[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Good morning Wichita and thank you, all of you  for joining us at this city council meeting.   We will call this meeting to order  with us today is Pastor Donna Goltry  with St Paul's United Methodist Church  to provide our invocation. Following   that invocation, we will have the Pledge of  Allegiance and we ask you please stand for both. Please be in an attitude of meditation  and silence with me. Holy God we give thanks   for the Wichita city council that is gathering  here today to preside over the business of this   city may they weigh the matters before them and  decide according to the needs of the city and its   residents we are grateful for the summer days and  for the rain that has come but we do lift a prayer   for our brothers and sisters who are picking up  the pieces from the wind and the flooding here   and in the Upper Midwest through the Caribbean  those who have been devastated by Hurricane burl   already devastated and those who will be  given its waning days uh its waning times   of difficulty please be with them all Lord it  reminds us Lord of how important infrastructure   is as so many in the Houston area are without  it today we are grateful for the past week when   we celebrated the freedom in our land keep  us mindful that this Freedom depends on the   strength of our democracy whether it is here at  the local level or in all levels throughout our country give each branch of government wisdom  and give them empowerment to do their part on   behalf of the citizens and residents setting  aside personal gain and continue to empower our   staff here to provide the support needed  for guiding the Council we pray that the   city's efforts of balancing and responding to  the needs of all of our residents are in the   Forefront of their mind and we are grateful  for the efforts that they are making for the   least fortunate Among Us oh please guide this  city council as it strives for decisions that   create excellence in Wichita as a place to live  work and play this is our request so be it amen. I pledge allegiance to the Flag  of the United States of America,   and to the Republic for which it stands one Nation under God, indivisible,  with liberty and justice for all. thank you very much Pastor Goltry Madam clerk can you please call the  first item approve the minutes of   the regular meeting of July 2nd  2024 are there any corrections or changes I see none I approve the minutes  for the meeting on July 2nd 2024 second   Motion and a second any further discussion  I see none Madam clerk please open the roll motion passes 7-0 Madame clerk please call  the next item proclamations today we have     Wichita Wheat Hawks day may I please ask the  Wichita Wheat Hawks to join me at the front thank you for joining us this morning this  Proclamation reads the city of Wichita Kansas   founded in 1870 whereas the Wichita Wheat Hawks  men's soccer team was founded in 1974 and have   maintained 50 years of continued activity  encompassing over 400 players and one of the   five oldest men's amateur programs in the 13 State  Midwest region of the United United States Adult   Soccer Organization the Wichita Wheat Hawks alumni  have been founding members of Wichita Area Youth   high school college and adult soccer programs and  referee programs that actively promote and support   the sport of soccer to the Wichita community the  Wichita Wheat Hawk's tradition of success in 50   years led to over 650 wins more than 30 Kansas  Soccer League season and tournament championships  and 12 Regional Tournament championships the  Wichita Wheat Hawks alumni have been members   of the professional soccer organization in the  city of Wichita now therefore be it resolved   that I Lily Wu mayor of the city of Wichita  along with the Wichita city council do hereby   Proclaim July 13th 2024 as Wichita Wheat Hawk  day in the city of Wichita and encourage all   citizens to celebrate the Wichita week talks  for their contribution to our community. [Applause] hi I'm Matt kblock uh one of the founding members  of the Wichita Wheat Hawks and with me is Kevin   heimes president of our club we would like to  thank mayor Lily Wu and all the city council   members for this great honor we started the team  in 1974 with the goal to be the best amateur adult   soccer team in the region and to grow the sport  of soccer in Wichita at the time there were only   a few soccer fields in the city and very limited  organization since then our Wheat Hawk team   members took a leadership role in helping organize  adult and youth soccer organizations in Wichita   like the Kansas soccer league AYSO KJSF the  Wichita high school league the friends University   soccer program the Wichita State Club program and  the Youth local referee program we are very proud   of our accomplishments on the field over the 50  years winning more than 650 games over 40 Striker   Kansas soccer league and Regional Tournament  championships six Kansas Cup championships and   three state championships however we are most  proud of helping soccer become one of the major   Youth and adult participation Sports in Wichita  we accomplished both goals we set for ourselves in   1974 thank you for your recognition today and we  are proud to be Wichitans thank you [Applause] Madame clerk please call  the next item public agenda   clarabel gutterz Ramirez photo voice project according to Tobacco free Wichita  23.6% of high school and 6.7 of   middle school students currently  report using tobacco because of   this I've decided to become part of photo  voice. a group of Youth here in Wichita,   Kansas who are advocating for the reduction of  storefront ads we are doing this by presenting our   ideas and point of view to the community in how  we have seen people being being affected by the   by tobacco that is why photo voice is partnering  with tobacco free Wichita to drastically reduce   the amount of storefront ads promoting tobacco  products the color the colorful ads currently   used to promote tobacco can easily be influenced  can be influential to the Youth of Wichita and influence them to start to use the products  if you look at the picture on Top If You you   you'd be surprised that that is a vape bad on  the left you'd see a Bo on on the bottom you'd   see a box of candies look at how similar those  two are looking at both you can see both have   bright colors such as red green yellow which  is commonly used in candy advertisements aimed   towards kids most of the candies in each of the  advertisements are very similar they have various   types of gummies in each advertisement smoking  use is starting to affect school life and the   productivity of children in these environments  at Wichita Northwest we have had to put up Gates   blocking the entrance of the Common's restrooms  then having to lock up the doors to the others   to handle the smoking issues within our school  there's even been a period in our school that   teachers have to physically stand in restrooms  to stop students from attempting to smoke if you   as it stands when the school year ended out  of six restrooms in the school we can only   use onethird of them all of all an attempt to  reduce student smoking some people might think   the ability to advertise is protected by the  First Amendment of the Constitution freedom of   speech while that is not incorrect the right to  advertise does fall under the freedom of speech   however the freedom of speech does not protect  speech in which is used to harm others the right   to advertise like what you have in front  front of you should be drastically reduced   because of the harm it brings to youth within  our communities storefront ads are not only   dangerous but harmful to the youth of Wichita it could influence youth take to you it could   influence youth to start smoking storefront ads  are dangerous would you want to see your child smoking thank you thank you council member Tuttle thank you thank  you clarabel for being here today I really want   to applaud you for your courage and for taking  your time to come here I'm also a proud member   of tobacco free Wichita and I've been working on  this issue with them as well I've been working   in tobacco prevention and cessation for 30  years and I've never spoken as well as you   have today so thank you for what you're doing  and keep up the good work thank you council   member Johnson thanks mayor uh I want to  say thank you for being here as well um   at your age I definitely would not stand up in  front of the city council and say anything so   want to definitely honor that with you I did have  a question though um would you say I didn't know   what you I didn't know about the data that you  shared about Northwest would you say there are   a lot of your peers that are like actually  addicted to some of the vaping stuff um yes   I would say to the point where they have to hide  it in the restroom like you you have you go into   the restrooms and that's all you see and it and  it reeks in the restrooms and it interrupts like   daily stuff because people will physically sit  during classes to go Vape man I I hate to hear   that I I do thank you though for speaking up  and trying to do something about it I do agree   with you a lot of this these products are very  attractive to Young Folks and kind of makes them   interested in it and then when you smell it so  um I know some young people who smelled it once   and wanted to try it so again I appreciate your  advocacy on this I want to encourage you to keep   it up there's going to be some folks that don't  agree with you and try to push back but just keep   fighting and that change will come thank you  for being here thank you thank you very much   clarabel I know that council member Glascock and  I visited photo um video and um presentation that   you did in river side and we really appreciate  again not just you but your peers as part of the   mayor's youth Council for advocating for a tobacco free community so thank you very much thank you Madam clerk please call the next  item consent agenda items 1 through 16 are there any changes I see none I'll move to  approve second any further discussion   seeing none Madam clerk please open the roll motion passes 7-0 Madam clerk please call   the next item board of bids  and contracts dated July 8th 2024 good morning mayor city council  Josh Lauber Department of Finance the   board of bids and contracts uh convene  July 8th 2024 for the following items   for engineering we have the LW  clap master plan implementation   for conco Incorporated DBA conco construction  for an aggregate bid total of 2,306,296 for conco Incorporated we have the K9  Rooster Dog Park enhancements for conco   Incorporated DBA conco construction  for group 1 in the amount of 563,295.15 subject to approval of a new  Engineers estimate budget authorization   for purchasing we have ammunition 99mm .  223 caliper rejecting all bids we have the   ammunition 9mm and 223 caliper recommending  the state of Kansas contract for the three   vendors listed and the rates listed this will  be for a term of March 7 2024 through February   31st 2029 with two additional 24 month periods  we have root control herbicide rejecting all bids this is how to become a vender with the city  these are open request proposals out on the street   today and I'd be happy to try to answer any your  questions I recommend your approval council member   Johnson thanks mayor uh Josh just quick question  on the ammo um that looked to be a 5-year contract   the two additional 24 month periods would that  be renewal that comes to council or automatic   renewal uh if approved today it would authorize  us to renew them um at the end of the term   uh 2024 to 2029 with two additional two  years okay so that could go to 2033 yes sir okay any further questions I do have one there  were two slides with rejection of bids can you   um remind the community about the reasons behind  rejections of bids and why we have this open   process just keep it on The right okay um great  question thank you for the opportunity to speak   um the reason that purchasing will have rejection  of bids is you'll have instances of an Engineers   estimate exceeding where we're not amendable to  um moving that price and we want to go back out   to modify a scope possibly um in today's specific  instance you had the ammunition we actually   completed a bid process but we took the extra step  to look at a possible cooperative and we found a   roughly $10,000 savings by using a Cooperative  from a different agency with larger volumes   so um shout out to our requesting Department  thank you for working with us through a few   weeks on that we saved them a couple thousand  on that um specifically the root herbicide um   the issue with that was the bid came in  roughly $400,000 over the budget for the   department so we're currently evaluating  alternatives to see if we want to use a   different product um or if there can be um some  sort of change made that would allow it to be feasible thank you Josh I will  move to approve the board of bids   contracts second and a second any  further discussion I see none Madam clerk motion passes 7-0 Madam clerk please  call the next item petitions for public improvements good morning mayor  City Council Members Paul Gunzelman Public Works and utilities for the record this  morning I have one revised petition for your   consideration signatures on the petitions  represent 100% of the improvement district   and the petitions are valid per Kansas statute  Pineway Edition located in District 5 on June   4th 2024 the city council approved drainage  and Sewer petitions for Pineway addition the   develop the developer has submitted revised  petitions for storm water drain and sanitary   sewer improvements with revised budgets reflect  the current market and conditions and cover the   cost of a private bid it is recommended that city  council approve the revised petitions and budgets   adopt the amending resolution and authorize  the necessary signatures and I will stand for questions this item resides in council member  Johnston's District okay I will move to approve   the revised petitions and budgets adopt the  amending resolutions and authorize a necessary   signatures second motion and a second any further  discussion I see none Madame clerk please open the roll motion passes 7-0 Madam clerk please call the   next item authorizing funding of a  project downtown Master Plan update honorable mayor members of Council Troy  Anderson assistant city manager so back   in 2010 city council approved a project  downtown uh the master plan for Wichita   since then that plan has been the impetus for  more than 1.7 billion dollars being invested   in our downtown that's also resulted in over 7  $60 million that is currently in the pipeline   for future investment our residential base in  downtown has more than doubled and we have seen   considerable growth in other industry sectors  such as office and Hospitality in addition to   that we've seen a number of community spaces  that have been created and unfortunately that   plan only had a 15-year Outlook and so an update  is currently needed um the estimated cost of an   update to that plan is about $400,000 currently  more than $300,000 has been raised privately   Additionally the county has made a commitment to  invest $50,000 and before you today is a request   to also invest $50,000 towards this update  the city's investment will be paid out of   the Economic Development Fund the law departments  reviewed and approved the resolution as to form   and it's recommended the city council approve the  resolution on authorize the necessary signatures   with that being said I'd like to bring up uh Jeff  Flur with uh downtown Wichita to uh say a few words thank you Troy uh mayor vice mayor city  council city manager uh Jeff flur president of   downtown Wichita 505 East Douglas Avenue also  want to uh recognize that we have two board   members here today Joel Kelly who is a past chair  of downtown Wichita and still actively engaged on   that board uh as well as Mark Smalley who is  the treasur with a also serving on that board   and I know we have several council members who  also are actively engaged in what we're doing   with downtown Wichita first of all I just