City Council - Regular Meeting

Tuesday, June 30, 2026

The Kechi City Council held a budget workshop to discuss priorities for the 2027 budget and strategic planning. Key topics included infrastructure, managing growth, and improving public trust and community engagement.

About this meeting

Government Body
City Council
Meeting Type
City Council
Location
Kechi, KS
Meeting Date
June 30, 2026

Transcript

100 sections

0:34 – 0:53Speaker 5

Is it on now? Oh, yeah, it is on. Are we ready? Are we ready? Okay. The time is now 6.05. It is June 30, 2026. Welcome to the Keechai City Council Budget Workshop. Tonight we welcome Ty Lasher. Welcome.

0:54 – 2:05Speaker 4

Mayor, I'm going to be walking around a little bit. The ridiculous sale But I grew up in Kansas on a farm in North Carolina.

3:20 – 3:49Speaker 5

Before you go on, one second. Would you mind using the mic, please? Because I know on the live feed, it won't pick his voice up if you don't actually use the mic directly. And then secondly, the other question I have is we can't see what's being displayed up there. Is that possible to send it to our screens, please? Yeah, all we can see is ourselves at the moment. OK. I just wanted to make sure, because there's been some concerns about not being able to hear the speaker.

3:57 – 5:09Speaker 4

we can't see that on our screen presentation thank you okay and we've got uh you'll get copies of the presentation as well and there's a lot of signs so you'll get copies But again, in Cheney, we did water, sewer, police, fire. We actually had natural gas. So we're going to do some introductions. We're going to do some roles. So what I want to know, just to hear from you, I don't know if your other council members know this, or maybe because you're a small community, but I don't. So we're going to start with the mayor. Why don't you come and teach us?

5:10 – 6:00Speaker 5

i prayed a dangerous prayer and this is where the lord led us to in kichai and we moved my mother across country with us and we needed a an apartment within our home which is not an easy thing to find in the state of kansas and the house that we have the family built a walkout basement apartment for their grandmother and so that's how we ended up in kichai i am not i'm from the west coast washington state I ran for mayor because the people continued to say over the last few years that they wanted a voice on the dais, that they wanted someone who would speak up for them, that would interact with them. And I was willing to do that, and I just felt led by the Lord to take steps of obedience and run for mayor and see what would happen. And here I am.

6:00 – 7:31Speaker 2

Matt, how do you live with each other? We moved here. I'm originally from Kansas City We moved here 19 years ago Via the Philippines we'd spent two years in the Philippines as missionaries with new tribes missions and when we came back to The states we had opportunity to come here and there was a job opportunity for me at Trinity Academy Where I was principal and had a school for ten years my wife is from Northeast, Colorado farm girl so when we were looking for By the way, when we flew in from Manila on a Monday and came to Wichita on a Tuesday, we were jet lagged. We looked at 49 houses, and K96 just threw me off because I'm east, west, north, south. And we landed up here in Keechai, and my question was, how far is it from Trinity? And my wife was thrilled that we were out in the country, per se, which she loved. And so we've been here 19 years, finished raising our family here. Why did I run for council? I ran for council after my... Tenured at Trinity, was asked to run, got a lot of just leadership background, leadership experience, thought I could add value, and so my goal is to add value and to add leadership and experience to the council. So I've been on council since 2009.

7:36 – 8:25Speaker 3

We moved here in January 2008, and my wife was teaching at Central Christian Academy, and the kids were going there. And she was sometimes making two and three trips a day from Derby, where we were. So we definitely needed to find someplace closer. And I think Matt may have had some influence of we should look at Keechai. And we just fell in love with it. A great place to raise a family. And so we got the kids graduated. And I felt that this was a way I was asked to run. They were looking for business leaders to be on council. And so I prayed about it, considered it, and ran. And this is my second term. I've been on four and a half years now. And it's just a way to give back to the community.

8:29 – 9:10Speaker 6

Okay, I live in Kichai because my parents built a house here 32 years ago, and it's the only place I've ever lived. So I decided that I would buy the house across the street from them a few years ago. Can't imagine living anywhere else. And I ran for council because I was volunteering a lot in the community and then kind of just got involved. Like, we came to council meetings to share about the fair and stuff and just kind of got involved. And I'm a local business owner and, you know, just wanted to give my input on that, I guess. So...

