City Commission - Regular Meeting

out there. I call to order the uh February 26, 2026 uh city commission meeting to order. All five commissioners are present. One via Zoom. First item in the order of business is the consideration of the approval of minutes from February 20 or February 12th meeting. Questions, comments, or changes on those? I have none. I have none. I have none.

Okay. Then they will stand as presented. Next up, we have citizen comments on non-aggenda items. If anybody wishes to come up and speak to the commission in this portion, please state your name for the record. Adam Prey, thank you for listening to me. I' I've got a uh development south of town on Reservation Road. We've got a 14 house development we're proposing. The part of the requirements of the development is we have to have sanitary sewer. This is our third edition. So, the last addition we did, we tied into Big Creek Sewer and um Big Creek is being amicable at this point, but we wanted a plan B. So, I'd ask the commission to consider if for whatever reason Big Creek denies our sewer request that we tie right into your sewer line, same line they tie into. So, that's all I got.

Okay. Uh I'm assuming you've already been in contact with staff. I have. Okay. Okay. Yeah, Adam and I talked the other day about it. Okay, perfect. Then we'll just uh we'll continue with the staff recommendations and requests and take it into consideration. Adam, when is it on the county's agenda? Uh county agenda, we're meeting at the planning and zoning on March 25th and then we have the uh county commission meeting on April 7th. Thank you. What would be very helpful if you guys would consider it is if I could get something in writing from you so I have a plan B option just in case I can't get Big Creek sewer approval. So

yeah, I said verify what's needed with staff. Um um we could do um possibly like a a letter of intent. Um logistically um I mean the developer would be responsible for the cost of the infrastructure. Um we have a main line that runs along Highway 40. So the developer would have to get a a a private easement, you know, to get to that line um and and then pay for any engineering. But um we have outside sewer customers. Um we have a lot of capacity. So um it wouldn't cause us any problems logistically. Okay.

Um so it could would just be a matter of uh not encroaching in anybody's territory um and sort of, you know, outlining the terms of it. But we could we could draft a kind of a a pretty simple letter of intent. Um, well, we don't need to vote. We could just have consensus. Um, yeah. Or we could put on consent agenda. Um, and you could you could take care of it that way. That way, it's something it's it it's not binding, but it's a letter of intent. You know, if it doesn't work out, we would intend to work with you moving forward. And we wouldn't be able to do that for two weeks. Um, longer because we don't have a meeting next week. Yeah. We don't have a meeting. Um, yeah, we don't have work session next week or meeting the following week. So, so it'll be the the following after that

and that's that's okay. I got till like April 7th, so timing is okay. That'd be very Yeah, we're good on time. So, we we could shoot for that for the next meeting to get a a quick letter of intent on sticking on the consent agenda. Okay. Are you guys okay with that? I'm all right. We're staff. I have no problem with it. Okay. Thanks, guys. And the chances are very slim that we go this route. I just wanted a plan B just in case. So, don't blame you. Thanks, guys. Appreciate it.

Thanks. All right. Any additional questions or comments from the citizens on non-aggenda items? Nope. Okay. We'll move on to the consent agenda. Uh only thing here right now is uh mayor mayoral appointment recommendations for the HCVB advisory board. Um it's two that have served previously. Um heard nothing but good things about their service on the board and they are very eager to continue that service. Um so I would ask for your guys' recommendations. Move approval of the consent agenda. I second. We have a motion by Commissioner Jacobs, second by Commissioner Vison. Additional questions or comments on that. Okay. If not, I'll call for a vote. All in favor, please say I. I. I.

I. Opposed? Passes 50. All right. New business. First up, Fort Hayes Tech North Central Big Creek Technical Training Center annual report. President Burks.

All right. Just hit that and there we go. All right. I know that uh when anyone walks into a public meeting and sees a crowd like this, I'm sure Adam when he walked in, he's like, "Who else?" You know, but this is what happens when you offer to buy people lunch if they come and to a meeting. So, um Adam, you're welcome to come along. More the marrier. But, uh I actually figured you'd get out of here before you had to listen to me speak again. But, uh, so anyway, um, want to take time to introduce a few of the folks that are here that we've invited along. Um, of course, I think most of you know me, but Eric Burks, the president at Fort Hastack North Central, Dale Montgomery, who's a board member and has been since uh, 1987, so for 39 years. And, and he continues to be an outstanding board member and very active in the college and really appreciate all of his uh, all of his effort and commitment to this to the college. Lance Smith, who's been with us a little less time, but also an excellent board member. We're very blessed to have him as well. Appreciate you guys both joining us tonight. We also have Diana Bowman, who's the vice president of Hayes Operations, finance and haze operations. Mindy Anshes, who's our advancement director, and Samantha Johnson, uh if you're going to the chamber meeting tomorrow, uh she's going to be speaking with me. Uh I'm going to be speaking with her is probably the better way to put it. Um, but uh she's our new director of apprenticeships and workforce development. I'll talk a little bit about what she's going to do for us, too. And then uh I might just have instructors stand. Um, anyone here that's on the L? Well, I go ahead. I'll just do it one individually. Is Ethan here? I don't see him here. Uh, James, don't see him. Melanie McMillan, I saw you here. Thank you for joining. So, she's uh with the constru construction tag. Really kind of rovers around. She helps all the way around. She's a a Jane of all trades, I guess. So, um, Marty Walters, who's with our electrical department, department chair, Craig Ford, I don't think could make it. More Sam Andy

Schwint, I think I saw he was here, so he's our department chair for plumbing, heating, and air conditioning. Uh, Angel Hernandez, who's a new instructor with us this year. We're glad to have him. And Mike Ecard, I know, had told me that he couldn't be here either. So, and then we have some business technology, um, Jennifer Younger here as well. and Jennifer von Lentil. So that Jennifer's showed up as well. They're kind of excited. You'll see why here in just a minute. And uh then Wilma who just uh I don't know, normally she feeds us, but this time she's so anyway, I think that's all of my my crew that's here. So this room's going to get a lot less populated uh here in a minute, I suppose. But uh I think uh for those of you that are new to us or don't know about Fort Haze Tech North Central previously NCK Tech I know um but we've we serve approximately 1300 students a year. That's headcount. Uh we're one college with two campuses. We have a campus here in Hayes that's uh around 250 full-time students. We're actually a little north of that I think now because of the new building that we're that I'll tell you about. Uh we also have a gateway program here in Hayes with the with the university so our students can live on uh university campus and uh be part of university life there. I'm not sure if I'm standing close enough to the mic. So um and then belo we're around 200 maybe 225 full-time program students there and uh we have onampus housing there and food service as well. And we are a fully accredited college so don't call us the vote anybody. I'm not going to point any fingers happen. I saw that finger go right

for haste techch North Central. I was practicing.

