Good morning, Witchaw. Good morning to all of you  here at city hall. Welcome to this week's city   council meeting. I call this meeting to order.  With us this morning to provide our invocation   is Pastor Philip Moore of Eden Fellowship  Ministries. Followed by that invocation,   we will have the pledge of allegiance.  We ask that you please stand for both. First, I would like to thank the mayor and  the city council for this opportunity. Let's   pray. Heavenly Father, we come to you today with  gratitude for the opportunity to gather in service   to this community. We thank you for the city of  Witchah, for its people, its neighborhoods, and   its shared hopes for a vet better future. Grant  wisdom to these council members and who all serve   in leadership. Help them to seek what is just, to  act with integrity, and to listen with humility.   May their decisions reflect fairness, compassion,  and a commitment to the common good. Give them   clarity in of in moments of complexity, courage  in moments of difficulty and unity, even in the   midst of differencing perspectives. Remind us  all that we are called to serve one another with   respect and dignity. Bless this meeting today.  May it be productive, thoughtful, and guided   by a spirit of cooperation and good will. We ask  these things in your precious and holy name. Amen. I aliance to the flag of the United States  of America and to the for which it stands,   one nation under God, indivisible,  with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, Pastor Moore. Before we move on  from our meeting, I just wanted to recognize   that assistant city manager Troy Anderson um  was promoted uh outside of our city and so   this will be his last meeting. And so I just  wanted to recognize uh him for his service. Madame clerk, can you please call the first   item? Approve the minutes of the  regular meeting March 24th, 2026. Council members, any items to be  edited from the minutes? I see   none. I move to approve the minutes for  the regular meeting March 24th, 2026.   Second motion. Second. Discussion. See  none. Madame clerk, please open the role. Motion passes. 70. Madame clerk,  please call the next item. Awards   and proclamations. Today's proclamations are  donate life month, fraud prevention month,   and leadership and healthcare summit day.   May I please ask the representatives from Midwest  Transplant Network to come forward at this time? The proclamation reads, "The city of Witchah,  Kansas, founded in 1870. Whereas organ donation   is a selfless gift that saves lives  in Witchah and across our country.   Whereas the mission of Midwest Transplant  is to save lives by honoring the gift of   organ and tissue donation with dignity and  compassion. Whereas the number of people   on the organ transplant waiting list continues  to far exceed the number of registered donors.   Whereas April is National Donate Life  Month, a time when local, regional,   and national focuses on encouraging  Oregon donor registration. Now therefore,   be it resolved that the Witchah City Council does  hereby proclaim April 2026 as Donate Life Month. Mayor and Council, thank you very much for this  recognition. Nicole Aswith, I'm the community   engagement specialist for Midwest Transplant. And  the importance of this month is beyond just what   today is. It's the lives that are saved every day  through somebody who said yes and gave that gift.   Today, as I walked in, I looked up the numbers.  It's 108,000 people waiting nationally for the   life-saving gift of organ, eye, and transplant,  solid organ specifically. I am a tissue   uh recipient wife. I am honored to work alongside  donors and recipients every day. And it is with   um great gratitude. We thank you for recognizing  this and for helping us continue the education   that is so important in the lives that we  have the opportunity to save every single day.   I'm joined by a long recipient and I  will let Nancy give just a couple of   words. Good morning and thank you mayor  and council. The people standing up here,   some work for the network. There are people who  family members tragically died and they honored   their memory and their wishes through  tragedy by letting them become donors.   The rest of us are standing here because  of the generosity of a stranger. Thank you. May I please ask the supporters of AARP  Kansas to come forward at this time? The proclamation reads, "The city of Witchah,  Kansas, founded in 1870. Whereas Americans lose   billions of dollars each year to fraud with  older adults disproportionately affected,   making prevention, education, and strong consumer  protections more important than ever. And the   Federal Trade Commission estimates fraud losses in  2024 were as high as 196 billion dollar nationwide   with up to 81.5 billion stolen from older adults.  Whereas older adults who experience fraud have a   life-changing amount of money stolen from them,  roughly $83,000, four times that of the average   across all ages. Whereas our communities, which  include nonprofit organizations, law enforcement,   and public officials, are working to strengthen  consumer protections, provide victim support,   and advocate for stronger measures to prevent  and prosecute fraud at the local, state,   and federal levels. Whereas preventing fraud is  a shared responsibility and increasing awareness   during fraud prevention month empowers all  witchans especially older adults to protect   themselves, their families and their financial  security. Now therefore be it resolved that the   Witchaw City Council does hereby proclaim  April 2026 as fraud prevention month. Good morning everyone. Madame Mayor and members  of the council, thank you so much for this   opportunity to share with you today. I'm Glenda  Duboce and I'm the state director for ARP Kansas.   Joining me are volunteers and staff from ARP  Kansas. We are very honored to be able to share   with you our stats and all of the information  regarding fraud prevention. With April being fraud   prevention month, ARP nationwide is doing a an  amazing amount of events virtual and in person to   provide resources and tools for those who are able  to provide uh assistance when you have you might   encounter fraud. At the state level, we have uh  House Bill 2591 that sits on the governor's desk   now to be signed. So hopefully that will put some  guard rails around some of the opportunities that   are being taken to make fraudulent acts. So again,  we thank you very much for this opportunity. May I please ask Council Member Becky Tuttle   and the supporters of WSU Tech  to come forward at this time? Good morning. A proclamation of the city of  Witchaw, Kansas, founded in 1870. Whereas the   healthc care industry is a vital pillar of the  Witchah community, directly impacting the health,   well-being, and economic stability of  its residents. And whereas health care   organizations are currently facing unprecedented  challenges including workforce shortages,   evolving patient care demands, and the need for  rapid innovation in service delivery. And whereas   strong adaptive leadership is essential  to address these challenges and ensure   sustainable highquality health care systems for  the future. And whereas WSU Tech is a partner in   partnership with the Kansas Leadership Center is  hosting the leadership and healthc care summit,   bringing together healthc care leaders, educators,  practitioners, and community partners from across   the region, equipping participants with the tools  needed to lead effectively in a rapidly evolving   environment. Therefore, now therefore, be it  resolved that the Witchah City Council does   hereby proclaim April 7th, 2026 as Leadership  and Healthc Care Summit Day. Congratulations. I want to say um thank you to Becky, the mayor,  and the city council for recognizing this   huge need that we have in the community that  those of us in the health care space through   administration, through um teachers, through  faculty are trying to solve the problems.   My name is Lynn Lovelund and I am the dean  of health sciences at WSU and I work every   day to try to educate our students to be able  to go out and provide the health care that you   all need and also to make sure we do it in an  effective cost-effective manner. So thank you   so much for this. We will continue to work  on this issue as it does affect everyone   here not only in this room but across the  city and the state. So thank you very much. between Council member Ballard. Thank you, Mayor.  I just want to take a point of privilege   and um recognize Vanessa. She's one of our  students from friends and she is just here to   uh tour uh city hall and check out what  public service is all about. So, Anna,   thank you so much for for giving her the  tour. And Vanessa, thank you for being here. Madame clerk, please call the next item. Public  agenda. We now come to public agenda. The public   agenda allows for up to five speakers to have  five minutes each to address the council.   Please bear in mind that this is not a period  of dialogue with council or question and answer   period. This is your opportunity to address the  city council with your concerns. I ask that you   address your remarks to the city council as a body  and not any not to any individual council member.   No action will be taken relative to items  on public agenda other than referral to the   city manager for information as necessary.  Speakers will sple please speak into the   microphone. Please state their name and  address for the record. A time clock will   display the speaker's remaining time to speak.  Order and rules of decorum will be observed.   The first speaker today is Harold Schlewig  which's hot weather and the tree canopy. Is Harold present today? Harold Schlechweight, 351 North Fern Street.  Can you hear me? 351 North Fern Street,   Witchdaw, Kansas. Uh, I'm a  member on the board of ICT Trees. Witchdaw is trending hotter. Steadily rising  temperatures and extreme heat events threaten   the health and safety of citizens. Witchdaw's most  cost effective solution is trees. During the past   year, Witchaw witnessed its warmest Christmas on  record. This is part of a decadesl long trend.   Evidence of this trend includes increasing  average annual temperatures, increasing average   summer temperatures, increasing summer nighttime  temperatures which inhibit cooling down from day   high daytime temperatures and a lengthening of the  freeze-free season. There is variation from year   to year, but the overall trend is clear. which  is trending hotter and this trend is projected   to continue through mid century. Moreover, this  trend poses a serious threat to the health and   safety of those who live and work in our city.  In July 2024, the Witchtow Eagle reported that   more than 115 people were treated for heat related  illness at the McConnell Air Show. During a 7-day   period at the end of June 2024, KWCH TV News  reported that at least 11 people were treated   at Ascension Via Christi for heat related issues  ranging from severe sunburn to heat exhaustion.   Some of our citizens are more at risk than others.  In 2022, the city of Witchaw partnered with the   National Aeronautics and Space Administration to  learn how increasing outdoor temperatures might   affect city neighborhoods. The NASA study found  that some neighborhoods are more at risk than   others due to an urban heat island effect that  amplifies summer temperatures within Witchah.   The urban heat island effect occurs when a high  concentration of imperous surfaces, for example,   concrete and asphalt, and a scarcity of shade  cause heat to be absorbed and remitted. Witchaw's   heat islands result in neighborhoods significantly  hotter than outlying areas and natural landscapes.   The increase in average summertime  temperatures in Witchdaw is a product   not only of climate change but of our local built  environment. The impact of heat islands is not   felt equally by all Witchdaw neighborhoods.  Some neighborhoods suffer more. In general,   heat exposure diminishes as one moves outward  from the city core. Trees are a necessary feature   in combating the urban heat island effect  because they significantly reduce air and   surface temperatures of buildings and streets.  Shade reduces the surface temperature of roads,   sidewalks, buildings by shading them from direct  sunlight. Trees are also a source of natural air   conditioning called evapot transanspiration.  This is an example of the sweating effect. If   you work outside, you sweat. And as the sweat  dries, the moisture is absorbed into the air,   creating a cooling effect on your skin.  Trees do something similar. Neighborhoods   with mature tree canopies can have ambient air  temperatures as much as 12 degrees cooler than   neighborhoods without them. Trees help in other  important ways. When planted in the right place,   trees significantly lower the cost of heating  and cooling buildings and homes. The best and   most effective way to address trending otter  is to protect the trees we have and plant many   more. We can do something about this. There  is a problem. Trees are the answer. Thank you. Thank you, Harold. Madame clerk,  please call the next individual,   Andrew Kramer. Funding for WPD equipment. Uh, my name is Andrew Cranmer. I  reside at 3626 North Ridgeport Street.   Good morning, Mayor Woo and members of the  council. Good to see you again, Council Member   Johnston. My name is Drew Cranmer, and I am a  taxpayer residing in Witchah's fifth district. I   am here today not to relitigate the privacy debate  around license plate readers. I am here to ask a   straightforward fiscal accountability question,  one that every taxpayer in the city deserves an   answer to. Six days ago at midnight on March 31st,  2026, a $1.6 million DOJ grant expired. It was the   primary federal vehicle underwriting Witchaw's  surveillance technology expansion. There was no   press release, no agenda item, and no public vote.  According to the city's own transparency portal,   191 cameras are still running. And as of  April 1st, nobody has publicly explained   who is paying for them. These are not free. They  never were. In fact, as far back as October 2024,   Captain Aaron Moses of WPD acknowledged before  this very council that ongoing funding sources   had not yet been identified beyond the grant  structure. Per Witchah's own executed 2021 flock   contract obtained through Kora, the perunit rate  is $2,500 per camera per year. At 191 cameras,   the minimum recurring obligation is $477,500  annually, consistent with Govvek's 2024 reporting,   which projected WPD costs exceeding 404,000 once  federal subsidies ended. That day is now. It was   last Tuesday. On March 3rd, just 28 days before  this grant expired, Witchaw voters defeated   Proposition One, the public safety sales tax that  would have generated dedicated revenue stream for   exactly these kinds of recurring costs. The voters  said no. That means the city entered April 1st,   2026 with no federal grant, no sales tax backs  stop, and as far as any public record shows,   no council vote authorizing where these  costs now land in the general fund. I   am aware the city manager has stated that  Witchah maintains healthy reserves and aaa   bond rating. I am not alleging insolveny.  What I am alleging is a process failure,   the absence of public deliberation about a  half million dollar annual commitment now   apparently being absorbed without explicit council  authorization. I've submitted a written summary to   the city clerk for official record which documents  these figures and formally requests a written   response from the city manager. That brings me  to my two direct questions for this council.   First, as of April 1st, 2026, which specific line  item in the general fund or which alternative fund   is now paying the annual subscription cost for  these 191 flock cameras? Second, at what point   will this transition from federal dollars to  city dollars be brought before this council   for a formal vote and public comment period? I am  asking this council to direct the city manager to   provide a written accounting within 30 days of the  current funding source for the flock ALPR program,   the total annual obligation, and the plan for  ongoing authorization through the normal budget   process. The public deserves answers about  what this program costs, who authorized it,   and what comes next. That conversation cannot  wait any longer. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Andrew. Madame clerk, please call the  next individual. George Theo Harris, policing. Theo's epic fury. Please have my eye.  Hello, mayor, vice mayor, city council,   the honorable city manager, and city legal. The  mayor wants me to bring just one issue, but as the   neighborhood president of three neighborhoods and  6,000 citizens, I would need to talk every week   and not have to wait 30 days between. So, here we  go with my five minutes. Back on October 15th, my   wife and I were coming back from the neighborhood  meeting and my neighbor, five doors to my north,   came up behind us at a high rate of speed with  no lights on and was attempting to ram us. This   scared my wife and subsequently I called 911  and the police didn't respond until much later.   Then a month later, the same neighbor came by  my house five separate times in a little over   an hour on November 13th. I've come and talked  to this city council and the police were supposed   to go do something. Well, what I've learned,  if you rob a bank and don't answer the door,   then there's nothing they'll do because they went  to the neighbor's house twice while he was home   because his vehicle was out there and he didn't  answer the door. So they closed out the call.   When questioned by me, the lieutenant said it was  like apples and oranges. My comment about the bank   robbery not answering the door. And at this point,  I have to know which is the apple and which is the   orange. We were almost physically harmed by this  guy regardless of what his deal was. And a bank   is just money. Now on to a second situation.  I have delivered newsletters for 27 years,   thousands over those years. And I've told  volunteers how to deliver newsletters. Well,   newsletters. Well, on sat Sunday afternoon,  March 8th, I put a flyer in a person's screen   door like I have thousands of times and started  to go to the next house. And the guy that lives   there came out screaming at me and told me not  to open his door. And I was being passive and   backpedaling just trying to tell him I was trying  to save him some money on his trash bill. And he   didn't want to hear that. And he started walking  towards me and doing his fist a rockam summ robot.   And I still was backpedaling. And I've since  talked with the police. They told me this this   is assault. And yet our city legal says it's a he  said he said well this he said is willing to take   a lie detector test. Will that other he said  take a lie detector test? I know they're not   admissible but I have nothing to lie about and  this needs to be resolved is the last people who   delivered newsletters for us were church members.  Can't happen while I'm the president of the   neighborhood. Number three, at the animal shelter,  which I've asked for years to have an audit done,   and yet we haven't never got around to it. I'm  on the animal advisory board and they told us   one month there was a 92% of calls were closed.  And yet, I know myself, I have called them five   or six times and didn't get any closure. So, what  does that really mean, that 92% close rate? So it   they I asked and they're closing calls if they  don't get to them. Well, I don't see how you can   do that. I was the chairperson on the licensing  subcommittee and after asking Jan Garman and   Emily where our numbers on licensing are, they  told me to get a Kora request or call licensing,   which I might add have been directed not to  talk to me. Our last police chief actually   married my wife and I on May 20th, 1999. Yet, this  chief won't even talk to me. Chief Ramsay said,   "I make police accountable and better. I want to  build up our police department, not tear it down."   And in closing, uh, my wife's mom died last Monday  and Janet's afraid to come to Witchar anymore,   which is sad because that's where I have  my house. But I want to say, city manager,   people on next door have said your salary  is too high. Well, George Theo Harris says   they should double it if you have to deal with  this city council. 8218 ring a bell. Thank you. Thank you, George. Council member Hohheisle. Thank  you, Mayor. Um, just to the previous speaker,   Andrew, I just wonder if we can make sure to  get him a response. Thank you. Madame Clerk,   can you please call the fourth individual? Uh,  Madame Mayor, we do not have a fourth individual.   This means that there are two spots available  for anyone who would like to address the council. Oops. Good morning. Celeste, District 5, 2239  North Teton Court. I wasn't planning to speak on   the public agenda, but I noticed there's parking  now where you have to pay for parking to come to   a city council meeting. I think in order to  be open and listen to your constituents and   some of you have called for public meetings,  anyone who wants to come to a city council   meeting should not have to pay for parking.  And so I'm slightly offended. I understand why   we need security because I support all of you  to be free from threats or physical violence,   but still we should be able to park and come in  and speak. So I don't know whose idea that was,   but I strongly discourage you from charging  parking for people to speak. Thank you. Thank you, Celeste. We have one more spot  available. I see none. It is now time for   council members to ask the city manager uh direct  questions. Council uh city manager, I do have a   couple of questions regarding um our speakers  today. Uh first and foremost, I wanted to make   sure uh that it is public knowledge that the city  of Witchaw is planting trees. Um but make it more   obvious. I'm looking at the park and recreation  uh website right now and the very first portion   of the website doesn't even show um the dashboard  and I think the dashboard should actually be on   there. The dashboard shows illegal dumping. Uh it  shows homeless encampment cleanups. Um and I think   that should be more prominent on the page. Um so  that's one from speaker number one. For speaker   number two, um I would like Mr. uh Andrew Kramer  to get a response. Um so I would like to know how   we are paying for those subscriptions regarding  flock cameras. Uh for speaker number three,   uh Mr. Theo Harris, um there were multiple items  and I know that council member Hohheisle speaks   uh to his constituent uh Mr. Theo Harris  often. And for speaker number four, Celeste,   um we had a whole conversation regarding parking  two weeks ago during the workshop. Um but I'd like   to get an update on how we are managing paid  parking at city hall. Uh paid parking at city   hall is not new. However, there is a new system  and I wanted to be clear for individuals that   do come to city council because I do want more  people attending our council meetings that they   are welcome that they we want your voices to  be heard and so we have a validation process   uh from the past. However, the new validation  process may need to be communicated better to   residents. Uh so I'd like to see that  also on the city of Witchah's page. I see no other council members addressing the  public agenda with Oh, council member Shepard. I   just want to clarify um city manager particularly  the concern from I believe majority of those from   the bench in reference to the speaker who spoke  about parking is that victims who were coming   in to interview with Witchaw Police Department  would not be charged. Can you confirm whether or   not that is true? And to the mayor's point, can  you please expand on the workshop that we had   that addressed city parking? Thank you. Thank you,  mayor and council. A couple of things related to   parking is that yes, we have had parking at city  hall, so it is not new. We do have new equipment   and a new way to do that through the pay station  and through license plate versus the actual coin   meters. Um there is a validation option. Um but  Mr. Shepherd to your question. Um, we don't have   the data on tracking victims who have come  in here. So, some of them could have paid,   but we do have in the past we've had a validation  system if their victims come into court. So,   they have had that option and they will have  that option going forward. We just don't track   them individually to tell you how many folks came  through and did or did not pay. Um, so it is a new   system. So, thank you for those who are working  through this with us. We do have paid parking   um throughout downtown now. And so, city hall is  part of that. And so, we are just implementing a   new system, not new paid parking. The rates are  actually a little bit lower for the long-term in   the city hall than what they used to be. Um but  we do not have the 30 minutes free that we used   to have here at city hall, but we do have  the validation option. And so we do have to   communicate um since it's through technology in  a lot of cases to get the validation. Mayor with   the followup please. Mr. Mars, where would  we get that data from? And I'm sure WPD has   that data. So is there a way that we can collect  that data? I would like to know data. You said   that we don't collect data on victims if they're  coming to court. If they're speaking in court,   so surely we can get that data. No. Well, meaning  if the court office, the court administrator gives   out validations that day, we don't know if the  validations are for victims or for other folks.   And so, we don't have it broken out, but we  can see how many validations we're giving   out. Correct. Yeah. And who's responsible for the  validations per department? Who pays that cost?   The departmental budget absorbs those validation  costs. So, that's concerning given budgets. Um,   so take that for what it is. Mhm. Um, and who  made the decision on parking? Mr. Marstall,   city council. Okay. Thank you. Council member Ho  Heisel. Thanks, Mayor. I just want to reiterate my   belief that um we should not be charging parking  at city hall to people who are coming to petition   their government. Um, just my thoughts. It  makes sense on the weekends where people who   use the parking lot maybe to go downtown or  anything like that, but during operations of   city council and city hall, I really do have  issues with that. Thank you. Council me vice   mayor glass. I'll join into the chorus. I've had  opposition for uh charging parking at city hall.   think there's a majority of council based  on my colleagues and so I'd be interested   in that being brought back up uh to a vote of the  council um because of the concerns especially I   know we're trying to look at it as an enterprise  account and I think there's some merit with that   um but to some points regarding parking at city  hall if you're expressing your first amendment   right to air your grievances of government I  think it should be easy to be able to do that   um because we should hear um grievances uh in  addition I also have concerns to council member   Shepard's points about when we have victims of  of potential crimes that have come up here. I   don't want an additional burden of them having to  figure out how to validate their s or how validate   their parking when they're already probably at the  one of the most difficult points of their life as   well. So I think I hear from a a general consensus  of my colleagues that we would probably be   interested in addressing that for a further vote  of the council to codify. Council member Shepard. Council member Johnston. Thank you, Mayor. I  will also concur with majority of the council.   I don't think you should have to pay to come to  city council meeting, uh, anybody with domestic   violence. I also think that people who come to pay  a water bill. Um, I think that's why we have the   30 minutes free. Um, they can probably at least  afford to pay the even though it's only a dollar,   they obviously couldn't pay their water bill  and they have fees to pay. So I I really think   we should consider that. Um also a question  is the rounds and porter is that paid parking   or not? As of now it is available for staff  and other business but it is not charged. The   rounds and porter is not charged. So it's a little  further walk but not not too bad. Okay. Thank you. I see no further comments from the council. We  will now move. Madame clerk, can you please call   the next item? Consent agenda items 1 through 31.  Council members, are there items to be pulled? Council member Johnston. Thank you,  Mayor. I'd like to pull item 3A. Item 3A is the approval of a purchase and  sale agreement for a parking garage and   subsequent lease agreement with WBD LLC  in district number four. Any other items,   council members? I see none. With that, I move  to approve consent agenda items without consent   agenda item 3A. Second. Motion second. Discussion.  See none. Madame Clerk, please open the role. Motion passes 70. Council member Johnston. Thank  you, Mayor. Uh, city manager and Troy do have   some questions about this item. Um, how how did  we come to the amount uh per parking space? How   was that amount determined? Was just a cost or  estimate of cost? Yes. So, uh, Troy Anderson,   assistant city manager, uh, you'll recall back  in the original development agreement that was   approved by city council, uh, the cost was based  on a mutually agreeable term and condition of   $32,000 a stall. Um, that's based on general  consensus around what it would cost to have a   a structure like this built. Um and so when  when we ultimately negotiated that original   development agreement with city council, uh that  was the term condition that was agreed upon by   both parties. Okay. There's some question whether  that hotel is actually going to be built or not.   I know we're all hopeful that it will be built. Um  what if it's not built? What will effect have this   on this agreement? So if the hotel is not built  um or or either of the projects for that matter   um then the other party would be in default of  the development agreement and uh the city uh would   have to enter into most likely litigation uh with  the other party to uh to acquire the land back.   uh if if the defaulting party did not uh deliver  what they uh promised that they would. Yeah. So if   that was the case, would this agreement help us in  that court proceedings? Yeah. So I should probably   make sure that we're not mixing messages here.  The two documents that you all are approving today   are simply exhibits to the development agreement  that has already been approved by city council.   in the development agreement that city council  already approved. City council already agreed   to a a purchase of the parking garage upon  substantial completion and subsequently council   previously approved leasing a percentage of the  parking stall back to residents of the multif   family residential apartments uh patrons of the  hotel. These are simply those sort of final form   documents. Nothing in these two documents that  you all are approving today changes anything   that you all have already committed to in regards  to again purchasing the parking garage for those   mutually agreeable terms and conditions as well  as leasing the a percentage of the parking stalls   back to those individuals. Okay. So this  this just says the financial the these are   purely just form documents. Yep. They're mutual  agreement with both parties. The development   agreement's already been approved. Okay. Okay.  Thank you, Vice Mayor Glascott. Thank you. A few   additional questions. Um concerns that the only  thing if there's default is litigation because it   seemingly we haven't had a good track record when  it comes to public private partnerships regarding   parking. I can think of four right now that I'm  concerned with um off the top of my head. Um,   so one of my questions would be right now we've  extended the vertical construction milestone   to July of 2026 to make sure that completion  can happen. Why couldn't this come back once   vertical completion has begun or at least  um vertical construction begins in July of   2026? would be the detriment of waiting to make  sure that the building's actually going vertical   um to figure out whether they're in default  of the agreement before we uh codified this. I'm going to probably I'm going to play junior  attorney here for just a second. Um no one   understanding that we do have legal counsel  in the room that can uh tell me I'm wrong,   but a development agreement's already been  approved, right? This is when the development   agreement was originally approved by city council  back in 2024 2023. You may recall we were we were   changing from an office use previously. The  original development agreement prior to even   this amended agreement where we separated out  WRLP from EPC there was an office project. Well,   we know postcoid and really over the last decade,  offices um have been incredibly hard to backfill,   right? But we knew and understood back in 2023  that residential was uh a more desirable use,   particularly downtown. And so back in 2023  when city council approved this agreement, we   left out exhibits J and K until such time as the  project could be redesigned to account for that   residential versus the office. We didn't know how  many residential units there were going to be, how   much square footage. It it was in redesign back  in 2023. So we intentionally left off exhibits   J and K to that development agreement so that the  development partner could go back redesign knowing   that we would ultimately bring back exhibits J  and K to that development agreement. That's what   you all are approving today are those exhibits J  and K to the original development agreement. So   the follow-up question to that would be could we  bring this up once vertical construction has begun   because at that point the applica or the partner  could be in default the agreement if vertical   construction doesn't begin. Is there a detriment  of waiting until that day to be able to bring   this forward? So uh we actually have uh the the  development partner we have Austin Bradley from   EPC available online. Um, I would defer to to him  to answer that question. My guess is is that um,   much like any sort of real estate transaction,  their underwriting is going to want to see these   documents as part of the underwriting for the  project and that probably they won't be able   to commence construction unless and until these  documents are part of those closing documents   or part of that transactional documentation. But  I I don't know if we maybe to legal. Could this   agreement be modified contingent on a vertical  construction be given under the date that's been   passed by council? Mr. Mayor, I think I would  need to look at the development agreement to   see what our obligation is. I'm just not prepared  to say what that development agreement requires.   I don't know if I would feel comfortable being  today without that. Um and so I would probably   be interested in maybe delaying that. One more  question that I have for Troy regarding this   as well. What is different about this argument  than and pending maybe litigation with current   uh parking situations as well which  I don't want to get us in trouble   for. What is different about this agreement  opposed to I would say failed or uh difficult   parking agreements that we currently have in  place and other public private partnerships.   So, I would say that um these parking negotiations  are uh exponentially more favorable to the city,   right? In the context that none of this is binding  to your point, unless and until the development   partner begins to achieve those project milestones  and ultimately delivers a project. there's no   commitment by this the way that we have structured  this deal, right? You'll you'll uh recall I've   often kind of went back to making sure that our  incentive packages are performance-based, right?   Um and that we're not burdening the taxpayer,  right? In this case, that that's that's true,   right? We will not acquire the parking structure  unless and until it's built upon substantial   completion. So, it's going to take 18 months,  right, to build this parking structure. it's not   going to the city's not going to be obligated  to purchase the parking structure and then   subsequently lease parking back to those tenants  unless and until it's built. So, um, in perhaps   maybe some of those other circumstances, um, and  again, there were a lot of those agreements that   were floated around. So, I'll try to just  generalize. Um, there were overcommitments,   I think, made by the city, uh, to to sort of stand  up and support some of those other projects in   advance. Uh in addition uh to that, I think we may  have uh overextended our commitments to deliver   and tie up parking that otherwise uh other folks  could have used. In this case, we have terms and   conditions that mitigate sort of use it or lose  it type of provisions as well as uh exponentially,   like I said, more beneficial to the city. Uh but  really to both parties, I I I think these the   between the purchase sale agreement upon  substantial completion and the subsequent   lease back. I I think we've positioned oursel  much better than we have in the past. Well,   I'm hopeful development happens and I guess we'll  find out in July as well. Um I I might have more   questions, but I see a couple of my colleagues  are on the board, so I'll let them answer.   