joining us for this week's city council  meeting. With us this morning is Bishop Kimmy   of the Catholic Dascese of Witchah to provide  our invocation. Following that invocation,   we will have our pledge of allegiance and  we ask that you please stand for both. Let us pray. Good and gracious God, we come  together today in a spirit of service and   responsibility, mindful of the trust placed in us  by the people of this community. We ask for wisdom   for our mayor and councile members and staff  as decisions are made, for clarity in thought,   and for compassion in every discussion. Guide the  leaders of this council and our community to act   with integrity, fairness, and humility. Help them  to listen with open minds, to speak with respect,   and to work together for the good of all who call  this city home. We remember the diverse voices,   needs, and hopes within our community. May every  action taken here reflect a commitment to justice,   opportunity, and the well-being of all. Grant  patience in moments of disagreement, courage   in moments of challenge, and a shared purpose  that rises above individual differences. May   this meeting serve the common good and contribute  to a stronger, more united Witchah. We make our   prayer to you, the one God, living and true. And  we who are Christians, in the name of your son,   Jesus, all in the power of the Holy Spirit,  for you are one God, forever and ever. Amen. I aliance to the flag of the United States  of America. To the rep for it stands,   one nation under God, indivisible,  with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, Bishop Kimmy. Madame Clerk, please  call the first item. Approve the minutes of   the regular meeting, April 7th, 2026. Council  members, any edits to those minutes? I see none.   I move to approve the minutes of  the regular meeting for April 7th,   2026. Second. Motion second. Discussion. See  none. Madame clerk, please open the role. Motion passes. 70. Madame clerk, please call  the next item. Awards and proclamations. Today's   proclamations are Arbor Day, our Kansas River  Cleanup Day, and National Apprenticehip Week.   Uh we have one award today for celebrate trails  presented by Prairie Trail. Prairie Travelers may   please ask those in support of Arbor Day to come  forward including Council Member Maggie Ballard. Thank you, mayor. I'd like to read the  proclamation of the city of Witchaw,   Kansas, founded in 1870. Whereas the city of  Witchaw encourages environmental stewardship   and the creation of a more sustainable  community by increasing our urban canopy,   which is more coste effective more  a more cost-effective way to combat   urban heat islands. And whereas global climate  change has increased an appreciation for trees   and their effect on physical and mental health  of our community. And whereas advocates to say   trees in the city increase property values,  enhance economic viability and business   districts and beautify the community.  Whereas the city of Witchaw recognizes   the daily benefit of trees and generational  legacy of planting trees. Now therefore,   be it resolved that the Witchaw City Council does  hereby proclaim April 24th, 2026 as Arbor Day. Thank you, mayor, and members of city council for  this proclamation for your continued support of   Arbor Day in Witchah. I'm John Bacon. I'm the  arborist for the city of Witchah. On behalf   of Witchaw Forestry, I'm honored to accept this  recognition and to celebrate the vital role trees   play in our community. We're especially grateful  for partners like ICT Trees whose ongoing efforts   continue to strengthen and expand Witchah's tree  canopy. The recent 100 tree giveaway on April   11th made possible with the support of Witchah  Forestry and Beta Beta Kappa Omega chapter of   Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority demonstrates the  power of community collaboration in action.   We also want to sincerely thank the city council  for your support of the forestry section's daily   operations. Your commitment allows us  to maintain, protect, and grow Witchah's   urban forest for future generations. Looking  ahead, we're excited to host a volunteer planting   event at Peach Tree Park where community members  will come together to plant 500 trees and shrubs.   This is just one example of how residents can take  an active role in shaping a greener Witchah. This   year is particularly meaningful as we celebrate  the city of Witchah's 40th year as Tree City USA,   a designation from Arbor Day Foundation that  reflects decades of dedication to urban forestry.   Building on this legacy, Witchah Forestry  plans to plant over 2,000 trees by this time   next year. Together with our partners,  volunteers, and your continued support,   we're growing a healthier and more resilient  Witchah, one tree at a time. Thank you. May I please ask the representatives of the our  Kansas River Cleanup Day to come forward at this Thank you for being here. All right. This is the proclamation  of the city of Witchaw, Kansas,   founded in 1870. Whereas the celebration  of National Earth Day can take many forms,   the city of Witchaw's premier environmental  event takes place along the Aranansas River with   dedicated and passionate volunteers from across  Seduit County. And whereas the Aranansas River   Cleanup has been a tradition for over 20 years  to clean up Witchah's greatest natural resource.   And whereas the 2026 R Kansas River  Cleanup will increase water quality,   protect the animals that call the river home,  enhance Witchah's image, and safeguard all   communities downstream from Derby to the Gulf of  Mexico. Now, therefore, be it resolve that I or   that the Witchah City Council does hereby proclaim  April 25th, 2026 as our Kansas Cleanup Day. So, thank you to the uh council as well as the  mayor for continuing to support this event for   over 20 years. Um, we have grown out of just the  back of a pickup truck to now attracting over a   thousand people each event that we hold. And to  put that in perspective, a thousand folks come   out, we hit the river, and within about 90 minutes  of time of having that concentrated effort,   we've pulled anywhere from um one and a half to  nine tons of debris out of the river. We average   about 2.7 tons every year. And it's exciting to  continue to see this grow. They say that imitation   is the greatest form of flattery. And so it is not  out of competition, but out of honor that we have   two more events that are happening on the very  same day along the river. And it'll be exciting to   see those groups also participating. I do want to  give a quick shout out to all of the sponsors that   make this possible. Uh this is a very grassroots  effort. um it does not have a specific budget that   comes out of a certain department to to fund this  event. Uh Cargill Cares has been with us for um   almost 15 years. Interest Bank, Merit Trust, the  Evergy Green Team, LDF, Witchah State University,   Boats and Bikes, Cedric County Zoo, the city of  Witchah, and all of the background work that they   do, and myself, Libby Alers, the executive  director of the Kansas Alliance for Wetlands   and Streams are excited to put this on again. So,  thank you to Councilwoman Maggie Ballard. Um she   will be doing the big announcements uh as we meet  uh this Saturday. Please, I hope you can be there. May please ask the National Apprenticeship  Week supporters come forward at this time. The proclamation reads, "The city of Witchah,  Kansas, founded in 1870. Whereas National   Apprenticeship Week is celebrating its 12th  anniversary of raising awareness of the vital   role registered apprenticeships provide in  creating opportunities by allowing apprentices   to earn while they learn and preparing a pathway  to good quality jobs and well-paying careers in   Witchah and across the nation. Whereas registered  apprenticeship programs enable employers to   develop and train their future workforce  while offering career seekers affordable   paths to secure high-paying jobs. Whereas Witchah  recognizes the role of registered apprenticeships   in expanding opportunities in our workforce  that are inclusive of individuals who have   been historically underserved, marginalized,  and adversely affected by persistent poverty   and inequality. Thus providing a path for  all qualified individuals including women,   youth, people of color, rural communities,  justice involved individuals, and individuals   with disabilities to become apprentices  and contribute to America's industries.   Whereas Witchah recognizes that registered  apprenticeships, a proven and industry-driven   training model is a key strategy to providing  job quality and creating access to good paying   family sustaining jobs for all, starting with  youth and young adults while addressing some of   our nation's pressing workforce challenges. Now  therefore, be it resolved that the Witchaw City   Council does hereby proclaim April 26 through  May 2nd, 2026 as National Apprenticeship Week. I want to say thank you to the mayor and the  council for recognizing National Apprenticeship   Week. I'm Crosby Brandham, the registered  apprenticeship coordinator through Workforce   Alliance of South Central Kansas. I appreciate  that we are acknowledging and celebrating the   growth that is happening both locally and  nationally for apprenticeship. Thank you. Madame clerk, please call  the next item. Madame Mayor,   we still have an award celebrate  trails presented by Prairie Travelers. May I please ask the Witchaw Parks Department  and all the council to come forward at this time? Hello, my name is Gwen Whitt and I'm here  representing Prairie Travelers today. In 2015,   a visionary group of people from Prairie Travelers  in the city of Witchah were able to secure and   complete seven miles of rails to trails from  Hoover Road to 167th Street West thanks to a   grant from the Sunflower Foundation and  the help of 11 Americanore volunteers.   These seven miles connected to eight miles  that were already the Prairie Sunset Trail,   which then made it possible to walk, run, or ride  a bike from West Witchah all the way to Garden   Plain. Prairie Travelers is a nonprofit group of  dedicated volunteers who help maintain the Prairie   Sunset Trail by putting in on average 3,500  volunteer hours per year. But this is more than   a trail for exercise. It connects communities and  it allows people to see nature and move in a safe   environment free from vehicles. Research studies  have shown that exercising outdoors surrounded   by nature alleviates stress, improves mood, and  reduces depression more than exercising indoors.   On the fourth Saturday of April, a yearly national  event, Celebrate Trails Day, occurs. It is an   opportunity to showcase the many ways that c that  trails and connected trail networks bring joy and   impact people's lives. We will be celebrating in  Garden Plane on Saturday, April 25th from 9 to   12 at the Covered Bridge trail head. Based on our  counter at various locations on the Prairie Sunset   Trail, last year we averaged 90 users per day. The  trail has been a source of pride for many who have   pl had us place memorial benches in honor of their  loved ones or a brick at the Memorial Brick Park   in Gddard. We have had nine Boy Scouts complete  their Eagle Scout projects along the trail.   In addition, we have people that have adopted, we  have individuals and businesses who have adopted   each and every mile of the trail. Um, they help  maintain those trail those miles of the trail.   The city of Witchah has 75 over 75 miles of trails  in many places along the city and has been very   supportive of the Prairie Sunset Trail. We have  especially been appreciative of working with the   parks and recreation department and Katie Eddie,  our contact there, has been quick to answer our   questions and follow up on things she needs to  ask others about. We invite you to come out to   the trail soon and enjoy being outdoors. Today,  we would like to present this plaque to you in in   to the city of Witchah in recognition of the  longstanding support that you have given us. There we go. Okay, this way. Sorry. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you again to the Prairie Travelers for  that recognition to the Witchaw Park and Recck   Department. I want to use a point of privilege  to also recognize the park department for a   very successful start to Open Street's ICT this  past Sunday in district number one. A very well   attended event and very grateful to all the staff  uh that organized Open Streets ICT. There are two   more this year. The next one will be in uh Council  Member Ballard's district uh in May and then   another one on Douglas in September. So, thank  you to the staff at Park and Rick. Madame Clerk,   please call the next item. Public agenda. We  now come to public agenda. The public agenda   allows for up to five speakers to have about five  minutes each to address the council. Please bear   in mind that this is not a period of dialogue  with council or question and answer period. This   is your opportunity to address the city council  with your concerns. I ask that you address your   remarks to the city council as a body and not to  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 speak into the  microphone and please state their name and address   for the record. A time clock will display the  speaker's remaining time to speak. Order and rules   of decorum will be observed. The first speaker  today is Mark Barlo, Flock Orwellian observation. Good morning. It's me again, Mark Barlo, District  2, House District 99. I'm here to talk about flock   cameras y'all have spent our taxpayer dollars  on, but I'm not going to waste your time and   my time by spouting off a bunch of statistics  and information about the surveillance system.   You already know. And moreover, you're already  convinced that having a drag net of warrantless   mass surveillance is the way to go for Witchah. If  common sense can't sway you off of this position,   one more rational human being standing up  to talk down at you isn't going to change   your mind. Additionally, through personal  conversations with members of this council,   I understand that many of you really do think that  witchins are safer with hundreds of third-party   privatelyowned, easily hackable, citizen oversight  lacking spy equipment all over the dang place.   You really do think everybody having their  travel habits and driving patterns stored   and readily accessible by federal agencies  is what's best for us. You're convinced that   throwing millions of dollars at this program is  better than contracting qualified builders for   water treatment or raising teacher salaries or  funding all those nicities you bundled together   in your recent regressive sales tax proposal. It's  surveillance state or bust for this council. And   I guess that's okay. At least it's part for the  course in terms of doing your job for the people   by the people. The people who haven't even been  properly informed of what the capabilities of the   Flock cameras are. How Flock's own operating  system filed under patent number US11416545B1 describes its capability to classify people by  race, gender, height, weight. a profiling system   masquerading as license plate readers.  You just keep telling us that the only   thing these always on nationally accessible,  easily breachable, expensively leased pieces   of equipment are looking at are license plates  that tracks. It's probably prudent to ignore the   fact that across the country, cities just like  Witchah are discovering that federal agencies   have access to their flock data. I won't bother  saying I told you so. Informing this council   that the ACLU and other watchdog groups have  already documented more than 4,000 cases of   ICE or Customs and Border Protection tapping into  flocks data probably doesn't matter. This year,   cities across the country have confirmed that  the ATF, Air Force, Homeland Security, and the   Border Patrol have accessed their flock data.  And it's almost definitely not worth mentioning   that 99.4% of all queries into Witchah's flock  data have originated from outside the city.   Telling this council that Witchah's lease with  flock is not fundamentally different than these   other cities isn't likely to get us very far  because you seem incalcitrantly convinced that   Witchah is immune to federal overstep that were  perfectly safe from corruption or malfeasants   even though the metropolitan area has already  experienced lapses in officer judgment signifying   abuse of warrantlessly collected driver data  stored on insufficient third party servers. You're   going to keep doing you. You're going to keep  bending over backwards for the police union. Buy   more robo-dogs. Throw resources at surveillance  cameras. Send us deeper into that Orwellian future   you clearly and so fervently want for us. Because  even while you're watching us, you better believe   we are watching you. This becomes your legacy.  History already knows what you are. Keep playing   this game at your own risk. And for anyone out  there listening to this and wondering what can we   actually do to fix this problem, our failing forms  of government, I can at least offer you this. I'm   running for Kansas House state representatives in  the 99th district to make Susan Humphre unemployed   and undo the civic damage caused by her wave of  anti-trans, hate stoked legislation. Scan this QR   code or email me at gomarktheous@gmail.com or  find me during civic protests around the city   to connect with my campaign and let's build a  strong coalition of resistance to every form   of incipid tyranny crushing down on our ways  of life. Let's end this together. Thank you. City attorney, I just had one  question regarding campaigning.   wanted to know was that allowed uh during a public  agenda? Um public agenda is open to the public   with little limited restrictions. However, you do  have a limited forum. A limited forum means that   you can um can limit speakers to topics relating  to the city in general. Um so it's it's been an   area that we haven't tested in the past with with  political speech. We don't see that too often.   um it's something we can talk about further  on maybe how to how to reframe the ordinance   to address this in the future. So in short is  campaigning allowed in public agenda? You know,   it's not really clear under the first amendment  we have an open forum, but we can I think limited   to topics involving the city. I think we'll  just need to look a little bit more more into   that. But it's generally not a a forum for  for political campaigning um for political   speech. Yes. For political campaigning, not so  much. Thank you, city attorney. Madame clerk,   please call the next individual. Jack  Garri, parking reform steering committee. Good morning, council. Um, last fall applications  closed on a new steering committee to renegotiate   reorder the parking uh requirements for  new developments uh in downtown Witchah and   across the city. Um, since then, no new process  items have been added to its dedicated website.   um which means that the public and developers  are completely in the dark regarding whether   within the next five months when their  mandate expires, new parking requirements   um will change how they may want to build in  downtown Witchah. As you know, in the 1950s,   um, cities across America devoted their downtown  spaces not to people, uh, or public transit, but   to suburbia and parking. This has left our city  center consumed by empty parking spaces, parking   garages, and devoid of residents and businesses.  This harms our city finances, our local culture,   u municipal pride, and the businesses in  downtown themselves. By reducing parking   requirements, we will incentivize development  by increasing return on investment. That is,   they can devote more of their lot sizes to actual  businesses or residencies. Encourage the use of   public transportation and increase tax revenue per  development. So, I have a few questions for you   guys. Who has been appointed to this committee?  Have they met since September? Are we any closer   to new regulations so that our developers who  want to build as just announced today um you   know a new music venue and Topeka and Emporia and  new apartment complexes. what they need to know   how many cars they need to allocate for and what  can you do to accelerate this process. Thank you. Thank you, Jack. We have room for three more  individuals to speak. You can just come to   the microphone, state your name, your address, and  you will have five minutes to address the council.   Okay. My name is Civil Strum.  I reside at 326 North Wana. I was upset with the Central. They came  on my property back then, November 21st,   2019. They did not even let me know that they were  going to come. They are liars. I'm sorry, but they   are. They also had the nerve to tear my house down  without my knowledge. And also that they actually   told me that when they built the house it would  be a historical landmark, but it's not. I'm paying   a excessive mortgage and that's not right. And  then they got Fidelity Bank. I didn't get to see   the president. I am outraged. They did not contact  me. They did not do anything. And the Metropolitan   Planning was involved in the whole scandal. I have  been there for the city. I have been there for the   kids that were runaways and couldn't go back to  their parents or their relatives. And what did I   get? I got thrown out of my house. And now I have  a new house and I'm paying a mortgage. That's not   right. This is not what our community is supposed  to be. Our community is supposed to be love it,   but I was treated like dirt. And another thing,  my neighbor I I called in uh she has a big old   tree limb on my property and she has poison ivy  growing. I don't understand. I'm being treated   like dirt. I can't do this anymore. I've  been there for the community. Like I said,   I've helped the youth of America. Some of them  now are adults that come back to thank me for   taking them in when their parents didn't want  them. And I voted for that lady right there. But   uh I know all of you, but I did not like it.  I was treated central, treated me so bad. And   when I went to Mount Carmel Apartments, there  was crime going on every day and every night. I don't know. I really thought that was  wrong for our community to do that to   me. Like I told Maggie Ballard about it, city  council Maggie Balor. I said the day came in,   they did not even tell me about it. They just  barged in and you're supposed to have a warrant   to do this. And I called the police and Everg was  involved in the scandal. They put tree limbs and   semi- tires in my yard. I hope Mayor Liy Woo,  you accept that that was a bad thing. And that   goes for all you other commissioners. I know  Becky Tuttle. I know him. I forgot your name,   but I know you. I'm I'm I'm devastated because  it was a historical landmark and now I'm paying   a loan. They lied about that too. They said  that it would be a historical, you know,   something. But I thank you. I hope I have let  you know the real reasons that I'm actually not I just don't like the way I was treated. Thank   you. I appreciate it. Have a  good day. God bless you all. Thank you, Civil. Good morning, council. Um, my name is Donna  Castillo Garcia. I live at 621 Laramie Circle.   