City Council - Regular Meeting

[snorts] You guys ready? You guys ready? Good evening and welcome to the January 12th, 2026 meeting of the city count city council. I'm M I'm Mayor Mickey Sander and I will be chairing this meeting. I'll do a roll call at this time. Council member Reynolds,

present. Council member Whitted, present. Council member Pearson, present. Council member Murphy, present. Council member Napp, present. Council member Rainey, Council Member Birfield, present. Council, Council Member Alred, present. Thank you. Please join me for the pledge of allegiance, followed by a moment of silence. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the stand indivisible with liberty for all.

Thank you. Next, I'd like to explain our procedures for public input. In an effort to enhance re residents ability to present information to the governing body, anyone interested in in addressing the governing body is strongly encouraged to sign up to speak by noon on the day of the meeting, but that is not required. Information has been posted online about how to sign up. By policy, comments are limited to five minutes and no person may speak more than once to any one agenda item. Only comments related to city business are permitted. Disruptive acts are not permitted as per policy number seven and will not be tolerated. Additional comments may be submitted to the entire governing body at via email at governingbody cityshun.org. Next on the agenda is consent agenda. Is there anyone on the council like to remove anything from the consent agenda?

See none. I'll accept a motion. Move to approve the consent agenda. Sarah. Second. I've got a motion in a second on this item. All those in favor say I. Oppos? Nay. Motion passes. Next item on the agenda is business from the floor. Is there anyone signed up to speak? Yes, mayor. We had three pre-register. The first is Alex Valdez. Okay. Please come up to the podium and when you're finished, put your name and number on the uh pad next to the on the podium there. You have five minutes,

sir. Hello. My name is Alexander Valdez and I'm a resident here in this uh city of Shaunie. I want to thank my fellow residents uh for taking the time out of their busy lives to come and voice their opinions and concerns to our elected officials. Uh change is takes effort and it's facilitated by the voices of all those around us. So thanks again for coming guys. Um as an American citizen, I have great pride in the freedoms and rights afforded to us in our country of the safety and security that is supposed to be provided by our systems of law and due process. There is a social contract that is formed between the persons within this country and the government that runs it. We agree to accept certain laws and rules in our society. We pay taxes. We respect the life, liberty, and property of others. In exchange, the government has a duty to provide stability, to defend the rights and liberties of all its people, and to foster a society that promotes growth, safety, and the opportunity for self- betterment. This is the quintessential American dream. Any anyone from any walk of life can be in America and succeed. This social contract, this American dream is one of the greatest things that makes America America. Unfortunately, this American ideal is being dismantled and eroded by the actions of the federal government and other agents within the Department of Immigration and Custom Reform uh enforcement, also known as ICE. As many of you are aware of the terrible incident that took place last week, January 7th, you and you've seen the disturbing footage, Renee Nicole Good, a mother of three children and former Kansas City resident and Christian missionary, was murdered by an ICE agent who repeatedly shot her in the face. Uh she was called a an explicitive uh by the same agent who uh did not give any immediate medical treatment to the ICE agent or to the um to Nicole. Uh, and then those same ICE agents barred local physician from attempting to render aid. Renee died at the scene. Renee Nicole Good was an American citizen, not an illegal immigrant, not a capital criminal, not a drug trafficker. She was a law-abiding American citizen

who had no other public criminal record outside of traffic violations. She was shot dead in the streets in front of her wife and left to die by the same government that is um that was and still is obligated to protect her and her family. And Mrs. Good is not the only one. What is stopping this type of grizzly injustice from occurring in our community? The fourth amendment of the Constitution states that the right of the people is to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable surges and seizures and that shall not be violated. The fifth amendment states that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, property without due process of law. And the 14th amendment states that no state shall make or enforce any law that shall bridge the privileges or immunities of citizens within the United States, nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without the due process of law, nor deny any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of laws. These amendments also encompass non US citizens. And with these protections and without these protections, the government could arrest anyone for anything. Each and every member of this council as well as our local law enforcement um have taken the oath to uphold the constitution and protect and serve the members of our community. This social contract that you have entered as being duly elected public officials demands this duty be uphold upheld thoroughly and exhaustively. Before I ask my questions, I would like to recite the 1946 quote from the German pastor Martin E- Mhler condemning German leadership role Germans in leadership roles and their complicity regarding the nazification of their country of the church and of the subsequent subjugation of the peoples within. When the Nazis came for the communists, I kept quiet. I wasn't a communist. When they came for the trade unionists, I kept quiet. I wasn't a trade unionist

when they locked up the social democrats. I kept quiet. I wasn't a social democrat when they locked up the Jews. I kept quiet. I wasn't a Jew. When they came for me, there was no one left to protest. With this quote in mind, my questions are as follows. With ICE being present in the Kansas City metro, how does this council propose to protect us from the unlawful abductions and the extrajudicial killings of American citizens by the federal government and ICE agents? Will you direct our local law enforcement to comply and assist with ISIS illegal operations? And how will this council respond to pressure from the state, federal, or county governments to comply with ISIS initiatives? Thank you.

Thank you. Who else do you have? Next is John Michael Gupio.

Uh, mayor and council members, thanks for having me here tonight. Um, I come here because I have been witnessing for several years, um, what I think is a really dangerous situation at between Flum and 67th Street. Uh, going southbound every morning. Uh, my wife and I have been nearly run off the road there. Um, kids rushing to get to school will go into oncoming traffic and drive to get onto 67th Terrace to cut through the neighborhood. Um, and they're driving through there like it's a racetrack. [clears throat and cough] Um, you know, in talking to some of the members in my neighborhood, I learned that my neighbor's best friend died at that intersection when he was in high school. Now, you know, I I I'm not a fan of writing tickets and doing all that stuff. I think some of that is beyond what it needs to be, but safety should be paramount. I see police officers parked on Shauny Mission Parkway regularly waiting for people to drive by and give tickets, but I never see a police presence at that intersection. Never. And it starts from Flum all the way up to 67th because those lanes merge. It is like a drag strip going through there in the mornings. And uh you know, I got a 14-year-old daughter who's permitted to learn how to drive right now. and the example she witnesses every morning when your mother when her mother or I take her to school is not the example I want her seeing in our community. Um it's just a matter of time before something else happens there. Um I have a friend that lives on the second house of that street, 67th Terrace, he's got two young boys. The way people are going through that street in the morning to try to race to school, they they don't know what they're risking, you know, and heaven forbid somebody gets hit, somebody dies. Not only do we lose that life, um the person that hits them has to live with that for the rest of their life, which

