City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening and welcome to the February 23rd, 2026 meeting of the Shauny City Council. I am Mayor Mickey Sander. I will be chairing this meeting. I'll do a roll call at this time. Council member Reynolds will council member Reynolds present and Sierra is participating remotely. Council member Okay. Council member Pearson present. Council member Murphy present. Council member Nappen present. Council member Rainey present. Council member Birfield present. Council member Alred present.

Thank you. And I'd like to invite the Hope Lutheran to join me up front to lead us in the pledge of allegiance followed by a moment of silence. Okay, go ahead.

Allegiance of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you. And thank you guys for taking the time out to come help us. And thank you to the parents. Next, I'd like to explain the procedures for public input. In an effort to enhance residents ability to present information to the governing body, anyone interested in addressing the governing body is strongly encouraged to sign up to speak by noon on the day of the meeting, but that's 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 businesses are permit are permitted and disrupted acts are not permitted as per policy number seven and will not be tolerated. Additional comments can be submitted to the entire governing body at via email at governing body@city.org. The next item on the agenda is the consent agenda. Would anyone on the council like to pull anything from the consent agenda? Hearing none, I'll accept a motion. Laura

move to approve the consent agenda. Go ahead. Second. I 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 is business from the floor. Did anyone sign up to speak? Yes, mayor. We had two pre-register. The first is Michael Brown. Okay. Would you come up when you're through speaking? There's a a pad on the podium. Put your name and phone number on there, please, so we'd have record of of you. Yes, Mr. Mayor. Okay.

Good evening, Mayor and Council members, and thank you for this opportunity to speak. I'm Mike Brown. I'm a Shaunie resident, a veteran, and a graduate social work student. I'm here to talk about affordable housing. In a climate where housing costs are rising faster than wages, nearly half of Shauny renters are housing cost burdened, spending more than 30% of their income on rent. The average cost of a one-bedroom apartment is $1,200 a month with some upwards of 1,600. These prices are simply impossible for a variety of workers. The following occupations are incapable of affording even the lowest one-bedroom apartments in Shaune. food preparers and servers, retail sales clerks, home health aids, janitors, and customer service agents. A firefighter struggles to afford the average one-bedroom rental. The section 8 waiting list is so long that it was not open for the entirety of 2025, nor is it planned to be in 2026. I'm concerned about the applicants who wait years for affordable housing. I'm concerned about what the high demand for section 8 implies about the state of affordable housing in Shaune. My concern has also grown for the physically disabled and mentally ill in this city. In communicating with friends of JCDS, I became aware of a lack of affordable housing featuring sidewalks, ramps, as well as wide hallways and doorways for the accessibility of physically disabled tenants. In speaking with the Johnson County affiliate of NAMI, the National Alliance for Mental Illness, I've learned of the barriers to affordable housing encountered by individuals with mental health conditions. These barriers contribute to a steadily growing homeless population in Johnson County, where the number of unsheltered has risen 620% over the past decade.

I further learned from NAMI that any attempts to produce shelters or transitional housing in response have been voted against. I'm concerned that while Shaunie contains the conditions for housing instability, it lacks the resources to help those most severely affected by it. I urge you to seek opportunities. Pardon me. I respectfully urge the council to keep the people I've described in mind and to hold affordable housing amongst your top priorities. I urge you to seek opportunities to construct highdensity affordable housing, utilize tax incentives to do so, and to reassess zoning and land use policies when they impede this development. I urge you to ban source of income discrimination to expand options available to section 8 applicants. I urge you to invest further in your collaboration with friends of JCDS to increase affordable housing for the physically disabled. I urge you to consider repealing the co-living ban to allow for more roommate options amongst lowincome workers. Finally, I respectfully urge the council to lead the response to growing homelessness in Johnson County. Thank you for your time and attention on this matter.

Thank you. What else do you have? Next we have Ken Moody. Who? Ken Moody.

Okay. and I s my name is Ken Moody and I've been a resident of Shaune for many many moons. I've lived in the house I'm in in Timber Oaks for the last 40 years. But uh I want to second the motion just made. We do. I feel sorry for the young people trying to get into houses. But what I'm here tonight to talk about is my granddaughter lived is renting a house over on 14208 West 63rd, not far from the section 8 housing. But I was glad when she moved out of the house, she moved in, removed back in. My kids seem to keep moving back in. I don't know if that's a a problem with other people, but she um found a friend of hers that had a house over there, a three-bedroom home. She was renting for 800 a month. That makes that seem like quite a deal as compared to what was just explained um in the previous speaker. But she had a couple of friends who have a child who got kicked out of their apartments. They'd lost their jobs and everything and she let them was going to let them move in for temporarily for they were going to be out in like a month or whatever. They they're now been there six months. I've and I don't know how to address this. I've had no luck. contacted the state.

Um it's uh we've called she's called the police to try to th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th throwrow them out and what they claim is they if if they're there 14 days and have a toothbrush I don't know what a to how a toothbrush is relevant but if someone moves into your house be careful if you move some of your in-laws in or someone you move someone in they're there 14 days they have tenant rights They say say that's what the Shauny police informed my granddaughter when she went. I just I'm here to ask the council. Is anybody Is this a state thing, state law, a Shauny law? It's it's a bad law. Whatever it is, they've been there now six months. The owner of the house who is a good friend of the family has decided he's had enough and the pe we can't get the people out to move out of the house. He's going to put he's put going to put this house up for sale next month. Undoubtedly, she's going to have to pay a lot more for rent and she may not be able to stay in Shaune Eve. But, um, is anybody on the council familiar with the tenants law or could could I come back at a later date?

We're not allowed to have question and answer during this period of time. the what what we can what I can say is um you can get with the city manager or call him and they can get you connected with the departments that can get you the answers that you need. Call the city manager city manager Paul and just ask him to leave his contact information. Leave your your name and contact information on the pad and they will get in touch with you. All right. Thank you,

Mayor. That's all that we had pre-registered. Okay. Is there anyone in the audience like to speak? Business from the floor team. None. What? Is there one in the back? All right.

State your name and and when you're finished might write your name and phone number down on there when you're finished talking. All right. I'm Jackson Andrew. Hello. I uh come here in support of funding for more sidewalks and more maintenance for the sidewalks on um between Midland on Midland Street between Cottonwood and Whitmer. When I go on walks or runs on those on those sidewalks, uh, the sidewalk ends very abruptly on someone's yard and there's no crossing, which is dangerous because it's a busy street. And the sidewalks that they have in place are also very dangerous because there is no guardrail. They're crooked, there's a drop off, and they're at an angle. or multiple cracks. It's a very dangerous tripping hazard. I went on a run once with my mother and my dog. I tripped and fell and almost fell off to the drop off, which is very hazardous, potentially fatal, and so did my dog. So I come here in support of your more maintenance, more funding, something to help these sidewalks, not just between these, but over the city to get more funding, just get more maintenance. Uh well, thank you to the council for your service and thank you all for your attention and time.

Thank you.