Council member Ho Heisel. Thank you, Mayor. U  thanks Troy. Appreciate your work. Um I have a   couple of questions here. up to 85% of this um is  available for EPC or the hotel or the office space   to lease. Is there a floor on that? Is there  a certain amount that they have to lease at   least in order to make sure that this project is  viable and we actually receive some of the income   that we're planning on here? Um no, there's not  a floor. I can tell you I I can speak and again   I don't want to put words in our development  partners' mouth but I can assure you they   actually want to lease more than what uh we have  agreed to right we want to make sure that it is   uh that this is a public parking garage right that  the folks who are parking in this public parking   garage are residents of an apartment complex that  is next door citizens to the city that that people   who are parking in this parking garage are patrons  and visitors who are staying in the hotel or that   might be frequenting a ball game or may just be  coming downtown to to shop in the Deleno shopping   district, right? That this is a public parking  garage. We want to make sure that we preserve that   integrity first and foremost. Um I I have no doubt  in my mind that this parking garage will have the   utmost demand given its location and proximity to  uses within the area. Have they indicated what the   split is that they would want for the apartments  to the hotel? So, um, no, but if you can imagine,   there are, um, several hundred apartment complexes  and, um, I don't remember the exact Well,   hold on just a second. So, there are there's 155  room hotel and, uh, there is at least a 150 unit   apartment complex. In fact, I think it's north  of 200 apartments. Now, you can imagine pretty   quickly even if it's just sort of a one for one  in that case, there could be 300 of um 300 spaces   within this parking structure that are occupied  at maybe any given point in time. Appreciate that.   Uh do we have a schedule for when this would  be would essentially pay for itself or pay it   off the the debt that we're going to take on for  um this project? So, the recommendation and uh   Mark is here. So, uh, just to back me up again,  I'll play junior finance director here for a   minute. Um, so our intention, our recommendation  is upon substantial completion once it's built,   uh, that the city would issue bonds. Uh, those  would be 20-year bonds that over the life of   those 20-year bonds and the schedule associated  with those 20-year bonds that the parking fund   would backs stop, right? uh or would be the  the first line of payment towards those bond   payments. Which is why we've been working uh sort  of diligently over the last several years to stand   up a very successful parking management system  to asssure that as the city starts to step into   these business ventures, right, that again we're  not burdening taxpayers. This is a userbased fee   structure um and a a special revenue fund that is  ultimately paying for the death service on more   of these assets. So, okay. Yeah. I mean, I'm just  curious when essentially again when it'll pay for   itself, when we'll get the uh nearly $10 million  that we're putting into this paid back through   this parking garage. So, the bonds will be most  likely a 20-year bond structure. So, you have to   um again, this is very similar to a a real  estate portfolio, right? Um, you can't look   at individual parking structures in a vacuum, so  to speak, right? You'll almost never charge enough   in rents within a uh any one individual parking  structure, right? Uh to recover the debt service   on it. That's why it's part of a system, right? Uh  much like any real estate portfolio, you're going   to have some projects that um ultimately make more  money than they um than they originally intended   to, right? Uh once the debts retired, for example,  we have a number of assets downtown uh parking   structures that no longer have any debt on them,  right? And so the revenue that is being generated   from those parking structures within the system  are also going to pay for the debt service on   these new parking garages. It's not just a kind of  in a vacuum of the revenue for this garage. It's   part of an ecosystem and it's part of that network  of parking structures and the revenue that the   city's receiving off those other assets that will  also go to pay for the debt service on these new   assets. So, will that prioritize paying back the  debt on this above the maintenance that we want to   see in the the other parking garages and parking  lots and whatnot? The the beauty of the system   that we're we're standing up is it's not either  or. It's both, right? That uh in fact uh you'll   see a presentation from uh staff later this year  here in the next couple of months on a routine uh   maintenance uh strategy around all of our parking  assets downtown. How are we uh continuing to   invest and maintain a clean and safe environment?  Um we look back at deferred maintenance in a lot   of our assets over the last several years, right?  Over the last several decades, right? And so now   as this system is getting stood up again, the  revenues that are being generated as a result of   the system and the usage are now going back to pay  for the maintenance and the debt service on these   assets. So, it's not either or, it's actually it's  actually both. Okay. Yeah. I I share some of the   same concerns as council member Glascock and um  I wouldn't be against a delay as well until we   see vertical. So, just my thoughts. Thank you.  Um, Assistant City Manager, I have a several   questions actually regarding this item. First  and foremost, the green sheet is inaccurate. Um,   so I'm looking at the minutes for the October 17,  2023 meeting because there was no October 16th,   2023 meeting. And this actually says it was a  resolution setting a public hearing regarding this   project plan. So I'd like to make sure that the  green sheet is actually reflective of the actual   meeting and the real document. So can we get  clarification? Is this what was being referred to? I'm sorry. Can you I don't know how hard  I'm looking at the minutes for October 17,   2023. The green sheet says October 16, 2023.  Number one, there was no such meeting unless   the minutes are incorrect. I I want to make  sure that green sheets are accurate because   they become a historical record and if they're  incorrect this council again a majority of this   council was not there on October 16, 2023. So  I want to make sure that a was it October 16,   2023 or was it October 17, 2023? The inaccuracies  of this green sheet cause me pause about moving   further in the discussion. Um, in addition,  um, I want to make sure that again if this is   reflective of what had happened in the past  and you've been mentioning multiple times,   um, council voted this, well, again, a  majority of this council was not there. Um,   I want to have clarity. I do recall that on  October 21st, 2025, it was a unanimous vote   by this council minus council member Shepard to um  make an amendment to this development plan which   did include that garage and I do recall having  the conversation regarding this garage. However,   um I've been always asking questions regarding  parking garages and how much they cost per space.   So, right now, this new parking garage would cost  32,000 per space. I'd like to know, in comparison,   across the street from this baseball stadium, the  city of Witchah is building a new transit hub. How   much per space is that? Yes. So, um, regarding the  dates in the green sheet, I will go back and and   verify, uh, actual dates on the green sheet. Um,  regarding the $32,000 a stall number, uh, that is   has been negotiated. The $32,000 a stall number  is the number that the city is willing to buy the   parking garage for, right? It may actually cost  more than $32,000 a stall to build the parking   garage. Anything above and beyond the $32,000  a stall is absorbed and is is on the developer   to bear those costs, right? The city is only  willing to buy the garage for $32,000 a stall.   If it costs more than that, then then that's on  the development partner to to absorb those costs.   Um, I will I I saw city engineer come up over  my shoulder. I'll let him speak to the hub,   but before he does, I want to make sure that we're  we're differentiating, too. When we talk about   cost per stall, that's a that's a measure, right,  that we use uh to at least begin to frame the   conversation of how how much these garages cost  and what the city is getting as a result of it.   For example, um if we were going to spend $8  million on a parking garage, $8 million to buy   one space is wildly different than spending  $8 million to get 8,000 spaces. Right? So now   you start to kind of begin to provide context  around how many spaces that you're actually   purchasing because ultimately at the end of the  day in an operational model, we're leasing up   individual spaces. So now we can kind of start  to compare apples to apples of the revenue that   we're receiving per space versus what it actually  cost to get built. That's why we use that that   number in the per stall. So there's a number of  different factors that lead into the cost. There's   acquisition costs of land and real estate. There's  the hard costs of actually physically building the   parking structure. There's the soft cost. Those  are the costs associated with the design of the   parking structure. And then ultimately there are  kind of carrying costs, development costs, right?   Those are it's the developer fees and the and  the carrying costs again on the the interest of   the loans that are associated with these, right?  So there's a number of different factors. So for   example, you're going to hear from a city engineer  here in just a minute. In that scenario, we may   have acquired the land for a whole lot less than  perhaps where we might acquire land elsewhere.   that changes that variable and that dynamic.  Uh same with types of construction. So the cost   of construction in a poured inplace postension  concrete parking structure has different costs   than that which is a pre-cast concrete structure.  Right? So changes in construction type can also   uh impact the overall construction cost. But  with that being said, I'm going to defer to   um city engineer Paul Gman. Thank you, Troy.  Good morning, mayor, city council members. Uh   regarding the hub, the uh the bid on the project  was just under $20 million. It was $19,738,580 for construction. And that also included  the transit office spaces as well. So, I   have broken out those costs for the parking garage  itself. It's just under $17 million, $16,921,743. And if there's there is 425 spaces within  that garage. So, that equates to approximately   $40,000 per space. Now if we add the soft  cost as Troy mentioned land acquisition design   construction administration special inspections  etc and prorate that or you know um the transit   office for construction was approximately 14%  of the total cost. So, if I take 86% of the soft   cost and add it to the parking garage construction  cost, then that equates to approximately $45,725 per space. Now, that is a, as Troy  mentioned, that is a cast in place   post-tensioned garage. So, which is a  bit more than what a pre-cast would be. And this EPC garage is what type of garage again? Originally, it was contemplated that this was  a cast in place post-tension parking structure.   I I'd have to go back to uh the development  partner and and let them specify exactly what   type of parking structure, construction type  this was going to be. So the EPC garage is a   cast in place post tension and the hub is also a  po cast inplace post tension. Is that accurate?   So we are kind of comparing apples to apples  now. So the hub which is on the west side of   the stadium is roughly 40,000 per space or if  you add in soft costs 45,700 per space. So,   between 40,000 to $46,000 per space for the  parking spaces at the hub on the west side of the   stadium. What we're talking about right now is the  EPC garage and the parking spaces at that garage,   which would be very similar in in construction,  cast in place post tension, and they're asking   for 32,000, but we don't know if it would be  higher or even lower. Is that accurate to say?   Because we're the city is only willing to buy it  at 32,000 per stall. However, if it costs more,   we would not buy them at that cost. Is that  accurate? That's correct. The agre Well, let   me back. I'm I'm going to defer to the development  partner who's building it to identify basically uh   what construction type that the parking garage  that is being contemplated today is going to   be built as. I I don't want to misrepresent and  misspeak. Yes, we have representatives available   online. The second part is yes, regardless  of how much it costs, the city has agreed   to pay for uh or purchase the parking garage  at a not to exceed price of $32,000 a stall. So my followup then just for an idea of  what we're talking about because I think   that we have individuals who are either  in the audience or uh watching online.   In 2016 there was a garage that was built um  in district number one with 400 spots. It was   $7.2 million. So per space it was $18,000  per stall. And then recently in the news,   uh we have a parking garage at one of our healthc  care hospitals. Um 500 spots roughly $65 million.   That's about 130,000 per per stall. Um again,  I don't know their soft cost versus hard cost,   but that's what we have from the news. And then  we're talking about the city of Witchah's transit   hub. Um, and that in 2024 was $26 million was  the total project itself. Is that accurate? Paul,   can you uh differentiate between your 20 million  and the 26 million that the council approved?   Yes. So, the the total budget approved by city  council August 20th, 2024 um was for 26,325,000 for the project. Currently with the  bid of 19,738,000 plus the soft cost,   we are at a project cost right  now of 24,300,000 approximately. Thank you, Paul. So, this really is a question for  they're online right now. Is that accurate? EPC?   Um, I'd like to know more about this parking  garage that EPC will be building. Um, again,   this council already voted on the amendment back  last year, but I think um, in comparison to these   parking stalls, we all have pause because we know  that there have been multiple issues regarding   parking um, in downtown Witchah and we want to  be prudent that we are making the best decision   given the information that is at hand in 2026. So,  the question is for EPC. I think they're online   right now. Can you talk about this parking garage?  And I know that the city is willing to buy it at   $32,000 per stall, but if it comes higher or if  it comes lower, what will be I guess any recourse   by EPC? Uh, and tell me more about this parking  garage that's being built because I think right   now they're saying it's a cast in place post  tension um versus a pre-cast type of structure. Yes. To answer your question. Absolutely. That's where this garage cost. expection more construction. It does answer my question regarding  um what type of structure this is. Can you explain   why you guys chose to do pre-cast versus the uh  cast in place post tension which was the original? and this parking garage. Um, again,  there's nothing there's no retail space   in this garage. Can you just tell me a  little bit more about this garage? Um,   I know at some point someone had  mentioned that there were other   amenities that were on the garage. This  is just a plain parking garage. No retail. Thank you. You can address the other concerns I  think that you said you uh wanted to talk about. actually on the hotel and 192 as much as we could on the side. We  expect to use somewhere. 1.3 stalls per requisition is such a fundamental component. of this project right now to keep us major questions. So for us to maintain this approved addition because without a purchase agreement question. This is not meaningless. scenarity Council member Glas or Vice Mayor Glasco. Thank you.  Councilman Ballard, did you have something to say   first? Yeah, there's just a couple people texting  that can't quite hear the speaker online. So,   I don't know if he can just talk into the mic a  little bit better, but they're asking for a recap,   but maybe um just a short one somehow and making  sure that it's coming through so they can hear   online. Sorry to interrupt. Thank you. I have  quick questions that may tie into the recap. So,   regarding language, I appreciate the um verbal  confirmation that vertical construction is going   to happen, but verbal confirmation only goes any  particular way. So, regarding this agreement,   if we're confident that this is needed  for uh underwriters for the construction,   would the applicant be immenable to language that  says contingent on vertical construction given   that they have every intention? And we can have an  argument whether or not this is meaningless come   uh the July deadline for vertical construction,  but that would be something that I would need to   feel comfortable moving forward. I also like the  ver or the verbal confirmation that this would not   exceed 32,000, but I also want something codified  that's not verbal communication. And so looking at   sub.1B of the agreement, it says language that an  amount equal to $32,000 multiply by the number of   parking stalls. Even the language of up to 32,000  um for the number of so let's say comes down for   30,000. Let's say we get a really good deal.  I'm not in the business of pricing out parking   garages. Well, let's say it's 30,000. Then just  that alone, this agreement means that we'd have   to pay 32,000. Which means if we multiply out that  by the number of spots that were um allocated in   this agreement, we would be at a negative loss  of $520,000, more than half a million dollars for   this. And so while yes, the construction projects  likely will be higher, it could be lower. And if   that's the case, we still would be out and the  developer would be profiting 523,000 by just   the words equal versus up to. So that would be one  thing that I would probably want changed. There's   also just a challenge, and I don't know how this  can be addressed by this agreement, but there's   no incentive to save money on the construction of  this right now. They have no incentive to not hit   the 32,000. I mean, they have an incentive not  to go to 42,000 if we purchase it for 32,000,   but there's no incentive for them to go to 30,000  or 28 and figure out ways to make more of a cost   um conscience uh parking stall um because  we don't need necessarily all the amenities   in a parking garage. So, those are again  some of my concerns moving this forward.   I'm still likely to um not support this if this  moves forwards today uh without those changes and   would want to delay, but I'm still interested. I  uh see there's probably colleagues on the bench,   too. I do have follow-up questions  to that. Uh number one, Mr. Austin,   uh would you be in favor of changing the  language to say up to instead of equal to? First of all, There's no open to that negotiating terms. Austin, um I think that this council um just wants  to make sure that the contracts read in favor of   the citizens of Witchah. And so I know that it's  in semantics and it's very uh minute. However,   it is very critical for our citizens to know that  they are being protected by this council. So,   if it is changes of words um that will make it so  that citizens of Witchaw feel more secure about   this investment um I am in favor of delaying.  The other question is um the question about   making sure that we are not buying an item that is  not even going to be constructed given that July   31st is the deadline and I am confident that you  will bring us an actual uh vertical construction   starting July before July 31. However, I  think this council feels more comfortable   if it is again codified in the language of  the contract that if it doesn't commence,   then this is null and void. So, it's maybe a  question for legal, how would we codify that? Um,   I know with the intention that they are going  to go vertical by July 31, but if they don't,   I want to make sure that the taxpayers are not uh  holding uh, you know, a a lease that doesn't even   um, come true. Mayor, and Troy can jump in if if  he feels differently. I believe this would require   an amendment to the development agreement. Do you  disagree? Uh, no. I don't necessarily disagree.   I would agree that if we're going to go back and  amend the terms and conditions of the development   agreement, um that's probably a different  conversation, right? Uh because we to your point,   we have a development agreement. This spells  out the fact that the city's willing to buy this   parking garage upon substantial completion for the  cost of $32,000 a stall. Um, and again, we know   that that as you heard from, and I can testify  in just in other conversations I've had in other   parking garage acquisition conversations, I can  guarantee you that the cost of building a parking   garage exceeds $32,000 a stall. I mean, that's  almost just a fact nowadays. between acquisition,   hard cost, soft cost, developer fees. I have no  doubt in my mind that this garage will far exceed   $32,000 a stall. In fact, the city is going to  be um to to your point, the fact that the city is   uh has negotiated acquisition of this garage for  less than the actual costs is actually in the   favor of the taxpayers and the citizens because  we're only having to acquire the garage for less   than the actual costs to build. Um but that's been  part of the negotiations all along. You're right.   If we want to go back and kind of renegotiate  terms and conditions of the development agreement,   that that's something that we would have to  bring back as part of renegotiating the terms   and conditions of the development agreement. These  two documents that you all are approving today are   in alignment with the terms and conditions  of the development agreement was previously   approved by city council. I I do concur. I mean,  it has like Troy said, we have already committed   to to making these agreements as part of the  development agreement. They could have been   exhibits at the time. They weren't. Um, but they  are the city's agreed to to do this already in   in the development agreement. Um, it does not  address when the purchase sale agreement must   be signed. Um, but it is to be entered into um  upon substantial completion of the apartments in   the garage. Council uh Vice Mayor Glasco, I'm  reviewing the language and both the documents   we have right now and given that the development  agreement isn't before us in this agenda packet,   but there is nothing that I have found in  this packet that says that they are contingent   on vertical construction by July of 2026 and  substantial completion. That's correct. I mean,   nothing in this in these documents would say  that. So I when looking at one of the items in   resolution number one today, it specifically says  that the governing body may make such alterations,   changes or additions um as to be approved  and for by the city manager and the city   attorney. And so why couldn't we make any  suggestions to the purchase and sale agreement   um that's listed especially regarding language  on item 1B again changing equal up to I mean if   this is just formality and we can't change any  language that's in this document of the purchase   purchasing and sale agreement but the purchasing  and sale agreement would be different than the   development agreement correct I just need to  look at that okay I just would need to read them   together. I think that's a it sounds like a prop  pragmatic idea. Sorry for jumping in. I do think the development council from the short exhibits J and K were not part  of the development necessarily. I'm gonna pull up the development. does have  that clarify that I think there's still a   lot of questions so I'd be open to moving  to public comment and then I'm ready with   a motion. Actually, I have one more question  for Austin. The idea is that we want vertical   construction to begin before July 31, 2026. I  think that's what we even though this council   was not around back in 2019 when this original  idea came about we want to make sure that this   idea comes to fruition and part of that coming to  fruition is apartments hotel I know it was office   in the past but that did not happen so we don't  want an empty piece of land we want something to   be developed so Austin my my question really  to you is by July 31, 2026, not just a verbal   agreement. We already have talked about this in  in the amendment back last year. Will we actually   see a hotel and an apartment complex with a  public garage? Yes, we're on track for that because our brand has no children. Will delay of a week, Austin.  Will delay of a week also delay   a deadline of July 2026 while we  work on getting these answers. You suggest a day for delay relative to  while we work on getting answers from   legal will delay of one week jeopardize  the project further. Is that what you're   arguing? I'm just being candid that this  is a tight timeline and any delay will   challenges. I'm not saying it's not. I just  want to be clear that it's critical to get   these first position that's acceptable  to the city. So, we understand that the deal completed as quickly as possible. if I might.  Um, I pulled up the development agreement,   right? And so I'm just going to read right from  the development agreement. So this is section   4.02 of the development agreement and it reads  upon substantial completion of the multif family   residential apartment and parking garage.  I'm going to pause there for just a minute.   If substantial completion never occurs,  then there's nothing to actually purchase.   So substantial completion, that's the condition  that upon substantial completion of the multif   family residential apartments and parking  garage, the city shall purchase the parking   garage from developer in the amount of $32,000 per  parking stall, which shall include all hard costs,   architectural costs, engineering costs, costs  of inspections, government permitting fees,   consulting fees, punch list costs, legal  costs, real estate taxes, insurance costs,   costs, construction loan interest and financing  fees and development and construction management   fees and any other costs incurred to develop  and construct the parking garage. That's why   we say the 32,000 inclusive of those things  such as acquisition, hard cost, soft cost,   carrying costs located within the parking garage  pursuant to the parking garage purchase and sale   agreement in substantially the form of exhibit  J. Provided, however, that any amount expended   by the developer in development and construction  of the parking garage, which exceeds the amount of   $32,000 per parking stall located within the  parking garage, shall be reimbursible to the   developer through tax increment funds pursuant to  the terms of article six herein. The city shall   finance the purchase of the parking garage via  lease purchase, revenue, or redevelopment bonds   at the city's sole discretion. The parties  acknowledge that the city is self-insured   for purposes of any insurance obligations  related to the ownership of the parking garage. So in summary then upon substantial  completion will the city buy this? If   there is no substantial completion the city  will not buy this even if we were to approve   today's parking garage uh purchase. Is  that accurate? Yes, that is accurate. Council member Ballard. Thank you, Mayor  Troy. Quick question, and I'm really   sorry if you already addressed this. In the  green sheet, it says the 260 parking spaces,   and the below then the paragraph below it says  300 parking spaces. So, it's 60 space difference,   which would be about $1.2 million. So, which one  is it? So the language that you see in the first   paragraph is what was part of the original  agreement. I mean we're talking the original   agreement way back when, right? And then as that  project has evolved, right, the baseline is that   the the development partner must construct at a  minimum that size of a multif family residential   project, that size of a hotel. As as you've  heard, the actual project has gotten larger,   which is great for everybody involved, right? And  subsequently, yes, the parking garage got larger   and that has been taken into consideration  in our performance around the parking fund,   but that $32,000 per stall has always maintained  consistency as we've navigated through this. So,   the actual project size is a 300, give or  take 300. I'll I'll let Austin uh respond,   but right now the project size is a 300  space garage, not the minimum 260 space   parking garage that was originally required.  Okay, Austin, is that accurate? 300 spaces. Thank you, Council Member Ho Heisel. Thank  you, Mayor. Uh, what's substantial   completion in this scenario look like? a  temporary certificate of occupancy. Even   though you don't generally get a temporary  certificate of occupancy in a parking garage,   you get a certificate of completion.  So upon substantial completion,   i.e. you're passing a final inspection that  upon final inspection and that passes final   uh inspection that we would begin to start  coordinating closing. Is that tied to substantial   completion of the hotel and apartments as  well? No, that's just substantial com Well, It's all, especially on this side of the street,  it's all part of the same building, right? Um,   in essence, the city is buying, call it a  condominium unit, right? The the the multif   family residential, the retail, and all of these  amenities that it's part of one building. So, uh,   I'd be remiss to think that they would build just  the garage and not the entire development. Um,   but I I'll let Austin speak to kind  of the integration of the parking   garage into the overall concept of  the the project. Appreciate that. questions. Thank you, Vice Mayor Glasco. Thank you. Again,  I'm not saying that that isn't going to happen,   but it could happen that they just build the  parking garage and then the city have to acquire   it given this language. Is that correct? I would  argue that no because the project deliverables   that are in the development agreement include  not just the parking garage but include multif.   I agree. It is also upon substantial completion of  the apartments and the garage. Thank you. I need   I needed that confirmation. Thank you. Council  members, any further questions? Um Austin, thank   you for answering some questions. However, I have  one more for you. Um, if I I feel like again our   community wants to make sure that number one, this  project actually comes to fruition given that this   promise was many years ago. Um, but not more but  more importantly that there is actual progress.   And so I've been getting multiple questions about  what is happening uh by the baseball stadium. And   I think that um a quarterly update or every other  month update would be appropriate. Would would you   be able to provide an EPC update so that then  the council knows and can share with community   what are the next milestones? I know that the big  milestone is not until July 31st of this year,   but there's a lot of time between uh then.  Would you be able to provide maybe a an every   other month update that then could be shared  with the entire public um about this project? So months. Thank you. I think our community would appreciate  um that communication. Um, and again, your EPC's   project is supposed to commence by July 31 when  it comes to vertical construction and is supposed   to be completed or reach substantial completion  by July 31st of 2028. Thank you very much for   uh answering those questions. We will  now open it up for public comment. Good morning, Mayor Woo, city council members.  Thank you, city council member Mr. Johnston. I   appreciate you pulled this from the consent agenda  because it needs discussion. So, I thank you that   we can now discuss this. I will say right from  the get-go, I am disappointed in the staff report,   particularly from Troy Anderson. I didn't  hear any dates for development agreements,   amendments to various development agreements.  There were a lot of questions from you all that   indicated I don't know how this got on the consent  agenda in the first place. This should have been   public discussion, staff discussion, and I'm  still at a loss. Don't even know what the plans   look like. Have no conception of the apartments  of the parking garage of there was going to be a   pool at one time on the top. So, this is like an  an a perfect example of why the proposed sales   tax referendum failed 82 to 18% because this is  frankly a mess. So, here's a direct quote from a   city council member when this contract between  the city of Witchaw and Witchaw Riverfront LP,   the original developer was signed. First, he  said, "We're going to maximize our return.   We're going to get the best bang for the taxpayer  dollar with clawbacks and contingencies. We are   lowering our risks. And yet today, we're being  held hostage to whatever the developer demands   in order to see construction start. And we have  amended this numerous times in the past. This   city council member went on to say, "We're  building something sustainable with mixeduse   development with our risk being mit mitigated  because of that additional development."   And yet today we're being held hostage to get that  additional development going forward. This council   member went on to say project projections were  going to be open and transparent with sharing as   much of our analysis as possible so that financing  is clear. Former city manager Leighton agreed that   financial analysis on future development would  be updated and it would be shared and easy to   find. It is not easy to find. I searched on the  transparency portal for CI and star bond debt on   the ball stadium which we're currently paying on  and I couldn't find anything. Didn't find this.   Didn't find the CD debt that we're paying on. And  I saw this outdated Gant chart that doesn't even   show all the various hands that this development  agreement has changed with. Starting with Witchaw   Riverfront, then it became EPC. Then EPC split it  out and it became WBD-H for the hotel and WBD for   the rest of the development. So this is completely  outdated and no helpful guide to taxpayers at all.   Let's see. City council promised all revenue on  this development around the Ball Stadium would pay   off debt first. And yet what are we doing? We're  giving money to the developers. So we broke our   promise. And there's a city council member who's  currently serving on this council that was here   from the get-go and made that promise and that was  the first promise broken when we created a tiff to   pay now EPC back as a pay as you go tiff instead  of towards the debt. The ball stadium development   agreement was first discussed six years ago. There  were blank exhibits for this agreement and there   are still blank exhibits as we heard today on  this agreement six years later. That just stuns   me. I made a statement. This was the first time  I started speaking in front of you January 7th,   2020. And I told former mayor Longwell, "Parking  is going to be a big problem." And he said to me,   and I quote, "We have a parking plan." and he  reassured me six years ago parking would not   be a problem. And it's interesting because in  the initial discussions about this ball stadium   development, the parking garage wasn't even part  of this discussion. The retail space was, in fact,   I'm going to quote from one of these documents  that says, "Future development assumes that   the following will be added through 2028.  a hotel, 15 restaurants, bars and clubs,   and 20 small retail stores. And it said nothing.  This was in 2019 about a parking garage. In fact,   this is a a a document from the March 19th,  2019 meeting where again it talked about this   multi-entertainment center, uh multisports stadium  development. They called it an entertainment   venue. Again, no mention of a parking garage that  came later. I'm not sure when it came later, but   um this should have been part of the presentation,  this mutation of these developers. And I I heard   limited discussion from Troy Anderson, who I  believe his last day is Friday, so you better   move quick to try to figure this out or delay  it. That was a great suggestion. Delay this a   week. There's just too many holes in everything.  Um let's see. I'm out of time. I had more to say   about this. Here's my questions real briefly.  Where why is property tax revenue not part of   this cost model? Because we're going to lose that  when we buy the garage. Why is depreciation not   part of this cost model? Where are the financial  statements for the parking fund which is a backs   stop for this? I didn't see anything regarding the  parking fund. Where's the debt service agreement   for the 10 million bond debt? Why is there no  minimum lease all requirement? Again, Celeste,   can you send me a list of the questions that  you have? Sure. I apologize for going over time,   but thank you for pulling this for discussion.  Thank you for your good comments. I heard some   good comments. You've absolutely got to nail this  down, including what does substantial completion   mean and get it in the contract finally detail.  Thank you. Thank you, Council Member Shepard.   Thank you, Mayor. I I want to hit the pause button  just for a second. First of all, thank you to the   previous speaker who came and spoke and reached  out to the council members uh in advance to have   this item pulled. I think healthy discussion is  always important and I also just want to take a   moment to lower the temperature in the room to get  to a place of learning and engagement and purpose.   