is massive punishment, right? And so I think we owe it to the community to have a police presence there. Consider maybe I don't know how you guys write laws with respect to traffic and signage and all that other stuff. I I'm I'm not trying to be an expert in that, but it seems logical that somebody should take a look at it and see if something has to change. Um because it is it is dangerous. It is very dangerous. We've got, you know, 15 16 year old kids driving in our community and they got 4,000 pounds behind them and they're late to school and they're putting everybody else at risk. And [clears throat] uh it's my first time here, so if anything I'm doing I didn't have like professional speech or anything. Um, but I really would just beg you guys to, you know, whether it's the cops come show up a couple mornings and just watch or you guys yourselves take a take a trip over there if you haven't already in the morning just to see what it's like. I only see the five minutes that I go through. I can't imagine what it is for 30. So, um, you know, just please, you know, put it somewhere on a list of agenda items to evaluate because I don't think any one of us want to be uh, you know, sitting here reading the news uh, when someone gets taken out. Appreciate you guys.

And Paul, you take note of that. Yes, we're taking note of it. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, next on the agenda. And next, mayor, we have Jean Cinnac.

Phone number or address. It ask for address. Just

phone number and address. Thank you. I'm Jean Senac. I live in THAA. I'm retired. Um, I enjoy looking at numbers and I've looked at a lot of city budgets just because personal finance is very important to me. I think we're in a very difficult environment right now for a lot of people with some of the things that we've had going on. Um, so I just want to make a few general comments. I looked, I would say somewhat in depth at your finance statement last night, the city's financials, just to gain an understanding as I've looked at some other cities as well. I just want to go through and make a few comments of of what I saw there. First of all, whoever prepares that document and puts it online, you do a very good job. I think that I don't know if I'm looking at finance over here, but uh I would tell you that that's one of the mostformational and explanatory finance documents that I see out there. So, kudos to you for that. I see a lot of infrastructure focus there, which I think is very good. I'm I'm heavy on infrastructure as well. I think it's very important that it doesn't get the glitz and glamour that some of the other items do, but yet it's critical. you ever turn on the faucet and you didn't have clean portable water, you would certainly want to know what the heck have we overlooked here. So, it's it's a very good area to have focus. Um, speaking to the city, I see you've got 72,000 residents. Uh, 18,000 or 55 plus are about 25% of the population. I think that's really a telling tale for what we have to address in the years ahead of us.

We've got a what a birth rate that's down significantly. We know that that's the largest growing demographic out there. Healthc care is so very important. There's a lot of other services that go along with being retired too that you come to expect. Being able to stay in your home is certainly an objective. And we've seen a lot of areas where we've had senior housing added. um forbid that you have to go into it, but it's very expensive and like I say, it's the last thing that you want to have to do. I see you have a 10-year CIP. A lot of other cities that I look at, they have five years. So again, kudos to you guys for having a 10 year. I think it's very important and I'm sure other people are looking at their infrastructure beyond five years certainly because it's got a life that extends well beyond that. But you put it right out there in the open. I think that's great that you've done that. 358 full-time employees and I believe it's correct that I saw mention I don't remember where I saw but I said 7% turnover. I think I probably got that right. I think I pulled it right out of your out of your numbers. I read that and and 7% would I would say looks low. Uh 14 openings currently are about 3.9% of your workforce. I do see that you as I see in some other budgets, I see a forward um a forward number used for personnel compensation. Having come from corporate, I would state that that looks quite unusual to me to forecast several years in advance of of where you would budget compensation. I think that compensation needs to be tied to the performance that's done by the individual. And there's some or it could be more or less. Maybe you're using it only as a target in a general sense, but I would also challenge that it may set a false expectation and maybe you should, if I were doing it, I would reconsider putting something like that in writing.

As with other uh city budgets, from what I see, it looks like you have excellent benefits. So, I think there's value to be gained by working for the city. Low turnover is a plus. I would, you know, in in any corporate um wage structure and I think the same thing as you see in city, I I see a lot of talk about keeping up with what's going on elsewhere and it almost feels as it's if it's a a leaprog within the industry itself or within city budgets and I would challenge that when we're talking about doing reviews of of salary that it needs to be looked at in terms of the performance of the individual and focus on the areas that maybe are non-competitive because in this environment right now, I'm going to say that not many people are jumping around and it's it's not a case of I think that the turnover is happening at the higher levels. It's at the lower levels and those are the areas that probably need to be addressing the most. I [clears throat] see a forward forecast on your taxes of 3.4 to 4.9% a year. Certainly, property taxes are high on everybody's minds right now. I would even go so far as to say they're unsustainable in terms of the path that we've taken. And that's why I would challenge all cities to look very closely at what their budgets are in line item cases to look for areas that you can possibly save and help the homeowners in in their own budgets because I think it's going to be difficult yet for a couple years ahead of this. Thanks for receiving my comments. Thank you. Anyone else?

Mayor, that's all that's pre-registered.

Anyone in the audience like to speak on business on the floor? See none. Next item, mayor's items, and I don't have anything this evening. And the next item on the agenda are items from the planning commission meeting December 1st, 2025. Item number one is to consider approving an ordinance for RZ25-05 to reszone approximately 7.41 41 acres of agricultural agricultural to single family residential for the Lysm fields. Is that right? Lisio,

if I'm close close enough and subdivision, a six lock single family residential development proposed in the 5900 block of Alden Street. Paul, thank you. Mr. Mayor Doug Alman, our community development director, will handle this item. [clears throat]

Good evening everyone. I will just give a very brief project overview and then open it up to questions for myself and I believe the applicant is here as well. As the mayor said, the applicant does propose to construct a single family residential subdivision in the 5900 block of Alden. This is on just over seven acres. Uh the proposed preliminary plat will include six single family residential lots and one tract. Three of those lots will be accessed by a private culde-sac connection on Johnson Drive. And the intent of that is to limit driveway access directly to Johnson Drive on that very busy street. Uh there are no previous approvals or entitlements for this larger parcel. However, the existing single family home directly at the southwest corner of Johnson and Alden was reszoned from Aged R1 and split out over the from the overall parent tract in February of 2025. That existing home and lot are not part of this requested resoning. The subject site is designated as traditional residential neighborhood within our achieve Shaune comprehensive plan. Uh based on this and the development and the resoning are in compliance with the city's comprehensive plan. Reszoning of the property for single family uses will not have a detrimental effect upon the surrounding area. The property has uh been developed with a single family home in the past and the creation of six large lots for new single family homes is compatible with existing residential development patterns in the area.

