Council - Regular Meeting

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Good evening. It is 6 o'clock. We're going to go ahead and call this meeting to order. Roll call, please. Council member Clark, here. Council member Selenus, here. Council member Click, here. Council member Saper, here. Council member Bailey, here. Council member Mcgrron, here. Council member Fitzgerald here. Council member Alvarez here.

Now we have the pledge of allegiance led by council member Clark. All right. Number four, approval of the agenda. Do we have a motion on the agenda? So move second. All in favor? Yes. Any opposed? Motion passes.

All right. Uh item five, comments from the public. If you're a member of the public wishing to speak, please approach the microphone and offer your comment. Please limit that to five minutes. And we are scrubbing the requirement or at least the request to uh state your address for the record. So come on up and let us know what you think. Good evening.

So, as you guys know, uh Rich from the North, uh North Kansas City Business Council likes us to come on and say a little something. So, he asked me to to kind of talk a little bit about SEI. Um my name is Chris Watson. I'm with SEI. Um throughout my entire life, I've always been trying to help people use technology to keep uh themselves safe. And that path eventually led me to SEI. uh a company with a genuine commitment to community communities where it operates. That commitment is a big reason why I'm here today. SEI uh Security Equipment Incorporated started over 50 years ago in Omaha, Nebraska. As we continue to grow, we weren't just going to go lease an office building somewhere. So, in 2017, we purchased a building not too far from here. down on uh 1225 Swift Street and we've been there ever since. What SEI does, and you can kind of see it on the screens today, and this is basically us showing off, but in a good way. It shows the scale of what we do every day. Over 30,000 uh intrusion systems and cameras out there doing their jobs. more than 25,000 access access control door openings for the right people and about 2,000 fire signals monitored every month. The big takeaway is that it isn't just theoretical theoretical security. It's real systems, real monitoring and real real results all happening that is that proves that SEI has a scale to be trusted and proven where it counts. We support many local businesses and we help them answer questions like how do I improve safety and security even after hours? What's the best way to protect our businesses uh from fire risks? How do we control building access for employees, vendors, and visitors?

Can systems like ours help them with more than just security and operations? We also offer 247 professional monitoring services, fire, smoke, and carbon monoxide detection systems, residential cameras, and home automation systems. We're proud members of the North Kansas City Business Council and the Chamber of Commerce. That involvement helps us stay connected, contribute to local initiatives, and collaborate with other companies that make North Ken City such a strong business community. I have to say I personally am impressed by the commitment of the city members and the businesses that are part of the business council. North Kansas City businesses genuinely care for each other and the residents in the community. That kind of mindset isn't something you see every day. It It's rare and it's something special. We love the strong sense of community here in North Kansas City. for upcoming Snake Saturday parade. We're opening our business. Just just be a place where people can stay warm, come in for a cup of coffee or a cup of cocoa and just warm up before everything gets started. In closing, I want to thank you for the opportunity to speak today. And at the end of the day, SEI isn't just a security company. We're a community partner. We chose North Kansas City on purpose. We're proud to invest here, to grow here. and to show up here. Whether it's uh protecting local businesses, supporting residents, or even opening our doors on a cold Saturday, snake Saturday morning, we're commitment for the long haul. Thank you for showing us for welcoming us into the community, and we're proud to call North Kansas City home and even prouder to help keep it safe. Thank you.

Very good. Thank you very much. And thanks for uh being here with us for so long. I really appreciate that uh offer for Snake Saturday. Hopefully, we won't need it. The weather will be warm enough, but uh that's very kind of you. Further public comments going once. All right. Uh moving on to the consent agenda. Do we have a motion on the consent agenda? So move. Second. All in favor? Yes. Yes. Any opposed? Motion passes. Regular items. Item number 11,

update from Northland Assistance Center on emergency cold weather sheltering. All right. Uh so I spoke to Rita this past week uh about the status of their funding. They are starting to run low due to some very very cold weather that we've been experiencing recently. Um Rita mentioned she's got at least a story to share from somebody. I don't know if they were able to make it. It doesn't seem they were able to come with you. No, they were at a bus stop and the bus broke down. Welcome to transportation in Northland. Um, he is desperately going to try to make it. I told him we were first on the agenda. Sure.

His name is Daniel and I wish you could have met him because he really wanted to say thank you. It's very difficult to find someone who will do that. I did not ask him to do it, but when he was getting ready to go into a hotel for another week because of the cold weather, he said, "What can I do?" And I invited him to the meeting. He may roll through a door while I'm talking. I hope he does. Sure. Or maybe if he rolls through the door, you might interrupt for a moment and let him say thank you. Yeah. Per because he is really on the way. We'll check with Mr. Barzi, but I think we can make that happen. Well, we're going to wait and see how it happens and he knows that.

Um, so I'm here to report on where we're at right now. First, thank you, mayor, and city council members for your continued support for this effort. It's an amazing thing and as I've said time and time again, it's the only city in the entire metro that does dedicate money to take care of the homeless. So, I'm going to make it short because I know what it's like to sit on the city council. So, at this point in time, um we have $2,7064 remaining from the $30,000 min and the administrative fees. It has been, as you all know, a crazy crazy winter. We have provided for you have provided 401 room nights for individuals in the cold since the 1st of November. In addition to that, um our agency has a funding pool that allows for because there was many member some members of the council said what happens if they don't meet the criteria. We have been trying to meet that need as long as they're allowed to stay at the American in. Our agency has spent money for 37 room nights for a little about $3,000. North Kansas City Health, I have an ongoing grant with them, so nothing ever happens like it did a couple years ago. So if they have to release someone and they have no place to go, they continually fund my agency. They just put money in our agency account. And since the 1st of November, we we have 12 rooms for a total of $1,164.68. If we cannot accommodate under any of those circumstances, we have been referring people to a turning point. I hope you've been paying attention on Facebook in regards to this organization. They only can house people when it's 10° or less, but it is a fail safe. We sent many, many people to that organization. They have 60 CS at Gashlin United Methodist Church and they brought it up to 70 when need be and they provide overnight shelter from 6:00 at night till 6:00 in the morning. then

they send them to warming shelters. In addition, we have given everyone that we've had to refer to Turning Point or other places or have not been able to meet our criteria or turning points criteria. We give them information regarding places they can eat and places they can get warm up north. I provided this information for the police and fire department so they're well aware as well.

Thank you so much. Um so before us we have a request for an additional $5,000 that um in speaking with you should get us through the rest of the cold season barring some horrible blizzard conditions. Um so the question before the council is an additional 5,000 are we ready to make that allocation? Thoughts or questions? Mayor May I say as when we talked we discussed an amount. Yep. I am not standing here before you to ask for an amount. I really want to make that clear because I'm telling you where we're at now.

And then you and I talked about where we might be to get us through September, which is the end of our grant. And that's what we had come to a conclusion about.

I'm trying to remember how much have we spent this year and how much was allocated last year to the Northland Assistant Center. 65,000 last year, but then we restricted the number of people coming. So, we're no longer housing we do, Jackson, and other counties. As I indicated before when I got together with the mayor and share with the council, we restricted it down to where and it's already in the memorandum to whereas they have to be chronically homeless in the Northland receiving services for 6 months, valid Missouri ID, social security card, and not been kicked out of the American in. Pretty much those are the criteria. We worked all summer to accommodate our regular homeless to make sure they met those requirements. We worked hand inand with the turning point and then we found other resources if we could not address those issues.

So we've spent uh 28 so far uh yeah approximately. Yep. So we allocated basically 28 27 9 29

and then we're asking uh we're putting 5,000 for so give us seven for the remainder. See some head nods. Do you have something further? Head nods, thumbs ups. Okay, the mechanism for this is a little murky because we did it under a resolution before. We didn't have a resolution on the agenda. So, um Tom and I have kind of discussed about how to get this done. The directive from the council will be to allocate 5,000 to be made available as soon as possible through the correct legal means. Yep. Go ahead,

Rita. Thank you so much for coming and talking to us. I just have one question. the the data that you were talking that you gave us some numbers about um can that be shared with us or city staff so that we can see that it can I have the this is all the folios okay right here I have to redact all the names I cannot be excellent and they're always available anybody wants to come by my office just let me know ahead of time so I can redact it I just can't remember those offh hand and I'm trying to take notes yeah that's what that's what we did and if you need specific numbers I can tell you what we did in November December for January. Honestly, all of that would be wonderful. Just kind of I can pull up reports

of people who we helped in this month and the number of room nights and that sort of thing. So, you can kind of see a tally for those of us who have especially Connor who is uh financially minded. I know can kind of see the the comparison of like here's here's our contribution and then here's how it's been distributed. Sure. I can do it month by month because we started November 1st. So, you know, partway through November 1st, I can pull up stats just like I did for a cumulative stats for tonight's purposes for each month. I just did not bring them for here. But if you want to come by my office, you all know where I'm at. If you wouldn't mind me emailing that, too. Absolutely. Excellent. I can do I can do it as a service summary. I can't do it as a client served. Sure. Oh, absolutely. We don't want details. If you want a service summary, just email me. I can send the information to you. Okay.

Okay. Yeah. Any further questions, thoughts? Okay. 5,000 headed that direction. Same terms and conditions. Right. Under the same terms and conditions of a contract, you're authorizing the city administrator to expend up to an additional $5,000. Is that what I'm hearing? That is right. Do you need a motion? And it would be best that it would be done by a motion and, you know, a vote. Done. Can anybody recite what Tom just said back as a motion? Beautiful. Yeah. Yeah. So, so moved. We got a second on that one. Second.

Second. All in favor? Yes. Yes. Any opposed? Beautiful. Thank you, Rita. Thank you. Thank you. And any of you want any additional information, let me know. Just email me. I can send you the summary sheets. If you actually want to see the folios, you can do that as well. I appreciate your consideration and my homeless individuals appreciate your consideration. And if you see uh Daniel come in, just give me the the wave and we'll we'll make an accommodation. Perfect. Okay. Uh moving on to item 12. Presentation by ad hoc composting committee on proposed service. Good evening. Good evening.

What do you have for us? Hi, my name is Diane Barrow and I have been working with Bart German and Johanna Keel on promoting community composting and I'm here tonight so that we with the objective to resolve all questions and feedback so that the city city staff will have what they need to enter into a contract with Casey Can Compost for community bin service. As you know, there are several aspects to uh community composting, home composting, curbside service. This is strictly for community bin service. Um the lead time for the bins is at least four months now. And so we are uh hoping to get this contract signed as soon as possible so that we can hit that prime composting season in the summer. um we we can resolve the issues of where the bins are placed and how to enforce who will use them after the contract is signed. But so this time I just wanted to make a very specific proposal to um have two smart cans installed in North Kansas City for the use of residents uh that will be emptied weekly and will be free to the people who sign up to use them. The cost to the city um and this is assuming a very optimistic delivery date. Uh the cost to the city would be uh for the both cans $2,400 at signing and then monthly um $900 per month for a total for all of calendar year 2026 of $9,600. And um if you'll remember uh late last year uh before the budget was approved, you had approved $1,000 a month for the

12 months of the fiscal year. Uh that $1,000 a month would allow for three additional pickups per month in case we exceed uh the weekly delivery requirements and um we'd still stay within that thousand budget. So, I was just wondering, it might be a good time since that's the concrete proposal. I wondered if this would be a good time to stop and just see if anybody has any questions.

