Everything. Welcome and good morning. We'll call this  meeting to order. And with us today is Pastor   Amy Lipult from First United Methodist Church to  provide our invocation. Following the invocation,   we'll have a pledge of allegiance. And  I invite you to stand for both. Pastor   Lipple. Good morning. Will you pray with me?  God of wisdom, God of patience, God of hope,   we thank you for the gift of this day and the  opportunity we have to serve one another in   love. God, we pause this morning to ask for  the kinds of gifts that you alone can give.   Give us inspiration, bring insight, fill  us with discernment, make us compassionate.   We thank you for the dedication and service of our  council members and ask that you strengthen them   in their work and help them grow in wisdom.  Give them a spirit of openness and plenty of   energy for all that's before them. God, today we  pray for the residents of Witchah, the vulnerable   and the strong, the longtime neighbor and the  newcomer, the well-known and the barely seen.   Help us to remember them all while decisions are  made in this room. We thank you God for this city   and the chance to make it home. We pray for it  to be a place of peace and wholeness. And as we   work for Witchah God, may your favor be upon us  and may you prosper the work of our hands. Amen.   I aliance to the flag of the United  States of America and to the republic   for which it stands. One nation under God,  indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. We will move on to proclamations. Madame  clerk, will you read what the proclamations   are? Yes. Today's proclamations are a day  of remembrance in memory of the victims   of the Holocaust, National Volunteer  Week, Child Abuse Prevention Month,   and City of Witchah Drug Endangered  Children's Awareness Day. Thank you,   Madame Clerk. We'll start with a day of  remembrance of the memories of the victims   of the Holocaust. Will anybody in attendance um  for that proclamation please join me up front? A proclamation of the city of Witchaw, Kansas,  founded in 1870. Whereas the Holocaust was a state   sponsored systemic persecution and annihilation  of European jewelry by Nazi Germany and its   collaborators between 1933 and 1945. 6 million  Jews and millions of other people perished under   Nazi tyranny. And whereas the history of the  Holocaust offers an opportunity to reflect on   the moral responsibilities of individuals,  societies, and governments. And whereas we   the people of the city of Witchaw should always  remember the terrible events of the Holocaust and   remain vigilant against hatred and anti-semitism,  persecution, and tyranny, and should actively   rededicate ourselves to the principles of  individual freedom in a just society. And whereas   the United States Holocaust Memorial Council,  pursuant to an act of Congress in 1980, designated   the day of remembrance to remember the terrible  events of the Holocaust, as well as to reflect   upon our own humanity and the needs and respects  for all people. Now, therefore, be it resolved   that the Witchaw City Council does hereby proclaim  April 14th, 2026 as a day of remembrance in memory   of the victims of the Holocaust. And would a  representative like to provide a few remarks? Uh, thank you on behalf of the entire  Witchah Jewish community for um, uh,   acknowledging this day of remembrance in  one of the darkest times in Jewish history. Next, I would like to invite  uh Council Member Ballard to   read the proclamation for National Volunteer Week. Is there anyone here to accept this proclamation?  Okay, we'll just share it with the crowd. This is   the proclamation of the city of Witchaw, Kansas,  founded in 1870. Whereas the entire community can   inspire, equip, and mobilize people to take action  that changes the world. And whereas volunteers   can connect with local community service  opportunities through thousands or through   hundreds of community service organizations like  volunteer Kansas. And whereas individuals and   communities are at the center of social change  discovering their power to make a difference.   And whereas during this week all over the nation,  service projects will be performed in volunteers   recognized for their commitment to service. Now  therefore, be it resolved that the Witchaw City   Council does hereby proclaim April 19th through  the 25th, 2026 as National Volunteer Week. Next, I'd like to invite Council Member Tuttle   to read the proclamation for  Child Abuse Prevention Month and ask its supporters to come up front. Good morning. Um, thank you for allowing me  to read the proclamation today. I brought my   pinwheel because I read this proclamation on  April 3rd at the WSU Child Development Center   and we did a pinwheel planting with all the little  kiddos and I know there's been pinwheel plantings   across the city and my husband and I have planted  our pin wheels in our flower pots at home. Um,   this is something that's very personal to me.  In the past, I've been a mandatory reporter for   child abuse and neglect. And so, it's my honor to  be able to read the proclam proclamation today of   the city of Witchaw founded in 1870. Whereas the  early experiences of child impact throughout their   lives both positively and negatively. Whereas  prevention is possible, with the right policies   and investments, families and children can thrive  and avoid contact with child welfare and other   costly systems. And whereas every family and child  is filled with tremendous promise and possibility.   And we all have a collective responsibility  to prevent adverse childhood experiences,   foster the potential of every child, and  promote positive childhood experiences.   Whereas positive childhood experiences such  as loving caregivers and a safe, stable,   and nurturing relationships play a vital role  in helping children thrive by mitigating trauma   and the negative impact of adverse childhood  experiences. Now therefore, be it resolved that   the Witchah City Council does hereby proclaim  April 2026 as Child Abuse Prevention Month. And   I welcome my friend from the Kansas Children's  Service League to be able to say a few comments. Thank you for inviting us today and for signing  the proclamation declaring April Child Abuse   Prevention Month. My name is Rachel Harper. I am  the assistant director of the prevent child abuse   Kansas at Kansas Children's Service League. Kansas  was the first state to establish its own chapter   50 years ago. April has been recognized as child  abuse prevention month since 1983 with the blue   pin wheel adopted as the national symbol in 2008.  Each year, KCSL along with our community partners   coordinates statewide activities, provides  support, and strengthens local efforts to raise   awareness. Together, we work to foster community  action and promote policies that ensure the safety   and well-being of children and families. The  national theme for this year's Child Abuse   Prevention Month is pinw wheels of possibility.  Celebrating the limitless potential of children   and families when communities come together to  support them. The spinning pin wheel shows us   that the support can look like with families at  the center. Each turn represents the networks,   programs, policies, and everyday acts of care that  strengthen them and help them thrive. From home   visiting to health and economic policy, every turn  unlocks new possibilities, showing how supportive   systems and communities expand what's possible for  every child and family. In many ways, the pinmill   is also a call to action, highlighting the shared  responsibility all our cross- sector partners have   in centering families. Families, communities,  policy makers, and organizations must work   together to provide economic and social support,  including affordable child care, paid leave, and   financial stability. community-based solutions,  ensuring to ensuring access to local resources   and networks, and stronger prevention policies  with investments that uplift family before harm   occurs. Prevention isn't just about preventing  avoiding harm. It's about centering opportunities   for families to thrive. Positive childhood  experiences, including stable relationships and   nurturing environments, help children thrive and  mitigate adverse childhood experiences. During the   past year, KCSL and our other community partners  have been working hard to continue building a   strong community in Sedwick County. The Witchaw  Coalition for Child Abuse Prevention continues to   focus on projects using data to create action. The  WCCAP Community Awareness Group has recently been   working with the Witchaw Police Department,  the Cedric County Sheriff's Department,   and Wesley Hospital to provide information  and access to gun locks at community events   with the focus being on keeping children safe in  homes where firearms are present. They were they   were able to distribute approximately 150  gun locks so far this year. The childcare   work group headed by Tanya Bullock, ChildStart  CEO, and Mandy Wah, early childhood connections   program director worked with other leaders from  the workforce alliance of South Central Kansas,   the city of Witchah, Sherm Witchah, and All-In  for Kansas Kids to hold the business of care,   tackling child care through workplace innovation.  This was a free event designed to strengthen   connections with local and regional employers  while highlighting the critical role that child   care plays in workforce stability and growth. The  120 attendees from 60 plus businesses explored   actionable ways to support local child care needs  that employees are facing such as accessibility   and affordability in addition to working on  the development of a replicable model that   other regions in Kansas could benefit from.  Prevention is hard work, but is also heart   work. And to celebrate Child Abuse Prevention  Month, you can help plant a pin mold garden,   a visual reminder of the world we want for all  children to grow up healthy, happy, and prepared   to succeed. I have invited members of the Witchaw  Coalition for Child Abuse Prevention to stand up   here with me, and I would like for each one of  them to introduce themselves and their agency. Hi, I'm Kim Osbbor and I'm with  Kansas Children's Service League. Hello, I'm Sarah Robinson with Urban League. I'm Stephanie Ulick. I'm the assessment  and prevention program administrator   for the Department for Children and Families. Good morning. I'm Diana Shun. I'm the CEO for  the Child Advocacy Center of Cedric County. Becky Tuttle with the city of Witchaw. I'm Clifton Whitley, Head  Start Director with ChildStart. Tanya Bulock, CEO of ChildStart, and my  shirt says, "Their fight is my fight." Good morning. Cindy Chapman with  the um Witchaw Children's Home. We like each other. Thank you. Thank you. And finally,  for the last proclamation of the day,   I'd like to invite Council Member  Hohheisle to read the proclamation   for the city of Witchaw for Drug  Endanger Children's Awareness Day. Thank you, Vice Mayor. I appreciate this  opportunity. Would any representatives   with this uh foundation care to come forward? Thank you all. Whereas substance abuse impacts the children of  all cultures economic statute and before birth   and whereas causes for drug endangered children  need to be prevented and addressed immediately.   And whereas drug endangered children are at  a high risk of abuse or neglect. And whereas   witchins can help prevent, identify, and provide  hope to all children when they learn about the   risk for drug and drug endangered children. Now  therefore, be it resolved that the Witchah City   Council does hereby proclaim April 29th,  2026 as City of Witchah Drug Endangered   Children's Awareness Day. I don't know if  anybody like to come and say a few words. Good morning and thank you everybody. As you can  probably know that drug endangered children is a   big part of child abuse prevention. So we are  all in this together and then it was volunteer   appreciation week. How do you think a lot of  that work gets done? So thank you for allowing   me to be here. Thank you council for all you  do to take care of Witchaw. My name is Sarah   Robinson. I know I said Urban League, but I also  am with the Drug Endangered Children's Coalition   for Cedric County. We call ourselves an alliance,  and our goal is, of course, to reduce a child's   tendency to become a drug endangered child.  So, what exactly is a drug endangered child?   There's information that's being passed out  and they're long long definitions about these   children. But of course, we consider the caretaker  is the caretaker taking the best care of the child   because of their situation. Maybe it's not just  about that. Maybe it's about the trafficking of   the drugs. Maybe it's about the marketing.  Maybe it's about paraphernalia. So there   are all kinds of things that are involved that  allow us to identify drug endangered children.   So the coalition for the alliance for drug  endangered children wants to identify the children   and we want to talk about ways to approach how we  prevent more drug endangered children and care for   the children who are already impacted by drugs.  You need to realize that one in four children is   impacted by drug addiction or substance abuse. You  need to know that those children often come into   the child welfare system. You need to know that  this tendency for physical abuse and for neglect   is very high for those children. And you need to  know it is intergenerational. So we need to do our   best to stop it or at least slow it down. So what  is the Sedu County Alliance for Drug Endangered   Children doing? Well, meet Lambi. Lambi, you can  tell all your secrets to if your parent has a   substance use disorder. We have books where Lambi  talks about telling her friends or his friends,   we really don't know about the issue and about you  didn't cause your parents' drug alcohol issue. You   can't cure it, but you need to learn how to cope  with it. We call those our seven C's. And then   we have a great book on social emotional skills.  And it's not just about drug endangered children.   It's about really all of us. I look at this book  every day and I think I need to do that. Have you   ever heard of bunny taps? You might want to do  that after you do your breathing exercise. Those   both of those things help you. So, what we've  done with these lambdies through this grant,   we've allowed to get lambies into schools, lambies  with our colleagues behind me who are working   with children and helping children understand  their situation as a drug endangered child.   We provided a free conference for the community  because we want to educate the community about   drug endangered children and it is a very holistic  approach. We had folks from from the KBI. We had   folks from Sedick County Sheriff's Office. We had  of course Witchaw PD. We also had the district   attorney. We had folks who provide therapy and  treatment to children who are drug addicted. And   we had folks with lived experience. That was quite  a day in the fall and it was a free conference   which was great for folks to get their CES and  their education and we also were tableabling all   over the place. We've got and as is everybody else  behind me. There are a lot of tableabling events   this time of year. So we get all the information  we can on the tables for children to pick up or   for parents to view. And we've got some Sesame  Street literature that has Carly. Carly is the   drug endangered child that's on Sesame Street.  So we have information about Carly where children   can color sheets and learn about Carly in the  seven seas. And what are we doing now again   with many of the folks behind me? We're working  to figure out how we can early identify what's   the earliest way we can identify children who are  drug affected. Now we sure would like to prevent   drug abuse children but we're not going to. But  we need to reduce the stigma. We need to figure   out how to get that mom to tell us to tell the doc  to tell someone that they've been using drugs and   this little bitty baby could be suffering from  that. So, we don't want that baby to suffer at   all. But if we can reach mom as soon as we can,  then maybe that baby won't suffer as much. So,   I invite you all to be part of what we're doing.  We're all part of this. Drug endangered. I think   about drug endangered. somebody driving  down the street that's in impaired. So,   drug endangered children is a big issue and  it's a big part of taking care of children. So,   thanks for listening and anything you want  to do, let me know. You can find us online   at cedriccounty.org. Cedricounty deck.org. Deck  is endangered children. Thanks for listening. Thank you to everyone who is here for  a proclamation, those I help remember   and those that volunteer in our community.  Madame Clerk, will you open public comment? We now come to public agenda. The public  agenda allows for up to five speakers to   have five minutes each to address the council.  Please bear in mind that this is not a period   of dialogue with council or a question and answer  period. This is your opportunity to address the   council with your concerns. I ask that you  address the remarks in the city council as   a body and not to an any individual council  member. 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 say speak into the  microphone. State their name and address   for the record. A time clock will display the  speaker's remaining time to speak. Order and rules   of decorum will be observed. The first speaker  today is Zachary Knop. Flock safety cameras. Good morning, city council members. My name  is Zach Knob. I live at 2330 South Prescott   Street. I am represented by Councilman  Glascock. Morning, Mr. GlassC. Currently,   I train the IT that keeps Boeing, NASA, and their  subsidiaries up and running. I volunteer as the   tech administrator for a local apolitical group  leading Kansas and I'm currently a student at   WSU with aspirations of going into AI ethics and  safety and AI engineering and one day uh slapping   Jeff Bezos with an AI ethics violation fine so big  that he has to reorggortgage his yacht. Not one of   his super yachts, just one of his regular peasant  yachts. You know, I'm here to pour my heart out   to you about flock. A word you're going to hear  so much from now on that you're going to forget   it means a flock of birds. A group of birds.  Can't use the same word in the definition. I think there was a guy here last week talking  about this. Something about budgets and line   items. What a nerd. I'm just kidding.  