City Council - Regular Meeting

[cough] [clears throat] How are you tonight? I'm still not sure. [cough] [clears throat] UV [laughter] [laughter] to the firehouse. No, I'm not sure. All right, I will go ahead and call to order tonight's council meeting for Tuesday, January 20th, 2026. We'll start

with the pledge. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Ask Pastor Dave to say a prayer. Father, we just thank you, Lord, that we can come together tonight to do the city's business. Lord, we just ask you to be here to end this meeting. give us wisdom and guidance in all that we do in Jesus name. Amen.

For public comment tonight, we have Jessica Huntley. If you could approach, state your name and address. You have five minutes to address the council.

Okie dokie. Okay. I was originally coming out here last time when I kind of blatantly got pushed off. My name is Jessica Huntley, by the way. I live at 605 East Broad Street here in Pleasanton. But I came out here last time and when I did, I kind of got blatantly ignored on my name being in the basket. I was watched by almost half of the city council at the time and knew it was in there and was pushed off. But I am out here because I'm about tired of being harassed by our law enforcement officers. Something's got to give. Enough's enough. I mean, nobody can leave my house without being pulled over every time. Um, if we're law enforcement officers, we ought to know what type of trucks emblems are on trucks. If you're looking for a Chevy pickup and you see a Ford F-150, just because it's black, it says Ford on it. I mean, come on. Use some common sense. Them pulling my dad over every night is getting old every night. And it's been going on for months and I've had enough. And then they drive by constantly, multiple times. It It's time to stop. They have done nothing but target me forever now. And I've had an investigation done by them I was not satisfied with that was not handled appropriately. So here I am still having to deal with it. That was involving my ex-husband. Okay. So I'm still dealing with all of that. Then on top of that, when another situation involving my children came to light, I refused to tell Pleasanton PD about any of it. I wanted a different agency because of the conflicts I've

been having. So to turn around flare play, they decide because I refuse to tell them what's going on, they decide to report me to DCF. Well, here's the problem with that. Report me all you want to DCF because here's going to come the problem because the first allegations with against my ex-husband with involving my children, CPS is already involved. I already have a lady coming to my house weekly. Okay, she knows what my house looks like. She knows my kids are taken care of. She know she knows everything. There isn't anything she doesn't know. She knows that my kids are taken care of. calling me in to turn around fair play because I won't give you information because I don't want the agency to take my case, which it was kind of similar to the first case that they had against my ex-husband with a neighbor. I don't want you involved. I don't want them involved. I want a different agency because if you can't treat me fairly and you can't treat me with respect, I don't want you at my house. And I have that legal right to have that. It's not picking and choosing. It's not shopping for cops. It's not any of that. It's the fact that if you discriminate and continue to do the same stuff over and over, I don't have to let you at my home. I don't I don't care if you're the president of the United States. If I don't want you on my property, I do not have to let you on my property. Cop, president, whoever. If you're not welcome, you're not welcome. Plain put, it's no different than anybody else in this town. If we don't want you on our property as citizens, we have that god-given right. Okay? If we're calling the sheriff's department anyway for dispatch, why should it matter if it's a Ling County Sheriff's Deputy or if it's a Pleasanton PD? Cops are cops. You're here to serve and protect regardless. And if you can't do your job, so in retaliation, you're pulling my dad over every night or anybody else that leaves my house. He's just the main one that's been the one

biggest target. But I've even a kid that I babysit, his mom has been pulled over by Pleasanton leaving my house. I've had friends of my sons that have been at my house and left and as they were leaving don't even get a block from my house and they're automatically pulled over. Come on. When does it stop? I don't talk to anybody. I don't bother anybody. I say to myself, I mean, my kids aren't even in public school anymore. I I was so tired of all the freaking drama. I I they're online. I don't do anything. I don't break the law. I don't I don't nothing. I stay to myself. And if I do, I will tell you. I'll be the first person to tell you, "Hey, I ran the stop sign." I don't know how many times I've told Tristan that. Hey, by the way, I'm surprised you weren't here because I just ran the stop sign 3 days ago. Okay? I'll be the first one to tell you if I break a law. But the moment I pull out of my driveway, my kids are in my vehicle, our seat belts are on, I use my turn signals. 90% of the time I stop. Can our cops say that? No, they can't. You're to stop. Everybody's taking a driver's test, right? You stop behind the stop sign. Law enforcement ought to know that. Why are we stopping way in front of the stop sign? So that way if your car gets hit, you get to sue them and tell them they have to pay to fix your car. I mean, come on. It It stops. Or I will be left no choice to get an attorney. I don't want to do that because I don't have problems with everybody here.

Thank you. [clears throat]

Next we have Teresa Miller, I think. Teresa Miller 1201 Palm. Um it's nothing big. I had just heard and read about Pleasanton thinking about going with um water 13 and from what I understand being on rural water number two board of directors I have has any of you talked to anybody at 13 Becky has anybody talked to anybody at 13?

I can tell you I haven't and I would like to talk to somebody. Well, I would like to talk to you. I don't know that they are able to take care of Pleasanton.

Also, there would be a huge cost involved. So, I just wanted to make sure before anybody wastes a lot of time and effort that you understand that that you need to contact the gentleman at 13 who's really nice and he will be able to tell you I don't think that they're able to take us cuz they're pretty pretty tight with who they have already and they're doing lots of remodeling right now because they have old equipment. So anyway, that's all I wanted to say. Before you um go, is it Mike? Is that who it is for the guys that runs our team? He's one of them.

There's several of them. It's a board just like ours is a board. The board of directors runs it. Thank you. You bet. Thank you so much.

[cough] Okay. Ron Miller. [clears throat]

Ron Miller, 1087 Street. [clears throat] Mr. Mayor, tonight I'm not here to mince words. I'm not here to soften the truth. I'm not here to play politics. I am here to deliver a message this council has avoided for far too long. And it's and it's a mayor issue that has not been addressed and our current mayor is too nice for the job. We are happy as to the city that our mayor is as patient as he is. The era of corruption, intimidation, and backroom governance in Pleasanton is over. And whether this council likes it or not, accountability is coming. It's not rumor, speculation, threat, final warning. There's state and federal investigations. Evidence has been submitted. Additional evidence is being prepared. The city's had that I can remember at least two and a half decades worth of corruption, misuse of misuse and theft of public funds, fraud, obstruction, destruction, manipulation of public records, bribery, kickbacks and paytoplay violations of coma and kora. Unlawfully, unlawful overriding marial or authority, intimidation of public officers and employees, retaliation against citizens, abuse of office, neglect of infrastructure, mishandling of municipal budgets, ethical violations at every level. These are not mistakes, oversightes. These are criminal acts.

They fall under the Kansas statutes of official misconduct, misuse of public funds, tampering with public records, theft and theft of services, forgery, coma violations, violations of the Kansas Bill of Rights, and violations of some federal statutes. This is not a list. It's an indictment waiting depending on federal and state investigation. unlawful appointment practices, bias, retaliation, and misconduct. This council, the past council, has weaponized personal grudges, bias, serial communication, secret discussions, unequal treatment of applicants. Kansas law does not allow retaliation, personal bias, closed door decisionmaking, unequal access, discriminary treatment. Yet, this Yet this prior council has done it all. They violated Bill of Rights, several KSAs, the 14th Amendment. You've denied equal protection. You've denied due process. You have denied transparency, police, public works, and city hall employees. You'll treat these people with respect. Some of you need to hear this clearly, even in the audience behind me. You will stop disrespecting the people who keep the city alive, primarily public works. These men, these men and women keep your water running, keep your streets passable when they have the equipment to do so. And they do the best they can

with the crappy equipment you guys have gave them as a city as city leadership. They keep your infrastructure functioning. Without the current team, you would be out of luck and have no running water and the city would be full of disease because the waste water would not go to the lagoons but would go to our yards and give us give us all diseases like the black plague. If you don't know what it is, look it up. Public works personnel work for nickels and dimes with subpar benefits while the county and state who pay far better would hire them tomorrow. They are skilled. They are lawyered. They are loyal. They are valuable. They deserve respect, not ridicule. Chief Snder is drowning in workload overtime because this council refuses to fund staffing at a livable wage. He's the only local full-time because we can't entice our officers to move here or provide a competitive wage. Hopefully, that changes, but time will tell. You cannot demand safety while refusing to pay for it. You cannot demand professionalism while refusing to budget for it. You cannot demand results while denying the resources required to achieve them. It's not a police failure. It's a mayor and council failure. Own your mistakes and own it loud. City hall employees. City Hall employees are the backbound or the backbone of the city's daily operations. They issue utility bills, manage payroll for everyone, handle benefits, insurance, HR compliance, process permits, records, public requests, maintain financial assistance

or maintain financial systems, keep the city legally compliant, maintain hundreds of tasks no council member ever sees. They deserve respect. They deserve support. They deserve appreciation. The fire department has its share of problems, too. We need a larger budget if we're going to fix the problems that are needing fixed, including better communications with Chief Hegald, who bends over backwards and doesn't want recognition. But I'm going to give it to him because he has more than earned it. We can handle our own conflicts. We don't need the mayor or council approval to handle our own issues. The only thing we need you to do is approve what resources Chief Wisdom and my fire officers need to keep us safe. You don't need the options, just what he brings you that the officers have approved to bring to this council. Authority outside of a meeting. Some of you have forgotten the law. So, let me make it crystal clear. Outside of a properly convened meeting chaired by the mayor, every council member is a civilian. You have no authority to direct employees, no authority to issue orders, no authority to interfere with operations, no authority to supervise staff. Yet employees have been ordered to perform tasks. Operations have been interfered with. This is not overstepping. This is official misconduct.

Let me address something directly because it matters for the record and for the truth. If I were biased, if I were playing politics, if I were acting out of personal loyalty, I would never stand here and acknowledge what KSA 15301 states, mayor of the third class, which Pleasanton is a city of the third class. He shall have general supervision over all affairs of the city and must see that all laws and ordinance ordinances are enforced. You council make the laws. He has to enforce it. It's not my opinion. That is state law. And because Kansas law places general supervision, enforcement responsibility, and oversight of authority on the mayor, this means every failure of past administrations, every ignored ordinance, every misuse of authority, every lapse in oversight, every violation that has occurred [clears throat] ultimately f

until I'm done. I believe you only have five minutes. I'm on the agenda and you only have five minutes. seriously ultimately falls under the legal responsibility of the mayor's office. If I were biased, I would not be I would not be throwing the mayor under the bus. I'm not biased. I'm not political. I don't care about party parties person personality or popularity. I had to ask for more money.

