City Council - Regular Meeting

joining us for this week's city council meeting. With us this morning is Bishop Kimmy of the Catholic Dascese of Witchah to provide our invocation. Following that invocation, we will have our pledge of allegiance and we ask that you please stand for both. Let us pray. Good and gracious God, we come together today in a spirit of service and responsibility, mindful of the trust placed in us by the people of this community. We ask for wisdom for our mayor and councile members and staff as decisions are made, for clarity in thought, and for compassion in every discussion. Guide the leaders of this council and our community to act with integrity, fairness, and humility. Help them to listen with open minds, to speak with respect, and to work together for the good of all who call this city home. We remember the diverse voices, needs, and hopes within our community. May every action taken here reflect a commitment to justice, opportunity, and the well-being of all. Grant patience in moments of disagreement, courage in moments of challenge, and a shared purpose that rises above individual differences. May this meeting serve the common good and contribute to a stronger, more united Witchah. We make our prayer to you, the one God, living and true. And we who are Christians, in the name of your son, Jesus, all in the power of the Holy Spirit, for you are one God, forever and ever. Amen.

I aliance to the flag of the United States of America. To the rep for it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, Bishop Kimmy. Madame Clerk, please call the first item. Approve the minutes of the regular meeting, April 7th, 2026. Council members, any edits to those minutes? I see none. I move to approve the minutes of the regular meeting for April 7th, 2026. Second.

Motion second. Discussion. See none. Madame clerk, please open the role. Motion passes. 70. Madame clerk, please call the next item.

Awards and proclamations. Today's proclamations are Arbor Day, our Kansas River Cleanup Day, and National Apprenticehip Week. Uh we have one award today for celebrate trails presented by Prairie Trail. Prairie Travelers may please ask those in support of Arbor Day to come forward including Council Member Maggie Ballard. Thank you, mayor. I'd like to read the proclamation of the city of Witchaw, Kansas, founded in 1870. Whereas the city of Witchaw encourages environmental stewardship and the creation of a more sustainable community by increasing our urban canopy, which is more coste effective more a more cost-effective way to combat urban heat islands. And whereas global climate change has increased an appreciation for trees and their effect on physical and mental health of our community. And whereas advocates to say trees in the city increase property values, enhance economic viability and business districts and beautify the community. Whereas the city of Witchaw recognizes the daily benefit of trees and generational legacy of planting trees. Now therefore, be it resolved that the Witchaw City Council does hereby proclaim April 24th, 2026 as Arbor Day. Thank you, mayor, and members of city council for this proclamation for your continued support of Arbor Day in Witchah. I'm John Bacon. I'm the

arborist for the city of Witchah. On behalf of Witchaw Forestry, I'm honored to accept this recognition and to celebrate the vital role trees play in our community. We're especially grateful for partners like ICT Trees whose ongoing efforts continue to strengthen and expand Witchah's tree canopy. The recent 100 tree giveaway on April 11th made possible with the support of Witchah Forestry and Beta Beta Kappa Omega chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority demonstrates the power of community collaboration in action. We also want to sincerely thank the city council for your support of the forestry section's daily operations. Your commitment allows us to maintain, protect, and grow Witchah's urban forest for future generations. Looking ahead, we're excited to host a volunteer planting event at Peach Tree Park where community members will come together to plant 500 trees and shrubs. This is just one example of how residents can take an active role in shaping a greener Witchah. This year is particularly meaningful as we celebrate the city of Witchah's 40th year as Tree City USA, a designation from Arbor Day Foundation that reflects decades of dedication to urban forestry. Building on this legacy, Witchah Forestry plans to plant over 2,000 trees by this time next year. Together with our partners, volunteers, and your continued support, we're growing a healthier and more resilient Witchah, one tree at a time. Thank you.

May I please ask the representatives of the our Kansas River Cleanup Day to come forward at this Thank you for being here. All right. This is the proclamation of the city of Witchaw, Kansas, founded in 1870. Whereas the celebration of National Earth Day can take many forms, the city of Witchaw's premier environmental event takes place along the Aranansas River with dedicated and passionate volunteers from across Seduit County. And whereas the Aranansas River Cleanup has been a tradition for over 20 years to clean up Witchah's greatest natural resource. And whereas the 2026 R Kansas River Cleanup will increase water quality, protect the animals that call the river home, enhance Witchah's image, and safeguard all communities downstream from Derby to the Gulf of Mexico. Now, therefore, be it resolve that I or that the Witchah City Council does hereby proclaim April 25th, 2026 as our Kansas Cleanup Day. So, thank you to the uh council as well as the mayor for continuing to support this event for over 20 years. Um, we have grown out of just the back of a pickup truck to now attracting over a thousand people each event that we hold. And to put that in perspective, a thousand folks come out, we hit the river, and within about 90 minutes of time of having that concentrated effort,

we've pulled anywhere from um one and a half to nine tons of debris out of the river. We average about 2.7 tons every year. And it's exciting to continue to see this grow. They say that imitation is the greatest form of flattery. And so it is not out of competition, but out of honor that we have two more events that are happening on the very same day along the river. And it'll be exciting to see those groups also participating. I do want to give a quick shout out to all of the sponsors that make this possible. Uh this is a very grassroots effort. um it does not have a specific budget that comes out of a certain department to to fund this event. Uh Cargill Cares has been with us for um almost 15 years. Interest Bank, Merit Trust, the Evergy Green Team, LDF, Witchah State University, Boats and Bikes, Cedric County Zoo, the city of Witchah, and all of the background work that they do, and myself, Libby Alers, the executive director of the Kansas Alliance for Wetlands and Streams are excited to put this on again. So, thank you to Councilwoman Maggie Ballard. Um she will be doing the big announcements uh as we meet uh this Saturday. Please, I hope you can be there.

May please ask the National Apprenticeship Week supporters come forward at this time. The proclamation reads, "The city of Witchah, Kansas, founded in 1870. Whereas National Apprenticeship Week is celebrating its 12th anniversary of raising awareness of the vital role registered apprenticeships provide in creating opportunities by allowing apprentices to earn while they learn and preparing a pathway to good quality jobs and well-paying careers in Witchah and across the nation. Whereas registered apprenticeship programs enable employers to develop and train their future workforce while offering career seekers affordable paths to secure high-paying jobs. Whereas Witchah recognizes the role of registered apprenticeships in expanding opportunities in our workforce that are inclusive of individuals who have been historically underserved, marginalized, and adversely affected by persistent poverty and inequality. Thus providing a path for all qualified individuals including women, youth, people of color, rural communities, justice involved individuals, and individuals with disabilities to become apprentices and contribute to America's industries. Whereas Witchah recognizes that registered apprenticeships, a proven and industry-driven training model is a key strategy to providing job quality and creating access to good paying family sustaining jobs for all, starting with youth and young adults while addressing some of our nation's pressing workforce challenges. Now therefore, be it resolved that the

Witchaw City Council does hereby proclaim April 26 through May 2nd, 2026 as National Apprenticeship Week. I want to say thank you to the mayor and the council for recognizing National Apprenticeship Week. I'm Crosby Brandham, the registered apprenticeship coordinator through Workforce Alliance of South Central Kansas. I appreciate that we are acknowledging and celebrating the growth that is happening both locally and nationally for apprenticeship. Thank you. Madame clerk, please call the next item.

Madame Mayor, we still have an award celebrate trails presented by Prairie Travelers. May I please ask the Witchaw Parks Department and all the council to come forward at this time? Hello, my name is Gwen Whitt and I'm here representing Prairie Travelers today. In 2015, a visionary group of people from Prairie Travelers in the city of Witchah were able to secure and complete seven miles of rails to trails from Hoover Road to 167th Street West thanks to a grant from the Sunflower Foundation and the help of 11 Americanore volunteers. These seven miles connected to eight miles that were already the Prairie Sunset Trail, which then made it possible to walk, run, or ride a bike from West Witchah all the way to Garden Plain. Prairie Travelers is a nonprofit group of dedicated volunteers who help maintain the Prairie Sunset Trail by putting in on average 3,500 volunteer hours per year. But this is more than a trail for exercise. It connects communities and it allows people to see nature and move in a safe environment free from vehicles. Research studies have shown that exercising outdoors surrounded by nature alleviates stress, improves mood, and reduces depression more than exercising indoors. On the fourth Saturday of April, a yearly national event, Celebrate Trails Day, occurs. It is an opportunity to

showcase the many ways that c that trails and connected trail networks bring joy and impact people's lives. We will be celebrating in Garden Plane on Saturday, April 25th from 9 to 12 at the Covered Bridge trail head. Based on our counter at various locations on the Prairie Sunset Trail, last year we averaged 90 users per day. The trail has been a source of pride for many who have pl had us place memorial benches in honor of their loved ones or a brick at the Memorial Brick Park in Gddard. We have had nine Boy Scouts complete their Eagle Scout projects along the trail. In addition, we have people that have adopted, we have individuals and businesses who have adopted each and every mile of the trail. Um, they help maintain those trail those miles of the trail. The city of Witchah has 75 over 75 miles of trails in many places along the city and has been very supportive of the Prairie Sunset Trail. We have especially been appreciative of working with the parks and recreation department and Katie Eddie, our contact there, has been quick to answer our questions and follow up on things she needs to ask others about. We invite you to come out to the trail soon and enjoy being outdoors. Today, we would like to present this plaque to you in in to the city of Witchah in recognition of the longstanding support that you have given us. There we go.

Okay, this way. Sorry.

Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you again to the Prairie Travelers for that recognition to the Witchaw Park and Recck Department. I want to use a point of privilege to also recognize the park department for a very successful start to Open Street's ICT this past Sunday in district number one. A very well attended event and very grateful to all the staff uh that organized Open Streets ICT. There are two more this year. The next one will be in uh Council Member Ballard's district uh in May and then another one on Douglas in September. So, thank you to the staff at Park and Rick. Madame Clerk, please call the next item.

Public agenda. We now come to public agenda. The public agenda allows for up to five speakers to have about five minutes each to address the council. Please bear in mind that this is not a period of dialogue with council or question and answer period. This is your opportunity to address the city council with your concerns. I ask that you address your remarks to the city council as a body and not to any individual council member. No action will be taken relative to items on the public agenda other than referral to the city manager for information as necessary. Speakers will please speak into the microphone and please state their name and address for the record. A time clock will display the speaker's remaining time to speak. Order and rules of decorum will be observed. The first speaker today is Mark Barlo, Flock Orwellian observation.

Good morning. It's me again, Mark Barlo, District 2, House District 99. I'm here to talk about flock cameras y'all have spent our taxpayer dollars on, but I'm not going to waste your time and my time by spouting off a bunch of statistics and information about the surveillance system. You already know. And moreover, you're already convinced that having a drag net of warrantless mass surveillance is the way to go for Witchah. If common sense can't sway you off of this position, one more rational human being standing up to talk down at you isn't going to change your mind. Additionally, through personal conversations with members of this council, I understand that many of you really do think that witchins are safer with hundreds of third-party privatelyowned, easily hackable, citizen oversight lacking spy equipment all over the dang place. You really do think everybody having their travel habits and driving patterns stored and readily accessible by federal agencies is what's best for us. You're convinced that throwing millions of dollars at this program is better than contracting qualified builders for water treatment or raising teacher salaries or funding all those nicities you bundled together in your recent regressive sales tax proposal. It's surveillance state or bust for this council. And I guess that's okay. At least it's part for the course in terms of doing your job for the people by the people. The people who haven't even been properly informed of what the capabilities of the Flock cameras are. How Flock's own operating system filed under patent number US11416545B1 describes its capability to classify people by race, gender, height, weight. a profiling system masquerading as license plate readers.

You just keep telling us that the only thing these always on nationally accessible, easily breachable, expensively leased pieces of equipment are looking at are license plates that tracks. It's probably prudent to ignore the fact that across the country, cities just like Witchah are discovering that federal agencies have access to their flock data. I won't bother saying I told you so. Informing this council that the ACLU and other watchdog groups have already documented more than 4,000 cases of ICE or Customs and Border Protection tapping into flocks data probably doesn't matter. This year, cities across the country have confirmed that the ATF, Air Force, Homeland Security, and the Border Patrol have accessed their flock data. And it's almost definitely not worth mentioning that 99.4% of all queries into Witchah's flock data have originated from outside the city. Telling this council that Witchah's lease with flock is not fundamentally different than these other cities isn't likely to get us very far because you seem incalcitrantly convinced that Witchah is immune to federal overstep that were perfectly safe from corruption or malfeasants even though the metropolitan area has already experienced lapses in officer judgment signifying abuse of warrantlessly collected driver data stored on insufficient third party servers. You're going to keep doing you. You're going to keep bending over backwards for the police union. Buy more robo-dogs. Throw resources at surveillance cameras. Send us deeper into that Orwellian future you clearly and so fervently want for us. Because even while you're watching us, you better believe we are watching you.

This becomes your legacy. History already knows what you are. Keep playing this game at your own risk. And for anyone out there listening to this and wondering what can we actually do to fix this problem, our failing forms of government, I can at least offer you this. I'm running for Kansas House state representatives in the 99th district to make Susan Humphre unemployed and undo the civic damage caused by her wave of anti-trans, hate stoked legislation. Scan this QR code or email me at gomarktheous@gmail.com or find me during civic protests around the city to connect with my campaign and let's build a strong coalition of resistance to every form of incipid tyranny crushing down on our ways of life. Let's end this together. Thank you.

City attorney, I just had one question regarding campaigning. wanted to know was that allowed uh during a public agenda? Um public agenda is open to the public with little limited restrictions. However, you do have a limited forum. A limited forum means that you can um can limit speakers to topics relating to the city in general. Um so it's it's been an area that we haven't tested in the past with with political speech. We don't see that too often. um it's something we can talk about further on maybe how to how to reframe the ordinance to address this in the future. So in short is campaigning allowed in public agenda?

You know, it's not really clear under the first amendment we have an open forum, but we can I think limited to topics involving the city. I think we'll just need to look a little bit more more into that. But it's generally not a a forum for for political campaigning um for political speech. Yes. For political campaigning, not so much. Thank you, city attorney. Madame clerk, please call the next individual. Jack Garri, parking reform steering committee.

Good morning, council. Um, last fall applications closed on a new steering committee to renegotiate reorder the parking uh requirements for new developments uh in downtown Witchah and across the city. Um, since then, no new process items have been added to its dedicated website. um which means that the public and developers are completely in the dark regarding whether within the next five months when their mandate expires, new parking requirements um will change how they may want to build in downtown Witchah. As you know, in the 1950s, um, cities across America devoted their downtown spaces not to people, uh, or public transit, but to suburbia and parking. This has left our city center consumed by empty parking spaces, parking garages, and devoid of residents and businesses. This harms our city finances, our local culture, u municipal pride, and the businesses in downtown themselves. By reducing parking requirements, we will incentivize development by increasing return on investment. That is, they can devote more of their lot sizes to actual businesses or residencies. Encourage the use of public transportation and increase tax revenue per development. So, I have a few questions for you guys. Who has been appointed to this committee? Have they met since September? Are we any closer to new regulations so that our developers who want to build as

just announced today um you know a new music venue and Topeka and Emporia and new apartment complexes. what they need to know how many cars they need to allocate for and what can you do to accelerate this process. Thank you.

Thank you, Jack. We have room for three more individuals to speak. You can just come to the microphone, state your name, your address, and you will have five minutes to address the council. Okay. My name is Civil Strum. I reside at 326 North Wana. I was upset with the Central. They came on my property back then, November 21st, 2019. They did not even let me know that they were going to come. They are liars. I'm sorry, but they are. They also had the nerve to tear my house down without my knowledge. And also that they actually told me that when they built the house it would be a historical landmark, but it's not. I'm paying a excessive mortgage and that's not right. And then they got Fidelity Bank. I didn't get to see the president. I am outraged. They did not contact me. They did not do anything. And the Metropolitan Planning was involved in the whole scandal. I have been there for the city. I have been there for the kids that were runaways and couldn't go back to their parents or their relatives. And what did I get? I got thrown out of my house. And now I have a new house and I'm

paying a mortgage. That's not right. This is not what our community is supposed to be. Our community is supposed to be love it, but I was treated like dirt. And another thing, my neighbor I I called in uh she has a big old tree limb on my property and she has poison ivy growing. I don't understand. I'm being treated like dirt. I can't do this anymore. I've been there for the community. Like I said, I've helped the youth of America. Some of them now are adults that come back to thank me for taking them in when their parents didn't want them. And I voted for that lady right there. But uh I know all of you, but I did not like it. I was treated central, treated me so bad. And when I went to Mount Carmel Apartments, there was crime going on every day and every night. I don't know. I really thought that was wrong for our community to do that to me. Like I told Maggie Ballard about it, city council Maggie Balor. I said the day came in, they did not even tell me about it. They just barged in and you're supposed to have a warrant to do this. And I called the police and Everg was

involved in the scandal. They put tree limbs and semi- tires in my yard. I hope Mayor Liy Woo, you accept that that was a bad thing. And that goes for all you other commissioners. I know Becky Tuttle. I know him. I forgot your name, but I know you. I'm I'm I'm devastated because it was a historical landmark and now I'm paying a loan. They lied about that too. They said that it would be a historical, you know, something. But I thank you. I hope I have let you know the real reasons that I'm actually not I just don't like the way I was treated. Thank you. I appreciate it. Have a good day. God bless you all.

