[Music] Good morning, Witchaw. Good morning to  all of you. Welcome to City Hall. We'll   call this meeting to order. With us this  morning is Pastor Donna Goldree of St.   Paul's United Methodist Church to provide  our invocation. Following that invocation,   we will have the pledge of allegiance and  we ask that you please stand for both. Please join me in a time of meditation. Almighty,  we give thanks. Thanks for the gentle rain falling   early this morning that prepares us for the  winter ahead of us. Thanks for the warm fall   days that make our hearts sing. They just sing  with joy. We give thanks for the people who are   in this room and the many in all the buildings and  places where Witchah's employees do their jobs,   who are dedicating their lives to leading and  working to carry out the city's mission to be   a place where life unfolds for the better. We  give thanks for the citizens who are here today.   We give thanks for the dedication of our  leaders here for remembering those who for   whom life is hard and to have a passion  to put in place ways forward for those   who find life hard. We are blessed to be in a  city where the people, leisers and residents   alike recognize the beauty and value of all  of our residents, rich and poor alike. Today,   as this council begins its daily deliberations,  we pray for guidance that actions taken reflect   the often spoken desire to make this city the best  place it can be, providing a good place to work,   live, play, and a place to give thanks for all  residents, rich and poor. So, may the council   begin the day with a heart for creating a place  full of justice, opportunity, and peace. May the   needs of the many be balanced and affirmed in the  deliberations taken today. So be it. Thank you. I aliance to the flag of the United  States of America and to the republic   for which it stands. One nation under God,  indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, Pastor Golry. Madame Clerk, can  you please call the first item? Approve the   minutes of the regular meeting, September 23rd,  2025. Council members, any items to be edited?   I see none. I move to approve the minutes for the  regular meeting for September 23rd, 2025. Second.   Motion and a second. Any further discussion? I  see none. Madame clerk, please open the roll. I motion passes seven 70. Madame clerk, please call  the next item. Awards and proclamations. Today's   proclamations are National Arts and Humanities  Month, Walktober, Family Promise Week 2025,   and Fire Prevention Week. May I please ask  the representatives for city arts and council   member Tuttle and council member Glascock who  serves on the Witchaw uh art museum board. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Morning. Good morning, Shane. Good. Good morning. Thank you all very much for attending this  morning's city council meeting. I will read the   proclamation. The city of Witchaw, Kansas, founded  in 1870. Whereas public support for the arts at   all levels in the United States has enriched  American civilization, fostering unity and   strengthening the nation through diverse cultural  expression and increasing engagement by citizens   as creators, performers, and audience members.  Whereas this support recognizes and encourages   the growing number of Americans contributing to  the flourishing cultural sector, giving voice to   a collective identity and sharing artistic gifts  with people of all ages. Whereas institutions   that promote and provide access to artistic work  strengthen civic engagement, foster understanding   across cultures, and inspire a shared vision  for the future. adding $185 million to Witchah's   economy, $1.4 billion dollar statewide and 151  billion dollars nationwide. Whereas the city   of Witchaw is committed to equitable access  to cultural arts opportunities, activating   and strengthening the creative potential of the  community so that artistic expression thrives and   cultural heritage is preserved and celebrated. Now  therefore, be it resolved that the Witchah City   Council does hereby proclaim the month of October  2025 as National Arts and Humanities Month. Good morning. Thank you, mayor and city council  for recognizing arts and humanities uh month here   in Witchaw and across the nation. Uh my name is  Lindsay Banaka and it's my honor to serve as the   city's director of arts and cultural services. And  I get to work with all these wonderful, beautiful   people behind uh me who represent uh different  museums, arts organizations, the nonprofit sector,   the for-profit sector, individual artists,  and just arts enthusiasts uh from across the   community. Um and we're celebrating not just here  in Witchaw, but across the country our cultural   core as a community. Uh as the mayor mentioned in  the proclamation, the arts are a major business   player here in Witchaw. um representing about  3,000 full-time equivalent jobs. That's about   as many full-time positions as we have with the  city of Witchaw that are represented across the   arts sector. Uh there are over 80 nonprofit arts  and culture organizations in Witchaw and countless   for-profit small businesses uh and independent  art entrepreneurs who also call Witchaw home.   Uh but the arts are so much more than business as  we all know. Arts and humanity is a mirror of our   community. Uh the sector reflects what makes our  community unique. It's what makes our community   beautiful. Uh the arts and humanities are offer  safe places for us to present and share ideas and   they make us critically think about what makes  us different and what makes us the same. Um and   they really share our our collective community.  Uh this month there October alone there are 161   arts and humanities related events happening in  Witchaw. Uh and this is not unique to October.   Every month there are hundreds of opportunities  in the community from film screenings to exhibit   openings to dance and theatrical performance to  musical concerts. You name it, we've got it here   in Witchaw. Uh to learn more about the arts and  culture sector in Witchaw, I encourage everyone   to visit witchaw.govarts where you can find out  about what the city does. Uh but also encourage   everyone to check out our partner organization,  the shout um at shoutwitch.com and check out   their events calendar in particular. That's  something that the city's really supportive of   because it's where you can find everything that's  happening in the local arts community. And again,   there are 161 unique events in October alone. Um,  so be sure to check out that community calendar.   Uh, I also want to encourage everyone to attend  our monthly arts mixer. Uh, this is a series that   pops up every month in a unique arts and culture  space in the community. It's free, it's informal,   it's just an excuse to get out um and see a  space that you might not have been to before.   Uh this month we're meeting on October 9th, this  Thursday from 5 to 7 PM at one of Witchah's newest   art spaces, Maven Art Gallery, at uh 3238 East  Douglas. So with that, thank you again for the   recognition. Thank you to everyone behind me who  does all the work in the community, and thank you   to the Witchaw community for supporting such  a vibrant arts and culture sector. Thank you. How you doing, sir? How you doing? [Applause]   Oh, she had a route the other day.  She's here. I don't know if she's here,   but she's at least back. She might be.  She's banged up. She's presenting the   drive room here. Yeah. Yeah, she might  be near the if you go to the council. All right, thanks J. Good to  you, too. Good to see you, Jar. While our guest exit, I'm just going to  make mention that Noomar Fiesta celebrated   the Hispanic and Latino culture this past  Saturday. And down in South Witchah, we had   the Vietnamese fall festival celebrating the rich  culture of the Vietnamese community. So again,   they were also celebrating arts and culture  in Witchah on Saturday. May I please now ask   the individuals with Bike Walk of Witchah  along with Council Member Tuttle and any of   the council members who will be participating in  the Prairie Fire marathon, 5K or half marathon. You still sign up. Put that pressure on. Jeez, I  look like a runner. While our guests come forward,   I'm just going to say that the Prairie Fire  marathon, half marathon, and 5K will be held   this Sunday uh at Equity Bank Park. And so you  can still sign up for that 5K, half marathon,   and marathon. I will read this proclamation.  The city of Witchah, Kansas, founded in 1870.   Whereas bikew walk witchah is partnering with  the city of witchah and community organizations   to celebrate walktober and encourage residents  to enjoy walking and outdoor activities. Whereas   the pleasant temperatures and beautiful scenery  of October provides the perfect opportunity to   promote regular physical activity such as walking  which improves overall health, reduces the risk of   chronic disease and supports mental well-being.  Whereas, Walktober is a communitywide initiative   that inspires individuals and neighborhoods to  make walking a daily habit, fostering healthy   lifestyles and increase physical activity.  Whereas, participating in Walktober strengthens   community connections and builds relationships  among friends, families, co-workers, and neighbors   through shared outdoor experiences. Now therefore,  be it resolved that the Witchah City Council does   hereby proclaim the month of October 2025 as  Walktober in the city of Witchah and encourages   all residents to step into a healthier, more  active way of life. [Applause] Good morning,   Mayor Woo, members of city council and community  partners. My name is Holly Terrell and I serve   as the executive director of BikeWalk Witchita.  It's a privilege to join you today as we recognize   Walktober, a month-long celebration of walking,  wellness, and connection in our city. Walktober   is more than a campaign. It's an invitation,  a chance for each of us to show up, slow down,   step outside, and rediscover the simple power of  walking. Whether it's a morning stroll to clear   your mind, a lunchtime walk with co-workers, or  an evening adventure throughout your neighborhood,   every step strengthens not only our  bodies, but the fabric of our community.   This initiative began right here in Sed County  in 2008. Initiated by council person Becky Tuttle   and others and has continued to grow through  strong partnerships among the city of Witchaw,   the health and wellness coalition, Bikewalk  Witchaw, and numerous local organizations that   share the vision of a healthier, more connected  community. Together, we've shown that when we   make walking easy, accessible, safe, and fun,  people respond and our neighborhoods thrive.   Walking improves physical and mental health,  reduces stress, supports local businesses,   and helps us see your community in a new light.  It's also one of the most equitable forms of   transportation. No special equipment or membership  required, just a pair of shoes and a willingness   to move. This October, we invite everyone to set  the pace to participate, advocate, collaborate,   and educate. Participation means getting out there  and taking a walk. Advocation means encouraging   others to join you. Collaboration happens  when we come together across neighborhoods,   workplaces, and organizations. And education  reminds us to share the benefits of walking and   the importance of creating safe, accessible  spaces for everyone. On behalf of my walk,   I'd like to thank the city council for recognizing  Walktober and for the ongoing commitment to active   transportation and healthy living. Together,  we're keeping Witchaw moving forward one step,   one story, and one neighborhood  at a time. Thank you. [Applause] Thank you again to BikeWalk Witchah. And I also  want to use a point of privilege to thank the   park and wreck department for organizing Open  Streets ICT, the three events this year. Uh   your entire staff did a great job encouraging  people to walk, to bike, to scoot around with   their scooters, and just have a good time with  community. So, thank you to the parks and recck   department. May I please ask the family promise  of greater witchah to come forward at this time and council member Ballard. The proclamation reads, "The city of Witchah,  Kansas, founded in 1870, whereas Family Promise   of Greater Witchah began operations in October of  2016 with a mission to serve the most vulnerable   among us, children and families facing  homelessness and housing insecurity, and   has since become a leading voice for sustainable  communitydriven solutions. Whereas Family Promise   brings together more than 1,000 local volunteers,  dozens of faith organizations, and a network of   dedicated partners to provide shelter, meals,  and relational support that preserves family   dignity and offer hope in times of crisis. Whereas  through collaborative partnerships with donors,   landlords, and local service providers, Family  Promise prevents homelessness through rental   assistance and wraparound services that reduce  trauma and strengthen the entire community.   Whereas rooted in the belief that every child  deserves a home, Family Promise continues   to expand its impact each year, empowering  families on their journey to lasting stability   through innovative programs and a compassionate  relationship centered approach. Now therefore,   be it resolved that the Witchah City Council  does hereby proclaim October 6 through 10th,   2025 as Family Promise Week 2025. [Applause]  Good morning. My name is Don EP and I'm the   executive director of Family Promise of Greater  Witchdaw. behalf of on behalf of our organization,   we want to thank our the city of Witchaw, our  mayor and our councilman for supporting us in   this effort and recognizing this week um family  homelessness is a hidden crisis and we are proud   to work with community partners. We're part of the  coalition to end homelessness um a wide volunteer   base to really change the narrative on this  issue. And this week as family promise week,   we will work very hard to do that. So again, I  want to thank you for your support and please   um follow us on Facebook to know how you  can support this work. Thank you. [Applause] May I please ask Witchah's finest and bravest, the  Witchaw Fire Department, to come forward at this   time? And any of the council members who would  like to come to the front for this proclamation. The proclamation reads, "The city of Witchah,  Kansas, founded in 1870. Whereas the city of   Witchaw is committed to ensuring the safety and  security of all residents and visitors and fire   remains a serious public safety concern both  locally and nationally with the widespread use   of lithium ion batteries adding unique fire  risks. Whereas many household electronics,   including smartphones, tablets, laptops, power  tools, ebikes, ecooters, and toys, use lithium   ion batteries that if misused, damaged, or  improperly charged, can overheat, ignite,   or explode. as noted by the National  Fire Protection Association, which urges   residents to buy only listed products, charge  batteries safely, and recycle them responsibly.   Whereas lithium ion batteries store significant  energy in a compact space and practices such   as overcharging using uncertified chargers or  exposing batteries to damage greatly increase   the risk of fire or explosion. Whereas proper  disposal and recycling of lithium ion batteries   help prevent environmental hazards and reduce fire  risk. And the 2025 fire prevention week theme,   charge into fire safety lithium ion batteries  in your home, reminds everyone to use, charge,   and recycle batteries safely. Now, therefore, be  it resolved that the Witchaw City Council does   hereby proclaim October 5th through 11th,  2025 as Fire Prevention Week. [Applause] Good morning. Tammy Snow, fire chief. First of  all, I want to thank Mayor Woo and city council   for um this proclamation. Also to thank the  the citizens of the community and helping us   um prevent fires each and every day. Fire  Prevention Week is an opportunity to remind the   community that fire safety starts at home and in  everyday actions. It's a time to educate, engage,   and empower our residents to take simple steps  to save lives like checking your smoke alarms,   planning escape routes, and practicing  safe habits. Through this observance,   we reinforce our shared responsibility to  prevent fires before they happen and to   protect this community. Thank  you for your help. [Applause] Congratulations. Thank you to all the recipients of  proclamations today. Madame Clerk,   can you please call the next item? Public agenda.  The public agenda allows for up to five speakers   to have five minutes each to address the council.  No action will be taken relative to items on the   public agenda other than referral with the  city manager for information as necessary.   Speakers will 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 is Lisa Fry Bloom, First  and Second Street and MLAN Boulevard. Good morning, mayor and council members.  Um, Lisa Fry Bloom, 3721 East 24th Street   North. And I'm here today as a volunteer with  BikeWalk Witchah. And I want to tell you about   um a road safety assessment that we did on uh  August 18th. I invited partners to assess the   intersection at First and Second Street at  MLAN Boulevard with me. Um, so I often walk   that intersection. I walk it alone. I walk with  my family and I'd become aware of dangers in that   intersection and I wanted to do an assessment with  people who um know the area, who know about safe   walking and who know about traffic safety. So, I  was uh lucky two of your your city staff members   participated with me in that assessment. Paul  Gunzelman, traffic engineer, and Jamie Nick,   your director of libraries. Um, and we were joined  by Dustin Hendris of Exploration Place, Holly   Terrell of BikeWalk Witchaw, and Shelley Rich of  the Health and Wellness Coalition. Um, and we also   appreciate that council member Ballard um was not  able to attend, but she expressed interest and   uh all those people got to see the the report that  I prepared after our assessment. Um, and I emailed   that report to you last week and so you have  it and I hope I hope you will look at it if you   haven't already because it's only four pages and  one of them's pictures. And I want I just want to   highlight um three considerations that we believe  should prioritize this intersection's upgrades. Um   the first I know you're well aware of the first  and second street bridge replacement that's   um directly to the east of this intersection.  At our assessment we talked to you know some   of us talked about how this is is really just an  extension um from that bridge. Uh something that   we really talked about was the current exploration  place outdoor expansion. Um it's going to require   that families visiting that attraction park  nearby. They're going to have to walk in that   intersection to um access the amenity. And um  Dustin had reported that already some of their   events like their their outdoor movie nights  um families have had to park um and and walk   and they've kind of watched them struggle doing  some of that. Um, finally, it's a it's a gateway   to the west end of downtown, to Deleno, to the Ark  River path, to the keeper of the plains. You know,   we know that residents and visitors are in this  intersection. Um, we do feel it needs to be safer.   It needs to be more comfortable for those of of  all ages and abilities um and and all users of   the road. So, um, as we heard, it's October. It's  also National Pedestrian Safety Month. And, uh,   you know, I just thought what better time to talk  to you about this intersection. And I I I provided   the detailed concerns and recommendations of our  assessment in that report. So, you have that. Um,   and we and we just really feel that this this  intersection needs to um be planned and upgraded   for for a minimum. um of upgrades, but it could  also be reconfigured. Um so some some of us talked   about that, you know, a traffic circle might be  appropriate as is just a couple blocks south in   Deleno. So thank you very much for looking and  reading at the report and for hearing me today. Thank you, Lisa. Madame clerk, can you please  call the next individual? Ronald Neagle, city   collaboration with federal immigration officials  and other federal law enforcement agencies. Uh, Ronald Nego, 2242 Lindberg Street. I'd like  to thank the commission and the mayor for allowing   me this opportunity to speak. I am here today to  address some of the concerns of your constituency,   the Witchaw Citizens. In other towns, media  has reported that city law enforcement has   met with federal law enforcement to  engage what can only be described as   uncommon collaborations with representatives  of the Trump administration. Specifically,   I am referring to immigration enforcement, but  more generally, my questions regard any law   enforcement agency, federal law enforcement  agencies. I am asking the city commission   andor the police department to issue a media  release answering the following questions.   Has a city or any department within the city  been asked to meet with immigration enforcement,   commonly known as ICE, or the FBI or any other  federal officials for any situations that could be   considered uncomto historically uncommon? Have any  meetings have any such meetings already occurred? Are any such meetings planned? Absent an answer  today, I respectfully request of the city that   prior to entering into any such agreements or  future meetings with federal law enforcement   that the con commission inform the public  prior to their decision and allow multiple   opportunities for the public to comment prior  to any such actions. To summarize my request,   please as representatives of the people of  Witchah, do not blindside the public with a   decision to facilitate immigration enforcement.  Thank you for your attention to these matters. Ronald Council member Council member Johnson.  Thank you, Mayor. Um, first I agree with you,   sir. Um, can't speak for ICE. I do want to  let you know we approve these things um,   I think annually. We do have joint task force  work. It's not uncommon. It's work that's been   happening for years with the police department,  with the Department of Justice, ATF. I think   there's another department that they're working  on and there's just different efforts that they   have. It's not around ICE or immigration,  but those partnerships and collaborations   have been occurring for years, just so you  know. Um, nothing nefarious there with that,   but I agree with you on going forward with some  of those other things going on in the country. Madame Clerk, can you please call the next   individual? Steven Okmed. AI  powered surveillance cameras. CA am uh 5400 East 21st Street North. Good  morning, ladies and gentlemen. Every day we   hear more about AI and it be put in more and  more things. I'm sure some of you may use it   or enjoy content created by it. I'm here to  tell you there's ongoing unacceptable use of   it happening in the city. The city of Witchaw  has taken a contract with flock safety starting   in 2020 and expanding it in 2024. I'm certain all  of you familiar with it and how according to WPD   has recovered $5.4 million stolen property  and allegedly solved violent crime. WPD has   also stated the data from the cameras deleted  after 30 days and are only used to take photos   of license plates. Of each council member here,  I ask of you, have any of you actually walked   past any of these cameras? If you had, you paid  attention to them, you would know that they take   photos of more than just those license plates,  but also p uh photos of people and their faces.   Uh if you pay attention to Flock's own  marketing and even just their website,   you'll see they want to help in pre uh in  predictive policing and want to expand to   private companies so they can monitor employees.  The council approved and expanded the use of city   of cameras in the city. And that expansion came  at a cost as each camera costs $30,000 a year to   operate and $1.5,000 to install. Based on the  April 2024 number of 167 cameras in the city,   that comes to an outrageous cost of $5 million a  year to operate these cameras. Flock is not only a   concern or a waste of money, but an active threat  to public safety. In the town of Evston, Illinois,   the city canceled their contract with Flock after  they violated Illinois law and shared data with   federal agencies without permission. After taking  them down, the cameras were then put back up by   Flock despite the demands of the city. And so  the city had to resort to taping the cameras   up and blocking them from being able to record  any other cars or people. In 2021, a deputy in   Ketchy here in Cedric County used flock cameras to  stalk his ex. Further, in 2022, a police chief in   the in the city of Cedric misused the city cameras  228 times to stalk his ex and her new boyfriend.   