City Council - Regular Meeting

I don't think it's All right. Good evening everyone. It is 7 o'clock in Garner, Kansas. We'll call the meeting to order. Please rise and join me for the pledge of allegiance. To the flag of the United States of America and to the stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

All right. Welcome everyone. I assume everyone's here for the distinguished bud budget presentation award. I figured that was popular. Yeah. All right. Well, welcome everyone. Thank you for coming tonight. U we have a proclamation. Our first proclamation is for Autism Acceptance Month. And so if anyone wants to come up, you're welcome to come up with me. We read it. A lot of gardener gold.

Okay. So whereas autism is a developmental disability characterized by a range of success and challenges with socialization, communication, and behavior. And whereas the symptoms of autism typically are present before age three and are often are accompanied by abnormalities in cognitive functioning, learning, attention, and sensory processing. And whereas autism affects one in every 44 children in the United States, is four times more likely to occur in boys than in girls and can affect anyone regardless of race, ethnicity, or other factors. And whereas the need for early intervention services begins soon after a child has been diagnosed with autism to significantly improve health outcomes, reduce the level of funding with services needed to treat people with autism later in life. And whereas people with autism can be and are productive members of the workforce if they are given appropriate support, training, and early intervention services. And whereas individuals with autism, like other Americans, should have the opportunity to realize their ambitions and leave rewarding lives. And whereas with the autism diagnosis rate increasing fast, we take these 30 days to celebrate the differences of, learn more about, and empower autistic individuals. Now therefore, be it resolved that I, Todd Wyers, mayor of the city of Gardener, Kansas, do hereby proclaim April 2026 as Autism Acceptance Month in Gardener, Kansas to increase understanding and acceptance of people with autism spectrum disorder and to address the diverse needs of individuals and families affected by autism. One, two, three.

You want to say your name? Start. My name is Teresa. Teresa. I'm Dylan. That's Denzy. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Okay. Next we have a proclamation for fair housing. Whereas the fair housing act enacted on April 11th, 1968 enshrined into federal law the goal of eliminating racial segregation and ending housing discrimination in the United States. And whereas the Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in housing based on race, color, religion, sex, familial status, national origin, and disability and commits recipients of federal funding to affirmatively further fair housing in their communities. And whereas the city of Gartner is committed to the mission and intent of Congress to provide fair and equal housing opportunities for all. Whereas our social fabric, the economy, health, and environment are strengthened in diverse inclusive communities. And whereas more than 50 years after the passage of the Fair Housing Act, discrimination persists and with in many communities remain segregated. And whereas acts of housing discrimination and barriers to equal housing opportunity are repugnant to a common sense of decency and fairness. Now therefore, be it resolved that I honors, mayor of the city of Garter, Kansas, to hereby proclaim the month of April 2026 as fair housing month in the city of Gardener, Kansas as an inclusive community committed to fair housing and promote and to promoting promoting sorry appropriate activities by private public entities to provide and advocate for equal housing opportunities for all residents, prospective residents of the city of Garden. All right, Matt, are you coming up for this one?

Oh, yeah. They are there.

This is our awardw winning finance staff. So we have uh three presentations and again award-winning every year always always on top. Very proud of everyone here. Um, the Government Finance Officers Association, which is the GFOA, has recognized the city of Gardner with three prestigious awards for excellence in financial reporting and budgeting. The first certificate of achievement for excellence in financial reporting for the annual comprehensive financial report for the fiscal year ended December 31st, 2024. All right.

Thank you. Next, they also were awarded the popular annual financial reporting award for fiscal year ended December 31st, 2024. The PF PAFR was evaluated on reader appeal, understandability, distribution methods, creativity, and other elements. And I like that. that puts it, you know, puts it uh explains it might have five. Okay, so that's this one here. And lastly, the distinguished budget presentation award for the annual budget for fiscal year 2026, recognizing the city's commitment to transparency and excellence in financial planning. The award is the highest form of recognition in governmental budgeting. In addition to receiving the award, the city also earned special recognition for its capital program. That's this one here. Got it.

Congratulations. Thank you for all your hard work. Thank you. Okay, next we have a presentation. The Gardener Chamber of Commerce update. Welcome, Beth. Thank you.

And chamber. Thank you, mayor and city council members for giving us the opportunity um to give you an update about what the chamber has been up to. So, we'll get started. Um once again, I'm Beth Felski. I'm the president and CEO of the Gardener Chamber of Commerce. And um just once again our mission, we're the catalyst for business growth, a convenor of leaders and influencers, and a champion for a strong community. So we try to stay true to what our mission is um in everything that we do. Um I'm just going to highlight a few things um relevant to this past year and then a little bit of of forecasting of what's to come. Um obviously we do the ribbon cutings um and that is in cooperation with the city. We had eight um this past year. Um we do these for new and expanded businesses and uh these are open to the community, the business community as well as the general community to attend. Um we have several networking coffees a year. This year we had 22 um two per month. Um those have had great attendance. Um I think our last coffee we had at Hope Market was over um was right around 50 people. Um so we are really excited to see um the amount of people that are coming together for those networking coffees. Um special events, we do those throughout the year. Um, I will say we try to be very strategic and purposeful about our events and we'll continue um to look at those, analyze those and make sure that they're really fitting a need not only for our business members um but for the community. Um, I'll do a quick fly over of just

