City Commission - Regular Meeting

and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Bow with me.

Heavenly Father, be with us today as we gather together to serve with wisdom, fairness, and integrity. Grant us clear minds to understand the needs of our citizens. Open hearts to listen with compassion and steady resolve to make decisions that promote the common good. Guide our discussions so they are respectful and productive. Help us seek unity where possible and wisdom where differences remain. May our actions reflect honesty, humility, and a commitment to justice for all. Bless our city, our first responders, city staff, and every family who calls Garden City home. Amen. Amen.

Item four of the agenda is the approval of the last regular meeting, which if no corrections are offered, shall stand approved. Are there any corrections?

See? Seeing none, they will stand approved. Item five is public comment. This is item This is on our agenda for those members of the public to come speak on items not on the agenda. If you come up, please state your name for the record. Seeing none, we'll move to item six. Item six, consideration of petitions, memorials, and remmonstrances. Item A, the governing body is asked to consider and approve allowing the mayor to proclaim May 6, 2026 as school nurse day in the city of Garden City. I'll entertain a motion for this item. Move to approve the proclamation as presented. There's been a motion. Is there a second? Second.

There's been a motion and a second. Any further discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Those opposed, nay. Motion passes. Um, I'd like to invite Michelle Steel Sch. Thank you to speaking on this side. Michelle Steel. Yes.

Hi. Um, thank you so much for declaring May as a school nurse today. I've been a school nurse for approximately about 20 years and a nurse for 40 years. Um, school nurses play a critical role in supporting the health, wellness, and academic success of students nationwide. With over 40% of school age children affected by chronic or mental health conditions, school nurses play a vital role in improving attendance, reducing health disparities, and supporting student success. School nurse positively impact students, families, and schools by providing direct care, managing chronic conditions, promoting mental health and school attendance. connecting families to community resources and coordinating care to break down barriers to healthcare. School nurses are critical to all aspects of student health. And we advocate for a school nurse at every school.

Great. And I'll read this proclamation.

Whereas students are the future and by investing in them today, we are ensuring our world for tomorrow. Families deserve to feel confident that their children will be cared for when they're at school. And all students have a right to have their physical and mental health needs safely met while in the school setting. Students today face more complex and life-threatening health problems requiring care in school. And whereas school nurses have served a critical role in improving public health and ensuring students academic success for more than 120 years. And school nurses address the home and community factors eg social determinants that impact students health. And whereas school nurses are professional nurses that advance the well-being, academic success, and lifelong achievements of all students by serving on the front lines and providing a critical safety net for our nation's most fragile children. And whereas school nurses act as a liaison to the school community, families, and healthcare providers on behalf of children's health by promoting wellness and improving health outcomes for our nation's children. And whereas school nurses support the health and educational success of children and youth by providing access to care when children's cognitive development is at its peak. And whereas school nurses are members of a school-based teams eg school health services 504 IEPs disaster emergency planning providing care coordination to address the school population and whereas school nurses understand the link between health and learning and are in a positive position to make a positive difference for children every day. Now therefore, I, Tomwin, mayor of the city of Garden City, do hereby proclaim Wednesday, May 6, 2026 as school nurse day and encourage all citizens of Garden City, Kansas, to celebrate and acknowledge the accomplishments of school nurses and their efforts to meet the needs of today's children by providing and advocating quality student- centered care and offer gratitude for school nurses who contribute to our local communities by supporting students to stay healthy in school, safe, and ready to learn and keeping parents and guardians at work. Sign and seal this 20th day of April, 2026. Tom win. Mayor,

would you like to join us for a photo, please? All right. Thank you. Congratulations. Item 6B. The governing body has asked to consider and approve allowing the mayor to proclaim May 3rd through 9th uh 2026 as drinking water week in Garden City. Kansas.

I move to approve the proclamation as presented. Second. There's been a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I. Oppose. Nay. Motion passes.

Good afternoon, mayor commissioners. Uh the American Waterworks Association has celebrated drinking water week for over 40 years to promote engagement with the water utility, educate citizens regarding water supply and to recognize the professionals who provide water to the city. Drinking water week is celebrated the first full week in May of every year and the uh water department is made up of 13 employees serving over 9,200 meters delivering 2.3 billion gallons of safe drinking water a year to the citizens of Garden City. So thanks for passing that resolution. Of course

I would read the proclamation. Whereas water is our most valuable natural resource and whereas drinking water serves a vital role in daily life serving an essential purpose to health, hydration, hygiene needs for the quality of life our citizen enjoy. And whereas tap water delivers public health protection, fire protection, support for our economy and quality of life. And whereas the hard work performed by the entire water sector from the operators ensuring the safety and quality of drinking water to water distribution staff maintaining maintaining the infrastructure communities rely on to transport highquality drinking water from its source to consumers taps. And whereas the city of Garden City is also embarking on new projects to increase water reuse, construct a new water tower to ensure adequate storage and pressure and provide programs to encourage water conservation, preserving water needed for health, hydration, hygiene needs. And whereas we are all stewards of our source of water and infrastructure upon which current and future generations depend. And whereas the citizens of our city are called upon to help protect our source waters from pollution, practice water conservation, and get involved with their water by familiarizing themselves with it. Now therefore be it resolved that by virtue of the authority vested me as mayor of our city, I do hereby proclaim May 3rd through the 9th, 2026 as drinking water week and the city of Garden City encourage the citizens of Garden City to seek information about their water supply and its role in the community. Signed and sealed this 20th day of April 2026. Tom winer kind of need a different

water. Appcate. Item 6 C. The governing body has asked to consider an approval allowing the mayor to proclaim May 3rd through 9th, 2026 as professional municipal clerks week in Garden City, Kansas. I'll entertain a motion for this item. I'll move to approve the proclamation as presented. There's been a motion. Is there a second? I second.

There's been a motion and second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I. Oppose. Nay. Motion passes. Sen, do you want to talk about this item? I wasn't prepared like Mike. I'm sorry. I apologize. Um, this is I believe I can't remember that. Not prepared. I'm so sorry. 57 57

57th um anniversary or 57th year proclamation for city municipal clerks across the United States and the world actually. Um we're getting ready to celebrate in May in Reno, Nevada the 80th um year of the actual IMC uh institute. So we're excited to be attending that. We thank you for um approving this proclamation. Thank you.

Thank you. And I'll read the proclamation. Whereas the office of the professional municipal clerk, a timehonored and vital part of local government, exists throughout the world. And whereas the office of the professional municipal clerk is the oldest among public servants. And whereas the office of the professional municipal clerk provides the professional link between the citizens, the local governing bodies and agencies of government at other levels. And whereas professional municipal clerks have pledged to be ever mindful of their neutrality and impartiality, rendering equal service to all. And whereas the professional municipal clerk serves as the information center and on functions of local government and community. Whereas professional municipal clerks continue continually strive to improve the administration of the affairs of the office of the professional municipal clerk through participation in education programs, seminars, workshops, and the annual meetings of their state, provincial, county, international professional organizations. Whereas it is most appropriate that we recognize the accomp accomplishments of the office of the professional municipal clerk. Now therefore, I to one mayor of the city of Garden City, do hereby proclaim May 3rd through the 9th, 2026 as the 57th annual professional municipal clerk's week in the city of Garden City, encourage all citizens to extend appreciation to all professional municipal clerks for the vital services they perform and their exemplary dedication to the communities they represent. Sign and seal this 20th day of April, 20206. All right.

