels of the government. And whereas public servants work tirelessly with dedication, integrity, and compassion to uphold the public good, inspire trust and confidence, and enhance the quality of life for all residents. And whereas public servants represent a diverse array array of occupations including but not limited not limited to accountants, public transportation workers, technology professionals, administrators, planners, laborers, analysts, clerks, educators, inspectors, parks workers, utility uh public utility workers, social workers, and countless others. And whereas many public servants, including military personnel, police officers, firefighters, and others, risk their lives each day in public in service to the people of the United States. And whereas some public servants are very visible in the community, others work behind the scenes to ensure that services are available to residents and um processes are open and accessible to the public. And whereas without these public servants continue uh continuity would be impossible in a democracy that regularly changes its leaders and elected officials. Now therefore, I Skler, mayor of the city of Hazville,

uh, Kansas, do hereby proclaim May 3rd through the 9th, 2026 as public service uh, recognition recognition week in the city of Hazesville and encourage all residents to join me in honoring and recognizing the dedication, professionalism, and sacrifice of our public servants at all levels of government proclaimed today the 13th day of April, 2026. So I do uh very much appreciate all the public service uh you know especially at the city level. So without you it'd be uh the city would be uh not working correctly right. So definitely appreciate everything that you guys did.

All right. Next we have a proclamation of arbor day. official proclamation. Whereas in 1872, the Nebraska Board of Al al agriculture established a special day to be set aside for the planting trees. And whereas this holiday called Arbor Day was first observed with the planting of more than a million trees in Nebraska. And whereas Arbor Day is now observed throughout the nation and the world. And whereas trees can be a solution to uh combating climate change by reducing the erosion of our precious top soil by wind and water, cutting heating and cooling costs, moderating the temperature, cleaning the air, producing life, giving oxygen, and providing habitat for wildlife. And whereas trees are renewable resource, giving us paper, wood for our homes, fuel for our fires, and countless other wood products. And whereas trees in our city increase property values, enhance the economic vitality of businesses, business areas, and beautify our community. And whereas trees wherever they are planted are a source source of joy and spiritual renewal. Now, therefore, I Russ Kesler, mayor of the city of Paysville, Kansas, do hereby proclaim May 4th, 2026 as Arbor Day in the city of Pazville. And I urge all citizens to celebrate Arbor Day and support efforts to protect our trees and wildens. And further, I urge all citizens to plant trees to gladden their heart and promote the well-being of this of this and future generations. Dated today, the 13th day of April, 2026. So, speaking of Arbor Day, I'll bring it up later as well, but as I mentioned, Arbor Day will be celebrated on uh May 4th at 5:15 over in the historic district. All right, next we have item D. Hazel Chamber of Commerce presents

recreational department with a champion of the year award. Welcome, Deian.

Thank you. Good evening, Mayor and Council members. on Deian Con with the Chamber of Commerce, the executive director. And Josh Wagner, our chair, could not be here this evening and he senses regrets. So, I get to do the honors. And you know, most of you know me. I don't usually need notes to speak. I can usually say what I want to say pretty easily. However, I want to make sure that what we said the night of the banquet is given out here tonight so Rob can hear. The Hazel Chamber of Commerce held its annual Community Stars celebration on March 28th and handed out several awards. The business of the year award was presented to Golden Plains Credit Union. The new business of the year was awarded to Wag Swags Print Shop. The volunteer of the year went to the deserving couple of Tom and Brenda Gibson. And the chair's award went to Lindsay Brown with Farha Roofing. Our last award was the community champion award which recognizes those who go above and beyond to strengthen our community. A strong community is built on connection, care, and opportunities to come together. When we think about what makes the community thrive, we think of places that bring people together and the people who make those places feel like home. The Hazel Activity Center is one of those places. From fitness and recreation to social events and daily connections, the staff at the hack create an environment where community truly happens. Their impact is felt every single day in Hazesville. It is more than just a facility. It's a gathering place where friendships are formed, health and wellness are encouraged, and people of all ages feel very welcome. The staff's commitment to serving our community helps make Hazesville a better place to live, work, and play. On behalf of the Hazville Chamber of Commerce, I'm honored to present the Community Champion Award to the Hazel Activity Center.

They go above and beyond. We have our super meetings over there. Rob always takes care of setting up tables, chairs, cleans up. So, they are great for our community and we couldn't be more proud for them to receive this award. Thank you. Thank you. You're welcome. Josh owes me big time now. Thank you very much. All right. Thank you, D. Thank you. Congratulations for the hack. All right. Next, we have presentation and approval of minutes. A minutes of March 9th, 2026. Martin. Make a motion we approve the minutes as presented. Second.

Second. Have a motion. A second to approve the minutes of March 9th, 2026 as presented. Any discussion? Question, please. Rooster, yes. Walters, yes. Ron, yes. Eart, yes. Cloier, yes. Parton, yes. Myers, abstain. All right. Next, we have item one, public comment. A Mara McGovern, yes. Did I say that correctly? The child start regarding child start services and the mission.

Thank you for inviting me here tonight. And I do have my little pin wheels out and our in front of our little Head Start, too, because we also do the child abuse and prevention, but um uh just a little bit about our program. I I assume that's what you called me here for. Um we serve 50 children at this new location here in Hayesville. Um we do need staff. Um if anybody knows anybody that'd love to go into early childhood, but um we're here and we recruit and it costs nothing for the parents to attend our program. I did bring some flyers like what I would do if I recruited because that's what I normally would do and I will leave those here with you. And um we serve full day 4 days a week 7:30 to 4:30 Monday through Thursday. The kids are with us 9 hours a day birth to 5 years old. Um does anybody have any question? I mean I could tell you the whole history of Head Start but I don't think you want me to hear that long.

Well, tell us your location. Our location I did not bring that address and I do not have it memorized. It is the old daycare that was here forever that somebody else had. I'm so sorry I don't have that. I have your address, but on my mic. 984. 984 grand. Yes, that's it. Thank you.

I look at it every day on my phone. Um, but I have some business cards being made and it will be on there, so I'll make sure my hair gets on. But, um, yes, we're there and we have plenty of kids, so they're signing up every day and they have to be income eligible to, uh, qualify for our program. So, we serve the lowest income families in the community and but they get a very good education through Head Start. Does anybody have any questions about any of that? I wasn't sure what you wanted from me so I just kind of you know tell us about yourself and uh do appreciate the open house you had. Uh yes, you were there correct? I was. I believe you were in the picture.

Yes. Um, we did have an open house and I I personally have uh I started working for Kansas Children's Service League in 1998 working with early childhood and then they I got laid off from there after 14 years and then I worked in long-term care for a few minutes, eight months and then I came to Childart and so I've been in Harper County for the last I started in 2014. So, but I'm happy to be here. I live in Cunningham. I know I drive a long ways but I do it for the kids. I'm not ready to give that up yet. So, when we transferred, that was an opportunity and I I wasn't ready to give that up yet. So, I love the kids and we're all about safety. Safety is our first priority. So, child abuse and prevention, you weren't mandated reporters just like everybody else. And we do not mind making those reports because it's for the safety of kids. So, that's where my heart is and that's where I've been all this time. And come and visit us. come visit the site that, you know, they remodeled it. It's a nice place for kids to attend. Now, they're still working on the playground. We do have playground equipment, but um still have some improvement there to make for planting some good grass and stuff. So, we're always um asking for donations because we also get in kind for so just really fast, the government gives us 75 cents of every dollar and the 25 cents of that dollar we get either back from the parents or the community. And um the parents do it by reading to the kids or helping them set the table. They fill out little papers every day of uh time they spend with their children. And that's in kind. And all of that's 100% on your taxes if anybody ever donates or gives anything. So you may see me again asking for you, you don't know, sungass or something, but whatever we might need along the way. But um we're just getting here. We just started January the 20th. I'm just getting familiar with the community. So far, I love everything that I'm doing. So, um, but if you ever

have any questions, please come see us, call me, ask. We will be happy to answer them. I appreciate being here tonight and I appreciate Child Stark being in the city of Peaceville. That's a good program. Thank you all for having me. Thank you. All right. Next, we have item B, Steve Miller, the 311 East Raleigh regarding extended firework sales time frame.

