[1:06] Vernon
[1:10] Vernon.
>> Yes.
[1:13] » I'm doing roll call.
>> Okay. Here.
[1:17] » Ben
>> here.
[1:18] » Mike
>> here.
[1:19] » Sherry here.
>> Vicki. Show all five here please.
[1:23] [clears throat]
Will everybody please stand for the
[1:25] pledge of allegiance.
[1:52] I'd like to call for a moment of
silence, please.
[2:16] Thank you. [clears throat]
Now we have the introduction of our new
[2:21] police officer. Chief,
[2:32] Mayor and Council, Chief Jeff Short. Um,
wasn't long ago I was here introducing
[2:37] another officer, but uh, today we're
going to introduce um, Officer Phil
[2:42] Logman. Would you please join me at the
podium?
[2:50] Uh, mayor and councel, this is officer
Phil Logman. Um, he, uh, grew up around
[2:56] the St. Louis area, Missouri. Uh he came
to Kansas, went to college, uh local
[3:01] junior college, and then he actually was
also a collegiate athlete at St. Mary's
[3:05] where he was the captain of his um cross
country team.
[3:09] » Cross country and track.
>> I know nothing about that, so I have to
[3:12] ask for help.
>> These short legs don't get me far in
[3:15] races. Um anyway, this is just another
addition to the professional police
[3:19] department we're trying to assemble for
you guys. Um the level of service that
[3:23] uh we expect out of him is going to
match everybody else on our uh team. Um
[3:27] he comes to us from the Levworth County
Sheriff's Office. He uh did his time on
[3:33] the correct side of things in the jail.
Um he did a lot of detention work,
[3:38] transport, and he recently served civil
papers throughout the county. So he's
[3:42] very familiar with the We do county,
excuse me, Levvenworth County Way,
[3:46] forgive me. I won't put you in that
light. Um anyway, so we're very happy to
[3:51] have him. Um he's going to be immediate
addition to our team and thank you for
[3:55] supporting us in our recruitment
efforts. It makes bringing people like
[3:58] Officer Logman to our team very easy.
So, thank you very much, Officer Logman.
[4:01] Welcome to the team.
>> Your chance, sir.
[4:32] Absolutely.
[5:08] Thank you.
[5:28] Call of the public. Public comment will
be allowed at the mayor's discretion.
[5:31] This is exclusive of items requiring a
public hearing. Each speaker is limited
[5:37] to two minutes. There are two public
hearings regarding the budget which have
[5:41] been noticed for tonight. If you would
like to speak about one of the budget
[5:45] items that require a public hearing,
please wait to do so until the public
[5:49] hearing is open. This portion of the
public comment will be open to any
[5:53] members of the public who wish to speak
about any item on the agenda other than
[5:58] the two budgeted items that require a
public hearing. As a reminder to the
[6:04] public and the city council members
alike, the city council staff will not
[6:08] engage in a dialogue or debate with any
speaker pertaining to any comments made.
[6:13] Members of the public wishing to speak
must keep their comments germanine or
[6:17] relevant to the specific agenda item
before the council. Please wait to be
[6:23] recognized by the mayor. Remember to
state your name and address for the
[6:26] record. Is there anyone here that would
like to speak on any agenda item other
[6:31] than the two budget items that require
public hearing?
[6:37] Not see anybody. Kathy, is there anybody
online?
[6:45] Move on then. Uh, I need a motion for
the consent agenda.
[6:51] » Mayor, I app I move to approve the
consent agenda as stated. Have
[6:55] » a motion. Do I have a second?
I'll second a motion and a second. I'll
[7:01] call for a vote. Vicki.
>> Gary.
[7:05] » Hi.
>> Mike.
[7:06] » Hi.
>> Ben.
[7:07] » Hi.
>> Vernon.
[7:09] » Hi.
>> Passes. 50.
[7:15] Go on to item number two. Public
hearing. Revenue neutral rate.
[7:21] [clears throat]
Public hearing for the public's revenue
[7:24] rate neutral rate. I will now entertain
a motion to open the public hearing.
[7:35] » Mayor, I I move to uh open the public
hearing.
[7:38] » I have a motion. Do I have a second?
>> I'll second.
[7:43] » Call for vote. Mike,
>> hi.
[7:45] » Sherry.
>> Hi.
[7:47] » Vicki.
>> Ben.
[7:48] » Hi.
>> Vernon.
[7:49] » I
50.
[7:54] City staff will make the presentation
regarding the revenue neutral rate and
[7:58] budget on the agenda item agenda first.
The presentation will last about 30
[8:03] minutes. Once staff's presentation is
completed, we will hear public comment
[8:08] from those who would like to speak on
the item for which the public hearing
[8:12] was noticed. Each speaker is limited to
two minutes. The public hearing that is
[8:17] open currently is the hearing regarding
the revenue neutral rate. Once public
[8:22] comment is completed on that item, we
will have council discussion regarding
[8:26] the revenue neutral rate and the council
will consider formal action. Then we
[8:31] will close the public hearing and open
up the next public hearing which is
[8:35] regarding the 2027 operating budget. As
a reminder to the public and city
[8:41] councils alike, city council staff will
not engage in any dialogue or debate
[8:47] with the speaker pertaining to any
comments made. Members of the public
[8:51] wishing to speak must keep their
comments gerine or relevant to the
[8:55] specific item for which the public
hearing was noticed. At this time, I
[9:00] will turn it over to our deputy city
administrator, Mattie Boutton, to make a
[9:04] presentation regarding the revenue
neutral rate.
[9:07] » Thank you, mayor and council. Mattie
Bountton, deputy city administrator.
[9:10] Before I begin, I just want to say a
very sincere thank you to the mayor and
[9:14] city council for all of their work on
this proposed budget. I know some of the
[9:17] presentations that we make um can seem
repetitive um but we think that the
[9:22] information is incredibly important to
the public. That's why we publish all
[9:25] the information online and also record
these meetings as well. So um very very
[9:29] sincere thank you to each and every one
of you.
[9:34] Um so a little bit of background about
how to stay informed with the city.
[9:37] There are a lot of opportunities on how
to stay informed. first and foremost is
[9:40] to attend city council meetings located
here at our beautiful Baser City Hall on
[9:44] the uh second and fourth Wednesday of
every month at 6:00 p.m.
[9:49] If folks aren't able to attend that is
uh we totally understand. We record all
[9:54] of these meetings and upload them to
YouTube. You can see us navigating to
[9:57] our YouTube channel uh on the screen.
Just go to YouTube, type in city of
[10:00] Baser. You can pull up our page and look
at all the meetings uh that we have
[10:04] available uh for the public to view. If
you're not able to watch the meetings on
[10:09] YouTube, we also put all of our budget
presentations on our website, including
[10:13] a draft line item budget that was
published two weeks ago. Um, you can see
[10:17] us navigating to it on the screen there.
From the menu, just select departments,
[10:21] administration, and then budget. And we
have all of our PowerPoint
[10:24] presentations. So, um, we certainly
understand these meetings can get long
[10:27] and so if people just want to see the
data, we respect that, too. And we want
[10:30] to make sure to have that available for
the public.
[10:34] And then finally, we put all of our
agenda packets and and meeting minutes
[10:38] available online as well. Um, if you go
to the city's website and then from the
[10:42] menu, you can select uh government and
then agenda and minutes and you can pull
[10:47] up the entire agenda packet.
This is the eighth budget presentation
[10:52] that I've made in to the public and a
lot of great discussion and dialogue and
[10:56] feedback that we've received from this
governing body. Uh, like I said, two
[11:00] weeks ago, we published the draft line
item budget that was on our website for
[11:03] two weeks. So, if members of the public
wanted to see that in advance of
[11:07] tonight's public hearings, they had an
opportunity to review that well in
[11:10] advance of tonight. Uh, so tonight we do
have the two budget public hearings that
[11:14] the mayor uh mentioned in his opening
remarks. Um, and so that would conclude
[11:19] uh our budget cycle for tonight. How are
meetings noticed to the public? first is
[11:25] um on the city's website and we really
encourage folks to go on to our website.
[11:28] You can sign up for email or text
notifications. That way you don't have
[11:32] to question whether or not the city's
having a meeting. You could just get a
[11:35] text right on your phone that says,
"Hey, uh they're having a public meeting
[11:38] tonight and it links you directly to the
agenda." It's a really helpful tool.
[11:43] Secondly, in the city's e-news, which is
emailed to subscribers at least once per
[11:47] month, but most often twice per month.
uh in the city's Baser quarterly
[11:52] newsletter which is mailed to everybody
inside city limits and has a lot of
[11:55] really great information about what's
happening in the city on the city social
[11:59] media pages including Facebook,
Instagram and X. Um we encourage
[12:03] everybody to like us and follow us at
city of Baser. And then certain meetings
[12:07] that are required in state statute, we
have to um notice them in a newspaper
[12:12] Levmore times or Tonganoxy. For this
particular uh public hearings, we notice
[12:17] them in the Levvenworth Times.
So in the state of Kansas, if you are a
[12:22] taxing authority and you levy property
taxes in the state, you're required to
[12:26] make certain information available to
the public. And in our opinion, that
[12:30] information that's required is really
minimal. It's what you see on the
[12:34] screen. There's not a lot of information
there. It doesn't show you where the
[12:37] dollars are going. It doesn't break down
really anything. It's just a one-page
[12:41] document.