I care about accountability. I care about lawful governance. I care about the citizens of Pleasanton who deserve the best this city can offer. It's been far too long since since anybody's taken pride in this city. The accountability does not stop at the council. It does not stop at staff. Does not stop at past administrations. It includes the mayor because Kansas law says it does. If the mayor inherited a mess, then he has inherited the responsibility to fix it. The buck stops with him. If past administrations committed misconduct, then the current administration inherits the duty to correct it. That's how statutory responsibility works. Pleasanton's infrastructure did not collapse by accident. It collapsed because past leadership sold essential equipment. Funds were diverted for PEP projects. Maintenance was ignored. Planning was non-existent. Oversight was absent. Public works was undermined. Budgets were mismanaged. The results failing streets. Citywide sewage issues. a water plant needing at least four million to adequately handle what we need or replace it.

Hold on. Hold on a second. Doesn't the fiveminute rule apply to this? Yeah, it does. His time should be up. Okay. So, first of all, the fiveminute rule that you all have in your ordinances pertains to public comment. Anybody who wants to be on the agenda can ask to be put on the agenda and then at any point in time you all can decide that that's all that you need to hear from a item that's on the agenda. Um but if someone is has reached out to Becky during the week to get on to the agenda, then the five minute doesn't apply like it does to public comment. You said it's time for everybody else

for public comment. But yeah, but um he he Aaron come up here when he spoke and he said, "Can I have an extra five minutes?" So we gave him 10 because he was on he was on the public comment but it says it doesn't say you have to be on a public comment for any it says five minutes that's public comment in your ordinances. It says for public I think five minutes is fine for this. So I think we should be move on. That's what I mean. I mean are if you're making a motion then you can make a motion. So we have to make a motion to move on to the next speaker. You're making a motion that this agenda item is completed.

Otherwise you're allowing him to finish. How much longer do you got? I can sum it up pretty quick in another page. I'll make a motion to give him two more minutes.

Been moved and seconded to give you two more minutes.

All in favor? Any opposed? He has two more minutes. Please wrap up within the two-minute time frame. I've got a direct question to this council. At the last council session, I was unqualified for bias. According to the KSA, that that opens up to civil suit, but I ask and everybody needs to know which one of my which one of my qualifications makes me unqualified. Is it my plan for streets, plan for stronger emergency services, economic growth, transparency, or willingness to challenge corruption? Thanks. [clears throat]

And I can do that.

Um Moving on, you have in front of you the resolution number 470, a resolution finding mayoral proposed appointment to council unfit or unqualified to serve as council member by the governing body of the city of Pleasanton, Kansas. We need a motion to pass resolution number 470. I make a motion to pass resolution 470.

It's been moved and seconded to pass resolution number 470, resolution finding Ron Miller unfit and unqualified for position of city council for bias. Um, any discussion? All in favor? Passes unanimous.

[cough]

She's not here. Now, now it's for Becky to sign. S is not here. So, thank you.

The next matter on the agenda would be to appoint council member to fill the vacant position. Um, seeing how Sandy is on her way and not here yet, um, I would like to, um, table that until she gets here. Um, council finds that appropriate. Okay. Can I get a motion to approve the consent agenda?

I make a motion to approve agenda. I'll second. It's been moved and seconded to approve the consent agenda. Any discussion? All in favor? Passes unanimous. City Administrator and departmental reports. I don't have anything. Okay,

Chief Snider, my stuff's in your packet. Uh for the month of January between the 1st and the 18th, we've had 153 calls, 13 citations, 54 traffic stops, three arrests, and eight cases pulled in that time period. And we've had 12 call outs. Um out of our three arrests, one of those was a felony warrant arrest out of Missouri. Another arrest was for driving while suspended, violating the uh restrictions on their license, and not having their ignition interlock. And our last arrest was for aggravated domestic battery, which consisted of children involved in criminally restraining the victim. Um, that's all I have for this time period. um to talk about the accusations of harassment and driving by houses and things like that. I can go upstairs and pull every call that I've had in the last 5 years and show you how many calls I've had with a traffic stop in that area. I can show you how many times an individual's been pulled over by us and everything else. So for those accusations to be made without having any evidence that we're doing it, I find to be wrong and again I can prove that those accusations are false. Thank you.

I have a question. So the dog um who's I didn't ask you this last time. Who's going to be taking care of the dog? As of right now, due to some of the conversations that we've already had, it' be officer high and then um depend at his house or how's that there? There's different things for us to do, but yes, eventually we'll have to build a pen at their house and things like that. And he lives he lives in Fort Scott. He's looking at a house in county at this time. Okay. I didn't I forgot to ask that question. Yep. Thank you,

Chief Wisdom. Um to start off with I have sent the plan of how um I have sent the plan of how we are going to fix the failing of the ISO to the lady from the ISO that is sent to her. She has emailed me back that she has got it. She's going to read through it and then get back in contact with me. Um so we met our date and time that we had to have that done. Um in that also um last Wednesday we had a training and everybody at the fire department was fit test so everybody on the department can put a SCBA on and go inside. They are fit test. Um, Chief Hegel was going to get at some point was going to get copies of that printed off because [clears throat] his computer he said there's he's got to be able to get hooked to a printer to print them on for us. Um, the last thing I have is on our gear, and I know I keep bringing this up, our gear that I was approved to get is the RDG20, which is rapid delivery 20. Um, it is the only color you can get that gear in is a brown. And here is if you guys want to see these to to verify, you can only get that gear in a brown. The gear that we got awarded from the state fire marshall's office on the

grant is a gear that we can get a brown color similar to it, but it is actually the stuff that he brought down was almost like this. This is the color of what we use. Um, not only is the fire marshall gear a different color, but it's a lot better gear. It has a lot more uh resistance to fires, things like that. It has um more flexibility which will not hurt anybody on the fire department. Um whenever they come down last Wednesday at fit testing, um Bill Snyder come down. He measured everybody on the department to get make sure that everybody on the department has all eight sets of gear to get measured. While he was down here, he approached me about trying to talk with his bosses about getting the better gear down in a little bit in a price to that way we don't have a color of gear this color and we have a color of gear in this color that and we can get a lot better gear. So, he worked with his bosses. I have some quotes here and this the number at the top is per set of gear. I have already been awarded the the ability to get four sets of gear. We've held off because we wanted to try to make what we was awarded what we decided on get as close as possible to what the state fire marshall grant was. So that should be that should be everything.

And this one is going to be for the new So, the first one was the old

the Yeah, the first one that you got handed. It has RDG20 written at the top. [clears throat] Um, that is the original gear that we was going to go with. I have the brochure here to show you the specs of and everything on that if you want to look at that as well. You can only get that in this brown color. Um, what I'm trying to avoid is having multiple different colors to that our fire department is you our firefighters are going to have. It seems like it's going to be a more professional look to me if we can be similar. They're not going to be exact, but they are going to be if everybody has the newer gear from the state fire marshall's office on and this gear, other than it being cleaner because it's brand new, you really are not going to tell the difference in what gear is what.

So, what is it that you need from the council? Um, what I need is on the first one, the set per set of gear is um I don't have one of them. Is it the You gave you gave the Oh, I

um what I need from the council is the first set of gear in the RDG20. It is $3,249 to get everything except for boots. In the quote, we quoted out boots as well. Um, I have checked with two other different fire gear companies. Boots are on back order till sometime in March at the earliest. So, we've actually taken the um the $340 is for boots to add to that gear. The Enoex gear, which is the stuff that we have from the fire marshals grant, that is a lot better gear. It's actually a custom fit gear that fits the person. Um, more flexible, a lot more padding. Um, it seems like it's something that's going to last a lot longer, going to be more durable. Um, that gear is $3,942 per set, making a difference of $700 and actually $692 difference to get into the better gear. What I'm asking is basically I'm going to round up to $700 per set. I'm asking $2,800 more to get gear that's going to match. It's going to not only match, it's going to be better gear. It's going to have better um shielding inside it. It's going to have more padding. It's going to have several things in it. [clears throat] Actually, it's a lot better gear than than what the um other stuff is. The RDG gear is basically comes in a small, medium, large, extra large, extra extra large size. And the anoteex gear, which is the newer stuff from the fire marshall grant, is actually custom fit to the person.

And you only want um and you only want um four of the newer gear right now. Well, the Inoteex gear that I have is from the state there. I was awarded four sets from the state fire marshall's office. What I'm trying to do is make the gear that we are going to be purchasing to be similar to what we have in existing gear that we use plus the new gear coming in. So, that would give us a total of how many sets of gear? Can we remember to turn our mics on first? Sorry. That would give us a total of how many sets of gear?

Whenever we get all of our gear here, we will have eight brand new sets. And we have five sets that we that are still in date that we can use. So, we will have a total of 13 sets of gear that we can move forward on. Um, what's our dates of expiration on the old um I would have to go get all of the sets out. I mean, they are like two or three years out. So, it's not like they're it's not like they're going to expire in December of 31st of last year. You know, we've still got a year or two that we can use not having to buy another set of gear.

Okay. So, if the council is good with the matching gear and the better quality of gear, um we would just need a motion to um increase the budget that was already given to him for gear purchase. Increase that by $2,800, $2,800. I make that motion to increase um the fire year by the $2,800.

I'll second.

It's been moved and seconded to increase the formerly approved amount by $2,800 for the purchase of this gear. Any questions? All in favor? Passes unanimous. Um we had a couple of lift assists that we have done in the last two weeks and we had a vehicle fire. Um the vehicle fire whenever it was called in the truck was on scene within if I remember right 4 minutes. Um after the truck the after the engine was on scene within 8 minutes we was reporting fire was out. We had um eight of the 10 people show up. The other two were working out of town. So, we had a lot of people show up. They worked really well together. So, I mean, we are we're doing what we need to do on our end to show this is why we want to get the gear that we want, things like that. So, we are responding. We are doing what we need to do to get that taken care of.