some of our work and you can see there obviously the numbers and stats of where we fall this past year. um calls for service obviously with the increasing population um calls for service have has increased as well and so we continue um to meet the service demands um that are increasing. So, um, phone calls for a little bit of everything. And oftentimes it's just helping people find the right resources in the community or at the city. Um, whether it's relocation, licensing, general questions. Uh, social media and website are really important part of what we do. Um, it's interesting, our website, we find, is a resource not just for our members, but for the community. So, people are coming to our website um to find out information about Gardener as a whole and obviously um we're really excited about uh the new website of the city. Um heard some great things about that and just connecting the two and so that's been great to see the increased traffic and we um hope to really enhance that in the upcoming year. Workforce development is really um a huge part of economic development. Uh that starts with our community profile information um job postings. We have a lot of partnerships uh in terms of workforce development and then um also some areas of HR. Our resident relocation and visitor information um we distribute uh you know as on an as needed basis um for a variety of folks in and outside the community. our gardener publication um known as the the G magazine. Um we continue to kind of um you know modernize that magazine and make sure it's really fitting the needs. Um we

changed that up a lot this year and did some fun things and added added some new things, but I think it really highlighted um the gardener community and and what it stands for. Um it also includes the the information our business member information and additional resources. The um chamber newsletter is interesting. That is not just for chamber members. That expands throughout the community. And um someone said, "I I really like the chamber newsletter because I think it helps clarify things in the community and just helps educate folks." And so uh we continue to enhance that as well. In the area of tourism, I really think this is a growing area and a lot of potential, especially with the addition additional hotels coming to the area. Um, you know, we know youth sports is a huge driver for tourism, not only, you know, especially in the Midwest, um, but specifically to this area. Um, and so, uh, we have done several things, you know, in terms of just our publications and some work there. We added um we tried a map this year and um you know I've mentioned before to some folks like I really questioned a map with all of the technology. We've had great feedback on this map and this year we really just stuck with you know some basics about gardener parks schools um have those available at the hotel various public locations and that has been extremely popular. So we'll look to kind of how we continue to enhance that moving forward. Um, we have, you know, our distribution points. Um, obviously the library, um, is a really successful place to get information out. We have regional initiatives that we continue to partner in. This is important just from a marketing standpoint and to be able to share, you know, the the cost of marketing

regionally. Um, so several organizations, you know, listed there, TAK, KCDA, Visit Kansas, Casey, um, and working with the Department of Commerce. You know, an example of that might be a passport for the region that identifies a theme. So, in the summer, if people are looking for sweet treats, we can, you know, highlight those areas or parks to visit or museums to visit. And um we can identify a couple in gardener. There might be others in the county identified um but we partner with that. So our reach is much larger by doing that. Um continue to educate ourselves uh through our regional conferences and then we've added um a new travel and tourism committee. We did this kind of as a trial basis um with the World Cup to kind of see what the needs were and take feedback for folks and then help educate folks about the impact and I really see that growing um like I said with um some tourism opportunities uh here and with the additional hotels um what the chamber has decided to do for World Cup is really um focus on what we have here in Gardener. So whether it's someone coming into gardener or um someone who lives in Gardener um celebrate the World Cup but really bringing folks to our businesses to do so. So a fun way to recognize um but also making sure that you know if people are going to watch a match as opposed to paying thousands of dollars for a ticket um we encourage them to watch the match in Gardener. And so, um, we're, um, we've had great response from our businesses in terms of wanting to be a part of that. So, um, we're excited to see what that brings. Um, in terms of public policy and community, we, uh, also have a lot of partnerships

in this regard. Um we're part of the Johnson County Public Policy Council that looks at legislation um that is good for business pro business policies and um it's mostly about educating folks. So we connect members um with our elected officials. One of the ways we do that, some of you have participated in our candidate forums and questionnaires and then um we have a shared website where we post that information so that uh voters can be educated and then just encouraging people to get out and vote. Um we can provide letters of support and grant participation um for legislation that supports our businesses. Uh leadership gardener is really an important program that we do. um not only to educate and cultivate leaders in our own community but to give um folks exposure to what other communities are doing um great great program about eight sessions we'll continue to grow that uh and then of course we have state of the city on Thursday so we will see you there um and excited um to connect our members uh help connect our members with updates um and things going on in the city in terms of economic development, which which can mean a lot of different things. Obviously, um we work closely with Jim and the rest of the staff, but some things the chamber has really focused on um the last few months are is our downtown committee. Um we're really working to get a unified voice um from the businesses in terms of um what can help them be successful, how we can work closely with the city um for revitalization of downtown um and we'll talk more about that in a minute. But we've also conducted just some educational meetings for our

downtown business and property owners. So we um continue to maintain a list of the property owners and businesses and um try to inform them and give them opportunities. One thing we did was revisit um the destination um downtown plan. There were a lot of new people that had never seen that, didn't know it existed. So um had the opportunity to partner with city staff and presenting that. And then our um we did a panel with KOT and we had someone from Mid America Regional Council there um just to talk about um I think the most beneficial thing there was to talk about Kott's role versus the city's role versus the county's role. So um just doing a lot to educate and and help cultivate some real positive conversations and then also you know what's the responsibility of the businesses um most recently um we have we're going to have our first HR round table um which is workforce development again so important for economic development and really we're going to start this as just an opportunity for those businesses um to connect with each other um in terms of resources. Um, I'm gonna invite Tim Miller to come up and talk a little bit more um about our efforts downtown.

