City Council - Regular Meeting

Good morning, Wichita, and good morning to all of you here at City Hall. Thank you for joining us for this week's City Council meeting. We'll call this meeting to order. With us this morning is Bishop Kimi of the Catholic Diocese of Wichita to provide our invocation. Following that invocation, we will have the Pledge of Allegiance and we ask that you please stand for both.

Madam Clerk, please call the first item.

Council members, any items to be edited from the minutes? I see none. I will move to approve the minutes for the regular meeting for September 1st, 2026. Second. Motion second. Discussion? See none. Madam Clerk, please open the roll. Motion passes 7-0. Madam Clerk, please call the next item.

May I please ask the Wichita Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and its members to come forward at this time? The proclamation reads, the city of Wichita, Kansas, founded in 1870, whereas the city of Wichita is proud to be home to a vibrant Latino Hispanic community whose roots extend across Latin America and bring a rich tapestry of cultures, languages, and traditions that deeply enrich the diversity of our city. Whereas Latinos and Hispanics have played a pivotal role in shaping Wichita's social, cultural, and economic landscape, contributing meaningfully across every sector, from the arts and edu

May I please ask Council Member Joseph Shepard to come forward and the Cedric County Suicide Prevention Coalition to come forward at this time.

Thank you, Mayor. I am happy to read the proclamation, which reads the city of Wichita, Kansas, founded in 1870. Whereas in the United States, one person dies by suicide approximately every 11 minutes, an average of 134 lives lost each day, making suicide the 10th leading cause of death nationwide. And whereas in 2025, Sedgwick County lost 90 residents to death by suicide, an average of one death every four days, which is deeply concerning and a preventable tragedy for Wichita and communities across Kansas. And whereas the mission of the Sedgwick County Suicide Prevention Coalition is to promo

May I please ask Council Member Mike Hoheisel and the Safe Streets Wichita to come forward at this time.

Thank you, Mayor, I appreciate this. Whereas Save a Life Day is a community initiative dedicated to preventing opioid overdose deaths by raising awareness, reducing stigma, and expanding access to life-saving resources. And whereas Free Naloxone Day provides an opportunity for residents to receive free naloxone, a safe and effective medication that can reverse an opioid overdose and save lives. And whereas equipment, community members, families, and first responders with naloxone empowers them to act quickly, and an emergency strengthening Wichita's commitment to public health and safety. And

Introducing 2026 Junior Achievement Business Hall of Fame Laureate, Dr. Alex Amar.

Thank you again, City Manager, for highlighting these award recipients throughout our community and the various nonprofit organizations. Madam Clerk, please call the next item.

Thank you, Jason. Council Member Shepard.

Jason, thank you so much for being here. City Manager, can you please clarify for the record how we arrived at this point of honoring the appeal? I am deeply concerned about it because... If we want our city to be a growing city and we want multiple events to happen at one time, I'm curious about what is the process or the ecosystem that we're creating to ensure that we are making methodical decisions about which one moves forward and which one doesn't.

Thank you, city manager, I think that does outline. Jason, again, I hope that made sense, but maybe this is a question for the city manager or the attorney, but does our policy clarify that it should be a property owner and not a actual business operator of said property? Because I can see how that can get really tricky, that some people sign the petition, but they're not really eligible to sign the petition because they're not the actual property owner, they're just the operator of that business or that infrastructure?

Thank you. We have room for any other speakers who would like to address the council.

Thanks, Sarah. Would anyone else from the community like to speak?

Can you give your name and your district for the clerk, please?

Thanks, Trish. Would anyone else from the community like to speak?

Thank you Thank You Valerie We have room for one more individual. I see no one. I'm gonna bring it back to the bench and Thank you to our four public agenda speakers. Madam Clerk, please call the next item. Consent agenda items one through nine. Council members, any items to be pulled? I see none. I move to approve consent agenda items one through nine. Motion second. Discussion? See none. Madam Clerk, please open the roll. Motion passes 7-0. Madam Clerk, please call the next item.

Thank you, Jerry. Questions for staff, beginning with Council Member Hohaisel.

Thank you, Mayor. Now, when we were talking to the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame, are they leaving because the current rent price? Did we offer to continue the current price that they have for rent?

OK. Now they had two events they wanted later this year for us to maybe help out with. Would that require us to terminate the lease agreement so we can run the museum? Or can that be done if the lease agreement is still in place?

And if this doesn't pass today and then that would still be between them and the current leasing? Okay. Last thing, the $476,000 that we feel that they owe to put back in the building, does that go away if we vote for this today?

All right. So we don't really have an enforcement arm to get that 476 back?

Thank you, Mayor. A few questions regarding the cost for reuse or to raise the building. This may be a question for the manager. Where will those funds come from?

Okay, so that was one question. I probably have two others. I know we briefly addressed this last week when this came forward. I think we all agree that we don't and shouldn't write leases in this way anymore. So what does the city do now that it was not doing in the 90s and also in 2009? What have we changed?

