come on hey Good morning Witchaw and welcome to all of you  to city hall we'll call this meeting to order   with us this morning is Minister  Nenah Shaw Woody with the Kansas   Family Advisory Network who will provide  our invocation following that invocation   we will have the pledge of allegiance  and we ask that you please stand for both good morning let's pray father in the  name of Jesus we just thank you for this   day that you have given us father God  I just thank you for our city council   members our mayor and all those who are  present father I thank you that you give   them wisdom and understanding counsel and  might knowledge and the fear of the Lord   give them the wisdom to be able to make the  decisions that need to be made today that will   make all our residents within Cedric County and  in this city of Witchah to be able to be a great   city help them be able to take care of the needs  of all the demographic of people represented today   and father god just bless them keep them sustain  them and love on them and let them know that they   are been sitting here and they appointed by you  to do a work for the people and we just thank   you and we just praise you for what you're  going to do through them today in Jesus name amen pledge to the flag of the United  States of America and to the republic   for which it stands one nation under God  indivisible liberty and justice for all thank you very much Nina mr clerk can you please call the first item  approve the minutes of regular meeting April   22nd 2025 are there any items to be  pulled or corrected i see none i move   to approve the me minutes of regular  meeting April 22nd 2025 second motion   and a second any further discussion  i see none mr clerk please open the role motion passes 70 mr clerk  please call the next item   awards and proclamations the proclamations this  week are provider appreciation day water safety   month and Asian-American and Pacific Islander  Heritage Month and the award is a service award   for Dean R meford Airport Department may I  please ask child start and any supporters   with provider appreciation day to please come  forward including council member Becky Tuttle the proclamation reads "The city of Witchah  Kansas founded in 1870 whereas ChildStart Inc   and the city of Witchah child care licensing and  other organizations nationwide are recognizing   licensed child care providers on this day as young  children need skilled educated competent devoted   consistent and compensated early care and educated  professionals whereas over half the children under   the age of six nationwide are estimated to spend a  majority of time with an early care and education   professional on a weekly basis which provides  critical enrichment opportunities and nurtures   development for children of all backgrounds  and is a vital building block in our economy   whereas highquality early care and education play  a vital role in mitigating the effects of poverty   identifying and addressing developmental delays  and preventing child neglect these programs also   foster the development of essential social  emotional skills and cultivate healthy peer   relationships laying the foundation for  academic readiness and lifelong success   whereas young children need developmentally  appropriate accessible and available early   care and education settings working families need  a strong regulatory structure to give them peace   of mind that their children are safe and in  highquality early care and education settings   now therefore be it resolved that the  Witchaw City Council does hereby proclaim   May 9th 2025 as Provider Appreciation Day  in the city of Witchah and encourage all   citizens to recognize licensed child  care providers for their important work good morning my name is Mandy Wah i am the  early childhood connections program director at   ChildStart thank you for letting me speak to  you about celebrating and recognizing a group   of professionals whose dedication heart  and hard work often go unseen but never   go unfelt our child care providers may 9th is  child care appreciation day this is a day to   pause and truly honor the incredible impact  that the early childhood professionals have   on our children our families and our communities  they are among the first to greet our children in   the morning and often the last to say goodbye  in the evening they nurture teach comfort and   guide playing a vital role in shaping young  minds and supporting emotional growth in the   most critical early years of life child care  providers are more than caregivers they are   educators mentors problem solvers and often  an extended part of our families they show up   with patience resilience and love no matter the  challenges they help children take their first   steps learn their first words and build the  confidence that will carry them through life   their work also makes everything else possible  without dependable quality child care parents and   guardians can't fully participate in the workforce  pursue education and provide for their families   early care and education is the foundation that  supports not just childhood development but our   entire economy and future so today let us say  thank you not just with words but with action and   advocacy let's recognize the true value of their  work and continue to support policies and programs   that uplift this essential profession to every  child care provider you matter deeply your work is   powerful and your dedication does not go unnoticed  we appreciate you not just today but every day we   also want to thank the entire city council for  recognizing the importance of advocating for our   youngest learners in particular we are deeply  grateful to council member Tuttle for helping   us elevate this critical conversation and for  the countless hours she has spent championing   the needs of our providers children and families  as a continued demonstration of our commitment to   support and advocating for child care providers  we are proud to announce that Council Member   Tuttle has been selected as the recipient of  the Early Education Advocate Award which will be presented which will be presented  at our Legacy Gala on June 24th   we extend our heartfelt gratitude to all  who work tirelessly to uplift and support   child care providers your efforts  make a lasting difference thank you may I please ask the city of Witchah's park   and recreation department to  come forward forward at this time good morning good morning the proclamation  reads "The city of Witchah Kansas founded in 1870   whereas swimming and aquatic related activities  play a vital role in good physical and mental   health and enhance the quality of life for all  people whereas the city of Witchaw is committed   to improving the safety and security of all  those living in and visiting our community   by educating the public on water safety to  prevent drownings and water related injuries   whereas the city is dedicated to creating safe  swimming facilities aquatic programs and related   activities which provide healthy places to  recreate learn grow and build self-esteem   confidence and sense of self-worth all of which  contribute to the quality of life in our community   whereas it is a vital importance to communicate  water safety rules and programs to families and   individuals of all ages whether owners  of private pools users of public swimming   facilities or visitors at water parks now  therefore be it resolved that the Witchah   City Council does hereby proclaim May 2025  as water safety month in the city of Witchah   and encourage all citizens to adhere to safety  practices while enjoying any water recreation activities good morning it's a true honor to stand  before you today as we recognize and celebrate   this water safety proclamation i want to begin  by sincerely thanking the mayor and city council   for their commitment to raising awareness about  such a vital issue which is water safety every   year far too many lives are lost to preventable  water related incidents behind every statistic   is a name a family and a community forever changed  and that is why today's proclamation is more than   just formality it is a call to action water safety  is not just about being careful around pools and   lakes it's about empowering people of all ages  especially our children with the knowledge and   skills that they need to stay safe around in and  around the water it's about awareness preparation   and responsibility one of the most effective tools  that we have is education and at the heart of that   are swimming lessons learning how to swim isn't  just a recreational skill it's a life-saving one   studies show that formal swimming lessons can  reduce the risk of drowning by as much as 88%   among young children that is a staggering  statistic that underscores how essential   swim education is in our community with  our partners the American Red Cross we are   expanding access to swimming lessons to educate  families about water hazards and to ensure that   every child regardless of background has  the opportunity to be water safe through   scholarship opportunities to reduce the cost  of swim lesson and make them affordable for all   thank you again for this important proclamation  let's continue working together to make water   safety a priority not just this month  but every day of the year thank you may I please ask the Witchaw Asian Association  to please come forward at this time good morning good morning good morning the proclamation reads "The  city of Witchah Kansas founded in 1870 whereas   Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month  celebrates the culture traditions and history of   Asian-American and Pacific Islanders in the United  States as it was permanently designated by the US   Congress starting in 1992 whereas the nearly  20,000 Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders   residing in Witchah consists of many ethnicities  languages and achievements that embody the   American experience whereas many leaders in the  public private and nonprofit sectors in Witchah   are Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders whereas  the Witchah community has benefited through the   cultural richness diversity and contributions of  its local Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders   with events and programs such as the annual  Witchah Asian Festival and several other events   held throughout the calendar year now therefore  be it resolved that the Witchah City Council does   hereby proclaim May 2025 as Asian-American and  Pacific Islander Heritage Month in the city of   Witchah and encourage all citizens to join the  Witchah Asian Association in supporting efforts   that increase public education about AsianAmerican  and Pacific Islanders in the United States thank you Maru good morning everyone my  name is Sonali Gurker i'm the president   of Vijetta Asian Association i'm honored  to recognize and welcome you to celebrate   Asian-American Pacific Islander Heritage  Month that's the May month of May it's a   time to honor the rich cultures histories  and contribution of our AAPI communities   this month we will be hosting a series of cultural  activities and events across the witcha including   some of them going to be at the botanica mars also  during the river festival this year Vija Asian   association recognized the individuals making  the exceptional contributions in art education   business leadership and community service within  the greater vijitta community mayor Lily Fu was   the recipient of visionary leadership award during  our um Asian Association gala that we hosted on   May 1st we also would like to invite you to our  signature event and that's a Vicha Asian festival   we will be hosting that on September 27 from 5  to 9:30 p.m at the Century 2 thank you once again   let's celebrate this rich heritage traditions  and contributions of AAPI communities together may I please ask the city manager to also join me   as we ask Dean Meford of airports  to please come forward at this time and his family if he they would like to come  and join him thank you very much Dean we are   recognizing 24 years of distinguished service  to the city of Witchah this award is for Dean   Meford presented in recognition of dedicated and  notorious service rendered to the community and   citizens of Witchah Kansas in his 24 years  and seven months of service Mr meford has   served as an equipment operator 2 at airport  services officer and is retiring as general   supervisor too and we thank him for his 24 years  of service to the citizens of Witchah thank you didn't know I was required to speak sorry uh  I'm not originally a native of Witchah um I was   serving in the United States Air Force station  at McConnell and when my career came to an end   I decided to stay here met a lovely lady married  her and then I soon got employment with the city   of Witchaw with the airport authority over my  years I've seen a lot of changes including the   brand new terminal and a nationally recognized  airport and I've enjoyed my time and I think   the city of Witchaw is a great employer and  I'm glad to have been here for so many years thank you very much Dean again for your service  we'll take a picture with the city manager wife   oh yeah put her on the outside although she's the  boss so she should be your boss and mine indeed thank you mr clerk can you please call the next item public  agenda the public agenda allows for up to five   speakers to have five minutes each to address  the council no action will be taken relative   to items on the public agenda other than referral  to the city manager for information as necessary   speakers will please state their name and  address for the record a time clock will   display the speaker's remaining time to  speak order and rules of decorum will be   observed the first speaker is Cyibilum  how can anyone seize a home without warning is Cibil here this morning i do not see Cibil mr  clerk can you please call the   next individual mark Diller Ronald  McDonald House Charities of Witchah mark Diller 551 North Hillside Sweet 100  good morning thank you Mayor Woo and city   council members for this opportunity to be with  you this morning to share a little bit about   Ronald McDonald House Charities Witchah or RMHC  Witchah for short the mission of RMHC Witchah   is to provide essential services that remove  barriers strengthen families and promote healing   when children need health care since 1983 RMHC  Witchah a 501c3 organization has served families   with sick or hospitalized children from every  county in Kansas and beyond when they travel   to Witchah for their child's health needs families  of children aged 21 or younger who travel 30 miles   or further from home to Witchah can stay at RMHC  Witchah free of charge including meals and other   essential amenities so that they can focus on  their child's healing families experiencing at   risk pregnancies can also stay at RMHC Witchah to  deliver and throughout their NICU stay if needed   the average stay at Ronald McDonald House Witchah  is 10 days although some families have stayed for   over five months in 2019 RMHC Witchah moved  from our Sleepy Hollow and Midtown houses into   our current location in the Wesley Medical Plaza  formerly known as the Health Strategies Building   where we now have 20 rooms for families to stay  no matter where their child is receiving care in   Witchah we also have a family room in Wesley where  food snacks and laundry facilities are available   as well as a mobile care cart that provides  refreshments to families these services are   free of charge so families can focus on their  child's health and healing to date over 55,000   families have been served through our Ronald  McDonald House and Ronald McDonald family room   we are currently in conversation with medical  providers as part of our strategic planning   process to understand what needs may currently be  unmet while also getting a sense where needs may   increase for example as pediatric specialists  from Children's Mercy have a greater presence   in Witchah some families can receive services  in Witchah that would have previously required   being referred to Children's Mercy in Kansas  City at Witchah's as Witchah's presence as a   regional hub for health care grows RMHC  Witchah has experienced a considerable   increase in occupancy in 2025 in fact through  April of this year 221 nightly stays have been   provided to families in local hotels when RMHC  has been full that number was 133 in all of 2024   while partnership with local hotels has allowed  for reduced rates RMHC has paid for those rooms   to ease the financial burden on families traveling  to Witchaw for their child's care as long-term   plans are being considered financial assistance to  help serve families is greatly appreciated today   I would like to call upon the Witchah community  to help support families when they need it most   there are many ways to get involved financial  support is greatly appreciated as costs and   overall need for service have increased money  donated to Ronald McDonald House Charities   Witchah stays local to serve families of children  receiving care right here in Witchah our volunteer   meal program is also a tangible way to help  serve families by providing nutritious meals   that families can so that families can focus on  their child's needs please visit our website at rmhcwitchah.org for many ways to get involved  including our annual gala on Saturday June 7   and if you visit McDonald's restaurants please  ask to round up as this money helps support RMHC   families and lastly I would like to invite you  to visit RMHC Witchah for a tour and to see how   families are served when their children are sick  or injured council member Johnson thank you for   visiting our location in District 1 mayor Woo  I look forward to your visit uh upcoming and I   would like to also extend an invitation to all  council members to visit RMHC Witchah and the   community as well to see how families with  sick or hospitalized children are supported   thank you again for the opportunity to share  about Ronald McDonald House Charities Witchah thank you very much for the service you provide  to the families and to the kiddos um and so I   know that I'm looking forward to the tour i  believe that I have that to be scheduled so   uh for any of my fellow council members who  would like to join me we can talk afterwards   so thank you very much thank you Mr clerk  can you please call the next individual   nancy Bradford Rosy's Snuggle Bunnies Pet Therapy good morning and thank you for having us  today i'm Nancy Bradford 14328 West 95th   Street South in Clearwater rosie Snuggle Bunnies  is a 501c3 nonprofit founded by a veteran and his   wife based in Sedwick County our mission is to  to provide support comfort and healing through   trained therapy rabbits and now pygmy goats  we serve veterans hospice patients children   individuals suffering from PTSD depression  and trauma our services include pet therapy   visits to Wesley Children's Hospital every  other week hospice centers facilities and   inpatient homes the VA hospice and TLC units  as well as many other VFW events where we are   members we also support the community in their  mental health events and organizations in honor   of our late therapy rabbit Rosie who was Rosie  the Rabbiter with the playoff our logo you can   see her she looks like Rosie the Rabbiter she  passed away this past Saturday in honor in her   honor we launched the veteran emotional support  animal program we provide Flemish giant rabbits   as Josie is as ESA companions to Kansas veterans  and their families suffering with PTSD and anxiety   each veteran receives a trained rabbit supplies  and initial veterinary care and ongoing support   four veterans have already been matched in the  last two months including one who attended the   recent Kansas Honor Flight Welcome Home based  on our community impact we've allowed 100 plus   therapy visits per probably quarter in Sedick  County and surrounding areas we are currently   collaborating with USD 259 students and staff to  provide some volunteer hours that will remodel   our goat barn um and give them a wonderful place  to be housed at night so they're protected from   other wildlife upcoming expansion is the goat  barn where we are currently have the two pygmy   goats in training they think they're lap dogs but  we're we're working on that the support we need is   volunteer recruitment so if anybody is interested  in coming out to Clear Water spending some time   with the rabbits not only socializing but cleaning  once we can certify and train volunteers then they   can come pick up the rabbits and take them out  to visits currently we only have probably four   of us that are doing the visits clinton and I both  have full-time jobs so our time is limited as well   so we know there's much more of a need than  what he and I and the four volunteers who   are s currently trained can handle we're looking  for business partnerships to support and grow our   emotional support program and just awareness in  city level collaboration we would like to invite   you to our fundraiser on May 24th that is the  Saturday of Labor Day we're having it at our VFW   3115 at Douglas and Anna just north of Town West  um will raise funds for the ESA placements and   continued animal care and advancements it is open  to the public and we invite everyone to attend in   closing we ask that the city council help raise  awareness of our mission support our services   and organizations serving veterans and those in  crisis and visit one of our therapy sessions to   see the impact that we have and we appreciate  your time and effort in closing thank you very   much Clinton Nancy uh and Josie coming here this  morning we have several council members who would   like to speak council member Johnson thanks Mayor  um I just had a question josie is probably the   biggest rabbit I have ever seen in my life um what  does Josie eat is it is it regular food or do they   get like whole heads of lettuce or That is a very  common question that we get they are Flemish giant   rabbits and the Flemish giant rabbits are kind  of like big dogs little dogs they're just the   big rabbits of rabbit breeds primarily their diet  consists of hay broome hay alphalfpha hay Timothy   hay and a little bit of parrot pellets um we we  have bougie bunnies they eat lots of greens also   not necessarily do they have to have that but  you know ours get a little bit spoiled but they   also like vegetables and things like that that  is awesome i think Josie would scare my beagle   which I think would be hilarious but as as a side  note Josie all of our rabbits are named kind of a   military theme um the bunny barn is called the  bunny barracks which is also decorated military   theme so we had Rosie the Rabbiter private Radar  O Smiley playoff of MASH amelia Earhart who is a   double amputee she had some complications during  surgery and doesn't have any back legs um Mama   Josie Nesbbit is named after a World War II  soldier who was one of the biggest groups of   American P women in the Philippines in World War  II and then who have I left out lieutenant Dan and Lieutenant Dan does have his  legs but Amelia doesn't so I Whatever thank Council Member Hoheisle thank you Mayor  uh thank you guys and thank you for your service   there's a lot of people in the community who  you're helping um next year can we get the   goats in here as well sure i I know we have some  people in here who are afraid of rabbits so maybe   the the little pygmy goats will be a little Yeah  we we we'll work on bringing Ranger and Rowdy in   i'm still perfecting still perfecting their  attire when they go inside but I think I've   about got it so yeah next year we can do that  diapers diapers right yes yes thank you thank   you again Nancy and really appreciate that i see  you around the community really doing this work   and as you mentioned you only have four that  can go around the community so you need more   volunteers and I appreciate you bringing  Josie in and I'm sorry for the passing of   uh Rosie the Rabbiter um but really appreciate  what you do and it is mental health awareness   month so again thank you for what you do for the  mental health of our community absolutely it's our   pleasure mr clerk please call the next individual  chris Bralt issues with the downtown library is Chris here i see he's not here we now  have room for three individuals to speak   if any three individuals who  would like to address the council please state your name and your address hi my  name is Sha Al and I am homeless tim Burrow's   homeless as well and we come to talk about our  nonprofit organization that we have started and   we're trying to launch a mobile unit we are with  Grassroots Bridgebuilders we are advocates uh for   the homeless and we starting a peerto-peer support  where homeless help homeless um I'm helping her   get her stuff together and she's helping me keep  myself together so um we want to launch our mobile   unit where we can get out and help more people  uh like if the homeless need a shower we want   to have a shower in there for them for I'm sorry  yeah we want to have a shower there for them um   uh nurse on site um therapy on site all in this  one RV that we renovating we've been working   our hard to get it going we had to um really take  everything out of it because it was mowed it was   um leaking and stuff so hopefully we we working  on it today um we want to get it running by the   end of the month um we're just asking for  support help um um if you go to our website   Grassroots Bridge builders or and it has the  number it has videos of us working on it um   um it has our launch date um has a telephone  number where you can call and reach out and   we'll tell you where the location and where  we renovate the RV at um yeah we really would   like to help from our community to get this  launched in time to help the homeless thank you Council Member Glasscock thank you Mayor  what was that website you had mentioned uh   grassroots bridge builders um at um  we're on YouTube um t uh Tik Tok um uh Facebook uh it's grassroots bridgebuilders  or you can go to grassroots nursinggmail.com or uh bridgebuilders um itcil member Hoheisel thank you mayor uh do  you guys have a a link or a post on your do   you