Good. Item 6D. The governing body is asked to consider and approve a request from the parks and recreation department to allow under code section 6-1 possession consumption and sale of cereal malt beverages or alcoholic liquor at the parks and recreation tailgate in the park to be held at Stevens Park on June 6, 2026 from 12:30 to 5:00 p.m. during Beef Empire days. Jared,

good afternoon. Uh, actually I have one correction on here and I do apologize for that. It is going to actually be on June 7th. So, um, the event will be a grilling competition. Uh, we will have live music, vendors, a hamburger feed uh, for the public and a beer garden provided by Hidden Trails Brewing. Uh the beer garden will be roped off in its own area and hidden trail will be using their license to uh sell alcoholic beverages. uh alternatives. Uh number one, the governing body may uh approve the parks and recreation department's request to allow under code section 6-1 possession, consumption, and sale of cereal, malt, beverage, and alcoholic liquor at the parks and recreation tailgate in the park to be held at Stevens Park on June 7th, 2026, uh between 12:30 and 5:00 p.m. during the Beef Empire days. Alternative two, uh the governing body may uh not approve the parks and recreation department's request to allow under code section 6-1 possession, consumption, and sale of cereal beverages or alcoholic liquer at the parks and recreation uh tailgate of a park to be held at Stevens Park on June 7th uh 2026 from 12:30 to 5:00 p.m. uh during the beef and fire days. uh recommend staff recommendation uh staff recommends the governing body approve the parks and recreation department's request uh to allow under code section 6-1 possessions consumption and sell cereal malt beverages or alcoholic liquor at the parks and recreation tailgate in the park to be held at Stevens Park on June 7th 2026 from 12:30 to 5:00 p.m. during the B5 days. Uh physical note there is none. Any questions for staff?

So, the application submitted, will it be corrected with the new date? Yeah, we can. Okay.

Any further questions? I'll entertain a motion. I move to approve the uh park and reex department's request to allow under code section 61 possession consumption and sale of the cereal beverages or alcoholic liquor at the parks and reck uh tailgate in the park to be held at Stevens Park on June 7th 2026 from 12:30 to 5:00 during Beef Empire days. There's been a motion. Is there a second? I second. There's been a motion and second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I. Oppose. Nay. Motion passes. Thank you. Thanks.

Item 7A, Finny County Administrator Derek Ramos is here and will provide an update on the progress with the Finey County Jail project. Derek,

good afternoon, Mayor and Commissioners. Uh, the board of county commissioners recently approved the selection of Board of Construction as the construction manager at risk. Uh this followed a structured RFQ and RFP process that evaluated qualifications, fee proposals, and overall project approach. The selection committee included representation from the city and county. And I want to specifically thank uh Vice Mayor Deb Oiler and city staff for their time, input, and partnership throughout this process. Their involvement helped ensure strong coordination and a shared perspective on a project that is important for our entire community. Mac Gordon was selected based on best overall value, not just cost, but also their experience with similar detention facilities, their approach to the project, and the community's confidence in their ability to successfully deliver on the project. So, with this approval, we are now moving on to the next phase of the project uh in the continuence of pre-construction services, but with the CM. This critical step is important as it brings construction manager on early to work alongside our county staff and our design team with HMN architects on cost estimating, constructibility, reviews, value engineering, and schedule development. The goal is to create better cost certainty, uh reduce risk, and keep the project aligned with the established budget and timeline as design continues to move forward. So overall, this is a significant milestone for this project and we're in a good position as we continue advancing towards construction. So we appreciate the continued partnership with the city and we're looking forward to this project completion. Um I did want to give an update uh for the LEC as well. Uh it looks like the timeline to go out for a request for qualifications for design firms or CR construction manager at risk firms uh would be sometime in the month of June, possibly towards the end of June.

So, I'm happy to answer any questions the governing body may have. Any questions for county administrator? So, we're on track then is what you're saying uh for the construction of the jail. Um so, right now construction documents will be done at the end of June and Macau Gordon's initial timeline will have some uh project completion at mid 2028. Okay. So still still on schedule then is what you're saying. All right. And then LEC is the same way with uh kind of on track and then they'll kind of coordinate between those two coordination that happens there.

Sounds good. It was a great process to be a part of and I enjoyed being on that committee and going through it and so thank you for your guidance and leadership throughout that whole process. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks, Eric. Thank you, guys. Item 7B, Deputy City Manager Burke will provide an update on the progress with the temporary law enforcement center project.

Good afternoon, mayor and commissioners. Um, at the December 2nd, 2025 city commission meeting, the governing body approved a renovation agreement between the city and Kathy Coer Trust. Uh total project cost after uh that was approved was $5,439,246 and this included the contingency associated with the project as well. Since that time, Dick Construction has been working on the outlined improvements uh and they've made uh significant progress over the last four months. Uh currently they're finishing up framing uh installation of conduit and they've actually started drywalling on the PD side of that building. Uh so it's definitely starting uh to take shape and look like an office space. Um they are still slated uh to be completed before the end of the year with the current projection of substantial completion occurring in mid December. Uh there are a few items that fall outside the scope of the project and will be managed by staff such as signage, uh access controls and cameras, data poles, generator installation, ballard placement, and parking lot painting. On the staff side of the house, uh we've started to meet both internally as city staff to talk through those outstanding items, but also collectively between the city and the county to coordinate the move from the current building into 1210 Fleming. We're trying to ensure that we pre-plan as much as possible to help reduce confusion for the public. Uh such as updating addresses, that type of thing online and on all of our forms and within all of our systems, but also trying to help staff prepare for the transition uh and the physical move of uh relocating most of the stuff that's over in uh the existing law enforcement center into that new temporary space. Uh the last two elements um of this project relate to dispatch uh and Finey County evidence. Uh so the city has engaged with TUSA consulting who specializes in 911 communications center assessments. Uh and they provide an independent

assessment um on our technology and infrastructure needs. Uh and they will be making some recommendations to us to help uh staff uh and potentially ultimately you all uh make a decision related to uh how to uh continue to have dispatch be operational during the construction. Uh so they'll look at a couple different options. One is keeping them where they are existed, where they currently are located. Uh to make sure that we've got the appropriate redundancies and things like that so they can remain operational, but also looking at what uh temporarily moving them out of that space for a a specific period of time may also look like. Uh so they'll help provide some of those recommendations based on their expertise and that's uh really their wheelhouse and they help uh communities all across the country u make those types of assessments. Um and finally, the other kind of moving piece of this uh very large uh project uh is related to evidence. Uh so currently evidence uh for the FY County Sheriff's Office is currently located in the law enforcement center. Uh we are working with them to again temporarily relocate them into our evidence building uh so that they can uh also get out of that space uh while the renovations are ongoing. So, um I wanted to provide very brief updates on those smaller projects within this much larger project of figuring out where everyone is going to go uh so that they can fully remodel uh our existing law enforcement center. So, with that, I'd be happy to answer any questions you all may have.

So, it sounds like we're on track then to I mean, you said by the end of the year by the end of the year should be able to move in. Yes, they are looking at substantial completion. Uh I think it's December 16th is is the date they've got identified. So there'll still be some punch list items after that. Uh so as we get a little bit closer to that date, uh we'll start figuring out when we can when we can start the physical move uh portion of that project. Uh and we'll work through a communication plan as well so that we're communicating that with the public uh so they know where they know where to go as well. Okay, great. Sounds good. Thank you, Danielle.