Um, how is the radios working out?

Uh, we have one that is having some issues. Um, I have sent an email to support at the county to see if I need to send it to the IT department in the county to see if it's a programming issue um or if I need to send it back to KC Wireless. I also have uh called KC Wireless today and was getting a quote for three more radios. Um, he did not get back in touch with me. He did not email me that before [cough and clears throat] the meeting started tonight. So, I don't have that quote, but um I that way we can have everybody on the station have a city radio whenever we're [snorts] on city business.

Okay. And another question I have is um where are we at on the SOPs and SGS? Uh we have submitted um several not several uh three additions. myself and my assistant chief have submitted them to the mayor. He's going through and he's checking with them. He's sending stuff back to us to correct and adjust. And we the I think the last set was sent Wednesday night. And was it Wednesday night that we met? No, th No, Friday.

Friday night we met. Last Friday night we met and the last set was sent to him and we have not sat back down to go back over them again. We have our part read. uh written. Um he is making sure that everything on on that we have put in there is good for the city and then it will be submitted to the city attorney once we are getting approval. Does the council not get involved in how and how this is written and the council has to be involved for approval and everything? Yes, we got a copy

during the process of it. Um, I would like to present to the council something that's uh good and it matches our city codes and ready to go. I would like to be involved. Um, I think it's important that the council be involved in that as well. Okay. Do we want to establish a work session to go through that then also? I think that would be great. Okay. Yeah. What day? Could you get us a work rough copy? I can what I can forward to than what I have.

Okay. The last one I sent to him, I can send to um Becky and she can get it to you guys. That way everybody's getting the same email or the mayor can [snorts] send it to her and get it to you guys however however it needs to be done. Great. Thank you. Yeah, that'd be awesome. What day are y'all available for a work session to deal specifically with the day but Tuesday for me? Mondays.

What about this coming Monday the 26th? That works for me. 5:30. Sounds good. Did you come up with a date? 26. Next Monday. 26. Yeah. 5:30.

Is that good for you, Becky? I I have nothing else. If you guys don't have anything to me, I got a few questions. Uh I was just wondering how many air packs and how like many uh like the face. We have qualified.

We have four total air packs. One of them was damaged during the vehicle fire. I do, and I apologize. I'm glad you brought that up. I do have that with Weiss Fire now. They are going through and and checking it out. They're going to see what it's going to take to fix that one air pack and then they will reach back out to me once that um air pack is is being taken care of. But we have four air packs. We have four masks to put everybody in. And how much longer on like on like the mass that when they are expired? Um they are

they are getting close. So I I do have a company that does uh refurbished SCBAs because new ones are very very expensive. I'm not going to say that refurbished ones are not expensive either. But, you know, that way we have a judgment of so I'm going to reach out for new plus a refurbished one to see how new the refurbished ones are per year and go from there whenever I am, you know, that is something that I'm working on very soon. Uh I was just wondering since you like mentioned like the radio's getting more and I'm like maybe [cough and clears throat] getting more SCBAs that are not almost like to their life. Yeah.

I was just that's all I got. Thank you and your department.

Okay. Um, at this time, since Councilwoman Senny Haynes is back, uh, I'd like to untap the move back to the appointment of council member to fill the vacant position for the next two years that Bill skipper left. And if I could, I'd like to get consent of council to appoint John Bowley to that position, to that council seat. Is he here? Yes. in the back. Oh, okay. Mr. Bowman, could you step up to the podium and introduce yourself to the rest of the council? And

I'm John Bullley. I'm live at 605 East 9th Street. How long have you lived here, John? Uh, about five years. Okay. Do you work at Napa? Okay. I I think I've seen your face. I'm sure you have. [clears throat] Former law enforcement. Yes. If

I could get a motion for consent of council. Well, after some lengthy and careful consideration into mayor's selection for the open seat, I make a motion to deny his selection for being unfit for the position. A motion is on the table declaring that he finds unfit for the council seat. Is there a second? Motion dies for lack of second. Uh I make a motion that we appoint

John Bowling. Yeah. John Bowling. Consent

consent of of the council to him as like position. It's been moved to ex to consent to the appointment of John Bowley to the position um open council seat. Is there a second? [cough] [clears throat] Motion dies for lack of second. I move we table table the selection until another time.

So pursuant to KSA 12-16128 if the council does not act within 45 days the appointment is deemed approved unless they make specific findings of unqualification or unfitness. Also, as we previously discussed the um time to have the vacancy filled, if it's not satisfied within that time, then we have to have a special election.

And if I could say something, I did go ahead and check with the um county on what special election would cost, and it is estimated to cost $8,000. Special election Don't Where are we at on our 45 days? 28 days in.

28 days in.

Does the 60 days still expire even though the appointment has happened and they've just failed to

act? Yes. Um so um the whole process for the special elections um is a bit complicated especially in light of the way this is worded with regard to mandating that if the council doesn't act within 45 days the appointment is deemed approved unless the specific findings are made. Obviously that sort of conflicts with the 45 days also for the for the mayoral appointment. Um there has not been successful special elections for these types of positions because of um the attorney general's position is basically that the council should work in good faith with the mayor to fill vacancies and the the idea behind the law for these appointments is that the body will work together to get that accomplished. Um so the whole procedure for basically having to retain the county in order to conduct an election you know etc. They were able to give a rough estimate based on bond issues that had occurred at special election times in other municipalities. Um so they indicated that that could be more um expensive than that. Uh, also the days is kind of a a little bit complicated because um now that this appointment has um been made by the mayor, not consented to by council, but also not deemed unfit or unqualified, you have 45 days to act on that. Um, otherwise it's deemed to be, you know, approved. But meanwhile, that conflicts with the 45 days and the 60 days from the vacancy in there. So, um

so you have a couple options. You can reconsider this appointment or previous um attempted appointments or you all can make specific findings of unfitness um or can wait the time, you know, frame out. But obviously the codes for Pleasanton is designed to have, you know, five city council members, but it's just kind of a complicated process. Well, I have I have a question for you. You know, when you appointed Alex, you said clearly that you're going right down the list of how the people vote.

Clearly, you're not now. So the um election time that does not have to be taken into consideration in any way because I mean you pointed Alex below Sandra. Why would you pick the next person below him? So, um, when I did that, we were so close to the election that we were waiting just to the election to finish building that, thinking that that was a good opportunity to see that those results don't have to be taken into consideration. Um, but if the council would just prefer me to take those into consideration on those that have said, "Yes, I will still serve," then, um, I I've not I've not been told anything either. So, I need to fill a position, but I haven't heard from the council regarding this either.

And the next person would um be even I mean it doesn't matter if they were on the ballot or they were right in either way cuz writeins win all the time. You know, we've seen it. Not when it's the day before. Huh? Not when it's the day before, lady. No, it's when it's the day before. Let's let's refrain from speaking from the floor, please. Anyways, you're good. So, anyways, um they went so the right end would been the next one would have been Aaron or Dennis.

So, he Aaron had declared that he didn't have time and wasn't going to. Um Skipper when he resigned said that he had spoken to Aaron said no. So, Aaron wasn't taken to consideration. If this council would like to move on finding uh passing a resolution finding him unfit or unqualified for it, then I could take the numbers into consideration, which the next highest number would be David Sherman with one more vote than Dennis Mitchell. Would it please this council for me to do that? Yeah, I mean um two things that I just need to say. First of all, nothing uh the attorney general's opinions in this statute does not obligate the mayor to give any reason of any kind for any appointments, not just city council, but any other mayoral appointments that are within the code.

I know it's all strictly within his

Sure. And so he alone has the appointment power and doesn't um have to you know give a reason or or um anything like that. And right now um you have this sort of appointment on the table. So it's procedurally sort of um at this moment not appropriate to shift to any type of other you know appointment because it it's like there's a motion on the table. And so you you have three options. Making specific findings of unfitness or unqualification. Um approving the appointment or consenting to the mayoral appointment or allowing the passage of time which would essentially act as approving the mayoral appointment. I don't know. I think as the council I would like to be more involved in having a say rather than it just I mean nothing against this gentleman but I don't know him and and we're supposed to be voting for the citizens that we feel is best qualified. And I feel bad because I don't know him. I don't know nothing about this man. Um and and I know that there's been other people that have been interested. So is there not do when people are interested do we tell them to come to you? I mean, or do you put a list together and then get with the council and say, "These are the people that are

interested and we kind of help." This is new to me, so I'm still I'm learning. He He's always picked it. So, and stuff, but we've never had a say. He's just brought it to us

as I I've operated as the law allows. So, there was a motion to table it. Um, I mean, if you're asking for somebody's, you know, letter of intent or resume or something like that, you know, you all can make that known, but ultimately, unfortunately, um, or fortunately, however you want to look at it, the law just does not require the the mayor to do these things. not not not Mayor Young, but just in general, the law does not require mayors to give their reasons or to even necessarily include the council in the process. It does make it somewhat clunky sometimes because um you don't necessarily have resumes or or you know information, you know, about about people. Um but the law also doesn't require that either. Um and so now you know these are the options that you face in light of the mayor's proposed you know appointment. You're of course welcome to um ask this gentleman any questions or the mayor any um questions. Um but this is the essentially action that's on the table. It's no offense. I only met you when I went to get an orphan. I don't know where you want what direction you want to put the city in. Nothing. When we when all of us went to for the election, we had to stand up in front of our citizens and tell them what our vision was. You know,

we don't know. I I don't know anything about you. Nothing personal. It just, you know, if I knew more, I could make a better decision. I don't know more. Were you originally appointed to the council or elected in? I've been elected for this is my second time originally. Yes. Yes. You were elected from the very beginning? Yes. Okay.

Because I know that there have been several council members that were appointed to the position to fill it. Um doing a fantastic job. Uh unfortunately for the city of Pleasanton uh there's no way that everybody knows everybody. So in in any case I mean even the people that people think they know they don't know. Um that's the unfortunate thing about uh the city in itself. So So could we ask him to like tell us a little bit about himself? You're welcome to ask. This is the action that's pending on the table. So, um you you can ask him whatever you want to ask him.

