City Council - Regular Meeting

good evening welcome to the may 19th 2026 governing body meeting with topeka city council this evening will be led in the invocation by council member bradberry i will turn it over to her please rise if you are able good evening and thank you

Let us reflect on the responsibility we carry as public servants and community members. Tonight we are reminded that our city is part of a history far greater than ourselves. A history shaped by those who believe that fairness, opportunity and dignity should belong to every person. As we recognize the legacy of Brown versus the Board of Education here in Topeka, may we honor that legacy not only with our words, but through the decisions we make in the way we serve others. Grant us the wisdom to lead with integrity, courage to face difficult challenges honestly, and humility to listen to voices throughout our community, especially those who may feel unheard. Help us work towards solutions that strengthen trust, expand opportunity, and improve the lives of all residents. May we remember that progress is built step by step through respect, compassion, accountability, and a shared commitment to the common good. Let's tonight discussions be guided by thoughtfulness, civility, and a genuine desire to move our city forward. In the words of Martin Luther King Jr., the time is right. It's always right to do what's right. May these reflections guide our work this evening and strengthen our service to the community. Thank you.

to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Clerk to take roll.

Mayor Duncan.

Here.

Councilmembers Hiller. Here. Valdivia Alcala. Here. Ortiz. Here. Thanks.

Here.

Kell.

Here.

Miller.

Here.

Bradbury. Here. McGee.

Here.

And Hofer. Here. We have 10 present.

All right.

We have one proclamation this evening. Jason, Sylvia, I don't know if there's anyone else. Maybe it's just Jason and Sylvia here. Yeah, she's back. Sylvia, Dave. So one thing I know is if this body missed a couple meetings, The city would probably still function, maybe even better. Some would argue, but that's a different argument for a different day. But I can assure you, if our public works employees missed too many days of work, this city would not function. Things would stop working, and we could not manage at all. And everybody's life in this community would be much worse off. And so their importance to us cannot, should not, ever be overlooked by the impact they have to all of us sitting here and all of us across the city of Topeka. And so that is, in that vein, what this evening's proclamation is about. Whereas public work services are an integral part of our citizens' everyday lives and programs such as streets and traffic, urban forestry, public buildings, parking, fleet services, and whereas Topekan's health, safety, and comfort are dependent on these services, and whereas the quality and effectiveness of public work services are vitally dependent upon the efforts and skills of those that work in these fields, and whereas the efficiency of the public work staff is influenced by the citizens' understanding of the importance of the work they perform, and whereas the year 2026 marks the 66th annual National Public Works Week with a theme rooted in service powered by community, And now, therefore, I, Spencer L. Duncan, Mayor of the City of Topeka, Kansas, do hereby proclaim May 17 through May 23, 2026 as National Public Works Week and encourage all citizens to recognize the contributions which public works officials make every day to our health, safety, and quality of life. And representing them here tonight are Jason Tryon, our Public Works Director, Sylvie Davis, our Utilities Director. And I don't know if either of you have anything you were going to say or want to say.

I would just say we're very proud of the work that we do in public works and utilities. We are currently seeking reaccreditation. We've been accredited as a leader as a public works organization since 2005. That's the longest running of any city in the state of Kansas, which we're very proud of. And I just want to say thank you to all of our staff that are out. Some of them are still out working right now. They do a lot of difficult work, a lot of times without recognition, which they do not seek, and attention, which they do not want. But we should still thank them for the work that they do because it is vital to our community. So thank you.

All right, with that, we will move on to item three, appointments. City Clerk.

Okay. A is the board appointment recommending the reappointment of Angela Brocksterman to the Downtown Business Improvement District Advisory Board to fill a term ending June 7, 2028. All right.

Any comments or questions? If not, I'll take a motion. I have a motion to approve from Councilmember Kell. Got a second from Councilmember Hiller. Clerk can take a vote, please.

And Councilmember Miller, what will your vote be?

Yep.

And Bradbury? Oh, already got her spot. Okay, we have 10 yes. The motion carries.

I don't believe Ms. Brockstrom is here, but if I am wrong, wave. I don't think so. All right. Well, thank you to her for her first serving. With that, we'll move on to Item 4, Presentations. City Clerk.

4A will be the Downtown Business Improvement District Annual Report.

City Manager.

Thank you. Mayor and members of the governing body, Randall Freeman, Interim President of DCI, and Jesse Moreno, Manager of DCI, will lead us through this item.

um good evening governing body my name is jessica moreno and i'm manager of downtown topeka and also here with me is rhiannon friedman which is our downtown topeka inc interim president and we're here to present to you our 2027 budget for approval as you know this is our main source of funding for downtown topeka so this is very important to us and when we were here last year we did as you see in your budgets do did do a significant reduction of that 2025 to 2026 budget With the understanding that our BID and recognizing that it was underperforming, there was a massive amount of incorrections and just outdated information and inaccurate information and not good contact information. So we wanted to make sure that we took a new approach into 2026. And so that's why the budget that you have was conservative. but also responsible and realistic, understanding that challenge ahead of starting from pretty much scratch, meaning that we build out each and every single account as occupied. And so we had to filter out each account accordingly and work with every single account individually, making sure that we had all the updated information. So, assuring that either it was vacant, it was exempt, it was business, it was residential, Tier 1, Tier 2. So, with that in mind, that's why that budget decreased significantly from 2025 to 2026. So, intentionally, with that new approach and not knowing what that outcome was going to be and also not understanding pretty much what our collections was going to be, we had that budget for you in 2026. And even with that reduced budget, we still have been able to use every single dollar of it so far to continue our expenses in those categories that you see, which is district maintenance, programming, promotion, maintenance, enhancements, and opportunities. And as we shared ahead of time in your 2026 BID packets, all of our activations and initiatives that we've also made so far. Something else that's in the works that was just shared with you, it's in a sheet of paper for you, but it's actually going to be a five by seven mailer postcard that is going to be sent out to all of our contributors ahead of time and ahead of the bill, the invoices that are going to be sent out on June 5th. Because something that we recognize as well is other than all the inaccurate information that we had, unfortunately our BID was not visible to what the assessment was about. So we are making every attempt possible to making sure that our, you know, what we do and what DTI is doing is transparent and not only does that secure obviously a payment, but also that secures our engagement and relationships with our contributors. So we're making sure that we're being transparent and we're also doing monthly news e-newsletters to our contributors to making sure that they're understanding where their money is going for and what this money is being used for. So that is going to be again mailed out this week. So I apologize for that being delivered to you a little bit late, but that was just finalized and that will be going out this week. Our goal is to, again, provide that exposure and visibility, to provide that customer service to our contributors, making sure that we understand our district needs, to making sure that we understand the new opportunities, the growth for opportunities. And so that was very important to us to send out ahead of the invoices. So for the next seven months of 2026, we will continue to use that budget to continue to promote and market. You'll see that in the next few months, every weekend at downtown, there will be something happening. There's an activation, there's programming. So we're using our budget to making sure that we are promoting that with FIFA World Cup coming up with America 250 coming up. We're making sure that we are promoting and marketing our district and continue also with our clean and safe initiatives. We just recently added a camera on our 8th and Kansas intersection. And so that was integrated into the real time crime center. So we're making sure that not only our district feels safe, but it also we are providing that enhancement to our district to making sure that for the rest of this year, we are looking and feeling its best. So something else that was also productive and a positive outcome about this new approach was the fact that not only are we engaging with our occupied and current tenants, but also we brought the attention or got the attention from our vacant property owners. so um you know for example if they got this bill that was billed all occupied and so we were making sure that not only were we correcting that for them but using that as an opportunity to promote our grants and our assistance and resources to help them occupy those spaces and bring attention to those vacant properties and even neglected properties and making sure that they had those opportunities to help bring attention to those properties downtown So for 2027, we are requesting approval of this $204,000. Not only did this year's approach exceed our expectations, but it did show that it did bring good positive results. My goal was to collect $200,000, quite ambitious, and so I exceeded that with $211,000 in collections for 2026. And so that's only really addressing 80% of our accounts, meaning that 58 accounts were not approached. In other words, because of the timing, we are already kind of running behind here on billing or invoicing our property owners. So we're wanting to make sure that we move that forward. So as much as I wanted to keep collecting for 2025, we needed to close that off and move on to 2026. And so we just wanted to make sure that we would continue to keep going forward and meeting that expectation. So there's still room for growth there. And that's what I'm trying to say is that there's still room for growth on improving our records and accurate information into our records. So but hopefully within the next year or the incoming year, we can actually have our BID performing at its highest potential. Another major improvement from this that came was the implementation of a much more updated, polished, cleaner account billing system on your end, the city side, and our side, meaning that we're very much in sync with your finance team. We're working very much well in sync with Dalton, with Nancy, and with Joshua Mayer. I do want to give them a huge shout out because they were a big part of this implementation. and helping making this transition as good as possible. We were working weekly to making sure that we were correcting, we were collecting, and we were implementing all this information at the same time. So that was quite a challenge, but they were very, very of good support to our process, our entire process. So after reviewing our 2025 revenue and seeing where we stand in 2026 and what's coming in 2027, as you all know, the Tower District, the Hodge development and all those things, we want to make sure that we are providing a very nice blanket, I guess you could say, around our whole district. In all these categories, our maintenance, our programming, our promotion, our enhancement and new opportunities. And making sure that we are continuing to promote that our district is thriving. And making sure that we are covered from corner to corner. As much as tier one is important, we want to make sure that tier two is as well very much taken care of. So we're here to ask for approval of this $204,000 budget and making sure that throughout the rest of this year into 2027, we can provide that coverage for our district. So I'm here to answer any questions as well.

Questions, comments? Council Member Valdivia-Alcala.

Thank you, Mayor. First, before I ask you some questions, Ms. Modano, when are we going to vote on this? Anybody? City Manager? I didn't see it in the.

Council member, this is just a presentation, so we could probably come back at a future date and then ask for a vote.

I get that.

Okay.

I understand this is a presentation, but I'm saying how far down the line are we looking?

I would probably gauge with the governing body to see how many questions are out there and if there's opportunities to have individual discussions with DTI before we get there. So next 30 days or so.

Okay, thank you. Ms. Moreno, congratulations on stepping up. I think that it was very confusing how the last person left in kind of a shambles it sounded like. And I will tell you, just to be really honest, is that most of the folks in my district, average folks, don't understand what DTI does. And I think that it's not... my job to explain what you all do. So I think that with what you've presented and the energy that you bring, I think that this is a really good chance for you, on top of everything else you're going to be doing, to consider getting out into community when you can. I'm saying beyond business, beyond the Kansas Avenue corridor, beyond that, beyond us, and when you can, to try to get out there in community and sell what it is that you all do that makes this particular section, right, of Go Topeka, I think that's Go Topeka, the partnership, always get that mixed up, makes it viable and valuable as opposed to let's just stomp it out and divide it up. So I believe that you have the capacity to do this and do this well, because you bring in the couple of times that I've talked with you, I've been very impressed with you. But I think that we have to think beyond this and also tell the people what it is that you do, because I'm sure that they'd be anxious to meet you and to know the number of things that you're detailing here. So it wasn't really any question. It was really just a comment. and hope that you would consider that. And good luck on this big bike that you're taking. Thank you, Mayor.