[snorts]

A public hearing was held on this item at the December 20 at the December 1st, 2025 planning commission meeting. Uh the planning commission heard testimony from two folks who live to the south staff and the applicant was able to answer those questions believe adequately and based on that the planning commission unanimously concluded use of the property for large single family homes did make sense uh based on the existing development patterns in the area. For this, as it is an a reszoning, an ordinance is required. No protest petition was submitted. So that means that for this to be approved, it requires five votes or five votes to remand the request back to the planning commission or six votes to deny the request by overwriting the recommendation of the planning commission. Uh at that same December 1st meeting, as I said, the planning commission did vote 90 unanimously and recommended that the governing body approve the resoning subject to the conditions and the planning commission staff report. With that, I would open it up to any questions. I would say that the applicant is here as well. Anyone have any questions for staff? Anyone signed up for this? Anyone in the audience like to speak on this issue? Hearing none. I'll accept a motion.

I move to approve. Have a motion. Second. Have a motion and a second on this item. All those in favor say I. I. Oppos? Nay. Motion passes. Next item on the agenda, staff items. Item number one is to consider approving 2026 Fire and Police Department annual physicals. Oh, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Our fire chief, Rick Potter, will handle this item. We also have our police chief, Sam Larson, here if there are any questions about the police department's role in this item. Chief,

thank you, Mr. City Manager, mayor, members of council. Thank you. This is uh a request this evening to approve the payment for our annual physicals. These are part of our annual process. It's part of our health and wellness program. firefighters are exposed to a lot of uh additional carcinogens um in as part of the regular role or duties that we do in extinguishing fires. Um, additionally, the police department is also exposed to many of those same uh chemicals as they're responding with us. So, part of the deal, we've been using LifeScan for uh a few years now. And the advantage to this is that they come into we host them in our facility and we can reduce the amount of we don't have to pay overtime because our firefighters do it while they're on duty and they're in our location as well. So we've saved quite a bit that way. Uh it's also very flexible, very customizable. So the fire department can get the labs that we need, those that are appropriate for our risk, our hazards, but the police department can also look at those and request the labs that are more specific to the inherent risks that are in their line of work as well. So this is something that we've done. the amount per physical has gone up to the point where now that exceeds um the cap each year that we need to do as part of our regular and this is already in our budget that was presented last year. Um and so our request is that you would approve that uh for us to do this year and I would be ready for any questions. Any have any questions? 90,000 for police and 90,000 for fire or 90,000 in total

combined. Okay. And then when they come to you, will you do it all at the fire department or is that going to be like set up a time at the police station, set up a time at the fire station? So, we have different time for both. Uh it takes about 3 weeks to to get all of them worked in, but they are all housed. Um we do them at station 72, so it's right next door to the police department. Um, so but we do host them um in our building. They're able to do them, but it takes about three weeks to get it done. All right. Thank you. You're welcome.

I don't have a question, Chief. I just wanted to say um thank you for always prioritizing the health of your staff um and also the police department. I think it's really important that we are taking these extra steps to make sure they receive kind of that advanced screening and uh can get any support and help that they need for their health conditions as a result of what they're doing for us in the city of Shaunie. So, no question, just thank you.

You're welcome. And that's uh for Chief Larson and myself, that's in our staffs. We view the opportunity of catching something early uh increases a chance of success in a successful outcome. Also reducing the costs. It's not just about money, but that is a factor as well. But the bigger piece is we believe it'll have a better chance of success if we can catch something early. Thank you. Anyone else? Anyone sign up for this? Anyone? Any audience like to speak on this issue? Hearing none, I'll accept the motion. Laurel. Move to approve here. Second. I have a motion and a second on this item. All those in favor say I.

I. Oppos? Nay. Motion passes. Item number two is to consider final order to contract number 2025-061 with Infrastructure Solutions LLC for the Lake Crest and 55th Terrace and Brown Ridge CMP replacement project. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The next two items will be handled by Kevin Manning, our public works director.

Good evening. Both items tonight will be final change orders. This first one is for the Lake Crescent 55th Terrace and Brown Ridge SMAC program. So this is one of the projects that we received basically 50% funding from the county. It's basically kind of two locations as you can see on your screen rolled into one. So projects are complete. Um and there's basically a reduction in quantity. So we didn't basically need to do as much work as originally anticipated. So that ended up being a a reduction in cost of $18,919.50 for a final contract amount of $480,811.50. So that's what you're approving tonight is that final change order.

Okay. Anyone have any questions? Anyone sign up for this? Anyone like in the audience like to speak on this hearing? None. I'll take a motion. Always glad to move to approve for the fact that we save money. Have a motion and a second on this item. All those in favor say I. I.

Oppos? Nay. Motion passes. Item number three is to consider approving change order number three to contract number 2023-082 with Infrastructure Solutions LLC for the 2024 annual storm water pipe repair project. Paul once again Kevin Manning.

So on this item if you're aware these um this particular program the pipe repair program is basically once again a collaboration of kind of many projects around the city. And so obviously we're well out of 2024 right now, but essentially what happens on these sometimes and on this particular one, we kind of had a project we ended up adding on to this a sinkhole that formed in early 2025. So we ended up doing that work and then you know we didn't come back and do restoration until the fall and so ends up can kind of delaying the end of the contract. So the the vast majority of this work has been done for some time now, but this is why it's just coming before you now. So, um, this item before you tonight is a reduction in cost of $119,47.72 for a final contract amount of $1,918,5858. And so, once again, that you're approving that final change order tonight. Thank you for your guys' work. Anybody have any questions? Anyone sign up for this? Anyone in the audience like to speak on this hearing? None. I'll accept a motion. Oral

move to approve. Okay, Eric. Second. Have a motion and a second on this item. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed? Nay. Motion passes. Next item on the agenda is miscellaneous items. Item number one is to ratify the semionthly claims for January 12th, 2026 in the amount of 10,738,27212. Anyone have any signed up for this? Anyone in the audience like to speak on this? Hearing none except accept a motion. Somebody Laurel move to approve. Aaron second.