Thank you. Nice job. put your name and and phone number on this pad when you're finished there and thank you for coming up. Is there anyone else that would like to from in the audience like to speak business from the floor? Seeing none, next item on the agenda is mayor's items. I have one proclamation tonight. Item number one is a severe weather awareness proclamation. Communications Director Doug Donnu will read the proclamation while I present it. I'd like to invite Fire Division Chief of Emergency Management Matt Eper and members of the CERT team up front with me, please. Whereas Kansas experiences severe weather each year that can threaten lives, homes, businesses, and public infrastructure. And whereas these storms can be sudden and unpredictable with Kansas recording 30 tornadoes in 2025. And whereas proactive measures like developing emergency plans, monitoring local news, utilizing Noah weather radios, taking a Shauny SER class, and enrolling in Notify Jooko alerts can help reduce risk and save lives. And whereas residents, schools, businesses, and organizations are encouraged to practice their safety procedures during a statewide tornado drill on Wednesday, March 4th at 10:00 a.m. And whereas the City of Shauny Office of Emergency Management and its community support team provide invaluable leadership and coordination to keep our community safe. Now therefore, Mickey Sandifer, mayor of the city of Shaunie, Kansas, does hereby proclaim March 2nd to 6th, 2026 as severe weather awareness week in Shaune and calls upon all residents, businesses, schools, and community partners to stay prepared for weather emergencies.

Next item on the agenda are appointments. Item number one is for appointments to the Shauny Chamber of Commerce. Visit Shauny Advisory Board. Paul, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Our deputy city manager, Colin Duffy, will handle this item. Mayor and Council, this is a procedural item to approve appointments for the visit Shauny advisory committee. The advisory committee consists of 18 a minimum of 18 voting members with six appointed each year. Uh those members are listed in your packet. And I will note there is a typo for Stacy Beanhoff. The E and the I were switched. So, we'll have that cleaned up. And finally, one motion will approve the entire slate as presented.

Okay. Have any questions? Anybody? Anyone in the sign up for this? Anyone in the audience like to speak on this? Hearing none. I'll accept a motion. I move to approve. Have a motion. Do I have a second? Still. 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 are staff items. Item number one is to consider approving final plans and authorize staff to bid the Johnson Drive and Coera signal replacement project. Paul,

thank you, Mr. Mayor. Kevin Manning, our director of public works, this item.

This first public works item is just for the replacement of the traffic signal just down the road here on Johnson Drive. Back in 2010, the city purchased a handful of street lights that were from EverGee that were previously leased through EverG. So now we own those and that purchase was made in 2010. We started basically putting away money in order to replace these. Um like I said on about a three-year rolling basis. Um this particular signal reached the end of its functional life and so we're ready to replace it. The plans have been completed and so what's what's before tonight is approval of those plans and authorization to bid the project. Um, more than likely we when we do bid this project, um, usually takes some time to get in some of the equipment for new signal and so we will likely start construction on this in the late summer and get it wrapped up um, midfall sometime.

Question I have is um, on the control panel box, are we saving those for all the computer systems to use in our other boxes when we need them? Yeah. So, if there's any, you know, the cabinet or controller, we do um anything that can be reused, we hold on to those and stockpile those where they're they can be used as replacements of their location. So, we do um salvage any equipment that we can. Right. Okay. Thank you. Does anyone have any questions? Anyone sign up for this? Anyone in the audience have any questions or speak on this? Hearing none, I'll accept a motion. Move to approve. Steel.

I have a motion and a second on this item. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed? Nay. Motion passes. Second item is to consider an interlocal agreement with the city of Lanexa for the surface treatment in on Gleon Road in 79th Street in the south city limits. Paul, once again, Kevin Manning on this item. This is basically a overlay project on a city street that is basically the boundary line between Lanexa and Shaune. So Lanexa will be actually running this project, but we're basically contributing to our portion, our side of the road um for resurfacing. So that amount is $13,149.60.

Okay. Anybody have any questions for staff? Anyone sign up? Anyone in the audience like to speak on this item? Hearing none, I'll accept the motion. Laura move to approve. Any 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 a contract for the replacement of playground equipment and safety surface safety surfacing at Kanan Park. Paul.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor Tonight, Brett McCubbin, our manager of parks and facilities, will handle this item. The playground equipment at Kanan Park was installed in 1998 and has now reached uh the point of being obsolete. The proposed new playground was presented and approved by the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board at their January 8th meeting. It is designed for ages 2 to 12 and offers 11 accessible elevated play activities, five accessible ground level activities which exceed minimum requirements. Any questions? Anybody have any questions for staff? Anyone sign up for this? Anyone in the audience like to speak on this issue? Hearing none, I'll accept a motion. Deal.

Jenny. Second. Have a motion and a second on this item. All those in favor say I. I. Oppos? Nay. Motion passes. Item number four is to consider the Shauny Entrepreneurial and Economic Development Seed Loan for Tiki Taco located at 11200 Johnson Drive. Paul. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Colin Deffy, our uh deputy city manager, will lead off this item.

All right. This item is to consider a redevelopment grant with Tiki Taco for the renovation of 11200 Johnson Drive. Per policy statement 65, the city council may consider approving forgivable loans from the city's economic development fund for businesses that need assistance to start up or expand in Shaunie. Uh Tiki Taco is requesting funds to offset financing for their investment of over 720,000 in a key downtown building in Shaunie. Uh Tiki Taco opened in October last year and have already made a splashy entrance to the community uh already supporting organizations like Friends of Shauny Town uh with their Tiki Bucks initiative. Uh because of the unique timing of this uh request, we've developed a payfor-performance model for this agreement um that uh the administers uh the the grant, excuse me. Uh the clawbacks are inherent in this model by incentivizing on an annual performance. Uh, in this proposed agreement, the city will disperse a total of $75,000 from the economic development fund in annual installments of $25,000 for three years, provided the business remain open dated back to October of 2025. Uh, so here tonight are representatives from Tiki Taco. We have CEO Eric Not and Chief Development Officer Richard Wilds. Uh, I'd invite them up to the podium to introduce themselves in Tiki Taco. Any uh we started our development of that uh site uh obviously right next door to to where we are today uh back in July of this past year and I think that we've

done a really good job of of taking an old building that was there and um very dark and and dingy and we brightened it up um almost sometimes probably looks a little too bright at night with all the neons we put on the building but um so we put together just a a short uh slideshow here but we're a Kansas City based company we've got multiple locations here in the KC metro uh your local taco joint so to speak and I see a lot of faces that I've seen in the restaurant over the past few months. Um, why this matters uh to me for downtown is, you know, we improve that building u preserve the building. We we're driving a lot of local growth. We're seeing a lot of uh new team members. We're hiring new guests, catering, uh, etc. But more importantly to us, we're we're ingrained in our community. So, uh, we do a lot not only from a national perspective with with organizations like Big Brothers Big Sisters, but we also try and make that specific location, in this case, Shaunie, um, the GM there act like the mayor of the community, no offense, um, but really try and do as much as they as humanly possible um, here locally. Um, we added something, I think, unique uh to downtown and fun, especially here in about another Well, I guess Friday is supposed to be 70 degrees, so we'll see. But that patio, I think, can be very fun uh when the weather permits. And again, just, you know, rooted here in the community, doing community nights. We've already started feeding local high schools before basketball games, and hopefully we can do that during football season. um design and visually. I mean, like I said, I think we've we've done a lot, not only plumbing, electrical, HVAC, making it ADA compliant, which it wasn't prior to. Um, exterior renovations, complete interior renovation, added seating with the outdoor patio. We added a walk-in cooler, full commercial kitchen inside of it, uh, totaling

around 720,000 uh, out of pocket. And we did break it down if anybody was interested in where that money went. uh inside of the building and outside. But ultimately there's the timeline. We we finalized our design in June. We got our TCO and opened in October. All of our contact information there and we can provide any other uh renderings or visuals if you haven't already. I think some of you by and seen it firstand. So thank you. We'll stand. Anybody have any questions? Go ahead. Great.