Yeah. Well, I'd like to thank everybody for for allowing me to be here tonight. And I'm I'm still going. My wife and I have operated the wholesale fireworks building since it opened 26 years ago. We use uh uh right now we've been using campus link crew to help us during the fireworks season. And this year we're going to be using the rest men's and women's wrestling team to to help us out. So service the community there. Anyways, I'm here in behalf of the celebration of the nation's 250 year anniversary. This will be going to be biggest fireworks season ever, 4th of July. And what I'm asking is to extend the sales time frame just by 3 days, 2 days prior to, so it' be the 25th and 26th for open to sales fireworks. And then the July 5th, uh by state law, it would be able to sell and shoot off if that was permissible by you guys. Um anyway, uh what the benefit to the city would be to help increase the city's revenue by being open longer. And then uh surrounding communities are are all getting on board this year like Godard they've already located at Andover Valley Center and several communities are talking about doing extending the season uh permanently and but anyway that's that's what I would like to see just extend the season by two days. The first two days would be selling only but per state law and then uh uh fifth the July 5th would be sales and shooting if permitted by by the council. Hi. Thank you very much.

All right. Thank you. Thank you for coming. All right. Next we have item two, approval of license and bonds. We have none. Item three, introduction of ordinances and resolutions. A an ordinance vacating the minimum pad elevation within lot one block A 8K edition.

Good evening mayor and council. So this first request has actually been withdrawn by the applicant. So no council action is needed. It was withdrawn because the vacation is no longer necessary since we won't be removing anything from the plat. Just correcting the elevation through the attached affidavit and that affidavit does not need council approval to be filed. Um, with that I can stand for any questions on that one. Right. So, it will be removed. So, what you're requesting to do a vote on that? No, I I just think they don't want to move forward with it. So, um, okay. Yeah, I think we're good.

Okay. Sounds good. Thank you. All right. With that, we we will move on to item B. an ordinance denying a request for vacation of a portion of the platted utility easement of a certain real property located within the city of Hazville, Kansas. So, this vacation was reviewed by the planning commission on March 26th. Um, it's for that utility easement along the east property line. The applicant is requesting this vacation because they built an accessory structure in the easement without a building permit and are thus in violation of our city code. Um, the vacation request is proof of intent to resolve this violation. The affected utility providers, specifically EverGy, oppose the vacation because there's infrastructure in the easement that serves other properties. Um, however, they don't oppose the accessory structure remaining in the easement as long as the structure will be removed whenever G requests it. Um, the applicant has been informed of this and they also know that any costs associated with removal will be theirs to bear. Um, so with that information, the planning commission did recommend denial due to Everg's objection and the need to preserve the utility easement and noted that the existing structure remains at the property owner's risks and subject to future enforcement or removal if required. The staff report, the minutes, and the site plan for the proposed vacation are attached. And I can stand for questions.

All right. Anybody have any questions for uh Kalin or would anybody like to make a motion to uh to uh deny the request for the vacation? Council Mars. I'll make a motion to deny the request of a vacation of the portion of the platted utility easement of the certain real property located in Hazesville, Kansas. Second motion, a second to deny this request as presented. As presented. Any discussion? As presented. Question, please. Brewster. Yes. Walters. Walters. Yes. Bon.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Parton. Yes. Myers. Yes. All right. Next we have item C. A resolution of the city of Hazesville, Kansas, authorizing conditional use to prevent the construction and operation of a vehicle storage yard on the west 1/2 of block one, block A, Hazville Industrial Park edition, Hazville, Cedric County, Kansas.

So, this conditional use request was also reviewed on the 26th and the planning commission recommended approval with staff's recommended conditions. Those conditions are that a detailed site plan be approved by the planning and zoning administrator addressing in detail the extent and use of the entire property including the uses for outdoor areas on the property, access to the property and fence height location and material. The property will also have to comply with all special use conditions for vehicle storage yards and the storage of inoperable vehicles is not allowed. Those special use conditions refer to the all weather surface or gravel that is required for the storage and the solid screening of the property. Both of those conditions are currently satisfied. Um but the applicant does intend to add more gravel to the lot and replace the existing fence with a solid composite fence. The staff report and minutes are attached and I can stand for questions.

Anybody have any uh questions for Kayn or like to make a motion to uh approve the resolution? Council person make a motion we uh accept the resolution as presented. Second. Do we have a motion and second to accept um the resolution as presented? Any discussion? Question, please. Brewster, yes. Walters, yes. Rarden, yes. Keywork, yes. Cloair, yes. Parton, yes. Myers. Yes.

Next, we have item D, resolution of the city of Hazesville, Kansas, authorizing a conditional use to permit the construction and operation of a new 60ft tall tower for a wireless communication facility on reserve a Grand Avenue industrial park, third edition, Hazesville, Cedric County, counties.

This final resolution was also reviewed by the planning commission on the 26th of March. Um the planning commission recommended approval provided that anti-rime safety measures or measures to prevent unauthorized access and documentation of compliance with all applicable FCC regulations regarding radio frequency emissions were provided. Um public works our applicant um has proposed constructing a fence to meet those safety measures and anti-rime provisions. They've also provided staff a copy of their FCC license. I can stand for any questions.

Council person Bordon. So, even though we made this tower behind us put up a a solid fence, are we going to put up a solid fence? Okay. Any other questions for Kale? Anybody like to make a motion to um approve those uh this resolution? Council member Martin make a motion to approve the resolution for the intended second. We have a motion and a second to approve this resolution as presented. Any discussion? Question, please. Rooster,

yes. Walters, yes. Martin, yes. Yes. Soldier, yes. Horton, yes. Myers, yes. All right. Next, we have item four, notices and communications. A governing body announcements. Are there any uh announcements from Governor B? Council Brewster.

Yeah, I've got the Hazel Community Library. Um their monthly calendar on tomorrow is Holocaust Remembrance Day. On April 15th at 4 p.m. is the Lego Club. Um April 19th through the 25th is National Library Week. April 22nd is Earth Day. April 23rd is International Book Day. Also on April 23rd is at 10:30 is parents' teacher story time. Then at noon is the Chamber of Commerce um library lunchon, which is always pretty good. Um and then on April 30th, we also have three events. At 10:30 will be parents' teacher story time. Um at 5:30 p.m. will be Friends of the Library Board Meeting. And then um that evening at 7 PM will be the library board meeting itself.

All right. Thank you. Yep. Any other announcements? So, some upcoming senior center announcements. The uh commodities will be April 15th. Easter dinner will be April 17th. Women's uh fair outing is April 24th. Recurring events, coffee and uh conversation games, crafts, bingo, exercise classes, Alzheimer's support group, and line dancing. Sorry. Getting ready for line dancing. Line dancing. Yeah, they're line dancing. Sorry.

So, uh we also have the uh t-shirt design contest is still going on for the 75th anniversary. So, uh, if you have any ideas for that, please submit those to the city by this Wednesday, April 25th. Chief may, uh, say something about this, but it's a drug takeback. Uh, and the paper shred event be right out here in front of city hall. That's from, uh, 10 to 2:00 p.m. 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. April 25th. Arbor Day. I mentioned that earlier, the uh, tree planting will be May 4th at 5:15 p.m. in the historic district. So, I I encourage everybody to uh to come on out there for the tree planting. I know uh some scouts will be out there, so it's always a good time. The uh mayor's prayer breakfast will be on May 7th at 7:00 a.m. Tickets are $12. That will be at the hack. The uh tickets can be purchased either to city hall or area churches that are uh members of the Hazville um uh

serial association. Thank you. Hel mysterial minister mysterial association and same day which is the national day of prayer is always on the first Thursday of May. So at noon the uh HMA will be doing the um the ceremony in front of the police station. So I encourage everybody to come out to that as well. All right. See next we have item B memo regarding new business licenses. We have a couple in there. Item C, Cedric County Fire Department, station 34, monthly report. It's in your packet. Item D, presentation of economic development strategic plan and assessment. So, we have Friends University with us tonight. So, if you'd like to uh kind of say who you are and uh who you're with.

