Planning Commission - workshop

Welcome to the July 13th study session. I'm going to turn it over to Councilman Perkins to talk about his resolution.

Thank you, Mayor. First of all, I want to thank everyone for being here for the historic sites. It's been quite a conversation that we've had. A little feedback there. Quite a conversations we've had, just kind of frame the conversation a little bit, kind of talk about where we're at and how we got here. The city is looking at the long-term sustainability of owning and operating, operation of the historical assets. Our historical sites are central to Independence identity as the hometown of Harry S. Truman and as a major Western Trails community. Voters several years ago narrowly rejected a bond initiative that would have funded historic sites and the athletic complex. After the historic sites master plan evaluation that was presented to the city council in the April study session, it was decided to meet with the members of the Vail and the Bingham Historical Sites. That meeting was held on May 26th. Then another historic site meeting was hosted by the Independence Chamber of Commerce, was held on June 29th. Last Monday, the city council approved a moratorium on selling any of the historic sites. During the 29th, June 29th meeting, the conversations that was held there and also discussed afterwards led to the conversation of a general obligation bond to help fund those sites. The quick takeaways are a single issue ballot measure using a general obligation bond to fund historic sites, the Bingham-Wagner, the Vail Mansion, the Truman Memorial Building, and the 1827 log cabin. This should place the geo bond question on the November 3rd ballot. Some other takeaways, conversations that we could have is free admission to the sites to Independence residents if this measure is passed. There will be a resolution discussed here after the staff's presentation to place a resolution on the July 20th council meeting to place a ordinance on the August 3rd council meeting for first reading. So that kind of brings us to how we got here and why we're discussing this. And I appreciate it. I've had the opportunity to discuss this with all my colleagues. So thank you for the questions and the conversations that we have, Mr. or Mr. Mayor.

Thank you.

Yeah, you're welcome.

Um, at this time we have a citizen's request. Uh, our first request, uh, our first person to speak is Robin Baker Bakari.

Referencing the proposed GO bond in regards to historical sites is not a necessary or a viable avenue for the four sites at this time. There has been minimal discussions or considerations exploring other avenues and going straight to a GEO bond is totally uncalled for at this time, especially due to the current climate within our city. I am speaking on behalf of business owners, citizens, constituents, and small business owners who are very proud of our historical city. As citizens and avid supporters of both of these entities, we are respectfully requesting that the city manager and you, our elected officials, explore all options prior to the council even considering let alone voting on this very subject. The responsibility for allocation of public funds to finance restoration projects and preservation of those historical sites has always fallen upon the shoulders of our city to be shared along with private organizations. Our municipality has now historically failed in the upkeep and restoration of those sites. They have cross-funded other entities, dismantled the necessary departments to maintain the properties, and lacked the funds to maintain these national, historic, and registered properties, which is quite an honor in the United States. There are multiple viable pathways to preserve these sites by utilizing private capital, targeted brick and mortar grants through historic preservation fund, state historic preservation funds, national trust preservation funds, Save America's Treasure Fund, federally protected historic preservation tax incentives, state historical preservation, local preservation grants, and yes, community development. block grants all the prior mission mentioned have funds available right now for our city it's been researched once again i'm asking all of you city manager mayor and council please please slow down and explore all the options go go bonds at this current time in this client climate, excuse me, are set to fail not only in independence, everywhere. Everyone is struggling just to live. Give us a chance with these grants and all these funds that are currently available to us to use to get everything restored and put in the coffer for future. Thank you.

Thank you. Our next speaker is Pam Fulmer.

Mayor and council members, I'm from the Vail Mansion, part of the board of directors, and we are asking for the GO bond. The bond issue will allow us to catch up with the neglect of our exterior that has occurred over the last 25 years. We don't believe there is any business venture which will generate enough income for this type of rehab or generate enough for ongoing maintenance costs. The Vail Mansion and the Bingham-Wagner Estate are cultural resources. The Bingham-Wagner has an excellent history of a frontier home and their history with George Caleb Bingham. The Vail Mansion is an example of one of the best uses of Second Empire architecture. Turning them into a business venture would significantly alter public access. So some of the questions we've had to raise money is, why don't we operate a business such as a bed and breakfast? When Mary Mildred DeWitt, the last owner of the home, gave the city gave the home to the city with covenants from Missouri Preservation Office that would require an extensive permission process to make changes, which may or may not be successful. Rooms are small. There's no water on the second floor, no showers, no bathrooms. The only bathrooms are on the first floor. It would also be difficult to have our tours. And that really is one of the mainstays of our income. There are no employees. We are all volunteers. Vail Victorian Society would have to pay additional insurance, hire employees, check into rehab costs, different beds, because not all our beds are real, and usable furniture. We have several rare and valuable pieces. Can we trust that these would not be damaged or lost? For all the expense, would this even generate enough to cover our expenses? Why don't we have weddings at the mansion? We have in the past. More damage occurs to the home itself with weddings. We have no catering kitchen, or the rooms, again, are very small and not suited to weddings. And in the event, event centers have become very popular. Why don't we rent the house out for other events and gatherings? We do rent it out. The Chamber of Commerce has had their Christmas party at the house several years. We have had several local institutions and businesses use the house. We are listed on Peerspace, which is a website for photographers, and also with the Missouri Film Office. We've hosted many different crews filming in the house and lawn. The most notable film we've had made there is Aunt Sister, which has been on PBS nationally. Another question we've had is why don't we get grants for renovations? We do. We have requested and received grants from the DAR and Truman Community Heartland, to name a few. We have fundraisers that have matched our donations, and we have used those toward window restoration, porch restoration, and painting. We have tried to add to eliminating some of the restoration costs. Why don't we do fundraising events? Well, we had a blowout strawberry festival this year. We had more people there than we've ever had before. We do Halloween tours called Macabre Tours and Christmas tours in addition to our regular tours from April to December. It takes a large number of volunteers to carry our load. So again, we do see the need for a go bond. Thank you.

Thank you. Council, we have a couple non-residents that would like to speak tonight.

Mr. Mayor, I'll make a motion to suspend our rules and procedures for that. Second.

Got a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Madam City Clerk, please call the roll.

Council Member Perkins?

Yes.

Council Member Atkinson?

Yes.

Council Member Wiley? Yes. Council Member Vaught? Yes. Mayor King?

Yes.

That action passes five yeses, zero noes. Next to speak is Steve Urich.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council members. My name is Steve Urich. I'm on the Board of Directors for the Bingham-Wagner. First of all, I want to say thank you for the opportunity to speak here tonight. I'm here to respectfully ask that you place the historic sites only general obligation bond before the voters of Independence on the November ballot. For more than 40 years, our city has deferred the maintenance and capital improvements needed to preserve these historic sites. And that delay came at a very high cost. Every year, repairs postponed, deterioration continues, restoration becomes more expensive, and the financial burden grows. These sites are far more than historic buildings. They tell the story of independence. They preserve the places where our community was shaped, provide educational opportunities for our children, attract visitors from across the country, support local businesses, and they strengthen our tourism economy and inspires civic pride. They are not only part of our past, they are an investment in our future. Preserving our historic sites is also sound fiscal policy. Deferred maintenance is never a savings. It simply postpones today's repairs until they become tomorrow's larger and more expensive problems. Acting now is less costly than waiting, and every year of delay increases the risk of some of these irreplaceable landmarks could be lost forever. A historic sites only general obligation bond offers a practical and responsible solution. It would provide dedicated funding for essential preservation while ensuring that every dollar is used exclusively for our historic sites. It creates accountability, focuses resources where they are needed most, and protects the investments previous generations made in preserving our shared heritage. Most importantly, this is not a request for you to approve a bond. It is a request for you to let the people decide. Public surveys have consistently shown that the citizens of Independence value our historic sites and support preserving them. They deserve the opportunity to vote on whether the These community treasures should receive the investment they need. As elected leaders, you have the opportunity to place this question before the voters. Let the people weigh the cost and the benefits. Let them decide whether preserving our history is a priority of our community. Our historic sites have waited long enough. The cost continues to rise. The needs continue to grow. and the opportunity to act becomes more urgent with each passing year. Please place the historic site's only general obligation bond on the November ballot. Trust the people of Independence. Let the voters decide. Thank you. Thank you.