9:18 – 10:01Speaker 1

After I got married, my husband and I lived in Wichita. We had a small two-bedroom home. We had three children, and as they grew, we needed two as well. I grew up just outside of Valley Center. My mom still lives in the house I grew up in, and this was close to her, an area that I was very familiar with. Found a great property and have lived here for, it will be 24 years on the 19th of this month, or next month, sorry. and I ran for council because I was requested to by a lot of people who thought that I could use my knowledge, my community service and customer service orientation to help better the community.

11:14 – 17:20Speaker 4

I pride myself. So some common steps in decision making. Those are things you . That can't be your only. That may be the last thing you say. It meets all these other criteria. You can't just say that. So what about leadership versus management? So you look at these two circles. You see that a leader is people focused. So for example, the leader So in your organization here, where do you think council is at?

17:20Speaker 2

Leadership. I like what John Maxwell says, leadership is important.

17:32 – 52:09Speaker 4

So, and that is correct, and that's why there We're over. And then the manager, in turn, has those implement strategies, manages resources, and forces policies, but then he also has to go inside of the bubble there and set the clear goals with staff and adapt to change . So that's why the two bubbles merge So we hear micromanage. That can be at any level. The top level, the supervisor. And the reason that you don't want to the policy making. Don't always take no for an answer. So the warning signs of a micromanagement organization Benefits are people who actually enjoy coming to work, get more done. Half a minute, Brad. So normalize not knowing, it's okay to embrace uncertainty, especially if you've got new staff members, at least learn from the state. Today, the city of . One of their council members and I talked about what happens if . Those are all in your. Special meetings may be called by the mayor. Regular special meetings of the government may be adjourned. In this Open Meeting Act, I'm sure you've all heard about that, Coleman talks about Hosting the Recording devices are allowed at a council meeting. And there are 38 exemptions. Oh, cancel. The other issue that we run into with the COVID record act, and that's why there's always a lot of discussion of emails and texts. Do you have a phone, do you have email or personal email? Really, the consensus, I think, has always been And the same thing with taxes. And then borrowing, you have the ability to borrow. That's what you'll see. Usually what is recommended by the government finance office association is 35% balance. There is other talk about six months worth of balance. Then you have your capital equipment fund. And then you have a capital improvement fund, which is the same thing, but it's for like . So there's two timelines that you have to be conscientious about. So one is depending on what you're going to do with the revenue neutral rate, basically where you hearing. If you're exceeding the revenue neutral rate and passing the budget, you'll have two separate You're going to give that to the county clerk. The clerk will then roll it in the mills. And then the county treasurer creates a roll, so it sends out bills. You actually set the tax level. So Seth's evaluation, we've heard a lot about that. But it has to be a fair market value. Fair market value is . The property owners have to . The only reason that that's . This is . Well, no, we kept the middle of it the same, but we assessed value . But it's because general obligations backed by the for saying that you don't have enough money to pay you. The reserves are declining. So then now we're gonna talk about roles and responsibilities of elected officials. So we talked about meetings. So what are you really, what's really what's your responsibility? You review approved annual budget, establish long and short term Expenses, so again, we talked about that earlier. and by the mayor. Create policies or whatever. You're at the grocery store. Your community liaison. So want to be involved with other leaders, Thank you. Can it be implemented, the chance of working again, the bed tax, hotels. So we're gonna talk about the rules of the mayor, And vote.

53:06 – 1:00:16Speaker 4

Thank you. Thank you. So then I ask staff, how's the relationship between staff and the governing body at the Then I asked the council, what keeps you up at night? Ensuring the city maintains positive personal public image. Different leadership approach functions. Thank you. records. You have a city attorney at two points in the end. Those are all the code. Your experience ranged from 17 years to three years. I asked the staff, what do you feel like about your job? Do they provide essential services? Do they have a schedule of working with a public co-worker? That's good. That says that they're good patients. Questions or comments?

1:11:38Speaker 5

We don't have a form, though. We can't do anything. I don't count. So we have to wait until they come back.

1:12:13Speaker 4

Oh, I miss Washington weather every day.

1:12:58Speaker 5

Absolutely, go right ahead.

1:12:59Speaker 5

Probably just for the delay.