Um I think many times when we are talking about  um moments in in our history or our time that have   happened that have caused some distrust can tend  to get spirited and and I think there were just a   few comments that I always want to be mindful  especially as someone fairly new up here that   uh we we take a step back. And so a couple things.  Um I know that perhaps maybe from the public   perception that um it it's easy to look at some  of the council members up here and and maybe blame   us for some of the decisions that we've made and  conversely perhaps look at our staff who I believe   you will not find a harder working staff anywhere  else. I don't always agree even in my three months   here. Um, but they're dedicated and uh there's  shared accountability to this. Uh, it was it's   not just the staff that have the opportunity  to peel back the layers of the the onion,   but as you all know, every Friday we have agenda  review. And it is on all of us to take the time to   review our packets and to ask those questions in  advance so that way we're not doing this what we   see today. And sometimes it's healthy for us to  do this today. So shared accountability. Um and   that includes me. It's not just on our assistant  city manager. Please hold me accountable too.   I could have could have raised this question in  advance. Uh there there were some comments about   folks who were on the council uh long before  my time. And I've said before and I'll say it   again. I'm not responsible for what happened then,  but I'm responsible for how we move forward now.   And I believe that all of my colleagues here  again don't always agree with them, but I truly   do believe we are doing the best that we can in  the moment that we have and where we fall short   because we do fall short. We do fall short that  it is up to us to use that as a learning moment   and how to move forward better. You've held  us accountable today. Many speakers have and   it is on us to receive that information and do  better moving forward. I just want you to know   I hear you, but I also want to take a moment to uh  just provide some perspective from the other side   uh that's not always considered. So, thank  you for being here. I appreciate our staff   and I also want shared accountability that  this is not just on them, this is on us, too. We'll continue with public comment. Good morning,  Mayor, City Council. Want to backtrack to Joseph's   comments. To my knowledge, there are only three  people in this room who've been involved in this   discussion since the beginning. Doesn't mean  that all of you weren't in our community, of our   community, and seen this from a distance, but you  weren't involved in the discussions. And again,   Joseph, that is not on you. Those decisions are  not on you at all. I know that Jennifer was with   us at the time. I know that Paul Gunsman's been  a very valuable part of this. And at that time,   2018, actually 2017, I sat on the community Vince  Hancock Delena District. You guys knew that uh we   were working on a 20-year revitalization  of the Deleno neighborhood plan. We had   that sucker knocked out. Everybody had wonderful  visions for the future. And then in late 2018,   Troy's predecessor came up to us and said,  "Wait, wait, wait. Time out. We'd like to come   up with a ballpark addendum to the pretty much  wrapped up, tie a bow on it, neighborhood plan."   And so we humored him and we listened to him and  he said this was the first time anybody had really   heard about the stadium being moved a whopping  200 yards to the west. And we looked at it and   we said this makes sense. To Celeste point, there  was a mayor at the time and a city council member   that said, "Oh, there's no need to add parking  to this. Everybody's just going to walk and take   bicycles to it." And the rest of us said, "Do you  realize how many community events, considering   that I saw most of you at the St. Patrick's Day  parade, that St. Patrick's Day parade used to   start its staging in the parking lot of the old  Lawrence Dumont stadium. It can't do that now   because the parking lot was essentially sacrificed  down to 1/5if of its space to make room for other   things. Uh so I'm glad that we're giving ourselves  a little bit of flexibility in saying we are going   to need some parking for this. Otherwise there's  not going to be a way to get people in there to   enjoy these amenities. I do want to reiterate for  your benefit. We had an issue years ago called   the Minnesota boys. Our community learned that  words are great, contracts are better. So I am   completely supportive of all of you saying trust  but verify. I want to make sure that everything   necessary is in writing because how do you tell  dishonest developers from honest developers? You   don't until you look at your bank account at the  end of the deal. So, we have to make sure that the   paperwork is in place so that we're protected,  that our tax dollars are protected every single   time. That said, uh we have had a previous project  which I was also involved with with EPC. They have   gone above and beyond every single time I've  seen business with them. that was their first   project in this town because they knew uh they  live just down the road from us in Kansas City   and they wanted to be more part of our community  and we've seen that so far. So I still believe   they should be held to trust but verify but so  far I've been very impressed and appreciate them   so much. I do think we've got opportunities  down the road to get some more documentation   going on this parking garage. We've been talking  about public parking for some time now. What are   our expected annual maintenance costs? over five  years, over 10 years. It's called TCO, total cost   of ownership. Let's do that math. Depreciation.  In 30 years, our arena is going to be a pile of   dust. Nobody at county has ever planned for  depreciation on that arena. And lastly, and   this is part of our parking discussion, revenue.  We know how much it costs the city per space,   but over the lifespan of this parking garage. Will  that revenue close to offset? Maybe not offset.   Maybe it's the amenities. Maybe it's the tourism  aspect of it that's helping us cost justify this.   But I think those are numbers that we should look  at. And I'll stand for any com questions. Thank   you for your time. Thank you. We'll continue with  public comment. I see none. We'll bring it back   to the bench. Um before we go into council member  comments, I have one more question for Austin. Um   if this was to be delayed by a week, which would  be next Tuesday, um so that staff can give us all   the answers we've been asking for a corrected  green sheet that has accurate dates. Um, please   explain how this would affect um your any of  the current deadlines you have with the project. projects. I think this is So today That's Thank you, Austin. And um as you can see, it's  more internal uh discussions that we need answers   to versus really with you and EPC. Um, and so  because we need to clean house and have the   correct information out to the community,  um, I'm going to ask the city manager to,   uh, direct staff to provide a website, uh, a a  page that provides the EPC timeline and all the   documents that we've been talking about because I  feel like we keep saying it was years ago. Well,   what's years ago? Years ago could be 30 years. it  could be three years ago. Um if there's a timeline   um that it's easy for community to go and  check these documents, it will help with the   conversation. Um, but I do believe that I'm  feeling a sense that this council would like   to at least delay it for next week on Tuesday and  bring this back up with all the answers um to our   questions plus a green sheet that's reflective of  all of the historical data that we need. Um, city   manager, would that be possible within the next  few days to have a website uh link with all of   the timeline history um and and then we are able  to have the true discussion just pertaining to the   purchase of a parking garage. That is if um EPC  uh is there at their substantial completion. So,   the city is not on the hook on this parking garage  until it actually is uh substantially completed.   So, we're not paying 9.6 million to a unknown  garage, but rather when it is actually fully   completed. U mayor, to answer your question, yes,  we can have information on the website. Again,   we'll work with you and council. I want to make  sure as we look forward that we're not confusing   the issue from other developments that were  associated with this. So I just make sure you're   right. We have the pertinent information so people  can understand what you all are looking at right   now. So yeah, we can do that on the web web page.  Um I'll talk with our um communications folks, but   we can see about having that done by the end of  the week. Um, but I want to be clear that council,   what questions remain in terms of if you're  talking about timeline, the July 31st, 26 or 28,   um, those that is in the development agreement.  So, that's in there. If there is something else   that you're looking for in a document, I want to  make sure we're separating out the development   agreement that has some of the information where  you just talked about how we document 32,000 per   stall that is in the development agreement that's  already been reviewed. If there's some changes   you want to the resolution today or the documents  today, let's make sure that we are clear on that.   But I think the answers you're looking for are  existing in the development agreement that Troy   read to you. You've heard what was said, but I  think it was also documented to verify is in the   development agreement. So I want to be clear  if you're looking for other information to   finalize this decision. I want to be clear what  that is and I think we have it already in the   development agreement. what we're talking about  today, as we said, are these two exhibits. So,   there's any amendments that you want to the  resolution today or the amendments today,   I would suggest that we can do those and we'll  defer to legal here. We're having a question. If   you wanted to make amendments to the packet in  front of you, I think that would be helpful. I   have a couple of uh detailed questions. So October  21st, 2025 was was when this council approved the   first amendment to the development agreement  extending the vertical construction milestone   to July of 2026. That specific verbiage, this  council was very cognizant. We wanted to see sub   uh vertical construction as soon as possible,  but more importantly, an actual date. So that   was codified. And again, I want to make sure that  um that agreement because that was not attached to   what was given to us is easily available for not  just the council to see but for the community to   see this agreement. And I think Austin asked  a question in that amendment there were some   exhibits and those exhibits were uh regarding the  parking. So they were J and K. And according to   his copy of his development agreement, there  were exhibits there. But according to what   city assistant city manager says, J and K were not  there. So I'd like clarity. Was there or was there   not an exhibit J and K? Because it seems like the  developer has some, but we don't. So they need to   be matching and it should be public knowledge.  And so that's why I think that it's important   back to the communication of this project. It  has received a lot of scrutiny because people are   confused about the various different agreements.  And I understand this is a portion of the bigger   agreement, one that was already passed unanimously  last year, but these agreements again need to be   communicated well to the community. Um, and so  I would like to see that in addition on that   website because I actually emailed asking about  the finances to this project and I think they   have been uh public knowledge in conversations  amongst the council uh meetings but I got an   email. I would rather I would like to see this  information also available to the community which   is the geo bond funding, the star bond funding,  uh the tiff funding, all of that again all in one   space so that people can see transparently what  has been happening because I know that it has been   discussed amongst um the council in public but it  hasn't been all packaged into one location. So,   I would like to see that happen again before  Tuesday. Council member Ballard. Thank you,   Mayor Troy. I have one more question. So,  I've been getting some questions about the   um the years the amount of years in the lease. Can  you explain whether it's 20 years? I know it says   there's an option to extend the month-to-month  renewal. Can you explain that? I'm sorry. I think it's the second paragraph under analysis on the green sheet. Yes. So, first and foremost, um this is monthtomonth  renews automatically as long as all parties are   um in compliance with all the terms and conditions  of the agreement. And so there's a underlying base   sort of month-to-month lease agreement, right? In  addition to that, that next layer is that the base   term for that continuation of that month-to-month  is for 30 years. um unless otherwise terminated   in accordance with the lease agreement with two  10-year extensions unless otherwise terminated.   So starts at the very fundamental step of sort  of monthtomonth as long as all parties are in   compliance with all the terms and conditions  of the agreement and that allows us to that   flexibility too, right? and and increasing the  number of lease spaces if necessary, decreasing   the number of lease spaces if they're not being  utilized. Having that monthto-month continues to   asssure that that we're being responsive to uh  occupancy and demand first and for but then yes,   so long as that continues monthtomonth,  everybody's in compliance. First 30-year term   with two 10ear extensions of about 50 years. Would  the um would that information come back to the   council? I mean, obviously I won't be here, but I  know there's been some auto renewals in the past   that just seem to have kept on getting renewed  and maybe there should have been some questions   asked along the way. So, I'm just curious. Like  I said, I know I won't be here, but I'd like to   make sure that we learn from those mistakes in the  past and just that the council's brought alongside   to make sure that we're checking all the  boxes as well. Yeah, absolutely. And again,   that's why that's why we always start these  conversations or at least now, you know, prior to   me joining the city a couple years ago, first and  foremost, I appreciate the commentary from council   member Shepard, right, about um there were things  that were in existence before we got here, right?   Um, and so there were there were development plans  and terms and conditions that were negotiated long   before any of us were standing here in front of  you. So, we're simply trying to do the best with   what we have available to us and work within the  confines of those terms and conditions that have   been put before us. We I I'd like to believe  we have been incredibly successful over the   last several years um working with both WRLP  working with both EPC to continue to advance   favorable conditions for the city and taxpayers.  Um I think we've achieved that in kind of where   we're going and what we're presenting here  today. So appreciate the ongoing continued   patience. Unfortunately, we couldn't start from a  blank slate, right? But we're working within the   confines of of the boundaries that have been put  in front of us. So I appreciate that commentary.   I agree. We're going to take accountability and  responsible for where we are today though, right?   And so in that in your So I'm going to read from  uh the lease agreement in the documents provided   to you here today that uh the option to extend  that term, right? Provided there is no existing   unccured event of default, the basic term of the  agreement shall automatically renew month-to-month   for two 10-year terms commencing on the first day  following the expiration of the basic term and any   successive extension term. So, no, any extension  won't necessarily come back to you. But remember,   we have baked into these agreements. We're going  to come back to these are first and foremost   monthtomonth. And as long as both parties continue  to be compliance with all of the terms and   conditions of the agreement, then we're achieving  all the goals and objectives of this public   private partnership. Right? And so if at any point  in time during that term or any extension thereof,   if there is an event of default, we can begin  to start to respond to are you able to cure   that default or do we need to start advancing  towards termination of the agreement? and then   we're having a wildly different conversation.  But as long as all parties are compliant and   consistent with the terms and conditions of the  agreement, then this just continues on. And that   gives everybody involved some asurances, right?  That gives residents who are in the apartment   complexes asurances that they'll continue to  be uh that there will be parking options made   available to them. There are underwriters,  there are investors who will continue to   be made assured that their investments are um are  being respected and the parties that are involved   are agreeing to their mutually agreeable terms  and conditions. So this will continue sort of   automatically unless and until there's an event of  default and then we tangent and we have a wildly   different conversation. Thank you, Council Member  Shepard. Thank you, mayor. I move to close debate. Would you like a motion? I would like to motion to   delay the approval of the lease  agreement until April 17, 2026. 14. 14th. See, it even happens to us with  the dates getting mixed up. Human error.   Second. Motion. Second. Discussion. Council member  Tuttle. Thank you. And Troy, I want to thank you   for answering all of our questions. I know you've  got some work to do before the end of the week. I   do want to recommend to that we take a look. I I  was trying to do some quick quick stuff here. Um   and and this will give us a chance to look even  more, but I do believe the October 16th date is   correct. Um that's the date that we went into the  agreement with the development agreement. And on   October 17th, which is a Tuesday, is the day that  we made it. we made the motion for the public   hearing. So if maybe you know we can we can double  check that. I know there are some some questions   that the green sheet isn't accurate which then  um kind of erodess the trust and the work that's   been done on this initiative and I don't believe  that's the case. But I could certainly be wrong   because I'm trying to do it while I'm here  and trying to listen. But if that's something   we could just verify for next week as well that  would be great. Thank you and for clarity. Thank   you council member Tuttle. Um, anything that is  actually agreed upon must be voted on. Is that   accurate first or agreed upon then just becomes  the date? You want to talk? There's a history that   Troy can explain on that one. I can confirm this.  Trust but verify that October 16th date is the   date that the agreement was signed. So based on  the language in the agreement, the effective date   is when both parties signed the agreement. That's  the effective date of the development agreement.   You're right. The other everything in the green  sheet is true that there's nothing sort of   errant in the green sheet. The information in the  green sheet is true and accurate. Council approved   it on a certain date, but the effective date  of the agreement is when both parties actually   signed the agreement. that's when the effective  date um versus council approved the date once   both parties signed the contract that's when  the effective date of the contract again I'll   go back and that is that is correct I believe it  was voted on prior to that and maybe as early as   23 it wasn't until October 16th when both parties  ultimately it was not executed signed a couple of   days thereafter and then it was remitted to  uh to the other parties they had it in their   position and then they ultimely signed it. So,  the information in the green sheet is true and   accurate and maybe not necessarily reflective  of the council date that council approved it,   but that's when the actual effective date, that's  when we entered into that agreement because that's   the effective date of the agreement. Thank you.  And again, that's the reason why even more so why   that website is so critical, a timeline of how all  of this has um come to fruition is transparency.   And while we talk about things amongst a council  meeting, unless it's codified in like a timeline,   people don't know where to find those documents.  And so if it was approved by the council,   because it must be approved by the council before  it can be signed. um I can't sign things unless   this council votes at least four. Um so that date  should have been on this green sheet because again   it does provide clarity uh on this process that  we don't just sign things without the approval   and without public comment. And so I think it's  uh disingenuous to provide a date that doesn't   include the date that this c this council whoever  was sitting in these seats at that time voted on.   So I really would like again that timeline.  I think it would be helpful for community to   understand how we got to this point in time  because as I was looking and again thank you   very much assistant city manager Troy. You were  not here when this initial idea came about. You   came to the city of Witchaw in August of 2022.  This was before you and so and this was before   a lot of us and so we are trying to do what's best  moving forward given that decisions from the past   we still have consequences to and so we have to  move forward and so that's why I appreciate this   delay and again Austin it is not um you were  not the initial 2018 2019 individuals that   uh came before the city uh staff so I'm not I  want us to move forward, but it needs to be open,   transparent, and clear. And so I appreciate a a  weak delay. Thank you very much, Council Member   Shepard. Council Member Ho Heisel. Thank you,  Mayor. Just a quick remark. Um I do appreciate   all your work, Troy. Um we do have to learn  from um some of the mistakes of the past and   this process can sometimes be a little choppy. Um  so I think this is kind of what we're seeing here.   So I I do appreciate your work and all my fellow  council members work to try and again improve   the process and that way we are responsive to the  expectations of the voters moving forward. So I do   appreciate that. With that we have a motion and a  second to delay this item until next week Tuesday.   No Mayor, may I ask is there some information that  you want us to bring back to you next Tuesday?   Just being clear. I made a few uh questions during  my remarks. So if I need to reiterate those,   let me know. But yeah, because if we need to  codify something in the for again I one of the   big concerns I have is item 1B where it says up  to verse equal and again I imagine that cost will   probably exceed 42,000 but I would or the 32,000  but I would not feel comfortable. Let's say the   cost comes at 315, then we're paying more than the  cost of construction is on that. And so for me,   that's a concern that may not this could still  more move forward. It might just be a concern of   mine. Um and then um specifying in the green  sheet the language about contingent on the   uh substantial completion verse the uh just  vertical completion and making sure that's   included in here as well as part of the  development agree. maybe uh link out to   where that that is in the original agreement  um because these are amendments to the original   agreement. So let's make sure we have the original  agreement as part of the present agenda packet for   the public to be able to verify. So those are  the things that I mentioned during my remarks and my additional comment is the website  must be up before Tuesday so that again   the community can see this timeline as  well as this council and easily accessible   to these documents that we're referring to  um from 2018 to 2026. Thank you. With that   um I see no further discussion.  Madame clerk, please open the role. Motion to delay passes 70. Madame clerk,   please call the next item. Board of  bids and contracts dated April 6, 2026. Morning, mayor, city council. Josh Slober,  Department of Finance. Uh the board of bids   and contracts convened yesterday, April 6th,  2026 for the following items. For engineering,   we have the Witchah Valley Center flood  control project pump station number 211 and   Old Lawrence Road flapgate repairs for Wildcat  Construction Company Incorporated for $66,500.   We have the Midtown Lighting install street  lights on Maine and Fairview between 9inth Street   and 11th Street for Philips Southern Electric  Company Incorporated for amount of $277,700. For purchasing, we have the main and  gutter brooms for Street Sweepers for   Barry Tractor and Equipment Company for  an estimated annual usage of $70,270. We   have pool chemicals for the firms listed United  Industries Inc., Chemite, Mid America Chemical,   and Water Wise Enterprises. For the groups  listed, we have Highpressure Sewer Cleaner   Truck for Elliot Equipment Company  for an aggregate bid total of $42,992. We have 13,000 gross vehicle weight restriction  cabin and chassis truck for group one,   Don Hatton Chevrolet Incorporated for $237,500. And we have Nap Chevrolet Incorporated  for group two in the amount of $93,566.   And Nap Chevrolet Incorporated for  group three in the amount of $88,611. U group one is for4 total at $59,375,000 each.   We have the consultant for Lincoln Street  Dam study for WSPUSA Incorporated for an   amount of $150,000. We have the transmission  replacement for Caterpillar 826H landfill   compactor for fully equipment company  incorporated in the amount of $81,98140. We have the roll call annual lure  support maintenance renewal for   vers public safety US incorporated for 58,942. We have the newspapers.com subscription renewal   for ProQuest LP for three-year  aggregate total of $72,74724. And we have the drug testing services  contract change order for Geo Re-entry   Services LLC. Staff are requesting the  addition of an eight panel drug test,   cratom test, and delta 8 test. This is how to  become a vendor with the city of Witchita. This   is our purchasing calendar of small business  resource partner events the city's hosting or   participating in. And this is our open public  opportunities out on the street today. And I'd   be happy to try to answer your questions  and recommend your approval. Thank you,   Josh. Questions for staff beginning with  council member Johnston. Thank you, Mayor   Josh. Thank you. We've had discussion before.  Can you go back to slide number 10? Yes, sir. Where is Nap Chevrolet located? Houston,  Texas. Houston, Texas. How far I'd like to   have a conversation among the council of local  versus Houston, Texas. Um, how far off was the   bid from probably Don Hatton and Rusty from  those other from that 93,000 and 88,000? Thank   you for the question, Council Member Johnston.  Um, specifically, uh, Rusty Ford Incorporated   did not bid on groups two and three. Um, groups  two and three, Don Hatton had a bid of $106,717 and $100,394, respectively. So, approximately  $25,000 more. Okay. I I hear that they all pay   the same cost. So, are they able to bid that  much lower? I guess I guess you probably won't   know that, but you just get the bids. I'll  tell you what I know and then we'll we'll   work on the rest. I think um the challenge  for this specifically is we don't know what   we don't know. So we rely on the process to give  us the final price. The second part of it is is   that within this industry specifically high volume  retailers from my experience can engage additional   manufacturer discounts that others can't. That's  why you may see Kansas City and Missouri as a   logistics hub for vehicle sales versus smaller  communities because they're having higher volume   of output in sales. Um, I can't speak to this firm  specifically, but um, that was what led us to the   low bid for them. Okay. Are they responsible for  getting it to Witchaw, Kansas, and delivering it?   Yes, sir. Good question. Freight on board Witchah,  Kansas is our shipping stipulations. Okay. I would   still like to have that conversation  among council at some point in time.   Um, I know other cities have a 50 mile radius or  thereabout, maybe 100. I don't know what that is,   but I' I'd like to have a conversation because I w  I would like to keep it uh more local. I do think   we have enough competition here. So, maybe that's  a discussion for another day, but thank you,   Vice Mayor Glascott. Thank you. I actually sent  you an email about that this week. So, I echo   uh Councilman Johnston's comments and again,  not necessarily supportive of a complete by   local ordinance, but let's have a conversation.  I think it'd be a great workshop conversation   of how do we weigh local companies versus out of  state companies, especially keeping the money in   our community. So, I'd be very interested in that  discussion. Can you also move forward? I it like   we or quickly moved through it has to do with uh  Delta 8 testing as well. change contract change   order. Okay. Have we continually or always tested  for Delta 8 verse that that just seemed new to me   um on conversation. So I want to know what the  city's policy is regarding that. I'm going to   work in tandem with our court administrator. Yeah.  Uh Nathan, I'm recruit administrator. Uh so what   this is uh really about is uh we're we contracted  with GIO to have a specific panel. We're seeing uh   different drugs come into our community and need  different tests to cover those drugs. A a big one   uh you know obviously delta 8 is something that's  growing. A big one that also wasn't included in   our previous uh panel was fentinyl and so that's  getting ordered by our judges to our cost. And   so this contract actually lowers our cost for  those drug tests that the judges want to see.   So, we've kind of been watching what the judges  are ordering uh specifically. So, we've got our   standard test and then the judge will say, "I want  you drug tested and I specifically want this drug   tested." Well, if it's not in the panel, we then  pay more to have that one drug tested. We've seen   it consist consistently happening. So, we've kind  of arrived at an agreement where we capture those   drugs that are now getting frequently tested. It  increases the cost moderately but reduces the cost   uh it increases the cost of our standard panel  while reducing our overall cost because we're   seeing so many of the kind of one-off drugs  getting getting out. Great explanation. I   have two questions maybe one for you and then one  for someone else. I don't know. Um question for   you. What is the state's policy regarding delta 8  currently? State law. I can't speak to the actual   state law. So, um I don't know if there's no.  Okay. That that doesn't have to be answered for   this question, but I'd be interested uh to make  sure that we're in line with that. And then second   off, this isn't internal to our employees. This  is court cost. So, this is regarding court drug   testing. That's just not listed on here when  we're talking about drug testing services. My   assumption was for employees. So this is separate  than from employees verse people that are in our   court system or defendants and cases. Correct?  Yeah, this is court specific. This is ordered by   a judge. Uh it is not related to internal employee  testing. Okay. Thank you. Uh Vice Mayor Glascock,   thank you for the question clarification. We have  multiple contracts with differing commodities and   services and specifically the employee services  is employee physical and testing services. So   this would just like core mist. And when does  that come before us? I mean it might change,   but sorry that's putting you way on the spot. No,  no, no. I I vaguely remember with our B working   with our buyer a couple months ago to establish  a new contract. So we've got at least a year   with four one-year options from memory, but I can  confirm that. Okay. Before that comes up, I would   love to have a conversation um with somebody  on uh staff about our pol internal policies   regarding it too. Uh we work with our requesting  department human resources um who's kind of our   subject matter expert gatekeeper and then all the  requesting departments pay for us. So we'll we   can be happy to coordinate that. Council member  Shepard. Thank you, Mayor. And I don't Nathan,   I hate to um and I'm not a judge or an attorney  here, so I'm going to lean on the experts,   but I'm I'm curious why or how would we be allowed  to test for a substance that is not banned and or   illegal? I know that Congress is discussing  banning Delta 8 through the farm bill,   but it currently is not banned in the state  of Kansas and there is no local ordinance in   reference to that. So, how are we able to enforce  something that is not on the books? Yeah. So,   that's a great question. A correlary is why would  we test for alcohol? you know, we do test for   alcohol and the judge will say no or will order  that an individual not use, you know, substances.   Those substances may be legal substances. And so  the the reason we've got that kind of on our plate   of options is that's something someone who has  an addiction problem may go to instead of other   things. Well, going to that doesn't really help  their journey to sobriety or to pass the issues   that brought them to court. And so, yes, we do  test for some legal substances, alcohol included,   uh that they're prohibited based on the orders of  the judge from consuming. Perfect. I would love   to learn more outside of this time of then if  that's the case, what steps are we taking for a   restorative justice approach and ensuring that we  are not placing them in jail or putting a strain   on um you know the county jail and or our law  enforcement officers, but we are putting them   in a pathway to get them the help that they need.  So, I appreciate you explaining that. Absolutely.   Thanks, Mayor Glaska. Thank Thank you. And I  think Councilman um Sheepard hit on what I was   trying to hit on is specifically if something's  legal regarding the difference in what we're   testing our employees for verse people involved  in maybe the criminal justice system. I think   is a conversation warranted. So I'd love to maybe  tag team that conversation with Joseph Councilman   Shepard. Council member Hohheisel. Thank you,  Mayor. Uh just to put my two cents in. I also   would like to look at possibly doing mouth swabs  instead of U.A.S. something that's a little more   um recent as far as if what a person would have  in their system. So like if there's an accident   um you could still have pot in your system from  3 or 4 weeks ago whereas something like cocaine   or something like crack is out of your system  in two days. So kind of focusing on the the   more immediate effects that somebody has in  the system. I just think it goes a long way   towards showing again restorative justice  and also making sure we're cracking down   on the things that actually impact the job.  So, just putting the two cents out there. Thank you, Josh. I see no further questions  from this council. This does not get public   comment. So, I move to approve the board of bids  and contracts dated April 6, 2026. Second. Motion   second. Discussion. Seeing none. Madame clerk,  please open the role. Motion passes 70. Madame   clerk, please call the next item. Petitions  for public improvements. Good morning, mayor,   city council members. Paul Gunselman, public  works and utilities for the record this morning.   I have a few petitions for your consideration.  Signatures on the petitions represent 100% of   the improvement districts and the the petitions  are valid per Kansas statute. New petitions.   East Side Community Church, third edition, located  in district two. The project will provide water,   storm water drain, and sanitary sewer improvements  required for a new commercial development. Midland   Baptist Church, third edition, located in district  6. Project will provide water, storm water drain,   sanitary sewer, and paving improvements  required for a new residential development.   Trinity Point second edition located in district  4. The project will provide water and paving   improvements required for a new residential  development. And these will provide paving and   water for the internal streets of the subdivision.  And then we have another revised petition for   Trinity Point second edition. On April 13, 2021,  city council approved paving improvements required   for new residential development. The developer has  submitted a revised petition with a revised budget   to reflect current working conditions. And I  believe this is for the uh paving of 47th Street.   And with that, I would recommend that the city  council approve the new and revised petitions and   budgets, adopt the new and amending resolutions,  and authorize necessary signatures. Thank you,   Paul. Questions for staff? I do have just one.  And um this is all paid for by specials. Is that   accurate? That is correct. Yes. Um and I know that  last week on Tuesday we had a discussion because   uh there's currently a bill in front of the  uh governor regarding um some of our bond uh   financing and a lot of these projects or all of  these projects are paid for through specials.   