[snorts]
» Recording in progress.
» Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and
welcome to this regular session meeting
of the Leawood governing body. It's
August the 10th, 2026.
I will call the meeting to order
and ask that we all rise for the pledge
of allegiance, please. Please follow me.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands, one nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all.
Thank you. Please be seated.
>> [clears throat and cough]
» And with that, I would ask the clerk to
call the roll, please.
>> Councilmember Pepas.
» Councilmember Pepas.
>> Here.
» Here.
>> Councilmember Gaeddert.
» Councilmember Gaeddert.
>> Here.
» Here.
>> Councilmember Harrison.
» Councilmember Harrison.
>> Here.
» Here.
>> Councilmember Ruben.
» Councilmember Ruben.
>> Here.
» Here.
>> Councilmember Caster.
» Councilmember Caster.
>> Here.
» Here.
>> Councilmember Cain.
» Councilmember Cain.
>> Here.
» Here.
>> Councilmember Larson.
» Councilmember Larson.
>> be here momentarily.
» be here momentarily.
>> And Council member Sunkle is absent.
» And Council member Sunkle is absent.
Mayor Mark Elkins is present and
presiding. And there is Council member
Larson. Thank you.
>> note that Council member Larson has
» note that Council member Larson has
joined us. So, we do have a quorum
present and we'll move on to the
business of the evening. I would note
that originally and as published the
agenda
is limited to the special business of
the evening,
but I also note that Ms. Strobel is in
the audience and with that I would ask
the clerk if there is a recommendation
to amend the agenda to add a section for
public comment.
>> Yes, if I can just get a motion to
» Yes, if I can just get a motion to
approve an agenda.
>> So, staff is recommending that?
» So, staff is recommending that?
>> Yes, sir.
» Yes, sir.
>> Thank you. Is there a motion then to
» Thank you. Is there a motion then to
approve the agenda as amended?
>> So moved.
» So moved.
>> Thank you, Ms. Harrison. A second?
» Thank you, Ms. Harrison. A second?
>> Second.
» Second.
>> That was Ms. Gaylord, I believe. All
» That was Ms. Gaylord, I believe. All
those in favor, please indicate by
saying I.
>> I.
» I.
>> Those opposed, same sign. The eyes have
» Those opposed, same sign. The eyes have
it and the agenda as amended is
approved. And with that, I will call
the opportunity for public comment. I
note that
Ms. Strobel and her daughter Sloan are
with us this evening. If you all would
like to come forward, we'd appreciate
I'll note for the record that we have
received a invitation from the two of
you for Wednesday. Some of us are going
to be able to join you then, some of us
not, but we very much appreciate the
invitation. Ms. Strobel, the floor is
yours. If you could introduce yourself
even though we all know who you are,
it'll make our record clear.
>> Okay. Um, I'm Beth Strobel and I live at
» Okay. Um, I'm Beth Strobel and I live at
10223 Lee Boulevard.
>> And I'm Sloan Strobel and I also live at
» And I'm Sloan Strobel and I also live at
10223 Lee Boulevard.
>> All right. And thank you everybody
» All right. And thank you everybody
that's able to make it on Wednesday or
another day. We walk to school most
days. So, um I appreciate you amending
the agenda, too. I know this is a
special call, so
um
I wanted to get up and and just first of
all let you know that if you come to our
house to walk to school with us, we are
not going to corner you about sidewalks
on the east side of Lee Boulevard. Um
really um I got to thinking about it and
something that I've learned um
throughout my career is that sometimes
we get so focused on the solution to our
problem that we forget what is the
problem we're trying to solve. And what
I want to just say to the the council is
um I think that you know, the problem
we're trying to solve is for people in
in North Lakewood, really everywhere in
Lakewood, but especially North Lakewood
to be able to get around safely. Uh
whether they're walking to school or out
for a walk um or getting to and from a
family member or friend's house. And so
um I think there's there's opportunity
for us to consider more than just
sidewalks. Um and probably in the short
term that might be more budget-friendly
and something that's more within um the
council and the city's um wherewithal to
to do without having to go through quite
as many process um oriented steps.
