e e e e e e e e e e e e e e [Applause] welcome to all of you and good morning which we'll call this meeting to order with us this morning is Pastor Debbie's parent of Greater Deliverance Ministries to provider invitation foll that invation Al you to stand for good morning Father God we call upon you this morning to say thank you for watching over each and every one of us allowing us to arise FL in our right Minds father invite you into our meeting place today let be love and peace Among Us father today we lift up to you our mayor ly W and the city council leaders of it is our prayer that they work together with all integrity and transparency as they serve the communi represent father search their hearts that's not their spirit so that they may effectively serve this city bless protect their families from all evil father we lift up to you our Police Chief Joseph and his family are police officers firefighters and other front line workers and their families they put their own lives on line to help keep our city safe remember the hurricane victims of Helen and those in the pathway of hurricane Milton let us not forget what to do children home those struggling with mental challenges and the homeless in our community all these things ask Jesus name pray of the United States of America and to the repu for it stands one nation indivisible liy and justice for all thank you thank you very much Pastor Garrett council member Dalton Glascock wanted to be here today unfortunately he had a flight cancelled delayed from Europe up so he is in route right now um so he will not be able to join us this morning so it will be the six of us um on the council this morning do we have count uh sorry H city clerk could you please tell us the first item approve the minutes of the regular meeting of October 1st 2024 do we have any changes to the minutes I see none I approve I motion to approve the minutes for the October 1st 2024 meeting second motion and a second any further discussion I see none Madame clerk please open the roll motion passes 60 Madame clerk please call the next item today's proclamations are the witch to Asian festival day day Toastmasters International Day indigenous people's day Fire Prevention Week the awards are purchasing achievement of Excellence award followed by a special usd259 presentation may I please ask the witch Asian festival representatives to all come forward at this time good the proclamation reads the city of Witchita Kansas founded in 1870 whereas volunteers of the witcha Asian Association have selected Saturday October 12th 2024 to promote awareness of Asian cultures and Heritage with the residents of witcha and surrounding areas whereas the Witchita Asian festival celebrates the diversity of the residents of witcha and cultural backgrounds from the continent of Asia whereas this is the 43rd annual Witchita Asian festival presented by evergy and spirit Aeros systems whereas the Witchita Asian festival is a community event organized to Foster understanding and appreciation of Asian cultures through culinary and Performing Arts along with the Miss Witchita Asian festival scholarship pageant now therefore be it resolved that I Lily woo mayor of the city of Witchita Kansas along with the Witchita city council do hereby Proclaim Saturday October 12th 20124 as Witchita Asian festival day in the city of Witchita and encourage all citizens to participate in this exciting event at centry 2 convention hall in downtown [Applause] Witchita good morning council members good morning may Vu good morning everyone uh I'm the president for V Asian Association for this year my name is sonali kurer um we are very very excited to celebrate 43rd year of Veta Asian Festival this is um a festival solely represent the Asian culture and like May Vu mentioned honor and highlight the Asian culinary and Performing Arts so it's a pleasant welcome and invite from all of us to all of you we have more than 55 vendors representing the Asian food art and culture um 20 cultural performances so not to forget Saturday October 12th at Century 2 from 5: to 9:30 p.m. I hope to see you and have a a wonderful day thank you [Applause] thank you very much the witchat Asian Association the festival is organized and presented by 100% volunteers so these are all individuals that just care about uh providing the cultural richness that witch represents and I'm really grateful to have served as the past president of the witchat Asian Association so thank you very much for continuing this tradition for 30 43 years may I please ask the Toast Masters International Group to please come forward at this time we will uh move to the Native American community resource Coalition at this time the proclamation reads the city of Witchita Kansas founded in 1870 whereas indigenous people's day was first proposed in 1977 by a delegation of native nations to the United Nations sponsored International Conference on discrimination against indigenous populations in the Americas recognizing that witcha is built upon the Homeland and Villages of the indigenous peoples of this region whereas historically the city has embraced local indigenous people's culture particularly the work of kyowa kamanche artist blackbear bzen whose Keeper of the Plains is not only part of our city skyline but a prominent symbol of our city whereas the city values the many contributions made to our community Through indigenous people's knowledge labor technology science philosophy art arts and the Deep cultural contribution that has substantially shaped the character and Landscape of the city of wiah whereas the city of witcha encourages businesses organizations and public entities to recognize indigenous people's day which shall be used to reflect upon the ongoing struggles of indigenous people on this land and to celebrate the thriving culture and value that indigenous Nations add to our city now therefore be it resolved that I Lily mayor of the city of Witchita Kansas along with the Witchita city council do hereby Proclaim October 14th 2024 as indigenous people's day in the city of Witchita and encourage all citizens to celebrate and recognize the well-being and understanding of the contributions of our indigenous communities [Applause] good morning my name is Ben eagle feather with the Native American community resource Coalition I am Lota Sue and a descendant of survivors of the Native American boarding school era I stand here today not just as an individual but as a representative of those who came before me my ancestors who survived the hardships of forced assimilation and colonization and also those who continue to walk this path of healing and empowerment today is a day of profound significance it is not only a day to honor the rich history histories cultures and contributions of indigenous people but also a time to remember the painful Legacy of colonization displacement and eraser that native people have endured for generations for many of us the wounds of the boarding school era and forced assimilation are still felt passed down through our families and communities I carry this history with me every day it is not just a story from the past it is a part of who we are as indigenous people today as a descendant of survivors of these policies I understand the lasting impact that they have had on our culture our identities and our ability to heal but today is also a day of resilience and Remembrance we remember not just the suffering but the strength wisdom and love that has carried us through we remember the survival of our languages our traditions and the very essence of who we are the trauma our ancestors faced has shaped our communities but so too has their courage and strength we are here today because of their unwavering determination to survive to protect our culture and to ensure that future Generations know the truth of what happened in our community we are working to reclaim and rebuild through local events indigenous organizations and traditional practices we are finding ways to heal and uplift each other one step at a time these initiatives show that we are more than our pain we are a people of profound strength and vision the work we do today is for the next seven generations so our children's children can have better lives as we move forward let us remember that healing is not just for indigenous people it is a collective effort we all have have a role to play in building a future where the scars of the past no longer Define us but instead fuel our vision for a more just inclusive and compassionate world I am deeply honored to receive this Proclamation from mayor woo and the witcha city council here today as it reflects the recognition of indigenous history and the need for reconciliation but more than anything it is a call to action a reminder that we must continue to advocate for our people to educate and to heal thank you [Applause] [Applause] may I please ask the Witchita fire department to please come forward at this time good morning Chief the proclamation reads the city of witcha Kansas founded in 18 1970 whereas the city of Witchita is committed to ensuring all residents and visitors Safety and Security fire is a significant Public Safety concern both locally and nationally with homes as the places where people are at greatest risk whereas working smoke alarms reduce the risk of dying in a home fire by nearly half smoke alarms detect smoke before it becomes dangerous giving you precious time to escape and in some cases as little as 2 minutes to ensure the highest level of safety residents should install smoke alarms in every sleeping room outside each sleeping area and on every level of the home whereas smoke alarm should meet the specific needs of all family members including those with sensory or physical disabilities testing smoke alarms at least once a month and having a well practiced home fire escape plan is crucial whereas witch's bravest are dedicated to reducing the number of Home Fires and related injuries Through Fire Prevention and education efforts the theme of the 2024 fire prevention week is smoke alarms make them work for you reminds us of the importance of maintaining working smoke alarms in every home now therefore be it resolved that I Lily woo mayor of the city of Witchita Kansas along with the Witchita City Council do hereby proclaim the week of October 6 through 12th 2024 as fire prevention week in the city of Witchita and urge all residents to ensure their homes are equipped with working smoke alarms to support the many public safety initiatives of the witcho fire department thank you mayor woo city council I'm Chris Dugan I'm the fire marshal of the wiaw fire department um I was i' like to to take this opportunity to remind everyone how important a working smoke alarm in every sleeping room and every level of every home is to making it out of a structure fire safely um I would also like