somebody [Music] good evening Witchah and welcome to  all of you here at City Hall we'll   call this meeting to order with us this  evening is Pastor Philip Moore of Eden   Fellowship 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 council member Hoisel Dear Lord as we gather here today let  us remember that we should approach this   job with a servant's heart let us pray that  everybody who needs a prayer in our city and   in this world receives one and let us all  receive your divine wisdom and as we pray amen 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 Council Member Hohisel mr clerk please call the first item approve  the minutes of the regular meeting of May   27 2025 are there any corrections for  the May 27th meeting i see none i move   to approve the minutes of the regular  meeting of May 27th 2025 second motion   and a second any further discussion  i see none mr clerk please open the role motion passes 70 mr mr clerk please  call the next item awards and proclamations   proclamations this week are LGBTQIA plus  Pride Month and Witchaw Area Sisters Day   of Recognition and the award is a certificate  of recognition Witchaw State University Chair   Team may I please ask Council Member Glascock  and Jim Hall of Witchaw Pride to come forward good evening the proclamation reads "The city  of Witchah Kansas founded in 1870 whereas the   Stonewall uprising began in New York City on  June 28th 1969 56 years ago this month led by   Marcia P johnson and Sylvia Rivera transgender  activists who worked on behalf of homeless LGBTQ   youth and years later for those affected by the  HIV AIDS crisis were both key figures in this   groundbreaking movement whereas Pride was first  celebrated in New York City a year later on June   28th 1970 organized by activists Brenda Howard  Craig Rodwell and his partner Fred Sergeant Ellen   Body and Linda Rhodess and has continued to be  celebrated since that time whereas an estimated   96,000 canons identify as lesbian gay bisexual and  or transgender and the city of Witchah recognizes   that the LGBTQIA+ community is part of all  fields and professions and contributes to a   stronger community whereas our nation was founded  upon and is guided by a set of principles that   includes that every person has been created equal  that each has a right to live their life liberty   and the pursuit of happiness and that each shall  be accorded the full recognition and protection   under the law whereas the city of Witchaw is  dedicated to fostering acceptance of all its   citizens and to preventing discrimination and  bullying based on sexual orientation and gender   identity and Kansas forbids employment  discrimination based on sexual orientation   or gender identity for state employers and  state contractors as well as protections in   place to prevent discrimination now therefore  be it resolved that the Witchaw City Council   does hereby proclaim June 2025 as LGBTQIA+ pride  month in the city of Witchah and encourage all   citizens to recognize this community within the  state country and world as each human deserves   the same dignity respect and treatment no  matter who they love or how they identify hello and good evening and thank you for braving  the uh wonderful Kansas weather this evening and   uh most importantly happy pride month all  my name is June i am currently serving as   the communications director with Witchaw Pride  so if you sent us an email or seen any of our   social medias interacted sent us a like sent  us a comment in the last 10ish months there's a   decent chance that we've interacted um I am one  of 16 individuals who dedicate their time skill   effort and uh passion to making sure that Witchah  Pride and all of our events are a success each and   every year i want to express my thanks to the city  council for uh issuing this proclamation tonight   if you're like me you've probably been a part  of some discourse in the past couple months as   to the sheer importance of these proclamations  to our community and the simple fact is that   these proclamations matter for the same reason  why pride matters so much and it's visibility   we represent a community that has a history  of having to remain a hidden dirty little   secret of society this is an unfortunate fact  of today's day and world pride in any extension   this proclamation serves as an opportunity  where we can celebrate our existence in the   streets of our community to show that we belong  and that we aren't some dirty secret of society   we are valid members of our society who deserve  recognition of our humanity this is a topic that   I am personally very passionate about personally  I'm 29 i didn't begin my queer journey until I was   well into my 20s i didn't dare love anyone who  wasn't the correct person because I didn't know   that that was an option i didn't understand why my  parents were so upset to see two men kissing on TV   a show of love and affection was offensive  i didn't understand why my first attempts at   jewelry and makeup were met with such ridicule  and bullying i knew from a young age what the   term [ __ ] meant but I didn't understand why  this was such a bad thing why was this fighting words i didn't grow up so far from Witchaw i was  born here in Witchah i've never lived outside the   state of Kansas and I am not so old that this is  some relic of the past some distant issue this is   something that many in our community still suffer  today we celebrate our existence this month loud   and proud so that none in our community have  to feel alone or feel that they aren't loved   and accepted through this proclamation and this  and every other pride we are able to say we see   each and every member of the LGBT QI QIA plus  community here in Witchaw and the surrounding   area we invite all who are in the community and  who are allies to come out to the vast variety   of Witchaw Pride events including our festival  and parade on June 28th and we encourage you to   attend other Pride events in and around the city  put on by other organizations thank you [Applause] may I please invite the Witchaw area  Sister Cities Committee and members   including Council Member Glascock who  serves on the Sister Cities Committee the proclamation reads "The city of Witchah  Kansas founded in 1870 whereas the city of   Witchita is celebrating 52 years of cooperation  and friendship with our sister city of Talapantla   Das Mexico whereas the citizen ambassadors of  Talapantla Mexico have arrived to bring greetings   of friendship from President Rael Perez Cruz and  the citizenry of the municipality of Talapantla de   Paz Mexico and are present with us here today  whereas the cyclists of Talaputla have just   completed their 16th 1,400mile 13-day extreme  cycling trek from beautiful Telepont to our   fair city and celebrate Riverfest with us whereas  Witchah area sister cities as the citizen diplomat   corps of the citizens of Witchita wishes to honor  the distinguished athletes and guests representing   the municipality of Talapanta Labas Mexico as our  esteem esteemed sister city now therefore be it   resolved that the Witchah City Council does hereby  proclaim June 3rd 2025 as Witchah Area Sister C's   day of recognition in the city of Witchah and  encourage all citizens to celebrate with us this   noble relationship originally created by President  Dwight D eisenhower in an effort to encourage   world peace through lasting international  friendships between nations [Applause]   what a privilege it is to be here to address all  of you tonight and to present our esteemed guest   from Tan Panta Devas Mexico um my family lives  there and it is a place that I love very much   i'm so glad that it is a sister city uh probably  due to the fact that it's a sister city i ended   up in Pampa uh some years ago so um the Witchah  area sister cities represents not only Tipant   Devas Mexico but also Cancun Mexico uh Orlon  France and Kyung China and those friendships   are friendships that are long lasting we have  been friends with Lani Pontla for 52 years now   with Orlon for 52 years and for Kyung China  slightly less time but in that period of time   we have made friendships and had cooperations that  are mutually beneficial to all the cities and that   uh caused us to have great pride in and realize  the vision and the mission that President   Eisenhower right after World War II began that  of fermenting international friendships as a way   of promoting world peace so with without more ado  I'd like to present to you the cyclist of Planet Pantla we have Luis Enrique Fiero Martha Flores  Nicholas Monto Monto and Victor Plata victor Plata   and they have done an incredible act of sacrifice  to be with us all here today also we'd like to   thank the council and uh the mayor we have been  so beautifully received this year and we just   appreciate all the uh acts of love from the city  and from the citizens uh it was really something   palpable to be in the river uh fest sundown parade  and to see all the love that was sent our way so   we appreciate being able to be here tonight and  the proclamation of June the 3rd as the day of   recognition for which Tai area sister cities and  our friendship with Lan Pas Mexico [Applause] thank you very much thank you may I please ask the Witchah State  University cheer team to please come   forward at this time and any Witchah State  Shockers on the council to come forward too good to see you you can put it right here this is a special recognition on behalf of  the city of Witchah and the city council   this recognition is for the Witchah  State University cheer team in honor   of their remarkable achievement  as national champions division   1 intermediate large co-ed  give them a round of applause the special recognition is for their  dedication teamwork and excellence   in bringing pride to Witchah State  University and our entire community   this national title also reflects values  that make our community strong hard work   resilience and the true spirit of champions  serves as an inspiration to all of us here   in Witchah and beyond congratulations  Witchah State University cheer team i wasn't prepared to talk but I just  want to say thank you guys so much for   the support that we've received from the  city of Witchah and thank you mayor so   much for this recognition today we appreciate  everything and we love being able to represent   you guys as well as the um university and  all the athletic programs so thank you how about let's bring Okay don't break it okay congratulations thank you again to the Witchaw State University  cheer team another round of applause to them at this time I would like to  invite the Citizens Fire Academy   to come forward with the Witchaw Fire Department [Applause]   good evening good evening this is the 16th class of the Citizens  Fire Academy there are 13 students who will be   graduating from the program today students  experience pressures firefighters face every   day they perform search and rescue tactics and  also got a glimpse of how one cannot see while   searching all students were able to put hands-on  and use extrication tools known as the jaws of   life and become familiar with the weight of the  cutters and the spreaders students were able   to drag hose lines and gear as well as open the  nozzle to wet down surfaces they also learned a   lot of history of the Witchaw Fire Department from  a visit at the firefighters museum students also   were able to sit down with the chiefs of the fire  department to ask questions and create dialogue   guest speakers as well as many in leadership  also were able to talk with these students   this is an opportunity again for civic engagement  and we encourage uh individuals in our community   if you're interested in learning more about  the Witchaw Fire Department as well as the   Witchaw Police Department to join the twomies  that are available um in the community that   information is available at witchah.gov  um under government and then following   civic engagement at this time I would like to  invite Chief Tammy Snow to speak about this class thank you Mayor and City Council um just  wanted to real shortly say thank you very much   to these 13 participants of the um citizens fire  academy um for giving us 10 weeks of their time   and the opportunity for us to show them um and  help them understand what um we do on a daily   basis gave them a really short glimpse and  provide them a lot of information and that   was specifically due to our two community risk  reduction officers um Morgan and also Johnson   i truly appreciate them embracing uh the comments  that I've received from this graduate graduation   class is that their performance was stellar so  truly would invite you to come join us allow us   the opportunity to not only show you some public  safety but also to show you what we do on a daily   basis and with that I would like to invite Greg  Co Cockworth to the stand for a few m for a few comments good evening and Mayor Woo city  council members and distinguished guests   around 8:00 p.m on April 2nd I was having  trouble breathing smoke filled the air as   I was on my knees low to the ground I I  reached out i couldn't even see my hand   just 5 in from my face and at that moment my  respect for firefighters skyrocketed to a whole   new level and thankfully on April 2nd that was  just a drill those minutes in the smokehouse at   the regional fire fire training center were just  a few of the incredible moments that I and other   members of the academy behind me experienced in  the last three months we aim or we pulled aimed   squeezed and swept fire extinguishers that's the  PAS acronym for nobody who has learned that yet   we forced doors to open with a halagan bar but  remember try before you pry we smashed vehicles   with radio antennas really it's that cool and  easy we pried and cut through car metal with   the jaws of life yeah that was fun but thankfully  not in a serious situation then and as mentioned   we dragged hoes we climbed stairs we learned  countless facts about uniforms inspections   trucks budgets and of course the history of  firefighting in Witchah but for the record for   the record under no circumstances and absolutely  we did not slide down the polls at Fire Station   1 most importantly we met amazing people chiefs  captains lieutenants EMTs firefighters awesome   individuals and each one of them as tough as this  brick and together 500 bricks like this working   strong together to keep Witchah State Witchaw  safe as mentioned three of those individuals   played a key role in the Citizens Academy each  week Kathy Canard I lost you Kathy where'd you   go she's hiding over there always behind the  scenes kathy uh Lieutenant Johnson Lieutenant   Morgan coordinated our activities and introduced  us so many of the building blocks of the Witchaw   Fire Department in their honor and they don't  know this I am proud to announce that our class   is going to buy three bricks like this one at  the Kansas Firefighters Memorial that's on South   uh South Broadway uh those bricks will list the  members initials of the class behind me and then   give thanks to Kathy Jason Mo for your leadership  we appreciate you guys it has been a very very fun   10 weeks so on behalf of these people behind me  Bridget Cody Dan and Dean Kevin my Michaela Phil   Quincy Stephanie Tony and Zach thank you Chief  Snow and the other white shirts behind us here   for all the instructor all the instructions the  instructors the opportunity to learn observe and   ask you so so many questions and to the 500 bricks  I know you guys are watching out there probably   probably blocking off streets and helping pull out  cars some water right now the other 500 bricks the   other fire 5 500 firefighters who make up the fire  department thank you sincerely for your strength   your grit your passion your excellence and your  nonstop innovation stay safe out there [Applause] thank you mr 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 to 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 Barb Meyers  upkeep and preservation at Highland Cemetery thank you Mr clerk first individual is Barb Meyers good evening my name is Barb Myers i live  at 1621 North Melrose here in Witchah i'm here   tonight because one of Witchah's oldest historical  locations Highland Cemetery is also one of its   most neglected in case you haven't heard of it  Highland Cemetery is on the northwest corner of   9inth and Hillside it was founded in 1870 by Henry  Smith when he received his land grant there were   about 15 burials already there many of Witchah's  founders and early business leaders are now   buried among the over 17,000 that are there now  including one governor 12 mayors three sheriffs   and six marshals in 1982 Highland Cemetery was  abandoned by the lot owners association and the   city of Witchah was required to take ownership  today the city of Witchah is responsible for four   sim cemetery entities which are located in three  districts highland and Jamesburg park cemeteries   and the Old Mission and Highland Mausoleiums  i'm here tonight on behalf of the Friends of   the Witchah Pioneers several volunteer groups over  the decades have assisted the city of Witchah with   maintenance at Highland in 2016 the friends  proudly joined that list while working on my   master's thesis in W in history at W excuse me at  WSU I founded the nonprofit Friends of the Witchaw   Pioneers and since 2016 we have repaired hundreds  of markers for thousands of people we have led   countless historic tours for all ages providing  education about our city's history preservation   methods and cemetery etiquette and we are now  working on a national register of historic places   nomination so tonight we ask three things one we  ask that the city periodically make necessary make   necessary equipment and labor available to the  friends so that when uh we need to work on large   monuments we can do so and repair them as families  have requested two we ask that the city's historic   preservation board form a municipal cemetery  preservation advisory committee which would advise   the board and the city's public works and parks  departments on the status of all four C's city   uh cemetery entities and their upkeep and three we  would like the city to explain what the purpose is   for the cemetery trust fund the city's website  says that it is quote for maintaining and caring   for the graves and beautifying and improving the  city cemeteries in May a post on our Facebook   page showed numerous gravestones at Highland  which had been recently been vandalized many of   those were markers that we had already repaired  while we know that the city is not responsible   for the actual vandalism we do believe the city  of Witchah could do more to protect Highland in   fact two different news outlets contacted the city  park department and were told that there was no   money available to take care of the damage at the  cemetery that it was the family's responsibility   if that is the case then what is the trust in  place for is that not beautifification and what   if these were for people that had already  died centuries a century ago and there had   uh there is no family left there who takes care  of theirs then we realize that there is only a   small percentage of park funds allocated for city  cemeteries something along the lines of 124,000   annually and most of that is for grounds upkeep in  other words grass and trees so could some of the   trust money be used for cameras for instance to  catch future vandals if not being used for repairs   in closing we are honored to serve the descendants  of the founders of Witchah by maintaining their   famil family's final resting places we will do  everything that we can to honor their trust in us we hope that the city agrees that maintaining  Highland as well as all of the other historic   sites in Witchah is beneficial not only to  honoring our history but preserving our future   and if you've never been there Mayor Woo I would  extend an invitation to you and to the city   council for a guided historic tour of Highland  thank you