City Council - workshop

All right, good evening, everyone. It is 6 o'clock, and we will start our work session. Ms. Geraghty, would you like to take the roll?

Here.

I don't hear you. Amy must be in charge again.

Mr. Theron?

Here.

Mrs. Craveer?

Here. Mr. Grant?

Mr. Delgado?

Here.

Mr. Savage? Here. Mayor, we have a quorum present.

All right, thank you. Who's up first tonight?

Me.

Oh, are we going straight with Rhonda?

Yep.

All right, take over.

I will happily yield the floor if anyone has something they'd like to cover.

You're the boss.

Okay. Last call. I'm bossy, probably. Perfect, so this is the last step in our work sessions tonight. If you feel at the end of the evening we need more work time together, we'll schedule some more, but this one is about the capital improvement plan, the CIP, and you should have in front of you a couple of things, two spreadsheets, and then if you remember when we did the budget book last year, you have a, section of the CIP and it has a project page and it describes each project. And these are all of the projects we need to add when we do the book this year. And so you have an individual sheet. I think sometimes there's two to a page, but you basically have a sheet for each project. We are working on this, so you'll find there are no pictures. There may be a map when we're finished, some things like that, but it gives you a description, and we welcome anybody's input if you have something you want to add or change. The directors haven't been through those individual pages yet, but we'll be happy to talk about it. Tonight, what I want us to do is to not necessarily go through every single item on this list. And it is one list printed two different ways. The yellow highlighted items are projects that are new to the 2730 to 31 capital plan. The yellow or the gray and white is just to, so it breaks up the page. But I always want you to be aware of what's new and been added. It's really kind of an open forum here. What I'm looking for, is there something you want us to work on that is not on this list that you want to add? Is there something on here that you think you guys are kidding yourselves? We're never going to get to that. Take it off. I don't want to spend that much money. I want your input to these projects. There are two different lists. The first one is organized highest to lowest on the dollar amount we're investing. The second one is the CIP section. So you have equipment that we're buying and then facilities, parks, paths and trails, sidewalks, streets, traffic, all the different categories that fit to the comprehensive plan. The next step for this will complete the analysis and all the reports that go with this list. And then on, I think it's August 6th maybe, is the next Planning Commission meeting. We'll take it to the Planning Commission for them to vote whether or not they agree it's in compliance with the comprehensive plan. And then it will come to you guys at the end of September. So that's sort of the process. But that's, the plan tonight is for you guys to have input to the items on this list. and for us to change and update the projects based on your input and that input is for anyone. I've met with the directors and we talked about this list and added to it and talked about funding sources and different things and added new things we felt we weren't getting to and I opened the floor to whatever discussion you'd like to have on projects.

do we want to just go I like going through by the organization or by the type okay rather than dollar amount because I think that lets us talk about kind of the whole group and then maybe we pick some out that seem important and then I think after that then we can kind of go with top to bottom if we miss something but I think if we go through the equipment first and then work our way through. Obviously, some of the smaller dollar amounts that we have a lot that are not started, so we can maybe talk through some of those that are more imminent needs than not and then go forward from there.

The other thing, we did take the work sessions that each department did. For example, you see a lot of equipment on here because in the work sessions, they've listed equipment they wanted and we added it to the CIP if it was $50,000 or more. And I'm happy to do that. So we're looking at the one by section or category that starts with equipment.

Yeah.

We've had the six-yard dump truck and the pothole patching truck on here. I know that Jacob has worked on getting bids and prices and I think we're working to get those to you. Those will most likely be lease financed, not paid for cash. Okay.

And so... Are we going to try and do both at the same time or one or the other depending on the type of deal we can get? I can't remember what we decided there.

As I remember, we were going to look at both if we could get some type of deal. Those are probably coming out of two separate funds, so we're not hitting the same, you know, the general fund for both of those. One would be the dump truck, a sewer fund item, a lot hole patcher. Same year, but we're still splitting up that hit to the budget.

Okay. The one that sticks out to me is the fingerprint scanners. I know we all said that we were on board with that. To me, it looks like that's a court and a PD thing, I think.

so um morpho yeah and um we did move that to 2027. okay it was i think kind of planned in the work sessions to be out in a future year but we felt like the priority here was to get that sooner than later yeah and i wouldn't be surprised if we are able to do it in 26 if we have some budget there that's kind of what i was thinking if we have some wiggle room might as well move forward with it since everybody seemed to be on board with that one yeah What I would suggest there is between the PD and the court, maybe start working on prices and things so we get a good idea and can fit it in now rather than later.

I don't know how much it helps PD as much, but I know Ashley said it'd make a big difference for them. Through there, that was the only thing that really stuck out to me. roadside mower I know we had talked about that and that's a 28 deal that we're looking at okay yeah I mean the need is there now but I know we've got to spread this out and just kind of trying to be realistic with with the funding um availability so okay other than that the rest looks pretty much in the right ears to me do you guys have any questions on those I haven't seen anything that's really standing out to me Yeah, the only one was the fingerprint because I thought we were going to try and do it more this year.

I got it.

So on the Spring Hill Aquatic Center, you have $325,000 for 2028 for the diamond bright pool lighting. But then there's an expansion for $1 million in 31.

Right.

Could those be combined in a way so that instead of paying 1.3, we maybe pay one and do it kind of all at once? Right.

The liner is more of a life of the, we'd have to move that probably expansion up then if we were going to do that.

Expansion may not impact the actual pool. Yeah. Is how I look at that.

Yeah, expansion would be almost not necessarily a second facility, but yeah. that could be under construction because you're probably looking at more than one off season to construct the expansion.

Um, where is that changing the current pool?

No, it would, it would be adding, you know, well, we haven't, we haven't finalized the design, but, um, and then also just from a timing perspective, I think the, uh, we have 28 is where we have the, the liner that's about as far out as I, as I feel like we, We can push that. If we push it out any longer, we risk spending money on repairs to then turn around and take it.

It was just if we're going to spend literally like two, three years later to expand the pool, why would we want to spend so much to begin with to repair it?

We could have potentially locked it in.

Yeah, it could all be done at the same time rather than, you know.

Yeah, I think at least the thinking or vision right now is that that expansion would be would not necessarily reconfigure the current aquatic center, but add to it. ideas that have been tossed around as a lap pool, a more traditional pool shape, size, type that would allow for use that we don't have right now.

TODD BANDUCCI. : OK, so not changing the current.

ADDITION, it'd be. TODD BANDUCCI. : OK, sounds good. Good question.

Do we have plans for an addition?

Or is that something we'd have to go through and create? We would still need to go through a concept plan and planning design with a whole lot of public input. So that's part of the reason that that's pushed so far out, too, is there's a lot of homework and effort that needs to go in.

And I think a million is very conservative. I don't think that's going very far in a city pool.

Because we don't have a concept yet, it's really hard to put a number. Right now that honestly is just kind of a placeholder.

I figured that would be the cost back when we built it maybe.

Since I'm a newer, there is a sales tax in place that the city receives that is for recreation, which includes the pool. I think the pool, the original pool pays off in about 2036 is always the number I have in my head. And so we have some debt still there. However, there's about $2 million in the fund where we hold the tax. And so two things. One, you have $2 million you could spend on the pool itself, or it's the way that you would pay the debt if you wanted to do a big expansion and bond it and pay it back over time. We have a revenue source to do that.

And that's the pool and the park together, right?

It's recreation, yeah.

Yeah. So the payoff is not just the pool.

No.

Yeah. So that's why I think it goes a little bit longer than what we would think that just the pool would go. Jumping in, yeah, to those, the facility areas, I mean, civic center, I mean, sorry, municipal complex. I think that probably is pushed off more. I think we're trying to find other options outside of $40 million for... for that if we can find upgrades or different facilities for each of the areas that need them which is all of them so i don't know if there's what conversation we want to have around that do we have the information we got from a couple years ago yes and what what all did that include that was just a

It was, it did not include public works. It included a complete, um, police station, like with the Sally port and, um, area to grow as well and all the services and things that they need. Then between the next connect, it was all one building, but the middle section was a courtroom, a municipal courtroom that I believe can also be used as a training room or when we need more people or have all of us together. And then the far end was the city hall was, which was the city offices.

And so the city hall was included in that.

I thought it was a city hall and then it had a hallway that ran the length, but everything, the staff and the offices of court were behind secure walls as opposed to here. We would have like exterior public restrooms in that hallway as opposed to where this employees are now and some, some security features like that.

And what was the dollar figure on that one back then?

35 million, 28 million, somewhere I'm gonna say around 30 million.

So I assume it's significantly higher now than, because that was, yeah.

Did it include the police department? Because I know we talked about moving them in.

And that included parking lots, green space, it was, you know, I don't remember, is it a 10-acre tract or something we looked at? We looked at several locations, but...

Well, and that's where, I mean, do we look at expanding this? Do we look at finding different facilities that can be rehabbed for each line of business, as I like to call them? That's a conversation we probably need to go with each department and figure out, too. So City Hall in itself, Public Works, and then PD. What they have now is not really...

Most of you weren't here then. It was a... a number of weeks, maybe several months that we studied the needs and it was kind of called like a bubble study or something where they said, okay, I'll take finance. I need this many seats for finance and we'll be growing so I need this much space for the future. I need this much storage so it was and then we shuffled it around until we liked the layout kind of a thing and then the same with the court and so we have the judge and having security and all those things. So it was a study of space, not a rehash of what we have or something like that. I wonder if I respect moving it out Do you feel like we need to include some money in 2027 for the next step of that, I'll say study, I don't really mean study, to go beyond the study we've done and look at something else? Or do you feel like we push it out a year and see what the year brings us?