Uh, not a question. I just want to say thank you guys for being part of the community. You brought something into downtown that was sorely needed um in a space that needed something like what you guys are doing. But not only that, you're talking about being part of the community and I've been following you on social media. I love seeing the fact that you guys are getting out to your neighboring businesses, encouraging people to support other local businesses in downtown Shaunie. Um, that's the hometown with heart that we always talk about. So, I appreciate you guys being here. I remember when it was sworner drugstore many many years ago. Looks much better now. Yeah. Can I ask staff why are we paying it out over three years? Because it's all the work's done. Correct.

Uh that is correct. So, because it did go um sort of backwards from what we're traditionally been doing in the downtown, we were looking for a structure that would provide a little bit of um safeguarding of those funds. Um however, that's certainly up to the governing body, but that's that's the reason we did it because it kind of came backwards. Uh we are doing that out of an abundance of caution as well.

No, and I appreciate that. You know, CG grants are always a little controversial. you're using public money to support individual businesses. Um, in this case, as we've talked about, the the process was backward. Uh, it did not follow our typical process for seed grants. I've voted for pretty much all of them. Um, but I I like for them to follow the process. Um, which does create safeguards. The other thing is the amount has changed. from my understanding, it's gone up from what we originally discussed. So, for those reasons, I'll be voting against this tonight. Thank you.

Um, I just want to echo what Eric said. Thank you guys for um investing both financially and with your time um into the community. I do like the safeguard of the three years. Not that you're going to, you know, take the money and go, but um I think that just kind of encourages you to continue that um investment. So, thank you. Anyone else? Amy,

I I had eaten at the prior establishment and I can attest to how dark, gloomy, and unwelcoming it was. So, um I'm really glad to have you guys here and the food is great and you've got a proven track record. So, um, while we are going a little bit backwards, I think with the safeguards in place, I have no problem with supporting this. Anyone else? Anyone sign up for this? No, mayor. Anyone in the audience like to speak on this issue? Hearing none, I'll accept a motion. Go ahead. Move to approve. I have a motion.

Second. I have a motion and a second on this item. All those in favor say I. I. Oppos? I no have one no that's Kurt Nappen motion passes next item on the agenda miscellaneous council items item number one is to ratify the semionthly claim for February 23rd 2026 in the amount of 3,384,166.35. 5 cents. I'll accept a motion. Genie

move to approve. Steal have a motion and a second on this item. All those in favor say I. I. Oppos? Nay. Motion passes. Item number two is miscellaneous council items. And before we go with this, I noticed we have a boy scout in the audience and I didn't recognize him to start with or I would have brought him up front also. Why don't you step up front a minute and announce your name and what troop you're with?

Hello, my name is Nox Wilson and I'm with Thank you. Yeah, I just wanted to follow up on I think his name was Jack, the young man that spoke tonight. He did a really nice job. Um, we'll have business for council items here in a minute. This is miscellaneous items. Not for you yet. Hang on, Paul. Do you have anything? Um, I'm going to ask Brett McCubbin to come up. Uh, we have a a cool ribbon cutting coming up for Garrett Park in a couple weeks. So, I just want to uh have Brett give him the opportunity to publicize that for parks and recreation.

Thank you. Uh, Garrett Park renovations are complete. We will be cutting the ribbon. Everyone is invited March 7th at 10:00 a.m. Hope to see everyone at the park. Uh, we did a kind of a soft opening November 14th. Uh to date we've had 19,000 visitors which is 129% increase over the previous year. Uh not to mention that we've nearly doubled the dwell time which is uh good to see people enjoying our parks for longer periods of time. Uh a couple other interesting facts there. The reinvestment in our parks have really made a difference. Uh Gum Springs Park has seen a 27% increase and JC Park has seen a 51% increase since we've made those improvements.

Very good. Thank you. Uh, and then we do have one staff update item on the Lake Crest Drive railroad crossing. So, I could ask our assistant city manager, Lauren Grasshoff, to give a quick update on that process.

All right, good evening. Um, so I will give some background, provide uh hopefully enough information for our new council members here this evening. Uh this is again for information only so no action is required but I can certainly address any questions as we go through this. I'll provide a little bit of information on sort of who makes the call, who has the authority when it comes to railroad. Um some resident concerns which really uh led to this conversation we're having and then an update on uh the noise mitigation plan. So to orient you, we are looking in northwestern Chaie, just south or excuse me, just north of 45th Terrace um along Lake Crest Drive. And you can see the crossing we're actually talking about on the screen is the one in the middle with the green circle in the X. Um it's approximately 300 feet from uh the nearest home and surrounding it is a mix of single family homes as well as undeveloped agricultural land. And then further south there along 47th Street we have additional single family housing and Riverview Elementary. Um you can also see uh on the right and left side of that crossing there are additional private crossings in the area and then there are three other crossings uh within two miles where train horns are also required to sound. This just gives some photos from the lake drive on the these two photos are looking north. Uh so this is the sort of at that dead end of the Riverview subdivision. You're looking north. Um at council direction. Uh a couple years ago we added the gates. Uh you can see there's a gap on the right hand side there that does currently allow for pedestrian access to cross the tracks.

Um but no vehicle access. This is looking um north toward 43rd Street. So further down the hill as you come at actually to the crossing now you can tell obviously the roadway rate changes. It's fairly unimproved probably about a lane and a half actually width of asphalt pavement there. And the crossing itself um does have it has two cross bucks flashing lights gates and bells. Uh the bells sound when the gates are down. and the gates are down whenever there is a train that is sitting in the actual crossing or within a very close distance. This happens quite frequently because the trains um stop and they're waiting to get into the Argentine yard which is just east of us um in KCK. So there is no option to have these bells time out or the sound reduced. that is uh dictated by the federal DOT and there's really nothing that can be done as far as uh the existing bells. So I mentioned uh federal DOT does mandate traffic control conditions for public crossings. They also uh have regulations around when train horns sound. Generally they're required to sound 15 to 20 seconds before the crossing but no more than a quarter mile away from the crossing. uh private crossings, which generally would be they're not crossing a public roadway. Uh in this instance, uh just a little bit west of this crossing, there's just a small gravel drive that allows people accessed into the adjacent a lot. Um the railroad themselves, the railroad owner dictates uh their horn policy or if other treatments are needed for to make safe crossings. Uh again, this conversation really led