Go ahead. Um, first off, thank you for doing all the leg work to get this kind of up and running, but um, how do I say this? Just looking at the numbers, it looks like it's fairly pricey for the bins and the fixed monthly pickups, but it's pretty low cost for the additional, you know, 32 bucks a bin or whatever for extra pickups. Yes. Could you talk me through the advantage of the second bin versus just one? They looked like they're being proposed being at the library and the parks. They'd be pretty close together, so I was just trying to think through double the price for

Right. Absolutely. Um that is a a absolutely a valid consideration. This is a pilot project and I think when we started we just wanted to make sure that um well let me back up. Ultimately we hope that this is successful enough that we at some point feel the effect in our curbside trash pickup. you know, this these programs tend to make trash pickup uh a lot less volume, a lot tidier. Um it's, you know, landfill use, landfill availability is filling up. We just we need to look for solutions to that. We wanted to make sure that we had an implementation that was successful enough that people were encouraged to use it. We didn't want people to show up and not have uh the capacity to uh empty their food scrap that they've been collecting. So um so we thought two bins would be less would be uh great to make sure it was successful. And the fact that we they're smart bins and they are collecting data all the time. If we go through a period of this pilot project and we decide we have topped out at uh the capacity that we need, we'll we'll have the data to make choices to uh use maybe we don't need smart cans. Maybe we can go with the ones that don't have that technology. Or if we need to just have one bin, we can do that. But or or we can start with one bin. Absolutely. And if we need to add more, I mean I think the four-month lead time is also tricky because if we start with

one and then we need to it it takes a little more time, takes a lot more time. So but certainly going with one is also a valid option. So am I understanding your question is the difference between two cans with some extra pickups or one can with more extra pickups so it's getting emptied more often? Yeah, it looked like and I haven't been as much in the numbers as you all but it looked like the extra pickups are only 32 bucks a pickup but it's quite a bit higher cost for the the bins and the and the technology fee of $1,200. 900 bucks per month for weekly pickup. But, you know, doing that one 900 buck pickup with some $13 extra pickups

might be a lot cheaper than two $900 pickups. I I think this was probably quoted with the idea of two bins. And if you went back with them asking for one, you would find pricing would change on you. Just a thought. Yeah. Uh, so we're kind of walking a tight rope between making somebody have to go further to drop it off, which might deter people, um, versus, um, having a single can that might top out, but if we have more empty, more pickups, it might not. Um, I would like to give this like its best fighting chance to get off the ground.

Um, and you know, for an extra is $1,200 for the tech fee, I I think that's fine in my book. Um, but if council has other thoughts, go ahead and run through them. In the interest of providing all the information we can, Karen Ramsey with KC can compost is here. All right. And so, and she prepared the materials that you were presented before the meeting and uh may have some input to this. Excellent. And thank you for the slideshow. I think everyone ran through it. So, if there's stuff you want to point out in there or just stuff we might not understand about this, please share.

And thank you for allowing me to come talk as well. And just to kind of Can you make sure you speak into the microphone? Yeah. Is this better? You can lift it up a little bit too. There you go. Okay. Beautiful.

Good. Um, thank you for allowing me to to support Diane in this conversation. Um, some of the points that you made in regard to one can versus two can are the reasons behind that. Um, a we find that when individuals are using a drop off program like this, there is a certain proximity um bump where, you know, if you only have one can, if I have to travel too far, I won't go do the drop off versus if I have a location that's relatively close to me, we're more likely to have more people participating. Um and then that is then the additional technology side of it. Um each of these cans uh tracks usage. It tracks um fullness. Um and we're able to use that as Diane mentioned to really help understand you know how many people in the community are using it, how often are they using it. um which can also then help us understand um you know if you need another can where are there clusters of users in the community that you know a can would be well suited in this part of town because a lot of users are coming from that part of town to another can. So there's a lot of good data that we get from those containers. Um, and the other tricky part with that is you can certainly use just one smart can and you can add more pickups, but there's only a certain number of days per week that we can add pickups. Um, so you know, once you hit four or five days a week of collection, then you have no runway to grow that program versus if you have two cans and you start out with one pickup a week, then you do still have that capacity to add more pickups to each of those cans

um to be able to collect more than just one can picked up, you know, four or five days a week. Gotcha. And the lead time on the cans is a real lynch point there for me is if we do find out that we can't empty it fast enough and people are coming to a full bin like they're going to that's going to end it right there for a lot of people. Right.

I do think the second can especially to give this a real chance and it's it's within budget makes it makes sense to to me. Council member Saber. Uh I I I I like this project, but I'm concerned that is it a monthly basis for the charges? In other words, after 6 months, if it doesn't work out as we hope, can we uh re uh reorder the structure or maybe cancel if it doesn't work out at all?

Yes. So, this is a monthly service agreement. Um and so yes, if after six months you have, you know, found that there are issues with the program, we can certainly discuss removing a can or um these are cans that can be, you know, moved around. So if a particular location um ends up not being the best option, we can work with um you to move a can to a different location to help um enhance the success of the program.

We're a very small city in population and geography and the issue you mentioned of uh traveling which people have to do to make this deposit. I don't think it's going to be a major factor here, but we'll find out with the data and I look forward to it. Thank you, Council Member Click.

Um, I was just scrolling through again the um the slides that you attached. There's also in here an option for one smart can and one standard can. Obviously, we lose the data, but it's like pretty significantly cheaper if we want to. So, then at least people have a place. We get the data from whichever can we want to choose. Just another option if the cost is of major concern and in the pilot I would very much opt for the smart can so that we learn where those people are. But yeah, it is a cost-saving option. Council member Grown.

So um I I appreciate the value of composting. I do. I I appreciate that we're looking at this at ways to improve our environment as a city. I am where my hesitation is is right now we're spending as a city we're going to spend $12,000 on a pilot for composting. We just gave $5,000 to keep people warm. This is a totally different kind of problem, right? We're solving we're solving first world problems and we're solving third world problems. Um when we reach the end of the pilot, which it sounds like at this point is now is it a six-month pilot or is it a year-long pilot?

Our original intention was it for it to be a year? So is it going to be six months for $12,000? Well, no. It would be I mean what's happened is um you know we're a citizens committee and we don't know how quickly things are going to happen. So we're we're to a point now where we've got six months hopefully in the current fiscal year and then six months in the next f fiscal year. Okay. Yeah.

So then the question becomes what does success look like for this pilot? And if um and I don't know what what that looks like. Does it does it look like 10 people signed up and are using it? Is that success? Because some people are using it. Does it look like a hundred people? Does it look like a thousand people? Is there a certain percentage of the city of our residents who start using it that equate to success or is it just a feeling because I don't I don't really want to spend money year after year on vibes. I'd like to see some like what what is a successful pilot and then what does that mean for the city's expenditures related to this project going forward and I just want all of us to think about that because I think this is a very composting is a great thing but up until this point it's been something that people do on because it's because it's the right thing to do and when we talk about one of the benefits being that it potentially reduces the amount of trash that we're setting out on our own. We're going to have trash pickup. We We can't reduce our city trash pickup. We're not going to save money as a city on trash pickup because we're spending money on composting. It's really just we're helping the environment by spending money on composting at at this point because we're we aren't going to reduce our trash pickup from one time trash and one-time recycling if we also implement composting. We still need one time trash and one time composting. So, it's not like a successful composting pilot is going to result in some kind of savings for the city. It makes us feel good, which is great, and it makes us look like we're well, it it makes us as a city be on the cutting edge of environmental action, which is also fine if that's something that community members want to be a part of. But just keep in mind that we really need to

think about what does success look like and are we as a council and as a city committed to continuing that going forward over time.

Um thanks for framing it that way. Um the way I would kind of conceive of this is as we send this out we this is a conceived pilot that fits within the budget that we kind of laid out that we allocated. Um, it's one of those where we we let it we put it out into the wild and see what happens. And it could shrink, it could grow, it could be, um, if we get an amazing, so you kind of said if 10 people sign up, probably end up turfing the program. If we get 50 to 100, we might get a single bin and find where the hot spot is for that group now that we have the data and and locate it best for them. And then hopefully they keep using or it grows over time. And then if we get a thousand, goodness. Uh like we've really started to make a dent and we can expand the program at the discretion of the council at that time depending on what the costs and inputs look like. And you're correct. The the trash angle, while it's it's great to reduce what's in the bins and all that, like we're not going to cut Look, if you're watching, we're not cutting another day off trash. I promise. Um so that's that's really not going to be a cost-saving thing. It it is we've talked about this a number of times. It was in the last time we cast any strategic vision. We're coming into that again. There was a lot of emphasis on environmental stewardship, green pledges, trying to make a difference for the environment. And for at least from my perspective, it's worth sending this pilot out to see what dent we can make. Uh and it's a it is, you know, it's not nothing. It's $12,000, but it's not a huge cost in the grand scheme of all all that we spend as a city. Uh I think this could really make a difference. And and your original presentation talked about getting methane out and what a greenhouse gas it is. And there's a lot there that can be good with that. I've had DAS bias. Anybody on this side have questions or thoughts? Yes, sir.

Did we get any quotes from companies other than Casey Can? There there are there are no other companies that do this type of service. So there you go. Let me just Oh, just to clarify that we at this time are the only company in the Kansas City metro that can or are providing smart cans. So, but there are companies that pick up compost not using the smart can option potentially. Potentially.

Okay. I would maybe be curious in other operators. I think also we have a procurement policy for items in this price range. It requires three written bids before moving forward in the policy we adopted in October. Go ahead. Is there a dollar amount on that? Because I I thought that was for annual spending of $50,000 or I think five to 15 triggers the three quotes. So yeah, I just I'm not I I'm kind of poorly using you all as an example, but I just want to make sure that we do as a city follow those new provisions, and this is kind of the first time I've seen something come up in this range without the bids. So,

well, it we're in an interesting situation. I'm going to have to ask Karen who her competition is because I have not found anyone and I look for people to do this not just with a smart can but with any kind of pickup for a for a a community location. So sure you can tell me about that later. just to add and sorry just to add in there a lot of times when we in public works when we're looking at soul sourcing I think there are I think there is provisions for soul sourcing in the in the procurement policy okay

um a lot of times if if we're defining a scope in a certain way looking for certain services I think that's where sometimes that you know after a due diligence period of looking through and you know so I think it does come down to the scope so that might have been one of the things that was identified in this particular uh company that okay outlines that so if we're looking at changing the scope hope um that might be more indepth and getting into the weeds with it, but I just want to add that in.