I think that's an overarching thing that we need to figure out. Do we want to move forward with something like that? Or do we want to... look into what it looks like expanding this obviously we have a lot of land but at the same time this isn't the ideal building so um those are things that we're going to have to really figure out probably in the next couple of years

My personal opinion as it relates to how much more expensive it's going to be today versus Five years ago or four years ago when the last conversation was had that numbers only gonna go up It's kind of the same conversation we're having with the wastewater treatment facility if we choose to do something To patch the the current existing situation It's only going to cost us more when it is time to move forward. So I personally think that as a heavy as a lift is that's going to be financially for us I think now is probably the best time to do it because we are bursting at the seams now there are already especially when it comes to the PD and Public Works they're already working on top of each other it's only getting worse here it's it's time to start looking on alternatives I am open to maybe repurposing existing buildings as a whole but I think the very least the PD City Hall and courthouse is something that firmly fits and and their own what's appropriate now I would love to see a municipal complex where everybody works together having departments completely located in different areas logistically makes a lot of challenges for managing department head levels keeping people connected with HR keeping people connected with their their coworkers as a whole. So I definitely see the value in locating everybody in the same facility or at least within the same block so they can communicate easily, facilitate training and things like that. But I think it's time to start having a real conversation about what the next step is as a whole.

Do you have a plan on how we're going to pay for that?

I think there's some alternatives depending on where you go and what the purpose of this building. The other buildings that we would or would not keep, I think we have, some alternatives there. In the end, I believe it will take some debt to do that. And that would be funded by the general fund. So we'd have to think about that impact. The other thing I wanted to tell you is I think we did that study two years ago. Just so you know, it wasn't very long ago. And I was looking around this table and not many of us were here then.

I think it's time to start exploring those options and start, even if we're not making concrete plans for the municipal complex as a whole, it's time to start making some moves and get the way we're doing business to make a little bit more sense.

This building might be better suited for other functions, continue as a rec center or something else, as opposed to tearing it down and putting a new one in its space or something like that.

So like PJ mentioned with the wastewater treatment facility, I understand with the things are only going to get more expensive. But unlike that facility, we've got all this ground that we could add on to. We could make it, you know, because I was just thinking back in 2017 when this was renovated, my husband was the superintendent on this project. So it was originally slated at like $1.3 million. It ended up costing $3 million because all the changes are made and everything else. But, and granted it was 2017, so I know inflation's happened, but was only three million dollars for renovation so if we could add on make those security things better considering we do have all this land is that something not not with the police department because i agree that the police department has its own set of issues and like the police station needs to be done and there's a lot of things like that but i do think that we should add on maximize where we can instead of just building new And I am sensitive to repurposing buildings, because that is what Spring Hill has done since Spring Hill was founded, I believe. And I've seen all of them come and go. And I mean, the police station was in an old post office. And obviously, I don't know how much that renovation costs to get them into it and everything else, but it's like, you know, our history, historically, we're just putting a Band-Aid on something. Well, it's good enough. It'll get us through for a little bit. But we're thinking of the now instead of in the future. And so I definitely, I'm not a super fan of repurposing buildings unless they are going to live for a long time that way, unless it suits all purposes. But if we have the land and we could just expand to make it better, I would much prefer venturing down that path rather than just building new straight out of the gate.

Like I said, I'm open to the concepts as a whole. When we have this area specifically, we have to think about the surrounding neighborhood also. We start building larger buildings, larger parking spots. It gets busier here. Right now, a lot of these streets are very, very narrow with no curb, no gutter, no space for extra vehicles and all the activities that come along with bigger facilities. So it's going to be a more complex issue that is saying, let's just add on.

Well, I think you also have to take into consideration you're also budgeting $9 million for public works. So this is not just in this time frame a $40 million project. It's closer to $50 plus the sewer. I mean, I'd almost rather lump some of this public works into what we're planning for the sewer facility. I know we have that land. That's what, in between the police station and Public Works that we're repurposing into a parking lot and all that. And I think expanding some of that is good, but doing all these projects at the same time Dave Kuntz, This is going to start representing count challenges, as well as you know, increasing costs because it's not just going to be you know, a line item of $50 million it's going to be a line item to start at 50 just go up from. So I don't know if we should be planning all these at the same time. That's kind of what I'm saying.

The beauty of the CIP is things can be moved as our priorities stretch. And right now, all of those projects are conceptual with no real fact or dollar amounts into it. What I'm saying is at this point, it's time to start putting the work in to figure out what it looks like. We have real conversations, real budget discussions, get some actual site plans put up, put together so we can You want me to leave it like it is?

You want me to push it out a little bit and leave some money in for some development work?

No, I think we should move quick on it as it's fresh in our minds. We have so many issues that we band-aided over the past 20 years that you know, PD, I mean, my living room's almost bigger than PD. So, you know, that's hard for them. And we have 18, 19 officers now. So, uh, that's, that's, that's a big concern for me. And then the court holding it here, not being secured, you know, no security in, in and out, we need to get them something. whether it's we turn this into the courthouse and just do PD building or something like that. Just figure out what's best for the budget. I mean, whether it's a big complex, if that works, cool. If it's got to be four separate buildings, okay. Or if we revamp this one. But it needs to happen probably the next soon.

The next soon is always good.

I didn't want to throw out a weird number.

No, I agree. I think we need to go down the two paths parallel, right? So look at options that we've got for repurposing different buildings. I've already said we should probably talk with the school district because they have a lot of different buildings and land that they are not really using fully. And I know I've talked to some of their board members and they're open to looking at that. So there's different things out there, but I definitely think it needs to be a more serious conversation. So I'm okay with looking into what the new cost would be for what we've already got plans for, kind of a concept plan for, but I would also like to see what the cost would be here, and then maybe try to find some other facilities. That might be you, Chief, saying, I see this building, or maybe Captain Kahn saying, hey, this place might be good. Can we approach it and see how that might fit in? And I think those are some of the things sometimes we have to think outside the box. Cause yeah, new is perfect. Right. But like you said, wastewater treatment plant, you know, another 50 million towards these type of improvements. We're talking big, big, big numbers. And, um, you know, one of my thoughts before was, Hey, do we throw like a community center included in something that would be like with the city hall? And I know Olathe did a pretty good job of mixing some uses. They didn't really mix them all, but some places have that where they do that, and then it becomes there's some uses for the community too. Because right now, for me, it's always hard to say, we're spending this much money on the staff only, and people are like, I'm paying for all of them to have this nice facility. I get that. So sometimes throwing in some uses for the community is nice too.

Is it possible the partner would say the rec?

and they're separate well that's kind of what we had talked about was you know this might be well suited for the rec in the future as they grow so as this as they come on here could that help fund a new facility for us so i think that's part of the conversation we've had in the past Rhonda, any other things you've thought about?

I was just at a meeting at Merriam, and Merriam has that concept, and it's like three or four buildings. One of them's a city hall, one of them's a community center, lots of meeting rooms. They have a new Johnson County Library, and then they have another building and parking, and it's crammed in a very urban space there, but it's really nice. I don't think in all this process that we've looked at one alternative. And that would be to build brand new somewhere. And I don't think we've spent a lot of money or energy around can this building be reworked? Can we add a police station over here on the property next to us? That's not something we've yet looked at. So I think I'm going to leave... the projects alone, the dollars, you'll obviously approve the dollars if we hire someone to do some of this work, but you, I feel like you've given us direction to say, get to figuring that out. We're not going to wait a long time to do it. So add this to the project list and, and start looking for alternatives and bring it back to see what we need to do.

Yeah. Unfortunately, I think Jacob's kind of, Him and City Hall are kind of on the cusp of who's who's probably more cramped. And so that's where Do we think about lumping them in if we went with a new facility? Do we think about I know the new wastewater facility? Location is very far south which makes it not a great location to store Everything when there's a quick turnaround they need to get somewhere. That's that's pretty far So I know we had that conversation too. We're like, hey, we have all this land. Can we do it down there? And I drove down there the other day. It's a trek. It's a trek to get down there. So there's a lot of things to think about. And that's maybe both of you can do that, is look around and say, actually, this location seems like it maybe, or this old building that needs to be repurposed. There's not a whole lot of those around here, but there's a couple. So if we can find a couple, maybe there's something that can not be a little bit more cost effective so it's not such a big number. And we can figure out how to do that. That would be my thought on it, while also looking to see what the cost is for the new facility. Because really, we don't have a location that we could even put the new facility, right, at this point?

I think we looked at two or three alternatives. I don't know that some of them are still around. People may have bought those properties or something.

Well, that and I think some of them were like undeveloped areas that have been approved but haven't really moved forward. then those change, and so then it's hard. You've got to try to figure out where you're going to put it then, too. So a lot to be said still with that, but I think if we really want to have a quick turnaround for what I consider safety concerns with the PD, it might be worthwhile to look at alternative locations that have some uses we can use. Anything else on facilities?

actions more important than timing. Um, obviously we need to get something done. We need to make choices now, but I am open and I think everybody has kind of, that's kind of been the overarching theme is we're not looking to rush through this, but we are looking to move on it.

It's going to take a while.

Yeah. So, yeah. So if we can start getting those, I think the two train of thoughts are perfect. Repurposing versus new, run it, pursuing those parallel and seeing what, uh, bringing us information so we can make some choices. That's good.

Oh, yeah.

So it's okay. The only thing that I'd see on facilities I kind of have an issue with would be the city limits signage. I don't really see the need for it right now. It doesn't have any benefit, I think to the citizens here in town. I think that's something that we could push off later on and maybe get somebody to privately fund it, you know, something down the line.

don't disagree with that I do think that there's going to be some road improvements in some areas that have signage and so that I was actually going to kind of lump those together because we have the loop trail and I don't know how that will affect some of the signage that's being engineered we're not going to touch that at all or will that affect any of it so that's we're kind of in the middle of that right now so I know Allison and Jacob were out walking that yesterday or the day before and and so that's the only thing I would say is almost like not reactionary, but proactive within those projects that maybe it's not even all at once. Or if it is, hey, we're going to do this one because we have to tear it out and we don't want to have no sign there, we end up doing them. But I don't hate the idea either of trying to find some private funding for that. And I don't know. Allison probably has some sort of grant for signage. I don't know. She hasn't found anything yet. Okay.