Um, for those of you not familiar with my work  uh out in the community or listening today,   I am a graduate of a doctorate of clinical nursing  at WSU and I run a nonprofit for homelessness   uh services. We're trauma informed and peer-led.  We're the only one in the state. We're kind   of unique because we are ran for homeless  people by homeless people. 100% voluntary,   100% self-funded. And I'm standing before you  today because I want to tell you a story. I   want to tell you about what we've been doing at  the tip of the spear out in the community. We've   been working in this sector for about a year now.  For the last nine months, we've been working very   closely with the city in the housing department  to provide housing vouchers, programs, and access   through both the city and the coordinated entry  process. We've been very successful in doing what   we're doing because we have a level of freedom  that's not typically seen and we have a level   of dedication that's definitely not typically  seen. We come from the heart and we are out   there every single day. Three days a week we are  in encampments. We visit um the southside. There's   an encampment called Pepsi. Um we've worked  recently on decommissioning that campment. It is   completely closed now. We helped re um relocate  individuals and they are actively working in   um housing plans. We also have assisted with the  John Mack bridge. We're working very closely with   the hot team. We were on site that day when they  closed the bridge encampments down something like   15 or so camps with formed structures, people  who have been living there for up to five years.   We spent 12 hours that day in my four-wheel drive  with a trailer moving five different camps to new   locations. And every single one of those persons  were now put in HMIS and actively working housing   uh plans. And I think that we have three of them  who are looking at apartments and getting housed   today. And now we have the one that we have  been working the longest is Chapen. If you're   not familiar with Chapen, it is our largest and  oldest um encampment located uh off of Hydraulic.   We've been there for over six months building  um rapport. Uh my business partner, Miss Sarah,   you all familiar with her. She was a resident  of there. She has family members that stay   out there. Is a bit of the wild wild west.  It's not a safe place. And we usually don't   recommend people do what we do because we have  expertise and we have lived experience and we   come with a special set of skills that allow  us to do this work and do it well. Recently,   we've started partnering with the city and now  we're bringing housing navigators to work on unit   identification and housing navigation onsite and  we have matching grassroots ability to do that   first onboarding, finding your documents, getting  your benefits ready, providing transportation, and   then we get you voucher ready. We hand you over to  the city and boom, they're ready to get you into a   unit like that day. It has become an expedited  and wonderful process, but we're still working   out the kinks. So, my story today is more of a  cautionary tale because yesterday I heard rumors   from our clients that they're working on closing  chapen and they're wanting to do things in a week.   We worked um MacBridge for a month getting  people ready to move. Talking people who have   lived in their homes, these are their homes for  years, three years. People in Chapen Park have   lived there for a decade. My cautionary tale is  that I believe encampments should be addressed.   I believe they should be addressed humanely,  efficiently, effectively by the professionals   who know this work the best, should be well  funded, and we should prepare before we go in   guns blazing into the Wild Wild West because we  know how that ends. We're canons. So my question,   my my request and my prayer is that we continue  this amazing, revolutionary work doing direct to   housing models with the city, with the  HOT team, with our nonprofit partners,   and with community individuals who have been  volunteering for years. and we're allowed to work   this process and take our time and adjust people  and help heal their trauma in reasonable ways that   can get this work done. So, thank you for giving  me a few minutes to share our story and I'm really   excited to speak with each and every one of you  on what we've been doing more in depth and I hope   you guys have a good day and we'll be out in the  streets so we'll see you guys later. Thank you. Good morning everybody. My name is James Barfield  in District 1 and I want to talk today. Can you   all hear me? Okay. I want to talk today about  what should be the number one issue for today.   That's public safety. For the last three to four  years, that has been the buzzword on this council.   And I want to address what happened on the last 10  days in the city of Witchah. And I want to start   by talking about what brought that about. And I  want to start go back four years ago when under   a different police chief, a study was conducted by  Jensen Hughes, I believe it's called, to come in   and take a look at our Witchaw Police Department.  And needless to say, they found several areas that   needed improvement. Now, that's been about four  years ago, and to this date, to the best of my   knowledge, most of the recommendations have never  been implemented. That's number one. Number two,   uh I want to talk about this is the first brochure  that I received from our current mayor and it   talks about public safety quite a bit and one part  here says Lily's top priority is public safety.   The Witchaw Police Department faces over 70 vacant  positions while property crime is increasing.   Lily supports our first responders will work with  police to recruit more officers and backs tougher   sentences for criminals who commit violent and  property crime. Now, when we got a new police   chief, one of the first suggestions that he made  was that we spend $3.4 million giving bonuses to   every police officer whether they deserved  it or not. And that recommendation was made   with no restrictions on how that money would  be appropriated. Now, we spent $3.4 million.   Within a year's time, 48 members of the Witchaw  Police Department took the money and ran. There   was no stipulations involved in that money. him.  No smart businessman in the country would issue   $5,000 bonuses without some type of restrictions.  You either had to stay 30 uh 90 days, six months,   or a year to get that bonus. We lost money on  that deal. Now the 48, if you take the 48 and   add it to this 70, you're over 100 vacancies and  which has never recovered from that mistake. Now   I want to move on. The new chief has suggested  you guys spend a lot of money on gadgets. And   the reason I call them gadgets is because none  of them have proven to this point to decrease   crime and in particular violent crime in the city  of Witchah. Over the last 10 days, you all saw   and witnessed a variety of incidents across the  city resulting in one death and many injuries.   The police chief on Monday, I believe, was  issued a had a press conference where he said,   "This has to stop." I agree, but that  statement is not a solution to the problem.   And second thing that he said that caught  my attention was that these incidents,   most of them did not occur in the so-called  target areas. Well, I got news for you all,   ladies and gentlemen. The city of Witchah is a  target area. As witnessed by these incidents,   this violence went from Harry and Web Road  to 37th Street and Rock Road. Okay. It went   through Ponte and Broadway all across the city.  There is no such thing anymore as a target area.   Widget is infested with crime. It's time we do  something about it and we need solutions. Now I   have done myself. Uh I see my time is up. Give  me a minute. Uh Mr. Barfield, uh we do have a   fiveminut rule. So you can finish your thought.  However, you can't go a whole minute. Thank you.   I have done a little study and I have found  that cities our size in this region all have   one thing in common that Witchaw does not have in  common and we're not talking about it. The police   chief is not talking about it. You guys are not  talking about it and that is helicopters. Okay,   you've got a shortage of officers on the ground  and nothing is going to convince me that the city   of Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Omaha, and Kansas City  all have air uh eyes in the air in the sky. They   call it helicopters. Now, I know what you're  going to say. That's expensive. But I got an   answer for you. So is crime. Okay? And you cannot  put a comparison on the crime. what the cost of   the crime is and the cost of a helicopter. Thank  you, Mr. Barfield. Okay. I appreciate it. So,   I would suggest what you all do, Mr. Barfield,  to do a workshop on Mr. Barfield. Thank you.   Thank you, ma'am. Thank you very much. Council  members, do you guys have any comments to the   five public comment agenda item individuals?  Um, I will have one. Um, I want to make sure   that people do know that there is progress on  the Jensen Hughes uh recommendations. You can   actually track that online at witshaw police.com.  93% of the Jensen Hughes recommendations have been   resolved. 7% are still in progress. Uh regarding  policies within the Witchaw Police Department,   um I again would encourage people to go to witchaw  police.com. Uh they have their policies online.   Um and I know that they're very responsive if  there are specific questions regarding policy.   Uh and lastly to Miss Donna who was um asking us  regarding uh homelessness. I know that the city   manager has been working with his staff regarding  multiple uh concerns throughout the city uh about   encampments. Uh so we will be talking about that  in future meetings uh regarding the progress on   encampment cleanups. It's not working. Council  member Hohisel. Thank you, Mayor. Uh yeah,   I just want to reiterate um 97% we have three  three issues on Jensen Hughes that we still have   to implement. The rest of them have been done. Um  helicopters, that's something that the chief will   agree with you on and he has stated that publicly.  Um he we also do work with uh the Kansas Highway   Patrol to use their helicopter whenever there are  dire needs out there. Um, I I also am somebody who   thinks that we need more boots on the ground as  far as people stopping crime before it happens.   And we have invested in violence interrupterss  and various other programs. That's something I   think we need to strengthen as a as a city to  stop violence before it happens. Um, I also   think that helps keep young men specifically out  of jail and out of the um the prison pipeline. So,   I I do want to invest more in those. Um, and  then Don, I sad to see her leave. I do want to   chat with her more about some things um that we  have going on with the encampment. So, thank you member Shepard. Thank you, Mayor. Uh,  thank you to all the speakers who came.   Believe I already reached out to Jack and  I saw Scott Wadel uh speak with Jack. So,   thank you for doing that. uh looking forward to  following up as a district one constituent to   learn what we can do in regards to the steering  committee for parking and uh looks like we're   already getting that going. Um as a result  of some of the other comments about the 21st   century technology about how it's helping  prevent crime um I have seen directly and   personally how having access to the flot camera  can catch a criminal who has committed murder. Uh   I have seen how it has returned a child back to  a family who was stressed about child abduction.   Um and council member Hoas has already mentioned  about the helicopters and so if there is an   opportunity to continue to continue to educate  folks on how this 21st century technology is   helping in that way please let us know. Um as you  know I voted no on the robotic dog. So I'm not   saying that we have to invest every single time  it comes forward but um I will not argue that   it's that it's not helping. It is helping. And  then uh finally want to uh ask the city manager,   is there a plan to go into Chapen Park and  clean that up? And if so, what is the timeline? I'll have more information. We are looking  at all encampments and so I can't say if uh   Chaplain Park where it is on the list, but we're  reviewing all of them. Thank you, city manager. I see no further comments from the bench. Madame  clerk, please call the next item. Consent agenda   items 1 through 21. Council members, are there  any items to be pulled from the consent agenda? I see none with that. Mayor, it's working.  Council member, Vice Mayor Glascock. Thank you,   Mayor. I don't want this item pulled, but I  it's an item that I believe that we should   celebrate. And so I just wanted to um maybe have  Penny come and talk about agenda item number 16   uh regarding the Veterans Ride uh transit  free program and just talk about some of   the wins and the sizable increase in  annual ridership that I think we should   be celebrating. So I won't pull off the  agenda, but I just wanted maybe a quick   um celebration about it. We'll do that in just a  second. We'll do the formality. I'm also going to   pull agenda item number it's also a transit item  that would be 4B which also is a transit item so   that you can talk about them holistically.  So we are approving consent agenda items 1   through 20 without 4B and 16. So I move to  approve the consent agenda items without   4B and 16. Second motion second discussion.  See none. Madame clerk, please open the role. Motion passes 70. We will talk about them  uh together, but uh item 4B is the subawward   agreements for section 5310 enhanced mobility  of seniors and individuals with disabilities   subawward agreements. And item number 16  is veterans ride transit free program.   Director Penny Feist. Good morning, Mayor City  Council. Thank you for pulling these items for   awareness. And I'll start with uh 4B, which as the  mayor mentioned is a sub award of our section 5310   funds that Witchaw receives from the federal  government and then passes through to local   agencies who participate in transportation for  the elderly and the disabled community. And so   um this award um to our grantees allows them to  purchase vehicles or use the money for preventive   maintenance or operations so that they can get the  users of their service to and from their location   and home. Um so we were very happy um to be able  to allocate additional funds. This is allocated   through a call for projects. So, people apply  for these funds and with this um final award   um everyone on the list will receive some funding  um to either buy vehicles or continue operations.   I saw that um Starky, Heartspring, and Catch  received additional funds, but Goodwill Industries   uh was eligible. Can you talk about the matching  fund that will be required? Will that be Goodwill?   Yes. All of the agencies who received the award  are required to provide the match themselves.   Any further questions on item 4B? I see none.  We'll continue with Can we do it together? Uh,   city attorney? Yes. And item number 16. Thank  you. Yes. Yes, the Veterans Right Free program   is a very exciting program and we're very happy  to partner with United Way and Veterans Affairs   um who each contributes $10,000 annually to  help fund this program. This agreement is for   two years and as vice mayor mentioned um we see  writership continue to grow. And when we look at   the uh user behavior of the veterans who ride,  um they're going everywhere. They're not just   going to the VA, they're going to work, they're  going to grocery stores, they're going wherever   they need to go. Um, and we hear a lot of positive  stories about this program. I happened to be at a   speaking engagement a couple of weeks ago and um,  some older parents mentioned that their son chose   to move to Witchah because of the amazing veteran  support here and this is one of the programs that   they referenced. So, I think it does um, have  a very meaningful impact to the community. I have just one question. Um, writership again in  2024 was 57,500 In 2025, writership was 60,800.   Um, I wanted to know obviously uh there's  an increase in writership. Are you able to   cover the costs with uh these grants or are  is the city of Witchaw still subsidizing?   um for this particular grant I believe um that  there is some subsidy occurring but it's it's very   um different when you're talking about transit  rates and service um you know from my former life   of water rates and service right that's a very  onetoone but when you're running um a bus you   really want to fill it up right and so there's  not there's some economies of scale there so   um while I do believe there is some subsidy  with this program in most of our programs   um I I do think that it's not necess necessarily  one to one and with the increase in writership,   we want um especially our veterans to utilize this  service. Um where are the policy decisions from   this council that could be helpful in um making  sure that again you're able to cover the costs to   provide these quote free uh rides for veterans? I  think just continued investment and um visibility   for transit. you know, we're going to have a new  business item later that does a little bit more of   a deep dive into it. Um, and other partnerships  as well, right? This isn't the only partnership   that Witchah has um with with agencies seeking  transportation services. Um, so just as council   support and the investment in transit, we have a  lot of exciting things coming up and don't want   to give away my presentation later, but um  I think just continued conversations um with   community partners and we do know that um a large  part of our service is federally subsidized and   we continue to receive um support from both the  federal and state local at the state and local   level um to subsidize the service and um but we do  we are laser focused on writership increases. So   I think the visibility is very key there. Thank  you, Penny. Council member Tuttle. Thank you. I   just want to give a shout out to Penny. Um, this  issue came to my attention a couple years ago. Um,   I serve on the Greater Witchah Area Veterans  Advocacy Board and they mentioned that the   funding was going to run out and so I worked  with Penny to secure the funding a couple years   ago and glad to see it happen again. You brought  up a really good point. When when this happened,   before we could secure this funding, we did  reach out to Congressman Estus and Senator   Moran's office as well as our representatives at  in the state and all were supportive, but it was   just kind of on a tight timeline. So, um, if  we're looking for continued policy initiatives   so that we can keep this funding, we might want to  consider adding this to our legislative agenda and   and thinking about it for next year or when we  meet with our South Central delegation um, just   to keep this on their mind. Um, we may need more  funding in the future. We may not get this funding   source and we'll need another one. So, it'll be  just good to keep those relationships. Thank you. Thank you, Penny. I see no further questions  from the bench. We will now open it up for   public comment. I see no one from the public who  would like to address the council on these two   agenda items. We'll now close public comment  and bring it back to the bench. With that,   I will move to approve consent agenda items 4B  and 16. Second. Motion second. Discussion. See   none. Madam, sorry, Council Member Shepard.  Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to mention   that um this Friday from 10:00 a.m. to  6:00 p.m. as we talk about veterans,   I believe it's germaine to this conversation  that the veterans benefits and claims uh event   is happening from 10 to 6:00 p.m. Any veteran,  family member, caregiver, survivors can get help   in real time accessing the benefits that they've  earned. No appointment is needed. In District 1,   we have roughly between 2500 to 2,700 veterans  who are not accessing their benefits. So,   if we can continue to spread that word in  tandem with the benefits that we are providing   as a local government to the brave individuals  who have served our country, that'd be great. Motion second. Any further  discussion? Seeing none,   Madame Clerk, please open the role.  Motion passes 70. Madame clerk,   please call the next item. Board of bids  and contracts dated April 20th, 2026. Good morning, mayor, city council. Josh Lober,   Department of Finance. Uh the board of bids  and contracts convened yesterday, April 20th,   2026. And we have six items for you today.  For engineering, we have the 135th Street West   from Central to 13th Street North for Pearson  Construction LLC in the amount of $4,440,54.30. For purchasing, we have the 16,000 gross  vehicle weight cabin chassis with mini dump   bed for Rusty Ford Incorporated for  an aggregate bid total of $137,931. We have the 19,500 gross vehicle  weight, cab, and chassis with crane   body for Ed Morris Autogroup Leanon Ford  LLC for aggregate bid total of $29,933. We have the phosphonic acid change order for Water  Weiss Enterprises LLC for an estimated annual   amount of 32,000 revised. We have the citizen  survey services software subscription change order   for Policy Confluence Incorporated doing business  as Pulco for an amended amount of $43,450. And we have the veterary consulting services  change order for Kansas Humane Society of Witchaw,   Kansas doing business as Kansas Humane Society.  Staff are requesting a contract extension of 90   days. That'll give us opportunity to complete an  RFP process. We'll be bringing that back to you.   This is how to become a vendor with the city  of Witchah. This is our purchasing calendar   of small business resource partner events the  city's hosting or participating in this month.   And this is our open public opportunities out on  the street. Today we have opening for April 24th,   for May 1st, and for May 15th. I'll be happy to  answer your questions and recommend your approval.   