e e e pause a moment for our  television audience to join us e morning Witchita and welcome to City  Hall on this very cold Tuesday morning   we'll call this meeting to order with us  this morning is Reverend Ben Staley of   chap Chapel Hill United Methodist  Church to provide our invocation   following that invocation we will have the Pledge  of Allegiance and we invite you to stand for both let's pray together oh Lord you've kept  your promise to us to be a present help in times   of trouble we're grateful for the leaders of this  city for their compassion and for their wisdom uh   the way they've cared for our people of the city  especially uh mayor Lily woo and her example we   continue to pray for all those family and friends  who lost loved ones in the crash several weeks ago   in Washington DC we're thankful that those who  are gone from us are in your Eternal care but   all of us are in need of your grace and strength  as we go forward be a shelter to us in the time of   storm and watch over the people of our community  in this winter storm especially those that must be   out who serve us the First Responders and those  in the hospital and police and uh EMS and so on   we are thankful for their service and we pray Lord  that uh you might also help us to be in care for   one another we're thankful for the freedom and  opportunity to meet today to do the business   of the city help us to make decisions that are  in keeping with what is best for us all give us   the mind of Christ for these challenging  times for it's in Christ's name we pray amen United States of America to the Republic for  which it stands one nation under God indivisible   with liberty and justice for all thank you  very much Reverend Staley and I also wanted   to say thank you uh for praying over US during  the time of the tragedy and really appreciate   that you came to the airport and also to the  community prayer Madame clerk Mr clerk rather   could you please call the first item approve  the minutes of regular meetings February 11th 2025 are there any corrections or  items that need clarification I see   none I move to approve the minutes of the  regular meeting February 11th 2025 second   motion and a second any further discussion  I see none Madame clerk please open the role I would like to recognize that council  member Maggie Ballard is joining us virtually motion passes 70 Madam Mr clerk  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 speakers remaining  time to speak order and rules of the quum will be   observed the first speaker is Amy K lion however  due to weather they cancelled their speaking today are there any individuals in the  audience who would like to address the council I see none Mr clerk please call the  next item 2025 water conservation rebate program and consent agenda is first sorry uh consent agenda items 1 through  19 council members are there any items to to be pulled I see none I move to approve  consent agenda items 1-9 second motion   and a second any further discussion I see  none Madame clerk Mr clerk please open the rooll I motion passes 70 Mr clerk please call the  next item 2025 water conservation rebate program   morning mayor and council members Gary Jansen  Public Works and utilities the item before you   this morning is a request for approval of  the 2025 water conservation rebate program   uh this program has been in place since 2013 and  since that time hundreds of millions of gallons   have been conserved through the replacement of  household appliances and water saving devices uh   this program assists the city in achieving  annual our annual conservation goal of 35%   or roughly 80 million gallons per year especially  in light of the continued drought this program   is uh just as important as ever so look at some  previous numbers uh you'll see 203 2020 through   2023 in particular uh the available rebate funds  were originally $100,000 jumped 125,000 in 2023   for each of those years all of the funds were  utiliz and estimated savings was anywhere from   10 to 12 million gallons a year we had talked on  Friday at Agenda review kind of what that number   amounts to over the years and on the agenda report  it talks about saving almost 500 million gallons   uh over the course of time it probably is actually  more than that when you look at the life of a uh   any of these devices and then you get the savings  year in and year out that's kind of hard to get to   a real number but we know it's uh it's doing  what we need it to do 2024 in light of where   we were with drought restrictions we thought we'd  take a different approach Ro and focus on outdoor   items only um that's where we need the most  conservation during the highest demand months   when there's outdoor irrigation even with the  drought restrictions we wanted to focus on rain   sensors on those types of things for irrigation  controllers we did not get the response we had   hoped uh so this year we're going to roll all the  internal devices back in last year's program also   included $50,000 it was allocated to mabcd  for their low-income leak repair program   the portion of that was utilized what's remaining  will stay within that program with mbcd so they   can keep providing that service so updates to the  2025 program uh as I mentioned we're going to add   the indoor water conservation products back to the  program I'll Show a slide in just a moment that   covers all of the items that are under this rebate  program uh we'll also expand access with this 2025   program to offer free showerheads and air Raiders  uh which are on sinks in in most houses if we   replace uh what would be the standard 2.5 gallon  per minute shower head with new 1.5 gallon per   minute shower heads can save an estimated 5,000  gallons per year that's per shower head same uh   replacing the airators with the ones that we are  offering can save up to 7,000 gallons a year these   shower head uh shower heads and airators will  be available at City Hall neighborhood Resource   Centers and libraries while supplies last I'll  talk more in just a minut moment about how we'll   make sure we get word out on those the the they  would be offered one per person and uh with the   funding that we're allocating for this we think  that we'll have several thousand of these each   available so looking at the um what is available  for the rebate program rain barrels rain sensor   shut offs faucet and hose irrigation controllers  smart irrigation controllers are all up to $100   each all being outdoor again where we really need  to Focus uh during the high demand months dual   flush kits are $50 toilet repair kits uh are $35  we've talked in the past about how much a leaking   toilet how much water you can lose which is  probably more than just about anything you see on   here dishwashers and toilets up to $100 and that  also includes washing machines so uh details of   the program itself it will be effective February  19th U pending your approval today and we'll be   retroactive Ive to purchases made on or after  January 1st of this year we are suggesting uh   requesting $150,000 for this program to be split  out as follows $110,000 for City witow residential   customers and I'll talk about that part more in  just a moment $330,000 for our wholesale customers   to administer their own conservation program  which we've done in the past again we have 11   wholesale customers that that funding would go  to as as is used and then 10,000 for the free   water saving showerheads and airators I talked  about so marketing for this program will be done   through a variety of ways on social media Flyers  at the neighborhood Resource Centers and libraries   uh we put up stickers at the big box stores where  the uh a lot of the appliances would be purchased   we found that that's been successful in the past  we'll have mention of this on the water bill talk   about this at the mayor's media briefings we'll  have staff at at events like open streets where we   also offer the free shower heads and aerators so  we're going to do everything we can to make sure   we get word out uh I think historically except  for last year if we go back again years before we   haven't had any problem being able to use up the  full amount of funding uh over the course of the   year for the $110,000 uh that's allocated for WTO  customers in particular we would propose to split   that funding 50% for outdoor conservation and 50%  for indoor however we do reserve the flexibility   to see how the program is going and shift that  funding as needed to make sure we're using it the   most effectively all other program requirements  remain the same um information can be found at   save witw water.com or by calling our customer  service line and this program as always is funded   by the approved 2025 water utility operations and  maintenance budget with that staff recommend city   council approve the 2025 water conservation rebate  program and authorize the necessary signatures   be to stand for any questions thank you Gary  questions for staff beginning with council member   Glock thank you Mayor Gary thank you for the  program I may have missed this in the presentation   but let me pull my questions do we know how many  unique folks have taken advantage of the system   I know we talked about devices but do we know  how many because it says they can be limited up   to five rebates annually so I was just interested  maybe how many people got five rebates first how   many people maybe got one rebate I don't have that  number but I can certainly try to see if we've got   that yeah it's not contion my vote I was just  interested in the data points and then the last   thing um often people may not know how to access  the programs can we bring the actual devices out   to town halls that we can give to people instead  of people having people come here sure and that   is the plan I'm sorry if I wasn't clear we do  plan to have them at different locations yes okay   awesome thank you council member hoisel thank you  mayor uh thank you Gary for all your work on this   um do we have anything like this set up for  people who are possibly I'm I'm just curious   like what all options we have out there so if  we're doing new builds um are these eligible   for people who are building their own homes to  get rebates on things that are going in um for   the first time only or is this strictly kind of  people who are already living in their homes no   no no restrictions and no limitations on that  I mean we we don't even ask if if people have   a qualifying device will offer the rebate as long  as the funding is available okay uh do we have any   program set up to encourage developers to also  use um water limit limiting devices um I don't   know that we I would say there's program set up  you know one of the our challenges and I'll tell   you one of the reasons last year we said let's  focus on outdoor we're trying to decide uh how   many people are replacing a water saving device  with a water saving device and how much benefit   we're getting from that I think it's likely  with new builds regardless of the price point   you'd be hard pressed to go find a dishwasher  washing machine that's not high efficiency at   this point so I think that part kind of takes  care of itself we have talked uh there has been   conversations there's been questions asked over  the time about uh do we look at code requirements   never gotten past the point of just asking that  question I'm not sure that's some the place we   want to go but what we've again uh our research  is I think all new devices are about as highly   efficient as you can get at this point anyway  okay thank you any further questions for staff   I see none I will just reiterate the save witcha  water.com website that you mention will have all   this information uh in addition that's where you  can look at the current stages of the drought   and how full the cheny lake is so encouraging  people to continue U utilizing that website but   I will double uh down on the question that council  member Glascock asked because Unique Individuals   so unique water customers would be something  um of Interest I think for the community to   know how many individuals are actually utilizing  this um program and also free services so um if   we could get that sent to the council that  would be much appreciated we will do that   thank you are there I see no further questions  for staff so we will now open it up for public comment I see no public comment I'll bring it  back to the bench council member tutle thank   you um I just want to thank Gary and all of  his team for working on this um there is no   more precious resource than we have than water in  our community so thank you for all that you do I   also want to thank thank all the community  members last year in the fall who were very   conscientious about following the watering  restrictions that we have as we enter into   spring we're going to be asking folks to do the  same thing as Gary mentioned we're in stage two   of drought and we don't want to go into stage  three because we could quite literally put um   some of our small businesses and businesses out  of operation so we all need to continue to stay   vigilant and this is just one way we can do it  I also want to applaud Gary and his team we've   started a water reuse task force um Council  H Fel and I are serving on it next week we'll   be reviewing the applications with the staff and  Community selection committee so I I just want to   applaud you for your Forward Thinking um I think  there's no better time then while we're in the   drought to try and address what we're going to do  for future water use and and again this is for res   residential but it's also Economic Development we  need to make sure that we have water available for   business in an industry and that we're able  to keep our rate low so that they'll want to   continue to do business so um thank you for all  your effort on this and I will be incredibly supportive I see no further comments I will  move I'm sorry council member Ballard sorry   thank you mayor um I would also just like to  thank staff um especially Gary to him and his   team for continuing to find new creative  ways for people to participate each year   um before this comes before Council I have  constituents asking me if we're going to   continue this program so um I know that  there are many people that look forward to   it and as council member Tuttle said water  is one of our most precious things that we   are running extremely low on so um just  appreciate um the continued work on this program thank you council member Ballard  I will move to approve that the council   approve the 2025 water conservation rebate program  and authorize the necessary budget adjustments   second motion and a second any further discussion  I see none Mr clerk please open the rooll I motion passes 70 Mr clerk please call the next   item quarterly financial report  for the period ended December 31st 2024 morning mayor members of the city  council Mark Manning with the Department of Finance today I want to present to you the fourth  quarter report for uh the fourth quarter of 2024   uh just a reminder the fourth quarter report  includes un audited Financial activity in this   case through December 31st uh we're going to  use that data for a couple uh purposes first   thing we're going to do is we're going to look  backwards on what we expected to happen in 2024   and then I'll relate to you what actually happened  and tell you uh some of the things we learned from   that and then we'll use that information and I'll  kind of look forward a little bit and we'll take   our results from last year and we'll talk about  how that might uh impact us going forward and   how we might have some opportunities to adjust our  guidance a little bit going forward uh might be a   little bit more expansive today then I am normally  on a quarterly Port uh since this one is the year   end one and since it will have some implications  for us going forward Ward uh so the general fund   had a good year last year it performed a little  bit better than what we expected which is a good   thing uh generally speaking we got all the  trends correct uh but we had a few misses   on the magnitude of those Trends in a few cases  and I'll go over those in just a minute here uh   in accordance with our Reserve policy which which  the council approved a couple years ago uh at this   point uh the quarterly reflects a transfer to the  stabilization reserve of about $1 million which is   a little bit higher than what we had anticipated  in the budget and again uh you'll hear me talk   about that several more times so uh what did  we expect this year in the general fund well we   expected strong growth in property tax revenues uh  we got that one right in fact our our property tax   revenue growth was a little bit better than what  we expected uh that's largely due to lower current   year delinquencies in other words more people are  paying their property taxes on time which is a   really good thing and that's a trend we've seen  for last couple years or so uh we also expected   lower franchise fees than what we collected in  2023 uh we were also correct there our franchise   fees in 2024 are in fact lower than 2023 uh  however they weren't quite as low as we expected   so good news is they performed better than we  expected the bad news is they were lower than 2023   