City Council - Regular Meeting

Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. N. Good evening everybody and welcome to uh tonight's council meeting. Start off with a roll call.

Brewster here. Walters here. Rodney here. Eward here. Here. Pardon? Yes. Myers here. Thompson here. All right. The lastation will be given by Brian Sander, First Baptist Church.

Thank you guys for letting me come. Let's pray. Father, we ask that you would uh just bless this meeting tonight, Lord. And I pray for just uh the business of the city that would be good for the city, Lord. just I pray for um just the business that's discussed that you would just guide through conversations. Lord, I pray for um your blessings on our city. Um those who serve us um those who are desiring to make Hazesville a better place. We ask that you would just continue to pour out your blessings on businesses and families, churches, our schools. Lord, thank you for a city like Hazesville that is a blessing to live in. We just ask you continue to um show your goodness to it, Father. And uh Lord, we we ask these things in Jesus name. 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. We have a special order of business. I'll uh to come up to the podium. I have you join me, please. All right. So, the mayoral proclamation for the National Police Week, May 10th through the 16th, 2026. Whereas, Congress and President of the United States has designated May 15th as Peace Officers Memorial Day and the week in which May 15th falls as National Police Week. Whereas, the members of the law enforcement agency of the city of Hazesville play an essential role in safeguarding the rights and freedoms of the city of Hazesville. And whereas it is important that all citizens know and understand the duties, responsibilities, hazards, and sacrifice of their law enforcement agency. And that members of our law enforcement agency recognize their duty to serve the people by safeguarding life and property by protecting them against violence and disorder and by protecting the innocent against deception and the weak against oppression. And whereas the men of and the women of Hazel of the Hazel Police Department unceasingly provide a vital public service. Now therefore, I Russ Kesler, mayor of the city of Hazville, hereby proclaim the week of May 10th through the 16th, 2026 as National Police Week. in the city of Hazville and encourage

all citizens of Hazesville and upon all patriotic, civic, and educational organizations with appropriate ceremonies and observances in which all of our people may join in commemorating law enforcement officers, past and present, who by their faithful and loyal devotion to their responsibilities have rendered a dedicated service to their communities. and in doing so have established for themselves an invaluable and enduring reputation for preserving uh the rights and security of all citizens. I further call upon all citizens of Hazville to observe May 15th as peace officers Memorial Day in honor of those law enforcement officers who through their courageous deeds have made the ultimate sacrifice and service to their community or have become disabled and the performance of duty and thus recognize and pay respect to the survivors of our fallen heroes. Proclaimed the 11th day of May 2026. Russ Kesler. Mayor Chief. So, uh, Chief and I attended the, uh, the McConnell Airport base, uh, police officer, um, what was it? It was the, uh,

before the police officer meeting, the opening ceremony. Thank you. uh from police officer week at McConnell Air Force Base. So there was uh myself, chief uh the deputy chief from Witchaw and the deputy chief from Derby and uh a lot of other security forces uh OSI um commanders and so was a lot of representation there just to show support to the security forces on base. So they have a lot to deal with right now. So you know here and overseas. All right. Uh Tony. So the next proclamation is for the National Public Works Week May 17th to the 23rd, 2026. Rooted to the service powered by community in honor of the millions of public works employees at the federal, state, county, and city levels. Whereas public works professionals focus on infrastructure, facilities, and services that are of vital importance to sustainable and uh resilient communities and to the public health, high quality of life and well-being of the people of Hazesville. And whereas these infrastructures, structures, facilities and services could not be provided without dedicated efforts of public works professionals who are engineers, managers and employees at all levels of government and the private sector who are responsible for re rebuilding, improving and protecting our nation's transportation, water supply, water treatment and solid waste systems, public buildings and other structures and facilities essential for of our citizens. And whereas it is in the public best interest for for the civic leaders, citizens, and children in Hazville to gain knowledge of and maintain an ongoing interest and understanding of the importance of public works and public works programs and their

respective communities. And whereas the year 2026 marks the 66th annual National Public Works Week sponsored by the American Public Works Association, Canadian Public Public Works Association be it now. Now, therefore, I Russ Kesler, Mayor of the City of Hazville, Kansas, here proclaim the week of May 17th through the 23rd, 2026 as National Public Works Week. On behalf of the council, staff, and residents, proclaim the 11th day of May, 2026. Congrats. So both of you please pass on my uh my extended uh thanks for everything that you know police and public public works does for for our city.

All right. Next we have the presentation and approval of minutes a minutes of April 13, 2026. Council person, I make a motion we accept the minutes as presented. Second. We have a motion and a second to approve the minutes of April 13th, 2026 as presented. Is there any discussion? Question, please. Rooster, yes. Woulders, yes. Thompson, abstain.

All right. Next, we have item one, public comment. A Kinbell, library director regarding the citywide broad sales. You just state your name, please. And uh your residence. Ken Bell, 138 Ranger Hayesville. That's District 4.

Uh I want to thank you, mayor, and and council for allowing me to speak with you this evening. But before I get to my request, I want to make sure that all of you are aware that as we celebrate the 75th anniversary of Hazesville's incorporation and also a quarter of a millennium as an of America as an independent nation. The Hazesville Community Library website now features a Hazeville history module that includes the little book, The Heritage of Hazesville, compiled in the late 1970s by the Lions Club of Hazesville, a pictorial display of the images and texts of all the contents of the historical time capsule, which was opened in 2001. All of which items will soon be on display in the library, as well as a collection of reports and images of the impact of the May 3rd, 1999 tornado. Other items will appear as we approach the July 3rd anniversary. Uh, and by the way, next year, uh, the library will also observe the 50th anniversary of the vote to establish the Hayesville Community Library. And in addition, uh, we'll also celebrate what would have been the 100th birthday of our founding librarian, Betty Catchwell. Now, to the point, I'm appearing on behalf of the friends of the library who are seeking your permission to conduct Hazesville's 46th annual citywide garage sale during the second weekend in August. That would be Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, August 7th, 8th, and 9th. With your permission,

council have any questions? What council like to do? Council Councilman Thompson, I'll make a motion that we approve the citywide garage sale as presented. Second. We have a motion on second to approve the citywide the 46th citywide garage sale as presented for the 7th, 8th and 9th of August. Any discussion? Question, please. Brewster, yes. Walters, yes. Roden, yes. Eert, yes. Yes. Martin, yes. Myers, yes. Conson, yes.

Thank you so very much. Thank you. All right. Next on our agenda, item B, Susie Sutton, Fire District Steering Council.

