City Council - Regular Meeting

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Okay. It could always be more way too many more loose. I'll go ahead and call to order tonight's meeting for Monday, February 2nd, 2026. We'll start with the pledge. I pledge allegiance 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.

Pastor Dave, you say prayer. Dear heavenly father, we just thank you for the opportunity to gather together tonight as the city Lord and to discuss the business of the city. Lord, would you be present in tonight's meeting? Give us wisdom and guidance in all that we do and help us to make wise decisions for our future in Jesus name. Amen. All right, as uh we get started tonight. Nothing in the box, Becky.

Okay. Uh we do have a few people that signed up to get on the agenda to speak. Uh, Sonia Leila, mayor, before we start, I would like to have an executive session for 10 minutes. Turn your mic on, please. I'd like to have an executive session with attorney client privileges for 10 minutes. Okay. It's been moved to have an executive session, attorney client privilege for 10 minutes. Is there a second? Second. It's been seconded.

All in favor? We'll return at 612.

Concerning what? Attorney client privilege. Uh, in anticipation of litigation. Anticipation of litigation. Thank you. In anticipation of litigation means Yeah, you did. Sure did.

Mom's hungry. This was the one where we had peanut butter.

Professor Ernest over here. I have four. I know. I think that right there. Go ahead. take days What did you tell?

Ain't nobody going to touch me. That's what she told me. [laughter] sitting. And so I did

[clears throat]

I definitely like [laughter] it after one of It's actually too late. No, we got it.

Get used to it. one week thing. And so

to play the station I didn't say control.

My problem is I got other I've got I've got a garage,

but in the summer I've got two walls open. That's why [laughter] I left I left the couple this morning.

[laughter]

You're back there.

White mattress. You should have pointed her outside.

Should have pointed her outside. So, so there we went to Walmart just like crap. When I was born, I had started colors and taste. Yeah.

Finally, I didn't start outside. [clears throat] People are like, "Are you okay?" It's like, "I'm just trying to get outside to get some air." They're like, "We can't carry you. about two and a half. Executive session ended. No action taken. Resuming normal meeting.

Going back to those that uh have placed themselves on the agenda for tonight. Um Sonia Leila um all my contact through her was through email. So not sure. Okay. David Sherman.

All right. Greetings, mayor, council. Um David Sherman, 603 West 15th Street. I'm coming to you tonight um in regards to the current city policy regarding the use of the community center. um that it currently does not address um nonprofit needs of the use of the community center um with regards to the paying of the or the uh charging of a use fee. Um currently from what I understand there are some that are exempted and I did find out tonight that the Pleasanton Ministerial Alliance is one of those that is exempted from that. Um, and so my um, point tonight is is that I feel like that churches should also be included in that and other nonprofit organizations should be included in that as well in regards to the waiver of that $50 rental fee for the use of the facility. Um, and uh, the reason for that is just because a lot of times with nonprofits and the churches is that our funds are limited and and we're really doing work for the community. And so that's really the main reason for that is to also be included that. So, what I'm petitioning for is for the policy to be changed so that the waiver of these fees can be waved for nonprofit organizations, including churches, u for non-alcoholrelated events. Um, this will also benefit more than just churches. It'll also benefit historical societies like the Lin County Museum and others um or even like the Mine Creek if they want to use this the facility. Um, so it's not just something that will help churches um but I do believe that it will help us especially with regards to that. We'd still of course would be willing to pay the $100 deposit because that's something that all everybody that uses it does and that money comes back at the end anyways when the facility is returned back to the city in the same condition or better than what it was um lent to the organization for. So that's my um ask to the city is that the policy be able to be changed to allow for that to happen. Um we do have an upcoming event that's planned for March 21st and and what

we're doing is we're doing a spaghetti dinner for um our church. Um it's a spaghetti fundraiser and a a silent auction that we're doing. And the f purpose for that is is to raise money for a compassionate ministry outreach fund that we're using to be able to bless the community. And so our plan is is to use the facility on March the 21st um to be able to raise funds as at $10 a ticket. 100% of the proceeds that we raise are going to go straight into that compassionate ministry fund. And our plan is is to take that and put it out and have that money available to be able to address needs within our community that we see or that when people come to us from inside the community um that we have the funds to be able to help out when we can. Um so that's really the reason for it. Um, we're working on getting food donated and supplies donated for it so that when we do have this event, um, that we're not having to pay out of our compassionate ministry fund or that fundraiser so that 100% of that can go straight into that fund so that we have that available for specifically for the community. Um, and that's the reason for asking for that fee to be waved as well is because that's going to help us because we're not going to have to take that $50 out of that compassionate ministry that we raise um to pay for that. So, that's my ask for for that. Um, and um I'll wait for your response regarding that. So,

so just out of clarity, these are people that have actually asked to be put on the agenda. It's not actually public speaking. So, if you wanted to comment or say anything or ask questions, the council is [snorts] available for

Does your does your uh compassion ministry fund, does that help the kids in the community at all? Um, it's for anybody that we identify that needs help. It could be kids. It could be um other members of the community that are just needing financial assistance. It could be um like for instance, if we see a need and somebody doesn't come and ask us first and we see a need within the community, whether that's with kids or elderly or whoever, um we want to be able to have the funds available to be able to meet that need um as well. So, that's really the primary purpose for that. Yeah. Um, does the bingo um, Linda Dudley, does she pay when um, she goes? Do you know?

