Board of County Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Well, good morning everyone and welcome to the County Commission meeting. We're glad you're here today. Welcome to those joining us online, Facebook and YouTube, and those in person. When you walk in, we encourage you to grab a meeting packet agenda. It allows you to follow along with all the items we'll be discussing today. If you're ever curious about supporting documents, you have access to those at www.sedgwickcounty.org. Now let's get to work for September 2, 2026. Madam Clerk, first item, please.

Invocation to be led by Pastor Jill Sander, College Hill United Methodist Church. Please remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Good morning.

Good morning. I want to share with you a reading from a daily prayer book with the Corrie Mila community, which is a monastic community in Northern Ireland. This is titled, A Prayer for Shelter and Shadow. And first a quote, it is in the shelter of each other that the people live. We know that sometimes we are alone and sometimes we are in community. Sometimes we are in shadow and sometimes we are surrounded by shelter. Sometimes we feel like exiles in our land, in our language, and in our bodies. And sometimes we feel surrounded by welcome. As we seek to be human together, may we share the things that do not fade, generosity, truth telling, silence, respect, and love. And may the power we share be for the good of all. We honor God, the source of this rich life, and we honor each other, story full and lovely. Whether in our shadow, or in our shelter, may we live well and fully with each other. Amen.

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.

Next item, please.

Roll call. Commissioner Meitzner. Present. Commissioner Beatty.

Present.

Commissioner Howell.

Present.

Commissioner Weiss. Present. Chairman Blueball.

Present. Next item.

County announcements.

Good morning, Nicole.

Good morning, Chairman and Commissioners. Nicole Gibbs of Strategic Communications. We're going to start off today with county good news. Wichita State recently announced its inaugural 35 under 35 honorees who are making an impact across business, education, healthcare, technology, public service, the arts, and nonprofit leadership. We are honored to share that Cassandra Sandusky, principal accountant, was named in this class. These alumni are chosen for their innovation, service, and a commitment to improving their communities. Cassandra will be honored at a recognition event tomorrow on the Innovation Campus. She is here to say hello. And we want to congratulate her. Thank you.

Yeah, I just want to say thank you for the recognition, Nicole, on commission. It means a lot. And, of course, go Shocks.

All right. Congratulations.

September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, and ComCare is always here for our communities. This month, we are sharing self-care tips each day on our social media channels. On September 8th, which is also 988 Day, ComCare staff will place rocks of encouragement around the community, and you can see some of those here on our screen. As a reminder, that help is always available if you are facing stress, crisis, or emotional pain, and you can speak with someone by texting or calling 988. Have you been negatively impacted by the ongoing drought? If so, you may be eligible for a drought disaster loan from the Small Business Administration. This working capital loan helps eligible small businesses, agricultural cooperatives, aquaculture businesses, and private nonprofit organizations pay ordinary and necessary expenses they cannot cover because of the disaster. Applications are open now and available until March 10th of 2027. You can visit CedricCounty.org for more information. Sedgwick County Fire District 1, its member cities and multiple other cities across the county are implementing an indefinite burn ban effective immediately. This is necessary due to the dry conditions, high temperatures, strong winds and potential dangers to area fire services should a grass fire occur. No outdoor burning is allowed and all active burn permits are suspended until further notice. Residents are encouraged to contact their respective fire departments with questions about their burning status. And finally, Sedgwick County offices will be closed on Monday, September 7th in observance of Labor Day. As always, emergency services are available by calling or texting 911. That is all I have today, and I'll stand for any questions. Okay.

Commissioners, do you have any questions? Yeah. Commissioner Biddy? Hey, thanks, Nicole. Can you elaborate a little bit on this burn ban? Is this just for the fire district? Are there other cities that are potentially taking part in this? And if you don't know that answer, if you can just let us know via email. I don't see any fire representatives here yet, which is fine. Okay.

the second question I have is how are we communicating this this is obviously if it's in effect immediately I think we need to get the word out as quickly as possible yes I will get the list of the cities for you and I will work with the fire district as well but we have sent a release out to the news media about this we are sharing it on social media it has been communicated to the cities in the district and those other cities that are partnering with us on this ban so we're putting this information out and working with them on communicating to their residents okay very good thank you so much yes of course

Any other questions? All right. Thank you very much, Nicole.

Thank you.

Madam Clerk, next item.

Consideration of minutes, item A, regular meeting minutes of August 5th, 2026. Okay.

Does anyone have any questions about the minutes from our 11 hour and 37 minute meeting on August If not, I'd like to make a motion to approve the minutes.

Second.

I have a motion to second. Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Commissioner Meitzner.

Aye.

Commissioner Beatty.

Aye.

Commissioner Howe.

Aye.

Commissioner Wise. Aye. Chairman Blumhoff.

Aye. The motion passes 5-0. Next item, please.

Proclamations. Item B, Proclamation Declaring Hispanic Heritage Month.

Okay. And we have a proclamation this morning that I will read. Whereas Sedgwick County is honored to be home to a vibrant Latino Hispanic community whose roots span across Latin America, bringing a rich tapestry of cultures, languages, and traditions that contribute to the diversity of our county. And whereas Latinos Hispanics have played a pivotal role in shaping our social, cultural, and economic landscape, contributing to every sector from arts and education to business, civic leadership, and beyond. And whereas Sedgwick County takes pride in the strong partnership with the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, which tirelessly advocates for the economic advancement and empowerment of Hispanic businesses, fostering a more inclusive and prosperous community for all. And whereas Hispanic heritage is an integral part of our community's identity, enhancing it with unique traditions, culinary delights, artistic expressions, and cultural celebrations, therefore enriching the lives of all residents, now therefore be it resolved that I, Chairman Jeff Blubaugh, and the Board of Sedgwick County Commissioners do hereby proclaim September 15th, October 2026 as Hispanic Heritage Month and encourage all residents to honor the contributions of the Latino-Hispanic community, participate in cultural events, and join in celebrating the rich diversity that makes our county unique. I would like to make a motion to approve this proclamation.

Second.

We have a motion and a second. Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Commissioner Meitzner.

Aye.

Commissioner Beatty?

Aye.

Commissioner Howe?

Aye.

Commissioner Weiss? Aye. Chairman Bluboff?

Aye. The motion passes 5-0. Gary Torres will be presenting this, but before I send it over, Commissioner Howe, did you have words before?

I have comments at some point, so whatever is appropriate. Okay. We'll go ahead and let Gary speak. Go ahead, Gary. Good morning, Gary.

My name is Gary Torres. I'm the chairman of the Wichita Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and I have some of my board members here as well. Chairman Blue Ball, Chair Pro Tem Wise, Commissioners Meisner, Beatty, and Howe, thank you for this recognition and for proclaiming Hispanic Heritage Month in Sedgwick County. It's an honor to accept this proclamation on behalf of the Wichita Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and our Hispanic community. Hispanics and Latinos represent 17% of Sedgwick County's population, and nearly one in five in Wichita. Our community continues to make important contributions through our business, workforce, culture, and service to our community. Hispanic Heritage Month gives us an opportunity to celebrate those contributions, honor those who came before us, and recognize the generations who will continue shaping our future. On behalf of the Wichita Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, thank you for this recognition. Muchas gracias. Thank you very much, Gary.