franchise fees as you know are very very difficult  to project they're based on two fundamental things   and that's the weather and that's the price of  natural gas both of which are are very difficult   to forecast so we actually underperformed on  natural gas because gas prices went down but   we overperformed on electricity uh so interest  earnings we've talked a bunch about that over   the last few years we expected much higher  interest earnings in 2024 and that's exactly   what happened we collected about $8 million more  in 24 than we did in 2023 we collected slightly   less than we expected but we came pretty close so  we generally had that concept step correct there   too we expected much slower sales tax growth uh as  you may recall a couple years ago we had two years   of 10% sales tax growth which was unprecedented  uh so it wouldn't have surprised us to see sales   tax growth slow down a little bit it's driven by  inflation too and inflation is a little bit more   moderate these days uh so we got that one correct  almost exactly correct for that matter some of was   due to timing to without going into the nuances  sales tax collections can have some variances due   to time timing the way the Department of Revenue  collects it but sales tax growth we got correct   we expected Court revenues to be relatively steady  uh that's one that we got wrong uh Court revenues   are significantly lower than what we expected  about $2 million lower uh that's likely due to   lower enforcement activity and lower collections  activity in court uh but that's one I'll talk   about in a little bit that's one that's a little  bit concerning now I will point out that on the   expenditure side Court undere expenditure  underexpanded uh likely for the same reasons   but uh that one's a little Troublesome uh finally  everything else if I can lump everything else into   a big bucket everything else we thought would be  relatively steady and for the most part everything   else was relatively steady uh any deviations you  see again will be based on activity levels we have   some revenues that are lined to expenditure so if  we collect less we usually spend less and that's   what happened in that area so this is a graphic  representation of what I just said uh you can   see sales tax flat you can see uh franchise fees  uh you can see we outperformed the budget but we   underperformed 2023 but I draw your attention to  court fines again the scale makes it a little hard   to see the variation there but there's about  a $2 million gap there on court fines under   performance and like I said that's a little bit uh  concerning we'll talk about that in a little bit   so what did we expect on the expenditure side  well we s we uh expected significantly higher   oper operating costs uh due primarily to wages and  specifically Public Safety wages and we expected   to have lower position vacancies uh strategically  we've been trying to fill positions for probably   the last couple years uh sometimes successfully  sometimes not uh but we overestimated the degree   of positions that we would have filled and that's  going to lead us to budget savings this year again   wasn't something we were necessarily trying to do  in fact we were trying to do the opposite try to   fill critical position so it can maintain service  levels but that's uh proven to be a significant   challenge I'd point out most of that is on the  civilian side not on the public safety side uh   specifically you can see that in public works and  park and even Finance to agree and even Municipal   Court uh finally we did expect to transfer to the  stabilization Reserve this year that's included in   the adopted budget uh but as I pointed out earlier  we got that one correct but the magnitude is going   to be uh more significant than what we expected  so let's look at the expenditure side here so   I've broken it into three pieces police and fire  which as we know is 62 or 3% of our general fund   budget uh you can see in 2024 we spent a little  over $2 million more on police and fire than we   did in 2023 and again that's the impact of of the  fact that Public Safety is an expensive business   and we had some wage growth uh in that area  and again most of our positions we maintain uh   a higher degree of position fills in uh in public  safety and particularly police I think we made   progress in filling police positions so you can  see the impact there in that uh uh yellow line   there yellow bar I look at everything else we  underspent where we expected to be by somewhere   close to $7 million and again uh you're seeing the  impact of not filling positions in park and Public   Works largely uh but you're also seeing a lot of  kind of nuan things that happened in 2024 we had   a lot of one-time things that didn't occur that  we expected to uh which is is not a typical uh it   goes to things like uh we had some contingencies  budget in 2024 that we did not spend one of which   was our snow and ice contingency which I have a  feeling we'll probably spend in 2025 uh but there   were a lot of things that broke all of which broke  in the positive manner usually things like that   tend to offset each other last year like I said  it was kind of an anomal because everything that   broke broke to the positive and again there timing  differences on expenditures some expenditures we   expected to happen at year end did not occur uh  it's uh its contingencies it's a variety of things   like that so we did unpend significantly last year  in our other business operations and then you can   see the permanent Reserve or the stabilization  Reserve uh we again expected to transfer into that   at this point we'll transfer uh significantly more  than what we expected let's look at our general   fund reserves remember we have the permanent  reserve and we have the general fund reserves the   general fund reserves are set by Council policy  at 15% uh we are at that uh policy level in 2024   based on our results and that gives us a reserve  somewhere in the neighborhood of about 48 million   or so dollars if I recall correctly uh this is a  very positive slide this uh this shows the general   fund Reserve level is in pretty good shape uh  this is the stable ization Reserve I recall uh   that we about two or three years ago we set this  up so that we could rake off additional one-time   Revenue uh and put it into the St stabilization  Reserve with the concept of positioning us better   for the future uh reminder stabilization rever  Reserve is probably not an appropriate mechanism   to fund operating costs on an ongoing basis but  it is a very useful tool for us to be able to make   strategic one-time investment to better position  ourselves for the future and so you can see the   reserve levels there and I will point out also  that we do not expect to transfer any more money   into the permanent Reserve after uh last year uh  and I think that's probably going to turn out to   be pretty accurate so let's take that information  and kind of tilt towards the future and I'll kind   of go over what our basis was for our our future  forecast going back into March of last year and   even into August of last year uh we believe  that interest earnings have Peak and will be   begin to decline uh we also thought that assessed  valuation growth would return to Historic Norms   we had two years that were anomalies much higher  than normal uh we do expect that to return to more   historic Norms uh we expect Public Safety costs  to increase again in 2025 again based on some   contractual uh issues that were approved recently  but then we do expect them in our forecast to   return uh to the norm uh we also expect all our  other expenditures to moderate uh primarily due   to a lot of the initiatives that we've talked  about over last year or so and uh hopefully our   strategic prioritization process that the that we  are engaging in also will help moderate our future   expenditure growth and finally as I noted our our  guidance last year was that we would not expect   any more transfers into the stabilization Reserve  uh so with that as our hypothesis maybe three or   four or five months ago uh let me tell you now how  I think there may be some opportunities to tweak   that a little bit and incidentally you'll hear a  lot more color on this probably in a week uh when   we when Elizabeth presents some initial Financial  forecasts and certainly by March you'll have a lot   more uh uh color on this we're continuing to  reevaluate interest earnings uh earnings are   declining uh but they haven't declined quite  as rapidly as we would have expected in Q4   and there's some you know if you read the FED  which is perilous at best but if you read them   the signals are that there may not be as many rate  Cuts in 25 as was initially projected so we'll re   we'll re we'll reevaluate interest earnings and  we'll see if there's any room there to adjust our   forecast but fundamentally the premise is going to  remain the same I think and that is that interest   earnings are on a decline it's just really a  question of whether it's a rapid decline or a   slow decline but either one of those will have a  material impact on our forecast we'll take a look   at that I mentioned Court revenues that is very  concerning uh we'll we'll take a look at that   but uh I can tell you we haven't seen we look  at it monthly obviously and to this date even   looking in January I haven't seen much that would  uh lead us to believe that there's going to be any   recovery in that area we'll reproject wages we do  this every year uh we take our demographics of our   employee base in January and we reproject and uh  one advantage if you will of turnover particularly   on the civilian side is typically turnover occurs  with higher wage individuals who have been here   for a long time and we typically replace them with  lower wage individuals uh that are relatively new   not always but typically typically that'll have a  little bit of a favorable impact as we reproject   uh salaries and wages of course uh we also have  some negative impacts and that's incorporating the   fop contract that I think was approved last fall  but we'll do all that so we'll have a much better   feel for where we're going to be on on wage and  benefit cost going forward uh we also have a few   benefit costs that hopefully will break favorably  for us I'm talking primarily about health   insurance and pension contributions our pension  system had a very good year last year I think we   returned a little over 13% which is very good for  us uh I don't know that there's much likelihood   that pension rates will decrease but I think the  probability of them increasing in the future is   diminished which is good news we're also trending  favorably on health insurance too so again we'll   see where that leads us uh but the point is  both of those hopefully will not be a drag   on us going forward and potentially particularly  as you go to the oute could be a benefit for us   we'll we'll take a look at that uh we'll also  consider some one-time options using reserves   to enhance our future positioning as I noted we  have a long history of using our reserves uh to   invest in one-time things the technology or other  things that can enhance our structural efficiency   going forward so we'll continue to look at that  as you know we are accelerating initiatives that's   something we talked about a lot last August we  continue to do that so we'll re-evaluate whether   we can uh uh impact the budget anymore with those  and again I'll I'll talk about a lot of these in   my next agenda item too by the way and finally  like we always do we will continue scrutinizing   our operating cost structure and uh making sure  that the amounts we have budgeted are appropriate   for the objectives of our operating departments uh  that's the general fund I always uh talk about any   other areas if there's any that are particularly  noteworthy uh that's very good news that there's   only two bullets on this slide uh because you can  infer from that that everything else is pretty   much operating relatively speaking exactly as  we expected uh in other words there's no there's   nothing significant that I need to tell you about  I could tell you everything about all the other   funds if you're interested but the bottom line for  this presentation is we're operating pretty much   like we expected which is really good news I'll  point out a couple here our golf fund continues   to operate exceptionally uh we had a very very  good year last year as you know we set the ending   balance at a million dollars and we rake off the  excess and use it to invest in capital projects uh   we should have somewhere in the neighb to $700,000  to rake off to fund additional improvements in the   golf system uh we didn't expect to have quite that  much so that's very very good news I will tell you   though as you might expect spoiler alert January  and February are probably not going to be good   months for the golf system so when I report the  q1 report here in three months golf probably won't   look quite so promising but uh they make most of  their hay when the Sun's shining in the May June   July August so not worried about golf They had  an exceptional year landfill fund a little bit   on the negative side revenues are underperforming  there uh expenditures are growing a little bit   they've got some Capital replacement needs coming  up and we're a little bit concerned about some of   their liabilities so you may hear a little bit  more about that in the future but just uh keep   landfill fund that's on our radar screen so wanted  to point that out uh I want to dive in now into   some of the charts and tables we have towards the  back of the uh quarterly report a lot of times we   don't spend a lot of time on these but I have a  couple I wanted to show you this morning I always   show you this graphic here our debt is somewhere  in the neighborhood of$ 1.5 billion dollar debt   and Loans vast majority of that is with our  utilities those are Ultra Capital intensive   businesses and we are investing Lots into  additional maintenance and into new facilities   so as you would expect our debt levels are rising  there uh I'll point out the general obligation   at large debt which you can think of as property  tax funded debt is about $75 million in change   that's about 5% of our total debt portfolio and  you can see the other slices on this graphic here   uh I did want to give you a little guidance on  future debt Trends typically don't do this uh but   at year end I thought it was a great opportunity  to do that uh we can kind of see what we think our   debt Trends are going to be based on the number  of temp notes we have outstanding and based on our   Capital Improvement uh program uh that that you  adopted last August I think our go at large debt   will be relatively stable for a couple years uh  it'll probably creep up in the out years why is   that that's because we very prudently invested  a lot of arpa in the capital Improvement program   over the last couple years uh you're seeing  that in this uh bullet right here that is   going to maintain our goo debt levels or maybe  even decrease a little bit over the next couple   years because we don't have as many project cost  to finance because we financed them with arpa so   that was a very prudent thing that we did there uh  why will it go up in the out years uh realize that   the debt service fund is always about four or five  years in advance of what's Happening we have a lot   of big goo projects right now going on we have a  couple community centers being built Patrol West   a variety of others at some point we'll have to  finance those and again it's way too early to be   definitive but I would expect go debt to begin  to increase in the years as we try to arrange   permanent financing for those projects currently  underway Water and Sewer I talked about earlier uh   I would expect continual increases in that which  means our total debts likely going to continue to   go up again that's due to all the maintenance  that we're doing is due to the new uh plants   that we are bringing online and will bring online  in the future uh the other bullet I want to talk   about there is special assessment debt we don't  spend a lot of time talking about that uh but it   is a sizable amount of our general obligation debt  portfol folio and it is the second from the left   there uh a couple things on special assessment  debt that is backed by property taxpayers but it   is actually paid for by property owners that have  special assessments levied against their property   uh that is going that is going up it's gone up in  23 it's going up in 24 and that will continue to   increase uh that is because of all the development  activity that we're seeing again we're a couple   years behind on that the project s going on now  will debt Finance over the next couple years uh   so it's pretty easy for me to say with a fairly  High degree of certainty that that bar is going   to continue rising and why is that relevant uh  it's relevant in particular because our rating   agencies like to look at our debt levels and  they have a bias towards thinking that we're   a little high on our debt levels overall uh  again we explain to them very very uh directly   that that is not property tax funded debt uh but  it just be aware that our rating agencies tend   