City Council - Regular Meeting

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We have Pastor Charles Crumble to come offer the prayer tonight from New Resurrection Baptist Church. Thank you.

Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we lift up the leaders of Hutchinson to you today. Grant them the wisdom, peace, and clarity as they guide this community that we so dearly love. Strengthen our mayor, our city council, our city staff, and every public servant who works each day to keep Hutchinson safe, thriving, and hopeful. Let their decisions be rooted in justice, compassion, and integrity. Lord, you see the weight that they carry, the quiet burdens behind a long day, difficult choices that affect families all across Hutchinson, and moments when they feel stretched, thin, or unseen. Meet them in those moments. Remind them that you walk beside them each and every day. Give them the courage when they're feeling weary, hopeless, And Lord, give them the courage to keep fighting. Lord, bless the families of this community with protection and rest. Let their homes be a place of laughter, renewal, and comfort. Guard their minds from frustration and their spirits from burnout. Fill the staff of Hutchinson with a sense of purpose that goes deeper than policies or meetings could ever go. Let compassion guide their steps and empathy shape their leadership. And Lord, help us as citizens of Hutchinson be patient, gracious, and supportive. Teach us to speak with kindness, to listen with humility, and to work together for the good of our city. Make Hutchinson a place where unity is stronger than division, where hope rises above fear, and where neighbors truly care for one another. Bless our city, Father. Let it be a place where people feel safe, valued, and connected. A place where neighbors become friends, and where every person knows they matter. Let this city be a place where no one feels forgotten, where every voice has a worth. where love overcomes division. Help us build a community with grace that is so freely given. Help us to understand and replace judgment where there is peace that settles our every home. Strengthen our leaders and bless our people and guide Hutchison into a future filled with hope, unity, and purpose. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen.

Thank you. Next item is the approval of the proposed agenda. Anyone on council need to change, modify additions to the agenda?

I would like to add an executive session with the same language as we used at the last meeting. I can pull that up if you need me to.

Yeah, I probably do. I don't have it.

It would be to recess into executive session pursuant to personal matters of non-elected personnel exemption in order to discuss city manager matters.

Okay. If you guys want that, I just need a second. Okay. I don't have a second for that. So any other items? Okay. If there's no other items, I'd be looking for a motion.

I move to approve the proposed agenda as presented.

I'll second it.

Truin? Yes. Garza? Yes. Goss? No. Fast? Yes. Nagers?

Yes. Next item.

Item number five, petitions, remonstrances, and oral communications from the audience.

This is the part of the... The agenda, where anybody wants to come address the City Council, come to the microphone, state your name, address the subject to be discussed. There's multiple people wanting to discuss the same item. If you could have one person come to represent that. Remarks shall be limited to five minutes, and comments during this portion of the meeting shall relate to matters not on the agenda and within the business and jurisdiction of the City Council. This portion of the meeting is for the city council to receive public comment. The council will generally not engage in discussion or debate with speakers. At this time, if anybody would like to come forward, please come to the microphone.

Charles Johnston, I live at 1022 East Sherman here in Hutchinson. I come before the council today to talk about something really happy. It's summer and one of my favorite things about summer is the Hutchinson Municipal Band and specifically the recognition of Memorial Day which kicks off the Hutchinson Municipal Band's 151st season. So it's a pleasure to be able to offer to the Hutchinson community every summer free concerts. We never charge for any concert wherever we play, including a very special 250th celebration of the anniversary of our country at the Fox Theater with the Reno Choral Society this year. Every Tuesday in June and the first Tuesday in July, we have free concerts that anyone from the public is welcome to attend. Mostly the band is made up of Hutchinson community members, students, people from all portions of town, from all the schools that touch the city here. It's a big effort that's supported by a lot of players, from you all with your cultural activities funding, to the Hutch Rec, to HCC, to the Hutchinson High School for using equipment. It's a heavy lift every year, primarily made up of volunteers that get paid just a little something for performing. And so I want to invite all of you on the council to come to our concerts this year. I don't know if the VFW is here tonight or not, but I would also say that the first opportunity to hear the band is during the Memorial Day ceremonies, which happen on Monday, 9 a.m. out at the Reno County Veterans Memorial and then 11 o'clock at Fairlawn Cemetery. I think we can all agree that those are really worthwhile events to attend. And it's my pleasure to be able to invite the community to come to concerts for free. So if you have any questions about the band, I'd love to answer them. I'm really passionate about it. And it's something fun that I get to do. I think that's it. Okay.

Thank you, Charles.

Good evening, Council. Nicole Mance, Zoo Director, and I have Adam Lance with me tonight, who's one of our board members. And we just want to invite everybody out to our 40th anniversary celebration that's this Saturday at the zoo. So... We are celebrating 23 years, or sorry, May 23rd, 1986. We opened on our site in Cary Park. And so we are really excited to have this event. And it will include animal encounters from all of our staff. The mini farm will be open. We're doing throwback pricing on train rides. So a dollar a ticket. And we are doing walkthrough history panels and a scavenger hunt. So come check out the way the zoo used to be 40 years ago, plus some information about the zoo and Cary Park prior to that. And Adam has some treats for you guys. Any questions?

Thank you.

Okay, there's also, we will have birthday cake, because what's a birthday party without birthday cake? So one o'clock.

What time is that?

A birthday cake is at 1 p.m. No.

That's all I needed to know.

Just so you know. The event is from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. So we'll be out with all of the panels in the scavenger hunt at that time.

I'll get you.

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening, Council. My name is Esmeralda Tovar Mora on behalf of Hutchins Harmony 11E Sherman. I want to speak tonight about proclamations and what they represent to the people of Hutchinson. Over the years, proclamations have become a longstanding tradition in cities across Kansas and here in Hutchinson. They are moments of recognition more than ceremonial pieces of paper. They are acknowledgments by local government that the people, cultures, organizations, histories, and experiences within a community matter. For many residents, especially those who have historically not always felt reflected in civic spaces, hearing a proclamation read aloud during an official city council meeting by the mayor carries weight. It signals belonging and connection. Hutchin Harmony has helped draft countless local and state proclamations over the years. We understand the process, deadlines, and the structure involved. We have also encouraged youth groups, non-profits, schools, and community members to participate because proclamations are one of the most accessible forms of civic engagement available to everyday people. That accessibility matters. Many members of the community did not know the process for proclamation readings had changed until this month's NAACP meeting. There was no public explanation, no press release or community note clarifying what had occurred or how the process would now work moving forward. As it currently stands, there is no public guidance regarding how proclamations will be acknowledged, other than those of us who know they have been moved to public comment, whether they will still be read by the mayor or how community groups should navigate this transition. Timing matters here because June is approaching. With June comes a number of proclamations that our community holds very dear. Juneteenth, Immigrant Heritage Month, Pride Month, Smallville celebrations. Cultural and historical recognitions that many people in this room have personally supported in years prior. The Hutchinson NAACP youth are currently preparing for their seventh annual Juneteenth celebration. They submitted their 2026 proclamation request one year ago and have not heard back on whether that is still happening. We hope that their proclamation request is supported as it has been for years. Traditionally, the mayor has read the proclamation publicly at the Juneteenth event itself for the last six years. That tradition has mattered to youth, families, elders, and organizers who have worked very hard to preserve and celebrate black history and culture in our city. I want to emphasize that these observances do not exist separately from one another. A person can be black and an immigrant, queer and Latino, a Smallville volunteer and someone who celebrates Juneteenth. These recognitions are intersectional because our community is intersectional. When proclamations are acknowledged publicly, they remind people that they belong here fully, not partially, conditionally, or quietly to the side. Several of you seated here tonight have personally participated in proclamation readings as council members and as mayor. You know the role that they have played in building community goodwill and connection. Proclamation readings do not require personal agreement with every observance or organization. Public office often requires one to serve and acknowledge communities beyond personal beliefs. The role of local government is not to decide which residents are worthy of visibility, rather to ensure that all residents have pathways to feel seen and included in civic life. Respectfully, proclamations have been one of those pathways. We also want to keep perspective that according to our records in public meetings, there were 29 proclamations read during council meetings in 2025. In meetings that have recently lasted several hours, the time commitment for proclamation readings has remained relatively minimal, while the community impact has remained significant. I want to acknowledge that many people in our community have appreciated the increased civic momentum happening within the city recently. We recognize that and see positive movement happening. But my final question tonight is this. What do we do about the next 30 proclamations already being prepared for the remainder of this year by organizations, youth groups, educators, nonprofits, and residents who simply want to acknowledge and support the people who make Hutchinson what it is? We hope this council will consider supporting the continuation of proclamation readings as part of the official agenda process and continue a tradition that has helped many members of this community feel recognized, welcomed, and connected to their local government. I want to recognize that. I won't list all of them because my time is up, but I can provide that for you. Thank you so much for your time.

Thank you, Esmeralda.

Good evening, Council. My name's Christopher Weitrich, 33 Halsey Drive, Hutchinson. I feel like that's a perfect one for me to follow up on. I am the founder and the owner of the Smallville Festival. I hope you've all had a chance to read the emails that I sent out to you all a few weeks ago. I'm not gonna address what was in those emails, but I do believe it's important for me to speak publicly on why the Smallville Festival has switched roles and is now back under my control. After we had some successful years of the event running under Hutch Rec, followed by the last couple years, which involved some rather disparaging comments to certain groups in an event that appeared to be getting smaller, it was evident to me that the festival needed to return to where it began. Something that I found both humorous and sad through this whole process when I went to ask for the control back was that I was told that they needed someone like me to help run it. And I'd been running it since 2014. And I wasn't asked to run it for two years. I went and prepared for a conversation like that and had filed a trademark through the state of Kansas. for Smallville Festival. When I presented that trademark, I was told, quote, we could take you to court and we would win. And that piece of paper would have never been played if they would have just handed control back to me and to my vision. Instead of relinquishing power, I was asked to step back in or face a legal battle. I pushed back on that noting that the festival was created by me and that there was no contract originally involved. And not much later, I was told that, quote, it's probably for the best the community doesn't care about it. And I'm here to tell you that the community absolutely cares about it. We just heard a speaker mention it. It was kind of a tossed out line by someone who had lost a battle. And it's also a terrible thing to say when your organization claims to be about community spirit, that the festival itself doesn't matter. So in the spirit of our community, Smallville Festival is now a 501c3 nonprofit organization, and our mission statement reads as follows. The Smallville Festival's mission is to bring people together through the celebration of culture, community creativity, and shared experiences. Each year our annual festival will foster connection, amplify local talent, and provide a platform for artistic expression, all while promoting inclusivity, sustainability, and the importance of community engagement. Through this event we aim to inspire joy, spark collaboration, and create lasting memories that uplift and unite people of all backgrounds. Based on the treatment that some groups received during last year's festival, it is now back in the hands of an organization that will not disparage those individuals. We will not cancel events because they aren't going to make a profit. We will not be running this festival like it is a business. We will be giving back to the community. And this year, I'm excited to say that the enthusiasm that we've got has secured us more than 20 local sponsors. Our vendors are paying minimal fees. to set up during the festival and 60% of those fees are going to go straight back into the community. We are doing a multi-day food drive fundraiser for the Rio County Food Bank. A lot of people seem to forget that in the summer kids need food as much as they do in the winter time. I openly invite first responders, police department, fire department, EMS to come out and enjoy a free breakfast. during our event, which is being sponsored by Tropical Smoothie Cafe, another great collaboration that we've got this year. They're going to be serving pre-wraps and smoothies to our first responders. And we have created three days of events that are free or minimal cost to the public and caters to everyone in the community. And at the end of our celebration, the majority of our profits will be split between Disability Supports, New Beginnings, and the Reno County Toy Run. We want to represent the responsibilities that come with being a superhero, and that is giving back to those who need it most. I welcome everyone to go to smallvillefestival.com, see our full schedule. And following our last speaker, I would like to say that I will be submitting a proclamation for review for the next city council. I don't know the true reasoning behind why they have not been read, but I can tell you that they are important. We have been proclaimed the home of Clark Kent for 13 straight years. Some have received them for longer, others have only received one or two. But I do urge you to listen to voices in the community, including our youth city council, about the importance of these proclamations. If leaders acknowledge an event or a cause, it shows that those areas of the community are important. I encourage anyone to continue to submit those proclamations for the council and help shed light on topics. And real quickly, I just want to say May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and this is a proclamation that was very important to me and has been for a long time. I've battled that issue for nearly 25 years. And from me to anyone that hears this, you do matter. People are here for you. And if anyone is in crisis, you can always call or text 988 for immediate and confidential assistance. Thank you.