to invite everyone out to our events throughout the week we'll be at cedri County Zoo later today um YMCA tomorrow and then this Saturday we're hosting open houses at all of our local fire stations um so please come out bring the family and enjoy a a beautiful Saturday with us and we hope to see everyone there thank you may I please ask the city of wiah purchasing department to come forward at this time this is a special award the finance department has been awarded the achievement of excellence in procurement from the national procurement in Institute this award demonstrates a commitment to procurement Excellence it recognizes organizations that Embrace Innovation professionalism productivity leadership and eprocurement it's reflective of staff that work hard every day to provide excellent service to the organization this is the 23rd year that the finance department has earned this award for 2024 there were 198 successful applicants including including 72 cities of the 198 2024 award recipients only three are awarded from the state of Kansas please join me in congratulating the purchasing division of the finance department at the city of [Applause] Witchita thank you to management and city council for their continued investment in supporting our mission to obtain the greatest value for each dollar spent by the city of wiah and the procurement of goods and services efficiently and effectively while uring fairness and integrity to the accordance of Law and regulations our purchasing team comprises of dedicated supply chain professionals but most importantly they're public servants working on behalf of the city's citizens and taxpayers utilizing their respective talents this award demonstrates the continued investment in our staff and the ability to continue professional development and educ ation the annual conferences networking events community outreach all help us to innovate and build trust with our customers I am honored to work with all of you in the purchasing division every day and I challenge anyone anyone in a purchasing division to find a better staff lastly for the public every week the purchasing division presents our recommendations to the city council for consideration what you may not know or is easily seen is what makes my presentation a few short minutes represents extensive staff time and effort that collectively with our requesting Department comprises our final project recommendations this work would not be possible without my purchasing staff without Jason Brogden Leanne Hendricks bow Tracy Jordan Rachel Carroll Preble Nema Kyle beom and Chris Hazel who couldn't be with us today I see you we all see you thank you [Applause] assets uh as a as a high school graduate um some of those are academic assets so uh 21 or higher on your act a certain SAT score um college credit those sorts of things um some of them are non-academic so the idea being that um we know that students need a diploma to to be successful in life but they really need more than just a diploma a lot of times a diploma isn't isn't enough to really prepare students to be successful after high school so um they talk about it in terms of two sheets of paper you need a your diploma and you need something else so that something else could be an academic something else like college credit or it could be a credential uh like a CNA uh EMT certification something like that um also things like work-based learning internships um even things that are based in the community Like an Eagle Scout um those count as postsecondary assets so we're in the process our fresh our current freshman class is the first year is that right current freshman class uh will be the first year that this counts towards their graduation rate so class of 28 um and so we're we're in the process of creating the infrastructure to have all these opportunities for kids but um you know our vision statement for the for the District talks about our students growing and learning within the community and part of uh them being ready for life outside of high school happens uh within the greater witch talk community and then our goal is for 90% of our students to feel safe and connected at their school um school safety has been part of strategic plan for a number of years um we know that when students feel like they belong their outcomes are better they show up to school better their attendance is better their grades are better so we we try to create a sense of belonging in each and every one of our schools um and timately I think that's that's part of what um I've said about our city too right um we want to create a city where all of our students feel like they belong they can graduate from high school and they can stay here um because they feel like they're a part of the fabric of our community so so those were quick highlights um the other thing that I shared with you that I didn't put on any of the slides um was our facility master plan um so as you know there's a there's a bond vote that will be happening in February and as you have questions about schools I think there I think I think every one of your districts are impacted uh in some way shape or form by that plan so as you have questions about um this school or that school with the rebuild um you know moving to a K8 model um we're doing An Early Childhood Center um at the Chester Lewis campus close to 11th and Hill or 17th and Hillside um a future ready Center for Building Trades um so I wanted you to have be armed with that information uh we'll get that to you electronically too if you want to send it out to constituents and uh we're we're just now kind of ramping up our educational campaign telling everybody all about that plan so um I also brought a whole bunch of my team here so these are a lot of our district folks uh who um it was cool to see your procr uh folks get recognized because it's so true you know these agendas happen and you know they come to you guys and you get to take action and vote but hours and hours of work happen behind the scenes to make it all go and that's what these guys do for uh our Public School District so um with that I'll stand for any questions if you guys have any thank you very much superintendent Kelly peld we'll start with council member hoisel thank you mayor thank you Kelly for the presentation I'd also like to um just extend my appreciation for you guys working with us on Park Elementary um that's going to be a great asset to our community um unfortunately there will be a number of your own students who are impacted by um some of the things that go on at Park Elementary so thank you for your awareness on that one and working with us on some of the other buildings around the district um I look forward to seeing how that ends up and again I think it'll be for um the benefit of the neighborhoods and the community as a whole um I'd also just like to say one more thanks working with um emergency um Services um uh the police department our Sheriff um for some of the school safety concerns that we have because quite frankly um some of the things you see on the news are the things that keep us awake at night probably the number one issue the number one fear that we have so um I know we still are working on some as um aspects of the school safety plans and working together so I do appreciate you guys um all your your action on that front as well um I look forward to seeing how it all shakes out and I'm glad to have um a great partner in the school district and yourself and everybody that works for usd259 to make wiah as strong as it possibly can yeah thank you thank you sir y council member Johnson thanks mayor thank you for the presentation appreciate you all being here and all the awesome work that you all do uh for our young people really appreciate this I've been getting questions about it too so I can use this to answer those um I just had one question for you there is a right and wrong answer so would you agree that Northeast Magnet is the best high school in the city of wit hey Northeast is greatness I I I do like to celebrate um the the great leaders that we have produced over the years in witch to Public Schools I do like to celebrate that so is that fair council member John Sten thank you mayor and Kelly thank you for all the great work your team and your staff does you know my son's a principal and so I hear a lot of the great things that you're doing team is doing and so very much appreciate it not always in the easiest situations so uh just thank you for doing a great job yeah thank and and to your all your team thank you they're amazing vice mayor Ballard thank you mayor I just have a question that um and we can have another conversation another time but when I'm glancing down at the school closures they all happen to be in district 6 and in the core How can I I reassure my constituents these are all neighborhood schools all of our schools are incredibly important but how do I make them not freak out like this I mean it's very scary I know it's going to happen over a period of time but um it looks like a targeted area and I know that's not the case but how can I reassure them um that it's going to be okay and you know this is all about our kids and it's just a lot of change a lot of changes um yeah I just I'm getting lots and lots of questions that I don't necessarily know all the answers to but um I would like to reassure them that everything is going to be okay yeah yeah so a couple things and I'd be happy to engage even on a community level right um with with some of your folks um you know the the data is based or the the plan is based on data right so we we have a a map I didn't share that with you but it's it's on the website a kind of a heat map of where um students live in the district and um where where they're projected to live as far as the demographics go and so what we're trying to do is put the put the schools and the places where the kids are um and if you look at the map of the district in that specific quadrant from um you know maybe Broadway to uh West Street you know 29th South Kellogg in that area um when that expanded you know and my my wife was one of those my in-laws still live in that neighborhood my wife was one of those people that um when that expanded in the 70s and 80s lots and lots of kids right so we built um schools for kids almost a school every square mile I mean not exactly but um so there's a there's a high density of schools in that area um and a lower density of kids than there used to be so with the plan what we' ideally like to do um is be able to build a newer a new school um and and not necessarily exactly combine two schools but think of Black Elementary and okay element Elementary they're not um you know maybe four blocks away from each other um and both have uh you know on the lower end of enrollment for our for our our schools so build a new school at Black Elementary and