City Council - Regular Meeting

you

Good evening. I would like to call to order the Hutchinson City Council meeting August 24th, or August 4th, 2026. Mary, please go roll.

Truman. Here. Garza. Here. Goss. Here. Bass. Here. Magers. Here. Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America,

Tonight we have Victor Halfmoon from Legacy Bible Church to offer the prayer.

Let's pray. Father, we come before your throne of grace only through the person and work of your son, Jesus Christ. We thank you for the blessing of living in this country and for the freedoms we have such as the right, privilege, and responsibility of voting. Lord, May those who lead this country do so in a manner pleasing to you. And Father, we thank you for the council members and for their desire to serve in this capacity. May they fervently seek to meet the needs of the community and the people. Lord, bless them and provide for them and their families. I also ask you to provide for those who are in attendance tonight. You alone know their needs and those of their families. Bless them according to the riches of your mercy and with the abundance of your grace. Rule over these proceedings tonight. Let each one here, whether it be members of the council or the community, speak and interact with one another with grace, respect, and gentleness, seeking unity and wisdom. And may these proceedings be done according to your will and for your glory. In Jesus' name, amen.

Next item is the approval of the proposed agenda. Any council members need to make any changes or modifications to the agenda? If not, I just need a motion.

I move to approve the proposed agenda as presented and amended.

Second. Truman? Yes. Garza? Yes. Goss? Yes. Fast? Yes. Makers?

Yes. Next item.

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

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

Duke Duvall, Hutchinson, Kansas. I'm here tonight, basically I came, I was gonna complain about the potholes again, but thanks to a member of the city council who's been helping me with that, I think it's been resolved. The public works director himself is gonna take the crew down and show them where the holes are. And I guess you have to lead people to the water first. You can't make them drink it. But I do have a proposal, and I know you guys love to give away money, but I wanted to borrow two million bucks and be tax-exempt for ten years, and I want to buy equipment to repair potholes all over the city. And I think I could pull this off if you guys would just Let me have the money and the tax abatements and just give me a chance. Thank you. Thank you. That was not a serious statement because I do not work.

Thanks, Duke. You're welcome.

Hello, Greg Clark. I live at 7 Monarch Lane here in Hutch. Now a full-time resident as I'm retired school superintendent. So it's kind of different to be able to speak this way instead of over there. We've got the lots along Hollyhock Drive to the north of Hollyhock have not been mowed yet. this year at all. The only mowing that's been done is mowing that I've done between the street and the sidewalk, because we do have people that walk dogs and stuff through there, and I've just taken it upon myself to mow that. I have taken the initiative and contacted the owner who lives in Wichita. He informed me he was just waiting for the city to tell him to mow it. Weeds are a good three feet high in a lot of areas. I'm almost nervous to have you mow it now because if you do, I'm afraid we get a good north wind this fall and all that will blow into my neighbor's yards and my yards. We really try to keep that neighborhood looking nice. I even took it upon myself to do the ditch and everything through there to make it look really nice. And I put in the click it and fix it, but I haven't had any. It tends to go away, that one does, for the mowing. I put in another one that's been acknowledged, but just appreciate any help in that area. I know you guys got a lot on your plate, and 10 or 12 high lots probably isn't top of your priority, but just wanted to make that known. So thank you for your time. Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Matt Williams, the Director of Community Development. I just wanted to invite everyone to our data center open house. It will be next week on August 12th at 5.30 in the evening, 5.30 to 7 at the Fire CTC at 3201 East 4th Avenue. We'll be having an open house gathering feedback about data centers and how we should regulate them in our community. So we'd love to have everybody come out. Thank you. Thanks, Matt.

