e e e e e e good morning witch and good morning to all  of you here present at city council for our   Workshop I call this meeting to order Madame  clerk please call the first item approve the   minutes of the regular meeting of September  17th 2024 I motion to approve the minutes   for September 17 2024 second Motion in a second  all those in favor say I I all those oppose same   sign motion passes 70 Madame clerk please  call the next item consent agenda items 1   through 15 are there items to be pulled from the  consent agenda mayor I'd like to pull item six any other items I'd also like to pull number seven any other items I see none I motion  to approve the consent agenda items without   number six and number seven second motion and  a second any further discussion I see none um   all those in favor say I I I all those oos same  sign motion passes 70 we'll begin with number   six vice mayor Ballard yes um I just wanted  to give Gary this awesome opportunity to talk   about this item I've had a lot of questions just  from my district with um the possible impact they   could have to some of the parks but I just  wanted to make sure that they were getting   the same information that we were as far as the  six parks that it could potentially [Music] um   interfere with we'll say um but I just if  you could give us an update that would be great uh good morning mayor and council members  Gary Jansen Public Works and utilities so um this   is a under Park as a park item spoke with regie a  little bit before uh the meeting this morning our   city Engineers office has been directly involved  with this project for some time so uh kot for at   least several years now has been working on design  for improvements to k96 from 135 uh over to 21st   Street is where the six Lane expansion would be  so uh as you kind of go through that Corridor and   if you've got I apologize I don't have something  electronic to show you but this is an attachment   to your uh packet today to the agenda item this  does a really good job of explaining the impact   potential impact uh to so starting at the  west and and going east there's some some   small impact of the k96 fishing lake Park which  is right at 135 and k96 as you move East towards   woodl you've got Chisum Creek Park on both sides  of k96 there's some minor impact uh on the North   and South sides to a one parking lot to the  k96 path uh the red bud path is mentioned a   determination has been made that the red bud will  not be impacted um there's some sections of the   k96 path that will be rebuilt with the project so  with this fin of di Minimus impact means is just   that um every effort has been made through design  through the efforts of our staff engineering and   park both working with K do and their consultant  to truly minimize the impact on these facilities   uh included in this with the Chism Creek Park is  that Park was either purchased or developed with   federal funds Kat is required to work with us to  determine a value of the impact and provide that   as compensation for either improvements of another  park or acquisition of additional Park land which   is a good thing so we believe uh uh every effort's  been made to do a great job to not adversely   impact the intended use of these Parks that's what  this item is today this is the very last item in K   Do's process uh for what they call a finding of no  significant impact and and what that does then is   allows them to move forward with r acquisition on  the project having said all of that I know there   a lot of information real quick we did receive  information from kot in the last two weeks that   they are uh looking at the schedule now for the  project so we're not sure exactly what that means   we were supposed to have more information the week  of October 7th and and they're going to provide   some details then on what their plans are to move  forward with rightaway acquisition we assume that   that's still going to happen but it may be that  construction is delayed a little further out   than we had originally thought based on that uh  we think it might be worth considering delaying   consideration of this item till October 15th is  this something that um they could potentially use   imminent domain to get this through if if like  something happened with us and we didn't vote   for it I suppose it's possible I don't know that  I want to speak for K but I think that's highly   unlikely uh and our past experiences working  with K do on State and federally funded projects   when Parks were impacted um I have not seen that  happen I'm confident Kat does not want to go that   direction I do believe and again if you're if you  want on October 15th if if you so choose to delay   this we could show you more detail on what is  being impacted the efforts that were made uh we   feel really comfortable that the impact has been  minimized and and there's not an adverse impact   anywhere most everything is staying in place um  k96 fishing lake is just a little bit on the banks   most people won't even know anything's happened  there the parking area at Chism Creek on the North   will be rebuilt that all be replaced the same k96  path that's being impacted will be rebuilt all   of that stays the same so uh I would not expect  that we would get to that point okay yeah I was   just curious about the process that's all and  thank you and thank you Gary for your comments   and and I agree about delaying just because we're  still waiting to hear more information from kot   and I've been intricately involved in these  discussions um I also just want to point out   that I attended the park board meeting when the  bar the park board Commissioners approved this   and I'm almost positive it was unanimous um they  understood too that the amount of land that would   be taken wasn't really going to be programmable  anyway that it was really minimized um there was   very little discussion and the item did pass  and I'm almost positive it was unanimous so um   I know the park um Park Board of Commissioners  was supportive of this thank you yes thank you   I meant to mention that so thank you council  member tutle and I agree with what their vote   was I would appreciate um if we choose to delay it  when it comes back if you could show some type of   visual of the impact that it just so people can  understand the minimal impact that it will have   I think that would be good and we'd be happy to  do that Becky do you want to make a motion or if   we're ready sure I'm happy to thank you um did  we say we're going to delay till October 15th   was that your recommendation yeah that would be  we're supposed to have more information from K   out the week of October 7th so I think that  makes sense okay and if we find out that we   don't have what we need from kada to move forward  we can Del delay it again this isn't this because   they're delaying it our timeline of delaying it  isn't going to be impactful in any negative way   correct I agree okay okay thank you then I would  move that the that we um delay this agenda consent   agenda item until October 15th second motion  and a second any further discussion I see none   all those in favor say I I all those oppose same  sign motion passes 70 consent agenda item number   seven may I please ask the Law Department to  just explain um some of our self- Insurance   uh procedures and the fund itself how much is  budgeted and how much has been expended so far um and what is available good morning mayor we  members of council Jennifer MC City attorney um   this item would be paid from the Self Insurance  Fund and this year the city has budgeted $2.5   million for that fund year-to dat um expenditures  are a little over 300,000 not including this item   and any any other settlements to come before the  end of the year um that that budgeted amount has   varied over the years but this year the budgeted  um Self Insurance Reserve is 2.5 million and can   you give us a perspective of what it's looked like  in the past several years um yeah that's been uh   we we've had payments uh going back to you know a  one point we've budgeted in the out of 1.5 million   I think we've had um over that just depends on  the year kind of depends on the budget but it's   it's rang in about that 1 million to 2.5 million  range I sorry I'm just wanting to put this on the   record I did ask this question via email and I  wanted those numbers to be on the record um in   2023 it was 3953 million and that was actually  the amounts settled those were settlements and then in 2022 984 234 amount settled that's  correct and 2021 1.78 million settled that   that is correct and so again uh the 304,000  figure for 2024 does not take into account   this concent agenda item or previously settled  or or the upcoming expend atures to settle on on   a case that you'll you that will come before  you soon um the progy lawsuit so that number   will be higher before the end of the year we  can get that final number for you um at the   end of the year if you'd like we would or I would  thank you okay any further discussion regarding   this settlement of claim uh just one quick one  Jennifer um the excess money that would be in   the the fund after this year does that carry over  into the same fun next year that's a question I   think I'd have to defer to finance for I don't  know if anybody knows um but I think they they   re I just think they recalculate each year and I  think it goes back to General I know I I can tell   you the budget the number has been budgeted over  the years in 2021 it was 700,000 a year I think   that's what you're asking for mayor um it was a  million dollar a year budgeted in 22 um it was   budgeted for a little over 3 million in 23 um I  don't know if it goes back into if if Finance is   here and can tell me I'm happy to or I can find  that out after the meeting and let you know yeah   just cares yeah thank you thank you thank you and  it looks like uh this consent agenda item is uh   to authorize the payment it is to authorize  payment of a mediated settlement all right I   have I will motion to approve consent agenda  item number seven second motion and a second   any further discussion I see none all those in  favor say I I I all those oppose same sign motion   passes 70 Madame clerk please call the next item  Board of bids and contracts dated September 23rd 2024 good morning mayor city council Josh lber  Department of Finance uh the board of bids and   contracts convened yesterday September 23rd for  the following items for engineering we have the   outsourc paving preservation program CIP Concrete  Street repairs phase one for Roston Construction   LLC in the amount of 385,000 this was awarded  within the engineers estimate from the original   bid for purchasing we have the online auction  of released property and evidence for wit toop   Police Department uh this is uh requesting  your authority to extend the contract for   one year ending December 31st 2025 with an  expected annual reimbursement of $2,639 126   uh we have the sewage treatment screener  for Parkson Corporation in the amount of $ 9,978 and we have the wired and  wir wireless excuse me Data Network   architecture and softwar defined wide area  network software maintenance and support   renewal for logicalis Incorporated  for an aggregate three-year total of $220,800 this is how to become a vendor with the   city these are our open public  opportunities out on the street today and I'd be happy to try to answer  your questions and recommend your approval Josh why why was the back the first slide there's a there's a lower bid that was not  accepted can you explain thinking there yeah thank   you uh councilman Johnson that's a great question  um the original bid that they submitted was $349,700 request that the um amount  be increased to allow for additional   Services as they're found for the Department  flexibility and operations so we identified   the low bid first and then once we identifi  the low bid they're requesting an increased   authorization to spend what why would  why weren't those additional Services   included in the bid in the first place  um Paul do we have anybody engineering Paul gunselman Public Works and utilities this  is one of our outsourc pavement preservation   projects and we go out and we um estimate  measured quantities for the work and that's   what we bid we increase it a little bit to  cover any additional work that we might find   as we're doing construction okay okay thank  you so does that mean it still could come   in under that 385 ,000 yes it could come in  under that we we flag spending right we will   pay out measured quantities for the work  that's completed so it could go up to that amount can we take a look at uh slide number  four sure property and evidence I just wanted   to highlight that council member Glascock and  I had the opportunity to visit the property   and evidence um unit last week and and just very  appreciative of the work that they do there's a   lot um in order to uh carry out any case uh we  have to hold or the city has to hold property   um as well as the evidence for the case to move  forward um and the the folks across the street do   a really great job so I just wanted to highlight  that really quick yeah that I think thank you so   much for your comments and thank you for the  great question I think this item specifically   was really interesting because there's not many  surplus auction services that can do this um so   there is a a large amount of regulatory burden  that this contracted vendor does so um that's   why we're coming to your uh request today to  request this for one year because that allow   us to evaluate um possibly to piggy back a larger  National Cooperative or if we want to bid this out locally and then uh slide number nine uh so  these are the open bids that are available   right now so anyone in the community can  um apply and the process again is online   um I just wanted to highlight that there  was a winter emergency shelter on there   um on slide nine somewhere buried yeah yep uh so  the closing date for that is October 4th uh and   the other one that I wanted to just highlight as  another open public opportunity is the downtown   restrooms and hydration station but I do have a  question regarding that um I just wanted to know   um how much and how many downtown bathrooms again there are two downtown restrooms um that   will be included with the bid one  is at naar Park and the other is at a price Ward Park and then there is one  Hydration Station at a price Ward as well   what's and What's the total amount for that  again I don't have that off the top 500,000   so so 500,000 for two restrooms and one Hydration  Station if that correct and this is an open bid   until October 18th yes ma'am so nothing has been  purchased yet yes ma'am so this will be uh opened   on October 18th we'll have at 10:00 a.m. the bids  opened for the public in this room um and then at   that point we will have a week of due diligence  and review to make sure the low bid is responsive   and responsible and we will be bringing  that back to Council on our formal bids   and contracts report may I have more information  regarding that I know that previously um I thought   that this had already been purchased um but I  guess the item has not the bathrooms have not   been purchased yet I understand it's not that  is correct they have not been purchased yet I would like to direct staff to give us a report  on how many downtown bathrooms we have uh open   as well as closed and then uh how this will  add to um the system of bathrooms available downtown okay thank you any further discussion on  boards and bids I motion to approve the   board of bids and contracts for September 24  2024 second motion and a second any further   discussion I see none all those in favor say  I I all those oppose same sign motion passes   70 Madame clerk please call the next  item petitions for public improvements uh Paul gunman Public Works and utilities I  have a few petitions for your consideration   this morning the signatures on the petitions  represent 100% of the improvement district   and the petitions are valid per Kansas statute  Cottonwood Creeks Estates located in District   4 the project will provide water senary sewer and  Paving improvements required for new residential development Buffalo Pines Edition located  in District 2 the project will provide   water improvements required for new  residential development and revised   petitions for Cypress Glenn's second edition  located in District 5 on May 7th 2024 the   city council approved water sewer and Paving  improvements required for a new residential   development the developer has submitted revised  petitions with the revised improvement district   the budgets remain as previously approved  and cover the cost of a private bid it is   recommended that the city council approve the  new and revised petitions and budgets adopt a   new and amending resolutions and authorize  the necessary signatures I will stand for questions a motion to approve the petitions  for public improvements second Motion in a   second and any further discussion I see none all  those in favor say I I I all those oppose same   sign motion passes 70 Madame clerk please call  the next item council member appointments and comments I would like to appoint Camila  Burell to the district Advisory board   for District Two and I've shared the  information with the clerk thank you   any further appointments I see none I'm  motion to approve the appointment made by   council member Tuttle second motion on a  second any further discussion I see none   all those in favor say I I all those oppose  same sign motion passes 70 council member comments I'll just um say thank you to all those  who attended the Latin Fest event on Saturday in   vice mayor Ballard's District um as well as well  as everyone who went and supported exploration   places drone Festival I know the weather put  a little damper on the festivities Friday and   Saturday but uh the show went on on Sunday and  Monday and just very appreciative of the community   building events in our community um as well as  