want to  thank you for the longtime partnership um our city   our region is recognized for the Partnerships  between the private and public sector um with   the uh greywall partnership we deal a lot with  prospects uh and that is noted as we're talking   to prospects about this community or even those  that are here that may be expanding uh they love   the environment that we have and part of this  is driven by we know where we want to go uh and   that's what planning does that's what Master plans  allow us to do it allows us to have an incredible   Vision that's built on market research and part  of our goal is always to unlock the unknowns uh   the more we do that the private sector can step  in they understand what the market is telling them   we can create as far as residential commercial  hospitality also I think it's great for the public   sector because that also allows you knowledge  about how do you invest in infrastructure that   supports what we want to see happen in the private  sector Market one of the great things is that   we're seeing recognition in Forbes uh National  journals in fact the mayor will be a part of   leading a delegation where we'll be talking  about Wichita on a global stage at the farm   boy Air Show uh in about 10 days uh so again it's  opportunities for us to really again promote who   we are and where we want to go but importantly how  other individuals fit into who we are want to be   as we go into the future this is also about Talent  uh we need talent uh thankfully we are growing as   a city with industry uh we're seeing a number of  opportunities across the board and so as you begin   to look at the history if you look at 2012 which  you see right now that is where we were in 12 uh   the reason we wanted to pull that out is that  right in the middle you'll see where there are   like one two three and four that's what we call  block one that came about because really critical   infrastructure that you built with the block one  garage and just within the last couple years we've   seen that whole block come to fruition with Niche  along with the Ambassador the Kansas Leadership   Center if you go to the next slide you'll see  where we are today each one of those green dots   is a completed project it's projects that you can  go out in experience projects that you can touch   uh that the community can go out and enjoy and  you'll see that we have a couple projects under   construction but we have a number in planning that  Troy alluded to earlier so again driving about   1.7 billion of investment primarily by the private  sector but again you as the city infrastructure is   really critical to unlock that but the pipeline is  pipeline is now over 760 million which is really   huge the next slide you'll see certainly the witto  biomedical campus something that we celebrated   just a few months ago uh in the groundbreaking  all the work that we've been doing that Troy   noted about the residential commercial created  an environment where this could be possible when   we did this plan in ' 09 we did not Envision this  campus however what we did Envision is how do you   create an environment that Fosters opportunities  economic growth one of the PE one of the persons I   want to note uh and Bob will remember Scott Canal  um one of the things that you did as a city as we   were kicking off this plan in nine you designated  a downtown revitalization manager Scott Canal was   that individual and that was a really critical  strategic step because what that allowed us   to do is to work with Scott as we work through  City Hall on infrastructure Improvement it was   incredible Troy with what he's doing now with the  parking plant it's also serving in that capacity   so again thank you for that that investment in  Talent internally to help us move this forward   but again this wit biomedical campus the largest  investment in downtown's history the next slide   will actually show you the celebration that day  over 400 people came out I think it was probably   the largest groundbreaking I've been able to be  a part of but it was a moment of Pride I think   for this community to say we can do these things  we will do them well and again the fencing just   went up around this project July 1 so there's  activity on the site your investment and I see   it as an investment it wasn't a donation uh it  was an investment of that site by you as a council   has already been catalytic it's already been  transformative I will tell you the conversations   we're having about new companies coming in  to our downtown because of that investment   is numerous and we'll hopefully be able to  announce those in the coming weeks and days   so again thank you for that investment because  again it's turning a lot of opportunities this   timeline of downtown groundbreakings is extremely  impressive it's over a half a billion dollars of   projects that we're going to be ground having the  groundbreaking on this year some of those have   already happened March 6 we had Exploration Place  with the new amphitheater May 8th the biomedical   campus June 27th Exploration Place Another huge  moment of opportunity there properties that vage   906 will be redeveloping a site that's been  sitting dormant for 75 years will break ground   this year ballpark private sector development  with EPC will be breaking ground this year and   certainly the Kansas African-American Museum  adaptive reuse all these are really critical   Investments to drive our city forward so as we  come before you today we we really appreciate   the opportunity to present this request for your  consideration uh what we want to do again is we're   not starting from Ground Zero uh this is an update  uh one of the things that downtown Wichita board   has done is we have kept market research up to  dat so we'll be building on that vision of what   the markets are telling us we can do also I think  though it's really important now with downtown   is design how is that we create a city that is  walkable it is connected in everything that we   do we've started that but how do we advance  that we also have the opportunity to first   ring neighborhoods you know councilman H I know  you're doing a lot of things on South Broadway   how do we connect into that the first ring  neighborhoods between downtown and WSU housing   affordability has to be part of our conversation  because we have students in our downtown now more   so than ever before we have those coming into the  industry for the first time with your careers we   want to make sure they have options downtown  and there's a whole EOS ecosystem of service   industry that supports this thriving engine in  our downtown so we want to make sure that we   have housing affordability so with you today what  we' like to do request your investment of $50,000   into this we have raised over $330,000 privately  uh as you heard Troy say the county invested a   couple weeks ago 50,000 our goal is to leverage  that and to build upon those opportunities and so   again thank you for what you've done um it doesn't  work without the public sector investing with the   private sector and you are doing that so thank  you for creating a city that others are taking   note of the mayor and others have been part  some of these Prospect conversations people   are recognizing the incredible asset not only  of this city but our region and state so mayor   I appreciate the opportunity and certainly would  answer any questions you may have thank you Jeff   questions for Jeff or staff beginning with vice  mayor Ballard thank you mayor I'm not sure if   this is for you Jeff or for Troy and thank you  for um for sharing all of your comments I really   appreciate that so I've been seeing a lot of  different questions and maybe some confusion um on   some posts on Facebook can you explain how this  is different than the riverfront Legacy master   plan certainly so part of a master plan process  is that and this is kind of a high elevation if   you will so we'll be looking at how is it we drive  markets the riverfront Legacy master plan was more   myopic if you will on a on a defined area and we  actually learned a lot of things from that process   people have asked me the same question about okay  how does this relate so we've actually done a   number of things where it's looking at specific  spefic sites some of these things move forward   some of them we pause on and because of what we're  learning and certainly that work was helpful and   that it helped us understand more clearly some of  the passion if you will around some of the assets   along the riverfront how is it that we Embrace  those and go forward so again there are you know   you have a parking plan that you've you've adopted  that's another initiative that will help drive a   component of downtown so again we learn from every  process some of them take more uh acceleration   than others but again all these things will be  related that work is not for not that's that's   something that we learned from the community and  we'll move that forward uh as far as how we look   at the riverfront development in the future and  I'm sorry if I missed it but what is the what does   the timeline look like say 12 months what we plan  to do with the update is that we're wrapping up   the uh the capital investment if you will as far  as getting the money to be able to do the update   our goal is that we would from this point forward  begin to develop the final scope of work Our Hope   is that we can have an RFP a national RFP  released in August late August uh we'll go   through a selection process we'll get that team  on ground we will start learning from their work   immediately uh we did that with project downtown  initially at that time the downtown YMCA was   under construction or was actually under design  Development Fairfield in was under development   and so we actually married the design team with  those different projects it shaped it before the   plan was even done so we'll start to see benefits  part of our our op opportunity right now is with   a biomedical campus we have an illustration  that defines a corridor but we need something   more definitive of this is the biomedical Corridor  this is what you begin to look at architecturally   within that so that when you're in that District  you have a clear understanding that's where you   are and I think with from design we can do more  around the governmental District the riverfront   District uh south of of of of Douglas north of  Douglas really these zones are really important so   I think we'll see work immediately our goal is by  year end maybe going into the first part of next   year it'll be done we'll be back before you to  approve the plan because part of this is a 10year   vision uh we've learned that things are moving  so quickly that we think 10 years is probably   more appropriate than 15 now uh and we may even  have an update in five uh because of the progress   we're going to see so you mentioned that you would  start learning immediately from the team um once   you guys hit the ground running will there be any  opportunity for the community to kind of follow   this process process along to learn alongside you  guys it's not going to be successful if we don't   do that um I agree because I think it's important  that the community can see its fingerprints on the   vision of this community uh in that point they're  going to own it uh they're going to work toward it   and so uh Council woman we we definitely will have  Community engagement we believe in that uh I think   that's important for people to be able to voice  their Vision you learn a lot of great things when   you invite the community into a conversation I  agree I really appreciate um helping the community   feel like their voice is important and heard too  and not just a table full of people making the   decisions for our city and then expecting the  city to just come alongside and support we're   not going to win everybody all the time but I  appreciate um including them and feeling like   um they have a voice in it as well so thank you  yes ma'am council member Johnson thanks mayor   thanks Jeff thanks Troy um I always want to uplift  the vision of Mayor Brewer working on downtown   Redevelopment and seeing that uh this plan has  uh really brought to life a lot of things that   even weren't envisioned back then um definitely  supportive of this and like you and I talked on   on the phone I'm really happy to hear about the  first ring neighborhoods um would definitely like   to see um like we talked about 50,000 foot level  or something it doesn't have to be as detailed   but touching on soy touching on U the dunar  neighborhood what what's possible around downtown   and how those neighborhoods can benefit from this  as well and when we look at housing affordability   where are some of those places that could be a  highlight um I'm always thinking about the dunar   neighborhood and just automatically folks who end  up wanting a yard after living in the Loft that's   a great place to go like right there but what's  that connection to downtown um what does that   look like and what opportunities right outside in  that first ring are there so I'm happy to hear you   say that and looking forward to seeing what that  looks like cuz I think those neighborhoods can   transform in similar way this downtown has yes sir  yeah mayor Brewer was uh he he wanted to create   a vision uh the last master plan we' had at that  point was 20 years prior uh and will tell you that   that the manager uh we came in about the same  time and I think he came in in March I came in   September 08 and and uh Bob came in and said well  why aren't we done with this yet and I'm like okay   let's go and so uh Bob has been a huge advocate  uh and an incredible resource in driving what   you're seeing in success with our downtown so can  can I ask you why are't we done with this yet who well I'm sure that will come up at the next board  meeting council member hoisel thank you mayor uh   thanks Jeff I appreciate the presentation and  I'm really interested to see what comes of it   especially pertaining to affordable housing  and yes sir getting in some of the adjacent   neighborhoods so I do appreciate your guys'  attention of those areas and and work on that   as well so um any any help or tips or anything  along the way please make sure to shoot them to   us um appreciate that whatever you guys hear  I I do have just one quick question for Troy   um what is the status of our EOD fund right  now as far as the fund balance yes sir now   I do not have that information off hand but I  can certainly get that for you and distribute   that to the council okay yeah I just figure  we should get updated every once in a while on   that yep absolutely mayor if I could um Economic  Development and job creation was one of the uh   top priorities going into this budget and the  recommended budget that will'll come out next   week uh has a recommendation of a million dollar  transfer into the Economic Development Fund to   ensure that we have sufficient funding to be able  to support these types of initiatives well I look   forward to that conversation thank you Jeff again  appreciate it I have several questions now I'll   start off with um Pigg back on the comment that  vice mayor made specifically I'd like to know   will there be Comm engagement in the previous  plan uh there were 12 months of community and   state stakeholder engagement specifically with  this new plan part of our scope of work that U   companies will respond to Mayor is that we want an  implement we want a community engagement strategy   with the process uh we did that uh with project  downtown and for those who may have been engaged   at the time they were robust conversations I  mean we had hundreds of people that took the   time to participate um the team that we hired to  do the work uh I think the manager would attested   this they did an incredible job of gathering  information from oneon-one conversations to very   large engagements part of this opportunity we have  honestly is to continue to educate our community   about the possibilities the opportunities and how  do you get it done um you have a consultant team   that you hire them for a reason uh and they have  incredible knowledge so we want