Good evening, Mayor, Council. My name is Greg DeGarmo, 1303 Harding here in Hutchison. My comments regarding the Hutchison traffic signals. So two years ago, city staff began evaluating traffic signals again and their continued necessity at certain locations. This has occurred in the past and many unnecessary signals have been removed. As some may remember, there were many signals on Washington, Walnut, and Poplar in the downtown area that are no longer there. Last year, Avenue A in Washington and 4th and Washington were removed with no negative impact. This year, the city is planning to remove signals at 23rd and Tyler, 11th and Baker, and Bigger and Maple. The first two intersections will have stop signs on Tyler and Baker with a four-way stop determined for Bigger and Maple. I personally agree with these changes. What bothers me is a statement comparing the number of signals we have to other cities of a similar size and or population. And I just want to share some facts about Hutchison. Fact number one is that there's no other city in the state of Kansas, whether our size or larger, that hosts the Kansas State Fair, which we have for 113 years. The Nebraska State Fair is in Grand Island with a population of 53,000. Colorado State Fair is in Pueblo with a population of 112,000. And the Oklahoma State Fair is in Oklahoma City with a population of 681,000. Fact number two is no other city in the United States, whether our size or larger, hosts the NJCAA National Basketball Tournament, which we have for 77 years. We have also hosted the NJCAA Division I Volleyball Championship, with this fall will be our seventh time. We've also hosted the NJCAA Men's and Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championship five times, along with many state basketball and football championships. Fact number three, there's no other city in the Western Hemisphere, whether our size or larger, has Stratica, the only underground salt museum open to tourists that take you 650 feet down into a 275 million year old salt deposit. It is also known for storing Hollywood memorabilia, like the original negatives of The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind, along with other TV and movie reels, costumes, and famous props. Fact number four, Hutchison is home to an international science education center and one of America's best known Smithsonian affiliated space museums, the Cosmosphere. It houses the largest collection of Soviet space artifacts outside of Russia, including a Sputnik engineering model. It is also famous for the SR-71 Blackbird and T-38 aircraft inside, Redstone and Titan rockets out front, Apollo 13 command module, and the Liberty Bell 7 that was recovered from the bomb of the Atlantic after 38 years. Fact number five is we have a premier golf course at Prairie Dunes that has hosted eight USGA championships, including the 2006 US Senior Open. They will be hosting the 2029 US Senior Open and the 2032 US Senior Women's Open. Prairie Dunes has also hosted the 2014 NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championship, along with several Kansas State amateur tournaments. So in conclusion, we must make sure we are prepared to handle the additional traffic we get when hosting these different events. We have many other local events all year long. Hutchinson is unique and has a promising future. Thank you. Thanks, Greg.

Anyone else? Good evening, Mayor and Council.

My name is Mark Albert. I'm from Nickerson, Kansas, 670 Sill. I have an item here to propose for a new business to be put on the agenda for the next meeting. Should I read it or should I just present it to you gentlemen? And ladies, excuse me. I would say go ahead and just read it. Okay, perfect. All right, here we go. All persons elected to a city staff or official position must not enter into any understanding or agreement, written or orally, stating an elected person will not disclose any or all communications in any form involving matters concerning the public's interest or to be brought to the public's attention. Any violation of this order will result in immediate loss of elected position and removal from office for cause. And now that I read it, I was sitting there thinking that would not include these gentlemen over here as well to the report. But when we get down to it, I think we're lacking transparency. You know, it starts at so many different levels. You know, you can't undo what has been done, but you can hope to correct and move on from those mistakes. into the future, you know, these, the data center, the best, you know, the solar energy, the tax abatements and all that. Well, the tax abatements don't make business sense because if there weren't the abatements and the incentives, they wouldn't be doing business. You know, the data centers, you know, it's like I was here two weeks ago, three weeks ago, whatever, two meetings ago, excuse me, and you have Mr. Strong, you have the Plum Creek development.

That's not going very well.

How is the city and the county going to deal with billion-dollar companies? It's like how do we even write an ordinance or planning and zoning for these things when we have no idea what they are? Have any of you been to a data center, a hyperscale data center? I've been to three. Okay. And your impression of them?

They're a non-issue, the three that I went to.

And which ones were they?

Aurora, Colorado, Northland, Kansas City, and downtown Kansas City.

So the two in the metro Kansas City, I've been to those as well, too, and they kind of blend in to the environment and the impacts there because, you know, the city is busy, it's loud, it's noisy, it's already bright, it's light, it's hot, right? But it's like we want to put a... a hyperscale data center in Hutchinson over here at Sunoco, even though there's not been a proposal. Well, the environmental impacts, are there studies that have been done, third party, for those plants? If they haven't, there should be. It's interesting, it's like, I haven't seen a proponent in here at any of the meetings I've been to. And I was like, I'm kind of fighting this fire on two sides because we are a 100-year-old plus farm in Rice County. And they want to put the turbines right next to us. Changes our farm completely forever. data center is gonna change Hutchinson forever because the biggest tax base that we have here in the city and the county are the residents and the manufacturers right and you want people to come and move into Plum Creek and you're building data centers and best it's like I know our fire department cannot handle a fire in a bus system I don't even know how you gonna put out a fire in the data center But those are not things that are attractive to a city or a county or a community that's looking to bring in new people to live here. You know, the gentleman that was before me that read all those fantastic facts about Hutch, it was like refreshing. It's like, Hutch is pretty great. Hutch is great. Why don't we show those things and make it welcoming to other people to live here? Because I guarantee you, you do data centers and BESS, all of the population centers around there, they do not grow. And they leave. And we cannot, our resources, we do not have the resources.

I need to have you. You're five minutes up. So just if you'd wrap it up for me, that'd be great.

Well, you got my gist here. And I'll leave this here for you. I appreciate your time. Thank you for having me.

Appreciate you coming forward. Thank you. Thanks, Mark. Anyone else?