to believe that our debt levels are a little  higher than what they'd like to see and on the   goo side that increase is going to be caused  in the future primarily by special assessment debt uh I don't talk about our pooled funds  much but there's about three or four pages   in the back of the quarterly that shows you  our portfolio our portfolio varies throughout   the year based on cash flows I think we end of  the year at about $798 million it's going to   fluctuate in the 7 to800 million dollar range  that is what is driving our interest earnings   that we continually talk about uh you can see  the portfolio yielded about 4.4% in Q4 Which is   higher than our Benchmark which is the 90day T  Bill rate uh that's the first quarter in quite   some time that we exceeded the Benchmark and  that's because uh we Ty typically invest long   but it takes a while for us to transform our  portfolio because we invest long but that's a   good sign we've been stretching our duration  intentionally and so we're outperforming the   more short-term Benchmark and as I noted we  generated about 34 or change in Millions last   year off of this portfolio so this is a very  important piece of our financial structure very   important for the general funding specifically  a point out of that s or 800 million or so we   have about $65 million invested in local banks we  do that through certificates of deposits so about   65 million of our money is invested in local  banks which uh helps th helps those Banks out   by providing them a source of capital uh finally  I'll note that there are there is some discussion   in the legislature about some proposals that could  impact our earnings on our portfolio which we are   monitoring and participating in to some degree  uh just be aware that if there's anything that   comes out of that that could adversely impact  the rate that we could earn on our portfolio   uh that number at the bottom of the screen  there that $34 Million number likely would be   uh lower or significantly lower depending on the  proposals that are uh provided let's talk about   our spending on small business here I'm talking  about our e and dbe programs which we operate uh   those programs are specifically designed to help  small businesses small local businesses small   local minority businesses to understand our city  procurement process and understand what we buy   and how we buy it and help them navigate our  process uh to make it easier for them to bid   on City goods and services that's very important  to us for a couple reasons one we support local   businesses of course but secondly anything that  we can do to expand our vendor base is good for   us uh so we're trying to expand our local vendor  Base by our EB program uh we measure this as terms   of amount of spending directed to those firms I  shouldn't say directed provide not sure what the   right verb is awarded how's that that's a better  word awarded to those firms uh you can see uh we   ended the year at 12.2% now in the quarterly we  report quarterly results those tend to fluctuate   on quarters so they're not as meaningful so I  wanted to show you the actual year-over-year   results now why is that decreasing uh the answer  to that typically is in the subcontracting amount   significantly lower in 2024 than it has been in  the past why is that that's because on our large   capital projects the airport prior to this  Slide the water treatment plant the upcoming   treatment plant those typically have a very high  degree of local subcontractors on them uh and so   that's why the percentages were much higher in  the past years and that's why we would expect   them to increase in the future so 24 was kind of a  valley between those two peaks I would say uh but   again this is uh reporting that and again we could  provide much more information on this if you're   ever interested uh let's talk about arpa very very  briefly uh because arpa is winding down uh but we   do continue to produce quarterly reports which  are available on our website we provide those   to US Treasury through the end of the year we  spent about 41 million dollar uh reminder I think   our allocation was 72.4 Million if I remember  correctly uh and the remainder of that amount   has completely been obligated and recall we had  a lot of discussion of that prior to the end of   the year so in summary uh our results last year  were favorable general fund results were fa more   favorable than what we expected our Reserve levels  at this point are very strong uh in the future our   Baseline organic growth is unlikely to exceed our  Baseline expenditure growth uh which is another   way to say that we still believe that we will have  structural deficits into the future a little bit   in 26 more in 20 27 and 28 again that should not  be a surprise we've talked about that for several   years now uh finally I point out our quarterly  report and our arpa reporting are also available   on line uh now I know I threw a lot of information  at you uh but I apologize for that but with that   I'd be more than happy to answer any questions  that you may have thank you Mark we'll begin with   council member hoisel thank you mayor uh thank you  Mark you guys you guys got a pretty difficult job   here to do especially lately so that leads me to  my question um do any of the future projections   include uh the possibility of federal grants that  we have incorporated into city services uh being   reduced or disappearing uh typically we don't  do things like that until we have firm policy   direction to do that uh so I'm not aware of any  that we have not included in our forecast unless   we've either had direction to include them or  unless we know for certain that they will not be   renewed or extended or canceled or anything like  that right mayor if I could council member we are   doing a review at the departmental level level  it's still a little early to figure out exactly   what's going to happen to many of our grant  programs um there are police grants U that are   that help Finance operations many times they pay  for overtime for special enforcement initiatives   uh but me most of our federal dollars are for  capital projects and that's that's really where   we're focused right now uh to try to determine  if uh any program that is partially funded or   at this point runs the risk of maybe having  funding withdrawn for the last part of it um   but uh we're doing what most cities around the  country are doing right now trying to assess the   kind of the changing scenery as it exists right we  got to let the the dust kind of settle and figure   it out right um so most of what we receive from  federal funding that goes up to Everyday cost our   First Responders I believe that's accurate  um you could also look at Federal funding   for the operation of our transit system that's  another one that's you know significant in terms   of operation operating assistance okay thank you  council member Johnson thanks mayor thank you Mark   um first you and your team and Elizabeth always  do a great job on our finances it's good to see a   report like this uh but my question is I know that  Josh and Chris do a lot with subcontractors and   really trying to expand our vendor base and I'm  not aware but are we hosting more opportunities   for subcontractors to get to know the main  contractors kind of prove themselves and maybe   get more opportunities in that way we actually  have been increasing the amount of meetings   that we've have and I can get you our statistics  there but we've been much more active in that area   obviously the pandemic slowed us down it's been  a couple years uh but ever since then we've we've   taken steps to try to increase our meetings and we  have these typically we meet with the county and   the school district and even sometimes Air Force  Base we try to have meet and greets where you can   learn about the city and we've tried to get Chris  out into the community even more to enhance that   yes sir yeah I've appreciated him coming out  to out water a couple times as well um just   trying to think of some more creative ways to get  more people involved with opportunities with the city vice mayor John stun thank you mayor  Mark thanks for your great work thank you   appreciate it um question on page 65 refers  to the Mac um we have $5 million allocated but   zero has been spent I thought we spent some  for the uh ventor shelter just not paid yet age 65 65 yes [Music] 65 well appreciate your compliment but I'm  going have to disclose to you that I don't   know the answer to that one um that's a great  question there are multiple um projects related   to the operations and renovation of the Mac  so um there is a on page on page 66 is the pro   there are two projects related to the winter  shelter one was the last season and then one   was for this year follow through through um early  spring and then on page 64 those are the projects   related to the renovations at the facility and  then page 65 the one where there hasn't been   spending yet that is for um operations once  the winter shelter for this year is finished   so that's for the ongoing operations okay for  the Mac board yes yes so there's three three   complicated there's three three things  going on and the winter shelter the one   on 66 page 66 last year of course  wasn't at the Mac site it was at   a different site but we've put them on the  same page because they're the same type of activity you're welcome so is it accurate to say  to look at the revised funding amount so page 66   1 million instead of the funding amount of 485 so  add up all the Rev funding amounts yes because the   initial funding amount was the initial funding for  last winter and then the revised funding that's   inclusive of last winter and this winter it would  be accurate to say 8 million 8.4 million in just   winter shelter slmc operations yeah so the two  yes on the three pages re adding together the   three revised amounts so Elizabeth MH the 600,000  this year that's from proceeds from the sale of   the 21st and Opportunity Drive property isn't that  correct um this is all the federal only Federal I   know that's what I want to correct I think the  question was how are we where we showing the   funding for the operation of the emergency winter  shelter right now that is not arpa money that   money is from the sale of the Opportunity Drive  in 21st Street property yeah and yeah yeah when   there's combined funding like funding that's arpa  and maybe like for the first year of the winter   shelter there was funding from sedric County  for this year there's um funding a humankind   hasn't in kind so those this is report is only  of the arpa funding it doesn't include the other   kinds of funding correct so we're six at least  600,000 in addition to what you're seeing here so   I I'd be happy to put together something more incl  inclusive that includes all of it if that would be   helpful I think it would be helpful just so that  all of the expenditures are clear for Community to   understand the type of investment exactly yeah  so that this answers this report answers the   question what have we spent our arpa funding on  and that would answer the question how much have   we spent to support these initiatives exactly  be happy to do that any other ARA questions further questions for Mark I have a couple um I  know you were looking for the actual amount but   I think it's important to talk about the debt  service so can you talk about um the difference   between the stabilization reserve and just general  reserves that we might have the difference between   the two and how I think you mentioned at the very  tail Lin we will still face structural deficits so   it's not that they're not in existence but they  are there and we know that they're there so how   would you utilize those funds uh maybe an analogy  mayor the general fund is maybe like your checking   account at home you spend every month on that  to your utilities whatever your operating costs   are your groceries you have your salary coming in  and you have an ending balance at the end of each   month uh that is an analogous to our general  fund uh we spend what we spend on operations   we collect what we collect and then we have an  ending balance uh but it's very important that   we have an ending balance there for a variety of  reasons helps us with cash flow helps us prepare   for contingencies things of that nature and as I  noted it's also a good look for our rating agency   shows that we have flexibility contrast that more  with the permanent reserve the permanent reserves   is maybe more uh like your savings account uh when  you have extra money you put it in there uh when   you have big projects when you replace the roof  on your house or when you want to buy a new car if   you want to pay cash for it you might take it out  of your savings account so that's the way I would   explain the permanent reserves maybe our savings  account the general fund Reserve is kind of more   our checking account that tends to fluctuate  uh each year based on our performance uh but   again to your point uh the general fund Reserve  but for anything else if you're structurally   imbalanced is going to decrease right if your  expenditures are greater than your revenues   and that's the position we believe we will be  in starting in 2026 and more significantly in   2027 so but for anything else we would expect  our general fund Reserve levels in the future   to decrease uh continually because we have a  structural deficit on the other side again our   stabilization Reserve is a excellent source for  us to use for one-time purposes or even maybe to   bridge our general fund until we uh strategically  rep prioritize and structurally realign but that's   how would tell you the difference is between  the two of them and remind us how much is in   the stabilization Reserve fund the total dollars  yeah I think it was $43 million if I remember my   slide correctly I think that's slide uh side  11 yeah 43.4 million is where we at this point   where we think we'll uh end the year up before any  other adjustments or anything and the general fund   Reserve uh it's in the neighborhood about 48 or  9 million uh I can get you the exact number here   I'm sorry I tend to use round numbers because  it's it's easier for me at this point and again   recognize that the courtly report is unaudited  and there's still some final adjustments to be   made uh but at this point we would expect the  general fund to in the year at about $ 49.3 million thank you and then one more  question regarding slide number 28 I saw the local sales tax  and star bonds slide number 28 it looks like a decrease can you explain that  one uh yes ma'am are you referring to the city   debt level slide yeah uh yes uh very good question  oops there it is uh that is this little uh piece   where is it down here very it's so small you can't  even see the piece specifically now recognize that   star bonds are not an obligation of the city  they're an obligation of the special district   we recognize only 4.3% of our total star Bond debt  uh because our sales tax revenue is approximately   4.3% of the revenue of the district uh but  you are correct star Bond revenue or Star   Bond balances are decreasing significantly uh  we have two star bonds outstanding one is at   k96 and green witch which at one time I believe  was up to $75 million several years ago and the   other courses at the baseball stadium where we or  the Equity Bank Park Stadium where we borrowed I   think about $42 million real high level on those  hopefully I don't provide you over detail but the   $75 million debt at green witch and k96 uh was  initially scheduled to pay off I believe in 2020   32 maybe 2028 or 32 we will come very close to  paying that off in March when we make our debt   service payment I don't want to say for sure we  will but we will be very very close to paying   off our k96 and green witch star bonds this year  in 2025 certainly by August we will so that debt   won't be on this chart anymore uh and we continue  to make extra principal payments to that which to   your point is why star bonds is going down as  to the stadium again we B $42 million uh again   our bonds are structured so that if we have extra  Revenue we make extra principal payments and we   actually paid down the princip on the stadium star  bonds last year going by memory I believe we paid   down an extra $8 million on those bonds so and  again I'm going by memory here but if my memory   is correct I think we our star bonds outstanding  on the stadium are down into the low 30s right now   32 33 million if my memory is correct so but  anyway that's why that little pie slice keep   shrinking a little bit so does our budget take  into account because right now there's not a lot   of sales tax in that area it while there's not  development or continued development hopefully   there will be development um will that does that  take that into account when it comes to our Budget   moving forward and how we would be paying off  that debt if the development doesn't continue   hopefully yeah structing at some point uh let me  answer your question but first let me give you   cavat we're very reluctant to provide future  guidance uh for a variety of reasons but we   just have to be very very careful uh since we  have bonds outstanding and there's a bunch of   SEC rules about