All great things. I'm glad we've learned a lot since the previous agreements were signed. Council Member Shepherd asked this, I think, at a agenda review on Friday, or maybe something to this effect. Do we go in and proactively maybe inspect, or how often are we checking these facilities to make sure that it doesn't balloon to the $400,000 in deferred maintenance costs? Because we still have facilities, so how often are we going in and checking that?

Okay. To the manager, I think I'd be interested in looking at it in the future. I was in the city's box of the wind surge game. I looked over and you can see the roof and the damages to the roof just driving by. And so I think there's a lot of challenges, at least visually, you're able to see some of the damages as well. And then maybe one last question. Let's say that we issue an official notice to perform because I know the outcome is the same, but I still struggle with allowing them to lead the termination when maybe we haven't issued them a notice to perform. If we issue them a notice to p

So theoretically, we could initiate it, say, you have 30 days to be able to answer this. Likely, they're probably going to come back with the same thing. But then that has to come back before city council at some point.

Thank you. Thank you for answering all my questions.

You're welcome. Thank you, Jerry. I asked this question last Friday. I wanted to know who was involved in crafting this agreement back in 2009, which did not have any clawbacks. And you sent an email, so can you just share those findings?

involved in the crafting of the actual contract is still employed with the City of Wichita? Thank you. I had a couple of questions that I sent via email and I want them in the public record. Number one, who or what entity originally paid for the construction of the boathouse in 1926? How much and were any city dollars used to build it?

Did the city use city dollars to renovate the building in 1994? If so, how much?

Do we have a roster of the Arkansas City River Foundation group? I'm pretty sure that's a defunct group now, but is there a list of maybe individuals that can still be contacted? Because there is still obviously a sailboat there. In addition, they were interested in the past. I just would like to know what happened to that group.

Thank you. How much in total has the city put into this building?

Does that mean that the 401,000, so slide number 22, MABCD permit that showed 401,275, was that the city paying that payment or was that the Bill Koch America Cube Foundation that paid for that?

Correct. Okay. Do you know how much in total has Bill Koch put into this building?

And then last, what's the value of this current building?

Thank you, Mayor, and I appreciate all the commentary from the Vice Mayor and Mayor on this. I'm curious, and again, I don't know if this is a question for legal, but this is a state appointed board, like they have a state appointed board. So I'm curious if we were to do the notice to perform and they say no, what implications does that have for us in the state? I mean, I'm looking at the list, and this state has directors that the governor appoints to the board, and I'm just, it's troubling that an entity connected to the state would even put us in this situation.

Repeat, who it would go to again, Attorney McGonigals?

Which brings me to my next question, because I think there's a lot of confusion publicly around this. Who is issuing this notion that they don't have the financial capacity? Is it the foundation or is it the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame?

Okay. Can you remind us who's over that foundation?

Okay, no worries. So, Jerry, and if you wrote this green sheet, you did a remarkable job. I feel like I had a lot of the information that I needed, but I'm curious because I have had the opportunity to speak with some folks who are a part of the operating side, and there's some concern that... perhaps maybe the city was made aware that there were some deferred maintenance concerns prior to when we first became, or we're saying we first became aware in June. What record do we have of our operator coming to us, if any, saying there's some problems here?

And so Vice Mayor asked about the process once we put these clawbacks into contracts. What is the standard operating procedure to ensure that we're going in on an annual basis to assess if deferred maintenance is there or if there needs to be some remedy? And you already kind of answered that. My question is, who handles that? Who does the review? Is it legal in partnership with Public Works? Is it legal audit and Public Works? Because in my brain, legal handles the legal contractual side, but they're not necessarily best suited to go in and assess deferred maintenance.

OK, what city manager, what's the process for that? I think it is desperately needed. This is one case of many. And I think the way that we you know, this is a learning moment for all of us. I think the best way we can show the public that we're learning from this is to put a plan or a policy in place to ensure it doesn't happen again. So what's the plan to make sure we get that plan outlined both for the public and for this council before the year ends?

let's talk again in about four or five months and we'll tell you where we're at i'd really like to talk uh prior to four or five months uh and hopefully get something at least on paper if not solidified um i get that it's a complex all clawbacks do not look the same and they shouldn't because it can't be a one-size-fits-all i guess my concern is What good does a clawback do, though, if we're not doing the work to assess whether or not people are holding true to their side of the agreement and taxpayers end up taking the brunt of that? And again, this this is not a new conversation. I think thi

Thank you, City Manager. I'm very interested in that. As this council discussed, even as they reviewed the International Housing Code and different things of that nature, working with landlords, putting poor landlords or bad actors even in a database to hold them accountable when they are not doing right by tenants, I mean, we have entities that are not doing right by the city and by taxpayers. And so they do need to be held accountable. And it is very difficult, for example, myself, who's new here, to come in and understand the history. I haven't been here for four years, two years, eight yea

Thank you, Mayor. Jerry, thank you. A quick question. You may or may not know this. Is the estate of Bill Koch or Julia Koch still involved at the foundation?