The other thing, this was an extension of the change of the logo. The entrance signs are maybe a generation or two back on the logo. So we were just considering that when we change the logo, we'd want to change the sign. I also think, and it's easier for me to say than to actually do, you're changing some of our highway access And maybe that's where you start to relocate your sign. Does it really need to be at 199? And Webster, does it need to be at 175th and 169? You know, something like that. So I think that's a good point. If you guys are okay with it, this one will take off, knowing that that might get addressed with other projects as we go along.

That's what I would say. Uh, the salt storage that looks right. Cause I know we were really struggling with that before. So I think 27 looks right. Storm sirens. Is that a 27 or are we doing that this year?

We're doing a major upgrade cleanup of the whole system this year, about 230,000. And then this is maintenance and addition in the future. So if you have a new area, we'll have to add a storm siren if we annex something in, things like that.

OK, great. I did have one question on our annual street maintenance. I noticed that when it comes to a lot of the other maintenance funding for the cip we have like a graduated increase over the course um you know expecting that things are going to cost more we're going to have more things to fix but when it comes to the street maintenance we're sitting pretty much 250 across the board Is that intentional?

Yes. The reason for that is that we receive a portion of the gasoline tax from the state for hard roads, and that's about the amount we get every year. I think it might be up to about 270. And so I'm kind of purposeful with that, that each year if you want to spend more than $250,000, we have to come up with that cash. And probably I could put $2.5 million on there every year, and it'd still not be enough to keep up with all the street maintenance.

but anything beyond the highway tax has to come from some other funds so that's that's my thank you i really i get that right as we've been looking at kind of needs and trying to put together a program of keeping pace with it and this is more maintenance preserving the current roads as opposed to you know repair and rebuilding Right now, and of course, this number will go up as the city grows, but we're running around a million to a million one. And the last few years, that's about what we have spent each year. But like Rhonda said, anything over that 250, 270,000. we've got to find a source for those funds beyond the gasoline.

We've depleted the highway fund doing this work the last couple of years. And that's a good thing. That's what it's meant for. But we need to either build our nest egg or find other sources. That's what that does.

Have we been putting new playgrounds in or is that a...

actually that came from a meeting we were going over the CIP and we were talking over parks and talking over, and we haven't been, and anyone who knows more than me is welcome, we haven't been investing a lot of money in playgrounds. And so we were talking about the need to grow our playgrounds, invest in upkeep, look at inclusive sensory playgrounds, different things like that. And so we had a great conversation about it and I felt it should go on the CIP as something that we keep in the project list. I don't know that we'll spend $350,000 every year. I hope so, gee, that we'd have the best parks in the city.

I was going to say that seems like a lot. That's one park. That's one park.

That's what I'm saying, that's one park, right? And part of the thinking in that, again, speaking of placeholders, later tonight the new committee that's going to be looking at community improvements in public spaces, I have every confidence they're going to come up with a lot of great ideas, and then it's going to take money to bring those to fruition. So this was just a way to try to plan for that.

Okay.

And we can change it to any number. It's just realistic.

This is the product of us going through and talking at the beginning about our priorities. And I feel not only heard but acknowledged here. So this is fantastic.

Loop trail, obviously, we talked about that. We're working on it. And it sounds like we've already kind of hit the ground running with engineering, which is great. that's something that anybody I talk about, I talked to about it is very, very excited. So I think that's going to be a great addition. Um, I don't see it on here. One thing that we approved earlier this year, late last year was kind of the, uh, maybe it is right here. Second page two 23rd improvements, one 69 to victory road. Yep. Um, We have money that sits with Miami County, and I haven't got to have a conversation with them yet. So there's a sales tax that comes through every five years that they've, it gets renewed every five years. I think we voted on it last year or two years ago now. Last year. And what it does is it kind of allots us about $750,000 every five years. We didn't spend, what, $500,000 of it the last time because some disagreements on the actual projects we did in Miami County. So we kind of have the money sitting and the new money from the new tax that's there. Um, my thought is I would like to, we haven't really done anything with it and I'd like to take advantage of that and maybe look at at least the roundabout at Webster and 223rd so that we can kind of get something moving. I know we're sitting pretty good on some excise tax right now that's invested in CDs and stuff that will be coming due here in the next six months or so. And so my thought is if we could move forward with something like that, it might help spur some of the development in that area along with working with Miami County. We're already working with them on the way we start. It starts at like old Casey road all the way to 69 highway study that we're doing. But this was something that was already kind of agreed upon between the two of us. I'm like, let's, let's go through and start moving forward as we're starting to improve 191st. This is another area where we have a lot of complaints of traffic, and I think it would help spur. There's three or four lots in there that are ready for restaurants that I know the feedback I've gotten is they're just unsure about how that intersection is going to operate. And so for the businesses over there and everybody, I think it would be very, very beneficial. I know we have a couple of business owners in here that in that area, so you might agree or disagree with me. I'm not sure, but My opinion is anytime you have good access to an area, it's going to help, right? So that's one that I'd like to see us maybe say, hey, let's fast-track this a bit. You know, things are always changing at the county level, city levels, and all that kind of stuff. And this year is a year that changes may happen, so I want to make sure that since we kind of have this money available from them, let's take advantage of that and let's move forward with a good project. So I don't know what everybody's opinion is here. I know I've talked a little bit about it with Mike and Jacob and Allison and, um, I know Allison kind of led the way on that feedback there. It seemed like we had really good feedback on that. Yeah. So what's the thoughts there as far as you know, going after that money and then making sure we match on our side. Because I think that's a cash project if we can get money from Miami County. To me, that's a cash project we get done.

He and I had this conversation and he repeated it very well. Excise money there and when you and the money, we definitely want to get the money for Miami County because it's money that's due to us so it's this great project. They are particular that they tend to focus on 169 highway they want projects that are helping get people to 169 highway or get them off 169 I certainly think that would qualify so the if I remember right it's about a three million dollar two million dollar roundabout and that's certainly doable

So that made me think about that sign. That's where the sign came into play. Cause I was like, well, if we talk about doing that, that's where the sign is between this. And it also goes along well with the loop trail. We might be able to kind of lump them together and get kind of economies of scales with some of those. I don't know exactly what groups would be working on the trail, but maybe we could bid those together since it is a pretty costly project on the trail too.

So mayor, just to clarify, are you thinking about, kind of splitting out so that what's listed here is that 223rd Street improvements from 169 all the way to Victory, split that out into two projects and have one that is the roundabout separate and maybe accelerate the timing on that and leave the balance as its own project. I think so, because that area over there would struggle if we did everything at once.

So I think doing this roundabout is kind of the starter of it. And as development comes along there, 223rd the rest of it will be improved and then we do have some opportunities over there at victory to where there's developers that are looking at the corner that has been approved once but they've come back with some different ideas that were really cool and so if that's the case that that's when we address kind of that side and then you kind of have that whole in-between area to figure out but I think it's to me it's like the first step in a in a long long thing there I think it'd be really nice

So I know that area specifically very, very well. And I know that when it comes to development, we've had a really hard time getting people to really bite onto that property and do what we would hope that they would do there. So I think having money available specifically for Miami County side development, I think that's a great investment in the community. That area as a whole, I think a lot of people look at those undeveloped lots and think, man, a restaurant would sure look good there. So if we can do anything to... to encourage developers to look at those properties more seriously. I think it's a good way to go. And then like Jacob said, making sure that the entirety of that project is not completely forgotten because we're focused on the one thing. Victory needs addressed. The sidewalks along those properties and getting connectivity from the south side to the north side of town are super important. So this is a good step in that direction, I think.

Yeah. Any thoughts from Allison? Do you think that's something that's a good idea that we should look for? Because I know you, like I said, you kind of led that barrage on the 223rd.

When we were out on site on Tuesday, one of the things we did talk about was we want to make sure that the trail goes in a spot that, you know, compliments that roundabout and then we even talked about the two roundabouts if we wanted to do one at victory and one at webster webster definitely would be the higher of the two priorities just just because of the sheer volume of traffic that is in there um as far as you know proximity to uh 169 there might be some access grants available. There might be some other KDOT funding that might be available. Every time. I know. I can't not talk about grants.

I like it.

So the wheels are already turning trying to figure out how we could do that. The other thought that I had was we applied for the SS4A implementation grant, which I haven't heard back yet if we've gotten it, but it was for the South Street sidewalk. Also part of that in order to increase our benefit cost analysis, we did look at incorporating changes to 215th street i know it's right there on the border of miami county and johnson county if there's a way that maybe we can help bolster our partnership and maybe get funding from both counties to help us out with that intersection that might be another one that we could use some of that miami county okay so just another thought

Well, I know from what I've talked to some of the commissioners up there is they also have other money that's not allotted for us that we may be able to procure if you like that word. Yes. Somebody else used it. I was trying to say it right. But if we could get that too, or a little bit of it, it helps in all these little ways. So to me, this is a time to take advantage of that and try to see if we can make some strides in that area. yeah I think this list is a great guide for me as I move forward and start looking at some of those grant opportunities what you know we can kind of envision and make our money go a little bit further outside of that the rest are street projects that we've talked about through SS for a for the most part it looks like everything on there is SS for a related in some way or another a lot of them are cars And really the railroad crossing, I know, have we gotten any further along with that, Allison?

We are getting ready to send out the RFQ next week where I'm working on the plan that we have to submit here in the next few weeks. So all of that is working.

What step are we at on there? Just the study still?

Just the study still. So a couple of different things are going on. So we have the grants that we partnered with Montana and Fort Scott to do the study of the 14, I'll say 14 different intersections, nine in our community and a few others in Fontana and Fort Scott. And so we're working on that. So that is a separate thing. We just submitted Chrissy and RCE grants for 191st Street. And so that is actually an implementation grant for us to spend $35 million on improvements to go over those tracks similar to what we have on like 199th Street. So we've got two different things cooking.

That's what I'm saying. I knew we had a lot. relative to the railroad. I know you had some good plans as far as how to take advantage of the funding available for different streets and how they would help out, so.

Yeah, and I'm gonna steal my own thunder, but I just got a notice of award that

we get funded we we got some gap funding from so we have to get funding first but not though we got the gap funding I'm still waiting to hear back from the the build Kansas okay cool it's fine it's funding is funding yeah that one was that gap funding was really exciting because the other one seems to be more realistic to so the gap funding was even kind of if we got that ahead of time it looks really good and it left us was very very little to chip in which was cool so um yeah but road projects to me they all look pretty much on par with what we've talked about over time is there anything from anything missing from the street list

I see the ones that they talk about.