the big investment by the witcha foundation in   donating a million doll for the amphitheater  to be built and now it's a Community Asset um   so again really appreciative of our community and  uh if there are any events coming up this weekend   um I will be emailing the council members so that  we can share them during our mayor's briefing on Thursday all right I motion to adjourn our  meeting second Motion in a second any further   discussion I see none uh all those in favor  say I I all those opposed say signed motion   passes 70 assistant city manager Troy will you  please take over the workshop yeah mayor members   of council thank you we have three items uh for  you today part of the city council Workshop uh   the first one is a review of our fireworks uh  from 2024 and so we have fire chief thank you good morning mayor City Council Members Tammy  snow fire chief um I'm here today to provide for   you an overview of what we our fireworks season  look like in 2024 but before I do that I want to   give you a little bit of a history um starting in  2018 we started um the implementation of fireworks   enforcement um and every year um we try to refine  that try to uh provide compromises um Fireworks   is one of those items in which um you have 50% of  the people that oppose fireworks and you have 50%   of the people that are um supportive of fireworks  and so each year we go through and we take a look   at what we did that year what worked really  well for us and what didn't work so well and   we go back to the drawing board so um this year's  presentation is um um just to give you a little   bit of background um in 2022 um we had been doing  fireworks enforcement like I said since 2018 so in   2022 November of 2022 to be quite honest with you  we put together three committees we um gathered in   uh what I referred to as a community committee  and that Community Committee consisted of   uh one representative and we asked that that  representative be somebody that was very vocal   in their opposition of fireworks from each one  of the districts and um so we we put them all   in a room and we began to uh gather their comments  of what they didn't like about fireworks and then   our ultimate goal too was to utilize them  as liazon throughout the entire process uh   someone that um they were usually people that are  pretty well engaged within their neighborhood um   associations and so our goal was to use them  to gather information from the neighborhood   associations help us also spread the word of what  we're going to do with fireworks the following uh   coming forth and um then also ultimately try  to alleviate some of the complaints that you   receive um try to be a mediator basically so we  began meeting with them in 2022 that was our one   one of our committees our second committee was to  gather the vendors anybody that was interested in   selling fireworks within the city of witto  that was our second committee and then our   third committee was a committee of internal  staff so we engaged um City Council Members   couple City Council Members we engaged um uh witw  police department um law um Parks um ourselves   anybody that it would actually touch and uh  so what we our ultimate goal was twofold try   to uh come up with a compromise well I guess it  was singlefold try to come up a compromise that   was amicable to everybody U might be not the  best solution or their desired solution but   something that was workable um so the very first  thing that we came up with is that we needed to   change the current uh ordinance and so we did  so um and that's uh what this slide depicts so um we decided because it was late in  2022 when uh we started meeting and then   it was like um all the way till um February  of 2023 when we actually come up with some um   amical resolutions or that we thought that we  could work with um and it's also just for your   information vendors fireworks uh vendors that  actually sell the fireworks it they have about   a year time uh between the time they order it  and the time they receive their products and   they do that um because most of their products  comes in from outside the United States so it   takes uh a long time and so they have to do a lot  of pre-planning well we didn't feel like it was   fair to them to um Implement our entire change  in one year because they had already purchased   the product that they wanted to sell or that they  believe that they could sell in 2023 so we we um   identified a two phase uh so the first thing that  we did was we uh amended our current the city of   wit's current fireworks ordinance and we made it  more in alignment with the Kansas administrative   regulation 22-6 which is the state's regulation  um we then decided that we would legalize um so   like I said since 2018 we've been trying to  Curel a a aerial fireworks discharge um and   not having a whole bunch of success because  the city wall sits like on an island with the   surrounding communities and which the surrounding  communities were selling they were adhering to   the state regulation which allowed them to sell  aerial fireworks and so people would literally   walk across the street buy their fireworks and  come back into the city um those the you that   had been around for a while we used to always  say um shoot them where you buy them well when   you walk across the street um they don't discharge  them they're at the fireworks stand they walk back   the street and they feel like they're in the  city of witto and in the city uh adhering to   the city ordinance so we um a compromise um like  I said with these three committees was that we   would legalize aerial fireworks um the safe and  sane those are the fireworks what we refer to   as ground fireworks those are the fireworks that  don't go any further than 6 fet in any direction   uh those are ones in which a city of witto  has allowed since its Inception of fireworks   shooting um and then the legal shooting hours  remain the same we're in alignment with every   County city state within the state of Kansas the  10 to midnight so this was phase one the the one   thing that the the the committee that was an  opposition that we put together of fireworks   was very staunch about was you know at the  time our fireworks citations if you violated   a fireworks ordinance you would receive a $100  fine and they believe that they're compromising   to allow aerial fireworks if we could um increase  the fine that that would be a deterrent to those   that elected to um shoot the aerial fireworks  and they they believe that we would get more   cooperation um and so we increase the fines to  uh the numbers that you see there are thousand 1, 152000 so 2024 brings us to 202 24 so Phase 2  was 2024 and what we allowed in 2024 was the   actual selling of aerial firor Works um which was  significant um we also ciled the dates again the   legal sale dates were June 27th through July  4th safe safe and sane mirrored exactly what   the state does the 27th through the 5th and  the actual shooting dates we limited to um   July uh 3rd through July 5th and the reason we  did that was because July 4th this year was on a   Thursday and we assumed uh the Committees assumed  that most people are going to take July 5th off   and they're going to continue their fireworks  shooting and that also led into the to to the   weekend so um as in the past we joint Patrol  efforts with uh PD um we conducted Patrol on   um June 27th through the 26 or through July 6  um so we had Patrol units out that entire time   not full force but limited um and we tried to be  very strategic about their placement and then we   had full force on uh July 3rd through the 5th  and uh we we patrolled what we refer to as the   hot spots if you ask me about hot spots we have  a slide coming up and I'll explain that here to   you in a few minutes um so what did uh our  2024 fireworks season yield it yielded one   structure fire with an estimated loss of $10,000  the cause of that was in proper disposal of their   fireworks um we had 36 injuries reported to the  area Medical facilities uh we had 1,160 calls   that were submitted to the fireworks complaint  hotline um and I will tell you that for the past   couple years we've been able to uh pull out  of those 1,160 calls which ones were actually   made by citizens of the city of witto that live  within the corporate City Limits there were 719   719 of those calls came from complaints from  the city of witto citizens uh so our fire fire   incidents this is since 2018 um we've got I got  a table there that you can kind of take a look   at usually one of the questions that I get is  what's a non-structure uh non-structure could   be a chicken coup it could be a deck it could  be a gazebo um that's what's referred to as a non-structure um injuries here's a  list of the injuries that we've had   since 2018 um if you go through  and you average those we average   about 40 of them 2022 if you look that number is  really not um accurate because we were missing   um two of our um our partners in the uh  medical field um that didn't report that year so here's the hot spots um the lighter  the color the more complaints in those areas   um and this is taken from the 911 um  complaint line and it's a map that's   put together by uh by the um by our GIS by uh  so identifying those areas and so those areas   with the lighter Cutters colors there's  where where we concentrate our efforts at so financially we inspected 50 fireworks  tents um which was a almost double what we   normally do um because we allowed the sales  of fireworks this year um our tent permit fee   um uh encumbered $75,000 um our collection funded  expanded enforcement efforts um one of the things   I want to say here is once we paid the enforcement  teams that money is collected and it's held in a   pot all by itself ever since we started in 2018 so  the $75,000 sits in a pot right here all by itself   and the idea was to secure enough funding to pay  for the enforcement teams we did that this year   we paid right at 67,000 to our enforcement team  so we have $8,000 left that's important to me   um and uh because the first time we've ever had a  surplus of funding um we are going to utilize that   funding it's been set aside for 20125 to help us  enhance our marketing and educational piece where   before we've never had anything um I talked to a  comm's team and they said don't get too excited   they don't pay for a whole bunch but I'm excited  because it's better than zero so we have $8,000   that we get to start the season with and actually  try to do some better marketing and education um   and then the fines from citation um estimate to  be somewhere over $50,000 this year um and these   are just some statistics our dollar loss in um  our dollar loss is 83% less than what we had in   2023 our injury uh year-over-year if you do since  2018 we've had a reduction in % um the average   daily calls uh to the fireworks complaint line has  dropped by about 5% our citations increased by 580   per I wish George Theo Harris was here because we  went from rating writing five to 34 so that should   make George happy which I get an opportunity to  meet with him tomorrow so um vendor applications   increase by 30 333 per um we go from we uh in the  past we had three vendors that were interested   in sailing since we opened it up to Aerials this  year we went to 13 vendors and this year we also   set up in 2024 a tip line a hot tip line where  we gave a telephone number and we also provided   an email address and we were able we got two tips  of people selling illegal fireworks and so we were   able to mitigate those and get them shut down um  so challenges you know we still want to always be   cognitive of the health and well-being of the  community and what I mean by that is you know   people have pits and um Fireworks affect their  pits um people have PS PTSD that affects people   so we always try to be very conscientious of those  things um we'll continue to engage our citizens   that are opposed to fireworks I think it's very  important to hear their voices and see what we   can do to tweak or refin or come to some type of  compromise that's livable for both sides um we're   very conscientious of the Equitable strategies  to address fireworks sales we do realize that   most of Firework tents are ran by nonprofit  organizations we don't want someone to get a   monopoly on the market so we'll be very cognitive  in regards to that um we want all of our vendors   to adhere to compliance of the ordinance so we'll  be very strict in our inspections and uh again   consistent messaging um our ultimate goal is that  100% of the citizens of witto truly understand   understand and fully understand um our fireworks  ordinance the sales dates the fines Associated   what they can and can't sell um so our action  items like I said I'm excited about $8,000 is   going to allow us to increase our messaging um  hopefully get out there and do more education   in regards to our Le legal shooting hours the  dates and the fines uh we'll continue to review   after we meet with all of our three committees  we'll continue to review our fireworks ordinance   um and then um uh assembling of those three  committees and in fact our first meeting is   with our community members and some of our  council members tomorrow at 1:00 down at   the Regional Training Center so what we did was  compile a list um the district members that have   already been liais on um have been gracious  enough to serve again and so we've got those   District members representatives and then we  also kept a list of some of uh well not some   but all of our complaints that reached our  office and we've invited them to the meeting   tomorrow too uh so trying to be truly engaging  and hear everyone's voice so with that I'll   stand for questions yes sir um thank you chief  for all your work uh this is definitely one of   those that's um kind of a thanless job right  here U Can we go back to slide nine real quick sure uh the have 33 34 which side what slide nine  can help fire incidents pardon minor incidents   fire fire incident oh fire incidence okay yes  okay yeah this one um 2024 it just looks a   little incomplete there do we just not have all  the data yet for the we're still compiling some   of it um to be honest with you um as far as  Citizens complaints um we we are confident in   our structure fires because that information  has to be we have to adhere to state law and   get that type of information submitted right away  but some of the citizens complaints the grass uh   the dumpster fires those types of things yes we're  still gathering information we've had a little bit   of a hiccup with our computer Aid dispatch system  so we're still working on Gathering that data sir   okay I appreciate that then the one incident we  had that was improper disposal of fireworks right   they put it in the the trash can before it was  all the way out so yes yep and that's what most   of them usually are every year correct they put it  and or they make the mistake of actually putting   it whatever their dumpster is they either use  an improper dumpster like a plastic container or   they put it in the trash dump which is a plastic  container and they stick it right next to their   home yeah yes ma' and they go to bed for the night  yeah all right well I appreciate it thank you sure   yes sir thank you uh for the presentation Chief I  just want to highlight and synthesize I think the   entire PowerPoint citations up call volume down  injuries down fires down loss down and so in every   measurable way I think this was a success compared  to last year and so I just want to express that   thank you for seems like a robust Community  engagement um and people um involved in in every   um measurable factor I think this was a success  so hopefully we can replicate that next year   thank you thank you I just had a quick question  thank you for the presentation are you just off   top seeing any Trend and fines like are some of  the same people paying fines did we go back and   get a second one or is these are these normally  just one time we're pretty soft-hearted so uh we   we'll give you a couple warnings even though we're  not supposed to we said this year we were going to   draw a line in the say we weren't going to do any  citations but we we gave up until July the 2nd I   remember I recall um from the 27th to the 2nd we  kept going out and saying look if we come back   if we come back so some of the ones that we went  back to that received fins this year people that   we had warn from the 27th through the 2nd um but  to give them an additional $1,000 fine no we none   of them to the best of my knowledge is a repeat  customer okay so those those folks earned it yeah I guess I was just curious cheat sorry  I'm over here um I was just curious um I   know this is the first year that we really  increased the fine amount I just wondered   if you I mean I'm sure nobody was like thrilled  about it for sure but I just wondered if you had   any feedback um I appreciate that you guys  did give um more citations than you have in   the past I just wondered um are they paying  them or do you have any idea I don't have any   idea because they go to the once it's once it's  written it goes into the court system and then   we lose track of it we don't we don't follow  through with them okay I might try to find out thank you thank you mayor thank you uh the next item we have on  our agenda is um an update on our arpa recovery   plan as well as some reallocation efforts and some  allocation efforts and with that Elizabeth Finance   yeah great um good morning I'm Elizabeth goldry  from the finance department do I um and so I   we've come to you a couple times during workshops  and provided updates on the arpa recovery plan um   the last plan would have been provided to you for  the meeting on August 20th um it was through June   30th um and usually when we do these updates  we also invite Community Partners to join us   so they can tell you firsthand the successes  that they're seeing in the Community um this   time the violence interruptor team has joined us  and so