1:13:00 – 1:25:47Speaker 4

All right, no problem. It was good to get up and stretch a little bit. We're going to talk about strategic planning and how that relates to the budget. So Matt's passing out some information. You don't need to fill anything out yet. There will be time for you to do that, and then we'll gather that. Staff's going to work on putting that stuff together so you can actually see tonight what happens. The strategic plan is a plan that serves the community's roadmap, prioritizes incentives, initiatives, resources, goals, department operations. That's what a strategic plan is, and that's what a budget does. So what we've got, like I said, we passed out some surveys. And you all, or several of you, returned some surveys. And as you've already seen, I've asked staff what their feelings were. Because sometimes what you see is that the elected officials, you as a governing body, see the external things, the things that you can see, the park, playground equipment, the roads, that kind of stuff. A lot of what you do is delivering services is your gas lines which are underground and your sewer and wastewater are all underground No one sees those but sometimes staff really gets concerned about if those aren't being taking care of property because that's what properly because then they can't sleep at night because they're afraid of Water main breaks and things like that. So that's why I asked staff is You know, they're out there day to day serving the citizens, is there something that they see that maybe you didn't catch? So I asked the staff, what's going well within your department? The employees get along well, your employees are picking up what they need to be doing, willing to do what's needed, coworkers support each other. They're doing a good job with less. Everybody seems to be needing to cut or looking at cutting. What do you like about your job? Provide essential services for residents and flexible schedule working with the public So and I apologize this is a little bit a little bit small to read but you Copies of this at the end of the meeting so you can take these home and read these But then I asked what challenges does the organization face again? This was staff that I asked with the projected added growth There's going to be a lot of tough decisions that need to be made. Where in the budget do these potential upgrades come from? Finding people who want to work for city government. Always talk about staff and council or work in a fishbowl. You're never off. You're always, no matter where you're at, you're always going to get questioned about city stuff. Feels like planning commission or certain council don't want growth. That's always an issue with any community, especially smaller communities. There's some that like the way it is. They like the small community. They want to stay that way. There's others that want growth. They want more restaurants and things like that. So you're going to see that within a community. Not pleasing the public. So they're concerned that they don't please the public. Mayor comments on Facebook. A key Chinese look at expanding facilities, public works, lease buildings that are running out of room. What challenges does your department face? Future growth of the city, finding qualified individuals, again, who wants to work for cities, training new and existing employees, new codes and regulations. Federal, state are always making changes to to requirements for water and gas and sewer. There's that new water mandate out with lead and copper that everybody's got to comply with. And there's a cost that they forgot to fund. So it's on the cities now. No coverage when gone. So that happens when you minimize your staff. If someone leaves, you have no one to cover for when they're gone. Politics. Keechai needs to expand utilities. So then I asked the council, how do you think the city's doing delivering services? Public works does a great job. Customer service within City Hall has diminished since offices have moved, effectively delivering essential services, doing fairly well. Customer service should be the number one priority. What does the city do well? These were the questions that I asked you, and here are your answers. Public works does well, keep the roads maintained, public grounds. Been complaints from residents about customer service or communication, making necessary upgrades to sign outside City Hall, moving forward with Huffman Drive. Please keep our city safe. And whoever responded likes the outreach, the fishing derby and things like that, and managing growth. Then I ask, what can the city be doing better? Again, this is your comments. Provide a clear, transparent information, especially financial. Following policies and procedures equitably. Utilizing RFPs and consistent bidding. Always room for improvement. PD should increase control. Focus on community policing. Governing bodies work through differences in social media. Most everything is working well, thanks to the minister's department heads. Again, these were your comments, not mine. I'm just relaying. I also ask if you remember, is quality of life