How would this affect um public improvements if  it gets signed by the governor on a I'll take   that uh on a surface level and we'll see what the  governor's action is in relation to the bill and   we'll give you a full write up about the proposal  as we understand it as it stands. When you factor   in assessed value and bond capacity, the fact  that we are bonding this infrastructure for   these developments, it can quote unquote work  against us in terms of how much money we have   already expended in bond capacity. And so it's a  little bit more complicated certainly and we'll   work with Mark to give you a write up. But yes,  there is um I'll call it a penalty that would   be levied in terms of how we can do our assessed  value and taxation based upon our bond amount. So   since we have high bond amount because we do these  infrastructure projects, that could actually be a   liability for us going forward. and we'll outline  that for you all depend upon what the governor's   um reaction is to the legislation. Thank you,  city manager. Thank you, Paul. With that, again,   this does not get public comment. I move that  we approve the board uh petitions for public   improvements. Second. Motion second. Discussion.  Seeing none, Madame Clerk, please open the role. Motion passes 70. Madame clerk, please call  the first new agenda item or unfinished   business item. Public a sorry, public  hearing and request for Prairie Glenn   MF LLC for approval of a letter of intent to  issue multif family residential revenue bonds. Honorable mayor, members of council, Troy  Anderson, assistant city manager. Uh so you   may recall this was a request by Prairie  Glenn LLC. You'll hear me refer to them   as Prairie Gun throughout uh a request uh  as part of the construction of a 44 uh unit   two-story townhouse uh development. Uh each of  these units including either three bedrooms,   two and a half bath with an attached garage. Um  constructed on unimproved vacant land corner of   Bailey and Greenwitch. Uh the total issuance is  about $7 million in revenue bonds to finance the   project. Uh the project based on our current  economic development guidelines qualifies for   a 50% property tax abatement based on capital  investments between5 and $10 million. Uh the   estimated 50% property tax abatement for the first  full year is about $108,000 a year. Project's   also eligible for sales tax exemption. Uh the  estimated sales tax exemption is about $246,000. Cost benefit analysis was performed. I won't read  through all of those numbers. Those are in your   green sheet. Here's my standard disclaimer.  Revenue bonds are a mechanism for achieving   a sales tax exemption and or property tax  abatement. In a revenue bond transaction,   city is not lending any money. Bears no risk.  The owner developer is required to achieve all   of their own financing and no taxpayer dollars  are at risk. Uh Perry Glenn has agreed to pay all   costs of issuing the bonds and agrees to pay the  annual origination fees. Bonds will be purchased   by Prairie Glenn or a related entity. All the  bond documents required for the actual issuance   uh will be prepared by outside bond council but  ultimately city's law department will review and   approve the final form. It's recommended  city council close the public hearing,   adopt the resolution, authorize the necessary  signatures, and again we have representatives from   the applicant here today to answer any questions  you may have. That concludes staff's report.   Thank you, Troy. We'll begin with Council Member  Hoheisel. Thank you, Mayor. Uh, quick question,   not so much related to the project, just IRBs  in general. Um, what percentage is there a   percentage that is open for affordable housing?  How does that figure in um to any projects that   come before us utilizing IRB? Like, is that  a 10% um possible property tax deduction? I want to see if I understand your qu your  question correctly. What percentage of IRBs   go towards Yeah. If a project comes up and they  have affordable housing, does that help qualify   them for any additional tax um incentives? So, uh,  for whatever it's worth, we we almost inevitably   always, uh, include, uh, these types of bonds  associated with, uh, projects that are awarded   low-inccome housing tax credits, um, because of  the the sales tax exemption and the property tax   abatement. And so, it's almost uniquely sort of  always associated with those projects. um not   entirely, but it it's a significant percentage  of projects that are are awarded those litech   projects that also are coupled with this. There's  a requirement um under those those guidelines and   we have our housing community service director  here that could probably give you uh greater   clarity on that. Um but no, there's nothing in our  current guidelines. Again, remember our current   guidelines don't really address housing, right?  That's that was the direction we were trying to   move in uh amendments to our economic development  guidelines was we know and understand housing and   a housing affordability uh in our community is is  a need and so we were migrating towards including   there's actually nothing in the guidelines right  now that talk about housing affordable or not as   an additional incentive. Um, primarily we're  basing our recommendations on at this point   their capital investment. But if you're wanting to  know about kind of the correlation between sort of   LITC awards and these types of bond issuances, we  have folks here that can answer those questions.   Okay. No, I I just want maybe a discussion for  council. I know we're taking a look at maybe   doing some different things as far as some of  these incentives go and I definitely think that   should be central to some of the discussions that  we have. just again giving options as far as any   um projects that do have affordable housing  attached to it, whether it's 10% or or whatnot.   Just um just for the council discussion  later. So, I appreciate it. Thank you,   Council Member Shepard. Thank you, Mayor. I will  just echo those sentiments and reinforce we had a   district advisory board last night. Housing gave a  phenomenal presentation. And that was also one of   the questions that came up from the board is what  are we doing in regards to incentives and how are   we tying it back to meeting significant needs and  gaps in our community. And so I do hope that we   can have that conversation at a workshop. I know  that we spoke about it at a city council retreat.   So I'd like to see that um up for workshop. Thank  you. I have a couple questions uh regarding this   project. Uh first and foremost, uh can I ask what  are the current property taxes for this area? I'll defer. Good morning. I can answer that question for you.  I'm Bo Hudson, one of the developers. The current   tax for this parcel where this project would  actually be built is $6. the full taxes. We   were asking for 50 50% um over 10 years. So we'll  pay 33,000 a year up until year 10 and then it'll   go these are projected to $66,000 a year but  today $6. Thank you. And that is because it's   agricultural land. Is that accurate? Correct.  So, um, we had the opportunity, I think many of   the council members had the opportunity to meet,  uh, with you and, uh, your partner, and it looks   like you do these town houses across the city of  Witchah, and this council is very much in favor of   housing of all types. Uh, can you address how um,  you guys look at town houses and where else you've   um, built them? And and this is, uh, what you  consider workforce housing. Is that accurate?   True. Yes. Or missing middle. Um it's a $114  a foot rent. So $1,600 on a,400 square foot   um residence with a twocar garage. But yes, we've  done similar projects. We tweak them as we learn   things and we tweak them to fit the districts they  might be in, but we've done these projects in two   or three other districts aside from this  district um and plan to continue doing so.   Thank you. And then uh just  addressing one more time,   this is to assist with the shortage of housing  that we have uh not just in this city but across   other cities in the nation. Can you address  how you're addressing the missing middle? From what I can tell you, and depending on where  you're looking at statistics, the one thing that   we're kind of focused on is average rent across  the country is at 1,850 bucks a foot based on what   I've looked at. And a starter home mortgage is  often almost twice that. So, we feel like I mean,   there's a reason that these developments fill up.  We feel like the numbers that we're hitting are   that's needed. Um, and that I mean we've built  several of these and they lease up within nine   months. I mean to us the market speaks to what  people want and need. Thank you both. I see no   further questions from this council. We will now  open it up for public comment. I see no one from   the public. We will close public comment and  bring it back to the bench. This resides in   council member Tuttles district. Thank you. Um  I just want to say thank you to staff who have   worked on this. Appreciate it from the economic  development team. Um thank you to Troy and Troy   again. It has been a pleasure to work with and  learn from you. So thank you so much and I wish   you nothing but best in the future. I know you  have a few more agenda items but I might not get   to comment. So I just wanted to make sure that  I said that. Come visit us often. Um thank you   to Bo and thank you to Prairie Glenn. Appreciate  your time. Appreciate you meeting with all of us.   It's really helpful whenever a land owner can do  that just so that we can get more information. Um,   I know there's lots of discussion always  consistently from this bench about affordable   housing, but I say consistently, we need all  types of housing, right? We need every type of   housing that we can get in our community. So,  this is just one more opportunity to expand   upon our housing stock so that we can be more  competitive in the economic development world. So,   thank you for your investment in Witchaw. We we  truly appreciate it. With that, I will move that   the Witchaw City Council close the public hearing,  adopt the resolution, and authorize the necessary   signatures. Second. Motion second. Discussion.  See none. Madame clerk, please open the role. Motion passes 70. Madame clerk, please  call the next item. Police robotic dog. Morning, Mayor, City Council. Jason Kulie,  captain, Witchaw Police Department. A little bit of background uh on this is the  Witchaw Police Department uses a variety of   equipment to protect staff and community during  emergency situations. Uh this does include   uh some of our pre-existing robotics. Uh WPD  relies on specialized equipment including robotic   systems to effectively respond to emergencies at  any time and under all environmental conditions.   These robotic assets must be maintained at a high  level of reliability to ensure the safety of both   the personnel and the community. In a large  and involving metropolitan city like Witchah,   robotic capabilities are essential to  deescalate and mitigate critical incidents.   The absence of this technology diminishes  operational effectiveness and increases the   risk to both the public and the responding  personnel during these high-risisk events.   Uh WPD has experienced the same positive outcome  observed in other jurisdictions. I have integrated   robotics into their emergency response operations.  Robots serve as a valuable tool for deescalation,   significantly increasing the likelihood of  an incident concluding safely and peacefully. Uh based on the our look into uh some more  advanced robotics, uh we did participate   in a manufactural trial uh testing the usage  of different robotics. Uh we participated in   vendor trials uh with robotics. Uh we consulted  peer agencies and we evaluated some case studies.   uh Spot who we've uh talked about once  before at this council and in other workshops   uh was identified as the leading robotic. Um it  was developed uh with the purpose of reducing   health and safety risk for workers. Uh it has  been operational operational for 34 years and   been in the law enforcement environment for  just over six. Uh currently there are over   70 agencies operating SPAT. I listed some  of them. Uh, Massachusetts State Police,   Houston PD, uh, the New York Fire Department,  the New York Police Department, LA, Tampa,   uh, Fort Meyers, Miami, Orlando, Vegas, Denver.  Those are just a few uh, spots capabilities. Uh,   it does have the capability to walk up and down  stairs, over wet surfaces, over rough terrain,   uh, can stand back up if it gets knocked  over or falls down. It has the ability to   open and walk through doors. uh comes with  two-way communication. Uh it gives us the   ability to deliver food and water, deliver  equipment. It can detect dangerous chemicals,   uh detect explosives, uh and it is prohibited  from being weaponized. And some of the I think we're missing a bunch of slides here. had a had some technical problems with the slides.  Are you able to play any of the videos at all? This October This October, Witchita welcomed the world.  TBC Summit America 2025 brought more than 130. All right. Um, there were multiple videos of  Spot itself, what Spot can do. Spot walking   over terrain, Spot opening doors, uh, holding  the door open with its, uh, foot to be able to   walk through it, uh, walking up and down stairs.  Um, there was a video of um, Spot going up to a   suspicious package, analyzing it, and removing  that device. Um, in one of the videos, uh,   where Spot was walking, um, up the stairs, uh, it  accomplishes that mission in probably 30 seconds.   That is anywhere from a 15 to 30 minute task  with our current robot, and that's all done by   manipulation from the actual operator. Uh, the  operator takes the arm of the robot, places it   on the stairs, which applies force, which lifts  the front of the robot up, drives the track up.   uh it falls back onto the willie bars of the  robot and then it's on that operator to navigate   that robot up the stairs without tipping it over  moving both the left and right um wheels at the   exact same time gets to a platform it's got to  then turn by the operator and repeat that same   process um on one of the videos where spot uh  goes and evaluates a backpack to pick it up   uh all that is done by the push of a button I wish  these videos would play so you could see it. Um,   basically the operator on spot tells Spot what  the package is. Spot goes up and analyzes it   with already built in uh, LRAD and processes that  with data already built into Spot on our current   robots. All of that is done by an operator  on those robots. So, the amount of pressure,   the angle you go in to pick up an explosive device  is all done at the manipulation of an off of an   officer. Um, I can tell you that uh we have those  robots on our bomb team and our SWAT team. We have   two of those robots as they operate different  task. And for an example, on a SWAT call,   when we use that robot to go open a door, uh,  all of that is gauged on what the operator can   see through the lens inside of the arm on the  robot. So, a lot of times what you'll see is us   banging into the door because we just can't get  the door hander quite into spots or I'm sorry,   into our robot's claw to open it. Um, in those  robots, even if we g can get it open, it can't   go through it. It just literally holds it open.  Spot doesn't work that way. In one of the videos,   they actually show you uh the screen that  the operator is working. Uh you literally   click on the door, you tell Spot what kind of  door it is. Does it swing open? Does it swing   out? Is it a pull door, a push door? Does it have  a handle? And then you stop touching the control,   and Spot does the rest for you. It'll use  its legs to hold the door open if needed.   Uh there was another really good video that was  in there um from Miami Dade um where um where   uh that lieutenant actually describes how  they're clearing an active scene and uh it's   a large scene. It's a homicide suicide scene at  the same time and Spot clears that entire house   and structure in six minutes allowing operators to  go in once they already know what they seen. Um, so just to be clear, all the other So some   of these other slides are not are  they deleted from the PowerPoint? Well, there's other slides in here that aren't  appearing either. So, um, some of the other slides   that were in here, um, is our case studies. I  wanted to present you the actual case studies   that we did. Um, one of the case studies, um,  I'm reading from, so I printed out the actual   PowerPoint, so I'm just reading from the slides  that were on the PowerPoint. Um, that one of   those case studies is from Houston PD. They had  a barricaded subject. They've been operating SPOT   for a long time. Um, they received a call of a  suicidal man. Uh, Spot goes up, navigates the   stairs of this motel where this guy's waving a  knife at at patriots in this motel. He actually   grabs Spot and pulls him in. They deploy their  second spot and through the negotiations with   the second spot, uh, it ends peacefully. Uh, the  second case study I wanted to bring to you was   actually from, uh, sorry, Captain Kulie, I want to  make sure that these videos are being played. Can   we defer this item to the next just switch order  so that they can work on technology really quickly   to get the videos up? I don't have a problem  with that. Do we have the capability of put Okay. Okay. So, we just move on to the next agenda.  Could we maybe move to the next agenda item and   come back to you guys to make sure that  everything is working appropriately? Uh,   sure. Can I move uh item one to be discussed now  and delay this current item which is unfinished   business to to after that? Second motion second.  All those uh madame clerk, please open the role. Motion passes 70. So we'll now go to new business  item number one so that technology can uh work for   this item. Madame clerk, please call new business  item number one. Public hearing and request for   an amendment of the project lease and payment in  lie of taxes agreement for web industrial LLC. I think it's uh assistant city manager  Anderson will provide this one. Honorable mayor, members of council, thank you for  uh the reminder. I was distracted. I apologize.   Um, and I'd like to before I begin take just a  brief opportunity and say what a privilege uh   and honor it has been to serve uh not only this  governing body and each and every one of you but   also this organization and this great city. Uh I  truly have enjoyed my time here and am incredibly   grateful. So thank you so much. But before I  get too emotional, um, okay, so this request is,   uh, a little unique. Uh, we have not done this  before, but um, we're going to try to work   through this. So, this is a request based on um,  our speculative building program. our speculative   building program. Um there's some criteria around  the size and scope of a project. As a result of   our speculative building program, projects are  generally offered and take advantage of uh what   we call a 9550. a 95% property tax abatement for  the first five years and then a 50% property tax   abatement in years 6 through 10 in order for uh  the owner developer to to to build up a building.   Uh and then have building inventory uh in stock  so that uh we can respond to businesses that   are growing, expanding, relocating that we have  existing inventory that is available for folks   to move into. Um the the spec warehouse program  I can tell you has been wildly successful. Uh   continue to recommend that this city um um foster  and embolden the spec warehouse program because   it has been critical to the success in keeping  and retaining businesses um in our community.   With that being said, uh, a little bit more  specifically as it relates to this project. Back   on April 5th, 2022, city council approved a letter  of intent for Web Industrial. You'll hear me refer   to them as Web Throughout for the construction of  a speculative building located at the intersection   of 40th Street North and Web Road. Um, so  that building exists today. So between 2022,   April of 22 and December of 22, the building is  built, right? And then on December 13, 2022, city   council approves the issuance of the industrial  revenue bonds. In this case, in an amount not to   exceed $ 8.4 million. Um, I highlight that in the  context that when the original LOI came before us,   that was a slightly different number. I'll  highlight that here in just a second. But once the   building gets built and we know what the actual  construction costs were, we can then certify that.   And that's the uh amount of the bond issuance  that we actually issued. So in December of 2022,   the bonds that were actually issued were 8.4 based  on that capital investment. Again, the 95% adval   property tax payment commenced on January 1, 2023  and is slated to be reduced to 50% on January 1,   2028. Webb is requesting uh the continuation  of that 95% ader property tax abatement.   based on the tenant that they have uh attracted  to this particular building and this particular   site. More specifically, Web has executed  a lease with Prime Craftsman Homes. Uh PCH,   you'll hear me refer to them, which is a startup  modular home manufacturer focused on providing   quality affordable housing for the city of Witchaw  surrounding communities in the state of Kansas.   PCH will have significant inventory racking  systems, automated wood cutting facilities,   and six different manufacturing line production  lines producing differentiz homes with various   bedroom counts. PCH intends to partner with  Witchaw State University Tech for its initial   and ongoing training for its employees and  is anticipating committing to creating 75   net new jobs by December 31st, 2027 for  our January one sort of Q1 2028 review. So I'm going to highlight a little bit this  here. The slide might look a little funny. Um,   I wanted to correct some of the information in the  green sheet, uh, just for accuracy purposes. So,   uh, you'll see me highlighting that here today.  I will kind of walk through a little bit of that.   But um because we've never done this before, we  we took the approach of had we known then what we   know now, what would that cost benefit analysis  have looked like, if we had known that there was   going to be a capital investment made in sort of  year one and then in an outyear additional tenant   improvement and acquisition and installation of  furniture, fixture and equipment were going to be   inst installed in out years and then subsequently  employment was going to be made in years four,   five and beyond. Right? So we had to go back  and remodel the costbenefit analysis from back   in 2022. Otherwise it got funny in trying to  model just the remaining term of um the revenue   bonds and the tax exemption. So I'll read this  first one. When the speculative building project   was originally approved, the estimated value of  the capital investment was 14.5 million. Again,   we know that ultimately that was just the  letter of intent. We know that the actual   capital investment was that 8.4 number that uh  I referred to on the previous slide, which is   why there's a little bit of difference in maybe  some of the original numbers that showed up in a   green sheet versus maybe more uh consistent actual  numbers. based on the capital investment that we   knew was actually made. So, the first full year  was estimated at $323,000. Um, it was our fault.   We did not that number is accurate. Uh, in the  green sheet originally in one of the green sheets   from Micro2 is like a $400,000 number. So, we more  accurately reflected what that capital investment   uh and the exemption was going to look like.  Unfortunately, we did not update the city, county,   state or 259 numbers and so we have reflected that  here in um in this slide in front of you. This is   consistent with the cost benefit analysis that was  done in 2022 back when this was originally done.   I can admit I don't know where the numbers in the  green sheet derive from. We tried to do research.   We tried to go figure out kind of where those  numbers came from. We don't know if they were   remnants from other projects, but we went back,  we found the original costbenefit analysis that   was conducted back in 2022. And based on that  original costbenefit analysis back in 2022,   we started pulling these numbers, the 323, and  then you see all of the the taxing jurisdictions   numbers. So, I just wanted to daylight that so  that you have those numbers in front of you as   a comparison. Troy, just one quick question.  So, is the county and state number accurate,   not transposed? Uh, the the city, county, state,  and 259 numbers that you see there in blue are the   the numbers based on that costbenefit analysis.  The numbers that are in red were in your green   sheet. Those have been stricken. So now you see  how all of those add up to that $323,000 number   because just usually city county are your highest  amounts when it comes to this. Okay. Thank you.   And that's where the evolution of the costbenefit  analyses that have been conducted over the years   and the iterations. We wanted something to go  back to that was tangible that was defensible   that said these were the numbers in the original  costbenefit analysis. Again, the CBA has evolved   over time. So, it's we just wanted to correct  the record that these are the numbers that should   have been reflected in the green sheet. More  specifically, what you're looking at today though   is we now know it wasn't an initial $14.5 million  capital investment. It was only an 8.4, not only,   but it was an $ 8.4 million capital investment.  And then based on knowing and understanding that   the tenant is now going to make an additional $3  million capital investment in tenant improvements   and acquisition of furniture fixtures and  equipment. Again, we kind of went back and   modeled that knowing now or had we known now  what we knew then vice versa. This is what the   costbenefit analysis would have said, right?  that in year one, not year five, the abatement   would have actually only been 199,000, not the 323  that you see there on the screen. And then again,   respective u uh taxing jurisdiction numbers. Okay.  Additionally, we kind of looked at what would the   city be giving up by continuing the 95% abatement  and really not necessarily just the city but all   taxing jurisdictions. Right? So originally in  years 6 through 10 the estimated value of that   50% adaler property tax abatement was going  to be about $1.1 million. By continuing the   95% ad valeran property tax abatement, that value  increases to about 1.5 million or about a $48,000   difference. We just wanted to give folks context  on sort of what all the taxing jurisdictions would   be giving up over years 6 through 10. But again,  costbenefit analyses far exceed the one to one.   So, we're not necessarily concerned about that.  Again, here's those numbers. Um those are also   in the green sheet. Won't bel labor those. So with  that being said, web agrees to continue all paying   all costs of issuing the bonds, agrees to pay the  annual origination fee. City's law departments   reviewed and approved the documents as to form.  Therefore, staff recommends the city council   uh hold a public hearing, but then close a  public hearing, adopt the amended resolution   uh and authorize the necessary signatures. We do  have representatives from the applicant here that   can answer questions for you today. Otherwise, I  will stand for questions. Thank you, Troy. Council   member Hohheisle. Thank you, Mayor. So, this is  essentially restarting the clock on the 95% and   then after 5 years it'll be 50% again. No, we're  not restarting the clock. Um, basically, we're   going back and remodeling it. The the abatement  that exists today will continue. And in fact,   um, the the five-year review that we conduct as a  result of after the five-year review wasn't slated   to be completed until, you know, Q1, January of  2028. So, in January, February, March of 2028, we   were going to do a five-year review anyway. Under  the spec program, there wasn't going to be really   much to certify because it's just a spec program.  Although we would have had to have probably gone   back and looked, did you find a tenant and those  kind of things, right? There are some criteria.   So, we we're going to do that in January of 2028  regardless. That's that five-year review period.   This adds the additional um criteria of did  you also make that we knew you made the initial   investment in the building. Did you also make that  initial investment in uh the tenant improvements   and the FFN? And did you also create the 75  jobs that you committed to in order to arrive at these costbenefit uh numbers,  right? Those costbenefit ratios.   So, we're not starting the clock  over. We're continuing the clock.   We're introducing new conditions  that they will have to satis. But rather than being continued at 50%, they'll  be continued at 95%. Okay. Okay. I appreciate   that. Thank you for the clarification. Vice  Mayor Glasco, seeing there wasn't any Well,   Councilman Johnston may have a question  before. I was going to ask Mr. Fer to come   up and talk about his plans and what  his intentions are with the program. Mayor, city councilman, thanks for having me  today. You know, the benefits calculations are   very theoretical, but I'll just give you a few  facts as I know them. We plan to build two to   300 homes a year, and we're seeing the demand,  you know, not only in the city and the county,   but throughout the state. I've been at a number  of city council meetings already and and I'll get   just want to give you an example of one. I was  in Harper, Kansas where they had an ID district   and they built two homes. They were really  more attainable homes, not affordable homes,   but they were three-bedroom, two bath where the  land was was free. There's no specials because   all the entitlements are going to be paid for by  the AHID. Yet they are listing these how these   two houses they built for $275,000 and they're  1,200 square feet and and they're asking me why   there's no takers and and the answers are are  obvious and we don't need to get into that.   But what I what I explain to them is we could  have built for them a house for $175,000 that   nearly matches what they did. And that's  the benefit of the economies of scale and   the technologies that you're aware of that we  get with modular manufacturing. It just took,   you know, a group of people that had the the the  desire to want to go work in this area, you know,   and that's our mindset is to do this in a way  where we're not we're not really profiting. We're   trying to to to bend the cost curve here so that  we can go into neighborhoods around the community   and and instead of listing a house for 300,000,  which is like what the average median new price   price is for a two, threebedroom home, we can we  can put out there 200,000. Now, that's ambitious.   I'm going to run into surprises. We won't always  be able to do that. Depends on development costs   as well as the cost that we incur inside of  our plant, but we're developing capabilities   to try to knock all those things down. So, I  appreciate your support here today. You know,   we're fully invested in making this happen. We  have a great team of people that we're talking to   that we already started to hire that is passionate  about the same things. And and I know that at one   point the city had said they want this to be  the year of affordable housing. and and and   for me it's it's it's affordable housing for sure.  We're going to attack that segments as vigorously   as you know we've talked about um with infill  and just one lot at a time but also attainable   housing which is just as big of a problem here and  and across the country. A as for the costbenefit   analysis I'd also just say that the benefits are  simple. If we're doing that kind of volume you   know we should be remitting a million dollars of  sales tax to to the state. We should be generating   a property tax base out of these two or 300  homes. That would be times whatever number you   want to put against that. I would tell you it's  hundreds of thousands of dollars and a property   and a payroll tax base, excuse me, from the new  employees that we will have in that district. Thank you, Mr. Challer. Um, can I just ask you  really quickly? I know that this is supposed to   create 75 new jobs in a field that is one that  this council is very much interested in which   is housing um and manufacturing of housing. Can  you uh just share uh what you plan to do at that   manufacturing plant one more time and why housing  has become your passion? It's just become a   passion because as as I studied the area starting  to to acquire and and repurpose homes that are   vacated and and boarded up, which we've now have  about 75 of those underway. That's a separate   initiative altogether. But I just saw how huge the  need was and and how glaring the prospects were or   the lack of prospects were to meet that supply  gap. And just knowing how affordability levels   continue to be more and more constrained. Rents  are not rents are far outpacing mortgage levels,   as you heard earlier, are far outpacing people's  incomes and their ability to to to buy homes. Not   and not only rent homes, but rent or buy. And and  so that was really the passion and realizing that   modular had advantages that you cannot get when  you're stick building. Just that simple. Um,   we can get economies of scale to reduce waste,  to improve productivity, not to improve the by   by not paying a proper wage. We're going to pay  $25 an hour in this plan. And we hope to employ   a number of second chance workers. We found that  at least our experience is when you take somebody   who's coming out of the justice system that's  ready for it. Not everybody's ready, but when   they're ready and somebody takes a chance on them  and trains them new skills so that they have an   occupation that they can be proud of and they can  work within for the rest of their life, they're   loyal. And so the turnover levels far outpace um  what we hope to experience in our plant um because   of that kind of approach we intend to take. We're  second chance employees. Okay. Thank you again,   Vice Mayor Glasco. Thank you. Question for Troy,  but it may be a question for MAPC, which I don't   know if Scott is here, so I might have to ask  this question later because this wouldn't affect   this application today. Uh, regarding that they're  modular homes, zoning concerns in particular parts   of the community. Will there be prohibitions where  these could be located at some point? And are we   looking at proactively addressing some of maybe  those zoning um restrictions maybe certain areas?   Let me see if I can separate the distinction  from the manufacturing facility. Correct. Is   a manufacturing facility what they manufacture.  Yes. Separate from today's separate from today's   ask in terms of how do we make Yes. Right. So the  product um in essence is from a zoning perspective   a single family residence. So in any zoning  district that permits a single family residence,   this type of product would be permissible under  zoning guidelines. Good from a building code   perspective, right? And this is something that  uh um Mr. Film Meer and I have discussed, right?   uh so long as these uh that this product that  these buildings are built and inspected and   certified in accordance with the international  residential code standards then yes that should   not be an issue with the building code either and  so clearing the way for both zoning compliance and   building compliance. Uh the product that comes  off this assembly line should be permissible   in any zoning district to permit single family  residential. Okay, great. I just wanted to make   sure that wasn't a hurdle for the future. Thank  you. And I would also tag along with that question   that there's no redundancy. They're already  going to inspect said item at a manufacturing   plant. Does it have to be reinspected when it  just gets moved to the final location? Yes and   no. No. In the context of the things that So,  for example, things like mechanical, electrical,   plumbing, those things that are inside the wall  cabinet. No. they've already been inspected.   There will probably be some a few tiny minor kind  of was it secured to the footing and foundations   and those kind of things. There will be some  inspections that will have to occur on site,   but to your point, not nearly the volume other  inspections that are typically uh associated   with what they call stick built or sight built uh  residences. Vice Mayor Glasco, withdrawal request.   Council member Shepard. Thank you, mayor.  And to the mayor's point, Troy, is there a   cost associated with that inspection? Then, there  is, but one of the things that we are working on,   and again, no commitments, no promises. Uh but are  there opportunities for uh the building division   um metropolitan area building construction  department to wave or significantly reduce   building permit fee costs and inspection costs?  Yes, we're having those conversations. Perfect.   Thank you so much. I I would be very interested  in that. um in in looking at the process that's   done in the warehouse in comparison to the process  that uh MAB CD does to ensure like there's there's   not a significant gap but in the case that there  is major overlap in what is being done in the   warehouse versus what we do think it is reasonable  to to look at reducing those costs. Agreed. I see   no further questions. Thank you. We will now open  it up for public comment. I see no one from the   public who would like to speak. We'll bring  it back to the bench. This resides in council   member Tuttles district. Thank you for that and  I appreciate it and I certainly want to give my   um thanks and kudos to Web Industrial LLC. But  unfortunately, due to a conflict of interest,   I will have to abstain from this vote. Mayor with  a motion. I would move that the city council close   the public hearing, adopt the resolution, and  authorize the necessary signatures. Second.   