Item 7 C, Finny County Director of Emergency Medical Services, Smith is present to provide a quarterly update. Kenny, assistant director or assistant director.

So, I'll be coming to these Kenny from now on. Um, I think the version you'll have is written by him, so there'll be a little bit of changes, but not many. Uh in the for first quarter of 2026, I was hired as the assistant director who oversees the educational program. Uh since then, it hit the ground running with educational programs that include the Garden City Fire Department. Uh once a month, we meet up and try to get at least 2 hours of continuing education. Um also provide advanced level classes for our ALS providers. Uh station one at 8 and Mary is coming along very nicely. Concrete is poured and will start with landscaping next month. Overhead mechanical is still being worked on and should have the final paint put in place later this month. Uh for the first quarter, we ran 1,024 calls compared to 2015 and 1005 in 2024 and 2025 respectively. In March, we sent Natasha Olsensby, a paramedic supervisor, to Phoenix for one-day class in getting certified in ACLS, advance, sorry, ASLs, advanced stroke life support. This class allows her to instruct and teach future instructors and line personnel on strokes from the American Heart Association. She is the first person in the state to be certified in this. Our personnel continue to do a great job and I cannot thank them enough for what they do for the citizens of Finey County. Uh and then I said not sure the other parts you'll have but it's a little bit of a chart on showing u about the majority of our calls are well about onethird of the calls are being ran out of station one and then uh station 3's got another pretty big chunk out of it. Um and then air medical also takes a lot but the rest should be the county response. Um holding up to any questions y'all have

Thank you. N thank you. Good job. Thank you Luke. 7D. I'll provide a recap of the 2026 Western Kansas congressional delegation reception trip. Um the last uh week on Monday and Tuesday we had scheduled meetings in Washington DC. Uh the city of Garden City was represented by Mayor Wyn, uh Vice Mayor Oiler, Deputy City Manager Burke, and myself along with some uh community members and also Michelle Pal, director of aviation. Um uh community members Micah Bunch from the Chamber of Commerce. Uh and then the origin of that trip is really the communities serviced in western Kansas by uh uh commercial airlines that receive EAS funding or essential air service funding. Uh that's uh kind of the historic basis of the trip. And then also a thank you to the staff members. There's a reception uh that is for the uh staff that is working in the DC offices for our delegation. Um they don't get to leave DC very often during their work tenures. Uh their noses to the grindstone and income doesn't necessarily always provide for return trips home. So it's a good chance to uh for the western Kansas communities uh to get uh to DC and thank them for their work. uh and and develop those one-on-one relationships. We receive on Monday morning a uh topical update from uh each of the staff members and the respective topic that they cover for uh for their member of Congress. Um and so you'll hear, you know, an immigration update from those that work on immigration, a transportation update for

those that work on transportation issues, farm bill updates from the ones that you work on the farm bill. So, uh, we went through a progression of probably 10 topics, uh, had an opportunity as all of the Western Kansas, uh, communities to ask, uh, ask questions, uh, and, um, that was that was a that was a helpful meeting. A lot of new faces on the staff and so we were able to kind of identify some um, folks that we hadn't worked with before and get to know them. um a reception later that evening uh again to tell them thank you and get to know them a little bit better, a little bit more relaxed setting. Uh essential air service communities all had had uh meetings with the essential air service staff that was covered by Michelle Pal and Mayor Wyn. Uh they um and then we met with each uh of our uh senators and our congressman. uh those uh communities were those were one-on-one meetings with Senator Moran and his staff. He was on a vote and so we met with his chief of staff and his legislative director uh but had a chance to catch up with uh the senator at the at the reception uh individually and one-on-one. had a really good meeting with them, updated them on some congressionally directed spending projects that they had approved in the past uh that are underway and uh those even got a mention uh in his newsletter over the weekend. Uh we also um updated uh updated their office on the congressional uh directed congressionally directed spending requests that we've submitted for this year related to uh emergency um response radios uh as well as the um northeast sewer interceptor project. Uh we also met individually with uh uh Representative Mann and uh were able to

he was he was over in the capital uh but we were able to catch him in between votes uh and uh have have a really good discussion with him. Thank him for his support uh for uh letters of support for some uh grant applications that we've recently submitted. Um, Senator Marshall meets with the representatives from the community all at once and so our time there is is is a little more our time window is a little more narrow. uh each community had three or four minutes to sort of talk about something unique to their community and so we uh we were able to do that give them updates uh but have had some you while the time spent talking about garden city specific stuff wasn't that long we have had time to have follow-up discussions with some of the staff that were in that meeting as well uh following up on garden city specific issues so um it was nice to be able to make those connections uh and also to uh thank Senator Marshall for his uh letters of support that he's also submitted for um uh for some grant applications that that we've done. So, uh all in all, I think a good trip. Um we I think we've maybe brainstormed a little bit. this this visit has evolved over the 40 years that it's been going on and I think we've identified maybe some ways that it can further evolve and provide not just more value for those going out um and and meeting with the delegation but also be of more value to the delegation themselves maybe and not put the the staff in such a precarious situation as an update to all the cities in western Kansas at 9:00 a.m. on Monday morning, which is not their uh

um peak performance time, I would say. It's usually kind of getting things started back up for the week. And uh I think maybe thinking about how that can either happen later in the day on Monday or even on Tuesday might uh uh might be a way to go. But those are discussions we're going to have to have with the other five communities that go, other four communities that go uh to see if there's a willingness. It's not our turn to host. So, it's really not our turn to uh dictate that. Um uh but I do think some of the feedback suggests that uh we may rework that visit in future years. Any questions on that? I do think maybe uh mayor and vice mayor certainly willing to share from their perspective maybe in the around the horn section of the meeting if you if you'd like.

Great. U all right. 7E, Assistant Director of Neighborhood and Development Services, Charles will present uh the 2025 official population for Garden City.

Mayor Commissioners, every year, Neighborhood and Development Services provides an estimated population count for Garden City. For 2024, the estimated population was 30,120 and for 2025, it was 35,222. For 2025, the population count is significantly higher than the previous year. There has been a slight change in the formula used due to two factors. First, the average household size was previously 2.73 and was adjusted to 3.35 for 2025 count. Secondly, the US census no longer provides estimate an estimated population counts for those living in group homes. So that has been removed from the 2025 estimate. All of these numbers are taken from the US Census website. To estimate our population, we use the following formula. Number of residential accounts plus number of new home permits times the average household size. We estimate that the population count for Garden City will be around the same be around this number for each year. moving forward if the average household remain size remains 3.35

you'll see us thank you Lisa you'll see us using this number um we thought it warranted some explanation uh we've been using somewhere between 30 and 31,000 uh for quite some time uh if we just all of a sudden started using 35,000 we uh again felt that needed some explanation. This is a census a per household number that's uh that the US census bureau um adopts uh and believes. Um, granted that when they do the uh the the official census every 10 years, we always seem to end up with a significantly lower number, but um you know, there's pretty uh good reason to believe that an underount exists. uh uh and that's been validated by, you know, some cell phone tracking data by other entities in town and that type of thing that we know are uh overnight number in Garden City is significantly higher than 31,000. So, um we'll we've consistently used this uh the population number that is the per household approved number for the census times the number of residential accounts. We'll continue to do that. Uh we just wanted to give some explanation why we grew by 4,000 people uh overnight uh effectively. Um it's not that we've grown by 4,000, it's that the uh the accounting the per household accounting multiplier is finally caught up. So the going from the 2.73 to the 3.35 is that something that we picked that we got from the census or so this that that's the census update of what they're using now.