Okay, just curious, because she would certainly have the money to rectify the situation. Secondly, how long would it take the process to do an RFP?

Okay, or with feedback, maybe much longer. So your advice is very good advice. We should heed that advice. Do you think the roof will hold up?

Okay. If we could do that, that would be great.

I'm going to have a quick discussion with the council. I know that we're not at council discussion time yet, but given that there are multiple options that you've laid out, one of the options that actually the attorney has laid out is the letter to remedy and 30 days to remedy, an official one. I know that this resides in Councilmember Joseph Shepard's district, so I don't want to take over that motion. would you be in favor of something like sending a formal letter to the current leasee, which is America Cubed, for them to remedy the situation and really outline all of the background, includi

Sorry, I thought you were asking Jerry here. Yes, and I appreciate you asking me that as the person who oversees this district. I'm curious though, if that is the case, obviously, I'd like to say we can walk and chew gum at the same time this gets really complicated though if we were to do that attorney Magana would we also be able to at least make the motion that if the 30 days passes and we don't hear back then we can at least instruct staff to move forward with an RFP process I mean to come back again instead of just giving them the opportunity to move forward I think I just want to streaml

In that email, was it clearly laid out how much in deferred maintenance was estimated and that that, according to the contract drafted in 2009, that it was their responsibility even though that there were no clawbacks?

Thank you, Mayor. I would be interested in the proposed action as well. I do have one question, though, because, again, we have tenants in there right now who are trying to make plans. So do we know when the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame's events are planned? And would it still be able to continue if we take the proposed action?

Okay, so would that interfere in this at all? Would they have to move their events, or could they still go on as planned?

Okay, so if we're delaying this for a month while we send out the letter to cure, does that throw a wrench in that or do we think they can still hold their events?

Thank you, Mayor. That prompted another question. Would we be cost sharing as a result of, help me understand that. I'm not sure if I fully support cost sharing.

Yeah, the third party operator, which wouldn't be fair to them. And even if we do, given 30 days of notice to perform, they wouldn't be responsible for still taking care of their portion of the cost share? We would have to absorb that?

Yeah. Yeah, we heard a similar case a couple weeks ago and then again today about that, and so I definitely don't want that. I want to... I guess I don't have as much grace as I should because this is putting us in a very, very uncompromising situation. And I just find it very hard to believe that someone wakes up one day and recognizes that they don't have the ability to financially take, like you have accountants and books for a reason and you see the trends long before they're coming. Um, so I'm just struggling, but I'm open to other council members and meeting in the middle if we can.

Jerry one. clarifying question. So if I'm understanding this correctly, the city owns the building. America Cubed is the leasee of this agreement. That leasee then subleased to the Kansas Sport Hall of Fame. And then the Kansas Sport Hall of Fame has another sublease to another group here in our community that does events as well at the Sports Hall of Fame.

And one more question, because that venue, the Kansas Sport Hall of Fame, also has, I think, a contract with another local group Exclusive events. So we really have multiple entities that would be affected no matter what this agreement comes down to, whether it's A3 owning it or the city owning that agreement.

Thank you, Mayor. Jerry, quick question about the boat, the actual boat. So correct me if I'm wrong, they gifted it to the city or the boathouse, but then told us we can't trade it, sell it, or any of that stuff. but they gifted it to us. Sure.

Okay. I would just be. And so the responsibility of that maintenance would be whose responsibility.

But I mean, as it is today, whose responsibility has it been for the maintenance of the boat, America 3?

I would be just curious if, you know, is that there $50,000 of deferred maintenance to the boat? I just think it adds another layer of irresponsibility to hold up their end of the contract if, We're adding the boat to that as well, but gifting it to the city, but then not taking care of it. I just would be curious what that looks like, because it just, burden is not the word, but if we assume the responsibility of that, it means we assume the responsibility of the maintenance that goes along with that. So we'd just be curious if the number is not really 400,000, if it's... That's a good questi

Great. Thank you. I just wanted to make the point that, um, They didn't just neglect the building, maybe they neglected the boat as well. So just wanted to make that point. Thank you.

You're welcome. I have a point of clarification. Can you go back to the slide from 1998? So if I am looking at the timeline correctly, in January of 1998, when the building and the boat were transferred to the city, Bill Koch provided a $200,000 donation to the city to upkeep that piece of art. So there was, so what happened to the $200,000 to upkeep the art?

So the recommended motion by staff, what does it do with the boat? Because I haven't heard from anybody that they're interested in saving. If somebody is interested in saving the boat, please say it during public comment. But what is the recommendation from staff regarding the boat?