And so um
really we're we're here to say that you
know, it hasn't become less important,
but um open-minded to different options
besides maybe just adding a sidewalk on
the east side of Lee, even though I'll
never let the dream go. Um and Sloan
wanted to be add some things um related
that she's been thinking about.
>> Great. Welcome Sloan.
» Great. Welcome Sloan.
>> Thank you. Um my friend Renly lives
» Thank you. Um my friend Renly lives
further down south on Lee Boulevard and
she I was thinking about it and I
realized traffic is really different
down there. And I was thinking about it
and I realized it's because the roads
are curved more curvy, they have stop
signs every few blocks and the speed
limit is 25 mph. And I thought I was
thinking and I was like, well those
don't take as long to
execute as a sidewalk would and
I think they'd be very effective and cuz
the truth is every pedestrian should
have
the peace of mind that they're safe
walking down the street walking down
streets whether it's walking their dog,
going up to meet friends, or just
enjoying being outside. Every pedestrian
deserves to have that peace of mind that
they're safe and everything is
on the way it should be. So
>> So we're looking forward to the safe
» So we're looking forward to the safe
streets for all survey results as I'm
sure everybody is and just working
together with with the council
with public works to figure out how we
can um
improve safety for pedestrians and in
our part of Leawood but but other parts
as well.
All right and we look forward to seeing
those that can make it on Wednesday.
Thank you.
>> Thank you Mrs. Strobel. Thank you Sloan.
» Thank you Mrs. Strobel. Thank you Sloan.
We appreciate your comments and you're
joining us tonight.
Don't believe there are any other
comments
from the or from the
public tonight. So with that we'll move
on to special business.
I had the privilege and the pleasure
this morning of attending the auction of
our bonds. It was a very instructive
session and
as Jeremy will tell us it was a very
successful exercise as we sat through
the auction this morning. So Jeremy the
floor is yours and if you could share
with the governing body some of the
exciting events that we saw during the
course of the auction would
[clears throat] be great. Thank you.
>> Sure. Thank you very much. Jeremy
» Sure. Thank you very much. Jeremy
Wellnitz, director of finance. With me
tonight is David Arterbury, our
municipal advisor from Stifel. As the
mayor mentioned we had a sale this
morning for both the general obligation
bonds and the notes. I believe that we
had a successful representation on both
issuances.
Dave will get into those details with
you but we had three bidders on the
notes and we had 12 bidders on the bonds
and
got very competitive rates on both. So
with that I'll turn it over to David and
he'll be happy to answer any questions
that you all may have.
>> Mr. Arterbury, welcome.
» Mr. Arterbury, welcome.
>> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Jeremy.
» Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Jeremy.
I do have a couple of handouts here for
» Thank you.
Yeah,
as Jeremy mentioned today,
the city took bids for
the series 2026 general obligation
temporary notes and general obligation
bonds to finance a variety of different
capital improvement projects around the
city.
Before I go into specifically the
results, I wanted to talk a little bit
about what we've been up to since I or
my colleague Connor was last here.
Basically, since we were here last, one
of the the big things we did is we went
out and worked with Moody's Investor
Service to have the city's rating
reviewed and affirmed at the triple A
level. And so one of the handouts that I
gave you here is Moody's. This is their
simple write-up that they do when they
do a rating. And you can kind of look
through it. Some of the highlights of
the rating were that they like your
strong residential income. They like you
the the tax base relative to the the
population size.
>> [clears throat]
» [clears throat]
>> The ongoing development that's occurring
» The ongoing development that's occurring
in the city.
Strong fund balances and liquidity. And
rapid debt repayment. They they view
that as all positive things for the for
the city.
So
rating call went very well.
Diane and Jeremy did a really good job
of presenting the city's credit to
Moody's and also to responding to all
the questions that they had. Besides the
rating, we also completed some due
diligence questions just to make sure we
are aware of everything going on within
the city. We also talked a little bit
about So we also completed all of the
the bidding documents and the disclosure
documents that were distributed last
week to potential bidders around the
country.
And then all that led up to the sale
this morning.
To talk real quickly on the backside of
that rating report, you'll see a graph.
Um, this is just a graph of interest
rates for highly rated municipal bonds
um, over about the last four or five
year period. Um, I just kind of wanted
to illustrate to you what rates have
done really since they started rising
back at the beginning of 2022.