The cameras remain a threat to public, not  only due to possible abuse by law enforcement   on the local level, but on the federal level  and threats to privacy and security of our   democracy. I implore every member of this council  to immediately cancel the contract of flock and   demand every single camera be taken down as soon  as possible. Predictive policing has absolutely   no place in Witchaw and is not welcomed by the  people living here. I also encourage members   of city council and anyone in this room to  talk to me after this meeting if you have   any further questions. to keep this discussion  active and solve this become before it becomes   a further issue and with the remaining three  minutes any questions I will gladly answer them saying none I thank you for your time  thank you Stephen Madam Madame clerk can   you please call the next individual  Jeff Moore the homeless problem. Jeff Moore, I see he's not here.  Madam clerk, can you please call   the next individual? 420 gem camping ordinance. I also don't see this individual.  That means we have two spots for   anyone who would like to address  the council. I you can come up to   the microphone. You have five minutes.  Please state your name and your address. Good morning. My name is Chelsea Portillo. I'm  a constitu constituent of Ron Estus. I live on   the east side of Witchah, 1133 North Del Rose in  District 1. For the past two years, while Witchah   has continued life as normal, Gaza has endured  relentless bombardment, siege, and starvation.   90% of Gaza's population has been displaced. Over  680,000 Palestin Palestinians have been killed.   And essential infrastructure such as hospitals and  water systems are just gone. People are dying of   hunger and disease in this modern age, in the year  of our Lord, 2025. But this didn't begin in 2023.   Palestine has been under illegal  occupation for 77 years. Since 1948,   millions of Palestinians have been exiled  and denied their basic human rights. Since   the Nagba in 1948, which I encourage all  of you to look up immediately, Israel has   illegally expanded settlements, annexed  land, and imposed a parttheid policies apartheid policies across the West Bank and Gaza.  The global Simood Flotillaa was just intercepted   in international waters by the Israeli Defense  Force not even a week ago. And as of this writing,   there are at least 150 activists from 20 different  countries still being held in the Israeli prison.   It is time for the Midwest to lead the charge  in telling Israel that enough is enough.   While Dan Osman and Barb Wasinger were busy  listening to Israeli propaganda during their   50 states, one Israel conference, which I again  encourage you to look up if you are unaware. Children in Gaza are dying. They are  dying torturously slow, antagonizingly   painful death. This is not a conflict.  This is not This is ethnic cleansing.   This is colonization and this  is genocide. We must speak out   and we must demand justice. We must stand  with Palestine. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Chelsea. We have room for one more  individual who would like to address the council. Hello, my name is Leisel Wright. I live at  2322 West 13th Street North here in Witchah.   I'm actually going to read an article from  August of this year um from the Canary. An IDF   soldier just exposed that Israel deliberately let  October 7th happen. Damning new testimony from an   IDF soldier stationed at the Gaza border on 7th of  October has backed up growing evidence that Israel   deliberately allowed the Alaka flood operation  to happen. This soldier statement has turned the   mirror on Israel's cynical propaganda once again.  While the genocidal occupier and war criminal has   made repeated accusations over Hamas's human  shield strategy, instead it's Israel that has   used its own soldiers and civilians as fodder  for fueling its violent colonial aspirations in   Palestine. Unsurprisingly, none of the mainstream  media have picked up on this. Of course,   it's in keeping with their 22month complicity in  downplaying Israel's genocide and atrocities in   Gaza. IDF soldier testimony suggests Israel let  7th of October happen. Shalom Chitrit on ID an   IDF soldier who was on duty on 7th of October  has made a damning testimony to the Knesset.   He testified that highlevel IDF officials issued a  strange message the morning of Hamas's Alaka flood   operation. Israeli soldiers said they specifically  received orders to cancel all patrols along the   Gaza border from 5:20 a.m. until 9:00 a.m. on  October 7th, 2023. And there is footage online on   this article of the Israeli soldier testifying to  the Knesset committee. According to the dissident,   Shitrit said during his testimony that at 5:20  a.m. on 7th October, we are playing on the phone   and suddenly a strange message came up from my  deputy commander. And what he says on the radio   is something like this. I don't know why, but an  order was given that there would be no patrols   in the Gaza offense until 9:00 a.m. He went  on to explain how. Every morning, the platoon   raises alert. And in the estimation, there are  no mornings in which there are no patrols on the   fence because you are an operational battalion  and that is part of the matter. So according to   Sheetrit's testimony, someone from a place of  high command decided border IDF soldiers would   not patrol the morning of 7th of October. [ __ ]  indicated how unprecedented this was. It obviously   raises huge questions. Namely, it it it know of  the impending Hamas operation. I think that's it   new. And opportunistically chose to enable it.  Israel had the intel but ignored it. Of course,   this testimony from an onduty IDF soldier sits  next to a wealth of documented evidence. Israel   knew of the attack well ahead of time, reporting  on this US independent outlet, The Young Turks,   pointed to a number of these. One was a New York  Times article from November 2023 detailing how   Israeli officials had obtained Hamas's battle plan  for the October 7th terrorist attack more than a   year before it happened. It also highlighted  an article by Israeli news site Haret from   June 2024 which buttressed it this further.  It confirmed that the Israeli intelligence   had detailed knowledge of Hamas's plan. The  same outlet was has underscored IDF command   ignoring intel from women soldiers patrolling the  border, warning of an impending attack. Moreover,   Israel deliberately deployed its Hannibal  directive that makes the soldiers testimony all   the more believable as well. This Israeli military  police prefers the murder of its own soldiers over   them becoming hostages. but they also included  civilians. Israel killed their own people on   October 7th, 2023. Numer numerous press reports  and revelations from Israeli military officials   revealed a mass Hannibal order that directed  the slaughter of civilians Hamas took captive. Released hostages, meanwhile, have  described. Okay. They killed their   own people. That's who killed those people,  those civilians on October 7th, 201. Thanks,   Mayor. Just one quick question. I think it's  important as you talk about the um war over   there. Do you have the latest number of folks in  Gaza who've been killed? The last number I saw   was 64,000. Do you have a number that's at least  680,000? 680,000. Yes. At least the numbers are   It's hard to count dead people  when they're under. Thank you. I agree. The images from over there are  truly disturbing and I hope more people   look in to see the tragedy happening  over there. Thank you for being here. Madame Clerk, can you please call the next  item? Consent agenda items 1 through 25. Council members, are there any items to  be pulled from the consent agenda? Mayor,   I'd like to pull item 5A. Any other items, council members? I see none. I move to approve the consent  agenda without item number 5A. Second.   Motion and a second. Any further discussion? I  see none. Madame clerk, please open the role. All those in favor say I. I. All those  opposed, same sign. Motion passes. 70.   Item number 5A in the consent agenda. Thank  you, mayor. I pulled this item because of the   uh golf board of governors uh quarterly meeting.  I have increasingly been getting uh complaints and   calls about availability of tea times. First of  all, let me say that uh Jesse Kaufman, his team   supported by Reggie Davidson and his his team have  done an absolutely wonderful job of getting the   golf courses back in shape. uh positive cash  flow, reinvesting back in the golf courses.   I think that's wonderful. But you also have more  people wanting to play golf because of that. So I   just tell you, for the last two years, my son has  complained about never getting a tea time, being   able to get tea time at Texican Solver on Saturday  or Sunday morning. Uh he gets up at 5, he gets up   at 4:30, but five o'clock he gets on there, he can  never ever get one. And uh I found out why because   someone has the first four tea times on Saturday  and Sunday blocked. Um got a group that they block   the tea times. Um apparently there's a lot of  um groups that have tea times that are blocked,   not available to the general public. Um I'm not  against people playing golf. A lot of these are   seniors like me that play golf. Um, but it is  a good old boy system and and I don't know if   there's a balance in there, something we can do.  But, uh, the golf board of governors has authority   over the golf system. So, recognize that and we as  city council can only course only recourse we have   is to eliminate the board of governors because the  board of governors does have the authority. Um,   I just really believe in the leadership of Jesse  Kaufman and his team. They've done a wonderful   job. And, uh, I would just ask that the board  of governors review the policy, come up with a   solution that is fair and equitable. Uh, work  with Jesse and Reggie and their teams and,   uh, come up with something that's equitable.  And I'd like to just invite uh either Reggie or   Jesse or both of you to the podium. And if if you  could address this, I would I would appreciate it. So, we're going to have Jesse kind of give  an overview of uh the process that you're   referring to and some of the concerns we  have there. And then I'll follow up with   what we're doing with the next steps and how  we're incorporated into our park master plan   and being able to look at the entire system  and what changes we're going to be making. Good morning, Mayor, City Council. Uh Jesse  Kaufman, uh golf division manager. Uh this topic,   it is a big topic. You're absolutely right. So I  want to kind of give a little background on how   the the booking process works before I get into  that. So uh for anyone that doesn't know, 7 days   in advance, we open tea times at 5:00 a.m. So this  morning at 5:00 a.m. tea times for next Tuesday,   um opened up. And the way I like to tell people,  it's basically we open up concert tickets for sale   and they sell out immediately. Um especially  the early morning time. So the demand I mean   it's it's a good problem that we have that  much demand but it it is a problem and that   the goal is equity and equal access to these tea  times for everyone. Um over the last 30 40 years   there have been leagues and groups that have have  played weekly, played regularly and they they are   uh great customers and and supporters of  the golf system. But through that time   uh they have been considered leagues. So they book  their tea times. They basically have standing tea   times throughout the entire year. Uh when the  golf system wasn't that busy, it wasn't a big   deal because you could just get the tea time  after that group. Now, it's a big deal. Um,   it is by far the biggest complaint that we get.  Um, this does fall under the scope of the board of   governors and we started several conversations  earlier this year on how do we how do we get   around this? Um, I don't feel like they were very  effective. The first thing we did was try to come   or the board of governors did was try to come up  with to define what is considered a league. Um,   and that what what they kind of came up with was  that it needed to have at least 12 members. They   needed to have official bylaws and officers in  place and then the restrictions were you could   only get tea times two days a week. Well, when  you have so many groups that fall under those   parameters, we really didn't achieve anything  as far as um you know addressing the issue. Um it's I definitely feel like that we have to  readress this and figure something out that's   better. Um, I think for public courses, the  way that we have our league set up is very,   it's not common at all. It's more for a private  course that you can get away with that. On a   public course, especially the demand that we  have and the population and the the amount of   golfers that we have here, um, it does limit the  amount of available tea times for the public. Um,   so it's something that I I definitely am pushing  to to address. some of the things I've done   internally um that I hope will have an effect.  Um this is um something I'll get with the golf   board once we we get everything in place, but is  a new point of sale and Tbooking T sheet booking   uh system software. Um with this new system, it's  it's the RFP is open right now. It closes at the   end of this month and then we'll do presentations.  And that's one of the big things I want to look   at is what are the different functions that  we could allow to uh groups to groups to book   maybe one or two or three tea times back to back  because that's that's what they want. They just   want to make sure we've played as a group for 30  years. We want to make sure we get backto-back   tea times and I understand that. Um so hopefully  with that new system um it allows for a little bit   more flexibility on how we can set that up and be  fair to everyone. Uh maybe they don't get certain   set tea times, but they can get backtoback tea  times when they're available. Um, and the other   part that's a big problem is this puts a lot of  unnecessary pressure on staff at the counter. When   someone's very upset about this, it's not fair  to our staff because nine times out of 10 the   staff agrees with the customer, but we're stuck  with with the rules that were put in place. So,   uh, I definitely think 100% agree. Um, and then  I think Reggie's going to talk about another idea   that we've had. Um, but that's kind of where we're  at. I mean, it seems like it's a little bit more   complicated than what it is, what it appears to be  on the surface just because this has been going on   for so long and we don't want to suddenly break up  these groups that have been playing forever, but   um 100% we have to come up with a better solution  and make sure everyone has equal access to our   tea times. Thank you, Jess. Just to be clear, I'm  not against men's club, ladies day. Sure. Couples   league, none of that. It's these private little  oneoffs. There's a lot of them. I mean we found we   we know how it works when we put these parameters  in place. Suddenly three groups that I don't even   know if they knew each other got together and  said hey let's call ourselves a league. So now   you know they they find workarounds. So we have  to eliminate the possibility of that and make it   fair for everyone. Yeah. Thank you. So, and as  a followup with that, we're in the process now   uh we're approved moving forward with the  park master plan. And as part of that,   we're looking at how we operate as an entire  department and as a system and looking at the   uh the golf uh system to see how it's worked  and seeing benchmark against other communities,   see how those things are being done. So, like  Jesse mentioned, it's not common in some other   communities with public golf courses. So, we're  going to make sure that we're aligning and   providing something that's going to be consistent  to give everyone equal access and equity to the   courses. So, that'll be part of what we're doing  when we kick off the park master plan planning   process as well. Yeah. Well, thank you very much.  I both have you appreciate your leadership. Um,   as the courses get better and better, the  problem's going to get worse and worse   because a lot of people want to play them. So,  that's good problem to have and I do appreciate   everything you do for the golf system. Golf is  a very important uh activity for our city. Um   you know the country clubs get the the the  big dogs play there, but uh you know the   middle managers and and and the people who really  work and make the city go like to play golf and   uh and it's important for them to have a nice golf  course to play and and we do and we're getting   even better. So thank you. Sure. And just as a  point of reference as well, like you mentioned,   it's a good problem to have and Jess and I meeting  and benchmarking from last year to this year on   our revenue. We're $500,000 in the plus compared  to revenue from last year to this year. So,   we're definitely moving in the right direction.  We just got to see how we balance it out so that   we can make sure we continue to grow and meet new  customers that come in as well. Yeah. Well, thank   you. I appreciate that. Good job. Thank you both.  Um, we have more council members that want to have   questions or comments. Council member Ho Heisel.  Thank you, Mayor. Uh, just more a comment. First,   thank you guys. Um, from what I hear, the golf,  you know, the golf system here is just thriving   and a lot of the improvements that you've made  and suggested and that we've made, um, it seems   to really be paying off. This is something that  I have heard from uh some of my friends as well,   not necessarily my constituents, but um a lot of  the friends that I have that do play golf. So,   it sounds like we have some options out there,  but I just wanted to um back up that I've kind   of heard the same thing from uh several people  out in the community that the vice mayor has as   well. Council member Ballard. Thank you, Mayor.  Also, big thank you. That's super awesome to hear   that the numbers are even better than last year. I  guess unless you're trying to get a tea time. Um,   two quick questions. Is it typically only texts  that we're having? Okay. No, it would text and   Auburn are the probably the the two that are most  effective, but it's all four. Okay. And also,   what do some other cities do? I mean, I know we  have the new software coming, which hopefully will   be helpful, but is there something that somebody  else is doing? Yeah, I mean, typically there   would be the way Most common I've seen each course  would have maybe a men's league, a ladies league,   a couple's league, and a senior's league. One day  a week, it's ran by the club. The club blocks off   the tea times. You come through us to to be  a part of that. Um, and that's it. That's the   only leagues that they have. Maybe some corporate  leagues um in the afternoons, some companies that   want, but typically those are in the afternoons,  not quite as high demand. Um, but it's it there's   not so many leagues that are ran by individuals  where we just block the sheet and then they they   have full control. It's very uncommon. Thank  you, Council Member Glascock. Thank you. Uh,   someone who represents both Tex and Auburn, I hear  this pretty often, so I just wanted to echo uh the   vice mayor's comments. Thank you both. Uh one  last thing in those me minutes people can look   at these minutes but I just wanted to highlight  that over 600 participants are already enrolled in   2025 surpassing last year for the first T program  which is for our young youth in our community to   learn golf and to play uh and it is a partnership  with boys and girls club. So, thank you for doing   uh that and continuing that collaboration,  encouraging our young people to stay active   and love the sport. So, thank you both. If if  I could add to that real quick, we had a total   this year we're going to have a total of around  1,700 juniors coming through our programming. So,   the numbers you're seeing are just for first,  but we have several other programs. First is   fantastic. They're all fantastic, but we're  steadily trying to increase those numbers. So,   thank you, Jesse. I'll speak again. Vice Mayor  Johnston. Thank you, Mayor. And I want to echo   that, too. And your inclus inclusion of women. You  have lots of programs to get women playing golf,   youth playing golf. You're just you're just  trying to make it wider and more attractive and   better for everybody. So, I do really appreciate  that. That's the future of golf. So, thank you.   Thank you both. I see no more questions from the  council. We will open it up for public comment. I see none. We'll bring it back  to the bench. Vice Mayor Johnston,   I'd like to make a motion to approve  item 5A. Second. Motion in a second.   Any further discussion? I see none.  Madame clerk, please open the role. Motion passes. 70. Madame clerk,  please call the next item.   Board of Bids and Contracts dated October  6, 2025. Morning, Mayor, City Council,   Josh Lober, Department of Finance. The Board  of Bids and Contracts convened yesterday,   October 6, 2025 for the following items. For  engineering, we have the BNR plant one odor   control and scattera improvements for Doninger  Wildcat BNR project phase 1 LLC for 12,234,349 subject to your approval of the engineers  estimate budget authorization. Today we   have the water distribution system  sanitary sewer phase one and six of   the water main extension to serve  courtyards at Jacob's Farm Edition   for Mcola Excavation Incorporated for  an aggregate bid total of 2,211,440. We have the OJ Watson Park Concession  Building Landscape Improvements for   Rostston Construction LLC for $235,550. We have the 15th Street Bridge over  the Witchaw Drainage Canal for Wildcat   Construction Company Incorporated for  an aggregate bid total of 2,699,36.50. We have the 2025 Dirt Street Paving Phase 1   for Pearson Construction LLC for an  aggregate bid total of 1,24,887.15. We have the hydraulic bridge  deck repair over Middle Fork   Chisum Creek for Wildcat Construction  Company Incorporated for $179,680. We have the engine repair for a 2014 Gillig   bus for Cumins Incorporated for an  aggregate bid total of $57,149.32. We have the life safety systems test and  inspection for Sandifer Engineering Controls   Incorporated for an estimated annual cost of  19,000 $265 per year. We have the Matt Mop towel   and fender cover rental for Aramark Uniform and  Career Apparel Group Incorporated doing business   as Bestus Uniform and Workplace Solutions for an  estimated $11,392.70 per year. We have the paper   products, toilet tissue, towels, and miscellaneous  paper products for Loft T Williams and Associates   Incorporated, Brady Industries of Kansas, Santel  and Sun Incorporated, and Imperial Bag and Paper   Company LLC for the groups listed for one year  before one-year options to renew. We have the   scattera tele and programming upgrade for Gilbert  Mosley and North Industrial Corridor Remediation   System for Decker Electric Incorporated  for an aggregate bid total of $767,250. We have the irrigation improvement project at   McDonald Golf Course for United Golf LLC  for an aggregate bid total of 1,727,198. We have the server hardware extension maintenance  for airport for PPT Holdings LLC for $56,93028. We have the K Cabota tractor with  Terrain Master Flail mower for Mcola   Enterprises Incorporated doing business  as Witchaw Tractor Company for 132,24659. We have the special waste disposal facility change  order for waste connections of Kansas Incorporated   for the amended amounts listed. We have the  installation of water utility service lines   change order for utility maintenance contractors  LLC for the amended amount of 1,553,400. We have the WPD uniform and uniform  equipment accessories management   program change order for GS LLC for  an amended annual usage of993,993.30. I did not make that up. It' be Witchaw Fire  Department uniform and uniform equipment   accessories management program change order for GS  LLC for an amended estimated usage of $77,168.86. We have the rock salt for snow  and ice control change order   for Hutcherson Salt Company for an  amended annual usage of $261,300. We have the telescoping steel sign post systems   change order for Centerline Supply  for an amended amount of $40,384.50. We have the procurement software software  as a service change order for unit solutions   incorporated for implementation in four years  listed as an aggregate bid total of $442,387. For airport, we have the window  cleaning services airport change   order for eh technical solutions incorporated  for an amended estimated usage of $38,6704. This is how to become a vendor with the city.   This is our purchasing calendar of small business  resource partner events that the city's hosting   or participating in. And these are open public  opportunities out on the street today. And I'd   be happy to try to answer your questions. And  I recommend your approval today. Thank you,   Josh. Council member Tuttle. Thank you. Great  Josh job, Josh. This is what happens when we   have a fifth Tuesday, right? This is the  longest one I've ever seen. It's way back,   but could you possibly go to slide seven? I'm sure  I might have looked at it wrong, but I just wanted   to check. Thank you. It looks like Snodgrass and  Suns Construction Company was the low bid. Is that   a typo? Am I looking? Oh. Oh, I Okay, sorry.  