important? Overwhelming. Everybody, I think, said yes. And how should the city be involved? Decision-making, key decision-making, support and enhance quality of life, maintaining essential services like parks and infrastructure. And what is quality of life? Because we hear a lot about quality of life, but what does it mean? Quality of life means the degree to which an individual is healthy, comfortable, and able to participate or enjoy life. So I asked, what are the major issues facing the city in the next two years? I always like to do my strategic planning over two years. And the reason I've seen them five and 10 years, and I saw numerous five and 10 year ones just sitting on my shelf, never looked at it. Because council member, you have an election every two years. oftentimes you have at least one new council member rarely do you not have any change but you have some type of change and then all of a sudden your the vision that you had in that 10-year strategic plan is gone because you have two new counts things change so that's where i said what's in the next two years in other words what's your Until the next election. What do you see? And this is I also asked staff. What do you see the major issues facing? So this is a combined combination of you and staff planning for utility infrastructure, being proactive and planning K. Two fifty four corridor development. Completing the current phase of the park plan, the play equipment upgrades, managing growth, both residential and commercial. Infrastructure capacity. With growth, you need to make sure that your infrastructure can handle that. Increased growth and needs. Financial planning and investment. Finding the right balance between fiscal responsibility and investment. A governance of maintaining alignment, consistency, and leadership. Community confidence engagement. Political division and certainty can affect the residents. That's true. It can also affect businesses. There was probably more than once, but one that I can remember, I had a council that was very divided, and I had businesses that I was trying to promote come to Bel Air, and they were concerned about the council. And they said, as long as we can work with you and we can trust you, we'll do it, but we're not sure we can trust the council. So it's real. And businesses look at that as well. Because everything's on social media now. They can go watch a council meeting and see how you react. Do you need to make serious consideration of building a water treatment plant? Well-defined CIP, politics again, governing body, lack of growth, finding qualified staff. That's a big one anymore. Not just in local government, but any businesses. So then I ask, again, this is combined, what should the council priorities be for the next two years? Improving public trust, fiscal responsibility, update the CIP, strategic plan phase two, Keachar Road and Oliver phase two, improving governance, that's why we talked a little bit about what governance actually means, community engagement, Again, that capacity for infrastructure. Next phase is arts and business district. How to fund utility upgrades. That's always a big one. Growth supporting staff. Goals and vision for staff. Again, that's what you're doing with this strategic plan is giving your staff a direction, what you want to accomplish. What are the main concerns that you have for the 2027 budget? Been no preliminary information. That's what we're gonna do tonight. We're gonna work on setting some of those goals and giving staff some direction on what you want to see. You'd like to see a budget worksheet with details on line items, comparisons to the last three years. The state budget form does a little bit of that, but it doesn't get down to the line items. As development increases, as you grow, can the budget expand those, or can the government, the budget support those expanded services? Water sewer master plan, broken into stages. CI discussion, we're going to discuss that. CIP discussion, we're going to do that tonight. Lack of public trust. You're seeing a... Some similarities here in some of these comments that I'm getting. No budget retreat for 2027. That's what we're doing tonight. OK. So we're going to take a survey. So on your desk is a budget priority. You look at the top left. It's going to say budget priorities for 2027. And there's room on the back if something on here is not if there's something you want to add that's not on here, you can write it on the back. But if something's going to be included, so if you write something on the back, there's got to be at least three of you that agree that that's our priority. So if one of you just writes one thing, that's not going to be included. It needs to be something that at least three of you are tracking. So only items with three or more votes. So what you'll do is you'll just check mark what you think should be a budget priority for 2027. And then once you get done, they're going to tally it. We'll write it on the board and just see if you agree with that. The things that are on there are items that I got received from your comments and staff comments. Those are not things that I made up.