Yeah, if that's the case, I'm good with it. I just want to make sure that we are getting the bids like we are supposed to be or, you know, when those opportunities arise for, you know, we're having discussions about here, if it's too expensive or not, just knowing if another provider could offer even if it's not smart bins, but some kind of similar pickup at half the cost. I'd be curious. Council member Bailey,

I in working with this ad hoc committee, I had gone down the rabbit hole a little bit. Um, I believe they were an excellent choice because their experience with municipal pilots, which is, I think, one of the reasons why they're here in front of us today. Given the time urgency to get this rolled out, I would be in favor of going ahead with where we're at. I don't wouldn't expect to see a 50% discount if we shopped it around. So, I'd be more in favor of having something and moving forward than waiting uh and doing all the things and then not getting something until in the fall. In terms of success of the program, I think you'd laid out the goal of ideally hitting five and ideally 10% of the population. So, I think that's kind of our our benchmarks of, you know, at least a starting conversation about success. I think council could certainly have an internal conversation about whether we agree with that or not, but that could be a starting baseline for us. Council member Saber.

Uh yeah, we have to be very careful with all of our expenditures, the big ones and the small ones as well. But I see this as a pilot project, which is one reason why we need the smart bins to get the data. And after 6 months, we'll know at that point, do we can it because people really aren't that interested, frankly, or do we continue it? And so I support it at that level. So just to be clear, this is being specked out for a year. You've said six months a couple times. It does seem like we could cancel at any point. If if it's really truly not taking off, we could call it off. But

that's why I ask if we if it's a month-to-month basis, I'd like to see it see it through. Um give it the a year's worth of time to get there. But if we're seeing zero to like five signups after six months, yeah, that's fair. Um, but I agree about the smart bins. I think as a pilot piece, we need as much data as we can and this is a unique opportunity to get that using these bins. Linda, um, just a quick question. I think the reason maybe we were thinking or referring the six month, it does say from May 1st to December 1st of this year. So, is that our that I was that's our trial period or is that

I'm sorry that's confusing. I was trying to just give you an idea for the remainder of the year what expenses I said I anticipated. Yep. It's fiscal year versus calendar year and all that good stuff. Fun fun. Or I mean we're basically looking 1,800 bucks a month for however long it goes on, right? Is that where you getting 18 900 per month per bin? It's a 900 for both. For both for both. Oh, okay. So it's half50 per. Okay. Yeah. Yep. 1,200 per bin for the the setup. 450 per bin after after that. Yes. Conor's in now.

Yeah. Yeah. We got him. We got you. Got a 50% discount. relatively low cost on an ongoing basis. You wanted a 50% haircut. Um, just for context, the table that was in the memo, the the close to 12 grand was based on starting February 1st. So, with it now being four months out, I mean, there's the purchase, but then that's going to be lower. Um, the bigger one is the annualized one that, you know, when it becomes a year a year, it was closer to 17. That's based on the three pickups per week. Y um so I mean just keeping in mind that uh and the other question I think um I would be interested in and she mentions in here maybe are you going to get to who who uses the bins? Yes.

Open to everybody in the northland or or or is it you know because that will affect number of pickups per week. I again smart bins you can explain whether we can stop people from uh using them but uh and I think I think we can the other hold on one other thing is um as we go forward if this sort of proves itself out we've got a grant from Mark now but if we can show that we're making like really good numbers really good progress that grant might grow that could get bigger so we we also have other opportunities supplant this expense from us by looking to community grants so go ahead

I think the community grants are for startup expenses only, but certainly we could use grant money for the um the money due up contract signing. Sure. Absolutely. We are we would like to use some of that money to encourage the home composting as well. So, we're kind of trying to figure out how to Yeah. um parse that out, but I believe they offer additional grants that would cover potentially ongoing stuff, but I'll I'll talk to David. Um well I guess he's leaving but anyways never mind that. Uh okay talk to us about the smart bin piece about how we can control access. Is that a

um well what we had talked about and this really kind of came up in discussions with city staff. Um Casey can compost has the ability to uh look at people as they're signing up. They have to give an address. and we talked about how we would like anyone who works for North Kansas City to be able to use it. We have a way to do that. Um, and then the discussion is, well, if we're doing this for environmental reasons, how how strictly do we enforce it? And I I truly chose just an arbitrary number. And you might say the right number is 100% of the people who registered for this need to be residents of North Kansas City. And I absolutely understand that. The other way to look at it is if we can stay within our thousand budget and we have people who are enthusiastic users and and we have 90% North Kansas City residents and 10% we're not they are not giving a a an address that's inside our city. Maybe we just let that go. Um, but like I said, it's an arbitrary number and if we want to just maintain it for residents only.

Yeah, that's fine. I that's it's an interesting conundrum to wrestle with because if we're trying to do the most good for the environment, you open it wide. It can also become a train that runs off the tracks and it puts us carrying the expense of other right municipalities. Um, preference-wise for piloting, I would like to see it be 100% people who provide a North Kansas City residents address, but I would be open to thoughts from the rest of the council. Can we do 100 uh all North Kansas City residents plus city employees? Yes. I mean, they could if they're city employees, they could just 2010 Howell. Um, yeah, pro tip.

2010. Yeah, there you go. If you're listening to this, you also get the the discount code. Um, yeah, 20110 Howl. But they would they would need to put an address in for staff. Well, and and the smart cans will allow us to collect data so that they can comb through it various ways. Sure. We're only going to have so many people using 2010 hell. So, um, very good. We can do that. Any other thoughts, Council Member Bailey?

I'd run it wide open. I don't think we're going to at $30 and empty. I don't think we're going to run our pockets empty and just see what happens. If we evaluate in, you know, a month or two and it's 90%, you know, Casey Mo north, okay, let's look at it. But I think it's going to be incidental and also Casey Mo is running this a program similar to this. If it's something that we long-term see as a a good thing all around, we can share around. I think and that becomes even a stronger program. But you don't know until you get the data. It's a pilot program. I don't think we're going to spend but a couple hundred dollars to find out. So the question on the discussion right now is do we open it beyond North Kansas City or not?

Okay. I say yeah. Okay. So, who says open it beyond North Kansas City? One, two. Who says North Kansas City addresses only? One, two, three, four. Okay. I mean, for now, for now, I I think for the for the pilot, I think we keep it tight. Um, if if others, I mean, that people are going to get a hold of this, they're going to see it being talked about, we might get some some questions from our friends and neighbors. Yes. uh outside of North Kansas City, but for us, for our budget, and for our the funds we're allocating, they they kind of need to stay benefiting folks in North Kansas City.

Yes. And I I think as people sign up and they don't have the right address to get the service for free, they will be given options for how they can participate in the process. If they're, as you said, if they're KCMO residents, they already have free options. So yeah, it'll be an ongoing training for all of us. They may also learn that they don't live in North Kansas City. This is uh this is something we struggle with all the time. Uh that will that will be a fun teaching moment, right? All right. Uh what other do we have other questions on the table at this point? Did do you have what you need to Okay,

I think um the next step Tom Barzee has the draft agreement. and he was going through that red lines. So given the urgency like to see that like moved along to next meeting next meeting so we can get the contract signed and start that was going to be the question given my limit on in contractability. Does the council want to see it back or do you want us to work together and and um move it along? Either way is fine but

you could place the order and then we could sign off on the contract at the next meeting. Is that what I'm understanding? uh without the contract it would be hard to I mean go ahead and purchase I mean if if for some reason you guys said no you know what we don't like um so it was just a question we can bring it back but it it's all up it's up to all of you or if you want us to move forward

yeah if we if we wait until the next meeting we're looking at late June to get the bins um if we can again subconsciously We we'll work on getting the contract the red line back and we're basically committing 2,400 bucks to buy the bins, right? That' be the the cost at this point. That's the tech fee and set up. Yeah. We already have a grant for substantially more than that. So, it's not much, you know, just to get that piece moving.

Yeah. So, like, can we go ahead and get the bins ordered so that we're not waiting another two weeks and then not getting delivery until midsummer? Okay. I believe so. Very good. Yeah. All right. Uh, anything else on that one? Any other thoughts, questions, concerns from the city council? Diane, and I forget. I'm sorry. We are operating in real time here. I Yeah. Yeah. Very good. Yeah. Uh, thank you for this. Thanks for putting all the presentation and all the hard work and and Bart and everybody who's been involved. Thank you all for this. This is excellent. I look forward to the data we get and excited to get it rolled out as soon as we possibly can.

Thank you so much. I appreciate all of your support and your questions and your comments and your concerns. You know, we hear them all and u I just appreciate it. We all do. Thank you very much. All right, on to something substantially less fun. Uh, item 13, consideration of an ordinance approving a contract with the Klay County Sheriff's Department for prisoner housing, bill number 7966, ordinance number 9763. Chief Freeman, you want to talk us through this one?

Sure. Good evening, mayor, members of the council. I briefed you on this a little bit last uh meeting that this was forthcoming. This is an agreement between uh Klay County Sheriff's Department and the city of North Kansas City for them to house our mun our municipal arrests. So something that's been ongoing for a number of years um mostly with Klay County for probably close to 10 years now. Prior to that, we use Ray County Security Housing, which was a private jail. um it's beneficial uh hold the people that commit crimes here in North Kansas City accountable to some some form of the justice system other than the revolving door that has been since almost 2020. So we appreciate the opportunity for the sheriff opening up his jail for our our municipal arrest. Uh we know he doesn't have to. We also know that comes at a cost and it's a significant cost. We were paying $59.37 a day for prisoners in the last agreement and this one moves it up to $150 a day. So, um, happy to answer any questions.

Do we have questions? Council member Saber, I think you just answered it. What was the daily cost again? Because it wasn't in the memo. It was It was in the $59 range. 59 I I forget the change. 5917 5937 and going up to it's going up to $150. $150. That's per day. It's on page seven of eight. Housing rate per day 150 with all the inclusions. What's the difference between that and the 24-hour hold fee of $500? What is that?

So, a 24-hour I guess maybe education more than anything. Uh in Missouri, if we arrest somebody for a felony, we're not talking about municipal arrests here. We're talking about felonies. we have 24 hours to either charge them or release them. So that gives the detectives, the investigators, the prosecutors time to work the case up, present it to the prosecutor, which would present to a judge for a warrant, yada yada yada. Um, typically we would like to have those people housed in jail while we're working on felony charges to do so. Now, that is that charge. That charge has basically been in effect for a little over a year now. Um, so we have adjusted our operations And so instead of sending someone up immediately to the Klay County Jail while we're working up the case, we keep them here that the detectives then come in. Sometimes there's an overtime expense because of it. Sometimes we can work in old in old times we could work cases up during the day generally not have the overtime expense, but now the detectives are coming in in the middle of the night sometimes to immediately start on the case interviewing the interviewing the rest, the witnesses and stuff like that to to expedite that process so we don't have to pay that fee. Okay. And capacity at Klay County, do we know how much availability they have up there?