Yes. Yes. Yeah. And that that number is uh specifically for Garden City. So a lot of the times that the average household um they provide there's different ones. They have one for Kansas, they have one for Garden City, but it did change. And over the last couple years, it's kind of gone up and down. 2.73, 2.88, um, just up and down. And so this, uh, last year that they did it went up to that 3.35. Okay. Just in case somebody asks like where' they come up with this number, it's like um, so we know that it's from the this the census uses it as a as a number that we plug in. So, thank you. Thanks.

The balance of the items under the report of the city manager written reports. Do you have any questions over those? 7M. The final item under manager report is a uh communications from Cox regarding their lineup change pursuant to uh their franchise agreement with the city. Moving on to item eight, meeting meetings of note. We'll call your attention that the location of the May 6 Livewell Finny County Health Coalition meeting is changed. Um there's a conflict at the St. Catherine classroom. It'll be located at the city admin meeting room uh here, second floor, 301 North 8th at 12:00 p.m. That I think we're ready for item nine, consideration of the appropriation ordinance. If approved, it would be ordinance number 2609-2026A.

I move to approve appropriation ordinance number 2609-2026A. There's been a motion. Is there a second? I second. There's been a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I. Oppose. Name. Motion passes. Item 10, consideration of ordinances and resolutions. Uh 10A, the governing body is asked to consider and approve an ordinance adjusting retail electric rates. If approved, it would be ordinance number 3047-2026. Mike.

Yes. Good afternoon, mayor and commissioners. Uh, on the background here, on April 7th, 2026, the governing body directed staff to create an ordinance that would adjust electric rates up by 5% effective May 1st, 2026 and again on January 1st, 2027, which reduced revenues in fiscal year 2025 and projected increased expenditures in power supply and transmission costs over the next 5 years and additional rate adjustments are required. The overall wholesale power cost to Garden City will continue to rise with projections for 2026 to 2031, showing an additional 11.4% increase. Of this increase, 33% is related to network transmission costs in addition to power supply costs rising. The major buildout across the United States to meet growing demand is also driving up distribution equipment costs. This includes transformer, switch gear, distribution feeders, and substations. Besides rising costs, Garden City, like all utilities, is facing ongoing supply chain bottlenecks with the increased risk due to volatility and procurement restraints. So, your alternatives today are the governing body may approve ordinance number 3047-2026 as presented or the governing body may not approve this ordinance as presented. that recommends Governor B approve the ordinance and under a fiscal note with a 5% increase in retail rates effective May 1st 2026 and an additional 5% increase on January 1, 2027, this would generate approximately $876,000 in 2026 and an additional $2,783,000 in 2027 for a total increase in revenue from May 26 through December of 2027 of 3,659 $9,000 to the electric fund. If this ordinance is approved by the governing body today, the average residential customer would see an

additional $5 per month increase in 2026 and an additional $5 increase in 2027. And I'm happy to answer any questions you may have regarding this. Any questions for Mike? We're also, aren't we later on this year or is it going to be next year that we're doing looking at a rate doing a rate study for the city as well? Yes. Wasn't that part of the goal that we had?

Yeah. Their recommendation was in January of probably be February of 2027 would be to do a full cost of service study based upon 2026's actual expenditures and then that information would be used be brought back to governor body to determine what steps need to be taken if any moving forward. Uh we also discussed that possibility of reinancing the dogwood energy facilities bonds. U we were prepared to do that a month ago. However, the uh conflict with Iran has caused interest rates to change and so we're going to hold off on that for the time being. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. I entertain a motion for this ordinance.

I move that we approve ordinance number 3047-2026. There's been a motion. Is there a second? Second. There's been a motion and second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I oppose. Nay. Motion passes. Thank you. Thank you. Would you like to move 12H up in the batting order, Mayor? Yes, please. And I will step down for item 12H.

Okay. All right, commissioners. Item 12H. The governing body is asked to consider and approve a letter of support to the Kansas Department of Transportation for a safe routes to school planning grant application by Livewell Finny County.

I'm here to answer any questions you might have. It is just a planning grant and uh hopefully we will uh obtain it uh with your support. we have the support of the school district and uh then after we get the plans back then we can decide if we want to do some of the recommendations that are put before us. Do we have a staff report on this?

Yes, I can provide uh a little bit more detail. Uh so safe routes to school uh is a federally funded program that promotes walking, biking, and rolling to school through policies, programs, and infrastructure improvements. The Kansas Department of Transportation administers this program in Kansas and uh Livewell Finney County is pursuing a planning grant to develop a plan for USD457 within this within the community. Uh letters of support from both USD457 and the city are required for this application. Um and if awarded, KO's consultant tool design will develop a safe routes to school plan for up to eight schools in Garden City. Uh the plan will include an evaluation of school arrival and dismissal operations, safety data, uh existing programs and infrastructure conditions, and will identify potential infrastructure and programmatic improvements to support safe walking, biking, and rolling to school. Live well, uh USD457 and city staff will participate in the planning process. Upon completion, the plan will serve as a tool to guide capital improvement program planning, support the city's ADA transition plan, strengthen future grant applications, and expand safe routes to school programs and activities. An adopted safe routes to school plan is also a prerequisite for future program programming grants uh and may support future transportation alternative program infrastructure funding requests as well. Uh the grant would fully cover plan development costs. The only anticipated cost to city is some uh staff time associated with participation in the planning process. Uh and I will just add that uh live well has been really great to work with uh on this application. So far uh we really appreciate them reaching out to us and and bringing us in as such an active partner uh in this grant uh application. Uh the alternatives before you. One, the governing body may approve the letter of support to the Kansas Department of Transportation for a safe routes to

school planning grant application by Livewell Finny County. Uh or alternative two, you may not uh support approval of that letter. Uh staff recommends uh providing the letter of support. There's no fiscal impact associated with this. Uh and between the two of us, hopefully we can answer any questions you may have. Are there any questions? One thing uh that I would like to add on, I heard from Ancat this week. Uh she is a safe routes to school coordinator and she wanted me to put in information about all of our schools. So they're looking at our district to do all of them, which would be great. Um hopefully that's what will happen, but right now we can only submit for eight. Gotcha.

As of right now, do we know of any other community in the area that is applying for the same grant? No, I do not know. I'm not aware of any either. Any other questions? Is there a motion? I'll make a motion that we approve a letter of support to the Kansas Department of Transportation for safe routes to schools planning grant application uh by Livewell Finny County. Is there a second? I second. It's been moved and seconded. Any other discussion? All those in favor say I. I. I opposed. Motion carries. Thanks, Don. Thank you very much.

