City Council - Regular Meeting

We don't talk. I got a reminder. Turn your phones off. I needed that reminder.

Good evening. Welcome to our May 18th of 2026. Would you join me with the pledge of allegiance? I pledge algiance 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.

Thank you. And I'll invite Pastor Stephanie Brown from the United Methodist Church here to open us with prayer. So the founder of United Methodism, John Wesley, taugh us one of one of the phrases, do good, do no harm, and stay in love with God. And so in that perspective, I offer These words of St. Teresa of Avala. May they guide us as we pray. Christ has no body now on earth but yours. No hands but yours. No feet but yours. Yours are the are the eyes through which to look out. Christ's compassion to the world to see this. Yours are the feets with which he is to go about doing good and yours are the hands with which he is to bless. Oh God, may it be so that we use our heart, minds, and bodies to serve you, to bring good, to bring justice, and to bring peace to this world. We pray. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Thank you. Let's uh our minute meetings last two meetings we had. Mr. Mayor, make a motion to approve the minutes of the May 4, 2026 city council meeting and May 11, 2026 council work session. Got a motion and a second. Any questions? All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Moves us down to appropriation ordinance number five. Let's look at it and approve it. Mr. May I move for the approval of appropriation ordinance number five dated May 6, 2026.

Second. Got a motion and a second to approve that appropriation ordinance. All those in favor say I. Any opposed? Motion carries. That takes us down to our visitor section and I'll call Connie Hmel up and she'll explain why she's here.

Good evening, Mayor Rawlings and City Council. Thank you for having me on your agenda for this evening's meeting. I'm before you this evening to res request the funds for our 2026 adopt a pump event. Um as in previous years, we are seeking 600 to award to three winners among the adopt a pop participants first, second, and third place. We are excited to share that all of our flower pots are spoken for this year. Um, the only thing participants weren't able to plant them because we as early as normal because they got new pots and it took a while to get all the sprink. But they have been started to plant. Um, if you walk downtown or drive town, you'll see almost all of them have been planted already. That's all I have. So, thank you for your consideration.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I move to request for the $600 funding for prizes for the spring adopted public competition. Got a motion and a second to approve their request for the $600. All those in favor say I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you, Connie. Thanks, Connie.

You, too. That brings us up to our first item of business, construction manager at risk agreement with Don Lair Construction for the public works campus and staff. Good evening, Mr. Mayor and Council Tim Johnson, public utilities director. Tonight, uh we're taking yet another step in the uh public works project. Uh this evening you're being asked to approve a construction manager at risk or CM agreement with Doninger Construction uh to be the general contractor on this project. This recommendation includes pre-construction services of $13,448 a uh fee of 3.95% of the cost of the work. That's 3.95% whatever the project cost ends up being. And then finally, general conditions work not to exceed $443,212. Approval of this agreement will allow the project design development uh budgeting scheduling and reconstruction coordination. The uh this model really allows the construction manager to work with the city with our city engineer during the design which is something that people have uh in order to uh get a tighter control of the costs of the project and hopefully to reduce the overall cost uh compared to the traditional method. uh once the fund is further developed will then provide the city with a guaranteed maximum price all in they hand you the keys staff ready to move in um for the construction services and providing

don't they'll provide any additional cost certainly and what that does is transfer the risk to do and off of you all funding for the project comes primarily from source You said this before, but I want to repeat it. The electric utility is contributing approximately 4.2 million toward uh purchase of the existing old waste building. Uh and then the remaining cost financed through a generalation bond previously approved by you last year. Uh I'll stop there and respond to any questions you may have. Let's go on.

I'm finished. Okay, excellent.

Are you ready to approve this? I'm getting getting ready. I move for the approval of the CMNR agreement construction for the public Augusta public works campus project to include number one pre-constru construction services in the amount of $13,448 two CMR fee of 3.9% of the cost of the work and three general construction work in the amount not exceed $443,212 second motion and Second. All those in favor say I. I. Any. Motion carries. Thank you, Mr. John.

Thank you. Now we have item two, a professional services agreement public policy and management center at WSU for a housing action plan staff.