Our next speaker is Jeff Rogers.

Good evening, Council. I'm Jeff Rogers, Executive Director of the Independent Square Association, one of nine state and nationally accredited Main Streets here in Missouri. We work for historic preservation through economic development. Preserving historic buildings maintains a tangible link to our past, telling stories of government and commerce, social movements, and architectural heritage, fostering a sense of place and pride, distinguishing our history from others. Well-maintained historic districts attract visitors seeking authentic, immersive experiences. This boosts tourism revenues, supports local businesses, and increases property values. Historic downtowns serve as gathering places for so many things, including markets, performances, public events. We have all those that occur within our downtown. The investment in the historic buildings has been an important piece of that. When preservation is thoughtfully integrated with modern needs, the area becomes resilient, attractive, and deeply rooted in place. As historic sites are spoken about, I'd like to make sure that the 1827 log courthouse remains part of that discussion. This building served as the original county courthouse on the southeast corner of Lynn and Lexington at the time. It was purchased by Smallwood Nolan and rented as a saddle shop. In 1832, it was sold to the merchants Gilbert and Whitney, who operated there as they built a new location at Liberty and Lexington. The building was then moved to its present location in 1916 on Kansas Street. The building was used by the Community Welfare League, currently known as Community Services League. The Aiken Log School building was added to the rear in 1930, and Harry Truman held county court in this building in November of 1932. This building is not often mentioned when we talk about historic sites, but it's one of the oldest structures in Independence and has been part of the founding of our city and county, a part of the story of many wagon trains during the 1830s, a part of both Harry and Bess Truman's lives, among many others. Not only do we need to preserve this incredible piece of our history, but we need to ensure that it's opened for our residents and visitors to experience. Our Main Street organization is open to collaborate with the city to provide programming and docents, guides during tourist season and other times of activity, making sure that the preservation results in long-term benefit for everyone involved. As funding is discussed for our historic sites, please keep this building and its valuable history part of that conversation. Thank you.

Thank you. Our next speaker is Ethan Stark.

Good evening, Mayor and members of the Council. My name's Ethan Starr. I serve as Executive Director of Historic Kansas City. Contrary to what the name might suggest, we are a regional historic preservation advocacy and education organization. I'm so glad to be here tonight to talk about our mission, preserving, protecting, and promoting historic buildings and neighborhoods as it relates to these historic sites. So thanks for the opportunity to speak. Historic Kansas City. has appreciated the opportunity to participate alongside Bingham-Wagner Historical Society, Vail Victorian Society, others in our Save the Sites Coalition in the discussion surrounding Independence's historic sites over the past several months. We've also appreciated the thoughtful approach this council has taken as the conversation continues to evolve. The council resolution of a week ago, I think we all recognize, represented a turning point by affirming the city's intent to retain ownership of the Bingham-Wagner estate and the Vail Mansion while exploring that long-term support for all city-owned historic sites. The council resolved one of the key principal questions raised during the historic sites master plan consideration. We can now shift, move on to identifying the resources necessary to preserve not only those two headline landmarks, but the city's entire portfolio of sites. The Bingham-Wagner estate and Vail Mansion, understandably, became the focus of that public attention in recent months because of the recommendations contained in the PG-AV master plan, but they are only two pieces of an extraordinary collection of publicly owned historic resources, places like the 1827 log courthouse, The Chicago and Alton Depot, Truman Depot, Truman Memorial Building, and 1928 fire station tell the story of independence across more than two centuries. Few communities anywhere in Missouri have assembled and maintained a public historic site system of this scope and significance. Some of these have historic significance associated with construction dates as early as the antebellum period. Others are more significant in part for their association with Harry Truman in the 20th century. Of course, the Truman National Historic Landmark District is a federal recognition of the area's contribution to our national story, from the Westward Trails Association to that with Truman himself. The district also encompasses a few of these city-owned buildings, while others, like the Vale and Bingham-Wagner, are listed individually with a state level of significance, identifying them as regional landmarks. These historic buildings make legible centuries of Jackson County history, And a place like the Log Courthouse, for example, reminds us that independence is the place where it all began. Over the past several months, another important point has become increasingly clear. Those nonprofit organizations that operate many of these sites have been remarkably successful in carrying out their responsibilities. Through admissions, memberships, fundraising, educational programming, and countless volunteer hours, they sustain the museums, care for collections, welcome visitors, and under the existing operating agreements, relieve the city of much of the expense that would be associated with visitor relations and interpreting the properties. That partnership has served independents well for many years in our assessment, and we commend these all-volunteer boards and interpreters for their service. On the point of grants, there has been some reinvestment in these sites supported by outside funds, thanks to the hard work of city staff for making applications to those few available resources that are out there. The Truman Memorial Building has benefited from, I believe, a half million dollars in rehabilitation work from a one-time National Park Service grant through the Save America's Treasures Program. It can't get it again, I'm afraid. More recently, planning grants from the State Historic Preservation Office have contributed toward preservation planning efforts at the Vale, We should acknowledge two important caveats about these type of sources, however. Firstly, grants are extremely limited resources, particularly for the brick-and-mortar work, and even if independence has a better shot, which it does at the Save America's Treasures program, these properties are ineligible for some other federal and nonprofit sources geared toward, say, smaller communities. 200,000 people really is an important cutoff There simply aren't more grant programs out there beyond what's already been exhausted. Additionally, some of the past grant assistance has been accompanied by long-term stewardship obligations at sites like the Truman Memorial Building in Vail. These preservation easements were established with the principle that when those resources are invested in historic places, there's an expectation that they will continue to be maintained and preserved to a certain standard. Just as preservation grants are not capable of addressing deferred maintenance on the scale Independence now faces, projects with roofs, masonry, structural repairs, mechanical systems, and so on. This represents a scope of capital investment beyond the reach simply of annual fundraising or volunteer labor. Those are responsibilities that ultimately belong to the owner of the buildings. The encouraging part about our discussion as it stands is that the community has made a lot of progress. Public participation at the study sessions is great, conversations among the nonprofit organizations, the roundtable discussion. from the Chamber of Commerce hosting us all, and the Council's unanimous resolution, we're all moving in the same direction here. There's a broad recognition that these buildings should remain publicly owned and that a long-term funding solution is necessary. I should note, historic preservation often loses momentum after a big, important decision has been made. People can get complacent. I'd encourage the Council not to let that happen here. The need has been identified. The condition assessments have established a baseline, at least in the last decade, of deferred maintenance needing to be addressed. The next step is identifying that funding mechanism capable of addressing more than $13 million of deferred maintenance while that public support remains strong. One outcome we can attribute to the PGAV report, I think we can all agree, is that the public recognizes the urgency of the situation. As has been the consensus of most stakeholders around the table, A general obligation bond remains the most practical means of safeguarding these sites for future generations. Whether the council ultimately places that question before voters in November or at a date soon after, we encourage you to continue moving toward that goal. The important thing is to maintain the momentum that we've already established over recent months and make sure we can invest in these community assets. I want to note that Bingham, Wagner, and Vale have become the symbols of this discussion. but this is a larger story at play. Together with the city's other historic sites, they preserve the places that define Independence's identity, cultivate that kind of community self-understanding, and of course, support education, tourism, economic activity. Their continued stewardship will require the same sustained public commitment that preserved this remarkable group of buildings under city ownership in the first place. Thank you for your time and for your continued attention to this issue.

Thank you. At this time, I'm going to turn it over to City Manager Anderson.