have like a Facebook page or something  that Yes it's all on Facebook yeah it can   be shared it's all on Facebook can be  shared it's on YouTube can be shared um   Tik Tok it can be shared instagram is can be  shared well I have one of those so All right   thank you i appreciate that i'll be on the  lookout for it all right thank you so much we have room for two more individuals i see none we'll bring it back mr  clerk please call the next item   consent agenda items 1 through  37 are there items to be pulled council member Glascon thank you Mayor  i would like to pull item 28 and 23B say the number again two uh 28 and then 23B and council member Hohheisle thank you Mayor  i'd like to pull item six and item 11 please and did someone say 13 yet uh we have 6 11 8 and 3B is that correct got it so we have four  items to be pulled any other items   i see none i move to approve all consent  agenda items without 6118 and 3B second   motion and a second any further discussion  i see none mr clerk please open the role motion passes 70 with a verbal vote by council  member Tuttle we'll go in numerical order if   that's okay we'll start with 3B thank you mayor  these kind of go together um so items 3B and item   8 um 3B was contract for professional services  for real estate consultants from or Douglas from   Cynica Street to Meridian but then subsequently  later on in 28 it was approval of offers for the   Douglas Avenue from Cynica Street to Meridian  Avenue so did we already go out for bid i just   wanted to know the context of these because they  seem conflicting or seems that one has to happen   for the other to happen well what we've done is  with the short-term fi time frame that has been   placed on us for the acquisitions we went out uh  for requests for proposals to select a consultant   to do the acquisitions on behalf of the city  that was initiated in late February and that   process completed in late April hence the contract  that's in front of you today the approval of the   offers um and just trying to get everything with  this project in place so the consultant can get   onboarded right away uh the approval of the offers  is being on the agenda today for the consultant to   initiate offers with the property owners so with  the approval of the contract we will go ahead and   um start our process with Li so if one is the  contract for professional services and one is   the approval of the offers approval of offers  would mean that there are offers presented   correct so have they already started the work no  they have not uh the approval of the offers is   just a formality which is required by the uniform  act so we will not initiate the approval of the   offers without a consultant in place okay  um a few more questions regarding this is   um in item 3B it says that we're having to do  this because of lack of ability to do this in   house how many individuals short are we to do  this in house and how long have we known that   we'd be short these individuals how common place  is it to contract this for doing it in house   projects like this with this short a time frame  u the respondents were going to staff it from   anywhere from four to eight people so the firm  that's been selected here today has five staff   members that they'll put on this project full-time  full-time and then that's the total cost of that   is a $358,000 for that yes okay see if I had any  other questions i think that's all the questions   I have regarding both of these okay thank you i  do have a couple questions on that since it's the   total it's 358 but it's 2900 per parcel is that  a typical amount and did we negotiate that amount   the proposals that came in were ranged anywhere  from that 2900 um to around 5,5500 per parcel   um we looked at the different all all five firms  came in with different approximations but it was   a relatively tight time frame or uh range from  that basically 3,000 to 5,500 comparatively from   previous similar types of projects yeah well  usually on average we anticipate around 5,000 per parcel per parcel thank you Council Member  Glascock thank you this is maybe in continuation   from the mayor's question as well because  I just sparked so the real estate fees that   we're paying this provider is $2,990 per parcel  yes and then on average for all the parcels and   all the tracks to be acquired we look at spending  40,000 yes the tracks to be acquired are temporary   construction easements and so there will not be a  permanent taking it's just the right to be able to   utilize that person's property while we make  improvements within the right of way so we   don't plan on any of um personal or any of  the property actually be taken long-term just   for correct it's just during the interim and do  you know when this construction would start for   Douglas between Synica and Meridian logistically  the earliest it could start is January of 2026 thank you you're welcome any further  questions for staff i see none we'll   now open it up for public comment i see none  i'll bring it back to the bench council member   uh Dalton Glascock do you want to do both 3B and 8  yeah um motion to approve 3B and item eight on the   consent second motion and a second any further  discussion i see none mr clerk please open the role motion passes 70 council member Hohheisle  as for number six I appreciate it mayor uh Susie   uh just one quick question here pertaining to  some of the lease things here the lease agreements good morning Susie Santo 515 South Maine uh with  Visit Witchaw good morning Susie um okay page 12   of your um I guess this is will be received and  filed but your independent auditor it talks about   the operating leases it says the bureau has a  lease for office space that was renewed in 24   and expires in 32 um you have to pay all the um  extra costs there um termination of the lease is   generally prohibited unless there is a violation  under the lease agreement um so does this mean   you guys are pretty much locked into your current  space until 2032 it it does okay um and I'm glad   you asked about that our our rent as you can  see in that we our base rent is 95,000 a year   um and that actually has only gone up 2%  since 2012 um and then when you look at all   of the common area maintenance the property  tax all of that also goes into utilities we   pay 27,000 total which is um reflected in the  audit okay and then I also see the operating   lease as it goes up and it kind of plateaus  at 217347 then there's a slight dip in 2029   is there any reason for that little slight $4,000  dip there you know what i'd have to go back and   get more information for you on that okay i  just thought it was curious when I was looking   at that's all I'd have to go back and look at i  just don't have it in front of me okay yep that's   all I had thank you so much Council Member any  further questions for staff or for Visit Witchah   susie before you leave just really quickly  just so that the community understands when   did you guys move to this location and are  you the anchor location or anchor penant for   that location we are um Visit Witchah moved  there in 2008 that was before I was there but   um previously I believe they were down on Douglas  they moved there in 2008 when Waterwalk uh opened   and we are the tenant with a prime prime location  for visitors to find us right off of Main Street i know that this has been asked previously  um and I don't know if you've answered this   uh during a public meeting but um have there  been other spaces that you guys have looked   at prior to signing the renewal of the space  we have this last year um we looked at spaces   because our contract actually expired and so we  spent about you know the previous year and we'd   identified it with the executive committee  we need to look and make sure that it met   our needs from spaces and it met  the visitor needs and we did look   elsewhere but realized financially we are  better stewards of the dollar staying put and the 95,000 per year for this lease uh who  maj majority of that that um lease who pays for   it um you know that comes out of the transit  guest tax and I think it's important to note   that these we use the transit guest tax and the  t- bid these are dollars that come into our our   uh community through visitors so visitors are  staying in the hotels we use those dollars that   visitors leave here to drive future visitors  so that comes through the transate guest tax   thank you Susie thank you any further  questions for staff or visit Witchah   i see none we'll now open it up for public comment good morning Mayor Woo and city council members  and thank you i appreciate that at my request   you pulled this item from the consent agenda i  appreciate that transparency and openness and   giving us a chance to speak and I see that as a  huge improvement so I'll start there by saying   thank you i'm Celeste 2239 North Time Court i  was a former chief internal auditor and FDIC Bank   Examiner so I love to look at financial statements  and I do that with a pretty sharp eye with our   budget process just beginning it is common  knowledge that the city of Witchah is facing   a financial shortfall the city needs to find ways  to cut expenses or find efficiencies in spending   taxpayers will soon be given a survey to determine  where they think their tax dollars should be spent   why isn't tourism expense part of this survey  each year taxpayers give 7 million in tax revenues   through the T-BID and the transient guest tax to a  third party visit witchah for tourism services put   this in the survey visit t visit witchah finances  are concerning and I have voiced these concerns   to you right here in city council meetings for  the past five years but nothing has changed if   we keep doing what we have been doing how will we  know if there is a better way or a better vendor   first what does a third party vendor do it's  tourism we give up $7 million in tax revenues   for visit witchah to spend on tourism but is visit  at Witchah the best bang for our buck when was the   last time a request for proposal was created to  bid for this tourism business they have had our   tourism business since 2014 over 10 years and not  once have we bid that out to another competitor   in 2014 the idea was they would increase hotel  occupancy beyond 60% guess where it is now 61%   and yet they get six to7 million dollars in the  transient guest tax and the T-BID every year   and why did they stop tracking website views and  online advertising impressions this used to be a   metric the new platform taxpayers paid for in 2017  was supposed to make a better targeting platform   and now there is no way to see how that is  performing second why are they building up such a   huge cash and investment balance the cash accounts  were noted by the external auditor as exceeding   federally insured limits by over $300,000 wow i  wish I had that kind of money in my bank account   if taxpayers are being asked to tighten their  belts why is the Visit Witchah sitting on a   $3 million investment in cash and investments to  spend as they please and who gave them permission   to sign a 10-year lease in Waterwalk waterwalk is  one of the biggest failed development projects in   Witchaw's history and yet they signed a 10-year  lease costing us $1.3 million in prepaid lease   expenses waterwalks failed development guess what  they pay in rent to the city of Witchah a dollar a   year for 99 years why are we subsidizing a failed  development by renting office space in Waterwalk   we have a beautiful iconic architectural  showpiece in the former public library   which is sitting empty where our tourism center  could move into and I didn't hear her mention   looking at the public library as an example of  office space that would save us 200,000 per year   in rent move the oldtown police headquarters also  into the former library and that saves us another   $60,000 a year second Chance I just heard uh this  week is looking for office space to hold their   meetings they could also go in the mezzanine level  of the old former public library rent out the main   floor for receptions and events and you know what  an empty building could start generating income   third why not combine tourism between the city of  Witchah and Seduit County like is done with park   reservations how much does Seduit County spend  on tourism online advertising website and staff   i bet Seduit County doesn't give their tourism  CEO $350,000 in salary that's more than the city   manager makes more than Witchaw's chief of police  and more than WSU School of Business Dean i say   combine this activity fourth Fairfield in is part  of the Feld Waterwalk development this developer's   hotel was built using taxpayer money the  outstanding bond debt totals $4 million what is   the city's plan for paying this off there is a $2  million balloon payment coming due in eight years   the amount of transient guest tax we spend on this  bond debt every year could also pay for utilities   at the former public library this is an example  of how taxpayer money was scraped off for debt for   a private hotel and yet was labeled stormwater  utilities when it was booked the budget survey   needs to give taxpayers a chance to really see the  expenses the city pays starting with visit witchaw   thank you so much i'll stand for questions thank  you Celeste i have questions for the city manager   um that Celeste brought up um first and foremost  I know that Celeste has brought this up multiple   times regarding the public library um city manager  can you just give the community a little bit   of history regarding the public library um when  the new public library was um conceived what was   the conversation about what was going to happen  with the old public library mayor thank you for   the question um at the time that the decision the  business decision was made to build a new library   uh there was not a discussion about a specific use  for the old library and the discussion was that we   would look for some type of appropriate community  use if possible but we also knew that it could be   an important piece of a redevelopment project  for the uh excuse me for the C2 and Bob Brown   um uh complex and we've had a few planning  efforts the most recently done by populace   that showed this being an important part of uh  redevelopment of that area and actually serving   a purpose for community functions and in support  for the convention center u so the idea is that   we would have a public use of that building at  some point um just as a reminder a couple of   months ago so during my first state of the city  address I had it at the former central library um   and it's the building itself is being used um I  think United Way used it for tax purposes uh so   have there been other discussions of how to reuse  that building as it is still a taxpayerf funded   building and what are other purposes that it  could be used for we've actually had uh requests   for proposals out actually I think we may have  gone out twice we did have some nonprofit groups   um uh submit proposals on the reuse of the  building uh when we discussed with them the   details of those proposals they asked that the  building be brought up to date before they move   into it and they asked for help with operations as  well and that would did not seem to be a feasible   approach we did an initial review of using it as  venue space with ASM they asked that the building   be fully u renovated before they would move into  it we are now in discussions with them about the   possibility of a lesser plan where maybe the first  floor would be used and we could put in uh fewer   improvements that are necessary i will remind you  that when we looked at this building recently for   the possible use of office space uh and space for  excuse me devoted to police operations the price   tag for that uh just for the building remodel  itself was $17.2 million so if we were to move   some operations such as it witchah in there and  wave rent we would still be required to invest   somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 to$17 million  just to be able to get them in the building so   it's really we need to find a more viable use  and we're really hoping that working with ASM   will have an interim use and one that will lead  to maybe a permanent use as we go forward with   any improvements at Bob Brown and C2 has that  building been thought of as possibly a cultural   arts building so have it as event space that could  generate revenue but also provide space for other   entities such as Visit Witchah mayor thank you  for the reminder yes we did talk to um uh one   cultural institution specifically about having a  presence in that building they came back with the   exact same concern and that is that they couldn't  move their whole operation there and it was not   um cost effective for them to move a portion  of their operation into that building as much   as they would like to have a downtown presence  council member Johnson thanks Mayor um first I'd   definitely like to see that building kind of stay  available for any type of East Bank Riverfront   improvements in the future i think that could  be key to that uh two I just want to thank Susie   and her team for the great work that they do and  seeing all of the um awesome opportunities come to   our community and I know that you all are part of  that um still think we should get council members   to play in some of these sporting tournaments but  we'll see we'll keep a hopeful uh heart for that   but just thank you again for all the work that  you're doing i see that the investments that   you are making and the opportunities to come to  Witchah are paying off thank you and last question   is either for city manager or someone from finance  can you please provide um the exact amounts for   the transient guest tax that's generated um  specifically maybe the uh the T- bid portion hi Lindsay Banaka director of arts and cultural  services could you rephrase the question or   restate it can you please let us know how much  in transient guest taxes are collected um if   you have the 24 numbers just so that people have  an idea of exactly how much we're talking about   uh to go towards visit witchaw or total  transit guest tax total and then how much   goes to visit witchah okay I can look  into that and can follow up at a after   this meeting for it and then I we do have  t- bid coming up later in the agenda which   will talk about that specific budget line it  up mayor the the t- bid amounts $3.9 million the transient guest tax you'll figure  out how much actually is generated the   total amount and how much is uh allocated to  visit Wit so that uh it can be provided for   all yeah and for fiscal year 24 is what you're  requesting understood thank you thank you very much any further comments I see none i'll bring it back to the bench  council member Hohheisle thank you Mayor i   motion I move that we receive and file the  the report second motion and a second any   further discussion i see none mr clerk please  open the role motion passes 70 council member   Hohheisel consent agenda item number 11  all right this one's I believe for Sally and I know we're going to be talking about this  later on as well but um I did have some questions   here because it deals with the LITC credits which  I guess the 4% are now done on the state level   first round there's a second round of 4% coming  i mean going forward next year and no actually   the 4% and 9% those are both federal tax credits  now the state starting in 2022 married state tax   credits layered them on top that part of it  going away but the 4%s and 9%s will continue   going forward on the federal level so we'll still  be eligible for those correct okay um so whenever   we we do propose these um is it the same kind of  the other support mechanisms here that will also   help us in our application for the federal ones  as well correct that that those points um apply to   the application both and federal and state because  they do right now they're combined um there are   additional points for waving fees as well as  local government support of projects and so   um there are five projects um come that are  in this round for 9% and we really hope that   uh one or more of them actually gets awarded this  year yeah fingers crossed here as well yeah four   would be the max that could possibly happen based  on um the regulations in the qualified allocation   plan that it's no more than three per county  um with there's a bonus project so it could go   to four that's really unheard of okay um so are  we are we do we have a way that we can expedite   this or streamline this to where um all of these  extra things the land the land donation from the   local government I think we're kind of have our  hands tied our land bank doesn't necessarily   operate the way we we hope we had hoped it had but  the historic tax credits the sales tax exemption   and the fee waiver are we figuring out a way  to streamline that process to make it so that   way any of the low-inccome um projects are just a  little more appealing for the people who are who   are judging them who are judging them you know  we try and make sure that um the projects that   the developers come to us they inquire about  for example sales tax exemption property tax   exemption that goes through the office of economic  development um there's also additional points for   um lowinterest loans by local government and  that's those two items coming um later on home   funds to be allocated to projects we do try and  maxim work with with developers to make sure that   their projects maximize points okay and we do it  on like a b a project by project basis we look at   each one and see correct and and you know projects  are very different for example last year's Timbers   project did not need home funds because they  had another um local lowterest local loan   uh grant actually it was excuse me and so they  didn't need them last year so we're not going to   say hey take our money if you don't need it don't  take our money but we work collaboratively to try   and see make sure that wherever there's available  points hopefully we can help them get them in the   application process okay weird question here so if  they did take our and I realize they were awarded   um but if they did take our money that would  that still increase their their potential for   selection it does because there are additional  points for have not having two sources doesn't   give them more points so they already had the  it was actually a HUD grant that came through   the state timbers did last year so they and their  project didn't need the additional funding because   the the fed they had layered the state tax credit  on top of the federal tax credit they didn't have   gap to fill so they didn't even ask um for any  home funds for that purpose because they already   maximized the score in that category and didn't  need the additional funding so we look at these   on a project by project basis okay and one one  final question the president released his budget   recently yes um were lack credits were those  on the chopping block in his budget um they   have not been addressed yet because tax credits  actually come through uh section 42 of federal   code which is the IRS side what was proposed  and and put out um we haven't seen any um any   of the breakdown outside of what's come from HUD  yet but we're still looking okay all right thank   you you're welcome any further questions for  staff i see none we'll open it up for public   comment seeing none we'll bring it back to the  bench council member Hohheisel thank you Mayor   i move that we approve the resolution and  authorize the necessary signatures second   motion and a second any further discussion i  see none mr clerk please open the role motion   passes 70 mr clerk please call the next item  board of Bids and Contracts dated May 5th 2025 morning Mayor City Council Josh Lubber  Department of Finance uh the board of bids   and contracts convened yesterday May 5th for the  following items for engineering we have the water   distribution system sanitary sewer to serve  South Senica states edition reject all bids   we have the construction of concrete trail  ADA dock and parking lot at Chism Creek   Park North for Prao Construction  LLC for an aggregate bid total of $532,7510 we have the River Corridor  Improvement West Bank Maple to   Douglas for Don Lingeran Suns Construction  Company Incorporated for $6,86,000 329.75 we have the Holy Oak water man replacement  for Barkley Construction LLC for $447,600 we have the FilterFly control  chemicals awarded at the bid opening   of May 2nd by Coinflip for Ren Tokill North  America Incorporated doing business as Target   Specialty Products for $1,713 a case we have  the glass beads for traffic line paint for   Potters Industries LLC for 55 cents per  pound with an estimated annual usage of $49,860 we had the furnish and  install of new furniture for Carl   G brewer Community Center for John  A marshall Company for $221,146.92 we have the 31,000 gross vehicle  weight restriction cab and chassis   with 14 foot dumping lift bed  chipper truck for Omaha Truck   Center doing business as Truck Center  companies for an aggregate bid total of $242,416 we have the polymers for use in  the wastewater solids dewatering facility   for PolyDine Incorporated for the chemical rates  listed for an estimated annual usage of $92,251.80 we have liquid chlorine bulk delivery for Bin Tag   Southwest Incorporated for  an estimated annual usage of 3,78,000 we have the bulldozer undercarriage track   assembly repair for Foley  Industries Incorporated for $85,28644 we have the Cisco Catalyst switches for  H Heartland Business Systems LLC for $93,19953 we had the upgrade to manage relay  interactive voice response for   Selectron Technologies Incorporated  for an estimated 5-year total of 231,57.39 we have the chemical  rehabilitation of wells contract   change order for Lane Christristen  company for an amended amount of 1,99,39725 per year we have the ops ops audit  excuse me essentials auditing software as a   service subscription contract chain or change  order for audit board incorporated for an amended   annual amount of $36,14 per year authorizing  a 5% annual escalation in 2026 and 2027   we have the private lock cleanup contract change  order for HD Mills and