[Music] [Music] well good morning Witchah and welcome  to all of you here at city hall we'll   call this meeting to order with us  today is Rabbi Schmoolik Greenberg   of Shabbad Luvich of Witchita to provide  our invocation following that invocation   we will have the pledge of allegiance  i invite you to stand for both rabbi I brought my helpers here with me i would like to begin this prayer by asking my   children to do an act of kindness  to put a dollar in the charity box thank you almighty God sovereign of the  universe as we approach the Jewish holiday   of Passover Saturday evening April 12th let us  invoke the ancient lessons of Passover today   we pray that we always ensure that the meaning  of Passover becomes visible in our daily lives   the biblical narrative of the Exodus is the  story of the Israelites being redeemed from   Egypt the biblical Hebrew name for Egypt is mitim  which means limitations and boundaries today we   are all enslaved to personal limitations and  we pray to be delivered from these obstacles   that limit our potential to create a better  future for ourselves our families our city   and the entire world we pray to be grateful for  what we have and rejoice in what we can become   let us pass over our personal shortcomings and  let us rise from despair to freedom let us be   inspired by the shining example of the labavatur  who taught that every individual and in fact every   individual action has an impact on the entire  universe the Reb emphasized the importance of   education and good character and instilled the  hope for a brighter future into the lives of   countless people in America and across the globe  the Reba taught that education in general should   not be limited to the acquisition of knowledge and  preparation for a career rather the educational   system must pay more attention indeed the main  attention to the building of character with   emphasis on moral and ethical values almighty God  bless Mayor Liy Woo and the honorable members of   this distinguished council give them guidance  so that they will always be conscious of your   presence and will strive to enact laws with  honesty and integrity in accordance with your   will may our city serve as a beacon of light  for people of all faiths and walks of life may   Witchah help achieve the goal so powerfully  stated in our pledge of allegiance so that   America is truly one nation under God indivisible  with liberty and justice for all let us say amen to the flag of the United States of America and to  the stands one indivisible liberty justice for all thank you Rabbi and your two children mr clerk  can you please call the first item approval of   the minutes of the regular meetings March 18 2025  and March 25th 2025 are there any corrections i see none i approve the minutes of the regular  meetings for March 18th and March 25th of 2025   second motion and a second any further discussion  i see none mr clerk please open the role motion passes 70 mr clerk please call the next items awards and proclamations the  proclamations this week are child abuse   prevention month ArabAmerican Heritage  Month and Crime Victim's Rights Week   can I please ask the members of the Kansas  Children's Service League to please come   forward and any council members  who would like to join me at the front to The proclamation reads "The city of Witchah Kansas  founded in 1870 whereas children are our nation's   most vulnerable members as well as our nation's  most vulnerable resource helping to shape the   future of Witchah positive childhood experiences  or PCES like loving caregivers and safe stable   nurturing relationships can help mitigate trauma  and the negative impact of adverse childhood   experiences or ACEs to promote the social  emotional and developmental well-being of children   whereas childhood trauma can have long-term  psychological emotional and physical effects   throughout an individual's lifetime and impact  future generations of their family childhood   trauma including abuse and neglect is a serious  problem affecting every community in the US and   finding solutions requires input and action from  everyone whereas prevention is possible because   of the partnerships created between families  prevention advocates child welfare professionals   education health community and faith-based  organizations businesses law enforcement   agencies and governments whereas we acknowledge  that in order to solve the public health issue of   abuse and neglect we must work together to change  hearts and minds through storytelling and sharing   we're committed to advocating systems that ensure  all children and families are healthy and thriving   now therefore be it resolved the Witchah City  Council does hereby proclaim the month of April   2025 as child abuse prevention month in the city  of Witchah and encourage all citizens to recognize   this month by building a narrative of hope for  children and families through collaboration and   the creation of an ecosystem of primary prevention  that does not currently exist in the country [Applause]   thank you for inviting us today and for signing  the proclamation declaring child abuse prevention   month i'm Rachel Harper the assistant director  of the prevent child abuse Kansas chapter at   Kansas Children's Service League kansas was the  first state to have its own chapter 49 years ago   kcsl is also the cancer's chapter of circle of  parents and a multi-system of healthy families   America april has been recognized as child abuse  prevention month since 1983 the blue pin wheel   became the symbol for child abuse prevention  in 2008 the pinwheel represents the healthy   happy childhoods that we all desire to see each  year KCSL coordinates statewide activities and   offers support to local community efforts to  help spread awareness foster community action   and promote policies that ensure the safety and  well-being of children and families the theme for   child abuse prevention month this year is powered  by hope strengthened by prevention we at KCSL are   committed to a future where every child grows up  safe loved and full of hope prevention is a shared   responsibility families communities policymakers  and organizations must work together to provide   economic and social support including affordable  child care paid leave and financial stability   community-based solutions ensuring access to local  resources and networks and stronger prevention   policies with investments that uplift families  before harm occurs prevention isn't just about   avoiding harm it's about creating opportunities  for families to thrive positive childhood   experiences including stable relationships and  nurturing environments help children thrive and   mitigate adverse childhood experiences or ACEs  prevention is hard work but it is also heart work   and to celebrate child abuse prevention month you  can help plant a pinball garden a visual reminder   of the world we want for all children to grow up  happy healthy and prepared to succeed you can also   join us in wearing blue on Friday April 4th for  National Wear Blue Day you can participate in   Child Abuse Prevention prevent child abuse  America's nationwide digital action day on   April 9th contact members of Congress to advocate  for increased support and funding for child abuse   prevention programs please reach out to Kansas  Children's Service League for more details also   you can follow Kansas Children's Service League  on social media and we will be using the hashtag   powered by hope for all child abuse prevention  month post at this time I would like to invite any   members of the Witchaw Coalition for Child Abuse  Prevention to introduce yourself and your agency good morning i'm Becky Tedle  with the city of Witchah i'm Kim Osborne with Kansas  Children's Service League lorie Chandler with the Child  Advocacy Center of Cedric County good morning sarah Robinson  with the Urban League of Kansas i'm Ashley Coleman i'm with the Department  for Children and Family and also the mayor of Kai i'm Lindsay Hall i'm a volunteer  for CASA of Cedric County i'm Jenny Williams i'm with CASA of Cedric County i am Amber Coleman i'm an  advocate supervisor with CASO of Cedric County i'm Courtney Price Dukes and  surprise I'm with Kasa of Cedric County we're all here casa really wanted to  represent today so I'm Kim Gerston   and I'm the executive director with  CASA Central County and so we would   be happy to answer any questions  that you might have thank you [Applause] may I please ask the Arab America  Foundation to please come forward at this time the proclamation reads "The city of Witchah  Kansas founded in 1870 whereas men and women of   Arab descent have shared their rich culture and  traditions including resilient family values   strong work ethic dedication to education and  diversity in faith and creed to strengthen our   country whereas for over a century Arab Americans  have been making valuable contributions to every   aspect of American society including medicine  law business education technology government   military service and culture whereas the  celebration of ArabAmerican ancestry and   cultural heritage educates neighbors and counters  misconceptions and stereotypes of ethnic groups   whereas ArabAmericans join all Americans in the  desire to see a peaceful and diverse society   where every individual is treated equally and  feel safe now therefore be it resolved that   the Witchah City Council does hereby proclaim  April 2025 as ArabAmerican Heritage Month in   the city of Witchah and encourages all citizens  to celebrate the contributions made by Arabameans good morning Witchaw uh Mayor Wu council  members thank you for this proclamation   recognizing April as ArabAmerican Heritage Month  uh Arabameans have contributed to every part of   American life and this recognition means a lot  to our community on behalf of the ArabAmerican   Foundation and all Arab Americans in  MUTA uh we appreciate your support in   celebrating our heritage and the common  values we all share thank you [Applause] i would like to ask the city of Witchaw's law  department to please come forward at this time the proclamation reads "The city of Witchah  Kansas founded in 1870 whereas crime affects   individuals families and communities in profound  and varied ways often leaving negative and lasting   physical emotional and social challenges whereas  this year's theme of kinship is a call to action   to recognize that shared humanity should be at the  center of supporting all survivors and victims of   crime by reminding supporters of the strength  that comes from connection the importance of   listening to every voice and the power we have  to create lasting change when we work together   whereas the concept of kinship underscores the  connections that build bridges to support services   and shared strength among survivors advocates and  communities whereas kinship is the foundation of   victim advocacy and through kinship we build peer  networks and community alliances that empower   survivors foster resilience and offer pathways  to healing now therefore be it resolved that   the Witchah City Council does hereby proclaim the  week of April 6 through 12 2025 as Crime Victim's   Rights Week in the city of Witchah and encourage  all citizens to build connections stand in kinship   with survivors and create a future where healing  and hope are within reach for everyone [Applause]   thank you Mayor on behalf of the organizations  present I want to thank city council for   recognizing National Crime Victims Rights Week the  providers present as well as other organizations   throughout the city work tirelessly to crime  help crime victim's voices be heard through the   National Crime Victim's Rights Week we honor crime  victims and survivors recognize the providers and   volunteers who provide critical services to  victims of crime and raise awareness about   crime victim's rights and services with us today  here are if you'd come forward are Jereie uh Greer   of Department of Corrections Kansas Department  of Corrections uh Alex Carter Kelly Sykes and   Ali Agu Alguara Aguilera of the City of Witchah  Prosecutor's Office Tina Peek of Hope Medical Kina   Charles of Violence Impact Integration Program  Michelle Blanc and Heather Dean of the Witchah   Police Department Victim Advocate Services and  Jordan Martin of WASAC thank you [Applause] mr clerk please call the next items  public agenda the public agenda allows   for up to five speakers to have five  minutes each to address the council   no action will be taken relative to items on  the public agenda other than referral to the   city manager for information as necessary speakers  will please state their name and address for the   record a time clock will display the speaker's  remaining time to speak order and rules of   decorum will be observed the first speaker is  Kelly a food trucks licensing and enforcement good morning i am Kelly Ach my address is Do I  have to give the full address you just say your   district honestly I don't know i'm four okay  thank you okay so today I'm here to talk about   the food trucks within the city of Witchaw  for uh city licensing um there are currently   220 registered trucks in Witchah and if you  take the current city license at $350 that's   $77,000 a year there are so many unlicensed  trucks that I mean something has got to be   done one having a current license means that  you're on the up and up and you're doing what   you need to do and it's just makes it unfair  for us that are doing the right thing okay   um also with the $350 city license to my  knowledge we cannot just go roll up on   a city street and just start serving so I mean  what are we really paying for because everywhere   that we go to serve we have to be on some type  of private property sorry I'm really nervous um and then if if it was enforced the  licensing how much more could the city   be making to potentially pay somebody to go out  and police the trucks that are not being legit   with a city license i will say this um Captain  A and Chief Ortiz or how do you say his name   okades has come to several meetings and tried  to educate us on um the new licensing that came   out this current year with the sticker  the inspections they've created a fire   u a fire coalition with other surrounding towns  which has really helped and then it's easier to   identify with a sticker in your window so that  he's been he's been great and he is my point of   contact like if I have questions or I say "Hey  there's currently a truck sitting up off of   21st in Amadan that has they're selling alcohol."  That's that is not legal from a truck and I know   that he's been there to to look at it i believe  he can speak on that but I believe he's been there   um but they just continue to sell one if it's  if it's illegal for them to sell alcohol out   of their truck i mean why is the city not trying  to enforce that um not only beyond just the food   trucks you have so many people setting up with  tents selling food are they licensed they have   no way to wash their hands do they have liability  insurance i mean these are all things that us as   food truckers we have to spend to be able to be  legit um then you get traveling trucks from out   of town that come in with no licensing and they're  just have lines out the Woo which I want everybody   to be able to make money if you're doing it right  and you're doing it fair and equally and you're   paying your dues basically then I'm all for it i  mean it's it could be a great living to to be had um and then being able to park downtown like  I know there's a lot of other larger cities   that have food truck rows for like when their bar  districts get out there's no place downtown that   we could offer that and I know that the police  probably want those people to get out of there   to clear the areas but I mean even if you cut  the time frame frame off at 2 am to where the   bars are closing but I mean people leave bars  at all hours of the time or all hours of the   evening so why not allow us to be able to be down  there to to capture that income um special events   so I don't find it this is my personal opinion  and I did not come to the March Madness this   year but how does the city charge a $750 fee  for your food truck to be at Navar Park when   we already pay a city license i mean that to me  that's double dipping you don't charge brick and   mortars that are that are in that area so  I'm not sure why you're capitalizing on a   food truck in the way that that you are and then  also like city parks we have to have permission   to go to some of those but we pay for a city  license so I'm not quite sure where we can   draw those boundaries a little bit in our favor  that's really all I got because my time's up   thank you very much Kelly we have several council  members that have questions or comments we'll   begin with Council Member Glass thank you  Mayor Kelly thank you for coming today you   are in my district so I will follow up with  a lot of your concerns as well i've been in   this job a little bit over a year and every day  there's something new uh and I can tell you that   I haven't investigated food truck licensing uh in  the past year but I'll look into it i'll meet with   the chief um and look at some information and try  and do a follow-up i believe I have your contact   information here before you leave if you could  leave your email sure uh with the clerk I'll make   sure to respond back to you as well um hopefully a  component of it is just education for individuals   that are especially trying to maybe start a  business but they don't know about the licensing   so how can we better educate individuals and maybe  proactively go out there um but I appreciate you   raising these concerns and this is a good example  of public comment bringing something that we were   not aware of bringing it to our attention so thank  you for being here and you did great despite being   nervous oh my gosh thank you Council Member  Ballard where do I go for my email thank you   oh my bad i'm so sorry no you're okay actually my  question is for staff um Isaac I hate to put you   on the spot i have a couple questions about event  permitting sorry I'd rather just have you say it   in front of everybody um if if you're able to can  you address some a couple of the questions about   um special events like in Nazcar Park and what  that looks like for the food trucks so for NASCAR   just strictly for the NCAA tournament we allowed  food trucks to register online first come first   serve so the first five vendors to sign up and pay  $750 were our five food trucks and that filled up   within two business days okay and what does it how  is that different from outside the tournament like   you just apply for the license correct yeah you  just apply for the license now food trucks can   operate within I believe it's 400 square or 400 ft  of a licensed community event without permission   from that community event the only exception is if  they're on private property they do not have to uh   they can still be within 400 feet of a community  event does that answer your question i think so um   and is the um normal fee outside of the tournament  also $750 at NASCAR Park it is not no that was a   one-off that we did oh what is the normal fee that  would vary a zero event to event so there's no   You're saying there's no fee no if I wanted to go  up there and serve lunch today I could go up there okay okay i think that answers a couple  of my questions and then um Captain A sorry thank you so much appreciate it Isaac thank you so much sorry to put you on the  spot um could you just address how you   um I know that you guys go through the licensing  but how do you enforce the permits yep and also   for full disclosure fourth cousin maybe um not  100% related but I do make sure that I do not   inspect her food truck okay uh to that there's  no conflict of interest here uh when I appreciate   that so if you could now that I got that out of  the way if you could repeat your question for   me sure i'm just curious how how do you guys  approach trucks to make sure that they have   proper permitting and so on okay so we do have  our thanks to the new ordinance and change with   the like we addressed before with the stickers  and licensing process and we do have a list when   we go up if it's a city event like like Master  Park or some of the other city sponsored events   um I'll get notification from Isaac and then I  will show up or Chief Okades will show up to these   events and we'll look to see that all the food  trucks are licensed we show up on a regular basis   to final Friday and some of the others um because  in order to be in those city special city events   they do have to uh pay to be part of that so we  want to make sure everyone there one is licensed   and they're also on the list so if they're not on  the list um then we do actually have them leave   okay when we do come across other food trucks is  whether or when we're out and about it's going to   be a lot easier now if we can see the sticker and  be able to know instantly that licensed or not if   I don't see the sticker and then we'll approach  them and talk to them about it um and so we do get   um from different people like I'll get it from  Facebook saying hey this food truck is going to be   here I don't see them I'll go visit them talk to  them and say hey I don't see that you're licensed   this is what you need to do we temporarily I  will temporarily shut them down until they get   the process done one of the processes is the  full inspection from our department and they   cannot operate till they have our approval less  other city approvals that they have to go through   as far as legal in the department um and getting  that paid for awesome um could you email um me   or us the link for um just for the food trucks  to um get their uh license just in case anybody   asks us since I represent Oldtown and downtown  and Deleno there's lots of different areas that   often have food trucks it would be nice for us to  just be able to send that off to them maybe some   people don't know um I don't know but I'd like  to have that at my fingertips if you'd be willing   okay thank you so much appreciate and thank you  for coming to speak these are questions for me the next speaker is Maggie Allen general  feedback on previous city council meeting hello um I'm here today as an alley to  the trans community and to offer my feedback on   the city council meeting that took place on March  18th um first a little history uh International   Transgender Day of Visibility was created in 2010  by Rachelrandle Crocker of Transgender Michigan in   response to the overwhelming majority of media  stories about transgender people being focused   on misinformation and violence she helped to  create a day where people could celebrate the   lives and accomplishments of transgender people  while simultaneously acknowledging that due to   discrimination not every trans person can or  wants to be visible uh okay so two weeks ago   um when you Mayor Liy Woo chose to not read the  proclamation for transgender day of visibility   not only was this a blatant sherking of your  mayoral duties it completely flies in the face   of your campaigning on a platform of inclusion  and transparency to borrow a phrase from another   person that was there um it was virtue signaling  just to the people and groups who are okay with   erasing trans existence um in the two weeks since  you have been the one spreading misinformation   to the public about the meaning of transgender  day of visibility um you say you don't believe   trans people's gender identities are any of your  business but the hundreds of people who came to   transgender day visibility events in Witchah  Sunday and Monday um are your business they   are your constituents we are your constituents  uh while other cities are declaring themselves   sanctuaries for LGBTQ people you have let us  all know that a Witchita led by Liy Woo is   not a sanctuary for anyone but your donors and  allies trans people are not anyone's political   talking point they're living breathing people from  all walks of life who represent an evolution of   humanity and the promise of a future where we all  have more rights and everyone is guaranteed life   liberty and the pursuit of happiness regardless of  their gender identity uh trans existence is sacred   eternal and worthy of protection shame on you  and your fellow naysaying council members for   not being willing to acknowledge that fact um and  just to use the rest of my time uh considering   the fact that we had proclamations for child abuse  prevention and crime victim's rights week I would   like to acknowledge that trans people are both  statistically higher um more likely to be both   victims of child abuse and victims of crime so  it's an additional reason why it's important   to have a transgender day of visibility because  they're an extremely atrisisk minority thank you [Applause] thank you Maggie mr clerk can you  please call the next individual yes the third   speaker is Becca Johnson on behalf of Friends of  Kansas Wildlife Exhibit update on the exhibit's   work and ongoing Pagota project in Riverside Park  good morning council i'm Becca Johnson 429 West   Central um I've been at this podium before as  a staff member but never as a public member so   thank you for letting me be here um outside of my  duties and for the city I spend a lot of time at   the Kansas Wildlife Exhibit which is one of the  jewels of Riverside Park um playing with a bunch   of animal ambassadors and now sit on the board  of the friends of the Kansas Wildlife Exhibit   doing work to help expand their education and  community oriented goals um I am going to yield   most of my time to Lynn Rogers our president so he  can tell you about several initiatives we're doing   thank you Becca good or good morning um believe  this is the first time I've ever approached the   uh city council so it's a pleasure to be here um  I represent the friends of the wildlife we have   several of our board members here uh the friends  were uh started in 2023 and our job is to enhance   and encourage uh more use of the wildlife  exhibit u attendance there from 2023 to 2024   went from 26,000 participants to over 40,000 uh  oftentimes because of many of the the projects the   story times and the special events that we have um  you may want to put on your calendar April 26 uh   that's upchuck uh the turkey vulture's birthday uh  is he's our oldest uh ambassador 31 years of age   um we will also in May be uh starting our second  year of Trash Panda uh that's where we encourage   kids to pick up trash with uh grabbers and all  those kind of things and last year we we did   hundreds of pounds of of trash that was picked up  from the park we're going to expand that this year   to multiple parks throughout the city uh we have  sponsors with both Freddy's and and with Dillons   the other thing that's most exciting that we're  going to be presenting is the renovation uh   project that we're starting for the pu uh pagota  the Japanese pagota originally built in 1911 as a   concession stand we think it's the oldest uh park  building uh in Riverside Park as well as uh maybe   even the entire city um it was uh converted to  bathrooms uh in the mid20s and then basically used   as storage until the 1960s and today but in the  60s it was used for a couple years to start the   Witchaw Zoological Society and the start of the  Sedick County Park uh we're going to be hopeful   uh turning that uh into a multi-purpose room  room excuse me something that can be used as   a classroom for the wildlife exhibit hundreds  hundreds of buses and kids come each summer   and each spring to the park and uh there isn't  really a place for them to eat there isn't a   place for them to sit and talk to the the staff  at the wildlife exhibit so uh we're starting the   the process of raising $200,000 to do that we've  got in the process of anou at the city and the   parks department uh we'll be introducing that  once we get that finalized uh we will be taking   donations and seeking uh folks that can help us  on that uh we think it'll be a great uh place in   Riverside Park a great addition and it'll again  it'll expand the use of the wildlife exhibit thank you um it is spring which means we also  do have new ambassadors coming to the exhibit   um because spring brings baby animals and  so we did bring one of our baby turtles if   you all would like to take a photo with an  animal ambassador we would have brought up   Chuck but he's not a very well- behaved  guest and he gets his name for a reason   so we didn't think you'd want that in  council chambers but our turtle is right here just let him walk around if he could  walk around I would definitely have   to chase him eventually but this  is also one of our state animals   throughout the city throughout the  state this is a baby box turtle thank you all thank you Becca we have Oh no more we had several  on the board but it looks like no one wanted now   we do again council member Johnson thanks Mayor  thank you Becca for the presentation and Mr rogers   one quick question sure um when the kids do  the trash panda pickup do they have to wear   a raccoon mask uh they don't we were hoping we  can maybe uh enhance with some t-shirts uh but   they have gloves and vests and and grabbers  so they're protected and taken care of uh but   uh it's kind of fun exciting to to see but  uh uh that may be something we want to add so   uh I do believe we still have some masks if they  would like available yes you need a raccoon mask   like the raccoon masks are an option we do have a  collection of them in general the kids just pick   up trash and get a popsicle i might need two of  those i we used them for our Halloween celebration   and I think we have a number of other animal  choices too so uh um and I guess I would remind   everybody too is that the feeding is daily at noon  and uh we have hundreds of people come uh to that   particularly during spring break uh but it's  a great thing to enhance uh we work with a lot   of the hotels and different organizations around  the city to encourage people to come uh we think   it's one of the the best uh examples of of how  the community can work together awesome and then   last point although he's a private citizen now  it's always great to have the former Lieutenant   Governor of Kansas in the chambers it's uh it's  nice to be retired let me put it that way thank   you Council Member Ballard thank you i just want  to say thank you so much for coming to present   um very biased but I'm very excited uh to see  some new ideas and renovated ideas in Riverside   Park so thank you for all of you guys taking the  initiative and and all of the other things that   you do throughout the year so thanks for coming  council member Hohisel thank you Mayor just a   quick question you talked about having to chase  that turtle around how quick is that turtle i mean   I couldn't tell you exactly i mean I can bring  him to you if you would like to see how quickly and they don't really like cold weather for the record Councilman Hohisel  I had a turtle when I was younger   that ran away uh from me and I lost it so Vice Mayor Johnston oh I got some thank  you Mayor i I would like to thank you   for all your work Riverside Park and the  exhibits i take my grandkids there they   absolutely love it and feeding time is  really exciting so uh thank you very much now it's Council Member Glass thank you  very much it looks like we have no more   so thank you uh Becca as well as Lynn for that  presentation mr clerk can you please call the   next individual ava Glansancy Wildflower  Community School Transgender Validation hi my name is Eva Glansancy um I would  like to thank council members Johnson   Ballard Hohheisle and Tuttle for signing  the proclamation for trans day of visibility   um I go to Wildflower School at  1650 North Fair View in District 6 um and Hi council i'm Molly Stevenson i'm Eva and Ash's  teacher and the founder at Wildflower Community   School um my students are wonderful and civically  engaged um and attentive people and this issue   um in particular is near and dear to our  heart in our community um Eva and Ash had   some thoughts to share with you guys today um one  of the thoughts in particular is we would like to   have a conversation Mayor Woo with our students  in you um about the city's ongoing commitment to   inclusion um having a diverse and inclusive city  is good business there's lots of data about that   trans people um as Maggie shared with us earlier  are one of the most atrisisk groups of people   