I'd like to um introduce Chad child from   WSU communities engagement Institute in Marquita  Atkins woods from destination Innovation thank you hi morning morning everyone  um good morning witch talk good   morning council members and mayor  woo um if you haven't seen yet I'm   most excited about this group back here  in Orange so let's give them a round of applause all right so I'm Chad child's prevention  initiatives manager at wias State University's   Community engagement Institute and um let's  see there we go um so violence interrupts is   a program of project funded by arpa and it's a  community Safety project that I think um you all   are as excited as about as I am or you soon  will be um this partnership is with from the   city of Witchita with the arpa funds to Witchita  State University's Community engagement Institute   and our partners destination Innovation and um  Institute of development for thirdparty evaluation   um Contracting has been a little bit difficult  I don't know if any of you know about arp   dollar But It's Tricky um and that's also tricky  in awarding arpa dollars to a community based   organization such as destination Innovation um  this has a been a process for which to State um   who is typically used to handling funding from  different different sources um and and the city   is as well but but then involving other partners  gets even more difficult just in terms of um you   can't do work if you don't have funding to  do the work and you can't do the work if if   you don't have funding to pay the people that  are going to do the work and so that's been um   a little bit of a delay that we've experienced  and so I assume responsibility for that um but   it has been something that uh we it's been a  hard process kind of behind scenes to get it   going and now it's going and now we're really  excited about it um those delays for contracts   led to delays for buildings and office SP space  led to delays for personnel and other resources um   but now we're here and I have to slip out  because I have a conflict which saddens me   because I want to hear this presentation from  our partners um but this is a this is the most   excited I've ever been about a city of wiah funded  project um it really is for Community safety this   is where we need to be and this is where we  need to be investing and I'm so glad that the   people that are in the community are solving the  community's problems so I'm going to pass it now   to brel and oh to to Marita sorry about that  yeah Marquita ains thank you yeah thank you so my   name is Marquita Akins Woods I'm the founder and  executive director of destination Innovation Inc   um which started out as a hub or still is a hub of  youth leadership development um we're home to Camp   destination Innovation that teaches kids careers  outside of traditional Norms with an emphasis on   entrepreneurship and stem we're home to root the  power that teaches kids about Civic engagement   um and voter engagement and we do also do envir  Al Justice uh Ruth of power has their vote mob   coming up November the 2nd you guys will all get  invitations to attend um it'll be at the Urban   League of Kansas and that's where we celebrate  um voting um and we line up all of our firsttime   voters in front of us and go vote together to show  that the 18 to35 demographic is being prepared   and ready to vote um we don't puppet our kids in  any of our programs so we just teach them um and   educate them so they host candidates forums they  host events um they are powerful and they work on   on a national level um progeny progyny are you  touched by the juvenile justice system that we   teach advocacy and how to change policy in a way  it impacts them sorry in the way that impacts them   um progy works on a local state and National  level I actually just got a email this morning   um one one of our young women to come to uh the  doj to talk about the power of our program um and   why they should be invested in um and she's also  going to be featured on CBS so I'm really really   excited for her um word to life is our Mental  Health program it's a part of our progeny program   we're using spoken word and music to Showcase to  young people and this was after Cedric Lofton um   passed away um and we did a who do you call  event a couple of years ago um and happy to   say that we're shifting there are people to call  now um back then it was not um and so our work   to life is based around mental health and giving  young people an outlet using spoken word and um   music as a means for them to express themselves  um it's been successful in the Middle School   um we went through um future radio Advocates um  to be a part of the middle school program they're   asking for us to come back and now we're at sour  and the principal sour sent us an email to show   how much has changed the youth's life there um and  then now we have care violence um like Chad said   it was a labor of love and leaning into discomfort  to get it up and going but once we got the funding   to get it going we hit the ground running um  our first hire was brookal Chamberlain who moved   away from wiah to Dallas and came back for this  position um she has been proof positive that we   did not make a wrong decision um she's a fierce  leader um she's powerful and our cure violence   program has hit the ground running as soon as we  hired them all um brel will I'm going leave it to   brel to brag but I'm going to give a humble brag  um especially since they're in the room I'm super   proud of you guys for taking on a new project  I'm proud of the heart that you have in this work   um you're proof positive that skills are  transferable um and you guys the leadership   um has been tremendous and the impact that you've  already had on young people has been tremendous um   seeing you guys out there in those orange shirts  and when people mention the orange shirts and how   happy they are when you walk through their doors  um I want you to be affirmed in that um whether   we continue to give funding or not you guys have  made an imprint in the city in such a short period   per of time so on that note I'm going to hand it  over to uh Brock H and like we like to say we are   impacts over Optics um we like to build and make  impact better than we like to take the picture but   when impact and Optics come into alignment it's a  beautiful thing and right now we're in alignment   with all the work that we do at Di and we're happy  to have care violence to be a part of this work my name is brel Chamberlain and I'm the program  manager um I'm so excited to be here today you   guys and to be able to talk about my team  um I'm really blessed to be leading this   team I have great well very strong s uh site  supervisors I have a strong staff and I'm so   happy to see what we're doing in the community  just some facts that uh from what we've done   so far we've served 61 families through referral  and Outreach Services 12 families in District 1   um of those 12 families 19 kids have  been served through mediation services   12 families um through mediation in district  one and 10 families served through mediation   in District three four families have been served  through Outreach in the plane view area five gun   violence mediations preventing retaliations  have taken place three gnome fights prevented   that could have escalated to gun violence in  Oldtown which also led to some of the nightclub   owners requesting our presence and inviting us  to come in 10 known incidents were prevented   from escalating to gun violence two issues  that constitute a spillage according to   the Cure violence model um have taken place  there were four Community Partnerships added   to offer support services for mental health  housing food and security and ministerial support now some of the highlights um  we're continuing to raise awareness   within the community and building  relationships um one of the really   important things that we're doing is um  sorry within cure violence um we have   several integrated services that um  we provide and oh my gosh I'm sorry I'm so um basically we're using our um we're  leveraging our relationships within the community   uh looking at social media following incidents  that happened on social media um our staff   leverages their relationships within the community  to follow those incidents back to the schools and   our target areas once they follow them back there  they contact the they contact the people involved   and mediate um we've also um we've also been  in contact I mean we've also been mediating   a situation that's involved uh 16 individuals  who've had a long standing um conflict within   the community and it's been the source of a lot  of gun violence in the community my staff was able   to get them in the room and mediate the situation  along with their parents which was Monumental and   on top of that we've been able to stay a breast  of that we're on day 13 of all the people or   all the children that were in that room um with  no conflicts and so it's happened because we've   continued to follow up and follow the model of CVG  and along with that we've built relationships with   them it's helped us within the schools to expand  our partnership with usd259 we've uh the teachers   receive us well they're happy to see us coming uh  the principles and everything and what's happening   is when something goes on in the community our  team goes out there and we trace it back to   where it's going to where we know it's going to  um where we know something's going to happen and   then we take that that information and we actually  build relationships with the individuals and we're   able to communicate them with them in a way that  they understand and they're receptive even with   the parents um it's been a really a big source of  conflict with the parents because of what's going   on and my team is so strong in their relationship  building that they're able to be effective and   impact the situation by getting to the root cause  of the problem so I'm really proud of that we've   been strengthening our community relationships and  increasing Public Safety and we're becoming known   um in the community and recognized I actually went  to the Outwater Center to pick up something and   someone stopped me and asked me about a shooting  and told me that oh I knew cure violence was   going to be on top of that so I do appreciate uh  hearing that and our parents and participants are appreciative so I'm going to talk a little bit  about our outside evaluation um we're working   with Dr Dr Tasha Parker at The Institute of  development who is in the room back there W   Dr Parker um so their third party evaluators um  critical for measuring impact and Effectiveness   valuable for both ongoing and Improvement and  final outcomes the benefit of a third party   evaluation they have objectivity and credibility  um they definitely help us with expertise and best   practices and comprehensive data collection  and Analysis they keep us accountable um how   third party evaluation improves project  success identify strength and areas for   improvement early data driven recommendations  for course course Corrections helps align   project activities with intended outcomes  supports evidence-based thinking um I'm sorry   evidence-based decision-making and Dr paret  did you have anything you want to add perfect okay where is the oh thank you I will get up here and mess it up so looking ahead  the team has been assembled the team is equipped   and assigned the team is trained the team has  been gaining trust and building relationships   with WPD the schools and um and the hospitals  and I think believe we have Victoria from Via   Christie here today um and um community building  and strengthening for peace again we say um impact   over Optics um is super important to us um um as  a whole um one of our values at di um we can't   advocate for a healthy Community unless we're  healthy on the inside um and I stand firm by that   um there's too many organizations that internally  are toxic um but on the outside they're trying to   advocate for he Healthy Communities we don't  want to be that type of organization um so you   can't save the world until you take care of home  first and we're very very adamant about taking   care of home um we lean into discomfort and not  disrespect fact um and we want to emulate and   showcase the best practices so we can show the  community what it looks like to have a healthy   Community um and I did forget to add this in the  beginning um one of the things that we are doing   as an organization is that we're making sure  that even though we have city funding we're   still um applying for funding to help secure  this programming um we recently got uh funding   from Kaiser permanent Permanente day um $660,000  to do research on gun violence um and so uh Dr   Parker is partnering with that that on us as well  as as well as um Chad and his team over at wiah state so um that is it again I hope you  find Value in this program we are happy   that the city um seen the name for the  investment you hear me say it all the   time it's cheesy but wiah is beautiful  in all its parts and when we invest in   all the communities that typically don't get  looked at um we create a better witch talk   that that's creating a better Kansas that's  creating a better you know country and so   we're the heart of this um we're heart of this  country um and so again thank you for giving us   the opportunity to speak to you about this program  um I don't like failure um I learn from it but I   don't like it um and I'm and we're going to be  sure these people and again I want to reaffirm   have so much heart in this work and when she  talked about that instance of having those 16   youth in their parents parents in that space  I walked in that space bringing pizza and the   tension was thick in the air and they were pouring  so much love and so much education and discipline   into these young men um that some of them left the  the space crying because all they need to see and   I know this from mentoring young people who are on  the edge all the time all you have to do is BU the   bubble of what they think their life is and expose  to the all the opportunities that they have in the   World it changes their life our outcomes don't  lie we have young people working all across this   city starting nonprofits in leadership positions  Chang in policies so all you have to do is show   them something different and it's a catalyst to  change these young people life and these people   out here are doing life changing work so thank you  for giving us this space guys have any questions   yes sir hey Marita I appreciate the presentation  here uh if we can go back to slide 43 real quick3 well it's 43 slide what  what's that number again uh 43 okay okay okay you you say there at the bottom bullet  point uh four Community Partnerships added uh what   Community Partnerships have you guys worked on in  that regard so for uh Mental Health Services I've   reached we've reached out to um Shay Franklin uh  she's going to partner with us for mental health services um for housing uh we're  reaching out uh we're using our   services at the Outwater Center well Mrs Ty  is her name but the I think the services are it might be Horizon children's first that is it  children's first thank you for that um for food   insecurity um I actually I have it in my phone  it's a contact in my phone I do apologize but um   it's an app where I reached out to um someone in  the community and there's an app where we can do   uh 211 we can go to 211 but the app is actually  specific to where we can direct people within   our community to get the closest um access to food  we're also working with Workforce Community um to   provide um training and do wraparound services to  make sure that if people are missing uh not lack   of appointment to be able to get them employed  um so we're we're building um we just got up   and running about three months ago um so we're  hitting the ground running and running fast yeah   you guys have done a lot of good work so far and  so it looks like you're not just trying to deal   with the violence incidences and squash those it's  also let's attack the root causes for a lot of the   violence that we see in the commun absolutely  U the luck that we have is um in our within   our leadership and with um the team as a whole um  they are directly from the uh communities that are   impacted they are integral parts of the community  that are impacted um one of the things that I love   about our site supervisors is that they have a  following that is so large that they can put up   a post and say be here at such and such time for  this event and people are going to show up because   they respect and value them so much and their  communities and so um again we firmly believe   that our community are the experts of their own  experiences and they have been major to connecting   us to Opportunities I think you guys got a Tik  Tock famous um guy to come out and speak to uh   Adrian Hardy um to speak at one of the schools  and the kids went crazy and and uh his manager   AJ forgot um wants to partner uh partner with us  on on work um and so what we're trying to do is be   strategic and thinking about all of the needs  of the community and making sure that we have   wraparound services so not only are we thinking  about the roote we're thinking about the future   on what we can do to make sure that they again  bust the bubble and see the opportunities that   are available for the yeah my kid's a big fan  of Mr Harding so she'll be yeah yeah um could   um can we go to slide 45 real quick um can we get  um maybe the good doctor to come up and talk about   some of the third party evaluations here and uh  the process she goes for that absolutely if you're comfortable yes so what specific questions do you  have um just what could you just walk through the   process of evaluation um just how you measure  so we will be doing both process and outcomes   so how the program has been implemented and the  impact of it a lot of participatory collaborative   