Yes. Mayor and Council, just real quick background, as you recall, we were going through the uh the strategic retreat process and budget planning. And uh one of the items we had for discussion is based on strategic priorities you've had identified in our plans, also in our comp plan that are kind of focused on creating community groups and bringing everybody together uh to about and really formulate our plan. to the I believe to the movement level alignment between these groups and Cammy did some work um that concept together and as a team to Witchaw State and I'll turn it over to what they have talked about in terms of and you can decide if you're ready to proceed tonight describe what As Josh said, the city's comp plan identifies and staff believes that next step is creating a clear implementation strategy with defining actions, timelines, and accountability. The proposed scope of work with the PPMC include a facilitated process that would bring together city leadership, advisory boards, and community stakeholders to align priorities and coordinate efforts and in particular we're looking at city council workshop to hear about housing priorities also probably with BPI. We have housing authority also what I most importantly would be the school district um also as a bridge and coordination effort between city government and hopefully the school district as well. Um so the process will include city council workshops sessions and

development of a three-year housing action plan that will identify specific implementation staff and responsible parties. So it will give us all action items within kind of their realm of responsibility for us to start implementing and moving forward in a cohesive manner. Um staff believes this approach will help reduce duplication of that group coordination between the organizations and create a more unified direction of housing initiatives in Augusta. The total project cost is $7,989 and will be funded through the community development budget or the general fund. Staff is recommending approval of the agreement and authorization for myself, assistant city manager to authorize those contracts. I'm really excited about this project. I know the people see it as well. don't think there's a project in the region that's going on this right now. Um so I'm really hoping we can kind of be a first and really create a template um for not only other organizations but also for us to take for other priorities that are in the comp plan as well to help us. So, real quick background information, the PPMC public policy management center at Witchaw State is kind of their their research and outreach group that kind of goes beyond the university itself to actually work directly with practitioners. Um, they they do a ton of facilitative sessions, strategic planning, anything that involves boards and bringing people together, community engagement type stuff. uh they have a long history of that work going going back many many years. I believe that they helped us with our three-year strategic plan uh that we had. I think

that's the one that expired a couple of years helped us put that together back then. So we have worked with them before. uh they they do this for a lot of communities. In our case, we just have a specific scope that we're looking at targeting and having them uh use their skill set to help us facilitate those communications and develop that action plan with these different groups and sometimes have a third party involved can just help you get past some of those challenges of working through your own histories and and pulling folks together. So, that's just a little bit of background on the the public policy center. This is kind of colder to what they do on a regular basis for cities. My question is Cammy. So you envision folks from API um planning commission maybe other around school obviously made that a big motion. Yeah. And and put in a workshop type of

So they the plan is for them to kind of be separate. We'll have probably a community group workshop, but then we'll have a separate city council workshop. Obviously, open up to the public, but not all together um to really hear kind of meet city council originally to figure out what your priorities are with housing, see some of those obstacles are, where some of those opportunities lie. And that'll kind of start building this plan. will meet with separate boards and community groups on top of that because everyone kind of has their role in development, right? And so I want everyone to be able to work within their realm is all kind of moving towards one goal. Um because I think we lose sight of how much overlap and influence you really have over each other. Um, so I want to be able for API to have a clear direction of the task they can work towards and help with um, when it comes to improving housing stock within the community. And the same with the school district, right? Like we I know we talk a lot in our workshops about how instrumental the school district is into um, recruiting that development and recruiting families to come to the community. So it's like they have their own special they they have something they need to work on and market and you know how can we work with them to help us market the community as a whole to bring in additional housing and then from the city side that could be I mean I'm just throwing stuff out there going but it could be changes to subdivision rights zoning rights um lot coverage requirements you know what what do we need to do as a city to help us be attractive those developers.

Thank you. I'm very encouraged by by the step in that direction. Mayor make a motion to approve the professional services agreement with the public policy and management center to develop a housing action plan amount of not to exceed $7,989 and authorized assistance show to execute the agreement. Second. Got a motion in a couple seconds. All those in favor say I. I.

Any opposed? Motion carries. Moves us down to item three, ordinance repealing and replacing chapter 2, section 26 of the mun municipal code regarding animal waste.

Uh, mayor and council, this uh this item here was also a uh item that was on your strategic retreat discussion. Obviously not the most important item, but one we can check off the list for for conversation. There have been a lot of issues with animals, especially walk throughout the downtown area. Um, a lot of business owners, including here in city hall, have have had issues with waste right door. And and it is a nuisance. It has happened at a level of frequency and we have taken multiple other types of action steps to try to be deterrent to it and have not fully stopped it. And so we uh we asked council did a quick review of our ordinance and comparative wise it is a relatively low number that we have set as a potential fine for that. And uh we asked we asked you if you were interested in potentially raising them to try to be more of a deterrent. Um we have installed dogway stations. Uh we've installed bags so people don't even have to bring their own bags. Um that hasn't always worked. Uh we we have issued tickets. We've issued a citation.