Good evening everybody. Uh we started this committee seven eight months ago and we're meeting uh once a month uh with a handful of downtown business owners and we've obviously the chamber has gathered a list of the downtown businesses and their ownership so that we can communicate with everybody in that group. Um there's two different subcommittees. Uh right now we're working on branding. Uh Main Street Creative has offered their services to help us brand Gardener Downtown. Um, we're also in the pre-study uh of our sidewalks and maybe having a common theme layout to replace or repair some of our failing sidewalks for downtown. Uh, also talking more about bringing people here, whether they're community members or from out of our community. Uh, partnering with Ashenville, Derek and Tamil are here tonight. Uh, Transport Brewery in Warren Place and using their triangle locations. uh and with the revamping of the alley behind transport leading to Ashenville uh creating more excitement and more visitation down there. Um and then you guys can see the rest of the stuff on the screen. Thanks Tim. Um Tim has been great um just knowing a lot of the history of the community um but also um with some of the new folks in the downtown area and just had some great conversations with that group and I'm really excited about

the momentum. Um one of the things that we've looked at specifically uh at the end of this this past year um was our strategic plan, the chamber's strategic plan. Um, and so I'm gonna have uh Trisha, our board chair, talk a little bit more about that and how that aligns with the city.

Thanks, Beth, and thanks, Tim, and thanks for having us here this evening. Um, I think what's exciting on my years, uh, being on the involved in the Gardener Chamber and on the board is how we've taken it to another level as it's grown and tried to understand what the city's trying to accomplish and what we're trying to become um, as a small community growing into a larger community and take our responsibilities with the city work plan and make sure that they align and that they have some sort of uh, metrics or objectives and and as we have ideas and we do the normal caucus of that, How can we do things that are more impactful? Maybe bring more return on those time monies people spent. And the last fall we took a good hard look at our list of events and our work plan and started aligning it. And we actually met for a good part of a day and said let's take those and let's look at the results and see where those impact each other. And as we did that we came up with what we call four core pillars of focus. And inside those what we wanted to do is take the each of our executive board members will be a a committee member if you are a leader of that as we have different events or um community engagement or businesses that call in to say or events how do these align with that and in each of those um we've taken the time to look at what do we want that outcome to be and how does align with the mission as well and one of those being finance and I think as far as finance goes we have a budget we have certain ways we spend Ino of certain ideas. People come to us all the time wanting us to do different things. We collaborate with um different associations and um development in the city. So how do we look at that and make sense of it and so our treasur will take part in that who that is and look at those numbers and look at the in input and look at the outcome and see how do we most maximize the results on that and not just at the end of the day make sure something's happening and is there money at the end of the year kind of thing.

Um, and then the partnerships. I think partnerships become about each of you. They become about the community. They become about businesses. They become about new businesses. I'm a local person. I've been around this area most of my life. I'm a small business owner out of Lanexa, but we work together where there's lots of people coming and looking at Lanexa. And how do we get more engagement from those partnerships and those bigger community members? Because getting uh that and supporting what the council and economic development is doing. How do we have the right message to support those partnerships? Plus do things like local hope market or um the community, the churches, the things that impact the everyday people because the community that's what they see, what touches them, what do they need? And how do I see the chamber somewhere? If I call them, do they know what they're doing? Do they know what they're saying? So, taking those partnerships very seriously and making sure we have the resources for that. I think that some of the downtown um council has been a really strong uh growth area for us. I know that um we've tried to learn a lot more about what the city's doing and making sure we can do right things there. So, just knowing more and versus and understanding more. We're taking that down through our ambassadors as well so that they are also aware and acknowledging and representing the same way and they're excited about that because I think before they were just there and wasn't sure what to do with their commitment and their volunteering and then brand and communications Beth had mentioned about the website and you know whether we like it or not I mean technology is it and that's where people go and that's what they do and we have a lot of investors and they want to be able to go to that and use it and people looking at the city I mean it's a first glance thing and is it easy and does it represent what does it say and does it have the you know we post for a lot of different organizations or foundations that sort of thing so there's some work that definitely needs to be done there not to make it more user friendly to make it a true resource because I think that uh you know in the world of

technology can make the work of that become the work of three and four people and I think in a a group like we have that's something that we have to focus on doing or excited about and that how do we push out communications and how are those um timely and accurate and um easy again for people to access if they need that for whatever need because we're here as the community and for the city. So how they access that information and we're focused on looking at it and incrementally how do we improve that and make it easier to continue to make it um real information timely information. And then I think last is programs in advance. We keep looking at those things and there's lots of ideas. We've been very successful with the leadership gardener and it's really fun and inspirational to see the young people want to learn about city government and all the places they've taken them and lots of graduates from that and there's some nice businesses that are investing in their younger leaders and learning about that. So I think leadership um gardener is good and then of course we talked about the World Cup. anything we can do to help as well bring those things together um as a part of the community and draw more people. So I think the important thing is that we're not just um kind of doing things as they were and we're trying to take take it to a growth level and making sure that we're getting a return on our time and what the community is trying to accomplish as well. So we appreciate it. Thanks, Trisha. Um, I just have a couple more things. Um, once again, here's a list of our our board of directors and, um, we have several volunteers, as Trisha had mentioned, our ambassadors, um, who are fantastic, uh, for us as a small staff, um, you know, it's myself and two other part-time employees, um, Laura and Jennifer, and they do an amazing job for us. Um but we really couldn't do our work without our

ambassadors who really go out check on our businesses and then all the our volunteers um for our events and our partners. Um so we truly uh value their efforts as well. So, um, you know, we look to continue, uh, to grow and to also collect feedback from our businesses, um, and communicate that to those in the community, um, to really continue to make Gardener a better place and make sure people are spending their dollars here in Gardener. So, um, if you have any questions, uh, please let me know. Thank you.