Thank you, Christopher. Anyone else?

My name's Napoleon Irving. I reside at 2 Woodson Plaza in Hutchinson. And I have some questions to ask the city council, one being the empowerment lot at E and Monroe. There's more... trees than there are cars in the lot, and it's a breeding ground for wildlife. Also, I'd like to address the Woody Seed Freeway. It needs mowing. Trees are growing in the side of the hill, of the structure of the freeway. It needs mowing, and also, between F and C streets, trees are actively growing. And also because of the trees and weeds, in the wintertime people usually slide down the hill. They can't do that now because of the trees and the overgrowth. Then, also, number three, heavy trucks on East Street on the 400 block, right off Monroe and in between Madison. It has recycled asphalt and heavy trucks break it down. Madison Street, from F to B, potholes galore. Since the... We're working on the Woody Seed Freeway. A lot of traffic has gone that way. Adams, Monroe, Madison, and other streets, Maple, all those streets are affected by the heavy traffic. And like I say, E Street recycled asphalt doesn't hold up very long with a heavy, and also Madison too. Very, very, lots of potholes. And then there's code violations. I addressed the code department about them. And they said they were going to check into it. They did. I see them come out. They took pictures of the stuff. And then three weeks later, I go back. They said there's 10 days. And the person's asked for an extension. And he's done this for years. I've been in that address for a period of time. And since he's been there, just trash, trash, trash. There used to be a... I guess, an easement in between my house and their house on Madison Street. But the easement, which trucks used to go through, city trucks through that alley, is blocked. I can't even go back there to cut behind my fence. They said they were going to do something about it. A congressman, he's deceased now, said, if you see something, say something. And if you know something, do something. The city has known about this. This guy has played the city and still playing them, getting extension, extension, and more trash and more trash. This time he's pushed it a little bit further past my property line. But it's still there. It's still there. And it's been this way for years. It's just getting worse. He piles it up. They say, oh, can they come take pictures? Then they forget about it. And this goes on. And that's basically what I have to say. I thank you.

Thank you, Napoleon.

Chris Link, 3506 North Lorain. Good evening. Thank you again, council members, for having this time open to public comment and for serving our community. We have seen the difficulty of leading, and I am thankful for your guys' service. I would like to speak about the lie of the concept of the separation of church and state. It has been said here before explicitly and implicitly. This is not what our founders had in mind when they declared independence and created this nation. We are celebrating this nation's 250th anniversary, and I think it appropriate to remember and thank God for our existence and our greatness. The Bible says, blessed is the nation whose God is Yahweh. This nation was founded as a Christian nation, and that is the reason we have prospered these last 250 years. It is because of the triune God and our faith in him that we have grown to be the leading nation in the world. Some trust in chariots and some trust in horses, but we trust in the name of Yahweh our God. Psalm 27. But we are coming apart because we have forgotten Yahweh and our heritage and the principles that this nation was founded upon. Nine of the 13 original colonies had established Christian churches, and the other four were Christian in their morals and laws. Prayer and fasting were regularly called by presidents throughout our history. Our Constitution recognizes the Christian Sabbath. In 1892, the US Supreme Court in Church of the Holy Trinity versus United States studied Christianity and the US civil government. Their conclusion was, this is a Christian nation. The lie of separation of church and state has been perpetuated by our wicked and destitute governmental school system for over a century. This lie came from the father of lies, the devil. Just like in the Garden of Eden, where he told Eve she could be like God, he has spoke the same lie that the state could be like God. This phrase comes from Thomas Jefferson, who was addressing a Baptist congregation in Connecticut, explaining to them that the state would not endorse any particular Christian denomination. He was making clear that the government would not interfere in matters of church sovereignty. He was in no way arguing to eliminate the triune God from public life. Like the church and individuals, all entities belong to Christ. Matthew 28, 17 says, And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. All things are under Jesus' authority. Everyone is responsible before God, all people and all nations. There is no neutrality anywhere in creation. Jesus says in Matthew 12, 30, whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. Also in John 14, Jesus says that he is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through him. All will stand before the judgment seat, justified in the risen Christ or condemned of the rebellion against their creator. There is no square inch that Jesus does not own. This includes the family, the church, the state, the public square, education, and this city. It is either Christ or chaos. Choose this day whom you will serve. Thank you and God bless.

Thank you, Chris. Anyone else?

Hi, I'm Melinda Jarrett, 402 East 18th. Since the last meeting, I've become involved in conversations and requested information that's available to all citizens through the Kansas Open Records Act. In the closing remarks two weeks ago, Mrs. Goss looked across the room and said, is this where you were trying to go? Actually, if you would have allowed me to reread what I said one more time, it was clear where I was wanting to go. I had stated it is wild to me in the last meeting when Mr. Garza wanted to bring up negative business practices by Hutch Rec and Ms. Goss wanted to shut down the conversations that I could understand her passion since her husband serves on the advisory board of directors. Having a different last name, most citizens wouldn't have known that connection. Well, if you go back to the last meeting, Mrs. Goss asked for a five-minute break. She is then seen getting items from her purse, passed her in the bathroom. She didn't say a single word to me, but she waited outside the door to approach me with her driver's license and her passport in hand. She wanted to show me that... That is the only name she ever used. I told her I didn't need clarification, and I said that it was apparent that I ruffled her feathers. I'm hearing impaired, so whatever she was saying as she followed me back into the room really did fall on deaf ears. I went back and watched the previous four city council meetings. It's very clear that she does not want to engage in any of the necessary conversations about HETCH REC, the possibility of a study that was proposed by a citizen after conducting his own research into the areas that could save a lot of money, not just a little money. I became involved when a friend that works at the library stopped to see me and said I should go watch the recorded meetings, knowing that I've had negative business dealings with Hatch Rec, especially my last issue. I hope that you can all rest with your speculations that I too was planted or asked to speak out. I'm actually a little offended that I would, or that anybody would be accused of that, because I am here on my own accord. Due to the theatrical way that Stacy left the meeting over everything that is public records, I'm now having to spend the time taking away from the very core reason why I'm here, which adds to the narrative to deflect. By the way, the copy of the substantial interest that any citizen can request a copy of has your name, your spouse's name, your address, your employers listed. Even it has more information. My only apology for last week was making a Facebook post when I was emotionally charged. I was appalled to be approached in the manner of making a simple statement that I understood where her passions would lie because of those connections. I did mistakenly state her husband served on an advisory board, so I do need to clarify it's the Hutchinson Foundation Board of Directors. You can say this is really no big deal, as many serve on other boards, and many of you have memberships to other organizations, but it's really ironic that the article that was written over the same principle was in the Wichita Eagle this past week. On May the 7th, Wichita City's Attorney Department issued a statement to the mayor of Wichita. It cautioned council members to consider the public perception when actions are advocacy for certain entities, individuals, and interests. It said, many of you serve on boards or nonprofits. The legal memo continued. It said, simply serving as a board member of a nonprofit is not a conflict. However, council members should be aware of public perception of how you advocate for the entities that you serve and how you disclose your affiliation to such nonprofits. A separate state law requires office holders to disclose all board memberships on the statement of a substantial interest for your local officers, including unpaid volunteer positions. But the state rarely enforces it, which I find interesting. And the typical punishment is just to have the file updated on your forms. So, which I'll state, after getting that form this past week, that the form does need to be updated by Mrs. Goss. And so, now that my time's almost over, I will have to come back next week with the reason, or next week, the next meeting with the core reasons of why I'm speaking out to you without playing the games of all the deflection. Thank you for your time tonight.

Thank you. Anyone else want to come speak in public comment?

Hi, council. My name is Ruby Tovar-Contreras, 706 East Avenue A. I just wanted to ask about the policy about using public comments to directly address specific members of the council. It's supposed to be the whole council, correct?

Yes. Paul, do you want to give clarification on that or no?

It's First Amendment protected and folks can address.

All right, perfect. Thank you so much.

Anyone else? If not, Mary, next item.

Item number six, consent agenda.

All right, Council, have you had time to look through the consent agenda? Do you have any questions about this or comments?

I have a question about the appropriations, and I believe I know the answer. I just wanted to clarify that this one does not have any council travel in the appropriations. Is that correct?

On which item? C?

No. Appropriations. We're on the consent agenda, correct? Yeah, I know. Yeah.

It's B. I don't know the answer to that question. Who would know the answer to that question? Angela?

Without going through all of it, I can't be 100% sure, but I don't remember any being on there. Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Angela. Any other questions? If not, then I'm looking for a motion.

I'll make a motion to approve the

Second.

Truen? Yes. Garza? Yes. Goss? No. Bass? Yes. Nagers?

Yes.

Item number seven, public hearing. Continuation of public hearing to consider a resolution declaring an unsafe and dangerous structure at 2100 North Jackson Street.

I need someone to open the public hearing.

So moved. Second. Truen? Yes. Garza? Yes. Goss? Yes. Fast? Yes. Makers?

Yes.

Good evening. Tonight, council, Jason Lady, building official. So tonight, this is a continuation of a hearing from August 5th, 2025 and October 7th of 2025. So this is to consider a resolution to repair. or demolish an unsafe structure at 2100 North Jackson Street. So the purpose of the hearing tonight, like I said, is a continuation. It's the resolution for repair or demolition of the property there. So often we bring these and I just want to address a misconception that's kind of out there that when we bring these it's to demolish the structure and that's why I want to completely address this as repair or demolition. So the order would be to repair for the owner to repair or demolish. So this is a continuation of a hearing as originally presented on August 5th, 2025, and this hearing provides the formal due process to the property owner. We did try to contact the property owner in the last week, and one of my co-compliance officers did get a hold of the individual's voicemail today, but we haven't had any return phone calls. The voicemail was previously... full when we try to make that contact. So we've had no contact with the property owner at this time.

Can I ask a question, Mr. Lady? Yes. Were there any other attempts like emails or certified letters or going to his place of business?

Not certified letters for this meeting, no. Okay. Because it's only a continuation of the hearing.

Okay, thank you.