Council, thank you, Josh. Council member  Hoheisle. Thank you, Mayor. Uh, thank you,   Josh. Could we go back to slide 10, I think it  was. Sure. Yeah, this one. Um, so we're we're   going back out to Could you could you give me a  little more detail about this one? Sure. So, the   veterary consulting services, um, we're requesting  a 90-day extension because the contracts expiring,   so we don't have any abilities to exhaust  an additional renewal. Um, quite frankly,   to keep up with the volume and purchasing, we  need to extend it 90 days to get it back to you.   um working with WPD, Witchaw Police Department  to revise the specs to look at the scope. Um   when they give us the specifications to publish  it, uh we'll be publishing it within this month.   Okay. So, we the contract we did, I believe  last year to switch it over. That that was   a one-year contract or Yeah, thank you for the  question. Great question. So, there are actually   two contracts um for animal services that have to  do with veterary care. There is the um veterary   consulting services which is more in-house focused  and I'm trying not to speak on behalf of the   operating department but then there's also the  contract that has to do with more of the citizen   um services for providing animals to a veterary  care and 24-hour services. Good Samaritan. Good   Sam. Thank you. Good Samaritan. Yes, sir. Okay.  So, this one is for the internal or is this the   good the internal? It's the internal. I was  going to ask honestly if Emily hear you could   come speak to this. I thought I saw Emily  here. Yeah, I want to miscategorize that. That's okay. Hi guys. Um so yes, we have internal  veterinary services that provide daily care,   non-emergent care to all of the animals in at Waw  Animal Services. That's this contract. It opens up   um every four years with an option to renew each  year. And so, but every four I believe we go out   go out for RFP just to, you know, maintain and  keep what options we have out there. And then we   have our emergency veterinary services that are  um both a citizen or an animal control officer   can bring to most of the time 24 hours a day  depending on the vets's availability for an   immediate emergency service like hit by a car or  something like that. So, is this the one that's   currently the Humane Society is currently  fulfilling this role? They are currently   fulfilling our um day-to-day shel veterinary  services in the shelter. Correct. Okay. Thank you. I see no further questions. Thank you. With that,   I will move to approve the board of  bids and contracts dated April 20th,   2026. Second. Motion second. Discussion.  See none. Madame clerk, please open the   role. Motion passes 70. Madame clerk, please call  the next item. Petitions for public improvements. Good morning, mayor, city council members.  Paul Gilman, public works and utilities. For   the record, I have a few new petitions  for your consideration this morning.   Signatures on the petitions represent 100% of the  improvement district and the petitions are valid   per Kansas statute. Balman sixth edition located  in district 4. The project will provide water,   storm water drain, sanitary sewer, and  paving improvements required for new   residential development. Cadillac Lake  second edition located in district 5.   project will provide water and sewer improvements  required for an existing commercial development.   Hawthorne fourth edition located in district  two. The project will provide water and sanitary   sewer improvements required for a new residential  development. And it is recommended that the city   council approve the new petitions and budgets,  adopt the new resolutions, and authorize the   necessary signatures. That will stand for  questions. Any questions for staff? I see   none. Thank you very much. We will um go I will go  ahead and move to approve the petitions for public   improvements. Second motion second. Discussion.  See none. Madame clerk, please open the role. Motion passes. 70. Madame clerk,  please call the next item.   Tourism Business Improvement  District 2027 Scope of Services. Good morning, Mayor Council Lindsey  Baka at the City Manager's Office,   Division of Arts and Cultural Services here with  TBID or the Tourism Business Improvement District,   the scope of services for for next year. A little  bit of background, we work with Visit Witchaw, uh,   who receives annual funding from the city, uh,  to promote tourism and convention activities.   In 2014, the business improvement tourism business  improvement district was established to create an   additional funding source to promote tourism. Of  note, the um official boundaries of the district   or the legal limits of the city of Witchaw. Um  the funding has experienced some limited growth   in recent years while competition for tourism uh  and conventions has intensified across the nation.   And just a note that in accordance with uh the  Kansas Business Improvement District statute,   the proposed 2027 scope of services and budget is  presented annually to city council for approval.   Uh for those scope of services, uh the 2027 uh  scope and budget outline strategies and budget   allocations for leisure marketing and group sales  activities uh to drive tourism to Witchaw. Uh,   Visit Witchaw is helping lead the local effort  and and marketing critical to maintaining and   growing Witchah's travel industry and providing  dollars right back into the local economy. A   couple notes here that the specifically the scope  of services outlines uh the funds received from   a 2.75 nightly hotel assessment uh to be used to  promote tourism during the next fiscal year. Um,   and you're about to see the scope of services  and budget uh but it's dependent on funding   received. So, no dollars are spent that aren't  received, but this is just how we plan ahead   um looking at projections of what we think  the fund is going to uh uh collect in the next   year. So, with that, I'll turn it over to Susie  Santo, the president and CEO of Visit Witchaw. Thank you, Lindsay. Good morning, mayor, council  members. Pleasure to be here today. And I'm   going to chat a little bit about the five-year  history. What you're looking at is the revenue   that's been collected through the T- bid, the  economic impact and their and the ROI and for   25 was an outstanding year generating over 300  million in economic impact. But I also want to   note that since the pandemic, if you look at the  revenue collected from 21 through 25 and you add   those together, it's it's about 16 million has  been collected through the TBIT efforts. The   economic impact when you add that line is about  a billion dollars. So, it's been a great return   on investment with bringing visitors into  our community. So, the proposed budget is   in your packet and you can see it outlined on the  screen as well. And I'm be happy when we're done   to answer any specific questions about how this  has been allocated. And the carryover funds that   we bring forward. Again, as Lindsay indicated,  we only spend the dollars that we have. If it's   not collected, we don't spend it. And last  year, we ended with about $18,882 left. The   advisory council on February 4th voted to carry  those funds forward and they'll be placed in the   strategic event fund. And now it's my pleasure to  just quickly recap last year. It was an incredible   year in Witchah and it's it's hard to believe  it was over a year ago. We kicked off the year   with US figure skating and it was so fun. I don't  know about you watching the Olympics this year and   seeing those athletes that just the year before  competed uh right here at Interbank Arena. So it   made it extra special. Moving into March Madness,  we hosted numerous sporting events between NIA   wrestling, uh the basketball, the TV team, and we  were also when I was here in October, I told you   that we had been nominated up against Atlanta and  Boise and Milwaukee and Charlotte as the best host   city of the year. And we won that award, which is  very exciting. And so it's been great to share the   the good news that this is a place that you want  to host your sporting events. Um just to recap,   moving into Last fall, we hosted TBEX, the larger  largest undertaking we'd ever uh encountered with   over 160 local partners. When I was here in  October, we hadn't had any initial data back,   but 10 weeks post that event, it generated over  18 million in earned media, and it continues to   drive. And when you talk to our attractions, they  are continuing to get posts and excitement, and   great relationships have been formed with these  travel influencers from really around the world.   Coming into 2026, there are um a few new events  that are coming to Witchah for the first time   ever. And I'd love to chat about these. We just  hosted the USA Judo Youth National Championships,   first time in Witchah. Uh just a few weeks ago  when we welcomed 48 states with over a thousand   athletes and coaches to Witchah. the WBIT, the  women's basketball invitation tournament. We're   here uh just a few weeks ago at Coke Arena, the  first time we've hosted it. It's the third year   of that event. The first two years were in  Indianapolis. And we're very proud. We're not   competitive here, but we're very proud to say that  we did set the attendance record here in Witchah.   So, we're excited about that and they will be back  next year. Another really collaborative effort,   the opening event was hosted for the the athletes  and the coaches out at Exploration Place. The   coaches were given bomber jackets to tie into our  air capital partnering with the aviation museum   and airplane was outside of Coke Arena and even  middle school kids came to cheer on the team. So   really creating a great atmosphere for the  athletes and and the fans. USA bad mitten,   this is a first one and this is going to be fun to  watch. 650 athletes will be here July 8th through   the 14th. and then the elite challenge. And I'm  going to talk about the elite challenge in just a   moment. But also for the first time ever, you've  heard me talk about the President's Cup. We've   hosted it in the past. This is over a hundred  teams from around the country come and compete   this summer for a week. This is their Super Bowl  for these athletes. And for the first time ever,   uh, USS USU soccer presented the President's Cup  to a city for three consecutive years. And that   is Witchah out at Striker Sports Complex.  So, we'll be hosting them um in uh 26, 27,   and 28. And I know several of you have come  out and seen it before. And if you haven't,   it's what Striker to me was built for. It's  so exciting. They line the flags of all of   the states. You just feel the energy, the buzz,  and it just showcases that incredible facility.   So, I have been before you uh several times over  the past six months and I've chatted about the   need for convention facil facilities and the  inefficiencies in our convention product. Um,   and I will continue to educate on the need, but I  also know it's our responsibility to continue to   promote and bring business to the facility that  we had. So, both can be true and we're working   on both of them at the same time. and I wanted to  share with you some of the business that we'll be   bringing in to uh Bob Brown Expo Hall in Century  2. So, we chatted about judo, but now I want to   talk about the elite challenge. So, um in just  a few weeks, we will be hosting the let me get   the exact name here, USA Gymnastics Trampoline and  Tumbling Elite Challenge. So, I want to talk about   why this is going to be exciting and why this is  important. Last January, we hosted the US Figure   Skating. We brought in USA Gymnastics. We wanted  to show them how Witchah shows up and how we put   on sporting events. So, they came as our guest  and they saw that this is our first event with USA   Gymnastics and it reminds me of the relationship  that we started back in like 2017 with USA Figure   Skating. We produced about four events before we  got the big national championship. So our dream   and our goal is that the Simone the Simone Biles  of the world are here at some point for their   championships. But this is our first event and  it's t it's tumbling but it's also trampoline. So   think about two trampolines next to each other and  like sink row and you know doesn't it sound really   cool? I've never seen it up close and personal  but it'll be here in just a couple of weeks at Bob   Brown Expo. And then I'm also pleased to announce  that USA um boxing national junior Olympics and   the summer bo box boxing festival is coming back.  Um Mayor Woo you welcomed the athletes two years   ago. They are back this summer June 19th through  27th. We anticipate about 2,000 boxers and their   coaches. 48 states represented. So again just  shows a little bit about some of the events we'll   be bringing to u Bob Brown. But beyond sports, I  do want to talk quickly about these two pieces of   business that are coming and using all of Century  2 and Bob Brown Expo. And I'll start with the   American Gel Association. We're anticipating  about 1300 attendees. And this event will be   coming in 2029. But to start the conversations, we  started with a third party planner back in 2023.   So that shows the amount of lead time and work on  building that relationship. So between 23 and 25,   we met with a third party planner numerous times.  In May of 25, we'd followed up on a a different   event and she said, "You know, we do have the  American Jail Association." So as we explored   it f further, we learned that the Sedick County  Jail administrator serves on the American Jail   Association executive committee. We were able to  bring it together, bring them out for a site visit   in September. And in December, we learned that we  won the opportunity to host in 2029. And we're in   good company. In 24, this this piece of business  was held in Fort Lauderdale. In 25 Fort Worth,   this year it's in Milwaukee. Next year, it's  in in Spokane. In 28, it will be in Providence,   and 29 in Witchah. And then the other piece of  business up there, Sampi, the Society for the   Advancement of Material and Process Engineering.  This is I I love to chat about this because this   shows what Witchah does best and we collaborate.  So Atlas Nyer team they actually attend the Sampi   conference. So they attended the S the conference  and thought what about bringing it to Witchah.   They reached out to GWP who reached out to us and  we started the conversation. Then in June at the   Paris air show, the Atlas Nyer team invited the  meeting planner to come to the reception where   they've got to meet Mayor Woo and so they learned  more about the city and they the collaboration.   We worked together on the proposal um brought  them out in January for a site visit and this   was a team effort. Everybody at C2 at the Hyatt,  even music theater witchaw was involved because   they were holding a date in 2029. So, they  had to adjust their date to make it work. Um,   this is a huge piece of business. We're expecting  thousands and thousands of attendees. It's great   for our community. Um, and it's great that we  can partner in NIAR, but it wouldn't have been   possible without all the collaboration and again  the lead time that we're talking about and we are   in great company. and 24 it was held in Long Beach  and 25 in Indianapolis and 26 in Seattle and 27 in   Salt Lake, 28 in Seattle and 29 will be right  here in Witchah. So, thank you, Mayor Woo. And   they did tell us when we talked to them just a few  weeks ago that again one of the thing that pushed   us over the finish line was the collaboration  and to see everybody from the university to the   city to the economic development to the tourism  working together um is refreshing and so thank you   for that. And then finally I'm excited to share  with you and I hope you get excited about that   cover. You are looking at our uh summer that  will be coming out soon in a couple weeks our   new visitor guide. We are launching a brand new  leisure campaign. It launches May 8th. All new   uh commercials, digital, social, print. It'll be  in our drive markets. But this shows you how fun   and some great new photos and getting to celebrate  the incredible new attraction the playscape over   at Exploration Place that Adam Smith and his team  just launched. But we're excited that this new   campaign will be out. And also to note that for  the first time, we're putting our visitor guides   in Dallas and in Kansas City uh to capitalize on  those visitors coming for the World Cup. So with   that, I share some of these just little taste here  and there because everything you've seen, none of   this would be possible without the funding that's  provided through the tit. So greatly appreciate   your support. We greatly appreciate the hotel  your support. We look forward to another year of   welcoming some sporting events for the first time,  continuing uh to drive business to Witchah, drive   business to Century 2, and I'm happy to uh stand  for questions at the appropriate time. Thank you. Thanks, Susie. I'll do the quick wrap up wrap up.  Um and staff recommend the approval of the TBID   uh scope of services and budget for 2027 as  recommended by the TBID board. Obviously, Susan, I   stand for questions. Thank you, Lindsay, and thank  you, Susie, for the presentation. We will now open   it up for council members, beginning with council  member Hoheisel. Thank you, Mayor. Uh, thank you,   Lindsay and Susie. Um, all your hard work here,  and it's I think it's paying dividends for us. Uh,   just two quick questions. One, and it's indicated  here that you do have a yearly audit done of your   organization. Could you just touch base on that  real quick? Yes, we do. Um, our yearly audit is   done every year by Forvis and it is uh submitted  to the city the city office the city manager's   office usually about this time. So we anticipate  our last year's audit will be submitted in the   next few weeks. It has been completed. Okay. I  appreciate that. Uh the second one, could you talk   a little bit about some money that you do hold  in reserve? Yes. Um when you look at the budget,   you'll notice that we have the strategic event  the strategic event fund. Um, and on the back   you'll see on the the footnote, and I'll pull it  up here. It'll tell you exactly how much is being   held. I think right now we have about 900,000 in  that fund. That fund we put in every year because   what that allows us to do when we're making  commitments for 2029, we have the dollars to   be able to produce that event when it comes. So,  of that money, 80% is already committed, 100% on   events that are coming. The other 20% currently  is out on bids that we've already submitted and   we're waiting to hear. So that's why when you  look at the budget, you'll see another 250,000   of this year is earmarked because we have to  keep putting dollars in for these future events.   Okay. And then you do hold some to the side for um  contingency I guess. Um yeah, that is a strategic   event fund. Another fund you may be referring  to or are separate is we do have an invest an a   um an operating reserve that is there's a policy  that requires we have three to six months in   operating reserve to be good uh stewards of the  dollars and that's best practices. Yes, it is.   Okay. Thank you. Thank you so much, Council Member  Shepard. Thank you, Mayor and Susie. I echoed the   sentiments. I'm curious, how do you continue to  expand some of the community and other partners?   Um, I know that many times we're looking at  bringing in people to Witchah, but I think we have   some great things already happening in Witchah.  I'm wondering how Visit Witchah works with some   of these community organizations to elevate the  great work that they're doing as well as a way   to market Witchah. Yeah. Well, you know, when you  think about why a visitor chooses us, they choose   us because of the incredible things that we have  going on here. So, what's happening in Witchah is   vital. So when we open a new playscape, when we  have four baby elephants at the zoo, when we have   the ICT open streets, these are all reasons  for visitors to get in the car, drive here,   come spend their weekend, and spend their dollars.  So that's really at the cornerstone. We have got   to share what we're doing. So in our advertising,  whether it's in our digital and our video first,   all of our advertising, we talk about what  is happening here. Um, and so we are always   looking for, you know, the great things  that are happening to be able to share that   followup to that. So, I see like Mosley uh Street  Mellow Drama is is a partner and you've done some   work there. What should a grassroots organization  or a nonprofit organization, it's like,   we're working on this major event. How should they  get in contact with you all to see if there's an   opportunity for a partnership? You know, I I love  just either call me, come into our visitor center   and ask us to chat with us because we'd love  to chat with you. And most importantly, too,   if there's an event, we want it on our calendar.  If there's an event that will drive visitors in,   we want to hear about it. But it's a great  opportunity because we want to hear and be able to   support and we support obviously a lot of events  around the city, but we want to encourage those   to keep creating reasons for visitors to want to  be here. Thank you, Vice Mayor Glass. Thank you,   Susie. I know we talked about this yesterday and  you may not have the um data or the information,   but could you just talk about the state and local  taxes generated as a result of the investment   uh to bring visitors to our community and why  it's important to bring visitors? Yeah, when you   think about it, when visitors come, I mean, to me,  they're the purest form of economic development.   They come, they spend their dollars, and they  leave, and they return back to the community,   and they leave those dollars. So, a couple things  and why it's so important, right? They support all   of our local um attractions, hotels, businesses,  restaurants, and without them, if you think about   it, if without those visitors coming in, would  we have those incredible restaurants that we   have? We need those visitors and their dollars.  But secondly, they pay taxes. And so I shared   with you yesterday, when we look at the entire  tourism, every year we get the most up-to-date   information from tourism economics. And when we  look overall, visitors spend about 210 billion   in state and local taxes. And I know you've asked  me some specifics. I don't have those today, but   I we'll get those for you. So, it's incredible.  