So, what we do is we publish our line
[12:45] item budget on the website, and you can
see us navigating to it on the on the
[12:49] screen. It has information about our
elected officials. It has information
[12:54] about our budget priorities. It has a
letter from the city administrator about
[12:58] the direction of that particular
operating budget. So, a wealth of
[13:01] information above and beyond of what is
required um by the state for us to be a
[13:06] taxing authority.
Some fast facts about the city of Baser.
[13:11] Um very similar to your personal credit,
organizations also have a credit rating
[13:16] and very similar to your personal
credit, the higher your um credit
[13:20] rating, the better interest rates you
get when you are borrowing money. Uh the
[13:25] city of Baser has a double A plus bond
rating which is the second highest
[13:28] credit rating that you can receive. Uh
we received that from S&P Global Ratings
[13:32] which is a national uh credit rating
reading rating agency excuse me. Um and
[13:38] they have some great comments in our
most recent report some of which are on
[13:42] the screen for you to see. Um and we're
very proud of that AA plus bond rating
[13:47] and they have told us that the only
thing that's keeping us back from AAA is
[13:50] our size. Um, so hopefully over the next
10 years we'll be able to upgrade and be
[13:55] a AAA community, which would be
fantastic. Uh, secondly, we're audited
[13:59] every year by an external auditor. We
continue to receive what's called an
[14:03] unmodified opinion, which is the highest
rate of opinion that you can receive
[14:07] from an external auditor. Uh, we
received that again most recently this
[14:11] year. Uh, and there's a quote from one
of our previous auditors on the screen
[14:14] about um the city's preparedness for its
audit as well as our controls throughout
[14:18] the year. Our estimated population is
8,500. We're ranked as the third safest
[14:24] city in Kansas and the second fastest
growing city in Kansas as of the last
[14:28] certified census.
One of our guiding posts for building
[14:32] the budget document is our community
survey results or our citizen
[14:37] satisfaction citizen satisfaction survey
results. We completed one in early 2025.
[14:43] Um, it was a statistically valid survey
with a 95% level of confidence, which
[14:48] means if the city were to complete that
survey over and over and over and over
[14:53] again, there's a 95% chance that those
results are not going to change by much.
[14:58] Um, residents overall have a very high
perception of living inside city limits.
[15:03] 87% responded that they are either very
satisfied or satisfied with the overall
[15:08] quality of life in Baser which
represents a 5% increase from 2019.
[15:13] Overall satisfaction with city services
are much higher than other communities
[15:20] including both on the regional level and
national level.
[15:24] So from that from those survey
documents, this governing body sets its
[15:29] priorities for its budget and these are
very um we've had the same uh priorities
[15:36] over the last several years and that's
very common in a community like Baser, a
[15:40] community that's growing that has a
common vision. Um so in no particular
[15:44] order all of these are working together
as to maintain Baser as a community of
[15:48] choice. We are a place where we take
pride in our community and its safety.
[15:53] We are improving, modernizing, and
maintaining roads. We are proposing no
[15:57] property tax rate increase. We are a
desirable place to live, work, and grow
[16:01] a business. And we're continuing to
promote fiscal transparency and
[16:05] stewardship.
In the city, we have several different
[16:09] types of funds. Um, and they're broken
out on the screen for you. Starting from
[16:12] the left, we have the governmental
activity funds. Those are primarily
[16:16] funded by property tax. We have our
capital project and equipment funds
[16:20] primarily funded by sales tax. We have
two enterprise funds that are funded by
[16:25] the utility charges for those particular
services. We have two fiduciary funds.
[16:30] These funds are held by the city but not
controlled by the city in any way. And
[16:34] then we have some a few special funds
and they have special restrictions about
[16:38] the revenues and expenditures. For
example, we have the mayor's charity
[16:42] fund and once a year we hold a mayor's
annual golf tournament where we raise
[16:46] money for community needs. Uh the mayor
and his wife adopt annually um usually
[16:52] around 30 kids from the school district
to give them Christmas presents and make
[16:56] sure that they have a really happy
holiday season. So um no tax dollars,
[17:00] property tax, sales tax, no city revenue
goes into that fund. there are specific
[17:05] restrictions related to that fund to
make sure that only proceeds from
[17:09] fundraising efforts go into that fund.
So that's just an example of one of the
[17:12] funds that we have, special funds that
we have here at the city.
[17:18] In tonight's presentation, I'll talk a
lot about how property taxes are
[17:22] calculated. Um, you know, some of the
strategies that the city deploys when
[17:27] putting together its budget. And a word
that you're going to hear a lot is mill.
[17:30] So what is a mill? I get that question a
lot. It's just a unit of measurement
[17:35] that is used to calculate property
taxes. In practical terms, a mill is $1
[17:40] of property taxes for $1,000 of assessed
value. Um, MIL ML and MIL ML both are
[17:48] used synonymously. They they mean the
same thing. Um, so just wanted to call
[17:52] that out to make sure that the public is
aware.
[17:55] So, how are property taxes calculated on
a home? We first start with our
[17:59] appraised value. that's set by the
Levvenworth County Appraisers Office. We
[18:04] multiply that by the assessment
percentage that is set in state statute.
[18:08] The assessment for percentage for
residential properties is 11.5 12%.
[18:13] Commercial properties is 25%. So from a
rate perspective, commercial properties
[18:18] pay more than double the rate of
property taxes than residential uh
[18:22] properties in the state of Kansas. You
multiply those two together to get the
[18:26] assessed value. You multiply that by the
mill rate. uh divide that by a th00and
[18:30] to get the city's portion of the tax
bill.
[18:34] The average home value in the city of
Baser is $423,000.
[18:39] You multiply that by the residential
assessment percentage of 11.5% to get
[18:43] the assessed value. Multiply that by the
city's proposed mill rate of 33.938.
[18:50] Divide that by a,000 to get the city's
portion of the tax bill. Um I get this
[18:55] question a lot when I make this
presentation and I do this presentation
[18:58] a lot. Um, I pay a lot more in taxes
than that. So, where is my money going?
[19:04] This is where your property tax dollars
are going if you live inside city
[19:08] limits. Uh, this is for the last year's
tax cycle. These taxing jurisdictions
[19:14] have not yet, were the first one other
than Loveorth County to hold the budget
[19:18] hearing um and approve their budget. So,
all of these other taxing authorities
[19:23] have only published what their intent is
to do with their mill rate and not
[19:26] necessarily approved it. Um, so I'll go
through what it was last year and what
[19:30] they're proposing for this year. So last
year, for every $1 of property taxes
[19:35] that you paid in Baser, about a penny
went to the state, 25 cents goes to the
[19:40] county, 23 cents to the city, 6 cents to
the fire district, 41 cents goes to the
[19:46] school district, and 4 cents goes to the
library. For this upcoming tax cycle,
[19:51] the state of Kansas actually passed
legislation to remove that one and a
[19:54] half mills. So that will come off.
Levvenworth County decided to go revenue
[19:59] neutral. So they reduced their mill rate
by about two and a quarter mills. Uh
[20:04] that was approved today. Uh as the city
we're recommending a flat mill rate.
[20:08] Fairmont Township Fire has published
that their maximum mill rate would be an
[20:12] increase of about a half a mill. Uh the
school district is uh maximum would be
[20:17] about a mill and a half increase. And
then the Baser Community Library uh
[20:22] published about a half mil increase. So,
um, state of Kansas would be falling
[20:28] off. Levvenworth County went down about
two and a quarter. We're proposing to
[20:32] stay flat and the remaining taxing
authorities are, uh, could possibly see
[20:36] an increase in their mill rate.
[20:40] Here's the history of property values in
the city of Baser. Our value for this
[20:44] upcoming budget cycle is uh, a little
over 161 million. That's two 10 12%
[20:51] increase from 2026. About half of that
is due to new construction in our
[20:56] community and the other half is due to
appreciation of existing structures.
[21:02] This is the history of the mill rate in
the city of Baser. You can see that
[21:05] there has not been a a vote to increase
the property tax rate since 2018.
[21:11] Residents and businesses are probably
paying more in taxes because one or two
[21:15] things are happening at the same time.
either your property value is
[21:19] increasing, other taxing jurisdictions
are increasing their mill rate, or both.
[21:24] Um, and of course, this governing body
has continued to advocate uh for
[21:27] legislation at the state level to cap
property valuation increases for the
[21:31] purposes of taxation.
[21:36] This is a this is a slide that I've
included in previous budget
[21:39] presentations, and I think it's really
important to demonstrate the strategy,
[21:42] the long-term strategy of a flat mill
rate. We get the question a lot of well
[21:48] why don't you just decrease a half mill
a half mill and then just reset back to
[21:53] where you were when you know the city
needs the needs additional resources and
[21:59] so in the top section you can see um two
different scenarios. So the assumptions
[22:05] in this particular calculation is a home
value that had a home value of three
[22:10] $300,000 in 2022. Five years of growth
on average of a 7% increase in home
[22:16] value year-over-year. That's our basic
um assumption in this calculation. In
[22:22] the green there you can see uh yearbyear
the city portion of the taxes will
[22:27] increase because the city is keeping the
mill rate flat and the property value is
[22:31] increasing by 7%. Year-over-year. So you
can see in that scenario the total
[22:37] amount over a 5-year period that you
would pay in additional city taxes is
[22:42] $363.90.
