City Commission - Regular Meeting

I'll call the June 11th City Commission meeting to order. First item in the order of business is the consideration of the minutes from May 28th, 2026. Questions, changes, or comments on those? They look great.

I have none.

All right. Next will be the financial statement for May 2026. Kim.

Good afternoon, Commissioners. Kim Rupp, Director of Finance. This is a report of financial summaries, revenue and expenditures for City of Hays, month ended May 31, 26. Revenues in May totaled $1,412,000, a decrease of $1,700,000 compared to the same period last year. There were no areas of increased revenue to report, but a couple of decreased revenues since May of 25. The largest contributor to the decrease mentioned is the timing of the receipt of sales tax, and we make a period adjustment later in the report. $210,156 received a year ago in capital projects for 13th Street cost share and 32nd, 33rd change order transfers contributed as well. Expenditures in May totaled $2,926,812. That's a decrease of $342,000. some notable areas of increased expenditure when we compare back to may of 25 new equipment reserve increased due to the budgeted purchase of a 2026 ford f-250 that included a nap hide bed and a tommy lift public works service division expenditures increased 53 000 mainly due to the 22nd vine signal light repair which will be covered by an insurance claim as well as concrete for ongoing street repairs Polypatch worked around town, increased budget capital projects for Special Highway 21,000. Notable areas of decreased expenditure, numerous projects throughout Hays at this time last year, including 32nd, some hail claims yet from 24, PD design, and Tallgrass 4th contributed to the decrease mentioned, which lowered capital projects 244,000. and IT expenditures were down $34,000 due to the timing of the renewal of the Office 365 licenses a year ago. Month to date, General Fund sales tax collections were at $898,269, which was another nice increase of $55,400, or 6.6% compared to last year. Year-to-date, general fund sales tax is up 284,277, or 7%. Six-month average was up 6%, with year-over-year increase of 3%. And county sales tax collections were at 505,000, up 22,339. The report of top 10 quarter-to-date sales tax collections by classification was up 203,000, or 7%. Those top 10 represent 72% of the total sales tax collections for the running quarter. Finally, the total of the portfolio certificates of deposit on May 31 was $65,714,500, with a weighted average rate to maturity of 3.7%, down 1%. The par value of T-bills was at $9.5 million, with a rate to maturity of 3.7, down 0.5% from a year ago. Total balance of the money market account on May 31 was $4,152,143 with a current weighted average yield of 3.29 down a tenth compared to the same period last year. Total investments were up $10,316,368.

I move that we approve the May 2026 finance statement.

Second.

Motion by Commissioner Musil, seconded by Commissioner Cunningham. Questions or comments on the financial statement?

You're setting expectations, Kim, with those constant sales tax numbers. You know if it goes the other direction, you'll be in real trouble. It's getting a little scary. It is. It's looking really good.

What is inflation at right now? What is the percent? Oh, gosh.

The last one this month is 4%, like 4.05. So we're outpacing a little bit? A little bit, yeah.

All right. Then I will call for a vote on that. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? Passes 5-0 on that. Thank you. Thank you, Kim. Thank you, Kim. All right. Next up is citizen comments for non-agenda items. Anybody wish to speak? Once? Twice? So? Okay. Next is the consent agenda. Only one thing on there right now. Cereal malt beverage license for the Lions Club.

Move approval of consent agenda. Second. Second.

Motion by Commissioner Jacobs. Second by Commissioner Bileci. Questions, comments on that? All in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Opposed? Passes 5-0. All right. New business, the police station fixtures, furnishings, and equipment, FF&E. Colin.

Good afternoon. Colin Belzer, Deputy City Manager. So... the police station is nearing completion or at least halfway so now we need to talk about fixtures furnishing equipment a little bit of background um it's about mid to late 2023 that we commissioned a space needs assessment for the police department and that was finished in february 24. and then in the summer 24 the police station budget was established for 8.9 million design was completed a year later and then later that year construction commenced and like i said we're about 55 complete and the project completion is for later this fall rather than constructing brand new the city did purchase and chose to renovate the former astrobank building As you can see in the design renderings, the plan was to enclose the fountain to gain additional space, and also included in the project was construction of an offsite storage building, which would eliminate the need for the police department to pay for storage units to pay rental. Altogether, the square footage of space provided by the project is nearly 23,000 square feet, which is approximately double the available space now, and as projected by the space needs analysis, would give the police department room for future growth. Some interior enterings from the design. On the left is the first floor. The project will provide public restrooms, something which doesn't currently exist in the building. A municipal courtroom, which is currently one of the county's courtrooms. A dedicated space to work on cases for officers and a roll call room, which currently they're shared. A dedicated conference room, which unlike the current space, serves as a conference room, break room, and a place to hold juveniles. and as well as an area for major case works such as homicide investigations, adequate offices, records and storage space. On the right is the basement level and this floor includes the dedicated break room, a training room which is now shared space with the county, a space for juveniles in custody and dedicated employee restrooms, as long as additional space for records and a ventilated evidence room. Here's some pictures of the construction progress. The picture on the right is the old ATM building that will become an enclosed garage space for miscellaneous storage but also an enclosed area for when police vehicles need minor maintenance such as IT and radio connectivity issues or upgrades. And on the left is a picture of the new training room space. On the right is obviously a bathroom being finished out. And then this shows the hallway corridor of offices and some cabinetry being put in. So overall, our all-in project has been $8.9 million. We are here to ask authority to begin purchasing furniture, fixtures, and equipment, which staff estimates will not exceed $850,000. Of that amount, approximately $300,000 are IT-related expenses. $450,000 for office equipment, and a planned $100,000 to equip the training room with a professional training system to provide our officers interactive scenarios to deal with use of force, de-escalation, firearms, and tactical judgment. And then where feasible, existing fixtures, furniture, and equipment from the current police station will be moved to the new building. This $850,000 is not in addition to the $8.9 million, but part of that budget amount, and it will be paid from general obligation bond proceeds. The options are to prove the expenditure authority do not or provide us other direction and the action requested.