Any other questions or comments? I don't see any on the line.

Go ahead.

Oh, Councilmember Hiller.

Thank you. Well, just comments as well. Downtown is the heart of Topeka and the heart of District 1. I end up spending a lot of time with the merchants group as well as DTI and Jesse did a great job of presenting and there really is some good momentum. People coming together as a merchants association more and more that just working together more, kind of like they did when we first started getting Kansas Avenue redone, and looking at filling those spaces, looking at working together on things. We're still working on the parking, just pulling together who's responsible for what. I mean, there have been enough people involved that, for instance, they get hold of me and said, do you know who is responsible for the water lines that run underneath the sidewalk? And it took us some time to keep asking around. In fact, or the electrical, that's what it was most recently. No one knew. So lots of moving parts, and you're doing a great job, and it's fun to see it grow. Thank you.

All right. Anything else? If not, thank you very much for your presentation. We appreciate it. All right. We will move on to item five, the consent agenda. City Clerk.

Okay. A are the minutes of the regular meetings of May 5, 2026 and May 12, 2026. And then we also have 10 cereal malt beverage off-premise applications, one for Quick Trip, one for Target, and then as well as eight other locations for Walgreens. And staff is recommending approval.

All right. Do I have a motion to approve? I can't. I don't move to approve if it works. There we go.

I'll second.

Second by Councilmember McGee. All right. Take the vote.

Councilmember Miller, what will your vote be?

Yes.

All right. We have 10 yes. The motion carries.

We'll move on to item number six, action item 6A, city clerk.

A is a resolution introduced by City Manager, Dr. Robert M. Perez, authorizing the disposal of real property, parcel ID 0973604020013000, located at 1196 Southwest Lane, pursuant to Topeka Municipal Code Section 3.30.330. All right.

City Manager.

Thank you. Mayor and members of the governing body, Leah Bolling, our Director of Economic Development, will lead us through this item.

Thank you, City Manager. Good evening. This evening you have a resolution regarding 1196 Southwest Lane in front of you. Staff received a request from the Tennessee Town Neighborhood Improvement Association. They were interested in the city conveying the property to them at zero cost in order to create a community garden for the space. As part of the conveyance, there would be a reversionary clause included, which would allow the city to take the property back into its possession if the NIA fails to create or maintain a community garden. Part of the conveyance will also include a right of way for sidewalks and necessary right of way for utilities that are located on the parcel. A little bit about the parcel. It's located at 1196 Southwest Lane, which is at the Southwest 12th Street intersection. It's approximately 0.13 acres. It's zoned as M1. The city's estimated market value is $900. The Shawnee County appraisals website has the property listed with a 2025 appraisal value of $1,290. Again, this conveyance would allow the Tennessee Town NIA to extend the community garden from the property to the north onto this track, and staff are recommending approval of the resolution. I believe the president of the NIA is available via Zoom, and I will stand for any questions that you may have.

We did have one individual signed up for public comment, but I don't see online. Michael Bell?

Mr. Bell said he couldn't get in on Zoom. I don't know if that has been made possible. If not, I have his email.

OK. I apologize. I did not know that he had signed up via Zoom, so give me a second here.

OK. Well, we'll go ahead and discuss it, but we'll, while they get that worked out, and then we'll let Michael chime in.

If he's not there, he sent me the email, and I'll recognize him.

We'll give him a minute to get the link. Comments, questions? Council Member Hiller and Council Member Ortiz.

I represent that neighborhood and go all the way back to when the idea of Lane Garden was conceived of. I think Michael wants to talk in some specifics about the history. We did chat today a little bit. The conventional thought for So I'm going to support this, but I'm going to suggest that we change the term that refers to this garden. People these days think of a community garden as getting a bunch of volunteers and growing tomatoes and watermelons and having gardening. Whereas this concept of Lane Garden is a park that is sculpted and maintained and so on. So we thought perhaps, and I'm happy to make this motion, that we could substitute the term pocket park for community garden. No other changes that's in there twice in the resolution when the time comes.

Well, if that's a motion, make a motion.

I will move it.

We can circle back to it. If you're ready. If you're making a motion.

Move to adopt with the substitution in those two places. Pocket park or community garden.

So it still includes or community garden. Okay. Pocket park or community garden.

No, instead of. It says community garden in reference to what Leah covered, both that it is one and that it would revert if it's not used that way. And because that commitment is for a couple years, we didn't want there to be any misunderstanding about what the expectation was of how it would develop.

Council Member Miller, you on there?

Yes, I'm on there. Your committee heard this.

Do you have any thoughts on that change?

Yeah, I haven't heard any of the discussion on that pocket parking, but I understand the need to do that, and I understand that they don't want to have any confusion of an actual parking. So I'm perfectly fine with that.

Okay. Do we have a second on the motion?

Can I ask a question before I say it? Yes. Okay, so I just – thank you, Mayor. I just want to absolutely verify that that's pocket parking. I – along with others, started a community garden in Oakland. We do all of that. So that is not what's going to happen. Correct. No planting, no plots, no to grow vegetables or...

There will be plantings. There's a plaza there now with a bench on the part that... that would be transferred to the NIA from the city, but they own another two parts. There's another parcel to the north of it and likely going to be half a parcel to the north of that. This has been going on for 12 years and so a private owner passed and passed some rights to the neighbor to the north that's still in a house. Then the neighborhood was given the middle parcel And then this one on the corner, 1196, has been in the city's hands the whole time. So to develop that whole corner, they need to all be together. The neighborhood has also made arrangements one way or another to mow that property ever since these 12 years occurred.

Okay, but the bottom line is community garden veggies. No. No, that's an absolute no because the mayor had said or. Right, right.

I mean, I guess my suggestion would be I don't see the harm in it. I'm never for limiting if we can continue to expand and we're OK with it. I don't understand why we wouldn't say pocket park or community garden. So if they wanted to shift, or they wanted to make it a hybrid, or somebody else. Personally, I wouldn't see a negative if your motion was pocket park or community garden to give them more flexibility. But that would just be my recommendation.

That's just never been discussed. And so for me, knowing the history on it, I would switch it out.

Yes, but community gardens was discussed. Pocket Park wasn't. So actually we would be replacing the item that was never discussed and removing the one that was. So I would suggest we leave the one that was discussed in. That would be my recommendation. If you make that motion, I will second it.

I just said it.

Oh, or she'll second it. When did you have a second if that's the motion? Hold on.

On the substitution? Yes, on the substitution.

So what is your motion? We're checking here.

Okay.

Apparently she's comfortable. I just don't want the neighborhood to be set up for an expectation that they're going to do a community garden. But if you want to say community garden or pocket park. This is a legal designation that includes a clawback.

So the better we can be that could include a clawback, I think the better that is for us. Okay. So the motion is pocket park or community garden. We have a second from Council Member Valdivia. So we are on the motion. That's all we're talking about at the moment. So if you have any comments or questions on the motion, great. If not, I would ask the clerk. Oh, sorry, Council Member Miller. I missed you there. Apologies.

No worries, sir. As Mr. Bell was a part of that conversation, and I would believe he's a piece of this motion that we're making right now, I would like to confer from that president to be able to hear their piece and make sure that we're all on the same page.

Yeah. We talked today, and I think we are. Is he on? Did you get him on?

Let's stop the motion.

Council Member Kell. So I agree with the Mayor that and, or, or, or, and, because it allows for transition as a neighborhood transitions with its residents, things can transition there, where if we pick a home into just a pocket park, then that can end up issues later down the line. To do the and or, and or, you're allowing for growth of the park as the park grows, as you say it's trying to, now you're adding more opportunity to do things in that, and as transition happens over the next 20, 25 years in residency in that area, It may change there. So at least not pigeonholing the group into one thing. You allow them to kind of run their own park the way they want to run it.

Well, let me explain that I live in that neighborhood too, and I've been involved the whole time. That corner is a gateway corner to the neighborhood. And so their vision has been a passive park that would be landscaped and have places to sit. There are lots of people who walk, like who work at Stormont or the library that walk through that area. There are people, the neighborhood is such, goes from Clay to Washburn and 10th to 12th. And that's very much, but But you've got main streets all around it. So that provides a place for people to get out and walk and have a pause, stop. So that really, there was a lot of thought that went into the concept that's proposed.

Mr. Bellonline. All right. Michael, can you hear me?

I'm getting a conversation going on behind you all.

I'm going to catch you up. And then I'm going to give you your four minutes. First of all, the motion before us currently it reads community garden the motion before us is to expand it to include pocket park or community garden that the conversation was originally to replace community garden with just pocket park but then the idea was to provide more options instead of less and so the first question i will ask you is if you have any concerns with that change

I can't understand what you're saying because there are two conversations going on in my ear right now.

Okay, that I don't know.

See, right now Karen is talking.

Do you have the live stream on in the background or on your computer?

That must be it.

It's on the delay.

Let me turn that off.

There we go.

Okay.

All right, I'll catch you up real quick.

I apologize for this, and I appreciate getting the link finally, but let's go ahead and get back to the top.

All right, Michael, let me catch you up. I've got one question for you, and then I'll give you your public comment time. The question is this. We have a motion on the floor to change it to say community garden or pocket park. Originally, as you know, it said community garden. The initial discussion was to replace that with just pocket park, but the discussion expanded to the concept of providing more options, not less. So therefore, the current motion is pocket park or community garden. So the question to you is do you have any objection or concerns with that change?

I do. And the concern I have is that later on, maybe someone else is going to jump in and then try to define what we're doing and what we want to do as a community garden as opposed to a pocket park. And so I would, on that basis, I would prefer to go with what the NIA has intended to do since 2014, which is to make that an expanded pocket park.

Okay, fair enough. I'll leave it up to you two. I still find that limiting long term, but hold on, Michael. So if you want to repeal and change, this is your chance if you want to.

Well, my second says she's willing to go with just the substitution.

Okay. Mr. Mayor. Yes. I don't see how this is going to work. This isn't for discussion at this point. They're debating whether they're going to change their motion.

Well, this could make them change their minds.

Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Thank you. What would you like to do, Council Member?

You already know what I originally wanted to do. I'm open to the conversation about why we should leave it. Michael has said that he would prefer to see this.

Which motion would you like to go with? You tell us, and that's what we're going to do.

My preference would be to substitute Pocket Park for Community Garden. This is the second.

Great. That is the motion on the floor. Now it's open for discussion.

I just think to sit there and, like I said, 20 years down the line, half the residents in that NIA could be different and they could want something different to sit there and say this group is saying this is the way it's going to be and this is the way we want to be for the next 50, 60 years is not even looking at what people in the future might want and to leave it open as a bigger thing for the people in the future to be able to do what they want with it is I think what's best for Topeka to sit there and say well we're going to just do this and this only and no changes to it. It's kind of short-sighted and... No. It doesn't say that.