to engage the   community with that team um and that will be an  expectation the other thing is is that I'm a firm   believer that you don't hire who believe is the  best and then let them go after the plans done we   continue to have engagement in fact with project  downtown goody Clancy Sarah Woodworth Lori uh vul   we still have relationships with these individuals  14 years later and the deal is this is that if   not seeing what we expected to see why not  uh help us understand that if we start to   see something accelerate how do we get  more from it so that active engagement   mayor is important with the community and  so we're committed to that and we'll have   a strategy that we'll make sure the community  is very much engaged in the process as we go forward more specifically on the timeline so if  the RFP goes out in August with some leg work by   the end of when expectation that this I would say  we'd be done by the first quarter our goal is is   that again we would uh have the RFP going out uh  in August uh you probably have about a six week   period of Engagement as far as people responding  to those uh and then hopefully by uh as we go into   the fourth quarter we have the team in place again  this is an update and so part of this is going to   be working with the teams to understand through  their lens how many how much time they feel   like is needed to make sure get what we want as a  deliverable but we certainly would have it by the   first quarter and again we're not going to wait  for that final plan for it not to start shaping   what we need to have as far as decisions final  question yes ma'am um the CommunityWide survey   the results of that CommunityWide survey came  out in January of this year and the top three   things that Community is asking us to focus on are  crime prevention Street Maintenance and economic   development yes ma'am so this is that piece  that third piece yes ma'am um so specifically   on economic development can you tell us some  of the challenges that we're currently facing   uh regarding Economic Development especially in  the downtown area one of the challenges right now   and certainly you're working through that is how  is it we're addressing the homelessness in our   downtown uh and those who need assistance and  you're taking incredible steps with the Mac uh   we're thrilled as the downtown community to see  the progress that is being made on that uh in   fact we we want to come to the table we understand  that philanthropy will need to be a part of that   equation and so we want to proactively sit down  to say okay what are those opportunities for the   private sector to be engaged in this as you take  steps forward so I would say homelessness is one   of the big things that we will hear engaged in  conversations quite a bit uh so thank you for   the steps you're taking there I think as we look  at downtown uh parking management will be a and   you're taking steps toward that how is it that we  really work with the assets that we have with our   infrastructure so that you know every surface lot  we look at a surface lot as a development site uh   we want something built on it uh so I think one  of the things working through that is how we're   managing the parking uh what's the cleaniness of  a downtown uh again you want people walking from   Oldtown to Delo without thinking about it uh but  you also want it to be very clean you want it to   be safe uh so those are items too that we want to  make sure we have attention to one of the things   that I failed to mention is that we do have a  new executive director for downtown coming in   uh August the 12th Heather Schroeder uh she has  incredible background actually on all the things   we've been talking about uh and so we look forward  to Heather join us on August the 12th she'll be   actively engaged in this process uh and as we will  direct with her uh this is a plan that she will   think about going to bed in the at evening and  then also waking as she as she thinks about it   as she gets up in the morning uh it's a 247 item  so again I think the homeless item mayor certainly   the how is it we're utilizing our existing  infrastructure to Foster development then also   how is it that we have a downtown that people feel  extremely safe in and it's also clean ma'am thank   you very much Jeff I see no further questions at  this moment yes ma'am so we will open it up for   public comment are there any individuals in the  public who would like to speak on this specific matter I see none we'll bring it back to the  bench tell CC member tutle thank you I just   want to thank Troy and your team for your work on  this and thank you for the great presentation and   answering all of our questions um also I want  to thank our partners at the county for also   contributing in this plan very important to make  it come to fruition um thank you to the greater   witto Partnership of course and downtown witto  thank you for the board members who are here   today and spending some time with us at City  Hall certainly appreciate your time and energy   and investing in our community um it's been  said that we can't cut our way into prosperity   we have to grow the mission of the city of witto  is to be an exceptionally well-run City and one   of those four pillars is to grow our economy  and so I'm very supportive of this I love the   revitalization that's happened in our City's cor  since I've been a Wichitan so thank you for doing   that um it has been said often that a goal without  a plan is just a wish and so having a solid plan   that has Community engagement and can be evaluated  to make sure that we're fulfilling it is vital   for which it's on for our downtown core to be  what it really can be so thank you for all of your work see no further comments  this resides a lot district one all right thanks mayor I would  move that the city council approve   the resolution and authorize the necessary  signatures second Motion in a second any   further discussion I see none Madame clerk  please open the RO motion passes 7 Z thank   you Madame clerk please call the next item  witto Waterworks startup and commissioning support good morning mayor and council members  Gary Jansen Public Works and utilities um as we   near completion of uh witw Waterworks are new  water treatment plan pl we are at a point uh   to ask for your consideration today for technical  support for startup and bringing the plan online   in 2025 uh construction is all but complete  we have started some early testing as water   becomes available this fall we will move forward  and I'll talk about this more in just a minute   with performance testing throughout the plant  um this item for your consideration today is   something that we've known we needed um and I want  to talk about before I get into the details I kind   of want to talk about some of the history about  how this project developed and why we're here   today uh and the timing of this request funding  all that type of stuff so I want to head on some   of that first then I'll talk about the details  of the proposed contract itself so in February   of 2019 the city council approved a design build  contract with witto water Partners uh the item   before you this morning is a proposed contract for  engineering and Technical Support of commissioning   and startup for which Waterworks as I mentioned  and and so I do want to start with some brief   history of how the project was developed and the  need for this request today including the cost   impact and the timing so when that uh in 2019 when  that design build project approach was approved it   did not include engineering and Technical startup  support within the proposed contract but I would   mention again uh we've known this part was there  uh and there's some reasons why it makes sense   to be here today that I'll talk about in just  a moment even though the design build project   budget specifically itself does not include  cost for this necessary component the current   rate structure the overall utility rate structure  does and has since the project was initiated so I   don't know if you might recall back in early March  we talked about some additional items related to   this overall project there are some things that  are going on outside of the design build contract   itself including an item like this but it's  all included in the overall rate structure we   not have any uh immediate rate impact which I'll  talk about in just a moment so this cost has been   accounted for since we started the project um and  again I want to talk then about the timing of why   it makes sense to be doing this today compared to  maybe having that a part of the original contract   uh had the original contract for design and  construction included this engineering and   Technical Support the guaranteed maximum price at  that time would have practically increased by the   same amount you know it's kind of hard to say five  years ago what that cost would have looked like   but there was some risk there would have been  some risk involved at that time not knowing the   specifics all the details that we know today and  so trying to include that cost at that time would   have added most likely some additional risk uh  that could have increased the cost again a good   reason why we're here today having this discussion  uh by waiting until now to initiate this effort   we're better able to evaluate the true scope of  work the hours and the cost eliminating the that   added risk that I just discussed trying to develop  the same five years ago this is a large and   complex project with many moving parts and this  is the right timing uh for consideration of the   contract to support commissioning and startup of  the new plant we believe that there's significant   value in hiring this expertise outside and  independent of the original contract uh compared   to having it included at that time the you know  um this is really an industry standard what we're   considering today the the vast majority of design  build contracts across the country for projects   of this nature and this size include technical  support just as you are considering today that   was not part of the original design build contract  there's some real value for us having a experts   working directly for us not within the confines of  that larger design build contract and again being   at a point now where we are we can really have  a better feel of exactly what it is that we need   going forward uh because of where we've gotten  with the project construction being done have a   lot of information in hand a lot of knowledge that  we didn't have back then what you're considering   today I mentioned is an industry standard um  and so I want to talk about the details uh of   the contract itself uh I'll mention the budget  again at the end and I'll be happy to answer any questions so I mentioned that witto Waterworks  will replace the current water tree treatment   plant to provide up to 120 million gallons of  water per day to over 500,000 people in and around   witto you've heard me say this before but I'd like  to remind everybody that we are a regional water   provider providing uh clean and Safe Drinking  Water to one in six cans it's at 17% of the   entire population so we're excited to be at this  point uh ready to bring this plant online um kind   of going across some of the items at the bottom of  the slide without spending a lot of time on detail   uh from now until this fall we're working on what  we call functional testing finishing construction   equipment installation and that functional  testing as we get into a point where water   is available this fall uh we will start chemical  and hydraulic systems testing and process testing   at a level that we can feel comfortable that  we can prove out that the plan is working the   way we need it to with a goal to bring the plan  online in April of 2025 it's also includes some   conversion of the finished water pipeline the main  pipeline that brings treated water from the new   water treatment plant to the house Pump Station  currently brings water raw water to the current   plant so there's a real timing element there of  of being able to make all that work this fall so   preparing for operation uh the existing contract  and when I talk about that the GM the the design   build contract that was established in 2019  does not include short-terms operation support   nor operational aspects such as development of  standard operate operating procedures maintenance   programs and risk management plans the existing  contracts provide minimal training of City staff   focusing on equipment function more than ongoing  variable operation this was by Design again this   is consistent with projects of this nature we're  not the only ones that are doing this it makes   sense to be having this discussion today uh asking  for your consideration of bringing this technical   support it's very specialized work that we're  doing this is not done uh we've got some really   good staff uh that has operated a current water  treatment plant for over time they will continue   to operate the new treatment plant making  everything happen in between bringing the new   plant online and making the transition happen uh  requires specialized expertise that's what we're   asking for you you to consider today with this  contract so what is needed with this contract   and will be provided is technical support to  develop operational plans and procedures that   incorporate the results of chemical and hydraulic  process testing uh developments of Maintenance   programs spare parts recommendations for thousands  of new assets in-depth training of City staff for   skill upgrades and decision-making required  for new process control systems and expertise   to ensure a seamless transition between plants and  continuity of service uh which is definitely a big   deal for us right now uh what we're undertaking  at this point I mentioned is not something that   happens on a regular basis so we've looked to  the industry we've looked to others who have   done this we've talked to a lot of people to  understand their approach and where we're at   to this point and what we're considering today is  very similar to what others have done the request   for proposals uh for considering the contract  today for water treatment plant startup support   um resulted in two proposals being received one  met the city's criteria for short-term technical   support without priva without privatization of  operations selection committee recommendation   uh was for a contract with operational Technical  Services or OTs with who has a subc consultant   Woodard in Karan OTS is certified with the city  of witto as an emerging business Enterprise just   so you know for the contract itself this is a  proposed one-year contract with a total cost   not to exceed just under $41 million um if needed  supplemental contracts could be added for future   optimization efforts or for temporary staffing to  fill critical positions that we have been unable   to fill through normal hiring efforts thus far our  goal is still to continue our hiring efforts uh we   plan to to have as much staff as we can to bring  this plan online and we will be running this plant   when it comes online this again is to bridge that  Gap uh we'll work throughout this process to do   everything we can this is a cost not to exceed  if we can find ways to provide savings we will   do that and I mentioned before this has no uh  impact on the current rates staff Rec with uh   staff recommends city council approve the contract  Prof for Professional Services for water treatment   plant startup support with operational Technical  Services and authorize the necessary signatures   if approved the project would kick off immediately  with OTS joining the startup team as early as this   week I will tell you that OTS is present today  at the meeting uh including David cman the CEO   of OTS Ronda Harris senior senior technical  adviser wooded and Kuran is also represented   by J shean and the principal in charge and Chris  McMahon senior technical adviser they're here to   help answer any technical questions you  might have or provide further Insight on   what they propos to offer with this contract  with that I'd be happy to answer any