Okay. Would you be like willing to tell like the council and everybody like in like the city like what are you wanting to see this city [cough] and then a little bit about you? Would you mind doing that?

That's fine. Um I originally was born and raised in St. Louis. um was had moved out here about 5 years ago unfortunately under uh situation of us losing a daughter to suicide. Um we needed a fresh start. Um was it said I'd like to see this city grow. Um I've heard stories about how Main Street was, you know, nothing but gas stations, a couple hotels, you name it. And the businesses we have now are great, but nothing like we used to have as far as what I've been told. Now, if that's wrong, great. But if it's not, okay, I'd like to see the city grow. This town, you know, people come to it instead of leaving. And when I first came here, I was told this was more of a sleeper town. people slept here, worked outside, you know, in the different uh communities or going up to Casey. But, you know, instead [clears throat] of people leaving all the time, I'd rather see them stay here, bring the money back to Pleasanton and just have restaurants, uh, you know, things for the kids, you name it. You know, my daughter's come up with a great idea with, uh, you know, the, uh,

simple sanctuary.

Yes. Thank you. [laughter] Um was it that's just a you know example of you know what comes with you know my family. You know we've gone through a lot and we'd like to you know see this town grow and you know especially for the kids cuz they're the ones that are going to replace us one day and if we don't have anything for them why would they want to stay? You know a lot of times you hear about kids growing up in a small town. No, no. I want out of here. I want to move to the city. Well, been there myself. Never liked growing up in the city. I always wanted to be out in the country. And here I am. And, you know, I want to do what I can for the city and hopefully, you know, work together with all of you and, you know, make this town better. So, we have two. What's the motion on the table?

Well, there's not really a motion on the table. I mean, Alex could make a motion to reconsider his motion to um consent to the appointment uh the mayoral appointment. You all could make a motion to pass a resolution to find him unfit or unqualified for whatever specific finding um or the passage of 45 days and it will be deemed that you all ascented to this appointment. Um so those are the choices. Um if he were to um pass a resolution finding him unfit or unqualified, then we would probably ultimately um the mayor would have to come up with a different appointment or the passage of time is going to be such that it's time for that special election. But we can table it for tonight and vote vote um in two weeks if we wanted to.

Right. I mean, so it's just those three things, you know, either the 45 days is going to elapse and it'll be like you all ascented. someone could make a motion to reconsider a motion, you know, with the next council meeting um or, you know, tonight. I mean, these are these are the three options that happen here. I make a motion to table it till the next council meeting so we can get at least talk more with you and find out more of what your plan is for the city is what I'd like to see.

Second. So, it's been moved and seconded to table this council member appointment to the next council meeting. Any discussion? All in favor? Passes unanimous. table until next meeting and it'll be right at the beginning of the meeting, sir. Thank you very much. [clears throat] [clears throat] Moving on to unfinished business. Aaron Bowie with after school program update.

Good evening everyone. I hope the new year has continued to do well upon all of you as it has. I am super excited to announce that my after school program, the Simple Sanctuary, is launching on February 2nd, 2026, a week earlier than our productive start date of February 9th. Remember, the Simple Sanctuary is an after school program for grades 3 through 9. Notice the grade change. We thought ninth graders might enjoy the program, too. It's a three-pronged program. The academic block, the learning block, and the activity block. It is a time for students to get help on homework, learning a skill, and have fun. The biggest goal of the program, I've said it a million times, and I'll say it a million more because it is so very important. The biggest goal of the program is for kids to have a safe place to be kids. In 2026, this goal is more important than it ever has been. The program will take place three days a week, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 3:45 to 6:15 p.m. We've decided to have our program take place at Faith Chapel. We want to say a big thank you to everyone at Faith Chapel for being so kind and inviting with this whole process. They've been so very helpful and communicative in everything. Thank you so much. We would also like to say a big thank you to Jan Otterkerk, Chrissy Leaport, Lauren Edwards, Becky Grant and Cookie Risen, Beth Smith, Leslie Duncan at the Blamingo, Kanye at the main room, Connley Sales, Jackie Taylor at the Lyn County News, Joyce Brown, Studio 9 in Mountain City, Avery Lumber in Mound City, Drew Aesthetics in Mountain City, and my mom Tracy Bully for donating to our program. We are so very appreciative and grateful for your help and supplying resources to our program. Thank you so much. Aside from my mom, there was one other person who donated the most and that was that person is my sister Bri. She passed back in September 2023, but even in death, she helped me. She was a very artistic person and had tons of coloring supplies in amazing shape. She

would have loved to know that her stuff was given to people who needed it, especially children, since she wanted to become a teacher. Thank you. And I wanted to say um I wanted to say um I wanted to quickly say thank you to my amazing associates Adria Solins and Sarah FPS for coming along on this wall of granted. You two are the reason for this program and I don't think I can. Thank you.

For clarification, we did not need USD 344 schoolboard approval for this program, but the school is partnering in this initiative. There will be a bus stop for students needing transportation to Faith Chapel, but there will not be any provided transportation. I say that one more time. I said it fast. There will be a bus stop for students needing transportation to Faith Chapel, but there will not be any provided transportation home. Also, parents, be on the lookout for permission slips. They will be sent out soon. Just to recap, the Civil Sanctuary launch it is February 2nd, 2026 at Faith Chapel from 3:45 to 6:15 p.m. Thank you all so much for making this program possible. [applause] Thank you so much. What an incredible initiative. uh she became the student representative to the council and just hit the ground running trying to get some stuff organized and programs and everything else. Fantastic job keeping up with all that uh council is running through and doing and learning politics there and I know that she has a special interest in attorneys um [laughter] being one herself someday. So, she's had the opportunity to um pick our attorney's brain who has probably pleaded with her, are you sure you want to do this? [laughter] I've apologized several times. I'm sorry.

Uh but what an incredible opportunity. And in that also council, we will be soon starting to run the application process for our next year's coming out like that. Student rep to the council. Uh so be on the lookout for that information coming probably in another month or so or so. Or so. She's like, I'm staying as long as I can until May of my graduation. That's right. [laughter] Thank you so much. Moving along. Street project equipment needed.

I make a motion that we recess for 15 minutes. Okay. Um, a motion has been made to recess for 15 minutes. Oh, second. It's been moved and seconded to recess for 15 minutes, returning at 7:26. All in favor? We are recessed and we'll be back here at 7:26. Thank you. [laughter]

So good. Did you like Did you like your shout out? Excuse me.

Okay. You're not scaring me. I already know the shirt. Don't be telling my secrets. What? Anyway, maybe maybe not. And if they are, she's got a sister. I'll give them to your sister. No, you better not. I'm not playing with you, Mom. [laughter]

[snorts]

Yeah.

All right. Hello. It's not like your

drink. I'm going to your house and take a drink here. Anyway, go ahead. Dogs won't eat you. Are you going to be at the shop? [clears throat] [laughter]

I like [laughter] the project. And then just been Yeah, I mean I'm not really involved with any of that. So I know what ultimately happened.

Okay. So, What happens [laughter] to additional information or whatever? [laughter] Yeah. [laughter] [laughter]

My birthday was okay. It's Pearl Harbor [laughter] Day. December Yes. On the inside.

[clears throat]

I started instantly. I wear my seat belt. I really I'm like, how am I going to get home? How am I going to drive all the way? Here I am driving the day before. So nothing's open until [laughter]

I immediately got up the morning of the picture, right?

Heavy. I mean, I think

I think somebody's hospital We can't fire it. Yeah, we got words. got some of that stuff.

I do. I tried to go to Android and I actually originally got a Pixel 10. I absolutely hated it. And then whenever I was arguing with my phone there, how do I know?

[laughter]

Okay. Um yeah, this is my

in reality, you know, a phone specifically for the city because I know there's a lot of I have to sit down with them. I don't like that. I don't understand. All right. [laughter] He's retired. Yes. Anybody?

That is an entire Nice. 30 seconds. [laughter]

There's no way any decisions will be there. tonight. Here's all the information we have and this is nothing to jump into. And I know you know [laughter]

okay recess is over. We are resuming normal meeting. Um, up on the agenda is street projects equipment needed. Taylor is somewhere. Taylor, she went.

Hello. How are we tonight?

Good. So everything in the road department so far is going really good. What we are needing is our equipment. That would take us to the next step. So what we're needing and I would like to see is an 80 90 um horsepower tractor at approximately uh $20,000. A water tank that is truck mounted for 2,000. A sheep's foot roller. I would like to get 4,000 and a steel smooth roller. I would like to get 4,000. And these are what I'm hoping for to get an estimate.

So, you're hoping to actually get this amounts released so that you can find it hopefully cheaper. Yes. Okay. And do we have people that know how to run this equipment? Um, yes, we definitely have people that we can bring in to show us. So, now do we have people that know how to run this equipment if we get it?

We will know how to run it cuz we're going to have people come in and show us. It's going to take time because you all have to be understanding about some of the new equipment that we haven't had experience on, but we're bringing people in to show us. So, then we'll be able to run it just fine. Like a tractor, we know how to run a water tank. That's super easy. the sheep's foot and smooth um roller. Those will be easy. They're just attachments. It's just learning how they articulate. And the sheet fit with how much? Um 4,000 is what I would like to um have allotted. That way we can find a good one.

Would you mind turning your mic on so we can make sure that we hear you? Thank you. And who did you say was going to help um show you guys um how to run all this?

Um Becky's husband. He's had over 20 years of experience in a road department. He was a department head of there at um Yates Center and he has experience running all this stuff and has said on multiple occasions that he's more than willing to work with us. And I have other contacts that I can contact out to if need be. So, how would the liability um he's not going to be in the machine as much as he's going to be telling them how to do it. So, like an on the job training where they're actually in there doing work. Mhm.

Does it still require liability though? No. If he's not I'm I'm just asking if we have non city employees that are not running our equipment, operating our equipment, then it does not um trigger the liability for the operation of the machinery. Okay. I just So just as an instructor, you don't have to worry.