those students um can all go to that school um so although the transition's hard and the change is hard um the idea of having something maybe better to move into than um the the decisions we had to make like spring we we weren't able to offer that in the same way um so that that's a piece of it but each part of you know each line on that plan kind of has a story you know what I mean so um lurn and Irving has a story and Cessna being a K8 has a story and um you know rebuilding trusdale um each of those are you know it's a it's a not a complicated plan but you know there is there is detail that has to be dug into for each of those things so yeah we would welcome any kind of Engagement or any kind of discussion um to talk about it and to to answer any questions so awesome thank you so much I will be in touch okay perfect council member Tuttle thank you I couldn't miss the opportunity to pile on um thank you so much for being here and thank you for all that you do I started my career as a school counselor and so I have deep appreciation for everything that you do in in education um I'm also a huge advocate for early learning um and making sure that we get our kids prepared for prek and K the number one predictor of adult incarceration is third grade literacy the number one predictor of adult health is third grade literacy so everything that we can do to partner with you to make sure that our kids get a great education really not only improves their entire life outcome but our community um the other thing I'm going to point out yesterday I was at Rotary presenting on early learning and some of your staff were there for riff reading days they did a fantastic job just like to put in a Shameless plug that December 17th and 18th is rof reading day I do this every year I love it um and we'll plan to get scheduled but encourage the community to also check it out thank you oh very good and and I would mention so November 14th um we're GNA have a new event that we've not done before um from 3 to 7 o'clock it's a literacy Summit and so we're we're bringing together Community Partners teachers uh Advocates um elected officials so I'll I'll get the information to to you all about that um and and we'll have a couple different you know we have a data walk and we'll have a panel discussion on a couple things because um as you probably know um you know we do a lot of great things in the district but our kids have significant barriers um you know our the demographics of our school district don't necessarily mirror the demographics of our city it you we're more diverse we're more impoverished um some of those sorts of things so our kids have significant barriers and Community Partners like rotary and United Way and YMCA are vital to helping our kids uh meet their goals so thank you for being here today Elly I had a couple questions uh first and foremost I wanted to hear about what you just talked about which was a lot of your students are impoverished can you talk about free and reduced lunches um how many are under that poverty line and um what type of barriers uh does that or challenges does that pose to the district yeah um I think our our latest number this year is we just ticked right up above 80% um so that's you know four out of every five of our students is on a free and reduced lunch uh plan um I think there's there's some obvious things that that come with that um that are particular to school so um you know transportation's one you know we we bust kids if they're a certain distance from the school but a lot of times um kids are trying to to and families are trying to walk to school and families may only have one car or no car at some point um you know food and and hunger can be an issue sometimes too we provide Universal free breakfast for all students regardless of uh their poverty level um so my own students will eat zero in the morning and they go to school and eat eat another breakfast after after they get there so Universal free breakfast is a fantastic thing we've done um but working with you know Kansas food bank and that and the backpacks over the weekends and all those sorts of things help to um basic needs you know clothes you know we mentioned you know I'm glad um that Mike mentioned the Park Elementary um because at any point in time we have about four to 600 students um who are considered homeless in the district um which is which is a a large amount of students you know so the poverty is an issue um and then when you layer on other other pieces of that um student has a disability student doesn't you know is not a native English speaker um student is experiencing homelessness you know those sorts of things just create more and more challenges for kids um most of the time school is is a preferred place to be especially for our little kids right they they love being at school it's safe and clean and people love them um and so uh we love working with our parents in order to to meet the best you know the needs of kids and do the best we can by by all of them but it does come with challenges there's no doubt and last but not least I'm a proud product of witcha public schools and I'm just really grateful to all the instructors that helped me um as a first uh generation immigrant uh an American to learn English so I'm really grateful to the programs that usd259 offers I came here when I was eight years old and I did not speak English so I really do appreciate the services that WTOP Public Schools provided me and my brother so my question now is really about retention of talent um you mentioned 2700 students graduate from usd259 each year how are how can we keep and retain these talented individuals that you graduate but how can we also attract families to choose to come to witch yeah two great questions um some of what we're trying to do with the Future Ready Center model is to embed that work based learning that there is good research that shows that a student that has an experience with an employer um earlier on before graduation is more likely to consider that employer after graduation right so um I go and T her Cargill or I go into T her Textron or whatever and I think oh yeah that I remember that that could be an option for me later um working with the business Community is is is key for us as far as aligning what what it is we're teaching and what it is we're trying to do for kids uh with with what they want right and what those skills that they have for the future so Future Ready Center for Aviation me manufacturing Future Ready Center for healthcare uh are really doing that to get kids ready for entry-level jobs um here in our community and then next year we'll we'll start the Future Ready Center for it and you know if the bomb were to pass we'll probably start the uh if the bomb were to pass we will start the uh Future Ready Center for trades which is hbac Plumbing electrical and energy um for for parents to pick you know parents selecting schools you know choice is a big part of what we've been talking about internally we have um I believe it was 23 magnet schools those magnet options are typically pretty popular with with our parents um but to provide different different kinds of educational models for parents more so than we have in the past um education I think and probably more so uh 20 years ago and and before that um was a little bit more kind of take it or leave it you know that we are who we are and if if if you want to come you know come and if you don't you know we're not going to change in order to fit uh different kinds of learners um I I believe you know with technology and with with Co kind of accelerated that we've we've adapted and changed some of that and tried to open up some opportunities for other ways to reach families and kids to work work together so that's that's the whole key I think and as you guys know is hearing out our community listening to community and then uh trying to adapt and respond and meet the needs of uh whatever the future holds so thank you very much council member ho Heisel thank you mayor uh just one question just kind of popped in my um we've done a number of Partnerships together including a shout out to our trans uh Transit Department um helping the bus some kids where there are some gaps I know in my district when Jardine shut down um there was a couple of streets that kids would have to to um pass to get to a meet so our Transit Department came through and helped bust a lot of those kids um what other Partnerships do you see where we could help you guys out that the city can help assist you guys in just day-to-day operation ation safety of kids and whatnot yeah I I think that I'm glad you said that and you know for the for the public awareness there's there's way more collaborations that go on than most people probably realize um I think I think transportation's one you know I think um I've met more than once with Chief Sullivan um and and Terry Moses and we've sat down and talked about how do we strategize uh for you know not just youth crime but youth violence um what do we what what can we do to get together who else can we engage how can we part be part of a partnership and a conversation together in order to um help our kids to find peaceful ways to solve problems instead of violent ways to solve problems right um I think we need that all up and down in our society but especially for kids if we can teach that young so um you know you the the crime commission um the the the number of officers that are I mean they come on calls but they also come and and eat lunch and and and you know do the do the other things with our with our uh with our kiddos all over the city um and and I think too you know we have uh we current last night the board our board just uh voted to Surplus three buildings Jardine Clark and Payne and so we'll begin the process of looking for use on those and I think that's another conversation another way we can we can work together um to to talk about what might work what may not work um and if if the bond were to pass um you know there'll be there'll be more conversations about other buildings too so so um you know our our stance or or my my stance that I've communicated with the board is you know public assets where tax dollars have already spent uh taxpayers have already spent dollars for a public asset you know it makes sense between public entities to to work together to whatever whatever whatever makes sense and things don't always make sense and and that's part of why we talk and communicate and collaborate so um off the top of my head I can't think of anything else um just being civically engaged really um you know all the volunteer opportunities we have with r succeed in United Way Collective impact with YMCA just really um I say this all the time our community wants our kids to do well like I feel I always feel a ton of support from our community um there is a lot of people