questions   council member hoisel thank you mayor um Gary  appreciate the presentation and all your work   on this uh how familiar and how prepared are city  workers for the new system that we have here um   good question and that's one of the reasons why uh  we need this additional support technical support   and Service uh that we're asking for today and  and and we've known that we're going to need   this all along um we've got staff that can run the  plant uh similar treatment processes they've been   involved from we've got certain staff who've been  involved from the beginning that continue to be   involved uh that are going to help Prov provide uh  some of that technology transfer some of that uh   information and training but we've only got so  many resources especially with needing to keep   the existing plant operating this really helps  fill that Gap and as I mentioned the technical   expertise that OT and Woodard cran bring they do  this across the country in similar situations they   have specific expertise in these areas when it  comes to transitioning between operations and   specific to these plans they will learn and  understand every single thing that we've got   going on they will help provide that resource  Gap uh that we need to make sure that all of   our staff are trained so we've got people that  are going to figure this out this is going to   be the Boost that they need this is what we have  needed again from the start to be able to make   this happen so are we going to have a number of  new employees or employees that aren't currently   working with the um water treatment plant  the one we have running are we going to have   employees outside of that scope coming in while  they continue to run the old plant we've got so   um we set out on a a task to hire additional staff  and we've done pretty well with that we're still   lacking a few operators uh but the our plan  and our goal with hiring 17 additional staff   we've got 11 to 12 of those hired at this point um  we're doing everything we can to get them trained   through the current plant which we've got to keep  running and getting them to the new plant what's   especially going to happen between now and April  is getting everybody we've got rotated through   that new plant getting them trained on the new  processes by having that additional Staffing   that allows us the ability to keep the old plant  running training folks on the new plant having   someone like OTS on board allows us to really  have the resources to make that happen and hold   everything together so the answer to your last  question is it's a little bit of all of the above   um but you know this is a big new plant complex  plant but what we're doing here isn't a lot   different than what's going on at the existing  plant and so the general knowledge that staff   has is going to carry over and we'll help them  adapt yeah and I know we have somebody looking   at what we're going to do with the old plant so  uh April is our goal to have the new plant up   and running fully April is our goal to have the  new plant up and running um especially when we   look at water a ability it's it's very necessary  that that happens by then I think we're on track   construction of the new plant is effectively done  uh We've started some of the early testing we are   wrapping up the full commissioning and startup  plan with wi St water Partners now um this is   one of the last pieces to really fill in uh what  we do for Operational Support technical support   commissioning and startup and and to really get  things moving but we're on track for April yes   okay uh could you explain um or just let us  know what other items are there outside of   the design build contract that's coming up that  will have to uh deal with in the upcoming months   the so I mentioned back in March uh and March 5th  there was an item that city council approved to   increase the overall project budget uh and I'll  I'll I'll tell you real quick some of the items   that were included in that um that we're still  working on that are coming that that budget would   help support some of the additional work that's  still happening uh we've got improvements at H   Pump Station just to remind everybody when the  new treatment plant's online it's going to be   sending treated water to H pum station out to  our distribution system um we looked I'll tell   you real quick because this question came up just  recently we looked at the idea you know this city   was developed around where that water treatment  plant's currently at and all the water being sent   out through the house Pump Station question  was asked why didn't we move that all up to   the new water treatment plant to do so some of our  largest diameter main pipes are coming out of that   pump station to be able to provide the system  especially you know effectively from that core   area uh we had a rough estimate of another $300  million to be able to move all of that up there   so I say that because Sessa is going to stay where  it's at um and and we'll continue to Pump from   there but to go back to what I was talking about  to your question on March 5th some of the items   associate there's some additional improvements  there that are needed at hes pum station um so   that was an increase in the budget at the time  for that we've had a large complex project you've   heard me say that we've had some things come to  light during construction uh that were really   just hard to see even with the development of  the original contract uh some things that we   both sides agreed to the city and which to  water partners that needed to be done some   are for regulatory reasons um dealing with lime  residuals that come out of the plant um uh dealing   with Wastewater we've got some additional costs  for that one of the bigger cost items that's part   of the additional budget that Council approved  in March was extending the completion date when   the original design Bill contract was approved it  looked at a completion date of September of this   year because of and it's really not tied to the  drought but the drought's not helping if if you   look at completing this project in September we  cannot provide the necessary raw water during the   summer that is needed to truly test out this plant  so the completion date is being extended there's   some additional costs associated with that we're  working through those details now all of that is   included in the additional budget that the council  approved in early March but those are a few items   that will still be coming in um as we get through  completion I think we're in a pretty good place   I'm not going to stand here and tell you there  won't be anything else but as far as I know and   where we're headed uh this is one of the last  big components um to be able from a Operational   Support perspective that we need to be able to  bring the plan online all right appreciate it Council Glascock council member Glascock thank you  mayor um quick question regarding the financial   considerations I think goes on slide 42 um if  that wanted to be pulled up so on the financial   consideration portion of our packet it says  the contract cost is not expected to impact   short-term water rates I think on here it says no  short-term rate impact then it says Uh current on   a different slide it said no um changes to the  current rate however it also says that the full   funding is a one-time expense available in the  Water Utility Fund so what would be the change of   where it would affect rate if the money's already  there it's already a one-time expense why would   this potentially have a long-term effects it it  shouldn't and and I I got to thinking about that   looking at this information yesterday we probably  should have left that information out I'm not even   sure why it was there to start uh I would tell you  across the utility we're seeing some stresses um   just just across the board and it's not because  of this project or anything else inflationary   impacts are starting to hit us pretty hard um  on especially on Commodities on things like   chemicals it's something that we're going to have  to evaluate as we go into later this year when we   normally have our conversations with the council  about upcoming rates for the future and I think   that that was probably mentioned in there as  something that we're just going to have to make   sure this is all rolled together with everything  that we're doing but what it should have said was   that we were not going to have any rate impact  thank you for so thank you and I apologize for   that confusion thank you vice mayor thank you  mayor excuse me uh Gary I have a question um   I'm going to read you a quote and if you could  address it um that would be awesome not only do   we have loans that we still need to pay for but  the new water treatment plant is also going to   be paid for by rate payers over time now again  the 4 million to get it operational is something   that should have been accounted for by previous  administr administrators and it was not can you   explain why I think it's a little redundant but I  just want to make sure that we're addressing the   questions sure so I might go back to what I talked  about on the second slide uh we didn't really know   at the time exactly what this cost would look like  but we knew um we had an estimate that covers this   amount if you will all of this rolled into our  current rates the overall utility budget that the   city council has approved whether it was in the  project budget or not really is not significant   to this discussion um as I mentioned before had  it been included with the original design build   contract that guaranteed maximum price would have  been more um if the cost estimate at that time was   $4 million it would have been $4 million more the  fact that we're we're coming forward with this now   on this $4 million cost is not something that was  left behind it was not something that was was left   out it is included in the overall rate structure  and the budget I heard you mention the loans so   um as you know a a vast majority of this project  along with B&R is supported by wiffy and srf Loans   we've got I talked about the items on March 5th  uh that that increase the project budget including   this one today not everything's going to fit  within those loans there are caps on the capacity   of those loans but I would tell you to there's  we've tried to find a balance even utilizing those   loans revenue bonds and cash um the cheapest way  for us to finance things and anything that we do   is through cash based on our revenue and so things  like this most likely will be financed by cash   but there's a balance between those loans revenue  bonds and cash we try to find The Sweet Spot um I   can't explain That Into You in detail our finance  folks would have to do that on on our side but   it's all still been accounted for this isn't an  outed cost this isn't an unexpected cost um it's   one that we knew would' be coming forward at this  point in time for all the reasons I talked about   it makes more sense to have considered this now I  believe this is a much more accurate cost because   we know what we need uh specifically on where  we're at and what we're doing going forward to   bring this plan online so when the O was taken out  the operations money was set aside um or allocated   potentially correct for this $4 million so it's  nothing new we knew this was coming correct yes   ma'am I think that's a great way to qualify it yes  it's always been there um the budget consideration   has always been there from the start and I'd also  just like to say for the record that I appreciate   that we are willing to make the investment in our  own staff um to keep as many of them that wanted   to stay and be part of a legacy project for our  city so um I appreciate going the extra mile to   invest in our employees I might mention that real  quick if you don't mind because I appreciate that   and we really do too I mentioned with the request  for proposals we had one submitt there are a lot   of companies out there that run utility operations  across the country including utilities of our size   it's been our goal from the very beginning that  we are going to have our staff run this plan   and that's still what we're going to do so one of  the proposals included the operational component   of actually running the plant and that's why they  weren't considered so I just have one follow up to   a comment that you just made why do you think on  a project this size we only had one bid um for to   operate it well we did have two uh but there's  by some of them have a different model on how   they operate um that we have found through the  course of this project just like a lot of other   things I mentioned before this is not something  that people do every day right we haven't built   a new water treatment plant in almost 90 years  just like a lot of other communities uh there's   not a lot of companies out there that do this  type of work it's pretty specialized when we   first looked at the idea of some type of support  before getting to this point because we started   looking at this probably even as much as a year  and a half to two years ago trying to figure   out where we wanted to be we got very little  interest we were trying to see if we could get   um support to help run our current treatment  plant well we got staff trained on the new   plant and there's just not a lot of people  that do that the there's quite a few vendors   that they want to take over operations and again  that's not something that we wanted to do so that   limited uh the pool of of folks that we had  that might be inter what we want to do thank you thank thank you thank you Gary for the  presentation and I also want to thank your staff   you already have so much going on and then adding  this project and BNR is just you know one more   thing um and I see my friend Laura quick in the  back Co I know has been working on this project   specifically with trying to get staff and had  several conversations with her about this and and   the challenge of hiring people in this environment  right now especially for these very specialized   jobs um I'm going to ask a few questions and  they may be a little bit redundant but there's   been some confusion and some things in the media  and I just want to make sure we're Crystal Clear   um so the funding is in the Water Utility Fund  correct correct correct so that would have been   allocated how long ago potentially uh if you look  at the rate structure that the city council has   approved since 2019 uh we can say that it's been  within that pot if you will since then so we knew   we were going to do this correct correct um so  will and I know you've already answered this   but I'd just like it one more time um will this  impact water rates for residents or businesses   it will not impact water rates great thank you  very much um you also mentioned and maybe just   a little more detail in this that this is the best  practice in the process that other communities who   have gone through this have have done correct  correct correct and that's because we're doing   design build and not design build operate correct  correct and I might mention real quick on that um   the I mentioned before and I would I would tell  you again if you look at the vast majority of   similar projects across the country very few  include design build operations Al together   and I mentioned and I would say it again I think  there's some real value um in separating those   and having the Operational Support the technical  support working directly for us and not embedded   within that team um it can I think it can work  but you have to be really careful that you've got   got the design build team the people who are  delivering the project also providing folks to   watch over them if that makes sense this is not  unlike other large complex projects that we have   transportation projects of the utility projects  when we look at managing construction if it was a   typical design bid build we will hire uh expertise  to oversee construction outside of those contracts   uh to work directly for us thank you and just one  last kind of question kind of Shameless plug you   mentioned drought um and we you