So, depends on what day you ask and it depends on their staffing levels. Um, I I think that they are they will typically tell you they are over capacity every day. They have people sleeping in what they call canoes on the floor. um and and because the bed space is is over over uh overrun and um so what the sheriff is doing to accommodate this is he is housing out some of his prisoners to Caldwell County. So there's a cost for him to do that obviously. So the price point is kind of fluctuating in back what that cost is going to be to him his staff cost of moving people back and forth and stuff like that to open up what he's called a day room for a municipal arrest. And we will share 35 beds approximately between us, Gladstone, Liberty, Excelsier, Carney, Smithville, every municipality in Klay County that wants to take the sheriff's department up on this offer.

Yep. So, what I'm hearing is uh we could approve this and still have nowhere to put people at Klay County. We might have to still send them further off to I forget the other Caldwell. Caldwell. Yeah, it's possible. And we don't have the agreement yet. We got the agreement back too late from Caldwell County to get it on this agenda. So I would anticipate based on Mr. Barz's workload having that on on uh on the next meeting.

Okay. So if anybody's listening and and wondering why it's so very difficult to have a criminal justice system that functions very well, it's this sort of stuff, capacity constraints on detention uh of people who commit crimes. We we get somebody and they commit a a minor offense. We had nowhere to put them. Uh and and the cost and all of the stuff involved is intense and oftentimes there's just not a place. So, just a little education for everybody. Yeah.

And based on the dollar amount that that we have allocated this fiscal year, we have $100,000 allocated in our detention line for all detention expenses, including the expenses that we have back here with feeding and housing and stuff like that, laundry. Um, but mostly that money is going to go to the the cost that we pay to house our our rest outside. Likely not going to cover it very long. Yeah. If you remember the previous fiscal year, we went from like a $75,000 budget line anticipating the increase. We moved it to $250,000. And so that money sat there and never got spent because the sheriff's department never opened up most of the year for whatever reason. Um, now we went back and we we we scaled that back and so we put in a hundred this year. We it might last, it might not. We've already had meetings with our judge and prosecutor to talk about, you know, some operational guidelines to not keep people in there for weeks on end if they don't need to be, but also get some level of accountability to the criminals here in North Kansas City.

Yeah. Uh do you have the back of your napkin there average stay for a uh municipal prisoner? I I do not.

Personally, it's been it's been so long since we've had consistent numbers. I I wouldn't be able to provide good numbers anyway. Um, typ typically with with the Senate Bill Five that was passed uh back in 2020 2021 era, there's been some reforms in the criminal justice system. So people municipal prisoners just can't sit in jail for days on end waiting to see the judge. They have to see a judge within 72 hours and be arraigned. So in an arraignment, the judge can either choose to hold that person over on bond or the judge can choose to release that person on their own recgnances. That's that's 100% up to to the judge and I think the judge knowing some of the fiscal restraints that we have with with some of this will probably heir more on the sides of releasing on that 72-hour arraignment. Um but if it's serious enough, he'll keep them.

Yeah. So, and then we continue to bear the we bear the cost if if they're kept in. We continue to pay 150 a night. And we have we have no recourse on that, right? Like we can't just decide to let them out, which would be not great if they're a violent offender. No, I mean once they're past that process, the decision is the judges. And so that obligates us to pay $150 a night in perpetuity.

If the judge says that person needs 30 days in jail, then we're paying for 30 days for that person to sit in jail. Typically, municipal arrests do not exceed 30 days. That is that is an extreme example. If you get to someone that's got a serious enough offense, they need to spend 30 days in municipal jail, you might want to consider a felony charge if there's one available.

Right. Okay. Uh, I mean, this is all so very frustrating. Uh, I'm sure it is for you as well. Um, but we we sit and agonize over paying some pittance for a night to keep people alive in freezing temperatures and then we it's $150 to take somebody who's committed a violent crime and keep them housed and fed and clothed and all that. So, it's extremely difficult to conceive, but there's not an alternative if we're going to hold people accountable. Council member, a slight correction. They've been charged. Fair. That's fair. They haven't been convicted. That is fair. So, we just need to keep our language clean.

I will retract the have committed and we'll uh go with an alleged. But yes, it is very frustrating. Uh further. Yes. Yeah. I guess just for visibility, if anybody didn't read the memo at home, um I'm just looking at the $250 per hour that is charged if they need to go to the hospital while they are um being detained. So, yes, that is $250 is charged if we're not there to relieve the Klay County deputy that that accompanies the ambulance to the hospital. Okay? If we're not there within an hour, we start getting charged $250 an hour.

So, the operational process is Klay County calls us and says, "Hey, your prisoner needs medical attention. they're going to exh hospital. We will then dispatch one of our police officers there to relieve the Klay County deputy that is accompanied them so we don't get charged that in theory if we have the staffing to do so. We also have we also have different tools depending on what level they are in the arrest process. We have the ability to contact the judge and see if they can be released on their own recgnizance knowing that they're going to be maybe in the hospital for two or three days. Like we don't want to incur that expense either of having to have one of our officers sit up there 24/7 three for waiting for this person to get medical treatment too.

Sure. And and unfortunately another I'm not going to I'm not going to give another pro tip. Mayor already gave one of those out. Yeah. Yeah. Uh is the so if if the Klay County It's a great catch. $250 an hour is a wild number. Um, so if we can't send a North Kansas City Police Department officer over to the hospital to to sit with and and provide security. Yes. Yeah, we can. No, like if if we are unable to for one reason or another, we pay the 250. Correct. Um, okay. Excellent. All right. Any other uh thoughts or questions on this one? Do we have a first reading? Oh, yes.

Just just want to add a comment. I really don't think we have much of a choice. I mean, the other small cities use Clay County also and we really don't have any other options that are not like, you know, quite a ways away. So, I just really don't think we have much option. Just wanted to add that. Appreciate that.

Feels like it. Can I make a quick comment on that? You're you're correct. But there are also things that we can look at for in the in the future to potentially mitigate some of these ongoing expenses. As you know very well personally, like we used to be able to house people back here for longer stays in our own detention center. Um part of the remodel that was done back in 2008 eliminated some of the the aspects of a functional jail back there. We could bring those back, which would then also mean we would need to hire people to staff that. So, you know, it's it's it's a yin and a yang. Exactly. So,

yeah, if if remodeling the bathroom in the lobby is any indication, that'll be a $250,000 shower we have to install. Um, but it's something to like maybe look at some numbers. I don't know. It's uh it's starting to become a big big number. So, if we did that, we'd have to add like shower facilities, uh way to keep food for the prisoners, etc. Plus, you have to have someone there 247 to watch them. Correct. In theory. Yes. Okay. Well, I mean, there's there's advancements in technology, right?

So, like when we we had before a full-time jailer, work Monday through Friday, 8 to 5 is what that or 7 to 3, whatever. Um, and then that responsibility then fell to the secondary dispatcher um when the jailer wasn't here. that secondary dispatcher wasn't available. An officer came in off the streets to do it. We have camera monitorings in every cell now that we didn't have back then. So, the physically walking back and checking every 15, 20 minutes that you typically had to do, you can now do through video. But, yeah, there's there's a staff cost. It's going to require people. It's going to require someone being dedicated to that. Um, maybe not 24 hours a day, 365 days, but yes, there there's going to be cost associated with it. poof. Um, and while we've got this on the table, I may say that this is the background stuff that goes on all the time that most people don't think about at all. And so, thanks to the the officers that are doing this work, that are driving people to Klay County or even further up uh to to make sure that they are held accountable. Uh, so, all right. Do we have a first reading?

First reading. Second. All in favor? Yes. Any opposed? Motion passes. An ordinance adopting and approving a cooperative agreement identified as the Klay County Detention Center detainee housing agreement between Klay County, Missouri, and the city of North Kansas City, Missouri for the housing of city prisoners. I move that bill number 7966 be placed on second and final reading and passes ordinance number 9763. Second. Call the role. Council member Clark, yes. Council member Selenus, yes. Council member Click, yes. Council member Saper, yes. Council member Bailey,

yes. Council member Mcgrron, yes. Council member Fitzgerald, yes. Council member Alvarez, yes. And can I ask who made the second on that? Okay. Thanks. All right. Item 14. Presentation on boards and commissions. All right. Mr. Barzee has prepared a brief where's the oh slideshow presentation for our viewing pleasure.

Mr. Mayor, members of the council, um, a little while back, I was requested to, took me a little bit of time to get it done, but I was reminded I needed to do it a presentation this evening. And since I gave you a detailed memo, I thought the easiest way is to make a very short and kind of succinct hopefully you'll find uh, report to you using a PowerPoint. Um, and here's what we're going to cover in the next few minutes. uh an overview of what the boards and commissions do very broad um and how uh appointments are made uh where the authority comes from and then what to expect of those uh individuals. Um primarily uh boards are made up as as you can imagine of residents of this city and in not every case are they a resident of the city. Um uh for example, we have some on the hospital board. Uh they would have to all be residents. If we only had the minimum number of five, they all have to be uh residents of the city. But we have an 11 board member uh membership on the hospital uh board of trustees. And so up to two of them can be doctors and other non-residents of the city. And then here's how the appoints work. Uh appointments actually work. um at least it's it's typical you have an application there's a vacancy or there's recruitment to get someone for a board uh the mayor appoints the council approves and then sometimes I'm a little concerned that the the next item doesn't get taken care of the onboarding where they're oriented they're given some information about sunshine laws just so you know this all boards and commissions are covered by the sunshine law. They

have to follow the same sunshine law that you folks have to follow. Um and then where does the authority come from for these different boards and commissions? Uh you can see those listed on the left are from state law. And then we also have local ordinances and bylaws that come cover some of the others. Um and then here's at a glance I tried to put it in one table. We certainly are not going to review each one of those. You had those before you. But as you'll notice, I thought something really kind of interesting when I put it in a table. It really takes quite a few of residents primarily to be on your boards and commissions and u uh they serve an important function. Okay? uh because they provide information to you folks in most instances though not all to make choices and decisions. Most things ultimately are decided here though not all. For example, uh the board of zoning adjustment uh that's a quasi judicial place. Well, we'll get to it in a minute. I'm getting a little ahead of myself. Uh but we have right here on this page which I call land use and development. We have um uh the planning commission which is primarily advisory to you folks and we have the board of zoning adjustment which as I've listed above it's a quasi judicial thing because an appeal from there does not come to you folks like someone's turned down on something it ends up as a general rule depending on what the item is it will end up being litigated. Uh fortunately we haven't had a lot of those but again in both instances as you'll see there um uh they are provided