We need them to pay in and all those taxes go   to help all the services that state and local um  that governments provide. And so, that's really,   you know, our whole mission. More visitors here,  more of those dollars to support the attractions,   the restaurants, all that. That makes great  quality life for us to live here and help pay   the services. Awesome. Thanks, Sus. Thank you,  Council Member Shepard. Thanks, Mayor. You vice   mayor asking that question. I had the opportunity  to attend a governing uh conference in Salana,   Kansas at the recommendation of the mayor and had  the opportunity to meet some folks from uh rural   Kansas. And when I told them that I was uh from  Witchah, they were so gracious and they were so   excited about the sports facilities complex that  we have here and how important it is for us to   make that investment here because it helps them um  when they're in Ashlin, Kansas. And it's a 2-hour   drive or an hour and a half drive depending on  where they are, but they can come here, their   kids have a world-class facility, but then they  also can eat and play and do really cool things.   And so I just wanted to share with you that  testimony that your work is making a difference   as well as the continued investment from all  of our partners across the city of Witchah, not   just for Witchens, but for folks that uh surround  our city as well. Thank you so much for sharing. I have just one final one. Uh you mentioned that  on May 8th, maybe we could go back to that slide.   Um for May 8th, the campaign will launch. Um, one  of the things that I have seen from your staff and   your entire team is you are team Witchah. You  promote our city with so much uh, pride that is   infectious and this is really to attract others  outside of Witchah to drive to Witchah. However,   this is really great material and it makes you  really proud to be from Witchah. My question   to you is what are ways where we can utilize maybe  some of this material uh already created marketing   material the videos the collateral that you're  giving to outsiders to provide to insiders meaning   our witchans uh so that we can increase our civic  pride and really show off our community because   everyone in our community can be ambassadors  for the city of Witchah inviting people into our   community. So, what are some ways that you believe  we could utilize and maximize this material? Well,   I'm so excited that you're as excited about it  as we are. Um, when I look at it just, you know,   gets me gets me jazzed and and you hit it right  on the head and I'm going to talk kind of two   real quickly. First of all, widgets are our most  important ambassadors, you know, and to have pride   and we've seen it through the flag and we've seen  it over the last decade, I think, really continue   to rise is that we have got to be the ambassadors.  Invite your friends and family to come here. You   know, you have the opportunity to drive somewhere  and go visit your sister. Bring her here. Be the   ambassador. And when they come, show them the  incredible city. You know, I always like talk   to my neighbors and our friends and visit Witchah  like you're get out and explore Witchah like a   visitor because sometimes as we live here, we get  so set and we go to our own places and there's so   many things happening. So, first, you know,  just be that ambassador. Second, I like what   you're thinking and we've been having internal  conversations around how do we get this out in the   public for a pride and place. So, I think what I'm  probably going to do is um turn this over to Jamie   and our team, the incredible marketer, and have  some more conversations with you and say, "How   do we best use it and get the material out? We are  all about partnering, leveraging, sharing the good   news, and at the end of the day, increasing  those ambassadors, and we all play such an   important role in that." So, thank you for that,  and can't wait to share more. Thank you, Susie.   I see no further questions for Susie or Lindsay.  With that, we will open it up for public comment. Good morning, city council. This is uh Andrew  Crane, guiding pause ICT. I just had a couple   couple questions um on the visit witchah.  Um and uh one of the things it's excellent   that we're seeing uh lots of stuff coming to to  Witchah. Um but uh also you got to think about the   uh disability community and and the blind  community um and transportation too. Um and   the visit witchah needs to be working with  transportation and uh the bus the bus system   here and and also uh a lot of other disability uh  community um and engaging too. Um, and my other   uh thing was the a couple years ago they uh  the blind uh uh baseball team was was here   in in Witchah. Um and Visit Witchah actually put  put that on um for uh lots of people to see. So,   um, and we want to definitely invite, uh, lots of  blind and low vision folks to Witchah. Thank you. Morning, Mayor and City Council. Adam Smith,  uh, president, CEO at Exploration Place. Um,   I didn't know that Susie was going to show that  lovely cover, um, of the the new tourism brochure.   Thank you, Susie. Um, but I I actually did want  to come along this morning and just give you   some of my thoughts about how Visit Witchita  helped me and my organization um, and what   we're trying to do. I think sometimes when I  see our public dialogue about visit witchar,   I feel a little bit frustrated because the  organization is incredibly helpful to me and   to what I'm trying to do for the community and  we've had a big success with the opening of the   playscape. Our attendance has basically doubled.  Possibly more importantly for this conversation,   the the sphere of influence of exploration place  has massively expanded. I'm so happy to learn that   Susie planning to put that brochure down in Dallas  and and other drive markets because we've already   felt it since we opened that um we've started to  see a entirely new kind of visitation and in the   journey to build the playscape um takes a lot  of a lot of work at a very detailed level and   I've had to raise $25 million to build that and  I want you to know that visit witchar has been my   partner on that journey. journey. I can think  like every grant application that we make to   different funding organizations, usually there's  a letter of support there from Visit Witchah,   but in some cases, like one of the grants that  I'm talking about was a $3 million contribution   to that fundraising campaign. And I'll tell you  now, I could I would not have got that grant   without the detailed support of visit witchar in  assembling the data that I needed in order to get   that grant on my own. I could not possibly have  accessed and gathered that data. So having that   kind of resource um it's not just the direct work  that visit witchar does um in marketing our city   and bringing the conventions in. It's helping  organizations like my own. Another thing I'll   give a lot of credit to um Susie and her team.  In my six and a half years here in Witchita,   we've gone from I I would actually say an  unhealthy atmosphere amongst our our community   and our attractions. And I'm speaking to some  degree to your question, Council Member Shepherd.   Um Susie and the team have created the Witchita  Attractions Council. So it's brought all of the   leading attractions together into a collaboration.  The whole tone of that communication has gone from   where we're almost fighting with one another to  a genuine team of aligned organizations working   together and all of that has been done under the  umbrella and the opice of visit witchar. So there   are things like that that I think have like  deep um lasting value for our for our city and   um but I I should I should have said at the  beginning of my remarks I I have a conflict   of interest here because I do serve on the board  of visit witchar but I think that that g has given   me a privileged view of how the organization  operates. I've actually done this in two other   places. is I've been on the board of uh Visit San  Diego and the Edinburgh and Lotheian Tourist Board   in Scotland and I've been very impressed how  Susie runs her organization. Compared to those   other two boards that I served on, we don't have  the greatest hand here in Witchah. We don't have   beaches and castles and some of those those kind  of things. But what I've seen Susie and the team   do consistently is play our hand to the absolute  optimum that it's possible to do. So we've got,   you know, we we are competitive on sports and  youth sports. So we're able to play that hand   and we were recently briefed as a board about a  convention that the team won and it was uh it was   a church convention. Pretty sizable, probably  an economic impact of a few million dollars on   our city, but not really the kind of thing that  catches anyone's attention. it will he'll catch   the attention of the hotels and the bars and the  restaurants and and the economic value. Um, but I   do I want you to know I I've spent my pretty much  my whole working in life in tourism and museums   and as they briefed the board on how they had  won that business, my true feelings were we had   no right to win that business and it's our team  and the skill that they brought and particularly   the relationship skill and that's bringing a  lot of value. We don't have, as we all know,   we don't have the convention center that we need.  We'll keep working on that, but we we've at least   got a great organization that's doing great work  for our community. Thank you. Thank you, Adam. I   have one question for you, Adam. Um, thank you for  opening up Exploration Place, Playscape EP2. Um,   one of the questions I keep getting asked, and I  know that you do this because I'm on the board,   but can you share um, it's really accessible  for all, meaning that if the barrier is,   um, paying the entry fee that there are, um,  opportunities. Can you talk about how many folks   have come through the door that have needed  assistance and you are able to provide that   assistance? Sure. Um, actually, as you've given  me the opportunity to come back, I I just on the   points that Andrew was making about accessibility  for all, we hired a disability consultant to help   us with every single step of the design process  for the playscape. And that's not just to comply   with our ADA responsibilities under law, but  we wanted it to be the most accessible place   that it could possibly be. Not just for people  in wheelchairs, but for people. We have a whole   sensory garden to explore the different aspects  of the senses. Just thinking about disability   and access from lots of different dimensions  and that includes economic um you for some   people they don't have the financial resources to  come to exploration plays and we work very hard   um to to make sure that's not a barrier to access.  Thank you to Wittoar Public Libraries for example.   Every single library in this community has  got free passes for exploration plays and I   know that they've just asked us for a lot more  because that's very popular. But the big one is   a program called Museums for All. If a family is  um receiving SNAP EBT benefits or is on the in   the WIC program, we give them free admission.  And I think Lily has set me up here because   she knows from my board report that it's been  very interesting since we opened the playscape.   Historically that program has represented about  4% of exploration places attendance. So it gets   used and that's actually that's about 20,000  people a year that's historically used it. But   since we opened the playscape the number went up  to 17%. So that accessibility program has become   a lot more popular. something's happened out  there that um people people on low incomes or no   incomes are a are able to get in and um we're very  committed to that as an organization. Thank you,   Adam. Appreciate uh the side question,  but it does talk about community pride   and selling our community knowing that people  are coming into Witchah because of attractions   like Exploration Place. people are driving  outside of Witchah to come into Witchah,   spend dollars in Witchah is through efforts  not just by your team at Exploration Place, but   also the team at Visit Witchah. And so I'm very  grateful for the collaboration, especially the   attractions council. Um, and I'm glad that that  has shifted over the last six years. Thank you. We can continue with public comment. And I see no   one else from the public who would like to  speak. We'll bring it back to the bench. With that, I will go ahead and move this  item. I move that the council approve the   tourism business improvement district T-BID  2027 scope of services and budget. Second.   Motion second. Discussion. See none.  Madame clerk, please open the role. Motion passes. 70. Madame clerk, please  call the next item. Agreement with Kansas   Department of Transportation and funding for  21st Street North Intelligent Transportation   System from 119th Street West to downtown.  Morning again, mayor, city council members,   Paul Gman, public works and utilities. for  the record. Um, item before you is funding   for 21st Street its from 119th Street West  to downtown, including an agreement with KO. On August 18th, 2024, the Witchaw Area  Metropolitan Planning Organization   Transportation Policy Body adopted the 2027  through 2030 transportation improvement program.   The TIP is an ongoing program that identifies  specific projects that will be implemented in   the transportation system in the Wampo region  over a 4-year period. The its West 21st Street   North project was submitted by the city  of Witchaw for for consideration and was   selected as one of the projects to receive  federal funding through the TIP. the map,   excuse me, the slide before you shows the uh  project location and within your packet and   agreement has been prepared by Kansas Department  of Transportation that formerly esta formally   establishes the project and allows staff to  begin the next steps in project development.   The project will design and install fiber  optic communication cable and make upgrades   to the existing signals along the corridor  to allow to allow them to be synchronized   to improve traffic flow as well. And they  will also be included within the advanced   traffic management system so that staff  can monitor the traffic signals remotely. Financial considerations. As mentioned before,  the project was selected for TIP funding of   just under 1.2 or just a little over $ 1.9  million in fiscal year 2027 and just under   $900,000 in fiscal year 2020 2028  for a for a total of 2,832,000 of federal funding. 2026 through 2035  adopt capital improvement program also   includes just over a million dollars in  2027 which is funded by local sales tax.   Staff recommends initiating the full project  budget of 3,890,000 for design, construction,   rightway acquisition and project management. It is  recommended that city council approve the budget,   the Kout agreement, adopt the resolution,  and authorize the necessary signatures. And   I will stand for questions. Thank  you, Paul. Questions for staff? I see none. We will open it up for  public comment. I see none. I'll bring   it back to the bench. This resides in both  council member JV and Maggie's districts. I will enthusiastically and gladly do the  recommended action of approve the budget   KOT agreement, adopt the resolutions and  authorize the necessary signatures. Second motion and a second discussion. I see  none. Madame clerk, please open the role. Motion. Who am I? Motion passes 70. Madame clerk,   please call the next item. Funding for no  more international play stage and public art. Mayor, city council, Tim Kellum. for the record  uh within the uh engineering division of public   works and utilities here to talk to you about  funding for NOAR. Um this is actually timed really   well especially with visit witchaw and everything  happening. So this is this ties in really well. So   um so noar as many of you know uh is at 21st  and Broadway and it was constructed um in 2010.   There are a lot of different improvements in  that district that happened around that time.   One of the great things about it is that  they did a uh branding study and and design   standards that are part of that. So that that  is helpful for us as we start to develop the   uh the district even more. You can see here um  some of the beautiful artwork and signage that we   have already. So there's really great that we have  an identity that's already been established for   the area and for the plaza specifically. Um, you  can see here on an aerial over on the left side of   your screen. We do have a a structure there that  does have restrooms in it. Uh, those aren't really   open until we have uh different events and things  like that, but there are there is a large open   space there which is great and has been utilized  um a lot as we'll show here in a little bit. Uh,   but there's a lot of potential for this site  and especially um and mayor appreciate you   for mentioning Open Street Noar here coming  up. I believe that's on Sunday, May 3rd. Um,   so one Nomar uh the international plaza does it  plays a huge role in that as as one of the hubs   for open streets ICT Nomar. You can see here from  photos o over the years just different events and   different gatherings um throughout uh the district  and the plaza. Um city staff has determined or   estimated that we have about in terms of just  the plaza itself, not including the district,   just the plaza, a little over 57,000 visitors a  year uh that come just to the the plaza itself.   Um knowing that it is pretty much an open  area that does have some shade structures,   uh there's a lot of opportunity here to capture  that and really add uh to the possibility for uh   for the plaza. As we kind of mentioned, uh there  are a lot of different things that can happen at   Nomar as it is now given that it is pretty open.  One of the main things that that does happen there   are stage performances. Um in the past the  city has used portable stages and they have   brought them in as you can see here partly on the  screen um in the left image and the right image   in the background. Those portable stages um they  are helpful but they do limit uh a lot of what   uh users can do different performances things  like that. It also takes an immense amount of   staff time, an immense amount of coordination uh  just to bring those in, set it up, tear down for   individual events. Um it does uh weigh on the city  staff their resources for having those. And again,   they also aren't um again, they're portable.  They're not really set up for really large   events or different things uh to use for uh the  potential opportunities we have here at the plaza.   So for the analysis as I kind of mentioned uh  the portal stages are limited the usability of   the site again they they do weigh on staff  resources uh for those different events.   Another thing too is that there with staff time  competing for different setups things like that.   that's a lot easier if we have a permanent stage  there and allows for different opportunities for   renting the fac the facility and the plaza um and  does provide a little bit more um possibility for   different communities to see it and then try to  utilize that space. We've seen success over at   um Nazcar Park with the stage that we have  there routinely having different events and   things like that. I believe this would be similar  to something along those lines. obviously a little   bit different than at NAVSAR but does provide the  ability for the community to utilize those stages   for different types of events. Um this project  will uh be to design and construct a permanent   stage at the east end of the plaza. Uh we believe  that um doing this through a design bid build   approach would be the most uh the most successful  for the project. So we'll start off with uh doing   an RFP to get someone on board and then proceed  through bidding and then construction. as part   of the project. Part of the some of the features  that we are looking at are fixed lighting, sight   specific audio equipment that would be used again  with those portable stages. They are just really   what the sound system you have is kind of what  you get here. We can utilize and have different   audio engineers be able to specifically design  the audio to have a more uh a better experience   for all those involved. Same with the lighting.  It creates a higher quality event for users.   And again, this will be a dedicated space for  cultural events in the north end community. So,   for financial considerations, the 2026 2035 CIP  contains uh $650,000 in 26, $300,000 in 2027 uh   for the improvements, and we do have $150,000 for  public art um as part of the project. Right now,   we are asking to have $200,000 initiated for the  improvement and five or $50,000 for public art.   Again, that will get us through design and then  we'll bring back the concept and different artwork   uh at a later date. So, we're just asking  for kind of the money to get it initiated   and started and then we'll bring it back for  further initiation for additional funding and   then approval of concept. Palmer has reviewed and  approved the bonding resolution as to form and has   recommend that city council approve the initiation  of the project, adopt the bonding resolutions and   authorize necessary signatures and happy to stand  for any questions. Thank you, Tim. Questions for   staff? Um, I only have one. Uh, when it comes to  public art, I want to see if that you can make   that functional art. In other words, uh one of the  things that I've heard from individuals who attend   um and visit this plaza is sun uh shading  structures. Um shade would be very beneficial as   uh people gather in that hot concrete. It would  be really nice if we could have more shaded   uh structures and you could use that as part  of public art. Um so my suggestion would be   can you see if there are opportunities to make  it um utilizable for uh shade as well? Yes. Yes,   we can definitely look into that. We can uh again  we'll go through design council and everything and   and work to get a an RFP out and we'll look at  at all the different possibilities and I think   shade is a great option or something to look at.  My other question also comes from community. Uh   this one is about collaboration and partnerships.  Uh just yesterday uh the city of Witchah's police   department received a donation from Quicktrip to  uh put a FL uh the drones uh in downtown Witchah.   So there are opportunities for collaboration with  that department. Are there any collaborations or   opportunities for individuals to help out with  this um um construction project in terms of can   they donate uh can there be naming rights? Can you  talk about that? Um I don't think we've explored   naming rights or anything like that just yet.  Um we're definitely I think open to to those   conversations. Uh but this uh at least today I  think we're was getting it started to at least   get the funding initiated but we have not issued  an RFP or anything but I think we're always having   those conversations. We are also welcome to take  donations. I think one of the best ways to donate   is through the Witchard Parks Foundation. Uh they  serve as a as a great entity for us uh for people   that do want to donate to to specific projects. Uh  makes a little bit easier to donate to them than   to donate just directly to the city of Witchaw.  