I see the big ones, Nichols and Hale are both on there. We're looking to start addressing those in the next year and then the year after, respectfully. I think those are huge problems that need to be addressed. We've got those where they need them to be. I see 207th from Woodland to Ridgeview. That's one I hear about a lot. We've got lots of different things going on So I think as a whole and unless there's something that maybe somebody hears more about on the Johnson County side that I don't hear I think we're in Pretty good shape. I see the 191st and Ridgeview Yeah, I think as a whole we've got We've got a pretty good Obviously, we still have all the other projects that go into the other resurfacing projects we've got. I think everything here looks right on the street side of things.

Good.

Is there anything else from Ivan up top where you guys are that you know of? I know 191st is the complaint I heard. So now that's been worked on, I've had quite a few people say, OK, that's going to be nice to have that improvement there.

The only thing I really want to push forward is the crosswalks over there. Yeah.

So that's on the short list of things we'll hopefully address by the end of this year. Yeah, no, I think as we work through this new committee that'll be created tonight, hopefully if it's all proved, that's one thing that I've kind of tasked them with is find all the crosswalk opportunities we've got, connectivity stuff, park beautification, things that we can do better. Yeah, so I mean, as far as road improvement goes, I think we've kind of hit on all, The new ones here, the Transportation Master Plan, I do think that's very important. I know that's a grant you're working on for that one? Okay. Is it still out to 2030, if that's the case? Or would it be sooner? It would still be out that far? Okay. The rest is all wastewater. And we did a deep dive into that last week. These numbers all look on par with what we had talked about. The North Webster sewer line, is that the one that we had discussed earlier, Jacob? Okay. That's the one that's over by the wastewater plant that we kind of agreed. I think you did a... Last one, sorry. I'm stuck in wastewater. The one we approved to be able to use the same vendor that's working up north, yeah.

It's on the agenda tonight for funding.

Yeah, that's what I thought so that that's the same one, right? Yeah, and then Yeah, so I mean I Think this CIP looks pretty good Obviously, there's always things on here that are very much pie in the sky in my mind and Those may be pushed out a couple years. But for the most part these all look like they're kind of on track to fit kind of the timeline that we've got for a lot of these things and

This should be the list that we go to when you think about we're going to spend some money somewhere, we're going to start a project. I would hope it's something we've already identified on this list. The project could change in scope. But in the end, go down the road somewhere over here and say, let's redo the lagoons, something that we really haven't discussed and been planning on for a few years. That's really where we're going to invest our money. So that's part of the plan as a guide.

And what I like to see is things come on and off of this I mean I don't want something sitting there for 20 years and never get addressed if we're not gonna address it Let's take it off. You know, so I think the big one tonight will take away is facilities You know, let's let's look at what options we've got. I think again at the end of the day I'm gonna task you two with maybe finding some existing buildings that could be options for you or land and and kind of go from there too to say, does the new route work or is there existing that may make it a quicker, more cost-effective way to move forward? Anything else?

No. Next time, do you feel like you're going to see now all this come together into a budget and discussion? We don't have more work sessions planned. You can add them anytime you want. We can have one next time just because you're used to doing it now. But it's now we've put the pieces together and we can start talking about, okay, getting all these things done, where's our mill levy going to be and what future years look like? And it's time to put it together and get it ready for approval. I want you to be prepared, not that you can't meet one-on-one or have other meetings and things. I just want to make sure this has prepared you for the next steps.

I think... i'm fine with either way either doing it through a work session or just doing as a regular agenda item to review where the budget is and where we're at sometimes we put all of our wants and needs in there and we think that's what we want and then we look at it like oh crap i can't afford that yeah right so that may be there may be some of that happening right and so if we need extra time if it gets to that point we're like oh wow we're way overzealous on what we thought we could afford then maybe we plan another work session. But I think next meeting we have a discussion item that you bring us some information and we kind of go from there.

I will tell you you're not off track. But when we started out in May and I put all the pieces together, you're on track. And to do the things that you need to do, we're not in the weeds.

Yeah. And I know we've got a decent surplus this year. At least we're on track to be. And so those are things to think about too when we go into it.

And we'll probably come back to a list like this and say, what do we want to do with it? Let's buy a fingerprint system and let's do some other things.

And in my mind, those are the roundabout type thing or Nichols and hail, or, you know, the ones that we don't necessarily have a huge budget for, but if we have some cash that's sitting there that. We're like, hey, let's throw some money at this so we can make some decent dents in some of the things we've got to address. So it's 6.52. We're going to go ahead and adjourn this meeting so that we can be ready to go here in about eight minutes for our regular schedule. Thank you, everyone. All right, good evening, everyone. It is 7 p.m., and we will go ahead and get our meeting started for tonight. We'll call to order, and our invocation tonight will be by Pastor Jack Smith from Generation Bible Church. Please stand with us if you're able.

Dear Heavenly Father, we pause today to give thanks for this community, for the people that call this city home. And we ask that you grant our mayor, city manager, and members of this council wisdom to govern fairly amid the complex issues of our times. discernment to recognize the true needs of our neighborhoods and families, courage to stand up for justice, equity, and the common good, and grace to work together in harmony, even when there are honest disagreements. Protect our first responders, Lord, our city workers, and all who serve to keep our streets safe and our infrastructure strong. Guide the work done in this room tonight so that it will build a stable and prosperous, welcoming future for everyone. And we pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Madam Clerk, will you please take the roll?

Mr. Throne?

Here.

Mrs. Craveer? Here. Mr. Grant?

Here.

Mr. Delgado?

Here.

Mr. Savage? Here. Mayor, we have a quorum present.

All right, thank you. Next up on our agenda is the approval of the agenda. I don't believe we had any requests for changes tonight. With that, I will entertain a motion to approve the agenda. So moved. Second. Motion and one second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion passes 5-0-0. Next up, we do have an executive session scheduled for 20 minutes. So I will entertain a motion to move into executive session.

I move the City Council recess into executive session for 20 minutes to receive the Vice of Council regarding matters of non-elected personnel and threat of litigation pursuant to KSA 75-4319B2 of the Kansas Open Meetings Act. The opening meeting will resume in the City Council Chambers at 7.24 p.m. No formal action is anticipated following the session. The persons to be in attendance are the following. Spencer Lau, City Attorney. Monica Jones, Human Resources Director. Second.

We have a motion and a second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion passes 5-0-0. We'll see you back here at 7-24. Let the record reflect the governing body reconvened the open meeting at 724 p.m. No votes were taken or decisions made during the executive session. Discussion was limited to the subject stated. With that we will move into our announcements and reports. Don't have a ton of stuff tonight. We do have our last first Friday coming up before our next meeting, so that'll be the first week of August, which will be fun. That one's more of a back to school, so if you have little kids especially, it'll be really fun, really good to do. Outside of that, I don't have much other for announcements or reports. PJ, how about you? No reports. James? No report. Kendra?

I don't have much. I have received several emails from citizens stating opinions, ideas, everything like that. I just wanted to say that I really appreciate all of the emails that I do receive. However, I have been met with some name-calling, comments on my appearance, my weight. That does not hold... the water that it seems like it would, and I will not tolerate that. So please refrain from any of that if you send me emails. Otherwise, I'd love to hear from you guys. Thank you.

Thanks, Kendra. I'm sorry that's happening. I hope as a community we can be more respectful of each other throughout our conversations back and forth. Ivan. No report. Mike. No report. You always have something. That's okay. I'm all messed up now, Chief. Everybody's out of order. You keep moving every week.

I sat in Rhonda's chair last week. Now I'm here. Keeping you guys on your toes. Just wanted to report out that we had the touch a truck event on Saturday that we had. Norm was there. Of course, he's always a big kid. He overshadowed me at that event, so I was a little embarrassed by that. And then we had the 5K run. I want to say thanks to the Spring Hill Rec Commission. Those two events were put on by them, and they did a great job of hosting those events. So it was really fun to be out in the community.

Thank you. Spencer? No report. Mike? The other Mike.

No report tonight.

Thanks. All right. Allison?

I have a couple of things. Okay, sorry. Okay, so as some of you guys already know, there's information out on our Facebook and I've emailed to certain people in the city council and in the community, we are applying for a planning sustainable places, grant application to do a citywide transportation master plan, we are looking for public comments. And hopefully we can beat the record and maybe score an extra point or two in the process, which will help us out in getting the grant. The more points we get, the better our odds. So the public comment period is open. It is open until midnight tomorrow night. So if you haven't done so already, get your public comments out there. We're trending in the top three right now. So we want to make sure that we break the record. So get your public comments in before midnight tomorrow night. And anybody can do that, whether you're on city council, on city staff, or in the audience or listening at home. Last week we had a great work session. Just to recap for those in the audience and listening at home, we held a work session to review our wastewater treatment facility. It started with a tour of our current facility and what we have and what we don't have and all the smells that came with it. um and then we went right into a presentation with our hopes and dreams for the future as we start to grow as a community there's going to be a tipping point where we need to grow our wastewater treatment facility so we presented that to you all and we appreciate the feedback that we received and we met with our team today to start working on what that plan is going to look like so as promised when we get to a preliminary design the basis of design report when we get that finalized we will be back before you to present that full package and then the last thing on monday monday i want to say ian and i participated in the k7 corridor study they had a charrette they invited some of the leaders from the communities and other partners and such and it was a great exercise. They are gonna have another round of a public open house. They held one here a few months, about a month and a half ago for our community. They're gonna have another opportunity for the community to come and speak they're going to host that one in olathe i encourage anybody from spring hill that was not able to attend the k7 corridor study public meeting last month two months ago whenever that was attend the one in olathe Make sure you get your voices heard. We want you to tell KDOT and the design team what your thoughts, hopes, dreams, all the things with the K7 corridor. That's your time to make your voices heard. So I encourage you to go up there, even though it's going to be in Olathe. Spring Hill is part of that corridor study, and we definitely want you guys to be there. I will be there. I will share that date as soon as it's shared with me. So be on the lookout for that soon. That's all I've got.