um uh they they have different memberships etc. But nevertheless they are appointed by the mayor with the approval of the of you folks the governing body of the council. Uh then we I call it the quality of life uh liberty uh library and parks uh a library board and parks board they're uh a little bit different they still appointment by the mayor with the approval of the council however uh and they are ninebody citizen members but the state statute for example of as an example here um they get to the right one here Um the library board you can only serve three terms on it consecutively. Okay. Then you if you want to be on it again you have to sit out so to speak for two years. Also um the state law prohibits uh any mo member of city government from serving on the library board. That's a a preclusion. Um again, uh if let me get to the next one here. Uh police and fire personnel board and the police and firefighters retirement fund board. Um the the I'll call it the retirement fund, the pension fund, whatever you want to call it. That board there is pretty much all established by what the state statute says. And um it provides um really those things don't uh get to you all that much except from time to time they will ask you to uh amend your city code. We've had ordinance changes over

the years. In fact, I think we've had one in the last year or so that we brought forward. uh both uh for example the mayor, the city attorney, I'm not the city attorney, I'm the city counselor, the city attorney, um the city treasurer, the police chief, the fire chief or their design sits on there as well as an elected individual, I believe, that represents the um the rest the rest of the fire and police personnel. Now, this is based on a state statute that actually only provides for a marriage system police department. Okay? But in a council many years ago, even before my time, uh in their infinite wisdom, they wanted to uh make sure that the firefighters were covered the same way. And so they put them uh together. Um, oh, I want to say one thing about the police and fire personnel board. In addition to their function uh about give submitting a list from which uh the city is required to pick from of eligibles for different positions. One thing and hopefully knock on we don't we don't have it too often and u over the years we used to have it more frequently and that is if an officer or a firefighter is demoted, fired or otherwise disciplined, they have the right to appeal that to the fire and police personnel board and uh there's a court reporter there. there's a full-blown hearing and then if they don't like the result that can be appealed to the circuit court of Klay County, we've even had them uh a number of years ago, a case that went to uh up to the Court of Appeals. In fact, we've had several over the years that have

gone to the Court of Appeals. Fortunately, that's been a number of years since those things have happened. Uh then uh a little bit uh different type than many cities have and that is a hospital. This city's hospital. Okay. And it it spells out in here specific things. Uh one thing uh to if you will note though uh there are some state statute restrictions on who can serve on it. Uh and one thing is um they're appointed by the by the mayor with your approval. But one thing that makes this a little bit interesting is that um you cannot be a member of the city council or any member of your family by state statute that sits on the hospital board. Uh the mayor uh I believe is the liaison to the hospital board, but he's not a member of the board. Um as a matter of fact, my guess would be if they go into an executive session, they would exclude him from uh that. I've not attended their meetings. Uh but they they pretty much function on a dayto-day basis certainly by state law on their own and we don't have any real say in that. There will be times from time to time that they come uh and they might ask for example if they wanted and they do this occasionally they want to do a revenue bond uh for the hospital they have that's actually done through the city and therefore they have to come and they would ask that but their day-to-day operations in all ways are pretty much handled u by the hospital board uh the liquor control board of

review that we have um three members uh that serve on this. They hear complaints or whatever that come through uh uh that deal with our liquor control ordinance. But what you need to remember on this state law really governs governs liquor alcohol very very carefully and as a result their their limit their jurisdiction on what they can do is very very limited. Um again, the members are appointed by the mayor with the approval of the council. Um and um and they only meet as needed, kind of like some of the other boards. Uh the board of zoning adjustment, they only meet when they're needed. Um and I didn't mention this, I believe the uh police and fire pension board meets like quarterly or whatever. I think that's part of their their procedure. Okay, finally here, uh, a couple of other types of commissions or whatever. We have tax increment financing commission. I'll just point out since we have a tiff in in our city, we uh that was the commission was originally formed when North well prior to Northgate being done. Um, but some of you may have been around in 19 in 19 in 2022. In 2022, we amended our ordinance because of two things. The county changed its form of government. And secondly, we had an increase in population that required us to do it at there's still 12 members on the board on the tiff commission for this city, but the mayor only gets to a point you only get to approve three at

this point in time. It used to be six. You get three members. uh on uh the others, six of them are appointed by the presiding commissioner of Klay County. Uh and then uh the IDA, the industrial development authority. Uh there are five directors appointed by the mayor with the council approval. um uh they uh and they serve I might add u staggered terms intentionally uh and it's set forth uh in the articles of incorporation and they must the directors must be qualified electors and taxpayers to serve on this particular uh um I'll call it a board, the industrial development authority here for uh in North Kansas City. Um and this is used on an as needed basis and it's for development purposes and a lot of times things are issued under their name. So it's a separate legal entity. It's a separate it's articles of incorporation like a a prior uh like a private corporation that might be formed. However, before it could be formed, the city council had to take action to authorize it to be formed and so an ordinance was passed prior to the articles of incorporation being done. Uh, and then, uh, lastly, I put on here, they're neither really a a board or a commission, but just to let you know, we have the Crummit, uh, beautifification fund committee as well as the community enrichment advisory committee. And that

one of course the members it's a little bit different appointment being made by uh council members as well as uh I think uh it's in there that at large uh appointment as well. Now, um, here's some things that sometimes I think we need to understand, and I'm not sure always in fairness to the members of the of these boards and commissions. Um, oh, I apologize I didn't put the compost committee on there with the other. I apologize. Uh that was an unintentional if I would have known you were going to be here tonight I certainly would have included it. Um uh nevertheless there are certain expectations and there are certain guard rails that the law puts both ordinance as well as state law as well as even bylaws for the boards and commissions. Okay. And what we need to understand is most of these meetings that are held are to be open meetings with proper notice given uh agendas posted just like they are here for the city. Um they are to keep minutes and records that's required. Uh and just like for you, close sessions are limited, but they are appropriate from time to time when so necessary. Um let's see here. Um I think I covered all of that. Uh and then I've listed over to the right of people that are on it. And then I wanted to hit this for sure and I will

leave this one up for a few minutes. I want to make sure people know if there is anyone out there listening that in fact there is a process if you would like to be on a board or commission for this city and you meet whatever the criteria are for that particular board. And so I let you know where to go, the person to go. uh you know you complete the application your application is kept on file for consideration when a uh a vacancy occur occurs if selected you know it's almost always a mayor appointment with an the approval of the council and then uh you know they don't have to do this but if they're interested in going to a board since they are open meetings before they might apply for to be on a board they might want to go and attend a board meeting or two just to see well what are these people doing what do they talk about etc. So uh without anything else uh I think I met your time requirement Mr. Mayor if you have any questions because I think this might lead into a discussion that you're about to have.

Very good. Uh thank you for putting that together. I gave Tom a hard cap at 10 minutes when we only went 17. So we're we're good. Hey, hey, I yeah, that's that is in in Tom years that is two or three minutes. Very good. Thank you for that. That was uh that was a great presentation. One clarification piece I want to So I saw some folks on the composting committee looking around like are we doing this wrong? Ad hoc committees are different. Um so ad hoc committees are citizen- le. They are not beholden to the same uh open records.

Exactly. And and that's that is a different kind of committee. I was kind of joking with you folks. Uh the the other's actually in our in our ordinance book even um the the one on the whatever it was whatever the last one was called there community enrichment community enrichment committee is actually identified and described how everything goes in in our city code.

Yep. Yes. So uh there that's the the key difference between ad hoc and official ones is the the list of rules that they must adhere to. ad hoc committees can meet uh whenever they're available. They can correspond cell phones or emails however they want to and they're not beholden to open records. They are also citizen form. They're not the same appointment process. Um any questions for Mr. Barzee on his presentation. Excellent. Uh before we jump into item 15, uh I want to ask is it okay to move an item up on the agenda? Okay. I see Bryce hanging out back here and I don't want to like stick you here for the next like I don't know how long these next ones are going to go. So if we want to move to item 17 real fast.

Consideration of an ordinance regarding calendar year 2026 KCATA service contract amendment route 238 bill number 7965 ordinance number 9762. All right. So this is uh kind of codifying what we talked about last meeting. Um, we're we're moving the the hours a little bit and then hopefully come April 5th, I want to say, we're going to start back to where the the bus will start in North Kansas City and make its way through. This uh the memo lays out the cost difference and all of that. So, are there any questions while we have Bryce in the house? All right. Do we have a first reading? First reading. Second.

All in favor? Yes. Any opposed? Motion passes. An ordinance adopting and approving an amended and restated contract for transit service for fixed routes 2011 and 238 by and between the city of North Kansas City, Missouri and the Kansas City area transportation authority for public transportation services within the city of North Kansas City, Missouri. Should we bring him up here anyway just for fun? No, I'm kidding. Get out of here. Thanks for being here. Got it. I move that bill number 7965 to be placed on second and final reading and passes as ordinance number 9762. Call the role. Council member Clark,

yes. Council member Selenus, yes. Council member Click, yes. Council member Saber, yes. Council member Bailey, yes. Council member Mcgrron, yes. Council member Fitzgerald, yes. Council member Alvarez, yes. an ordinance adopting and approving an amended and restated contract for transit service for fixed routes 2011 and 238 by and between the city of North Kansas City, Missouri and the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority for public transportation services within the city of North Kansas City, Missouri. Excellent. Okay, now we're get back online. Uh item 15,

discussion of nomination process to boards and commissions. All right. So, dovetailing off of Tom's excellent presentation. I want to discuss a potential change, and I want to get council's input on this. So, when I uh was elected, I came in and filled a a bunch of empty seats. I think we had between 35 and 40% of the seats on boards and commissions that were all listed out were were not uh filled at that point. So, we we got them all filled up through the appointment process that Tom laid out where uh mayor appoints, the council reviews the resumes and the applications and then approves uh or doesn't. Um and through that when I was filling those seats, I would work with uh parks board. Uh I would work with the library board, the parks director, library director, ask how people have been on the the committee. I would send resumes over to them to ask um would which of these would you select as credentialed uh who would be a good fit for your board? Uh taking all that input then make the decision pass it to council as the legislative body that then gets to make the approval uh vote. So, uh, with that and the goal of having, uh, the most qualified people that have put their name in the hat on each of these city boards, I would propose that we try a way to just focus on their credentials by removing personally identifiable information from the approval process. Now, I spoke to Tom three minutes before the meeting and he has some some legal concerns if this is something that the council wants to pursue. First question, do we want to remove address and contact information from do we want to redact that from resumes and applications

that are submitted for boards and commissions? not well that are submitted entirely or that are attached to an agenda that is therefore seen by the public. So they would come in with all that information on them before it would go onto an agenda. It would be redacted. Yes, I would say yes. So contact address redact. I sorry. Go ahead. What what were the legal concerns? Uh we'll get there in a sec. This that's the second question. Second question. Do we want to remove the name from the approval process?