Gary, the commissioners have a few comments here, if you don't mind. I'll turn it over to Commissioner Howell first.

Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would say I'm proud to have been a member of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce for eight years. And it was just last week I decided to go ahead and step away, only because I'm just so busy with campaign and other things in my life right now. I don't really have time to dedicate my time to the cause of that chamber. And if you don't, I'm not sure it was said yet or not, but Gary is the chairman of that Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. You stated some great numbers there, Gary, but let me just say it once again. We have about 90,000 Hispanics in this community, not just Sedgwick County alone. If you compare that to the white population, there's one Hispanic for every four white people in this county. It's the largest minority population, more than double our African-American population here in Sedgwick County. There's about 1,500 Hispanic-owned businesses in Sedgwick County. They have a huge impact on this economy, and they provide incredible skill and expertise, service. A number of things they do in this community are invaluable, frankly. So I just wanted to stress how important the Hispanic community is to me personally, and really, if we understand what they do to Sedgwick County, what they do for Sedgwick County, we should be very thankful that they are here. And I want to say I appreciate them. I appreciate being friends with so many of them. Gary's my good friend. And Jerry Smart, my good friend. Really, the entire board has really been tremendous good friends for me. I just want to say we love you and thank you for what you do. This is important. I know there's been a lot of hatred in the world about different cultures clashing here and there. I just think that it's not profitable. It is profitable to recognize the value that each one of us brings to this community. And I think that Hispanic community is tremendous. I want to say we love you and appreciate what you do. Those numbers mean something to me. As leader of this community, one reason I was on that board was to try to blur the lines between what it takes to be a Hispanic-owned business and be successful in this community. Sometimes just regulations are difficult. And I wanted to do whatever I can to help Hispanic businesses be successful, really all businesses be successful, not just any Hispanic, but just all businesses. I'm actually a member of the Republican Women United, which is funny. I'm a member of the Black Republican Council. I was a proud board member of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. My point is this. Why is an old white guy like me having to do all these boards? It's about respect. It's about inclusion. It's about knowing what people represent and bring to the table. community as a whole. I want them all to know that we can work together and do things that are valuable to this community. So with that, I just want to say thank you for being here today. Thank you for the board members for being here today. I think it's very appropriate we recognize what the value you guys bring to this community. So that's all I want to say, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. Commissioner Meister?

thank you mr chairman gary thank you for being here and and uh a great uh it's an honor to vote in favor of this and uh appreciate commissioner howe said said a lot about the value of the of the community and uh i'm appreciative that your board is here and i just want to I'd like to recognize one of your board members, Ms. Jerry Smart. She's been around for a while and is probably a great advisor to the rest of your board members. Jerry and I go back a long ways. She was my Spanish teacher in high school. We were at an all-boys Catholic school, and she was the only female teacher on the whole campus, and she was only about two years older than the rest of us that she was teaching. But it was a great experience. She's a good lady. I've known her for years, obviously. So, Jerry, good to see you, and thank you again. Appreciate it.

I want to say also thank you to the Central County because they've supported our organization. Ryan Beatty, like I said, he's been to our gala a couple years. Jim. I'm going to get Stephanie. And Jeff. And Stephanie, we talked last time we did the proclamation. She has some Hispanic blood on her too. She does. Thank you.

Commissioner Brady, you just got a comment. Yeah, Gary, just thank you, and thank you to your board, and thank you to the independent chamber and all that you're doing. One other piece of data I think is important for our community to understand, the largest school district in the state of Kansas, Wichita Public Schools, 38% of the students in USC 259 are Hispanic or Latino descent. Yes. The largest. demographic. So our future is very much going to be influenced by the Hispanic and Latino community. And if you see all the things that are happening, particularly in historic areas that I grew up in, in the North End, if you look at what's happening in Omar District and all the investment that's happening there, I mean, it is just remarkable. I'm so proud to represent that area town. I'm so proud of the work that you're doing and your board is doing. And again, the influence of the Hispanic community on Sedgwick County is, it's immense. So- More power to you. Keep working. Keep going. Keep integrating into this community. Keep leading in the way that you are, and we'll be here to support you every step of the way. Thanks, Gary.

Again, thank you very much for being here. Appreciate being a past member and going to a lot of Hispanic Chamber events. Appreciate following everything through the years. I've got to give a shout-out to Jerry, too. 11 or 12 years ago, I was... I was able to go on a trip to Mexico with Jerry and seeing Mexico through her eyes. It was a great opportunity. So we'd like to grab a picture with you guys real quick. We'd like to go up front. We'll take a short recess. And we'd also like to grab Cassandra and take a picture with her as well. Thank you. Recess for five minutes. We'll be right back, folks. Next item, please, Madam Clerk.

Public agenda.

We have two individuals signed up on the public agenda. Gary Torres was one of them, so I imagine he already had his opportunity to speak, and I think he's left. But Karen Brutale.

Brulette.

Brulette. Sorry, Karen. Good morning.

Good morning. Apparently, you can't read my writing. I'm sorry. I'm Karen Brouillette, and I live at 55th and Seneca area. I just wanted to start off by saying thank you for doing a good job in wanting to get this data center thing right. Not all the communities have you guys, and we really do appreciate it. It's important. It's a serious matter, and you guys are taking a serious look, and I just thank you for that. Many of us, in some way, would rather not have them at all. But I don't know where that's going to end up. And I understand. In your consideration of whether or not you will even allow it, you're considering many safety, environmental, legal, and financial obstacles that could unfortunately make it a detriment to our community, and I appreciate that you're taking your time to sort it all out and get it right. I hope you do extend the time again to at least December. That's my main justice speaking today. There's so much to consider. I saw the MAPC was giving you some guidance on some things they're looking for, and I'm curious, too. One thing mentioned was different categories and regulations. I'm not sure what they're looking for in that statement, but I will ask it this time. Are you only looking at hyperscale data centers or all types of them? A lot of different variances there. I compiled a few comments from a post I recently read. So many people are concerned. There's a lot of information out there, some good and some bad and some scary. I thought they had some good ideas and I jotted them down. Any decommissioning fund needs to be protected from disappearing into the local government's general fund. I figured you know that. I thought it was kind of funny. The money for decommissioning should be put into a bank account that earns interest and never be spent. That information should be available to see at all times on regular reports so the community knows it isn't being spent or borrowed against.

That was strange.