Mayor, thank you. So, Just to continue to provide information to help you all make an informed decision, there's been some requests for some information on what type of costs are we actually talking about. I'm going to ask comms to advance the slide. We've got a slide that we have prepared to kind of give you all some context. So just to put it in perspective, we have specifically looked at four projects. Again, the Bingham-Wagner, Vail Mansion, the 1827 Log Courthouse, and the Truman Memorial Building. Last time we had some actual cost estimates prepared, it's been a while, 2025, 2024, you can see on the Truman Memorial Building, so some of this is outdated. We've taken in... to consideration some escalators on what we think some inflationary adjustments might look like, as well as added a healthy 30% contingency that's probably outside the norms, generally speaking. Usually we see a 5% contingency on projects that have sort of fully prepared construction plans and construction estimates. but at this point in time literally just kind of shooting from the hip and trying to put a Best guess on what some of the capital outlay Might cost as it specifically relates to just these four properties We're probably in about the 18 million dollar range for for capital outlay and Again, just wanted to make sure that we're all looking at the same numbers. And so, obviously, as we continue to prepare for a ballot question, as was this conversation starts migrating that direction. Ultimately, we'll want to put on that ballot question a dollar value so that the voters can make an informed decision. If it is in the sort of $18, $18.3 million range, right, again, this is what we think that that capital outlay could be. could complete if all of a sudden we're not realizing that 30% contingency and that we are more closely aligned with some of the sort of subtotal construction estimates, then obviously we can do one of two things depending on how we issue the bonds. If we're issuing the bonds in either two or multiple parts, right, we can generally sell bonds on the if it's approved by the voters in a large chunk during the first issuance. And then as we continue to refine estimates, we can better assess what that second round of bond issuances look like to More closely aligned actual construction costs with the bond issuances just to make sure that we're not carrying more debt than necessary and so Again, we'll be more than happy to answer any questions that you might have as it relates to Either the construction costs and the construction estimates the process or the actual ballot process and and what that looks like afterwards, we'll be more than happy to answer any questions you might have.

Any questions? Mr. Mayor. Proceed.

So as a reminder, it's been a minute since we've talked about geobonds, but we're going to ask for a number. We're going to ask the voters to approve a number, but we don't have to use that because we're going to borrow as we go. So as we get bids for real work, then we'll borrow a chunk at a time, basically. That's correct. Okay. Thanks.

Any other questions?

Mr. Mayor proceed. The contingency number that is a little high, but we're also looking at historic buildings that once you get in there and doing the work, I'm assuming that's part of the, uh, understanding once you get in there and the work is very specialized on top of that is the reason for such a higher contingency number.

Yes.

Any other questions?

Mr. Mayor? Not so much, I would say, a question other than one of the speakers was talking about community investment, and they're right. This is an investment back into the community, one, to bring stabilization to the neighborhoods where some of these are stated at and are at, to bring economic development as an arm also into our city. Thank you. historic tourism also to really work with that. Just as an example of how this can help with neighborhood stability, the Vail Mansion is a good example. We have spent millions of dollars in capital improvement around the Vail Mansion through street overlay, gutters, sidewalks, all the way around the Truman Library, all the way around the Vail Mansion has all been overlaid. So this would be just another asset of investment going back into a neighborhood community there. So if there's no other questions, Mr. Mayor, I'll make my motion. Sure.

Mr. Mayor. Yes. I just want to make a quick comment. Yeah, sure. This slide is what an action looks like with the costs just continue to rise and how quickly they rise just from a year ago or two years ago. So that's all I want to say.

Thank you.

Mr. Mayor. Proceed. Thank you. So I make a motion to place a resolution on the July 20th council agenda to place an ordinance on the August 3rd agenda for first reading. Second.

Got a motion and a second. Any further discussion on the motion? Hearing none, Madam City Clerk, please call the roll.

Council Member Perkins? Yes. Council Member Atkinson? Yes. Council Member Wiley? Yes. Council Member Vaught? Yes. Mayor King?

Yes. Motion passes with five yeses, zero noes. Council, I'm sorry, City Manager Anderson, I'll throw it back to you.

Yeah, thank you, Mayor. If I can advance the slide. or at least remove that slide from the screen. Next item on the agenda is a legislative wrap-up with our lobbyist Barget and associates. We have John Barget here to give us an update on the last legislative session and what's going on with the legislature.

Thank you, sir.

Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor. Good evening, Mr. Mayor, members of council, Troy. Thank you. As Troy mentioned, I'm John Barget. Bargain Associates is the lobbying firm, which has had the privilege and the honor of representing the city of Independence in Jefferson City for a number of years, and thank you for that opportunity. I was going to just give you a broad overview of a few things that happened, and then Mr. Ropey, Chris Ropey of our firm, is going to delve into a little bit more specifics on the issues that we are working on on your behalf. Pardon me. As you're all very well aware from the communications we had with you, the legislative session ended on May 15th. This is the first session in a number, four or five years, that the Missouri Senate has actually made it all the way till 6 o'clock and not gotten into a fight and quit early. So I guess that was a big victory for us. The legislature, just put a couple things in perspective for you. As I said, Chris will talk a little more specifically about issues of concern. Generally speaking, there's about 3,200 bills introduced this session. 81 passed. So it kind of shows you the, I think our system, I don't pretend to be a constitutional expert, but I think our system of government was based on making it more difficult to pass a bill than be able to pass one at a time, and our legislature has certainly adhered to that. There's a lot going on, our legislature is, the elections are occurring now, we're gonna have a major overturning of some leadership positions, a new president of the Senate, a new majority leader in the Senate, a new minority leader in the Senate, a new Speaker of the House, a new majority leader in the House. I think I'm pretty safe in saying that most political observers of both sides of the aisle would probably agree with me that the Missouri legislature will probably be in safe Republican hands. I don't think there is a chance that the Democrats will overtake it in this coming election. But there are a lot of seats that will change, particularly in this area. A new senator being elected, in Eastern Jackson County, and about 11 others. There will be, out of the 34 members of the Missouri Senate, 11 new members at least. That's without an incumbent being beat. Of the 163 House members, there will be at least 55 new. So you're talking about almost one-third in a term-limited group that can only be there eight years. So there's, with all due respect to all those coming in, quite a learning curve for everybody to get up to and figure out how things operate and Of course, there'll be a couple of amendments that are being voted on this August that could have a very major impact on what the focus of the legislature is come January. If Amendment 5, the income tax elimination, is passed, most political observers, and I would agree with them, would probably say that 90% of the legislature's time and all the air in the room will probably be spent on trying to figure out what is the next step in Amendment 5. So there's a lot going on. There's a lot of legislation regarding municipalities. It's always a constant struggle to try to work with the legislature to hear from some businesses that might think that they are being overpowered, overregulated by municipal governments, and to try to share with them how there is some public safety factors in it that we have to take into consideration. Some services that have to be provided some fees that have to be collected in order for cities in our state to operate and so It requires some time. We're very honored to do that. There's Five registered lobbyists in our firm to work on your behalf and with that mr. Mayor I'd like to ask Chris ropey to step up and speak specifically Specifically about a few issues and thank you again for the opportunity to represent your interest in Jefferson City