1:25:57Speaker 1

No changes to police department funding or list percent up or down

1:27:20 – 1:33:02Speaker 4

Same thing with the mill. That's the last one. I think it should be flat. Then check that you think it should be flat. But if you think it should go up or down, right. Go up by three mills or down by it. this is just a workshop so you're not going to be held responsible for any of your answers all it's doing is giving staff some suggestions on what you want to see in the budget for example if they want to if they have some ideas of some capital equipment or capital outlay funds and it's going to increase the budget by two mils and there's no support to increase the budget, then it's not a good idea to bring that to you, a several mil increase if it's not something that you're interested in seeing. If you're done, Krista, pick those up. Okay, so while they're, so they're gonna tally that and then they're gonna write it up here and we're gonna look and see what you all individually thought and how that came together and then make sure that everybody agrees with that. So in the meantime, We're going to have a little fun. I'm going to do some slide shows. So one thing that I really enjoyed about being a public servant was one of the things that I was invited to be a honorary commander of McConnell Air Force Base. That was fun because they do that. It's like a one-year stint, and they have things going on every month that you get to go and experience. Really neat. The most fun was they took us up in a tanker, and we flew down over Oklahoma and refueled some planes. over Oklahoma, so we were able to get in the back boom area, watch, you could wave at the pilot, and that type of stuff. So that's something that most people would never get to do if it wasn't for being in public service, working with other government agencies. The other thing that was fun is that in Cheney, they bought that new fire truck there. And of course, they were all excited. Firemen like their equipment. And they brought it home, and they said, come on, take a ride. So of course, I got a ride in their new fire truck. And then next thing I know, they're stopping and saying, you drive it. So I actually got to drive a fire truck, which, again, is fun. And then of course, Every time the police would get a new car, I'd take that for a ride, equipment that they would get. It's funny that staff really gets appreciative when they get new equipment because it makes their life easier. They don't have to repair things, something that they may have needed, and they're happy to share that. That's a joy that they have, and so I get to go share in that, and that's fun, working for the public that a lot of people don't get. And then, of course, got to meet several different people. Met the mayor and toured, actually toured the highway patrol facility right up here in your town. Met with different elected officials. Fun and unique. Sometimes they have a different perspective on things. We'll go through the results. One of the interesting things that The congressman there, if you remember, I'm going to talk a little bit about Integra. Remember hearing about Integra? And so that's during one of our recesses when they're in and writing stuff. I'll explain some Integra stuff to you. But what was interesting is that it was going to take millions of dollars to upgrade all of the infrastructure to Integra. We didn't know

1:35:11 – 1:36:01Speaker 4

Reason they didn't. Thank you.

1:37:24Speaker 1

You want when they're making all kinds of notes on them.

1:39:13Speaker 4

Yeah, proposed budget cuts is needed.

1:41:45Speaker 2

Just one more comment.

1:42:29 – 1:43:49Speaker 4

Free public works funding. INCLUDE FUNDING FOR PARK. I RECEIVE FOUR. INCLUDE FUNDING FOR STREET I RECEIVE FOUR. INCLUDE FUNDING FOR SEWER I RECEIVE FOUR. INCLUDE FUNDING FOR SEWER I RECEIVE FOUR. INCLUDE FUNDING FOR SEWER I RECEIVE FOUR. INCLUDE FUNDING FOR SEWER I RECEIVE FOUR. INCLUDE FUNDING FOR WATER I RECEIVE FOUR. INCLUDE FUNDING FOR WATER I RECEIVE FOUR. INCLUDE FUNDING FOR WATER I RECEIVE FOUR. INCLUDE FUNDING FOR WATER I RECEIVE FOUR. I guess I feel like

1:44:09 – 1:45:36Speaker 1

And I'm the one who asked for the budget to be presented on a line item basis. To me, that's different than what are we considering putting in the budget. That is more about how are we being transparent about presenting the budget. So I do feel like that is different than are we going up or down on the budget. Correct. And also the... When we are looking at planning, are we looking at what we have had staff-wise and benefits and payments for payroll? Are we looking comparatively? I feel like those two items were not necessarily in the same genre as what the others are, but that's... That's going towards the transparency and understanding why we are moving and what is the historic three years, especially when you're asking about lowering staff. Where have we been in the past with staff? So do we have the information that we need to make those? And I do feel like at this point, we may not necessarily have the information that we need to answer these questions.

1:46:28 – 1:47:27Speaker 5

Yeah, I would have to say that I really struggled with this because we've not had much information at all. I'm someone who's been pushing to get more information on water and sewer. What are those costs? We don't have any idea really what we're looking at at CIP. we are waiting to hear a report with usdi you know what's the possibility for our gas company so i feel like a little bit like the carts before the horse at this point um and so i've been put on my sheet like i it's like i need additional information because it's very hard to make decisions when you don't have information and you're just trying to guess from the past Where we should look and like the environment of where our city's at right now, like with utility infrastructure capacity. So I just feel like it's very difficult to be answering some of this when we don't have anything in front of us to know what we're looking at. Yeah.

1:47:27 – 1:48:15Speaker 4

And from your standpoint, I could see. Software will do it. You'll get it all. What is all this? What do I need? What do you specifically want? Those are the comments that are in there. Again, this is really a lot. What kind of reports do you want? Those are the things. So yes, from your standpoint, it is. Where do we cut?

