[0:01] Good evening, Witchah and good evening
to all of you. Thank you for
[0:05] City Council meeting. We'll call this
meeting to order. With us this evening
[0:10] is Reverend Ben Staley of Chapel Hill
United Methodist Church invocation.
[0:16] Following the invocation, we will have
the pledge of allegiance and ask you to
[0:20] please stand for both.
[0:30] Let's pray together.
Oh Lord, we give you thanks for the
[0:34] freedom that is ours to
participate in a process that determines
[0:39] the direction for our community. And we
thank you for our good mayor and the
[0:44] council members. And we ask that you
would give them wisdom as they lead us
[0:51] and give us all wisdom to make good
choices
[0:55] that helps us as a community to live
according to values that should guide us
[1:01] all.
ways that are committed to helping one
[1:06] another
and give us the grace
[1:10] and patience to be able to step back as
needed, the courage to step forward.
[1:18] Help us to know how to act in ways that
are in keeping with uh the values that
[1:24] we care about.
We pray Lord that decisions made here
[1:28] tonight will remember that. Help us to
remember that every voice should be
[1:34] heard and every life matters and that no
one gets left out or behind.
[1:40] » For all that you do, Lord, we'll give
you praise in Jesus' name. Amen.
[1:47] I pledge algiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the
[1:53] republic for which it stands. One nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and
[2:00] justice for all.
[2:07] » Thank you, Reverend Staley.
Before we continue, I just want to
[2:11] recognize that we have a new Witchah
fire chief. Chief Michael Mir is in
[2:18] attendance.
[2:22] [applause]
[2:26] I also want to give a quick shout out to
building services and public works for
[2:30] cleaning.
There was a little bit safety issue and
[2:35] we got that all clean. So, thank you so
very much to the building services
[2:39] staff. With that, Madame Clerk, can you
please call the first item? Approve the
[2:46] minutes of the regular meeting, August
18th, 2026.
[2:50] » Council members, are there any items to
be edited from the minutes?
[2:55] I see none. With that, I will move to
approve the minutes for the regular
[3:00] meeting of August 18th, 20.
>> Second.
[3:04] » Motion second. Discussion. See none.
Madame clerk, please open the role.
[3:13] Motion passes 70.
Before we continue, I also want to
[3:18] recognize that the mayor's youth council
is hosting their first
[3:23] and they just came into the chambers.
So, we welcome our youth leaders into
[3:28] the council chambers.
[3:35] Madame clerk, please call the next item.
>> Public agenda. Uh, from the city's
[3:40] recently adopted civility pledge. The CI
the city
[3:45] they stand united. They lead with
respect and dignity and they honor every
[3:49] resident in all communities. They are
working to create an environment that
[3:52] values shared goals with increased
empathy and genuine dialogue. We now
[3:56] come to public agenda. The public agenda
allows for up to five speakers to have
[4:00] five minutes each to address the
council. Please bear in mind that this
[4:03] is not a period of dialogue with city
council or question.
[4:07] This is your opportunity to address the
city council with your concerns. I ask
[4:10] that you address your remarks to the
city council as a body and not to any
[4:14] individual council member. No action
will be taken relative to items on the
[4:17] public agenda other than referral to the
city.
[4:22] Speakers will please speak into the
microphone. Please state their name and
[4:25] address for the record. A time clock
will display the speaker's remaining
[4:28] time to speak. Order and rules of
decorum will be observed. The first
[4:31] speaker is William Glander, Storm
Drains.
[4:41] » Good evening, council members and fellow
I'm William Glander. I live at 235 North
[4:47] Elizabeth.
I'm speaking to you tonight because our
[4:51] city's infrastructure is failing to keep
up with and it is directly causing the
[4:57] flooding that we are seeing in our
streets. I have over 15 years hands-on
[5:02] experience in earthwork, grading, water
management. I know how water moves and
[5:07] more importantly I know why it's backing
up in our city. The problem is
[5:12] overdevelopment, bottlenecks. The core
issue is simple. We are covering up
[5:17] ground with concrete faster than the
drainage system can handle. Loss of
[5:22] green space. Water cannot soak into
concrete. It needs soil and root system
[5:28] when large developments like new like
the new Lo's gas station
[5:36] or massive apartment complexes take over
acres of dirt. that rainwater has
[5:41] nowhere to go except to our storm
systems all at once.
[5:46] System overload. The massive volume of
runoff is overt taxing the main canal.
[5:52] We need the river and and the river
rises at at the outlets. Incoming runoff
[5:59] collides with rising water creating a
tidal wave effect. This pressure forces
[6:05] flap gates stuck close, sending water
straight back up through the structures
[6:11] and out into our streets. Internal
blockages inside the drainage network
[6:17] have design flaws where flowing water
hits crossing pipes forcing water to
[6:23] spill over instead of flowing freely.
That creates immediately immediate back
[6:29] flooding. the solution. We cannot just
keep building bigger concrete boxes and
[6:35] hoping for the best. We need smart
natural structures fixes. Establish a
[6:43] secondary blowoff. We need an overflow
mechanism for the canals so pressure
[6:48] doesn't forgate shut during
restore and maintain our ditches and
[6:53] canals. Decades of neglect means parts
of our canal system are near collap. We
[6:59] must reestablish and destyle all dirt
ditches, especially when paving dirt
[7:06] roads so runoff doesn't pull on the
pavement. Integrate smart green
[7:11] infrastructure requires developments to
pre functional dirt and tree space for
[7:17] natural absorbent. When old driveways
are removed, don't just leave the
[7:22] concrete. Fill them in with curb and
trees to capture street runoff. Our
[7:27] growth is great for this city, but if we
do not fix the water where the water
[7:32] goes, we are setting our residents up
for costly flood damage. I care deeply
[7:38] about making this city the best, safest
place it can be. I have the hands-on
[7:43] experience and the practical knowledge
to help fix these drainage bottlenecks
[7:48] before the system collapse. I urge the
council to review these drainage points
[7:53] and reach out so we can get to work on
real solutions to add to this. Someone
[8:00] brought up drainage ditch in West
Witchah on the news.
[8:05] We do not need that brought up at all.
We need to be able to
[8:11] it makes our city look bad when we get
brought up on the news and people say
[8:17] that hey this is a problem. We got
standing water. Thank you.
[8:23] » Thank you very much, William.
[8:28] » We will continue with our next speaker,
>> Barbara Meyers. Waiver of fee 25
[8:34] military veteran cemetery marker.
[8:41] Hello.
Well, I came to you tonight originally
[8:47] to ask for a waiver. of permit fees.
However,
[8:52] I was informed last night at 4:45 that
those had been waved.
[8:57] So, first of all, I want to thank Reggie
for doing that. We appreciate you very
[9:02] much. We appreciate the city for paying
attention to this need. And I want to
[9:08] point out that this is for Highland
Cemetery, the oldest cemeter.
[9:14] and
[9:17] uh it's for 25 veterans of five
different wars. It has been said that we
[9:22] die twice. Once when our bodies give up
and once when it's the last time anyone
[9:27] says our name. So
on behalf of Charles Adams, Jesse
[9:35] Anderson, Is Baker, Eli Benton, Armstead
Bradford, Warren Busel, Samuel Card, Eli
[9:44] Carter, Edward Cook, Roger Davis, RD
Still, Eugene Estill,
[9:51] Elmer Foris, Francis Fox, Charles
Harrington, William Hincher, Zachariah
[9:58] Lure, Steuart Logan,
Walter Marchale, Marcelus McGriff, Henry
[10:05] Molenik, Manford Miler, William Norris,
Homer Osborne, and Eugene Whitted
[10:14] and my my team of volunteers. We thank
you very much and we appreciate
[10:20] everything that you're allowing us to do
with that cemetery and we hope that
[10:24] you'll come to our event on November
14th which is one of the America 250
[10:30] events that's being held acad
[10:44] clerk please call the next individual
>> Oswald called Witchaw Public Library.
[11:01] » Good evening, Mayor and Council members.
My name is Kurt Oswald and I'm the vice
[11:05] president of the Witchaw Public Library,
chairperson of the library advocacy
[11:10] committee and district 3 advisory board
member. Concerned citizen, I appreciate
[11:16] the opportunity to speak with you. Last
Tuesday, a proposal was made to
[11:21] [clears throat] delay the requested
increase in funding for the Witchaw
[11:24] Public Library. Tonight, I want to ask
you to think about what the decision
[11:28] really means. So, I want you to imagine
imagine if a child needed help learning
[11:32] to read. The child needed access to
books, literacy programs, a computer, or
[11:39] a librarian who could help them find
exactly what they needed. Now, imagine
[11:44] there aren't enough staff members
available when the family need.
[11:49] Imagine if you're looking for a job, you
need a computer, internet access, help
[11:54] completing an online application,
creating a resume, or uploading
[11:57] documents. The library can provide those
sources, but imagine needing assistance
[12:02] and not having a staff member available
because the library doesn't have enough
[12:06] people to maintain the hours and service
our community needs. Imagine if you're a
[12:12] senior citizen, you need help accessing
an online government service, completing
[12:16] a form, or simply learning how to use a
computer, tablet, or a smartphone. The
[12:21] library isn't just a building where you
check out books. It's a place where
[12:25] people get help. And library service
requires people. That's what the funding
[12:29] request is really about. Imagine if the
libraries had the staffing they need.
[12:35] Imagine more hours when families can
walk through the doors, more librarians
[12:39] available to help children, more
technology assistance for seniors, more
[12:44] program for our neighborhoods, more
opportunities for people looking for
[12:47] jobs, learning new skills, or simply
trying to improve their lives. That's
[12:52] what this additional funding could help
make possible. The Witchaw Public
[12:56] Library serves nearly 401,000
through seven locations and a book bus.
[13:03] Last year, our libraries had more than
650,000 visits. Nearly 2 million items
[13:09] were circulated. More than 54,000 people
participated in library programs. And
[13:15] staff provided approximately 46,000
technology.
[13:20] Those aren't just numbers. Those are
people, Witchah residents, walking
[13:24] through our doors because they need
something from their library and the
[13:28] demand continues to grow. Witchah has
grown. Library use has grown, but
[13:33] library staffing has been kept at the
current level. So when we talk about
[13:39] delaying the library's funding increase,
we need to be honest about what we are
[13:43] actually delaying.
We aren't delaying the need. The need is
[13:47] already here. We are delaying our
ability to adequately respond to it. We
[13:53] are asking library staff to continue
doing more with resources that they
[13:57] already have and ultimately the
residents who depend on those services
[14:02] are the ones who feel the impact. I
understand you have difficult choices to
[14:08] make and other important pri priorities
competing for our funding. But I'm
[14:14] asking you to dig deeper into this
budget.
[14:17] Look at what can be re reduced, what can
be delayed, what can be re reallocated.
[14:22] Ask whether there are dollars that can
be rededicated to the library
[14:29] because tonight you have a choice. You
can delay this investment and hope the
[14:33] need somehow becomes less or you can
recognize that Witchah has already told
[14:39] us what it needs. More access, more
staff, more hours and more programs. And
[14:44] we want to leave you with one final
imagine if. Imagine a parent finding a
[14:49] job because the library provided a
computer, internet, resources, and
[14:54] assistance they needed. Imagine a senior
gaining confidence with technology
[14:58] because someone at the library took the
time to help. Imagine an unhoused
[15:03] resident building trust and connections
because the library staff helped them
[15:07] connect with housing resources,
employment assistance, and opportunities
[15:12] to engage with their community. And
imagine if the number of Witchah third
[15:17] graders reading at grade level increased
because we invested in literacy,
[15:22] learning, and access to information.
Imagine if we invested in making those
[15:27] opportunities more avail.
You aren't simply voting on a budget.
[15:32] You're voting on what Witchaw will be
able to provide with its to its
[15:36] residents in 2027. I respectfully ask
you, don't delay the library investment.
[15:42] Dig deeper. find the resources, fund the
staffing, protect and expand library
[15:47] hours, invest in programs, and most
importantly, invest in the people of
[15:52] Witchaw who depend on their public life.
Thank you.
[15:58] » Thank you, Kurt. From district number
three, Council Member Mike Hohheisle.
[16:02] Madame Clerk, can you please call the
next individual?
[16:06] » David Bradock, Witchah
Non-Discrimination Ordinance.
[16:24] Good evening, Mayor Woo and city council
members. If you don't know, my name is
[16:28] David Bradock. I live in Riverside, so
Maggie's district, District 4. I've
[16:33] addressed you multiple times on this,
but tonight I just want to remind people
[16:35] who don't know I was the first person
ever to file a complaint that was
[16:39] actually adjudicated through Utah
non-discrimination ordinance. It was
[16:44] actually a religious discrimination
against me.
[16:48] The company I alleged discriminate
against me admitted in writing before it
[16:52] was even office of the law to review
that they made a mistake. They already
[16:58] admitted guilt. Our own director of law
found my case had merit and initiated
[17:04] mediation and paid funds from the city
to do so. Because it was done in the
[17:10] executive branch, not the judicial, the
person I was suing or complaining
[17:14] against walked out because there was no
force of law behind what we were doing.
[17:21] Unfortunately, I then had my case then
reviewed by a subordinate of the
[17:26] director of law who found that my case
had no merit at all despite her his boss
[17:32] saying it did and that was done without
ever interviewing me once.
[17:36] My case was then buried and trying to
get records out and I couldn't. So, I
[17:40] had to pull multiple Kansas open record
acts just to find my own data. I thank
[17:45] Maggie Ballard for helping me getting
that released under the former may was
[17:49] quite an interesting challenge. I think
Becky who was
[38:53] much for allowing that break. We return
from that break at 7:01 p.m. Uh, thank
[39:00] you to the communications department.
They have been working diligently to try
[39:04] to get sound on YouTube. It is now on
YouTube. Uh they also have informed me
[39:10] that any of the sound prior to 7:01 p.m.
will be married with the team's sound
[39:16] that has been recording this entire
time. But it does take a little bit of
[39:21] time. So it will take until tomorrow
before you will have the sound before
[39:25] 7:01 p.m. Um but again, we are now back
full sound. Um I do want to recognize
[39:31] that Senator Oltha FaDau is in the
audience this evening.
[39:37] » [applause]
>> Madame clerk, please call the next item.
[39:43] » Revenue neutral rate self-supported
municipal improvement district 2027
[39:47] budget.
[39:51] » Well, good evening, mayor, members of
the city council. I'm Mark Manning with
[39:54] the Department of Finance. Well, today's
the day that uh we've been uh working
[39:59] towards since January. Today's the day
that you will adopt the city's budget.
[40:02] But before we do that, uh we have a
couple other public hearings that we
[40:06] need to take care of and those are
associated with the revenue neutral
[40:10] rate. So we'll do one for the
self-supporting municipal improvement
[40:13] district or what we call the Schmid and
then we'll do one for the city of
[40:16] Witchaw and after we conduct those
hearings uh then we can get on with the
[40:20] uh budget process.
Uh so statutoily we have to set the
[40:26] public hearing date uh for the revenue
neutral rate hearing that was set on
[40:30] July 14th for tonight. So that's why
we're here tonight. The revenue neutral
[40:34] rate uh is a tax lid created by the
state legislature in 2021 and basically
[40:41] uh it determines the level of property
tax funding available to taxing
[40:45] districts.
So the Schmid is a taxing district for
[40:50] which you do set the uh mill levy rate.
Uh typically we set that uh based on the
[40:56] request of the Witsto Downtown
Development Corporation uh which makes a
[41:00] formal request to you based on the work
plan and the objectives and outcomes
[41:04] that they want to achieve. And then
based on that again we will adopt their
[41:08] budget here in a little bit. So they did
request a budget for 2027 uh with a mill
[41:13] levy rate of 10 mills. Again, that 10
mills is just within their taxing
[41:18] district, which is essentially the
downtown area.
[41:22] That 10 mill levy would be identical to
the mill levy rate assessed in 2026 or
[41:28] the previous year.
So, this slide shows you the impact of
[41:34] the revenue neutral rate. Last year, uh
we levied $1,396,000
[41:40] on behalf of the Schmid. Based on the
state statute, we cannot levy $1 more
[41:46] than that unless we exceed the revenue
neutral rate. So whether we levy $10
[41:52] more or $38,000 more, in this case, we
will exceed the revenue neutral rate if
[41:57] that's the desire of the governing body.
So to exceed the revenue neutral rate,
[42:04] uh we have to take a few steps. Again,
these are prescribed by statute. Uh we
[42:08] have to provide notification, which we
have done. we have to hold the hearing
[42:12] prior to consideration of the budget,
which is why we're holding this hearing
[42:16] right now. And then finally, if it is
your desire to exceed the revenue
[42:20] neutral rate, uh you need to do that
based on state statute by a individual
[42:25] roll call vote uh to exceed the RNR.
Last thing I would note is even if you
[42:30] do vote to exceed the RNR, you will set
the level of taxes levied later in our
[42:35] budget uh discussion. So you're not are
not committing to a tax levy by
[42:39] exceeding RNR with this activity. You're
just allowing yourself to determine a
[42:45] tax levy during the budget hearing that
is higher than the tax levy of last
[42:49] year.
Uh so based on the proposed budget
[42:54] proposed by the city manager in
concurrence with that staff would
[42:57] recommend that you do approve a
resolution to exceed the RNR for the
[43:00] self-supporting municipal improvement
district and that is the recommended
[43:04] action. Uh Heather, I believe from Witto
Downtown Development Corporation is
[43:08] here. If you have any questions about
their work plan or the outcomes that
[43:12] they have proposed based on the tax
levy, I'm sure she'd be happy to address
[43:15] those and I'd be happy to address any
questions if you have any.
[43:20] » Thank you, Mark. I would like to ask
Heather to come forward and share
[43:26] highlevel executive summary what the
$1.4 million would fund.
[43:40] Thank you, mayor, council members. Uh
the $ 1.4 million budget proposed for
[43:45] 2027
uh would continue the daily operations
[43:49] of our um downtown stewardship. So
downtown Witchdaw is responsible for um
[43:54] maintaining 103 blocks that comprise the
Smid. Um that entails making sure that
[44:00] our development community has the
resources that they need. Our business
[44:04] community um is supported both in terms
of retention and recruitment. Uh we are
[44:09] marketing the district proactively um
both internal events that we put on and
[44:13] everything else that's happening uh in
the Smid. We have a big year coming up
[44:17] with NCAA returning downtown. So that'll
get quite a bit of our attention in the
[44:21] springtime. And uh of course my favorite
um focus area that we have is enhancing
[44:27] vibrancy. Um that's everything from our
downtown clean team that provides uh
[44:32] maintenance services six days a week in
the core. Um to our uh public art
[44:37] initiatives to programs like our free
yoga in the park which starts up again
[44:41] on Wednesday, September 9th. Um, so
really just making sure that uh downtown
[44:47] is a uh clean, welcoming, vibrant place
to be um for stakeholders and business
[44:52] owners.