Thank you, Tim. And the expected time frame of   this project, I think uh we'll we'll plan to draft  the RFP and have it out here soon. I imagine by   towards the end of the summer, early fall, we'll  have a designer on board. Uh next, we'll want to   do uh community engagement. So going to likely  hope hopefully having a pop-up event or open house   and definitely going to the district advisory  board for uh engagement. Um, I think beyond that,   I think construction kind of depends on exactly  what we settle on and exactly the the artwork that   ends up happening. I imagine we' see construction  happening um probably about this time next year. And last but not least, sorry I have a lot of  questions, but um they're relevant to this. Nomar   opened in 2010 um and I know it had a big vision  uh to really be a community gathering space. Um,   was a stage ever considered back before 2010? And  is this something that we're basically fulfilling   as a promise? Um, I don't think I had seen those  uh exact information. It was a little hard to try   to gather everything together um from back then,  but I think that was kind of the vision was trying   to have an open plaza to have different cultural  events. I think a stage makes complete sense.   if it wasn't in already envisioned long ago, I  think it was at least something that was in their   mind about wanting to engage and have this space  be utilized um for these types of events. Thank   you, Tim. I see no further questions from this  council. We'll now open it up for public comment. Good morning, mayor and city council. I just  want to say thank you today for considering   this opportunity. We are excited to see  progress in Nomar. Back in fall of 2023,   we hosted Vamos Nomar which really we brought a  lot of people to the north end from outside of   the neighborhood but also in the neighborhood to  these sites. And I can tell you um the Nomar Plaza   we had a lot of feedback about how do we make this  a site that is usable a lot more around the year   and one thing that you mentioned that is shade is  something that is a big concern for that as well   as seating and so we can say that our neighborhood  is excited for these opportunities. There's been a   lot of history that got us here today with Nomar  Plaza but I think this investment is showing our   community we're in the right direction. um it once  was supposed to be a covered marketplace back in   2009 2010 and then there was some mistrust in  the community, some misinformation and so I think   this is showing that we are making an investment  that can lead to continued progress. As you know   at Empower we are um opened our commercial  kitchen facility in 2025 and we are getting   ready to break ground later this year on our  phase two which includes the Nomar Theater. So,   I see so much opportunity and momentum for 2027.  It gives me the chills to think about how we can   be investing in two more facilities right across  the street right alongside Nomar Plaza and these   type of community events that can happen. Um,  there are some great things that are already   happening at the plaza and we are looking  forward to expanding on those and so I think   for organizations like Empower to Latinfest or  whoever else in Witchaw there's more opportunity.   So, we are later this year planning and we just  announced yesterday a FIFA World Cup watch party   and we are not doing it at Nomar Plaza because  right now some of the things that we need to be   able to easily run an event of that size and  caliber, we're going to be doing it at Navcar   Park this year, but I think in future years with  our assets as well as these types of investments   that are happening in Nomar that we'll be able  to go back to Nomar and do more of these events   with the the existing infrastructure there. So, I  thank you for doing this. I know our community is   going to be super excited to continue having  these investments and I think we have a lot   more story and celebration to continue having.  So I continue looking forward and our team and   our community will be happy to be involved in  any way possible. So thank you all. Thank you. I see no one else from the community who'd like  to speak about this topic. We will now bring it   back to the bench. This is in council  member Ballard's district. Thank you,   mayor. I feel like Ariel stole all of my  comments. Uh I think everybody is very excited to   um see some more um I would say promises come  to fruition in the north end. There's been   a lot of investment, but there's a lot more  uh to come. So, I'm super excited about it,   and I know that um the district is as well.  So, um nobody else has any comments. Um,   I would like to take the recommended action to  approve the init the initiation of the projects,   adopt the bonding resolution, and authorize  necessary signatures. Second motion,   second discussion. Uh, just one final thing,  just saying thank you to the leadership of   council member Ballard in district 6 and empower  uh for continuing to have this conversation about   uh promises from the past getting fulfilled in  2026. Um, this is a great space. Uh many of us   on the council have attended multiple events  from open streets to many others and this type   of investment is necessary to not only keep the  residents we have in Witchah but attract visitors   to come to our community. Um so I see this as  an investment and intentional investment into   the cultural assets that we have uh and cultural  spaces that will be um created at Nomar Plaza.   So I am happy to provide my yes vote to this.  With that uh we will open it up for the vote. Motion passes 70. Madame clerk please call  the next item. Professional services contract   for excavation of soils at Apex site 1234 North  Wellington North Industrial Corridor site. Good   morning, Mayor, Witchaw City Council members. For  the record, Don Henry, public works and utilities.   The item before you at the moment includes um  two contracts for um environmental remediation   services on the Apex site within the North  Industrial Corridor. The North Industrial Corridor   is an area of roughly 4,000 acres in the northern  part of the city, roughly from 45th Street North   to Second Street and from Waco to the Canal route.  includes um a number of of uh original sources and   co-mingled plumes that include volatile organic  compounds uh that got into the groundwater and it   was a result of historic industrial activities in  in the area. Um the apex site itself is located at   1234 North Wellington. Um the city manages the  remediation and cleanup um under a settlement   agreement with the Kansas Department of Health  and Environment. And for this particular site,   there is still contaminated soils on Apex  uh that is contributing to the downgradient   contamination and remediation of these soils will  save both time and cost for the project overall.   In addition to cleanup of the groundwater and  the environmental contamination within this the   uh settlement agreement with KDH, the  city's also responsible for administering   institutional controls within the area  to make sure that people are protected   um from the contamination within the  groundwater as long as it exists. Um   within the agreement, this is achieved through  administration enforcement of chapter 7.30   of the city code of witchah for privately owned  domestic wells. Um, in general, the ordinance   requires permits for newly constructed wells,  inspections of those new wells, inspections of   existing wells prior to the transfer of ownership.  And it also establishes the construction standards   in alignment with what the state requires,  and inspections um ensure that those wells   are maintained appropriately. Um and probably  most importantly, the ordinance um prohibits uh   locating um private wells for drinking purposes  within areas of groundwater contamination. Active   groundwater cleanup efforts uh began in the 1990s,  including source control on a number of sites.   Um studies to delineate plumes, identify um the  movement of the contamination, and then in 2021,   four new extraction wells were brought online for  air stripping of the contaminated groundwater.   With this work um on the apex side, active  remediation efforts are projected to be   completed by 2036 and then monitoring of the  cleaned up groundwater completed by 2048. The first contract for um soil excavation services  includes a schedule of work to be completed within   two months of the contract execution. It includes  excavation and removal of 200 tons of concrete and   disposal of the rubble at CND landfill. It also  includes excavation and transport of 2,100 tons   of contaminated soils which will be transported  to the plum thicket landfill in Harper,   Kansas for disposal. And then it includes also  include backfilling the area with clean soils   brought in from offsite as well as installing a  6-in thick asphalt cap on top of the excavation. Procurement included um a process in  alignment with the city's requirements   for standard procurement. Uh  nine proposals were received,   four companies were interviewed and B&H  Landworks LLC was selected based upon the   um selection criteria. The contract uh price for  excavation, back filling, installation of the   asphalt cap and transport of the uh waste, soils  uh includes a not to exceed price of $138,482 for which the funding is included in the approved  North Industrial Corridor operating budget. The   second contract will be for disposal of the  contaminated soils. Uh, state regulations   classify soils such as these as special waste  and therefore disposal requires authorization   by KDHE at specific approved landfills. The  Plum Thicket landfill is the nearest one   um located to the city and for this project and  KDHE approval for um the special waste disposal   at Plum Thicket was issued in December of  2025. The proposed contract is with Waste   Connections subsidiary. They are the owner and  operator of Plun Thicket Landfill in Harper,   um, Kansas, and includes a tipping fee price  of $59 per ton for up to 2,200 tons of the   contaminated soil. The total cost of the  uh contract uh will be $129,800 for up to   the 2200 tons and funding for this contract  uh is also included in the North Industrial   Corridor operating budget. Briefly, the roll  up um of the two contracts totals uh $268,282. The good news is this came well under the  engineer's original estimate of $468,120. Therefore, staff recommends that the Witchaw  City Council approve the contract with B&H   Landworks LLC for excavation and transport  services. approved the contract with Waste   Connections subsidiary for disposal of waste  uh special waste at Plum Thicket Landfill and   authorize the necessary signatures. Thank you.  And I'll stand for any questions that you have   at this time. Thank you, Don. Questions for staff  beginning with Council Member Hoheisel. Thank you,   Mayor, and thank you, Don. A couple of questions  here. Is there any way to expedite the process?   We're talking about two decades out before the  the remediation is complete, right? Um yeah,   one of one of the ways is to take the steps  that were taken on the apex site. Um the uh this   approach rather than leaving the contaminated  soils in place, which typically the the city   wouldn't be responsible for such orphan sites. Um  but it makes a lot of sense to go ahead and and   clean this one up because over the um life of the  project, it will save 10 years time and um also   between 750,000 and a million dollars in savings.  So, while these projects do take time and they're   lengthy, um there's a lot of steps on the front  end as far as the investigation and the studies   and delineating the the plumes and getting the  approvals and all that. Um just pumping and moving   that much groundwater and air stripping takes  takes a good bit of time. So, I think this project   makes a lot of sense to buy some of that time  back. Okay. Talking about the studies, um, are   there any, this is more, I guess, KDH's territory  than yours, but are there any negative health   effects that come in with the contamination? And  are people in the area aware of any of that? Yeah.   And so that that's something that um there's been  a lot of work done to delineate the plumes and   understand just where the contamination is, right?  And one of the things that uh slowed the process   up, but for good reason, was a vapor intrusion  study that was required back in the early 2000s.   The good news is um the the study that the the  city carried out under direction by KDH showed   that vapor intrusion is is not a health risk and  within the north industrial corridor. Um, another   thing that we do when we issue, um, you know, as  far as in general your your question about a risk   as far as the contamination, um, exposure and  drinking the groundwater, um, ingestion of the   groundwater, inhalation of the groundwater that  includes the volatile organics, that that that   would be the risk and and the route of exposure.  And so, one of the things that we do through our   water well program is is we provide materials and  education. um we reach out to realtors within the   area. We do presentations on the well program and  then when we issue um uh permits or reports on   inspections. We also enclose information about  BOTC contamination so the well owners will be   aware of that. Okay. So we reached out to all the  known well operators or owners in the in the area.   I well pro probably not all of them because we may  not even know where all of them are. Well, right.   the ones that we are aware of. Yeah. But every  time we drill a new well or we do an inspection   on the well. Yes, sir. Okay. Um were there any  penalties that you know of for the businesses   that were doing these uh chemical dumpings? As as  far as penalties, no. But but um there there was a   process by which uh responsible parties were held  accountable to pay a portion of the cost for the   cleanup. And so that that that um that process ran  its course and was completed within the last 10   years. So that's 2019 revenue for cleanup for  the program. Okay. And that KDHE was the main   driver of that one. Actually it it was the city  that pursued cost recovery under the settlement   agreement which provided the city the authority  to do that. Okay. I appreciate the background. I see no further questions. Thank you, Don.  We'll now open it up for public comment. I   see none. I'll bring it back to the bench.  This is in Council Member Ballard's district. Thank you, Mayor Don. Thank you for  all of that extensive, very complicated   um issue that we're dealing with, but I  appreciate all of your work on it. With that,   I'd like to take the recommended action. Approve  the contracts and authorize necessary signatures.   Second. Motion. Second. Discussion. See  none. Madame clerk, please open the role.   Motion passes. 70. Madame clerk, please call  the next item. Transit network redesign plan. Good morning, Mayor Council. Penny Fishaw  Transit. I'm here to discuss with you the   transit network redesign plan. First, I'd like to  take a few slides just to provide an overview of   Witchah's transit, talk about our resources a  little bit. Um, we have 50 fixed route buses,   38 vans, and 141 full-time staff. Our  key facilities include our offices, um,   our transit center, which is currently currently  located 215 South Pika, and then the hub,   which will be opening soon at 207 South Sycamore.  Uh last year we provided more than 1 million   bus rides, 75,000 paratransit rides and 120,000  microobility trips um either on scooter or bike. Uh this uh chart here shows you our local revenue  breakdown. Um which transit relies heavily on   federal formula funding which you won't see in  this chart or the next pie chart that I show you.   But we do receive an annual general fund  contribution of about three and a half million   which is 62% of our local revenue. Bus fair  accounts for a million dollars of that revenue   at 18% and then our partnership revenue totals  about 850,000 um in 2025. To dive a little bit   deeper into the partnership revenue, these are the  agencies um that we partnered with last year. Um   some of these have formal agreements, some of them  don't. Some of them um pay for all of their users   to ride for free. Some of them buy bus passes.  So the the there is some variety in the way these   contracts or agreements are really just um annual  discussions are held. But Witchaw State University   currently has a contract with us through 2028.  And last year the revenue from that agreement was   $525,000. Witchaw Public Schools um they buy  passes from us as needed. So they reach out   to us at the beginning of every school year and  they let us know how many students they would   like to use which transit instead of a yellow  bus. Um for the 2025 2026 school year that was   800 students and then throughout the school year  they might reach out to us again and say hey we   have other students who we'd like to put on the  bus as well. SMG we worked with last year um for   the NCAA tournament to increase the frequency on  the Q-ine. We discussed United Way and Veterans   Affair agreements so that veterans can ride free  and then also child start will buy um bulk passes   from us to make sure that their families can  access their services. So again, writership   can be kind of tricky to break down this way just  based on the fact that there are different types   of agreements, but in total 3 36% of all light  of all rides last year were from a partnership. local expenditures. Um, most of our local  expenditure is meant to satisfy the grant   requirements for the federal the  federal grants that we receive,   which can range from 20 to 50%. And um, our  goal is to maximize the use of our federal   dollars. Our local expenditures exceed our  local revenues by a million dollars in 2025,   which requires us um to use a transit fund  for support. Fairbox recovery. So how much   of our operating costs are covered by our bus and  vanfares is about 9%. And nationally that number   is 13%. I don't I think that the story there  is not necessarily the difference between the   nine and the 13 but more that fairbox revenue  is not a major contributor to local revenue. On the left in the blue you'll see um  results from national community survey   um ease of public transportation at 18% buser  transit service and this is oh this is excellent   or good um bus or transit service 24% um how  many residents taking the survey used the bus   or the Q-ine instead of driving was 9%. carpulled  with adults or children was 49% and then walked   or biked instead of driving was 39%. Through  the transit network redesign, we also surveyed   our riders and our highest marks were for safety  of both our drivers and our buses and the lowest   marks were for the service hours and the bus  stops. And then the median there at 71% was   um buses go places I want to go. So now we can  jump jump into the transit network redesign which   primarily focuses on the transition to the hub.  And um while we're looking at that um transfer   of our transit center, we're also updating routes  to align with travel patterns and improve overall   system efficiency and reliability. Although  this is a technical analysis that relies a   lot on traffic pattern information, um we also  incorporated um significant community input   So phase one began in October um 2023 when  the study was approved by city council.   Those results were shared at a public meeting in  January of 2025. Then we moved on to phase two,   which is the implementation in July of 2025. And  here today, we're going to review all of that work   and move forward um with our next steps. The goal  is to transition to the hub on May 23rd, 2026. As mentioned, um, community input was a  significant portion of this study and,   um, through multiple outreach phases, we  collected more than 1500 survey responses   from either inerson or online engagement and this  helps inform um, route changes and priority of   changes. The redesign balances service hours,  consolidates routes, and improves frequency on   high ridership routes with an existing budget.  So the key features include centralized hub   connections so all routes connect through the hub.  We can increase frequency on high ridership routes   which will be routes 21 and 22 and route 16 during  peak hours. Strategic route extensions. Route 28   will serve 29th and rock making um every Walmart  accessible to um our citizens for grocery access.   and then introduces a pilot route to establish  an east west connection in South Witchah. Um some midterm and long range goals that resulted  from the redesign study um include a conversation   about future of downtown transportation  systemwide frequencies and service hours. to talk a little bit more about downtown  transportation. The Q-ine became a topic of much   discussion during both um the redesign and our  transit advisory board meetings. So just a little   bit of history, the Q-ine began in 2006 and at the  time it was a quarter and then eventually in 2009   um it became fair free and was funded by grant  and private contributions. despite the service   enhancements and by that I mean the fact that it's  fair fear free it operates longer than most routes   and it has um better frequencies than most it  rates pretty average among ridership when compared   to the other routes and the service redesign plan  proposes to align the Q-ine hours and frequency   um to the same standard that every other route  complies within the system. This is a chart of   Q-ine writership. So we started in 2015 to show  that there was a systemwide decrease in service   um due to budget constraints in 2016  and then we can see that 2017 onward   um writership has remained pretty flat. This  um represents about 40,000 rides annually. This is a chart of all of the routes  that we ran in 2025. So you can see   which are the higher writership routes  which are going to be that route 21 and   22. And that represents about 120,000  rides each for those routes. And then   you can see the distribution um becomes  a little bit more consistent from there. So when we talk about the Q-ine, there is  no longer any outside funding available to   support this increased service. Um, and it's  recommended that the Q-ine does not continue   to extend into the evening or the Saturday  service or run at higher frequencies. But we   know that downtown is developing quickly and that  there is a need for transportation downtown. Um,   and we want to continue the conversation on how  Wish transit can support the park one solution   for Deleno and downtown Witchah and for the  time being um leave the route fair free but   um perhaps in the future we'll come up with  an alternative solution and this trout will   this route will be treated like other routes as  well. So, the annual service hours increased to   128,000 annual service hours with the redesign  plan, which is slightly more than the 124,000   service hours we completed in 2025. Uh,  weekday routes will operate 12 to 15 hours   a day with mostly 60-minute frequencies except  for routes 2122 which will run 30 minutes and   route 16 which will run 30 minutes during peak.  a weekend service adjustment. Saturday service   um uses consistent 60-minute headways and  some routes do not operate on Saturday. Uh here's a picture of the hub I took on Friday.  