There you go. You got it down. You say it better than I do. And uh we do the main reason for that is because we do have transferable credits and and that's always important for folks to know as I tell you all the time and it's just because it continues to be true that we are consistently in the top 10 in the nation um in graduation rates. So we're very proud of that. That's not because our programs are easy. It's because we have a lot of people very dedicated to helping students u get across the finish line and reach their goals and we we just really stress that to our students from day one and we are typically the highest ranked in the co in Kansas as you can imagine if we're the highest in one of the top 10 in the nation. Also this year um and it's a two-year cycle um and it's been since uh 2013 that we've been one of the top 150. I noticed this year they have the top 200. So I don't know why they broadened their standard, but uh anyway, we cleared that one, too. And uh we are uh one of the top 150 or 200 uh two-year colleges in the nation. Um that's out of over a thousand two-year colleges. So that's some national recognition that we that we've received. I think you all know about the affiliation. I appreciate your attendance at launch parties a couple years ago or a year and a half ago. But uh just reminding everybody because a common question I get is when why did you guys decide to sell to the university or you know why when you know when you were taken over by the university we're not taken over they weren't taking over us. Uh we're a separate entities but we're partners and we're very proud of that. We've been partners actually for my entire time with the college. uh that started before me, but I'm happy that we've, you know, it's been a natural progression to continue to evolve and uh to become deeper and deeper partners. And we're just really committed to better serving our students, businesses, and communities, increasing opportunities for all of those, increasing resources that are available to us. We just know when we look around, uh we can either fight for students, which we don't compete a lot with the university anyway. Our students are usually a

little different, but or we can work together to figure out how do we keep more people here so that they can fill the jobs and the needs that we have for workforce in this area. So, I'm proud to be partners with both Fort Hayes Techch Northwest in Goodland as well as uh Fort Hay State University. So, I'm going to tell you about a few exciting things. We've had a lot of uh we were joking I forget who I was talking to. I should be collecting all these ribbons and and uh somehow papering a wall with it or something around here. We have a lot of ribbon cutings going on. Um we had a grand opening or a ribbon cutting for our brand new equipment and heavy equipment operations which this is a program that we've had for years and it's also been a program that I've struggled with for years and figuring out how do we get modern equipment for these students to operate. Uh Bob Severance, some of you may know him. He's 99 years old, but he was the director for 25 years, which is his equivalent of the president at the time. I he's told me stories about how they got him out of government surplus and had to let the air out of the tires to get under the overpasses in order to get them back to Bo. And uh since when I first came to the college, I think that our heavy equipment spent as much time our operating or excuse me, the equipment itself spent as much time with our diesel technology students as it did with our operating students. it just was pretty run down. And so we had worked with John Deere and Caterpillar over the years to rent equipment. Uh they were renting it to us too cheap and it wasn't good for them. Then they were renting it to us too expensive. It wasn't good for us. But we hung in there with each other and eventually we got a grant and uh we got a $3.7 million EDA grant thanks to a lot of support from a lot of folks, legislators, uh US senators. U so really appreciate all that. But we were able to secure that with a lot of hard work from Diana Balman and India and and others in this room. And uh through that we were able to get nine pieces. You would think 3.7 might buy more than nine pieces. But actually it may u because our partners

were so good when they came in with the deals that we actually went back and said, "Hey, you Whoops. I don't know how to make that go back." Oh, I did make it go back. Um we don't know how to make or Sorry, I'm sorry I repeat myself there. We weren't sure. Um, they came in with the price. We were already approved for $3.7 million and it came in under that. So, we said, "Hey, we could buy more equipment. We need it." And uh, so they're considering that now. We're hopeful that it might actually be 13 or 14 pieces of equipment. But the most exciting thing about this is to me the sustainable business model because we're able to buy this at a government rate. And so at that government rate, we've we've built a a shed or basically a canopy so we can keep it under shed there and hopefully the residual value will be high enough that Caterpillar and John Deere both say the business market is so strong that we should be able to turn that in in three or four years and be able to take what we get there, go back to the education government market and buy new again and just keep cycling it through. So that's the exciting thing is it's not just a one time we're going to have nice equipment. we should be in a position we'll be we'll have nice equipment for a long time and both vent uh vendors had told us that we have the nicest fleet of any educational entity by far but even a lot of companies that are around which means that our students are going to be able to go out and drive some of that new equipment that they know how to run now because and it's got the guidance systems and all the latest greatest so we're excited about that this may be Wilma is also here and Adam's here as well and he's part of this but we're excited to be part of the LB event center. That's where the chamber meeting is at tomorrow, by the way, if you want to come hear Sam talk. But, uh, our culinary arts program, we had a, uh, ribbon cutting there earlier this year, and we're really excited to be part of of the kitchen space there. Adam and I had talked, we had been part of a grant together, uh, to help get some funding for that. And, uh, through all of that, we were able to utilize the kitchen, not every day, but some days of the week. And, uh, that's been a great

arrangement for us. It's an industrial kitchen. It's beautiful and a great experience for our students. Told you earlier about Samantha. I'd give you a little So, she's director of apprenticeships and workforce development. The main thing there is is we talked about the Northstar with the affiliation. You know, we think we do pretty well with students, but communities and businesses, that's not as not as innate to us. It's not something that we do. And we just need to go out and figure out. We know that we have kind of a one-sizefits-all and we need to make sure that we consider other ways that we can help serve communities and businesses. So, she's been out darkening the doors of several businesses. I think she's been out to did you say 70 or 80 different um companies?

A little over a hundred. Sorry, I didn't mean to short change it. So, she's been a very busy lady and uh we just really appreciate that she's going out finding out what can we do, how could we serve you differently, how can we use our resources to help you and your business. And that's part of the commitment from the affiliation. And by the way, she's got a counterpart at the university. I think a lot of you know Ben Shears. He used to be the president at Northwest. And uh also um there's a a person that does the same thing out at Northwest as well. And you always have to tell me our names.

Shayla. That's right. I'll remember one of these days. So anyway, the other exciting things and and I really want to start with I thank you for those of you that were able to come to the ribbon cutting the other day. Uh it was exciting event. It was fun to have the lieutenant governor here to celebrate with us, but uh you know 30,000 square feet almost uh it doubled our capacity for our our programs that have been housed at Big Creek. It means more students, more workforce, more instructors, which means more employees for us, more people in the community, um two times the houses that we're making, and if you ask the Department of Commerce, it's actually three. I can tell you more about that if you want to know. But uh anyway, depends on how you count a duplex is all all that it is. But uh anyway, um so we're very excited about that building and what it means for us and we hope you are as well and I think you are because of your attendance at the at the grand opening. So thank you. So you already know the former is what I put on there programs uh at Big Creek, electrical technology, plumbing, heating, air conditioning. Uh those two were the kind of the last ones. We started with carpentry there. It's moved out over the years and um also CDL started there years ago and uh it's moved out as well. But there are several area businesses that serve on the advisory committees for those programs to make sure the training meets the region's needs. The instructors work with the city to make sure they're licensed or working under a licensed contractor if they're not. And so we we appreciate all the work with the city on that as well. And uh they're former because the programs that we plan to move into Big Creek are business management, business technology, culinary arts, and telecommunications. So that's why we have some extras here. You guys are welcome for supper as well, by the way. Um and uh they also have business and industry um advisory groups that tell them what they should be training in, how they can best meet the

needs of of the region. And to me, what's exciting about it is and and I thought it was cool. I was trying to think of what picture to represent their departments and then I was like when they do the drive-thru at October Fest, all of those programs, especially this year, telecommunications was involved as well. All of those uh students and departments work together to pull off the October Fest. So, it's kind of cool that they're all going to be down in that same building together. And uh we're excited to have them downtown. We're still going to be working with Gellas and LB Event Center with culinary arts. That doesn't, like I said, they're there some days and otherwise they're out on the main campus. Now, they're going to be down here closer to downtown. And hopefully, uh, our business departments can work more with businesses downtown as well. So, we think it could really serve the region better and serve our departments better. So, so now I'll talk to you about the building condition. Um, we installed a a new furnace in the West Shot building. That's the separate building back behind. Um, we installed energy efficient LED lights in the restrooms and classrooms. We have a full we did a full service including rebuilding the circulation pump for the boiler system. Uh, multiple roof repairs, which I'll talk talk about here in a minute. Um, mini split uh heating system that we and cooling system that we uh did some repairs to. Painted stripes in the north parking lot. If you hadn't noticed, we have got a new sign on the side of the building as well. and did some plumbing repairs due to a a pipe break in the west shop. So, those are some of the things that we've done. And so, now I want to share with you um some plans of what we would like to do uh to this building. You can imagine when a building is set up for working with construction programs. It's a little different need than having culinary arts and um business programs in there, telecommunications. And so, we would like to uh we'd like to do some projects here. And I told Toby about this the other day and I said we'd I'd share these a little bit. We've got to work