um really in the whole country trans youth in  particular um have some of the worst mental   health outcomes of any population group across  the country our little private school um is a   place where we have a lot of representation  of the gender expansive and LGBTQIA community   we are excited to be able to support that  community to recognize them to um just be a good   acknowledgement to both their validity and their  existence um Eva Ash and other students we've been   in Topeka we've talked about similar things  with other lawmakers and how the things that   um get decided in rooms like this have real  implications for the health and well-being of our   of our young people of the rest of our city but  particularly I think as an educator it's important   um that you all hear that having one affirming  person in um a gender expansive student's life   so affirming being um saying their chosen name  and pronouns um recognizing their space for   existence reduces the risk of suicide um and  other adverse mental health outcomes by 40%   it is a huge preventative factor um it's a huge  protective factor and um we have made it a bit   of our mission in our school and especially in  our secondary classroom to make sure that we   share that data would you like to share any no  all right um thank you for hearing us today and   um Eva thank you for letting me jump in on your  time i'm glad you're here yes thank you council members eva and Molly I believe thank you  for speaking council member Ballard thank   you Mayor i just wanted to say thank you so much  for being brave and especially having our gauge   um our youth engage at any level makes me  really happy to see so thank you for being   here council member Ho Heisel thank you Mayor um  I still get nervous talking up here every single   week so please relay to to them that we we we  understand we feel it here and it takes a lot   of bravery to get up here and uh speak in front  of everybody especially on some of these more   sensitive issues so please relate council member  Johnson thanks Mayor i too just wanted to share   um for Eva that I get nervous as well but also  that I appreciate the courage shown to come up   here and speak um whatever she wanted to say what  was on her mind and just want to encourage her   going forward when she sees this that she matters  and her voice matters and I'm appreciative that   she was willing to step forward and use it and  want to encourage her to do so as she gets older   council member Glascock thank you Mayor uh to  Eva I believe in the hallway and to Ash I just   want to say that you're welcome in this place  um this is your space as much as it is anybody   in our communities um I want you to feel in this  community that you're welcome um that you're heard   and that you're seen as well and so thank you for  being here thank you for speaking out especially   as young people uh we need to engage more young  people in the process and so thank you for being   involved today and thank you for being here and  don't be nervous in this space i know it it can   be incredibly uh nervous at the bench um but uh up  here uh you're not going to seek judgment and so   uh thank you for being here i see no more council  members i will just add uh to teacher Molly as   well as Eva outside this is a respectful community  this is an inclusive community and having dialogue   is important and my favorite part about being  mayor since I'm an ambassador for this community   is to go out to schools my favorite part is going  to schools with young people under the age of 18   who cannot vote who have the desire to make  a change in the world and I would be open and   happy to come and dialogue and I would believe  that any of our council members have that same   opportunity um anyone in the community can ask  any council member as well as the mayor to speak   at any school or classroom all you have to do is  go to the website witchah.gov/city councsil and   there are opportunities for that engagement and I  believe that more engagement and more dialogue is   important um but having grown up in this community  since I was 8 years old I can tell you this is   an inclusive community and a respectful  community and it will continue to be that way mr clerk please call the next  our next individual ash White   Wildflower Community School Transgender Validation hello my name is Ash White and I am a student  at Wildflower Community School District 6 i   would like to start by saying thank you to  council members Johnson Ballard Hohheisel   and Tuttle for voting for the Trans Day  of Visibility Proclamation trans Day of   Visibility was celebrated Sunday in our school  building and it was a wonderful experience   being able to express ourselves is incredibly  important this proclamation shows us that you   care i would like to ask for a meeting  with Mayor Woo to talk about the about   inclusion policies and practices to keep  Witchah safe and inclusive thank you thank you very much Ash and again like I said earlier anytime that you  want to engage with either council members   or the mayor we get asked oftentimes to  come to schools and have that engagement   again it's witchah.gov/city councsil and that  is available to any school homeschool as well   um we want that engagement and we like to  hear from young people because again many   of the decisions we make from this bench um  are for the future and you are the future all   of the young people in our community and just as  a reminder no rights were taken away from anyone   based off of a proclamation uh what this council  does is a lot of resolutions and that was not a   resolution thank you thank you Mr clerk please  call the next item consent agenda items 1 through 24 are there any items to be pulled i see none i move to approve the consent  agenda second and all its items u motion   and a second any further discussion  i see none mr clerk please open the role motion passes 70 mr clerk please call   the next item board of bids and  contracts dated March 31st 2025 morning Mayor City Council josh  Lober Department of Finance board   of Bids and Contracts convene March  31st 2025 for the following items having technical difficulties excuse  me uh for engineering we have the   Witchaw Valley Center Flood Control Project Levy   F tow Drain Installation Phase 2 for  Apex Escavating LLC in the amount of $594,35 purchasing we have the two 20ft flex wing   mowers for Mcola Enterprises LLC doing  business as Witchaw Tractor Company for $73,449.60 for airport we have the snow and ice  removal contract change order number two for SM   SLM Incorporated doing business as Suburban  Landscape Management for an amended amount of $72,500 this is how to become a  vendor with the city of Witchah   uh this is our purchasing calendars of open  opportunities for the public to engage in   education with our small business resource  partners and the city's hosted events and   these are open public opportunities out  on the street today and I'd be happy to   try to answer any of your questions and I  recommend your approval any questions for   staff i see none i move to approve the board of  bids and contracts dated March 31st 2025 second   motion and a second any further discussion  i see none mr clerk please open the role motion passes 70 mr clerk  please call the next item petitions for public improvements good morning mayor city council members i have  one location for your consideration this morning   the signatures on the petitions represent 100%  of the improvement districts and the petitions   are valid per Kansas statute clear Creek third  and fourth editions located in district 2 on   June 5th 2024 the city council approved water  sanitary sewer and paving improvements required   for a new residential development the developer  has submitted revised petitions with revised   budgets to meet current market conditions  and to reflect the phasing that they will be doing it is recommended that the city  council approve the revised petitions   and budgets adopt the amending  resolutions and authorize the   necessary signatures and I will stand  for questions any questions for staff   i see none i move to approve the  petitions for public improvement   second motion and a second any further discussion  i see none mr clerk please open the role motion passes 70 mr clerk  please call the next item   extension of lease for city-owned property at 303 Northme john Fbrick uh development services um  mayor and council members the item before you was   a continuation of an item um from fe from February  4th we had brought forth a um lease extension for   a space in the city-owned parking garage at the  Oldtown Cinemas um at the time that we brought it   forth council let's see if this will move there we  go uh council had some concerns about the type of   the lease the lease term and the lease rates uh  the item was deferred until April 1st in 2025 25   and we were instructed to try to negotiate a lease  with a higher lease rate and pass through of the   expenses um to date the tenant has not agreed to  the new lease terms we are recommending that if   the lease is not renegotiated by April 30th 2025  the lease become a holdover lease and that the   uh tenant be requested to start paying  one and a half times the then current rent   uh which would be $19.50 per square foot the  holdover term is consistent with the current lease um we will continue to receive rent on the  lease either through the negotiated new lease   or through the hold over if we do get a new  lease we will pay a 3% leasing commission to   the property management company they are working  with the tenant to negotiate the new lease and   um at this time we recommend that we table the  item and when we get a new lease we will bring it   back to council for approval with that I'll stand  for any questions thank you John um only question   I have since there were no additional documents  and we knew that this was going to be tabled for   some time can you address when was when was this  contract uh supposed to end specifically because   I feel like it was already a holdover lease  um can you explain that this particular lease   had a year-to-year clause year-to-year term so it  would have ended December 301st of this year or of   um 2024 but we initiated negotiations with  the tenant for an extension in September that   um item was pulled for additional review  and discussion it was presented back to   council on February 4th and so we did  not initiate the holdover penalties at   that time because we were in negotiations  to adjust the lease and the determination   to you know not move forward was you know  based on the city's actions but now we've   reached a point where we will consider the  lease a hold over if we cannot negotiate a   new lease thank you John council member Ballard  thank you uh John thank you uh how long has this   uh business been a tenant this tenant has  been in occupancy I want to say since 2017 and is the negotiation based on the the changes  in price or I mean is that basically what the   holdup is is what we have done we presented a  um lease for a new tenant on March 4th and the   that lease was predicated on a um pass through  of operating expense of the triple net lease   it had a um a shorter term it was a three-year  term with a two-year extension because there was   some concern that the proposed extensions from  February were five years it also had a higher   face rate we were looking at $19 a foot and then  that would be based on a $10 base and a $9 expense   capture that lease was approved and so we have  presented basically those same terms to to this   tenant and that is what they're looking at and so  part of the concern is a higher rate and then the   fact that we're changing we were using a modified  gross lease where we collected the money we paid   all the expenses and here we're going to a triple  net and that's the tenant to want to think about   that okay okay great thank you vice Mayor Johnston  thank you Mayor John how close do you think you   are to getting this worked out i really cannot say  they they have not provided um a lot of feedback   and in this particular case you know we're looking  at a um a pretty significant jump in in in rent   they were they were this was a tenant that was at  the low end of our rent range originally and so   when we came back we took them up a dollar a foot  and then $2 a foot in February and that was pushed   back and told we were deferring it so we're asking  them to increase up to $19 a foot so I'm I'm not   sure where they are i'm I'm I'm worried we're  going to lose a tenant of zero so encourage you to   do everything you can to get to rate with them but  those businesses have not rebounded co like other   businesses have parking is important to them rent  rent structures them so I am very worried about   several tenants in that so thanks for your work i  hope you can get it worked out thank you thank you   John i will move to table this item will there  be a date that we should I just move to table   this item second motion and a second any further  discussion i see none mr clerk please open the role motion passes 70 mr clerk please call the   next item extension of lease for  city-owned property at 307 to 309 Northme mayor and council members um this is a  second item from the deferral of February 4th   this is a second tenant in the Oldtown Cinemas  retail uh basically we're in the same situation   um they're leasing 43 4384 square feet um we  have approached them with a there we go um with   a lease term and rate and rent very similar  to the previous item they are reviewing the   lease this particular lease has an expiration  date on the yeartoear of April 30th so they're   not a holdover tenant yet again if we have not  negotiated a new lease with them starting in   May we will be looking at the one and a half  times penalty rent um which would be in this   particular case $25.65 because they are paying  $17 a square foot now um as before we'll continue   to receive rent from the tenant and as before  we will pay a 3% leasing commission if we do   negotiate a new lease and it's recommended  that the city council also table this item   thanks John we'll begin with Council Member  Ballard thank you John and how long has this   tenant been here this is one of the original  tenants so they have been there since about 2003 i think it's important that we are looking at  the different rent rates and different types of   um leases and such but the last thing I want  to do too is push all of these businesses out   where everything is vacant so um I appreciate you  working hard on this to negotiate deals that work   for everybody or not deals but um leases that work  for everybody uh I'm hopeful that this new type of   lease that we're looking at um isn't potentially  the problem um that's not my wheelhouse so I I   don't know how to navigate all of that but I hope  that we are having fruitful conversations with   attendants because being a tenant since you know  it started in 2003 I mean that's a very long time   and um I know that a lot of people you know go to  those businesses and like I said the last thing I   want to do is price people out to where Oldtown is  vacant so I appreciate your hard work on this and   uh when it's time to make a motion since  it's in my district I'd be happy to do it vice Mayor Johnston thank you Mayor again I  know I know both these tenants personally i   knew him before I was a city council i always  ask how business is and they're always honest   with me um I'm I am worried this one is is  at retirement age could just close it get rid   of the headache um but he likes the business  he likes the people um so I sure hope we can   uh work something out and of my four boys three of  them is their favorite place to be certainly hope i see no further questions i'll just add one more  john um again this was spurred by the idea that we   should be the best stewards of taxpayer dollars  and so I want you or in my opinion you should be   negotiating in the best interest of the city of  Witchah which would be the citizens of Witchita   and so I think that this conversation is good  we want to make sure that when we have spaces   that are owned by the public which is everyone in  this community that we're negotiating in the best   interests of its citizens so thank you very much  John for continuing that work and again we want   businesses to thrive but not at the expense of  the rest of the community i will move to table   this item second motion and a second any further  discussion i see none mr clerk please open the role the motion passes 70 mr  clerk please call the next item   applicants appeal of HPC 20258 demolition  permit for 1416 and 1418 North Park Place excuse me Mayor uh Council Member Ballard mayor  why did you do that i asked when it was time to   make a motion since it was in my district that  I would like to make the motions and you've done   that two different times in the previous meeting  on these two items in Oldtown and then again today   the member Ballard I simply motion to table the  discussion right but I also in my comments well   number one it says district one and it's district  six but you did this in the meeting before and I   don't notice that you do that to other council  members you typically let them make the motion   for whose district it's in except for me and  specifically on these items and I just said   it a couple minutes ago i work really hard in the  district for my district and I know you represent   the whole city but you do that to me and not to  other council members and I don't appreciate it   it is not of ill intent to not ask  you to do the motion it was simply   to motion to table a discussion  until further review by the rest   of the staff so again if you would like  to motion please go ahead and push that   button it's already done and I did but  thank you mr clerk please call the next item applicant appeal of HPC 20258 demolition  permit for 1416 and 1418 North Parkplace good   morning Scott Weedle from the planning  department here to present this item   so this item is being heard today because  the applicant and in this case it's the   city of Witchaw MABCD is appealing the Witchaw  Historic Preservation Board's denial of issuing   a demolition permit to remove the buildings at  1416 and 1418 North Park Place this is a property   conditions enforcement case which has led to  the condemnation and demolition the property   owners are deceased and community stakeholders  are seeking to rehabilitate the structures an   important note is that there is another item  on today's agenda to consider condemnation   of the property uh involving the conditions  case and that is immediately following this item so in this case as indicated uh city  Witchaw MABCD is appealing the Witchaw   Historic Preservation Board's denial the Witchaw  Historic Preservation Board determined that the   demolition would destroy or damage the historic  buildings and denied the demolition permit and a   quick note that this was a review in  anticipation of the city contractor   applying for a demolition permit as part of that  property conditions case in terms of the process   uh this item is appearing before you for  two reasons uh the first is because of a   2022 agreement between the city of Witchaw and the  Kansas Historic Preservation Officer and then the   second part is because of the Witchaw Municipal  Code the agreement between the Kansas Historic   Preservation Officer and the city of Witchaw  allows for local review of projects instead   of having to send them up to Topeka as part of  the agreement the appeal for that local review   goes to you all at the city council likewise  the Witchdaw Municipal Code directs an appeal   of the Witchdaw Historic Preservation Board to  the City Council for demolitions of properties   on the Witchaw Register of Historic Places so  here's an aerial image of the property there's   a duplex that's on the property as well as two  garage units that are in the rear of the property   in terms of the property background the duplex  is listed on the historic registers as a   contributing building in the Parkplace Fairview  Historic District contributing classification   means that the property adds to the historic  association and architectural importance of   the historic district this property is listed  on the National State and Witchah historic registers so there's quite a bit of information  here i'll try and go through it briefly so the   staff report provides a detailed overview  or detailed review of the process to date   so in 1978 is when the historic district was  created and this building was listed in 2020   there were complaints submitted to MABCD due to  the condition of the duplex building it staff's   understanding that the owners passed away  and the property conditions eroded over time   after numerous notifications communication  attempts and enforcement actions the case was   scheduled for consideration by the building code  standards and appeals board on May 2nd of 2022   that board held a meeting and held a hearing on it  and they recommended the city council proceed with   condemnation demolition removal of the dangerous  structures on the property through 2022 and 2024   the Witchaw Historic Preservation Board  considered whether to approve demolition   permits for the site and ultimately denied those  at those times based on an organized effort by   community members to gain ownership and repair  the historically significant structure staff did   not pursue an appeal to the city council of the  Historic Preservation Board's decision in 2025   after receiving renewed complaints regarding  conditions on the property staff took the case   to the Witchdaw Historic Preservation Board for  renew again and the reason for this is because   there's a very narrow window for applicants to  appeal to take it from the historic preservation   board to the city council on February 10th  the Historic Preservation Board considered the   application and again uh denied uh the permit  members of the public were in attendance and   spoke about their efforts to rehabilitate  and acquire the duplex on February 10th   uh that same day the applicant submitted a letter  appealing the decision and in addition on March   uh March well March of this year city officials  received additional information from community   stakeholders about their continued efforts  to maintain rehabilitate and acquire the structures so slide nine um when reviewing  a project the Wit Historic Preservation   Board reviews it using the Secretary  of Interior's standards and using   those standards again they found that it  would damage or destroy a historic place   as part of the appeal process staff recommend  the city council hear at this time that they   hear from the applicant and any members of  the public who wish to speak on this item   and in general the city council has a number of  options two significant options one is to deny the   demolition permit the second is to approve the  permit and associated actions the staff report   uh reviews some possible options with the  property uh these are important because   uh this is required if a letter is sent up to  Topeka and the demolition uh permit is approved do   nothing so this is assuming that no other people  or organizations maintain or improve the property   property conditions are likely to erode and it  creates an opportunity for undesirable activities   potential health and safety issues another one  is that a new owner takes uh ownership of the   property and that they have the ability and  the resources to rehabilitate the structure   this could be challenging and take time uh due  to the probate process and others and uh at this   time the property is eligible for tax sale or is  coming up on that deadline very shortly uh due to   unpaid taxes so would make note of that the third  option is demolition uh that the duplexes the   duplex and garages would be demolished and again  this would remove the historic structures here's   some photos of the subject site uh now you'll  see that there's snow on the ground so these are   not super recent it's my understanding there's  been some work that's been done to the property recently there's some photos from the surrounding  area back to the aerial so in general again uh the   city council has the options to deny approve uh  the permit and again because this is an appeal   and not a zoning item it is recommended the city  council take public comment on this item so with   that I'll stand for any questions questions for  staff beginning with council member Hoheisel   thank you Mayor um Scott the minutes here they're  they're really pretty basic um so it it's hard to   really get a kind of a grasp of what the Historic  Preservation Board thought about this would you   say that not trying to put words in anybody's  mouth would you say that the concern was more   about whether or not this process um is acceptable  like they're just looking at the basic language   of this or did they also have concerns about  the upkeep but they just see that this matches   um Sure kind of the process here yeah um as far  as uh a couple of questions in there I'd like   to respond about the minutes and just let you  know that uh we have previously I've received   feedback from you all about the quality of the  minutes and how robust or lacking of uh that they   are we are changing the process that we're using  for doing minutes so in the future uh I'm hopeful   that they uh those will be improved and you will  see that improvement second thing is in terms of   the historic preservation board's uh dialogue  and debate on this one discussion they are uh   constrained in how they review it because they're  again they're reviewing it against the secretary   of the interior standards and a demolition clearly  will have an impact to a historic property so   their review um they really don't have much uh  choice other than to find that it will damage   or destroy a historic property now there was  discussion and dialogue there has been at each of   the historic preservation board meetings uh there  have been comments from the public about their   efforts to improve uh the property and acquire it  but again it's a it's a complicated process and   um it it takes some time to work through that okay  thank you further questions for staff i do have   a couple of questions i wanted to know I saw in  the actual packet that there are unpaid taxes on   this property can you talk about the value of this  property at the current minute as well as the back   taxes that they still owe yes um in terms of the  value of the property I'm unaware of that in terms   of the back taxes I am going to look to MABCD  staff and see if they might have some insights   on that it's it's a little over $9,000 thank  you and I believe that's including the abatement and the value of this property so MABCD staff are indicating  approximately $21,000 at current appraisal thank you any further questions   for staff i see none we'll now  open it up for public comment mayor council members my name is Diana Fischer  my address is 1563 Southwest Butler Road Benton   Kansas i'm a niece of almanises and Arlene's  Berling who were the owners of the duplex   located at 1416 and 1418 Parkplace i have lived  out of the area until recently um I was named the   executive of Aunt Arlene's will a little bit  of background Aunt Elma purchased the duplex   because she wanted a historic home she lived over  in the hillside area and her home there had been   taken under imminent domain and she was bound  determined she was going to live in a historic   home and so she bought the duplex she lived in  one side of the duplex and rented the other side   out um she was active in the Midtown Citizens  Association she loved sharing with the family   at family dinners what the Midtown citizens were  doing and how um she was so thrilled to be there   in the neighborhood um she talked about you  know the activities they had she talked about   the fundraising the association did she loved  gardening so her yard was always full of flowers   unfortunately Aunt Elma became ill in 2002 with  cancer and she invited her sister which is my aunt   Arlene to move into the other side of the duplex  and Elma passed away in 2005 aunt Arlene inherited   the duplex neither of these aunts had any children  um Aunt Arlene continued to live in the duplex   until she became ill in 2010 aunt Arlene ended  up in assistant living in Pittsburgh Kansas um   she'd exhausted all of her funds and she was uh  required to have Medicaid and state aid take care   of her while she lived in assisted living um at  the time she passed away we understood the state   then placed a lean on the duplex therefore  we did not probate her estate at that time   a couple months ago I was approached um by a  representative of the Historic Midtown Citizens   Association asking if they could acquire the  duplex to be able to restore it um that was   wonderful news to our family who hated to  see the property be destroyed or demolished   um but knew there were no funds available in the  estate to restore it so we have engaged with the   historic mid um Midtown Citizens Association and  we hope you will work with them to be able to   restore this duplex and save it from demolition  thank you we'll continue with public comment council member Hohheisle thank you Mayor  um just a quick question I guess for staff   maybe two quick questions so is this  is going through the probate process currently uh council member Hohisel Chris Lab I'm  director of MABC uh my understanding is that has   not yet begun i do uh have indication I have  evidence that they've the group has retained   a lawyer and has begun that process but I don't  think they uh have an official case uh filed at   this point how long would it does it take to go  through a probate process if there's not really   any opposition or family members to squabble  about dividing it up that that can vary greatly   uh the lawyer involved has indicated he believes  he can do it within 100 to 120 days okay thank you good morning um Barbara Riggs i live at 1412414  North Park Place next door to this house that's   being discussed three and a half years ago  the city came with a great crew and boarded   everything up and I was freaked out um I asked  the lady "How long is it going to be like this?"   