In the bottom scenario, we decreased the
[22:48] mill rate by a half a mill each year
until we got to 2026 and we reset back
[22:54] to the original mill rate. And you can
see that that would cost residents on
[22:58] average 5% more because the values of
those mills go up because the home value
[23:03] is increasing. So that is the reason why
the city has continued to keep a flat
[23:08] mill rate and try to advocate for
capping property valuation increases for
[23:12] the purposes of taxation.
In another scenario, we looked at, okay,
[23:17] well, why don't we just decrease it by
two mills? What what what would that
[23:22] look like? And what would that look like
compared to a property value cap at 3%.
[23:27] So, if we took an existing home um that
was valued at 20 $325,000 in 2022,
[23:36] um this year it would be appraised at
$426,000
[23:40] and that would be about $1,500
um for their particular portion. That's
[23:46] with a 2 mil decrease. On a new home,
$500,000,
[23:51] same scenario, they'd be paying about
$1,800.
[23:55] This next scenario will demonstrate why
it's so important in our professional
[24:00] opinion to have a property tax cap.
If we had a cap at 3%, that same home
[24:06] would be paying $1,400
instead of over $1,500 and the new home
[24:13] would be paying about $1,900.
So this demonstrates at least to us
[24:18] mathematically that if you instituted a
cap and you kept a flat mill rate,
[24:24] existing property owners would have a
manageable expectation of how to how
[24:29] much their property taxes will increase.
And also the new homes that are coming
[24:33] onto the system that require additional
services will also pay their fair share
[24:38] for the services that they require. So
we've we've done these calculations
[24:43] before. We just wanted to call those out
in the two different scenarios to
[24:46] demonstrate why it's so important in our
opinion to cap property value increases
[24:51] for the purposes of taxation.
The revenue neutral rate um which is
[24:57] what the public hearing is open for at
this moment is the mill rate that would
[25:01] allow the city to generate the same
amount of property tax dollars in this
[25:05] year uh I'm sorry next year as we did in
this year. And so the city of Baser's
[25:10] revenue neutral rate is 30.702
and the proposed uh mill rate in the
[25:16] proposed budget is the same mill rate as
2026 which is 33.938.
[25:21] Now revenue neutral does not guarantee
that people's property taxes will
[25:25] decrease. If their home value increases
beyond the commensurate percentage that
[25:31] the mill rate is reduced, they will pay
more in taxes. So revenue neutral does
[25:37] not guarantee that people's property
taxes will go down. It's our belief that
[25:41] the one factor in the entire property
tax calculation formula that has run a
[25:45] muck is the property values. And if we
can cap that, we can get a hold of of
[25:52] this situation with property taxes.
[25:56] So property taxes and baser, what do
they fund? Property taxes generally fund
[26:01] recurring expenses such as personnel.
sales tax is a little bit more volatile
[26:05] revenue source and so we budget those
conservatively. Those are for one-time
[26:09] expenditures such as roadway
improvements. Um you can see the
[26:14] majority of your property taxes go to
the general fund. They also fund the
[26:18] bond and interest fund, employee
benefits fund, and the parks and parks
[26:21] and w fund.
Sales tax is just the opposite. The
[26:27] majority of the your sales tax dollars
in Baser go to the capital improvement
[26:30] funds while only uh less than a third go
to the general fund.
[26:37] What is the biggest expense of the
general fund? The biggest expense of the
[26:40] general fund is the police department.
About 40% of the general fund expenses
[26:44] is the police department. And I think
that's representative of this governing
[26:48] body's intent to um support and promote
our police department to maintain Baser
[26:54] as a very safe community.
[26:58] We do an analysis of other cities and
what their mill rates are and how do we
[27:02] compare and how do we measure up against
cities regardless of class or regardless
[27:07] of population. So in the state of Kansas
there are three classes of cities uh
[27:12] first, second and third class. It has
nothing to do with how nice a community
[27:16] is and everything to do with how a
government is set up. Baser is a city of
[27:20] the third class. Um, and so when we look
at our mill rate versus the average mill
[27:25] rate of those classes of cities, third
class, second class, and and first
[27:30] class, you can see in each one of those
categories, our mill rate is
[27:34] significantly lower than the average in
each of those categories. If you look at
[27:39] 503 cities of the third class in the
state of Kansas, and we rank all of
[27:44] those mill rates from highest mill rate
to lowest mill rate, Baser is 315 at a
[27:49] 503.
So, if we look at other cities,
[27:54] regardless of class, and just look at
population,
[27:59] there are 10 cities in the state of
Kansas that have a population similar to
[28:02] ours between 7 and 9,000. The average
mill rate of those cities is a little
[28:07] over 41 a.5 mills, which again, our
proposed mill rate is 33.938.
[28:13] When I rank the all those cities, those
10 cities from highest mill rate to
[28:17] lowest mill rate, Baser is eight out of
10.
[28:22] One of the things we're really proud of
at Baser is our ability to secure grants
[28:26] and external funding for capital
projects in our community. We've been
[28:30] able to secure over $22 million in
grants uh for projects that are
[28:34] happening um around 155th Street, 158th
Street, all these trails, a significant
[28:40] amount of grant dollars. And those
grants can go anywhere. And we're just
[28:44] incredibly proud to be able to compete
and bring those property taxes to our
[28:49] residents as opposed to those dollars
going somewhere else because those
[28:52] dollars are going to get spent and we
want them to be spent here. Um just for
[28:57] some context, that's about six times the
amount of property taxes that we collect
[29:00] in a single year. So on average for the
last several years, we've actually
[29:04] collected more in grants than we have in
property taxes every single year. And
[29:10] that is why the city's been able to do
all of these incredible improvements
[29:14] without increasing the property tax
rate.
[29:19] Here are the 2027 proposed budget focus
areas. Of course, maintenance of
[29:23] existing facilities. We talk about this
all the time in our budget workshops.
[29:27] It's not enough to build nice things.
You got to keep them nice, and that
[29:31] takes resources. And so we established
uh a reserve fund uh to be able to
[29:36] properly maintain these nice amenities
that have been um built in the last few
[29:41] years. Um we're investing in the city's
roadway network, including the new
[29:45] special sales tax that was approved. Um
we're continuing to host quality parks
[29:50] and wreck events. We are continuing to
try to leverage external dollars for
[29:54] roadway improvements and infrastructure
improvements. This budget includes an
[29:58] additional FTE um that will be allocated
by the city administrator. Um she's
[30:03] preliminary said that she'd like to
allocate that to the police department.
[30:06] Um as we continue to grow, we're going
to need more additional resources in
[30:10] that area. We are recommending a
property tax relief initiative and I'll
[30:14] talk about that more on a subsequent
slide. And then recruitment and
[30:18] retention of city staff. This proposed
budget does include a cost of living
[30:22] adjustment for all staff of 2.4%.
[30:27] We've completed some significant roadway
improvements for 2026. You can see our
[30:31] guys on the on the screen doing some
crack sealing. Um we did a street
[30:35] sweeping uh in the spring. We'll do one
in the fall. We've upgraded our pavement
[30:39] pavement markings. Um we did two
neighborhoods of 2-in mill and overlay.
[30:43] We did two neighborhoods of curb
replacement. And we did several
[30:46] neighborhoods of crack sealing. And
crack sealing is a a pavement
[30:50] preservation uh process where we um put
material in cracks to prevent moisture
[30:56] from penetrating down into the subbase
and therefore preserving the life of the
[31:00] pavement.
We are working on updating the um
[31:05] roadway map. Um we should have it
released by the end of September and
[31:09] we'll update it every year thereafter.
So when the sales tax passed, we
[31:13] immediately got with our uh engineers to
update the map so that community members
[31:17] can go online and see when their roadway
will be improved and what maintenance
[31:22] materials will be provided to that
roadway.
[31:26] Uh this governing body has put a
significant effort into uh recruiting uh
[31:31] commercial businesses because like I
said in the beginning uh commercial
[31:34] businesses are taxed at more than double
the rate of as residential property. So,
[31:39] it's really important that every city
have a balanced tax portfolio of
[31:44] residential and commercial properties.
Um, and so this governing body has put a
[31:48] significant amount of effort into that.
From 2019 to current, our uh percentage
[31:53] of commercial of assessed value has
increased by uh 2.1% from 7.8% to 9.9%.
[32:00] Uh that may not sound like a lot but it
is especially considering the wave of
[32:05] residential development that you have
been uh basically swimming up against a
[32:09] current of uh for the last six years. Um
so it is a really significant um victory
[32:16] there. Since 2020, the city has welcomed
several new businesses. Most recently,
[32:20] the city announced McDonald's and Duncan
are coming to town. It's important to
[32:24] note that those uh announcements, those
developments received exactly 0 in
[32:29] property tax incentives from the city.
Um they are also paying full sales tax
[32:34] to the city. The city did not forego any
of its portion of sales tax that will be
[32:38] generated from those developments. And
we're hopeful to be able to make
[32:42] additional announcements later this year
and early in 2027.