and I have had  many a conversation with this every time I have   an opportunity to talk about the current drought  situation we're still in drought phase one hopeful   not to get to Drought phase two we're getting  some really really warm temperatures coming   up later this week so hopefully people will  remember that at this point we're requesting   that they cut back and watering their lawn and  all those kind of things so that we don't have   to go into phase two where it's required but  you had mentioned this during another council   meeting would you mind just reemphasizing one more  time the importance that this new water treatment   plant will help us in addressing drought in our  community uh certainly and thank you so this new   water treatment plant provides some flexibility  that we don't have now our current water   treatment plant is very limited on the amount of  groundwater that it can treat uh it has to be a   blend and it has to be a blend that includes  a higher amount of surface water from CH and   there's a lot of reasons for that on the technical  side that I don't want to bore you with uh this   new treatment plant has the ability to treat 100%  groundwater uh now while we still need a balance   effectively the Eis speds aquafer is in good shape  um it's 94% full even with the drought conditions   the ASR project aquafer storage and Recovery  project uh has worked well to keep the aquafer   in good health and in good shape so it's practical  that if this drought were to continue even longer   term once this plan is online we can start looking  at the possibility of treating a lot more groundw   um in theory for some period of time it wouldn't  be sustainable for too long if if cheny Reservoir   was unavailable we could still provide water to  the citizens of buah which we can't do now thank   you very much I appreciate all your work council  member John ston thank you Mayor Gary have you got   the management structure figured out or will this  contract help you do that we do have a management   structure figured out uh so and maybe going back  to one of the questions from council member Hall   Heisel uh this is a fancy new plant there's a  lot of complexities to it there State ofthe art   technology but it's not something that our staff  can't figure out and is not figuring out already   uh one of the things we did and kind of shuffling  things around and people around trying to utilize   the resources the best that we could uh Mike  Jacobs has been our water production and pumping   superintendent for many years now over seeing  all things related to treatment operations we   moved Mike up to the new plant some time ago to  really oversee the process of bringing this plan   online to be our knowledge base to be our expert  to understand it's been truly valuable to have him   there and him being able to step away from daily  operations so he has helped establish a structure   uh council member T Tuttle mentioned Laura quick  Laura's been heavily involved in the optimization   of these operations and looking at our structure  but it's not going to be a lot different than what   we have now we still run 247 we run three shifts  we've got shift supervisors we've got a plant   manager we've got a new plant manager hired um  so to to to get to the specifics of your question   we do have a structure in place but uh we will  utilize the expertise of OTS pending your approval   today to make sure that is where we need to be and  find places if we can find efficiencies be more   effective or optimize that sta that structure then  that's what we'll do but I think we're in a good   place already thank you several questions start  off with it's the most obvious question I think   it's a very direct answer um the question really  is why was Operation support not included in 2019   actually to be more specific it would have been  December 18th of 2018 why was Operation support   not included on December 18 2018 uh mayor my Rec  going back to that time and I wasn't directly   involved in the project at that moment but but but  having been involved for some time now and kind   of looking at the history of things um I recall  that there being some discussion at the time of   the effectiveness of including operations at that  point um uh and talking to the vendors and looking   at where we were headed with the project one of  the things I mentioned before and I think still   makes sense is it was hard to really predict  at that point in time with just barely getting   started on where we were going to know what the  Operational Support would even look like I would   tell you whether this was part of the decision  or not I want to reiterate and I know I'm being   redundant here but I think it's important that um  the it's it works better to have this Operational   Support outside of that design built contract from  from our what we know about how these projects   work what we've looked at that that others do I  mentioned that this this is consistent what we're   proposing today on these types of projects I don't  think we would have been in the best position to   have tried to continue down that road with the  operations as part of the designb buil team I   can't speak to the specifics why uh the decision  was made to move forward at that time but I think   it was the right one and it was the smart one  um so that we could be here today to have a more   accurate accounting of what we need to do trying  to estimate costs at that time trying to estimate   resources and Staffing I think would have been  tremendously challenging and there would have been   risk added particularly on our side of trying to  figure out what the cost look like in particular   just want to put it on record that the December  18th 2018 meeting had a 4 to3 vote the four   yays were Jeff Longwell James Clint Denon Jeff  blueball mner the no votes were J were Brian fry   Brandon Johnson and Cindy clayone there's only one  person currently on the council who voted on this   specific matter and that person voted no regarding  moving forward with not having operations as   part of that plan so I'm giving context to that  question because again a majority of this board   was not on the council when this was voted on  which was back on December 18 2018 and operations   was discussed and operations was a recommendation  by staff it was also a recommendation by the   committee who took a look at what should have  been part of that construction project um so now   this new Council has an opportunity to look at  this as two separate uh opportunities build and   design and build and operations instead of Allin  one so I think it's it's disingenuous when we   say that this project is $494 million because I  would assume that that would include from build   from design to operations would be a project but  in reality it's now increasing so uh the question   then is what is the accurate amount in telling  Community how much this project does cost and   why was operations I know was accounted for in the  rate structure but not in the project amount so   what would be the response to community when they  asked well this is a project if it's 494 million   I would assume it's from design to operations but  in reality it was just design and construction not   operations I would tell you from my perspective  um and I the I can't go back in time to the   discussions and the decisions that were made then  uh regardless of the size and the complexity of   the project uh just I might tell you this for  what it's worth it is rare that we have a design   build project or even a design bid build project  that includes an operational component I think   from what I remember in the discussions at that  time it felt like it might make sense because of   the size of the project um needing to run two  plants at the same time that we should look at   an operational component I think we're fortunate  that it didn't happen uh but I would tell you it's   not the norm um the the I mentioned again you  can look at projects across the country of this   size of this type they rarely include operations  as part of the design build contract even though   that's where it was being considered and that's  where it could have headed I'm not sure that we   were headed down the right path at that time  okay I can't go back obviously and change   that or provide any more context to that um but  but we're I we're I'm convinced I'm absolutely   convinced we're in a better place because that  did not happen uh we have but we have design   build projects um happening uh at our current  treatment plant now and other projects that   we're doing that don't include any operational  component because of the size and again looking   that you got to bring additional people on and and  honestly I would tell you I think at that point   probably not knowing any better it it probably  made sense to staff that we should look at the   operational component we would have made it work  uh it might have cost more and I think we probably   would have been re-evaluating that portion of it  at this point in the same manner that we're having   this discussion today and I apologize me if that  doesn't exactly answer your question but that's   probably the best information I can provide  you from my standpoint council member John   thanks mayor um since my vote was brought up I  just want to clarify and add context to that uh   running for office I heard from a lot of folks in  community about complaints of the city of Wichita   changing a process in the middle of the process  of somebody bid on something and either council or   staff would want to go a different direction can't  say if that always happened but when I was elected   I wanted to put an end to that the December vote  my no vote um was because we were changing the   process Jacobs had won the contract we had decided  not we a majority of the council had um said they   wanted to go from design build operate to design  build I didn't agree with change in the process   but to this day I will say it was the right  decision to do what we did design build brings us   to this place now where we have a decision to look  at where we know exactly what we need again my no   vote was just on uh process I've continued to be  cons insistent on that over the years if this body   wanted to change a process in the middle of a bid  I would vote against it because I don't agree with   change in process if we want to have standards or  uh certain thing we need to do that out front I   would also say I wasn't on that steering committee  Jacobs and I can't remember their former name have   been working with the city on evaluating our  water system for quite some time um that was   probably why they were as qualified as they were  at that time and why they got the staff recommend   ation not fully sure on that but they have been  working with the city for quite some time but   when it came down to the December 18th vote again  I don't agree with change in process if we want   to have uh a difference of things and we need to  end the RFP um process come up with a vision as   a body and then put out a RFP so that was my no  vote but I've said on the record in other spaces   while I disagree with changing the process  I do agree with the outcome I do agree with   design build I do agree with where we're at today  and I sat on the steering committee for the north   uh water treatment plant um since then and I agree  with all the decisions that we've made um except   for adding more color to the water treatment  plant I think we should but other than that   I do agree with where we're at today I think we  made the right decision and I would have the same   vote again if it came up council member Johnston  thank you Mayor Gary I still got some heartburn   if our state staff can figure it out what value  do they bring $4 million worth of value to water   treatment plant maybe we can hear from them what  value they would bring and we certainly can and   let me qualify when I said our staff can figure it  out our staff can figure it out with their support   we've got a lot of people in a lot of places we're  still not fully staffed we're still having to keep   the existing plant running we've got people up  there when they can learning I talked about Mike   Jacobs is taking this all in and trying to train  people we have to have someone bridge that Gap we   can't do that without this additional support and  and and I apologize for not making that clearer uh   this is very consistent on a on a project like  this to have this type of support and and the   cost is is what we expected and it's relevant  for the services that we are getting it's not   just to teach our staff is to provide I would  go back and talk a little bit about some of   the things that we're getting out of this stand  operating procedures maintenance programs and   risk management plans uh as much as I don't want  to admit this entirely to you I will tell you at   our current water treatment plan those are not up  to date in fact some of those we're not even sure   when they were completed we're making at work we  have to start off on the right foot those types   of things are a big part of this contract and  the services that they're going to provide and   I should have been more clear about that to begin  with we do not have the resources the Staffing to   make that happen happen and still be able to  run the plan on a daily basis so they're going   to bring tremendous value uh the first thing you  asked about was structure with making sure we're   in the right place filling in the gaps making sure  our staff is trained because everybody we've got   has got to keep the plants operational and getting  water out to the public every day mayor if I could   I that's to me that's the key issue we spend a  lot of time talking about what our staff has the   time to do both the existing staff and then we're  bringing a lot of new people on and I it would be   maybe helpful to hear from OTS because when you  look at what's we've included in the report that's   to me the most compelling part of it and Gary  just made some reference to that in terms of the   number of plans and documents that are required  to be able to guide us as we go forward and   to bring new people on over time and help them  understand a pretty complex operation one that   much more complex than what we have today just  the use of technology is so different and we just   we as we talked through it I was convinced that  there is no way we were able to do justice to all   of those manuals and all of those plans and still  have our staff learn the plant operations it just   I don't think it was going to be physically  possible to do that on the schedule that we   want in terms of bringing the plan up in  April so okay so may we have OTS come up sure good morning I'm Ronda Harris I am the  chief technical officer of OTS I am senior   technical adviser for this project my colleague  Jay Shen is the uh senior vice president of wood   and Curran and we are responsible for putting  the team together and responsible for making   this whole Project work so I wanted to elaborate a  little bit I am a licensed operator and registered   engineer and I'm not in Kansas I'm in Texas but I  am working on rest procity with my licenses right   now and we have folks who are registered in in  Kansas and we have the the technical expertise and   the experience to put together this is literally  over a thousand standard operating procedures for   your facility and your and your own in manual and  your startup and commissioning plan and your risk   management plan and yes you have great staff  but they've got to run the plant and so trying   to have them do both is as you said physically  impossible to try in such a short period of time   so we come in to bring you the assistance to do  that and we have technical staff who are highly   qualified I have 48 years in this industry so  I've been doing this a very very long time and   I've written standard operation in procedures and  on emanuals literally around the world myself and   my team that works with me I used to work for  ch2m who was previous to Jacobs I worked on the   original Wichita evaluation of their facilities  15 or 10 years ago now almost as I got started on   that and