Someone said, set it up so if they go bankrupt, it can't include the money. Put it in a decommissioning trust fund. I don't know if that's possible, but it was interesting. Include how decommissioning funds will be handled in case an owner sells the company or goes bankrupt, which you probably will. Bankruptcy is becoming a real thing, and there is concern that it would be on the rise as funds fall through or technology changes or bad business practices close a deal, as many are funded by debt. I have a paper on that from a law firm and the complications that are coming up, and I'll leave that with you guys. How would taxes be handled if they go bankrupt or equipment left there to be disposed of or until a new owner takes over? Can expenses be ordered for collection from the bankruptcy court? If you want to protect on the front end, you may also want to see about requiring a... completion bond to cover the project from being abandoned in case the money pipe shuts off before the building is enclosed and the certificate of occupancy and site work is done. Wiki and other articles say it's already happened. They get in over their head, I guess. Or they can't get all their stuff needed and then they bail. I read that because There is so much energy, they've become electric utilities' number one justification for proposing new methane gas power plants. Is that why FRG is already approved two new gas plants, one each in Sumner and Reno County? Are the people going to pay for building those? Is the data center supposed to pay for bringing in power? Who will see where the electricity produced for those plants is going, in state, out of state, or to data centers? When complete, will the data center need to run temporary generators? What kind will they be? Well, you know from the beginning, they are very loud. They can produce pollution if they're not the right kind, the more expensive ones. Data centers face a new environmental concern as well. They're mostly looking at the closed-loop data centers and the wastewater that they release. I have an article on this as well. It's very well documented on all the things that they're looking at. It's almost like overnight we have a new industry. Normally when it comes to industrial discharge, the information is public and also well documented, said Jonathan Brandt, an engineering professor at the University of Wyoming. With data centers, there is scant actual hard data out there on what these waters will look like or how these waters are going to be managed. And so they began because of partly what happened in Cheyenne, Wyoming with the bacteria and found a whole new level of investigation and how to go about that, which is another reason why you need to keep looking.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Karen. Does anyone have any questions or comments? That's good. Thank you. Okay. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thanks again, Karen. Gary Torres was the only one on here, but I believe he signed up just so that he could speak during the proclamation. So does anyone else like to speak on the public agenda? Okay. If not, I would like to make a motion to approve public comment.

Second.

Second. Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Commissioner Meitzner.

Aye.

Commissioner Beatty. Aye. Commissioner Howell?

Aye.

Commissioner Weiss? Aye. Chairman Blueball?

Aye. Motion passes 5-0 and that was to record or to put it on file. Receiving file. Okay. Next item please.

Consent agenda.

Good morning Chairman and Commissioner. Tom Stolz, County Manager's Office. Recommend approval of consent items C through I on regular agenda.

Commissioners, do you have any questions about items C through I? If not, I would like to make a motion to approve items C through I.

Second.

Do we have a motion and a second? Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Commissioner Meisner? Aye. Commissioner Beatty? Aye. Commissioner Howell? Aye. Commissioner Weiss? Aye. Chairman Bluval?

Aye. Motion passes 5-0. Next item, please.

New business, item J, report of the Board of Bids and Contracts regular meeting on August 27th, 2026. Good morning, Joe.

Good morning, Mr. Chairman and Commissioners, Joe Thomas, Purchasing Director. The Board of Bids and Contracts, our regular meeting of August 27th, we considered 14 items that we are seeking your approval for. So I'll take a deep breath and get right into it. Our first item is the CMS-1PC, which is scrub seal oil for public works. Recommendations to accept the bid from Ergon Asphalt and Emulsions. It's at the rates listed for a period of one year with four one-year options to renew. Item number two is the public elevator upgrades in the main courthouse for project services. This recommendation is to accept the negotiated bid from Icon Structures Incorporated, and that's in the amount of $1,274,447. Item number three is the radio system modernization for emergency communications. This recommendation is to accept the NASPO Value Point Master Agreement, which is number 00318 with Motorola Solutions Incorporated, and that's in the amount of $20,915,967, and to establish contract pricing incentives, which are good through March 19th of 2027. Item number four, we get into our employee ancillary benefits. Our first one is COBRA Administration for Human Resources. And this recommendation is to accept the proposal from Surrency Life and Health Insurance Company. They're doing business at Surrency, and it's at the rates listed. This period starts January 1st, 2027, and goes for a period of three years with two one-year options to renew. Item number five, the employee ancillary benefits for the dental administration, again, for human resources. And the recommendation is to accept the proposal from Delta Dental of Kansas Incorporated, again, at the rates listed starting January 1st, 2027, and going for a period of three years with two one-year options to renew. Item number six, employee ancillary benefits for the Vision Administration for Human Resources. And this recommendation is to accept the proposal from Vision Service Plan. They're doing business as VSP Vision Care. And we're taking option number one at the rates listed again starting January 1st, 2027 for a period of three years with two one-year options to renew. Item number seven, employee ancillary benefits for EAP program, human resources. This recommendation is to accept the proposal from MPAC Incorporated. Again, the rates are listed and it starts January 1st, 2027 for a period of three years with two one-year options to renew. Item number eight. Again, the ancillary benefits. This is for the Flexible Spending Account and the Health Reimbursement Account Administration for Human Resources. This recommendation is to accept the proposal from Surrency Life and Health Insurance Company doing business at Surrency at the rates listed starting January 1st, 2027 for a period of three years with two one-year options to renew. Item number nine, employee ancillary benefits for life, accidental death and dismemberment, and dependent life for human resources. This recommendation is to accept the proposal from Advance Insurance Company of Kansas with the rates listed starting January 1st, 2027, for a period of three years with two one-year options to renew. Item number 10, employee ancillary benefits for the worksite benefits or the short-term disability for human resources. And this recommendation is to accept the proposal from Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, MetLife Pet Insurance Solutions, doing business as MetLife. And this starts, again, the rates list is started January 1st, 2027, a period of three years and two when your option is to renew. Item number 11, employee ancillary benefits for the hospital indemnity, human resources. This recommendation is to accept the proposal from Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, MetLife Pet Insurance Solutions, LLC, doing business as MetLife. And for the rates listed starting January 1st, 2027 for a period of three years with two one-year options to renew. And we're taking both of those options. Item number 12, Employee Ancillary Benefits. This is for the critical illness for human resources. This recommendation is to accept the proposal from Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, MetLife Pet Insurance Solutions, LLC, doing business as MetLife. And these rates start January 1st, 2027 for a period of three years with two one-year options to renew. We're getting closer. Item number 13, employee ancillary benefits, and this is for worksite benefits dealing with accident. This is human resources, and the recommendation is to accept the proposal, again, from Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, MetLife Pet Insurance Solutions, LLC, doing business as MetLife. Rates listed starting January 1st, 2027 for a period of three years with two one-year options to renew. And item number 14. Hopefully I have that attached. Yes, I do. As for the employee ancillary benefits, and this is for cancer, human resources. This recommendation is to accept the proposal from Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, MetLife Pet Insurance Solutions, LLC. They are doing business as MetLife. Again, the rates are listed starting January 1st, 2027 for a period of three years with two one-year options to renew. So I'll be happy to try to answer any questions and recommend approval. I remember what I just read.