Thank you, Civil.

Good morning, council. Um, my name is Donna Castillo Garcia. I live at 621 Laramie Circle. Um, for those of you not familiar with my work uh out in the community or listening today, I am a graduate of a doctorate of clinical nursing at WSU and I run a nonprofit for homelessness uh services. We're trauma informed and peer-led. We're the only one in the state. We're kind of unique because we are ran for homeless people by homeless people. 100% voluntary, 100% self-funded. And I'm standing before you today because I want to tell you a story. I want to tell you about what we've been doing at the tip of the spear out in the community. We've been working in this sector for about a year now. For the last nine months, we've been working very closely with the city in the housing department to provide housing vouchers, programs, and access through both the city and the coordinated entry process. We've been very successful in doing what we're doing because we have a level of freedom that's not typically seen and we have a level of dedication that's definitely not typically seen. We come from the heart and we are out there every single day. Three days a week we are in encampments. We visit um the southside. There's an encampment called Pepsi. Um we've worked recently on decommissioning that campment. It is completely closed now. We helped re um relocate individuals and they are actively working in um housing plans. We also have assisted with the John Mack bridge. We're working very closely with the hot team. We were on site that day when they closed the bridge encampments down something like 15 or so camps with formed structures, people who have been living there for up to five years. We spent 12 hours that day in my four-wheel drive with a trailer moving five different camps to new locations. And every single one of those persons were now put in HMIS and actively working housing uh plans. And I think that we have three of them who are looking at apartments and getting housed today. And

now we have the one that we have been working the longest is Chapen. If you're not familiar with Chapen, it is our largest and oldest um encampment located uh off of Hydraulic. We've been there for over six months building um rapport. Uh my business partner, Miss Sarah, you all familiar with her. She was a resident of there. She has family members that stay out there. Is a bit of the wild wild west. It's not a safe place. And we usually don't recommend people do what we do because we have expertise and we have lived experience and we come with a special set of skills that allow us to do this work and do it well. Recently, we've started partnering with the city and now we're bringing housing navigators to work on unit identification and housing navigation onsite and we have matching grassroots ability to do that first onboarding, finding your documents, getting your benefits ready, providing transportation, and then we get you voucher ready. We hand you over to the city and boom, they're ready to get you into a unit like that day. It has become an expedited and wonderful process, but we're still working out the kinks. So, my story today is more of a cautionary tale because yesterday I heard rumors from our clients that they're working on closing chapen and they're wanting to do things in a week. We worked um MacBridge for a month getting people ready to move. Talking people who have lived in their homes, these are their homes for years, three years. People in Chapen Park have lived there for a decade. My cautionary tale is that I believe encampments should be addressed. I believe they should be addressed humanely, efficiently, effectively by the professionals who know this work the best, should be well funded, and we should prepare before we

go in guns blazing into the Wild Wild West because we know how that ends. We're canons. So my question, my my request and my prayer is that we continue this amazing, revolutionary work doing direct to housing models with the city, with the HOT team, with our nonprofit partners, and with community individuals who have been volunteering for years. and we're allowed to work this process and take our time and adjust people and help heal their trauma in reasonable ways that can get this work done. So, thank you for giving me a few minutes to share our story and I'm really excited to speak with each and every one of you on what we've been doing more in depth and I hope you guys have a good day and we'll be out in the streets so we'll see you guys later. Thank you. Good morning everybody. My name is James Barfield in District 1 and I want to talk today. Can you all hear me? Okay. I want to talk today about what should be the number one issue for today. That's public safety. For the last three to four years, that has been the buzzword on this council. And I want to address what happened on the last 10 days in the city of Witchah. And I want to start by talking about what brought that about. And I want to start go back four years ago when under a different police chief, a study was conducted by Jensen Hughes, I believe it's called, to come in and take a look at our Witchaw Police Department. And needless to say, they found several areas that needed improvement.

Now, that's been about four years ago, and to this date, to the best of my knowledge, most of the recommendations have never been implemented. That's number one. Number two, uh I want to talk about this is the first brochure that I received from our current mayor and it talks about public safety quite a bit and one part here says Lily's top priority is public safety. The Witchaw Police Department faces over 70 vacant positions while property crime is increasing. Lily supports our first responders will work with police to recruit more officers and backs tougher sentences for criminals who commit violent and property crime. Now, when we got a new police chief, one of the first suggestions that he made was that we spend $3.4 million giving bonuses to every police officer whether they deserved it or not. And that recommendation was made with no restrictions on how that money would be appropriated. Now, we spent $3.4 million. Within a year's time, 48 members of the Witchaw Police Department took the money and ran. There was no stipulations involved in that money. him. No smart businessman in the country would issue $5,000 bonuses without some type of restrictions. You either had to stay 30 uh 90 days, six months, or a year to get that bonus. We

lost money on that deal. Now the 48, if you take the 48 and add it to this 70, you're over 100 vacancies and which has never recovered from that mistake. Now I want to move on. The new chief has suggested you guys spend a lot of money on gadgets. And the reason I call them gadgets is because none of them have proven to this point to decrease crime and in particular violent crime in the city of Witchah. Over the last 10 days, you all saw and witnessed a variety of incidents across the city resulting in one death and many injuries. The police chief on Monday, I believe, was issued a had a press conference where he said, "This has to stop." I agree, but that statement is not a solution to the problem. And second thing that he said that caught my attention was that these incidents, most of them did not occur in the so-called target areas. Well, I got news for you all, ladies and gentlemen. The city of Witchah is a target area. As witnessed by these incidents, this violence went from Harry and Web Road to 37th Street and Rock Road. Okay. It went through Ponte and Broadway

all across the city. There is no such thing anymore as a target area. Widget is infested with crime. It's time we do something about it and we need solutions. Now I have done myself. Uh I see my time is up. Give me a minute. Uh Mr. Barfield, uh we do have a fiveminut rule. So you can finish your thought. However, you can't go a whole minute.

Thank you. I have done a little study and I have found that cities our size in this region all have one thing in common that Witchaw does not have in common and we're not talking about it. The police chief is not talking about it. You guys are not talking about it and that is helicopters. Okay, you've got a shortage of officers on the ground and nothing is going to convince me that the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Omaha, and Kansas City all have air uh eyes in the air in the sky. They call it helicopters. Now, I know what you're going to say. That's expensive. But I got an answer for you. So is crime. Okay? And you cannot put a comparison on the crime. what the cost of the crime is and the cost of a helicopter.

Thank you, Mr. Barfield. Okay. I appreciate it. So, I would suggest what you all do, Mr. Barfield, to do a workshop on Mr. Barfield. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you very much. Council members, do you guys have any comments to the five public comment agenda item individuals?

Um, I will have one. Um, I want to make sure that people do know that there is progress on the Jensen Hughes uh recommendations. You can actually track that online at witshaw police.com. 93% of the Jensen Hughes recommendations have been resolved. 7% are still in progress. Uh regarding policies within the Witchaw Police Department, um I again would encourage people to go to witchaw police.com. Uh they have their policies online. Um and I know that they're very responsive if there are specific questions regarding policy. Uh and lastly to Miss Donna who was um asking us regarding uh homelessness. I know that the city manager has been working with his staff regarding multiple uh concerns throughout the city uh about encampments. Uh so we will be talking about that in future meetings uh regarding the progress on encampment cleanups.

It's not working. Council member Hohisel.

Thank you, Mayor. Uh yeah, I just want to reiterate um 97% we have three three issues on Jensen Hughes that we still have to implement. The rest of them have been done. Um helicopters, that's something that the chief will agree with you on and he has stated that publicly. Um he we also do work with uh the Kansas Highway Patrol to use their helicopter whenever there are dire needs out there. Um, I I also am somebody who thinks that we need more boots on the ground as far as people stopping crime before it happens. And we have invested in violence interrupterss and various other programs. That's something I think we need to strengthen as a as a city to stop violence before it happens. Um, I also think that helps keep young men specifically out of jail and out of the um the prison pipeline. So, I I do want to invest more in those. Um, and then Don, I sad to see her leave. I do want to chat with her more about some things um that we have going on with the encampment. So, thank you member Shepard.

Thank you, Mayor. Uh, thank you to all the speakers who came. Believe I already reached out to Jack and I saw Scott Wadel uh speak with Jack. So, thank you for doing that. uh looking forward to following up as a district one constituent to learn what we can do in regards to the steering committee for parking and uh looks like we're already getting that going. Um as a result of some of the other comments about the 21st century technology about how it's helping prevent crime um I have seen directly and personally how having access to the flot camera can catch a criminal who has committed murder. Uh I have seen how it has returned a child back to a family who was stressed about child abduction. Um and council member Hoas has already mentioned about the helicopters and so if there is an opportunity to continue to continue to educate folks on how this 21st century technology is helping in that way please let us know. Um as you know I voted no on the robotic dog. So I'm not saying that we have to invest every single time it comes forward but um I will not argue that it's that it's not helping. It is helping. And then uh finally want to uh ask the city manager, is there a plan to go into Chapen Park and clean that up? And if so, what is the timeline? I'll have more information. We are looking at all encampments and so I can't say if uh Chaplain Park where it is on the list, but we're reviewing all of them.

Thank you, city manager. I see no further comments from the bench. Madame clerk, please call the next item. Consent agenda items 1 through 21. Council members, are there any items to be pulled from the consent agenda? I see none with that. Mayor, it's working. Council member, Vice Mayor Glascock.

Thank you, Mayor. I don't want this item pulled, but I it's an item that I believe that we should celebrate. And so I just wanted to um maybe have Penny come and talk about agenda item number 16 uh regarding the Veterans Ride uh transit free program and just talk about some of the wins and the sizable increase in annual ridership that I think we should be celebrating. So I won't pull off the agenda, but I just wanted maybe a quick um celebration about it.

We'll do that in just a second. We'll do the formality. I'm also going to pull agenda item number it's also a transit item that would be 4B which also is a transit item so that you can talk about them holistically. So we are approving consent agenda items 1 through 20 without 4B and 16. So I move to approve the consent agenda items without 4B and 16. Second

motion second discussion. See none. Madame clerk, please open the role. Motion passes 70. We will talk about them uh together, but uh item 4B is the subawward agreements for section 5310 enhanced mobility of seniors and individuals with disabilities subawward agreements. And item number 16 is veterans ride transit free program. Director Penny Feist.

Good morning, Mayor City Council. Thank you for pulling these items for awareness. And I'll start with uh 4B, which as the mayor mentioned is a sub award of our section 5310 funds that Witchaw receives from the federal government and then passes through to local agencies who participate in transportation for the elderly and the disabled community. And so um this award um to our grantees allows them to purchase vehicles or use the money for preventive maintenance or operations so that they can get the users of their service to and from their location and home. Um so we were very happy um to be able to allocate additional funds. This is allocated through a call for projects. So, people apply for these funds and with this um final award um everyone on the list will receive some funding um to either buy vehicles or continue operations.

I saw that um Starky, Heartspring, and Catch received additional funds, but Goodwill Industries uh was eligible. Can you talk about the matching fund that will be required? Will that be Goodwill? Yes. All of the agencies who received the award are required to provide the match themselves. Any further questions on item 4B? I see none. We'll continue with Can we do it together? Uh, city attorney? Yes. And item number 16.

Thank you. Yes. Yes, the Veterans Right Free program is a very exciting program and we're very happy to partner with United Way and Veterans Affairs um who each contributes $10,000 annually to help fund this program. This agreement is for two years and as vice mayor mentioned um we see writership continue to grow. And when we look at the uh user behavior of the veterans who ride, um they're going everywhere. They're not just going to the VA, they're going to work, they're going to grocery stores, they're going wherever they need to go. Um, and we hear a lot of positive stories about this program. I happened to be at a speaking engagement a couple of weeks ago and um, some older parents mentioned that their son chose to move to Witchah because of the amazing veteran support here and this is one of the programs that they referenced. So, I think it does um, have a very meaningful impact to the community.

I have just one question. Um, writership again in 2024 was 57,500 In 2025, writership was 60,800. Um, I wanted to know obviously uh there's an increase in writership. Are you able to cover the costs with uh these grants or are is the city of Witchaw still subsidizing? um for this particular grant I believe um that there is some subsidy occurring but it's it's very um different when you're talking about transit rates and service um you know from my former life of water rates and service right that's a very onetoone but when you're running um a bus you really want to fill it up right and so there's not there's some economies of scale there so um while I do believe there is some subsidy with this program in most of our programs um I I do think that it's not necess necessarily one to one

and with the increase in writership, we want um especially our veterans to utilize this service. Um where are the policy decisions from this council that could be helpful in um making sure that again you're able to cover the costs to provide these quote free uh rides for veterans?

I think just continued investment and um visibility for transit. you know, we're going to have a new business item later that does a little bit more of a deep dive into it. Um, and other partnerships as well, right? This isn't the only partnership that Witchah has um with with agencies seeking transportation services. Um, so just as council support and the investment in transit, we have a lot of exciting things coming up and don't want to give away my presentation later, but um I think just continued conversations um with community partners and we do know that um a large part of our service is federally subsidized and we continue to receive um support from both the federal and state local at the state and local level um to subsidize the service and um but we do we are laser focused on writership increases. So I think the visibility is very key there.

Thank you, Penny. Council member Tuttle.

Thank you. I just want to give a shout out to Penny. Um, this issue came to my attention a couple years ago. Um, I serve on the Greater Witchah Area Veterans Advocacy Board and they mentioned that the funding was going to run out and so I worked with Penny to secure the funding a couple years ago and glad to see it happen again. You brought up a really good point. When when this happened, before we could secure this funding, we did reach out to Congressman Estus and Senator Moran's office as well as our representatives at in the state and all were supportive, but it was just kind of on a tight timeline. So, um, if we're looking for continued policy initiatives so that we can keep this funding, we might want to consider adding this to our legislative agenda and and thinking about it for next year or when we meet with our South Central delegation um, just to keep this on their mind. Um, we may need more funding in the future. We may not get this funding source and we'll need another one. So, it'll be just good to keep those relationships. Thank you.

Thank you, Penny. I see no further questions from the bench. We will now open it up for public comment. I see no one from the public who would like to address the council on these two agenda items. We'll now close public comment and bring it back to the bench. With that, I will move to approve consent agenda items 4B and 16. Second. Motion second. Discussion. See none. Madam, sorry, Council Member Shepard.

Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to mention that um this Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. as we talk about veterans, I believe it's germaine to this conversation that the veterans benefits and claims uh event is happening from 10 to 6:00 p.m. Any veteran, family member, caregiver, survivors can get help in real time accessing the benefits that they've earned. No appointment is needed. In District 1, we have roughly between 2500 to 2,700 veterans who are not accessing their benefits. So, if we can continue to spread that word in tandem with the benefits that we are providing as a local government to the brave individuals who have served our country, that'd be great. Motion second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, Madame Clerk, please open the role. Motion passes 70. Madame clerk, please call the next item.

Board of bids and contracts dated April 20th, 2026. Good morning, mayor, city council. Josh Lober, Department of Finance. Uh the board of bids and contracts convened yesterday, April 20th, 2026. And we have six items for you today. For engineering, we have the 135th Street West from Central to 13th Street North for Pearson Construction LLC in the amount of $4,440,54.30. For purchasing, we have the 16,000 gross vehicle weight cabin chassis with mini dump bed for Rusty Ford Incorporated for an aggregate bid total of $137,931. We have the 19,500 gross vehicle weight, cab, and chassis with crane body for Ed Morris Autogroup Leanon Ford LLC for aggregate bid total of $29,933. We have the phosphonic acid change order for Water Weiss Enterprises LLC for an estimated annual amount of 32,000 revised. We have the citizen survey services software subscription change order for Policy Confluence Incorporated doing business as Pulco for an amended amount of $43,450. And we have the veterary consulting services change order for Kansas Humane Society of Witchaw, Kansas doing business as Kansas Humane Society. Staff are requesting a contract extension of 90 days. That'll give us opportunity to complete an RFP process. We'll be bringing that back to you. This is how to become a vendor with the city of Witchah. This is our purchasing calendar of small business resource partner events the city's hosting or participating in this month. And this is our open public opportunities out on the street. Today we have opening for April 24th,

for May 1st, and for May 15th. I'll be happy to answer your questions and recommend your approval. Council, thank you, Josh. Council member Hoheisle. Thank you, Mayor. Uh, thank you, Josh. Could we go back to slide 10, I think it was. Sure. Yeah, this one. Um, so we're we're going back out to Could you could you give me a little more detail about this one?