I inverted the numbers. My bad. Thank you so   much. Thank you. There was a lot to absorb. Thank  you. I apologize. Can you go back to slide five,   please? Um, we'll be talking about this item  as New business item number 13. Uh again,   this was really to highlight the BNR um project.  Can you tell us is this was this estimated to be   12.2 million? I think the engineers estimate was  exceeded. So I need to defer to public works. Uh good morning, mayor, council members  Gary Jansen, public works and utilities.   I will cover this on the item here in a little  bit, but the uh our estimate was $11 million.   And you'll talk about it during number 13 or  do you want to share why it was higher? Oh,   that's up to you. I can either share it twice or I  can talk about it later. just so that the audience   understands that this item was on the consent  agenda and I've moved it to new business so that   folks would understand that the biionutrient plant  um removal plant had an adjustment and again can   you just explain it was initially the estimate  was 11 million why is it now 12.2 2 million.   I think there's probably several factors that  led to this. Um, there's a lot going on in the   market right now for contractors, especially the  contractors that would do this type of work. Um,   our owners rep reached out. In addition to, you  know, how our projects are um posted uh to all   vendors. Uh, there's other way that projects of  our size, especially in a community of our size,   make it out there. Our owner's rep also reached  out to some specific contractors to try to garner   interest. I think there's a lot going on again  with contractors right now that probably led to   um the Donlinger Wildcat team, I think probably  everybody's aware, is doing the work for   um all of the work at plant 2 for the BNR  improvements. Um this is the last project as   part of the BNR program to be bid. Um we certainly  expected a bid from them. Uh but there's just some   uh unique work with this facility. Uh there's some  really close quarters to work with working around   an operating plant just as we are doing it at uh  plant two with the main part of the project really   makes it hard to estimate cost. So uh we will work  with the contractor once construction is underway   as we've done with the other packages to see if  there's any way to value engineer the cost down.   Thank you Gary. Council member Hoheisel. Thank  you, mayor. Um, just one additional point. Uh,   we have pretty much a hard um budget of $387  million on this overall project. Uh, this does   not bump that up, right? Correct. Thank you. And  I should have mentioned that. I I'll cover that   again later, too. This is the the difference in  cost here is included within that overall original   budget. Yes. Okay. So, yeah, I just wanted  to make sure the public knew that as well.   Yeah, moving around money within the project that  we have allocated. Correct. All right. And I'll   mention this later as well. Looking forward to  that odor control being complete. We are too.   Thank you. Thank you, Council Member Glas. Thank  you, Mayor. Two questions. I know that we're not   set to go over budget right now. Is there any  expectation that we'll go above the 387? Um,   I hope not. Uh we still have uh like I said this  is the last project within the overall program   to bid. Um we do still have some capacity within  the overall project even after this based on what   we've done with some value engineering and the  original packages especially the biggest parts   of it packages two and three. Uh it's possible  looking ahead because of the amount of work that   we've got left we could start pushing up against  that budget at some point in time. We do have a   contingency budget in place uh that very similar  to what we've done with the water treatment plant   through the course of building the new plant there  uh in case there were um any additional work that   might come up above and beyond that budget. We're  keeping a close eye on it. I meet with staff   regularly. Last we looked at was just yesterday  and right now we're still in a good place. Yeah,   we're still in a good place right now. We are.  Okay. Uh this would probably a question maybe   for Jennifer and legal. So, because we normally  approve consent agenda items prior to approving   bids, this would be approving this recommendation  for a bid, but then this item is later on the   agenda, but this is to approve the overestimate  bid. So, would this nullify by approving this bid,   would this nullify be or item 13? Josh can  correct me if I'm wrong, but I think we are   okay to do it in this order. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.  you're being requested to approve the engineers   estimate and budget authorization and you're  absolutely right the consent agenda usually   is presented beforehand. Um if you go about  this route you could have conceptually an   instance where you approve the engineers new  engineers estimate and budget authorization   in the project and you could deny the new  business agenda item in theory. Thank you. Thank you Gary. Uh two more questions. Uh  slide number 14. Thank you. This is about   paper products. I just wanted to know um I  know that you've been trying very hard and   encouraging small businesses to become vendors for  the city of Witchaw so that they know that there's   opportunities for them to bid. Um are any of these  small businesses? Um I don't know on top of my   head if they're new they're small businesses.  I will tell you one of them is new specifically   um that we have not encountered before. Um, and  then small business as a holistic discussion.   We're working with the city manager's office  to revamp the small business program. Um,   and anytime the city manager's office is really  great about this, they'll forward vendors to us.   Um, and the feedback that we've had so far is I'm  surprised how easy it is to bid with the city. So,   that's a really big compliment for us that I  appreciate. Good job to your team. I know that   one of the slides shows when you have those  sessions and we really encourage people to   check that page out so that they can know how  to become a vendor. And last but not least,   slide number 16 since we just talked about  golf. Um, this looks like we're under budget.   I think we budgeted $2 million for this. Is this  correct? Don't know on the budget estimate. Uh,   I'm getting a correct from our director of golf,  which again, I wanted to highlight this because   it is under budget and great job to Jesse and  the team in trying to get us a bid that is under   budget but still provides that great quality. So,  thank you very much for that hard work. With that,   I see no one else. Correct. Council member  Glascock, you're still on the board. I see no   one else on the board. With that, I will move to  approve the board of bids and contracts. Second.   Motion and a second. Any further discussion? I  see none. Madame clerk, please open the role. Motion passes. 70. Madame clerk, please call the  next item. Starlight Drive-In loan extension. Good morning, mayor and city council. Becca  Johnson, Office of Community Services. For   the record, on December 18th, 2018, the city  council approved a 200,000 loan to Starlight LLC,   the operator of Starlite Drive-In for the  acquisition of two digital projectors and   other related equipment and installation  costs. The loan was amortized over five   years with interest only, 1% for the first four  years, and then monthly repayment in year five.   The funds were appropriated of the  funds allocated to district 3 from   the sale of the city-owned Hyatt Regency Hotel  in Witchah. On December 27th, 2022, Blakesmith,   the operator of Starlight, requested and received  an extension of the loan agreement for two years   due to the financial hardship of COVID and  a slow industry recovery. On February 4th,   2025, the city council approved an amendment to  the promisary note to restructure Starlight's   loan at Mr. Smith's request. Mr. Smith made  a $50,000 payment following the restructuring   and agreed to repayment of the balance of  150,000 beginning July 1st, 2025 with equal   monthly installments of 200 100 $2,147.33 which  includes the amortization at 1% through June   of 2031. One payment was made in August 2025  reducing the outstanding balance to $147,977. Thus far, $64,14740 in proceeds, including  $52,22.33 in principal and $12,125.7 in interest,   have been recorded as a program income  to the district 3 Hyatt project and are   available to be reallocated. Recently, Mr.  Smith has requested an extension of the loan   agreement for six months due to the financial  hardship of the summer 2025 storm damage. We're proposing an extension. Starite  has requested a six-month moratorium on   principal and interest payments. A new  amortization model has been developed,   including a six-month mortoriium on  principle and interest payments. The   borrower will begin making monthly  payments of the $2,147.33 amount,   which includes that 1% in February 2026 with  the final payment expected in December of 2031.   We do have a revised promisory note has been  created with those terms and the borrower has   provided the city with a new personal guaranteer.  It is recommended that city council approve the   contract amendment and authorize the necessary  signatures. That I'll stand for any questions.   Thank you, Becca. Council member Glas. Thank you,  Becca, for presenting. Is there any guarantee that   he's not going to come back for another extension?  You could probably always make a argument that   there's financial hardships or something happens.  I know he's done that twice so far. Is there   anything stopping him from doing it a third time?  There is nothing stopping him from doing that. No. Council member Ho Heisel. Uh this is more in reply   to Council Member Glasco. Um I  intend for this to be the last. Becca, do you know by any chance um how business  is going at Starlight Drive-In? precoid versus now   in 2025. Yeah, I don't have that information and I  don't believe Mr. Smith is with us. He's in Tulsa. Maybe Council Member Hohheisel has had  conversations with Mr. Smith. Uh, thank you,   Mayor. Yes. Um, I believe last time I talked it  was 80 80 to 85% um from what it was precoid but   that was building it back up after a couple  of years of um slow revenues. Um it's just   a lack of movies out there right now. Streaming  process is coming up. Um, so this is similar to   a lot of theaters, a lot of the obstacles a lot of  theaters out there are facing. And council member   Hohheisel, this is obviously in your district.  Um, I know that there has been a lot of community   interest in trying to save the Starlight. Uh,  can you share a bit of why uh the Hyatt dollars   went to Starlight Drive-In initially? Um, and  why obviously in June of 2025 we had this major   storm. what that caused to Starlight Drive-In. Uh  yeah, thank you. Um before I was on council and   the city manager probably has more details than  I do. Uh the the the drive-in got reszoned um   from entertainment to I believe general and there  was a push by the owner at that time who had been   gifted the drive-in um to actually sell it. Um  there were some issues around there. Um there was   a group that really got together about wanting to  uh save the drive-in because it is a South Witchah   treasure and landmark. Um so uh the council member  at that time agreed with the new owner Blake um   to give him a $200,000 loan from the Hyatt funds  at the time and the scheduled repayment. Again,   this was obviously before CO. Um then it 23 came  up and that was after CO and you saw the declining   numbers again. They were working their way back  up. Um so we did extend it and um we always look   for opportunities to help protect uh the treasures  that we have in our community. Thank you. Council   member Hohheisel. I know that you also serve on  the cowtown board. Um and so I just wanted to make   sure that um people understood this portion which  is often the city doesn't have just money to loan   people. This was a very special circumstance when  the city of Witchah sold the Hyatt Hotel. So each   council member or each district received dollars.  Uh so this question really goes back to the city   manager. Can you share if there are any funds  left and if so in which districts are there funds   remaining from the sale of the Hyatt? I have to go  back and look. We um provided that information to   the council I think about six months ago. Um the  only changes that I can think of at this point   would be in in the district three because of this  uh arrangement. Uh I'd have to go back. Um, most   of the funds I think all the funds are gone in  just district one or do you still have community   funds? Um, the only funds we have are in the  rotation and propel. That's right. And then um,   uh, district 2 spent all their funds. District  three of course has these funds. And the idea   with the loan is if it was successful, it would  continue to generate additional funding for future   community initiatives. And that's the reason that  the council member created that uh loan the way   he did. Um District 4 spent all of their funds. Uh  District Five spent all of their funds and as did   district six. So I think it's really one and three  that have some flexibility and not many not much.   Thank you, city manager. Again, I wanted to get  that on the record because I know that this is a   special circumstance uh in which the city had some  dollars allocated to the six council members and   their districts. And so there are still some  funds left in district one, district three,   but it's very rare um because again of the sale of  the Hyatt, right? And just a reminder um at that   time $10 million was put into street maintenance  uh by the council and each district had $1 million   allocated. Thank you, city manager. Council member  Glascock. Thank you. One last question. There is a   personal guarantee from the owner. So, if they  were to default on the payments, it would be   back on him. Correct. Thank you. I see no further  questions for staff. We'll open it up for public   comment. I see no one from the public who would  like to speak. We'll bring it back to the bench.   This resides in Council Member Hohisel's district.  Oh, we have comments. Vice Mayor Johnston.   Thank you, mayor. I also echo Councilman Glascox.  Uh I I really do appreciate the personal guarantee   on contracts with the city. I think I think that  should be a standing uh practice for the city. So,   I do appreciate that. So, thank you, Council  Member Glas. Thank you, Mayor. Um I was hardressed   to support this today, but given a personal  guarantee and given um Councilman Hohisel's   comments about no intention of bringing this  back up, um I will be supportive of this today.   I actually love the loan program idea and think  district 3 was very successful in that. Um and   uh I'm appreciative of that. The 1% interest rate  is very generous. Um but I hope that this will be   paid back, that the Starlight is successful. Um,  I will likely not support if it comes back for   another extension um because I want to make sure  that um the owner is being respectful of taxpayer   dollars that he's been given in this unique  style program. But I do love the loan program   idea and we'll be supportive of this today.  Council member Ho Heisel. Thank you, Mayor. Um,   no singing the tune this time around. Um, I will  go ahead and just uh make this motion. I move that   the city council approve the contract amendment  and authorize the necessary signatures. Second   motion and a second. Any further discussion? I  see none. Madame clerk, please open the role. Motion passes 70. Madame clerk, please call  the next item. Agreement and funding for   bianial bridge inspections,  rehabilitation, and repair. Good morning, mayor, city council members. Paul  Gunzelman, public works and utilities. For the   record, the item before you is an agreement  and funding for bianual bridge inspections,   rehabilitation, and repair. There are over 280  structures bridges within the city of Witchah. And   in September of 2023, the city council approved  an agreement with Trans Systems to provide bridge   inspection services for 2023 with the option to  renew in 2025. The Federal Highway Administration   classifies structures and bridges that span 20  feet in length or more as part of the national   bridge inventory and the FHWA and KOT require  structural inventory of all NBI bridges maintained   by the city for public safety. These inspections  are required on a bianual basis to maintain   eligibility for federal funding and for bridge  repair and replacement projects. Bridge inspection   reports aid in the prioritization of projects  for maintenance and replacement programs. And   the capital improvement program includes annual  funding for bridge rehabilitation and repair as   needed and typically recommended by the bridge  inspection program. The latest uh inspection   reports on all bridges was completed in 2023 and  inspection reports include type of bridge, length   of structure, structural condition, observation  notes by the inspection team as well as pictures as noted during the board of bids. This is an  example of one of the projects. Hydraulic north   of 37th Street for deck repair. And 37th  Street over the Little R Kansas River is   uh scheduled for repair in 2025 utilizing 2025  funding for railing repairs. The Amadan/WMA   bridge over the MS Mitchell floodway has also been  identified for repairs. Deterioration of joints at   both ends of the bridge need to be addressed and  the Oliver Bridge over Gypsum Creek. During summer   rain events, the slope protection underneath  the bridge had eroded. An inspection completed   by trans systems determined that the bridge is not  in danger. However, the slope protection slashbank   stabilization needs to be replaced. A progressive  design build project delivery will allow for   accelerated repair schedule and selection of  the design build team and associated contract   a return to the city council on a future date.  While completing the 2023 bridge inspections,   Trans Systems demonstrated an adept approach to  the project with expertise in bridge inspections   and assigned appropriate staff to complete  tasks and reports in a timely manner. staff is   recommending selecting selecting the option to  renew the contract in 2025 for the NBI bianual   bridge inspection and include inspection of nonBI  structures, railroad corridor retaining T- walls,   sections as well as all pedestrian bridges. A  renewal agreement has been prepared for this work. The cost of the 2025 through 2026  bridge inspection agreement is $234,21. The 2026 through 2035 adopted capital  improvement program includes $325,000   in general obligation bond funding and  ongoing projects for bridge inspections.   The 2026 through 2035 adopted CIP also includes  $1 million in ongoing projects and $1 million in   2026 for rehabilitation and repair for a total of  both funded by total of $2 million both funded by   local sales tax. Staff recommends initiating the  full amounts of all three projects. At this time, it is recommended that city council approve the  agreement, budgets, use of progressive design   build project delivery and RFQ criteria, adopt  the resolutions, and authorizing their serious   signatures. And I will stand for questions. Thank  you, Paul. I see no one from the council except   for I have one quick question. Um, I know that  we launched the drones as first responders pilot   program uh with WPD and it's on top of a Witchaw  fire station. I wanted to know if um we have   considered drones for bridge inspections. That is  something that other major cities have done and   so I wanted to know if that is something that's  being considered. Well, I would have to reach   out to Trans Systems or GFT to see if they utilize  any of that at this time while they do the bridge   inspections. I don't know that answer. I would be  curious in um that collaboration. Again, in some   major cities, they do use the drones for multiple  uses, including helping with bridge inspections   and public works in general. Uh so that would  be another way to utilize uh technology. Thank you, Paul. I see no further questions.  We'll open it up for public comment. I see none.   We'll bring it back to the bench. I will move  that the city council approved the agreement,   budgets, use of progressive design, build, project  delivery, and RFQ criteria, adopt the resolutions,   and authorize the necessary signatures. Second  motion and a second. Any further discussion? I see   none. Madame clerk, please open the role. Motion  passes 70. Madam clerk, please call the next item. Property and evidence rounds and  porter facility improvements. Morning, mayor, city council. Jason Kulie,  captain with the Witchaw Police Department.   This is the property and evidence facility  improvements additional funding. Uh the   rounds and porter building uh has long been the  primary facility for the Witchaw Police Department   property and evidence operations. The adopted  25 to 34 CIP included just over $1.2 million in   general obligation bond funding and that was  initiated on June 10th of this year, 2025.   Uh since then we have done some uh preliminary  meetings and uh some of the initial quotes   have gone out and come back um that has  indicated there's a need for additional   funding. I put two examples here of just uh  of the elevator repair. It hasn't come back,   but it's projected to be over um the  initial um quote that we thought. And   then the IT upgrades have come back uh  already uh over the original budget. In the adopted 2015 to 24 CIP, it included  $3 million in GEO funding to make operational   uh facility improvements. Uh that project  was just recently closed as it was finished.   uh the finance department went through and closed   uh some of the latest CIP uh projects that was  closed in 2025. There was a remaining of $288,014   left in that uh fund originally for property  and evidence. Uh the additional $288,014 was   previously allocated for the P& improvements  and now are available for additional funding.   Uh is recommended that you approve the initiation  of that $288,014 and authorize the init necessary   signatures. Thank you, Captain Kulie. Council  member Hohheisel. Thank you, Mayor, and thank you,   Captain. Um this was quite a bit of work when we  got the initial audit back a couple of years ago.   Uh could you just detail some of the the changes  that we have made so far, some of the improvements   that we have done within the budget? I remember  there was a decent sized list there. Yeah. So   the uh lab uh received a significant I assume  you're talking about the original 3 million.   Yes sir. Yeah. So the lab received a significant  overhaul updated it brought it up to accreditation   standards. Um there has been uh some u property  and evidence um I use those two terms separately   as they're kind of divided inside the facility  but they they operate as one. Uh there's been some   property and evidence improvements but the bulk of  that was to bring that portion of the lab uh up to   code in the building and through accreditations.  Okay. Thank you sir. Yep. Thank you Captain Kie.   Any further questions? I see none. We'll open it  up for public comment. I see none. We'll bring   it back to the bench. This resides in Council  Member Ballard's district if she would like. Thank you. Um I move to take the recommended  action, approve the project budget,   adopt the bonding resolution, and authorize  an associates. Second. Second. Motion and   a second. Any further discussion? I see  none. Madame clerk, please open the role. Motion passes. 70. Madame clerk, please call the  next item. Police protective equipment projects. Morning again, Mayor Council. Uh this is the  police protective equipment from the capital   improvement projects. Uh the Witchaw Police  Department uh uses a variety of equipment to   protect staff. Uh that includes uh body armor,  helmets, shields, b breaching devices, just to   name a few. Additionally, the department is using  uh cell phones as a way to communicate internally   and externally along with voice and photography  evidence collection. U most police equipment   carries a five-year lifespan uh either due to wear  and tear or uh warranty limitations as like our   um vest carry a 5-year warranty on them. Uh WPD  has identified an immediate shortage in current   inventory for emergency services to address  future emergency equipment needs. a systematic   systematically staff developed a replacement  plan and funding was incorporated in the   capital improvement program. Uh the previously  adopted CIP budget included 200,000 in general   obligation bonds. Uh the adopted 26 to 35 CIP  included an additional 900,000 in the ongoing   project. Uh it is recommended the approval of the  initiation of funding and authorize the necessary   signatures. I will stand for questions. Thank  you, Captain Kulie. Any questions for staff? I   see none. We'll open it up for public comment. I  see none. I'll bring it back to the bench. Um, I   just wanted to say thank you uh to both our police  department and fire department uh for making sure   that the community stays safe, but also that  they themselves are safe with equipment. Um,   we saw it firsthand last week when we went to  fire training. Um, and the equipment that we were   um putting on protected us from the fire.  