City Council - Regular Meeting

you Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

City Council meeting. Mary, call the roll, please.

Truen.

Here.

Garza.

Here.

Goss. Here. Bass. Here. Magers.

Next item.

Pledge of Allegiance. Justice for all.

Tonight we have Pastor Victor Halfmoon from Legacy Bible Church to lead us in prayer.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this opportunity to come before your throne of grace, having been adopted into your family by faith alone in Jesus Christ. Lord, we lift up each one of our council members before you this evening. asking for you to pour your wisdom out. May it be present in abundance. Lord, give them special insight into the needs of this community and give them direction toward appropriate and God-glorifying solutions. May their words be seeped in gentleness, seasoned with grace, and fortified with humility. Lord, I ask you to meet their needs and to work in their families and meet the needs of their family. For those who are in attendance, you know the needs of each person, and I ask you to provide for them abundantly in the measure according to your grace. We ask these things in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Amen.

Next item.

Item number four, approval of the proposed agenda.

Do you have any additions or subtractions to the agenda?

This would be if we wanted to amend the consent agenda, it would be at this point. Is that correct? Correct. Okay. Yes, I would like to move items 6D and 6G out of the consent agenda and into new business. And I move to amend the agenda... to move items 6D and 6G out of the consent agenda and into number nine, new business.

All right, we'll make that C and D. I'll second it.

Thank you.

Truen?

Yes.

Garza? Yes.

Yeah. Goss?

Yes. Fast?

Yes. Next item.

Oh, we still need to approve the agenda. What's that? We still have to approve the proposed agenda as amended.

Okay. Motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. I thought that's what we just did.

No, I amended the agenda. Okay. I second.

Okay.

True. Yes. Garza. Yes. Goss. Yes. Bass.

Yes.

Item number five, petition for monstrances and oral communications from the audience.

Pursuant to Chapter 2 of the City Code, any person wishing to address the City Council shall first be recognized by the Mayor, come to the microphone and state the person's name, address, and the subject to be discussed, and if appearing in a representative capacity, whom the person represents. Remarks shall be limited to five minutes. Comments during this portion of the meeting shall relate to matters not on the agenda and within the business jurisdiction of the city council. All remarks shall be addressed to the city council as a whole and not to other speakers, members of the audience, or city staff. Rebuttal statements, back and forth exchanges, and debate are not permitted during general public comment. This portion of the meeting is for City Council to receive public comment. The Council will generally not engage in discussion or debate with speakers. To avoid repetitious presentations, the Mayor may require a spokesperson for a group. Audience members may address items on the agenda when those items are taken up by the City Council and comments relating to those items shall comply with the City Code. Anybody here this evening that would like to address the City Council?

Good evening, Vice Mayor and Council, Enrico Villegas, City Manager. For my comments, I really want to talk about the conduct of our meetings over the past few months. And I really think that for this, it's healthy to at least demonstrate over a drawing. One, it's just the way I like to teach. I'm a visual learner, and it helps people follow along. Some of these were principles that I got from teaching leadership, a book here, and then others is just a way that I've understood it over time. And I'm going to represent it here again with a graph. And we can call this axis challenges. And we can call this axis time or commitment, whatever. This line here, we'll call this the status quo. And it's whatever the work is that we're trying to do and trying to accomplish. And so if you want to change the status quo, you've got to push it. If you want to raise the bar, or in other words, some people say raise the heat. So you push up against it. And whatever this is, whatever you're pushing up against, that initial inertia you meet, whether that's trying to get housing here, data centers, whatever the case is, you push up against something. So this becomes the new threshold. And they refer to this area here as the productive zone. where you can really deliberate the policy, deliberate what's right, what's wrong, what do we want here. But if you exceed that and you keep going unchecked, it was very clever what I've heard this referred to as, that this top portion here, when left unchecked, it's like you cooked a steak for too long. Down here, you didn't cook it enough. And right here, it's about medium. Or at least for a lot of people, that's the perfect place for how they want their steak. And really, I feel like that's been the gist of our council meetings, where people come in, and instead of talking about the policy, they talk about the person. They make it personal. And I would really hope that, just for general civility purposes, we can find a way to stop making it personal. if there is an issue, there are always other venues in which that can be deliberated. Because the way that it's been and the way it's been referred, at least passed to me, by at least 30 plus people, comments have been made, well, who needs reality TV when you can just watch the council meetings? And honestly, that's embarrassing to hear that. It's funny, but it's also embarrassing. And this new dash line, starts to fall off if that line just goes unchecked. People don't want to work for the organization anymore, stop caring about the work or whatever the case may be. And so really my ask for anyone involved in this is to really consider how they can help bring that arrow down and bring this back up. That's the only thing I ask for is to try to get back to a place where we're productive and not performative. Because I'm not sure what it's solving. So that's really just the comments that I have and just my opinion on the matter. So thanks.

Anybody else? Just approach the podium and state your name and I'll get to you.

Chris Link from 3506 North Lorain. Good evening and thank you City Council for your time and your service. And I want to thank God for this country and this city. I'm here today to call this city to repentance and the forgiveness of sins in the blood of Jesus Christ. First, we need to understand that we have sinned and deserve the righteous wrath of God. This city has shown its contempt for God by calling evil good and good evil. Isaiah says, woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Hutchinson is guilty of this. The United States is guilty of this. How are we guilty? We promote and celebrate arrogance and debauchery every June. We celebrate abominations like homosexuality, transgenderism, fornication, and adultery, and other sexually perverted lifestyles. Pride is rejecting the Creator and thinking you can be your own God and do whatever you please. This is licentiousness and not liberty. And we are mistaken if we think we can call evil good and not come under the judgment of the Holy God. The Bible says in Proverbs that pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. It also says everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord. Be assured he will not go unpunished. Again, one's pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor. James, the brother of Jesus, teaches, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Lastly, the psalmist says, in the pride of his face, the wicked does not seek him. All his thoughts are, there is no God. The Bible clearly teaches that pride, haughtiness, and thinking there is no God is sinful and worthy of judgment. Therefore, Hutchinson stands condemned before the triune God. But God is a merciful God. He sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to live the perfect life we could not. He was crucified and died for the sins of the world. He satisfied the wrath we deserved. Because He was perfect and sinless, the Father raised Him on the third day, indicating that He accepted Jesus' sacrifice. Jesus now sits at the right hand of the Father, sending his church out to proclaim the good news that Jesus is King and that salvation is at hand. Praise be to God for this truth. Now those who are in Christ Jesus are free from guilt and shame because of him. Now we can live for him. We must renounce our former ways of promoting evil in the month of June. We must obey God and love our neighbor and call them to repentance. I am calling the city and country to repentance. May June no longer be known as Pride Month, but as Life Month. May we celebrate our nation's 250th birthday by returning to God and asking him for mercy and denouncing Pride Month. Thank you and God bless.