um from resident concerns that staff received uh early 2025 uh were specific to noise. Um really the from conversations with the area residents, the primary concern is those crossing bells. Uh but train horn obviously still has a very loud uh sound to it. So um really obviously both in this opportunity if we you know we can kill two birds with one stone um by closing the crossing basically gets rid of both of those um noise impacts to area residents. So what since the September 2025 council committee update uh we provided a number of alternative options. Uh the general direction at that point was to uh start assessing costs more and look at the most feasible and cost-effective option. Uh after convers continued conversations with BNSF um as well as our public works staff um the direction that staff is um proposing is to move forward with the actual crossing or excuse me permanent closure of the roadway. Um, and so that's essentially uh looking at um some pavement removal. I'll kind of go through the um a little bit of what that includes here in a second. Um but looking uh at uh after talking with BNSF, they have committed $75,000 to complete the closure work. Um that is work that would be completed by the city um with some additional improvements that they would have to do as well. So, public works put together a road closure plan. Uh, and we have vetted this with uh park, excuse me, police and fire. Uh, and this there are no concerns with this permanent road closure. Uh, long-term there's really not a need to have

connectivity or desire to have connectivity to future users potentially on 43rd Street um as a cut through to through the neighborhood. Uh so this is not a long-term roadway uh that we would like to maintain. So the proposed work includes uh keeping those existing gates that I showed you that are on Lake Crest and then the other one on 43rd Street because it still does have that uh small pedestrian gap. Uh we also have to remove all pavement um some portion 100 feet or so um within city rideway and then all pavement that basically goes up to the actual rail crossing itself. Um, we would obviously then add some dead-end signage on both 43rd and at Lake Crest as well. Um, and then install permanent barriers at the end of basically those pavement sections once we've torn it out and restored it with grass. So, pretty minimal work. It is something that we can do as a city. we can pay for um all of the materials uh with those BNSF dollars and really um the estimates from public works because it is nominal that the cost would be under the $75,000 that BNSF um has committed. I should say preliminarily we don't have an agreement in place right now which leads me to the next steps. Uh so right now BNSF is working on a draft closure agreement. I do not have that yet. Um but once we have a closure agreement in place then we can initiate the roadway work to remove uh do the asphalt removal, add signage, permanent barriers. Once that work is complete um then BNSF we notify BNSF. They then remove the gates and signals that are at

the crossing. whatever they might actually do with their actual rail um weigh their minor improvements. We are not on the hook for removal of that equipment, no for labor costs, anything of that sort. And then once that work is complete, roadways completely closed, they've removed their crossing uh signal, then BNSF will submit a ticket to stop stop the train horn noise. I don't have a um defined timeline but just kind of what BNSF has told me on lead time of a few of these things estimate probably be about 5 to 8 months for full closure including stopping of the train horn. So again no uh action is required this evening. I uh can answer any questions you all have.

Thank you mayor. Thank you Lauren. Uh, I just want to make sure I understood a couple things that you mentioned, specifically pedestrian access and concerns from um the neighboring perhaps um the undeveloped land or residences that might be past that road uh with regards to police and fire access. So, first pedestrian access, we take up the pavement, but the opening would still be available. Pedestrians do use this to be able to access that land. Correct. Are we concerned about removing the pavement affecting their access at all?

So, this will it does require um the closure to be for pedestrian as well as vehicle access. So, while the gate allows pedestrian access, essentially those permanent barriers and removing of the pavement would signal that they there's no no longer any actual designated pedestrian access. Perhaps you can help me understand what the permanent barriers would look like then to actually get people to not cross through them. Sure. So, I mean, we're not building a wall, so they would likely be something like the concrete barriers uh that basically line uh sort of that dead end of the roadway. Ones that are like knee high, waist high probably. Yes.

Okay. And then are we taking on any additional risk then if some if a p pedestrian does hop over that barrier and comes up to that railroad crossing? So I don't know that I can answer that question at this time. Um it does become a private crossing. So there probably and I have not seen the draft agreement yet but there's probably some liability language. Um but we'll see further once I get that draft agreement. Okay. And then if I can just ask one more question. Mayor, what?

I just wanted to make sure it's okay that I keep asking my questions. Um, and then it is I believe you said police and fire have weighed in and they don't have any concerns with blocking this access. I believe at the time the gate was intended to be able to open in case there needed to be access, but they have signed off on closing this permanently.

So, that's still the case. Um since the gates will stay in place, the owners that are um on 43rd Street east of the gate, we're still going to leave all that pavement in place. That way they can access um their properties along 43rd Street essentially. Uh otherwise precludes standard vehicle access. So emergency services can still get back there. let's say if there's a brush fire or something, but basically we would actually put the barriers into the asphalt removal closer to the actual uh railroad crossing. Thank you.

Yeah, Lauren, I just I really want to thank you for everything you've done on this. I know you've worked long and hard on this. Uh closing a railroad crossing turns out is not very easy, right?

Um so, thank you very much. I can tell you the folks in Riverview in that area will greatly appreciate it. Um they're thrilled and um they've found you to be fantastic to work with. I think the biggest concern we had was that it was going to cost quite a bit. And not only have you uh gotten approval here from the railroad, you've actually gotten them to pay for it, which is amazing. Um so very nice work. Thank you very much. Uh, and when when this comes before us for approval, I'll be more than happy to approve it because um, speaking as a representative in Ward Three, I know my constituents are going to be very happy. Thank you. Anyone else? I know that I was involved in closing all the other ones or getting them quieted. This is has to be the cheapest and easiest one that we've done. So, and I'm sure the residents will all be happy. This is a this is a big deal for over there and thank you guys for coming in. Um, anyone else? Okay. Do we have any count council items? Kurt, thank you for recognizing me. I just wanted to follow up as I started before. I was very impressed with the young man that spoke tonight. Um, I think his name was Jack, but I might have gotten that wrong. Jackson. Okay, I was close. Um, so I guess we don't need any formal action, but I I guess I'd request maybe a quick memo from staff on situation. I believe he said it was at Cottonwood and Whitmer. Yeah, that'd be great. Thank you. I appreciate it. That's all I had. Thank you. I can tell part of that. I think he was talking about it being on Midland Drive.

I live on Midland Drive. and I tried to get sidewalks and curbs through there that when those houses were built, that was agricultural property. They did not have to have that. And so when the other houses were built through our development policies and our and our rules, they had to put sidewalks and curbs in front of the houses as they built them. That is the reason there aren't any in the other ones. The one down on the the long one down towards the bank on the right side, one individual owns all of that. And he's the one that owned a lot of the property around there and the houses right next to it. All his kids live in and he had to put sidewalks and curbs on those but not on his own. So, and it's been very expensive for the cities to come in and do that because when we do, we have to put concrete storm drains in and curbs and sidewalks and it's extremely expensive. So, that's the reason it hasn't been done. So, whether we can go any further and get that further along is something that our city manager can work on. But, thank you for bringing that up. If there's no other items, I'll accept a motion to adjurnn.

Oh, go ahead. Go ahead. Thank you. Um, I also wanted to thank Jackson for coming out and speaking up. Uh, I think it's really important that we continue to hear from the young people in our community. Uh, so I was very glad to see you here. Uh, I also want to thank the gentleman for speaking about affordable housing. We're hearing a lot about the need for affordable housing in our community and I know that it impacts everybody in different stages of life. So, thank you for bringing the stats, for bringing the stories, uh, and specifically for the suggestions that you brought forward, too. I think that those were really helpful for us to hear. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Move to adjourn. I have a motion. Do I have a second or second?