through it. The board is aware of these uh these plans as well to orient you. That side, the right side is the east side of the building. And so as you come in, and I'm going to focus, it'll zoom in here in a minute, I think, if I did this right. Um to the women's and men's restroom area. So, um, right now, and that's actually how we want to make it. But the women's and men's restroom, there's one stall, and I'll show you that. That's the women's restroom right now. There used to be a partition there, but when we had ADA compliance come through, you couldn't get a a wheelchair in there, and so we had to take out the the partition. So, the door opens right up to the stall, which is not typical for most bathrooms. And you can imagine in most of our construction fields, we haven't had as many ladies involved. This is the ladies restroom. Um, but with business technology, culinary arts, there's going to be a larger population. We expect, of course, all of our programs can have anyone, men or women, uh, in any of them, but we know how they usually go. And usually those programs have more women. So, we're going to need to find a way to accommodate more ladies in that building. And so we would like to uh expand this bathroom. The wall that separates the men's and the women's bathroom is a non-supporting wall. And so we'd like to uh take that out, make it a little larger so that we can get at least two if not three stalls on the lady's side and still maintain most of the stalls on the men's side. There's a shower in there that I don't know if anyone's ever used it. I remember one time I used it. I don't remember why, but but uh it's been a while back, but it we don't need a shower in the bathroom there. there. And I'll show you that, too. So, this is the men's side. So, there's three sinks. There's that shower that's kind of here before you get to the stalls. And so, we think that we can move the door over and gain some of that space back for the ladies restroom. So, so that's what we're hoping to do there, uh, as a project.

Um, the other is that, uh, we need a couple more classrooms, and this is a little different maybe than the drawing, so it there's nothing set in stone. Uh but what I really liked about it was that uh our departments went down with our vice president of instruction and uh and basically went through the building and kind of said this is the stuff that we would like to see happen. And so they drew up some plans. This is a little modification of those plans, but essentially the same thing. And so uh we do need a a business technology classroom and a business or a telecom communications program. When I first walked into that space, I saw this structure and that's the structure that when you were at the grand opening that he hadn't finished yet uh on in the new building and I thought, why did we rebuild it if we already have it? You know, why didn't we repurpose that? But telecommunications would also like to have their students wire in the house and and run their cabling and all of that. So, it'll be great for them to do as well. And uh so I thought maybe we could build the walls out of all that material, but they said no, that's already so and we probably want to use still studs anyway. So, but right in this area where we're looking, that's where we would like to build those two two classrooms out in that uh in that garage shop bay. So, as far as the culinary arts, um really we just want to make this kitchen functional again. I don't know when the last time besides a microwave dinner that that's made a meal. And so we'd like to make it to where our culinary arts students and instructor can utilize that space. That's one side where the dishwashing is and that's the other side. It had vending machines in there before. It looks a lot bigger with the vending machines gone, but it's still not a great big kitchen, but it would allow some space when we're not able to be at Gellas that we could use uh at the LB event center. I'll get that right. Um but that we could use that um space for practice for the culinary arts students. So that's what we're hoping to do with that space. This is where the culinary classroom would be. I'm I'm assuming there must have been a cage or something

there. I don't know why that fence is off the ceiling instead of on the ground, but uh I assume that was to probably protect whatever gear or things equipment that they protect that they had stored there. But we'd like to remove that like to remove that big air handler system that actually opens above those two doors that we think would actually be a great place for a window to let some natural light into that space. So, we'd like to take that down and uh move it. And then in here, we're really talking about cosmetic changes. Flooring and some paint. You can see the ceiling is actually fairly new, mostly in this room. Um it doesn't have as many leaks as some of the others, and it has new LED lighting in it as well. But the roof is going to have to be addressed as well. That's something that we're going to have to do as an improvement. So, so that's the condition of the building. you can kind of see it more when it's cleared out. You know, you have all the equipment around, you you miss out on some of that stuff. We've known that the the roof, we've been kind of pampering it along, but if we're going to make some type of investment, uh we're going to need to uh have a new roof on there to make sure that it protects that investment. So the other thing is that uh and and Toby and I are continuing to work through looking at the contract and how we can re reframe the contract maybe in a longer term so that the if the college is going to invest funds into that building that we can get the usage out of it and not worry about having it being that you'd all say those are nice changes. I think we'll use that for something else. Not that you would ever do that but uh I'd like to have it in writing that you're not going to do that. Um, no offense at all, but uh that's the way I like to do business. So anyway, um, going back to the current programs that are in the building and just to I'll finish up here, but um, we have a project house as you know, but we actually, this is why I was telling you, we have actually three if you want to count it that way, but a single family home that's 1920 square feet. That's what we typically build. And these are right, I don't know if you got a chance

to tour that day, but they're right to the north of our our building. it's super easy for the carpentry uh students and everyone to get to those versus the way it used to be. Um the story behind the duplex is we got a we got a grant from the department of commerce that frame grant and uh we originally were told that we didn't qualify and we had three days to figure out how we could qualify and I couldn't figure out why we didn't qualify to be honest with you. They said well you have to build three new structures said three? I said we are building three. We had the one or they had to build two structures. They said, "We are building two." And they said, "No, it has to be two new ones. Be three total." I was like, "I don't know how we're going to do that. We didn't build the building to hold three classes. I don't know if we have capacity coming in for that." And uh so I called him back and I said, "How would you count a duplex? Would you count a duplex as one or two?" He said, "Well, we count that as two." I said, "Well, then there you go. We're qualified." So, uh, we ended up getting $492,000 out of building a wall between, uh, both sides of the house. So, but anyway, so, uh, really, uh, doesn't make sense to me necessarily, but that's the way it worked out. So, we'll be selling and we're kind of interested to see what the market's going to be like for a duplex, to be honest. And I know that the city ordinances are different for setbacks and different things with with a duplex, too. We've had some trouble getting some of the houses into the community. Maybe we'll see some of these duplexes that people will be interested in. So, uh, if you want to come out and see it anytime, just let us know. We'd be happy to tour you. Um, but there is an open house, um, on April 29th at 10 o'clock. That's a Wednesday. And then, uh, be auctioned off by Don Hammet on May 26 at 7 o'clock. And we'll we'll auction both. I don't know which one we're going to do first. We'll figure that out. Um, Don will probably have some advice on that, but uh, but anyway, that's when the sale will be. If you want more information, you can go to our website and again, just contact us if you want a tour.

impact of last year's house. We just had the one then uh was 1920 foot home. It brought $236,000 at auction which generated $21,830 in sales tax and represented about $140,000 worth of uh building product and material that we purchased mostly from businesses in. Eric, where did that house go? If I'm It went to Osborne, purchased by Allen and Janelle Burch. So, and do you know have any idea what it cost them to move it from your campus to Osborne? I don't know for sure. That's okay. Um I was just trying to put together this cost and total cost to the bar,

right? I think what we usually advise folks is that you can expect to spend because you got to realize and it depends on what you want out of the house, right? So, but if you're going to add a double garage, let's say some people might want a triple garage, but let's say it's a double garage and you're going to put it on a basement. Um that's probably $100,000 of investment right there at least. And then you still have to put a a uh heater in it. We don't do the heating. We put the boots in, but we don't want to dictate where it's going to go. And of course, we can't put it on there because, you know, you want it to be in your basement if you're going to put it on a basement.

And so, those are additional costs that you're going to have above that. We try to be very clear about that. We also try to be very clear that they're going to have to pay sales tax, which sometimes people don't like, but that's that's the way it is. We don't pay sales tax, and so we have to pay se them pay sales tax on the materials that we used. So, well, it's still adding everything you're putting together, that's still pretty reasonable for almost 2,000 square feet home. Yeah, Adam bought one once for a day. So, for a day, that's a whole another story.