Before we move on, I would like to just point out an inconsistency, and this isn't directed to the gentleman who just spoke. It was something that I had planned on bringing up before anyway, but there's an inconsistency in the way that we're applying the Chapter 2 regarding public comments because, I don't know if it was the last meeting or the one before that, people who are speaking in the public comments are Because you read the statement and then they're speaking right after that and it seems like they're held to a higher standard than those who are speaking later in the meeting who are speaking to a specific item. So for instance, at the last meeting, I think it was the last meeting, I think two or three different residents directed questions to staff. Staff came up and answered. either this is the policy, what you read at the beginning of the meeting is the policy that we're going to use for the entire meeting, or if there's a separate standard that we plan to apply to the public comments that are given on specific items, I think it It would be nice to make people aware of that. I don't think that it's appropriate to require or ask staff to come up and engage with the public on the fly. They're being asked questions that they... Might not be prepared for or are maybe even not relevant to the subject matter that they they're presenting on So I just wanted to bring that to your attention No, I I do get that and I think we've talked about that Cody too is like as counsel we can extend that five minutes if we want to isn't that correct and

Yes, you can extend it. But, yeah, I think what Council Member Goss is getting at is the difference between public comment and a public hearing. Now, a hearing, there's more engagement back and forth. So if something is set for a public hearing, then pursuant to law, that needs to be allowed. But, yeah, with respect to Chapter 2 and our policy, if it is public comment, I mean, technically – It's supposed to be they come up here, they give their comment, the council listens and takes it under consideration, but it's not a hearing in the sense that then there's conversation that goes on. Okay.

No, I think that's – we're trying to adhere to that, too, just to make sure everyone gets a fair chance to speak their thoughts and their processes. So I do – we do try and adhere to that, that five minutes. Sometimes, again – We give a little bit of leniency sometimes or maybe counsel to extend if it's a topic that needs to be discussed, especially when it's an agenda item versus an actual public comment. I'm not trying to, I don't know how to say that.

My concern is not with time at all. My concern is more with the, we're calling it public comment, but we're treating it as a public hearing. asking staff to come up and answer questions, or there's back and forth between council and people at the podium, residents, members of the public at the podium. I'm all for transparency, but I just want to see something, I don't know, evenly applied.

So you're trying to, is that more in the regards of the public hearing or public comment? I know public hearing is different than public comment, so I mean, is that, are you trying to

Right. What I'm saying is that we are treating public comments basically as hearings and asking staff to come up when it's a comment. And it should have the same.

Basically a comment, and then it's done.

Right.

OK.

Right. There shouldn't be questions asked of staff from a member of the public, et cetera. So it seems like it's not being applied in the same way.

OK.

And the city is unique in the fact that it provides that public comment portion on each individual agenda item. I don't know of any cities. I'm not saying there aren't any, but generally the procedure is there's the public comment portion of the agenda, and then that's when folks can, if there's something on the agenda they want to talk about, that's when they can talk about it. It kind of condenses everything to, and I think it helps with this problem, where it condenses it all into that section of the meeting so there isn't any confusion over. Then if later we do have a public hearing, so it's basically like during that section it's comment, anything after that it's public hearing because we've said a public hearing. But I think it does, and it's probably confusing for the public too in terms of is an agenda item set for a public hearing or is this just a public comment thing? So I'm not saying we make any changes to that, but I would just say, you know, Hutch is unique in the fact that it allows public comment for those separate agenda items in addition to the public comment portion. But, yeah, if there's anything the council wants staff to look at in terms of trying to clarify some of those things, I'd be happy to.

And I'm asking you on the fly, but you don't feel like there needs to be a change in that because I can see the point of changing it if we're the odd man out.

I mean, I think it would solve this problem that we're talking. I mean, if we just condense all of the public comment into that portion of the agenda and then open it up where they can talk about agenda items, because right now they have, they, they are not allowed to speak about agenda items because then they can speak about them later when that agenda items call. But most cities are, they condense it all into the public comment to where then they can freely talk about whatever agenda item they want during their public comment portion. And then once that's over, then everyone's under the understanding, okay, public comment's done. That was that portion. Now if there's any other items on the agenda that open it up to the public, that's going to be a public hearing, and then that's treated differently in the sense of then that's when you can have the conversation back and forth. Yeah, I mean, I meant mostly, I'm not saying we change it, you know, I'm not asking you to make a motion and change that right now or anything, but something to think about and a proposal to kind of resolve this confusion, because it's something I've noticed since I've started here.

Well, and that's why you're sitting in that chair, and to your point, Stacey, I probably shouldn't have interacted with this guy, but...

Oh, well, like I said, I was going to bring it up anyway.

Yeah, and I know that's not really what you're talking about, but I feel like we've all been pretty good about restraining ourselves, and I didn't necessarily restrain myself there.