You guys want to introduce yourself first and then Yeah. Yeah. Hey, my name is Sander. I am from Norway and I'm a senior at Friends. I'm Kelsey Kinderberg. I'm from Witchaw, Kansas, and I'm a junior at Friends. Hello, I'm Grant Wagner. I'm a junior at Friends and I'm from here in Waw as well. Hello, my name is Nicholas Foley. I'm a senior at Friends University and I'm from Clearwater, Kansas.

And I'm Rachel Steiner. So, as um Mayor Russ Kesler mentioned, we are with Friends University with the Center for Enterprise and Community Engagement and we were tasked um with Will and Danielle and Mayor Russ Kesler um to look at updating the economic development plan and assessments and provide some recommendations. And so what we have done in looking through the 2025 community survey, the 2024 retail study, um the 2023 housing study, and 2024 housing grants along with creating our own survey um that we submitted to um the city with the help of Danielle and the Chamber of Commerce. Um we got some feedback from that as well. So, you guys should have in your packets um updated SWAT analysis that we completed um on getting feedback from um a few here at the city and um as well as the surveys that we've had and then um we're going to go through a couple recommendations that we have for you.

All right. First of all, thank you so much for having us. This has been a fun project to work with. Um and uh yeah, been been a pleasure to get to know Hazel a little bit. Um so first of all I'll keep this um yeah short and sweet. I know you guys have a lot of important information to go through so we'll move pretty quickly here. Um our first recommendation is regarding the gas station economic leakage that was addressed by um retail strategies which is kind of a consulting firm that comes in and helps communities with developing their downtowns and and such. and they um analyzed the economic situation here in Hazville and the area around it with a 5m radius and stated and concluded that $100 million each year leaves the Hazville area because uh the residents are spending that money in either Witchah or Derby or other nearby communities instead. That's a lot of revenues for a for a community as as your own. um and we wanted to kind of dive a little bit deeper into that and how you could address it. So in our survey, we asked um the residents here how many people are actually getting their gas here and only 36% of the survey takers fill their gas in Hazville and we thought that um so there is a demand and supply gap here obviously. So adding an additional gas station in Hazville that that is more tailored towards the demand. Um and according to our study uh 72% of residents would want to fill their gas more likely to fill their gas in Hazel if there was more options here and they were very optimistically optimistic towards a quick trip. However, we have addressed that there might be some concerns and maybe uh getting getting them in here. Um, but we think that this gap is so uh substantial that it's that it's worth pursuing

nonetheless. And people want it on Senica. So the Vicor's petroleum station is actually pretty nicely placed. Um, the only problem is that it doesn't serve gas, right? But if it was, people would likely love it.

Okay, onto the next one. Um, social media. So Hazel, you guys post a lot across multiple medias. Uh, and it's a lot of information. It's a lot of flyers informing uh the residents of Hazville, but we would love to see more engagement with the community. And I think we think that this is a great opportunity for you guys to connect more with the community and get the word out there for people even maybe considering moving into Hazville uh of how such like how of a great community you guys are, right? So out of the last 25 Instagram posts, so we did Instagram, but this is a trend that we see across all platforms since February 20th, there are 23 flyers, two photos, and zero videos. Out of those 18 out of those 23 flyers, 18 got zero likes. So not a lot of traction, which is common for flyers. But then you get two photos. You have the police officer of the year, 54 likes. And you got Mayor Russ taking the mayor youth leadership council council to the capital 90 likes.

So yeah, seeing more of that. So we want more of the faces of the community, maybe even some videos interviewing the businesses, um interviewing the community and getting the word out there, more engaging content. Um, and a solution to that would be to hire a part-time either high schooler or a marketing major college student, which would be a fairly low uh wage cost to you guys. And we think it could create a lot of traction and we're going to talk about the image of Hazville and we think that this is going to play a huge part in that as well.

Hello. Um, so my recommendations have to do with family entertainment. um the ice cream, an ice cream shop, and then a restaurant. I'm sure it's no surprise to you that the city of Hazville is very family oriented. Um in our survey that we conducted, um every single one of these, um retail businesses, uh the people wanted it to be a family sit down place. Um and it varied, um from 79% to 83%. Um but they go to um outside of uh Hazesville to Witchaw or Derby um to have family entertainment, ice cream shop and restaurant like um and that's a big percentage of revenue that is taken away from the city of Hazesville. Um for family entertainment, community events, bowling alleys, mini golf, and movie theaters were really popular picks on our survey. Um for ice cream shop, Brahms and Dairy Queen um were the popular picks. And then for a restaurant um locally owned was the first um desired place and then next Chick-fil-A. Um and then the next recommendation um is regarding housing and um it's an affordable housing movement. So, in the community and economic development survey conducted in 2025, feedback on question number 15, if you or someone you know is looking to purchase a house, what range are you looking or are you are they looking um for? And an overwhelming response was between $100,000 and $200,000 for a single family home. Um this price range has not really been on the market in Hazesville. Um, so I don't know if you guys are familiar with the Kansas Health Foundation, um, but, um, Kansas is experiencing a housing crisis and the Kansas Health Foundation is, um, one of that's one of their initiatives this

year is focusing on, um, through like impact investing and just grants improving affordable housing um, throughout the state of Kansas um, particularly in rural areas. And while like Hazesville might not be considered rural, it has several advantages including available land, a highly desired school district, and strong child care provision. Um, so these are all things that the Kansas Health Foundation would um love to see in a partner. Um so and historically affordable housing projects can be more challenging to implement as they are often more time inensive and require additional administrative work making it difficult to attract contractors. Um but again to address this um Hazville could uh offer targeted incentives to encourage developers participation and then partner with um Witchaw area Area Builders Association to help facilitate support um the development of affordable housing projects within the community.

All righty. So we'll make this short and sweet. Um I've got two more but they're good things. So, the first one is in our survey that we sent out, we found that your residents love the community events that you host. Um, so you do the Christmas village, we do Fourth of July, lots of different events. Um, I'm sure they're all looking forward to the new one coming up, the 06o, um, pretty soon. And I think that's something that you guys should continue working towards to get more people in the community um, out and about. Um, one thing we did notice is there is a little bit of a gap kind of in the first quarter, which gets a little bit hard with the weather. Um, but if you can find a way to do something um, indoors or maybe something outside in the afternoon um, in the first quarter, maybe March um, spring break time, try and do something like that. Um, and then the other one is child care. So, um, like you guys heard earlier, ChildStart is now here in town and they're going to help fill a large gap and Kansas only has about 40% capacity for child care. Um, but the city of Hayesville has about 80%. So, if you guys can continue that, working towards that, I think that'll bring a lot of people into the city of Hayesville, um, an incentive for people to want to live here, to have a place for their kids, um, but also be close to Witchaw as well. So,

all right. I'd like to start by saying thank you for letting us be here and be a part of this project. I know for us as students, it's really nice to be able to get out of the classroom every once in a while and actually apply what we learn into real life situations. It's something that we all love doing, especially going out and seeing different communities. I know for me personally, I grew up around the area, but I mean, we have Sandrew here who came from Norway, and he's getting to see Hazeville for the first times. But today the two recommendations I'm going to be talking about are the initiatives alignment within the community needs and the downtown feel. I know you guys are pretty excited after that one. But starting off with the initiatives alignment, I'd say one of the biggest things with this is we need to understand what the supply and the market demand is of the individuals within the surrounding community and the community of Hazesville. I think one of the biggest things that we found throughout our surveys was that the community members aren't really incentivized by the coffee shops. They're more incentivized by say um where is it where they can go out to say restaurants, grocery stores and things like that. Something that you should regularly be doing is looking out into the community, seeing and applying some surveys to what they are looking for on an incentive basis. And this will help to bring in and retain different organizations or businesses within the city, helping the overall economic growth. And then the next part, the fun part is the downtown feel. I know that there's been a lot of pressure within recent communities all around the world within downtowns. And one of the biggest things that they do is they implement these murals. What do these murals do? They show the history. You don't have to go to a museum. I mean, I don't know about you guys, but when was the last time we all went to a various museum of a surrounding community that we were not involved in? I think one of the coolest thing about murals, signage, and other facts that you can see driving through a small town is you can get a feel and an understanding of the people who surround themselves within these communities and

the individuals who are involved within it. I think this would be very helpful and something that you could also have help through high school members or collegiate members within marketing to help you see what driving factors are within your history and build your community. Thank you.