We understand, Michael. We understand.

Just sit there and say it's a pocket park only. And especially as you're growing, it can grow into other things. So I just sit there and say why not leave it open for discussion for future residents to then determine what it is rather than saying this is what it is and this is what it's going to be for the next 50 years and not allow those future residents and future NIA members to have a say in what's in their own area. Council Member Bradbury.

Thank you. If this were to be amended to Pocket Park, would it need to come back to us if they wanted to change sometime down the road to community garden?

Yes. I mean, sure. I mean, to clarify with legal, this is written into this agreement. So if they do not meet the specific definition of this agreement, this property reverts back to the city, correct? Correct. You are correct. Correct. I think that's an important distinction.

Within two years, it says.

I understand. I'm just.

I don't think.

I just want everybody to be clear about that, that that's why this discussion.

I don't think the limitation would. I'd like us to check with legal because if the term is in there just in terms of them proving up within the next couple of years and doing what they said or else going back to the city then, if that use, if that language really means in perpetuity, I didn't read it that way.

On the border, when the jail guns begin, where do they go? I didn't either. Yeah, I see.

Yes. Can you wait until we recognize Councilman Heller? It's the second time. So does the legal understand the question?

Yeah, and I'm pulling up the resolution right now. I just want to verify. Okay. What's that?

I don't see a timeline here.

Yeah, the resolution does not state anything about two years. The resolution states the conveyance shall contain a revisionary clause to revert to the city in the event the association does not develop the property as a community garden or fails to maintain it. That's how the resolution is written.

Gotcha. All right. Any other questions or comments before we vote on this motion? And then we will go to public comment, and then we'll talk about the overall conveyance. If not, please take the vote. And the motion is to change it from community garden to pocket park. That is what you're voting on. After this motion, he will get to do his public comment. Take the vote, please.

I need a motion and a second.

I thought we had a motion from Councilmember Hiller. We had a second from Councilmember . We're debating the motion on the floor.

Thank you very much.

I have a question.

Councilmember Ortiz.

I thought Michael said he wanted to keep it the way that it was. Is that not what he said?

No, he said he wanted to change the pocket part. Okay. And then I'll give him his public comment. Just making sure. Yep.

Councilmember Miller, what will your vote be?

Yes.

Okay, we have eight yes. The motion carries with Councilmembers Banks and Cal both voting no.

All right, Mr. Bell. Now I'll turn it over to you for public comment. Four minutes is yours, sir.

Mr. Jeremy?

Yes.

All right. I just wanted to jump into some of the discussion that happened prior to the vote, and I appreciate the vote that the council took. It was my understanding, even with the change in language to pocket park, that if we are developing it as a pocket park and if we are maintaining it, then there's not going to be any kind of return of it to the city of Topeka because we will have it. satisfied the requirements of the action taken tonight. Secondly, if the NIA at some point down the line, since it's going to end up being under our state nonprofit, decides to change the focus of Lane Garden to something more resembling a community garden, it can do that. The NIA can vote to do that. And so that door is always open if the people in the neighborhood decide that they want to go in a different direction. My comments, I appear before you all tonight WITH RELIEF AND ANTICIPATION AS YOU ALL CONSIDER APPROVING THE TRANSFER OF THE PROPERTY, AND YOU'VE DONE THAT, SO I AM RELIEVED BECAUSE OF THE ODYSSEY OUR NIA HAS BEEN ON SINCE 2014 WHEN WE FIRST APPLIED FOR NEIGHBORHOOD EMPOWERMENT GRANT FUNDS TO MAKE IMPROVEMENTS AT LANE GARDEN. THAT APPLICATION WAS DENIED BECAUSE THE CITY OF TOPEKA WAS OUT OF THE PARKS AND REC BUSINESS BECAUSE OF THE CITY COUNTY MERGER OF THE TWO DEPARTMENTS, AND SINCE 2014, The various county commissioners have refused to bring Lane Garden under the county's umbrella, even as they brought in the Aaron Douglas Art Park across the street. Several years ago, the TTNIA acquired, through donation, 1194 Southwest Lane, the 25-foot lot, directly north of Lane Garden. TO ENABLE EXPANDING LAND GUARD SHOULD THE OWNERSHIP ISSUES BE WORKED OUT. AND THAT LOG IS UNDER THE NIA, STATE OF KANSAS, COMPROFIT. WITHIN THE LAST YEAR, THE CITY OF TOPEKA BEGAN WORKING WITH THE NIA TO FIND A WAY TO ENABLE Lane Garden's transfer that brought us to tonight and the NIA is grateful for the City of Topeka's Braxton Copley, Leah Bowling and others working with the NIA so that Lane Garden's ownership can finally be established under a state nonprofit to enable improvements. Our NIA anticipates making Lane Garden a place of respite where neighborhood residents and others can gather After 12 years, never let it be said that a good idea has an expiration date. And those are my comments.

Thank you very much, Mr. Bell.

With that, we are back on the resolution.

Sorry, thank you for that, Mr. Bell. With that, we are back on the resolution itself. There are questions or comments? Great. Otherwise, a motion is in order. This would be to vote on disposal of real property to C-Town. Council Member Miller.

thank you mayor um i just want to be clear because what i heard in uh mr bell's public comment was that if the nia decides to change it to a community garden later they want the ability to be able to do that which is what i think the mayor and mr carroll or councilman carroll were just talking about saying that if we leave it as what her original motion was about is that if we have it as a pocket park and or community garden that gives the ability to do that but that if say 10 years down the line now they make it a community garden with it just being pocket park that makes it so they're in technically violation of the resolution my wrong so no but their attitude and position which is fair is that if they decide to make that change before they would even consider that they would come back to this to the city and this governing body and request that change at that time

So that would be their approach at this point.

OK. Thank you.

We have a motion to approve from Councilmember Hiller. We have a second from Councilmember Valdivia-Alcala. If there's no other questions or comments, please take the vote.

Councilmember Miller, what will your vote be?

Yes.

The motion carries. We have nine yes and then we have one abstaining. Council Member Banks.

We will now move on to action item B. City Clerk.

This is a resolution introduced by City Manager, Dr. Robert M. Perez, authorizing the disposal of real property, parcel ID number 0973501017001000, located on Southwest 7th Street, pursuant to Topeka Municipal Code Section 330330.

City Manager. Thank you. Mayor and members of the governing body, Leo Bolling, Director of Economic Development, will lead us through this item.

Thank you, City Manager. This item is a resolution for the disposal of city-owned property located at Southwest 7th Street. Staff received a request from an adjacent property owner requesting to purchase the property from the city. Prior to the conveyance, the city would engage a licensed surveyor to review the parcel in order to determine the necessary easements for the city to retain right away to sanitary sewer drainage and flood easements that are on the property. A little bit about the property. It's located at Southwest 7th and High Avenue. It's approximately .13 acres. It's zoned R2 for residential. It's Estimated market value that the city put together was $2,500. The 2025 Shawnee County appraisals website lists the property at $4,910. And the adjacent property owner's offer to purchase the parcel is $1,250. This parcel is largely unbuildable. As you can see from the image on your screen, the track is covered by a majority of flood and stream buffer. The orange is the 500-year floodplain. The teal is the 100-year floodplain. And the light blue on the screen is the stream buffer. There is a large sanitary sewer that runs there in the lime green to the south of the property adjacent. The city would need that survey to hold right away in order to access for maintenance, replacement, and any types of repairs that need to be done to that line as well. So the resolution in front of you is to sell the property to the adjacent property owner based on the survey that's conducted and the right-of-way that's determined. I will stand for any questions you may have.

Council Member Valdivia-Alcala.

Thank you, Mayor. Leah, my question is with the really important steps that we've taken with developers, you know, like when... We've said that you all will be checking, and Braxton says you all are doing a review of one part of that, making it to where, you know, no back taxes owed, no open code cases, et cetera. Has there been the same consideration for this as well? There has, yes. You are on point. You are on point. With these two that we know are coming up, we know that they don't have any of that. Correct. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor.

Any other questions or comments on this matter? If not, a motion is always in order. Motion to approve from Councilmember Bradbury. And we have a second from Councilmember Valdivia-Alcala. If there's no other comments or questions, I'd ask the clerk to take the vote.

Councilmember Miller, what will your vote be?

Yes.

OK. We have 10 yes. The motion carries.

All right. With that, we move on to item C, city clerk.

C is a resolution introduced by city manager Dr. Robert M. Perez authorizing the disposal of real property parcel ID number 1083403003001000 located on Southeast 2nd Street pursuant to Topeka Municipal Code section 330330.

City Manager.

Thank you. Mayor, members of the governing body, Leah Bolling, Director of Economic Development, will lead us through this item.

Good evening again. This is the resolution for the property located at Southeast 2nd Street. Similar to the previous item, the adjacent property owner has reached out and requested to purchase the property from the city. Prior to the conveyance, the city would hire a licensed surveyor to conduct an assessment of the necessary right of way needed for protecting drainage and flood easements on the parcel. The parcel, again, is located at Southeast 2nd Street and Norwood. It's there in green on the map to the right. It is 1.01 acres zoned R1. The city's estimated market value is $5,000. The 2025 Shawnee County appraisal site lists the property at $12,010. And the adjacent landowner's offer is $1,500 for the purchase of the property. The track is largely unbuildable. It is completely covered by floodplain and stream buffer. The red stripes in the middle there of the stream buffer indicate the FEMA floodway, which is completely unbuildable per FEMA. The light blue that surrounds that area is the stream buffer. And again, the teal is the 100-year floodplain and the orange is the 500-year floodplain. The blue lines you see in the middle that convene into the middle of the stream buffer. Those are the actual stream channels. So again, this parcel is largely unbuildable and the resolution in front of you this evening would allow the conveyance of the property to that adjacent property owner as provided. I will stand for any questions.

We have one individual signed up for public comment on this issue. Mr. Tuck Duncan.

This is Mr. Large, my client. We're here primarily to answer any questions you might have. I do want to congratulate the council on the excellence of its work this year, particularly under the brilliant guidance of its new mayor. I'm sorry. I think your four minutes is up. Anyway, my client has this will be one of the few occasions I'm sure to the that you will see me because I have told most people I'm doing no city business anymore. But I've represented the largest for a long time. He has mowed this property for the last 25 years. So the city has not had any maintenance costs on this property. And she says largely, we believe it's totally unbuildable. With all the easements and the floodplains, et cetera, you're not going to be putting any structures on it. So this is merely an opportunity for him to hopefully, you know, create more of an ambiance and a grassy area, et cetera, that surrounds his existing property where he's lived for 50 years. So with that, if you have any questions whatsoever. Oh, and I was asked a question at the – at the committee meeting why does the county have it on for 12,000 and the city and you know probably because nobody's ever challenged that value there's nobody been that's no one's had to go in and challenge them the the assessed value of the property because no one's paying taxes on it right now so I'm sure there'll be some conversations between my clients in the county as to what it's really worth but after that he'll be paying taxes on this property and he'll continue to maintain it as he has maintained the rest of his property in that area. And I think most people would say he's done a pretty good job of all that. So with that, thank you for giving us an opportunity. And I don't want to use the rest of my two minutes.