um we have I have some in the back um a little QR  code for the community to give us impact I mean   input like on satisfaction what the other thing  recommendations um it it is really important to   collect stories and not just numbers because  most of the evaluations for these models is   just numbers okay I appreciate that um yeah you  guys have done good work um I especially want to   thank you helping with the plane view March you  guys were out there knocking doors passing out   flyers did The Lion Share of the work and uh it  was a great turnout and a lot of that um credit   goes to you guys for the work that you did trying  to help with that so I appreciate everything you   guys have done so far and uh look forward to  seeing some continued success with this program just want to piggy back on council member hois  sorry um thank you all so much um from the time   I got on to council and trying to find um good  applicants to start this program uh seemed like it   was taking a little bit longer but um appears that  it was worth the wait so I really appreciate all   the hard work that you guys are doing and hope for  your continued success I just want to thank you   also uh I think we've got a couple instances where  the police department police Chiefs have said   you've mitigated some incidents already so that's  affecting people's Liv directly it's affecting our   staff and so you are making a difference and  and thank you very much very Innovative um I   think there's a great use of ARA fund so thank you  and I would like to note that I think one of the   difference between this program they have done  a really good job pre-implementation leveraging   relationships so I think as we continue to  evaluate quarterly we will see how that has   impacted satisfaction but overall like feeling  of community because of the work that they did   ahead before they even had to Stephanie ubal who's  also doin class on the committee for the stepup   initiative around mental health and theologus  system and she also worked with the um T violence   program in New York and so she's given me best  practices where they F at where they think they   want at um to be able to utilize in this space and  I'm also working with program in South Carolina   and one in California um so just getting  all the best practices what what doesn't   work um and trying to wrap it around in Kansas  because we're not like those bigger cities but   um just Shing it down to impact Kansas in a  positive way you're an outstanding leader so   keep up the good work thank you so much I  didn't have um any questions I just wanted   to say great job wonderful presentation  great job Raquel did a good job with that   um all of the violence interrupts you all are  doing a magnificent job I hear about those dudes   and ladies in the orange shirts all the time um  just keep up the good work this is I mean already   in this short amount of time working even better  than what when me and council member hoisel were   on those calls talking about what could be um this  is a beautiful thing this is something that we we   have to keep supporting because the impact is is  there even now so thank you keep up the great work I have several questions um great job again for  the presentation and thank you all for showing   up to many of our community building events  and just showing up for our youth um can you   talk about how many people are involved uh  currently hired as part of the program can   you give us a little bit of a timeline as  you mentioned it's just been three months   and the results are just three months worth  of work um and can you also talk about how   now three months are in the bag what  is the timeline timeline now moving forward um right now we have 13 people on staff  um so far uh well up until now we have 13 people   on staff and then we have um some people uh the  leadership team from di that is also assisting   um so we we give a quarter or so a little  bit more of our time to help yeah so they   they operate out of two sites right so there's  two site supervisors there's a program manager   and there's three violence interrupts per site  and there's two out Community out yeah Community   per side yeah um and so far we have been able to  we have been able to do a lot but because of the   the talent on my team and the relationships they  have within the community um we're able to do   so much more um we're able to network everybody  brings something to the table that is very   valuable and unique and because of that we're  able to grow and expand so um over the next   you know 3 to six months right now we're working  with the situations that are going on with usd259   um we're all um approved as volunteers by now  so that we're able to follow our participants   and we want to be um very clear on our intentions  and what we're doing there we protect and deserve   our uh the privacy of our participants and we we  follow them and we give them a safe space and not   only are we um working with them at school we're  working with them at home too so over the next uh   3 to six months we plan to continue to follow  the situations that we are mediating right now   but then also expand over into whatever come  like as situations arise within the community   um we strategically adjusting our uh our plans to  be able to address them all I think um one of the   things uh outcomes that we talked about after  um they had those young people in the room and   having the parents in the room um we understood  that those parents have a need too right um and   so um speaking about building a parent support  program so why the young people are in that space   getting ped into the parents can be poured  into and we can come up with support systems   to help these these mothers um and fathers  navigate um working with their kids so this   is something we talked about in the background  that we wanted to do um we are also um looking   forward to we've been doing a bunch of training  um I am education um really big on education um   so we went through the care of violence program  I think the one that we got coming up now is to   learn how to work the database um so they've  been in a lot a lot of training I want to give   them a shout out for that um because sometimes  our training goes into a Saturday and they have   been committed they ask great questions they're  totally engaged um which when you're doing six   hours a day of training um sometimes days a week  can be online and zoom is taxing um but um right   now they're also a part of urban professionals  leadership program um so again we're want to   give them all the tools to be successful I'm a  firm believer that um if I don't give them all   the tools to be successful and they fail that's  on me um but if we give them all the tools um   I'm not going to even speak failure into their  existence so I'm not even going to say that's on   them we're not going to let them fail we're also  uh expanding into the Comm so we want to see and   do more within the community um because the goal  of the CVG model is to empower the community and   mobilize the community so as we're we have a s a  small staff but they have a big impact so um we're   going to be moving forward into the community  to try to do more and the same things that we're   doing with the highr high-risk individuals we want  to um build up our community to be able to do the same and I should add I do some other um  violence prvention work and I think this   is a unique opportunity um so the state of  Pennsylvania right now we're investigating   if these types of services will be in  reimbursable by Medicaid right so the work   that we're doing here in witch talk could really  set a standard for the state which is why it's so important can you also uh share you keep  talking about the investment and um talk   about the funding and and the how each pocket  is uh funded and what you still need moving forward so you're talking about each program  with just cure violence okay so um with cure   violence um one of the things that I feel like  um when you're putting your life at risk and   when you're putting yourself in the middle of  violence um I I I I'll use uh WPD as an example   um I do feel like they're grossly underpaid for  the work that they're going to do um and this is   something that I said on a national conversation  with cure violence and the violence interrupts   is one of their uh complaints is that they were  in the nonprofit World they think that you have   to live in a deficit in order to do this work  and you cannot pour from an empty cup um and at   our organization we are very much um we're very  about making sure that people receive Equitable   pay um because you have you have to be able to  sustain sustain yourself um not just financially   but mentally um and you know if we're working with  the community again we have to take care of home   first so that they are have everything they need  to go out there and do the work they need to do   I don't want them to be burnt out I don't want  them to feel undervalued I don't want them to   be underpaid so I want to make sure that I create  a space for them to be able to get raises um we   underestimated um because we're new to doing this  particular work um and we're a small nonprofit so   we didn't have 401ks to start off with and they  gave us the ability to issue 401ks to our team   um but we underestimated how much it would cost um  so making sure that they can again pay themselves   first and create an investment um for their future  um will help with job security um so being able to   properly fund the 401ks and get that activated um  we're also looking into Insurance plants right now   um right now we just have our we had a small team  so we only had eight people on staff um and we all   went to the Health Market chose our insurance and  we PID 20% um of their insurance um and right now   we are researching Group Insurance since we have  a bigger staff um to see if it's cost effective   for us to do those things um the events that they  want to throw um I always I'm dream in caviar but   I work with sardines but making sure that we're  doing community we make it look like caviar though   um but we do that is my model we we work with  sardines but we're going to give caviar every   single time um and that comes with um Community  Support um people sponsorship getting um credible   sponsors to sponsor that work to supplement the  funding that we're getting um and building out   relationships that people see that this program is  worth investing in um and so we also want to make   sure that um one of the things we want to do and  um we did put into our proposal is that we want   to put murals on the South Side um we're um we're  meeting with artists and one of the murals that we   going to have is going to I call it the forever  Memorial I myself um lost my little cousin a gun   violence at 14 years old um almost two years ago  um and his name was forever um and we're going   to have a memorial for young people that we lost  to gun violence on one side and then on the other   side it's going to speak to Liberation what does  it look like to have a healthy Community what is   the community we envision so it's just going to be  about Joy um so we can see both sides um of what   we lost and what we stand to gain by not making  sure that this doesn't happen to another young   person um and so art and social justice work go  hand inand um and we want to be able to Showcase   that and uplift that in our work um so at again  um any investment and again we're doing our due   diligence to make sure we supplement the funding  that you guys give us um and making sure that we   can sustain this program um I I think I think  that this program is valuable to this city um   and I'm not just being biased um there was a need  you guys fed the need and we want to make sure   that it stays sustainable and that we're doing  right by our team to make sure that they stay   fulfilled another thing that we are looking at  at doing and we want to implement um is a trauma   care plan for our team um just to make sure that  again this work is hard I'm doing this a long time   and I know how hard and tasking it can be to hear  people's stories and not be able to save everybody   um and so we want to make sure  that we have a trauma care plan   um so our our our staff knows how to  decompress and knows how to reset and restore and that's just a fraction of the things  that we want to do and it it should be noted like   this the way the program is designed it operates  off in these unique areas and as we continue to   see how the program is impacting the city  it's likely that we may need to scale it   right so there may a need for additional funds  if we find that we are seeing violence go down   drastically in these areas or perceptions  of community safety and trust that could   be a sign that you know there should be additional  investments in other areas of where the program is operating mayor real quick the initial investment  from the council was 1 A5 million towards this and   I do want to add I had a discussion with um people  that that do care violence and I'm a researcher so   I've been doing a lot of research and one of  the things that was noted is that some cities   have C violence people that specifically only  work at the hospital like that is the program   that is the program that is funded so I was told  that we're taking on a a big bite um doing the   hospitals and doing our C violence work and so it  just wanted to make sure that um the council knew   that um and other cities they have just funded  um violence interrupts to be in the hospital um   we are again we're ready to do this work I just  want to make sure that it's sustainable and that   we're not burning our team out so it might in  the future we might need to hire more V on the team and that's to be able to cover day and night and last but not least um um we get  questions about this very often regarding   youth violence and they always look to one of  us on the council for um what are the solutions   and so um I often talk about there are multiple  uh organizations doing great work including you   all um so what would be your answer to uh when we  see gun violence when we see youth violence when   we see uh resorting to violence the big magic  question is what can we do to solve it so I'm a   firm believer in order to cultivate good fruit you  got to start with the roots and that's the reason   why I chose to work with young people progyny um  was named by the first Cort of Youth um that we   worked with progyny literally they wanted adults  to know we are what you created and so one of the   first sources that we have to look at and when  people ask me was what's wrong with youth what's   wrong with you I ask what's wrong with us what  is the world we given them young people mirror   what they see and I said this at a city council  meeting before our young people see more in a   five minute scroll than any of us have ever seen  in our life they get joy they get violence they   get something funny they get something educational  they get something they have no business seeing at   all and it Cycles back in again we have no clue  what that that doing to their brains we have no   clue what it's doing to our brains but they have  a worldview and they see adults they see systems   they see us truly for who we are and so if we  are a society right now that's perpetuating   violence it's no surprise that our kids are  violent if we want to know why a 14-year-old   is shooting another 14-year-old I would ask you  how did that 14-year-old get a gun in his hand   um if we're thinking about why they're so violent  and fighting I would go back to our kids being   you know during Co and we did a whole session  proin a whole session during Co about what is   going to happen when these kids go back to school  and have no socialization right now we're missing   kids from usd259 that we don't even know where  they went or what happened to them and so we have   also have to think about the systemic things that  they're facing poverty addiction and and parents   um some parents are only giving uh we always say  parents are getting a certain tools to be parents   and not everybody has a full tool box um are we  getting the right parents in the room so that   we can give them the proper support that they  need the foster care to prison pipeline school   to prison pipeline um there there's all these  pipelines that exist that get our kids in you   incarcerated um the expectation that kids should  not have a range of emotions um we have kids that   are that we don't know what kind of trauma they  come from and I'm always one of those people um   I'm worri when we place kids in a box because when  we do that we miss out on kids that might live in   a prettier box but are still being abused are  still dealing with parents that have addictions   um that still might be having parents that may be  abusive and we miss out on them because we don't   think that they fit in the box of a child that  is impacted all of our kids are one step away   from being impacted and we have to be cinate  of that we also again and I'm a firm believer   have to show them a world that exists outside the  one that they know and that's what we do at di um   we're a youth adult partnership I'm a vessel  that gets the young people the opportunities   they deserve but they tell me what they need and  I listen and I create spaces for them to F their   power often we go to communities we go to youth  and we go we want you to feel empowered we want   you guys to feel empowered well I actually want  them to have power and right now I'm a part of a   national fellowship with uh leadership Fellowship  that I got selected for and my research and what   I'm doing is discovering and how can we create  wraparound Services other than because sometimes   when you're working on campaigns with young  people we pay them but how can we teach them   how to harness their power and how can we teach  them how to uh give them wraparound services   that sustain them more than just throwing money  