All right. And then the final recommendation that we're going to discuss is community branding. Um, and so kind of playing on the community events that you guys um that your community really loves and feels and every survey kind of mentions it. Danielle has it in a lot of the reports. It's just something that comes up very often. Um, and so how can we uh keep moving on that? Um, and one thing you guys are doing as party in the 060. Um, and so kind of playing on that um is creating a branding with an 06 initiative. And so a couple things that we have came up with is developing and installing um welcome to the 060 signage at key entry points throughout the city. Create and promote a consistent social media hashtag # the060 to build digital identity and recognition. launch a local business branding program so that businesses could have shop 06 in their windows um or 06 certified um some kind of window display or window decal um proud to be 060 some type of promotional support. um adding some discounts to businesses for residents um or creating like an 06 loyalty program um where if they visit five local businesses they can get some type of reward um just helping them shop and stay local um that will help drive some of the business um here in in Hayesville. Organizing more community events. We've talked a lot about that. So um uh party in the 06 clearly kind of incorporates the brand already. Um, but some additional ideas would be maybe a 6:00 p. p.m. summer series event to kind of play on that 060. Um, where you have um food trucks, music, movies, activities, things like that at your parks. Um, and then incorporating the 06 identity into key development areas like your Meridian corridor for marketing and recruitment,

things like that that you could do. Um we've mentioned a few times um and we're not pushing this, I promise, but we kind of are partnering with local schools and universities um to develop some of the branding materials um murals that Nick talked about. We see that a lot in a lot of the downtowns. Um but there's some really incredible graphic design students um at a lot of the universities. Hazville has some as well at the at the high school. Um, so just really um getting some of that involved, promoting local businesses and residents through ongoing digital content. Um, we talked a little bit about that earlier. Sander mentioned your social media engagement. How can you do 06 stories and really um get to know some of the residents and some of the businesses and doing some of those things through social media? Um, developing branded merchandise, um, shirts, stickers, signage, different things like that. Just again promoting the 06. And then really the big thing we thought about if you think about Witchita and some of the things they've done um the keeper of the plains, right? Um they have that the businesses get to paint um that to kind of signify what the business is, but it's also a landmark to Witchah. And so you recognize that as you go through town. um if there was a way to do some type of 06 where each business could have their own kind of painted mural or um if it was wood sign or metal sign or something like that, but they could kind of put their own kind of touch to it um through something like that, having them in parks or um at the entry points of your town, photo opportunities, different things like that, just to really get that 060 out there. So, those are some of our our ideas that you know you have. you should have the full packet in front of you. Um, again, as I mentioned, thank you guys for giving us the opportunity to be here and to do this. It's extremely important for the students to learn some of that theoretical knowledge that they sit in the classroom all the time to but to be able to apply that um into real world practices. And so this was a really good

thing for them to do and to study and kind of dive deep into into some of that. So, thank you for allowing us to be here and to provide these recommendations. Thank you, Dr. Mars you love it.

Uh thank you so much for doing your work. That's that's awesome. Uh little research project you guys did a little bit of feedback on everything. Not everything but a couple key points that I I uh the gas station on Senica. So I live on Meridian, so I have two excellent gas stations on over there. But that that's a very good point that Senica could use a gas station. Uh the hard part about that as a city is we don't dictate who builds what where, right? So, I think the only thing that we could do as as the governing body would be maybe talk about doing like an incentive program like, okay, let's do a grant or something like that for a new gas station in whatever location on just Senica. I don't know if I'm sure we could make it be just Senica. We write the rules, right? Um um the the marketing student position, that brings up a really good point. I like that one as well. Um, and just marketing in general. Like Goddard actually made a post like last week, public works made a post where it was silly. It was like the workers doing a silly dance with lights and stuff. And, uh, I've I I've seen a lot of libraries, police departments, uh, all the different sections do silly videos on Instagram. And I'm watching videos from people in like Idaho, you know what I mean? Like, it's not even local things. So that's, you know, it gets the word out there even if it's people beyond the local area, right? So that that's definitely a good idea. I don't know how much technicalities that would be with hiring a part-timer through this university or schools, but that's an excellent idea. Um the ice cream and eeries, we already have grants for that. Once again, we can't dictate who builds what where, but we are trying to lure in some businesses to do that. So that is something that is in the works. We've been Danielle has worked on that. We have a grant currently that is active. Um, for the Hazville signs, we do have welcome to Hazville signs. I have one like literally on my property, like on the corner of my property. So, personally, I just fixed up the one by me. Uh, did a little garden decoration about around it. I like the idea of

adding more hashtag ones like just maybe street sign kind of style ones that

get you to follow the socials and stuff like that. That's a good idea. I like that. And and the murals and art. Um myself and Councilman Bruce actually talked about uh murals. Uh we were talking about potentially one of them would be uh the tunnel here going through uh underneath the railroad tracks cuz right now it's just white, you know, it's like white bricks. Uh we could paint the history, you know, the tornado, whatever else we want to put about the history of Hazesville. Have the seniors do it because I'm I'm not from here. I'm from New York. So where I'm from, my high school, the seniors every year redo the mural, right? And it's like a whole project that they do. So, we could totally do a campus thing where get some donated paint or have uh local businesses sponsor it and have a competition at the the UN not the university but at the high school every year and paint a mural. So, that's an excellent idea, too. I think that they're all really good input and thank you for your time and your efforts. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Thank you for your time. So, uh yeah, thank you all for uh coming here. Uh it's great to see you all again. Yeah. My alma mo University. Yeah, falcons. So, uh, so yeah, definitely appreciate you coming here and, uh, providing all this input. A lot of great input. So, thank you. Thank you. All right. Next, we have item E, economic development quarterly report. Danielle,

good evening, Mayor and Council. Before you is the first quarter economic development report. I have added a new section on page 21 and 22 reviewing our incentives and grant programs by calendar year over the past three years including both available and awarded funding. Businesses approved but not yet meeting all requirements are not listed individually. Instead, a count of pending awards is provided. Select sections include supporting details. So, for example, the facade grant section reflects that six of 13 applicants have been notified of awards totaling $25,000 with a combined project estimate of approximately 115,000. Funds will be distributed upon completion at which time the recipient details can be added. I also included two graphs for the business lease matching grant showing 3,425 in city awarded funding and approximately 32,000 in applicant reported capital investment. While not included in this report, an additional 150,000 in retail inventory investment has occurred as part of these expansions. And I'm happy to answer any questions. There any questions for Danielle? Well, uh I think all of you know today is uh or this is Danielle's last council meeting. So uh she accepted a position uh someplace else. So uh so I you will be missed. Uh definitely uh appreciate all the work and all the energy you put into Hazville and um just uh definitely uh I will miss you uh all your economic development

worldly knowledge. So it's truly been a blessing to be here. So thank you. I do wish you well on your uh on your next uh next job. So thank you. All right. Right. Next we have item F, an email from Cox Communications. Packet. Next we have item five, old business and none. Item six, other business. A consider consideration of lease p uh purchase of police vehicles. Chief.