Okay. Commissioner Brady. Very impressive. That's a big bid board. There's a few things on here that I do think are worthy of public awareness. I'm going to support the bid board, support everything on here. But there is one, number three in particular, when we're talking about the radio system modernization. This is a significant infrastructure investment that supports all public safety, from EMS, fire, police, up and down the list. Tom, I don't know, would you be able to maybe explain why are we at this point? Why is this happening now? This is something that we've been talking about since I've been on the commission, the need, and what this is going to do.

Sure, I'd be glad to, Commissioner, but I'll tell you who would give you a better answer is the 911 director.

I assume that was the case.

Thank you, sir. Elora Forshee, your director of emergency communications. So we are about 18 years into our current radio system, and we are getting past what's an appropriate shelf life for that anyway. In conjunction with that, in 2028, we are out of service with Motorola, who is the vendor who bought that radio system that we had purchased before. And so they will no longer support the infrastructure of our radio system. And so if something were to go bad, if something were to break, we would be without that. As you've appropriately pointed out, not only do all of our public safety run off of this radio system, so does public works for both the city and county and outlying agencies. So there's a lot that traverses on this radio system. So we need to make sure it's healthy. While it is a very large purchase, and I understand that, it becomes very expensive and risky to not start planning ahead to replace that in 2020. Yep.

That's why I'm supportive. I got two questions. What is the source of revenue or source of, what fund is this being purchased through?

So it is, and Lindsay could speak to that also, but it is going to be bond funded and then that bond will be repaid out of 911 tax funds. So again, that tax that you pay on your cell phone, that is for the direct support of the 911 system, the receiving and delivery of those calls, that fits right into that statute and supports everything that that stands for.

Good clarity. Last question. This is one of many investments that we have dialed into 911 over the last few years. About to put pressure on you, but could you even just maybe just summarize a few of the big things that have happened in your department from the reform and the modernization, the things and the investment that we've been pouring in, and you've been leading in this. I want to thank you for that. All the things that have happened just in the last three or four years at 911?

Well, of course, yes. We're so thankful to have a commission that's committed to not only ensuring that our 911 system is ready to be responsive to our community, but we're doing it in a way that's efficient, modern, and reflective of the progression of Sedgwick County. So we, going back to 2023, when we renovated our communications center, we expanded that to allow for the separation of call taking and dispatching, provided a beautiful work environment for our staff who work so hard 24-7, 365 hours. So we did that renovation. We also brought on some fire dispatching protocols that helps to allow the fire departments to have a more refined approach to fire response, to be more judicious in the way that they use their resources, again, wanting to be fiscally responsible in that. We have added 20 new positions in our 2026 staffing table, again, with that vision that the commission supports of having call takers that are 100% focused on the caller who is in crisis. and then having dispatchers who are 100% focused on our professionals out in the field who are doing such important work. So we have that investment. What else do we have? We are working on partnering with the Wichita Fire Department, Derby Fire Department, and Central County Fire District to redo the fire station alerting, which is... super old and antiquated. So those technology that comes with that is that ability to do cardiac friendly alerting things that help protect our firefighters that are responding, jumping out of bed to respond to fires. I'm sure I'm missing some, but that are just that. Plus I want to just also hit on the compensation. You know, we see We have seen a really direct correlation with our ability to hire and retain as it relates to compensation and what the commission has provided for compensation in the county. I've been here a lot of years and I don't want to get on a soapbox on this, but I've seen pay freezes and I've seen really huge deficits in pay. And I'm thankful I stuck around, but I'm also thankful that perhaps our generation that's coming in now won't see that same impact.

We're incredibly proud of everything that's going on at 9-1-1. Please thank your staff. I start thinking about other things you've done about embedding mental health people in the 9-1-1. The list goes on and on and on. The point of it is that you're leading this department so well. And you're coming to the commission in partnership and saying, this is what we need to modernize. And you're getting response the way you've contended for public safety, contended for 9-1-1, contended for your staff. I'm really proud of all the investments that are happening there, and I appreciate your leadership. So please give our best to the staff and all the important work that they do as a frontline to public safety. Absolutely.

I appreciate this. Commissioner House, got a comment?

Yes, sir.

Just a couple quick questions. Thank you, Chairman. So this is primarily radio equipment in the dispatch area only. This is not the radios at the service end of the radio system. This is only for what's happening up at 911.

So these are not subscriber units. When you think about that portable, that mobile in the vehicle, that is not what's covered in this. Now, there is some pricing allowance in that that we can extend to the agencies we serve as part of this contract. But what this is purchasing is not only the console equipment in the comm center, but we have then at each tower, we have our 10 tower sites that cover Sedgwick County. So there's equipment and hardware in the tower up on the tower system. So it is... There's a laundry list of components that go into us both in the comm center and out throughout our community to ensure that that coverage, whether you're up in Mount Hope or down in Mulvane, that you have adequate radio coverage when you need it.

I just wanted to clarify, this is only basically half the system. This is the infrastructure side that we have, not the remote radio side that's also part of the system, but that's the, for example, a firefighter or a sheriff's deputy or whoever needs to have radio in their vehicle or in their person. That's not what this is at all. This is just the other side.

Yes, correct.

And then this... This makes a comment down in the notes down here that the existing system is 18 years old, yet this contract is only for eight years, but it's over $20 million, almost $21 million to give us about eight years. So I'm wondering what happens after the eight years. Is this equipment end of life at that point, or are we going to just be able to add on? Because the last, I should say, the eight years is about eight... If you add in both the maintenance and the warranty, it's about $900,000 on average per year. So I'm just curious, is that going to be able to continue past that eight years? Absolutely, yes.

So what this does is it locks us in on maintenance pricing throughout that eight-year span. At that point, we have options to renegotiate maintenance pricing with Motorola to provide for the support of the system beyond that eight years. But this is absolutely not a scrap it and you're done after that time period. I would expect to get at least 15 years out of this. I mean, I always hope for more, but absolutely not done at that point.

So, again, if you subtract out the maintenance and the warranty cost of this, the equipment that's on the towers and in the 911 center or whatever is $14,500,000. That's the equipment cost. And everything else that brings us up to $20,915,000 is warranty and maintenance, if you will, on that system. Correct. So again, I guess I would just say that the $14 million hopefully will last us 18 years, I would hope. That's a large investment. I hope that lasts a lot longer than eight years. That's all I'm saying.

Agreed. And part of that warranty is also some upgrade. I mean, there's upgrades that are built into that. So this doesn't... This doesn't get installed and stay stagnant from there. Now, there are hardware components that may have to be replaced at year 15, 16, whatever. And that's, of course, what we would have to evaluate then. It's hard to predict what that's going to look like and where technology is. But you are absolutely correct that this is not eight years and done. And I would expect to get 15 to 20. I want to be gone before we do this.