Um, he's actually a friend of mine,   Andrew. We are obviously coordinating this and  we have a lot more people asking to help. So,   please enjoy the merrygoround of  angry people over the next year or so. One of the things many of the uh voters I've  talked to are upset about is a very specific   retort people have gotten frequently  from the council members which is some   version of it helps solve crimes.  And our response to that is hold on I have a I have a note here from them. says, uh, our response to that is, um, obviously,   yeah, obviously it helps solve crimes. That  is literally its singular purpose. So, yes,   for half million dollars a year, I sure  hope it's achieving its sole purpose.   But when your answer to concerns like mass  surveillance, technical vulnerabilities, many   welldocumented cases of mistaken identity, abuse,  stalking, harassment, etc. When your answer to all   of these is, well, sometimes it helps solve crimes  faster. It's impossible to take you seriously. Instead of deflecting serious issues by saying  it's doing the actual literal bare minimum,   I hope that we can sit down and have  real genuine adult conversations about   ways to not only improve the system, but  also improve the public's outlook on it.   And there are many extremely reasonable  ways to achieve this. There are also many   ways to achieve the exact opposite. things  like letting the police audit themselves. I don't want to get too technical, but  in the IT world, we call this complete   nonsense. You're telling me that officer dude  guy is out there looking for cyber security   vulnerabilities and red teaming the cameras, doing  pin testing. That's not happening. I promise. There's absolutely no chance that WPD is doing  adequate audits. I know they're not doing adequate   audits because nobody there is qualified to do  adequate audits. These types of audits are done   by enormous multi-billion dollar companies. Not  Fred in the uh investigative unit or whatever.   Over the next year or more, every month I'm going  to be at this po podium whining to you about this.   Next next month, I'll be going more in depth  about auditing and technical vulnerabilities.   Vulnerabilities, by the way, that include things  like easily gaining access to the cameras and   being able to track police officers in real time.  That's a real thing, by the way. You can do that.   Any uh random guy in a gas station could do that.  It's embarrassingly easy. Uh maybe next month I'll   show a little flock camera montage of all the city  council members driving to city hall that morning,   but I'd probably get in trouble for that. Luckily  for me, I have it on good authority that our city   council are big fans of internal audits. So, I  guess I'd just look into it myself and let you   all know if I was above board. Thank you, Zachary,  for coming today. Thank you for your time. Still,   council members, I'll see you again in a  month. Madame Clerk, is there anybody else   on the uh public comment? Uh no, sir. Okay.  Uh we that means we have four open spots. If   there is anybody here today that would like  to speak in public comment, seeing none,   we will move on to the next item, which is consent  agenda. Are there any items to be pulled for the   consent agenda for discussion or clarification?  Seeing none, is there a motion to approve the   consent agenda? So moved. Is there a second?  Second. Madam clerk, can you open the role? Look like we have one more. Okay. And we have a verbal  yes. Um the motion passes.   Move on to board of bids and contracts. Board  of bids and contracts dated April 13, 2026. Good morning, Vice Mayor and Council Josh  Lubber, Department of Finance. The board of   bids and contracts convened yesterday, April 13,  2026 for the following items. For engineering,   we have pump station 3 6 through9 repairs rebid  for Atlas Electric LLC in the amount of 166,820. We have 58,000 gross vehicle weight  restriction cab and chassis dump   truck for truck center companies  for an aggregate bid of $186,983. We have the Canopy Media Streaming subscription  agreement renewal for Canopy Incorporated for   $55,000 estimated annual usage. We have the  Park Point of Sales system change order for Rec   Track LLC doing business as Vermont Systems  for a 4-year total amended of $271,111.36. We have welding gases change  order for Lamp Welding Supply   Company Incorporated for an  amended amount of 56,675.30 per year. This is how to become a vendor with the  city. This is our purchasing calendar of small   business resource partners the city's hosting  or participating in. 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. Council, are there  any questions? Seeing none, is there a motion to   approve? I'll move to approve. Is there a second?  Second. Madam clerk, can you open the role? Motion passes 6 to0. We'll move on to  the next item. There is no petition for   public improvements that I see. And so, Madame  Clerk, will you call the first item? Approval   of a purchase and sale agreement for a parking  garage and subsequent lease agreement WBD LLC. Good morning. Jerry Ford with the  manager's office. For the record, the item before you today is a deferred an item  that was deferred from last week. the approval   of the purchase and sale agreement with the lease  agreement with WBD LLC. It was on August 15th of   2023 that city council approved an amended and  restated development agreement with EPC Real   Estate Group for the development of land at Maple  and Mlan. The development agreement dated October   16th of 2025 is when it was signed by all parties.  The de the development agreement identified the   purpose of developing multifamily residential  units, groundf flooror retail, a parking garage,   a hotel with a groundf flooror restaurant, andor  a rooftop bar and ery. On September 30th of 2024,   EPC assigned its rights, duties, and obligations  to WBDH LLC, which is the hotel, and WBD LLC,   the residential apartment, retail, and  parking structure site. On October 21st, 2025,   the city council approved the first amendment of  the development agreement, extending the vertical   construction milestone to July 31 of 2026 and  substantial completion by July 31st of 2028.   Promptly after the completion of the project,  the agreement requires the developer to submit   a certificate of substantial completion to the  city, which means the developer has been granted   a temporary certificate of occupancy for the  structure built in the park in within the project   and has completed all work as required by the  construction plans with respect to the project.   The city's execution of the certificate of  substantial completion will constitute evidence   of the satisfaction of the developer agreements  and covenants to construct the project. The   agreement requires upon substantial completion of  the project, the city shall purchase the parking   garage in the amount of 32,000 per stall. There  is not a substantial if there is not substantial   completion, there is not a purchase obligation.  The parking garage is anticipated to have 300   parking stalls, which means a purchase price of  9.6 million. When purchased, the city may lease   85% of the parking stalls in the parking garage  to WBD at a monthly rate of 60 per stall. After   one year, this rate will increase annually in  an amount equal to the consumer price index.   The lease agreement will automatically  renew month-to-month for a base term   of 30 years with two 10-year extensions. The  city will operate, maintain, repair, secure,   and keep the parking garage in a manner consistent  with other facilities. Upon substantial completion   of the garage, the city will purchase  the garage for an estimated 9.6 million,   which will be financed with general obligation  bonds, most likely with a 20-year maturity.   The city will be responsible for maintenance  costs of the garage. The financial activity   of the garage, debt service, maintenance costs,  and lease revenue will be recorded in the parking   fund. Any excess tiff revenues estimated at 3.3  million will be available to service city debt.   The city's law department has reviewed and  approved the documents as to form and it is with   that it is recommended that the city approved the  resolution and authorize the necessary signatures   and I stand for any questions. Fantastic. The  first question will be from council member   Hohisel. Thank you vice mayor. Um when will that  3.3 million be able to be um reimburses for the   parking garage? the cost of the parking garage.  Is that at the end of the the tiff district or the   the life? It's a good question. The lifetime of  the tiff district. Good question. I had that same   question myself. The um the city's debt obligation  will be paid out at the end of the tiff.   So the tiff is set up as a pay as you go meaning  all of the expenses that are received or all of   the funds that are received and are eligible for  reimbursement to the developer would be paid and   therefore the debt city debt thereafter. So  remind me again is that when does that tip   um the lifetime of that tiff um expire?  Uh that I do not have handy. 33 I think. Council member Hosile. Uh I believe  uh since we amended the project plan,   uh the project plan usually runs 20 years from  the amendment date. So I believe that date is   2044 if I remember correctly. And on the TIF,  just a little bit more color on that. Uh the   projections are the TIFF will generate somewhere  in the neighborhood of $15 million over its   lifetime. And based on the development agreement,  uh the first 11 million or so, as Jerry noted,   uh we will uh provide to the developer on a pay  as you go basis. We will not issue any debt,   so there'll be no risk to the city.  Uh once we meet that obligation,   any additional tiff revenue. Again, as Jerry  noted, we would estimate around 3.3 million   will be available to the city for purposes we  deem appropriate, which in this case would be to   uh retire any debt associated with the garage.  But that would most likely towards the tail end   of the tiff period. Okay. Thank you. Um do we have  maintenance costs written into the the plan? Uh   at this time we I do not have that. Okay. Yeah,  we've lost a lot of staff who's been working on   this project here. Um can we discuss um Oh, that  that's all the questions I have for now actually.   Thank you. Are there any other questions from the  council? Council member Ballard. Thank you. Uh,   Vice Mayor, quick question. When you say I don't  have that, do you mean that's not incorporated in   the price or you just don't have that information  with you today? That is not information that I   have available to me at this time. I know that  the parking fund is going to be the backs stop   for the operation of the garage. Um but I do not  have the details on what the operational costs and   maintenance will look like. And so I'll say uh  Dennis Marshall uh city manager the maintenance   will be on the city's responsibility. And so  as we maintain our other structures facilities,   you'll see the maintenance wrap up like in year  three, year five more so than the first three   years, but that will be on the city's list to do  as part of our obligation. So, we haven't done   a great job in the past of maintaining. How can  we assure the public that we and us that we will   continue to make that a priority so that we don't  fall into similar patterns like we're in now. Learn from the lesson. Nope. Learn learn  from the lessons of the past. I think   um as you've already heard part of  the establishment of the parking fund,   we do have budget projections for how  much can be spent for maintenance,   how much is spent for debt service. So, bringing  this next one on and with the amount of funding   that we'll just have to balance out between the  two expenses of debt service and maintenance,   but there's nothing baked into the price. It will  it will come out of the parking fund. Correct. The   maintenance. Correct. Thank you, Council Member  Shepard. Thank you, Vice Mayor. I want to just   reiterate what I heard from the city manager is  that the maintenance on the parking garage does   look a little different from the past because  we've learned from those lessons and we've now   um factored in how to make sure that we are  maintaining the parking garage at a rate in which   uh satisfies the public as well as make sure that  it's addressing the deferred maintenance as it's   ongoing. Right. Perfect. Thank you, city manager.  Is there a representative from EPC that would like   to Yes. Yes. Um Austin Bradley should be online.  Austin, I can Can you hear me? Okay. Yes. If you   could please speak a little louder, that would be  appreciated. Uh yeah, you bet. Um Austin Bradley,   executive vice president with EPC, uh vice mayor  and counsel. Thank you guys for your time today.   Um obviously talked a lot about this item last  week. Um, really just want to make sure you guys   know I'm available to answer any questions here  or subsequent questions beyond today. Not not a   whole lot more to offer. Um, but certainly  let me know if I can address anything here   uh this morning. There any questions for the  representative from EPC? Seeing none, we'll   move on to public comment. Is there anyone in  the public that would like to speak on this item? You have five minutes. Good morning, city council members. Thank you for  pulling the parking garage lease contract from the   consent agenda last week. The Ball Stadium and  development has been full of missed deadlines,   failed agreements, and increased economic  development incentives to jumpstart development   around the Ball Stadium. It was one of the  first economic development projects I spoke   about before you all almost seven years ago.  The failed 1% sales tax initiative is a direct   result of taxpayers mistrust of city decisions.  I want to emphasize that on April 18th, 2022,   the city council broke the promise that all  revenue from this development would go first   to pay off debt. So, in response to Councilman  Hohisel's question, we're going to have to wait   nearly 20 years to pay back the TIFF debt after we  paid the developer. On August 15, 2023, an amended   and restated development agreement with EPC was  approved and WI Richaw Riverfront LP was allowed   out of the original Ball Stadium development  contract with no penalties for failure to   perform. and they were allowed to keep two tracks  of public riverfront land with no development   requirements required. We're so generous to  people who fail on delivery of contracts.   They were also given an option agreement on the  third track and they've been given seven years   to pay for the land. Another generous give to  these failed developers. On October 16th, 2023,   an amended and restated development agreement was  signed. And on September 30th, 2024, we learned   that EPC assigned its rights and duties away to  WPDH and WPD. This was not even in the timeline   out there for this meeting today. On October  21st, 2025, the developers asked to extend the   hotel completion milestones to 2028. This was the  first time any contractual agreement mentioned the   transfer of development rights to WBD and WBDH.  Now, this agreement is being further amended for   the parking a garage agreement where we buy it for  9.6 million. Here's my questions. Why has retail   space dropped from 65,000 square feet to only  10,000 square feet? who in the city of Witchah   will ensure enforcement of the parking garage  lease agreement for the contract CPI increases. I   have filed a quora to get the parking garage fund  revenue because just like your questions, I have   no idea what's in there. I have no idea if there  will be enough to support maintenance on this   parking garage. Where did the $1 million leftover  base grant go to? Is it unspent or have we put it   in construction elsewhere? What will the annual  maintenance on the parking garage cost? Good   question. Did anyone from economic development  put together a projected budget? Because when you   look at this agreement you're signing today, oh my  gosh, we have never taken care of a building like   this. Two pages of what we have to do to take care  of this parking garage. So my question to you is,   do we have the staff to do this right now? Is  public works prepared to do this kind of work   right now? because it's on page four and five  of the agreement you're signing today and it   includes so much detail even TEG service testing  of electrical equipment that when I go to Century   2 and I see plywood boards over the building as  I'm going to Verd's Reququum and I look at this   agreement where we're even dusting high use areas  I'm stunned that we're doing this for a parking   garage and we can't maintain our public buildings  now it just floors me. Um, did anyone create a   30-year budget for this parking garage purchase  lease agreement? I didn't see that on the website   for today, but I would assume a budget with  maintenance expenses against revenue would be out   there somewhere for taxpayers to see how our money  is being spent. Is WPD owned owed owned? Excuse   me. Are they the same people that are behind EPC?  I have no idea who those people are. Did the city   receive the assignment agreement between EPC and  WPD? I filed a quarter this morning to see if we   did because we were supposed to. We were also  supposed to have the city's independent analyst   look over that assignment agreement. I don't know  if that happened either. Exhibit K and the lease   agreement. Who's responsible for maintaining the  swimming pool on top of the parking garage? And   if it leaks, according to the agreement, we're  supposed to take care of any water damage. So,   does that mean if the pool leaks, we're  responsible for cleaning up that damage   from the swimming pool? I'm assuming you've asked  these questions. What does it mean in exhibit J   purchase agreement that the parking garage will  be converted to a condominium form of ownership?   And what are the dues and assessments we're  supposed to pay? There's a lot of questions   still. Thank you for your comments. You're glad  it was pulled from the consent agenda. Thank   you. Is there anybody else in the public  that would like to speak on this item?   Seeing none, we'll bring it back to the bench. Are  there any further questions from the city council?   