Sounds great. Thank you. We will jump up to Rhonda.

No report.

Glenda? No report. All right. Moniqueisha?

No report.

Jacob?

um he's got a spark on his face so that means he's got something the chief mentioned the uh touch truck um event that was uh we also public works had some vehicles there it was a fun event uh great you know happy to participate in that the uh 191st street project this year's uh cars project for us this is that section between 169 and woodland that work is underway going well. We're happy with the progress and work of that contractor, so that's on schedule. The street resurfacing project is also underway. Various neighborhoods throughout the city. That's also on target to be completed before the beginning of school. So we'll get that done this summer. We won't clear it by much, but we will get that done before the end of summer. And then the sidewalk program is also that contractor is working at mobilizing material and equipment that will get going this week, if not this week, very beginning of next week. and then finally our annual luau at the aquatic center is saturday night at 6 p.m so we encourage everyone to come out the We do have a limited number of space. We were at capacity last year. So you can purchase tickets in advance, and I highly recommend it. Provided that we have space available, you can also purchase tickets at the door. But just to be safe, I would encourage you to buy those in advance. And also, for members of council, if you or your families are interested in attending, let me know.

CHRIS RODGERS, M.D. : Sounds great. Thank you. All right, if that's it for announcements and reports, we'll move on to citizen participation. We have two people signed up tonight. First up is Bill Peterman.

Thank you, all of you.

Bill Peterman, 19431 West 200th Street. And I want to thank you for all the sidewalk work you've been doing. As the ex-mayor will say or attest to, I've been bitching about this for 14 years. I see the sidewalks come in. It's great. So now I want to talk a little bit about data centers. But before that, I want to remind Spencer or Mr. Spencer that he is our parliamentarian. If you guys start talking about stuff that you're not supposed to talk about to each other before your meeting, before this one, he's got to tell you. Please let them know so they're not doing it because I was told that not this one, but the one before a couple guys was talking about something they wasn't supposed to. So just want to make sure everything's on the up and up and everybody's going straight. But on the data centers, the Facebook, people are brave. Yeah, they got cojones. They can call you anything they want. And it's bad. It's bad, because they do. Because they don't have to answer to it. They don't have to face you. It's bad. So when things start going in, and we're talking about data centers, And what will it do to the water? What will it do to the electricity? On Facebook, you have people calling in all the time, oh, they raised our water bill $10, or they raised our water bill $14. Oh, my God, what are we going to do? Well, what are you going to do when the data center comes in, we build it, and your electric bill quadruples? What are they going to do then? Now, I'm not picking numbers out of the air. I'm going by what's been going on in Ohio, Texas, all around, California, the water bills. I don't know what the water bills do because the water ain't gonna be around much longer. The aqua field is gonna be taken away. We ain't gonna have no Hillsdale Lake to go fishing at. Please remember, you're destroying my property. I want you to understand my property. I care about you and your property, but I care more about me and my property. Okay. Please think about it.

Thanks Bill. All right. Next up we have Kyle Combs.

Good evening. My name is Kyle Combs and I live at 15320 West 193rd Terrace. While I've only lived in Spring Hill a few years, I grew up just a few miles down the road and I have called the southern Kansas City metro area my home for nearly 30 years. For over 15 years, I've worked in the electric utility industry, evaluating transmission infrastructure, and generation resources, and especially in recent years, the challenges of serving the power requirements of large industrial growth. I want to be clear that I'm not representing my employer. I'm here as a citizen sharing my perspective that I have gained from my work because I care deeply about this community. Tonight, I want to talk about risk. Economic development works best when the private sector assumes the investment risk and the public shares in the long term benefits. But when taxpayers are asked to shoulder significant financial risks before private investment is certain, that is not the kind of economic development that we should aspire to attract. Over the last several months, we have heard vaguely about the opportunities that large industrial development could provide. While we would all like to see behind the curtain and understand exactly what benefits you have been told these opportunities would bring, I want to focus on what we have not heard about, the downsides to residents if those promises never materialize. How much will Spring Hill spend on roads, water, sewer, and wastewater treatment infrastructure in anticipation of attracting a major industrial development? How much of that investment would occur before there is a binding commitment from the customer? How many tax incentives are being discussed? What protections exist if the project never happens? These are not hypothetical questions. These deserve real answers before irreversible decisions are made. The reality is that many proposed data center projects never become operational. Across the country, thousands of speculative developers are trying to secure land zoning approvals, and utility commitments. The vast majority of those developers never intend to own or operate a data center themselves. Their business model is to increase the value of a site and flip it to another developer for a multiple of their investment before construction even begins. These developers would be lucky if even 10% of their speculative portfolios make it into operation. They do not care if most individual projects fail. It is a numbers game and they are throwing projects at the wall to see what sticks. That is not necessarily unethical. It is simply how that industry works. But it means communities like Spring Hill carry substantial risk if they make major infrastructure commitments before there's a proven customer with proven financing. Even if Spring Hill assembles land, updates zoning, expands water and sewer systems, and builds new wastewater infrastructure, there is still another challenge, and that is power, which is completely outside of the control of the city or the developer. To receive power in this region, a project must go through Evergy, and in their 2026 shareholder letter, Evergy stated that it had already grown its large load customer pipeline to more than 15 gigawatts. To put that into perspective, Evergy's peak demand today is only 11 gigawatts. What is already in Evergy's pipeline would more than double its current peak load, and everything in that pipeline is further along in the development cycle than any opportunity Spring Hill is currently pursuing. The truth is that Evergy does not have excess generation capacity required to support all of this new load. Evergy is already building three new natural gas fired power plants to serve the first handful of large load projects, which were announced years ago. These plants add less than two gigawatts of capacity and will not be fully operational until the early 2030s. That should give everyone pause before assuming a speculative data center can receive the power it needs on whatever timeline a developer promises. The infrastructure required to support projects of this size is measured in years, not months. With all of the activity in this industry across the country, timelines to build new generation and transmission are getting longer. If they were starting today, it is likely to take nearly a decade for Evergy to develop all the generation transmission needed to serve another large load project like the data centers being discussed in Spring Hill. I also want to address how these decisions are being made. At the June 25th work session, Council Member Savage asked whether the 100-foot setback for M2 heavy industrial zoning could be increased because he felt it did not provide enough protection for nearby residents. That was a direct policy question. Instead of discussing whether the ordinance would change, staff shifted the conversation to comparisons with neighboring communities and said larger setbacks could be negotiated later during the site plan review. But that was not the question. If a larger setback is appropriate, why should that protection depend on a future negotiation? Why should it not be written into the ordinance so every resident receives it? This council should insist on direct answers to direct questions. Staff provides recommendations. Developers pursue business opportunities. Attorneys provide legal advice. Those perspectives matter, but none of them were elected. You were. Your responsibility is to ask difficult questions before making decisions that could affect this community for generations. This is not simply about whether data centers are good or bad, it is about whether decisions of this magnitude are made with enough information, transparency, and independent scrutiny. Please, tread carefully during this process. Fully disclose the infrastructure costs and financial commitments before they are made. Ask the hard questions and insist on direct answers. The easiest decision tonight is to ask more questions. The worst outcome would be realizing years from now that we should have. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. All right. He was the last one to sign up. Was there anybody else in the crowd that would like to come up and speak? If not, we will move on to our presentation. 2025 audit report from Mr. Sean Gordon, CPA. Thank you.

That's okay. Sean, are you on the line with us? Just a second. We're not hearing you quite in the room. If you'll give us just a second. Mr. Gordon is going to review the results of the audit for 2025. You were provided an electronic copy of this by email this week, and we had a good audit as we have in prior years and have a good report coming from Sean. Sean, will you try it again, please? Yes, we sure can.

Bye. you

No, I think, is this the highest score we received, or did we get that last year, too? Last year. We had a last year also? OK. I was going to say, because I feel like we've been doing a pretty good job the last couple of years. The first year, I think it was five years ago, we were like right below it. And then since then, I believe we've been kind of at the highest level. So I think that's always a very important thing, and I'm glad we're continuing to do that. Any questions or anything?

I'd just like to say thank you to Rhonda, to our finance group as a whole, to the CPAs that are taking the time to go through and make sure that we're crunching the numbers the way they need to be crunched. Having the highest grade two years in a row is a testament to your leadership, to the professionalism you bring to our city. You are a good hire. Yeah, and I'm so glad that you're here. So thank you for helping us keep these numbers straight so we can do a good job up here.

Now you know why I'm a stickler over who signs what and when we get it and who got the invoice and doesn't say the right thing. Yes, ma'am.

Any other comments or questions or anything? I know we're not all CPAs up here, so we probably don't have a ton of questions, but for the most part, it looked all good to me, so I... Good.

Sean, thank you for your time. We appreciate the report.

Thank you very much. All right, we will move on to the consent agenda. We've had no changes there, so I will entertain a motion to approve as presented. So moved. Second. Motion and a second. All those in favor?

Aye.

Opposed? Motion passes 5-0-0. That moves us into our formal council action and our first item is 7a, consideration of the city administrator's contract. The city administration contract had a provision for us to review it as of I think May of this year. So we started that process and we started working through contract negotiations and what we wanted to do. I have made the decision that I would like to not move forward with that contract extension and also terminate that contract as of now so we can start the process of working towards looking for a new city administrator. I appreciate the last four years of his work here and think as everyone else has seen the city grow and uh i wish him the best in in his future um as depending on what happens going forward with the governing body but for me that's where i stand so if that is agreeable from the governing body i would need a motion and a second in the vote so um unless there's any comments or anything i will let you guys move forward from there any comment any comment questions okay go

So I move that the City Council vote to terminate Lane Massey's contract without cause. Second.

A motion and a second. I think James said it first. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion passes 5-0-0. With that passing, we will need to appoint an interim city administrator. And so I'd like to propose appointing Mike Mallon as our interim city administrator and actually adding an assistant city administrator interim of Jacob Spear. If that's agreeable, then I would entertain a motion.