disclosure so I want to be very  careful about providing future guidance however   uh I will tell you some facts that might lead you  to a ability to answer your question there at this   baseball stadium star bonds we have a phase one  which is basically the east side of the river and   a phase two which is basically the west side of  the river both of those are generating increments   right now which are going to pay for our Stadium  uh star bonds uh the east side is by far the more   established side and it generates the bulk of the  increment right now the west side as you noted is   currently it it does generate an increment but  it's currently under development uh based on   a lot of things the council approved a year or  two ago uh the East Side increment will expire   in 2026 I believe uh the wests side increment  won't expire until 2038 uh so certainly it is   important that the Westside increment grow I  think we've taken strategies to ensure that   it grows uh but uh that's that's basically  how I can answer your question mayor mind me   Phase 2 expires in 2032 38 I believe 38 yes ma'am  while phase one expires in 2026 I believe so yes ma'am I know that you can't disclose like  you just mentioned do due to SEC but um I'm   concerned about this so I wanted to know  maybe city manager can address some of my concern mayor I think as we've talked about  star bonds and Mark will have to help me here   if you look at it uh similar to a tiff District  you recognize that there'll be on the front and   the possibility of some deficit positions with  the understanding that you will then exceed the   debt service requirements in the latter years  which allows you to recover the losses from   the previous years on top of that with the  stadium debt we have a uh back stop that was   required by the state so that we annually put  money aside in the budget for out of sales tax   revenues should we come up short and the state  then makes a demand that we help fill that with   sales with local sales tax dollars we have not  had to do that to this point but those dollars   are basically rolled over every year uh to make  sure that we have that second level of protection   on the this debt how much has been accumulated  there it's it's always just the same amount we   just roll it over Mark you I I don't remember the  dollar amount yeah every year in the budget we   appropriate a local sales tax portion to fund  the stadium Debt Service we never use it but   we appropriate it and it's You Know It uh it's  required in our bond covenants that we propose   that to you uh and it's a you know it provides our  bond holders with reassurance and like the manager   said we have not used it but we do continue to  appropriate it varies based on our Debt Service   uh our debt service I believe this year in 2025  I believe the appropriation was somewhere in the   $2.8 million range if I remember correctly our  debt service will increase as we become if as we   begin amortizing our principle more aggressively  in the future I believe it maxes out at 3.8% or   3.8 million I'm talking between now and 2038 eight  uh so it's it's a you know it's a fairly sizable   bount of money uh but again like the manager  noted the star bonds are basically like a tiff   if we underperform we can collect it at the  end of the of the district when we overperform so and remind me there are only two star Bond  districts right the k96 and the baseball stadium   I was under the impression that there was also  another star Bond or another um yeah star Bond   where the keeper of the planes is is that  something different and can you explain that   one we used starbond revenue for improvements  along the river bank but that uh uh that was uh   quite a few years ago and uh that would have been  Incorporated in phase one and I actually I think   we paid cash for most of those improvements  too I don't think we even issued any debt for   it that was several years ago thank you Mark  any further questions for staff I see none I   just want to say thank you thank you I know  that uh you keep reiterating the structural   deficit that is right in our Horizon and I  appreciate you continuing to remind us because   we need to continue being prudent so thank  you Mark we will now open it up for public comment I see none we'll bring it back to the bench I move excuse me I move to receive and file the  quarterly Financial reports for the period   ending December 31st 2024 second motion and  a second any further discussion I see none   Madame clerk please open the role I motion  passes 70 Mr clerk rather please call the   next item 2024 Year End closing adjustments  good morning again I'm Mark Manning with   the Department of Finance uh today uh this  next presentation is very closely related   to what I just presented to you and that  is uh some proposed year-ending closing adjustments now every year we do a variety of  closing adjustments most of these fly below the   radar they're just technical adjustments that  we make they're adjusting for acels and timing   issues and encumbrances and a whole lot of boring  accounting things that we do upstairs all the time   uh however uh very important boring accounting  things that we do upstairs uh however uh today   I wanted to present to you some uh additional  adjustments for your consideration and these   are based basically on the principles that we've  been operating under last few years and that is   to invest money again in technology or in things  that can help improve our operating cost structure   going forward uh they are lot some of these are  based on timing issues and uh things of that nature I will also point out that these  adjustments will not repeat not impact   the general fund ending Reserve level that I  mentioned to you earlier or the 49.3 million   or so that we expect the general fund to wind  up at uh so let me go over these uh briefly and   I'll tell you what we're trying to accomplish and  what we believe the advantages uh may be and then   ultimately I'll finish up and tell you what  the impact on the uh uh different various fun   would be Financial Services centralization you  all are very familiar with that uh we are working   diligently to do that and to accelerate the time  frame of doing that that's consolidating things   like accounts receivable accounts payable and  payroll and some a few other functions within the   finance department we have a very decentralized  approach now where we've got a variety of Staff   uh in a variety of departments and again our  premises that we could operate more efficiently uh   if that was centralized uh we need some one time  Capital uh funding to do that specifically new   software so that we can Implement an electronic  timekeeping system again we talked about all this   in August uh when when the budget was adopted  uh we believe there's a lot of efficiency to be   gained by electronic timekeeping it'll proove  our accountability and also reduce a lot of   manual work that we're doing now and it'll just  make us much more efficient now in the adopted   budget that you adopted in August you actually  included $700,000 to be transferred in 20 25   uh for us to purchase this uh timekeeping software  now we're currently in RFP phase I think we issued   our RFP in January uh we had a a a conference with  potential vendors I think on February 7th and we   answered questions we issued an addendum of about  58 answers to allow our potential vendors to know   exactly what we want and at this point we expect  to receive our RP proposals back on February 28th   I believe and of course then we'll go on uh the  ction process and ultimately at some point we will   return a recommendation to you uh but because  of the pace that we're moving on this uh one   option for you to consider is accelerating  the $700,000 transfer and booking it into 2024 uh so that is something for you to consider  uh again based on our acceleration of that process   somewhat related to that or actually directly  related that what we've discovered is as we   talk through this our centralization is likely  going to increase Staffing levels on the 12th   floor and be more than offset by Staffing  level changes in our operating department so   fundamentally we have an infrastructure challenge  there our work space on the 12th floor is really   not configured very well for additional bodies  uh we have some other challenges up there too   that I won't go into in detail but let's just say  our configuration on the 12th floor is rather AR   cake uh so we are uh suggesting that maybe a  one-time capital investment of $300,000 will   allow us to configure our workspace uh more  efficiently and also improve security but   also allow us to accommodate what we believe  will be a realignment of Staffing levels going forward we maintain an innovation fund as you  may be aware uh this fund is what we use to   fund one-time technological uh improvements again  designed to help us operate more efficiently uh we   have some we believe some opportunities to enhance  police response times particularly through the use   of uh aerial assets so we are suggesting that if  we moved $400,000 from the general fund in Into   The Innovation fund that would provide us some  flexibility to fund some of those improvements   and and begin uh working to reduce some of  our police response times golf irrigation   improvements I talked about golf a little bit  earlier uh as as you know we have a $8 million   golf irri irrigation project that was approved  as part of the CIP that included half a million   from the general fund in 24 and half a million in  25 uh to help that project uh we are going full   speed ahead on that Jesse issued an RFP selected  a vendor I believe you approved the vendor several   weeks ago so that project is operating uh very  very effectively uh what we're suggesting here   is that we accelerate the second half of that half  a million dollar transfer and instead book it into 2024 let's talk about our guest tax fund uh  this next recommendation is designed to help   drisk the transit guest tax fund and The Debt  Service fund to that degree so we use the debt   we use a Transit guest tax fund or we like  to call it the TGT fund we use that to fund   cultural facility operating expenditures but  we also use it to fund maintenance expenditures   on our cultural facilities in fact I think  later today you'll hear a couple of additional   opportunities to do that uh so it's very  important that the transient guest tax fund   uh be on on Good Financial footing uh we also uh  use it to amortize some debt that we issued in   2024 for our cultural facility project that debt  at the time was structured with a large balloon   payment in 2034 uh so we're suggesting that if we  increased if we decrease the re reimbursement from   the transient guest tax fund to the general  fund that would improve the position of the   transient guest tax fund which would put us  in a better position to fully fund this debt   reserve and to have additional cash available  to continue to fund maintenance projects at our   cultural facilities I might had have jumped ahead  a little bit here I get to I wouldn't follow in   my slides here so again what we're recommending  is if we eliminate the transfer into the general   fund on a one-time basis in 2024 that would  provide us an additional 2 and a half million   in the transit guest tax fund that we would use  to expand the cash funded support for maintenance   projects and we would also use another 1.1  million to reduce our future debt liabilities   and to fully fund the the uh reserve for that  debt now this would have a direct impact on your   stabilization reserve and effect we would reduce  the stabilization Reserve to offset this now full   disclosure I would tell you the transient guest  tax fund is in pretty decent shape it's structured   fairly well but again this would risk it further  by increasing the resources there and again   we're going to use those resources to continue to  cash fund maintenance activities at our cultural facilities and the final two uh don't involve cash  uh these are more about reporting requirements and   some adjustments we'd like you to consider  uh so that we can make some adjustments to   our financial reporting at year end and and not  show negative variances again the expenditures   that I'm going to talk about on this Slide the  next slide have already occurred they've already   been booked they were included in the numbers I  showed you earlier but we do have variances in   a couple areas and generally speaking we don't  like to report variances it's not a real good   look Sentry 2 as you know is activity based the  city provides a modest subsidy to cover any gap   between those two that is not impacted At All  by this however activity levels at centry 2   have been higher last year which is a good thing  what that means is our expenditure limit that we   set on them is too low they've spent more than  that it also means the revenues that we set for   them is were too low also we don't need to adjust  anything on the revenue side uh but since we uh   do set the expenditure budget I think it would be  appropriate to increase the expenditure Authority   for 2024 by approximately $124 million again  no impact on the general fund no impact on the   transit guas tax fund basically just allow us to  report without having a variance second one is   very similar this is the fire department you may  recall that they came to you on December 17th and   asked for a budget adjustment due to a variety  of reasons unfortunately subsequent to that time   when the finance department got involved and we  started reconciling their Grant expenditures and   acral adjustments and a few other things uh we  discovered that the amounts that could be charged   to those federal grants was a little bit less than  what fire was estimating uh so that means that   we booked expenditures in the fire department  right now that are approximately 220,000 more   than the general fund expenditure level that was  set previously so we would recommend that you   allow us to increase the expenditure Authority  for the fire department for 2024 so that we can   avoid showing a negative variance in  our financial reporting for the fire department uh again just the impact of these what  we're trying to do is we're trying to align to   some of the things we've talked about over the  last few months and that's uh strengthening our   debt position in the future uh that's funding  maintenance projects in this case particularly   Cultural Arts cultural facilities that's using  one-time dollars to do things that we think will   increase our future viability and uh again is to  accelerate some of the one-time funding that you   have already previously approved I'm going to  wrap up here this slide here kind of summarizes   everything I've talked about if you're a visual  person this would reduce reduce your 2025 general   fund expenditures by about 1.2 million it's  going to reduce that because we're going to   shift it into 2024 and book it in 2024 again we  would have about 7 million in one-time funding   that's again infrastructure improvements in  City Hall here on the 12th floor and that is   uh increased funding for the Innovation fund  so it can experiment with some police response   uh issues that we think can improve performance  here and as I noted previously this was also in   effect increase funding in the transit gas tax  fund for maintenance projects and to retire or   to uh uh increase our debt reserve and it would  also ultimately reduce the stabilization transfer   that I showed you previously about $4.3 million  so I think I told you there was 43.4 Million uh   if if these are approved or to the degree these  are approved that balance would be probably closer   to $39 million so sorry for throwing a lot at  you uh those are the adjustments we'd like you   to consider and uh I'd be happy to answer any  question questions thank you Mark we'll begin   with council member ho Heisel thank you mayor um  thank you Mark uh your guys' work on this uh two   points and then two quick questions I ahead of  time it really helps us down the line and I fully   support the Innovation fund I think there's going  to be some interesting ideas that come from that   um on the financial service uh centralization  do we have an estimate of any savings that we   will make uh Expediting this or what how much  savings do we expect that to help with we talked   about that when we adopted the budget back in  August and I'm G to think that our estimate was $200,000 I think it's going to be materially  higher than that I can't tell you we're in the   process right now of evaluating everything  we're analyzing job duties we're looking at   what our processes can be so I can't exactly  answer your question uh but I can tell you   based on the study that I've done I think the  potenti potential is significantly higher than   what we initially expected and so that's one  reason we're operating at an expedited Pace   there's a variety of other reasons too it'll  it'll increase our efficiency and there's many   many many advantages to it uh but uh we believe  it's in our best interest to advance that yeah   I appreciate that uh last question um if we're  moving $500,000 up uh for the golf irrigation   um that money if I remember correctly we switched  over from a part maintenance