[32:47] This is a history of the uh city sales
tax collections. And you can see that
[32:51] your um priority of bringing more
commercial development to the community
[32:56] is working. These are dollars that we
use for roadway improvements, for
[33:01] capital investments. Um and it just
shows that the city's sales tax
[33:06] collections continue to be strong
year-over-year, uh despite some of the
[33:09] surrounding communities not experiencing
the same.
[33:14] In 2021, the city of Baser um approved
resolution 2021-36 and that established
[33:22] our reserve and and cash reserve policy
and debt policy. Um it is because this
[33:28] governing body approved that policy that
we've been able to get a really great
[33:32] foundation to make sure that all the
decisions that we're making point back
[33:36] to that document and as staff it is a
really great roadmap um for putting this
[33:41] budget together. Um, so because you did
that work back in 2021, it's really set
[33:45] us on a path for success related to our
cash reserves and our debt management
[33:49] policy.
Um, what is a capital improvement plan?
[33:53] A capital improvement plan is a
long-term uh, financial management plan
[33:57] that includes all the city's capital
investments over a long period of time.
[34:01] Um, some of them can be recurring, some
of them can be non-recurring, but all of
[34:06] the city's investments back into its
infrastructure is encapsulated in that
[34:10] document. We have a few foundations of
the capital improvement plan. Um, first
[34:15] is we're going to do whatever we can to
secure as many grants as we can for
[34:18] whatever project we recommend. Secondly,
we're going to use funded plans,
[34:23] preferably by grants, uh, to use
community um, input to be able to put
[34:28] projects forward. So, um, we really like
doing plans in advance and in including
[34:34] the community before big developments
happen. And we think that that's a good
[34:38] foundation moving forward. And then
finally, this city staff will not
[34:41] recommend anything to this governing
body that's going to jeopardize our
[34:44] doubleA plus bond rating. We just won't
do it. It's not worth it.
[34:49] We did an analysis of other surrounding
communities and the value of their
[34:53] capital improvement plan and what is
that as a percentage of their assessed
[34:58] value. Basically, how by a percentage,
what are they reinvesting back into the
[35:04] city? And you can see that the city of
Baser is reinvesting from a percentage
[35:09] perspective back into the community at
the second highest rate of the cities
[35:12] that we evaluated. Uh which is great to
see.
[35:17] I spoke about this earlier about uh the
importance of advocating for a property
[35:21] tax cap for the purposes of taxation. We
went up to Topeka several times. Um we
[35:27] thought maybe we were going to get it
over the finish line. Um we provided
[35:31] verbal testimony in person. We were the
only city in the entire state of Kansas
[35:35] that provided verbal testimony in
support of a property tax cap and it
[35:39] passed in the Senate, failed in the
House. So, we were pretty disappointed
[35:43] in that. Um, but what we appreciate
about this governing body is you guys
[35:46] told us, let's try to figure a way how
to do something locally. And so, what
[35:51] we've put together in this budget is
what's called Baser's Back to You uh
[35:55] program. It's a residential rebate
program. There's no income restriction,
[35:59] no age restriction. Uh simply put, if
you are an live in your home and own
[36:05] your home, your owner occupied unit in a
residential home and you don't have any
[36:10] code violations or you don't owe
anything back to the city and you're not
[36:13] living in a brand new home, um if your
property value increased by beyond 3%,
[36:20] the city will rebate back to you
whatever excess of the city portion of
[36:24] the taxes back to you in the form of a
check. Um, we recognize that we only
[36:29] control as a city 23% of the city's tax
bill um of the tax bill that our
[36:35] residents pay, but we really believe
strongly in the cap and it's no longer
[36:40] working to just go up and advocate in
Topeka. So, we're going to try to prove
[36:44] to them that it can work. Um, and so our
recommended start would be for this year
[36:49] for the tax bills that are going to be
sent out in 2026. We'd recommend
[36:53] releasing an FAQ right around when tax
bills go out so that we can start
[36:58] answering some questions from our
community. We'd recommend in December to
[37:02] send out a direct mailer so that
everybody is aware of this program. Um
[37:06] and then in January of 2027, we'd
recommend a opening up applications. And
[37:11] by application, I mean a very simple um
fillable form. We don't want to over
[37:16] complicate things. We don't want to
prevent people from actually applying
[37:21] and taking advantage of this program.
So, it will be our priority to make this
[37:25] as easy as possible. We'll make it
available online. People can come into
[37:29] city hall and we'll help you fill out
the form. People can mail it in. People
[37:32] can drop it off in the dropbox. Truly,
however people want to bring it back to
[37:36] us, we will help them. Um, and we will
process their check and and mail them
[37:41] their rebate check. Again, we can only
control 23%. Um, but we think that it's
[37:46] the right thing to do.
So, I do an analysis every year of,
[37:51] okay, we're keeping the property tax
rate flat. Property values are up.
[37:58] What's that mean for the average
property owner? So, I calculate every
[38:02] year what is the monthly impact for
residential properties and what is the
[38:07] monthly impact for commercial
properties? because we wanted to do an
[38:10] analysis of um we get the question,
well, why don't you just decrease the
[38:15] mill rate by whatever that same budget
impact is for your property tax rebate?
[38:20] Well, this illustrates why we're doing
that. Um, so if we did nothing, if we
[38:24] just kept it flat and didn't offer a
rebate, residential properties can
[38:28] expect to pay about $5.30 per month more
and commercial properties about 26.50.
[38:35] The budget impact for the rebate program
we estimate at $75,000.
[38:41] That is about half of a mill. So if we
decreased
[38:46] the mill rate by half a mill, you can
see residential properties are still
[38:50] going to pay an additional $5.22 more
per month, which is only 8 cents less
[38:55] than the previous scenario. There's just
not a lot of movement there. um because
[39:00] we're trying to target existing homes,
people that have been in their home year
[39:04] over year over year. And so we did the
same analysis for okay, what what does
[39:09] it look like if we have the cap? You can
see residential properties can expect to
[39:13] pay uh $3.50 per month per per month
more, which is significantly less than
[39:19] the flat mill rate with no rebate. And
so that is why we think it's in the best
[39:23] interest for us to do the rebate program
as opposed to just reducing the mill by
[39:27] the commensurate amount in the budget.
This is a real example. Um it's actually
[39:35] a home of um somebody that's sitting in
this room. Um the 2025 appraised value
[39:40] was $366,000,
a little over that. The 2026 appraised
[39:45] value increased by 7%. Um, so in this
particular scenario, this person would
[39:50] be rebated back about $51.54.
Um, you know, every little bit helps,
[39:56] especially when you're trying to uh, you
know, manage a home and manage a
[39:59] household. This is, um, just to
demonstrate how this would work. This is
[40:04] not the average amount that people will
receive. Um, but, you know, if
[40:07] somebody's home increased by 10%,
they're obviously going to get rebated
[40:11] back more because they're being taxed
more um, by a percentage perspective.
[40:16] So, this is just an example to show um
what the rebate program would do um in
[40:22] the proposed line item budget. And then
also in the packet, we included a um
[40:26] summary of the 2027 proposed budget. Um
so, each one of those funds have a line
[40:32] item budget that's attached in the PDF
that folks can go on online and and see
[40:37] where their money is being spent for
that particular item.
[40:41] U Mayor, that concludes my comments at
this point. Um, I believe that the next
[40:45] step is to uh hear from the public now
that the public hearing is open.
[40:50] » Good job.
>> Thank you, mayor.
[40:55] » We will now hear from the public. Please
wait to be recognized by the mayor.
[41:00] Remember to state your name and address
for the record. Is there anyone here who
[41:04] would like to speak about the revenue
neutral rate?
[41:13] Not seeing anybody here. Uh Kathy, is
there anybody online?
[41:19] Okay,
go ahead and now hear from the city
[41:22] council. Does the city council have any
comments regarding the revenue neutral
[41:26] rate?
[41:34] » I just want to say thank you, Maddie.
Uh when I hear the budget, what I hear
[41:41] is not just talk.
It's being transparent.
[41:46] It's helping with the understanding.
It is providing examples that people can
[41:53] can hand can get their hands on. So,
thank you very much. And if anybody
[42:00] winds up having questions,
I can tell you there's a person you can
[42:06] go to. Sorry,
[42:10] » no questions. Just simply want to say
great job, Maddie. As you always do,
[42:14] explain it so well. Um, should be a
teacher. You know, you you make a very,
[42:19] in my opinion, difficult subjects very
easy. So, job.
[42:25] » Yeah. Thank you, Mayor. Um, I just want
to say, um, first off, thank you to our
[42:29] staff, Leslie and Maddie, both for
bringing in all that grant money. I know
[42:34] you've got a considerable amount that
we're um I I think it's about 17 million
[42:39] that we're hoping to maybe receive.
We'll see how it goes. I know you guys
[42:42] have been working diligently on that
many, many hours, weeks. Thank you. Um
[42:48] also, I'm really pleased with all the
commercial development that's coming,
[42:51] especially when they're paying not only
full property tax, but sales tax. That's
[42:55] huge. That's improvements to our roads.
Um because I do have some concerns with
[43:01] some of the roads surrounding the city.