thank you Barb and I will take you up   on that offer council member Tuttle thank you Miss  Myers thank you for being here today we appreciate   it um I've been on council for seven years now  and this is the first time we've had somebody   come talk to us about one of our cemeteries so  I do appreciate it and I will also take you up   on that tour i see we have director uh Davis with  Davis with us here and then also Mr manager could   you just address the cemetery trust fund and  and maybe help to try and answer some of the   Miss Meyers questions thank you um Mayor uh  the cemetery trust fund what I'd like to do   is prepare a report for the council and we'll  also get back with Miss Meyers about the legal   obligations and the restrictions that we have on  spending funds out of the trust fund thank you and did you want Reggie to speak as  well reggie director do you have any   comments or anything you'd like to  add or would you just like to have   that be a part of the report that's  presented to council from the manager okay thank you so much thanks for your excellent  work as always Council Member Glascock thank you   Mayor miss Myers I think those are reasonable uh  requests to get answers that you've requested so   we'll get back to you on that in addition  I would also take you up on that offer i   noticed that your contact information wasn't  on the document that we had to so if you could   just email the council that would be Thank you  again Barb and we will reach out i know for sure   you have three individuals on the council who  want to take you up on that tour and again the   safety and honoring of our history is one of the  things that we many of our council members really   uh take as a priority and so I want you  to know that uh number one you will hear   back from staff regarding your requests  um but number two we will definitely be   uh attending the tour thank you Barb mr  clerk can you please call the next individual   sam Barber promoting the inaugural season of  the Athletes Unlimited Softball League AUSL do we have Sam we do not so Mr clerk can you  please call the next individual danny Gaines   Kansas State Finals of the National Civics  B hosted by the Kansas Leadership Center good evening my name is Danny Gaines i am the  journal manager at the Kansas Leadership Center um   and I'm here to promote and invite you personally  to the Kansas State Finals of the National Civics   Bee what is the CivicsBe um the Civics B is a  civics competition for middle school students   from 6th to 8th grade and the Kansas State Finals  is a culmination um of civic civics bees around   Kansas so we will have 15 finalists from Witchah  Overland Park Salina Hutchinson and Pittsburgh   competing for a first place spot um the first  place winner will then proceed to Washington DC   where they will compete for first place again  um and the first place winner will receive a   $100,000 education savings fund um so in the  civics B um the middle school students work   through two rounds of civics questions they spend  almost an entire year studying civics studying   um the history of our country learning about  civic virtues and our founding principles um   and following those two rounds they have a third  round where they engage with a um three judges   from our city in a Q&A um and they present  an essay that they've written about a civic   issue in their community so they come up with  something that needs attention in their community   uh they speak on that issue who needs to be  engaged to make progress on the issue how   they would receive funding um and how ultimately  they could fix this community problem from there   um a winner is announced but our Kansas state  finals is more than just a student competition   um we are aiming to build a civic movement in  Witchah so in addition to our competition we   have four hours of civic programming so we have  a fantastic nationally known keynote speaker Manu   meal from Bridge USA we have a corporate social  responsibility panel hosted by Fidelity Bank that   features four individuals from Witchah um that  are focused on corporate social responsibility   here in our city um this event takes place this  Thursday June 5th from 1 to 7 pm we would love um   attendance for the full day but most particularly  the student competition from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m uh   in addition to this just kind of a a cool note we  requested a proclamation from the state of Kansas   for Youth Civics's Day and that was granted so  Thursday June 5th the day of the civics be is   Youth Civics's day so we're really proud of that  um we would love your attendance if you are able   to join if you're not able to join we would love  for you to um promote the event if you so wish or   are able to do so we have lots of um different  material online about this event but um like I   like I mentioned this is a student competition  a really great way to um encourage inspire and   promote civic um engagement in our youth uh but  also help us to create this civic movement in our   city thank you thank you Danny uh Council Member  Ballard thank you Mayor Danny i would just like to   say thank you for coming to share uh I had the  pleasure of sitting on the panel last year to   um judge and it was very impressive a very big  topics that are um local state and national issues   that we're all dealing with and the um kids  were very well spoken and very um interesting   to listen to and participate in so thank you for  coming to share that and we'll make sure that we   uh promote it on our end thank you Danny and again  it's Thursday June 5th from 4 to 6:00 p.m is the   student portion of the competition at the Kansas  Leadership Center in downtown Witchah thank you Mr   clerk can you please call the next individual  charles Narsian zoning case 2025 number 10 is Charles here today i don't  see Charles mr clerk can you   please call the next individual  alyssa Deontier zoning case 202510 alyssa here today i do not see Alyssa so  we have three spots left for public comment   and if there are three individuals who  would like to speak before the council   you may just come to the podium  state your name and where you live i see none i will now move on mr  clerk can you please call the next item   consent agenda items 1 through 12 council  members are there any items to be pulled   i see none i move to approve consent agenda  items 1 through 13 second 1 through 12 uh   motion and a second any further discussion  i see none mr clerk can you please open the role motion passes 70 mr clerk  can you please call the next item   board of Bids and Contracts dated June 2nd 2025 good evening Mayor City Council josh  Lober Department of Finance Board of   Benton Contracts convened June 2nd 2025 for  the following items for engineering we have   the Forest View and Forest View Court with  incidental storm water sewer improvements   to serve bridgerat central edition for Conspect  Incorporated doing business as Kansas paving for $386,1910 we have the 2025 outsource  paving preservation program CIP concrete   street repairs phase 3 for Conspec  Incorporated doing business as Kansas   paving awarded to the engineers estimate for  $521,800.80 80s from their original bid of $434,834 we have the 2025 outsource  pavement preservation program joint   and crack seal phase 3 for  Innovative Road Composits LLC $190,349.30 we have the Witchita Water Treatment   Plant 2 grit chamber repairs for utility  maintenance contractors LLC for $213,900 we have the Maple Street booster  pump station for Don Lingeran   Suns Construction Company Incorporated for 3,61,976 we have the 2025 sanitary   sewer rehabilitation phase B for  Mayor Specialty Services LLC for $91,74.97 we have the St francis Street to serve   Bridgeport Industrial Park 1 Edition  for Pearson Construction LLC for $237,135.50 we have the water main  water distribution system storm water   drain number 525 sanitary sewer paving to  serve Pegasus and Pegasus second edition   tide rebid for ME Construction Incorporated  for an aggregate bid total of 6,64,947.30 we have the roof replacement for Evergreen  Park Recreation Building for AR Commercial   Roofing LLC for 480,000 we have the Nuisance  Code Record Services for Kids Towing and   Recovery for the rates listed for one year  with four one-year options to renew we have   one hydro excavator vacuum truck for key  equipment and supply company for $59,90.65 we have the rehab rehabilitation of existing   bleachers at Barry Sanders football field  for H Heartland Seating Incorporated for $99,3906 we have the thermal imaging cameras  for Whis Fire and Safety Equipment LLC for $113,87.50 i have the false alarm registration  and management services contract change order   for Central Square Technologies requesting your  authorization to extend the contract 180 days   for airport we have one Caterpillar motor graater  for fully equipment company incorporated for $398,77429 this is how to become a vendor with  the city this is our purchasing calendar of   small business resource partner events the  city is hosting or participating in these   are open public opportunities out on the street  today and I would recommend your approval and be   happy to stand for any questions thanks Josh  any questions for staff i see none i move to   approve the board of bids and contracts  dated June 2nd 2025 second motion and a   second any further discussion i see none mr  clerk can you please call um open the role motion passes 70 mr clerk can you please  call the next item property maintenance codes honorable mayor members of council Troy Anderson  assistant city manager um probably got 30 to 50   slides here i'm going to try to walk through this  as quickly as possible this was originally sort   of geared towards a workshop and so feel free  to chime in at any point in time if you have   any questions comments concerns um the formal  action will be sort of just to simply receive   and file but there will be some opportunities  throughout this that um we will ask for a   little bit of policy guidance and direction uh  as we prepare for some next steps uh so this was   this is intended to be a little bit interactive so  again feel free to chime in as you see appropriate   um little bit of background a little bit of  history right some of you may recall some   of this may look familiar to you all i'm going to  start tonight with a little bit of context around   sort of property owner rights and responsibilities  we'll get into some municipal code review we'll   get into talk about the International Property  Maintenance Code we'll kind of wrap up with   kind of some next steps around policies and  procedures and performance measures right   but let let me begin with kind of an overarching  kind of theme of making sure that we're not   dismissing recognition of property owner rights  right property owners have certain inalienable   rights we get that um property owners have the  right to acquire use and dispose of property   freely so long as those actions do not violate  the rights of others we have fifth and 14th   amendments to the US Constitution we have Kansas  property and real estate laws but on the other   half of property owner rights right are property  owning responsibilities we we live in a modern   urbanized society and um along with property  owner rights come property owner responsibilities   so generally speaking property owners are  legally obligated to provide reasonable care   and maintenance of their property to ensure that  it's a safe from dangerous conditions this goes   for commercial property this goes for residential  property this even goes towards Witchaw Housing   Authority right um it's inclusive of everybody  owners landlords operators occupants tenants right   so I'm going to read an excerpt here that really  just tries to kind of drive this point home right   uh this comes right out of the International  Property Maintenance Code and it really leans   in on kind of both aspects of this right that the  owner of the premise shall maintain the structures   and the exterior property in compliance with these  requirements except as otherwise provided for in   code a person shall not occupy as owner occupant  or permit any other person to occupy the premises   that are not in a sanitary and safe condition and  do not comply with the requirements of the chapter   occupants also of a dwelling unit rooming unit  or housing housekeeping unit are responsible for   keeping in a clean sanitary and safe condition  that part of the dwelling unit rooming unit   housekeeping unit or premise they occupy and  control but these aren't new concepts right   um these are some excerpts uh some sections  right out of the city's Witchah Municipal Code   um Witchah Municipal Code section 200430 there's  some minimum standards for basic equipment and   facilities minimum standards for light ventilation  electricity and heating general requirements   related to safe and sanitary maintenance of parts  of dwellings and dwelling units specifically no   owner or operator shall occupy as owner occupant  or permit another to occupy any dwelling or   dwelling unit for the purpose of living which does  not comply and then there's a whole host of other regulations additionally the responsibility  of owners and occupants generally again every   owner shall be responsible for maintaining in a  clean and sanitary condition and subsection two   every occupant of a dwelling or dwelling  unit shall keep in a clean and sanitary   condition so again just continuing to drive  home the point that there's a balance between   property owner rights but also property owner  responsibilities and this is also inclusive   of not only owners owner occupants but also  tenants right so back in August of 2023 when   we had a workshop and we kind of set forth  where we were going to try to go with this   uh there spun out of that a number of  conversations one in particular uh was an   educational campaign right you may recall and as  a a byproduct of that we have developed an owner   uh tenant uh landlord tenant handbook uh  that's uh available on our city's website as   well as we've have a number of uh um published  copies that we have available for distribution so let me talk a little bit about we've  talked about property owner sort of rights   and responsibilities i'm going to go a little  bit further into occupants and tenants rights   and responsibilities right so occupants and  tenants have the right to live in a habitable   rental property this generally means that it must  be free of any serious health or safety threats   vermin infestations and functioning plumbing  and electricity more broadly across the nation   there's sort of a legal lease type of and I'm  going to be really really careful not being an   attorney I love to play junior attorney a  lot but there's this terminology where I'm   call warranty of habitability right so most courts  recognize and implied warranty of habitability in   residential leases even if the rental agreement  doesn't outline the landlord's responsibility   the warranty ensures the landlord's following  local housing codes under the implied warranty   of habitability there's all of these asurances  again this is all stuff we kind of touched on a   um a couple months ago so while occupants and  tenants have rights as we just kind of talked   about occupants tenants also have responsibilities  right this is a section that comes right out of   the international property maintenance code  occupants of a dwelling unit rooming ha   uh unit or housekeeping unit are responsible  for keeping it in a clean sanitary and safe   condition additionally not new we have some of  that language in the existing municipal code   every occupant of a dwelling unit shall keep it  in clean and sanitary condition and otherwise   abide by all other terms and conditions of the  lease agreement so again kind of spinning out of   the conversation that we had um in and around  August of 2023 we also created a retaliatory   evictions ordinance um preventing landlords  from retaliating against tenants um retaliatory   being defined as sort of a commencement of  eviction or increasing rent or reduction of   services provided by the landlord that was  adopted by city council in January of 2024 okay so out of that August workshop right one of  the first things that we said we were going to do   is kind of go take a look at the city's municipal  code as we went through the city's municipal code   uh what we came to quickly realized was that  the d that the code is duplicative across   multiple titles resulting in confusion right  so the general consensus is that that we at a   minimum need a consolidated property maintenance  code we need one code that addresses sort of all   aspects of property maintenance okay one easy  to reference municipal code section that can   easily share with property owners landlords and  occupants and tenants we looked at title 7 8   18 and 20 and then we also reviewed the  international property maintenance code   uh this is something generally understood as kind  of an industry standard best practice so let me   talk a little bit about the IPMC so one of the  reasons why this is generally understood to be   kind of that industry standard best practice right  is it's a vetted professionally developed body of   work based on best practices case law technical  standards it's part of the international code   council family of codes um which for those of you  that are not familiar the international building   code residential code fire code um mechanical code  plumbing code and the laundry list goes on and on   a number of which of those individual codes we  have adopted as part of the unified trade code   between the city and Sedick County again designed  to work with building fire plumbing and mechanical   codes specifically those of the international  code council additionally now there hasn't   been significant changes per se as it relates to  the International Property Maintenance Code over   the years but the International Code Council puts  out sort of new versions about every three years   it's an opportunity for communities to sort of  revisit uh and um become aware and a breast of   uh new trends new technology new standards new  practices again we haven't seen a lot of evolution   of the International Property Maintenance  Code over the years but you all are are   um extremely familiar with as we continue to  adopt new cycles of the building code fire code   so on and so forth um how local amendments come  into to play more specifically jurisdictions can   adopt individual codes uh it's always encouraged  to adopt with local amendments to fit local needs so specifically International Property  Maintenance Code again has been adopted by   hundreds of jurisdictions across the nation  it's got a strong track record legal credibility   this is just a sampling of cities in Kansas  that have adopted the International Property   Maintenance Code in some form or fashion topeka  Manhattan Overland Park Lawrence Kansas City so   the approach that we are looking at is sort of  a repeal and replace right it's going to be a   little bit nuanced again because some of the  existing language is so intertwined in some of   those titles and chapters um when we bring back  an ordinance uh you're going to see probably more   specifically sort of chapters and verses that  are repealed and replaced and not just entire   titles and chapters right um because there's a  lot of stuff still in Title 7 and Title 8 that   is not associated with property maintenance  codes that we're going to want to leave in   um those respective titles and chapters and  then at the end we're going to replace Title   20 more specifically sections of title 20 with  the International Property Maintenance Code   okay so this is just a real quick highlight of  um the International Property Maintenance Code   how it's organized right and I didn't bring a  copy with me tonight right but if you've ever   seen a copy of it it it's not that big there you  go um it's not that thick right it it's actually   a