Have a motion and a second on this item. Any anybody? All those in favor say I. I. Oppos? Nay. Motion passes. Item number two is miscellaneous council items. Paul, do you have anything? Yes, I have a couple quick updates since it's been a while since we've all been together. For the first update, I'm going to ask our assistant city manager, Lauren Grasshoff, to come up and give you a quick update on the property tax rebate program.

All right, good evening. Um, we just wanted to fill you in on how we're going to do outreach for this year's property tax rebate program. It was started in 2022. Um really this is a targeted approach to reach those homeowners within the community that um have a higher cost burden uh for their housing. So we um are do are provide it's a property tax rebate of the city property taxes only. Um it's 100% up to $500 and it does uh require the uh owner occupied residents of their home uh current on their property taxes and it does have an income uh threshold as well. So the application period started on January 2nd and actually was extended this year to go to May 15th. Um with the outreach, we are really trying to double down this year because um the funding for this program was doubled um with the 2026 budget that was approved by the city council. So we're uh kind of exploring just our our regular outreach avenues with our all things hometown newsletter, social media and then our e newswsletters. Uh but really then trying to focus on um that direct outreach. Uh so we are actually started today are doing cross trainining within different departments to help with work sessions to fill out applications to review the rebate applications so that we can um get a little bit ahead of processing just as well as providing any assistance with those. Uh we have one already planned one of those work sessions here at city hall at the end of January and we're looking at other areas and opportunities to get into the community to host those. We will uh provide additional updates on the exact location time of those, but being flexible with timing, locations, uh getting out to the the different community members. Uh also

looking at direct mailers um within areas that we know we have probably a high probability of um those cost burden homes. So, postcards, uh, we just did a direct mailer for our, um, some additional programs, sending the applications to previous applicants. Um, so assuming they're eligible and again providing that ease of opportunity to take advantage of this program. Uh and then also uh as mentioned kind of that direct outreach flyers within all of our different city facilities, um grocery stores, libraries, those places where sort of there's community gathering and then outreach within our connections within the religious communities. Uh so this is kind of our our path moving forward this year. Like I said, we do have double the funding for this program. So we are hoping to um capture even more residents that can take um be have use of this program. We had about 90 participants last year. We would love to to double that. Uh we also are looking forward to 2027. We have expressed to Johnson County um partnering with them. They run a an ex almost exact uh program. they have the same eligibility criteria, same applications, um work on the same timeline as far as um accepting those applications. So, we think it could be a good partnership potentially in 27 of just having one application to qualify for the different uh city and county rebates. So, it is something we're working on and hope to move forward in 2027.

Thank you. Anyone have any questions? Well, Lauren, go ahead. Right. Thank you for that update, Lauren, and thank you to the entire team for putting such an emphasis on this program. I think you know that it's a priority of all of ours to make sure that this is successful and reaches more people. So, thank you for all the energy you're putting into it. Um, I think I heard you say that some of the uh external entities you're partnering with include like our faith community. And does that also include those social service agencies that we provide like CDBG dollars to and those that we know are on the front lines of serving those who may benefit from this program?

Yeah, so that's absolutely um a great contact and a resource that we do have within our CDBG programs to let those uh those service agencies know about this program. Absolutely. Yeah. Just a quick question. Since you mentioned Johnson County, are they able currently this year to get both the Johnson County rebate and a rebate with the city or is it one or the other?

Yeah. So, because ours is just the county, theirs is just their county property tax. Um, and actually, it's probable that homeowners might also qualify for a state property tax uh rebate as well. So, there are uh opportunities for residents to use multiple rebates. Um and that is actually something we are going to um advertise as well is just some additional resources if residents do need those. Thank you. Anyone else? Okay. Is there anyone on the council have any items to discuss? I have two more. Sorry. Oh, go ahead.

It's okay. I I'll make them quick. They're quick updates. Um since we last met, there's been a large announcement related to uh the Chiefs, and I'm not here to talk about the Chiefs, how the deal works or anything like that. However, the city of Shaunie was included in a map that was made public by the Department of Commerce. So, I just had a couple comments about uh items that have come to my attention and I believe um some of yours. So, first off, I don't know anything more than has been made publicly um and so I think there's a lot of work over the next six to nine months on due diligence. So, any questions about bonds or anything like that would be out of my purview. So, what I'm going to do is just hit on a few things directly related to the city of Shaunie and our ability to provide services to our residents. The first one that comes up the the most is local sales tax. The city of Shaunie levies a total local sales tax of 1.625%. That's a 1% general sales tax, an eighth cent for parks and pipes, an eighth of a cent for public safety, and 38 of a cent for Shauny pavement tax. None of this local sales tax revenue is included or at risk of being included in any Starbond project. Two other local cities I think have been in the news about being asked to consider to pledge a local portion of their sales tax or a portion of their local sales tax. Shaunie is not one of them and unless directed by the governing body which I do not foresee. Uh Shaunie will not be taking any action related to our local sales tax and there are no plans again for Shaunie to consider any local sales tax pledge. Second item that I've been asked about is the local or the alcohol tax revenue. The alcohol tax is collected by the state and remitted back to the city. And this tax could legally be retained by the state. The city has communicated to the Department of Commerce and Lieutenant Governor and all of our delegation that we have a strong preference that this revenue, which is approximately 1.3 million annually, continue to be fully retained by the city of Shaunie to allow us to use it for the the resources we've been using it for to this date. And then finally, being included in the district. Um it

was a bit of a surprise that Shaunie was included in the district. Um, our concern there is once an area is included in an active Starbond district, it cannot be used for another Starbond project. The current draft map does include the entire city of Shaunie within the district and this could prevent the city from using starbonds as a tool in the future. We don't have anything on the horizon, but it is a tool. Um, some cities have multiple Starbond projects and we are asking the state for some flexibility so that tool is not taken out of the toolbox. [snorts] The city has communicated this directly to the state. So again, no decisions um have been finalized at this time and my pledge to the governing body and the public is we will continue to work with the state with the primary goal of protecting the city of Shauny's revenues, preserving future economic development tools for Shaunie residents and businesses. That's all I had on that.