And so I know that for the police department,   same thing. Your protective equipment is critical  to your safety, but also providing safety for   our community. So I will be very supportive of  this and so I will move that the city council   approve the initiation of additional funds  and authorized necessary signatures. Second.   Motion and a second. Any further discussion?  I see none. Madam clerk, please open the role.   Motion passes 70. Madame clerk, please  call the next item. Authorization of the   second 5-year tax exe exemption  for Air Capital Flight Line LLC. Honorable mayor, members of council, Troy  Anderson, assistant city manager. So,   a little bit of background. Back in November of  2018, city council approved a letter of intent.   Uh that letter of intent was for the issuance  of industrial revenue bonds and an amount not   to exceed $18 million. It allowed for the  construction of a approximately 144,000t   manufacturing facility. Um the bond issue enabled  air capital flight line to finance the cost of   acquiring the real estate, constructing  and ultimately equipping the project.   Um, in addition to that, the IRB set forth  approval of a 10-year 100% property tax   abatement with a 5-year review. Subsequently,  uh, ACFL, Air Capital Flight Line, subleasased   to Spirit Aeros Systems, you'll hear me refer  to them as Spirit throughout. As part of that   arrangement and as part of the 10-year property  tax abatement, the commitment at that time was   to create and maintain $320 full-time jobs uh  with an annual uh average wage of about $54,500. About the same time, there was another project  that was going on, what's referred to historically   as project Eclipse. Um, this job creation, the  additional 320 jobs was supposed to be above   and beyond the hundred or excuse me, the thousand  jobs that were committed to as part of the project   eclipse. So, it gets a little nuanced here, but  hopefully I'll try to put this in order a little   bit. So, when we did project Eclipse, the base  employment was 10,940 jobs. So, if you add the   thousand jobs required by Project Eclipse, your  base employment for the ACFL spirit um review was   11,940. Um so therefore, the target employment  that they were trying to reach at the end of the   5-year period and maintain throughout that process  uh was 12,260 jobs. You can kind of see the math   there on the screen. In 2019 when the bonds  were issued, right, employment totaled 13,577. After 2019, you see the actuals for 2020, 21, 22,  23, 24. You'll see the average base wages. You'll   see the percentage um of the wages above target.  Specifically, I'll point out at this point in time   that Spirit outperformed the average base wage  of 54,000 by more than 138% in each of the five   years by more than 144% in 2023. And in 2024,  the base wage was 154% above the target wage. So, as you can see, they did not  meet the job requirement. However,   there's a lot of extenduating circumstances. Um,  we'll get into that here in just a little bit. Um,   but under the economic development guidelines,  it reads that the city may amend an incentive   agreement to reduce the recipients obligations  regarding employment levels, wage requirements,   or non-compliance penalties in the event of  a federally declared disaster or economic   downturn. We're going to touch on that here in  just a minute. Talks about an economic downturn   being evidenced by a significant decline,  a fivepoint decline in the current economic   conditions index from the point at which the  incentive agreement was signed. And in such event,   the economic development incentives may be  continued if a majority of the compliance criteria   are met, including capital investment, return on  investment, and temporarily achieving job creation   commitments. Okay, so this where we get into  some of the numbers. Under the current economic   conditions index in 2019, that index was 90.84. In  April of 2020, that dropped by 13 points to 77.79. I'm showing the year-over-year as well as the  annualized average for a couple of reasons.   Um, but if you go back through the entire  history of the economic condition index,   year-over-year, a threepoint adjustment is  ginormous, right? Usually year-over-year,   the economic condition indexes don't fluctuate  much more than one or two points. Okay,   the year-over-year, as you can see,  is a significant decline. However,   the economic conditions index don't necessarily  paint the entire picture of what was going on   in the aviation industry over the course  of 2019 and into 2020. More specifically,   if you'll remember back between the period of  March 2019 and December of 2020, the Boeing 737   Max was grounded. this had an adverse impact  sort of downstream on product delivery and   subsequently jobs. So rather than just looking at  the uh economic index, we also took a look at the   aerospace index year-over-year from April  of 2019 to April of 2020 dropped 25 points   and again even more so across the annualized  average for aerospace dropped 23.81 81 points. So throughout all of this, including a global  pandemic between 2019 and 2020, um, which is   also why you see a huge drop in employment  numbers, particularly in 2019. Since 2019,   Spirit has continued to commit to growing and  trying to achieve those job numbers. Um, in fact,   in August of 2025, as we continued to work with  Spirit, their employment totaled 12,60 employees,   120 more than the base employment of the 11940. So  we went back to um center for economic development   business research and some of their costbenefit  analyses and we said well what if the job creation   wasn't the 320 that was originally committed to as  somewhat aspirate what if that was only a 100 jobs   that they had committed to. If they had only  committed to 100 jobs the city's costbenefit   analysis would have returned an 8.29 29:1 county  3 1 state 8.66 to1 and school district 1.47   47 to1 again far exceeding the one one  that we use for most other projects. Looking forward uh financial consideration uh  air capital flight line or spirit or one of   its subsidiaries agrees to pay the city's  $2,500 annual IRB administration fee for   the term of the bonds. Legal has advised  that approval of the second five-year tax   exemptions entirely at the discretion of  city council. But with that being said,   as we hope to have demonstrated here today, based  on the capital investment made, $18 million,   the return on investment, whether it be 100  jobs or 320 jobs, and temporarily achieving   job creation commitments, it's recommended  that the city council approve the second   5-year 100% advalarum tax exemption. And with  that being said, I'll stand for questions. We   do have a representative from uh the tenant,  Spirit, who would like to say a few words. Good morning. My name is Sam Sacket with Spirit  Aeros Systems. Uh, Mayor Woo. Council members,   I just want to uh say thank you first of all for  the support that you provide to our aerospace   industry, not just our company, but our supply  chain in this region and throughout the state   and for the advocacy that each of you um have for  our amazing men and women who do the real work   every day of designing, building and assembling  major aircraft structures for the world's greatest   uh commercial and defense customers. So, thank  you uh on behalf of our company for again your   advocacy for our industry. I'm going to turn it  over uh to Damon Ward, who's our vice president   and chief controller to walk you through a  few slides and give you a little bit more   of an update about where we are with some of our  our data points against the IRB targets. Thanks,   Sam. Mayor, city council members, good morning.  I echo Sam's sentiments in the sense of thank   you for your support and your advocacy for our  industry. I'll share just a a few more comments   uh to supplement Mr. Anderson's comments  u on why what what was the investment and   why is this important for our industry. So uh the  investment was for construction of the northeast   manufacturing facilities. So for those of you who  have had a chance to tour our campus, uh you will   know that this is a very complex manufacturing  environment and it is really intended to support   the production rates and expected volume increases  primarily on the 737 program but also for the 767   program. So I know that that all of us see the  767 flying around the skies of Witchaw on a daily   basis. So those products are manufactured in this  facility as well as the 737 which is the highest   volume aircraft that Boeing uh manufactures and  sells. So as Mr. Anderson said it was originally   intended to be 144,000 square feet. That was  completed. Um additionally we've extended that   facility by an incremental 200 ft to support um  anticipated volume increases that we expect in   the future. So I mentioned it's a critical part  of enabling us to meet those expected production   volumes. We could not produce on a sustained basis  what we produce today and what we're expected to   produce in the future uh without this facility.  So just a bit more color on some of the numbers   and we do have some updates from what Mr. Anderson  shared is you know as you would expect we're we're   living in a real time data environment. Uh so as  as shared previously we did exceed the target in   2019 by over,300 employees. So uh we were running  really hot. We were producing at about 52 737s   per month um at the end of 2019. Uh but we know  that we had a significant drop off. So you'll   see the line uh which was really driven by two  primary events. We had the the 737 grounding,   but additionally COVID, which really reduced air  traffic volumes by about 96%. We all saw that in   2020. So, we did have a decline of about 5,500  heads. Uh, but you will see the the glide path   and the gradual recovery from COVID and at the end  of 2023, we had actually surpassed the committed   target. So that recovery did take a few years  uh for the grounding to be resolved through the   FAA and Boeing and then COVID to have a bounce  back of production volumes. Um one thing that   happened in 2024, so very early in 2024, we did  have the door plug incident uh which the FAA then   stepped in and s basically suppressed production  volumes. So we did have a slight decrease through   2024. Um what I will say is that we had a very  significant effort to bring in new employees   uh to help uh the recovery on that production  volume as the air plug incident was was resolved.   Uh we were not able to fully fill all of those  heads by the end of 2024, but we did have nearly   400 contractors with requisitions open to replace  those contractors with full-time heads at the end   of 2024. As of you know, just as a bit of an  update from what Mr. Anderson shared, as of   September, um we were above the committed target  uh with our headcount. So we were once again   above the commitment. Um and we still do have  requisitions to support anticipated rate increases   from a future state perspective. So just a bit of  additional color on the economic impact and why   this is important. Uh Mr. Anderson has shared  the the wage rate difference. We you see that   represented in the graphs and the charts. Uh but  we had nearly $100 million of incremental economic   impact for the community as a result of the excess  above the committed wage rate. So very significant   economic benefit uh which supports the the numbers  that were shared from Mr. Anderson. But u with   that I would be happy to answer any questions  that the council may have. Thank you Damon Sam   and Troy. We'll begin with council member Ballard.  Thank you mayor. So are you continuing to hire?   We are continuing to hire and what I would say is  that if you pay attention to the public comments   from both the Boeing company and Spirit, uh we  do anticipate fairly significant rate increases,   particularly with the FAA giving Boeing some more  flexibility. So, we do anticipate rate increases   in the future and that will lead to continued  hiring. Awesome. And my last question is,   what type of or what kind of workers are  you guys looking hire at this point. So,   most of the workers that we're looking to hire  are mechanics that would support the touch labor   on the 737 program. We also do have uh which  is really primarily focused on this facility.   We are looking at um direct touch labor in other  areas. So, say for example the trip 7X and the 787   programs as well to support anticipated production  volume increases on those programs in the future.   Thank you, Damon. Uh, just one last question,  maybe it's more for Sam. Uh, can you just give   us an update regarding that uh acquisition uh  by Boeing? Where are we at? Yeah, I I can touch   on that, Mayor Woo. So, the the acquisition by  Boeing, we know that this has been a a fairly long   saga. We all appreciate that there's a tremendous  degree of complexities uh related to the   reintegration of Spirit into the Boeing company.  Uh really what we're working through right now and   this is you know public we're still anticipating  a fourth quarter close of the transaction. Uh the   last remaining steps really are the regulatory  process both with the foreign trade commission in   the US as well as the European Commission in the  EU. So regulatory steps are are the next hurdle to   get over uh for the closing of that transaction.  Thank you, Council Member Tuttle. Thank you. And   this thank you for your comments. Appreciate it.  And thank you to Troy for your presentation and   your work on this initiative. Um just kind of a  followup to Council Member Ballard. When I met   with Sam, I asked some of the same questions.  And it's my understanding you hope to hire 600   more individuals by the end of 2025. So that's  a robust goal. But I also appreciate you working   with WSU Tech, with WSU, with the local high  schools to try and and to to get those hires.   So 600 more by the end of the year be the goal is  my understanding. Yes, that's right. Thank you. I see no further questions. Thank you,   Damon. Again, Sam and Troy. We'll  now open it up for public comment. Uh once again, Stephen Ahmad, 5400 East  Street, First Street North. Uh I think   what's critical about what was brought  up there is not the data they presented,   but the data they did not present. They  did not present what the median wage at   those industries were. They did not present  what the turnover rate was for those jobs.   They only presented the economic downturn from  2019 to 2020, but did not mention any upturn or   downturn from 2021 to 2025 and are continuing to  advocate for themselves to receive a continued   100% uh tax rebate. Um despite their continued  evidence of economic growth and that economic   growth could help fund many of those projects we  were discussing earlier today, which did not have   opening for public comments to comment on as  Walsh mentioned. Um, but with many of those,   we talked about how there were rises in those  budget increases and how some of those were   increasing on that cost, including that plant we  talked about earlier that had an increase from   11 million to 122.2 million for its budget  um for that first phase. And in, you know,   not having a 100% tax rate on this company here  could help produce at least some semblance of   funds. Even it's not a you know complete removal  of the tax credit but dropping to 50% tax credit   instead of 100% but rem retaining the same uh  requirements for them to meet to receive those   benefits as well as possibly increasing them and  requiring them to report the median wage not just   the average base wage those numbers can be skewed  as the average versus the median. Thank you. We'll continue with public comments. I didn't really prepare anything but um as I I  realize this facility is meant for um commercial   airplanes but this company has a relationship with  Israel and other companies. that's being acquired   by Boeing that has a relationship with Israel.  And I'd like for you to consider that. Um because   those weapons that that they're involved in making  are killing innocent families and children. Thank   you. We'll continue with public comment. I  see none. I'll bring it back to the bench. This resides in council member Hoheisel's  district. Thank you, mayor. Um, to some of   the concerns that were spoken about earlier, we  are looking at potentially some changes with the   IRB process going forward. Uh, perhaps a step  down process to where it declined slowly over   the years, perhaps just um doing away with some  exemptions. Um, this is something that we already   had. Um, so this is the five-year look back  and there is um designation for um economic   downturn like we had. This is a lifeblood um  profession within our district, within our city,   and I do think it's important to work with them  as best as we can. I I was um privileged enough   to go to the economic outlook conference the  other day and there are some things that are   um we got to work through as far as regulations  and the Boeing and the Spirit deal going forward,   but aircraft uh just civilian aircraft which the  thing that they focus on the most here. The orders   for that are still a mile long. So, it's just  a matter of ramping up our production whenever   we do get these deals done and get through some  of the um the limits that the federal government   has placed on orders currently. So uh with that I  do I will make the recommendation um based on the   capital investments made return on investment and  temporarily achieving job creation commitments.   It is I move that the city council approve the  second 5-year 100% adorum tax exemption. Second   motion and a second. Any further discussion?  I see none. Madame clerk please open the roll. Motion passes 70. Madam clerk, please call the   next item. Repair or removal of  dangerous and unsafe structure. Good morning, mayor, city council  members. Uh Chris Labram, MABCD. So,   the item before you today is addressed as uh 1416  and 1418 Park Place. It is a duplex, excuse me,   that is on the historic registry. Uh this began  with you all on April 1st when we brought this   forward as a potential condemnation as well as an  appeal of a historic preservation board denial of   that uh condemnation uh request. Uh at that point  the city council deferred this item to today um   in order to give the uh historic Midtown Community  Development Association a chance to take ownership   of the property and make progress. I'm happy to  report that at this point in time they have done   that. So that that uh ownership has changed as  of a little over a month ago. It's been updated   in all systems. So it's uh very easy to see.  Uh they have also done a uh they have paid all   of the taxes which is very important to us to see.  And they've done quite a bit of work to ensure the   premise conditions are uh clean and maintained.  Uh they've also done a great deal to clean the   interior of the property and have maintained that  um the security with that. They do have a permit   in place. They do not yet have a full building  permit, but they do have an electrical permit in   place so that they've been able to get electricity  to the inside to facilitate the cleanup as well as   help with security and an alarm system. Uh so  they have begun that process. They're working   towards state credits, tax credits right now in  order to help with the project and uh are trying   to get that in place before they get the building  permit. So staff plans to continue to work with   them on that. Uh again, pending the outcome of  this discussion. So uh I will hit a few pictures   quickly here. Uh obviously the exterior has not  yet been started. So, uh, these look similar to   what you saw last time with the exception that the  premise conditions, the security of the building,   uh, and those items have been addressed to  our satisfaction. I do not have pictures of   the interior just based kind of on our legal  access, but we have seen the interior. We know   it's in good condition. We know uh that we've  also had a council member see the interior. So,   uh, we we've got it on good authority that  uh that that work has been done. So, uh,   with that and at this time, it is the staff  recommendation that the council would take   any remaining public comment. Uh, let let me  preface that with reminding you that we did   open the public hearing at the, uh, April  1st meeting. So, I would recommend that,   uh, the council take any remaining uh, public  comment and then close the public hearing and   at that point return the property to regular  code enforcement, thereby removing it from   current condemnation consideration. and I'll  gladly stand for any questions. Thank you,   Chris. Council member Glasco. Thank you, Mayor.  Chris, one quick question. How are we going to   continue to put the foot on the gas pedal and  making sure that development happens if there's,   let's say you remove it from the cond condemnation  list? What is the incentive for the project to   continue to be pushed forward? And let's say  they didn't continue to meet objectives. How   long does it take to get back on the condemnation  list? Yeah, that's a great question, sir. So, uh,   the council would obviously have the option  to defer this action again to provide them   more time to work, uh, you know, with with that  oversight. Uh, we will work to keep this moving   with the permits. Uh, what I will say is that with  the ownership change, uh, when we analyze this,   with the ownership change, there is very little  that we would not reaccomplish uh, if even if this   was simply deferred. So if we were to move forward  with any type of condemnation, our notifications,   we want to put this back in front of the BCSA, our  advisory board, etc. Uh given what has been done   and again mainly given that new ownership. So  in or order to meet all of those legal aspects,   95% of that process would be repeated anyway.  So you would lose very little by uh bringing it   removing it from condemnation consideration even  if this was to to not go forward or not come to   fruition. Thank you. So, and uh I do apologize.  I did not see earlier that Rand Lee had made it   today. So, we do have a representative of  the new owners here who I'm sure will also be happy to answer questions if you have  them. Council member Ballard. Thank you,   Mayor. Uh Randy, I have a couple questions for you  if you don't mind. Sure. Thank you for being here.   Absolutely. Thank you for all of the work that you  and the neighborhood have done. um six months ago.   This is a little bit different. I know you guys  worked really hard to obtain the property. You   guys own it outright. Um actually, the inside  of it is absolutely beautiful. I was really   surprised. There was just uh empty Coca-Cola trash  everywhere, but the inside of it is beautiful. It   has these awesome built-ins. But I did have a  couple questions. Um can you explain how tax   credits work and your familiarity with them?  Yes. Well, um I've done a lot of tax credits.   I live in the historic district, as do most of our  volunteers, so we've all been through the process.   Plus, I had the opportunity to get a federally  designated pro um project done. It's over at the   Victor Court. So, I've been through this process  many times. So, the tax credits go in um on Friday   and usually it takes the state about six weeks.  We've been in contact with them because we want to   do the right thing. I mean, we could have picked  an easy project, but um we need to go back with   what's historically accurate and they will guide  us through that and approve it because we wouldn't   want to do anything without their approval. So,  we're going to have a little bit of a hold up   here and then we're ready to go. I have rarely  had them come back and say no, but we've been   following. and they said we need to do stucco and  so that's been a little more challenging but we   have a contractor now and so we're ready to go. So  assuming that so the application's due Friday, we   wait six to eight weeks to see if you're awarded.  What happens if you by chance are not awarded the   tax credits? Um we have a letter of funding from  the bank and so we have a donor that'll fund it.   Plus, we've reached out to numerous grants  and associations here in Witchah for funds   already. And if the way that I understand  it is you haven't started on the exterior   at all because you wouldn't be able to apply for  credits. Is that right? Exactly. You can't start   the project until they've approved it. Anything  else you'd like to share? I don't think so. For   anybody that is concerned about you, um, you're  not awarded the tax credits, the timeline of when   you would start the exterior if you had to lean  into your donor. Just as soon as we know, it's a   line of credit. So, we're approved for a line of  credit for the exterior work. Okay. Thank you.   