All right. Council Member Kell.

Leah, real quick, how much does a surveyor cost? Just curious.

I would need to defer to Deputy City Manager on that question.

We're looking at $5,000 to engage a surveyor to create all of the different easements that we need on that parcel. I mean, it's a policy decision in terms of the sale of this because you're going to get $1,250, but then it's going to go on the tax rolls. But the bottom line is that it would not be responsible for the city to convey this tract without having reserved those various easements, including the right-of-way the floodplain and the inundation on there for his benefit and for any subsequent purchaser because when Mr. Large decides to sell his house at some point in the future, someone needs to know that that is an unbuildable tract and that needs to be a public record and that's why we need to have the survey.

I look at it as we should almost come maybe at least halfway with the survey cost to the sale price, but also I understand that we are going to get return on the investment over time with the tax rolls on that. I'm just curious on the actual cost of that. Council Member Ortiz.

Thank you. I too was going to say that he has been maintaining this property. The city hasn't even though it's our property. Michael has done that. So we've already got our return on investment with him. He's done a great job over there at second and third and Norwood. I think he owns half the damn block. And all of the blighted houses are vacant lots that come. Michael is there, and he's putting them back on the tax roll. So I think this is a good deal. I think we get rid of it. We move on. And he'll be back, I'm sure, for more. Thank you.

We have a motion to approve from Council Member Ortiz. And we have a second from Council Member Banks. I have absolutely no involvement in this outside of talking with staff as we navigated this. I have no investment. But since I have a family member who does, I will abstain on this vote. With that, I ask the clerk to take the vote.

Council Member Miller, what will your vote be?

Yes.

Okay, we have nine yes. The motion carries with Mayor Duncan abstaining.

All right. With that, we'll move on to item D. City Clerk.

D is the approval of annual land bank budget for operating years 2024, 2025, and 2026 pursuant to KSA 12-5903. City Manager. Thank you.

Mayor and members of the governing body, Quinn Cole, management analyst of planning and development, will lead us to this item.

Good evening, Mayor and members of the governing body. I'm Quinn Cole, senior management analyst out of planning and development services, and I'll be presenting both land bank items on tonight's agenda, starting today with the budgets. So some background on this. According to state statute, land bank budgets shall be submitted to, reviewed, and approved by the governing body. So staff is seeking approval for the land bank budgets for years 2024, 2025, and 2026. So what you're going to see is 2024 and 2025 are going to be retrospective budgets based on actuals. And then 2026 is going to be a prospective budget. So starting with 2024's budget to be ratified. There's all zeros here. Here's why. For the revenue side, no sales were completed in 2024. And then on the expenditures side, the program was launched publicly mid-year in June of 2024. And all of the lots acquired mid-year were previously owned by the city. So those lots stayed on the city's regular maintenance plan and rolled over to be funded by the land bank in 2025. In 2025, you see revenue of 650. That came from two sales that were completed in the year. And then total expenditures of $8,100 that came from ongoing maintenance and special assessments for the three lots located in Lawrence Bay. Now for the 2026 prospective budget to be approved by the governing body. This was prepared by the Board of Trustees. They have budgeted $1,000 of revenue, some year-to-date stats. At the most recent meeting, a $150 sale of land was approved. That should be closed within the next 60 days. And at that time, the revenue will be collected. And then on the expenditure side, you see about the same budgeted for maintenance up to $3,000 and special assessments $6,600. And then the two new line items that have been budgeted for are up to $100,000 for land acquisition. So this gives the Board of Trustees the ability to acquire land from the tax sale or some other means. And then next is up to $30,000 for demolition. So if a property is donated to the land bank or a property is purchased by the land bank that has an unsafe structure, this gives the land bank the ability to demolish that property and bring it up to code. Just another way to use the land bank as a tool to revitalize properties. These budgets were reviewed by the Land Bank Board of Trustees at their most recent meeting on May 6th with a recommendation for approval. And with that, I'll stand for any questions.

Any questions or comments from the governing body? If not, I would move to approve. We have a second from Councilmember Ortiz. If there's no other comments or questions, I would ask the clerk to take a vote, please.

Councilmember Miller, what will your vote be?

Yes.

Okay, we have 10 yes. The motion carries.

We've already voted on it, but I will just add one comment of clarification just to say that the money we're talking about was already put aside by this governing body two years ago. So this isn't money coming out of any current general fund or that we have to put into the next budget. It's money that's sitting there. You're just showing us how you're spending it. So I just want to clarify that for the public, that this isn't new money. It's money that's already in the program. So thank you. All right. We'll move on to item E, city clerk.

E is an ordinance introduced by City Manager Dr. Robert Imprez concerning the Land Bank Board of Trustees amending Topeka Municipal Code Sections 2-260-10, 2-260-30, and 2-260-40, and repealing original sections.

City Manager. Thank you. Mayor and members of the governing body, Quinn Cole, Management Analyst, Planning and Development will lead us through this item.

Hello again. Going over the amendments to the land bank ordinance, Staff is going to be requesting several key updates to the land make ordinance. They are going to include items about the makeup of the Board of Trustees, the term of the land bank pilot period, and some of the roles and responsibilities of the Board of Trustees, all of which I will detail for you now. First is the Board of Trustees makeup. Under the current ordinance, there are five Board of Trustees members, a city council representative that is currently filled by Councilman Banks, a city staff representative that has always been filled by our planning and development director, an NIA representative, and two citizens at large. Under the proposed update we'll be adding two new Board of Trustees members. One will be designated as a representative from the construction industry and one will be designated as a representative from the real estate industry. How this is going to benefit the Board of Trustees and the program is that expertise will come in handy as the Board of Trustees both evaluates properties and evaluates evaluates applications for properties, offers on properties. Next is Board of Trustees term lengths. Under the current ordinance, all terms end on 1231 of the year in which they were appointed. Under the proposed update, starting in 2027, terms will be staggered for one and two year appointments. This will benefit the board by keeping momentum and preventing scenarios in which the entire board turns over at once. So as board transitions happen, there will still be institutional knowledge retained. Next is the Board of Trustees roles and responsibilities. It was not previously defined by the ordinance that the Board of Trustees set goals and performance metrics. However, under the new proposed update, that will be an ordinance defined responsibility. This is going to set the program on a very clear trajectory and align the work of staff and the Board of Trustees to help the program succeed. Lastly is the land bank pilot period term. Under the current ordinance, the sunset date for the pilot period is 12-31-2026, which is the end of this year. We are requesting that the new sunset date be moved to 12-31-2029, granting a three-year extension of the pilot program. This comes with no additional funding request. This ordinance was reviewed by the Land Bank Board of Trustees at their May 6th meeting with the recommendation for approval. And with that, I'll stand for any questions.

Council Member Valdivia Alcala.

Thank you, Mayor. Just the extension for the three years, can we just talk a little bit about why in particular three years? I mean, I definitely think for a pilot project, there has to be grace given for something as new as this. But is that a common marker for pilot programs like what we're trying to do with this particular land bank that other municipalities do, or how was that come upon?

Three years was the term of the initial pilot period, and so we wanted to just extend it at the same length.

Okay. And do you know if there – Are times when they end up doing additional extensions? Have you seen that with other pilot programs that go on as they're still testing the waters? I mean, this is so new. And so I'm just wondering how far down the road that you all are looking.

I guess I'll answer that from my perspective. I would hope that in, this is my hope, right? I'll still be in this chair in three years. But I would hope in three years we'll have six years then to be able to look back and say that's a pretty good pilot program. That'll give us five years of solid data as to whether it's worked. And then my hope would be that we could make this not a pilot program anymore, but a permanent program without those end dates. having that six years of data. So I think that would be the goal, but that gives us a good chunk of seeing whether it works or not.

Okay. Thank you. Thanks.

I'll just make quick comments. Obviously, I support this. I like the expansion. And I think in the future, there may even be an additional expansion. I think everybody knows this. The rules of this land bank are very clear that even though we'd be appointing industry individuals, they cannot participate in the land bank if they're on the board. So they can't use that to their advantage and gain properties. And so that's very clearly laid out in the rules of the land bank. And it's obviously a consideration when you put industry folks on a program like this. So I think it's moved. And the last thing I'll say is When this was started in 24, there were several of us, myself and then several staff members, our former planning director, and then Quinn, who sat in the room and tried to figure out how we're going to do this. And we brought the citizens in and the people. I will certainly take some credit for it, but I'm here to tell everybody this wouldn't be where it is today if it were not for Quinn. who looked at all the programs across the state that work and the ones that don't work and she brought us those templates and she set up those meetings with those cities to see how they work and she dragged us through some very long boring nuts and bolts meetings of how contracts should look and agreements should look and what the website should look like and so she right now truly deserves all the credit for where we are in this program and so I just wanted to give her a thank you for that because she has really done all the work as staff and so I just thank you to her. So Councilmember Hiller.

Thank you. You got way ahead of, added to what I was going to say, but I really appreciate the fact that correspondingly you had a great team the first time, but you took your time and really did the research and so on. You were a little ahead of your time for us, yet, you know, you've established a good foundation. I'm excited that with Quinn's involvement and Leah now, that through changing our cultural property maintenance that had a whole part about addressing our vacant properties and looking overall at redevelopment citywide, that these two are coming together in a timely way. I think the idea of the expansion of the board made sense too. So just kudos and looking forward to the next couple of years, including back to the kudos, holding on and not just going out and doing it, which some groups do. And I give you credit for that as well as Quinn for saying let's figure this out first and let's make sure we're only spending money where we need to. For those that are new to that ordinance, it's really got the capabilities of a full-blown redevelopment authority, which on the one hand is kind of scary because there's a lot of authority in there. On the other hand, there's a lot of flex to get things done. Thank you.

All right. Does anyone have any more comments? We have a motion to approve from Councilmember Kell and a second from Councilmember Banks. If there's no other comments or questions, I will ask the clerk to take the vote, please.

Councilmember Miller, what will your vote be? Thank you. Okay, we have 10 yes, the motion carries.

All right, we'll move on to item F, city clerk.

F is a resolution introduced by City Manager Dr. Robert M. Perez amending the 2026 to 2035 CIP and the 2026 to 2028 CIV to revise the budget in years for project number 701053 for the Southeast 29th Street Kansas Turnpike Authority interchange and providing final approval for the project.