Good evening. Um, I'm here to represent the Cedric County Fire District One Syrian Council, provide you an update, um, which I like to do every few months. Um so the first item is as previously discussed we have been having discussions regarding the mutual aid agreements and consolidations with our um various towns and townships in the area uh that have been like one-sided. There are mutual aid agreements between the cities of like Witchaw and Hazesville, Hazesville and Derby where we both provide aid to one another. Then there were mutual aid agreements with the towns um like Cheney, Clearwater, Kowitch and those towns which is pretty much we provide them aid. And so, uh, we were looking at that and we were approaching them about joining Sed County Fire District and we've been through discussions with them and as of right now, we have um voted because these towns have decided not to join Cedric County. We have voted to terminated to terminate their existing contracts and they have 90 days to either um get a new agreement or um the all assistance will be terminated with Cheni for which Clear Water, Mount Hope and Valley Center. The remaining towns have not made decisions on whether they are joining or what we will do going forward. Um

and then uh my next agenda item was a salary concern. Um we had a budget item addressing salary for the next um five years and that had fit in our budget without any increases to our mill levies. However, Witchah had announced a huge pay increase for their fire department um for the next few years. And with that, right now, we currently have an 8% pay gap between Cedric County and Witchaw. And we seem to be maintaining personnel and um for different reasons. But when the 2026 um contract goes in effect, there will be over 16% um pay gap. And with that um our recruitment and retention rate will be high risk. And so we've the chief and um county CFO had to meet and come up with some plans um to make some adjustments to our scale. um pay scale. And so there are some adjustments for 2026 and 2027 being put in place. There's no way we're going to be able to match what Witchah has put in place. We don't even know how Witchah is going to be able to maintain what they've put in place. Um we don't see how that's physically um possible. Um, and we're just going to have to be able to maintain what we're putting in place and hope it's enough to keep our firemen happy. They are happy with several things that we do that Witchah does differently, which is one thing that is on our favor,

but we all know pay is um a major factor. So we have to keep that where we um where we can um competitive. Uh another item is uh discussions with the fire Witchaw fire department about collaboration and um consolidation um which that's ongoing. Uh Cedric County Fire Department has engaged with the WSU public policy and management center. We recently started that and they hope to have a plan in place by the end of August and September. And also a training facility that we originally had planned at South Oliver um several months ago and then started talking about which with Witchaw about consolidating and using their facility and growing it. Um we are now back to our original plan. We will build it at South Oliver next to the fire department. um that's on South Oliver and building will start the first of 2027 and then at the bottom I listed two um equipment purchases that we've recently made and I don't know if we have time for any questions.

Is there any questions for Susie? Not seeing any. Well, thank you very much. Thank you for your report. So, our next item, uh, item C was here again. Um,

yes. Um, I was going to speak to, um, an issue that's been kind of ongoing, um, on Carla Avenue. However, um, I've in speaking with staff, I'm been made aware that, um, some traffic um, testing will be made or be be going on. And so I'm going to table my um item until a later date. Thank you.

All right. Next we have item two, approval of licenses and bonds. We have none. Item three, introduction of ordinances and resolutions. A, an ordinance amending chapter 5, article 11, sections 113, 1103 and 1104 regarding designated cells and detonation times for fireworks. Councilman Myers. I make a motion to approve the ordinance as um proposed. Second, a motion and a second to approve this ordinance as presented. Is there any discussion? Question. Oh, I'm sorry. Uh, council person pardon

just so everybody knows as far as the viewing public this is going to extend our selling time and shooting time that for this year starting on the 25th let's see here I get that p okay starting on June 25th through July 2nd uh you'll be able to purchase them and shoot them off 8 am to 10:30m on July 3rd and 4th you'll be able to shoot them off purchase them and shoot them off from 8 a.m. to midnight and then 8:00 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. on July 5th. Um, that's because we're having the 250th anniversary of the United States this year. Uh, starting next year and after that, you'll be able to purchase and uh it'll go back to normal except for we will be able to purchase and fire them off on July 5th from 8:00 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.

Thank you. Any other discussion? Question, please. Mister, yes. Walters, yes. Roden, yes. Bert, yes. Clovier, yes. Partner, yes. Myers, yes. Yes. All right. Item four, notices and communications. A governing body announcements. There any announcements?

Brewster.

Let me pull up here. apologize for the city library. Um May 14th 10:30 parents teacher story time. May 18th summertime reading signups begin. May 20th is at 400 p.m. is the Lego club. Uh May 22nd, uh 400 p.m. stuffed animal sleepover. Um the library will be closed on Memorial Day, which is May 25th. May 26, 3M, uh, movie matinea, The Minions. Uh, May 28th, 5:30 p.m. Friends of the Library board meeting. May 28th, 7:00 p.m. will be the library board meeting. And May 30th from 11 to 4 will be the Red Cross blood drive. And I do know that the library is gearing up for their summertime reading program. And they'll have a lot of activities for our kids there. So, it's always a great program. All right. Thank you. Walters.

Yes. Just uh to remind everybody that there is a historic district committee uh that meets regularly and they met last uh month and that they are involved in uh supporting Hazesville in a lot of different ways including uh as you might know the party of the 06 and my Midwest bike swap meet the Arbor Day historic park. Uh, I'm sure you're going to discuss the mayor's uh, bike ride and kids day at the park, the hometown market season, fourth July parade, the gazebo and art walk, and it's not too early to mention the village Christmas. So, just want to make sure you're aware that they are uh, at work and uh, supporting Hazesville and want to just give kudos.

Thank you. Any other council member have any any announcements? If not, I have some senior center announcements. See, actively aging uh presentation will be on May 12th. Shopping and lunch trip May 15th. Donuts and coffee with mayor Monday, May 18th at 9:00 a.m. Wellness in the park event May 19th. FL uh flower pot painting May 20th, tea party May 22nd. Uh ARP safe drivers class May 26th and the May dinner which is a sock hop this month is May 29th. Some reoccurring events, donuts, coffee and conversation, cards and games, crafts, exercise classes, Alzheimer support group and line dancing. So, uh, another announcement, the, uh, we had the mayor's prayer breakfast last week along with the National Day of Prayer, and that went very well. A lot of participation, and, uh, thought it went great. Uh, as Councilman Walters has mentioned, the mayor's bike ride is tomorrow. So, hopefully you have your tires aired up. Come on out to the Vickers building. Registration starts at 6 o'clock. Bring your kids, your grandkids. U,, lot of stuff's going to be given away. It's a just a short two-m ride. It's on the bicycle path, so it's a very easy ride. Uh some of the things that are being given away are a couple bicycles that will be raffled off by from Riverside Bike Repair. Shields will have two $100 gift cards along with one $50 gift card of um plus the city will have a few things giving away. Um, it's sponsored by the city of Hazville, the bicycle exchange shops, Hazville Chamber of Commerce. They will be out there with water and snacks, uh, Riverside Bicycle Repair, and the Pilot International. They will have helmets to keep everybody safe out

there. So, all right, that's all I have for announcements. All right, next we have item B, Cedric County Fire Department Station 34 monthly report. It's in your packet. And item C, the legal opinion regarding conflict of interest. This is what was brought up uh last week that u our city attorney Councilman Meyers.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um Mayor and Webster Webster definition of conflict of interest, a conflict between the private interests and the official responsibilities of a person in a position of trust. Our city code conflict of interest section opens establishing who is included in this section and it states contract employees quote and city employees quote. Later on the section only the term employees is used. The intent was clearly to include contracted employees in this section of our ethics code but it was poorly worded with no clear definition of employee. Additionally, it includes the term public official which is not specifically defined. These both need to be corrected to be more clearly defined. Being a small city, we sometimes fill city positions with part-time contracted professionals. This currently includes our city attorney and city engineer, and these positions should be included in our ethics code as they were doing work on behalf of the city. This section of our code needs to needs better clarification and rewarding to avoid allowing those with conflict of interest to handle and review items for approval. Contract employees is improper legal verbiage since contractors are not technically employees. I recommend we instead use the term retained professionals in the ethics codes. I propose to replace contract employees with retained professionals as well as include this term throughout the section in place of just employees. Additionally, use these full terms the use the full terms appointed officials and elected officials in place of the shortened public officials. Our code states government integrity must be upheld to maintain public confidence. Currently, our code is lacking proper definitions and it should be corrected to avoid conflict of interest to maintain integrity. Conflict of interest do not necessarily indicate wrongdoing

in themselves, but it they must be in managed or avoided to ensure integrity and full transparency. With that, I make a motion. Uh my motion is to amend section 1-10 to replace contract employees with retained professionals. Additionally, section 1-11, a section A, delete contract employees and replace with retained professionals. And then section B, amend sentences 1, two, and three to start if an employee, retain professional. Do I have a second? I'll second. Thank you.