Yeah. He's basically just coming there showing us how to run the equipment like verbally like verbally saying like, "Hey, this is how you do this. This is how you do that." just standing there watching just to make sure that we're operating it correctly. And it'll take a little time, but eventually we'll be able to operate this just fine. I don't think this will be out of our ability whatsoever. And if we're wanting to We had an opportunity to take the breaker out.

So, we were going to take it out last week. Unfortunately, with the weather, it was way too cold cuz we went out there, my helper and I, and we prepped the um East Lake on the southside entrance and cut all the limbs. When we were going to go out, I believe it was Thursday morning. It was, I don't know, 20some degrees. We don't want to take the blade out there and mess it up. So, we got to wait when it warms up. And as soon as it warms up, we're going to take it out there and we're going to get started on it. So, what you're needing from us is money to be released for you to

um get this equipment a purchase equipment or to have you went on purple wave to see you. Yes, we uh the before the last meeting I had had a list of equipment

and had pictures and everything showing what some of the prices were on some of these. Um but if you all lot us this amount for each of them, I can specifically go and look for this price range and next council meeting I can bring you prices. That's not a problem. It's just I need a certain amount to work with so I can bring something to you guys. The um the best thing here is is if the council can free up up to a certain amount that way when it comes available it can be purchased because if it's found on purple wave found on something else um the ability to move quickly on it a lot of times is essential to getting it and can't always wait till another council meeting. Uh, plus if we just wait until we have costs and bring cost to open council, then other people that are trying to bid on it could know what our high bid is or anything else within it, making it more difficult for us to get. So, we're hoping to move forward with freeing up some of the money uh specifically to get these things as they're become available.

Now, we need to make a motion per equipment for as a whole. It would be better to do it each. Yeah. So what fund is this coming out of this comes out of the sales tax comes out

and then what was everything that you listed? Um um 80 to 90 horsepower tractor for 20,000. I would like a water tank truck mounted at 2,000, a sheep's foot roller at 4,000, a steel smooth roller at 4,000. Here's honestly, this is my opinion. What it boils down to is we really need to get the equipment if we want to see this road project done because I know you guys want to. I know the community wants to. We as public works want to, but we have to have the equipment is what it boils down to.

Have you found either one of the rollers at a cheaper cost than 4,000? Can you say that one more time? Have you found a cheaper cost for the rollers? Three rollers?

Um, I'd have to go back and look at my stuff. Um, I can definitely find something though in this price range. I have no doubt about that. I make a motion to approve the 20,000 for the 8090 tractor up to 20,000 for the 8090 tractor. A second.

It's been moved and seconded to approve up to $20,000 for the purchase of the 8090 tractor. Any discussion? All in favor? Passes unanimous. I make a motion we approve the water tractor amount up to 2,000. July. It's been moved and seconded to approve the water tank truck mounted for up to 2,000. I move to um approve this. Wait, we got a vote. We got a motion on the table. We vote.

Any any discussion? All in favor? I raised my hand. I thought everybody else was I wasn't paying attention. [laughter] Okay. Yeah. I I make a motion to um approve the sheet foot roller up to 4,000. It's been moved and seconded to approve the sheets roller for purchase up to 4,000. Any discussion? All in favor? Any any opposed? Oh, sorry. All in favor? Yeah. Okay. Sorry. I pass unanimous.

I make a motion to approve this. Is it the smooth roller? Still smooth roller. Still Still smooth roller. Yes, ma'am. Steel smooth roller up to 4,000. Seconded. Say that three five times. It's been moved and seconded to approve up to $4,000 for the purchase of a steel smooth roller. Any discussion? All in favor? Passes unanimous. Yes, ma'am. Thank you, council. I greatly appreciate it, and I know that the citizens in this town really does, too. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Taylor. Let's grease that wheel a little bit. Yes, sir.

Thank you. Um, also regarding streets project, I'm sure some people around town have noticed BG Consultants um up and down Ash and Cedar Street. They're um starting their work on getting all of that kind of mapped out and what's going to happen with that up um upgrade to those streets that's coming soon. So,

um I might just put something in here that we were contacted by someone from the school today and are wanting to replace the water line that runs under Ash Street. And I contacted the engineer and he is going to contact them directly to make sure that they get that taken care of before the road project starts. [snorts]

Okay. ADA parking at the pool. So, with the ADA parking at the pool, we're waiting on um the people that are going to do it to get it done. Is that where we are on that? We haven't got any specs doing anything else for it. Is this the handicap parking at the pool? Yes. Um is that not something that the voice house couldn't get done.

Our city employees should be, you know, qualified enough to dig it out concrete. It's outdoors. If they need help, I'm willing to come over and help. Is that what the council would like our employees to try to move on getting that done? If they have the time, yes, I would like to see this project get done. And like Brandon Johnson was already gave a deposit. So we'd have to deal with that. Sorry, say again. So Brandon Johnson was already gave like that deposit for the ADA parking out of the pool. So what would we do with that deposit?

Uh we would need to contact him and find out. I mean what I mean do we just let it go? Well, the deposit was actually put up for the salt building. Yes. And so he agreed to carry it over to that. So that was why we was waiting for him to do it. But then it was kind of like they were waiting to hear back from the person who's doing the ADA assessment for us and we haven't heard back from her yet. So that's one of the reasons it hasn't been done. How many parking spaces are over there?

They are under 88. Under 88 rules, you have one handicap parking for 25 vehicles. Uh, I think we're Didn't we measure that we're right at around 25? Is Jimmy there? Because between what's in this the front on the south side of the building and what's on the east side of the building, I think there's right at 20 some parkings. Um, so legally you only need to have one. But if you put two right there in front of the entrance, you know, with the how many parking 11 foot entrance going into it. So

I'm not entirely sure as of right now. Uh I did know last year we counted them. I do not remember. There are so if you're looking at the front of the building, the whole the right side is for uh staff and everything left and going around is for patrons. I do not remember exactly how many is there. And and this will be in the front of the building, correct? [snorts] The handicap.

Yes, it has to be building the quickest, easiest way into the building. The original design that had [clears throat] been presented [snorts] a couple three months ago was on the west or east side of the building going into the fenced in area. But the way that was going to wind up working out, they would have had to have went across the sidewalk across a little small sidewalk that had a culbert in it, which we' had to have put handrails up because of they fall off, they going to get hurt cuz I mean ditch is pretty pretty deep. Then they would have had to have went all the way across the front of the building and into it. Or the other suggestion, which was not going to work, was just have them go straight through the fence. You cannot do that because that's technically segregation. It's the same difference. You cannot do that. So the only and logical solution is to smack dab right in front and sidewalk goes straight up into the building. That's going to be the easiest way. Put one on this side and one on that side.

I agree. So I mean that's the grade's not that bad. Um we did not we did not have time to write anything down because of the weather. It was um it was pouring that day that we measured it out. The grade is not too awful bad out there. It's right at at you know workable level. So

somewhere around in there. I think there's a couple spots that are a little different and it's because the sidewalk has kind of a dip and a sway in it, but um for the most part it's not too far off at all. Do you feel that your crew could get this taken care of?

As long as we have the time and the weather, that's going to be our biggest problem with pretty much anything we're doing as of right now because I mean look at look at last week it was 50 some degrees or 60 and then now we're in the 20s. So I mean that is literally going to be our biggest problem as of right now on about anything we do. And also not having a loader. Yes. You confident enough to do it?

Co. So as soon as weather's permitting, we'll be able to get out there. Thank you. Is that all you need? Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. [clears throat] Okay. Um water plants. [cough and clears throat] Can I make a motion for a 30-minute recess to inspect the water plant with the city council members?

Um unfortunately the motion there isn't quite appropriate. The attorney can explain there. Um because we're going to have a quorum at the water plant and that you all will inevitably have questions and want to talk amongst yourselves. Um we're making a motion to move the meeting to the water plant for approximately 30 minutes. The public in the paper is welcome to to be there. That sort of a thing. So, if you want to amend your motion that we're going to move the meeting,

I amend my motion to move the council to the water plant with the citizens so they can see what's going on with water. [clears throat] Second. It's been moved and seconded. It's been moved and seconded uh to move the council to the water plant for approximately 30 minutes and no action will be taken and no action will be taken while there and then resume here at 8:15

approximately 8:15. Um, all in favor? Okay, we will be back [clears throat] at 8:15. tow truck.

Looking looking back, make sure I didn't drop mine.

Exactly. That's what I'm saying.

Oh, poor baby. Are you okay? Good to see you, man.

Yeah. No, it's This was here. [snorts] [snorts] 5 and 12. I did it the first time. Thank you Here, [laughter] take a shield. Go. I'll be just like the military teacher

first. It gets me out of house, too. Thanks for coming out.

[laughter]

is thirsty. I got her drink. Interesting. Good. Well, maybe in Chicago. for me.

Don't

[laughter]

That's why I kept coming in here fast. Can't believe you didn't like [groaning] You know, All right. [laughter and clears throat] Congratulations. [laughter]

What is he doing? Hey, hello. She's a hot spoiled

[laughter] My mom. Yeah.

We do better on a cruise. Everybody You know, you know, get usually Usually we go on sale. one of those Nice. But unless

I'm going to die of cancer. But you don't have cancer.

No wonder you look. I kept thinking to myself, you look so much younger than I. I wonder why. My own husband does that. Sorry. in the motion. My understanding was

we only have we only have um

join the club But if you could get I was going to have high school office today, but but their um broken copy work and so they were figuring that out.

And the all of the stuff for the princess of those but Well, then [clears throat] hilarious.

Aaron, [snorts] we were eight. No, we were we were like,

but that's just for seventh, eighth, and nth grade. And then for and Mrs. Fley, the principal of high school because you can't have an outside organization information about that. We saw Yes, he was always very [laughter] Oh my god.

And there's more. And there's more. This is just from like yesterday. It's in my bedroom. the bedroom in her car and it got messed that we can get that almost as bad as [laughter]

it's like an episode. It was just like Oh yeah. So um I know I work every day Thank you.

Oh, good. No, for some reason. So apparently look at my name because every time the freaking And we're gonna be You know what? just tires on

a clock, but your parillegal.

Well, I mean, shout out. So, person. We're almost there.