I have a motion and a second to adjurnn. All those in favor say I. I. Oppos? Nay. Motion passes. We are adjourned. And then committee in about five. Thank you.

All right, let's get this party going. Good evening. Welcome to the February 23rd, 2026 Council Committee meeting. We'll be in touch. I am Council President Laurel Bertfield. W Take your time and I'll be chairing this meeting. I'm going to go home. I will now do a roll call. Still Reynolds. Uh, Council Member Whitted, is she still online with us? Great. Still here. Yeah. Okay. Thanks, Sierra. Uh, Council Member Pson, present. Council member Murphy, present. Council member Nappen, present. Council member Rainey, present. Council member Aldridge, present.

All right. Next, I'd like to explain our procedures for public input. In an effort to enhance residents 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 it 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 statement number seven and will not be tolerated. After you are 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. All right, so we have two items on tonight's agenda. Item number one is the 2026 27 benefits renewal. City manager Paul Kramer will kick it off.

Thank you, Council Member Bertfield. I'm going to introduce our new HR director, Lana Lanter, to um introduce the item and then bring up uh our consultant from Brown and Brown.

So, thank you. Presented this evening for review and discussion is the renewal of our benefit plan year starting July 1st and going through June 30th. Uh we did work with Brown and Brown to renew both the medical, dental, and vision plans for our employees. And based on the information that was received for the initial renewal bids, we did not go out to market for bid on this. So we are remaining with our current carriers for medical Bluec Cross Blue Shield, Delta Dental for our dental and certy for our vision. And looking at the renewals, the big thing obviously is to maintain consistency with benefits for our employees at the richest level we can at a cost that is affordable to both the city and the employees. I believe that we were able to accomplish both of those items with no plan design changes for the benefit for medical coverage, Delta dental coverage or vision coverage this year. And without stealing too much thunder, would like to invite Casey up and Maria is also here with our benefit broker Brown and Brown. They will do a presentation on that renewal process and how that went. Good evening. I know you guys had a long night and insurance is really not where you want to spend it. So, it should be uh brief, but obviously let me know if there's questions about any of this. Uh so, look a little bit about the financial analysis, which is how your plan's running right now. The medical plan kind of year to date that factors into your renewal. We talk about the medical, the dental and then the vision renewal and the slides after that on the financial analysis. This is a really busy slide. If you just focus on the top right hand corner, that's the pertinent information on the financials. So your medical claims are up 2% which is essentially flat from last year 12

months. The pharmacy claims are down 7.4%. I made the comment earlier that that was remarkable because you don't see pharmacy claims down anywhere especially to the tune of this. So that was a major factor leading into your renewal for this year. Your net claims which is essentially the claims after your large claims have been removed are up 0.9 which is essentially is almost flat at 1%. The net loss ratio we pay attention to because it really is premium versus your claims and it determines the outcome usually for the next year for the most part is at 72.9 which your target 75. So you guys are right below the target loss ratio on your medical plan year to date so far through December. This is a look at historical claims analysis. always a conversation is not only the number of claims, the frequency, but also the severity of your large claims. So, we looked at both in this scenario. These numbers are small, I apologize, in these bar graphs, but essentially what you're paying attention to is your claims over 100,000 is a frequency driver, but you're also looking at claims between 25 and 50 and obviously under 10. So, the frequency numbers are listed there. 2425 was a little bit tough on the frequency numbers for all levels of claims, especially those over 100,000 with 12. Right now, year to date, you guys are trending well below where you trended last year on the large claim front. So, that was the progress we've seen so far. The chart to the immediate right of that is the average amount of claimants over a 100,000. So, for every claimant that is over a 100,000, what is the average payout of those claimants? This is kind of measuring the severity side of it. You're up a little bit in severity for

this year, but obviously trending down from where you guys were in 22 through 23 from a severity position, but a little bit up from last year on that side of it. Large claim analysis at the bottom. This measures how much money in dollars you're spending on claimments over 100,000 versus the amount of money you're spending on claimants that are under that threshold. So, it kind of gives you an idea of where it's at from that standpoint. 23 was your tough year from a payment standpoint over 100. Last year was a little bit better. This year is trending better for those large losses under 100,000. So we're going to get into the renewal piece of this on the medical side with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas City. So initial renewal came out at 3.4% which is about 312,000. Um that's how it came out a couple months ago. We were able to negotiate with Blue Cross Blue Shield to get down to a 1.5% renewal increase which is about $122,000 for the total plan year. There is one change in plans which is to the high deductible healthcare plan due to the IRS change on the minimum high deductible the minimum deductible for your high deductible plan. That's going to go from 3,300 to 3,400 to keep in line with the IRS regulations. Otherwise, there's no other changes to the plan design moving into next year. The negotiated wellness fund at $45,000 that will remain in place as well for the renewal year. The in there will contributions to the health savings account will also remain in place. So, right now you have a $2,000, excuse me, a $1,000 employee only, $2,000 employee plus one and $2,800 for family. So, no change into that going into the next year as well. And obviously the rates we're looking at are rounded to the nearest dollar to make this easy to look at. So there is the comparison on the plans from a rate perspective.

We did look at a couple different alternatives for raising things, changing some pharmacy, increasing deductibles, but ultimately due to the disruption that that would cause for the city and for those employees, we decided to renew as is with no changes to minimize the disruption going into next year. So the city of Shaune was going to absorb the 1.5% increase to the medical plans versus passing that back on to the employees. This illustration is showing the wellness rates to where you guys have given a reduction for the wellness discount. Those are the rates illustrated here. So the PO and Spyro plans will remain the same from a contribution standpoint going into next year. We've lowered the monthly premiums for anybody on the high deductible healthcare plan options. They will lower $20 for employees, $40 for employee plus one, and $60 for employee plus family. So, anybody on those plans actually will see a reduction in premium going into next year and flat for anybody on the PO plans. This next slide is the same increase showing the nonwellness rates into next year. Same rules though apply for the 1.5% coming through to the city and the adjustments being made to the high deductible health care plans as well also lowered but increased amount due to the non-wellness rates are illustrated on the slide as well. The dental and vision renewal is what we will get into next. This first slide is your Delta dental renewal. There was a negotiated 4% cap on your dental plan from last year into this year. So the increase is to the 4% cap for the next plan year. We were able to negotiate the same cap for next year as well because you were in your second year of that agreement. So we do have a 4% cap in place for the following year. The underwriting is next to that on the side. If you look at the total loss ratio at 109. So that meant that

probably would have been your renewal without the cap. You would have been about a 9 and a half% dental renewal had there the cap not had been negotiated and in place. So you are at the 4% for this year due to the cap. The caps in place also for next year and that's no changes at all to the plan design on the dental plan as well. The city of Shaune will absorb the 4% increase to the dental plan as well. They will not be passing on any cost back to the employees. So the contributions listed below show no movement for any employees and the increase going back to the city for next year on the dental plan. On the insurance renewal, you guys were in a rate guarantee position. So you will have flat rates for this year and you have an additional two years on that rate guarantee. So you won't have any kind of change at all to your vision rates for next year. The underwriting is illustrated. You guys probably would have been flat this year even without the cap. But right now you have a guarantee that will extend to this year 2027 and 2028. So you will have your vision will stay the same the whole time. So no changes to rates or contributions to your employees as well. So that was the extent of the insurance news. I'm happy to take any questions anybody has.