So the part of this where you mentioned bond payments for this, how much of this is going to be basically financed over with bonds?

Is Lindsay in here? I believe it's the whole 14.5. Okay, so the equipment purchase is what we're talking about. Yes, yes. And so then out of the, we're currently paying maintenance on our system now, so we will transition those payments that we're making now to this. So yes, but I'm 99.9% sure the entire 14.5.

Is there anything else we have to do on our radio system after this that says we're still trying to modernize and upgrade? Encryption has been a big issue lately, and then just on the remote end of the radio system, upgrading all that equipment has been something we talked about recently. Now this is taking care of the other end of it. Is there anything else we have to do beyond this to get us, or we need to be on radios?

This gets us fully functional. Now, what I will say is that in partnering with Motorola in this, I know that they are big in innovation. And so there will be other technology that will come that we will have the opportunity to leverage. And that will depend on what our field agencies want to utilize. Our goal is to serve them to meet their needs out in the field. But as far as basic push-to-talk transmissions, this will get us exactly where we need to go. And then there's some great features on this. that will help us to manage that radio system.

Very good. That's really all my questions today. Thank you so much.

Yes.

Any other questions?

Okay. Thank you. Thank you.

Yep. Commissioner Meister? Yeah. I think it's worth noting, and I think Sheena's in the audience somewhere maybe. Oh, there you are. A significant amount, a dozen of these are related to our employee benefits package overall, health and things like that. So I just want... Because we've got 2,500, 3,000 employees probably curious about, and we spent a significant amount of time this budget season making sure that we supported whatever extra benefits costs that were shared or not. I don't want to go through all 10 or 12 of them, but is there one or two that's kind of noteworthy that would say, hey, this is a little bit more cost to the employee or this is a bigger cost to us as employers, and this is a benefit that maybe sticks out other than just the normal stuff? Thank you for being here. Sorry to catch you off guard if I did.

Good morning, Commissioner. Sheena Schmitz, Chief Human Resources Officer. We did have a lot on the board. I will clarify, though, this does not include our medical and pharmacy. So this is just those ancillary benefits. But, Commissioner Meisner, to answer your question, we had several of these that are going to be zero cost impact to the organization and to the employees. For example, our dental has no increase with the incumbent employees. Our accident critical illness, hospital indemnity, things like that are actually zero cost. There were some things that went up, for example, our EAP, but we feel like that is very important for our employees to have access to those services and to have local access to those services. So we tried to keep in mind how that would impact not only the employee but the employer side and provide the best service.

Okay, well, thank you and thank your staff for all the work and working with finance.

And Joe's staff, too. They did a heavy lift. And Joe.

Joe, thank you, always. But anyway, it's a big part, and I just want to extend appreciation to you guys for doing all this.

Thank you.

Chairman briefly, I did confirm Elora is correct. The 9-1-1 radio system is 100% bonded and will be paid back by 9-1-1 tax. Okay, thanks for clarifying. Anything else, Joe?

No, sir. Okay. All right. Do we have any other questions or comments? If not, I'd like to make a motion to approve the recommendation to the board of bid and contracts.

Second.

Motion to second. Please call the roll.

Commissioner Meisner? Aye. Commissioner Beatty?

Aye.

Commissioner Howell?

Aye.

Commissioner Weiss? Aye. Chairman Blueball?

Aye. The motion passes 5-0. Next item. Thank you, Commissioner.

Item K, Douglas Tagg Office Parking Lot Purchase.

Morning. Good morning, Chairman and Commissioners. Andrew Dills, Director of Facilities, here to present the Util Estate Purchase Agreement for the Douglas Tagg Office Parking Lot. A little background. We are currently leasing. The parking lot is located just south of the Douglas TAG location. The lease started December 1st, 2025. We pay $1,455 per month. The agreement is for two years. We did pay for the improvements to the parking lot at the very beginning of the lease. We paid for that directly. And then we maintain the parking lot throughout that two-year agreement. The slot adds approximately 85 parking stalls to the Douglas Tag location. And as part of that lease, we had a purchase or an exclusive option to purchase for $260,000. And the existing lease will terminate if we decide to exercise that purchase option with the final lease payment prorated through that month. Here's an aerial view of the parcel that we're discussing today. It is approximately 1.1 acres. It preserves parking capacity around the TAG office. It also retains operational flexibility for a county-owned facility in the future. And with the purchase of this parcel, we maintain access and circulation around that building. So you can kind of see it would turn the alley there to the back. If somebody was to develop this in the future, it would basically turn it into a dead end, and we wouldn't be able to drive around the building like we currently do. Purchase agreement is for $260,000. We would pay our portion of the closing costs. We do have sufficient funds in the treasurer's auto license fund, and that is separate from the county's general operating fund. And I will stand for any questions. I would also make note that we have our county treasurer, Brandi Bailey, here in the audience if there's any questions for her.

Okay. Commissioner, do you have any questions? No. If we don't have any questions, I guess I'll make the motion to approve the agreement and authorize the chairman to sign.

Second.

Okay. Motion to second. Please call the roll.

Commissioner Meitzer. Aye. Commissioner Beatty.

Aye.

Commissioner Rowe.

Aye.

Commissioner Weiss. Aye. Chairman Blubaugh.

Aye. Motion passes 5-0. Next item, please.

Item L, consideration of a third extension of the data center's interim development control.

Good morning, Commissioners. Kirk Sponsor, Deputy County Councilor. The item before you today is consideration of a potential extension of the Aram Development Control for data centers. If you recall, on January 14th, 2026, we initially started this Aram Development Control. Purpose was to give the BOCC and staff time to fully review these types of applications. There have been two subsequent extensions of the Aram Development Control. Before you today is consideration of a third extension. I will say that staff have been diligently working on this item. I also want to acknowledge there are other interim development controls in place and that there are major projects that are reviewing as their ordinary course of business. I will also reference that Scott Whale provided a potential schedule for accomplishing the review at Friday's meeting. As part of your consideration today, the question of extension, there is a potential resolution for your consideration. As part of this resolution, it would further extend the Air and Development Control through December 24th of 2026, so slightly more than three months. Also, one other item I want to point out to you as part of the potential proposed language is a clarification that this interim development control going forward would not be focused on those data centers that are secondary in use or structure. And for that, I just want to expand on that a little bit. When we first set up this interim development control, I don't think anyone was really comfortable with... with how much we knew about data centers, with what shape they could take, with what purposes they could serve, things of that nature. And so there really was a broad pause on them. So this is more of a recalibration. This is a finessing of what the limitations and the suspension are going to be. And basically, this language that's being proposed would allow those... Data centers that are potentially smaller in nature that are secondary to the current primary uses of the property to be allowed without the further pause. With that, I certainly stand for any questions, points of clarification you all want to make.