Thank you, Beth. Appreciate it. All right, Matt. Move to outside agency budget requests. city contributes funding to several organizations that provide services to gardener residents. The purpose of the presentation tonight is to summarize the 2027 funding requests of the governing body. My presentation tonight will also include an update on the economic development fund and the special alcohol and drug fund, both of which provide funding for these outside agencies. This slide um shows kind of a list of the different agencies and the amount they've requested in 2026 and then they're requested going forward in 2027. Chamber of Commerce is asking for $75,000 in 2027. Garden Historical Museum is asking for the same amount as last year at 25. UCS Human Services Fund um is asking for the same amount as the prior year. Johnson County Utility Assistance Program and then also the rental assistance program. Overall, they're asking for the same amount, but they want to move um 3,000 $3,000 from utility program to the rental program. And the drug and alcohol council is asking increase to 42,000. Um the Gardner Cemetery Association um it basically submits a budget to the Gardner Township Board and the city of Garner generally pays for about half of the cemetery association's budget.

This request of 58,432 represents a 22% increase over 2026. The Cemetery Association experienced a significant increase in costs after their long-standing contractor retired from business from his business in 2026. They covered approximately half of the increase using contingency funds. They were not able to find a more competitive bid for 2027. So now they are building the entire cost into the 2027 budget. Other items include an increase in compensation for the part-time sex um to be more representative of their expanded job description and there was also an increase in waste removal services. Please note the Gardener Township Board and Gardener Cemetery Association are still looking for ways to reduce their budget. Um, this current request might be reduced in the near future. And I would look at um the 58,432 as the maximum request and they're working to get that down. And then at a previous city council meeting, the city council discussed potentially increasing the level of funding for Project Grad and that it would be discussed further during the budget process. Well, here tonight we're discussing um funding requests for outside agencies. So staff is looking for direction on what to be included into the 2027 budget. So a quick snapshot of the economic development fund. Um, projected expenditures include requests for the Chamber of Commerce, Garner Historical Museum, the Garner Small Business Assistance Program, the Retail Coach, the city's recreation event um promotion activities, and a transfer to general fund to support economic activities that we now perform in-house. Those account for about 378,600 of the 2027 budget. The remaining um amount is 453,300 and

that's for the projected annual debt service on the turf fields at Celebration Park. So if you look at the fund overall, we had 200 $48,000 in revenue last year. We started with a $774,000 balance this year. We expect the new hotel to open up um sometime soon, at least by 2027. and that would probably bump the re expected revenues up in 2028 to about 718,000. So over the 10-year lease of that um ballfield project, we'll be running a deficit which would slowly drain the fund balance over time. Um unless a third hotel opens up or some budgetary changes um this fund may need assistance in the future. the special alcohol and drug fund. Um the annual revenues are approximately 82,000. The new funding requests from the drug and alcoholism council is 42,000. The city's contribution towards a mental health co-responder and project RAD also come from this fund. The fund is projected to have an ongoing budget surplus. It will continue to build fund balance. That is all the outside agency requests.

You want us to give you specific direction with the Yes. If you have any um basically request for information or if you basically um want to give some guidance on what to do for like project grad or anything else that jumps out, please let me know. You want consensus on the amount for project grad tonight? I know we've discussed it, but we never really if you need more time or more information, I mean, we can do it at a later meeting, but this is the outside funding agency request where we generally get this and we start putting in the budget. um the operating budget right now, as you can see on the slide, we're leaving at 3,000 unless we're directed um by the consensus of council to change it.

Yeah, it's a placeholder. I mean, I think it is. Um

personally, I want some more information that I didn't warn you about. I know you don't have it on the special alcohol and drug fund. Um, our co-responder is only, you know, we're only contributing 20,000 and I think we are very close to needing our own co, correct me if I'm wrong, um, needing our own co-responder or needing to contribute more because we use it more than the people that we share it with. So my concern to run that fund down would be if in the future we need to hire our own co-responder or contribute more to be able to have more co-responders in that group we contribute to. I want to make sure that it's there.

That is accurate. Um based on our numbers from 2025, I would expect uh in 2027 that they may um we may need to have our own co-responder. Um I I would expect that they'll tell us in 2027 for 28. I think they understand the the budget cycle. Um but I do think that's coming. I think that's correct.

And do we know what the full rate would be if we had our own?

Uh there's a funding mechanism. So, currently we share with Johnson County and Spring Hill, but we are by far the largest user. Um, and there is a funding mechanism for um some of the other cities in Johnson County that have their own. And I don't know exactly what it is. Um, but I would guess it's going to be around 65,000 to have our own, but that again is just a guess. I can get that relatively quickly. Right now, the fund shows about a surplus. If you compare 27 projected versus 25 revenues, about 17 to 18,000. That should grow a little bit, but I mean, if it's a full-time position, I'm not sure how that would cover that.

I am meeting with Johnson County Mental Health tomorrow to see if we can use the opioid funds. Um, we have the guide and we have a meeting in the morning to go over the guide and see how how their protocols fit the mandates from the opioid fund guide. So, I'll have more information on that after tomorrow. Yeah, it sounds like there's a few few things that could be more information coming forward. So, maybe we we do hold off on that particular the project grad.

I just know a fund balance of 262 if we have to hire a full-time position out of that is going to drop very quickly and just want to make sure that we're prepared for that. I I think the other thing to think about though is, you know, when I looked at the numbers too, when I presented the project grad numbers, we were bringing more money yearover-year. Um, so it's something to think about. I I don't know that you would draw it down as user thinking

and I can model out the fund like I have another presentation coming up in May where we talk about like budget highlights or initiatives. We can bring back the conversation then. I think it's the second meeting in May and I can model out the fund and after that time we'll have all the operating and maintenance requests too so it' be easier to do. I think that'd be a good idea. Okay. Any other questions?