Sure. So, the veterary consulting services, um, we're requesting a 90-day extension because the contracts expiring, so we don't have any abilities to exhaust an additional renewal. Um, quite frankly, to keep up with the volume and purchasing, we need to extend it 90 days to get it back to you. um working with WPD, Witchaw Police Department to revise the specs to look at the scope. Um when they give us the specifications to publish it, uh we'll be publishing it within this month. Okay. So, we the contract we did, I believe last year to switch it over. That that was a one-year contract or Yeah,

thank you for the question. Great question. So, there are actually two contracts um for animal services that have to do with veterary care. There is the um veterary consulting services which is more in-house focused and I'm trying not to speak on behalf of the operating department but then there's also the contract that has to do with more of the citizen um services for providing animals to a veterary care and 24-hour services. Good Samaritan. Good Sam. Thank you. Good Samaritan. Yes, sir. Okay. So, this one is for the internal or is this the good the internal? It's the internal. I was going to ask honestly if Emily hear you could come speak to this. I thought I saw Emily here. Yeah, I want to miscategorize that.

That's okay. Hi guys. Um so yes, we have internal veterinary services that provide daily care, non-emergent care to all of the animals in at Waw Animal Services. That's this contract. It opens up um every four years with an option to renew each year. And so, but every four I believe we go out go out for RFP just to, you know, maintain and keep what options we have out there. And then we have our emergency veterinary services that are um both a citizen or an animal control officer can bring to most of the time 24 hours a day depending on the vets's availability for an immediate emergency service like hit by a car or something like that. So, is this the one that's currently the Humane Society is currently fulfilling this role?

They are currently fulfilling our um day-to-day shel veterinary services in the shelter. Correct. Okay. Thank you. I see no further questions. Thank you. With that, I will move to approve the board of bids and contracts dated April 20th, 2026. Second. Motion second. Discussion. See none. Madame clerk, please open the role. Motion passes 70. Madame clerk, please call the next item.

Petitions for public improvements. Good morning, mayor, city council members. Paul Gilman, public works and utilities. For the record, I have a few new petitions for your consideration this morning. Signatures on the petitions represent 100% of the improvement district and the petitions are valid per Kansas statute. Balman sixth edition located in district 4. The project will provide water, storm water drain, sanitary sewer, and paving improvements required for new residential development. Cadillac Lake second edition located in district 5. project will provide water and sewer improvements required for an existing commercial development. Hawthorne fourth edition located in district two. The project will provide water and sanitary sewer improvements required for a new residential development. And it is recommended that the city council approve the new petitions and budgets, adopt the new resolutions, and authorize the necessary signatures. That will stand for questions. Any questions for staff? I see none. Thank you very much. We will um go I will go ahead and move to approve the petitions for public improvements.

Second motion second. Discussion. See none. Madame clerk, please open the role. Motion passes. 70. Madame clerk, please call the next item. Tourism Business Improvement District 2027 Scope of Services.

Good morning, Mayor Council Lindsey Baka at the City Manager's Office, Division of Arts and Cultural Services here with TBID or the Tourism Business Improvement District, the scope of services for for next year. A little bit of background, we work with Visit Witchaw, uh, who receives annual funding from the city, uh, to promote tourism and convention activities. In 2014, the business improvement tourism business improvement district was established to create an additional funding source to promote tourism. Of note, the um official boundaries of the district or the legal limits of the city of Witchaw. Um the funding has experienced some limited growth in recent years while competition for tourism uh and conventions has intensified across the nation. And just a note that in accordance with uh the Kansas Business Improvement District statute, the proposed 2027 scope of services and budget is presented annually to city council for approval. Uh for those scope of services, uh the 2027 uh scope and budget outline strategies and budget allocations for leisure marketing and group sales activities uh to drive tourism to Witchaw. Uh, Visit Witchaw is helping lead the local effort and and marketing critical to maintaining and growing Witchah's travel industry and providing dollars right back into the local economy. A couple notes here that the specifically the scope of services outlines uh the funds received from a 2.75 nightly hotel assessment uh to be used to promote tourism during the next fiscal year. Um, and you're about to see the scope of services and budget uh but it's dependent on funding received. So, no dollars are spent that aren't received, but this is just how we plan ahead um looking at projections of what we think the fund is going to uh uh collect in the next year. So, with that, I'll turn it over to Susie Santo, the president and CEO of Visit Witchaw.

Thank you, Lindsay. Good morning, mayor, council members. Pleasure to be here today. And I'm going to chat a little bit about the five-year history. What you're looking at is the revenue that's been collected through the T- bid, the economic impact and their and the ROI and for 25 was an outstanding year generating over 300 million in economic impact. But I also want to note that since the pandemic, if you look at the revenue collected from 21 through 25 and you add those together, it's it's about 16 million has been collected through the TBIT efforts. The economic impact when you add that line is about a billion dollars. So, it's been a great return on investment with bringing visitors into our community. So, the proposed budget is in your packet and you can see it outlined on the screen as well. And I'm be happy when we're done to answer any specific questions about how this has been allocated. And the carryover funds that we bring forward. Again, as Lindsay indicated, we only spend the dollars that we have. If it's not collected, we don't spend it. And last year, we ended with about $18,882 left. The advisory council on February 4th voted to carry those funds forward and they'll be placed in the strategic event fund. And now it's my pleasure to just quickly recap last year. It was an incredible year in Witchah and it's it's hard to believe it was over a year ago. We kicked off the year with US figure skating and it was so fun. I don't know about you watching the Olympics this year and seeing those athletes that just the year before competed uh right here at Interbank Arena. So it made it extra special. Moving into March Madness, we hosted numerous sporting events between NIA wrestling, uh the basketball, the TV team, and we were also when I was here in October, I told you that we had been nominated up against Atlanta and Boise and Milwaukee and Charlotte as the best host city of the year. And we won that award, which is very exciting. And so it's been great to share the the good news that this is a place that you want to host your sporting events. Um just to recap, moving into Last fall, we hosted

TBEX, the larger largest undertaking we'd ever uh encountered with over 160 local partners. When I was here in October, we hadn't had any initial data back, but 10 weeks post that event, it generated over 18 million in earned media, and it continues to drive. And when you talk to our attractions, they are continuing to get posts and excitement, and great relationships have been formed with these travel influencers from really around the world. Coming into 2026, there are um a few new events that are coming to Witchah for the first time ever. And I'd love to chat about these. We just hosted the USA Judo Youth National Championships, first time in Witchah. Uh just a few weeks ago when we welcomed 48 states with over a thousand athletes and coaches to Witchah. the WBIT, the women's basketball invitation tournament. We're here uh just a few weeks ago at Coke Arena, the first time we've hosted it. It's the third year of that event. The first two years were in Indianapolis. And we're very proud. We're not competitive here, but we're very proud to say that we did set the attendance record here in Witchah. So, we're excited about that and they will be back next year. Another really collaborative effort, the opening event was hosted for the the athletes and the coaches out at Exploration Place. The coaches were given bomber jackets to tie into our air capital partnering with the aviation museum and airplane was outside of Coke Arena and even middle school kids came to cheer on the team. So really creating a great atmosphere for the athletes and and the fans. USA bad mitten, this is a first one and this is going to be fun to watch. 650 athletes will be here July 8th through the 14th. and then the elite challenge. And I'm going to talk about the elite challenge in just a moment. But also for the first time ever, you've heard me talk about the President's Cup. We've hosted it in the past. This is over a hundred teams from around the country come and compete this summer for

a week. This is their Super Bowl for these athletes. And for the first time ever, uh, USS USU soccer presented the President's Cup to a city for three consecutive years. And that is Witchah out at Striker Sports Complex. So, we'll be hosting them um in uh 26, 27, and 28. And I know several of you have come out and seen it before. And if you haven't, it's what Striker to me was built for. It's so exciting. They line the flags of all of the states. You just feel the energy, the buzz, and it just showcases that incredible facility. So, I have been before you uh several times over the past six months and I've chatted about the need for convention facil facilities and the inefficiencies in our convention product. Um, and I will continue to educate on the need, but I also know it's our responsibility to continue to promote and bring business to the facility that we had. So, both can be true and we're working on both of them at the same time. and I wanted to share with you some of the business that we'll be bringing in to uh Bob Brown Expo Hall in Century 2. So, we chatted about judo, but now I want to talk about the elite challenge. So, um in just a few weeks, we will be hosting the let me get the exact name here, USA Gymnastics Trampoline and Tumbling Elite Challenge. So, I want to talk about why this is going to be exciting and why this is important. Last January, we hosted the US Figure Skating. We brought in USA Gymnastics. We wanted to show them how Witchah shows up and how we put on sporting events. So, they came as our guest and they saw that this is our first event with USA Gymnastics and it reminds me of the relationship that we started back in like 2017 with USA Figure Skating. We produced about four events before we got the big national championship. So our dream and our goal is that the Simone the Simone Biles of the world are here at some point for their championships. But this is our first event and it's t

it's tumbling but it's also trampoline. So think about two trampolines next to each other and like sink row and you know doesn't it sound really cool? I've never seen it up close and personal but it'll be here in just a couple of weeks at Bob Brown Expo. And then I'm also pleased to announce that USA um boxing national junior Olympics and the summer bo box boxing festival is coming back. Um Mayor Woo you welcomed the athletes two years ago. They are back this summer June 19th through 27th. We anticipate about 2,000 boxers and their coaches. 48 states represented. So again just shows a little bit about some of the events we'll be bringing to u Bob Brown. But beyond sports, I do want to talk quickly about these two pieces of business that are coming and using all of Century 2 and Bob Brown Expo. And I'll start with the American Gel Association. We're anticipating about 1300 attendees. And this event will be coming in 2029. But to start the conversations, we started with a third party planner back in 2023. So that shows the amount of lead time and work on building that relationship. So between 23 and 25, we met with a third party planner numerous times. In May of 25, we'd followed up on a a different event and she said, "You know, we do have the American Jail Association." So as we explored it f further, we learned that the Sedick County Jail administrator serves on the American Jail Association executive committee. We were able to bring it together, bring them out for a site visit in September. And in December, we learned that we won the opportunity to host in 2029. And we're in good company. In 24, this this piece of business was held in Fort Lauderdale. In 25 Fort Worth, this year it's in Milwaukee. Next year, it's in in Spokane. In 28, it will be in Providence, and 29 in Witchah. And then the other piece of business up

there, Sampi, the Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering. This is I I love to chat about this because this shows what Witchah does best and we collaborate. So Atlas Nyer team they actually attend the Sampi conference. So they attended the S the conference and thought what about bringing it to Witchah. They reached out to GWP who reached out to us and we started the conversation. Then in June at the Paris air show, the Atlas Nyer team invited the meeting planner to come to the reception where they've got to meet Mayor Woo and so they learned more about the city and they the collaboration. We worked together on the proposal um brought them out in January for a site visit and this was a team effort. Everybody at C2 at the Hyatt, even music theater witchaw was involved because they were holding a date in 2029. So, they had to adjust their date to make it work. Um, this is a huge piece of business. We're expecting thousands and thousands of attendees. It's great for our community. Um, and it's great that we can partner in NIAR, but it wouldn't have been possible without all the collaboration and again the lead time that we're talking about and we are in great company. and 24 it was held in Long Beach and 25 in Indianapolis and 26 in Seattle and 27 in Salt Lake, 28 in Seattle and 29 will be right here in Witchah. So, thank you, Mayor Woo. And they did tell us when we talked to them just a few weeks ago that again one of the thing that pushed us over the finish line was the collaboration and to see everybody from the university to the city to the economic development to the tourism working together um is refreshing and so thank you for that. And then finally I'm excited to share with you and I hope you get excited about that cover. You are looking at our uh summer that will be coming out soon in a couple weeks our new visitor guide. We are launching a

brand new leisure campaign. It launches May 8th. All new uh commercials, digital, social, print. It'll be in our drive markets. But this shows you how fun and some great new photos and getting to celebrate the incredible new attraction the playscape over at Exploration Place that Adam Smith and his team just launched. But we're excited that this new campaign will be out. And also to note that for the first time, we're putting our visitor guides in Dallas and in Kansas City uh to capitalize on those visitors coming for the World Cup. So with that, I share some of these just little taste here and there because everything you've seen, none of this would be possible without the funding that's provided through the tit. So greatly appreciate your support. We greatly appreciate the hotel your support. We look forward to another year of welcoming some sporting events for the first time, continuing uh to drive business to Witchah, drive business to Century 2, and I'm happy to uh stand for questions at the appropriate time. Thank you.

Thanks, Susie. I'll do the quick wrap up wrap up. Um and staff recommend the approval of the TBID uh scope of services and budget for 2027 as recommended by the TBID board. Obviously, Susan, I stand for questions. Thank you, Lindsay, and thank you, Susie, for the presentation. We will now open it up for council members, beginning with council member Hoheisel. Thank you, Mayor. Uh, thank you, Lindsay and Susie. Um, all your hard work here, and it's I think it's paying dividends for us. Uh, just two quick questions. One, and it's indicated here that you do have a yearly audit done of your organization. Could you just touch base on that real quick?

Yes, we do. Um, our yearly audit is done every year by Forvis and it is uh submitted to the city the city office the city manager's office usually about this time. So we anticipate our last year's audit will be submitted in the next few weeks. It has been completed. Okay. I appreciate that. Uh the second one, could you talk a little bit about some money that you do hold in reserve?

Yes. Um when you look at the budget, you'll notice that we have the strategic event the strategic event fund. Um, and on the back you'll see on the the footnote, and I'll pull it up here. It'll tell you exactly how much is being held. I think right now we have about 900,000 in that fund. That fund we put in every year because what that allows us to do when we're making commitments for 2029, we have the dollars to be able to produce that event when it comes. So, of that money, 80% is already committed, 100% on events that are coming. The other 20% currently is out on bids that we've already submitted and we're waiting to hear. So that's why when you look at the budget, you'll see another 250,000 of this year is earmarked because we have to keep putting dollars in for these future events.

Okay. And then you do hold some to the side for um contingency I guess. Um yeah, that is a strategic event fund. Another fund you may be referring to or are separate is we do have an invest an a um an operating reserve that is there's a policy that requires we have three to six months in operating reserve to be good uh stewards of the dollars and that's best practices. Yes, it is. Okay. Thank you. Thank you so much, Council Member Shepard.

Thank you, Mayor and Susie. I echoed the sentiments. I'm curious, how do you continue to expand some of the community and other partners? Um, I know that many times we're looking at bringing in people to Witchah, but I think we have some great things already happening in Witchah. I'm wondering how Visit Witchah works with some of these community organizations to elevate the great work that they're doing as well as a way to market Witchah.

Yeah. Well, you know, when you think about why a visitor chooses us, they choose us because of the incredible things that we have going on here. So, what's happening in Witchah is vital. So when we open a new playscape, when we have four baby elephants at the zoo, when we have the ICT open streets, these are all reasons for visitors to get in the car, drive here, come spend their weekend, and spend their dollars. So that's really at the cornerstone. We have got to share what we're doing. So in our advertising, whether it's in our digital and our video first, all of our advertising, we talk about what is happening here. Um, and so we are always looking for, you know, the great things that are happening to be able to share that followup to that. So, I see like Mosley uh Street Mellow Drama is is a partner and you've done some work there. What should a grassroots organization or a nonprofit organization, it's like, we're working on this major event. How should they get in contact with you all to see if there's an opportunity for a partnership?

You know, I I love just either call me, come into our visitor center and ask us to chat with us because we'd love to chat with you. And most importantly, too, if there's an event, we want it on our calendar. If there's an event that will drive visitors in, we want to hear about it. But it's a great opportunity because we want to hear and be able to support and we support obviously a lot of events around the city, but we want to encourage those to keep creating reasons for visitors to want to be here. Thank you, Vice Mayor Glass.

Thank you, Susie. I know we talked about this yesterday and you may not have the um data or the information, but could you just talk about the state and local taxes generated as a result of the investment uh to bring visitors to our community and why it's important to bring visitors?