It's a branch job of chamber. Okay. I I was just asking um, I did have something while you guys are considering this before. Um, it says that employees are allowed to use it twice a year. Um, it didn't include the firefighters. So, if you're going to change it, um it would be nice to let them have it at least once a year for a benefit. We need to make a motion on this.

Yes. I make a motion to allow the nonprofit and churches as well as the firefighters use the community center without cost. Just the plane.

I'll second it. is that the nonprofits with the cleaning class and the fire department twice a year as stated just for clarity of motion there. Okay. It's been moved and seconded to add to the policy for rental the Pleasant Community Center nonprofits uh giving a deposit but not paying waving but waving the rental fee and for firefighters to be able to do so once a year also. You need to twice a year force. That's in the ordinance. Well, for the city.

No, what they did it was a policy for your full-time employees to allow twice a year. Can't we don't can't we do the same thing for nonprofit? It goes for you don't have to for nonprofit. You don't have to set a a limit or because you might have different groups. There we go. So open. So the firefighters once a year has Okay. So do you want the firefighters and the employees once a year or twice a year? Twice a year for the firefighters too. Yeah. Okay. You went back and forth here.

The church church should be able to use it whenever they they need to is the way I look at that. But with the firefighters, I mean I think firefighters should be allowed to two every at least twice a year the same as your full-time employees, right? Okay. So twice twice a year with the firefighters and with with church nonprofit as

Yeah. because you were going back and forth. That's why I'm like I'm really confused. Clarification of motion. Then it is for the change of the policy on rental of the Pleasanton Community Center to include for those whose rental fee is waved to include nonprofits and that firefighters also be allowed to use it twice a year with no rental fee as the full-time city employees. Correct. Okay. Any other discussion? She already second. The move is seconded. Any other discussion? No. All in favor?

Pass is unanimous. Thank you very much. Appreciate your time.

Aaron Bowie. Do I have to say my name and address like everybody else? It would be it would be best.

Okay. Aaron Bullley. I live at um 605 East 9th Street. Tonight I come to you all during this time not as a student representative to the council, not as the founder of the simple sanctuary, not as a student from Pleasanton High School, not as a member of the sports team or clubs that I associate with, not even as a member of the Bully family. Tonight, during this time, I come to you all as just 17-year-old Aaron. I've also collected two concerned young citizens messages to read after. [sighs] I've written and rewritten this speech more times than I have ever had to do with any other speech. More than I even care to admit. Aaron doesn't rewrite speeches. She says things from her heart one time. But this speech is important to me. This speech was so important to me because I wanted to say the perfect words and have them come across the correct way. The truth is there are no perfect words unless they come from the Lord above. I also cannot control how others react to my words. So tonight I speak from my heart and I'm being authentically true to myself to leave myself without any regrets. My very first city council meeting was September 15th, 2025. On February 15th, I will have had this role for five months. Five months. In 5 months, I was able to create the idea of an after school program, plan set after school program, get sponsors for set after school program, and launch that same afterchool program. This was all while the council had barely made any progress with important decisions. Now, I came into this experience open-minded and ready to learn. Above all, I was excited. I ran to my teachers after my meeting with the mayor that day, jumping up and down and telling them that I was the first ever student representative to the Pleasanton City Council. Yes, I had to say the full title cuz it's that important. I was proud of that fact for a while. Honestly, I'm not as proud as I once was 5 months almost 5 months ago. The city council, with all due respect, has become sort of a laughingstock around town. The people who sit up there haven't made decisions in a timely manner. They have spy they have had temper tantrums when they don't get