I have another point of discussion with Council Member Shepherd. Since this is in District 1 and this RFP, again, requests for proposals will go out to anyone in the community or beyond. But do you think your district, maybe DAB, may want to talk about the options first?

um well given that we heard earlier today from someone from the district i do think that that would be prudent we have a very engaged district advisory board as i know all of the district advisory boards are and one opportunity to hear from from community would be great i do think that we can do that within the 30 days and i'd be interested in hearing what what our community thinks of that as well but for time being i think if there's a way to give that boat back we can give it back and save some costs

Thank you. I see no further questions. Thank you, staff, for answering those questions. We will now open it up for public comment on this item.

Mm-hmm. Thank you, Callie. We'll continue with public comment on this item.

Thank you, Byron. I'm just gonna add a quick comment, by the way, Council Member Shepherd. An avid sailor did contact me about the boat house, or the yacht itself, so I'm gonna forward you that email. No, no, no, no, concerns that they were raising. We'll continue with public comment. I see no one else from the public who would like to speak on this item. We will close public comment and bring it back to the bench. With that, we have Council Member Shepherd. This is your district. I also wanted to make mention, I appreciated the comments from our two public speakers One in particular asking th

Mayor. I'm very supportive of getting as much community engagement as possible on this. And I would yield to my colleagues to see how they want to handle that in their respective districts.

Thank you, Mayor. I would be in favor of that. I think this is not so much a District 1 asset, but a city asset. So I think all the DABs should have a say in it. And earlier I got mixed up with my Cokes, and I apologize for that. David and Julia were married in New York, and Bill had a little fight with them, I guess. So I apologize for that.

Thank you, Mayor. Yeah, I'm fine with having it at DAB. I wonder if it would just be maybe a slideshow presentation or something that we can do that doesn't require staff necessarily to have to stretch themselves out, but I'm just throwing a couple ideas out there, but I'd be fine hearing this at my DAB.

Could this be done in 30 days while the letter to CURE gets sent out?

I'm happy to put it on our agenda for September 14th for DAB.

No, mine would be October. Council Member Tuttle.

I'm just curious who from staff would be responsible for putting the slide deck together and then putting the, doing the presentation. Just want to make sure that somebody leaves here knowing like it's me. And then also I think just one concern is this is really complicated. I mean I'm, you know, even sitting here questioning myself. I have an extremely engaged DAP. And I think, I'm not saying this is varnished as I should, so if anybody has a way to say it better, but if we take it to DAP, what is it that we want DAP to leave with a thumbs up, thumbs down, or just hear it? Is it receive and f

Yeah, I think there was a slide that Jerry showed of the three options. Number one option is the city, takes care of the roof and continues operating it as the new operator. The second one was allowing an RFP process for anyone in the community to say what should happen with the boathouse and what they could imagine seeing. And the third option was raising the building. Is that accurate or am I inaccurate?

And I appreciate that, but then I heard the other thing is that we would take it to DABS to ask about the boat. That is a different conversation. So are we asking about the boat, or are we asking about the boathouse, the actual facility? Because that's two different things, and to me, the actual facility with the legal ramifications, I mean... So I just don't want it, what happens sometimes is if we're not crystal clear going into it, every DAB approaches it in a different way, and then we don't come back with something that can help us formulate a better decision. So if it goes to DAB, is it

Thank you. I was just going to say, I don't think DAP4 needs a presentation. I'll ask them at the end. I ask for feedback about whatever's coming to council, but it'll be more of, hey, what is the potential for the river as a whole asset? What could be the best use of this? So I'll keep it pretty casual. I don't need a huge staff presentation and just get feedback from residents in the district.

Does that sound okay, Council Member Shepherd?

yeah i will leave it to council members to decide how they want to run their dab meeting but i think the general presentation that we've seen here today council member tuttle will be fine and many times what i try to do is send those powerpoint presentations in advance to dab members and then solicit feedback via email just so it's on record and then offer the opportunity at the end of the dab meeting for any particular thoughts but i think addressing the three recommendations which one would they like to see um and then as in regards to the boat we can include that in the conversation as well

As a reminder, is it accurate to say from Jerry's answers, raising the building or demolishing the building would be $150,000, whereas the other option, option one, which was make sure all the deferred maintenance gets remedied, it is about $300,000? It'll be $300,000 immediate is what we call, but $475,000. So I think that even in that conversation, these numbers should be presented to folks because it's important information to make an educated decision, including an option two, the RFP, what the current value of that building is. And I think you mentioned, does the city want to retain contr

Thank you so much, Mayor. I move that the City Council direct the City Manager and Law Department to issue America Cubed a formal notice to perform and cure consistent with the terms of the existing agreement requiring America Cubed to timely address the identified deferred maintenance and to take all actions reasonably necessary to preserve, secure, and prevent further deterioration of the property. The notice shall state that the city's intent to terminate the agreement if AmericaCube fails to satisfactorily cure the identified deficiencies within the time period required by the agreement. I

Motion second. Discussion? Seeing none, Madam Clerk, please open the roll. Motion passes 7-0.

