City Council - Regular Meeting

It's always either cold or hot.

All right, guys. Guys, we're going to go ahead and get started. I want to welcome you all to the regularly scheduled council meeting for the governing body of Spring Hill, Kansas on Monday, January 12th, 2026. If you guys could stand with me, we have Pastor John Mara with Living Hope Church here to do the invocation. Let's pray. Our father um at this the beginning still of a new year, we thank you so much for the opportunities that you are giving us to make a difference in the lives of so many people. We pray tonight for the blessing, the wisdom, and the grace that only you can give. pray that you'll guide this council, these leaders, these new leaders, and all of us to make the right decisions that are going to encourage and lift the lives of those who are going to be affected by what we do this year and even tonight. So help us put away, Father, any negativity, pride, even selfishness, anything, and instead make the choice to be humble servants like your son, Jesus Christ. in whose name we pray. Amen.

Amen. Thank you. Please remain standing for the pledgece 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. Madame clerk, if you could please take the role. Mr. Young here. Mr. Peele here. Mr. Thron here. Mrs. Feedback. Mr. Grant here. Mayor, we do have a quorum present.

Thank you very much. Next, we'll move on to approval of the agenda. U we didn't have any requested changes or addition, but if there's any other comments or questions, now would be the time. Not. I entertain a motion to approve the agenda as presented. So moved. Second. Got a motion and a second. Is there any further discussion? Not all those in favor? I

opposed. Motion carries. 400. Next, we'll move on to announcements and reports. Um, I'll leave this time open. If you guys have anything to say or if any of the outgoing members have anything to say, now would be time you'd like to. Well, Brian, if you want to say anything first and then I'll grow after you. Uh the only thing I have to say is that it's uh it's been an honor to sit up here for four years and serve this community and you know be a representative um and sit in one of these chairs that um I hold a whole a very high respect for the people that sit up here and the high level of responsibility that comes with it and the difficulty of making choices and decisions up here and knowing that your choices are large and that your decisions affect a large number of people in a lot of different ways and that makes this job very very difficult. Um, I wish best of luck to my returning council members, uh, those of you that are going to be staying here. U, best wishes to soon to be Mayor Young. um and also incoming council member uh Delgado that will be up here shortly. So, um the responsibility that you that the people that sit in these chairs have is really hard to to grasp until you sit up here and you spend some time up here and you spend some time with the staff and and you learn lots of different things, but the responsibility is huge and that's always been something that's been very near and dear to my heart about this job. So, I wish everyone that sits in these chairs the best of luck and um I will be looking forward to uh less stress in my life. Thank you very much for this opportunity.

Well, thank you, Brian. I want to personally just thank Brian. Um he's been been with me from the very beginning. Um we've went through some tough times in in the initial few months and uh kind of climbed through it together along with Chad as well. So, appreciate you both. And yeah, anyone else before I I'll try to not be too long online, but anyone else before I read my line? All right. Well, I want to start off by saying that it's been an honor to serve as your mayor for the past four years, to serve alongside our outstanding city staff and to help lead this community through four of the most productive years in Spring Hill's history. Together, we have accomplished so much over the last four years. I did not seek this office, but when I was called upon, I stepped into the role willingly with passion, enthusiasm, and a deep love for this town, the community my family and I have proudly called home for the past 22 years. And while these four years may have begun with real challenges, I rose to the moment, moved us forward, and today we have an extraordinary amount to be proud of. When I ran for office, I campaigned on bringing broadband and internet to Spring Hill, fixing our roads, which were in terrible shape, improving sidewalks, pursuing trails and connectivity, and position our community to attract the industries and businesses our citizens want and deserve, all without raising taxes. Through a great deal of hard work in just four short years, we have accomplished nearly everything I campaigned on. Some projects like trails and connectivity are still in progress, but these processes are underway. Some funding is secured, and the schedules are being set. Today, every single citizen in Spring Hill has multiple broadband options, something I'm personally worked hard to make happen by helping to bring a major provider to our community. We put a heavy focus on roads and infrastructure and we have repaired some of the worst roads in town including South Street, North South and North Victory, Lone Elm, South and North Woodland, Lincoln Street, West 207th Street, East South Street, South Main Street, South Webster Street, just to name a few. And there are many more road