their way. They've spied on city employees. They belittled city employees. They fought in open session. And they have, I think, neglected their promises to the city and its citizens. I'm not angry. I'm utterly disappointed in what I walked into. I've learned a lot about red tape, government, the city council, and municipalities. Actually, didn't even know that was a word. So, thank you, Jacqueline. [laughter] which is great, but it's a terrible learning, terrible learning experience for a student aspiring to be even an attorney, but ones that could be interested in politics and government to walk into this, and I'll be blunt here, to walk into this mess. My mother used to tell me something that I now live by. That is, always leave something better than how you found it. Always leave something, someone, somewhere better than how you previously found it. I do believe that I've left this the students of Pleasanton better than how I found them. They have my little baby, the simple sanctuary, a safe place for them to just be kids. Now, I ask you all, what do you think it would would be like if we all tried to leave things better than how we found them? As council members, what do you think that would look like for you? What is your legacy? As a mayor, what do you think that would look like for you? What's your legacy? What do you want this city to look like once your term is over? I'm not just asking one person because I think we all should have a moment of self-reflection. What if the members of this council heard everyone out? What if they looked at the opposing side and took a small walk in their shoes? What if instead of separating us, disagreements brought us together? What if we trusted our city employees to do their jobs and improve the equipment they may need to do their jobs? What if our our council members realized what power they held? Not as individuals, never as individuals, and never outside of this room on these meeting nights, but instead together as the city council, unified as one, as it always should have been. What if we were all on one side? What if it was the city of Pleasanton against all of the bad that comes our way? What if we worked together for the betterment of the city

like a council should? I hope this council takes a small walk in my shoes and understands that this city and its citizens deserve progress, change, and above all unity. This is my own account of what has taken place and my own thoughts and opinions. This is my own attempt to leave this place better than how I found it. Thank you. Now, as for the other two, um, dear members of this council, I come to you today as a student of Pleasanton. Seeing the lack of progress every meeting I watch is heartbreaking. As a student, I aspire to be a part of the legal system. But having this as a first example of what government and council members is like makes me lose faith in the people of the council, of people dedicated to improving our city, of the people who were put in those positions you sit in right now. I wish that you on the council could see that your lack of action is affecting the students here. We take time to watch these meetings, whether in person or on YouTube, but it's frustrating to see the people our parents elected into those seats take no action with the issues that the citizens bring to you. As much as I enjoy learning about the decisions and choices going on in my town, I cannot stand how nothing is being done. How the motions die without someone seconding them. How the city workers come to you with concerns but not taken seriously frustrates me. My friends come to me asking what the council does, what the council will do about some problem, but I cannot give them the answers when the council won't come up with solutions of their own. I want the council to make decisions in a quick, timely manner. I want things to be done quickly. I want the people of our town to be proud of the council, of the men and women who serve on the council, but I haven't seen any progress each time I watch these council meetings. I appreciate what the council has done approving the budget for public works. It's a big step for forward. Sorry. But still, not much progress is being made. I know you're trying, but doing means more to the people of this town. I want to thank the city employees for their service to our city. I see what you all do, and I see your efforts to try to make the city a better place. I also want to thank our city attorney, Jaclyn Pleta, for staying as our city attorney

for the length of time these issues have taken place and for putting forth everything she's got to help improve our city. I want to finally thank our city administrator, Becky Hedgewald, for doing the job of too many. Thank you all for your efforts and your service to our city. It will never go unnoticed to me. Thank you for your time and good luck. Last one. I promise. Hello and good evening. In [snorts] my time being in Pleasanton, the town most of us call home, it's been a variety of good, bad, and everything in between. Personally, I've had many good opportunities, and so have my friends and my family. Today, I'd like to take a moment to recognize take a moment to recognize and thank the people who make this town home. To our all of our city employees, the city administrator Becky Hudwald, the city attorney, Jacqueline Petta, the codes officer, Morgan Watts, the deputy clerk, C I'm going to say her last name wrong. I'm so sorry. Candy Hootman, sorry. And all of the public works and all of public works. Thank you. And then get to Chief Wisdom and the fire chief and his team. The fire the fire chief to Chief Wisdom the fire chief and his team and to Chief Snder the police chief police chief and his team. Personally, I think that all of these people deserve your respect. That does not mean you have to like them, but it is very important you treat them with respect and they will do the same. These people have been threatened, yelled at, disrespected, and even cornered by city council members and asked unprofessional questions. Now let that sink in. They do not need to wait forever and a half for a change. It needs to happen and it needs to happen now. If you are upset about being asked to be respectful to anybody regard to anybody at all regardless of age, gender, race or religion, then you are part of the problem. To all who do treat others with respect, thank you to all who work to make our town safe and livable. Thank you to all council members who do not corner our city employees. Thank you.

This speech does not mean I'm trying to upset anybody, but it needs to be said. Also, this is not the doing of Aaron Bolley. She is representing the concerned students of PHS. These are my own opinions of what I've seen. Thank you and good night. [applause] [clears throat] Okay. Uh we do have before us an appointed um person to fulfill the vacant council position. U council wish to take any action regarding that No comments on the matter or anything. Um, okay. Jacqueline, how would that work with the appointment that says after 45 days he's appointed if there's no finding and running out of time for the appointment. Also, since the appointment has already technically been made and just not confirmed, sent it to

the time clock would start from the date of that original um appointment for the time to elapse for it to just sort of take effect.