Thanks, John, and good evening, everybody. I won't go over anything that John mentioned, but I want to get into some specifics with the budget and kind of the outlook of things just so you all kind of know what to expect and some of the items that were very specific to independence this year that we worked on and those outcomes and other bills that are very important to cities across the state of Missouri. A couple of Big policy items that passed this year of importance. John already mentioned the income tax cut, which will be on the ballot coming up here in three weeks. And I echo everything he said about what that does to what happens in Jefferson City based on that passing or failing legislation regarding regulations around hemp products that were chemically altered to be marijuana and the federal loophole that existed in the farm bill from several years ago. That was passed and signed into law by Governor Kehoe earlier in the legislative session. And what that kind of looks like for a public safety standpoint and the safety of our kids in this state, that that got done. I would also point out that a sovereign immunity bill was passed that was really focused on private contractors with MoDOT. But there was some language included in that bill that would address how municipalities purchase insurance and to make sure that you all are protected and how you deal with that and what that looks like for municipal government. So that was Senate Bill 916 that was passed and actually signed into law by the governor today. One other piece of legislation to mention kind of broader and overall was a major economic development piece of legislation was passed during session that deals a lot with the Power and Light District and doing the second phase of that from some investors wanting to put a lot of money in the state of Missouri there as well as over in St. Louis in their ballpark village, but there were other economic development tools that I know Mr. Mayfield has been tracking pretty closely on some conversion of vacant buildings and what that could potentially look like if you meet the right criteria that was passed in that legislation that again the governor did sign today. Some other pieces of legislation that were talked about quite a bit but did not make it across the finish line that I feel obligated to to mention because they will be back next year. There's no doubt about it. This big issue on, I'll call it real property tax reform. I know you all sitting here in Jackson County, I'm sure you hear a lot about that from folks. And that was an issue that the legislative leaders on both the House and the Senate side of the Capitol were trying to figure out how to get that done up until literally the very last minute of the legislative session in and they just could not get on the same page to do that. Um, that issue will, will be back next year. Uh, there are lots of different ideas and thoughts. I know your, your local Senator, um, here in Senator Nicola, that is a big, big deal for him that he spends a lot of time working on. So, so your sort of area here, um, will be right at the, um, have a seat at the table with what he is trying to do in regards to that legislation. But that, that will be back. Probably the biggest impact, and you talk about your geo bond and what you may move forward with and what that looks like, as a part of the property tax reform debate from this past session, it was a big push to move year-all's local elections from April to November to make those much more partisan, as well as, and that would be school boards and all those local offices that get elected in April right now, to also move taxing issues and require them to be in November. In my understanding, you may do yours at a different time than April, but the pieces of that property tax debate from this past session, there was a big push to not allow them at all in April, and it would take that away from your abilities to do that potentially in the future as well. One other issue that was real big was this illegal video slot machines, video lottery terminals, and that they are not paying taxes in the way that it's regulated. We now have an attorney general who is really cracking down on those, and so there's a lot with law enforcement and public safety going on behind the scenes and what that looks like and there's a big push to make them legitimate to legalize them you will see legislation to do that again next year as well will be a big priority especially to john's point of the budget deficit we are headed towards they're looking for ways to bring in new revenue and that is the number one issue out there that politicians talk about in trying to um discover new ways to to bring in some things from the losses or from what happens with this income tax proposal and what that looks like going forward. So that'll be a big issue next year, especially with the budget deficit that we're going to face. Another issue that wasn't really in front of the legislature, but you will see it play out, and I think it's very important, especially where Independence is geographically located, is on congressional redistricting and what that looks like. Because it could change, and what you vote on three weeks from now versus what's on the November ballot could completely go back to the old district, depending on what the referendum does and what the Supreme Court rules on, if that gets to go forward. And honestly, it's a shame that it's going to be so confusing for people and how it plays out. And it could be a different district that you vote on in August than what you do in November. And really, I think it's a disservice to the public that we're sort of even in this position, but here we are and buckle up and see what happens and what that looks like between now and November. Specific issues that we worked with Mr. Mayfield on as we work through the session of importance to you all and as Troy stepped into his new role going forward towards the last half of legislative session, made a big push and we're in a good position on this failure to appear issue of being able to get a little bit more law and order back in place with how folks are refusing to show up for their traffic violations. Had great success. A big thank you to Senator Nicola for carrying that bill. He magically somehow got it out of the Missouri Senate fairly early this year. And then as we went through the process in the House, got it out of committee very quick over in the House, and then it kind of just stalled out for a while. I will give credit to Speaker Patterson. He has the ability to move legislation with his position as speaker and put it on the calendar as we had folks and your police chief and others reach out to him and make that outreach. And he was willing to do that. And then it kind of just stalled out and died. I will tell you behind the scenes and in the hallways of the Capitol, it's very unfortunate that our United States Senator Eric Schmidt had his staff working against the bill with legislators that are on key committees with leadership and ultimately his influence of trying to stop that legislation from passing is probably what caused it to not make it across the finish line more than anything else from this past session. One other issue to mention is your ability to go after out-of-state property owners who continually have ordinance violations. There were some legislation moving this year that we were able to get the city of Independence added to. It was focused on the city of St. Louis, but it was something that was expressed to us would be beneficial here. I think it would allow you for each day that a violation isn't taken care of, charge $2,000 to that out-of-state owner that it isn't resolved. And then eventually, I think it was either after one year or two years, you would have the ability then the jurisdiction would be able to sell that property to whoever would want to purchase it. So a way to be able to have a little teeth in those situations when you have those properties that don't get taken care of. There was a constitutional measure passed to make the Jackson County assessor an elected position. It is one of two. City of St. Louis, as well as Jackson County's assessor, are not elected. That passed, so that will be something that will get voted on here in three weeks. I think it's Amendment 2, if I'm correct in that. will be on the ballot to make that an elected position. A couple of bills that failed that I think you'll be happy to hear about. This issue that just will not go away with some of these private utilities and having municipalities have to pay to relocate and you would have to bear some of that cost. It's just a big fight every year and once again a lot of cities were involved in the debate and worked towards getting that stopped and we were right there voicing your all's opposition to it, and we're able to keep that from getting done. Getting rid of food sales tax locally. So leave the state sales tax in place, but then take away your local ability and get rid of that revenue that comes in from your food sales tax locally. There was a big push to do that. That legislation comes around every year, it seems like. I expect it'll be back next year, but that was able to be stopped as well. And then the final thing I mentioned, just because you all run for local office here, there was an omnibus election bill that passed that what it does is it makes sure when you file for office for those April elections, those April offices, that if the filing falls on a holiday, which would be Christmas or New Year's, that it extends the period for when you can go in and file for that office to give a little more flexibility. So just a little thing that was a big part of an election bill that does affect all of our local governments across the state. And then Two final ones that I'll mention on policy, which kind of is good timing with some of the comments here. Reinstating the changes to the historic tax credit legislation that got thrown out a couple years ago because of a Supreme Court ruling of a bill that had too many different topics in it. Unfortunately, that issue got thrown out, but they were able to get that across the finish line, and I know And Councilman Atkinson came and testified for that legislation and was very pleased to see that get done. And then the other one that I'll mention just because I saw him there testifying, I think his real job outside of what he does for the city of Independence was on an animal abuse reporting piece of legislation that was passed and I believe got signed by the governor today. So just to let you know that that happened. The governor, I think he signed probably 40 bills today. Tomorrow is the deadline for him to do that. So he was getting a lot of stuff done, and we'll see a few more tomorrow. Real quick on the budget, the legislature passed a $50 billion budget this year. I think $17 billion of that is state money. The rest is all federal funds that come into the state through the various different departments and programs that we have. That's about $3.7 billion less than the governor recommended in his budget back in January. So you can see that's how much the legislature took out of what he proposed. And then the governor, on top of that, vetoed about $500 million worth of Veto and withheld. There's two different actionable items. But I just point out, and I'll talk about the things that we unfortunately got vetoed in the budget that we were working on for you, just that a lot of new spending items he vetoed because the money just isn't there. The first one, and this was a roller coaster all session, trying to get this funding for your overtime for your first responders for any activities around the World Cup. We got it passed. Senator Nicola, again, was wonderful. Our House delegation was wonderful. Getting that in the budget, that got sent to the governor. would have liked it to stay where it was just the city of Independence that would have been eligible to get it so you would have access to all those funds what the governor ultimately did he vetoed one dollar out of the half a million that was put in the budget on the Senate side with Senator Nicole's help but then that allowed him to change the language for any municipality to basically apply show your receipts to the Department of Public Safety We have had conversations with the DPS director and said, hey, John Mayfield wanted to know how do we get that rolling, what do we want to do, because if it's first come, first served, we want to get our stuff to the front of the line on the first day that it's eligible. They are working through what that process will look like. We've got a good relation with Director James. And so as soon as we know how to do that and who the point person is, we'll make sure John And Troy, get that information so then you all can do what you need to do to be able to try to get those funds reimbursed that went towards those first responders in response to the World Cup. The other issue is your ARCH program. I know that is a big deal to Representative Steinmeier, and he really championed that. We worked with him, and fortunately, at the end of the day, when the dust cleared, that money, half a million dollars, was in the budget that got sent to the governor. That did not get any sort of funny little veto where it could still sort of be eligible. He just that flat out got vetoed. There's no opportunity anymore at this point. I'm 99.99999% sure the legislature will not override any of Governor Kehoe's vetoes on the various budget items that he decided to veto when they come up for the veto session. The only other thing I'll mention is You've got Amendment 4 on the ballot this coming August, which deals with how initiative petitions are brought forward to the voters to change the Constitution and the vote threshold that it takes to then change the Constitution. So currently, you just have to have a simple majority across the entire state of Missouri. This change would say you have to have a majority in every single congressional district. I think it makes it virtually impossible to ever go do anything via the citizen-led initiative petition process. This does not apply to the legislature when they pass a joint resolution, House or Senate, to go to voters. So when they put stuff forward, it still just has to have the simple majority vote required. It does not have to be this new majority in every single congressional district. John mentioned Amendment 5, the income tax cut. That will be a big one, and we'll see what happens with With that one, the final one on the ballot is just a renewal of the soil, parks, and water tax. It's a 10-year renewal. It's like a one-tenth cent that comes up every 10 years for Department of Conservation, how they fund a lot of their operations, which I expect that will pass. I've rambled on long enough. I'm happy to answer any questions or talk about anything else that I failed to mention.