Suns Incorporated and TNG   Mowing and Excavating Incorporated requesting  authorization to extend the contract 90 days for   airport we have the HVAC equipment replacement  of 2163 Air Cargo and 7710 Southwest Boulevard   for Don Vaughn Incorporated for 360,000 and  we have the HVAC equipment replacement at   1801 Airport Road 1761 Airport Road and Airport  Parking Garage for Dean E norris Incorporated for 1,285,413 this is how to become a vendor with  the city this is our purchasing calendar of   uh small business resource partner events we'll  be hosting uh two upcoming for the city these are   open public opportunities out on the street today  and I'd be happy to try to answer your questions   and recommend your approval thank you Josh we'll  begin with Council Member Ballard thank you Eric   uh Josh could you go back to slide seven please  sure i know I ask these questions a lot but uh   just curious on a $6 million bid why there was no  other bids or if you know why yeah um so I'll be   candid with you we we don't really ever know what  the market is doing we try we try to predict it   try to understand it but we'll never do know  definitively but we on this specific project   notified 4,487 contacts with the commodity codes  that could do this service uh we reached out to   a prominent vendor who communicated um honestly  our own projects with the B&R tying them up um   so really having to do with the availability  of labor and general contractors in the area   um and the and the inflow of federal money  I think is impacting that nationwide it's   incredible um okay thank you um and um the next  slide on page eight um just noticing that the   winning bid is you know almost half of what one  of the other bids is i just is it labor is it I   mean that's a huge significant difference not  that you have all the answers i just that's I   try I try and think about it well I appreciate  it um yeah yeah so this one was actually one   that we worked with our department our requesting  department um Barkley Construction is a new vendor   to this type of work um they act explicitly  stated "We are aggressively pricing this   trying to grow our portfolio." Um we reviewed  the qualifications we reviewed the vendor um I   couldn't see any issue to say that they wouldn't  be qualified and and I would not support rejecting   them awesome i appreciate that you know new  companies are are applying and wanting to do   uh work with the city so um I'm totally supportive  just kind of asking questions that maybe make   somebody wonder what is going on so appreciate um  all of your information absolutely anytime uh any   of the council has questions on these items that  this is um your purchases as a council so anytime   that you have a specific item you want to pull  question or call um we welcome that thank you Josh   i see no further questions for you i will move to  approve the board of bids and contracts for May   5th 2025 second motion and a second any further  discussion i see none mr clerk please open the role motion passes 70 mr clerk please call the  next item petitions for public improvements good morning mayor city council members paul  Gunsman public works and utilities for the   record I have some new and revised petitions for  your consideration this morning the signatures on   the petitions represent 100% of the improvement  districts and the petitions are valid per Kansas   statute abalene Place edition located in district  4 the project will provide water improvements and   paving improvements for a new residential  development perpoint acres second edition   located in district 6 project will provide water  sanitary sewer and paving improvements required   for a new residential development oak Tree  Edition located in district 4 project will   provide water storm water drain sanitary sewer and  paving improvements again for a new residential development revised petitions  Abalene Place addition located   in district 4 on May 25th 2021 the city  council approved water sanitary sewer   and paving improvements required  for a new residential development   the developer has submitted revised petitions  with revised budget to meet current market conditions and bridger at central located in  district 5 on April 23rd 2024 the city council   approved paving improvements required for a  new residential development the developer has   submitted revised petition with a revised  budget to meet current market conditions with that it is recommended that the city council  approve the new and revised petitions and budgets   adopt the new and amending resolutions  and authorize the necessary signatures   and I will stand for questions questions for  staff i just have one Paul really quick um I   saw is it new developments in districts four  five and six is that right for this goound   and just as a reminder for community these are  all paid for by specials is that correct that   is correct yes thank you i move to approve  the petitions for public improvements second   motion and a second any further discussion  i see none mr clerk please open the role motion passes 70 mr clerk  please call the next item public hearing in request by 721 West Maple  LLC for approval of a letter of intent to issue   multifamily residential revenue bonds honorable  mayor members of council Troy Anderson assistant   city manager um we received an application  from 721 West Maple uh they are a uh sort   of newly formed Kansas limited liability company  specifically for the development and construction   of 36 new multif family residential units 18  of which are anticipated to be one-bedroom the   other 18 two-bedroom apartments uh located in the  downtown Deleno area uh to try and attract young   professionals new families students and retirees  uh looking for more modern downtown living options   uh the request is the issuance of approximately $6  million in revenue bonds to finance the project uh   this is an illustration artistic rendering of one  of the three buildings uh that are being proposed   here's another illustration so according to the  city's economic development guidelines project   qualifies for a 75% property tax abatement that's  based on a cap new capital investment between5 and   $10 million garners a 50% tax abatement and then  locating that project in a redevelopment area   also adds an additional 25% abatement for a total  75% property tax abatement uh the estimated value   of the 75% abatement for the full f first  full year is approximately $43,000 um with   uh city's contribution of that or share of that  being about 13,000 county share about 11,000 state   about $600 and 259 about 17,000 uh the project is  also eligible as a result for sales tax exemption   uh based on that $6 million capital investment  the approximate value of the sales tax exemption   is about $225,000 with the city share being  approximately 17,400 uh so in accordance with   state law for any revenue bond that contemplates a  property tax abatement we have to do a costbenefit   analysis so a costbenefit analysis was performed  and the following ratios uh resulted from that   with city of Witchah cost benefit 1.47 47 to1  uh county 1.39:1 259 1.95 to1 and then the state   3.15 to1 so we share this disclaimer um revenue  bonds are a mechanism for achieving a sales tax   exemption and property tax and or property tax  abatement in a revenue bond transaction city's   not lending any money bears no risk company's  required to acquire all of its own financing   there are no taxpayer dollars at risk when it  comes to revenue bonds all costs are borne by   the company requesting the use of the bonds the  company agrees to pay all cost of issuing the   bond agrees to pay all annual origination fees  ultimately the bonds will be purchased by 721   West Maple or a related entity at this point bond  documents required for the issuance of the bonds   once the project are complete will be prepared by  outside bond council but ultimately law department   will review and approve the final form it's  recommended city council adopt the resolution   and authorize the necessary signatures today  we do have a representative from the applicant   here to answer any questions you might have  and otherwise I'll just stand for questions detroit questions for staff beginning with  Council Member Rick Glascock thank you Mayor   just one quick question what is the current tax  on the open parcel it's open land right now know   what they're currently paying in property tax  give me if you can give me two seconds I can go   but it it's vacant undeveloped land i want to say  the tax obligation was a couple hundred dollars a   year i mean I can get you the exact number  but because it's vacant undeveloped ground   there's very little tax so with the 75% payment  they're still paying the current property tax   levy correct land is not abated land is correct  land is not abated with all the new improvements   that are assessed and again it's just it's sort  of our best sort of calculated guess we we don't   know exactly what the county assessor is going to  appraise the property at so what we do is we look   at comps for similar projects in and around the  area to try and give ourselves kind of a a yard   stick to to project what we anticipate that's  going to be but until we know what the county   appraises the property at will we know for sure  but with the 75% of payment they're still paying   the existing correct plus that additional 25%  yeah thank you can you get the actual amount please because I believe that  there's a shed there right now   so I don't believe that's lightly vacant  therefore it can't be a couple hundred i'd have to defer to the applicant on whether or  not there are any improvements on the property while you're looking that up I also want to  make sure that the community knows that the   document that was submitted to us on Friday  uh has different numbers than the one that we   received this morning so I'm sure that that will  be updated on the agenda packet for the community so the applicant was gracious to share  um the annual taxes today are about $2,700 any further questions for staff i know that  uh we're always looking for more housing that is   the biggest uh topic that this community wants us  whether it's as we just heard from boards and bid   um we want housing everywhere and this is  particularly just south of the baseball south   and west of the baseball stadium and it is an  empty slash small lot that also includes a shed   that will be removed um and moved somewhere else  uh so again housing is critical for our community   and we appreciate that people are thinking  about housing within the downtown core where   there are going to be uh more individuals  i'm going to ask the applicant a couple questions can you tell us the rents for these   uh one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments  please yeah uh that'd be about average   $1,500 a month so one bedroom would be about  1,200 1250 and twobedroom would be 1,700750 is that comparable to what's in that area excuse  me uh it's lower than uh the bulk of the area   um but will obviously be higher than some of the  older um stuff that's on the market and can you   also address um this has uh a look that can be  replicated elsewhere uh what is the intention   of the developer in terms of housing not just in  this area sure so our goal is to um have proof   of concept at this location it's intentionally  designed that we could take one of these buildings   and it'll fit on a traditional old-fashioned  city lot just about anywhere um so the idea   would be um and when you saw in the pictures it  was a rectangular building um so we could take   it somewhere else and roughly the design stays  the same we can put a different um skin on it   to fit the the area uh of where we're looking but  we could take it and uh go across a city and do   these uh just about anywhere and can you address  because I have seen many city uh documents that   design fees are very expensive and so uh can you  talk about how this will be helpful in reproducing   uh so that we can get more housing sure so uh  design fees on this uh round number roughly a4   million dollars um for design and engineering uh  services and so when we take the same uh drawings   what we do is we do a site adaptation when we go  somewhere else so we don't have to fully redesign   it so there's a significantly uh smaller amount  of design and engineering fees because we'll use   the same floor plans and just adapt them to the  sites so it helps us save on the next ones one   more question um I know that this is three stories  um I've had individuals in the community ask why   can't it not be four stories other buildings  around the community can you just address   um would four stories be helpful could that change  could that also not only add more units but also   uh be helpful with the design yeah absolutely  it's a great question uh so for this site and   and where we are we couldn't go four stories um  unless we added a second set of stairs for every   building and an elevator for each building uh and  so local code restrictions currently only allow   this type of building with one set of stairs to be  three stories uh and no more than four units per   floor uh and so uh round numbers it adds half a  million dollars to each building to go additional   um additional floors or additional stories  could is this something that is of interest to   uh the developer in regards to possibly adding  an additional floor if the restriction wasn't   there absolutely where uh as we look at additional  sites especially in the downtown core um just uh   the the other buildings around it wouldn't look  out of place to be four or five stories tall uh   and when we look at it we don't have to acquire  more land uh when we add more floors and so our   cost per unit goes down as we add additional  floors um which allows us to bring um down our   rents and and bring uh housing cheaper to market  um by adding more floors on the same building   and can you also address because um the materials  that you're looking at uh for building this   structure um have have come up to standards and so  would adding that additional floor but not having   an additional staircase or the addition of an  elevator be a problem sure so from our perspective   and our opinion is that um when the codes were  originally written our buildings weren't nearly   as safe as they are today so these apartments will  be fully sprinkled so there'll be fire sprinkler   throughout the building the exit stairwells are  pressurized uh and so adding additional floors in   our opinion is a very low safety risk um because  of the the nature of the materials which are all   um not fire retardant but fireproof uh and then  also the fire sprinklers they're incredibly safe   buildings uh and so absolutely we we'd look  to add additional floors if we could we need   more density and I know that that is um one  of the critical pieces is how do you build so   that it's economical for the developer but  also for the renter him or herself as they   um are wanting uh more uh housing that is  affordable to them my question now will be   to staff have we um had any conversations  about how to change code so that a fourth   floor would not have the additional barrier of an  additional staircase or the need of an elevator so there's a number of various  code sections that we're constantly   uh examining right we recently uh explored  a uh an electrical conduit requirement that   uh was adding additional cost to a large  multi-family residential project um it was   a local amendment uh and through the work with  MABC we we uh um struck that requirement from   the code making it again more affordable to build  dense multif family residential particularly in   our urban core uh and so we're constantly looking  at those as it specifically relates to this one   i don't know what conversations MABC has had  specifically in regards to uh additional um   local stairways and elevator requirements and  those kind of things but those are absolutely   conversations we're willing to have for sure thank  you Council Vice Mayor Johnston thank you Mayor um   just a question for the developer how many lots  are included in this i see I see that the taxes   on the lot listed are only $354.19 yeah that's  So the lots there's one two three there's six   lots included it's broken up the total is  2700 yeah roughly 2,700 okay thank you yep thank you very much i see no further questions for   staff or to the developer we  will now open it up for public comment um my name is Courtland Reading um  resident in uh uh Council Member Johnson's   district District 1 at 6038 uh Rockwood um Drive  in Witaw um my question in regards to um any new   apartment developments specifically uh within  the city itself um is uh what are the parking uh   restrictions going to be on those developments um  how is that going to be allocated percentage-wise   um for example is a one-bedroom one unit going to  have a 1:1 ratio for parking available or is that   expectation going to be street parking it's going  to be available um due to the public transit um   situation where I've lived in uh different cities  throughout the United States that's typically   addressed um with new um vertical developments um  question number two um for the developer itself   is will those fire suppression systems be wet or  dry um dry systems may require fire departments   to pressurize them in order to be able to  um suppress any fires if the city considers   uh raising the uh building itself um uh any  additional height I would have concerns that the   uh escape of the tenants themselves um would  be a value and living in cities where those   uh um systems went into play later on um some  of those escape ladders and systems are a little   bit more derelct and how will the city go upon  monitoring and surveilling any exemptions that   are placed to the current building codes  in and of themselves and that's all I have thank you Portland council member Glascop thank  you Mayor uh this probably question for Troy or   somebody in planning uh this came before my dab  yesterday in terms of resoning for this to be a   central business district resoning in part about  the parking question could you offer context to   that yeah so I can speak and we do have our  I do not see our planning director here so   I'll just speak off the cuff a little bit um I  know in central business district parking is not   uh required uh with that being said the developer  does plan on providing one space per unit   um per bed based on just market demands oftentimes  we find that a lot of the parking that is   generated with projects such as this are really  market driven not necessarily sort of city code   required uh more specifically again CBD zoning  does not require parking be associated with it   but there is a parking plan there is a parking lot  that will be planned directly behind these three   buildings to support the the residential units  thank you um so Courtland you can go back i I   don't know if it was in our consent agenda packet  right now off the top of my head but if you look   at the dab from district 4 yesterday you can see  uh part of the agenda packet is a parking plan for   this application in addition Troy sorry to get  you up and down and up and down another reason   for the central bis uh business district zoning  was the setback correct correct so this could   be a budding Maple Street closer to the stadium  correct okay yep thank you and the question about   fire suppressant uh to the applicant is it wet  or dry fire suppression sure so 95% of it's wet   um with the we have to have fire sprinkler heads  to protect the balconies and those are dry the   rest of it's a wet system thank you very much y  I see no further comments we'll bring it back to   the bench council member Glascott thank you Mayor  uh first off I want to uh thank the the developer   um for taking a risk on doing business and also  for investing in multif family housing especially   in the downtown core i'm incredibly supportive  of this i hope this is replicable in other parts   of the community as well i know I met with other  developers that are working on actually similar   programs uh independent of each other and so I  will be very supportive of this seeing that no one   else is on the board I will make a motion that we  close the public hearing adopt the resolution and   authorize the necessary signatures second motion  and a second any further discussion i see none mr   clerk please open the role motion passes 70 mr  clerk please call the next item public hearing   in request by WHAM 4200 LLC for approval of a  letter of intent to issue industrial revenue   bonds honorable mayor members of council again  Troy Anderson assistant city manager um we're   actually going to forego a presentation just in  the interest of time we're actually recommending   that uh this item get deferred to May 13th 2025  city council meeting uh we've been in conversation   with the owner developer uh the progress uh the  project is evolving and so uh this will give us   another week to really flush out exactly what that  looks like uh with that being said this this item   there was a public hearing that was advertised  for today so there may be folks that were coming   out today to to to speak either for or against  the project and so our recommendation for you   today is to open that public hearing receive  public comment and then defer consideration of   the item to the next regular scheduled meeting  on May 13 2025 and with that being said I'll   stand for questions i see no questions for staff  and since we're delaying council member Glasco I   I think based on Troy's recommendation is that  we would still open public comment and then I   would have a subsequent motion very good we'll  close uh staff questioning we will now open it   up for public comment i see none we'll continue  with public comment however uh a deferral council   member Glascock now that we opened public comment  uh mayor I have a motion to defer the this item   to May 13 second motion and a second any further  discussion i see none mr clerk please open the role motion passes 6 7 Mr  clerk please call the next item public hearing on proposed assessments for  25 paving projects 26 water projects 21 sewer   projects and 13 storm sewer projects and the  September 2025 bond sale series 836 good morning   again mayor city council members Paul Gunselman  public works and utilities for the record   the item before you this morning is a public  hearing on proposed assessments for 85 projects and as the clerk mentioned paving 25 paving  projects 26 water projects 21 sanitary sewer   projects and 13 storm sewer projects  for an estimated total of 24,500,000 a notice of notice of hearing letters were  published February 28th 2025 for all 85   projects all affected property owners have  been notified in writing and the Department   of Finance and Public Works staff held a  virtual information hearing on March 17   2025 and we did receive some questions um  specifically regarding Union Mills Jabes   edition which was a paving project as well  as traffic signal at 21st and Broadmore we   had received some questions regarding Northridge  Village edition as well as Northgate fifth edition   and staff were able to effectively answer all  questions at that time regarding those projects   statements of special assessment will be mailed  to the property owners on May 16 2025 pending   city council approval today the property owners  have 30 days from the date of the statement to   pay the assessment and void paying interest  the assessments not paid during this period   will be in the September 2025 bond sale and the  interest added to the principal amount will be   determined by the rate at which the bonds  sell the principal and interest will then   be spread and placed on the 2026 tax role all  single family property assessments within this   group of 85 projects will be for a period of 20  years based on the two-year trial approved by   city council on June 7th 2022 of the 85 total  projects 36 are single family or mixture of   single family multif family zoning and will be  assessed over a 20-year period the remaining 49   projects are either multif family or commercial  zoning and will be assessed over a 15-year period it is recommended to close the  public hearing approve the proposed   assessments and place the ordinance on  first reading and I will stand for questions   questions for staff i see none  we'll open it up for public comment i see none i'll bring it back to the bench  i will move to approve the proposed assessments   and place the ordinance on first reading  second oh sorry i move to close the public   hearing approve the proposed assessments  and place the ordinance on first reading   second motion and a second any further discussion  i see none mr clerk please open the role motion passes 70 mr clerk please call  the next item hyatt funds reallocation good morning mayor and city council members  background on September 5th 2017 the city   council adopted ordinance number 50-585 of the  city code which authorized the use of higher   regency witch sale proceeds to fund projects  in council districts 1 through 5 subsequent   ordinances have authorized additional projects  and allocations district 1's allocation of funds   have not been fully utilized this request is  to amend the most recent highend sale proceeds   ordinance ordinance number 51925 adopted in  August 16 2022 reallocations will not exceed   the original $1 million the proposed projects  unutilized funds totaling 73,450 from District   1 Hyatt initiatives will be reallocated to the  park and recreation department to support two   funding components that expand equitable access  to youth recreational opportunities in District 1 $72,424.38 from District 1 neighborhood grant  program and $1,26 from District 1 recreational   services project one is youth football  scholarships a contribution of $49,450   will be allocated to support participation  in youth football scholarships available for   430 City of Witchaw residents this covers full  registration and uniform cost families will pay   a $25 fee credited toward equipment or supplies  to encourage commitment and reduce city cost   scholarships awarded on a first come first- serve  basis for project two free swim days at Macaffy   