And then um if no motion to ascent to that appointment is made or no motion to um disqualify for um unfit or unqualified. Um that's when the special election rules would come into play. I might have to look at the days, but the ascent the lack of ascent is probably what's going to go on here 45 days after the original.

Okay. So, so you'd have to look to see whether that means we go to special election or if the position not countered would be filled by the appointed person.

Right. At this point, there can be a motion to ascent to or consent to the appointment or a motion to um u disapprove that he's unfit or unqualified with a specific finding. Um or um the time will just elapse and it will be as if it was a sentented to. and otherwise the special election rules will um kick in from there.

So I make a motion to consent uh like to the appointment. Motion is set forth to consent to the appointment of John Bowie to the remaining term of the council seat. Is there a second?

I'll second. It's been moved and seconded to consent the appointment to the vacant council seat for John Bowley fulfilling the last two years. Any discussion?

All in favor? Any opposed? So move 3 to one. And if we could take just a moment to get him sworn in. The city clerk will swear you in, sir. Repeat after me. I state your name. I John Baldwick. Do you solemnly swear? Do you solemnly swear? and truly declare and affirm

and truly declare and affirm that I will support the Constitution that I will support the Constitution of the United States of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Kansas and the Constitution of the State of Kansas and faithfully discharge and faithfully discharge the duties of council member the duties of council member. So help me God. So help me God. [applause] You can assume your seats, sir. Thank you very much.

Uh before moving on with that, I just do want to say um thank you for consenting to this appointment as strenuous as it was. Um, it is heartbreaking to hear that I can't appoint someone because they're a friend and I can't was having troubles appointing someone that I didn't hardly know because you all didn't know them. Uh, that seems very bias on your behalf and very much so. Uh, but I do want to thank the council for moving forward with this and I hope that we can continue to work together and better Pleasanton as a whole with the full council now and hopefully more voice of representation of the people for accomplishing the business of the city. Welcome aboard, sir.

Thank you. And if I could get a motion to approve the consent agenda. I make a motion to approve the consent agenda. It's been moved and seconded to approve the consent agenda. Any questions? All in favor? Passes unanimous. See administrator and departmental reports. Becky, do you have anything specific?

I do have a couple of things. Um the the shop over there had a big power washer that heats up that didn't run and John took it down to a place in Port Scott. They said that it would cost $3,100 to repair it or you could get a refurbished one for 5,000. Uh they're not expecting a decision tonight, but they wanted you to be aware of that. And the other thing I had today was a citizen come in and was complaining about the train blocking all three exits on most of the day. Um I don't know if there's something that you want me to do to try to make a phone call if someone wants to um do anything about that or try to contact them. that um they were blocking um three of the four

I believe at one point they were blocking all of the exit all of the process. Yeah. And the biggest share of the day was the ones all but six street [clears throat] open Tristan. Isn't there something about them walking uh for so many minutes or something? So unless they've changed it because I haven't looked at it recently at one the last time I looked at it they had three hours and then they had to move. Unfortunately that statute doesn't state how far they have to move. So I thought there was something

I thought there was something in the books that they could not block all entries because of emergency. They had to keep something open. They're supposed to keep at least one open. It doesn't unfortunately say which one. So, you have you could have Second Street all the way up. Um I know there's one other time they did have all of them blocked, but apparently that was because the train was broke and they had all the crossings blocked for like seven, eight hours. Um I mean I would have to look at the statute again. I haven't looked at it for a while so to see if it's changed, but at one point that is that's what it was. It was 3 hours and they have to move, but it doesn't give how far they have to move to whether they have to unblock it or not.

I know I know that train's been there. No, I get that. There there's a lot of trains that do that. Yeah, they usually But but isn't there an ordinance someplace where they break a line to open up roadways? There there is a another statute that brings that up. Yes. But again, how do you

I mean all I can do is ask the train conductor if the train conductors even there. Most of these trains, they're waiting for people to come back to jump in the trains and continue them moving. So some of these trains don't even have people on them. And I know that we've already talked to the the company. I believe it's just BNSF that runs that line and they sent a person down to talk to you guys about it before the council switched hands and I guess that went nowhere. So yeah, when they came down, what they were wanting was for us to close one of the crossings.

Yeah. But they at that point told us that they have to block the crossing sometimes and they'll continue to block the crossing and try to move the train as soon as they can. Can they not split the cars? I mean block that.

We can ask, but I can't make them. I [clears throat] mean, it's a however many ton train all the cars on it. Now, we can ticket them. It's like a, if I remember right, it's like $300 plus court cost. So 407 bucks, which is just going to be nothing to them, but we we can do that and just mail it to them. I think if they have all four crossings blocked from our citizens being able to get in and out.