Okay. Thank you, Matt. And then believe you're also going to speak on the capital improvement program. So kind of a high level um look at the process for the CIP is here tonight I'm presenting the CIP draft to the city council. Then in May we'll take the CIP draft and it'll be presented to planning commission where they review it to see if it's in conformance with the comprehensive plan. and then um it's not actually finally approved until um September 8th and it's the 27th through 2031 CIP would be considered along for approval with the 2027 budget. So that's kind of the general timeline on this slide. It shows um basically where we're making all of our capital investment into different types of improvements like airport, electric, water, wastewater, parks and recon streets and storm over the five-year period. Um, please note that these numbers include grant funding and debt proceeds. The total plan capital investment over the 5-year period is approximately 97 million. And this includes nearly $38 million in grants. And as we go through the presentation, I do want to point out a few of the projects may have some pre-construction costs in 2026 or earlier years. Um the CIP reports in the agenda packet show the prior year expenditures for each project. Um this presentation focuses on the planned capital expenditures that occur in fiscal years 27th through 2031. Also, please note that this presentation is just highlighting some of the major projects. There are a lot of small projects also in the CIP um that aren't in this presentation, but they're all

listed in the CIP reports in your packets. So for park improvements um for the turf um ball fields um we were planning originally do that in 26 but it's kind of we're trying to time it along with the new hotel when it opens. So we have transit guest tax coming in. So now it's scheduled for 2027. Um and it's anticipated to be financed with lease proceeds and the annual debt service supported by transient guest tax. As we mentioned earlier, um the annual debt service will likely cause a deficit that drains the fund balance over time and another funding source may be um required to help cover the debt service. And part of that reason is we're careful on the useful life of assets where we don't want to term on the debt that goes out too long if we think we're going to have to start replacing the fields before that term's over. And then the Stone Creek U Park playground replacement is scheduled for 2027 and will be funded by park impact fees. Also in 27 is the pool rehab project which is funded out of special parks fund which basically is funded by a third of um alcohol tax. And then in 2030 we have the pool play structure replacement, celebration park playground replacement and the reconstruction of celebration parking lot projects. Typically projects like the pool play structure and the playground improvements would be paid from either special parks fund or parks improvement fund. However, they're unlikely to have or it's unlikely they have sufficient revenues. It's all development dependent. And generally for most per parks projects, it's um do we have the development revenues like impact fees or do we have grants available to help pay for those projects? We've included them in the CIP just for planning purposes at this point. Um celebration parking lot. Um, we don't really have an identified funding source for that yet, but we know that is going to be coming up

for streets and storm water infrastructure. Um, we have 167 streets centered to moonlight. Reconstruction um should be starting this year on at least the design and construction next year. Moonlight Road Warrant to 167th Street in 27 Gardener Road 186 Street to BNSF in 2028. And then we have two projects related to the I35 US 56 interchange. The first one in 2728 is for temporary improvement or I guess interim improvements for like a signalization I believe a turn lane and then um we're also looking at a reconfiguration project um possibly in 2029. Um it's all grant dependent. Um then 175th Street, Oage to Waverly um in 2029. Then 183rd Street, Garner Road to Moonlight. There's an overlay project in 2030. Then we have another major major road reconstruction project, 167th Street, Kill Creek to Waverly. Um that's basically the MARK grant which helps funds these reconstruction projects. Um I believe it's what every two years or um so that'll be the next one in that program and then Garner Road 188th Street to 186th Street in 2030 to 2031. So we have a lot of street projects planned. The special highway fund um development revenues and bond and interest fund all contribute to helping pay for these projects. And I want to highlight the bond and interest fund component to this because council's previously directed staff to keep approximately $10 million in um geo bond capacity for infrastructure projects in the bond and interest fund to help fund um and support economic development. Please note this capacity can be can cover actually a greater amount depending on the timing of the debt and

how it's structured. But we are um using a lot of it um for so the plan five-year CIP. It also includes a clear road and 100 city fifth street project which is occurring this year. Um and for that clear road and 100 city fifth street project in 2026. That project um is anticipated to have a lot of development revenues associated with it and road contributions from developers. Think Panaton, Clare Crossing, all the ones around that area. But those development revenues will come in over time. So what we do is we issue bonds up front. We carry the principle and interest and bond and interest using that capacity. And then development revenues will come in over time and rebuild that capacity. Um I35 and US56 um reconfiguration. The projects dependent on grants. Um the local match is currently estimated to be around 5.2 million. The debt service would be covered by bond and interest. 167th Street Kill Creek Dway reconstruction project. Basically, the special highway fund doesn't have capacity to take on more projects. Um, so this project would be funded out of bond in interest and most of the funding would come from a MARK grant, but our local M would be about $4 million. And um, basically for our arterial reconstruction program, we're not looking to probably do that long-term bond interest, but just to until the debt starts falling off in Special Highway. Then for airport infrastructure, we have the terminal building um in 2627. Um just kind of an exception to this um presentation while I focused on 27 to 2031 costs. I did include the full cost for terminal building. It's mostly in 2026 about $133,000 in FFN in 27. Why