Yeah, when you think about it, when visitors come, I mean, to me, they're the purest form of economic development. They come, they spend their dollars, and they leave, and they return back to the community, and they leave those dollars. So, a couple things and why it's so important, right? They support all of our local um attractions, hotels, businesses, restaurants, and without them, if you think about it, if without those visitors coming in, would we have those incredible restaurants that we have? We need those visitors and their dollars. But secondly, they pay taxes. And so I shared with you yesterday, when we look at the entire tourism, every year we get the most up-to-date information from tourism economics. And when we look overall, visitors spend about 210 billion in state and local taxes. And I know you've asked me some specifics. I don't have those today, but I we'll get those for you. So, it's incredible. We need them to pay in and all those taxes go to help all the services that state and local um that governments provide. And so, that's really, you know, our whole mission. More visitors here, more of those dollars to support the attractions, the restaurants, all that. That makes great quality life for us to live here and help pay the services.

Awesome. Thanks, Sus. Thank you, Council Member Shepard.

Thanks, Mayor. You vice mayor asking that question. I had the opportunity to attend a governing uh conference in Salana, Kansas at the recommendation of the mayor and had the opportunity to meet some folks from uh rural Kansas. And when I told them that I was uh from Witchah, they were so gracious and they were so excited about the sports facilities complex that we have here and how important it is for us to make that investment here because it helps them um when they're in Ashlin, Kansas. And it's a 2-hour drive or an hour and a half drive depending on where they are, but they can come here, their kids have a world-class facility, but then they also can eat and play and do really cool things. And so I just wanted to share with you that testimony that your work is making a difference as well as the continued investment from all of our partners across the city of Witchah, not just for Witchens, but for folks that uh surround our city as well.

Thank you so much for sharing.

I have just one final one. Uh you mentioned that on May 8th, maybe we could go back to that slide. Um for May 8th, the campaign will launch. Um, one of the things that I have seen from your staff and your entire team is you are team Witchah. You promote our city with so much uh, pride that is infectious and this is really to attract others outside of Witchah to drive to Witchah. However, this is really great material and it makes you really proud to be from Witchah. My question to you is what are ways where we can utilize maybe some of this material uh already created marketing material the videos the collateral that you're giving to outsiders to provide to insiders meaning our witchans uh so that we can increase our civic pride and really show off our community because everyone in our community can be ambassadors for the city of Witchah inviting people into our community. So, what are some ways that you believe we could utilize and maximize this material?

Well, I'm so excited that you're as excited about it as we are. Um, when I look at it just, you know, gets me gets me jazzed and and you hit it right on the head and I'm going to talk kind of two real quickly. First of all, widgets are our most important ambassadors, you know, and to have pride and we've seen it through the flag and we've seen it over the last decade, I think, really continue to rise is that we have got to be the ambassadors. Invite your friends and family to come here. You know, you have the opportunity to drive somewhere and go visit your sister. Bring her here. Be the ambassador. And when they come, show them the incredible city. You know, I always like talk to my neighbors and our friends and visit Witchah like you're get out and explore Witchah like a visitor because sometimes as we live here, we get so set and we go to our own places and there's so many things happening. So, first, you know, just be that ambassador. Second, I like what you're thinking and we've been having internal conversations around how do we get this out in the public for a pride and place. So, I think what I'm probably going to do is um turn this over to Jamie and our team, the incredible marketer, and have some more conversations with you and say, "How do we best use it and get the material out? We are all about partnering, leveraging, sharing the good news, and at the end of the day, increasing those ambassadors, and we all play such an important role in that." So, thank you for that, and can't wait to share more.

Thank you, Susie. I see no further questions for Susie or Lindsay. With that, we will open it up for public comment. Good morning, city council. This is uh Andrew Crane, guiding pause ICT. I just had a couple couple questions um on the visit witchah. Um and uh one of the things it's excellent that we're seeing uh lots of stuff coming to to Witchah. Um but uh also you got to think about the uh disability community and and the blind community um and transportation too. Um and the visit witchah needs to be working with transportation and uh the bus the bus system here and and also uh a lot of other disability uh community um and engaging too. Um, and my other uh thing was the a couple years ago they uh the blind uh uh baseball team was was here in in Witchah. Um and Visit Witchah actually put put that on um for uh lots of people

to see. So, um, and we want to definitely invite, uh, lots of blind and low vision folks to Witchah. Thank you.

Morning, Mayor and City Council. Adam Smith, uh, president, CEO at Exploration Place. Um, I didn't know that Susie was going to show that lovely cover, um, of the the new tourism brochure. Thank you, Susie. Um, but I I actually did want to come along this morning and just give you some of my thoughts about how Visit Witchita helped me and my organization um, and what we're trying to do. I think sometimes when I see our public dialogue about visit witchar, I feel a little bit frustrated because the organization is incredibly helpful to me and to what I'm trying to do for the community and we've had a big success with the opening of the playscape. Our attendance has basically doubled. Possibly more importantly for this conversation, the the sphere of influence of exploration place has massively expanded. I'm so happy to learn that Susie planning to put that brochure down in Dallas and and other drive markets because we've already felt it since we opened that um we've started to see a entirely new kind of visitation and in the journey to build the playscape um takes a lot of a lot of work at a very detailed level and I've had to raise $25 million to build that and I want you to know that visit witchar has been my partner on that journey. journey. I can think like every grant application that we make to different funding organizations, usually there's a letter of support there from Visit Witchah, but in some cases, like one of the grants that I'm talking about was a $3 million contribution to that fundraising campaign. And I'll tell you now, I could I would not have got that grant without the detailed support of visit witchar in assembling the data that I needed in order to get that grant on my own. I

could not possibly have accessed and gathered that data. So having that kind of resource um it's not just the direct work that visit witchar does um in marketing our city and bringing the conventions in. It's helping organizations like my own. Another thing I'll give a lot of credit to um Susie and her team. In my six and a half years here in Witchita, we've gone from I I would actually say an unhealthy atmosphere amongst our our community and our attractions. And I'm speaking to some degree to your question, Council Member Shepherd. Um Susie and the team have created the Witchita Attractions Council. So it's brought all of the leading attractions together into a collaboration. The whole tone of that communication has gone from where we're almost fighting with one another to a genuine team of aligned organizations working together and all of that has been done under the umbrella and the opice of visit witchar. So there are things like that that I think have like deep um lasting value for our for our city and um but I I should I should have said at the beginning of my remarks I I have a conflict of interest here because I do serve on the board of visit witchar but I think that that g has given me a privileged view of how the organization operates. I've actually done this in two other places. is I've been on the board of uh Visit San Diego and the Edinburgh and Lotheian Tourist Board in Scotland and I've been very impressed how Susie runs her organization. Compared to those other two boards that I served on, we don't have the greatest hand here in Witchah. We don't have beaches and castles and some of those those kind of things. But what I've seen Susie and the team do consistently is play our hand to the absolute optimum

that it's possible to do. So we've got, you know, we we are competitive on sports and youth sports. So we're able to play that hand and we were recently briefed as a board about a convention that the team won and it was uh it was a church convention. Pretty sizable, probably an economic impact of a few million dollars on our city, but not really the kind of thing that catches anyone's attention. it will he'll catch the attention of the hotels and the bars and the restaurants and and the economic value. Um, but I do I want you to know I I've spent my pretty much my whole working in life in tourism and museums and as they briefed the board on how they had won that business, my true feelings were we had no right to win that business and it's our team and the skill that they brought and particularly the relationship skill and that's bringing a lot of value. We don't have, as we all know, we don't have the convention center that we need. We'll keep working on that, but we we've at least got a great organization that's doing great work for our community. Thank you.

Thank you, Adam. I have one question for you, Adam. Um, thank you for opening up Exploration Place, Playscape EP2. Um, one of the questions I keep getting asked, and I know that you do this because I'm on the board, but can you share um, it's really accessible for all, meaning that if the barrier is, um, paying the entry fee that there are, um, opportunities. Can you talk about how many folks have come through the door that have needed assistance and you are able to provide that assistance?

Sure. Um, actually, as you've given me the opportunity to come back, I I just on the points that Andrew was making about accessibility for all, we hired a disability consultant to help us with every single step of the design process for the playscape. And that's not just to comply with our ADA responsibilities under law, but we wanted it to be the most accessible place that it could possibly be. Not just for people in wheelchairs, but for people. We have a whole sensory garden to explore the different aspects of the senses. Just thinking about disability and access from lots of different dimensions and that includes economic um you for some people they don't have the financial resources to come to exploration plays and we work very hard um to to make sure that's not a barrier to access. Thank you to Wittoar Public Libraries for example. Every single library in this community has got free passes for exploration plays and I know that they've just asked us for a lot more because that's very popular. But the big one is a program called Museums for All. If a family is um receiving SNAP EBT benefits or is on the in the WIC program, we give them free admission. And I think Lily has set me up here because she knows from my board report that it's been very interesting since we opened the playscape. Historically that program has represented about 4% of exploration places attendance. So it gets used and that's actually that's about 20,000 people a year that's historically used it. But since we opened the playscape the number went up to 17%. So that accessibility program has become a lot more popular. something's happened out there that um people people on low incomes or no incomes are a are able to get in and um we're very committed to that as an organization.

Thank you, Adam. Appreciate uh the side question, but it does talk about community pride and selling our community knowing that people are coming into Witchah because of attractions like Exploration Place. people are driving outside of Witchah to come into Witchah, spend dollars in Witchah is through efforts not just by your team at Exploration Place, but also the team at Visit Witchah. And so I'm very grateful for the collaboration, especially the attractions council. Um, and I'm glad that that has shifted over the last six years. Thank you.

We can continue with public comment. And I see no one else from the public who would like to speak. We'll bring it back to the bench. With that, I will go ahead and move this item. I move that the council approve the tourism business improvement district T-BID 2027 scope of services and budget. Second. Motion second. Discussion. See none. Madame clerk, please open the role. Motion passes. 70. Madame clerk, please call the next item.

Agreement with Kansas Department of Transportation and funding for 21st Street North Intelligent Transportation System from 119th Street West to downtown.

Morning again, mayor, city council members, Paul Gman, public works and utilities. for the record. Um, item before you is funding for 21st Street its from 119th Street West to downtown, including an agreement with KO. On August 18th, 2024, the Witchaw Area Metropolitan Planning Organization Transportation Policy Body adopted the 2027 through 2030 transportation improvement program. The TIP is an ongoing program that identifies specific projects that will be implemented in the transportation system in the Wampo region over a 4-year period. The its West 21st Street North project was submitted by the city of Witchaw for for consideration and was selected as one of the projects to receive federal funding through the TIP. the map, excuse me, the slide before you shows the uh project location and within your packet and agreement has been prepared by Kansas Department of Transportation that formerly esta formally establishes the project and allows staff to begin the next steps in project development. The project will design and install fiber optic communication cable and make upgrades to the existing signals along the corridor to allow to allow them to be synchronized to improve traffic flow as well. And they will also be included within the advanced traffic management system so that staff can monitor the traffic signals remotely. Financial considerations. As mentioned before, the project was selected for TIP funding of just under 1.2 or just a little over $ 1.9 million in fiscal year 2027

and just under $900,000 in fiscal year 2020 2028 for a for a total of 2,832,000 of federal funding. 2026 through 2035 adopt capital improvement program also includes just over a million dollars in 2027 which is funded by local sales tax. Staff recommends initiating the full project budget of 3,890,000 for design, construction, rightway acquisition and project management. It is recommended that city council approve the budget, the Kout agreement, adopt the resolution, and authorize the necessary signatures. And I will stand for questions.

Thank you, Paul. Questions for staff? I see none. We will open it up for public comment. I see none. I'll bring it back to the bench. This resides in both council member JV and Maggie's districts. I will enthusiastically and gladly do the recommended action of approve the budget KOT agreement, adopt the resolutions and authorize the necessary signatures. Second

motion and a second discussion. I see none. Madame clerk, please open the role. Motion. Who am I? Motion passes 70. Madame clerk, please call the next item. Funding for no more international play stage and public art.

Mayor, city council, Tim Kellum. for the record uh within the uh engineering division of public works and utilities here to talk to you about funding for NOAR. Um this is actually timed really well especially with visit witchaw and everything happening. So this is this ties in really well. So um so noar as many of you know uh is at 21st and Broadway and it was constructed um in 2010. There are a lot of different improvements in that district that happened around that time. One of the great things about it is that they did a uh branding study and and design standards that are part of that. So that that is helpful for us as we start to develop the uh the district even more. You can see here um some of the beautiful artwork and signage that we have already. So there's really great that we have an identity that's already been established for the area and for the plaza specifically. Um, you can see here on an aerial over on the left side of your screen. We do have a a structure there that does have restrooms in it. Uh, those aren't really open until we have uh different events and things like that, but there are there is a large open space there which is great and has been utilized um a lot as we'll show here in a little bit. Uh, but there's a lot of potential for this site and especially um and mayor appreciate you for mentioning Open Street Noar here coming up. I believe that's on Sunday, May 3rd. Um, so one Nomar uh the international plaza does it plays a huge role in that as as one of the hubs for open streets ICT Nomar. You can see here from photos o over the years just different events and different gatherings um throughout uh the district and the plaza. Um city staff has determined or estimated that we have about in terms of just the plaza itself, not including the district, just the plaza, a little over 57,000 visitors a year uh that come just to the the plaza

itself. Um knowing that it is pretty much an open area that does have some shade structures, uh there's a lot of opportunity here to capture that and really add uh to the possibility for uh for the plaza. As we kind of mentioned, uh there are a lot of different things that can happen at Nomar as it is now given that it is pretty open. One of the main things that that does happen there are stage performances. Um in the past the city has used portable stages and they have brought them in as you can see here partly on the screen um in the left image and the right image in the background. Those portable stages um they are helpful but they do limit uh a lot of what uh users can do different performances things like that. It also takes an immense amount of staff time, an immense amount of coordination uh just to bring those in, set it up, tear down for individual events. Um it does uh weigh on the city staff their resources for having those. And again, they also aren't um again, they're portable. They're not really set up for really large events or different things uh to use for uh the potential opportunities we have here at the plaza. So for the analysis as I kind of mentioned uh the portal stages are limited the usability of the site again they they do weigh on staff resources uh for those different events. Another thing too is that there with staff time competing for different setups things like that. that's a lot easier if we have a permanent stage there and allows for different opportunities for renting the fac the facility and the plaza um and does provide a little bit more um possibility for different communities to see it and then try to utilize that space. We've seen success over at um Nazcar Park with the stage that we have there routinely having different events and things like that. I believe this would be similar to something along those lines. obviously a little bit different than at NAVSAR but does provide the ability for the community to

utilize those stages for different types of events. Um this project will uh be to design and construct a permanent stage at the east end of the plaza. Uh we believe that um doing this through a design bid build approach would be the most uh the most successful for the project. So we'll start off with uh doing an RFP to get someone on board and then proceed through bidding and then construction. as part of the project. Part of the some of the features that we are looking at are fixed lighting, sight specific audio equipment that would be used again with those portable stages. They are just really what the sound system you have is kind of what you get here. We can utilize and have different audio engineers be able to specifically design the audio to have a more uh a better experience for all those involved. Same with the lighting. It creates a higher quality event for users. And again, this will be a dedicated space for cultural events in the north end community. So, for financial considerations, the 2026 2035 CIP contains uh $650,000 in 26, $300,000 in 2027 uh for the improvements, and we do have $150,000 for public art um as part of the project. Right now, we are asking to have $200,000 initiated for the improvement and five or $50,000 for public art. Again, that will get us through design and then we'll bring back the concept and different artwork uh at a later date. So, we're just asking for kind of the money to get it initiated and started and then we'll bring it back for further initiation for additional funding and then approval of concept. Palmer has reviewed and approved the bonding resolution as to form and has recommend that city council approve the initiation of the project, adopt the bonding resolutions and authorize necessary signatures and happy to stand for any questions.

Thank you, Tim. Questions for staff? Um, I only have one. Uh, when it comes to public art, I want to see if that you can make that functional art. In other words, uh one of the things that I've heard from individuals who attend um and visit this plaza is sun uh shading structures. Um shade would be very beneficial as uh people gather in that hot concrete. It would be really nice if we could have more shaded uh structures and you could use that as part of public art. Um so my suggestion would be can you see if there are opportunities to make it um utilizable for uh shade as well?

Yes. Yes, we can definitely look into that. We can uh again we'll go through design council and everything and and work to get a an RFP out and we'll look at at all the different possibilities and I think shade is a great option or something to look at.