Thanks, Don. Item 12A, review of the budget calendar for 2026 meetings and budget assumptions. Jared, good afternoon. I'll walk you through the different tabs we have in the the budget calendar that I gave you today. Um the first page of the binder is the calendar. It lays out the dates that we'll be reviewing uh the different budgets at each commission meeting. I'll point out that uh with the alignment of timing the typically we end up with two meetings in July where we can kind of talk plan and make kind of pivots and changes before you have to indicate the revenue neutral rate intent. Um but this week this year with the way the days laid out you're probably going to have one. So there is a um fifth Tuesday in June which is uh typically your town hall meeting which we could look at utilizing as one of those conversation times for the commission to kind of discuss the budget. Um you wouldn't take action necessarily but you give direction to city uh staff as to what kind of leverage the poll or things to do. So that may be a pivot this year is that one of those meetings may end up being at a at an evening uh occurrence which may open the door to have some more public input than you would have at 1:00 p.m. on a on a Tuesday. So, uh, maybe an experiment there for us to try out. The rest of the calendar pretty much follows normal normal suit. We'll, uh, uh, kind of finalize everything at the August 4th meeting. The intent to then publish our, um, hearing. Um, and then the September the September meeting will be our hearing, our RNR hearing if necessary, as well as our budget hearing. And then we'll, we'll have to have everything finalized at the county by October 1st. The next few pages, especially for Karen being new to the commission, they talk

through the budget process. there is a pretty explanation of the different funds and what they do. I'll hit on that a little bit as we go through each budget. Um, just for the benefit of those who are are new or returning. Um, but the my focus will be kind of high level kind of big big ticks one direction or another changes or things that are outside the norm when I go through those budgets. Um, and so this explanation really talks you through kind of the the purpose especially of the special revenue funds, the things that are kind of intended for one specific thing. Um I will point out that if you look at the expenditures um on that second page of that kind of the breakdown of the budget process, this gives you some of the assumptions we utilized in calculating budget figures for this year. So it talks about personnel costs, what we calculated for the city's commitment towards employee health insurance. Um and then on the next page, it talks about social security papers, KP&f, um work comp. We reduced this year for 27 what our contribution was for per employee. Um, we' had a couple years where we'd had an increase in work comp uh, insurance costs. We've seen that come down. So, we decreased the amount that we're allocating per position. Um, but I will point out that our fuel cost estimates when we started the process, we were look that the estimation was that 26 and 27 would be a slight reduction over 25. Well, that went out the window about a week after we started the process. And so, one line that we probably will go back and change throughout is the 26 and then the 27 numbers for fuel, for gas, solar, and diesel. Um, right now I think state of Kansas is up about 22% over what we were at last year for fuel prices. Um, and it's just been really really um, pinballing. So, we haven't quite landed on what we want to budget for, but you'll see an uptick over what we thought would originally be a down tick there. Um, I'll jump ahead to the goals document. This is what uh, the city commission was presented and we finalized in a recent meeting. So, this is just a reminder for you as we go through the budget process of the goals that you've established. um departments look at those, incorporate those as when we're budgeting, as to the things we're

going to try to make sure we emphasize and make sure we're funding. Then you have the CIP. This is the the plan of attack as of your adoption of your prioritization. And so you'll see on here there's figures for 2026 27 28 um as far as revenue coming in. Um for 2026, it's revenue that's already occurred. the 27 28 those are on the table for you to to adjust to pivot and kind of plan accordingly. So right now the 400,000 mark is what was init initially established with kind of the excess of the 0.15 sales tax, but you're going to determine in the budget process whether that number goes up or down or stays the same. And so the the plan of attack for the project prioritization is more so what's set in stone already on this, but the funding piece is still on the table to be discussed as part of your budget process. Then the last page are just the one sheet is that show your your debt service. So you have the first page um talks through the general bond and interest fund is the top section. Um and then there's two subsections on this page. One is the 0.15 sales tax. The other is the 30 sales tax. So you have two bonds that are specifically paid by those sales tax revenues that come in. One for the fire station and the 030 projects. The other one for Bob Howard Park and um the the skate park. And so as those debt services are paid separately, um they're not really in your bond and interest calculation. We talk about property tax allotment for covering your debt service. We're talking about this top section on this page here. And so right now, the last few years, you we haven't issued debt u through a general obligation bond for general purposes. So you've seen this kind of reduced um but it's still higher than it was a few years ago. But this kind of shows you your ladder. So the appetite for if the city commission wanted to consider debt obligations for a general purpose this year. This is kind of your your view of appetite. The next is your tiff debt service the special obligation bond. So this is paid for with the tiff out at shoulder crossing. These are the bonds that paid

for the infrastructure to be put out there. Um this one we talked about at a recent pre meeting that I presented at. Um we expect we're looking at kind of 2030 2031 right now is the projection on when the additional revenues will be able to pay this off early. So it goes through 2035 but we're thinking about 5 years early be able to pay this off. Um and then the last one is just your utilities. So you have electric water and then solid waste which is the was it last year's general obligation issuance was for solid. So that's the debt service for those utilities as well. So all these are included in their budgets that you'll see. Um any questions and I'll talk talk fast. I know budget uh is your most exciting time is hearing me talk for 45 minutes to an hour meetings. Um our plan is to present similar to the the last year. Um I'll talk high level through the budget and especially when we get to departments they'll be able to speak to kind of the highlights the the points they really want to make sure you take away from the document before you. Um and then you have your binders and we'll get you packets with the additional information additional pages each time before the meeting. So this Friday, we'll get you a packet for the first uh budget presentations, which will be our special revenue funds, debt service, and uh internal service funds. Any questions today I can answer for you?

Thank you. Thanks, J. There's no action required on uh on that item or the next few uh budget briefings. They'll show up in new business, but um they'll really be discussions only. 12B. The governing body is asked to consider and approve the passenger facility charge application for the Garden City Regional Airport. Michelle,

good afternoon. Uh this before you is the PSC application number four. Uh this is a long process. We started it back in February to uh notify the public that is interested in providing a fourth application FA to collect PFC's. Um, we go through an airline consultation, a public meeting, as well as, um, multiple 30-day periods for public comment. Um, this PC application will cover our cost for our tax project that's coming up on the next city commission meeting to be um, considered for approval. And essentially what this is is a $4.50 charge on anybody's airline ticket flying out of Garden City. The airline collects 11 collects the fees. They keep 11 cents. They send $4.39 back to the city of Garden City and the airport uses that revenue per 5% cost share of our federal AIP projects. So essentially this application is 260,947 and again that covers the cost of our tax project that we'll start constructing later this year. With that, the staff recommends approving the application for PFC number four.

Any questions for Michelle? I move to approve the passenger facility charge application number four for the Garden City Regional Airport. There's been a motion. Is there a second? A second. There's been a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I. Oppose. Nay. Motion passes. Thank you. Item 12 C. The governing body is asked to consider a recommendation from the city attorney and special utility council related to the finding of the fact and conclusion with regards to the selection of a retail electric supplier for properties annexed pursuant to ordinance number 3042-2026.