He says "Oh two or three years," which I couldn't  believe it's three and a half years now since the   house has been boarded up and this continual uh  deterioration hot and cold running thieves took so   much stuff um squatters at this point [Music] um  that has all died down due to the efforts I think   of the Midtown Citizens Association the historic  people who have come to clean up the yard which   shows that somebody cares um throughout this whole  three and a half years I have I I I've lived with   the um um embarrassment of having a house like  that next to me my guests come people come and   where do you live this place looks horrible and  I would sell would tell them that the people who   lived there had such misfortune that they that  that that isn't something anybody would want   and and that and that we should feel merciful to  the people that let it get into this condition   it seemed like there were three options one of  which was to destroy the house one of which was to   uh and then have it empty or have somebody  build something that looks like shipping   containers in our historic district and believe  me I I have great fear of that having something   horrible built there and then also someone  who would restore the house to its to its   uh former condition i am greatly in favor of  having the house be restored it appears that   the historic board is working on financing  and the ability to do this work um I I I   actually moved in to the house I live in 39  years ago today April the 1st 1986 i moved   in and I didn't know where I I just found a  neat place to live i found out later being   in a historic district and I just always so  proud that I lived in that area i just really   loved being in that area with old houses and  and people who cared about their properties um it seems like it it seems like it it's  important for historic areas to be maintained   and to be uh to to give us a sense of our  history i know that the city really likes   to tear stuff down and build modern structures  but I don't and many people in that area also do   not do not appreciate that um in honor of  the two ladies that I knew very very well   uh who would be would be hurt beyond words to  see the condition of the property i would I   would maintain that that it should be restored and  it appears that the historic board of Witchah has   uh worked on getting financing for that um and I  I would desperately desperate I don't know I would   sincerely ask you to consider their um proposal  to re restore the house to make it look beautiful   again and um I just ask for that consideration  thank you thank you Barbara i have several   questions before we continue it's not for you  Barbara for staff um first and foremost to clear   correct the record actually it is not the back  taxes that's 9,000 the back taxes is a total of $4,774.13 mabc assessment and cleanup is $9,762.96 are there any other um items within that property that still need  to be accounted for so that when the individuals   that are trying to restore this uh specific  property know exactly how much they need to raise so good good morning again mayor and yes thank  you great question so the total taxes as you   stated are 9,76296 at this time of which  4,95793 are MABCD related assessments there   has been an abatement t done very recently  since this time we do not have final billing   on that yet but it will be between 800 and and  $1,000 that will be added to that total bill   and how many police calls and fire calls have been  called out to this specific address there there   have been no fire responses there have been 12  police responses over the last 5 years and those   were based on vandalism taking place at the uh  at the structure thank you we'll continue with   public comment hello good morning i'm Gretchen Ike  i live at 1536 North Park Place a block north of   this property and I've lived there for about 12  years um I would like to to support the previous   U speakers and uh urge that you not demolish this  building uh we've seen in on Long Park Place many   developers picking up properties and then turning  them into multi- uh occupancy apartment buildings   that and I have one on on I have two north of  me um and that that has been a serious problem   because the the upkeep of the property goes  down as you increase the numbers of rental   uh properties and divi divided properties in the  neighborhood um so I' I'd like to encourage you   to go with the inexpensive cost of rehabilitating  this property it is it actually isn't very much i   mean I'm thinking several of us neighbors could  go together if we had even known about this   um and and purchase that property to make it  to to make it um you know pay the back taxes   and and the fees and uh rehabilitate it so  that you know we have so many structures in   Witchah that are boarded up and that have been  boarded up for years and years and years i lived   um in Northeast for 18 years and the we  could never get anybody to to go after the   owners of those properties and take them over and  rehabilitate them so this is a great opportunity i   mean I I never I've never understood that why that  never seemed to be possible um absentee landlords   in this case you don't have an absentee landlord  you have two elderly ladies who have died and who   didn't have the resources uh to leave uh money  for the upkeep of the property so it's a prime   opportunity to keep this in um in in the hands  of people who will be owner an owner occupied   situation and that will be overseen by the the U  historic preservation board so I'd really urge you   to go that route rather than demolition thank  you thank you Gretchen council member Ballard   thank you according to the 2024 tax statement  the amount currently owed the minimum payment is $8,816.84 to redeem the property  the full amount payment is $9,845.96 that is due by May the 12th   i also had the 2024 tax statement if  paid after May 12th um it would be 9,95368 to be to be paid to redeem the  property um the known specials for 2025 are $1,69761 um and they are  due by August 26th of 2025 we'll continue with public comment hi everybody my name is Susie Cunningham and  I live in Midtown i'm only a few blocks west   of there um I just came up for a moment i wrote  you a pretty long uh letter um but I wanted to   address resources from the police uh because they  really haven't spent hardly any um I went on Lexus   Nexus which is a link off the community policing  page and those are not specific to an address   they are identified as 1400 block by either single  family or um a category of commercial that if if   property was being reported recorded and given a  case number it would be duplex multif family or   abandoned property those are the categories  that would apply um let's see i have the so   far in 2025 there's been no reports on the entire  block there was only one report on the block um in   2024 and there were three in 2023 and like I said  none were identified specifically to a specific   um address but none were were in the category of  duplex multif family or abandoned i guess that   what that means is we're not using a lot of city  resources on this um I'd like to go back to that   picture of the pillar with the big gaping hole in  it if I could could we get the Can we get that up   or if do you remember it well that showed the  pillar with the big gap in it the neighbors who   live nearby said that that happened by Yes there  was something heavy and hanging out of the truck   that came to do cleanup and it was contracted by  the city i think it was an outsourced group that   hit that and broke that pillar so I'm questioning  whether they should be charged for somebody coming   out from under the city's order and damaging it  further so maybe you could discount some of that   money um I just I hope that you see that when this  process is so long i got involved with it back I   think in 2022 and found that there was an error  um I turned it over to a a developer friend that   lived in that Benton St john area where where the  neighbors seem to have come from i talked to the   um uh nursing home that put the $6,000 lean on i  said "Can you come down on that any if this gets   demolished you won't see any money anyway." Um  they referred me to different people that that   were in charge and ultimately they just stopped  taking my calls they wouldn't respond to any   emails they were not willing to negotiate at that  time and about that time it all got turned over to   um Michaela and um I haven't been involved  very much but I do live in Midtown my brother   and his wife live across the street and um it's  about a $250,000 home threetory Victorian fully   redone uh living and and living and maintaining  historic property has served them very well they   are currently traveling the United States and  they've been traveling now for two years and that   was after a year of of um going on cruises and  things so um I'm real proud of my brother and the   and the work that he did on on the Skinnerly home  he was a a restoration contractor he he has worked   in that area a lot he finished his career as a  restoration contractor and and carpenter in in   um Vicorage so I think that just because they're  old and run down doesn't mean that they're just   suddenly uh a waste of everybody's time and I  think that being on the MAPC for 14 months I   can tell you that if that goes vacant and infill  comes one of those duplexes with the wide pressed   uh siding no front doors no front windows  two double garages will be put there   and it will not go and I don't care what builder  brings a zoning change for that they get it   they're putting those things everywhere they say  the market is is valid for it but the market the   people don't have a choice the people really want  to buy a home but they're not being built and   there's not enough rentals so they're having to  live in these caves that don't foster um community   because you can't see out the front there's  garages there can't see on one side because   that's where your neighbor is anyway I just really  think that if you care about history and you care   about this you need to improve the process and  not let all the responsibility fall on the heirs   because you know the land bank they haven't been  very successful in this either and part of that is   fall time is up thanks Susie appreciate  it we'll continue with public comment good morning my name is Claire Willenburgg  I live at 1402 North Garland we neighbor   um the historic Midtown district I have first  a question this is a two-part denial as I   understand it should these comments wait when  we're talking about condition rather than the   historic preservation uh boards or or is it okay  to go ahead and talk about part two now okay   you can talk about as long as it's pertaining to  1416 and 1418 North Park Place we we were getting   confused thank you for the clarification i also  am a member of historic preservation board have   been off and on for 25 years i think when term  limits I go to code standards or someplace else   then I come back because I'm very interested in  that uh and what Scott gave you as information   historic preservation board being limited to  why we can say yay or nay is correct but we did   hear a lot from the neighbors and the historic  Midtown Association development committee so   um you'll be hearing more about that later what I  want to address is the condition of the structure   i'm going to read experts excerpt excuse me from  uh Jean Schulty who has been hired by the group   he is a very wellrespected structural engineer  it says "I have inspected the dwelling at the   above noted address to evaluate structural  integrity make re recommendations." Excuse me   I have a essential trimmer and it affects my  voice also anyway um to make recommendations   for corrections as may be necessary early  1920s twin home wood frame construction full basement the exterior appearance of the dwelling  especially the front is poor the front porch   columns on each half need to be reconstructed  reconstructed additional work may be required   with exposure of the porch framing foundations of  both halves very good to excellent condition south   wall of unit 416 has a slight inward slope but the  amount of movement is minimal not sufficient to   require mechanical stabilization floors are solid  the visible floor framing in the basement's very   good condition minimal cracks in the plaster  finish of the main and second levels on both   halves i could not find any indication of roof  leaks on the ceiling or the roof the chimneys   require some masonry repair at the top i'll skip  through because uh it talks about which tuck   pointing needs to be done on the chimneys however  the chimneys are in satisfactory condition brick   foundation of the porch for 416 will require some  tuck pointing despite the rough appearance of the   structure the foundation and actual structure  is very sound very little repairs are expected   to be necessary outside of those noted herein  roof structure repair is not expected to be   necessary the dwelling requires mostly cosmetic  repair the structure is in very good condition i   also have an email that was copied to me from the  attorney that they have hired he explains that he   is out of town on a very timeconsuming trial  he will be back next week he expects to have   the petition work done the week of 21st April  so that will be filed shortly any questions thank you Claire thank you we'll  continue with public comment michaela Welch i am at 1346 North Emporia and  I have the privilege of being the president   of Historic Midtown Citizens Association  um Councilwoman Ballard Mayor Woo Council   it seems forever ago at this point Mayor Woo  that you and I took a walk in my neighborhood   we took a opportunity to discuss the possibilities  of what historic neighborhoods can do and also   the challenges that do exist within the the  neighborhoods i.e let's talk about sidewalks at   that time we discussed this duplex on ParkPlace  we discussed the fact that we could not take   ownership of it yet as we were still searching  for heirs unfortunately we lost an air during the   search and that further complicated the situation  we discussed how important it is that we continue   taking care of our historic neighborhoods and that  once the we save our history um by not building   homes that don't belong in the area um and that  they do not contribute to the aesthetic of what   the neighbors who work so diligently on their  homes are trying we discussed how we save our   history of Witchah by maintaining these properties  this duplex is a contributing structure to the   Fair View Parkplace historic neighborhood it is  triple listed this is one of the projects that   Mayor Woo and I discussed on our walk it is now  finally coming to fruition this has not been easy   randly Henman who could not be here because she's  on vacation no she wanted desperately to be here   but um this was scheduled after she had already  planned um she is the president of the historic   Midtown Citizens Development Fund so we do have  a separate organization that is to develop the   Midtown area um they have been working diligently  for well over a year to sort out the ownership   of this property we had to have tens of thousands  of dollars of leans released against the property   which Miss Henman was able to do she's worked  with the neighborhood police officer buyers to   secure the building better so that we didn't have  continual calls on the property we have felt the   responsibility to save this home for our historic  district but honestly even more so for our   neighbors i would not want to live next to a house  that looked like this and I don't want to require   my neighbors to longer we have felt the weight of  how difficult it is to live with a home that looks   like this especially when some of our neighbors  have businesses that run out of their homes and   they see this as they drive up while I wish I  could have waved a magic wand and fixed this when   it first became aware to me I haven't been able  to do that we do however have that ability now   the structural engineer as you recently heard has  indicated that this house is not a house for demo   the funds that are required for the exterior work  the what the structural engineer has said needs to   immediately been t taken care of those funds are  available we are also going to be working with the   state of Kansas historic tax credits to assist  us in our progress most of those will be for   the interior as we move forward we have already  begun cleanup of the exterior we did that for our   neighbors we wanted to make sure that they would  see that we're coming in with the hope that with   your efforts to not demolish this home we will  work as a neighborhood again to save this house   there are many things that I'd love to share with  you about the interior of this duplex that I was   very shocked about but we'll save that for when  you come for a visit and take a look at what we're   able to accomplish when we work together so we  ask that you deny the request for demolish in the   spirit of preserving Witchah's history thank you  thank you Michaela and I did enjoy that walk and   appreciated that conversation it is important to  save Utah's history and it does take community to   come together to try to solve issues especially  in neighborhoods and so again this is a private   property and there's a legal process when it  comes to property that does not belong to the   city of Witchah it is not a public property and so  I appreciate that community is coming together and   all of us um received multiple emails throughout  this last week including one that was directly to   me from Randly who spoke about um how this group  has already secured some funds and we'll continue   to do that and I appreciate you bringing Randly  up thank you we'll continue with public comment myron Acriman i'mum in district one i find it  odd that a council would even have to think   about denying this de demolition permit you just  heard you have a physically sound building that   you're someone wants to destroy the exterior need  it sounds like need very little work uh woodwork   on pillars on a on a porch is very simple and  relatively inexpensive um the house if it's in   probate I would take it as grossly incompetent if  you were to take a house that was currently being   probated it may uh sorry I wasn't prepared to  speak on this it may turn out that there will be   someone who will have ownership of this house once  it's probated you would be denying that person an asset also you're deni allowing you're denying  say me as a businessman to buy this home at tax   audit tax uh sale i could buy it for the for the  residual taxes that are due then I would have the   option if it's a structurally sound house and it  is historic with the neighborhood destroying it   would be inexcusable the fact that is structurally  sound it may be well I would say almost certainly   it will be bought at tax auction to go ahead  and destroy this building i I can't conceive of   any of you being so blatantly insulting that you  would destroy a structurally sound building with   historic significance in a historic neighborhood i  would ask that you I would ask that you find that   you will not approve this uh I find it as I say  rather rather unbelievable that you would consider   destroying a historic structurally sound building  also I guess while I have an extra few minutes um   I would seriously question the value of that house  being at 20ome,000 I would venture to say that lot   is probably worth that much in that neighborhood  a house like that if the exterior needs minimal   work what we aren't talking about the interior  if the house is is kept the interior completely   can be completely gutted and redone as long as  the exterior meets the historic uh requirements   so to me this is uh this is a no-brainer  to say no we will not destroy this house   thank you Myin council member Glascock thank  you Mayor myron just context nobody on this   council brought this forward this goes through  the process of historical preservation and so   no one from this council said we want to demolish  this building and brought this forward from the   council i'm Excuse me i'm not saying that you  are wanting to demolish this someone is wanting   to demolish this and I am asking you seriously  just say no this is not this this should not be   demolished it's structurally sound it's valued  in this in the community and there are at least   two more options for ownership of this home  and to allow demolition of a house that can   be rehabilitated can be picked up inexpensively  relatively at tax auction why would you destroy   it why would you approve demolition thank  you Mark we'll continue with public comment i see none thank you to the seven oh we have staff Scott Wel again from planning um there  have been some questions about the taxes   and assessments placed on the property  we have copies of the property report   from the appraisers's office and so I just  wanted to distribute those if that's okay thank you Scott i see the number now  matches uh what I mentioned which was $9,762.96 from our green packet  so thank you very much for the clarification we will close public comment now and  bring it back to the bench to the council members we'll begin with council member Hoheisel thank  you Mayor uh I guess a question for staff um so if   it's on the verge of going into um being seized by  the county and tax auction is there a way to like   when would that process start since they're  four years behind or five years now I guess   mayor and Council Chris Labor again the uh  so the property is currently listed on for   the tax sale with Seduit County uh that will be  administered by the uh treasure the Sed County   Treasurer and the sheriff's office and that  is forecast to take place the third week of   October of this year uh they they will not have  a date certain until 30 days in advance of the   sale and that's when that will be published  but they have confirmed to us that it is uh   on those roles okay and then so there's still  time for it to go through the probate process   correct and generally speaking um if if taxes  are paid uh even up until the day before that   sale they will remove it from the list okay  and that and whatever sale would happen 9,000   almost $10,000 would automatically go to pay off  the taxes correct assuming it was sold for that   amount um it it would come back to pay property  and assessment taxes in that order okay thank you we'll continue with council member comments i see none this resides in council member  Ballard's district thank you Mayor uh thank   you Scott and Chris and everybody else um that has  been working hard on this thank you Michaela and   um all of the um residents from Midtown and  District 6 actually that have come to speak   about this this has been really interesting  this has been a property that has been on the   radar since I got on council um it went through  the process first and I believe Claire was my   appointment on the historic preservation board  then and it was interesting we learned that if   the Historic Preservation Board denies the demo it  just kind of dies and like nothing nothing happens   so we've talked to you know Scott about what does  that process look like they can't just be kind of   stagnant and like hanging out there there needs  to be a plan if we're going to pull it off and not   demo it there needs to be a plan so that's why  this has gone through the whole second time to   go through the process uh again and I have been  in um very close communication with the Midtown   board they do have a general contractor estimate  they have done a structural engineer report that   shows that the the bones of it are are good it  just needs a little bit of TLC on the outside   um and they have spoken to the bank and have  a letter to secure financing so with that um   I move to defer this item to October 7th 2025 city  council meeting which is the first regular meeting   following 12 or 180 days from this present meeting  in support of this motion I would like to offer   the following this would provide approximately 6  months for stakeholders to improve the property   in addition it would provide some time for  stakeholders to work on resolving the property   ownership issue um and my expectations are that  during the deferral I would receive regular   updates about the progress made in approving the  property and the building permits will be pulled   during the deferral period second motion and a  second any further discussion i see council member   Glascock thank you mayor um I just want to speak  briefly to this i'll be supportive of the motion   and I think this is a win uh for the community  if we can work like this on future properties   to save historical properties I think that's a  plus hopefully we can look at this um because   this also involves the property owner is why I'm  supportive of this of as well um hopefully we   can replicate this if it is successful in the next  180 days to save historic properties and make sure   uh we put these property restore these properties  and then put them back on the tax rules as well   thank you for the work on this and I look  forward to seeing what happens in 180 days   motion and a second i see no further  discussion mr clerk please open the role motion passes 70 mr clerk please call the next  item repair or removal of dangerous and unsafe   structures mayor council members good morning  again chris Labor MABCD so uh given the the   discussion today and as the applicant um obviously  as Scott described uh we are here today because of   the amount of time involved in this the amount of  time that the property had been in this condition   however we obviously are happy to uh save  housing stock as well as a historical resource   uh and certainly support the council's decision  uh with that uh there's no action that we can take   today on this hearing since uh the appeal of the  historical preservation board has been deferred   um I will change staff's recommendation at this  point and recommend that the city council open the   hearing uh but defer comment and action to the  same date as the HPB appeal will be considered   which is specifically October 7th uh with that uh  I will remind uh uh you all the interested parties   and the community in general that uh city council  policy 33 addresses deferrals of properties under   a condemnation consideration uh so there are  some guidelines in there those include many of   the things that have been discussed today such  as bringing the taxes current uh ensuring that   the premise conditions remain clean and  ensuring that the property remains secure   uh those are included in the agenda uh as council  member Ballard has added u we would also request   that the ownership be pursued and be brought to  a legal status in which they can pull a building   permit uh and that that take place in this  amount of time uh with that I'm uh happy to   stand for any other questions that council may  have thank you Chris i do have one question and   I think it has to do not with this property but  the process itself i've had some neighbors from   um specifically South Broadway ask questions  regarding illegal encampments on private property   where the property owner is not found that there's  also kind of like this situation where it took   years to truly find the property owner what is  the process for these uh individuals especially   um as they see encampments in on private  property but there's no property owner that   can be immediately found so and uh in in basic  terms mayor since we deal with the property once   uh the house uh homeless outreach team uh police  department or whoever would be involved in that   has uh taken care of the people aspect of  that the process is very similar for us   uh through abatement now with our new ordinance  and we can get Kaylin up here to talk uh more   specifics but with the cleanup ordinance this  allows us to initiate that process much more   quickly especially if we have not been able  to um reach property owners and and verify   those notifications we're able to go ahead and  energize that process and and get the property kaylin Nethercott Neighborhood Inspection  Metropolitan Area Building and Construction   Department for the record um to echo what Chris  said we are able to expedite those cleanups um   the notification process is different it's  a slightly expedited process when there's   not an active property owner involved we  do all that research on the front end um   and then it can move it can also be expedited  when there's second and subsequent complaints   for the same type of issue on the same lot um  but once again we're going to rely on the hot   team and WPD to take care of the people issue  and then we're going to move as quickly as we   possibly can to take care of the property issue  that's created by that homeless encampment um   the one thing I would remind and reiterate I  think I I said this in the last workshop is   to please tell people to continue to report to  us because we're not going back to double check   something that we've already cleaned up we're  we're relying on those reported complaints to   let us know if the problems recur so thank  you Kaylin appreciate that i know that that   was a specific question that I had had from  a community member in district number three   um council member Hohheisel's district about how  the um revised encampment ordinance would allow   for a quicker uh response as neighbors want to  have a safe neighborhood and a clean neighborhood   what they would have to do in order to have some  encampments in their areas cleaned up quicker yes   and I I would one caveat to that is that obviously  size of that is also going to dictate how quickly   we can move on the cleanup um the the size of the  encampments will will also be a little bit of a   determining factor little little planning and  organizing on our part on how we address those   so thank you thank you Kayn questions for staff  i see none we'll open it up for public comment still Michaela Welch on North Emporia and um I  just wanted to clarify a couple of items that I   uh may not have um spent time on um we as  Historic Midtown Citizens um development   goodness the acronyms um association we have  plans to pay the back taxes and any additionals   um as soon as we receive the vote that we  are not going to be demolishing today so we   needed to wait for that per our attorney  um Claire was able to read for you the   u message from the attorney that has also been  shared with all of you um that they will begin   process as soon as he comes back into town  so that we can take rightful ownership we   brought you today um the heirs for the property  to be able to say that they want us to be there   um and to save the property so I just wanted  to link all of that up for all of you so if you   have any questions thank you anyone else  from the public who would like to speak good morning mayors and members of the Woodsto  City Council john Todd 1559 North Payne District   6 uh I really support the your efforts to  repair the building and I would say that   the the total fees on this uh you should not  require that to happen until until the owner   actually has the good title so that that's  all I have to say thank you so much bye thank you John anyone else from the  public who would like to speak i see   none i'll bring it back to the bench  this again resides in council member   Ballard's district thank you Mayor um  in light of the information provided   by MABCD and the information provided  during the previous agenda item HPB 2024-0000008 I move the city council open the  condemnation hearing but defer comments and   action until October the 7th uh Witchaw City  Council meeting during the deferral period the   following conditions will apply the interested  parties will pursue obtaining legal ownership   in relation to obtaining legal ownership the  interested parties will provide any filing   information complete with a case number to MABCD  the interested parties will obtain a building   permit for the needed structural repairs once  they have legal right to make such repairs the   structure is to remain secure the property's  premise will remain clean of debris and be   maintained in accordance with municipal code  and all property taxes will be paid and kept   current second motion and a second any further  discussion i see none mr clerk please open the role motion passes 70 mr clerk please call the  next item police Department Property Acquisition good morning Mayor and Council captain Aaron  Moses executive officer of the Witchaw Police   Department here to discuss the Witchaw Police  Department central bureau and property related   to the building a little background of what  we're discussing uh we've been operating out of   this building at 332 North River Boulevard since  2018 uh it has housed our central bureau which   uh at the time housed the night violent crimes  response team uh and currently houses our uh   traffic section our motorcycles our accident  follow-up detectives uh and our accident   processing staff it also houses our community  support specialists there's two of those um and   we have plans to potentially have this building  house additional staff moving forward it is a US   Department of Housing and Urban Development uh  location which is what sort of brings us here   today the building is set to be sold uh and the  WPD would like to maintain operations in that   location by purchasing ownership of the building  as part of the HUD disposition application the   building was recently appraised for $670,000  uh the city council acquisition request for the   building will be brought later for consideration  uh as we looked through this and had discussions   about this building one of the things that came  up was uh parking for the building and we learned   that the south parking lot attached or or next to  this building adjacent to the building actually   uh those lots will be used for the apartment which  is across River Boulevard from the parking lot uh   and there was no dedicated parking space for this  building so we began looking at options uh for   parking if we decided to stay in the building uh  permanently and that led us to what I'm presenting   today uh which is an agreement to uh buy a  portion of the parking lot to the north for $175,000 here's an overview of what we're  talking about so the uh the central bureau   building is right under the words Witchaw Police  uh and then the the area of the parking lot that   we're talking about purchasing is the yellow  square there um the area we currently use to   park in are the parking spots down on the south  side uh with the red arrow but those parking lots   do belong