pretty small reference and it's designed in  such a way right that it's sort of designed to be   really overarching and really generalized because  when it comes to the actual sort of improvements   that need to be made and we start talking about  things like existing building code building code   residential code that's where the real sort of  construction standards uh come into play but but   the International Property Maintenance Code is  somewhat in intentionally designed to be thin   in that respect right but how the International  Property Maintenance Code is organized there's   a chapter one scope and administration we'll  go through a couple of the kind of chapters   and verse here in just a little bit chapter 2  definitions there's kind of an overarching general   requirements that's where you see some things  like exterior property and exterior structures   uh interior just general quality then they get  sort of more granular right chapter four light   ventilation and occupancy chapter five plumbing  fixtures six mechanical fixtures seven fire safety   and then there's a host of reference standards at  the end so I'm going to go through I'm not going   to go through sort of every single section first  and foremost there are some overarching general   amendments that we're going to propose right  so first and foremost we want to make sure that   there's going to be a handful of amendments right  that we're going to recommend just to maintain   consistently consistency with state law second  is so for example there are references to the   international fire code or to the international  mechanical code or the energy code right and so   you'll see amendments throughout that simply refer  to the Witchah Sedick County Unified Building and   Trade Code because that's where all of those code  standards are adopted under that one overarching   uh unified building and trade code so I'm not  going to go through all of those individual   amendments you'll see that when we bring back  the ordinance but specifically chapter one   um obviously we need to fill in the blanks so to  speak right so the name of jurisdiction city of   Witchah creation of an agency well the agency  already exists so we're just going to kind of   fill in the blanks the name of the department is  um more specifically Metropolitan Area Building   Construction Department uh but MABCD for for  purposes of this conversation the official in   charge is the code official um the duties and  powers of the code official again just making   sure that there's no conflict with Kansas  TOR Claims Act um and then section 106 the   means of appeal every co every code standard  has a a means of appeal sort of process right   we'll get into this a little bit more detail  but we already have that sort of body right   the the board of appeals is replaced with the  board of code standards and appeals uh that   that body already exists so the first section  amendment that we get to where we want to start   asking for a little bit of policy guidance and  direction right is on prosecution of a violation   so as it exists today right the current model  MABCD and more specifically neighborhood   inspections and um the individuals within  the neighborhood inspection department the   the way that the language was written  in the existing codes and ordinances   is to encourage exhausting all compliance  options before issuing a a UCCC a uniform criminal thank you so much um and that's the  that's the citation that uh is sent to court   that um that requires an individual appear in  court uh that that they've exhausted all of their   administrative remedies and now they're referring  them uh to the courts extensions may be granted   homeowners working with the leaison homeowners  pulled a permit at homeowner demonstrate progress   one of the challenges is is that um we get caught  in this washing machine more specifically I'm   going to show you an illustration of kind of the  workflow right um the second illustration I'm   going to show you a little bit of a workflow after  a UCCc is it is written right u but environmental   court follows a very similar compliance driven  model right we've we've gone down this path of   we we want to see compliance and that hasn't  changed right but we we tend to spend more   time trying to work with property owners and never  actually getting beyond just continuing to try to   work with property owners so here's an example  of the workflow sort of diagram right where   um a complaint's received an inspector goes out  is there a violation perhaps there is if there is   there's a notice that is given and a cure period  that is given um that inspector then returns as   part of a reinspection has the property been  excuse me has the violation been abated if not   there's another notice that's provided there's  another cure period provided there's another   reinspection and now you kind of begin to see we  never really get the violation abated right we we   stay in this well we're going to continue to work  with the property owner we're going to continue to   work with the property owner and it never gets  to that UCC or an abatement order right that   we just continue to work with the property owner  to try to encourage them to abate the violations   similarly once a UCC is written let's say  it finally does get into the hands of sort   of the court system there's an arrangement  excuse me an arraignment is the property   owner present if not is it is there a plea deal  is it dismissed maybe not eventually maybe there   is a hearing right again is the property  owner present if not is there a plea deal   is the case dismissed is there a continuence and  specifically the language in the municipal code   is intended to try and encourage working with  property owners to the greatest extent possible   never really only I think it was less than 3% of  cases ever kind of go to trial right we just kind   of get caught up in these these wash cycles of  continuing to try to work with property owners   continuing to try to work with property owners  right and we never really get the violations abaded okay so there's a couple of options  so option one is that we could replace the   environmental court with an administrative  hearing right this is kind of the the least   assertive approach um in fact it's probably less  assertive than even where we are today right so   one one option is to replace environmental court  with just an administrative hearing and we hand   this over to sort of an administrative hearing  process option two is to modify the environmental   court ordinance language this is kind of  the more assertive than where we are today   approach right it repeals the court's compliance  goal as codified by the charter ordinance right   and really replaces it with um a more a more  penalty sort of based approach when it comes   to violations that make it to the courts right  the hybrid model is a model whereby uh once a   UCCC is written right that the prosecutor's office  um can decide whether or not to take a violation   a UCCC to an administrative hearing or whether  maybe in the case of a a repeat offender or a   known violator right can send that admin  that UCCC directly to the environmental court so at this point in time I'm going to pause  for just a second before I get into the next one   and really just kind of open it up for comments  suggestions a little bit of policy direction   again I do have uh representatives from the law  department and representatives from Center for   Public Management that were instrumental in  helping getting us all here to where we are   today so if I'm unable to answer the questions  we have other folks here that might be able to   answer those questions thank you Troy council  member Johnson thanks Mayor thank you Troy also   appreciate everyone's hard work on this long  time coming um my question really is about   option two and three so I like option two given  everything that we've been hearing over the years   but on three if I understand this correctly it  just provides more flexibility so first time   offenders or those who like really are trying  get a get the opportunity to go down an easier   path while the repeat offenders or those who have  some of the more grotesque offenses then could go   down the like option two route and that that will  be codified where they have the discretion to do   so that's correct yep yeah and I should kind of  point out right that coming back to the internal   process right because the the codes and ordinance  even the international property maintenance code   doesn't address this right this is really  a policy an internal policy and procedure   approach right one of the things that we're going  to talk about internally right as we overhaul our   policies and procedures about how we sort of  conduct inspections and reinspections one of   the things that we're going to try to do is kind  of get rid of that extension scenario right that   almost kind of like a three strikes approach right  that if there's an initial inspection if there's   a violation found sort of strike one here's an  opportunity to abate if I come back and sort of   reinspect then the violation is still not abated  sort of strike two i'm going to give you one more   chance probably a reduced cure period right and  if I come back that second time and you still   haven't abated the violation sort of issue that  UC and then as a code enforcement officer I can   sort of move on to the next case and the next site  and I can put sort of that case in the hands of   the prosecuting attorney's office as well as the  court system to help kind of achieve some of the   more desired outcomes um and that way we don't  get caught in these wash cycles so even though   there's not conversation around that because  there's nothing in the property maintenance   code that really spells that out that'll come back  in the form of internal policies and procedures   to the point that you just Yes the idea is  to get out of sort of the wash cycle again   in the court system right it in the hybrid model  a prosecuting attorney for a first-time offender   might be able to use the administrative hearing  process and again for known repeat offenders can   immediately send them to environmental court  i am I am supportive of the hybrid model if   we can and I I can't remember which ordinance  we did it on if we can kind of put in writing   what our wishes are as a full council but I would  I wouldn't want to start everyone at zero when we   know we have repeat offenders already and I  would just hope that we could put some form   of language that indicates we we would like to  see the folks who have been repeat offenders   over the last several years pushed more to that  option two rather than given the administrative   piece because I think they have been finding  every loophole they possibly could with what we   have over the last several years so if we could  go hybrid and push the repeat offenders towards   the more assertive model I'd be supportive of  option three thank you Council Member Glascock   thank you Mayor i have a couple questions i'm  glad we're back on this slide what is the cost   of both option one option two i know one of the  budget recommendations from the manager um was   eliminating one of our courtrooms and so seeing  the environmental court aspect the administrative   hearing what is the most cost-effective solution  is there is it pretty similar across the board   as well um so we haven't done sort of a deep  dive into cost analysis without getting some   sort of feedback from you all right um generally  speaking I mean I I can just tell you anecdotally   not having sort of environmental court um there's  probably some cost savings there right but at the   same time you're going to have to have somebody  to help sort of adjudicate in an administrative   penalty there's there may not be any jail time  there may not be any probation there may not be   any convictions right but you still have folks who  are managing case loads so um so in that context   there's probably not going to be a lot of cost  savings this really probably is more procedural   and process driven um we'll be more than happy to  kind of really dive in to better understand what   the cost implications of of these three models  are uh this is really more of just a question of   uh how assertive right do you want us to to  uh approach property maintenance and property   maintenance violations i mean especially with  egregious offenders I want us to be very assertive   there are people that take advantage of the system  but I also if one of these options is 10 times   more expensive than one option that will matter  um when it comes forward so I'd be interested in   a performer on what each one of these would cost  in addition would these be for all cases i know we   talked a lot about tenant landlord relationships  would this be for all cases so that it's a owner   occupied home or a owner or a tenant occupied home  would both also be under prosecution of violation   under the same category yes so while this is  chapter one of the of the international property   maintenance code you'll see as we kind of get down  into Right yes any violation would be handled sort   of the same way right um there's an inspection  there's a determination as to whether or not   there's a violation um and then we we go through  the process right and so whether it's a commercial   property whether it's a residential property  whether it's uh an inter interior structure if   it's an exterior property whether it's an owner  occupied whether it's a landlord tenant right   we approach it all from the same lens of a  property maintenance violation as a property   maintenance violation i too would probably be  more interested in the hybrid model of how we   balance you know individual 90-year-old woman  living in the district that's trying to get   in compliance we don't have the funds to get in  compliance is very different to me than someone   that has 10 violations and is just working the  system right so I want to make sure that there's   room those in whatever we propose moving forward  as well and then a question about a previous slide   that you had you don't have to go to it but how  often do we send out these inspectors how often   does that loop happen um and how often what is  the average they might go out to one particular   property so we did a little bit of an analysis  [Music] um there are some cases there are some   case types for example high weeds and grass right  where that follows one process right we we we go   out we inspect high weeds and grass um perhaps  provide the notice come back nope it wasn't and we   immediately go to abatement right that's just been  sort of the the culture that's created right there   are other violations um that continue to become  harder and harder uh a hole in a roof right um   um mold and mildew in in a an apartment unit  right there there's some processes that have   just continued to try to run through the  cycle some are addressed more easily right   we're trying to kind of more generalize that  a violation is a violation that a violation   um and really trying to streamline regardless of  case type if that makes any sense yeah I want to   see more data on all three options but if I had to  lean towards any option two or three before I move   on I just have a follow-up question when we're  looking at that performer it would be beneficial   to know what's the actual cost of a call that  is sent out so a code enforcer going out to a   property what is that that actual cost um so when  you're looking for the average number of times per   property I'd also like to see what's the actual  cost of sending an individual out the gas that it   takes to take that person there um just again the  full cost council member Hohisel thank you Mayor   uh thanks Troy for your work on this and everybody  who's been doing work on this including legal and   housing and MABC um I support option three as  well i agree with council member Johnson if   um the policy can be skewered more towards you  know leniency and trying to work to get people   in compliance where people who first time or very  you know uncommon that they get any violations but   especially cracking down on the slum boards so  I do have um one or two questions um are we able   to also separate this dependent on the number of  doors that people have because one of the things   we see is people who have 10 doors or less usually  they take better care of their property i mean a   violation is a violation but it does seem like we  don't want to be too overbearing on some but then   the ones who have more units than bigger units  multif family units it seems like they do get   um more than their fair share of violations so is  that possible or is that a discriminatory practice   there so this approach right focuses on um sort  of a blind approach right but in the context of   identifying the violation and getting that  particular violation abated right that regardless   of the property owner that the that the code  enforcement officer is focused on the complaint   that was received right that I want to continue  to make sure that we're we're communicating well   that we are still basing this entire process  on complaints right that this is a complaint   driven process uh code enforcement officers do  not in initiate inspections right they don't   take it upon themselves to go out uh this is an  entirely a complaint driven model right so when a   complaint comes in that code enforcement officer  is specifically focused on that property that   moment that violation and abating that violation  where I think what you're describing comes into   the conversation right is kind of where the  prosecutor's office and the courts begin to   sort of uh if I'm seeing the same individual over  and over and over again right um I'm going to   probably become a little more assertive in pine uh  fines penalties and and the tools that I have in   that toolbox for sort of known repeat violators um  so from a code enforcement officer's perspective   they're simply going out to the property and  they're looking at now I'd be remissed if I said   there's as they do property owner research right  code enforcement officers are going to probably   become familiar with repeat violators just as well  as sort of the prosecutors and the courts right   but the the emphasis on on the training is to  focus on the property focus on the violation   and getting that particular violation abated and  that there's not a discriminatory practice of the   code enforcement officer and trying to get the  uh violations abated i I have a slide later on in   uh the presentation that'll talk about some of  the other things that have come up in conversation   right and what we've tried to do is separate  those from actually sort of what is the property   maintenance code and what is the property  maintenance process there's some ancillary   conversations around sort of um repeat violators  and those things that we can address outside of   the context of this right we really tried to keep  this focused on property maintenance property   maintenance codes and the process associated  with that would the owners of the property be   Um would that be taken into consideration more  the owners of the property or how about some of   the property managers as well because there's  a lot of property owners that we know live out   of state and it's extremely difficult to get a  hold of them so how does that figure into our   process whether or not we would go through  um administrative hearing or environmental   court and also does that does the complaints  follow the property management groups as well   so the way the property maintenance code is  structured and probably more so for our just   as much so for our municipal we're going to focus  on the property owner right um that's who owns the   property that's who's responsible for the property  and the upkeep of the property right if a property   management group is not representing the property  owner well at the end of the