So, a motion and a second. So, I don't know if everybody else kept up with all that. I can clarify if anybody wants better clarification. So basically it's just we have a conflict of interest and it wasn't defined in our code. Our code started with contract and city employees. Right? This was attached at the very end of the agenda. Right? Contract and city employees. The guidelines are hereby established for a city employees contract employees. The attorney reviewed it and it it shortens it to employee. There is no city employee or contract employee stated anywhere here, but the intent was to include contract employees. Contract employees. A either you're an employee or you're a contractor. You're not both. So contractor employee should have never been in the code to begin with. It's it's not correct the correct legal legal terms to use. Um, so in the end, this will just make it to where our code is more secure in avoiding possibilities for bad things to happen, right? Because this is an ethics code that has to do with transparency. It has to do with getting the right thing done. And ultimately, it'll only make Hazville a better place to have no conflict of interest with any decision- making or routing of approval or anything for that matter. So, council person.

So, all this came up because of PEC and Tim is there on planning. Um, I had Will go back and pull uh examples of when PEC contracts have come before planning commission and on every one of them and he and whoever else works for PEC abstained from voting on them. Yes. Did not vote on them. Mhm. PEC is an engineering firm, not an employee that we is very that is a very big company that has different areas that don't overlap.

So whoever is doing the plans is not the person who approves the plans, goes over them and looks at them and approves them. So I don't understand what this big deal is. Council Mars. So yeah, like like you're saying that they have to abstain from from doing it, right? From from making any decision, from approving it, from routing it up. Then just like Timir being an employee at PEC, he abstains, right? He doesn't make the decision. He says basically, I can't have anything to do with this. Right. The city engineer should do the same thing. So the city engineer should say, "Hey, I work for this guy." Right? PC is a corporation. Right. Correct.

So this corporation employs this gentleman. That is a conflict of interest. Right. because he is employed by them. That is enough, right? And it it our our ethics guide goes into that if you're an employee or an employer or employee spouse, right? So that goes into that. That's included that if you're an employee, you don't have to be the employee that does the job. It's just being part of that corporation is a conflict of interest, right? Does that make sense? No. Because it's a big enough and they're not going to have it in the same department. So that isn't how conflict of interest. We could we couldn't do any no no you any engineering we could not retain an engineering neighbor.

So so let me just go over that and I here I have some points because last time um there was a point that other cities are are doing this right. Clearwater population 3 has an infrastructure maintenance division manager who is an engineer. Gddard population 6000 has an engineer on staff. El Dredo, population 12,000, has a city engineer on staff. Andover, population 18, has a city engineer on staff. Bair, population 10,000, has a city engineer on staff. So, ultimately, we need to get a city engineer on staff. We don't, obviously. We have a contracted one. All right. So, all we would need to do is figure out how to either long-term get an engineer on staff, but for now, we would just have to have a secondary company. And this is only in the instance that PEC is is submitting the plat which they don't all the time like a third of them maybe that I've seen are submitted by PEC a majority of them are other companies right and then there's no issue PEC engineers can review it for sure because there's no conflict of interest right if if a PEC company is the overall entity that is submitting a plat also one of their employees is reviewing the plat as a city engineer here that is a conflict of interest and our code should be should be written as such. The intent of our code is written as such, but there's basically a a lack of clear definitions and that's all this is going to fix is the the definitions. It's going to define things the way that it was intended to be. So,

Councilman Walters, I believe I understand where this started from. Be that as it may, what we're discussing here is whether we're going to change the verbiage to make it clearer. Yeah. I think is what I'm hearing. Yes. And it sounds right. I I don't want to necessarily put Josh on the spot, but I am sorry. Is there any legal ramification why we this would we would want to do something like this? Because it sounds like we just want to clarify what we're doing. Is is is that within the bounds of Well, I I think um I think it's up to you guys to determine who you want who you want covered in the conflict of interest ordinance.

Okay.

So, right now, I think it's clear it only applies to employees of the city um and public officials who would be elected officials or appointed officials right now. Okay. So, if you were to expand it and then it covers, you know, a larger group of people, I think we have to weigh kind of policing that a little bit. You know what I mean? Because we're not going to know necessarily if I mean in this circumstance it's more straightforward, but I think there are other circumstances where we're not going to know necessarily every employee that's working for an entity that we contract with whether that person or persons is going to have a conflict of interest. So, um I think it's going to make policing it a little more difficult for us. Um but at the same time, um you know what I mean? Um yeah, it's up to you guys. how far you want to how far you want to make it. So,

so it will create a greater burden for the city officials. You're saying if we just change some of this verbiage on uh

Well, I think you know we're talking about a very specific situation right now. But if we say, you know, every employee in essence of every entity that contracts with us, you know, if they had a conflict of interest, I'm just saying we're not going to know if Joe Schmo, who's a receptionist somewhere, you know what I mean, is processing something, whether they have a familiar relationship with an applicant or something they're looking at. So, it's it's going to broaden the scope is what I'm saying right now. We know who employees are. We know who the appointed officials are in the city. You know, uh you know, I am an appointed official as the city attorney. That's pretty easy, right? Um, but let's just say, um, you know, I worked at a large law firm, which I don't, but there was, you know, one of the 50 attorneys or something, and their spouse, you know, did some work for someone that's, you know, has a contract before the city. I think that's where, you know, he get muddied a little bit. So

I I guess I'm just a little confused uh simply because I know I I think I understood what you said but on the other hand if we clarify it what uh my colleague is suggesting it would seem like it would make it easier to identify whether they work directly for the city or not. But you're saying it puts a greater burden on on policing this. Well, so I think the question in my mind is if we say PEC, you know, as an entity and it has a 100 employees and stuff like that. So now are we saying anyone that works there? I mean, I don't think that's what you were proposing. I think you were proposing specific retained employees, employees.