to the apartment building which is just  barely in the frame on the left hand side there   um we began having discussions or looking at  multiple options in the area as far as leasing   parking spaces for this building uh and found  that number one it was expensive and number two   uh nobody would actually give us the the rights  to those spaces if they had a tenant come into   their buildings and then would use those spaces  so that's when we began looking at purchasing   uh parking space currently the parking lot  is not secured and does not have ex access   from River Riverview Street uh which if the  purchase goes through that is something we   would like to do is uh secure those parking  spaces and provide access to the parking lot   uh off of Riverview Street i'll go back  one slide essentially where the arrow   is is where we're looking at uh providing  access into the parking lot for our staff finance staff has identified available  funding of uh $1,ion40 for a from a closed   project $670,000 for the purchase of the  building 175,000 for the purchase of the   parking lot 155,000 for closing cost survey title  insurance security upgrades and access upgrades   uh the recommended action is we recommend the  city council approve the project and the necessary   budget adjustments the bonding resolution and  authorize all necessary signatures uh I am here   and happy to stand for questions also here is  uh Jerry who can help if we have any questions   and director Stang uh can probably help too if  we have any questions about the HUD status of   the building thank you Erin for the presentation  questions for staff i have several um can we I   think this might not be a PD question it's more of  a either Jerry question or Sally question um it's   about the building itself how big is this building  is this fair market value um I looked back at the   agreement from April of 2024 when the city sold  the Habitat for Humanity building for $682,500   that building was 19,798 square feet but the  total property I believe is 115,852 square feet   can we I'd like a comparison is this fair market  value this is considered fair market value the   city of Witchah procured an appraisal on behalf  of housing as part of the disposition process   application needed for HUD so this property was  appraised by an independent third-party appraiser   at a value of 670,000 which is approximately $50  a square foot for the property um the property is   13,430 square feet according to my notes just the  building itself that's just the building itself   when it's an improved property you generally  it's the value is as it is improved so the land   is not separate i have questions about that  appraisal um I want to make sure that since   this building is really a transfer from a city  department to a city department I know it's a   HUD property um that taxpayers don't have to  pay extra for this building um so that it it   truly is fair um so that's question so it's  more of a comment i want to make sure that   that is truly 670,000 instead of a lowered  price the second question I have regarding   that building is does PD currently pay rent for  that space uh not to my knowledge PD does not pay   rent uh when PD moved into the property in 2018  they made some significant capital improvements   to the property which in theory then contribute  to the value that was presented today thank you   and this is now a question I think for the city  manager what other properties does PD pay rent for uh manager if it's okay I'll take care of that um  I looked into that uh mayor and we currently have   uh two locations that we pay rent for one is  our Patrol South community policing office   uh in the Oldtown area and the other is a facility  that I'm not going to disclose the location of   uh due to the sensitive activity that occurs  there uh that's on the west side of town i'm   going to ask questions regarding the patrol  south community policing Oldtown specific   building how long have we been paying rent  at that location and what is the rent so the   earliest record I could find was uh 2008  so we've been there at least since 2008   the current agreement was the most  recent agreement was signed in 2021   uh through 2024 and it offered one two-year  extension uh the least rate was $2,000 a month for   the two-year extension that increased to $2,300 a  month and that extension goes through July of 2026 this is more of a question again back to I think  city manager what prompted this um paying Oldtown   for a building uh knowing I know for a fact that  there are a lot of officers in that area to try   to keep folks safe um why was there rent  that PD has to pay for u mayor thank you   for the question you've you and I have discussed  some of this in the past my recollection of the   history is that the police wanted a presence in  Oldtown due to public concerns about safety in   Oldtown especially uh over the weekends but  uh the feeling that a police presence would   uh improve the perception of safety for those that  were using the hotel and retail spaces in that   area when I I I could be wrong about this but my  recollection is when I arrived here we were moving   out of space we owned in the parking garage area  um in Oldtown Square we had to vacate that space   for a tenant who wanted to expand their retail use  and that's when the police department looked for   um a an alternative site uh you since you've  raised those questions I've had conversations   with the chief at the end of our time in this  current space he believes that we can reconfigure   some of the space at the building that will be  purchased from uh uh the housing department um   he thinks we can move them over there because the  presence in Oldtown is probably not as important   to us it's just a matter of having a presence  downtown that that is important for this unit   and Erin can talk more about that if from a  program standpoint city manager have multiple   more questions regarding that um so the city of  Witchah public property that is owned would be   what we discussed a few now probably an hour ago  um regarding the garage area and those tenants   that is owned by the city of Witchah right  the city of Witchaw also owns City Arts the   building correct yes and obviously the in total  the two garages in Oldtown right um my question   then is why has that never been thought of of  why didn't we just have PD have some space in   either of those two city- owned properties so  you don't have to pay rent at for most of the   last five to 10 years we've not had vacant space  in the garage area uh we just had a space vacate   um that council just approved a lease for recently  but we've not had much turnover in those spaces in   terms of city arts it's just a matter of there I  don't know that there was available space we would   have had to cut back on programming in order  to put the police in that uh off in that space i can't change what has happened in the  past but this does not seem financially   or fiscally prudent to have to pay for rent um  especially when the city already owns property   downtown where you could maybe carve out space  and actually make it dedicated i know that it is   um convenient for police to have a space in  Oldtown given that they have a a presence to   make sure that people are safe and so I really  appreciate that however I don't believe that it   is prudent that the city should be paying rent for  property when the city actually owns property in   that vicinity um so that's just for the record and  then now knowing that you've had the conversation   with Chief about possibly moving some of that um  over to the the building that we're discussing   right now i still don't know if that is the  solution given that there's still a presence   in Oldtown and people want the the officers in  that area and the convenience of the officers   having that space so I don't want to inconvenience  our officers who are literally providing safety in   that area um but I don't like the fact that we  we've been paying rent um at that location when   again we have property that the city owns so I  just again it's more of a comment and I know that   we're not we're now going to rectify this moving  forward but again when I was when this was brought   to my attention that the city of Witchaw has been  paying rent in Oldtown given all the conversations   we've had about deferred maintenance at parking  lots in Oldtown it really bothered me and I think   that that is part of the conversation that we need  to have about well we have city property why not   use city property um to the best usage rather than  having to pay private developers rent um it really   doesn't make sense so Council Member Hoheisle  thank you Mayor uh quick question I guess for   Sally um are we under the gun um no pun intended  for that one uh to get this deal through with   uh regards to some of the changes that HUD has  coming down the pipeline i don't know that I'd say   under the gun um once we do receive the approval  of the disposition which it's still in HUD's hands   um at that point we would need to be making  progress towards disposition of that property   the approval of that application could be another  30 to 120 days by my estimate okay so and we don't   expect that to either be expedited or to disappear  all together with We hope not we hope not we've   had um no additional followup from HUD on the  application since it was assigned to the HUD   staffer who's reviewing it okay thank you Vice  Mayor Johnston thank you Mayor uh Captain Moses   what's the square footage of that rented space  in town uh I have I don't have it in front of me   2,000 square feet thank you two 2,000 square ft so  $2,300 a month pretty cheap very very cheap doing   numbers in my head i think mayor what we need  to think about too is we have the triple net in   Oldtown that we own in the parking garage space  um it's about $9 square foot so if we do are in   that space it is going to cost us $9 a square  foot um the other question you have to ask is   what is the best uses of that space since that's  an entertainment district better to have a police   station there or to have a tenant in there draws  people down to that area so I would say I would   say it's the latter it's better to have a tenant  in that space so I don't see a problem with this   police renting a space in Oldtown for $2,300  a month um very very inexpensive rent for that   space and it gives them a pres presence in Oldtown  so I think we have to weigh all all uh all options   and all the uh benefits and cost to not just look  at just we have to be at all city space that's my   comment has a followup to that question has city  arts building ever been considered since that is   not a tenantbased location has City Arts maybe  a portion of City Arts provide some space for PD   maybe in the back uh to store some of their items  i guess has that ever been explored uh not that   I'm aware of and does PD believe the convenience  of that location would that serve the purpose   better than being a central building the one that  we're discussing we've modified our deployment   approach to Oldtown as far as uh closing and in  the evening hours uh certainly it's beneficial   to have we believe it's beneficial to have a  presence in the area during the day uh but we   will certainly look to council direction on on the  desire of council uh and their wishes and execute   that appropriately uh either building would suit  our needs i think there is a benefit to having   police presence in the Oldtown area during the day  like I said at night bar closing time we have that   covered through an alternative deployment plan  that we use on the weekends uh it's during the day   and during the week that we we don't necessarily  have dedicated we have dedicated staff to that   area but they're responding to calls all over  the Patrol South Bureau if that makes sense   i know that um a lot of people were walking around  during the NCAA um games and they appreciated   seeing a presence of our police department but  again I I would say that you're providing this   safety service every single weekend especially in  the Oldtown area so I don't believe that it was   uh prudent not not the PD's um it was not up to PD  but they should not have been you guys should not   have been having to pay for that space given that  there's a lot of resources including PD's time and   personnel that goes out to Oldtown every single  weekend to keep folks safe in that area so I'm   more upset that we've been paying since 2008 this  rent when really the services that are provided by   the police department I'm sure outweigh a lot of  that 2,000 per month and it provides extra safety   for people in Oldtown and so again I am still  not believing that we should have to pay $2,000   per month it should be that added service that  already is being provided um and so I'm just going   to again be on the record that that is not prudent  that the city of Witchaw should have to pay rent   again for an area that you do provide extra safety  um council member Tuttle thank you and I see Linda   Lindsay is here way in the back um but regarding  um city arts I just wanted to make a quick comment   i am on the city arts advisory board so I'm in  that building quite often and there would not be   room I would not estimate for additional occupants  one of the things that they've done um in addition   to not only having the wonderful exhibits but they  also now are a licensed child care provider and   so they have camps and they have classes and and  things that serve young and old almost every day   so um Lindsay if I've said anything wrong please  uh let me know but as I mentioned I'm in that   space quite frequently and I don't see a spare  inch so just a comment thank you captain Moses   the 2,000 square ft in the Oldtown building what  is it utilized for and then can you explain the   19,000 or sorry 13,400 square ft at the central  bureau currently what does that get used for so   the space in Oldtown is dedicated to our patrol  patrol south community policing office um it is a   structure that we're looking at changing as we  move into the future so we have had dedicated   separate space for our community policing officers  in the past uh recently patrol east with the   construction of a new station they moved into  the new station uh we stopped leasing space at   the old Witchaw Mall uh patrol west our plan is to  do the same thing they have a dedicated community   policing office now uh but as hope we should be  breaking ground on the new station in the spring   um this spring and then at the completion of that  project Patrol West Community Policing will move   into the station uh we don't currently have plans  to uh build a new patrol south in the near future   uh but certainly if that were to happen I  could see the same thing that the Patrol   South community policing officers would move into  the station that's our ideal scenario is to have   them in the station with other officers but that  office space in the Oldtown area specifically is   used by our community policing officers uh to  do some of their administrative work and have   an additional presence in the area during the day  um uh additionally providing officers who work in   that area a space to go if they need some work  space as well the central bureau is houses like   I said our accident follow-up investigators  it houses uh professional staff that process   all of our accident reports process some of  our out of custody DUI investigations it also   uh has a dedicated garage space which is  very important to us for our motorcycles   uh so we're able to park our our police  motorcycles inside they're also able to do   work on those motorcycles inside so that's a very  important part of this space for us um and it has   uh workspace for our community support specialists  which are two uh DCF partnership positions that's   the best way I can describe them council  member Hohisel is well aware of uh what they   do uh he helped us with some work at the state  level on with their positions uh and it also   uh houses our homeless outreach team now they  moved from Patrol South into the central bureau uh   so that that's what currently is housed within the  Riverview Riverview building uh again we've had   discussions about potentially moving the Patrol  South community policing office into that building   we don't think there's enough space currently to  move the Patrol South community policing officers   into Patrol South it's a relatively small  substation uh but we do believe we can find   space in the central building if we need to thank  you i see no further questions for staff we will   now open it up of Jerry no I'm just grabbing my  things we will now open it up for public comment i see none we'll bring it back to the  bench we'll begin with Council Member   Johnson thanks Mayor um I appreciate the  presentation everything I just heard makes   a lot of sense to me to support this so I'll be  supportive of this hopefully we can see um some   more officers getting into that space sounds  like a great location and also for the record   um I definitely support City Arts and would love  to see both of these items stay separate and by   approving this I think we can do that and City  Arcs can keep its space uh active as it has been this resides in Council Member Ballard's district  thank you Mayor i move to approve the project   and the necessary budget adjustments the bonding  resolution and authorize all necessary signatures   second motion and a second any further discussion  i see none mr clerk please open the role motion passes 70 mr clerk please call  the next item initiation of the process   to nominate the Crown Uptown Theater to  the Witchaw Register of Historic Places hello Scott Wadel from the planning department  so this is an item on whether to consider   uh to consider whether or not to initiate the  nomination process and that is to consider adding   the Crown Uptown Theater at 3207 East Douglas  onto the Witchto Register of Historic Places   so the recommended action is to take action  as determined necessary by the city council   this item is being presented today because a  city council member requested consideration   of initiating this process in terms of the  process uh the process for initiating the   nomination process is established in the  municipal code and it's described in the   staff report here's a brief overview so there  is the initiation there's public notice that's   provided and then there is a public hearing at the  Witchdaw Historic Preservation Board then a more   complete or fuller application of designation is  submitted to the planning department the planning   department then processes the that form to put it  on the next planning commission meeting and then   uh the planning commission weighs in and  then uh the city council considers it so   uh one thing that I would highlight that  if today if the action is to initiate the   nomination process then it please note that  it does not list it it starts the process for consideration the municipal code requires  that denomination process can only be   initiated by the property owner the  Witchaw Historic Preservation Board   the city council or it does allow for  another party to initiate the process   but that has to be with the consent  of the property owner in that instance in terms of the property background um the theater  as you know was constructed in 1928 it is not   listed on either the National State or Witchaw  Registers of Historic Places it is identified   as an undesated historic resource by the city  of Witchaw here are some photos so this is the aerial in terms of the process uh in 1998  that's when the city council approved the   undesated historic resources list with the  theater on it on February 5th the applicant   submitted a demolition uh permit application  that same day the preservation planner placed   interim controls on the property on February  13th the preservation planner sent an email   and certified letter to the property owner  notifying them of the interim control period   and per the municipal code during the  interim control period preservation   planner worked with the owner of the  property to provide alternatives to demolition on February 20th the preservation  planner sent a letter to the applicant   requesting thoughts and feedback on alternatives  to demolition the applicant submitted a written   letter to the city council it reiterated the  applicant's desire for the occupancy increase   and provided some of the reasoning it did not  review many of the alternatives identified by   the preservation planner in that letter on March  4th the city council extended the interim controls   and those are set to expire on August 4th so  the recommended action again for this item is   to take action as determined necessary by the  city council uh staff would recommend that you   accept public comments uh on this item and here  are some additional photos uh if needed if there's   any questions we have photos of the property and  surrounding areas so with that I'll stand for any   questions thank you Scott we'll begin with Council  Member Ho Heisel thank you Mayor um Scott so this   has to go to Historic Preservation Board and then  MAPC yes sir um what happens if either of those   um vote to deny it does that throw kink in it  or is that just for our information to consider   at the end i'm going to grab some resources  so I can answer that question appreciate that so in the municipal code so um what is required at the historic  preservation board level is an affirmative   vote of the majority of the members to  constitute approval of the application likewise at the planning commission it lists what the materials are um  okay and the planning commission they'll set   forth its finding as to whether the listing  is consistent with adopted plans and shall   transmit such findings to the city council it  does not immediately a quick review it does not   immediately indicate what should happen if that  you do not receive that but I think it is implied   that the at the historic preservation board if  they do not approve it it does not move forward   but again that's a quick read and that's what I  believe is implied it's not explicit okay so MAPC   does not follow the same no I believe they're  uh providing you with a finding as to whether   or not it's consistent with adopted plans so they  could find that it's not and yet it would still be   uh go forward because it indicates that they shall  transmit such findings to the city council so   um with that language to me it does not mean that  the application would fail uh if they found that   it did not they would still transmit that to you  uh last question um and you touched on it briefly   what considerations does the historic preservation  board need to look at with it is it more is this   appropriate to be designated or do they take it  like it's appropriate in this particular case   um no they will be um reviewing that and whether  or not it meets whether or not it meets guidelines and just one moment i um yes okay so ex uh  materials uh character also they would be looking   at um historic events that took place there  so there are a number of different qualifying   uh features that could could be with associated  with a property okay so similar to the other ones   it's more a question of if it's appropriate  for this particular location to be designated   that is correct and that would be again you  could base it on architecture you could take   base it on historic events that have taken  place there um or there could be someone   famous that's associated with a property maybe  a given architect or someone who maybe owned   it and operated it at one time okay thank you  Council Member Glascock thank you Mayor is the   Does the owner of the property consent to this  process being initiated um we have not heard   directly on this so I will not speak for them  okay have a minimum of 50% of property owners   within the record of the applicant so historic  district begun this process um I would say the   property owner is not initiating has has not  requested for this process to be initiated so I'll have the follow-up question um can  you go back to the slide regarding the process can you explain how you can initiate the process  one more time there are specifically four ways to   initiate this process can you explain those four  processes um yes there are four indivi there are   four um individuals or organizations that can  initiate this process and that is the property   owner or in the case of a district a minimum of  50% of the property owners uh a so that's the   first one second one is a majority of the historic  preservation board so the witchaw historic   preservation board a third one is a majority  of the city council so four out of seven and   uh the last option is other if accompanied by  written consent of the owner and if I look at   the process right now remind us who initiated this  conversation so um this item is being presented at   the request of a council member so I see that  the initiation right now is being considered   by the council and the last step last step in  this process is back to the council so the same   organization that would initiate would then  also have the final determining uh decision   especially when this is not a public property the  city of Witchah does not own this correct that is   correct i have grave concern in trying to take  away property rights from property owners this   again since there are four ways to initiate  this process and the council has final say at   the very end I don't believe this is prudent to  try to take away property owners rights um and so   I would like to know if the council is not one of  the entities that initiates and you just said that   the property owner has not initiated this what  has the historic preservation board done in so um   I'm going to re reflect the question back to make  sure I understand it correctly so um the question   is in similar circumstances where the property  owner has initiated the listing process what has   uh the city council traditionally done no so  right now the four ways that you can initiate   is one by the property owner two by a majority of  the individuals in that community if the property   owner says yes three would be the historic  preservation board or four the council so in   this situation the property owner has not said yes  or a majority of the individuals in the area with   the consent of the property owner have not said  yes right now we're discussing the council but   I've just mentioned that this is the council  initiating and then the council making final   decision at the very end which seems to conflict  with property of rights uh and the the final one   is the historic preservation board what has the  historic preservation board done since um there   have not been properties added to the Witchaw  historic uh registry in many many years so   uh we do not have kind of precedent in this  instance this would be the very first time if   approved it would set the precedent that the  council can initiate a process without the   consent of a property owner is that correct um I  I just want to clarify that uh it obviously this   process has been used in the past at some point  because there are properties that are listed on   the Witchdaw Register of Historic Places it's just  not in recent history that we've seen that uh a   property get listed on there in terms of whether  or not it established precedence um it's in the   municipal code as an option so um that that that  is how it's provided um in terms of the details   about how other properties have been listed I I do  not have that readily available you also explain   uh why in the past it has not been initiated  by previous property owners or why that process   has not begun as as I understand it this specific  building is not on the Witchah registry it's not   on the state one and it's not on the national one  but it's been around for decades so my question   is why do you know why it was never put on the  registry prior to this specific property owner i do I do not know and and I don't know that  I would want to speculate at this time thank   you Scott council member Johnson thanks  Mayor um just for transparency I am that   council member that asked for this thank you  any further questions have we received any   um response from the property owner since  the March 4th council meeting there was the   uh letter leading up to that one uh there were  the comments that were provided at that meeting   uh I do not believe that we've received  any other communications from the owner   thank you Scott i see no further questions  for staff we will now open it up for public comment arthur Allen District 1  um just point of order or case   information that the owner has had offers  but he is not willing to discuss a purchase   price so there are people obviously that  are interested in purchasing the building   and saving the building and he had given his  word when he bought it from Mr basham that he   would not destroy it and we all know that he  has not kept his word to you all in the past   but that's the truth it is that there are  offers but he will not negotiate thank you any further comments or public wanting to speak   to the council on this matter i see  none we'll bring it back to the bench council member Glasco thank you Mayor  i will not be supportive of this today   um I believe that property rights are one of  the most fundamental rights and I believe that   our job from this bench is to protect it i would  hope that if someone was trying to uh seize my   property or do something with it against my wishes  there would be somebody from this bench to defend   me and my property rights as well i will say I  love this building i urged from this bench for   the developer or the owner not to tear it down  i often go to this uh building i believe it's   valuable to the history of Witchah but I don't  take my value of it higher than his property   rights um I appreciate that there have been offers  uh but just because there's offers on a property   does not mean an owner has to accept those offers  and so uh because of my desire to make sure that   we have properties uh that are maintained in  the future I've working with Scott actively to   work on a preservation plan with my appointee  to the historic board that we can proactively   add properties to the registry with the consent  of the owner and so her and I will be meeting in   the coming weeks regarding this as well so we can  make sure that we're setting oursel up for success   i think what happened with Midtown earlier today  is a good example of how we can make sure that   we're saving these properties with the consent  of the owner with neighborhoods working together   and everybody pushing in the same direction and  so I will not be supportive of this uh today um   though again I love this property and I urge that  we maintain it as part of integral to Witchaw's   history council member Johnson thanks Mayor i move  that the Witchah City Council initiate the process   to nominate the Crown Uptown Theater for placement  on the Witchah Register of Historic Places second motion and a second any further discussion  i will just add my two cents before adding my vote   uh to refuse this it is not because I don't  believe in the value of the Crown Uptown i   believe in the value of the crown uptown and its  historic presence and part of our Witchah history   however I'm very concerned when we are taking away  a property owner's right to say whether they do or   do not consent to have something done to their  property this should have been initiated years   ago and why it was not we still don't know but  we are at this juncture where this property is   not owned by the city it's not owned by private  citizers of this community rather it is owned by   one property owner and knowing that at the end  of the process we as a council will be able to   vote on this designation again does not seem to  be right and because of that and the opportunity   for the property owner to say in conjunction with  community whether he wants to sell it or not um I   think having the conversation is important we  should have those conversations but in this   situation I believe in property rights and so  I will not be voting in favor of this we have   a motion and a second any further discussion  i see none madam Mr clerk please open the role motion passes 4 to three mr clerk please call the next item 2025 state  and local cyber security grant program submission morning mayor council members