I move to authorize city staff to purchase FF&E for the new police station in an amount not to exceed $850,000 to be paid from general obligation bond proceeds.

Second.

Motion by Commissioner Blyson, second by Commissioner Jacobs. Questions or comments on this?

You said there's 300,000 dedicated to IT. What specifically, like new computers, monitors? Well, it's in addition to computers, and if I don't fully answer, Chad's here.

He's watching you. But there's also security cameras. We've never had to deal with security cameras. We have a municipal courtroom now. We've never had to deal with the IT really that for audio, visual.

obviously a server interview rooms that's the biggest we always struggled with those so be nice to get some good equipment in there now I'm excited for it to move on to the next piece it's gonna be nice when it's all complete it's nice to hear myself to Chad's make it clear to you That'll be great. All right, so I will call for a vote on that. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? Passes 5-0. Thank you, Collin. Thank you, guys. All right, commissioning for easy comments. Commissioner Blyson.

I think we just set a record for fastest meetings. Oh, we've had faster. I hold the record. I just want to remind everybody that American Legion Baseball is back in Hays, Kansas. If you're not aware, we kind of lost American Legion Baseball there for a few years. But last year was actually the 100th year celebrating American Legion Baseball. And so we got some folks together, and we've got a team again this year. So they've been playing. They've been doing exceptionally well. We encourage everybody to come out. Their next game is 9 a.m. at Larch Park. It is at Triangular. They'll be playing against Larned and Ellis. So I hope to see everybody there and get some baseball in.

Awesome. Thank you. again scooters scooters scooters scooters coffee yeah right somebody's gonna get killed and I'm gonna just say it as loud as I can I don't know what we're gonna do about it I saw two things today that I absolutely could not believe what's happening I understand this is a parenting issue as much as anything I'm not sure how to impact that but if parents aren't gonna do it we're gonna have to figure something out One was going down Hall Street. The little boy couldn't have been more than six or seven and had a two or three year old sister sitting on in front of him and they were just barreling down Hall Street. And even on the side streets, on my street, these kids come flying down those two or three blocks. Anybody could be pulling out of a driveway and I have gone out and stopped them myself. They don't like me very much anymore so I'm waiting to see what happens to my house. But it's out of control. And I think we've had some discussions among commissioners too. So I just am asking again, parents, please, please be sure you know how your kids are behaving on those scooters. I don't want to take them away from anybody. But I think they need to be dealt with responsibly or they should take them away.

funny because you took the words out of my mouth so thank you but chief since you're here i'm going to ask you what are we doing about this or what can we do about this maybe that's a better question

Yeah, we continue to have discussions. We continue to monitor. We see unsafe activity. Like most criminal activity or unsafe activity, it doesn't happen in front of us. But I do agree with the commission. This is a parenting issue. If we're sending our kids out on these scooters, they're engaged in those things. But if we see things that are a violation of the law, we're trying to address those.

I get contact at least two or three times a week, and people are like, I'm scared that I'm going to run into some kid and kill them, and then it's going to be on their conscience.

We say kids, but I see adults on it. Yes, there is. I saw an adult going down 13th. She was keeping up with traffic, and eventually she passed me on 13th Street, no helmet on, through one of the busiest intersections we have. They are concerning to us. But like other types of devices, I'm not sure we can police our way out of this. treat scooters on the sidewalks in the downtown they're supposed to be treated just like bicycles so in the downtown area they're not legal to be in the downtown area the lady we're talking about I was mentioned earlier she when she got to the downtown area she pulled out of the bike lane which she's legal to be in up on the sidewalk so okay thank you I appreciate that we have had discussions with or public relations people about putting social media posts out, but I'm just afraid they fall on deaf ears.