My other question also comes from community. Uh this one is about collaboration and partnerships. Uh just yesterday uh the city of Witchah's police department received a donation from Quicktrip to uh put a FL uh the drones uh in downtown Witchah. So there are opportunities for collaboration with that department. Are there any collaborations or opportunities for individuals to help out with this um um construction project in terms of can they donate uh can there be naming rights? Can you talk about that?

Um I don't think we've explored naming rights or anything like that just yet. Um we're definitely I think open to to those conversations. Uh but this uh at least today I think we're was getting it started to at least get the funding initiated but we have not issued an RFP or anything but I think we're always having those conversations. We are also welcome to take donations. I think one of the best ways to donate is through the Witchard Parks Foundation. Uh they serve as a as a great entity for us uh for people that do want to donate to to specific projects. Uh makes a little bit easier to donate to them than to donate just directly to the city of Witchaw.

Thank you, Tim. And the expected time frame of this project, I think uh we'll we'll plan to draft the RFP and have it out here soon. I imagine by towards the end of the summer, early fall, we'll have a designer on board. Uh next, we'll want to do uh community engagement. So going to likely hope hopefully having a pop-up event or open house and definitely going to the district advisory board for uh engagement. Um, I think beyond that, I think construction kind of depends on exactly what we settle on and exactly the the artwork that ends up happening. I imagine we' see construction happening um probably about this time next year.

And last but not least, sorry I have a lot of questions, but um they're relevant to this. Nomar opened in 2010 um and I know it had a big vision uh to really be a community gathering space. Um, was a stage ever considered back before 2010? And is this something that we're basically fulfilling as a promise?

Um, I don't think I had seen those uh exact information. It was a little hard to try to gather everything together um from back then, but I think that was kind of the vision was trying to have an open plaza to have different cultural events. I think a stage makes complete sense. if it wasn't in already envisioned long ago, I think it was at least something that was in their mind about wanting to engage and have this space be utilized um for these types of events.

Thank you, Tim. I see no further questions from this council. We'll now open it up for public comment. Good morning, mayor and city council. I just want to say thank you today for considering this opportunity. We are excited to see progress in Nomar. Back in fall of 2023, we hosted Vamos Nomar which really we brought a lot of people to the north end from outside of the neighborhood but also in the neighborhood to these sites. And I can tell you um the Nomar Plaza we had a lot of feedback about how do we make this a site that is usable a lot more around the year and one thing that you mentioned that is shade is something that is a big concern for that as well as seating and so we can say that our neighborhood is excited for these opportunities. There's been a lot of history that got us here today with Nomar Plaza but I think this investment is showing our community we're in the right direction. um it once was supposed to be a covered marketplace back in 2009 2010 and then there was some mistrust in the community, some misinformation and so I think this is showing that we are making an investment that can lead to continued progress. As you know at Empower we are um opened our commercial kitchen facility in 2025 and we are getting ready to break ground later this year on our phase two which includes the Nomar Theater. So, I see so much opportunity and momentum for 2027. It gives me the chills to think about how we can be investing in two more facilities right across the street right alongside Nomar Plaza and these type of community events that can happen. Um, there are some great things that are already happening at the plaza and we are looking forward to expanding on those and so I think for organizations like Empower to Latinfest or whoever else in Witchaw there's more opportunity. So, we are later this year

planning and we just announced yesterday a FIFA World Cup watch party and we are not doing it at Nomar Plaza because right now some of the things that we need to be able to easily run an event of that size and caliber, we're going to be doing it at Navcar Park this year, but I think in future years with our assets as well as these types of investments that are happening in Nomar that we'll be able to go back to Nomar and do more of these events with the the existing infrastructure there. So, I thank you for doing this. I know our community is going to be super excited to continue having these investments and I think we have a lot more story and celebration to continue having. So I continue looking forward and our team and our community will be happy to be involved in any way possible. So thank you all.

Thank you. I see no one else from the community who'd like to speak about this topic. We will now bring it back to the bench. This is in council member Ballard's district.

Thank you, mayor. I feel like Ariel stole all of my comments. Uh I think everybody is very excited to um see some more um I would say promises come to fruition in the north end. There's been a lot of investment, but there's a lot more uh to come. So, I'm super excited about it, and I know that um the district is as well. So, um nobody else has any comments. Um, I would like to take the recommended action to approve the init the initiation of the projects, adopt the bonding resolution, and authorize necessary signatures. Second

motion, second discussion. Uh, just one final thing, just saying thank you to the leadership of council member Ballard in district 6 and empower uh for continuing to have this conversation about uh promises from the past getting fulfilled in 2026. Um, this is a great space. Uh many of us on the council have attended multiple events from open streets to many others and this type of investment is necessary to not only keep the residents we have in Witchah but attract visitors to come to our community. Um so I see this as an investment and intentional investment into the cultural assets that we have uh and cultural spaces that will be um created at Nomar Plaza. So I am happy to provide my yes vote to this. With that uh we will open it up for the vote. Motion passes 70. Madame clerk please call the next item.

Professional services contract for excavation of soils at Apex site 1234 North Wellington North Industrial Corridor site. Good morning, Mayor, Witchaw City Council members. For the record, Don Henry, public works and utilities. The item before you at the moment includes um two contracts for um environmental remediation services on the Apex site within the North Industrial Corridor. The North Industrial Corridor is an area of roughly 4,000 acres in the northern part of the city, roughly from 45th Street North to Second Street and from Waco to the Canal route. includes um a number of of uh original sources and co-mingled plumes that include volatile organic compounds uh that got into the groundwater and it was a result of historic industrial activities in in the area. Um the apex site itself is located at 1234 North Wellington. Um the city manages the remediation and cleanup um under a settlement agreement with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. And for this particular site, there is still contaminated soils on Apex uh that is contributing to the downgradient contamination and remediation of these soils will save both time and cost for the project overall. In addition to cleanup of the groundwater and the environmental contamination within this the uh settlement agreement with KDH, the city's also responsible for administering institutional controls within the area to make sure that people are protected um from the contamination within the groundwater as long as it exists. Um within the agreement, this is achieved through administration enforcement of chapter 7.30 of the city code of witchah for privately owned domestic wells. Um, in general, the ordinance requires permits for newly constructed wells, inspections

of those new wells, inspections of existing wells prior to the transfer of ownership. And it also establishes the construction standards in alignment with what the state requires, and inspections um ensure that those wells are maintained appropriately. Um and probably most importantly, the ordinance um prohibits uh locating um private wells for drinking purposes within areas of groundwater contamination. Active groundwater cleanup efforts uh began in the 1990s, including source control on a number of sites. Um studies to delineate plumes, identify um the movement of the contamination, and then in 2021, four new extraction wells were brought online for air stripping of the contaminated groundwater. With this work um on the apex side, active remediation efforts are projected to be completed by 2036 and then monitoring of the cleaned up groundwater completed by 2048. The first contract for um soil excavation services includes a schedule of work to be completed within two months of the contract execution. It includes excavation and removal of 200 tons of concrete and disposal of the rubble at CND landfill. It also includes excavation and transport of 2,100 tons of contaminated soils which will be transported to the plum thicket landfill in Harper, Kansas for disposal. And then it includes also include backfilling the area with clean soils brought in from offsite as well as installing a 6-in thick asphalt cap on top of the excavation. Procurement included um a process in alignment with the city's requirements for standard procurement. Uh nine proposals were received, four companies

were interviewed and B&H Landworks LLC was selected based upon the um selection criteria. The contract uh price for excavation, back filling, installation of the asphalt cap and transport of the uh waste, soils uh includes a not to exceed price of $138,482 for which the funding is included in the approved North Industrial Corridor operating budget. The second contract will be for disposal of the contaminated soils. Uh, state regulations classify soils such as these as special waste and therefore disposal requires authorization by KDHE at specific approved landfills. The Plum Thicket landfill is the nearest one um located to the city and for this project and KDHE approval for um the special waste disposal at Plum Thicket was issued in December of 2025. The proposed contract is with Waste Connections subsidiary. They are the owner and operator of Plun Thicket Landfill in Harper, um, Kansas, and includes a tipping fee price of $59 per ton for up to 2,200 tons of the contaminated soil. The total cost of the uh contract uh will be $129,800 for up to the 2200 tons and funding for this contract uh is also included in the North Industrial Corridor operating budget. Briefly, the roll up um of the two contracts totals uh $268,282. The good news is this came well under the engineer's original estimate of $468,120. Therefore, staff recommends that the Witchaw City Council approve the contract with B&H Landworks LLC for excavation and transport services. approved the contract with Waste Connections subsidiary for disposal of

waste uh special waste at Plum Thicket Landfill and authorize the necessary signatures. Thank you. And I'll stand for any questions that you have at this time. Thank you, Don. Questions for staff beginning with Council Member Hoheisel. Thank you, Mayor, and thank you, Don. A couple of questions here. Is there any way to expedite the process? We're talking about two decades out before the the remediation is complete,

right? Um yeah, one of one of the ways is to take the steps that were taken on the apex site. Um the uh this approach rather than leaving the contaminated soils in place, which typically the the city wouldn't be responsible for such orphan sites. Um but it makes a lot of sense to go ahead and and clean this one up because over the um life of the project, it will save 10 years time and um also between 750,000 and a million dollars in savings. So, while these projects do take time and they're lengthy, um there's a lot of steps on the front end as far as the investigation and the studies and delineating the the plumes and getting the approvals and all that. Um just pumping and moving that much groundwater and air stripping takes takes a good bit of time. So, I think this project makes a lot of sense to buy some of that time back.

Okay. Talking about the studies, um, are there any, this is more, I guess, KDH's territory than yours, but are there any negative health effects that come in with the contamination? And are people in the area aware of any of that?

Yeah. And so that that's something that um there's been a lot of work done to delineate the plumes and understand just where the contamination is, right? And one of the things that uh slowed the process up, but for good reason, was a vapor intrusion study that was required back in the early 2000s. The good news is um the the study that the the city carried out under direction by KDH showed that vapor intrusion is is not a health risk and within the north industrial corridor. Um, another thing that we do when we issue, um, you know, as far as in general your your question about a risk as far as the contamination, um, exposure and drinking the groundwater, um, ingestion of the groundwater, inhalation of the groundwater that includes the volatile organics, that that that would be the risk and and the route of exposure. And so, one of the things that we do through our water well program is is we provide materials and education. um we reach out to realtors within the area. We do presentations on the well program and then when we issue um uh permits or reports on inspections. We also enclose information about BOTC contamination so the well owners will be aware of that.

Okay. So we reached out to all the known well operators or owners in the in the area. I well pro probably not all of them because we may not even know where all of them are. Well, right. the ones that we are aware of. Yeah. But every time we drill a new well or we do an inspection on the well. Yes, sir. Okay. Um were there any penalties that you know of for the businesses that were doing these uh chemical dumpings?

As as far as penalties, no. But but um there there was a process by which uh responsible parties were held accountable to pay a portion of the cost for the cleanup. And so that that that um that process ran its course and was completed within the last 10 years. So that's 2019 revenue for cleanup for the program. Okay. And that KDHE was the main driver of that one. Actually it it was the city that pursued cost recovery under the settlement agreement which provided the city the authority to do that.

Okay. I appreciate the background. I see no further questions. Thank you, Don. We'll now open it up for public comment. I see none. I'll bring it back to the bench. This is in Council Member Ballard's district. Thank you, Mayor Don. Thank you for all of that extensive, very complicated um issue that we're dealing with, but I appreciate all of your work on it. With that, I'd like to take the recommended action. Approve the contracts and authorize necessary signatures. Second. Motion. Second. Discussion. See none. Madame clerk, please open the role.

Motion passes. 70. Madame clerk, please call the next item. Transit network redesign plan.

Good morning, Mayor Council. Penny Fishaw Transit. I'm here to discuss with you the transit network redesign plan. First, I'd like to take a few slides just to provide an overview of Witchah's transit, talk about our resources a little bit. Um, we have 50 fixed route buses, 38 vans, and 141 full-time staff. Our key facilities include our offices, um, our transit center, which is currently currently located 215 South Pika, and then the hub, which will be opening soon at 207 South Sycamore. Uh last year we provided more than 1 million bus rides, 75,000 paratransit rides and 120,000 microobility trips um either on scooter or bike. Uh this uh chart here shows you our local revenue breakdown. Um which transit relies heavily on federal formula funding which you won't see in this chart or the next pie chart that I show you. But we do receive an annual general fund contribution of about three and a half million which is 62% of our local revenue. Bus fair accounts for a million dollars of that revenue at 18% and then our partnership revenue totals about 850,000 um in 2025. To dive a little bit deeper into the partnership revenue, these are the agencies um that we partnered with last year. Um some of these have formal agreements, some of them don't. Some of them um pay for all of their users to ride for free. Some of them buy bus passes. So the the there is some variety in the way these contracts or agreements are really just um annual discussions are held. But Witchaw State University currently has a contract with us through 2028. And last year the revenue from that agreement was $525,000. Witchaw Public Schools um they buy passes from us as needed. So they reach out to us at the beginning of every school year and they let us know how many students they would like to use which transit instead of a yellow bus.

Um for the 2025 2026 school year that was 800 students and then throughout the school year they might reach out to us again and say hey we have other students who we'd like to put on the bus as well. SMG we worked with last year um for the NCAA tournament to increase the frequency on the Q-ine. We discussed United Way and Veterans Affair agreements so that veterans can ride free and then also child start will buy um bulk passes from us to make sure that their families can access their services. So again, writership can be kind of tricky to break down this way just based on the fact that there are different types of agreements, but in total 3 36% of all light of all rides last year were from a partnership. local expenditures. Um, most of our local expenditure is meant to satisfy the grant requirements for the federal the federal grants that we receive, which can range from 20 to 50%. And um, our goal is to maximize the use of our federal dollars. Our local expenditures exceed our local revenues by a million dollars in 2025, which requires us um to use a transit fund for support. Fairbox recovery. So how much of our operating costs are covered by our bus and vanfares is about 9%. And nationally that number is 13%. I don't I think that the story there is not necessarily the difference between the nine and the 13 but more that fairbox revenue is not a major contributor to local revenue. On the left in the blue you'll see um results from national community survey um ease of public transportation at 18% buser transit service and this is oh this is excellent or good um bus or transit service 24% um how many residents taking the survey used the bus or the Q-ine instead of driving was 9%.

carpulled with adults or children was 49% and then walked or biked instead of driving was 39%. Through the transit network redesign, we also surveyed our riders and our highest marks were for safety of both our drivers and our buses and the lowest marks were for the service hours and the bus stops. And then the median there at 71% was um buses go places I want to go. So now we can jump jump into the transit network redesign which primarily focuses on the transition to the hub. And um while we're looking at that um transfer of our transit center, we're also updating routes to align with travel patterns and improve overall system efficiency and reliability. Although this is a technical analysis that relies a lot on traffic pattern information, um we also incorporated um significant community input So phase one began in October um 2023 when the study was approved by city council. Those results were shared at a public meeting in January of 2025. Then we moved on to phase two, which is the implementation in July of 2025. And here today, we're going to review all of that work and move forward um with our next steps. The goal is to transition to the hub on May 23rd, 2026. As mentioned, um, community input was a significant portion of this study and, um, through multiple outreach phases, we collected more than 1500 survey responses from either inerson or online engagement and this helps inform um, route changes and priority of changes. The redesign balances service hours, consolidates routes, and improves frequency on high ridership routes with an existing budget.