day the rights and   responsibilities lie on the property owner  that's who we're going to focus on uh when we   when we issue notices uh when we issue uh UCCC's  right it's going to be against the property owner   um now we can work with property management  groups right uh who might have um the the the   authorities that are given to them to provide  access uh to try and remediate vacate uh uh or   abate the violation right but at the end of the  day the way the property man property maintenance   codes are structured it's it's focused on the  property owner okay last question real quick   the there's a lot of properties out there to  where one of the loopholes that they get by   on this is once they start getting violations  and then they put it into somebody else's name   and sort of a rent to own process um would these  complaints also stick with the property if it does   go through sale um are we still able to follow up  on that if they exploit that particular loophole i'm going to say that again I'm not an attorney  but once a violation is issued and a UCCC is   issued and we're going through the the process  right if all of a sudden the property changes   hands the court may very well dismiss the  case right that that property owner is no   longer responsible for that violation if that's  the case fine so be it right we might have to   kind of start over but given a complaint driven  process we can go out the very next day and if   there's a complaint then we can kind of start the  process all over again against the new property   owner right if we also right reduce the number  of times that we're reinspecting and revisiting a   property and we can get it into the court system  through into the prosecutor's offices into the   court system faster the more likely we're going  to be able to eventually sort of connect with   those property owners um just in the context  of just trying to change hands we can probably   go through a process of getting uh a UCCC and a  violation issued before a new LLC can be created   and a conveyance can be created so the idea is to  try to cut down the time that we're reinspecting   as much as possible where we have known violations  that are not being cured okay yeah that would be   something I'd be interested in seeing um in the  code and as far as the administrative process   goes is uh making sure that that's noted that  if we pick up on that I know that is an issue   with MABC there's a number of properties in my  district where that keeps keeps happening so if   that's able to be included in the process as well  just making note and seeing where the violation   goes from person to person so I appreciate that  council member Tuttle thank you thank you Troy   appreciate the presentation and I see my friend  Denise Peters in the back from the Center for   Project Management so thank you for your work  on this i appreciate it if I think we're trying   to all find the balance between making sure that  renters have a safe place to live right and but   then also making sure that property owners are  also respected if you mentioned this I'm sorry   and I didn't see it anywhere in the green sheet do  we know about how many cases a year this would be   gueststimate so that's a little bit nuanced right  because it could be unique encounters or not right   right the there's a slide I have here later on  right when we get to performance measures there's   sort of three tranches of measures that we really  want to to retool and and revisit right one is the   the complaint process right how many complaints  are we receiving how many of those complaints are   valid complaints right i mean that's a that's  a performance measure sort of metric in and of   itself um the second is if there is a violation  found there's a case that's created how long is   that case being being inspected before it's sent  to the And then there's the third part of that   just how long are cases being um how long are  they existing in sort of the court process right   so we're going to go through that i don't have  the exact numbers of historical measures right   but it's a little bit nuanced in we don't know how  many complaints have because when we were looking   at the process there were so many different ways  that complaints could have been lodged that we   just didn't have a really good measure we're going  to try to find a better sort of funnel to know how   many complaints are received how many were valid  how many were not and I think that's also going to   be a better indicator too of actual case creation  and case management um Denise might have some of   those numbers off the top of her head but we'll  we'll be having more discussions about this i   was just curious but you know I the one thing is  if and I know you're kind of looking for a little   bit of guidance i also am leaning towards the  hybrid model too and and I would hope the goal   would be and it's been mentioned by the mayor and  by council member Glascock that you know it costs   money for MABCD to go out and do these inspections  and if renours know that we are serious and that   we're changing our process then perhaps that will  make them be a little bit more diligent and if   they're more diligent it means they're taking  better care of their property and if they're   taking better care of their property we don't have  to spend the funds sending out somebody from MABC   to do the inspection so the the other thing I like  about this is this is kind of an opportunity maybe   for I'm using this word and it may not be the  right word but a reset um and then we can also   get baseline data to know if the changes that  we're making are actually making a difference   because the goal should be less visits from  MABC right and and less complaints from tenants   and if I were to even kind of put myself in  the ballpark of your original question we're   we're talking thousands right thousands of sort  of complaints and inspections and cases that are   kind of being managed on an annual basis and and  for the MABCD inspector it's not just you know   it's the time that they take that they have to  go out and visit it's the gas that they take but   then they have to come back and do the reporting  and they have to do the followup and so anything   that we can do to get renters to be better renters  saves the city money in the end thank you Council   Member Ballard thank you Mayor um thank you Troy  for the presentation um like some of my colleagues   have mentioned I'm leaning more towards three uh  just because it gives us more choices um but I I   would say compliance is always a good goal for the  most part but we've seen in all of our districts   there's just some people that just can't get  to the compliance and they have found every   loophole or move their car over here you know  to reset the clock or all of that so I'm really   interested to fine-tune some of those um details  for the repeat habitual offenders that um that   we're continually having to deal with that are  burning up resources that just aren't complying so   uh I'm leaning more towards um option three but my  other question is have we created a manual for the   inspectors to all be playing like a handbook to  make sure the inspectors are all playing by the   same book of rules that makes sense yeah no I  appreciate that kind of a leading question into   some of our late Right i I want to make sure I  don't misrepresent this as well um simply adopting   the International Property Maintenance Code isn't  going to make all of this go away right what it   does is it it changes the culture right it it  gives us an opportunity to um look at property   maintenance and property maintenance code from a  from a different lens right from that from that   industry standard sort of best practice lens it's  all in one easy to use easy reference manual all   all of the reasons we've already described right  but this is just the first step the next couple   of steps right are exactly what you're describing  once we know and understand what direction we're   going with the codes and ordinances over the next  six nine months right our our goal is to overhaul   and create one easy to use standard operating  procedure that gives code enforcement officers   stepby-step instructions on how to address every  single violation so yes thank you Vice Mayor   Johnston thank you Mayor thank you Troy appreciate  the information could tell me a little bit more   about uh uh modifying the u environmental  court yep what that entails or appeal the   court's uh compliance goals what's what's all  that mean is it does it make it more tougher so there's a a section of the municipal  code that addressed environmental court and   um and property maintenance violations right and  is specifically spelled out in that section that   provides guidance and direction toward to the  judges right that it's the city's intent and   desire that we want judges to work with property  owners to continue to try and achieve compliance   without sort of conviction right um so one of  the things that we would do as part of this is   we would go to that municipal code section and we  would amend that municipal code section to give   the judges and the courts better guidance and  direction as to what sort of the new desires of   the governing body and the city are that while yes  we all agree that the end goal we want compliance   right um so the way that the codes and ordinances  are written we're doing exactly what the codes and   ordinances were designed to do right i think what  has been made apparent over the last several years   is we're still not as a result of that we're not  achieving some of the desired outcomes that I I   think that the community is wanting and expecting  and so that's why we've got to go back this is a   this is sort of a structural reconstruction of the  court systems again I've got some folks here that   I keep looking over my shoulder if Jennifer I know  Dante's heavily involved if anybody else wants to   chime in but that's my 100,000 foot perspective  of the environmental courts were specifically   designed to continue to try to create compliance  opportunities without any sort of convictions i   hear you saying that it would then yes do that so  yes that that would be good i'd be very much for   that and I would also embrace the hybrid model  pete defenders we need to get tougher on them   people who just happen to be  out of compliance once fix it council member Johnson thanks Mayor Troy just  one followup from what Council Member Hohisel   um asked about the owners um and I if this  is a later slide I'm sorry it's okay um is   there a way we can ensure that there is a clause  that might recognize some of the same principles   on the business or same entities behind LLC's  that own multiple properties in violation just   to make sure we are catching repeat offenders so  if someone gets written up and then they start   an LLC that still manages property just making  sure we can find a way to keep track of that so not generally addressed in property  maintenance property maintenance codes   you're right that kind of building off Council  Member Hohisel's comments right that that once   we establish sort of a foundation of how we  conduct day-to-day business right there are   other codes and ordinances that we can kind of  bolt on to what we're doing at whether it be the   prosecutor's office or whether it's the courts  right to kind of gain the goals and objectives   of the governing body and the city but generally  speaking those kind of things are not inclusive   of property maintenance property maintenance code  property is specifically geared towards that's a   violation and it needs to be abated okay thank  you i'll keep my notes on that okay Troy I do   have a couple questions um this is less on tenant  uh landlord type of questions but it also has to   do with the process i've been getting emails  u from individuals um south of Broadway that   have seen multiple violations on the illegal  camping ordinance and so one of the things that   um was pointed out this individual said "I  cannot express uh strongly enough how vitally   important swift enforcement of the anti-amping  ordinance on private property is." The ordinance   specifically states quote "It is unlawful for  a person to camp or temporary camp on private   property without authorization of the owner or  occupant such person may be removed along with   their personal property immediately without prior  notice and this person asked that we respectfully   enforce that law because they have um they  went through the MABC process I guess multiple   multiple times and uh they were able to clean up  this property and then within 5 days another one   um popped up in that neighborhood and I know that  especially in the Sosi neighborhood they're trying   to really revitalize that area so my question is  does this apply to this specific um situation um   I know that this individual um has been emailing  me about how this process can be expedited and   um how multiple violations can uh stop especially  in properties where um are in neighborhoods that   have been reporting this for many many times  right so um property maintenance codes are   about the quality of the site the property and  the structures right um the use of a property   whether it be sort of a zoning use or whether  it be camping right the use of a property is   not addressed in property maintenance codes but  property maintenance codes have an a direct impact   on how properties are used right so properties  that are well-managed well-maintained well-groomed   well-kept right are often not associated with  sort of adverse uses um but just to make sure that   we're separating the two no property maintenance  codes are not necessarily associated with uses   those are zoning codes those are zoning violations  um or specific ordinances that the city adopts   like camping ordinances right this is more about  the quality of the site um and the structures   and how well the property is being maintained  but if it's a nuisance case isn't that an MABC so uh a nuisance yes there there's a little bit  of overlap here and I want to make sure that right   some of the violations that are identified  in a property maintenance code are generally   construed to be a nuisance right for example  high weeds and grass is often times referred   to as a nuisance right under state statute  nuisances identifying violations as nuisances   allow governing bodies jurisdictions to abate  right there might be in other cases violations   which may not necessarily be construed to be a  nuisance per se right broadly property maintenance   codes are loosely referred to as nuisances yes  right but again it's really more about how well   a property is being maintained how well the  buildings and structures are being maintained   and not necessarily how those properties are being  used either lawfully or unlawfully by occupants   mayor if I can based on your ordinance I've got a  process here in front of me i'm going to ask the   city attorney to either clarify or um uh confirm  what I have here so when we receive notification   of a uh an encampment on private property the  we then have to give proper notice to the party   uh then uh an administrative search  warrant may be issued and then if it's not   uh as a result of that warrant then we move  forward with bid solicitation and an award for   the baitment of the encampment so in other words  the removal of the encampment and that is done   I believe privately not by our crews not by our  city crews um that's my recollection um and then   um it will be placed in the queue for our nuisance  abatements um and sometimes we'll have a little   bit of a delay because this one day that I asked  they had 31 properties that were in the abatement   queue so it takes a little while to work through  the abatements and u Jennifer you may want to talk   also about why we use private contractors and the  special assessment process well I think you know a   key thing is that it's bypassing a prosecution  is going right to abatement to have a quicker   fix i think we can be more nimble with private  contractors and that's what the process entails   as far as the diff differences again we're  going right to abatement in those situations thank you i will send that followup to  the city manager council member Hoisel thank you Mayor um I was just kind  of curious was that question kind of   directed at the property owners that  if there's camping going on at the   property that it be through the hybrid  model or I'm just kind of curious where that or are you considering the the people living  in the encampment as not following health codes or   it's really the property owner i was curious  because uh this resident is in your district   and I know she know she's asking about these um  specific situations where again she's trying to   revitalize her neighborhood and I didn't know if  this process would also apply to her situation   yeah she has a number of vacant lots actually  where the encampments pop up and MABCD tries   to get out there and rectify that on a  relatively quick basis as quick as they   can so I am in contact with um the resident and  um we understand the process and we're working   hand inand and trying to address it thank you  she wants to expedite that process so I'm just   cur that's why since we're having this discussion  how we can help that resident and residents in   that area because it is not necessarily vacant  lots that she's specifically talking about she's   talking about properties that are owned by someone  but there's been repeat uh situations right yeah   there and I'm not again I'm not sure that that  ties in here but yeah I um she and I are on good   terms and we we do communicate regularly and again  we're working through that process thank you thank   you Council Member Hohis we'll continue with the  presentation yep so thank you for that feedback   that helps gives us some guidance and direction  on how to craft some of the language in the   uh ordinance amendments okay so the next one um  for a little bit of a policy discussion right um   and I think this is the last one so the rest of it  should go fairly quickly but um big conversation   policy directive demolitions right so there are  a number of structures that eventually become   unsafe fact that's specifically kind of the term  that's utilizes unsafe structure right that we   ultimately get to abatement of demol demolition  of unsafe structures right there there's a board   up section but really this is kind of that next  that how do we handle demolitions so currently   city codes mandate that city council approves all  definition uh all demolitions right that comes out   of wit municipal code section 18650 alternatively  and I'm not advocating one way or the other I'm   simply kind of presenting the alternatives  the International Property Maintenance Code   lays out a process by which the code official  causes a structure to be demolished and re removed   right so there's pros and cons to both approaches  in fact there might be a little bit of a hybrid   model here as well where appeals of the code  officials determination to placer to structure   and order its demolition abatement right an appeal  could be made or heard by rather than city council   uh the board of coded the board of code standards  and appeals rather than city council again there's   pros and cons to any one of these approaches  um I can tell you I can answer questions as   to perhaps maybe why the International Property  Maintenance Code uses the code official and not   the governing body but at the same time I also  know and understand um kind of uh uh the history   of Witchah and wanting city council to be able  to weigh in on whether or not a a structure is   demolished and so we're simply looking for again  a little bit of policy guidance and direction   on how to make amendments to sections around  demolition and the process of ordering demolitions council member Johnson thanks Mayor um I actually  appreciate council approval for that just because   of some of