And I put on here um, a few milestones
for some of the of the city's other
recent bond and note issues that you've
had. Um, so you can kind of see the
interest rates here over the last, you
know, four years have really kind of
bounced around in a range.
The last couple of weeks we actually had
a little spike up in rates about a
quarter of a percentage point or so. Um,
but that seems to have stabilized a
little bit in the last few days. So, um,
that's sort of the market we're facing.
And then today, as was mentioned, um,
what bids were received. Uh, we we met
up in the conference room and got a
total of three bids on the temporary
notes.
Um, the best bid was submitted by Bank
of America Securities
uh, with a net interest cost of
2.796374%.
Um, and then a couple of bids by J.P.
Morgan and Oppenheimer that were a
little bit above that.
Um,
going into this I was anticipating or
predicting a rate of about 2.95%.
So, I was real glad to see this come in.
Um, the next um, half an hour after that
we opened up the bids on the bonds. And
if you flip over that page, you can see
the results of that. We were really
happy to see a total of 12 bids come in
on the on the bonds. Um,
that's as far as I can tell the most, at
least going back five years, that the
city has received on any of its of its
debt offerings.
Um, all the bids you can see there are
the rank um of them based on their
lowest true um based on their true
interest cost.
The best bid um was submitted by
Fidelity Capital Markets with
a true interest cost of 3.621323%.
Um I was predicting a rate probably 2.85
to 2.9. So, again, real happy to see see
all these bids come in.
Um both Bank of America and Fidelity um
their bid was fully compliant with all
of the bidding parameters and they
provided the required good faith
deposit. Um that also with regards to
the bonds uh after the bid was received,
we we looked at how the bid was
constructed and based on that we resized
the bond issue.
Uh so, the final principal amount of the
bonds ended up being 9,595.
Uh instead of up above there it mentions
9,850.
So,
um but other than that um that that
resizing everything went really well and
we just as we expected and real pleased
with the outcome. Um
The only steps that you've got left as a
governing body tonight in order to lock
in the interest rates and officially
authorize the issuance of the notes and
the bonds is to
uh adopt a a bond ordinance and a bond
resolution and a note resolution. So,
think you might have three action items
in front of you.
Um but I obviously we
welcome to uh welcome any questions that
you might have about the process or the
outcome.
>> Mr. Riderbury, just one clarification
» Mr. Riderbury, just one clarification
and I may have misunderstood you, but I
thought I heard you say that heard you
to say that you had anticipated that the
bond rate would be 2.89 to 2.9. I
believe that was the note rate. What was
your expectation on the bond rate?
>> The bonds I was expecting about 3.85
» The bonds I was expecting about 3.85
to 3.9.
>> I think it's important for the governing
» I think it's important for the governing
body to recognize that they came in
actually less expensive for us than what
we had anticipated they would be for the
city.
And we want to clarify our record for
that. So, I appreciate you doing that.
Um
any other questions for either our
finance department or from Mr.
Atterbury?
Jeremy, did you have anything to add?
>> Um
» Um
just a matter of housekeeping. So, uh
when the agenda was published, we had
uh preliminary items uh for all three of
the motions uh set before you tonight.
And as is our custom, uh anything that
has been uh removed from that
preliminary has been stricken out, and
anything that is new is underlined.
So, anyone who would have looked at
these uh items before the sale would
note that we didn't have a bidder, we
didn't have a bid amount, we didn't have
the interest costs. Those have all now
been filled in. We'd be happy to answer
any questions that you all may have.
>> And we published those revisions earlier
» And we published those revisions earlier
this afternoon, so they are a matter of
public record.
Any other questions for Jeremy?
All right. If not, we thank you both for
all the work that you've done. Uh we'll
come now to the individual uh items on
the special business. As Mr. Atterbury
noticed noted, uh the first item uh to
be considered is an ordinance
authorizing and providing for the
issuance and delivery of 9,595,000
dollars in general obligation bonds
series 2 2026A of the City of Leawood,
Kansas uh to provide funds to finance
the cost of certain public improvement
projects within the city, providing for
the levy and collection of an annual
tax, if necessary, for the purpose of
paying the principal of and interest on
said notes as they become due,
authorizing certain other documents and
actions in connection therewith, and
making certain covenants with respect
thereto.