Any questions?

Mr. Mayor. This is more of a comment. A good lobbyist in Jeff City is worth its weight in gold. I've met a lot of bad lobbyists, and you all are not bad lobbyists, so I appreciate it.

You don't hear people say too many good things about lobbyists usually, so thank you.

I appreciate it.

I'm going to tell my kids that somebody said something nice about my profession.

Any other questions? Mr. Mayor? Yes.

Thank you. Chris, thank you for all your work you do down there, and I'll kind of echo Councilman Atkinson's remarks. It's not all the sometimes money and benefits you bring. Sometimes it's stuff you have to stop down there. That will cost us money in the long run. Grain machines. A lot of conversations here. They are very disruptive in our communities today. enough said there. With the state legislation, do you foresee any type of wiggle room that will give municipalities a little bit more teeth that we can play with that once it's passed through the state side?

So I don't want to predict for sure what the legislation will look like next year. I expect it'll be, I'm not going to say significantly different, but has the potential to be different A lot of the players involved, so to speak, are termed out of office. Those who just hated them and were going to block them completely and never let them pass through the legislative process. You've got others who are big champions for them that could get elected to some in some of these Senate races. So they become, you know, by virtue more powerful and what their priorities are. can stop other things that they don't get some of the things they want to get done so that I think the dynamic looks a lot different next year and I would strongly suggest as whatever your priorities are that you give us direction to work on on your behalf and then as things pop up we obviously let you know and you say gosh that's terrible go stop that or go that you advise us and give us direction to get a seat at the table and say hey municipalities need to have this ability and then we see what we can convince our local delegation and stay on top of them and get them at the right place at the right time to have that influence. Sure.

I can certainly speak for me. I think for the rest of the council that this topic has been coming up a lot more strongly to our offices and our hands are really tied when it comes to enforcement or how do we take police action against that. So meantime, we got calls for services. We work with our constituents and all the other stuff that wraps around that.

And I'll just say, it has been very interesting to see, Different elected attorney generals handle different issues, different all the time. And this current attorney general, I mean, this has been something she has been all over in shutting these things down. I know I've walked into several places in town today and back in Jefferson City, and they're all shut down and the chairs are leaned up against them, and I haven't seen one on in a while. So it's having an effect. Can we have her visit?

Love that. Out-of-state landlords. I mean, that's also another one that's high on all of our lists, I would say. How do we deal with that? There's constitutionally protected property rights that those property owners, even though they are derelict in their duties, we have our municipal arm that we can work and go after those individuals within the confines of the law, which is sometimes a lot more There's a lot more length there for them to work in or to be in violation of before we can really put the hammer to them. How do you feel that might turn out next year?

So, I mean, you said property rights and what that looks like. I think... I think there is an appetite to do something. I will tell you that the legislation that I was referencing this year, and I know this has been a big issue here in Independence, I remember four or five sessions ago on trying to identify some of these LLCs where you can't find and track down who actually to let them know that they're property, and we did some things and got a law passed that would allow a better way to do that. I do think there is an appetite for taking care of these out of, you know, if you're an out of state landlord, you're not, or a property owner, you're not a constituent of any, state rep or state Senator. So I think there's, there's, I think there's an opportunity and opening there to really try to try to do something about that. And the bill that didn't pass this year, it was a personality thing. It wasn't that somebody was against the policy. Like it was moving along just fine. And then the sponsor got sideways with the wrong house member, which then got sideways with somebody else on something unrelated. And it happens all the time in the way that Jefferson city seems to function. And that, that it was just simply a casualty of that more than anything.

We do as much as we can here with our vacant structure program for commercial and residential. And we do as much as we can, as much help that we can get from our state friends. And of course, we'll keep talking about that during our legislative agendas for next year.

And if you have any ideas or, hey, here's a different, unique way to go about doing that, think about this. I think Senator Nicola would be very supportive, it would seem. That's kind of a big thing for him that I hear him talk about all the time. So we ought to approach him from the Senate side. I think the House delegation would all be in pretty good shape to want to do something as well. So if we have a different way to do it, we ought to talk to him about it. Way ahead of session starting so we can start laying the groundwork and doing all the things needed to be successful with passing bills. That sounds good. Thank you, Chris. Thank you.

Any other questions? All right, thank you.

Thank you all very much.

City Manager Anderson, would you like to give us an update on the Truman Connected Phase 2?

Yeah, I'm going to call up Alex Lopez, our city engineer, to give us an update on the Truman Connected Phase 2 project.

Good evening, Mayor. Good evening, members of council. My name is Alex Lopez. I'm the city engineer, and I'm here to present our team. We'll be talking about the Trim and Connected Phase 2 project. Tonight we have with me Adi Smadi, one of our senior engineers and project manager for the project, Mark Green, our city traffic engineer, and from our consultant team, Burns & McDonnell, who put together this presentation, Ian Deggendorf, and Brooke Gibbons. So I will turn it over to them.

Thank you, Alex. City Manager, Mayor, Council, thank you for having us here today. I'm going to give you a little bit of a project update here on the Truman Connected Phase 2 project. So a quick overview of the location and vision. We've got this all started back in 2020 with the Truman Connected plan. That included two phases, phase one and phase two. Phase one currently runs south down to Winter Road at Sterling Avenue and is under construction. And then phase two, what we're here to talk about today, runs south along Sterling Avenue from Winter Road, down to US 40. Phase one was awarded back in 2021. Like I said, it's reached construction. And then phase two was awarded back in 2024. And here we are today. A little bit more about us. Our project team at Burns and McDonnell is shown there on the right. I'm Ian Degendorf. I've been serving as the deputy project manager and lead designer. And also with me today is Brooke Givens. She's been leading our public involvement. So as far as project timeline, I mentioned this started back in fall 2024. We have an obligation to complete plans by summer of next year with substantial completion of construction in the fall of 2028. Project costs, first listed, we have the engineering costs of the project in the $800,000 range right away, near $500,000, and the overall construction costs at $7.5 million. So for this project, on the funding side, we have a couple of federal funding programs, the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Program, We've also got the carbon reduction program. And then following up on that, there's the city match of about 1.3 million, and then the remaining under project transfers. A little bit more overview on the project. So when we began this project, we started off with a review of previous studies around the area and within Independence. We began with traffic data collection and, importantly, public outreach. Operationally, on the analysis side, we look into improvements now and then also 20-year design. So we look at how everything would operate as is. 20 YEARS DOWN THE ROAD, AS WELL AS AFTER IMPROVEMENTS, WHAT THAT LOOKS LIKE 20 YEARS DOWN THE ROAD AS WELL. SO THROUGHOUT THE PROJECT LIFE CYCLE, WE'VE LOOKED AT SEVERAL DIFFERENT CONFIGURATIONS. THE EXISTING LANE CONFIGURATION ALONG STERLING AVENUE, WHICH IS A FOUR-LANE SECTION, TWO LANES NORTH, TWO LANES SOUTH. WE'VE LOOKED AT DIFFERENT LANE OPTIMIZATIONS. First, we started with a three-lane typical section, so that took those four existing lanes to a three-lane section, one traveling north, one traveling south, a shared left-turn lane in the middle, and then bike lanes on either side utilizing the existing roadway. And then lastly, we've worked towards a hybrid option, and that would have mostly off-street facilities, improved sidewalk paths. So going from most of the corridor, you see five-foot-wide sidewalk. We'd be increasing that to six feet, and then mostly eight feet on either side, north and south of Sheely Road, which I will explain more later on. So as I mentioned before, we looked into some previous studies. These are the three major studies we looked into. The circulation plan from 2013, looking at the Englewood Arts District. So our project begins at that intersection of Winter Road and Sterling and runs south. So that's an important area for us to recognize, look into, and tie into. And then there is a 2024 report on the transportation for all. Truman Connected is included in there. So we want to make sure that what we're looking in for design improvements is consistent with what has been looked into previously and what has taken public outreach into in the past. Lastly, the Truman Connected report from 2020 that just looks into both phase one, phase two, and all those improvements throughout that corridor. So diving into a few of the details, the traffic data collection included 24-hour traffic volumes. Those were collected back in 2025. Those included signal timings, peak hourly traffic. So we look at the morning, midday, and going home rush hour times. We break that all down into average daily traffic volumes So from this corridor on the south end of the right graphic from us 40 There is more traffic towards the south and then it's nice to be it becomes a little bit less congested as you work your way north towards winter road and then Something that was very important for us to consider was the driveway density. So throughout this corridor you have a lot of residences and You have some different shops and businesses as well. So it's important for us to look into how improvements along Sterling Avenue will infect residences and their driveway accessibility. So at this time, I'm going to throw things over to Brooke for a minute, and she's going to go through some of our public outreach.