So the status of the property, the structure was declared unsafe in April 2025. It meets the definition of a substandard building as defined by city code, and it also meets the definition of a blighting influence as defined by the Kansas State statutes. This is required repairs to the life safety systems and to the building overall, and none of that's been completed to date. The core issues here is that this has been a long-standing compliance issue. This is stated back to 2019 on this building. Deadlines have been established and remain unmet that we established last year. Those deadlines do not go back to last year. We'll talk about the timeline here in a few minutes. But permits were issued. They were not paid for. They were not completed, and nor did we have any inspections. And so we've had some regression in this process of where the owner said they were going to get to by this point. So we have seven years of unresolved noncompliance on this building. 2019 property blight nuisance violations date back to 2019 where we have 10 cases with 19 inspections over those seven years. In 2021, CRC Constructors, Inc. purchased the property. uh 2025 staff brought this to city council that was on august 5th was the original date 2025 we also issued a permit for the remodel really what it was for was the initial permit was really for some internal demolition with the clarification that they were going to update the valuation and update plans for the rest of the remodel and that has never happened. So in 2025-2026 the permit was issued. Again, it was never paid for and the permit expired. And then the property remains a blighting influence on the surrounding community as it stands today. We've had repeated opportunities for compliance with this property. What the city's done to support the compliance is we've had meetings with the property owner. These were on-site meetings prior to the August 5th, 2025 meeting. We met on-site with the property owner on July 15th, 2025 to discuss the property's potential use as well as any code requirements that would go along with the property with the use that the owner wanted to turn the property into. On July 22nd, the owner did come in and met with planning to discuss site plan requirements. I believe there was a survey that the owner did on the property, but I have not established whether that was completed or not. That's some older information, and I don't know whether it was actually done or not because I don't have any record of it. A permit was issued for selective demolition, and like I said, with the intentions of submitting future plans and updating the valuation in the future. The permit specifically said interior remodel standing. Starting with interior demo, working on interior plan site. Once these are received, we'll add to the updated project valuation. MEPs will get their own permits and provide plans. That was submitted on 10-27-2025 and expired on 4-30-2026. So the outcome of these efforts. The results have been limited and incomplete. The permits expire without completion or inspection. Required repairs were not completed. The structure remains unsafe and dangerous and a blighting influence on the neighboring properties. And a full set of plans resolving the issues have not been provided to date. The good faith by the city that we've done to work with the property owner, efforts to work towards resolution. We've allowed the selective demolition to go on inside the building, which we ended up having to also write a new notice of violation for because they were just dumped on the outside and we had to have the property owner clean them up. He did clean them up voluntarily. But while we were still waiting on those future plans, we allowed the selective demolition to continue. And then we allowed the permit to expire before we returned this back to council. So it allowed that time. So any time up to that April 30th, 2026 time, the owner had the opportunity to continue on with the project, which did not happen. So this is what it looked like in August of 2025 and this is where we sit today, May 2026. You can see that there's further windows that have been damaged or broken out and now boarded up. It's kind of hard to see in this photo here with the way the sun was that day, but some of these windows up here were undamaged at the time. We've also had some damage on the side of the property, which we'll get to here in a second. So you can see a little bit of a difference between the August 2025 and where we sit today in May of 2026. So again in August 2025, We had an unsafe and dangerous structure or substandard building in accordance with the code. The building was boarded up. Plans were required to remodel and occupy. We had multiple property maintenance violations. Again, where we are at in 2026, still in the same place with the exception that we had a permit to remodel to perform some minor interior demolition. Other than that, no work has been accomplished to date and the property continues to deteriorate. Here's a couple photos of the conditions as of May, 2026, which should be all in your packet. You can see some damage that's done up here to some of these windows. Again, some of these windows that were not boarded up in August of 2025, now boarded up here in 2026. So there's been some further damage out there at the property. Some key takeaways on this. There's been no visible progress on the property for the repair of the structure and we still have outstanding co-compliance issues and or property maintenance issues on the property. Why action is needed? Public safety and compliance. We have an unsafe and dangerous structure or a substandard structure that creates a habitat for homelessness, drugs, crime, et cetera, within the community. Continued deterioration of the building continues. Prior permits and discussions have not resulted in compliance to date. That is not supposed to be setting a public hearing. My apologies on that. But this is the public hearing or the continuation of the public hearing. But it sets a deadline for the compliance. So what the resolution calls for is 60 days for the owner to provide further documentation to bring the building into compliance or to demolish. This provides the owner the opportunity to present further information to staff Demonstrate compliance plans or to demolish or to sell the building outright So staffs recommendation tonight is that we recommend that the City Council accept and approve the resolution ordering the repair or demolition of an unsafe structure at 2100 North Jackson Street based on the extended timeline and non-compliance lack of sustained progress and ongoing safety concerns We have not, as a staff, we have not changed our recommendation on this because the unsafe and dangerous conditions conditions remain on the property. There's been no substantial progress. Like I said, this is still a continued public nuisance which attracts crime, homelessness, visual blight, and then also has reinvestment effects of reinvestment on the goals in the local community. As a department and as a council, we also have to have consistency and fairness with prior enforcement cases. I would like to say a couple things that are not in my slide presentation tonight regarding the August 5th, 2025 meeting. At that August 5th, 2025 meeting, Russ Roberts from CRC Constructors addressed the City Council regarding the property at 2100 North Jackson Street during the meeting. His key points included the building condition and security. He explained that the building has not been habitable for some time and acknowledged that it has become a target of vandals and vagrants. He stated that his team makes continuous efforts to board it up and keep it secure. It was acknowledged that it was not attractive and that they would try to do something quickly about this. In that August 5th, 2025 meeting, he also spoke about project delays. He contributed the slow progress on the property to their attempts to coordinate with Interfaith Housing, which is a neighboring property to the south, aiming to create a project with seamless design. Interfaith has submitted preliminary plans and drawings and has had discussion with staff on their potential use of the property to the south where talks of the property to the north have stalled. There's still concerns and violations. He expressed frustration with the city list of codes and violations describing them as ambiguous in the 2025 meeting. He noted that it was difficult for them to know exactly what specific repairs were made when the cited code sections are not clear. That's why we had the meetings out there on site in July of 2025 where we made a clear presentation of what was going to be required to bring the property into compliance along with the fact that what he wanted to do with the property would require sprinkling of the property. Mr. Roberts also discussed the desire for communication. He requested better communication with the city to find a path forward to repairing the property rather than to have it torn down. Mr. Roberts stated that he's not sure of a solid commitment. His desire to move forward with selective demolition. He asked a question on what is immediate and said probably not tomorrow but maybe in two weeks. He acknowledged if repair could not be completed then we would have to go back to a hearing to have it demolished and he would be okay with that. It was also addressed moving forward when a council member asked a question regarding moving forward and the commitment to rehabbing the facility and the timeline. A council member asked about six months was sufficient, was a year sufficient, and Mr. Roberts responded by saying, I think less than that, yes. And I'll stand for any questions that you may have on this property.

Maybe that was in your presentation. Are the taxes current on it? Taxes are current. Taxes are current. Yes. So the last communication basically was August 5th of 25. Would that have been the last communication?

The last communication was probably the October 27th when he submitted the building permit. Okay.

So what happened between 21 and 25 when they owned it at that point? There was nothing done. It was sitting there vacant for... What, three years?

That's where the primary is sitting vacant for those three years. Okay. And that's where the majority of those property maintenance violations, nuisances, et cetera, extend from. Most of them were done during that time frame.

As was St. Elizabeth's Hospital. It was also still there, and it was sitting vacant that entire time as well and longer. I think they've both been vacant for longer than that. I have a couple of questions. So... I understand that the permit fees and the packet says that permit fees in the amount of $1,643.80 were never paid and just expired in late April. And I understand that the permit fees are intended to reflect the actual cost of the staff's work to process and evaluate those. why are we issuing permits if the fees were never paid?

That's the way it was set up in the old system, and we've changed that with the new GovWell system. The permit fees have to be paid prior to the permit being issued. However, under the old system, there was a lot of billing going on. We no longer do that billing anymore.

So now, if we were in a different time, which obviously we aren't, but anybody would have had to pay the day that they applied for the permit, or else it would not have been issued. Okay.

Before it can be issued. They would have to pay for it.

Yeah. So that $1,643 roughly, is that something that will be billed to him because we've already, it's a sunk cost for us. We've already, our staff's already processed those permits.

No, most likely we will not.

Okay. And it's hard to tell in the pictures, even though they are color pictures, they're taken from quite a distance away. You say that these windows are broken, but that's impossible for us to tell from the pictures. Sure. And I'm not saying that they're not broken, but we've also been advised not to drive by these properties and not to check on them ourselves, et cetera. So just for the future, is it possible for you to get closer to the property to Do you have permission to go on the property and take the pictures? Can you use a better camera or something that would show in more detail the actual damage?

Yeah, and that was the only reason I used that picture specifically was because it was the picture that we had from the August 2025. Okay. So that was just an older picture, and it didn't have anything other to draw back to that time frame. That's why. But we will. We'll make sure that's done.

Are you aware of any PD call-outs over the last six months?

Over the last six months, no, I am not.

And then were these windows boarded up by us or by the property owner?

I believe they were all boarded up by the property owner.

Okay, after the August hearing.

Yes, after the August hearing.

Okay, because I remember that was one of the things that we talked about was securing the property first, and he believed that that was a priority. So... Boarded windows in and of themselves are compliant right because they I Mean they're all over the place and yes, okay, but the broken windows are not complaint the broken windows are not compliant So if this property owner boarded up, so I guess my question is is For him to make progress in the hearing, obviously he's not here to speak tonight, what would progress look like to you guys in order to continue to work with him?

And I know it's been six months and no contact, but... Yeah, progress to us would look like the submittal of the plans like he had originally addressed when he came in on October 27th and when he... spoke at the August 5th, 2025 meeting. And then he came in on the October 27th and said, I need a permit to do the interior demolition. And by the way, I'm going to provide these future plans and we're going to do a site plan. And he talked to planning and went through that whole process, but then never submitted anything after the fact. Okay.

And then is boarding up the second story windows required?

No, not necessarily. I mean, there, there might be some I think maybe over on the north side maybe there's just would be a good idea to board it up because you know folks could get up on the roof and make entry through that top floor but because there's a couple broken windows over there but not necessarily required up on the on the second floor.

Council of any other questions? If not, anyone from the public would like to speak on this property? No? Okay. If not, I guess I'm looking for a motion to close the public hearing.

I will make a motion to close this public hearing.

Second.

Truen? Yes. Garza? Yes. Goss? Yes. Fast? Yes. Magers? Yes. Item number eight, ordinances and resolutions. A, consider a resolution declaring an unsafe and dangerous structure at 2100 North Jackson Street and authorize the mayor to sign.

So I think we just need a motion on this.

I'll move to approve a resolution declaring an unsafe and dangerous structure at 2100 North Jackson Street and authorize the mayor to sign.

I will second that.

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

Yes.

Item number nine, new business A, reallocation of Jet Center 2026 CIP funds to airport sign replacement project.

Good evening, council, mayor, Alex Stang, airport director. Tonight I'm seeking approval to reallocate CIP funds to an airport signage project. The original CIP funding was intended for architectural and engineering services for a new jet center, which at the time was expected to serve as the foundation for a future city-managed FBO. Since then, staff has developed a broader plan to improve the airport as a whole with renovation of the existing terminal becoming the center focus. This revised approach is expected to lower the overall project cost compared to constructing a standalone facility. It also allows the airport to move forward with planning and design for the terminal remodel using airport facility improvement reserve funds. Again, this original CIP funds were specifically tied to that architectural and engineering service for that new jet center facility Since that's no longer the airport's preferred approach. Those funds are no longer needed for the original scope This creates an opportunity to reallocate already budgeted funds to address a current airport need and The airport sign replacement project includes three separate but coordinated sign installs. The first is an airfield welcome sign located inside the fence to greet aviation users as they arrive. The second is a terminal frontage sign that will replace the current worn and outdated signage. And the third is a static and digital combination sign at 4th and Airport Road. These signs will strengthen the airport's image for visitors and travelers and improve the look of a key entrance to the city, a fourth and airport road. The location is especially critical as it receives over 10,000 impressions per day, making this a valuable opportunity for the airport with visibility and public messaging. Luminio, through the Greenbush Purchasing Cooperative, has put together a project proposal for all three signs with a seven-year warranty for parts and labor. Furthermore, they're a long-standing Hutchinson-based company, and they have local technicians and easy-to-contact customer service team. This first sign is the terminal frontage. No, I'm sorry. This is the airfield welcome sign. So this is on the inside of the gate between the terminal itself and the main ramp at the airport. And here's the terminal frontage sign. This will replace the current sign that's pretty well out of date. That would take considerable refurbishment to bring it in to any kind of usefulness now. The centerpiece of this signage project is an eight-foot premium LED display from Watchfire Technologies. That includes life of sign free of charge cellular data connection for web-based content update and 10-year parts availability guarantee. This will ensure the sign will remain relevant and usable well into the future. Based on the revised FBO strategy and the availability of reserve funding for planning and design services, staff recommends approval of the CIP fund reallocation. This action allows the airport to continue advancing the terminal remodel concept for the FBO use while also investing in our practical, visible, and community-facing airport improvement through the sign replacement project. Any questions?