>> Thank you, Heather. Um, do you have any
[44:57] data so that the audience that maybe is
just now joining us regarding the
[45:02] downtown clean team? It was initially a
pilot and it looks like that pilot has
[45:06] been successful and has continued on as
a full-time operation and the 10 mills
[45:12] would help in portion support the
downtown clean team.
[45:15] » Absolutely. So, uh, with the additional
support that we had by raising the
[45:19] downtown mill levy last year, um, again
only on downtown properties, we were
[45:24] able to hire a full-time clean team,
which is, um, a fourperson crew, uh,
[45:29] that is working from, well, in the
summer hours, 6:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. 6
[45:34] days a week. Uh, the only day they have
off is Sunday. Um, so they are out there
[45:38] making sure that we're picking up
litter. um since the program was started
[45:43] on February 1st of 2026
um through its uh you know first 5
[45:48] months of operation ending June 30th of
2026 uh we measured more than two tons
[45:54] of litter that they had collectively
removed from our public realm. Um so
[45:58] that's sidewalks, streets, um anything
that's a public space. Um, you know, we
[46:03] assist our our city departments by
providing that extra layer of services.
[46:10] » Thank you, Heather. Uh, one more
question. What is the biggest challenge
[46:14] in downtown Witchah right now?
>> Oh, goodness. I don't know that I I
[46:19] don't know that I could say. Um,
implementing our newly adopted action
[46:23] plan.
Um, we have we have a host of
[46:26] challenges, mayor. Um, you know, we we
have a housing shortage. Um, so making
[46:32] sure that we're both building enough
housing and also taking care of our
[46:36] unhoused neighbors um who reside in and
around the downtown district. Um, making
[46:41] sure that we have a full range of
amenities uh for our, you know, daytime
[46:46] and evening populations of employees and
residents. Um, transportation is a huge
[46:51] challenge. Um, so we're we're tackling
all of these and and more.
[46:57] » Sorry, I'm asking a lot of questions.
There's no one on the board, but I do
[47:01] have one more. And you just talked about
unhoused neighbors. Uh would there be a
[47:05] possibility to utilize some of the
budget to help with funding homeless
[47:09] services in the downtown area?
>> So, the increase that we're anticipating
[47:13] this year is not sufficient to hire that
additional position, but it's something
[47:17] that we're looking at in the future.
>> Thank you, Heather.
[47:20] » Thank you.
>> I see no further questions. Um I do know
[47:24] are there three members who are part of
the downtown Witchaw board? Is that two?
[47:29] » There's just uh council member Maggie
Ballard and
[47:34] three members. So, council members for
district 1, four, and six are
[47:38] represented as part of downtown Witchah.
Thank you very much.
[47:41] » Thank you.
>> With that, we will open it up for public
[47:44] comment.
[47:48] I see no one from the
>> I'm sorry.
[47:58] Thank you, mayor and city council
members and uh city manager. I'm Eugene
[48:03] Snyder. I live at 515 South Maine.
And I came tonight to respectfully
[48:10] request that the city of Witchita
identify the specific legal authority
[48:16] that supports the inclusion of the
residential condominiums at 515 South
[48:21] Maine being part of the downtown
self-supporting municipal improvement
[48:28] district. Kansas law establishes
specific zoning criteria for properties
[48:34] eligible for inclusion in a SMID
district limiting participation to those
[48:41] designated
for commercial or industrial use as
[48:46] reflected by the requirement in the
statute that says none of which property
[48:50] is zoned for any use other than
commercial or residential. In contrast
[48:56] with that, 515 South Main residential
condominiums are classified under a PUD
[49:03] zoning designation. Given the zoning and
the state statute, we are requiring the
[49:08] Kansas statutory basis which these
residential condominium properties have
[49:13] been included in the district and
subjected to this 10 mill tax
[49:17] assessment. It was 10 mills last year.
Before that, it was about 6.6 six and it
[49:23] has been raised and that's what brought
all this to our attention. It's one
[49:26] thing to contribute six mills but all of
a sudden to be paying practically 10% of
[49:32] your total tax bill to live downtown
based on and we are residential not
[49:38] commercial not industrial but it doesn't
matter because our zoning does not meet
[49:44] the requirements of the Kansas statute.
So therefore, based on the Kansas
[49:49] statute and the zoning code, these
properties have been incorrectly
[49:52] included and assessed. And accordingly,
we respectfully request that the Smid
[49:58] budget be reduced by 25,000 until this
matter is fully reviewed and resolved.
[50:04] And that is based on the fact that we
have 46 residential units at the
[50:09] Waterwalk. And I went through the tax
sheets for every residential property
[50:13] and I added it up and it comes to
$22,238.99.
[50:20] So I think to be safe I would set
$25,000 aside. [gasps]
[50:26] And just to assure you that we will
still be contributing the commercial
[50:30] part of Waterwalk pays in $8,19
[50:36] a year. The Fairfield Inn contributes
$19,822.
[50:42] The realator's building pays in $5,819.
And the King of Freight puts in
[50:48] $19,3625.
[50:52] Approximately $55,000 would be collected
by the other four buildings.
[50:59] I thank you for your time and I look
forward to working with the city on this
[51:03] statutory issue. Thank you.
Thank you, Lugene.
[51:17] Good evening, Celeste, Witchaw native.
At the last city council meeting, August
[51:22] 18th, a comment was made that no one had
spoken about the Schmid last year. So,
[51:27] I'm here to correct you on that. I
spoke. In fact, I'm going to read my
[51:32] comments from August 26, 2025 about the
Schmid.
[51:37] Today, I want to speak about the
proposed self-supporting municipal
[51:40] improvements district's budget, what you
all call Schmid. This downtown Schmid
[51:45] was approved by the city council in
2000. Special taxpayer property tax
[51:49] funds are given to a Witchaw downtown
corporation for improvements in downtown
[51:53] Witchaw, Washington to our Kansas,
central to Kellogg. However, condo
[51:58] owners and private residences in this
area may not know they have to pay this
[52:02] extra mill levy. So, if any property tax
increase, there needs to be
[52:07] justification for them to pay this
expense. Why is this budget increasing
[52:11] to 1,400,000?
Last year, that was a 55% increase. The
[52:17] city of Witchaw is supposed to provide
downtown cleanup and park maintenance.
[52:20] So, why is the city giving up what it
does to this private entity, downtown
[52:25] Witchaw? Is the city not able to take
care of downtown parks? Is the city not
[52:30] able to maintain downtown flower beds?
How would we request spending records?
[52:36] How would we see what the dollars go
for? Can I file a Kansas open records
[52:40] request to request the travel expenses
or the meeting expenses? How would I
[52:45] request the salaries? Now, remember this
is last year. I find this interesting.
[52:50] Is this a way to hide taxpayer money?
Would a slush fund be created? And how
[52:55] would I know? Taxpayers can't look
inside downtown Witchaw finances to see
[53:00] individual salary, travel expenses, and
marketing costs. Once you give up
[53:05] control, taxpayers are count cut out of
the picture. So, I would suggest, and I
[53:11] still suggest this year, we use the
nearly $500,000 budget increase to hire
[53:16] more parks department staff. Employees
have dropped from 158 employees to
[53:21] barely a hundred. The And this is still
true. This is so ironic. I was just
[53:25] there today. The graffiti on the West
Riverbank has been there for over two
[53:31] weeks and no one has responded to the
request I made to clean it up. Hire more
[53:36] maintenance public staff. The irrigation
system for the flower beds and a Price
[53:41] Witter Park has been broken for months
and here a year later, I'm here to tell
[53:45] you it is still broken. It has still not
been fixed.
[53:50] Um, we worked really hard with Lowe's
Home Improvement Store Heroes Project to
[53:56] plant a thousand flowers. The flowers
have not been watered the entire summer.
[54:01] So, now we're going on year two. They
have still not been watered now for over
[54:06] a year. This is still true, too. There
are weeds, trash, graffiti. Several
[54:11] trees have been cut down, leaving bare
stumps. The broken branches are still
[54:15] lying in the streets around Century 2.
Hire more maintenance staff, please. So,
[54:21] here we are a year later. You did raise
the budget. Downtown Witchaw supposedly
[54:26] is doing the cleanup, and everything I
talked about last year, I'm horrified,
[54:32] is still there today. In fact, I was
there today with someone who's going to
[54:36] give us Save Century 2 and Witchah area
sister cities a grant to help us with
[54:41] watering. And I was so proud of the work
we did. I took them down there, two of
[54:45] them today, to see the work we did at a
price park, a park that was created in
[54:50] honor of the first black mayor of
Witchaw. He was a wonderful man. Um, I
[54:55] won't go into detail, but my father knew
him. And here I was disgraced and
[54:59] embarrassed to see the state of that
park. So, we've given him more money.
[55:04] Something's not working. I say bring
this back in house with city employees.
[55:09] And I know part of the problem is you're
not offering enough salaries. Not any
[55:14] more than someone can make in a fast
food restaurant. And I can't even turn
[55:18] the irrigation on because I was told I
don't have a backflow certification. So
[55:23] I have to water by hand or with hoses
around Jon of Arc. This is ridiculous.
[55:29] Please hire people. Give them a decent
salary. Fill those positions. Fix the
[55:34] irrigation. And this is the riverbank
that downtown Witchah was. so critical
[55:40] to expanding the vision of Witchah to
our visitors. And today I saw a visitor
[55:46] with a name badge around her. Headed
down there to look at Price Woodard. You
[55:50] know what she did? She beat a hasty
retreat because of how awful it looked.
[55:54] You can see my pictures on Facebook. I
posted them on my Save Century 2
[55:58] Facebook page and you'll see what it
looks like. But I will give kudos where
[56:02] kudos are due. So Maggie, you joined us
when we planted those thousand flowers
[56:06] and you were the only one who did. So,
hats off to you. But if you look at what
[56:11] it looks like now, you'll think we
didn't do a dang thing. Thank you.
[56:16] » Thank you, Celeste.
[applause]
[56:21] » Council member Shepard.
>> Thank you. Uh, city manager uh or
[56:26] Reggie, I I know that there is a plan in
the works for a price. Can you please
[56:30] update the public on that plan?
[56:37] And also can you add the caveat of how
long that plan has been in place and how
[56:41] have we communicated that that plan is
moving forward?
[56:47] » So we're in the process right now of
looking at doing renovations to a price
[56:50] woodard. Uh we put a selection committee
in place to look at uh respondents to
[56:54] the RFP. Uh we had approximately 60 uh
companies that applied for that. Uh we
[57:00] reviewed that and narrowed it down and
we're beginning discussions again this
[57:04] week to start looking at next steps with
that project. As part of that, it will
[57:08] get community engagement to see what
that space looks like moving forward,
[57:11] which include addressing some of the
issues that's with the irrigation that
[57:14] they're talking about there, as well as
seeing some of the artwork that'll be
[57:18] incorporated into that project as well.
So, we're actually scheduled to meet
[57:21] this week to discuss the next steps in
that project.
[57:24] » Thank you, Reggie. What has been done to
communicate with those interested in a
[57:27] price winter park and those who are
contributing to the vitality and
[57:30] vibrancy of the area surrounding the
park? Okay. So, we have uh have
[57:35] opportunities to get information out so
once we move forward with it that we'll
[57:38] have community engagement for them to
see what that space looks like moving
[57:41] forward. So, as part of that, once we
have the consultant on board to do that,
[57:45] we will have uh listening sessions and
information for the community, provide
[57:49] feedback on what the envision for the
space once we start moving forward with
[57:53] the project.
>> Thank you, Reggie. And I know that we've
[57:55] met about this and one of the things
that I've stressed is that the community
[57:58] must be engaged to include the
volunteers who have contributed so much
[58:02] to the park. And then when we also talk
about the irrigation system, can you
[58:06] also talk about what discussions are
happening from the city lens uh in
[58:10] regards to that irrigation system?
>> Sure. So, one of the challenges that we
[58:13] have with that, I know that we were in
the the the point where we had the
[58:17] drought previously where we didn't do
any improvements to that fountain during
[58:21] that time frame and we discussed getting
those back on board again this year and
[58:25] the cost to be able to get that
functioning and then the work that's
[58:28] going to be taking place with the master
plan. We didn't want to spend dollars
[58:31] for something that may be replaced in
the long run once we do the additional
[58:34] development. So, that's why it's been a
delay with the sprinkler system there
[58:38] and moving forward. I hear a commitment
from you that we will engage the
[58:41] community about the future of a price
winter park. They will be involved, not
[58:46] just a subset. Everyone will be welcome
to the table to share their thoughts on
[58:50] that and that we actually have funds
allocated to invest in that area of the
[58:55] park.
>> That is correct. We will have community
[58:57] engagement for everyone to have an
opportunity to participate in it and
[59:00] there are dedicated dollars in the CIP
for those improvements.
[59:03] » Thank you. I just hope the public heard
that. Council member Johnston Sten.
[59:09] » Thank you, Mayor. Uh Jennifer Legal,
um regards to the uh first speaker, the
[59:15] Waterwalk Condos. I know several council
members reached out to you for a legal
[59:20] opinion on on that. Uh would you either
mind sharing a summary or meet with them
[59:25] later and share it with them?
>> Happy to. Yes.
[59:28] » Thank you.
>> Is is [clears throat]
[59:30] » would be able to visit with council
members or however you'd like to arrange
[59:33] that. I've asked attorney Magna to share
that privately with Waterwalk, but she
[59:39] shared a memo with us, Lugene, to uh we
met this morning. We got the legal memo
[59:44] back this afternoon, and I've asked our
attorney to meet with you privately so
[59:48] that way we can have those discussions
like we've discussed. Thank you so much
[59:51] for being here.
>> Thank you.
[59:54] » We'll continue with public comment on
the Smid.
[1:00:17] Well, unfortunat
[1:00:23] [clears throat]
I'm looking at the ordinance. It says,
[1:00:26] "Ordinance number 53-080
[1:00:32] published in the Witchah Eagle on August
28th, 2026."
[1:00:38] Is that right?
[1:00:43] Is it going to be published in three
days?
[1:00:45] » Sorry, this is five minutes for you to
speak. We will ask staff or else it will
[1:00:50] count against your time. So
>> that's just a a question that I look at
[1:00:53] this and it says it's going to be this
is this is what you have on your
[1:00:58] website. Uh the other thing is uh this
is listed as item six. The item before
[1:01:05] was listed as item seven. So whoever
does the uh numbering should pay
[1:01:10] attention.
[1:01:15] » City manager, can you please address
both items?
[1:01:20] Mayor the first item was seven because
it was u moved to the agenda out of
[1:01:25] order. So it was taken up. It's usually
in that category of seven on your
[1:01:29] agenda. That's why. And as to the
ordinance, um this hearing has a we're
[1:01:33] in has is is a strict hearing right now
on just the RNR for the SMID. The
[1:01:39] ordinance I think he's referencing is
part of the budget item. So we're not
[1:01:42] there yet.
>> Thank you. We will continue with the
[1:01:47] public comment.
I see none. We will close public comment
[1:01:52] on the RNR for the SMID. We'll bring it
back to the bench.
[1:02:01] » Council member Shepard.
>> Thank you. I would recommend that we
[1:02:05] close the public hearing record, approve
the resolution to exceed the revenue
[1:02:09] neutral rate for the self-supported
municipal improvement district SMID,
[1:02:12] conclude the public hearing, and
authorize the necessary signatures.
[1:02:15] » I will second that um with comments as
well. I know that I've talked to Lugene,
[1:02:19] members of the Waterwalk, and this
conversation won't end. I think you
[1:02:23] brought up really good questions that we
should get answers from the state and I
[1:02:27] think I've expressed to both of you that
this is not going to be solved by today,
[1:02:31] but I think you brought up questions
that we should look at um regarding
[1:02:34] what's in the Smid, what's not in the
Smid. Um and I will be happy to go over
[1:02:38] the uh legal opinion with um Jennifer as
well to figure out a way that we can
[1:02:43] make sure that you're represented. But I
think you also brought up a really good
[1:02:46] point that there's not a a
representative um that lives downtown on
[1:02:50] the Smid and I think that has to change
next time we do appointments. I believe
[1:02:53] that's in April of every year um that
will do appointments and so that's
[1:02:58] something that we'll take in
consideration when it comes because you
[1:03:00] should have a representative um on that
as well. So much more to come and I'm
[1:03:04] sure that we will continue
conversations.
[1:03:08] » We have a motion and a second
discussion. I will just add a couple of
[1:03:12] points. I will be in favor of this
because this is specific to the downtown
[1:03:17] area. Uh for many of the residents who
are present this evening, um you're not
[1:03:23] being taxed this extra levy. However,
those in the downtown area to provide a
[1:03:28] lot of resources for everyone else in
various parts of our community. Uh this
[1:03:34] specific tax is to provide added
opportunities for downtown Witchaw
[1:03:39] including a clean team and I am in favor
of that clean team. Uh that is because
[1:03:44] the city manager has informed us that
again public works and parks do a lot in
[1:03:49] our community and this specific area,
the downtown area needs extra attention.
[1:03:56] Therefore, the downtown Witchaw board
has been thoughtful about adding a clean
[1:04:00] team specific to the downtown area and I
am in favor of that um as I was in favor
[1:04:06] of that last year. However, also taken
into account what Lugene and various
[1:04:12] other property owners who came before us
last week to share their feedback about
[1:04:17] being a property owner uh a residential
property owner. I am looking forward to
[1:04:21] the leadership of council member Shepard
who represents uh water walk that area
[1:04:26] and look forward to them following up
with you and moving that uh forward for
[1:04:31] the next round. So again um I am also in
favor of adding someone from the
[1:04:36] residential area into the downtown witch
board. With that we have a motion
[1:04:42] second. Any further discussion? See
none. Madame clerk please open the role.
[1:04:47] » Mayor we have to do a verbal vote on
this. So, Mayor Woo, what is your vote?