Thank you, Rhonda Lee. Thank you. I see no further  questions. We'll open it up for public comment. I used to live on Park Place for a long time and  I passed by this property regularly. I always   admired it. It's a beautiful building  and I completely support saving this   building. It sounds like it can it can be  repaired and I love the idea that it will   be historically accurately repaired.  So, I just want to advocate for this   property being repaired and remaining  a part of Witchah's history. Thank you. I see no further. Hi, Sam. Good morning again.  Again, mayor and council Sam Sack at 1720 North   Parkplace. I'm here in my personal capacity.  Um, I appreciate uh the the current owners of   the property and uh the the effort and the work  they've gone into turning this um eyesore uh into   something that can be saved and restored. And  I think really the neighborhood um as a whole   is behind that effort and we like to be able to  save and preserve properties whenever possible.   Uh my my only concern uh or uh ask of the  council is for consideration of of doing   everything possible to keep pressure on to the  current land owner uh property owners. Um we were   told six months ago that we would have substantial  work being done on the restoration of the outside   of the building and as you saw from the picture  taken it looks like a few weeks ago that has not   materialized. there all there always good reasons  for that and I think um I think you know things   happen and um I just think that as we look ahead  to the tax credit process and then anything else   that might come up that was unexpected um I would  urge the council to think about doing everything   in its power to make sure that that pressure  remains because as a neighborhood this blight at   this particular property has been going on for not  just six months or a year or two or three or four   it's been like four or five years at least. And so  I know that the neighbors in that area are really   really ready for something to to change. And  again, overall supportive of of the land owner,   the property owner, and what they're trying to do.  Um, we wish them full success in that. But again,   we would just ask if there's anything the council  can do to make sure that that pressure remains   um so that we can not slide unintentionally  into further delay after delay. Thank you.   I have a question for Ronda Lee then uh regarding  that very question. So I think for folks   um who are maybe just now tuning in, this is  a private property. This is not owned by the   city of Witchah. This is private property um  and again as was stated this has come before   this council before because of the blight um and  again unsightliness because it's deteriorated.   Can you tell us what the next steps are beyond  just a tax credit application? Can you talk about   some of the exterior improvements? Absolutely.  Um, now that we have a stucco contractor, um,   the stucco would be the first step. We also have a  masonary contractor plus we'll redo the interior,   but that won't be seen from the outside. We have  a donor that has cared for the lawn all year so   that it would look good for the neighborhood.  And you know, we've reached out to neighbors   and asked them to come and help us. And we  haven't had much response there. Um but anyway,   so we're going to redo the exterior of the  porches. those things that you see like on the   um porch pillars, the stuckle would be redone  there. And um I would hope that you know with   construction they always say two weeks and it it's  longer, but we're um totally committed and would   um obviously support not having to come back and  discuss it with you again. um and put the city   through all of this. So, anything else? Thank you,  Ronda Lee. And again, what's the ultimate goal?   Would you like to have individuals living in the  house? Can you talk about the ultimate goal? Uhuh.   Um it it's a well obviously with the duplex we'd  have two renters and we want it to be an income   source if we need to pay back to um you know for  our donor with the equity plus um we want to going   forward do other properties in the Midtown area.  So it will be income producing with two renters.   I've already had some interest in people renting  it actually. Thank you. Council member Glascar,   one quick question. I know you've kind of spoken  to this already, but what is your dream timeline   or what's worst case scenario? What's worst  case scenario? Well, my dream timeline is by   next May or June to be able to um rent it. What's  worst case scenario? Um, if we have a contractor   that falls through, it could be closer into the  fall. Okay. Yeah. And you know, the contractors,   they're hard to control. Um, quick question  for Chris again. Thank you. Oh, okay. Context going back to my concern. So, let's say something  isn't developed by May of this year. The property   stands similarly as it stands now. um very  blighted on the outside. What are the tools   the city has at our disposal come May? We would  uh re-energize a housing case and immediately put   this back under condemnation consideration. Okay.  Immediately. How long does immediately take? Uh   the next time our board of code standards and  appeals meets. So it would be within a month of   that that we could put that back in front of them.  Uh I think a lot of that question would come down   to status of a building permit and construction  project. So if they were to begin construction,   stall out on a permit, uh we would wait until  that had kind of run its course and it was   apparent that no more work was taking place and  then energize that. If uh no permit is obtain   obtained at that point, no work has been done,  then then we would immediately go forward to put   this back bring this back in front of you all. We  could have maybe have 30 days try to bring it back   before us and then that could come back before us  in a condemnation sentence from so from the time   we decided to re-energize it we would probably  say 30 days to our BCSA uh after that probably   another 30 to 45 before it would be in front of  city council just given schedule. Okay. Thank   you. Thank you Chris. We'll continue with public  comment. I see none. We'll bring it back to the   bench. This resides in Council Member Ballard's  district. Thank you, Mayor. I appreciate all the   insight. Um I think and appreciate um that so far.  Um the group from Midtown has done everything in a   timely manner, obtained the property through  probate and all things, paid all of the back   taxes. Um they removed seven dumpsters full of  um garbage from the inside and the outside. Uh   they all live in, you know, historic homes, so  I think they understand what they're getting   into and also appreciate it. So um with that,  I move to adopt the finding of the historic   preservation board and deny the demo permit. In  support of this motion, I offer the following.   This property is a historic resource and is  important to the sense of our community and   stakeholders have recently cleaned up the property  and continue to work to make it better. Second,   Chris, weren't you looking for a receive and file  or a return the property code enforcement? Yes,   ma'am. At this time, I think council member,  there might be confusion on this item. The U   recommendation of staff is to close the public  hearing, return it to regular code enforcement.   There's another item coming up, but this is  um Okay, just this one. Just kidding. Uh I   move to close the public hearing, return the  property to regular according code enforcement,   thereby removing it from condemnation  consideration. Second motion and a second.   Any further discussion? I see none.  Madame clerk, please open the role. Motion passes 70. Madame clerk, please  call the next item. Applicant appeal of   HPC 2025-8 condemnation and demolition  permit for 1416 and 1418 North Park,   please. Yes. Uh thank you again, mayor,  council members. Chris Labram again. Uh,   ma'am, I got them a little out of order for you  there because of our recommendation with the   uh condemnation. Uh, given your last action,  MABCD would like to withdraw our appeal and   um the motion that the motion that you just  made, Council Member Ballard would apply. Do you want me to read it again? Jennifer,  do you want me to read it again? Yes,   please. Okay. I move to adopt the findings  of the historic preservation board and deny   the demolition permit. In support of this  motion, I offer the following. This property   is historic resource and is important to  our sense of community and stakeholders   have recently cleaned up the property to  continue to make it better. Second motion   and a second. Any further discussion? I see  none. Madame clerk, please open the role. Motion passes 70. Madame clerk, please call  the next item. Applicant appeal of HPC 2025-60. Hello. Good morning. Scott Wadel  from the planning department here   to present this item. I believe we've got  the PowerPoint showing for the prior case. So, just a moment while we bring up the photos  and everything. Here we go. Okay. Very good. So,   uh this item is being heard today because it was  deferred to this date. So, uh this is an appeal   of a decision by the Witchaw Historic Preservation  Board to deny a building permit for awnings to be   installed at the Obla House, which is located at  102 and 104 North Pinerest. The board determined   that the proposed awnings would damage or destroy  the historic building. The applicant is proposing   to install awnings on the second floor of the  building in order to keep water off the flat roof   slash terraces/p patios on top of the first floor.  The owner intends for the awnings to help protect   the interior spaces below and to allow him to make  any necessary repairs. In terms of the process,   uh, this item is being presented today because of  a 2022 agreement between the city of Witchaw and   the Kansas Historic Preservation Officer. The  agreement allows for local review of projects   that affect historic places instead of having to  send them up to Topeka. As part of the agreement,   the appeal of the local review goes to the city  council. In terms of the property background,   the building at 104 North Pinerest is individually  listed on the National Register of Historic   Places. It was listed back in 2009. It was  listed under criterians B and C, and that   is for its association with the original owners,  brothers Frank and Harvey Abla, and also for its   notable architectural design and construction.  So, here is an aerial showing the location right   at the corner of Douglas and Pinerest. Here are  some photos of the site in the surroundings. And then here are some images and graphics that  were submitted by the applicant as part of their   application to the Witchaw Historic Preservation  Board. Some of them show the interior damages,   some of them show the exterior  up on the roof slash terraces,   and some are illustrations  of the proposed awnings. just kind of flip through  these relatively quickly. So, there are multiple terraces, so there  are different uh groupings of photos. So,   here's the illustration that was submitted  by the applicant at the previous city   council meeting showing what the proposed  awnings would look like. And uh they are   horizontal lines on this image, so they kind  of blend in with the uh rest of the exterior.   Okay, here's the aerial again. So, here's an  overview of the process to date. Back in uh June,   the applicant submitted an application for the  Historic Preservation Board to review the proposed   awnings project back in July uh 14th. On July  14th, HPB determined that the proposed project   would damage or destroy historic property. On  July 22nd, uh the applicant submitted an appeal to   the city clerk. On August 12th, the city council  deferred this item in order to allow for another   opportunity for the historic preservation board to  consider the case and for the applicant to provide   additional details. On August 27th, MAPD and MABCD  staff met to discuss the proposed project. MABCD   staff advised that the applicant's proposed  project would require a building permit and   that a report from a structural engineer would be  required as part of that building permit process.   This information was subsequently relayed to the  applicant to make sure that they were aware of   it and that was done on August 29th via email. On  September 8th, the Witchaw Historic Preservation   Board considered the application again and  recommended denial of the awning set vote was 41,   so one abstension. During the discussion,  the historic preservation board members   expressed concern that the applicant did not have  a structural engineer or a licensed contractor to   assist with the design and installation of the  proposed awnings. Prior to making the motion,   the HPB member who made that motion indicated  a preference for the applicant to submit an   application for the building permit with all  the necessary accompanying information and that   having the application information would be  helpful for the HPB to evaluate this project.   And there's a more complete uh dialogue  contained in the notes which are attached   to the staff report. So when reviewing a project,  the Witto Historic Preservation Board reviews it   using the Secretary of Interior standards. Again,  the board found that the de that the permit would   damage or destroy a historic place and the  notes are attached uh to the staff report. So just a quick note about the process that this  is a historic preservation appeal by the applicant   not a zoning item. So therefore it's recommended  city council hear from the applicant and who is in   attendance and take public comment on the item. In  terms of city council action uh you have a number   of options. You can uh deny this the permit by  adopting the findings of the Witchaw Historic   Preservation Board or uh you can determine that  there's no feasible and prudent alternative,   approve the building permit, and authorize  the mayor to sign a letter to the Kansas   State Historic Preservation Officer. And with  that, I'll stand for any questions. Thank you,   Scott. Um I do have a question regarding this.  Uh this came before us not too long ago and one   of my concerns was is this overburdensome for a  property owner especially someone who's trying   to keep historic buildings in our community.  Uh his biggest concern was water damage that   um has seeped into the interior of that home. Um,  and so I wanted to know what's when the applicant   went back to the historic preservation board, um,  what was the interaction between the board and the   property owner? The interaction between the board  and the property owner, I believe, um, I was not   there, but in referring to the notes and talking  with staff, uh, the dialogue was about whether or   not there was any new additional information. I  think the applicant was able to share additional   perspective on it. Um at the same time though  uh the notes reflect from the conversation   that members of the board were looking for  uh perhaps some more detailed information   and especially that a contractor or structural  engineer would be involved in the project. So   uh without that being the case, I think that uh  contributed to uh the results of that meeting.   I have received a couple of emails regarding  this property from neighbors in the area who   are supportive of this property owner and trying  to make sure that it again stays historic but also   uh does not continue to have further damage. Um  so there again the emails that I have received   have been supportive of Mr. Turman. Um and I  don't know about the other council members. Uh,   but I don't have any further questions  for you and I'll open it up for public   comment which will allow Mr.  Turman to come up and speak. Um, thank you to the city council members and Mayor  Woo. I want to say thank you. Um,   also want to give Brandon Johnson a shout out. Um,   it was his suggestion that took it back to  the to the board uh for reconsideration. Um, of course, the HBC and and my position remains  unchanged. If I do what the WHPB suggests,   scaffolding and tarps, um the cost for the  scaffolding, um that we can best figure out will   be needed adds $2,800 per month to this project,  which I'm looking at two years. Um $67,000   Um, and this does not include the labor  that will be needed uh for replacing the   tarps every two uh three to four months. Um,  this balloons my budget by about $50,000. The blade style awning design I've  proposed can do a better job than   scaffolding and tarps. For much less, I'm  expecting to cover the decks with the blade   style awnings for about $20,000. That includes  the labor. I mean, it's a very simple design.   So, um, you know, this is money that I don't  have, uh, and it's money that would be taken   away from the project itself. I need confidence.  I need confidence to know that when I open up the   ceiling to my dining room, the ceilings  to some of the kitchens or part of the   kitchens to a couple of the bedrooms that  I have a solid surface above and that um I've worked with tarps all my life. I've been  raised in rentals and construction and and and   tarps, you know, they have a purpose, but do you  know what? Tarps have not improved over time. Um,   the tarps for this project will be a disaster  to the beautiful hardwood floors underneath.   In 20ou uh in August 14, August 2014, I applied  for replacement insurance. The insurance came   in and they did quite an extensive valuation.  It took several months. It was a property that   they they didn't know much about. They didn't  know how to figure it out. But one thing was   certain. the hardwood floors, the quality, the  design, the way they put together. Replacement   value on the hardwood floors alone is over  a million dollars. Um, my insurance company   was also really disappointed in their suggestion  calling it laxidasial. um the the scaffolding um the expense of tarps, um you know, just the  fact that in the Kansas winds, the driving winds   that drive rain and storms, um it's not going to  suffice for what we need to do for to protect the   interiors. Um and and please remember I've offered  to remove the scaffolding when this project is   done for the ABLA house itself. Um it provides  the city with more than just um property tax   revenue. It also provides sales tax and occupancy  tax revenues as we also operate it as an Airbnb. I believe on this problem unfortunately  the WHPB is out of touch.   Um, you know, I they deal with large  construction companies that work for   hotel chains. They have large budgets, large  staffs. You coming in with great presentations,   digitally enhanced and and beautiful. And  I don't have those kind of budgets to make   this work. And I feel what they're forgetting is  the individual homeowner who lives in the house,   who's studied the problem, in my case for 25  years, looking for an economical good solution.   In other words, my favorite phrase in something  like this is making lemonade out of lemons. Last and and something that's extremely important  to me is the respect to my neighbors. They have   always been supportive for the last 25  years. And I I I honestly can't imagine   anything more horrible than sticking up  a bunch of scaffolding and shredded tarps   uh due to wind damage um while this process  goes through. And and I ask you uh please help me stop the bleeding by providing me this  this this surface so I can uh start a comp a   comprehensive uh terrace uh project and and I can  do this with confidence. So thank you and I'll be   glad to answer any questions you have. Thank you  Mr. Chairman. I don't see any questions. I just   wanted to um ask you really quickly. You mentioned  how long you've been the property owner of this   uh historic building. And again, we don't want  this to be overburdensome for you because again,   you're doing it on your dime. You're not asking  for taxpayers to help you with this. I am not.   you are just asking to be able to renovate  your building so that it doesn't have further   damage from rain. And so I really appreciate you  continuing to make sure that we have this housing   stock in our community, but also one that has  historic significance to the city of Witchah and   I commend you for trying to do this on your dime.  And as you mentioned, you're asking and pleading   from to this council that you don't want to  continue bleeding um and that you're just asking   to again be able to utilize your home. And so um  these are just my comments uh and I again from   the last conversation where you were before us,  I wanted to make sure that you could move forward   with your project. Um but again, it went back  uh to the preservation board. Uh but ultimately   this council can make that decision. So thank you  very much for coming back yet again. Thank you,   Council Member Glas. Thank you, Mayor. I was  probably going to save my comments to the end,   but since you're up here, um, I'll speak to  you directly. I don't disagree with one thing   you said. Um, I think everything you said was  pointed and accurate. Um, I think this is crazy.   This is coming before us. um when I looked at that  background slide and that you started this process   months ago and that we have been the burden that  while rains continue to fall in the area and your   house has probably seen more flooding this year  than probably any other year because of the delay   of this body your situation your home has gotten  worse. So on behalf of the citizens of Witchaw   I apologize for that and government should not  be making it harder for you to make your house   livable and to maintain your property. Um I  think the request was out of touch. I think   it was unreasonable. The request of $50,000 more  to be able to do the recommendation from the board   um again is out of touch and unreasonable. And  so um I will not be supportive of the original   um recommendation today. The alternative  to determine uh that there are no prudent   or feasible alternatives. So again, I apologize  and thank you for being here and thank you for   uh standing up for your property, especially  as a homeowner. Thank you. I I do have one more   thing. I I sent you around a picture. Um, in the  process, um, the planners that I've worked with,   uh, they've been great. I mean, one of the  suggestions that um they said, you know,   if you could come up with a picture of a of a  similar building um and and and so I didn't think   this would fall into place the way it was, but um  on the southwest corner of Central and Emporia,   there is a a a building that is very similar an  architectural style. It's It's got the rounded   corners. It has the bands that wrap around  the building. And on this building, there are   what I call awnings made of permanent materials  protecting the doorways, walkways, those kind of   things. And uh I just wanted to bring that to your  attention as it's so close. and um uh something   that may be a good comparison uh to what I'm  doing now. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Council member   Tuttle, thank you. Thank you for being here.  And again, I I feel awful for your situation.   I concur with my colleagues. I think you should  have your awnings. Um the comment that you made   that you were concerned about your neighbors and  that they would have to look at the scaffolding,   that was not lost on me. that even during all of  this strife that you're have that you're having,   you're still trying to be a good neighbor and a  good widget. So, I will be supportive. However,   this works out of you getting the awnings that  you need. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Turman.   We'll continue to open it up for public comment  if anyone from the public would like to speak. Bet you're tired of me. Actually, um I have some  questions because I tend to side with the historic   preservation board and I don't sitting in the  audience I don't have a very good idea of I   love this building and I know this building is  is beloved in the city of Witchah by many many   people and um I I trust their judgment but I don't  have the full picture. Like I literally don't have   pictures. I saw a little flash of what it would  look like. I don't but I don't really have a full   understanding. And I'm personally concerned that  it would be aesthetically damaged in some way. I   also am very concerned about the water damage  on the building. Now, another possibility,   I think the building is so popular in Witchaw  that people might fund raise to help you. Um,   ma'am, so yeah, Jennifer Mana, attorney. Yeah,  just under um ordinance mayor. Um, any speaker is   comments are to be directed only to the bench. Oh,  only to the bench. Okay. So, well, I mean, I just   have questions about it. I'd love to talk to him  about it now that I'm talking to you. Um, because   I do. In this city, there have been so many  sad changes made to our historic buildings that   Witchaw hardly looks like Witchah anymore. It just  looks like these new um soulless, very plain and   very unattractive new buildings built with poor  quality materials that um probably aren't going   to stand the test of time. You know, 10 years,  maybe, maybe 15. So, um I'm always concerned about   updates and I care a lot about this building.  