That's just my thought. I look at as a public safety concern as well because it eliminates you guys from getting where you need to go as well as the fire department. Yeah. When they block all of them, we have to go to Tucker. Yeah. So, that should not be

So, I mean, we can we can start ticketing them every time they have a crossing blocked for or multiple crossings blocked or whatever you guys want. But I mean, I don't know again where that that's going to stop them because 400 bucks isn't exactly a loss for them. The train sitting there, which why they let them sit there for that long, I don't know. But the train sitting there is a bigger loss than them than what the ticket's going to be cuz their their money runs on time, not how much they're carrying. We would have to make an amendment to the ordinances on that.

Our ordinance wouldn't do them any good because they're governed by different. Yeah. They're governed by federal statutes. Yeah. So they like what John said, you know, it creates a public safety issue with people walking over all. Mhm. But maybe we can have the attorney send them a letter that our concerns and see. Is there a particular culprit that you're wanting the letter to be addressed to? I mean, the only the only company is BNSF.

That's the only train that works. The tracks. Yeah. Thank you, sir. You're there. We're going to give you a report.

Sure. Um, for the month of January, we had 280 calls for service. We wrote 18 citations. We had 80 traffic stops. We had nine arrests, eight drug cases, 19 reports, and 26 callouts. I listed all the stuff we did, some of the ones that are more important than others. We assisted three other agencies. We had five ambulance calls. We've synced five children, which are different from the four juvenile incidences we had. We had one missing juvenile and one criminal threat, two domestics, one DUI, and then all the other stuff that's listed there. Um, out of our nine arrests, we had six arrests for felonies, three for misdemeanors, uh, felony drug possession, distribution, felony and a misdemeanor warrant, felony DUI, and misdemeanor traffic arrests. Police department during a traffic stop seized approximately 443 grams of suspected methamphetamine, which is almost a pound. Uh there were three people that were arrested during that traffic stop. However, one of them were released for medical attention. Uh we like I said, we did a missing person's case. Uh we searched for about two and a half, three hours and were able to locate them in Fort Scott, Kansas, and were able to get them back to their parents without being injured or hurt in any way. The animal control officer has and codes has issued 13 letters, six tickets for January. She's closed six cases. She currently has 34 open cases.

We currently have [snorts] seven dogs in the pound. We placed three puppies in a shelter at the end of January and another dog went to a family January or at the end of January as well. That's all I got. Chief wisdom, I know this is probably implied, but I would like to thank the council and Becky to for considering the firefighters as part of the community building situation. So, thank you very much for that. Um, this past two weeks, we've had two medical assist calls. Um, one illegal burn and and we was out helping with the missing person's search the other night as well. Um, last Monday we had a workshop about some standard operating guideline stuff. There was some questions asked. Um the question that was asked was what is the minimum number of hours per year that a firefighter has to have? Um after I talked with um Rebecca Heatherington with ISO, um each firefighter has to have 12 hours of structure fire training minimum and the more that we have above that is better. Um, that's only structure fire training. That's all ISO cares about. There's other trainings that we have to do and things like that that we have to to train on as well. But, um, the more training hours we can get in structure fire, the better we will be in getting points for that section of the ISO. Um, another thing that was brought up

was Vidian um, firew wear was um, they have a mass um, sale on fire boots. I talked to um, Buck Breenidge today about that situation. Um, there it is. The reason why Vidian is selling them is they are going from what he told me is they are going to building their own boots. So they are just getting rid of the inventory that they have. There's nothing wrong with the boots. They there is no compliance changes or anything like that. Um so that was another question that was brought up during that workshop. Um, there was three of us last Thursday evening that we sat and talked with Rebecca Heatherington with ISO for just right at two hours about what we need to concentrate on in our ISO points that we're gathering because we I sent the plan to her. some of the stuff in there, we wouldn't gain a lot of points, but some places we might lose where we can gain a lot of points. So, she was kind she couldn't tell us to to specifically go that route, but kind of try to get the most points we can in the big point sections. Um, so that's kind of what we're leaning towards is and then we can continue with some of the other points if we get in that year. If we get within our year's time and we have extra time, we can move forward with some of the other stuff. Um, speaking with her, we are still at a five in our regression, but we are at a at a five regret five in regression. Um, what we are shooting for realistically is a seven,

but possibly a six. If we get to a seven in this year's time period, that isn't the end of the world. You know, we don't have to wait five years to to do this. we can continue working on plans and next year we can actually do things to gain more points to try to get that number down even more. So once we get done with this year, whatever we're at, we're, you know, we're not stuck at that number. You know, we can continue to move forward and try to reduce that number. The smaller the number, the better the um insurance is going to be in the area. Um, in talking with her, um, I discussed a little bit about the potential of changing water sources, what that would impact on our ISO rating, you know, and she said that that would definitely impact how we are assessed because we would need to know volume of water coming in. So once once that is figured out, and I'm not saying you have to figure it out anytime soon, but once that's figured out, we need to let um ISO know this situation if we're sticking with what we have or if we're going to try to outsource water from somewhere else because that's going to affect the the the scoring that we get. Um, and the last thing that I have is, um, I met with Dennis and I met with the mayor couple of weeks ago and we or maybe it's probably been longer than that. Anyways, um, one thing that was discussed over there was it was starting to get cold in there. Um, it's