Okay, ma'am, you're next.

My name is Vicki Jackson. I live at 1416 East 36th Street in Hutchison. I've come to get involved. This is the first time I've been to a meeting, and I found out that I needed to get involved. I have come with questions about the data centers in Hutchison. How far along are you on this process? Are you finding out about who is this company that wants to have a data center? Is this a shell company? Is this a tech company? Will they be getting something called a permit by rule, which allows them to sneak in, come in at a lower level, and just get a permit to just come in here and enable them to come in and be small and get big and not have any kind of regulations? Also, I have a question about the new gas electric plant, the electric plant that's going to be run by gas that's coming out south of town. What kind of regulations is that going to have? Will it have pollution? Yes, the gas will cause pollution. Also, I'm wondering about when these data centers come about, When do they go out of date? Who's going to take care of them? Are they going to just sit there? Is somebody going to just watch them disintegrate? You showed a lot of concern about the happy worm family. or the company that had the happy worms out there, how the place was coming down. They weren't doing the regulations you've asked. They didn't have the safety standards that you wanted. Will you do that with the data centers? What will this data center cost the public? Will there be abatements? And who will be the watchdog over these data centers? Who's going to keep track of what they're doing? Are the deals being negotiated? How much does the public really know about the data centers? Is the city asked to give monetary profit to them? If this is supposed to help the city, why would the city have to give them profit? And will they have tax abatements? These questions and many more need to be answered. They need to be explained. They need to be put out before the public before it's too late, before it becomes an albatross around our neck. We don't want to have a burden. We don't want to be encumbered. And we don't want to have a persistent source of anxiety in our town with the data centers here. Thank you.

Thank you, Ricky.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Matt Williams, Director of Community Development. I think they're going to help me get some slides up here, but tonight I wanted to provide an update on the city's process to data center regulations. As you're aware, at your May 5th meeting, you adopted a resolution initiating a two-track process for data center regulations and battery energy storage systems. Track one involves temporary regulations that would require data centers or battery energy storage systems to attain a conditional use permit before being allowed within the city limits. This process will begin at the June 9th Planning Commission meeting, where a public hearing will be held to consider those temporary regulations. We expect those to come back to you for your final consideration on July 7th. Track two involves developing permanent regulations. We will begin that process by focusing just on data centers with a kickoff meeting scheduled for June 23rd. Throughout the summer, the Planning Commission will guide the development of regulations informed by public input, stakeholder engagement, and research into how other communities regulate these uses. The Planning Commission will help direct staff on key policy issues in the drafting of these proposed regulations. Both the temporary and permanent regulations will ultimately come back to City Council for your final consideration. I also want to address questions regarding a potential data center project referenced in a recent newspaper article. At this time, the city has not received any development applications, zoning requests, building permits, incentive requests, or other formal submissions related to this data center. City staff's involvement has been limited to a single informal discussion facilitated by an outside organization during which a landowner and potential developer discussed the possibility of a future project. Staff simply provided general information about the city's development process and ongoing efforts to establish data center regulations, which the developer understood we were undertaking and was comfortable with. The developer indicated that if the project were to move forward, construction would not be anticipated for at least eight or nine months. Based on the city's current timeline, permanent data center regulations are expected to be in place before any such construction would begin. The regulations developed through this process are intended to address many of the concerns we've heard from citizens, including noise, setbacks, size, location, zoning, and screening. In addition, city staff will be evaluating broader policy considerations related to data centers, including water use and discharge, power consumption, potential incentives, and community benefit agreements. A draft of these permanent regulations and related policy recommendations will be presented to you at a later date this year. The city remains committed to developing thoughtful regulations through a transparent process that includes public engagement, planning commission review, and city council consideration. We do have a website set up on our website at Hutchinsonks.gov slash data centers. where you can see all of the information about the process. We have a frequently asked questions section that talks about the data center that I just discussed. We'll point people in the right direction. We'll give them the dates on when our meetings are going to be held. And happy to answer any questions about that via email. So thank you. Thanks, Matt.

Anybody else?

There's a gentleman in the back there.

My name is Robert . I live at 405 Duffy Road here in Hutchinson. Go back to the data center. You kind of neglected to leave a lot of things. Data center is a noisy operation. I don't know where the water is coming from to begin with. to cool the data center, which is going to take a lot of electricity. However, that's not the big problem. The big problem is, just in case that thing catches fire, I hope that people understand that it's not going to be put out. It's like an electric car. It runs and burns until it's done. No matter how much water you put on there, how much foam you put on there, or anything else, it will burn. If it should get worse and explode, actually, it's going to be six miles. That is a long, long way. That's across the entire city of Hutchinson. And like I said, it cannot be put out by water. And I don't think it's necessary that we even have it, except that somebody wants the data center. Like I said, I live right across the street on 4th Street. So noise is going to be a big problem because all the fan motors are going to be running. So it's a constant deal. Like I said, my biggest concern is if that thing should ever happen to catch fire. If. It's not going to be put out. There's just no way. I appreciate that. Thank you.

Thank you, Robert.