Yeah. Good evening, Mayor Council. Um before you tonight, we have a consideration for uh purchasing two uh patrol vehicles to replace two vehicles in our fleet. um as we do every year, these are budgeted items to try to get the uh maintain a a effective um means of transportation for the police officers to get around town and make sure that we have reliable uh vehicles to do that. Um we're seeking approval as we have the last couple times uh for the lease purchase of two new patrol vehicles through Enterprise Fleet Management. Um, these vehicles will be 2026 Ford Police Interceptors and will be outfitted with emergency equipment to match the rest of our fleet. Uh, so that everything stays the same. So if somebody jumps into a car in a stressful situation, the equipment's the same. They know where the buttons are. They know where the switches are. They know uh where they're going, what the radios do, and everything else. Um, these vehicles will replace two other Ford Police Interceptors currently in the fleet. Cars one and car 9. Um, the mileage is there. Uh those vehicles will also be sold by Enterprise Police or Fleet Management, sorry. Um so the total annual lease cost is 30,45096 and a onetime upfitting fee um per vehicle is 12,610 for a total of $25,221. Um you have any questions at this point on anything?

Certain. Are these patrol cars or they are patrol cars? Yes.

We're going So we're going back to the intersection. We we have purchased Dodges the last couple times. Um the reason for going with Fords is we want to make sure that our fleet is diversified. We have had some issues as of late with not not just one vehicle. So don't get me wrong, I'm not bagging on Dodges or Fords, either one, but we had a recall where we had several Dodges down at the same time. So it eliminated almost half of our fleet. And then it wasn't a month later and the Fords had this similar recall. And so our Fords went down. If we would had all Dodges, we would have been in trouble. If we had all Fords, we would have been in trouble. So, right now, half of our fleet is Dodges. We're going to go ahead and maintain the other half as Fords because that's the most uh the best cost-effective option. Chevy is not even an option because they're way too expensive.

Um, so that's where we're at at this point. Yes, we're we're buying Fords instead of Dodgers this time. Well, is the Interceptor a car then or is an SUV? Oh, I'm sorry. It's it's like a Ford Explorer. It's just the it's it's the fancy police name for a Ford Explorer police package. when you threw interceptor in there. I'm sorry. Interceptor. It's an Explorer without the roof rack basically. Okay. And they're better cars. Well, I know. I drive an Explorer. So, you drive it. No, I didn't get that part. Probably take your roof rack off or something. So, councel Mars. Uh, I'll make a motion to approve the uh proposal of the lease the vehicle purchase lease.

Lease your lease. I'll second motion and second to approve the lease purchase of police department vehicles. Any discussion? Question, please. Brewster, yes. Walters, yes. Rodney, yes. Eart, yes. Cloier, yes. Yes. Me, yes. Thank you. Thank you. Next, we have item B, consideration of lease purchase of public works department vehicles.

Good evening, mayor and council. If it works for y'all, just say ditto. Just kidding. Uh, we are requesting approval to lease four vehicles through Enterprise Fleet Management as part of our 2026 budgeted fleet maintenance program. These vehicles will support the wastewater, parks, and water departments. All leases for us include maintenance which provides predictable costs and reduces unexpected repair expenses. Uh we have two Dodge Ram 1500 trucks, one for the wastewater department and one for the parks department. Those will run at 13,924 annually on a three-year lease. The wastewater truck replaces a 1995 Chevy S10 that was taken out of service several years ago and has already been sold. The parks truck will replace an aging 1990 Chevy 3500 flatbed that is deficient and will be sold through Enterprise Fleet Management. We also then have a Chevy Colorado at 12,614.16 annually on a three-year lease. This one will replace a 2008 Chevy Trailblazer with approximately 92,000 m that spends more time with the mechanic. The Ford Transit van for the water department is $17,3948 annually on a 5-year lease. This will replace our 2004 Chevy box truck with approximately 80,000 mi that is showing significant maintenance issues. This vehicle will also be sold through Enterprise. The van will serve as a primary service truck for the water department. If you're not familiar, it'll be used to respond to necessary water main brakes, service line leaks, and fire hydrant issues. It will also carry all the tools and materials necessary to respond to water distribution emergencies. The upfitting for the transit van is at $18,9847. All of the upfitting will be paid up

front through equipment reserve funds. The total annual lease cost for all vehicles is 57,728.112 and the total onetime upfitting costs for the transit van $18,90847. All of these items were included in the 2026 budget and costs will be paid from to the appropriate department's fund. I'll stand for any questions. Buyers, I just have a question like when the three-year lease expires and we re up it, is it the same rate or is it a lower rate? So part of the the attractiveness of working with Enterprise Fleet Management is they have the mileage of our vehicles that we run every year. So they're able with their market say the best time to sell the vehicle is three years out.

So for instance, I think on most of these three-year leases are they're they know that they're be about 15,000 miles a year. So like some of our Dodges, Justin here with Enterprise, he's actually ran numbers on our Dodges and we actually we make money potentially off what we bought them 5 years ago. And part of that is because what the vehicle market's done since prior to co but the intent is to release. So instance, we have an old lease that expires. We do with enterprise, see what's competitive, what's not, see what's offering government discounts or not, and make a purchase to come back to you and say, "Here's a new vehicle to replace an existing lease." And then we always have new vehicles or newer vehicle

and we could always purchase it. Uh if we want to purchase a vehicle, any of these at the time at the end of the lease, we could say, "What's that purchase price?" Okay. Thank you. There any other questions for Tony? Council person, there's no more questions. I'll make a motion we approve the lease on the four vehicles and the uplifting on the van. Second. Have a motion. A second to approve the lease purchase of public works department vehicles as presented. Any discussion? Question, please. Yes. Walters. Yes. Martin, yes. Keywork, yes. Clo, yes. Martin, yes. Myers, yes.

All right. Next, we have item C, presentation of the 2026 street program.

All right. See if this clicker works for me. It does. All right. So, quick overview. Uh, we evaluate 555 segments of pavement. Uh, the eval evaluation will include any surface deficiencies, including any drainage issues. Um, important to note, we also take photos of every segment. Uh, that's helpful if we're comparing uh deterioration over the over the time. We can look at four or five years in history to see how quick it's deteriorating. This is the actual evaluation form we use when rating our streets under the PAR system. Each street segment is reviewed visually and assign a rating from 1 to 10 based on the specific surface conditions. We're looking at things like the type and severity of cracking, any ruting, any surface wear, and whether there are signs of base failure. The goal here is to take what can be subjective process and turn it into something that's structural and repeatable. Once we complete these evaluations across the entire network, we then use those ratings to group streets into categories to determine which streets need maintenance. This is the Paser rating system which was developed by the University of Wisconsin Madison. It is used nationwide to rate pavement and is on a 1 to 10 scale with 10 being best. It also aligns with KOT asset management training and also with the Kansas Local Technical Assistant Program, otherwise known as LTAP. What we're looking at here is a map of our entire street network. It's colorcoded based on the Paser ratings we just discussed. The the colors represent the condition of each street segment across the city. Typically, the warmer colors, which would be the reds and oranges, indicate streets that are in poorer condition, while the greens represent streets that are in good condition. This is helpful. It gives us a systemwide view. Instead of looking at