Motion. Second. Any discussion? I see none.  Madam, sorry, Council Member Shepard. Thank you,   Mayor. I I snuck that one in on last minute. Um,  but I just want to share that I know that we're as   assistant city manager Anderson mentioned, we're  talking about the the warehouse and then there's   the actual product. Um, but I am really grateful  to have seen the impact of the product in District   1. And I know that often um I am a major advocate  for undesigning the red line and making sure that   there are major investments in the parts of our  community that have not seen that investment   before. And Mr. Mr. Philer, I just want to take  the opportunity to say thank you for seeing value   in a community that is often times overlooked.  But if you are to ever go out in the community and   particularly on a scale, you will see what happens  when people invest in a community that is often   overlooked. I had the opportunity to go to some of  the in houses and across the street and spoke to   the neighbor and I said, "H how do you feel about  this?" and with the biggest smile on his face,   he said, "I'm happy somebody is finally investing  in our block and seeing the power of that." Um,   the Kansas Leadership Center also quoted the  impact of this and it and one of the tenants said,   "It means a lot to have our own home, to be  able to say we have a home that is ours. Uh,   the project is building quality, affordable  homes. We talk about that a lot, but it's   also creating jobs." And I'm very passionate  about giving those who are reintegrating back   into our society a second chance. I am a younger  brother to a brother who needed a second chance.   And so I know firsthand the impact it has when  folks like you, Mr. Phil Meyer, and your team   uh say you have potential, you have value,  dignity, and you deserve an opportunity to   be paid a livable wage and learn the skills  that you need. And so I hope that our community   is looking at this as a model um that we can  continue to celebrate and invest in. And I hope   that it gives other developers hope to look in  communities like 67214 to know that investing in   our community is not a risk. It's an opportunity  to bring hope and help. So thank you for that. With that, Madame Clerk, please  open the role. Uh I was the second Motion passes 6 with one abstension.  Mayor, if I Manager, Mayor, if I may,   um encourage uh maybe a potential option to  take a motion to recess for a few minutes. Um   we do have some lunch option for you back  there, but it'll give us the opportunity   to get the presentation up for the robotics  presentation. So, if you would uh entertain   maybe a 10 to 15 minute a 15 minute would be  appropriate. I will um I don't think we need   a vote for that. Just declare a recess. I will  declare a recess until 12:30 p.m. Thank you. even the um lieutenant from Miami date that  speaks. It's just a two-minute video, so they're   all very short in the presentation. So this  is the uh general spot, but over those gravel,   walking up the stairs, um all that has to be done  in our tracks. The rocks get stuck in our tracks.   It's not impossible, it is highly difficult.  This uh we're moving into the closer of the   impossible realm here here with our current  robots. And as you can see, this is why they   develop spot like a dog is to be able to walk  up that terrain. Um, up and down these stairs.   This is the 15 to 30 minute thing. The robot  has to be navigated by the operator 100%. Uh,   the arm reaches out and lifts the robot up so he  can walk uh up the stairs and then has to turn   him. That takes a long time. Uh, currently our  robotics do not offer this capability at all.   it cannot get up once it's over. Um, we've even  seen that on uh one of our hostage situations that   fell down the stairs. Robotics were eliminated uh  from that rescue. Uh we also have zero capability   to do this. Those pile of clothes right there  ends all robotics that we have. Uh Spot walks   over effort effortlessly. Uh one of the clothes  gets stuck on his foot and he actually shakes   it off. Um we have zero capability to get over  this couch. these clothes, this bedding uh to   navigate any of that terrain. Uh in fact, uh we  had um a call a SWAT call out on Easter Sunday,   a bomb call out on Easter Sunday, and then  another SWAT call last night. And we did get   stuck on clothing during the SWAT call yesterday.  Uh we had to yesterday actually send operators in   uh to deliver a handheld uh robot um that has to  be placed and maneuvered to a certain location   because our robot came across clothing inside of  the residence. Uh this is an example of uh the uh   explosive uh detection uh robot. Uh right now the  operator is simply clicking on this backpack spot,   opens its mouth. There's a camera in its mouth.  Uh, and it is using pre-loaded uh, information to   evaluate how much pressure and where to grab this  backpack. It is going to grab it away from the   explosive, pick it up, and remove it away from  uh, the subway system. All this is done by uh,   a couple presses of the button. This is an example  of how here it is. The operator is simply clicking   on the object. This is how LA has done it twice  so far that I know of with a firearm laying next   to an individual. They go up, they click on the  firearm. Spot is evaluating it himself right now   and it will pick it up with the right amount of  pressure and take it away from the individual. Currently, uh our robots can't  do that and even if we attempted,   it is a 100% manipulation  by uh the robot operator. uh this capability SWAT is assessing the uh pull  down door uh to push it open. As you notice at the   bottom, there's also stairs that's navigating at  the same time. Our robots cannot do that. If we   open the door with our robot, it's done. Uh if the  door is open, we can navigate up that uh stair,   but then it's done. Uh this is a door to go in. um  it will turn it and open it. Uh if you watch its   uh left front foot there, uh this is an impossible  door for our current situations. Um we cannot open   it like this and walk through it. So SWAT has been  or I'm sorry, SPAT has been told to pull it open.   It will use its leg and its arm to navigate  the door and pull it open and it will enter   the structure. We do not have this capability  right now. I would have to put a operator at   that door in harm's way to do that. Um, on this  one, it's a push door, but you'll see the door   actually hit uh the robot and it will correct  itself and continue to walk down the stairs. Uh, here's the case studies I was briefly uh  talking about. Um, this is the Houston uh PD   where they uh send it up to the individual with  a knife threatening patrons. He pulls it inside.   They send their second robot up and through the  uh communication system inside a spot uh they were   able to uh end this uh standoff and barricade  peacefully. Um FDNY actually has their own   uh spot. They actually had a garage collapse.  Uh it does have search and rescue capabilities.   uh they were able to send it in uh and do two  things uh before sending in personnel. They   one they were able to check for injured and two  they were able to check for the uh uh structure   to see if the structure was going to cave in on  the firefighters before they went in. Uh this is   probably one of the original spots here. That's  why it's kind of uh older looking and beat up.   Um this is the Massachusetts State Police. It  typically operates around the Boston area. Um,   but you can see they used it to uh uh they got  called to this crate here with these devices on   it and they were able to pick up these devices  and uh go take them back to I'm sure they have a   TCV total containment capsule just like we do or  we can put explosives and get them away from the   community. This is the uh use for uh what's what  we refer to as uh SEAB burn. Uh it will detect   uh chemical, biological, radiation, uh nuclear,  and explosives. Um you can see they're using it at   uh race events, uh the ND500, the Boston Marathon,  which we all know was bombed. Um they'll use it   during Super Bowl. Um we have similar events.  We've got Riverfest. We've got our Fourth of July   parade. We've got uh St. Patty's Day parades.  We've got the drone show at Exploration Place.   um multiple things up in northeast Witchah of  different fireworks and events. Uh this capability   will allow us to also walk this robot around and  test the air uh for dangerous substances before we   open the event to the community. Uh this is the  Massachusetts State Police. It was the first uh   spot robot to get shot. It took multiple rounds  uh while they were firing at this robot prior   to sending in their uh SWAT personnel. uh it was  disabled and uh it was able to be replaced. It was   a double homicide suicide. This was one of those  incidents that it was it was an apartment and when   the decision was basically made after negotiation,  we weren't getting a response. At the time, nobody   actually knew that the subject had already taken  his own life. But basically in this situation once   the decision was made to actually you know get  eyes into the structure and see what was going   on this was one of those that the feedback that  I got from the IMT personnel that were there that   were actually operating spotted spot cleared that  structure in less than 6 minutes. Went into every   room was able to see everything traversed all  the obstacles that were present. it was able to   identify the deceased in the structure and  basically utilizing that information, you know,   the decision was made that let's send in the SWAT  team, finish up, clear the structure once we knew   that the subject were no longer there. One of the  problems with a lot of the ground robotics that   exist on the market today is especially the ones  that have arms is they have difficulty trying to   climb stairs. Some of them cannot climb stairs.  And the ones that do climb stairs, a lot of them   don't have an arm to manipulate opening doors.  That's one of the things that just having spot   has basically been a piece of mind and that at  ease for us knowing that it can actually overcome   these things. There's a great reduction in fatigue  utilizing a robot like Spot simply because of how   fast spot can operate and clear a structure. So  you can imagine historically if you're, you know,   waiting for the robot to clear a house and it  takes upwards of an hour, that's an hour for all   the SWAT personnel that are on the perimeter.  You could be baking in the sun. It just adds   to the amount of fatigue. Wearing your vest,  holding point. SWAT makes things a lot faster. Um and I think we all are familiar with uh  you know the city but I just wanted to provide   um some some data here to um as we reflect on  internally uh what services and how many services   we're providing here uh to residents. Uh so I just  wanted to include some uh Witchaw statistics here   from from 1880. You can see that currently I mean  we've we've continued to just grow and uh we are   projected to continue to grow. Um when I compared  the population to uh the next uh five other most   populated uh cities in Kansas, you can see that  we're almost approaching just almost double   uh the next closest size city uh in the state of  Kansas. And our 2035 projection puts us at almost   430,000 residents. uh households. When I compared  that of how many households we're serving, um we   are almost again double the next largest size city  in in the state of Kansas and we're serving just   over or just under 160,000 households. internally  when we are training our officers on how many   people you're going to have to deal with and  how many weapons and what objects are involved   um we do use these statistics and you know we we  train them to know that hey the average city in or   I'm sorry the average household in the city that  there are 2.46 people inside of that house. So,   it's pretty safe to say that if that's the  average that you can expect on these calls,   whether it's SWAT or bomb, that we're going  to encounter three, four people, maybe one,   maybe two. Um, but we are averaging about four  and a half people living at each house. Um,   and we're covering 162 square miles. Um, I know  some of that is still undeveloped and we heard   from some of those developers today still wanting  to expand in in the growth of the city here. Uh,   the analysis also showed that we're responding  to 17 plus hospitals. We've got almost a 16,000   square or seat arena uh over 10,000 seat ballpark  stadium and uh according to visit witchaw over 7   million annual visitors. There are 83 public  schools which talk comprises of of just over   50% of the schools in the entire county and  we are servicing over 3,000 teachers over   45,000 students 12 colleges and over 16,000  college students. Um when we were evaluating   uh what else uh spot can provide and we  came across uh the New York Fire Department,   I guess it made me think of what disasters we've  had. We've had 37 confirmed tornadoes. I know   there's the storms get dark and there's probably  more tornadoes than what can be confirmed,   but we're averaging one every two years. We've  had eight floods. And in 24 there were 586 mass   shootings. 24 of those were active shooters. And  in 25 there were 408 mass shootings in the US. Uh   they have not compiled the active shooter count  for 2025 yet to release them. uh this year. Well,   some historical data on uh I broke it down to two  columns. The SWAT activations in 24 were 40 SWAT   activations and 25 were 43. Uh as of when I did  this um on the 5th we had eight SWAT activations.   That number is now nine. We had one uh last night.  This was uh this included the uh SWAT activation   we had on Easter. Um and then uh We had one  yesterday. We were working a SWAT call yesterday   as well. So, we're actually at nine uh for the  year. And yesterday was the example that I gave   you of uh where our robot was rendered useless uh  when we came across the clothing. Uh for the bomb   squad activation, their numbers are on par with  SWAT. 43 and 24. Uh that increased to 61 and 25.   Uh we recovered 37 explosives here just in the  city of Witchaw. I know they're regional teams,   but these are our Witchah numbers. These are not  regional numbers. So, just in the city, these are   our numbers. And in 30 or I'm sorry, in uh 26,  we've had 25 um activations with 14 explosives.   Uh also was just updated while SWAT was working.  Theirs on Easter bomb was working. One at St.   Joe Hospital where we had a device inside of that  hospital that bomb was working at the same time. uh for financial considerations uh pro uh  protecting officers and obtaining a more agile   robotic equipment has been identified  in the 27 capital improvement program   uh by the Witchaw Police Department. Uh this  request is being presented now versus 27   uh given the current limitations of existing  robotics but more so given the number of   incidents that these new robotic dogs could have  been deployed on. uh sufficient bonding capacity   exists within the fiscal year of 26 CIP to  accommodate purchasing these robotics now   versus waiting at a higher pot or a potentially  higher cost next year. Uh the cost of purchasing   two robotic dogs has been negotiated with  RACO for a discounted rate of $629,64756. If we purchase these separately, WPD would  purchase spot from Raidico for the bomb squad for   $330,8468 cents in April of 2026. Uh the adopted  26 to25 capital improvement program includes   650 in general obligation bonds for two robotic  dogs and staff recommends initiating the project   funding. Um the discounted rate come in under  the 650. Uh so any remaining funds would be for   inciliary cost or revert back to the debt service  fund if not utilized. Uh the recommendations is   to approve the initiated funding uh purchase spot  the robotic dogs from radio approve the bonding   resolution and authorize the necessary signatures.  And with that I'd be happy to stand for questions.   Thank you Captain Kulie. Questions for staff  beginning with council member Hoheisel. Thank you,   mayor, and thank you, Captain. I appreciate the  presentation. Um, do you know how many of the   departments that have one dog have two dogs? Yeah,  so I asked that question when I was negotiating   uh the price. Um, I didn't get a full answer on  how many have two dogs. Uh, but they told me that   uh 20 agencies are already in the work to come  back and get their second one because they're   realizing one just isn't enough. And when  I was negotiating that, that that was the   reason for the original ask for two. um was it  was very clear from those departments that they   were finding one wasn't enough. Whether they  were having Houston's scenario or operating   one at bomb or SWAT or whatever their scenarios  were, they were finding one wasn't sufficient.   I guess so most of those departments were  were they balancing it between bomb squad   and SWAT? I I don't know how they were doing it.  I can tell you our current robots that we have   um that have the limitations. We have one on bomb  and we have one on SWAT just because they're doing   two complete operations maybe simultaneously just  like we had on Easter. Um so those were operating   you know the same. Um, so I can't give you an  answer on how many are currently operating too,   but I can tell you that there was uh 16 to  20 that are coming back for their second   one right now. Okay. Um, how old are  the current robots that we have? So,   we have a robot that is from 23. Um, we have  a robot from 17. We have a robot from 21. And we have a robot from 20. The 21 and the 24 are  the robots that I'm that I speak of the most that   are the exactly the same robot with the tracks and  everything. Um, and those robots were we purchased   those through a different funding source through  the region, which we've talked about that funding   source last time. Um, and those were roughly  270,000. So we're not out of the ballpark of   those same robots that don't have this capability.  So would those robots be used for the kind of the   regionwide drills that we have or would they still  be spot kind of covering all bases there? Yeah. So   th those robots um were purchased by the region.  So we don't have a choice but to offer them to the   region. Uh, like we mentioned last time, that's  at the chief's discretion of do we respond to a   call in the region or not. We do participate in  mutual aid just like we expect mutual aid. When we   had our 3-day SWAT incident at 4141 South Cica, we  used agencies from all over the the state to help   us to relieve our fatigued SWAT officers. So, we  do participate in mutual aid. Uh, same with fire.   We go out on fire calls um whether it's blocking  traffic or whatever. So, we do participate mutual   aid. Uh our um goal for SWAT or SPAT is uh that  is a Witchah asset to be available for Witchah   incidents. Not saying it couldn't happen. Um but  I don't want to speak on behalf of the chief of   whatever scenario he gets to either approve or  don't approve that. Okay. Could you give a little   background on any warranties or maintenance costs  that come with this? Yeah, so there's not a lot   of maintenance cost. the maintenance costs that  they are seeing over uh the six years from law   enforcement aspect. I can't speak on you know the  warehouses that are running six and 10 of these   things at one time. Um but they are seeing just  small pins in the arm just various things that you   would think of would would break over time as the  usual maintenance cost that cost $30 or something   to get a new pin. um large maintenance costs.  They're not seeing that unless a structure falls   on it or it gets shot or something like that. Uh  it does come with a one-year um warranty for that.   Um which is they we basically overnight them spot  and they fix it and send it back. Uh after the   one year, uh it's just under 28,000 if you want  to continue that warranty. um that does cover   any replacement, any cost of any damaged things  and does get you the overnight, you know. Um if   we don't continue after the one year, whatever  issues are with it, we just have to pay to ship   it and then it's a fixing it just like we would a  vehicle or whatever else is out of warranty. Okay.   Do we plan on writing that in the budget, the  28,000? So, I am looking in our uh software budget   um to see if we can absorb that warranty. Um  I have not had that discussion in the budget   hearings or for that ask because I'm still looking  for it. So, I don't want to get my skis out ahead   of me on answering that one. Um but based on what  I'm seeing from other agencies, it's one of those   where there's not a lot of them getting it, but  some of them are. there's not a lot of repair   cost. Um, of course, we'd be happy to entertain  continuing it if the budget could support it. Um,   you know, but that's a cost versus reward type  question there. And that's per dog. Okay. Um,   last question. Um, on the SWAT kind of the SWAT  operations, if the door is locked, does it have   any ability to get through a door that is locked?  Nope, it doesn't. And that's by design. It's the   same reason this dog cannot be weaponized. It is  prohibited from being weaponized. It is prohibited   from applying enough force to crush a door knob  or to force a door open. That is not what they're   designed to do. Um they are designed for, you  know, the items that we showed you in there to get   in to get eyes on um to remove an object to detect  uh explosive devices. Uh it is not meant to be a   force maximum. Um, so it is not used to breach an  entry. Okay. Thank you, Council Member Shepard.   Thank you, Mayor. Had a couple of questions from  a constituent and I believe you answered three out   of the four of them already. And um I'm curious  if maybe you can clarify whether any alternative   solutions or shared regional resources were  evaluated prior to coming forward with the request   of of purchasing new ones for the department. Yep.  So, we've evaluated all the grants. The grants are   slowly, I know I kind of touched on some of the  police grants last time. Um, we are seeing some   of those slowly come in. Uh, they are more in  the wellness aspect u than equipment aspect. Um,   we did receive word that our um the regional funds  were going to be uh unlocked, I guess, for a lack   of better terms. um that we're roughly thinking is  about 217,000. Um we use the bulk of the regional   funds to fund the bomb team to buy items for  the bomb team, their suits, their x-rays,   um their radiation meters, their gas meters, um  their vehicles. So 200,000 doesn't go very far   in the bomb world of equipment. Um you know, one  of their trucks needs replaced, which we talked   about last time. That's a half million dollars.  I think we'll probably put the 200 towards that   to offset the 50%, you know, of that. Um, it just  we're not seeing the funding that we're used to. Council member Johnston. Thank you, Mayor Capy.  Thank you. I appreciate the information. In the   last year, how many of the events would Spot take  care of that your robots now cannot take care of?   events as in like Riverfest events. No, no, no,  no. The calls you went on in the last year that   you used your robots on, how many of them failed  the test and and spot could have accomplished that   goal? Yeah. Uh we don't keep a statistic that you  know says a robot failed or we our breaching tool   failed or um I can tell you yesterday our robots  failed for the exact same thing that we're asking   for spot to do. Um what happened yesterday? So  uh yesterday um we had a wanted individual that   was wanted for a shooting. Shot someone multiple  times. Uh we had information that they were inside   of a residence. uh got obtained legal grounds to  get inside the residence. Um we did the normal   deescalation protocols we do. Um at some point it  was decided to we had to send robotics inside. Um   the operators uh went up in front of the door,  put themselves in harmway to open the door   uh for the big robot. And when I say big, it's  big. It's not like Spot. I mean it's big. It's   got wheel. It's got tracks. Um, it went in and the  house was cluttered enough. Uh, there was objects   on the couch and the floor. Couldn't get over  it. We can't get over any of those clothes. Um,   so we had to fly the drone in after that. Um,  the drone could only go so far. It was having   uh issues with all the clutter in there. Uh so  eventually we had to systematically put operators   sorry swap personnel uh into the residence  with a handheld robot and slowly keep walking   it forward threat after threat after threat um  because our big robot was as soon as there was   clothes or boxes or whatever um we can't use  them. How did that end up getting resolved? Uh   it ended up the SWAT operators ended up having  to pull the robots back out and then go back to   what we're trained to do and just systematically  clear the residents room by room by room. Um he   wasn't in there. We just they're just putting  out a media brief now that we located him this   morning. Okay. Okay. Uh last question is you  talked about your software budget. Is that in   the police budget or is that in the IT budget?  Police budget. Police budget. Okay. Thank you.   Captain Kulie, um I had a couple of questions.  Can you go back to maybe one of the slides uh that   shows the different capabilities of just an actual  example? I was just curious if there would be any   opportunity for this robot to be multi-purposed.  So, I know that you mentioned the CBRNE um threat   detection. Is that the sphere looking? There we  That works. Is that that sphere? Um, so on the   top right photo, um, what you're looking at is the  arm has been removed because they're just walking   around an event. They're not there to perform any  operation. Um, so the front the dome sphere that   you're looking at is the uh communication and the  thermal camera so the operators can can see on the   rear of it. They have uh placed their SEAB burn  on the back of that um with the antenna for the   communication coming off of it. So on the back  of it is what you're seeing is the uh chemical   biological nuclear detection on there. Does that  mean that the arm can be removed and then placed   back on to the robot? Correct. Yeah, we can take  the arm off and put the needed sensors that are   needed for whatever the event is. So, I don't  know. Uh, that looks like probably the ND500. So,   I don't know exactly what they bought, what their  purpose of their robot is. Um, but my speculation   is like the bottom right one there, they probably  took off the arm, moved the camera up front,   and put their SEAB burn on the back knowing  they were there um to just scan this ND500. So,   my question then would be, are there opportunities  to make it multi-purposed both for SWAT and for   bomb? Yeah, it it can be multi-purpose. Um, you  can remove different pieces from it and put them   on. they they're all kind of attached by different  railing. Um where that becomes problematic from   what other agencies are seeing is it is a internal  operation problem that if if for example on Easter   they're at St. Joe working a device inside  the hospital that dog is not available for   the SWAT call also going on right now. So some  agencies are working one I think is probably the   root of your your question. and they are working  one and they are changing them at all you know   um which is how we wound up with radio co um they  are a vendor of these and they uplift these robots   to do what we're asking them to do um I don't know  if I showed a picture probably one of them walking   up the stairs that's like if you bought it from  Boston Dynamics nothing on it you just get an arm   um radio uplifts it to do what we're asking these  things to do um So I think that was probably the   same thought of a lot of jurisdictions is let's  get one move pieces around. Um operationally I   think is where they're finding the challenge  and which is where we discussed that when we   were asking for two. I think we'll have the same  operational challenge. Where do we keep one dog?   Uh do we keep it at our bomb room? Do we keep  it at our SWAT room? Who has to go get it? Can   we get it? Is it on another call? Who brings it?  What operator needs to operate it? Um and that   was part of the discount that was negotiated  too is training those number of people. Um we   received a discount to train both teams all on on  their specific robot for one visit. A follow-up   question to that. I know that uh there will be  training costs with uh this robot. I know that   if it was only one robot, can you still train  all users that will be using this robot? Uh,   that would be a probably a company or a question  for Raico. I would I would have to ask them. Um, if if we purchased the bomb robot and it came  with all the needed stuff which is in the 330,   I guess technically SWAT could operate those  devices that come as long as bomb removed the   sensors from the dog if that makes sense. Thank  you, Captain Kulie. Uh, Council Member Hohisel.   Thank you, Mayor. Uh, Captain, what would  the plans be for some of the previous robots   we've purchased? Um, are they available um to  sell to other jurisdictions? Um, regionally,   doing some of the regional stuff as well. What  What would the plans be for any of those extra   previously purchased robots? Uh, so our plan  would be to keep them. We have one that is   Um, like the original, it's it's big. Um, we can't  even bring it out. It stays at the bomb room. And   we use that one um to take the explosives down  range. So, it kind of fits its purpose. I don't   have to ask one of my uh operators to actually  carry the explosive downrange. We could use that   large robot that we can't get to scenes to take  it down range. um which is how we lost our last   uh bomb lieutenant was he was downrange with  explosives. Um so we utilize that old big robot   to do that now. Um some of the other robots we  have are more handheld throw robots. Um there   was a video I didn't put in here, but uh there  was an individual in a crawl space under a house   and you're you're not getting a robot in there.  You're not getting spot in there. But they did put   the robot, the throw robot in Spot's mouth, walk  it up to the crawl space and tell Spot to drop it   and then they could drive it in the crawl space  without sending any human being up there. Um,   so we still have needs for those whether it's an  attic or crawl space or um maybe we throw it in a   window or you know there's multiple possibilities  with the small ones. The two big ones that's   probably the root of your question that I keep  referring to. Uh we plan on keeping those because   there are still operational needs for those.  Um if we had an active shooter at at a school.   Um it's it does have a camera on it. Um and I  don't want to get too many tactical terms here,   but when we're down a hallway in that fatal  funnel, we do need to keep eyes down that hallway   or behind us on the wing of what we've already  cleared as well. So there are operational needs   to have it. Um same with the bombs. uh robot  um that is a regional asset. So for example,   when we went to Augusta on a large device, um we  had to detonate that in place. Um we used that   robot to systematically move those that large  device into a hole we dug to detonate that. We   we could not bring that back into the city to  take care of it. So we still have operational   needs for those robots. Um plus we still are a  regional team with regional responsibilities.   Um so you know we want to keep them in house  keep using them and if we have to provide mutual   aid or the operational needs for them we still  want to have that capability. Okay. Thank you.   Captain Kulie can you go back to the number  of incidents that um have been responded to? I think it was before these.  Sorry, there's a delay here. Look here. Uh, you're talking about locally? Yes. Okay.  Right here. Oops. Sorry. Thank you. Um,   I would be curious. Um, I know that the council is  still talking about um the number of uh robots u   but I would be actually uh curious about the data  um and tracking that data. Uh if this council was   to approve not two but one of these um technology  items, I'd like to see more data uh regarding the   usage of them when they were used by SWAT versus  bomb. Uh when there was a conflict that there were   you would have wanted that robot to be at this  location but it was being occupied by another a   uh unit. I think that data would be helpful to  understand um how highly utilized they are. I   appreciate this information and first and foremost  I want to say thank you to the SWAT members and   the bomb members because again uh they're in  very high-risisk situations and that's why   uh they are a specialized unit. um their safety  along with the safety of residents is paramount   and so I would like to always see data uh  to see when there are conflicts and and you   mentioned that it can be multi-purpose which I  really appreciate. I think that multi-purposing   uh this robot would be appropriate since there  are two units that could utilize it. Um but it   requires internal operations, logistics, uh  you know, working that out. And I think that   um I I know I have confidence in the police  department being able to do internal ops   um and figuring this out. But I would be very  much interested in more data um if uh the dogs   get purchased um because again I I want to make  sure that safety of officers is number one and   safety of residents is equally number one. Um so  I appreciate that there is technology now that   um does not put a human life at risk first  uh and is able to really gather enough   information and then uh humans can then make  the decision of what to do as the next step. So,   I appreciate technology being utilized in the  city of Witchaw, which is the largest city in   the state of Kansas and um because we are so  spread out um I want to make sure that these   uh types of equipment are utilized to their uh  best potential and then hearing you say um the   fire department in New York has utilized this for  um just assessing uh the safety. I can see that   kind of like our drones being able to be utilized  amongst um various different um departments as   well. So I appreciate you even saying the fire  department has done something like this with their   spot. Yeah. Yeah. I can tell you from being the  incident commander uh on SWAT and bomb incidents, it would probably be harder for me to find  an incident where we didn't use robotics. Um,   but I guess that's just my word. I don't have  data to back that up. So, we will start collecting   that for you. Thank you, Captain Kulie. And then  lastly, I know that you mentioned that there are   two units that are uh were regionally purchased uh  both in 2021 and 2024. Can you tell me what those   uh the names of those robots? Was it from the  same company? Uh no. Uh Boston Dynamics is the   only one that makes uh Spot. So those  other two are I corores which is ICO and that is utilized by the region  correct? Yeah. Yes. Yes. Thank you   Captain Kulie. I see no further  questions from the council. Thank   you for the presentation. We will  now open it up for public comment. My name is Reed Harter. I live on the corner of  Edwards and Douglas where every time it rains,   the street floods and garbage washes into my  lawn. I'm taking today off work to come to the   council and talk to you about this robotic dog  project. Witchita has a lot of real problems.   We have issues with sanitation, public transit,  um the storm water systems, and then we spend $141   million from the general fund each year on the  police department while crime falls year-toear.   That's 40% of our general fund budget. I don't see  why we need to spend even more money on fun toys   when we have actual things that need to be done  in this city. That's all I've got. Thank you. He stole some of my content. Um, I want to thank  uh thank you guys for uh delaying this so that   we could talk about it today. I don't know if  you've been paying attention to social media. Um,   but maybe for every 50 comments of people  opposing this, I'll see one person that's like,   "This is a good idea." And that includes all of  the phone calls and emails and texts that I've   gotten. Um, sometimes we have to go back in time  a little bit. Like with the agenda item earlier,   we needed to understand the history.  so that we could understand what was   the best decision to make today. So,  I'm going to go back in time six years   um to when we had an incident and we had to hire  a company and pay them to come in and figure out   how to help City of Witchah HR and WPD um to get  some issues taken care of. Um, ever since then,   there's been a couple FOP contracts where they've  got more bonuses and payraises without all of the   recommendations being implemented. The ME meet  and confer process has been going on for a while   without having those things taken care of. And in  the meantime, we've gotten drones, raven flock,   falcon flock. Um, and when we just, you know,  begged poverty and we needed to have a sales tax   um, to help out our firefighters and station 15  is my local fire. It's just a quarter mile down   the road for me. Um, when I see what's in the CIP,  what was the thinking where we needed to have this   come year ahead when there are other priorities  in the CIP that haven't been funded for years?   