at them and just sitting them on a panel um how   we're working with their trauma um while they're  doing this work how are we making sure that they   have opportunities to stand in their power  um I'm I'm a strong Advocate and I I don't   feel like Di's name has to be on everything I  don't feel like my name has to be associated   with everything I'm about us getting over the  finish line so there's a lot of background work   we do that you don't see our name attached to  um but we gotten over the Finish Line with it   um but making sure that these young people  have a voice in this work and that they're   sitting at tables like this um to understand  how polic uh understand how uh processes work   um I think it's super important that these young  people no matter where they come from have a city   where they belong feel like they belong and they  feel like they have a city that's invested in them   um and that a city that cares about them and  showing up to their events showing up to the   things that they do shows these young people that  you guys actually care and I think that's super   important um so again and I'll let Dr Parker speak  again to the systemic issues but systemically   we have to be Conant of the issues that we're  handing to young people um and expecting them   to navigate and show up with a smile in their face  and be well behaved in school um there's a lot of   things that could be avoided if we see the human  in them and there's a lot of things that could   be avoided if we see the human and our Educators  too and know that we're all carrying trauma into   that space so well you know just kind of circling  back to your like there's no one answer like gun   violence is a public health systemic issue and and  to solve it looks different across the system like   on an individual level like we have to think  Beyond change the individual and gun violence   stops right because if I'm underhouse I don't live  in safe neighborhoods trauma happening across a   system these are all factors that contribute to  it so there's not one answer it depends on what   level of the system right a macro level answer  is different than a Meso Level and one thing I   want to speak to with our team um we don't really  brag about everything that we're doing but the   relationships that my team has with the with our  high-risk participants and the parents is very   intimate and they're deeply involved with them  we follow up with these kids every day that are   high-risk individuals every day we contact them  um we take them places uh one of our just for an   example one of our uh VI has a a shop a custom  shop so he took some uh participants to the shop   to um see what he does and just to expose him  to something different um we had a participant   who got jumped by some people that were not in the  room and they took his shoes and our organization   purchased him some new shoes uh to deter him  from retaliating but also to let him know that   we see him we appreciate him and we care and I  think that what's most significant is that we're   listening we're paying attention we're talking  to the parents and we're adjusting and shifting   in for their needs and so when you look at funding  a lot of this is on us you know we're doing it   it's a labor of love but we're doing things that  you don't even see you know just because it's   our heart is in it and we really want to make an  impact to Public Safety and we want to see more   graduations than funerals for these that's right  individuals so I think that's important to note as   well and then our team like literally it's it's  13 of us right but we are riding for this city   we really are and when you talk when you ask  you know about Solutions I think we take every   situation and everybody we come into contact with  and we just try to solve their problems and try to   remove their barriers and in hopes that you know  they pay it forward and the impact that we make   on them pays it forward so that you know when they  come to that situation according to the CVG model   you know we change the norms and they change  their behavior right and it can impact others   so we're a small group but but we're hoping that  there's a residual impact by the Imp a residual   impact on the community by what we planning them  individually you know and then working with the   parents you know um there's no instruction manual  manual to Parenting and a lot of parents are   afraid to speak up and ask for help right but our  team is they we meet them where they are and we're   so um connected to the community that they're  able to come to us they're reaching out to us   now you know with their challenges so I think um  that kind of speaks to what you asked I think um   they're creating genuine safe spaces um Raquel  tagged me in a post um that uh that a parent   put up um in REI um they've been tagging me in the  posts that they've been getting from the community   um and one of them that stands out is that you  know we finally got somebody that people that are   the real deal um that are really doing the work um  and getting by in from a community um is sometimes   hard um because of lack of trust and they've  built up trust in this community and to speak   to a little bit um brel was saying in nonprofit  terms there's a lot of work that we do that is   not data driven um that is not quantitative um  there's a lot of stories that we cannot put um   in a report um and um but those stories still  exist um we talk about that a lot in nonprofit   I mean you don't talk about the kid that you  picked up in the middle of the night um because   their parents kicked them out um you don't talk  about well I do talk about this but how hard it   is to found housing uh for uh young people who  have been displaced in particular girls who have   been displaced um you don't you don't talk about  these things a lot um because we try to stick to   the data um when we're doing reports but those  stories are there um and a lot of the stuff we   don't get paid for um there's things that we pay  for out of pocket um just because when a person   or a young person calls you and tells you they're  hungry um you want to make sure they get fed um   so a lot of stuff you you just pull out of your  pocket and do um even when we were and I tell her   this all the time stop spending your own money you  know we we're we're working on you know getting a   process that where the the funding comes to us  easier um but with arpa funding there's a bunch   of eyes and te's that you got to Dot and you got  to cross um and so um even though it's difficult   I understand the accountability factor that  goes behind it to make sure that there's never   a question of why and how we're using our funds  Integrity matters to me um and so um they went   out and bought their own shirts to start off with  because we're we're in the process of getting our   shirts reproved approved and I'm like don't do  that but they did because they care about it so   much and they want people to easily identify them  that is how committed this team is to this work mayor thank you so much that's actually probably  a good segue into um the next segment segment of   our our recovery update um some reallocation of  some dollars so thank you so much to the Cure   violence and the violence interruptor  teams for coming out thank [Applause] you all right so many thanks to the violence interruptor team  for joining us today to provide that update um   and again if you're interested in downloading if  you're online and you're interested in downloading   the recovery plan that we filed with treasury in  July you can just go to wichita.gov and search   for arpa and you will find our arpa page um  that report provides um information about each   of our projects through June 30th um as Troy  mentioned we're in a critical phase when it   comes to reallocation so the rest of this Pro  this presentation will be forward facing um   this pie chart is an overview of how the funding  is currently allocated um the city has allocated   most of its funding in three major categories  negative economic initiatives at 20 million um   initiatives at 4 and a half million and then  infrastructure projects at 46.9 million and   I'll step it us through a pie chart for each of  those categories in a in a little bit um as of   last Wednesday um 36.7 million of the award  has been spent 4.9 has been encumbered which   that means it's tied up in a purchase order  or a like um it it's encumbered against the   budget and then 8.1 million has been obligated  and that include city council action that was   taken last week regarding the branch libraries  so in total 49.7 million has been obligated and   for the sake of this presentation for future  discussion we'll talk about I'll talk refer to   things being obligated that could be encumbered  obligated or spent so things and then the balance   of the project is unobligated and that's $22.7  million it's about a little over 30% of the total award so what is the timeline for obligations  um the US Treasury deadline is 12 3124 and   there's a report that's due with an end dat  of that period um that's when everything has   to be completed um one thing that's unique about  the city of Witchita compared to a lot of local   governments is that we're on a calendar fiscal  year a lot of local governments on a fiscal   fiscal year that starts on July 1 so we're  going to be closing our year at the same time   that we're finishing arpa obligations um for the  sake of um our fiscal year closing and getting all   these projects approved by the city council  um we've set a deadline of November 18th um   for all items to be on the city council agenda in  order to meet year and closing agent requirements   and at this point for people people to get those  items on the agenda they'll need to be submitted   in about seven weeks so we're it's it's um kind  of a Sprint to the finish at this point um what   happens if the funds aren't obligated if the funds  aren't obligated we must return those funds to US Treasury so I think I've already covered this  a little bit but an obligation is a case where   we have an order such as a purchase order  a contract or award an agree agreement um   a similar transaction that requires payment and  the final category is an inter agency agreement   that needs to meet a number of conditions from  Treasury and these are per their um rule about   obligations um an obligation is not a project  initiation we have a number of projects that   have been initiated that haven't been obligated  that does not count um it's also not a contract   or agreement that's under development um RFP  responses that we received have a recommendation   but don't have a contract yet or a board of bids  recommendation after the board of bids a contract   needs entered into so um it's pretty strict as  to what an obligation is just generally there   needs to be a contractor agreement in place um  so now that I've provided that really um kind   of scary background on obligations I'd like to  go into each of the categories so this is our   initiatives category and this is where the  violence interruptor project is um from the   outset we alloc the the project plan had $1.5  million for a violence interruptor program and   that was intended to be a three-year project um  we've this is the first time the city of wiah has   had a violence interruptor project and what we've  since learned is that um that funding would get   you about halfway through the three-year program  so rather than funding three years it would fund   about half and so an estimated additional  allocation of a 1.6 million would result in   a three-year program um and that program would  be funded by arpa through the end of September   of 2026 um overall the initiatives category  would be increased by3 million and so here's   what it would look like so that category would  bump up a little from 4.5 million to 4.8 million   so see update on can I ask questions regarding  the initiative's portion really quick so what   obviously violence interrupts fire optimization  what are other areas where initiatives those were   would fall under yeah those were the only two  in this category and they're separate from the   negative economic initiatives projects because on  those those we went out and we did an RFP for the   original Workforce and um small business projects  these are city of wiah driven projects that's and   this is how we set it up this is the pie chart  that we developed in 2021 so um it's just those two and prior to these two being the  only two initiatives were there other   list of initi our city of wit driven it  was just these two always good question any other questions about this category a couple  more oh you bet so the 1.5 million for violence   interrupts was to fund it from when to April  2025 so what's the starting date it yeah so   in the original plan was developed in 2021 and  the concept was to fund it for three years and   24 no sorry 22 23 and 24 but the Pro the program  um as the Chad from wiel State mentioned there   was this's um there was a lot to the setup of  the program establishing the program so but   but we could extend it through 2026 if there's  a contract in place and so then it would be a   24 25 26 project and if I may um just a little  bit of background originally the plan was for um   one spot in Northeast wiah but we did  expand to cover two spots including   down in South witch and a plane view in  South City area where um there's a number   of institutional gang violence there as well  so that added to um cost from the original estimates so by all technical purposes  the 1.5 million even though the project   started in 2021 didn't really kick off until   January 2024 or when in 2024 I think that the I  think that the con I think that the first invoice   I saw saw was for activity in December of 23 but  it wasn't it was just the starting does that make   sense it wasn't the full-blown project so I would  say quarter quarter one quarter two of 24 yeah so   by all technical purposes then December 2023  to April 2025 would fund would be $1.5 million   I think that's the estimate that's when this  current allocation would be expended and then   the ask is for the additional 1.6 million which  would be from April 2025 to September 2026 yes and are there any other so fire optimization   is there's no further ask from the fire  department yeah that project's complete sorry couple more questions um so I'm asking  because I know that um we have fire stations that   we we've allocated in a timeline I I understand  um the case study for violence interrupts I'm   just asking about fire and yeah that's a good  question yeah that's a really good question so   the reason why we would be able even just from a  technical standpoint of the regulations of this   particular Grant is that if we have if we were to  extend the contract with violence interrupts to   September 2026 and allocate more funding for that  that project that's allowable however everything   you cannot obligate payroll expenses for your own  entity so you could encumber um a capital purchase   that is something that's encumbered but payroll  expenses aren't encumbered so you couldn't use   this funding for any expenditures after December  31st and does the money have to be expended by   2026 yeah by the end of 2026 so then what would  happen to VI I I wish I could have asked that   question what would happen to violence interrupts  Beyond so October of 20126 yeah so one of two   things if their funds were fully expended by um  September 30 of 2026 if there were a contract   extension and additional budget um they could  if we could expend extend that for up to three   months we just prefer to have our funding end in  the end of that quarter so that we can wrap up the   grant um if the project were unsuccessful which  seems unlikely but if you had a project that were   unsuccessful you could replace it with another  sub that that subrecipient with another subre   I who serves as a successor to provide services  that have the same scope and we have done that once I'm just asking these questions  about sustainability so obviously we   just got a case study that it is working it  is an important investment but it's just an   investment until September 2026 so does this mean  that once September 2026 rolls around and this   Grant ends even if they don't don't ask for  an additional 3 months the program ends what   happens what's the sustainability  model Dante do you want to jump in good question mayor woo um important part of  these programs and you heard the um the doctor who   presented earli this morning is the evaluation  component um you also heard marqu Atkins talk   about its plans for sustainability destination  Innovations plans for sustainability to answer   your question I don't know that we can predict in  September 24 where we will be in September 26 but   we will have an evaluation at that point we'll  have two years of performance and the city will   be in a position to determine whether we want to  continue whether the city wants to continue to   invest in the program also what other or outside  resources have been identified in investing in   the program I believe Marquett Atkins pointed  to a number of not only local sources that are   investing in violence interruptor but she also  pointed to Kaiser per perment believe this morning   and so when we get to the point of arpa funding uh  expiring we will be at a decision point where we   look at the evaluation we look at the success or  the outcomes related to the programs and also have   conversations with CI and destination Innovation  about its plans for sustainability I think that's   what uh worried me because I was the only one that  was identified specifically as Kaiser Permanente   $60,000 not for personnel but rather gun violence  research so I'm thinking about these uh violence   interrupts and I appreciate everything that  they're doing I want to know that they're   going to be sustained if this is something that's  working um and it's only funds that end September   2026 do we just say it's done over