So the key features include centralized hub connections so all routes connect through the hub. We can increase frequency on high ridership routes which will be routes 21 and 22 and route 16 during peak hours. Strategic route extensions. Route 28 will serve 29th and rock making um every Walmart accessible to um our citizens for grocery access. and then introduces a pilot route to establish an east west connection in South Witchah. Um some midterm and long range goals that resulted from the redesign study um include a conversation about future of downtown transportation systemwide frequencies and service hours. to talk a little bit more about downtown transportation. The Q-ine became a topic of much discussion during both um the redesign and our transit advisory board meetings. So just a little bit of history, the Q-ine began in 2006 and at the time it was a quarter and then eventually in 2009 um it became fair free and was funded by grant and private contributions. despite the service enhancements and by that I mean the fact that it's fair fear free it operates longer than most routes and it has um better frequencies than most it rates pretty average among ridership when compared to the other routes and the service redesign plan proposes to align the Q-ine hours and frequency um to the same standard that every other route complies within the system. This is a chart of Q-ine writership. So we started in 2015 to show that there was a systemwide decrease in service um due to budget constraints in 2016 and then we can see that 2017 onward um

writership has remained pretty flat. This um represents about 40,000 rides annually. This is a chart of all of the routes that we ran in 2025. So you can see which are the higher writership routes which are going to be that route 21 and 22. And that represents about 120,000 rides each for those routes. And then you can see the distribution um becomes a little bit more consistent from there. So when we talk about the Q-ine, there is no longer any outside funding available to support this increased service. Um, and it's recommended that the Q-ine does not continue to extend into the evening or the Saturday service or run at higher frequencies. But we know that downtown is developing quickly and that there is a need for transportation downtown. Um, and we want to continue the conversation on how Wish transit can support the park one solution for Deleno and downtown Witchah and for the time being um leave the route fair free but um perhaps in the future we'll come up with an alternative solution and this trout will this route will be treated like other routes as well. So, the annual service hours increased to 128,000 annual service hours with the redesign plan, which is slightly more than the 124,000 service hours we completed in 2025. Uh, weekday routes will operate 12 to 15 hours a day with mostly 60-minute frequencies except for routes 2122 which will run 30 minutes and route 16 which will run 30 minutes during peak. a weekend service adjustment. Saturday service um uses consistent 60-minute headways and some routes do not operate on Saturday. Uh here's a picture of the hub I took on

Friday. We're getting very close to completion. Very excited. Um it offers 12 bus bays, enhanced passenger areas, and a mobility zone that will allow us to integrate micromobility and demand response into our bus transportation services. It includes 425 parking spaces and dedicated micromobility which are the scooters and the bikes. So from here we'd like to begin comprehensive writer outreach for the next 30 days including printed materials announcements and digital media. We'd like to hold trainer sessions with community partners and operate fair free for the first two weeks of the transition. WA Transit will have staff ambassadors available to assist riders to navigate the new system. And then our proposed budget for 2026 includes additional budget for utilities, security, and fuel. And then I'll be coming to council in a few weeks to talk more about technology improvements. In addition, we plan to launch a long-term comprehensive marketing plan for Wishaw Transit because when you when you move a transit center that's been in place for 30 years and you change the routes, there is an anticipated writership decline. So, we'd like to launch that marketing plan to recover from that and engage new riders. And then finally, um the existing transit site on Topeka, um was built with federal dollars, so there is federal interest and it will have to go through an appraisal process um to move forward with federal disposition. This is the current route system. Um you can I would just pay attention to kind of some of the lines that aren't very contiguous and a lot of the turns that are um incorporated within the routes. And then this is our redesign route. So we're still serving the key

destinations. Um but we might be serving them differently with new alignments. So for a rider that means maybe I used to ride route 14 and now I have to ride route 15. And we're going to have to get that information in their hands in advance of that change. Um, the recommended action is that city council approve the 2026 transit network redesign. I'm happy to answer any questions. Thank you, Penny. Questions for staff, beginning with Vice Mayor Glascock.

Thank you, Penny. I'll start with uh slide 77. Just a quick clarification this. Yeah. So, at the bottom it says the VA under in terms of transit and partnerships. Um, oh, never mind. I answered my question. I combined United Way and Veterans Affairs instead of separated them. So, just based on the agenda item number 16, I had a question about that. Um, if we go back to the full uh map, the bus system map as well, I know we've discussed expansion and this would be more long-term, but just talking about feasibility and we talked the last time we had a mass redesign. It's 30 years ago. I imagine we've changed some routes since then. regarding expansion to uh Meridian and MacArthur, the new mental health hospital that's going to open. We've talked about locations outside of that to be able to serve uh populations there. How easy is it to redesign some of these routes afterward? What's the process that goes into that?

Thank you. Um so the mental health hospital that's going in in that area was one of the reasons that we were very excited for the 203 connector. And so, um, what we have talked to them about, um, and we've been in conversations, um, recently is that once that facility is open, it's going to be very, it should be very easy for us to, um, swing 203 a little bit further south to where they're located. Um, and then that might require some shortening on the other end or that might require some adjustments. Um but what that is going to be contingent upon is um successful um success of the pilot route. So that's why we're putting it there and there's no reason for us to go there now, right? But when they're when they're online um that is our intention.

So easy easily adaptable in the future to be able to expand that. Yes. Okay. I have a maybe two more sets of questions. Number one, security at the hub. Can you talk about especially moving the new transit facility? What will security enforcement be at the hub, especially in the heart of Deleno?

We currently have an existing uh security contract at the transit center and we're working with all of our vendors to move over to the new site and I am expecting that to expand, right? Whereas now we just have um the need for a foot patrol on the one main floor footprint. We will have uh the transit center on the main floor and then three levels of parking. And so we'll be asking our security service um to revise their scope to meet the needs of not just a transit center but a transit center plus a parking garage. Um in addition um the city facility as many city facilities are is heavily equipped with cameras and so we'll have not only security on site but our supervisor is able to monitor um all floors of the building.

Okay. Thank you. That's something I'll be um very interested in as we uh get that online. regarding circulator. Those would be my additional questions. If we could start with page 85 slide 85 um 86, sorry. So, quick question. When I know that we moved from the trolley system uh to have the circulator to now just a typical bus that goes up and down, there's really no delineation for people when they see it uh going down the street. What year did that occur?

I believe that was 20 I have a one pager that I would like to send you, but I think it was like 2011. Um, but I can't because we what we ended up doing in 2020 is swapping the trolleys for the electric buses, but I'm not I can't say for certain. Maybe someone else knew here um what that exact year was.

Okay. I'd be interested in that follow-up just to see um any correlation in terms of drop of ridership because I know historically when I I haven't rode the Q-ine since it's uh just been a bus system because I was able to delineate between it um just for ease of service. you had mentioned something regarding the paid parking connectivity in Deleno and so that's something that I'm very interested in in the future of how can maybe somebody park in Deleno get on the Q- line because we have free parking in Deleno and then be able to go through the entire system and so how easy is it to look at changes to that in the future as well. I think that one of the goals of this entire study is to create a solid foundation for those types of things that are coming up. And um so the purpose of keeping the Q-ine free for now is to get us through to these technology improvements um that I'll be bringing forward to council in a couple of weeks, maybe a month or so. Um regarding a new fairbox system, which will make it very easy to um first of all integrate with the schedule. Right now, we have two separate apps apps for fair payment and bus schedule, but to potentially integrate with the parking system somehow, right? So, if you're if you're paying to park, um yeah, what does that get you a free ride downtown, a free ride everywhere? I'm really um welcoming those conversations. I've also asked my transit advisory board to begin thinking about that. You know, what should your parking uh fee at the hub get you as far as transit service?

I'm very interested in that. I think that's super exciting to be able to look at that in the future. And then last question, it's more of a maybe question suggestion. Yesterday when we had our tri-government meeting, it was brought up from the school board and also brought up from the council as well regarding uh students and witchaw public schools and how to continue to expand that partnership and how we can make sure to uh continue to get more students um on our bus system that then can navigate in the future. So I would love to continue that conversation about how how do we have more connectivity and partnership with the school district when it comes to transit. So, I think the 800 students is great. I would love to see that at a higher number as well. Thank you,

Council Member Ballard. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Penny. Um, I would like to echo um Vice Mayor Glascock about the partnership with 259. I know yesterday they said they have 45,000 students, but I would be curious to know how many of the how many of the 45,000 do ride buses and maybe how we can expand the services uh with the city with the buses that we already have. Um also who is the outside funding from previously for the Q-ine? Oh, who was the funding? Yeah, so there was a combination of grant and private contribution. Um, the private contributor was Downtown Witchaw, Greater Witchaw Partnership. And why has that been discontinued?

I don't know. I think it was a it was a onetime funding. It didn't seem to be an annual funding thing. Um, we did um talk about that um maybe two years ago and it just wasn't in the scope at that point. Um, but uh they do have a member on our transit advisory board and they are heavily invested in downtown transportation. So, I mean, maybe we get there someday, but um I can't say is if we will or what the history of that necessarily was, but it was one time. Okay. So, when is the last time are we just paying for it now? The city is absorbing it, right? So, is is we're using more of our operating funds for that one route than we would other routes.

And the I'm sorry, maybe it was on one of the slides. The writership for the Q-ine is okay. Yeah, it's um it's about 40,000 uh rides annually. So on this um this one here Oh, sorry. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, you're going to see Q- line clipped in um there to the left. And so, you know, it's pretty much in it's right kind of in the middle, but um considering you know, the extra operating expense that we we have from it um due to the service enhancements, you know, we're putting more into that one route and getting about the same wrership.

Okay. Um, I would be interested to kind of follow um where we end up going with the Q- line. Uh, and then my last question is um, Vice Mayor Glasscock, you said parking was free in Deleno and I just want to make sure people know that it's not going to be free at the hub. Right. Correct. On the street. On the street. Sorry. I just wanted and on one of the parking garage. It's a it's a hot button issue. I just want to make sure that we're

all on the same page and not freaking people out. Anyways, thank you so much for all of this. This is super helpful and I know it was very long and tedious, but uh definitely worthwhile. We talk about writership and transportation all of the time. So, appreciate you taking the lead on this. Council member Heisel.

Thank you, Mayor. Um thank you, Penny, for you and most of your board's work on this. There's maybe one member that I whatever. But um um I I'm super excited to see how the Pony connector works out. Um and also uh question about the the school district because I do have concerns when I talk about it or I I hear concerns from the public about um the kids riding the buses with other people which we see that um for the most part people feel like they're safe. So are since they're essentially usually the first routes in the morning and we see right here on the slide in front of us are those just those count as just an individual route we take them straight from me to or from uh plain view to me or are there stops along the way with um some of these public school stops?

Yeah, thank you for the question. I'm going to pull up the map just to um briefly describe the FTA's expectation of us when it comes to school service. Um, you know, we're required to keep all of these routes open door. So, we cannot say only certain people can ride these routes. Um, and in addition, we can only serve the schools that are not too far off the beaten path of existing routes, right? There are some schools um that we wouldn't be able to serve very well because our route system just doesn't serve that area very well. Um, so we're required um to be open door, but I you're absolutely right. you know, twice a day. Um, many of these buses are almost entirely school students. Um, it doesn't prevent anyone from the public getting on. Um, but you know, East and South are really good examples. Um, they fill two and three buses on the way to and from school.

Okay, that's excit and I echo my colleagues comments about wanting to make sure we expand that and work with the school district. Um there's always, especially with some of the schools closing, um there's going to be larger pathways and uh travel op less travel options for a lot of the kids. Um I guess this might be more a question for public works and they can sit until later, but um I I saw the comfortable bus stops essentially and I'm curious what our plans are to help address those in the future. more bus stops or um changes shaded bus stops. I know I see people in my district and seeing the numbers um especially with the kind of the hydraulic one there. That's one of the most popular routes we have. So, what are plans in the future to address bus stops in particular?

Can I give bus stops public works? Yes, ma'am.

Oh, he said no. So, transit is responsible for the bus stops. Um we don't have necessarily a program budget for bus stops. So the money that we do have comes from competitive grants. Um we just installed six new bus shelters. Um and the way that we decided where to put those was based um on writership of the route that that bus stop serves and then condition. So um as more p money becomes available that list is very long. U we have more than a thousand stops um far less shelters and amenities than that. And so in addition to that, we're looking to um as part of the redesign, we did a bus stop inventory and we're working on a bus stop optimization. We may not need a post in the ground every quarter of a mile. Instead, we may need to consolidate stops and then focus amenities on that stop. So it's um it's on our mind. We're planning for it. We're planning to have some money, but that's dependent upon um successful grants.

I appreciate that. Last question. Um who is interested in helping us with circulators downtown? Is a partnership coming forward, having some conversations with us? Are there other groups out there that are having conversations with us if we do put up a circulator uh just simply in the downtown area? I I think the downtown partnership is interested. Um I know that they have a circulator concept. Um we also have a circulator concept. So we discussed recently how can we bring these two things together and keep our um keep our priorities. Just for example, um our circulator concept connects all of the parking that already exists downtown um to serve the downtown businesses and specifically the biomed um downtown development circulator. um has a different priority based on what they find to be maybe the more dense areas. So not ours parking there's density I believe. Um so trying to work with them to see if we can um create a united vision for a circulator. I know that Witaw State um and all of those involved in the biom campus are also very interested in how we serve downtown. Um so and we want to make sure that not only is that a circulator transportation service but we're connecting the main shot state campus the satellite campuses and then biomed.

Yep. Yep. Those are some of the discussions. So I appreciate that and I fibbed a little bit. I do appreciate Representative Hohheisel and his work on this as well. So thank you Penny. Council member Johnston. Thank you mayor. Thank you Penny for all your work. Appreciate it. Uh I was I was going to follow up on the biomed that comes on the fall of 27 and so I'm glad to have you're having conversations about that. Any idea of cost on what that would cost for instance 15minute routes to biomed and in downtown area

we um we have circulator costs develop and what that those concepts to rely on is how often you want it to circulate. Right? So our concepts vary from earn $50,000 annually to a million dollars annually and all the difference is how often do you want a bus to come to the same spot. Um as far as extending beyond downtown and connecting um the universities um we just want to do that through the efficiency of the route network. So we want to make what we have in place for route 21 for example and route 28 work for that. So um if we find that perhaps this not running at the right time we can make that adjustment. Um but if for example they want it to run more often again there's a cost to that.

Okay. Thank you. I'm very interested in we have park lot of parking assets that are not getting used empty parking lots empty parking garages and there's going to be two more parking garages come online probably next several years including the transit centers. So very interested in how do we utilize the assets we already have. I think citizens want that. Um se my my second comment here or question is the work release center by the arena a lot of those guys use the bus system. What's the plan for them to continue to use the bus system to get to their jobs? Um we are also um talking to them and one so we have a plan to get them from we're going to leave our garage pass their location and go to the hub and we can very easily pick them up on the way and so that can happen but the concern is is um due to the majority of our routes being 60 minutes we're going to have two pulses um so the buses come into the hub um on the hour and on the half hour. So there's the potential that they are waiting for half an hour and they could be late to their assignment or or whatever they have for that day. So we're tr and this is conceptual but I would really like to serve them with demand response right that is a very specific um group of people going to a very specific place um and that's not really well served by a fixed route system. So um for the time being we're going to keep working with them on the timing of that. Um, we have a way to do it, but we're going to see if we can improve it.

Okay. I appreciate that because I do see a lot of those those guys walking there. We want them to get be able to get get to work. So, thank you for the work on that, Council Member Shepard.

Thank you, Mayor. And I really appreciate my colleague, uh, Council Member Johnston's comments about the work release center, and it's good to know that we are constantly thinking about how we improve access for them. Couple of things. Thank you for improving access to grocery stores. I know that that has been a major conversation as you are continuing to engage community. I was actually at one of the events about a year ago I believe uh where you talked about working on that and so I think it's always important to uh point to things we hear from the community and how we're incorporating them in the plan um because I think that builds trust. We talked about several things at the tri-governmental meeting and amongst those things uh we're offering things in different languages and I see that you have provided information on that guide in Spanish. So I just want to acknowledge that and then I know we talked a lot about the students and having access for that but I also know that we talked about parent outcomes and so I was curious if there's a plan in the future as we look at second and third shift jobs. I mean, I think this correlates with those who may be in the work release center as well, many of them working second and third shift. Um, what's your vision for transit? I know that cost is always a barrier, but is there anything in the future that will help with that?

Yeah, I I do um I'm going to say I'm going to put cost to the side because you'll find it, right? But um my vision for a second shift is to serve a robust second shift for the key employers, right? We know that we have a lot of business in Witchah, but we do know that a lot of that business is concern concentrated to large employers on second shift. And so I think we need to start there. Um something that I've talked to um a few of you about and publicly is our desire to switch to a more demand response model which I just mentioned and it's also referred to as microobility. And so um if we can in if we can find something other than a big bus solution to serve segment shift then I think that might be more cost effective and more achievable. So that's something that's on our minds um as we're looking to the future.

Did you receive a a grant to pilot something like that? We received a grant to buy two vans that we're using for paratransit service and we're going to evaluate for how well they would serve microtransit service. Perfect. Uh that was my next question was about paratransit. So you already answered that.

And then I also wanted to ask uh finally about um there's an entity that they've been promoting on social media that they've been having meetings in regards to transit and it seems like they're kind of doing their own thing and I don't know if they're necessarily working in tandem with transit. It's as if they have this mindset that they want to create a separate system without relying on the public transit system. And so, um, I'm wondering what conversations have been happening in the community as it relates to outside entities wanting to fund better transit services, working in collaboration with what local government already provides to maximize the reach. Because as my colleague reminds me, you know, everybody wants more transit, but they don't think about the infrastructure cost it takes, right? A bus is a million dollars,

right? That doesn't even include drivers, right? And so, um, it's it's great to think about wanting more transit, but then when you think about the cost, it's a different story. What conversations are happening from outside entities that we're we're not connected with to be able to support the work that you're doing? any happening? Yeah, I'm I'm not for sure what entity you're referencing. Um I think it's Stand Together.