Thank you again. My name is Brooke. We had a public outreach meeting July 10th, 2025 at the beautiful Inglewood Arts Center. It was the second meeting. The first one had to be rescheduled due to a tornado warning. We mailed 400 postcards up and down the corridor, provided social media posts on the City of Independence. The folks who signed in, about 35 people, lots of in-person written comments, a lot of in-person support, multiple Facebook comments. And the feedback summary is a 50-50 split. A lot of folks favored the multimodal improvements. Others did not. Public and businesses support a hybrid lane optimization and maintain existing numbers of lanes. But it really was a good, there was a good conversation for the folks in person. Facebook comments, we all know Facebook can kind of take a left turn. But good conversation and a lot of good comments on the maps showing what this project is.

Thank you, Brooke. So from our public feedback, we got a lot of great comments. And all comments are good, whether people like certain aspects or don't. And so we tried to take into account all of those comments. And that is where we went from our initial design of a three-lane configuration to a more hybrid model where we kept our three-lane configuration near Shelly Road shown in the graphic on the screen. So you'll see a roundabout there in the center and then right there the three-lane configuration will break down to two at the roundabout with raised medians and This is coming from some major feedback on safety throughout the corridor and excessive speeding. And so this is a way to not only improve traffic along Shelley and their safety as they enter that intersection, but also reduce some speed in the center of this corridor. And then multimodal wise, this offers us a little bit more safety for pedestrians as they try to navigate this intersection. On-street bicycle lanes would be included just north and south of this Shealy roundabout. And then pedestrian signal improvements would be included throughout the corridor at all the existing intersections outside of Shealy. So a lot of numbers on this page. What I would like to convey is how this project and specifically this roundabout at Shealy Road is not going to slow down or change everybody's timing and ability to get where they're going in the same time frame. And so on the top here, you'll see a table for the existing and future no-build. So this is on the left of the top table, existing traffic timing, delays, and just how we categorize the level of service there. And then moving to the right of the top table is the existing conditions if we were to do nothing, what that would look like and how it would behave in the future, assuming slightly more traffic throughout the corridor. And then the table on the bottom, you're going to see the 2025 conditions if we were to build this project right now and include the roundabout, and then the bottom right, the 2045 conditions with that roundabout installed and some assumed increased activity along the corridor. And so you'll see that For the most part, this just continues to behave the same. There's a little bit of improvement on a few legs, and there's maybe a few more second delay on another leg. But overall, over a 20-year span along the corridor, essentially behaving exactly the same while increasing safety at Shealy and Sterling. So this might be a little bit better graphic here. So we're going to look at all three options that I mentioned before. The top is the existing typical section that you'll see along Shealy with the four 12 foot lanes. And that is consistent for the entire corridor, give or take a few turning lanes here and there. And then in the middle, you'll see the off street typical section. And that has 12 lanes, the same four lane, 12 foot wide configuration, but you'll see that the sidewalk has been increased to six foot width and then eight foot width on one side. And so on the right graphic in the pink, That is consistent with the off street typical section. So in the south and north wings of this project, we would be keeping the similar lane configuration, but improving sidewalk and giving a more multimodal option on one side. So that's going to be helpful for not just pedestrians, but bikes and such. And then on the bottom, you'll see the on street typical section. And that has that kind of lane optimization there where we've got one lane north, one lane south, that center two-way left turn lane, and then the bike lanes. And so that would be consistent with the orange area, at least north and south on the orange area, and then feeding into the roundabout at Sheely Road. So here's a little bit more expanded view on project lifecycle. So back in 2024, we received the notice to proceed, followed up with data collection, our initial conceptual design that looked at that three lane configuration throughout the corridor, environmental submittals early on, traffic studies, and then importantly, that July 10th public meeting where we received feedback and then took the time to sit down and reconsider some options along this corridor. That led to our February 2nd conceptual design iteration and then preliminary plan development using that hybrid design. And then that leads us to the preliminary plan approval, a second environmental submittal And then currently, we are working towards right-of-way plans. And then down the road, you'll see the 2027 goal of the final plans, and then 2027 advertising for bids, and then that construction starting late in 2028. And so where that puts us today is leading up to the September right-of-way plans, where the next steps are survey and right-of-way supplemental, and that's coming from As we look at this new layout and we expand the sidewalk to eight feet, it involves a little bit more on the right-of-way acquisition side, and that might be a combination of some sidewalk widening and also how that affects some driveway improvements along those stretches of the corridor. And then following that right-of-way and survey supplemental, just the necessary utility coordination And then as I mentioned, the right-of-way plan submittal. And so that's what I've got for you all today. Thank you for taking the time to listen. And if you have any questions.

Any questions?

Yes, proceed.

So I drive down Sterling a lot, but I have to be honest, and I don't know, are there sidewalks down both sides the whole way?

No, throughout the entire corridor. Okay, that's what I thought. It'll vary along certain sections. I think as you get south towards US 40, I know there's a chunk along there that does not have a sidewalk.

Yeah. And can you explain what the reasoning is behind reducing sterling from two lanes to one before and after the roundabout? Like why can't you just keep the two lanes?

So reducing it down to the one lane structure improves the functionality of the roundabout and just the safety of how it works. Also, if we were to look into a full two lane structure there, while it does improve, bring in some confusion on the driver's side. It also expands the footprint significantly and would affect every property on that corner. Uh, and probably a negative outlook. Um, so the reduction improves the safety and just minimizes the overall right away footprint. Um, and helps us maintain the existing properties in that area.

So during like high traffic, I mean, I know that that end doesn't have as much traffic, but at the higher times of traffic morning and evening, do you think that would bottleneck people at all?

No, it would. So current conditions, if this were to be built today, looking at that model, it would behave fairly similarly. And then moving down 20 years down the road, we assume some sort of increase in traffic and you would be looking at like if one drop in level of service occurs, you're talking about a few second delay. And so while it does produce a little bit of a, like a slowdown in one sense, the feature of the roundabout and the ability to continue through there without the stoplight control actually helps it maintain that existing functionality.

Okay. Thank you.