Exactly. Like positions that are assigned to as an entity of the city, right? Because the PC engineer is a filling a city position, right? I'm not saying that when we like anybody who gets a contract from us, that's different, right? Like if you know like go replace this water thing, whatever we got to get fixed, we contract it out. That's not what I'm trying to do. It's retained professionals. So you're on a retainer. We're paying you every month to be a part of the city basically, right? And and right now, at the best of my knowledge, it would be our city attorney and PEC. That's really all that retained professionals would apply to, right? This isn't every contract. So there's not a ginormous burden. This is simply abstaining. Basically, they would have to not they would have to say, "Hey, I can't make the call on this plat or I can't make the call on this, you know, engineering project with the waterworks or whatever that needs to be done for the engineer review part, which is supposed to be most other cities have a unique position in public works that he might not be the expert of all, but he knows enough to say yes, this this fits within our city code." That's really what the C engineer from what I understand a lot of what their their job is is the specific code to our city. In the past I guess we've used the Cedric Cedric County uh city engineer like we would use them but then I guess for some reason they said no. Uh so we had to to hire PEC. Um but typically a city has their own unique person and and they're not the person do the city engineer is not the person who's out there doing the work. They're the person that's reviewing it over. It's like a a position like Tony's, right? He that could totally be an engineer position as well on top of on top of what he's already doing, right? Or maybe his deputy position or the city inspector position could also be an engineer position. And it's not a full it could be a full-time role, but a lot of times it's a mixed role like in whatever city

that was, Clearwater, they have the infrastructure maintenance guy is also a city engineer. Um, so I don't I wouldn't say this is a case of overburdening our our city with more administr administrative administrative work. Why can't I talk? Um, but uh it's more of a case of making sure that we have the right checks and balances and that there is a fair call on when work is completed or work is proposed that there is a authentic third party review. That's all it's for. That we need a third party review. If I could, u will, I'm going to put you on the spot here just a little bit. What kind of burden would this clarification cause you in the city? Or could you answer that at this point?

I haven't put any real thought into what Josh talked about where we do policing every different person that we retain for anything. But if it's if you want me to look into that, we can try to look into see what that would even result. I mean, I don't know how long it'll take to look at that. Could we uh perhaps table it then till we get more information? Ud your your request.

I I um I mean I would oppose tableing because this has been on for four months. We I brought this up for I know that the the the conflict of interest issue was just brought up, but I mean if we could at least I mean what what is what are you looking for exactly? How much of a burden it's going to be? That's the concern that you don't want to and I understand that too. I don't want to make everybody more busy. I don't want to make unneeded work. Right. Right. Um and that's why I'd like to hear from him. And I know it may take another round. Yeah. But yeah, if we would I I think that uh it would go better for this vote if we did that. Okay. Yeah. I agree. Do we have to make a motion for that or what?

Yes. If you'd amend your vote uh your motion, I'd appreciate it. If I would uh pull back my motion. Um Oh. Okay. I I will pull back my motion for you. Okay. Motion. So abstain. Do I have to make a motion to abstain? How does that work? Want to resend your motion? Yeah. And then make another motion that we table this discussion until even if it got seconded already. We can't resend the motion. Well, you can you can have a vote on your original motion if you want and then if it fails, you can bring it up again. Okay. But if can you cancel a motion that's already in act because we didn't last time? I don't think so. I think we're gonna have technically can. You can amend your motion if you like.

Amend the motion. Josh, can you also do a substitute motion to table? Yeah, actually you could you could do a substitute motion like you will. Okay. So then I'll make a motion to substitute this motion with a table for next week, next month to um get a feedback from this the city um manager on I guess hang on. You know what? I actually have a good verbiage that I might be able to plug in here. Uh yeah, maybe I'll use this one. Is this sufficient that we table it uh to develop corrective options and present a report with recommended actions for approval at the next meeting? Right.

Does that mean look at the code and come up with some new language? Uh well that was what the intent was because this was going to be after that last one. But uh it was more to corrective options of like if if we do go through with this that how and then here's the thing. If we're going to do this and doesn't go why are we wasting our time with this? I don't know. Um, yeah. Okay. Yeah, I I'll I'll amend it with a motion to come back next month with, you know, recommended uh or I guess impact the impact of the of of making implementing a change like this for changing to retain professionals to include our conflict of interest.

So, person you want to do that change? All right. So, we have a motion and a second to table this. Council Walters, I'm sorry. Could you clarify what I just said? I'm sorry. Yeah. So, yeah. Uh to table it till till next month to have the city attorney or the um city manager uh give us the uh report on the impact of Okay. this potential change could do and how much how much it could uh you know change our operations. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Brewster. Yeah. The only thing I would ask is that how are we going to enforce it too and some forought on to how we going to enforce like with PC or other contractors or retainer. So

yeah, just so we kind of know the full impact of what we're asking council large

and to to continue on that with the the you know how to to do that. So my mother she does a lot of permits. She's been doing it for like 40 years and she's in Cedric County, New York. And uh they they have a form and I'm not saying that we need to go this far, but they have a form that if you're the one applying for jobs or not jobs, but if you're putting a permit through, just the citizen putting it through, they have to disclose if they have a conflict of interest with anybody in on the governing body and stuff like that. And we don't have it. Now, I'm not saying that we need that, but just to say that other cities go beyond just establishing what's in a conflict of interest in here. They go on to establishing conflict of interest amongst the people because there's issues with that where, you know, the president's brother needs something, gets it pushed through, gets it approved, whatever. You know what I mean? Things like that. So, it's all for transparency. Um, and I'm not saying that we need to do that, but this is what other cities are doing. So, yeah, that's all I have.

Well, we have the motion and second. Just make sure we didn't buy it on the phone. Oh yes, it's a table. So a motion and second to table uh councer's motion until or until next uh next meeting. Any other discussion? Question please. Brer, yes. Wters, yes. Yes. Bert, yes. Yes. Pardon? Yes. Myers, yes. Oh, yes. All right. Thank you. All right. I actually have one more. I'm sorry. I don't know if I want to. All right. For this or concerns,

it does and I think it would Hang on. Let me double check.

Yeah. So, the other one and this was discussed with Will already. Um that uh I'll just open up. I noticed last month or it was actually two months ago now or it might have been last month's anyways at the planning board meeting Mr. Blood announced that he had a conflict of interest with an agenda item when it was introduced. Uh he still gave input as a member of the public. I applaud Mr. Blood and proposed adding a required conflict disclosure at the start of discussions. Uh currently if you have a conflict, the only thing required is to abstain from voting. This would only add more transparency. And the motion would be um I move to direct staff to draft amendments to the city code requiring disclosure of conflicts of interest at the beginning of discussions uh including a general explanation of the conflict and to clarify that such individuals may still comment as members of the public. Um so this is still in the conflict of interest but it's it's uh all it's going to do is like what Mr. blood did is say, "Hey, you know, by the way, I I own that land or that's my whatever, but I can't vote on it, but let me put some input in it." Um, and currently you don't have to do anything besides abstain. So, and this is not like a major burden at all. All it is is us just saying like, "Hey, by the way, I work for him, whatever, you know, and then that you're basically forecasting that you're going to abstain." But at the beginning of discussion, so it won't apply to many of us. Um, probably Mr. blood and and Mr. Azir are going to be the ones who are abstainating the most. Um, but other than that, I think it would just add to more transparency. Um, so that that's the motion. Um, and I don't know if anybody wants to second that if that makes sense to anybody else or if that's just something that nobody has interest in.