Um I was mentioning to some people that
[43:06] are actually in the room. I'm I'm
actually concerned about safety on
[43:10] Levvenworth Road right now coming into
Baser. So um I feel strongly that it's
[43:16] good to not raise the mill rate, but
also be able to continue to build our
[43:21] city in a good way, quality way, a safe
way. Um, but I also am extremely
[43:28] impressed that you guys thought outside
the box. I mean, I'm not aware of any
[43:32] other city or maybe even taxing entity
in the state of Kansas that's looking at
[43:38] capping and doing a refund. So, thank
you. I mean, you two absolutely amaze me
[43:44] and we're just blessed to have you both
on board and helping our city. So, thank
[43:48] you.
>> Thank you, council member. And if I may,
[43:50] mayor, um I actually spoke to the um
Senate Taxation Committee chair uh about
[43:56] our program and um she was very excited
and to her knowledge, no one else is
[44:02] proposing that. So to Council Member
Standford's point, um I I think we're
[44:06] probably the first and um happy to be
the first and hopefully other folks
[44:10] catch on and the state finally does
something about the property value
[44:14] problem.
>> Thank you. I'll now enter obtain a
[44:19] motion for resolution 2026-17.
[44:23] Mr.
>> Mayor, I move to approve resolution
[44:25] 2026-17, a resolution of the city of
Baser, Kansas, regarding the governing
[44:30] body's approval to levy a property tax
rate exceeding the revenue neutral rate,
[44:35] having held a public hearing regarding
the same. I have a motion. Do I have a
[44:38] second?
>> Second. I have a motion and a second.
[44:41] I'll call for a vote. Vernon
[44:48] Vernon.
>> Hi
[44:52] » Vicki.
>> Hi
[44:53] » Jerry.
>> Hi
[44:54] » Mike.
>> Hi
[44:56] » Ben.
>> Hi.
[44:58] » Passes 50.
[45:03] I will now entertain a motion to close
the public hearing for the revenue
[45:06] neutral rate.
>> Mr. Mayor, I move we close the public
[45:10] hearing for the revenue neutral rate. A
motion. Do I have a second?
[45:14] » I'll second.
>> A motion and a second. I'll call for a
[45:17] vote. Ben.
>> Hi.
[45:19] » Vernon.
>> I.
[45:21] » Vicki.
>> Hi.
[45:22] » Sherry.
>> Hi.
[45:23] » Mike.
>> Hi.
[45:24] » Passes 50.
[45:31] We'll move on to item number three,
public hearing for the city of Baser's
[45:35] operating budget for 2027.
I will now entertain a motion for the
[45:40] public hearing. Council,
[45:50] I apologize. Um, the mayor is asking for
a motion to open the public hearing
[45:54] regarding the 2027 operating budget.
>> Mayor, I move we approve we open the the
[46:01] public hearing for the 2027 uh operating
budget.
[46:04] » I have a motion. Do I have a second?
[46:09] I have a motion and a second. I'll call
for a vote. Cherry.
[46:12] » Hi.
>> Mike.
[46:13] » Hi.
>> Ben.
[46:14] » Hi.
>> Vernon.
[46:16] » Hi.
>> Vicki.
[46:18] » Hi. [clears throat]
>> Passes 50.
[46:26] » Public hearing that is open currently is
the hearing regarding the city's
[46:29] proposed 2027 budget.
[46:36] We now hear from the public. Please wait
to be recognized by the mayor. Remember
[46:40] to state your name and address for the
record. Is there anyone here that would
[46:43] like to speak about the 2027
proposed budget?
[46:50] Not seeing anybody. Kathy, is anybody
online?
[46:59] I will now entertain a motion to close
the public hearing for the 20
[47:03] 27 operating budget. Mayor, I move to
close the public hearing for the 2027 uh
[47:09] operating budget.
>> A motion. Do I have a second?
[47:13] » A second.
>> A motion a second. I'll call for a vote.
[47:16] Vicki.
>> Hi.
[47:19] » Hi.
>> Cherry.
[47:20] » Hi.
>> Ben.
[47:21] » Hi.
>> Vernon.
[47:22] » Hi.
>> Passes 50.
[47:33] Item number four, resolution 2026-18,
a resolution approving the 2027 city of
[47:39] Baser operation operating budget as
authorized by the Kansas state law.
[47:46] » Thank you, Mayor. Mattie Bton, deputy
city administrator. Staff does not have
[47:48] any additional comments, but we'd be
happy to stand for questions.
[47:52] » Anybody got any questions, Sherry?
>> No, just thanks for all the hard work. I
[47:56] know you guys extensive hours and time,
and thanks for your thorough
[48:01] presentation. Appreciate it.
>> Have additional questions. Thank you.
[48:08] » Hi.
[48:12] » Mayor, we have a proposed motion on the
screen if you would like to entertain
[48:14] that.
>> Mr. Mayor, I move to approve resolution
[48:18] 2026-18, a resolution approving the 2027
city of Baser operating budget as
[48:24] presented.
>> Have a motion. Do I have a second?
[48:27] » Second.
>> A motion and a second. Call for a vote.
[48:31] Ben
>> I.
[48:33] » Vernon
>> I.
[48:36] » Mike.
>> Hi.
[48:37] » Jerry.
>> Hi.
[48:38] » Vicki.
>> Hi.
[48:39] » Passes by vote.
[clears throat]
[48:44] » Moving on to item number five.
Resolution 202619.
[48:48] The resolution accepting the 5-year
capital improvement plan CIP for the
[48:53] city of Baser.
>> Thank you, Mayor Matty Bal, deputy city
[48:56] administrator. staff does not have any
additional comments, but we have be
[48:59] happy to stand for questions. And our
city clerk has a recommended motion on
[49:02] the screen if you're ready to entertain
it, sir.
[49:04] » Uh you take a motion. Does anybody have
any discussion they want to talk about
[49:07] on that?
>> Okay, I'll entertain a motion.
[49:13] » Uh Mr. Mayor, this is Sher. I would move
to approve resolution 2025-9,
[49:19] a resolution accepting the 5-year
capital improvement plan for the city of
[49:23] Baser. You said
>> Oh, I'm My apologies. 2026-19.
[49:30] » Just want to make sure.
>> Eyes.
[49:32] » Apologize.
>> I'll second that. Have
[49:35] » a motion in a second. I'll call for a
vote. Jerry
[49:38] » I.
>> Ben.
[49:39] » Hi.
>> Vern. Vernon.
[49:41] » I.
>> Vicki.
[49:43] » Mike.
>> Hi. Passes. Five.
[49:46] » Mayor and council. That concludes our
budget presentations this tonight. And I
[49:50] just want to say again, thank you for
all of your feedback um over the course
[49:54] of these last few months and uh it's an
honor and a privilege to serve this
[49:58] community. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Maddie.
[50:02] Move on to item number six, first
amendment to the development agreement,
[50:06] Baser Boulevard Holdings LLC in city of
Baser, Kansas.
[50:11] » Mayor, thank you very much. Leslie
Riverola, city administrator. Um, the
[50:14] item that you have in front of you this
evening represents the first amendment
[50:18] to the development agreement between the
city of Baser and Baser Boulevard
[50:22] Holdings LLC. The representative of the
development is here this evening, Mr.
[50:27] Dustin Baker. Um, a little bit of
background on why the request is being
[50:31] made for the amendment. Um, as you can
imagine, the timing and um, necessary
[50:38] components to get the project moving
forward hit a little bit of a delay. Um
[50:42] nothing that's earthshattering, but the
city is uh moving forward with our
[50:46] notice to proceed with construction for
the sanitary sewer improvements before
[50:51] the end of August. So work is set to
start um very quickly and um the Baser
[50:58] Boulevard Holdings team has been
diligently working through their plan
[51:02] design as well as some mass grading that
needs to happen um for the site uh
[51:07] alongside their own sanitary sewer um
plans for the internal collection
[51:11] system. So we feel very uh pleased with
the progress. The request that they have
[51:15] in front of you is to extend the first
deadline for their development through
[51:20] June 30th, 2027. You may recall the
development agreement had several
[51:24] performance metrics that needed to be
hit within certain time frames. They
[51:29] will still maintain all of the other
deadlines. So no other deadlines shift
[51:32] in the development agreement, just the
first performance deadline. So you may
[51:36] recall there's a requirement for traffic
signals once we hit a certain occupancy.
[51:40] All of those remain unchanged. So, um,
your special counsel, Pete Heaven,
[51:44] actually, uh, reviewed this with, um,
the developer's attorney and had no
[51:49] concerns. Staff has no concerns. We
recommend approval. The developer is
[51:53] here if you should have any questions
for him about progress and timeline, but
[51:57] we stand in support and I'm happy to
answer any questions that you might
[52:00] have. Good.
>> You have any questions for less?
[52:05] No.
>> Thanks, Mr. Coming today.
[52:15] I stand for questions. So,
>> is anybody
[52:19] question for Dustin?
[52:25] » No, I'll just say that we are um we do
feel like we're making really good
[52:29] progress. We've been working with Jim um
and other and Alex and city staff on
[52:36] architectural um design standards,
making sure that we're meeting um our
[52:42] preliminary uh development plan as it
was presented. Um we are uh diligently
[52:49] working on um submitting the final
development plan for the first phase
[52:54] which should be submitted in in next
month sometime. um you know, fingers
[52:59] crossed we're we're working on that. So,
we feel really good about the progress.
[53:03] It's just a couple of snags just caused
us to um have a little bit of a delay,
[53:08] but uh city staff has been great and we
feel like we're um we're we're just
[53:13] we're almost right there.