Thank you. Anyone on the council have any items they'd like to discuss? I have one more unless there's any questions on

you said there was no more. I have one more unless there's any questions on this. Okay. So, the final thing was before the break, uh, Commissioner Nappen brought up the, uh, 70 issue. So, I wanted to give a quick update on steps taken to date. Uh, Colin and I have raised the concerns regarding this with the city's full state legislative delegation, including representatives and senators. We've worked with Representative Steen to explore whether the issue could be brought back before the House committee during the legislative session. It has been before the House committee three separate times and the vice chair is in favor of continuing those hearings. We've consulted with the Johnson County District Attorney's Office, the Johnson County Crime Lab, and the Shauny Police Department regarding enforcement and testing capabilities. We've learned that local enforcement would be extremely limited due to lack of validated testing methods and we've received indications that the issue may be discussed during the upcoming legislative session. The timing and outcomes do remain uncertain. So next steps um along with the steps and awareness uh that we that I just mentioned, there could be one more um that I think uh could uh reinforce um our stance with the state, but I feel it would require council consensus. And so if there is consensus from the governing body, staff could draft a formal letter to the Kansas attorney general expressing the city's concerns, requesting support for state leg level legislative action and encouraging coordination with the KBI and relevant agencies regarding testing and enforcement. The step would reinforce that Charnie is proactive and takes the issue seriously while remaining aligned with the view that a statewide solution is the most effective approach. So, if there is consensus, we uh I would draft a letter um and send that on behalf of the governing body to the attorney general's office to encourage them to continue to look into this matter.

We have a consensus or any questions. I don't have anything against it.

Right. So, we have uh referenced um federal studies related to uh this. We have talked to the House committees and they've done a lot of the due diligence on this. So, we're we're hoping we learn more through through the House committees. Um the city is not contemplating any action at this point. It's relying on uh the work done by the state at the state level and the house committees at the state level. Okay. Yeah. For me, at this time, I don't think enough information's been presented to warrant further action. Who's for it? Consistent. Okay, we got four, five, six. You got it.

Okay. Is that all you have? That's it. Now, does anyone on the council have any items? Kurt,

I just want want to follow up a couple of comments basically from what Paul said. First of all, thank you for taking a proactive approach in protecting Shaunie um from potentially from as much revenue uh as we can with these star bonds. Um I was very surprised to hear that Shaunie was included and in the area and I received several emails from constituents uh stating that they were not happy about their taxes going to support it. As excited as I am about Kansas uh Kansas getting the Chiefs. Um, secondly, I just want to thank you again for proposing that we send that letter. Um, and I brought I brought this subject up. Um, I want to thank Eric Pson also sent me some more information on um, which again are opioid derivatives. I think that they've shown to do a lot of harm and I think a lot of states are looking into how to do it. I was hoping we could do something at a city level, but after research staff says it would be much better handled at a state level. So hopefully we can get that moved uh moved and uh through the state level and um I'm happy that Shaunie is going to take a proactive approach and and lead in this area. Um I think that some of these companies that are selling it um and the owners may turn into the next Purdue Pharma and the next Sackler family um because they're definitely causing harm and they're very addictive and they're completely unregulated. Um, so with that, thank you guys for at least getting a consensus to uh to support that. I appreciate it. Thank you.

Anyone else? Any?

Yeah, sadly um in just the last few weeks, Ward 2 has been struck with a number of house fires that have been um either very damaging or total losses. Um it's it's always hard. It's hard this time of year. [clears throat] Uh, our fire department always does great work, but I was really touched by a photograph I saw in the news after a house was basically destroyed of a guitar and a photo album that had been brought out of the house and placed on the neighbor's driveway. and um to know that our firefighters not only searched the house twice despite a collapsing roof to make sure there was no one in it, they then took the time to protect a couple of personal items. So, special thank you to our fire department and for the fact that they in the middle of everything else think about the families.

Anyone else? Okay, hearing none. Next item on the agenda is an executive session. Item number one is to recess into executive session for 25 minutes with the city manager Paul Kramer, city attorney Jenny Smith, and attorney Kevin Wimpy. Recessing to executive session for the proposal or propose of for the purpose of a consensation with an attorney by the body with an attorney for the body which would be deemed privileged in the attorney client relationship in accordance with the KSA75-4319B2 for the purpose of protecting the confidentiality of those communications. At the conclusion of the executive session, the med the meeting will reconvene in the council chambers. Do I have a motion?

Move to recess to executive session for 25 minutes. Laurel. Second. Have a motion and a second on this item. All those in favor say I. I. Motion passes. I will accept a motion to conclude or Okay, I'll be back. Here we go. I thought I needed to read

Buddy. Motion to conclude the executive session and reconvene the meeting. Okay. Second. Got a motion and a second on this item. All those in favor say I. I. Oppos? Nay. Motion passes. We are back in our normal meeting. If there are no other items, I will accept a motion to adjurnn. Motion to adjurnn. All right. Second. Have a motion and a second on this item. All those in favor say I. I. Oppos? Nay. Motion passes. We are adjourned.

Council committee in five minutes. Okay.

All right. Good evening. Welcome everyone to the January 12th, 2026 Council Committee meeting. I'm Council President Laurel Bertfield, Ward 4. I'll be chairing this meeting. I'll now do a roll call at this time. Uh, Council Member Reynolds, present. Council member Wooded, present. Council member Pson, present. Council member Murphy, present. Council member Nappen, present. Council member Rainey, present. Council member Aldridge, present.

Next, I'd like to explain our procedures for public input in an effort to enhance citizens ability to present information to the governing body. Anyone interested in addressing the governing body is strongly encouraged to register to speak by noon on the day of the meeting, but that is not required. Information has been posted online about how to sign up. By policy, comments are list limited to five minutes and no person may speak more than once and on any one agenda item. Only comments related to city business are permitted. Disruptive acts are not permitted as per our policy statement number seven and will not be tolerated. After you're finished speaking, please sign the form on the podium to ensure we have an accurate record of your name and address. Additionally, comments can be submitted to the entire governing body via email at governing body@ cityofsha.org. There is one item on tonight's agenda. Item number one is a staff update from public works. City manager Paul Kramer will kick off the discussion.

