City Council - Regular Meeting

Here we go. Hello. Welcome. It's 7 o'clock in Garner, Kansas. Call me to order. Please rise and join me for the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. [snorts]

All right. Good evening. [clears throat] See a few at least one familiar face out there. Um, we have a presentation this evening for Martin Luther King Jr.

All right. Whereas Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. devoted his life to the advancement of civil rights and public service. He believed in a nation of freedom and justice for all and challenged all citizens to help build a more perfect union and live up to the purpose and potential of America. And whereas Dr. King recognized that everyone can be a great because everyone can serve and during his lifetime encouraged all Americans to serve their neighbors and their communities. And whereas the King Holiday and Service Act enacted in 1994 designated the King Holiday as a national day of volunteer service, the King Day of Service, a nationwide effort to transform the federal holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. into a day of community service grounded in Dr. King's teachings that helps solve social problems while focusing on bringing people together and breaking down the barriers that has divided us as a nation. And whereas the King Day of Service is the only federal holiday commemorated as a national day of service and offers an opportunity for Americans to give back to their communities on the holiday and make an ongoing commitment to service throughout the year. Whereas the Universal Declaration of Human Rights empowers us all. The principles enshrined in the Declaration are as relevant today as they were in 1948. Whereas each of us can and must contribute to making our communities better with increased opportunity for all of our citizens. Now therefore be resolved that I Todd Winters mayor of the city of Garner, Kansas to hereby proclaim Monday, January 19th, 2026 be designated Martin Luther King Jr. Day and a day of service in Garner and call upon the people of the community to pay tribute to the life and works of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. through participation in community service projects on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and throughout the year. Thank you. All

right. [clears throat] No public hearing. We'll move to public comments. Members of the public are welcome to use this time to make comments about city matters or items on the agenda that are not part of a public hearing. If you wish to come forward, please leave your comments to five minutes or less. There's a time clock to your left. That being said, come forward. State your name and address for the podium is now open. Oh goodness. There is a fivem minute time clock to your left.

Yes, I I know. I know the whole drill. Uh Steve shoot 1841 second war court. I wanted to kind of put an additional emphasis on what you just read about the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. Um, Denica Aendo, who is our amazing public relations uh, public information officer, does a a wonderful Martin Luther King tribute. Uh, school children come here every year to to take it to check it out. It's in this chamber here and uh, I encourage anybody who's out there in the community, please come and take a look at it. It is a very well done uh display and exhibit and uh it definitely inspires you to uh be more of a doer than a spectator in terms of civic life and uh we all need to do that. So thank you.

Thank you. Yeah, I know she puts a lot of work into that. Absolutely. Absolutely. Or see. All right. Uh no one else coming forward. We will move to consent agenda. Is there an item on the consent agenda council would like to approve? Five.

Okay. Any other? Do I hear a motion for consent agenda items 1, two, three, four, six, and seven? So moved. Second. Motion McNair. Second Deon, we approve consent agenda items 1, two, three, four, six, and seven. All in favor? I. All opposed. Staining. Consent agenda items pass. Consent agenda item number five. Consider authorizing the city administrator to enter into an agreement with AFCO LLC, the design and installation of a new playground for Winwood Park.

Uh, yeah. So, there we go. So, I think there's only a couple of quick things. one um I wanted to highlight the fact that this was on the agenda. I didn't want it to get lost in the consent agenda. I think we've been um talking about Winwood for a while and I know it's been a lot of [snorts]

um people in my neighborhood or neighbors in particular have asked me about it. So fantastic that this is getting started in with the uh grant that we received um the the last time we last year all the way last year um that this park is going to be um such an amazing um addition to in that in the basketball court. I I guess the only question I had is you know we we've seen such great work from um the contractor who did Veterans Park. This is a different contractor I'm assuming. No, this is actually the same one. Oh, okay. Yep. Fantastic. That was the question I had. So, um, yeah, guess can't wait to see it. I did have a question. Go ahead.