then I I moved and I'm now with OTS  we feel like we have the right team for you   we're very uh compact team and the two companies  were working closely together to be sure that we   give you a technical expertise that you need in  an amount of funding that is reasonable for the   work we're doing and the level of expertise we're  bringing in and we believe that we got a good team   for you so Jay yeah J Shen for the record from  Woodard and Curran uh just just to add to what   what Rhonda said think of this as a SWAT team  flying in you know we're going to come in with   different Professionals in different areas we're  going to we're going to bring those people to to   assess and to look at the new plant and to set  systems up the right way from the beginning you   know you've run the plant the existing plant from  90 years Some Things Fall Apart fall fall behind   over time um and because we've seen all these  different plants all these different places   it's really easy for us to set things up right  from the beginning just one other thing just   to to illustrate that point asset management  is managing all the different components of a   system so you got a treatment plan plant you've  got pumps and pipe and motors and Val and valves   and all these things chemical equipment all this  stuff all that has to be set up so meanwhile your   people are maintaining those existing Valves and  pumps and pipe and and Motors when we set up the   new system all that has to be inventoried all that  has to be added into the system all that has every   one of those pieces of equipment has to have a  anop so there's just a tremendous amount of work   that goes with that so it's it's Way Beyond the  expectations of any existing staff and you also   have to think about existing staff have worked at  one plant for a long time so they haven't really   been through this experience this is something  very new to them as these folks mentioned they   have they have some Sops in place they don't even  know how old they are because they don't know when   they were written not necessarily applicable  to the new facility so again starting you   off on the right foot with this brand new  very expensive facility and you're moving   forward with the right information is really what  our goal is to set you up to be successful and   set your staff to be successful that's really  what we're here for we're insurance policy and   the easy button that's what color says the Easy  Button what will be the process of looking at   the old plant in terms of creating new Sops for  the new water treatment plant will you be looking   at the old one as well and will you be able to  also provide some recommendations uh regarding   the current plant we certainly can do that I mean  we have we will have the people here we'll have op   operations professionals maintenance professionals  our staff consists of licensed operators certified   maintenance staff self health and safety staff  uh CMM SC folks our team is we made sure we had   components for all of that so we do want to be  engaged in looking at the old plant to see what   they're doing now to see if any of that can still  be used we'll certainly use it there's no reason   to reinvent it if it's it's good likely it's  going to need some updates and you also have   to make a decision on how long you want to keep  that old plant functioning before you replace it   or change it over to the new plant because it's  not going to be a a a six-month transition it's   going to take a little while a year plus before  you really want to say okay we're done with this   old plant now we can decommission that and even  the decommissioning there are processes for that   how do you want to do that do you want to what we  call moth ballet which means you take it out of   service but you keep it ready to put back into the  service or do you literally decommission and tear   out the equipment because a lot of it is going to  be old and past its useful life are you going to   have to replace some of the equipment if you want  a mo ball it or are you going to say okay no it's   done that is shut down completely so there's some  decisions to be made through the process of that   and we're here to help work you through that  process of of how you're going to integrate   the two literally take the new one and make it  separate do you need this one to still be the   backup and if you do how are you going to do that  I know you guys have a consultant that's helping   you with that but we're going to be your boots  on the ground to help you with that so is that   a redundancy then because last week we approved  $85,000 for a consultant to look at the old plan   is this a redundancy or is this mayor I might  address that if you don't mind and Council um   we do have an evaluation underway and you  are correct that the the contract that was   approved last week is for that uh we've got  um some recommendations that we're looking at   already in place for for some of the things  that she talked about uh we're moving in a   good direction with that already in fact we'll be  discussing options with the steering committee and   August uh for for potential discussion with the  council sometime after that if we can utilize   um working with OTS uh as they're helping us bring  the new plan online we will I don't know that it's   100% necessary but we we'll take all the expertise  we can with that integration we've already got a   good process moving forward I think we're in  a good place on where we're headed with this I   appreciate some of the things that were said those  are some of the the items that were already taking   into consideration I mean I have a quick followup  to the mayor's question I know there's a whole   list so I don't want get out of order but because  that's a quick followup in terms of you said we're   already in operation for we only passed that last  week in terms of the contractual obligation if   this entity could also meet those obligations what  would be the detriment of seeing if there's an out   well I I don't mind doing that we certainly can  but we're going the first thing that's going to   happen is we're going to start adding more cost if  we're not careful that may not be necessary and I   don't doubt their expertise they could bring to  it but the consultant that we've hired also has   similar expertise so I think we're in the right  place with the consultant that we've hired to   to move forward from now I think what OTS is  saying I'll let them complete their thoughts   but what they're saying is when you determine  what direction you want to go they're here to   help us operationalize that and make sure that the  two plants are functioning together or if we're   decommissioning that we do that in an appropriate  way that is correct so again the technology and   then we would help with the boots on the ground  doing that and implementing that recommendation   whichever way the your other consultant makes a  decision and and we again not to one of the things   that we were asked to do is say if if you needed  some additional temporary operational Staffing to   get yourself up to speed can we provide that and  we do do in fact provide that type of Staffing for   other clients so we do have that capability of  again very temporary staffing and we can either   do it where we we find the folks we put them on  temporary then you make a decision if you want to   hire them or not and then they move they you know  transition over to city of which to employes so   that is not contract operations in the sense that  it's not a private company operations it is it is   contract Staffing to assist you in your operations  still working under the um direct responsibility   of your supervisors so it's a temporary way to get  people in here and get them set and then move them   forward into your your house as it were thank  you Rhonda vice mayor Ballard thank you mayor   uh thank you all for being here really appreciate  it um we got one chance to get this right and um   appreciate taking the lead from the experts in the  area um my question is actually for Gary um I just   have a quick question how many of the projects  that we put rfps out do include the operating   part like the first thing that I think of is like  multimodal I'm sure that the bid that we received   or whatever did not include the operations I'm  just it it kind of piggybacks on what mayor W   was talking about is that unusual that we took the  operation piece out or what does that look like   um I would tell you off the top of my head that  I can't think of a project that comes to mind   that does include operations um our goal uh is  for us to provide operations for our facilities   now that there's there's a lot of things that  happen uh across the organization the facilities   that sometimes there's additional support needed  but from a core operation standpoint I mentioned   before it's pretty rare and and I'm not sure that  I can think of a project right now that includes   Operational Support thank you council member ho  Heisel thank you mayor uh Gary um so a couple of   questions here when Jacobs was originally I guess  awarded the bid I'm I'm not sure if that's phrased   right but you said that operations was included  in that does that mean that that would have been   their employees that would have been running the  plant it would have been not it could have been   it it was most likely going to be a subc  consultant of theirs who specializes in   operations most likely okay thank you um so  this this um this contract would be for one year   correct okay say and this is kind of a two-part  question say um two years from now something   major happens with the facility I assume we have  the insurance that can help take care of it are   they going to be available for um Consulting on  any issues that arise and that kind of ties into   the question number two about phase three because  this contract is just for phase one and phase two   but phase three talks about um we're going to  come and look at this in a future date about I   I'm not sure if that would include Consulting in  the future on any major incidences or events um   and can you talk a little bit about what phase  three might include just in that way we know   what we're looking at further down the road and I  might let one of you talk about that if you don't mind phase three is exactly that it is a an  evaluation at six months to a year down the   road or if something comes up for a u an  optimization opportunity and we were asked   to provide in The Proposal the option to do  that so that you all have the choice to make   that selection in the future year year and  a half two years down the road if something   happens or if you want to look at okay we've been  running it for a year we think we can be a little   more efficient at it those kinds of things  and so that's what the phase three is it's   that evaluation which is a Consulting evaluation  for um whatever needs to be in that so we've given   that option and that allows you all then to come  back in and and then to turn we can negotiate a   price and then we can bring they can bring that to  counsel so it is a separate price for phase three   and we have done some ballpark estimates again  we're talking two years down the road after you   get the plant running it's kind of hard to say  today what that would be so we have given so if   mostly just an hours estimate if you needed to do  some specific things here are some estimates of   hours to do that um not really any dollar amounts  per se at this point we just said here's scope   that we think would be useful for you to have in  your pocket if you need it and that's that's what   they have in the phase three and that's what they  did not include it in this this particular phase   at this time thank you for it does give you  a little bit of a blanket to figure out what   needs to be done okay so just to be clear this  would be if we approve this contract this is just   for the first year correct this is for the first  year okay and it gets through the planning phase   for the startup commissioning and the startup  commissioning with your contractor okay thank you   council member Glascock two quick questions just  hitting on the word first year makes me believe   there's subsequent years when this is supposed  to be a one-time allocation so can you provide   clarification that just again okay one year for  startup and commissioning then the second the   third phase again phase one is the planning for  the startup because you got to build a bunch of   plans to do the actual and then the second phase  is the actual startup we're planning to do those   in a one-year period along with your contractor  that's why we call it the first year but it's   that one year of operations and commissioning  assistance any subsequent work would be in phase   three would be either the First full year second  full year of operations of the facility after it's   been handed over to you from your contractor okay  so this would be a question for Gary do we expect   a another request to have a second year or third  year at this point we would not um but but like   I talked mentioned earlier in the the things that  we've seen through the development of this project   and I you know we talked before about where we're  at overall costs and and I it's pretty remarkable   really on the size of this project where we're  currently at related to change orders with the   design build team um we're tracking in a really  good place everything is where we need it to be   our expectation is this one-year contract will  get us up and running and we'll be ready to go but   this is a big deal this isn't something we've  done for some time uh we would like to have   that flexibility in case there's something that  we need additional expertise for but right as of   right now we would not expect it thank you I have  one last question I probably should ask this if I   could yes I just excuse me it's a safety net it's  a half billion dollar water treatment plant one of   the largest projects in the country and we just  want to make sure that we get get it right not   just here at the front end but as we continue to  operate um and that's maybe not an approach that's   always been followed in the past and that's  why I think it's so important that we have   the resources available I think we we keep coming  back to the community survey water and sewers was   considered one of the top priorities in terms of  the community and its expectations of us and I I   think we're all trying to be safe and prudent in  terms of the way we bring the plant on and the   way that we operated going forward yeah I agree  and I think when we talk about I can add one thing   to that this is something that has become more  and more common in these startup and commissioning   contracts where they are independent you an  organization like us or a similar organization   who's doing the inde basically third party  independent startup and commissioning and an   option a third phase if you will for additional  help after a year or so of operations again for   that for that safety net that umbrella to be  sure and that has become particularly as we   have so many of these big facilities in the last  five years being built and coming on all over the   country we're seeing this system becoming much  more common thank you I I think we all want to   get it right and I think that's why we have  so many questions up here as well very simple   question maybe not a simple answer but I should  ask this before every vote what happens if we   don't approve this uh if we don't approve this  we're going to be challenged uh to in a lot of   of areas I think the manager said it well and  it's something I should have hit on originally   more about everything that goes into the support  that they're providing and I would tell you again   we're we're not very current at our treatment  plant right now that we've been operating for 80   years uh with risk management plans with standard  operating procedures all of these things that go   into this uh we need to have those to start  this project manager in a half a billion Pro   dollar dollar project we need to get off on the  right foot uh we'll have to figure out a way to   