>> Thank you, Jeff.
[53:17] » Thank you.
>> Need a motion.
[53:22] Mayor, I move to approve the first
amendment to development agreement
[53:25] between Baser Boulevard Holdings LLC and
the city of Baser, Kansas as presented
[53:29] and authorized the mayor to execute the
same.
[53:32] » A motion. Do I have a second?
>> Second.
[53:35] » A motion and a second. I'll call for a
vote. Mike,
[53:38] » I cherry
>> I.
[53:40] » Vicki,
>> I.
[53:41] » Vernon, I
passes 5.
[53:47] » Thank you. Thank you, Dustin.
[53:52] Item number seven, board of zoning
appeals appointment. Uh, I'm asking for
[53:57] you to approve Nathan Shimp. Um, Maddie,
what was name of the the academy? He was
[54:04] at the academy.
>> Yes, mayor. The citizens academy that
[54:07] the mayor and council authorized, this
is our first year. um he was he is a
[54:12] participant currently in the citizens
academy and voiced interest in um
[54:17] working for and being appointed to the
BCA and um so the mayor was very
[54:22] gracious and reached out to him and
that's what's included in the packet for
[54:25] consideration
>> and he seemed very excited and and
[54:29] wanting to do something
I'm asking
[54:38] I need a motion
Mayor, I move to approve the appointment
[54:42] of Mr. Nathan Shimp to the city of Baser
Board of Zoning Appeals with term
[54:47] expiring in October of 2026.
>> Have a motion. Do I have a second?
[54:54] Have a motion and a second. I'll call
for a vote. Vicki,
[54:58] » I Vernon I
[55:04] Ben,
S is 50.
[55:08] » [clears throat]
[55:10] » on the city administrator reports. Uh
chief, I'll start with you.
[55:17] » Uh thank you, Mayor Council. Um first I
just I would like to say as your chief
[55:22] of police and the department head, thank
you for supporting all the services
[55:27] we're trying to provide. Um working for
Wesley and and Maddie, I'll tell you the
[55:32] presentation and the bud the budget
preparedness is second to none. and it
[55:36] really gives me no excuses. So, uh I
look forward to the next next year and
[55:41] what we have as far as we're budgeting
this. Thank you. Um the latest thing
[55:45] that we've been really working hard is
the new school year. Um I've said it
[55:50] before and I'll keep saying it that I
think the center of our community really
[55:53] is um our families, single family homes
and all the children that go to all our
[55:58] schools and our school district. Um, our
police officers are very visible in all
[56:03] the school zones on foot on drop offs
and pickups. It's been very intentional.
[56:08] So, if you see us, there's a reason for
that. Um, that's where we think that we
[56:12] are most valuable, especially this time
of the year. Everybody's getting back in
[56:16] the swing of things. Uh, I'll just say
two things. One, put your phone down.
[56:20] Two, slow down. Expect to take it. Guys
are out there working hard. So, anybody
[56:26] has any questions or needs anything,
we'll waste it.
[56:29] Thank you, Chief. Great job, Chief.
Thank you.
[56:32] » Also, in case people didn't know it and
didn't go by at that certain time, but
[56:38] at night or at the end of the high
school time, there is usually an officer
[56:44] in the median reminding people to slow
down. So, you can't say the pe the
[56:50] police department is just looking to
hand out tickets. It's a great asset.
[56:56] Thank you.
Thank you, G.
[57:00] » Good evening, mayor, city council. G may
Service. Um on the sewer side, we've
[57:05] been uh keeping a lot of the electrical
components going in the lift stations
[57:10] with all the heat. Um the recent couple
storms we had uh did knock out some
[57:16] electrical items that we had to replace.
Um guys been doing some jetting of some
[57:24] problem sewer lines. Um they try to do
them about every six months. Um we call
[57:30] a restaurant row up off Parkway to 155th
and then back to the north. So they've
[57:37] been out doing that. Um street side dirt
work, asphalt work, replacing signs from
[57:43] the storms up through Falcon Lakes, uh
through a couple other center point. Uh
[57:50] I don't know how they can classify that
as a tornado. Uh we used 30 B 30 inch
[57:56] base post and the base post was like a
pretzel not the sign post the base in
[58:02] the ground. So I think it was actual
tornado but uh like city administrator
[58:10] Leslie stated working hard with the
contractors to move forward on the
[58:16] residents on bothard city's portion of
the san sewer. um had another meeting
[58:22] with the contractor today where he's
going to come out tomorrow at 9:00.
[58:25] We're calling the engineer of record. We
need to get the base map so he be able
[58:30] to start getting everything surveyed
out. The dirt contractors want to start
[58:35] hauling equipment in next week and
plowing through dirt starting um no
[58:41] later than the first week of September.
Um his portion scheduled for about two
[58:46] weeks. Contractor will be jumping in
right behind him. He's scheduled
[58:50] generally right now for about a 30 30
day construction period, weather
[58:54] permitting, and then we'll probably add
about another five to seven days for
[58:59] testing, factor testing, pressure
testing, manual testing. Uh we will be
[59:05] use utilizing our
um inspector that we use on development
[59:11] projects. Um we require that for all the
other developers. So, we want to keep
[59:16] above the board on having it inspected.
It's a KDH requirement. Um, also again,
[59:24] thank you. The new trucks are working
out great. I mean, it's awesome. Um,
[59:29] besides that, we're doing a lot of
cleaning in the upper lot of plant. Um,
[59:34] just working on the 158 project, getting
it done, working through some punch list
[59:41] items with a couple other developers,
keeping that going. work on Jim on some
[59:46] things. So
[59:51] » you have anything?
>> Um
[59:54] Ortiz, communication specialists. Uh
I'll keep it short. I'll talk about
[59:58] Citizens Academy. Um this last Wednesday
we had uh Jim Sherman and Alex Van Dyke
[1:00:04] uh cover planning and zoning uh for the
citizens academy class and uh
[1:00:09] councilwoman McEnroe joined us which was
super helpful to give a different
[1:00:13] perspective um and answer some questions
that some of the citizens had. So I
[1:00:18] invite the council again to u our next
one which will be municipal services. So
[1:00:23] Jean and his team um then we're going to
go out to the wastewater treatment plant
[1:00:28] if you would like to join us for that.
Hopefully it doesn't smell too much like
[1:00:31] sewage that day. [laughter]
[1:00:35] But uh we are we do in you know invite
anybody who wants to join us that night.
[1:00:40] And then um I did want to add that if
you do plan on coming uh September 16th
[1:00:46] is going to be rescheduled to the 17th
because it is the same day as the
[1:00:49] mayor's golf tournament. So we wanted to
kind of do a little split but um that's
[1:00:55] about so
>> thank you very much Jim
[1:00:59] » being mayor council Jim Sherman playing
zoning director um yes we had a good
[1:01:04] time at the citizens academy I think it
turned out really well as our field trip
[1:01:09] we took them out to the uh bas on the
boulevard to give them a perspective we
[1:01:14] gave them plot plans development plans
and then said look at the blank slate
[1:01:19] and then this is how we do our job we we
have to work with uh conceptual drawings
[1:01:25] but also u keeping in mind how it works
and fits with the community. So um I
[1:01:31] think it was very successful. Um
certainly enjoyed the shred event at the
[1:01:35] mayor shred event this last weekend. We
dodged some rain, but it sure was a good
[1:01:39] time. Um and I had more probably more
positive comments from people driving up
[1:01:44] than any activity I think I've had since
I started here. they're just thinking
[1:01:49] here that we're doing that. So,
congratulations on uh supporting the
[1:01:54] community like that. Uh we're close to
Dunkin Donuts. We've got our last uh
[1:01:59] civil engineering review completed
today.
[1:02:02] We're close on Sundance Villas. There
was just a little bit of a uh last
[1:02:06] minute design on their outflow to their
detention basin which is significant
[1:02:10] because it abuts the based on the
boulevard large development. So, they're
[1:02:16] a little bit downream. essential that we
make sure we manage that zero flow
[1:02:20] capability. Um we are um we'll be moving
to this body soon, the Chestnut Villas,
[1:02:27] that's a 55 and older plus u development
and past the pling commission. Um we're
[1:02:33] excited because we uh we'll show some uh
elevation drawings, but it's a it's a
[1:02:38] quality uh development. U if anybody
knows my background, I love infill. Uh I
[1:02:44] I've done so much we used to call green
field clear cutting but I I really enjoy
[1:02:50] infill and this is just a super project
here in town and then uh we'll kick off
[1:02:55] I think what eventually be some more
infill uh followed by the alco
[1:03:00] development basart.
Um thanks to Jean's help we are now
[1:03:04] kicking loose building permits for base
2 out of Boulders for Falcons. Um,
[1:03:10] that's a pretty rapidly developing area.
Uh, I don't know that anybody thought it
[1:03:15] would go as fast as it is, but u once
they finish that, they will start the
[1:03:19] next link u from the northern duplexes
linking Falcon back to Falcon uh
[1:03:26] Boulevard. So, we're excited about those
two finishing up.
[1:03:31] And so, that's kind of we have quite
quite a bit more. Alex and I did our
[1:03:35] quick little we had over 30 projects
today, but that's just a high level
[1:03:40] recap of where we're at. Anytime they
need anybody has questions, feel free to
[1:03:44] give me a shout.