mike Ma for the  IT department um hopefully I bring you something   that's fairly simple um the grant program we we  applied last year um luckily we were able to get   some funding uh this just uh supplements some of  our replacement funds um so it's a state and local   cyber security grant program through the state of  Kansas um helps us address cyber security risks   mostly in this scenario it helps us replace  equipment um again it it helps from a funding   perspective um Kansas was awarded $2.8 million  in funding um February 28th 25 we submitted three   grant applications the reason we supply three is  because we have found that um those applications   if they're in a certain range in terms of cost  because this is throughout the whole state 2.8   million has to go across all the state so um  it gives us a better opportunity for funding uh again equipment replacement is why we do this  um better for overall security in terms of our   network we have some older equipment that uh we  replace on a regular basis we do have funding for   that but this just supplements that again three  grant submissions one fire and police for 410,818   public services for 325820 and uh city hall  replacements for 286,322 um as last year there   are no requirements for matching funds uh so this  is completely paid for um through the state of   Kansas actually through the federal government but  uh state of Kansas has the funds so recommended   that city council approve the grant agreements  and authorize the ne necessary signatures i will   happily stand for any questions that you may  have thank you any questions from the council no questions thank you sure any any comment from  the audience anybody like comment on this issue see none probably delay it just  a little bit longer so uh back   to the council any other comments  from the council regarding this issue okay if not I'll make a motion to uh  approve it and get the necessary signatures second you can talk about how your bracket's doing  real quick jv I'm at 99.7% ESPN sorry can   I put my vote in voted right there now  I has anyone I already made the motion   motion and a second any further discussion  i see none mr clerk please open the role motion passes 70 give me a break we can  do a break if you guys would like um we   can take a 15 minute break it is 11:52 how  about we return at 12:15 and allow for some   opportunities for individuals to use other  facilities okay uh we will return at 12:15 it is 12:15 we will return to the city council meeting mr clerk can you please call the next item   purchase of 12 public housing authority  properties from the WISHA housing authority   and allocation of CDBG funds good afternoon  honorable mayor members of council sally Stang   with the Housing and Community Services  Department for the record we have no PowerPoint there we go thank you the item I  have for you today is um the the allocation   of CDBG funds for the purpose of purchasing 12  former public housing properties so going back   to in 2017 the housing authority board approved  application to the department of housing and urban   development to reposition its entire portfolio  under the rental assistance demonstration program   um the the advantage of that was to allow housing  authorities to uh convert from the public housing   platform to a section 8 platform to allow it  to incur debt to raise funding necessary to   uh complete the rehab of the properties  that had been underfunded for decades the   the portfolio was divided into two projects one  which was for multifamily senior buildings and   the remaining 352 single family homes the rad  conversion was successful on the multif family   buildings and actually today construction is  complete on three of the four and we expect   uh construction to be complete on Greenway Manor  in August or September of this year um but we were   not successful in securing the financing necessary  to con uh continue under the RAD project for the   352 single family homes since then the properties  have been broken out into six different section 18   disposition applications since December sec  6 2022 those six applications cover all 352   of the properties um and five of them have been  approved to date covering 215 of the properties   the most recent application the remaining of  the housing units and the non-housing properties   which include that former um housingowned office  building that was an item earlier um are still   awaiting HUD approval and um as of today 134  properties have sold and 26 are under contract um the reason we're moving this project  forward is we have multiple projects   funded under the community development block  grant funds that have been underspent or slow   in spending including MABCD demolitions  the Propel Small Business Assistance CDBG   Land Bank Acquisition and Rehabs the Midpen  Lighting Project and the Home Repair Program   the home repair program was was um revamped  last year to allow homeowners to request up to   $25,000 in funding um for requisite home repairs  we expected to see more bigger uh project bigger   projects come forward and that's we're really not  seeing that the average project is still around   $8,000 so 60 days prior to the end of the  program year which happens to fall on May   2nd HUD completes an expenditure timeliness  review and in order to meet that timeliness   requirements we would need to spend about more  than half a million dollars in C CDBG funds   and so we're recommending spending 575,000 in CDBG  funds to purchase 12 public housing units that HUD   has already approved for sale and have already  requested the declaration of trust releases as   well as the allocation of additional 900,000 in  CDBG to complete rehabilitation of all 12 units   the 12 units are listed on this slide as with  their appraised value as well as indicated on   the map as a turquoise little dot um also on the  map highlighted yellow you will see um what we   have designated as uh p pilot area one which was  the investment of the affordable housing funds and   our partnerships with uh multiple uh developers  to make improvements to those properties   so every one of the properties we're proposing  falls within a half a mile most of them are much   closer than that to pilot area one with that  affordable housing fund investment area and   we believe the synergy around the neighborhood in  rein investment will spur demand for the units and   increased appraisals that will return that CDBG  investment back to us as program income um Habitat   for Humanity who has 16 properties in what they're  calling the Rock the Blot Piatt area is estimating   that post renovation the properties will be  worth between 122,000 and 189,000 depending   on the size of the lot and the size of the house  um the end goal of the project is to renovate the   properties for low-income home buyers as the  first priority or could be affordable rentals   if we cannot secure enough qualified home buyers  with recorded affordability restrictions housing   staff will procure contractors and oversee the res  renovations and all renovations contracts would be   brought back to the city council through the board  of bids for approval my concern with the climate   in Washington DC it is possible that miss missing  that uh timeliness requirement would result in the   funds being recaptured in previous years haven't  seen that happen to many um or any entitlement   cities but this year I'm very fearful that if we  don't meet that because it is in the regulations   that it could be recaptured there is no impact to  the general fund the expenditure of the 575,000   prior to the May 2nd expenditure evaluation will  protect the funding from being recaptured and once   those units are sold to a low-income home buyer or  to an investor with the affordability restrictions   the proceeds from that sale will return to the  CDBG programs program income and be able to be   reinvested back out into the community the real  estate contract has been reviewed and approved by   the law department the project is consistent with  the consolidated plan and the PHA plan goals to   renovate the property for low-income residents and  it is recommended that the city council approved   the real estate contract and allocation of 575,000  in CDBG funds for acquisition and 900,000 for   renovation of 12 public housing properties and  authorize the necessary signatures and I stand   for any questions thank you Sally questions for  staff beginning with Council Member Hisel thank   you Mayor uh thank you Sally um I think we've seen  the beginning of this presentation like I know two   dozen times since I've been I'm sorry i do that  for the public i appreciate that um just a couple   of quick questions um the affordable housing  restrictions those are the same that we have with   LITC credits and whatnot it would if it if we were  to do rentals it would be a 15-year restriction on   affordable home buyers it's a 10-year period in  which the any down payment assistance half would   be forgiven if they stay 10 years um if they don't  stay 10 years that then that actually comes back   back to the CDBG fund so it would be recaptured  upon sale okay what's the plan if we do this and   we come up you know we have an extra $100,000 that  wasn't spent on restoration or we're butting up   against the timeline do we have any contingency  plans for any of that funding so absolutely we   could come back um and ask to reallocate the funds  to a different project so long as it's already in   the um annual action plan if we were to want to  allocate that to a project that's not in the plan   that will be brought to you in in May um then we  would have to actually do a substantial amendment   to the plan which would take about six months okay  and then one last question you kind of brought it   up um the home repair program yes um one of the  things I hear from the public who have applied for   this is you have to have home insurance in order  to uh qualify for the loan yet a lot of people   because of structural deficiencies that they wish  to address with the loan cannot receive homeowner   insurance correct is that a federal guideline HUD  guideline it is not a a federal requirement but   it is national breast practice if you're going  to invest taxpayer dollars into someone's home   that it be insured against catastrophe okay so  is is that something we can talk about sometime   maybe about trying to figure out a plan because  if we're having funds that aren't being spent on   it maybe coming up with a plan to help people get  it up to the point where they can we're actually   seeing more of the challenges around the anything  the first $5,000 is a grant so long as they stay   in the unit for uh five years the remainder the  the s you know 5,0001 up to 25,000 is a loan   um what some of the feedback we're hearing that  we've implemented a 10% match on the amount over   over 5,000 that seems to be more of the hiccup  and so um it's been about a year and I've actually   challenged the staff to be look at the program  plan to see if we have some other opportunities   so perhaps leveraging other op you know other  programs connecting people to low in interest   loans in the banking market how can we help fill  that gap I even brought up the idea of them being   able to pay that over time they kind of cringed at  me when I said that um but they are in the process   of reviewing that program plan to try and make  uh adjustments to make it easier for families   to to meet those requirements okay do we think  this funding is under the microscope federally   um absolutely absolutely under the microscope um  we have seen I mean it's all speculation at the   moment we have not received the allocations for  the 2025 funding year i would not even venture   a guess as to what that's going to look like  the continuing resolution keeps our funding   flat through you know the end of the fiscal  year so we just kind of watch and see what's   happening that is one nice thing about bringing  back an annual action plan and you'll see that   in in May is if we decide not to do something  in that plan because something has changed we   can come back in next year's plan and make that  adjustment okay thank you any further questions   for staff i see none thank you Sally we'll now  open it up for public comment i see none we'll   bring it back to the bench a majority of these  homes reside in Council Member Johnson's district council member Johnson I don't know why I hit  that button sorry thanks Mayor uh I move to   approve the real estate contract and allocation of  575,000 in CDBG funds for acquisition and 900,000   for renovation of 12 public housing properties  and authorize the necessary signatures second   motion and a second any further discussion  i see none mr clerk please open the role motion passes 70 mr mr clerk please call  the next item 2025 facilities maintenance good morning Mayor this item will be asking to  initiate roughly 15 different CIP line items   related to facilities maintenance our current  asset listings and database that the money is   intended to cover we're at 575 buildings 166  structures at 287 different sites comprising   7.4 million square feet now related to the  previous item those numbers do not include   housing those are totally separate from this  this is all non-housing assets we also use a   software tool which we call the DST decision  support tool that analyzes the asset condition   currently and then forecasts it out into the  future giving it different budget amounts and   different strategies of what to fix and when and  telling us what the condition of those assets will   be in future years so we can figure out what  amounts to throw at it in each year these CIP   line items also are intended to cover unforeseen  failures it's contingency there's no dedicated   contingency line so any contingency is contained  within the CIP lines back in February of 2020 we   made a presentation to a council workshop it took  about an hour was from our prior director Alan   King where we explained the DST informed approach  and and adopted it the modified approach there   were two approaches presented modified which is  what we follow now it's a riskbased approach so   every asset has a consequence of failure score  associated with it some a bit of a risk and then   throughout the ass the assets life cycle within  the simulation it's doing a calculation on the   risk in each individual year and figuring out the  condition of that asset and multiplying that by   the risk of the asset long story short it's a risk  focused program to minimize consequence of failure   of things breaking on us and so forth critical  assets typically are these categories structural   roofing uh preventing water infiltration in  the building that's roofing that's uh building   envelope uh walls windows that sort of thing so  as presented back in 2020 on the first column in   the 2019 2028 cap those were the annual funding  amounts for those categories in in the in that   year and the recommended amount is showed in the  2020 recommend amount that's what was recommended   back in February of 2020 your third column is  where we're at today and in every case except just   slightly on the parks and rec library neighborhood  city halls we've exceeded those recommendations so   uh thanks for giving us more money to achieve  what we were trying to do at that time um that   amount of money is what we call the maintained  value amount of money it is intended to flatline   asset value we're supposed to have the same asset  value now as we will 40 years in the future in the   simulation so that's what the the amount of money  in the CIP is intended to do it's essentially   treading water it's the stop the bleeding amount  of money so to speak so asset degradation happens   every year we lose a certain amount of money the  amount of CIP that we recommended at that time and   we've exceeded now was the amount of money to make  that asset value the same in 40 years as it is   or was at the time a couple quick notes the park  and recre library neighbor city halls even though   it's slightly less we do have extra maintenance  line items that are dedicated to specific things   like audiovisisual security energy efficiency  improvements that bring that number a little   bit up so I would say in every case the current  CIP amounts are above those 2020 recommended lines a metric that was presented back in the  first presentation was FCI it's a financial metric   only of a building it is everything that um I'd  say it's the replacement cost of all assets within   a building that are considered in a failed state  does not mean they're broken it just means they've   exceeded their useful lifespan so typically for  a roof that's 22 years so you would have in the   calculation if a roof is 21 years old it doesn't  count towards the top num topline number in the   FCI but as soon as it hits 22 then whatever it  is 100,000 200,000 5 million for the Century 2   roof then all of that hits the topline number the  building replacement cost is cost to build a new   building just like the one you have uh excluding  soft costs and demolition if it were necessary   the consultant at the time told us that we should  probably try to hit a 10% target uh someday but   um beyond that we we haven't received any other  direction on which KPIs we were wanting to hit   so here's our progress from 2020 to 2025 and  there's some huge caveats I need to add into   this because a lot has changed between the two  first line buildings assessed 2020 we got 378   out of what were then 541 buildings that we knew  of at the time assessed that was the most we could   get done with the $300,000 budget we had at the  time as of today we've had 430 of those assessed   the building replacement cost between those two  um asset databases the enormous jump is because   the original count didn't include Century 2 Expo  Hall and we also just had the brand new Witchaw   Waterworks water treatment facility built those  are the huge changes that bring us up to over two   billion in building replacement costs and that's  also why the overall FCI score looks much worse is   primarily because of the huge inclusion of Century  2 Expo Hall assets it's a very large building   it's a big hit to the numerator on that FCI  calculation yeah and then further down you   got what how many number of buildings we have in  the good fair poor critical um categories couple   examples cowtown visitor center that's fairly new  we keep that in pretty good shape um city arts is   in fair condition there's a little bit of work  going on there fire station 13 if anyone's been   up there that's up on north around North Meridian  and 235 at two yeah um northwest side of town um   that actually interestingly enough in the wind  event about two weeks ago had a portion of its   roof blow off so uh that's already been repaired  um but that was a roof asset that was exactly at   22 years oddly enough it decided to fail right  at its end of life and then fire station 8 is   in the critical category it's over 30% but fire  station is intended to be replaced as the second   fire station here shortly here's the general  obligation line items there's about 12 of them   if I remember correctly um like I said some of  these are dedicated to certain groups some of   them are dedicated to certain asset types um on  that there's roughly 5 million here's a couple   uh items that we'll be working with like I  said critical assets are what we focus on   so fire life safety that's top of the list almost  always followed by electrical work that's the   majority of what we've been doing lately city  Hall and a lot of the fire stations and regional   training center will get done as well as the city  hall parking garage there's a stair replacement   on the west side of the building that's been  shut down for some time and need of structural   repairs i'll give you some examples of that this  is what the stairs look like on the west side we   intend to replace these with fiberglass stairs  just like we have in some of the oldtown garages   current estimates over a quarter million dollars  uh this is what happens to concrete and steel   after almost 30 years in the elements so it's just  due to be done and then to give you an example of   the structural repairs that were mentioned what  you're looking at is the concrete above the   double doors between the elevator lobby and going  out to where the cars are in the parking garage   i gave the picture on the left to give you an idea  of what a one would look like without any kind   of damage to it even though it's the same age and  then the one on the third floor now you're looking   at almost 30 years of water infiltration and salt  from ice melt so there's some uh some concrete   that needs replaced on there we've already had  structural engineer over look at it it's not any   danger uh presently but we do need to get on  it funding summary uh for the TGT funds we've   got Centry 2 cultural facilities and then there's  also some identified dedicated funding for museum   or World Treasures some extra work there on the  front doors entryways some fire suppression work   that needs done on the Century 2 improvements  that's a shared duties between us and ASM   uh going from the first year that that line  appeared uh roughly $6 million was dedicated   from the city side and about $3 million from ASM  side that covered the blue dome roof replacement   and then going forward the city identifies roughly  $250,000 within the Century 2 improvement line and   ASM directs the rest they're still doing some of  the similar type of equipment uh work we would   do hvac security cameras and rigging for their  stages which although not critical from in terms   of keeping the building open it is critical in  terms of having shows in the building so it's   kind of important to have it up and running the  cultural facilities line tend to do some elevator   repair refurbishment work this year and as I said  the Museum of World Treasure specific funds that's   where uh the foundation's got a few cracks in it  fire suppression sprinklers and the entry doors   so with that I would uh recommend the council  approve the projects adopt the bonding resolutions   and authorize necessary signatures questions  thank you for the presentation questions for staff   beginning with council member Ho Heisel thank you  Mayor yeah I appreciate all the work you're doing   on this um how many if we pass this how many  buildings is that moving out of the critical   category i would have to run a simulation and find  out and tell you okay i appreciate that uh could   you give just a quick uh background on some of  the ADA improvements yeah the ADA line there was   a city program where we had to do a whole bunch of  improvements from a long time ago lawsuit that's   since been closed out so ADA improvements now  are as requested so if we come across a sidewalk   that needs the inclination changed or um if the  handicap access buttons on the outside of a door   aren't working that's what that money is intended  for okay um so are have we covered pretty much all   of the complaints and concerns that came in with  ADA mhm as far as I'm aware yes okay thank you i   have several questions regarding garages um so  you've only touched upon the city hall garage   what about the other garages i'll tell you there  is an RFQ that is active RFP sorry active right   now uh we have already shortlisted the firms that  will do a condition assessment of all eight city   parking garages not including the airport um I  expect those interviews I think I saw just saw   on my calendar the interviews are scheduled for  the end of this month so this only accounts for   properties that have been assessed so far but  not the garages themselves uh and I know that   during the presentations over the last few months  we've had double-digit amounts for maintenance of   those garages um what was the amount that  was previously stated regarding garages i think we had an estimate of 18 million and   that's without the assessment that  was an initial preliminary assessment thank you um as someone who has been advocating  for maintaining what you have and seeing this   come before us it really does make me realize not  just that there's a tool but maybe the council   should have gotten that um presentation also I  know that it was 2020 that we've had that last   presentation and several of us were not on that  council then um I would like to see a workshop   that does talk about um all of our buildings  and how um hopefully after the five million in   improvements they will be um deemed in good use  or in fair use rather in this critical use period   mayor I don't want to put all of you to sleep but  we do have decision support tools for almost every   class of infrastructure so and those have been  presented over time not at one meeting more than   happy to schedule that for other infrastructure  as well i know the focus today is on facilities   um your call but we can always do that i think  it would be um a good opportunity to again see   all of our assets as you mentioned the number of  assets have increased since 2020 um and I'm sure   some have deteriorated also over that time um  one of those buildings that I still don't even   see on here is the former central library i know  that the roof is getting um renovated or replaced   right now which by the way what's the progress  on that it's supposed to be finishing up within   the next couple weeks they've had a number of  weather delays thank you um and also as I've   traveled across the city visiting fire stations  I've noticed a lot of um deferred maintenance   that troubles me um even this past weekend I  visited station 18 and um the leaking roofs   um really bother me um as these firefighters  again these are their second home and so I   was glad to see that 1.1 million will be spent on  fire facility maintenance and I know that there's   a decision support support tool but not everyone  understands how those different fire stations are   um prioritized and so I'd like that to be part  of that conversation so again our firefighters   know that they're not being forgotten um and that  there's an opportunity for them to even say these   are the major issues and we'd like them to be  addressed thank you Council Member Johnson thanks   Mayor um Bob I don't know if I don't remember the  name of that workshop but it sounds like what the   mayor is referring to is a workshop that we did  where we had the decision support tool and it went   over some facilities and I think fire and police  were a part of that it may have been 2020 i don't   remember that year but it kind of sounds like  that was all encompassing of that just an updated   version of that that would be great i think um in  the presentation it said I didn't know which month   in 2020 but it would be a really great opportunity  for this council to see five years later what that   is looking like in particular to public safety  buildings so police and fire and our critical   infrastructure obviously water sewer um I know  we're making major investments in water and the   sewer system but if we can have that that might be  able to tailor the conversation a little bit more   and focused thank you i see no further questions  for staff we'll now open it up for public comment i see none we'll  bring it back to the bench since this falls under all districts  I move to approve the projects adopt   the bonding resolutions and authorize  the necessary signatures second motion   and a second any further discussion  i see none mr clerk please open the role the motion passes 70 mr  clerk please call the next item supplemental design agreement number  two revised budget and public art for   improvements to Douglas from Senica  to Meridian good afternoon mayor   city council members paul Gunsman public  works and utilities for the record I will   uh kick this agenda item off and then  I will turn it over to Lindsay partway through a little bit of background on this  uh project in July of 2022 the city council   approved a design agreement with WSP and original  budget of $225,000 in September of 2023 the city   council approved design concept and revised  budget of $935,000 and on August 5th of last   year design council approved 30% design concept  for public art the adopted 2025 through 2034   capital improvement program includes $400,000 in  general general obligation bonds for public art   and $1.82 million in LST funding for ride-of-way  construction railroad cost and project management   uh location of this project again is from Douglas  uh on Douglas from Synica to Meridian um the the   east end is more commercial and going through west  of the tracks turns into residential throughout   the corridor there is a poor drainage as well  as pavement deterioration that will be improved   with the project and the proposed concept for a  typical block um is one lane each direction with   a two-way center left turn lane and defining the  existing on street parking with curb extensions   at the intersections as well as making pedestrian  improvement uh crossings and relocating some of   the existing crossings so that they serve  u better serve some of the adjacent area   and again we will um construct curve extension at  those locations to shorten the crossing distance   for pedestrians and I will turn it over  to Lindsay to walk through the public art thank you Paul lindseay Baka director of arts  and cultural services for the record so I'll   walk you through the public art project uh that's  proposed as part of this overall project design   so WSP is the prime consultant that's leading  the the entirety of the design project there's   uh they make up a a design team that includes  Landwork Studios as the LA and Kent Williams   as the art consultant um the the project itself  is designated a special consideration project by   the design council and as you saw in a previous  slide $400,000 has been allocated for public art   in the 2024 fiscal year so previous fiscal year  a little bit about our selection process because   we've refined it over the last few years  in June of 23 an RFQ was issued and on cafe   uh call for injury.org which is a a new platform  or was a new platform at the time it's become our   standard um that was issued by WSP uh and with  our our consultant Kent Williams uh professional   artists from the region were invited to  apply of that we had 19 artists submit   uh for the two different sites that we  had available six finalists were selected   uh by a seven member committee comprised of the  design team members uh Deleno stakeholders and   business owners and city staff in November  of 2023 artists Armando Manares of Del Norte   uh studio here uh and artist of Witchaw and the  artist team of George Peters and Melanie Walker   of Airwork Studio of Boulder Colorado were  awarded the public art commissions for both   for site A and site B respectively and then in  August of last year the design council approved   the 30% concept design for public art um so this  is where I maybe want to pause and just talk about   uh why we're bringing this project to you today  because public art has been such a um a topic   for conversation over these last few months we  wanted to bring a project early on in the design   phase um to to showcase kind of not just the  process but give an opportunity for feedback um   I I will say that this is concept design um no  further design work has happened there's other   iterations of design work that happen so you're  seeing a very early iteration of a design not   what the final product is going to look like and  we're hoping that this can be our new standard   moving forward so that way we're not sinking cost  into a project if there are design requests uh to   or changes to designs uh being requested by city  council or design council so the project approach   for this one in particular uh was thematic uh that  would be rooted in the Chisum Trail and which has   a deep history in Deleno while also reflecting and  celebrating the Deleno of today uh two sites were   identified for art objects to be installed  site A will provide an iconic gateway to the   neighborhood and site B would activate the areas  along Douglas for both vehicular and pedestrian   traffic so here's kind of an aerial of site A  of where it would be at Meridian and Douglas the concept approach for from the artist is to  create an elegant and dramatic gateway into the   Deleno neighborhood uh using bold forms to be  experienced both by drivers and pedestrians   uh the design concepts are derived um from two  main visual ele elements the elegant