fund is there um any   movement towards backfilling the park maintenance  funding I believe it was Building Maintenance or   are we just going to let that one sit with  the the transfer that we had I think that's   probably a better policy question for our CIP  development phase when we do that uh so I uh   you know I would tell you maybe to consider that  as we develop the CP and look at whether there's   any opportunities there but I but I will tell  you this is fundamentally not going to change   the financing of the irrigation improvements all  it's going to do is accelerate it because our   commitment from the general fund was $1 million  and this would just accelerate it okay so thank you any further questions for staff double  checking again so the stabilization Reserve was   43 million it would be 39 million if we do these  adjustments is that correct uh yes ma'am I'm going   from memory which sometimes I get a lot of numbers  up there and it may not be as good as it used to   be but I believe I told you on that previous slide  that was 43.4 Million if my memory is correct so   this would take about 4.3 off of that and put it  down to about 39 million still materially higher   than last year still materially higher than  what we had envisioned in the adopted budget   uh but lower than what it could be if you choose  not to make these adjustments and then lastly um   The Innovation fund transfer slide number 41 I  know that this is going to be piloted by police   but I do see this as helping fire it would also  help Public Works uh this would be um drones as   First Responders and I had a whole presentation  uh that I got to hear with both police and fire   and I see that there's um opportunities for other  departments to benefit from this so moving forward   I would like to see how this benefits other  departments as well so that it's not solely   on the budget of the police department thank  you I see no further questions for staff we   will now open it up for public comment I see none  I'll bring it back to the bench thank you very   much Mark for both the presentations I move to  approve the recommended post closing adjustments   for 2024 second motion and a second any further  discussion I see none Miss Mr clerk please open   the rooll I motion passes 70 Mr clerk please call  the next item Botanica the witch Gardens security improvements good morning mayor and Council on  Lindsay Baka with the city manager's office with   a few agenda items for you today starting with  uh Banica for some security improvements that   we're proposing and requesting there um all  of my presentations today will reference our   cultural art strategic plan that was adopted uh  a little less than a year ago and just pinpoint   some of the objectives uh in that strategic  plan that relate to this agenda item uh in   particular to ensure that city-owned Cultural  Arts facilities are and assets are a source   of Community Pride and accessible to all and  then the next one is to address short-term and   long-term maintenance needs at various facilities  through an annual plan I do want acknowledge our   annual plan at all of our facilities as a work  in progress in particular to Botanica uh we've   spent the last year working really closely  with public works and our operator Botanica   Inc to identify maintenance needs and we've been  really strategic in making sure that the entire   facility and the whole portfolio of the facility  is reflected accurately in our DST the decision   support tool that guides uh Public Works into  making assessments this project uh was identified   before we had the full assessment of that DST  report I'm proud to say that as of right now   the full facility is now in our DST which will uh  better inform future Capital Improvement projects   at Botanica a little bit more background uh the  city owns several cultural facilities including   Botanica uh uh Botanica opened in 1987 to en uh to  generate enthusiasm for horiculture and Enlighten   people through educational artistic and cultural  experiences it's a very popular facility that is   uh uh it's operated in Partnership with botanic  Inc a nonprofit organization who manages the the   day-to-day operations so although owned by the  city it's operated independent in independently   by a nonprofit uh it maintains thousands of  plants hundreds of trees presents nearly 100   special programs um and it just closed out one  of its most popular events illuminations which   uh is heavily trafficked uh in the in the winter  months some additional background is that uh as a   cultural institution the division of artarts and  cultural Services uh under the division Botanica   submits an annual report to the city in 2023 so  a couple budget Cycles ago their annual report   process uh included uh some or identified the need  for security improvements uh to ensure continued   safety of visitors staff volunteers and to protect  the facility itself uh so we rolled this into a   CIP project that was uh unique just to Botanica to  ensure that we could address it uh in this fiscal   year uh and in the 2024 annual report that we just  re received from them it was really exciting to   see that they had had over 350,000 visitors to the  gardens last year and that the organization has an   annual economic impact of just shy of $20 million  this time last year we were here with Randy Cohen   talking about our arts and economic Prosperity  study we now have a calculator for Cultural Arts   that we can calculate the the actual economic  impact of each of our partner organizations   some analysis is that this project includes  security camera system improvements um installing   additional cameras and fixtures including lighting  fixtures Financial considerations the adopted CIP   contains 120,000 in TGT funding which you just  heard a little bit about from Mark uh for this   project and staff recommend initiating the Project  funding and improve the bonding resolution with   that I stand for questions thank you Lindsay  questions for staff uh just a couple of things   number one I know that these are security  cameras so I wanted to make sure that these   are being integrated with WTOP Police Department's  realtime information center tic uh I believe they   are yes and then uh lastly anything to help with  improvements to safety um and the infrastructure   are well done Investments so I wanted to know how  this kind of um is this normal for the city to own   a property but a nonprofit to run daytoday  and so what are the resp responsibilities   of the city that's a great question um in a  future agenda item I talk about our cultural   institutions in particular and I would say all of  them have slightly different operating agreements   with the city um but of the facilities that  we own we are responsible for uh the Safety   and Security of them and capital Investments  uh for the most part with some exceptions um   but for Botanica itself We Own It the nonprofit  operates it uh they can propose capital projects   to us uh they have a long history of self-funding  those capital projects um but when it comes to um   we would say the infrastructure of it uh security  safety roofs Plumbing electric most of that will   always fall in the city as the owner uh to take  care of does that answer your question it does   thank you very much I see no further questions  for staff we will now open it up for public comment I see none I'll bring it back to  the bench this resides in council member Val District thank you mayor ignore my voice  I'd like to take the recommended action   initiate the project and approve the  bonding resolution second motion and   a second any further discussion I see  none M Mr clerk please open the role I motion passes 70 Mr clerk please call  the next item 2025 artist access cultural   funding allocation recommendations and cultural  institution operating partnership agreements thank   you uh Lindsay Baka back again with the city  manager's Office Division of Arts and Cultural   Services uh this next agenda I is a little bit  two-part one is for our artist access grant   program and then also the annual uh allocation to  our cultural institutions starting off again with   our cultural art strategic plan which really  guides everything we do um our mission is to   Sure ensure that everyone has Equitable access to  Opportunities uh by activating and strengthening   the creative potential of our community and  our Envision is that witcha is recognized as a   community where artistic expression is an integral  part of the city's success where Arts Thrive and   cultural heritage is preserved and celebrated  a few strategic objectives that relate uh to   the cultural funding program that are in our  strategic plan um I I wanted to highlight a   few of them specifically the last two here is  to evaluate the cultural institution program   and assess accountability and Community impact  measurements uh typically we come with this   agenda item at the end of the calendar year  so we can inform our institution Partners what   their allocation is for the following year we've  pushed it back a little bit this year because we   now have a formal annual report process so we  just received those annual reports from them   so now we're requesting a budget adjustment  previously we did it before we received that   data back from them uh so we're trying to move it  into more of the performance um performance-based   measurements when uh we're requesting additional  resources for our partners and then also and the   last one is revamp the uh allocation structure  to the cultural funding program to support   growth creativity and accountability we've done um  some strategic overhauling of the funding program   specifically in the grants area over the last  few years and you'll see in this presentation   the growth we've had in the program and the  uh the depth of impact that we're um excited   that we have in the community Through um some of  those structural changes and then in particular   because this plan was passed May of last year  all of the narrative questions for our grants   for funding this year is related directly to the  plan so uh we're excited to have that through line   um to really move our mission and vision forward  as a reminder we have a few different uh funding   opportunities through the cultural funding  program uh we have operational grants for   nonprofit Partners we have the Arts Thrive project  grants that was a new uh program from for this   year that's funded through the National Endowment  of arts and then uh artist access grants these are   individual uh funding Awards to local artists for  professional development opportunity opportunities   I always like to remind people that this is not  for the creation of art or the development of   artwork but really investing in the professional  uh aspect of the Artist as uh entrepreneurs and   small business owners in our community uh and then  cultural institutions which we just talked about   Botanica as one of them uh but a Lon share  of our our funding goes towards our cultural   instit tion and our partner organizations and  these are organizations that receive dedicated   funding and have operational agreements with  the city these are non-competitive uh funding opportunities the cultural funding uh program  itself is overseen by our cultural funding   committee uh they review Grant application and  make recommendations to city council uh as a   reminder there are 11 committee members seven  are appointed by city council and four by our   partner organization the hearts Council the grant  cycle is administrated annually and applications   are new and competitive each year uh so previous  applications are are not considered in the review   process uh in particular to the artist Access  program artists can apply two years in a row to   receive funding and then they have to take a year  off although uh we have that in think a couple   instances this year but previous applications are  not considered uh during the review process uh and   the grant program is in current review as relates  to our strategic plan uh we know that any funding   adjustments we make to our partner organiz ation  should be done uh with open communication with   them and over time we are trying not to have  any major changes to impact the operations of   our of our partners the uh projected funding for  grant opportunities was estimated at uh $59,000   for this year of which $495 was allocated to our  operational grants that left $114,000 in change   for the allocation of our artist access grants  the operational Grant opportunity awarded um a   record number of 37 local art a record of 37 uh  grants to local arts and culture organizations   and just for comparison last fiscal year we  awarded 23 this year we're awarding 37 so   again just the growth in the program and the  depth that we have in the community is pretty significant for the artist access grants for  2025 in particular uh staff received a record   high of 71 Grant applications but during the open  review cycle uh the committee recommends funding   22 applications for 2025 based on the 14,000  and change that's available uh the total amount   requested was just over $63,000 uh so this is a  very very competitive Grant cycle this year so   we want to make sure we acknowledge that um  and we want to make sure that any applicant   knows that uh if they were not selected it was  not due to the the quality of their Artistry or   the value that they bring to the community but  it's just reflecting the The Limited funding we   have available for the um the the large influx  of applicants that we received this year so it   really was a competitive cycle and and then for  comparison for this fiscal year for 2024 or I'm   a I'm a year behind here uh for last fiscal year  2024 we had 40 applicants 26 were funded based on   the funding available last year 2023 much lower  at four applicants and three funded so really   just want to take a point of personal privilege  to acknowledge our cultural um Cultural Arts   administrator Jesse Koo for the amazing Outreach  he's done in this sector in particular to really   uh work very closely with individual artists  many of them this was their first time ever   applying for a grant so we see that as a win  for professional development just on its own   all right so here are the recommendations for  um 2025 artist access grants from the cultural   funding committee there are 22 um Awards here um  I do want to point out that there are five awards   that are fully funded the rest are pro-rated based  on their scoring and ranking of the committee of the 2020 uh the the 22 uh grants that are  recommended here's a breakdown of what those   grants are going for for professional  development artistic residencies   conference attendance continuing education  opportunities expanded marketing and workshop participation and then moving on into our cultural  institution uh operating partnership agreements   uh so in short I think are the general terms I  like to use when describing cultural institutions   is that these are organizations uh who are  responsible responsible for managing city-owned   assets or operating out of a city-owned  facility cultural institutions each have   a unique operating partnership agreement with  the city that is tailored to that relationship   for the organizations that we'll see in  this latter part of the presentation they   all have contractual language that uh ties  it to the cultural arts M Livy equivalent   and a dedicated allocation and in particular  the absolute dollar amount provided to the   institution fluctuates year toe as do the renes  uh obtained through our property tax uh so every   year we come uh come to this body asking for the  allocation adjustment for the availability of funds so this is a list of the organizations that  are eligible for that adjust annual adjustment I I   do want to point out that the Council uh recently  uh renewed their operating agreement in December   of last year so their funding adjustment was  already approved so the request today is for   the the remaining organizations to receive  um their 7.9% increases based on the mil   Levy change and one thing that's exciting is  this m middle column is the economic impact   that we can now uh calculate through the Arts  and economic Prosperity study so it's exciting   to see what the city's investment is versus  the return on investment in economic activity   and then I do want to highlight some of the  organizations that you might not see on this   list that likely come up in question uh so  Botanica the organization that we just saw is   considered a cultural institution it's floated  throughout the years between a Parks facility   and an Arts facility currently it's under the  Arts uh division uh but is not eligible for   for this funding it receives dedicated funding  through staff and some additional Public Work   support and then similarly Century 2 city  arts and cow toown are sometimes considered   um cultural institutions but those organiz Gan  ations while City ards and cow toown are owned   and operated outright by the city so we manage  their budgets uh entirely although we have a   partnership advisory boards that help guide the  operation they truly are City owned and operated   not through a nonprofit partner and then Century  2 has operated a little bit differently