I'm curious if uh the representatives from  EPC have any comments to the previous speaker. Yeah, this this is Austin Bradley. Um  I mean, Councilman, there's a lot to   unpack there, of course. Anything in  particular you'd like me to address? uh maybe particularly um your WBD your  relationship with WBD or subsidiary I   guess. Yeah. Yeah. That that's really just a  formality. It's it's EPC. Um this is putting   the project obviously this was a a former item  not not what's before you today but nonetheless   um it is special purpose entities for  each the mixed use and the hotel project.   uh EPC is uh managing member of both entities.  So uh the people behind have not changed uh   whatsoever. Okay. Is there anything else that  you'd like to add in? Um only if you'd like me   to address any specific questions. Again, there's  a lot to unpack with all that and just to make the   best use of your time. Um I I'll I'll leave it  to you, Councilman. If you'd like me to address   anything in particular there, just please let me  know. Uh how about the pool? Um the pool in terms   of maintenance is something we will maintain.  Obviously, if there's a leak from that pool,   that's something that our staff would handle.  Okay. Um uh any other council members have   questions? Is the pool on the parking garage or on  the uh apartments? It's on the top of the parking   garage. Okay. So if that leaks and causes damage,  it'll be the responsibility of EPC. Correct. Is there anybody? Council member Ballard.  Thank you. Austin, is that in the contract?   Um, I'm not sure that specific example is in  that contract, but in terms of maintenance of   what you're buying, I think that's clear in the  contract. Obviously, the pool would fall beyond   that. So, I do believe that's clear, but I'm I'm  not sure that a swimming pool specifically is   is mentioned in there. Okay. Thank you. You're  welcome. Any other questions from the council? Council member Johnston. Thank you, Vice  Mayor. Um, Austin, that swimming pool,   will it be supported by a a tiltup or  pre-cast parking garage? I'm not an engineer,   so it it is a it's a pre-cast parking  garage with a podium uh port in place   slab. That'll be our our courtyard. So, the the  condominium mechanism mentioned by the speaker   um will essentially create a a 3D parcel, if  you will, I'm getting into technicalities.   Um and then that 3D parcel is essentially what  the city's acquiring here. And that's how you   decipher what's in the garage and what's not  what's not being the pool in that courtyard. Okay. I'm not sure I understood that completely.  So, the the pool will be on top of the parking   garage, correct? It will be supported by uh  basically pre-cast parking garage. Correct. And   that that's always been the case. Okay. Any other  questions for my colleagues? I would also like   for the record to show since 2020, the city spent  $10.8 million on Century 2 improvements. There's   additional 7.8 million in projects underway,  including the Prominade. And then in the CIP   budget, uh there's 12.66 million improvements  to C2 projected over the next 10 years as well.   There any other questions for seeing none, is  there a motion? Oh, Council Member Hohisel,   I just have a couple of quick comments before  we vote on this. Um just a history for people.   This is something that um is a mess that we kind  of inherited because of the fallouts of COVID   um and deals that were put together years ago.  Um so we're trying to work our way through this   as best as we can. We did transfer the land  to a developer that we feel would actually   build and get the project going because  if not, if we don't get something built,   we will be paying out of the general fund the  debt that we have on this on this ballpark.   So that means we would be laying off park staff.  We would be laying off um librarians. We would   be laying off firefighters or police officers  if we don't get something built uh here soon to   actually start paying down the debt that we had.  So this might not be an ideal situation, but this   is something that weighs heavy on our mind as  we work through this. um the that bond payment,   the star bond payments, those are coming up really  quick here. So again, we need to make sure that we   get something built and it seems like there's  if this project does not get done, then we are   not on the hook for this parking garage. That's  another thing I'd like to bring up to people. So,   um, I just wanted to throw a couple comments  just explaining this a little more in depth to   the public that if we don't get something built in  this track of land and that's what the deals have   been about is trying to get this development into  the hands of people that will actually develop   it so we can start paying off that debt without  having to dig into our general fund. Thank you,   Council Member Shepard. Nope, you withdraw.  Council member Johnston. Thank you, Vice Mayor.   I I echo those comments also. I was very concerned  about this last fall uh getting built. I was happy   to uh hear they have a flag for the hotel. So  that is maybe an indication they have the the   capital stack to make it go. So uh we definitely  like council member Ho Heisel said we definitely   need it to go or the taxpayers will be on the  hook for it. So this is something we inherited. I   understand the sales tax vote. Uh they don't trust  us, but uh we inherited this and we're going to   deal with the best we can and uh just hope we see  construction by uh by July 31st. Council member   Shepard. Thank you, Vice Mayor. And I want to  thank my colleagues for their comments. As someone   new here, I appreciate the historical context as  I'm learning how to make the best decisions for us   to move forward. I believe that we can honor the  past by not staying in it, but truly learning from   it together. I've seen this council. I've seen our  staff really working hard behind the scenes, which   people don't always get to see that every day,  but really learning from the past. And I think   that that's how we can truly show our community  and our constituents that we honor what we are   hearing. Um, but also we have to make a decision  to move forward together through collaboration,   transparency, and accountability. We heard the  city manager say today that the reason why you   see so much effort being put into maintaining this  parking garage is because we've learned from the   past. We've learned from those opportunities to  see where we were falling short. And I hope that   that's an indication that we don't always  get it right, but when when we fall short,   our staff and the council are committed to making  sure that we are establishing a new foundation.   Trust can't be rebuilt overnight. I know that  this is one small step towards doing that,   but I truly hope that you will join this council  in recognizing yes, we have fallen short. Today   is a new day and we have an opportunity to work  together to move our community forward. And with   that, I'll be supportive of this today. Thank you.  I see no one else on the board. Is there a motion? Seeing none, I would approve that the  resolution and authorize the necessary   signatures. Second. Uh, madame  clerk, can you open the rule? Motion passes six to zero. Madame clerk,  next item, update ethics ordinance. Morning, council members. Kathy Ston here, your  ethics officer. I'm so pleased to be here today   and making sure we also introduce um our members  of the board, two of whom are here today. Uh Al   Hickden and Constance Parasa right behind me here.  I think they're the only two who could make it   today. So many thanks to the volunteers that you  have appointed to this board and for working on   these updates. Um just a little background for  you as well. Uh, I work for the Witchaw State   University Public Policy Management Center whom  you have contracted with since 2022 to serve as   that third party trying to be um administer  this ordinance and handle any complaints that   uh are filed. We also provide education. So once  if you approve uh this new ordinance update,   we will update our educational materials for both  you as well as the rest of the city officials. As   you all know, ordinance covers all your volunteers  on all your boards and commissions as well as   yourselves. Um, just to jump right into the  updates, you have in your packet a markedup   version of the ordinance with in color so it's a  little bit easier to follow along as we go this   morning. I'm just going to cover highlights of  the changes that are substantive and not every   uh technical or um clarity type of change that's  in the document, but we do start on page three at   the bottom as we look at section three here. Um  really just trying to tighten up the language to   focus on conduct as opposed to uh principles.  Currently, the language in section A is being   dedicated to honor and integrity, and in section  B, conducting yourselves to um maintain public   confidence. We're suggesting that you would  replace A and B with very much more specific   wording about not committing a criminal act that  reflects adversely on the city officials honesty,   trustworthiness or abilities as a city official  in other respects as well as um fraud, deceit,   misrepresentation, that type of thing. So trying  to use very specific words instead of the general   words. It will help you all know what is needed  for behaviors and it helps the public know better   what is appropriate for a complaint. It certainly  helps the ethics board um better handle any   complaints that are raised. We're also suggesting  rewarding the whistleblower section which is   currently at the very back of the ordinance and  is like a whole page. We put that down to a very   specific sentence in section C at the top of  page four, which is refrain from retaliating   against anyone who files an ethics complaint.  The new substantive change here is that we're   adding in refrain from retaliating against anyone  who serves as a witness in an investigation or   otherwise provides evidence or information. I feel  confident that when this was originally written,   nobody just really had thought about that. But as  we have had some experience the last couple years   in um investigating and adjudicating it it just it  impressed upon us how people are scared to talk to   us sometimes. And so we wanted to get this in  the ordinance and um to make sure everyone's   comfortable knowing that if they have information  that's relevant to an investigation they should   come forward with that. And section D um is uh  shortened here to improve operations. U so on page   four also is section D and we just took out some  extraneous wording to be clear about what the role   of the council is comp and and the uh volunteer  boards. The volunteer boards are not in charge of   improving city management and operations. That is  a function of the staff. So just taking that out,   rewarding section H as well at the bottom of that  page four helps a little bit in terms of um of uh   clarity. And there's more um uh clarifications  on this page and and I'm skipping over them and   just to carry on the uh primary items here. So on  page six, we'll skip over there to section N2. And   what we have on page six is a change that doesn't  apply to council. It applies to all the volunteer   members. And this loosens up the policy a little  bit to make it okay for the volunteers that you   appoint to city boards to accept complimentary  food or or admission to certain events that are   delineated in the ordinance. And essentially what  it does is makes them have the same um level as   the mayor and council. This was literally the only  part of the ordinance that applied to boards that   did not apply to council. And your ethics board  believes it's just better to be consistent and   clear and simple. And this is something that  doesn't come up very often and should not pose   uh risk to the city. Rewriting section subsection  S then is on page seven. So, we'll flip over that   page and see in s that um this is about um  currently um the ordinance uh just uh refers   to hiring city staff and and prohibiting city  officials that'd be council members as well as   the volunteer board members to from interfering in  hiring. Well, we're asking that you would expand   this section to be clear that uh that interference  not just with hiring but also any administration   of personnel policies or employment decisions.  Again, just not something anyone really thought of   at the time the ordinance was originally written.  But as we've uh worked with it more, we see,   you know, this probably ought to be a little  bigger uh than just patronage and taking out   that kind of an older word patronage that people  just don't really uh isn't self-explanatory in   our in our uh lexicon today. So, moving on then to  page, let's see, section four gets us on page nine   then in your marked up version of the ordinance  in your packet. So, we're looking at section 5E   and this one is about moral turpitude. Um, the  word was used in here in this section which is   defining the qualifications for those who serve  on the ethics board itself. This section of the   ordinance is not about the city officials but  the qualifications of the board members. And   so taking out that term moral turpitude, I should  mention that some of these came uh some of these   recommendations came from our experience and some  of them came from some of you all as you all were   reading this document for some for the first  time as you were newer members on council and   asking me questions like what does this mean  and me saying moral turpitude? Good question.   We all think we know what it means, but now we  know uh with your approval of these changes,   we would not use that old term anymore, but we  would use specific words like dishonesty, fraud,   deceit, and misrepresentation. Going on then  to page uh to subsection 8. Uh right below that   um we're suggesting we're just removing this  section of be representative of the demographics   of the city because really um that's all baked  into the process on the previous two pages of   saying how do you and who do you appoint to the  ethics board. Each of you all has a a member that   you'd select and then the whole board approves.  So you've got that geographic diversity already   built in. And the way this is worded uh we're  just suggesting it's too broad to measure. It   hasn't been measured. We didn't know how to  measure it. And it's one more of those items   you've dealt with in some other areas of your code  that is needed at this point in our history to   um avoid any confusion with some of the uh federal  anti-discrimination laws coming down. So, uh next   uh is uh page I think I'm on page nine. Let me see  here. Let me flip over my page. We are now on page   11. In the middle of page 11 of your markedup  version, we have a new section G1 uh that is   being a new sentence in section G1 to request that  you add the the term uh the sentence complaints   based on the complaint's disagreement with city  council's city officials beliefs, statements,   or voting record are insufficient to warrant  investigation. What we're trying to do with this   is better inform the public in the document as to  what is and what is not a valid complaint just to   keep people from thinking that this is a process  for them to sort of argue with your politics or   the way you vote on a matter or the way one of  your board members, volunteer board members on   a city board votes on a matter. Um those kinds of  statements um are consistent. This new statement   is consistent with um statements that the board  has put, the ethics board has put in their reports   recently that says that it is not our job to make  a judgment about policy matters of decisions of   the legislative body which is you all. And so this  just clears that up with the public. Also in G1,   this other new sentence, excuse me, is that the  ethics officer shall inform any complaintant if   their complaint that they filed is found to be not  sufficient to be investigated that not only do we   I I always respond to them and tell them it's not  sufficient and here's why. But I also realize,   you know what, the ordinance says I need to that  the ordinance already says they have a right to   appeal. This says I have the duty to tell them  that they have the right to appeal at that moment   in time. So, not that I didn't do it before,  but I wasn't required to. And as I've did it,   I thought, you know, this really ought  to be in the in the ordinance for future. Same reason on this next one on G3 on the next  page is that we would ask the board members the   ethics board members to declare any conflicts  of interest they have prior to discussing or   voting. So you see when a new complaint comes in  we go into executive session and all the members   read the complaint first. At that time we ask  do you know any of these people involved in   this complaint? Are you familiar with this?  Is this your family? Is this your friend?   is is your do you have a conflict of interest?  And so that's another thing we thought this   really should be in the ordinance to be very  clear with the public as well that if there   board member cannot always have a say and a  vote on every complaint because they may know   someone. So this is good for transparency  and certainly for trust. Uh, also in G3,   um, we also added this new piece. Again, it  was a suggestion that made a lot of sense,   um, that we would say to the public, here's the  standard or level of evidence that is required   for the ethics board to make a finding uh, that  some that a city official uh, may be in violation   of a code of ethics. And that standard is that it  would be based on a prepoundonderance of evidence.   And generally that means that it's more probably  true than not true. And if you've ever served on   a jud jury that I got the privilege of doing that  last year and hearing the judge tell you, I mean   here it can't be, you know, what is the standard?  It does it have to be without a doubt or does   it have to be more probably true than not true?  