Vice Mayor, Council, Don Rogers, Wells Aircraft. I'd like to change gears a little bit and give a positives for the city. In a pilot's world, we call it three accidents. Things happen in threes. Well, we've had our three this month. So I thought I'd report on those because it's a that-a-boy for our community. the Hutchinson Fire Department and for PD. The first event involved a training plane where he had smoke in the cabin and then it ended up landing successfully and repaired the alternator and it's back flying again. But the response from the Hutchinson Fire Department, out in the back somewhere, was fantastic to the airport and was very well appreciated by the owners of the aircraft. The second incident happened with a little more expensive aircraft. It was Vance Air Force Base's T6 trainer who regularly stopped here for fueling with wells and for the good food at the airport steakhouse. While preparing to land, the crew was alarmed by we have three green lights in a retractable airplane, and if you don't get three lights, there's something wrong, which means one of the landing gears did not come down. So they flew by the tower. The tower was fantastic working with them. We relayed the phones between Vance operations, the pilots, through the radio systems, through our office, and also the tower. And the decision was made that they had enough fuel. They needed to burn some fuel off to take the aircraft to the Air Force Base in Wichita, where they had foam runway, longer recovery equipment, and more. But my contact with the Advanced Air Force Base wanted me to make sure that I called the attention of the tower, Wells, Hutchinson Fire Department, EMS, and everybody involved with the teamwork and professionalism that was involved with us not getting the plane here, but helping the pilots get it there. I also received a call from the two pilots for their appreciation for the communications with the city. Then the next very evening, We decided that maybe the YMCA was open, and we were going to use the field next door to land, and we had a plane come in a little short on fuel. The couple was from Albuquerque on their way to Indianapolis, and they just came up a little short. Fortunately, both of them walked away successfully. I will back up a little bit. Our Air Force trainer and instructor also walked away from the landing in Wichita safely. But the wife, and their comment was, well, it was an easy walk to the new hotel, so they were kind of happy that we put it there. The couple's sense has expressed themselves every time to the kindness and assistance that they received from the residents of Hutchinson. That speaks for us. We are doing the things right. Once again, they commented on the Hutch Fire Department, the tower, EMS, law enforcement, and the personnel involved for the quick professionalism and found ourselves able to spend two days with us alive and well. The following day, Wells Aircraft staff, with the assistance of McKenzie Paint and Potty with their recovery vehicle transported that airplane off that field back to the airport. That couldn't have been done without Hutch PD. They gave us an escort that was to speak for. 33 feet wide, we came down the road, and I have to – my hat's off to the residents that pulled over. We were coming down 11th Street and across 17th and all the way down Airport Road. People pulled off. They were patient. They let us get by. And our hat's off to that recovery and the ability to do that that wouldn't have happened without PD. These emergencies are very difficult and could have been much different outcomes. Instead, the demonstrated professionalism, preparedness, and teamwork of our emergency responders, law enforcement, community members, on behalf of all those involved, they ask me to come and present to you an appreciation for a job well done.

Thank you.

Thanks, Dylan. Anybody else have any comments for counsel?

Esmeralda Tovar-Mora with Hutchin Harmony, 11 East Sherman. Over the weekend, we were hearing from a lot of residents, specifically on questions regarding data centers, and you're all going to be receiving a lot of those. Obviously, that conversation is ongoing, but the big question, really, is... What information do we not yet know and which independent experts should we hear from before making decisions that can impact and affect our water, farmland, infrastructure, and economy for the next 50 years? Some of those questions that our residents in Hutchinson and Reno County asked were, will the city and county invite hydrologists from the Kansas Geological Survey to present independent groundwater modeling for Reno County? Has anyone conducted a long-term study projecting the impact of 1, 3, 5 or 10 large data centers on the local aquifer over 20 to 50 years? Can the public see peer-reviewed studies on how similar aquifers have responded to large industrial water use? What is the projected impact on agricultural irrigation capacity during drought years if industrial water demand increases? Will independent water experts review whether current groundwater recharge rates can sustain projected withdrawals? Has the city requested a formal water risk assessment from the Kansas Water Institute or another neutral research institution? What do hydrologists identify as the worst-case scenario for groundwater depletion under different growth projections? How would projected water use compare to existing agricultural, residential, and industrial uses during drought conditions? Will the city invite electrical grid experts from the Kansas State University, utilities, or regional transmission organizations to discuss long-term grid impacts? Has an independent study been commissioned to determine who ultimately pays for new transmission lines, substations, or grid upgrades? What does the research show about electric rate impacts in communities that have experienced significant data center growth? These are all important questions. Can experts model the cumulative energy demand if multiple data centers are approved rather than evaluating projects individually? Will the city invite independent economists to review claims regarding job creation and tax revenue? Can researchers provide data comparing projected jobs promised versus actual permanent jobs created in other rural communities? Some recent research has questioned whether long-term employment gains match initial projections. What happens if technology changes and staffing needs decrease significantly over the next decade? How many years would it take for local tax revenues to offset infrastructure investments, incentives, and public costs? Will the city and county hold expert panels where community members can ask questions directly of researchers? Will all studies commissioned by developers be independently peer reviewed before being relied upon for public policy decisions? And before any vote, will the city release a comprehensive impact report summarizing findings from these experts and planners in a publicly accessible document? Thank you so much.

Thank you, Esmeralda. Anybody else this evening? All right, Mary. Oh, excuse me.