included at all is it's all dependent on grants and I mean that could shift years basically. So, there's a chance it could move back to 2027. Also want to highlight on this page, um, some of the funding sources aren't just your typical airport funding sources, but we use loans from the electric fund. Um, airport's a small fund. It doesn't have a lot of cash, and all the grants are basically reimbursement. So, we borrow money from the electric. we short-term finance like a project like um either of these projects and then when the grant comes in we repay the electric utility for electric infrastructure we have new substation 5 land acquisition in 29 2030 and we also have substation 2 T4 upgrade funding source for the electric fund um you have charges for services electric connection fees and then Just a reminder, we do have a small capital reserve um about 3.6 million. For water infrastructure, we have the new water intake structure in 27. Very large project. And then we have 183rd tower rehab also in 27. Um we have planned water rate increases of 4.7% through 2031. That's to help pay for the new intake structure. Then we also this year we're um I believe beginning work on the transmission line which is another large water project that would help pay for for wastewater infrastructure. We have the oxidation ditch mixers and rotors in 27. Madison demain street relief line in 28 29 Nike lift station force main and then wastewater treatment plant advanced

nutrient removal in the future. Um we have planned wastewater rate increases of 4.2% through 2031. That's not only to help pay for these projects, but also that very large um Kilp Creek uh resource recovery facility project we just uh we're in the middle of right now. And that's all of my um all the projects for this year or for the five-year period. Thank you, Matt. Council, do you have any questions? I have a

I I do have one. Um, is it possible to the um the projects that you added to the to the agenda, is it possible to add um just a blurb about the potential start time and duration of each one of these projects just to give us an idea of oh it's going to be second half of the year or um you know you know winter or summer something like that. It doesn't have to be very, you know, precise, but um and then kind of a duration if we're talking. I know some of this it shows it's two years. Um you know, some of these other projects may be, you know, a month or, you know, six months. I don't know how long the um the field replacement might take. I just out of curiosity. I don't know if that would help anybody else.

I can talk to departments to see if they are able to do that. Sometimes it's depending on grants, but a lot of them are if they're routine grants, we should know. Um, if they're not routine grants, it might affect things. I know projects move around a lot, but I can look into that, see what we can come up with. On the US 56 I35 reconfiguration, 26 million. Did you say the local match is 5.2, so that's only our piece or we're fully funding the 26? No, we're going to talk about that later. Okay. Okay. That's what one of the Okay, I got you. And then Jason, what's the 181,000 for the pool rehab?

Put a drain in the bottom of it. It's not filling it in. Um, it's I think it's a two-part. One is getting the pool filters covered. And then there's some slide maintenance that needs to be done as well. might be another piece, but I can't remember what else is in that. So, it's I know it's those two for sure. I know the project, the play structure project was for 2030. We've been missing a slide in that zero entry play structure. It's been like, is that going to be fixed before 2030 or are we just

So, the issue with that structure is those part replacement parts become obsolete. We've tried to I think replace it twice I think since COVID and since that since that is a suspended slide and those poles that go into the zero depth entry it just things don't line up. We can't find replacement for it. So but that 600,000 is for a full replacement of the entire city. We did we did sand blast it last year when we paid the pool project to help extend the rest of the life.

Okay. And then I know we don't have a funding source, but Celebration Parks parking lot. Can we really wait until 2030 or is that going to be gravel by then? That's bad. We probably can't wait. Um that's more for the engineers or parks director to speak to. Um problem is we just don't have a funding source. Like most of our projects have dedicated funding source of some sort. Nothing for parking lots. And um based on preliminary discussions, I don't believe our infrastructure special sales tax can be used for it because it wasn't specifically mentioned as a use. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you, Matt. Appreciate it. So, now we'll move to p uh 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 limit your comment comments to five minutes or less. There is a five-minute time clock on your left. That being said, come forward and state your name and address for the record. And the podium is now open.

Uh my name is Aaron Mcir. I live at 28222 West 16 Terrace in Copper Springs. Um I think it was Trisha's name. She made a kind of a good comment earlier that kind of coincides with part of the reason why I'm here tonight. Transitioning from a smaller community to a larger community. While it's obviously needed with the growth of the city, one thing that I just don't want to see lost is the commitment to the residents that put down their roots and buy their homes here and have been homeowners for long times here. So within the last two weeks, um, a lot of frustrations have happened in Copper Springs for a lot of residents going way back to several years ago when it was reszoned from duplex and town home zoning to multifamily zoning with the tall grass structure. While the structures look great and everything's great from the outside when you look at it from the roads in last on the 24th um at nine o'clock I had to call the police department to see what time construction companies can keep doing jobs and the job at hand was a guy on an excavator slinging giant rocks around and crushing them up with an excavator all the way through 940. The police officer responded, was very cordial, was very nice, and his understanding was that they had till 10 p.m. at night. Never heard anything else about it from there. On the 30th, I got home to a giant dust storm and right probably no more than 150 ft from my house, 25 ft from the neighbor across the street from me's house was a rock for going on in the middle of a residential area. No kids in our street were able to go out and play that night. That night was probably 75, 80 degrees. one of those days it was super windy and all of a sudden the rocks that they were digging up the day before or a couple days before were now being pulverized into gravel right behind residential houses. So while those things have been addressed, one thing I do want to make sure is that we do have a commitment to residents moving forward that there's going to be