City Manager. Thank you. Mayor and members of the governing body, Jason Tryon, Director of Public Works, will lead us through this item.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of the governing body. So we spoke about this topic last week. This is a resolution amending the CIP that would allow us to move up construction of an interchange at 29th Street in the KTA, Kansas Turnpike Authority. So just to recap, there was some confusion about where exactly the interchange would be located. So just for clarification, You can see on the map there to the west is 29th and California. So this would be east of 29th and California. It's a pretty straightforward design, just a simple diamond that would exit both north and south onto 29th Street. So just a brief excerpt here from the economic impact study we did showing where the primary and secondary development locations would be potentially as a result of this project. So the primary impact area there to the west of the interchange, that's primarily the area between West Edge Road to California. And then to the east, there's a secondary impact area which would actually be at 29th and Croco, which is where a lot of the sports complexes are associated with Lake Shawnee. And, again, total appraised value of both those primary and secondary areas that would be considered prime locations for development is $195.8 million. So just to recap, the total budget for the project would be $14,850,000. Eighty percent of that would be the responsibility of the City of Topeka, with the Kansas Turnpike Authority contributing 20 percent, or $3.6 million. This project would be designed in 26 and 27 with construction in 2028. Just a reminder, this project would be done by the Kansas Turnpike Authority. This is their infrastructure. They have already reached out and said that if we move forward, we would be consulted and be a part of the selection of the design consultant for the project. But this would be their construction project, and then they would be responsible for the ongoing maintenance and operations of this infrastructure. With that, I'm happy to answer any questions.

do have three individuals signed up for public comment on this this evening so we'll let them go first um first one up is mr bob ross i will say we have a number of folks on this issue and several others so the no extension rule is in effect this evening so you have four minutes it'll beep at you when you wanted to go and then it'll kick you out so i'll do my best because i'm a talker but i appreciate the opportunity mayor and council to speak to you on behalf of this it's not lost on me that the last time i had a chance to speak to council was 10 years ago

when I was able to speak in favor of the development of Evergy Plaza because at that point I saw Evergy Plaza as a real critical and dynamic opportunity to unlock what downtown Topeka represents. I'm excited to stand here as President of the Chamber to extend our full support for what this interchange represents and what it can do similarly to unlock real potential across East Topeka. You know, we've looked at really capitalized on what East Topeka represents from an economic engine for years. And for seven years, this body has evaluated what the opportunity would be like to create a new interchange there. As we've assessed the economic potential in that area, we've seen that at 29th and California right now, 14,000 cars are passing that intersection daily. One million visitors are going to Lake Shawnee every single year. And to put that into context, if you were to go at 21st and Wanamaker and 17th and Wanamaker, they're doing 20,000 cars a day. So California Avenue is already doing nearly the capacity of Wanamaker Road, but without nearly the same infrastructure support to make that impact. So creating that interchange between Croco and California really allows us to open up a whole new demographic of people to enjoy those businesses on East Topeka. Because right now if you're living in West Topeka, the opportunity to drive east is more cumbersome. And if we're able to make that more accessible off of I-470, we really open up a whole new generation of people in our community to discover what those businesses in California and Croco have to offer more easily. Additionally, I've had the privilege of being able to really talk to a lot of the businesses in East Topeka. We work very closely with California Crossing and what they're doing to revitalize that real blighted intersection. And we're excited to see real momentum happening to really begin to attract new businesses there. And when we've shared with them the opportunity of bringing this interchange onto the table they became very excited because what that means is in their talking to national tenants, it becomes exponentially easier to fill that shopping center with new retail, new restaurants, new opportunity, and new commercial partners to be able to enhance the quality of life in that area. And additionally, I worked really closely with the team at the Supermercado that really attempted to be that first anchor tenant over there. And they had several issues facing them, but one of the things that they said is that if that interchange had been there, that could have been a meaningful piece of the puzzle to be able to encourage a longer term tenancy in that space because of the potential increase in traffic. So I appreciate that this body is going to consider it. I would encourage you on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce that you do vote yes to amend it to be able to bring this interchange to life sooner and really unlock the potential that East Topeka will have for Topeka in large for generations to come. So appreciate you.

Thank you. Next up, Senator Rick Kloos.

Well, thank you. It's good to be here tonight. Good evening, everybody. Just want to acknowledge appreciation for this governing body and your service, mayor and city manager, assistant manager, council, and the whole team that makes this happen. So I appreciate that. Again, I'm Senator Rick Kloos, and I've had the honor to serve the 3rd Senate District for the past six years, which includes the area near the 29th Street where this proposed interchange is going to be located. I'm not going to talk quite as fast as Bob. But he stole some of my thunder, so I'll kind of skirt out from some of these things. But what I do want to say is I've had a personal investment myself, my family, our church family, our ministry family in East Topeka for a lot of years. I've lived out near Lake Shawnee for 20 years. And I really have just seen businesses come and go. And so beyond serving as senator, a lot of people know me as the founder and director of God's Storehouse. And two years ago, God's Storehouse expanded, and we purchased the old Shawnee Plaza over there to put the second thrift store in, in the 29th and California area. And we took that risk because we saw the need. and there's such a need in our east community and it hasn't been without challenges and over the years which i think bob alluded to a little bit we've watched numerous businesses that would come in and they'd open up and they'd be there for a year or two and then they would leave and and it's been like a cycle just a short tenure that they come in and it's something that's been concerning to me and A number of years back, even before I got in the legislature, I always thought, boy, we just need another access point. And, you know, somebody said some opportunities are only seizable by the opportunities at hand, and you can miss it. And I'm just hoping tonight that there's something that we can impart to you to really look at this and take the risk for the sake of the East community over there. Unfortunately, we saw what happened, as Bob had made reference to, with the supermercado. I was there for the open house, and I was excited to see all the workers, over 100 people that lost jobs. And I know what it's like. I remember during COVID when we had to lay off over 60 employees with God's storehouse. And thankfully, we were able to bring that back around. But these are folks that, you know, this company invested. They were in there. And a lot of people took the risk to take new jobs and they're gone. And so that creates a negative impact for the community. So I'm out of time.

You have a minute.

Okay. All right. So all that to say, my heart is really how can we partner together? What can we do? The pie is divided. And we know that whole scenario. And I just think another access point will help strengthen to where the visitors and people that are coming through, friends from other areas of the city will come in and just support the community there. And so I think this interchange is important. something that would be generational, something we can look forward to. We've missed Costco and other opportunities out in that corridor. And I think this is just something that if we will take this moment, we've got some good partnership right now. We're working on more partnership. I think it'll be a blessing to the Eastern community. And I think with that, I'm probably about out of time. But I'm asking for your vote tonight. And I know what it's like. when people come and ask for votes, and I've made votes for this community, and let's see what we can do. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Next up, Mr. Joseph Ledbetter.

Thank you, Governing Body, Senator, and Bob. I have been for this project since before it was even almost conceived. I mean, for 10 years I've been talking about this. And I met Steve Hewitt a few years ago when I was working, actually lobbying for the chamber on the Pope Quincy Viaduct, which is going to be a very successful project. we started to work on this and then about three and a half years ago it was getting close but then it just you know it was we just pulled back from it and focused on other things but i always wanted to see this finished once i start a project i want to finish it i don't care whether it's helping high crest or whatever it is i get involved in i just get a passion just want to see the thing finished And so 10 years ago, Lake Shawnee wasn't getting 2 million visitors a year. They are now. 10 years ago, California wasn't widened. 29th wasn't widened. Croco had just been widened. 45th wasn't finished and widened. Now all of these things have happened. The pieces are coming into place and coming into place. More importantly, the KTA is actually convinced they can get their board to approve this project if the city wants to move forward. They're very excited about it and you know they just put that visitor center up two years ago on Topeka Boulevard. They didn't have to come to Topeka. They wanted to help Topeka. That was, that's just Steve. Steve likes Topeka and he's the director of the KTA. He's been good to work with, and when he came to our meeting in February, I was actually surprised. He said, well, we've got $3.6 million we'll help you with, but could we get this thing moved up? Instead of doing it four years out, could we speed it up, save some money on inflation, save some money on additional costs, and we will actually participate. And we will build it, and we will maintain it into perpetuity, and we'll operate. I said, wow. I'm sure the council is going to listen to that, please. Because I think if we miss this opportunity, I don't know if we can get it in four more years. I think we're going to miss a lot of opportunity to push this forward. What will we miss out on? Well, we'll miss out on a rising tide raising all the boats because this part of the city will actually bring more revenue once this is built in fuel tax, sales tax, real estate taxes. I think anything within a five mile radius is going to be impacted, especially on the real estate, the vacant lots. There's a lot of vacant land over there that's buildable, but there hasn't been an emphasis to put the housing in. And I think we're looking at serious opportunity for that part of town. But it's going to help the whole city because it's just going to be very positive to get people into the area around the lake, get people off. 14,000 vehicles are going by on the turnpike every day. Those people are representing revenue if they've got a place to get off and get to a restaurant, get fuel, go visit Lake Shawnee or whatever they're here in Topeka for as well. I think there's an opportunity for hotels over there and more restaurants. I would ask for your vote tonight. Speed this up, move it forward, and help save us some money because the money is there this year to do it. Thank you.

Thank you. All right. With that, we'll turn it back to the council for questions and comments. I've got Council Member Valdivia Alcala.

Thank you, Mayor. I'm just commenting again like I did last week without belaboring it. I'm not going to vote for this. It doesn't have anything to do at all with not believing that it is not deserved or needed and can be an enhancement. It is the times that we are facing here as a governing body with the budget, with so many unknowns, and for whatever anybody else may say that I have thought this through and reflected on it. But again, I will be voting no to speed this project up. Definitely would have supported it if it stayed in the 2030 agenda. marker because then I think in my way of reasoning, which may not be everyone else's solid way of reasoning, I think that we would know a lot more then than we do right now about where we stand as a city. Thank you.

Council Member Kell.

I kind of look at this as, you know, I hate trying to compare things because, you know, when we get compared to Lawrence or Manhattan, I think we're just not the same. But I'm looking at the comparison of I-70 versus the Turnpike. I-70 has, what, seven to ten exits that people, as they're traveling across Topeka, they can stop at all these different places. Turnpike, we have one. And there's a lot that those blue signs on the side of the highway do to get you to stop. You know, what options you have, what variety of gas stations, food, hotels, all that kind of stuff. We have that one on the turnpike. And so if they pass by that, their business is going down the road to Love's on the median there, or it's going down to Emporia. So by giving more options for people to stop, another opportunity for people to stop in Topeka adds a lot more right there. It will bring to me a lot more. And then it takes off the relief, like I talked about last week, of if we have to shut down the 470 turnpike for some reason, That means anyone that needs to get to the turnpike has to go over to I-70 and back around. So this gives us another option for people and residents on the east side to get onto the turnpike where we don't have to do all this crazy stuff if we have to shut down the 470 one for some reason or another, just like they did with some construction the other day. This has been a project that's been in the works for quite some time, at least the idea of it's been in the works for quite some time. And I just see it as a benefit short-term and long-term for the city. And it gives us another option for those people that we don't lose the business down the road. Thank you. Council Member Banks.