So, sorry, Adam. Maybe I wasn't supposed to say that. There's a story behind we'll tell you sometime. Um, so anyway, u beyond that, we like to be good community partners. I won't go through the whole list, but it's the the same stuff that we try to help with every year and we always look to add to this list and be involved uh in the community and uh that includes uh we we treat Martin Luther King Day as a day of service. He was known for civil rights obviously and all of his work there, but he was also big about volunteerism and and service. And so we go out on Martin Luther King Day and do different projects. Uh we've built birdhouses for uh camber and uh done just different things for thrift shops in the in the area, but we're happy to look at other things, too. So, if you have anything or know of an organization that could use some extra help, uh it's one day that we do, but uh we're always doing that on Martin Luther King Day. And otherwise, because of our 16-year partnership since 2009, we have trained two 741 full-time students in carpentry, electricity, plumbing, heating, air conditioning. We built one range house, if you remember that, um out at the for the city or the police department. Uh we have one regional fire training facility that we built with Fort Hay State University. Uh we have 13 new houses since we started building those a little later since we were doing those other projects. And now we have one new state-of-the-art construction training facility. And I give you all a lot of credit because you took a chance on us when we first asked if we could use that building and move those programs into town. So because you took that risk, we're able to do what we've been able to do and uh over those 16 years. So thank you for your commitment and support. And uh other than that, just always like to wrap up with reminding people we have about a $31 million impact and we have a lot of exciting things happening at the college. We want to be strong community partners and we've accomplished a lot

together and we greatly value and appreciate your collaboration. So I would stand for any questions. I do have to make one more comment. I haven't been able to use this picture very much. I think you'll be able to see why if you study close. I think it's a great picture. We have all these staff here. And it's not because Sierra wore pink pants, although I didn't like that either, but it's because that Bud Light truck that's up in the upper. We were going to put it on the Christmas card and uh if you're a Seinfeld fan, we didn't want to have a Seinfeld moment. So, uh so we didn't use it on the Christmas card, but I thought if I can't have a Bud Light truck on a picture in Haze America, something's wrong. So, I went ahead and used it for this presentation right out of there.

I probably could, but why? You know, it's kind of funny. It's a good photo. That's fun. So, do you have any questions? And I'd stand for those. Commissioners, any questions or comments? As always, I really appreciate the um sharing everything that's going on, been looking at the economic impact at $31 million. Uh that's a lot to this community and we appreciate everything you do and the students that come and those that stay and there are some that stay. Absolutely. Absolutely. I would uh definitely like to set up a tour of your new building. I had to work unfortunately that day. So uh but I you know seeing even since I've been on here what you guys have done for the community, it's great. And uh you know hopefully how long is the contract that we have with them right now. It's on It's on auto renew now. So, I believe it's a year-to-year auto year. Okay.

Or even maybe a two-year auto renew. Gotcha. Hopefully to change it. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. But appreciate what you do and what you uh bring to our community on, you know, every year with the students. Thank you. And it's because of all these fine folks here. So, I just get to stand up here and tell you about it. Well, thank you. I like uh what you're doing. and I saw the new building and uh it's a heck of a nice facility. Uh a lot of improvements from the the previous facility. So I can't wait to see what uh we can make happen there at the that building for the new program. So very exciting. Thank you,

Elena. Um yeah, I just wanted to touch on not only impersh and Fort's many others that you guys offer is being taken advantage of immensely. high school students.

Thank you. And that's you. That's an excellent point because we do have a lot of great partnerships on the high school side as well. And so I should have highlighted those more, but I'm glad that you brought them up. I'm glad she did too because I have a question about if I don't know how many are participating, but do you find them coming on full-time after they get out of high school? Do you have a percentage of them that actually come to You always like to stump me with those questions about leave you with one you have to send me an email on.

Yeah, I don't know if I have a good percentage to share with you, Sandy, but I do know that we have a decent number that continue on. We also like we've had automotive uh for a long time again since I've been with the college where they can take their um like their junior year of high school they take the first semester of what would be their freshman year in college and then they take the their senior year the second semester of that. So they can come out of of high school and be just one year to get a two-year diploma after that. So so we try to make sure that that can happen. It probably doesn't happen as much as I would like it or you would like it to happen but it does happen quite a bit. And then Tom Alers and I used to talk about this too because there is some value to students taking those courses and finding out I really like you know working on cars but it's not what I want to do for a profession you know and so sometimes that's the realization that they have too when they go through the program as well not that that's what you know we want to train them for the workforce but if they're not going to if that's not what they want to do then they learn that in high school and then they can get to us with something that they want to do or somebody else with something that they want to do.

Thank you. Yep. You know, Eric, I I appreciate everything you guys have done for the community and and for our students. Um I know a couple years ago, a few years ago, um when I was mayor the first time, one of the first things I got to sign was a letter of support for your guys's affiliation with Fort State. Oh, yeah. Um and that was really humbling experience to be able to be a part of that. Um to help you guys along. And it was right after you guys got your new logo and the cool blue and green colors and then you're like, "Yeah, we got to change everything again." Won't tell you that.

But it it's I I think it's done amazing things. I mean, sent ripples across at least Kansas, if not more. Um, one of the great things I get to I get to do when I help uh do like job fairs at Hayes High or Mock interviews, um, the amount of kids who are looking at your specific programs is seems to be increasing every single year. They're understanding the importance and the need of what you guys offer and how great it is to have it right here in our backyard. And you guys aren't letting things get stagnant. As soon as you need something to grow, immediately figure out how can we do it and you do it. So, I appreciate everything you guys have done. Thank you. Of course.

Any additional questions or comments, commissioners? Okay, we'll let you stand here longer if you're going to keep showering us with I thank you very much. I appreciate your time as always and look forward to visiting every year. So, thank everybody for coming. That's always nice to have you all here. Enjoy your dinner. if anybody wants to chip in on what supper is gonna come. Thank you so much. Appreciate you all. Yeah, thank you guys. Good to see you.

Thank you guys. You say full. All right, another exciting uh program, water conservation program, 2025 results and 2026 plans. Holly,

good afternoon. I'm going to try to talk a little bit louder because in the past I've listened to myself and I cut in and out. So, if I start getting quiet, let me know. Yeah, it just seems like I was just here and here I am again. A year has passed. So, um, just to go back, I show this slide often, but I tried to show it because it is a really good contrast of how quickly things can change. And this was back in February of 2012, abnormally dry, moderate drought. By August of that year, we were in exceptional drought. Unfortunately, I'm having flashbacks to that year this year, which as warm as it's been in February. So, I hope me talking about it makes it go away. Um, this past year in February in 2025, here's where we were. Thankfully, things are looking like this at the moment. We're not in drought, at least for Hayes, Kansas. But the outlook for us is that drought development is likely. So, pretty much the whole half of the state um that was just the latest release of that outlook. 2025 was again an above average year for precipitation in Hayes. Um, I say in Hayes because if you go to the KState Misone for Ellis County, the total precipitation was under 20 in. Um, so it it varies quite a bit, but Hayes had over 26 and for the year so far, we've got an inch 62 according to the A research center, which is above average for this time of year. Moving on to rebates, um, toilet rebate program was down just slightly, but still holding pretty steady. We had 181 of those toilets replaced. Average gallon per flush, 1.08 gallons. And you can see potential water saved for that one there. Uh the washing machine rebate right steady pretty close to 2025. Um we or for 2024, excuse me, we had 90 replaced in 25. So 18,000 paid out and the