with or what  is I guess their long-term plan once the grant   ends just like any grants I'm just worried about  uh grants that fund person now and then the work   the good work that they're doing then ends no I  once again and then appreciate the question mayor   it's difficult to predict now what will happen  two years from now but what I can say is we will   have an evaluation and also destination Innovation  uh Community engagement Institute of witto State   we'll start working towards a sustainability plan  um don't have those answers for you today but it's   something that we've had conversations ongoing  conversations with Community engagement Institute   and destination Innovation about sustainability  you're absolutely right anytime you rely on grant   funding for ongoing operational costs you reach  a point where it's no longer sustainable and so   I appreciate the question we're and the fact  that we're thinking about it today because   sustainability is seeing the impact that the  program is having in our community sustainability   is going to be a huge part of this as we go  forward I would jump in I was going to wait till   the end but since we're talking about it now um  I think when we get to that point I won't be here   uh I'll be on the other side of the podium but  I would challenge uh us now and then to consider   their funding as important as law enforcement  and keep it up as a city um you know a lot of   nonprofits don't get guaranteed funding but this  is a real um what we saw it you can see the crime   prevention you can see the intervention you  can see the opportunities that they're bringing   Community they work um and do the work that law  enforcement can't do they're the ones out there   the streets with the reputations that um  these young folks respect and they engage   in different ways it is just as important as law  enforcement and I think it should be continued   to be funded by the city council as well as you  know they should raise their own funds as well   but it's something that's just important as  law enforcement and something that should be   sustained by this we can look historically at  what happens when federal or local governments   fund great things like these and cut it when  we look at the weed and seed program from the   9s there was money to not only hire officers  which witch all did but there was prevention   funds for programs some that I participated in  there was intervention funds when all that dried   up those young people were they did well for  a while but then the opportunities left state   government didn't pick that up local government  didn't pick that up and the federal government   walked away from it this is an opportunity  to change that path and continue to support   it and I would hope that we all see the  value in in doing so we shouldn't allow   that organization or that effort to die I might  add too that any organization that relies on one   source of funding is not looking at long-term  sustainability so hopefully with their track   record of success the local foundations in witto  will see that success and they can apply for   Grants from those foundations and also be funded  through different sources not just the city so all right ready to move on okay um the next  U major category is negative economic impact   initiatives um this was $20 million from  the outset um I still vividly remember   doing community engagement um on this at dab  meetings in 2021 because it was one of the   first times that I'd gone out and done in person  engagement since the onset of covid um at the time   the idea was to allocate funding in three major  categories Workforce Development Small Business   Development and affordable housing and then to  have the remainder of the funds to be allocated   um as we've moved through this project so um  the workforce and small business programs as   a reminder there's 23 projects there with  a variety of different Community Partners   um the Child Advocacy Center slice funds their  expansion effort efforts um then there's a healthy   Corner Store affordable housing which that's under  development that humankind winter shelter that was   for operations last winter and then the landlord  incentive program it's one of it's the smallest   one on this pie chart um but I it's something to  celebrate and point out that I was researching   options through US Treasury for arpa funding of  housing programs and I found that this program has   been highlighted as a best practice um so that's  kind kind of fun news so so this bar chart shows   what percentage of that each project has been  spent encumbered and obligate or encumbered and   obligated so it's not the size of the project all  of these go from zero to 100 um so the ones that   are the ones that we should be focusing on um as  we look at the November 18th deadline are the ones   that are navy blue um that have the remainder  in navy blue those are the riskiest projects   they have the lowest percentage spent obligated  or encumbered um the good news um on this slide   is that the small business projects are fully  expended and that the workforce projects are very   close to being fully expended there's only three  of those that are still have a balance do we have   any updates on the healthy Corner Store initiative  that one Dante is grabbing his mic it's been super   frustrating I'm sure for everybody um thank you  thank you vice mayor Ballard for the question   um City staff has been working closely once again  with witto State uh Community engagement Institute   uh to develop a healthy Corner Store Initiative  Program as child Chad Charles mentioned earlier   part of the challenge we've had is the nature  of the funding you might recall that we issued   an RFP I believe a year 18 months ago primarily  focused on community- based organizations that   we could partner with the challenge in doing that  is that those organizations have limited history   administering federal grants and and so took  a step back from the RP process worked closely   with Finance staff as well as our outside uh uh  experts in regard to ARA funding with O'Brien and   retooled released an application process Community  engagement Institute applied for the program or to   administer a u healthy Corner Store Initiative  Program over the course of this past summer   has hosted several open houses has developed a  proposal in partnership with local corner stores   as well as a K State Extension Center uh there's  a meeting that took place I believe a week 10   days ago to kind of finalize some questions CI  had regarding araa funding and how that funding   could be utilized and we anticipate in the next  30 45 days bringing a proposal a program forward   to council for your review thank you and the  deadlines December well really all contracts and   ingredients need to go to City Council by November  18th and will we make that deadline certainly good answer um so as far as negative economic impact  projects um one thing that um broadly we talked   about in 2021 there was a lot of discussion  about affordable housing I don't think that   people at the time understood what things would  look like in 2024 um and there's been a lot of   Headway on the Mac so um this next pie chart  I'll show you includes adding a $5 million   project for the operation of the Mac um that  healthy Corner Store initiative the agreement   needs to be finalized in early November to go  on the agenda um affordable housing which is   the portion um related to the former public or  the public housing single family units um some   discussion there's been a lot of discussion in  the last week about an inter agency agreement   um for that prog program and it's being developed  and then the Child Advocacy Center subrecipient   agreement has a a number of Milestones that  they need to be meet they need to have met by   no November 30th and we will be monitoring  that so that is the to-do list for the ne   negative economic impact projects and so after  those changes this is what the pie chart looks   like so it's the addition of 5 million for  Mac operations and then the elimination of   the unallocated category and this pie chart  increases from 20 million to 23.2 million um   any there are some projects that as they close  they will have a small balance um we won't be   adding projects in this category we would just be  it the the total could be slightly less than 23.2   um as projects are closed with small balances uh  in regards to um Mac operations and this might   be more for Troy uh what Gap does that leave  for Mac operations over the next I guess two   years so the intent behind this $5 million is  funding operations or part of those operations   about $2.5 million do a year for 2025 and 2026 if  you'll recall some of the conversations we've had   with our um our service providers right as we  anticipate it's probably going to be about a 4   million million annual operating budget uh so  that leaves about1 to$ one.5 million depending   on where they can find some cost Savings of  a gap that that new um that new 501c3 that   new operator will have to bridge that gap between  what the anticipated annual operating budget will   be and this sort of $2.5 million a year for 2025  and 2026 I know we've been looking and trying to   work with uh the private sector for donations uh  is that going relatively well do we have any uh   commitment so far in regards to that so I can tell  you we are having really really good conversations   with the private sector yes um the great thing  about sort of this approach right is that that   new um that new governance structure and that new  operator will have somewhat of a two-year Runway   so to speak right to just focus on operations and  not NE necessarily Focus entirely on fundraising   right so this gives them an opportunity to at  least the conversations we've had find that best   chance of long-term success and sustainability  right because they can continue to just focus   on operations for those first two years yes there  will be some in-kind services that those partners   are talking about bringing to the table um  I can tell you yes we are having some really   good conversations with um private and other  governmental agencies to help respond to the   sustainability of the annual operating budget in  years 2027 and Beyond yes and so that million and   a half a year over the next two years um how much  of that do we have have we identifi providers to   help cover that Gap so I I know we have um one  deal with one organization that that's about   400,000 that'll help take off of that chunk  um so where are we at on the other roughly a   little over a million again about one to one $ 1.5  million yes the service providers that are in that   space are talking right now about what services  they can bring to the table to close that Gap   um and hopefully the goal is that it will close  that entire $1.5 million gap okay appreciate it yep all right you ready to move on to the next  category okay the last big category is capital   projects um I don't have a pie chart for this  because they're all capital projects um but the   um the bar chart for this one is just like the  bar chart for the negative economic initiatives   um with a percentage of each project that's  spent in green and or encumbered or obligated   in magenta so the projects that are the highest  risk at this point are the ones at the top um   the navy blue bar charts the navy blue bars  are the most worrisome um and those would be   two of the three fire alerting and Communications  projects and then Patrol West um the good news on   this slide is in September there were a lot of  obligations um the winter shelter phase one of   the Mac SL Mac site is about halfway through this  slide of halfway through this graph and then also   um Alford Rockwell and angelu Branch Renovations  have been obligated so progress is being made um   so some reallocations um that are being considered  um um in order to meet us treasury deadlines um   these are modeled this wouldn't change the project  discontinue the project discontinue the scope of   or change the scope of the project this is just  how the project is funded so the first would be on   patrol West to shift 9.13 million to local funding  um and the project would continue as is and then   also um there's three fire station and alerting  projects it would shift one of them entirely to   local funding and about half of another one  to local funding and the third one would be   all in arpa and that's based on this one has two  phases of awards so there's one phase that they're   expecting in October and one phase that they're  expecting in November so just the October phase   would stay in ARA um and that this is deadline  related to deadlines I double checked all of   these projects have bonding resolutions in place  this is something that we had um wanted to keep   all of our options open as these projects were  initiated so I'm happy to report that this will   be a really easy um reallocation um and then the  Mac um as I said phase one for the winter shelter   is already allocated and then phase two of the  project is modeled in the next pie chart to add   $6 million for the renovation of the facility so  this is the renovation phase of the remainder of   the interior of the current building um and this  is not really this is a reallocation because as   you remember this project's already in the CIP is  having go funding so instead of go this phase two   will have arpa funding um and then overall as we  continue to um close out projects um with small   balances they would any the remaining funds  would be redirected to cash fund eligible CIP projects so so this is your um a new arpa  pie chart um so in the blue call out box   the initiatives have been increased by .3 million  for the violence interrupts the negative economic   initiatives are increased by 3.2 million for  the um Mac site I mean the Eon negative economic   impact initiatives is for Mac operations excuse  me and then the infrastructure projects is overall   decreased by 3 and a half million to offset the  increases in those other two categories um and   just as we wrap up um some things you should be  expecting very you know in the next few months is   that a number of items related to Mac affordable  housing healthy corner stores we talked about um   an amendment for violence interruptor um  at the very least for the timeline um and   then the bids for the fire station alerting and  commun Communications projects so that that is   your reallocation update you any more questions  I'm just going to add one more time my concern   with grants whether it's ARA federal dollars  or any grants in general when we are looking at   Grants Capital Improvement projects to me make  the most sense because it's is a one-time cost   when it comes to personnel and ongoing costs  I do not believe that that's responsible to   use Grant dollars for that so that it concerns  me the initiatives portion because it's a lot   of a majority of it is Personnel uh versus um a  one-time cost like a new fire station um so that   gives me a little bit of angst as I think that the  arpa dollars um are supposed to help us with some   of these big Capital Improvement projects that  we've Maybe um have thought about accelerating   faster or uh supplementing with these federal  dollars so this is just Lily's opinion that's   it and I I would also Echo I think the mayor said  everything um that I've thought when looking at   this presentation as well is that I would prefer  most of the arpa money being an infrastructure   onetime projects as we look on how we want  to allocate over I guess what a month now um   because it has to be allocated quick but that's  my only concern is the long-term sustainability   of projects that are doing good work but are there  other funding streams to make more sense for that   and you know Patrol West shifting 9.13 million  I know maybe the timeline doesn't work would   probably be my understanding but are there other  projects and capital Improvement projects we can   push up quicker in a timeline especially for you  know allocations that would be my only concern   yeah um quickly regarding shifting projects um  when we were looking at um capital projects to   cash fund those would be projects that have  already been initiated and there's already   expenditures so not at this point I don't think  that the timeline would support initiating a   project okay so thank you wel so I wanted to  I'm glad the mayor brought it up um when we   look at violence interrupts we we keep talking  about grants um if you look at the Cure violence   model it's actually based out of several ways  throughout the country it's in mayor's offices   it's in manager's office it's actually a part of  government and other places which it always was   unique um through some of the challenges that  we had because initially we were looking at   implementing this out of the manager's office um  when council member H Isel and I'm we're in DC we   met with theirs theirs was based out of their is  a district attorney's office I I believe so we've   also talk to some who it comes out of their  health department as well yeah so this is I I   think we should not look at this as the nonprofit  grants this is an actual effort to improve safety   improve community and Empower This truly should be  funded whether it's arpa or not out of our general   fund like this has to be seen as that important  because when it goes away if it were to go away if   we look at it as just granting a nonprofit these  same people may not have that same support to go   out into community and do that um and that's the  the challenge this should be funded at whatever   it is a million or 1.5 million out of the general  fund as the same way we look at the needs of law   enforcement because this really is reducing the  impact for law enforcement and I think if we don't   look at it in that way it's going to be a problem  going forward the work that they do is incredible   and the other thing is Marquita mentioned it  a little bit we were building a witch model it   wasn't