Mr. Black, do you have a comment? I was just going to say u I was reviewing looking for u the bylaws the current bylaws for the planning commission because there's already conflict of interest language in the planning commission's bylaws. I've got a copy pulled up which I cannot guarantee is the most recent copy but I will read this and I can follow up um and send out an email however you guys want me to do it. I'll follow up with the planning and zoning administrator tomorrow. Make sure I have the current edition of what the conflict of interest

is. But the one I've got talks about a commissioner, which is the planning commission, shall declare a conflict of interest and shall not participate in, discuss, or vote on any matter in which he or she has a conflict of interest. And so there's already that language in there in the planning commission bylaws, but not here. And if you want want something like that to govern the city council, we can look into that as well. That's person.

But the meeting script for those those open meetings or whatever I don't even now what they're called. The one of the first things says does anybody have a conflict of interest? If so, state it and you may comment on it as a person from the public but not as the commission and you abstain from it. I mean that's in that meeting. Public hearing script. Yeah. Yeah. Public hearing script there's but not us. Not city council. Not city council. We don't have to disclose. I would just abstain at the end. Does that make sense? It it just expands it. It would expand it onto our city code.

Nobody. So, no second. All right. Second. That motion fails.

All right. All right, moving on to item five, old business. We have none. Item six, other business, a consideration of bids for 2026 street program. Uh, good evening, mayor and council. Uh, the bid letting for the previously approved street maintenance program was held on April 29th, and I've included the bid tab in your packet. As a reminder, staff's internal estimate for the project was approximately 773,000. Staff is recommending approval of the best bid from Pearson Construction LLC in the amount of $767,388.50. This project will be funded out of street sales tax funds. I stand for any questions you may have.

Are there any questions for Cody? Council person Barton. If there are none, I make a motion we accept the the bid from Pearson Construction for 767, 388, and 50 pennies. Second. We have a motion and a second to accept the bid as presented for the sidewalk. Sorry, for the street repairs. Any discussion? Question, please. Brewster, yes. Walter, yes. Roden, yes. Yes. Colier, yes. Harton, yes. Myers, yes. Yes.

All right. Next item is item B. Consideration of bids for sidewalk repairs. The yearly sidewalk evaluation identified 4,512 square feet of sidewalk throughout the city that has major deficiencies. Uh the staff estimate for this project is $54,144. Uh staff is recommending approval of the best bid from Calvin off concrete incorporated in the amount of $39,775. This project will be paid from the capital improvement funds and I stand for any questions you may have. There any questions for Councilman Walters? Just a quick question. Have we uh done business with Calvin before? We have not, but he's done business for many residents in town and is a reputable licensed contractor. Okay.

If there's no further questions, I make a motion that we accept the bid for Calvin Concrete sidewalks. We have a motion, a second to accept the bid for the sidewalk repairs. Any discussion? Question, please. Bruiser. Yes. Walter. Yes. Roden. Yes. Steward. Yes. Quier. Yes. Harden. Yes. Myers. Yes. Thompson. Yes. All right. Next we have item C. Consideration of bids for a south verifier rebuild at the wastewater treatment facility.

Before you tonight is consideration of bids for the south clarifier rebuild project at the wastewater treatment plant. The south clarifier is be beginning to show signs of wear and corrosion due to its age and continued operation. Uh the clarifier is a critical part of the treatment process because it allows solids and sludge to settle out of the waste water so cleaner water can continue through the treatment process. Sta staff believes it's more practical and cost effective to complete the sand blasting and recoding work now rather than later and delay maintenance and more significant structural issues or operate operational failure in the future. The project was included in the 2026 budget with 140,000 allocated for the repairs. FTC Equipment has completed multiple projects for the city in the past with satisfactory results and staff is comfortable with their qualification qualifications in scope. Scaff staff is recommending approval of the bid from FTC Equipment LLC in the amount of $146,475.

Pardon? Any idea why the other two were more than double? Yeah. Yeah. I typically prefer to not comment on why, you know, contractors did a certain way, but FTC is a smaller local company. The other two are more national and or regional. I just thought maybe they just didn't want to do it. And that's possible. You know, the contractors do communicate. Well, I tried for that price. If I got it, I made a lot more money than Yeah. what I could have. Okay. Councilman Walters. And that certainly makes sense. And I'm all about saving money. uh trying to look through all this. Are we talking apples to apples or basically

as best we can? FTC kind of specializes in like plant maintenance type stuff. The others have a huge broad sweep of things that they take care of. Um but what I'd focus on is FTC's done plenty of work at our wastewater treatment plant and they know our system well as well. So you're pretty confident they'll do the job for us? Yes. Okay. There's no other questions. I make motion we accept FTC equipment bid for this. project second. We have a motion and second to accept the the bid for the South Pier rebuild at the wastewater treatment facility as presented. Any discussion? Question, please. Brer, yes. Walters, yes. Roden, yes. Hubert, yes. Kolier, yes. Pardon? Yes. Myers, yes. Thompson,

yes.

Next item D. Consideration of agreement with PEC for modifications to high service pump station. Before you tonight is an agreement with professional engineering consultants for design services related to improvements at the city's high service pump station and existing water treatment plant. This agreement would advance the project to approximately 30% design. The scope includes the evaluation of the pumping capacity, upgrades to the aging electrical equipment, and updates to the disinfection system at the plant. The agreement also includes concept planning to make sure any improvements we make today account for the potential future need for a reverse osmosis plant. That planning will help us pre preserve flexibility for the city and avoids the possibility of making costly modifications if additional treatment is warranted in the future. Staff felt it was difficult to justify moving directly into full design. While a number of the key project decisions and layout considerations still need to be evaluated early in this process, advancing the project to 30% design allows us a better opportunity to define the scope, the major components and overall layout before committing to the full design cost. Once the scope is better defined, staff would return at a later date with a supplemental agreement to complete the remaining design work. Therefore, staff is recommending approval of the agreement with PEC in the amount of $85,510 and this will be paid out of water contractual funds. I'm going to stand for any questions you may have.

Council Mars, uh Tony, is this this is an engineering project. So, would this be a project that if we did have an engineer on staff that they possibly could have done it without needing that $85,000? So, or is it too big? The question you've asked a couple times tonight is too simplified in my in my opinion. Um so engineers as we all know are well verssed in certain disciplines of engineering. Um water treatment plant has mechanical structural geotech uh disinfection modeling uh infrastructure utilities. So no I don't believe one engineer could do this. Yeah.

Um where your discussion could be beneficial is adding another piece of oversight. Yeah. Um, so right now for platting, uh, I I communicate to our liaison with PC on platting on the infrastructure. She comments back to me and then I send that over to them after we review it as a team internally. Um, that's the long short answer. I'm sorry. Okay. That that answered the question. Yeah. Any other questions? Customer pardon? I make a motion we approve the design stage to PEC for $85,510. We

have a motion a second for the uh to approve the agreement with PEC for the modification to the high service pump station. Any discussion? Question, please. Brucer, yes. Walters, yes. Roden, yes. Yes. Fier, yes. Harden, yes. Myers, yes. Then yes. All right. Next we have item E, consideration of lease purchase of public works uh department vehicle.