getting it's getting actually too cold in our fire department. Um, we have one heater that's blowing heat in. Um, if we can add more vents from public works over into our side or if we can open it up more. You know, I don't I'm not an HVAC person, so I have not a clue what we can do, but it is getting pretty cold. We actually had frost on the doors the other night when we was in there. So, the vents going in there right now are kind of just accordion vents to a couple of lower places in the low side of it. Uh, we were kind of talking about possibly cutting a larger vent into one of the walls that would put more heat in there. The only problem with it is we don't know what that would do. Uh because if they turn the heat up right now, if we turn the heat up high enough to get the fire departments uh to a degree that's acceptable, then public works is burning up.

Um but but if you add some more runs off the off that over there, both places we got it should be they should be able to regulate, right? Yeah. I would say do I would say do that just add more runs to go over to the fire department and that way we're not possibly freezing up any lines in the truck. Yeah. Um that's all I have. If you don't have any questions, we want beggy to see if public work can get done this this week as soon as possible, I guess.

Thank you, sir. Any other questions on the departmental department departmental reports that you have in front of you?

Okay. As far as unfinished business goes, we're still waiting on bids on the skid steer. New business upgrade to city phones. Becky,

um we have had over the last six months numerous times where people have called up here, got nasty, call us names, um said that we said this when it wasn't said, and we would like to be able to record the phone calls. We have um looked into trying to find a device that would work with our phones, but we were on a call cam system. And so I called them and they said that our phone system is so out of date that you could not you couldn't do it on it. And so that's what the upgrade in your packages are would allow us to do that.

So the quote is $2,464 to uh make that happen. It' be a phone upgrade for the city for city hall. and enable uh the the phone calls for recording. Uh and there are way too many people calling up and being very disrespectful to the ladies in the office who a lot of times had nothing to do with the problem at hand and it's very unfortunate. What can we do about that once we have the recordings?

I mean I I know that a lot of times if you let people know ahead of time that they're being recorded, that tends to slow people down because people don't want to be caught or want to be um on record permanently as having cussed somebody out or said something and so forth. But if I mean, if it's persistent, to what degree does it become harassment and inappropriate behavior someone? I mean, that would have to be evaluated on a case- by case basis against the applicable Kansas statutes and our city codes. [cough] So, you need a motion to approve this? Yes.

Do you have one question? I do. Becky, um, if this is approved, what department is it going to? Um, it'll come out of administrative and it's just for the funds here in city hall. I make a motion to approve the upgrade for the city funds. I'll second it. Do we need the price within that motion? It would be best to have it with with the price of $2,464.

Since the tax isn't isn't included, so it could be more than that. We're tax exempt. Okay. I thought so. So, it's been moved and seconded with the adjusted price. Yes. Uh moved and seconded to approve the upgrade to city funds to $2,464. Any other discussion? All in favor? Passes unanimous. Thank you.

Jaclyn, did you have anything? I um representative to the student to rep student student representative to the council Aaron Bowie. Aaron Bowie, do you have um anything to do comment on? Sorry, he sets me off sometimes. It's student representative to the city council. Thank you. I even said my speech. Open up the ears. That's a tongue twister.

Hearing Sorry. Sorry. Good evening. I hope you had a better weekend than I did as I was working the entire weekend. I'm exhausted, guys. I'm not complaining though. I promise Becky I know Becky Grant's watching. I'm not complaining. I don't want to lose my y'all [clears throat] today. Today was our launch day for the simple sanctuary. So, so much hard so much hard work has been put into the creation of this program. I received help and input from the students of PHS including my associates Adria Salons and Sarah SPS who were unfortunately not able to be here tonight. I've received so much support from the city of Pleasanton, the administration at Pleasanton School District, and everyone at Faith Travel. I'd like to say thank you to you. Hold on. It's been a long day. I'd like to thank all of you for making this dream come true. Thank you to my family, including my parents, um, for listening to my frustrations, excitements, and to even my seemingly endless recitements of these speeches throughout this whole process.