[1:04:51] » I,
>> Vice Mayor,
[1:04:53] » I.
>> Uh, Council Member Shepard,
[1:04:55] » I.
>> Council member Tuttle,
[1:04:57] » I.
>> Council member Hohisel,
[1:04:58] » I.
>> Council member Johnston,
[1:05:00] » I.
>> Council member Ballard,
[1:05:02] » I.
>> Motion passes seven to zero.
[1:05:05] » Madame clerk, please call the next item.
[1:05:15] » Revenue neutral rate. City of Witchah
2027 proposed budget.
[1:05:22] » Good evening again. Mark Manning with
the Department of Finance. Uh to our
[1:05:26] next item that we need to discuss is the
revenue neutral rate for the city of
[1:05:30] Witchaw. Again, we have to have this
hearing prior to our discussion on the
[1:05:34] budget. So, some of this will be
repetitive. Again, the revenue neutral
[1:05:38] rate or what we call the RNR is concept
approved by the legislature in 2021.
[1:05:43] The RNR, if we choose not to exceed it,
does not allow any growth in property
[1:05:49] tax revenue. Not $1 of additional growth
from the prior year. No growth from new
[1:05:56] construction, no growth from annexation,
no growth from expire expiring tax
[1:06:00] abatements, no growth from anything if
you uh do not exceed the RNR.
[1:06:06] Now, property tax revenue is very
important to the financing of the city
[1:06:10] of Witchaw. It is the largest revenue
source in the general fund. And I would
[1:06:15] remind you that the general fund funds
mostly public safety. 67% of the general
[1:06:20] fund funds public safety. And again, the
property tax is a very significant
[1:06:25] revenue to the general fund uh which
funds that public safety. It's also the
[1:06:30] uh primary revenue source to the debt
service fund. The debt service fund pays
[1:06:35] for the infrastructure costs of public
safety, fire stations, police stations,
[1:06:39] things like that. and it also funds a
significant portion of our maintenance
[1:06:43] activities primarily on our building
maintenance side. So, property tax
[1:06:47] revenues are important uh to our
operating and capital improvement
[1:06:51] budget. So, this slide shows you the
taxes levied last year uh just a little
[1:06:56] bit north of $175 million.
Uh if we do not exceed the revenue
[1:07:02] neutral rate in 2027, that means that
the city budget would be built around
[1:07:08] the exact same 175,61,325
[1:07:15] with no increase.
Now, the budget as proposed by the city
[1:07:19] manager does keep the mill levy flat on
an estimated basis. uh but it would
[1:07:24] result in additional property tax
revenue between both the debt service
[1:07:27] fund and the general fund of
approximately $13.1 million.
[1:07:33] Again, with a flat mill levy, that means
that most of that or all of that revenue
[1:07:37] is generated by changes in our assessed
valuation. Assessed valuation changes
[1:07:42] due to reappraisal. It also changes due
to new construction and annexation or a
[1:07:47] variety of other factors. But again, the
budget is based on an increase in
[1:07:51] property tax revenue, but a flat mill
levy aligned with last year's mill levy.
[1:07:58] Let's look at what other communities do
uh with the revenue neutral rate. I just
[1:08:02] picked three of our larger counties in
Kansas as the example. Seduit County and
[1:08:06] Shauny County, Topeka, and Johnson
County. Uh you can see that all three of
[1:08:11] those counties have voted to exceed the
revenue neutral rate each of the last
[1:08:14] three years.
All the school districts in those
[1:08:18] counties have voted to exceed the
revenue neutral rate in each of the last
[1:08:21] three years. And in Seduit County, uh
you can see last year that 17 cities,
[1:08:26] including the city of Witchaw, exceeded
the RNR. Two cities did not. Uh you may
[1:08:32] be interested to know those two cities
were Andale, which has a population of
[1:08:36] 924,
and Clearwater, Kansas, which has a
[1:08:40] population of 2,682.
In other words, some of our smaller
[1:08:44] neighbors are able to uh fund their
operations apparently without exceeding
[1:08:49] the RNR, but uh the vast majority of
other municipalities in our area have
[1:08:54] and do exceed the RNR.
Again, same checklist. We'd need to pro
[1:08:59] provide notification, which we have
done. We have to hold a hearing prior to
[1:09:03] talking about the budget, which is what
we're doing right now. And if you choose
[1:09:07] to exceed the RNR, you must do so with a
roll call vote. Again, final reminder,
[1:09:13] your vote on this does not commit you to
a level of taxes levied. We'll determine
[1:09:17] that when we talk about the operating
budget, but it does allow you to
[1:09:21] consider a level of taxes levied that is
greater [music] than the taxes levied in
[1:09:26] 2026. So, with that, I'd be happy to
answer any questions and the recommended
[1:09:31] action is to approve the resolution by
roll call vote to exceed the RNR for the
[1:09:36] city of Witchaw.
>> Thank you, Mark. Questions for staff? I
[1:09:41] will start. Um, can you go back to slide
number 25?
[1:09:47] » Sorry, 28.
>> 28.
[1:09:51] » Yes, ma'am.
>> So, it appears right here that the
[1:09:55] budget will increase by 13.156
million. That is a 7.49%
[1:10:02] increase.
>> Yes, ma'am. Um I have previously asked
[1:10:06] um I would be in favor of exceeding
revenue neutral if it only captured
[1:10:11] inflation which is roughly 3% and new
growth uh new construction that is
[1:10:17] » can you tell me what that total would
have been if it was just inflation and
[1:10:21] that new construction? Yeah, we
estimated that uh those two uh would
[1:10:26] mean growth of about $9 million. U
[1:10:33] » and the percentage would be what
percent?
[1:10:36] » Uh [sighs]
3.8
[1:10:40] I believe it was somewhere in the
neighborhood just north of 5% if I
[1:10:43] remember correctly. You're testing my
memory, mayor, but uh I believe it was
[1:10:46] somewhere around 5.1 or 5.2%.
>> It was 4.5% total. This is from previous
[1:10:53] meetings ago. Um I'm just asking this
because several people here were not
[1:10:57] present during that time. Um and I am
still um in that same mindset as I was
[1:11:03] last year that the city should only take
in inflation and new construction versus
[1:11:10] additional assessed valuation growth.
I've heard from many residents that have
[1:11:15] said you have increased you meaning the
counties but not necessarily the county
[1:11:20] but the treasurer um the register of
deeds rather is really encouraging
[1:11:26] people to look at their tax bill and see
how much assessed valuation growth has
[1:11:31] happened in their homes and people are
frustrated seeing that their homes have
[1:11:36] increased by double digits but they
can't really sell those properties at
[1:11:40] those amounts right now. Can you explain
the difference between the city, county,
[1:11:45] and state levels when it comes to
assessed valuations?
[1:11:49] » Yeah, each of uh each of those taxing
districts have different areas. Now, our
[1:11:53] evaluation tends to be very close to
Seduit County. I mean, after all, we are
[1:11:57] 76% of the assessed valuation in Seduit
County, but they have some more uh
[1:12:02] suburban areas than we do. So, sometimes
their assessed valuation will grow a
[1:12:05] little bit higher than ours. Sometimes
it'll grow a little bit lower than ours,
[1:12:09] but it tends to be relatively in line.
Of course, USD 259, which is the largest
[1:12:13] school district in the Witchaw area, uh,
also has a little bit different
[1:12:17] characteristics at ours than the city of
Witchaw. So, their valuation will grow a
[1:12:22] little bit differently than ours. Uh,
but all of us generally grow about the
[1:12:26] same amount each year other than a few
percentage points here and there. So,
[1:12:31] » thank you, Mark.
>> I see no questions from the bench. We
[1:12:35] will now open it up for public comment
specifically to the RNR for the city's
[1:12:41] budget.
[1:12:54] Good evening, Mayor Woo Celestat,
Witchaw native, former chief internal
[1:12:58] auditor, former bank examiner. IRBs cost
the city about the same amount you're
[1:13:03] looking for to keep the budget at
revenue neutral. It's about 10 million a
[1:13:07] year in city funds. It's about 11
million a year in school funds.
[1:13:12] Commercial tax incentives like IRBs you
hand out are broken. I am suggesting a
[1:13:17] one-year moratorum until the commercial
tax incentive process gets fixed. When
[1:13:22] commercial taxes are not collected, the
county loses out, the city loses out,
[1:13:26] and the school district loses out.
Residential homeowners are then asked to
[1:13:30] make up the difference like we're
hearing today. We are the ones paying
[1:13:34] for tax giveaways given to developers
for industrial revenue bonds. And until
[1:13:40] the broken given ways are fixed, the
city of Witchaw has got to stop posting
[1:13:44] misleading statements about how these
incentives are not costing taxpayers
[1:13:49] because taxpayers do pay for incentives
either through a broken IRB process or
[1:13:54] because starbond debt agreements require
it. The state of Kansas recently
[1:13:59] completed an audit on industrial revenue
bonds and the results were not good.
[1:14:03] Here's what the audit stated. The Sedick
County Appraisers Office didn't submit
[1:14:08] many IRBX applications to BOD for
approval over the past 30 years as
[1:14:14] required by state law. 112 were not
filed properly. Poor segregation of
[1:14:19] duties at the Sedick County Appraisers
Office, unclear timelines, and a lack of
[1:14:24] state agency oversight allowed this
situation to happen. This issue could
[1:14:29] affect some Sedick County business
property taxes and the quality of BOD's
[1:14:33] IRBX data. When I read this audit, I
became concerned. Concerned because
[1:14:38] residential homeowners just got a huge
increase in their property tax bills.
[1:14:43] concerned because you are not keeping
the budget at revenue neutral, but are
[1:14:46] asking for an increase in spending.
Hardworking families and seniors
[1:14:50] struggle to keep the roof over their
head, yet commercial businesses are
[1:14:54] getting a free ride because you approved
it. I specifically asked a Seduit County
[1:14:59] Commissioner and I spoke in several
Witchaw City Council meetings if anyone
[1:15:04] was concerned about this broken
incentive process and I asked if there
[1:15:08] was an impact to taxpayers. I was told
no, there was no impact to taxpayers. I
[1:15:15] was told in emails and phone calls there
was no impact to taxpayers. I was told
[1:15:20] there was no missed revenue. So I
decided to find out for myself. Here's
[1:15:25] the list of taxexempt properties for
Witchaw. These are the businesses who
[1:15:29] pay no property tax or pay reduced
property taxes because you have given
[1:15:34] them tax perks. I looked at four
properties. One of them, Poet Ethanol
[1:15:39] Products, has been receiving IRB tax
perks since 2004.
[1:15:44] They have 24 million in appraised values
that are taxexempt. They also received
[1:15:49] sales tax exemption on all the furniture
and equipment that went into their new
[1:15:54] offices at 39th and Web. You gave them
nearly everything in tax incentives. I
[1:16:01] found unusual fluctuations in property
valuations. Every single time I asked
[1:16:06] someone in authority if this fluctuation
was a mistake, I was told no. There was
[1:16:12] nothing unusual about the fluctuations
in assessed value. I was told all of the
[1:16:17] 112 exceptions in the state audit had no
problems and I quote to wrongly reduce
[1:16:24] the county tax base. But I'm stubborn
and I persisted and I asked for a
[1:16:29] meeting to discuss the results I found.
Last Thursday in a meeting, I was told I
[1:16:35] was right. There was a problem. And
contrary to what I had been told in
[1:16:40] emails and over the phone, there was a
fiscal impact to taxpayers. Ethanol
[1:16:46] Products LLC owes $119,000
in back taxes. They have 45 days to pay.
[1:16:54] I was told, and I quote, "The appraiser
made a calculation error in the 2025
[1:17:00] value." who will apologize to me for the
false statements I was given about this
[1:17:05] problem, for the push back I received
when I tried to explain the dramatic
[1:17:10] swings in oppressed value that I saw.
And more importantly, here's the key
[1:17:15] that I hope you work with the county on.
And I think Mayor Woo, you probably will
[1:17:20] reach out to Ryan Batty. I hope so
anyway, because I wanted to know what
[1:17:24] systems were being put in place to
prevent calculation errors in the
[1:17:28] future. How do we know there aren't more
of the 112 that were put on the system
[1:17:33] at a lower assessed value than they
should have been? If I wasn't stubborn,
[1:17:37] I wouldn't have found this. Property tax
exemptions cost the city roughly $6
[1:17:42] million per year. Property tax
exemptions cost the USD 259 almost 11
[1:17:48] million per year. My recommendation is
to put a one-year moratorum on any new
[1:17:52] tax incentives until this system is
fixed. My second recommendation is to
[1:17:57] set up a fraud abuse whistleblower
hotline with finder fees to encourage
[1:18:01] this type of citizen reporting. Thank
you.
[1:18:06] [applause] Thank you, Celeste.
I do have a follow-up question to Mark
[1:18:11] Manning. Um, I did send an email to you
and the city manager on Saturday
[1:18:15] regarding uh what Celeste has posted
regarding the poet ethanol owing
[1:18:20] $100,000. Can you please uh share where
the city um is at in terms of recouping
[1:18:27] some of those dollars and how many more
of these have not been checked?
[1:18:32] » Sure. Uh first of all, let me uh kind of
expand on the city's relationship
[1:18:37] regarding everything Celeste talked
about. Uh the city has virtually nothing
[1:18:42] to do with the processes she talked
about. Everything she talked about is
[1:18:46] done by our our partners over at the
county. the city has absolutely nothing
[1:18:51] to do with the appraisal of property or
with the entry into the system of those
[1:18:57] appraised values. I I understand the
same thing she did. I understand it was
[1:19:01] a data entry error on behalf of a county
staff. That's I'm sure regrettable on
[1:19:04] their behalf. Uh we're humans. That
happens occasionally. But again, the
[1:19:08] city has absolutely nothing to do with
that. Uh there are about 180,000 parcels
[1:19:15] in Seduit County in the city of Witchaw.
the city really doesn't have the ability
[1:19:19] to audit the valuation of those 180,000
properties. It's really not our
[1:19:25] function. Again, it's regrettable. Uh it
does impact the city. Uh but that
[1:19:30] function is entirely on the county and
I'm going to assume all the
[1:19:33] correspondence that she mentioned was
with county representatives as well. I
[1:19:37] wanted to make that clear. Having said
that, our understanding is that the
[1:19:41] county appraiser has corrected the
valuation. Uh our understanding is that
[1:19:45] they have uh adjusted the taxes payable
uh for this entity and uh they are
[1:19:52] coordinating with us to ensure that that
entity is aware of that and presumably
[1:19:57] pays their taxes and and uh they will
take care of the problem that way.
[1:20:04] » Do you know how much the city will be
owed from that $100,000 that was
[1:20:08] mentioned?
>> Uh I don't know off top of my head. I
[1:20:12] would guess it's somewhere around 29% of
the 112 or 118,000 whatever the number
[1:20:16] is. I have not seen it specifically but
you know based on our mill levy split
[1:20:20] probably about 29% of it. So what
$35,000 maybe?
[1:20:25] » So that money will go into the general
fund when it is accepted.
[1:20:29] » Uh it'll go to the general fund and the
debt service fund. Yes ma'am.
[1:20:33] » Thank you Mark. Uh Vice Mayor Glasco.
>> Thank you Mark. I know we have a
[1:20:38] workshop regarding city incentives at
the end of September and so this will
[1:20:42] likely be brought up. Could we try to
work and maybe this is a question for
[1:20:45] the manager to get somebody from the
county to be able to answer some of
[1:20:49] those questions to make sure that
perhaps this problem doesn't happen
[1:20:52] again on the county side and how maybe
we can be proactive in making sure that
[1:20:57] we're also catching it as well if that's
a function that we're able to take. But
[1:21:00] I think that should be maybe part of the
conversation in September.
[1:21:05] Council
member Shepard.
[1:21:08] » Thank you. And I want to echo the
sentiments of Vice Mayor Mark. Thank you
[1:21:12] for apologizing on behalf of the county,
but this is the city. I don't think you
[1:21:15] need to take ownership for a mistake
that our neighbors uh made and certainly
[1:21:20] understand that human error is a
situation that occurs often. The
[1:21:24] difference is whether or not you take
ownership for it. So, I hope that they
[1:21:26] do take ownership for it and that they
can meet the moment with the previous
[1:21:30] speaker who asked for an apology. that
to in my opinion is not your apology to
[1:21:35] render. Um, and with that being said,
city manager, I know that we've
[1:21:38] discussed this, but as I've been out
engaging the community, not only does
[1:21:42] the county need to be at the table, but
the board of education needs to be at
[1:21:45] the table when we talk about these
incentives, as well as um I think we
[1:21:49] need to lean on the expertise of our
business community. And I would also
[1:21:52] like to see before we make a decision on
what that economic incentives package
[1:21:57] looks like, which I know will be a
long-term process, it should go to every
[1:22:02] single DAB board so we can get community
input as well, so that way we make sure
[1:22:06] all factions and stakeholders are a part
of that conversation. Thank you.
[1:22:11] » Thank you, Mark. We will continue with
public comment.
[1:22:17] » Hello, Faith Martin. Uh, I've been
through this process with county and uh,
[1:22:23] I think a lot of people don't realize
it's either exceeded or don't. We can't
[1:22:26] do percentages or inflation or some of
those things. So, I imagine that you
[1:22:31] will vote to exceed today, but uh on
this I do agree with the mayor that uh
[1:22:37] as a as a taxpayer, as a private
property owner, you know, I get
[1:22:41] appraised 25% higher year-over-year and
I don't see any I don't see any benefit
[1:22:48] from that personally, and usually I'm
here speaking on other people's behalf,
[1:22:51] but you know, when we get over year over
year exceeding exceeding exceeding to
[1:22:57] the point where our budget is so bloated
that if we don't exceed, we can't even
[1:23:01] pay for basic things that we need. And
so I would like to see a plan moving
[1:23:06] forward if we know it's going to be
specifically 13 million or 12 million or
[1:23:10] 20 million that we're going over. What
is the plan for those specific dollars?
[1:23:15] Is it to invest in infrastructure? Is it
to pay off debt? I think people get
[1:23:20] upset when they don't see what that's,
you know, if we're going to take the
[1:23:24] full appraised value and go over revenue
neutral, just show us what you're using
[1:23:28] it for. I think that's what people want
to see. I I would hope that you don't,
[1:23:32] but I know that it's going to exceed
because you budgeted for that 13
[1:23:36] million, but I think if we can see what
you're doing with that 13 million, um
[1:23:41] maybe it wouldn't be as painful. I know
it wouldn't be as painful to me. Um if I
[1:23:45] know that it's paying for things that I
care about. Um so that's what I'd leave
[1:23:49] you with. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Faith. We'll continue with
[1:23:53] public comment.