projects currently in the works. We have also had some major sewer projects planned, funded and approved that will expand our capability for growth and offer new business and commercial opportunities for our community. Sorry guys, I'll try to blaze through this pretty fast. For four years, I personally advocated for a stoplight at 191st and Highway 169, working at the state level and even taking the fight to the federal level to secure funding. That persistence paid off. The project is approved and construction on that intersection will begin later this year. We established a dedicated sidewalk budget, implemented the Safe Streets for All program to study our streets, trails, and connectivity, and aggressively pursued grants to fund improvements. As a result of that effort, once all currently approved grants are received, our community will have secured more than $10 million in um in grants, several million which have already been awarded. Under this leadership, Spring Hill has been the fastest growing city in Kansas every single year. On the tax front, while we all want lower while we all want taxes to be even lower, we work diligently at the city level to keep the mill levy either flat or lower every single year. One of the accomplishments I'm most proud of is the leadership team we have built. Over the last four years, we hired an exceptional city administrator, Lane Massie, who continues to do an outstanding job. Thanks, Lane. While we are sad to see While we were sad to see Chief Henson move on, we welcome Chief Sutterby, who has continued and will build on that tradition of safety, service, and excellence in our police department. Thank you, Chief. you're doing an awesome job. We hired Jacob Spear as public works director, restoring professionalism and consistency to that department. Thank you, sir. Appreciate you. Rhonda Dunn join us as fin finance director and has been amazing. And most recently, we welcome Mike Malin as the community development director. These leaders have positioned Spring Hill for long-term success. Supporting our veterans has always been a personal passion of mine and I'm incredibly incredibly pr proud that I was able to lead the charge as we designed, built, and completed the Veterans Memorial at Veterans Park. If you haven't visited it yet, I encourage

you to do so. It turned out even better than I imagined. We also were able to build two fishing jetties at Veteran Park thanks largely to generous community donations improving accessibility for seniors, individuals with disabilities, and young families so everyone can enjoy time outdoors. Last page, I promise. Through careful budgeting and responsible planning, Spring Hill is in the strongest financial position it has ever been in and is well positioned for continued success. One final project I wanted to see through to the finish line was enhancing the beauty of our community as you enter from the north and the south. I brought forward the idea of repairing and expanding the flags along Webster Street from Victory Road to North Street. And that proposal was approved. Soon you will see many American flags lining both sides of Webster Street throughout town. These are just some of the accomplishments we achieved together. None of this would have been possible without the dedicated council members, including you guys up here, planning commission members, board members, and incredible city staff. It has truly been a joy serving alongside you. Every conversation, every laugh, and every shared objective together, we strengthen relationships with surrounding cities, county leadership, and rebuilt important partnerships, including with our school district. Spring Hill now has an excellent reputation throughout the region. I've had the privilege of appointing exceptional people to serve our community. One of whom Chip Vanha now represents us at our as our state representative and another who will soon serve as your next mayor, Chad Young. Chad was one of my first appointments and as he has been with me for through m much of this journey, gaining valuable experience that will help him as he serves our community going forward. As I pass the torch, don't worry, I'm not going anywhere or moving to Florida or anything. I will remain here in our community continuing to advocate and fight for the town I love. This is an incredible place and we have so much to be proud of. I will continue to serve Spring Hill in any way that I can for many years to come. It has truly been an honor to serve as your mayor and I believe I have done so with class, honor, values, integrity, and maybe a little extra patriotism and style. Uh Chad, you're going to have to step up your game a little bit. With that, God

bless America, God bless Kansas, and God bless Spring Hill. And congratulations, Chad, and look forward to seeing you next. All right, with that we'll move on to citizen participation. And this is a time when the public can come and speak about whatever they would like to talk about. Um, we did not have anyone sign up on the list, but if there's anyone in the audience that would like to speak, now would be your time. Going once, twice. If not, we'll go ahead and close citizen participation at this time and move on to formal council action. First item on the agenda is approval of minutes. Uh Mrs. Madame Clerk,

uh the January 8, 2026 regular meeting minutes are in your packet and requesting approval. I move we approve the meeting minutes from January 8th, 2026. Second. Got a motion to second. Is there any further discussion? Not all those in favor? I

opposed. Motion carries 4 0. Next item on the agenda is qualification oath and seating of the council members and mayor. And madame clerk, you have the floor. And we'll offer time for family members to come take pictures with with the members that are being sworn in and everything. So feel free to come up whenever she calls. Actually, mayor, we're going to do that at the end of the very end. Okay. So tonight we'll just right now we'll just do the oaths and then um