Pool a 24,000 contribution will provide free  admission to Macaffy Pool for individuals aged   17 and under on 11 11 consecutive Saturdays in  2025 and five alternating Saturdays in 2026 pool   is open from 1 to 6:00 p.m each Saturday with  an extra hour calculated to cost for opening   and closing procedures staffing is estimated  at $250 per hour resulting in $1,500 per day   and a total of $24,000 for the two seasons it  is recommended that the city council placed the   ordinance on a first reading and authorize the  necessary signatures and with that I will stand   for questions thank you Cameron any questions for  staff i just had a couple of quick questions maybe   not for Cameron um I know I asked this question  during Friday's agenda review regarding the Hyatt   funds this is specific to District 1 funds that  are still available can you please address if   there are any other districts that still have uh  remaining balances uh this was a million dollars   per district is that correct city manager um  mayor that is correct as well as $10 million   for street maintenance $4 million for transit  those were the original allocations along with   six million to the each of the to the council  districts combined uh there are small dollars   uh available in a in some of the districts  there's about $8200 left in district one after   this reallocation plus about just shy of $40,000  in program income that's coming from the Propel   loans that were made in district one and so that  money can be reprogrammed possibly into business   um loans uh if uh that's the desire of the council  member uh there's a very small amount in district   2 left over from a park improvement project  uh there is approximately $19,000 available   in district three uh for redistribution and  council member um uh wholeheisel I think   mentioned that a little bit during the last  during the agenda review may want to elaborate   plus there's about $62,000 in program income  coming from a loan to the Starlight Theater   um that is also available for reprogramming small  amount of money left over from the Piney Prairie   Park project in district four and uh there's about  $9,000 left from the proc wetlands improvements in   district five that would summarize where  we are in terms of the available funds and there's no expiration date for these funds so  it really is up to each of the council members for   those districts to talk about how they would like  to utilize those funds yes mayor although there   are a few projects that are really small dollar  amounts Harrison Park $69 what we probably need   to do is is find is do a cleanup motion uh  at some time in the future maybe sweep those   funds uh into transit where we know they can be  utilized but they're they're very small amounts   and not enough to fund any specific project  i would like to see that uh consolidated so   that again it can be clean and right now really  the outstanding dollars are the most of those   dollars are in district 1 and district three so  those council members really have more leeway i   know that the question was asked why could could  the proposal not be uh citywide well each of these   council members and their predecessors um were  given an opportunity to allocate dollars for   their district and each of the council members  chose different things to uh fund uh I really   appreciate district 1 and that it's an ongoing  fund and that's why there's always going to be   dollars in there could council member Johnson just  address that so that folks understand the Propel   um program and how that does provide an ongoing  basis of funds yeah thank you Mayor u Propel I   was going to speak to that i'd love to see all the  revenues from that continue to get programmed back   into Propel in perpetuity um it is an opportunity  to kind of reach the gaps that are faced in the   community um offering very low interest loans 3%  loans uh for up to $20,000 for small businesses   targeted toward um womenowned and minority owned  businesses but open to anyone but really trying to   reach those gaps to really get business going you  know Witchah is a great city great place to really   invest in your American dream but sometimes there  are um blockades to access the capital that people   face and Propel is one of those opportunities to  get around that uh one of the first investments   of Propel that business is still open uh it  was a um shop on Douglas that you can still   go do pictures and stuff it was a success story  i think we were going to do a video about her and   what she's doing there um but Propel has been a  breath of fresh air for so many people and again   um kind of putting that gap in access to capital  this is a way to fill it great partnership with   create campaign and Christina Long um I was just  pushing yes and no but her brilliance and working   with our staff and creating a program like that  and really just seeing how successful it's been so   excited to see that it's working um hopeful to see  it continue to work going forward in the future   and seeing more people get a little bit of help  to get their business going in Witchah you very   much Council Member Johnson um I just again wanted  to remind the community that each of the council   members whether sitting on this bench or their  predecessors chose what to do with those funds and   uh in district six Evergreen Building um got  those dollars in district five the PR wetlands   in district four Pawnie Prairie Park in district  three it's an ongoing u basis of what is getting   funded in district two it was the dock hangar  and Harrison Park and in district one as you   just heard council member Johnson uh discuss  uh the ongoing funds for the Propel program   uh loans as well as other uh programs that are now  being considered in this item so thank you to the   predecessors who allocated those $6 million uh for  their districts and how that could help not just   their districts but the city in whole so thank you  i see no further questions for staff so I'll open   it up for public comment i see none i'll bring  it back to the bench this is in council member   Johnson's district thank you Mayor really excited  about this allocation of funds working with park   and recreation the neighborhood grant initiative  we have was not working in the way that I had   hoped or that it did prior to the pandemic so I  wanted to make sure that these funds were used   in the best way possible and working with park and  rex looking at youth football as well as continued   activation of McAfee pool um this seemed to be  a great opportunity saturdays are our busiest   days at the pool so providing a free swim day  to community members to be there every Saturday   this summer every other Saturday next summer was  awesome and then of course with youth football   being able to get some of those young people  safely off of the corners asking for dollars to   pay the registration fees and uniform fees being  able to take care of that and getting quality   uniforms and quality equipment um will contribute  to the safety of the young folks as we continue to   work with USD 259 on youth football so with that  really excited about this and I would move that   the city council place the ordinance on first  reading and authorize the necessary signatures   second motion and a second any further  discussion i see none mr clerk please open the role motion passes 70 mr clerk please  call the next item tourism Business   Improvement District 2026 Scope of Services good morning Mayor Council Lindsey Banaka with  the city manager's office uh here to present   the tourism business improvement district scope  scope of services for next fiscal year um also   affectionately known as the T-BID board a little  bit of background visit Witchaw annually receives   funding from the city of Witchaw for promotion  of tourism and convention activities in 20204   the T-BID was created to provide additional  funding to promote tourism and for just some   additional scope the the T-BID boundaries are  the the legal city limits of the city of Witchaw   uh funding has experienced limited growth in  recent years while competition for tourism uh   and conventions has intensified uh the 2026 scope  of services and budget outlines strategies and   budget allocations for leisure marketing and group  sales activities uh to drive tourism to Witchaw uh   Visit Witchaw is helping lead local marketing  efforts uh critical to maintaining and growing   Witchaw's travel industry and providing dollars  to the local economy and with that I'll turn it   over to Susie Santo president and CEO of Visit  Witchaw thank you so much Lindsay good morning   mayor vice mayor council members susie Santo with  Visit Witchaw 515 South Main Street as you can see   on the screen that's a five-year history of the  T-BID and when you look at the revenue just to   remind that again is paid by visitors who stay in  the Witchah hotels um when they check out there's   a tourism fee and that's where those dollars come  from we had our best year last year with economic   impact over $263 million when I was before you  in December I talked about the group return on   investment for every dollar spent drove 1470  and since then we have the results back from   our leisure campaign so last year every dollar we  spent on that leisure advertising drove $116.25   in direct spending into the Witchah area um  before you you have our 26 proposed budget   we're looking at an estimated revenue collection  of 3.9 million it's important to note that we only   spend what's collected so if those dollars don't  come in there's no advancement of loans when those   dollars come in and they're remitted to uh visit  Witchaw then we spend those dollars as you can see   um in your pamphlet how it's broken down between  leisure and group and product development and   general expenses happy to answer any questions at  the end if you have any specifics on those items   but as we don't spend money um until it comes in  also if more money or there's an initiative that   we don't end up doing and we have at the end of  the year we don't spend those dollars before we   go back to the advisory council we present that  carry forward which was last year about 353,000   and then we discuss how it's best used in that  next year which also is included in your packet   um I think it's important to take a moment and  and I have to you you all know I love talking   about travel and tourism and the impact but when  I was here in December I got to talk about what's   coming these events would not be able to come to  Witchah if it weren't for this funding stream if   it wasn't for the T-BID and I have to talk a  moment about figure skating that happened in   January if you look up on the screen and you see  that couple that's Chalk and Bates they won the   US Figure Skating National Championship which  is here in Witchaw and I know I saw several of   the council members there so hopefully you all  got out and enjoyed it uh it was an incredible   week of skating they were the champions crowned  here in Witchah and then in the middle that's um   Ilia Malanin he is the quad god the first man ever  to do a quad and now he routinely do does six or   seven of every performance but what's fascinating  is in they were here at the end of January three   months a couple months later in March were world  championships in Boston chuck and Bates who in   Witchah won they won the world champions in pairs  ilia Melanin who was here in Witchah he won the   world championships in men and Alyssa Louu who was  here in Witchah who had a heck of a short program   was leading going to the final night didn't win  here she Amber Glenn won she won on the national   on the world stage so it's really cool that we  had them first here in Witchah and then they were   crowned world champions and they are all Olympic  contenders for next January so it makes watching   the Olympics even more exciting after we got to  see them uh right here in person uh when we look   at really some what this meant besides just  great entertainment for all the visitors and   um locals alike we had again working with WSU  they estimate about $4 million in economic   impact for that event what's really cool to see  is we had 71 hours of national and global media   coverage on NBC Peacock and USA and it was so fun  to hear from my colleagues and friends around the   country as they tuned in and watched and they  got to see Witchah shine on that national stage   also it's really cool i don't know if you saw  it but if not they came live on the Today Show   from Interest Bank Arena so to be able to have  the Today Show and that 30 million plus and also   develop that relationship with them for future  to explore future opportunities is priceless so   again huge economic impact great partnership again  appreciate the city partnering with us to bring   over,400 sixth graders to the event but again um  this is one of those events that it's the economic   impact is awesome but it's more of just quality  of life for our residents and be able to showcase   Witchah wouldn't have been possible without these  funds moving on into a few months later we just   hosted the NIA men's wrestling great event and I  have to tell you we also hosted this year for the   first time women's wrestling and nothing against  the men's wrestling that's great to watch but I   have to tell you if you haven't seen women's  wrestling it is unbelievable it's fast-paced   literally a match can be over in a minute it's  crazy it's very different scoring but we had 500   athletes here over three million in economic input  for that week and again um wouldn't have happened   without T-Bed and then hopefully many of you got  out and got to experience March Madness i tell   you what this is not normal to have rounds one and  two and have this type of community engagement and   activation around the arena it was a final four  atmosphere wouldn't have been possible without   partnerships at the city so thank you to Parks  and Rex because they activated NASCAR Park and if   you remember back in 2018 when we hosted it and um  NASCAR Park hadn't been developed and it was great   to see it that's what it was developed for to be  that front gate or that front entrance into the   arena to see all the people out there but not only  that all of the u the businesses from the Union   Station all the way around that activated their  spaces so hopefully you all got out and walked   it i know I saw the mayor there and others but  it was the atmosphere that was just electrifying   and again we were able to partner with WSU and  Interest Bank Arena to to to bring this event   here again through the the T-BID dollars i will  tell you we just literally yesterday got back   um the economic impact from WSU thank you to  AJ we partnered with Interest Bank Arena they   just completed it and it's over $7 million in  economic impact came in in that 4-day event   and then I chatted about this when I was here  in December about the Tbecks coming up but I   want to tell a little bit more about it this is  a travel bloggers exchange summit that's coming   to Witchah October 1 through 4 we partnered with  Kansas Tourism to bring this to the state they   will start in Witchah and they will go out  and experience some absolutely incredible   um partners and attractions throughout Witchah  and I have to show you this slide because right   now we have partnered with 54 local partners  communitywide to create the experience that these   travel bloggers are going to have we're expecting  100 to 150 bloggers plus other industry folks when   they come here they'll sign up for a tour and  I just got to read some of these fun names and   what people are looking forward to when they come  i tell you this has been an all hands- on deck   with the team and all of these partners up here so  they'll be able to choose to sign up for it so how   about signing up for Hey now you're an all-star  you'll be out on the river on boats and bikes   then you'll move over to Equity Bank Park you'll  get batting practice and go behind the scenes and   then have head out to Chicken and Pickle for a uh  pickle ball lesson through a pro or there's Blaze   Witchah's Old West Trail you're going to start at  Hatman Jack and get fitted for a hat you're going   to have a CES barilla at Cow Town and then you're  going to ride horses out at Diamond Streams Ranch   uh let's not forget Air Capital of the World Tour  Kansas Aviation Museum Nyar Steerman Field Bar and   Grill Texron and then Bartier straight out of  Witchah you're going to tour Pizza Hut Museum   Duod Diner Old Meal Tasty Shop Spice Merchant  Nifty Nut list goes on and on so all of these   fun tours another one we're really proud about  is really our our our um Native American tour   that will be taking place at the All-Indian Center  with dance and with the ability to actually make   a buffalo stew and learn the importance of all  the ingredients and then finally um our Black   Witch icons change makers and modern-day trailb  trailblazers you'll start at TCAM you'll tour   the Hattie McDaniel burst site historic Dunbar  will be at Chester Lewis Park and even go to the   dock and speak easy and hear directly from an  individual who was there at at the um at at the   counter and so we are showing all aspects of what  make Witchah great would not be possible without   all of the partners up there one event will be  hosted at Equity Bank Park for our VIP event we'll   also be opening host uh hosting opening night at  Exploration Place and closing night at the zoo   so influencers are going to be all over town  after they leave us on the 4th they'll go out   to every corner of the state and they'll be doing  two three four five day tours to see the rest of   Kansas this is a once in a-lifetime opportunity  to have this many uh content creators bloggers   talking positively about positivity positivity you  know they're they're spreading the good word about   uh Witchah and all that's happening i can tell  you from a team perspective even bringing in one   or two influencers the amount of work and planning  and imagine we're bringing in a hundred plus once   in a lifetime would not be possible without T-BID  so I just like to give you a couple of examples   of how we're putting those good dollars to good  use uh to drive tourism and those dollars into   our community thank you so much for your support  uh on behalf of the team back at the office we   really appreciate you allowing us to do what we  love every single day i'll turn it back to Lindsay and with that uh staff recommends to approve  the TBID uh scope of services and budget for   2026 thank you for questions we'll open it up for  uh council member questions beginning with council   member Johnson thanks Mayor thank you Susie um I  had a few suggestions or thoughts or questions um   so activitywise although it's October I think  an activity of them seeing us dunk the council   member and I'll volunteer council member Hohheisle  for that and let me throw like footballs at it to   dunk him i think that would be great um but there  were two places on there I didn't see okay station   8 barbecue to show Witchah knows our barbecue  and a historical stable for us fried rice but   it's cash only but it's a great place to take  people thank you for those suggestions yes and   it should be open by then but just looking at how  you were doing the museum in Chester Lewis Park if   the Brewer Center is open that might be great to  take them by just to look historically at who all   is from Witchah so we have our NBA players NFL  players architects and then again honoring our   first elected African-American mayor if it fits  that's awesome those are great suggestions and   you know I'm so glad you mentioned the barbecue  because part of it too is what they're going to   be eating all along and talking to some of the  influencers when we chatted about our barbecue   but when we also chatted about chili and cinnamon  rolls they hit the roof and so they're excited to   experience that so barbecue will absolutely and I  appreciate your fried rice recommendation yes just   to make sure they know that Witchah Barbecue is  better than Kansas City okay we're on it thank you   Council Member Hoheisle thank you Mayor um well  first I probably will need a bath early October   but I've seen your aim before so I I think we'll  have to go outside of council to find somebody   to dunk me um also uh just one more suggestion  and I believe that first weekend in October is   uh the firefighter memorial um it's a real solemn  event um it'll be I believe that Saturday morning   so that might be something to consider covering  as well um so yeah just another suggestion thrown   in there that's a great suggestion and I encourage  anyone that has suggestions to please reach out to   us because also what there's another opportunity  what we're calling textras and so all of things   that don't fit on a tour we will be writing and  explaining about it so it's a great opportunity   on that Sunday morning or that Saturday morning  to uh promote this and and get folks over there   so I I really appreciate it as you can imagine so  much happening we we appreciate the suggestion so   thank you for that yeah it's a great it's a great  respectful event they got the bag pipes out there   okay the fire trucks they block off Broadway  probably so it's a it's a um and then just   one other question um Lindsay could you also just  talk a little bit about what else is paid out of   the the T- bid out of the T-BID I don't believe  there's anything that's dedicated towards this   okay so it's just strictly visit Witchah correct  okay all right thanks Susie i'll can I invite   you back up uh as you mentioned several of the  locations I was reminded that during the time of   uh this group of influencers in Witchah they  actually will be here during Hispanic Heritage   Month which happens to be September 15th through  October 15th and we have a very rich and vibrant   Latino and Hispanic culture uh in particular I  would love for them to visit Empower up by 21st   and Market Street um Witchah is very culturally  diverse um and one of the things that a lot of   folks don't even know about is that we have a  very strong Lebanese community and so I would   suggest that one of the um ways that you feature  that is whether it's with food or um St george St   george Orthodox Church yeah um there are ways to  celebrate uh the rich Lebanese culture as well as   our Hispanic culture that I think that would be  uh of interest to the influencers thank you for   those suggestions i will take them back to the  team get on it and then last but not least these   are more of economic impact questions so skating  had an economic impact of about 4 million yes uh   NCAA 7 million yes and how much was the women's uh  wrestling again women's and men's combined about   three million thank you for um the economic impact  of more than $14 million in just these three major   events that is how dollars are maximized and  uh I do understand the value that you have to   advertise this community not just for visitors but  even also internally um because it is quality of   life um I know that many Witchants participated  whether um going around the NCAA activities in   downtown Witchaw or actually going to the games  these are things that make Witchaw really great   and I appreciate the team at Visit Witchah and  um I know that you had several questions before   we began during the consent agenda i would just  encourage more dialogue uh with community members   about uh the value of Visit Witchaw which I do  believe is great uh you help promote the city   and the city of Witchah appreciates that because  we know that when you promote Witchah there's   economic impact that comes into our community  with people staying in hotels uh buying food   buying gifts and just being in our community and  then sharing that story to other folks uh because   this is a really great place and I am so glad that  you guys keep promoting our community and I want   more people to come to Witchah mayor thank you  so much for the kind words i will pass that on   to the team and we greatly appreciate your support  thank you council member Johnson thanks Mayor one   more thing um we don't always highlight and I'm a  nerd so this is cool to me i don't know what might   be cool to them but we don't always highlight  how awesome McConnell is is there any way to   connect maybe a air refueling flight or some way  to see how proud we are having the Pegasus here or   we've been having internal discussions on that  um I don't know where we're netting out but we   agree it's a incredible asset to the community so  I'll I'll circle back with you on that it's on our   radar okay thank you i see no further questions  um but I do you may sit down i did receive the   email so that everyone is on the same page with  information I had asked during consent uh the   transient guest tax fund uh collected $9.8 million  in 2024 un audited uh of which $2.635 635 million   went to visit Witchah in their base contract and  another $130,000 for convention promotion for a   total of $2.765 million to visit Witchah and that  is in their audit uh on page four and then last   but not least I did ask this question to city  manager Leighton um I wanted to know where does   the remainder of the transient guest tax dollars  get allocated to city manager can you please say   where it goes mayor we have approximately a  million dollars that subsidizes the operations   of Century 2 and then the remaining goes primarily  to capital projects improvements at Century 2 as   well as cultural facilities that are owned by  the city thank you very much appreciate those   uh figures and now we're all on the same page  thank you and I don't see any more questions from   council members so we'll open it up for public  comment i see none i'll bring it back to the   bench i will move to approve the tourism business  improvement district 2026 scope of services and   budget second motion and a second any further  discussion i see none mr clerk please open the role motion passes 70 mr clerk please call the  next item community events Witchtow River Festival good morning Mayor City Council katie Eddie  management analyst for park and wreck so for   over 50 years Witchaw Festivals Inc also known as  WFI has produced the Witchaw River