I also care about this homeowner and what he's   been going through. I do think that there would  be enough support in Witchaw that people might   um like want to contribute to the best option  working with him and the the historic preservation   board and public opinion. You know, it's  possible. I think it's a very very popular   beloved building in Witchah and I think a lot of  Witch Witchans really want to hang on to what we   still have since you know the Crown Uptown is  in danger of being torn down and so many other   historic buildings in Witchah have been torn down  or altered in such a way that they don't resemble   which what they once were. So that's my comment.  Thank you. We'll continue with public comment. All right, we will close public  comment and bring it back to the bench. This resides in council member  um Johnson's district. Thank you,   mayor. My specific concerns have actually  been addressed. So, I would move that the   council determine there are no prudent  or feasible alternatives to the request,   override the decision of the historic preservation  board, authorize the mayor to sign a letter to   the Kansas Historic Preservation Officer,  and approve the building permit. Second.   Motion and a second. Any further discussion? I  see none. Madame Clerk, please open the role. Vice Mayor Johnston. Motion passes 70. Madame clerk,  please call the next item. Public exigency ratification for compressor  replacement at the Witchaw Ice Center. Good morning, mayor and council members. Gary  Jansen, public works and utilities. Uh the   first two items I have for you is a request  for ratification of the public exigency for   um replacement of compressor at the Witchaw  Ice Center. So at full capacity, the Witchaw   Ice Center operates uh two ice rinks, Olympic  and NHL National Hockey League size. Um the   sports facilities companies, who's the operator  of the Witchto Ice Center, was building ice on the   Olympic rink on September 9th and one of the two  ammonia compressors failed. The operator contacted   an ammonia certified contractor, Advanced  Mechanical Solutions, and AMS determined that the   compressor could not be repaired without a major  rebuild. Presently, the ice center is operating   with only the NHL rink available and the operators  making scheduling adjustments to accommodate   users, uh, which is one of the impetus for the  public exency so we can get them back online with   both rinks as soon as possible. After receiving  notice of the failure, city staff solicited quotes   and schedules from AMS for various options. Uh  the rebuild option was approximately 13 weeks,   $65,000. Standard replacement, uh meaning  standard shipping and manufacturing time,   13 to 15 weeks, just over $56,000. expedited  replacement would cut that almost in half   uh at a little bit more cost of just over $60,000.  Due to limited parts availability and intensive   labor, rebuilding the compressor would cost  more and take longer than full replacement.   Waiting an additional month to formally bid  for this replacement would incur additional   scheduling impacts and possible cancellation  of events, including a youth hockey tournament,   high school hockey league games, figure skating  practices, and extended holiday hours. Again,   the reason for the uh public exigency request  of the manager and our request to you today, the   expedited shipping, which also includes expedited  manufacturing of the new compressor option,   facilitates replacement completion as early as mid  November. All associated costs are being shared   with the law department for consideration  ongoing legal action related to premature   equipment failures at the ICE center. The total  ant anticipated cost of replacing the compressor   is $60,128. Funding is available in the ongoing  city facility improvements for 2025 project budget   identified in the opted adopted CIP and will  be financed with general obligation bonds.   Staff recommends city council affirm and ratify  the city manager's public exigency approval to   replace the failed ammonia compressor at the  ice center. and I'd be happy to stand for any   questions. Thank you, Gary. Council member  Hohheisle. Thank you, Mayor. Um, this is the   second compressor that has failed. Am I correct  in that, Gary? So, in July, thank you for asking   that and I thought someone might. In July of  2023, both of the compressors had a failure. So,   there's two parts of these compressors and I'm not  going to stand up here and act like the expert,   but I got the right information from staff. So the  top end of of both compressors failed in July of   2023 um and were repaired at that time. Now it's  the bottom end of one of the compressors that   has failed. Uh there is normal maintenance and  upkeep on these compressors and the equipment.   Uh just as recently as a couple months ago, um  an evaluation of the compressor showed everything   that was fine. So these things can happen rather  quickly. Okay. Um, what equipment do we have up   there? Major pieces of equipment that have not  failed in the past four or five years. So, since 2022 um in in July in 2018, the original  1996 chiller plant had failed. In n in 2019,   um, replacement of the chiller plant  was completed. Since that time,   um, basically all of the icemaking equipment has  been repaired or replaced over the last several   years. Okay. Do we anticipate any other, um,  issues going forward? Well, hopefully not. Um,   the, you know, at this time, obviously, take a  look at the other compressor. Does not appear   to be any issues at this time. We've been fairly  fortunate, all things considered, that we haven't   had any issues since March of 2024. Um, that was  when kind of the last pieces of the icemaking   equipment were repaired or replaced at that time.  Right now, we don't anticipate any further issues,   but we also didn't expect this one either.  Do we have any do we have a third party come   in and check it out after it fails that way  or is that more internal that we look at? So   uh the operator again they have AMS uh come in  and do preventative maintenance to do checks on   all the equipment. They had done so just recently  again even on these compressors in spite of what   happened with the failure. So from from our  standpoint and what we're work staff works   with them uh I think they're doing a good job  with annual maintenance plan. Okay. Thank you. Can you talk about some of the challenges um  in renting out this space now with this little   delay? Um I might go the best information I've  got I can go back to is um again the potential   scheduling impacts or the types of events that  could be cancelled is a youth hockey tournament,   high school hockey league games, figure skating  practices and extended holiday hours. So,   um, we again with the expedited approach  to, uh, getting the new compressor,   hope to be back online as early as mid November.  Uh, anything beyond that will cause additional   impacts to scheduling for sure. Thank you, Gary.  And this question is actually for Jennifer. Uh,   since we're still in ongoing legal action, um,  there are very limited uh, questions that we   can ask, but can you just uh, share that we What  are what's the status report that you can share   that's public? Sure. Um the city is pursuing all  all revenue all all avenues for damages against   um two defendants in this case. Um this  this item is part of the original design   um installation and it is included and will  be specifically addressed in that litigation.   Thank you. I see no further questions for staff.  We'll open it up for public comment. I see none.   I'll bring it back to the bench. This resides in  council member Glascock's district. Thank you,   mayor. I will move that the city council affirm  and ratify the city manager's public extingency   approval to replace the failed ammonia compressor  at the Witchto Ice Center. Second. Motion and   a second. Any further discussion? I see  none. Madame clerk, please open the role. Motion passes 70. Madame clerk, please call the  next item. Overestimate bid for bio biological   nutrient removal for plant one. Mayor and council  members Gary Jansen again. Uh this item will look   familiar to you and I'm going to hit on some of  the things same things we talked about earlier,   but it's a request for overestimate bid  for BNR improvements for plant one. Um,   back in March of 2024, the city council approved  a design agreement for the biological nutrient   removal program improvements, which includes  multiple projects. Construction has been divided   into several individual packages at treatment  plants one and two and for some improvements   uh for the Cowskin interceptor sewer. On September  12th, bids were open for the final construction   package at plant one. Uh, this project will  upgrade odor control systems and electronic   controls at plant one. And again, this is the  last project of the program to be bid. The only   bid received exceeded the engineer's estimate by  just over $1.3 million or 12% of the estimate. The   higher bids are the result of working on critical  active in infrastructure, short shutdown duration   requirements, and continued inflationary impacts  on material costs and labor. Uh I might mention   again what I talked about before and our belief  why there was only one bidder has a lot to do   with the current construction market. Uh we  did make some additional effort to reach out   to contractors. This contractor uh assuming  your approval today that will be awarded the   bid is doing all of the work all the remaining  work on the plant 2 project packages. All the   remaining packages tied to the plant 2 uh primary  BNR improvements. Accepting the bid will allow the   project to proceed without requiring it to rebid,  thus eliminating a potential increase in the cost,   delay of start, and possible loss of funding  for the improvements. In accordance with   charter ordinance 228, staff recommends the city  council approve acceptance of the lowest bid. A   revised estimate has been prepared to reflect the  increased cost of constructing the improvements.   Funding is available in the BNR project budget  of just over $387 million approved by the city   council on March 5th, 2024. Uh I might mention  again based on the question that was asked before,   we are uh this funding is from availability  within that full budget. Obviously,   we've done the staff's done a really good job  working with the contractor and our owners rep   u to value engineer some savings into multiple  projects which is helping us out here. We will we   will have the first change order on the project  coming to the council relatively soon uh for   improvements related to the package 2 projects  somewhere in the neighborhood of $3 million. A   lot of it has to do with the fact that we're  working on an older plant, right? So, um, and   I'll just tell you real quick, um, kind of what  that's about. Uh, the large clarifiers, uh, that   we're making improvements to, the ones that we're  putting the covers on for odor control, once you   get those drained, uh, and determine the condition  of the mechanisms there is what's driving some of   that additional cost, not something that could  have been known beforehand. That'll come to the   council soon at some point. That still fits within  this budget. There could come a time when we   start to push the limit, but again, we've got some  contingency in place if we if at any point in time   we need to exceed that, but that's something that  we would bring back to the council. With having   said all that, staff recommends city council  approve the acceptance of the lowest bid, and I'd   be happy to answer any questions. Thank you, Gary.  Council member, thank you, Mayor. Um, yeah, this   is one of the more odorous uh sewage treatment  plants that we have. I know a lot of people in   the neighborhood surrounding are eager for this  project to be complete. Is this going to uh slow   down our timeline at all? Maybe a couple of weeks  or I don't think so. And especially it helps to   have it does help to have the same contractor.  Um the as far as mobilization where they're at,   the work that they're doing down there, I think  that's value to us at this point, but we don't   expect to see any impact any significant impact  on schedule. Okay. the the odor control at plant   two is um if we stay on the timeline should be  complete about this time next year. Correct.   Is that where we are with plant one as well?  Uh approximately yes. I think it' probably be   later in uh towards the end of next year or even  into probably the first or second quarter of 2027   likely with where we're at right now. Okay. Thank  you Gary. Uh you mentioned uh that this project   right now $387 million. However, a change order is  coming. It's still within the budget. Correct. Um,   how much have you budgeted within the 387 that  will be fluctuating based off of predictable or   u not predictable but rather uh anticipated uh  buffers. I'm not sure that I can give you a hard   number u but within all projects we generally try  to have some contingency knowing that the nature   of construction regardless of of what we put into  the design efforts there's like could be um some   unforeseen conditions like this uh what we did I  might mention again that I think has really helped   obviously is um since the first the first of the  the big projects packages two and three were bid   uh we've had a very robust uh engagement with  the contractor with our owners rep and staff   uh to do everything we could for value engineering  to save cost. So so we've realized considerable   savings and I apologize I don't have that  number just from those bids even that allow   us some additional contingency to be within  the project. So, uh, we don't we, you know,   we don't always have a set number when we put the  budgets together. Uh, but we do want to make sure   that we can accommodate changes as they come  along. Does it tend to be a percentage like   uh Yeah. And and and it it does and I don't know  that I can necessarily give you a hard number,   but uh by economy of scale, as a project gets  bigger, the percentage is smaller. Um, but we can   in and you've probably seen some of the items we  brought to you before as far as approval of change   orders that changing that limit. That doesn't  mean it changes the budget. Uh, but generally   you can look at a project like this could be up  to 5%. You know, we've talked about on the water   treatment plant uh that we're still only around  one and a half to 2%. I think with the change   order that'll come forward on this project, it'll  be in that same area, two to two and a half%. And while you mentioned the water treatment plant,   since we're talking about major utility  investments, um 387 million for BNR,   can you remind us again regarding the  water treatment plant and how that is   going as I believe we should be getting uh  the keys to that by the end of this year?   Uh we are currently for the water treatment plant  we are currently undergoing u performance testing.   Um and right now the projected schedule uh for  completion of that is around the 1st of December. Remind us the dollar amount for  this investment. again the water   treatment probably I think our overall  budget now is just over $550 million thank you very much Gary thank you appreciate  uh your team again major investments by the   city of Witchah to both water and sewer  which are the two critical aspects of   uh public works and we appreciate uh that  this is happening and again council member   Hoheiseled into this earlier, but  it uh does help reduce the odor   uh that is produced out of that plant to  help the residents in that area as well as   travelers who drive by district three.  We will open it up for public comment. Good morning, Stephen Ahmad. Uh 5400 East Street  North. Uh now I may be a little uninformed on   how these funds are distributed to these  contractors for these projects. However,   my recommendation being given they only have the  one contractor who has gone over the estimated   budget and just cided market forces for those  kinds of things. I would recommend if any funds   are dispersed to the contractor before the  completion of the project that we withhold   any overestimate funds until the absolute  completion of the project on time with a   set time of you know end of calendar year 27 or  26 my apologies. um assuming no extensions given   with approval from the council on a well-informed  a well-informed decision basis rather than just   handing out when they ask for it. Thank you.  We'll continue with public comment. I see none.   I'll bring it back to the bench. Council member  Hohheisel, this is in your district. Thank you,   Mayor. And I do believe we have the ability uh  within the aotted money to see exactly what they   need to do and there is some flexibility  as far as the spending goes there. Um so I   would like to recommend that the city council  approve acceptance of the lowest bid. Second   motion and a second. Any further discussion? I  see none. Madame clerk, please open the role. Motion passes 70. Madame clerk,  please call the next item. 2026 payment standards housing  choice voucher program. Mayor, council members, my name is Jean Cruz.  I am the housing choice voucher program manager   and we're going to talk about the 2026 payment  standard uh housing cho for the housing choice   voucher program. The quality housing and  work responsibility act of 1998 requires   housing authorities to establish a housing  choice voucher payment standard between 90   and 110% of the fair market rent published by the  uh by HUD for applicable bedroom and unit sizes.   The payment standard is used to calculate the  amount of maximum subsidy paid to landlords and   includes an allowance for tenant paid utilities.  The QHWR included a provision that does not allow   tenants initially receiving assistance to pay  more than 40% of adjusted monthly income for   rent and utilities. On January 1st of  2025, the Witchaw Housing Authority was   mandated to implement small area FMR. The  WHA jurisdiction includes Cedric, Butler,   Harvey counties outside of the city of Newton.  SEFMR regulation sets the fair market rents at   the zip code level. The Witchaw Housing Authority  must set the payment standards at 90 to 110% of   the SAFMR for each zip code. On August 22nd of  2025, HUD published a notice of the SFMR for 2026.   The FMR is calculated at the 40th percentile of  rents in each zip code. An allowance for utilities   is included in the FMR. The 2026 payment  standards are consistent with the city's   comprehensive housing policy, specifically the  components related to affordability, availability,   and neighborhood stability. Payment standards  are also in accordance with the departmental   goal to increase and preserve supply of housing to  maintain affordability of residents earning 50% or   less of the area median income. The area median  income for a family of four is currently 93,800. The 2026 payment standards are calculated  for all units within the Witchaw Housing   Authority jurisdiction and are set at varying  percentages between 90 and 110% of the 2026 FMR   based on bedroom size and participant success  in leasing units of different bedroom sizes.   SEFMRS are designed to provide participating  families the ability to lease units in higher   opportunity areas. Higher opportunity  areas are defined by Freddy Mack and   Opportunity 360 as areas that provide housing  stability, education, health and well-being,   economic security, and mobility. These  areas often have a higher cost of living. The only payment standards that will decrease  for 2026 are in zip codes in which there are no   existing tenencies. As such, there will be no  negative impact on any participating families.   All zip codes that have active tenencies will  see an increase in the payment standard. However,   actual rent approved is determined  through the rent reasonleness process   as required by HUD. Extensive analysis  of leasing success rates and excuse me,   participant rent burden in each zip code was  used to establish the recommended schedule.   It's on the And you should have this in  your packet, but but here it is again. Financial considerations. There's no  impact to the general fund. Analys   analysis demonstrates that setting payment  standards in accordance with the attached   schedule will increase the overall unit  cost by 3.8%. But will be necessary to   ensure adequate supply of housing units  for participants to use the voucher. Legal considerations. Establishment of payment   standards based on the small area FMRS  is required by regulation for the WHA. Recommendation. It is recommended that the Witchaw  Housing Authority Board approve the 2026 payment   standard schedule for the housing choice voucher  program to be effective January 1st of 2026   for all housing assistant payment contracts and  contract renewals effective thereafter. I stand   for questions. Jean Council Member Hiser. Thank  you, Mayor. Uh, Jean, I appreciate you coming up   here. Um, it sounds like a lot of this is mandated  by HUD. What exactly do we have any power over   here in regards to this program? I mean, we can  set the payment standards according to the the   FMR that they set. We can set ours for the housing  authority anywhere between 90 and 110% of what HUD   establishes as the FMR. Does that make sense?  Yeah. That's about what we have control over.   We we only have so much money and we try to make  sure that our money goes as far as it can because   we want to make sure that we are supporting as  many families as possible. To give you an example,   just due to flat um flat funding and increased  rents, we were we we the number of people that   we were able to support from January 1st of  2024, so a year since this has been implemented,   we've only been able we've reduced that number  by 382 families. So the more money we spend,   the fewer families we're able to  help. So we try to be very careful and   um conscious of of of the clients that we serve  and how the numbers that we put in place affect   um our clients. Yes. So if I remember  correctly, it was due to the the rise in rent,   the rising cost of rent and just a set amount of  money that we have. We weren't able to help all   those families actually find housing because  the uh the vouchers were not enough to help   them find the housing. That's why there was a  reduction in the number but an increase in the   amount per voucher. Um when looking at this um  do we look at supportive services? What is in   the area for these zip codes? Does that impact  um the rent in particular or the availability   of vouchers to be used in those zip codes? Not  sure really really how to how to answer that. Um,   you know, HUD sets, you know, sets the FMR based  on the 40th, uh, I think I said it was the 40th   percentile. Yeah. 40th percentile of rents  in each zip code. And it's determined on um, you know, what what Freddy Mack and uh,  Opportunity 360 uh, determines as an area   of higher opportunity. So, so they set that  and um as far as what what it used to be is   it used to be a metropolitan level. They used  to do it by the metropolitan level versus the   zip code level. And what was happening is  landlords were artificially inflating the   rents for not just voucher holders but  for non voucher holders. For instance,   in 67214 back in 2024, a one-bedroom  um payment standard for was $815.   Well, I mean, it was 815 payment standard for  67205. And if you bought a house in 67214, that   identical house in 67205 isn't going to sell for  the same amount. So, that's where HUD's coming in.   And that's where they're saying they're looking  at each zip code individually and looking at what   um what the uh they're looking at the uh it's  calculated the 40 40th percentile of rents in   each zip code. So, that's how where they get  their base from. and then we go from there to   determine where we're going to set our rents.  But um you know as far as what else we offer   them I mean I mean if there's a place I don't  know how else to answer that. I mean there's council member member of council the other  aspect of this is the reasonleness review.   