We're getting very close to completion. Very   excited. Um it offers 12 bus bays, enhanced  passenger areas, and a mobility zone that will   allow us to integrate micromobility and demand  response into our bus transportation services.   It includes 425 parking spaces and dedicated  micromobility which are the scooters and   the bikes. So from here we'd like to begin  comprehensive writer outreach for the next 30   days including printed materials announcements  and digital media. We'd like to hold trainer   sessions with community partners and operate fair  free for the first two weeks of the transition.   WA Transit will have staff ambassadors available  to assist riders to navigate the new system.   And then our proposed budget for 2026 includes  additional budget for utilities, security, and   fuel. And then I'll be coming to council in a few  weeks to talk more about technology improvements.   In addition, we plan to launch a long-term  comprehensive marketing plan for Wishaw   Transit because when you when you move a transit  center that's been in place for 30 years and you   change the routes, there is an anticipated  writership decline. So, we'd like to launch   that marketing plan to recover from that and  engage new riders. And then finally, um the   existing transit site on Topeka, um was built with  federal dollars, so there is federal interest and   it will have to go through an appraisal process  um to move forward with federal disposition. This is the current route system. Um you can I  would just pay attention to kind of some of the   lines that aren't very contiguous and a lot of the  turns that are um incorporated within the routes.   And then this is our redesign route. So  we're still serving the key destinations.   Um but we might be serving them differently  with new alignments. So for a rider that   means maybe I used to ride route 14 and  now I have to ride route 15. And we're   going to have to get that information in  their hands in advance of that change.   Um, the recommended action is that city council  approve the 2026 transit network redesign. I'm   happy to answer any questions. Thank you, Penny.  Questions for staff, beginning with Vice Mayor   Glascock. Thank you, Penny. I'll start with uh  slide 77. Just a quick clarification this. Yeah.   So, at the bottom it says the VA under in terms  of transit and partnerships. Um, oh, never mind.   I answered my question. I combined United Way and  Veterans Affairs instead of separated them. So,   just based on the agenda item number 16, I had a  question about that. Um, if we go back to the full   uh map, the bus system map as well, I know  we've discussed expansion and this would be more   long-term, but just talking about feasibility and  we talked the last time we had a mass redesign.   It's 30 years ago. I imagine we've changed  some routes since then. regarding expansion to   uh Meridian and MacArthur, the new mental health  hospital that's going to open. We've talked about   locations outside of that to be able to serve uh  populations there. How easy is it to redesign some   of these routes afterward? What's the process that  goes into that? Thank you. Um so the mental health   hospital that's going in in that area was one  of the reasons that we were very excited for the   203 connector. And so, um, what we have talked to  them about, um, and we've been in conversations,   um, recently is that once that facility is open,  it's going to be very, it should be very easy for   us to, um, swing 203 a little bit further south  to where they're located. Um, and then that might   require some shortening on the other end or that  might require some adjustments. Um but what that   is going to be contingent upon is um successful  um success of the pilot route. So that's why   we're putting it there and there's no reason  for us to go there now, right? But when they're   when they're online um that is our intention. So  easy easily adaptable in the future to be able to   expand that. Yes. Okay. I have a maybe two more  sets of questions. Number one, security at the   hub. Can you talk about especially moving the new  transit facility? What will security enforcement   be at the hub, especially in the heart of Deleno?  We currently have an existing uh security contract   at the transit center and we're working with all  of our vendors to move over to the new site and I   am expecting that to expand, right? Whereas now we  just have um the need for a foot patrol on the one   main floor footprint. We will have uh the transit  center on the main floor and then three levels of   parking. And so we'll be asking our security  service um to revise their scope to meet the   needs of not just a transit center but a transit  center plus a parking garage. Um in addition   um the city facility as many city facilities are  is heavily equipped with cameras and so we'll have   not only security on site but our supervisor is  able to monitor um all floors of the building.   Okay. Thank you. That's something I'll be um  very interested in as we uh get that online.   regarding circulator. Those would be my additional  questions. If we could start with page 85 slide 85 um 86, sorry. So, quick question. When  I know that we moved from the trolley system   uh to have the circulator to now just  a typical bus that goes up and down,   there's really no delineation for  people when they see it uh going   down the street. What year did  that occur? I believe that was 20 I have a one pager that I would like to send  you, but I think it was like 2011. Um, but I   can't because we what we ended up doing in 2020  is swapping the trolleys for the electric buses,   but I'm not I can't say for certain. Maybe someone  else knew here um what that exact year was. Okay.   I'd be interested in that follow-up just to see  um any correlation in terms of drop of ridership   because I know historically when I I haven't  rode the Q-ine since it's uh just been a bus   system because I was able to delineate between  it um just for ease of service. you had mentioned   something regarding the paid parking connectivity  in Deleno and so that's something that I'm very   interested in in the future of how can maybe  somebody park in Deleno get on the Q- line   because we have free parking in Deleno and then  be able to go through the entire system and so   how easy is it to look at changes to that in the  future as well. I think that one of the goals of   this entire study is to create a solid foundation  for those types of things that are coming up. And   um so the purpose of keeping the Q-ine free for  now is to get us through to these technology   improvements um that I'll be bringing forward to  council in a couple of weeks, maybe a month or so.   Um regarding a new fairbox system, which will make  it very easy to um first of all integrate with the   schedule. Right now, we have two separate apps  apps for fair payment and bus schedule, but to   potentially integrate with the parking system  somehow, right? So, if you're if you're paying   to park, um yeah, what does that get you a free  ride downtown, a free ride everywhere? I'm really   um welcoming those conversations. I've also asked  my transit advisory board to begin thinking about   that. You know, what should your parking uh fee  at the hub get you as far as transit service?   I'm very interested in that. I think that's super  exciting to be able to look at that in the future.   And then last question, it's more of a maybe  question suggestion. Yesterday when we had our   tri-government meeting, it was brought up from  the school board and also brought up from the   council as well regarding uh students and witchaw  public schools and how to continue to expand   that partnership and how we can make sure to uh  continue to get more students um on our bus system   that then can navigate in the future. So I would  love to continue that conversation about how how   do we have more connectivity and partnership with  the school district when it comes to transit. So,   I think the 800 students is great. I would love  to see that at a higher number as well. Thank you,   Council Member Ballard. Thank you, Mayor. Thank  you, Penny. Um, I would like to echo um Vice Mayor   Glascock about the partnership with 259. I know  yesterday they said they have 45,000 students,   but I would be curious to know how many of the  how many of the 45,000 do ride buses and maybe   how we can expand the services uh with the city  with the buses that we already have. Um also   who is the outside funding from previously for the  Q-ine? Oh, who was the funding? Yeah, so there was   a combination of grant and private contribution.  Um, the private contributor was Downtown Witchaw,   Greater Witchaw Partnership. And why has that  been discontinued? I don't know. I think it was   a it was a onetime funding. It didn't seem to be  an annual funding thing. Um, we did um talk about   that um maybe two years ago and it just wasn't in  the scope at that point. Um, but uh they do have a   member on our transit advisory board and they are  heavily invested in downtown transportation. So,   I mean, maybe we get there someday, but um I  can't say is if we will or what the history of   that necessarily was, but it was one time. Okay.  So, when is the last time are we just paying for   it now? The city is absorbing it, right? So, is  is we're using more of our operating funds for   that one route than we would other routes. And the  I'm sorry, maybe it was on one of the slides. The   writership for the Q-ine is okay. Yeah, it's um  it's about 40,000 uh rides annually. So on this um   this one here Oh, sorry. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, you're  going to see Q- line clipped in um there to the   left. And so, you know, it's pretty much in it's  right kind of in the middle, but um considering   you know, the extra operating expense that we we  have from it um due to the service enhancements,   you know, we're putting more into that one route  and getting about the same wrership. Okay. Um,   I would be interested to kind of follow um where  we end up going with the Q- line. Uh, and then my   last question is um, Vice Mayor Glasscock, you  said parking was free in Deleno and I just want   to make sure people know that it's not going to be  free at the hub. Right. Correct. On the street. On   the street. Sorry. I just wanted and on one of the  parking garage. It's a it's a hot button issue.   I just want to make sure that we're all on the  same page and not freaking people out. Anyways,   thank you so much for all of this. This is super  helpful and I know it was very long and tedious,   but uh definitely worthwhile. We talk about  writership and transportation all of the time. So,   appreciate you taking the lead on this. Council  member Heisel. Thank you, Mayor. Um thank you,   Penny, for you and most of your board's work on  this. There's maybe one member that I whatever.   But um um I I'm super excited to see how the Pony  connector works out. Um and also uh question about   the the school district because I do have concerns  when I talk about it or I I hear concerns from the   public about um the kids riding the buses with  other people which we see that um for the most   part people feel like they're safe. So are since  they're essentially usually the first routes in   the morning and we see right here on the slide  in front of us are those just those count as just   an individual route we take them straight from me  to or from uh plain view to me or are there stops   along the way with um some of these public school  stops? Yeah, thank you for the question. I'm going   to pull up the map just to um briefly describe  the FTA's expectation of us when it comes to   school service. Um, you know, we're required  to keep all of these routes open door. So,   we cannot say only certain people can ride these  routes. Um, and in addition, we can only serve the   schools that are not too far off the beaten path  of existing routes, right? There are some schools   um that we wouldn't be able to serve very well  because our route system just doesn't serve that   area very well. Um, so we're required um to  be open door, but I you're absolutely right.   you know, twice a day. Um, many of these  buses are almost entirely school students. Um,   it doesn't prevent anyone from the public getting  on. Um, but you know, East and South are really   good examples. Um, they fill two and three  buses on the way to and from school. Okay,   that's excit and I echo my colleagues comments  about wanting to make sure we expand that and work   with the school district. Um there's always,  especially with some of the schools closing,   um there's going to be larger pathways and uh  travel op less travel options for a lot of the   kids. Um I guess this might be more a question  for public works and they can sit until later, but   um I I saw the comfortable bus stops essentially  and I'm curious what our plans are to help   address those in the future. more bus stops or um  changes shaded bus stops. I know I see people in   my district and seeing the numbers um especially  with the kind of the hydraulic one there. That's   one of the most popular routes we have. So,  what are plans in the future to address bus   stops in particular? Can I give bus stops public  works? Yes, ma'am. Oh, he said no. So, transit is   responsible for the bus stops. Um we don't have  necessarily a program budget for bus stops. So   the money that we do have comes from competitive  grants. Um we just installed six new bus shelters.   Um and the way that we decided where to put those  was based um on writership of the route that that   bus stop serves and then condition. So um as more  p money becomes available that list is very long.   U we have more than a thousand stops um far  less shelters and amenities than that. And so   in addition to that, we're looking to um as part  of the redesign, we did a bus stop inventory and   we're working on a bus stop optimization. We may  not need a post in the ground every quarter of a   mile. Instead, we may need to consolidate stops  and then focus amenities on that stop. So it's   um it's on our mind. We're planning for it. We're  planning to have some money, but that's dependent   upon um successful grants. I appreciate that. Last  question. Um who is interested in helping us with   circulators downtown? Is a partnership coming  forward, having some conversations with us?   Are there other groups out there that are having  conversations with us if we do put up a circulator   uh just simply in the downtown area? I I think the  downtown partnership is interested. Um I know that   they have a circulator concept. Um we also have a  circulator concept. So we discussed recently how   can we bring these two things together and keep  our um keep our priorities. Just for example,   um our circulator concept connects all of  the parking that already exists downtown   um to serve the downtown businesses and  specifically the biomed um downtown development   circulator. um has a different priority based on  what they find to be maybe the more dense areas.   So not ours parking there's density I believe.  Um so trying to work with them to see if we can   um create a united vision for a circulator. I know  that Witaw State um and all of those involved in   the biom campus are also very interested in how  we serve downtown. Um so and we want to make sure   that not only is that a circulator transportation  service but we're connecting the main shot state   campus the satellite campuses and then biomed.  Yep. Yep. Those are some of the discussions. So   I appreciate that and I fibbed a little bit. I  do appreciate Representative Hohheisel and his   work on this as well. So thank you Penny. Council  member Johnston. Thank you mayor. Thank you Penny   for all your work. Appreciate it. Uh I was I  was going to follow up on the biomed that comes   on the fall of 27 and so I'm glad to have you're  having conversations about that. Any idea of cost   on what that would cost for instance 15minute  routes to biomed and in downtown area we um we   have circulator costs develop and what that those  concepts to rely on is how often you want it to   circulate. Right? So our concepts vary from earn  $50,000 annually to a million dollars annually and   all the difference is how often do you want a bus  to come to the same spot. Um as far as extending   beyond downtown and connecting um the universities  um we just want to do that through the efficiency   of the route network. So we want to make what we  have in place for route 21 for example and route   28 work for that. So um if we find that perhaps  this not running at the right time we can make   that adjustment. Um but if for example they want  it to run more often again there's a cost to that.   Okay. Thank you. I'm very interested in we have  park lot of parking assets that are not getting   used empty parking lots empty parking garages  and there's going to be two more parking garages   come online probably next several years including  the transit centers. So very interested in how do   we utilize the assets we already have. I think  citizens want that. Um se my my second comment   here or question is the work release center  by the arena a lot of those guys use the bus   system. What's the plan for them to continue  to use the bus system to get to their jobs?   Um we are also um talking to them and one so we  have a plan to get them from we're going to leave   our garage pass their location and go to the hub  and we can very easily pick them up on the way and   so that can happen but the concern is is um due to  the majority of our routes being 60 minutes we're   going to have two pulses um so the buses come  into the hub um on the hour and on the half hour.   So there's the potential that they are waiting  for half an hour and they could be late to their   assignment or or whatever they have for that day.  So we're tr and this is conceptual but I would   really like to serve them with demand response  right that is a very specific um group of people   going to a very specific place um and that's not  really well served by a fixed route system. So   um for the time being we're going to keep working  with them on the timing of that. Um, we have a way   to do it, but we're going to see if we can improve  it. Okay. I appreciate that because I do see a lot   of those those guys walking there. We want them to  get be able to get get to work. So, thank you for   the work on that, Council Member Shepard. Thank  you, Mayor. And I really appreciate my colleague,   uh, Council Member Johnston's comments about the  work release center, and it's good to know that   we are constantly thinking about how we improve  access for them. Couple of things. Thank you for   improving access to grocery stores. I know that  that has been a major conversation as you are   continuing to engage community. I was actually  at one of the events about a year ago I believe   uh where you talked about working on that and  so I think it's always important to uh point to   things we hear from the community and how we're  incorporating them in the plan um because I think   that builds trust. We talked about several things  at the tri-governmental meeting and amongst those   things uh we're offering things in different  languages and I see that you have provided   information on that guide in Spanish. So I just  want to acknowledge that and then I know we talked   a lot about the students and having access for  that but I also know that we talked about parent   outcomes and so I was curious if there's a plan  in the future as we look at second and third shift   jobs. I mean, I think this correlates with those  who may be in the work release center as well,   many of them working second and third shift.  Um, what's your vision for transit? I know that   cost is always a barrier, but is there anything  in the future that will help with that? Yeah,   I I do um I'm going to say I'm going to put cost  to the side because you'll find it, right? But um   my vision for a second shift is to serve a robust  second shift for the key employers, right? We   know that we have a lot of business in Witchah,  but we do know that a lot of that business is   concern concentrated to large employers on second  shift. And so I think we need to start there. Um   something that I've talked to um a few of you  about and publicly is our desire to switch to a   more demand response model which I just mentioned  and it's also referred to as microobility. And so   um if we can in if we can find something other  than a big bus solution to serve segment shift   then I think that might be more cost effective  and more achievable. So that's something that's   on our minds um as we're looking to the future.  Did you receive a a grant to pilot something like   that? We received a grant to buy two vans that  we're using for paratransit service and we're   going to evaluate for how well they would serve  microtransit service. Perfect. Uh that was my next   question was about paratransit. So you already  answered that. And then I also wanted to ask uh   finally about um there's an entity that they've  been promoting on social media that they've been   having meetings in regards to transit and it seems  like they're kind of doing their own thing and I   don't know if they're necessarily working in  tandem with transit. It's as if they have this   mindset that they want to create a separate system  without relying on the public transit system. And   so, um, I'm wondering what conversations have  been happening in the community as it relates   to outside entities wanting to fund better transit  services, working in collaboration with what local   government already provides to maximize the reach.  Because as my colleague reminds me, you know,   everybody wants more transit, but they don't  think about the infrastructure cost it takes,   right? A bus is a million dollars, right? That  doesn't even include drivers, right? And so,   um, it's it's great to think about wanting more  transit, but then when you think about the cost,   it's a different story. What conversations are  happening from outside entities that we're we're   not connected with to be able to support the work  that you're doing? any happening? Yeah, I'm I'm   not for sure what entity you're referencing. Um  I think it's Stand Together. Okay. We have worked   with Stand Together just recently and just last  week actually they joined us at our um offices   for a train the trainer session and so we are  trying to get involved. It's it's relatively   new. I think we've met just a couple of times.  