Council, any questions?

I have some questions. Were the CIP funds that would be used already bonded? And if so, what has bond council said about the reallocation of the funds?

I believe that's an Angela question.

No funds have been bonded.

And so it wouldn't be an issue to do a reallocation prior to them being bonded at a later time? So it just changes the original scope? Correct.

Yeah.

Okay. Was this project put out for RFP? RFP.

No, it's a purchasing cooperative. Originally, I was putting it together for 2027's fiscal year, but because we've done a little bit of a change-up with our scope, it seemed like an opportune moment to see if we could allocate these funds over to it.

And why did the... So the change in scope or the change in direction that you mentioned, was that the direction provided by the Airport Advisory Board, or was that through yourself or the strategic plan, or how did the change in direction come about?

Yeah, so originally we had been trying to pursue kind of a public-private investment into a hangar, and that... private side kind of dried up a little bit so through brainstorming sessions maybe I don't know I don't believe we formally discussed it in an airport advisory meeting but it was probably talked to between members but overall this kind of came about in a of various brainstorming situations.

Okay, but it didn't come from your advisory board?

No, not directly.

Okay. So is the goal of this sign to rename the airport entirely? Because that's not the name of our airport, right?

So, Hutchinson Regional Airport is our current classification for the airport. The old signage has municipal on it. So, that's one of the updated features. The other issue is that the two signs on Airport Road have considerable wind damage. So, we're looking at either having to repair and refurbish them or go ahead and replace.

Was the option of just tearing them down considered?

That is an option. I didn't necessarily consider it as an option, though. I feel like having a presence is good for the airport's and that airport road and forth is a main thoroughfare for the city. I know for years coming into Hutch, I came through Yota Road onto Airport Road, and that's the first intersection you hit with a light. And that's why it has 10,000 impressions.

Right, but like you still know the airport's there, even if there isn't a sign there. It would be silly not to know there was an airport there, even without a sign, I would say. Is this a decision that typically would run through your airport advisory board, a purchase of $60,000 and a shifting of funds and budget?

It would probably be a topic of discussion, but it wouldn't be any kind of a motion or anything like that.

So considering that the actual signage and there was more information presented in your presentation, of course, than what was included in the packet, I would like to see this tabled for two weeks. I know that signage is important, but I've purchased signs for work as well. And I think Lumineo has a great product. I think if this were sent out for RFP, you would get competitive bids. I know Greenbush and Lumineo and... There even may be a little bit less robust digital signage that you could pursue that I know, for instance, when the fire station did theirs, they priced it. for Lumineo as well and went with something else. So I personally would like to see this tabled for two weeks so the public can weigh in and hopefully the Airport Advisory Board could also... We meet next week, so that would be viable.

So are there plans for remodeling?

That is the shift. We haven't had our CIP MRF discussion yet, so that I plan on presenting to all of you.

And I don't know for sure, but I guess my question is the $60,000, could that be used in the remodel later on?

It's specific to the Jet Center, so we would have to be, we'd have to, We'd be here again doing this. Specifically, what I would do this year as far as the remodel, I would go ahead and do the concept drawings and the cost analysis. But I kind of want to wait to put out that RFP until we actually have our conversation about CIP and MRF.

And we still have $800,000, or we allotted $800,000 for, quote, airport improvements. We kept it broad so that we could do. How much of that is left from two years ago? I mean, I assume we're going to use some of that money for these improvements?

I think we only used about $75,000 of that. Okay. And if that's, it's potential that we could use that for the remodel. I kind of like the idea of having that for potential taxiway connections if we break ground on hangars.

I understand we're being real careful with that, and I want to continue to be real careful with that. But anything we can do to move our airport up? on economic development. People need to know it's here. So, I mean, I have no problem waiting two weeks and getting some more input. but I think you're on the right track here and I'll continue to try to help with those private investors. Talk's cheap. And I know that Enrico and I did talk to our representatives and senators about a tower, the tower improvements. I hope we're continuing those conversations and continuing to apply for those funds for a new tower.

Absolutely. We just met about three weeks ago with Senator Moran's office. So yeah, that's still moving forward. We kind of want to see how this grant shakes out, if it's awarded or not. kind of did a little bit of adjustment on that to see if we could at least get the architectural and engineering and the site study done. So we've got some avenues for that. Hopefully we can get the tower knocked out in the future.

Sorry, I didn't want to divert from the sign discussion, but anytime we talk about the airport, I get excited because it's so important to our community, and I think it's been undervalued for years and years and years, and whatever we can do to help, we need to do it.

Mr. Singh, can you go back to the sign samples, please? Yep. Are those, that looks like vinyl on metal. Is that something that we can do in-house?

No, actually that's a shadow box. The lower right hand corner shows the illumination on the inside. So that is two different layers of material there.

Okay.

Not necessarily.

Could that be accomplished with vinyl on?

We would have to reconstruct the sign because the sign that sits there now is a shadow box sign as well.

So that's, I mean... Because we have a sign department in-house, correct?

Yeah. Well... For like street signs and stuff like that.

Right, but I mean vinyl on stickers on metal or on plastic or on something and then retrofitting it, cutting it to fit is kind of the same thing.

Yeah, I mean vinyl on an aluminum sheet, that could be an option. It'll serve as long as our current signs have because it'll eventually start to deteriorate and need to be reconditioned.

Well, and the $20,000 sign will deteriorate and need reconditioned as well. So I would like to see at least a consideration from keeping this part in-house. I know we can't do a digital sign in-house, but... if these two static signs could be done in-house, if that's something that our guys could say yay or nay to.

And I would like to hear the difference in the time that it would have to be redone. like a professional sign.

Cecil, I'm not saying you guys aren't professional.

But I want to know the difference between vinyl on metal and that.

The biggest difference is we couldn't do this size in-house.

Oh, you couldn't do the size?

No. Our machinery and stuff wouldn't be able to do anything this big. Okay. The specific equipment we have is designed for signage on highway and streets. These are eight-foot signs, so we wouldn't be able to do these in-house, not do anything. Cutting the vinyl and stuff we could do, but we wouldn't be able to press it to make it last like it should.

If you reversed it and had it all white with blue vinyl...

It's still the size to press that down and actually get the vinyl to stick. We don't have anything to be able to run that size of a sign through our press. It's too big for our press to handle.

It can't be done by hand?

And not to guarantee the 3M product would last. The 3M product requires a certain amount of pressure, and it's like about 120 pounds of pressure to apply that. And that's just not something we would do by hand. and not guarantee that the material would last long term. So 3M wouldn't warranty the material if we did it by hand, and our equipment just can't do anything that big.

Well, I would say I like the idea of the digital sign, but I also think we ought to get bids on it. I'm not saying that it's not right, multiple sign companies in town here that I don't know what all they can do. And just like Cecil said, sometimes you have the right equipment, but I think it'd be worth, I mean, I do, like I said, I do like the digital sign coming into town where you could put different stuff on. I think we should get a different price on, or, you know, estimates on those too, so.

No, I'm in agreement with that as well. I think we should table this and get some estimates.

I guess my question, and Stacy suggested two weeks. Is that enough time?

He said their board meets.

What's that?

He said their board meets.

Yeah, the board meets next week. So what would you like from the board meeting or the advisory committee meeting? Would you like somebody to come speak on the project?

I would like to see a formal RFP put out for this for all three signs and to – consider all options that come in because I do believe that getting creative with the static signs would be helpful. Watchfire is one of the companies that does the LED signs. but they're not the only ones, and their customer support is not local. Fixing the signs is local, and the people who come out for the warranty service, but if you need technical support, you call them on the number, which is typically Watchfire directly, which leads me to a different question, is who on your staff would be responsible for maintaining the digital sign and creating the graphics and that sort of thing?

That would probably be partly me and the help of our communications.

So I think it kind of sounds like we'd like to see it sent out for RFP probably. Talk to your advisory council and then I guess get back with us on that process would be probably the best thing to do, I guess.

Since we're discussing it, I have no problem moving the money, reallocating the money. I don't think that's the issue here.

let's see okay I'll just go ahead and I'll chat with our put this in our agenda for the next meeting and then build an RFP alright thank you did you want to open for public comment no I did not we'll have that when he comes back to see us Mary next item

I need a second on that motion. Oh, sorry.

I don't think there's a motion because we're tabling it. Do we need a motion to table it? We're just going to bring it back. You don't need a motion.

Okay.

Item 9B, Abandoned Property Update, 211 East 4th Avenue.

Good evening again, Council. Jason Leedy, building official. This is an abandoned property update on 211 East 4th Street. On August 5th, 2025, council approved a repair or demolition of the structure on the property. The property owner had a permit at the time that the resolution order was signed. Upon speaking with the demolition contractor, the owner decided not to proceed with the demolition due to the cost of the asbestos pavement. We do not know what that cost was. It has not been provided to us. We have requested it, and that request has been denied. The plan is for staff to do an asbestos study to provide with a bid package, and then we will proceed with a bid and send that out for the bid and then bring the bid amounts back to council to demolish the property at 211 East 4th. And I'll stand for any questions if you have any.

The church, the owners don't want to contribute to the project. They've washed their hands of it because of the price of the abatement.

Of the asbestos abatement. That's what the demolition. We haven't got a hold of the property owners themselves.

Because my understanding was they were going to do it.

They were going to do it at the time until the asbestos, the demolition contractor. So they were removing the. Permit due to the cost of the asbestos removal and we don't know what the cost of that was. So what we'll do is We'll do the asbestos study that way we can send it out with the bid package that way it can be included in the bid when that comes through and there's no way to compel them to provide the Bit that they received for the asbestos. No, we can't require them to to provide anything to us. I

Is this a property that I know that Interfaith has funding for demolitions? Is this something that those funds could be used for and then the property turned to Interfaith?

No, their amount for their demolitions wouldn't even cover this property.

Okay.

Any other questions? And this is, they're a, is it a Wichita-based company? Or Wichita ownership, I guess? Is that correct? Yes, Wichita ownership. Okay. Wichita-based ownership. Okay. I guess if there's no other questions, then... Are you going to open for public comment? Yeah, we can open for public comment. Is there anybody who wants to comment on this property? Seeing none, move on to the next item, Mary. Okay.

Item number 9C, water reuse project in Cary Park.

Good evening. Justin Combs, Director of Parks and Facilities. Late in 2025, several staff got together about the potential of reusing the water that comes out of the wastewater treatment plant. So that's a treated water that comes out. If we could find a better use for that other than simply dumping it into the river. And so through that we had some brainstorming, really talked about potentials and came up with a really exciting idea to use that water for irrigation in Cary Park, specifically at the golf course. So before we get into too much detail about the project itself, I do want to kind of step back and have Dave and Aaron talk about what is reuse and what does reuse look like in Kansas.

Good evening, Council. David Gwynn, Director of Utilities.

Erin Patterson, Project Manager with Utilities.