Good evening. Vice Chair and Council Members, I'm Melinda Jarrett, 402 East 18th. I'd explained at the last meeting, I'd come back and share with you the core reason that I even became involved with the discussions and dealings with Hutch Rec, because everything has cause and effect when making decisions. I would have just had stories to share about my negative business dealings, being a business owner in downtown Hutchinson with Hutch Rec. And it just would have ended with a story, because I'd told the stories to countless people. Change never happened. And I told the director back in 2018 that just because you can doesn't mean that you should. And in the last couple months, I've been aware of more areas of concern with HETREC, as you know. However, my main issue really needs to be addressed. I requested emails from HETREC concerning my business under CORA, and I would need more than five minutes to correct anything. But the most concerning is why the director would want to create untruth, go out of his way to discredit me, and make it appear that I have a personal issue with him, when that is just not the case. And that discussion should just go to the Huttrick Board of Directors and not here, but I feel it needs mention because some of you have personal relationships with the director. It's simple business dealings that created a financial and negative impact on my business with the handling of Third Thursday. Did you know the money that I made in one night during Third Thursday paid 100% of my overhead? Then when I expanded, I was covering 100% of my employee wages. Do you have any idea... that of the eight employees that I had, five were supported employment positions for which I was working with five different agencies to provide employment opportunities. So when HedgeRack moved the event to DCI Park, it destroyed my ability to have a boost in my sales once a month. And I hope you can understand why I have a passion for my disappointment. Daily sales are pretty much flat and predictable, unless there's a holiday or an event, and that's really the case for any retail business. So as a business owner, it's always great to have something that would drive the masses to our downtown. It's a fact that one day I was frustrated, and I sent a message to the Department of Revenue, and I asked if there was a report of the sales tax generated by Third Thursday. I received a phone call and was told that Hutch Rec has never wanted to do what they were required to do to ensure sales tax was collected. The representative came to the following event. It was reported to me that Hutch Rec was not happy to be held accountable. Well, imagine that. I was extremely frustrated at the lack of accountability and the knowledge that everyone was benefiting financially from doing business in a space that they did not have a financial investment. And the mere fact that Hutch Rec has made Third Thursday their event to use as a profit center for their financial benefit as well. Remember when I told you that the director of downtown businesses were told by the director of Hutch Rec that The vendors had just as much right to be selling downtown as we did. Do you think it was a kick in my teeth to find out that Hedge Rec was facilitating or aiding in tax noncompliance with vendors during Third Thursday? The Kansas Department of Revenue states that all retailers participating in special events must either have a Kansas sales tax registration or use a special events tax remittance process. Vendors selling taxable items are required to collect and remit sales tax. Hedge Rec didn't do that. Now you see where my passion might lie. At one point, you had downtown business leaders and downtown business owners who really cared to make business decisions to protect those investing in that space. However, times changed and nobody wants to fight when they're told that the entire structure has been created to be untouchable. Hence my words when I first addressed all of you. In closing, the director of Hutch Rec told the city manager that I've said many times that food trucks ruined my business, and I've never said those words. What I said was that food trucks and vendors did not need to be a part of the one event that should be supporting downtown businesses. It should have never been designed to be a profit center for Hutch Rec, but a way to give downtown business owners an opportunity to shine and be supported. And I still stand on that, even though I've closed my business downtown. Thank you. I did see where the structure changed the last two months where Third Thursday is now back to embracing Avenue B to Third Street, so there's hope that it can be back to a very beautiful event. However, I asked the city attorney and the city manager to look into the city ordinance for conducting businesses downtown. If they do not have one, then you really need to create one. The fact that you allow anything to flatline the very heartbeat of your city is disappointing. After tonight, as you've discovered that you lost sales tax revenue by HUTCH REC, I promise we can set down and add up the seven plus years of loss to be greater than the cost of this study that was requested two months ago. I know that patience is being asked as you move forward with Hatch Rec issues, and I will give you that respect. But you have enough stories to know that change is warranted, and your personal relationships and emotions should not be what drive your decisions to ignore it. Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Melinda. Anybody else this evening? All right, Mary, next item.

Item number six, consent agenda.

Do you have any questions or comments about the consent agenda?

No, I've read it.

Need a motion to approve the consent agenda?

I move to approve the consent agenda as amended and authorized by the mayor to sign.

I'll second that.

Truen?

Yes.

Garza? Yes. Goss? Yes. Fass?

Yes. Next item, please.

Item number seven, public hearing, landmark CID.

I move to open the public hearing.

I'll second that. Mary, can you call the roll?

Truen?

Yes. Garza? Yes.

Goss? Yes. Fass?

Yes.

Angela Richard, Director of Finance. Meijer Landmark LLC, owners of 501 North Main, have petitioned for a 2% sales tax for a reimbursement up to 1.5 million of eligible expenditures, or 22 years, whichever comes first. This is one piece of their overall financing on a project that they'll spend over 22 million on, and this will help with the commercial space renovation. If the council agrees to this ordinance tonight and approves it, then the CID would go into effect October 1st, 2026, after we would notify the State Department of Revenue. The city does have several CIDs already. What happens is that the customers will pay the additional sales tax at the retailers. That money goes to the state. It then gets transmitted back to the city, and we will review expenditures to make sure they're eligible before paying them back to the mayor landmark LLC. We do have the owners in attendance if you have any questions, and I'll be available for questions as well.

Does council have anything to question or add to that?

I guess the only thing I want to clarify, this district is just where the landmark motel is. That is correct, yes. It would not affect any other sales tax across the street, next door?

No.

Only what's spent at that location.

Right, and there is a map included with their petition as well that just shows the building as that district.

Right. Any other questions from council before I open it up to the audience? No.

I have questions on the next item.

Okay. Does anybody from the audience have any questions about this? Would you approach the podium and state your name?

My name is Sherry Broadbent. What is our address? 206 West 29th. We haven't been here that long. Thank you for just a moment. I'm wondering when a building like a construction or revitalization project is taken on, is this type of a tax part of their financial plan that's presented to the city for approval beforehand, or is this something that's just being taken on as kind of an emergency plan stopgap for overspending or something that has gone out of whack in the whole process. I'm just wondering why are we asking citizens or businesses to pay for something that should have already been taken care of in their initial paperwork or project plans?

Well, the developers are here and they certainly can answer that question. I think I know the answer, but I'll let them answer it.

Hi, folks. My name is Justin Perjant, Pomeroy Development. developers and one of the partners in the project so in august of 2024 we presented a mou to the city of hutchinson that included a number of different financial partnerships and incentives that required participation with the city of hutchinson cid was listed as one of those it's not possible for all of those things to queue up onto one meeting especially when you have a A project like this, it wasn't until very recently that the specific commercial tenants were even identified. We didn't know exactly if there would even be taxable sales on the ground floor. So the first and most critical thing to understand is that, yes, this was part of a MOU that was presented and approved in, I believe it was August of 2024. So that would be the first thing. And then the second would be that the timing of RHID and applying for a moderate income housing grant, those things don't queue up. They have different timelines. And so we literally within the last 30, 60 days identified and filled out the ground floor tenants. So I also do want to say that There have been cost overruns, but this is not an effort to shore those up. This was contemplated and was part of the financial package plan from the get-go. I believe CID has to, like this meeting, when you do the hearing and adopt it, can't occur. There's a timeline. So for us to start this October 1st, we couldn't do this step two years ago. That just wasn't possible. So logistically, this was when this had to happen. I contemplated it and tried to capture that in an MOU, but that's, you know, almost two years later, that's kind of been lost to history. So that reminder is important. Thank you.

Thank you, Justin. Any other questions in the audience? All right. I need a motion to close the public hearing.