headdresses   uh worn by Witchaw tribal leaders and warriors and  the graceful horns of the Texas Longhorn and we'll   see some imagery moving forward here here's the  proposed concept design again at the 30% design element here you can see the headdresses worn  by Witchaw tribal leaders and how that design   is reflected uh by the artist and then here you  can see the the the design work of the iconic   Texas Longhorn these are some possible materials  that might be used obviously we're still early   in design and construction or design and bid bit  phase so we don't know what the final product will   will look like or what the materials will will be  exactly but these were some of the options that   the artist presented so possible concrete and  mosaic tile or wood um and the pedestals could   be concrete brick or sandstone just depending  on uh what the design how the design progresses   and what budget can allow moving on to site  B uh this project is entitled Feather Flight   they're kinetic sculptures by George  Peters and Melanie Walker of Airwork Studio the concept approach for for this part  of the project was to honor Deleno's early   aviation history and Witchaw's uh nation  inhabit witchaw nation inhabitants um it's   inspired by feathers and the concept of flight  uh so we have some some large polls with with a   um a note a nod to to feathers and aviation  uh that would be moving at the top of those poles some more information about the concept  design it would be a series of five to eight   sculptures just depending on budget and depending  on on where the the locations would be selected   uh the feather wind veins would be set a top a  25 foot tapered aluminum flagpole for reference   we were in a meeting earlier this week and a  stop light is about 22 22 feet tall uh so this   would be just just slightly above what a stoplight  would be in height uh there would be a rocker and   a pivot point at the intersection of the top of  the the top connection that will allow for free   and gentle movements and in all winds uh and the  kinetic sculptures will rock up and down uh and   turn with the wind they're rated for 150 miles per  hour in wind speed i will just pause and note that   there's a comparative mechanism in a sculpture at  at WSU in the riches uh public art collection and   for from what we can tell it's only been m had to  have some sort of maintenance once in 30 years so   we think that that structure um is reasonable  within our weather elements some additional   information about the concept design is the the  feather wind veins are approximately 10 ft long   with and approximately two feet wide again this  is early design phase so we don't know the exact   dimensions uh each would be three-dimensional uh  unit and have three fins uh that would be edged   in aluminum the feather material will be clear  polycarbonate uh with an adhesive prismatic myar   that reflects the changing pattern of the colors  and each movement of the feathers and that that   color would be for casted down on the sidewalk  or on the pavement as the the sculpture moves   so we have a couple different options uh for site  citing these works and it really just depends on   where the exact curb extensions are going to end  up uh there's a couple different recommendations   from the artist and design team of either  kind of sprinkling them through the project   uh location or clustering them uh the design  council and the project the the project team's   preference is to cluster them but again it just  depends on where the exact curb extensions will   end up here's kind of just an overview of the  the timeline and the process development for for   design work uh so we're on bullet point number  three right now is seeking council approval of   the design concept itself um based on feedback  we received today the designs will be further   developed and refined in collaboration with  artists and and the design team um after that   the the project still goes back to the design  council for 90% and concept design approval and   final design uh there's a couple options there if  the design council approves um the final design it   goes to fabrication uh if the design council makes  additional recommendations for changes the project   could then return if significant uh revisions are  required but that's our process kind of from start   to finish and the recommended action today is to  approve the revised budget uh public art concept   design supplemental design agreement uh and um  adopt the amending resolution paul and I are   available for questions and her consultant for  this project is also available thank you Lindsay   we'll begin with Council Member Rick Lascock  thank you Mayor uh so regarding the 30% approval   from why it's brought before this board is there  still an opportunity for this to be brought to my   district advisory board for the art specifically  it can be we don't traditionally bring the art to   to DABS that's why we have the design council is  our advisory board on art but we can if requested   yeah we had the our pieces for the installation  of the new library at Alfra branch they've come   for the past four dabs and asked for feedback and  so I'd be interested the DAB members I think gave   good feedback especially about uh the district  and how we can reflect that as well so I might   be interested in that i have a meeting on Monday  even if it's just a presentation so we can get   uh just feedback doesn't have to be full or  anything can do council member Ballard thank   you Mayor i think um if Council Member Glascock's  going to do that since we split Douglas um we   should probably do it at District 6 or if you want  to just have a meeting where we encourage Delena   or anybody else I mean happy to do that too um but  yeah I think I think that's maybe a good um option   to look at um personally I like the cluster idea  if um as opposed to them being kind of spread out um I really love the entrance to Delano i really I  like the mosaic to be honest but I think um all of   that looks really great and I like the longhorns  tied in with the Deleno uh path park that goes um   all the way down to the river um I do have some  questions about the feather uh portion um I know   we talked a little bit about that before but I  would be curious to see if I'm not really sure   i'm not I'm not an artist but I maybe they could  just fine-tune those um ideas or something when   I when I just look at it I have some questions  on the feather part but I think there's a lot   of opportunity maybe with just a little bit of  feedback i love the idea uh but maybe we can   just work on it like a little bit more um and  yeah I'm super excited i feel like we've been   talking about this for a very long time and I'm  really excited to see that we're getting a few   steps closer to actually completing the project  so thank you Council Member Glascott thank you   Mayor will this be the last time this comes before  the council uh it would be uh we can bring it back   upon request typically it would just go through  design council for final approval and that's   where when we consider bringing at 30% or final  design by the time we get to final design we're   pretty close to construction so there's not a lot  of opportunity for wholesale changes if there's   massive changes requested we would like them to  happen right now um but we upon request we can   yeah I will echo Councilman Ballard's comments i  think a fantastic i think it fits Delano very much   i have more concerns about B especially probably  response from community members and so I'm just   trying to figure out the best way to handle that  as I necessarily not in favor of B as it stands   right now i know that we're probably going to get  push back if B got approved today as well so that   would be my only concern is if we approve this at  30% design it doesn't come back before the council   theoretically the design council could not move  forward with any of the recommendations from this   body or the concerns from Councilman Ballard and  I and I know we've talked to Paul about it we both   have and so that would be my only concern about  moving forward and assure me that those concerns   will be taken in consideration i might feel as  well um I can definitely make sure that council   members whose districts are affiliated with the  projects are invited to participate in the design   council approval process um or at the design  council meetings where those take place so you see   the conversation and can weigh in and help advise  design council as well um it should be symbiotic   relationship between city council and the design  council on what the best uh step forward is i will   say at this point in the project because we're  just at the concept approach there hasn't been   public engagement just yet on the project all of  our projects have public engagement so that could   help steer uh the project accordingly i know with  the library project uh we had a couple different   uh public engagement uh opportunities after design  concept that really shifted where that project   went so the designs you see today are by no means  end all beall if we're not liking the design in   any fashion and we want to scrap that this is kind  of our opportunity to do that or do we want to see   it refined or um do we like the initial idea but  are worried about the the final product um those   are kind of where we would just appreciate some  guidance from council on where you'd like us to go your next step to ask yeah mayor I've I've got a suggestion if that  would be all right in order for us to be able   to continue to move forward with the project the  council may want to consider the supplemental   design agreement approval the revised budget  approval um and then holding off on the public   art design approval of the public art design  concept and then that would allow you to come   back and discuss that but at least we've got  everything continuing going forward with design   so would that amended motion be recommended  that city council approve the revised budget   supplemental design agreement and adopt the  mini resolution and authorize the necessary   signatures yes I believe moving the approval of  the public art design just for community feedback   and then it would come back before us yes I  feel comfortable that council yeah i mean I   definitely think it's important to either for us  to participate in the design council i just don't   want to delay the project like any longer because  and I know we're really early in that process i   just don't want to be the delay for an already  really long process so that's why we suggested   the motion the way I did that way all you have  is really just to focus in on that second design   element we'll try to get it wrapped up in the  we obviously want to get it wrapped up within   the next 30 days so that would allow you to have  public input and also maybe participate with the   design council based on the input public input  and your concerns shouldn't delay the rest of   the project i don't believe no I I would just  encourage the supplemental design agreement be   approved uh because right now the the artists are  not on full contract so for them to do any design   development we would need some sort of contract  otherwise they're they're on on hold right now when we get to that area um Vice Mayor  John Stenn thank you Mayor i also agree with   Council Member Ballard and Glascock like a  like Ballard said um not real excited about   B i would I would like you know Deleno is not  just a neighborhood center it's a regional draw   um I'd like to have our our district  5 council look at it also I know a   lot of our residents do go down to to Deleno  town so I would like to have some input too may I ask if it would be appropriate  just because now we're at three districts   would a community meeting be sufficient if we  hosted a special meeting based on this project   seeing some head nods so we'll look  at calendars and figure out that   opportunity great council member Ballard oh sorry thank you um can we go back to page one or  slide 175 regarding the feathers um I know   you mentioned the Olrich Museum has a kinetic  sculpture and it only has had maintenance once   that is my biggest concern just on  the heels of the last council item   about maintaining what we have uh these new  structures since they are moving pieces and   we know it's very windy here in Witchah um  I'm concerned about the maintenance moving   forward while while might have had one instance  this is multiple pieces and that again gives me   grave concern that if it fails you would need  additional dollars to try to maintain it so   um I think I do you know if that one piece  at what did that look like versus what this   looks like um I can't speak to that specific  work of art uh Jana if you would be interested we can't speak in on that specific piece but I  would say we're so early in the design process   we don't necessarily have a maintenance plan  um in place but part of the completion of all   projects is a maintenance plan um that has to be  approved by the city so we never want to acquire   something that we're not going to be able to  take care of um and that's part of the design   process as well is this feasible can we actually  accommodate this um that's something that the   design council brings up on every single work of  art regardless of it has a moving piece or not is   uh can we responsibly take care of this um over  the past couple years uh we've now added part of   our the person for art fund 10% of that fund can  be used for maintenance um which has been a really   great opportunity for us to to get the collection  back up uh to to its maintenance needs and if   uh act acquired correctly this would just fall  into our normal maintenance routine and with   regular maintenance I wouldn't anticipate any  challenges um I think in a previous slide or a   future slide uh right now the structure is  rated for 150 miles per hour wind speed uh   that would be sufficient for our area uh to its  current to to what our current needs are um but   all all sites would be or all pieces would be  engineered appropriately to make sure that we   could maintain them but valid concern you and then  my next question is about um project A or site A   um knowing that the pedestal would be at  the start of is it Douglas and Meridian yes Douglas and Meridian um a lot of folks  consider Deleno obviously starting at the river   would there be what would be the um opportunity  or is there an opportunity to even have   um book ends basically um anything is  possible would be my short answer but   this project scope is senica meridian so  it wouldn't go to the river I would say   um from a cultural icon standpoint the clock  tower it would be our incap uh on the other end   of Deleno but for a future project consideration  we could look at expanding ing it or having a   mirrored image uh of this gateway on the river  um if funding and project availability were to   permit thank you Lindsay any further questions  for staff i see none we'll open it up for public comment i see none i'll bring it back to the  bench this resides in both council member   Glascock and Council Member Ballard's districts  council member Glasco thank you Mayor with a   motion that the city council approve the revised  budget supplemental design agreement number two   adopt the amending resolution and authorize the  necessary signatures uh the justification for   this is allow this come back before council  for the approval of the actual public art   design second motion and a second any further  discussion i see none mr clerk please open the role the motion passes 70 mr clerk  please call the next item selection   of appeal panel to hear denial of security permit mayor council this is a a matter that comes  before you from the clerk's office um city   ordinance prescribes a process for appeal  panels from a staff decision and it's time   to have a selection of an appeal panel  for this item there's a strict process   on how the rotation should occur the panel  of three council members shall be chosen on   a rotating basis by district numbers  one through six with the mayor being   um number seven in that rotation each panel  shall be chosen by numeric order and so no   um we we've um the agenda report shows that the  last districts were one three four so numerically   um I think the representation rotation  would go to six five six and seven that's my recommendation i approve that so I will move to  recommend that council members for district 5 JB   Johnston council member for district 6 Maggie  Ballard and the mayor will serve on this three   member panel to preside over administrative  appeals of the denial of permits second   motion and a second any further discussion  i see none mr clerk please open the role motion passes 70 mr clerk please call the next  item discussion of proclamation procedures   members the council over the last couple of  weeks the mayor and I have talked about the   proclamation process and thought it would be  good to bring this issue to the council today   for some additional discussion um just a just a  tiny bit of background actually what I'm going   to do is give you a little bit background on  proclamations uh talk about our process uh   until very recently some recommended changes  that we're going to make internally in the   process and then tee up a few questions or  policy issues for your discussion um again   uh just as background proclamations are  considered to be a courtesy for the residents   of Witchah they're meant to be really kind of a  celebration to increase awareness of an important   issue to celebrate an annual event or to honor a  group's accomplishment uh the proclamation is not   legally binding and is only honorary in nature  so it's not considered the same as an ordinance   for instance each proclamation is reviewed  and approved by the mayor and council uh by majority just a reminder of everything that's  required for someone who submits a request for a   proclamation there's information on the requesttor  there's information on the event or the action   that is to be highlighted or recognized uh and  then uh some questions about how do you want the   proclamation to be presented here at council or  at another location our current process is that   when we receive a request an email is sent out  to the mayor and council members and they're   asked to respond to staff with either approval or  denial and then those votes are recorded by staff   if there are four approvals that are received  then we move forward with that a missing vote   I think it's important to note that a missing  vote doesn't mean a rejection you all because   of your schedules many times people don't have  an opportunity to respond uh but what we what's   important is that we get some majority uh either  in favor of or opposed to the proclamation um if   we don't get to that four we'll continue to work  with council to try to get uh some consensus and   then if there is no consensus as we uh reach the  final date for the issuance of the proclamation   um and actually it's the Wednesday before the  council meeting then the proclamation will not be issued uh if the proclamation  request is not approved or if   we can't get consensus then we  immediately tell the requesttor so when the proclamation is drafted uh usually  there's a draft that's submitted by the requester   it's then pres excuse me it's presented to  the mayor and the mayor's special assistant   we do it on paper and then there are edits  that are normally made in order to improve   its readability to deal with uh grammar and  context issues as well as the length of the   proclamation those edits are made by the mayor and  the special assistant edits are then returned to   council staff and then uh requested changes are  made and then an electronic signature is added   to the document so as we know a couple of weeks  ago we had some bumps in the proclamation process   uh started off with a misunderstanding from a  staff in terms of what exactly should be or not   be on the proclamation and that was uh not clear  to staff and then as a result of that we also   didn't have guidance which we've now received  from the law department that all proclamations   have to be treated like uh ordinances and  resolutions and they have to have a signature   uh on those so uh we have come up with  a process that we think will prevent   uh any future issues or misunderstandings  regarding proclamations first of all we're going   to put the proclamations in electronic form in a  shared file then that will be processed through   with again the mayor and special assistant but  their edits will then be tracked electronically   so that and that will show who made the edits and  when they made the edits um and then that'll be   returned to council staff the council then the  staff will then produce the final proclamation   that'll be consistent with the edits and then  an electronic signature will be added to all proclamations so that's where we are right  now and our recommendations on how to clean   uh tighten this up internally now uh in terms of  changes in the process the mayor has asked that   there be consideration of changing the language  regarding the resolution itself and that was one   of the points of confusion that we had two weeks  ago so the mayor has suggested this language i   know there's been some discussion uh among  council members regarding the voting process   and approval of proclamations so I thought you may  want to visit with that about that today as well   and then during our discussion there was a  question about are there other forms of recogn   recognition for community efforts that maybe don't  warrant a proclamation or maybe are a substitute   or um a um supplement to the proclamation process  a few years ago Mayor Whipple talked about I think   uh certificates of merit uh and there have  been other discussions I think even prior   to that about are there other ways to recognize  achievements of people in the community i don't   know if you want to go down that path at all  but I just bring that up because that has been   discussed in the past and I think I've I know  I've heard a couple of people talk about that   um over the last couple of weeks so I throw that  out for you this is where I politely sit down   and let you talk through this but I'll be glad  to answer any questions you have about process   yeah I think can you please clarify and explain  the situation that happened two weeks ago the   process and the breakdown in that process sure so  um mayor as put as fine a point on it as I can you   the mayor suggested uh edits to the proclamation  and in that she asked for this um language to   be substituted in terms of uh now there it be  resolved by and she asked that it be the city   council and not be the mayor and city council  staffman misunderstood and thought that that   edit also applied to the signature line and so the  signature electronic signature was not attached to   the proclamation so that's that's probably about  as close as I can come to explaining what happened   and the misunderstanding on staff in terms of what  the mayor's wishes were did the mayor refuse or   declined to sign no not to my knowledge can you  say that again no not to my knowledge thank you   and then I would like to know one more time  how is the signature applied currently and   in the future it's an electronic signature mayor  can you go back to that slide please oops sorry so the mayor does not use a pen to sign these  proclamations but rather it's an electronic   signature is that correct that is correct how  long has the electronic signature been applied   to proclamations here at the city yeah mayor i  don't know that approximate time i don't know   because I'm not involved in that process so I  I I don't know how long that been a practice   obviously during this council can you say whether  it was in the previous council as well i I can't   because I don't know that process i I don't I  I just don't know i I've never been involved   in the proclamation process so I've never paid  attention to I usually don't even receive those   in my council packets so I don't know i'm assuming  that we've used electronic uh signatures because   that is part of the process today but I don't  know when it started you don't know when it   started but do you know if it also was applied  during the previous mayor's time no and I I'm I   don't have a staff person here that could tell me  that i would like someone from staff to be able to   answer that as I have a proclamation from 2020  that also had an electronic signature so again   I want to sure record the time when electronic  signatures started getting put onto proclamations   and rather than with an actual pen signing every  one of these proclamations sure thank you Council   Member Johnson thanks Mayor could we go back to  slide I think 190 um so I guess just kicking off   conversation I don't think um any of these changes  really are necessary personally um I think it's   special to have the mayor's name whomever it is in  a proclamation i've received a few from different   governors i can always point out to a specific  governor or person um when I received it i think   that's special to community members i know it  was for me may have received some from the city   council before I was on council so I think it  is significant to show who the mayor was at the   time as well as the city council uh approving  so personally I don't think that should change   voting process-wise I acknowledge there's probably  been I'll give myself five that over my two terms   I may have not seen in my email and maybe not  voted for i'm always happy to say yay or nay if   I would to vote for something but I think again  if we move forward with a majority process as it   has been we've not had any issues up until now  and that won't slow the process down for anybody   requesting a proclamation so I really don't see  a need to change that process either council has   several forms of recognition a proclamation is  one that is special for whatever person or group   requests it because the council a majority would  say a or nay to it we also have certificates of   recognition which I give out regularly for people  want to recognize a birthday or something that   doesn't rise to the level of a proclamation so  I don't really think there's a need for this and   I also think on proclamations and I wasn't there  the whole time when when this thing happened but   I do know that the last two mayors and now this  one there's multiple opportunities to review a   proclamation for what it's what it looks like  whether it's before it's officially printed or   not i look at every proclamation that I'm asked  to read off site even though I know it's usually   correct so I think with multiple opportunities  to review I believe there was probably multiple   opportunities to review for this that we don't  really need to change anything i appreciate having   this conversation in the public but this process  isn't broke and I really don't think it needs to   be fixed um Council Member Johnson I will quickly  make a comment i see the Witchaw Eagle here today   and I actually got an email on March 25th  telling me that they were going to be invoiced   $112 for a record to simply find out who voted  for proclamations and I believe that's outrageous   i believe that the votes whether by email or  here before you as we speak about the topic   should be made public and should not require  media to have to pay $112 in order to find out   who voted for against or abstain from voting  so I do think that the process is broken and   it does need fixing um so I would be the first  to say that I want these votes to be out in the   public versus via email i think it is prudent for  community to know what council members slash mayor   uh believe approve deny or abstain from and  so I think that the system is actually broken   so I want to see change and that is the reason  why I encourage city manager to provide a clear   process so that people could see what currently  is happening with proclamations and how it can   improve and then now we're moving towards the more  policy discussion about let's talk about what's   the purpose of a proclamation let's talk about  how to make it public so people and media can see   who votes for and against as well as abstains from  these proclamations well well mayor real quick you   mentioned three things um so Kora is also paying  for staff time to get all of the information that   they were looking for together we approved I think  some changes to that process 2021 maybe 2022 can't   remember a couple years ago um so the media is  aware of that and looking for emails i think a   really simple solution that doesn't require again  all of these changes is to take the form that's   being used now that shows the council members who  approved and just put it online and then you can   see who voted in favor who didn't vote although we  shouldn't be abstaining as council members we are   elected to vote so we should be voting for that  um if there's something where we missed an email   staff could reach out to us and get a response  to that but it's simpler to take the form that's   being filled out now when we say approve or  not just put that online that cuts down all   that ease of access for the media so they don't  have to do a core request and it's there and open   but we should be voting um and I don't think that  there's a reason to abstain on a proclamation and   again proclamations are significant to various  groups it means a whole lot for us it may just   be an approve or deny um every week because we  get a lot but for the people who receive it it   really means a big deal and I know it did for  us when we did I think it was baseball night   in Witchah at Lawrence Dumontine Stadium and we  had mayor I think it was Longwell come out and   he read it at the stadium and it was a great  night it means a lot to the people requesting   it so again I don't think there's a lot of change  that's necessary council member Ballard thank you   Mayor were these proposed changes reflected  in the proclamations that were read today i don't remember yes they were council member  yeah the I asked legal whether or not this fell   under the privy of legally binding language and  according to legal because it's the majority of   the council that voted it should say now therefore  be it resolved that the Witchaw City Council does   hereby proclaim and according to legal it did  not preclude having to have the mayor's name   on there and to clarify council member Johnson's  comments the mayor's signature and name is on the   proclamation so the mayor's name and signature  is already on the document so this is a double   uh opportunity I guess to have the mayor  have a lot more recognition when I don't   believe the mayor needs to have extra  recognition but rather the Witchaw City   Council's majority voted to proclaim this  day to be whatever it is council member   Ho Council Member Ballard yeah so these  changes were made without us voting on changes that's correct okay i don't like that um  I thought I noticed it when she read them i mean   we also didn't take a vote for this to be on  today's agenda like four of us to vote to give   direction to staff to put I don't know i think  if we're going to follow the rules we need to   follow all of the rules and um I'm not sure that's  being done right now council member if I could I   had notes from two weeks ago that said that you  wanted the proclamation process to maybe come back   at a a workshop and I thought that putting on here  that following all of all of the rules um another   question is why doesn't the mayor physically  sign proclamation i mean I think you sign stuff   all the time i don't know why this would be  any different than we can just eliminate the   electronic signature that way you know what  you're signing um you know I don't know if   that's an option or opportunity to explore i  think that could prevent some of the confusion um and also a question maybe for the mayor or I  guess anybody on the council if you don't support   it do you think that you should be presenting  it i know there's been other um opportunities   where specifically um Council Member Tuttle you  know has taken a big lead in the firefighter   cancer initiative and maybe she could have had  the opportunity to read it but you know it was   for the mayor and I know I've come down to stand  with you for junior league and stuff like that   so you know there's other council members that  