Oh. [laughter] I don't think you have it either. Yeah. No, the last one was just you and I and that was stuff that Josh brought in.

That's the initial. Yeah. No, the my first email was bandaid. It was a band-aid to get the city by. Do you have that one? No. Because Becky emailed forwarded me his and I said, "Yes, send it to all of you." But I don't see the [cough and clears throat] So, let me go ahead and send that out.

Michelle, I was mistaken. The one Travis did not go to us, too. Uh, it just went to Becky and she forwarded and asked me if I wanted to grab it. I said yes, but apparently it didn't get forwarded on to you all. So, I will forward that on right now.

Oh, yeah. Band-aid. Okay. Do you want in digital form too? She'll be everybody. No, this is Travis. I thought the one that said two different ones. I don't need one. Thank you.

Yeah, this one.

Okay. Well, I'll send it to you anyways. Just make sure. No problem. Yeah, I should have

[cough]

You guys want a copy of the original? I have I don't think you got this one. That's the second email. This is the first one. You got that one.

Yeah, just everybody have it.

Yeah, we're you're good. I'm waiting on Becky to be able to get back to business. Have the city clerk.

Why is so?

You know, some days it does that. Oh, she did. She probably We all got this one. While we're waiting to send a original Which one?

Make coffee.

Yes. Oh, is that the first one, Kenny? Uh, yes.

Yeah, I need one of those. I think she Okay, council meeting is now back in session in the council hall. Uh, no action was taken [clears throat] during council meeting at the water plant. And Kenny, could you please explain so everybody is aware the paperwork that we just passed out and what it is? The one that says pleasure the water treatment plant on itself is basically it's my assessment of what I've seen at the water plant and the repairs that could possibly be done and just everything in general. And there's pictures on the back I believe with this one of everything that I've seen that is wrong with the plant but it doesn't cover everything. There's more is more involved than what the plant needs than what the city can can afford. Okay. Um, for uh information sake within everything, we know that in anything that involves a water plant or even potentially getting any emergency grants to help fix it or anything like that, we have to consult and have an engineer involved with that. Uh, BG Consultants has said that yes, they have engineer uh that can help us with that. It would be an approximately $1,000 for them to come down and assess and look at that. The earliest they believe they can get here for that is February 4th.

And where are they from? Uh BG Consultants is coming from Kansas City area. take out they have they're they're the ones that we are they're the ones doing the

they actually um when I talked to Jason today he has the original blueprints and stuff for the water plant and have been the ones that have done the upgrades along with it. So um the guy that is one of the guys that's coming is the architect and so he'll be able to build side of it. Um, I don't think we really need a motion for us since it's under the spending limit itself, but if we would be best to go ahead with that motion,

best practices, go ahead with the motion to approve the engineer. I make a motion to approve the engineer uh to come and inspect the water treatment plant. Second. It's been moved and seconded to approve for the engineer to come and give the assessment of the water plants. Any discussion? All in favor? Passes unanimous.

What does that come from? Nichi consultants. So, I know with the water plant itself um over the past several years, I've heard comments back and forth with different people um suggesting even the potential from moving to wholesale 13 or different things like that. Um, I and Councilman Kenny had a chance to go out and speak to some people at Wholesale 13. And Kenny, would you like to explain what they told us and where we are with that information?

Wholesale 13. We we spoke with Harry Smith and Kevin, I don't know his last name. Uh but they basically had told us that they tried years ago to get the city to hook up to wholesale 13 way back when and with what needs to be done now with according to what I mean the city uses 43 million gallons of water a year and with with that they have to take all those numbers to their board and they'll run all the numbers and I turn around I ask them if they would come to the council and present whatever the board says and whatever findings they got on money on cost on everything. So everybody would know brass tax how much it's going to cost and that that's from putting in a new new pump station out here by 52 or by the Mount city road and then piping it into our tank. So, um, right now we're just waiting for their their decision. Their meeting is actually tonight also. It started an hour ago.

So, and that of course plays into whether or not they would be able to handle the quantity that we need. Um, how much that would be and what we're doing is just gathering information so that we can take the all that information and look at it as a whole. um including the relational difference between purchasing it versus how much we spend um making our own water and what that would take to look because we also have to take into consideration the debt that the city has into the water already that has to be continued to be met. We want to make sure that we're not um putting the citizens in a position of raising rates and things like that [cough and clears throat] beyond what anybody would be able to. Uh so we're gathering as much information and we'll get that to the council as it comes in. We'll forward that right to everybody so that everybody can stay as informed as possible.

So you have to really think too also is it going to raise your water bill and your sewer or if it doesn't raise that will it raise our taxes you know so you have to do it that way. And do we have a water um a water two person a water district two person that um because we have you know one one John but do we have what is it's just whoever the secretary is over in the office board who is talking about the board though you're talking about yeah city here is in the process of getting his water certification yeah how long does he have left on that uh he's in the apprentice program I'm not sure how Mommy. Josh. Josh, come here.

Somebody asked me about that today and I thought, well, how much longer do you have in the apprentice program for your water certification? Your water certification for two for class two. I'm working with my K&U dude. He's been coming down every month to go through the chapters on what? Do you know about where you are on that? How much longer? I'm on be on chapter seven. I think they 12. So another what it five months. Okay. Yeah. Are we compliant with with

Yes. Uh you have two years to find an operator or to for me to get my class. So right now since I'm an operator in training, I am able to be in the placeholder right now. Okay. Yes. Anything else? I was just ask it. Thank you. All right. Well, thank you.

Thank you. any other um comments regarding the water plant building or things that we need to or other information that you would like us to gather and get to you all. Okay. Um lighting upgrades. I know we had talked about the the potential lighting upgrades to LED lights that has potential to save the city some money on lights. Um, Councilwoman Rochelle, you had actually asked a time frame within that. If we go with the lights, they I was told that we would get them in approximately two weeks and then we would have 90 days by which to have them installed. Uh, talking with public works, they believe that they could be installed um in half that time, bar any large thing come up in the city that would pull them away from being able to do that. So, um, that's the information that you requested on there. Uh, just a recap for that, that would be spending $980 to be able to purchase $35,000 worth of lights um, and save the city approximately $7,000 worth of electric each year for the lifespan of those lights being 12 to 20 years. So, how much would like be the regular price if we went and bought lots?

35,000.

At the 980, does that mean we still got to pay the 12,000 for them to come do the community center? Um, if we wanted them to do the to install the community center, it would be 10,000 uh something because they would do turnkey would be 10,86 if they did all the lights at the community center. And then um our public works people did the city hall, fire department, and public works. But if they or public works did it all, it it would be avail. Yes. public works installed at all. $980 is what we would be [cough] spending.

And does our public works feel comfortable with messing with electricity? Do you all feel comfortable installing lights? You guys feel uncomfortable installing lights? Yeah, that's a Are these nonvalanced lights? They're nonvalanced. They're um basically like at the community center right now where we have the drop down lights uh with the

tube ones. Um those would actually come out and square lights like this would be put in and the whole light it's just LED lights up um without seeing light runs or anything just solid light coming down. So, the question on the table is um we're talking about the lights. If would you guys be comfortable if we got them you installed them? Yeah, I had no problem with them. I mean, we [clears throat] actually had to replace Oh, probably half the ones over in the office at the public works building. And other than taking the time to do it, wasn't hard at all. We actually added two or three others because there was not near enough light in that building. So,

I know it seems like we're always asking, can you do this and can you do this? Can you do that? And I just want to make sure that we're not overwhelming um asking for things to get done, right? Feel comfortable with doing those things. Yeah, I got no problem with it. Safely. Yeah, I got no problem with it. [laughter]

And Becky, where would that come out of? We can divide it between the public works and administrative and then the community center. Divide it between department. When the electric bill comes in, is it divided up between those departments like that too? Yes, we have probably 25 or so electric bills that come in.

So, it would be basically coming from the same place that we would be saving money. How many lights are we talking about?

[snorts] 218 118 218 218 Thank you. Okay. So, based off of that, what kind of [clears throat] time parameters are you guys kind of sort of wanting to entertain? Well, we have according to the contract that we would have with them, we have 90 days to get them all installed. 90 days. Okay. Yeah. You think that's doable? Yeah. Yeah. It's not a problem. Shouldn't be. I mean, it would be here, the community center, the fire station and public works.

And some of them are much quicker and easier than others. Some of them are just light bulb changes. All of those are just fixture changes. The fixtures that they're talking about putting in, I went through and changed my entire church to those fixtures. They are really quick and easy to install. And the community center is inside and outside. Yes. So, we need a motion to accept to approve to approve the lighting. Yes. Hey, Jackie, you have these lights at your work, right?

Yeah. And approximately, how much electricity bill does it save you? We put in 40 lights, the entire building, 3,500 foot building. It cost me 1,900 bucks. Saved me I think that was like $12,000 something. I am seeing a $275 a month savings on Everg. And the lights are awesome. They're super bright and um and they actually found some problems in my electrical which I was happy about and they fixed that. So I mean it was we have them at the museum also.

It's it's really a good deal. And these lights are also adjustable brightness. So if they're higher up, they can be turned up um more. If they're lower, they can be turned down. Um if we install them at a certain brightness and we say, "Hey, it's not bright enough," we can make it brighter. If it's too bright, we can actually reduce it. It's it's not a simple thing. Uh but it is doable if need be. So that was the other good thing about these particular lights. This the council's pleasure. I make a motion that we let public works public works install the lights for $980. I second it. It's been moved and seconded to allow to approve the $980 light purchase for public works to install. Any other discussion? All in favor? Passes unanimous? Skidster repair. There's a estimate of what it's going to cost to repair the skister. There's also what we paid on it last year to get it done. Um I did contact the company today to see if they could give us um any idea of what might be causing all these problems and he said he would get back to me. So I have not heard back from him on that yet. [cough] And what we have is I mean the basically the bid this year is almost same amount that it was last year.

Same amount. pretty well. And some of the things is the same. Yeah, I think we cut ties with it and find another machine. This I mean $24,000 in a year is ridiculous.

We we could get another machine at that cost. a newer machine with less hours or we just keep dumping money into this because that's what that's what's happening and it's and it's just off of driving 50 miles an hour down Main Street and hitting man. So would you like um options brought or Okay.