Thank you, Paul. Questions for staff, meeting with Vice Mayor Glascott.

Thank you, Mayor. Paul, can we go back to slide 48? Yes, that's perfect. So that top right, it says the 9-16-2025 City Council meeting. I went through all the minutes from that meeting and could not find... the approximate value at 18 million. Everything that I had seen was close to around the 12 million. So where, was that in a slide presentation? Because it wasn't in the minutes when I went

Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. So does that mean staff knew about the projected cost at $18 million, but that wasn't presented to Council at that time?

Okay, I would probably prefer that conversation at the 916 meeting if staff was aware that there would be additional maybe cost associated with the project but that wasn't presented to council. So I find that a little bit misleading because I tried to review all the minutes and couldn't find that. When we look at the bottom of the original estimate versus the revised estimate as well. So the recommended action from staff is to approve the original estimate at $18,391,606. But the revised estimate from staff is the $14,638,142. why would the recommendation to this body be approving the total or

Or the budget could be reduced to compensate for the $5 million in federal funds.

Thank you for all the clarification. I have no challenge accepting the federal funds or the donation for this project in a way to offset the GO cost. I think that's a really smart maneuver, and I know that doesn't include... the design elements and that doesn't include the art elements as well. So I think that component makes sense. My concern is that when this originally was presented to council and voted on it, it was closer to 10 million. 10 million something. The revised estimate then came up to 12 million. Now we're going up to 18 million, but it may only cost us 14 million. So I still ha

I echo the same concerns. You just mentioned something, a number that actually is very significant. Remind me how much a new fire station costs? How much does Fire Station 23 cost? Roughly $5, $5.5 million. Yes, yes. That number that you just mentioned, $5.5, is in federal dollars. But in looking at the actual cost of the bridge, can you remind me how much the bridge actually costs? Because you can't just have a bridge without supporting

So the bridge, by all technical purposes, is $6.67 million.

I have deep concerns about this, and they stem from that very start of my conversation, which was how much does a fire station cost? I have heard from firefighters about the need for more fire stations or renovating fire stations. And when I know that that number could help renovate a fire station literally just down the road from there that needs that improvement right away, that concerns me. And had I known that the $18 million approximate would have been shared with this council, Back in September of 2025, we would have more questions regarding whether or not to approve that budget since it

Thank you. Thank you, Paul, for all your work on this. Paul, is the project going to cost $18 million?

Yes, thank you. And have costs on all projects that we are completing within the city gone up period? I remember, and I wrote it down, since 2020, construction costs for utility projects have increased by 66%. Is that correct? So when we first came, we said this is probably going to be around $12 million. Now it's $14 million. I just have grave concern of saying that a fire station costs this and this costs that because funding from WAMPO for a portion of this, could that be used for a fire station, Paul?

And it's not for design, it's not for public design, it's specifically for construction of projects. So out of the 12 million that comes to WAMPO, the Wichita Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, and an annual budget, approximately how much is being allocated to the City of Wichita? Potentially.

Yeah, so that means that we received half of the funding that WAMPO allocates every year for this project, and that couldn't be used for a fire station. It couldn't be used for anything else. Is that correct? That is correct. That is correct. So if we turn this money down for this project, we can't say we're going to use it and build a fire station.

That's a great point. Thank you. I just want to point out also, and this is a statement, and I'm sorry, but it's timely, and then I'll have more statements later. This is a three and a half mile project and three intersections that are going to be enhanced for public safety, which is one of our core values. Is that correct, Paul? Yes. Yes. So I'm going to say it one more time. Is this an $18 million bridge?

I have a follow-up to that question, and that is in regards to the WAMPO dollars. And I asked this question during agenda as well. Can this be utilized to do signalization on Rock Road, just like you're doing signalization at Woodlawn, Webb, and Greenwich?

So are these specific WAMPO federal dollars for a specific bridge then?

The reason why I'm asking is, again, people have asked, people have been emailing us, both in support and also not in support of this, $6.67 million bridge. They have asked about other more economical ways to have another safe passage across Rock Road. One of the options that an email, a constituent emailed was, could you not have improved sidewalks and had a cross section right there, a more improved cross section just south or at the Bradley Fair crosswalk right now. If you also improved and added a sidewalk on the east side of Rock Road just south of Red Rock. That was one constituent's ask

And remind me, I know that the bridge is what's part of the design right now, but when the discussion was had, this is before my time, can you explain why a crosswalk, simply a crosswalk on Rock Road was not

Thank you, Mayor. Paul, I think one of the concerns that I hear a lot of people have is mission creep. If we have $18 million, we'll use all the $18 million. So when we get down into some of the costs here, the bridge, walls, path, lighting, Is all of that itemized and locked in so there's nothing added to that necessarily?

Okay, I guess this next question is for the city manager. So if we pass this today at 18 million, can we put a requirement in there or some sort of strings attached that whatever does not get used for this project can go to a firehouse or a firehouse maintenance?