Okay. We have worked with Stand Together just recently and just last week actually they joined us at our um offices for a train the trainer session and so we are trying to get involved. It's it's relatively new. I think we've met just a couple of times. But I do know that they're very interested um in a particular part of town and and I understand the desire and I understand the mission of maybe one entity to serve one part of town, but as um a city department, I'm tasked with providing equitable access for all. So um we can't necessarily, you know, put too many resources towards one um entity or group or even part of town. We want to be equitable. Um, so we have had some conversations, but it's more in the spirit of here's what is already available. And um, I'm not just another story. I'm not a social media person, but I saw a next door, which is the most social media that I do, that um, there was seniors saying, you know what, I wish there was a service that could get me to the doctor. And I'm like, well, you know, seniors ride wish Transit for 85 cents a trip. And I just don't I think there is a knowledge gap there. And so a lot of our partnerships are focused on, hey, this is what exists today and here's how you can access for it. You can access it. And by the way, we have um a staff person who will come out and show you how to write personally or show your group how to write. So we're just really trying to connect those services and fill that gap.

I would be very interested in learning more about that conversation. I think when we talk about government efficiency, it's not always about reducing services that we're providing, but how do we look at maximizing public and private partnership? And if that entity, which does great work around the city of Witchah, is interested in transit, I would be a big proponent of encouraging them to work with our experts who um are interested in providing that equitable access for our entire community. And maybe they help fill that gap of second and third shift or um some of the sprinter vans that we need more of. So, and then finally, you mentioned the marketing piece, and I saw that there was no financial considerations, but you mentioned cutting some of the routes off based on data informed approach. Uh, are you sure that you're going to be able to educate through the marketing without any additional

Oh, no. That's going to cost money. That's a separate. Okay. Right on. We just received proposals that we're evaluating. So, once we select a vendor, I'll bring that back to you. But as far as operating the service um of the network redesign that doesn't have a budget impact that's within within existing um and then we'll bring that marketing piece back to you separately. Thank you so much Penny. I appreciate all the work you do. Yes. Penny, can you go back to slide number 77? These partnerships um help with the revenue that comes into transit. Can you one more time share? I think you mentioned there had there were one million rides last year

and a million dollars in fair revenue that came in. So it's a oneto one.

Um so that means the city of Witchaw does subsidize a lot of this um by the tune of 36.5% of the budget um because it's a $20.9 million budget. So the city does provide um transit services. Can you talk about because I often get folks that may not see a lot of uh people riding our big large buses. Number one, can you address how many seats are on these large buses and the costs it takes to just operate it from a bus driver to the gas to maintenance um and having these large buses um also wear and tear on streets. And so the idea that you mentioned about uh micromobility and micro transit uh would be a really great way. However, these buses were paid for by federal dollars. Can you kind of give some background because I think of a lot of folks may not know that the city does provide a lot of um subsidy into that system.

Um of course. Yeah. So, um, to answer the question about how many, just we'll just take one bus. Um, as council member Shepard mentioned, roughly a million dollars. Um, we have 50 of those, right? That's a highly um, intensive capital project, which is why it's also highly federally subsidized. Um, that bus sees probably 40 people. Um, there's the ability to stand, but we'll just call it 40. And, um, when you're operating that bus, we use an operate an hour hourly operating rate of about $100. when you take into consideration um the driver's salary, the fuel, the maintenance on the vehicle, and then just the pure administration of a program, we arrive at $100 um per hour. Um and then as far as I mean, wear and tear on the street I think is something very interesting to me because to related to your f first point, um 40 seats occupied on the bus um is 40 less cars on the street. And so I think that's where the community benefit comes in. um in the form of reducing traffic congestion um and just the ability to maybe park where you want to park because there's not 40 other cars um looking for the same spot. So um we drove I want to say 1.8 million miles um last year and so um if we can you know translate some of those car miles to bus miles of course that's going to benefit the condition of the roads. Did there something else I missed? I'm sorry.

It's really um you know I think a lot of folks may uh see our large city buses that may not be fully occupied at 40 seats and don't understand that. Um again ridership was a million people revenue for fairs was a million dollar but there are added costs uh beyond just that fair. What would that f what would that fair cover? Um, so we know our fairbox recovery was about 9%. So that's just covering just a very small portion of the overall investment needed to run the system. And you know, you had asked a question about the veterans affair and the United Way contract and it so if you translate 60,000 rides and you multiply it by $1.75 for the fair, you've exceeded $100,000. And so there is subsidy. But I think what makes that analysis difficult is that's a financial anal analysis for a social issue. Um because many of those veterans would not have taken that ride if they had to pay $1.75 and so they wouldn't have access to this the resources that they need. So it's it we can't apply a purely financial analysis to this issue.

Thank you very much Penny. Um, I had an opportunity to gather some youth last week. Um, and they talked specifically about transit and trying to encourage more people to utilize the transit system, knowing that 800 students out of the 45,000 WAW public school students utilize this service, but that there's more opportunity um to maybe have new riders, but also riders that um will help with again the idea that 40 people not utilizing a car um instead of uh just using one bus will help with the wear and tear of our streets, but also encourages the use of that um asset that is already being subsidized by the citizens of Witchaw right now. Thank you. I see no other questions from the council. We will now open it up for public comment. Andrew Crane, guiding pause uh ICT. Um I uh thank uh Penny for uh her presentation. Um, one question that I was going to ask you guys, and I did this a couple years ago, um, and challenged every every city council person to ride the bus and, uh, and that. So, I'm challenging you guys again to ride the bus and come ride the bus with me and how much we need the the the buses and how much folks of the disability community need the buses to get around

our our city. And you guys were talking about say uh downtown grocery store. When are we going to see that? and and that because there there there's going to be lots of lots of people in downtown Witchah in the next uh couple years. So, get it. It's time to to wake up here and start uh thinking about uh access and uh and also the the bus stops need to be uh ADA ADA standards uh for folks in wheelchairs. And you know, I'm a big advocate for uh the disability and blind community. So, we we need to do some work here and it's time to go. It's it's time to to to go to work here, folks. Thank you. Hello, Mayor Council. It's good to see you all again after last night at the trigoal meeting. My name is Gentry Tissson and I represent the Realtors of South Central Kansas. Thank you for the opportunity to speak in support of the proposed Witchaw Transit Network redesign. I speak on behalf of a community of real of community-minded real estate professionals who see this not only as a transportation project, but also as an investment in housing stability, economic opportunity, and long-term neighborhood value. Right now, two line items dominate most family budgets and probably your own yours own also. Housing and transportation. Housing consumes roughly a third of household income and transportation

driven largely by vehicle purchase, maintenance, fuel, and insurance often accounts for another significant portion of a budget, frequently in the mid- teens percentage range. These costs are rising faster than many wages, as we all know, and families are being squeezed between higher mortgage or rent payments and the escalating expense of owning and operating cars. We know that we can't control every economic pressure, but we can make strategic choices to give Witchaw families more breathing room and budgets and more options when it comes to transit. Home ownership remains the primary pathway for household wealth building in our country. When neighborhoods are connected to reliable, frequent transit, home values and demand rises. The National Association of Realtors has long emphasized that highquality transit expands access to jobs, education, and services, widens the pool of potential buyers and renters, reduces transportation costs for household, and supports walkable mixeduse development. Properties near dependable transit often appreciate faster than those without access, strengthening both household equity and the local tax base. An improved transit system is pro- housing policy. It helps families reduce vehicle dependency and transportation expenses, making home ownership and stable housing more attainable. It supports workforce mobility, getting people to jobs without depending solely on a car, which also helps employers recruit and retain talent in our community. It catalyzes private investment in neighborhoods, encourages infill development, small business growth, and greater vibrancy along corridors that are served by transit. Finally, investing in a modern, efficient transit system is an investment in our city's competitiveness. It makes Witchah more attractive to new residents and employers. It strengthens property values near transit and gives existing

residents better access to opportunity. Those outcomes, those are outcomes that help families build equity, preserve community, and grow our regional economy. I urge the council to approve the transit overhaul and to continue working with community partners, including the realtors of South Central Kansas and other housing and business stakeholders to ensure implementation is equitable, datadriven, and focused on long-term value for all Widgetans. Thank you so much. Thank you. I see no other comments. We'll bring it back to the bench. Council member Tuttle.

Thank you. Um Penny, I just want to thank you. Um one of the pleasures that I've had since I've been on council is I was on the selection committee for the transit director and you were my top choice and you have not let me down. And I say all the time, you are just so easy to work with and you really try and get to yes no matter what requests that I've come to you with. So I really appreciate that. The other thing that I hear you talk about that I think is really important is we are and we heard it last night, we've heard it some today, but we are with your leadership developing the next generation of writership. We're we're normalizing using public transportation with our kiddos in school with our college students. And that's what it's going to take to increase the system and the usability of the system so that it's not just for the transit dependent, right? We have to normalize you not using your car and using public transportation. Um I think one of the things that um you mentioned but people often forget not just transit but you also are the custodian of bike share ICT um and the scooter program something near and dear to my heart. Next year in 2027 will be the 10-year anniversary of Bike Share ICT in Witchaw that's funded in full by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas. So, you've also been a great custodian of that. Um, you mentioned, you know, travel trainings. You mentioned lots of things and I agree with Andrew. I see that he had to leave, but I hope all of us are riding the bus. Um, one of the things that I did in past positions before on council is I would have my staff do a scavenger hunt and they could o only utilize transportation. they could only use bike share or scooters or the or the bus to see how the challenge is for those who are transit dependent. Not everyone has a car. Not everyone can afford a car. Um if maybe you're justice involved and can't have a car, maybe you're agent and and can't drive a car. So there's lots

of reasons for us to all to understand more about transit dependent. But um I just I really think that you are the voice for the voiceless for the for the residents in our community for the Witchans who want to have mobility and rely on the city of Witchah for that. So again, I'm going to be very supportive and just thank you for all you do and your team. Um just one more before I make a motion. Uh thank you for being such good stewards of taxpayer dollars and these grants. Um, again looking at your budget, 20.9 million. 63% comes from grants and 36.5% comes from citizens of Witchah. And so the citizens of Witchah subsidize this transit system because they know that not everyone can afford owning their own vehicle. And I'm very grateful that the citizens of Witchah subsidize it because you mentioned that the fair recovery is 9% while nationally it's 13% for fair recovery. So the citizens of Witchah um are again grateful to provide a service to those that cannot provide um a vehicle for themselves. And I'm grateful that there are 1 million riders that provided $1 million in revenue uh into the system. Um, and I like hearing that there are collaborations with other partners so that there could be more opportunities for individuals to utilize the service and also reimagine how to utilize transit with micro mobility and other models. Um, so the forward thinking uh that Penny through your leadership and your team's uh work is being shown today by this redesign and I am very happy to uh go ahead and move this motion. With that, I move that the proposed redesign network is

budgetneutral. Uh sorry, I move to approve the 2026 transit network redesign. Second motion second. Discussion. See none. Madame clerk, please open the role.

Motion passes 70. Madame clerk, please call the next item. Zone 2025-71, zone change requests in the city from single family residential district to multif family residential district for multif family development generally located on the west side of North Mlan Boulevard within 200 feet south of West 13th Street North. Good morning. Scott Wadel from the planning department. So for this case, as you've heard, the applicants requesting approval of a reszoning from SF5 single family to MF18 multifamily. Are you okay? Okay. This item is being heard today because the DAB and planning commission recommendations are different. Also, protests have been submitted against the application and those protests are within the notification area. And then third, this item was deferred to the state in order to allow an opportunity for the DAB to hear the item a second time. In terms of the requests, the applicants indicated the requesting reszoning in order to permit multiple duplexes on the site. They've indicated it's their intent to construct two duplexes on the site for a total of four dwelling units. The requested reszoning would allow 17.4 dwelling units per acre for a maximum of five dwelling units on this site. In terms of the property, as you can see here, it's located to the southwest of the intersection of 13th Street and McClean. It is approximately uh 0.3 acres in size, consists of one ownership parcel, and is currently vacant. It's my understanding that it did have a single family house on it, and it was demolished due to longstanding code violations. Properties to the south and west are zoned SF5 single family and developed with single family dwellings. Here's the zoning map. It's a little faded. Looks better up there. And uh property to the north is zone go, general office, developed with multiple duplexes. Property to the east across

Mlean is the Aranansas River and city open space with multi-use path. In terms of the staff report, it provides information about development standards, compatibility standards, screening, landscaping, and parking. In terms of review, on January 29th, the planning commission held a public hearing for this item and recommended approval of the zone change request, and that vote was 9 to2. Seven members of the public spoke on this item with concerns about traffic, trash, flooding, the character of the neighborhood, uh, privacy, and noise. On February 9th, the district advisory board reviewed the request and recommended denial of the zone change request. That vote was seven to zero. In their findings, the DAP concluded the request did not constitute did not contribute to the compatibility and harmonious development of the surrounding community. At that meeting, nine members of the public spoke in opposition, citing traffic, drainage, height of the proposed duplexes, limited parking, and noise coming from the site. During the protest period, 19 protests were received against this application. That made up 47% of the total protest area, which is greater than the 20% threshold. Therefore, super majorities required by city council vote to approve any zone change requests. So, six out of seven. On April 13th, the district advisory board considered the case for a second time. The DAB voted to recommend approval that time and I believe the vote was 7 to1 with one extension but it may have been 8 to1. We're still working on getting clarification but the ultimate thing is that they did recommend approval. Uh during that meeting the applicant indicated that the dwelling units are intended for seniors. He intends to initially start with one duplex and later would build a second. That the duplex development would be one story with brick on the front. uh that they would use a horseshoe driveway that would utilize the two existing curb cuts at the site allowing drivers to exit the property while facing straight, that the

duplexes will have proper gutters and downspouts to address drainage, and that there will be adequate parking. At that same meeting, approximately four members of the public spoke on this item. Some expressed concerns uh including the impacts of new residents in the area, lack of space on the property for two two duplex buildings, lack of space for parking, challenges with egress to the property, and availability of housing units for rent in other areas of the neighborhood. In terms of the recommendation, the recommendation coming to you is from the planning commission. It is recommended city council adopt the findings of the planning commission approve the requested zone change authorize the necessary signatures and instruct the city clerk to publish the ordinance and resolution after approval. Again that would require six of seven because of the protest petitions. An alternative is that you can override the map adopt alternative findings and deny the requested zone change. That would require five of seven votes because it would be an override of the planning commission. And just a brief note about the process. City policies at the public hearing occurs at the planning commission and city council does not typically receive public comments on zoning items. So with that, I'll take you through some of the graphics. So here's the aerial. Here's a zoning map that we discussed earlier. Here's the map from the comprehensive plan showing future residential recommended there. Uh here's the protest map. Again, 47% exceeding the state uh threshold 20%. Here's elevations that were submitted as part of the second DAB meeting. These were submitted by the applicant. They show the brick facade on the front and what the duplex would look like. Here's pictures of the site in surrounding area. And with that, I'll stand for any questions.

Thank you, Scott. Questions for staff? I have a couple. Um, I know this is in Council Member Ballard's district. Um, and I drive uh by this specific intersection every week on my way to Cake News. Um, and so this is uh a really great location as there's a Dillons not too far away from here. Um, and you mentioned that the applicant is interested in building senior housing. Is that accurate? Uh, yes. That's what the applicant indicated at the second DAP meeting.

Um, I wanted to know how the applicant has been with community engagement in the area. Um, you know, I believe the neighbors had indicated at the first m at the only MAPC meeting that they had a good rapport with him. Um, however, they still disagreed with the project. Um, then from watching the DAB, the second DAB meeting, you can see that there are neighbors that ask questions and they have a dialogue back and forth. I am not sure if they had a meeting outside of either of those uh any of the three formal public meetings. Um, but I I get the sense that um um they appreciate the developer, but still res but residents do not appreciate the project. Um and I'm just saying that in a generality. I don't I've not pulled all of the residents. I don't know if their opinions have changed, but those just that is my understanding based on the videos and where I've been at the meetings.

Thank you, Scott. I'm very supportive of additional housing in our community. We say it from this bench. we really want to see housing in all areas of our community and that we are lacking a supply. So, we need to have more housing and when someone wants to come forward uh to build housing and then takes the next step to also be engaged with the community um I'm going to be supportive of something like this because again that is our community need which is more housing. Uh Council Member Ballard, this is in your district.