So moved.

Second.

Truin? Yes. Garza? Yes. Goss? Yes. Fass?

Yes.

Item number eight, ordinances and resolutions. Consider an ordinance authorizing the creation of the landmark CID, approval of development agreement, and authorize the mayor to sign.

Any further discussion?

I have a question about... So in reading the development agreement, so Kansas is a destination-based sourcing state for sales tax. So the sales tax that people are paying in the apartments as items are delivered to their homes, et cetera, that is not going to be subject to the CID 2%. Is that correct? But this would only impact the first floor, and if so, what in the development agreement outlines, because the application is just an outline of the property, the whole property.

So I'm not a CPA. I'm not an attorney. This is not tax advice. That whole sort of precursor there, that is not the intention of what we're trying to accomplish with this. It's intended to be. It's a fair question. I don't know the answer, but the intent is what I can speak to. It's just that it capture ground floor. The other thing I want to mention is that CIDs do not apply to alcohol beverage tax. It's just taxable sales, like retail sales tax. It does not apply to the speakeasy that's in the building. This does not apply in that scenario. That's a different kind of tax, and this cannot be applicable to that. So those are the couple of things I know, and that's kind of a declaration of what our intent is. But bond counsel or somebody who knows the law better would have to speak to that specific question.

I can't get the answer for that. I do not know.

And then, so from, For me, I guess I'm torn on this because, and I had a good conversation with Laura Meyer-Dick earlier this afternoon and I expressed this to her as well. So I appreciate the cost of the projects and I understand the funding stack that went into this and it has been a transparent process. This was all included in the MOU in 2024. The thing that's changed since then is the passage of the sales tax. So, this particular, what this CID creates is an 11%, I believe it's 11% tax on, anything that's sold there, which would be all of the prepared food, basically, because it must be easy selling the non-alcoholic drinks, any food that they serve. Served ice cream is not tax-exempt under the grocery tax exemptions. And then any prepared food, like from the restaurant, is also not tax-exempt. So I'm philosophically opposed to creating new tax on food because that just doesn't sit right with me. But I do understand that the intention of the state law that created the exemptions for groceries, they differentiated between prepared food and groceries intentionally. I guess buying prepared food is optional and buying groceries is not. And the other thing that I want to point out is that CIDs are an important economic development tool that any property owner, any developer may petition the city to apply for. This is in city council policy number 29. It's available on our website. So I know there's always a conversation about council picking and choosing winners and losers. But that policy clearly outlines the requirements, the application process, what the funds can be used for, and provides all of the safeguards, guardrails, if you will, to really have a robust policy that protects residents. I don't know. It's the fact that these are restaurants in there that bothers me. And then the destination-based sourcing of the sales tax, I would really like to know that. I think that would be a big burden on the people who live there. I mean, if they ever do any online shopping or having groceries delivered, et cetera. Not groceries, but grocery item type things from Walmart or whatever.

Anybody else from council? No. Okay. Looking for a motion and a second.

I'll make a motion for an ordinance authorizing creation of landmark CID, approval of development agreement, and authorize the mayor to sign.

I'll second it.

Truen?

Yes.

Garza? Yes. Goss? No. Fast?

Yes.

Item number nine, new business. Discussion of ceremonial proclamations, recognitions, and similar matters policy.

Good evening, Vice Mayor and Council. Cody Smith, Assistant City Attorney. I was asked to put together some information for the Council with respect to proclamations since this has been an item that has been on the future agenda items for a little while during that period. I've been working on putting together some information about adopting a policy for this particular issue. So, this item is intended for the council to take under advisement tonight, not asking for adoption or even a line by line discussion this evening. Purpose really is to introduce a draft proclamations policy to give you an idea of what is possible and explain the legal basis for having one and ask the council to begin considering what policy parameters the council would like in the final version. The key legal issue is that proclamations issued in the city's name should remain the city's own speech. That means the city should control whether a proclamation is issued at all, what it says, and how it is presented. The draft is designed to preserve that control, avoid turning proclamations into a platform for private advocacy, and distinguish ceremonial recognitions from formal city policy action. So between now and the next meeting, I would ask council members to consider some of the policy choices. Many of those are reflected in the example policy that was included in the packet. But choices such as how broad the list of the appropriate subjects should be, how explicit any exclusions should be, whether proclamations should be read at meetings, handled another way, or addressed on a case-by-case basis, and whether honorees should be allowed brief remarks, and if so, under what limits those remarks should look like. At the next meeting, I can return for more focused discussion on those choices and any requested revisions. After receiving that direction, I can prepare then a final version. based on that feedback and a resolution for approval at the following meeting. So for tonight, I just wanted to place the draft before the council to review before now in the next meeting, especially to give you some time to reflect on what policy choices to implement before we take it up in more detail. I know the packet was sent out Friday, so not sure how much time you've had to put into this between now and then, but at least wanted to get the ball rolling by getting something. And again, I'm not saying that the example policy that was included is what should be passed. But I try to make it pretty all encompassing to give you kind of a flavor for what all is possible and I base those off, some off of other policies throughout the state, but also just on research and based on the legal issues. The memo mentions some case law in there. We can go through that in more detail if you like, but certainly at the next meeting if we get into some of the specifics on policy. But that is what I wanted to bring forth tonight to start that process. And if you have any questions about that process, I'm happy to stand for questions.

Do you have any direction or question for Cody at this time?