So what would that look any different than the proposal we have today? Would that be like an addendum, an add-on to any potential motion?

Okay, I'd just be interested, and I don't know, Jennifer, if you have any input as well in earmarking whatever savings we have from this specifically for fire, firehouses and fire maintenance. We haven't done that for any other project.

Thank you, Mayor. Paul, it looks like Phase 1 came substantially under what you estimated. Is that true? So that's the reason why, part of the reason why it's showing so much less as a revised estimated cost. So Phase 2 could possibly come under the estimate too.

But right now, the federal, through WAMPO, you're talking about $10 million from the federal government and $4.6 million from the city. Yes. Okay. And is it true that WAMPO requires a 20% match? They do. Yes. Yes. That is true. So we'd have to invest at least $2 million to get that $10 million? Okay. And again, those WAMPO dollars cannot be diverted to any other thing in our CIP?

Also, just curious, there's not a sidewalk on the east side of Rock Road, right? All the way from the Koch property, all the way south. Is there a reason why there's not a sidewalk on that side of the street?

Thank you and this is a question for Paul or maybe the city manager just to follow up. So we're anticipating as I mentioned last time we had a budget more more funding got put into the budget anything that isn't spent which we anticipate will be probably four million will go or more will go back into the CIP correct?

And also manager. So we have done renovations in libraries in five of the six districts recently. We've built community center, building a new community center in another district, lots of other quality, park and rec. I can't even think of how many renovations, updates we've been doing across the city. Have we ever said before that the stipulation, if there's money left over, has to go to a specific entity, such as a fire station? I just want to be really careful because that's a precedent that could impede other projects in the CIP that are currently in queue. We're getting ready to build two

Thank you so much. And this is a question for some of my colleagues, Are we asking for the 5.5 allocated in the CIP, if those dollars that are not used for this project, if those things can go towards other projects? Because I don't think we could use the funding from WAMPO for anything other than what we've applied for.

I see no further questions for staff. We will now open it up for public comment.

Thank you, Holly. We'll continue with public comment on this item. I see no one else from the community who would like to speak on this.

Thank you, Liz. Would anyone else from the community like to speak on this? I see none. We will close public comment now. Thank you to the four speakers. I simply wanted to say thank you. We hear you about the importance of outdoors opportunities and safety. And again, I'm going to be voting against this, not because I'm not in favor of opportunities for mental health and public safety, but rather a budgetary concern. This budget has ballooned to a number that I don't feel comfortable with and one that our community has said to keep prioritizing. And so again, I'm grateful that there are priva

Thank you, Mayor. As I said earlier, I'm interested in figuring out a way to accept the WAMPO funds and also the donation, but not increase the budget. And I don't know if there's appetite among my fellow council members to do so, but the bridge was already included in the original project amount when it came before this council at 12 million. And I think being a good steward also means completing it with the commitments we already made. Just in terms of scheduling, the existing budget that we approved was $12,118,061, and that was on December 23rd, 2025. And I understand there's a difference

Thank you, Mayor. David, thank you for speaking. Thanks for coming up here in District 5. I witnessed your son Chris' transformation. And you have every reason to be choked up over that. So I competed against him in those triathlons and beat him every time. Until he got in shape and he just smoked me every time. So it was quite a transformation. And more than the physical transformation, it was a mental transformation. So congratulations to Chris and to you. I appreciate that. Some people know I used to ride to work from the west side to Johnston's at 21st and K96. This path would have been ni

Thank you, Mayor. I know Council Member Tuttle has worked really hard on this for a really long time. I use the Redbud Trail as well, and I know that that is one of the busiest parts of the trail, certainly with congested traffic. So I just appreciate the federal money that's come in, all of the hard work with WAMPO. I know how competitive those dollars are. I really appreciate everybody that has worked so hard on this. I appreciate all of the speakers, all of the emails, and it is not always convenient for people to come and sit and hang out with us for hours. I hope you guys learned somethin

Thank you. Paul, could you join us for a second? I know this is a time for a comment, but I do have a clarifying question, I think, before I make a comment. I heard from a colleague that the project has ballooned in cost. The budget has increased to $18 million because we received additional funding sources, but the estimated cost of the project has not ballooned. Is that correct?

I just want to make the clarification. The budget has increased. The overall budget has increased because we received outside funding, which is a good thing. The cost has not ballooned for this project. Am I correct? Are we anticipating spending the same amount of local as we have from the beginning of this project? Pretty much. Yes.

So we're only increasing the federal share? Correct. So I just want to help with a misconception, misunderstanding, whatever it may be. We aren't just saying, oh, hey, here's the budget and go spend. We've already set the spending limit for this project. Is that correct? So out of, I'm going to say it again, I'm going to say it 50 times to be redundant, and I hope that people watching, that my colleagues, people in the audience, the media, social media capture this. The amount of taxpayer dollars in the City of Wichita local budget is not increasing. That amount has been set. Is that correct? Yes. Okay, thank you very much.