1:48:46 – 1:49:17Speaker 1

And I think from a decision-maker standpoint, if I don't know what is being spent where already, and I have asked for these reports, and I don't know where it's already being spent or where it's already budgeted necessarily, I can't make those decisions either, so I cannot really tell them this is maybe the direction to go if I don't have a good picture of what is already happening.

1:49:18Speaker 4

And again, I understand that from your view.

1:50:01 – 1:50:41Speaker 3

I thought it was great seeing that all of us were on the same page of realizing that the sewer is a priority. And yes, we don't know what the solution is yet, but we know we need to be focusing on that and setting up our budget to support that, and also that most everybody thought that the streets are definitely important. We just went through kind of a 10-year recovery of getting our streets back up to where they needed to be because they had been neglected. And I think we all, or most of us, want to keep that from happening again.

1:51:52 – 1:52:28Speaker 2

cip i have a question about that what the wreck were we not replacing anything remember what the rack is normally we don't plan a rack into our budget

1:53:01 – 1:53:13Speaker 4

So here's your current capital improvement . Oh, you have the tally sheet.

1:53:17Speaker 1

She was confused because she has lots of tally sheets. She has the tally sheet instead of the original.

1:53:23Speaker 5

So do I. Oh, so does somebody else.

1:53:28Speaker 1

Okay, I just knew you had one. You get to vote a lot more times.

1:53:56Speaker 5

These were the things that were listed on

1:55:03Speaker 4

And if you think something's not on here that needs to be added, there's three of you that .

1:55:19Speaker 3

Matt, do you know, did we get the, we got the UTV in 2025, didn't we? The new Kubota? No?

2:00:22Speaker 5

Oh, the heritage bills.

2:00:59 – 2:07:35Speaker 4

was almost. And actually, the city of Bel Air and the city of Wichita were working. It came down to partial . Well, remember that it's based on what they were doing. It wasn't, it was not. But we looked at, Thank you. The property taxes is what threw me off. I was like, I didn't think you got property taxes. Okay, so capital improvement plan. Again, these are things that you all on your list. So we've got New public works facility.

2:09:53Speaker 1

What did you say that one was? The Oliver and Anderson?

2:09:58Speaker 4

Yeah, Anderson, Madsen, Mayer.

2:10:02Speaker 5

Isn't that, that's being done this year?

2:10:04Speaker 1

That's being done this year. We just voted on it at the last meeting.

2:10:06Speaker 5

It's already been completed this year.

2:10:12Speaker 5

So that's what, I mean, I didn't.

2:10:14Speaker 4

Oh, okay. So it was on your previous one?

2:10:17 – 2:10:30Speaker 5

We already have bids. Okay, okay. Well, it's not complete but we just voted on it to have it done this year I

2:11:08Speaker 4

Okay, so the next one, or the last one. The last one.

2:11:18 – 2:11:32Speaker 4

So council goals. This was a question that I had. What are your goals for 2027? What do you want to see to come? Some of these relate to the budget, some of them don't. But again, it's good for staff to know, you to know,

2:11:52 – 2:12:05Speaker 5

Please put your name.

2:12:14Speaker 2

So we have high priority, low priority.

2:12:16Speaker 5

Put an X in between. I guess you go between low and completed.

2:12:22Speaker 1

I don't know.

2:13:47Speaker 5

That was a very tough one to do, honestly, because it was like you only have high or low. You're not ranking anything. So it was a challenge.

2:14:19Speaker 2

Like senior services.

2:16:17Speaker 3

I don't know how many hours I spent cutting musk thistles for my uncle.

2:18:39Speaker 4

and all that.

2:19:22 – 2:19:57Speaker 2

Things can change very dramatically there and We have to respond as far as it's how that impacts improvements I guess what I'm saying is I'm not going to say it's off the table because we don't. Does that make sense?

2:19:57 – 2:21:08Speaker 1

I think that makes sense and I would also say it's not off the table in the sense that the utilities have to help fund the utility operations. So we can't say, well, we're going to have the general fund and the taxes pay for those services. So I would say no. Utility rates would have to be part of looking at utility infrastructure. Now, how we stage that and how it looks That's definitely where the conversation continues. But with that being said, I would say that Public Works does also do things that are outside of utility. So to have that be kind of a hybrid of how it is funded is something that we would have to look at. Typically.

2:21:16Speaker 2

We haven't always had one.