Thank you, Council Member Bertfield. To kick off our first council committee of 2026, um I've asked Kevin Manning, our director of public works, um to give an overview of the upcoming transportation uh grant uh funding sources and kind of walk through that in anticipation of coming back uh for further direction uh coming up. So, I'm going to turn over to Kevin Manning, our public works director.

All right. Good evening once again. So, I'm going to be going over tonight um several different potential funding pots um for the city. So, here's kind of the agenda for this presentation. I'm going to kind of go over what I'm really trying to accomplish and what I want you to kind of get out of this presentation tonight. I'll go over a funding overview and talk about each individual funding pot. Talk about some previous projects to kind of give you an idea of, you know, what we've been successful on in the past to get some of these funds. Talk about some potential projects that we may have applied for in the past or may be looking at. and then talk about the application schedule and next steps so you're familiar with what's going on there. So um on for tonight I want you to start getting a better understanding of you know what type of projects can be funded by each one of these pots. There's four different ones I'm going to talk about here and then once again starting to think about potential projects for applications. Um, I'll say we're not necessarily looking for you for all new ideas like city staff has some ideas here, but this is a good opportunity if the governing body has some thoughts or ideas um of potential projects. This is the opportunity to share those um basically when we come back to you in February for some further discussion and direction on kind of what we want to apply for on these projects. And the good news, I'll get into this a little bit too, is we're not really limited to necessarily one application. So, we're not trying to narrow things down just to one. and we're looking at some different options and we can have multiple applications if we want. It is, you know, relatively time intensive to do these applications. So, we just don't want to, I'd say, just shotgun and just do everything. We want to be focused, but we're not limited to, you know, just one. We can have multiple applications if needed. So, really what we're talking about is federal funds coming um through transportation that are basically allocated through the midame regional council every two years. There's four main pots of funding. I got a lot of acronyms for you tonight. Um, and I'll go into these a little bit more in detail, but you've got STBG, TA, CMAC, and CRP. STBG or it's surface

transportation block grant. That's typically used for more largecale roadway projects. TA is transportation alternative. A lot of times it's used for maybe trails or something similar to that. So, not really roadway, but more alternative forms of transportation. And then CMAC and CRP. Um the CMAC is con congestion mitigation and air quality and then CRP is carbon reduction program. Those are used for basically different types of programs or projects that will basically help reduce either congestion or lower the amount of carbon that's being um released. So one thing to keep in mind is when we apply for these this this is a competitive process. You know we've talked about different um county funding part uh funding pots like cars and smack. bills um are competitive as well, but not as much. So, these are much um more competitive. We're competing against all other municipalities on the Kansas um side of the metro area and then other entities that may be eligible for this funding. So, um funding is not a guarantee by any means just because we apply and usually around 30 to 50% of projects are funded. So, just keep that in mind. That being said, our goal as a staff isn't just to apply for these, but we want to apply for the projects that are most likely to get funded. So in the past, you know, we're looking to optimize our scoring. So we may tailor these projects and maybe we're put we put certain things in or take things out that maybe we wouldn't do if it was purely funded through the city, but we're trying to maximize our scoring in order to receive these funds. The maxim maximum award is 80% of construction costs. This doesn't include um engineering like right away utility acquisition, but it's an 8020 split for construction. So, it's uh really great for the city. Uh if we can get that, it's not a guarantee. We will get 80%. We can always apply for less and have the city um fund a larger portion. Something sometimes that's helpful in our application as well. But at a minimum, we have to fund 20% of construction and then engineering and rideway costs. And this is a reimbursement program, meaning that we

have to fund everything up front and then we are reimbursed after the fact. So, I just wanted to provide example of what this may look like. So you can see here the first pie chart on the left here. We've got a project with $6 million budget, five million for construction and 1 million for design and rightway and utilities. And then you can kind of see the cost breakdown a little bit on the right side. So in this particular scenario, maybe we receive $4 million in federal funding that would goes towards construction. We have to pay 1% that's our 20% match of the project and then we also pay the slice in orange um for design rightway and utilities. So in this particular example, we would basically be spending about 33% of the project cost and the federal government's picking up the remaining 66% of the total projects. So going on into the first uh funding pot, that's surface transportation block grant. Um once again, this is really intended for kind of larger type projects um more roadway focused and these are kind of some of the categories that are eligible for this. We have roadway capacity, transportation, safety and structure, operations and management, bridge replacement, active transportation. So, this is actually very broad. If we wanted to do like a trail project, um we could theoretically apply for it as part of this, but through like active transportation, but this kind of has a broader range of potential um application types. And so, like if we did have a trail project, we'd be more likely to put that into a different um funding pot. But we have a lot of flexibility here. There 30 there were $30 million in available funds that were um available in the last funding cycle and that was in 2024. So another thing to keep in mind is this is kind of a lengthy process as you can kind of see from this last bullet. So in 2024 we were actually applying for 2728 funds. So I'm sure you can uh figure out that that means in this application cycle we'll be applying for 2930 funds. So

going through this process now. Um but even if we are awarded a project, the actual project won't start. Construction would not start theoretically until at the earliest of 2029. I'm moving on to transportation alternative set aside. Um once again, this is kind of a carveout. Um and it's it's for basically these items here, on-road and off-road trails, [clears throat] safe routes for any safe routes for non-drivers, and the safe routes to school program. So, there's $4.5 million in available funding in the last cycle and we'll probably see a number maybe in that ballpark for this coming cycle as well. This is, like I said, more maybe pedestrian or even bicycle focused. Um, and it's, you know, separate from STBG. And then finally, we have congestion mitigation and air quality and the carbon reduction program. So, we haven't received official guidance on what these programs are going to look like yet. We've already received kind of updates as terms of the scoring for STBG and TA, so we have a pretty good idea. We're still digging into it, but we have an idea of what that application may look like. Um the federal government hasn't released the guidance on these, so we could see some significant changes. That's yet to be determined, but we'll obviously be keeping an eye on that um over the next coming months. In the past, the items that were eligible for these programs were alternative fuel vehicles, bike pedestrian as a form of transportation, traffic flow improvement, and removing vehicle trips through transit. So, what I would describe this program is it's it's a lot more uh I guess data focused. um in order to receive funding, you have to show like for instance on carbon reduction. If you're going to go out and build a trail, how are you reducing the amount of um like vehicle trips from um a motor vehicle? Where like the TA funding I described earlier is more like recreational trails. It would be harder to build a recreational trail like using this program because the mentality is well people aren't using this to commute, they're using it more for recreation. So that's kind of the