better oversight. There's going to be better policies and better procedures in place to take care of that. There's no reason why any resident in the city should have to deal with this type of behavior from a construction company just going rampant, especially late hours and excessive dust and excessive noise to do that. The other kind of general issue with this as well is barriers between residential and transient housing. So, we were promised from what I can remember several years ago was a 50-ft barrier. the trees remain in place and for there to be a natural barrier as long also with the space barrier. As of right now, it's basically two backyards touching each other. There's in couple areas small trees that are no more than four feet, 5t tall because they don't see the 5ft fence our neighborhood requires and there's just no barrier between the two neighborhoods. As a homeowner there since 2019 when we purchased our home, we were between a couple different houses in the neighborhood. We chose our house. We were expecting to grow our family from three to five at the time and we needed to be able to move into our house quicker. The house we were chose part was because of what we were promised with duplexes backing up to our neighborhood also was with speed. So when we made that choice, we were going on a promise from the city that it was going to be a duplex residency next to it. that changed a couple years later and then it changed again and then it keeps changing and so now I know they have the 167th Street project a term lane's really not going to be able to do that if we bring in the 500 apartments that are project on one side of university plus the new project that they're building plus tall grass there's two ways in and out of our neighborhood there's a way out by the old cemetery and then I guess there's three but then right by the police department and off 167 it's getting extremely busy throughout. You go around a blind corner, there's kids there for a school

bus every day that people fly through there. It's just we like to make sure that the city's recognizing the issues with it with the neighborhood and addressing concerns and while we've got ongoing projects, making sure that we're going to have everything taken care of for a safe uh residency and then also to make sure that what we've been promised is accomplished. So, thank you for your time with that. public comments. All right. Um, move to consent agenda. Item on the consent agenda. Council would like to approve. We hear a motion to approve consent agenda.

So moved. Second. Motion Deon. Second. Johnson. We approve the consent agenda. All in favor? I. All opposed abstain. Council agenda or consent agenda passes. Uh would anyone like to remove an item from the planning and zoning consent agenda? Uh do I hear a motion? So moved. Second. Motion D and second. McNair. We approve the planning and zoning consent agenda. All in favor? All opposed? Stain. Planning and zoning consent passes. Moving to new business. New business item number one, consider accepting voluntary annexation with landowner consent.

Hi, this is a houseke housekeeping item. At the last council meeting, we approved an ordinance annexing several properties in the northwest corridor of 175th and I35. One of the property owners decided that she did not want to annex and wanted to wait for closing and the property will come in after closing. This revised ordinance will just take that property out. All the other properties are still adjacent to the city. So, um it's allowed. So, recommend accept the voluntary consent annexation agreements, consent annexation request from the property owners identified and adopt ordinance number 2876 amending ordinance 2874. Jim, is there any public comment on this item?

All right. Uh do I hear a motion? I'm sorry. Is there any discussion? Council motion second. Motion deed and second. McNair. We accept the voluntary consent annexation agreements and consent annexation requests from the property owners identified within and adopt ordinance number 2876. An ordinance amending ordinance 2874. Uh council member Johnson. Yes. Council member McNair. Yes. Council member Baldwin. Yes. Council member D. Yes. Council member.

Yes. Uh, ordinance number 2876 passes. So, that does it for regular session. We will move to uh, council updates. Um, Jim, did you maybe want to speak to Mr. McNeer's maybe kind of address some of the I'm gonna have Tim do it. Tim.

We'll start with Tim. Welcome Tim Mc. So the u to my understanding is the so they the contractor wanted to crush rock staff allowed them to do that. We don't it's kind of unusual situation. We don't have a process for that activity. So we allow them to go ahead and once they got started we received complaints and we went out and work with them to water down their system trying to control which the contractor has been receptive out to do things unfortunately without my understanding was the time work actually does allow constructionstruction until 10 p.m. So in our contracts in public works, we have contracts with our contract. We specifically say seven until there's some of it disconnect because this we didn't have a contract with this person. So by code again that's something we're going to put these type activities underneath our land. So they have to come in service permit and then on that time too

and there is going to be a landscape buffer between you know the and the houses and that's is that was a part of the approved plan in 2019. It's just not those things aren't done until the final step of the development. So, so this was a learning experience and yeah, it kind of cracks and we immediately and Cohurst was really good about,

you know, we went out there and they stopped the rock crushing and then, you know, part of it was it was a really windy day. Probably not the best judgment to do it on when there's 30 mph winds. Um, but they immediately brought out a water truck and did some mitigation and they left the next day with the rock crusher. So, um, it was just one of those things where we didn't have anything to require the permit, but we've since added it to land disturbance and public improvement permits. So, now we can address that um directly. So, we'll see that coming through planning and back to us in the next few months. Okay. Well, no, you talking about the change? No, we just added it. Oh, okay. Yeah, we just put it in there. Okay. We didn't change the code. We just We didn't change the LC at all.

Right. Okay. Right. And so the other the other thing that'll happen, they do have their plans in for construction on the structures and that as part of that building permit review, we look for compliance of the construction site documents and landscape documents with what was approved in the well actually in the final development plan for that phase. So we'll look at that. But what Jim's referring to in that buffer, there is planned landscaping plus an 8ft walking trail back there that is part of it. So that's what we'll be looking for is the compliance with that activity. Mr. McN, do you have anything else? Tim, well, I've got you.

No, I think community development. Dave, parks and rec. Jason, nothing for me. Dave, electric? No, sir. No. Okay. Chief, I have nothing tonight. Clark Rene Matt awardwinning finance director Matt nothing attorney nothing administrator

no I want to thank Beth for her presentation one of the things with destination downtown didn't contemplate that we are looking at initial phases road diet where we can narrow down two lanes or maybe two lanes with the turn lane and put 45 degree parking and that was one of the things you discussed last week. I think it would work really well to increase parking downtown and take care of that problem and slow traffic down just through the historic district. So, that's one of the things that that Beth and that group are working on right now. All right, move to council.