average integrated water factor was 3.1, which they must be 3.2 two or less to qualify for the rebate. Um, our other two rebate programs that are still new, I call them the smart irrigation controllers and rain sensor shut off. Not real popular yet, but we did have a couple replaced as far as the irrigation controllers. And we'll see how that goes. We may end up doing something a little bit different there. But like I said, that's only been in place for a couple years. So, we'll see. Drought year might have a change with some of those things, too. um rebate programs for uh 2025 continuing. We have turf conversion rebates. Slow year for that. Again, nine total in 2025. And you can see the square footage switched out. Pre-insspection still waiting to be converted. Just close to 3,000. Um but I seem to see more turf to turf conversions, which I like. So happy about that. taking out the cool season turf grass and replacing with a warm season turf grass. Um, but we'll see what this next year brings. Something happened here. There we go. Okay, showerheads. Uh, again, pretty even with 2024, 85 or so of those distributed. Still still replacing those on a regular basis. Again, water potential saved there as well. and education outreach. I share this list every single year, but it just is a list of things that generally are taking place. Um, these may change a little bit from year to year, but this is a a laundry list of things that go on generally every single year that I have been with the city. And as far as traditional media goes, we have radio spots. We've got traditional TV ads. Um I do live radio once a week. So we've

had 48 live interviews in 2025. And then also some digital ads as well. We are on social media um as have been for many years and those pages still continue to be growing. Um just a couple examples of some of the posts that I've put out in the last couple of years. Um, just trying to keep it fun but educational at the same time. Fix the leak week 2025. Again, over 1,600 toilet die tab packets and instruction sheets were sent out to every grade school student in Hayes. So, um, I like that project because it is a good awareness program for the kids and for the parents. I want to give a shout out to the people that I work with because I would not be able to staple all those little things to papers without those people. So, that is a big thank you to the water resources staff that help me with some of those projects every year. This year, the uh slips that were returned to the schools with their observations had a chance to win a prize, two per school. And this year, they got buckets full of water conservation educational items. World Water Day Funfest was our biggest one yet. In 2025, we had 370 people attend. And that's a huge number for a short program. It's only a two-hour event, so it's from 10 to noon at the Sternberg Museum lobby. Um, we love this event because it brings everyone from the water resources department out to help educate along with community members. So, we'll have NRCS and and extension and some of those types of people there. Um, but we have tons of educational opportunities to see how wastewater treatment works and how the water distribution system works and the maintenance guys talking about how they fix water main bras and things like that. Our poster contest for 2025 was also very successful. Once again, we had 630

posters in 2025. And that's just Hayes. When I talk about this in other communities, they say that's through the state. I said, "No, that's just Hayes." That had 630 posters. So, again, we are very happy to continue that program. We display those during Spring Art Walk on Main Street through the month of May and then again at the Ellis County Fairgrounds. Our awards ceremony takes place usually in April or late March at Sternberg. Once again, hugely attended. And thank you all for being there if you were there to help hand out those awards. If you recall in 2024, um, we had a partnership program where we had some grant funding from KState 105 and this was a know your water program um, in conjunction with Stacy Menson and KState. We had phase two take place in 2025 where we actually did some irrigation system checks of some commercial properties including some at Fort Hayes um some of the parks and we also met up with DSNWK talked to them a little bit about their potential drip system redo and so this was something that took place last summer. Another part of that KState 105 was some funding to hold a no water summit. Unfortunately, it had to be rescheduled, but we had it in June and it was successful. I had good feedback from that. Um, we did a pre-our the night before, an environmental tour, and so they got a tour of the water treatment plant, wastewater treatment plant, some of those types of facilities. There is some funding still have been told. So, we're talking about possibly holding another one this summer, but nothing's been set in stone yet. So, we will let you know what the plan is there. I had the opportunity to set up a display of all of our past, not all of them, but some of the winning posters for the governor when she was here in

July for a ceremonial signing of House Bill 2172. Um, I thought that was pretty neat to have the governor looking at those posters and we had our water ambassadors there to um partake in that event and we even had a couple of them interviewed for an article later in the day. Go Truck Go. Again, a huge event that we like to be present at because 675 people attended this event this year. So, um we want to be where the people are and we will continue to do that as opportunity allows. Watermartwall always available at those events. He's very popular and we are continuing to partner with the chamber on the welcome home buckets. They told me that approximately 300 of those buckets were given out in 2025, which is more than they've had in the past. So, I thought that was great. Um, trying to get the word out that water is important right away when you start a new water account here in H. And as always, there's so many different things that I could talk about, but we just don't have time for that today. So, we're going to keep moving on. Um, I really don't see a lot of things changing. We are starting some new partnerships with the HRC. We've already done a few programs with them. So, I'm excited about that. That's kind of a new thing for us. And as AMI and maybe a customer portal, those sorts of things take off, hopefully I can help with educational efforts around those and keep spreading that message. Um, if drought continues to be something that's in the future, I hope it's not, but if it is, that'll probably dictate some of my messaging going forward this spring and summer. But if there's new ideas, I'm always happy to hear them. So, please let me know. And with that, that was fast and quick. But that was 2025.

Commissioners, questions, comments, great job as always. Great. It's interesting how many programs we got that aren't being taken advantage of. I noticed like the sprinkler things Yeah. Yeah. And maybe I just need to advertise that particular one more. Um it's it's one of those that I don't know. I just need to work on that one. I guess that may be something that James can look at, but I I think a lot of times stuff falls off because lots of people have done it in the past, right?

And so there won't be as many coming years even though we'd like to have more. But I'll bet James can make something happen with that. How many of our water violations that we get through like our csos uh could be related to things that those help with? Good question. I don't know the answer to that. Um I do know they try to educate um um one they try to educate on proper watering and sprinkler adjustment or whatever, but but I do know they they they educate on on water conservation programs that are in place. If if if the opportunity presents itself, it'd be good to have a little handout to give to people when they're getting those violations, too. Absolutely.

And occasionally they'll have them call me if they have questions. And I don't get too many of those phone calls, but every once in a while I'll get one or two, Elena. Great job. Holly, fabulous work. The only question I have is talked about Do you guys count how many are returned? Out of curiosity, how many people participate?

Yes, I do. Um, the participation is fairly low. I'm not going to lie. It's fairly low as far as percentage wise. Um, we do find leaks every year. So, even if the kids are turning in those slips, there's at least this year, I think there was nine leaks found. So, I know there's a lot of leaks found that probably aren't reported or turned in on those slips, but I think it's a good awareness program regardless. So, um we may change the timing just a little bit this year because I have done it during fix a leak week in the past, which is typically during spring break or right around that time and that's a hard time for kids to remember to bring this back or parents to look at their backpacks. So, we may be pushing that off a few weeks this year until later in the spring.

I can't imagine grade school kids not taking them home. I know in our neighborhood across the street, they're doing the same thing. Those kids bring them home and they're they're checking. Um, but getting it back is another story, it sounds like. Yeah, because the kids, at least the kids that I know that have that have done it, um, they like to see it and then they're like, "Hey, look, the blue's coming out." Most of the time the parents aren't like, "Hey, yeah, blue's coming out." They're like, "Oh, I have to replace a toilet." Um, so they're like, "I don't care about your little form. I need to Yeah. So, Holly, I have a question on that form. So, it's a paper form they have to fill out, correct? Yes. So, is there any way just an idea that we could have kids electronically fill it out? Good question.

Because I mean, kids know how to use this stuff better than I do. And I don't know. I just think you might get a better I don't not a bad idea. I could look into that to see if maybe there would be participation that way. This way. Um, the nice thing about this is I know what school has what slips returned. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, but yeah, that's not a bad idea. I'd have to look into that. I don't know if it's worth what it cost, but it's just just an idea when she's doing such a great idea. That's a good idea. QR code. Kids are really used to using those. Yeah, they are.

Holly, I appreciate what you guys do. I mean, you're recognized not even just here across the state, across the nation for the conservation efforts. I mean, today Waterpack said you are we lead the nation in conservation. So, so we got Oh, really? We got a good call out from them on our conservation efforts. So, that's I appreciate that. Well, I appreciate that. So, you do. It was very nice. Um, so you uh do an amazing job and part of the reason we don't need any more water. Exactly. According to him also. Um, that is not true. I knew he wasn't going to be able to hold that in.