Thank you so much, Mayor. And I want to reiterate a lot of the points. There are very few things where I feel that we have received an enormous amount of communication on as it relates to policy topics. This is by far one of them. And overwhelmingly, majority of the communication that I've received via email has been supportive, and a few of the folks from my district who were concerned were concerned about the cost. And Paul, thank you for engaging with me to clarify, and I think it's been reiterated again. I go back to what Councilmember Johnson has said a couple weeks ago, and it just has s

Thank you. Thank you for the great comments from my colleagues. I'm just going to start out by saying thank you to Paul and thank you to James Wagner and to Gary Jensen and all the folks in Public Works who have been really diligent on this project for many years. This started as an opportunity. We knew that we had the three and a half miles left of the 30-mile trail that wasn't done. and when we began having conversations several years ago about what about Rock Road. And initially some of our conversations were we cannot in good conscience encourage more people to walk, bike, use a stroller,

Thank you, Mayor. I'd like to just address the thought that a crosswalk would serve instead of a bridge. I go down Ridge Road a lot, next to Central County Park. There is a crosswalk there. People access the park through the middle of the road between 13th and 21st. people consistently blow right through that stoplight. Consistently do it. If you're crossing that road, you better look both ways and be prepared to get out of the way. And that is not nearly as busy as Rock Road is. That's one issue. The second issue is Rock Road is the busiest street in the city. It probably should be three lane

This is in Council Member Tuttle's district.

Thank you. Again, thank you to all staff. Thank you to all of everyone who's attended here today. Thanks for your nods of affirmation. I appreciate it. Thank you for the people who, everyone in the community who has sent emails for and against this as Councilmember Ballard said, we always want to hear both sides. It is unfortunate to me that because of a misleading headline from one of our friends, the media that this is turned into a story that instead of being celebrated is being questioned the way that it is I always want projects and things that we do in the city to be scrutinized and to h

We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, Madam Clerk, please open the roll. Motion passes five to two. Madam Clerk, please call the next item.

Thank you, Steve. Questions for staff, beginning with Council Member Hohaisel.

Thank you, Mayor, and thank you, Steve. One of the things we hear about from pretty much every single organization working in this field is the need for case managers. And it looks like we have two of them here, and this is a two-year grant.

Okay, will this start when the project is done?

Okay. In the year and a half, I assume we're going to be looking for other grants to help.

If not, would that fall on the city or Second Light to fill those positions, or is it possible we let it go?

Okay, so if there's no additional funding, we still have it to where the case managers will be available.

Thank you so much. And stemming from Council Member Hoheisel's comments, given that these are grant-filled positions, what is the plan to continue these positions in the budget should you not have grant funding moving forward?

And have you factored in that life happens? And maybe sometimes people can't pay that full amount of rent or only a certain percentage of the rent. And I'm assuring that you all have accounted for that. Yes, of course. Perfect. Thank you. You're welcome.

Any further questions for staff? I only had one. I had the opportunity to drive by there last week during the second light board meeting and it looks like construction is moving along really well. Can you just give us some maybe milestones that have happened so far and the big milestone that is yet to come?

I see no further questions from my colleagues. We'll open it up for public comment on this item. I see no one from the public who would like to speak on this item. We will close public comment and bring it back to the bench. This is in Councilmember Maggie Ballard's District 6.

Thank you, Mayor. Steve, thank you so much for always being on the lookout for grants. I know the downside or other part of grants is that we do need to be cognizant of how we're going to move forward once the grant runs out. So I really appreciate you already thinking about that. And the other thing that I wanted to point out is just the supportive services. We know how incredibly important the wraparound supportive services are to make all of this make sense and you know sometimes hold somebody's hand to walk through this whole process um at whatever stage they might be coming into it so rea

Motion second. Discussion? See none. Madam Clerk, please open the roll. Motion passes 7-0.

Thank you for the presentation, Scott. Questions for staff? I see none. This does not get public comment? Or it does?

Thank you. Thank you for the staff presentation. We will now open it up for public comment on this item.

THANK YOU, JOY. AND JUST FOR A POINT OF CLARIFICATION, ALL THE CITY STAFF ARE ACTUALLY, THE CITY MANAGER STAFF, THE CITY COUNCIL HAS NO STAFF. ONLY ONE INDIVIDUAL AND THAT IS THE CITY MANAGER. WE'LL CONTINUE WITH PUBLIC COMMENT.

Thank you, Mary. We'll continue with public comment.

Thank you, Kathy. We'll continue with public comment.

Thank you, Christine. We'll continue with public comment.

Thank you, Alan. We'll continue with public comment. If there's no one in the public who would like to speak, we will close public comment. We will bring it back to the bench. Thank you to the... City Attorney Logano.

Thank you, City Attorney. This resides in Councilmember Shepherd's district. I just want to say thank you to the six speakers that came to talk to the council today. Councilmember Shepherd.