Thank you, Mayor. Uh just to address your question about community engagement with the neighbors, I would say it was a little rocky at first, but um there has been good conversation and dialogue, lots of partition, lots of participation from the neighborhood. Um and the second DAB meeting, I'm really glad that we sent it back to the DAB because there was more clarification. Um and we had really bad reception with um the applicant on the first DAB. he was joined us by phone so it was we didn't have a lot of clear answers and so the second time he was there in person lot like I said lots of good um dialogue good conversations and he was able to clarify a lot of the concerns. So I have come up with um what I think is a good compromise from the original ask to kind of where we are now. So unless anybody has any questions bear with me while I read I feel like this is a council member Johnson uh motion so bear with me for a second. I move to override MAPC, adopt the alternate findings, approve the reszoning to prop the property to MF18 with a protective overlay. Authorize the necessary signatures and instruct the city clerk to publish the ordinance after approval. The protective overlay would require the following. A site plan shall be submitted and approved by the planning department prior to the issuance of building permits. The site plan shall be consistent with the description of the project provided by the applicant and recommended for approval at the most recent DAB 6 meeting. He went into a lot of details about um how many actual dwellings there would be and all that. So that's why I'm including this. Uh prior to publishing the ordinance establishing the zone change, the applicant shall record a document with the register of deeds indicating that the track includes special uh conditions for development on this property. The site is limited to a maximum of two

duplexes, which is four dwelling units total. In support of this motion, I offer the following findings. Approval of the requested zone change to MF18 district would allow more intensive uses and would be detrimental to the existing single family residential uses in this area. In addition, higher intensity, excuse me, higher intensity uses are likely to have adverse impacts on city infrastructure due to increased traffic and the close proximity to intersection to the north. The protective overlay will only allow two duplexes, a total of four dwelling units on the site. This um vote requires six of seven because the protest is over 20%. So, it's a very good compromise. They started out with eight. They wanted to do eight. um they've compromised at four and the um the um applicant just went into more detail and I think the neighborhood was just nervous um that maybe they wouldn't do all of the things that he said in the DAB meeting. So that's why it's just covering everybody to um I mean it's all on the record for the DAB meeting, but I think just to make everybody feel comfortable and the applicants seem to be good with it, too. So, I think it's a win for everybody and provides more affordable housing. Um, and he said he was going to focus on seniors. So, sorry that was a lot, but it was all important.

Can I ask a couple of questions to that motion? Um, so initial ask was eight units, so a total of four duplexes. Is that accurate? And then the applicant is the one that has said, "Okay, we will only build two duplexes for a total of four units." Correct. and he's going to start with only building one and seeing how that goes and that land cannot support any additional duplex or what was the applicant's um I'm going to look at Scott. Yes. So under the requested zoning they could have a maximum of five units on the property so they could have uh one more additional dwelling unit on it.

I was think I think he was thinking originally to do the four duplexes and do them two levels. So that's where the eight came from, but I don't think they could do that. Council member, Vice Mayor Glasco, that was my question. As long as the applicant was okay with the suggested changes. So did the DAB not end up voting on that? They did. They did. It failed um miserably the first time. Okay. And it passed the second time like 7 to2 or Okay. I just didn't see that in our agenda packet. So do we normally list if there's two votes? because the only one on here says the DAB 6 recommendation is to deny 7 to 0.

Yes. And that's because uh the DAB meeting was the the timing of getting this when this was deferred to when today's date is so close to the DAP meeting that we had to submit the materials before we knew what the outcome was. Great. Thank you. Second motion second. Any further discussion? I see none. Madame clerk, please open the role. Who am I missing? Okay, motion passes 70. Madame clerk, please call the next item. Public housing recovery agreement status report.

Good afternoon, mayor and council members. Sally staying with the housing and community services department for the record. The item I have for you today is the mandatory monthly update on the HUD recovery plan related to public housing. So as we remember we've been under this public uh this recovery plan since January and 25 and it has to be presented to you monthly. It includes actions related to improving the physical condition of occupied dwelling units for which we have one at this time. uh repositioning the remaining public housing and providing an update on our capital fund projects. Um the the physical conditions as you see the recovery plan was entered in January of 25. Uh the inspections by HUD in May of 25 we hit 100% and 93% respectively. So uh we hit that requirement right away. Um we're continuing to reposition public housing. As I said that one occupied unit gives us a 1% occupancy rate. Uh that unit is occupied by a tenant who's actually working through the financial process to purchase the home she's in. We've granted her an additional extension um to get through that process and they expect her to close by the end of May. Uh that final disposition application was approved last year in June. We have sold 264 of the 352 projects properties to date. As of April 8th, we had 27 pending sale. That number changes every day. Um and the detailed disposition report was attached to the agenda report. Our strategies for the remaining um the affordable housing fund plan was updated last year. We're going to we are going to be issuing an RFP for the 15 units in the flood flood plane as well as some four additional units that have market challenges. Those will be coupled with affordable housing funds so that we uh can ensure that they are not sold to predatory lenders or landlords

or out of town flippers. Um we'll be issuing that RFP once we finish with the country acres RFP which opened for the second time last week. It is open right now. And actually we're doing open houses today, tomorrow and uh yesterday, today and tomorrow from 1 to 4. So, anybody interested in walking through those properties in preparation for submitting under the RFP can get into them during that time. That RFP will close May 8th um and then go to the affordable housing review board prior to being brought to you for recommendation. Um the remaining units, there aren't many more to be honest with you. We have about 10 that are with the broker right now that we don't have offers on and we have three additional ones that will be um going to market once repairs are made. So we had two units that had buyers and one unit that needed mitigation for fungus. That was an interesting one. So once all of those repairs are done, those will get turned over to the broker for sale on the open market. Capital fund projects, the roof work on 19 properties in the flood plane uh is underway. We actually expect that to be completed in the very near future and those will go out with that RFP following country acres. There is no impact to the general fund on this. The monthly update to the board is required under the recovery plan and it is recommended that the Witchaw Housing Authority Board receive and file the recovery plan status update report for April 2027. And I stand for any questions.

Thank you, Sally. Questions for staff. I see none. We'll open it up. Oh, sorry. Council member Shepard. You're okay. It wasn't a question. It was just note of gratitude. Uh this weekend I was in a a neighborhood where you all have done phenomenal work working with some of our housing nonprofit organizations. Was responding to an illegal dumping call. But what I saw which brought me joy in the midst of much frustration was a bunch of kids playing at Ash Park. Yes.

And family members enjoying the investment that the city has made that our housing department has made. And I just wanted to say it made me smile in the midst of being very frustrated. So, thank you for the incredible work that you're doing. Thank you. We'll open it up for public comment. There's no one from the public here who would like to speak. Would you like to move this item, Council Member Shepard? Of course. Happy to do that. So, I recommend that the Witchaw Housing Authority Board receive and file the HUD recovery agreement status update and public housing deposition update report.

Second. Motion second. Discussion. See none. Madame clerk, please open the role. Motion passes. 70. Madame clerk, please call the next item. Initiation of a process to reconsider correction to consider reszoning a portion of the Deleno neighborhood generally located along Douglas Avenue from North Mlan Boulevard to North Glenn Avenue. Hello, good morning again or good afternoon. So, Scott Wadel from the planning department and uh this item is to consider whether to initiate a study and possible reasonzoning process for a portion of the Deleno neighborhood. That portion is roughly along Douglas from Glenn Avenue to Mlean Boulevard. um certainly flexible, but that's the concept right now. This item is coming to you because questions have been raised about whether the current zoning aligns well with the future land uses recommended in the neighborhood plan and furthermore the goals that are identified in the neighborhood plan. Since 2015, there have been 30 reszoning applications for central business district uh zoning in this area and all of them have been approved. In terms of background, in tw in in 2003, the Witchaw City Council adopted the map and text amendments to the zoning code that created the Delano neighborhood overlay district and the design guidelines. On August 20th of 2019, the Witchdaw City Council adopted the current Delano neighborhood plan. The neighborhood plan serves as the official guide and revitalization strategy for the Deleno neighborhood. It includes a vision statement, guiding principles, a future land use guide, and recommended actions to achieve the vision identified in the plan. Of course, as I mentioned, since 2015,

there's been a number of reasonzonings to central business district. Then in 2025, questions came up about whether an area wide resoning for a portion of Deleno could benefit the community. So in terms of next steps, if the council initiates the process, then the next step would be to work with the planning commission advanced plans committee to determine if a resoning would be a good fit. If the advanced plans committee does decide that resoning is appropriate, then we will also look to them for recommendations regarding the process. I expect and would recommend that the Deleno Neighborhood Association and other stakeholders in the area be consulted for input through the process. Additionally, if a resoning is recommended and undertaken, then additional public input opportunities would occur. Ultimately, the planning commission advanced plans committee would provide a recommendation to the full MAPC. The full MAPC would then make a recommendation to the city council. In terms of recommended action, uh it's recommended that the city council take action as determined necessary. So, with that, I can stand for questions. questions for staff.

Questions? I see not. Oh, we see council member Shepard.

Just just so we're clear, this this was a part of the Deleno plan that was created a while ago, right? So, this isn't something that should be of shock to anyone unless they haven't had a chance to read the plan. Yes, in a manner of speaking it does it calls out for reszoning uh to be undertaken as is listed in the staff report. Um yes. So right now this is just to consider whether or not to initiate as a project to begin the conversation. Um whether or not to go forward with the actual reasonzoning is is part of that conversation, but that's not the actual decision that's happening today. Um this is just whether or not should we look into it? we have that conversation with the planning commission because it it is not uncommon for us to do plans and then for them to be uh available but kind of you know sitting on a shelf and we haven't really taken the steps to initiate things um sometimes and so this is an opportunity to look at it and say is that recommendation still relevant is this still a conversation we should have

thank you and and kudos to my colleagues for again I think we've heard today how we are making progress on some of the things that have been delayed in the past moving forward to at least explore what that looks like. So, I appreciate that. Council member Ballard.

Thank you, Mayor. Yes. Um, I am happy to have this conversation. Um, I just want to be really crystal clear with whatever this means to the average, you know, people that might be like, "What is this?" or, you know, I just want to be really clear on um in this conversation and moving forward with plenty of community engagement. Um, and I already have a um, a meeting set up with my um, appointment for MAPC to make sure that, you know, we just all understand everything. So, I think that's going to be the most important thing is education and um, just making sure that everybody understands. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Scott. Uh, with that, we'll open it up for public comment on this item. And there's no one from the public who would like to speak on this item. We're going to bring it back to the bench. Vice Mayor Glascock.

Thank you, Mayor. Before I make a motion, I was going to actually read uh Councilman Shepard reference the Deleno neighborhood plan, and so I was going to read part of the neighborhood plan uh that this comes from. As developers have begun to rehabilitate Douglas Avenue, many are realizing that the current zoning does not work within their plans. The commercial zoning has high requirements for parking, and many developers are opting to reszone to Central Business District. The MAPC has been approving these on a case-by case basis, but converting the whole corridor to central business district would reduce an impediment to further development of the core of the neighborhood. Further land use strategy, a future land use strategy should be created to guide the Deleno neighborhood of the future. This strategy, including the future land map, would use as a guide to reszoning cases within the neighborhood. The strategy should also include a plan for reszoning commercial properties along Douglas Avenue between Vine and MLAN to central business district zoning. This resoning would remove a barrier to redevelopment of the commercial district by removing parking and setback requirements found in existing limited industrial, general, commercial, and limited commercial zoning districts. I also just wanted to read some of the businesses. Um, as Scott said, 30 out of 30 of these applications have been approved since 2015. And some of those that have improved and the businesses that are in Deleno as a result of those approvals that would not have been there include the Hayes Company uh which supplies a lot of jobs to the community, the new um multi- family development over on Douglas Street, Flatlanders Brewery, uh the relocation and expansion of Hutton Witchaw Brewing Company and the new expansions there. Oxoma, which is where the old fish company is, Uppercut Studios and uh Drill Company. So there's a lot of businesses in Delano that we've approved that have been there because of the central business uh central business district zoning. So I look forward to having this conversation. This is all about how do we make business easier. I think the central business or the Deleno plan says it perfectly. Reduce an impediment to further development within

the core of the neighborhood. And we see Delano as probably the fastest growing part of the city in terms of a lot of new developments coming in that area and a lot of the investments from the city. So I'm excited with that. Um, with that I will make the motion that the city council proceed uh with the plan as presented. Second.

Motion second. Discussion. See none. Madame clerk, please open the role. Motion passes. 70. Madame clerk, please call the next item. Selection of appeal panel to hear appeal of suspension of a tobacco license and CMBB license.

Mayor, council Jennifer Maga, city attorney. This item is asking you to appoint a threeperson panel to hear an administrative appeal that arises from the suspension of a tobacco and CMB licenses for an applicant. Um we would um suggest that the you follow the rotation that is in place. Uh the last three members to serve on a panel were council members Tuttle, Johnston, and Glascock. Um this falls in district uh six. So council member um Ballard would be the natural um member of this of this panel if she so chooses. Um following that, you would have the next rotation, which would be um C Mayor Woo, council member Shepard or Council Member Hohisel. So we need three members to be appointed. Thank you. Council member Hohheisle, Council Member Shepard.

I've done too. So, if Mayor I will gladly take one of the spots. Yes, I will do it. Council member uh Shepard, Council Member Ballard, and Mayor Woo. Thank you. We have a motion, please. Uh, I move uh to select Council Member Shepard, Council Member Ballard, and Mayor Woo uh to the selection process for the administrative appeal of a license suspension. Second.

Motion second. Discussion. See none. Madame clerk, please open the role. Motion passes 70. Madame clerk, please call the next item. Council member appointments and comments.

We'll begin with appointments. Council members appointments, beginning with council member Ballard. Thank you, mayor. I would like to reappoint Leon Mater to uh MAPC. And I'm very excited to talk about the steering committee for Midtown. So, I would like to um appoint these individuals. Randly Henman, Brian Irwin, Janie Kroll, Steve Curl, Leon Mater, Michaela Welch, Claire Willenberg, Ian Campbell, William Corles, uh Shariah Corles, Bonnie Scott, and Nicholas Willis. Council member Hohheisle.

Thank you, Mayor. I would like to appoint Kurt Oswald and Jared Cerillo to my district advisory board. Council member Tuttle. Thank you. I would like to appoint J Malone to the cultural funding committee. Council member Shepard.

Thank you, Mayor. I would like to appoint Gregory Van Djk to the citizens review board. And I would like to um reappoint Jocelyn Clants to the Metropolitan Area Planning Commission and appoint Adam Degraphen Reed to the transit board and appoint Hannah Grace Gorman to the library board. With that, I move to approve all uh board appointments by council members and mayor. Second.

Motion second. Discussion. See none. Madame clerk, please open the role. Motion passes 6 uh with one who's absent at this current moment. We will now have council member comments. Council member Shepard. I just know at the last um agenda review uh I promised that I would provide the proposal that specified that if you bid for design services you can't also bid for the build and I found that and it was number 260034. Um it's the Century 2 expo hall prominade in meeting rooms renovation and just again as a reminder I was curious why we did that. um as design build is the fastest growing and most costefficient strategy when we look at renovations and building out services. So, not a question that I need an answer for right now, but in our one-on-one city manager, that'd be perfectly fine.

Council member Ballard, thank you. We have a lots of stuff going on this weekend in District 6, but just a couple are, as I mentioned earlier, the Ark River Cleanup. So maybe I'll see some of my colleagues there cleaning up the river. Um and then uh the Riverside Garden is having a ribbon cutting which is really exciting across from Sims golf course. They are doing awesome super work. So uh they'll be out there from um 10 to noon.

I'll echo a quick comment on the Ark River Cleanup. Uh city attorney was uh posted as someone who had volunteered there. Um so I actually would like to ask communications to share that information on a social media post but also in addition to that make mention why the river levels are low. Uh I've gotten several comments regarding why is it so low? Um and it is due to the construction, but uh if we can put that out as either a media release or something where it's easily um located u because Riverfest is right around the corner and we'll get that question again. Um so it'd be really great if it could be either maybe on the website or somewhere where we can reference that information of how long the river will be at these low levels. Council member Tunnel,

thank you. I Jennifer and I were just smiling. I think the picture that was on social for her was last year at the downtown Witchah spring cleanup and that's also this Saturday um from 9 to noon. I know several of us are going to be volunteering to do it again. So there's there's a sign up opportunity. Um last year Jennifer and I scraped stickers and covered up graffiti with spray cans. Um but there's going to be planting opportunities. So lots of cool things. So, and if you can't stay from 9:00 to noon, they'll take you however long they can give you. So, please send up with um downtown Witchah for that cleanup as well.

I see no further comments. With that, I will move to ajourn. Second. Uh discussion. None. Madame clerk, please open the role. Motion passes 70. We are adjourned at 12:29