under   asm's management so the recommendation here  today is to approve the funding allocations   recommended by the cultural funding committee  and operating partnership agreements for the   cultural institutions and authorize the necessary  signatures and with that I'm happy to answer any   questions thank you Lindsay questions for staff I  see none I just wanted to say I appreciate seeing   the higher number of applicants uh wanting to  connect and look at those resources that are   available and then knowing that uh the recipients  will have a portion of their ass funded is really   an investment by the city to these individuals and  so um I appreciate that the council uh did this   but also that The Advisory Board took the time  to review all these applications and um provided   some funding for them through this so thank you  Lindsay I will now open it up for public comment good morning I'm Molly mcferson the director and  CEO of the Witchita Art Museum and I'm here today   to thank the city of Witchita for the funding that  we receive and to share some of the ways that this   support impacts our community Wham is celebrating  its 90th birthday this year we were started by   Louise Caldwell Murdoch who specified in her will  that the income from her estate should be used for   the purchase of art for the city of Witchita today  we are proud to be stewards for this collection   and to fulfill our mission of Connecting People  ideas and art for the next 90 years funding from   the city of Witchita is crucial for our ability  to care for our collection for generations to   come it also supports programming for visitors  of all ages some of the services that we provide   for our community incl include free general  admission extended hours on Friday evenings   with a different program each week several free  programs for preschool age children and their   families including art start and story time we  have a free interactive space for families and   visitors of all ages called play that supports  childhood development and creative thinking   skills play includes a toddler spot booknook an  area for open-ended Crea of play and an art lab   where art making materials are free and available  to anyone whenever the museum is open we host six   free family days each year that include art  making performances and many other activities   for families to participate in together we offer  completely free field trips for school groups as   well as 100% bus reimbursement and I'm proud  to share that Wham received a good Apple award   from wi top Public Schools last year in 2024  recognizing our partnership with the fine arts   department this partnership includes leading ins  services for their Visual Arts teachers an annual   showcase for which top Public Schools performing  arts groups and most recently exhibitions of   artwork by students who attend witch toop public  schools these are just some examples of the work   we do to make Wham accessible and engaging for  our community and on behalf of all of the staff   at the witcha art museum I'm deeply grateful  for the city's financial support that allows   us to continue to do this work for our community  thank you thank you we'll continue with public comment good morning mayor and city council my  name is Matthew bradick come with the Arts Council   I thank you guys for coming out in the cold and  making it here safely I hope you get home safe   as well uh the Arts Council is so grateful for  your support of uh the future of our city and um   so grateful for your support of these uh items  that help make our city livable uh we believe   that the Arts mean business and our mission is  to promote and Advance arts and culture in the   city of Witchita through advocacy education  and Outreach uh I think that the hard work   that's done by the cultural funding committee  to uh review all of these applications and to   make these determinations uh deserve special  recognition as well I know that the folks that   we put into the uh committee spend hours and hours  and hours um and we are happy to help get them   fed and keep them uh energized while they're  doing their work but uh we're we're grateful   for your guys' support and that's all I came to  say thanks thank you we'll continue with public comment I see none we'll bring it back to to the  bench council member tutle thank you um thank you   to the speakers for being here today and braving  the cold and Matthew thank you for your service   as the Arts Council president I'm a proud member  of the Arts Council board um also want to thank   Lindsay for your Relentless efforts in this  area really appreciate all that you do you're   just truly a blessing to the city and to the city  staff so thank you also want to thank the cultural   funding committee again has been mentioned but for  their work I've been involved in these processes   in the past before I was in Council and so very  grateful for everyone's time um Lindsay alluded   to it but I can't help myself I have to mention  it again um in 2023 we did the ae6 the Arts and   economic Prosperity study um and we found that  arts in the non-for-profit sector in our city   account for 84.7 million in economic activity  184 million annually in economic activity   also it's 2,929 full-time equivalent jobs that's  not just artists that's accountants that's you   know people who are the CEOs people who are in the  stage design all the different things so that's a   a significant impact in terms of employment and  then also it generates $ 32.3 million in local   state and federal tax revenue annually so Arts do  mean business in wiah and when we adopted the cult   Arts strategic plan I committed to not only  vote for it on that day but that I would do   everything that I can to support it  and I feel like being supportive of   this initiative today will do that so  I will be incredibly supportive thank you I see no further comments I will move to  approve the funding allocations recommended   by the cultural funding committee and  the operating partnership agreements   for the cultural institutions and  authorize the necessary signature   second motion and a second any further  discussion I see none Mr clerk please open the role I motion passes 70 Mr clerk please call the  next item Cultural Arts facility improvements back   with it just a couple more uh Lindsay bako at the  city manager Office Division of Arts and Cultural   services uh this next agenda item is related to  the prominade area um related to Century 2 and   and a Hyatt uh the city of witch owns several  cultural facilities including this property uh   the prominade conference area uh in 2017 the  city entered an agreement with ruen Riverfront   Hotel LLC uh who had the DBA of the Hyatt Regency  Hotel uh and in that agreement the city of witcha   is responsible for maintaining and refurbishing  the prominade level meeting rooms to a quality   level and style comparable to and consistent  with the meeting spaces within the remainder of   the adjacent hotel as it relates to the Strategic  plan again we want to ensure that our city-owned   facilities are assets uh facilities and assets  are a source of Community Pride and accessible   to all and we always want to make sure that we're  working to address the short-term and long-term   maintenance needs of the facilities through  an annual plan for this facility in particular   the the meeting rooms are used for a variety of  special events conventions and conferences uh City   staff along with the management partners of ASM  and Hyatt Regency uh have we we meet regularly   to to go over the various needs of the facility uh  and in a previous meeting we identified a need to   make repairs and improve the Aesthetics of the  prominade area to make sure it's an attractive   venue uh for conventions and conferences uh  this project in particular includes aesthetic   improvements including replacing the carpet wall  coverings and fixtures um we also hope if funding   is available from the project uh to address some  of the technology but we're really prioritizing   aesthetic improvements at the this time and as  many of you know the tourism industry in which   Tod drives significant economic activity for  the financial considerations of this project   the adopted CIP contains 2 million in TGT funding  for the high prominade improvements I also want   to acknowledge that we have additional funding in  fiscal year 26 for 1.5 million so in total across   two fiscal years we're estimating this project  being about $3.5 million but for this year we're   we're just focusing on a certain component of it  at the $2 million Mark and then staff recommend   uh initiating the project improving the bonding  resolution I this was a short one but happy to see   him for any questions if there are any questions  for staff I see none we'll move to public comment   I see none I'll bring it back to the bench this  resides in council member Johnson's District thank   you mayor I move that the city council initiate  the project and approve the bonding resolution   second motion and a second any further discussion  I see none Mr clerk please open the role I motion   passes 7 z Mr clerk please call the next item  2025 downtown pedestal art okay back again for   my last presentation this morning Lindsay Bak  with the city manager's Office Division of Arts   and Cultural Services as a relates to the strateg  Strategic plan this project in particular uh is a   new exciting opportunity to to reinvent a previous  program that existed in the community um and the   Strategic uh objectives related to public art  and this project in particular uh that have been   highlighted at the bottom here are to promote free  and affordable Cultural Arts opportunities public   art is a great example of that because it is free  to to view and available at all times uh for for   any constituent to enjoy uh we want to continue  growing and restoring our public art collection   as well as ensuring the public can engage with and  access that one incentivize Community Partners and   individual artists to develop new artwork uh  and then another project that we're working   on that is not directly related to this project  but but we hope that has a nice correspondence   is that we're developing a public artist toolkit  uh and incubator programs to expand professional   opportunities for local artists uh we have a very  robust local artist Community um but we've heard   over the last few years of not being able to  win the bids on various rfps or rfqs we have   for public art and we're hoping that this  project in particular can be uh a low uh   low entry point for or an easy entry point for  local artist to enter uh the public art sphere   uh versus going after some some larger projects  that we have on the docket some background on   this project in particular is that from 20 uh  2008 to 2023 the Arts Council a local nonprofit   uh administered a program called a sculpture  Walkabout uh this program featured sculptures   on pedestals throughout the downtown area uh  the Arts Council Sunset the program in 2023   with conversations with my division uh due  to diff difficulties in rotating the artwork   annually and ongoing funding limitations uh the  initial idea of that program was that the artwork   would rotate out every year and it would be on  loan through the artist it would be available for   sale so businesses could purchase artwork um not  to say that that didn't happen but didn't happen   I think at the level that we would have deemed  successful so we were waning to reinvent or take   a look at the program um ultimately the annual  funding required for those uh annual loans um   became a limitation of the Council uh since the  program closed the city has filled two of the   VAC vacated pedestals through one one through a  donation um and one a permanent loan those are   um there are also two temporary displays um that  currently exist as well I just want to um do a   quick shout out and express some gratitude to agno  and Associates uh who have uh given a permanent   loan to the city for the image that you see on the  screen Cloudy with a Chance by area artist rolling   car we're really thankful that that long-term  loan has made been made available to the the   community and also um some additional gratitude to  Roland cark for donating an additional sculpture   that's near Larkspur uh for the program uh we're  grateful for both of those uh individuals for   contributing to the the public art program  there are currently 14 pedestals available   for permanent installation uh the pedestals are  all city property that was part of the original   agreement with Arts Council is that the city  provided the pedestals their city property um   and 14 are currently available for permanent  installation the design Council identified   this project um through its annual budgeting  allocation process last year and identified   funding in the 2% for art program to help support  this project uh the design Council recommended   the city acquire sculptures permanently into the  public art collection so they would no longer be   on annual rotation we would do oneandone purchase  them uh versus having a goal of annual rotation   uh the design Council and staff believe this to  be a much more sustainable program for for these   pedestals in particular uh staff of communicated  with various stakeholders on the proposed project   including the Arts Council downtown witch  Harvester arts and Oldtown Association uh   who have all been great Partners U with a previous  sculpture Walkabout program and are um I believe   in supportive of this project as well here's a  map of the pedestals that are available um just   pointing out the green stars on the screen are  the the agnu and Associates and the rolling car   uh contributions to the city the other ones are  available for permanent displays and I'm going to   talk about the the um star in the southwest corner  of the map because it's a bit of anomaly the rest   all exists in really the true Oldtown downtown  area but there is one in uh the at the baseball   complex that that's worth uh pulling out uh the  stadium pedestal uh was part of the overall public   art that was related to the the the baseball  Stadium's uh design we have a lot of art that's   integrated throughout the stadium uh this pedestal  initially was supposed to be rotating art um it   has not necessarily successfully rotated the art  uh but we uh we believe that the sculpture that's   currently there that we just uh renewed a loan  agreement with the artist uh for another year   uh could be another site for either purchasing  a permanent work or purchasing this piece at a   prated rate so past contributions that we've made  to this artist for the loan could be applied to   a purchase um versus having an annual rotation uh  we think just having a permanent piece would be uh   the the best case scenario for this this pedestal  so we've folded it into this whole project um but   this piece in particular was designed for the  stadium by local artist Mike Miller um it's a   the picture I will say doesn't do it justice as  is the case with most art uh but it is a kinetic   sculpture that moves and rotates with with the  wind so very fitting for the the serges stadium   and is currently on an extended loan agreement  we just approved an extension of the loan through   February of next year um if this artist was  interested in it being purchased permanently   by the city it would be part of the competitive  program so it would be up to the Review Committee   and this body to ultimately purchase that  piece if that's the will of uh the various bodies as we look to approach this project in  general we we do hope to have a competitive um   application process for for the art selection that  would go on these 14 pedestals uh once the funds   are initiated we'll we will open uh calls for  proposals through the platform call for entry   which we affectionately call Cafe this is the  National Standard uh for public art proposals   prospective artist will be able to submit  their proposals for consideration a panel   of stakeholders many of which were named  in a previous slide will review and make   recommendations to design Council design  Council will make a final recommendation   to city council as they do on all Public public  art some background that I think is interesting   um that we get a lot of questions about as we've  uh really spent the last couple years um uh kind   of overhauling our public art program and making  sure that the public was aware of it knew how to   access it um but the utilization of call for  entry or Cafe uh was really started in 2023   uh as our primary platform it used to be Project  based now we have a universal platform so everyone   is in the no of what we have available uh in  2024 we issued eight rfqs uh resulting in 536   36 applications from the across the country um  including local artists uh and also in 2024 20   commissions were awarded from those eight rfqs  of those commissions 58 were awarded to wit area   artists 42% were awarded to the National and  international artists this is an increase of   local artists from the year before um and we  think this is a good Balancing Act we want   to always make sure that we're attracting new  Talent into the community and showcasing our   local community to what's out there but they we  also want to make