And based on the evidence, this would just be an   added level of clarity and transparency for this  ordinance. And then there's the new section five   on public records that we added in and that one  is on page 14 of your markedup version. So, um,   we had a nice debate and conversation about what  should be kept and what should not. And we've been   keeping records, but it wasn't in the ordinance  to to clarify what are we keeping and not. So to   be clear, we we chose permanent retention because  that is consistent with your agenda packets. Um   that is what your current code requires council  agenda packets to be kept. So we thought well this   is as important if not more so than an agenda  packet. So permanent retention is recommended   and that's for the complaint that the member of  the public files, the response received from the   uh the city officials and then the ethics board's  reports and conclusions. So those are the things   that we would say are permanently retained as city  records and therefore could be obtained by the   public through um open records requests. And then  section B on the next page shows you that we would   also specify what is going on the website. And I  think you all know we have a little dashboard on   the website showing this information. But again,  that was not in the ordinance. So we want to make   sure it's clear that we're not just deciding to  put something on the website for convenience.   Um it is a matter of being very transparent with  the public that the ethics board reports would   stay on the website uh available to the public but  will also be removed once the person in question   um has ended their term of service. So, it's  still a public record kept by the clerk, open   to public records request, but the website, if  you can imagine, um that what was intended to be   a dashboard, small table would get really long if  we keep things on there that occurred five years   ago from somebody who's not even serving anymore.  So, that's the recommendation here for that site.   So, that concludes my review of the main um  substantive changes and then there's a few in   there for clarity and grammar and that type of  thing. But generally speaking, our intent is to   provide more guidance to the public as they file  requests. Um reduce confusion uh in interpreting   some general or vague areas of the policy and then  enhance transparency and all this to build trust.   your attorney and the at board uh ethic board's  attorney have been involved in developing these   recommendations and have approved and so we  recommend your approval and I would certainly be   available for any questions. Thank you, Miss Ston.  We will start with Council Member Hohisel. Thank   you, Vice Mayor. Um thank you Kathy. I appreciate  you and the board all your work on this.   um statements from board me when page 11 section  G um under number one here and they talk about   complaints based on a complaintant disagreement  with city officials belief statements or voting   record. Um, what are your thoughts or the board's  thoughts around statements? Because I know that   in some of the board meetings things have gotten  a little choppy and sometimes board members have   um expressed themselves sometimes and uh  less than professional ways. Is that still   covered by anything else in the ethics u  the the ethics policy that we have here? I think that's a great question and I think  generally speaking um we're not trying to um   curtail people's comments about what they believe  or any of their first amendment rights to say what   they think. Obviously there needs to be decorum in  public meetings. Um and and statements need to be   relevant to the conversation at hand and it's up  to each chairman of those board meetings to make   sure they're keeping relevant comments. But no, as  far as ethics, it would be probably pretty hard to   make a complaint based on someone's beliefs stated  uh in a meeting if I'm understanding your question   um correctly. It's not so much the beliefs that  would be in the back and forth with members of   the public. for example, who are there to speak.  And again, sometimes things get a little heated   in some of these meetings. And um so if there  is an unprofessional response by a board member   um would that be elsewhere because if we do talk  about the quorum um in here as well. So is do you   think that would fall under that subsection?  I'm gonna I'm gonna ask Jennifer Magan,   your city attorney, to address this. And and I  would also just say that that it it um any member   of the public should feel free to file a complaint  if they see something they think and then we'll   look at that complaint and see if it applies. It's  otherwise difficult for me to speculate on that at   this time. But um Jennifer, I just wanted to point  out on section three um 3A there is there is the   um sorry 3B there is the language may not engage  in conduct involving among other things or conduct   that adver reflects adversely on abilities  as a city official. That may be broad and   may be something that if it's what you're thinking  someone, you know, statements are just out of line   or unethical. I I think that might be broad enough  to capture what you're talking about. Okay, Kathy,   I'd welcome your thoughts on that. Yeah, like a  broad broad language there. Okay, then two more   questions here. One, yeah, um permanent retention  is that every single complaint that comes in? So,   if I have somebody who sends eight complaints  and you don't find any of them valid, um, so you   immediately dismiss them. Um, are those complaints  retained as well? I think that's a great question   and no, it is not. They may have filed a document,  but if it is found to be insufficient to be called   an actual complaint and then investigated, then  that's not a permanent retention thing. Sometimes,   um, this is important because I I think you you  think, well, everything should be No. Sometimes   they're complaining about the police department  or they're complaining about different things   that are not our jurisdiction have no relevance  at all to this code of ethics. So, those would   not be considered official complaints. They're an  attempt. Sometimes it's an email or a phone call.   So, I don't think that those are going to fall  under that same level. Okay. Last question. Um   when we are talking about whistleblowers here, I  do appreciate um on page four where we expand that   to include just people in the public as well. Um  because sometimes they can be retaliated against   as well. So I I do appreciate that. Um but we  narrow it down quite a bit here on page 15. So,   I mean, I can appreciate a good portion of this  again being narrowed down and expanded. Um,   I'm just curious, do we think that any of this  will fall off the radar as far as being able   to be qualified under whistleblower? Thank you  for that. Some of that reason we crossed that   out on page 15 is because we as the ethics board  don't have the ability to to enforce any of that.   So some of it's about employees. So it's not  really in the right place. That is in should   be and is in the personnel policy manual. Anything  related to employees because it was it was in here   but it wasn't really something that we could do  anything about or in the right place because as   you know this whole ordinance only applies to us  elected officials and to the 300 or so volunteer   board and and commission members. This ordinance  has nothing to do with the city employees. I hope   that helps clarify. Is there a process where HR  is alerted when the board does have concerns that   whistleblowers have been uh retaliated against?  Anytime I get word on anything that doesn't   uh that I don't have the authority to do in this  ordinance and that and your board doesn't have the   authority, I pass that along to the appropriate  city staff to handle. Okay. I guess maybe that's   just a little concern. may be something to look  at is refining that process. I don't know how we   can exactly give it teeth, but whistleblower  protection I think is at the heart of this   ordinance if I'm being completely honest with you.  So, I'd be curious to hear some of my colleagues   thoughts later on during discussion and seeing  maybe we come back and look at that later or   work on it now. But, I'd be curious to hear that.  Thank you. And I and I do hear you on that. And I   believe the changes we're suggesting actually are  better for whistleblowers. And the reason is we   moved it from at the end of the ordinance page 15  afterthought to putting it in the actual code of   ethics. Only a a portion of this ordinance is the  code of ethics. The code of ethics is what says   you shall not do da da da da da. It's there now.  So, it's at the top on the first um page saying   refrain from retaliating. And and I think that  that makes you all more aware and any board and   and volunteers more aware of your duty because  you know what? When you get an ethics violation   of an ethics complaint filed against you, it is an  emotional time. It's very much like, "Oh my gosh,   what did I do wrong? And I can't believe  someone thought I you know what I mean?" And   so we put that up front early so everyone's real  clear. If you get something filed against you,   be quiet. Don't talk to those people. Don't  do anything. Don't do anything that could be   considered harassing or cons of concern. The way  it is now, it's it's longer written, but it wasn't   actually in the code of ethics. And so moving  it up, shortening it down, making it very clear,   do not do this and expanding it to not just be  those who file complaints, but also those who   provide evidence or act as a witness really makes  it stronger than what it is now. I can appreciate   that. I suppose part of my concern is the comfort  of whistleblowers coming forward. Um, making sure   that they feel confident in the process and  that they will be protected as well because I   outside of the city government, I know before with  other whistleblowers and other places I've been,   that's always been one of the main concerns. So,  I just want to make sure that we give that teeth   and the ability to actually enforce that um to  protect the whistleblowers and make sure that   they can come forward in good faith with any  concerns that they have. Thank you. Thank you,   Council Member Shepard. Thank you, Vice Mayor,  and thank you so much for your work on this,   and I appreciate the opportunity to meet with you  and and share some thoughts as well. a couple of   questions that I have for you uh stemming from  council member Hohheisle's question as it relates   to um the violation of of you know decorum and I'm  curious how cultural competency might play a role   in this or what has that looked like in the past  as folks have engaged um particularly for me as a   black man I know that oftent times people perceive  my approach as aggressive and I I'm fearful   that that may result in an ethics violation.  And so when we talk about intent versus impact,   can you talk to me how you all are working through  cultural competency awareness and ensuring that   what people may perceive as disrespect through  one cultural lens may not be how it's intended   through another cultural lens? Yeah. Well, that's  a great question and I don't have a lot to say   about that. But um I would say that the ethics,  the code of ethics embedded in here is trying to   be very clear that it is behavior-based. So I can  tell you no matter how many numbers of complaints   we've actually investigated and adjudicated, there  have been many more that are a phone call or an   email or a complaint that isn't isn't valid. I I  have to go back to the person and say, you know,   thanks for for letting me know about this, but  you need to read the code of ethics and tell me   which behavior does this apply to. So having that  type of program is considered a best practice that   that it's not about what how you felt or it's not  about I don't agree with his belief or his vote on   something or how he said this, but it is about did  you do one of these things? And then I would say   in response is as soon as we determine which code  which piece of the code of ethics is the actual   complaint based on then the investigation begins  with asking the person being complained about one   of you or one of the board members um to give us  their side of the story. So I think that would be   the best time to make your case for that is not  what I meant, that is not what I said. here is my   way of doing so. That's your cultural competence  is your ability before we start interviewing any   witnesses or gathering any information at all.  We get your side of the story. Once we get that,   that's when we start investigating and going  that bit deeper. Uh I do believe that that would   be a part of that. As far as board members, you  know, of your many boards, I don't know how much,   you know, training, I know that's hard to do,  but training of board members and volunteers,   the cultural competence piece might be part  of that. I don't know if it is already or   if it could be perhaps just to help people  because obviously we have quite the diverse   um groups of folks on on the different boards and  a lot of people aren't used to being on boards and   so any level of training could be good for them.  Thank you so much. And I agree with everything   you said and that brings a level of peace for me.  Um I don't know what that could look like given   the federal legislation right now or movement on  diversity, equity, and inclusion. Um but you know,   I mentioned the example of race, but I also worked  at an institution where 70% of the student body   were from rural parts of Kansas. And you know,  people don't know what they don't know. And just   because they say or do or behave in such a manner  does not always mean that they intend harm and um   I just hope that we can you know maybe train or  look at how do we how do we embed that into the   culture of our boards and of our team. Um  the second question I have is on section C   in section C of page four it says refrain from  retaliating against anyone who files an ethics   complaint serves as a witness in an investigation  or otherwise provides evidence information. You've   already kind of talked a lot about this, but are  we using the legal definition of retaliation? So like when we look at this particular of  what qualifies as retaliation, are we looking   at the legal definition of the word retaliation?  Because retaliation could be p in passive ways,   it could be in very direct ways. And so again,  I I just want us to define clearly maybe what   we believe retaliation is. Just a thought. Um  it's not something I'm necessarily going to   not vote on this because of, but I just want to  name that out loud. Okay. Thank you very much.   Any other questions? Seeing none, we'll turn it  over to public comment. Is there anybody from   the public that would like to speak on this item?  Seeing none, we'll bring it back to the board. Are   there any comments from my colleagues? Council  member Hisel, just one real quick. Thank you,   Vice Mayor. Um, next meeting, whenever you guys  do, um, I would appreciate anyways if you would   bring up something along the lines of can we  make the whistleblower protection stronger. Um,   again, something that has some teeth.  That way, um, members of the staff,   members of the public can feel a little more  confident that they're going to be protected.   Thank you, Mex. I just want to thank you for  your work on this. I think when expectations   are clear and also accountability is real,  it provides comfort for the public to know   that people in these positions are held  to a different standard and I think the   ethics board ensures that accountability from  this board. So, I just want to thank you. I   want to thank the members of the board that  are here as well for your time and service.   And seeing no other members on the board, are  is there a motion um at the on the table? I'll   make the motion to approve an ordinance to update  the code of ethics. Second. Okay. Seeing there's   a motion in a second. And there's nobody else on  the board. Madame clerk, will you call the role? And council member Ballard says I. The  motion passes 6 to0. So, Madame Clerk,   uh, may you call the next item? Amendments to  charter ordinance 230 regarding the police and   fire retirement system and creation  of chapter 2.22 of the city code of   the city of Witchah relating to lost,  stolen, mislaid, or unclaimed property. Good morning. and Degraph City Law Department  here today to present some amendments to   charter ordinances regarding the fire and police  pension fund as well as creating a new chapter   in the city code regarding the disposition of  lost or unclaimed property. A little history,   1945, the Kansas legislature authorized first  class cities to establish pension plans for   police and fire. The state statutes provided  um at that time and currently um provide that   uh revenue or items uh lost, unclaimed or stolen  proceeds are to go to pension funds established by   those first class cities. In October of 1964, the  year I was born, um charter ordinances were passed   that exempted um the city from state statutes  uh regarding the police and fire pension funds.   Um the ordinances did not uh provide  supplemental provisions regarding uh   the proceeds of unclaimed property. Um currently  we have chapter 2.2 which is a simple ordinance   um provides that um unclaimed personal property  should be disposed of and given to the police   benefit fund. If it's property that isn't um  recovered, it can be sold for cash. Um and the   uh policies have been that the proceeds have  gone to the Witchaw Police Benefit Fund. Uh the   Witchaw Police Benefit Fund is a 501c9 nonprofit  um that is a resource for um police officers uh to   help offset out-ofpocket co-pays um that are not  covered by insurance. Um since 2018, about $1.2   $2 million have been paid to the police benefit  fund. Um proceeds were both cash and unclaimed   personal property. Um the amendments charter  out of ordinance or amend charter ordinance 230   um to make it clear what's to happen with those  proceeds and that the proceeds are to go to the   police benefit fund. Um chapter 2.2 2 is updated  um to CA and contains new provisions and details   about notice for unclaimed property um what the  disposition of those uh proceeds from sales and   cash and that those would all be provided or sent  to the police benefit fund. Um, additionally,   something that the old code did not provide, there  are reporting and audit requirements um of the   police benefit fund to account for those funds  that are transferred from the police department   to the benefit fund. Um, I recommendation is  to place the ordinance on first reading and   authorize all necessary signatures. There is a  representative from the benefit fund here. Um,   due to his current assignment, he would ask not  to be on camera. So, if there are questions,   I can fer it answers back and forth. uh if  you have questions or need information. Okay,   fantastic. I only have one quick question. Yes.  