Festival this   year's community celebration is going to be held  May 30th through June 7th 2025 this event attracts   local residents and tourists from within Kansas  and the surrounding states witchaw Festivals is   coordinating with various city departments  for licensing and street closure requests   it's important to note that Douglas from water  to Waco streets will be closed throughout the   duration of this event and approval of the  license report will be in lie of the issuance   of individual permits and authorizations and th  that license report is included with your packet   on April 15th of this year the city of Witchaw  entered into anou with Witchaw Festivals thisou   outlines the ink kind services permits licenses  street closures and Witto Police Department   security um that we're providing uh uh for Witchaw  Festivals and with that it is recommended that the   city council approved the licensing report  street closures and request for permit for   the 2025 Witto River Festival per theou between  the city and Witto Festivals Incorporated i'll   stand for any questions you might have questions  for staff i see none thank you very much Katie   we will now open it up for public comment i see  none i'll bring it back to the bench i am really   excited about Witchaw Riverfest and glad that  the city will continue supporting this citywide   uh festival buttons are on sale right now and  uh really appreciate um all the efforts not   just by the staff but more importantly by the  volunteers it takes hundreds if not thousands   of volunteers to put on the Witchaw River  Festival and I'm very appreciative of that   because it does bring again quality of life  to our community and so I am very supportive   of this and so I move to approve the licensing  report street closures and requests for permit   for the 2025 Witchaw River Festival per theou  between the city and WFI second motion and a   second any further discussion i see none mr  clerk please open the role motion passes 70   mr clerk please call the next item de 20258  initiation of comprehensive plan amendment   regarding the city of Witchah urban growth  area near 55th Street South and Ridge Road good morning scott Wadel from the planning  department i'll be relatively brief here so   I don't have a PowerPoint uh this item is  to consider whether to initiate a review   and amendment process for the comprehensive  plan known as the community investments plan   specifically it would look at the Witchaw urban  growth area near 55th Street South and Ridge Road   this item is coming to you because questions have  been raised about how to get the process started   in terms of background discussions about the  future of development in the area have led to   questions about future land uses contamination  in the area and also the ability to serve the   area with municipal services in terms of next  steps or analysis if the Witchaw City Council   initiates the process then the next step would  be to work with the MAPC advanced plans committee   then it would go to the full planning commission  before it comes back to the city council and   ultimately it would go to the county commission  because of the joint comprehensive plan between   the city and the county the recommended action  for this item is to take action as determined   necessary by the city council and with that  I'll stand for any questions thank you Scott   we'll begin with council member Hoheisle thank you  mayor thanks Scott um what is it currently zoned   the majority of down in that area oh I believe  the majority of it is rural residential because   it's out in the county okay so what some of the  zoning changes look at business areas or the the   um how proper it might be to have additional  residential multif family units or Exactly   so what types of uh future land use would uh  would work best there given the dynamics of   uh being at the very end of uh the city's  growth area extending services and also   um groundwater contamination potentially soil  contamination that's in the area from the old   Vulcom plant down in that location i guess is that  more what's driving this is the concern about the   soil contamination i think all three factors  really about um what is going on in the area in   terms of land use and you've got Hazesville kind  of off to one side you've got Witchaw north and   then you've got contamination located to the south  and east um as well as uh what are the chances and   the timing of getting municipal services extended  in that area okay lampel recently did a a growth   plan is that going to be incorporated into this at  all you know uh that's a good idea to incorporate   i can reach out to him yeah okay all right thank  you any further questions for staff i see none   we'll open it up for public comment i see none  bring it back to the bench council member Glascock   mayor seeing there's nobody on the board I move  to initiate a review of the amendment process for   the community investment plan comprehensive plan  regarding the Witchaw urban growth area near 55th   Street South and Ridge Road in support of this  motion uh for the following this process gives   us an opportunity to review scenarios for the  highest and best use in the area and that land   use in this area is complicated because of  the nearby brownfield site and distance to   utilities second motion and a second any further  discussion i see none mr clerk please open the role motion passes 70 mr clerk please call  the next item summer camp bus transportation good morning again katie Eddie  management analyst park and recreation   the Department of Park and Recreation will host  a summer of discovery and summer activity camps   this summer for nine weeks at six locations summer  of discoveries held at Edgewood Edgemore Lynwood   and Orchard rec centers summer activity camp is  held at Kulvin Evergreen and Lynette Woodard rec   centers in 2026 the summer activity camp will  also be held at the Brewer Community Center um   which is set to open this fall after um a pretty  thorough renovation process uh field trips make up   a large part of the programming for these summer  camps and safe and reliable bus transportation is   absolutely essential to get campers and staff  from the campsite to their field trip and then   back again to the to the campsite we did issue  a request for proposals to solicit vendors for   this bus transportation service those proposals  were due back in February and then in March the   staff screening and selection committee reviewed  the proposals and scheduled interviews of both   vendors that applied following the interviews the  committee selected First Student as the preferred   vendor we do have a 15-year history of dedicated  service from First Student to Park and Recreation   they have well doumented safety procedures  including uh lots of training opportunities   ratings random drug testing and background checks  for their drivers they also have a very modern bus   fleet um they're transitioning all their buses  over to um air conditioned so we're hoping that   we can get the AC buses this summer financial  considerations first student uh proposed providing   the buses at a cost of $95 per bus hour with a  minimum of two hours for any trip per vehicle uh   the estimated number of hours that are needed for  field trips for all six camps are listed in this   table with 2025 expenditures expected to be about  $102,000 this summer and funding is available in   the adopted park and recreation operating budget  the law department has reviewed and approved this   contract as the form and it is recommended the  city council approve the vendor selection approve   the contract and authorize necessary signatures  i'll stand for any questions thank you Katie i   have a couple questions really quick about how  many kiddos participate in the summer program   and is it still available and can you tell the  community about it yeah there's a there I don't   know the exact number off the top of my head  but it is a few hundred students participate   every year we do have a handful of them actually  that are on scholarship as well we have a great   relationship with our housing department that  provides uh CSBG funds to provide scholarships   for students i think it's about um half of  the students in uh the summer activity camp   and about 10% in the summer of discovery camps um  we do still have open registration at this point   a lot of them are pretty full but I I do believe  there are still open registrations at this point   you can go to the park and recreation website  for information on how to sign up thank you   Katie these are great opportunities and that's  why I wanted community to know that especially   because the summer camp bus transportation  item uh will affect districts 1 three and six   that if there are kiddos from those areas if  their parents are watching or guardians that   this would be a great opportunity for a summer  activity for them yes and it is important to   note as well that our summer camps are fully  licensed childcare providers through KDH so   um so it's important to note that it is a safe  environment for kids for for the child care um   and they do the different camps offer different  hours so I believe one of the camps is more like   a 10 to five structure and then the other is like  a more full daycare structure of like 7 to 6 thank   you Katie any further questions for staff i  see none we'll open it up for public comment   i see none this is in districts 1 three and six  would any of those council members like to move Thank you um I would like to take the recommended  action i move to approve the vendor selection   approve approve the contract and authorize  the necessary signatures second motion and   a second any further discussion i see none mr  clerk please open the role motion passes 70 mr   clerk please call the next item 2025 2026  second program year HUD annual action plan good morning Mayor and Council uh my name is  Andrew Tyrie i'm a management analyst with the   Housing and Community Services Department and  as was mentioned I'm here to uh discuss the   2526 2nd program year annual action plan before  we get too too deep into it just a little bit of   background um the city receives an allocation of  funds for community development activities from   the US Department of Housing and Urban Development  otherwise known as HUD uh these funding activities   align uh with the city's goal of creating a  livable and sustainable community and these   funds are used to create strong sustainable  inclusive communities and affordable housing   so we operate off of a couple of different  planning documents wanted to kind of give a brief   uh touch briefly on those as well um first you  might remember uh this time last year um I was   here we were here um for the consolidated plan  um every five years we have to submit what is   known as the consolidated plan to HUD and what  that plan is it identifies community development   needs affordable housing needs uh homeless needs  and other priorities of the city so basically it   sets our goals and priorities for a fiveyear  five-year period um what's next is just like   it says the annual action plan that's a yearly  plan that we have to submit um the annual action   plan is also required by HUD um that plan details  projects and activities um proposed that to you   know meet the strategic needs and goals that are  identified in the cons and consolidated plan um   with the action plan it has to go hand inand with  the cons consolidated plan so we can't um you know   propose any activities or projects that don't  align with the consolidated plan without doing   what's called a substantial amendment um so just  kind of keep that in mind as we're looking through   this um but these plans serve as the application  for funding um for the federal entitlement   programs listed here um first with the community  development block grants otherwise known as CDBG   um that's a very flexible funding source we can  use that for a wide range of community development   needs we also have the home investment partnership  or home program um that's for strictly for the   uh it's used to create affordable housing for  lowincome individuals and then lastly we have   the emergency solutions grant or ESG and that's  used uh specifically for homelessness services so planning process um we have a public  comment period that began on March 28th   2025 and ran through last night um March 5th or  May 5th excuse me 2025 um during that time we   um solicited public comment um I attended staff  attended April DAB meetings um at the districts   listed there u district 2 we provided a a  recording of our presentation for comments   and then uh last night I attended the DAB meeting  at district 5 um second program year action plan   um that's due to HUD no later than uh 60 days  after HUD publishes the final allocations for   the period of July 1st 2025 through June 30th  2026 that is our program year um I'll touch   on it a little bit here in a minute but we as of  today we still do not have those final allocation amounts so um kind of wanted to camp out here  just for a minute um we're we're doing things   a little bit differently this year than we  have in previous years um in previous years   um we would have funds that were allocated but  not yet under contract um if if you know for   whatever reason if those funds weren't utilized  in that program year um they were held open in   the year allocated so those kind of those were  um classified as prior year resources and then   so for example CDBG funds we have six years  to spend out those funds and so you'll have   um from program year to program year you'll  have funds that like I said don't get don't   get expended so those are kind of fall into  that prior year funding category and so after   a while that can be um kind of burdensome to  track internally and so this year what we're   what we're doing um in order to ease that burden  and also to meet expenditure deadlines because   we can run into timeliness issues um with these  funding um allocations so any funding that was   previously allocated but not yet under contract  we've swept those and reallocated those into   the current program year that we're looking  at today and so um those are shown as prior   year resources so you're going to see some um  amounts that are larger than normal and that's   because we're we're putting all those prior  year resources in this this next program year budget award amounts like I touched on um already  um they've not yet been released um so what we   have to do in this kind of a situation um we have  to use current current program year amounts which   you see on your screen for CDBG home and ESG um  for program year 2425 which we are in currently   um this was our allocation that we received  so for the purpose of discussion and planning   um we're using those current funding amounts  um and it kind of it details it more in the   agenda report but um in the event that um when  we do get these get our um next program year   um amounts released to us in the event that  those come in at least 20% higher or lower   um we'll have to reopen the public comment period  and do this all over again so um you you all will   see me at your dabs again um so probably um  you're probably hoping that doesn't happen so   um but that's that's what we'll have to go through  this whole process all over again so um again in   the agenda report it highlights um what what will  happen in that scenario a little more in detail   um so the next few slides um we're going to  going through CDBG home and ESG um activities   and uh funding amounts resources so I'm going to  be detailing those in in the upcoming slides but   we're going to start with CDBG um as I mentioned  this is used for a wide range of community   development needs um in order for an activity or  a project to meet um um eligibility for CDBG it   has to be has to meet one of three national  objectives which are on your screen there uh   it must be used for eligible spending activities  um at least 70% of spending must benefit low to   moderate income individuals and when it comes to  public services CDBG public services dollars here   in the city of Witchaw we are traditionally public  services heavy um we have a we're capped at public   services at that 1.1 million um amount annually  um that's that's about 30% of our approximate   award um nationally the public services cap is  15% so but we're grandfathered in at that 30%   um which means we have um a little more that  we can spend towards public services which   is good um but we'll start under infrastructure  projects with CDBG um we are looking to allocate   um a little over $633,000 um for infrastructure  projects um those projects can include and not   but not be limited to park improvements bus  shelters uh sidewalks street paving storm water   sewer drainage sewer drainage projects those  types of of projects there um demolition and   clearance um we're looking to allocate $100,000  uh historically we operate underouin building   and construction development or MABCD um their  staff um sites those structures that that are   um looking to be demoed and clear and cleared and  so that's what that allocation amount would go towards uh we're looking to allocate um  we have some section 108 loan proceeds um   that we're that we have so we're looking  to allocate 620 almost 621,000 of those   along with a CDBG allocation of just under  $380,000 that totals to a million dollars   we're looking to put that towards the um  Plane View Community Center so that's going   to be to support the construction  of that new um center in Plane View neighborhood uh CDBG allocation of  1 million um will go towards um uh   to build non- congregate shelter um  as this is going to be at the multi-   agency center site the MAC site um but yeah  that's what we're looking to do with that   and you can see how all that breaks down  under public facil or under infrastructure   projects um a little over 2.7 million are  looking to go towards um those projects there next we have housing activities um  we're looking to um allocate one point a   little over 1.2 million and this is  for our home repair program um as a   reminder the home repair program assists  um low to moderate income home homeowners   um with critical home repairs and so that's  um a very um important uh program in our   community and so um we're looking to  like I said 1 over 1.2 million for that under acquisition disposition  and rehabilitation um we're looking to   uh allocate the some priority  resources towards towards these   uh this um these projects here a little over  1.2 million for that and this is all about   um creating sustaining um uh new affordable  housing or current affordable housing opportunities and there's how that breakdown looks  a little under 2.5 million for housing activities next CDBG administration um HUD allows  up to uh 20% of our allocation to be   used towards administration costs and  there's um how that breaks down a little   under 595,000 for program management and  indirect costs and there's that breakdown again cdbg public services i kind of  touched on this uh earlier um we we're   at that public services cap there of a  little over 1.1 million um it's allocated   um with the programs below um first is the housing  first program delivery at 103,000 that um funds   our full-time housing first um employee in our  department um subreient public services 475,000   um we have a good mix right now  of domestic violence providers   um youth providers and homeless providers as  well under that um under those public services   subreient dollars as a reminder last uh spring  we had an RFP for that $475,000 um we convened   the grants review committee which came together  looked over all the applicants that responded to   that RFP and they got together and determined uh  the funding amounts and um that was for a two-year   uh funding cycle so that was this current program  year and this next uh program year that we're   discussing today um however it's kind of hard  to believe we're going to be looking at the next   three years of our consolidated consolidated plan  the final three years and so we will be putting   out another RFP for those services late this  year um so we'll be also looking to reconvene   the grants review committee again so I'll be um  getting in touch with all the all the dis all   you council members there to um recommend some  uh grants review nominees um so just a heads up   on that um but moving forward still under public  services um we have $385,000 that goes towards   um community service representatives and admin  assistance at Atwater Culvin and Evergreen and   then we have $200,000 for the way to work  program um that's going to be ramping up   here soon uh next month you will see um youth  workers in the building again this summer and   so that that's for the um way to work program  and there's our public services uh dollars breakdown lastly under CDBG um we have we still  have a little over a half a million dollars in   CDWBG CARES money um if you recall back in 2020  2021 uh the city received around 3.6 million   in CARES money this was funding that was used to  address CO 19 specifically um all these funds have   to be expended by June 24th 2026 so a little  over a year from now um like I said we still   have a little over half a million um one of the  challenges with this funding is that you have to   tie it to COVID and so um this has kind of been  a challenge with um with all the providers that   have this kind of funding um and so last fall  um I was actually able to attend uh technical   assistance at the HUDfield office um and kind  of brainstorm on how we can get these funds out   the door and so uh homeless activities was one of  the um common uses for for this kind of the idea   behind this if you have less people in shelters  less people in encampments that's less risk of   illnesses including COVID being spread and so  um we're looking to allocate that uh 504,000   to the um activities there on your screen and  these are all for like I said homeless homeless services and there's how um that  breaks down there with the um CV money all right next we have home investment   partnerships or the home program again  as a reminder these are funds that are   um for the creation of um affordable housing for  low to moderate income individuals um and that's   uh that $11 million there that you'll see on  the screen that's just um that's not just um   our allocation amount that's again like  with CDBG it's previous year's funding   that were not under contract we're sweeping  that all into um this next year's uh budget uh HUD allows 10% of program administration and  indirect cost um to be applied uh for home and   there's that total there uh home duplex engagement  um this was actually um something that we tweaked   a little bit under our comment period um this is  an interdep departmental collaboration between   us and planning and so we um due some feedback  we got in our comment period we've um changed   that to the 35,000 there um and then some of these  programs that you are um probably pretty familiar   with home ownership down payment assistance uh  multif family rental rehab uh tenant based rental   assistance and then we still have home ARP funding  a little under 4.7 million that we're looking to   allocate um this is for the development of  25 units of non- congregate shelter and 50   units of permanent supportive housing and again  that's at the um multi- agency center site as well and lastly under home um we have  the housing development loan program and   uh community housing development organiza  organization or CHTO set aside and that's   a little over 1.6 million there and just a  reminder for HDLP these funds can be used   um by nonprofit or for-profit developers and  this is for the development of affordable housing   um rental or home buyer units and it can be re  rehabilitation and new construction and there is a   minimum u for the CHOT set aside um minimum 15% of  the total home allocation and CHOs as a reminder   um there are some requirements for to be a  CHTO and those are on the screen uh there   just some things with um with CHTOS um they have  to reertify for each project that they're involved   with um and so there are some like I said some  requirements there um currently just for example   Menon Knight and Jacob's Ladder are a couple  of photos that we're working with right now and there's how the home allocations total out and lastly um emergency solutions grants are  ESG and again this is for homeless um this is can   be used to address homelessness um some of the  services um or activities that we can use ESG   for is homeless services um that includes shelter  operations outreach essential services homeless   prevention which which sounds exactly like it is  that prevents um families that are in danger of   becoming homeless that prevents them helps prevent  them from becoming homeless with rent and utility   assistance and then we have the rapid rehousing  program a rapid rehousing which um focuses on   um short-term rent and utility assistance  for folks that are um literally homeless we'll start with homeless prevention and the  amount of $50,000 i mentioned earlier about   the RFP that went out for CDBG public services  last spring the RFP also went out for homeless   prevention dollars um the Catholic Charities St  anony's Family Shelter was chosen to administer   um those funds which they did for uh this program  year 2425 however they have however they have   declined to continue that service for 2526 and  so as a department we needed to um find a good   use for these funds and so what we're looking to  do is pilot a program uh that will be addressing   our community's uh return to homelessness rate  which right now sets at sits at about 25% so   um we're looking to um kind of help with that  that that problem there so this program is going   to be for those who were previously homeless um  and are in danger of becoming homeless again so   um trying to prevent that obviously so um  $50,000 will be going towards that pilot program also under ESG we have um encampment  and unsheltered coordination um and this funding   will go towards staff costs um for engaging  persons in encampments coordinating resources   and service providers