Yeah. I mean I would like to see what they do for like for like a trade in uh I mean see how much they would give us like for that machine like for trade in value. about getting options together for that. Okay. Under new business, city employees I'll try to make this as quick as possible. Um, I would like to address the council regarding the way the city workers are treated by council members as well as the public. I'm responsible for the water billing and if a resident does not pay their water bill, a letter goes out informing them of the past due and the procedure, reconnect fees, etc. This is sent certified mail. Once the green card is returned, the next time the bill is not paid, the city can then disconnect service. I received a phone call from a council member asking what the procedure was. I explained it to them. They also asked what the fees are to send these letters and my response was $1048 per letter. Then I was asked how many we send out each month. There's really no set number uh for this as each resident's account is different and their response was, "Do you think that's a little high?" Personally, yes, I do, but I have no control over the fees that are set by the postal service. I was then instructed that when the next

set of letters go out to just not send them one. The council is not above the procedure process that every other citizen is made to follow. I will not play favorites regardless of you being a council member or your family. My question is, if we are being treated like this by council members, does this display of action signal to the public that it is okay to treat city workers with such disrespect? We are people too and deserve to be treated as such. This has happened with current and past council members being talked down to and being made to feel like we are uneducated and not smart enough to handle the jobs that we were hired to do. All of us have attended conferences, job specific training and classes. We carry certifications that state such abilities to do these jobs. I understand that people may have bad days, but that is no excuse to call city hall, yell, scream, cuss, call us out of our names. We are not compensated for such abuse. We have had to put up with people pounding their fists on the counters, tossing things through our desk windows, slamming doors, throwing gravel in our parking lot, threats, and even guns pointed at us. We are here to do our jobs, and when we do them, we are treated this way. It is unacceptable. I would also like to thank my c-orker, Morgan Watts, for her help in the office. There are days that the office gets very busy. I cannot sit on the phone with say the software company for minutes at and plus hours at a time and still be able to do everything that is needing done in the office. I do need her help answering phones, taking water payments, booking the community center, and helping keep the flow of daily business. She is very capable of doing these things and to my understanding is also part of her job. We are co-workers and share some of these responsibilities. This is called

being a team that works together. I would hope you as a council would want that relationship in your office. On behalf of another co-worker, there have been occasions when a council member has contacted city hall regarding 10-day notices that were sent. During these calls, they used hostile tone and demanded to speak with codes officer about why they received the notice. The codes officer informed them of the reason was clearly stated on the notice itself. Several days later, the council called back and stated, "I have fixed the problem. You need to close the case." The code officer then explained, "The process does not work that way and will follow the correct process." The council member has called city hall numerous times. When the code officer has answered the phone due to her co-worker being busy, they have stated that they only wish to speak with the deputy city clerk or the administrator. If they are unavailable, they have said they will call back even when the call is related to a routine matter such as making a water payment. Additionally, the council member has made public statements during open council meeting broadcast live in which they have criticized and verbally attacked multiple city employees. On the night of the most recent council meeting held on January 5th, 2026, the council member approached the codes officer in person and asked that we not send them anything via certified mail. Separately, the council member's family has called city hall and left several hostile voicemail messages. In one message, it was stated that the other one is not qualified to be in the office. These voicemails are saved and are available for review. This is not about disagreement, poly, policy differences or enforcement

actions. It is about verbal hostility towards staff, public disparagement of employees in open session, creating a hostile work environment, abuse of position and access. Elected officials do not have the right to mistreat staff simply because they are elected. Council members should treat staff with courtesy and respect. No public disagreement. No employee no intimidation threats or hostile behavior. Complaints about staff go through administration, not public attack. Council members have also come to workers on the streets and have been rude. Talking about new hires and how they didn't approve, have had a council member stop them while working to complain about other public workers. On the behalf of my co-orker Jimmy Watts, like my co-workers, I care about my job and about this city. We take pride in our work and we show up every day committed to doing what needs to be done. However, the current environment for this team has become unacceptable. I do not seek conflict, but I will stand up for this team even if it cost me my position. If you're looking for a martyr, then here I am. Let me be blunt. I will not continue working under a tyrannical government atmosphere. We are hired to perform specific duties yet routinely take on a wide range of additional responsibilities to keep the city functioning. We do not complain or refuse. We do the work. This is a neglected and underresourced city that employees have kept running for years despite limited staffing and tools. Sometimes tasks take longer than expected, but that does not mean they will not get done. What we [snorts] are fed up with is being belittled, cornered, disrespected, and spoken to as if we are stupid or incapable. Not

knowing how to perform a task does not mean someone is incompetent. It means they need training. All of us could benefit from more training. This is unacceptable in labeling employees as incapable without understanding their skills or discussing one employees performance with another instead of addressing concerns directly and professionally. We are not attacking you. We stand here united because we are tired of being slandered and disrespected. You demand total accountability from us and we are willing to provide it. If accountability is required, then it should be applied to everyone equally, including yourselves. You appear to believe you hold absolutely authority. But I ask you honestly, what power do you have without the employees who keep the city running? I invite you to spend time doing the work we do. Jetting the sewers, backwashing filters at the water plant, mowing for eight straight hours, organizing road projects and minimal resources, handling aggressive animals, dealing with the public over water bills and court issues, managing town dumpsters, running city equipment, planning city events, and absorbing criticism from every direction while still getting the job done. I invite you again to work alongside us and understand what it takes to keep this city operating. But you will not because you believe you are better. You are no better than us. Without us, your position means nothing. We are here to make it clear that we no longer tolerate disrespect or attempts to damage our image or reputation. The days of working under hostility from the council are over. We are not threatening to quit, nor are we making demands. We are demanding basic respect and professionalism. In closing, council president, I ask, what qualifies you to hold that chair?

Your role is to make decisions in the best interest of the city with the council based on the information you are given. You alone do not hold power. You are not our boss. We report to the city administrator. As council president, your responsibility is to lead, especially for new council members. The way you conduct yourself is being watched by employees, the council, and the public. Leadership requires respect, professionalism, accountability. If you are unwilling to demonstrate those qualities, then you should step down. Enough is enough. Things need to change with this council. I have heard the word bias used and the truth is that everyone has come from a bias. However, those per personal views should never dictate how council decisions are made, especially when they are negatively affect each city employee and department that are essential to keep the city running. While I may not have lived here for long, I have taken the time to watch city council meetings since arriving so I can stay informed, particularly about whether public works is receiving the support it needs. When I have observed is concerning, it often appears that public works is not a priority and that bias is influencing decisions against the department. Public works should not be treated differently simply because current employees are doing their jobs differently or better than those before them. Employees should not be stopped daily to justify their work or explain themselves. When public works staff spend 15 to 45 minutes in conversations while in the middle of a task, that is time taken away from completing projects and moving on to the next one. We already have multiple responsibilities to manage. I have also heard discussion about requiring timelines for specific jobs.

Here is a realistic timeline. Release the necessary funds so the proper equipment can be obtained. Allow the work to begin and let the department do its job without unnecessary interference. The work will get done but not always how or when others outside the department believe it should. Public works is a small unit. When major issues arise, it becomes all hands-on deck situation, often involving corporation across departments. The collaboration is a strength, not a weakness, and it allows the city to address urgent matters effectively so everyone can return to their assigned projects. In closing, this worker particular is asking this council to do better. Stop choosing favorites. Stop placing one entity above others.

[cough]

Stop working against the mayor or city employees. Every person who works for the city deserves equal footing, not to be placed on the back burner or forgotten. Do better and be better. On behalf of my other coworker, in the four years I have worked in the city of Pleasanton, I have experienced repeated and concerning interactions with members of the city council that need to be formally addressed. On numerous occasions, council members have stopped me while I am performing my duties to question the whereabouts of other employees. I have also been pulled aside by current and former council members to attempt to engage in private discussions about city business during which they spoke poorly and disrespectfully about other city employees. These situations are inappropriate and place staff in an uncomfortable and unprofessional position. Additionally, I have been approached multiple times by council members spouses who have questioned or criticized the work of the public works department, including allegations that staff are not doing their jobs. This behavior constitutes harassment and must stop. Public works employees work diligently every day to maintain and improve the city of Pleasanton. Public criticism of staff, particularly during live stream council meetings, undermines morale and professionalism. Any concerns regarding city employees should be directed to our city administrator and the mayor through proper channels, not addressed publicly or directed to staff in the field. We take pride in our work and strive to do the best job for the community. Many projects and tasks require time, coordination, and resources, and we ask the city council be respectful and understanding of this process. I would like to also add something. I find it to be highly inappropriate that

I had a council member tonight pull me aside and literally ask me, "Well, what is the deal with the employees tonight?" I said, "I don't know. Would you tell me if you didn't if you did know? I said, I don't know. Well, are you saying you would or wouldn't know? And I said, I don't know. Well, is it about me? I said, I don't know. If you want to ask me something how that conversation started, if you want to ask me something about my private life, that is one thing. But when it literally says on the agenda what we are coming here as a whole about that's all you need to know. And when it is time to talk about it in a council setting that is a completely different story. To pull me over and to ask me that is highly rude, disrespectful, and I do not appreciate it at all. It makes me feel extremely uncomfortable. I'd like to say something. Um, years ago I did work here. I worked in the front office and I understand what what all is involved in the city. There's a lot of different um things that go on. It's a huge responsibility. Um, I thank each and every one of you for everything that you do.

Thank you. Thank you. We do appreciate that. Thank you. Um, I know it's not easy. I've been there with group customers and the phone calls. I've been there. But I have confidence that you know how to take care of it and that you will take care of it. And like I said, I'm proud of each and every one of you. Um and and proud to have you as employees. Thank you. You're welcome. Anything else? Thank you, mayor. Thank you.