[1:24:00] Uh, Michael Girkin, 1818 Harbor Light,
District 6. Um, I guess, you know, I I
[1:24:06] agree, Mayor Will, we can't just say,
"Oh, good. We get this much money
[1:24:10] because we didn't raise the mill levy."
Um, I've seen my values go up 21% in two
[1:24:15] years. Okay. Um, and what I really don't
understand is it's this attitude that we
[1:24:23] have to spend, spend, spend. Where is
the attitude to get more efficient and
[1:24:27] reduce cost? I never see it. We pat
ourselves on the back. We didn't raise a
[1:24:32] mill levy, but we raising$ 13 more
million dollars. Okay? There's no I
[1:24:37] don't see an effort to reduce cost. I I
was a business owner before I retired.
[1:24:42] Every day we were cutting cost. We had
to to survive. You know, we didn't raise
[1:24:47] our budget every year. We tried to cut
it. And I just think that we need to get
[1:24:51] more fiscally responsible and figure out
how to reduce cost rather than just say,
[1:24:56] "Oh, good. We didn't raise a mill levy."
[1:25:01] [applause] Thank you, Michael. We'll
continue with public comment.
[1:25:13] » Hello. Good evening. Zoe Chittik, 13521
East Rose Street. I believe I'm in
[1:25:17] District 2. Um, you mentioned that
there's a public safety fund within
[1:25:21] this. So, I wanted to ask what
percentile of this budget with our
[1:25:26] public safety fund is spent on flock
cameras? How much of that increase is
[1:25:31] spent on those? And where is our money
going when it goes to public safety?
[1:25:36] We have about 190 cameras in Witchah
that WPD says they have on their
[1:25:42] website. And I'm not sure how familiar
folks are, but the subs subscription
[1:25:46] cost is about $2,000 to $3,000 per flock
camera. So, some quick math there is
[1:25:53] that's about half a million. Now, I know
there's some active litigation ongoing
[1:25:57] and we've had different cities in
Kansas, including um Wellsville, decide
[1:26:02] to remove their flock cameras. So, that
offers a lot of cost savings. Now, do we
[1:26:07] have any data on if these cameras are
actually helping our city or are they
[1:26:12] just skimming daily information from us?
The last updates on the transparency
[1:26:16] flock safety website on benefits on how
they were for the community were in
[1:26:20] June. So, what happened in July and
August? Did it actually do anything for
[1:26:23] the town of Witchah? If Wellsville,
Kansas is removing their flock cameras,
[1:26:28] when will we? And how much money would
we get back to pour into humans in our
[1:26:33] public safety resources instead of AI?
and would that create overall cost
[1:26:39] savings in Witchah that taxpayers would
see coming back to us? Thank you. Thank
[1:26:45] you, Zoe. We'll continue with public
comment.
[1:27:06] first time here. Let's see here. My name
Good evening, mayor and members of city
[1:27:10] council. My name is Jamie Kissinger and
I live in district 5. I'm standing here
[1:27:14] tonight because I'm deeply discouraged
and frankly angry about how this city
[1:27:19] treats the workers who actually keep it
running. My husband has worked n 39
[1:27:24] faithful years for the city and public
works as a surveyor laying out the very
[1:27:28] roads we drive on. He doesn't stay
because he lacks options. Contractors
[1:27:33] try to recruit him constantly for far
more money. I tell him all the time he
[1:27:38] should go, but he stays because he takes
pride in serving our community. He goes
[1:27:44] out in 100°ree heat and freezing snow,
routinely catching and correcting
[1:27:50] engineering, designing errors right on
the job site so our streets actually lay
[1:27:55] out and drain correctly. Yet over the
last eight years, workers in the
[1:27:59] division has seen only a 20% pay
increase, while other city sectors
[1:28:05] receive over 29 to 39%. Tell me there
isn't something deeply broken in the
[1:28:11] system. Our son
Oh, here we go. Sorry,
[1:28:17] I lost my place.
[1:28:25] Um,
[1:28:30] our son recently hired on in a different
city department and within one year he
[1:28:35] is making more money than his father
ever nearly for four decades of service.
[1:28:40] I'm not asking for pity, but it stings.
As Esau Freeman pointed out in last
[1:28:46] week's meeting, for every nine new
hires, you lose five within 180 days.
[1:28:52] Because this isn't a livable wage, the
city saves massive amounts using
[1:28:56] internal staff over outside contractors.
To make matters worse, the money that
[1:29:02] was supposed to go towards essential
workers was pulled back during COVID
[1:29:05] ARPA funds with only a fraction paid out
while the rest was redirected into
[1:29:10] nonprofit grants. Now, you are proposing
to cut merit raises for the frontline
[1:29:15] employees making well under $60,000.
While this city remains widely topheavy,
[1:29:21] let's look at the math. A 3% raise for
an employee making $60,000 is $1,800 a
[1:29:27] year, barely $100 a month after taxes. A
3% raise for an administrator making
[1:29:33] $200,000 is an extra $6,000 a year of
taxpayers pockets. Does someone earning
[1:29:39] 2 thou $200,000 really need another $500
a month while road crews can't keep up
[1:29:45] with inflation? Taking raises from
essential work workers who keep this
[1:29:50] city functioning is unacceptable. This
city needs to be audited from top to
[1:29:54] bottom. Pay our essential workers what
they deserve and stop cutting the bottom
[1:29:58] to protect the top. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Jamie.
[1:30:03] Council member Hoheiser.
>> Thank you, Mayor. And thank you, Jamie,
[1:30:06] for coming up for your first time. It
was uh really good job. You did a good
[1:30:11] job there. Um I do want to say thank you
to all our workers. Um I'm a big
[1:30:16] advocate for unions and a lot of that
pay discrepancy you see has to do with
[1:30:21] uh certain employees in our organization
being unionized, but I do I do want to
[1:30:26] say that we I do think we have ground to
make up with uh non-unized workers in
[1:30:31] our in our city. um we need to treat
everybody and give them the give them
[1:30:37] what they're worth essentially. So I do
appreciate you and your husband and
[1:30:40] that's something I think we're going to
be working on over this next year. So
[1:30:44] thank you for coming up and speaking.
>> Council member Tuttle.
[1:30:47] » Thank you. Um thank you Miss Kissinger
for being here. Really appreciate it.
[1:30:51] Appreciate your comments. I do just want
to clarify that not everyone in this
[1:30:55] body has asked for merit uh cuts. Only
specific members have. Um, and we also
[1:31:01] did an employee survey and we heard loud
and clear that that is not something
[1:31:06] that employees are interested in. I've
said now during two of these meetings
[1:31:10] that there will be no way that I am
supportive of cutting merit raises for
[1:31:14] employees. All of us who who work in our
community know that it costs more to
[1:31:20] hire and train an employee than it does
to retain an employee. and cutting merit
[1:31:26] ra merit raises for our city employees
who work so hard every day to provide
[1:31:31] effective and efficient service will
mean that we will lose good employees.
[1:31:36] They will do exactly as your husband
could and go to another another
[1:31:39] opportunity. So, um I think I've stated
from this bench twice, but I'll say it
[1:31:43] three times. I would be in no way
supportive of cutting merit raises for
[1:31:47] City of Witchah team members. Thank you.
[applause]
[1:31:53] Thank you, Jamie, for attending the
meeting. We had a conversation this
[1:31:57] afternoon, and I really appreciate not
just your son's service, but your
[1:32:01] husband's service to the city, as well
as the 3,100 employees for the city of
[1:32:06] Witchah. For context, I gave her that
information as well. The top 25 earners
[1:32:12] at the city of Witchah get paid between
$298,000
[1:32:17] to $181,120.
[1:32:21] Those are the top 25 earners. Last week,
627 of the city's 818
[1:32:29] nonUN employees responded to an employee
survey. rate of pay was their highest
[1:32:35] priority, followed by merit pay. Tuition
reimbursement ranked last.
[1:32:42] I appreciate their feedback in the
service of all $3,100 city employees. To
[1:32:47] be clear, the proposal I was considering
for tonight would not have affected
[1:32:52] employees earning less than $60,000 a
year. After hearing concerns about the
[1:32:58] broader idea, I narrowed it to pausing
merit increases for one year for
[1:33:03] eligible non-union employees earning
more than $60,000
[1:33:09] in light of the city's difficult budget
condition, which includes $8 million in
[1:33:14] budget shortfalls for 2028 to 2030.
It would not have reduced existing
[1:33:22] salaries or affected the separate
general pay increase. Staff estimated
[1:33:27] that the one-year pause could have saved
approximately $600,000.
[1:33:33] I have listened to those concerns and
the proposal does not have council
[1:33:38] support, so I will not pursue it. For
context, Cedric County's proposal is 3%
[1:33:46] general pay adjustment plus a 1% scale
bump, whereas the city's proposal is a
[1:33:53] 2.5% general pay adjustment plus an
additional 2.5% merit raise. The US rate
[1:34:01] of inflation last year was 2.7%.
That does not resolve the larger
[1:34:08] structural challenge. More than 75% of
the general fund supports employee pay
[1:34:13] and benefits. The proposed budget relies
on reserves, $3 million to be exact, and
[1:34:20] an additional shortfall is projected for
the following year. The city manager and
[1:34:26] human resources must comprehensively
examine compensation,
[1:34:32] wage compression, frontline retention,
staffing, vacancies, and management
[1:34:39] structure. The council must then be
willing to make responsible budget
[1:34:44] choices that value essential employees
and protect taxpayers.
[1:34:50] I am reading this because I shared that
before coming to this council meeting.
[1:34:55] And so again, Jamie, thank you for your
thoughtful conversation. Um, and again,
[1:35:02] thank you to the 3,100 employees and
those who are not represented by unions.
[1:35:07] We do appreciate your service and there
should be pay that is commeasurate to
[1:35:14] the value that you do create for the
city. And so I can see that pay is the
[1:35:20] most important thing that individuals
value. But the lowest priority was a new
[1:35:26] program that the city manager proposed,
which is a new tuition reimbursement
[1:35:32] program at $300,000.
So I will be um asking for the delay of
[1:35:39] creating a new program for tuition
reimbursement in the following vote.
[1:35:44] Council member Shepard. Thank you,
mayor, and thank you to the speaker who
[1:35:47] spoke courageously about the importance
of paying people what they're worth,
[1:35:52] especially in this economy where people
are worried about how they're going to
[1:35:55] put gas in their tank, food on the
table, and be able to provide for their
[1:35:58] family. I want to also uh say that, and
I said this last week, that when we even
[1:36:02] look at the data, 627 employees, non-UN
employees out of 800, 76.7 response
[1:36:09] rates statistically significant. As the
mayor mentioned, uh not only rate of pay
[1:36:14] but followed immediately by merit pay,
insurance coverage and retirement was a
[1:36:18] top priority. But again, as we keep
spitting out these data points, we also
[1:36:23] need to disagregate the data. Uh for
example, we keep saying that tuition
[1:36:28] reimbursement ranked the lowest amongst
the poll. But we also need to
[1:36:32] disagregate that data to figure out why
that is. meaning does majority of our
[1:36:36] workforce already have an education that
they don't feel the need to go back to
[1:36:40] college for or what is the average
salary of that particular household
[1:36:44] that's working for the city of Witchah.
I know that the mayor did make the
[1:36:47] recommendation to potentially freeze
salaries for anybody making 60,000 and
[1:36:51] above. I would argue that that is still
very hard on a lot of Americans in
[1:36:55] Witchens today who are making $60,000.
Uh we hear from the United Way all the
[1:37:00] time about the Alice report and that
there is a such thing as the working
[1:37:03] poor and that people are relying on that
next paycheck and they're one emergency
[1:37:07] away from ending up in one of our
homeless facilities. And so I feel very
[1:37:12] passionate about this. I think it's one
thing to say we value our employees.
[1:37:15] It's another thing to ensure that the
policies and the actions align with
[1:37:18] that. I'm not sure if we've done a good
job. Um, I know that our city manager
[1:37:22] from the moment that he has walked in
has been very clear that he wants to
[1:37:25] enhance the culture and morale in the
space. And I think that that does
[1:37:29] include not only employee benefits, but
also making sure that we are honoring
[1:37:33] our employees in a way that respects the
dignity, value of not just them, but
[1:37:37] their whole family. It's why I want paid
family leave because when a person is
[1:37:40] experiencing a loss in their family, uh
being an elderly parent or bringing a
[1:37:44] child into this world, they should be
able to step away to spend their time
[1:37:48] with that family and have pay associated
with that to uh recognize the value of
[1:37:53] the whole person. And there's so many
more things that we can do. U my
[1:37:56] commitment is to make sure that we get
there. I think tonight you're going to
[1:37:59] hear some conversations about the start
of that for our employees, but to me
[1:38:03] that is not even the the surface to be
completely honest. We got to do much
[1:38:07] more. Thank you for speaking up for your
husband. Thank you for speaking up for
[1:38:11] all the employees who don't feel that
they have both the ability to speak
[1:38:15] publicly because the the culture of fear
is real sometimes. And also thank you
[1:38:19] for speaking up for the people who are
currently out on the streets right now
[1:38:22] working for the city of Witchaw and
cannot be here.
[1:38:26] » C Vice Mayor Glasco.
>> Thank you, Mayor Jamie. I'll keep it
[1:38:31] very simple. I agree with you and I said
that from the bench last week and for
[1:38:34] any employee listening right now, you're
valued. We want you here. We want to
[1:38:38] hear your concerns and you can come
directly and also express those as well.
[1:38:42] And we want to know that this wants this
place is where we want you to work and
[1:38:46] show your talents as well. So did not
support a cut to merit pay and I thank
[1:38:50] you for standing up for a lot of the
employees who I've heard similar
[1:38:53] sentiments for as well.
>> We'll continue with public comment.
[1:39:10] Good evening, Mayor and Council. It's
good to see each of you. I know you as
[1:39:16] individuals with high integrity, and the
things you're working with this evening
[1:39:20] are not easy. This revenue neutral vote
is going to be a train already out the
[1:39:27] station. I know you're going to make
that hard decision and vote yes. So, I'm
[1:39:32] not going to belver the issue a whole
lot about can we lower property taxes.
[1:39:37] That is obviously not going to happen.
Each of our government agencies
[1:39:41] continues to add to their budget and I'm
not sure what to possibly do to stop it.
[1:39:47] But uh I do have a proposal today that
I've worked on for the last couple of
[1:39:51] years and shared with you by email to
help some of the people in our community
[1:39:56] that are homeless.
They have no place to go to the
[1:40:00] restroom. And it's a very difficult
decision for every single one of them.
[1:40:04] Do I talk to the business that I go
into? Do I get them to use, you know,
[1:40:08] allow me to use the restroom? This is
something that we all need to take care
[1:40:13] of obviously in our own lives, but for
our homeless, there are about 700 of
[1:40:18] them in our community that are in a very
tough bind. Now, this isn't my first
[1:40:23] time to talk about this. I actually
brought this proposal two years ago.
[1:40:28] I've sent a number of emails. I've sent
you links to other cities, parts of the
[1:40:33] world that this is common. I've traveled
much of the world. I've been in India.
[1:40:38] I've been in Russia. been in in Europe.
They have public facilities for people
[1:40:42] who are visiting.
They have homeless just like we do, but
[1:40:47] they also have places for people to take
care of their daily needs with having to
[1:40:51] be shephered around and and and end up
going to the restroom out there on the
[1:40:57] public street. This is embarrassing.
It's a tragedy. We need to pe treat our
[1:41:03] our friends with dignity and respect. So
I ask you to please do this rather than
[1:41:09] raise the whole issue of okay this is an
additional expense. Let's talk about
[1:41:16] putting it under the second light budget
that you have a million dollars for.
[1:41:22] I've done budgeting for 50 years. I know
that money is funible. You have an
[1:41:26] opportunity to take the funds you
already are going to appropriate for
[1:41:29] that facility and say all right let's
put that $50,000 that I'm requesting in
[1:41:35] that budget. Make sure that happens.
Make sure that the uh public works
[1:41:40] people pick up the containers every day
or two whenever they need to have them
[1:41:45] recycled. But the actual equipment, I've
sent you an email. It's only $5,000
[1:41:51] for three toilets. Those toilets can
serve as a major major opportunity for
[1:41:57] people to feel like they're respected in
our community and we don't have to worry
[1:42:01] about them being chased around, put in
jail for public indecency or having the
[1:42:07] uh businesses having to continually say
no, you can't use my facility. This is
[1:42:12] something that can stop.
Now, I want to take a second opportunity
[1:42:16] while I'm here at the at the microphone
to mention we have a major problem with
[1:42:22] diseased trees in our city. The drought
and disease is killing many of our trees
[1:42:28] on private property as well as public.
And I don't know if it's already in your
[1:42:33] budget someplace, but somehow we need to
work with homeowners and businesses and
[1:42:38] be able to say, "All right, if you've
got a tree down, let's find a way to get
[1:42:41] that wood off of that property rather
than just have it lay out there for
[1:42:46] years and years and accumulate.
This is something that we can do as a
[1:42:50] public private combination that will
help all of us clean up our city and
[1:42:55] make sure that these disease trees are
actually removed and we can get on to
[1:43:00] taking care of our own. If you have any
questions about that, I'd be glad to
[1:43:04] talk to you more about it. On my own
property, I have four trees down. I'm
[1:43:09] cutting them up with chainsaws. That's
really uh something I'm able to do, but
[1:43:14] a lot of other people aren't. So, I ask
you to find a way to make sure that the
[1:43:19] city is involved in helping us remove
that wood and get it out of the
[1:43:23] community. I thank you for your time.
God bless you.
[1:43:27] » Thank you, Walt.
We'll continue with public comment.
[1:43:41] Good evening. My name is Zach Wehan and
I live in District 1.
[1:43:45] City Council, Mayor, City Manager, thank
you for the work that you've done on
[1:43:49] this budget. It's much appreciated.
Property taxes seems to be one of the
[1:43:54] hot topic issues in the state of Kansas
that's generating frustration. It spans
[1:44:00] generations. Young people, retirees on
fixed incomes are all looking for
[1:44:04] solutions.