Okay, so before we get into this a little tidbit from us is this is pretty exciting for us. This is a direction that we've been wanting to go since we've pretty much been here. HDR is actually currently working on our master water plan. This is part of that. So water is something that we need to protect and instead of dumping it in the river, like Justin had just said, we want to go a different route with it and do something else. So what is reuse? When you think about reuse, there's non-potable, potable, or potable, maybe drinkable, non-drinkable. We're looking at ways to minimize the amount of fresh water that we use so that we can have less of an impact on the aquifer. We've already pumped it out. Let's see what else we can do with it. So we're looking at green spaces such as parks, landscaping areas, industrial supply, recharging of groundwater aquifers as well. So there's different ways that we can do this. Aaron's going to speak to that here in a minute about what we're doing in Kansas and other places and what they're doing in the country as a whole. So right now what we're talking about using is non-potable. We're going to use about 600,000 gallons per day, which is about 15% of what we currently put into the arc. So a fraction, pretty much, of what we are discharging into the arc, we're going to pull up to carry, or we want to pull up to carry park so that we can use this on the golf course specifically. Aaron's going to talk about Kansas, and then the rest of the country and kind of what they're doing with reuse.

I guess, do we have any questions on that first slide before we move on? Okay, so reuse. There's 22 states across the country that have enshrined reuse, whether potable or non-potable, in their legislation. 16 states actually have potable reuse accounted for. Kansas, we're not quite sure. past the curve of the halfway point, but we're close. Kansas does not have any established legislative guidelines yet on how reuse can be done. There are people in the state who are doing non-potable reuse, and that gets managed through KDHE directly. In 2025, Kansas actually did pass a House bill and was signed by Governor Kelly regarding developing a water program task force. This is looking at water across all of the state of Kansas. But one of those mandates is to formalize reuse for the state and building up that framework. And that actually has to be finalized no later than July 1st of 2028. So it's not that far away, actually. And then to Dave's point, we do know that there are people in Kansas who are either actively reusing or are moving towards that. The city of Hays, actually, who we've talked with, is doing exactly what we're looking to do, where they are using their wastewater treatment plant effluent on their municipal green spaces. And then city of Wichita actually is developing a specific master wastewater plan for reuse, and they're looking at ways to bank credits for aquifer replenishment. And then Garden City actually just won a big, I say just, but it was like a year ago now, won a grant for feasibility studies for reuse. YOU KNOW, WESTERN KANSAS, I THINK EVERYBODY IS AWARE, OVER 60% OF THE STATE IS UNDER DROUGHT CONDITIONS RIGHT NOW. SOME OF THEM ARE SEVERE. WE KNOW THAT THE WESTERN KANSAS AQUIFER IS DEPLENISHING AND WE ARE LOOKING AT WAYS TO HELP CONTINUE TO BOLSTER OUR AQUIFER WHILE ALSO PROTECTING MUNICIPAL GREEN SPACES. I'm going to steal Dave's thunder here, but reuse is coming, and we're just trying to get ahead of it while we potentially have some funding opportunities that can help us with this. Any questions for Dave or I?

Yes, I got a question for you.

Yes.

When I used to work for the city, I worked out at the wastewater treatment plant. I know how it works. That means we have to pipe all the way from there all the way into the park. Am I right?

You are correct.

So we're going to put lift stations that's going to bring it back, or is this going to be natural flow? What's your thinking on that?

Can I go to the next slide? Sure.

All right. You're a little bit ahead of us.

All right.

Okay, our slide's not there. We don't have all of our slides in here. Where is it at?

What are we looking for?

This shows the pipeline, right here.

So yes, there is like three miles worth of pipeline. So this is very early on in the development phases. Like Justin mentioned, we just started talking about this at the end of last year. But because of the timing, and Justin will get into this more, of some of the funding possibilities, we had to move forward with pre-applications and early discussions with grant programs. preliminary sketch, not finalized by any means, but what we were anticipating was actually running up the same utility easement that we already have for that sewer force main that takes the Waste down to get treated and just following it back up the same line. We've got that easement And then we would so we have to pump it from the wastewater treatment facility one lift station over there we pump it up to Cary Park where will there will be a reservoir and from there we would then pump to distribute within Cary Park Actually, I think this would work greatly

Because you have a pump station there in Cary Park, that big, huge pump station that pumps the water to your sprinkler system. You tie this coming from the wastewater treatment plant, tie that pump station into that pump station that pumps the water out, put your reservoir there. I'm just thinking of... I've been there. I see it. I see it in my mind already. And, you know, that reservoir, that pump station pumped the water out of that reservoir. Because they're going to the sprinklers anyway. Am I right or wrong? Yeah. That pump station is what powers the sprinklers. Yeah. The only thing is, in my head, I'm just saying you have to run a new pipe and bring it back. Well, we would.

Okay. I mean, I'm going to get ahead there.

Yeah, so just a couple things. The station you're talking about is a booster pump. Correct. So it would actually boost the PSI. Correct. So we can have the PSI we need on the golf course. Yes, sir. We could still use that. We would just bring this water instead of RO-treated city water to that booster station. But yeah, so the general idea, as you can see on the screen, is it's about three miles from the wastewater treatment plant to Cary Park. And then once we get into Cary Park, this is for me then where things get exciting. So as we looked at how much water we use on the golf course, on a hot July, August night, we could use three to four, even 500,000 gallons a night just to water the golf course. That's all RO treated water. Over the last six years, We've averaged over 42 million gallons of water we've used in irrigation. And so when we started doing the math, these ponds at the front of the park aren't big enough to hold that volume of water. So we would essentially drain those every night and then have to refill. And so to make this project a reality, those ponds would have to be significantly enlarged. So the drawing that's on the screen is just a drawing of what is potentially available for a reservoir. This isn't set in stone. We don't know if it will be this large, if it will be a single pond, if it will be multiple series of smaller ponds. But in general, the idea is to use this area as a reservoir area. for the water, then to pump it to the golf course. We are going to be going by, and the idea is we're going to be going by two other irrigation systems on the way, so Strimmel Fields and the bike park both have irrigation systems. We'll convert those while we're there. And in the long term, we'd like to see that non-potable line go further into the park and capture more irrigation systems. But if we're going to build this really cool water feature in the front of the park, I want to take advantage of that and let's make it a recreational amenity. So then we started talking about, well, what else can we do to this pond to make it something that attracts people to it? So one idea that we've had is the boathouse that was here years ago. I think it was removed about 15 years ago. So could we recreate that boathouse? Could we increase access to the Ark River area? from a canoeing and kayaking standpoint. Could we add additional walking trails and lighting and restrooms? All those fun amenities that people would expect around a large body of water. And so that's really where things kind of got exciting is not only is this going to be a conservation effort and reduce the water we're using from the RO plant and put us in a better position from a capacity standpoint from the water side, it also could be a really incredible amenity to our park system. So another thing we've been talking about quite a bit is, oh, I'm getting ahead of myself. That's the next slide. So I do want to point out master plan and strategic plan alignment. This is right in line with the Parks and Rec master plan. In multiple places it talks about access to water. That was highly rated when we did the community outreach. People want access to water, whether that's the river or ponds or whatnot. There's also a very strong feeling of going after more kind of external funding opportunities, so grants, private partnerships, those sorts of things. As Dave talked about, it's right in line with the water master plan that's being worked on right now. Reuse will be in that plan And then there's multiple areas in the strategic plan that also are right in line with this project. So funding. So this is where things get exciting in my mind, I guess. It's expensive. I'm sure everybody's kind of thinking about it. Right? Three miles of new line plus a pump. Well, that's going to be expensive. So our thought to pay for this is to use a state revolving fund. So that's a loan system through low-interest loan system through the state of Kansas, KDHE, to pay for the water infrastructure. So that's to get the water to Cary Park. But then there's also a grant out there called ORLAP, Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership. It's a grant through National Park Service. It's nationally competitive. Over the last several years that there's been 250 million dollars allocated. They have not spent all that money So in theory there could be up to 750 million dollars available federal funding for this program And so the idea would be if we wrap all this in the one single project So that line coming up to the park plus the recreational amenities within the park and write a grant for that Our 50% match could be the state revolving fund, so that's those FRF funds, which right now our early estimates are about $7.2 million to get that water here, which means we would be eligible for up to $7.2 million in additional funds for the National Park Service. So we would leverage that for the National Park Service grant. The other thing with these SRF loans is this project would be really fit for loan forgiveness up to 50%. So we think there's a good opportunity that we could have $3.5 million, $3.6 million of this actually relieved or forgiven. Other grant opportunities would be Land Water Conservation Fund. It is very similar to ORLAP. It's kind of the little brother to ORLAP, I guess. And then Recreational Trails is through the state of Kansas. It would also qualify. So those are additional opportunities we could either layer on top or use if the ORLAP grant fell through. So another piece that kind of a layer on top of all of this is over a year ago I applied for another program through the National Park Service called RTCA, Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program. Essentially what that program is, is the National Park Service provides you at no charge, landscape architects, park planners, community engagement specialists, to build out a plan for some sort of project you may have. And my idea was to do a master plan for Cary Park. And so I applied for that assistance, didn't hear anything for a year. Well, just recently was contacted by the National Park Service, and we have been accepted into that program. And so we will be free of charge getting all the work from the National Park Service. But a big piece of that is community engagement. So we've built in there multiple engagement points, community meetings, surveys, those sorts of things. And I know that's been 100% flushed out on what that exactly looks like, but that's a big piece of that. And so we can use that program then test this idea and they get community impact again essentially at no charge to the city so that program won't just look at this lake and look at the reuse project but it looks at the entire park and how does it work together for the next 10 15 20 plus years So the other thing we've been doing, so we've been kicking this around for several months. There's a lot of things that we wanted to make sure that this project was even viable before we brought it in front of everyone. And so these are some of the stakeholders we've already talked to. that are already engaged. A lot of these are kind of regulatory types, but obviously lots of departments within the city, Kansas Department of Health and Environment, Division of Water Resources, U.S. Corps of Army Engineers, Kansas Wildlife and Parks, and the National Park Service. We've been in contact with all of those. Every time we ask a question, it seems like this seems It gets more and more doable with every question we ask. There's some hurdles. There's some things we're going to have to do, but we haven't gotten that no, this is an impossible idea. And so we're to the point where we feel comfortable kind of talking about this publicly and getting some impact or some input. So project milestones. As Aaron stated, we have already done the pre-application for the SRF loan. It doesn't commit us to anything. It's just doing the initial ask. So that was done earlier this month. The RTCA notice received in May, we've been accepted into that program. We expect to kick that off in June or July. We will receive word back on the SRF loan if we've made the cut, so to speak, in July. And then at that point, there will be a decision point that will have to come in front of city council if we actually want to proceed with that loan application. So at that point, there will be a vote if we want to ask for that funding through the SRF program. Then we would suspect or expect in August, starting with public meetings, and then the SRF applications due in October, and then ORLAP. We do not have the NOFO, the Notice of Funding Available Opportunity, Funding Opportunity, has not been released yet based on historic data. time frames we expect that to be sometime in October that that would be due. So that's kind of the date we are working for for that grant application. And then long term there's lots of other than deadlines. Everything that's bold and underlined would be city council approval. And so the notice to proceed from the SRF basically this is your opportunity. You're actually going to take the money. It has to be voted on. And then once we get into design and construction all of those contracts would have to come to city council. So And then if you see construction 2028, it's probably realistic with the complexity of some of these grants, the complexity of working with U.S. Corps of Engineers, KDHE, National Park Service. It's a major undertaking, so don't want to get people excited that we're going to be out digging ponds next week. It's going to be a long-term project. So I know that's a lot. It's a lot of initials, a lot of different programs. But with that, I will stand for any questions.

Is this the same SRF dollars that we talked about being used to bring, to connect residents to city water?

It's the same SRF loan program, but it is not necessarily the same pool of dollars for the city. So we can be awarded all of the SRF pre-applications. We could get none of them. We can get some of them. It's really just where these things rank on the line for the criteria that KDHE specified.

And so if we receive the 3.7 million of SRF loans for the reuse project, it wouldn't diminish using SRF money for bringing people back or bringing people online for services? No. Okay.

Council have any other questions?

Yeah, I have questions.

Oh, sorry.