I have a couple. First thing, I would like to read an email that I sent to Mayor Meggers on, it was the beginning of April. Mayor Meggers, I am writing to express my concern regarding your recent decision to discontinue the reading of proclamations at city council meetings, a tradition that has been a meaningful part of our community's civic life for many years. This decision was made unilaterally without the input of approval of your fellow council members, and that in itself is troubling. The mayor serves as leader of the council, not above it. A change to a longstanding tradition of the governing body warrants discussion, deliberation, and consensus. not a quiet executive decision made by one individual. As we saw when Mr. Fast was mayor, unilateral changes to process can have real consequences for public trust. When then-Mayor Fast decided to move public comment to the end of meetings, the community felt it as an attempt to silence their voices. I advocated for a reversal back to public comments at the beginning of the meetings and the community was grateful and this lesson there applies here as well. I also want to speak to the value of proclamations themselves. Yes, some may appear minor on the surface, but proclamations are not merely ceremonial. They are a public declaration of where this city stands. When our council reads a proclamation for Foster Care Month, Emancipation Day, Public Service Recognition Week, we are telling those families, those communities, those workers, that this city sees them. When we acknowledge national moments of historical significance, we are affirming that Hutchinson is not an island, but a part of something larger. For marginalized groups in particular, a proclamation can mean more than any budget line item. It is a signal, and sometimes the only one that they receive from their local government, that they belong here, that their experiences matter, and that this council recognizes their humanity. Sorry, my mom still doesn't have any idea that I'm on city council. I respectfully urge you to reverse this decision and restore the proclamation tradition and to do so in consultation with the full council, as is appropriate for any change to how this body conducts its public business. I would welcome a conversation about any process or efficiency concerns, but the voices of marginalized groups in our community deserve to be heard at this council, and I intend to ensure that they are. something else that resonated with me today from the I attended the women's conference and You cannot serve the people that you don't see and for the 150 three years, I believe, that the city has been in existence. I don't know how long we've been reading proclamations, but it feels like for a very long time. And that that is our attempt to see the people that we serve at their request more often than not. And so I encourage, I don't have a problem with having the proclamation policy. I question why we have a policy now when we have not had one in place in the past. The case law that is cited in the packet protects us whether or not we have a policy in place as long as we have a practice in place. However, I do believe that codifying the practice is also important. Two things that I would like to see changed on the policy that was provided to council to respond to. And thank you for your work on this. It is helpful to have something in writing that we can kind of chew up and work on versus drafting ourselves from scratch. But I'm concerned that this policy creates a multi-tiered system, which puts staff in the position of not only deciding whether to recognize a proclamation, but also assigning it a status from that tiered structure determining whether it gets read, posted, mailed, and so on. I'd like to see that portion struck from the policy. My position is that we should only be deciding whether or not to read the proclamation and assigning no further status beyond that. I would also like to strike this section, assigning proclamation vetting responsibilities to the city manager. This represents a new administrative burden and as with any new policy, the early application period can be predictably time consuming and difficult to navigate consistently. I would like to see this process moved to the human relations officer instead. While the human relations strategic plan appears to be due for an update, it is posted online and I've reviewed it. Proclamations could reasonably be incorporated into the HRO's existing engagement opportunities and success metrics. making it a natural fit within that office's scope of work or within the Human Relations Commission's scope of work. And in regards to limiting remarks, I do believe there's value in hearing from the recipients. I think there is, for efficiency's sake, a value in restricting the comments to a period of time. Five minutes was suggested. I think that is a good section to keep in the policy.

Any other thoughts? All right. Thanks, Cody. Thank you.

Item 9B, consider bid results for IRA grant tree removal project.

Good evening, Justin Combs, Director of Parks and Facilities. So this item is for bid results for the removal of 48 city right-of-way trees, so that's trees between sidewalk and the curb, and then all of these trees are in the Founders neighborhood. So on the screen is a list of trees, or a list of addresses and the trees. It's not important that you read every single one, but I do want to hit some highlights. 48 total trees, 80% of them are Siberian elms. If you know anything about trees, Siberian elms are not a desirable species a lot of times. All 48 have been identified as either dead or in poor condition. And then you see some stats there about the size. Our intent was to target large dead or dying trees. So we've got two trees that are absolutely enormous, 36 inch plus at four feet above the ground. So at this level, they're this big around, so giant trees. So you can see over half the trees on this list are a minimum of 24 inches in diameter or larger. So this is just what this looks like graphically. Same 48 trees, same address. And then obviously you'll notice this is the Founders neighborhood. So I want to back up a little bit on why we chose this area to start with. One of the simple reasons was we already had existing boundaries, so it just made it nice and clean to use existing boundaries. But going all the way back to 2019, we did an urban forestry master plan. You can see that on the left-hand side there's a list of criteria that we prioritized tree planting and tree work within the community. All of those are weighted equally in this map based on census block. Essentially, the darker the purple in this map, the more need there was for tree work. You can see I highlighted there, it's a little tough to see, but in black you can see the outline of the Founders' Neighborhood. So this targeted neighborhood fell right in line with this work we did several years ago. Another tool we used is Tree Plotter, which is our tree inventory system. So what's on the screen right now is all the trees that we have in our inventory system. A year ago, Kansas Forest Service came in and inventoried every tree in the city right away. So that's between sidewalk and the curb, in city parks, on city-owned property. So this map just shows all of those trees. The different colors just represent different species of trees. So it's been a very fantastic tool. to track what our canopy looks like. So then we zoom in a little bit on the founder's neighborhood, and I also filtered by condition of trees. So the red dots are trees that are identified as dead, and the orange are trees that were identified as in poor condition in our inventory. Same area, but this time I filtered by tree species. So all the purple dots are Siberian elms. Again, 80% of what we're removing are Siberian elms. So that brings us back. This is the same map that I showed earlier. I'm just trying to kind of paint the picture on how we chose these trees in this neighborhood. So I have some additional information. We did send letters out to the physical address and if there's a separate owner address to both addresses prior to bidding so everybody was aware of what was going on. We did offer replacement trees for anybody that wanted it. As part of this grant for every tree we cut down we have to plant two. They do not have to go back in the same location. So we'll work through those, but we are offering residents that have trees removed kind of the first shot at getting a new replacement tree at no cost. Funding for this will come through the IRA grant. That's the Inflation Reduction Act. If you remember several years ago, we were awarded $250,000 for this exact same process, same program. However, that was pulled by the federal government. And then later we got an opportunity to reapply through the Kansas Forest Service for $100,000. Our original grant was... Same program, but it was through the Arbor Day Foundation. So this one is through Kansas Forest Service for $100,000. And this will be the first of multiple bids. As you saw in the packet, the bid is quite a bit less than the $100,000 we have available. First, we wanted to kind of set the bar. We weren't sure where these tree bids would come in, so we wanted to kind of understand how far we could go with these funds. So this will be the first of probably three, if I had to guess at this point, maybe more. Over the next few years we do have two years to spend all of the funding that So bid results. So we had five bidders. Barnes' tree and stump removal from right here in Hutchinson was low bid at $19,990. You notice there is a pretty big discrepancy between his bid and some of the others. So we did reach out to Darren Barnes, just making sure he understood all the aspects, understood that it does include removal of the stumps, so we'll be grinding the stumps and then bringing in topsoil over the top, that traffic control is his responsibility, responsible for any damage, all that sort of thing, just making sure he truly understood. And after that conversation, we were confident that he understood what he bid on, and the number was a solid number. So it is our recommendation to proceed with Barns Tree Service for the removal, and I will stand for any questions.