So, your vote with this budget matters
[1:44:07] beyond Witchah. I believe how we handle
property taxes here can show the rest of
[1:44:12] Kansas what a better path forward can
look like. Because regardless of what
[1:44:16] other cities are doing, I don't think
Kansas has solved its property tax
[1:44:20] issue. So, here's my ask. I'm asking
city, excuse me, I'm asking the city
[1:44:25] council and mayor and the city manager
to cap property taxes at inflation and
[1:44:29] new construction, no matter how far
appraisals rise or whether the levy ends
[1:44:34] up getting set. That way, every citizen
knows that there's a ceiling on how far
[1:44:40] taxes can go up. In Witchaw, we have
firsttime homeowners who save for years
[1:44:45] to afford their house, and now their tax
bill climbs a little higher
[1:44:49] year-over-year.
On the other end, we have retirees who
[1:44:52] have paid off their homes, who raised
their whole family in that house, and
[1:44:56] are watching the same bill climb year
after year. This creates a tension for
[1:45:01] our people and a cap at inflation and
new construction fixes this tension. It
[1:45:06] hands our people predictability and
predictability is the ground that growth
[1:45:11] is built on. When a family or a business
can count on what next year's bill looks
[1:45:16] like, they can plan, they can invest,
and they can stay. Because evaluations
[1:45:21] here climb this year, that same rate
pulls in 13 million more than it did
[1:45:25] last year without a single vote to raise
anyone's rate. That's unpredictable
[1:45:29] growth. How much will it be next year?
Now, a cap at inflation and new
[1:45:34] construction raises a fair question.
What happens to the essential services
[1:45:38] we count on? I believe a cap does not
starve their work. It disciplines it.
[1:45:44] And discipline is what protects protects
predictability itself. A cap means our
[1:45:49] budget is built on discipline. And a
disciplined budget is one that taxpayers
[1:45:53] can put their trust in and it holds up
when the next hard year comes.
[1:45:58] And here is why I believe Witchaw
specifically is the right place to lead
[1:46:02] on this. When the state finally picks
this up in the next legislative session,
[1:46:07] they have a very difficult version of
this job. They have to create one rule
[1:46:11] that fits every city in Kansas. And that
tends to work better on paper than in
[1:46:16] practice.
A cap at inflation and new construction
[1:46:20] says in writing that growth is our
strategy. that as a city, growth is how
[1:46:27] we continue to get to the next level,
not another year of squeezing the same
[1:46:31] taxpayers just a little bit harder. And
this city council and mayor has worked
[1:46:36] hard for the city to grow. Thank you.
The businesses you've welcomed, the
[1:46:40] development you've championed, I'm
asking you to keep going and cheering
[1:46:43] you on along the way.
When growth is the front and center
[1:46:49] strategy of the city, it's what turns a
cap from a one-year gesture into an
[1:46:53] actual promise that we pass forward of
keeping our taxes low. And finally, my
[1:46:58] last ask is for the people in this room
and every Witchaw citizen, for the
[1:47:02] people online, if you guys can finally
hear, if we as citizens are serious
[1:47:06] about wanting growth in our city, it
doesn't just happen because of the team
[1:47:09] sitting in front of this chamber. A city
grows because of one thing. It's people.
[1:47:15] You and your family make up our
communities, businesses, schools. And
[1:47:19] when you also choose to invest in your
neighborhood, your place of work, your
[1:47:23] home, invest in Witchah, that is what
makes a city thrive and grow. So I'm
[1:47:29] asking you to make the same commitment
that I'm asking this council to make
[1:47:32] tonight. A commitment to grow together.
And as a proud Witchaw resident, I'm
[1:47:36] asking you to put a cap at inflation and
new new construction in place to show
[1:47:41] the rest of Kansas what property tax
leadership looks like. Thank you.
[1:47:47] » Thank you, Zach. We'll continue with
public comments.
[1:47:56] » I see no one else from the public who
would like to speak. Thank you to the
[1:48:00] seven. Oh, we have one more.
[1:48:10] Good evening, Mayor and Council members.
I did not come tonight with anything
[1:48:15] prepared. I just wanted to come and hear
what all is being said, but after seeing
[1:48:21] the proposal of what my taxes are going
to be being retired now and how much
[1:48:26] they're going to raise them, I have deep
concern for that as well as many other
[1:48:32] people around this city.
And I don't know what it's going to take
[1:48:39] out of the council, out of the mayor,
out of the whole
[1:48:45] body of people that control and are
overseeing our budget and those kind of
[1:48:51] things. But I look at our streets, how
terrible they are, all and I look and I
[1:48:55] see the commercial buildings and the
residential and the taxes that are
[1:49:00] coming from all the people. and I see
the the poor uh condition of lots of
[1:49:07] things and I I ask where are all of our
tax dollars going
[1:49:13] where
that's a lot of money
[1:49:18] and so I am begging the council I'm
begging all city officials if you are in
[1:49:23] a position to
be able to look into
[1:49:29] where our dollars are going and I think
all of this should be transparent to me
[1:49:33] as a taxpayer and every other citizen of
the of the city here. We should all know
[1:49:39] exactly where those dollars are going.
You all have to have accountability to
[1:49:44] me, the taxpayer, and all of us where
our money's going. And to hide things or
[1:49:50] do anything like that is totally out of
line. It should not be happening. And
[1:49:56] you all need to humble yourselves and
treat everybody the way they should and
[1:50:01] need to be treated
and make sure that you guys are taking
[1:50:05] care of us. We rely upon all of you that
are in these positions to take care of
[1:50:10] us and to do the right thing. And I'm
not seeing that happen here. I haven't
[1:50:16] seen it for a long time. I've been in
Witchah all my life,
[1:50:20] 67 years. And the things that I'm seeing
here, the last five to six, they appall
[1:50:27] me.
Where are the dollars going, guys?
[1:50:31] There's got to be accountability to me
and to the whole city. There's got to
[1:50:36] be.
I'm retired now. I'm on a limited budget
[1:50:41] and I expect for you guys to help me
maintain things to I I mean, I'm much
[1:50:47] more well off than a lot of the citizens
here in Witchah. I don't know how these
[1:50:51] people on minimum wage are making it as
we see these tax dollars keep going up.
[1:50:57] So I say again, humble yourselves, do
the right thing, and look into where
[1:51:02] these dollars are going and give me and
every other Witchah resident
[1:51:08] some answers on where they are. You guys
have accountability and you you owe it
[1:51:13] to us. you took your oath to come in and
do what you're supposed to do and that
[1:51:18] oath should be taken very seriously
because it is affecting a lot of people
[1:51:23] a lot.
So, I'm asking you guys to not approve
[1:51:30] raising the
what is DN the RNR? Is that what it is?
[1:51:36] To leave it alone.
Take a look at things. Get a good get a
[1:51:41] good grip on what's going on and show
some accountability and win the support
[1:51:48] from the Witchah people. I think you
talk about this wanting the the citizens
[1:51:53] to work with you, then do the right
thing and make it right and we'll all
[1:51:57] work with you. Okay. So, thank you very
much. Thank you, mayor, for what you're
[1:52:01] doing and thank you council members for
what you're doing. Let's do the right
[1:52:05] thing. Okay.
>> Can you please share your name and your
[1:52:09] district?
>> Yes. Grant Delmar, District 4. I'm a
[1:52:11] former District 4 advisory council
member.
[1:52:15] » Thank you very much, Grant.
>> Thank you very much, guys.
[1:52:19] We'll continue with public comment.
[1:52:24] I see no one else from the public who
would like to speak on the revenue
[1:52:28] neutral rate for the city's budget.
Thank you to the eight speakers who
[1:52:33] spoke before the council this evening.
We will now bring it back to the bench.
[1:52:39] Um as my intention is not to vote in
favor of revenue neutral, um I will not
[1:52:44] be making that motion today. Vice Mayor
Glascop.
[1:52:48] » Mayor with a motion to close the public
hearing record, approve the resolution
[1:52:52] to exceed the revenue neutral rate for
the city of Witchaw and conclude the
[1:52:55] public hearing and authorize the
necessary signatures. Um, with the
[1:52:59] understanding that again from
Mark Manning's uh comments earlier, if
[1:53:04] we take one additional dollar, we have
to exceed this. And I haven't heard a
[1:53:07] proposal from anybody at this bench on
how to cut $13 million from the budget.
[1:53:12] Um I think there is legitimate concerns
about the amount that we bring in but
[1:53:18] that is not uh for this discussion.
That's for the budget discussion to
[1:53:21] happen in a second. So with that motion
>> second and I agree with everything you
[1:53:25] said.
>> Motion second. Discussion. See none.
[1:53:30] Madame clerk can you please open the
role by voice?
[1:53:34] » Yes. Mayor Woo. What is your vote?
>> Nay.
[1:53:38] » Vice Mayor Glasco.
>> I.
[1:53:39] » Council member Shepard.
>> I.
[1:53:41] » Council member Tuttle. I.
>> Council member Hohheisel.
[1:53:44] » I.
>> Council member Johnson.
[1:53:46] » I.
>> Council member Ballard.
[1:53:47] » I.
>> Motion passes 6 to one.
[1:53:51] » Madame Clerk, please call the next item.
[1:53:58] » 2027 annual operating budget and 2027 to
2036 capital improvement program.
[1:54:12] Good evening, Mayor and Council. Dennis
Marsall, city manager. It's a pleasure
[1:54:16] to be before you again tonight on budget
adoption night. We've had several
[1:54:21] meetings where we've talked about the
budget. Um we have here what's on the uh
[1:54:27] proposed budget tonight. We're going to
walk through how when we put this budget
[1:54:30] together. Uh, one I want to highlight
the department directors certainly their
[1:54:35] work and the finance team and so putting
together a city budget one that's really
[1:54:40] around the hund 825 million range is
certainly got a lot of complex um facets
[1:54:47] to it when you talk about debt service
talk about revenue neutral there's a lot
[1:54:51] of parts to help bring the community
along to understand how a municipal
[1:54:55] budget comes together we have certainly
tried to be transparent um all past
[1:54:59] budgets and this proposed budget
budget's been online. Um, and so we have
[1:55:04] put this out there so people can see
line by line what departments are
[1:55:07] funded, excuse me, funded in what manner
and what line item. But as we put this
[1:55:12] budget together, I first presented this
in July 14th of this summer. And it was
[1:55:17] a reflection of many factors certainly
with meetings with department directors
[1:55:22] and a review of the many budget requests
that they submitted. As I went through
[1:55:26] it from my review, we looked at wants
and needs. We certainly looked at
[1:55:30] service delivery levels, inflation
impacts, current staff workloads, and
[1:55:35] past staffing and efficiency adjustments
among others. Um, what you've seen in
[1:55:40] this budget is recommendations for more
staffing, particularly when you look at
[1:55:44] the fire department, but it's been a
judicious request in some of the other
[1:55:49] areas that have been noted in the budget
presentation
[1:55:52] as we looked at this. Also, when you
start out with a budget and you look at
[1:55:56] what's ahead in the coming year, we've
got to honor our labor agreements. And
[1:56:01] so, when you talk about revenue neutral,
part of that is impacted by the more
[1:56:06] than five labor agreements that we have
to manage and if they have cost
[1:56:10] escalations for increase in pay, salary,
wages, and merit. Those all were factors
[1:56:16] as we put this budget together. Um
certainly as we looked at that again as
[1:56:20] we said what are the priorities of the
city council we looked at such things as
[1:56:25] preventive maintenance. We've heard
about tree care. When you think about
[1:56:28] running everything from animal shelter
to zoning services in a 400,000 top 50
[1:56:34] city there's a lot of wants and needs.
But we also looked at our existing labor
[1:56:38] and commodity contracts. And certainly
my focus in my first eight months is
[1:56:43] looking at our workforce and employee
morale. So given all that, this has been
[1:56:47] some of the thoughts and some of the
inputs that go into putting together the
[1:56:52] budget recommendation that I've put
since July 14th. Um, as we've
[1:56:56] highlighted on here, we're aligned with
the city's strategic plan and it's
[1:56:59] funded with a stable mill levy rate. Um,
we do have engagement as we've talked
[1:57:04] about. We even did community town halls,
seven specifically. This is again our
[1:57:10] last budget hearing. We've had one on
July 14th, August 4th, August 18th, and
[1:57:15] August 25th. So, council and I could
hear from the citizens as this budget
[1:57:20] was presented on July 14th. And as we
highlighted, this budget is available
[1:57:25] presently at witchaw.gov/budget.
[1:57:29] So, we do talk about it being balanced.
We do have healthy fund balances or
[1:57:33] savings that are associated with it. Um,
but we do recognize future funding
[1:57:38] concerns. part of the conversation that
you're having now and that we've looked
[1:57:42] at in 2027, 2028, and 2029. How are we
sustaining our labor contracts? How are
[1:57:49] we sustaining just like families around
the kitchen table, the cost of
[1:57:54] inflation? Whether you think about your
own insurance costs when you see things
[1:57:58] go up, the cost of gas, when you look at
what a road mile cost 5 years ago versus
[1:58:03] what the city's paying today. All these
are different factors that continue to
[1:58:07] impact the city's budget going forward.
But more importantly,
[1:58:12] we've said it before, what the state
does impacts us here at the local level.
[1:58:18] There are certainly last year during the
last legislative session were several
[1:58:22] proposals in the state legislature about
capping property taxes.
[1:58:27] That again seems to be a conversation
that will be entertained come January at
[1:58:32] the new legislative session. that will
clearly have an impact as we go forward.
[1:58:37] So, how do we think about that? How do
we plan for that based upon the variety
[1:58:41] of proposals that were presented last
year and might be re um presented again
[1:58:46] in the upcoming legislative session. Um
but again, our focus on our core
[1:58:50] priorities as I talk about, yes, we do
talk about wants and needs, but what are
[1:58:54] the core functions and priorities that
this community wants for a service level
[1:58:59] that witchens want to have? thinking
about our tree canopy and different
[1:59:03] things that we've heard about. Thinking
about our parks and recreation and
[1:59:06] services and programs and the condition
of our parks um and plantings and
[1:59:11] different things that we've heard from.
As we put this together, I want to kind
[1:59:16] of wrap up my section and invite our
director of finance, Mark Manning, up.
[1:59:19] As I said, this is roughly $825 million
budget. Um you'll see here where the
[1:59:24] city dollars come from. Property taxes
as was highlighted earlier and then
[1:59:28] sales taxes and other sources are
highlighted in that graph. And then
[1:59:32] where the dollars go. As we talk about
being a municipality, we are staff
[1:59:37] heavy. It takes people to provide
services. It takes people to do our road
[1:59:42] work engineering to run our parks and
recreation to maintain our trees to
[1:59:47] maintain our utility system. It takes
staff intensive and certainly public
[1:59:52] safety. As we said or I said earlier,
this budget has a proposal for new
[1:59:58] firefighters to staff a new fire
station. I've also got some limited
[2:00:02] requests or recommendations in there for
our police department. Um, we've also,
[2:00:07] as you take into account, we do have
some vacancies. The good news is is
[2:00:11] we've been filling the positions in our
police department. We have been filling
[2:00:15] some of our positions that were vacant
in the last year or two. That again has
[2:00:19] a full cost effect that we've got to
account for in our funding and our
[2:00:24] wages. And certainly I can't leave this
podium without recognizing the
[2:00:28] employees. You've heard certainly from
the survey that we've done this week. Um
[2:00:33] you've heard from my focus that I do
have a recommendation in here for a new
[2:00:38] uh benefit. It is called the tuition
assistance program. Understanding not
[2:00:42] everyone will be interested in that, but
I do think it's something to help invest
[2:00:45] in our employees. We're also looking at
our health program in terms of thinking
[2:00:50] about short-term disability being
offered. There's a way to help address
[2:00:54] some people's interests and needs for
family leave time and how we might get
[2:00:58] at that at a different way. So, there's
a whole bunch of strategies that we can
[2:01:02] put together that not not nearly full
cost on the taxpayer. And so, we do look
[2:01:06] for these efficiencies, but also
recognizing the value of our employees
[2:01:11] certainly from public safety on down. As
I said, when you go from A to Z in city
[2:01:16] services, that's 3,100 people who are
providing for the 400,000 people in the
[2:01:22] city of Witchah. Um, then when you look
where the dollars go, certainly salary
[2:01:26] and benefits, as we've highlighted,
contractuals to do some of our work with
[2:01:30] support, but a lot of it's debt service.
We have that mentioned here on the pie
[2:01:34] chart, how we do pay for our bills and
for our debt service. Um, as you look,
[2:01:40] we say it is balanced. Um certainly we
said planned that we would take $3
[2:01:45] million from the stabilization fund. So
again that is incorporated into this.
[2:01:50] It's been planned from our savings
account um as we think about going
[2:01:53] forward for some contract um
negotiations with our unions to honor
[2:01:59] those pay increases to think about how
we address the pay for those who are not
[2:02:03] in unions. Um and then you also see here
we break it out by general fund. As I
[2:02:09] said, we probably have nearly 30
different funds when you look at the
[2:02:12] airport fund, the general fund, the
transit fund, the uh utilities fund. So,
[2:02:18] the general fund is what funds most of
general government when you think about
[2:02:21] public safety. And so, we focus on this
one the most and a lot. And you see it's
[2:02:25] 352 million of our full budget, 825
million. So, here's the recommendations.
[2:02:31] This is again as I said I met with
department directors reviewed the wants
[2:02:35] and needs looked at the goals of the
council and put together my view and the
[2:02:39] priorities going forward. These are some
of the um big items that um we've uh
[2:02:45] evaluated and included going forward
knowing that the list is much much
[2:02:49] longer for requests but this is again
what I thought was fiscally responsible
[2:02:54] based upon citizen input and department
input as well for service delivery
[2:02:58] levels. I will say there are things on
here that do have increases that we
[2:03:03] didn't call out. Um for instance,
supporting um our transit with some new
[2:03:07] transit route support. Um you'll see in
here we have again limited uh positions
[2:03:13] for a community service representative
and a cultural service development
[2:03:17] specialist. So some limited positions
that I felt were meritorious to be
[2:03:21] included in my recommendation. And then
certainly as we talked about the fire
[2:03:26] station 23 staffing is included in here
and some other support as we talked
[2:03:30] about the tuition reimbursement as well.