so yeah appreciate this. Uh if I could ask Mayor elect Young to come on down for your oath. I, Chad Young, do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Kansas and faithfully discharge the duties of mayor

for the city of Spring Hill, Kansas. So help me God. Thank you. I, Michael Grant,

do solemnly swear that I will support that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Kansas. in the constitution of the state of Kansas and faithfully discharge and faithfully discharge the duties of city the duty the duties of city council member for the city of Spring Hill Kansas for the city of Spring Hill Kansas. So help me God.

Thank you. I, Philip Throne, do solemnly swear I will support the Constitution

that I'll support the Constitution of the United States. and the constitution of the state of Kansas and faithfully discharge the duties of city council member for the city of Springo, Kansas. So help me God. Thank you. I, Ivan Delgado, do solemnly swear

that I will support the constitution. itution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Kansas and faithfully discharge the duties of city council member city

for the city of Spring Hill, Kansas. So help me God. Thank you. All right. Do we need to do a new roll call? No. Okay. All right. So, the first thing up on our list, uh, first off, thank you everybody and congratulations everyone and welcome Ivan. Excited to have you. Um, first thing we need to do is, uh, elect a president of the council. I'm going to read this just so you know kind of how the charter reads. The members of the city council, not including the mayor, shall elect one of its members by majority vote of the other members of the city council, the president of the council. It shall be the duty of the president of the council to fulfill some or all duties of the mayor in the event of a vacancy. So, I was president of the council before. Now that I'm not there, we need to go ahead and do that. We'll have to start with a nomination and a second and then we can vote on that. So, does anybody want to make a nomination for president of the council? I nominate myself.

I second. Okay, we have a nomination in a second. Do we take role or is it a IA vote? You just do an IA vote. Okay. All in favor? I I I. All opposed. Passes 3000. PJ Thron will be our new president of the council. Thank you. Would we like him to move or are we going to leave the preference tonight? Why don't you move on over? Take your seat.

I'll feel out of place right now. Um, outside of that, the last thing that we really need to do is uh request to approve resolution number 2026R-01 designating financial depositories of the city of Spring Hill, Kansas, directing and authorizing the mayor to execute authorizations with said designated depositories identifying authorized city officers and signitories for the city accounts held by the designated depositories. Rhonda, go ahead.

Thank you. Welcome everybody and congratulations. We'll get you started tonight with kind of a routine item um that we do each year, which is to designate the banking um depositories that the city will use as well as name the officers and and um signitories of the city to sign um for banking business. Um with the new mayor, we need to put place him on the account. Um we did not change any of the existing deposiitories. Uh Kindle Bank is our primary bank, First Options Bank. We keep State Bank of Spring Hill on there as they've gone through a merger. And then we use Tri Century Bank here in all in Spring Hill. The the signitories of the account are the mayor, Mr. Young, Mr. Massie, myself as the treasurer of the city and finance director, and then Mrs. Gity as the city clerk. This is routine business. We will do it every year. And with that, I um leave it for any questions.

Pretty straightforward. All right. So, we'll entertain a motion. I move the I move to approve resolution 2026-R01 designating financial depositories of the city of Spring Hill and the directing and authorizing the mayor and city officers to execute related documents. We have a motion. Do we have a second? Second. We have a motion and a second. All in favor? I opposed. Passes 3000. Thank you. The last thing we have is to adjourn, but I would want to ask Mr. Delgado if you'd like to say anything before we do that.

Yeah. Um, I'm excited to be up here. I work with everybody up here. Uh, none of this couldn't happen without Spring Hill coming in, packing me up, uh, with everything. None of this could have happened without the support from my wife and daughter while all going out knocking on campaign on doors. Uh she was out there dealing with our little Helienh for me. So but I want to thank everybody for coming out tonight. Um that's all I got. BJ and Mike, anything? All right, I'll uh enter Oh, actually after this there'll be a

Where's this at? A reception. Where's it at? Or a one. So, well, you guys can all make your uh way over there and families if you want to take pictures after this or anybody who would like to take a picture. Uh, entertain a motion to adjurnn. So, moved. Second. All those in favor? I. All those opposed. All right. Passes 30. Thank you everybody.