But I do know that they're very interested um in   a particular part of town and and I understand the  desire and I understand the mission of maybe one   entity to serve one part of town, but as um a city  department, I'm tasked with providing equitable   access for all. So um we can't necessarily, you  know, put too many resources towards one um entity   or group or even part of town. We want to be  equitable. Um, so we have had some conversations,   but it's more in the spirit of here's what is  already available. And um, I'm not just another   story. I'm not a social media person, but I saw a  next door, which is the most social media that I   do, that um, there was seniors saying, you know  what, I wish there was a service that could get   me to the doctor. And I'm like, well, you know,  seniors ride wish Transit for 85 cents a trip.   And I just don't I think there is a knowledge  gap there. And so a lot of our partnerships are   focused on, hey, this is what exists today and  here's how you can access for it. You can access   it. And by the way, we have um a staff person who  will come out and show you how to write personally   or show your group how to write. So we're just  really trying to connect those services and fill   that gap. I would be very interested in learning  more about that conversation. I think when we talk   about government efficiency, it's not always  about reducing services that we're providing,   but how do we look at maximizing public and  private partnership? And if that entity, which   does great work around the city of Witchah, is  interested in transit, I would be a big proponent   of encouraging them to work with our experts who  um are interested in providing that equitable   access for our entire community. And maybe they  help fill that gap of second and third shift or   um some of the sprinter vans that we need  more of. So, and then finally, you mentioned   the marketing piece, and I saw that there was  no financial considerations, but you mentioned   cutting some of the routes off based on data  informed approach. Uh, are you sure that you're   going to be able to educate through the marketing  without any additional Oh, no. That's going to   cost money. That's a separate. Okay. Right on. We  just received proposals that we're evaluating. So,   once we select a vendor, I'll bring that back  to you. But as far as operating the service um   of the network redesign that doesn't have a  budget impact that's within within existing   um and then we'll bring that marketing piece  back to you separately. Thank you so much Penny.   I appreciate all the work you do. Yes. Penny, can  you go back to slide number 77? These partnerships   um help with the revenue that comes into transit.  Can you one more time share? I think you mentioned   there had there were one million rides last year  and a million dollars in fair revenue that came   in. So it's a oneto one. Um so that means the city  of Witchaw does subsidize a lot of this um by the   tune of 36.5% of the budget um because it's a  $20.9 million budget. So the city does provide   um transit services. Can you talk about because  I often get folks that may not see a lot of   uh people riding our big large buses. Number one,  can you address how many seats are on these large   buses and the costs it takes to just operate it  from a bus driver to the gas to maintenance um and   having these large buses um also wear and tear on  streets. And so the idea that you mentioned about   uh micromobility and micro transit uh would be a  really great way. However, these buses were paid   for by federal dollars. Can you kind of give some  background because I think of a lot of folks may   not know that the city does provide a lot of um  subsidy into that system. Um of course. Yeah. So,   um, to answer the question about how many, just  we'll just take one bus. Um, as council member   Shepard mentioned, roughly a million dollars.  Um, we have 50 of those, right? That's a highly   um, intensive capital project, which is why  it's also highly federally subsidized. Um,   that bus sees probably 40 people. Um, there's the  ability to stand, but we'll just call it 40. And,   um, when you're operating that bus, we use an  operate an hour hourly operating rate of about   $100. when you take into consideration  um the driver's salary, the fuel, the   maintenance on the vehicle, and then just the pure  administration of a program, we arrive at $100   um per hour. Um and then as far as I mean, wear  and tear on the street I think is something very   interesting to me because to related to your f  first point, um 40 seats occupied on the bus um   is 40 less cars on the street. And so I think  that's where the community benefit comes in.   um in the form of reducing traffic congestion  um and just the ability to maybe park where you   want to park because there's not 40 other cars um  looking for the same spot. So um we drove I want   to say 1.8 million miles um last year and so um if  we can you know translate some of those car miles   to bus miles of course that's going to benefit  the condition of the roads. Did there something   else I missed? I'm sorry. It's really um you know  I think a lot of folks may uh see our large city   buses that may not be fully occupied at 40 seats  and don't understand that. Um again ridership was   a million people revenue for fairs was a million  dollar but there are added costs uh beyond just   that fair. What would that f what would that fair  cover? Um, so we know our fairbox recovery was   about 9%. So that's just covering just a very  small portion of the overall investment needed   to run the system. And you know, you had asked a  question about the veterans affair and the United   Way contract and it so if you translate 60,000  rides and you multiply it by $1.75 for the fair,   you've exceeded $100,000. And so there is  subsidy. But I think what makes that analysis   difficult is that's a financial anal analysis for  a social issue. Um because many of those veterans   would not have taken that ride if they had to  pay $1.75 and so they wouldn't have access to   this the resources that they need. So it's it we  can't apply a purely financial analysis to this   issue. Thank you very much Penny. Um, I had an  opportunity to gather some youth last week. Um,   and they talked specifically about transit and  trying to encourage more people to utilize the   transit system, knowing that 800 students out of  the 45,000 WAW public school students utilize this   service, but that there's more opportunity um  to maybe have new riders, but also riders that   um will help with again the idea that 40 people  not utilizing a car um instead of uh just using   one bus will help with the wear and tear of our  streets, but also encourages the use of that   um asset that is already being subsidized by  the citizens of Witchaw right now. Thank you.   I see no other questions from the council.  We will now open it up for public comment. Andrew Crane, guiding pause uh ICT. Um I uh  thank uh Penny for uh her presentation. Um,   one question that I was going to ask you guys, and  I did this a couple years ago, um, and challenged   every every city council person to ride the bus  and, uh, and that. So, I'm challenging you guys   again to ride the bus and come ride the bus with  me and how much we need the the the buses and how   much folks of the disability community need  the buses to get around our our city. And you   guys were talking about say uh downtown grocery  store. When are we going to see that? and and   that because there there there's going to be lots  of lots of people in downtown Witchah in the next   uh couple years. So, get it. It's time to to wake  up here and start uh thinking about uh access and   uh and also the the bus stops need to be uh ADA  ADA standards uh for folks in wheelchairs. And you   know, I'm a big advocate for uh the disability  and blind community. So, we we need to do some   work here and it's time to go. It's it's time  to to to go to work here, folks. Thank you. Hello, Mayor Council. It's good to see you all  again after last night at the trigoal meeting.   My name is Gentry Tissson and I represent  the Realtors of South Central Kansas. Thank   you for the opportunity to speak in support of  the proposed Witchaw Transit Network redesign.   I speak on behalf of a community of real of  community-minded real estate professionals who   see this not only as a transportation project,  but also as an investment in housing stability,   economic opportunity, and long-term neighborhood  value. Right now, two line items dominate most   family budgets and probably your own yours  own also. Housing and transportation. Housing   consumes roughly a third of household income and  transportation driven largely by vehicle purchase,   maintenance, fuel, and insurance often accounts  for another significant portion of a budget,   frequently in the mid- teens percentage range.  These costs are rising faster than many wages,   as we all know, and families are being squeezed  between higher mortgage or rent payments and the   escalating expense of owning and operating cars.  We know that we can't control every economic   pressure, but we can make strategic choices to  give Witchaw families more breathing room and   budgets and more options when it comes to transit.  Home ownership remains the primary pathway for   household wealth building in our country.  When neighborhoods are connected to reliable,   frequent transit, home values and demand rises.  The National Association of Realtors has long   emphasized that highquality transit expands  access to jobs, education, and services, widens   the pool of potential buyers and renters, reduces  transportation costs for household, and supports   walkable mixeduse development. Properties near  dependable transit often appreciate faster than   those without access, strengthening both household  equity and the local tax base. An improved transit   system is pro- housing policy. It helps families  reduce vehicle dependency and transportation   expenses, making home ownership and stable housing  more attainable. It supports workforce mobility,   getting people to jobs without depending  solely on a car, which also helps employers   recruit and retain talent in our community. It  catalyzes private investment in neighborhoods,   encourages infill development, small business  growth, and greater vibrancy along corridors   that are served by transit. Finally, investing  in a modern, efficient transit system is an   investment in our city's competitiveness. It  makes Witchah more attractive to new residents   and employers. It strengthens property values  near transit and gives existing residents better   access to opportunity. Those outcomes, those  are outcomes that help families build equity,   preserve community, and grow our regional economy.  I urge the council to approve the transit overhaul   and to continue working with community partners,  including the realtors of South Central Kansas   and other housing and business stakeholders to  ensure implementation is equitable, datadriven,   and focused on long-term value for all Widgetans.  Thank you so much. Thank you. I see no other   comments. We'll bring it back to the bench.  Council member Tuttle. Thank you. Um Penny,   I just want to thank you. Um one of the pleasures  that I've had since I've been on council is I was   on the selection committee for the transit  director and you were my top choice and you   have not let me down. And I say all the time, you  are just so easy to work with and you really try   and get to yes no matter what requests that I've  come to you with. So I really appreciate that.   The other thing that I hear you talk about that I  think is really important is we are and we heard   it last night, we've heard it some today, but  we are with your leadership developing the next   generation of writership. We're we're normalizing  using public transportation with our kiddos in   school with our college students. And that's what  it's going to take to increase the system and the   usability of the system so that it's not just  for the transit dependent, right? We have to   normalize you not using your car and using public  transportation. Um I think one of the things that   um you mentioned but people often forget not just  transit but you also are the custodian of bike   share ICT um and the scooter program something  near and dear to my heart. Next year in 2027 will   be the 10-year anniversary of Bike Share ICT in  Witchaw that's funded in full by Blue Cross and   Blue Shield of Kansas. So, you've also been  a great custodian of that. Um, you mentioned,   you know, travel trainings. You mentioned lots of  things and I agree with Andrew. I see that he had   to leave, but I hope all of us are riding the  bus. Um, one of the things that I did in past   positions before on council is I would have my  staff do a scavenger hunt and they could o only   utilize transportation. they could only use bike  share or scooters or the or the bus to see how the   challenge is for those who are transit dependent.  Not everyone has a car. Not everyone can afford a   car. Um if maybe you're justice involved and can't  have a car, maybe you're agent and and can't drive   a car. So there's lots of reasons for us to all  to understand more about transit dependent. But   um I just I really think that you are the voice  for the voiceless for the for the residents in   our community for the Witchans who want to have  mobility and rely on the city of Witchah for   that. So again, I'm going to be very supportive  and just thank you for all you do and your team. Um just one more before I make a motion.  Uh thank you for being such good stewards   of taxpayer dollars and these grants. Um, again  looking at your budget, 20.9 million. 63% comes   from grants and 36.5% comes from citizens of  Witchah. And so the citizens of Witchah subsidize   this transit system because they know that not  everyone can afford owning their own vehicle.   And I'm very grateful that the citizens of  Witchah subsidize it because you mentioned   that the fair recovery is 9% while nationally it's  13% for fair recovery. So the citizens of Witchah   um are again grateful to provide a service  to those that cannot provide um a vehicle   for themselves. And I'm grateful that there are 1  million riders that provided $1 million in revenue   uh into the system. Um, and I like hearing that  there are collaborations with other partners so   that there could be more opportunities for  individuals to utilize the service and also   reimagine how to utilize transit with micro  mobility and other models. Um, so the forward   thinking uh that Penny through your leadership  and your team's uh work is being shown today by   this redesign and I am very happy to uh go ahead  and move this motion. With that, I move that the   proposed redesign network is budgetneutral. Uh  sorry, I move to approve the 2026 transit network   redesign. Second motion second. Discussion.  See none. Madame clerk, please open the role. Motion passes 70. Madame clerk, please  call the next item. Zone 2025-71,   zone change requests in the city from  single family residential district to   multif family residential district for multif  family development generally located on the   west side of North Mlan Boulevard within  200 feet south of West 13th Street North. Good morning. Scott Wadel from the planning  department. So for this case, as you've heard,   the applicants requesting approval of a reszoning  from SF5 single family to MF18 multifamily. Are you okay? Okay. This item is being heard  today because the DAB and planning commission   recommendations are different. Also, protests have  been submitted against the application and those   protests are within the notification area. And  then third, this item was deferred to the state in   order to allow an opportunity for the DAB to hear  the item a second time. In terms of the requests,   the applicants indicated the requesting reszoning  in order to permit multiple duplexes on the site.   They've indicated it's their intent to construct  two duplexes on the site for a total of four   dwelling units. The requested reszoning would  allow 17.4 dwelling units per acre for a maximum   of five dwelling units on this site. In terms of  the property, as you can see here, it's located to   the southwest of the intersection of 13th Street  and McClean. It is approximately uh 0.3 acres in   size, consists of one ownership parcel, and is  currently vacant. It's my understanding that it   did have a single family house on it, and it was  demolished due to longstanding code violations.   Properties to the south and west are zoned  SF5 single family and developed with single   family dwellings. Here's the zoning map. It's  a little faded. Looks better up there. And uh   property to the north is zone go, general office,  developed with multiple duplexes. Property to the   east across Mlean is the Aranansas River  and city open space with multi-use path.   In terms of the staff report, it provides  information about development standards,   compatibility standards, screening, landscaping,  and parking. In terms of review, on January 29th,   the planning commission held a public hearing  for this item and recommended approval of the   zone change request, and that vote was 9 to2.  Seven members of the public spoke on this item   with concerns about traffic, trash, flooding,  the character of the neighborhood, uh, privacy,   and noise. On February 9th, the district advisory  board reviewed the request and recommended denial   of the zone change request. That vote was seven  to zero. In their findings, the DAP concluded   the request did not constitute did not contribute  to the compatibility and harmonious development   of the surrounding community. At that meeting,  nine members of the public spoke in opposition,   citing traffic, drainage, height of the proposed  duplexes, limited parking, and noise coming from   the site. During the protest period, 19 protests  were received against this application. That made   up 47% of the total protest area, which is  greater than the 20% threshold. Therefore,   super majorities required by city council vote  to approve any zone change requests. So, six out   of seven. On April 13th, the district advisory  board considered the case for a second time.   The DAB voted to recommend approval that time and  I believe the vote was 7 to1 with one extension   but it may have been 8 to1. We're still working  on getting clarification but the ultimate thing is   that they did recommend approval. Uh during that  meeting the applicant indicated that the dwelling   units are intended for seniors. He intends to  initially start with one duplex and later would   build a second. That the duplex development  would be one story with brick on the front.   uh that they would use a horseshoe driveway  that would utilize the two existing curb cuts   at the site allowing drivers to exit the property  while facing straight, that the duplexes will have   proper gutters and downspouts to address  drainage, and that there will be adequate   parking. At that same meeting, approximately  four members of the public spoke on this item.   Some expressed concerns uh including the impacts  of new residents in the area, lack of space on   the property for two two duplex buildings, lack  of space for parking, challenges with egress to   the property, and availability of housing units  for rent in other areas of the neighborhood. In   terms of the recommendation, the recommendation  coming to you is from the planning commission.   It is recommended city council adopt the findings  of the planning commission approve the requested   zone change authorize the necessary signatures  and instruct the city clerk to publish the   ordinance and resolution after approval. Again  that would require six of seven because of the   protest petitions. An alternative is that you  can override the map adopt alternative findings   and deny the requested zone change. That would  require five of seven votes because it would be   an override of the planning commission. And just a  brief note about the process. City policies at the   public hearing occurs at the planning commission  and city council does not typically receive public   comments on zoning items. So with that, I'll take  you through some of the graphics. So here's the   aerial. Here's a zoning map that we discussed  earlier. Here's the map from the comprehensive   plan showing future residential recommended there.  Uh here's the protest map. Again, 47% exceeding   the state uh threshold 20%. Here's elevations  that were submitted as part of the second DAB   meeting. These were submitted by the applicant.  They show the brick facade on the front and what   the duplex would look like. Here's pictures of  the site in surrounding area. And with that,   I'll stand for any questions. Thank you, Scott.  Questions for staff? I have a couple. Um, I know   this is in Council Member Ballard's district. Um,  and I drive uh by this specific intersection every   week on my way to Cake News. Um, and so this is uh  a really great location as there's a Dillons not   too far away from here. Um, and you mentioned  that the applicant is interested in building   senior housing. Is that accurate? Uh, yes. That's  what the applicant indicated at the second DAP   meeting. Um, I wanted to know how the applicant  has been with community engagement in the area.   Um, you know, I believe the neighbors had  indicated at the first m at the only MAPC   meeting that they had a good rapport with him. Um,  however, they still disagreed with the project.   Um, then from watching the DAB, the second DAB  meeting, you can see that there are neighbors that   ask questions and they have a dialogue back and  forth. I am not sure if they had a meeting outside   of either of those uh any of the three formal  public meetings. Um, but I I get the sense that   um um they appreciate the developer, but still res  but residents do not appreciate the project. Um   and I'm just saying that in a generality. I don't  I've not pulled all of the residents. I don't know   if their opinions have changed, but those just  that is my understanding based on the videos and   where I've been at the meetings. Thank you, Scott.  