Okay. Commissioners, I'm going to ask you if you have any questions or comments first. I am going to open this up to the public and let the public comment on this as well. So I'm going to go with commissioner questions first.

Thank you. I know we did have a pretty good review during the agenda review about this item, so if anybody wants to watch the discussion, it's available. But it seems to be reasonable. I think the Planning Commission is making progress, gathering information. We had a citizen, Karen, talk to us earlier about suggestions, and I think a lot of the stuff she was bringing up, I think, is under consideration, and it's very valuable. Again, my perspective is Kansas was a little late to the hyperscale. data center world nationwide, but it does allow the planning commission to look at best practices, look at and the state legislator able to put guardrails and whatever that is. I think all of that is We have an advantage that we can see what the problems are, some historically problem areas and outcomes. So the public knows that we're not just kicking it down the road. I know a lot of counties and in the state have just said a three-year ban or three-year moratorium and put it on the shelf, and I'm not sure that that's responsible governing from my perspective. So I'm glad that the Planning Commission is continuing, and I think they want to get visible with... like early drafts of requirements that everybody can see, we can all discuss. It's not going to be a deal where I think here's their plan and up or down vote on anything. It's going to be a good 90 days of some open dialogue when... planning when Scott and his group are ready to share the the initial findings of which we've not seen any initial findings yet other than information we get from all kinds of sources including the internet we get that anyway okay but I just wanted to comment so thank you so I'll be supportive of this extension

I wanted to ask you one thing that Karen did ask about is she was asking about all data centers or just hyperscale. What's the definition or the scope of it? Because I know we have data centers all over right now. I mean, about every entity has got a small server. So what's our definition there?

That's correct, Commissioner. Ultimately, going to the state of the question, it is on all types of data centers. It's not just hyperscale itself. I can pull up a definition here real quick of what we implemented and have run with historically in this. And so how we originally defined data centers... For purposes of the original resolution, data centers shall be generally construed as one or more buildings, facilities, or other sites that are constructed, reconstructed, enlarged, remodeled, leased, or used to principally house a group of networked computer servers for the storage, processing, management, and dissemination of data and information, or a substantially similar use." To your point, you know, with there being small data centers and things of that nature, there is a cognizance of that, and I think that is also part of the reason why some of the proposed language today does attempt to address that. If, for example, a very large business or tech company wanted to impose what could, under our definition, be considered a data center, We're going to say that's fine, our pause doesn't apply to that if it's secondary to the overall use or purpose of your business at that site. So we are trying to thread the needle, if you will, whereas we are still imposing the pause on those sites where this would be the primary use. Okay.

Because I think back 15 years ago when I was on the Goddard School Board and we built the Eisenhower High School, we built a small building behind it full of servers and air-cooled. I just want to make sure we don't want to – I mean, if we haven't had issues with those smaller projects in 15 years, I would hate to – you know, start making it more difficult. That's why I guess I want to have a good understanding as to some kind of size parameter or something rather than just a building.

Right. And like I alluded to, we are narrowing the scope of what the board is doing with the post language. But if we want to go a step further down the road and even say, hey, we only want to impose this serum development control on data centers above this size or something like that, we could certainly consider that as well. Commissioner Weiss.

Thank you, Chairman. That's exactly where I was going to go is the definition of what size or just the definition of what data center we're really worried about and talking about. I think the reality is we have data centers all over the place, but what we're getting hit with and what we're seeing in media and around the country are extremely large hyperscale sizes. And so my interest is figuring out what size would even be – considered here in Sedgwick County. And I need to understand how not only the users, the developers quantify that, but us as people that would have the impact, whether it's good or bad. Anyone that knows me well knows that I don't believe in fear-based decision-making, so as much information that we can have to understand what the true impact or threats might be as we consider data centers is what I hope to find when we get to see what the Planning Commission have been working on. At what date would these proposed regulations be public? Is that at this meeting on Friday that it would then be posted on the website, or how soon can we get this in the public's hands so they can review as well?

Yeah, and I see Scott Whale walking up, and I'll defer to him a little bit on the overall scheduling.

So the date that we're aiming for is September 24th with the MAPC advance plans. If we're able to have it published before then, we'll post it online as part of their agenda packet. If not, then we'll distribute it at that meeting, and that'll be the first time that we'll walk them through it at that meeting. Okay.

And that will be the first time that us commissioners would be looking at that as well? Or how soon do we get it in our possession?

That's correct. So we can distribute it at the same time. And because it's a public document, everyone will be getting it at the same time.

Okay. I appreciate that. And just to echo Commissioner Meitzner's comment, I appreciate the time that's been taken on it so far. I appreciate the time that we're going to be given to go through it ourselves. There's going to be a lot of, I'm learning the process to not have the back and forth, but how we can work through it efficiently and not just kick the can down the road. So I'm in no rush, but I am not wanting it to get put on the back burner either. So I appreciate the opportunity to extend and have time with the proposed regulations. Thank you.

Commissioner Howell. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. During the staff meeting, we talked about a different date early in 2027. What was that date we were contemplating?

Yes, sir. The date that was initially proposed was February 25th.

Do you know any particular reason why that date was chosen?

In particular, it was in between a couple of other interim controls that we have going on. Also, it was towards the end of the month, so it provided just a little bit more breathing room and facilities. Primarily, those were the reasons. The other thing, too, is that looking at holidays coming up at the end of the year as well. Sure.

And I guess that's one of my thoughts here. I know at staff meeting I was interested in kind of putting pressure on the process to keep moving forward, and I still think that's a good perspective. I'm not necessarily saying that's not a good thing to do here. But if this comes out on September 24th, as you suggested, it gives us about 13 weeks to – to look at that and to approve, potentially approve, whatever regulations that that represents. Again, I know we can always push it back again if we need to. But between September 24th and December 25th, that's 13 weeks if I counted correctly. Does that seem like enough time for us to do what we need to do to review that and have public meetings? I don't know. I'm not sure exactly what all we have planned during that time. That's what I'm wondering. And I know that, again, if we need more time, I know we can make more time. That's not a problem. But I'm just curious, does December 24th, is there any chance at all we would actually maybe get this done at that date? Or is that something that's kind of we know we're going to extend it, basically? What's the chance of us actually being able to be done on December 25th?

I would say no. It is possible. It's aggressive, but it is possible. Okay. I've not completely reworked. We've not completely reworked the schedule based on the conversation that took place on Friday. But we know that there are some things that we'll have to try and line up around the same time. For instance, there was discussion about getting a working group, or I forget what it was called, almost like a focus group, together and doing that around the same time as advanced plans is going through it. So scheduling things around the same time and parallel tracks will be important to this process. Also in the schedule that I provided on Friday, perhaps taking out one of the MAPC advanced plans will be an opportunity because what that does is in that allows us to go to MAPC sooner, which then would get us in front of, hopefully, Thanksgiving. So because the way that the holidays occur. Anyway, I'm going a little bit too far in depth. But just know that there's a couple of things that if we move this way and move that way, we may be able to make this work. But again, it will be an aggressive schedule.