Thank you, Mayor. Obviously, I'm the representative for the district in which this project is proposed. My vision is seeing not just the growth of businesses over there. That area where the diamonds are and if you go a little bit north, you'll have some development that should be taking place at Dornwood. If we can increase... population or involvement in the city. I think Doranwood grows as well as the area there. There's a tremendous amount of young athletes that live there that does not have the opportunity for expansion. If we could expand then we're going to have to expand Dornwood to accommodate the number of athletes that's developing in our city. So of course, I support this effort. I've supported it from the start, and I'll support it today. Thank you, Mayor.

Council Member Bradbury.

Thank you. I was just wanting to see if maybe City Manager can just clarify for community that might be listening or have questions later on, just clarify where the money is coming from and the budgetary impact that it's going to have for this fiscal year and moving forward.

Councilmember, so the funding is part of our CIP, which we're also considering overall this evening. Roughly, the project is estimated about $18 million. 20% of that would be funded by the KTA, so $3.4 million would come from KTA for 3.6. And then the balance of the 14.4 would come from our GO bonding, which is paid for the debt service. The debt service payment over 15 years would be roughly about $1.4 million. And then 1.4 is annually. Thanks.

So does that have any impact on this fiscal year?

It does, Councilmember, as we are looking to advance the project from 2030 to start design this year in 2026. So it moves the budget up from 2030 to 2026, 2027, and 2028. And so the full, the $18 million? No, ma'am, I believe. The design would be first. Go ahead, Rex.

Yeah, if I can jump in, Councilmember. The way we structured the contract with KTA is that they would be billed by their contractor or by their consultant, and then they would turn around and bill us for our proportion at 80%. We only expect that during 2026 and into 2027 that there will be the design cost. So on a $18 million project, I would look for approximately $1.8 million of design. So for 2026 through 2027, we're just looking at our 80% share of the design. And then we're looking at construction in 2027 and 2028. And then typically what we would do is we would issue temp notes to pay for those costs until we have the project completed, at which point we would issue GO bonds to take those out. So hopefully that answers your question in terms of the financial impact over the next three years. So it's not $18 million, bam, right off the bat. It would be spread out with... particularly in 6 and 7, would be minor costs for design as well as any utility relocation, right-of-way acquisition, et cetera.

Thank you, and that's why I was hoping to get clarified. Thank you.

Council Member Hiller.

Thank you, Mayor. I've put a lot of thought into this. I made some comments last week, as people know. I think it is the right time to do this. Been around and we've talked about it for a long time. I think it's the best design that we've had. I am hopeful that the I guess that's the most you can do at this point that that change would then I appreciate the fact that we did not get ourselves in the position of being the developer but instead we'll look at simply working on the highway and letting the private sector step up and do what they've had in mind for a long time or create new ideas or whatever they choose to do. So with that, after a lot of thought and some question and answer, I will support this today. But I do hope that at the same time, we do not pass the CIP. I don't know that we need to change the 26 one to get this started as long as we vote for the project. But I think we do need to look at both the proposed 27 2027 and on CIP and look really hard at how to adjust that to accommodate this new project, including some of the suggestions that I made last year to get some of the things that really don't belong in that capital budget listing out into operations. So thinking about the capital improvement budget as well as our operating budget, to accommodate this change, but also overall we've talked some, not as much as I would have liked to see about how we're going to address this whole big picture. Thank you.

Council Member McGee.

Thank you. I'm in support of this. I think the timing is right. But with I also echo what was just said. We're going to have to take a look at the CIP. As this moves up, something's going to have to move. Something's going to have to give somewhere else. So I think we've got some careful decisions to make in that regard. But I'm supportive of this project, and I think the timing's right for it. Thank you.

Any other comments? All right. I'll just make a quick comment. Obviously, as I indicated last week, I'm supportive of this. Actually, the timing's not great in some respects, right? It'd be great if we could hold off until 2030, but we can't. The window from KTA is now, and if we miss that window, it will be gone for maybe a decade, if ever, and we've missed some of those windows historically in this community. We made a top ten list I'm not a big fan of, and that's population loss in the state of Kansas. We lost more than a lot of other cities across the state. I will say this, and I keep saying this. Our budget is not awesome. And we're going to have to tighten some things and make some decisions, not fund every little thing everybody wants. But it's not as dire as people have sort of put on either. We're in pretty good economic and financial standing. Our ratios are solid. Our bond ratings are good. We can pay all our bills. We are not on the verge of some kind of bankruptcy. So while the timing of this is not the best from that perspective, we can manage this at a time when we know we are trying to grow, we are trying to help a section of Topeka that has continually been underserved at times with some of these infrastructure projects. And I truly believe, as Councilmember Banks has said, that this is both an economic development project that will help open up that area of the community but also a community-based project that helps people who travel over there for other things beyond just spending their money but community-based events and so for me this is an easy one because i think we're in a great position to do it now and we're able to seize it and yeah as councilman murray's point we're gonna have to make some tweaks here and there but i think this one's worth it and so that's why for me this is a again not the best timing but an easier one for me to support today If there are no other comments or questions, we have a motion from Councilmember Kell and a second from Councilmember Banks. If there's no other comments or questions, I will ask the clerk to take a vote.

Councilmember Miller, what will your vote be?

Yes.

Okay, we have nine yes. The motion carries with Councilmember Valdivia-Aucla voting no.

All right. With that, we'll move on to, I forgot the alphabet, item G. That's the one, city clerk.

G is a resolution introduced by city manager, Dr. Robert M. Perez, authorizing and adopting the 2027 to 2036 capital improvement plan and 2027 to 2029 capital improvement budget and approving project budgets.

City manager.

Thank you. Mayor, members of the governing body, Josh McInerney, Deputy Director of Budget and Finance, will lead us through this item.

Good evening, governing body. Obviously, tonight we're voting on the CIP, but I just wanted to say a quick few words. Over the last several weeks, we went through each department's public works, utilities mainly, talked about street projects, water line projects, presented on how we were going to pay for some of these projects. And last thing I want to note is the CIP is obviously fluid. We just moved up a project, not two minutes ago up in the CIP. We moved things back, so it's a fluid situation. CIP is the first vote, but it's not necessarily the end-all be-all. It goes through the Public Works Infrastructure Committee and eventually makes its way back here. That's just a couple things to keep in mind. There were some questions on financing on how potentially the KTA would affect our debt service fund based off a potential move up. I sent that out last Wednesday, so you have the financial implications of that to adjust for it. Bottom line, the CIP is one of the many approval steps, and then they'll eventually come back for more votes. So that's all I have.

All right. Questions or comments for Josh? Council Member, sorry, Council Member Valdivia Alcala.

I don't, but you need to tell me when I do.

Okay. Why don't you hit the button, and then when it's time, I'll make sure you're the first one to call. Hit what button? Motion button. That way no one else can jump in and do it. How's that? There we go. All right. Questions or comments for Josh? No? Not a one? Well, okay. Then if that's the case, then I would turn it over to Council Member Valdivia-Alcala.

Thank you, Mayor. Okay. I move to divide the question on the approval of the CIP so that we can consider and vote on two separate motions. First, the approval of the CIP excluding the 29th Street project. Second, the approval of the 29th Street project itself.

Do you want to second that? Okay. So we have a motion and a second from Council Member Banks. Here's what that does. It's one motion, but it will be two consecutive votes. The first motion is to vote to approve the CIP without the 29th Street project. The second vote would then be, if you support the 29th Street project, the one that included, we would take a second vote on that, and then it would be then included in the CIP. But it gives individuals who have opportunity to pull something out that they may or may not support to vote on it separately. So that's what that motion does.

And then if once we get past this, if this would pass, then we still have to do the discussion and vote on the CIP itself.

No, this would be the motion to approve it as is, but now we can have the discussion about the CIP.

Okay. Yep.

We can have a discussion with the motion on the floor. I won't let it ride without it. I gotcha. All right. Is there any discussion on the CIP? Any questions about the motion? Any amendments? Any other conversation to be had? As always, Council Member Hiller.

Thank you. I just don't think we're ready. I know I'm not ready. I can't vote for it tonight. I think we've spent a lot of time making some alternate suggestions so that this would move the things that need to be in the operating budget into the operating budget, for instance. I'm disappointed that I don't see any of it come forward. I think we do need to talk about those kinds of things. You know, we never got in Master Street Map to tell us where exactly we are so we could see which ones are done and which ones aren't. We did get a long print, eight-page print list of what got done with Habs and Sales Tax in the last 18 years. But you know, for us to have a picture of where we are. Um, we know that potholes and street repairs are our people's top priorities. I'm not sure we've given it the time to address making sure that we're doing the best job we can with the capital improvement budget and then anticipating what we're going to need to do with the operating budget. Uh, questions about, um, the, uh, whether the, uh, again, the, um, Utilities projects are built on just the same revenue we have or are built on what is some anticipated new rate schedule that we haven't done yet. Got a whole list of them, really. For me, I think we always need to have a session where we can all, as a body, not one-on-one with staff or city manager or whatever, talk about what those priorities are. It always has helped me. to hear other people's points of view as well as to be able to share mine. So I have a longer list than that. Staff is always great in answering questions. Josh, the book looks great. No complaints about that. I do think we always need to have our policies, our capital budget policy and our debt policy in our notebooks. They're not there this year. It's handy to go back and look and double-check what belongs in bonding and what doesn't. Things like that, those issues of the firm program, for instance, and others where we've met the minimum standard by combining small projects together to call it a capital project. It's sort of like putting your groceries on a credit card. even to the point of recommendations that the city manager has continued with, regardless of conversation, of shifting $4 million a year of our half-cent sales tax money, which was intended to get the streets fixed and fixed right so they'd last a long time. Are we really ready to shift $4 million out of fixing streets into doing preventive maintenance? I don't think we are. I think we need that information from staff and to be able to have a robust discussion about it.

I'll just make a couple comments. As with every year with the CIP, as Josh mentioned, it is a fluid document. And so even though we vote on this version tonight, as we go through the budget process, if we think there's changes we need to make to impact the budget, we have that power and ability to make those changes as we work through it. So this doesn't have to be a, oh, we passed it or we didn't. It's a closed book. We're locked in for another year or five years. I think that's always important to remember because I think sometimes as we get into it, we forget that we can change this thing any time we want. which is one reason why some of those projects can now go through the infrastructure committee. The other thing I'll say, and this really is not directed to you, Councilwoman Miller, but you opened the door to remind me, because I'm going to say this a lot, especially during the budget process the next couple months. If you want something changed, bring an amendment to the table. Just simply sending emails to staff saying, I want you to consider this. Please do this. I hope you do this. Sometimes they might. Sometimes they might not. I don't begrudge them either way. They've got a lot going on, and they're getting bombarded from 10 of us with changes and ideas and suggestions and all those things. So don't be shy. Maybe you'll get it. Maybe you won't. I have failed many times up on this day on amendments that I have brought forward. But I'm really going to encourage folks, if you have ideas and if you have things you really want to see done, whether it's later through the CIP or as we're working on the budget, bring that amendment, throw it out there, and let's have those discussions because budget's our number one responsibility. And at the end of the day, while we put a lot of that responsibility on staff, it's our names that are attached to it. It's our votes that are attached to it. And it's our responsibility to be elected here to bring forward those changes. So I will encourage everybody through this process. I will do so myself. And hopefully that will bring a robust discussion on both of these projects. So Councilmember Hiller.