Good afternoon, mayor and commissioners. The governing body voted to annex certain rail property located on three contiguous tracks located near the southwest corner of the intersection of US Highway 50 and North Farmland Road adjoining the city of Garden City, Kansas, more particularly described as exhibit A, the annex property pursuant to ordinance number 3042-2026 on January 20, 2026. The annexation was effective on January 29, 2026. At the time of the annexation, the annex property was in the real retail electric service territory of Wheatland Electric Corporate. Whenever the city annex lands that is located within the certified territory of a retail electric supplier, the city shall negotiate the issuance of franchise agreement pursuant to KSA 12-20001 and the amendments there too with the retail electric supplier holding their certificate within the annexed area. The city shall make the selection of the which supplier receives a franchise to operate within the annex area. When making such selection, the city shall consider certain factors including but not limited to A the public convenience and necessity. B rates of various suppliers. C desire of the customer or customers to be served. D e economic impact on the supplier. E. Economic impact on the customers of the suppliers. F. The suppliers oper operational ability to serve the annex area. G. Avoiding wasteful duplications of facilities. H. Avoiding unnecessary encumbrance to on the landscape. I. Preventing the waste of materials and natural resources. J. proposals from any

retail electric suppliers holding a certificate in the annex area and K whether the selection is in the public's interest as it relates to all factors considered by the city. And at this time I'm going to have the city council Jennifer Cunningham present the rest of the um the ordinance.

Thank you, Mayor and Commissioners. Um, so I'm just going to kind of pick up where uh Jose left off. Um, so there's a couple of other things before you actually get to the consideration of the factors. Um, and so I just want to cover those with you. Um, in this particular case, um, if the city selects the city utility department to serve, uh, the annex property, Wheatland's uh, service rights will terminate on July 28th of 2026, uh, which is 180 days after the effective date of the annexation. Um, that's provided in KSA 6611 176A1. Um and the appropriate 8.5% statutory payment uh for any new electric load on the annex property will expire on July 28th of 2036. Uh so on February 5th, 2026, the utility department uh provided notice to Wheatland of the annexation and asked Wheatland to notify city staff as to whether it wished to apply for the franchise. This is this is what we always do. Um and on that same day, Mr. McVey, assistant general manager and general counsel for Wheeland confirmed that they were not requesting a franchise for the annex property. Um, you at your March 3rd meeting, which was a public meeting, uh, received evidence regarding which entity should be the retail electric service provider for the NX property based on the factors and we went through each of those factors at that time and gave you an explanation of that. They are further included here, but we're not going to go through them in detail a second time. We did at that meeting. Um and then pursuant to KSA611 176F1 through4 the city utility department um would be obligated to pay Wheeland for the expense of the retirement of the Wheatenland facilities on the property and two times the previous 12 months revenue. There are no existing electrical services provided to the annex properties. Therefore, there's no compensation required under this uh if you approve to use the city instead. Uh based on the evidence presented, the governing body uh is finding the factors as previously presented and you can see these uh below. Uh the public convenience and necessity uh rates of various suppliers and you can see those outlined for you. Desires of customers

or customers to be served. Economic impact on the suppliers. Economic impact on the customers of suppliers. The suppliers operational ability to serve the annexed area. Avoiding the wasteful duplication of facilities. Avoiding necessary incumbrance on landscape. Preventing the waste of materials and natural resources. Proposals from retail electric supply holding a certificate in annexed area. And whether the selection is in the public interest as it relates to the factors considered by the city. And then you can see A through K that goes through that public interest piece. This was all covered at your previous meeting. Um and before you today is uh are the alternatives of uh concluding that the city utility department shall be the electric service provider uh in the properties ENX pursuant to ordinance number 3042 2026 and that Wheatland has been and will continue to be compensated for the termination of its service rights according to state law. Uh, alternative two, you can choose to select another retail service electric provider or three, you can direct direct staff to go back and do uh something different or or offer an additional alternative. We of course recommend uh staff and your legal council uh recommend that you do alternative one um and and select the city utility department uh to serve this area. Um and then you'll see there's a fiscal note pursuant to this. But as we already discussed um at this point in time, there's no additional uh compensation.

Any questions? I'll take a motion for this item. I move to conclude that the city utility department shall be the electric service provider in the properties annex pursuant to ordinance number 3042-2026 and that Wheatland Electric has been and will continue to be compensated for the termination of its service rights according to state law. There's been a motion. Is there a second? I second. There's been a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I oppose. Nay. Motion passes. Thank you.

Item 12D. The governing body has asked to consider and approve a bid for 2026 class 6 hook lift trucks for the street and airport departments. Relle.

Good afternoon. Uh Casey Howard, uh street superintendent basically did all the heavy lifting. I'm just here to present. So all the hard work on putting out the bid, the bid spec. contacting the vendors um all that hard work. So essentially we received seven bids. Uh two of the bids did not meet spec because they were not able to provide a central hydraulic system. Three of the bids we considered um unresponsive bids just because they can't guarantee um the date of the delivery because those vehicles are coming straight out of the factory. Um so that essentially leaves us two bids. Um the bid difference between the prices is $3,11425. Bal truck and equipment can get us a truck in 8 weeks. Um and they are the higher bid. Uh Master Tech Truck and Equipment is a apparent low bidder. However, it'll take 25 weeks to get the vehicles. Um one one truck for the airport, one truck for street department. Um, so we, uh, staff, Casey and I and, um, Tyler worked through all this and looked at all the specs and we ultimately, um, recommend approving the bid from Quality Truck and Equipment, which is $3,114.25 more expensive than the low bid. However, we can get the vehicles in 8 weeks versus 25 weeks. So with that um the costs the financial note of it um each truck are going to be paid for out of the specific department budgets and the cost of the truck is $146,12745. With that, we recommend any questions or we we staff sorry AC and I recommend approving the bid for from Quality Truck and Equipment.

Any questions for staff? I will entertain a motion for this item. I move to approve the bid from quality truck and equipment for 2026 class 6 hook lift truck. One for the street department, one for airport in the amount of $146,12745 per truck. There's been a motion. Is there a second? Second. There's been a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I oppose. Nay. Motion passes. Thank you. Thank you.

Item 12E. The governing body has asked to consider and approve conducting a comprehensive compensation study with McGrath human resources. Ellie,

hi, good afternoon. The city last completed a full compensation study in 2020 and a partial review in 2023. Best practice is to conduct a comprehensive study every 5 to 3 years to ensure the city remains competitive in the labor market and that positions are properly aligned with the pay structure. staff recently received a proposal from McGrath human resources to conduct a full compensation study. The study the cost of the study would be $48,250 with a fee of up to $3,000 for travel. Eligible travel expenses include airfare mileage or car rental, hotel accommodations, and meals for the consulting team. If approved, the pay study could be begin as early as May 4th, 2026 with an initial kickoff meeting. During this meeting, staff would review the scope of the study study, discuss the process and timeline, and begin identifying appropriate comparable cities and organizations to be used in the market analysis. Once the project begins, McGrath will conduct a market analysis of city positions, which is expected to take approximately 12 weeks. During this time, all employees will be asked to complete a position questionnaire to provide detailed information information about their job duties and responsibilities. This information ensures positions are properly evaluated and aligned within the pay structure. The full study is recommended to take approximately five to six months to complete. If the process begins in May, the study could anticipate a target implementation date of November 1, 2026. Notably, following the 2020 study, the city estimated an implementation cost of $682,100 at that time. While it is difficult to estimate the impact of implementing any recommendations because we do not know whether the scale is out of sync with market value, some historical context can provide perspective from the implementation of the new scale through the readjustment in 2023. The city was utilizing a 2% annual scale adjustment each January. The 2023 review found that

this 2% adjustment had not been sufficient to maintain a competitive pay scale and the cost to adjust the pay scale back to market in October of 23 was approximately $1,150,000. Since the 2023 review, the city has used a 3% annual adjustment to the scale, aiming to maintain a scale more competitive with the evolving market. Based on the 2026 revised budget figures as they will be presented to the city commission over the coming months, it is anticipated that for every 1% increase of salaries, the cost would be approximately $370,000 with 277,000 of such being attributed to taxing funds and the remaining $93,000 attributed to non- taxing funds. For the 2027 preliminary salary and benefits estimate benefit estimates, a 1% increase in the scale would cost approximately $386,000 with $290,000 from taxing funds and $96,000 from non- taxing funds. So the alternatives before you um the governing body may approve the request to conduct a compensation compensation study with McGrath human resources starting as early as May 4th. The governing body may deny the request and delay the compensation study or the governing body may direct staff to pursue an alternative approach. And staff recommends that we approve that the governing body approves the request to conduct a compensation study um starting as early as May 4th of 2026. Approval of this request would require adding $51,250 to the HR consulting payline. Um but this amount does not include the cost of actually implementing that study. Any questions?