Well, like Commissioner Jacobs said, to the public, we hear you. We're all concerned. We're just not for sure what you do. I mean, if you don't see it, what do you do? But thank you for being aware of it, I guess I would say. Thank you. I have one other item. So last week we had Access come talk to us about, I believe they're creating a task force on a You know, they're needing more money, and from what I can see is we don't have the money now to give them. I don't see us having the money next year. I mean, they want like 200-something thousand next year. The only way we'd be able to come up with that would be raising a mill. Or cutting. Or cutting services or whatever. So I guess I'm asking the public is, contact me but you know we know it's out there they're wanting you know they're asking the county for money and I don't think any of us have an answer and it's it's concerning because I know you know Hayes Post had it on there I didn't have I don't know if you guys did I didn't have one person contact you know I guess I did one person said we shouldn't fund them at all anyway but but it's concerning if we don't have public transportation because there are some people that and stuff like that. So I don't know what to do. I don't think any of us know what to do. But I know somebody's creating a task force. We're not creating a task force, correct? We're not creating a task force. I know there's a task force being created. I think we said that we would be on it.

I've shared that with Mr. Michaud, that you, Commissioner Cunningham, and myself volunteer to be part of that.

Thank you.

I appreciate that.

I don't know. I just think the public needs that we need to have their input, you know, what they're wanting, because it's for the public. It's not for us. That's all I have. Okay. Mr. Cunningham.

So I couldn't agree more that please everyone be safe, but I would like to commend the one child that I witnessed actually this morning on Canterbury. He was on an electric scooter. I was leaving the Center for Health Improvement, and he hit the button, the flashing light came on, and he cried. crossed as he should, traffic stopped as they should. So I do want to commend that one individual. He was very responsible on his scooter, got across and used the sidewalk there. So I know there's still tons of safety concerns out there, but if we can keep educating and parents keep helping to educate your kids, maybe we can get more being aware and following the rules of the road. The last thing I wanted to comment on is I'm sure most of the public saw it yesterday. An article came out on Hayes Post concerning retail development and Based on the comments that were there, I feel like there is still some confusion in the community about retail and maybe what's desired, what opinions people have on what is needed. I just want to say that there's also a podcast out there that was done with the director from GrowHaze. And if you listen to it, I think it's like 22 minutes long, so it won't take much time out of your day. But it is a very good podcast that gives a lot more in-depth explanation to kind of help you understand what's being looked at and that this isn't something that was looked at overnight. It's been a long multiple year process to get to where we are even at today, which is not building the retail yet. So one thing that is discussed on there is a pull factor which is talking about how money that is being spent by our local citizens versus money that is spent from people outside of our community. And so I wanted to just point something out on that. When we looked at the budget today, if you looked at, The sales tax collections that were classified by industry, two areas were down, and one is accommodations, and one was supermarkets, convenience, and liquor stores. But the others were up, so clothing, shoes and jewelry, merchant wholesalers, restaurants, food services. That is proof, to me at least, that retail is what's bringing in sales dollars. So just wanted to share my thoughts and encourage everyone to listen to that podcast. I think it's very beneficial. So that's all I have.

Yeah, I'd actually seen that. Somebody shared that with me and was like, hey, look, people are talking. i i i guess i would call it information about you know why are they putting in why are they doing this um we don't get to pick i don't think anybody wants the government picking what private businesses come here the moment we start telling people what can and can't come here is a terrible idea um it's these businesses did their research picked us and started asking questions about where's the best place to do it and they All this research that goes into it, I mean, it's a nightmare. I'm glad I don't have to do it on the day to day. But yeah, it's an interesting concept, and I think it's something that other communities have looked at or done in the past. it's i think right now from what i know about it i think it's going to be a good thing but those are continued discussions that we will continue to have and see what action needs to be taken what what happens i mean nothing is actually formalized yet this is just hey we're having these discussions um and the movie theater is big thing i'm a huge movie person very sad the movie theater left um If you look at AMC, AMC is going down fast.

It's not just in Hays.

Yeah, and there was an article I read the other day that said that now with blockbuster movies that they're doing, they're going to start releasing them like two days prior to the movie theater release. So people no longer necessarily have to go to the movie theater first. So that's going to hurt them even more. So like Dream Theater in Russell does a great job. Again, that's a nonprofit one run by volunteers. So overhead's a lot less than a business one would be. So if anybody knows how to get things like that, oh, I thought you said you were returning them. If anybody knows how to make stuff like that work, or if you know the special sauce to make things like that work, or everybody has talked about Target and Sam's and all these and stuff like that. Again, I think those would be great. If you know how to get them here, let us know. We'd love to communicate with them. I know I talk to David all the time. I'm like, where is this? Where is this? Where is this? Talk to them. No, the market's not right for that. They're not expanding at this time. We're not in their service area. They don't want to cannibalize their other locations near them. So continue to invest in who we talk to and then the small businesses that come and request help from us as well that are here. So make sure you're supporting them this weekend as well and every weekend, every day, all day. last thing I have is tomorrow night is the home opener for the Larks they're starting their 80th season tomorrow night so that'll be a fun kickoff that's kind of my kickoff for the summer is Larks when they start playing so that'll be a lot of fun to get out there and watch that other than that I don't have anything else

I would request the City Commission to enter into an executive session for a period not to exceed 20 minutes to include the City Commission minus Commissioner Musil, City Manager, City Attorney, Deputy City Manager, and Assistant City Manager. So moved.

I second.

Motion by Commissioner Jacobs, second by Commissioner Valesi. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? Passes 5-0. It's not very nice.

What does he say when he puts off the TV?