that believe that um it's the right thing to do to help public school kids and so we've got a ton of support uh which is outstanding so yeah there's a number of organizations out there doing doing the good work and trying to fill the space um he comes to mind off the top of my head trying to get in there and teach kids about fit and all and whatnot in schools um violence interrupts are working with um some especially football games trying to make sure that kids deal with um some of their issues in a responsible way so yeah shout out to a number of the partners out there as well just doing the work um good work just trying to trying to move our community forward yep that's right takes all of us yes sir yep thank you thank you again Kelly really appreciate the opportunity to learn more about witcht public schools and we get get often a lot of calls uh at the mayor's office about what can you do about curriculum Etc and we have to remind community that we're separate entities but we definitely are partners and we appreciate that partnership and so thank you for sharing this information today well thank you guys and and I love your swivel Podium here I'm gonna I may look into getting this one of these so thank you so much for the opportunity so thank you guys Madame clerk can you please call the next item Bill Anderson ceasefire in Palestine good morning um I'm Bill Anderson I live at 1227 Jefferson I'm in Maggie Ballard's District last time I learned that it only needs one of you to ask legal to draft a ceasefire resolution just one so recently I did a very cursory look at Gaza through Google I have seven articles I'm going to call information from I had one for each of you and I'll save Mr GL glasscox for next time hopefully they won't be in next time uh I just readed what I learned from articles uh for each of you uh this is for your coun uh consideration council member Tuttle this is from the uh Washington Post article about a week ago it's called Palestinians describe a massive raid in Gaza the health Ministry in Gaza said at least 15 people were killed and 82 wounded in the operation in conun that began early Wednesday seven women and 12 children as young as 22 months old were among those killed another 23 including two children were killed in separate strikes across Gaza according to local hospitals the Israeli military did not immediately respond to her request for comment resident said Israel had carried out heavy air strikes as its Ground Forces staged an incursion into three NE three neighborhoods in con Yunis a man whose name I cannot pronounce who had four relatives among those kills described heavy destruction and said First Responders had struggled to to reach destroyed homes this is his quote the explosions were and shelling were massive he to the Associated Press many people are thought to be under the rubble and no one can retrieve them that's for your consideration next council member Johnson this is from NBC of last March people in ganza Gaza have been quote totally DEH humanized deprived of their dignity and their human well-being said one woman Palestinian quote let alone the fact that they have lost all their property their homes and in many cases their family members she shares the view of many Palestinians that the war is not about Hamas at all but rather about what they see as a thinly veiled decades long Desire by the Israeli government to push them out of Gaza and repopulate it with Israelis this for council member um Ballard this is from CNN again last March a growing number of children in Gaza are dying of starvation and dehydration according to the World Health Organization a a who team found quote severe levels of malnutrition children dying of starvation serious shortages of food Fuel and medical supplies Hospital buildings destroyed during a recent visit to two hospitals in Northern Gaza doctors in one Hospital quote fear for the lives of six children suffering from n no nurition and diarrhea in intensive care as a result of the Sens cessation of the electric generator in oxygen and the weakness of medical capabilities a doctor the a Ministry spokesman in Gaza said in a statement I'm sorry I'm reading very poorly with uh bear with me next from mayor woo this is from an article from the UN High office office High High Commissioner Office in July the recent deaths of more Palestinian children due to hunger and malnutrition leaves no doubt that famine has spread across the entire Gaza Strip a group of independent experts said today with the death of these children from starvation despite medical treatment in central Gaza there is no doubt that famine has spread from northern Gaza into Central and South Southern Gaza the experts said the health of a child from malnutrition and dehydration indicates that health and social structures have been attacked and are critically weakened when the first child dies from malnutrition and dehydration it becomes irrefutable that famine has taken hold the experts said let me see that's a tough one Mr Johnson this is for you this is from uh ABC Australia this was in August I got 17 seconds God damn it an organization saved the children says children are nearly seven times more likely to die from blast injuries than adults because they are more vulnerable and sensitive their skulls are not fully formed and their undeveloped muscles offer less protection so a blast is more likely to tear apart organs in their abdomen even when there's no visual damage say save the children's director for the occupied Palestinian territory Mr your five minutes has elapsed thank you very much there's more there is more and it's horrible and I didn't I I didn't just grab a whole bunch of crap and put it in here this this this is just stuff anybody can Google this it's happening takes one of you council member okay thank you hey Bill uh could you go ahead and um what what info from an article did you have for me sir uh I'll let me see and I just happened to to follow where you are God's crisis of child amputees the crisis of child's amputees Israel's war has particularly impacted children in addition to the more than 14,000 killed UNICEF estimated in January that around a thousand children have lost one or both of their legs equivalent to 10 children losing a limb every day in Israeli bombardment earlier this year a London based doctor and again I can't pronounce his name said that Gaza was witnessing quote the biggest C cohort of pediatric amputees in history with the surgeon performing up to six amputations a day while working in the besieged territory for 43 days London based charity Sav the children says that Palestinian children injured by israeli's explosive weapons are suffering quote unimaginable physical and mental harm thank you appreciate it thank you council member Johnson thanks mayor um Bill you are right it does take one person to ask um staff to start work on a resolution it would take four of us to approve it um I will tell you there has been some conversation about that and a resolution was being looked at um I said this to a journalist based on the conversation at the bench it didn't seem like there was four votes and personally for me given all the atrocities we've seen I would hate to see a simple call for a ceasefire not re receive four votes and what message that would send so I did not push for it to continue personally not speaking for everybody else um if it did come up like I said before I would vote for it but I would hate to see um just a simple push for ceasefire and to Stop The Killing that we've seen stop thank you Madame clerk we have four spots left is that correct that's correct does anyone from the public uh my name is Doug Ballard I'm live in Riverside District 6 I'm going to piggy back on what Bill's asking for um this is really simple um bill in particular bill and I in particular protest Ed Wars for over 50 years all of them stupid so far and that's why we're uh that's why we've come down here I haven't spoke before but here's the story uh that you may not know it is against uh international law to kill civilians in time of War accidentally or on purpose it's against law and we all know regardless of what your political affiliation is or your philosophy we all know this is going on so we're simply asking you to ask stop the shooting Gaza that's what we're really talking about Gaza is actually slightly smaller than what you talk Kansas wiah is somewhere around 161 161 16 2 square miles Gaza is 140 yet it has the population of Nebraska living in it there is no way to have any kind of a strategic strike unless you've got a 22 rifle with what's going on there so we are simply asking stop the shooting if you guys were teachers and you ran upon uh Upon A a couple of boys fighting in the hallway way the first thing you would do is you would stop the fighting you wouldn't negotiate with them while they're rolling around in the hallway it would stop the fighting so Bill and I because we're old not because we have any credentials this stuff has a tendency to escalate and it could completely change what you guys are doing up there we could be at War big time this is a very volatile part of the world it has nothing to do with religion it has nothing to do with eth ethnicity we just simply want the shooting to stop and that's all we're asking for and I know you guys well enough to know that you don't think this is okay we're this far away from something really ugly so it's not what what's getting reported it's what's not getting reported so how bad you think it is it's actually worse so I read last night that to put uh Gaza back together could take 60 to 80 years that's a lot of that's a lot and it probably will never will never happen but we need to stop what's going on right now before a hope a lot of other things start happening so anyway just we're just asking for a resolution to cease bar there's got to be poor votes up there thank you we have three spots left does anyone else from the public like to speak good morning everyone um my name is Denise Fleming I work for Kansas family advisory network we used to be located downtown at the 33 north east English building but now we're at 9917 South Glendale and I just wanted to come today to share with you all that Kayan has been a good a kept secret and we no longer want to be a secret when we were downtown we fed the the homeless we clothed the homeless we gave blankets to them we made sure they had hot meal on Wednesdays but now that we're in the um 67218 area and who's my councilman hi I'm Denise you can call me ni please to meet you um we really want to make a difference in where we're at this is our community this is our future and this is our neighborhood and we just want to make sure that at our office we have a clothing bank we have a we have a cloes closet excuse me and we have a um Resource Bank where we provide food to our neighbors