I'd like to know what the the thinking behind that  was because if the CIP priority is keeping Witchaw   safe, having firefighters having to move their  equipment and their personnel into other stations,   um looks like we have different ideas of what a  priority of keeping Witchah safe means. I would   also like to know um well I said that I want to  know why the equipment asked does not include   those costs. you did kind of talk a little bit  about that, but why are we asking for it if we   don't know how we're going to fund it in the  future? That should be part of the ask. Also,   um why are the policies not in place that would  protect citizens and the city of Witchaw from risk   if there's an incident with those dogs? They're  not dogs, robots. Um the uncanny valley I see   have when I see those robots, I don't know that I  want to see it walking around in my neighborhood.   They creep me out. So, they're robots. They're  not dogs. Um, what is the cost per use of these?   I think the mayor asked that question. What are  the false positives for the SEAB burn? How many   times have they what is the data around that?  Because I know this company, they specialize in in   those things, you know, radiation and that kind of  detection. Um, do we normally make large purchases   without any policies in place? And if we already  have four, why wouldn't we get one potentially?   see how that works. And then just like the water  treatment plant, we're keeping the other one as a   redundancy. Why wouldn't we keep those four in  redundancy and purchase these in the future as   those redundancies fails? Um, someone brought  up, well, they they can't get through a locked   door. I don't know how many of you leave your  doors unlocked in Witchah, but I don't. Um,   so if they can't get in a locked door, then we're  back to the same personnel. Um, I'm not saying   that I don't support safe streets and policing  and keeping our police officers safe, but I agree   with the speaker before me that we have a lot of  other issues in Witchah and I don't think this   is something that needs to be done right now.  If it's next year and we get around to it when   it was originally in the CIP, we'll see how we're  doing then, but I think we have other priorities. Are the robots camera footage  available like body cam? Can   that be Can we ask for that if they're  going into people's houses? Thank you. Good afternoon, Mayor and City Council.  Vince Hancock from Deleno. I'm generally   in favor of this item, but I do have significant  unanswered questions and requests for guardrails.   I understand the overall costsaving of buying two  units now, but feel it's maybe more wise to crawl   before we walk on these four legs. We spoke about  this a month ago, shy of a couple of days. At that   point in time, I was focusing on a discussion of  transparency. Now, I feel we need to do move into   a discussion on integrity. They've had a month  to come up with a policy. We don't have a policy.   How are we going to implement these safely  when we do not have a policy? Last month,   you asked a very appropriate question. Will these  use AI? And you were told no. That is the exact   opposite of the truth. In fact, Ratica's own  two-page sales brochure for their Cberus variant   champions that Boston Dynamics has advanced AI.  Tech journals published four years ago show that   the audio capabilities, uh, speech recognition,  video capabilities, the ability for it to   recognize things that it sees and appropriately  work with them, their locomotion, their actual   ability to move all four of those legs and get  down those stairs. Every single one of those, oh,   and the object manipulation, the ability to turn  it on, every single one of those features requires   AI. They're running on an Nvidia chip called the  Jetson AGX Oregon and it's carried on the back.   Anybody who' done their research on these would  know that and have given you an honest answer.   Then we have a very important question of pricing.  Most of us are familiar that when we buy a car,   it has a base price and then there are available  uh additional things with additional cost for   aftermarket add-ons. The base price for  a Boston Dynamics quadriped is $75,000. How can Radico aftermarket add-ons  and training increase the price $440%. Will the gas sensors detect both the  nitrogen-based explosives and the triacetone   trioxide? It's the new thing on the block. Now,  the good news is anybody with any knowledge of   chemistry knows that it's only got 70% the power  of TNT and you're more likely to sign up for a   Darwin award making it than anything else. But if  they're dumb enough to do that, I say let them do   it. How many for that for the full cost? How  many operators are going to receive training?   That training was not in the presentation at  all. And so many other times with our finances,   we get wonderfully itemized invoices that show  here's how all the individual costs add up to the   total cost. Where's our itemized invoice of how  we get from $75,000 per unit up to this much? So,   I will stand for your questions, but  I don't have the answers to those. Council member Hohisel. Thank  you, Mayor. Uh, Captain Kulie,   do we have any response as far as  um body cams and overall policy? Okay, we can wait until after, I suppose. My name is Nancy Bradley. I live in District 4.  The month before my father died at the age of 88,   he celebrated his 54th birthday as an active  member of Alcoholics Anonymous. Years ago,   I was still in grade school. He received a call  from the wife of an AA friend. His friend was   drunk, barricaded in a home, and had a gun. The  police were already on the scene. My father went   immediately to do what he could, which was really  nothing. His friend died that afternoon. Suicide   by cop. I have no doubt that if my father was  alive today, he would be standing here supporting   the purchase of this technology that could save  the lives of those suffering from addiction and   mental crisis. During Captain Kulie's presentation  last month, the first person I thought of was the   officer in the bomb unit that was tragically  killed. The second person I thought of is a   relative of mine who along with two more deputies  were shot in the line of duty two years ago in   another state during a SWAT call. This call is  was a typical SWAT call and it happens here as   well without miraculously they all survived but  my relative had to take disability retirement due   to his injuries and end a career he loved serving  his community. Besides the three men who were shot   their families and the officers they worked with  were also affected as well as the family of the   man who shot them. The use of this technology  not only has the potential to save lives,   but also to alleviate the trauma of everyone  affected. There have been a lot of hateful and   disrespectful comments made about this request,  particularly online. Yesterday, I made the mistake   of reading the opinion of an obvious anti-WPD  reporter. He actually compared the members of the   WPD to nagging children who demand their promised  birthday present a year early. He made fun of   this life-saving technology by sarcastically  comparing it to a living dog. One commenter   actually suggested replacing all our officers with  robots, thus eliminating officer safety concerns.   Comments like this only fuel hatred for the  men and women who would risk their lives to   protect these individuals from harm. While  listening to the agenda meeting last Friday,   I could not believe the audacity in asking  Chief Sullivan to choose between two groups   of officers who take additional risks in  their duties to protect this community.   I have absolutely no qualms with his decision, nor  did any officers I talked to in the last few days,   none of whom are members of either one of these  special units. If you choose to only purchase   one robot dog, how do you think the members of  the SWAT team will feel? What about their loved   ones? Are they not worth the investment? It isn't  just the SWAT team members that will be affected   by this decision. So will the alcoholics and drug  addicts who that have hit rock bottom and can't   find a way back up. The person suffering from a  mental crisis who just wants to give up and end   it all. The victim of domestic violence trying to  get out of a situation alive. Not only does SWAT   respond to calls involving barricades or hostage  situations, they also serve the high-risisk search   warrants to remove the worst threats to our  community. This robot spot has so many more   capabilities than the current robots in use. It  enables communication with the suspect as well   giving the officers insight to what is happening  and allows them to make decisions with as many   facts as possible in the safest way possible. It  helps with the judgment of what action including   possible use of force the team should be ready to  take. Last year there were they were activated 43   times. This year the number is already up to nine  including the event just this past Sunday. That   incident is a perfect example of how a SWAT event  affects the entire neighborhood. It seems to me   the majority of the debate revolves around money.  This discussion really should be about the value   of human life, the safety of all witchans. The  cost of purchasing the two robots is 629,64756 with approximately 400,000 Witchah residents.  That's an investment of about a$157 per person.   When you break it down per citizen, that's  not much when it comes to the safety of our   neighborhoods, our districts, our city. The  officers in these two units are examples of   all officers dedicated and committed to uphold the  oath they took to serve and protect our community.   They all deserve the investment of this technology  to mitigate the dangers they face. Thank you. Would anyone else from the community  like to speak? I see none. We will now   to answer council member Hoisil's question. I'm sorry. Can you give me your question again?  Um, body cam policy and policy in general. Um,   so, uh, Spot's camera does have the capability  to stream, uh, back to the operator or to our   real-time information center, but it doesn't  capture photo like videos like a body cam   does. There's no recording. Uh, the only way to  record that is if we did a screen record on the   operator's screen or you took your phone and you  recorded the screen. Um, the robot is designed to   just show you live in real time information on  what's happening. Um, you could screen record,   I guess, if if you so choose to do so, but it  doesn't operate the same way as body cam does.   Okay. I think, um, for my preference anyway, that  we do record when it's in operation, specifically   SWAT operations. Um, I think that is it's very  important to capture whatever we have as far as   conflict resolution goes and just for transparency  to the public as how these are being used. Yeah.   And it comes with that capability of a of an  SD card in the handheld uh that is designed on   purpose again that way uh spot is not in the cloud  storage business uh like our body cam footage   company is. It is stored locally on that device.  You take it, you plug it in, and you can offload   it that way. So, it's designed purposely not to  have to, you know, store footage like our body   cams do. Okay. I mean, I don't think we would have  it used as often as the rest of the body cams. So,   yeah. Okay. Um, and then policy, is that something  we'll put on our transparency portal as well? So,   we don't have a policy specific to robotics. Um,  we don't have policies specific to every item,   you know, that we own or operate. Um, we have  general policies that guides uh the officers   on what they can and can't do uh with those. Um,  with with technology in general, whether it's the   computers or the cell phones. Um some of those we  have specific policies from uh things that we've   seen uh throughout the way but um we have standard  operating procedures of what the operators can and   can't do with robotics or um it's very similar to  uh we have a device that we can deliver inside of   a residence to provide someone a phone so they can  communicate with us and we can start deescalating   the situation. Um, all those are outlined in the  standard operating procedures of what you can and   can't do or how you should work it or function  it, but we don't have policies specific to all   those items individually. Okay. I think that's  something maybe we need to look into. And I'll go   ahead and bring this up now. Um, I'd also like to  look into potentially having a non-lethal robotics   ordinance. Um, something that we can ground uh  can ground us going forward. Um, I know that's   a policy that's a company policy as well. We have  seen in the past, I believe, San Francisco maybe,   where they have strapped explosives to robots to  use that. Um, so that is something I'd like us to   explore up here on council. Um, potentially just  solidifying that in ordinance and again working   through some policies as we move forward. Yep.  Uh, was Dallas, but Dallas. Okay. We're familiar   with what you're talking about. we've had those  internal discussions and and uh we support the   manufacturers, you know, of you can't weaponize  this thing. So, that's not what we're looking to   do. That's not the uh point of what WPD wants to  do with these robotics. That's not what we've done   with any of our robotics. And we've had robotics  for uh 23 years that I can that we still have on   the books. There's probably robots that replace  these robots. So, we're probably 30 40 years   into robots. Okay. Same thing with our drones.  San Francisco actually did the they allowed it   for a little bit and then went back and revised  it. So, appreciate that clarification there. Um,   wow. Okay. Good afternoon, Chief. This is an  easy one. If it makes council more comfortable,   we can create that policy and we can just as  we did with the drones and we can explicitly   state in there that it could never be weaponized  and any other restrictions you want included in   there. That's that's an easy one. And then we  would post that publicly as we have all of our   other policies all of our policies except a few  that are very sensitive. our our procedures we   would not put publicly because that has some  sensitive information but what you're asking   for is not a problem. We we have Lexi pole now and  we can just go to Lexi pole and make that happen.   Any specifics that members of council would like  to see in that policy, please uh communicate that   to me and we'll make sure that is incorporated in  there so that you're completely comfortable with   us utilizing this technology. Yeah, I appreciate  that. I was also looking at guardwells for us in   future councils as well. So, I do appreciate that,  Chief. Um, while I'm up here, I can address some   of the other uh comments if if you'd prefer. Okay.  Um, the $75,000 uh dollars is an old price. Uh,   that just still happens to be on Google. That's  not sufficient pricing anymore. Uh, is actually   the base price is 115. That's what you're going  to see in um a factory scanning inventory. Um then   you got to add in another 75,000 uh for the  arm. Another radio for a half mile uh radius   for approximately 50,000. Uh the spot cam and pan  tilt zoom thermal is another 50,000. Um obviously   through the negotiated price I do have all the  itemized quote. Um that's not a secret. I have   that of every itemized thing. So, that's quickly  how you get up to the dollar amount that that   we're at. Um, as far as AI, um, I understand, uh,  some of the information out there, um, says it has   AI. I think AI is probably thrown around loosely  in today's uh, age. I can tell you that straight   from the manufacturer, what I'm being told is  uh, it doesn't have AI. It has what's called   machine learning and reinforced learning which  they refer to as ML and RL which is loaded up   during the software development. Once the software  is loaded on the robot for the customer, there is   no more learning or training that happens. The  only additional that the robot will receive is a   update much like your phone gets an update. If  the manufacturer pushes out an update to help   navigate whatever, then they'll push that out. Um  the navigation uh is done by uh stereo cameras and   LAR and it's uh manipulated. The task of opening  an object is pre-trained inside of the robot. So   it can't learn additional doorork knobs along  the way unless the manufacturer pushes out uh   an update. So that's the information that uh that  I'm being told uh straight from uh Boston Dynamics and I think that covered all the questions. If I  missed one, I'll be happy to answer. Vice Mayor   Glasco meant to remove my name, but I was just  going to echo uh Councilman Hohisel's point uh   regarding the non-lethal ordinance. And so thank  you for uh the chief's clarification on it as   well, but that was prior to the chief talking.  Thank you. One quick question regarding the I   core robots that currently are being utilized. Do  they have cameras? And if so, is there a recording   mechanism? And if so, what is that policy? Yes,  they have cameras. I don't know if they record.   Uh I've never seen that recording. Um as far as  I know, and and last time we brought the subject   matter experts. this time we didn't um or else  they would be able to answer your question. Um   I don't think we've ever offloaded the recording  which tells me it's probably just a live feed back   to the operator but I can figure that out. They  can I mean I can text them why we're here and get   the answer probably. I think um it's a tag along  to the question that council member Ho Heisole   as well as Vice Mayor Excuse me. No, I'm answering  his question. Uh, and Vice Mayor Glascock asked um   about policy. Um, I would be interested in also  understanding if um the policy can include the   um recording of this video for future evidence or  even training purposes. Um, and I think it should   be clearly stated within the policy so people  know um that if this technology is utilized that   uh it can be recorded. Yeah, that's not a problem.  Sorry, I got we actually have a bomb call. So,   I'm actually working a device right now. So,  I apologize, but my focus is here as well. So,   um but this also gives me an opportunity to ask  the I core question while I'm actually being text   about a device. So, I will see if I can't get that  answer. Thank you, Captain Kulie, and thank you,   Chief. And thank you to our four speakers.  We're now going to bring it back to the bench. I think I got gained a lot more clarity in  knowing that um again one of those robots can   be multi-purposed. Uh thank you Captain Kulie for  uh sharing that information that um if we approve   um one of those robots that there will  be some internal operations that you   would have to work out but it would be  utilized by both bomb and squad uh and   SWAT rather. And so I would believe that  that is uh a prudent next step um being   able to utilize it for two different special  units. Um, and so if that can be achieved,   um, I would be, uh, in preference of having one  robot and that robot being shared between the   bomb squad and SWAT. Uh, Council Member  Johnston. Thank you, Mayor. Uh, this is   a tough vote. It is. I've always supported the  police department. I still do, always will. Um,   but it's also a vote about priorities, too.  Where our funding goes, what matters most.   I see a lot of deferred maintenance around the  city that we need to take care of. Um, and so   that that's that's why I'll be voting no on this  even for one. Thank you, Council Member Hoheisle. Thank you, Mayor. Um, this is a tough vote as  well. Um, ultimately it comes down to not putting   a price tag on people's lives, on public safety.  Um, but that also needs to include how we approach   other items in our budget moving forward. So,  I think that's a challenge for this council and   I hope that extends into the budget discussions.  Fire apparatus and uh facilities, we've heard that   we have invested more in those in the past couple  of years, but we need to continue that as well.   um parks for healthy childhood development and  health outcomes. Those are things that affect   lives as well. Public safety, um libraries,  childhood literacy, giving kids options, third   grade literature, that's the biggest indication of  poverty that we have, safety improvements, senior   services, um groups reaching out and um reaching  kids before they do decide to pick up a gun. Those   are other programs that we need to invest in as  well. So, we need to keep that in mind as we work   work our way through the budget. Um, I do support  one robot. I do support the capabilities that they   have, specifically bomb squad, active shooter,  and whatnot. Um, these are tough decisions to make   when you're up here. They really are because every  decision we make could potentially have an impact   and we have to be prepared for some things. Uh, so  I do support one robot And again, we need to keep   this in mind as we go through budget discussions,  pivoting away from uh some of the economic   development that we focus on and actually get down  to the nuts and bolts of what improves lives and   quality of life moving forward. Um and again going  back to libraries, parks, this isn't an eitheror,   but it is something that we need to include if  we are talking about putting public safety first.   Thank you, Council Member Shepard. Thank you so  much. And I appreciate both of my colleagues,   both Council Member Johnston and also Council  Member Hohisel adding perspective to this very   uh complicated vote for me as well. I'm a firm  believer in public safety. I believe that it is   important that we recognize the risk that our  police officers put up every single day. They   leave their house wondering if they will return at  all. their families, their spouses do as well. I   think that's a major sacrifice. Um, with that  being said, to Council Member Hoisel's point,   there is need for investment and prevention.  And I think we've talked about it for too long.   And I think that there is not a a pie of because  police gets this, then fire shouldn't get this,   or because police gets this, we also can't invest  in prevention. But I think that in district one   specifically, that's certainly the perception  amongst a large faction of my constituents,   many of whom support public safety and want to  see us making sure that our words align with our   actions. I'm open to innovation, but to me,  it needs to align with community needs. Um,   and in District 1, that is consistent and  viable preventative safety in District 1.   I believe when we do that, we reduce the strain  from our police officers. And it also means that   when we invest in crime prevention, we strengthen  our relationships between the community and   police officers. I've heard overwhelmingly that  people in district 1 want to see more investment   in community policing. Um they want to make  sure that we are uh prioritizing a worldclass   training facility through the CIP so that our  police officers can train at the highest level   without doing so in our neighborhoods. And we have  to be honest that bonding for projects like this,   it does come with long-term interest cost and we  need to make sure that we are making the right   investments at the right time. I do believe that  waiting until next year when this was originally   in the CIP would allow us to gather data, gather  policies, gather d guidelines and equipment usage.   We heard today that there was a lot of things that  we would like to see. I thank Chief Sullivan for   being willing to be amendable to those things. And  yet I think about my time on the council, how much   we have pushed back on other departments who've  come forward and they've not had that information   and we've delayed those things because that  information was not readily available. That is not   a slight on Witchaw Police Department. Again, I'm  very grateful for the sacrifice and service that   you all give to this community. Um, and I have, as  you all know, voted in favor of the equipment that   you needed to protect lives, but I do not believe  that this is the right investment at the right   time. And with that, I cannot be supportive today  of both one and two. I will not be supportive at   all. Thank you very much, Council Member Joseph.  Council member Ballard, I have thought. Thank you,   Mayor. Um well, I share a lot of the same  thoughts, questions, and concerns as all of   my colleagues, um Council Member Johnston, Hoisel,  and um Shephard. I worry about the policy portion.   We talk about policy what seems like sometimes too  late in the conversation. And so I know we don't   want to delay, but is there any appetite to delay  for a week to get some type of policy in place?   I'm just just for conversation. I just am curious  what my colleagues think. But I do think that is   um an important piece and um I've received  several messages since we've been sitting   here actually all day um and when it was on the  agenda a couple weeks ago. So, I just am curious   um what my colleagues think about the policy  portion. I actually have a question maybe to   ask to staff. Uh how soon can you get a policy  uh and with the concerns that were raised so far?   very quickly. I mean, I'm I'm confused about  concerns because we've been using robots for   30 years and this is what we've always done.  Continuously improved those capabilities. I was   out there Eastern night. We said we could  really have used spot out here because we   had we did not have the ability to effectively  communicate with our subject. And our goal there   was to save his life and to prevent any type of  lethal confrontation. Even though there there was   a firearm involved, communication is everything.  And the ability to get this this is an extension   of what we already do and have been doing. So,  but as I said before, whether we approve it today   or we or not to satisfy any concerns of council  around policy, that is something that we will do   very quickly and are happy to do it. We are very  transparent police department. That is why we have   our transparency portal and we're glad to share  whatever information council would like us to   with the public. Thank you, Chief. Council member  Shepard. Thank you, Mayor, and thank you, Chief,   for that. Uh, to Council Member Ballard's point,  I actually last night had the opportunity because   I was really wrestling with this, as I've shared  with many people. It's it's a tough situation to   be in. Um, my job is to listen to the constituents  in my district, and many times that is also an   uncomfortable situation to be in. um and they've  made it clear that they are not overwhelmingly   at a point where they could support this type of  investment. But to me, it's not about us crafting   a policy that we want to see. It's about giving  the community an opportunity to engage with law   enforcement and building that trustworthy process  that we talked about building when again I hate   to bring up the sales tax again, but I think that  was the loud and clear message that I take away   is people want investment in these things. they're  not opposed to them. They want to be a part of the   process of building out policy guidelines  and understanding the data. And in fact,   in the CIP budget, uh WPD states very clearly and  powerfully that I mean, and they've been doing   it. They've been engaging with community. So, I  wonder what it would look like for uh during one   of their quarterly community input and listening  sessions to take this out to the community and if   nothing else, give the community to um be heard  and also work alongside our police department   to come to an understanding of what these robot  dogs are for and the impact that it would have   long term. Council member Tuttle. Thank you. And  I may have more comments in in a bit depending   on how this conversation goes, but I I am going  to be supportive today. Um, I come from a law   enforcement family and Miss Nancy, and I'm sorry  I didn't catch her last name, but when you made   the comment of how do we explain to the SWAT team  and the SWAT team's family that we're getting one,   that truly resonated with me. So, I just want  to say thank you for being here. I know you   came for the proclamation. and you've been here  a long time, but your your words were certainly   not lost on me, and I appreciate that. Um, I  I also trust our police department. You have a   very small part of the CIP. You have a large part  of our operating budget because of personnel. So,   you don't ask for a great deal in the CIP, and  this was a request that came to us. Um, the world   is incredibly unpredictable right now, especially  with everything that's happening in Iran today.   Um, but the one thing that is consistent is  this council's keeping our police officers,   our firefighters, our first responders safety as  paramount, as well as our community members. So,   um, I would not be supportive of a delay um  because we had this as an agenda item five,   six weeks ago, then we did a workshop and then  now we've waited a couple more weeks. I think   we've been talking about this for well over two  months. And so there's been multiple opportunities   for community engagement. Um I understand we need  to craft policy. I'm not opposed to that, but we   probably couldn't craft have community input  and approve a policy in a week. And the reason   that I feel deadline driven is with Riverfest  coming up and Chief Sullivan and I have talked   significantly to be able to place an order, have  it delivered, and have staff trained to be able   to utilize it seems to be a concern of the chief  and of the Witchaw Police Department. And you are   the content experts, and I trust you. So, I would  like to see us take action today so that we can be   deadline driven for Riverfest. Thank you, Council  Member Ballard. Thank you, Mayor. Uh, thank you,   Chief, for for sharing that. Um, I would just  my comment to that would be we don't know what   we don't know. And so, with the new technology,  I've just received several comments, questions,   and concerns. So, that's why I just was proposing  the policy um conversation to see what my   colleagues thought. Council member Hoheisle. Thank  you, Mayor. I I'm okay with delaying until policy,   but that's again me, my perspective. Um I do see  that the the public does feel left out of a lot of   these conversations. I don't know what that looks  like, but um it is something I would be open to.   Vice Mayor Glascop. Thank you, Mayor. I want to  echo everything that council member Tuttle said   and I agree with her whole wholeheartedly. Um I  think this is the first time that a majority of   my constituents speak on any specific item. Uh  three of the four speakers from my district and   all three offer different perspectives. Um I think  to Reed's comments were able to um balance other   priorities in the city as well including flooding  and I think we need to take that seriously. Uh to   Vincent's point regarding policies, yes, we should  have policies in place and yes, we have policies   um that make sure that we protect private citizens  and when we're talking about non-lethal ordinances   as well, that's something that should be  paramount. And to Nancy, thank you for speaking. I   think your comments um to Council Member Tuttles's  points struck me um in asking the question of   which of these departments do I choose and which  do I elevate their safety uh beyond the other and   that's not a decision that I'm willing to make  from this bench because I believe all of our law   enforcement officers need the help um that they  are asking for in these circumstances and if this   can help mitigate the loss of life um my paramount  uh view in every decision I make up here is how to   protect life. And I think that this is a way to do  that very tangibly. And so um I just want to say   thank you for coming up there and speaking.  I want to thank everybody for coming up and   speaking. I think all of you uh act in good faith  when it comes to these conversations. I think of   the last line of duty death we had um could have  been mitigated uh with this technology and that's   something that isn't lost on me as And I also want  to say probably in conclusion of these comments is   that we're a representative republic and that we  don't govern solely by the will of a democratic   vote on every single issue. And that's because our  job is to be able to take the decisions that we're   given and be able to make educated choices based  on those decisions from this bench. And I think   we should all keep that in mind in decisions we  make as well. And so I would not support delay to   the same members same points that council member  Tuttle has. Um I think often and I'm not saying   this is the intention by any means. I think often  delay is sometimes a way to just keep pushing   things forward and forward and forward. I think  we have the information. The public's been given   opportunity to speak about it. We've had a um town  hall about it and a majority of the constituents   that have reached out to me, not exclusively as we  heard from today, but a majority my constituents   that have reached out to me have been supportive  of this and when I ran for this city was talking   about how we can fully fund the Witchaw Police  Department and Fire Department. And that's been   my commitment from this bench is when um things  are needed and there are very few times I've seen   the chief lean this hard into something um saying  that it is a necessity for the department. and I   don't take that lightly as well. So, I would not  support delay. Um, and I can also count to four   and I know that we'll likely um get one um today  if not uh one in the near future. But I think this   is a necessity for our police department. Council  member Shepard. Thank you, Mayor. And as always,   I really appreciate the diverse thought process  and philosophy present here. Gives me a lot to   think about. So, let me add to that color that  we have in the conversation happening right now.   I support the public police department  and yes, we are in a Democratic Republic   and I've made votes up here that did not align  with my constituents and I stood behind that,   didn't apologize for those votes and my job was to  mobilize that opinion and helping them understand   why I voted the way I did. So, Chief WPD, if you  all ever want to have a conversation one-on-one   about why I feel the way that I feel, I welcome  that. Um, I'm going to stand by my vote today. Um,   even when you can count to four, um, Dr. King  often said, just because something is just   doesn't make it right. And so, it's important  for us to recognize that we can make votes up   here that may align with what we agree to or have  advocated for. It doesn't mean that it's going to   resonate with everyone. And that's my biggest  concern here. I understand why you need this   investment. My constituents are telling me they  don't. And I I think that that would actually   create more problems in terms of the perception  of Witchaw Police Department if we don't take the   time to hit the pause button, engage, mobilize  the opinion, and actually look at creating a   robust policy that meets the community where they  are. With that, I don't think I have anything else   left to say. Council member Johnston. Thank you,  Mayor. I'll echo those thoughts. I do support the   police department. I've always supported them  and I still will do it in the future. I think   this is a question about priorities. Uh none of  our peer cities on I35 corridor have this. That   doesn't mean we shouldn't, but uh they don't.  Um on technology, it maybe it's rising now,   but eventually it will fall. It will go down.  Um and I just think it's about priorities.   Where do we want to spend our money? Talk about  CIP a little bit. CIP is mainly stra staff driven.   Um then those things come to vote before us and  our constituents give us feedback on on what they   want and don't want. So I don't think everything  in the CIP is going to happen. Uh most of it does.   There's no doubt. But it is staff driven. I know  we do approve it, but we don't go every line item,   get a report over every line item over the next  10 years and and approve every line item. That's   why it comes before city council. So, like I said,  this is a very tough vote. Um, I think it's about   priorities. It's all money. Doesn't matter if it's  our budget, our CIP. It's all taxpayers dollars   and most of it is property tax. Um, and so I just  think it's about priorities. I see a lot of other   needs in the community. I agree that I think  libraries um parks and wreck should be funded   better than they are. Um and I think we need  to think about their priorities going forward. Thank you to each of the council  members for your perspective. Um,   I would like to know from the chief if we  approved at least one of these um robotic   um technological items, would you be able to  help craft policy and get feedback from the   uh different uh districts because there are  six districts uh before it gets deployed? Yeah, absolutely. We've done it before. I mean,  I just want to be clear that before we purchased   new technology, we had listening sessions. This  is a continuation of what we've always done.   This is robotics. We've always had them. That's  the reason that that wasn't done. But it's easy   enough to go back there if it makes people feel  more comfortable. This is just a robot just that   We have robots now. This one has legs that enables  it to get places that our current robots cannot.   