We have pending court. Um, so again, the point is not that we want to have to do this or even use it on a regular basis, but to try to act as a deterrent. Um, if you're interested in going this route, we would also recommend potentially even adding some signage in the downtown area that lets people know that there is that ordinance just so you can't claim that you're not aware of that. Um, so that there would be a little bit of cost involved for us to install the signage. uh that and depending on how many we put in, I think you could do that $500 or less for a few signs. It just depends on the number that you would have to buy. Uh the biggest question is what you want to set the uh the fine at. Uh we did a look at a couple of neighboring communities. Um I think it would make sense to leave the judge on discussion. Um these cities seem to have ranges to what they're doing. Augusta was lowest at $10 of the the ones that we had called. Uh Winfield doesn't have a set one. It says to be determined by judge. Um Elderado was 100 to 500 only 1020 to 100. Um my my thought is that that you provide some kind of range to it and uh and elevate it to a level that you think is a sufficient deterrent. Um the the fine itself is only part of the the cost that's involved if they do have to go through municipal court process. Then there's also court costs and things that get assessed. Your court costs right now I believe are $70. If you have to be fingerprinted I don't know why you would have to be fingerprinted on this. I don't know that you

call it. It's just so just the

certain things not so just the court cost of $70 if you had fingerprinting with some sort of other um with other charge and that's an additional 15. So yeah, fine of 10 and then the court cost get assessed if it goes that routes about 70 which I I'll tell you we're probably going to have to talk to you about adjusting court costs at some point because they're probably not even covering our costs. So, um, anyway, I just wanted to give you the full context. It's not just the fine. There are other costs involved, but at that time, it is actually costing us even more because now you're paying prosecutors and judges and everything to evaluate it. So, uh, anyway, wanted to bring it for your discussion. Um, I don't have a specific recommendation on the dollar range. Just wanted to give you some context. If you're ready to act on it tonight, you can. Um, but that that was uh that was the background and I'll turn it over Todd. Did you have something?

I just had a couple things on. I would ask that you set the fines tonight. We are in transition with judges right now. A lot of the fines have not been adjusted since what 2012 I think. So, we're way behind on a lot of things and small amount of $10. That's pending. Want my input on it? I like Doritos. But I would like to see a stair set first offense every time the same person. Oh yeah. Chief, I have a question for you. How do you

have one on video right now? It is otherwise unless you want to pay grand to have that's the best way or if somebody sees it and they'll sign a complaint. A lot of people don't like to sign complaints because they like to go in and I can't blame them. They're afraid of retaliation and stuff as well. So video is probably the best. You said you prefer El Datos. What was their fine? Because to me, I don't know how they structured $100 difference, but to me, we had habitual things in Mary'sville. If you did 20 times, you become habitual and you climb each time that you're caught doing the same thing.

So, Shauna did the research on this. I don't believe they had a fixed stair step. I think they just provided the judge the range and then the judge made a determination. So, it leaves them that flexibility. If you wanted to add the habitual nature of it, you would have to add additional language because the the only thing we did with the ordinance is is break out the fine and you can adjust the fine. If you wanted to add that stair step, you may have to play with language a little bit more.

One thing we could consider is creating a habitual or if you're c caught doing something like this or something else that's in the city side. If you do it so many times, you automatically get hit with a fine. I had a gentleman one time thought it'd be cool just to do his stereo up. He got four of those in a row and I judged him with a thousand dollar fun. Never had a stereo problem again. So there's there's something to be said with a because I know the complaint that we have right now it's the same person all the time. So it's 10 bucks is nothing and is we need to revamp all the schedule of fines. There's no doubt about that. But when we decide when you all make the decision whether new judges we can take care of that.

So the question is how big of a range do we want to get that judge to 500? I say one to I make a motion that we $500 100. Yeah. Sorry 100 here it is consider approval of ordinance number 22 replace chapter 2 section 126 with code of Augusta Kansas relating to animal waste I'd like to see the fine to be set at $100 to $500 the judge's discretion

we got a second now got a motion and a Erica, will you call the roll? Martin, yes. Yes. Yes. Scott, yes. Richardson, yes. Davis, yes. Yes. Mah, yes. Motion carries. Thank you. Thanks, Chief. Okay. I believe our city managers want to ask us to schedule another work session.