I want to respond to you and say thank you because I agree exactly. I just think that for us to bring those, it has been on this council for 17 years, that robust conversation around the table so that you hear what ideas other people have and what concerns or thoughts or suggestions that they have matters to us as a body, it seems. Without that all due respect, saying, hey, we can change it any time, means we didn't really budget. We just passed a pot of money and started spending it. So the priorities, for instance, for me of making sure that whatever is planned for the immediate coming year is specified in this budget. And I've talked about it year after year, so it seems like people would have heard it before. But it's not there. And when that happens, we don't get it done. We don't get it done on time. Those kinds of things, there's a management to it, not just a pot of money and we can change our mind whenever we want. Thank you.

All right, so we have a motion on the floor from Councilmember Valdivia-Alcala and a second from Councilmember Banks. Remember, it's a two-part motion, so we're going to vote twice. If you want to adopt the entire CIP, you're going to want to vote yes the first time, and if you don't, then you're going to want to vote no. And then the second time, if you want to include the 29th Street project, you're going to want to vote yes, and if you do not want to include the 29th Street project, you're going to want to vote no. I hope that is clear so that we're not accidentally...

Say that again.

If you do not want the 29th Street project included, you will vote no because the second motion is to include it.

Right.

Right. So first vote is the CIP as a whole. If you're supportive, vote yes of the whole excluding 29th Street. You vote yes. If you're not, vote no. And on the second vote, if you want 29th Street then included, you're going to want to vote yes. And if you do not want it included, you're going to want to vote no. That is what is in front of us. Council Member Miller.

Am I the only one that heard that backwards the second time you said it?

I don't know. So I'll repeat it one more time for God and country. All right. It's a two-part motion. The first one is to approve the CIP, excluding the 29th Street project. So if you want to adopt the entirety of the CIP minus that project, go ahead and vote yes. And that will adopt the CIP. If you don't, then vote no. If you don't like the whole of the CIP, vote no. The second piece then is, do you now want the 29th Street project included in the CIP? If you do, you vote yes. If you do not, you vote no.

That doesn't sound right to me, Mayor. First, the approval of the CIP. Excluding the 29th Street project. That's what I asked for. Correct. So I'll be voting yes on this.

Correct. For the first part, because we're taking votes twice.

Right. And then the second, the approval of the 29th Street project itself, then I would vote.

Yes. You'll vote no on that. No. I'm assuming. I do not want to vote for it.

Yeah. No, no, no.

I got it. Okay. Just making sure. I didn't want to put the words in your mouth. All right. Are we clear as mud on that? All right, I will then ask the clerk to take a vote. Please state which one we're voting on before.

Okay, so this one is going to be voting for the CIP and CIB without the 29th Street project included. So if you are wanting the 29th Street project to not be included on that, you are going to vote yes.

At this time, yes.

At this time, yes.

Council Member Hiller, clarification?

If I could, if... If enough of us vote no, does that give us an opportunity? Maybe I should propose an alternate motion, but if we vote no, does that give us an opportunity to then schedule when we want to consider this and talk about it further?

Well, if it gets enough no votes, then the CIP and CIB will not be adopted. And then I think you either have to be on the... non-prevailing side to bring another motion, or I think we then have to wait under our own rules to bring that motion back. And I forgot what we shrunk that period to, but I want to say it's a month, three weeks. I'll have to go back and check our rules.

I don't like dancing through all this stuff.

I guess I'll propose and... We have a motion and a...

Okay.

On the floor, so... All right.

Okay. Good to take a vote?

Yep. Okay.

Councilmember Miller, what will your vote be?

Yes and yes. One at a time.

One at a time.

Okay, so there are eight yes. The motion carries with Councilmembers Hiller and Bradbury both voting no.

I'll take the second vote.

Okay. And this one is going to be with the 29th Street project. Okay. All right. We are ready for a motion and a second on that. Sorry.

That would be the same. Hers was all one motion. Okay. I apologize. So it's Council Member Valdivia-Alcala and then me.

Okay.

All right.

And Council Member Miller, what will your vote be?

Yes.

Okay, so we have eight yes with Council Members Culler and Valdivia-Ocla both voting no. The motion carries.

With that, we move on to item H, City Clerk.

Okay. H is the resolution and notice of intent introduced by city manager, Dr. Robert M. Perez, declaring the necessity to repair, alter, reconstruct, enlarge, or improve the city's water, water pollution, and or storm water utility system through improvement projects authorized by resolution and providing notice of intention authorizing the issuance of revenue bonds in the manner required by KSA 10-1201 at seek.

City manager. Thank you, members of the governing body. Josh McInerney, Deputy Director of Budget and Finance, will lead us through this item.

Good evening, everybody. So Maine kind of said it in the introduction to where any time we ever plan on issuing any sort of revenue bond, we have to disclose it. So this is doing that due diligence, and we just oftentimes coincide it with the CIP to where we have to publish a notice of intent in the paper. to let the public know now in the case of these bonds these wouldn't actually be if we were to issue them they wouldn't be until august of 2027 to where the first payments would be in 2028 so it's quite a bit of ways but that doesn't preclude us in the future from identifying other revenue sources to use those funds instead of in lieu of bond funds so this is just more of a disclosure notice and then obviously as we discussed before in the past anytime we introduce the bond process that will come back to this governing body to inform what projects we're actually going to do. So this is just letting the public know what is a possibility in the future.

Comments or questions for Josh? If not, I guess I would move to approve. We have a second from Councilmember Ortiz. If there's no other comments or questions before we vote, don't see any online, then we will take the vote. Please, City Clerk.

And Councilmember Miller, what will your vote be?

Yes.

Okay.

Okay, we have nine yes. The motion carries with Councilmember Bradbury voting no.

With that, I don't believe there's any other agenda items that aren't on my list, correct? Just double checking before we move on to public comment. As I mentioned before, we have a number of individuals signed up this evening for public comment. So you have four minutes. It'll beep once at you when you have one minute remaining. And there will not be any extensions this evening. So with that, first up, I have Michael Arb. I'll try not to mispronounce anything. Michael Arb. He's not here at the moment. I'll circle back just in case. One more time. Michael Arb. Next up, I have Antoine Collins. Good evening Mr. Collins.

Good evening, everybody. Apologies for the stains. Something happened last minute. Mine are just covered up with a coat. I want to speak on it. Thank you again for allowing me to be here. Excuse my voice. It'll warm up shortly. I want to say that I'm here to talk about the Topeka Institute with the quarter penny tax increase for Citywide to develop The Institute of Topeka for Young Students. I have just came from there. I was a graduate there. I became a planner for a gardener, right? I went to the school, a 12-week program, and what I do is I teach kids how to plant, how to grow functional food for the city of Topeka and surrounding areas. Now, there are some situations where the people of Topeka are looking at quarter of a one penny tax increase. This is important because this, the old Payless Center, can be refurbished. have a theater, have a Freedom Park, and have other amenities. But most importantly, it has something for young students to go to. And that's the point. We want to get these young kids off the street into somewhere that's going to give them direction. And that's part of my job, right? Not only am I a veteran, but I'm also a pilot. I know it don't look like it, but yes, I fly helicopters. I took this opportunity to come here to tell you that people like me, we don't look like it, but we have a lot to offer. Sometimes we don't wear the best clothes, but we have the best intentions. We need help, but we're not talking about what we hear those things. We hear two words or, well, let's put it like this, make people uncomfortable, DEI. We hear sweat equity. That's the words on the street. We don't want that. We're here for merit. We're here for self accountability. We're here to make sure that you understand that your money will not be wasted. I hold myself accountable, and that's what I'm looking to do for young students, young kids, because it's important. Not just because what it looks like, but because of what it proves, what it values. It brings kids values. Instead of being on street corners, they're in classrooms. I work with hydroponics, aeroponics, teaching you how to grow seeds of food plants without a drop of dirt. With a five gallon tank, I can feed your family. That's the knowledge I bring. And that's the knowledge we need to impart to our kids. But we need to have the space. We have the motivation. We have the drive. We have the self-accountability. But we need that little small text. Thank you. One minute. I've been listening. The reason why this is important to me. I come from Oakland, California. I've only been a Topeka resident for seven years, and I want to say, side note, thank you for having your books in order, because if you know anything about Oakland, California, it's not doing very well right now. With that said, we have a chance to make Topeka even better. The Kansas Turnpike Project, pull me. And we need to add on to it. Let's not stop the momentum over one quarter of one cent. We can do this, and we can all enjoy it and take pride in it. You want Topeka to grow? It has to look good. It has to nourish functional food to feed everybody. And that's what we're here for. Thank you for your time.

Thank you very much, sir. I will circle back to Michael Arb. I know some people came back in the room. I don't know if he was one of them. That's all right, too. All right. Next up, I have McGuire Mullins. Welcome.

Hello. I appreciate the opportunity to speak to the mayor and the city council this evening. I'm here to ask for your support regarding the quarter cent sales tax for the East Topeka corridor. Although I do not live in that area, I volunteer there often and see my peers struggling to find positive spaces and resources. We have lost many youth at the hand of other youth and gang violence because there are so few positive, positive options in eastern Topeka. We've been working on this plan now for a year with students from all over the city helping us develop it. Excuse me. I can't speak today. With students from all over the city helping us develop it. We are volunteering because we support our Topeka family. That's all I have to say.

Thank you very much. Next up, I have Maddox Mullins. Maddox Mullins here. Okay, thank you. Charlene Johnson.

Good evening Ms. Johnson. Well, good evening. This is my first time addressing the council. So hello to the mayor and to the city council individuals. My name is Charlene Johnson. I'm here to support the IEIT industrial program in East Topeka. I had the opportunity to be a part of the program, and I've been working with Curtis for over four years, listening to his plans and ideals on this program. But I actually had the opportunity to participate in the opening of it. And they put on the sustainable urban agricultural program. And I was impressed by it. I was impressed because he had communicated, he had gathered other individuals or partnered with other individuals across the outside of Kansas. And so the program I felt was successful because I saw a lot of young men. And anytime you can see a bunch of young men come together and want to learn, they want to learn agriculture, farming. I was impressed by it. I loved it. I'm initially from Chicago, so I had no idea. I really don't. I didn't know too much about farming. But what I've learned in that program was that you could take whatever space that you have and create and grow your foods. And right now, this is a good time. And Curtis providing that program first for the opening of the school was a great idea. Because I saw young men, I saw young people come together to want to learn how to grow food, how to farm. They're just being proactive. They're not asking for a handout. They were there to learn, how could I grow my own products? So I'm here to support, hoping that you guys will consider this tax for the IEIT program. Thank you. Thank you very much.