I agree with that. The workload is going to be tricky navigating both their current responsibilities. as well as this new set of responsibilities we thrust upon them. So I think having some backup right now is going to be the appropriate move for the city as we go through a hiring process. I agree.

Any comments or questions? No. Okay. I'll entertain a motion.

I move that we make Mike Mallon our interim city administrator and Jacob Spear our assistant city administrator.

Second.

Motion and a second. All those in favor?

Aye.

Opposed? Motion passes 5-0-0. Thank you. We will now move on to item number eight with a city attorney appointment. We have gone through a process of interviews and selection criteria and came across a very, very qualified candidate that I have had the opportunity to interview and speak with and I think she's very level-headed, has a ton of experience, and to me, I think will be a great addition to the city. Not that we don't like Spencer, but again, having an in-house attorney is going to be very, very attractive and very nice to have, so somebody we can walk down the hallway and talk to, and somebody with her wealth of knowledge, I think, will be a very big benefit as we go through all the growing pains that we're going through. Her name is Misty Brown Polo. Did I pronounce everything correct? She is here tonight in the red scarf, and I'd like to appoint her to be our new city attorney. Do we have any comments or questions? If not, I think we go straight to a vote. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion passes 5-0-0 to appoint Misty Brown Polo as our new city attorney. Congratulations and thank you very much. Would you like to come up and say anything?

I'll be brief. I just want to say thank you for the appointment. I'm honored. I know I have some big shoes to fill with Spencer, but I'm very excited to join the team. So thank you. Great. Thank you very much.

We're very excited to have you. A little bit of background, she worked for the UG for a long time. She's currently at Leavenworth County. Very, very great background. I'm very excited to have you, so thank you. Next up is item number nine. A lot of appointments tonight. Item number nine is the new committee that we created a couple of meetings ago, the Community Improvement Committee. We will move forward. a ton of applicants for this. It was really great to see that we had so much engagement on this particular committee. Um, they're going to be working on parks, trails, sidewalks, anything really community related. And, um, out of all of them, I think we, I think I've, uh, decided on three people that can be a great help that have very different I would say skill sets that can really come together and make a huge difference in those areas. I'm just going to go ahead and do all three of them together at one time. Is that agreeable to everybody? And then we'll do a vote on approval or not. Uh, the first person would be Derek Buckridge with a great background in trail making, uh, really just anything outdoors and kind of the leader in this brigade and people will see him around and he does pretty much everything for the community. So I'm very excited to see him in a, an official capacity in this group. Next up is Carla Anderson. She was a KDOT engineer for many, many years and now works as a part-time engineer. and as semi-retired and has a lot of great ideas and a lot of great knowledge that will complement Derek's knowledge of trails and sidewalks and parks to where she can know the actual ins and outs of the engineering side, which I know is really important. And then the last one is Kristen Ogier, uh had just really really great ideas of what we could do to spruce up our parks things that we can do that's outside of maybe technical aspects but things that can improve our community which i thought was really exciting and was very um very excited about it which to me always means that you can do even more when you have that excitement so all three of them had great excitement I appreciate all of you for applying, but I couldn't take everyone. So these were the three that we kind of came upon. Um, with that, those are the appointments that I'd like to make. We don't need a motion. We just would vote. Correct. So with that, uh, all those in favor of approving these appointments, uh, all those in favor.

Aye.

Opposed motion passes five zero zero. We have our three appointments for the new committee. We will work towards, thank you very much. I know Derek's here. Thank you, Derek, for being here in the crowd. We will get that. It's a quarterly group that will meet quarterly, so we'll get that on the calendar and we'll have that pushed out. And I'll encourage the community to come to those meetings so that they know what we're working on. Even have, we'll have public comments where you can come in and make comments and tell us places that we can look at. So I really look forward to this committee. Next up, Planning Commission Appointment for City Representative. This is actually the replacement for Ms. Crevier here who came on to the City Council. And again, we had multiple applicants that were all very good. Everybody had a different skill set and everybody had a different kind of approach to how Planning Commission operates. And so, What I landed on was somebody who's been very involved in the last couple of months and wants to continue to be involved and really has shown the effort to put in work and figure out what the ins and outs are of different developments and things like that. I think she'll be a great addition to our planning commission, Julia Bergmeier. She wasn't able to come tonight, but she was very excited to get started and I'm excited to appoint her to our planning commission. Unless there's any comments or questions, I will take a vote on this appointment. All those in favor?

Aye.

Opposed? Motion passes 5-0-0 to appoint Julia Bergmeier to our Planning Commission. Congratulations. I'm excited to have her on there. It's always exciting to get new people involved. Absolutely. I love that. We have a lot of new people up here over the last six to 12 months. Plenty of commissions getting newer and newer. New voices, new ideas. I really enjoy it. Now moving on to some more official business. Number 11, consider resolution number 2026-R-12, a resolution authorizing and directing the, I don't know how to say that, defeasance and or redemption prior to maturity of certain outstanding general obligation bonds the city of Spring Hill, Kansas, and authorizing the execution of an escrow trust agreement in connection therewith. Who's presenting this one? Come on up. Had to give me weird words to say. I'm just going to say I don't know.

Introduce a new word to us.

Since you're the mayor, however you say it is the right way. Tell him that. You said it how I would say it.

Malfeasance.

Malfeasance, right. Rick McConnell with the Kutak Rock Law Firm. Appreciate that. consideration this evening so I think a couple maybe two or three meetings ago we did a resolution of intent for some IRBs out in the for some multifamily development out in the crossings area and we knew that as part of that development they would have to pay this thing called a benefit fee which essentially makes them responsible for part of the cost of Webster Road and there is all already a Webster Road SBD and so We think we're narrowing down what the number will be. And what we'd like to do is take the money that we receive, we'll put it in an escrow fund at UMB Bank, we'll invest it, and we will try to lower the amount that the person who's paying has to pay, but also benefit the existing payors as much as possible. And so there's still a bit of discussion to take place around that, and Baker Tilly's helping us with the numbers. But this is the mechanism to just escrow the money. It will be invested in U.S. Treasury's full faith and credit obligations. But we needed your authorization to go ahead and do that and complete that step.

This is a bit of financial hula hoops, it feels like, where you're jumping through, kind of doing different things to bring everything together. Again, this kind of goes along the lines of what we've been doing in the past. Rhonda, do you have something to say?

Yeah, I was going to make a comment. It is the technicality of a financial process, but this lets some development go forward in a corner that needs it. There's a project up there that cleans up some old work that didn't get completed. So this is a way to benefit. the whole area to make it all a better place with more housing. And so we're gonna use the hula hoops to help out getting that accomplished and property cleaned up and more housing built.

Do we have the cross streets for that so everybody kind of knows where it's at?

This is north of Wiswell Farms on North Webster Street and Lincoln Street.

Does everybody know where that is?

It curves around there, Lincoln turns to Webster.

Any questions or anything on this? Mike, you look like you have questions. No. This is kind of a process we've already started. We're just moving through it. I don't really have any questions outside of this. I think we're helping that area build out. As the stoplight comes in, it's going to help. to have not kind of dangerous area right now. It's a little bit dangerous over there. Just have this be built out. It'll be nice because there was, I believe, some development that got halted and now is being redone. So, um, I think this is a good thing. Any comments or questions? If not, I'll entertain a motion. Let me make sure I've got the right item.

Can you say the words too? I'm just kidding. I move to approve agenda item number 11 as stated in today's agenda. Second.

We have a motion and a second. This is a resolution, so all those in favor?

Aye.

Opposed? Motion passes 5-0-0. That moves us into item number 12. And I'll just say I stayed in the agenda.

All right. Another financial item. About a year ago, the city authorized the issuance of temporary notes, number 2025B. And in that process, four projects were defined to be funded by those temporary notes. Eventually, when the projects are completed, we will bond those and create the debt and begin the payback. 199th Street's improvements. These are the projects that were originally included. The traffic signalization, 191st. The sewer mains in the Northeast project. And then Fox Hollow Benefit District. We have, through the hard work of a lot of people, we're coming in under our budgeted amounts. And as you can see from the schedule that I put together, 199th Street's running about $650,000 under the original estimate. The traffic signalization, we've gotten a $2 million grant, so it's running under. The sewer mains are coming under, and Fox Hollow is right on target. So we have some surplus money. We'd like to expand the sewer to the North Webster sewer district, which is by the gas glass plant. And so instead of going out for more debt, we'd like to change the projects. in 2025B and add the North Webster sewer line. So we won't go for more debt, we'll just reuse the funds that we've already got. So tonight I'm asking you to pass resolution 2026R13, which would add the North Webster sewer line into 2025B so we can move forward with that project under the current tip notes.

So we are essentially reallocating some of the money that we saved through grant funding to a project we were going to pay for. So it's kind of nice that we're not having to go out and rebond something new. So as Allison continues to work through the grant programs, we should see hopefully more of this as projects come on to where we can either add projects and or just peel back as much as we can. This was a project we've already kind of moved forward with and on, so it's nice that we can lump it into here where we already saved the money.

Exactly. No additional closing costs or cost of issuance or anything like that.

Any questions or comments on that? Thank you, as always, for putting this stuff together and making sure that our money's being used well.

You got it.

We have no questions or comments.

I will entertain a motion. I move to approve agenda item number 12 as stated. Second.

We have a motion and a second. All those in favor?

Aye. Aye.

Opposed? Motion passes 5-0-0.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Thank you, Rhonda.

Next up, number 13. This is going to be Ms. Allison Abel. Consider approval of Amendment Number 1 to Task Order 2024-10 with Lamprey-Nierson for the 191st Street and 169 traffic signal design.