[clears throat]

Um, special thanks to Jaclyn Freaking Petta for without you, your encouragement, your insight, your support, your advice, and your somehow endless belief in me, which I still don't understand. I have to explain that again. This program would not be possible. You all don't know this, but I was so close to giving up this past weekend, and that woman over there um took time out of her super busy day to tell me not to give up. And I'll be No, we're not doing this tonight. I I'll be forever grateful for that. You truly will never know how much that meant to me, Jack. Um, thank you to everyone who supported and helped me in the creation of this program. I'm very happy to report that that to report that launch day went so well. The students who came were safely transported from the school and although the group was small it was this morning it was going to be a group of two that including my brother which pretty sad but it went up to five including my brother and then two will be joining us on Wednesday. So that's amazing. Oh praise the Lord. Although the group was small they had a great time learning kitchen safety and how to read a recipe and also um how to write a future me letter. They they wrote them and I recorded them. They'll be on our Facebook for y'all to view later. Um, they they'll be baking sugar cookies on Wednesday, so that's super exciting. Um, I would love to try them. [laughter] They were also given a choice to color, play board games, or create get to know you for tellers. Now, I was not there to see all of that cuz I had to get ready for this meeting, but I'm sure it went fantastic. Um, yeah, thank you guys. Zoom supervisors over here. Um we also had um two student supervisors show up and um some of the other ones weren't able to

make it and some church members supervise our two directors were there too. Thank you um mayor and um I didn't see

Logan Hall, Mr. Logan Hall. Um they helped with homework time and distributing snack snacks during the first block. Our next steps will be to create an online version of the youth participation program. No, form. I keep saying program. Forum. Watch our Facebook page for this. Y'all, I'm going to be honest with you guys. I didn't want to leave that. It was so amazing to watch them. Like I I literally left like almost 30 minutes after 5 because I could not stop watching them and and I kept taking pictures once I was leaving. Literally Ron Miller was like, "God, get out of here. Um, thank you and thank you again for everything. I cannot wait to watch this program. My little baby pores.

Thank you. Good job. [applause]

Rochelle, did you have anything? Um, no. Not this time. We've heard anything still still waiting for we're still waiting to find out what the engineer has to say on the wall. That's going to be next Wednesday. Wednesday. Wednesday we'll have the architect engineer down looking at the water plants. Is that open to all council members or is that

I mean I won't be Yeah, it's Wednesday at 4. Um if anybody is going to be there, we need to know so we can say no no no business can be talked about or discussed.

I I have a question on the water things. Um, I'm not I guess I'm not understanding why I was on here four years ago and um I'm not understand why it wasn't brought to our attention before, you know, now and stuff. I know that we've had other old employees, we have new ones, everybody knows everything. I mean, it's not fault to anybody, honestly. But I'm just asking I'm kind of confused, I guess, and I've had other people confused, too. why all of a sudden the building is just brought to our attention that's it's just so bad.

Um well I know we've had multiple employees and so forth within the past last four years ago we had an entirely different group of employees. Right. Like I said it's not fault to anybody but I'm just asking why all of a sudden we're really just saying it's I mean it's bad and we're really just trying to push you know here are is there grant I mean I talked to Becky. Jackie said we have to wait for after the engineer to see if we can get about the grants and sort of stuff. So

yeah, I mean right now we're waiting on the engineer to tell us um his view, expectation of the building, what it actually needs and go from there to be able to go in any way, shape or form because if the building isn't as bad as it seems, then I mean it would make more sense to just fix the building and then that gives us a lot longer period of time on what route we want to ultimately go with and take um within everything. So, as far as why it's just now coming to people's attentions in general and whole, um I know we can only bring to council what we're told about, what we know about. And apart from us going and inspecting everything in the city um continuously, that's where we are with it.

And are we I mean, and I heard, are we building a building next to the water department? We're not building a building, are we? We're waiting for the engineer to come and look at the building that we have and find out what's going on with it before we can actually even begin to make plans to know what we need to do or go from there. So, at this point, I mean, anything um and this is for everybody to understand, anything that's running around right now as far as what the council is or isn't going to do is pure speculation because on the table there is anything and everything that I mean, we're open to looking at to make sure we do it right. can do what's best for the city of Pleasanton and all of the the citizens. But as far as speculations of we're doing this or we're doing that, we're doing the other, well, I think everybody in the governing body is in agreement. We don't know what we're doing yet. We're still gathering information for that so that a a good informed decision could be made. And if it's something that is really drastic, um we're going to have to have a hearing and let people come in and speak into that absolutely and indefinitely. Would that be right to say from that because we don't want to make a decision without involving citizens whom it's going to directly affect in every way.

Well, I was like I said I was just kind of wondering cuz I mean four years ago again nobody's fault. I was just wondering why all of a sudden you know it just really comes to light you know and all of a sudden it's just like oh it's bad. We have to get rid of it. We have to do this. We have to do that. But I mean sounds like either way it's going to cost the taxpayers money and stuff. It is going to cost money one way or another. But exactly how much and what direction is best? And I'm hoping there'll be grants out there that we can you know fix. Yes, that is definitely the hope.