I just that I've been thinking about this since the agenda came out on Friday and I think that would give me some reservations to remove the names. You know, I know I've had situations where constituents have reached out to me in favor or not in favor of a candidate. And I'd be worried, you know, completely scrubbing that takes away some of the, you know, potential public input. Um, you I could see a situation where there might still be ways to give more transparency. Like maybe if we could see like a candidate list of everyone who was considered for the position with like a description on why that nominee was your nominee

might, you know, still get a lot of focus on the qualifications and why this person was more qualified over somebody else, but not take the public's ability to input what they want their representatives to, you know, vote for against. So, uh, to that end, if if the public wants to have input, they're more than welcome to. They would have the same agenda with the same redacted resume and application. What I'm trying to do is get grudges off the table, right? We're a small community. People know people. People have had experiences and had there's bad blood flowing through some people. Um, for one reason or another, they may not like an individual, but if they saw their resume and their qualifications, that might they could still look and say like, "These are qualifications that I would support." and remove the personal uh if that makes any still have the chance to look at what's there, what's being presented uh for their qualifications and it takes it away from focused on who that person is and any semantics that go there versus what does their resume and the application say. I it's a tough spot because at the end of the day it is volunteers vol you know volunteering for roles they don't have to do the time or effort to do but it also as we just saw from Tom you know some of these are really important roles where you know have boards that can levy taxes and you know overseeing the hospital this huge asset of the city and just I have some pause of doing that completely anonymously and not knowing you know obviously qualifications should be a mass of consideration and transparency about that, but just I'm worried some transparency can also be lost if you get to a point where we don't know who we're voting on.

Sure. Council member Brown,

I I agree with Council Member Fitzgerald. I I don't as as the council person that would be voting for someone to be on a border commission, I don't want to hire somebody who I don't who I don't know. I'm not going to hire somebody without a name. Um I fully support redacting um somebody's address and phone number and their contact information from the public facing documents that are attached to the agenda. But um just as you say that some people hold grudges, some people also hold hold a lot of fondness for their neighbors. Some people are very warm and and and appreciative of their neighbors and if they see somebody's name uh you know nominated for the library board or the planning commission, they might think, "Oh my goodness, that person would be wonderful. I should come and speak in favor of them." I think there are far more people who who who approach life from that direction than um would come and and hold a grudge against someone because they see a name on a board on a as being nominated for a board. Um I just I I I agree with uh Fitzgerald too is that it's a volunteer position. Um we aren't we nobody on a board and commission gets paid. They're all spending a lot of their time especially on the hospital board. That is a very timeintensive board and I think we want to encourage more people to to apply. I don't think that uh redact keeping a name from people is going to encourage or discourage people. I just I think what it would do is create more it would create less transparency and more secrecy in our in in what we're doing. And I I just I feel icky about it. I wouldn't want to go in that way.

Council member Saber. Uh the the thing is things like uh addresses and telephone numbers are readily accessible and so that doesn't really if if you have the name and so what we're doing is actually uh reducing transparency and I'll I'm generally in favor of as much transparency as possible. Okay, other thoughts, Council Member Alvarez.

I guess just to add confusion that there's also the flip side of favoritism. Um maybe somebody that you like or you're friends with maybe not as qualified as the next person either. So if you want to base it just on their qualifications, I could see why maybe not having the name. But I don't know which employee is better. I have heard through the community that it is a deterrent to put your name in for a volunteer position that will take up a lot of your time to then have the risk of someone speaking out badly while your application is being considered. Go ahead.

Uh one further thing, the application process, if you look at their resume and what they've done and what they bring in their experience, but it doesn't actually go to judgment. And that's an important part of anybody's actions in a business, in a city council or anything else. And you need to have that kind of openness. And if you know that person, you may have you may or may not have a sense of their ability to make judgments.

Go ahead. I think that um you know also what somebody puts forward on a resume in an application is what they want to put forward and might not tell the whole story about a person. So I will I'll give a I'll give an example that is kind of pressing into this council. Um if Tom or Jesse decided that they wanted to apply for planning commission and they weren't on city council or or mayor at the time, they would put an application in. Nowhere on that application does it ask if you own property that is more than your own. Nowhere does it ask if you own seven or eight or nine houses in North Kansas City. Nowhere does it ask if you're interested in running those and keeping those or selling those. There's a lot more information about a person that you gather by knowing who they are and knowing their name. And you don't get that when you just get what they have chosen to show you. So, I get that there are people who might be afraid to put their name in the running because people might come and speak against them at council when they're nominated, but I don't think that we should make judgments for the entirety of our boards and commitment or boards and commission application process because some people might have that fear. I think that there's a lot more we gain by giving by knowing who it is that we're appointing and having access to more information about them than what they have chosen to show us. Council member Clark,

I guess, yeah, I think in some of the experiences we've all walked through, um, you know, in mentioning names and things like that, maybe a change up could just be when we're discussing a particular candidate, um, maybe just saying the candidate, uh, knowing their name, but just speaking as the candidate, the candidate. Um, so that you could say, "I'm in support of this candidate. I'm not in support of this candidate." um and and use it that way so that it doesn't have to feel like, you know, potential of a smear of of a name or nobody likes to hear their name multiple times. I certainly never like to hear my full name because I feel like my mom's around and I got to leave town. Um, but yeah, I I think it's that it's um maybe we just change it up in in that format where we just that formality exists where we just kind of extend that uh to just say the candidate, but we know who the candidate is and we're aware of it, but we don't have to speak that person's name out loud until we make the decision to say we would like to nominate or we approve the nomination of this person. I mean versus redacting their name because yeah I agree like the names have to exist and and and we do when we're evaluating it is we talk to the boards to say how does this person how do you get along with this person or what has been your interaction with this particular person we like that feedback because you want to make sure these committees are going to stay intact and everybody wants to participate so but I can see you know I like that we're talking through these concerns because they are valid concerns

um valid point there, especially with the um if you want to interact or ask how they've interacted on boards. Now, if somebody's already on a board, I could see their name coming along with a reapproval. Um but it sounds like the will of the council is to continue keeping names on. So, there goes your legal concern. That was the legal concern is is are we putting something forth that we're not we don't know who we're voting on a lot of the concerns that were enumerated. Um my goal is to find a process that is welcoming to all even those who are nervous about uh jumping in the ring and obviously after an approval their name would be known and then they could be criticized writ large as uh many many of us have found. So we'll continue to explore and if others have thoughts on how we can make this process more welcoming I am open to that. Uh if you have anything off the rip go ahead. Otherwise we can think about it and come back another meeting. Very good. So, we will take the we'll redact the personal ident the the contact info addresses and phone numbers. Uh so, whenever you send one over for an agenda, knock it all out. Very good. All right. Moving on to item 16.

Bedford pumping station sewer rate impact analysis of project financing with long-term debt. I need a little longer than Tom. Okay.

Oh, how do you follow that? That was a good presentation. Um, okay. Uh, I I'll keep it short. Um, it was napkin uh kind of I remember right at Napkin M was a request. Also, this is this is based off of uh the engineers presentation of the master plan two weeks ago. Um, part of that was Bedford pumping station and they had two two uh request or recommendations. One was replacement, one was rehabilitation. So um the uh presentation is it is

okay sorry so um replacement uh was 7.68 million rehabilitation was 6.82 82. Um I would like to stress it was a master plan and this was the engineers um planning estimate. So I mean actual cost or or or anticipated cost won't come in until design and all that. I mean these should be good ballpark but but it could change. How much should we add? We know how this goes. That's that's impossible to know. 25 30 40%. These are planning level estimates. That's really hard to know at this point.

Okay. Perfect. I will say some engineers are are very conservative on those estimate, but basically we won't know. They should be somewhere. Yep.

Generally. Um okay. Based on that, the the other thing that they threw in there just to give give the council context was uh um looking at long-term debt financing through the state revolving fund, Missouri DNR. They looked at 20 years and and 30 years. 30 years they they uh had right around what was it? 350,000 20 years was 450,000. So um just giving you a little background for what I did with this analysis. So based on that, I targeted 450,000 over 20 years. Just figured go for the worst case uh and the largest amount. So little bit uh sorry I'm not keeping up with the clicker, am I? Um a little bit of our system overview just to give you guys a little more context. This is uh 2025 calendar year data. Um 2072 accounts. Um the interesting part of those accounts, the smallest meter uh is 5/8 inch and 75% of those are that that 5/8. Of those 5/8s about 60% of the meters are are residential meters. Um that's the lowest base rate. Um but again um letting you know how many you know what percent the the residents make up of our accounts our sewer accounts. Now that being said they're about 5% of the of the usage the actual consumption or or discharge in this case. Um, so think about 75% of of all the accounts represent 5% of of uh what we yeah what Kansas City treats for us. So that even stresses that that our revenue is driven primarily by our high volume

users. And as you'll see here in a little bit, we have one user that is 47% almost of of everything. So um current rate structure roughly about 12.7 million uh is what we bring in on revenue. Um over 90% of that is from our volumetric. Uh our base rate um is low but because of the high volume that generates all the revenue. Uh base rates are approximately 7% of our revenue. Um flipping through. So what I did is is I took um trying to hit that $450,000 target. Uh ended up 3.5%. You'll see here in a little bit. It it actually generates $446,000. I mean it could go to 3.5. I think it was 0913 got to that exact. But I figured for this um 99% was

So glad you got us out to four decimal places. Well, I had to see what it was. I mean, you know me. Well done.