That means they're able to get there in very  sensitive, very critical situations where we   need to be able to communicate with someone who's  in the midst of a crisis or we need to get to an   object. When I first came here, I wasn't here  very long. that I was the first bomb job I was   at. That was the problem that we came up with. We  had antiquidated robots. We were not able to what   I consider I've been overseeing bomb squad for 12  years in Philadelphia. In my in in my estimation,   we were putting we were putting the technician at  unnecessary risk because of the inability of the   robot. And it's no different than what I've seen  on SWAT jobs. Been a SWAT officer, supervisor,   commander. I know I've used robotics throughout  my entire career. I understand the importance of   them and I've seen hundreds of times how they  enable us to resolve things without anyone   getting hurt. And that is the purpose of SWAT.  Save lives. that is any any operator will tell   you that's the reason that we that they exist.  If I can get them on scene to a situation, I   know the likelihood of that ending peacefully just  increases exponentially. But in order to do that,   I need to be able to communicate with the person  and do so effectively. Loud hailing, as we call   it, is the worst way to do it. That's what we had  to do the other night. it can actually aggravate   the situation. We want to have a one-on-one  conversation. We want to be able to see if we can   identify where the weapon is because the more  intelligence that we have, the better opportunity   we have to have a plan in place that will once we  execute it will result in the saving of a life. So   that's the long answer, Mayor. And I am passionate  about this because I got to be honest with you.   when we talk about money or higher  priorities. I understand what you're saying,   but from my perspective, it's very hard to put  a dollar amount on the life of a bomb tech or a   SWAT operator. Equally important, a member of the  public who's having a crisis like that the person   did on Sunday, but we're also doing something  extremely dangerous and we needed to resolve that.   and we did and we could have desperately used this  technology. So I will do whatever council requires   of me. I would like to move forward. Police  department is 2% of the CIP. So when it comes to   the CIP, we don't ask for a lot. The other thing  that I really want to make clear is that when I   came here, I was astounded of how far backward  this department, how poorly equipped they were   with technology. So sometimes when I hear about  how much that how much technology I've bought,   I'm just trying to get us up to where we should  be. And that was there's a lot of work involved   there. this department. You know, Sunday night,  we all have to cuddle into an SUV and try to watch   the video and try to make very important decisions  because we do lack a lot of technology. And that   has been my goal. And yes, I know nobody else has  this in this area, but to me, my goal is to make   sure that our department, our city has the best  technology available. And this is something that's   seven years old. We didn't decide that, oh well,  that looks interesting. That looks sexy. Let's   run out and buy it. We sat back. We watched. We  talked to people that utilize it. We found out   what they utilize it for, how successful it's  been in their utilization, confirmed that the   claims made, our claims met, that it will perform  as designed. Captain Kulie has done an incredible   job of scoping this out, of getting all the  details, asking the hard questions. This just   isn't just something that we decided to do. This  was approved. We moved it up in the CIB because   Captain Kulie had this project ready to go. So  when there was a availability in the CIV CIP, we   followed the process to make sure that it could be  moved up and it it has been approved in the CIP.   So, this council will let me know what they need  me to do to get this to move forward. Whether it   be one dog or two dogs, we will make that happen.  Thank you, Chief C. Vice Mayor Glasco. Thank you,   Mayor. With a motion to approve the initiation of  the project funding, the purchase of Spot Robotic   Dogs and RACO, Inc., and the bonding resolution,  and authorize the necessary signatures. Second   motion, second discussion. Again, this is for  two dogs versus one. I will have a substitute   motion. My substitute motion is I move that  we purchase the spot robotic dog singular for   Matico Inc. and the bonding resolution  and authorize the necessary signatures. Second. Motion second. discussion again. Uh,  Council Member Tuttle, thank you. I have a   Jennifer, I'm not sure if it's a substitute motion  or a friendly amendment. Go ahead. Um what I would   like to see is if we go forward with one today I  am fearful what will happen is that we'll just get   one and things will move on and data has been  requested policy has been requested efficacy   of this has been requested and so what I would  like to see as a substitute motion is if today we   move forward with just one that the caveat is also  placed that this item come back to us on July 7th.   with a data update, with policy update, we've  had chance to get more community input and the   chief can decide at that point if we are in need  of the second robotic dog. I'm in favor of that.   Is there a second? Second, if I may, mayor,  also um for the bonding resolution right now,   the bonding resolution is drafted  for two. Um if we're the motion to   um uh uh approve just one dog would  the bonding resolution would need to   be modified accordingly if that could  just be a friendly amendment to modify   the bonding resolution to apply to one  dog. Thank you. So would that be 330,000? I guess if Mark's here exactly half I  I'm just certain suspecting if we could   maybe just authorize bonding resolution is as  needed determined by finance to purchase one. So, we have a current motion that has been  seconded that includes uh council member   Tuttles's addition. So, this motion I will read  again. I move that the council initiate the   project funding, the purchase of spot robotic  dog from Radico, Inc. and the modified bonding   resolution and authorized necessary signatures.  Is that accurate? Thank you. So, we have a motion   and seconded by Coun Well, Council Member Hohisel  had um seconded it. Okay. Any further discussion?   Yes. We just need to make sure that we include my  substitment to the substitute motion. I don't want   this to get lost. Chief, thank you. And I'm sorry.  I feel like we have put you through lots of hoops   and taken lots of time from the very important  work that you and your team has done. And my fear,   as I mentioned, is that, you know, we're going  to get, I think, if I can count the votes,   one today. Um, but I don't want our SWAT team to  be forgotten in the process. We can celebrate the   success of potentially one, but I I don't  want any part of our city of Witchah team,   let alone our police department to feel that  they're not being protected. And and I do want   to make a quick caveat. I know it's been a long  meeting, but I do appreciate council member,   council member Ballard, Johnston, Oliver Shepard,  your comments. I believe library, I believe park.   I've been an adamant supporter of, you know, all  of those. But this is a little different for me   just because lives are actually in danger.  So I want to make sure that July 7th date is   highlighted and not forgotten in the motion. Thank  you. Vice Mayor Glascock, do we have to vote on   the amendment to the substitute or Well, if it  was accepted as a friendly amendment um and I   thought I saw a head not okay then I don't think  it requires a vote. And if I could just add that   we have received information that we think the  bonding resolution amount should be $340,000   instead of the current 650 $340,000. Yes, Mayor.  Thank you, Council Member Shepard. Thank you,   Mayor. Um again, want to appreciate I appreciate  all the advocacy that I feel is happening here.   I just feel the need to reiterate um if and  when anybody from WPD would like to hear from   me directly about my thoughts and why my vote I  believe that's my obligation and I want to be able   to do that. I believe in public safety. I strongly  support our Witchaw Police Department and I think   I've already stated as to why I'm voting the way  that I am today. It's not that I don't value the   SWAT team or that I that I'm not um that I'm  ignorant enough to believe that they do not   put themselves at risk every single day. They do  and I'm grateful and I believe what I have heard   from my constituents is that we we have work to do  to bridge the gap. I don't believe that work is on   WPD alone and I'm willing to work with WPD to help  bridge that gap. Thank you. With that, we have a   motion and a second. Any further discussion? I  see none. Madame clerk, please open the role. Motion passes. 43. Madame clerk, please call  the next item. Simplifying short-term rental   license applications, amending ordinance section  3.40. 40.080 of the code of the city of Witchaw. Thanks, Shannita. Thank you, councel. Navier Tyler  Johnson with the law department. I hope I didn't   jinx us by including simplifying uh in the tagline  of this item, but hopefully at least a little less   complicated. Um, what we've got is short-term  rental license ordinance. We've had that since   2023 based on an ordinance adopted by city  council. Under this ordinance, the application   requires several different signatures uh to be  notorized. Three of them are in the ordinance,   just part of the application process. Uh but at  the same time, the finance department uh and the   licensing office are trying to modernize our uh  application process, put things more online, more   digital to enhance customer service, and decrease  the amount of time that we spend uh dealing   with things administratively. Um, these notary  requirements, which turns out are totally unique   for short-term rental licensing as opposed to any  other licenses that we have, haven't provided us   any type of identity security or anything about  the property that we thought might come up in   terms of short-term rental licenses. Uh, this is  distinct from maybe public safety issues that have   come up with short-term rentals. And we've gotten  a question about that. We're trying to collect the   data, work with WPD on that. We don't categorize,  as I understand it, incidents based on short-term   rental versus uh traditional residential property.  We're trying to collect that information. This   notary requirement, though, hasn't really provided  us much benefit, but it seems to get in the way of   everybody being able to submit their documents  online. Uh you can't notoriize digitally. They   have to upload a PDF and it just is creating some  additional barriers um for the in integration into   our online platform. And at that point, I'll  hand over to our FA finance department to talk   about some of the benefits that have come from  that process. Thanks, Mark. Good afternoon. Mark   Manning with the Department of Finance. I just  wanted to elaborate on some of the things Nate   mentioned, why this is strategically important  for the finance department. Uh he mentioned we're   trying to transition to an online licensing model.  And uh basically the notoriization requirement was   a hurdle for us that we could not overcome so  that we could add uh these to our licensing uh   online licensing process. I want to tell you  briefly how we're doing that. Uh this is an   initiative that our city treasurer Shayla Franklin  took on about a year or so ago and she's done a   fantastic job about it. Uh but I wanted to give  you an update on some of the things she's done.   We will not probably put every single license  online. We have some licenses literally we have   one applicant for. So we're probably not going  to invest for one applicant. But our strategy   was to use our highest volume licenses and then to  schedule them based on the highest probability of   when those applications were due and that's going  to drive the schedule that I'm going to show you.   By the way, our feedback has been very very good.  Uh we have had one person uh that gave us negative   feedback and that was simply because they were  having challenges on the computer getting getting   their computer and Shayla helped that person  uh fix their computer so they could access our   site. So that was the only feedback that we've had  that was uh not positive. We actually implemented   tobacco licenses in November. And I gave you kind  of order of magnitude approximately the number of   applications we would expect in a normal year.  Tobacco licenses I think all expire in December.   That's why we did that one in November. Uh you  approved a licensing or a lodging license I think   uh last year that took effect on March 31st.  So that's why we chose to do it next so that   we could get everybody's initial application for  the lodging establishment online. Pools of course   are pretty active during the summertime, so we  wanted to get them taken care of. Fireworks and   the related transient merchant license that a  lot of the fireworks vendors need. Obviously,   that's coming up with the Fourth of July, so we  prioritize them next. And then finally, uh we   have drinking establishments and entertainment  establishments. That one's pretty complicated.   We originally wanted to do that early, but for  the timing reasons I noted, we pushed it back to   April. Uh we will uh do short-term rentals in  May based on your approval. Uh if you approve   this today, uh then we'll probably attack mobile  food vendors and finally we'll finish up with our   round one of doing massage therapy businesses and  massage therapist uh probably in June. At that   point, we'll reevaluate. We will have knocked  out most of the major licenses that we have.   Uh we'll evaluate whether the cost benefit is  there for the remaining licenses. Uh but again,   your approval of this today will help us in our  effort to uh expand our online licensing effort.   So with that, if you have any questions, I'm sure  Nate would be happy to come up and answer them. Thank you, Mark, and thank you, Nate.  Council member Glasco, I'll keep it short,   Mark. Thank you. This is a huge win, I think, for  streamlining, and I know this is just about the   short-term rental license, but again, I just want  to hail your uh team's success fully on the online   um application process. I've heard from businesses  already this is a success. I'll hear from a lot   more businesses in April. Uh especially once  the drinking establishment uh portion is online,   but this is a huge win to streamline businesses  and get government out of the way for private   sector to be uh successful. So, thank you on this  and thank you to Luc for bringing this as well.   Any further questions for staff? I see none. Thank  you. We'll now open it up for public comment. Vince Hanok from Delano. I'll make this quick. I  think anytime we can make bureaucracy streamlined,   everybody wins. We're all in agreement on that.  I do have some concerns. In the last six months,   we had a short-term rental in Deleno above uh  where our former liquor store was that involved   a shooting. And this was the original reason why  short-term rentals had to become licensed in this   town was because people were using them as party  houses. I believe that we have an opportunity to   increase our transparency in this and the fact  that uh we've just had no way of knowing which   are the short-term rentals, which are they  not. The part that concerns me the most is   my own community policing officer has been met  with a brick wall when he's tried to find out   where the STRs are in our neighborhood. We  can't have that. So, I'm asking that we get   some staff behind the scenes to work around  and say our community policing officers need   to know where the short-term rentals are. 95% of  them are probably going to be without problems,   but the ones that have problems, they need to  be able to get on that and they need to find   out who they can get a hold of in emergency  situation. So, thank you. Appreciate you all. I see no other individuals who would  like to speak. We will now bring it   back to the bench. And with that, um, I  again appreciate streamlining services   and especially online capabilities. Um,  that is how our community is able to,   um, access information but also apply quickly  and be in compliance. So, uh, with that,   I will move to approve the ordinance on first  reading and authorize the necessary signatures.   Second. Motion. Second. Discussion. I see none.  Madam clerk, please open the role. Motion passes   70. Madame clerk, please call the next item. Lease  agreement for city-owned property at 329 North Me. Hello. Good afternoon. Uh Jerry  Ford with development services.   The item before you today is the lease agreement  for the space at 329 Northme, a property located   in the Oldtown Cinema Garage Retail Center. This  city-owned parking garage located in the 300 block   of Northme includes a 17,663 square foot of retail  space which is divided into seven units. The   seven units are managed by a property management  company on behalf of the city. One of these units   containing 2,910 square feet is currently leased  to a retailer. This tenant has been in occupancy   since the building was constructed and opened in  2003. The previous lease agreement dated February   13th of 2020 did expire on December 31st of last  year. And that previous lease format is a gross   modified lease. The proposed agreement is in the  new format of a triple net lease. Under the terms   of the previous lease, the tenant was responsible  for the maintenance, repairs, replacements, and   restoration of the lease premises, excluding any  of the structural or HVAC systems. The previous   lease had an annual rent of $41,000 or the  equivalent of $149 per square foot. The rent was   $3,000 a month for the months January through  November. and in the 12th month 8,000 for that   total of 41,000. Holdover rent was collected  for the months of January, February, and March   of this year in the amount of 4500, which is 1.5  times of that of the $3,000 monthly rate. This   just gives you a a visual of what that previous  lease looks like in comparison to the new lease.   Um, the new annual rent would be $55,290  and the lease rate is at $19 a square foot. Taking a look at all the units that are  currently in place. Um, sorry for the error in   the formatting, but um, those properties that have  an abstract are now under the triple net format.   We do have a variety of the lease rental rates  from $14.74 a square foot to $20 a square foot.   Um most of which the $19 a square foot property  are those that are under the triple net lease   rate. So right now the property projected to  have a gross annual rent revenue of $338,932. Over the course of the proposed lease term of  three years, the city will generate 165,870 in   gross revenue for this space. The additional rent  portion of the lease rate will be monitored and   adjusted accordingly. A 6% leasing commission  in the amount of 9,95220 will be split amongst   the city's management company/leasasing  agent and the tenants leasing agent.   If the option to renew is exercised, the  gross revenue of the optioned period is an   additional 183,330 and an additional 10,99980  will be owed as commission. And with that,   it is recommended that the city council approve  the lease agreement and authorize all any all   and any necessary signatures. And I stand for  questions. Thank you, Jerry. Questions for staff.   I have a couple questions. I wanted to know um how  much do these tenants pay in terms of parking and   what is the contract right now? What's the actual  monthly rate? Yes. So, parking is not a separate   line item in the lease. Parking is required per  city code. Um and the city does receive rental   revenue from the the property and pays into the  parking fund. Um we have different requirements   for the different uses. Some properties if  you if I go back and show you um back back for instance the two parcels the last two on  the on the right 323 and 329 those properties   are almost identical in size but they have  different parking requirements because one   is a restaurant and one is a retailer. Um but  in total right now the the city does have 127   parking stall requirement for those businesses  in place which is the equivalent of $952.50 per   month. And right now we pay um two times a year  we'll go in and reimburse the parking fund for   the six months at a time. So, is it accurate  to say that per parking stall per month is   $7.50? That is correct. We still are obliged to  the current rate that everybody else pays. I find   that very alarming. Uh knowing that our parking  fund is um become a source of lots of conversation   over the years. Um and knowing that they're still  paying 1990s prices. And I know this because we   had this conversation in the latter half of 2024.  Um this was a major concern knowing that they're   still paying again 1990s prices that's 30 years  old. Um I find that very perplexing. So I'd like   to know what are the next steps regarding  how to actually make sure that it at least   maintains the parking lots, right? because there  are potholes in the parking lots or any painting   improvements so that you can actually visibly  see parking stalls. Can you address that? Uh I   can't to only an extent because I'm not involved  with the parking plan and the implementation of   um its maintenance programming. Um, but as it was  noted earlier today, when payments are received   into the parking fund, the parking fund has the  discretion to implement repairs as necessary,   where necessary to any of the parking  infrastructure. Um, I'm just going to put it   again. Uh, I think assistant city manager Troy is  going to come up, but I'm concerned because I've   seen over the last four years multiple issues,  whether it's a homicide, shootings, vandalism,   illegal racing in the parking garage  abuted to these retail spaces. And so,   um, I've heard of concerns regarding safety both  from police officers as well as residents. Um, but   those things cost in order to make improvements  to that garage and $7.50 per stall per month. Um,   I don't know if that even pays for the parking  arm. How much is the parking arm? Assistant   city manager Troy. So, the there is no parking  arm. Um, what I will tell you is yes, the $7.50   50 cents per space per month is two decade  old rate structures and actually covers   very little cost. Uh the the the dollars that we  collect currently through Oldtown uh and on the   numbers in front of me I want to say it's about  $250,000 a year. It's a fraction of really what   um we should be collecting given the volume of  tenants that are out there. So, uh, if you'll   recall, uh, last year as we amended the car  park agreement and we started implementing the,   uh, 2019 parking multi parking and multimmoal plan  strategies. We excluded Oldtown and we excluded   Deleno. We excluded Oldtown uh at their request  following um a CI application that was uh also   denied by city council. Uh there was an attempt  uh or a suggestion by folks within the Oldtown   Association that they were going to petition the  state to amend the CI act to then also account for   uh sales tax on top of alcohol sales which  currently doesn't um isn't taken into   consideration for under the C act. So uh one of  the biggest issues we had last year was we didn't   think that the that the C even in its base form  would generate enough sales tax uh to then offset   the cost of expanding parking management into  Oldtown. Uh but we we we removed Oldtown from   the implementation strategies that time. I can  tell you since then a bill has been introduced   at the state legislature. Uh but knowing and  understanding we're now into veto week. Uh we   probably don't anticipate that that bill will come  out of committee session or otherwise. So yes,   here probably in the near future uh one of  our recommendations is going to go back and   uh recommend the expansion of parking management  into the Oldtown area uh so that we can again   now start investing back into our assets. The  reason why we've been unable to invest in these   assets today is because we don't have a parking  management strategy in Oldtown. That the revenues   that we are receiving aren't enough uh to invest  in the equipment, invest invest in the access   controls to create a cleaner, safer environment  in and around Oldtown. So, at this point in time,   we've really just kind of been holding off waiting  to see uh how this was going to play off play   out over the the last six to nine months. we have  probably a better indication of where that's going   at this point and we'll uh come back to you all  with a strategy here probably in the next couple   of weeks on how to uh introduce and implement  parking management in Oldtown. How that will   then allow us to invest in some of the access  controls, control arms, gates much like we're   doing downtown which will then help improve safety  security. Uh we've talked at the workshop about uh   out a an RFP for security cameras and all of our  parking structures. Uh and so you're starting to   see our investment back into downtown and into our  assets uh as a result of these parking management   strategies. Conversations over the next couple  weeks will be do we expand that into Oldtown?   Uh kind of given what we know now. Hopefully  that expands on your questions. Thank you,   Council Member Ballard. Thank you, Mayor. Um quick  question. I know we've talked a lot about parking.   Um, if parking changes in any way in Oldtown, will  that affect the rent rate that we're that has been   negotiated now? Because I know I don't know how  much of their rent of the $7.50 per spot goes to   the parking fund. I just in my mind their rent  would go down. But that's one of my questions.   That's a great question. the way we have drafted  the lease because we've also thought of that uh   the lease is drafted where that is a little bit  ambiguous. It is not a separate line item. So   parking is included with their rental space but  it is not going it will not cause a deduction in   the rental rate. But are you transferring a fee  now into the parking? We we are taking from our   gross our net revenue and and our gross revenue  and transferring funds to the parking fund but it   is not so why would their rent not go down if it's  including parking now and that I'm just trying   to understand. Sure. No, I don't get it. That's  okay. Parking is required by code and different   properties have different requirements based on  their use. Um what we're providing them is that   that suitability of having parking on site that  they can use so they're code compliant. They're   not leasing any particular stalls or reserved  spacing at all. They just have access to parking.   Um with the parking if it does shift in any way  where the public is maybe responsible for the   parking instead of the the property owner. um that  would not cause a deduction in the rent is because   the way the lease is written. Okay. Thank you.  You're welcome. Council member Johnston. Thank   you, Jerry. Quick question. Yes. If a if a  somebody breaks a window and the old lease,   the tenant would pay for that and the new lease.  Yes. The landlord, the city would pay for that.   Yes. Okay. Okay. Just to be clear, that's a  little bit unusual, isn't it? In gross modified,   no. know the property owner would generally be  responsible for the maintenance of their area   and that would qualify um typically in uh the  the land owner the the property manager would   be responsible for major capital expenditures.  So things that are roof, structure, um, HVAC   related. Okay. Every triple net lease I've been a  given to a tenant or something, if HVAC went out,   they're responsible. If a window's broken, they're  responsible, not the landlord. Uh, no. This is   different. No. What happens is those costs are um  they are passed down to that's that's part of the   additional rent. So what we estimate to maintain  that property is the $9 a square foot. And so if   our maintenance costs of that facility decrease  over a a year, then that rent could be reduced. If   they were to be increased over a year, they could  they would be required to pay that additional   rent. So the accounting at the end of the year,  I guess it's on a calendar year, I would guess,   right? Yes. to the calendar year. If you had to  replace the HVAC, that cost would directly be   for that tenant would go into the accounting there  part of the $9. And if it ends up being $12, then   they have to pay $12 a square foot. Am I correct?  The common area maintenance type costs are rel are   on a percentage basis. So for this particular  particular lease, they have a 16.48 percentage   interest in the overall structure of the facility.  So, anything that is structural related or not   structural related, but property related that  would apply to everybody. Um, they would only pay   16%. So, I guess I I'm guess I'm not making myself  clear. Um, HVAC for just let's use a window. It's   their window. It gets broken. Landlord pays  for it. City pays for it. Yes. That's unusual   on a triple net lease. Generally, the tenant  pays for that. Every lease I've ever seen, the   tenant pays for that. I just wonder why the tenant  wouldn't pay for that in this case. Those costs   are passed on to that the tenant as a percent of  the whole thing. Yes. Okay. I find that unusual,   but okay. Long as we cover that cost, but the  other tenants going to have to pay for his window.   So, um, the other thing I have I just want to  state is when we look at parking, I think we need   to go go back to those oldtown business owners and  say, "Okay, let's let's get a C together. Let's   raise that rent per per space or we have to put  a parking in there." So, I think we need to have   a conversation with them and say and and we are  okay. um because we doesn't look like the state or   the governor is going to pass that. So can still  do it on other things. It just wouldn't be on   alcohol. The tax wouldn't be the C. So thank you  Jerry. You're welcome. Thank you. I see no further   questions from the council. We will now open  it up for public comment. I see no one from the   public here. We will bring it back to the bench.  This is in council member Ballard's district.   Thank you, mayor. I move to approve the lease  agreement and authorize the necessary signatures.   Second. Motion second. Discussion. Seeing  none. Madame clerk, please open the role. Motion passes. 70. Madame clerk,  please call the next item. 2025   Witchaw Land Bank annual report  and consideration of dissolution. Good afternoon, mayor and council members.  My name is Carmen Hoffine and I'm the real   property section manager with the  Department of Housing and Community   Services and I'm here to present on the  Witchaw Land Bank 2025 annual report. For a little bit of background, the Witchaw Land  Bank was established in 2021. The land bank may   acquire, hold, manage, and convey property to  convert to productive use. Primary activity   will be in neighborhoods within the established  central area in Witchah. Additional focus is   underutilized or distressed properties, and it was  recommended in the 2019 Places for People Plan.   The Witchaw Land Bank is required to make an  informal and unawited annual report to the   city council on or before April 15 of each year.  The report includes receipts and dispersements   from all funds under its control, all property  transactions occurring each year, inventory of   all property held by the land bank. The report  must be pub published in the city newspaper. The   2025 Witchaw Land Bank annual report includes sale  of the remaining two properties located at 1011   North Ash and 2046 East 9th Streets, receipt of  13,375 in sale proceeds from the sale of landbank   properties, no remaining property inventory or  financial assets as of December 31st of 2025.   Prior to 2025, staff dedicated significant time  and effort to land bank activities, including   evaluating potential properties, engaging property  owner owners before tax sales and meeting with   Sedick County regard regarding statutory  interpret interpretation. Despite that work,   progress has been limited. The lack of nonCDBG  funding sources has constrained the land bank's   ability to acquire and maintain properties.  Activity in 2025 was minimal. The board did   not convene in 2025 due to a lack of actionable  business. The only activity completed in 2025 was   the sale of the remaining two properties. The land  bank ended the year with no remaining inventory,   no active pipeline, and no assets under  management. Due to lack of activity and funding   challenges, staff recommends dissolution of the  Witchaw Land Bank. For financial consideration,   the Witchaw Land Bank received $13,375 in proceeds  from the sale of its remaining two properties. The   sale proceeds were returned to the CDBG program  as program income because the properties were   acquired and demolished using CDBG funds. For  legal considerations, the report fulfills the   Witchaw Land Bank's duty to present an informal  and unawudited annual report of the prior year's   activities on or before April 15th of each year.  The report will also be published in the official   city newspaper. Dissolution of the Witchaw Land  Bank will require approval of an ordinance by   the city council. Should circumstances change,  the Witchaw Land Bank could be reestablished in   the future. We recommend that the city council  receives and files the 2025 Witchaw Land Bank   annual report and direct staff to prepare an  ordinance for the dissolution of the Witchaw   Land Bank. And I stand for questions. Thank you,  Carmen. Council member Hohheisle. Thank you,   Mayor. Um so there was no willingness from county  to talk about the um rein interpretation of some   of the rules that would help with the land  bank carrying the debt for example over on the   properties that are going to auction. from what  so I wasn't exactly a part of that but from what   I've heard especially in conversations that were  had previously there were multiple conversations   um from staff with county and I also I do have  Lance Dixon here who was a big part of that he   may be able to add to that as far as what those  conversations may have been at that time but there   were several attempts to try to figure out how we  can make it work and alleviate that barrier. Okay.   What are some other options that we could use? Um  I I know they talked about increasing funding into   the land bank. Um is that similar to what some of  the other land banks around the state are doing? I know that. So I'm not going to answer to that,  but I will have Lance come up here because I know   Lance Dixon, he's the real property. I'm call  Oh, am I calling Sally up? Okay. Well, then   I'll call Sally up. We We've had plenty of There  was There was research on that. Sorry. Thank you,   Carmen. Sally Stang with the Housing and Community  Services Department. For the record, we did a lot   of outreach to uh different land banks around  the state. uh you know, Consolidated Windot,   Pittsburgh, those that have viable land banks and  their county's interpretation on how to transfer   properties from the tax sale. Very different than  Cedric counties. um city's law department and   county's law department met several times to talk  those through and get it still the ca the county   stood by their interpretation of what they could  do and that they could not um work with us to   streamline the process to bring properties through  the land bank could not or would not well based on   their interpretation let's put it that way okay um  is the land bank required for anything else that   we do um it is not there is only one power that  a land bank holds that the city doesn't already   hold and that is the ability any property that  transfers to a land bank under state statute all   um taxes prior to the current year get wiped out.  That's a power the city doesn't have. It's the   only power the city doesn't have if it wanted to  acquire properties and and then you know try and   reposition them for productive use going forward.  Um, so they they meet once a year essentially now   because there's no actionable items. They haven't  met since December of 2024 when they voted to um   recommend the sale of the two parcels to Habitat  for Humanity. So if there's just nothing on the   agenda, there's no need for them to meet. Correct.  So we're not really using staff time by keeping   the land bank going. Not much at this point. Yes.  Okay. Um, I know we had talked about there being   a potential subcommittee. We are talking about  consolidating um, some of our housing boards,   but I believe in our conversations you said  that the land bank would not be eligible to   be a subcommittee. It had to be its own. That was  the interpretation we got from the law department   because the state statute is very specific  on the board of trustees for a land bank.   So it's specific on the board of trustees but it's  not so specific on correct the affordable housing   review board is just an advisory board create  it's not created under a state statute whereas   the land bank board of trustees is required.  Are there other things that you can look at to   see potential uses with the land bank within I  mean I know we would have to have some changes   potentially some funding going into it but what  are some other uses that you could potentially see   for the land bank? It aligns with the original  plan and policy. I mean a land the land bank   um obviously the activity that was entailed  in 2023. We did a extensive planning and   um outreach to particular neighborhoods identified  by the board of trustees to try and get and   identify those abandoned or vacant parcels and  try to get with those um property owners to   encourage the the transfer of those properties  and unfortunately just didn't get very far.   