All right. Uh we'll start with council member Nap. Thank you, Laurel. First of all, thank you very much. You're welcome. Great job. Thank you. Um, you know, it rising insurance costs have been the biggest threat to our budget.

Um, they've been insane. I was on the um benefits task force for I think two years and we had to get really creative to keep it at a 12 or 13% increase each year. Uh, so to hear this news is absolutely amazing. Um, I know Brown and Brown did their their work, but I guess I'll give our brand new HR director and our HR department in general the credit for this. Uh, it's a huge win. To get a 1.5% increase and have our employees pay nothing more on medical, dental, or vision is is just incredible with the same benefits. Um, and in fact, you said we've lowered premiums on the high deductible plans and kept it flat for the PO plans. Uh, just a huge win for our employees, which are most important asset. Um, and for our budget, which is extremely important. So, thank you very much. Um, I do have one question just out of curiosity. I don't know if you'll have the answer, but how much would it increase our our uh our uh script coverage if we were to provide or allow for GLP1s to be um available to employees?

So, I would talk to blue. I know it's a huge cost. So, so I would say you probably do have some usage on there because it's pro because GLP1s are still adequate and extremely clinically adequate treatment for diabetics, right? Sure. So, you do have probably some GLP-1s on there. So, really be evaluating the usage of GLP1s for circumstances outside of being for obesity which would reduce the risk.

So, you usually it'll be how Blue Cross probably looks at it. I'm sure they've got a plan and I could definitely follow up with what they would think but um typically I tell people if you have a population that with not a lot of turnover you would reap the benefits of obesity management right so I don't think it's any secret what you know not only to your medical plan but even to the other side right your work comp side the mod side the disruption into that right so there's benefit into that but there's cost into that obviously so I usually the people we have clients that do it and I usually advise people to do it with some guard rails. So, some of the ones we've seen so far, some programs where it's a one-year in duration if you're going to use it for that purpose, you're going to have to check in with a nurse or pharmacist on a monthly basis. You're going to have to show you actually have weight loss included in those type of things that there's progress being made for the cost. So, there's some guard rails you can put around. There's some stuff you can do, but I'd be happy to see where Blue Cross is feeling about the increase to adding that coverage from that standpoint.

So, I'm not necessarily interested in I don't want to change anything here. going to stick with this, but maybe next year because I do think we have a a employee base that that does stay with us for their entire career and the benefits healthwise over time I think would definitely pay off. The other thing is GLP1s are the the cost is has been greatly reduced over the last two years in particular. So, it's something that I would be interested in seeing and you're right, there's a pill now available as well. So, thank you. I'm kind of passionate about it. I launched Ompic um and I think employees would really appreciate the ability to have it available to them. Thank you,

Council Member Reynolds. Thank you. Um my question is um is is there any data around like employee satisfaction with their insurance options? Mostly just like y um are city employees happy with the coverage options that they have? I know from the engagement survey, the responses back from that was very favorable as far as the benefits being provided, the rates being provided and doing the comparison as well against our surrounding cities and municipalities, we are in line or above several of the municipalities surrounding us as far as the level of benefits we offer to our employees. So, yes, that was one of the favorable results.

Any other questions from the council? All right. Uh, did anyone sign up to make comments? Would anyone from the audience like to speak on this? All right. Thank you. Thank you guys. Um, okay. So, uh, by consensus, does the governing body recommend forwarding the medical plans from Blue KC, dental proposal from Delta Dental of Kansas, and vision proposal from SURN city council for approval? Everyone's nodding. Yes, we got it. Okay, so item number two is information on the 2024 International Energy Conservation Code. Uh Paul again,

thank you, Council Member Birfield. Just very quickly before I turn it over to Tyler Worth, our chief building inspector, um many of you will remember that we approved a number of code changes uh before the beginning of the year uh with one notable exception that was the energy code as we continue to study that item. And so, uh, there is a recommendation before you tonight for, um, some, uh, discussion from the council. And with that, I will turn it over to Tyler Worth, our chief building inspector.

Thank you everyone. And, um, as Paul mentioned, we're here to talk about uh, the 2004 International Energy Code. And uh so back on November 24th, the council did approve um all of the other series of international um codes, the commercial building code, commercial fire code, the residential code, um the commercial plumbing, mechanical, fuel, gas code, and the commercial electrical code as well. And so back on 24 uh back on November 24th, we mentioned that we would bring more information as we got it um to you guys for information on the 24 commercial code. Um so the purpose of this meeting is to kind of go over um a lot of the changes to the codes, the practicality, affordability, and um kind of discuss those a little bit further. So staff considerations when we were looking at the 24 energy code were based on, you know, of course energy efficiency. That's the purpose of the whole code book. Um but the cost associated with it and how it's going to affect development. How's it going to affect not only brand new buildings that we're building here in Shaunie, but also existing buildings, um existing um businesses moving into existing buildings and how it affects um affects them that we will get more into um in this presentation. And so what we're really seeing with the 24 energy code is that it is causing very high initial costs. um it's causing maintenance issues and costs um associated with maintenance. There's compliance issues, especially if we start amending it with some of these um some of these codes that we're going to go through here in a little bit. If we start amending them out where, you know, there's the possibility of compliance issues. Um, and it's it's become a very complicated code, not only for us as um the ones enforcing it, but also the designers

that are designing these buildings, the contractors that are constructing it and um and even for the building owners for um some of these items that we're getting ready to discuss and how it affects the building owners and the use of their buildings. Um and the staff, we would have a hard time being able to enforce this code. um the current code that we're under, the 2018 code, we have found great ways to enforce that um which is a huge benefit as well. And so Shaunie's been working very closely with other Johnson County um jurisdictions, but also throughout the Kansas City metro area. Um we've also been working with design professionals and energy auditors that are the ones um providing the information on these new buildings. They're helping the design professionals design the um buildings to meet these new codes. And so throughout Johnson County right now, Overland Park is the only one that has officially adopted the 24 energy code with significant amendments to it. And so they're kind of working through the process right now of um figuring out all the compliance and things like that. um all the other jurisdictions within Johnson County have not adopted it yet and they are kind of sitting back waiting to see what happens researching more kind of going through the same process that Shaunie is doing right now. Um and uh actually throughout all of the country um there's very minimal adoption right now of the 24 code. Um we haven't even seen it nationally. So there are a lot of unknowns with the 24 energy code at this point. And so um the 2018 energy code that we are currently under it has been a very wellproven code. Um it works well with the softwares that the energy auditors and design professionals are doing. It is reliable. It has been proven to be very energy efficient as well. Um and it it requires no