But I mean, the the the things that that you do day in day out, I mean, they they actually have a real impact. Um, two days ago when I picked my daughter up from school, she said, "Dad, I made you something." I was like, "Okay." So, she pulled this paper out and she drew her own water poster. Um, you know, is it going to win? Probably not. Uh, but she had the right spirit. I can't believe you said that. She's a She has the right spirit, but she's got her dad's drawing ability. Um, but she says because we need to save water. It's important. Yeah, absolutely. It's important. Those kids know. And they do at a young age.

Um, because she'll get on me if I leave something on too long. Um, so it's something that, you know, generationally I was probably one of the first generations to go through the program and now I get to see my kids getting the same information and it's why we're conservation leaders because of continued efforts like this and what you do. So appreciate you and for the rec for the record, we still need water. Yes, we do. Yeah, because I feel the drought coming. Thank you so much. All right, good stuff. Next up, zoning request from Agricultural District District AL to Light Industrial District I1 for property located at 2460 East 27th Street. Jesse,

good afternoon. Jesse Roar, director of public works. Um, now the boring items from Jared and myself, but my uh my two items are very closely related to each other. Uh, both are zoning requests and adjacent properties. The first one being a reser request at 2460 East 27th Street. The property is just north of the Tech College and south of 27th Street and in the Wheatland area. It is uh we did receive an application for that zoning from the current owner of the property. It is owned by LNA Enterprises who had purchased the property in 2012 and has um current use of the there was a building on the property and they want to reszone to hopefully expand the services within their existing business. Two of the maps we only show with any zoning. We show the current zoning map. As you can see in the yellow box there is the property we're talking about. It is currently zoned agg and again they are requesting to zone to light industrial. The property is located outside city limits of Hayes but within the extr territorial jurisdiction of the city of Hayes. The second map we want to show you is the feature land use map that's in the adopted comprehensive plan. And as you can see the difference in the two. This one is shown to be commercial and that was the future of the property is shown to be commercial. So that's one of the the main tools we look at and the planning commission looks at when doing a resoning is how it rates as compared to the comprehensive plan feature land use map. So light industrial and commercial are as close and compatible as any two zoning districts that you can actually get. There are different uses allowed in every zoning district and in this case the light industrial zoning district. These are the uses by right. So if reszone to light industrial any of the

uses you see on the screen are fair game once zoned. Uh the general light or generally lighter industrial type uses uh retail medical offices museums nonprofit things like that. And here's just a continuation of the list. Few more uses by right. The second group of uses within any zoning district in this case is in the I1 are the limited uses. So these are also allowed if reszone to light industrial. However, with most of these there are certain conditions or requirements that must be complied with. However, it's still as long as the developer or property owner meets those conditions, it's approved by city staff. There's just four more of the limited uses. And then the third and final group types of uses are uses by exception. So any uses by exception within the unified development code must go through a public hearing process through the bore zoning appeals and there's also a notification process of surrounding property owners as well. So it's much more involved if any of these types of uses were to be proposed on the property. So with this one uh this being a resoning uh the options you have are dictated by state statute. You can approve the resoning that was recommended by Hazer a planning commission and it was a unanimous approval by the planning commission. I do want to mention that there were a couple uh actually the the two nearest property owners to this property were both present at the planning commission and were in support of the zoning request. Uh your second option would be to send it back to the planning commission if you feel the need to do so and specify the exact basis for further review by the planning commission. Or your third option provided by state statute would be to overturn and override the planning commission's recommendation. And if so that would require twoth3s majority vote of the city. This would be the action requested. I'll

move adopt ordinance number 4091 approving the resoning request from agriculture district AL to light industrial district I1 for 2460 East 27th Street as further legally described within the adopting ordinance. I second motion by Commissioner Mel second by Commissioner Vising. Questions, comments on this item? Elena, anything from you? No, nothing here. Okay. All right, no other comments. I'll call for a vote on this one. All in favor, please say I. I.

Opposed. Passes 50. All right. Next up, zoning request from Commercial District General District C2 to Light Industrial District I1 for property 2470 East 2017.

Again, a very similar item, just a different parcel of property that's adjacent to the one we just talked about. That one was 2460. This one is 2470 East 27th just lying to the east of the recent property you just spoke about before. So again, you can see in the red box and the picture on the right, this is a property we're talking about this time. Um, just like the other one, it does lie outside city limits but within the EPJ the city. The yellow box indicates again the subject property we're talking about. Uh the major difference from this one to the one you just talked about was this one's actually currently zone C2. It was zoned several years ago from A to C2. Now they're wanting to also zone this one to light industrial again to hopefully expand options for use of the property. Also map you showed before this one also from the future land use map from the comprehensive plan. It does indicate the commercial designation within the future land use map. Again, I'll show the uses. These are the same list of uses you saw on the last agenda item. You have the uses by right. You have the limited uses. And then the final group of uses, uses by exception. That again would require board zoning approval if they were considered by property owner. The same three options ordered by state statute are listed here on the screen. Action requested as drafted.

I move to adopt ordinance number 4092 approving the resoning request from Commercial General District C2 to Light Industrial District L1 to 4 2470 East 27th Street as further legally described within the adopting ordinance. Second. Motion by Commissioner Vlicing, second by Commissioner Jacobs. Questions, comments on this one. No. Elena, I have none. All right. Hearing none, we will call for a vote. All in favor, please say I. I. I. I. Opposed. Passes 5-0. Sounds very quick, Jesse. Thanks, Jesse. Very quick. Very riveting. Also,

now we're going to get more riveting. Resolution setting public hearing for the exit 157 247 land development tax increment financing tiff project plan. Jared,

good afternoon. Jared Cookman, assistant city manager. So today I'll be discussing two economic incentives, TIFF and C, both associated with the exit 157 247 truck stop project. There are two agenda items here, but since they're dealing with the same project, I'll go over them together. So some background on this project. The developer has plans to construct an approximately 9,000 square foot full service travel plaza and convenience store at the southeast corner of 230th Avenue and 55th Street, which is near the I7 exit 157. So, as part of that travel plaza, there would be gas and diesel fuel stations, EV charging stations, restaurant, dog park, and RV overnight campsites. developer is seeking tax increment financing or TIFF and a 2% community improvement district or CID to help support this project. We have talked about this project before both when the IRB sales tax exemption was awarded this past November as well as some previous steps in the TIFF statutory process. And so this what we're discussing today is just the next steps in that process. These images here show the location for the project which as you can see is just of off of I7 in the very northwest part of Hayes. This image here kind of shows the proposed site layout. Travel plazas there with a convenience store kind of facing west gas and diesel fuel stations there. So this image is of the 247 location that was recently developed constructed in Russell by this same developer. So the goal here in Hayes would probably be to have something fairly similar to this. First I'll go over the tiff. Um tiff is an economic incentive that captures the incremental gains in property taxes within a tiff district. So while state

statute does also allow the sales taxes to be captured, the city's economic development policy does not allow this. So these dollars would not be captured as part of this project. The TIFF revenues are captured for 20 years to go towards certain eligible costs. These eligible costs tend to be infrastructure related and they're not for any sort of vertical construction or buildings. Under the city's policy, the tiff revenues would also be collected on a pay as you go basis, which means that the developer pays for the costs upfront and then receives reimbursement as things get built out. So if the de developer doesn't build or create anything, that means there's no revenues created, which means there's nothing for reimbursement for them. So then this kind of creates the incentive for them to create that buildout and create the revenues for them to then get reimbursed from. They're not existing revenues that can be created unless the developer builds out. Cost benefit analysis is required to be included in the project plan for TIFF. And I'll just go over a few of the numbers that were city focused on this. CBA does look at a full 25 years. Although the incentives don't always last a full 25 years. TIFF is only for 20. Uh the CBA estimates that approximately $28 million in net benefit could be created to the city by this project with over $27 million of that coming from sales tax revenues over the 20-year term for TIFF. The city's portion of property taxes to be contributed could be approximately $1.1 million. And it's also estimated that 14 direct new jobs could be created at this location for this project. So the other incentive being asked for here is a CID. CIDs have been around in Kansas since 2009 to help cities promote business activity and economic development. CIDs are designed to be either a special assessment or a special sales tax on retail sales up to a 2% max