streets one at a time, we can see how the whole network is performing. This bar graph breaks down our entire street network by paser rating and shows how many segments fall into each condition category. What we're really looking for here is distribution. A healthy system will have most of its streets in the mid to upper range. If we start to see a shift towards the lower ratings, that indicates the system is declining and future costs will most likely increase. All right, get to the projects. So these two here uh are concrete our two concrete projects for this year. Uh the first being on the right is the entrances to the activity center and the street just outside the approaches. Um both concrete street area has failed and along with the left photo is in front of the farm and art market. As I stated both locations have reached the end of its service life. They both have visible panel failure and joint deterioration. Um, anytime we have a failure, especially that's not super old, we try to look at the wise. Um, the only thing we the best variables we can come up with both locations, especially the hack has high high vehicle traffic, heavier traffic, more turning on it. Also, one of the things to keep in mind, both locations, but especially the activity center is heavily utilized. So, we also want it to be visually attractive to residents and visitors. Internal cost estimate. So for both the two projects, we have 369 square yards, which the internal estimate brings it to 28,228.50. And I guess for both these estimates, what I'll preface this with is we didn't just pull the number out of out of the air. We contacted several of the contractors in town, asked them what the going rate for removal and replacement of 6-in thick concrete. Milan overlay. First off, what is it? It's a removal of the top layer of

asphalt and it places a new asphalt surface over the existing roadway. It does maintain the existing base and the overall roadway structure. Um why do we do it? Why do we use it? It restores the ride quality and the smooth smoothness. It extends the pavement life by 10 to 15 years. It addresses some of the the the surface deficiencies which would be cracking, ringing, and other system failures. It's more cost effective than full reconstruction. Here's what we have for the mill and overlay projects this year. Um, we have a total of just under 50,000 square yards with the internal estimate estimate at $744,975. Some of these were like on the apple were fixing some drainage issues as well with the project. Blossom, I may point out, is the Orchard Acres area where the internal residential streets have been totally reconstructed. And for some reason, we left a small stretch on Blossom. This is just a quick map of the overall mill overlay project areas. Um, when we evaluate these, we try to look at traffic counts. Um, also, it's preferred to try and spread out the repairs throughout the entire city as best we can. uh recommendations and next steps. Uh kind of what I'm we're looking for today is to approve the street program as outlined. Um at that point, we'll start working on finishing up a request for proposals and advertise that to contractors and then present that to council for approval. And I can stand for any questions you may have.

Council Meers, uh Tony, I know you guys have the the tar truck. How often do you like go out and how effective is it to go out and seal some of these cracks if they're starting to grow? Like say meridian, it has a couple cracks running across it here and there. So, one of the most important things, actually, I'll say the most important thing you can do at a road surface is make sure water does not get underneath it. Um, we do have a crack seal machine. Um, the issue being is staffing. Um, we start that up. One of my guys has to come in about four or five in the morning to actually start it because it takes two to three hours for it to warm up and then they can go out and do the work. It's about a four to six person job. Um, two years ago we actually contracted out some of our crack ceiling.

Um, that's probably the preferred option. Um, we're actually talking to the engineers if we have a road project like let's say Lakefield gets done. Is it effective, efficient, and smart to have that contractor seal that road on the sides from the get-go? Because if you have asphalt meeting up with a valley gutter concrete, it's going to crack right away. There's going to be a gap there. Do we should we crack seal it immediately? So, just those are some of the things we're working on. Um, milling overlay is good because it basically cracks the entire road. Yeah. Um, but yeah. Okay. And do you have a air truck, like a air compressor truck to clean out ahead of time? We have a trailer. Yes. Okay. Our trailer.

Yeah. So, years ago, I'm going to say I'm going to take a guess, maybe 10 years ago, we we used the crack sealer and the air compressor quite regularly. And what that amounted to when it came to staffing, we stole several guys from the wastewater department. We stole several guys from the water department, maybe one or two from the parks department, then we had the two or three guys from the street department. Okay. At that point, the entire almost the entire public works is doing street maintenance. Yeah. And okay. Yeah. It's an efficient use of employees contracted out. Any other questions for Cody? If not, somebody would like to make a motion to approve the 2026 street program as presented. Counc.

I make a motion we approve the street maintenance program as outlined. Second. A motion, a second to approve the street program as presented. Any discussion? Question, please. Brewster, yes. Walters, yes. Bon, yes. Eert, yes. Yes. Parton, yes. Myers,

yes. Thank you. Thank you, Ty. Next, we have item D, consideration of playground playground equipment for Kirby Park. So, in your packet is the uh proposal for the uh new playground equipment from PlayWorld for $49,13. This was approved at the last park board. Uh wait, Councilman Meyers.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh I did go and inspect this park and yes, absolutely. This place set needs replacement. Additionally, I noticed the baby swing sets are faded and one is delaminating and both could use replacement. Uh however this purchase does not adhere to our purchasing policy. This playground is not integrated into any of the existing equipment which includes a swing, a seesaw and merrygoround which are not being replaced. There is no requirement for compatibility beyond standard clearance distances. The age of the old equipment is likely well out of warranty window. So I don't see any validity in that claim that the warranty that we want to get it all under the same warranty. I see no reason as to why uh this is not put out for competitive bid to ensure a taxpayer money is spent in a responsible manner according to this the purchasing policy. I do not feel the excuse that competitive bid would not be adequate is acceptable. Having one company propose three options is not a competitive bid. Without a competitive bid, there is no telling if this bid is fair or not. I re recommend we refer this back to the park board and have them source three quotes from three different companies for a similar play set to ensure the competitive pricing and transparency. I understand going through one vendor, especially a vendor that we have dealt with in the past, can be convenient, but in this instance, I see no inadequacy in the project going to bid.

Anybody have any comments? What would c like to do? I make a motion to send it back to park board for a proper bid.

All right, without a second. This motion fails. Anybody else like to make a another motion? Council member Warden, make a motion to approve the playground equipment purchase. Second. We have a motion and a second to approve the playground equipment uh for Kirby Park as presented. Any discussion? Question, please. Brewster, yes. Walters, yes. Martin, yes. Ehart, yes. Cloier, yes. Harton, yes. Myers, no. All right. Next item seven, department reports. A, administrative services. Will,

I have nothing. Item B, city clerk, Angie. I have nothing. Uh, police chief. I'll always get up and talk. So,

um, as the mayor mentioned earlier, we do have our drug takeback event on the 25th of April out here from 10 to 2. Um, they're also going to do a shred event in front of the city building. So, if you have, um, old prescription drugs or whatever you need to get rid of, um, those can be taken over there at the PD. If you're shredding paper, that'll be up here at the uh, city building. So hopefully it'll be a smooth drive through the parking lot to figure out where you need to go. Um, as far as for the drug takeback, we want to let everybody know um, don't bring any needles or sharp objects, liquids or inhalers or vape pens that have batteries in them. That can be dangerous for staff and and when they incinerate that stuff, they don't go through it to see what's in it. They just incinerate it. So, um, be careful of that. Don't put any batteries in there, please. That would be bad. Um, the other thing we have coming up is on May the 2nd. Sorry, May 3rd.

Second, I think second.

Yeah. I don't know why I have two different dates on my paper. Um, it's on May 2nd. Saturday, May 2nd, we're going to do our car seat check that we do every year uh from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. So, if you need to have your car seat checked to make sure that it's installed properly or if you have an old worn out car seat that you're just not sure if it's still safe anymore, you can bring your vehicle over here with the car seat in the car and preferably the child in the car so that way we can check it out, make sure it's the right fit for the the child like that and they can uh help you get those installed correctly. Um we have a lot of technicians on staff here and they are just excited about um getting out there and doing some car seats. A lot of times when they go through training they have they have pretend babies that they put in there. But um doing it with real kids in there is a little bit different. Adds a little bit of fun to it. So um they can do that. Sometimes the kids may not have a lot of fun with that. But and lastly but not least is our visiting officer this evening, Officer Hiro Camarina. He's out here. Say hi to him as you go by out there. Um he's currently assigned to the night shift as one of our officers. So um say hi to me and go buy out there and that's all I got.