Any questions for Ellie? I will entertain a motion for this item. I move that we approve the request to conduct the compensation study with McGrath human resources starting as early as May 4th of this year. There's been a motion. Is there a second? I second. There's been a motion and second. Any further discussion? I just want to comment that um the last study that we did was in 2020 and that what is recommended every 3 to 5 years and for us to be competitive. I agree that we we move forward.

Right. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I oppose. Nay. Motion passes. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks. Item 12F, the governing body is asked to consider and approve an amendment to the development agreement Chapel Heights Fifth Edition Rural Housing Incentive District.

Commissioners, the developer Chapel Heights LLC is requesting a a revision to the categories of eligible reimbursement costs through the RHD program. Chapel Heights LLC is eligible to be reimbursed for the cost listed. The existing total eligible costs are $3,223,5902. Chapel Heights LLC is requesting to increase the totable total eligible expenses to $3,347,341 to include interest and landscaping. The increase gives a developer the ability to be reimbured for the additional cost incurred. However, reimbursement is not guaranteed as it is dependent upon the property tax revenues generated from the district. Your alternatives today are the governing body may approve the second amendment to the development agreement as proposed. The governing body may approve the second amendment to the development agreement with changes or the governing body may not approve the second amendment to the development agreement. Staff recommends the governing body approve the second amendment to the development agreement as proposed. And the developer is here as well.

I'll entertain a motion for this item. I move to uh approve the second amendment to the development agreement as proposed. So just I'll second. There's been a motion and a second. Any further discussion? So I just was going to ask here. So it says on the alternatives the governing body may approve the second amendment but then the recommendation is to approve the first amendment. Correct. There is an error is the second. Okay. Any further discussion seeing none all those in favor say I. I oppose. Nay. Motion passes. Thank you. Thank you.

Item 12G. The governing body is asked to consider and approve the submission of an implementation grant application to the US Department of Transportation's 2026 Safe Streets for All Grant Program.

Good afternoon again, Mayor and Commissioners. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the bipartisan infrastructure law, established the Safe Streets and Roads for All SS4A competitive grant program in 2022, providing $5 billion in funding over 5 years 2022 to 2026 for projects intended to reduce roadway fatalities and serious injuries. In September 2022, the city of Garden City applied for an SS4A action plan grant in partnership with 11 jurisdictions along the US 83 corridor. Through that grant, action plans were developed for each participating entity. The governing body adopted Garden City's SS4A action plan and vision zero at its April 1st, 2025 meeting. Adoption of an eligible action plan is a prerequisite for applying for SS4A implementation funding. The application window for the final year of SS4A funding is currently open with applications due May 26th of 2026. A total of $1 billion is available nationally including 800 or excuse me $687,810,000 for implementation grants. The city's action plan identifies several potential improvement projects throughout the community. After reviewing CA after reviewing projects, staff has determined that improvements at the Schulman and Laroo intersection present the strongest application opportunity at this time. According to both the action plan and the northeast traffic study, the intersection is misaligned on the south leg and warrants additional turn lanes on all four approaches. Staff selected the project for application based on the following factors. The intersection has previously been identified for potential realignment. Preliminary concept development and cost estimates have been completed by the city engineer. The intersection experienced six injury

crashes between 2018 and 2022 as well as a fatality crash in October of 2025. Increased traffic associated with the refinery complex complex is expected to exacerbate existing operational and safety concerns. The total project cost is estimated at $3,875,000, including contingency and inflation. A detailed cost estimate and concept drawing are included in the packet materials uh for your benefit. The SS4A program provides up to 80% federal funding participation with the remaining 20% local match coming from non-f federal sources. The Build Kansas Matching Fund program provides an opportunity to fund a portion of the required match, recommending a minimum 5% local contribution to demonstrate the city's commitment to the project. Accordingly, staff proposes submission of the application in the following amounts. 80% coming from the SS4A implementation grant of $3.1 million. Build Kansas matching grant $581,000 representing 15% of the total project cost and the remaining 5% coming from city funds which is $194,000. There are two alternatives before you today. One, the governing body may authorize the submission of an implementation grant application to the US Department of Transportation's 2026 Safe Streets for All program. Or two, you may not authorize the submission uh through that program. staff does recommend approving uh the submission uh to the grant application program for uh this particular project. Uh the fiscal note associated with it uh is assuming that the project stays within the budget. Um and the city is awarded the Build Kansas grant. Uh our responsibility would be for 5% of the project or $194,000. uh if the project uh exceeds the budget,

the city would be responsible for those overages. Um this also assumes that we would receive uh the funding through the state for their 15%. Uh if that is not awarded, the city would be responsible for uh $775,000. With that, I would be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Any questions for Danielle? on I noticed on the concept drawing, but I didn't see it in the estimate how how it's drawn out and everything. Is that in the right of way? We'll be taking that right away to cut into that area. There's I didn't see any cost for um any purchase of land or I saw that we're taking out structure, but is so that's in the rightway of the the the road that we're just cutting into. Are do you do you understand what I'm trying to get to? We're not purchasing land to to build that out then, right? Okay. Correct. I think we there may still be some rightway acquisition uh that may be required. I think with the um contingency funds that we've got kind of built into this, I don't see it broken out um specifically in this um

yeah, I didn't see it in the estimate. I was just wondering how, you know, looking at the drawing and then looking at the estimated cost, but um um I I was just wondering because I didn't see anything in there, but I was just wondering if that was just in the rightway of the road that we'll be expanding that out into. Right. That's correct. when the uh property that was to the west of that developed where the uh Casey's is and lot when that went through its development process the city acquired enough rightway on the west side so that should be enough way to have that intersection okay realigned without taking property from the east side

thank you for that reminder Mike I knew we had had the conversation but I couldn't remember where it ended okay thank you any further questions for staff I would entertain a motion for this item. I make a motion that we authorize the submission of the implementation grant application to the US Department of Transportation's 2026 safe streets for all grant program. There's been a motion. Is there a second? Second. There's been a motion and second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I.

Opposed? Nay. Motion passes. The remaining two items under uh 12 are are um executive sessions and neither uh do we anticipate action following the executive session. So, if the commission would like to take up the consent agenda item and does not wish to pull any item off to talk about it separately, the appropriate motion would be to approve consent agenda items 13A through 13J. I move to approve consent agenda items 13A through J. There's been a motion. Is there a second?

I second. There's a motion and second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I. Oppose. Nay. Motion passes. And then should we we will take up our commissioner reports before we head into executive session. Vice Mayor Oiler.