the situations it allows us to  weigh current taxes ability to come forward   uh make something happen um it also gives us a  chance sometimes to just um give one extension   and then have staff do the rest of the process but  I think it's good if we hear that or I'm speaking   for myself in district one in the core some of the  homes that I've seen we've only had a few success   opportunities but given those families a chance  I thought it was good that it came to the council   and allowed us to debate and then do that um so I  would rather see it come to the council personally council member Glascock thanks Mayor we're duly  elected by the citizens and I think the final   authority of any demolition should reside with  the council should make that determination council   member Hohheisel thank you Mayor um I agree with  my colleagues i it's you know people's property   rights and sometimes it's their home that um that  we're talking about there and uh the bucks buck   stops up here so we have that responsibility and  we need to take it seriously thank you vice Mayor   Johnston thank you Troy would it would it uh be  more enforcement second option there if if the   official could just do it and maybe take it  to court of codes or appeals process better   enforcement or not so quicker here's probably  the arguments kind of for and against right just   a little um all of this is predicated on budgets  right um if if the city is abading a structure if   the city's demolishing a structure right there's  there's got to be funds to do that right paying a   contractor to do that um so we're somewhat limited  in in the number of buildings that can be abated   just purely out of numbers right in the context  of perhaps why um it might reside with a code   official or with a building board of is purely  a liability conversation right where the longer   a unsafe building and structure remains right um  the more exposure the city and others come to to   liability right if if all of a sudden somebody's  in a building um that was intended for demolition   and it collapses right i mean God forbid something  like that happen right um by by sort of stretching   out that timeline that there's a liability  conversation that kind of comes into the and   that's why some communities have the code official  is the code official because of their skills   knowledge education experience certification  qualification all of those kind of things right   same with a building board of appeals right the  folks who sit on building a port board of appeals   are folks who are trained and experienced and  oftentimes in the fields of of construction and   mechanical electrical and plumbing and those kind  of things right they they deal in those spaces all   day every day um there are some communities that  that have chosen to put those decisions and the   discretion of whether or not a building should be  that it's unsafe and that needs to be demoed in in   the hands of sort of those professionals but at  the other side we've seen some cases where right   a building was deemed to be unsafe and and through  a process of coming before a governing body right   a structure was salvaged right um and so I can  see both sides of the story and I can see both uh   sides of the argument and that's why we're simply  asking that of the governing body here today of   kind of some policy because I can see this going  either way so what I'm hearing is saying is that   top option coming everything to the city council  generally takes longer yes mayor mayor if I if I   could just some history over the last 16 years  I can say that the coming to the council has   delayed demolitions on a pretty consistent basis  not probably as much in the last 18 months as   the years before that the I do think there's  parallels between this and the discussion you   just previously had because staff takes it very  seriously when you're talking about demolition   and so you can imagine how much work our staff is  doing with a property owner to get to the point   u to try to get compliance so by the time it  reaches the council they've been through I don't   know it could be a year or more of of attempts to  try to get the problems evaded to get the property   stabilized ized so by the time it gets to the  council it's been through a lot it's in pretty   bad condition it was not uncommon for the council  for a number of years to give ex a significant   number of extensions to property owners that  are just trying to make some kind of minimal   effort and many of them had financial concerns  things that the staff took into account to bring   it to the council but the council there it was  not uncommon to see extensions that went beyond   a year which had then and then didn't result in  any kind of favorable uh rehabilitation of the   property and so ultimately was were demolished but  that property then stood in bad condition for over   a year in probably two years if you take in the  staff time that we worked it before so I think   that's the reason we're we're bringing this to you  is if I I understand the council's concern about   when you get to the point of demolition you know  that that's an an important decision that has to   be made but it it can extend a process for a long  period of time causing some um negative impact on   the neighborhood okay thank you so I I hear what  I hear is a delaying tactic and it keeps the   neighborhood looking bad maybe for another year um  we we we delegate a lot of decisions to to staff i   think this is one that we we could delegate there  is an appeals process um by by a a group of peers   that are know what the rules are and things so  I I would personally I would be for the second   one just expediate the process and make a little  faster and get these neighborhoods cleaned up if   I could ask a question of city attorney and also  Troy is it possible that we could modify it to   the board to the council being the appeal instead  of the board of code standards and appeals that's   the way it exists today yes that's the first  option no instead of the burden just have it   go directly council so in other words the code  official would cause the structure and if someone   wants to appeal it to the council they could  appeal i don't know that there's any restriction   in state law but I need to check i think it  could be made the way as I need to confirm that   yeah we can look at an approach just offer that  as an al another alternative and that would still   have the council have ultimate authority if  someone feels they were treated unfairly in   the process by staff even if we put a committee  together maybe could act quicker maybe how many   are on the current board of code standards and  appeals i want to say seven but I don't I don't   know for certain but I want to say there's  seven members on that board and these are all   professionals correct yeah there are experts  in their field there are requirements that in   order to serve on the building board of appeals  you have to you have to meet certain criteria   you have to fill so such a certain slot yes I'd  like to see more numbers so more data first and   foremost before even making a decision on that  um finding out more information i feel like we   don't have concrete numbers of cases that and true  um true length of time for this abatement or the   final determination being demolition um because I  know I've heard from some neighbors that obviously   it was in a fire it is a structurally unsafe uh  building and so in situations like that we've had   individuals have come up to us and and said this  is that not only is it an eyesore it's a safety   concern so how do we balance um when it it truly  is a safety concern not just an eyesore right um   there there are some authorities that are given  the code official right in those cases right and   and in the city for all intents and purposes  right to um secure a property right we secure   properties all the time there's a boarding up  process right where if a a building has become   damaged by fire right we we can take emergency  measures to secure the property to avoid folks   kind of getting into the to the building right but  the demolition process does have to go through a   little bit of a process um simply because it is  an abatement of a violation and there's certain   implications associated with it um but we can  get you kind of some sideby-side comparisons of   of maybe what these two look like not only that  but I'd like numbers of how many demolitions have   occurred say over the last 10 years and what that  length of time that actually took from complaint   to actual demolition um because I think we  need a little bit more information on this   before I would make a decision council member  Johnson thanks Mayor um before I actually give   my comments I think it might be better to look  at um when we reformed our policy versus before   cuz once we started putting more in condemnation  things changed and sped up and that's not a real   comparison to what we were doing before i think  that was 2021 when we started that so just some   context to what she just said um I just I wonder  to Bob I think we actually talked about that   do you feel it would be the same amount of time  if we just changed what you said and changed the   board of code standards and appeals to the city  council for appeals because if the staff made a   determination that something should be demolished  and then that person appeals it would still   come to council would it take longer than as an  appeal to come to council than just coming to us originally again that's kind of where we'll have  to let us get you some some numbers on perhaps   um what that process has looked like over the  last several years um and then that way we   can maybe get a little bit of um more refined  guidance and direction on you know maybe there   are certain types right that that need to come  to you versus you know a property that is not   able to be occupied right um it was in a fire  doesn't have a roof doesn't have four walls I   don't know something like that right let us try to  kind of fine-tune better a little bit of kind of   the history of where we've been and maybe a couple  of options to move forward i feel as though we've   gotten some pretty good feedback here i don't want  to belabor this kind of all evening right but I   I think we've gotten a little bit of feedback on  um kind of a some of the feedback from you all on   that there might be an appetite to go to a faster  process in certain cases right um and in other   cases providing city council with some discretion  okay thank you Council Member Ballard thank you   Mayor Tro i just want to go on the record saying I  think it's important that we still it still comes   before us before that final decision is made okay  council member Ho Heisel thank you Mayor um I also   like what council member Johnson has done recently  to where he'll close it out an appeal within 90   days if progress isn't seen um I definitely  think that could be a part of the process as   well to speed it up one of the things we do see is  whenever we do give people three four times to get   into compliance and they don't so um I do think  that might be a part of the consideration also   just um for context um sometimes when it comes be  before us we can actually help uh find a solution   i remember first couple of months on council  council member Ballard actually helped save   um the home of a disabled vet who had been trying  to uh find some resources to improve it so that's   that's another thing just to keep in mind for  other council members as well is sometimes   we're able to help move the project along in some  circumstances okay Council Member Glascott I also   echo the need for more data making the decision  there's no hard information i know we're not   in a workshop setting so that was probably part  of it and then the last question I have is what   type of delay are we talking about we meet every  week and so how long are we talking about delay   regular meeting every single week we're talking  about a month delay i just don't understand the   delay of it coming council more than a lot of  these boards and committees and commissions don't   meet but once a month every other month i think  the delay that I think you've heard tonight is   um that there's a case that comes to city council  uh and there's a plea by the owner right for more   time so it's only if city council correct  is voting for more it's not a delay in the   process it's only a vote of this body that is  per like is pushing the delay right and that's   where we've just we've historically seen sort of  continuences right um provided by city and that's   fine right that takes a majority vote correct  correct while we're on that topic I do want to   make mention for anyone who's here in city council  chambers or watching online there are vacancies   uh on this specific board that we're talking  about the board of code standards and appeals   but you have to be a specialist in that area so in  other words um there are currently three vacancies   we're looking for an architect we're looking for  a structural engineer we're looking for a class C   contractor and then someone has an ex expired  term that's a class A contractor um so if you   or anyone you know are um these specific fields  we're always looking for individuals to serve as   volunteers on these boards um and you can always  find that information at witchaw.gov just click on   um government boards and committees thank you for  that okay um I promise the rest of this should go   really really fast at this point in time okay  so kind of getting out of chapter one getting   into chapter two the definition section we'll  adopt the International Property Maintenance Code   definitions and then we'll bring over some some  additional definitions from those various titles   uh that we've seen success with um in the past so  next chapter chapter 3 general requirements under   the swimming pool section we'll make sure that it  also complies with Witchaw Municipal Code section   7.72 under 304.3 premises identification there's a  little bit of a nuance here we'll just call it out   address numbers uh shall comply with the provision  of Witchdaw Municipal Code section 1004190   the differentiation is property maintenance code  says that the identification numbers have to be 4   inch our city codes and ordinances require at  least three inches i mean you can have larger   but address identification the individual numbers  have to be at least 3 in tall versus what we just   wanted to be consistent and not have um conflicts  within our own codes and ordinances um on section   304.14 insect screens there's a whole thing where  you got to fill in the blanks we've simply amended   that to insect screens are required from April  1st to November 30th section 307 handrails and   guards we're going to amend some of the height  requirements again to be consistent with other   codes and ordinances under chapter 4 bathrooms  and toilet rooms um there's a ventilation there's   a light ventilation requirement or an allowance  uh that in lie of a window in bathrooms and water   closets an openable skylight approved by the  code official may be added again that's just   being consistent with uh some of our other codes  and ordinances we've already adopted chapter 5   plumbing facilities 5063 grease interceptors  will comply with Witto Municipal Code 16.24   24 storm drainage properties must comply with  storm management water uh Witchaw Municipal   Code 16.32 couple amendments in chapter six  heating facilities um there's a the way the   language is written is usually that um a property  has to provide heat from a certain date of a year   to a certain date of a year we've simply meant  a maintaining heating facility requirement we're   going to delete the exception and that in all  areas where the average monthly temperature is   above 30 degrees a minimum temperature of 65  degrees Fahrenheit shall be maintained um heat   supply maintaining requirements to furnish heat  just sort of generally removing the date ranges   for minimum temperature and removed exceptions  member Council member Johnson yep thanks Mayor   i was going to let you finish that but is is  there any way to add in air conditioning to that   so we went back and forth on that right um the way  the property maintenance code is written there's   not a requirement for sort of air cooling I'll say  cooling rather than sort of air conditioning um   part of the reason why is sort of the light  ventilation requirement is to provide for   um sort of cooling right in in warmer weathers  uh every code section that has a heating you   you must provide heat um but the way the property  maintenance code there's not a section that talks   about we can add one we can add one if that's  the desire of the governing body um most most   communities most property maintenance codes  don't address whether or not a building must   be cooled right um but we can certainly add  one if that's the desire of the governing body   i would like my support is for that i'd love to  have a longer conversation i've met with people   over the years who had shown documentation of  letting their property manager know that air   conditioning was out and it took 3 weeks  to fix on days that we were over 100° so   it was 98 some odd degrees in their apartment  even visited one of those spaces and then of   course by law they're required to pay rent  you know and they can't live in that space   or they have young kids so even opening the  window isn't enough so I think that I would   love to have a discussion and hopefully include  something like that um as this comes back before   the body so just continuing to build on that  right um equipment the the requirements in   the mechanical section right is that if there  is equipment equipment must be maintained in   accordance with the manufacturer specification  right that if I have equipment if I have an HVAC   unit then the property owner is responsible  to assure that that unit is operating in good   standing right there's some older buildings  that don't have cooling equipment right and   that's why the property maintenance code doesn't  address cooling right even so for example if you   think back to early 1900 type of structures right  they might have had a wood burning stove right and   that wood burning stove could satisfy sort of the  requirement for heating but there was no sort of   cooling equipment in early 1900 structures  right so there's a long history around that so   if there's equipment then it must be must be in  good operating order and so if you look at some   of the mechanical and electrical codes they don't  really talk about things like requiring it but if   you do put in cooling equipment cooling equipment  must be maintained in accordance with manufacturer   specification so but let us look at that and  let us see if uh perhaps some other communities   have addressed things like adding language  to accommodate cooling well I I appreciate   that so let me revise what I said i I think the  equipment if there should work because if I'm   paying you rent I'm expecting that what you have  on site does work um but I also know that some of   our codes have been if significant renovations  happen to certain spaces so maybe they don't   have that equipment if certain renovations happen  maybe that then becomes a requirement to add into   that to make sure that we continue to provide the  best quality living space to widgetens as possible okay okay uh 6024 occupiable workspaces maintain  requirements to furnish heat again removing date   ranges for minimum temperatures chapter 7 again  you might recall some of our general amendments   otherwise there were no amendments to chapter 7  okay so next steps so at this point in time the   the kind of timeline schedule is we're going to  continue to make the final modifications to the   codes and ordinances we anticipate again if it's  the desire of the governing body to take those   codes and ordinances and kind of this presentation  out to the