No, and I think it's a good conversation to have because when we talked about this a while back, it was kind of one of those we really like getting public feedback on some of the agenda items and public comments, so that's why it was something that I felt like it was, and I think council felt like it was something good to keep on our agenda to get input from the public. So, I mean, if it's something we need to discuss in the future or now, I'm fine with cutting it over.

And I don't know if you're getting at this, but it seemed like it was this engagement all through the meeting. Right. Because I was concerned when I left the meeting last time as well.

And so, number one, it puts staff in an awkward position that they're being basically forced to, provide answers to something that they maybe weren't prepared for or that's kind of tangential to whatever the subject actually was but I think the other thing is that it adds a really like an unknown multiplier of time to the meetings because if we are I think if we're going to engage in a larger conversation about the process then part of the conversation is that Out of respect for our time, residents' time, staff's time, everybody's, maybe we would have the option of putting it to a vote to open it up to a certain subject, open it up to more public hearing or an additional public comment type of thing. But, I mean, for the sake of what most governing bodies do, it's you have public comment at the beginning and then you're done. And part of that is it does allow, I mean, it allows you to gauge kind of how long a meeting is going to last.

Do you want, is this something that we want to, I mean, do we want to change that?

I would say ponder it. make a recommendation to the mayor. And I mean, I, I think we're all in agreement with what Stacy is bringing up that, you know, I think for myself, what I saw is we've always done this, right?

So I think that's, you know, what kind of the path we went down. So yeah, I guess if you, if you need to look at this and make a recommendation, it kind of sounds like maybe that's what we should do.

Because I know some residents would appreciate it, too, because they may want to talk about an item that's on the agenda, but maybe it's towards the end, and they may not have the ability to wait two or three hours. So if they can get those comments out earlier, you might actually get some more feedback from folks.

No, that's fine. I mean, if you guys want to do that, I'm all for that.

And again, sir, this was absolutely not directed at you. I was planning on bringing this up, regardless of your comments. I think we all learned. Yeah.

Well, so if you want to look into that and then just come back with something on that. Absolutely. Okay. Next item, Mary.

Item number six, consent agenda.

Council, any questions on the consent agenda? No. If not, I'm looking for a motion.

No questions, just a comment. I see where the fraternal order of police has changed. We need more folks speaking Spanish, apparently, and I think that's a very good thing. We're going to pay them more if you can speak fluently and engage with the public. So that's my only thing I'd like to point out. I think that's a very good thing, and I would move to approve the consent agenda as presented. I'll second.

Truin? Yes. Garza? Yes. Goss? Yes. Fast? Yes. Makers?

Yes.

Item number seven, public hearing. A, public hearing on amending ordinance 2022-09 community improvement district for landmark and approval of development agreement amendment. Angela Richard, director of finance.

I'll make a motion to open this public hearing.

Second. Truin? Yes. Garza? Yes.

Goss? Yes. Fast? Yes. Magers?

Yes.

Angela Richard, Director of Finance. With the Ornitz 202606 that was passed a couple months ago, the City Council approved a 2% community improvement district for the landmark Mayor... the Mayor Landmark LLC at 501 North Main. With approving that, the residents of that building would be subject to the CID 2% sales tax. We found that out after we had passed it. So with this amendment to the ordinance, 202609, it would exclude the residential addresses at that location. So the Main Street addresses would be for the businesses and then the residential addresses would be on West 5th. So using that creative approach, we're able to separate the residents from the commercial and therefore the state would know which ones are subject to the CID and which ones aren't. We have ran this by the state the Department of Revenue and they have agreed that this approach will work and they have begun the proceedings to implement this CID effective October 1st without the residential components unless we do not approve this. Then I'll notify them they need to include the residential units as well. So what we're considering tonight is we're having the public hearing, and then after we close that, later we'll consider the ordinance or amending the ordinance and approving the development agreement. The development agreement was amended as well to modify the description of the CID property. So I can open it up to any questions or public comment.

Council, any questions?

No.

Any questions from the public?

My understanding with a Duke Duvall again, I still live in Hutchinson, Kansas, and my understanding that a CID, Community Improvement District, takes in more than just the landmark hotel, am I right or wrong? Is other businesses in that community improvement district also being taxed or they have to pay the tax. And if it was a star bond to begin with, I thought 2% of the sales tax collected by the state would go to pay the bond issue. Now is a star bond different than a CID?

Yes.

Are they intertwined in any way?

The star bond and the CID aren't related in this case at all. It just so happens that they both are included. This property is included in both, I should say. But they aren't related. The CID doesn't affect the star bond. And only the businesses located at the 501 North Main within that commercial first floor area will be included in the CID. So no businesses outside of that building.

Yeah, so with just the businesses on the lower floor, how long will it take to get rid of their debt? I guess the CID, now who do they owe the money to?

I can answer that as well.

So in this case, they're using pay as they go. So we're not obligated to any debt. If they're using debt to finance their project, then that's on them. But we're just paying what expenses they've already incurred. There's no debt involved in this process. And so it'll last up to 22 years or until I believe it's $1.2 million is reimbursed. So whichever comes first.