So that kind of gives the overview of
[2:03:35] what I looked at when I put this budget
together. And so certainly council
[2:03:38] members, this is one of the key issues
that you get a vote on every year and
[2:03:43] how you set the policy and what we
communicate as priorities is all
[2:03:47] reflected in this budget. And I take
that very seriously as I put my
[2:03:52] recommendation forward. And I I know
I've been asked and even people in the
[2:03:56] community have said, "Well, how would
you help the mayor and council reduce
[2:04:02] the use of the stabilization fund?" Or,
"I know there's other priorities about
[2:04:06] having property tax relief. There's
priorities in having millage reduction.
[2:04:10] There are different things about
different programs or more benefits that
[2:04:13] people want. What I have said from the
very beginning on July 14th is if you
[2:04:18] want to make some cuts or reductions,
I would start from what I added as new.
[2:04:24] And so these two pages that I just
highlighted are what I consider the new
[2:04:28] things added to the budget. And so
that's been my recommendation. I even
[2:04:32] highlighted um in a memo to council this
week about we do have funds for $300,000
[2:04:39] is what we've called contingency that
we've used in different manners over
[2:04:42] previous years. That is again some more
opportunity if you want to reprogram
[2:04:47] that, eliminate that, whatever it may
be. But I believe that my recommendation
[2:04:52] is fiscally responsible, but certainly
understand there are different competing
[2:04:56] priorities. And so as you continue
tonight for your deliberations, you'll
[2:05:00] certainly hear from citizens and Mr.
Manning in a second, but I think that um
[2:05:04] the information you have in front of you
gives you enough framework to work with
[2:05:08] to meet your policy goals and objectives
so we can come to an adopted [snorts]
[2:05:12] budget tonight. I will now ask Mr.
Manning to come forward as our director
[2:05:16] of finance.
[2:05:20] [snorts]
[2:05:25] Hello again.
Uh I want to go a few other items in a
[2:05:29] little bit more detail. some of the
recommendations in the budget. Uh, one
[2:05:33] of the priority areas that we're trying
to address in this budget is
[2:05:36] homelessness. Uh, we've talked about
this a lot in the past, so I won't
[2:05:39] belabor it. Uh, but the budget would set
aside an estimated $5 million from the
[2:05:44] permanent reserve to address
homelessness solutions. Again, what we
[2:05:49] would envision is setting that money
aside so that it could be allocated
[2:05:53] based on the prioritization of the city
council. uh but this recommendation
[2:05:58] would provide a amount of money uh to
address those challenges that we face.
[2:06:04] Let's talk about employee compensation
and I want to use this slide to address
[2:06:07] some of the comments we heard earlier. I
think I can wrap up a couple of those
[2:06:11] with this slide here. Uh we noted that
the general fund uh would receive about
[2:06:16] 13 million additional property tax
revenue. Uh this slide here shows you
[2:06:20] that we have about $9 million budgeted
for employee compensation. that is
[2:06:26] increases in employee pay for those that
uh do not have union contracts passed
[2:06:30] this year, which is most employees. Uh
we do have a pay structure that provides
[2:06:35] cost of living raises and merit
adjustments for those that are eligible.
[2:06:40] Those eligible employees are the ones
that are not at top wage and who uh
[2:06:43] perform within certain standards. So $9
million basically of that 13 million is
[2:06:49] to address some of our challenges in
employees which was spoken about
[2:06:53] earlier.
We also have health insurance and
[2:06:56] pension contributions that we need to
make. Uh those are pretty sizable. We
[2:06:59] talked about those last week, so I won't
belabor that point. Uh but this city has
[2:07:03] a or this uh budget has a lot of money
invested in our employees.
[2:07:09] I talked about the mill levy rate a
little bit during the RNR presentation,
[2:07:12] but I wanted to show this slide again.
Again, this proposed budget is based on
[2:07:17] an estimated mill levy that would be
exactly equal to the mill levy for 2026.
[2:07:22] that is 32.340
mills. Now reminder, uh we do not set
[2:07:28] the mill levy rate. Seduit County sets
that and they don't set it until
[2:07:31] November. Uh it's based on finalization
of assessed valuations again of which we
[2:07:36] have no control. Uh so I am telling you
what the estimated mill levy rate would
[2:07:41] be based on the city manager's proposed
budget. uh it's likely it would be up or
[2:07:46] down very slightly from that amount, but
just recognize that the final mill levy
[2:07:49] rate probably will be slightly different
than what we're proposing here today.
[2:07:53] But again, we are proposing a budget
with a estimated flat mill levy rate.
[2:07:59] So, what's that mean to a taxpayer? Uh
if you own a home in Witchaw valued at
[2:08:04] $200,000 just uh to pick a a point uh
about 29% of the property taxes that you
[2:08:11] pay are going to come to the city of
Witchaw. Uh you also have to pay
[2:08:15] property taxes to the county which is
roughly 24% and to the school district.
[2:08:20] Uh this represents USD 259 which is the
bulk of the city of Witchaw. That's
[2:08:24] about 46% of your property tax bill. In
other words, City Witchaw is a fraction
[2:08:29] of your property tax bill. Uh that
homeowner of a $200,000 home would pay
[2:08:34] approximately $744 a year in city
property taxes uh to the city. Uh
[2:08:43] so let's look at the proposed budget
just on a uh kind of big big picture
[2:08:47] basis here. Uh the proposed budget was
somewhere in the neighborhood of 352
[2:08:52] million. That expenditure growth in 2027
is shown on this slide at 1.8 8%.
[2:08:58] However, in the interest of
transparency, I did want to point out uh
[2:09:02] that with centralization, we're moving
some costs off the general fund. Uh so
[2:09:06] if you unwind that, uh the net effect
would be a general fund increase in 2027
[2:09:12] of somewhere in the neighborhood of 3.6%
or relatively consistent what the
[2:09:16] inflation rate is. But again, nominally,
it's increasing at 1.8. But again, uh to
[2:09:21] be fully transparent, the impact of of
centralization actually reduces what uh
[2:09:26] in reality would be a growth rate of
somewhere in the neighborhood of 3.6%.
[2:09:31] Uh also note the asterk on this slide.
As the manager noted, uh we are
[2:09:35] balanced. Uh we are balanced because
this budget is based on using $3 million
[2:09:40] from our stabilization reserve in 26 and
27.
[2:09:45] Let's look at that real quick. We're
going to come into the year somewhere
[2:09:48] around $45 million in round numbers. Uh
based on the proposed budget, we would
[2:09:53] use about 5 million of that to set aside
for homelessness solutions. And we would
[2:09:57] use about 9 million of that over the
next three years to stabilize the city
[2:10:01] budget, which would mean we would come
out in 2028 with somewhere around 31
[2:10:05] million in stabilization reserve funds.
Now, reminder, uh this is our
[2:10:10] stabilization reserve. Our general fund
also has a reserve which is more
[2:10:15] relevant for us in a few areas. Uh that
reserve would remain somewhere in the
[2:10:20] neighborhood of $52 million.
Reserves of course are very important.
[2:10:25] Uh we would still remain well reserved.
Uh but we would utilize a little bit of
[2:10:29] our stabilization reserve over the next
few years.
[2:10:33] Let me talk about the CIP very briefly.
We've talked about it a lot in the past.
[2:10:37] I won't take up much your time on the
CIP. CIP is a 10-year plan for community
[2:10:41] improvements. you actually will be asked
to adopt that today as well. We like to
[2:10:44] do them in tandem because they are uh
very integrated. Uh the CIP is aligned
[2:10:49] to the community investments plan. Uh by
the way, statutoily the planning
[2:10:54] commission is required to find that our
CIP is in conformance with that plan and
[2:10:58] I'm happy to report to you that they
have made that finding in a meeting last
[2:11:02] week. So we are good to go there. CIP is
designed to be financially viable. Think
[2:11:08] of the CIP as a three-year action plan
and maybe a seven-year conceptual plan.
[2:11:12] So, the first three years are things
that will come to you for uh project
[2:11:15] approval for. We have relatively
specific plans. The seven years uh past
[2:11:20] that are more conceptual ideas, issues
that departments see that we might need
[2:11:26] to invest capital uh improvement funds
on. Maybe the plans aren't fully fleshed
[2:11:31] out, but that's kind of the way to look
at the CIP. We tend to focus more on the
[2:11:34] first three years. Here's the pie charts
for the CIP. It's about a $2.9 billion
[2:11:40] plan. Vast majority of that money comes
from our water and sewer utility.
[2:11:44] They're very capital intensive. You can
see the geo at large slice. That is the
[2:11:48] property tax funded slice. That is
somewhere in the neighborhood of uh
[2:11:52] 380ome million dollars I believe.
I want to talk about property tax relief
[2:11:58] program briefly. We have talked about
that in the past. Uh so I will go over
[2:12:02] that again. Uh uh we did use a program
like this in 2024 and we're certainly
[2:12:07] able to replicate that type of program
if that's the will of the body. Uh we
[2:12:11] would uh recommend designing it around
the state of Kansas's homestead property
[2:12:15] tax exemption program. That makes it
much easier for our applicants. It makes
[2:12:19] it much easier for us to administer. Uh
as I mentioned last week, uh we don't
[2:12:23] know exactly what the cost would be, but
we would guess that somewhere around
[2:12:27] $100,000 would probably fund the
program. Uh we would suggest you that if
[2:12:32] this is something of interest to you uh
that you approve the allocation of the
[2:12:37] funding and direct staff to come back
with a more detailed plan. We'd be happy
[2:12:41] to do that and then we would present a
plan to you for formal approval at a
[2:12:45] later date. That'll give us a little bit
of time to make sure we can structure it
[2:12:48] based on the prioritization and the and
the desired outcomes.
[2:12:53] So our recommended action tonight again
tonight is the hearing in which we will
[2:12:56] ask you to adopt the budget. Uh so let
me go through some of the recommended
[2:13:00] actions and explain the actions we need
you to take. Before I do that though, I
[2:13:04] wanted to take a brief second and talk
about uh some of the statutory
[2:13:08] requirements. We set today is our
hearing date. Uh today ends at 11:59
[2:13:14] p.m. which is relatively rapidly
approaching. Uh we would recommend to
[2:13:19] you as soon as I'm done presenting that
you open the public hearing. We would
[2:13:24] also recommend to you that when the
public comment period is over that you
[2:13:29] formally close the public hearing before
you engage in your discussion. Uh that I
[2:13:34] think would make us more statutoily
compliant because again we are required
[2:13:38] to hold the public hearing today on
August uh 25th. So you know who knows
[2:13:44] how late we'll go tonight. Uh, but I
think we would maybe reduce some of our
[2:13:48] legal liability if you would have the
public hearing as soon as I'm done and
[2:13:53] then at after the last speaker close the
public hearing and then we can stay well
[2:13:57] past midnight if that's your desire and
take all the questions that you want.
[2:14:01] Uh, I'm sorry, mayor, I forgot to
address one other question I was going
[2:14:05] to talk about on I'm going to back up to
this slide right here. Uh, I talked
[2:14:09] about the growth right here. Uh I I was
upstairs earlier and I understand there
[2:14:13] was a speaker that asked about growth in
our library system. So I thought I would
[2:14:17] address that briefly because I
understand that question came up. Uh the
[2:14:21] library budget in 2027 uh does grow
about 14% actually. Uh but there's a
[2:14:27] couple reasons for that uh which are
really not reflective of the financial
[2:14:31] commitment to the library. Again, we
have a contingency that the city manager
[2:14:36] recommended 375,000, but we also as part
of our centralization effort, we are
[2:14:41] allocating our cost to the general fund
departments. Uh those two are really
[2:14:45] more technical adjustments. Uh so if you
take those out, the library budget in
[2:14:50] 2027 to answer the uh public comment
question earlier tonight is closer to
[2:14:55] about 5 a.5%. Uh library has some
challenges. uh they have a lot of
[2:14:59] technology a lot of their software costs
did increase over the last uh year or
[2:15:04] so. Uh they also have a very beautiful
and large building which we have to
[2:15:08] ensure and building insurance rates have
gone up uh materially. So both of those
[2:15:13] had an impact on the library budget but
in answer to the question library budget
[2:15:17] did go up approximately 5 and a half% or
is expected to go up about 5 and a half%
[2:15:22] in 2027.
So, back to your recommended actions
[2:15:26] today. Again, we need you to adopt the
proposed budget as amended if you choose
[2:15:31] to amend it, but we need you to adopt
the budget. We also have some ordinances
[2:15:36] uh that you read for the first time on
July 14th. Tonight is the night in which
[2:15:42] you will read those uh for the second
time. And uh we need you to take care of
[2:15:46] that. Uh there's a couple of funds that
we are projecting we might spend a
[2:15:51] little bit more than what we suggested
last year. The reason on both those are
[2:15:55] they're activity based. Sometimes
activity is higher. That means revenue
[2:15:58] is higher and expenditures higher. Uh
and that's essentially two in the
[2:16:01] affordable housing fund. Kind of more of
a technical adjustment. Finally, uh we
[2:16:05] would ask you to authorize us to take
the necessary steps to implement your
[2:16:09] recommendations. Uh implementing the
budget is based on state statutes and a
[2:16:14] variety of state forms that are very
complicated and difficult to fill out
[2:16:19] sometimes. So, uh, sometimes it's
necessary for us to make adjustments to
[2:16:22] make sure we can complete those forms
correctly and in in in adherence with
[2:16:27] the budget that you choose to adopt. Uh,
we would also ask you to adopt the
[2:16:32] proposed CIP.
And then finally, and we need to have
[2:16:35] this done in a separate motion, uh, we
would ask you to approve the use of
[2:16:39] local funds uh, derived from property
taxes within our corporate limits that's
[2:16:43] allocated to Witto State University. Uh
you may remember that the county levies
[2:16:48] a mill and a half for Witchaw State
University. We do not. The county does.
[2:16:53] Uh but the city uh has a say in how they
spend 75% of that funding. And uh so
[2:17:00] it's it's just kind of a formality that
we approve their expenditure of funds.
[2:17:05] Uh since we have a role in in the
funding of WSU through the countywide
[2:17:09] mill levy.
That's all I have. Uh that's the end of
[2:17:13] our presentation. So, mayor, I would
recommend that you open the public
[2:17:16] hearing and take public comment and then
close the public hearing.
[2:17:20] » Thank you, Mark, and thank you, city
manager. Uh, to be in compliance, to
[2:17:25] have public hearing first instead of
council members asking questions and
[2:17:30] then public hearing and then um motions,
we will open it up for public comment
[2:17:35] first.
[2:18:03] Kevin Mcuarter, District 5. Good
evening, Mayor Woo and city council
[2:18:07] members. I'm Kevin McQuarter, current
president of the Witchah Library
[2:18:11] Foundation Board and past president of
the Witchah Library Board. I am here on
[2:18:17] behalf of the foundation this evening
regarding the 2027 city budget and how
[2:18:22] your decisions will affect the
operations of the Witchah Library branch
[2:18:27] system. The foundation has been watching
this budget process since the beginning.
[2:18:32] We feel we are partners with the city
since we both provide support to the
[2:18:37] library. Our goal is the same as yours.
Support the effort to provide and
[2:18:42] operate a worldclass library system for
all witchans. The foundation is here
[2:18:48] this evening to offer its assistance to
the council to ensure that the goals of
[2:18:53] the steering committee of the master
plan for the city of Witchah's branch
[2:18:58] library system adopted by the library
board of directors and endorsed by the
[2:19:03] Witchah City Council on June 11th, 2019
are accomplished. But first, I'd like to
[2:19:09] take a moment to provide some history as
to how we got here. Because back in
[2:19:15] 2013, none of you were on the bench. I
was appointed to the library board in
[2:19:21] 2013 when the central library was
located on Main Street. There had been
[2:19:26] years of community discussion regarding
renovations to address the extension
[2:19:31] extensive functional and ADA issues or
to build a new one. In 2015, as
[2:19:38] president of the library board, I was
appointed to the foundation board. And
[2:19:41] it was then that a member of the city
council approached me and foundation
[2:19:46] member Don Barry with the idea that if
the foundation would commit to raise
[2:19:50] $2.5 million, he believed he could
secure four votes to get the new library
[2:19:56] built. The city had set aside in
previous CIPs 40 million for a new
[2:20:01] library. We agreed and said that if he
could get the votes, the foundation
[2:20:07] would commit not only to the 2.5
million, but we would double it to 5
[2:20:11] million. A few months later, the votes
were secured, but the commitment by the
[2:20:16] city was reduced to 30 million,
resulting in a facility that would be
[2:20:20] about 20% smaller than originally
planned. The foundation was
[2:20:25] disappointed, but kept working. But we
eventually raised $8.8 8 million for
[2:20:31] what is now the Advanced Learning
Library. It opened in June of 2018 and
[2:20:36] was 29% funded by the foundation through
the generosity of hundreds of Witchans
[2:20:43] and businesses who all believed in a
strong Witchita's public library system.
[2:20:50] Soon thereafter, our previous city
manager suggested we needed a new master
[2:20:55] plan for the branch libraries as the
quality of resources in each of the six
[2:21:00] districts was nowhere near equal. And in
fact, district number three had no
[2:21:05] library branch at all. The manager put
together a dedicated committee and after
[2:21:11] two years of hard work, the branch
master plan was created. The result is
[2:21:16] that district 3 now has a strong strong
branch presence with the Walters branch
[2:21:21] and all other branches were renovated
and extensively expanded. The master
[2:21:26] plan was completed in 2025.
The foundation is proud to have worked
[2:21:31] with you by contributing another $2
million in our most recent capital
[2:21:36] campaign to see that through. That is
the history. But here is the challenge
[2:21:41] facing this council. The branch master
plan increased our overall square
[2:21:46] footage by over 40,000 square feet. Now
that all the upgraded facilities are
[2:21:51] available for our residents, it will
take additional funding to properly
[2:21:55] staff. The city council and the library
board both knew this would be the case
[2:22:01] when the plan was adopted. And let's be
clear, one of the goals of the plan was
[2:22:07] to provide additional hours of service
to the public because most of the
[2:22:11] branches were wolffully understaffed and
not open to our residents for enough
[2:22:16] hours a week to fill the the library's
mission. That mission is the same as
[2:22:21] yours. The foundation is concerned that
the council may not allocate all the
[2:22:26] necessary funding to at a minimum
maintain current levels of service and
[2:22:31] will not provide the additional staffing
needed for the increased square footage
[2:22:36] the branch master plan agreement
provided. Therefore, as the foundation
[2:22:42] desires to be part of the solution, we
propose the following. In addition to
[2:22:47] our annual support, the foundation will
donate $300,000
[2:22:52] to the 2027 library materials budget if
the city agrees to invest an additional
[2:22:59] 1.4 million to fund 22 and a half
additional positions representing the
[2:23:05] minimum staffing infusion
necessary to sustain current library
[2:23:11] operations.