dabs over the course of June and July   um with the intent of returning to city council  July August with an actual ordinance ordinance   amendment uh and in the meantime our goal is  that in the background across the next six months   talking about things like policies and procedures  there's things that we're going to need to do   with our software systems of recoding uh courts  ben benchmark have to do some sort of recoding   we want to try to put all of that in place with  the intent of trying to go live with the new   codes and ordinances effective date January 1  2026 here's my big asterisk disclaimer right   that assuming all system changes can be made  within the timeline we're working with those   vendors as we speak to identify what the  timelines costs might be to overhaul some   of those systems right whether we can do them  internally whether they take sort of vendor um work um but so assuming all those system  changes can be made within the timeline the intent   is to kind of go live January 1 2026 additionally  again we'll have all those drafted those policies   and procedures drafted finalized trained on by  December 31st for that January 1 go live date   and then as part of the process we also want  to start working on some of those performance   measures those KPIs around complaints the actual  case case management and then what's going on in   the courts so we can better kind of isolate and  determine where there's ongoing opportunities   for improvement okay so here's kind of the one  last slide and this speaks to a little bit of   the conversation that we've had throughout this of  here are some other general policy considerations   that have been introduced over the last couple  of years that are on the periphery of housing   quality and property maintenance but aren't  necessarily addressed in property maintenance   property maintenance codes things like income  discrimination things like a rental registry or   rental licensing things like landlord watch lists  certified preferred landlord lists a requirement   perhaps for a local property manager or additional  penalty penalties for repeat offenders again those   are not generally policy conversations that are  embedded within the property maintenance code we'd   be more than happy to explore any of those sort  of in addition to this conversation but we just   we wanted to recognize that these were some ideas  that have come out of conversations over the last   couple of years but we're not being dismissive  of them we're just trying to separate the convers conversations these are things that deal  with landlord tenant relationships these things   deal with things like repeat offenders and how we  address repeat offenders those kind of things but   not necessarily property maintenance codes per  se so with that being said it's recommended the   city council receive and file the presentation  otherwise again I I'll stand for questions we   have representatives from CPM still here and a  law department we'll stand for questions council   member Hoheisel thank you Mayor um can we go  back to slide 66 um yeah I I support ongoing   conversations on all of these um now I know that  there are some concern that some of these are   um potentially banned by the state with the  tenant landlord act can you point to any of these   in particular that uh do you see any conflicts  with the state on this or um the IPMC in general   so we are I can answer the question around the  IPMC right we're doing an exhaustive we're going   to assure that there there's nothing in the  international property maintenance code that   we recommend adopting that is going to be in  conflict with any state law um and I' I'd get   into some trouble if I started speculating on  some of this other stuff whether or not they're   in violation of any of the statutes of the Kansas  statutes i'd defer to the law department on that   one thanks Troy i mean they're not specifically  directly in con in conflict i think fair to say   you didn't sleep in a holiday in last night like  I said I like to play junior attorney but I know   where that is with to draw the line i will  correct the income discrimination we need to   look at that one say that again we need to look  further the income discrimination bullet point   okay um also okay a couple other questions um do  you have a list of the staff recommendations for   adding to this uh will that be part of the  future presentation or is that still being   looked at right now currently so this list is by  no way exhaustive right i I meant more in general   not particular to this list yeah um Yeah i mean  there's other policy conversations that I think   we should have over the next several months and  years right to continue to improve the quality   of housing the quality of our of living in  our community um again we just I I brought   this slide out here just to make sure that you  we hear you we're not being dismissive it's just   not a property maintenance code conversation and  so we're trying to se separate that out and just   focus on the property maintenance process and try  to address that first and foremost because a lot   of this stuff builds on and plays off of property  maintenance is there anything does this help make   inspections more um available or does it make it  to where inspections are quicker or is that again   something that um kind of our hands are tied  by the state regulations so I'll answer that   maybe in two ways just because I could see that  question going a couple of different ways number one inherently by spending less time  on any one given property right we're   going to get to more properties  and more violations with sort of   the same amount of staff right i mean  that's just sort of math right but this doesn't overstep the court's administrative  search warrant process right that's a process   in and of itself if we want need gain access  entrance to a a we still have to go through   the administrative search warrant process  right we have to build a case we have to go   demonstrate we have to go convince a judge to  give us an administrative search warrant right   that's not going to change that process still  exists this doesn't circumvent that process   right but inherently the goal is if we're  spending sort of less time working on one individually address more property violations  okay i appreciate that last question uh one   of the concerns talking to um some landlords  especially in regards to um some section 8 issues   I think because that's where most of them do have  inspections is um getting consistency across um   from inspector to inspector and from judge judge  to judge um so it is it staff's opinion that the   IPMC will offer more consistency on this or  is that something that's going to have to be   worked out through the process so I'm going to say  that the international property maintenance code   and property maintenance code in general will  along with policies and procedures and standard   practices right will become more consistent  across the board you brought up housing right   specifically properties that might have a tenant  who is carrying perhaps a housing choice voucher   or something like that that just builds on the  work that we're doing here there's there's housing   um requirements for for properties and units  that's a whole another conversation but it builds   on sort of this foundation that properties need  to be maintained in general in fact a lot of the   housing code stuff is parallels the requirements  that you see in the property maintenance code okay   and just one more point not really a question um  HUD is moving to a new type of inspection it's   called Inspire inspire starts with an N so haha  but um um I would recommend just um taking a look   through there and seeing if there's anything that  makes sense as far as us including in the IPMC   moving forward we'll do thank you Council Member  Johnson thanks mayor um thank you Troy so like   council member Hohheisle I support all of those um  I would like to see the source of income ordinance   shared a dab i think I sent that to you i sent the  council a link to um Lawrence's lawren's did pass   that it was upheld in court when it was challenged  i think that would be beneficial uh for the city   of Witchah to also have um I definitely support  additional penalties for uh habitual offenders um   but I would like to know if it is possible for us  to remove occupancy from properties that just have   so much issue like 40% of maybe a multif family  unit has black mold or excessive infestations   is there a way that we could remove occupancy and  force that property owner or manager to fix that   problem and provide quality housing for people  rather than just try to do one unit at a time   because oftent times you'll try to treat one unit  for bed bugs they go to another unit and when they   move back in the bed bugs come back if they don't  take care of everything so I can tell you I'm   going to tread lightly here right but I'm going to  tell you that um I can actually testify I've been   involved in a process very similar to that right  um in another community right where um in fact   it was a a fairly large apartment complex right it  wasn't even just one building right it was several   buildings that had several units in it um and the  city at that point in time came in and through   the course of diligence right um following court  judicial processes of establishing uh a rapport   with the courts administrative search warrant  after administrative search warrant demonstrating   non-compliance demonstrating non-compliance  we did eventually and successfully um sort   of condemn the entire property uh there was a an  incredible community outreach effort that uh we   were able to take those residents several hundred  residents be able to um relocate them provide them   some temporary housing food those kind of  things ordering that the the property owner   um make improvements to the property i can tell  you successfully at the end of the day um I don't   know where it left off but the property owner was  in the process through court orders right making   those improvements uh and eventually some of  those units began to start opening back up after   intense inspections through the renovation process  right through the building permit process um and   and that community successfully um reintroduced  quality housing but it took a really aggressive   approach it was it was several years in the making  but it is possible um but again I don't want to   misrepresent we wouldn't continue to work with  our law department um and make sure that we follow   every step in the process there are opportunities  for that okay well I would love for us to be able   to do that i also think they should pay for that  so we should be able to assess that back to them   since they are the ones that left that in the  condition it was in um I think my last thing   is I know that for a while uh Miss Dick Graph was  working on a presentation on rental registries i'd   love to have the council see that uh andor dabs  because I think that's a necessary conversation   not for the reasons that some people fear in  the community but also so that we can provide   resources sally have been doing a wonderful  job of finding resources and if we don't know   who these individuals are and how to contact them  it's hard to connect them with the resources that   have been available historically so I would love  to have that conversation as well as a body um to   see one what the community thinks and then two if  this body would be willing to adopt that as well council member Glascott thank you Mayor just  wanted to provide two cents regarding some of   the extra policy considerations i have no interest  with it going to dab until we get a legal Jennifer   about what the Kansas state law would allow and  what it allow when it comes to discrimination   policy the rental registry and rental license  i have no interest in requiring a license for   individuals to be able to do this i think it's  overburdensome we're talking about housing that's   affordable and affordable housing i think that's  an undue burden so I really have no interest i'd   be interested in seeing what that description  is because from that headline I'm not interested   landlord watch list i don't like any term that's  a watch list um so I just be interested what that   means as well uh the certified preferred landlord  list if somebody wants a certification I'm   necessarily not opposed to that if they go through  a process and want certified um I don't know what   a preferred landlord list is as well so I'd want a  description of that beforehand i have no interest   in requiring a local property manager i think that  limits our options to have affordable housing and   housing that's affordable and then extra penalties  for repeat offenders if in the court of law they   are repeat offenders I imagine the court will uh  establish uh restrictions on them and so I would   need a lot more uh in terms of what this actually  looks like in practice before I would support i'm going to go back to uh I think it's slide  number 65 or 64 okay one more three there we go   before it actually goes to dabs i think we had  a lot of questions that this council asked and   I don't want this presentation to simply be  something that they could look up on YouTube   um so I would want again a lot of data that  council member Tuttle and um Glascock have   asked about and I have too also I want to really  know the cost of all of this i think that's   um important information so community understands  when there are violators whether it's the tenant   or the property owner there's a cost  there's a cost to the city to go out and   um investigate these complaints we'd  like it not to rise to that level before   it government has to step in and so I  think that there needs to be much more   um solidified information before we even  bring it out to DABS for further [Music] discussion with that um council has no questions  so we will now open it up for public comment good evening Mayor and City Council vince Hancock  president of Delena Neighborhood Association as   you can imagine pro having quality properties in  our neighborhood is just vital for all of us uh   we work hard to work together with everybody so  that they feel that they live in the best part   of Witchaw and I don't care if it's in Deleno or  College Hill everybody wants that uh generally we   see two types of property maintenance problems  willing and unreachable the willing might be   someone who is physically unable to do their  own climbing of the ladder and work on the uh   sophets the uh they may be financially unable to  do that we have phenomenal nonprofit communities   of faith in this town that you mentioned the word  Samaritan and they're going "How can we help that   little old lady?" So we definitely want to be  part of those types of solutions but we also   have the unreachable uh Maggie knows of a case  that we had that went on for decades unable to   reach the property owner and that becomes so hard  and so frustrating for us because we want to help   but they're just absent and it's not abstinate  landlord these are abandoned properties so we   end up with a process in that particular case we  went from an unoccupied building into squatting   into an overdose that had resulted in a death  on the property then we get fires and then we   just had one in our neighborhood where a house  that burnt down because it had been abandoned   oh now they're finally going to rebuild it as  an infill how cool would it have been if 10   or 15 years ago we could have maintained that  turn of the century home before it burnt down   just my two cents on I think we can do better  on that i do respect entrepreneurs that don't   want me knocking on their front door so they  set up an LLC or something and they respect   their personal privacy i get that but most  of these shell companies are being used to   obstruct accountability they're being set up out  of state and there is no way to reach these people   if they're maintaining their property they're  not going to be hearing from me but we need to   work on possibly even some state laws to say you  can't be hiding behind the LLC's anymore that is   not the way we are in this state it's bogus and it  needs to stop moving on to my next topic with the   time I have most of us remember a certain movie  where there was a really cool quote that says with   great power comes great responsibility best line  in the movie and sadly MABCD is one of two city   departments that has quasi law enforcement powers  however they don't have the responsibility they   have no transparency no accountability for the  nuisance case enforcements we ask them for details   and they say it's none of your business unless  you're the landlord or the tenant neighborhood   inspectors have demonstrated and I've got cases  on this that they're poorly trained written to the   law department says I'll give them new training  not even heard back from them on that their office   staff have such contempt for the taxpayers that  fund their department that post pandemic they now   lock their lobby doors and threaten visitors who  request meetings with management to be trespassed   from the building we need MABC rep reforms  and I'll take a meeting with any one of you   who want to help get that started i will stand  for questions council member Ho Heisel thank you   Mayor um not really any questions i did want to  provide one or two updates we had worked with a   couple of state legislators on a housing committee  um Representative Howardon and Representative How   um trying to get something passed and um it did  run into some issues on the state level so I agree   with you 100% that we do need reforms on the state  level as well and hopefully we can continue those   discussions in the ne the upcoming years um the  second is I do believe that we are going out for   a new program for our portal uh MABDC uh reporting  portal that will actually give a little more   detail to the public to be able to look up cases  and see how they're moving along so I hope to   get that um moving as well i've heard um software  revitalization takes time and money we understand   that yeah so we are um moving along on that  one too so thank you M appreciate it Mike thank   you guys well member Johnson thanks Mayor not a  question um just broad brushes kind of challenge   me a little bit um I've seen a lot of good from  our inspectors and they have some pretty high case   loads and sometimes it is a challenge sometimes  to follow up when you have four or 500 cases but   um and actually more than that can't speak to who  you're talking about but I can say in district one   our inspectors do really good work they follow  up i hear about it from community quite a bit   um and again we have a lot of violations that  they're looking at i haven't seen any of them   run from anyone or locker door and oftent  times they'll even call you and talk to you   on your cell phone so I just want to put that out  there it's not the whole department they do a lot   of good work and honestly they need a lot more  funding to keep up with the demand by no means   do I tend to paint with any brushes i just have  multiple complaints on one person by name that   just out of a sense of just said one person right  you said one person but when you're initially you   said inspectors in the department so I just want  to make sure we're clear about one person versus   the department right and and when you offer  free training to those inspectors and the law   department doesn't even return an email that  is not a confidence builder thank you Brandon hello Faith Martin District 2 um I agree with  a lot of what Vince said um we have multiple   vacant properties in our neighborhood in our  neighborhood association and I promised my   uh neighborhood that I would look into it and  took me down quite a rabbit hole learning about   environmental court and all of these things and  then we come to find out that and I I hope you   get these metrics