Um so what that does to the rate per thousand gallons, uh moves it from 1060 to 1097. Base rates I didn't touch in this case. I I can tell you real quick. It's not in here, but but if we did base rates alone, it would be $16 per account um per month. Uh, it's a big jump. Um, if you you think about that, that's that's over half of what the rate currently is. So, um, moving on. Um, the revenue impact, as I mentioned, 446,000 is what a 3 and a half% increase in the flow, uh, rate, uh, volutric rate, um, creates. So, it does meet, you know, the target in this analysis. Um, so what does that mean to the residential customer? Uh, $1.3. Now, you'll see in the memo, um, for all 5/8 inch meters, it's $1.31, but I stripped out the residential thinking that that's what people are going to grasp. That's a$13 a month. Um, with a three and a half% increase. So, um, minimal minimal impact for the average residential uh account. Um now the high volume users uh you can imagine the large meter customers contribute or as I said they contribute a large majority but of the new revenue it would be 36% of that 446,000 that would be generated uh would come from the large large users. uh as mentioned earlier approximately 45% is one user. Um so it talks about you know applying the rate effectively over over all the accounts

um being equitable. It's all based on consumption. Gives you an idea of um our users as as as mentioned um revenue total um 8.8 from the 5/8 meters, 447 from one one user and then all the others are at 465. Um so some of the key takeaways um you know the rate increase that was applied uh 3 and a half% um I think it's it's equitable uh it's one it's one you know way to do it it's straightforward it's easy to administer and it protects um the affordability for the residential customers um there are some you know looking forward it's it's good to keep in mind that I mean our system does rely heavily on on a handful of large users. So, um we'll still want to work with u our financial advisors to to look down, you know, at the different funding options. You know, I I did this based off off of a state revolving fund, but but it's still a loan at a at a rate um trying to calculate an average payment. So, uh we'll work with Columbia Capital. Uh the big thing um is figuring out with Bedford Lift Station. Um you know, we want to get a task order going, do we go for replace or or rehab? Um I we kind of it's I'd say we'd be lucky to get one back by next I mean we might have one by the next meeting, a task order. Um, but it's something, you know, uh, from the engineers there. There's I hate to

place and use the word urgency, but we could really use some direction. Um, hopefully this helps. Yeah. Some of the discussions. All right. Uh, thank you for putting the numbers together so fast and, uh, thorough job. Really, uh, appreciate that. One thing that jumps out as I'm looking at this, uh, so yeah, 65% of our revenue, so we have what would be termed a concentration risk where our our repayment is concentrated very few users. So if we go down one of these, I mean, two not great options, repair or replace, um, and we take on bonds, we're obligated to those bonds. What happens if we lose one of our major users? We have to make the revenue up somehow.

We just got to find it. Yeah. And that we're talking potentially 45% of the revenue correct could vanish with the whims of a and while doing this we're also increasing their monthly cost by I think it's $10,000 uh seven almost 18 18,000 okay 17

oh that's the month yeah so 1708 not nothing uh but it's it is one of those things where so the other part that jumped out at me on this chart is the percent of total revenue versus percent of consumption which is kind of odd odd. Uh so for example 5/8 meters 5 a.5% of consumption 8.8% of revenue. So basically overpaying for consumption versus the top user 48% of consumption 44.7 revenue. Is there a reason that we're like not right size on it? Is it base the base charge that's making that difference?

It's it's the total consumption versus the number of accounts. I mean it's just an huge amount for I mean one for a town our size. It's about about the right a number of of accounts. Sure. But I'm thinking more consumption is you would in an ideal situation percent consumption would match percent revenue. Like people are paying for what they consume.

At this point it looks like the 58s are paying like I don't know 40% more than they consume while the large users are paying less than their consumption. Just an odd like an oddity. And there's an inflection point right around the 3-in meter where it kind of equalizes. Um, that just seems unusual. I don't know if we can do something to rightsize that. You mean as far as the base rates? Uh, I don't know what it would mean. Is that what you're

I think it I my my guess is that it's the base rate that's making up the difference because the base rate is a percentage of a residential customer's bill is a larger percent than anyone else's because it's a lower total number. Um, I'm just curious if there's anything we can do to get closer to people just paying for their true consumption. See Anthony squinting hard at this you want trying to follow as well. I'm not quite sure what so chart on page two right in the middle um says all accounts and then start at the top 58

percent of total consumption five and a half%. So 58 meters are consuming 5 and a half% of the total water used. is that that's what that column would suggest percent of total revenue the 5 accounts are paying 8.8% 8% of the total revenue.

That's I can answer that one. It's because their average consumption is so low. Um but they make up like I said 75% of all the accounts. So in that case the base rates um there I mean if you look or if you if you think about their average consumption being what was it roughly 3,000 um so you're talking about I got to think about this 330 and most are getting charged the base rate as their number because I think what's our base 3500 gallons uh no no that's water is where there's where there's a c this sewer, there's a base rate and then full consumption.

Got it. So, so for residential u 2700 was about the average uh usage. So, you're looking at the the meter rate um 25 or uh 2749 plus roughly 2.7 or 270. Is that right? Uh no, $20 and 27 $27. Yeah. So it it's that fixed charge that's making up the difference, right? Right. Commercial um right? Yep. They pay for they still pay a monthly. There's there's additional actual real costs to it. Okay. Here we go.

See what I didn't mean to open up a can. I there's a I I'm going to double check that number too because actually on the on the um uh wastewater side there's we think about user rates um we're also including that the search charge that is a pretty big chunk. So let me go and just verify that number really quick because when I saw it initially it made sense but now that I'm hearing that the search charge takes up a pretty big chunk of the revenue. Um, and I I I just wanted to relook at that one because I don't

think that it's the case where it's that big of a difference. But I'll I can uh double check that with um um the search charge which can vary widely yeartoear and we've also increased the rates on that too. So let me just double check that number before just yeah I would the only reason I ask is because I would I would be willing to explore some options to rightsize the consumption versus the total revenue and how that's it seems pretty out of balance. Um but as far as this goes the bottom line is a$13 impact monthly to a customer if we were to go the route and that's on the 20-year 450 correct not the 30-year 350 correct.

Um so that's one. So I appreciate that. Uh the other question to the council is repair or replace and I know council member Bailey took a tour of the facility today. So do you have thoughts you want to share?

Yeah, I want to just say uh thanks to Anthony uh two of his or three of his staff, John Sponsler, Justin Sero, and David went uh for taking me on a walk through. I would say having been in facilities not altogether dissimilar than this, not exactly wastewater, but large industrial facilities, it was an enjoyable tour. I would say Bedford Station is in a worse scenario than I had expected from the presentation last meeting. Um, it it is certainly worrisome. It was built over 40 years ago. It was not intended to be a lift station when it was built. We have cobbled it together into that. Um, so it was and when it was transferred over to being a lift pumping station instead of just a lift station, it was done at that time's capacity. We have since expanded since that change over. So we are under capacity with old technology. The infrastructure itself, the um the material creates hydrogen sulfide which eats steel and concrete. So there's not much left to build off there. There's no bones. There's much less good bones to work off there. I would concur with last me uh meeting sentiment that we should evaluate that for a complete uh new facility nearby. In addition, that conversation led into a tour of the 19th Street lift station, which has many of the same challenges. I know we very briefly discussed that at the last meeting. It includes many of the same challenges. It's not as bad. uh it was it's still functioning as a lift station, not just a pumping station. But overall, I it could still definitely benefit. Um I think there's some added benefit of evaluating design and bu at least design, maybe build at the same time for both facilities in one go. I think there's some synergies there. Um I don't think

we're going to get all that far down the road without rebuilding something there too as a very large capital project. So I I do think that at least part of this process we should evaluate both. Um we did have a conversation about the third lift station but it is substantially different in design and I believe that should you know certainly be push off into the future as we look at these two large capital projects.

So I appreciate you taking the time to go walk and look and evaluate. Anthony, thank you for setting that up. uh the 19th Street piece in the report they said, you know, new pump should take care of things. I think it was a few hundred,000 versus a full $7.6 million build the new station. In your view, how much runtime do we have on 19th Street?

To be fair, um the master planning effort took a deeper dive with Bedford than it did with 19th Avenue. Uh in 2024, we had Olsen uh look at V or 19th Avenue, sorry, uh in kind of a separate capacity and they basically arrived to the same conclusion after taking a deeper dive there that same kind of conclusion that Vinster and Kim ended up with with Bedford. you end up, you know, as Tom was saying, which is really well said, you know, your bones are, you know, not left that much, you know, so you're you're looking at replacing all the equipment inside the station, pumps, electrical, mechanical, everything. You're then you're looking at the shell and the shell being from 1949. Um, you're really limited.

Um, there's some other things, you know, they were built, you know, decades apart. you know, the 19th Avenue came first and then Bedford. And so they one did not consider the other, you know, when it was initially designed. And they work off of each other. One basically lifts twothirds of the town's uh waste uh stream to the next one, and then the next one lifts it to Buckeye in Kansas City. So they all kind of work in a chain. And that's kind of where we're talking about with the design process. It would be very beneficial to look at Bedford in the design with the design of 19th Avenue. Um, you know, again, 1949 was a lot different situation when it comes to capacity. Uh, it doesn't meet some of the volumetric requirements of a new lift station. Um, and that gets really into the framework of the bones. You know, your your your tank, if you will, is only so big for 1949 versus today's standards. Definitely looking at tomorrow's, you know, capacity, what we need. So, you're kind of starting with a really difficult um fundamental uh change to the station if you're just looking at restoration

uh where that kicks it into that again, you know, well, if you rebuild, you're changing the volume of it. You're actually right sizing it for the city and then potentially right sizing it for future expansion that could happen. So, if we if we go with the replacement route at Bedford, which I I think is the right way to go at this point, um are we going to then may like necessitate 19th Avenue getting brought up as well? I don't think Bedford would necessitate 19th Avenue, but I think that this just the the look at the system in its entirety would necess necessitate a replacement of 19th. It

it will involve looking at the at 19th though because they have to talk. So, so regardless, Bedford when they're doing the the design, it's going to involve 19th. Sure. And that would be when they might find Yeah. I'm just trying to figure out if we're spending 7.6 or 15.2 out the gate. Um, and then how much can we push through ratewise before we run off the largest user and payer on the system? Um, so it gets to a a pretty decent inflection point. I obviously we need to design them together. Um, go ahead, council member Saber.

Yeah. Uh, so if I can summarize this, what I think you're saying is that 19th Street does need to be taken care of, but not as urgently as Bedford and we can stage these and if we can stage them, what's your sort of gut feeling as to the timeline of staging?

I think they would come right Well, talking to the staging time, I think they would come right after each other. Um I I don't think you would have put many years in between replacing one than the other. Um Bedford is is the entire city. So I think you know you I I I do like that the analysis concluded with well kind of focuses focus in on Bedford. Um because without Bedford you're not moving the waste from the entire city. Um but not to discredit 19th I mean it's very important. It's again it's twothirds of the city and probably the bigger twothirds that we'd be looking at for redevelopment. So that would really come into play, you know, if the city grows substantially in different times. Um, and has already actually with the redevelopment we have, all the more recent redevelopment the last five years is all going straight to 19th before it goes to Bedford. So, um, I wouldn't want to put too much time in between them. Um, I think it's fair to say they're both in the same condition. Um, that, you know, you're not looking at much better conditions at 19th Avenue than Bedford. Um but starting with the biggest capital improvement and then moving to the next would probably be the the right chain.