[2:23:14] Thank you.
Thank you, Kevin.
[2:23:20] We'll continue with public comment.
[2:23:26] Sorry. Good evening everyone. I'm Lwanda
Duchaer, District 1. Um,
[2:23:32] I'm just up here once again to advocate
for organizations that work with our
[2:23:37] youth and to advocate for a bigger,
not pool of money, but a distribution of
[2:23:46] the money and that we really take a look
at grassroots uh, organizations that
[2:23:50] work with our young people. You know,
um, for those that really know me know
[2:23:55] how much I love football, right? And it
broke my heart this year when the uh
[2:24:01] announcement was made that the city is
not doing little league tackle football
[2:24:05] this year. Um [snorts] I love Reggie. We
have a great relationship, but I love
[2:24:11] football, too. And I know what it means
to little kids to to be able to play
[2:24:16] football. My son played uh little league
football with the city. My son played
[2:24:21] football at Heights. My son went to uh
Coffeeville. Then he ended up at
[2:24:26] McFersonen football scholarship and
academic scholarship. My son now works
[2:24:31] for the Houston Texans. He gets a check
from the NFL, not on the field, but in
[2:24:36] the back office because we instill not
just football, right? We instill pride
[2:24:42] and community. And we always the ones
that really care, we let our kids know
[2:24:47] that you won't advance if you don't do
well in school. And so again, it broke
[2:24:52] my heart when I heard that little league
football has been cut. So as we think
[2:24:56] about our youth, we think about how do
we um prevent crime in our older kids,
[2:25:04] always say let's prevent it from even
happening and let's work with our
[2:25:08] younger uh citizens in Witchah,
especially in the district I live in.
[2:25:15] Sports is important. Um, it opens doors
to scholarships, like I said, to jobs.
[2:25:21] And so, again, I'm just here advocating
for our young people. Um, although the
[2:25:25] city of Witchah is not doing youth
football due to a lack of numbers,
[2:25:30] people didn't sign up. They actually
signed up for another organization and
[2:25:34] they're full. So, it's not that kids
don't want to play. It's not that we
[2:25:39] don't have the numbers. I think just
like everything else, we have to sit
[2:25:43] down and regroup and really think about
what can we do for our young people. And
[2:25:47] it's not just football, even though I
love football. It's really about our
[2:25:52] kids and trying to prevent something
down the road from happening. So again,
[2:25:56] I'm Lewanda Deaser. I'm here advocating
on behalf of our young people and I'm
[2:26:01] hoping that there is a pool of money
that we can distribute to lots of
[2:26:05] organizations so we all can do the work
to prevent all this stuff that happens
[2:26:10] down the road. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Lwanda. We'll continue with
[2:26:16] public comment.
[2:26:23] » Hello. Okay. Uh hi. Hi, my name is
Xavier Dyelbis. Miss Tuttle, you are my
[2:26:28] representative. I'm going to have to I'm
going to have to talk a bit fast here.
[2:26:31] So, uh, today I'll be speaking on behalf
of myself and many other citizens. In
[2:26:35] the interest of seeing our local
communities flourish, I seek to address
[2:26:38] the excessive share of city funds that
are directed towards our local police
[2:26:41] department. Specifically, I will address
the following points in brief to be
[2:26:44] mindful of time. How effective or
otherwise increased policing funding is
[2:26:48] with regard to reducing crime. Solutions
for reducing crime through the lens of
[2:26:51] root cause analysis. and the city's
priorities as expressed through the lens
[2:26:55] of the 2027 proposed budget. To begin, I
will expand on the notion that increased
[2:26:59] police expenditures improve crime rates.
Supporters of this kind of spending will
[2:27:03] often use a common sense approach in an
equation that boils down to rate of
[2:27:07] crime equals number of criminals minus
law enforcement capacity. Basically, if
[2:27:11] you have enough cops, crime simply won't
happen. But as we are tasked with
[2:27:15] guiding the city not towards the common
sense solution to issues, but instead
[2:27:18] the best solution to issues, we must
question and examine that common sense.
[2:27:22] To do this, it is prudent to research
the effect that more officers have on
[2:27:25] the rate of crime. Historically, or so
far as I could find, that has typically
[2:27:29] been done within spec specific regions
or jurisdictions. This means that there
[2:27:33] is not a single comprehensive study on
the matter. Instead, we may select
[2:27:37] criminology research that focuses on
what I quote, large enough populations.
[2:27:41] For this purpose, I have selected a 2024
report from the Center on Juvenile Crime
[2:27:45] and Criminal Justice titled More Law
Enforcement Spending Accompanies worse,
[2:27:49] not improved crimeolving. The report
outlines that even though we often
[2:27:53] perceive crime rates as ever increasing,
they've actually been on a very steady
[2:27:56] decline since 1990 in which the entire
nation's homicide rate declined from 9.8
[2:28:01] per 100,000 to just 5.5 per 100,000 in
2000. As of 2020, the earliest data I
[2:28:07] could easily locate, that rate is at
roughly four per 100,000. Notably, this
[2:28:11] does not include property crime, but I
hope it is illustrative of the trend.
[2:28:15] The report expands on this, finding that
in California and despite unprecedented
[2:28:19] levels of funding, the clearance rates,
i.e. the sheriff crimes solved by making
[2:28:22] an arrest, experienced a 41% decline
from 22.3% in 1990 to just 13.7% in
[2:28:29] 2023. This is in spite in spite of a 46%
increase in total law enforcement
[2:28:36] budget. and the fact that the number of
sworn officers per 10,000 crimes
[2:28:40] reported has risen 129%.
With total law enforcement staff per
[2:28:45] 10,000 crimes reported having risen
144%. I believe at the last meeting a
[2:28:49] speaker at a previous meeting expanded
on how this dynamic is playing out
[2:28:52] within our own police department.
To be clear, I do not seek to blame our
[2:28:56] dedicated law enforcement officers for
this gross misallocation of resources
[2:28:59] being done by many cities across our
nation. Instead, I lay much of the blame
[2:29:03] with various media providers who seek to
fill their 24-hour news cycle with any
[2:29:06] and everything that will keep people's
keep people tuning in, which inevitably
[2:29:09] leads people to believe crime is much
worse than it actually is. Indeed, there
[2:29:14] is actual crime to be solved. But it is
made clear to me through engaging with
[2:29:17] the existing literature on the subject
that simply hiring more officers or
[2:29:20] giving them toys like robot dogs or
dragnet surveillance networks is
[2:29:23] unlikely to improve crime rates in our
city. Instead, we may take a root cause
[2:29:28] approach to crime reduction. This
involves analyzing the specific factors
[2:29:31] that contribute to people to our people
deciding to commit a crime. These are
[2:29:35] often things like these are often things
like housing and food insecurity, mental
[2:29:38] disorders, access to affordable
healthcare, or freedom from
[2:29:41] environmental toxins. While I feel our
city excels uh while I feel our city
[2:29:46] excels compared to others in some of
these regards, such as mental health
[2:29:50] support, thanks mostly to county
programs like Comare, we fall quite
[2:29:53] short in other areas. Modern research
into this subject often finds that
[2:29:57] expanded social safety net is far far
more reliable in reducing crime rates
[2:30:01] than simply increasing the share of
budget going towards law enforcement.
[2:30:05] This is theorized to be due to an
improved social safety net lessening or
[2:30:08] outright removing the conditions that
often lead up to criminality. Finally, I
[2:30:12] want to take a brief look at how the
city's priorities are expressed viewed
[2:30:15] through the lens of our proposed budget.
In a budget, we can see an expression of
[2:30:18] a person's or in this case a city's
priorities. For instance, in my budget,
[2:30:22] I spend far too much eating out. This
indicates to me that while I may not
[2:30:25] want to admit it, I actually really like
food. Additionally, I spend quite
[2:30:28] generously on charity and donations.
This indicates to me that while I may
[2:30:32] not always feel it about myself, I am a
caring individual who wants to help
[2:30:35] others. So, when I look at our city's
proposed general fund, I see something
[2:30:39] quite stark. Our biggest priority is not
putting out fires or fixing potholes in
[2:30:43] streets or educating with our libraries
or providing child care to our parents
[2:30:46] or providing green energy to our
environment. No, our biggest priority is
[2:30:51] to make sure that there's plenty of men
and women with guns and body armor in
[2:30:54] our communities. That is all. Thank you
for your time.
[2:30:58] [applause]
>> City manager, I do have a question for
[2:31:02] you. Um, I'm looking at the proposed
budget and it does not look like there
[2:31:06] are additional police officers as part
of this budget. Is that accurate?
[2:31:23] tree, our budget director, give you that
breakdown.
[2:31:26] » Yeah. So, in the 2026 revised budget,
there are four additional police
[2:31:32] positions in the police department. None
of those are police officer positions.
[2:31:36] One is a sergeant and which is a
commission position and then four are
[2:31:40] community service officers and those are
non-commission positions.
[2:31:48] And can you also address how many new
firefighter positions do we also have?
[2:31:54] So in the 2027 proposed budget, we did
not add new firefighter positions um for
[2:32:02] the new station. We didn't itemize out
new positions. There is a line item in
[2:32:08] the general fund mo that's probably
around page 67 that's for fire station
[2:32:14] 23. Um it's a lump sum for anticipated
staffing costs at the station. I know
[2:32:20] that the fire department has applied for
a safer grant, but that's in place in
[2:32:25] case that grant isn't successful. There
is one position that's added to the fire
[2:32:30] department um and that is a position an
inspection position and it's fully
[2:32:35] reimbursed by MABCD.
Thank you. We'll continue with public
[2:32:41] comment.
[2:32:56] Hello, Faith Martin, District 2. I know
you've heard a lot from me lately, but I
[2:33:01] have a lot to say and I only get five
minutes at a time. So, um, this time, as
[2:33:05] you can see, I'm here in support of
public libraries. I feel like when I
[2:33:10] talk about public safety, and I try to
say this very often, public safety is a
[2:33:15] lot of things. And as someone that lives
in a district that doesn't have any
[2:33:18] libraries, I go to the libraries outside
of district 2. So I spend time at
[2:33:24] Walters. I spend a lot of time over at
9inth Street. You know, uh it it's
[2:33:29] important to me and my family uh that we
have access to these resources. The one
[2:33:34] thing that hasn't been talked about is
the impact to the public if places like
[2:33:38] the Advanced Learning Library and other
libraries do not have the staffing they
[2:33:42] need to keep ours. You may not know
this, but I can't say no to
[2:33:46] volunteering. And I'm on a lot of
boards, and those boards meet at the
[2:33:50] Witchaw Public Libraries. Even our city
boards meet at the Witchaw Public
[2:33:54] Library. So, if staffing makes it to
where we can't have board meetings
[2:33:58] there, we are back to pegging to find
spaces for nonprofits or community
[2:34:04] boards that have no budgets for meeting
spaces because we have graciously worked
[2:34:10] with the city of Witchah. nonprofits
don't have to pay to use the library.
[2:34:14] And there are going to be a lot of
community groups and nonprofit boards
[2:34:18] that no longer have spaces to meet. As
it is, we're there till 8:00 p.m. on the
[2:34:23] dot until the man uh in the booth starts
yelling at us to check out our books and
[2:34:29] finish up because it's time to go. And I
hear that message two to three times a
[2:34:33] week because there's so many boards that
use the library. $1.4 $4 million is a
[2:34:39] drop in the bucket to some of the
budgets that we're talking about
[2:34:43] tonight. Witchaw public libraries aren't
even 4% of the general fund. That is a
[2:34:47] tiny amount for the number of public
safety things that could be addressed
[2:34:51] through libraries. Look at the heat, the
terrible, terrible heat that we've had
[2:34:55] recently. It was not just homeless
people that went to the library. There
[2:34:58] are many people in my neighborhood that
do not have air conditioning that were
[2:35:02] going to these public spaces because
there was nowhere else to go. I I think
[2:35:06] we we think about public safety in too
narrowly and not funding public library
[2:35:12] staffing uh and existing hours of
operation is going to impact the
[2:35:17] community in a bigger way than you have
even anticipated because you think about
[2:35:22] uh there's a quote that I love because
people think the library is just books
[2:35:27] and that's not actually the case. Uh oh
gosh I hope I have it here. Here it is.
[2:35:32] They say you can't judge a book by its
cover. Increasingly, you also can't
[2:35:36] judge a library's value to its community
by simply looking at books. And what the
[2:35:40] Witchaw Public Library does for the city
of Witchah is something that I don't see
[2:35:44] in a lot of other communities. I'm
usually advocating to minimize budgets.
[2:35:48] But I think you need to fully fund this
1.4 million or it's going to hurt
[2:35:52] Witchah very negatively. And since I'm
talking about staffing, I would also
[2:35:56] like to uh talk a little bit about the
CIP. Um
[2:36:01] I would like the fire to be staffed
more. Obviously, station 15 is my local
[2:36:05] station, and I am heartbroken sometimes
to see that that station has is the only
[2:36:11] one that's able to be on call right at
that moment because we don't have the
[2:36:15] staffing levels we need to have multiple
fire uh to uh respond to calls. We live
[2:36:21] in a very, very dense neighborhood and
we're very proud of Station 15 and I
[2:36:26] would hate to see any other
neighborhoods that call in and they
[2:36:29] don't have the staffing they need to
send people out to handle the things
[2:36:33] that need to be done. Um, but the CIP, I
mentioned that uh I voted no on the
[2:36:39] sales tax because I felt like we weren't
spending our money wisely. And when I
[2:36:43] look at the CIP, it's more like a wish
list that we kind of write down and then
[2:36:48] we put it somewhere and it may or may
not happen depending on who sits in
[2:36:51] these seats next year or 5 years from
now. I would like to see community
[2:36:55] oversight over the CIP, some sort of
advisory board that is not people that
[2:37:01] are going to benefit from the CIP, but
the actual community that holds this
[2:37:06] body and the city accountable to the
things that they say they're going to
[2:37:09] spend their money on. If we say that we
care about public safety, I would love
[2:37:14] to see every
>> Sorry about that. I would love to see
[2:37:19] every um that's nine o'clock by the way.
I would love to see every fire station
[2:37:23] that we said we were going to build
built. I would love to see the all the
[2:37:27] projects that we have in there. We all
have different projects that we care
[2:37:30] about, but the CIP seems to just be very
willy-nilly. And I would ask this body,
[2:37:35] dabs don't really cost that much and
neither do advisory boards because we do
[2:37:39] all the work out of our and we volunteer
to do that. I think there will be people
[2:37:43] in the community that will happily step
up to give oversight to the CIP to make
[2:37:48] sure that the things that we care about
in this community are funded properly.
[2:37:51] Thank you.
>> Thank you, Faith. [applause] We'll
[2:37:55] continue with public comment.
[2:38:29] Good evening, Mayor and city council
members. My name is Jonathan Winkler. I
[2:38:34] live in district 6.
>> I have also had the honor of serving on
[2:38:39] the library board
>> for 10 years now.
[2:38:50] » I want to say upfront
>> that we are thankful
[2:38:55] » for any funding you do give us.
But
[2:39:01] » at the same time,
[2:39:05] » just if you just as you have had to make
difficult decisions regarding this
[2:39:10] budget,
[2:39:13] » we are going to have to make difficult
choices
[2:39:16] » once you approve it. Since 375
>> Since $375,000
[2:39:22] » for staffing
[2:39:26] » is not enough
>> to maintain our current hours.
[2:39:35] » The previous speaker mentioned
[2:39:40] » staying at the library until closing at
8.
[2:39:45] » We've been looking at
a plan that calls for closing at 7.
[2:39:53] » No weekend openings at all
>> except at the advanced learning library
[2:40:00] » and for Saturdays only there.
[2:40:05] » So I just want to make it very clear
>> to all of you
[2:40:13] » that this is a choice you have in front
of you.
[2:40:17] So,
>> please do what you can to find more.
[2:40:26] » Thank you.
>> Thank you, Jonathan. And thank you for
[2:40:30] interpreting.
[2:40:33] [applause]
[2:40:36] » We'll continue with public comment.
[2:41:02] Good evening, Mayor Woo and council
members. My name is Brock Booker and I
[2:41:08] am a resident of District 2.
I want to speak briefly on tonight's
[2:41:13] adoption of the 2027 budget and the
10-year capital improvement program.
[2:41:21] First, thank you for holding the mill
levy flat again this year. That matters
[2:41:29] to families who are already feeling the
pressure of rising property valuations.
[2:41:36] That said, city staff have been clear
that while this budget is balanced,
[2:41:42] projections show inspixes outpacing
revenue in the years ahead. And I'd
[2:41:47] encourage the council to start planning
for that now rather than waiting until
[2:41:52] it becomes a crisis.
Second, on infrastructure,
[2:41:58] I'm glad to see the 235 million
committed over the next decade for our
[2:42:04] streets, and I'd ask that the project
prioritization stay transparent and that
[2:42:10] older workingclass neighborhoods aren't
left waiting at the back of the line.
[2:42:16] Thirdly, on housing, the $500 million
Second Light is a real and needed
[2:42:22] investment in emergency shelter
capacity, but shelter beds alone don't
[2:42:28] solve housing instability. I'd encourage
the council to pair this investment with
[2:42:33] a broader strategy that helps people
move from emergency shelter towards
[2:42:38] stable, permanent housing and housing
options for every stage of life.
[2:42:46] Finally, public safety funding for fire
station 23 and additional firefighters
[2:42:53] is good news for the entire city. I'd
only ask that response time equity
[2:43:00] across districts remain part of that
conversation,
[2:43:04] not just total station count.
This is a well-built budget.
[2:43:11] And may my ask tonight is simple. Keep
an eye on long-term fiscal
[2:43:18] sustainability.
Prioritize infrastructure equity across
[2:43:22] neighborhoods and treat homelessness as
a housing problem, not just a shelter
[2:43:28] one. Thank you for your time and your
service to the city of Witchaw.