for no longer than 22 years within a designated district. CDs can be used by the property owners to cover things like vertical construction, some of the infrastructure and parking and etc. These are not sales taxes that currently exist. They are an additional sales tax on retail sales that's added to that district or the property. So basically, it's something that the landowner or the developer will choose to have imposed on themselves at their business to help reimburse for some of those eligible costs. And even though the CI is an added sales tax, the city still keeps our full sales tax revenues that would be created. And so while the C can be up to 2% and for this project, the developer is requesting that 2%. So just some more numbers on the CD. So there is a total project cost estimated at 11.1 million and of this amount nearly 6.6 6 million of those costs could be eligible for CD reimbursement. However, the CD is expected to generate about $2 million over that 22-year term. So, that would be what could go to the developer. So, here's the calendar showing where we're at in the process. So, these are multi-step processes for both TIFF and C and they do both require public hearings. So that's what we're here to discuss today is two resolutions to set those public hearing dates. That date would be set for April 9th because that would comply with the statutory time frames that are required to exist between approval of a resolution and then the notification requirements. So some more financial numbers on the project. So like I said that is a estimated total cost of about 11.1 million. Developer has also estimated that the annual retail sales of the truck stop would be $5 million and then

$20 million in fuel sales. TIFF is estimated to generate about $4.5 million over the 20-year lifespan with about $4.2 million of that eligible for reimbursement. And then like I said, the CD is estimated to generate $2 million. The developer would receive anything that that CI could generate. Both the TIF and CD would be pay as you go. So again, the revenues would only be distributed as the developer performs to create those revenues. Once again, these are two items that will require two separate actions, one for each, the TIFF and the C. So these will be the options on both of those. These will be the actions requested for each. So there will be two motions. I move we advance the project by adopting resolution 20 2026-002 setting a hearing date on the adoption of the TIF project plan April 9th 2026.

Second motion by Commissioner Jacobs, second by Commissioner Mucil on resolution for the TIF. Questions, comments on the TIF portion? Let's just get it going. Get it going. Anything from you, Elena? No. Okay. Not. I'll call for a vote on the TIFF one. All in favor, please say I. I. Opposed. Passes 50 for the public hearing. I'll move the petition forwarded by adopting resolution number 2026003 setting a hearing date on the creation of the C April 9th, 2026. Second. Motion by Commissioner Jacobs, second by Commissioner Mucil. Questions, comments on the C portion.

I'm just excited to see this uh I know we got a long ways to go, but get this going. And you know, you The other dad was in Ellis early in the morning and I think the interstate was closed. It was an accident and every semis parked along you know the interstate and you know we get this built and you know they can stop in haze and not have to you know park on the and possibly bring in more sales tax. So I think this is exciting and there'll be I I truly believe in that area there'll be more to come after this. So I'm excited for this. Mr. Augustine does a wonderful job with his projects. You can see them up and down the interstate as you go. And if he didn't wasn't sure of his success, I can promise he probably wouldn't be doing it. So, we're excited he chose our area to put another one in.

Elena, no. I just echo that I'm excited to see this. All right. Any other comments on that? It'll call for a vote. All in favor, please say I. I. I. I. Opposed. Passes 50. Setting the public hearing there. Thanks, Jared. Next up, progress report. Colin.

Good afternoon. Colin Beller, deputy city manager. This month's This is actually pretty exciting. I I it doesn't seem like it. So, the solid waste employees are to be commended for recent accolades received from the city's paper cardboard broker, which is Midland Davis, and the paper mill in Kentucky, where the product is shipped. So, the mill in Henderson, Kentucky, which is the largest paper mill in the nation, randomly breaks open a bail coming through the facility to perform a hand search to analyze for any prohibited materials like styrofoam, plastics, etc. Upon breaking open a bail weighing about a little over 1300 lb, they found less than a pound uh of prohibitives, which is the least they've ever found in a bail search at that mill. So, not only do the solid waste employees do a great job of processing the paper, but the citizens of Hayes also do a great job of ensuring the materials separated and recycled properly. Very nice. City of Hay stormwater division was proud to partner with seven for Hey State RUD scholars who volunteered their time to help clean up approximately 600 yards of local creek corridor. In just two hours, the group collected nearly 180 pounds of trash and debris, helping improve water quality and restore the natural beauty of the area. And then the storm water division did provide them with sandwiches and drinks after their cleanup for all the hard work. 13 yards of concrete was used by the service division to repair damaged curve in the 1200 block of Pine and another 1300 or 13 yards of concrete was used by the service division to repair damage curve at 18 and Fort. Unfortunately, they did have to use some concrete to repair pavement after water resources had to perform a water leak repair at 15th in Maine. Deputy Chief Shane Preston and Captain Aaron Ditter attended the Kansas International Association of Arson Investigators Conference in Witchah February 3rd through 5th. This conference provides continuous education for fire investigators.

And then Chief Ryan Hagens and firefighter Grady Keith were invited to participate in Governor Kelly's uh Kansas Wildfire Awareness Week proclamation which happened on January 30th. Then unfortunately, Deputy Fire Chief uh Shane Preston, Captain Kirk Clyde, and firefighter Grant Cheney assisted with the fires down in southwest Kansas. The deployment was at the request by the Kansas Emergency Operations Center, and these uh their specific task was to help with structure protection between Ashland and Englewood. At Massie Park, staff removed the old dilapidated play unit, concrete border, uh dug out mulch and mud, and hauled in clay soil to level the site and built the new play unit, put up borders, laid weed barriers, and installed the fall zone material and benches for the new play unit.

That was fast. Very busy over there, too. A new sidewalk was installed at Proud Optimus to connect the restrooms, uh, shelter house, and playground. and M andD Excavating donated their time and machinery to reshape and level the baseball fields with red dirt at Sunrise Park. That dirt was stockpiled when the complex uh installed turf infields. So, this project is part of the women who lead Sunrise Park renovation phase one. It's really hard to tell the what those women know.

I think Bo would agree. Um, and then officers of the PD attended lunch with TMP and Holy Family students to celebrate Catholic Schools Week. And afterward, the students delivered a thank you sign that was hung up on display at the police department. Officers Kayn Leech and Devin Henderson visited Wilson Elementary to help kindergarteners celebrate their hundth day of school and congratulate them on their hard work. Then Chief Don Shler visit to PA to advocate for Kansas Senate Bill 445, which would enable local law enforcement agencies to request assistance from the Kansas Highway Patrol and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation for Funerals of officers killed in the line of duty. Our nine property staff uh went out with KDH and Burns and McDonald's personnel uh to review the well-filled certain locations and that as you know is in the final review process. Water resources maintenance staff responded to and repaired a water leak at 1911 Eisenhower on February 2nd. And then staff have been replacing fire hydrants. These two are 35th and Hall and 3000 block of Tamo Shanter. Holly Dickman and Stacy Mincson paired up to provide presentations and fun activities on water conservation and water quality for Holy Family and a Laughlin Elementary fifth graders as well as the HRC School Out program which Paulie mentioned they'd started a partnership and Ree brought home stuff from that. He participated. CV worked with airport staff to install new posters in the airport baggage claim to promote Hayes's 2025 community of the year award and hunting at the city's R9 ranch. On February 11th and 12th, Melissa Dixon and Janet attended Destination State House in Topeka. It's an event that's uh hosted by the Travel Industry Association of Kansas to meet with legislators about the impacts of tourism. And then the CVB's year review includes

several accompl accomplishments worth mentioning. Over 223 groups or 223 groups and events were uh supported by Janet Receptionist Annette Barber assisted visitors in over $1,700 in sales at the Hayes merch in the welcome center. Marketing manager Kristen Fe secured a first place TAK marketing award at the Kansas Tourism Conference for the Visit Hayes monthly e newsletter. Um she actually or that award competed with larger markets such as Witchah, Topeka, and Kansas City, Kansas. And then also under Kristen Fik's management, social media impressions has more than 400% increase to 2.1 million impressions, which apparently is primarily Tik Tok. So, thank you for that. Administrative assistant Jenny Rajowski wrote a stellar nomination phrase to secure the community playmaker 2025 community of the year award. And based on hotel revenue reports, the economic impact of overnight visitors is estimated 66.5 million.