and make sure that they can come there twice a week to get a meal we try to feed them for two days we're looking to try to do more with the holidays coming up we want to make sure all of our community has a Thanksgiving dinner basket prepared with everything and we also want to make sure that they have a Christmas dinner and provide gifts for those children and families so they're not taking their bill money trying to provide for those kids but we were providing those resources for them and with that being said I have brought and I apologize I don't have one for everybody but I do have one for you all in these bags and I'm asking you to invest in our neighborhood as we invest in our community one for each other because I don't want to leave my grandkids behind I don't want to leave my children behind and I don't want to leave my community behind so is it okay if I approach you guys in this bag please remember our new address is 9917 South Glendale we right beside Dollar General and I would like for each of but we want to do more because a lot of times we got babies going to school and if they're hungry they're not having a successful day at school they're not successful at school because they're hungry their behaviors are more more out of control their tolerance is less so we want to really be able to be an impact to our neighbors and our friends in the 67218 district but all of you are we want you to help us too because we really want to make sure our families eat thank you for hearing me you all have a blessed morning thank you Denise if you have any questions council member hoisel thank you mayor uh thank you Mrs Fleming I have your information here I will be reaching out to you to um set up something stop by and we can um talk about how to best serve our community and welcome to to District 3 welcome to South wch I know you guys have been doing work here for quite some time um but it's good to have you physically in our district so thank you and just in closing please remember we're at Kayan recognized there's no perfect family thank you thank you do we have anyone else from the public who would like to speak I see none I'll bring it back and ask Madame clerk can you please call the next item consent agenda items 1 through 17 are there items to be pulled I ask for item number six to be pulled a motion to approve consent agenda items without number six second motion and a second any further discussion I see none Madame clerk please open the roll motion passes 60 item number six I believe is Sally good morning good morning can you please tell us a little bit more about the project hope um strategy and how you're measuring uh the success of this program sure project hope is a burn criminal justice Innovation grant that was applied it was a joint application from the housing department and uh witw police department as well as partnering with many Community organizations and Newman University as our uh program evaluator it was an opportunity to uh apply for a million-dollar Grant uh for three years to make an imp impact related to crime statistics in a Target area so project uh burn criminal justice Innovation grants have to be community-based um in a specific area data driven and build trust and capacity with partners and so there's a uh we have a one and a half square mile Target area uh bounded by Tenth on the North down to Kellogg to the South wo to the west to wash uh to St Francis to the east um and we had worked with WPD to identify that we were have seeing more than three times the number of calls for services and crimes related to homelessness in the Target area and we hypothesized that if we were able to move as many people as we could into housing that were experiencing homelessness we'd see a decrease in those crime rates and so we work hand inand um we have hired care coordination teams two of them this project has changed since its first Inception um through community outreach uh and education and we have two uh Outreach teams that include a case worker a um Social Work intern student from either Newman University or uh WSU a peer support worker contracted with breakthrough so those are folks with lived experience and they go out and they try and engage folks in our Target area and connect them to housing and other resources uh we had about a twoy year year and a half delay because of covid um and so we've had two one-year extensions on the grant which now expire at the end of September 2025 and so once our site plan was approved by the Department of Justice we uh we're able to employ those care teams and work collaboratively within the community in addition there's a component of the grant around um Partnerships and Trust building that is uh the neighbor resource fairs that most of you have uh attended once a month we bring Partners together to provide services and make connections to people experiencing homelessness and then we have a public educ ation campaign um that is um focused on uh educ right now focused on educating the general public on uh the lived experience of being homeless in U not just in our community but in in all communities and so those activities are going on as well we evaluate the crime statistics monthly with WPD uh we often depoy resources when we see an uptick of calls for service and and try to figure out how to diffuse those so for an example for several months we saw an uptick in the number of calls coming from the area of second and toeka uh we worked hand inand with WPD deployed resources to find that a change in staff and and and policy at uh at United Methodist open door was resulting in an uptick in the calls for service from tupd and so the homeless Outreach team worked with the staff at uh at Open Door to train them in in how to um address people in different circumstances and almost immediately we saw a decrease in the number of calls for services at that location so that's just an example the following month we saw an uptick at at the sack and comare office and the same day we were evaluating the the data you put in a a a message to comare who said yes please let's talk next week how can we reduce the times we're having to call for uh WPT assistance so we'll continue to evaluate that data on the macro level um but we've also now that we've had people that have been housed from more than a year um we've housed 45 individuals and uh only one of them so far has lost their housing due to intensive case management um we're able to look at the micro level and we're looking at those 44 individuals and we're evaluating their interactions with law enforcement before interacting with the project hope teams and during and eventually we'll be looking at after so we've seen some really great um data some great collaborations come out of project hope you said that 45 individuals have been housed um in those situations were these chronically homeless individuals then the mo majority of folks yes we're chronically homeless for more than a year council member hoisel thank you mayor um could you describe how you keep track of some of the statistics or gather some of the data is it do we have um federal assistance and looking at the data and kind of parsing through it so we do part of the grant does pay um for data evaluation we have a contract with Newman University um who are the data leads but they work hand inand with the crime analyst with witcha police department but we're looking at just not just the crime statistics we also use the homeless management information system to be tracking data and information as well as have monthly uh uh Team meetings on deploying the resources and quarterly meetings with the Leadership Council okay how how often do you guys have the resource fares resource faires are once a month with the exception of the uh coldest months in which we were working with providers to to Rally where emergency shelter was also the resource fairs are held outside and so January December January February are a little bit challenging to do an outdoor event but every other month of the year um this year was the first year we do though did combine the September resource fair with the VA standown rather than having two competing events came together to bring all those partner even further bringing Partners together I've been to a couple of them and they're pretty um resourceful I guess maybe um plenty of um opportunities to help people there get just basic health care needs um get their haircut some grooming so I I appreciate all the work that you guys do with that um there's not going to be a a large overlap I guess maybe once we get the Mac up and running next spring um there's going to be maybe six months overlap how how are you guys going to work with um the Mac to to help get people housed and into the services that they need where where we've been doing neighbor resource fairs we expect to happen actually at the mac and many of those um providers are going to going to be present there all the time but we'll have others that come to the resource Fair like haircuts and and things that don't have a permanent um or regular schedule uh at the Mac we would be hosting dates there to bring additional resources in that aren't there every day so the other the other side effect we saw with the resource Fair which was really interesting and and heartwarming to watch was the connections that different providers were making that they weren't H having before um often uh you know people who hadn't worked together all of a sudden came together for the res Source fair and we're like well I'm doing this and you know you're doing this and how can we um have bigger impact working together and so that's been really wonderful to watch and I assume that a lot of the experience and that that you're gleaning from this project hope is going in to inform how we're going to run the Mac better and reach out to the community better correct and the next two neighbor resource fairs are actually being held in the parking lot at breakthrough club which is right across the street from Park Elementary very deliberately um kind of moving that resource closer to where the permanent resource is going to be all right thank you Sally um you mentioned public information campaign is also part of this project plan and since you mentioned this is a very targeted area basically downtown 10th to Kellogg um wanted to know the scope of the documentary is that intended for that area or beyond that so what is the purpose of the film the cost of the film and the timeline sure the the film although it is funded by both project hope and home marp is not a film about project hope it is really um a a documentary about homelessness and um the real experiences of being homeless in our community and so it is not um kept within the boundaries of project hope uh it has been about a year that we've been working this has been um very interesting for me not an area