Thank you, Mayor. I'll make this quick. I move that the City Council make hold of Planning Director's written decision regarding the appeal and thereby maintain the interim control placed on the Crown of Town here. Second.

Motion second. Discussion? Seeing none, Madam Clerk, please open the roll.

Sure, you may come and speak. We should withdraw this motion. I move to withdraw this motion. Second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Motion is dismissed at this time.

Mr. Brown, you're speaking to the council, and then the council can ask additional questions.

Mr. Brown, I think you can ask questions to Scott since he is your witness right now.

I think she's representing the city. Is that accurate? So you can or not?

take into account the weight that you would like to give that letter can the letter be provided to all of us again you guys have it in your email multiple times and I have a copy here if you'd like it I also have a request could you clear the board so if we have further questions we could go on to the board

I actually have just one question for you, Mr. Brown. I sent an email earlier. a few weeks ago because we've had community members say that they would like to purchase the building from you. Could you address that?

Thank you. I just want to make sure we get back to the point of why we are here. So if there are no more questions, I'm ready to move forward. Vice Mayor, it looks like you might.

I just have one question for Scott regarding Mr. Brown's request for PED. That would have to come back, go through the District Advisory Board again, to then come to the City Council if there would be any changes to the PED, correct? So it would still go through council or go through council or MAPCD or MAPC. It would go through DAB and come back to council if there were to be any requested changes to.

Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to clarify because there have been community members who, again, we've heard from today and weeks prior. I know the Mayor clarified this for you as well. So there hasn't been any legitimate offers made on the crown? Okay. And you are not interested in selling it privately? Thank you. So community members should not make overtures because you're not interested.

Were you speaking about the gold down? Yes. The one that just went up at the sheriff's.

Okay. I'm reading something different then.

Okay. So I need. Okay. I'm ready to move forward.

Mr. Brown, just one last question so that everyone in the community that has been, quote, wanting to buy from you, if they want to provide a formal offer, how shall they contact you?

Thank you very much for putting that on the record. So if anyone is interested in providing a formal offer, that was the email address to contact you. Thank you very much.

Council members, are you guys done with questions? I see no further questions from the council. We will turn it to staff.

Thank you, I think the proper thing is to make a motion, then we'll have discussion, right Mayor? I appreciate the conversation, spirited conversation we had today. With that, I move that the City Council may uphold the Plain Director's written decision regarding the appeal, thereby maintain the interim control placed on the Crown of Town Theater. motion second discussion see none council membership thank you mayor i just think it's really important to recognize that i believe that this council in this city wants to be business friendly and work with our business because we understand how impo

Thank you. It's actually closed. Sorry. Oh, is it? Yes, because there's now a motion and a second. We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion from council? I see none. Madam Clerk, please open the roll. Motion passes 7-0. Madam Clerk, please call the next item.

Thank you, Jesse. Questions for staff? I see none. Thank you very much. We will now open it up for public comment regarding this item. I see no one from the public here to speak about this. We'll bring it back to the bench since this is closest to Vice Mayor Glasscock. Vice Mayor Glasscock, District 4.

Mayor, I would move that we approve the supplemental agreement and authorize the necessary signatures.

Second. Motion. Second. Discussion? See none. Madam Clerk, please open the roll. Motion passes 7-0. Madam Clerk, please call the next item. Council Member appointments and comments. Council Members, any appointments? Council Member Tuttle.

Thank you. I'd like to appoint Kelly Estrada to the District 2 Advisory Board.

Fantastic. We will also just send all of you an email for my appointments. I would like to appoint Maria Adriana Curry to the library board, and I would like to appoint Joseph Shepard, council member for District 1, to the Northwest Bypass Steering Committee. With that, I move to approve the appointments. Motion second. Discussion? See none. Madam Clerk, please open the roll. Motion passes 7-0. Madam Clerk, please call the next item.

Council Member, comments? I see none. With that, I move to Council Member Tuttle.

Thank you. I just wanted to take this opportunity to remind our community that on Friday it will be the 25th anniversary of September 11th. There are some in this room who are not even probably 25 to be able to remember that day, but I remember exactly where I was and exactly what I was doing at that moment. And I remember how it changed our country for the good in some ways and for the bad in some. But overall, as a nation, we came together. And for nothing else, we should remember the lives that were lost, the firefighters and the first responders who continue to lose their lives even to thi

Thank you, Council Member Shepherd. I, too, remember that day. So thank you so very much. I was in, sorry, Council Member Tuttle, my bad. And I just wanted to say that I'm very appreciative of Beyond the Call, who hosted a 9-11 challenge this past weekend. And for anyone that would like to also support our firefighters, On Sunday, they will be climbing the Epic Center, which they do every year in memory of those lives lost during 9-11. So again, that is in District Number 6. So thank you again, Council Member Tuttle. With that, I see no further comments. I move to adjourn this meeting at 1249