have you know taken the lead on some of these   projects but you've been pretty adamant about  um you reading them until this whole situation   happened a couple weeks ago so you know it just  makes me wonder like have you presented other   proclamations in the past that you either didn't  respond to or missed it or didn't vote or you know   maybe you didn't say no but maybe you didn't get  back to it and but you have still presented them   so I mean I just would be curious on the thought  process there thank you again I will reiterate   what I said two weeks ago since this was the first  proclamation ever presented by the city of Witchah   I wanted to give the honor and yield the floor to  the four individuals who voted for it and I again   will stand by that i did not refuse to read it  rather I yielded the floor to the four individuals   who voted for it who were obviously passionate  about it and I think that that was out of respect   and so again moving forward I do believe that  there's opportunities for improvement in not   only the process of proclamations but reading  proclamations i know that last two months ago   when it was Black History Month there were some  proclamations that I was not invited to read um   and and I'm glad that uh Council Member Johnson  was able to present them um and so again I think   that the language actually is very clear  now that where it says "Now therefore be   it resolved that the Witchah City Council does  hereby proclaim really represents all seven of   us but really a majority having voted." Um and  still the signature of the mayor and the name of   the mayor still remain on a proclamation council  member Hoheisle thank you mayor a couple of quick   questions here specifically about the edits um  do we see Okay what happens if the edits come   back and they're not agreed on by the person  who um who proposed the the uh proclamation that's an interesting question council member  because I don't know that we circle back with the   uh sponsor uh or the submitter at all those  edits normally are very simple usually not   content related um but I I can't I don't know that  I've ever heard of a um sponsoring organization or   individual that objected to the language so I I  would tell you that in most cases or probably all   the cases it doesn't undermine this the nature of  the of the proclamation it's just to clean it up   i I mean I can understand that i'm just trying  to make sure because there's a potential there   for some things that are pertinent to what  they're trying to say some opportunity for   that to go away i will note that in the new  form or the new process those are electronic   um changes made in a shared file and if the  council wanted access to that before the   proclamation was eventually issued that we do have  that shared file so I mean I guess that would be a   check in that regard i can appreciate that also  do we do they do the edits before or after the   vote because I don't want to vote for something  or against something and then find out later that   the language has been changed that alters kind of  the spirit of what they're they're trying to uh   pursue here but yeah that's another consideration  there do we see the edits before or after we vote member Tuttle thank you um thank you Bob for  your work on this and I'm quite sad that we're   spending time on this um I issued proclamations  asked for proclamations in the community before   I was on council for issues that were important  to me and it was done in the spirit of raising   awareness and I always felt respected um and quite  honored to be able to come and stand at the podium   in front of the electeds of our community so I do  respect the process i see the value of it and and   I have a great deal of um you know I I want to  see the process of having proclamations continue   i think we can figure out the the portion about  signatures clean it up whatever but we will have   to change our ordinance because the ordinance now  says proclamations will be signed by the mayor and   issued at the next regularly scheduled meeting  so either they're all going to be signed by the   mayor none of them are going to be signed by the  mayor but I don't think it can be any other way   because that's not fair to the community and it's  very inconsistent and it's not transparent i think   while we're pausing and taking this opportunity  to look at this and having some robust discussion   um also the reading process should be reviewed  um I I I don't think that um it I I wish that   the process would have gone differently for  the people who issued the proclamation a   few weeks ago um as I mentioned we will have  to obviously revise the ordinance so I just   think if we're going to do it let's rip off the  band-aid and look at how we read them as well as   how we sign them so it's fair and consistent  and transparent to the community thank you   i will add a point of clarification city manager  again that the mayor refuse or decline to sign   the document no mayor thank you so the law or  ordinance in Munich Code says that the mayor's   signature does apply to these documents and again  I believe the city manager just answered the   question so just for point of clarification I did  not vote for the proclamation but I did not refuse   or decline to sign this document again as these  documents are signed electronically and applied   to the document by staff council member Glascock  thank you Mayor quick point of clarification for   Councilman Ballard's point uh we didn't vote in  Council Member Jinda to bring this forward we also   didn't vote to take property rights away and have  that conversation on a council member agenda that   was brought by one member to have a conversation  from this bench and we had a legally binding   action there we're not having a legal binding  action here second off um I do believe that the   current process is a secret ballot i don't believe  it's transparent i think we should be open to the   public um to Councilman Johnson's point maybe  we just add it to the minutes maybe we continue   uh voting via email and then we just add it  to the minutes so there's some public record   so the media doesn't have to request that i think  that's maybe a compromised solution that we might   be able to look at so it's still recorded publicly  because obviously the status quo isn't working if   the media has to request information and this  isn't the first time the media has requested   um information about proclamations and it won't  be the last time and so I think that's just a more   transparent process i think this council wants  to be more transparent and that's an easy fix   to just add it to the minutes in the future as  well um regarding language of the city council   I don't care um I think it could be the therefore  resolve the Witchaw City Council does proclaim we   are one governing body um and I uh don't know if  we sing out one individual the mayor has equal   voting rights with every other member on this  body so I'm fine witchaw maybe you say Witchaw   City Council and mayor um and maybe just don't  say the mayor by name i don't really have a strong   opinion either way um one thing that I would be  interested that might be able to fix some of these   regarding you know edits often proclamations will  come forward and they have grammatical errors or   they'll have spelling errors or I've questioned  multiple times if even some of the information   in proclamations over the course of the past year  even been accurate we just rely on the submitter   uh regarding the accuracy of proclamations  and so I'd be interested if there was you know   people could still submit uh their interest in a  proclamation but it has to be sponsored by maybe   a member on the council that way as Councilman  Tuttle had said as well that maybe we change   the process we read it the individual that's  sponsoring the proclamation is the one that   reads it and so an individual can still requ So  the process would be an individual could still   request a proclamation as is and list who they  want to be the sponsor of the proclamation and the   individual can say yes or no they can be the ones  to read the proclamation um because often we are   requested to go to events to read proclamations  and so when Councilman Johnson goes to an event   if he's requested then he can automatically be  the one to read it because I often see that on   proclamation request as well because it already  it already actually asked that question of do   you want this presented and if so what council  person do you want to present it maybe that's   just the person that reads it from the bench i  think that's an easy fix so my suggestions we   would be doing this and I think this would provide  the accountability because if you have a sponsor   they can help edit it to make sure it's factually  correct doesn't have grammatical errors they could   be the one to read it it's also more special  to the individual or the organization to have   a member that's passionate about the issue again  Councilman Tuttle is passionate about child care   she should probably be the ones reading child care  proclamations and then maybe just add it to the   minutes to be more transparent process um that way  we can still via email but it still comes before   so those would be my suggestions council member  Johnson thanks Mayor um try to answer you before   I get to my notes i agree with putting it in the  packet but I would suggest maybe once a month at   the consent meeting that way it's just not every  week trying to do that once a month it's in there   everyone knows where to look so council approves  that with consent so I don't disagree with that   like that suggestion um I was going to say um  because at first I said I didn't necessarily agree   that all of this needed to happen i feel that  way but um the tracking sheet is a good update   I think just because it shows who is doing what  i would make one suggestion to the tracking sheet   and that's adding a comment to who is requesting  whatever that change might be so I'll use myself   as an example i got a um Black History Month that  wasn't what it was called black Educators Hall   of Fame proclamation request that came in council  approved it the requesttor had like some language   she wanted added to it it wasn't in there i asked  for some language changes but I worked with that   requesttor as well as city staff so the comment  would show council member Johnson requested this   that way you can point back to I was the one so  if they're not happy with the way it reads I'm at   fault and my name's in there so I think we should  add um comment notes on that that way it's not   staff getting blamed if one of us was actually  doing it in that case me um I will not die on   the hill about the name i don't think it needs to  change but if majority of the council agrees with   that the Witchaw City Council does proclaim okay  um I will say there was a question earlier about   working with the respondent i just gave one  example but I've done that from time to time   if somebody requests a proclamation is this what  you want to say or this year is off or you know   just making sure that language is right so it does  happen um historically from what I've seen it's up   to us if we work with city staff and that person  making the request to make sure the language is   right and the message that they want to convey  it has happened doesn't happen all the time but   it has and then I forgot to respond earlier to  the mayor the questions to the manager about   um process from the whole time I've been elected  I've never seen a manager assistant city managers   dealing with the proclamation it's always just  been in-house downstairs mayor mayor's assistant   um and city staff going over reviews of changes  and all that so um I will say I believe Mayor   Longwell did hand sign a few proclamations  depending on what it was but also electronic   signature and I've seen that with both the  prior mayors can't speak for before that but the   electronic signature is used the most but again I  wouldn't expect anybody else to know that except   for down there um I think that's all my notes  I have for conversation so far council member   Ballard thank you Mayor would you be willing  to entertain hands signing them all as opposed   to the electronic signature that way you know  what you're signing and is that something that   you would be interested in i would be okay with  that um I know that it does put extra amount of   time to this proclamation process so I would now  like to really be able to delay because right now   I think we have 10 proclamations in that have  been on hold since this conversation because   we still wanted to again provide the opportunity  for the community to be able to see who votes for   what and I still believe that it should be even  more transparent i I believe that it should come   back every week in the in our consent agenda so  you can see it these are the proclamations that   came in so far these are the individuals who  voted yay nay or have not responded and then   it provides again that checks and balance so that  you have greater transparency with community but   that will also delay the process for staff and I  don't know if staff is able to continue would be   able to do a new process like that where it would  be added into our consent agenda so again anyone   can pull the consent agenda items at any point in  time i would say okay sorry I just have one more   question and then I know repeatedly um over the  last couple weeks um you have mentioned that you   did not ask staff to remove your name so I guess  in the conversation of edits what what were your   edits to the proclamation if they weren't removing  your name or the the signature part where it says   therefore be resolved that's why this slide is up  i removed I Liywoo Mayor of the City of Witchah   that's what the edit was correct okay thank you  Vice Mayor Johnston thank you Mayor i just want   to give my uh few procul proclamations um I think  it should be for organizations that are doing   something positive in the community um Salvation  Army public clinic that you there um I I just I I   have come over the past year and three months not  to vote for any ethnic group or subset of people   uh to to pull them out of and recognize them  and I've been consistent on that so um two of   the three I voted for today one I did not wasn't  because I'm against that group at all it's just   that I think my view is proclamation should be  organizations making a positive positive impact   on not that other groups are not making a positive  impact i understand that but I just really think   that it shouldn't just be for everything thank  you you Vice Mayor Johnson can I just add one   point of clarification i asked Cedric County to  provide me their proclamation policy and in their   proclamation policy it says proclamations are  issued for organizations with countywide regional   or statewide interests proclamations will not be  issued to endorse or promote a private for-profit   business that competes with similar for-profit  businesses or to endorse or promote a partisan   political position or candidate and they have  other points that they also mention and I don't   know if we have all this in our MUN code um  so I would ask law to let us know because this   would be now a policy discussion moving away from  process how policy would now be the conversation mayor and council you have great discretion  in how you want to frame this ordinance i will   say that you just have to recognize first  amendment rights under the constitution currently our MUN code doesn't  have a specific proclamation   policy with outlines of what will not be issued  proclamation ordinance does not give guidelines so have one from Salina they also  provided theirs and it has a lot more   um guidance and I I think that given that this  conversation is continuing beyond just a process   now we're moving to policy I think it would be  prudent to put it out to all the dabs and have   dabs ex talk about what changes they would like  to see in policy what types of proclamations   s um they would like to see or not see  um so could that be maybe put so that   there's greater community input there are  six district advisory boards and so six   district advisory boards could talk  about proclamations council members I would agree with that like we should get  more public input council member Johnson um I don't mind going to DAB um but given the spirit of what I have been seeing and hearing  regarding this last um or the proclamation in   question I really am not um wanting to continue  to drag this out the community of individuals that   we had a proclamation for continues to be exposed  to some things that just you know nationally it's   happening and I think it's happening more locally  just because of some of this conversation and I'd   hate to see that continue to dab with hateful  examples of why we need to change process when   again I don't think we do again I'll follow what  the majority of the council says but I I don't   think uh I don't think that's right to continue  to labor those points i also would add that to   council member Ballard's point um hand signing  and again your prerogative mayor I think it would   be actually good because it gives another review  I know that there's two reviews of proclamations   now and this process means infinite because you  can always see track changes but you know that   means the signature is the final this is in  order it's worded right and that way there's   a review and they sit I I think on the desk now  have actually been in the same location at least   since I've been in office so I just think you  know there's only three and if you just have to   sign three before a meeting I don't really think  it extends the time to wait for proclamations i   think that if it's ceremonial actually I would  prefer to sign them right in front of everyone   um so again I'm not opposed to any of this  i think that again I wanted to pay respect   to the Witchah City Council as a majority being  the ones that voted for a certain proclamation   that the emphasis should be now therefore be  it resolved that the Witchah City Council and   I'm part of that Witchah City Council and so I  think that it does provide uh even greater uh   sense of authority by the council itself as as  a group than singling one individual out in a   situation where again this is not a resolution so  we did not take away rights from people we did not   uh do anything legally binding other than do a  proclamation to celebrate and so again I'm still   going to stick with wanting to make this change  moving forward as it did um for today's pro three   pro proclamations council member Hohheisle thank  you mayor um I I'm fine if it goes to DAB i have   some the same concerns Council Member Johnson has  so I would like if we do go to DAP and try and   make sure that we keep it as precise and on topic  as possible um I respect uh Vice Mayor Johnston   your kind of your your thoughts as to where the  proclamation should come from that's up for every   one of us to kind of decide and parse through as  best we can i'm just going to say though my and   I guess I maybe I should have spoken a couple of  weeks ago but my thoughts on it is right now we   have a group of people who are under persecution  across this country and a lot of people are scared   right now about what's going on uh fire takes  place at somebody's house our city's going to   show up they're not going to ask anybody's gender  or identity or anything they're going to put the   fire out same thing with PD same thing if we're  filling out potholes so my thoughts as far as   the proclamation was going let's reaffirm that to  everyone let's let everybody know that Witchaw is   a safe and accepting community and regardless of  any differences we might have as far as opinion or   any of the other things I mentioned it's important  that we let people know as council member Glasco   spoke about earlier today this is the people's  building this is your building this is your city   as well so um those are my thoughts as far as  kind of the overall goal of proclamations um I   can't think of anything more worthwhile as far  as a proclamation no more value than it than   something like that it's always nice when we  have recognition for people but the ones that   truly matter the ones that people pay attention  to are the ones that bring people in and let them   feel accepted and let them know that Witchaw is  our home so um again everybody's different and   everybody can make up their own mind as far as the  purpose of proclamations or why you would approve   or deny them so I just figured I would share  mine as well council member Glasco thank you   Mayor i'll synthesize kind of the comments here  and I'd be interested i know we're not officially   taking a vote or policy discussion but I'm trying  to synthesize kind of where we all are at first   off Bob and I have talked about this probably  the course of the past year i've had concerns   the proclamation process as a whole just voting  via email and so I've categorized us in maybe   three categories so first right now it says I  Lily Woo and the Witaw City Council i think a   compromise is that the mayor and the city council  um that way you're not specifically naming any   individual doesn't elevate anybody from this bench  but it also shows a majority of this bench or the   mayor and the council support something i think  that's an honor for the community so that's cate   number one and I think maybe a compromise uh with  maybe the suggestions up here as well number two a   record and a minutes i think we could still maybe  vote via email but we at least record it in the   consent agenda as uh Councilman Johnson said that  way we have accountability the media doesn't have   to request this information they can willingly  get it there's a record of it but it also makes   it easy for all of us because there's so many  proclamation requests to still vote by email   i think that's a compromised solution and number  three I think having a sponsor somebody from this   bench i think every proclamation that we've agreed  to somebody from this bench would be willing to   sponsor it that way that individual is responsible  as Councilman Johnson said for doing the edits   with that organization and so it's not seven of us  doing different edits and then I think that would   just be very chaotic in the process you have one  member responsible for doing edits responsible for   the factual or the facts of it responsible for the  grammatical side spelling errors that way you also   have the accountability and honor and I think  that also answers the question of who presents   from the bench as well if you have a sponsor of  the um of the proclamation they're the ones that   read it to the community because they're the ones  that have a vested interest and also you know have   been committed to a specific issue i think that  answers all of our concerns i'd be interested   if there are more concerns um but I think that  streamlines the process creates accountability   creates honor it also makes sure that um there's  less questions about the process and it's more   transparent council member Tuttle thank you again  thank you for the robust discussion i'm fine with   the voting however we do it because I think people  need to vote we don't get to not vote up here so   we shouldn't get to not vote on other things so  making a hard vote means making a hard vote and so   I want I think all of us should have to do that um  I do and I know council member um Dalton mentioned   it but just also the reading process um you know  how can we make sure that the the folks who who   asked for the proclamation are it's done in a  respectful way because I'm I'll be honest I wasn't   happy the way it happened a couple weeks ago  and I don't think it was fair so I want to make   sure that we are ultimately taking care of our  residents and making them feel respected because   this is their building i've said that for six  years um so happy to move forward and also happy   to move away from this topic i think we'll figure  it out but we've got people who are sleeping on   the streets downtown and we have a child care gap  and we have firefighters who are getting cancer   and all the things that we had on the agenda today  that's what I hope we can get our focus back soon   thank you Vice Mayor John Sten thank you Mayor in  response to Councilman Hohisel which I I really I   respect your opinion uh a lot um I I would say to  add to your burning house if if someone comes to   Gualipe Clinic which I run we don't even ask and  we do have transgender people that come there we   take care of them it's not even a question on the  take care of them to your point I agree with that   that's how it should be for everything sometimes  I think if we give publicity to something it gives   more reason for the haters to act so I think  even though it's it may be good publicity and   visibility it gives more reason for people who  who don't like that that subset of people whoever   it is Jewish or Palestinian or whoever it is uh  gives them more reason to act so that's why I like   to focus just on uh organizations i respect your  opinion and I do think it should be how we vote   i agree with that uh thank you Vice Mayor Johnston  uh Council Member Glasco summarized or synthesized   the information however I will um again on point  number one I would like to see the language as was   read today i believe that I am a council member  on the city council and when I get to vote here   on this bench I'm equal to each of and every one  of you six individuals my vote does not count more   it is one exactly the same as each of you so I  believe that the language should be changed and   should stand as is as it does not violate any laws  um that it should remain as now therefore be it   resolved that the Witchah City Council does hereby  proclaim um on the second point regarding the   recording of votes I do want that on the consent  agenda um and including the ones that don't get   enough votes i think it would allow the community  to see even the ones that fail um so you can see   why um it failed because it didn't get the four  votes and I'd like to see it in the consent agenda   each week because that will allow for keeping up  with the amount of proclamations that actually   come in right now we really do have nearly a dozen  proclamations including some that are supposed to   come before us next week that still haven't been  voted on and so again I I would like to see that   process be on a weekly basis in the consent  agenda showing the votes on proclamations and   third regarding the reading of proclamations I  agree that it should be sponsored by a specific   council member and that council member can then  have that opportunity since they're an advocate   for it and someone who's passionate about it to  have the opportunity to read that proclamation   um and that again provides not only transparency  but accountability so if that gives some direction   and I see that there's now more comments but  does that provide some direction to staff it does i I guess one just practical question  if no council member is willing to sponsor it   then the proclamation would not  go forward is that the idea okay that would be a process question so sorry so  right now there none of the proclamations have   a sponsor so this would be a new process to be  added to proclamations where you would say who   would sponsor that bill or sorry that proclamation  and then be responsible for edits as well correct   okay yes correct council member Tuttle thank you i  will not be supportive of having a council member   support it and I'll give you a personal reason  why uh my first year on council there was a   proclamation from an organization I've never  heard before and they brought to us National   Infertility Awareness Week um as a woman who has  suffered from infertility I didn't know the group   existed but since then because they came here and  raised my awareness as awareness of my council   members I'm now active i help lead their walk  and I'm involved in their activities all week   so I would not want a group that maybe is just  merging forming or doesn't have a huge presence   in the community to maybe not know one of us  and not be able to share their voice this is   everyone's city hall and you shouldn't have  to know a council member or have a council   member passionate about your topic for it to be  heard because maybe the people watching and I'm   always surprised how many people do watch  or go back and watch will learn something   so the part about having a sponsor is something  that's going to be really really challenging for   me to support i appreciate the idea i'll engage in  the discussion but I've had as I mentioned my own   personal example where it would have um limited  an opportunity for me that's something I'm quite   proud of now Council Member Johnson thanks Mayor  piggybacking on Council Member Tuttles's point   I too do not agree with the forced sponsorship of  proclamations i think they should come in as they   have been and if one of us is passionate enough to  want to sponsor and and lead that effort I think   that's fine but I don't think it should have to  happen much like Council Member Tuttle said I've   learned quite a bit from proclamations over the  years of things I didn't know about and quite   frankly just given how much work I was doing may  not have looked into until meeting with that group   and them getting the proclamation so I think that  process should stay the same i don't agree with   the weekly consent agenda i still I would like  to see the consent agenda at the consent meeting   which is fourth Tuesday so again everybody will  know point to the fourth Tuesday these are the   proclamations that were approved for the month  this is who voted for it whatever that sheet   has i think we should go there um and again like  council member Total who took my notes for what I   was about to say um hopefully we get all of this  taken care of today and don't have to continue to   talk about proclamations for another couple weeks  council member Hohheisle thank you Mayor um first   off I agree with my fellow council members on  the sponsor i I think that is a another barrier   just because again you may not know the particular  person or find a council member but that doesn't   mean that your request isn't any more valid um and  the same thing with the consent agenda i I want to   take I want I respect the transparency angle but I  also just want to balance that out with staff time   and we have staff doing an awful lot nowadays and  sometimes being overworked leads to to issues um I   would ask a question is any of this do we have to  take a vote on any of this is there any ordinance   change uh attached to this not I mean not today  not not voting today i'm asking if it'll have   to come back with any changes that we have these  are all process questions so it's not a an actual   ordinance change if I remember correctly I will I  will say that the current ordinance and what we're   we're doing are not directly aligning i would  think this is a good time if there are changes   to go ahead and clean up the ordinance make it  consistent with what you are directing staff   to do thank you for that is it time time sorry  council member Glascott thank you Mayor um I don't   necessarily care what's on a consent agenda  item at the end of the month as long as it's   public um there might be some issue of timeliness  given if somebody had questions about particular   proclamations but maybe it's just if it's we  proclaim them you know within a month that's   on incentive i don't necessarily care about that  regarding the sponsor I pulled up the proclamation   request form online and there's already a boss  box right now that says "Are you requesting an   official to present?" So just check the box if you  want an official to present the proclamation what   it could be done is a drop down where it has  one of our names or to I think mitigate both   of your concerns just a representative from the  Witchaw City Council that way they don't need to   know one of us an individual can do it and then  we can still have an up or down vote but that   way if there's an individual that's supposed  to read it there could be a sponsor of it or   the sponsor is just the Witchaw City Council  if they don't know a particular and that way   it can be read council member Tuttle thank you  i have a question for legal Jennifer um