OK. So the next item before you is a request to extend a contract with Lamprey-Nierson. Um, back a couple of years ago, we contracted with Lamprey near send directly to design the traffic signal at 191st and one 69. Uh, they had, uh, merge Midwest as their sub consultant to help out with the traffic, uh, merge Midwest. Uh, they put together a traffic study and based on traffic counts and, uh, future. traffic loads and everything, and we presented that to KDOT. There was a lot of back and forth on how long the queue lane should be, how many turn lanes we needed, a lot of back and forth, and we revised that study several times based on some of the comments that we've gotten. I know I've kept you guys up to date with every stage of that, but for some of the new people, I want to let you know that There's been a lot of behind the scenes stuff going on. So we finally settled on a concept and then we moved forward with the final design. During that whole process, we received some funding from KDOT, which kind of changed a little bit of the requirements. There were some additional requirements that were needed because it was going to be a state-funded project. And then we were lucky enough to get some congressional appropriations through Sharice Davids' office, that additional $875,000 that we can use on other projects. That also comes with a lot of strings attached and a lot of additional plan sheets and design and just additional hoops that we have to go through. So with each one of those changes, whether it was changing the traffic study, because KDOT wanted to change the configuration of the turn lanes. Taking a step back completely and considering a completely different intersection design that doesn't even include a traffic signal, that only lasted just a few weeks, and then moving forward into all of these additional plan requirements. So with that, Lampre-Nierson has been very flexible and they've been They continue to help us out with whatever we need. So they've got to get paid. They've spent some time on this. They've designed it, redesigned it, and everything. So they captured all of that work in an additional task order. We're going to fold it into the existing task order as an amendment. So with that, we are requesting an extension of their contract for their services and the amount of $29,000 $949 to capture all of that great work that they've done. Amazing design that ended up going into the trash can and they had to start over. And that is not something on them. That is just something that they need to be reimbursed for. We've got Chad Thompson with Lamprey-Nierson here in the audience. If you guys have any specific questions about 191st Street, I know Lane and I kept you up to date on some of those. It's still in KDOT hands. They've got the design. we've pretty much done everything that we can do. So we're just waiting for it to go out to bed.

So do we have a timeline on that?

I believe it's October still.

Okay.

So fall is what we had reported. Uh, it should be October. If there's any changes, I will keep you guys posted. And with that, I am available if you have any questions.

I'll take the redesign cost of this amount for the 2.8 million that we got to help fund it, so.

Amen.

I'll take it, it's fine.

Yeah, it's not a surprise to me. I knew once we secured that additional funding that all kinds of fun things were gonna come up when you start putting federal hands in things.

They're a great resource, but paperwork is... Yeah, and it almost tripled the number of plan sheets that we had in our plan set.

Yeah, this is not a surprise to me.

Any other questions or comments? I'm glad to see it's moving forward. That's the thing. Hopefully we'll see it come to fruition at some point.

Oh, we will. I will put it out there myself if I have to.

We'll see her out there with a shovel.

We're taking it out. I will.

Jackhammer.

I will be out there with flashlights if I have to.

All right. No questions or comments. I'll entertain a motion.

I move to approve agenda item number 13 as stated in tonight's agenda. Second.

motion in a second all those in favor aye opposed motion passes 5-0-0 she's not moving some item number 14 consider approval of construction agreement with Havens construction company for storm water condition assessment program for you is request to approve an agreement with Havens construction we are

received, surprise, another grant from the Johnson County Stormwater Fund. They have a stormwater committee that they award different grant applications to communities. This is something that we applied for several months ago. We were awarded. Now it's time for us to move forward with it. So the scope of the project is we're going to be doing cleaning and televising of our storm sewer lines in the heart of the city. So some of the older infrastructure that we have from North Street to South Street, from 169 to Webster. We're going to focus in on those areas. So we hired Lamprey and Harrison to help us out with some of the before, during, and after care that we need to manage this project. So they helped us out with trying to figure out exactly putting together the mapping, assisting with the RFQ. We need to hire a contractor to help out with the CCTV. somebody that will come in with a jetter and a camera to go in and see the exact condition of our storm sewer pipe. There are a lot of issues underground. You don't know what you don't know until it becomes a big sinkhole. And we want to get ahead of that with preventative maintenance so that we can identify some of these issues early on. And then we can start programming money into our budget each year so that we can address some of these issues before they become a problem. Because once they become a problem, you're going to be paying four times the amount or even more to make that repair. So we want to get ahead of the game and start incorporating some of this into some of the great asset management work that Jacob and his crew is working on. So we took this out to bid and received quotes from four different contractors and engineers and such. So it was a good mix of people that we received proposals from. We received proposals from engineering firms that partnered with We received proposals from contractors. We received proposals from engineers that do the CCTV services. So it was a good mix of qualified people. With this analysis, they have to put together a standardized rating. So they're going to tell us exactly what rating that pipe is. So they're going to rate each pipe as they go through and review the dirty videos from the CCTV. So we took this out to Ben on July 8th. We received the four quotes. The lowest one was from Havens Construction Company. They meet all of the criteria, have all the qualifications, have done this in other communities. I've worked with Havens Construction before. in a previous life, so I highly recommend them. Their bid was the lowest, but that wasn't necessarily what I was looking for. I was looking for the best qualified person that could do it with the least amount of money. But price was not the sole criteria. But in this case, it happens to be that the lowest person is also qualified, so that's who we're recommending tonight. With that, staff recommends the approval of a contract with Havens Construction in the amount of $225,520. We are under budget with this. We might look at extending their contracts. We do have some work on our MS4. that we might want to parlay into this. That would be, you guys are going to learn more about this in your next meeting whenever I present the MS4 stuff. But we're going to have to start inspecting our outfalls. We're going to have to do some other things like that. So we might look, since we've got a little bit of budget left over, we might look at doing this, but we're going to have to get clearance through Johnson County before we get too silly with some of that. But I do have a little bit of budget left over if there are any issues with that. And then once we get the CCTV, Lamprey-Nierson is going to fold that into a beautiful conditions assessment report, something that we can look at for future budgeting purposes. With that, I'm available if you have any questions.

So is the 225 our portion or are we 50% of that?

We're 50% of that.

Okay. So we just pay it and get reimbursed, correct?

We will pay it and then we'll have to submit a reimbursement after all the payments have gone through.

I'm open to expanding the project if it's if it falls within we approve it tonight as is and then we can adjust it Because we might as well take advantage of the extra money if we're gonna have to do that Anyway, I got to work within the framework of the green So I'll work with the Johnson County people to see if there's any ability for us to maybe get ahead on some of that Work since we've got some money and economies of scale and they're already out here So if we can get exactly maybe we can get cheaper deal

Well, in part of the contract, too, they did include some of their hourly rates separate from the bid. So if we do need them to do some extra work, heavy cleaning or anything like that, there may be a spot repair. You know, it might be something that we need them to immediately address. We've already got those unit prices locked in.

Nice.

Jacob, does this go back to what you were talking about in the future where we would need or we could use a truck once we're large enough to do this ourselves?

Yes, we've talked about in the future a camera van. This particular project is utilizing it for the storm sewer system. We could utilize it for that as well as the sanitary sewer. So as we grow and we see right now we're contracting out for this is still the best way to go. But in the future, yes, bringing that ability in-house is something we're looking at.

How often will we need to do this? Is this like a once every couple years?

I think industry standard is once every seven years.

Oh, okay. So, yeah, definitely worth fishing out then. Okay. Yeah, that was kind of, I was just tying the two together because I remember him talking about this. We're not quite there, but we could be in the next ten years.

Yeah, the industry standard is once every seven years, but I'm not sure any of these have been cleaned. Put in, so.

That's certainly going to be the first time a camera's been run through them, so.

Most likely. All right. Any comments or questions?

Scope of project time, once they get going, have they given you guys an idea of how long it's going to take them to complete the project?

They did, and I think I included the schedule in the contract. I want to say that they were going to get most of the CCTV in before the end of the year.

Yeah, I didn't see the timeline in there, so I was just curious if it was... Oh, it's included in the contract I gave to Glenda.

And then all that's provided to Lampreneur so then they can do their part. Okay.

Yep.

All right.

Am I allowed to ask what the next closest bid was?

Yeah, they're all on there.

It's all on there. So what I usually do is when we take any sort of bids like this, we will produce, we'll have a bid opening where we will do real-time opening of the bids, and I will read them aloud. We did go through and read all of these aloud. Coincidentally, three of the four had small math error. Well, two of the four had small math errors. One had a big math error. So we posted this on our website with the as read number and then the adjusted with the math error corrected. This reflects the correct amount. And I usually try to provide this to you guys in your agenda review sheet every time that we have an open bid like this.

Yeah, there's one that's much different than the rest. So I was kind of curious about that.

Would there potentially be any costs that could come up while they're working? I know with my husband in construction, typically the lowest bid, there's always something that they come across that's going to tack on, tack on, tack on. So is there anything like that, that aside from like a spot fix or something like that, but is there anything that could come up with just them running the camera? That's.

So the bids were based off of the lineal feed of pipe and the number of structures. So unless we completely miss on that, if there's additional pipe or anything like that, then they will get paid by that, uh, that amount. I know whenever I've been out like street sweeping before, sometimes you do that as an hourly rate and sometimes people milk that.

Yes.

I could totally see that, you know, if there is an issue that they see on site and everything like that, they'll get a hold of city staff and then we can make the determination if it's an emergency repair that we need to take care of right then and there. Then we'll have to do it separately. Sure.

And Mayor Chad had something to add.

Oh.

He's coming up behind me.

Coming up. Oh, thank you.

He raised his hand. Thank you. That's all.

adding one more thing that is actually an unknown it is underground so there's some cleanup of the pipes that's in there as it did that is somewhat of an unknown of how much cleanup would happen okay so that's one thing that could extend the contract that's internal I'm assuming cleanup yeah okay just so if like trees brush leaves go in there and they kind of clog it up and they can't get the camera through it okay that could cost a little bit more too okay

And the way it works is whatever the ending cost is up to the amount approved by Johnson County, we can reimburse 50% of that?

Yeah, we have a total amount that we've been approved for.

Okay, perfect. So as long as it stays under that total amount, 50% of that.

Thank you for clarification.

It was that $374,940. Can we go through these lines proactively with the vac truck and prep them? or clean them before we actually do it?

There's really no need to.

I mean, if it saves us money.

They're still going to have to go in there with the... Well, we really... I will let you answer that.