differentiating factor there. And you can see the funding uh amounts here. Once again, 5.6 million in 2024 for CMAC and 4 million for carbon reduction. And once again, these are just example numbers. Um we haven't seen any additional guidance um as to what these numbers may look like. So could be less, could be similar, um could could even be more, but we'll wait and see on those. So just to give you I wanted to give you some examples of what we've done in the past. So the first one that was funded um partially through STBG was Monosella Road. This is south of Shauny Mission Parkway. So this was a kind of a smaller country road previously and was built uh to more of a major arterial section that you can see on this uh lower picture here where it's a three-lane section basically from south of Shauny Mission Parkway um close down to the city limits. We have bike lanes on there now. Um, we've actually got a striped buffer area for those bike lanes and we also have a trail on the west side of the roadway and a sidewalk on the east side. So, this was a major improvement project for the city that was completed back in 2021 and 2022 and that was partially funded through STBG funds. Another one that we've talked about several times recently is Midland Drive. So, um, this was, you know, let's see here. We applied for this all the way back in probably 21 or 22. I suppose it was 2022 and we're just now getting it built next year. So once again um some planning has to go into this but you know this is going to be a great project for us as well but once again this was funded through STBG um in terms of TA projects. So back in 2022 we applied for um some funding to basically upgrade um ADA facilities at a lot of signalized intersections across the city. We weren't able to you see this in the picture on the left side of your screen here. we weren't able to um upgrade those facilities at all those locations, but basically this brought curb ramps up to modern standards and

meet ADA. It also allowed us to um add new push buttons that were ADA compliant as well. So, that's the type of project that was eligible. And then we also have a project coming up for construction in 2027 is a Turkey Creek Trail extension where we're and we're still kind of um looking at design on this. were going to be in design this year, but it's basically going to be upgrading that route um basically from about Neman Road over to Turkey Creek Trail. And this is a project we're partnering with Mariam on and once again we were able to fund it or we're going to be able to fund it primarily through TA funds. Um and I just wanted to make note so we haven't had a lot of projects that have really fallen into the CMAC or CRP um funding pot. So we actually haven't received any funds for those. recently, but that will be something that staff will be at least taking a look at, see if there are some projects that make sense. No guarantee that they will, but it is something that we'll be looking at. So, moving on to potential projects. So, these are three um kind of three projects that are currently being considered at least the staff level for STBG. One on the left side is an extension of Woodland Road. We applied for this project back in 2024 and it what didn't score high enough um to be funded at that time. So if we were going to pursue this, we'd have to take a good look at the application and see if there were some things we could improve upon to maybe get some additional points. But this is another project that would, you know, basically build out an arterial um road that right now is um kind of a little bit more of a go path. Um, and this would be from 71st Street down to the South City limits. And we could extend this project all the way up to Shauna Mission Parkway if we wanted to add some better pedestrian facilities or bike lanes or something like that as well. So, that's something that's being considered at the staff level. Another one that the governing body has had shown interest in in the past is Clare Road, which is what you see here in the middle. Um, if you're familiar with the

entirety of Clear Road, it it can be a very narrow roadway, especially south of 63rd Street. There's a section that's probably about one lane wide. Can be a little harrowing. So, um this is this is another item that or another project that we're considering as well and for this application. And then finally, um we also have the 435 and Johnson Drive interchange. This is another one that we applied for two years ago and and was really close to the funding line. Um and so, you know, this could be one that maybe if we tweak our application a little bit and um sharpen our pencils a little bit, maybe we can bump this one up higher. This is another one that at least has been considered in the past in terms of TAC and CRP. So for transportation alternatives, we're currently public works is currently going to be working with the parks and recck department and using our um bicycle routes and shared use kind of future plan to see if there are any routes that kind of make sense um to potentially apply for this goound. And really what we're trying to do too is build out a plan. So when these funding opportunities come up, we're kind of ready to go with the next one in the hopper. So we're kind of working on that right now and we'll probably have more information on that next time we come back to discuss this. And then as I mentioned, we're still going to look at the CMAC and CRP projects, but we don't really have the guidance as to what they're going to be looking for in those yet. So we're not going to do a lot of work on that until we get that information um from the Mid America Regional Council. So in terms of the application schedule and next steps, so we we talked, you know, the the whole idea tonight, you know, is was to just give you an idea of, you know, what our options could be and get you start thinking about that. We can obviously provide more qu or more information or answer any questions that you may have and we'll probably come back sometime in February to maybe hear if you have some ideas or things you want us to focus on. Um, and then we can go back and, you know, do some internal scoring on those and see how they may um, shake out. And then if we need to,

we can certainly come back again. Um because our our pre-application, basically kind of the first stage in the process will be in April. So we still have plenty of time. We still have several months to kind of look through some different options. Um after we submit that pre-application, Mark staff will do a review of everything that's been submitted and kind of a pre-scoring April through June. And then we will kind of have our final technical application, which is really the second step of the process. Both steps are required, but our more detailed application will be in July. Mark will do some additional scoring internally and there'll be some discussions basically through different committees to help um determine what the priorities will be for the region. selection will likely take place in October of this year and then we'll go through several subsequent committees at Mid America Regional Council for approval and we'll probably at basically by October we should have a good idea of what projects if any were selected um for funding and then at that point it just has to kind of go up several committees within mark for approval and and we won't receive basically final approval till January but in all likelihood in October we should have a really good idea of where we stand on these projects. So, I know I threw a lot of information at you there, but um that's all I had for tonight. I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Thanks, Kevin. Uh are there any questions from council? Kurt?

Yes. Thank you, Kevin. Um couple of things. First of all, all three of those potential um STBG projects I think are spot on. Um obviously being in W three, I'm especially interested in Player Road. I think it's it's really unsafe. Uh, I know whenever I'm on it and another car comes, one of us just has to completely stop and move over as much as possible. Um, and [snorts] so I, you know, I'm I'm especially interested in that. Um, I was wondering two things on it, though. Number [clears throat] one, because of I believe there's a development going in at like 71st Street and we had I believe we had talked about this where the developer will be required to upgrade a significant portion of it and a section of it and then we would we would complete it. Would that help us score better if we don't have to um fund as much?