I mean from my perspective there's not a motion on the table or a resolution on the table or a contract proposal on the table. So uh I certainly haven't uh participated in any type of legal opinions for any of the options that are um being passed around. Do do we have anybody that goes around Do we have anybody that goes around once a year and maybe inspects buildings to see, you know, so that we're we're doing proper maintenance and knows what's going on so that this doesn't happen again. Well, I do know as far as the water department itself is concerned, u we had KDH at KDHE here um doing a a full inspection a year and a half ago and they didn't mark anything or say anything on anything that they observed when they were here,

but they weren't they weren't observing. They were not observing. They were they were they were inspecting water lines and whatnot according to whatever KDH regulations.

Yeah. And I also know like the building itself, one of the city employees had mentioned that he saw the the falling middle beam. He saw the the descending middle beam. He noticed a little crack there and he was checking it. And then a few months later, he noticed it was a lot bigger and that's when uh he brought it to the attention of, hey, this is a problem here. So, that's where we're now looking at the rest of the building, finding the other faults that it has that are hidden um behind panels and everything else. So, but yeah, I don't we probably need all of our buildings looked at a little bit more intently to see if there's anything else in that fashion for maintenance. I'm saying even the employees that are working in these buildings, you know, I know they're not building inspectors, but if they're looking at these buildings and they're they're seeing something wrong, bring it to the council's attention so that we can start getting it addressed before it gets this bad.

Yeah. And I do know that they so far they've had a tendency of telling us if there's something that needs to be fixed and getting stuff fixed. But once again, I mean, even less with our own homes, I know for my home, it takes a little bit before I see a problem that has formed because I see it every day as it's formed. I just know people are really confused as why all of a sudden, you know, it's come to light. So that's why and I said it was noticed at this point I guess is the best answer to that thing. So that's why I was asking because I mean people are just like why? Yeah that's a good question. Did you have anything else?

I do. Yeah. Yes sir.

This past Wednesday a citizen who lives on Cedar Street contacted me with a complaint about how the snow removal has been addressed on his road. specifically the lack of salt being used. I suggest he notify city hall of his complaint and concerns and continue to inform me that he had called city hall and had got hung up on by the city administrator. I called the city administrator to inquire about the snow removal on the street and she immediately knew who I was referring to and she said that that she would not be called names and hung up on. I agree with her actions as our city employees have received the brunt of years of calls that have fallen on deaf ears or just been outright ignored. They do not be they do not deserve to be called various names and threatened with bodily harm. They are citizens just like the rest of us. They have a hard enough time dealing with the thankless job of every position. Every one of us has voiced our complaints even before we were elected to city council. Whether be whether it be water, roads, or whatever, we have voiced our complaints just as loudly as our citizens. That's why you select us to be your voice on the city council. Keep in mind, we are citizens of Pleasanton first and city council members second. And we see what's going on on both sides of the fence and to be honest, it's been an eye openening experience to say the least. Now, we are able to address these issues as they come to us and we know that we are not going to say or do what pleases everyone, but we will do the best for our citizens as well as the city in general. After working hours, I received a text on this issue with snow route and why it was done the way it was. And I agree with the city employee that it was the way they had done it. If they had done both sides of the road, they had torn up the grass and the complaints would have escalated to more issues with the lawn being ripped up and then demand the city come and repair it. Now, I'm not making excuses by any means, but it's common sense to say the middle middle of a narrow road to refrain stay in the middle of a narrow road to refrain from further conflict in future. Taking it out on our city employees is not the

answer and doesn't solve anything. The old saying goes, you get more bees with honey. Well, I say don't stir the pot with the same spoon you're likely to lick later. So, give our city folks a break and thank them for what they do, for what little the city gives them. Now, we are new city council. We are a new city council that inherited a mess. A mess that will lightly take some time to work out. Be patient with us. We will try to get the wheels moving forward, especially with the many years been going backwards. We are seeking ways within our city's budget to iron out the wrinkles. So, help us do our best as we move forward. Given the benefit, give us the benefit of the doubts we tackle the situation we have in front of us. That's all I got to say.

Very well put. Thank you, sir. Um, in addition, I want to say that this new council that we have now has already put forth some money to get equipment that we need for our roads to start improving our roads and everything. And I would echo that, too. Let's be be patient with them as they are getting all of the insider information of what has been and is and working things through on everything. Thank you very much, sir. And at that, I will entertain a motion for adjournment. I make a motion we second. [laughter] All in favor? I

mayor, you have all signatures. [laughter] Yeah. No, you can turn it on. Leave it on. As for

I turn mine on, I leave it on. It's whenever they turn it on off or for instance, they go and then they start talking. Well, it doesn't have an intern with my phone. My preference I said man if you don't get