2:21:19Speaker 3

We had to go through that a few years ago to balance that out because they were way out of line.

2:21:26 – 2:21:40Speaker 1

There were a lot more utility heavy than we were showing. I guess when for our conversation, I think that if we're looking at some of these, I don't

2:21:48 – 2:22:09Speaker 5

However, I do think we've discussed this before the 1% sales tax there was a I mean the one the city the city Said that they were going if they passed the 1% sales tax The city was going to do the four phases of the arts and business district and only phase one has been done And that 1% was dedicated to completing those projects first

2:22:10Speaker 2

And I'm going to disagree with you, because I was on the council then, and we never promised. We voted on stage one.

2:22:19Speaker 3

It was for the intersection project.

2:22:21Speaker 1

It was for the intersection project. And the literature said multiple phases of the arts and business. But it was. That went out.

2:22:29Speaker 1

It was, yeah.

2:22:31 – 2:23:25Speaker 2

I mean, so. That project was originally over a $5 million project that there was even reducing it down to a $3 million project. But the whole purpose was to get phase one completed. We wouldn't have done any phases if the sales tax would have been the best. There was just no way to do it. We couldn't afford to do it. So we had a grant on the table. And COVID bailed us out for a couple of years. And it was either past the sales tax to fund the remaining piece of that. And we had gotten it down from $5 million to $3 million, not bearing the power lines to having the power lines above ground. But we never voted on a phase two, a phase three, a phase four.

2:23:32 – 2:24:22Speaker 1

no but when the vote the vote passed i think that the integrity of that the people was that we would use that solely for the purpose that we had stated even though we did not we do not technically have to because we did not do a sunset because that one would have expired in 10 years we thought we would need 20 years to pay it back we didn't want to have to leave it up to another vote of the people for the future so there's some integrity on our part to maintain the use that we hold the people it would be for and the number one thing people said that they wanted was sidewalks and that project all involves sidewalks

2:24:27Speaker 5

Only one face.

2:24:29Speaker 3

The intersection. Actually getting the intersection done.

2:24:34Speaker 4

Yeah, that's, I mean, that's amazing.

2:25:05Speaker 5

And that could be put in with the sunset. It's not going to go forward. I mean, people would be like, forget that.

2:25:14 – 2:25:29Speaker 1

What we can do, what we will do, and what we should do. Yeah, there's a lot of discussion. That's it.

2:25:35 – 2:26:13Speaker 3

And that's what I want to hear from people is, do you want us to use that? Because I felt the same way. It was passed for the intersection project. And I actually want to see if we do phase two down toward the post office, if we do whichever the next phase would be toward the park with everything going on there. I'm fine looking at that. But I also want to hear from people If we can give some property tax relief, do you want us to keep the sales tax and use it for streets?

2:26:14Speaker 4

Because we can.

2:26:16 – 2:26:44Speaker 3

But I want to know that. Because for me, when I look at it, I know it's a little more risky for a city because it's not guaranteed money. But on a sales tax? If I need to, I can choose not to spend that money this time. I don't have that choice with property tax. I've got to pay that or I get in trouble. So to me, it gives constituents a choice.

2:26:45Speaker 5

I think that's a great conversation. So how do we find out what the people want? That should be a discussion that we have, is how do we want to move forward trying to find out what they do want?

2:28:49 – 2:29:48Speaker 4

People are valued or listened to. Or community involvement. That's a priority. more funding opportunities. We're talking.

2:29:55Speaker 5

I'm curious how many sidewalk expansions up there.

2:30:17 – 2:31:25Speaker 4

So what's next? Like I said, I'll recreate a final report, and I'll have it done within a minute. Again, priorities change. Well thank you for allowing

2:31:41 – 2:32:35Speaker 5

Okay, thank you. Thank you, really appreciate it. I would entertain a motion. Oh, sorry. Anything else? we're good okay i would entertain a motion to adjourn no we're this is this is not connected to anything else that's okay anyone want a motion to adjourn Motion by Council President Hedstrom, second by Council Member Moreland. All in favor?

2:32:37Speaker 5

Motion passes 4-0. We are adjourned. Thank you very much.

This transcript was automatically generated from the official public meeting video and is presented unedited. It reflects remarks made on the public record by elected officials, staff, and public commenters. Transcript accuracy may vary; view the original recording for reference.