Do you have a flyer yet for the car seat check? We do have a flyer. Yes. Can you get it out on Facebook so I can share it? We sure can. Yeah, we can put it out there. All right. Thank you. Next we have IMD public works. Cody,

it's starting to warm up. Also, the recycling center at public works work works will begin its first Saturday hours on April 25th from 10 a.m. 10:00 a.m. to noon. Just as a reminder, the items must be coming from a resident that resides within the city limits of Hazesville. Also provide an update on Lakefield development off of Meridian and 79th. Uh last week, the contractor has installed the base asphalt and also constructed the sidewalks. Uh the remaining items include the surface asphalt, final grading, and the water services to each parcel. So, thank you. That's a heck of a pond they got out there. It's like and they're putting down how many houses are here.

All right. Thanks, Tony. Next, the item B recreation. Rob, good evening. May council. Uh, also on April 25th, we'll be having our party in Neo6 from 3:00 to 9:00 p.m. in Rigs Park. Bans, food trucks, cornhole tournament, car show. Uh, and then Splash Pad will open for the season on May 1st. Thank you. All right. Thanks, Rob. All right. Next, we have item eight, appointments. A appointment of John Burke to the library board for the remainder of the term. Council man, make a motion to appoint John Burke to the library board for remainder of term. Second.

Have a motion and a second to appoint John Burke to the library board for the remainder of the term. Any discussion? Question, please. Yes. Walters. Yes. Rarden, yes. Eert, yes. Clother, yes. Harton, yes. My yes. All right. Next, we have item B, reappointment of John, I'm sorry. Reappoint of Ron Hurley to the library board for a 4-year term. Council person, make a motion we reappoint Ron to the library board for a four-year term. Second. We have a motion second to reappoint Ron for a four-year term to the library board. Any discussion? Question, please. Brewster? Yes. Walters? Yes. Roden? Yes. Yes. Ew. Yes. Cloer. Yes. Parton. Yes. Myers. Yes.

Next we have item C. Appointment of Jared Mortonson to the planning commission for the remainder of terms. Yes. Cardon. I make a motion we appoint Jared Mortonson to the planning commission for the remainder of term. Second. We have a motion. A second to appoint Jared Mortonson to the planning commission for the remainder of the term. Any discussion? Question, please. Rooster. Yes. Walters. Danny. Walters. He's frozen. Thank god.

Walter. I know. He's frozen. I think we lost one. So, okay. Yes. You were. Yes. Clo. Yes. Parton. Yes. Myers. Yes. All right. Thank you. Next, we have item nine, executive session. Executive session for attorney client privilege not to exceed 15 minutes. Course Myers.

I move that we recess into executive session under Kansas KSA 754319B section 2 for consultation with the city attorney which would be deemed privileged. such session to also include Josh Pollock, Will Black, and Tony Martine. Tony Martinez. The open meeting shall resume here in the council meeting room at So the time should be 8:32. 8:32. Okay. Second. We have a motion, a second to u go to executive session for attorney client privileges not to exceed 15 minutes as presented. Any discussion? Question, please. Brewster, yes.

Walters, yes. Yes. Yes. Carton, yes. Myers, yes.

I'm good. I'm good. All right, we are back from executive session. Uh, no binding action has been taken. So, we want to add it add it to the Councilman Gordon. Mr. Mayor, I make a motion that we uh add to the agenda the um water contractual from the city of Derby. We have a motion. Is there a second to add an agenda item? We have a motion and a second to add an agenda item on a contra contractual agreement with Derby. Any discussion? Question, please. Brewster, yes. Harden,

yes. Eert. Yes. Cloier, yes. Yes. Miners, yes. So, our next item is the motion was just made to uh the contractual agreement with Derby. Now, we're just looking at making the motion to uh repay those costs as presented. Okay. to reimburse to re Okay. So, I make a motion that we reimburse um the the city of Derby for contractual uh for their reimbursement for the water that they worked on.

Second in the amount of in the amount of $149,21743. Second. So we have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? Right. Question please. Brewster. Yes. Yes. Eert. Yes. Clier. Yes. Yes. Yes. All right. Thank you. So next we have item 10, review of expenditures. Summary of March expenditures. Council. Yeah. I move to receive and file the March expenditures. Second. A motion. A second to receive and file the March expenditures. Any discussion? Question, please. Brewster, yes. Ren,

yes. Steart, yes. Yes. Parton, yes. Yes. All right. Next, we have item 11, consent agenda. We have several items on the consent agenda. Council person, I make a motion we approve the consent agenda. Second. We have a motion, a second to approve the consent agenda. Is there any discussion? Question, please. Brewster, yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Harton. Yes. Yes.

All right. Next, we have item 12, council items. A council concerns. So, uh, I'll start this off. So, in your packet is an email from Councilman Myers. Um, I do not appreciate all the misinformation and accusations in his email and all the alleging of wrongdoing. After I received this email, I followed up with uh DE of Kansas Municipalities Director, Nathan, uh, to find out what was discussed. He said that Eric spoke to two attorneys and he said there could be a potential conflict interest but he would have to work with their city attorney should be Josh to assess whether or not uh there was a national conflict. The league attorneys did not say what Councilman Meyer said uh see the attorneys did did not say what Councilman Meyer said in the email that's in your packet. These are false accusations in Councilman Meyer's seat belt. This is already discussed during our January and February council meetings. So, I'm not sure why you want to keep bringing it up. Several of your motions have failed due to lack of second. Uh you mentioned to me if the makeup of the council changes with new council members after the next election, you're going to bring it up again, try and get it passed. So, I don't know if it's something that council member uh Myers has against Tim Aer because they ran against each other in the council position

or what. Uh last December, Councilman Myers asked me to suspend any program permits associated with the developments that PC or Tim Asia had worked on. Uh, councelor Myers also wanted Tim Asia removed from the planning commission and wanted myself, planning commission, will and all of council to go through remedial training or conflict of uh on conf uh conflict of interest. Some of those did not make it into motion. He also wanted me to call a special meeting during that time frame. I told him I was not going to initiate it, but provided the city code to follow if he wanted to initiate it uh initiate it. Uh he also wanted me to appoint him him uh himself to planning commission if allowed. Was not going to do that. Um

yeah, when I stepped down and all part down got on council. All this information needs to stop. You're quick to condemn city uh city staff and council. I think we're tired of it. Uh we're now talking about something that has already been discussed. So, let's talk about tree farm. I know you brought up tree farm uh before to us or through emails. Can we stay on the first topic first or

No. So, next I like to bring up the tree farm that we used to have. Council Meers wanted the city to plant hundreds of trees in the parks and wanted the tree farm expanded. Uh Council Meers also uh was told that we're not going to continue the tree farm and the reasons why uh which was the cost. Uh myers also wanted to donate hundreds of saplings uh or bare root trees to the city plant uh to have a city plant. Uh there are several species that uh city does not recommend for us to plant because in Kansas to the climate. So at the February park board meeting, Council Meers told the park board that Tony was in favor of the tree farm. Again, misinformation. I told him a couple of times that we are not going to keep the tree farm open. I told Councilman Meyer again Myers again in March that we are not going to use the tree farm approach at this time. Instead, we're going to focus on planting larger trees which should benefit residents sooner rather than later. Some of these benefits of of planting larger trees are achieving a level of shade due to a larger canopy, achieving a sense of structure and scale, especially for a larger park like Donor and avoiding the vulnerability smaller trees have due to accidental damage. This time the public works department is planning planting a manageable number of trees. Like I said, all this m misinformation and accusations of city staff apart board members and council members needs to stop.

So, first off, I don't appreciate Myers.

Yeah. So, first off, I don't appreciate uh saying that I'm lying, that the the attorney at um the legal municipalities didn't tell me what they told me. They absolutely confirmed that we were breaking the code. So, I'm sorry that you don't want to accept that fact. Um, and I I'll start with that first. We'll start off with it. So, um, I bring back this topic to council upon identifying that the city has allowed PEC to violate our own our own ethics code section 1-101. I didn't realize that this was in the code. Um, previously I talked to the board of municipalities attorney and they said there's no state statute because state statute stops at elected officials. Well, our um our city code goes beyond that. Um the purpose of the city engineer is to have a third party engineer review of projects to ensure that is within compliance of our current construction code and our city code. I have spoken to an attorney. I already said that. Hold on. Uh Mr. colleague, could you please verify that I'm correct in my findings that PEC engineer did in fact violate our ethics code in approving these two plat approving these two plats?