Thank you for coming. [applause] Well, I guess in the past, you know, I watched the YouTube videos of this uh streaming on YouTube, man. I get so mad at the TV, I want to throw rocks at it cuz some of the council people was going, "Well, they don't them them guys over there don't know what they're doing. They don't even know how to run the jet or as if we don't even know what it is." That picture I handed you is a [clears throat] jeter. It's really called a factor truck and it's a jeter. On that front of that truck, it's a reel. I ran it for seven years at the city of Fort Scott before I came here. And whenever I heard that council member say something about, well, they don't know what they're doing. They don't know how to run it. Well, I'll tell you what, that vector truck puts out 2500 lb of water pressure. It's got a 1 in uh hose, a 3-in nozzle, and it's got you use a boom buster nozzle. We have grinders, we have saws going in, take the roots out. The worst part thing, and we have here in the city of Leon, is those wipes. They get in the sewer lines. You can't hardly blow them out. That truck also has a hydro excavation. In the front of that truck, you'll see a big old tube. It comes down. We got blower on the side that sucks like a great big vacuum cleaner. And then you bring a hose out and shoot it on the ground. That way you don't have to use a piece of equipment to [cough and clears throat] dig up a sewer line. The reason I'm telling you this stuff is because sometimes them council members will get it in their head. Well, they don't know what they're doing. They don't know nothing about it. Well, maybe

they didn't ask. You know what I mean? But it's just aggravating to watch it on TV and they say, "Well, I don't know how to run anything." They also had stated that some of the houses that need to be tore down here in town that [clears throat] we wasn't knowledgeable enough to run the equipment to tear the buildings down and haul them off. I'm like then why are we here if you don't trust what we do or how we do it now to skip from that truck which I wish the city would see about getting one of those trucks. One of these days I got some stuff that I took out of a line over at Jake Mattingly's that big around

wipes and all kinds of other stuff. I pro but it's not good. And uh one of these days we're going to need one of those vacutor trucks cuz when you get it backed up, you take that truck, come over there, it'll suck the manhole completely dry. Then you take the jhatter nozzle and shove it in there. You whip it up to 2500 lb and shoot it down the line and hit that. it'll unclog it. When I [clears throat] uh was working at Fort Scott, I'd come home at night and think, wonder what would happen in Mound City and Pleasanton. How do they do their lines without one of those trucks? I really wish I don't know if we could uh get one of those trucks for the city of Pleasanton. I was talking to Alex about it and uh I don't know how to do purple wave. I mean, I probably learn. I don't look at it. I know he does. if it'd be okay with you council members if he found some and br I don't know if it's all right or not but that's what I was hoping for but on another note [clears throat] is I know I've heard the talk about well they're driving around town all the time they're uptown they're over main street they're going here they're going there well if we're not going here and going there how are we going to do our job they're also say well there's two in the trailer well sometimes it takes two people and we didn't have enough trucks at one time. We may when we get the red one done up there at the gas station. But the thing of it is is uh sometimes we're trying to save a little bit of time and money cuz we might have to go out the lake and look at a pump and somebody's got to get down in there. Why to drive two vehicles out to the lake? One day we're so short I went ahead and drove the blue dump truck out to the water plant so I could do the water plant. I mean, we're trying to do what we can do. Um, but like I say, when you look at this meetings on YouTube, you want to reach up there and grab the TV and break it because we

can't speak. All we can do is listen. But we're not here to rip the city off or rip the citizens off. We're here to do a job. And if we don't have the answer, we're going to find the answer. Just like I deal with KDH and Topeka Shinu all the time. So that's all I got. But I appreciate your time. Sir, to answer your question, if there's a piece of machinery or something that you all are wanting and think, you know, would help do the do the job better or something, you are free to use the resources that you have available to find out what a cost would be and bring that to council because then we can actually see what the benefits would be of having it. Um, how well it would work too and if it's something that we can process at that point. Would council agree with that?

Yes. But it would save it would save us in the cost of having to go rent a vacuum and everything else from Durkin or whoever we rent one from and then have to take a vehicle up to bring it back and return. It will save us money in the long run having our own

to uh have a rent a pull type back like what we got out there. It's [snorts] a little bit It's a lot newer, but it's uh about $1,000 a day or $3,000 for a week to rent one of them jitters. One of those jitters. I can't remember. We had to rent one cuz ours broke down. And u I think they really want us to buy it, but it was pretty expensive to rent one of them trucks. But if the truck one of these days, I just don't understand the city's probably going to wind up needing one with the stuff everybody's flushing down their toilets. They're going to plug up and they're going to go, "Hey, run out there and do that." Well, if you ain't got the equipment to fix that, the homeowner standing out there going, "That's your line. You got to open it up. If we can't open it up, it comes back on us." So, that's the need for that. I mean, and it's a

So, do put together some prices and Okay. the council. That's all I got. Thank you. Oh, John. I can't speak for everyone. And I can only speak for myself, but I love hearing from the employees and and their wants and their needs. Um, it helps me to better understand as well. So, I encourage the employees to come up and help us.

Yeah. Well, I borrowed a u they got a $100,000 camera, little tractor. I had him bring it down from Fort Scott Bill down there. He's the head of the wastewater. He broke [cough and clears throat] it up and we ran it through a line over on four street and we was going to use it on the one over by Jake Manning class but it was broke down there at Bonner Springs working on it. So they got what they have a push can that goes 330 ft. We borrowed it and looked in there. It's got a little bit of roots not nothing that should bother anything but it had such a tremendous amount of sewage wrapped in them baby whites. And one of them when we opened it up by the mental health, it looked like a diaper in there. So these people are flushing anything that'll go down it. One of these days they're going to plug up their own toilet. They're going to have to put a new toilet in their own house. I mean, they think that that toilet is a trash can. And they think that, well, what? We don't need that. It would go right in there. Well, that's not what the toilet's for, you know. But that's what we're finding. I mean, I got a bucket of stuff set aside for anybody wants to look at.

Yeah. Just a reminder to all the citizens that watch council me and are here, uh, let's not flush. Even those flushable wipes, they're not really flushable. No, they take too long to break down and they can still clog our sewage up. Um, so are you going to look? you do need to

so and also like [clears throat] with like the jitter that they do have uh I mean I worked beside it 5 years ago when I wasn't council and it was building around 3500 PSI but now it's only building between like 400 so it is going bad and every time they like pull it out something leaks and they got to bring back fix it and also like with that vac I mean they had to drive all the way to pick one up like doing like Jake Maline. So they wasted a full day just driving up there getting there and coming back. So if we had this truck, it would be beneficial. Uh and like especially even like a water leak that's next to like a fiber line, they ain't have to even take the hoe out there. I mean, they could excavate at all. We just buy that truck and we don't worry about hitting like the fiber. Don't worry about hitting like 4in gas mains.

So it it goes down in there and pushes water. Yeah. So, it's pretty much like a vacuum and then then you have like a power washer and which that's what's on the front and then like you can power wash like the dirt and it's very high powered and then and with like and like with the back then you suck it all up. Uh and could our lines hold that type of pressure? Yes. It just depends on what nozzle you're using. a boom buster nozzle. You got to be with low pressure. It'll bust some of the clay tile pipe. It'll crack.

But they are other nozzles that's really easy on the pipe. Open up the roots and stuff. And that's what we found with like over there like on like the is that our like jitter ain't making enough power to actually clean everything.

That truck there has got two engines in it. One's under the hood. It runs the jeter and the truck. The other engine's behind the cab. And it runs the vacuum part. And it's a 6-in aluminum pipe. The hose comes off and you move it over. It'll pick a manhole up off the manhole. The manhole lid. The lids weigh anywhere 200 lb and up. Cuz I used that and I forced Scott to do it. The older gentleman I took his place showed me you could do that. Although we probably really shouldn't, but

um then I was like I mean I look up like a video of like how the machine works like on YouTube or something and then and then I can share with everybody just so they everybody knows how it works. Yeah. See what you think. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Um, I'd like to say something about the employees that you guys are really lucky. You have a good bunch of employees. And if you have any questions on what they're doing or complaints on them, please come and talk to me and let's not air it out in public because you they would be really hard to replace. You got to get Thank you.

Thank you. Um and on that pool personnel, um we're requesting consent of council to advertise, interview, and hire the 2026 pool personnel.

Yes. Every all pool personnel for the season. If we could get a motion to advertise, interview, and hire I make a motion that we [laughter] make a motion that we um advertise for the hiring of the 2026 pool personnel. Interview and hire.

Interview and hire. Personnel. Okay, it's been moved and seconded to advertise, interview, and hire the 2026 pool personnel. Any discussion? All in favor? So moved. Solicit bids for the 2026 city hay grounds.

Ground or ground? Um, we do have some that is out by Steady Lake, but the last two years we have not got any bids on it because it's too grown up with brush and stuff that no one wants to hay it. So, we can advertise it again, but the main one is out around the East Lake. We get a motion to solicit bids. I make a motion solicitation 2026 ground.

Your mic wasn't on. You didn't hear me. It's been moved and seconded to um open for soliciting bids for the 2026 city hate grounds. Any discussion? All in favor? That's unanimous. Stars and stripes. Becky,

I just want to touch base on the stars and stripes so we can if everyone's still wanting to do it, we can get the fireworks and stuff um scheduled. There are needs to be some changes, I think. Um we tried different contests, different games. Um there's just not that much attendance. I don't know if people just have family here and want to do their own thing. So, um, my proposal would be to, um, have your vendors still come, but just have like a farmers market come and set up where you want. We're not going to assign spaces. Um, still have the kids face painting and the fire trucks there to spray the kids. Um, I think the film party went over really good. And then to have the fireworks, um the community picnic, that's something um you know, you guys need to decide. But I know that I will not be there that day. We have plans out of town and last year um a lot of people said they would help. Very few people showed up to most of it got dumped on Borggan and she was a real trooper and did it all. But that's not fair to ask one or two people to do all this. So, I think if you still want to have it, we can just cut back on it and um see how it goes for this year.

Jackie, yes.

Uh, keep in mind this is the 250th anniversary of the United States and the newspaper, we're starting to focus on all of these events and whatnot. We've already talked to several of the communities about this and so if we're going to do something, it's a big one to do something with. Um, so because like we're whatever the newspaper can do, we're going to focus on this thing, get as much out there to get people involved as we can. So, um, just FYI that it's a good year to do do whatever. Morgan, could you check the stream for us, please? Someone has said that it's actually frozen or something.

You might have to stop it and then restart it. So, if you guys are all good with that, then