We had a couple of opportunities um to  acquire a couple of parcels that the fact   that the only funding we had was CDBG made it  challenging. There were a couple of parcels   um that abued I um 135 and the owner was willing  to convert to to transfer those to the land bank.   The problem was we could have never gotten that  those parcels approved under an environmental   review to pass noise mitigation that would keep  them still affordable. So we wouldn't have a CDBG   eligible activity which meant we could not invest  any time or money in them with our current funding   source. So that's an example with where had we  had other funding available because there could   have been potentially a way to activate those  properties but not under the CDBG regulations.   No. So that's why we did um put in a request a  couple of years ago for um a program option for   a little bit of of general fund for that, but it  was not taken up. The road to 21st housing bill,   do you see anything in there that would help  with some of that? Some of the qualifications,   what we could spend money on? No, I don't see  the changes under the road act. Um they're still   going to have the environmental requirements. Uh  we're still going to have to do an environmental   review. they're just streamlining the process.  So, the the noise mitigation is a real thing. Um,   and it can be mitigated, but it's mitigated  through construction materials and the   way that properties are built when they're  adjacent to something that's high noise. And,   you know, we're still going we'd still have that  problem which adds to the expense which pushes   it out of affordability. Okay. I'll have some  comments later on, but I appreciate that. But,   Council Member Shepard, thank you so much. And  Sally, you are uh speaking about the two parcels   in district one that went through the land bank,  which 9inth and Ash. Um I hope folks drive by   there and see the difference that it has made in  that community. Families are getting ready to move   in or have already moved in. They'll be paying  property taxes and I think it's a great example   of what a a thriving land bank could really  do. And as we look around our state, we talk   about the missing middle. talk about transitional  housing and then permanent housing and of course   homelessness there. It's a multi-prong issue  and Wok County has a land bank and Poria has   a land bank. So I I just want to commend you for  the work that you have tried to do to bring some   of these innovative strategies to Witchah and it's  unfortunate that um maybe the interpretation of of   some of the language is not being viewed in a way  that's favorable to us continuing this forward.   I do wonder if this might be a a subject that we  can bring up at the Ambank on in June since we're   already talking about housing. That certainly  won't affect what we're doing today, but   um definitely want to mention that and just make  a comment of gratitude to you and your team. Thank   you, Council Member Ballard. Thank you, Mayor.  Uh Council Member Shepard, I think we Sorry,   I have I think Don't quote me on this. I think  we did talk about this at the onbunk in 2024. Um   I have talked to um Commissioner Batty about it  and he said that it's not that they necessarily   don't want to continue the conversation at the  county. It's at the state level that we need to   um try to work with to allow us to do more, I  guess. Yeah. Thank you so much, uh Council Member   Ballard. Um, so we have the South Central  legislative delegation meeting coming up,   but unfortunately it's at the same time as our  tri-governmental meeting. So maybe if we just send   some concerns or questions to our representation  in Topeka via email, that could suffice. Thank you for that uh information. I actually did  not know that the South Central Kansas delegation   was meeting at the same time as trigo government  and Vice Mayor Glascock just mentioned is there   maybe a possibility to combine. So um I will be  talking with uh the two other entities for tri   government but see if maybe South Central Kansas  could come together as well. So thank you for that   um added bit of information. I see no further  questions from uh the bench. I do, sorry, Sally.   I I do have one. That's because uh Habitat for  Humanity did contact me and I just wanted to know   um if we dissolve this board, but there's  future changes whether at the state level   or the county level, how quickly can this  be set back up? Uh will it delay anything?   I know that there was a lot of work that was  done prior to um we discussing this topic. Can   you address that? Sure. I I actually believe it  could be stood up rather quickly. We have existing   bylaws. We have standard operating procedures. We  have things in place. It would mean coming back   to the city council with an ordinance to restand  it up. Um so I think it could be done in 60 days.   uh any potential change in legislation would  likely give us a heads up pretty far ahead of   time so that we could start the ball rolling to  do that. Um and just to to to address uh council   member Shepard's comment too, I I absolutely love  what Habitat's done with uh 9th and Ash, it didn't   take the land bank to do that though because  there were no back taxes on it. The city owned   that parcel because it was purchased with CDBG  well before the land bank was ever established.   We just transferred those properties into the land  bank. We were testing our SOPs, our policies and   procedures on how we, you know, what activities,  accounting and maintenance and everything would   be put into play when the land bank acquired  a property and then also the policies and   procedures when we made a property available to  the community. So that would have happened even   without the land bank. Thank you, Sally. I see  no further questions. We will now open it up for   public comment. I see no one in the public here  that would like to speak. I will go ahead and move   this item. Oh, sorry, Council Member Hois. Thank  you, Mayor. Um, just a couple of thoughts here.   Um, I do appreciate um the thought. I was actually  thinking that about bringing it up again at the   OnBank. It does tie into housing, which is what I  think um we want the focus of that one to be. also   um places where people has not worked out the way  that we had hoped. Um we we need to rethink this.   We need to rethink infill. We need to rethink um  affordable housing. I talked earlier today about   um making or about trying to include incentives  in the scoring process for things like IRBs.   Um so I honestly I I don't see the point  in shutting the land bank down right now.   um just my own personal thoughts. So I would make  a motion if nobody else is on there uh to simply   receive and file the 2025 land bank annual report  and then hopefully we can have discussions later   on about how to actually fund or utilize on or the  the land bank. Second motion second. Discussion.   C. Vice Mayor Glascott. Mayor with a substitute  motion to receive and file the 2025 Witchaw Land   Bank annual report and direct staff to prepare an  ordinance for the dissolution of the Witchaw Land   Bank. Second. Motion. Second. Any discussion?  I see none. Madam clerk, please open the role. Motion passes 43. Madame clerk, please  open. Please call the next item. Partnership agreement with Witchaw  Collective Impact Republicans. Good morning or good afternoon, Mayor and  Council. Jennifer Maga, city attorney. Um the   item before you is a partnership agreement with  the Witchah Collective impact. And here today to   speak more about more about the the collective  impact um organization are Misty Buckner,   director of public policy management center and I  believe Tyrone Baker from the YMCA. Um but before   you is the agreement itself. And the partnership  agreement is very very um simple. See here the agreement itself is a one-year term. Um  it can be renewed annually automatically but   it can be terminated by either party at any  time. Um basically this agreement states that   the city will support the mission and guiding  principles of the Witchaw Collective impact.   Under the agreement the city will not um have  anything to pay. W collective impact will not   incur costs on behalf of the city but um WCI may  use the city logo and name but it may not make   any statements on behalf of the city or in the  name of the city without the city's approval.   Um the city city's standard contractual  terms and conditions have been included   in the contract. Um with that that's the basics  of the agreement itself which is quite simple.   I will um invite Misty and Tyrone  to talk about the nuts and bolts   or the substance of the agreement uh and the  organization itself. You like to come forward? Good afternoon, Mayor, City Council. I'm Misty  Buckner of the Public Policy and Management   Center. Joining me today is Tyrone Baker, branch  manager at the YMCA. It's really great to be   uh with you today and talk about what I think  is a really positive subject. we are not here   on anything uh controversial today or or tough  things that we're asking you to do. So I'll just   go a little bit about what the Witchaw collective  impact is um and the focus and I would just say   all the good work that's being done by community  members. So collective impact model versus other   models. Um those of you who have been engaged with  us on homelessness task force or housing efforts   or mental health and substance abuse coalition  understand uh what we're trying to do is to get   people to think, plan and act together. Um which  all of you know as well if you have two people   together that's becomes difficult. If you have  two organizations it becomes really difficult.   We're way into the multiples of that to try to  get everybody to move forward. Um, I would say we   have in the last few years moved into somewhere  in between that individual impact to more of a   coordinated impact. And I'm really excited to  to share with you about that progress. Just a   little call out about who's helping to lead this.  Our backbone organization is the Greater Witchaw   YMCA. None of this would be possible without  the funding from Cargill and that support. Um   and definitely want to give a shout out to Witchah  Public Schools for their support um and uh effort   to make this happen. Um as many of you know these  issues whether it's homelessness or youth violence   not one organization can make the change possible.  We'll never program our way out of literacy. We   have to act collectively and that means all hands  in to um make a difference and to turn the tide on   something like this. Um I'm really proud to report  that we have 37 signed partner organizations that   are working on this. Um and there are others right  just like Witchah uh the city of Witchaw has been   a partner and engaging with this uh without a  signed partnership effort. So there are more than   50 organizations who are actively engaged in the  planning uh sharing their ideas helping to promote   um and and engaged with this effort. So just a  shout out that your Witchita library um your park   department, your childare licensing um have all  been helpful in helping to move this work forward.   So thank you to them. So what are the goals um  for this work? Um we have three main areas that we   are working on. One is kindergarten readiness um  which is critical that they come both social and   emotional awareness but also academically ready  to learn. Um we are wanting to Sure children are   reading at level by third grade. you know this  right up until third grade that children are   learning uh to learning to read after third grade  right they have to read to learn and so that's   really important that we hit this milestone and  I think the other part of this is as I mentioned   it's all hands-in right so whether those are  businesses faith-based nonprofits educational   institution how are we all talking about these  goals and how are we all working together also a little bit different with this process  is actual measurements of what we're trying to   achieve. Um so whether it's in kindergarten  or third grade or community mobilization,   we want to keep people focused on how is this  increasing attendance. Um because we know that's   critical for success. If you're not there, you  can't learn. Um decreasing behavior issues. Again,   not only does this impact the child who may  be having behavior issues, but it impacts the   rest of the classroom. And so how do we decrease  behavior issues? And then the last one, of course,   is just keeping this focused on literacy  and how are we achieving that that stuff?   milestone. So, just a little bit about why this  matters so much. We know that when children show   up that 50% of that risk gap happens before they  even get to kindergarten. This is often a poverty   issue that we are talking about. Um, just to  bring up an a topic that I know our superintendent   mentions, right? The poverty rate in the city  of Witchah is 16%. within USD259 it's 80% of the   children going to USD59 are experiencing some  form of poverty right and so how do we help   uh with those gaps so whether that is resource  access non-English as a primary language parental   education um how do we help address that we know  that the risk gap actually grows in the first   four years of school not because children aren't  trying not because teachers aren't trying right   it's because the demands become higher for them  of what is expected of them. Um, so I will just   be remiss right this is not just a USD259 issue.  This has to be all of us working together on this.   Children who are having that gap at kindergarten  readiness, right? Then if they are not on grade   level for um third grade reading, they're four  times less likely to graduate from high school,   right? This impacts our workforce. This  impacts all kinds of issues for um the   uh achievement and the goals for our community.  If the children is both underresourced and not   reading at grade level, they're 13 times less  likely to graduate from high school. I had a child   who was not reading at grade level. My family  is fortunate to have resources to help them   out. Right? This is an issue where we have to lean  in to figure out how do we help address that gap.   Just a little bit about what we are basing this  on. This is the A reader screener that USD259 is   called FastBridge. It's a risk category. Um when  you look at this red and yellow are the not what   we want. The green and dark green are what we  want. We have about 40% of the kiddos, right,   that are at low risk or proficient, right? We  have 60% that are considered high risk or some   risk for the school district. This is off of 25 uh  spring reading. This is what we're trying to shift   um for our for our community so that they are can  be proficient. What are we doing differently? So   we're partnering for data driven results. You keep  hearing me say those numbers. This is why. Um so   just a couple of highlights. This is really the  great work of the YMCA and some other nonprofit   community partners who have leaned into this  and we've done summer programming the last three   years. We have 293 unique students that we've been  able to track. 90% of those kiddos maintained or   improved literacy scores during that time. What's  really cool, right, is that of the 33 different   measurements that we're doing, 25 of them are  statistically significant. Meaning without   this intervention, right, we can track that back,  right? This was impactful. And another important   part of this is a 100% of the caregivers  reported their children had an increase,   right, in reading, right? Which we know is  important that we're changing culture for that. So the star reading program has been going on at  Spate. Um this is a great afterchool program that   we've been able to start getting some information  about what this impacts. These are children   uh that have individual like reading plans  that we work with with the Witchah State   um college of education to help develop the  White Help implements other nonprofits. You   can see your own library uh bus there helping  the kiddos out with that are engaged with that.   Some results from last fall show how  we are increasing across the board   um in some significant ways. Again, trying to  use data to drive decisions um and trying to   show like how we are using our resources never  have enough resources to whether that's time,   funding or um uh human right to address all of  these. So we have to think how do we invest and   we are starting to show right these types of  impacts. kindergarten readiness. We have a lot   of great tools that are available. One is defining  what is kindergarten ready. The Y and their team   have put together a whole booklet that will be  available. Um they are going out to nonprofits.   Nonprofits also are helping to teach families and  parents this. We are running BK ready camps. Um   so families can understand what that means. And  our focus groups, we know this is a gap. Families   just don't know what what is expected. It's very  different from when I went to kindergarten, right?   what is expected of them for what kindergarten is  expected now. So helping families be prepared for   that. We do a lot of outreach. We do family  literacy nights. We have over 60 families   participate in those. Hundreds of kiddos where  we have folks who uh are trained in literacy,   help family members understand how to work  with their children with literacy. A lot of   just awareness events that we are doing with this  also. So there's a way you can stay connected,   share out. If you are involved with boards  or youth groups, ask those questions. How   are our programming impacting attendance? How are  programs impacting behavior? How are our programs   impacting literacy? So that is my hopefully five  minute spiel here. So glad to answer questions. Thank you for the presentation, Council  Member Johnston. Thank you, Mayor Misty. Great   presentation, great program. Believe in it. Is is  that literature also available in Spanish? Yes,   it is. I'd be interested in some of that if you  don't mind. And Vietnamese. Vietnamese. Okay.   Council member Tuttle. Thank you. I just want  to thank you Tyrone and Misty for being here.   I know you've had a long day. It was funny.  Tyrone texted me this morning and he said,   "Do you think we'll be on the agenda on  9:15?" And I said, "You mean tonight?" So,   um, Tyrone and Adrien Lad and I first met um, back  in December and just had lots of questions. Wanted   to make sure that, um, we had things thought  out before we brought this to my colleagues. Um,   it's so nice to hear this coming from that side  of the bench because I say it from this side   of the bench all the time. Um, this is something  that's been a passion project of mine. So, thank   you for your efforts on this. I really appreciate  it. I also want to thank Jennifer and legal and   city manager Marshall. We had a couple meetings  just to make sure we're getting everything right,   making sure the city's commitment was what we  could follow through. And then also, I did want   to thank Adrian Lad with child care licensing. Um,  last two Saturdays ago, um, Tyrone and I had the   pleasure of being at their training Palooa where  we had over a hundred child care providers there   and literacy and third grade literacy was one of  the focuses. And then my last shameless plug, um,   at the last trigo government meeting when we were  looking for a common theme, I pitched third grade   literacy. Um, it matters to the county because of  comare, because of the health department, because   the jail, it matters to the city, because of  police, because of library, because of childcare   licensing, obviously 259. And it's something that  can be measured and there's initiative. So when we   have the next try government meeting, if there's  an opportunity to pitch a project, third grade   literacy and kindergarten readiness is going to  be what I pick. But thank you again for being here   today. Appreciate all your efforts. Thank you,  Council Member Council Member Shepard. Thank you,   Mayor. Uh echo the sentiments. I'm curious, can  you speak to the work that you do with other   nonprofit entities like Storytime Village and  or uh local owned bookstores, Watermark Books   and or Left on Red? Is there any correlation  there at all with the theme of literacy? Yeah,   great question on the bookstores. As far as I  know, we have not engaged that, but that's a   that's a great suggestion. I would and would love  that. Uh, Storytime Village has been at the table.   They've we have a quarterly meeting lunchon where  we talk about different topics, bring in speakers,   do planning. They have been a part of all of that  table. Um, like I said, we got 37 sign partners,   but well over 50 that are engaged um and helping  out with that work. Right on. I would if there's   anything that um district one can do particularly  we have a district breakfast once a month and we   have lots of kids that come. Yeah. Right. And  so that's a great opportunity to pour into them   with literacy. We are uh in conversations with  storytime village and left on red which is the   only blackowned bookstore in the state of Kansas  right here in Witchah. So um if there's a way we   can continue that collaboration please let me  know. Be very supportive of that. Y thank you.   Thank you again Tyrone and also Misty for the  presentation. Uh this is obviously something   that this whole council is very much interested in  because we know that prevention as council member   Shepard often uh refers to is how we're going to  help improve this community and the best way to   improve this community is when we have an educated  community and literacy is part of education. Um,   I came to the United States not speaking English.  So, I was one of those kiddos you're talking   about. I was eight years old. I also was a child  in poverty then if you consider any child that is   uh receiving free or reduced lunches.  So, I was one of those kids. And so,   I appreciate again anytime I have the opportunity  to say it that taxpayers have been paying for my   public school education and that that's how I was  able to receive a free public school education.   But I know that in 2026 we have many wonderful  nonprofit organizations from Storytime Village   to the YMCA to many others that are helping to  really um strengthen that fabric that it's not   just being taught in the public school system  but also being taught in community. And so I   love this collaborative effort. I talk about how  we all need to be working in the same direction.   So uh that coordinated effort I'm very happy to  see more of our initiatives need to be coordinated   and I love that this is going to the next level  which is collective impact and impact it really   is data and we want to see those uh numbers  improve when we have third grade reading levels   being achieved by every young child. That's how  our community improves. So, I really appreciate   this collective effort, the partnerships that  are together uh moving in the same direction   and I hope that we can mimic the same exact model  to other areas that are community challenges from   homelessness to crime prevention. So, thank you  very very much. With that, we'll open it up for   public comment. I see no one from the public here.  This is uh Council Member Tuttles initiative.   Thank you. I appreciate that. Again, thank you  to everyone. Thank you to um council. You know,   this is something that's very important to  me and and to many of you. Um I appreciating   you tolerating me talking about this all the  time. So, with that, I will enthusiastically   move that the Witchaw City Council approve the  partnership agreement with the Witchaw Collective   Impact. Second. Motion second. Discussion. I  see none. Madame Clerk, please open the role.   Motion passes 70. Madame clerk, please call  the next item. Approved to exceed the gift   limit established by the ethics ordinance for  Mayor Liy Woo to accept travel and expenses to   attend the community leaders of America forum  for community lever leaders 2026 Texas spring   national conference in Fort Worth, Texas, April  29th through May 1st for the purpose of sharing   and learning about challenges and solutions  facing America's cities, towns, and counties.   The 2026 Texas Spring National Conference is  hosted by the Community Leaders of America   Forum for Community Leaders for the purpose  of equipping local leaders to better serve   their communities. The estimated amount for  travel, hotel, and meals is less than $1,500. With a motion to approve. Second.  Motion second. Discussion. Seeing none,   Madame Clerk, please open the role. Motion passes 70. Madam clerk, please call  the next item. Approve that pursuant to   section 204090, Mayor Liy Woo and council member  Shepard's travel to attend the Greenwood Rising   Tour hosted by the Witchaw Police Department on  May 1st, 2026 in Tulsa, Oklahoma for the purpose   of professional development and cult cultural  education consistent with AR3.1 be approved. They   will ride via charter bus with the Witchaw Police  Department and there will be no other expense to   the city with a motion to approve. Second. Motion  second. Discussion. Seeing none. Madame clerk,   please open the role. Motion passes 70. Madame  clerk, please call the next item. approved that   pursuant to section 204090, council member Maggie  Ballard's travel to attend the Greenwood Rising   Tour hosted by the Witchaw Police Department on  May 1st, 2026 in Tulsa, Oklahoma for the purpose   of professional development and cultural education  consistent with AR 3.1 be approved. She will ride   in her own vehicle travel expenses as estimated  on the travel authorization and expense form.   Upon return from travel, actual expenses shall be  reported to the controllers's office. Motion to   approve. Second. Motion second. Discussion.  None. Madam clerk, please open the role. All those in favor say I. I.  I..................... All. Those   opposed. Same sign. Motion passes. 70.  Madame clerk please call the next item.   Approve that pursuant to section 204090,  Michael Hohheisle's travel to attend the   Greenwood Rising Tour hosted by the Witchaw  Police Department on May 1st, 2026 in Tulsa,   Oklahoma to for the purpose of professional  development and cultural education consistent   with AR3.1 be approved. He will ride with council  member Ballard and there will be no other expense   to the city. Motion to approve. Second. Motion  second. Discussion. None. Madame clerk. All those   in favor say I. I. I. All those opposed,  same sign. Motion passes 70. Madame clerk,   please call the last item. Approve to exceed the  gift limit established by the ethics ordinance   for Mayor Liywood to accept travel and expenses  to attend the Hunt Mayor's Fellowship Program   cohort session cohort 1 session two in Durham,  North Carolina on May 14 through 15, 2026 for the   purpose of the Mayor's Fellowship second session.  The Hunt Mayors Fellowship Program is hosted by   the Hunt Institute for the purpose of bringing our  nation's mayors together to engage in thoughtful   dialogue, peer learning, and policy exploration to  strengthen mayor fellows capacity as an educating   education leaders. The estimated gift amount for  travel, hotel, and meals is a total of $1,214.51. With the motion to approve. Second.  Uh just a quick uh note to that,   the Hunt mayors specifically talks about  third grade reading levels. So I'm very   grateful that council member Tuttle has  taken a leadership role with that. Um   the Hunt mayors are also big advocates  of third grade reading levels. Motion   second. Any discussion? See none.  Madame clerk, please open the role. Motion passes 70. Madame clerk, please call  the next item. Council member appointments and   comments. We'll start with appointments. We'll  go down the line. Council member Hohheisle. No   appointments. Uh, Council Member Tuttle.  Thank you. I would There was a little bit   of miscommunication regarding one a couple weeks  ago, so I didn't get to do this, but I'd like to   do it for the record today. Reappoint Joseph Kooie  for the Police and Fire Retirement Board. He will   serve a partial term of exactly one more year.  Thank you. Council member Shepard. Thank you,   Mayor. I also need to make sure that I  resend my appointment for Tadana Neil,   who was appointed to the library board at the  workshop on two two weeks ago. She is actually   termed out after looking into that. So, we are  currently having some discussions on how we can   continue to get her to serve in the city. She's  a phenomenal addition to the city and so we want   to make sure that we figure that out. I want  to make sure that I said that correctly. City   attorney Magna resend that. It is perfect. Uh in  addition uh to that, I would like to appoint Troy   Williams to the airport advisory board, Tronda  Daniels to the Witchaw Employees Retirement Board,   Tracy Adams to the Police and Fire Retirement  Board, and Bryce Graham to the WASAP board. Council member Ballard. Thank you, mayor. I would like to reappoint  Terry Jones to the Witchaw Retirement Board,   Stephanie Merritt to the Food and Farm Council,  Claire Willenberg to Historic Preservation Board,   David Gao to the Police and Fire Board, Case  Bell to the Community Service Block Grant,   Jason Jance to the transit board, and Sangita to  the cultural funding board. and can negate I think   um to the bike ped board. Thank you council  members. I sent my email to all of you with   those names including the clerk. I will read  them aloud now. I am going to reappoint to the   historic preservation board Bruce Rowley.  Reappoint affordable housing review board   member Rebecca Starky Keysling. Reappoint  bicycle and pedestrian advisory board Alan   Kaylor. Reappoint animal services advisory  board Susan Richardson. Reappoint board   of code standards and appeals Shayen White.  Reappoint self-supported municipal improvement   district member Natalie Goch. Reappoint  Witchah Citizen Review Board Robert Green.   I will make new appointments to the Witchaw  Advisory Board, Ebony Clemens, on behalf of the   county and board of code standards and appeals,  Chad Burrish. And then also one more email, uh, reappoint to the transit board the  following individuals. Michelle Gford from   Major Area Employer, Heather Schroeder, Greater  Witchah Partnership, Susie Santo, Visit Witchah,   Justin Lee Shore for Reap, and Emily Martin for  WSU. With that, oh, Council Member Shepard. I   thank you, Mayor. I think I failed to also  reappoint Donna Mccclitish to the Food and   Farm Advisory Council. If we can send those  names to the clerk, that would be very helpful.   Thank you very much. Uh, with that  I move to approve all appointments.   Second. Motion second. Discussion none.  Madame clerk, please open the role. Motion passes. 70. Council member comments.  Council member Huisel. Thank you, Mayor. Um,   this Saturday I will be having uh my district  breakfast, Christian Faith Center off of Ponte   and Hillside 9:30. You guys all know the drill.  Um, we will be talking budget issues. Um,   it's more of a listening session about what  priorities you have. Um, kind of getting a   little in depth about the sales tax, where do we  go moving forward. So, I just encourage everybody,   you don't have to just be a member of  District 3. Anybody who wants a good time,   uh, good discussion, good breakfast, come  on down. I'd love to have you. Thank you,   Council Member Shepard. Thank you, Mayor.  And speaking of that, I know that it was   mentioned that we have bonding capacity in  the 2026 CIP budget. I'm curious if maybe   we can get an update on that. What does  that look like? What does that include? Council member Johnston. Thank you, mayor.  I'd like to again congrat congratulate   Troy Anderson on his job, new job. A  coach I had at Newman, Dave Skinner,   reminded me said there's only 18 inches difference  between an assistant coach and a head coach. But   the real difference is now you're the blank  blank. So, congratulations. And I'd like to   invite you back next Tuesday when when we talk  about parking. It's only a three-hour drive. Okay. Thanks again. Congratulations. Yeah. Me  over Valor. Thank you, mayor. Also, I would like   to congratulate Troy and say it's been a pleasure  to work with you. Thank you so much. Uh you had   almost every hard um project in the city to work  on in your couple years that you've been here. So,   definitely know that you're appreciated and you'll  be missed. Um, also I wanted to share there's a   river cleanup this weekend. Um, be sure to follow  the district 6 page because I think it starts at   10 o'clock, but I will um get the address for  sure. And then on Saturday from 10 to 3 at the   Emporia Park, uh, the ICT trees will be giving  away trees. So if you live anywhere in 67214,   they'll be giving away 100 trees. I think they  have about 24 of them claimed. so far. So,   if you need anyone or if you know anyone that  lives uh within that zip code, send them our way.   Vice Mayor Glasco, thank you. I'm going to pile  on uh because I know it's always uncomfortable to   get accolades from here, but thank you, Troy. I've  always appreciated our uh candid conversations and   I always appreciate that you would challenge me on  my ideas um when we would have meetings and I just   uh thankful for your service. So, I'm excited to  see what you do up there. And uh now that we have   the Chiefs on our side, um we'll have to see uh  what Independence Missouri is going to be doing   to try to steal things from Kansas, too. So, uh  competition breeds success and congratulations,   Council Member Ho Heisel. Thank you, Mayor. I  just want to add, and I think Maggie hit it head   on. You you got like the short end of the stick  with literally every bad project and contentious   project that we had coming before us. So, I do  appreciate your perspective. I've learned a lot.   Um, it's just like anybody else up here. We don't  always agree, but we got to work through to to   govern as best as we can. So, I do appreciate  your time here. I think we all echo the same   sentiments. Thank you very much for your service  to the citizens of Witchah. Um, assistant city   manager Troy, we wish you well in your new role as  city manager in Missouri. Um and also just wanted   to say thank you um for again taking on a lot  of um these challenges and helping the community   and this council understand uh the history  behind a lot of this. So I think we now have   um a foundation that we can build upon. Uh even  today the discussion was very robust regarding   uh one specific project and we're going to  move forward by really getting to be more   clear and be more transparent. um so that our  community feels like they're always being part   of that process because they they should be and  they are through the votes of the council. So,   thank you very much, Troy. I also wanted to say  congratulations to the Witchaw State University   bowling team. They made the final four. Uh so  that is exciting. Um and I just wanted to say   uh again thank you to our community for  being uh named a top 20 all-America city.   uh we will now compete for the actual award which  is the allameric city award uh at the end of June.   So uh it was a collaborative effort and we're  very grateful that the city is being recognized   uh for um all the achievements which is uh very  exciting at this moment in time. Vice Mayor Glas,   not to make the meeting any longer than it already  is. Uh, but I have as the last place finisher of   the bracket challenge before the bracket's  even done. Um, I wanted to thank Councilman   Johnston. Only three of us participated. So,  I'm actually only in third place. I'll count   four of you who didn't participate as losers.  But, uh, it's Councilman Johnston, Hoheisle,   and then I was last. Again, I think that's my  second year being last. Undefeated. Council   member Johnston. Um, thank you, Mayor. I might be  remiss if I didn't congratulate Newman University   on their success in bowling, too. So, uh,  great job with Newman. A lot of love, uh,   they take a lot of people who can't make the W  team. So, uh, they have great success there. So,   congratulations. Well, now I have bad news and  that is we still have a executive session. So,   we cannot adjourn this meeting. So, I'll be  reading a motion, actually two motions at this   point. Um, I will begin with motion number one. I  move that the city council recess into executive   session for 30 minutes to receive information  from city staff pursuant to KSA75-4319B1 to discuss employer employee negotiations whether  or not in consultation with the representative or   representatives of the public body or agency.  The executive session is required to protect   the city's right to the confidentiality of its  negotiating position and the public interest.   The executive session will begin at 3:25  p.m. Uh and it will end at 3 55. Yeah,   55 p.m. But then we will do concurrently  this next motion. So motion one. Second.   Seconded. All those in favor say I. I I  All those opposing sign. Motion passes   70. Second motion. Now I move that the city  council recess into executive session for   15 minutes to receive updated information  on a civil case pursuant to KSA75-4319B2 for legal consultation with the city attorney  which would be deemed privileged in the attorney   client relationship pending litigation and legal  advice. This is this executive session is required   to protect attorney client privilege and the  public interest. That executive session will   begin at 3:55 p.m. and end at 4:10 p.m. Second.  Motion second. All those in favor say I. I. All   those opposed, same sign. We will return  to council chambers at 4:10 p.m. Thank you.