Is there a motion from the governing
body to adopt such an ordinance?
>> So moved.
» So moved.
>> Thank you, Ms. Larson. Is there a
» Thank you, Ms. Larson. Is there a
second?
>> Second.
» Second.
>> Thank you, Ms. Gayed.
» Thank you, Ms. Gayed.
It's been moved and seconded
that we adopt the ordinance I described
a moment ago. Is there any discussion
over the motion?
If not, I'll note that this requires a
roll call vote of the governing body and
would ask the clerk to call the roll,
please.
>> Councilmember Pappas.
» Councilmember Pappas.
>> I.
» I.
>> Councilmember Larson.
» Councilmember Larson.
>> I.
» I.
>> Councilmember Gayed.
» Councilmember Gayed.
>> I.
» I.
>> Councilmember Ruben.
» Councilmember Ruben.
>> I.
» I.
>> Councilmember Harrison.
» Councilmember Harrison.
>> I.
» I.
>> Councilmember Cain.
» Councilmember Cain.
>> I.
» I.
>> Councilmember Caster.
» Councilmember Caster.
>> I.
» I.
>> Thank you. I have a vote of seven votes
» Thank you. I have a vote of seven votes
in favor and none against, so the vote
passes and the ordinance is hereby
adopted. The second item under special
business that relates to these
promissory notes, I believe oh, the
first one is actually the
bonds and that's a resolution
prescribing the form and details of and
authorizing directing the sale and
delivery of $9,595,000
in general obligation bonds series 2026A
of the city of Leawood, Kansas
previously authorized by ordinance
number 3217, which we just adopted, of
the city making certain covenants and
agreements to provide for the payment
and security thereof and authorizing
certain other documents and action
connected therewith. Do I hear a motion
from the governing body to adopt this
resolution?
>> So moved.
» So moved.
>> That would be Mr. Pappas. Is there a
» That would be Mr. Pappas. Is there a
second?
>> Second.
» Second.
>> Thank you, Ms. Larson. Is there any
» Thank you, Ms. Larson. Is there any
discussion over the proposed resolution?
If not, all those in favor of adopting
the resolution relating
to the sale of the general obligation
bond series 2026A,
please indicate by saying I.
>> I.
» I.
>> Those opposed, same sign. The eyes have
» Those opposed, same sign. The eyes have
it and the the um
resolution is adopted on a 7-0 vote.
Last item relating to today's sale is a
resolution prescribing the form and
details of and authorizing and directing
the issuance, sale, and delivery of
$30,650,000
of general obligation temporary notes
series 2026-1
of the city of Leawood, Kansas,
providing for the levy and collection of
an annual tax, if necessary, for the
purpose of paying the principal of and
interest on said notes as they become
due, making certain covenants and
agreements to provide for the payment
and security thereof, and authorizing
certain other documents and actions
connected therewith.
Do I hear a motion from the governing
body uh to adopt this resolution
relating to the temporary notes?
>> So moved.
» So moved.
>> That was Ms. Ruben. Is there a second?
» That was Ms. Ruben. Is there a second?
>> Second.
» Second.
>> Thank you, Ms. Gayed. Is there
» Thank you, Ms. Gayed. Is there
discussion over the pending motion?
If not, all those in favor of adopting
the resolution relating to the sale of
the general obligation temporary notes
series 2026-1,
please indicate by saying aye.
>> Aye.
» Aye.
>> Those opposed, same sign. The ayes have
» Those opposed, same sign. The ayes have
it, and the motion carries on a 7-0
vote, and the resolution is adopted. Uh
I think that concludes the business with
respect to with respect to the sale of
the bonds and um the promissory notes.
Again, uh our thanks to um
Mr. Atterbury as well as Mr. Wilmoth for
all the work they and their departments
did with respect to both maintaining uh
our AAA rating for, I believe, the 18th
year, if I remember correctly,
uh and the impact that that had on the
cost of our borrowing uh in this 2026.
Don't believe there's any additional um
matters on the agenda this evening. So,
with that, I will declare the meeting
adjourned. We will reform in the
conference room for the special call
work session uh that was published uh
last week. Thank you all. Appreciate it.
>> You can have