Um the state has their unclaimed property. Is   this different because of state statute that we've  separated into a pension fund versus the normal   unclaimed property route in the state of Kansas?  Yes. The the the current unclaimed property   process set forth from the state came well after  um the state statutes that were enacted in 1945.   legislators presumed to have acted with  knowledge of those um state statutes. So,   it would still allow the city the opportunity to  either provide those to a pension fund or charter   out of that state statute and provide them to a  third party, which is what we're doing here. Okay,   fantastic. Uh Council Member Shepard, thank you.  Does this tie into the state civil asset forfeite   law? No. Okay. Thank you. See no other questions  from my colleagues. will open up to public   comment if there's anybody in the public that  would like to speak on this item. Seeing none,   we'll bring it back to the bench. Is there any  comments from any of my colleagues? Seeing none,   is there a motion? I'll move I'll move to place  the ordinances on first reading and authorize and   necessary signatures. Is there a second? Second.  Okay. Um Madame Clerk, will you call the role? Motion passes six to zero. Uh, madam  clerk, can you call the next item?   2026 legacy cultural institution  operating partnership agreements. Good morning, Vice Mayor, uh, council. I'm  Lindsey Bak with the city manager's office   division of arts and cultural services here with  an annual allocation adjustment request for our   cultural institutions or specifically our legacy  cultural institutions. A little bit of background,   we have a cultural arts strategic plan that was  adopted in 2024. It's a five-year plan running   through 2028. Our mission is to ensure that  everyone has equitable access to cultural arts   opportunities by activating and strengthening the  creative potential of our community. Uh we have a   couple strategies listed in the strategic plan uh  that are specific to our cultural funding program   that are relevant to to today's action item. Uh  in particular uh um 2.2.7 to evaluate our cultural   institution program to assess accountability and  community impact uh and measurements. Uh and we've   made some adjustments over the last few years that  are informing this current uh process or our past   process to inform our future process as well. Our  cultural funding program is a pretty dynamic. We   have three specific uh funding opportunities. The  bulk of which fall under operational grants where   uh this time last year we redeveloped that  that program to have three different tiers. A   cultural partner, cultural anchor, and cultural  institutions. We have a long-standing cultural   institution program that we now have kind of a  pipeline to where new organizations can become   institutions and our existing institutions now  have performance measures that don't uh that we   can now assess their their performance against. We  also have activation project grants. Um and then   arts thrive project grants as well. And that that  third category is pending federal funding if if we   do receive it. Um our cultural funding committee  reviews the grant applications. They review annual   reports and they make recommendations to you  all. Uh there are 11 members on the committee,   seven of which are appointed by city council  and the mayor and four who are appointed by   arts council. Uh new for this year, we had the  committee review of the annual reports submitted   by our cultural institutions. Previously, we had  only reviewed those internally by staff. We're   now sending those through the committee  for review. U performance measures vary   uh organization to organization, but for the  most part they um hit all of these different   categories. alignment with our strategic plan  obviously u maintain vitality in its governing   board maintain a financial operating reserve and  demonstrate financial stability um and they must   demonstrate annual growth and earned income um  and demonstrate efforts to increase community   partnerships, educational programming and efforts  to reach historically underserved audiences. Uh   this is kind of our big bucket of cultural  institutions. Um the organizations that are   asterisks here are the ones that we're considering  today. Um that by their contract they're eligible   for AV growth allocation adjustments  year-over-year. Uh the other organizations   are some that we have some sort of ownership  or um not direct ownership but operational   uh capacity where they're funded kind of in a  different uh level. And then that last bullet   are the new institutions that came on board for  2026 uh who will be uh considered for AV growth   adjustments next year and beyond. So looking at  the the request for today is uh that that last   column the allocation adjustment at 8.59%. um look  comparatively to their 2025 allocation, we always   take into consideration the economic impact of  what the city does dollars or taxpayer dollars are   uh yielding in return into to the community. So  you know uh any dollar that's going into an arts   organization has a direct return um and that that  number is calculated through our arts and economic   impact calculator uh from our national study that  we participate in. So for financial consideration,   the allocation adjustment for 2026 is 8.59%  which is aligned with the adopted budget.   For legal consideration, this language exists to  some extent within all of our operating agreements   for the organizations that are for consideration  today. And it's recommended that you approve the   funding allocation adjustments as presented by the  cultural funding program. And with that, I'm happy   to answer questions. I do know we have a couple  representatives from institutions in the room as   well if you have questions for them specifically.  Awesome. Thank you, Lindsay. We'll turn it over to   Council Member Hohisel. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Uh,  thank you, Lindsay. Appreciate you and the arts   council, all your guys' work. We go to slide 56  real quick. I just need to refresher every because   it is a complicate our relationship with all the  museums. Um, so all of these are eligible for   this funding. um only the the ones that you have  see with the asterisk on it. Those are the ones   that are eligible for um the AV growth increase  because these are ones we pay directly. The other   ones for the most part are exist within our own  operating budget for the city. So they've receive   increases through our just regular budgeting  process. Okay. So all five of them are receiving   funding that are eligible. Yes. Yes. Okay. No.  Um, so next year or I guess later this year,   the ones at the bottom are eligible as well or  they could be eligible. They will be eligible.   We're still in contracting with all of them.  Uh, but the same clause, this legal clause,   um, will exist in to a certain extent within all  of their contracts. Um so 2027 you'll see that   list go you'll see uh this requested list of five  organizations will now be 10 organizations. So   that'll include the new organizations MTW Symphony  Arts Partners and and the other two. Okay. And   then the art Yeah. Yeah. And then the arts  council will be making or the decision on this   uh the cultural funding committee which includes  um four representatives of the arts council. Okay.   Thank you. Thank you, Council Member Johnston.  Thank you, Vice Mayor Lindsay. Thanks for the   work you do. Um, can you give a little background  on slide 57? Why Witchah Art Museum really gets   most of the funding? Great question. Um, we  have the largest ownership interest in in that   operation. The museum and its entire collection  is owned by the city. Uh so so with that in mind,   the significant I'm gonna say 10,000 piece  collection and plus our CEO of the art museum   is concurring with that. We have a really large  operation there and a very large investment and   thus the operating agreement uh represents that.  Um it is our our biggest operation across all   organizations that we we work with. Okay. Okay.  Thank you, Council Member Shepard. Thank you,   Vice Mayor. Uh, Lindsay, can you educate me on how  one would become a legacy institution? I think it   was slide 56 that's been referred to a lot of the  ones that are eligible in 2026. Curious, how does   how does an institution become even qualified to  be considered for? Great question. I thought I   had it in my notes, but I might not have my notes  directly here. Um, essentially the if we go back   to the these tiers cultural partner, cultural  anchor and cultural institutions. Uh any new   organization uh within the cultural funding  program uh would start as a partner. So they   have to have two two to three years of operating  history within the community. Um they're eligible   for a certain level of funding. Once they hit the  10-year capacity, then they can go into cultural   anchor. Um I think 20 years 20 years total  would then make them eligible for the cultural   institution. So it's by length of service. uh  serving the community, length of stewardship of   public funds and some other performance measures  so that they can kind of stair step their way   up. At the same level, um this new system has  allowed us to address uh if there are any issues   within our institutions, then we we aren't just  guaranteed to provide that funding. They could   also drop down if there are any issues. Thank  you so much. which I feel every time you all   come before us, you have clear and concise answers  and so I appreciate you all doing your own work.   Um I'm curious as it relates to the Witchaw Sedick  County Historical Museum, it does the county also   contribute. Yes. I don't know that number off  the top of my head. It's on the county's budget,   but they do have a financial contribution.  Okay. I would just be curious if it's equal or   close to equal as what we're contributing. I can  definitely get that information for you. Perfect.   Thank you so much. You council member Tuttle.  Thank you, Lindsay. Thank you so much for all   you do. I as a proud member of the Arts Council  board of directors just get an opportunity to   work with you and your team and the rest of  the arts champions in the community. Um I'm   also glad you always mention the strategic plan  that was passed in 2024. And just a quick comment   um on our green sheet versus slide 57. I love  that you added the economic impact for each of   those organizations. I mention all the time the  arts and economic impact study and the huge impact   that arts has in our community um in terms of  bringing not only vitality but also the e economic   impact that it has. So thank you for adding that  on this slide. I think it's really important for   people to see that we are making an investment but  there's a bigger return on investment if we look   at the whole picture. So thank you. See no other  questions. We'll open it up to public comment. Is there anybody in the public  that would like to speak? Good morning. I'm Molly McFersonen, director  and CEO of the Witchaw Art Museum, and I'm   here today to thank the city of Witchah for the  funding that we receive and to share some of the   ways that this support impacts our community.  WHAMP's mission is to connect people, ideas,   and art through remarkable experiences. And we aim  to foster creativity, joy, and belonging. Funding   from the city of Witchah is crucial for both our  ability to care for our collection for generations   to come and to be a vibrant and welcoming  gathering place for our community. I'm happy to   share that in 2025 we had the highest number of  visitors that we've had since CO. We offer free   general admission every day providing access  to our worldclass collection of American art.   We also offer a wide variety of free programming  for visitors of all ages from preschoolers to   seniors. We're open late every Friday night until  900 p.m. with a different program planned with our   community partners each week ranging from our  annual Spanish night to community conversations   and artist talks. All of the information in  our galleries is in both English and Spanish.   We have a free interactive space for families  called play that supports childhood development   and creative thinking skills as well as an art  lab with free art making supplies where visitors   are encouraged to explore their own creativity. We  host six free family days each year that include   art making performances and many other activities  for families to participate in together.   We offer free field trips for K through2 school  groups, including 100% bus reimbursement. And   these are just some of the examples of the work  we do to make Witchah Art Museum accessible and   engaging for our community. On behalf of the  board of trustees and the staff at the Witchaw   Art Museum, we are deeply grateful for your  financial support that allows us to continue to   do this work for our city. Thank you. Thank you,  Molly. Is there anybody else would like to speak   on this item? Seeing none, I will bring it back to  the council. Is there anybody on the council that   has any further comments? Council member Shepard.  Thank you, Vice Mayor Glascock. I just want to say   that all of these organizations are worthy of uh  this funding. They do remarkable work. Uh Molly,   thank you for being here. Thank you for  the investment that you have made since   taking over Witchaw um art museum. I just  want to mention had the opportunity to go   and listen to ponder this which was a community  conversation integrating the arts into issues that   are impacting our entire community gun violence,  health, uh cultural competency and awareness and   it was an opportunity to bring diverse voices  into that conversation. I also appreciate the   fact that you offer information in English and  Spanish. Um the economic data is very clear as   we look at the outlook you know in the future we  will be a majority minority and it's important   for us to begin heading in that direction now and  not waiting till later and the way we do that is   by integrating uh that into our our offerings.  Um also want to mention envision Kansas Health   Foundation a lot of these uh entities on this list  are supported by very diverse communities and so   I'll be very supportive of this and I'm really  grateful for the way that you spark conversation   through the arts. Thank you, Council Member  Brutal. Um, I just also wanted to add to my   comments um, previously, but also a thanks to  the cultural funding committee for taking the   time to review all these and and to bring this  recommendation to us. We couldn't do this work   without the input of the community. And so, this  just really helps us to solidify our commitment   and investment in arts in Witchah. So, um,  as Lindsay likes to say, art means business   in Witchah. So, thanks again to the committee  for their time and effort on this initiative.   Thank you, Council Member Brutal. I'll just have  brief comments. Thank you to everybody on this   list. I think I've been to every single one of  these institutions probably in the last month. Um,   and I appreciate that. Um, I will recuse myself  today. I sat on as a member of the arts council   um as a community member and then I also sat um  as a voting member of the Witch to Art Museum. I'm   very supportive of the arts and thank you for the  work that you do every single day. Council member   Tuttle, I have a question for legal. Um, Jennifer,  I I am also a member of the arts council and I   stated that intentionally because of this. Every  year I voted for this and I've always asked for   guidance from legal and it's they've indicated  that it's fine for us to vote. But Jennifer,   will you just clarify again? It's discretionary.  The state law prohibits you to have a you have a   conflict when you receive and receive income  or have a a business relationship. This is   also maybe, you know, a perception issue  too. It's not a clear bright line conflict,   but I think, you know, it's a perception issue,  so it's discretionary. If you want to recuse,   you can. If you feel that that's appropriate, you  can. Um, Vice Mayor, are you going to recuse? I   think we should probably be consistent from the  bench. Um, like I said, every year I've and I'm   fine either way, but every year I've asked for  guidance and I've always been told it was okay. It   is not mandatory that you recuse. I mean, I don't  gain anything personally from being on the Arts   Council board, except the satisfaction of serving  the community and being a part of the team. Um,   but I'm fine either way, but I just think it would  look really inconsistent if we aren't consistent   from from this voting, and I'm fine either way.  Yeah, we have these situations arise from time   to time. Um, you know, you're on both. I think  you're on the museum and the arts council because   I'm on both. I think that is a signal. I respect  the difference of that. So, if I can just add a   comment that uh your appointments are contractual  obligations for the city to have a representative.   So, you are representing the city as part of your  board leadership. It's not um you as an individual   or personal community member. You are representing  the city in that. So, I don't know if that helps.   Jennifer, does that help or not? It means it's  it's absolutely per it's permissible to to vote on   this. I mean, there's just not a requirement that  you recuse. I'm not giving you it's a perception   matter. I permissible. I think both of us  have express that we're on the council. So,   I think that's enough transparency for it. So,  thank you for the clarification. Yeah. Thank   you. Is there a motion? I will now reluctantly.  No, I'm just kidding. I will enthusiastically   move that we approve the city of Witchah Council  approve the funding allocations recommended by   the cultural funding committee and authorize the  necessary signatures. Happy to second the motion   from my colleague. There's a motion and a second.  Madam clerk, can you open the role? Motion passes   six to zero. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Next item,  Home Program Funding and Regulatory Agreement,   Commonwealth Development Corporation of  America, Ark River Residences Project. Good morning, city council. My name is Carmen  Hoffine and I'm the real property section manager   for the Department of Housing and Community  Services and I am here to present the home   program funding and regulatory agreement for  Commonwealth Development Corporation of America   Ark River Residences. Before I begin, I did want  to make a note that the development budget that   is within the agenda packet reflects the updated  financial figures and the financial consideration   portion on the agenda report and on one of my  slides reflects prior um financial figures from   when we brought the conditional commitment to city  council last year. I do have a representative that   will be um presenting remotely that will provide  the updated figures in their presentation. For a little bit of background, on May  14th of 24, the city council approved   final allocations from the 2425 annual  action plan, which included 1,44,12 in home investment partnership program, home  funding for the housing development loan program,   which I'll refer to as HDLP. The HDLP is designed  to provide subsidies for infill housing projects   to support the development of real estate  that is idle or underutilized and to provide   needed housing for underserved populations. HDLB  funding is available for nonprofit or for-profit   organizations. Loan structure is dependent on  the type of project to be financed. Historically,   the funding has been made available within the  boundaries of the city's redevelopment incentives   areas, neighborhood revitalization area, or local  investments areas. Funding requests are received   on an open application basis. Commonwealth  Development Corporation of America submitted an   HDLP application for Ark River Residences ahead of  the 2025 tax credit application process. Ark River   Residences is a proposed 42 unit apartment project  designed for families to be located at 5136 South   Broadway. The project includes two multif family  residential buildings and one non-residential   building. For the analysis, the development  will address the critical need for affordable   rental housing in Witchah, as highlighted by HUD  comprehensive housing affordability strategy data,   which identifies over 28,175 households with  unmet housing needs in the area. This project   will provide highquality, affordable homes in a  well-resourced community for underserved families.   The site is situated in a primarily residential  and retail neighborhood offering convenient   access to essential services and amenities.  The development is less than half a mile from   a grocery store, shopping, pharmacy, child care  center, and a park, ensuring residents have easy   access to daily necessities. Public transportation  is readily available with a nearby bus station,   and the site is just one mile from I35, providing  a 12-minute drive to downtown Witchaw. By   integrating into a well-resourced community, the  development will support the long-term stability   and well-being of its future residents. Want Omega  is the proposed property management agent for this   development. They are Witchaw based company  with extensive experience managing lowincome   housing tax credit which is also known as  LITC and affordable housing properties.   Next, I'll turn it over to Adam Waking, who  should be logged in remotely to continue and   present on the next few slides. Adam, are you  there? Yep. Hi, everybody. Can you hear me? You   might want to talk a little bit louder. Okay.  Um, how's that? Louder, please. All right. Uh,   yeah, I can speak up a little bit. Um, I'm Adam  Waking with Commonwealth Development Corporation.   um here to present a little bit just on Ark  River Residences. Um as mentioned at 5136 South   Broadway. Um thank you for having me um and  for considering this. Um so I believe about a   year ago my colleague Liz presented um for mayor  and council. So um some of this will be a review   u but as mentioned some of it will be new with  some of the financing pieces. So um Commonwealth   Development Corporation a little bit on us. We are  an affordable housing developer. We've developed   over 125 projects, including over 8,000 units in  15 states. Um, and we're a long-term owner. So,   we like to maintain affordability past the  15-year requirement. Um, we're committed to   working and serving uh the communities that we're  in. Um, so we like to maintain that affordability   um for longer than um the minimum requirement.  Um Carmen, you can go to the Ark River Residences   slide, please. Um here you can see a site plan.  Um the development consists of two three-story   walkup buildings. Um both housing uh 21 24  units in one and then 18 units in the other.   um the walk up style. The site will also house a  clubhouse um which will have an on-site leasing   office, a fitness center, um business center, um  and then outdoor amenities include bike racks,   um and a playground for um children and their  families to use. Uh as mentioned before,   this development is near a lot of retail,  um public transportation, child care,   and other local amenities. Um which situates  this site and development in a great area for   um low-income families. Um we can go to the next  slide. Um this development will serve a special   needs population. So, we're in talks and working  on um supportive services with local nonprofits   to support 10% of units um for physically and  mentally disabled individuals. Um some of the   service providers that we've been working with um  are the Witchaw Children's Home, United Methodist   Open Door, Center for Homeless Prevention Program,  um and others. We're also working closely with   our property manager Wagand Omega um as they have  uh prior experience with these groups um and are   helping us navigate selecting a potential partner  for these services. U can go to the next slide.   Here we can see a picture of a comparable unit.  Um we have energy efficient appliances um all   electric appliances. Um we can kind of go through  the next few slides here. You can see modern   finishes. Um ceiling fans, lots of open space,  natural light. Um we have washer and dryer hookups   in each of the units um for residents as well as  the washers and dryers. Um and then moving to the   project timeline, we applied for low-inccome  housing tax credits to KHRC last year around   this time last May. Um we received an award in  August of last year. Um we will be closing on the   property. Um construction financing and loans here  next week um April 21st. Um and then construction   is set to begin on May 1st. Um construction will  last about 14 months. Um, so that will finish up   in June of 2027 and lease up will begin then  and then we anticipate that the property will   be fully occupied um and stabilized in September  of 2027. Um, Commonwealth has in-house design. So,   uh, throughout the process, um, thus far and,  um, going forward with construction oversight,   it will really allow for us to play a  critical role, um, in overseeing project   timeline and budget to make sure that this  is um, delivered on time um, for residents. Can go to sources and uses next. Um, it was  mentioned that some of these numbers have changed   Um this project is really financially feasible  because of an award of uh KHRC tax credits and   home funds from the city of Witchah. Um you can  see here we have a development budget um key   construction uh local general contractor will be  the general contractor working on this project.   Um and we have a finalized construction contract  with them. Um as I mentioned we'll be starting   construction in about two weeks. um with them. Um  that's all I have. Thanks. Thank you, Adam. So,   next is financial considerations. As I stated  before, these figures are from um last year. The   one thing that has not changed is the uh $420,000  from the city of Witchaw home funds. That does   remain the same. There's no impact to the general  fund. The city's home funding is to be provided   in the form of an interestbearing loan with an  interest rate not exceeding 1%. On March 31st   of 25, the HDLP application for this project was  presented to the city's affordable housing review   board who reviewed the application and developer  presentation. The affordable housing review board   approved the application and directed staff  to refer it to the city council to approve the   director of housing and community service services  issuance of a conditional commitment letter. City   council approved the issuance of a conditional  commitment letter for home investment partnerships   program financing in the amount of $420,000 on  May 6th of 25. The developer's 9% LITC application   was awarded in August of 25. Staff have recently  worked with the developer to ensure environmental   review compliance is completed prior to closing on  the project's site. For legal considerations, new   construction of affordable rental housing is an  eligible cost under the home program. Regulatory   and funding agreements have been drafted and  approved as to form by the law department. Closing   and any choice limiting actions may not occur  until HUD environmental clearance is received,   which the department expects during the week of  April 13th, which is this week. Recommendations.   It is recommended that the city council approve  the allocation of $420,000 in home investment   partnerships program for the Commonwealth  Development Corporation of America Ark River   Residences Project and authorize the execution  of the home regulatory agreement and funding   agreement once HUD Environmental Clearance is  received and authorized and necessary signatures.   and I stand for questions and if there's anything  project specific, Adam is on will remain online   for those as well. Thank you both you and Adam.  Are there any questions from the council? Seeing   none, is there I will move to public comment. Is  there anybody in the public that would like to   speak on this item? Seeing none, we'll bring it  back to the council. There any comments from the   council? Also seeing none, is there a motion with  a motion from uh council member Hisel? Thank you,   uh, Vice Mayor. Um, first off, thank you to  housing department. Thank you to this group   coming in. Um, Commonwealth Development. Um,  very much a need in the city, very much a need   in my district. So, I am thrilled to see this  happening in South Witchah. Um, so with that,   I move that we approve the allocation of $420,000  in home investment partnerships program for the   Commonwealth Development Corporation of America,  Ark River Residences Project, and authorize the   execution of the home regulatory agreement  and funding agreement once HUD environment   clearance is received and authorized if necessary  signatures. Second. Fantastic. with a motion and a   second. Seeing nobody else on the board to speak,  madame clerk, can you call the role? Motion passes   6 to0. Madame clerk, can you present the next  item? Presentation of the Witchaw Retirement   System actuarial reports as of December 31st,  2025 and setting employer contribution rates   for 2027. Good morning, Vice Mayor. Mark Manning  with the Department of Finance. Today I want to   present to you the actuarial reports for our two  retirement systems here in the city of Witchaw.   Uh we do have two entire retirement systems.  Witchaw employees retirement which is more   for our civilian employees and we also have the  Witchaw police and fire retirement system which   focuses on benefits for our police and fire  employees. Uh the fund assets and performance   uh are governed by a layered structure. Each  board has their own board of trustees and then   we also have a joint investment committee made  up of representatives from those two those two   boards that monitor uh investment performance. And  finally uh finance staff provides administrative   support for the boards and our pensioners for that  matter through our pension management office which   is managed by Latana Williams who is here today as  well and she does a fantastic job by the way. Some   of you have met with her. Uh so what strategies do  we employ in the pension office? Uh we have a very   uh good investment policy that dictates where  we invest our pension assets. We have a very   diversified and well-mixed uh well diversified  uh group of assets. We also have a funding policy   which specifies specifically in regards to today  that we want to strive to minimize variations in   employer or city contribution rates. And finally,  both boards are very aggressive at reviewing our   assumptions. That is very important because the  tighter our assumptions are, the more that we   can reduce volatility in employer rates. So we do  that very frequently. So each year we do have our   actuary review both our plans. Uh they are going  to report two very important metrics along with a   lot of other interesting stuff, but they're going  to report to you the funded ratio of our plans   and the required city contribution rates. Now,  one reason our our plans are in excellent shape,   by the way, which you'll see here in a couple  minutes. One reason they are is because the   city has a long history of always providing  the required city contributions. So, those   kind of go hand in hand. So, their work's very  comprehensive. I won't go into everything they do   here. I'll let them do that. Uh, so with that, I'd  like to introduce our two actuaries. And I think   Jake will take it from here. We have Jake and  Janet here. And they're they're from Chiron. And   they'll make their presentation. Then I'll wrap up  with our recommendation. Thank you. Good morning,   Vice Mayor Glascock and City Council members.  As Mark said, I'm Jake Laboscus and with me is   Janet Crana. And we're here today to present  the results of the December 31st, 2025 actuary   evaluation. So the purpose of the valuation is  to calculate the assets and the liabilities of   each of the systems. And then we calculate the  ratio of those two, which is called the funded   ratio. how much assets do you have compared  to your liabilities? And we also calculate the   contribution rate that the city contributes uh for  next year. So this year's valuation determines the   contribution rate that will be in effect for  2027. We review the experience of the system,   both the demographic experience as well as the  financial experience, how well the investments   performed. And we compare the experience to the  assumptions and see how accurate our assumptions   were to what actually occurred. Then we project  not only what the current funded ratio is and   what the current contribution rates are, but what  they look to be in the future. So it's not the   valuation is a snapshot as of the end of the last  calendar year, but a snapshot only has a limited   amount of information. So we look to see where  is the system headed. Is it going in the right   direction? And it is. Um, but that's an important  part of our process as well. And of course,   as part of that, we identify and assess the  prim primary risks. Uh, the most significant   risk being investment risk. risk that the return  will be less than assumed over the long term. This   page is a graphic from the 1965 Harvard Business  Review. Uh not much has changed in the operation   of a pension plan over the last 60 years. The  tank represents the liabilities of the system.   That's basically how much assets you should have  on hand. And the water in the tank represents   the assets. And so the assets aren't always,  you know, you don't always have a full tank,   but you're striving to have a full tank. And those  assets are funded by investment returns each year   as well as both member and city contributions  that fill up the tank. And the assets are used   to pay retirey benefits and the expenses  of administering the plant. So each year   we rememeasure the size of the tank and compare  to see how much assets you have. And the city's   contribution rate nozzle is adjusted each year to  make sure that the funds are appropriately funded   and maintained so there's always assets to pay  the retirey benefits. So this year in overview   the uh investment experience for 2025 was very  favorable and so the funded ratio increased for   the employee plan from 88% to 91% and for police  and fire from 87% to 89%. And corresponding the   unfunded liability the portion of the tank  that isn't filled with assets uh decreased   for the employee plan it decreased 21 million  and for police and fire it decreased 15 million. This page shows the calculation of the city  contribution rate. There's two main components   of the contribution rate. The first is what we  call normal cost. That's the cost of benefits   acrewing for all the active members working for  the city in the year. And the at the first top of   the line, we show the total cost of benefits as  a percentage of payroll. For the employee plan,   it's 14 a.5% of pay. And for police and fire,  it's 25.1%. Now, the members contribute a portion.   uh employees pay 4.7% of pay and police  and fire contribute seven and so the city's   liable for the rest of the cost of benefits  acrewing or the normal cost. So it's 9.8%   in 18.1 for police and fire and in addition  to the cost of current benefits occurring,   we want to shore up the contribution short or  the liability shortfall, the portion of the   tank that's not fully funded. And so a portion of  the contributions go to fully funding the system   over the long term. And so that's 5.2% 2% of  pay for the employee plan and 8.2 for police   and fire resulting in total city contribution  rates for 2027 of 15% and 26.3% respectively. This page shows a reconciliation from the  contribution rates from last year's valuation   and the contribution rates have declined.  So last year when I presented these results   to you all the contribution rates were 17% and  28% respectively. And we show some of the line   items on sources of why the contribution  rate has gone down. Primarily investment   experience. As you'll see, the asset gain  resulted in 1.4 and 1.7% decreases to the   contribution rate. The liability gain loss  is basically demographic experience. There   was virtually no experience or the gains and  losses offset each other. For the employee plan,   there was a slight loss on the police and fire  plan due to higher pay raises than expected. Um,   but those were also offset by what's the other  line, which is essentially as we determine the   cost of these plans and put them as a percentage  of payroll. When there's larger payroll increases,   it becomes a smaller percentage of pay. And  so that's part of the reason why there is a   decrease in the other, but that results in the  the final contribution rates of 15% and 26.3. This page shows a 10-year history of where  the the city contribution rates have been   for each of the plans. The police and fire  plan is in yellow and the employee plan is   in blue. And you can see compared to last year,  the contribution rates have declined um somewhat   elevated from in the past, but still a decline  uh from the most recent two years. Essentially, this page shows the historical funded ratios.  