sure that we're investing in   our local artists and making sure that they have  opportunities to to present their artwork in their Hometown artists who are interested in the in  participating in this in this project will uh   be guided to call for entry once it's available I  also want to highlight our public artist registry   uh we've had this for many years um but it's  been utilized to various degrees it's publicly   accessible on the city's website um and any artist  can register to be listed as a public artist uh on   that registry it doesn't necessarily that we  endorse them or we guarantee that their work   but they're essentially on the contact list  for anytime we have an opportunity they're   in the know and we we send them a notification  similarly all of our um construction engineer   Partners who have projects if they're looking  for a public artist whether it's a city project   or not we have a roster of artists uh that they  can can work from versus just Googling blindly   who who's out there who's available so we often  use this as a referral opportunity um artists   at all stages of their career will be encouraged  to apply especially early and mid-career artists   we're really hoping that we can use this project  again not necessarily in the incubator idea but   um but is a a a low barrier to entry for a visual  artist to enter the public art Arena uh because   they're kind of oneandone static sculptures  versus these larger aesthetic design projects   uh Geographic eligibility for this project will  include preferences for witon Kansas based artists   what we've seen over the last couple years is  we haven't had a huge influx of local artists   participate I would say we anticipate it for this  one uh but we we'll likely have at a national call   just to see what's out there to make sure we  get the best of the best for these pedestals uh   but we'll have some sort of preference or bonus  points available for witon Kansas based artists reminders for the public that we have public  art archive this is where we publicly list and   showcase our our collection the city has over  300 works of public art uh that can be viewed   at public art archive.org uh you can search by  the artist by type of art by location um it's   a really interactive platform some benefits of  public art especially in the downtown area is   that uh public art has been proven to reduce  property damage it makes for a more walkable   environment it can calm traffic uh and prevents  accidents increases property values enhances   and beautifies the built environment and Spurs  tourism by creating a sense of place and adds   to the cultural identity uh to a community for  financial considerations the adopted CIP includes   $200,000 in gof funding as part of the 2% for  art program administered by the design Council   um I also want to acknowledge that we have an  outstanding Grant request with the Nea uh that   we submitted last year to match the funding for  this project we requested an additional $100,000   um due to the uncertainty in federal funding  right now um we we don't really want to wait   for that funding to to present itself or not uh  we think that if we do get it funded that we'll   be able to integrate that into the overall Project  based on the time it takes to get calls for calls   for art out um and a selection panel mobilized uh  we typically anticipate hearing back from them in   the springtime March April um our colleagues and  counterparts at the Nea uh have said that this   program is still under review U for those Grant  applications for last year uh but regardless of   of if we receive that funding or not we do plan on  moving forward with that Pro we would like to move   forward with this project and staff recommend  approve the bonding resolution and initiate   the Project funding um and with that I'm happy  to answer any questions if there are any thank   you Lindsay we'll begin with council member  Glascock thank you mayor thank you for your   presentation Lindsay um I'm very excited about the  jump from 47 to 58% in terms of local artists um   but I also love having the national artists come  in too and offer a different flavor for things   as well um you mentioned an artist registry how  many artists are currently on the registry do we know approximately 90 to 100 says our public art  manager okay great do we I imagine we do but do we   ever go out to final Fridays and give people maybe  information of hey we have a public art registry   do you want to register for this program we have  not I love the idea if we had the Manpower and   support to help do that we'd be happy to do that  we do have a new um kind of infographic card   describing our public art program through public  art archive because we're really trying to get   the word out of where public art is how you can  view it how you can access it but love the idea   of getting local artists on the registry as well  I would love to volunteer for that I try to go to   a lot of them so noted um I noticed on page 85  this is just a small detail um and regarding or   on slide 85 but regarding uh maintenance of the  structure is well I noticed a lot of rust on that   in terms of the pedestal how often do we maintain  the pedestal so it's not the art piece looks great   but then the pedestal kind of deepens the noted  I will say for this one I think the picture was   taken right after installation uh that property  received significant Renovations Agnon Associates   have a stunning facility in a residential area  as well um so I'm not sure if this picture was   taken right around that same time uh because  the program has been dormant we have not been   maintaining them uh so that's something that as  uh we develop the program we will definitely take   that into consideration I will offer that when in  the previous sculpture walk about program the city   was supportive of maintaining and assisting the  artists with installation and deinstallation so   we're used to that and we would plan to do that  again with with this program and would that come   from the 2% for our for aspect of it that's  a good question it could uh we do have so 10%   of the 2% is allocated for uh Main M projects  we also have some funding within our general   operation support that we can absorb depending  on the scope and scale if it's a pedestal needs   to be completely rebuilt that would likely fall  under CIP if it's just some steel wool and elbow   grease we would likely just accommodate that of  our general budget okay great well I'm proud of   our art in this community especially the public  art projects and so because of that there's one   in District Four so I just want that noted in the  green packet because district one and District Six   are the only two that get uh credit for it so one  of them is in District 4 my apologies thank you   council member hoisel thank you mayor um uh thank  you Lindsay you've been doing a lot of work and a   lot of the other artists here as well appreciate  you coming up and chatting about this and just   expressing support for this program and thank you  council member Glascock you asked quite a bit of   the questions that I had with the maintenance  I guess the only question I really have at this   point is um I I think I caught we're going to  have at least two of the pedestals that are   still open for um kind of rotating pieces is that  correct or um hopefully not uh we're hoping that   these are all permanent installations uh the two  pedestals that are currently filled one of them is   a donation to the city so we've already acquired  that so that one's done uh the permanent loan from   magnu and Associates we believe is permanent  in per perpetuity at which time if they change   their mind at any point we will address that at  that time but I think we're on a very long-term   loan for that one and we have no reason to  believe it won't be there in perpetuity okay   so all of these were trying to to get permanent  permanent statute that's the goal okay thank you   Lindsay I have several questions so I'll go by  slides I'll start off with um slide number 86 it   looks like there are four organizations that um  are stakeholders my question then to you is have   those four organizations said that they would  maybe donate a piece of art I know that you   mentioned agnu and Associates I'm really grateful  that antoan has done that for the community he   purchased it himself and then he thought it would  be nice public art for the rest of the community   to enjoy and so I'm appreciative of donors who  do things like that for the greater good so my   question then is would these four organizations  be interested in helping with donating some of   these pieces that that's a great question um  I'll offer that when the Arts Council decided   to Sunset the program all these organizations  were engaged a lot of public reached out to   say what does this mean how do we figure this  out um I presented uh to downtown witta and to   Oldtown Association what it would take to get the  program back up and running um and some different   opportunities for funding to support it what  a single sculpture typically costs um we did   not get anyone to bite and no one uh showed up to  to help uh fund those opportunities I will offer   and Matthew still in the room with the Arts  Council that they do have some funding available   I believe from from the program still that's  earmarked for the program to support it in   some capacity I don't know that there's funding  available to purchase anything outright but that   can support some some part of the program perhaps  and marketing or a kickoff party or something to   that extent uh but to my knowledge these Partners  have not uh made themselves known that they'd be   interested in purchasing it so we're always open  to that that disappoints me a bit uh knowing   that a large majority of these pedestals  are in the Oldtown Association District um   so like I guess there's only a few that are in  other areas of um this specific map so I would   encourage I guess the Oldtown Association or  anyone who has pieces that they have in their   collection to donate them to uh public art so  that would be uh one suggestion uh slide number 88 this piece right here I remember uh we  brought this up during consent agenda um so   can you tell me how much on average a sculpture  like this cost and for this in particular we've   been paying for it um and I believe if I remember  correctly uh we've gone to almost the amount of   what this actually costs so then the city could  purchase it but in the event that we do purchase   it I would also like to know the ongoing cost  of maintaining these sculpture pieces as they   do need some maintenance over time sure um great  question and observation on this one staff had the   same observation um I believe we've had this one  installed for about three years that we've done   an annual payment to some extent of about $1,200  I believe the purchase price is between 10 and   15 depending on where it lands with the artist  um which is I would say pretty common for a a   sculpture of this size scale uh in the previous  sculpture Walkabout program we saw anywhere from   like $5,000 to $220,000 um it can really run the  gamut depending on size scale scope uh materials   um but for this one in the 10 to $15,000 range  is what I would estimate we do have confirmation   from the artist that previous purchase previous  payment uh payments made for this sculpture in   particular could be made towards the purchase  price if that was a a direction we want to go   uh one of the challenges we have is we don't  have a mechanism to purchase artwork if that's   the will of what we want to do outside of the 2%  for art program uh so when we identified well yeah   we we've almost paid the full cost we don't have  a mechanism to purchase if that's what we wanted   to do by folding it into this program it gives us  that opportunity but also gives us the opportunity   to see what else is out there so this artist  would still have to submit um and competitively   essentially bid on the pedestal it might have  priority ranking given that's it's already there   but that would be the will of the committee to  design Council and city council to make that   final decision and then my other question is more  in Broad stroke regarding public art I appreciate   when you started off this presentation by saying  uh this public art really is so that quote   everyone can enjoy at all times and so I really  appreciate when public art is really Outdoors   people can enjoy it again at all times um so I'm  supportive of this idea of moving forward with   more permanent um pieces but it's still I'm still  cautious knowing that we have a budget deficit but   I know that this is very allocated um in specific  it can only be spent for art um so you can't move   and a community wants us to move dollars into  this move dollars out of it into other areas but   this is specific to public art and art in itself  so my question really goes down to have we ever   thought about utilizing those dollars into to  fund bigger um public art pieces for instance   I think during the budget process I mentioned  um a big mural we have a big mural on one of   the grain elevators but we have an even bigger  grain elevator uh where you could do something   very Witchita themed um and Witchita specific  another big idea for instance um I've seen   already um some artwork regarding Century 2 and  putting an airplane on top of it or um really   speaking to the air capital of the world we don't  have anything down town that says we are the air   capital of the world and then last but not least  I remember Senator otha fadoo uh sharing that she   would love to see an instagrammable uh Larger  than Life ruby red slippers to um bring people   to our community so these items all take dollars  and I know that there are other big ideas that   our community has but how are those big Ideas  ever going to be funded if we just continue   doing little pieces and I appreciate it but  anything big like that how would they get funded there a lot of things that I'm really  excited about because I too would love to do   some big projects um to kind of the the first part  of the caveat that we have within the percent for   art program itself is that funding can only  be used for a city of witch toop property so   we'd have to be mindful of those funds as the  ordinance currently relates can only be used   for city property uh and the projects that are  selected complement existing projects within this   in within the CIP uh this project in particular  the downtown pedestal project is the first project   that we're doing outside of uh the rest of the CIP  so it's a standalone project it's not related to   other CIP projects so this is a little bit of a  pilot the first time we're doing this um and the   ordinance does allow us to do that in terms of  other projects or kind of big picture projects   that would I would say be at the will of the  design Council to how they allocate those funds   um and it would come at probably the expense of  other projects that we have going on uh these last   few few years we've done a lot of projects related  to our quality of life services so libraries Pools   Parks have had some major renovation projects  I think it's important to acknowledge to to to   complement those Quality of Life Services with  aesthetic enhancements so those have received   a lion share of the public art funding over the  last few years um but in terms of big projects   if it's the will of the council if it's the will  of both the design Council and city council it's   just a manage ma manner of identifying the project  um and managing the the allocated budget to make   those projects happen I recently actually had  a meeting with Senator falo about the ruby red   slipper and told told her to reach out to me with  more ideas that's an example of if a Community   member has an idea um and I think in that that  idea believe believe uh had some private dollars   attached to making it happen we can absolutely  figure out how to accommodate that I don't know   that I can quote the percentage of our public art  collection that's been donated to the city but a   good chunk of it is gifts to the city a variety  of different Partnerships and agreements we have   with various uh Community Partners or sister city  gifts um It's Not Unusual at all for us to accept   donations to the city we always want to be mindful  of Maintenance that is this something that we can   actually site do we have a plan for it can we  accommodate it uh but we can ENT Ain any idea   out there and does that address your questions it  does okay um I just wanted to I know that you had   a presentation regarding public art last year  um and there was a slide in there um that I'd   like to see updated so slide number 16 of that  presentation was regarding public art spending   by District um I would like to see it continue  moving forward getting an update like that I   think it's important for Community to know that  we make investments into public art um and where   they're located by District um so slide number  16 if that could be updated I'd appreciate that   c do and then last but not least I just wanted to  say thank you I know you brought you and the team   brought out um Jon of Arc out of um the basement  and now it's public art right here