So you're talking about a year or two between them at best. That would probably be ideal. Yeah. Okay. But the planning could be done initially for both of them. It should be done together. Yes. As a set. Yes. Yeah. Thank you. Um is there another option? So we would be looking at revenue bonds. Uh are there go bonds or other things that we could put in place for this? So go bonds are going to require a vote, correct? Uh revenue bonds, uh as long as you pledge the revenue through the rates, then yeah, revenue bonds should be approved, right? Yeah. I mean, at a certain point, I what I don't want us to do is be so beholden to a single user because if we greenlight this, we're really exposing ourselves.

And so having that secondary funding source, even if it has to go through a public vote, which could be messy, but like people, again, it's it seems like an easy pitch. You don't want sewage backing up in the entire city. Um, so but then things like SP90 would impact that. Am I right? Because then the bonds get voted through would not be paid for by the senior tax uh freeze. Well, that's if if this is paid through property tax um if I go bond it gets paid, right? That would that would be a property tax. Yeah. Right. Ballot issue. And so then that's a real

it can be done. Um, I mean there's multiple there's there's capital improvement sales taxes. Um, there's I for lack of a Nick and I have discussed multiple options and this is something that Colombia Capital will also help us out with, but but even even loans to utility funds from the gaming fund with an interest with a payback. There are options. Um, there's a whole lot to look at. I would I would like to see Colombia I mean maybe they already are turnurning on this and then making sure that we're clear about the impact of something like an SB190 or whatever the heck the legislator is going to work through in this session um would be on our ability to bond and then pay those bonds back because I don't want to delay the process because this is an imminent issue but I also don't want to get us out over our skis where we can't pay for the bonds or pay for the the debt. Yeah, I I think it it sounds to me like we do need to move as expeditiously as possible with this. There's no there's nothing to be gained by delaying. And as far as the funding mechanism, there's a variety and we need to explore all of them to see which is best for the city and for the people who live here.

Right. Other thoughts? Okay. Uh so am I hearing uh replace a lot of head nods there? uh plan 19th in tandem. So go ahead and make the design all work together and then bring it back to us when we need to spend another however many million on uh replacing 19th. In the interim, let's get Columbia mobilized to figure out how we're going to pay for all of it. Excellent. Any other thoughts or questions? Very good. Skipping past 17 because we already did it. Item 18,

consideration of an ordinance approving accounts due and payable by the city through January 30th, 2026. Bill number 7967, ordinance number 9764. First reading. Second. All in favor? Yes. Any opposed? Motion passes. Oops. An ordinance authorizing payment for certain accounts due payable by the city through January 30th, 2026. I move that bill number nine I mean 7967 to be placed on second and final reading and passes as ordinance number 9764. Second. Call the roll. Council member Clark. Yes. Council member Selenas. Yes. Council member Click. Yes.

Council member Saper. Yes. Council member Bailey. Yes. Council member Mcgro. Yes. Council member Fitzgerald. Yes. Council member Alvarez. Yes. An ordinance authorizing payment for certain accounts due payable by the city through January 30th, 2026. Excellent. Staff comments. Did you have you have anything else?

Um the only thing we have tonight um is I think Mayor Smith alluded to strategic planning process a little bit earlier in the meeting. uh was something we wanted to ask about is uh getting an RFP out uh for that process. Again, we'd be looking at probably May uh late April, May, finding I mean, as of right now, the goal would be a Saturday morning and then but finding a consultant that would that would um do questionnaires and interviews uh with each of you and and uh department directors, management staff. Um but then setting up the actual planning process alto together for like a four or five hour session on a Saturday morning trying to cut down on that that time. But we want to get an RFP out but we got to have a date kind of some dates. So what we were wondering is putting out a a doodle

doodle with some with some weekends in April May to uh to see it Saturday mornings. I know how much council member Saber loves coming in on Saturday morning to Well, in particular, uh, or tend to or, you know, are there certain times that work? Yeah. Well, I I think if we're we're pointing out to early spring, let's go ahead and get the RFP out and we'll we'll circle a date through a poll, figure out what

we thought we could say in the mic. I was just saying dates might get kind of if you're talking like May or April, I just know there'll be some new people seated in April. So dates might get kind of weird to pick that now and then have a Yeah, it's kind of the the nature of the beast. Um if you you know if you get elected, you're coming in knowing what what you're in for. That's true. Hey, run for it. If you if you can't make it, then don't. Anyways, um so yeah, I think May probably fair because then we'll have at least a meeting or two for the new folks. All right. All right. Uh, any other staff? Crystal, anything for us? No. Chief Williams?

No. Somebody. Last chance. Anybody going once? Casey. Okay. Uh, council member comment starting with council member Clark.

All right. Wi-Fi connected. Um, yeah. From the parks board meeting, considerations for additional building for parks maintenance. Um, you know, to increase longevity of their equipment. I didn't I didn't look at the comments last week to know if it was covered, but I have these from my meeting in January. Um yeah, it'll be um yeah, they're looking at a whole facade, insulated garage doors, all the things. So, that's coming up. It's pretty exciting. House Street playground is in a kind of planning thought planning stage. Um I thought about touching base with the historic society, Northstia Historic Society to see if they want to incorporate ideas for theme for the new park. There's also going to be mural considerations coming up and uh the parks board retreat is this Saturday, February 7th. So that's it for me.

Excellent. Council member Selenus, I just want to thank everybody that come that came in today and um of course you city staff that just do amazing work. Um I don't really have much to say today.

Council member Click. Um, I I won't say too much because I can't. Um, I don't have CO or the flu. I checked, I promise, before I came in here. Um, uh, I will just say thank you, city staff. Um, and something I say a lot, call your representatives. There was a situation, I think just last week, where a lot of people called um, and some changes were kind of made on the federal level. So, if you're seeing things that you don't like happening, make sure take the 5 minutes, 3 minutes, uh, make a phone call. They do count. They do matter. Council member Saver,

uh, I think people are starting to see that we're hitting a period of which we're not as flush as we once were and we have a lot more obligations coming up. And for a city that's been debt-free for a while, we're entering a new period and we have to be very very careful about how we approach it and how we do it. We can't be cavalier about it and we need input from the citizens and residents and businesses of North Kansas City about how we go about this. Thank you, Council Member Bailey. Very well spoken. Um, once again, want to thank the public works team Dr. Mcgru,

thanks for getting our streets cleared so fast during the nest the last snow thing. Uh, and um, I don't know, just thanks to everybody for engaging in really good conversation about difficult topics. Just as council member Saper said, we've got hard things to talk about. And uh there that's that's probably another reason why some people feel a little intimidated about wanting to run for city council or get on a border commission because there are hard things to talk about. And I think there's a lot of people who have a lot of things that they want to contribute and say and just know that uh we all want to hear your voice and the city needs you. So please consider uh applying and getting more involved. Um, I will probably miss our next meeting being out of town and we'll be moving pretty soon most likely. So, this has a good chance being my last meeting. So, um, you know, I've been here about three and a half years. Just big I've enjoyed working with everybody in city staff and every bit up here. So, thank you all. If I I'm trying to think if I had any takeaways, you always hear me about the budget. Tony already covered some of this, but um you know, I think we've proposed a budget with a deficit of at least $10 million, if not more, every year that I've been on council. That's, you know, clearly not sustainable. So, doing what we can to get items in the budget that are both achievable and we can afford in the upcoming year and not other things I think would benefit our financial controls. And also um when we get our external financial audit um they tend to give us some findings you know I know from being on the auditor side of that that the um findings how do I say it a lot of findings don't get communed up communicated up to that top level so when s significant deficiencies get brought up to the governing body that's not something to ignore and take lightly. Um, but yeah, I don't know exactly what the selection process for replacing me will look like. You know, I

know I I was appointed to fill in an open term actually when Tom Bailey moved a few years ago. So, I guess it's kind of come full circle. He's back. Yeah. But, you know, uh, with that, I know there was applications to the public and I went through interview process with the mayor and the other W three council members. So, I just encourage anybody out there in W 3 that's interested in applying to assuming it works the same way the throw your name in the hat. The more interest we have in city council obviously strengthen this and you know just thank y'all. Very good. Council member Alvarez.

I really didn't have any comments but then now that Connor said that it's like we we will miss you. We'll miss all your financial input and your advice. So, we will miss that. So, um, other than that, um, that's all I have.

Yeah. Uh, I don't think we're going to stop hearing from him when that audit gets published. We we'll get an email. Don't worry about it. Uh, and you know, you're just moving right down the street. Okay. Uh, a few things from me. How street playground. Uh, good to hear that that's in the planning phase. Councilman Mcgrron claims to have thought of this, but I've also thought that trains would be an excellent, uh, theme for that. Take that with what you will, Parks Board. Um, I've also spoken just in passing with reps at BNSF who said that they have money that might be available to put in if they, you know, train theme or sign boards or something like that. So maybe we explore those options. Second piece, uh, Council Member Saber said it well. We have a great number of obligations coming up and if done perfectly, the general resident of North Kansas City will see no change. uh we can rebuild pump stations and swap out lift stations and put a bunch of pipes under the ground and spend tens to many many millions of dollars and if we do it exactly right nothing changes except some traffic delays u so it's not the fun stuff to to be paying for and we have been uh debtree for a long time I think that's going to have to change we've also been kind of running on the cash basis where we just pay for everything we want to do out of cash coming out of gaming um running the budget deficit. Often times we budget for stuff that doesn't get actually done. We've we've had5 to 7 million in for demolishing Purina Mill for ever since I've been around. So part of that budget deficit will come to bear sooner rather than later hopefully. Um but yeah, it's going to be a time where we're looking to be as as wise as we can be on how we pay for this stuff. Uh, last piece. I've got a town hall scheduled at the parks and recck building February 24th at 6 PM open to everyone. Uh, I had a meeting with a

representative from AirC. I believe that's how you say it. They um advocate for immigrant rights. And uh the the takeaway I had from that discussion was um one of the best things that if you're looking to help people is to fund legal assistance for people who are facing u detentions and deportation potentially um who may not have full understanding of their their legal rights. Um he characterized it as playing the long game. uh not looking to get in fights, not looking to make headlines, not making uh you know exercise your first amendment and your right to protest peacefully, but the real work is being done behind the scenes on how these people are actually getting processed and given due process and treated the right way in the legal system. Um I'm hoping to have him or another representative come to the town hall to answer questions if people have them. Uh again, that is Parks and Rec building February 24th at 6 PM. That's all from me. Item 22,

consideration of a request to hold in recess into an executive session as requested by the city administrator to be held on this date pursuant to Missouri Revised Statute section 610.0212 real estate matters and 610.0211 litigation matter real estate real estate litigation. Do we have a motion? So move second. Call the RO. Council member Clark, yes. Council member Selenus, yes. Council member Click, yes. Council member Saper, yes. Council member Bailey, yes. Council member Mcgrron, yes. Council member Fitzgerald, Council Member Alvarez, yes.

At this time, the live stream and channel 2 will shut off. There will be no further votes or business this evening. Thanks for tuning in.