That's still a little bit shaky for me. Gosh, 22 years, I'll be 99. And what I'm asking now is so when you go in to, say, the restaurant there, just hypothetical, are you expected to pay the extra 2% on your bill?

Yes, that's correct. You would pay the additional 2% sales tax, just like we have at other CIDs, including the mall.

And I would just add, I mean, the CID's already been approved, so these concerns don't, I guess, really relate to the matter that's here tonight. This is just to amend it so that the residences aren't paying the CID, just to make sure everybody's clear on that.

Oh, yeah, but I wanted to put my two cents in because I still don't understand it, and I wouldn't go into a restaurant and pay an extra 2% for food. It makes no sense at all, but I'm not in charge. Thank you.

Thank you. Any other comments? I just need a motion to close the hearing.

I'll make a motion to close the public hearing.

Second. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Item number 7B, continuation of public hearing to consider Meadows on Monroe RHID and development plan.

Good evening, Matt Williams, Director of Community Development. Again, this item, staff's still working on with the developers, so we're asking you to continue the public hearing to the next city council meeting.

I move to continue that hearing.

Before you do, I want to point something out, if that's okay. Okay, so the gentleman who came and spoke about the unmowed properties on Hollyhock, those are owned by the developer of Meadows on Monroe's business partner. So to me, I guess one philosophy of owning empty lots is, yeah, you can wait until the city sends you a letter to mow it. Or if you're at this exact moment trying to partner with the city, for something like this, maybe they should be mowing their grass. And I just wanted to point out that there's a connection there between, what is that development? Monarch Meadows and Meadows on Monroe. That's all.

Thanks for pointing that out.

You're welcome. I second Greg's motion.

Truett? Yes. Garza? Yes. Goss? Yes. Bass? Yes. Magers?

Yes.

Item number eight, ordinances and resolutions. A, consider an ordinance amending ordinance 2022-09 community improvement district for landmark and approval of development agreement amendment.

Angela Richard, director of finance. At this point in the meeting, I am asking that you consider amending ordinance 2026-09.

I think I'm ready to do that, but thank you, Stacey, for the items you brought up. I think the point was made, and I think that the reason we're having this discussion is you were worried about groceries. It's far more than groceries coming to those residents. It's Amazon and everything else. Very good.

There's another kind of benefit that Mrs. Meyer pointed out to me in a phone call at this point like six weeks or more ago that this prompted a split of the addresses, which is actually going to be a benefit because if the two, if the restaurants and the residences on the second and above floors had the same address, then potentially emergency dispatch would be sending first responders to basically a locked restaurant storefront, if it's in the middle of the night or whatever. And by splitting the two addresses, this actually... this would avoid that situation. So the residences have their own address to give in case of an emergency and the restaurants have, um, a separate address that would be put into dispatch. So, um, one of those like just kind of a weird benefit that came out of this as well, along with the, um, so, The residents will be taxed for like three months. Is that right? No, they won't be at all. This will be changed in time. Okay.

Yes, because they're proceeding like we had already passed this, like we were going to approve this tonight because I believed that you would. I don't see why you wouldn't. So I'm just supposed to let the state know if for some reason you don't approve this tonight. Okay.

Thank you. Any more questions from council? If not, I'd be looking for a motion.

I'll make a motion to approve an ordinance amending ordinance 2022 dash zero nine community improvement district CID for landmark and approval of development agreement amend and authorize the mayor to sign.

Second. Yes. Yes.

Still a no. Sorry.

I'm sorry.

I'm a no.

Yes. Yes. Item number 8B, consider resolution authorizing public sales of GEO bonds 2026A. MS.

In prior meetings, we had approved ordinances and resolutions authorizing the sale of bonds to reimburse ourselves or for certain projects. At this time, we are ready to proceed with the sale of the general obligation bonds to support these projects. We will have a rating call with Moody's later this week, and then the sale of the bonds would take place on September 1st in the morning, and then you would approve the results at that meeting that evening. So the projects that we are funding are the Zoo Nature Play Phase 2, Fairgrounds Playground, Memorial Hall roof, the sidewalk program, street program, spyglass water line, Chattuck HVAC system, and then the Plum Creek phase one and lift station and drainage. Right now we're anticipating or it has, we have scheduled out the bond payments as if the bond interest rate would be about 4.3%. We're actually hoping to get around 4% with the market the way it is right now. So the market's pretty good. So we will see what happens on September 1st and hopefully we get good bid results. This resolution then would authorize staff to proceed with the bond sale. Are there any questions?

Councilman, questions? No. Any questions from the public? Seeing none, I'm looking for a motion.

I'll move to approve a resolution authorizing public sale of GoBonds 2026A and authorize the mayor to sign. Second.