I'm okay with the date. I think we have the option, again, of adjusting the date as we get closer to it if we feel like we need to change the date. I don't think there's anything magic about that date. I do think that December is really not the best month to have these types of discussions. There's just so much going on in terms of... You know, such a heavy lift, I guess, to do this and say we're basically going to essentially hand it to the public on December 25th and say, here, we're done. You know, Christmas present almost. It seems a little odd. It's like an odd date to do that. And again, I know the first couple of meetings in January are also not ideal for a couple of reasons. There's chairman elections. There's... We may not even have the same commission at that point. We don't know what's going to happen with the elections. I think that to plan anything the first two weeks of January would be not very wise. And so that third week of January becomes interesting to me. But then I'm looking at that saying you have other pressures I'm not thinking about. That's battery storage and the solar moratorium is also something that's percolating in the background. So we have to deal with those as well. I'm not sure there's a better date than... than what we're talking about today. I would say almost move the date to the earlier in December, but again, that adds pressure. If you think it's going to be sporty to do this on the end of December, it's going to be worse if we moved it to the left, so that's not going to work. I'm just not sure that December 25th is the right date. That's all I'm saying. To my colleagues, I'm not sure what we should do here. I'm okay with sticking with it, knowing we can change it. I just don't have a lot of confidence that this is the right date. I would not mind moving this to January 22nd. Just know that there's an option. Any other questions?

I guess, real quick, I'll just add on that I'm open as well. I understand, too, that if I'm not comfortable, I will ask to extend it again and again until I have the answers and work through the regulations and feel comfortable. Again, I like keeping a closer target. I want to keep everybody moving and focused on it because we can be distracted by other really important things that are happening at the county as well. So I don't know if anybody else wants to add to it, but I'm okay with approving this, knowing that we can extend as needed. I'm also okay if others want to adjust it.

If we don't have any other discussion, I want to go ahead and... Ask the public to comment, and then we can come back and discuss it again. If anyone from the public would like to partake in this conversation, please come up to the podium and state your name and address for the record.

Good morning, commissioners. Caitlin Gruenbacher out of West Sedgwick County, 5901 North 199th Street West. We appreciate the extension. As you know, our community has been extremely engaged in this discussion. I think the bulk of the pressure for our area will be in the rural communities. I appreciate the consideration of another extension. I think it's extremely warranted at this point. I will just say I have been involved in watching Scott and his staff They are working really hard. They are working really hard on a lot of things. All at the same time, we're getting hit with the solar. We're getting hit with the best. We're getting hit with the data centers. We may potentially be getting hit with another large subject coming at us very quickly. I'll know more on that at the end of the month. I would ask that the commission does extend past December. The community wants to be engaged. I think that when you have that date at December 23rd, that really puts a lot of pressure on those last two weeks before the 23rd, which is when everybody's enjoying the holidays. If we have kids, I know I generally have a sick kid in that time frame as well. Families are already strained during that time frame. And like I said, a lot of the community wants to be engaged. And I think... It just takes time, unfortunately. The more time that we can have to engage those people, I think the better off we're going to be. It may have slipped your mind, but we did just have 11 and a half hour meeting on solar. I think we all want to avoid that again. So I think taking our time up front to do this right is honestly going to benefit everybody in the long run. So I would just ask that, again, appreciate any extension we can get and all of the community engagement that that you guys allow us to have. But I would ask for a different date beyond December 23rd.

Thank you. Do we have any other speakers? I guess I'm looking, and I know we kind of got into this discussion as staff, but remind me again our deadlines for our solar moratorium and the VSS battery. What's all on your plate, Scott?

well while they're figuring it out determined on the solar regulation I think we had agreed that we were going to put that regulation back into the hands of the Commission and we were going to staff that in fairly short order so sometime in the next two to six weeks we'll staff that The deadline on batteries, I'm going to have to look around. It's March 11th of 2027. OK.

What's the date?

March 11th of 2027. For solar? For the best.

For best, okay.

Solar is currently December 11th.

Okay. And I guess my idea on the solar is I appreciate the staff meeting. I would like to have something similar to what we did with the data centers earlier this year where I would like to get the landowners involved in a room, some of the neighbors in a room, maybe one of the applicants in the room. I would like to get everyone and try to have a discussion with everyone in the room and I'd like to bring to the table the folks that we just denied.

We can shape that meeting however the Commission chooses to shape it. I think the The crux of it was that we didn't necessarily want to go back to Scott's table again, though, because they'd been through it once. So we can shape the preliminary meeting. Ultimately, it has to come to the commission for decision. But we can shape a community meeting however you choose to shape it.

I get what you're saying. You're compartmentalizing it to just a commission rather than going back to us. Right. Okay. I think that was the agreement. I think that's what the commission came up with. Okay. No, no, no. That sounds...

I also wanted to mention on... data centers. I don't think the intention for staff is to just spring it on somebody on Christmas Eve. That's not the intention here. I think the public's going to see this, as Scott mentioned, by end of September. We're going to have weeks to chew on this. We had talked about on Friday reforming a version of the committee that looked at this four or five months ago, 10 people or so, that would sit down and receive a template from advanced plans, which will be 50% to 70% probably where we need to go and then finish off the rest of that. I think, I agree with Commissioner Howell, if we're simply going to go through process and wait on advance plans, I think December is unrealistic. But if you start to engage multiple fronts on this and you have a citizen group looking at it while advance plans are still looking, we can expedite this and get it to commission faster. So I just want to make it clear that the public is going to see this when Scott puts it out, and that's when the debate begins. That's when the fund begins, right, on then finalizing and finishing the, what do you want to call it, policy regulation guidelines, whatever we're going to call it. You finish that off and then bring it back to commission for a final decision. That's the intention going forward. Okay.

Justin, is there such a thing as – because our motion is kind of broad here. Is there such a thing as saying, hey, we have a checkpoint on 12-2 as an action item at our county commission meeting on December 2nd to decide – help me out here. I'm just looking, is there any action we could take? Hey, on 12-2, we're going to be able to know whether we're going to be able to close to this or extend, or is that just going to muddy the waters?

Justin Wagner, County Council Chairman, I think that's a fair question. And I tend to think you could, it wouldn't even necessarily have to be in your resolution or motion language. Let's say, for example, you did adopt the resolution as proposed or with an alternative date in mind. You could always have an understanding or consensus amongst commissioners to discuss this on December 2nd and kind of do a check-in. Realistically, that's probably a time by which I would imagine that if things aren't already fully in motion, you're going to have a potential extension coming up anyways. If we're talking about the December date, if it was extended to January, then that might be earlier. But I think it's fine to schedule that. I think if you wanted to include it in your motion, there's a I think Kirk's talking to somebody else, to Scott right now, but I don't think there's any reason that couldn't be in there to say, hey, we're going to have a check-in on December 2nd to discuss the direction that the county wants to take on data centers and the interim development control resolution. But I think it'd be fine to just have a consensus as well that you're just going to have an agenda item that day to talk about it. Maybe just get a head nod from the commissioners.