I'm very supportive of additional housing in our   community. We say it from this bench. we really  want to see housing in all areas of our community   and that we are lacking a supply. So, we need to  have more housing and when someone wants to come   forward uh to build housing and then takes the  next step to also be engaged with the community   um I'm going to be supportive of something  like this because again that is our community   need which is more housing. Uh Council Member  Ballard, this is in your district. Thank you,   Mayor. Uh just to address your question about  community engagement with the neighbors,   I would say it was a little rocky at first, but  um there has been good conversation and dialogue,   lots of partition, lots of participation from  the neighborhood. Um and the second DAB meeting,   I'm really glad that we sent it back to the DAB  because there was more clarification. Um and we   had really bad reception with um the applicant  on the first DAB. he was joined us by phone so   it was we didn't have a lot of clear answers and  so the second time he was there in person lot like   I said lots of good um dialogue good conversations  and he was able to clarify a lot of the concerns.   So I have come up with um what I think is a good  compromise from the original ask to kind of where   we are now. So unless anybody has any questions  bear with me while I read I feel like this is a   council member Johnson uh motion so bear with me  for a second. I move to override MAPC, adopt the   alternate findings, approve the reszoning to prop  the property to MF18 with a protective overlay.   Authorize the necessary signatures and instruct  the city clerk to publish the ordinance after   approval. The protective overlay would require  the following. A site plan shall be submitted   and approved by the planning department prior  to the issuance of building permits. The site   plan shall be consistent with the description  of the project provided by the applicant and   recommended for approval at the most recent DAB  6 meeting. He went into a lot of details about um   how many actual dwellings there would be and all  that. So that's why I'm including this. Uh prior   to publishing the ordinance establishing the zone  change, the applicant shall record a document with   the register of deeds indicating that the track  includes special uh conditions for development on   this property. The site is limited to a maximum of  two duplexes, which is four dwelling units total.   In support of this motion, I offer the following  findings. Approval of the requested zone change to   MF18 district would allow more intensive uses and  would be detrimental to the existing single family   residential uses in this area. In addition,  higher intensity, excuse me, higher intensity   uses are likely to have adverse impacts on city  infrastructure due to increased traffic and the   close proximity to intersection to the north. The  protective overlay will only allow two duplexes,   a total of four dwelling units on the site. This  um vote requires six of seven because the protest   is over 20%. So, it's a very good compromise. They  started out with eight. They wanted to do eight.   um they've compromised at four and the um the  um applicant just went into more detail and I   think the neighborhood was just nervous um that  maybe they wouldn't do all of the things that he   said in the DAB meeting. So that's why it's just  covering everybody to um I mean it's all on the   record for the DAB meeting, but I think just to  make everybody feel comfortable and the applicants   seem to be good with it, too. So, I think it's  a win for everybody and provides more affordable   housing. Um, and he said he was going to focus  on seniors. So, sorry that was a lot, but it was   all important. Can I ask a couple of questions to  that motion? Um, so initial ask was eight units,   so a total of four duplexes. Is that accurate?  And then the applicant is the one that has said,   "Okay, we will only build two duplexes for a total  of four units." Correct. and he's going to start   with only building one and seeing how that goes  and that land cannot support any additional duplex   or what was the applicant's um I'm going to look  at Scott. Yes. So under the requested zoning they   could have a maximum of five units on the property  so they could have uh one more additional dwelling   unit on it. I was think I think he was thinking  originally to do the four duplexes and do them two   levels. So that's where the eight came from, but  I don't think they could do that. Council member,   Vice Mayor Glasco, that was my question. As long  as the applicant was okay with the suggested   changes. So did the DAB not end up voting on that?  They did. They did. It failed um miserably the   first time. Okay. And it passed the second time  like 7 to2 or Okay. I just didn't see that in our   agenda packet. So do we normally list if there's  two votes? because the only one on here says the   DAB 6 recommendation is to deny 7 to 0. Yes. And  that's because uh the DAB meeting was the the   timing of getting this when this was deferred to  when today's date is so close to the DAP meeting   that we had to submit the materials before we  knew what the outcome was. Great. Thank you. Second motion second. Any further discussion?  I see none. Madame clerk, please open the role. Who am I missing? Okay, motion  passes 70. Madame clerk, please   call the next item. Public housing  recovery agreement status report. Good afternoon, mayor and council members. Sally  staying with the housing and community services   department for the record. The item I have for  you today is the mandatory monthly update on the   HUD recovery plan related to public housing. So as  we remember we've been under this public uh this   recovery plan since January and 25 and it has to  be presented to you monthly. It includes actions   related to improving the physical condition of  occupied dwelling units for which we have one at   this time. uh repositioning the remaining public  housing and providing an update on our capital   fund projects. Um the the physical conditions  as you see the recovery plan was entered in   January of 25. Uh the inspections by HUD in  May of 25 we hit 100% and 93% respectively. So   uh we hit that requirement right away. Um we're  continuing to reposition public housing. As I said   that one occupied unit gives us a 1% occupancy  rate. Uh that unit is occupied by a tenant who's   actually working through the financial process  to purchase the home she's in. We've granted her   an additional extension um to get through that  process and they expect her to close by the end   of May. Uh that final disposition application was  approved last year in June. We have sold 264 of   the 352 projects properties to date. As of April  8th, we had 27 pending sale. That number changes   every day. Um and the detailed disposition report  was attached to the agenda report. Our strategies   for the remaining um the affordable housing fund  plan was updated last year. We're going to we are   going to be issuing an RFP for the 15 units in the  flood flood plane as well as some four additional   units that have market challenges. Those will be  coupled with affordable housing funds so that we   uh can ensure that they are not sold to predatory  lenders or landlords or out of town flippers. Um   we'll be issuing that RFP once we finish with  the country acres RFP which opened for the   second time last week. It is open right now.  And actually we're doing open houses today,   tomorrow and uh yesterday, today and tomorrow  from 1 to 4. So, anybody interested in walking   through those properties in preparation for  submitting under the RFP can get into them   during that time. That RFP will close May 8th um  and then go to the affordable housing review board   prior to being brought to you for recommendation.  Um the remaining units, there aren't many more to   be honest with you. We have about 10 that are  with the broker right now that we don't have   offers on and we have three additional ones that  will be um going to market once repairs are made.   So we had two units that had buyers and one unit  that needed mitigation for fungus. That was an   interesting one. So once all of those repairs are  done, those will get turned over to the broker for   sale on the open market. Capital fund projects,  the roof work on 19 properties in the flood plane   uh is underway. We actually expect that to be  completed in the very near future and those will   go out with that RFP following country acres.  There is no impact to the general fund on this.   The monthly update to the board is required under  the recovery plan and it is recommended that the   Witchaw Housing Authority Board receive and file  the recovery plan status update report for April   2027. And I stand for any questions. Thank you,  Sally. Questions for staff. I see none. We'll   open it up. Oh, sorry. Council member Shepard.  You're okay. It wasn't a question. It was just   note of gratitude. Uh this weekend I was in a a  neighborhood where you all have done phenomenal   work working with some of our housing nonprofit  organizations. Was responding to an illegal   dumping call. But what I saw which brought me  joy in the midst of much frustration was a bunch   of kids playing at Ash Park. Yes. And family  members enjoying the investment that the city   has made that our housing department has made.  And I just wanted to say it made me smile in the   midst of being very frustrated. So, thank you for  the incredible work that you're doing. Thank you. We'll open it up for public comment. There's  no one from the public here who would like to   speak. Would you like to move this item, Council  Member Shepard? Of course. Happy to do that. So,   I recommend that the Witchaw Housing  Authority Board receive and file the   HUD recovery agreement status update and  public housing deposition update report.   Second. Motion second. Discussion. See  none. Madame clerk, please open the role. Motion passes. 70. Madame clerk, please call  the next item. Initiation of a process to   reconsider correction to consider reszoning a  portion of the Deleno neighborhood generally   located along Douglas Avenue from North  Mlan Boulevard to North Glenn Avenue. Hello, good morning again or good afternoon.  So, Scott Wadel from the planning department and   uh this item is to consider whether to initiate  a study and possible reasonzoning process for a   portion of the Deleno neighborhood. That portion  is roughly along Douglas from Glenn Avenue to   Mlean Boulevard. um certainly flexible, but that's  the concept right now. This item is coming to you   because questions have been raised about whether  the current zoning aligns well with the future   land uses recommended in the neighborhood plan and  furthermore the goals that are identified in the   neighborhood plan. Since 2015, there have been  30 reszoning applications for central business   district uh zoning in this area and all of them  have been approved. In terms of background, in tw   in in 2003, the Witchaw City Council adopted the  map and text amendments to the zoning code that   created the Delano neighborhood overlay district  and the design guidelines. On August 20th of 2019,   the Witchdaw City Council adopted the current  Delano neighborhood plan. The neighborhood plan   serves as the official guide and revitalization  strategy for the Deleno neighborhood. It includes   a vision statement, guiding principles,  a future land use guide, and recommended   actions to achieve the vision identified in the  plan. Of course, as I mentioned, since 2015,   there's been a number of reasonzonings to central  business district. Then in 2025, questions came   up about whether an area wide resoning for a  portion of Deleno could benefit the community.   So in terms of next steps, if the council  initiates the process, then the next step would   be to work with the planning commission advanced  plans committee to determine if a resoning would   be a good fit. If the advanced plans committee  does decide that resoning is appropriate,   then we will also look to them for recommendations  regarding the process. I expect and would   recommend that the Deleno Neighborhood Association  and other stakeholders in the area be consulted   for input through the process. Additionally, if  a resoning is recommended and undertaken, then   additional public input opportunities would occur.  Ultimately, the planning commission advanced plans   committee would provide a recommendation to  the full MAPC. The full MAPC would then make   a recommendation to the city council. In terms of  recommended action, uh it's recommended that the   city council take action as determined necessary.  So, with that, I can stand for questions. questions for staff. Questions? I see not. Oh,  we see council member Shepard. Just just so we're   clear, this this was a part of the Deleno plan  that was created a while ago, right? So, this   isn't something that should be of shock to anyone  unless they haven't had a chance to read the plan.   Yes, in a manner of speaking it does it calls out  for reszoning uh to be undertaken as is listed in   the staff report. Um yes. So right now this is  just to consider whether or not to initiate as   a project to begin the conversation. Um whether  or not to go forward with the actual reasonzoning   is is part of that conversation, but that's not  the actual decision that's happening today. Um   this is just whether or not should we look into  it? we have that conversation with the planning   commission because it it is not uncommon for us  to do plans and then for them to be uh available   but kind of you know sitting on a shelf and we  haven't really taken the steps to initiate things   um sometimes and so this is an opportunity to  look at it and say is that recommendation still   relevant is this still a conversation we should  have thank you and and kudos to my colleagues for   again I think we've heard today how we are making  progress on some of the things that have been   delayed in the past moving forward to at least  explore what that looks like. So, I appreciate   that. Council member Ballard. Thank you, Mayor.  Yes. Um, I am happy to have this conversation. Um,   I just want to be really crystal clear with  whatever this means to the average, you know,   people that might be like, "What is this?" or,  you know, I just want to be really clear on   um in this conversation and moving forward  with plenty of community engagement. Um,   and I already have a um, a meeting set up with  my um, appointment for MAPC to make sure that,   you know, we just all understand everything. So, I  think that's going to be the most important thing   is education and um, just making sure  that everybody understands. Thank you. Thank you very much, Scott. Uh, with that, we'll  open it up for public comment on this item. And   there's no one from the public who would like  to speak on this item. We're going to bring   it back to the bench. Vice Mayor Glascock.  Thank you, Mayor. Before I make a motion,   I was going to actually read uh Councilman Shepard  reference the Deleno neighborhood plan, and so I   was going to read part of the neighborhood plan  uh that this comes from. As developers have begun   to rehabilitate Douglas Avenue, many are realizing  that the current zoning does not work within their   plans. The commercial zoning has high requirements  for parking, and many developers are opting to   reszone to Central Business District. The MAPC  has been approving these on a case-by case basis,   but converting the whole corridor to central  business district would reduce an impediment   to further development of the core of the  neighborhood. Further land use strategy,   a future land use strategy should be created to  guide the Deleno neighborhood of the future. This   strategy, including the future land map,  would use as a guide to reszoning cases   within the neighborhood. The strategy should  also include a plan for reszoning commercial   properties along Douglas Avenue between Vine  and MLAN to central business district zoning.   This resoning would remove a barrier to  redevelopment of the commercial district by   removing parking and setback requirements found in  existing limited industrial, general, commercial,   and limited commercial zoning districts. I also  just wanted to read some of the businesses. Um,   as Scott said, 30 out of 30 of these applications  have been approved since 2015. And some of those   that have improved and the businesses that are in  Deleno as a result of those approvals that would   not have been there include the Hayes Company uh  which supplies a lot of jobs to the community,   the new um multi- family development over on  Douglas Street, Flatlanders Brewery, uh the   relocation and expansion of Hutton Witchaw Brewing  Company and the new expansions there. Oxoma,   which is where the old fish company is, Uppercut  Studios and uh Drill Company. So there's a lot   of businesses in Delano that we've approved that  have been there because of the central business   uh central business district zoning. So I look  forward to having this conversation. This is   all about how do we make business easier. I  think the central business or the Deleno plan   says it perfectly. Reduce an impediment to  further development within the core of the   neighborhood. And we see Delano as probably the  fastest growing part of the city in terms of a lot   of new developments coming in that area and a lot  of the investments from the city. So I'm excited   with that. Um, with that I will make the motion  that the city council proceed uh with the plan as   presented. Second. Motion second. Discussion.  See none. Madame clerk, please open the role. Motion passes. 70. Madame clerk,  please call the next item.   Selection of appeal panel to hear appeal  of suspension of a tobacco license and CMBB   license. Mayor, council Jennifer Maga, city  attorney. This item is asking you to appoint   a threeperson panel to hear an administrative  appeal that arises from the suspension of a   tobacco and CMB licenses for an applicant. Um we  would um suggest that the you follow the rotation   that is in place. Uh the last three members to  serve on a panel were council members Tuttle,   Johnston, and Glascock. Um this falls in district  uh six. So council member um Ballard would be the   natural um member of this of this panel  if she so chooses. Um following that,   you would have the next rotation, which would be  um C Mayor Woo, council member Shepard or Council   Member Hohisel. So we need three members to be  appointed. Thank you. Council member Hohheisle,   Council Member Shepard. I've done too. So,  if Mayor I will gladly take one of the spots. Yes, I will do it. Council member uh Shepard,  Council Member Ballard, and Mayor Woo. Thank you.   We have a motion, please. Uh, I move uh to select  Council Member Shepard, Council Member Ballard,   and Mayor Woo uh to the selection process for the  administrative appeal of a license suspension. Second. Motion second. Discussion. See  none. Madame clerk, please open the role. Motion passes 70. Madame clerk, please  call the next item. Council member   appointments and comments. We'll begin with  appointments. Council members appointments,   beginning with council member Ballard. Thank you,  mayor. I would like to reappoint Leon Mater to   uh MAPC. And I'm very excited to talk about the  steering committee for Midtown. So, I would like   to um appoint these individuals. Randly Henman,  Brian Irwin, Janie Kroll, Steve Curl, Leon Mater,   Michaela Welch, Claire Willenberg, Ian Campbell,  William Corles, uh Shariah Corles, Bonnie Scott,   and Nicholas Willis. Council member Hohheisle.  Thank you, Mayor. I would like to appoint Kurt   Oswald and Jared Cerillo to my district advisory  board. Council member Tuttle. Thank you. I would   like to appoint J Malone to the cultural funding  committee. Council member Shepard. Thank you,   Mayor. I would like to appoint Gregory  Van Djk to the citizens review board.   And I would like to um reappoint Jocelyn Clants  to the Metropolitan Area Planning Commission and   appoint Adam Degraphen Reed to the transit  board and appoint Hannah Grace Gorman to the   library board. With that, I move to approve  all uh board appointments by council members   and mayor. Second. Motion second. Discussion.  See none. Madame clerk, please open the role. Motion passes 6 uh with one  who's absent at this current   moment. We will now have council member comments. Council member Shepard. I just know at the  last um agenda review uh I promised that I   would provide the proposal that specified that  if you bid for design services you can't also   bid for the build and I found that and it was  number 260034. Um it's the Century 2 expo hall   prominade in meeting rooms renovation and just  again as a reminder I was curious why we did that.   um as design build is the fastest growing  and most costefficient strategy when we look   at renovations and building out services.  So, not a question that I need an answer   for right now, but in our one-on-one  city manager, that'd be perfectly fine. Council member Ballard, thank you. We have a lots  of stuff going on this weekend in District 6,   but just a couple are, as I mentioned earlier,  the Ark River Cleanup. So maybe I'll see some of   my colleagues there cleaning up the river. Um and  then uh the Riverside Garden is having a ribbon   cutting which is really exciting across from Sims  golf course. They are doing awesome super work. So   uh they'll be out there from um 10 to noon. I'll  echo a quick comment on the Ark River Cleanup. Uh   city attorney was uh posted as someone who had  volunteered there. Um so I actually would like   to ask communications to share that information  on a social media post but also in addition to   that make mention why the river levels are low.  Uh I've gotten several comments regarding why is   it so low? Um and it is due to the construction,  but uh if we can put that out as either a media   release or something where it's easily um located  u because Riverfest is right around the corner   and we'll get that question again. Um so it'd be  really great if it could be either maybe on the   website or somewhere where we can reference  that information of how long the river will   be at these low levels. Council member Tunnel,  thank you. I Jennifer and I were just smiling.   I think the picture that was on social for her  was last year at the downtown Witchah spring   cleanup and that's also this Saturday um from  9 to noon. I know several of us are going to be   volunteering to do it again. So there's there's  a sign up opportunity. Um last year Jennifer and   I scraped stickers and covered up graffiti with  spray cans. Um but there's going to be planting   opportunities. So lots of cool things. So,  and if you can't stay from 9:00 to noon,   they'll take you however long they can give  you. So, please send up with um downtown Witchah   for that cleanup as well. I see no further  comments. With that, I will move to ajourn. Second. Uh discussion. None.  Madame clerk, please open the role. Motion passes 70. We are adjourned at 12:29