Yeah, I had a question. I was going to wait for council updates, but um, since we pulled it cameras, question. Anytime a new park goes in, I mean, I would like to see a camera at all of our parks and you know, when that comes, one, is there one planned for when we get new equipment? Because Winwood gets hit hard by vandals. I mean, there was one stretch where it was every single day and then I started sitting out there myself. So [laughter] cameras that went Yes, we have it budgeted.

Perfect. And then Pam, maybe this is better for you. Do the cameras help? Do we see when when there is vandalism at these parks? Are we able to identify and ticket it and do anything about it or are we just watching the vandals then on camera and watching the park get vandalized? I think that's a great question and um I do believe that they help. Uh I cannot think of a specific time when we've identified anyone from it. I can there's been several especially out at Celebration Park.

Okay. When we have a lot of kids in in high school who take their personal vehicles out there, drive on the fields, we're able to identify those vehicles. SRO's a big help for that. Okay. But they're definitely a deterrent and they cameras are always it's always better to have them than not have them. Okay. I just want to make sure because obviously I think the cameras are a good idea and all of that, but I want to make sure that we're actually they're valuable and doing something to deter the vandals. But I'm excited about can would park from my house and I'm ready to not see that plywood over the slide. [laughter] [sighs]

Excellent. That was my question, too. So, perfect. Any other questions? Is there a motion then to approve consent agenda item number five? So, moved. Second. Motion Wayne, second Deon. We approve consent agenda item number five. All in favor? All opposed? Consent agenda item five passes. No planning and zoning agenda, consent agenda, no committee recommendations, no old business, no new business. So, we'll move to council updates. Chief, we are working on um end of the year reports and putting together our uh year end report and stats. And that's really all I have. Renee, I have further

nothing. Nothing from me.

Think I'm doing this right. Uh, yeah. I got a question for the council. With our sharp increase we had in our wholesale power cost in November and what we're anticipating December, [snorts] I would like to ask the council if they would find value in a brief presentation at your next meeting. The reason for these costs is our dogwood generation plant outage lasted longer than planned and the Marshall wind farm was derated due to maintenance. Losing the output of these facilities required us to buy replacement power on the open market to see some premiums while still maintaining our fixed ownership expense. I'd like to see your input about a presentation on those costs increase and then also consider maybe reimplementing the PCA which been on hold since 2023. This presentation would illustrate how the recent events made us a rate taker instead of a rate maker in the wholesale power markets.

Sure. Thank you. Next meeting. Yes. Yes. Okay. Sounds like consensus to do that. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. Jason, sorry. Fort Wood once we have final design, I will put that on the website for people to see before we start construction. Kind of like what we did with veterans. So, will the basketball goal be going concurrently with that or basketball court? It's all weather dependent. I'm going to try because there may be some cost savings there, but it's it just all depends on the weather. So,

and there's a lead time on the equipment, too. Thank you. Nothing for All right, Kellen. Nothing for me. All right. Nothing for me. Okay, Councilman McNair. Just want to say thanks to Police Department for their action New Year's Eve. Good job. Thank you. And just wanted to also say thanks to all of our city staff. We didn't get a chance to say thank you at the end of the year for everything you've all done. We've had a really good year in 2025 in 2026.

Nothing more for me tonight. Nothing for me. Nothing tonight. We do have executive session. Um, do I hear a motion to enter into executive session? So moved. Second. Motion McNair, second Johnson. We recess into executive session to discuss personnel matters and non-elected personnel relating to the city minister's annual performance review pursuant to KSA 75-4319 B1 beginning at what time is it? 712 returning at 7:32. We have 20 minutes. All in favor?

All opposed? Abstain. We are in executive session.

I know, right? All right, it is 7:32. Do I have a motion to return to regular session? Second. Motion Deon second. Baldwin return to regular session. All in favor? I opposed. Back in regular session. A motion to adjurnn. So moved. Second. Motion D. Got you. Second. McNair. We adjourn. All in favor? All opposed? Abstain.