So that is we're the payment standards set the  maximum amount of subsidy. But when we determine   the actual rent allowed for a particular unit,  there are 13 factors to go that go into that   comparability study. And it is the age of the  unit, the square footage, amenities, things like   that that can bolster rents in areas, whether  they're furnished, whether things like that. So   there are 13 different factors that go into that  calculation on a unitby-unit basis. setting the   maximum subsidy which is what's happening here  today is that requirement to set between 90 and   110. Okay. So we we still have the power like  voucher by voucher to go between 90 and 110. No   once we set the payment standard for that zip code  that's the highest subsidy level. But the amount   of rent that can be approved is on a unitby-unit  basis. That's that subsidy level doesn't say that   the landlord can't ask more than that amount  in rent. But that requirement that that the   way that the voucher works is the client's going  to pay 30% of their monthly adjusted income plus   any amount that exceeds that payment standard and  that combined can't exceed 40%. Okay? So sometimes   when they ask for more than the payment standard  because maybe their unit actually deserves it,   um it may make it so that particular unit isn't  available to that household because they have   very low income to support that overage. So, it  is on a unit-by-unit basis where we determine   the maximum amount of rent by comparing that  unit to three comparables, as close as we can   um comparables to ensure we're not overpaying  in rent. Okay. Okay. All right. Thank you,   Ally. Maybe the question's for you. Just how much  uh money from the federal government exactly goes   into housing vouchers? Sure. The program  combined with housing assistance and admins   about $25 million and that has an you know a 1.2  to 1.5 economic impact to our community. So it's   it's a tremendous program for our community. Thank  you for being good stewards of the $25 million to   help families in need. I see no further questions  for staff. We'll open it up for public comment.   I see no one from the public. I'll  bring it back to the bench. With that,   I will move that the Witchah Housing Authority  Board approved the 2026 payment standard schedule   for the housing choice voucher program to be  effective on January 1st, 2026 for all new   housing assistance payments contracts and annual  re-examinations effective thereafter. Second   motion and a second. Any further discussion? I  see none. Madame clerk, please open the role. Motion passes. 70. Madame clerk, please call the next item.  Combined public hearing 2026 annual agency plan   and 2026 to 2030 capital fund grant five-year  action plan. Well, good afternoon mayor,   members of council. Sally Stang with the housing  and community services department for the record.   The item I have for you today is that 2026 annual  agency plan and capital fund um estimated budgets.   So, public housing authorities are required  to prepare an annual agency plan every year   and a five-year plan every fifth year,  which was completed last year. Currently,   the housing authority has 157 units. That changes  daily. So, actually, I think it's 156 since this   was put together as we're selling off those  public housing units and 3,51 housing choice   uh emergency housing vouchers and mainstream  vouchers in the portfolio. Our jurisdiction   includes Sedick County, Butler County, and  Harvey County outside of the city of Newton.   The annual agency plan documents um include  method of rent calculation, general operating   policies and procedures and a statement statement  of capital improvements. The capital fund program   provides funding for capital improvements  to those public housing units only. So,   we have a rigorous plan schedule. We're required  to have a 45 public review and comment period. We   published the plan on August 22nd, 2025 and that  public comment period ends today with this public   hearing. We conducted an resident advisory board  review on September 18th. We have had difficulty   year after year trying to get participants to  participate in a standing RAB board. So we invite   every participant in both programs to participate  in that meeting. Then we have the combined public   hearing today and we have until October 18th  to submit the plan to HUD. The public housing   program continues to sell off those single family  homes from its portfolio. Once they are all sold,   the public housing program will terminate. Sales  pre proceeds will fund the any new it can be   any new section 8 projectbased voucher assisted  housing including the permanent supportive housing   on the second lake campus. The construction  for the RAD conversion of the four multifamily   senior properties concluded in 2025 as the final  project Greenway Manor received its CFO and will   be fully leased by year end. We're very excited.  They actually started leasing units last week.   In 2024, the section 8 housing choice  voucher program, we assisted 3,821 families,   comprised of 8,423 individuals with rent  assistance totaling over $21 million. The   average assistance per household is $5,647 and  their average income is $13,945 per year. 51.27%   27% of the households were elderly or disabled.  There were 4,127 dependents and 917 households   came from homelessness. Just to show um  though we have various programs that are   assisting with homelessness, the VASH program,  veterans affairs supportive housing, that one's   a little bit different in that it is specialized  funding defined by HUD. Uh that has its own rules.   We have the foster youth to independence vouchers  which assist youth aged 18 to 24 who have aged out   of the foster care system. We had 147 emergency  housing vouchers. Those were issued um during   the ARPA period. We had 10 with the ref refugee  preference and 441 under our homeless preference   program. And then I've provided a listing of  all of the agencies and programs that we're   partnering with to provide case management for all  of those folks. So, Congress appropriated level   funding from 2024 to 25 for housing assistance  payments and administrative fees. Level funding,   although not a cut in funding, does not account  for those rent and utility cost increases,   which results in the reduction in the number of  families that can be served. Gan touched on this,   right? January 1st, 2024, we had just under 3,100  people being assisted. And on September 1st of 25,   it was 2716. And that's just because of rent  increases and utility expense increases. That's   a reduction of nearly 400 families from  the program and a reduction of $26,747 per month in administrative fees to support staff  administering the program. The proposed TE HUD   budgets from the House and the Senate right now  propose drastic cuts to the housing choice voucher   administrative fees up to 43%. So we see the House  at 16 or the House at 43% the Senate at 16% it's   going to land somewhere in between. So if we're  talking even if it lands at 20% that's one in   five. So not in a good position right now. So some  just some highlights we promoted self-sufficiency.   That's always one of our goals. And we increased  our family self-sufficiency program participation   by 12%. We had 143 housing choice voucher and  public housing uh participants participate in   the individual and family development program in  2024. In 2024, 156 youth participated in the way   to work summer youth employment program from those  programs. And to date, we've been awarded in 2025   an additional 28 tenant protection vouchers  to replace some of the public housing units.   And we are expecting another 68. The emergency  housing voucher program has been fully utilized   since early 2022, and it was given a utilization  percentage in one of the top 10 in the nation,   which we are very proud of. Foster youth to  independence program assisted 20 persons who   aged out of foster care in the past five years.  The HCV homeless preference enabled 488 persons   to secure permanent housing since January of 2020.  And the program conducted landlord outreach and   provided fair housing training to 51 individuals  at the Witchaw Housing Conference in April 2025.   So proposed changes in the uh section 8  administrative plan. We are proposed to update the   PHA policy requirements for the HPPB preference to  ensure there's a case management commitment. All   documents to determine eligibility are provided  and a written commitment from a landlord. Some of   a lot of this stems to we learned a lesson this  year in if you remember back in December the   council approved the uh erra bridge program. It  was at a time when we had no vouchers to issue and   we prioritized all of those referrals that were on  the waiting list for a homeless preference voucher   to be paid out of ERRA funds. Staff spent months  going through 238 referrals to only have 23. Lisa   23 months and months of time trying to determine  eligibility. We are required especially for   homeless preference to follow the same regulations  and contacts and eligibility. Um unfortunately   that just caused harm to people who are waiting  and waiting. So our reasoning behind making   sure we have a commitment that when we receive a  referral, it's actually going to go to a housing   placement. The next one is HUD is eliminating  the EHV funding. when that was issued in 2021,   um the grant agreements included funding through  2030. HUD came out about six months ago and said   that's being cut off in 2026. And so in order  to not terminate the assistance of those persons   who are currently housed under EHV, adding a  preference that will allow them to convert to a   regular voucher. A new homeless preference for the  home TBR program. This will ensure that persons   assisted under the home TBR direct to housing  encampment decommissioning pilot project can   continue to receive rent assistance if needed.  this uh council on with the annual action plan   for the community development program set aside  funding so that we had a new source of funding to   try and house people directly from encampments.  The challenge is that's one year of funding and   we're oftentimes dealing with with folks that  have been on the streets for many years and only   having one year of funding could cycle them back  to homelessness if we don't have a path for those   who need it after that first year. Due to the  executive orders related to the DEI references,   the refugee referral preference is being removed  and those families can be referred and served   under the homeless preference program as they meet  HUD's definition of homeless and referrals will   continue to be received from the International  Rescue Committee um who is being connected to the   continuum of care. Voucher terms and extensions.  We've updated the policy to cover regulatory   changes mandating that the initial voucher term  for mainstream and and foster youth vouchers be   120 days. No choice there. We've updated the  PHA policy chart to indicate that the city of   Witchah ID can be used to determine legal ID  for adults. Enforcing LO uh owner compliance,   clarifying updated added language to clarify  in the policy that we have no choice but to   abate housing assistance payments that are not  corrected within 24 hours for exigent health and   safety items or 30 days for all other deficiencies  even if the deficiencies are caused by the tenant   in accordance with the federal regulations. uh  we added the ability to use other resources to   perform that rent reasonableness review. We you  we subscribe to a service. Sometimes they don't   have accurate or enough comparables. The way our  policy was written in the past, we only use that   service. We're just adding that flexibility that  we can use other methods to find comparable units   in cases when we can't. We ran across that this  year with the um with the affordable housing fund.   Large enterprises purchased multiple public  housing properties, six bedrooms. We couldn't   find enough sixbs to do comparables. So, it it  caused a little bit of a of a challenge. Um we   have updated are recommending updating the policy  to enter into memorandings of understandings with   agencies to provide referrals for the mainstream  voucher program. Mainstream vouchers is a separate   source of funding. They're very specifically for  people that are non-elderly, non-disabled with   first priority to those who are Medicaid waiver  eligible. So, these are folks that um might be   going into assisted living without having another  potential resource when they are able to have   independent living. Just solidifying that the  agencies will enter into anou to provide those   referrals. updated the PHA policy to indicate that  submission of the request for tenency approval   documents must be complete and only fully  completed packets are going to be processed.   Getting partial processed just causes headache  and chaos. Um updating our repayment policy.   Previously our our repayment policy now someone  goes into repayment when they didn't timely report   a change in their income. We are mandated to  have them pay that money back that was overpaid   on their behalf. Our previous policy said if they  were late, they were terminated. Now we're saying,   okay, let's at least if you pay it off, we don't  necessarily have to terminate it. So, and then we   added multiple changes throughout the project  based voucher chapter that were regulatory,   but then we also added the uh projectbased  voucher exhibits for the 11 contracts that   we executed in 2025 aligning with that affordable  housing fund. So, you'll see that in there. Um, we you know what? It's not in  here. I apologize. We did receive   um public comment. We had received none from the  resident advisory board. We had received one from   uh SAC which had misinterpreted the housing first  evolution preference. We responded to that one.   And then more recently on 102, we received a  letter from the coalition to end homelessness   in Witchah Sedra County with comments regarding  the plan. Based on the coalition's comments,   several nonsubstantive changes to verbiage  have been made to further clarify policy   or typographical errors. And those responses were  sent to you on Friday based on the uh coalition's   comments that we recommend one substantive change  to the to the plan that wasn't part of what was   originally published and that is to retitle the  limited referral-based homeless preference to just   limited referral-based preferences and increase  the cap from 15 to 20%. This would include taking   referrals for people who are literally homeless,  formerly homeless under the move on strategy,   re-entry transitional housing move on strategy,  and FYI from FSS. Our reasoning behind that is   we as a PHA have to address multiple priorities in  the community and to not want to be able to assist   for example URM's re-entry program because they  don't meet the definition of homeless I think is   is an error. Right? If people have finished a  program like that coming from from Department   of Corrections, we don't want them to turn around  after six months and end up on the street. And so   this just broadens that ability to be able to  include these additional. The other is we are   really prioritizing the move on strategy. People  in a move on strategy are not literally homeless   right now, but the idea is if we move them on to  a main to a to a voucher that opens up a spot in   that permanent supportive housing program that  has identified wrap around intensive services.   So being able to move someone into a voucher that  is sitting in a permanent supportive housing slot   will actually then open up that slot behind them,  right? because the voucher program funding we get   from HUD for administrative fees does not include  case management and we don't have the capacity to   be able to provide case management for 452  homeless preference persons. So a response   to each comment was sent to the coalition  yesterday. Um we do have to cover the as uh   the Witchaw Housing Authority is disposing of all  of its public housing units. We are not expecting   any 2026 to 2030 capital fund grants. So that one  was easy. There is no impact to the general fund.   Um development and submitt of the annual agency  plan and capital fund program five-year plan is   required by federal regulation to continue to  see program funding. So, it is recommended that   the Witchaw Housing Authority Board close the  combined public hearing on the Witchaw Housing   Authority 2026 annual agency plan and 2026 2030  Capital Fund 5-year action plan, approved the   plans with any amendments made during the public  hearing and authorize the necessary cit signatures   to certify the documents for submittal to the US  Department of Housing and Urban Development. And I   stand for any questions. Thank you, Sally. Council  member Hohheisle. Thank you, Mayor. Um, couple of   questions here. How many home TBR vouchers total  in this plan compared to last year? Well, the home   TBR comes out of community development funds. We  just received the grant agreements for the city   programs about three weeks ago and we are just  starting to launch the home TBR program. We put   $1.7 million in home funds aside. That is enough  for just under 300 individuals to be housed. How   much does that compare to last year's? We have  never done home TV before. This is definitely   a new venture. Okay. Um, how do we advertise  this? Is it just typical um the plan? Yeah.   Yes. No. Well, we're not allowed to use for this  in particular. Very specifically, we can't use   witchaw.gov as the the city's official newspaper.  So, but although we did publish it there, too. Um,   we did publish it on witchaw.gov. We put ads  in the paper in Butler County, Harvey County,   as well as the Witchaw Eagle. It was sent out  through the coalition's by bi-weekly newsletter.   We held a meeting on 92. We attended the  coalition's general membership meeting and did a   presentation. That presentation was then sent out  to everyone on their distribution list on 94. And   then it was again on nine two weeks the next two  week cycle. So it has definitely been out there.   Yeah. Yeah. That's interesting. Um yesterday  we have been uh receiving I think at least two   dozen emails 26. Yeah. Since since last night  asking about this and also asking us to delay   um what you said there's a hard deadline of  October 18th to submit this. Correct. Would a   delay put that in jeopardy? Yes. Okay. Um, can you  give me the cut the HUD definition of homeless?   It's actually very very long. It is actually very  very long. Um, as far as the voucher program,   we don't define that in the plan because we  rely on the coalition, not only the our local,   not only the Central County coalition, but the  balance of state coalition. So those who get   referred under the homeless preference have to  be in the HMIS system and put in there by those   two organizations for us to consider them for the  homeless. Okay. So that's just straight homeless.   That's not in danger of becoming homeless.  Correct. This is correct. We are not talking   at risk of homelessness at this point. Okay. Um  is there an increase in administrative um funding   here? You talked about 17 to 43% production. Yeah.  No. So, we're we're just trying to ride that out   the best we can. That's exactly right. And that  is some of why some of the changes that we're   recommending is we are anticipating that coming.  It's hard enough now. You know, HUD HUD issues,   they determine what our administrative fee. Now,  mind you, we only get paid the day somebody moves   in. So, all of that pre-work, we get nothing  from anywhere for that pre-work. So, we are   paid an administrative per unit rate for each  unit under contract on the first of the month.   Someone moves in on the second, we don't get  paid for that one. If they never move in at all,   we never get paid for anything associated with  that. And they set that dollar amount up, but then   each year Congress and the appropriations is never  enough to pay it. And so, it gets prrated. So,   we get a pr-rated amount. We've been operating at  between 88 and 90% for the last couple of years.   Now what will happen depending on what  appropriations h it's going to be set at you   know potentially 16 to 43% proration brought down.  So no there's no additional money coming in and   we're trying to adjust for dealing with operating  this program even more lean. So when you referred   to the almost 300 vouchers that we had tried  to get people in last year and we had success   with 23 23 yeah it was 238 and we 23 actually  leased up. So that we ever get compensated for   the other just 23. Just the 23 despite all  the work that we put in with that. Correct. Okay. That's all I have for now. Council  member Johnson. Thanks, Mayor. Thank you,   Sally. One question. Every time housing comes  up, I look for various conflicts. And in this   there's one document that says approving this  plan would assign a one preference point to   home TBR. So does that mean I should abstain from  this? No, you shouldn't because it has nothing to   do with the home funding. The home right the  home development funding at all. Okay. Yeah.   Cool. No. Great question. Hadn't thought of it.  Council member Hois. Thank you, Mayor. Uh yeah,   that uh led me to another question. So that one  point extra that would still mean that any of   these vouchers the if you are actually homeless,  you would be moved to the front of the line and   regards or more likely to be moved to the front  of the line in regards to receiving any vouchers.   Right? So that's what a preference point does.  So we have other we do have other prefidency   preference. We have displaced by government action  preference. Those are are that go really across   the spectrum for even general applicants under the  homeless preference or now what I'm proposing to   say the limited referral-based preference. Um  you get an extra point that pops people to the   top of the list in in a lot of that feedback  and you saw multiple questions where it was   said they want us to reinstate the ability to to  um refer people that aren't the move on. Well,   the the plan didn't restrict that. that is was  still included in the plan was the ability for   referrals to be received from people who are  literally homeless just needing that have to   have you know case management commitment have to  fill out the documents and have a unit identified   so it is still and that was you know we we thought  about that and you know the the other one uh is uh   you know this request to have the referrals  come from coordinated entry well that causes   a challenge because it it actually puts more  burden And it it limits our ability to address   someone who may not be chronically homeless  or the priority of the COC because the COC's   priority it and I get it is to address those who  are most in need, right? And so, but the problem   is when we're only concentrating on the top 10 or  20 on the list, that means we're just waiting for   all the hundreds behind them to become homeless  long enough or sick enough to become chronically   homeless so we can focus on them. We want to make  sure we have an available resource if someone   has the appropriate level of case management,  which was also brought up. We don't define that.   um to be stably housed. We want to be able to  move as many people out of homelessness, whether   they're super chronic and at the top or not. And  that's why we want to make sure that we have that   flexibility in place. Um each individual's  needs for case management are different. It   could be six weeks, it could be six years. Every  person we're addressing has different needs and a   different level of case management. and we don't  even pretend to try and set that, right? That is   up to their case manager to determine. So, how  long would you have to be technically homeless to   um qualify for the the voucher under what we  currently have? Well, they would have to be   homeless, confirmed homeless by one of the agency  providers who get the cast and consent forms,   get them entered into um the HMIS system and  conduct the assessment to be placed on the   community queue, which means they're that's the by  name list, the list of known persons experiencing   homelessness in our community right now. That's  the level that we set. We verify that's where they   are. So, they could be homeless for a month and  be on there. Okay. I know there are some standards   of where it's like a year before you're eligible  for that's the chronic homeless. So in order to   be chronically homeless you have to have a year's  worth of homelessness, right? It can be it can be   broken up. It can be four episodes in the last  two years and have a disabling condition. And   a lot of our programs do focus on those who are  chronically homeless and and trust me my heart is   there. We want to be able to help those who are  chronically homeless. But I can't I we can't do   it at the detriment of just waiting for others to  become chronic before we have resources to assist.   Okay. So what other programs are you talking  does that include other vouchers as well? It   includes the COC funded the programs that receive  funding directly from HUD under the continuum of   care. So those are permanent supportive housing  programs. We also have them internally. So,   our housing first program, which started out  just as the city and the county funded program   to provide rent and utility assistance for people  who were chronically homeless, we expanded that.   We applied for COC funding because we identified  we had a lack of case management, right? And that   we could leverage the voucher program to expand  that from serving 64 individuals a year to 100,   right? because we can leverage those resources,  bring in more case management under that COC   program. That one still takes referrals from  coordinated entry for people who are chronically   homeless. But I'll tell you right now, we have  16 slots and no referrals. That's unfortunate,   but we are bound to that because of the way that  program is designed. There are other programs   funded throughout our community under the COC,  and that list of programs is actually on the   coalition's website. of each of those programs  that are designed specifically for permanent   supportive housing for chronically homeless. Okay.  