Yeah. So I think the de the developer [clears throat] is going to have to whine not the road to some degree but I don't think it's necessarily to like I guess the ultimate configuration and so this project the intent would be this whatever we build out there would be the ultimate roadway where it would so even even if that developer came in and did some widening you know it may not be the final like I said the final configuration if for some reason we did receive um funding and we knew about it before the developer did their work we'd probably work with them to help them contribute towards the project doesn't makes sense for them to go in and make improvements and us to tear those out a few years later. Another section on the Clare Road piece is we'd have to think about um probably breaking that up into different sections because if we looked at basically from like the southern part of the city all the way up to like you know north of 55th Street, that's a huge project. And so it's unlikely we'd be able to tackle that all at once and we'd have to do a little bit moreh research in terms of what we wanted to do first. But, you know, a likely scenario could be that one very narrow section south of 65.

Yeah, that one very narrow section would obviously be first. Um, and it's going uphill and everything else. The other question I had, it's [clears throat] been like three years since I've heard us talk about it, but at one point we got a I think it might have been Lauren gave us a really large presentation on the idea of green streets, especially as we talk about Claire and Mai and some of those. Um, they were going to be lower cost. I think they usually have a trail or maybe a sidewalk, but I think it was more of a trail on it. Um, and I think they're eco-friendly. I forget. Um, have we sort of abandoned that philosophy or was that something a concept we would look at as we looked some of these streets out west? Do you remember what I'm talking about?

Yeah. Oh, yeah. I know what you're talking about. So, you know, I think the intent of the staff level that previously is that we wanted to kind of maybe have more of an intermediate option for developers where like the the full cost was um maybe too too much to put completely on the developers and the city was wasn't necessarily a priority to improve that roadway immediately. I think what we found is I mean we're still we're not getting a lot of traction with that right now and development has just some of those around some of the streets have just slowed down. So we haven't really had as many opportunities to implement that. But for instance like on for this particular program we're not really I still view that as like an intermediate option. We're not really we would ideally like to bring our streets up to I guess our modern standards. um that the green street was always intended to be kind of intermediate and we can still if someone was interested it we would still entertain it but it's not something that we kind of want to do as an ultimate configuration ideally.

Okay, that makes sense. I was just wondering if it might help us score better and better chance of getting approved that cost less. Thanks Steel.

Thanks Kevin. um on the uh the TA and the CMAC and the CRP like potential projects. um do you think there'd be an opportunity there to kind of look at um a commuter focused east west bike lane or bike route um looking at that map and then just from hearing from residents um there isn't really obviously a great way to kind of bike across Shaune like that and with the um bike lane going in Midland and then also the um at least my current understanding of what the rail creek pro uh um park is going to kind of look like with its emphasis on biking. Um it'd be a really nice addition if we could start to work towards kind of connecting particularly the east side of Shaune to that bike focused park and just continue to kind of push a bike friendly agenda. Um so that'd be something if there was an opportunity you know some route that could be kind of looked into that would be really interesting to me.

Yes, we can definitely do that. Awesome. Eric, thank you Kevin. Um could you pull up the screen um showing the potential extension of Turkey Creek? So where Okay. So um familiar with Turkey Creek and then when it comes out you said onto Neman. Where would that connect to?

So there's an existing trail. You can see where the blue line ends on the west side. Um that that's there's basically a sidewalk across that channel there. And there's already an existing sidewalk that connects to Neman through there. Oh, it's not even going up the channel. It's basically perpendicular across the channel. I know it's hard to see on this uh aerial, but there's already an existing sidewall connection there.

I gotcha. Okay. Yeah, I I've been uh very interested in seeing some type of connection to Turkey Creek, and I think there's a lot of opportunity there. I was looking for it like, you know, potentially 55th Street because there's a park on 55th and Nean where people could park and then, you know, run from there, bike from there to Turkey Creek. But, uh, yeah, I was just curious where that came out to on Neman. So, thank you. Any other questions, Sierra?

Yeah. Um, so on those potential projects, I mean, Woodland CLA, those feel much more personal. I, you know, drive around there a bit more. But I was wondering the interchange, what exactly would be be done there? Is this an infrastructure improvement? Is this changing the actual structure? what what would be the project?

Yeah, our previous application was actually to signalize those ramp terminals. Um it's also been contemplated to um you know the ramps are in a little bit of a substandard design and that they're not coming in a 90 degree angle. Um whether or not we want to pursue that, that's kind of a in my view kind of a minor benefit um and potentially a more major cost. But at a minimum, we for years we've heard complaints and concerns about um especially the southbound 435 ram terminal, some of the site distance. You know, we're certainly hoping in the future too, we're going to see more development out there. And it's I've always described this as this is a location where I think people are aware that, you know, when you're like when you're coming off the ramp, you need to look both ways and accelerate. You know, you don't want to be casually going through the intersection. And so, you know, we we've taken a look at crash history out there on a regular basis and there's not a lot. I think people expect that there's more. We hear the term near miss a lot. Um, but my expectation if we do see more development out there and there's, you know, even a reasonable amount of additional traffic, we're going to start seeing more issues out there because we're feel like we're kind of getting closer to the edge. We're still okay right now. Um, but if we did see any kind of large development on the southwest corner, southeast corner, and a lot more traffic going through that area, I think we'd start to see a lot more issues with that interchange. And so, get obviously right now we're talking about 2930 funding. So, you know, it takes some time to get out in front of it.

Thank you very much. Any other questions? Did anyone sign up? Is there anyone in the audience who wants to come up? All right. U does anyone on the council have any comments? Uh I think sorry Paul

I would just offer from the staff's perspective if you would like to schedule any time to come in and talk with us more about this um Kevin or or myself just that that door is always open as we work through this. So please feel free to not wait till February if you have questions um send them our way and we'll we'll address those and get those answers to the entire group. um if you have because a lot of times you have good questions and we can get share share as much information as possible. Go ahead. Thank you.

All right. And I was just going to say thank you Kevin for taking the time to explain all of this to us. There's a lot of acronyms and I appreciate your patience with going through all of this multiple times with us until we get it. Um all right. This item is forformational purposes only. So that concludes our agenda. I'll accept a motion to adjurnn. Genie move to adjurnn. Second, Sierra second. All right. All those in favor say I. I. All those nay. Oppose? Nay. Okay, we're we're gone.