Would there be any new irrigation added like Centennial Park or near the equipment that's just south of the zoo, the blue-green equipment, which is full of stickers all the time?

Yeah, so the intent... would be to build this non-potable main throughout the entire park so it would be much easier to irrigate more. So that would be kind of a second phase at this point, but we get the biggest bang for our buck by getting the golf course on. But yes, the intent would be everything. The only thing we probably couldn't do is the zoo because of the interface with the animals, but everything else we could.

And all of the sprinklers would run at night so people wouldn't be in them. Correct.

And there's some regulations of what the water quality has to be, and then we have to sign it that it's non-potable water. The irrigation heads, I believe, have to have a purple cap that indicate that it's non-potable water.

And how much does the miles of pipe cost?

What's that?

was it stated how much the three miles of pipe would cost? Yeah, go ahead.

So this is a very, very high-level estimate, scoping level, for the cost to get from the wastewater treatment facility to the reservoir and then discharge from the reservoir. So exclusive of any modifications around the reservoir and park facilities, it's about $7.2 million constructed all in at our... like very high level, low accuracy, right? As far as the pipeline cost, I think that was like four million for that three miles of pipe, three and a half or so.

And so tonight the ask is simply to approve the change order for the contract.

No.

No.

We're not asking for any official action. It would be nice just to get an overall thoughts and ideas of the project as we progress because there are some timelines that we're going to have to hit. back on that milestone. So we obviously didn't want that to be the first time it was talked about publicly. So I think for us it would be good to hear if there's an overall consensus that this project is worth pursuing so that we can with confidence kind of move forward with the next steps.

I think if we can get some grant money and stuff like that to save some money, you know, for our water, save our water as well, I think it's really worth pursuing. Because if we get to a certain point, we can go, okay, here's what it is. Here's what we've achieved. And at that point, we can look at it and go, do we want to move forward or not, if that's the way I understand it, too.

One thing I'm going to plug that wasn't mentioned also is we actually did our annual review of the water conservation program. And if we end up escalating through our different conservation measures, one of those is we don't irrigate municipal facilities. If we ended up in a situation where we had to go underwater conservation and we had reuse, it would still allow for Justin to maintain the turf and those green spaces for our community without negatively impacting our water supply.

How much water we allocated a year for our irrigation? Oh, I don't know.

Yeah, I'm not sure across the entire park. Just in that, just like the golf course itself, the last six years has averaged 42 million gallons. I mean, that number has come down over time because of the new system we've installed is more efficient. I mean, we've been over 60 million gallons.

So if we could save a lot of water, that would be a great... That's a lot of water to save, yeah. I appreciate all your time and effort you've put into this. That's a lot of work, and I think it would be some great savings for our community on multiple levels, so...

I have an additional question. Would the increased capacity in the water, the pond, do they have names?

Nothing official. We joke about what it is, but nothing official.

There's another pond on the southeast side, the fishing pond, which would not be holding water. So would the increased capacity in the other pond that used to have the BOAT HOUSE, WOULD THAT IMPACT OUR FLOOD PLAN AND ANY OF THOSE PROJECTS? I DON'T BELIEVE THAT.

PATTERSON IS SHAKING HIS HEAD NO.

Ms. Patterson, you mentioned the plan, the water conservation plan, which I thought we were going to hear in April or May of this year, but we haven't gotten it back yet. Is that something that will come to council soon?

Soon, yes. We still had to make some changes in going through and reconciling the comments that were made to it previously, and so we just haven't finished through that yet.

Okay. What does soon mean?

Probably in the next month or two.

Thank you.

I think it's a great idea. Let's go. I agree.

Any other comments, questions?

Yeah, I have another question. Would the digging of the pond be done in-house or would that be done by... contractors? Does the pond have to be lined if it's not already?

So we are talking about lining the pond just because we want to make sure that any water that goes into it we don't lose. We're not required to per KDHE but we want to conserve our water and there are discussions internally about work that we could self-execute. Nothing has been finalized and we would still need to see how that could also apply towards matching funds for some of these other programs.

And that pond is not currently lined. It is not.

It is not.

And neither is the fishing pond.

No.

That's all the questions I have.

Okay. Any public comment? All right. Seeing none, thank you guys for that presentation. Look forward to more information soon. All right, Mary, next item.

Excuse me, Mayor. Can we break for two minutes? I've got to go to the bathroom.

Yes, we'll take a break for five minutes.

We'll give you longer than two.

Thank you.

Excuse me. I'm calling it back to order. Thank you.

Consider approval of the Hutchinson Recreation Commission Salt City Splash Agreement and authorize the mayor to sign.

All right. Good evening. Justin Combs, Director of Parks and Facilities. So this item is for the approval of the Salt City Splash Agreement. I do have a PowerPoint that hopefully will pop up here. So in the past several months, we've been negotiating with Hutch Rec as far as the Salt City Splash Agreement as well as the ball fields. We've reached an agreement on the Salt City Splash Agreement. I do want to hit some of the highlights, so kind of broken down into several categories. First one is roles and responsibilities. Really what we did there is really match what we're doing currently. So just clarifying who's responsible for what, who does what, those sorts of things. Like I said, it's really matching what we've done the last few years as far as maintenance of the pool, who's responsible for the chlorination systems, all those sorts of things. We also addressed some employment matters in the previous contracts. The city actually had the authority to tell HUDREC to remove or replace any employee at the pool if we didn't think that their actions were in the best interest of the city. That language has been modified basically just saying to HUDREC it's their responsibility to remove any employee who is not acting in the best interest of the city. The city no longer can force them to do that. So records and public communications, there is language in there that any records, any report or anything regarding the pool must be released to the city prior to being released to any third party. We also then clarified... Any time the the building or the facility is marketed if it's just general signage if it's media release That there's co-branding between the city and and hutch rec Emission fees and swim season so the emission fees will be set by City Council. It's in our current agreement but all mission fees passes and Those sorts of things will be approved by city council. The swim season itself, so opening and closing dates, will be set between staff, between the city, and between HUD-TRAC. The operational fund and financial structure is largely the same as what it has been as far as there will be a fund within HUD-TRAC that has all the revenues and all the expenses for operating the pool, so that will be a separate fund. However, the one thing that we did change is the subsidy So in previous contracts, really going back to the beginning of the pool, There was a subsidy that the city would reimburse HUDREC for operating losses. That language has been removed, but we did leave language in there to allow for a limited subsidy based on admission fees or pass fees. So say in the future if HUDREC decides that in order to make it financially work for them that their only option is to increase fees, We want to keep the pool of mission accessible to everyone. And so then at that point there could be a conversation about having a subsidy in lieu of a fee increase. That would have to come to city council. But that language is worked into the agreement. The term of the agreement is a one year with four additional years. And then there's some operational provisions. Primarily, we changed. In the past, the city's been able to use Poole for three dates. We've changed that to one, so we have one date plus an alternative date if we have weather. So last year, we did a staff party at the Poole. It was open to all city staff. We also addressed some of the reporting. The reporting for HUD-TREC is largely the same as it has always been. but we did add some additional requirements for the city to report out cost at year-to-date in October as well as year-to-date once the fiscal year closes in January. So largely structured the same as it always has been, the biggest change is that subsidy piece. So with that, I will answer any questions. And Tony and Amy are here from HUTREC if you have questions for them as well.

Any questions, counsel?

I don't have any questions. I want to make a statement so it's clear, and I really want to thank Tony for this, Tony and Amy both. But with the subsidy that we were looking at was going to be upwards of $15,000 a year that we could have to pay out, and they stepped up with their foundation so that they would cover any loss and actually asked for that wording to be taken out. So... What I'm trying to get to the taxpayers is we just saved $15,000 by working together, and I think that's a major victory right there.

Anyone else? No? Any public comment? Seeing none, I'm looking for a motion.

I have a question. Do all of our MOUs include a waiver of, a full waiver of subrogation?

That would be a question for... For what purpose?

It's in the contract.

Well, okay. All of them, no.

Do our other contract commission contracts

Any more questions? No? If no more questions, looking for a motion.

I'll move to approve the Hutchinson Recreation Commission Salt City Splash Agreement and authorize the mayor to sign.

I will second that.

Truen? Yes. Garza? Yes. Goss? Yes. Bass? Yes. Magers?

Yes. Next item.

Item 9E, Design Agreement Contract for Meadows on Monroe.

Good evening, Council. Evan Patterson, City Engineer. You may be surprised to see me up here talking about the Meadows on Monroe development rather than Matt Williams, our Director of Community Development, and I'm happy to say that's because the project has passed on to a new phase. We received the petitions from the developer, reviewed and found the basis reasonable, and we've also received the proposed design surfaces contract from the same company that developed the plats, and we found those costs in scope reasonable as well. And so the city is elected in this case to actually engage with the recommended term garver for the services associated with the design of phase one for Meadows on Monroe. That's not the way we did it on the Plum Creek development, which was the last one that we had in town, but we have done that before. I think Quail Ridge is the last one. A little over maybe 12, 14 years ago, something like that, the city had the same role managing the design contract. It's the same cost either way, but it enables us to be a little more in the driver's seat on the decisions regarding the design of what are ultimately our assets to manage anyway. So we still, staff has reviewed the terms of the contract and I need to go through those with Garver and see if we can amend some of the other language but otherwise hopefully we can have something for city manager Enrico to sign next week and then we can get working on that development. Any questions? Awesome. I think it's awesome too. It's cool.

Questions? Anyone, counsel?

All right. Well, if you think of any, you guys know where to get a hold of me.

I do have a question. Sure. Can you tell us what the amendments you were looking for are or what they would be?

The amendments?

You just said you were... Oh, the petitions. Petitions.

You know, I don't remember the dollar amount of the petitions. It was maybe $3 or $4 million for the constructed cost. The design contract, I think, is $215,000, which matches up with what I would expect for that level of service.

Any public comment on this item? Thanks, Evan. Of course.

Next item.

Item 9F, consider approval of change order for development of an anti-degradation study for NPDES permitting for the city of Hutchinson groundwater discharges.

Thank you, Mary. This is Erin Patterson, Project Manager with the Utilities Department, coming in front of you tonight regarding a requested change order for Burns and McDonald, Burns and McDonald's Engineering Environmental Construction Company. In 2024, the city of Hutchinson entered into a contract with Burns and McDonald to have them assist us in development of an anti-degradation study. This is a study specifically on if we could take the pumped water from our reclamation wells and discharge it to the GVI ditch and then to the arc versus having to send it to reverse osmosis and then to the deep disposal wells with our waste. So they helped us develop that plan. We were able to get three sampling events done last year and then it stopped raining. And we had some discussions with KDHE regarding the results that came out of those three tests that we ran, what we think it's gonna look like. KDHE feels that it is a potentially viable option based on the results that they've seen so far. And I sound like very vague, but KDHE was also very vague because they didn't want to commit to saying, yes, you guys could do that or no, you can't. And so the change order that I've come to you guys for tonight is for Burns and Mack to work with the city and Hutchinson on the next phase to modify our NBDS permit for our reclamation system. It's not like the final phase of the work that we'd have to be done. This is for them to do. I've got to make sure I'm using this. Do the analysis, the more detailed analysis of the data we've got to date. Pull together the report that goes with it. Assist us in the preparation of the application. Potentially a fourth sampling event, depending on some feedback from KDHE. And then updates and discussions with KDHE. This does not take us through the full application process with KDHE. It just gets us to that first submittal in the draft report to KDHE. But this is, I think, a very significant opportunity for the city of Hutchinson to reduce our required operational expenses because it is expensive for us to run that R.O. facility. And so that's why the utilities wants to pursue this.

What's the anticipated savings of the reduction?

You know, I don't know what that is. Um, I think it's like a buck for a treatment for, uh, is it a gallon David?

Yes.

Okay. I don't know what that exact cost is. I'm happy to give it to you guys. $1 per gallon?