I don't have anything. I think we covered the issue. I'm glad sometimes it's kind of a you learn as you go. What you don't know, you don't know. But I I I kind of think that just probably bad day to do it. Well, actually a bad week to have been going on. I think if we can get the issue of seven covered,

uh, I also want to thank Beth um and the rest of the chamber. I know Mr. Stockton is here too and he has um some interesting and great ideas for um ways in which the the downtown can help to support the rest of the community and been be a place where people want to come down to. So, I think um you know, I speak for myself, but hopefully we're interested to listen to some of the ideas that that they can bring and you know uh I know as I express to him, his his business is unique um and adds an an interesting flare to the downtown. So, I appreciate all the work that he's done in bringing his business to uh to Gardener and making it and bringing it to downtown specifically. Um and also congratulations to the finance department. So, I'm used to seeing this every year, right?

Excellent. Council Vice President Jason Winwood Park update. I saw that we now have Assad removed for the BA what I assume is the basketball court because it is basketball court shaped. Um, are we still on track with that? And any updates on when that city project is going to be added to the website? I'm getting a lot of people asking, so I'd like to be able to direct them. Sure. Um, we just had our precon meeting last Thursday with them. Um, waiting on rendering for that. I actually just got the new renderings for the playground today because include those in the slideshow at the state of the city. Oh, perfect.

So, you get to see that there and then we'll have them on our website. Target date is still Memorial weekend, June 1ish. Okay. um all weather dependent, but and we're also trying to utilize um some of the material from the court to the playground as well. So, equipment's in, it's just can we get it done in time with the water. Awesome. Um and then I want to thank the city staff for the 167th Street meeting. It was one of the most well attended meetings I've I've ever seen. A lot of public came out. We were busy from the start to end time with um lots of information. city staff was great answering all the questions, taking time with the citizens. So, I I really appreciate everybody there

and I I will give you kudos for being there the entire time and providing such a um an excellent representation for some of the rest of us. So,

yeah. Well, I was, you know, I live on right near I was curious, too, and I know I get a lot of questions sometimes when stuff like that happens. Um I want to thank Chief Walde for the invitation to join the Citizens Police Academy. We had our first um session last Tuesday. I look forward to the next couple months of learning. Um I did it back in 2015, but I know a lot has changed since then, so I'm really excited to go through it again. Officer Sism did a great first meeting. I look forward to tomorrow night at the crime lab. Um and then in honor of the autism awareness proclamation, I'm repping my Garner Gold gear. Um, Garner Gold, amazing program here for our special population. They are donations, grants, you know, totally volunteer group. Currently doing their fundraiser for the duck race, which is their biggest fundraiser where we dump a whole bunch of rubber ducks into the lazy river at the pool. And right now we are doing a um competition between Garner Police Department and Fire District 1. who can sell the most ducks between March 17th and April 19th when the Battle of the Badges blood drive is. So, if you're interested in supporting Gardener Gold and want to see either your PD or fire department represented on their yearly shirt, um, go buy some ducks, support some good things.

That's it from me. Thank you. Thank you, Council President. I think that's all covered. Good job, everybody. Yeah.

Okay. And I just want to uh also thank the chamber uh chamber. Um when when we when Beth came on, we kind of met. One of the things that was important to me was the downtown and we we worked for so many years to try we could never get like a good downtown group together and I think they've really done that. They've done a great job with that. So now it's a lot easier to move forward with with more of a united effort with the members of the downtown. Uh and then of course speaking of downtown, Mr. Stockton here. uh thank you for coming tonight and and he does have some great ideas for some events and hopefully we'll be talking about that soon. But appreciate everything he does down there. It's always that's one of the first places I tell people about and you know talking about our downtown and Gartner coffee shop and his his businesses as well. So so thank you. So um that's all I have as well and we do have two executive sessions. Um we need to do these separately I assume. So the first one um do I have a motion to consider into entering into executive session to discuss matters of attorney client privilege?

Motion Deon second mcnear we recess into executive session to discuss matters of attorney client privilege relating to data centers pursuant to KSA75-4319B2 beginning at 8:10 p.m. returning to regular session at 8:30 8:30 p.m. All in favor? All oppose abstain. We are and

most barber I've ever had. Do you have ADHD? You're like, "This is how barbers are. They're the talk of the town." Literally, everybody around me started laughing because all my co-workers talk about how talkative I am. And then kids mom's Oh my god, you can't say that. I'm so sorry.

Like if that was a thing when I was in school, sign me up. Well, some of us I've learned to get a really great haircut. Never not even know the language bar. I've done a couple on that. Well, the barber shop here in town. Yeah, they do a great job. All right, it is 8:30. Uh, we will hear a motion to back in regular session. Second motion date and second McNair. We go back into regular session. All in favor? I. All opposed. Back in regular session. We do have a second executive session. Consider entering into executive session to discuss matters of attorney client privilege. Do I hear a motion? So moved. Second.

Motion. Deed and second. Johnson recess into executive session to discuss matters of attorney client privilege relating to an agreement with KAT pursuant to KSA75-4319B2 beginning at 8:30 we get to 8:30 return in regular session at 8:35 p.m. All in favor? I All post

Do I have a motion to resume session? Second. Motion Deon. Second. Baldwin. We return to regular session. All in favor? I. All opposed. Anyone abstain? Okay. Return regular session. Go. So I hear a motion to what's the word? Journ second. Motion McNair second. We adjourn. All in favor? Opposed? Thank you everyone.