amendments to it. So, we don't need to start amending portions of this code out to make these buildings function and to help with the cost and things like that. Um, you know, when we went from the 2018 code to the or sorry, from the 2012 code to the 2018 code, there was a significant jump in the energy um compliance between those two codes that um that we've been able to work with and work through. And it's like I said proven to be very energy efficient but also cost effective as well. So I mean the 2018 code has um extensive um building thermal envelope requirements. That's your insulation, your window requirements, your air leakage um keeping the air inside that we are putting in there from the HVAC equipments. Um uh it requires efficient mechanical systems, lighting systems um that have proven to work well and then the building performance reports. So it compares like there's a standard reference design building that is out there and that is already a quote unquote energy efficient building than the 18 code requires you to be 15 to 20% more energy efficient than that standard reference building um that these energy auditors are going through. So it's there was a significant jump between the 12 and the 18 and we are seeing the good energy efficient with the cost um to it. So, um, and I'm going to get into a lot more detail here, but you know, the staff at this point, what we're seeing with through conversations with other, um, Johnson County jurisdictions is that we're looking at possibly just staying on the 18. Um, and we'll get into kind of some of those reasons here. So, the first thing I kind of want to talk about is the energy code development process has changed since the 2018 code. um they release the international code council is the one that releases these codes every three years. Um we typically skip one in the

cycle. So we adopt every six years has kind of been our process. And when they went from the 18 code to the 21 energy code, they changed the development process separate from all the other international codes. They changed it to more of a standard. Um and so a standard is more you know how to do it where the code is more of what are the requirements and then the standard is telling you how do you meet those requirements and so the the thinking behind the energy code has changed but also when it was an international code council I could submit changes to the code I had a vote um actually with Shaunie we have eight votes um eight people that are able to vote on code changes. We actually have a say in the code when it goes to the standard process. That is all taken away from us. It is a set committee that is making all the code changes, all the voice of the code and um and with this change there's been many inconsistencies that we've seen. So from the 18 code to the 21 energy code, there was a lot of drastic changes in it and there was a few jurisdictions throughout the country that adopted it and they were kind of learning from it. And so then in 24 they backed off a lot of those things. So they realized they weren't working but then they started adding all these other well since that's not working. Let's try this. And that's kind of what we're seeing is a lot of well let's try this in these codes since um since we've seen this development change process. And so, you know, with all these unknowns, I mean, what are we going to see in 27? You know, with the 27 code, we don't know. It's are they going to realize that this 24 is it not working, which is kind of what we possibly might be seeing, and are they going to change things again? And so, we had to take that into consideration um when reviewing these codes.

Um so just to kind of go through um a few of the code changes in the 24 code that can drastically affect development and the cost in buildings. And um this first item here is the air leakage testing. So the code requires you to build the building to a certain tightness because you don't want air leaking um when you're putting in the condition air and that is required under the 18 for you to build it tight. But the change in the 24 is now we have to test it to make sure that it is tight. The only problem is when you are testing these large commercial buildings, you have to bring in these giant expensive fans um that they they pump the air in and pump the air out of the buildings. And we don't even have that equipment in our area. So if you're wanting to do that, you're having to ship this um this equipment in that is very costly. A lot of times there's so many fans and these are so large the building power can't even supply these. So then they're bringing in generators to run these fans just for these tests. Um and so it becomes very costly. And going through this list you're going to see kind of a theme here where it talks about automatic controls. Um automatic controls just in general can be very costly in general. Um and so this next one is um man control ventilation. So every building that we're under right now, it requires ventilation because they are so tight, need air quality just for us to be comfort in as well. And so it provides um that ventilation, but now the 24 code is requiring that when a room is not occupied, there's no longer going to be that mechanical ventilation. So you are but you already have these energy efficient equipment as well. And so now they're wanting to just save the minuscule amounts of shutting off when the building's not occupied. Um those controls are very expensive and then you also run into the air quality like when

you first come into a building when those systems have to kick on and you know provide that fresh air. So it is a little bit of a nuisance when you first come into first thing in the morning is most likely when you're going to see that. Um but they are very costly systems. Next thing the occupied standby controls um to where when you leave a room the temperature automatically has to go up five for heating or down. So it's it's going to fluctuate based on your occupancy. Again it's again very expensive automatic controls and um when you walk into the room it's going to be five degrees or you know roughly not ideal. So once again it came up nuisances for the of the building. Um daylight responsive controls automatic controls for your lighting systems with um if there's enough natural light shining in then you can no longer turn on your lights and you know people have different abilities on what they can you know different light levels. You know I might need more light to see based on my eyes than somebody else. And so you kind of run into a little bit of issues there. But once again, they're very costly to put in these automatic. Then there's also those lighting controls on the outside of buildings um to where after like certain hours that you're not operating, they have to shut off which a security issue. Um and then um the sleeping and dwelling unit lighting and switch receptacles. This is more for your hotels to where everything in there is can essentially be on motion sensors, but then once you go to sleep at night issues, systems aren't working either. Um, so they've come up with, you know, you you can put in these very expensive key control. So you put your hotel room key in a slot once you're inside and that allows the systems to

been very expensive. And then if they don't do those key controls, there has been nuisance issues with it's not working overnight, things like that. Um, automatic receptal control so that when a a room is not occupied, certain number of the outlets in the wall have to shut off. That's for like your your TVs when they turn off, they're still sucking minuscule amounts of power, very minuscule amounts. And so these expensive controls are to limit things like that, but saving minuscule amounts of electricity and so and it can also cause you nuisance issues for the building owners having systems. They also require the 24 code requires energy monitoring systems. So, these actually aren't saving any energy necessarily, but they're providing the owner with um your lighting energy monitoring system. So, your electric it's going to tell you here's how much energy you're using at this time, this time, this time or your HBAC systems. This is how much energy it's using at this time. They're very expensive controls and you have them for all of your different um and so the thought is that it will help you building owners to know, you know, where they can save power um or where they can save onc equipment, things like that. But these systems are extremely expensive and they've also been showing that they are uh they're running into issues and have to replace components of these to keep them working. So, it is a a maintenance issue as well. Um every commercial building that's built will have to have some sort of renewable renewable energy system. So solar wind energy are the most common ones. It's a long calculation to how much each building would require based on the size. But

once again those are very costly up front. Then the one that gets very costly is the um additional energy and load management requirements. So it's long equations and that design professionals have to go through and it's like okay we get all this energy efficient stuff. Now we need to go above and beyond and so we're going to add insulation here that gives you a couple points or we are going to change this HBAC equipment to something else that then gives us more additional but it's what we're kind of seeing is you're saving the small amounts of energy for very high costs. And so those are some of the major items that we're seeing. There are portions of the 24 code that do violate uh current state laws. And that has to do with the use of natural gas. And so the energy code says if you use natural gas in the building, then you are now going to have to go above and beyond all the other energy departments in this code stuff. um which the state law says that we can't enforce anything far as which type of energy that they so this at a bare minimum would have to be amended and you know natural gas is typically considered a cleaner fossil fuel than oil fossil fuels which a lot of our electrical plants here in Kansas are still fueled by coal so natural gas is and can be energy efficient. So, the existing um building requirements in the 24 energy code. Um so, the first thing that this addresses is any additions or alterations that