So this agenda item is for approval a lease through Enterprise Fleet Management for 2026 Chevy Silverado 6500 HD as part of our 2026 budgeted fleet replacement program. Uh we were trying to get the bid prior to last meeting, but we didn't get it in time. So that's why it's before you today without the others. Uh this truck will serve as one of the primary snow and ice response unit and be will be equipped with a dump body snow plow salt and sand spreader for winter operations. The new truck will replace a 2008 GMC 5500 with approximately 180,000 miles. That existing truck will remain in service, be utilized by the water department to assist during water distribution issues. The lease term is five years with an annual lease cost of $14,884.32. At the end of the lease term, the city will have the option to either purchase the vehicle or replace it through the fleet program. The upfitting cost for the dump body, the plow, and the salt sand spreader will be paid upfront out of the equipment reserve fund. Staff is recommending approval of the lease agreement with annual payments of $14,884.32 including an additional upfitting cost of $24,792. And this is a budget item will be paid from street department funds.

There any questions for Tony? What would council like to do? Councard make a motion we approve the lease purchase of the public works vehicle for the 2026 Chevy Silverado for $14,884.32 per year and up front cost of 24792. We have a motion, a second to approve the lease purchase for public works department vehicle. Council Walters. Is there any discussion? Question, please. Brewster. Yes. Walters. Yes. Yes. Steer. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Next, we have item seven, department reports, a administrative services. Hello. The hometown market is going to be starting up. The opening weekend is June 6th. Hometown Market will be open from 8:00 am to noon on Saturdays every Saturday, June through August. Thank you. Next, we have item B, city clerk.

Uh, Angie cannot be here tonight, but she would have let everybody know that Monday, May 25th is Memorial Day and city offices will be closed and the normal emergency non-emergency numbers are still in effect. So, thank you. Next, we have item C, police chief. Uh, good evening, Mayor and Council. I just wanted to give you a couple updates. U, we had the drug takeback back on uh, 425 of 2026. And just want to let you know that we brought in 219.5 pounds of prescription medications that were unwanted. Um, that is in addition to our dropbox that we have in our lobby that's open all the time that people can bring them in and drop them in the dropbox. So, our our numbers really haven't come down at all on our drug takebacks, even though we have that one that's available in the lobby of the police department, which is um actually used quite a bit. We had them come out and and regularly empty that one for us. Um so, we did well there. Uh got those uh prescription meds off the street. Um then we had our car seat check on the 2nd of May. So, I just wanted to say thank you to everybody that was involved with that. Um all the groups and volunteers that came out um during that car seat check. We have about 32 car seats checked, which is quite a few um for our car seat checks that we do. Um next we have our visiting officer is officer Barbara Alier. She's out there somewhere. Say hi to her as you go by out there. Um and as it is police week, um as you see police officers, uh doesn't really matter if they're in your jurisdiction or another one. Um tell them thank you for their service. They they don't hear that near enough uh for the job that they do and the sacrifices that they make. And although it may not when we don't have officers in in in our our city that have that have paid the price um that some of them have um they do sacrifice a lot. They have holidays that they miss because they're here working for us and taking care of

everybody here. Um they have kids concerts and stuff like that. I've done this a long time and I have missed a a bunch of them. So um just over time just let them know that we're thankful for them. Um that's that that means a lot to them because they don't hear that near enough. Um the last thing that I have is I wanted to clarify real quick on the ordinance that we passed regarding fireworks earlier. Um on that ordinance that we passed um the June 25 and 26 are only for sales of fireworks. So they can sell fireworks on the 25th and 26th. They can't be detonated until the 27th. Uh and that'll be the 27th through the 5th they'll be able to be detonated. Um and the fifth is also going to be open for sales this year. So that'll be that'll be a big change. Um but just wanted to let everybody know that that was um just to clarify that one. So that's all I have. Thank you.

All right. Thank you, Chief. Next we have item D public works. All right. So the recycling center will be open on Saturday, May 23rd from 10:00 a.m. to noon. And then the also the annual citywide cleanup will take place at public works on Saturday, June 6 from 8:00 am to noon. As a reminder, the event is free and only available to City of Hazesville residents. We do not accept any contractor or commercial users. Uh we'll also have public works on staff to unload all the vehicles and trailers. So, thank you. All right. Thank you, Tony. Next, we have item E, recreation. Rob,

good evening, mayor and council. Uh, our first food truck Thursday of the year will take place on May 21st right out here in front of city hall from 11:00 a.m. to 1 p.m. First truck will be Ters toppings. Uh, the Hazel Pool will open for the season on May 23rd. Uh, our summer park series, the Wishaw Children's Theater will be will be presenting Goldilocks of the Three Bears on Tuesday, June 2nd at 2 PM at the at the Hack and the Kids of Parks Day will be on June 6th in Kirby Park from 10:00 a.m. to noon. Keep

All right. Thanks, Rob. Next, we have item eight, appointments. We have none tonight. Item nine, executive session. There's none scheduled. Item 10, review of expenditures. A, summary of April expenditures. Council person like to move second motion second to receive and file the April expenses. Any discussion? Questions, please. Rooster, yes. Walter, yes. Roden, yes. Here, yes. Yes. Pardon? Yes. Myers? Yes. Thompson? Yes. All right. Next, we have item 11, the consent agenda. We have one item on the consent agenda. Council person, pardon. 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. Cruz, yes. Walters, yes. Martin, yes. Yes. Yes. Pardon? Yes. Yes. Thompson, yes. All right. Thanks. Now, we have item 12, council concerns. A council concerns. A uh Councilman Myers, I have a couple things. Yes.

Uh thank you, Mr. Mayor. I bring this to council today to clarify accusations made last month that I wanted to be uh the mayor to appoint me to the planning commission as if my intent was malicious. However, this intent is not true. As noted in the email, I asked if it was allowed and only if it was allowed, I would volunteer. The reasoning for this was I was actively monitoring proposed code changing changes in planning that an overwhelming majority of the public strongly opposed as well as some of my fellow city councilors. After a single response from the city manager that councilors are not typically on planning, I replied asking if we can update the code to prohibit elected officials from being appointed. I asked to include that or he I'm sorry. Uh the city uh manager replied that he would include it in next year's update. And my goal has always been is to improve Hazesville by performing trans promoting transparency, accountability, and as and a city code that is clear, consistent, and reflective of how the city actually operates. That's all I have. I don't have a motion or nothing.

Okay. Uh do you have anything else? No, that was it. Item two. Got item two. Oh, no. Yeah. I I mean we'll bring that up when it comes to our um thing and you know when it comes from plan our planning and then the third one was for what we were talking about before. So that's all I have for today. Okay. I would like to have Mr. Black comment on your second item. The only reason I'm bringing this up is because the state wanted to uh go ahead and make everything uniform across the state of Kansas. So, if you guys have followed the legislative session, take a look at Senate Bill number 418.