I know I'm going to mess this one up, so I'm just apologizing in advance. Asar Bailey, and then you can come tell me how I really should have said it, please.

All right. Good evening, Mayor. It's Asar Bailey. I actually remember seeing you at Topeka West when you just started campaigning for mayor. So my name is Asar, for anyone who didn't catch it. And I'm here tonight to formally request that council receive my proposal regarding a quarter cent sales tax for Eastern Topeka Corridor. and the creation of an Eastern Topeka Development Authority to administer the quarter cent sales tax. So I'm actually here with Mr. Curtis Pitts, and we've operated in East Topeka, providing people who might not have had the opportunity to learn urban agriculture, as well as getting a firsthand experience with being able to deal with business. And this, I feel, has not only impacted the amount of youth that have gotten into violence and other activities that they might not have done, but it's helped shift how I've seen firsthand the youth act just by being a part of the program and seeing how kids are able to grow and are able to develop. I say that to say that with a quarter cent plan that could be potentially put in place, that it would have an immediate impact because this money could go back into helping the community. One good point is more money for poor families and neighborhoods, getting them those activities so that they could send this youth here, and this is just an outlet for them to go to because I know that someone previously spoke of youth crime on youth and i've known youth in my own school to do that to other youth and it's something that's sad to see because they didn't have anywhere else to go to be able to get out either frustration or just be able to come across as more accepted to other people. And the second thing is it would create more jobs and economic opportunity. That's something that this community also needs, and I think it'd be very advantageous for us to potentially propose this plan. And with that being said, is there any questions?

No, sir. But thank you very much. All right. Appreciate you coming. All right. I have no one else on my list this evening. So unless I'm missing somebody, we will move on to announcements. City Clerk.

Nothing for me tonight, besides that we do not have a meeting next week. Thank you.

City Manager. Nothing tonight, Mayor. Thank you. Council Member Bradbury.

Nothing, thank you.

Council Member McGee.

I have nothing.

Deputy Mayor Hofer.

I have something. This week started the Warsh to Shore program that is sponsored by the zoo. The first three locations have been opened up. The picture you're going to be seeing first is the one over in Noto. It is quite a space. You go in and it's dark and it's all illuminated like you're under the sea. And this is the, I believe the jellyfish are the ones hanging from the ceiling. All of those jellyfish are made from disposed plastic. So it may be water bottles. It could be a shoe in there. It could be a bucket. Um, they're very creative with what they've used. This next one is the butterfly that was, uh, opened up today. And on the sidewall, you'll see there were 17. Uh, students from five Oh one that created this piece of art and it's in the basement, uh, the Mulvane art, uh, gallery. So you need to see this one. We had so many people show up for the butterfly. Yesterday was the penguin, and it was at Washburn in the student union. Tomorrow morning, they're going to unveil the next one, and it's going to be at the Kansas Children's Discovery Center. Friday, I know, is the shark and another one at the zoo. And I believe there's another unveiling on Thursday. It's amazing what they can do with all this disposed of plastic. It's very creative and very artistic and we're trying to promote being careful with your plastics. Dispose of them, I guess recycle them as you can, but we don't want it to get into the rivers and then work their way down to the Gulf of Mexico and destroy that environment. So if you get a chance, go to the zoo. Oh, the library is the other location. Go to any of these locations and see these sculptures because they're pretty incredible. And that's all I have.

Councilmember Hiller.

Thank you. I have two things. One, I want to piggyback on Councilwoman Bradbury's invocation. an introduction. The 72nd anniversary of the Brown v. Board case was Sunday and a number of us were at the Townside Plaza for the gala event. It was sold out and I don't think even New York City could compete with the quality of the event and the entertainment and of course the subject matter. It was really well done and so kudos to the 70th anniversary coalition who is kind of the team that formed two years ago and has has started planning these big events. The other thing is I'd like to do a shout out to staff, public works, city manager, lead staff. We talk a lot about things that went wrong or somebody who missed a signal, but I got an email today as well as a phone call about the fact that there were some fires burning at the Garrick Landfill, not landfill, what is it? Forestry disposal site. And that happens no matter what in a place like that. But it turns out that the Gehrig folks were very much following the instructions that had been agreed after the last time that occurred there to keep the piles low and to stay right on it if something emerged. then the notice ahead, the last time that happened, it had been pretty hard on folks that were downwind of that, which is my district, and the notice ahead of time for public as well as letting me know. You know, when I hear it before somebody calls me, I always think that's really good news, and so it sounds like it's under control, and I want to appreciate everybody's efforts that's here right now in this room, but also Garrick and the folks out in the community. That's it. Thank you.

Council Member Valdivia Alcala.

Thank you, Mayor. A couple of different things. One is, I guess the word is you just piggyback on talking about the event that happened on Sunday. It was a really beautifully planned, coordinated, and executed event. There was a lot of people that have remained nameless that have really done a lot of hard work that remain behind the scenes, and we want to say kudos for that. Also, I think that, as I was just talking to Councilwoman Hiller a minute ago, we heard from Attorney Crump a powerful word that, you know, we're going to start talking about, at least I'm going to start talking about, along with other activists and advocates at Public Health and Safety tomorrow, and that is the upstream approach. Now, for those that work in advocacy and activism, they're very aware of this word. Again, it's something that Attorney Crump highlighted with really intense passion and fervor. And so maybe, you know, we'll start talking, well, we will start talking about this more at the council level. There was some epic powerful poetry the spoken word which was really really beautiful and my husband and I don't go out to a lot of events but I'm really glad we went to this one also I want to say a big shout out to my husband John on Saturday it is his birthday I'm gonna say he's not 70 yet but he's getting pretty close and then to my dad Angel Valdivia who on May 31st will

be a very hardy uh 89 years old thank you mayor councilman ortiz thank you mr mayor i just want to thank um staff jason tryon and his staff um You guys have done a very good job on 6th and Golden and on 6th Street, keeping the flow open, keeping the traffic moving. You know, I always tell people that 6th Street is a gateway coming through East Topeka, and it is. There's been so much traffic, so much redirection. So much signage, and I just appreciate once we got 6 and Golden done that you guys opened it back up. Even if it's one way or one lane, it's keeping our traffic moving and out of residential, even though we had a high speed chase through there today. I also wanted to shout out to my granddaughter, Gianna Gibbs, who will be graduating tomorrow from Shaner Head Start. And so I wanted to give her a shout out because she'll be moving on. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you. Council Member Bradbury would like to use her mulligan. She forgot something, so we will circle back to her.

Thank you so much. I just wanted to remind people that the public meetings for the utility rates, there are two more scheduled, one for tomorrow night from 530 to 630 at Crestview Community Center, and then on Thursday the 21st at Garfield from 530 to 630.

Thank you. Council Member Banks?

Nothing tonight, Mr. Mayor. Thank you.

Council Member Kell.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. As I've said several times before, I'm a veteran. The old joke out there is if you hear one of those ones a veteran, just wait. They'll tell you. I just want to remind everyone that this Monday is Memorial Day. Please enjoy your long weekend safely, have fun, and make memories. Remember, Memorial Day is to remember, honor, and mourn those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice with their lives while serving in the United States Armed Forces. We've lost several in Topeka over the timeframe of the city. people serving in the military and it's some people by choice join up and other people have been drafted in the past. So just remember those who have given for us and help keep our freedoms that we have in our country. Thank you. Council Member Miller.

Nothing Mayor, thank you.

Thank you. I've got just a couple things. I'll echo the words of the other council members who were at Brown v. Board. That event was a It was great. I just want to thank all the folks who I know work behind the scenes who don't get that recognition, but that was a really great event and Ben Crump was tremendous and J.I.V. was electric and It was a great evening for a lot of reasons. Memorial Day, yep, what he said. And I'm glad Councilmember Bradbury reminded everyone about the utility rate meeting so I don't have to do that now. I'll end with this. And I know they've left and that's fine. I'll send Mr. Pitts an email to say let your young folks watch the end of this because for two weeks in a row now we've had some young folks come advocate for something that they would like to see us do and So I feel like they deserve some sort of recognition and response back to what they're advocating for. And what I'll leave them with is these two things to start this conversation. First of all, one of those robust conversations we talked about earlier will be whether we do a sales tax initiative or not. We'll have that discussion over the coming months as we walk through the budget. Some of us will be for it. Some of us will be against it. And we'll get to have that conversation. Whether their project is included or what is and is not included will certainly be part of that conversation. I guess the constructive idea I want to pass on to them because one of the things we have not historically done under our sales tax initiatives is become simply a pass-through. Most of the sales tax that we have go into our general fund or are directed towards other specific projects that are through our budgets. Yes, we do grants and other ways to distribute that, but they aren't just pass-through. which is why historically when we've done those kinds of initiatives, they've done it on their own to some degree. And the most recent example we have of that is the Gage Park Authority. Those individuals went to the legislator and they created an authority. They went to the legislature and they said, please give us the ability to go back and put something on the ballot. They took that initiative. They got it on the ballot. They got it passed. Years ago, although now they're property tax funded, that was sort of a model that Washburn used on sales tax. So that has been more of a model for this community for those organizations to be able to get those dollars quite frankly without us interfering with how those dollars are spent and being their own independent authority. So what I can promise those young folks who've come through here is that we do hear them. We will include their ideas in our conversations. But I also want to give that organization another path that might actually be more productive for them long term. and start having some conversations with legislators and look at what it would do to create an authority and have that conversation more directly with the public instead of having to filter it through us so i'm open to continue those conversations but i wanted those young folks particularly to recognize that we are listening and know that i hear them and we want to have those conversations so with that we have the need for two executive sessions this evening so city attorney

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The motion would be to recess into executive session not to exceed 30 minutes to discuss sensitive data regarding the city's cybersecurity and other matters related to security measures of the city's information technology systems as allowed under KSA 75-4319B12. The open meeting will resume in this room, the city council chambers. The following staff will be necessary to assist the governing body in its deliberations. The city's chief information officer and other staff members as needed.

I will move to approve. Do I have a second? Second. Second from Councilmember Kell. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? One opposition. Two opposition. All right. So eight to two. With that, we will take our ten minute break. Ten minutes and then we will get right at it. All right. We have come out of our first executive session. No action is needed to be taken by this governing body. However, we have the need for a second executive session this evening.

City Attorney. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The motion would be to recess into executive session not to exceed 30 minutes to discuss matters concerning security measures and protocols related to one or more of the city's public buildings as allowed under KSA 75-4319B12. The open meeting will resume in this room, the city council chambers. The following staff will be necessary to assist the governing body in its deliberations. The chief of police and other staff members as needed.

All right. I will move to go into executive session. Do I have a second? Council Member Kell, seconds. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? Aye. Nine to one, we will go into executive session. With that, we will go immediately. All right, we are back. We have concluded our executive session. No action was taken or will be taken by this governing body. This meeting is adjourned.