Again, that ratio of assets to liabilities. Again,   police and fire is in yellow and the employee plan  is in blue. And you'll see generally they move in   tandem because they're invested the same. Uh when  deviations occur between the two, it's normally   just demographic differences. And given the sign  significant pay increases that police and fire   members have had, that's the reason why their plan  is slightly lower uh funded ratio-wise. But I also   want to point out that this is a very zoomed in  view. We're looking at 80 to 100% funded ratio,   which is a very small range. So while it  looks like there has been significant changes,   it's really relatively muted. We started 10  years ago at 93 and 94% and now they're at   91 and 89. So not significant changes. Um but  this is a zoomed in view. The next page shows   I would say a zoomed out view and it compares  the systems to the universe of public pension   plans in terms of the funded ratio. So your two  plans are represented. The police and fire is   a black diamond and the employee plan is a  yellow uh diamond. They often overlap. So,   if you only see one, it's because they're right  on top of each other, but it shows where your   systems have been historically compared  to the universe of public pension plans,   uh, as illustrated by the colored bars. And your  plans being generally within the light blue,   meaning you're among the top quartile  of plans. The most recent year, 2024,   you're pretty much right at the 75th percentile,  which means that you're better funded than about   75% of plans across the country. Information for  other plans is not yet available for the current   year as everyone's doing their evaluations  right now, but it'll be available next year. Finally, as I mentioned before, uh these plans  have risks. Uh we use one set of assumptions to   determine the cost and liabilities of these plans.  We know experience is going to be different. We   hope it's not significantly, but it might be  significantly different. And so we're required   to disclose that information to you. We have a  whole section in our full report dedicated to   identifying and assessing the risks. That's  section two. U but just to highlight the   investment risk, interest rate risk, longevity  and demographic risk. Basically any risk that   would increase the cost of the plan uh are  risks that uh we want to make aware to you   all. Uh and with that, the recommendation is  to receive and file the reports and approve   the You want to cover this, Mark? Yep. Jake,  you're trying to horn in on my slide there. Uh,   final slide here. I wanted to explain our  recommendation here. Uh, first of all,   it's just receive and file the reports. Uh,  but one of your functions today is to approve   our employer contribution rates. And I wanted to  point out, uh, Jake mentioned what the actuarial   contribution rates are. And we are proposing a  decline in both of our rates compared to last   year. The staff is recommending that we transfer  a small portion into the pension reserve fund,   which means that we would reduce the uh police  and fire rate u from uh 28% to 27% and we would   reduce the WTO employees rate from 17% to 15 a.5%.  And our strategy as I noted earlier is to try to   generate rates that are smooth over time. Uh so  that's one reason we recommend that. And also as   I noted we continually review our assumptions  which again provides smooth smoothness to the   rates and for for that reason if we have  any assumption changes in the future this   strategy would also help to mute those. So with  that uh Jake and I would be happy to answer any   questions. Jake will handle the really hard ones.  If you have any easy ones I'll take care of those.   I just have one quick question. When looking  at the recommended actions and it says   um the contribution rates are 27% and 15.5%.  Do we have to add the uh recommendation to move   money to the pension reserve fund or is that just  assumed in the larger motion? Uh in my opinion it   would it would be uh approved if you approve the  recommended action since it's included in the   agenda report. But my our city attorney may have a  I think the motion as recommended is appropriate.   It will be done administratively as part of the  contribution you make. Okay. I just want to make   sure there are any other my colleagues that have  any questions. Seeing none, we'll open it up   to public comment. Seeing that there's nobody  in public comment bring it back to the board.   Council member Hohisel. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Um  just a a challenge to our state um cohorts there.   uh 90 percentile or 90% as far as funding. Capers  is 75% or so. I think I know a representative who   um needs to have his uh have some goals set out  for them. Hey, now they're out of session. You   have more time to contact, right? They can get on  our level here. So, just wanted to throw that in.   Seeing no other comments, is there a motion from  the board? Yeah. I'll move to receive and file the   Witchaw employees retirement and police and fire  retirement systems career evaluation reports as   of December 31st, 2025 and approved recommended  2027 contribution rates of 27% for the police and   fire retirement system and 15.5% for the Witchaw  Employees Retirement System. Is there a second? Second. Okay. Um, we have a motion and a  second. Uh, madame clerk, can you call the role? Motion passes 6 to0. We will move  on to the next item. Madam clerk,   can you call the next item? Der 2025-15,  amendment to the Witchaw Seduit County   Unified Zoning Code regarding  public notifications in the city. Good morning. Scott Wadel from the planning  department here to present this item. The   recommended action is to adopt the findings of  the planning commission, approve the proposed   amendments, authorize signing the ordinance,  and authorize the ordinance to be published. In   terms of the background on this item, um interest  was expressed in having mailed notice go to the   uh residents of propert It's not just  the property owners. This has come up   from members of the public also at district  advisory boards. This has been mentioned and   during the city council workshop back in 2024.  In terms of the process, uh it's a multi-year   process. Uh the conversation about this has  been going on since that time. I would point   out on this that uh this was uh presented to  the district advisory boards back in 2024.   I can share in information about that if desired.  But uh here we are in 2026. In terms of analysis,   uh we reviewed what other communities are doing.  So we contacted 19 different communities. What   we discovered from that survey was that all of  these cities are distributing mailed notices   to exclusively to the property owners. You'll  notice that Overland Park in here is listed   as having recommended to renters. In their  process, they require that the ification go   to the property owner, but they recommend that  the applicant send it to the uh renters as well. In terms of state of the practice, the American  Planning Association, we look to them for insights   on what's going on around the country. Uh  they have a publication uh that recommends   uh distributing notices also to renters,  especially in areas with high tenant populations. Now, as as you all know, uh, public notification  in terms of how it's done for zoning cases,   the state requires that letters  are distributed to property owners,   and that's cited here in Kansas statutes. So, what it does when we distribute this notice  is it notifies property owners about it. Again,   it just goes to the property owners and  it's required by the state statutes.   For the city of Witchaw, the notification  area varies depending on how large the   property is. The minimum size distance  is 200 feet. It goes all the way up to   a th00and feet. We also distribute notices to  registered HOAs and neighborhood associations. The way that this is done is that the applicants  are responsible for purchasing a list certified by   a title company. This is done in order to ensure  that uh it's accurate and also just a smooth   process. So, and that is a requirement not in the  zoning code, but that's required as part of the   application process. Currently, in terms of cost,  it's $18 per property for a applicant to purchase   that from a title company and there's a minimum  of $175. So, even if it's fewer than 10 addresses,   there they have to spend $175 to get the  list. In addition, there's cost to mail out   uh the notifications and estimate that that's  around $264 $2.70 for the planning department.   In terms of the recommended updates that are  coming to you from the planning commission, uh   what this would do is this would uh require that  the property owner that the uh mailing addresses   would include the property address, especially  if it's different from the owner's address. This additional research of information would  require additional costs from the title company   that they would pass on to the applicant. So, uh,  to implement this policy after we've reached out   to the title company to find out how much this  would be. Currently, it's again $18 per property,   it would increase by $5 to $23 per property.  And again, our cost would remain the same at   about $2.64. uh although there could be additional  letters that would be required because we would   be sending a notification in some instances to  the property owner as well as the property. So   here's a example of what that would look  like. So we have the existing one on the   left. We have the proposed change on the right.  And you'll see that the property address is the   uh new column that's added in there. Uh  here's a slide that shows the text changes   that are recommended for the zoning code. So  it very clearly indicates that this is only   applicable to city cases and is not does not  apply to cases in the unincorporated county.   There is one nuance with this and that is um in  order to make this easy for implementation, we   are proposing that uh the additional notification  would be sent to property addresses where the city   of Witchaw is located as the community where the  property is based. The reason for this is just   to make it easier for staff in terms of processing  which one is in Witchdaw and which one's not. What   would happen as a result of this is that there  is a small portion of the unincorporated county   where Witchah is identified as their community  on their mailing address. And this is because   mailing addresses are based on school districts.  Uh if you're in the unincorporated county. So   um the illustration here shows that that would  be primarily in southeast Sedick County and kind   of up north near the Park City Kai area. And  again, this would grow smaller over time as   cities annex different properties. So again, the  recommended action is to adopt the findings of   the planning commission, approve the proposed  amendment, and sign the ordinance and allow   it to be published. There is an alternative  action that I do want to bring up right now,   though. So the recommended action requires four  of seven votes because it's it's in line with what   the planning commission is recommending to you.  an alternative action that you have which would   require an override of the planning commission.  So, five out of seven votes. It's the very same   as what the MAPC is recommending except that  it would make an effective date on June 2nd,   2026. The reason why I'm presenting this today is  because this would provide time for notification   to applicants and also would provide time  for people who have already purchased their   uh mailing list to have that still be valid.  they wouldn't have to go back and get a new   one because in some instances people procure the  list before they actually submit the application.   So this would provide a small amount of time a  window of time for those to be used. And with that   I'll stand for any questions. You Scott, we'll  start with Council Member Tuttle. Okay, Scott. So   pretend we're neighbors and we're getting mail at  the same time. Explain this to me. Okay. Um, so,   uh, the part about who gets notification. Okay.  So, let's pretend, let's say that you, uh, live in   your house. You're the owner and you live in your  house. Um, I'm the owner, but I live in Florida,   which would sounds really nice, right? Beach  property. Um, so what would happen is that, uh,   by state statute and during our current process,  uh, you would receive a notification because you   live in your house and you're the owner. I would  receive a notification in Florida because I'm   the owner of the house next door to you, but the  person the renter who's living in the house next   to you would not receive notification um because  they're not the owner. Right? So, if this uh if   this update, this amendment is approved, what  would happen is that uh you would still receive   notice because you're the owner and you live in  the property. I would still receive notice because   I'm the owner and I live in Florida, but I would  receive notice there. But the tenant who lives in   my property would also receive notice because the  mailing addresses are different and we can tell   that from the ownership list. We can tell that  the property address for the house next to you is   different than my mailing address in Florida. So  we would send notices to both. That was beautiful.   So basically my understanding and tell me when  I'm wrong. What I hear you saying is that now the   property owner and the renter is going to get the  notification including if it was a multif family   like lake apartment complexes. I'm so glad you  brought that up. Well, you're welcome. So, thank   you. There's a uh there's a new nuance to this  and that is uh if it's a multif family apartment,   we don't know necessarily how many units are in  it and what the specific addresses of those units   are. So, we would send a notification to the to  the property and the intent is that the owner,   the manager of the facility would then receive the  notice and have the option to distribute that to   the tenants. Okay. So, one last kind of and thank  you. That was great and I appreciate I just wanted   to make sure I had a good understanding. You and  I talked about this before, but I just wanted to   make sure um the one thing that I'm not sure if  I unders and I don't exactly what slide it was,   but you talked about what the increased cost would  be when the applicant has to mail it out. Correct.   So um this is just for the title list. Uh we and  thank you for the question to allow me to explain   the process a little bit better. So uh the way  that the process works is that the applicant is   responsible for securing the uh list the ownership  list from the title company. They bring that in   with their application and that's attached to it  and submitted to us. planning staff use that list   to produce the mailing labors labels and the  letters that go out to the various properties.   So in this instance uh all that would change in  terms of that process is that the cost would go   up for the applicant and increases by $5 per per  property as part of that ownership list. And that   ownership list then contains an additional column  which will show us the actual property address.   currently does not. It just simply shows the uh  owner address. So the $264 additional from MAPD   that is uh per the additional uh letters that  go out. So instead of one prop one letter that   would go in in the imaginary scenario I would as  under state statute I would currently receive a   letter but if a letter also goes to the tenant  then that's an additional $264 cost because it's   per letter and we would imagine that those would  increase just the number of letters that would go.   Thank you. You're doing great. So the genesis  of all this is the probably I could have just   probably asked it easier but for me this is great  just to make sure I understand in the green sheet   under financial considerations it said it's not  going to create any financial obligations for the   city. Yes. Uh I just want to make sure I'm I'm  tracking and understanding. No. Um and thank you   for the opportunity to clarify that. You're  welcome. Thanks for doing it. No. when when   we were preparing this um I think what we were  looking at is uh whether we would be obligated   to uh for a certain cost and this it would be  variable but you are correct there would be an   additional cost to the city and to the county for  that matter because of the increase in postage   that would be sent out and the staff time and  whatever. So not having it be multif family   apartments is probably going to significantly  minimize that but there so there will be cost but   it's probably going to be minimal I would imagine  so. Okay. I just wanted to make sure because when   I saw on the green sheet no financial but then  when I saw the PowerPoint today I went wait a   minute there is going to be a cost. We estimate um  when we started this research we we ended up with   a median number of about 30 notices that per case.  Um out of that we also ran another calculation and   it showed about six properties on average uh were  to uh included once where the owner address was   different than the property address. Now that  can vary wildly depending on what case it is,   but I just want to give you a sense of kind of  a ballpark uh frame of mind about how much we're   expecting. Thank you. And that's minimal and I  appreciate that. Is my concern too was if we ever   decided to think about multif family apartment  complexes that could be hundreds and a thou   sometimes a thousand. So okay and at this point  I I would recommend against as as the director I   would recommend against including multif family  units just simply because the the complexity   complexity. Yeah. Okay. Thank you so much. You  did a great job. I appreciate you answering all   my questions. Council member Hoisel. Thank you  Vice Mayor. Uh just one quick question. Why is   the recommended action not uh override MAPC um  to kind of delay the implementation of this while   the ones who are currently in the pipeline are  cleared out? Well sir uh that falls on me. Um, in   the discussions between current plans and advanced  plans at our staff meeting, someone pointed out,   hey, uh, you know, they the the logistics of  implementation and how there could be a benefit   to having a delay. Um, that came from our current  plans division. And so I just wanted to present   that as an option so that you could consider it.  