basically it's it's in the  hope to um we have someone in an encampment it's   the hopes hopes of um giving them resources so  that they can get into um permanent housing so   they're not just going from one encampment to  the next and so um that's what we're looking   to do there with those dollars and lastly under  ESG we have rapid rehousing um $35,15 and that's   funding to be made available for rent and utility  assistance again for those that are literally   um homeless um this is to enable them to move  into permanent housing and then we also have   program administration and indirect charges  for ESG at 7.5% um so that's a little under   $20,000 that we're looking that we allocate  for that as well and there's um how that breaks down uh so during our public comment period I  kind of touched on it earlier um DAB meetings   um attended those in April and then um  one in May um we uh did receive u some   feedback during our comment period  um just put a few of those comments   uh those comments on the screen touched on  the the one uh with planning department um   YMCA Kansas bigs our hot team all um  sent in some some feedback for us as well financial considerations there is no  impact on the general fund um and and touched   on it earlier but in the event actual allocations  are at least 20% higher or lower than estimated   um we must restart the citizen participation  process and come back before city council again   uh again the agenda report further defines how um  variances in funding amounts less than 20% will be handled legal considerations all funding  agreements uh will be approved as to formed   by the law department and the recommendation  which is kind of a long one uh is recommended   that the city council close the public hearing  approve the approximate funding allocations   authorize staff to make adjustments to  funding allocations as described in the   financial consideration section upon receipt  of HUD grant allocations approve associated   budgets and authorize staff to make any  necessary budget adjustments and authorized   submission of the 2526 annual action plan  to the US Department of Housing and Urban   Development and authorize the funding  agreements and necessary signatures and   at this time um I'll entertain any questions  i believe I have some backup in case in case   uh need to call a lifeline or whatever so um but  yeah thank you for the presentation we'll begin   with Council Member Ballard thank you Mayor thank  you for the presentation that is very overwhelming   so I can only imagine so what would you say to  a lot of that funding appears to be part of the   information that we got about funding that could  maybe be jeopardized um the CBDG funds i mean all   of the things that you talked about are incredibly  important to um our community and I know we don't   know anything like for sure but what would we do  what do we do that's very scary uh yeah um so I   don't know exactly um all the answers right and I  know that you know the president just released um   his his budget there and it was for I think all of  it yeah um so I don't know if Sally has anything   to add but we we would just have to we would  just have to basically you know adjust for sure thank you Sally staying with Housing and  Community Services Department for the record   yes we're seeing dire things coming from the  president's recommended budget however the funding   allocations for program year that starts July  1st is covered under the continuing resolution   um that was passed earlier this year and  so that's why we were comfortable moving   forward with approximate budgets similar to what  they were last year i would not be doing I will   not be doing this next year actually coming out  ahead of the allocations because I think we will   be spinning our wheels at that point this year  we feel comfortable moving forward that those   allocations will come in um within that 20%  limit um we also don't like to have to delay   so last year there was a delay in when they  allocated funds and then there were other delays   in HUD processing the consolidated plan where we  didn't receive our our actual um grant agreements   until October 29th for programs that had to start  July 1st that really made it very challenging so   this year we wanted to make sure we're comfortable  moving forward um the way we have if something   were to happen because honestly I I cannot predict  what's going to come out um we would be starting   that process over and coming back okay wonderful i  just have two more quick questions did we exhaust   all of our money for the demos um in previous  years we did not and that um you know we had a   couple of years where we had funds still where we  talked about where they were just held open from   the past years made it really really challenging  to to track you know from funding year 22 from 20   you know funding year 23 so we made that decision  to pretty much close out those previously approved   allocations and reallocate fresh to make it  easier to track okay my last question is can   you speak at all to St anony's declining the  um to continue moving forward honestly they   said it was too administratively burdensome to  to administer and it truly is there are a lot   of federal requirements for ESG including a 100%  match for our um for the uh grantee to be able   to provide so between having to do inspections  and all of the documentation having to provide a   100% match it's very very challenging and so you  know this year it is it is a pilot we're trying   to solve an issue that's hit our continuum of care  hard which is that 25% return to homelessness rate   so if we can get in and and that homeless  prevention can be used to move someone who   might be in danger of being um evicted to be able  to collaborate and and mediate with the landlord   to say "Hey if we can get them moved to another  unit can we forego the eviction?" It is really   um giving us that opportunity to do that this  year yeah do you think it is more um like   workload heavy or it wasn't enough to compensate  for all of the work or both both okay thank you   council member Ho Heisel thank you Mayor um thank  you guys it's a presentation actually especially   at DABS or is um a lot more consolidated than it  has been in the years past so our dad was able   to follow along relatively easily this year so I  appreciate that uh two quick questions one and you   touched on it a little bit what are the chances  you think that we're going to be outside that 20%   high or lower and have to come back to this is it  great is it minuscule just based that the the this   year's funding is in the continuing resolution i  I really do think we're going to be within the 20%   range for this year next year don't know okay uh  second question how much um did we spend down out   of out of last year's home repair program did we  exhaust that funding or was there some left over   there definitely was some left over so we actually  um the pri prior to this current year the year   before that so from July in July of 2023 um HUD  actually put a halt on our home repair program due   to some environmental we phase tier one and tier 2  environmental review requirements so that program   was down um they allowed us to reopen in February  we took that opportunity when we were down doing   the environmental work to restructure the program  because prior um it the program was limited to a   $5,000 repair and it had been $5,000 for like  20 years and there's not much you can do for   $5,000 anymore and so we took that opportunity to  completely revamp the program created an online   application uh new rankings in um emergency  situations but also broadened it to allow   people to do up to a $25,000 project and so we  are about we reopened the waiting list for that   in February we had our first projects after  completing tier 2 environmentals on specific   projects putting them out to bid and all of that  so we really didn't hit um projects starting until   about March of that program year which um only  gave us a couple of months of spending so we had   carry forward money from that year that rolled  into this year and then what we're seeing so   we're in the process of evaluating that program  right now um because we're seeing many people are   not taking advantage of the ability to go to  those higher amounts so we're evaluating the   reasons behind that and going to be making some  recommendations on tweaking that program plan so   that people are doing comprehensive renovations  and not just putting a band-aid on something so   there is money carrying forward and once again  we decided rather than trying to track that from   the past year sweep it all and reallocate in  the current okay I appreciate that yeah I've   heard maybe two issues with it one is people  who are on the waiting list for a while and   um I think that was a concern is just being on the  waiting list for a while the second one was that   a lot of these projects are not eligible because  people don't have homeowners insurance and that's   kind of the issue like they can't get homeowners  insurance because of a lot of the the needs for   repairs like a leaky roof and whatnot well what  we've learned through this though is most of the   insurance companies are willing once they to  ensure it once they know the work is coming   so that really isn't as much of a of the issue  because the insurance companies will come back to   the table once you give them the plan of the work  that's going to be done it is more about people's   ability to pay for their homeowners insurance okay  so I So yes there will be some consultation with   that I suppose absolutely okay glad to hear about  that change all right thank you Sally i have a   list of questions i'll start with Sally um we're  known as an entitlement city can you explain what   that means and can you give us com comparables  how much does Tulsa Oklahoma get versus Kansas   City Kansas/Mouri sides i'm just curious we would  actually have to So an entitlement city is a city   of over 50,000 people easy and by having over  50,000 people you are entitled to receive a   piece of the pie and so uh Congress allocates  a dollar amounts for these different programs   and then depending on the number of cities and  their individual populations and sometimes other   criteria they divide up the pie um and so even  uh you know the continuing resolution said it   continued funding at last year's funding level for  these programs but what can affect that that's why   I say it's not going to be exactly was what it  was last year is more communities have hit the   $50,000 or 50,000 person population and so you  have more more people taking a bite of the pie   and so even if it is 100% funding we would see a  slight decrease just because there are a couple   of additional um cities that entered into that  pool different funding um amounts the HUD does   not actually publish their formula on how they  calculate that and it is it is obviously different   and we've heard them talk about for example ESG  ESG is not just the emergency solutions grant   is not just about population it's also about the  data in the HMIS system that is you know showing   the need within the community so they take some  other factors that aren't exactly published and so   uh same holds true with um the home program  and they're looking at other factors around the   availability of affordable um housing at different  income levels and they use a formula to determine   what each entitlement community receives comparing  it to I'd have to look it up but we can definitely   um HUD publishes that from entitlement city to  entitlement city right on the HUD exchange and   you can look at different communities and see  what they're getting there are actually four   buckets that are available as an entitlement um we  don't hit the qualifier for HOPWA funds which is h   housing opportunities for people with AIDS we only  receive funding under the three others there are   other communities that might receive CDBG funds  and receives no home funds but that is all spelled   out on the allocations page of the HUD exchange  thank you i think it would be interesting for the   other council members to also get that information  if you have that um I've been getting emails   about individuals who think that we're not doing  anything with homelessness and as I've gotten this   presentation and we're all hearing it at the same  exact time there's a lot of dollars that are being   spent on helping individuals with homelessness  who are experiencing homelessness so how can   we get the message out of these are we have been  investing in homelessness and we have been helping   with homelessness and I guess the frustration  with community is they think that we're not   doing anything with homelessness so can you help  me Sally i don't disagree can I start and then   I'll turn over to you mayor in response to some  concerns you expressed similar in a similar manner   end of last week we put together um a response  first of all to deal with the questions about   encampments and what we've done since January  on encampments and how much we've spent how much   um uh how many hours and how many tons have  been removed from encampments and um that'll   be the first thing that we're going to share  and then we also are going to talk about what   um we have in terms of funding for homelessness  programs and then I believe the MAC is going to   come in and talk about their transition and  what they're working through so I think there   were some other questions that you had asked  specifically but in terms of getting the word   out once we share that with you and the council  then we want to put something together that can   be shared with the community to understand that we  are taking the issue very seriously um and I think   one of the things we want to highlight is this  new position that's being created to try to move   people directly from encampments into housing and  uh how we'll also work with partners to make sure   the necessary resources are there to make them  be successful sally that I that was the backdrop   for what I think we're providing um I feel it  too uh it is I I always say one of our biggest   weaknesses in our department is we're always so  busy doing we sometimes we forget to stop and   celebrate right and and get that word out there um  it's also part of the strategic goals uh that are   part of this year's budget process and so I have  asked to be placed on the board agenda for the   continuum of care uh to have a discussion about a  public facing dashboard that um can can represent   you know the inflows and outflows of people  entering homelessness what types of services are   um you know are actually happening happening  on every day because it is happening every day   um we can see what comes of that thank you Sally  can you go to um slide number 148 so that's in   particular to the um comment that the city manager  just mentioned this is a new position when will   that begin last Monday yes she started uh Lacy  Stanberry we we actually this to me this is a   success story several years ago we started the  social work internship program um Lacy was with   us for a year while she worked on her masters in  social work she applied for this position and has   moved into this role and so she's able to hit  the ground running because she is um familiar   with a lot of the agencies the players and even  the other departments so she we will be you know   moving very quickly with her in this role we're  also um back uh hiring a couple of housing case   managers as well that will be resources for her  because aside once we get somebody housed we need   to make sure that they have the appropriate case  management and wraparound services can you address   maybe with how this uh particular role will help  with when community members see an encampment   um there is outreach so it's not just cleaning  up an encampment but there's actual outreach can   you explain how that ecosystem kind of works so  that people understand we're not just cleaning   up encampments but we're really really trying  to help individuals connect to the resources   that are available in our community um and then  unfortunately they're breaking a law so that is   part of the encampment cleanup well that is the  goal i we are working collaboratively to to create   the strategic plan for how we're addressing and  closing encampments um and taking care of the   people that are there um making sure that we are  doing that outreach on site taking the resources   we learned a lot from Mandy Chapman Simple who  came and spoke um at the housing conference last   month on how they deploy directly within you know  the encampment space and trying but understanding   that that is not an overnight it is not going to  happen overnight we can't send our new encampment   coordinator into an encampment of 30 people and  expect in a day or two it's going to take months   to get them engaged get them qualified figure  out what uh you know whatever resources that   they need try and make sure we're addressing that  to be able to move them whether it's directly to   shelter or directly into housing the priority  be um the individuals who are have encampments   that are posing an immediate health risk or safety  risk for instance uh just yesterday I had another   encampment um notification regarding encampments  underneath Douglas Street or the Douglas Bridge   at the river um and so again that would be if I  remember correctly the ordinance has changed now   correct is it 48 or 20 48 hours cleanup mayor if  you give me just a second I actually have a report   on that one for you i believe that was because  of its location i believe that was an immediate   notice and I believe that notice was f was served  yesterday well I reported that on Sunday of not   this last week but the week before when we were  celebrating the 50th anniversary of Shocker   rowing so that's more than a week yes but that  has to do with the backlog i believe we're I'm   looking at that process right now it's because it  has to be authorized by the police department and   primarily by the hot by hot and so the chief is  looking at why the delay in that one camp so in   that situation um if something like that happens  I would now that there's a new role uh that Lacy's   going to fill can that be an immediate interaction  so I'm not specifically asking for the encampments   where there are 30 not posing an immediate health  risk at the current moment uh sidewalk etc can can   Lacy get out there right away and connect with  the individual and say "Here are some resources   the MAC is available the MAC has 247 sheltering  um and there's always a bed available." So can can   you address that because I think that community is  getting very um frustrated they think that there   are resources or maybe they're not resources and  I keep sharing that there are resources and this   this council has invested nearly $13 million  towards a solution sure so first you know the   encampment closure strategy that we have in  draft right now one of the key components of   that is the evaluation of encampments for exactly  what you're saying where are the situations where   this is putting either the people staying there  or the public at risk and those are the ones that   need to be addressed and prioritized on the list  lacy is not the only one we are also needing to   engage coordinated outreach through the continuum  of care and other agencies as part of that process   lacy for us is that conduit between hot team  uh parks and wreck the um and the agencies in   the community to try and um connect all of those  things working in the same direction right um to   address those most dire situations sally do you  want to talk about triage too especially veterans   uh so part of Yes um that's the other piece to  it is as as they go into encampments and try and   identify people who are there uh the new homeless  out the homeless encampment tool which is a the   expansion on HMIS will allow us to actually drop  a pin to identify this person was here once we   identify the person the next step is is there a  resource that can serve that individual person   because resources come from different sources so  for veterans there are resources there is SSVF and   VASH vouchers that there has been been no delay or  no stay right we all of our other resources have   been kind of on hold for a short period of time  um except those veteran resources so once we hear   that there's a veteran and that was true even at  um the emergency winter shelter if we were made if   if data was entered into the system that picked  that this is a veteran we can then send those   resources same holds true for what they call youth  which is 18 to 24 year olds crossroads and the   Witchaw Children's Home has has resources specific  to that population when we find out or run into   either in an encampment or in shelter that we have  someone that fits that demographic we're reaching   out to that organization to try and get them  into that you know enrolled into their programs   or engaged with that person so that's part of  of the whole strategy it's it is complicated   we're talking lots of people lots of locations  and um uh and uh the priorities can be pulling   from one direction and and in another so trying  to balance all of that is the challenge thank you   Sally can I go to uh slide 135 now I also wanted  to let community know um besides homelessness   youth pre crime prevention youth uh involvement is  also a priority and so you can see that there are   $200,000 being allocated for youth programming  from YMCA Big Brothers Big Sisters Prime Fit   Youth Foundation and even Plane View Culvin Kids  Club so I know it's hard to allocate the $475,000   and spread it out uh equally but I think that it's  important as we've been talking about homelessness   so much we are also talking about how to prevent  individuals from ever becoming homeless and so   these are some prevention methods um can you  talk about you know the balance that we have   to have here because um there are we're trying  to do prevention but also there are individuals   who are already experiencing some things um  in our community sure one thing that I find   really fascinating so in the last um consolidated  plan of that covered from 2019 to 2024 our public   services was restricted based on public feedback  to youth crime prevention and enrichment domestic   violence shelter services and homelessness  well we had some feedback during that five-year   period that said "But you're not making these  resources available for things outside of that."   