Actually, if I may add on that point as well, is there a way to go back on the slides? Like when I go back to the level of service one? Yes. So we have it demonstrated here as part of our model. That's So if you look at number five, basically, at the first table, that is basically the intersection analysis in the existing and the future, kind of 2045 year, assuming we do not build the proposed improvements. And the key there is the level of service. So we see in the AM peak, right now the intersection operates at the level of service A through midday and then towards the PM peak hour. starts kind of deteriorating, and that's why we see the level of service B. Now, to reflect on that and the exact kind of same scenario, but the bottom table, if we look at number five again, that is the 2025 conditions, but with the proposed improvements, meaning with the roundabout there, the one-lane roundabout. And we still see level of service A in the AM period, level of service A also in the midday, And in the afternoon, actually, or the PM peak, we are seeing improvements, or we expect to see improvements in mobility and traveling through the corridor. And then we added there a couple numbers, like you see the delay. So actually, roundabout in the existing, without proposed improvements, we are talking about 8.4 seconds. In the AM, 5.1 seconds and 16.1 seconds on the midday and the PM periods, respectively. And then if we look at the 2025 condition, but with the proposed improvements at the table at the bottom, we see improvements in terms of delay. So the delay drops from 8.4 to 4.7 in the AM peak, and then from 5.1 to 3.6 in the midday peak, and similarly in the afternoon peak from 16.1 to 4.7 seconds. And the reason for that is that there isn't a signal anymore at this intersection. So the traffic will just continue smoothly through the roundabout. And that was one of the factors that led us basically to incorporate a one lane roundabout well, first, safety aspect, and second, if we incorporated a two-lane roundabout, we believe that will increase kind of some sort of accidents as people enter and leave the roundabout because it gets a bit confusing, two vehicles kind of entering and leaving the roundabout at the same time. But I think... The model also supports that the proposed conditions will enhance mobility at this intersection.

Thank you for that. And have you had any feedback from fire, police, EMTs, or EMS? Is there an issue with going down to one lane around?

We haven't received any issues on that.

Can you step up to the mic a little bit better so we can hear you a little bit better?

Thank you. We haven't received any complaints from them, but this is an excellent point. Right now we are still kind of at the preliminary slash right-of-way state, so probably this is a good point. We need to kind of just collect inputs from fire department, police, just to make sure they are also okay emergency-wise.

Yeah, because I'm just, if you're going down to one lane and there's a lot of traffic, I mean, traffic's still going to be moving around the roundabout, but if there's fire or police coming through at a high rate of speed, like how does that affect?

So something we need to consider. And just to add to that, so since we decided to go for a one lane roundabout, In the existing configuration we have two through lanes in each direction. So that left us with one extra space one lane of extra space on each direction That's why we incorporated the on street bike lane So the on street but on street bike lane was as a result. It was not the goal from that from the beginning So I think it worked out nicely for us.

Thank you Any other questions

Mr. Mayor?

Yes.

Okay, so I want to clarify that, sorry, I'm echoing. Is this a grading scale? Yeah, yeah, my mistake.

Yeah, so those are the scales, and Mark Green, feel free to jump in. Mark is our city engineer as well, but in traffic engineering, We evaluate the roadways using level of service and level of service scale that it's six kind of category scale ranges from A to F, with A being an ideal situation, like traffic behaving perfectly on the roadway, and then deteriorates as you go to F, and F being failing, basically.

Okay, so when I'm looking at 2045 conditions, making our changes doesn't seem to raise our scoring as much as I would expect.

So if you can see, you're right there. And for that, I'm going to probably draw a comparison figure. So you're probably talking about the 32nd Street, which is item number four on the table. So if we look at the table at the top, we see that the last column there. Level of service F during the PM peak hour in the 2045 conditions with no build. So what we do here for each region, there is traffic growth rate. We have a standard that we can use depending on the population, the density, and all that. So for this area, we use typically a 1% traffic growth rate. So we took the existing traffic volumes, and then we factored in 1% increase every year. And that's how we obtained the traffic volumes, the expected traffic volumes for the year 2045. So what this model tells us that if we do not do anything right now, kept everything as it is by the year 2045, the intersection of 32nd and Sterling will be failing, like we'll be having significant issues. Now, in our model, We were not able to fix this on the main link because, and Mark correct me if I'm mistaken, but the reason for it being F here and all that delay is on the side streets. It's not on Sterling, am I right? So on Sterling, we still do expect traffic to behave in a normal condition. But on side streets, which is 32nd Street, there will be longer queues and delays. You're right. There will be a minute and 15 second delay per vehicle.

On side streets.

Thank you. And that's in the year 2045. So probably we can also incorporate some improvements that need to be incorporated in the future to try to overcome this issue.

Mr. Mayor. Proceed.

Excuse me. So 32nd Street is coming out of the roundabout, right? Is that where that one lane is going back into two? I don't have that.

That's the Chili. Yeah, let me go back. That other. So this is the Chili roundabout, the 32nd.

That where it's the purple and the orange, that. Oh, no. Okay, yeah. Yeah.

So it's going to be, yep, the transition.

So you're saying that it's more coming off the side streets that it's going to be?

Yep, yep. And that is, you're right, that's the transition area. So we are moving from four lane to three lane just to accommodate the lane roundabout.

Okay.

So vehicles turning right will probably start kind of exhibiting delays.

Can I ask you to step closer to the mic, please?

Yeah, I'm sorry. Yeah, I'm saying vehicles kind of trying to turn right. will be exhibiting 75 seconds delay, but it's going to be the same whether we provide our improvements or not as we saw on the table from level of service.

Okay. Any other questions? All right. Thank you. Thank you. I will call on City Manager Anderson one more time.

Okay, last update I have for you is on our Geobond construction projects. And again, I'll call on Alex Lopez, City Engineer, to give you an update.