They get the additional point for being homeless.   Uh what's the score matrix? Is that one to 100?  So yeah, they um they get one point for residency,   they get 10 points if it's displaced by government  action, right? That's to really move them to the   top of the list because some things we have never  had to invoke that. Um we haven't had a situation   where the government has actually uh displaced  folks like that. Uh we have 10 points actually   for the FYI from FSS to make sure that they're  coming to the top. The family the foster youth   to independence program although a great program  because there's a need. The regulations state you   can only provide assistance for three years and  then you terminate them. Um, I'm sorry. You take   an 18 to 24 year old who's come from the foster  care system and say, "Get your life completely   together in three years, it's a stretch." They've  added a caveat that said if you if they're   involved in the family self-sufficiency program,  we can go five years, right? That referral is   for if if some sometimes we can't convince  them on day one, year one to join FSS, right?   we want to be able to let continue the rent  assistance if they're actively involved in the   family self-sufficiency program and that's that  one and it's it's just a different level where   we're talking and where we're hearing push back is  there's an extra so there's a homeless preference   there's an extra point which would give them two  points if they're the home TBR or the H housing   first evolution referrals because both of those  well housing first evolution was designed its   COC application was designed to leverage those  vouchers. Um, home TBR. I don't want a bunch of   people that we just house from encampments falling  off because they can't get through the process to   keep them stably housed. So, they we then get two  points. So, in the future, what are we going to   do with encampment decommissioning? Well, are  we looking to increase that in in future plans   depending on how these trials go? This is a this  is definitely a pilot. Um the other challenge is   appropriations. So the house budget bill says  eliminate home. Well, if it eliminates home,   that's our only resource. If we see this to be  greatly successful, we could come back in next   year's annual action plan for the CD programs  and say, do you want to add more money to this   potentially to this pot? Now, 1.7 million is more  than an annual allocation. We only had enough to   do that this year because the COVID slow. We had  way fewer developments happening which we fund out   of home which caused us to have enough money to  pull to to be able to do this pilot program. We   would have to cut the pro funding if if they came  back and didn't eliminate home and just cut it,   which is what I think they're going to do  if I had to guess. Knock on wood. That's   what you know what's going to happen. We would  then have to cut money from either the housing   development program like the Menanite builds  and the habitat builds, things like that,   or like the the bigger rental builds like we uh  allocated funding for the Commonwealth Arc River   Residences Project or the down payment assistant.  It's got to come from somewhere. Okay. Thank you. I just have one question. Slide 202. Are these number of case managers  or individuals served individuals? So the number comes out to be about 550ish. Can you tell me where the remaining I guess   individuals are? I'd have to  actually investigate that. Also VA. Okay. Something's wrong here because  VA on your slide shows 299. On our green sheet,   VA shows nine. Oh, actually,  if you look on your sheet,   it was a weird how it printed. You'll see it  says 29 and then the nine's below it on the   green sheet. It's It's like the margins. There  was something strange with the margins. So,   it's 299 299 and Catholic Charities is 111  then, right? Thank you very much. I see no   further questions for Sally. We'll  now open it up for public comment. Uh Stephen Mod, 540 uh 5400 East 21st Street  North. Uh I really appreciate the work that   she's doing there and I think that's an incredible  program. However, I do have a couple of questions   uh and concerns. I want to make sure that as  she mentioned selling off the public housing.   Uh I want to make sure that there's a sign uh that  we're not selling too many of them to corporate   entities or largecale entities real large scale  real estate entities as that's a problem across   the United States right now which is increasing  the house uh the housing issue where these   companies are creating essentially monopolies in  certain areas or they're using subsidiaries to get   around monopoly laws to then increase this issue  increasing their rent at an exp exponential rate   far beyond the essential need of the rent increase  to match inflation or any pricing costs. Uh,   and we need to ensure that we are not creating  more issues for this community by allowing them to   buy up these properties without locals partaking  in this. Additionally, like she mentioned, there   is a significant shortage of staffing. Um, and I  think additional funding being provided in some   way for them to have that staffing they need to  manage these cases. Like uh council member Hazel   mentioned, there's a significant lack of people  being addressed as they need to be with those   first 20 on the list being addressed. Personnel  is just a huge problem across the board. And as   we're seeing an increase of joblessness in general  across the country, we're now jobless people are,   you know, outpacing the available jobs  in the country. We need to create more   available options. And so having some of those  options can also help people in this program   as well find something to work on. Thank you,  Council Member Ho Heisel. Thank you, Mayor. Uh,   just a couple of quick things. I believe most  of the homes that we are selling are going for   um affordable housing programs or have affordable  housing requirements with them. Uh there are   a chunk of houses that we are just putting on  the market because they're so dilapidated that   um they're not even eligible for the investment  that we put into many of these homes. Uh Sally,   you might touch on that just a little more. You're  more in tune with that than I am. Yes. Um about a   half to little over half of the units that have  been sold have been sold under the affordable   housing fund or with other other restrictions  that require them to stay affordable for a period   depending on if it's rental or um home ownership.  Others have gone out on the open market. We're   not seeing because it's it's pretty interesting. I  think it's about 5050 um owner occupant versus LLC   or you know some sort of other ownership. Um we  actually provide a preference for owner occupants   in those sales in that a 10% difference in the  the um the purchase bid. So we will decline a   little bit more money from you know a proposer  in order to get an owner occupant in. So,   we're trying to be very thoughtful on how we  make these units available in the public trying   to retain affordability as much as we can and  then we get to reinvest the proceeds into new   affordable housing. Thank you. Thank you. I'll  ask you that question just a little bit more so   people kind of understand. In the consent agenda  today, we passed nine uh homes that were sold   either at or above the appraisal value. And again,  those dollars come back to help individuals that   are needing that assistance, including the new  build that will be at Second Light to provide   affordable housing. Correct. Um, so again, new  units with uh wraparound services nearby. So,   I really appreciate what you're doing, being  really good stewards of those dollars. Thank you. Good after almost afternoon. Uh Brooke Booker  for the record. Um 912 South San Pablo Lane. Um   just wanted to um touch on a few things that  were mentioned um that were of concern. Uh,   one was that the resident uh, uh, advisory  hadn't met in a while. That's a concern.   This is somewhat of what we see nationally is an  emergency and needs to be treated as such. Um,   are there any reserve funds that could go to  alleviate the stress in the system? Um, I get a   lot of calls from seniors and veterans. um in the  way of of course transit but this is about housing   um I've been in touch with people with justice  together um and that group um and they've talked   a lot about um a fund for housing in this way  and so um we need further collaboration and a   task force perhaps um something that um I feel  is needed in a task force would be that's not   um how do I want to say politically motivated.  Many people um have expertise but we get caught   up in the back and forth of who they were  appointed by or through. Um so those are some   things that I think that the city uh could  look at in the future hopefully. Thank you. continue with public comment.  I see none. I'll bring it back   to the bench. I will go ahead.  Oh, do we have one more? Sorry. Sorry, mayor. I wasn't quick enough on the  draw there. Uh, my name is Cole Schneers.   For the record, I live at 1707 South Mosley  Street, District 3. Um, thank you council for   giving the chance to give public comment.  Um, for those of you that may not know me,   I um work for the coalition to end homelessness  in Witchto Cedric County. We've mentioned a couple   times up here by public staff and in the plan  explicitly. Um, so while I'm not representing   the coalition today because I don't have that  authority, I'm speaking as a community member and   someone who's in the mix with the coalition board.  Um uh this the coalition is made up of nonprofits   across the community essentially the entire  homeless services system um which includes the   city of Witchah and the county government um and  how we as a community are addressing homelessness.   Uh we in addition to our 21 members, we also have  a 19 person board which includes Sally Stang who   um did her job and did and it did not uh comment  on the letter um that we sent on behalf of the   coalition to this council. So she did her job. No  worries there. I want to start by saying I'm very   appreciative to the Witchah Housing Authority  City Council for being so focused on helping   us in homelessness. It is very very unusual when  I talk to my um colleagues and other communities   to have a public housing authority that a plays a  role in ending homelessness or b even understands   they have a place in ending homelessness or c even  does things like the homeless preference program.   Forgot what we're calling it now but um that  set aside a voucher just for folks experiencing   homelessness. It is very very rare and so I  do want to commend our housing authority for   being playing such an active role in helping us  address homelessness. As mentioned in the staff   presentation, the coalition did submit a staff  letter. In the slides, it was mentioned that most   of our changes or all of our comments were mostly  typographical non-substantive changes. Um those   were the comments that were accepted. Uh we made  several additional comments again on behalf of   the full coalition and all of our member agencies.  Um these uh these changes were really made in good   faith. This is not a process the coalition has  engaged with in the past. We've just been grateful   for the the changes that this the county council  has made for us. Um, but we were invited by   housing staff and by them coming to our uh one of  our regular meetings to provide public comment on   this plan. And so I wanted to just ensure that the  council saw that we did issue public comment. Um,   and several of the comments that we made in my  personal opinion were not addressed substantively.   Um these suggest suggestions included a removal  of the special preference points for home tbra   housing first clarifications on case management  commitment requirements which is often a barrier   to some of our nonprofits for knowing can I  actually commit my case manager to partner with   the city. Um changes to improve leaseups which  we know has been a sore point for the city and a   sore point for me. My job is to end homelessness,  not let it keep happening and let vouchers go to   waste. Um, by partnering with the coordinated  entry system. Um, and also some of our changes   include ensuring that the eligibility for moving  on is not made so narrow that we aren't actually   able to serve those people who the coalition can't  serve because of our federal guidelines. um in   particular the population that would not be served  is people with high needs that aren't chronically   homeless that the coalition would normally fall  back on the housing authority to use the homeless   preference voucher for those folks and pair them  with community case managers. Unfortunately,   we know those folks are going to be high need if  we use the metric as described for the homeless   moving on preference that they need to have low  or medium barrier um access or case management   needs. They're not going to be served. We're going  to have people that we don't have any resource for   other than short-term rental assistance that as  Sally mentioned, sometimes if you just pay for   someone's rent for six months, that doesn't mean  they're going to stay in housing permanently. The through line really was we wanted to make sure  that housing authority as well as the coalition   was in dialogue. We are working together to make  this program work for everyone. Um unfortunately   just the nature of the timelines and HUD  requiring public comment dialogue is not really   uh the nature of the beast. So you know it  it might just pass today as written and we're   going to be thankful for it passing as written.  Um, however, just an example of as written the   uh I guess I'm almost out of time, so I will stop  instead of continuing to speak. Thank you all.   Cole, I'll ask you one question. Um, I know that  housing has done uh a lot regarding collaboration   and so I know that this has a limited time frame  because of the feedback that needs to come back   within uh so many days. However, that door of  communication is open, I believe. Um, so have   those conversations not been had in the past and  you all now are considering these conversations   because I believe that Sally has been at the  table. So, I'll get your perspective and then   ask for Sally's perspective. Sure. Yeah. the city  council which the housing authority has invited   us to these tables and many times it hasn't been  necessary for us to say anything because the city   was doing the right thing when we analyze our  system and that's my job for the coalition is   to analyze and improve our system over time um you  know I we decided as a coalition that we needed to   make some suggestions for changes um those were  after conversations with Sally those were after   conversations with um with uh our board, with  other community members and stakeholders. So,   we have been part of the process. However, the  public comment process, this is the first time   we've engaged in that, at least since I've been  with the coalition for about four years now. Uh yeah, thank you, mayor. Uh yes, serving on the  board every year I've opened it up to the board   to say that the the plan is published. We're  accepting public comments. Aside from that,   we actually have a standing bi-weekly meeting  with the coalition staff to talk through because   these are complicated programs. We run like 14  different ones that touch homelessness. They   all have different rules, not necessarily ones  that we invoke. Um but we try to be as creative   as we can with the funding that we have um  so that we can have the biggest impact and   that can mean things can get a little bit  challenging. Um we actually met with the   coalition planning folks from United Way on the  18th of August before publishing the the draft   to get their feedback before we even put the  draft out on August 22nd. So yes, we try and   it is it's always ongoing. I guarantee you me  and my staff have daily conversations with the   COC membership. Council member Ho Heisel. Thank  you, Mayor. Uh thank you, Cole, for coming up and   uh chatting about this with with us. Is your main  point of contention simply um just adding the   language that opens it up to people falling  into homelessness as well as homelessness? So that point was listed within the coalition's  letter. That was a misunderstanding on our part.   Um we met as providers after the city staff  presented to us and we mistakenly understood   what was presented to us as a removal of the  if you're literally homeless, you can apply   for a section 8 voucher. Misunderstanding on  our part and so it was addressed by the city   and we appreciate that they helped to clear that  up for us. Okay. I appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you. I see no further public comment, so I  will close public comment and bring it back to the   bench. I see none of Oh, Council Member His Sorry,  Mayor. Thank you, Mayor. Uh, just a quick comment.   Um, I know one thing that is difficult, especially  now today's age, is communication with people,   especially at arrested parties. So, Um hopefully  in the future we are able to communicate better   and open up for dialogue before we're  you know kind of under the gun here to   pass a plan. So I do hope that we can look at  ways to improve that process in the future. With that I'll add a couple comments and just  say thank you to the housing staff again. You're   trying very hard to utilize these funds uh  appropriately but also maximize them so that   you can help the most amount of individuals who  are needing that assistance. And so I appreciate   seeing all these collaborative partners uh  the agencies that have case management and   I continue to uh share United Ways resource  guide which is available every new quarter.   uh they share a one pager and for those that don't  know where it's at, just Google United Way of the   Plains 211 and you can see the updated list. I  am very appreciative that this community has a   lot of really giving people that support these  nonprofits and continue to help those most in   need and then utilize federal dollars through  housing to help individuals have that space.   So with that, I will move that the Witchah Housing  Authority Board close the combined public hearing   on the Witchah Housing Authority 2026 annual  agency plan and 2026 2030 capital fund program   five-year action plan. Approve the plans and  authorize the necessary signatures to certify   the documents for submittal to the US Department  of Housing and Urban Development. Second motion   and a second. Any further discussion? I see  none. Madame clerk, please open the role. Motion passes 70. Madame clerk, please  call the next item. Der 2024-14,   city council policy number nine, update. Hello, Scott Wadel from the planning department.  So this is an item as you heard to consider   proposed updates to the existing city council  policy number nine. So the recommended action   is that you approve the uh recommended policy  number nine changes. In terms of background,   this item came about because of questions from  elected officials about why cases generally   considered not to be controversial were on  the city council agenda as non-consent items.   Please know that there are two factors that  largely guide where planning items are placed   on the city council agenda. Those are policy  number nine and then the second one is the general   practice that has evolved over time. Policy number  nine was first adopted in 1986 which was a great   year. Think we had back to the future. Um it was  most recently updated in 1996 so I believe that   was also another great year. Um, so it's been  almost 30 years since that's been addressed. In   terms of the existing policy, uh, it it indicates  city council does not hold public hearings on   items that the MAPC has already held a public  hearing for. It also specifies what information   will be provided to the city council as part of  the agenda item, how the appeal process works,   and how the CPO, which is now called DABS,  uh, works. In terms of the current practice,   uh, now our practice, again, it's not  written down, it's just evolved over time,   is that staff submit planning items, uh, for the  for the council's planning non-consent agenda if   there are any protests submitted against  the application and or if the DAB and MAPC   recommendations are different. In terms of review  for this, uh, in November of last year, this topic   was discussed at the city council workshop  meeting. In general, the impression that we   had was that we were headed in the right direction  with a few updates. The council consensus seemed   to be that there was a preference to hear cases  if one or more protests were submitted within 1,00   ft of the subject site. So, with that in mind,  uh we went back and uh made some updates. So,   the recommended changes would make a number  of uh updates to the policy. Here are some of   those that are highlighted. I'm not going to read  through those, but just want to make you aware. In   addition, the recommended policy would also update  which types of planning items are covered by the   policy and it would also clarify what constitutes  a val valid appeal of an MAPC recommendation. The recommended updates would make it so  that planning items covered by the policy   would be placed on the city council consent agenda  unless one or more of the following would apply.   and these are largely consistent with what uh is  in the existing policy. In addition, I want to   note that staff worked to incorporate the feedback  from the council workshop and by having how we did   it was by having the distance be the notification  area. So instead of a th00and feet, we use a   distance that was already being calculated and  associated with cases. This would allow staff   to utilize that already identified distance in  order to help to make the process more efficient   and more easily understood. So again, the  recommended action is that you would uh you would   approve those updates. And just a quick note about  process that this is not a zoning item. So I would   recommend that council accept public comments on  it. And with that, I'll stand for any questions.   Thank you, Scott. Questions for staff? I see none.  We'll not open it up for public comment. We'll   just keep it here. Yes, we do actually open.  Sorry. We'll open it up for public comment. We'll bring it back to the bench.  Council member Tuttle. Thank you,   Scott and J.R. and your team. I have been asking  for this for a bit. Um, I'm excited to see these   changes made. I think it'll just provide more  consistency. Um, it'll make it easier. So,   um, thank you for for, you know, listening and  and working through some of my concerns. I'm   sure other council members did, too. So,  thank you for all your efforts on this. With that, would you like to move this item,  Council Member Tuttle? Thank you. I would   very much appreciate the opportunity to do so.  With that, I would enthusiastically move that   the city council approve the proposed changes  to city council policy number nine. Second.   Motion and a second. Any further discussion? I  see none. Madame clerk, please open the role. Motion passes 70. Madame clerk, please call  the next item. Council member appointments   and comments. Start with appointments. Any  appointments, council members? I see none.   We'll now move to council member comments. Council  member Ho Heisman. I will make this quick. Um this   Saturday at the Child Advocacy Center at 9:30  in the morning, uh we will be having my district   breakfast, the best breakfast in Witchah, which  this week I will be cooking along with some of   our firefighters. Um but we will be discussing  improvements at the Fallen Firefighter Memorial   Park. Um I invite anybody who wants to come  down and have a good breakfast, come on down   for a good discussion. Uh we were out there uh  Sunday actually for the firefighter memorial.   Always a moving um a moving time whenever we see  that and hear the names of the people who have   ultimately paid the ultimate price for um taking  care of us. So uh again, shout out to all the   firefighters out there, past and present, for  everything they do. And please come on down   and we'll discuss ways that we can properly  honor them moving forward. Thank you, Council   Member Johnson. Thanks, Mayor. Um, just wanted to  highlight the firefighter memorial on Sunday and   say to my colleague, I appreciate your efforts on  the firefighter memorial park and so far so good. I see no further comments. I will move  to adjourn. Second motion and a second.   Any further discussion? I see none.  Madame clerk, please open the role. Motion passes 5 to two. Have a great week.