Does that appear to have any questions? No.

I do. Yeah. Can you go back a couple of slides that showed the map with, I think it was the orange dots, that one. So the bottom, I don't know, there's a whole bunch of orange dots on the bottom of the screen.

Yeah, it's the cemetery.

Okay, that's our property, right? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Did we... Okay, so those trees are being cut down.

Those, no, only these trees, only these 48. Okay. There are trees that are listed as in poor condition that we didn't deem necessarily needed to be removed. So a tree can be in poor condition and just need trimmed.

Okay. That answers that question. The... What species of trees are being planted?

We haven't identified those yet. We'll see what's available locally and through our nurseries. And then we'll also make decisions based on, is there an overhead power line? How wide is the right-of-way? We don't want to put an oak tree on a really narrow right-of-way. So we will come up with a list of trees that are acceptable for the area and then kind of guide the homeowner that, hey, you have a A smaller right-of-way, so you need to stick with a smaller ornamental tree and come up with two or three different options.

And they'll all be planted in the right-of-way, not in the yard? Correct. Okay. And do you know, will these be, like, how old or mature will the replacement trees be?

Typically on right-of-way trees, we will do a two-and-a-half or three-inch ball and burlap tree. So the base is about two-and-a-half to three inches. So that tree is probably seven to ten years old by the time they get spoiled and burlapped. Maybe not quite that old.

Okay. And then will we provide the property owners with any educational material on how to care for the trees? Yes.

Yeah, so that's something we're working through. We'll definitely provide them with materials. Also, we'll give them a gator bag, which is one of those bags you can fill up to kind of slowly allow us the water to seep in. Historically, we've watered trees that we've planted for the first three years. This may really stretch us whether we're able to water this many trees or not. So we'll definitely evaluate that because we obviously want the trees to make it. The first three years is the most critical. And so we'll see how many residents want new trees. And then if some of these we can put in the parks as well. So we'll have to make that decision when we understand how many we'll be planting.

Okay. And then... As they grind the stumps and then put the dirt down, will they be seeding and putting straw down or anything like that? Or will the staff come behind to do that?

I don't want to misspeak on that, so I'm not sure. I can follow up and email you if there's a seeding requirement.

And then the... So the cutting down of the trees and grinding the stumps is 19. Does the packet include the cost of purchasing the trees or planting the replacement trees?

So no, the $19,000 is just for the removal of the trees. So in the grant application, we divided it approximately 70-30. So $70,000 of the $100,000 is available for tree removals and then $30,000 for the new trees. We're not stuck with that number. We're stuck with a two-to-one ratio. So if we can buy trees more affordably, then we can obviously cut more down.

And is that money used just to purchase trees and materials, or is it used to reimburse us for staffing costs, labor costs? Only materials. Only materials, okay.

Any other questions?

No.

Any questions from the audience about the tree removals?

All right, looking for a motion. I'll make a motion to accept the low bid of Barns Tree and Stump Removal LLC for the IRA grant tree removal project in the amount of $19,990 and authorize staff to issue the notice of award and authorize the mayor to sign.

Second. Truen?

Yes. Garza? Yes. Fast?

Yes. Goss? Yes. Item number 9C.

It'll be 9D. It'll be the zone change request from C2 neighborhood commercial district to permit a drive-through restaurant.

Hello, good evening again. Matt Williams, director of community development. The applicant in this case is requesting a zone change from C2 Neighborhood Commercial District to CR Commercial Residential District on property generally located southwest of 30th and Waldron at 1621 East 30th Avenue. The applicant's intent with the zone change is for the development of a drive-thru restaurant. Eating and drinking establishments are permitted in the C2 zoning district, but drive-thru restaurants are not. The CR zoning district does permit drive-through restaurants with design standards. Over the last five years, several similar zone change requests in the same general area have been approved. On May 12th, the Planning Commission reviewed the request and recommended approval six to zero. Adopting the findings of staff, there were no members of the public present in opposition of the case, and we received no comments from the public. The proposed use is in conformance with the comprehensive plan, and it is recommended that the City Council adopt the findings of the Planning Commission and approve the requested zone change.

All right. Any questions?

Does this rezone, and I apologize if this is answered in the packet. I wasn't able to read this item in particular and some of the other items. But does this, I assume this current, or this rezone matches the best use of the, what's that plan called? Sorry, I'm trying not to cough on my phone.

The comprehensive plan?

Yes, sir.

Yeah, this is in conformance with the comprehensive plan.

And so after this is, after this rezone is granted, then is everything between Waldron to Lorraine commercial or how many other properties remain residential?

I don't have that information.

Okay.

All right. Looking for a motion to approve that.

Figure out how to make this motion.

I make a motion to approve a zone change request from C2 neighborhood commercial district to CR commercial residence district to permit a drive in through restaurant generally located southwest of East 30th Avenue and North Waldron Street at 1621 East 30th Avenue. I'll second that.

Troon? Yes. Garza?

Yes.

Goss? Yes. Fast?

Yes. Next item.

Item number 9D, update on animal shelter, free range cat room addition.