Thank you, City Manager. Hello again, Mayor, members of the Council. I'm going to talk to you all now about where we are on our Geobond effort. Which button did you get to work this audio? There we go. Sorry about that. Okay, so I know mostly everyone in this room probably knows this information, but just wanted to start with a quick overview on the GO bond. So last April, our voters approved a $55 million infrastructure GO bond, which included approximately $15 million geared towards bridge maintenance projects, $10 million geared towards sidewalks maintenance projects, and $30 million geared towards streets overlay projects. That is strictly mill and overlay of the streets, not seals or any other form of the various pavement maintenances that we do here in the city. And then here internally, we established a separate fund. Fund 54 was established for us to track the geo bonds completely separately from our other street sales tax capital improvement projects. So here's a breakdown of where we are right now on our budget and expenses as of June 30th. So as you can see there are the budgets I mentioned on the previous slide for bridges, sidewalks and overlay. We have our encumbrances and our expenditures and then our current balances to date. Our encumbrances and expenditures are a mix of projects that are currently under construction this year as well as projects that we have under design. The encumbrances just reflect the dollars that have been encumbered towards specific projects, and the expenditures or the actual dollars that have gone out the door for these projects, be it in construction or in design. Right here is a list of the Diobon Bridge projects we currently have in design. You'll see we have six bridges listed here. All of these bridges will be removal and replacement of the structures. with the exception of the Artemis Bridge over Little Blue River. That bridge is still in mostly very good condition. It just has the issue with the substructure that we need to correct over the Little Blue Trail. But the other five will be complete bridge removals and replacements with new structures that will last 75 to 100 plus years once those projects are complete. Right now, all of these, the top five projects there are midway through the design process and should be completed with design by winter of 2027. So our hope is to get another bundle of bridge projects out for construction in next year's construction season. Heidelberger Bridge, the East Heidelberger Bridge, that one we are just kind of getting going, scoping that one. So that one is just starting up right now. And then this slide is on the current project we have under construction, the current bridge project we have under construction, the Kentucky Road Bridge over Mill Creek and Chrysler Avenue Bridge over Union Pacific Railroad. So this construction contract was a bundle of the two bridges, and we awarded this to Lewis Company. The East Kentucky Road Bridge construction began in the spring of this year with a projected completion date of this summer, hopefully next month. The estimated Project cost for this one is just north of $1 million. And then the Chrysler Avenue Bridge, the construction is anticipated to begin hopefully next month, some point this summer of 2026. This one is more layered and complicated because of the Union Pacific Railroad involvement, which the Kentucky Road Bridge did not have. And we are projecting still to complete this project by the end of this calendar year. with an estimated project cost on this one of just shy of $2.5 million. So that gives us the total of a little over $3.5 million for these two bridge projects. And those are just some photos you can see there. Any night owls or very, very early risers can go see the new deck for the Kentucky Bridge being poured at about 4 a.m. this coming morning. So that's what that looks like right there. That's the top of the structure with the rebar before the concrete gets placed and then underneath is the substructure showing the Repairs that have been completed to the substructure Now for our sidewalks to schools program so after we were notified that the geobond effort passed last year city staff met with both both Fort Osage and Independence Schools District leadership and And we asked them to give us their list of schools in their order of priority from the ones they wanted to see addressed first to the lower priority ones. And that's what that list there reflects. They had Castle Park and Mill Creek at the top of their list, followed by Blackburn, Elm Grove, Fairmount, Claremont, and Ott. We are delivering these projects via the design-build project delivery method, which is a way to accelerate projects. And essentially what that means is instead of doing a design and then bidding it out to get a contractor and then starting construction, you're essentially doing design and construction at the same time. So I will touch on that a little more on the next slide here. But right now, the project that's going on is the bundle of Castle Park and Mill Creek. Next year will be Blackburn and Elm Grove. And the following two years will be the mix of Fairmount, Claremont, and Ott. So to touch on the one we currently have under construction, this is Mill Creek and Castle Park Elementary. Our contractor on this is Mega KC, teamed up with MKEC and CFS Engineers as their engineering design firms. We started construction on Mill Creek in June of this year, and we are projected to be complete in August. This one is estimated to be a $850,000 total cost. And Castle Park Elementary, we are getting ready to get started on that one in mid-August with a projected completion date of the end of the calendar year on that one. That one has a lot larger footprint and scope, and frankly, the neighborhood is more complicated to work in, so you'll see the project budget is more than double on that one. So that's about $1.9 million, giving us the total estimated project cost of $2.75 million for these two projects. Sidewalks to School projects. Something to keep in mind for that, that is construction and engineering survey and design, not just construction cost. And finally, to touch on our streets overlay program through the Geobond, this is a five-year investment where we're allocating approximately $6 million per year. Our FY26 overlay project, our contractor is Superior Bowen. They are estimating to complete 53 lane miles as part of that project. They began in March of this year, and they are set to be complete by the end of this month. They are nearly done with that project. And that estimated project cost on that one is $6.27 million. And just to give you all an idea, this is in addition to our current street sales tax overlay program that we do every year, we generally do About 20, it's going down, of course, because inflation and construction costs have grown so much over the last few years and our budget on that payment maintenance program hasn't changed yet. So we're about at 18, 19 on this year. So this is giving us threefold what we do on a typical year on top of still doing our 18, 19 that we are completing this year, which is also superior bone as our contractor for that one. And they have started work on that project as well. So they can roll right from the Geobond project into the the City Street Sales Tax Overlay Project. And those are all the slides I have for you all today. I'm happy to take any questions you may have. any questions mr mayor yes so we're still doing is it geo bond overlay in the spring and then street sales tax in the fall is that how we were doing it sort of like i said we we we met the schedule so we are um a little bit ahead of that we're starting the the street sales tax overlay now in july august essentially so we're still in the summer time frame but yes that that is the goal and that's That's where we're tracking right now. We've actually identified enough roadways for next year's geobond overlay project. So we're out gathering the metrics that we need to put in the contract specification document. But that's the plan. That one will go out before this calendar year ends so that they can start that in the spring since it's such a large project and then get all our other ones right after that.

Right. Thank you.

Any other discussion? I have a quick question and just make sure everybody understands. The Chrysler Bridge is, as you said, the railroad is not being kind to us right now. But I want to make sure everybody understands we've been ready to go on this thing for a little while. the frustrating part is not getting the notice to proceed from the railroad. Is that correct?

That is correct. In fact, we have to forgive me. I don't remember the exact date, but we have, we had sent the Chrysler Avenue bridge project out for bids years ago. At this point, we did not receive any bids and we essentially had to bundle another bridge project with that one because it just was not lucrative enough for contractors. given all of the additional requirements that the Union Pacific Railroad puts on the contractor and on us as the city as well. So, yeah, that really adds another layer of complication to any project you have, especially a project like a bridge project, where bridge contractors are kind of few and far between in our area. So, honestly, if you would ask me, my greatest concern with the geobond would be the delivery of the bridge projects. Everything else I'm not worried about at all. But that would be my biggest concern if you asked me what that was. So to answer your question, yes, we've been ready for years to get the Chrysler Avenue Bridge project completed. We just could not find a way to do it. But I'm confident that we're going to get it done this year. It is a painful process to go through, though.

And just another question for people that are interested in seeing what streets we may be resurfacing now or in the past. I mean, obviously we're getting ready to finish up, but on the future ones, do you guys have that anywhere that our citizens can look at and see what's coming up for resurfacing for next year?

We can certainly publish that on the city website.

I think that would be a great idea. That way people know what roads were resurfacing and actually seeing these projects come into fruition.

Yeah. No, that's a great idea. And we can certainly do that. And we have changed our approach from past years to more of a neighborhood approach. It It gives you more bang for your buck for the contractor because they don't have to move to as many sites around the city, and it just puts an entire neighborhood on the same maintenance cycle, theoretically, versus just a couple roads here, a couple roads there, that kind of thing. So the geobond is really helping us in that sense get things on the same maintenance cycle. So in the future, when we have to address it, it shouldn't be as painful as it has been in the last few years trying to play catch-up, essentially.

Great. Any other questions? Mr. Mayor.

Proceed. Councilman Dorman, do you have a question? I'll defer to you.

I do. I have a question about one of the school sidewalks. I think that the Elk Grove sidewalk, a part of that is in Jackson County. So are they working with us as well?

We spoke about that with the Fort Osage School District folks. We're keeping it limited to the independent city limits, the sidewalk that we are putting in.

So it will just be that portion. I think it's about 200 feet.

I'm not sure. I'd have to double check on that.

That's OK. OK. And then I think that some of the bridges you've talked about have been considered like low water bridges or risk if there's flooding. So have we ensured that all of these bridges are above the flood level and work on that design?

Yeah, that's a consideration that our bridge consultants take in any bridge project, whether it be a small bridge or a very large bridge. The hydrology and hydraulics of the bridge, they want to make sure that it's not within the risk of a flood zone or anything like that. So that's certainly something that we look at for every structure. Okay.

Thank you.

So, Mayor Perkins.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Alex, thank you. The Winter Road Bridge at CPKC, is that going to be done in conjunction with the Winter Road Complete Streets?

It is not, unfortunately, and that is because we have a pretty sizable grant through Mid-America Regional Council, but that is facilitated through MoDOT on the Winter Road Complete Street project. I'm not going to say they're like the railroad, but they have their requirements. They are quite particular in the way they do things. And we actually had a meeting this past Friday with our local representative with MoDOT, and she even suggested that, hey, you may want to just do the bridge project separately outside of the Complete Streets project. So it will be advertised for bids very shortly after the Complete Street project, but either way, that's kind of a, like I said, the bridge project is more of a niche thing, whereas the Complete Street project, a lot of our contractors in our area can do it, whereas the bridge is a lot more specialized. That design is nearly complete, but that will be a separate project with a separate contractor.

Well, let me geek out with you for a second. So are we engineering the Winter Road Complete Streets with the new design? Okay.

It's the same engineering consultant. We're even doing a lot of water main replacement in the neighborhoods within Winter Road because our water main network is a mess over there. So we're taking advantage and essentially doing three major infrastructure initiatives in one. But the water main and the complete streets will be a project that's done together. The bridge will be a separate item. But again, we're going to look at bundling that bridge with another bridge or two to get that, make it more lucrative because there is the railroad aspect on that bridge as well. Okay.

Well, thank you.

Any other questions? All right. Well, thank you. Thank you. This concludes our study session for tonight. Thank you all for coming.

Thank you very much.