I enjoyed the premeating that we had. It's always nice to have that joint meeting and come together and discuss the issues and um kind of, you know, see where the other entities are. um thinking as well, but also trying to find that common ground. So, it was very nice to be a part of that and I enjoyed the discussion. Um as Matt said earlier, we had our Western Kansas congressional um district meetings in uh Washington DC this last week. Um, again, always enjoyable to be able to brag on Garden City, thank our um, national delegation for all the support that they give to us, but then also just visit with the other communities as well and see what they're doing and and they can see what we're doing and, you know, just to have that those conversations because really um, you know, we're we're a piece of a bigger part of, you know, Western Kansas and and you know, we love Garden City and that's what we represent, but at the end of the day, it's really about strengthening the region. and and and we can do that by building those relationships. So, it was a very enjoyable time as well. Um I had a chance to um present the proclamation um with Casey yesterday at the Arbor Day. She did a great job um doing her uh the the tree planting and and that's always fun when you get to go to the schools and you get to see the winners of the Arbor Day competitions and um and just you know celebrate that and and that we're a tree city and have been for many many years. And so, um, it was just it's been a really good couple of weeks, um, to be able to just be a part of our community. And, um, since I was looking back on my calendar and we haven't met since the empirical ribbon cutting, I don't think, and so had a chance to attend that as well. Um, again, another great employer and an opportunity to really get a tour of the facility, see

what they do, and just, you know, remind ourselves of, you know, just how much we feed the rest of the world here in Finey County. And so, it was a great opportunity to do that as well. That's all I have. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Commissioner Canal is on.

Yes. Thank you. I um just want to share that this past weekend I helped with the cleanup at Forest Lake Park. Um it was great to see the people that showed up and see people engaging and um taking action uh to take care of our community. It starts with us and when we come together that's when we really see a an impact. Um, I also want to note that in the March 2026 zoo report, they had a surprise um, inspection from USDA with a clean um, result. I want to commend the zoo for always keeping the zoo open, for doing a great job and for everything that they do. So, I think that goes to show um, all their hard work. Uh, thank you. And that's all.

Thank you, Commissioner Cestna. um attended the uh hospital openhouse of their recent additions that they've added uh to the facility. Um really really nice event um about how they're really um keeping on top of of the leading edge in the community and making us a regional hospital. I also attended the Arbor Day event uh and um was covering it from kind of the school district side, but we had quite a few number of kids come up and ask questions and uh were wanting some also uh requests uh of things that they would like to see in the community. So, uh we took those into consideration uh the vice mayor and I. So, um always nice when the kids are wanting to be engaged. It's always nice to see that. uh as well. Uh great joint meeting. Always nice to um get uh the city commission and county commission together and uh have us uh discuss um not only city projects but also county projects and how we're all moving uh and rowing in the same direction together. That's really what has made our community and county a success. Um I did I have attended a number of other uh events in the community. It's there there's a lot of ribbon cutings and events going on in the community and it really shows that we are uh growing um and uh have an active and vibrant uh community here in Garden City. Finally, I just want to thank uh the first responders uh that um responded to the recent event at the high school. It's uh great to see that they all, you know, when we have a situation uh like we did at the high school that they all come together. uh worked out well. Everybody was professional. Um but I again just thank you for uh their service and their

fast response to that. Um wanted to also mention right quick u the sales tax numbers were really good as well as the employainment numbers are staying are steady and growing at our regional airport. So I just want to say uh fly local and shop local. Thank you.

Thank you Commissioner Lingraph. So, I was able to attend the ribbon cutting for Newman's mobile agricultural lab. I just want to say it's great being able to see such a huge turnout from our community at that event. I think that really shows how excited our community is about these new opportunities for our city. Also was able to attend the empirical grand opening was amazing be able to see such a facility of that size. I'm just glad they were chose Garden City as the place to have such a wonderful facility. And also I just want to say that our mayor did a tremendous job speaking at that ribbon cutting as well. Good.

Also was able to attend a leadership Kansas's first week of events at Witchah. It's a tremendous opportunity and learning experience. Great meeting with leaders from all across Kansas. But the one thing I wanted to bring up was the one thing I constantly heard from alumni was Garden City was my favorite place that we went to on that tour. Then also I heard from all these different people that are in my class was how many times they've heard from other people saying, "Hey, you really need to make sure you go to the Garden City Parks. That's the best part." So I think that's really tremendous being able to hear that from so many different leadersh.

What a joy. Thank you. Yeah, a lot of ribbon cutings for all of us around the horn. Um obviously congratulations to um our city attorney and their partnership with Morris Lang. and fantastic ribbon cutting and very exciting for our community and also not just us as your clients but also for the future lawyers of Western Kansas. Along with that was the empirical ribbon cutting which I was so impressed by was just the outwing support of our whole community there to support the future growth and also the incredible technology um innovations that they have there. Um, and I was able to stop by career day at Victor Nelis last week and it was so fun for them. We we went through a little of an exercise for them to plan a city budget and what to spend with that budget and it's very fascinating. I gave them $15 million to spend and only one class decided to spend $6 million on an amusement park. Um, and so of the nine groups, there were only two groups that had a functioning city with water and streets. So, it it was it was also good to hear that, you know, maybe we don't need a Chick-fil-A if it's in the power of the city to do so, but we do need running water in the sanitary sewer. Yeah. And so, also good luck to Pivot Robotics today. They are competing at Worlds today um in St. Louis. So, it was really joyful to talk with them on Sunday to hear and for them to show off and be so excited about all the hard work that they're putting into this. And along with that, um, it was really impressive for us to go to DC and also to meet with the staffers. I think really do the most work for for us to voice our opinions through them. And it was really good for us to share all of our thoughts, for them to listen well and to offer their time to us. Um, I was also very it was good to sit in the EA central air service meeting uh to hear the needs of all of our community partners. uh kind of a report on that is it seems that our friends in liberal and even a couple in

Dodge feel that they are looking for flights to Houston that I think that's where their greatest need is to Houston. So that's good for us to be aware of that too. But that is all I have. Um now we will move to our executive sessions. Mayor and commissioners, the first request for executive session would be for um uh to go in under the exemption of the preliminary discussions related to uh acquisition of real estate. And we would request I would request that uh that include uh the city attorney um is Jimmy

cover the second one.

Okay. Uh so the city attorney Danielle uh Mike Mirhead and myself for 15 minutes. So the appropriate motion would be if you agree with that uh would be to uh move to go into executive session pursuant to KSA 75-4319B6 pertaining to preliminary discussions related to the acquisition of real property for 15 minutes with the city attorney uh the deputy city manager uh director of public works and utilities and the and the city manager Do we want to take a break or do we want to just checking before we go or go into executive session?

Uh, let's take a two-minute break. Two minutes is fine. I just need a question. Yeah. Okay. I'll entertain a motion for this item. I make a motion that we go into executive session persuant to KSA 754319B6 pertaining to preliminary discussion relating to the acquisition of real property uh for 15 minutes starting at 235 235 um with uh those in attendance of city manager uh Matt Allen uh city attorney Jennifer Cunningham city assistant city manager Daniel Burke and director of utilities Mike Merhead. There's been a motion. Is there a second? Second.

There's a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I. Oppose. Nay. Motion passes. Yeah. Yeah. All of a sudden

We have exited our executive session and no binding action was taken. This concludes all the items on our agenda. This meeting is adjourned.