Good evening, Justin Combs, Parks and Facilities Director again. I just want to give a quick update on the addition to the animal shelter. So these are slides we previously have shown. I won't go into the details of what a free-range cat room is unless you'd really like that. Again, Michaela can tell you all the details about how important it is for our shelter. But I do want to jump into the building itself a little bit. So just as a reminder, this is what a free-range cat room could look like on the interior. It's essentially a large communal space where multiple cats can kind of be at the same time. This is good for the health of the animal as well as good for adoption rates. So just a reminder of the footprint of the building. So it is on the south side of the existing parking lot. It's an addition off the Gossage Education Room. It essentially has two large rooms that will be the free-range cat rooms. And then in the middle there's a kitchen and storage area, a mechanical room, and then two patios that will be enclosed so cats on nice days can have access to the exterior. So these are some renderings that were done of what the building could look like. This one shows lap siding as opposed to the CMU block as the rest of the building. So this was something we looked at as a potential cost savings to change the building material. So going back to August of 25, we did reach out to the Gossage Trust, which was the intent to pay for this addition. And we had some existing funds, and we used those for the design services. And then they were approval, had approval of the idea of doing the addition. And then just last week we sat down with them and looked at the finances of the building, the potential costs and where the trust was sitting today. And they were comfortable bonding up to $360,000 for the addition. So as we were designing this building, we were not working under a specific budget target number. We wanted to build an addition that was right for the shelter, that was the right long-term solution for the shelter. And so going through the process, we knew that it was going to be a relatively expensive addition, but that's why we have these donation accounts available. Going through the design process, we're at 90% drawings. WDM is estimating construction cost at $560,000. We did some value engineering to reduce it by $64,000, bringing the total estimate to $495,000. And so as far as funding this, then so the intent is to use $360,000 from the Gossage Trust. So these would be city sold bonds that the Gossage Trust would reimburse the city for all the payments, including any interest. And then we have an existing donation account with over $250,000 in it. that we intend then to use the balance. So in this scenario, it would be $135,000 of donation funds to pay for the total project. So again, no tax dollars into this. Never been intent to spend any tax dollars. It's to use these funds that were given to the shelter specifically for improvements, capital improvements, operations, those sorts of things. So questions?

Anybody have any comments? And I do appreciate you pulling that off the consent because I think people need to know when they see that, they're going to question what we're doing.

Yeah, I think that the – I don't want to say creative financing, I guess, of all of this – I appreciate it. It helps you accomplish one of your strategic items without tapping into the budget and then allowing that funding to be used elsewhere or for other initiatives. The Joseph Shepard donation account, can you talk about how that account receives funds? Is that made through regular small donations?

I don't know the full history, but it was a single one-time donation. Oh, okay. We've used it historically for other improvements. We had to replace an air conditioning unit several years ago. We used it for that. We added some shade structures. Am I missing anything?

Yeah, our dog play yard shade structures. I don't know the history of it either other than it already existed before I started six years ago, and it had a history of... being used for capital improvements and daily operations specifically to our shelter.

And this project, the $250,000 that will be taken out, that depletes the account? Entirely?

Not entirely. There's $250,000 available, so we would use the difference between the $360,000 and the Gossage Trust. Oh, okay. Because we do want to leave a balance in the Joseph Shepard donation for if we have another unforeseen repair that we have to make. So we definitely want to be careful with that. But our intent would be to use a full $360,000 from the Gossage Trust, and then the balance would come from the Joseph Shepard.

No formal action needs to be taken, but are there any other comments about this? Thank you, guys. Thank you.

Thanks.

Mary, next item.

Item number 10, reported city officials, council.

Stacy?

I don't have anything. Oh, no, I do. I will be holding a... Each summer, I've held a community event, and I'm setting a date for that, but it'll be in the month of July. Just trying to finalize the plans. So that will be coming up, and I'll make that announcement at the next meeting, probably.

Good. Maybe instead of donuts, you can have hot dogs. Gardner?

Yes. About two Saturdays ago, I had my talk to the citizens. It went really well. I appreciate it. I think about 10 to 15 people were there. It went really well, and we'll try to get back on track and do that again. Other than that, that's all I have. All right.

I don't have anything.

I have one thing. We have a Southwest Bricktown Fiesta planning meeting on Monday at 5.30 at Hutch Rec. There's a very small group of people that work on this, probably more than we see at these meetings. Well, for sure more than we see. But if you want to get involved and help in a really good community project, Monday, 5.30 p.m. at Hutch Rec over across from the Fox Theater. That's all I have. I would say I really appreciate Don bringing the report about those good things from the city, and that's ‑‑ I believe that's all I have. Enrico? I don't have anything. All right. How long do we need for the executive session? An hour.

What's number 11 here future future agenda items Anybody have anything pressing they want to put on the future agenda items I have sent a whole list to merrimakers one thing that I had talked about in a previous meeting was the changes to the transient gas tax and I think there's an argument to be made to change our transient guest tax so that we can align it to capitalize not only off of the golf tournaments that are coming into town, but also as we anticipate a construction boom from the groundbreaking of the Evergy plant. Next year? Maybe next year?

The groundbreaking should be later this year.

Later this year. Okay. So I would assume that there's going to be a flood of workers staying in town, at least for short periods of time. Maybe they do Airbnbs and verbos and whatnot. Maybe they rent houses. I don't know. But something that I would hate just to miss out on.

Well, I believe the transient guest tax is maxed out right now.

It is by ordinance, but we can change it.

Good to know. All right. The executive session, how long do we need? An hour.

We can always extend it.

Do you want to take a five-minute break first? Yeah, I was going to ask for that.

I'll take a five-minute break, but let's motion to recess into executive session pursuant to KSA 7543.19 for consultation with the city attorney, which would be deemed privileged in the attorney-client relationship to discuss legal issues related to purported complaints concerning actions and conduct by a council member affecting city staff employment conditions and workplace operations. The open meeting will resume at 7.55. Second?

Anybody? I'll second that.

Truen? Yes. Garza? Yes. Goss? Yes. Fast?

Yes.

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I'll second.

And on the same previous grounds?

Yes.

Truen. Yes. Garza. Yes. Goss. Yes. Fast. Yes.

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I'll give you the motion and then you'll also have to give us the time, but you need to just say so moved and have a second. We're going to resume the meeting at eight 30. You ready? You're good. Uh, the motion would be, I moved the city council recess into executive session pursuant to the non-elected personnel matters, exception KSA 75 43 19 B one in order to discuss a performance matter involving a city employee, the city manager. the open meeting to resume in the city council chamber at?

Nine o'clock.

Is there a motion?

So moved. All second.

Druin? Yes. Garza? Yes. Goss? Yes. Fast.

Thank you. Thank you.

I will make a motion that we adjourn.

Second.

Druin? Yes. Garza? Yes. Goss? Yes. Fast. Yes. Thank you for coming.

Thank you for watching. Bye.