Yes. Mayor Council, uh, as of right now, uh, we would be targeting June 8th for our next work session and then, uh, we're asking you just to save the dates for June 22nd and 29th. So, um, 8th is a little ambitious for some property tax stuff because a lot of times we don't get our property tax data county till the 1st or second. So, that doesn't give us a lot of time to work with it, but there are funds that we can present. Um, so, uh, we wanted to at least get the date scheduled because you do have a meeting already scheduled on the first able to evaluate where we stand for ready. We can have you cancel the meeting on when you're actually here together again. That's what we're asking tonight. If you're willing to go ahead and schedule the 8th and just mark your calendars for the other off Mondays and If they're needed,

we'll need at least one more. We'll see if you need make a motion to schedule the next work session Monday, June 8, 2026 at 5:30 here.

Got a motion and a second. All those in favor say motion carries. These budget sessions are messing with people's vacations, aren't they? So, I'm going to open the call for other matters. Today, I saw on Facebook over the weekend that there were juveniles riding bicycles, electric bikes in the castle park. And one of the comments by a parent I assume was, "Well, it's not posted." Well, I wouldn't think you would need to post that. I wouldn't think you would need to post that you don't let your dog crap on the sidewalks either, but such as it is. So, I'm just going to mention that I don't think our play park, the castle park should have bicycles or electric bikes or scooters riding through because it's dangerous to the other kids. But I'm deeply disappointed in some of the comments that I read by our citizenry. So I put myself out there on a limb. I realize that

so mayor and council we have ordered signage. I would sent that to you know we don't have it posted not to drive car right that is my exact thought. But I mean, I understand the nature of our world, the you know, McDonald's and and their the hot coffee lawsuits, all that sort of thing. Post that the coffee is hot. Yeah.

Because someone spilled it on themselves once. So that's kind of the world that you live in sometimes. I know that's unfortunate and and I don't disagree with that sentiment. We went ahead and ordered the signage anyway. Uh we we would hope that adults and parents up there if they saw something that was dangerous to the kids, they would reach out to the other kids that are there and give them some level of instruction and encourage them not to do that activity. But I know a lot of folks looked in to do that. Yeah, I know.

I can tell you we I have officers already used to talk to their parents about some of these electric scooters or not because they're not legal to be on the street. If you got electric scooter, you gota be you got to have a driver's license. A lot of parents have bought them for their children. I think I probably the law before I did that. So, but we've started doing that. A lot of cities in our area cracking down, but uh I don't want to see nobody hit. Not at all. My neighborhood, they'll pull right me. So, we are they're actively working. Exactly. Yeah, if we make sure it's in the I mean we have kids riding bikes through the park.

Yeah. Well, I've had my say, Mr. Martin, you got I don't have anything, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Matt. Nothing, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor, Mr. Scott. Yeah. I want to ask real quick about the pots. Do we have you want to sell those pots or not? Are we excited? have a chance to even I get no problem. I just wanted to keep that in front of us. And then number two, um, who's ever been doing City Post, uh, all of our work and stuff? That was awesome. I really like that and and I got that's all I got.

Um, Josh, can you announce the So, we have it here and then the D splash pad and the pool. Uh, I believe I'm I'm gonna say Memorial Day weekend. Well, sorry, the Memorial Weekend. So, I think we open on the Friday of the Memorial Weekend. Is that correct? I don't I don't want to tell you because it's not something that's not a date I remember. Saturday, I would imagine the splash pad might open earlier just because we don't have staff working on Saturday. I'll I can verify and it's not something I think about regularly. It's not fresh. I know we normally schedule around the Memorial Day weekend, but

you find out can we have a Facebook post? Sorry, it's just not something I normally think about. I have the Memorial Day weekend in my head, but I don't want to give you the wrong information. Not that you haven't been busy. So, that's all that I've got. Thank you, Mr. Josh. Are the wayfinding signs are they ordered? the grant. Um, have not ordered them yet. Okay.

So, we just signed I think we just signed the grant at the last meeting. Um, but the public announcement I think just happened last Wednesday. um because the Sunflower Foundation wanted to do um I think we executed early but they hadn't done their announcement yet and they wanted to do the public announcement of all the award winners before anybody took any small action. So we're we're actually only a few days out that happened. Um we partnered with Andover and R and over put together a joint press release representing um our three entities because we all three received grants that are related to this and so we're we're free to start working on

perfect. Thank you. Prioritize that. Nothing make a motion to journ this meeting. Second to adjourn the meeting. All those in favor say I. I carries stay weather work tonight. Yep.