since   this is a count council member agenda do we  allow public comment today traditionally no   okay but we could take a vote to allow public  comment is that correct you can okay thank you i move to allow public comment regarding this  agenda item from the council i'll second motion   and a second any further discussion i see  none um we'll now open it up for public   comment regarding proclamation process oh sorry  uh motion and a second mr clerk please open the role motion passes 61 we will now open it  up for public comment including from media good afternoon my name is Todd Ramsey i live  in District 1 i was hoping this would come up   for public comment um I'm sad that Council Member  Johnson is stepping out at this precise moment but   that's okay um I think as a member of the Witchah  community what is frustrating is to see the   controversy around this proclamation being buried  under bureaucracy the issue was not with the   process it was not with the fact that there was an  electronic signature that was or was not removed   but there was a direct proclamation made from the  bench that was a refusal to read the proclamation   and if there was a desire to have another council  member read the proclamation that conversation   could have had before the city council meeting  there was a active political statement made   from the bench by not reading that proclamation  when every other proclamation as long as I've   been watching city council meetings have been  read by the mayor unless there was a specific   request to not have it read by the mayor so  it's a little frustrating um as a member of   the community to feel like I'm being gaslit by  our mayor um I don't believe that being trans   is political it's not a political statement  it's a reality that there are individuals who   exist in our community that simply want to be  acknowledged as individuals in our community   it's not a political statement and they're not  a subset of our community who aren't making   a positive impact on our community and it is  infuriating to hear a council member make that   argument we elected all of you to represent all  of us regardless of whether or not you agree with   our opinions with our agendas with our lifestyle  choices and a proclamation is either a big deal or   it's not and the fact that you are spending more  than an hour talking about proclamations if it's   not a big deal then what are we doing here if they  don't really matter if they're purely ceremonial   what are we doing we're trying to bury what  actually happened last Tuesday or two Tuesdays   ago and that is so frustrating now mayor in your  defense I do believe the proclamation was put up   as a test to you frankly and um that's frustrating  as well we live in a very divided community and we   can't ignore that fact but we are not bringing  our community together any better by having this   ridiculous conversation by taking it out to dabs  to talk about proclamations i mean these these   are ceremonial acknowledgements of organizations  and human beings who are in our community that's   all that they are they hold no bearing they  hold no weight they are simply ceremonial   and the process maybe isn't as transparent as it  could be the solution of putting them the votes   in the agenda solves that no need for a change in  the ordinance no need for a change in the language   no need for more time spent on this topic let's  just keep doing proclamations the way we've been   doing them there's never been an issue until two  weeks ago and so let's get back to the reality   of solving the problems that actually matter in  this community and representing the people who   exist in this community now mayor I respect your  perspective i understand that you have your view   on what happened but I tell you as a citizen the  issue wasn't that you or did or did not sign the   proclamation i need to be very clear about that  and there is no frustration in the community about   the process of how the signature got removed  it was the fact that you made the statement   from the bench that you were not going to read  that proclamation now you have the excuse or the   reasoning that you wanted to give it to the four  that's never been done before from the bench and   so it felt whether it was or not like a political  statement being made from the bench and I just   want to make sure that you understand that from  someone who is not one of your foes but is simply   a concerned citizen here in Witchah so thank  you i think this is a ridiculous conversation   that has taken way more time than is worth having  for a process that it maybe can be refined but is   not as broken as it seems like we're wanting  to make it out to be thank you thank you Todd okay i was pretty sure you were not going to  take public comment on that but um so this is   not as prepared as in the past um I agree  i think that continuing to politicize this   whether that's here or in the media later or  what's been in the media the past three weeks   is doing a disservice to the entire community  everyone is welcome here in Witchah and the   spin here is also really literally making my  head spin because those votes were the worst   kept secret i was told at your mayor address  before leaving what the votes were so it just   seems like we're focusing on the wrong things  i do agree it should be transparent it also   kind of sounds like it's not really a broken  process so it's it's the misdirection for me   um it's the inconsistency for me i got to  say the sponsorship idea sounds terrible   um I get I think I get the intention behind it  but I'm someone who on city council I think I   could talk to most of you but for instance on like  Derby City Council county commission I don't think   I could find a sponsor for some of the things  that I would want to be said and so that is again   I hate to use this word but that is actually  segregating people you're segregating people   that don't have a friend or don't even feel  comfortable we already saw someone today that   didn't even feel comfortable speaking because  of the vibes that we put out two weeks ago so   I don't want to see us go more in that direction  and I just I really just have one question for you   Lily and I'm trying so hard as a member of your  political party to like not like I really don't   want to I don't want to get involved because I am  rooting for you so I just want to ask one question   let's say all of your changes take place like  we remove your name we sign by whatever every single comes up next week do you come  down here and read it or sign it or no i did not vote for it right therefore it would  still require four votes right so again that is   the process that this is going through i will be  very clear i did not vote for it right but I did   not vote against it either right and again and to  address Todd really quickly I yielded the floor   to four individuals who cared more deeply about  an issue and had them have the opportunity to   go and go ahead and read that proclamation and  I believe that that's why the sponsor process   is so important i think that it is it provides  one of the council members or even the mayor to   say "I care deeply about a subject and I want to  speak on behalf of it." I know that council member   Tuttle was very passionate about firefighters and  she wanted to read and I again it was drafted by   staff if it would have been drafted by the  council member and I think sponsored by the   council member it would be a great opportunity for  a council member to also have the opportunity to   read and I think that that's where we want to be  where we have the opportunity to not just give   the mayor the chance to read proclamations but  also council members who feel passionate about   a specific subject council member Tuttle oh  I thought Johnson was in front of me sorry   Council Member Johnson i'm sorry then and again we  are getting so far into the weeds and and I'm so   sorry for the community who's watching and here  with us today but thank you for being patient   um and hopefully learning a little bit more about  your city operates right um but something new was   just brought up that um with a proclamation for  a topic that I'm very passionate about i was in   a meeting with staff and I said that I was going  to draft the proclamation and staff said no we'll   do it for you because that's our function had  I known I couldn't read it if I didn't write   it myself then I would have written it myself  so if that's going to be the guard rail that   if a council member gets to read a proclamation  for something they care about they have to write   and submit the proclamation i'm fine with that  just like with anything if I know the rules I'll   follow it thank you Council Member Johnson thanks  Mayor um I know Council Member Tuttle would be   fine with that i think if it's an issue that  we are working on and that is an opportunity   to read it offsite or hear should so even if  council were to ask staff to draft something   um but to your point I I've actually been trying  to avoid this but it I think the frustrating thing   for me and why I wish this whole conversation  would go away is we had three proclamations   that day we only had an issue on one and we're  now talking about it two weeks later because of   one proclamation and honestly I feel like all of  these changes come from that because we have not   had an issue at all up until that one proclamation  and even now you didn't get a yes or no so again   that's why I keep saying I really hope this is  over with today we get some recommendations from   the direction we've gave staff and we can put  this to bed because the connection is going to   continue to be made from we're making all these  changes based on one proclamation of three that   were read that day everyone knows what it is um  the name of it and I think that connection is   going to continue to be made that's all I see  on social media is that connection it's not   about a broken process this conversation today  although I don't mind some of the changes I'm   not one that says it's the way we've always  done it so we need to keep doing it i'm open   to to hearing that but what we heard today is  that the process is not broken there's several   opportunities for review from staff there's some  updates that could be made should be made so again   like I said the tracking sheet is a good one it  brings us into 2025 and not how the ordinance   says printing off and signing by different  council members have been changed to emails   so the tracking sheet those things are good but  honestly this whole conversation continues to   center around one proclamation and all of these  changes is coming from that one thing and I again   I just hope that from all the conversation today  we get to a point where whether it's synthesized   down to three items also not the biggest fan of  item three from council member Glasscock but if   we get down to three specific changes and we  look at ordinance changes or council policy   that would be good but I hope that this is one  of our final discussions we don't go out to dab   i don't want to see um this group of witchins  continue target of what I'm continuing to see   and even see on YouTube right now that type of  stuff is disgusting to me and I just really hate   that widgets are being subject to that because  we keep talking about proclamations thank you   Council Member Johnson and to answer your question  I would sign if it passed by majority just like   I again did not deny or abstain from signing  a document yeah and I'm clear on that and I   appreciate you like really hammering that um which  you have every right to i was really just playing   the hypothetical and I appreciate your answer  thanks guys we'll continue with public comment hello again um once again I'm Molly Stevenson and  I'm teacher and operator at a small independent   school here in Witchto um I want to thank um Mr  hisel for your remarks earlier about inclusion   and safety and proclaiming that loudly um I do  think that's fundamentally important um being   seen is a fundamental human right and for us as  a place and as a city and a state that wants to   retain people who belong here saying out loud that  we celebrate that you're present here is important   um that you're welcome here is important um trans  people are not a special interest group they're   people um they are people that want to be mostly  just treated with human rights you know and not   to be otherred and ostracized visibility is the  very first step in representation representation   is what you all are here for um you all understand  like the importance of representing the people in   your community visibility has to happen before  real representation can happen so proclamations   like that one should just be a celebration of I  know you're in our community i see you and I care   about you um I would like you to consider that  particularly going forward when you're deciding   what is worthy of a proclamation or not i think  your citizenry um who they are what they need   from you is probably one of the most worthy things  you could celebrate having a group be acknowledged   when they have been historically not acknowledged  and when they are facing so much federally   um and at the state level too about the simple  existence of their life is a really really   powerful thing for you to say that Witchah is a  place that acknowledges that you belong and are   valuable here means a lot to a people group that  really just wants to exist you can take that same   concept and apply it to any other marginalized  people group we have a culture right now that is   erasing giant parts of our history um our  narrative where we're whitewashing over things   in the way that we share stories and acknowledge  people's contributions to our society um as a   teacher I talk a lot about this with my students  how and who gets to tell the stories of our people   is so important to our identity as a nation but  really also as a city right this whole issue is   going to be a defining issue for you all um about  how you relate to the people in the city right   we're talking about proclamations and I agree  Representative Johnson this is like ridiculous   to be here two weeks later having the same  conversation but it is kind of a catalyst right   of what are our value systems as a city around  people right who do we care about how do we show   um that Witchita is a place of belonging so I  think this gives you an opportunity as a council   um in your procedures to affirm or not affirm  who you are as leaders going forward are you   representatives of people who may not be very  visible without something like a proclamation   um thank you for hosting us today and hearing our  students we in our setting are very consistently   wanting to make sure that our kids know that  they belong in all the spaces we don't want our   kids to want to leave Witchah we don't want our  kids to want to leave Kansas we want them to be   valued here we want them to be heard spaces like  this where they're welcome definitely gives them   that opportunity but to hear to hear things  like recognizing people groups is maybe not   the function of the council sends the message  that I don't know that I'm comfortable with as   a teacher and I hope as you sit with that as a  council you can also maybe not be comfortable   with that as well because what are you saying  to the people you represent so thank you thank   you Molly i will just address I think a couple  of items council member Johnson and many others   are saying they want this to be the last time we  talk about it but I already have the agenda for   April 8th which is next Tuesday and five people  on the public agenda which is all five spots are   five students from Wildflower Community School to  talk about transgender validation so I know that   everyone is saying that they want to move on but  I I don't believe so uh given that it will come   back up next week course and so if that is the  case I think that again we're trying to allow   the community to have more public input which is  why I mentioned the district advisory boards but   if the district advisory boards do not want to  hear this we can keep it at the council level and   make decisions as council um but again I think law  department would like to have some clarification   moving forward so it can be captured so that  everyone has the same consistency sure um I   believe the last time the process of proclamations  was last revisited city manager when was that i don't know okay go ahead mayor Council Jennifer  I can't say when the process has was   last revisited i believe it's been 10 years  since the ordinance has been amended but I   don't know about the process thank you so a  decade I appreciate it and I do want to say   that I do very much appreciate the conversation  about transparency and accountability very much   um I know that we speak a lot about that in our  space that accountability is something that we   should expect from our elected representatives  and so to put that out in front um I'm grateful   for that molly Council Member Tuttle thank you and  and when I said that I hope this is the last time   we talk about it i know realistically that may not  happen but definitely don't want anyone who wants   to come to talk to us about whatever they want to  talk about so all are welcome at your city hall so   see you next week we'll be here thank you thank  you Council Member Johnson thanks Mayor um and   and my comments were mainly from us as electeds  i'm happy to hear from you all next week as well   but I think it's important to clarify and I'm not  speaking for the five young people but a lot of   um the continued discussion is people responding  to what's being said in the media it's not it's   not the proclamation it's the continued attacks  against our trans residents our trans neighbors   and a lot of that is disgusting and a lot of the  ones who are willing and able are speaking up and   speaking out and we saw the emotions of one person  today who wanted to speak but it was just so   um emotional for them that they could not and  the nervousness of being up in front of the   elected body um I have also long felt I this this  conversation continues to come back to and I I   don't like bringing up staff but the the clerical  error piece of this conversation is something that   people continue to talk about which is frustrating  because I know the proclamations are reviewed   they're reviewed before the weekend they're  reviewed before the Tuesday that's not a staff   thing that's us reading it that's me if I don't  go read the proclamation that I'm supposed to   read on a Saturday or at some event that's on me  that I didn't do it and I don't I don't feel with   continued reviews that that is a staff thing or  a clerical thing and when it comes to us reading   these proclamations agreeing to proclamations  while for me it's an approve I read it i know   that every time I say approve if the council  approves it the group or person requesting it   is going to feel great i see how people react when  I'll speak for myself when I show up i definitely   see how people react when more of us show up at  an event or um to some meeting that someone's   having and while I look at the elected role as I  ran to help and move issues forward and and try   to be of assistance to the community there are  just people who want their electeds to see them   to hear them to acknowledge them we represent  everyone even the folks we disagree with and   these proclamations are a great way to do it if we  proclaim tomorrow Purple Tie Day people who love   purple ties would be like "Man the city council  actually recognizes me it's a big deal." Yeah and   while I might think it's just approve and that's  that's okay like it these things are a big deal to   the people requesting them i remember when I met  my first elected official Carl Brewer and I I had   a bone to pick with him but we had a conversation  about an issue with the city and I was like "Wow   an elected official cares cares enough to come  in here i remember my first proclamation i still   have it hanging up at my nonprofit office to this  day and I'm a council member we give those out."   Like all of those things are impactful and they  mean something and if we are considering in any   way shape or form taking away from that making it  harder for residents to get that I think that's   the wrong direction for us to go again I don't  think the process is broken and it all comes down   to one proclamation if that proclamation wouldn't  happen we wouldn't even be talking about process   today so I really hope when I say the conversation  is over with it's over with from the elected body   if the community has something to say they  have every right because it's been in the   media for two weeks and one group of our  residents continues to bear the brunt of   the negativity coming from that no one else is  so my thoughts we'll continue with public comment i see none we'll bring it back to the bench i think as of right now there are several uh  directions that we could take and I've mentioned   um back to the hereby proclaimed portion of the  proclamation i still stand that it should say the   Witchaw City Council i would agree with council  member Ballard in having the opportunity to sign   them physically and I think they should be signed  right here in front of everyone and so I would   like to see that also happen so that's one on the  record of votes i still believe that you should   be able to see them um on the consent agenda and  that should be a process question maybe actually   getting input from staff asking what is most  feasible for staff to be able to provide all those   votes and all the different proclamations because  there are proclamations that do not get four votes   and so they automatically never come before the  community but they have been voted on or lack   thereof votes so I'd like to see those votes  weekly but if that's not feasible every other   week but it should be in the consent agenda and it  would be an opportunity again for media to be able   to see without having to quora that information  and so that does provide transparency and number   three I still believe that a sponsor for a  proclamation would allow for someone who cares   deeply about a subject to have the opportunity to  read these proclamations um I know that council   member Tuttle today uh came down when we talked  about child abuse and she has been a big advocate   for child care as well as um she's on that task  force um if she would have been the sponsor in   this situation she could read that proclamation  itself so I think that there are opportunities for   other members of the council to have the chance  to read um and so those are the three suggestions   actually four suggestions that I think should be  carried forward council member Glascock thank you   Mayor um to try to maybe answer Councilwoman uh  Tuttle and Councilman Johnson's question about the   sponsor i do think it's good to have a member on  there so we can worry about edits maybe it's each   one of us have the opportunity to do it and then  if for some reason someone doesn't want to request   a sponsorship from us it comes from the manager's  office so it's listed as from the manager's office   or from the council office um so then we still  vote on it and then they can be responsible   for the editing language and working with the  individual that way there's still the opportunity   for someone if they don't know us as Olivia said  that they can still present the proclamation but   then there's the opportunity for us if we have a  special interest in whatever is being presented to   also do it so maybe it's the mayor council is an  option and then maybe just the city council office   as an option if they don't seek a sponsorship from  one of us member Johnson thanks mayor um I like it   in theory i just I don't think in practice that's  I think it should be optional for us to want to be   a sponsor of it um process thus far as outlined in  the presentation is the special assistant to the   mayor and the mayor kind of do the final review of  all the language and grammatical stuff um but each   of us see the proclamation anyway so I mean if we  have some changes we could do that there i don't   think there needs to be a named council sponsor  uh unless one of us wants to and then I think that   would change it but other than that I think people  should be free to submit whatever proclamations   they want oftent times it's something that we can  learn about and you know maybe make a lifetime   connection to this is some new information or  something that we know about i forgot to address   one of the comments that council member Hohheisel  had which is we vote on proclamation language that   has been submitted by the requesttor but  those then get edited because I remember   Specifically just last week I had one proclamation  that had 10 where as comments and they had to be   condensed down to four whereas paragraphs and so  in that situation you guys didn't get to see the   actual language that got voted on so really it  back to the sponsor idea you won't get to see   the proclamation until it's presented whereas if  you have a sponsor that individual for instance   in this case it's about child um child abuse  council member Tuttle could have taken that lead   and she would have edited the uh proclamation and  then sent it out as an actual vote so right now   we're still not having a good process I don't  believe with how these proclamations come in council member Hohheisel you were the one  that brought up if a specific requesttor   is asking for certain language and that  language is not part of that proclamation   um when it's being edited especially when they're  very lengthy to condense it down to four you might   take away maybe something that was very important  to someone else so again back to the sponsorship   i I agree but that also could be something that  is it's currently being dealt with by staff you   know it's just more a question of when where do  we see it along the process that's more what it   is uh sponsorship i I mean I like options you  know Council Member Johnson talked about some   options council member Glass talked about options  um I'm okay with options i'm just more again I   don't want to put additional barriers there in  case there is no council member that necessarily   feels like they should sponsor something um if  it's especially if it's not requested on behalf   of the individuals that's the concern there is um  where do they go if they don't feel like there is   somebody that wants to sponsor or maybe there  isn't somebody who wants to sponsor but still   thinks okay this is something I can vote for  so I suppose that's more the concern council   member Ballard thank you um I like the idea of  you signing them um you know at the bench or   or however you want to sign them but signing  them as opposed to the electronic signature   i'm not loving the sponsorship just because as  mentioned before um by the speaker if someone   doesn't know one of us well enough to lean  on us to help them through that process or   you know have us advocate for them or whatever  I certainly don't want to discourage anyone from   submitting a proclamation so um I'm okay with the  rest of your suggestions minus the sponsorship council member Johnson thanks Mayor can we get  a mayor's fountain tip pen for the signature a ceremonial pen does that give enough  direction for staff moving forward   mayor I hate to bring this up but is I I haven't  heard consensus on the wording of pro proclamation   i I hear your consent you want city council and  I just I've heard different opinions so I just   I think that's the only outstanding issue and by  the way I think we can bring the vote back to you   every week and frankly I get a little worried  about trying to get it all on the consent at   the end of the month and making sure we don't  drop the ball and and actually have somebody   compile it i think if we just do it while we're  on the fly so to speak it will be easier thank   you city manager so right now if you go back  to that slide so the only portion that does   not currently have consensus is this portion of  the language that removes the mayor but allows   for the Witchaw City Council to remain as the  body that gives a proclamation council member   Johnson thanks Mayor um if it is weekly okay I  was just trying to save staff work um I'm also   not going to die on that hill i don't think it  should change but if that's the will of the body   and I add to consensus we whichever is proposed  here now there be a for resolve that the Witchaw   City Council does proclaim i'm okay with that  council member Tuttle I'm totally fine with that we We've run out of time and cut off i know  right that's fine um no I'm totally fine with   it and if we're going to get to start reading  proclamations now for work that we're doing   then it takes you don't have to you know  remove it yourself because I always put a   little sticky note over it just to make  sure I didn't say it on accident so I'm   totally fine with it being resolved that the  Witaw City Council does proclaim d council   member Ballard thank you just so I understand  I feel like we are all okay with it but that   was already projected in the proclamations you  read today the changes that's legal first okay   i just I don't necessarily have a problem with  it i just don't like those changes being made   before we had the conversation today vice  Mayor Johnston I'm I'm okay with the change city manager does that provide consensus got  what I need thank you thank you i think we   are done with proclamations unless anyone  else wants to speak on the subject uh Mr   clerk can you please call the next item  council member appointments and comments we'll begin with appointments council member  Glascock thank you Mayor i would like to appoint   Patricia Joseph to my district advisory board  council member Hohheisle thank you Mayor i'd   like to reappoint Geneva Chambers Jesse Wigdall  Ariel Kirk Noammy Ibara Mike Loop Jerry McGraw   and Rick Lindsay to my district advisory board  and appoint for the first time Tim McQuary and   John Buck and also reappoint Amaya Williams to  the youth position on the district advisory board   vice Mayor Johnston thank you Mayor i'd like  to reappoint to the district advisory board   Sean Balman Lamont Anderson Sierra Scott Jennifer  Salvo Mary Whiteside Wendy Carter and Dave Sanford i move to approve all the  appointments from council members   second motion and a second any further discussion  i see none mr clerk please open the role motion passes 70 mr clerk sorry we'll just open  it up for comments from council members do we   have any comments council member Johnson i  hereby proclaim the proclamations are over member Hoheisel second um I just like to invite  everybody out um noon on Saturday will be the   season launch for Cow Town uh 75th anniversary  so uh quite a quite a perspective quite a time i   thank everybody for all the work they've done it's  definitely an integral part of our community so   uh hopefully we have some good weather then come  on out it'll be a root and tooting good time   vice Mayor John Stunn thank you  Mayor councilman Johnson I thought   you wanted proclamations to  die you keep bringing it up the member Ballard thank you i'd just like to  invite everyone out to the annual schools out   powwow that's on sat Saturday at 2 p.m  council member Johnson thanks Mayor on   a serious note I've done it privately but  also uh just want to congratulate Reggie   Davidson our new park and rec director glad  to see him there he does a wonderful job and   looking forward to how Witchah parks will  continue to improve under his leadership and I believe that there are two breakfastes  this weekend in Council District 1 and Council   District 4 um again those are Saturday at 9:30  a.m more information at both of their District   1 and District 4 Facebook pages yep this this  week is at um Edgemore normally it's at Atwater   but we're over at Edgemore to see all the new  improvements and we've got a pretty famous   person as our guest his name is Robert Leighton  city manager of the city of Witchah district 4's   is at Auburn Hill Clubhouse and I think we're  having Ziggies breakfast pizza so some of the   other food I know all right i see no further  council member comments i move to adjourn this   meeting second motion and a second any further  discussion i see none mr clerk please open the role motion passes 61 have a great day