at City Hall   and I appreciate seeing our public art that we've  already collected over the years coming back to   light so um if there are more opportunities like  that if there's anything in our storage that also   could be part of these pedestal art pieces I  think we should consider that as well council   member Glascock thank you mayor uh your comments  just I mean sparked this too I would be interested   at what the capital cost would be to bring our  pieces outside of um storage and if there was   was a cost you know where we this body could find  the money I think if we have these art pieces I   would like them brought up and you may already  have that and it might be easily accessible um   but I just be interested if we have it let's make  sure we showcase it as much as we can if I could   just comment on that uh we do have a plan for our  all work seter in in storage with the exception of   maybe two or three that we're still figuring out  if they are truly in the public art collection   or if they were uh if or if they're not part of  the public art collection but everything of scale   I would say of sculptural uh value we do have  plans for that was part of our CIP maintenance um   program last fiscal year to initiate 24 funding  so I believe it's in the $120,000 range to do   those maintenance which included Jon ofar uh the  Lotus sculptures that we're trying to get back   into River uh side park uh but we do believe  we have a plan to address everything that's   currently in storage and get it out um last year  the year before we brought big red out who was   in storage for a couple decades now on display in  front of the library we have a plan I believe for   everything that's currently in storage to get  it out if it did additional funding is needed   you all be the first to know so I imagine that to  be the case um and last this would probably be in   the comment section but I'll just uh say it now  as well I recently uh was on one of the artist   selection committees um I found it a very uh  smooth process I found it a very rewarding process   a very efficient process um and so I just want to  credit you and your team in that um I think we've   met four or five times and I'm excited about uh  the possibility on the riverfront as a result of   that conversation so thank you um and it uh helped  instill even greater trust I had in our public Art thank you very much Lindsay I see no further  questions for staff we'll open it up for public comment I see none bring it back to the bench this  resides in Council Members Johnson Ballard and   Blas Cox District mayor I'm going to  take this motion um mayor I recommend   I move that the city council initiate  the project and approve the bonding resolution second second Motion in a second   any further discussion I see  none Mr clerk please open the role I motion passes 70 Mr clerk please  call the next item clap Park Clubhouse lease good morning mayor and Council  here to talk with you about the clap uh   Park Clubhouse lease a little background on  this in mid uh 2019 the golf course at witw   LW clap Memorial par closed and from two20  uh 2019 to 2021 the golf courts was vacant   in mid 2021 the clubhouse rented to ducks flying  disc the local disc Sports po shop to continue to   activate the park and mid 2024 the agreement with  ducks uh dis expired an end to a month-to-month agreement a little bit of analysis on this a  request for proposal was prepared to solicit   vendors to uh lease the clap pup house and  on December the 27th the proposals were due   on January 6 and 8 uh staff screening committee  reviewed proposals and SEL interviews for both   vendors that applied uh one vendor did not show  for the interview and following the interviews   the uh staff determined that the remaining vendor  ducks flying disc met all criteria proceed as the   selected vendor they had a thorough proposal  demonstrated Success Through past performance   and established approach in the project that  meets the city's objectives on February the   10th 2025 the Park Board of Commissioners voted to  approve the lease agreement a little additional uh   analysis on uh the uh current vendor that's  being uh proposed is that uh their volunteer   services they have on site they have donated  over 2,100 volunteer hours by the staff in   the media Network resulting in about $775,000 in  direct benefits to the city th hours coordinated   with alide Community groups uh the tenant supplies  to clean up materials and volunteers who pick up   and trash and maintain the Creek area and trim  trees and limbs Etc on site and the staff and   volunteers M the two championship golf courses the  parking lot the sidewalks and other public areas   uh parking wck benefits from reduced workload  for Park maintenance at clap so for plan events   that they have coming there they have $300,000  in economic impact just from one national uh   Disc Go tournament The Keeper of the chains in  the rich open uh host and assist with a doen of   events annually uh that hosts a Statewide disc  golf tournaments uh disc golf leagues Parks and   Rec candy crawl as well as National Night Out  and partnership with uh WSU and usd259 host uh   CrossCountry meets on site as well so some of the  collaborations that they actually have with being   their on site is with local businesses they also  work with the VA Medical Center uh the Kansas disc   golf Museum as well as work with the creating  a safe place to provide resources for those who   are in need who visit the park their on site uh  the point of contact for the park visitors and   our opening for the new playground we anticipate  that they will be even more of an asset to assist   their own site with information concessions  and bathrooms for the public uh on site uh   they have a small Alliance area that's  there for special events and birthday   parties and baby showers and soon we offer uh  groups to the recent partnership with the VA hospital so Financial considerations for uh  the lease is a rent for three-year initial   term year one would be $700 per month  plus $200 for utilities year two will   be $800 per month plus $200 for utilities  and year three will be $900 per month plus   $200 for utilities and then two one-year  options to extend the term and rent will be negotiated so legal considerations the law  department has reviewed and approved the lease   agreement as to form and is recommended  that the city council approve the vendor   selection approve the lease agreement  and authorize the necessary signatures   and I'll stand for any question thank you Reggie  questions for staff I see none thank you we'll   open it up for public comment I see none I'll  bring it back to the bench this resides in   council member hil's district thank you mayor  um I appreciate everybody's work going through   a process I know we've had some issues with the  contracts getting updated it's part of an overall   um policy kind of change that we're looking at  now um so I appreciate everybody's patience with   that uh Mr dander you're here today uh thank you  for all the work that you do um I hear from a lot   of the neighborhood people around there just how  grateful they are that you're helping with the   upkeep there and maybe once I'm out of office  one day I'll be able to go out there and throw   disc again at uh the park that's right down the  street from me but um yes yes I I think there's   not going to be a lot of people out there today  um but again thank you sir for all that you do   for us and our community and with that I will  take staff's recommended action and move that   we approve the vendor selection approve the lease  agreement and authorize the necessary signatures   second Motion in a second I see an individual  speak did you want to speak during public comment   okay um we have a motion and a second any further  discussion I see none Mr clerk please open the role I motion passes 70 Mr clerk please call  the next [Music] item approve mayor approve   mayor Woo's travel to attend Aviation day  at the capital in Topeka on March 3rd 2025   for the purpose of gathering with legislators  manufacturers suppliers and Aviation businesses   providing networking opportunities and exposure  there is no cost to the city I move to approve Mo   uh second uh motion and a second I will make one  correction I'm taking a city of wiah Public Works vehicle motion and a second any further  discussion I see none Mr clerk please   please open the role I motion passes 70 Mr clerk  please call the next item approve that pursuant   pursuant to section 2.4.9 council member  Johnson's travel expenses as estimated on   the Travel authorization and expense form to  attend NLC Congressional City conference in   Washington DC March 8th through 13 2025  for the purpose of representing the city   of Witchita by meeting with Federal officials  consistent with ar 3.1 be approved upon return   from travel actual expenses shall be reported to  the controller's office I move to approve second   motion and a second any further discussion  I see none Mr clerk please open the rooll I motion passes 70 Mr clerk please call the next item approve that pursuant to section 2.4.9  council member glasscock's travel expenses   as estimated on the Travel authorization and  expense form to attend NLC Congressional City   conference in Washington DC March 8 12th  2025 for the purpose of representing the   city of witcha by meeting with Federal officials  consistent with ar 3.1 be approved upon return   from travel actual expenses shall be reported to  the controller's office I move to approve this   travel 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 approve that pursuant to section  2.4.9 council member Tuttle vice mayor   Johnston council member Ballard and mayor  Woo's travel expenses as estimated on the   Travel authorization and expense form to  attend NLC congression Congressional City   conference in Washington DC March 9th through  12th for the the purpose of representing the   city of witcha by meeting with Federal officials  consistent with ar 3.1 be approved upon return   from travel actual expenses shall be reported to  the controller's office I will move to approve   travel second motion and a second any further  discussion I see none Mr clerk please open the role I motion passes 70 Mr clerk please call  the next item approve that pursuant to section   2.4.9 council member hoel's travel expenses  as estimated on the Travel authorization in   expense form to attend NLC Congressional City  conference in Washington DC March 9th through   13 2025 for the purpose of representing the  city of Witchita by meeting with Federal   officials consistent with ar 3.1 be approved  upon return from travel actual expenses shall   be reported to the controller's office I  move to approve this travel second motion   and a second any further discussion  I see none Mr clerk please open the rooll I motion passes 70 Mr clerk please  call the next item retroactively approved   that pursuant to section 2.4.9 council member  hoel's travel expenses as estimated on the Travel   authorization and expense form to Topeka Kansas  February 10th 2025 for the purpose of providing   testimony on HB 2357 and HB 2349 consistent with  ar 3.1 be approved upon return from travel actual   expenses shall be reported to the controller's  office council member hoisel uh just one point   um I'm not seeking any reimbursement for for  travel I will move to approve that travel second   motion and a second any further discussion  I see none Mr clerk please open the rle I motion passes 70 Mr clerk  please call the next item council member appointments and comments we'll  start with appointments beginning with council   member tutle thank you I would like to appoint  reappoint luri Taylor to the ethics Advisory Board   council member Glascock thank you mayor after  completing a background check I would like to   appoint Matt Lashley to the citizens review board  we have two appointments of council member John   uh vice mayor John stun thank you I'd like to  reappoint Dennis clear to the ethics aboard we   have three appointments and we'll do it together  if that's okay I move to approve the three appointments second council member  Johnson seconded it uh motion and   a second any further discussion I  see none madam clerk please open   the roll I motion passes 70 it  is now time for council member comments vice mayor John stun council member hoisel thank you mayor um I  just want to give a shout out again to all our   Public Works employees who are out there freezing  their butts off we think it's chilly up here   actually most of you guys on the on the mainland  over there I'm on an island by myself I think it's   chilly in here but um they're out there working  their butts off to make sure that our streets are   safe for everybody um also our First Responders  firefighters fires don't stop during this time   they're still out there and uh PD everything  that they do especially now with the emergency   homeless Outreach plan trying to make sure that  everybody who lives in wiah is safe from the the   elements right now so thank you all for all the  work that you're doing while we're sitting here   mildly chilly at this time I will now ask some  uh pertinent questions to staff I'll start off   with there was a fire on Saturday February 12th  at I believe 1234 North Wellington Place which is   near the multi- agency neighborhood my question I  believe I asked this of city manager and assistant   city manager was the fire at a city-owned property  uh honorable mayor Troy Anderson assistant city   manager yes this was a city-owned facility uh to  provide you a little bit of background uh it was   a storage building uh believe at one point  in time it was uh used for storing salt um   which actually compounded the issues out there  but the building was in significant disrepair   safety security concerns um and so uh several  months ago we began the process of identifying   opportunities to have that building raised uh was  actually in the process of being demolished um and   so we've been in contract with the contractor  we have every reason to believe that the fire   will not impact their ability to continue to demo  the uh building uh in fact it should be demo got   a email response a little while ago the building  should be demoed hopefully by the end of the week   my question then second followup to that is um  the email that was sent to the entire Council   regarding this fire said that they had encountered  14 different homeless individuals staying in the   building for shelter um and that this building  was left unsecured due to demolition so I have   a concern when we have city-owned property  that is left unsecured can can you please   address that yes so this building has been um um  a site in which we have had significant a number   of issues throughout the years with uh the  building getting broken into um and so again   all the more reason why uh it was our efforts  to ultimately raise the building uh to prevent   that from continuing to be a Safety and Security  concern um there were some we're still trying to   find out the details there was a period in which  uh there was some paperwork associated with the   Demolition so we're looking into perhaps maybe  why the contractor hadn't secured the entire   premises for demolition we're looking into that  um but again for for that point that's exactly   one of the reasons why we had continually um had  incidents where the building was getting broken   into for this reason um was not structurally safe  we had concerns about the structural Integrity of   the building uh and that all led us to the  decision to to demolish the building I would   like to ask questions regarding the contract with  the contractor um of securing this premise as now   we've now utilized fire resources during a very  cold time in addition they were afraid that there   might be individuals inside the building so I'm  concerned that the contract contractor did not   secure this property so what in the contract does  it say about securing then um since you mentioned   that demolition will happen sooner rather than  later um we would like to get that report when   demolition actually happens so we can be held  accountable to the community yeah I don't have   the contract in front of me I don't have that  information but we'll be more than happy to   provide that and then last but not least anytime  we have city-owned properties that are involved   in a major incident like this I would like to have  that be noted up at the top rather than having to   ask last night if this is a city-owned property I  don't think anyone on the council knew that this   was a city-owned property um and when I got this  email regarding this fire I looked and saw that it   was only a block or so away from the multi- agency  Center and it concerned me because I did not want   to see any individuals hurt whether it's our  firefighters or individuals facing homelessness   so again anytime it's a city-owned property I  think it should be highlighted at the top yeah   we will get together with um fire department  and uh discuss how we can better respond to   that thank you I see no further comments from  the council I will move to adjourn this meeting   second motion and a second any further discussion  question I see none Mr clerk please open the rooll I we adjourn at 11:31 thank you