>> Thank you. Appreciate it. Bey
[1:03:48] » mayor, city council Kathy, city cler, as
Jim stated, uh your community shout out
[1:03:53] event was very well attended. You had 56
cars and a lot of positive feedback.
[1:03:58] » Thank you,
Maddie.
[1:04:01] » Thank you, Mayor. Matty Boutton, deputy
city administrator. Um, I don't I think
[1:04:05] the community has probably heard me
speak enough tonight. [laughter] Um, so
[1:04:09] I will just say again, um, thank you to
the mayor and council and to our city
[1:04:12] administrator, Leslie Riverola, for the
opportunity to serve here. I'm very
[1:04:16] grateful to be here and I hope that my
work is always representative of that.
[1:04:20] Thank you,
[1:04:24] » Mayor. Thank you. It's good to be back
um in person with you all. Um, okay. I
[1:04:31] will uh I probably will go a little bit
longer than usual. I'll try to keep it
[1:04:34] somewhat brief, but um just a couple of
uh procedural things or technical
[1:04:40] things. Um we have our governing body
retreat hopefully getting rescheduled.
[1:04:45] So uh if you have not had an opportunity
to see your email from Kathy, please
[1:04:50] take a look. Uh please let us know every
date that you're available, not just
[1:04:54] like your preferred date. So we want to
know what dates are potential. Um, also
[1:05:00] if you have any additional topics that
you would like to be considered, please
[1:05:04] let us know. We'll recirculate the draft
that we had um from earlier in the year,
[1:05:08] but we realize, you know, a few months
have passed, so you may have additional
[1:05:12] topics that you'd like um for
consideration. We uh have been
[1:05:16] diligently working on the what we're now
calling the community meeting space. I'm
[1:05:22] sure we'll have a new better title for
it after the governing body retreat, but
[1:05:26] I call it former OG city hall. Uh I
think it's going to be a great uh really
[1:05:32] a showpiece for downtown of um what this
community represents, right? The ability
[1:05:37] to come together um to dream big dreams
um and really open up a space that would
[1:05:42] be rentable. As you know, we get a lot
of feedback from the Baser Community
[1:05:46] Library that they're really the only
game in town with a rentable or
[1:05:49] available space. um that's free um or
nominal charge. And so we think this
[1:05:55] will be a great opportunity to really
give back to the community and and be
[1:05:58] able to repurpose a facility that
otherwise is sitting vacant. Um we
[1:06:03] continue to have our meetings monthly
with the school superintendent and a
[1:06:07] number of topics continue to circulate.
One of them is a request for an
[1:06:11] evaluation of an additional crosswalk at
Greyhawk uh elementary. For those of you
[1:06:16] that have driven that area, it is
bustling in the morning. it is busy and
[1:06:22] um while the one crosswalk is working
well um not all of our pedestrians cross
[1:06:28] at the crosswalk
that makes sense and so we want to make
[1:06:32] sure that we're connecting children and
their families safely to where they're
[1:06:35] trying to go. So um Maddie and I just
released I think this week the
[1:06:39] evaluation uh with our engineering team
to figure out if another crosswalk would
[1:06:44] be appropriate and where best to sign it
and place it. Of course, we'll
[1:06:47] coordinate that with the school
superintendent. One of the other things
[1:06:51] that the school superintendent brought
um up was the idea of uh I guess some of
[1:06:56] the schoolboard members were interested
in hosting smaller group meetings like
[1:07:01] you know a couple of council members and
a couple of schoolboard meetings. My
[1:07:05] suggestion back was why not just have
both bodies meet because trying to
[1:07:09] identify who on our city council would
be be the two to participate. you know,
[1:07:14] everybody is interested in what the
school district has going on and um we
[1:07:19] could certainly host them here, have a
nice meal, uh have it noticed, and if
[1:07:24] members of the public are interested,
they can come and attend as well. Uh the
[1:07:27] other hot topic that comes up, as each
of you know, is the topic of when, uh
[1:07:32] will there be an additional school
resource officer? And so, just to
[1:07:35] publicly address that, the city stands
ready to fund our portion of the SRO at
[1:07:40] any time. Um, I do understand that the
school district um financially says
[1:07:44] they're not ready to to make that um
that investment just yet, but just know
[1:07:49] that from a city perspective, we're
ready to mobilize a second SRO um when
[1:07:54] they're ready. So, uh we are excited
about that. I also wanted to um just
[1:08:01] express a few thanks uh to staff from
all of the events for from this summer.
[1:08:07] I mean, Olivia, you have just jumped in
and you are communicating with people.
[1:08:13] You're running the Citizens Academy. I
mean, the Citizens Academy is something
[1:08:16] that I think as a group we've dreamed
about and talked about for a couple of
[1:08:19] years and this was really the first year
that we were able to make it happen and
[1:08:22] I think it's working really well. I
think our participants are really
[1:08:25] enjoying it and I think that is really
reflective of the work that you've put
[1:08:29] into it. So, thank you. Um Ellie who's
joined our team is just off to the races
[1:08:35] hosting these events. She jumped in. I
think we were mid-season and does not
[1:08:39] appear to miss a beat. Um, I actually
had an opportunity to attend last
[1:08:44] Thursday's concert and the staff were a
glow. They were smiling. I also happened
[1:08:49] to manage to be there on the day that it
was not quite as hot as the surface of
[1:08:52] of the sun. So, that was nice. Um, but
it was a really great third Thursday
[1:08:57] concert. I think a nice way to end the
season. I look forward to the
[1:09:00] candlelight one coming up. Um, so huge
thanks to Ellie. Obviously, none of
[1:09:05] those events happen without our staff
volunteering to come and work them. And
[1:09:09] um you can tell that we're getting to
the end of season with uh volunteer
[1:09:14] fatigue, but everybody that was there
had a smile on their face and ready to
[1:09:18] serve the public. And I I think that is
also representative of the culture that
[1:09:23] not only that we've built, but that
you've helped establish and build here.
[1:09:26] And I hope you're all proud of that. Um
a huge thanks to Dave Brewer and the
[1:09:30] parks and recck team. When I drive this
community, our parks are outstanding.
[1:09:36] They're beautiful. And when we talk
about it in the budget about the
[1:09:39] importance of maintaining what we've
built, I hope each of you feels an
[1:09:43] immense sense of pride. Our parks are
not littered with trash. Um the people
[1:09:48] here are pleasant. When you go to the
parks, people aren't fighting with each
[1:09:52] other. Um you know, it's a place that
anybody would be proud to bring their
[1:09:56] family. And I think that's indicative of
the number of license plates that we see
[1:10:00] that are not only from here but from all
areas around the metropolitan. And I
[1:10:06] think that's awesome and I hope to see
more of that. So huge thank you to Dave
[1:10:10] and his team. If you have not seen it,
we are in the midst of construction of a
[1:10:14] pollinator garden at um Baser City Park
and it's going to be magnificent and
[1:10:20] spectacular. So we're very excited about
that.
[1:10:24] Um Jean and his team have just been
absolutely crushing it on um I I would
[1:10:31] say a little bit more proactive crack
sealing and um they have just jumped
[1:10:36] head into our sanitary sewer review.
That is um taking a tremendous effort
[1:10:42] and it is just a lot of time and energy.
Um, as you all know, we're doing a
[1:10:47] comprehensive review of the entire
sanitary sewer system. Not just to
[1:10:51] evaluate the sewer system that we have
today, but what is the um quality of
[1:10:56] that infrastructure, how is it
maintaining over time, but also are we
[1:10:59] ready for the development that's
happening? We um are excited about that
[1:11:03] and that's not always the glamorous
work, but it's important work and so a
[1:11:07] tremendous thanks to Jean and his team.
Um the chief, thank you. the police
[1:11:12] department is at all of these community
events. Um I frequently see patrol
[1:11:18] officers out and about um in this
community and they're always
[1:11:23] professional and smiling and thank you
for your recruitment efforts and
[1:11:27] everything that you're doing to really
um professionalize um the department. We
[1:11:32] really appreciate that and so thank you.
Um, and I am also excited to say that I
[1:11:38] am really confident that we are going to
receive a planning sustainable places
[1:11:41] grant. And I think that mayor will
really um be a great tip of the spear to
[1:11:48] your efforts to see safety really come
into action on State Avenue. And
[1:11:54] obviously that's a personal story for
both you and several members of your
[1:11:57] family. Um, but I I'm glad to see that
that application did as well as it did
[1:12:03] with Mark. We don't always have great
scores in planning sustainable places
[1:12:09] just because of some of the scoring
matrix, but that one did. And I think
[1:12:14] that project, that um planning grant
will give us the opportunity to really
[1:12:19] evaluate and explore long-term how do we
make 2440 safer? How do we get the
[1:12:25] traffic reduced in a longer stretch of
that corridor? What are some design
[1:12:30] elements that we can do to not only
bring the speeds down, but make it more
[1:12:35] inviting, make it more visually
appealing, just like we did with 155th
[1:12:39] Street. So, um, is that going to be a
short-term project? No. Do I think it
[1:12:44] will be funded this year? Yes. Do I
think it gives us a great, um, plan and
[1:12:49] look to the future? Absolutely. Um, and
then finally, I'm just going to close
[1:12:53] out with a tremendous thank you to
Maddie on the budget. Uh, I think that
[1:12:58] you don't give yourself enough credit
that um, Senator Karen Tyson has your
[1:13:03] cell phone number and you call her and
she answers. Um, I think she was
[1:13:07] probably like bailing hay or something
when you were talking to her on the
[1:13:10] phone. I mean, she really truly values,
I think, the professionalism that Maddie
[1:13:15] brings and um, so do I. I think that is
really reflective in the work and I
[1:13:21] appreciate the public coming tonight to
listen to our budget presentation and
[1:13:24] honestly staying for the full meeting.