I would have ever expected in in my career um but we're working uh collaboratively with shocker Studios and they've been and you've probably seen them um filming for about a year we have about 80 hours worth of footage um and it is actually a a a school class that is covering two semesters where um this is their assignment is to create not just this featurelength documentary but that we'll also be getting receiving what they call shorts which could be two to 10 minute videos on particular topics again around educating around homelessness so it's been really exciting to to work work with the kids I call them kids young adults um and and seeing how much they're vested in this project and so the um the documentary is going to be featured at The Tall Grass Film Festival on October 24th and I encourage anybody to come out um and take a look because this is considered a community project uh with a partnership with Shaker Studios it's the Tall Grass feature is really an opportunity to receive feedback so that the students can learn what could be adjusted in the final version of the film before any further release we control the documentary we will um make all decisions about you know how it could be further released in the future but that's very exciting for us um they'll come back do any additional edits to turn over a final vernish for us to handle um going forward the entire public education campaign the Outreach the uh the um public meetings and the production of the videos it's about $79,000 funded both from the project hope doj Grant and the HUD home ARP Grant so all of the funding for the documentary and all other uh public education campaign documents is is Grant funded thank you very much Sally you're welcome and for this specific item it is just for the two contractors is that correct correct because we had an extension on the time frame from doj we needed to extend the contracts um one for the grant coordination the other for the peer coordinators that work with the care teams I appreciate um I know Angelina is here with project hope um and the folks at break through I appreciate the collaboration and really looking forward to when the emergency winter shelter uh opens up on November 28th and the collaboration that can happen already uh with uh project hope and the uh Continuum of Care with United Way of the plain so I see much more collaboration and really appreciate the steps of moving forward with this multi-agency Center thank you thank you I move uh to approve consent agenda item number six second motion and a second any further discussion I see none Madame clerk please open the rooll motion passes 60 Madame clerk please call the next item Board of bids and contracts dated October 7th 2024 good morning mayor city council Josh laber Department of Finance uh the board of bids and contracts convened yesterday October 7th for the following items for engineering we have the water line extension in West Street Emerald Bay estate Edition to Pineway Edition for Noak Construction Company Incorporated for an aggregate total of $5 128,50 subject to your approval of a new budget authorization and revised engineer estimates we have the waterline cross connection at 31st Street South in Oliver for utility ility maintenance Contractors LLC in the amount of $108,900 we have the water distribution system sanitary sewer and storm water drain to serve Bridger at Central Edition for Noak Construction Company Incorporated for an aggregate total of 2,182 n5750 for group 3's negociated Engineers estimate we have the light fixtures and poles for River Corridor for lender and Associates Incorporated in the amount of 433,000 and for purchasing we have the trash and recycling containers and collections for our library Transit and police locations for Waste Management of Kansas Incorporated in an aggregate monthly total of $2,854 we have one caterpillar model m318 wheel excavator for fley Industries incorp operated in the amount of $439,999 we have the spectometry equipment service agreement for agilant Technologies Incorporated for an aggregate 5-year total of $188,600 we have the generator preventative maintenance service agreement for fley Industries Incorporated for an aggregate three-year total of $ 68,69 6.92 cents we have the Personnel budgeting software years 1 through five for Clear gov Incorporated for an aggregate 5year total of 28,5 $53 excuse me60 we have the planet Capital planning CIP software for Planet software LLC for an aggregate 5year total of $ 69,8 43 we have the westl Library Network and data cabling for vision Communications Kansas Incorporated for an aggregate total of 9,125 this is how to become a vendor with the city these are open public opportunities out on the street today and I'd be happy to try to answer any your questions and I recommend your approval questions for staff beginning with council member hoisel thank you mayor um thanks Josh can we go back to slide 11 sure now the two low bits down there non responsive was that they didn't meet our specs and we reached out to them to expand and just didn't get any response from them yeah great question councilman hoisel um the way that the bid was written and the specifications that were written um two vendors did not respond to what was requested um Paul can you speak to specifically the items that were in contention Paul Gman Public Works and utilities um yes I can council member hois stanion wholesale wholesale electric company um they did not provide a bid for 20 there were two groups 27 poles and two polls and they did not provide a bid on those polls so and then nextg clean energy solutions they had provided a bid for um solar power lighting which um you know might be a good product in the future however for this project we are trying to match the poles that have been installed adjacent to this in front of River Vista they are concrete poles their product was a cylindrical solar array kind of like black or better term the pool noodle that would wrap around the pole so it was black but uh um it wasn't a product that we thought would be um comparable to what we had bid um because it wouldn't match existing poles um I did talk to them um and the other item they had were some light ballards that they had provided rectangular light ballards and our specifications were for round light ballards um I did talk to them we traded emails back and forth again we'll probably look at their product for future projects however it just did not fit this one okay that one sounds interesting so yes I appreciate it council member Tuttle thank you Josh I just wanted to say thank you and congratulations again to you and your team and and truly your heartfelt words were some of the best that I've heard um the way you acknowledged and recognized your your team was not lost on me so congratulations again and and thank you for being part of the city of wiah thank you so much you see no further questions I move to approve the board of bids and contracts for October 7th 2024 second motion and a second any further discussion I see none Madame clerk please open the role motion passes 60 with one absent Madame clerk please call the next item petitions for public improvements Paul gunman Public Works and utilities for the record I have a few petitions for your consideration this morning the signatures on the petitions represent 100% of the improvement district and the petitions are valid per Kansas statute Balman fifth edition located in District 4 the project will provide water storm water drain sanitary sewer and Paving improvements required for new residential development the developer will also construct their improvements under private contract to comply with State Statute regarding the use of special assessment funding the city must acquire the completed projects Corporate Hills addition located in District Two the project will provide water and sanitary sewer improvements required for a new commercial development the developer will also construct the improvements under private contract again to comply with State Statute regarding the use of special assessment funding City must acquire their completed projects and Dugan West Commercial fourth edition located in District 4 project will provide water drainage sewer and Paving improvements required for new commercial development the developer will also construct the improvements under private contract and again to comply with State Statute regarding the use of special assessment funding the city must acquire the complete projects continued on additional Paving for additional phases for Dugan West Kellog and it is recommended that city council approve the new and revised petitions and budgets adopt the new and amending resolutions and authorize the necessary signatures I will stand for questions any questions for staff I see none a motion to approve the petition for public improvements second Motion in a second and any further discussion I see none Madame clerk please open the roll motion passes 60 with one absent Madame clerk please call the next item ordinances relating to titles 1 4 and five the power thank you good morning mayor council members uh Jan jarmin with the law department and also with me is Captain Thorton with the witcha police department the special investigations the fell here in the lavender um today I'm here to talk to you about uh a suggested or we have uh regarding three different issues um this really the whole package came before you um because of an issue regarding the prosecution of uh tickets regarding title for alcohol so that would be um clubs that are serving miners or even minors they catch at clubs who are who shouldn't be there um those are really enforced by two different groups of people witcha police department enforces title 4 violation ations but also you have the ABC um the Alcohol Beverage Control for the state of Kansas and they don't do title 4 but they do state of Kansas uh statutes but those 10 those mirror uh city ordinances right now those um if if ABC wants to prosecute a case that happens in a city of witch talk Club um they have to take that case to the district attorney's office and that has to go through District Court that is very burdensome um it it uh takes a very long time to go through their system compared to Municipal Court uh and there isn't a whole they're very underst staffed at the District Attorney's office so it's hard to get those cases through yet we at the city of Witchita use those um convictions uh against clubs and it's actually harder for us in the city of Witchita to track those types of cases when they're going through the District Attorney's Office versus when they're going through our own court system they're just easier to track when we can keep an eye on them here so that's why um ABC came to us and said hey is there any way we can take our cases through your Municipal Court we could do this