shuffle even more resources there are things that  would have to happen on our end uh operationally   that aren't going to get done we would add risk to  operations of the current treatment plant because   we would have to take more people there and and  allocate them to doing some of these things but   I'm I'm here to tell you when when people like  OTS do this on a regular basis that they have   the very specific expertise that we don't have  uh this is a state-of-the-art plant there's some   complexities that are new that are not part of our  current plant I have faith that we've got staff   that are going to figure these things out but  we need that additional expertise not even just   with the planning part of it uh but to be able to  train our staff or or we could be challenged with   significant risk here when we bring this new plan  online to make sure that we're meeting regulatory requirements council member Johnson thanks  mayor um just wanted to fill in a few gaps   one I'm supportive of this proposal today um  making a half billion dollar investment want   to make sure we have everything right all the  eyes dotted te's cross and I have faith that   you all can do that um there was a mentioned  earlier Gary stole my thunder on the change   order so I won't say that because he already  said it but um when we look at the old plant I   was on that committee as well there's a proposal  that will come to Council about that and Council   will get to decide what we want to do with the  old plant so moth ballet use it for other things   um the organization that was chosen had some  really good ideas so looking forward to that   discussion um but really want to highlight we've  known for some time on the steering committee and   those meetings were open to the public that we'd  operate two water treatment plants at one time uh   for a little bit and that uh staff would need to  be trained on the new one and we would need some   expertise on that and that's where we're at  today uh this gives us an opportunity to have   our own employees trained on the new plant from  the experts to get all the troubleshooting done   um as well as see what that transition is going to  look like from the current plant to the new plant   current plant again being over 80 years old into  a brand new plant with brand new Sops and and all   of that so I'm supportive of this I'd rather spend  a little bit more than what we had hoped for now   than have some issues later that will cost us  even more more and I think that going through   uh this process and having all of our staff uh  educated on the same level as our experts that   to be helping us will be a benefit to our city and  again I just seeing that this is an a generational   investment so we've had one plant for almost a  century I think this one with all the redundancies   and the way it's been constructed will probably  last more than a century um so I think we're on   the right path again a lot of this was discussed  in the steering committee I know not everybody   watches all of our steering committees but um  this is something that we have expected to come   up for quite some time and now we're here council  member tutle thank you gri I just have one more   question and then I'll save my comments until  after public comments but is it safe to assume   that there's going to be optimized savings even  from this and it'll be more than the the cost of   the contract I don't know about the last part  but I'm comfortable in saying one of our goals   with this contract is to look for optimized  savings correct um because of the expertise   at OTS and Woodard cran bring and being involved  in these types of projects and the efficiencies   that they'll provide uh to to fill in the  gaps to support our staff our number one   goal is to provide to look for uh operational  efficiencies cost savings anything that takes   us into the future especially so that we're ready  to take off uh running with this plant the most   effectively as we can especially on the cost side  but also on the Staffing and resource side thank you for the record I'm David cman I'm actually  the CEO of OTS um to answer that question   I micromanage all of our budgets to make sure  that we do find Savings in everything we do um   yesterday we purchase vehicles in your community  we are renting homes in your community it's our   point it's our point to be part of your community  as well if you need us assistance in the future   we'll be there but we look at cost to how  to reduce those cost down on every project   to make sure we understand the rate payers are  paying for all this overall it might have been   in your budget but still somebody's paying for it  at the end of the day and every Community we go to   we manage those costs uh as an expectation this  is our top cost number we expect to always come   below that at every single time so I hope that  addresses that that question for you thank you thank you very much OTS for answering a lot  of these questions as well as Gary I see no   further questions from the bench so we  will now open it up for public comment   are there any individuals in the public  who would like to speak on this specific matter uh Doug Ballard not living Riverside  um back up a little bit for some of you that   weren't here from from my perspective uh there  was a group of us uh left over from occupy wiah   that got involved in in this project uh when it  came out for a request for proposal uh you came   out with and just from memory uh you came  out with a request for a study and as I   remember there was a um 15 16 different people  that were interested in doing a study and then   possibly look into the financing and the  come up with the uh actually executing the   recommendations uh I worked as a contractor  uh for a mechanical contractor for most of my   working career uh one of my first projects  that I was involved very small part was   this building right here and uh we were the  mechanical contractor on this this building um I uh I was very concerned something I've been  interested in since uh 1960 and uh water uh got   interested in it from my eth grade science teacher  he told me the war of all wars will be overwater   and um still looking pretty good so I kind still  believe that so uh the the original deal on the   study I was really concerned about past the study  part so uh again I worked for a big contractor   over 30 years so ch2m Hill was the successful uh  company uh ch2m Hill was A5 billion doll company   that in that time period before you let the  contract on the water uh they were purchased   by Jacobs which was a510 billion company so one  of the things that concerned me and I tell people   and they just look at me and I still concerned is  so I'm not a big fan of design build operates for   sure so I can tell you well I like design you  know and then build and then maybe some help   on the operate part um I've just been involved in  too many projects um it's good for the contractor   it takes away a lot of the uh possibilities for  things going wrong but it's not great for the cons   the customer so I was on a committee 30 years ago  to study possibly building a new water treatment   plant and there was so many uh developers and real  estate people on the committee because they didn't   want to spend $80 million on a new water treatment  plant and of course now it's that's just a change   order so but anyway my point is at the 11th Hour  you had two biders on this contract and I can   I'll tell you I wasn't going to say anything but  you mentioned some names uh I had a meeting with   uh uh fry uh and I was begging him to take the  operating out of the contract you can't let him   design it and then build it and then operate it  for two to five years there's there's books you   can buy about companies who have privatized their  uh water system and then what happens the private   company just walks away and they've got dunk and  I'm not saying it happens all the time I'm just   saying it happens so um and I had a 30 minute  meeting that I made run over over an hour and   uh uh Longwell came in and I begged him I begged  anybody that would be there to take the operating   out you can't do that so whatever happened it  went away and but the important part is that is   that at the 11th Hour when it was a dbo you had  two contractors one which was a partnership and   they could maybe maybe do it maybe not they never  had and then you had one company that has done it   many times and when you took the O out they went  away that still concerns me that's a long time ago   so and anyway um how would you be able to just  I mean there's it's just there's just too many   variables how much that would cost and uh anyway  I know I'm past my time but uh this is this is   the best of what could have come out of what you  started several years ago so uh I was always in   on the the fact that we needed a water plant in  fact I'll just tell you while I'm standing here   with my time expired is when I was working  on this I went also did some walkthroughs at   the sewer plant and I know a little bit about  this stuff I thought you needed a sewer plant   worse than you needed a water plant so anyway  that's before you too anyway thanks for your time any further comments from the public I see none we'll bring it back to the bench  council member Tuttle thank you um we've had   a robust discussion about this um I I think it  comes down to we would have had these costs at the   front end or we'd have them now and the previous  councils decided only one of us was here we've had   a great explanation from him why this decision  was made and so we have this decision now and   truly it's an opportunity for us this is a once  in a-lifetime opportunity for the city of Wichita   this is the largest piece of infrastructure the  city of Wichita has had in 156 years and it's too   important to not get it right um we absolutely  have to get it right because having water in   our community is not discretionary it's the most  basic need that we have it's an absolute necessity   not just for our residents but a previous item  we had in our agenda was talking about growing   our economy having affordable water rates for  our residents especially our most vulnerable   is critical but also if we do want to grow our  economy and attract industry here I know it's   been said at least three times but I'm going to  say it four this is not going to impact water   rates the decision that we're making today and  that was the one of the most critical points for   me in my decision making I do again want to thank  staff um all the staff who is working on this I   know your plates are already full and we're adding  to it with this incredible project not to mention   BNR and that's why we need a consultant who has  content expertise to come in and help us with a   one-time operational stand proceding operating  procedures standard standard procedures um I   also want to think the past Council who voted  on this it was bold and Visionary and forward   thinking for them to know that we needed this new  piece of infrastructure to ensure the safety and   growth of our community I want to welcome our  10 to 11 new staff Gary mentioned we're going   to have 17 new staff so welcome to the city of  witto team and I know you'll really be a proud   member of the Public Works staff want to thank OTS  for being here today and to helping be a part of   the success I am completely optimistic that when  we do the ribbon cutting we are going to celebrate   the success of our new water treatment plant  and I hope you will be there to celebrate with   us I'm going to be incredibly supportive today  thank you council member Glascock just couple   brief comments um obviously there were questions  about this project from the start um and there   was Community doubt I'm thankful that we're  getting closer and closer to and I think it's   a good thing to talk about when the communities  had doubts and concerns previously and address   those were're uh seven individuals and we're  responsible for each one of our votes we're   not responsible for previous Council votes or  previous discussions and so I think questions   are a good thing I'm thankful for the questions  I'm thankful for the discussion today I will be   supportive of this because it was budgeted um  because it was allocated by a previous Council   and because of Gary's uh answer to my question  of what happens if we don't move forward on this   project as well um and uh thankful for  the discussion and the questions asked today I see no further comments I will just add a  bit of context I believe that it's important uh to   restore trust in any organization you have to give  facts from the past and I do believe that when you   understand the context of why we are asking these  questions it helps Community understand that we   are asking the questions you all have as well um  so I understand the importance of water and the   importance of our sewer system these are the basic  infrastructural components of the local government   that we need to take care of and with a major  investment that is now going to be closer and   closer to the half a billion dollars rather than  494 which I will now change to say 498 million um   I believe that we need to be accurate in what we  are sharing with community and so questions that   are asked From the Bench are important because  again Community needs to understand how we've   arrived to this point in time in addition to these  are seven individuals who again were not minus one   uh who would who were not part of a council that  voted on this infrastructure uh component and I   am grateful that there was forite and making an  investment in infrastructure like our water system   but I believe that it's important to always give  out all the facts and let people understand how   those decisions have been come have come forward  and looking at all of our Council meetings which   are all recorded on YouTube you can always watch  you can always see the dialogue that has happened   whether it's the questions the public comment or  the commentary that comes back from the bench so   again I'm going to be supportive of this because  I know that we do need to be prudent in moving   forward with having the best water treatment  plant that will get commissioned by April of   2025 and I appreciate the expertise of those  with OTS that will help us get to that point   in time help us troubleshoot have actual standard  operating procedures moving forward so our entire   public work staff understands that this is a an  asset in our community and we want to keep it   not just for a hundred years but for however  long this asset can be uh for our community   so again thank you very much for answering all  of our questions and allowing us to have that   dialogue regarding some of the history and how we  come to this position in time so with that I will   move that we approve the staff recommended  action regarding this item second second   motion and a second any further discussion  I see none Madame clerk please open the role motion passes 70 Madame clerk please call  the next item emergency rental assistance   er2 funding allocation and agreement with United Way good morning honorable mayor members of  council I'm Sally Stang with the Housing and   Community Services Department for the record  today I have for you a funding agreement and   funding allocate of er2 funds to support the  uh replacement of the homeless management   information system managed by United Way of  the planes little background the American   Rescue plan Act of 2021 included 2.55 billion in  emergency rent assistance and housing stability   funds administered by the Department of  Treasury by formula the city of Wichita   received just under just over $9.2 million but in  addition the city then received an additional 200   almost $240,000 in reallocated funds from  underperforming jurisdictions at least 75% of   those funds had to be used for rent and utility  assistance payments for eligible households no   more than 15% could be used for administration  no more than 10% used for housing stability   services and 50% of the funds were required to be  obligated by March 31st 2022 and all of the funds   must be fully expended by September 30th 