when you get data um very few  cases that make it to environmental court actually   have enough teeth or penalties in it to dissuade  outofstate landlords from doing anything we have   properties that have sat vacant for over five  years that we can't do anything about because   they don't live in Kansas so I hope when you're  taking some of these changes into effect which   by the way I really appreciate all the work that  you guys are putting into this because this is   something that a lot of us are caring about  it takes a long time to demolish a property   properties get abatement after abatement after  abatement because of dumping of uh encampments   because of the boards getting taken off and then  there's fires and the police have to be called out   and fire has to be called out it's constant over  and over and over homes forplexes they just sit   vacant and businesses vacant for years and years  so I'm hoping that we can find a way to have the   council direct the environmental court judges  to be more um aggressive about how they're going   to take care of some of these cases because as a  landowner myself I wouldn't want it to just be a   snap decision and something happens i know there  has to be a process but years and years is too   long and unfortunately it hurts those of us that  live in the neighborhood that do own property that   are right by these abandoned properties and vermin  and all of these things happen and homeless people   so I I just hope that when you guys are looking  at some of this stuff it does come to the dab uh   because a lot of people in neighborhoods  have a lot to say about this thank you Council Member Johnson thanks Mayor um Faith  appreciate that um I don't have all my notes from   the meeting that we had some years ago but I will  say some of the challenge in environmental court   was once they get through all of the process what  what happens at the end so you'll have someone who   maybe will have tall grass and weeds habitually  or maybe there's some things they need to fix on   their property at the end of that case do we  throw them in jail for that or not and that's   kind of where like the ordinance was at and it was  always tough for a court to look at well I'm going   to throw you in jail for not cutting your grass  so some of that was some conversation we had i   think some of this work that we're doing may get  us to some better outcomes but that was like some   of the challenges there in the environmental court  specifically and we're trying to find ways to meet   those challenges so we're not necessarily  throwing somebody in jail for not cutting   their grass but what can we do to remediate the  situation quicker so just some context to that thank member Ho Heisel thank you Mayor just jumped  in there last second um I just want to I mean I'd   love to see those notes because that is one thing  I do hear quite a bit from my district is repeat   offenders time after time after time and we  don't want to hit somebody over the head with   um you know finds that they are struggling to be  able to come into compliance i think uh Suzanne   Bose for example is doing a awesome job trying to  find resources out there sp mowing for example um   but I I would be interested in seeing some kind  of system where we can keep track of people who do   come into um who have been ticketed for violations  time and again and maybe try and figure some way   out to uh stop that from happening time and time  and time again and I know um sometimes it leads   to other cases like Faith is talking about here so  that is a discussion i don't think it pertains to   this particular item but that is a discussion  I would be wanting to have here at some point hello my name is Margaret Shabbass  i live at 1142 North Market Street   um I was actually coming to ask if land lots  is considered part of property maintenance um I   particularly there's a lot on the end of my block  three houses down from me that's empty it's been   empty for over 10 years i've been living in the  block for seven years i call and call and call and   call and call the grass gets really really high  taller than me i have dogs and I have children and   I walk through the I have to walk through it you  know um it's been sold about three or four times   now and still the same thing so we've called  the city all of our neighbors have called the   city we've found the owner they stay on the west  side or whatnot they don't come so now we're we're   cutting the grass because it is a hazard now what  this is also doing besides being you know itchy   and all that so we have rodents we have raccoons  we have possums we have the unhoused building the   encampments in here they're also doing their drugs  in here so you say that what kind of environment   um hazards does this produce it's a dangerous  hazard because just imagine walking down the   street with your child and there's a needle  right there in the grass your dog goes and   runs in that grass to use the restroom or whatnot  and they get stabbed by the needle or something   you know the glass from the beer bottles it is  a huge hazard and it's dangerous and these are   some of the things that we're dealing with all  the time also when companies leave an area so   that's property right and now they're abandoned  for years does this also cover that when they   have all these encampments because I personally  have not seen the help that we need to make sure   these encampments do not continue to come we  call the police you know um and I just don't I   just want to make sure that it's covered because  these are dangerous and there's a lot of kids in   my neighborhood i mean I'm in my neighborhood so  even if it wasn't a kid for me I want to be safe council member Johnson thanks Mayor i appreciate  that um just some context um everyone gets due   process so on that lot if you called today and our  inspectors got out there let's say by Friday that   property owner has 30 days to address whatever  that issue is and if they haven't been showing   up they have not come out at all that's why we've  taken it in our own hands okay to cut the grassel   back to what I was saying they have 30 days  to address it themselves as a property owner   if they have not addressed it then city staff  would come back and look to see if it's been   addressed and then at that point it could be  abated meaning like the grass could get cut   at that point they've been notified once so they  don't have to get notified again but we have to be   proactive our department is not so we're not out  driving around all the time looking for that that   means that once it the grass gets tall again you  would or someone else would have to let us know   again that it's there and then it could get taken  care of but initially there's always that 30-day   due process it frustrates everybody but legally  you are um given due process per the constitution   so you'll get notified and then you have a chance  to address it yourself much like a lot of the out   ofstate landlords and property owners and things  that we've talked about sometimes they really   don't care and they'll just let it grow but they  still have 30 days to address it if they want to   it's great that you're taking that on but I'm just  giving you the context that they legally have 30   days to take care of it and that frustrates a lot  of people to include you but once that 30 days is   passed one of the inspectors whose case it's under  will go back and check and then make sure it gets   on the list to get the grass cut or whatever that  issue is and then after that you just keep calling   in we know that's frustrating because we continue  to hear about it but that is legally what happens   so after 30 days what if no one ever comes out  though no inspector nobody to come if the grass   grows as tall as me that's longer than 30 days  of growing right so it depends on when you call   so we we won't do anything until it hits 12 in  so if you call and it's at 8 it's noted but you   can't be addressed until 12:00 and that's per our  code after 12 in that notification would go to   them if you let them let us know again and they  have 30 days in 30 days if we get rains like we   have today it may be twice your height but they  still have 30 days no matter what to address it   after the 30 days an inspector would get back out  there and I mentioned to our last speaker they do   have a lot of case load so when they do get back  to it and see that it has not been addressed by   that property owner then it would be added to a  list of getting the grass cut or mattresses picked   up or whatever that might be and then that'll  get addressed at that point and then after that   then the neighborhood or whoever would have to be  proactive and look at that and see when it's at 10   inches or 11 inches go ahead and call because we  probably won't be out there within 10 minutes it   might be the next day that grass might hit that  12 in and then we'll start getting it abated but   they have to legally get one notification per  year for sure so that's why we talk about tall   grass and weeds and stuff early like April and  May before it starts getting there once they get   that one notification that was it but again they  have 30 days from when the violation is there so   let's say you think it's 12 inches and it's really  10 and an inspector gets out gets out there and   sees it's 10 inches they're not in violation  even though the 10 in isn't good and there's   rodents and all of that they have to actually be  in violation to get wrote up so once that happens   they have 30 days understood i'm just bringing up  a safety issue and something that maybe needs to   be reconsidered because of you know Broadway is  terrible as well that's one block away from me   so thank you Council Member Ballard thank you  Mayor i would just like to say thank you so   much for coming and sharing your concerns we have  put a lot of work and resources in the Midtown   area um unfortunately it's not enough because  there's still problems um I'm not sure sure   who specifically you're working with with MABC  about the empty lot but I'm happy to try to help   um facilitate whatever conversations or  accountability we need for those properties   and I can speak to um at the beginning of the year  we brought the um cleaning up of the encampments   in house so that we could address them quicker  last year and the previous years when we were   um using a contractor they had quite some time  to address I think up to 14 days to clean up the   encampments so it seemed like even longer when  you walk by it or drive by it you know several   times a day or live in the area it seems like  30 days for those encampments to get cleaned up   but that is something that we brought in house  and typically they're addressed within 48 to 72   hoursish but I think also sometimes when we walk  by them or drive by them we assume that someone   else has turned them in so I would just encourage  you or your neighbors to make sure that you either   let me know or email or call the hot team that  way we can make sure that it gets on the list   i think sometimes we assume that somebody else  has turned it in and sometimes that's not the   case so it takes a little bit longer and it just  creates more frustration with the neighborhood so   um happy to give you my contact information and  and help you to make sure that we get those things   addressed thank you thank you Vice Mayor Johnston  thank you i feel for you sorry i know but I I feel   for you that as the weather gets nicer seems like  campus it's exploding so it's tough i also want to   compliment you for taking your own hands and doing  some of the mowing neighbors doing the mowing so   that shows a lot of initiative and thank you for  doing that shouldn't have to but thank you thank you hello my name is Alam Ze i'm  from Afghanistan and Vija like   Afghani family 130 family is here in Vija  uh he's my translate i speak English yes okay uh as uh the place that we live in which  we make uh if there's an issue as the houses and   stuff like that uh we make an order for work order  and no one shows up on time and it's whenever they   show up like after a long time uh they charge  us for what they do which we pay like on time   we pay the rent and everything on time but they  still don't show on show up on time and stuff   and we're like in section 8 and stuff like that  but they still charge us for the work they do   in the house and the issues that the apartments  and houses we having uh are not solved on time uh we need a lot of support and help uh because  all the houses and everything are same and the   place where we live in there some houses they  charge us like 1,200 the other they will charge   us for 1,400 even though they're all the same uh  we are 38 houses of A of Afghan community uh we   are still looking for help we need someone to  support us and we don't know anybody that can   help us to like uh because uh he's also saying  that we're not treating being treated right okay uh you guys can come in and see the  houses we have been treating the apartments   and the houses right we have keep them clean  and everything right as the local rules uh   but they're still telling us that they that we  have to move out whenever the time is up for our   contract and then after that they also told us  they won't be accepting our section 8 no more after August they told us we will be kicking  you guys out u you guys have to find a place uh we need a lot of help and support  if you guys can help us with that thank you very much for helping translate for your  father um we'll start with council member comments   uh council member Hohisel thank you mayor um if  you'd give us your contact information we'll get   you in touch with our housing department um they  do administer the section section 8 vouchers um   and we'd be interesting in exploring your story  a little more and being able to do what we can   to help you find housing i'm not sure that um if  the landlord decides to stop accepting section 8   um I I do believe that's within their right um but  we can help try and find other housing and if you   feel like they've been unfair to you and charging  some things we do have a landlord retaliatory   ordinance and I believe um charges undue charges  or perhaps um charging you more for reporting   violations as part of that as well so um if you  give us your contact information I'll I'll be   sure to reach out to you and try and figure this  out and try and help you guys as best as I can section okay uh where uh who do you want me to  give the contact numbers right there is fine   okay all right thank you we have a couple more  council member Glascock oh thank you Mayor B   or Councilman Hoisel settle my comments council  member Ballard thank you Mayor i would just like   to say thank you so much for coming it takes a  lot of courage to come share your story especially   when you feel like you're being treated unfairly  so as co council member Hohisel said if you share   your information we'll see what we can do to  help and thank you so much for coming member   John thanks Mayor i wouldn't be able to sleep if  I didn't say this um I just want to encourage you   to keep all of the documentation that you just  talked about get that now because you came to   the council meeting you just never know what  they might try to do to you so if you have all   your documentation it can prove that you've been  asking for these things and what's been going on   and how you've been treated if they try to do  something to you legally at least you'll have   that evidence but I've just seen it too many  times where somebody spoke up for themselves   and then they're treated horribly by whoever it  is that their property manager and landlord so   when you leave this place make sure you get all of  that information together and keep it ready just   in case they try to do something to you okay uh  and also before I translate that uh whenever we   make an order like for work orders uh nobody also  shows up because for me personally I live in the   same place and water leaks and other stuff have  been coming and it's like not the first second or   third time it's the fifth sixth time for every  house have been damaging our personal property   uh and they they say it's not our fault and  anything but what we think is it should be   their fault because whenever we make an or work  order they should come and fix it the first time   second time or the third time but every time  it damaged our personal property we have to   take care of it by our own pocket i agree with  you 100% if you're doing your job and paying   the rent and doing the request they should be  fixing it and if they're not that's on them and whenever they comes in to uh  clean up the water that has been   coming into the apartments from the  rain uh they even charge us for that vice Mayor Johnston thank you Mayor uh thank  you i'd like to hear your story sometime how   you got here and stuff um quick question  how I'm interested just marketing wise how   did you hear about this meeting how did  you hear about to come to speak tonight and DC we got a great case worker uh sitting  behind there Jenna uh she told us about the   meeting and stuff she told us that we can  come in and tell uh our story and see if we   can get any help or support good thank you  i appreciate that appreciate your help too uh all the 38 families were going to come in but  we have told them that we will go and see if we   can get any help or support because they don't  feel any treatment right treatment or anything   like that and we hope to get some support  and help here we can help you council member   Glascock thank you Mayor i know you're leaving  your contact information with the manager as   well but I would take you up on the offer to  come and see as well um and so please include   that as part of it so we can see firsthand and  see stories firsthand so telling about it is one   thing then also seeing it is another again  thank you for coming i just wanted to add a   couple of Please give that contact information  i just want to say thank you so very much for translating as a first generation immigrant that  moved me so thank you for helping share when some   of us can't speak for ourselves and you helping  i know that there are so many wonderful Afghan   immigrants that are here in our community  and just like you said you're trying to do   the right thing paying on time making sure that  the property is wellkept and all you're asking   for is to be treated fairly and so thank you for  speaking up and sharing your story and I know that   uh the city manager will make sure that uh we  get all of this but I also encourage you there   are some individuals right in the back they're  part of the local media and um you have amazing   stories of triumph and challenges to come to  this country and I want you to share more of   the good things about your lives here but we  want to make sure that when you're not treated   fairly in this community that we don't stand for  that um and so thank you for sharing today coming   to the council meeting and saying this in front  of this council but we want to get to solutions   so I appreciate you again thank you very much  for helping to translate and helping to share   the story you're very welcome uh there are like  many other issues too but these were like the   many the main issues that we wanted to you guys  work on and help us with it thank you very much mayor council members my name is Pat Daniels  i live at 14700 Timberlake Road in Witchah   i'm the president of Rental Owners Incorporated  and I'm the government relations officer for the   group i've been a member of the group for 30  years uh we've worked with the city on several   occasions in a very handinhand proactive matter  uh the nuisance police response ordinance was   one we put our support completely behind that  and I think that's been a very beneficial thing   and still is to this day um our charter we were  formed in 1967 and we're a nonprofit group and our   charter is to help good