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

Yes.

Item 8C, consider an ordinance regulating public offenses within the corporate limits of the City of Hutchinson, Kansas, incorporating by reference the Uniform Public Offense Code for Kansas City's 42nd edition.

Mayor and council members, Cody Smith, city attorney. Tonight I'm asking the council to adopt two ordinances that are essentially some annual housekeeping items. Both of the next two are related, so I'll just kind of explain them and discuss them at the same time. One will be the 42nd edition of the Uniform Public Offense Code and the other one will be the 53rd edition of the Standard Traffic Ordinance. Both are model codes prepared and published each year by the League of Kansas Municipalities and Kansas law allows for cities to adopt them by reference. So we don't have to reprint the hundreds of pages of criminal and traffic law into our own code book. Our code book just references both of these so that they can be enforced within the city. Last year, that is pretty much the same meeting. Last August, we adopted the 41st and 52nd editions, so now these are just the new updates to the law. As far as the UPOC, Uniform Public Offense Code, what it is, it's essentially a comprehensive misdemeanor criminal code for the city enforcement. It covers offenses like battery theft, criminal damage, disorderly conduct, and it mirrors the state criminal code. So the legislator amends that state criminal code essentially every year every session and then the league In turn then updates this uniform public offense code, which the cities apply to make sure you know we're on the same page and are applying the same laws and that's really helpful for law enforcement because I A lot of times, especially with municipal police officers, they're enforcing both sets of laws. So it's important that they're the same and we don't have any differences in those. As far as what changed in the UPOC, the biggest addition is they added a new offense for unlawful approach of a first responder. This law passed in April, and it makes it a Class B misdemeanor to remain within 25 feet of a law enforcement officer, EMS provider, or firefighter after a warning with intent to interfere, threaten, or harass. So it adds this to the UPOC because it is state law, so essentially it kind of applies no matter what. But this lets the HPD and the city prosecutor enforce those cases in municipal court. With respect to the standard traffic ordinance, that's the traffic counterpart. It's a complete traffic code for cities. Again, parallels the State Traffic Act, and this is also published by the League. Same logic applies. Legislators changes the traffic codes at the state level, so we want to make sure that the laws that we're enforcing are uniform with those. Main changes for the STO this year is the new hands-free law. Effective July 1st, drivers may not use a handheld device in a school zone while a reduced speed limit is in effect or in a construction zone while workers are present and signs are posted. Hands-free use remains legal. Officers issue these warning citations through June 30th of 2027, and then after that, those would carry a $60 fine. So it adds a hands-free device definition and enforcement section so that this can be enforced within cities. The other change that residents might notice involves license plates. It makes it a violation for a plate frame to cover the state name, plate number, or registration decal, and that includes the decorative and college and dealer frames. So if anyone does have any of those, they might want to check that and make sure it's not covering any of those portions of their license plate, because pursuant to state law, as well as with the standard traffic ordinance, they could receive a citation for those. That essentially covers the changes and why we update these on an annual basis. If you have any questions, I'd be happy to discuss.

I have a question about construction zones within the city because in order for, and I understand that they're issuing warnings until 27, but... In order for this to apply, there would have to be signage that it's a construction zone, right? Correct. Not just driving by our guys on the street. But our practice, when we have workers, we don't put out construction zone signs, right? This isn't something that we would be ticketing for except for on the highway.

It depends. So some of the traffic control setup that we have, if it's mobile, meaning like you're just putting down a crack seal on the road, we depending on how long we'll be there we may set up some signage otherwise it's just cones because you're you're moving as you go but if it's something where we're digging up the road and i got 17th and plum that's when we do barricade all of that off so we we do treat the two differently just depending on the operation okay i guess in the larger context um there are other

Like if you hit a worker in a construction zone, that's a different ticket. I don't know, it's like $10,000 or something. That might be a different state, but that's what's standing out in my mind. And so things like that also wouldn't apply because we don't put out construction zone signs.

So you're talking like a clearly marking where construction zone and then end construction zone, that type of thing? I mean, we have done that. We would have to have a clearer practice then to continue to do that. It's within the MUTCD, the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices. That's not a required sign, but we certainly can start doing that.

Well, I'm not saying we have to, but I think that there's a different danger level, like you said, when it's just like you're doing one kind of a smaller project and so you close a lane and traffic typically moves that way or you barricade off the entire street. Like 17th and Plum, there isn't a street to drive on right now. But yeah, I was just curious how that would apply.

Yeah, no, fair question.

Most of the time, if we would have a contractor come in, And it was a big project. They would normally set up a complete construction zone. Because you've got to have the proper signage at the beginning, at the end.

I feel like even last year when they redid 30th Street, I don't remember signs saying construction zone.

There were just cones everywhere. Normally... Normally when you look at a construction zone, you have a reduced speed and it says beginning and end. And normally it's a bigger project. It does require a lot of signage.