one that just had folks in the hospital  it wasn't one that just had Folks at one site   throughout the conversations we've had with cure  violence we looked at two sites to start with and   how do we continue to train people to work through  throughout the city it's going to be a full City   effort it's something that they're continuing to  build right now and again if we just look at it as   let's do this through 2026 and that's it and hope  that they can raise enough money to continue this   effort I know they'll raise money but this should  be something that our local government if we truly   care about crime prevention if we truly are  looking at safety and community that we need to   support and not look at it as a grant but actual  obligation to reduce the negative impacts of crime   the work that they're doing and again it's not  just interrupting what's happening they're really   empowering those young people and the folks that  they've hired who some people may look at whatever   the their records might be are being empowered as  well so we're all all around making our community   better by that effort it's not just um giving a  grant to a nonprofit and hoping that they do some   great work we see that around but this actual  effort truly throughout the country is a part   of their govern government and I would hope that  um when the funds run out from arera we consider   adopting that as a part of our government as well  well and quick I agree and I think they're doing   incredible work and I think you said something we  may disagree in terms of the funding room if we   believe it's an essential function of government  and that's a core function of government it should   be a function of government and not contracted  out and so I think longterm we can have that   conversation um but in terms of us offering  grants I think a permanent sustainability to   Grant doesn't make sense and we believe it's a  core function of government we believe that it's   going to reduce crime and I think they are  doing good work in doing so then it should   be as a function of government if that's what we  believe it is and not necessarily outsourced to   a third party and maybe we figure out a way to  bring that in house for long sustainability I   I know there is some concern among some in the in  the community about it being so um tied tightly to   the city um part of the the model is that we give  them their independence um to kind of work we have   proper oversight make sure that the program  is doing what we need um it's it's something   council member Johnson and I being so involved in  this have come to understand from the model is a   certain degree of independence from the city is um  viewed as necessary to um allow them the freedom   to work in the ways that they feel appropriate  I suppose so we can get into a little more we   can chat a little more I I respect that view too  but I think I prefer public private Partnerships   rather than just government for the answer  for everything and I think that the will of   the city council can change overnight too uh  and discontinu it at any time that's why I   prefer more more uh different funding sources  and a public P private partnership allows more   longterm sustainability than just government  doing it because the will of government can   change at any election and it could be gone so  I think it's a very important program like I   said great success and as they build on the  success I don't think it'll be a problem to   create that public private partnership long-term  sustainability last comment I believe it is Public   Safety that's the core function of government  and so I think there is a role for it and it is   a function of government and so if it's a function  of government government should do it and inhouse it I'll just summarize I think in what I'm  hearing um and so that staff has some sort   of recommended or some sort of uh Direction um  I really appreciate hearing about the Mac the   multi- agency navigation Center and how that is  truly a public private partnership um we the city   initially started with a $500,000 investment for  operations and we started looking at we have to   allocate federal dollars into something that will  be a little bit more sustainable and helps that   new nonprofit get kickstarted without the burden  of the $4 million in operating so they already   knew 500,000 was going to come from the city of  witan now an additional 2.5 million per year 25   and 2.5 million 2026 that's a direct um signal by  the city of Witchita and this Council saying this   is the public side of this now we need private  side to step up and that includes the faith-based   Community Helping to step up and help us with  closing that gap for operating so I see that as   a sustainable model for Mac which is I think  what I'm hearing is Public Safety is a core   function of local government so therefore if  one of the initiatives is crime prevention um   and cure violence is part of that how do you  look at that more sustainably versus Just One   Federal feral grant that does run out by 2026  so um I think the challenge is can we have more   public private Partnerships where the city  makes an investment which the city is making   a $1.5 million investment and cure violence  and now we're being asked to make another $1.6   million in cure violence where is the private um  side stepping up so that it can be sustainable   unless it is fully the local government's role  and in that sense um I know that we've had a   long presentation about how crime prevention is  affected by multiple departments within the city   of witchta from Parks to recreation centers  to libraries so if that's absorbed how how   does that all play with that ecosystem so I I'll  say mayor thank you for those that synopsis and   in the comments I think we'll take that  back and we'll digest that and take those   into consideration as we bring this back but um  is there any other questions comments concerns   regarding the presentation on the arpa update  um just one real quick what are some of the uh   CIP projects that we're looking at possibly doing  um buffing up and doing some cash funding for um   right here so the ones at the bottoms are one that  we already cash funded so City Hall elevator City   facility improvements um and then there's also two  that are still open heavy equipment replacement   and fire apparatus replacement so those are  projects that we typically Finance permanently   with cash rather than bonds so they're well  suited for that activity okay appreciate it no problem okay thank you so much uh thank you  Elizabeth and the finance department for the   update uh the next item we have on the agenda uh  is uh proposed amendments to the unified zoning   code particularly as it relates to solar and  solar farms and with that we have um our planning   director Scott W good morning everyone Scott W  from the planning department um because we're at   a workshop and because we're talking about solar  I just wanted to take a moment to say that the   previous presentations have been brilliant I  don't think there's any way this presentation   can Eclipse them is this really 7 any slides  here St it is we'll go rather quickly I will   move quickly um because I know we're bumping up  against Lune too so um so so here's uh why we're   here today is obviously to collect your feedback  answer any questions um I really appreciate this   format because it really allows for a dialogue  and we can uh th hopefully thoroughly answer any   questions that you have in order to do that this  is the agenda that I've put together for this   discussion um of course we can change it up we  can add items at the end but assuming everyone's   okay with this I'll just keep moving right along  so uh there's a few disclaimers because this is   a rather big topic and I just want to make  sure everyone's on the same page so um first   of all there are no spec there are no uh solar  applications submitted for the city of witchta   at this time uh so this is really a discussion  about the policy and how should solar uh solar   Farms industrial scale solar um utility SC scale  solar how should those facilities be addressed   and and handled in witto uh I do want to note  that there is a possible project that has been   discussed with planning staff um and that's in  the southwest witto area outside the city witchta   city limits and I'll talk a little bit more about  that general area at the end of this presentation   I really want to cover the policy portion and then  we can talk some more about that one um and then   uh also want to note that really the purpose  why I'm here is because the county has adopted   amendments the zoning code because it's a  unified zoning code um there's a question   then for the city about will you adopt the  same ones do you want slightly different um   how do you want to proceed so that's really the  basis for this conversation um and I also want   to highlight a really important one at the bottom  which is we're we're not here to talk today about   accessory uses so we're not talking about the  solar panels that someone would put on their   house or on their business um we're not talking  about uh solar panels that for instance would   be accessory to use like the ones out at the zoo  or at Ma High School those aren't the principal   uses we're talking about the big ones that are  the primary purposes to get electricity onto the   grid another disclaimer is that um you know we  don't have a ton of time today uh but so but I   want to convey that this process started in 2021  perhaps even a little bit before that so I'm going   to do some highlights and we're going to move  rather quickly through it but if you have any   questions let me know and I can always follow up  do want to highlight that this was at the board   County Commissioners six times and also at the  mapc advance plans nine times so there's been   a thorough amount of uh discussion from on that  side in terms of shared documents uh there's a   number of documents that the city shares with the  county so you have a unified zoning code you also   have the comprehensive plan and what we mean by  unified or shared is that uh both the city and the   county have adopted them and that they're the same  text so that therefore it creates the unified code   now the comprehensive plan is different than the  zoning code everyone knows that but um the comp   plan is really about guidance and recommendations  uh the zoning code is really about regulations   and requirements so um now both of these have  been important in the Solar discussion and I'll   cover why in just a moment but more a little  bit more about the zoning code you're all   familiar with that but um its purpose health  safety and general Weare encouraging orderly   growth uh growth uh containing contains our  standards for zoning districts what you can   and cannot do in a given zoning district and I  think perhaps most importantly it contains the   process for considering and regulating land  use so how are they considered where is it appropriate now um a quick note about this one  is we're here discussing this because the county   has adopted amendments to the zoning code those  amendments are in effect in the county at this   time so the question really for the city is do  you want to stay with what was previous uh what   you is in place right now for the City or do you  want to adopt similar to what the county has done   um Scot I have a quick question just because it's  applicable right here how many um How many diff   differences do we have in the unified code where  the county and the city don't at this time uh to   my knowledge it's only the solar and that's  just because it was a recent adoption so it   hasn't come to you yet and that's what this is  in anticipation of but I would note that this   has happened before where we've had a little bit  of a difference um so for instance when theity   the adopted changes to the zoning code regarding  nightclub or dayc carees there was a period of   time where the city's adopted version had not been  adopted yet by the county so they were slightly different okay moving right along um existing  conditions so in 2019 there were uh amendments   made to both the zoning code and to the  comprehensive plan regarding renewable energy   systems and that covered wind and solar uh we're  focusing just on the solar for this discussion   um so for the unified zoning code it made solar  a conditional use there were approximately 20   supplemental things that needed to be submitted  with an application um as part of the conditional   use uh conditions could be added to customize  what the requirements were for a particular case   or application and of course there was a formal  review process by having it as a conditional use   uh now um you're all well familiar with the  conditional use process so I won't walk you   through it but uh just know that for members of  the public that it goes to the dabs or the cabs   depending on if it's in the city or county goes  to the Planning Commission and then ultimately   to the governing body and there's a protest period  as well for the comprehensive plan regarding solar   uh there was a bit of guidance that was added to  it um it really emphasized uh the need to select   appropriate locations it mentioned design and  performance standards this not so much about how   much energy was being generated but rather about  where is an ideal place or location or what areas   to avoid uh when placing these and really spoke  a lot about protecting the viability of existing   cities and their ability to grow and that comes  up later on in our our more recent discussions so   process to date um there are two uh significant  Milestones uh really it was be before the county   moratorium and after or during the county morat  morium so I've broken those up into those two   phases and we'll cover those so prior to the  county moratorium there had been an initiative   started out to better align um the requirements  for a solar application with the size of the solar   project uh this had come up because we had seen a  smallscale solar project come through and there uh   there a question had come up about what would they  have had to uh comply with all of the different   things that would be needed of a large one so  there was quite a bit a discussion about this um   there was a proposal that was taken forward it had  gone through um the dabs the cabs ultimately made   it to mapc Advanced plans and uh was scheduled to  be considered by the mapc that was going to be the   next step anyway but at this time uh the county  was receiving a lot of questions and a lot of   feedback about solar projects um and really there  were some questions that came up about the how   should they be handled and addressed in the county  overall so at this point the County Commission um   it approved a moratorium which really hit the the  pause button and started a new process now you can   see that that moratorium was later on extended and  ended up going for a full 12 months and it's just   recently expired um this was and it expired after  the amendments were adopted by the county but   through this process there were a number of steps  and I know you can't read this slide because it's   rather small but I would highlight that it there  were a number of mapc advanced plans meetings with   multiple opportunities for public comment lots  of uh District Advisory Board citizen Advisory   board meetings so and we'll highlight some of  the additional ways that public comment was   received so right now where we are in the process  is that it's gone to the County Commission again   they adopted amendments and now the question is  coming to the city council in terms of the public   input again a variety of processes uh to collect  public input uh one of those was a town hall event   out at the Cedric County Extension Center out by  the zoo uh there were a number of station boards   set up uh staff beli there were over well over a  hundred people who attended this meeting we only   had 70 to 80 sign in but based on our counts we  believe it was well over a hundred uh along with   the boards with sticky notes and sticky dots that  folks could use uh we did staff presentations and   there were public comments with a microphone  where folks could provide their thoughts we   also had comment cards because we know folks  aren't always comfortable speaking in public   uh We've also uh received a number of emails and  letters well over 200 received since this project   initiated and so extending from October 2023  through August of this year uh we've compiled   those and those are available in a report there's  also an online survey with the same questions as   was presented at the open house event like about  160 three participants provided information and   feedback on that uh there were also uh lots of  opportunities for public comments to be received   at public meetings the slide notes that it's dab  one through five but what I would indicate is uh   that it actually went to all the dabs except for  four and that was just because four indicated   they did not want to hear it at that time so um  but lots of opportunities for folks to provide   comments at public meetings in addition to the  public input staff research best practices and   uh this is an evolving field because solar panels  are something that are coming across the country   uh there's been an emphasis I think especially  because the cost of generating electricity through   solar uh has decreased significantly uh we also  looked to what other communities were doing more   locally so we looked at uh six Kansas counties  and 10 additional counties outside of Kansas and   we specifically reviewed them for a number of  themes you can see listed here so through the   process there were a number of themes that emerged  uh at the Town Hall and through the survey we saw   that Urban Development growth decommissioning  and groundwater or even soil contamination were   coming up as high priorities as well as later on  we added to this size and