without an ordinance but it would create a lot of duplication we would have to have a WPD officer track with the ABC um they would have to create a whole new case number uh the WPD would have to keep their own evidence have to take ABC's evidence and it just creates a lot of duplication that would be un necessary instead it would be easier if you all would allow uh ABC on title for violations only we're not talking about all ordinances but if we could allow ABC uh commissioned Law Enforcement Officers to charge cases in the city of wiah so that's why we're here while we're here we like to clean things up and we found in title one I know it's completely unrelated but we found in title one that we still refer to the supervisor of central inspections so we thought we would clean up some of that language and and and put in its place mabcd and also as you all know Title 5 some time ago the Kansas Supreme Court uh deemed our disorderly conduct State Statute and therefore our city ordinance because we me we mirror State Statute uh to be unconstitutional in the use of the word noisy conduct so while I'm cleaning some things up I thought we'd go ahead and clean that up as well so as far as the analysis goes the title one amendment is really easy we just we're asking you to take out Central inspections and then place it and put in its place mabcd on Title Five we're asking you to remove noisy conduct as a violation of disorderly conduct um a person can still be charged with a noise ordinance violation don't worry that's not gone it's just not going to be part of a disorderly conduct um instead it would be under title seven and it would be a noise violation but most of the meat and potatoes here has to do with this title for Amendment which would allow a commission law enforcement officer to write a complaint in Witchita Municipal Court it only applies to title four violations which are alcohol violations um it does require an agreement between uh the two organizations so we're not going to let everybody just come in in charge or you know without permission to be here so there would need to be some kind of formal letter inviting them to write tickets in Municipal Court um it only authorizes notices to appear it does not authorize an arrest on our behalf so if ABC catches someone with alcohol or catches a club in violation they would write a ticket and a notice to appear and then that person would have to come to court um ABC I spoke with them they estimate there'd be about 25 to 30 cases is what they're running right now um and just so you all know that if ABC writes a case in witto Municipal Court the which it's not a money maker no case is a money maker um the public thinks that sometimes but you're always running it a loss because it does cost more to have a prosecutor and a judge than you ever bring in on a case but I will say that adding these 25 to 30 cases would not increase the need at all for any additional prosecutors it would not increase the need for any judges um our case it would go on the criminal docket um which has actually plenty of room to hear additional cases especially after we stopped hearing marijuana and small drug cases so there's plenty of room to do that uh and we get to keep the fines so and these are fines that will be collected because businesses that get charged they would lose their license if they didn't pay their Their fines if they were convicted um so so the fines and the court cost would go to the city of Witchita ABC is not asking for anything other than the ability to run their cases through our court so they can hold people accountable and hold clubs accountable So based on that we're just asking that you adopt The Proposal ordinances I stand for questions thank you Jan are there any questions for staff I have just one is this the best practice um I know that it was mentioned that it was due to overcrowding at the district court to bring it into the municipal court so the city of witcha um is this a best practice it would fall in line with everything else that that we are the Misdemeanor Court for the for the city of witcha um District Attorney's Office always has first dibs on any case they want that even a misdemeanor but it it does follow in line with the rest of City witch talk cases that are misdemeanors do go through Municipal Court they generally don't go through district court and I think you answered the question earlier but any cost to the municipal courts would be minimal to negligible is that correct correct it would I don't it would take no additional Staffing to do this thank you I see no further questions for staff I will now open it up for public comment anyone from the public who would like to speak on this matter I see none I'll bring it back to the bench I will motion to approve the placement of this ordinance on first reading and authorize the necessary signatures second motion and a second any further discussion I see none Madam clerk please please open the rooll motion passes 60 with one absent Madame clerk please call the next item design funding for multiple Capital Improvement program projects District 2 five and six Paul gansman Public Works send youtil for the record the item before you is design funding for multiple Capital Improvement program projects the adopted 2025 through 2034 Capital Improvement program includes multiple projects that are identified to begin design in 2025 projects include 127th Street East from Douglas to 13th Street North 21st Street North from St Teresa Street to 119th Street West web road from Central to 13th Street North and the First Street bridge over AR Kansas River go into a little bit more detail about these projects this is a aial map showing the project limits for 127th Street between Douglas and 13th Street this project the current roadway varies from five Lanes to two lanes it is five Lanes just south of 13th Street at the intersection narrowing down to two lanes down to just uh north of central where they going over the Kansas Turnpike at the bridge south of there um it's five Lanes at the intersection again at Central then reduces down to three lanes down towards uh the i135 ramps south of central the on off ramps and then it's two lanes south of Douglas um we will have the consultant look at a three-lane facility with on street bike lanes that is similar to what has been improved on 127th Street north of 13th Street and we will also make connections um there north of central to the k96 uh bike path as well um there are multiple new and re redeveloped properties along this Corridor um especially down south towards Central and South of uh kta towards Douglas Street going out West 21st Street North from 119th Street to St Teresa as you recall this section of roadway was converted from a two-lane roadway to a three lane roadway overlay last year um we did restripe it with uh the bike Lanes on the outside shoulders we will have the consultant look at a three or five Lane facility with bicycles and pedestrian upgrades and there is has been current new developments at 135th Street as well as 20 151st Street south of 2 First Street and the YMCA there west of 135th Street had also constructed some new Playing Field South 21st Street there at the cowskin Creek sedc County um has a project to reconstruct that or make improvements to that bridge to replace that existing Bridge so we will work with sedric County partner with them as well on this project web Road Central to 13th Street we would ask the currently is a four-lane roadway we have improvements at 13th Street in central that we would tie into where they have left turn Lanes we will look at um part of this section has curb um other parts is just open ditches we have had requests for sidewalk in this area um due to the two schools with Collegiate and Minal Elementary just north of central um so we would construct sidewalk with that it's uh much easier to construct sidewalk when you have kerb and gutter in L of the ditches and we would look at possible five Lane um through part of the corridor um and then narrow down to four lanes if there's not a lot of Drive approaches so again we will ask the consultant to look at both of those options and then the last one is First Street bridge over the AR Kansas r just west of downtown we would have a consultant either look at rehabilitating the existing Bridge or reconstructing the bridge um we have some sidewalk and delamination that are occurring and we would also look at you know have the consultant look at right sizing that street and maybe um including some on Street bicycle facilities the requested budget for design and project management is listed below for each project 127th Street from Douglas 13th Street $700,000 21st Street North from St Teresa to 119th Street West $1.2 million and web Road Central to 13th Street North $750,000 and the First Street bridge over AR Kansas River $1.5 million all funded by local sales tax I will return pending approval today all of the projects will will be returned to city council at a later date for approval approval of final Design Concepts and construction budgets and at this time it is recommended that the city council approve the budgets adopt the resolutions and authorize the Ser signatures and I will stand for questions questions for staff I just had a couple of uh questions first um the project on First Street Bridge are you working in collaboration with Exploration Place is that is going to be the new playscape area we would you know we we um we have considered that we'll write that into the scope of services as we do that you know connecting the the existing bike lanes and sidewalk in that area so um currently First Street in this area has some on street bike Lanes we want to see if there's addition room for that but we will look at all of that during during the design phase yes I know that streets is one of the top two priorities of the city um can you talk about how these four projects were selected versus others and um a separate question about the op3 program so people understand uh the intentional types of improvements we make in the city okay let me answer you the first question um we do look look at we work with uh um City Council Members as well as um we look at the existing roadways throughout the city um again we've had some sidewalk request um through a couple of these corridors namely on 127th Street as well as R web road they both have open ditches and again it's difficult to construct sidewalk on streets with open digits on which side you don't want to put it next to the roadway um but you want to get the separation so it' be on the other side of the ditch then you have to cross it we look at traffic volumes we look at crash rates um and and um development in the area so those are projects that we look and again you know work with uh City Council on program the capital Improvement program and to follow up with