I think it's an HCF.

HCF. Okay. 100 cubic feet. I was like, that's expensive.

And how many 100 cubic feet is being processed each day?

I don't know that exact number. I'd have to get back to you. Okay. Do you know the number? No. Oh, yes.

Remember, this also reduces our reliance on .

Yes. We have to send less to the disposal wells, which reduces maintenance on those and theoretically expands their life cycle.

In the packet, it seems like maybe this is intentional, but maybe it's formatting or a mistake. I think it's page 104 says May 12th at the top, and then the next three pages say January 5th.

Yeah, they had originally sent us the change order in January, and then I had to have them revise it to be for May.

Okay. So they just probably didn't catch all of the date corrections.

Gotcha.

Any other questions from council? Any public comment? If nothing, I'm looking for a motion. Thank you, Erin.

Thank you.

I will make a motion to approve change order for development of an anti-degradation study for NPDES permitting for the City of Hutchinson Groundwater Distributors and authorize the City Mayor to sign, or I'm sorry, the City Manager to sign.

I'll second it.

Truin? Yes. Garza? Yes. Goss? Yes. Bass? Yes. Magers?

Yes. Next item.

Item number 10, Report of City Officials. Council?

Who wants to go first? I'm opening it up.

I'll go first, since Garza's pointing at me now. I don't have a whole lot. I'm just glad we got the MOU signed for the rec center. And they will have their board meeting tomorrow at 4 o'clock. And it should get approved then, and we can get it signed. So other than that, that's all I have.

You want to go second, Mr. Garza?

Mr. Fast. Thanks city staff for cleaning out the gutters after the big rain. I noticed all over town there were people digging all that stuff out. And since it's been so long since we've had rain, and it was such a hard rain, I'm sure we had much more washed into those gutters than normal. I also saw crews downtown planting flowers, mulching. Much appreciated. as a resident of downtown. Um, also, um, we seem to continue to have a problem with scooters riding on sidewalks. I know it's not a rises to the level of our priority for the police department, but at some point it will rise to the level, a higher level because somebody is going to get hit and hurt. Um, We have a business owner sitting out there shaking his head. I mean, it's happening downtown. That's where I notice it. So I don't know if we can have enforcement weekend on that to where it's like a click it or ticket. I don't know what the solution would be. Also, I did hear again from somebody that would like to ride their UTV around town on city streets. I don't know if PD's changed their mind on that since the last police chief or if that's a possibility.

Yeah, I guess I don't know. I didn't hear this come up before with the last police chief. I'm assuming he was opposed against it. Does that sound accurate? Being the current police chief, I'm opposed to them. The main reason why is it just comes down to safety. They're designed to be an off-road vehicle. They don't have to meet certain standards that passenger cars, any vehicle that can be registered on state highways, interstates, have to pass. So, for example, airbags. braking systems They're built differently. So they're prone to high rollover risks And then putting them on the streets here in the city of Hutchinson I can see maybe the benefit in very small communities how they can work just fine Because the traffic is so minimal but trying to put it in a city this size I think would just cause way more safety issues than what we even currently have and then also if you have those type of vehicles inside your community seeing how they're not a registered street legal vehicle, then you have to make them street legal. You have to get lights, brakes, turn signals, et cetera. And then somebody has to be able to check that. So now somebody has to come out and be able to verify that they've met all the requirements. We have to build those requirements. And then oftentimes, you have to give them permits to even operate that UTV inside your city. They're illegal in the state of Kansas, so you can't drive them on state highways or interstates. So there's a lot of exceptions that the city would have to make to get that done. And then I just think that that liability is too high for our citizens here in the community to offer non-street legal vehicles on our busy streets is where I fall out at.

Thank you, Chief. Yeah, you bet.

And back to your scooters. Yes, we can do more targeted enforcement. We have some things in the works that are coming out to help with that downtown problem that I will be sharing here in the near future. Thank you. Appreciate it.

That's all I have. Garza? Okay.

Okay. Here in the last couple weeks, I've been receiving some email, not too good emails. And I just want to let you know that I don't return things to me on email. I don't do that. Neither do I do Facebook. You don't see me if I hear someone comment something bad about me. I don't do Facebook either. I'm the kind of person that just, I'll face you right here and now. I'm facing you right here and now. Had a comment in the newspaper about me. Regardless what you think about me, I'm a commissioner that's of the people, by the people, and for the people. So when I hear a person has a complaint, if I think it's right, I'll go for it and I'll check it out. So I got a year and a half to go when I'm going to keep my dignity and keep what I was here to do. I was here to represent the people. Anybody can call me with a problem. And if you want to come at me on my email or whatever, do so. I'm not going to answer you back. I'll answer back questions about streets and stuff like that. But if you want to attack me on my email or the city email, I'm not going to answer you back. Because that's the way I think. You've got to have a little bit of dignity. You've got to have a little bit of, I don't know what the word is. But I'm not going to do it. My job is to represent the people. I represent the people who have always been taught. You represent the people for the people, by the people, and of the people. So when they contact me, I'll do the best I can to. If you're wrong, I'm going to tell you you're wrong. If you're right, I'm going to tell you you're right. That's what you guys elected me to do, and I'm going to keep doing what I do. Other than that, this Saturday, the 23rd, I'm going to have back my visit to Garza. Don't bring no tomatoes. Let's sit down and talk. It's at the zoo at 9 o'clock. I buy the coffee and donuts. Come in and have a cup of donuts with me, and let's talk. You'll learn about the city because I bring the engineers. You going to be there, sir? Yes, sir. Okay. I bring all the big people who got the answers because I don't have all the answers. I just do the best I can to represent you. That's all I do. That's my job. And trust me, I work from 6 to 2.30 in the afternoon. I have to get up at 6 to go to work. I work a long job. I get called out all the time. But I take this job very seriously. And if you do something wrong and I don't think it's right, I'm going to say so, and I'll tell you about it. So go ahead and attack me what you want. I'm not going to answer you back. So other than that, please come to my meeting on the zoo. It's at the zoo park. Go on to Cary Park. Cary Park there. Right there at that building, it's an education building. Am I right? Education building. Be there at 9 o'clock. I'm probably there about 8.30 to get the coffee going and get the donuts going. So come and have a cup of coffee with me and have a donut with me. We'll sit down and have a talk. But other than that, I love being a city commissioner. We have to get going. We have a lot of problems, not problems, but things we've got to answer. It's coming up when your city commission has got to take care of So I'm talking there's a lot of big things the city has got to do. And try to work with your city commissioner. Don't bag on them. Don't put them down, whatever the case would be. Because I'm not going to mention any names. I'm not going to say anything. I'm just talking to everybody. Everybody. Go ahead and do what you have to do in the paper or whatever you do. I don't care. I'm not answering you back. I'm not going that low. So other than that, I like being the city commissioner. You only got me for a year and a half. I'm 28. I'm out. So if you want to run for city commission in 28 in my area, I can't run no more. But I love doing what I do. I love working for the city. I work with inmates. I'll tell you what, that's a fun job, too. I teach them how to be electricians. I put them out, put out six or seven, and they come out and become electricians. So other than that, this is a great place to live. Hutchinson is great. There's big plans coming up. I have good city commissioners. They take a lot. Give them a break. Help them out. Come to the meetings that I'm going to have. And other than that, sir, that's all I've got. Thank you so much. Thank you, Mr. Garza. All right. Stacy?

Thank you. First, I want to say thanks to the first responders, city workers, utility workers who... Worked many hours and a long night during our storms. I know Evergy was out at my house on our street about 11.30 or midnight. The areas of, and this is not all of the areas, but 11th and Main near Hutch Community College. Fourth and plum and countless other areas saw extreme flash flooding again last night I would like to set a future agenda item that addresses work that has been done in these areas in the years past and addresses What work is still outstanding? We heard a lot of information about the stormwater projects and Leading up to the passage of the sales tax, but haven't heard much about them since so I'm curious to know this is a rhetorical question I don't expect an answer this evening But I would would like a future and near future agenda item on this Are these projects the detention basins and retention ponds still happening in their current form have they changed? Are we waiting on something else? What is the something else and what is the timeline for completion on these projects? I think people are curious to know and also to understand how these would impact them. An additional future agenda item, I believe we had two or three people who spoke to this tonight about the proclamation discussion. I had asked Mayor Meggers in uh, mid April, um, to have a discussion about the, the fact that proclamations were removed from council without council input. Um, so I request that these be placed on the agenda for the first meeting in June, because for decades, the mayor of Hutchinson has read proclamations at each council meeting this break from tradition. not only represents a departure from our historical practice, but it also signals to residents that their causes and contributions are not being recognized by their local government. Two just recent ones, one was mentioned this evening, which was Mental Health Month, one which we recognized our, I believe it was Public Works Week, so we recognized our staff with a luncheon today, which we typically have a proclamation for them each year. So these are important issues in our community that are going unrecognized. We currently have no communication or clear direction to staff regarding how proclamation requests should be evaluated or when the matter will be revisited. This lack of guidance has left residents confused and uncertain. There are community members who have now been waiting months to advocate for proclamations that are meaningful to them with no path forward. When I served as mayor, I proposed ways to make the proclamation process more efficient, including only reading on one meeting a month, et cetera. Those suggestions were not considered, so we are now five months without proclamations, and I do not believe that our meetings have become more efficient as a result. I urge the mayor to take up this discussion and provide residents with clarity and the recognition they deserve. An additional future agenda item, we still need to have a conversation about the travel policy. The previous conversation did not reach a conclusion. We left it that the council would review the staff policy when it was completed, yet it has been removed from the future agenda items on the current agenda without an understanding of when the employee policy would be brought up again. I request that when the employee policy is put back on the agenda, the policy that I wrote also be presented Perhaps council favors one policy or would like to combine the two to draft a new one that best fits our needs. Another future agenda item is the water conservation plan. I know that that has been worked on since at least October and is due before council sometime in the first half this year. So I look forward to hearing that. I also believe that we're required to adopt the plan and send it off to KDHU. Maybe not required, but recommended. You can come up, sure.

So that's correct. As part of the SRF project, or the SRF process, we were required to adopt a water conservation plan, and then KDHE's requirements are that every April, I think, we review it. And you had penciled out a bunch of comments, and we took those into account, and that's what Aaron's team is working on preparing. We are a little bit overdue on it, but... if there's no changes to it, which hopefully after this one, we'll have a, we'll have a really sharp looking plan and we'll review it every April, but we can give you an update on anything. But after this, we may not have updates to the plan, but we will, we do have one in place.

Yeah. I think it would be beneficial to have, um, to have it so that people are aware of what is in the plan. Um, because as we head into an unknown summer, possibly drought season, possibly rainy season, who knows, Are we looking at going into conservation phases, and what do those look like for residents and businesses? So I look forward to that, and I think it's one more way that we can educate our residents. Sure. The same goes with the stormwater fee charter ordinance and code violations topics. I discussed code violations with Mr. Williams today, but these have not been discussed and were also removed from the future agenda items section. I also request that we review the purchasing policy because the current purchasing policy gives the city manager discretion as to when to bring certain items to council or not to bring them to council at all. I understand that that is a staff facing policy. However, since it mentions action to be taken or not taken by council, I for one would like to see it. I think this also provides more transparency as the policy would then be a public facing document that council residents and the press can hold staff accountable to. In the February 9th through February 13th report to council, um, which is sent to us weekly. Um, forwarded from Mr. Vegas and all department, almost all department heads, um, contribute to it. It was reported that the streets department was hauling hay for the Kansas state fair, or I'm sorry, hauling straw. I was under the impression that the only time that we hauled straw for the state fair was during the fair in September. I inquired if we have an MOU in place with the state fair for these services. The email I received from Mayor Maggers on May 7th was, Enrico can explain it to you, but I have yet to hear from Mr. Villegas about the subject. Mr. Villegas, would you like to explain the service that we are providing to the State Fair for hauling straw?