Look, what plats, Mr. Myers?

So, okay. So, uh I'm sorry, I missed that part. Uh approving the copper tail plat and the county uh county plaza plat as a city engineer that were submitted by PEC as well. So PEC was the company that was submitting them as the engineering company and then the engineers that we hire as the city engineers are PEC employees as well and they approved of them as the city engineer. And if you read in front of you the highlighted section which everybody has, an employee uh which includes contract employees may be deemed to have a substantial interest which prohibits the employee or public official from handling or participating in a transaction if any of the following are present. So they are an employee of PEC. They're getting paid probably $80,000 or more dollars from PC. So therefore, they have a substantial interest and they therefore should not be handling or participating in a transaction with the city. They should, as you said, they should abstain from any decision-m um council, pardon, but would you would you uh be able to verify that or review it and uh come back to us on it or how does this work? I'm not sure. So,

if if the council wants me to give an opinion, then the council needs to vote and ask me to do that and then I'll provide legal opinion. Okay. So, the council needs to vote of whether or not you're going to give us an opinion of we're following our own code. Is that how it works? I'm sorry, Mr. Myers. I've told you this before. Yeah. The city attorney works for the city, not for a specific council member. So, if you want to make a motion for council to instruct me to do something, I'm happy to do that if I'm instructed. So, for a sake of transparency, uh I make a motion to have the city attorney review this and see if we are in fact breaking the city code. Second. Thank you.

We have a motion and a second for the city attorney to review um you want to state exactly what you would like. Oh, to review the PEC engineers uh ethics code violation of section 1-1 approving the copper tail plat and the county and plaza platting as a city engineer. All right. So, we motion second. Is there any discussion? Question please. Brewster. Yes. No. You work? Yes. Cloia? Yes. Yes. Thank you. I mean, so that motion passes. That way.

So, from here, what will we you come back next council meeting with results or can you review it now? I thought you just asked me to give a legal opinion. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Is that Yes. I don't It didn't just happen at the snap of a finger. And that's what I just asked you. Yeah. I just asked you is it going to be on the next council meeting? I will I will have your opinion about the next council meeting.

Okay. Thank you. Um okay. And then on the tree farm. Okay. So why did I put that? Uh recently the mayor informed me that he does not want to continue the tree farm program but instead buy 25 to 40 mature trees with a retail price of $400 to $600. that price I obtained from Tony. That's $10,000 to $24,000 annually before we even factor in the labor or maintenance. This proposed increase presents a major budget increase and I oppose this being our long-term plan. The tree farm located behind public works had 323 baby trees planted in 2016. Public works has been pulling from its inventory over the years, including the recent projects, and it is now depleted. Included in that tree farm program was a tree transpler which we have used frequently to harvest and relocate trees from the farm into the city. Public works recently removed 36 trees from the farm into Dorner Park. This project would have cost $18,000 if we sourced trees at $500 each. As you may know, planting more trees across city and maintaining the trees without increasing the budget is one of the things I ran on. As council members, we are stewards of the land and entrusted to us. We are also the city's largest land managers. Historically for our tree programmer, we have spent 27 to $28,000 annually. Tree City USA program requires $2 per capita approximately uh $24,000 a year in the tree programming pre tree program that historically we have spent5 to $10,000 in tree removal $4 to $17,000 in management yet only $1,800 to $3,000 was spent every year on average in new tree plantings. In 2024,

we spent on average only $56 per tree. I have no doubt that this is only because if uh some if not most of the trees came from the tree farm. The issue now is that the source of the uh the source is depleted and I feel we should replant. From conversations with Tony, that did happen about replanting the farm because he did talk to me about that when I did the public works tour. Um he said that we he will do as the council wants. um he wasn't forward or I didn't say he was forward or opposed it, but I said that we talked about it and he was when I talked to him talking about planting more trees and talking about expanding the trees. Those conversations did happen. Whether or not you want to say it didn't happen or not, whatever. Um so from those conversations, it sounds like public works has a seasonal labor gap between taking down Christmas decorations and the beginning of spring projects. That downtime could be used productively uh for tree farm planting and upkeep. Replanting the tree farm with the Kansas Department of Forestry Trees would cost around a $1.50 each or $500 for 300 trees, the same cost as one mature tree. These trees are typically 1 to 3 feet tall and will be large enough to transplant in 3 to 5 years. With the tree tubes for protection and proper irrigation, survivability can be in the 90th percentile. Uh, with a plant as we harvest program, we would save hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years and be able to plant 10 to 100 times more trees on the same budget. From both a business and a taxpayer standpoint, it makes more sense to utilize the equipment we already own, the tree transpler, and invest in growing and transplanting our own trees rather than paying full retail every year. We already have a tree transpler. If we own the equipment, we should use it. A tree farm is not just a cost-saving measure. It's an investment in the long-term beauty, identity, sustainability of our city. If we're

serious about planting 40 trees a year, I believe keeping the tree farm active is a responsible way to do it. And we should plant uh a new round of trees and continue the program. So, I don't know if anybody else has any input on this. I'm just talking to myself. Any other council members have a concern? I have a couple things I want to talk about. Sure. Course park. Okay. Um Tony on K Street between the trailer park and that's first stop sign coming going west on the north side. There's three parking signs. Two are completely faded and one's almost gone. If we could get those fixed.

Absolutely. The other thing I wanted to talk about was Steve brought up the hotel or this fireworks thing. I don't see a problem with extending it and I'd like to see us extend at least the July 5th permanently because even if we don't allow them to shoot on that day um because all the towns around us are they sell on July 5th. Some of them shoot off but you can buy fireworks for New Year's right. So I know that part would have to go through code but just the one time the 25th 26th and the 5th. Do we have to go through code? I think we have to change the code because it's in the code just for one time I think all the time.

Well, but specifically he wanted to do it for this year the 25th and 26th. I don't have I don't really want the 25th and 26th because it's a sell only days in the state of Kansas and they'll start popping it. So I don't want that to be permanent. What I'd like to see is the fifth be permanent. So I don't know how we need to do that. So you want to change the code to just make the one change effective just for 26. We can do that if that's what we're going to propose. Can we get that written up please? So the first two dates the sell only dates just for this year but just permanent. Right. Okay.

And would the times be the same too? I'm assuming the times of uh selling uh would be what? 8:00 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. on those two sale dates. Yeah. On the on the 25th and 26th. Okay. Well, that's state. You can't shoot on the 25th and 26th. So, and the 5th we could do till like 10 if you want to shoot. Okay. Not that they stop it. That's what the code would say. So, Josh will bring something back. Thanks. Council member do that. Any other council members? Council Meers.

Yeah, I just wanted to clear the air about Tim Azir. I was mistaken. I was wrong. I misunderstood the code that um about abstaining or whatever. I thought that he couldn't be the chair of meetings that had to do with his the topic of his company because he is employed by PC as well. So, I do apologize for that. And um now that it is public, I will make sure that I reach out to him to let him know that I do apologize and I was wrong. So, yes. And you could have just told me, "Hey, by the way, you know, Councilman Myers, take a look at this." But instead, you let me keep going. So, um, I I would blame part of that on you that you let me keep going with that and didn't just say, "Hey, let me let me show you what's actually going on here and explain it to you and and but you didn't."

Yeah, I council members have any other concerns. You have not c item B. Council ask request updates. I'm going to get out. We have none. Item 13, adjournment. Mr. Mayor, I make a motion we adjourn. Second. A motion and a second to adjourn tonight's meeting. Any discussion? Motion, please. Brewster. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.