landlords become better  landlords uh we do not have any members in our   group that I'm aware of that think differently  than that because it's simply not a place that   they fit in um the story that they just gave  is absolutely heartbreaking that anybody could   be treated that way and uh under no circumstance  would we ever support any landlord or any group   that's doing that i would encourage the council  to find any possible way that they can to reach   outofstate landlords and absentee landlords and  to be able to bring them bring power to bear upon   them hiding in Oklahoma coming up here to your  apartment complex and collecting the money making   a few orders and rushing back over the state line  again i know specifically one complex where this   happens regularly and uh it is such a minority of  landlords that do these the vast majority of us   are responsible people i would never ask a tenant  to live in an apartment that I would not live in   myself and I have properties that are all bills  paid with lower income they are still clean they   are safe they're nice properties uh they're  affordable but it's a safe environment and   uh we would love to work with the commission  or council excuse me um in crafting any of   this legislation and give what input we have i've  done this for almost 40 years as my sole source of   income and so I know quite a bit about it from  the other side uh but we we definitely would   support some of the changes that were talked  about this evening but in particular bringing   finding some way to bring absentee landlords um  into compliance because it seems to be this has   been a problem that goes all the way back  20 years ago they were Kurt Schroeder was   fighting the same thing with C when it was called  central inspection he simply could not figure a   way to get a hold of these people so anyhow any  resource that we have and my time is yours if uh   I could be part of that process and help in any  way and thank you so much for your time thank   you i would in Can you please give your contact  to the city manager yes council member Hoheisle   thank you mayor um I would just like to say I  really do appreciate your words there um we are   not trying to be vindictive or crack down most  landlords are good people who want to care for   their property and provide housing for people so I  do appreciate that offer um and I think we will be   reaching out to you to to get your input on this  so I appreciate you coming up here sir thank you my name is Harlon Baskam i live at 5514 South  Santa Fe District 3 and most of you if not all   of you know my history one thing I've heard  multiple times tonight is dealing with out of   state landlords until you find some way of doing  that you're not going to be able to resolve those   particular issues uh they they just ignore the  notices certainly we can abate properties that   are nuisance issues but when it comes to a  housing issue there's not a whole lot we can   do dealing with those particular issues so just  wanted to be short and sweet give you my bene the   benefit of my experience council member Ho Heisel  thank you Mayor Harland it's an evening meeting   short and sweet doesn't exist here um no thank  you for that i I I appreciate that and I agree   with you 100% i think um one of the things we are  running into and some of the the solutions that   we've we've really kind of investigated is the  interstate commerce clause that prevents us from   being discriminatory towards out of state but I  really am curious to see what we can do on on the   uh municipal level to actually address out of  state landlords as well so I do appreciate you   bringing that point up because you know we've  seen it with some you know several properties   in our district that it's just tough to get a hold  of people like that it is a shell game as was disc   um discussed earlier so I I am curious  to see what we can do to address that i think I go i I think I might as well we'll continue with public comment anyone  else who would like to address the council i see mayor members of the council my name is Richard  Harris i'm a former member of the National Panel   of Consumer Arbitrators for the Better Business  Bureau and I've served on a number of city   boards and councils in past years uh including  being chairman of a couple of neighborhood uh   organizations that were predecessors to the  DABs uh absentee landlords are a colossal   nuisance to the community i think that's pretty  succinct way to put it and I think we all know   that from experience um we also know that there  are landlords within our community that do not   take care of the property as they should or keep  the commitments that they make to their tenants   about property management and I have had recent  just coincidentally recent experience with that   myself uh and it was quite surprising uh point  blank I was bait and switched uh when I moved   into the place that I just recently moved into  and uh none of the uh agreements that were made   uh initially were going to be kept until  I put up a fight literally had to put up a   fight including a requirement to meet a basic  city code safety requirement and it was quite   surprising that this wasn't just some strange slum  lord this was a pretty basic middle class landlord   um to the issue at hand i would encourage you  to be uh interested in the hybrid method i I   do think that you need to be realistic and  and acknowledge that there's a difference   between chronic repeat offenders and incidental  occasional offenders also I think it's important   that you differentiate between owner occupied and  renter occupied properties because I think setting   uh a lower standard of compliance or or a more  generous and tolerant nature with owner occupied   residences is probably somewhat realistic because  those people have chosen their living circumstance   whereas with renter occupied that is not the  case the renter is very often the victim of the   landlord and at the mercy of them as a result  of contractual obligations and the states just   notoriously one-sided a landlord tenant laws  as to demolition uh I would encourage you to   continue to make the city council uh final  say on this because there are issues that   only the city council can address that simply  can't be addressed by an administrative board   furthermore the board board of code standards  and appeals is made up of professionals in the   industry of construction and demolition they have  an inherent economic bias towards demolition and   your role here is more of an accountability  to the community than to your pocketbook finally uh on section 8 issues we we I've served  on the uh housing committee for the homeless task   force and one of the things comes up over  and over is how people are basically being   forced out of section 8 by landlords that won't  take care of the property and find all kinds of   excuses to evict the tenants so they don't have  to comply there's a simpler way around this that   you don't probably find a lot of enthusiasm for  right at the moment but you need to think about   this some years ago it was proposed to the  city council that there be a requirement that   every time a place is put up for rent it has  to be inspected by the city and approved and   that would put an end to some of the abuses that  we see with landlords moving people into unfit   housing moreover if we require them to abide by  section 8 standards that would give landlords a   lot more incentive to go with section 8 housing  and provide the necessary housing that we need   this is all part of how you think about housing  but above all an important part of thinking   about housing is realizing that we're talking  about where people must live their daily lives   we already require inspections of restaurants  groceries bars even businesses have routine or   random fire inspections it's not unreasonable  to say that where a person has to live their   life day in and day out should be required to  be inspected before it's put to them as rental   property overall I just encourage you to keep  in mind the needs of the community first and   the needs of the com commercial sector second  thank you Council Member Glascock thank you   Mayor um to the speaker I believe you brought  up a really good point about uh the difference   between owner occupied and tenant occupied  properties and that would be something that   in a report I'd be interested in seeing a  difference in terms of um either language   ordinance or um MABCD enforcement when it comes  to owner occupied verse land tenant occupied thank you we'll continue with public comment i  see none we'll bring it back to the   bench council member Johnson thanks Mayor  um some of the speakers have brought up   um just the point that outofstate landlords  property owners are the bane of all of our   existence sometimes um and I wonder although I  know one of my colleagues is not interested I   am interested in knowing what we can legally do  about outofstate property owners and landlords   i have many suggestions but I would like to know  legally what could we do if anything um to address   that and outside of state statute does home rule  authority for Witchah allow us to do anything more   to address those issues um the lack of response  the lack of action just something rather than   just kind of sitting here complaining about that  um and not I don't mean it like that we're all   frustrated by it but just what can we actually do  about it if anything member law department will   look into that and get you a full full response  okay thank you Council Member Glascock thank you   Mayor to correct one thing that Councilman Johnson  said it's not that I'm opposed to um it's not that   I want a restriction on any or trying to figure  out how to phrase this i don't want to completely   restrict out of state land and so if there's a way  that we can make sure to get them under compliance   I'm very interested in that i just don't want a  blanket description or a prohibition as the slide   had presented that would require a property  manager in the city and so I think I would be   interested looking at options just not a full  prohibition on out of state i stand corrected with that I see no further comments so I move that  the city council receive and file the presentation   second motion in a second any further discussion  i see none mr clerk can you please open the role motion passes 70 mr clerk please  call the next item appointments   to city manager selection advisory committee all right council members i think we all received  an email this afternoon are there any questions   comments concerns council member Hoheisel thank  you Mayor um I'm okay with the the names provided   i do I would like to say and I don't know  if this is something we could do later on   um that I would like to see maybe a  spot filled by somebody who's a labor   representative and then also and I know we've  had some conversation about neighborhood people   um potentially maybe offering a spot to win as  well so those are maybe just the two things I'd   like to throw out there and again this is  maybe something that we can add to further   on the process because I believe right now  they are just going to be looking at the um the contract to come in to actually do the  search so um just my two cents council member   Johnson thanks Mayor uh I agree with Council  Member Hohisel i also would like to advocate to   add Aaron Bastion to the list given his experience  not only at Fidelity and the generational family   connection to Witchah but also his experience  in Oklahoma City and what he can bring to the   table not only um and seeking a search firm but  also seeking a candidate for city manager that   um can be a visionary and and bring things  together like our current manager um I think   that Aaron would be a great addition to this  and he has offered his uh support help for this   when I think about the contributions that he's  made in in Fidelity Bank to Project Witchah and   trying to move our city forward I just think that  this committee could benefit from his involvement any further comments i see none um I move to  approve this selection advisory committee i'll   second motion and a second any further discussion  mayor uh normally you would list the individuals   um when you make appointments i shall do that  uh do you want to comment first Council Member   Johnson yes I would like to add Aaron B i  would move to add Aaron Bastion to this list that would make the list I think 12  would which would be an even number   we could also take up what council member Hoisel  said and add labor to it so I feel like there   would be three individuals in banking that then  would be represented in this committee and I   think that's an over representation in banking um  I'll have for if anyone wants to chime in council   member Glascott i think if we continue to expand  this list it's going to get unyieldy at some point   i think 11's a good number um 12 I think 13 you're  starting a lot there's plenty of opportunities for   people in our community to engage in this process  as well we're going to be hosting town halls we're   going to be hosting engagement opportunities  everybody will have the like the chance to be   involved in this process and so I don't want to  just continue to grow and grow this list so member Johnson I'll read the list of committee members  and a little background for each the first one is   I'll actually go by districts i'll start with  district one Freda Bird president of Matlock   Heights Neighborhood Association district two  Jennifer Macdonald nonprofit professional and   former small business owner and HR professional  district three Knock Vong USD259 school board   member and WSU faculty member district 4 Josh  Sharter COO of Integrated Components and chairman   of the Kansas Manufacturing Council district  five Andrea Scarpelli retired bank executive   and United Way volunteer district six Jordan  Walker CEO of Bonfire Strate Strategy Sherry   Utach president of WSU Tech brad Elliott chairman  and CEO of Publicly Traded Equity Bank Shares   dan Pere attorney at Hingle Law Firm and  former chair of the WSU President Search   Committee patty Kohler retired CEO of  JR Custom Metal Products in District 4   daryl Kelly Air Force veteran and director of  business partnerships at the Kansas Leadership Center again I move to approve this list  of individuals for the selection advisory   committee i will second it motion and a second  council member Hohheisel thank you Mayor um if   the council does decide to add maybe one or two  spots at a later time that'll be something that   council can decide yeah yes that's correct  okay yeah I appreciate that all right thank   you Council Member Tuttle sorry i I would  like us to consider these 11 individuals   who we may or may not approve here in a minute  to see what they think i mean they may think   yes we could we're not hearing all the voices  we think we should or no I think we've gotten   too big and it's group think and maybe we need a  subcommittee for something but if we really are   charging these people with leading this process  I think we should give them the opportunity to   at least do it so um I wish them luck and  and I I thank them for all their service   um I think that this is an outstanding group  of people who represent different sectors and   I'm quite proud of my colleagues i would like to  say thank you that I think we all did a lot of   research we all took a lot of time um I heard lots  of conversations lots of questions among us that   everybody took this very seriously i said this  may be one of the most serious decisions I make   while I'm on council and I think everybody  agreed upon that so thank you for everyone   council member Glascock IO everything Councilman  Tuttle said specifically regarding if the board   believes that we should add people I'd be  very open to that aren't being heard I think   we should give them the opportunity that  and if they come back with that I'd be open we have a motion and a second further discussion  I see none Mr clerk can you please open the role   motion passes 70 we will continue with council  member appointments now are there any appointments   from council members i see none council member  comments at this time council member Hohheisel   of course who else thank you Mayor um I'd like  to first off thank you uh give a thank you to   the first responders who were out today um plenty  of people in the flash flooding got caught up they   were out there moving cars they were out there  rescuing people we have at least two reports of   people who were rescued from um from essentially  drowning because of the currents i'd also like to   say that right now we're addressing the BLE  flood plane um I think we're about got that   project wrapped up but after that we are going  to start using the the same funding source to   actually address what we refer to as nuisance  flooding although um it's not really considered   a nuisance to the people whose cars get taken  downstream and whose basements get flooded in   a lot of parts of our town so we do have that in  time or in plan coming down the line um the last   thing I'd like to say real quick is uh tomorrow is  the uh ribbon cutting for the Clap Park all excess   playground making sure that every kid has a chance  to actually enjoy being a kid the ribbon cutting   is at 11:00 i'd love to see as many faces out  there as possible this is going to be a great day   i think it's supposed to be dry the sun's supposed  to come out for tomorrow at least so hopefully   that helps and there will be um a lot of people  out there the neighborhood president will be out   there handing out ice cream coupons as well so um  I think it's going to be a great day and a great   day for the kids in our city thank you i'd hope  to see u as many people out there as we can vice   Mayor Johnston thank you just on the rain i have  a friend in East Witchah that has a rain gauge   that holds 8 in full another downpour came so he  estimates there's about 10 inches of rain fell on   his house so a lot of rain uh on a lighter note um  the mayor and I did not get last in the egg toss   got third in our group we'll leave it at that and  we did beat the county so county yeah thank you with that um I just want to say thank you to the  community for coming out to Riverfest and it still   continues until Saturday uh full disclosure I was  a schooner mate back in 2002 and a schooner mate   is the one of the high school ambassadors for the  river festival and so it is a very near and dear   um community building event that I hope more  people get to enjoy um I'm really looking   forward to Fiesta Del Rio day on Friday and  on Wednesday tomorrow is military appreciation   and it's a salute to military so there will  be fireworks tomorrow night um and one last   thing come back out to city hall tomorrow at  5:00 we will have a town hall that will be a   little bit different than your traditional town  hall it will be moderated by Kansas leadership   uh center and it we will have a discussion  about sharing services sharing opportunities   between the city the county and USD 259 so I look  forward to hosting uh chairman Ryan Batty of the   county as well as president of the school board  Diane Albert uh here in these city hall chambers   and again thank you to the staff for staying  late tonight and accommodating uh the second   of four evening meetings um again this council has  tried to make council meetings more accessible and   um much more engaging so that we can get community  feedback and so I'm very appreciative of this   council for last year having four evening  meetings and now having four more this year   so thank you to all of you for coming out tonight  um and again be safe uh the motto is turn around   don't drown so thank you all very much and um  with that I will move to adjourn this meeting   second motion and a second any further discussion  i see none mr clerk can you please open the role motion passes 70 with the  verbal vote have a great night