Yes, we have the capability to do that. I wouldn't recommend it for a couple of reasons. Yeah, Allison mentioned the schedule. This is about five months worth of dedicated all day, every day work. Tying our truck and our crew up on this for five months is five months that we aren't available to clean those sanitary sewer lines that need to be cleaned. The other reason I would recommend against it is from a coordination perspective, it's really good to have the same company and same entity responsible for cleaning the lines and getting the camera through. If you have two different entities responsible, there can be an opportunity for some finger pointing at, well, it wasn't a video problem, it was the fact that you didn't get the line clean enough and back and forth. If all of those responsibilities are under one company, it eliminates that.

And we're paying for it anyway, so we might as well have them do the heavy lift.

Well, I was just thinking maybe we could expand it and go larger.

In the future, that might be something we could do. In the future, we definitely could utilize our own services and equipment that we have. But for this one, I'm anticipating those are going to be pretty full of silt. So Glenda was able to get me the schedule. We will be starting this at the beginning of August, and they are projecting to have their final completion done by the end of November.

Oh, wow, that's a long time.

Yeah, and then to answer your question, Mayor, you had asked about why was the top bid so much higher than the others. So the top bid came from an engineering firm that contracted with a contractor.

There's layers there.

There's layers there, and I think some of it was a little bit of quality control with the engineering staff and the project management and maybe a little bit of overlapping work that lamprey-nearson is already under contract for so I think that the There was a few too many layers on that one.

Okay Sounds good to me any other questions or comments All right, if not, I will entertain a motion Very good.

I move to approve agenda item Number 14 as stated in tonight's agenda. Second.

We have a motion and a second. All those in favor?

Aye.

Opposed? Motion passes 5-0-0. The next one up is number 15. Consider approval of an agreement with Johnson County for a stormwater system renewal project for the City Lake Dam project.

The next item before you is a request to contract with Johnson County for the City Lake Dam project. So a little bit of background. We've been working on the design of the City Lake Dam. It has gone through an inspection process. There are some improvements that we need to make to City Lake Dam to provide more free board. for the dam so the water surface elevation needs to be So much lower than the dam elevation so that we can protect the the area around it We have been working with lamprey-nearson on the design of the City Lake Dam We have completed the final plans that is currently being reviewed by the state We've met with the golf course and reviewed the plans with them They are providing we've signed a temporary construction easement with them to help us out with the project. So we're just waiting on approval from the state so that we can move forward and take this out to bid. So while all that's going on, way back when in May of last year, city council approved a funding, I guess it was an intent to fund agreement with Johnson County. That was just basically after we got the notice of award. It was an agreement with us and them to, specific to this project. Not sure what happened, but they, we, somebody, we didn't close the loop on getting the official project agreement. So before we can move forward with the bidding and all of that stuff, we do need to close the loop and get the official project agreement together so that we can get this out to bid. So this is an administrative formality that we need to get the agreement signed. As soon as we get it to the county, then their county commissioners will sign it and then we'll be all good to go. So again, Just wanted to give you guys an update on the project and let you know that this is just a formality just to keep us going with the project. With that, staff recommends the approval of the agreement with Johnson County for the City Lake Dam project. I am available if you have any questions.

Just a point of clarification. This is the project where we found that we were not in compliance with the specific regulation and we are required by law to address it, right?

We are. And this is us addressing it.

Right.

Yeah, so there's a couple of issues that we found in the inspection. There was some scour issues that we are correcting with some additional riprap. And then also the standards have changed and there is an increased amount of freeboard that we need to have with the dam. So to be in compliance with the new regulations, we need to make changes. And so we're basically increasing the height of the dam and then building that backslope of the dam. And that's the genus, that's the nature of our project.

I'm just glad it's not the 1.2 total amount that we thought it was going to be up front. So this good job on getting Johnson County involved and helping us there. Cause I remember when we heard that, we're like, Oh crap, that's like two years worth of stormwater money. It was going to cost to fix it. So, uh, and additionally lately, it seems like every bid we get, it's under what are kind of what we're guessing. So I'm hoping maybe it comes.

Fingers crossed. I hope you didn't just jinx us.

We'll see. If it does, then you guys can all yell at me. It's fine.

Oh, I will.

But yeah, hopefully it's less than that 600, because if we can push it down any more. But I do see down here that we have a couple different financing options, whether it be from the stormwater fund, which is what we originally kind of planned on. But I notice there's also some water fund money available. have we thought anymore about where we kind of want that to come from, or do we have to decide that today?

We don't have to decide it.

Okay. So let's maybe not worry, but think about that a little bit. We do have some money left over in the water fund that could also be used towards that, or we can leave that water fund money for other projects like we've talked about earlier. But we do have money in multiple places to help pay for them, along with the great partnership with Johnson County. Absolutely. Any questions or comments? Nope. All right. I will entertain a motion.

I move to approve agenda item number 15 as stated. Second.

Motion and a second. All those in favor?

Aye.

Opposed? Motion passes 5-0-0. We have one more formal action item. Consider a request to apply for the Kansas Water Office Grant Program for grant funding to construct a new wastewater treatment facility.

Okay, I'm here again. The next item before you is a request to authorize staff to apply for some grant funding. As you guys know, we're building a wastewater treatment plant to address some of the residential growth that we've experienced over the last few years. If we continue to grow at this steady rate that we've had, 12% rate over the last few years, we are going to be at capacity Uh, with our, our sewer plant and, uh, we need to do something today. And as you guys saw in the presentation last week in our work session, the total price tag is going to be $140 million. I don't have that kind of money laying around Rhonda. Didn't want to write a big fat check to that's just going to bounce around town. So, uh, we need to figure out how we're going to do this. And we are applying for through the state of Kansas. We've got some state revolving fund, uh, loan funding that we're getting. That is a low-interest loan that is really going to help us out. We've got $30 million from this past year, and then we're working on getting another $30 million to help out with that. That is loans that will have to be paid back. We are also working on a federal level with the WIFIA. It's Water Infrastructure Financing something else so close wifia stands for something you can google it um but anyway it's a fantastic loan opportunity and again it's underscore on the loan with both of those we have to follow some of our federal requirements with build america by america and we also have to pay labor rates that's above and beyond what we usually have to do on our local projects So that's where that total estimated amount is gonna be. So we are currently working on all the rate study and the models and everything like that so that we can fund this plant. That's where I really want to find some grant funding. I have applied for congressional appropriations. I'm looking for looking in the couch cushions and the Kansas water office has funding available. They've got a million dollars available in a planning grant and $8 million available in implementation grants. So why not go for both? Because we are planning and we are implementing. I don't know if it's going to work or not. We may not end up with anything, but I at least have to try. And that's nine million dollars that we wouldn't have otherwise. That's nine million dollars that we don't have to pay interest and principal and all of that stuff. So we've got that. We are looking at other grant opportunities but we're not there yet. There is a brick funding or brick grant funding that's available. We're not ready for that. In a year we might be better positioned for that. So we'll keep looking for additional grant funding opportunities because this is a huge project. It costs a lot of money, and it'd be nice if we didn't have to pay for all of it ourselves. So with that, the deadline is in September, and I'd like to go ahead and get going with the application because that stuff takes time. Just wanted to get your authorization to start working on this and moving forward with applying for some grants.

Is this separate from what our representative, Chip Van Houten, has recommended us go after?

He recommended with yeah, so like about a year I think there was some funding also that he said that was a possibility for us on this It could be the same thing.

Okay, I'll check in with him Yeah, check him with him because he had some other options too, but he was saying there's like five programs in Kansas So this is probably what you said with yeah these two and maybe one other one because I think it's a more of an appropriation style rather than

Exactly. Yeah, and I talked to him yesterday about some of the you know getting with some of our Congressional representatives or senators or representatives. I think Adam Thomas we can get involved, too Yeah, so it would really be nice if we could start using some of that political power because I'd love to get in a congressional appropriations on this I'm already having to do Baba and the labor rates. So I don't know if might require a few extra plan sheets, but I'm willing to put in a little bit more time and money into those if I had to.

Yeah, no, I think those guys have both offered to help as much as they can, so I think if we can lean on them. I know we have other representatives that kind of touch our area, so I would say all of them probably hopefully can chip in. They would think they'd want to all help, so let's use that as much as we can.

Oh, I plan to.

Outside of that, this is great. And like I said, that was worst case scenario. We kind of talked about it at our tour, was what those costs are is with nothing. So the more little bits here and there that we get, knocks down anything extra we have to do. So this is great as long as we keep finding them. We're not going to get them all, but we're going to get some. Might get them all. Who knows?

You miss 100% of the shots you never take.

Michael Scott. Wayne Grissom. All right. Any other questions or comments? If not, I will entertain a motion.

I move to approve agenda item number 16 as stated in tonight's agenda.

Second. Motion and a second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion passes 5-0-0. Thank you, Allison. You can go sit down finally. You had a long run there. That is everything in our formal action tonight. We do have one more scheduled executive session, number two. I believe we have that set for 30 minutes. Does anybody need a break prior to that? No? Maybe a nap?

Yes.

Other than that? No nap time. All right. We will power through and move into our second executive session for the night.

I move the city council recess into executive session for 30 minutes to receive advice of council regarding proposed economic development pursuant to KSA 75-4319B2 of the Kansas Open Meetings Act. The open meeting will resume in the City Council Chambers at 9.02 p.m. No formal action is anticipated following the session. Persons to be in attendance are the following, Mike Mallon, Interim City Administrator, Jacob Speer, Interim Assistant City Administrator, and Spencer Lowe, City Attorney. Second.

We have a motion and a second. All those in favor?

Aye.

Opposed? Motion passed 5-0-0. We'll see you back here at 9.02. All right. Let the record reflect that the governing body reconvened in the open meeting at 9.02 p.m. No votes were taken or decisions made during the executive session. The discussion was limited to the subject stated. All right. That is it for our agenda this evening. Do we have anything else anybody else needs? If not, I will entertain a motion to adjourn. So moved.

Second.

Motion and a second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion passed 5-0-0. See you next time.