So, basically, it does several different things. It's known as the byite housing development act. Uh they define in this uh legislation that passed and was signed by the governor and takes effect on July 1st. Definition for single family home means a detached or semi- detached dwelling arranged intended or designed to be occupied by a single family. A semi- detached dwelling is also known as a duplex. So in their bill they're defining single family to include what we would consider a single family home and also a duplex. They've also got a definition for townhouse. Townhouse means a single family dwelling unit constructed in a group of three or more attached units in which each unit extends from foundation to roof with a yard or public way on not less than two sides. So when you look at that it's duplex not duplex but a triplex or a quadplex but not an apartment building because an apartment building you generally have the hall so you only face grass on one side. So they're basically talking about single family, duplex, triplex, point in these two definitions, but the townhouse is anywhere between 3 and 12 units in their definitions. So bear with me as I get to the point of all this. Um they're going to allow by right anywhere where we've got single family use to allow for the building of single family which includes duplex and then townhouse I believe but we don't have we don't have strict guidance on this yet but I believe townhouse will be included. So, we're going to have less control on what type of housing goes into a single family or any lot that has residential use. And then the other part is more related to the email from my understanding of it is basically there are there's language in

here that talks about the minimum lot size. Yeah. And if you guys have looked at it, basically uh the minimum residential lot size under this bill, which is now law or will be law on July 1st, the minimum lot size will be 3,000 square ft uh subject to any reasonable setback requirements that avoid unwarranted hardship yet protect public welfare and safety. And there's also a caveat. It's for homes uh or single family residences or town houses or duplexes that are less than 2500 square ft in size. So if the home or duplex less than 2500 square f feet in size, the minimum required lot size is going to be 3,000 square ft. So we're looking at different options for code. Once there's better guidance, we'll be able to make sure that we comply with what the state has. But if there are any uh ways that we can provide any more control on certain type of residential zoning districts, we'll do that. But at this point, we may be required by the city statute to allow for minimum lot size of 3,000 square feet. So, we're still working on whatever those proposed code adjustments would be based on this. So, if you have some time, read it. It's it's also got stuff in here for uh reducing the amount of time that's allowed to uh municipalities to review uh plats and other things. So, it's it's crazy. There's there's more in it, but the main point I want to bring up is a law size.

What can I add? One one detail, too. It's that if they comply with our requirements, we can't say no. Yeah. The protest petition thing becomes invalid. Yeah. Oh, wow. Read it. 418. Senate Bill 48. Uh, wait. Quick question. Oh, we have other mics first. Oh, sorry. Sorry. Uh, Council Barber.

So, I want to address something. Um, I was really kind of shocked at after the last meeting. Uh, my phone lit up from family members, acquaintance, friends, people that I know about Mr. Meyer's post on Facebook. Uh, I was taken back a little bit after I went and found it and read it. Uh, I find it very offensive that somebody would get on Facebook and slam the mayor, slam the city council, slam the staff because of things that happen. Uh, put my name on there because I didn't vote for what you wanted me to. I personally don't care. Uh I've been in law enforcement for 20 years. I don't really care what people think about me. Okay? That's the way I am. Okay? But I do have an issue with people that get on here. This is the first time in the 19 years that I've been on council that we have had somebody get on the council and come in and start slamming the council members. the city staff, the mayor, everybody else. I I just I I just I'm totally taken back by that. But in your post, you know, not only did you go to Facebook, you went to the Witchaw Eagle.

They came to me. They were doing the article regardless of me. They interviewed the mayor, too, right? Did channel 12 come to you, too? No. Okay. It was on channel 12, too. Cool. So, uh, but some of the things you posted in your Facebook, um, one of the one of the things that you posted on there, you posted that, uh, you were elected and you didn't have to stay in your ward and you will go anywhere you want. That's a good one. Yeah.

Okay. So let me so um in the um legal clarity organization.com it says how a ward system works. A city that uses wards divided into territories into sections of rough roughly equal populations. Each ward elects one council member who represents only that ward's residents. The ideal is straightforward. Instead of every council member answering to the entire city, each one answers to the specific neighborhood. That local accountability is the ward system core advantage. Your council member knows the potholes in your block, the back, the vacant lots, developers keeping eyes and all that. So, it's right here that the constituents voted you for board one. That's where you'll stay.

That's not what it says. I'm sorry. It doesn't say I'll stay in war. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Go ahead. Councilman uh has four.

So, I just I'm I'm just totally uh taking a back and and I'm still still trying to process this PEC deal that you are so wadded up about. Um we have had PEC. I did my research. BEC has a office in Fort Collins, Colorado, Kansas City, Missouri, Springfield, Missouri, Tulsa, Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, Witchah. All of these different entities have PEC as their engineering group. So um I just really find it why is there such an issue of having PEC as our engineering group? So I just I just I don't know. I've totally taken back of why that somebody has to make a big issue and stir the pot every time. and we're we're we're all on this. We're supposed to be working together. We're all supposed to be doing what we need to do to make this city a better. I've been in this city for most of my life. I'm a business owner in this community. My wife is a business owner in this community. I've been active in this community for 40 plus years. And I just I I don't get it. I don't. We're supposed to be making this community a better place to live and I just I don't know. I'm totally taken back why we have to have such conflict in council.

Thank you, Councilman Walters.

Thank you. um not to take anything from what was just said, but I'd like to kind of turn it to a little bit lighter note and simply say I appreciate the opportunity to join the council when I'm not here physically via Zoom, which I have used in the past and I did the last time. I do want to apologize, excuse me, that I lost contact about 8:15 and there and just a quick backstory. take care of my mom up in Kansas City. She's 96 living alone and we had a thunderstorm and so my Zoom went kaput. The reason I mentioned that is simply that I would like to ask if there's some way to reconnect if there's some system. If there is, I don't know about it. I'd like to either be trained or we can create that phone call to somebody because I'd like to get back in and be and do my part. So if that's possibility, that's my request.

Well, yeah, we can look into that. And if it's in the situation where you're unable to get back on Zoom, we left the meeting open, but we could also look at a secondary thing if your phone was working where you could call in, we could put something up there, use my phone. Thank you. So, Council Lars.

Yeah. Uh, thank you, sir. Um, so, uh, Bob on your f first, let's go to the beginning. So, wards, right? So, I'm I'm a Hazville city councelor, right? Elected by a ward one, but overall, all the decisions that we make together affect all of Hazeville, right? So, we're all working together and I do want to I'm trying to work together. I'm trying to make it to where we're all working on the same team, right? That's the ultimate goal of this and that is what I'm shooting for here, right? What I have against PEC is that there is a conflict of interest and our our code is not clearly defined. It's not it's incorrectly defined. Right? That's the issue that I have that we have a conflict of interest that shouldn't happen. Right? That's why I got all worked up about this. That's why I've been bringing it up and I'm not dropping it because it's not correct. That I know it's not correct. Okay? There's lots of other of my constituents of your constituents of everybody's constituents that are on my side because I've been talking to them because they reach out to me. All right? So, just because I've been talking to actually met one of your both constituents and we sat and talked for two hours, right? We talked about a lot of topics, right? So, there's a lot of people who are reaching out to me and talking to me about multiple topics, not just the whole PEC thing, getting inside scoop. So just because I'm talking to other people in other coun in other uh councilman's council women's areas does not mean that I'm in the wrong. I I'm not only assigned to this square, right? All of Hazville applies to me. All right. Dorner Park is the park that I go through to the most. That's not my ward, but I go to it all a lot and I care a lot about that park. All right.

So do I.