Well, I have a question on that. is um I know we have hotel rooms sold. Is there any way of knowing how many Airbnbs were sold for the year? Yes, please. I was actually asking you go ahead. Melissa Dixon, director of the convention and visitors bureau. Uh those reports are available, but until the hotels say Airbnbs are encroaching on our sales, I'm not willing to pay the cost to get those extra clipboards. Fair enough. But it's possible. Fair enough. Okay. Thank you.

And then the new police station project continues to take shape and make excellent progress. Basement framing is complete with plumbing, electrical in full swing. Upstairs framing is nearly complete and new water and fire line installation has been completed. And then lastly, the vehicle maintenance bay which used to be their old ATM is being the slabs being poured and it's starting to be closed in question. I might be able to answer some. Thank you, Colin. Thanks, Colin. Hi, Melissa. What's happening?

Hello again, commissioners. Melissa Dixon, director of the Convention and Visitors Bureau with some things I want to be sure are on your radar for March. There's a special concert, Classics and Hymns, spring tour with the Collingsworth family March the 5th. This will be at the Beach Schmidt Performing Arts Center. And then Hayes High School presents The Sound of Music the 5th and the 6th at 7 PM and then Sunday matinea at 2. And that'll be at the beautiful new Hayes High Performing Arts Center, which if you haven't seen it, I so encourage you to go see this one and and watch for my son. Uh the USA Wrestling Kansas District 4 Championships. This is Kids Club. It is not quite as large as state wrestling, but it is very close. This will be March 6th and 7th at Gross Memorial Coliseum. And Worldwater Day Funfest, that'll be the week of spring break, Thursday the 19th from 10 to noon. That's always a great time out at Stur Museum. And then Special Olympics Kansas State Basketball and Cheerleading Tournament will once again be at Gross Memorial March 20th and 21st. These athletes were so sweet to let me take their picture last year. And then there's a Western Kansas three on three basketball tournament on the 21st and that'll be out at Hayes Middle School. Races will crank up out at RPM Speedway on the 26th and 28th with the annual Sunflower Classic. And then the Fox Theater presents Pop Punk Night March the 27th with a van full of nuns.

I just know our mayor will be there. I just know he will be. I haven't got a ticket, but I want to. And the chamber will host another legislative coffee on the 28th at Hayes Public Library. Be sure to go and get all your questions answered from our representatives. The first UTSA tournament will be the 28th out at Rickles Sports Complex. Just the way the date falls, they usually start in April. This one will actually start in late March. And there are 26 teams signed up already.

Then kicking off the Easter season is the Hayes Public Library. They'll be the first to have an egg hunt and Easter Bunny photos on the 30th, 6:00 to 7 p.m. Have to remind you that state wrestling is this weekend. Uh last year we worked with uh Kansas tourism to determine economic impact. They use the same format that Fort Hay state does to help us do reports and last year's boys and girls together in Hayes had an economic impact in our community of 1.2 million estimated 1.2 million. This weekend the coaches are checking in right now at G Memorial Coliseum. I'd like a great weekend to stay home and work.

Yes. Give your service industry folks some leniency this weekend. Yes, please.

All right. Uh, commission inquiries and comments. Elena also have a large we I knew you were going to do that. I knew you. Bless your heart.

Been there, done that. That's awesome. Thank you, Commissioner Vassy.

Uh just want to remind everybody that uh construction has started on Fort Street south of 27th. It is a very narrow street right now. Uh my suggestion is if you can avoid the area, probably best to avoid the area. Uh but there is still one lane open to get you through from 27th to right around 20th, I believe it was. Um but very very tight in that area. So be safe in there. Give our construction crews a break. Um other thing I wanted to note on was uh there was a group that went around the parks picking up trash by the creeks. Uh how much did you say they picked up? It was um it was 180 pounds.

180 pounds. Um it's crazy how much trash can get collected down in those areas. If you're at the parks and you take some trash with you, make sure you take it out with you or make sure it gets deposited in the right trash cans. Um we got to take care of what we got and let's do it as a community. Absolutely. Mr. Jacobs. Uh, I too wanted to welcome the 321A wrestling. I usually get to attend it every year, but this year I'll be in Witchah with a grandson that's seated number one in 5A state wrestling. So, that'll be fun. Uh, but this one down here is amazing. These kids are great and especially the young women. They those women are just terrific.

I also want to congratulate Melissa on her new sign. The sign is long time we've talked about a new sign out there and it's really nice to see it going up. Uh biggest thing and Mr. Crispen left, but I appreciated that we had staff headed to Ellis to help them out with some situation they had with a bad leak this week. Uh we continue to be great neighbors and I'm proud of them for it. Thank you,

Mr. Musel. I'm going to touch on wrestling also a little bit different. Um, I had a family member contact me from a school in the region that they got four girls coming to state and they had no hotel rooms. They looked everywhere from Russell to um Ellis couldn't find them. And so I contacted Adam Prey and he set them up and got them all taken care of and just couldn't believe how nice, you know, he was to take care of him. And he she told me that he said he gave him a good deal because he knew me, but I was surprised he didn't charge him more. But I just uh and I told him personally, but shout out to Adam Prey. You know, he didn't, you know, I'm sure he, you know, he's got multiple Airbnbs and they're all, you know, packed. So, just that's uh that's what we do in our community. So, sh I know he's a business person, but you know, he actually when I owned the pay a pair, I had some customers I think I expressed it here that, you know, couldn't find a room because we had something going on and he took care of them. So, I just I warms my heart when I hear people take care of others and you know and they're going to be in town and uh going to be a lot of people wrestlers and like you said the mayor said uh you know give the uh restaurants people working in there give them a little grace because it's a it all happens at once and it's a little crazy and and we have 61 u little kids basketball going to be here in town same day and and we have Victoria playing the playoff game at TMP. So there's pores.

There's a lot going on, but it's uh yeah, like Melissa said, there's a a lot of tax dollars going to be bringing into our town. And uh you know, we lost uh state wrestling, a lot of these people that contact me, they were just so upset that Hayes didn't because when they went to SL, they said it's just so amazing how much better we do than SL. So we do it right and let's keep it up. Thank you. Yeah. Lot going on. a lot of people. Uh I know traveling back uh today from Topeka, um I think every single vehicle that was heading my way was a school district pulling into town. Um and they were loaded up with wrestlers. Uh I could tell because each one of them could beat me up. Um the so uh one one thing I wanted to touch on was uh this morning uh Toby and I were were able to provide testimony to the Senate uh committee on local government transparency and ethics on a bill that we are so blessed to have Representative War Bossinger uh spearheading for us. Um it was a it was great. We had a lot of uh support there, a lot of uh wonderful uh in-person support and written testimony from the community. Um we greatly appreciate all that support and uh we look forward uh for the Senate to uh Senate committee to move it on and we appreciate them taking it up and letting us speak our piece on that. That is all I have. Any other questions, comments for the good of the order? Okay. If not, I'll call for the adjournment at 5:25. Good job