And we've been fortunate, at least as far as I know, that no one's been hit. But I was just curious what our practice was with that.

Well, I think what we definitely do, I was not aware of that new law. I was made aware of the law that you can't fly an airplane drunk last year when we had this discussion. But I think maybe Jessica should put out a lot of public information about this. And I think, you know, I'll never stand up in court if there's not a clear end and beginning. But I think that the purpose of the law is to try to make people safer. And we need to make the public aware of that. Like I said, I have no idea the legislature passed that.

Any other questions or comments from council? If not, I'm looking for a motion.

I'll make a motion to prove an ordinance regulating public of regulating public offense within the corporate limits of the city of Hutchinson, Kansas, incorporated by reference, the union or uniform public offense code for the Kansas city's 42nd edition and authorized the mayor to sign.

I'll second that. Yes.

Garza. Yes. No fast. Yes. Yes.

Yes.

Item 8D, consider an ordinance regulating traffic within the corporate limits of the City of Hutchinson, Kansas, incorporating by reference a standard traffic ordinance for Kansas City's 53rd edition with certain omissions and changes and providing certain penalties.

So, yeah, the one you just passed was the Uniform Public Offense Code, and then this one would be the standard traffic ordinance. So unless you have any other questions, I would just ask that you approve it.

Council have any other questions? I just need a motion.

I move to approve an ordinance regulating traffic within the corporate limits of the city of Hutchinson, Kansas, incorporating by reference the standard traffic ordinance for Kansas City's 53rd edition with certain emissions and changes and providing certain penalties and authorize the mayor to sign.

I'll second that.

Truant?

Yes.

Garza? Yes. Goss? Yes. Fast?

Yes.

Magers?

Yes.

Item number nine, new business. Update on condemnation at 211 East 4th Avenue.

Good evening, City Council. Jason Lady, building official. I'm just here tonight to provide an update to you regarding the condemnation and demolition process of the structure located at 211 East 4th Avenue. Got me under pressure with that time clock. This project will include asbestos removal, demolition, and removal of all debris, as well as the backfill and compaction and seeding of grass. So last week we received five bids during what I feel was a competitive bidding process, with the lowest bid coming in at $218,615, and the highest bid on the project was $439,200. Again, simply tonight, this is just a quick update. There's no need for any approval here tonight. This is something informational to provide back to you as the council where we are with this project, as well as providing transparency back to the public. As for the funding of this project, we are well within our annual demolition budget, and we will be providing the demolition funds from that portion of the budget. So there's no need for any additional funding for this project. This project will be bonded. We'll bring that back at the next council meeting. I spoke with Angela on that last week. And we'll be bringing that next council meeting. And we are currently reviewing the contract right now. prior to officially awarding it. However, we have spoke with the contractor and we'll be awarding it to Miller Earthworks. As some of you might know, Miller Earthworks did a little bit of the work on the atrium demolition project. So we know them and have worked very well and have worked with them on other projects. We need to work with the contractor at this point, not only getting the contract signed, but work with the contractor to notify KDHE prior to the demolition. And then once the work commences, there will be about three weeks of asbestos removal, and then we will go into the demolition process. So I'll stand for any questions if you have any.

Was this property, this is the big church by the Burger King. Yes. Was this property up to date on taxes or not? Do you recall? I don't recall off the top of my head on this one. That was the only question I had. Yeah. Thank you.

Any other questions, council? Thanks, Jason. All right.

Item number 10, report of city officials.

All right, Stacy.

Oh, that's rude. I voted today. I forgot to get a sticker, but I did vote today. There's still time to vote. It is 624, and polls close in 36 minutes. So I wanted to explain my vote on the landmark CID. I did vote no because I had voted no on the original, and so voting no on the amendment seemed right to do. kind of for the same reasons that Mr. Duvall mentioned, which is the 2% additional tax on restaurants. I think that sucks, and I would hate for our people to pay it. I know that we're within our right to put that on there, but I also think that it is... unfortunate in a way that the small businesses that will be in the area or in the main floor of the building will have a 2% tax. It doesn't make people want to go there, even if they have great food and great product, great service, et cetera. So I think that's a burden to small businesses. And I look forward to people not using cell phones in school zones. That was a piece of legislation that I was following. Legislation doesn't update traffic stuff very often. So that was an interesting one. But there was something else, an event I attended recently that I can't remember now, but it doesn't matter. That's all I got.

Thank you. Mr. Garza.