you're doing to a building, they have to meet the new energy code requirements. Everything that we just went through, you're putting that into the addition or the areas of alteration into a building. And a lot of times we're seeing even if you're not changing the HBAC equipment in a building that you're modifying or making changes to, well, the energy code's going to make you replace that HBAC even though there's nothing just to meet the 24 energy code systems. Um, and then you're also for any additions, you will have to put that renewable energy on those. Um, a problem that we're seeing too here is for small businesses moving to Shaunie. If I just if there's a business occupancy here, an office space, and the small retail space wants to go in to that existing space, they don't have to do any modifications. They're not plan on putting up any walls, but the energy code is still going to require them to tear out all their HVAC systems and put in new HVAC systems to meet even though they don't plan on doing it. And then same thing with their lighting systems. The lighting systems don't meet the tear that out as well in new systems. And so that's just going to make it extremely hard for business because we see a lot of change of especially downtown here and now perfectly. Um so just kind of to summarize what we talked about here again um you know what we're seeing with the 24 energy code is it can really limit development and small businesses moving to Shaunie um you know due to the high cost and you know Shaunie staff we like to be ahead ahead of the game on a lot of these codes like we were the first um back in November we were the first jurisdiction in Johnson County to adopt 24 codes um

because a lot of them do make sense. Um, and but with this energy code, with all of the unknowns, all the stuff that we're seeing with cost, how are these buildings going to function? How are they going to design it? Um, it it to staff, it doesn't seem like that's where we want to be is trying to figure this out at this time. So, there really are three options with the energy code um that we can do. One of them is to adopt the 24 energy code un amended which staff is not recommending at this time due to how we can limit development and the high cost associated with it and the enforcement of it. Um I prefer to have a code that we can actually enforce and know what we're enforcing. Another option is to adopt the 24 energy code with amending out items such as what we discussed. Um staff is also not recommending that because we are seeing issues with compliance software those auditors to come up with that score below that standard reference design. Software is not built to um accommodate the amendments that's built to the code. So there are enforcement issues that we possibly see. Um there are a lot of unknowns with this code right now because it is not widely adopted. designers aren't widely designing buildings to meet this and you know so there are a lot of assumptions and what I'm talking about here and we've been talking that do it and you know my presentation here is based off of what those professionals and um so the staff you know we're not voting on anything tonight staff recommends that we are you know to remain underneath the 2018 um energy code as it is proven is proven to work the software we don't have any

amendments to the energy right now um under the 2018 and um so to stay on that there is no additional action needed we already have it adopted it's already in place already in place along with the others that we have the and we've talked with the design professionals and energy auditors because that was a question that came up throughout this process is we have the 24, you know, international building code, mechanical code, plumbing code. Is there a problem with being underneath the 18 energy code and there's not there's not a whole lot of overlap their books. Um, currently Lanexa right now they're under the 2012 energy code with the 2018 codes. So, it that is something that is done in our area and throughout the country sometimes as well. um you know and so if we were to remain underneath the 18 energy code staff would continue to monitor the 24 energy codes as possible other jurisdictions throughout country or even like Overland Park. Um we would monitor those situations. How is it working? We more what are the actual costs associated with that? Um what are the actual energy savings associated with it compared to the energy code? We would have more information. So we would continue to monitor that um and of course bring any new information as it becomes available. We would also as the 27 come out see what's happening with those you know are they seeing issues with the 24 code that they're now pulling out or are they adding different like you know we just forget about the energy code. Okay we're good with the 18. We want to keep monitoring see if it is beneficial. So that is all that I have and so I'm just happy to answer any questions.

Thank you. Tyler, do we have any questions? Council member Council Member Aldridge, I have just two questions. Can we get this slide deck and then you don't have to answer this now because I don't expect you to know the answer. Um but with the Overland Park adoption, can you also provide what amendments they um Yes. Okay. Thank you. continue their council member Nappen. So, will this uh recommendation to keep the 2018 come back at the next council meeting for approval? Uh, it's already adopted. We don't need to do anything if we're not going to adopt anything new.

Well, I'm certainly in favor of that. Thank you for your presentation. Anyone else on council?

Tyler, thank you for going through this in such detail. I personally think this is a very important thing for this council to look at and to be uh thoughtful of. I want to make sure I understood your statement that the 2018 code has no amendments. Are you saying that we need we don't need to make any additional amendments or we did not amend it at all when we adopted it? We both we did not amend it at all when we adopted it in 2018 and I don't believe that there's any amendments that we need due to something not working or anything because we have design professionals have figured have figured out how to use that code. So there's no amendments needed at this time.

Okay. I I'm I hear your explanation of the staff recommendation. uh and I hear the enforcement problems and the software and the equipment that we have we don't have access to and I hear the cost being so high for multiple you know residents of Shaunie our our business owners our building owners um but I'm also very thoughtful about what environmental and energy benefits we could receive from what appears to be a bit of an aggressive approach towards these building codes. Um, so I'm I'm grateful to hear that you will continue to monitor. I want to echo council member Aldridge that I would love to know more about what Overland Park is doing, uh, what amendments they've made. And then as they do kind of move forward in adopting this and they come back with information about the outcome and what, you know, results they've seen, I'd love for that to be shared with us. Uh, I think we do owe it to our residents to be balancing the cost with the environmental impact of our decisions for the for this code. Um, so thank you. Anyone else have any other comments before we did anyone sign up for this? Anyone from the audience want to speak? All right. Um, so you don't need any guidance from us then?

No, I didn't see any consensus to go against the staff recommendation or to bring uh options one or two. So at this point, we wouldn't, but we will put an update on the calendar for the future. Do we think like a year out, two years out? What timeline would we expect on that?

So, Overland Parks, um, the 24 code doesn't become effective for them until midsummer or so. So, I would probably like to see a year from the actual adoption. Um, maybe even longer just because these large commercial buildings take about that long to build. Um, so we can kind of at least see the cost, but we may not know energy sa savings at that point. Um, but I'm happy to, you know, anything that you guys would recommend, but I would, my recommendation would be probably about a year from this summer. So, about a year and a half or so. Okay. And if anything comes out before then, we can always hear it then. Yes. All right. So, Oh, council member person.

I believe so. Sorry. Um my question is um you mentioned several times the uh costs that could be incurred for you know small businesses having to rip out perfectly good HVAC equipment that type of thing. Um and I understand being uh sensitive to costs for small businesses. Um is there a way to or is it possible to have like a separate standard if we've got say a larger business a big box store that's coming into Shaunie. Obviously there's not going to be the same type of turnover. would they be h um held to the higher standard like the 224 2024 because again they're not going to be able to update it um three years down the road.

Um once again you kind of get into the compliance issues with that. Um and I suppos I don't know whether you're talking about maybe anything over a larger square footage has to meet a certain code. Um, is that kind of what you're referring to or Right. Right. Um, it that's always a possibility. Um, it does become a compliance issue. It is hard to monitor those. It is. And I may have to ask Jenny whether there's a legal issue with holding different businesses or size of businesses to other standards than smaller businesses. There might be a legal issue with that.

Okay. Thank you. Right. Anyone else think of any other questions? Yes. Thanks again for the presentation and yeah, I guess I just want to say I very much appreciate your approach of providing consistent interpretable codes that have kind of a background for businesses as they look to move to Shauny because I know my own experience um yeah having a a consistent set of rules is really what businesses are going to want and that's going to be really important to bringing um new developments into Shaunie and then obviously making it possible for staff to do their job as well. So thank you All right. So, I guess this concludes our agenda. I'll accept a motion to adjurnn.

So moved. Second. All right. All those in favor say I. I. Oppos? Nay. Motion passes. We're adjourned. Thank you.