configuration so you'll   see that those were addressed uh later on so what  we did is we took those themes uh we did a review   using what our existing code is uh what public  input we receive what are the best practices and   what are other communities doing are doing to uh  develop potential options so out of those options   the mapc considered these and their recommendation  covered these items so removing all the equipment   down to a depth of four feet uh strengthening the  financial assurances that are currently required   uh requiring a plan to indicate the length of  time that decommissioning would take that the   applicant would have to notify the city or county  in advance of decommissioning also requiring   testing of soil and groundwater uh both uh pre and  post project also um providing requiring a list   of construction materials at the time that this  was being discussed in the county there was a a   concern about materials leeching from the solar  panels or um there had been a hail event down   in Texas that had broken a lot of panels and there  were concerns about what happens uh if that occurs   and and in part that's because quite a few folks  out there um in the unincorporated County are on   wellwater and so contamination of groundwater is  a significant issue for them there were a number   of things that the mapc recommended no changes  to the uh zoning code so one of them was Urban   growth and development uh there's a process that's  in place uh for uh communities out in the county   which is in the unincorporated County if there  there's an urban growth area that's identified   it's the same asur urban area of influence and  there's a requirement for notification of these   communities if there's a case in that location  and an opportunity for their Planning Commission   to weigh in on whether or not uh it should be  approved or denied and that a recommendation of   denial can change the vote requirement at the  County Commission I bring this up because uh   that system is in place and at this point the mapc  did not recommend any changes these are all based   on the urban growth areas uh which depend where  people anticipate that the communities will grow   into the future Witchita has one you'll notice  that Witchita is not included in the urban area   influence for this zoning process that is simply  because the Planning Commission is made up of city   and county appointees so the city perspective is  already represented in terms of setbacks um and   configuration mapc did not recommend any changes  uh likewise the same on size and configuration   now when it came to height though they did  recommend uh changes of limiting the height   of the panels to 25 feet with the ability to  increase uh during the conditional use process   when it came to fire um there's a requirement  they recommended a requirement that uh any   company or application coming forward that the  applicant would have to uh have it reviewed by   the resp by the fire department or the County  Fire District so again uh so it went through   the mapc with those recommendations uh then it  came forward to the County Commission the County   Commission uh considered the recommendations and  uh indicated their appreciation for their efforts   however they had some questions about whether  the recommendation from the mapc was the best   fit for the county and for the community overall  uh there were also questions about whether the   recommendation was incorporating as many best  practices as possible so with that uh the county   wanted to get and specifically on these topics so  the county wanted to get another perspective on it   and contracted with the Berkeley group to provide  some assistance the Berkeley group has worked with   Johnson County and a number of communities  across the US uh working on zoning and solar   so the Berkeley group provided a report uh with  recommendations and they reviewed the mapc efforts   and and these were additional recommendations and  changes to that and they focused on all of these   uh different topics so with that information  uh staff put together an alternative set of   amendments to the zoning code and in fact  uh this is what the County Commission ended   up ended up adopting so um there were a number  of changes to that I'll talk a little bit more   specifically about those so the Amendments the  alternative amendments included definitions uh   they included a definition of small medium and  large scale projects which is important when we   talk about uh proximity to Urban growth areas  uh the Amendments alternative amendments also   included a number of limitations it prohibited  large-scale solar projects from being placed   in an urban growth area for a city it also uh  set a size limit of 1,500 acres for a project   and uh restricted him to being no more than six  contiguous sections of land in addition um and   these are limitations that cannot be waved uh no  solar project could be located uh closer than two   miles to another one that the uh maximum coverage  would not exceed 65% of the land and that the   applicant would be required to notify cities  within two miles uh real quick Scott what was   their um the reasoning for having space between  solar solar plants like that I think it was in   order to break them up because you could have  the possibility of although there's a maximum   size of 1,500 Acres if you could have two of them  that were located close together you could end up   with 3,000 Acres taken up as solar Farms okay  thank you sure um it was I will tell you there   was um quite a bit of discussion at the County  Commission about whether or not these should   be able to be waved or not and ultimately  they voted to leave them as they could not   be waved and the reason for that was to provide  uh two parts it was for every really it was for   everyone to be on the same page and understand  that there were certain things that couldn't be   changed and subject to change by the governing  body so to provide more certainty in the process   what is also the justification for the 65% of  the total project area or is that just that was   based on the recommendation that comes from uh the  consultant and part of that is uh also because of   groundwater U runoff that would be caused by  the panels uh so impervia surface um part of   that is also Wildlife corridors also uh providing  space for vegetation and buffering as well thank you okay so um yes so as well uh there were  requirements that were added for large and medium   scale projects so they would have to submit all of  these materials uh as part of their application in   addition uh there was requirements for liability  insurance um prohibition on developing on slopes   15% or more and a requirement for a plan  for collection storage and removal of panels in addition uh there were design  requirements that were added that they   would not exceed that the lowest Edge would  not exceed 10 ft and my understanding is that   that is for to prevent erosion that's caused from  rain water coming off of the panels also uh that   they would be required be set back at least 100  ft from the project boundary line and 250 ft   from any dwelling unit because there were concerns  about the impacts to nearby residential yes sir so   under any dwelling unit that could also be let's  say I have a home and this would limit at 250 ft   from my home even if it's my property and I want  to establish solar panels on my property uh you   know I think there is a Nuance there that I didn't  capture on this slide that if you're participating   in the project but I'll have to confirm that okay  yeah I'd be interested thank you sure um also uh   with fencing there was a change there and that  fencing would be required around solar structures   but not for panels and part of the concern was  that if you fence an entire you have the option   of fencing an entire solar project but that  you would not be required to and part of that   is because because of wildlife corridors and the  ability for them to get through um warning signage   uh as a requirement uh Native vegetation as you  can see here and screening would be required and   I'm sorry it kind of went off the slide but it's  where there's a dwelling unit on ajacent property   so um ah okay additional one here so additional uh  Financial insurances enhanced that was a concern   about what if a company compan goes bust um  also uh a contact requirement for inactivity   so what if they just stop doing stuff can how  long can the equipment sit out there uh the   removal depth was uh changed so that it would be  removed regardless of depth and again uh ground   water and soil testing remains a requirement  so in terms of action this is a schedule going   from uh the most recent Advanced plans meeting  all the way through the uh County Commission this is how the themes were addressed in each of  these um the alternative with Berkeley is the one   Alternatives uh that were based on their report  so the next steps again this is coming to the hope   is to bring it to you for your consideration uh  you have a number of options you can go with the   Alternatives that amendments that were adopted by  the county you can go with the mapc recommendation   which does not include the information provided by  Berkeley um or you always have the discretion and   the ability to do um something else if you wanted  to do something that was customized now a quick   note on this one is that when you see the staff  report if it when it does when and if it does come   forward uh it's the planning Department's practice  to indicate the mapc recommendation in the   recommended action but I'm more than happy it will  be more than happy to take questions and provide   answers at the podium during that during that item  so with that um I'll stand for any questions oh   and I do have more information after we're done  with questions just on one particular project   so so if we go ahead okay so if we have different  findings in County how does that get worked out um   I believe then I would be making another visit to  the county to see about them adopting the similar   ones to you perhaps uh because uh I if you chose  to do something customized in the city I don't I   don't know that they would NE necessarily have  heartburn on it it's just a matter of making   sure that the text is the same so that we have a  unified zoning code okay um under do we have an   estimate of like percentage of land that would  actually be eligible for solar farms under the   County's proposal like do we I would imagine it'd  be a relatively small there um there actually is   quite a bit um and what I'll do is if you don't  mind I'll go ahead and Branch into that other   topic because you really kind of hit the nail on  the head so this is a map that was provided by one   of the solar companies um the solar companies  are always looking for where can they get the   most bang for their Buck I mean just like any  company and part of that comes from being able   to utilize existing infrastructure so there are  three substations in the county that we're aware   of that they are have been interested to plug into  um because it's already existing it's available   and it's got the capacity so those are indicated  by the yellow or orangish kind of sun symbol   uh now uh to your question sir uh about where  solar could go in the county at at this point   um small scale can go anywhere but remember it's  the large scale that's prohibited from going into   the urban growth areas which are Illustrated on  this graph now we know that from what they've   told us that they would likely want to be  somewhere in close proximity to the substation   um so there's there's land that is available um  whether it's the prime spots the want to get to   um that depends on the infrastructure  but we know that these three are out there thank you I have a lot of questions so  I'm not going to ask them all today um I mean   I would first say that I'm not supportive  of the county commission's recommendations   I think the intention at least implied with  the Commissioners um alternative findings   basically prohibit any utility scale solar um and  I think that's a dangerous precedent in a sense so   not supportive there I do have some questions  about the mapc recommendations um I mean when   I'm looking at the requirements added from the  County Commission that at least 250 ft from any   dwelling unit I think that's an overreach now  I know that you said you would specify whether   that's somebody's personal dwelling or another  dwelling um in addition I circled a lot of like   concerns I have the two miles to any other solar  project I don't understand the need for that the   65% I have questions the applicant um is supposed  to be no further than two miles to another solar   project a lot of these just I don't think are  useful large scale projects are prohibited not   just that they could have any exceptions I think  that's an overreach as well um not on more six   contiguous pieces of land um in addition the one  of the questions I have and I know probably my   colleagues will have questions too what were  the six counties reviewed when we were looking   at regulations were they ones that had more  were they ones that had active solar utility   scaled projects yeah no there were um there were  a couple I know we looked at Douglas County and we   looked at Johnson County because there's a ra  there's been at least one large solar project   that went across both of their boundaries um and  I believe there may have even been another one in   Douglas County I'm going to Def we'll have to  well okay looks like we've got the answer here good morning mayor and Council Justin Constantino  at the planning department we looked at Johnson   Douglas Butler Reno suner and Kingman counties  okay thank you sure um I know some of those   are very Pro and some are very against so it  seems like a pretty um comprehensive list as   well um did we also examine this in light of  you know a lot of it could just be looking at   restrictions but how cities encourage Solar  Development uh to come as well was that any   of our research about are there cities position  in them themselves to encourage this type of De   development in their community no I don't know  that that came up from either our look at the   best practice nationally or the communities in  Kansas okay I'd be interested in seeing what we   can do to encourage development not prohibit  it in areas um I'm worried about essentially   killing potential hundreds of millions of  dollars in projects increased tax revenue   um and I appreciate all the work I know this is  a lot of work and it takes a lot of time to go   do all this um but I will not be supportive of  the county commission's recommendations and I   know have a lot more uh concerns as well but we  can talk about that um when this comes before us too if if I could then I do want to mention just  one uh one item here which is so you can see that   the Murray Gale substation is located within  the urban growth area for Witchita um part of   the question that's come up is that uh perspective  Solar Company has indicated an interest in   locating somewhere in that vicinity uh for them  uh because this project is in the unincorporated   County but is in the urban growth area for  witchta the rules that the County Commission   adopted apply so I think part of the question  that will may come to you is at some point   would you be interested in uh modifying the urban  growth area to accommodate a project in that area   and I don't not looking for an answer today I  just want to expose that to you so that you're   aware of it it may or may not come up so I have  one quick question it's actually on your next   slide after questions it's regarding the county  tax analysis yes so looking if we were to not do   a commercial with tenure batement though I think  the state still so um I am not the best equipped   to explain this but I can do it at a high level  because it was the appraiser that actually um or   finance department from the county that provided  this information but there is a tax abatement a   property tax abatement for uh solar projects  and so uh part of the discussion was what's   the highest and best use of the land in terms of  property taxes and so the analysis what it showed   was that um either residential or commercial both  uh produce a greater amount of property taxes than   solar does at the at a similar site okay so we're  looking at investment of 10 million would if we   did a commercial even with a 10-year abatement  we looking at cumulative $299,000 and increased   tax revenue just that a $10 million investment yes  it's I believe it's $10 million across all of them   uh so the same amount of investment and then what  would that yield in terms of property taxes from   those uses and 10 million is probably pretty  small for a utility scale development that's   a pretty small development yeah I think what  this is showing right is to um Scott's point   right of highest and best use I'll tell you from  an economic development perspective um there are   a lot of concerns right um we are getting more and  more large Mega sight related Economic Development   interest especially in close proximity to to  substations right and so when you start thinking   about amassing 500 1,500 acres for a large scale  commercial project right our recommendation would   be to reserve those for large scale commercial  projects even with a 10e abatement you would   generate more property taxes than you would  with a solar farm well I can respect that   opinion but I if it's somebody's private land and  they're a land owner I think they should have the   ability to use their land how they want and I  understand that there may be City things that   we want there too but if a landowner wants to  use their property in this way versus this way   I don't think we should be in the business  of tell them how to use the property or not so okay well thank you very much everyone mayor that's all we have there was a glaring presentation are absolutely radi give you help e e