Yes. First thing I'd like to comment on the traffic stuff you guys are talking about. I used to work for the city and I used to be involved in traffic as a traffic technician. The employees, I'm sure they probably do, they go to a school and it teaches them how to put the cones up, when to put signings out and stuff like that. And we send them to school for that. And the foremans, when I was back, When I worked, I was a foreman, so it was my job to put the cones out. They have the MUTCD book, and it tells them how to set up a traffic zone, how to put signs up, stuff like that. So your employees are trained on how to do that. So I'm pretty sure they still do it. They go to school for that. Second thing I want to do, this last couple of days, about two weeks ago, I think it was, about a I had a water break in my house, in the front of my house, okay? And the water was coming up out of the street and everything. And I had the water guys come out there. And you can tell they kept looking at my house. I told my wife, come here and look at this. She said, look, I'm pretty sure these guys are nervous as hell because they're in front of a city council breaking the street up and everything. What I'm trying to say, they did an excellent job. They did an excellent job. They got the street fixed in a timely manner. And I was very impressed. If you would, sir, would you tell them that I was impressed with them? All right. And I went out there and told them. And I went out there when they had the street all fixed, put the bricks back in and fixed my water main and everything else. I went out there and I asked them. I said, were you guys nervous? Well, heck yeah, we were nervous. I said, but you did a fine job. So we have good employees that do their job good. And if you ever get a chance to tell your city employees that they do a good job, which they do do a good job. But your city employees do get trained on traffic, how to put cones, and how to put signs up. So if we don't have a sign up, and apparently it's not meeting the standards for that area or how many cars go through there, there's all done in the MUTCD book teaches us how to do that. That's all I have. Thank you. Thank you. It's true.

Well, first of all, I Saturday I was able I got the privilege of reading the proclamation for the Emancipation Proclamation or Emancipation Group. at their luncheon, and they had a nice luncheon, and I hope their whole weekend went good for them. And then Steve, he kind of stole my thunder, but I went yesterday, I went over to Elm and Curtis and watched our water guys working in the water lake, and we've had plenty of opportunity here lately to go watch them. And unfortunately, but I just want to give a shout out to those guys yesterday. They've done an awesome job on all these, and they've been working hard, and we've got good employees, like Steve said. So that's all I have.

Mr. Vest?

Wednesday night, Memorial Hall discussion, Stringer Fine Arts from 530 on. Time for public engagement. I think we have some proposed plans and we would like some feedback. Along those lines, Southwest Bricktown Fiesta coming up a little over a month from now. There is several food trucks confirmed. It'll be very similar to in the years past where we will celebrate Hispanic heritage down at Southwest Bricktown Park. Final thing, we as council members get a weekly report. There was something in there. Officer Jones is a fitness... on the fitness team for the police department. And he had a lot to say about mental health and about fitness. And I just want to say that there's a lot that goes on behind the scenes with our staff. that is really, really good. It helped me to read through that and to apply some of those thoughts to my own life. So counsel, if you haven't read that, it's good stuff. And then there was another commendation of an officer that went above and beyond. So anyway, thanks to our staff. Thanks for working in this heat. That's all I have.

yeah i wanted to jump on that wagon too i just want to commend the staff that had to work through all that heat with the uh water main breaks um i've seen them working all over town just doing a great job so i just want to commend all of them that were involved at every level so um doing great things there um and then gosh we have as i think brian from the fair would say i think we have 37 days till the fair i think is where we're at And so it's kind of an exciting time to get that back into town with the new Bison Arena and a lot of new renovations they've done there at the fair. So that will be an exciting time for our town as well. And I think that's all I have. Enrico?

One, I also appreciate the staff that are working on the water mains. I know that it is very trying and challenging for them, and it doesn't go unnoticed. And I also want to appreciate Duke's questions about the CID and the star bonds because they can trip people up. And so I do appreciate trying to understand what exactly is being asked of you all to take action on. I mean, I get paid to do this, so I have to know it, but it did take me a while, and that's me dedicating time to it. So I do appreciate at least his inquisitiveness of trying to follow with what's going on. That's all I have.

Okay. I guess one more thing. I wanted to commend Mr. Sotelo on his new position in Wichita and congratulate him and wish him well. And thanks for his years of service to the city of Hutchinson. So that's the last thing I had. And then I think we need to have an executive session.

Well, we have the future agenda. Oh, sorry. I jumped over.

Council, do you have any other future agenda items you'd like to see put on the agenda for upcoming meetings? Okay. If not, how long do you... 20 minutes. 20 minutes. I move that City Council recess into executive session pursuant to KSA 754318 for consultation with the City Attorney on matters that would be deemed privileged in the attorney-client relationship, specifically legal advice regarding the terms of a potential economic development contract. The open meeting to resume at 6.53 p.m. Second.

Does anyone want to make a motion? I second it.

Didn't you make the motion? I made the motion. He made the motion.

I seconded it. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Thank you. Bye.

Just need to extend the executive session for another 10 minutes.

Second.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Bye.

I just need a motion for adjournment.

Move to adjourn.

Second.

Truen? Yes. Garza?

Yes. Goss? Yes. Fast? No. Meggers? Yes.

Do you want to stay here all night, Greg? I just do it.