2025 to  date the following has been expended just over 8,   648,000 representing 91.5% of the funding was  expended for rent and utility expenses for   eligible families and just over 350,000 was spent  on administrative costs representing only 3.7%   of the funds the remaining just under $450,000  has been held strategically for persons seeking   shelter and service for the 20242 emergency  winter shelter to provide housing stability and   Case Management Services housing application  fees security deposits and administrative expenses the coalition to end homelessness in  Wichita Sedgwick county is the homelessness   Continuum of Care and it is coordinated  through the United Way of the planes and   in that role they're responsible for cooc planning  coordinated entry which is how people enter into   the ecosystem point and time count coordinate they  coordinate the local competition for cooc funding   they manage the homeless management information  system and they are funded through grants from   the Department of Housing and Urban Development  the current software used for our homelessness   management information system is called client  track and it's from movia and it lacks features   to improve communication coordination service  and transparency and the Coalition board voted to   replace the software with bit Focus from Clarity  in mid2 25 and without its identification card   function or equipment you know as we work so  hard to move into move our our homelessness   response into the 21st century we need software  that helps us do that and the advantages of bit   Focus are that it it provides for geolocation  and encampment tracking this was really a request   from the homelessness task force a better way for  them to be able to identify where encampments are   found and how we can deploy um Outreach workers  to those encampments so that will help to include   that communication with those conducting Outreach  um it will convert that data into visualizations   uh for dashboards I've been wanting dashboards  since the day I got here uh it allows for datat   tracking for our functional zero criteria  we're all striving for functional zero and   the poor folks at at United Way have been having  to Crunch raw data and and apply it into criteria   set through Community Solutions to determine  if we've met that this solution will actually   do that for us um it'll allow us to share enter  into Data sharing agreements with the balance of   State COC which actually covers every other County  that surround SED County and as we try to identify   where people are coming and going or where they're  from that will help us in that endeavor and then   this system also allows for the printing of  identification cards the Coalition is unable to   fund the conversion until mid 2025 and they and  they were planning to uh launch it without the   identification function and equipment by providing  ra2 administrative funds now this allows the set   software occur conversion to occur in late 2024  to align with the next emergency winter shelter   and facilitates the use of identification  cards to track shelter entrances and exits   for better and timely data and this could also  potentially be the first step towards Municipal it   s the funding is exempt of any match requirements  there are there is no impact to the general fund   all future lure and and software management  will be covered by the COC uh funds from HUD   and uh the hmis sophomore replacement is an  eligible expense under the E2 administrative   funding the law department has agre reviewed and  approved the subrecipient agreement as to form and   it is recommended that the city council approve  approve the emergency rental assistance program   ra2 administrative funding allocation of $642  6.50 the funding agreement with the United Way   and authorize the necessary signatures and I stand  for any questions we also have Matt low Steve Bert   and Angie Prather from United Way of the Plains  here today who could answer any further technical questions Sally I have one question for you um  regarding the municipal ID um with this capacity   of this new software would that allow and have  we talked to law about the possibility of this   actually being the municipal that would be  definitely the next step the the ideas are   are critical for us to be able to track at  this at the shelter and other activities in   the homelessness ecosystem it very well could be  that first step and we would have to evaluate it   further council member Johnston Sally thank  you for the great work you do appreciate it   also thank you United Way coc for the great work  you do um this is an important piece to the whole   puzzle of of the mac and homelessness and and  and really solving or addressing that issue in   a comprehensive way so it's very very important  and uh it's also Jeff Flur said very important for   economic development too so I think we remember  that thank you for your great work I appreciate itk may have Matt with with United Way come  forward and just um share again why this specific   software is the one that you all are advocating  for yes ma'am um so we've we've looked at uh from   the time that I've been working with homeless  Services we've had client Trek and it has met a   functional need like it it does allow us to enter  data and we can run some reports but we have found   a lot of difficulties when it comes to um any type  of data upgrades like whenever HUD in in isues a   data upgrade client track is often behind pushing  us further behind and getting the information out   that we need I.E point and time count some of the  delays with getting that information out it it's   very delayed um when we really got into this thing  we uh when we did our last point in time count I'm   just use this as an example we saw an increase in  unsheltered homeless people correct and we've seen   that over the last couple of years we have done  a lot of resear search and what can we do to do   more um Outreach and integrate that within our  hmis database um the current software that we   have does not allow for that it does not have any  kind of mapping so whenever people are going out   doing Outreach they're literally you know they're  they're making contact with people but there's   not a client account for them to put any kind of  data into in in our current hmis system so that's   a problem so we were looking outside of that I  believe the homeless Outreach team was as well   at an additional software that would uh complement  the current hmis system that was going to be an   additional I believe it was $7,000 or something  like that it was a astronomical amount to do that   so when we were researching hmis systems and  we came across this Clarity bit Focus who had   a mapping system where you could literally go in  and at a corner just put a little Dot and it would   pull up and you could say red tent you know Jimmy  and you could put a little note you know with a a   blue hat and a yellow jacket and we would kind  of you know and everybody could see that and   everybody could share that the homeless Outreach  team could see it they could put notes in it other   Outreach workers could see it and put notes in it  and we could begin to really better serve people   who are unsheltered that was a major selling point  in this um again the data sharing across the state   was really really important because we see as  a transient population people are are not just   they're coming to Wichita from other places  they're going other places from Wichita and   we want to really be able to have that ability  to communicate across the state um as much as   possible and the functional zero buil uh the  balance for State Continuum of Care already   is contracted Statewide with the um built for zero  people um who operate the functional zero language   and so they've already developed dashboards where  we can run data and they understand the functional   zero language language when we talk to our current  vendors they don't even have really a con concept   of of what that is so again while I don't want  to throw any shade on client track they've been a   good uh software company for us through the years  it's time for us to level up if we're going if we   keep doing what we've always done we're always  we're going to get what we've always got right   and we talk about we want to move the needle on  ending homelessness in our community in order to   do that we've got to level up and this is that  leveling up with a topnotch much better software   that will enable us to to do the work that we  want to do enable more providers to be able to   utilize the software to track data to communicate  across programs across services and that ability   to print the ID cards was just an added bonus so  when people go into shelter rather than having to   write their name down on a piece of paper that  a staff member has to go in later and input the   data they can just scan their card and go right  in they could go for a meal they can just scan   their card and get their meal so it allows  for a lot better um utilization across the   board thank you very much it's the data that's  getting me um I really appreciate that this is   very data focused um we need all providers to be  utilizing the hmis system and with an investment   um on a new upgraded software hopefully much more  userfriendly um this will allow for all providers   who are already giving services to those of  our in our community facing homelessness to   have the same data moving forward yes and one  thing I did not mention was when we we look   at our coordinated byy name list currently  with our current software you would do an   enrollment such at at a shelter but you would  have to do another enrollment which is a whole   another data set to put a person on that buy  name list with the the new software it's as   simple as just check in a box and so you can  keep it moving which means we have more people   on our buy name list and able to um better  serve those people so thank you Matt sure I   see no further questions we will now open it up  for public comment are there any individuals who   would like to speak on this specific matter I see  none we'll bring it back to the bench with that   I will move uh to approve the emergency rental  assistance er2 funding allocation and funding agreement oh sorry that was my approve  that recommendation motion to approve   okay a second motion and a second  any further discussion I see none   Madame clerk please open the rooll motion  passes 70 Madame clerk please call the next item approval of travel for council member Tuttle  to attend the national league of cities Child Care   initiative in Oklahoma City Oklahoma August 5th  through 6th 2024 council member Tuttle thank you   thank you um I just want to point out there  will be no cost to the city for this travel   um this is part of the National League of  cities entrepreneurial Child Care Project   um just to let the community know we were one of  Seven Cities Across the Nation to be selected to   be on a work group Task Force if you will to  talk about child care and especially how it   relates to entrepreneurialism we'll be meeting  with Child Care Advocates from Oklahoma City   who have had some demonstrated successes  that we'd like to see if we can emulate   and then also with representatives from the  state of Oklahoma who also were able to pass   some legislation to make um Child Care Workforce  stronger so we have four goals for this project   and it will be addressing at least two of them  and I will be traveling with representatives   from child start and also the workforce alliance  of South Central Kansas so when I get back I'll   be happy to share um hopefully our tremendous  learnings with everyone and then also we're   excited because they also want to learn from us  and some of the efforts that we've made here in   Wichita and also in Kansas regarding child care  thank you a motion to approve the travel for   council member Tuttle second Motion in a second  any further discussion I see none Madame clerk   please open the role motion passes 70 Madame  clerk please call the next item council member   appointments and comments are there any council  member appointments at this time I have one uh   this is not from myself but I will um motion  to uh provide this name at the recommendation   of the sustain uh of the metropolitan area  Planning Commission for the sustainability   integration board we're appointing Cindy miles  for that position any other appointments I see   none I motion to approve that appointment second  Motion in a second any further discussion I see   none Madam clerk please open the RO motion  passes 70 it is now time for council member comments council member Johnson thanks mayor just  want to thank my colleagues for reminding me that   I am the only council member that's been  here since 2018 and I now have four more GR   hairs in my head so just want to thank you all for  that reminder you're welcome council member hoisel   thank you mayor um I just want to let the public  know this Saturday and Plain View at the col the   coven Center at 6 PM we will be doing the second  uh unity in the community rally uh we've worked   with the ministerial league and other uh advocates  for peace and Justice around our community um we   will start start the March around 6:00 and  afterwards sorry there will be a rally with   uh hot dogs and uh some games for the kids and um  a good time and then just a chance to really see   what resources we have in our community to help  keep children off the streets and out of violence   and also what uh resources we have to help uh  families who need assistance as well so please   come out and support um it's always good to get  your steps in on a March it's going to be a little   warm but we will have shade so um hope to see you  guys out there coun uh vice mayor Ballard thank   you mayor um I have two ribbon cuttings on Friday  and I'm very excited about him the first one is   at Milwood Park um the new designated deleno Park  so I would encourage anyone to join us for that   and then this is so cool the same organization  where you can rent The Kayaks over by Riverside   park or Riverside Tennis Center um in Central  Riverside Park they're going to have pingpong   tables and cornhole where you can um pay a  small fee to play ping pong and cornhole in   the park so see you guys on Friday one one quick  correction Adam vice mayor uh do you mean poetry   Park no it's Milwood Park is that what the  sign says mayor we're done with comments hi   I uh thank you for the comments uh but now we're  going to move to something else uh before we end   our meeting we actually have um an executive  session so I will read two different motions   and I will need approval for each of them I  will start off with the first one I move that   the city council recess into executive session  for 30 minutes to review finalist for municipal   court judge positions pursuant to KSA 75 - 4319  B1 to discuss Personnel matters for non-elected   personnel uh the executive session is required to  protect the Privacy interests of an identifiable individual so I have a motion do I have a second  motion and a second uh any further discussion I   oh council member Johnson thanks mayor what  time uh I'll do this immediately after um   the next one okay so uh I have a motion  in a second Madame clerk please open the rooll motion passes 70 there's one more I move  that the city council recess into executive   session for 10 minutes to receive information on  a civil case pursuant to KSA 75- 4319 B2 two for   legal consultation with the city attorney which  would be deemed privileged in the attorney client   relationship for legal advice the executive  session is required to protect attorney client   privilege and the public interest I have a motion  second and a second any further discussion uh the   the discussion would be this is going to be in  concurrence with this first one so 40 minutes   in total and right now it's 11:24 we'll say 11:30  so we can take a break so at 1210 we will return   from executive session motion and a second any  further discussion I see none Madame clerk please   open the rooll motion passes 70 we will return  from executive session at 1210 thank you for