the Outsource pavement preservation program we are identifying the 2025 locations at this time we are final izing those um we have been working here recently in the last week or so I've had some conversation for engineering had some conversation with our maintenance folks and we wanted to make sure that what we have on the 2025 op3 list does not conflict with what we might have on upcoming CIP projects so we don't have that overlap so we are finalizing that now and then once we have that finalized um I will Pro we will bring that to City Council most likely in November and then once that's approved um a link will be posted on the witch to.gov website under Public Works streets and outsourced Paving so you Paul 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 council member Johnson thanks mayor uh thanks Paul as we look at these projects I just want to encourage us to look at the you know public design of it adding some other elements to kind of spruce it up make it cool um the work that we did on Douglas a few years ago one of those examples the um fence that was along the bridge we made that a green color and put some other like Leaf like elements in there just something to Spruce it up a bit I see no further comments I will motion to approve the budgets adopt the resolution and authorize the necessary signatures second Motion in a second any further discussion I see none Madame clerk please open the rooll motion passes 60 with one absent Madame clerk please call the next item supplemental design agreement number two for River Bank improvements District 4 all guns and public works and utilities for the record the item before you is funding and any further questions for staff I see none we'll open it up for public comment would anyone from the public like to speak we'll bring it back to the bench uh really appreciate uh the thoughtful conversation regarding water conservation and also probably some native grasses and Native landscape um moving forward with a lot of our designs we like uh obviously uh having beautiful um Landscaping but uh if we can be cognizant of that water conservation even if we get tons and tons of rain I think moving forward would be a very uh responsible U Move for the city of Witchita council member Johnson thanks mayor I just have to plug it in that's a great place for a zipline council member hoisel uh council member Tuttle said my my piece there that that feris will needs to come in at some point right this resides in vice mayor Ballard's District thank you mayor um I'd like to take staff's recommend an action that the city council approve supplemental design agreement number one and authorize the necessary signatures oh I'm sorry um supplemental design agreement number two second motion and a second any further discussion I see none Madame clerk please open the role motion passes 60 with one absent Madame Clerk please call the next item air Pavements Colonel James Jabara airport good morning mayor council Jesse rmo director of airports wit Airport Authority here to talk about another great project and opportunity this one is to add some scope or excuse me some scale not scope to the project and um looking to get some approval on a change order so as background in 2023 witto State University Tech and waa partnered to obtain a grant from the State Department of Commerce It's the aoft Grant uh program to design and construct Airfield pavement to support growth of their Aviation Workforce programs the project is fully reimbursed by that Grant and from uh the Manching funds come from WSU Tech Airport Authority staff has been coordinating the design of this project with WSU Tech staff to ensure the final product reflects their needs and meets the intent of the grant program and on August 9th we received some very favorable bids and that puts us in a position to add a little bit more um work to the project to fully utilize the grant funding the expanded pavement will support a larger Fleet of aircraft and supports future development of a maintenance hangar to that end a change order for additional work with Pearson construction and a supplemental agreement with Garver for related Services has been prepared pred this is a picture of the project and what we're looking at at on your left that kind of goes diagonal that is web road uh to the north of the graay paved area is where WC Tech currently resides at the national Center for Aviation training campus the project um started with what we bided on was all the gray area and the blue of that apron area represents the expansion and additional things we get to do when we're talking about Hangar development with WSU tech there are two different hangers that they may be looking to do and just as a side note we are negotiating a separate development agreement with them and a developer for that project of the development side of this that will be brought forward to you later this one is just the infrastructure side of things but if we expand out the apron it allows them an opportunity to build two hangers on each side including a maintenance hanger hanger but in order to fully develop that entire site it also requires us to improve the drainage and erosion which means some improvements to the channel and that's what you see there in the green bar that's below so portions of that channel are paved some are not currently and so we've been working on doing that uh which helps pave the way so to speak for future development the cost of the change order is $750 3,000 which brings the total contract with Pearson to 2.2 million approximately the cost of the supplemental agreement is 327,000 the total contract with Garber is 537,500 we have thank you Jesse any questions for staff I see none we'll open it up for public comment I see none we'll bring it back to the bench council member tutle thank you in an abundance of caution I am going to abstain from this vote due to a potential conflict of interest I will motion to to approve the change order and the supplemental agreement and authorize the necessary signatures motion and a second any further discussion I see none Madame clerk please open the role motion passes 5 with one exstension and one absent Madame clerk please call the next item council member appointments and comments council member Tuttle vice mayor Ballard thank you I would like to appoint Tracy Terell to the affordable housing board council member Johnson thanks mayor I'd like to appoint car Cara Billy to the diversity inclusion and civil rights board and I would like to appoint detective Jeremy Diaz to the police and fire board a motion to approve this list of um board appointments second motion and a second any further discussion I see none Madame clerk please open the role motion passes 60 with one absent we'll now have council member comments vice mayor Ballard thank you I would just like to thank parks and wreck and public works for cleaning up after our River cleanup immediately just so none of our hard work was undone uh so a big thank you to them and also thank you to all of the people that helped save the day at the fiesta when we had a many crisis so Parks um Ben Hutton Levi uh Public Works the electricians everybody came to save the day so um glad that we got all that worked out and it was a great turnout so thanks for everyone that was able to come council member Tuttle thank you U I just wanted to remind the community that this Sunday is one of my favorite days of the whole year it is open streets ICT from noon to 5: um we first started this program in 2017 we did take a break during covid so this is our seventh annual um open streets ICT we're doing it a little bit different this year it's going to be in October and not September um and so we'll have pink shirts because it's breast cancer awareness month but just a great time to come down for Fellowship um you know our roads and streets were created originally for pedestrians and for bikes and for horses and now we see a we see vehicles but for one day we get to all play on Douglas Street and there'll be vendors and activities so I just hope the community will come and enjoy and the weather's supposed to be perfect council member ho Heisel thank you mayor um I just like to give a shout out to everybody who put on the um the Firefighter Memorial on Sunday um it's always a somber event unfortunately I wasn't able to make it this year because of illness um but they did unveil some uh preliminary plans to make Lincoln Park the um State Firefighter Memorial so we're working with our colleagues at on in the state legislature right now to hopefully move this project along and uh if everything goes right at next year's ceremony we will be able to unveil um the beginnings of the state Firefighter Memorial being at Lincoln Park on South Broadway so a lot of news coming along with that and um hope to keep pushing this project along and special thank you to our parks department and our Communications Department as well as um our fire department and fire Union for help spear spearheading um this initiative so thank you guys for the the great event and thank you guys for um pushing along for the state Firefighter Memorial council member Johnson thanks mayor um for those who didn't see we cut the ribbon on the witchar Waterworks facility last week um just want to shout out everyone on the city side and all the work that everyone did from uh Public Works and folks who are no longer here with the city anymore but um it was just incredible to be able to cut the ribbon on an amazing facility our largest public investment in the city's history and ensuring clean water access for generations to come and thinking about that um was pretty awesome so just wanted to shout out everyone on the city Side who helped make that happen in collaboration and working with our federal partners and everyone else thank you council members and vice mayor I will just plug again that this weekend is going to be packed with community events and we really do encourage our community to come out um whether it's the Witchita Asian Festival on Saturday the prairie fire marathon where people from all across the nation come to witcha to run including some of the council here who will be running slash jogging maybe and walking come on we're going to walk uh for the 5K within the prairie fire marathon and then open streets I just want to give a big shout out to council member Tuttle she was one of the founders of open streets ICT and it is a great great event uh this is now the third of the ones in 2024 and look forward to many more in 2025 council member hoisel I I believe what they classify what I do is uh chugging not jugging or running or anything like that just chugging along I motion to adjourn this meeting second motion and a second any further discussion I see none Madame clerk please open the role we motion to adjourn 4 to one is that council member Johnson okay