We're going to talk about it again on 12-2.

And for the record, I heard a yeah from Commissioner Beatty, I think. I mean, our other commissioners. I mean, to the chairman, if that's your point, if there would be a record, I think it would be useful.

Okay. Commissioner Howell. Thank you, Chairman. I think that what we ought to do in reference to your recommendation is still – define the end of this as planned. So we don't, you know, I don't want on December the 2nd to say in three weeks we're ending this whole thing. I think that's not fair to the public. I would like to declare our intent is 12-23. whatever the right date is to say there. But we're going to take a look at this on 12-2 and with the intent of potentially extending this if we feel like we're not going to be ready on 12-23. So again, I think the public has to have both dates. We're going to reconsider it potentially on the 2nd, but if nothing changes, it will be considered for adoption on the 23rd.

I agree with both of you. I think 12-2, you will know by then whether we are in a green light status or we're still in yellow. I think it makes perfect sense to designate that. That's a Wednesday, so that'll be a BOCC meeting. By that time, the public and the commission and advance plans will have had another entire two months, October and November, to look at this. I think we'll know if we're close or not. Commissioner Wise.

Scott, you're the perfect one I wanted up to answer this question. Is there any chance that September 24th, we do not have this copy and the public does not have this copy?

No. We can be assured. Is there a chance? Well, yeah, there's always a chance, but my absolute intent is to get a draft out, even if it's got our comments on it and it's not fully, like not all the issues are fully resolved. Um, It's my commitment to get that out there so at least there's a public document so that people can start the debates and deliberation on it.

Because I don't think that if that's delayed by even a short time, I think this date is delayed as well. And so what I want to make sure of is that we don't commit to this date and then we don't actually have as much time with these documents as what we're planning on today.

And I do want to manage expectations on it. It's my intent that the document right away, right now, even before this meeting, there will be text that it will look like a normal document. But there will be sections where there's that choose your own adventure where it's, We've inserted A in there, but there's B and C that you could choose. So I just want people to understand that what they're going to get on the 24th is not a final document by any means. It is a start to the conversation. And if it's helpful, I would also add that the date that was discussed was December 16th for the BOCC meeting. So I know the later in December is because of the publication date, but the actual meeting for the BOCC was tentatively identified as December 16th.

Okay, so you would say that the document should be 75% complete?

Or more. I think it's, you know, when we got the solar document the first time, I think that was 90 to 95% there. And then the commission still went in and made final tweaks. And now we're going back and we understand that we have to make tweaks again. I don't think this one's going to be as close. This is so much more complicated, so many more moving pieces. I think if Scott can get us a 75% document, that would be fantastic. And then we go in and just finish it up.

Okay. Thank you.

Commissioner Redding. Hey, Scott or Kirk, Justin, somebody. I just got a message just for public clarity. We have a joint planning department with the city of Wichita. So we're passing resolutions, and we're going to try to put in some regulations that are dealing with Sedgwick County. What is the City of Wichita's role going to be in this, and what are their options after they get the document that we are going to eventually pass here?

Yeah, so first and foremost, we have a joint zoning code with the City of Wichita. As part of that zoning code, it specifically says basically that the governing body, when you adopt something, it applies to the territory that you are responsible for. So in this case, whatever the BOCC wants to adopt in relation to data centers, would be controlling for the unincorporated areas of Sedgwick County. We don't need city approval for that. Now, what the city of Wichita could do and stare in practice by MAPD is to present both items to the governing bodies. Traditionally, both bodies do traditionally accept it. Now, the city of Wichita, I... Confident that this would be presented to them as well after BOCC made their deliberations and made their action. And the state of Wichita has a few options. They could take no action. They could adopt it as well and have it apply to within the city limits, things of that nature.

Okay. So just to be clear for the public, what we pass is not going to have bearing on without City of Wichita approval in the city limits, City of Wichita. Inversely, City of Wichita is not going to have any governing authority about what this document does in the unincorporated parts of our county, correct? That is correct. And that goes for other cities too, correct? The city limits, all 20 cities. Okay. That's correct. Just want to make sure. Thanks.

Okay. Commissioner Howell. That does bring up a good point. I had a question from someone. I won't tell you who it was, but they asked this joint code, it doesn't necessarily apply to other cities besides Wichita. Correct. So if a city wanted to just annex whatever property they wanted to, this currently may be unincorporated, and create space for them to do whatever they wanted to do outside this code, they would have the right to do so? Yes. All right. Thank you.

Okay.

Any other questions or comments?

Okay. I'm going to make a motion, and I'm going to look at you, Justin, to tell me whether... Do we have... Oh, do we? Okay. Thank you. Okay, I move that the Board approve the extension of the Data Center Interim Development Control through December 24th, 2026 with a checkpoint on December 2nd, 2026 for a discussion by the BOCC. and the attached resolution and authorized the publication of the resolution. My motion is based on the following reasons that I believe the three-month extension keeps the topic at a central focus for the county. The public discussion around data centers emphasizes the importance of the topic. And staff believe that it is appropriate and advisable to extend the interim development control. That is my motion.

Second. Okay.

I have a motion and a second. Any questions about the motion?

No questions.

Mr. Ralph? Again, based on the December 16th date that was presented by staff, just to remind me that we're going to adopt this on the 16th if we move forward. That gives us two weeks from that checkpoint. Is that enough time for us to realize whether we're going to go forward? I anticipate we're going to know before that. I think that, I guess my question is this. Do we have the right then, before December 2nd, if we begin to realize that we're not going to make the 16th, can we not come in and say, we're going to push this back another 90 days or whatever we wanted to do at that point?

Commissioner Hal Justin White, our county councilor, It wouldn't limit the board from potentially taking up an item before that if they would wish to do so. It just essentially set a checkpoint on December 2nd is how I understood the motion to operate. So I think you're correct. If there was a will from staff to bring an item forward or the board wanted to bring an item forward to consider this before December 2nd, I think that would still be fair game.

Okay. Then that's fine. Thank you. Okay. And I just want the public to know that whenever we're reading from a motion here, we have options. Just like with the solar, we have options to accept. There are tons of different. It's kind of like a la carte. You can pick and choose. Nothing is scripted. Nothing is decided ahead of time. So I just want the public to know that. So we have a motion and a second. Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Commissioner Meisner. Commissioner Beatty.

Aye.

Commissioner Weiss. Aye. Chairman Blubaugh.

Aye. Motion passes 5-0. Next item.

Other.

Commissioners, do we have anything on other? Okay. Next item.

Executive session.

We do not have an executive session. Meeting adjourned at 1024.