So when we did the RFP last year we actually  and created the uh consolidated plan we lifted   that requirement but isn't it interesting that the  grants review committee still recommended funding   those three areas over and we did we received  applications for other public services but they   still honed in even though it wasn't a requirement  to fund these type of activities absolutely   um you know youth crime youth enrichment and  crime prevention huge huge need uh and you can   see it in in those recommendations $475,000 a year  isn't a lot um but these funds help those programs   continue they can use that to leverage other  funding and if we can get at you know people   when they're struggling when they're young it's  much easier than addressing it when they're older   and and trauma and challenges are even more  deeply rooted and more challenging to overcome   so very very important uh you know domestic  violence is in there again huge need for our   community it actually overlaps with homelessness  because someone fleeing domestic violence actually   meets HUD's definition of homeless um so again  more more funds going in that direction so   it is a balancing act and it's not a t an easy  decision there were some really great applications   submitted for funding there's just not enough  funding to go around thank you for what you   guys do Sally um which is why I'm going to ask for  slide number 141 regarding the duplex plans um I   think this is an innovative solution can you talk  about um earlier in today's council meeting we   were talking about design fees they are expensive  um so if someone has a plan already you don't have   to pay for the design fees or you can modify very  um with very little cost can you talk about this   um duplex idea and how that can help with more  housing number one but also with uh reduction in   costs this one's amusing to me too um this stemmed  from actually uh planning director Scott Wadel   came to a homelessness uh task force subcommittee  on housing and he did a presentation on zoning   because often that's that's a topic um and we  you know zoning by whether you can do duplexes   by right and there you know there are different  conversations happening out there and in that   conversation he was kind of threw out there and  said hey you know what if you know what if there   were plans available that had already been vetted  with neighborhoods to be able to do duplexes even   on single family lots and and this sort of thing  well we didn't talk after that um necessarily   about this particular thing and I thought you know  what that's really interesting and I believe if we   do that um and and do it to build affordable  duplexes for um qualifying families that we   could do that we could invest so that we could  have some pre-approved plans that would then we   could then make avail that that we own and could  make available to developers building affordable   housing and um so I put and that's the difference  i had put $30,000 in our and that comes out of our   home admin and planning line item to to invest in  this idea come to find out Scott was going down   the same path um on his side of the world and  his his plan and request for actually a program   option was for $35,000 and I said you know what  we can we I can move some things around to make   that happen on our side so it was just interesting  that we it came out of a community conversation in   a task force meeting we both kind of had the same  idea started heading in the same direction and   now we've come together to say yeah let's do this  together i wanted you to talk about that because   that is exactly what um the collaborative piece is  two different departments coming together we have   a problem the problem is we need more housing  and so when we can come together like that and   find dollars that are already being allocated to  help with housing how can we be better partners   thank you very much for thinking innovatively  because I know that there are developers out   there more smaller developers that want to build  housing but maybe don't have the dollars to   uh invest in design fees right away so this would  be a great opportunity so I'm excited about this   council member Hohheisle thank you Mayor uh  just piggybacking off of that and talking about   this program does it tie in with the places for  people program at all or it would in that places   for people really talks about being able to use  different types housing types to try and fill that   gap as well as the idea around infill housing  so we're not talking about taking these plans   out to a green field and building duplex duplex d  you know this is about how can we where there are   already you know infrastructure in place is there  the avail the ability to be able to build a duplex   where there in an established neighborhood and  we're able to provide housing to two different   households whether that's owner owner owner  you know renter renter or owner renter you   know that's the beauty of behind a duplex is you  can structure those in many different ways council   member we plan on bringing something forward this  summer at a workshop to talk to revisit the places   for people plan um there were some discussions  in that plan about duplex by right in certain   zoning districts we never pulled the trigger  on that there was some concerns I think in some   neighborhoods initially but I this is I think a  really good time to have that discussion again and   talk about how we can bring a little more density  into redevelopment efforts and especially do it in   a way where if you're allowed by right and you're  working with us on pre-approved plans I don't know   how we could streamline the process anymore okay  well I appreciate that so that'll be focusing on   some of the permitting and again zoning zoning  by right possibly yeah I I don't think we want   to take the whole plan at one workshop and  revisit but I do what we plan on doing are   picking out some items that feed to the council's  goals and strategies regarding affordable housing   and we'll be focused on a number of those  recommendations from that plan okay I'll save   my remarks and thoughts for that that workshop  appreciate it thank you Council Member Glascock   thank you Mayor i'll also say my comments for  the workshop but it's very generally supportive um and then just last but not least sorry I have  a lot of questions so uh slide number 151 this was   in regards to um better communication about  the AAP i really think this is a great idea   um I know I asked at the beginning we do  spend a lot of dollars or invest a lot of   dollars regarding homelessness and maybe people  just don't know about that um could we work with   communications department and see if there's  something there to make it um instead of all the   uh details more high level on the big topic items  domestic violence being one of them homelessness   um youth uh crime prevention if we could make it  maybe break it down like that and even affordable   housing it might be helpful for community to  see how these dollars are uh impactful in the   community and that we do appreciate these federal  dollars and we're being very intentional about um   allocating those dollars of course thank you very  much that is it on my questions anyone else see   none thank you we'll open it up for public comment  i see none i'll bring it back to the bench council   member Johnson thanks Mayor due to a personal  conflict of interest I must abstain to this vote i will move to close the public hearing  approve the approximate funding allocations   authorize staff to make adjustments  to funding allocations as described   in the financial consideration section  upon receipt of HUD grant allocations   approve associated budgets and authorize staff  to make any necessary budget adjustments and   authorize submission of the 2025 2026 annual  action plan to the US Department of Housing   and Urban Development and authorize the funding  agreements and necessary signatures second motion   and a second any further discussion  i see none mr clerk please open the role before we continue can we maybe get  a 15minut break uh we'll take a 15minute   break we'll come back at 12:30 uh to  resume the council meeting thank you home program funding for Commonwealth Development  Corporation of America Ark River residents hi Mayor and Council my name is Carmen Hoffine i'm   the real property section manager with  the Department of Housing and Community Services so I'm here to present the  home program conditional commitment for   Commonwealth Development Corporation of America  Ark River Residences a little bit of background   on May 14th 2024 the city council approved final  allocations from the 2024 2025 annual action plan   which included approximately 1.4 4 million in home  investment partnership program funding for the   housing development loan program which is HLP the  HLP is designed to provide subsidies for infill   housing projects to support the development of  real estate that is idle or underutilized and to   provide needed housing for underserved populations  hdlp funding is available for nonprofit or   for-profit organizations the loan structure is  dependent on the type of project to be financed   historically the funding has been made available  within the boundaries of the city's redevelopment   incentives area neighborhood revitalization area  or local investments areas funding requests are   received on an open application basis commonwealth  Development Corporation of America submitted   an an HDLP application for Ark River Residences  ahead of the 2025 tax credit application process   ark River Residences is a proposed 42 unit  apartment project designed for families and it's   to be located at 5136 South Broadway the project  includes two multif family residential buildings   and one non-residential building the development  will address the critical need for affordable   rental housing in Witchah as highlighted by HUD's  comprehensive housing affordability strategy data   which identifies over 28,000 households with  unmet housing needs in the area this project   will provide highquality affordable homes in a  wellresourced community for underserved families   the site is situated in a primarily residential  and retail neighborhood offering convenient   access to essential services and amenities the  de development is less than half a mile from a   grocery store shopping pharmacy childcare center  and a park and this ensures residents have easy   access to daily necessities public transportation  is readily available with a nearby bus station   and the site is just one mile from I135 providing  a short 12-minute drive to downtown Witchaw by   integrating into a well-resourced community the  development will support the long-term stability   and well-being of its future residents wan Omega  is the proposed property management agent for this   development they are a Witchaw based company  with extensive experience managing LITC and   affordable housing properties next I'm going to  turn it over to Commonwealth Representative Liz Peterson hi Mayor and Council thank  you for having me today liz Peterson   development services manager  with Commonwealth Development so we are a national leader of creating affordable  housing and uh Mayor Woo I know you asked   um when I was speaking on behalf of the uh the  multif family revenue bonds you asked why Witchah   and so I did just want to add a little bit more to  that so this is uh part of our strategic expansion   so we are uh building a portfolio we have some  neighboring states um already with properties that   we own and have developed in Colorado Oklahoma and  Texas and we Omega as mentioned um Witchah based   we work with them in our Oklahoma uh properties  and so it just made sense to continue working   with a trusted partner um and expand into the  Witchah market and again uh long-term owner and   the properties that we develop are affordable for  a minimum of 15 years um as part of the um LITC program so for the unit mix that we'll be  presenting um one two and three bedrooms at   a range of 30 to 60% of area median income and you  can see the rents displayed uh so it is important   to us to have this wide range of income targeting  and uh based on a recent market study that we had   completed by a third party group um this is  this these 42 units represent 1% of the total   income eligible households in the community uh so  you know I think um council hohisel you mention   it's an elephant of a problem so we're just  trying to take you know one piece of of that   um and address that with this project so again  just um 1% um of the total eligible income   eligible households will be um impacted by this  project but you know one one step at a time and   um wanting to make sure that we have all  the amenities um that are essential for   housing stability so having a playground and  picnic area um and then again you know the   community amenities that are nearby grocery  child care shopping um all the things that   uh make a place a good place to live and I'll  talk a little bit more about the special need   population um the nonprofit service provider so  we would be looking to enter into a memorandum   of understanding so anou with a nonprofit service  provider that would be supporting 10% of the units   uh to serve this population um either with  physical or mental disabilities and some   service providers we have identified are listed  here um again just the stage that we are at in the   project um these are just still preliminary  conversations um but again just looking to   have that additional layer of services to  ensure housing stability for our residents so I'll just kind of flip through some compar  comparable units that Commonwealth Development has   brought so dishwasher um highly energyefficient  appliances so typically Energy Star rated um   appliances another thing that was interesting in  the market study that we recently did was in this   uh area within South Witchah um there hasn't been  a lot of new construction either market rate or   um litex you know subsidized um in over 10 years  and so I think it's important just to note that   um this project represents you know  new construction bringing high quality   amenity rich housing to the south witch  area in unit laundry that is always key so project timeline um we're just  a couple weeks away from submitting our   low-income housing tax credit application to  KHRC and they make their decisions in August   of 2025 and so where we stand today you know this  commitment uh conditional commitment um is really   important and I think you know the big picture  is that uh the home funds really do allow our   project to be competitive more competitive with  KHRC so this represents 10 additional points   um that we can claim on our low-inccome housing  tax credit application that we're submitting   again in just a few weeks so um these home funds  that you are uh conditionally approving today   are are very critical to the success of this  project and if we are selected for funding by   KHRC in August we plan to close winter of 2026 um  14-month construction duration so spring of 2027   um we'll be welcoming uh those residents and again  based on the demand um we project a 3 to four   month lease up so a very short lease up period um  and you know I think overall we're ready to close   um January 2026 um upon the tax credits from  KHRC as well as the home funds from the city   of Witchah and just a note here about uh M&A  design so we do have an in-house architectural   firm and this allows for a streamlined design  process so working with MABCD the city of   Witchah to make sure we have all the design and  permitting that is needed for the construction so talking about the sources and uses the the  dollars and cents in the project so a majority   of the sources for the project do come either from  federal or state litec equity so this is actually   private investment into the project um that is  approved by KHRC and so you know they really do   hold the keys um to this project being successful  and so again I just want to emphasize that while   you know the city of Witchah requests the $420,000  that we're requesting conditionally today um this   allows the project to be competitive um for K  KHRC so that additional 10 points that we can   um show that there's financial leverage it helps  the project be more financially feasible um and   then we are also requesting um home from KHRC and  then Ronogeeek Construction is our our general   contractor in the market so happy to answer  any questions at this time or um send it back   to Carmen you very much Liz and Carmen uh we'll  begin with Council Member Oh do we have more sorry there's just a little bit more to go okay so for  financial considerations there is no impact to the   general fund the total project cost is estimated  to be um approximately $12.5 million anticipated   funding sources include 420,000 requested city of  Witchaw home funds 600,000 for KHRC home national   housing trust fund 113 a little over $113,000  Commonwealth's deferred developer fee a little   over $7 million for federal LITC $4.3 million  approximately $4.3 million for state litec   and on March 31st 2025 the HDLP application  for this project was presented to the city's   affordable housing review board who reviewed  the application and developer presentation um   the affordable housing review board approved  the application and directed staff to refer   it to the city council to approve the director  of housing and community services issuance of   a conditional commitment letter new construction  of affordable rental housing is an eligible cost   under the home program a funding agreement will be  drafted approved as to form by the law department   and will be placed on the city council agenda for  approval on a future date provided Commonwealth   Development Corporation of America is successful  in securing all proposed sources of financing and   meets all the terms set forth in the conditional  commitment letter it is recommended that the   city council approve issuance of a conditional  commitment letter for home investment partnerships   program financing in the amount of $420,000  for the Commonwealth Development Corporation   of America Ark River Residences Project and  authorize the director of housing and community   services to sign and I'll stand for questions you  Carmen and thank you Liz we'll begin with council   member Hohheisel all right thank you Mayor thank  you Carmen and Liz good to see you again um so is   this a loan or is this a grant that we're giving  out this it's a loan okay okay um when what's the   the payback i guess when when do we have any  funds returned to it or is that something that   Sally will answer this question okay i'm more  interested in this fund moving forward as well   because I know there's a lot of projects out  there sure as well that have some Thank you   for the question Council Member Holmes as well  it is a 1% loan um per the we we follow the the   LITC requirements that um any loan be paid back  only from positive cash flow so they have to have   excess cash flow during operations otherwise  it is deferred until after the affordability   period okay yep that's the main question that  I have um yeah that's it appreciate it council   member Tuttle thank you carmen can I ask you a  quick question could you go to slide 161 please yes here we go thank you i think we all know  when it comes to housing there's lots of data   and lots of information the first bullet point  I don't think I've seen before it says there's   28,175 households with unmet housing needs in  the area could you just describe what does that   mean like what's the definition of unmet housing  needs and then where does that data point come   from okay i'm I'm just curious i'm I'm I'm not  at all questioning i've just never seen that   before and so it really struck me as what is unmet  housing needs so the uh HUD actually issues the   comprehensive housing uh strategy data we call it  the chass um they use uh census data to put that   information together unmet housing needs is pretty  broad it can mean paying more than 30% okay for   housing it can mean substandard housing um units  without full kitchen facilities you and they they   break that out in that report um it is and it is  challenging because no matter what source you look   at you're going to come up with a different number  of you know the housing needs in our community   but this one is quoting directly from that HUD  study and that's households not individuals right   correct so okay so you know when we're doing  great work from the bench here partnering with   communities and we get 50 more units or 42 more  units we got a long way to go to get to the 28,000   right right and you know there could be other  interventions to deal with someone's housing need   it could be a repair that then reduces that it  doesn't necessarily mean a new unit okay thank you   so much i appreciate it and thank you for all your  effort ally since you mentioned that you mentioned   also anyone paying over 30% um can you also  address maybe you also mentioned no kitchen yes so   if you're living say for instance like a dorm room  style uh you still have housing but you share a   kitchen um it's very customary with apartments by  WSU to have this type of format so does that take   that 28,000 into When they're talking incomplete  kitchen they're talking a single family home that   doesn't have full kitchen facilities units  that are either shared housing or dormatory   style they have access to those facilities so  they're not it's not a necessarily a need it's   just a different structure when you're looking  at the CHAZ report they're actually talking about   it doesn't have adequate plumbing i mean people  don't think that that kind of stuff happens but   it does still happen and there are still pockets  um and often times it's not necessarily known   because nobody's been in necessarily in a unit  until it's brought into to somebody's attention   that there are these significant deficiencies of  that particular unit being substandard you sally   council member Glascock thank you Mayor Sally  unfortunately um given that they're applying for   LITC credits in this and given the competition of  LITC credits and there isn't a difference between   public and private applications for LITC credits  would this compete also against our applications   for LITC credits we don't have any applications in  for the 9% okay um thank you for that question and   then this would probably be more of a general  question anybody cancel this but given that 11   million of it comes from LITC applications and  props not feasible unless they receive those   abs that is absolutely the first condition is they  have to receive the litech credits and the funding vice Mayor Johnston thank you Mayor what are the  expected rents expected to be at these units maybe   I missed it i think they were up there let me  see there right there on that slide so between   420 and,048 depending on the room bedroom size  the bedroom size and the targeted income level   so under uh tax credit projects you designate a  certain number of units to be targeted at people   less than 30% of area median income less than 40%  the deeper your your you often get more points if   you're going into those lower um uh set what  they call set aides so they're going to have   uh what is that add four five six seven units  that are designated for people who are making   under 30% of the area median income and therefore  the rents on those units even though they're one   two and threebedroom are significantly lower  than the rents for the people at 40% or 50%   or 60% area median income thanks thanks for  explaining that sorry i didn't understand thank you for that i think we have  no further questions from the bench   we will now open it up for public comment i see  no comments we'll bring it back to the bench this   is Council Member Johnson thanks Mayor due to a  personal conflict of interest I have to abstain   from this vote council member Hohheisel this  is your district thank you Mayor um I'd like   to take move that we take staff's recommended  action and approve issuance of a conditional   commitment letter for home investment  partnership program financing in amount of   $420,000 for the Commonwealth Development  Corporation of America Ark River Residences   Project and authorize the director of housing  and community services to sign second motion   and a second any further discussion  i see none mr clerk please open the role motion passes 5 to zero with one  abstension mr clerk please call the next item home program funding for 212 North Market LLC  212 North Market Project hello again i'm Carmen   Hoffine real property section manager with the  Department of Housing and Community Services   presenting the home program conditional commitment  for 212 North Market LLC 212 North Market just   so since I already shared quite a bit of this  I'm going to try to move this kind of quickly   um May 14th 2024 city council approved final  allocations from the 202425 annual action plan   which included approximately 1.4 4 million in  home and HDLP um funding the HLP is designed to   provide subsidies for infill housing projects  support development of real estate that is   idle or underutilized and provide needed  housing for underserved populations hlb   funding is available for nonprofit or for-profit  organizations um trying historically the funding   has been made available within the boundaries of  city's redevelopment incentives area neighborhood   vitalization area local investments areas funding  and requests are received open application basis   212 North Market LLC submitted an HDLP application  for 212 North Market ahead of the 2025 tax credit   application process 212 North Market has  proposed a 68 unit pro apartment project   the project is an adaptive reuse of a  historic structure the 212 North Market   project involves converting the historic  1925 Elks Lodge building located in the   central business district of Witchah into 68  affordable housing units the project is across   the street from the Lux which says is a recently  developed 80unit market rate apartment building   it's within walking distance from many residential  amenities including the Douglas Aven Avenue retail   district with restaurants entertainment and  shopping a market study completed in 2024 showed   the units would absorb quickly and address less  than 1% of the overall market need for affordable   housing the city has identified incremental  affordable housing as a core need aligning   closely with this project's goals the project also  supports the city's places for people community   revitalization plan by preserving historically  and architecturally significant building while   adding new housing opportunities funding for the  redevelopment will include the use of historic   tax credits further demonstrating the commitment  to preserving the building's historic character   menanite Housing a Witchaw based organization  with extensive experience in LITC and affordable   housing is an equity partner and is also the  proposed manager for the project with that I   will have um Byron Adrien come up as a  representative for 212 North Market LLC thank you Carmen good afternoon Mayor Council i'm Byron Adrian with Menanite Housing and  on the screen is a picture of the building at uh   212 North Market and this building has been used  for a number of years as office space it currently   uh sets vacant so our proposal is to convert the  building to affordable housing and be able to use   this space to address a real need um identified  here in the city of Witchah on the screen you can   see a uh floor plan for one of the floors this  is a five-story building and there's a couple   pictures um when you walk in to the uh front kind  of lobby area got uh elevators to the left and   then stairway to the front you can see a little  bit about what the building looks like currently   and our proposal is to um rehab the building for  68 affordable housing units 17 of which would be   three-bedroom nine two-bedroom and 42 one-bedroom  units and a breakdown on those is that we've   identified um 11 units for uh 30% AMI so we  focused on 30% 40% and 60% AMI households so   11 of them would be for the 30% uh 21 at  40% and 36 or a little over half of the   units would be targeted at the 60% um AMI  households square footage the onebedrooms   um are averaging about 600 a little over  600 square ft two bedrooms a little under   900 square feet and the three bedrooms a little  over 1150 square feet that's an average because   in a rehab like this you don't have standard one  two and three um unit floor plans so you just   kind of work with what the bu how the building  is structured rent rates for the onebedrooms   there's uh quite a range on the onebedrooms uh  because there's a a fairly good um um square   footage um difference even in the one-bedroom  uh range so the onebedrooms start at 376 up to 716 again there's 42 of those the two bedrooms  are at uh 943 nine of those and the threebedrooms   17 of those at a little over $1,250 a month  and this shows um finishes for um a project   that the development group has completed in  Kansas City when when we were contacted when   Menite Housing was contacted about being a  part of this rehab activity we wanted to see   what kind of work did this development group do  so we scheduled a time to go up to Kansas City   and that's where the architect is located  it's called Exact Architects and they have   extensive experience in doing these kind of  adaptive reuse and converting office space to   uh to to home ownership and so you can see  the types of finishes we're very impressed   with the work that they've done we were able to  see completed projects like the Netherland here   and then we're also able to go into one of their  current projects that they're rehabbing and see   how do they go in and and rehab u the various  floors