So yeah, and we all do. Right. So, what I'm getting at is I apologize for for putting you on blast, but you went against what was simply seeking the truth. You voted against me. You didn't vote against the idea of the vote. And you need to think about that when you're voting for things. Don't vote against the person. Vote against what you are voting for. Okay? Because you are the only person who voted against that. Right? and you voted for the last time when I was trying to make more transparency. You voted against my motion to um for the the I forget which which motion it was, but you voted against that one as well. Anyways, um that we're all trying to work together here. I know I'm new. I am stirring stuff up. That's what I do. I I've been in the military. I was in the military for 14 years, right? And that's what I've done. I go around and I fix things. All right? I'm a I build programs. I've been to Afghanistan. I've been to Iraq. I've built safety programs. I've built hazmat programs. I've done everything you can imagine when it comes to vehicle and facility management. All right, that's what I did. And I identify issues and I'm fixing them. That's all I'm doing. And I'm establishing guide rails to make sure that we don't have that happen again. And that was all that motion was for last week. And yeah, the the the news reached out to me and I interviewed them because that's what you do when when the news is running an article on you. You don't not give them input. You want to make sure they get the news right. I've been in the news multiple times. This isn't the first time I've been on the news. I have a stack of newspapers. All right? So, you don't not put in uh uh comments in the mayor conflict of interest, too. So, this isn't like we just all shut up when the news comes around. We're we're right now live. There's other people watching us, right? Including I'll guarantee you news. How we doing? They're watching us right now because we were in the paper. We were on the news. We were posted on Facebook. It was all over. All right. And yes, I post things on Facebook. I'm an influencer. I

don't know if you me know about me, but I have millions of views on YouTube and I have tens of thousands of followers on Facebook, Instagram. All right, that's what I do. That's what new people do. That's what young people do. We do social influence and social media. And that is one of the tool set that we use. So, I'm sorry that you don't like that I'm doing that, but that is what modernday political how it works. You're going to make posts. Okay? So, just next time you make a vote, just think about what you're voting for and not who you're voting against. That's all I have to say. Council Spartan,

just because he voted against you doesn't mean he was voting against you. He just voted for the amendment. Um, as far as your word thing, common courtesy on the word, the city council has always been if you have somebody call you from somebody else's ward, you direct them to their city council people. And we deal with our wards people, not yours. Mhm. That's even like um issues, council action requests. Mhm.

We send them in for our wards. You send the other wards, if you see something, you send them the information and say, "Hey, would you like to look at this because I noticed this." We don't step on everybody's toes. That's all I got to say. Captain Mars. Yeah. I So, a good example of this is when we first started this, I reached out to you, right, about the PC and we visited the site together, right? We walked it together. Right. Right. So, that's a good example of I I am still involving. I'm not I'm not cutting you out,

but you're saying you're talking to these other people. Well, in that specific instance, they told me not to talk talk to them or not to convert or, you know, refer them to them. But, uh, I'm going to talk to people all over the city because that's where I get all my input from, right? I'm not going to say, "Hey, don't talk to me because, you know, I'm not in your ward, right?" Um, yeah. So, I I I don't agree because the the mayor also told me the same thing that I'm only responsible for my ward, but that's not true. I'm responsible for all of Hazesville, right? We are all responsible for all of Hazesville. That is what we represent as a whole, as a community. And yes, we're gonna we're gonna make sure that if it is in Ward four that I I pull them into it or ward three or two, I pull you into it, right? That that is absolutely recommended. It is not required. There's no law that states it and and therefore you can while I understand the respect level of it and I am doing that because I I unless you have an instance of where I've completely been out of line and gone around another councilman to undermine something that their constituent wanted. I haven't done that. That's not there's nothing like that going on here. It's simply simply a topic that I've been consistent on bringing up to and people from all wards have been coming to me to talk to me about it. So that's very important.

But we can't talk about our constituents what they want if we don't talk to those constituents. If you don't send them to us. Very valid. Yes. So yes, you are trying to do the whole city when you have a ward. When you're voting on motions, you're voting for your ward. What does your ward say? We're voting for our ward. What does our ward say? Well, yeah, but you're taking that out of our hands. I get what you're saying. If you're not motion or sending them to us.

I I kind of get what you're saying, but at the same time, it it doesn't always apply because like, let's say we're voting on something that is in Ward 4, right? Or in W three. I'm not going to vote on it like, well, it's not in my ward, so I don't care what goes on over there. We should all care about what happens in every ward, right? Well, I understand that, but still. So, I'm not going to vote differently if it's in my ward or not. And I can't vote my constituents. Oh, I can vote no because I haven't heard from any of my constituents because they all dary. You're one voice. But that's not what I'm doing. That's not what I'm doing. Okay. I I understand what you're saying. I do understand what you're saying, Council Warden.

Well, back to your comment about you've talked to people in our ward. That's fine.

What I don't understand is like I said, I've been around this community a long time. There's a lot a lot of people that know me. There's a lot a lot of people that know Mrs. Parton. There's a lot a lot of people that know uh Pat, Mrs. Iber, okay? If they want to come to us, come to us. They know that they can come to us. So, you know, to put out on Facebook that if you got a problem in your ward, come and talk to me or whatever and then I'll come and help you out. That's not your responsibility. you are not the council member for that ward. If there's an issue in my ward, ward three, then you tell them to come to me and talk to me or to Mrs. Ewards, and you tell them to come talk to us, and then we'll handle it. That's what we were elected for, just like you were elected and uh Dale was elected in Ward One. So, if there's issues in your ward and somebody comes to me, we'll talk to your council member. I don't know how many times I've had people come to me and I say, "Hey, go talk to Mrs. Parton. She's your council member. Go talk to Mr. Walters. He's your council member." So, you do that. That's where you go to that. You don't go out there and start hunting. You know, I noticed that in your Facebook page that you posted out that people uh you needed to start finding people that are going to run against me. I don't care. You know what? If God wants me to be on counsel again, I'll be on counsel again, no matter what. If he doesn't want me to be, then I won't. But I don't need you going out there rounding up people and everything

else trying to uh get people to come up and vote against me or start, you know, run against me. That's that's just totally wrong. That's all I got to say.

That's politics. I'm sorry. You don't like having competition. I mean, that's it's literally what politics are, right? Just because your position may have been uncontested doesn't mean that and maybe it will go uncontested. I don't know if anybody's going to step up. Um, but I think that, you know, being on council for 18 or 20 years is a bit excessive if you ask me. This isn't a a career position. This isn't a judge. Um, but I I don't think I added that uh the other cities, did I I don't think I mentioned that that other cities, yes, they have engineering PEC firms. They're not their city engineer, period. The city engineer for Witchah is a person. There's a person on staff at Witchaw, Cedric County, every level of most other other cities that are every other cities surrounding city. Most of them have a city engineer on staff. They're not using PEC. Yes, they use PEC for contracts, but they're not using city the city engineer as a PEC contracted position. Um, so yeah, that's um I think that's all I have to say. All right, council. Are there any other concerns?

I do have one. Mars. Um, Bob, do you have any constituent concerns that reached out to you recently? Uh, yeah. In fact, me and Mr. Zer both are working on right now. We're working on one. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. Any other concerns? All right. We will move on to item B. Council action request updates. Uh update for 358 North Moy Avenue. The resident has tended to the lawn with voluntary compliance. Case is considered closed.

Thank we have item 13, adjournment. Mayor make a motion we adjourn. Second motion and second to adjourn tonight's meeting. Is there any discussion? Question please. Brer. Yes. Walters. Yes. Jordans. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.