Actually, Cecil, could you take that? Okay.

Do you need to get in council? I don't have the exact wordage in my mind right now, but basically we do have an MOU with the state fair that we haul for them year-round. The 10 days of the fair is guaranteed. We will be there every day of the fair. The rest of the year basically says we will haul it in a timely manner for them. I mean, that's the long and short of it. We actually do have a contract that says we will haul for them.

And when was that MOU entered into?

The last update was a long time ago. I could dig it up and find the exact date, but it's been on the record for a long time.

Okay. Is it something that would be beneficial to revisit considering gas prices have increased and perhaps being able to just be available to haul straw or haul whatever material I don't know what it says as far as like how many days of notice we would have to give, et cetera, but perhaps there's something that needs to be built into there that would give us more control on when we can say no to something or... upcharge for short notice, that kind of thing.

Yeah, and we typically don't have a short notice. In the summertime, on the off-fair days, we kind of give them a reasonable response, so within like two weeks, but it's definitely something we can pull back out and look at. I know there's some stuff in there that has to do with some of the long-term lease that the city gets from the fairgrounds, like where the RO plant sits, and a few of those items, but I can definitely get with Paul and Cody on that and and see if there's anything we need to update.

Okay. Yeah, I think it would be beneficial for both sites to revisit that. Thank you. Yep. Moving on. Last year in November, we held the Hutch, South Hutch, and County meeting. One subject that I brought up at the time was the lack of a mutual aid agreement between Hutch and South Hutch. I recall the mayor or then mayor of South Hutch saying that we should have one and they would be willing to talk about it this year. Former Chief Beer was agreeable that we should have one in place. If I recall correctly, South Hedge is one of the only rural communities that we don't have one with, and we have not yet had another meeting with those three parties since. My understanding from the meeting in November was that everybody was agreeable to scheduling a recurring meeting for all of us, but this hasn't happened. And I request that we do make that happen. When I asked about the lack of a mutual aid agreement, Mayor Magers again said I would have to talk to Enrico about that. I don't know what the answer to that question was. He said, so Mr. Vegas, can you explain what there is we would need to know about a mutual aid agreement with South Hutch?

What are you after in particular?

that we don't have one and we should have one?

There's a lot of things with South Hutch that we're currently working on. And this has been an item for quite some time. So I haven't had the time, neither has staff, to really kind of dedicate to this specifically. But hopefully after budget season wraps up, this is something that we can put more energy towards.

Another question for you, when will the street sweepers be back up and running?

Cecil?

I believe one of them is currently back up and running now, and the other one's waiting on parts. I can find out for sure what the timeline on the second one is, but I believe the first big sweeper actually got back up and running this week.

Okay, and how long were they down?

One's been down for about two weeks, and the other was down for most of last week.

Okay. The reason I ask is because there's considerable degree from the floodwater in those areas that I mentioned. I do know that we just added... street sweeper requests into C-ClickFix. And I just wanted to make sure that those were something that would be gotten to in a timely manner.

Yeah, and our standard right now for street sweeping is we'll look at something for requests, but typically we don't sweep streets on request. We would have so many it would just be unrealistic. We try to hit every residential street at least once per year. Arterial streets and a few others get done monthly and quarterly, along with some special event sweepings that happen throughout the year. But city code still is curb and gutter is the responsibility of the homeowner.

Right. Thank you. That was all I had for that section. Another future agenda item, I ask that we receive a fire department strategic plan update. The current strategic plan is for 2023 to 2028, which means we're over halfway through with their plan. Considering the change in leadership and the time left for them to accomplish strategic goals, I request that council hear a presentation from Chief Andrew soon. And then one more, I have requested planning to consider chapter 28 of city zoning. In an email on May 7th to Viegas, Meagher, Brown, and Smith, I outlined multiple reasons why Chapter 28 needs revised. On May 8th, Villegas responded that he would talk to staff about this and have legal counsel provide me and the rest of counsel with some analysis. This was not included as an agenda item in today's meeting, so I'm curious if Chapter 8 needs revised, which it does, just as much as Chapter 27, And it makes sense that we would revise them both at the same time. Does Chapter 27 require us to send it to Planning Commission, or is that something that legal staff is going to?

It wouldn't go to the Planning Commission.

Okay. So should we expect Chapter 27 amendments at the same time when we get back the Chapter 28 amendments?

Actually, you're talking about two different things. Chapter 28 is about telecommunications. You're thinking of data centers. Chapter 28 does not impact data centers.

Right. It talks about right-of-way usage and telecommunications.

And the data centers, just like all the other utilities, they get to use our right-of-way.

Right.

And that was approved by the state. It's by state statute, and we don't have a choice.

And the amount of time that we have to respond to... Their request is that set by state statute actually is set by federal law And ours is the exact same or is ours more lenient. It's still federal law So is ours the exact same or is ours more lenient?

No, it's not the same thing What do you mean by that? Just what I said data centers are controlled by federal law not by chapter 28 of the city and

Okay, so we are not going to revise Chapter 28?

Didn't say that. It is due to be revised, but it won't impact data centers.

Okay. And when will it be revised?

Well, you'll have to take that up with Mr. Smith.

Mr. Smith, would you like to weigh in on when it may be revised?

After I received your email, I did start looking into it, but we have a number of things. When I started the first couple weeks, I kind of went through some things with Mr. Brown in terms of what updates we should be looking at doing. So I am working on a number of things, including our core policy. I think that is something that we need to address first. So as soon as I get that wrapped up, I can then turn my attention to Chapter 28 and see what we need to do there.

Thank you. My second to last point is I want to address a new practice in which Mayor Meggers has been inviting council members to meet with city staff at City Hall to discuss the agenda before it's made public. I was asked to participate in the first meeting but was unable to attend due to a scheduling conflict. At that time, I did express my view that setting the agenda is and has historically always been the role of the mayor only. Since then, it's my understanding that council members True and Garza and Fast have all been invited to weigh in on the agenda with or without Mayor Meagher's prior to it being shared with me or with the public. I am concerned because the Northwest District is not being included in these conversations. If certain council members are consistently shaping the agenda before others have the opportunity to see it, that raises a legitimate question about whether all districts are being represented equally in the process. And then my last point is I have a question for Finance Director Richards. She's still here. In one of your, I think multiple of your weekly reports to council, and I apologize, I'm not super familiar with all of the ways that a person can do bill pay for their utilities because I am just on auto pay. But you mentioned that you are advising residents not to pay by mail. And what are all of the ways that a person can pay their bill?

Yes, we have been having problems receiving the mail and our utility billing manager has spoke with the postmaster at least twice and at the last point they were saying that They have been experiencing delays because of short staffing, and so they would advise not to pay by mail. We do have the Dropbox, which is on the west side of City Hall. You can sign up to have it bank draft through ACH. You can pay online. You can sign up for auto payments online. You can sign up for text reminders and text to pay online. What else can you do? Oh, you can walk in and pay at any time? Yes. We still have pay by phone. We don't take payments over the phone because our phone calls are recorded and so that's a credit card violation if we were to take payments with a representative. But we have the pay by phone automatic system that does remember your card number. So if you call in again, it's easy to pay your bill again.

Okay. So the pay by phone would be that they have to have a card on file? And pay with the same card repeatedly?

No. You can change the card. You can add a new card. You can even pay by e-check. Okay. I'm just stating it's easier because it keeps it on file.

And so our current practice is that we aren't using like a postmarked date on the envelope. It's based off of when it's received.

Correct. There are way too many payments for us to go by date mailed. Okay.

And is that something that could be changed or would that not be feasible for you guys?

I mean, you're talking hundreds of mail payments potentially. So to, I mean, and I can't backdate the payment date. Okay. I think I'd need additional staff to do that.

Okay. And when someone's paying by phone, is it required that they speak to a live person first? No. It just goes through the system?

And after hours, you do have the option to, I believe it's press one, and it'll take you automatically to that. Okay.

Okay. That was my last point. Thank you.

that it so I just I just wanted to the races we had Oh, I can't remember what the date was. A couple weeks ago, or maybe it was last weekend. They had a really good turnout on that Friday night. They had some weather on Saturday, so not as good a turnout, but they said it was still worth having the event. They've got another event coming up on May 22nd, and they're going to keep pushing forward and keep trying to make that race a really good event for people to come to. Again, I have a lot of tickets to give away, so if you would like to reach out and contact me, I'd be more than happy to give you some free tickets to the races to encourage people to go because it's a great event for our community. So I encourage everyone to get out May 22nd at the races. I want to speak to your stormwater retention ponds. The one on 14th last night was full of water. This morning it was empty. So they are working. So there's some update on your stormwater stuff. And then Cecil, two seconds. Since we haven't had a ton of rain to slow us down this year, I was curious where we're at on the ditch mowing.

I know we were behind last year. To everything I've been told by the guys, I haven't asked recently. I know they have been out working, so I believe we're on track. None of the equipment's been broke down yet. So, yeah, I think we're on track, but I can get you an exact thing and get it back to you.

I was just kind of curious. I knew we hadn't been fighting rain this year, so I figured we were probably ahead of schedule would be my guess.

I think we're either right on or maybe a little ahead, but, yeah, I haven't talked to them directly on it. I just know they've been out working.

Okay. Thank you. Yep. And then I think that's all we've got. Mr. Enrico?

Mr. Mayor, can I say one thing? Sure. I forgot. I'm sorry. Sorry, Enrico. I forget. I have a lot of emails of people encouraging me. They like what I do, and I stick up for people. So I want to remind you young citizens who call me, who write me on email, say keep it up, keep going. Thank you for backing me, and you don't have to go out there and put it in a newspaper or nothing. Just put it on there and say good job, guys. Keep it up. That's enough. So I'm sorry, Rico. Go ahead, brother.

The only thing I have for the council is a proposal to have the budget work session on June 16th where we can go over CIP and MRF. I think we should be at a point by then that we'll have something presentable to you all. I did mention it at the last council meeting, so I figured I'd just throw out a date and see if you all are good with that, June 16th.

This feels like we're getting started a lot later than we have in years past.

When do we have to have a done by?

I mean, it's a little behind schedule, but we've also been taking into account how to handle the sales tax money, the hybrid pay go. We're taking a deeper dive into our MRF in terms of when we swap out fleet. I mean, there's been a lot more. hands-on approach with this versus going through the ebbs and flows. So that's why I'm proposing June 16th as at least a date to start.

What are June council meeting dates?

No, we have June 2nd and then June 16th.

Do you need a decision from everybody right now?

You can just email me. Whatever date's fine. Ideally, the 16th. I mean, we could make the second work, but I'll just be getting back from vacation.

What time of the day are you thinking?

I can send out like a doodle or something, and you guys can all pick which times, and we'll go with the most popular one.

Is that all you got? All right, Mary, next item.

Item 11, future agenda items. A, proclamation discussion.

Then we have noted the other... future agenda items that Stacey Muscos noted stated and I know some of those Enrico and I have talked about those and I know they will be coming soon and then any other discussion items council would like to see future No? Or is it? No, sir. All right. If nothing else, then...

I have a motion. I, again, move for an executive session for the same reason I stated earlier.

Okay. So I would have to have a second.

Okay. I have a question for counsel then, Mr. Brown. the information that was shared during last meeting's executive session, is that something that I am eligible to hear?

You could have if you came to the executive session.

That's why I'm asking to have an additional session.

No, you didn't come. You left.

Right. My children were being threatened on the internet.

Well, I'm sorry. You left.

I'm not sorry. Cool. Move to adjourn.

Second.

To adjourn.

To adjourn.

You lost me.

I'm sorry.

Truen? Yes. Garza? Yes. Goss? Yes. Bass? Yes. May?

Yes.

Thank you. Bye.