what stays what goes and they pretty much   gut the insides of it and keep the obviously  the exterior it's structurally sound and then   just redo the interior of it so we at Menanite  Housing saw this and thought this was a great   opportunity for us to learn this kind of rehab  activity from experienced developers those of you   that know the past work that Menite Housing has  done is when we put these tax credit projects in   it's normally find vacant land build new well  we know there's other opportunities out there   so we're very excited to partner with Sam Edlesen  and Caleb Land on this project and they've got   over 20 years of experience in doing adaptive  reuse to learn maybe there's going to be more   opportunities in the future here in Witchah for a  local developer like Menite Housing so that's one   of our goals is to walk along with them uh they  did need Menite Housing or an organization like   us an experienced LITC developer in the state of  Kansas for them to be able to put this application   together and have a a good opportunity for it to  be successful and so that was our role and we do   uh end up with a 20% equity ownership in  this and so we're in this for the long run   another property that we saw another property  they developed in Kansas City the Monarch um   again you can see the finishes so um these  um properties are uh going to be um very well done for financial considerations there is no  impact to the general fund the total project   cost is estimated to be approximately $19.8  million anticipated funding sources include   $680,000 requested in city of Witchaw home funds  1.6 million merchants capital loan approximately   6.8 million federal litec approximately  2.4 million federal historic approximately   3.4 million state historic 100,000 for 212  North Market LLC's deferred developer fee   $100 general partner equity approximately 4.6 6  million um private equity on March 31st 2025 the   HLP application for this project was presented  to the city's affordable housing review board   reviewed the application and also the developer  at presentation the affordable housing review   board approved the application and directed staff  to refer it to the city council to approve the   director of housing and community services  issuance of a conditional commitment letter   new construction of affordable rental housing  is an eligible cost under home program funding   agreement will be drafted approved as to form  by the law department and will be placed on   the city council agenda for approval on a future  date provided 212 North Market LLC is successful   in securing all proposed sources of financing and  meets all the terms set forth in the conditional   commitment letter it is recommended  that city council approve issuance of a   conditional commitment letter for home investment  partnerships program financing in the amount of   $680,000 for the 212 North Market LLC's 212  North Market project and authorized the director   of housing and community services to sign and  I'll stand for questions thank you Carmen and   thank you Byron we'll start with Council Member  Glascock thank you mayor just one quick question   i know we've talked about LITC credits before and  distant requirements between applications will   this be affected by that obviously this is for  we're talking about home funds today but just the   application in general will that be affected  by distance requirements thank you for the   question council member uh Sally saying for the  record again uh the 9% does not have the distance   requirement it's only the 4% bond finance that has  that limitation of projects within one and a half   miles of a project awarded in the previous  two years so that does not apply thank you can I have Byron come up byron I am so excited  about this because this particular project came   before this council last year and they were not  awarded the LITC dollars um and I do believe   that Menanite Housing is a great partner here in  the community in helping with housing and I'm so   grateful that um you guys now are seeing that  there are other opportunities besides building   new but adaptive reuse being a possibility and  so I want to see more housing i want to see more   density in our core and I see this as a win-win  for the community as well as a community partner   that does a lot of housing in the city of Witchaw  so um can you share um how your expertise in that   space will be helpful with this application  and will that help with the application in in   terms of our expertise it's mainly in putting the  application together and making sure we get all   the points that are possible there and make it as  competitive as possible and so that was the main   uh role that we were approached by and so with  that and then the fact that we have been working   in this environment for over 30 years and part  of the application looks at our last 10 years   of experience and so Midnight Housing just scores  very well because we've been successful getting   an application about every other year we were  able to max out those experience points and   so that is is one of our main roles right  now is the upfront pre-planning application   um we're going to turn into um learners once the  work actually gets started and and watch and learn   it's amazing how since we've been involved so  far with this as I drive around town and I see   the buildings now that maybe I didn't focus on  so much before that okay write that address down   and and start to create a little bit of a list  of what what might be possible in the future so   thank you thank you all for your support thank  you Byron and thank you to the entire team at   Menanite Housing thank you i see no further  questions for staff or to Byron we will now   open it up for public comment i see none we'll  bring it back to the bench this actually resides   in Council Member Maggie Ballard's district but  she's not here so Council Member Johnson thanks   Mayor due to a personal conflict of interest I  will be abstaining from this vote thank you um   since this does reside in council member Maggie  Ballard's district but she's not here I will move   this item um I move to approve the issuance of a  conditional commitment letter for home investment   partnerships program financing in the amount  of $680,000 for the 212 North Market LLC's 212   North Market project and authorized the director  of housing and community services to sign second   motion and a second any further discussion  i see none mr clerk please open the role motion passes 50 with one abstension  mr clerk please call the next item   cup 2025 number six CUP amendment to community  unit plan DP280 to permit warehouse self-service   storage as a use and exclude architectural  controls on proposed parcel 3D and a waiver   of supplementary use regulation 3-D.6Y17 6.1  Y17 generally located on the south side of   West Taft Avenue and within one quarter mile  east of South Ridge Road 6803 West Taft Avenue good afternoon scott Wadel from the planning  department so as you heard for this case the   applicant is requesting the following amendments  to the community unit plan DP 151 so they are   requesting to permit warehouse self storage on  this particular parcel which is outlined in blue   they're requesting to subject that uh parcel to  the supplementary use regulations in the zoning   code that applies to warehouse self- storage and  as part of that they are requesting to exempt   and provide a waiver for one of the requirements  which is for a resident manager and then they in   addition they are also requesting to exclude  this parcel from architectural controls set   forth in the cup this item is being heard today  because the DAB and the planning commission have   different recommendations for approval in terms  of the requests the applicant has indicated   they are requesting the amendments so that they  can develop the site for warehouse self storage   the applicant is requesting that the existing  CUP architectural controls not apply to the   proposed new parcel so that metal can be a  predominant exterior material that's in use   on the building the property is currently zoned GC  um general commercial district and warehouse self   storage does is not subject to supplementary use  regulations when located in that district however   as you heard the applicant is proposing that  the site would be subject to those particular um   conditions in addition the applicant is requesting  the waiver which we spoke about which is for the   resident manager in terms of the property the  site is generally located to the north and west   of Taft Avenue sorry it's to the south and west  of Taft Avenue and Dugan Road it consists of three   ownership parcels all under the same ownership  is approximately 1.6 six acres in size zone GC   located within a community unit plan and currently  is undeveloped the existing community unit plan   includes the subject site and multiple properties  to the south west and east it's quite a large   uh cup in terms of context properties to the  north across Taft Avenue are zoned SF5 single   family and developed with single family dwellings  property to the east is zoned GC within the same   CUP and developed with a retail business property  to the south is zoned GC within the same cup and   developed with large strip mall and property  to the west is zone GC within the same cup and   developed as general retail terms of the staff  report the staff report provides information   about architectural controls landscaping signage  and parking in terms of review on March 27th the   planning commission held the public hearing for  this item and voted 10 to zero to recommend the   following and that is they recommended approval  of the CUP amendments to allow warehouse self   storage subject to the conditions listed in the  staff report they also recommended approval of   the waiver of the supplementary use regulation  and they also are recommending denial of the   CUP amendment to exclude the subject site from  the CUP architectural controls no members of the   public spoke at that public hearing on April 7th  the district advisory board heard the application   and recommended approval of the request 7 to2 the  recommendation was very similar to the planning   commission but with some modifications and those  modifications include the following that up to 30%   of the building's north facade facing towards West  Taft Avenue could be metal and that up to 30% of   the easternmost facade of the eastmost building  could be metal and to allow any buildings west   facing and south facing facades to be metal so  in that way it was different because they are   allowing more use of metal in the exterior of the  building no uh protests were received against the   application so in terms of a recommendation  it's recommended the city council adopt the   findings of the planning commission approve the  CUP amendment and waiver adopt the resolution   authorize necessary signatures and instruct  the city clerk to publish a resolution after   approval and that would require just four of  seven votes alternatives include the following   you can override the planning commission adopt  alternative findings and approve the CUP amendment   as recommended by the DAB because it's an override  that would require 507 votes you can also override   the MAPC adopt alternative findings and deny the  request that would require five of seven votes or   as always you can return the case to the planning  commission for additional consideration just a   quick note on process city council policy is that  the public hearing takes place at the planning   commission and the city council does not typically  receive public comments and with that I'll take   you through the images and graphics here's an  aerial here's the zoning which was discussed   here's the map from the comprehensive plan showing  commercial use is what's recommended in the area   here's the cup map um which shows parcel 3D in  red up at the top here's the notification map and   protest map again no protests were submitted and  here are photos from the site in the surrounding area okay and with that  I'll stand for any questions   thank you Scott questions for staff i see  none uh Council Member Glasco thank you   Mayor uh we discussed this at DAB and DAB  actually recommended some modifications   to allow larger use for the building or a  different use and so I will make a motion   to override the MAPC approve the requested CUP  amendment and waiver per the DAB recommendation   this motion would approve the amendment of  the planning commission recommended conditions   uh with the following modifications modifications  to MAPC's recommendation would allow the following   for parcel 3D up to 30% of any building's north  facade facing towards West Avenue to be metal up   to 30% of the eastern most facade of the eastern  most building to be metal and allow any buildings   west facing and south facings be metal and  support um the DAB recommendation achieves   a better balance between potential effects in  nearby properties and development of the subject   site second motion and a second any further  discussion i see none mr clerk please open the role motion passes 6 mr clerk  please call the next item zone 20255 zone change request in the  city from TF3 to family residential to   NR neighborhood retail to permit retail  uses associated with the church generally   located on the northeast corner of West  11th Street North and North Waco Avenue   1200 North Waco Avenue Council Member  Glascock thank you Mayor before Scott's   presentation this resides in Councilwoman  Ballard's district councilwoman Ballard   had to step out and so I would make a motion  that we defer this for the May 13th meeting motion and a second any further discussion  i see none mr clerk please open the role motion passes 6 mr clerk  please call the next item deer 20248 daycare general  land use and residential zoning districts hello and good afternoon again scott  Wadel from the planning department so this item   is to consider whether to adopt amendments  to the Witchaw Cedric County Unified Zoning   Code here's the recommended action i'll cover  this again towards the end of the presentation   so the unified zoning code includes multiple  definitions for daycare daycare general is one   of the terms and that is a daycare that can  provide protection and supervision for more   than 12 individuals it can operate with fewer  but it's unique because it allows more than 12   it is not operated as a home occupation so  think of a a business daycare limited is a   daycare that provides protection and  supervision for up to 12 individuals   so 12 or fewer and a quick note here is  that earlier uh there were modifications   that were made to the unified zoning code  related to this and that was to increase   the those allowed supervision numbers up to 12  individuals and that was to align it with KDHE regulations home occupation is also a term  that's covered in the zoning code and that   is the use of a home for something  other than a dwelling by the resident   typically these are limited to incidental and  accessory uses that uh are perceived to not   adversely affect the integrity of residential  areas currently if you want to use a property   zoned in one of the districts on this slide  for daycare general then you need to apply   for and receive a conditional use and that  process will take you through the district   advisory board through the planning commission  uh ultimately up to the city council typically   the recommended amendment to the unified zoning  code would permit daycare general through to be   allowed in one of those residential districts  through an administrative permit process and so   um that would allow it so that you could have  more than 12 individuals under supervision and   there's a caveat there that it all depends on  how many you are licensed for because again   uh we cannot exceed well that there's not a  limitation on this but the limitation would be KDH   and their licensing in terms of how much space how  many uh people do you have providing supervision   or care um and then it would also allow you to  operate daycare general not as a home occupation   in one of the zoning districts listed on this  slide so you wouldn't have to have the resident   there engaged in the business the recommended  amendment to the unified zoning code would   limit the use of the administrative permit for  daycare general to children under 16 years of age   this is uh a little bit unique because uh the  planning commission who is recommending this to   you uh they were concerned that uh they wanted  to make sure that it was children that were   being cared for and if there were folks that  wanted to provide daycare general for other   ages they could still do that but that would  just be require a conditional use process to do that with the administrative permit process  public notice is mailed to the owners of land   that abut and adjoin the application area this  is very similar this is a similar process or the   same process that's used for short-term rentals  there's a 14-day protest period if more than 50%   of the owners abuing and adjoining land of abuing  in adjoining land protest then the application   would be denied the applicant would have the  option of continuing forward and submitting   a conditional use application which would then  would go through the usual process of planning   commission and district advisory boards so  here's an illustration that shows what it   means to have contiguous and abuing properties  so in this scenario the orange property would   be the application site the blue properties  are the abuing and contiguous properties when   we talk about owners of record that is all the  owners of the property so if it's a couple that   owns a property then both of them would have to  sign the protest here's a review of the process   uh to develop this recommendation so it went to  MAPC advanced plans it went to the uh there was   a city council initiation it went to the full MAPC  and then here we are at the planning at the city   council and later would be considered if approved  by the county commission because of the joint code   so again here's the recommended action to adopt  the findings approve the proposed amendment sign   the ordinance and authorize the ordinance to be  published now just a quick note that because this   is on the planning agenda public comments are not  typically accepted because the public hearing is   done at the planning commission however uh if  you would like to accept public comment uh you   can suspend that policy for this item if you  wish so with that I'll stand for any questions thank you i see no questions but I do have uh Vice  Mayor Johnston thank you Mayor um Guadalupe Clinic   we looked into for daycare and I learned way more  than I ever thought I'd know and one thing I did   learn was council member Tuttle has put a lot  of work into this and has championed this and   I I think she should be commended for uh for  getting this changed so thank you very much with that Council Member Tuttle thank you very  much pardon me now I have to call um I just   need to thank a bunch of people because this  has been a long journey um thank you to legal   and for answering all of our questions i think we  came to a good compromise because we kind of were   all over the place um thank you obviously to our  childare licensing team and Adrian the fantastic   supervisor who just keeps everybody motivated  and excited about the great work that they do   thank you to Gary Jansen in public works who now  that he is the director has child care under his   division and I think he's really embraced it  and understands the importance as well um also   want to thank childart Tanya Bulock the the CEO  we we could not have done this without her and   she truly was with Adrian our our champion but  content expertise experts um I want to thank the   child care community obviously today we did a  proclamation for them and gave them recognition   but this was their idea last summer when we  had our child care entrepreneurial workshop   this was one of the items that they brought to  our attention and so I hope that Adrienne and   your team can help spread the word that when  child care providers have a need have an idea   we try and make it come to fruition the best we  can so please tell them to keep providing us with   solutions so that we can address this incredible  shortage of child care within our city um as was   mentioned during the proclamation this morning if  we can't have child care spots available people   can't go to work to build planes to do surgery to  put out fires to teach kids so this is an economic   development and a workforce issue so thank  you to everyone who's been involved in this   journey really appreciate it glad to get to this  point today and with that I will enthusiastically   move that the city council adopt the recommended  amendment to the unified zoning code amendment   place the ordinance on first reading authorize the  necessary signatures and instruct the city clerk   to publish the ordinance after approval on second  reading second thank you motion and a second any   further discussion i see none mr clerk please open  the role motion passes 6 mr clerk please call the   next item council member agenda approval to exceed  the gift limit established by the ethics ordinance   for Mayor Woo to accept travel and expenses to  attend the 2025 Heartland Summit in Bennettville   Arkansas in Bentonville Arkansas from May 6th to  May 9th for the purpose of representing the city   the H Heartland Summit is hosted by the nonprofit  H Heartland Ford for the purpose of education   collaboration professional development the  summit serves as a platform for sharing best   practices fostering cross- sector collaboration  and spotlighting success stories like Witchah's   to inspire action and investment in midsize  cities the estimated gift amount for travel   hotel and meals is $1,112 estimated cost  covered by the city for Mayor Woo is zero dollars i I I will move that we uh approve the  except exceed the gift limit established by the   ethics ordinance for Maru to accept travel and  expenses to attend the 2025 Hartland Summit in   Bennettville Arkansas from May 6th to May 9th  for the purpose of rep representing the city   second motion and a second any further  discussion i see none mr clerk please open the role motion passes 6 mr clerk please call the  next item council member appointments and comments begin with appointments are there any  i have some so I will go ahead and   um I would like to appoint council  member Dalton Glasco to the Witchaw   Sister Cities organization i also would like  to appoint Brandon Pauline to the board of   park commissioners and Julie Harbert  to the Animal Services Advisory Board second second second second move  move to accept those nominations   second motion and a second any further  discussion i see none mr clerk please   open the role motion passes 6  we will now have council member comments council member Johnson thanks Mayor um  just going to say uh thank you to everyone who   helped with the Prairie Fire 5K and all those who  attended and um we wish we could have saw council   member Hohheisle there but he did not show up  with us but it was a good time um that was my   second 5K but it was great to see all the folks  out there running um definitely not in as good a   shape as Council Member Glasscock but it was good  to see all all the folks out there not doing the   half marathon i'm very sore so I pushed myself  too far and also uh all the folks who showed up   in parks department for uh open streets uh Nomar  that was awesome always a great experience love   to see a lot of Witchans out there so it was a  really good weekend council member Hoheisle thank   you Mayor um yeah there was a lot going on this  weekend and I just like to give a shout out to   uh the chief and some of our representatives from  the fire department they were out at the fight   fentinel awareness rally Saturday um it's always  a therapeutic event for people to get out to and   really kind of organize around some strategies  in the future and also listening to um the public   about kind of their ideas what we should do with  the opioid money that is being worked on currently   so um special shout out to everybody who threw  that and attended and uh the second point if   Council Member Johnson's feeling froggy um maybe  we'll go out to a field and do a 40 meter race and   see uh how that goes don't let me I'm deceptive  i'm deceptive on that speed so uh we'll see how   that ends up i'm still recovering from the 5K  sounds like a convenient excuse thank you council   members i will just add one quick item last  Tuesday we had our second onbunk of the year there   are still two more onbunks left which is uh an  opportunity for city and county to come together   the next onbunks are July 29th and October 29th uh  but before that the first ever Witchah community   town hall will be held right here in city council  chambers um it will be three government entities   coming together their leaders will come together  i will be representing as the mayor for the city   of Witchah chairman Batty will represent Cedric  County and board president Diane Albert will   represent USD259 uh school board and this will  be an opportunity on Wednesday June 4th for this   town hall it begins at 5:00 with introductions  following by a full hour of listening to the   community two minutes per individual and then um  the last remaining portion of the meeting there   will be group discussions on shared services and  collaboration uh so I'm looking forward to hosting   uh Diane as well as Ryan here uh in the council  chambers for the first Witchah community town   hall i Council Member Johnson thanks Mayor  will you all three be sitting here all three   of you looking out over the the public we'll be  we'll remove names so that uh they can sit up   here and we will be listening to the community  but definitely invite the whole community to   come out um and council members as well i see no  further comments so I will move to adjourn this   meeting second motion and a second any further  discussion i see none mr clerk please open the role seriously nay okay motion  passes 5 to one meeting is adjourned