We don't often get that either. People
[1:13:27] come then they leave and it's awesome
that you stayed. Thank you. Um but I
[1:13:32] hope that each of you are proud of the
budget that you passed. Budgets aren't
[1:13:36] fun. Um but it's the most important
thing that you do as a body. It really
[1:13:41] sets the tone and it not only sets the
tone for the community, but it sets the
[1:13:44] tone for your staff and your team. And
year after year, you demonstrate through
[1:13:48] your actions both with the public and
our our team that you mean what you say
[1:13:55] and um I think that's something to be
incredibly proud of. So, I'm grateful to
[1:14:00] be your city administrator. I'm grateful
to be here and thank you for the
[1:14:04] opportunity. And it feels really good to
be back among you in person. So, thank
[1:14:07] you.
>> Thank you. Todd, do you have anything?
[1:14:14] » Uh, good evening. Todd Luckman, city
attorney.
[1:14:17] Uh, just I don't like to brag about my
legal acumen. You know that. But, uh,
[1:14:23] today I successfully convinced a Johnson
County judge that Baser is not under his
[1:14:28] jurisdiction.
So, if you have never met a Johnson
[1:14:32] County judge, you would know what a what
a difficult lift that was. Um,
[1:14:39] and just the other thing since I know
that you guys have got McDonald's
[1:14:42] coming, I I wanted to give my show
everybody my bonafides. This is my uh
[1:14:47] 1983 McDonald's name tag. Just got to
mention if any McDonald's people are out
[1:14:53] there that I am available for fry duty.
Now, I don't want to I don't want to
[1:14:59] drop any names, but I was trained by
Coach McNugget.
[1:15:07] True story.
>> I'm glad I left you last.
[1:15:12] » I was I was saying this was a wise idea
to have Leslie before.
[1:15:21] » Hey guys, trying to follow that one.
[1:15:26] » Number nine, council member report.
Sherry, I'll start with you.
[1:15:30] » Thank you, mayor. I'll put my readers on
so I can read numbers.
[1:15:36] Okay, so let's see. On August 14th, I
attended the Mid America Regional
[1:15:40] Council Award lunchon over in Kansas
City, Missouri. Um, it was at a new
[1:15:44] venue this year. It was really nice.
They did a good job. Um, and then on
[1:15:49] August 18th, as your appointee for the
city of Baser, I attended the
[1:15:53] Levvenworth County Port Authority
meeting.
[1:15:57] um when they asked for the city's
presentations, I did bring up the um
[1:16:03] back to you program
and there was a lot of ears perked up. I
[1:16:08] mean, there was a lot of interest in
that and it wasn't just, you know, other
[1:16:11] city staff there. There was elected
officials there from all across the
[1:16:16] state. Some are running for office, some
are currently in office, and there was a
[1:16:21] lot of interest. So, I I think that
we're going to start seeing some of this
[1:16:24] take take steps. So, I'm really excited
about that. Um, also for the director of
[1:16:30] LCDC, she's attending the following
meetings um in the next couple months.
[1:16:35] The KC Industrial Conference, the BIZ
Now Conference, and then the Kansas
[1:16:42] Department of Commerce meeting. Um, on
September 10th, it'll be the LCDC's
[1:16:48] third quarter lunchon. It's going to be
held in Tonganoxy
[1:16:52] and Congressman Derek Schmidt is going
to be the speaker.
[1:16:57] Um,
and then the LCDC is going to be doing
[1:17:01] another fundraiser. Um, this time on
September 11th, they're going to be
[1:17:06] holding a golf tournament up at the
Levvenworth Army Fort. So, that'll be on
[1:17:11] the Trails West Golf Course.
And then on August 19th in that
[1:17:17] capacity, I also dialed into a webinar
by the Kansas Commerce Department on
[1:17:24] reinvestment housing incentive
districts.
[1:17:28] Um, also I want to say thank you to all
everybody that's here this evening. It's
[1:17:32] awesome to see people come and listen to
our meetings. And then as far as the um
[1:17:37] mayor's golf tournament, um I appreciate
that you guys have an online raffle. I
[1:17:42] actually went out and bought some
tickets. there's some amazing events and
[1:17:46] options that we could um donate to and
also purchase tickets to try and win.
[1:17:53] So, I went out and hopefully you'll draw
my numbers and I'll win. So, thank you.
[1:18:00] » Thank you, Shar.
>> No update. I just simply want to say
[1:18:04] welcome back, Leslie. I think it's
wonderful to see you back here again. Um
[1:18:08] it's been a long road, but wonderful.
It's wonderful to have you back. Um I
[1:18:13] haven't been to a whole lot of events.
I've had a lot of personal stuff going
[1:18:16] on in my own life um as well. It was
nice to go to that Mark lunchon as well,
[1:18:20] but um it's great seeing you all out
again and uh no additional updates.
[1:18:24] Thank you guys.
[1:18:30] » I attended the open house for the high
school and for the early childhood
[1:18:36] center. amazing facilities, a such an
asset for our school district, but an
[1:18:43] asset for our city, too. So, that was
exciting to see. And if you haven't been
[1:18:49] able to see it, I hope you have a
chance.
[1:18:53] The Mark session on the 14th was great.
There are so many exciting projects
[1:19:00] happening in the Kansas City area and
it's just a statement to how much can be
[1:19:07] done when there's teamwork going on. It
makes such a difference.
[1:19:13] I enjoyed being at the city citizens
academy. There are what 12 15 12 uh
[1:19:21] members of the community and they seem
so dedicated to attending including two
[1:19:28] high school students. That's awesome.
and M Alex, you did a wonderful job in
[1:19:37] presenting and people act have a chance
to see the professionalism that's here
[1:19:44] and the extremely high level of
professionalism and Olivia, you're right
[1:19:49] there with it. It was so organized and
so well done. So, thank you. It was
[1:19:54] exciting to be there. Um,
Jean, I assume it's your group that's
[1:20:02] working on parallel and 158 to clean all
that up. If people hadn't been down
[1:20:09] there before, oh my gosh, you had so
much work to do and you were working so
[1:20:16] hard on it. You look at that corner down
there where the um the Baser brothers
[1:20:23] statue is. Oh my gosh, that was a mess.
and you can see all the work that's
[1:20:28] being done. And don't forget the candle
light uh concert. Is it September 3rd?
[1:20:37] Good deal. And that's more of an adult
concert. Not that the whole family can't
[1:20:43] attend. It's just the atmosphere.
Thank you.
[1:20:48] » Hi.
>> I'm going to keep it short and sweet so
[1:20:52] I don't start coughing. seven days into
school and we've already brought home
[1:20:56] some sort of ailment. So, no, it the
last two weeks at work have been
[1:21:01] absolutely crazy. So, super hard to keep
up. But, thank you. Thank you. Thank you
[1:21:07] guys. Thank you. Knock it out of the
park every single week. It makes this
[1:21:12] side of things relatively easy when
everything that we see is so well put
[1:21:16] together. So, thank you very very much.
[1:21:21] [clears throat]
[1:21:24] Vernon,
[1:21:27] » I have no report.
>> Thank you.
[1:21:31] » Moving on the mayor's report. Uh, I want
to thank Lesley, Maddie, the staff
[1:21:39] for the golf tournament. The because of
you guys is why it's such a sold out in
[1:21:45] 17 minutes. So, thank you guys all very
much. Uh, much appreciated. Um, I want
[1:21:53] Maddie, fantastic job on presenting the
budget. Um,
[1:21:58] put in terms that dumb people can't
understand.
[1:22:02] Thank you for everything. So,
other than that, um, golf tournament is
[1:22:08] the 16th. We are sold out. I don't know
if we have any teams drop out yet.
[1:22:13] » Nope.
>> Right. I've received many phone calls,
[1:22:20] but
[1:22:24] » [laughter]
[1:22:30] » Oh, thank you. Thank you you and all the
staff for all the hard work that you've
[1:22:35] done on the golf tour. So much
appreciated. Uh do we have a need for an
[1:22:40] executive session?
[1:22:44] » Hey, I need an adjournment for the
regular meeting.
[1:22:46] » Mr. Mayor, I move we adjourn the regular
meeting.
[1:22:49] » Have a motion. Do I have a second?
>> I'll second.
[1:22:51] » A motion second. I'll call for a vote.
Vernon.
[1:23:01] » Hi.
[1:23:05] » Uh Ben.
>> Hi.
[1:23:06] » Mike.
>> Hi.
[1:23:07] » Sherry.
>> Hi.
[1:23:08] » Vicki.
>> Hi.
[1:23:10] » Passes 50. And there's no nothing to add
on the work session.
[1:23:16] Thanks. Thank you everybody for coming
tonight. Okay, thank you.