[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.

8_26_2026 City Council Meeting

Transcript