Um, but that's why it didn't wasn't in the staff   report. It was a it was a something that we  noticed late, but I wanted to make sure that   you had an opportunity to consider it. All right.  Appreciate it. Thank you. Let me do a couple of   few rapid fire questions. So, this is still has  to go to the board of county commissioners. Um,   it would because it is a change to the unified  zoning code. However, if the city council adopts   it, then uh I believe it would be implemented. It  would be effective for the city. What was the vote   recommendation from AAPC? I don't know if I could  find it on here. That is an excellent question,   sir. Um, let me see if I can find the minutes real  quick. I I'm told that it was 8, but let me 80   one extension. Okay. And then this doesn't change  that um the let's say the tenant is not included   the this doesn't change the protest petition  requirements. This is just notification. No sir,   that's correct. Okay. And then you had to use the  analogy of Eastboro tied to the school district.   That would be a Witchaw address. I have uh Goddard  addresses in my district because they're tied to   the Goddard school district. How would that would  that be handled in the same way that they would   still be included in this because now they're  in have a Goddard address opposed to a Witchaw   address? No. Uh they would not because either  they're in the city of W if they if they are   in the city of Witchaw then it applies. If they  are in the unincorporated county and they have   Witchah, they live in and they're in the Witchah  school district, so their address is Witchah,   then they would also receive an additional  letter. But if they are in the unincorporated   county and they show Gddard or any other uh  school district or city as their address,   no, they would not receive a notice. So I have  residents that live in Witchah, but they have   a Goddard address. They would be included. Yes,  they would because they're in the city of Witchah.   Okay. I just didn't know if it excluded with  the Gddard address associated with it. Yeah,   I'll have to look into that some more, but the  intent is that if they're in the city of Witchaw,   they will receive a notice. Okay. They would be  eligible for receiving. That's the intent. We'll   clarify whether that's the case or not. There's  a few other things just regarding the workshop   that I don't see maybe mentioned in this that  I just had quick questions about. Um it talked   about different types of notifications, perhaps  the postcard. Um the other ones were additional   languages and then it looks like we're probably  meeting the last one uh regarding property tenants   as property owners because we're mailing to the  resident. Could you talk more about the different   languages and then also the postcard suggestion?  Certainly. Uh so we looked at the postcard u   suggestion. Uh it would save money on the short  term in terms of the actual mailer itself.   The challenge though was the staff time in terms  of differentiating who should get a postcard,   who should get a letter, the complexity involved.  And for that reason, as a planning director, I   recommend that we not move forward with a postcard  just because of the complexities and the chances,   the increase for us to have an error that would  affect proper notification. Okay. Um, also, it's   also because the cost savings was not significant  enough to warrant the risk in my opinion. Um, in   terms of the languages, what we ran into was, uh,  there were concerns about adequate notification   there as well. Uh, what if we were to translate  something incorrectly? Um, there were concerns   about equity and fairness as well. So, for that  reason, uh, we recommended against, uh, moving   forward with the notifications in the variety  of languages. Thank you, Scott. Council member   Shepard. Thank you, Vice Mayor. And I completely  understand the um the concern about maybe   translating things in a way that isn't correct  or may come across differently. I I I think that   raises a larger point of the city investing in  those who can speak and transcribe in different   languages so that in cases like this there's  there's someone on our staff who can provide   that information. Again, thinking of being future  focused and ready now. Um, we know that in the   future we will run into this issue potentially and  so making sure that we get ahead of that. Also,   we know in our Witchaw public schools there's over  140 languages already spoken in our schools. So,   um, it's actually here now and so we probably  should look at that as an opportunity to help   mitigate those concerns for departments like  yours. And I hope that if we were to do that, we   could revisit that concern about maybe translating  it into different languages so that households   whose primary languages in English are able to  at least be a part of the process. Um, I was on   the DAB when this came before uh the DAB in 2022.  As the renter on city council, I am very grateful   and appreciative of this. I care what's happening  in my community and my neighborhood just as much   as homeowners do. and I think many residents  do as well. Nearly 50% of the folks who live   in district one uh are renters and roughly 66% of  um a portion of my district uh African-American   renters are renters as well and um want to make  sure that they have a voice in the process too.   I I just want to make sure I also understood you  correctly, Scott. There is no legal obligation for   a landlord who is overseeing an apartment complex  or property with multiple residents to notify the   tenants that there's a zoning case happening.  That is correct. Okay. So, uh it would kind of   be a good faith. We're hoping that they would act  in good faith and communicate with those tenants.   um in this case they would have the option and so  we are providing them with the information to they   can make a for them to make a decision and I'm  assuming that is because we can't make it legally   obligatory for them to share that information.  Um we've not investigated that one so I don't   know that I have a an answer for you on that one.  I'd have to look into it. U but again it was just   because of the complexity of the situation. Yes  sir. Can you maybe elaborate a little bit on that   for me? As someone who lives in an apartment,  I certainly understand the complexities piece,   but I want to make sure that I'm understanding.  So, as I'm out in the community, I can mobilize   the thought process. Sure. Um, so the way  that uh addresses are collected are from the   ownership records that the county maintains. For  condominiums, uh, there are ownership records for   each of the units. For apartments, there are not.  So in that instance, um I I suppose you would have   to go to MABCD or to fire and different databases  to try and pull what apartments are there. Are the   apartment numbers correct? So for that reason, it  becomes very difficult to to tell even how many   units are necessarily at an apartment. Thank you.  And again, I just want to say thank you for doing   the work on this. I know that it has been um a  long time coming conversations for many years on   this and I think this is a testament of we're  listening. We're trying to build pathways to   incorporate the voices of many in our community,  not just a subset. And I think this is a great   example of trying to do that. So, thank you for  your work. Well, thank you, sir. And and I do   want to point out we've had a number of planning  staff who have been working on this for a number   of years. So, we've been very fortunate to have  them working on it. We have no other questions   from the council, so we'll go out to the public.  Is there anybody from the public that would like   to speak on this item? Seeing none, we'll bring it  back to the board. Can we go to page or slide 127? Thank you. Is there a recommendation or a motion  from the council? Council member Hisil. Thank you,   Vice Mayor. Um, I move that we take the  alternative motion and make modifications   to the language or other findings and override the  MAPC requires a 2/3 majority or 507. Second. Okay.   With a motion and a second. Seeing no one else on  the board, madame clerk, can you open the role? Motion passes 6 to0. Madame clerk, can  you call the next item? Supplemental   agreement with Sedick County for the  employment of behavioral health workers. Thanks, Captain. Good morning, Vice  Mayor, City Council. Jason Kulie, captain,   Witchaw Police Department. Uh, today I bring  before you uh the uh behavioral health worker   uh program contract. I think we're probably all  more familiar with it as the ICT one program. Uh   the background of the program, in 2019, uh the  Witchaw Police Department partnered with Sedick   County and their comare system uh to launch  the ICT1 program, the integrative care team.   Uh that program included a behavioral health  professional, a Witchaw police officer and a   paramedic. In 23 uh we expanded the partnership  with Cedric County Comm to launch ICT 2 through5.   At that time uh 2 through 5 included behavioral  health professionals. In 2025, we expanded the   program further um with the Sedric County Comm  by adding a WPD police officer to ICT 3 through 5   um which resulted in now uh those three units  including uh behavioral health professionals and   a WPD police officer. Uh some of what they're  tasked with is uh uh they they currently have   their crisis mobile clinicians, integrative  care specialist, uh WPD police officers,   and uh we're currently housing them at the  central bureau as they respond to situations   all through the city of Witchaw. Uh they're  involved in proactive engagement strategies   um where they're meeting up with individuals  during crisis. uh they do post incident followup   when not responding to those calls. Uh they help  reduce repeated calls for service and they bring   some normalization to the RA relationship  between uh public health professionals and   law enforcement. Uh I wanted to give you just  some uh brief uh year-to-ate stats of 26. Uh   these are current as of the end of March. Uh  so the program itself ICT 1 through 5 have   responded to 853 requests for services. Of those  677 came from law enforcement officers. 131 were   self-dispatch which is calls they hear coming  out or phone calls are receiving and they will   get on the radio themselves and say we're needed  to go to that call. And of those 653 s or I'm   sorry 853 647 of them have been in the field  as field responses. Uh during patient contact   479 patients have been engaged with the unit and  uh that results in almost a 60% treat in place. Um for the financial considerations there  is no additional uh funding request. The   funding for the program is already adopted in  the uh 2026 Witchaw Police Department budget. Uh the recommended action is to approve the  agreement with Cedric County and authorize   the necessary signatures. Uh and in  summary, the agreement is essentially   uh it had a term date. Um so the agreement  uh had to be uh renewed and extended.   uh that term date now just continues unless either  the city of Witchah or the county provide a 60-day   written notice that we want that one of these  parties want out of this agreement. With that,   I'll stand for questions. Thank you, Captain  Kulie. Uh Council Member Hoisel. Thank you,   Vice Mayor. Uh just one question more on how the  these units operate. Um how do they rotate? How   do we decide which unit? Is it just whichever  one's on call? Is it we have all of them on   standby at the moment? Nope. So they uh they  report to their normal shift. Um they work   uh their 24-hour coverage which is why we expanded  it from uh ICT1 to 23 and 5. ICT1 was and still is   um 8 to 5 for lack of better terms weekends off.  Um that doesn't get you 24 coverage throughout the   day and on weekends. So when we expanded it, uh  their model, uh I can't give you the specifics of   who's coming to work, but I can tell you they they  overlap. Um they've adjusted the model from when   uh in 23 when I did the expansion and created  the model. Um you know, I made it very clear.   This is the idea of the coverage. I don't know  if it's going to work. I don't know what call   loads are going to look like at different times.  So through the years since 23 uh the the various   captains that have taken over that program have  adjusted their work hours and their days and   um so now they have full coverage. So they report  to work uh just like we do. Um they log in,   they're available um through the computer system  just like we do and they can be dispatched by the   phone or by radio. Okay. Thank you. Appreciate  it. Thank you. See no other questions. Is there   anybody from the public that would like to speak  on this item? If not, I'll bring it back to the   bench. Is there a motion? I move that we approve  the supplemental agreement with Cedric County   and approve the necessary budget adjustments.  Second. Okay. Madame clerk, can you call the role? Motion passes six to Oh. Madam  clerk, can you call the next item? Council member appointments and comments.  Thank you. We'll begin with appointments.   Is there anybody that have appointments to  make? Council member Shepard. Thank you,   Vice Mayor. I would like to appoint John Williams  Bay to the MAC MAPC board. Council member Balor.   Thank you. I would like to reappoint Josh  Seven to uh CRB. And I will move to approve   those appointments. Is there a second? Second.  Okay. U Madam Clerk, can you call the role? Those appointments pass Next to O. Now we'll move  on to comments. Is there any comments from anybody   on the council? Council member Hohisel. Thank  you, Vice Mayor. Um, we had a great breakfast   last week. We had some really good discussions  around the budget. Um, moving forward. Um,   I know the rest of you have your listening  sessions set up. I just wanted to report back   about 30 people there at the breakfast and um,  I hope that we got some good data from it. So,   looking forward to all your guys' um listening  sessions as well coming up. Thank you, Council   Member Ballard. Thank you. Uh ICT Trees gave away  100 trees um on Saturday. It was so awesome. They   had about 50 of them pre-registered for people in  67214. And then after 3:00, they were free game   to anyone that was there. and they um it was over  at three and there was a line that started about   2 o'clock for free trees. So, I think that shows  that there's a lot of people interested in trees,   but sometimes they're a little bit expensive to  to get in the ground that are a big enough tree to   uh get established. So, just wanted to share that  and also say thank you to ICT trees. I know they   worked really hard um on working on the grant.  So, any thanks, Council Member Shepard. Thank you,   Vice Mayor. First of all, shout out to  you for running a great meeting today   uh and planning ahead of time to make sure we  were all on one accord. Appreciate that. Um   I also want to make sure that I take a moment to  uh just share a couple of thoughts. This weekend,   District 1 and our entire city was reminded that  gun violence is not distant. It is here and it is   impacting our families, our neighborhoods,  and our young people. Let me be clear that   I believe that gun violence is a public health  crisis. And let me also be clear that it's not   just about policing. It's about how people are  choosing to respond to the pain, the frustration,   and the conflict that they are wrestling with.  And while I deeply understand the influences that   shape that mindset, violence is not an acceptable  solution. I'm old enough to remember that when   uh disagreements happen, we, you know, squared up  in the front yard, we put on the boxing gloves,   and we shook hands afterwards. Maybe that's  not a culture a lot of people come from,   but it's one that I come from. And today, too  many conflicts end in the irreversible harm.   We're seeing families and individuals being shot  and killed due to gun violence. Over the weekend,   I was briefed with the police chief about violence  that occurred in District 1. This morning,   I woke up and was reminded again that there was  an individual in District 1 who was shot. We talk   about public safety a lot from the bench. Public  safety has become a buzzword for many people in   public service because we know that it makes a  lot of constituents feel good to know that people   who represent our communities care about their  safety and security. But law enforcement is only   one piece of the puzzle. We need prevention and  we need to know that stronger neighborhoods also   revolves around trust. That's on each and every  one of us. Also, I want folks to hear me c clearly   that if you bring violence in our community  and if you put lives at risk, there will be   accountability. At the same time, we must invest  in prevention, come together as a community,   and work towards a solution and invest in those  solutions without question at the same rate as we   invest in other areas of keeping our community  safe. I want to let each and every one of my   colleagues know that I've been in conversation  with partners to have conversations on a strategy   and building out a network that works in tandem  with the police but brings community into that   conversation. I invite you all in to be a part of  that conversation when that happens. Um because I   truly do believe that prevention starts with us.  Thank you, Vice Mayor. Thank you. Good words,   Council Member Shepard. I just want to recognize  uh the passing of an institution and a good   man. Wes Gallian who is the head of Witchaw  Area Builders Association for quite a while   uh passed away this weekend. I just wanted to  recognize him from this bench as well. We cannot   adjourn. We have an executive session and so I  move that the city council recess into executive   session for 20 minutes to receive information on  two level civil lawsuits pursuant to KSA754319B2 for legal cons consultation with the city  attorney which would be deemed privileged   in the attorney client relationship pending  litigation and legal advice. The executive   session will begin at 11:50 a.m. and end at  12:10 p.m. The meeting will resume in council   chambers. Is there a motion to approve?  So moved. Is there a second? Second.   Okay. All in favor say I. I. All oppose  the same. Okay. Go to executive session.