[2:43:35] » Thank you, Brock. We'll continue with
public comment.
[2:43:42] I see no one from the public. That means
we will close public comment. Thank you
[2:43:47] to the
>> If I may, mayor, before we close, could
[2:43:50] we actually have a formal motion to
close the public hearing? Thank you.
[2:43:56] » Thank you to the six speakers um who
shared their public comment regarding
[2:44:01] the proposed 2027 budget. I move to
close the public hearing.
[2:44:06] » Second.
>> Motion. Second. discussion. See none.
[2:44:11] Madame clerk, please open the role.
[2:44:19] Motion passes 70. We are now closed with
public comment and we'll bring it back
[2:44:25] to the bench. Uh first and foremost, I
wanted to say uh thank you again to the
[2:44:30] six individuals. All six of you um have
shared a portion of um additions.
[2:44:36] Unfortunately, no reductions and that is
my biggest concern. I think one of the
[2:44:41] individuals said you will have difficult
choices and these are difficult choices.
[2:44:46] We have a budget shortfall right now.
We're taking $3 million from the savings
[2:44:52] account.
We'll be taking 3 million additionally
[2:44:56] next year because there's another budget
shortfall.
[2:45:00] So, it is difficult decisions we have to
make. And as the city manager said, he
[2:45:05] has proposed multiple items and I'm
going to ask for those slides to be
[2:45:09] shown. Slides 40 and 41 are new
additional programs or individuals. Um,
[2:45:16] and I think we I'm going to ask for
specific ones. So I know that we will
[2:45:22] have lots of comments and questions. Um,
so I will start with um slide number 40.
[2:45:31] Um, I wanted to know uh regarding the
current staffing at the library. Sorry,
[2:45:38] this is not the library one 41.
Regarding staffing for the library, uh,
[2:45:44] is there a plan for what $375,000
additional dollars will help cover
[2:45:51] regarding staffing.
>> Mayor, thank you for asking that. what
[2:45:56] was communicated to me, I believe the
finance team is that that can be
[2:46:00] structured either for increase in
staffing for part-time
[2:46:05] um nine positions or four and a half
positions full-time I believe is the uh
[2:46:11] equivalent of how that money can be used
and then they would use that staffing
[2:46:15] level to determine what libraries based
upon need and usage those staff would be
[2:46:21] assigned to. But they're saying it would
be for backfilling and supporting
[2:46:26] existing staff and to help relieve some
of our existing staff.
[2:46:33] » Um with that, um I have a specific uh
comment regarding this and I don't think
[2:46:38] there's enough on this council that want
to do this and I hear your plea from the
[2:46:43] individuals who are asking for $1.4
million.
[2:46:46] Um, and I want to say thank you to Kevin
who has served as your president of the
[2:46:52] Witchaw Library Foundation. Um, I I did
want to ask and I will ask offline. Uh,
[2:46:59] you did mention a member of the council
approached you about building this new
[2:47:04] all um advanced learning library. So,
I'm going to ask who that was uh who was
[2:47:10] able to secure the four votes. Um this
has been something that this council has
[2:47:15] said we don't want to tie the hands of
future council members and that is the
[2:47:20] responsible thing to do. Um and while
the branch master plan was adopted by
[2:47:26] the council in 2019, none of us well
maybe one of us was on that council. And
[2:47:33] so I cannot um in good faith right now
uh give you $1.4 4 million from what
[2:47:42] currently looks like 3.962
million in new additional items. Um so I
[2:47:50] I want to share with you that I do value
libraries and I don't think there's
[2:47:53] anyone on this council that doesn't
value libraries.
[2:47:57] Um but now given that even with 375,000
additional dollars um it would only
[2:48:05] allow for uh either nine part-time
individuals or 4 and a half uh full-time
[2:48:12] positions and there would still be a
reduction in hours. Um, this seems like
[2:48:18] right now we need to have a deeper
conversation about how we're going to uh
[2:48:24] move forward with branch hours because
even if we gave you the full um ask that
[2:48:30] the city manager currently is um asking
of us of 375,
[2:48:36] you have all shared that there will be a
reduction in hours. Um, so I am I cannot
[2:48:42] in good faith uh move forward with um
having the city manager's proposal of uh
[2:48:48] adding 375,000
if it's still going to reduce library
[2:48:53] hours.
Uh council member Hohheisle.
[2:49:01] » Thank you, Mayor. Um I don't really have
a question. I just want to go ahead and
[2:49:05] get this moving along. Uh, so I will
make a motion to adopt the 2027 proposed
[2:49:11] budget. Approve the second reading of
the necessary budget ordinances for the
[2:49:15] tax increment financing districts in the
Smid. Um, adopt the second reading of
[2:49:20] the budget ordinance for the city taxing
funds, including a technical adjustment
[2:49:25] to align the estimated mill levy in the
ordinance to 32.340.
[2:49:30] Approve amending the 2026 budget for the
Century 2 and affordable housing funds.
[2:49:35] authorize staff to take the necessary
steps to implement the budget, including
[2:49:39] budget adjustments, expenditure control
levels, budget administration
[2:49:43] procedures, and adjustments outlined in
the agenda report, and to make any
[2:49:48] technical adjustments necessary to
compete, complete and submit the state
[2:49:52] certification forms, adopt the 27 2027
to 2036 proposed capital improvement
[2:49:59] program, and approve the use of local
funds derived from property within the
[2:50:03] corporate limits for
Witchah State University Board of
[2:50:08] Trustees interlocal agreement between
the city and the county.
[2:50:12] » Second,
>> mayor with a substitute motion. I move
[2:50:16] that the city council adopt the 2027
proposed budget with amendments to be
[2:50:21] proposed in a second. Approve the second
reading of the necessary budget
[2:50:24] ordinances for the tax increment
financing to districts and the the SMID.
[2:50:29] Adopt the second reading of the budget
ordinance for the city taxing funds
[2:50:32] including a technical adjustment to the
aligned estimated mill levying the
[2:50:36] ordinance to 32.340.
Approve amending the 2026 budget for
[2:50:40] Century 2 and affordable housing funds.
Authorize authorized staff to take the
[2:50:44] necessary steps to implement the budget,
including budget adjustments,
[2:50:48] expenditure control levels, budget
administration procedures, and
[2:50:52] adjustments outlined in the agenda
report and to make any technical
[2:50:54] adjustments necessary to complete and
submit the state certification forms,
[2:50:58] and adopt the 2027 20 through 2036
proposed capital improvement district
[2:51:04] with these changes. that all general
fund savings resulting from budget
[2:51:08] amendments adopted today after
accounting for any new general fund
[2:51:12] appropriations
adopted as part of this package be used
[2:51:16] dollar for dollar to reduce the plan
2027 transfer or draw from the
[2:51:20] stabilization reserves into the general
fund. That would also eliminate 250,000
[2:51:25] from the employee tuition program
appropriation from the 2027 general fund
[2:51:30] and reduce the 2027 general fund
expenditures by 250,000. That leaves
[2:51:34] 50,000 in the tuition program. That we
would also reduce the 2027 general fund
[2:51:40] line item tited titled unallocated
administrative cost from 1,447,332
[2:51:47] to947,332
[2:51:50] for a general fund reduction of 500,000.
That we would establish a $400,000
[2:51:56] process and administrative efficient
saving target in the 2027 general fund.
[2:52:01] And that staff are should report to
council during 2027 where that savings
[2:52:05] was achieved. That the 2020
stabilization fund mean for second light
[2:52:11] multi- agency center be conditioned on
them working to increase emergency or
[2:52:16] low barrier shelter bed capacity based
on space and staffing. That we would
[2:52:21] appropriate 15,000 in one-time 2027
general fund support for the mayor's
[2:52:26] youth council funded from an equal
reduction in the council travel budget.
[2:52:30] that 100,000 in one-time 2027 general
funding for a Witchaw property tax
[2:52:35] relief program pilot to be developed by
staff and approved by mayor and council.
[2:52:39] That we would allocate 50,000 to develop
and implement a community-based violence
[2:52:44] prevention strategy from the manager's
contingency fund. that we would also
[2:52:49] authorize a cash funded project for
urban forestry backlog and restoration
[2:52:53] and approve the transfer of 400,000 from
the general fund to this project and to
[2:52:58] eliminate 400,000 in goat atlarge
funding from the CIP allocated for Pony
[2:53:03] Prairie Park and to direct staff to
close out the inactive CIP project
[2:53:07] accounts totaling 400,000 and credit
those revenues to the general fund that
[2:53:12] we would then reallocate 325,000
towards design and construct
[2:53:17] vehicle mitigation improvements
including ballards or comparable
[2:53:20] protective measures and that would come
from the allocation in the CIP towards
[2:53:25] uh the police robotic dog and that we
would reallocate 150,000 from proposed
[2:53:30] dash cams to the library budget as well.
>> Second.
[2:53:37] » We have a a motion and a second uh
further discussion. I see council member
[2:53:42] Hoheisel.
>> Thank you, mayor. Um, I like what uh
[2:53:46] council member do uh Glascock or Vice
Mayor Glascock's proposed. I just have
[2:53:51] one amendment proposal to transfer
200,000 from the city manager's
[2:53:55] contingency fund to fund violence
interruption or intervention programs.
[2:54:02] » I believe we need a second on the
amendment.
[2:54:05] » Second
>> motion and a second on an amendment.
[2:54:10] Madame clerk, please open the role.
>> We is there any discussion? Excuse me.
[2:54:14] » Any discussion?
>> Any discussion? Council member Shepard.
[2:54:17] » Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to
affirm Vice Mayor GL GlassCox's motion,
[2:54:21] which is why I second it. I believe that
this is taking a necessary step to get
[2:54:25] our libraries where they should be. It's
not at the full point of where it needs
[2:54:29] to be. I hope that you get a commitment
from all of us to eventually get you
[2:54:34] there over a reasonable amount of time.
This is a start, not a finish. Um, I
[2:54:38] also appreciate the um ability for
violence prevention. Um, and I also
[2:54:45] agree with Vice Mayor Glascock on the
efficiencies and savings as well as the
[2:54:48] property tax relief. So, I appreciate
the colleagues uh for uh moving forward
[2:54:53] these motions today and I think that
this is taking our community in the
[2:54:58] right direction.
>> Council member John Stunn.
[2:55:02] » Thank you, Mayor. Uh, I also agree. I
think this gets the libraries to 525,000
[2:55:07] if I'm correct about 40% of their their
ask which helps a lot and I agree that
[2:55:13] we need to continue to work on that in
the future. Library funding I think is
[2:55:17] very very important and I also think it
rep prioritizes some some funds in our
[2:55:23] uh in our budget um to uh
more community uh benefits and quality
[2:55:31] of life. So, I will be supporting this.
>> Council member Tuttle.
[2:55:36] » Thank you. Um, I just wanted to make a
few comments. Um, this is the eighth
[2:55:40] budget that I've worked on since I've
been on city council. Um, and I've been
[2:55:45] um
impressed with how this the majority of
[2:55:49] this team has worked together. Um,
leadership is about choices and there
[2:55:53] are hard choices to be made. We all wish
there was money to fund everything. Um,
[2:55:58] everybody I think on this council has
things that they're passionate about and
[2:56:01] want to see funded, but leadership also
means working together. Um, I've said
[2:56:07] this every year, so I'm going to say it
the eighth time. The most important vote
[2:56:12] that I make all year is on our budget
and where you allocate your treasure is
[2:56:17] a reflection of your values. And I think
that is true tonight and that's why I
[2:56:22] will be supportive. Um, I just wanted to
point out something too that um, Gary
[2:56:27] Jansen, our director of public works,
has stated that since people always want
[2:56:30] to know where the money goes, why does
it cost more? Why do you why are we
[2:56:33] spending more? Since 2020, construction
costs for our utility projects within
[2:56:39] the city, not just new builds, but if
we're doing a road, anything,
[2:56:42] construction costs since 2020 for
utility projects have increased by 66%.
[2:56:48] So what the community members, what you
are feeling, what I am feeling, we're
[2:56:52] also feeling at the city of Witchah and
that's why we're trying to make these
[2:56:56] hard decisions. Um I also just wanted to
um say that we've been working on this
[2:57:01] for 9 months and kudos to us and I'm
going to thank a few other people, but
[2:57:06] during the nine months anybody at any
time could have made any suggestions.
[2:57:11] And so it's sometimes disheartening to
me when we get to this point and you
[2:57:16] know comments are or decisions are being
thrown at the last minute, but at this
[2:57:20] at this stage so far with what's been
proposed, I'm excited and it shows true
[2:57:25] collaboration. Um I do want to thank
Mark Manning and the finance team. Um
[2:57:29] Elizabeth, I hope you go home and get
some rest. Much deserved. I know y'all,
[2:57:32] like I said, have been working on this
for nine months and couldn't be more
[2:57:35] proud. also to our new city manager. Um
your first budget process um couldn't be
[2:57:40] more pleased with your attentiveness.
You're willing to dive in deeper. You're
[2:57:45] willing to provide us solutions and
options and things that we haven't
[2:57:48] thought about before. So, thank you for
certainly being part of the process. I
[2:57:52] also want to thank all the departments
within the city of Witchaw. Every
[2:57:55] department had to probably give up
something, right? and every department
[2:57:59] did a good job of fighting fairly for
what they think is important for the
[2:58:03] work they do as content experts. And
then finally, I just want to say thank
[2:58:08] you to my colleagues who have been
willing to have dialogue and
[2:58:12] collaboration. And to me, that
represents bold leadership. So, thank
[2:58:16] you for everyone for all of your hard
work. Looks like we're almost there.
[2:58:21] » I have a question for legal before we
continue. We have an amendment that has
[2:58:25] a motion and a second. Yes. Uh, can
another motion be put forward? Uh, an
[2:58:30] amendment rather?
>> No, we can amend. What we're doing right
[2:58:33] now is an amendment of a substitution.
That is where this one has to stop. I
[2:58:38] think we can.
>> So, this one right now is at violence
[2:58:40] interruptors getting an additional
$200,000
[2:58:44] » intervention. It's the strategy, not a
program.
[2:58:49] » Is that accurate? which would give the
city manager the full autonomy and
[2:58:53] authority to work with the council to
identify a strategy where those dollars
[2:58:58] would go.
>> Yeah, that's what's on the um item to
[2:59:03] vote, I believe. Yes.
>> Uh I do have one additional question. uh
[2:59:08] last year uh and two years prior uh
council member Tuttle had to uh abstain
[2:59:14] from voting because she's a she is
employed by Witchah State's WSU Tech uh
[2:59:20] arm. Will you need to do that?
>> Uh that's why his substitute motion did
[2:59:24] not include the WSU and WSU Tech and so
that will be the next motion that will
[2:59:28] be made.
>> Thank you very much, Council Member
[2:59:30] Ballard.
Thank you, Mayor. I'm not going to um
[2:59:35] share all of the same I mean I share all
the same comments um as my colleagues,
[2:59:39] but I also wanted to point out I
appreciate um that the city manager
[2:59:44] tried to bring back a tuition program
while we might not be able to fully fund
[2:59:48] it this year. Um I appreciate that you
are thinking about uh ways to offer our
[2:59:57] employees um additional education and
opportunity. So, um I will definitely be
[3:00:02] supportive of all of the uh
conversations that we have had with this
[3:00:06] amendment and excited for whatever
employees are able to uh utilize this
[3:00:12] new opportunity.
I will add my comments. Um I will not be
[3:00:17] voting in favor of this as I have not
voted in favor the last three years. Um,
[3:00:21] and again, more specifically, this
budget takes $3 million from the savings
[3:00:28] account called the stabilization
reserve. Um, while I understand that
[3:00:33] many of the programs are important, it's
also prudent to not add additional items
[3:00:39] that cannot be paid for or will continue
to have ongoing expenses moving forward.
[3:00:45] And knowing that we have a budget
shortfall yet again next year, it is not
[3:00:50] prudent again to not go line item by
line item going over each of these
[3:00:57] proposals that the city manager
specifically has said are new items. Uh
[3:01:03] so again, I appreciate that there have
been reductions. I appreciate that there
[3:01:07] has been collaboration amongst this
council um through again Vice Mayor
[3:01:11] Glascock, thank you for providing those
uh comments and that specific um motion.
[3:01:17] But again, not in good faith can we
continue sustaining this type of budget
[3:01:24] where we are outgrowing inflation
and we are outgrowing to the point where
[3:01:30] we don't have a balanced budget. We're
only balanced because we get again $3
[3:01:37] million from the savings account. That
is not a balanced budget. Um so I will
[3:01:44] not be voting in favor of this motion.
Um and so I see that there are
[3:01:49] additional individuals that want to
speak. Vice Mayor Glascock
[3:01:52] » call the question on this amendment.
[3:01:56] » Okay.
>> Motion. Second. Any further discussion?
[3:02:00] There's council member Shepard.
Let's move forward.
[3:02:05] » Uh, madame mayor, madame clerk, can you
please open the role?
[3:02:12] » Motion passes 6 to one. Madam, actually,
we have to come back. Are you going to
[3:02:19] propose?
>> I just general comments.
[3:02:25] » Vice Mayor Glass.
>> Thank you. Now we're on the the
[3:02:28] substitute motion that's on the floor
with the amendment that council
[3:02:32] Councilman Shepard has made. Correct.
>> Correct.
[3:02:34] » Okay. I just want to say thank you to my
colleagues uh who did uh meet with me
[3:02:38] this week. I hope that the package
presented was a compromise of things
[3:02:45] that we've heard from residents and
knowing that we did hear from people
[3:02:48] speaking today as well. We're called to
lead and we have a duty to govern and
[3:02:52] that's why we are elected and so I'm
thankful that we've stepped up um to be
[3:02:56] able to offer a solution. Is there
everything that all of us agree with in
[3:02:59] the budget? No. And we're going to have
those votes subsequently throughout the
[3:03:02] year on each specific item. But I think
this puts us in a direction I think this
[3:03:07] puts us in um a place where we also are
taking less from the stabilization
[3:03:11] reserves and we're keeping more of that
in the future. I think that's good
[3:03:15] responsible leadership and I'm thankful
for my colleagues that were willing to
[3:03:18] compromise to get to this place and um
just thank you for your hard work on
[3:03:22] this.
>> Council member Hois.
[3:03:24] » Thank you, Mayor. Um to my colleagues, I
appreciate the work that you guys have
[3:03:28] done on this as well. Um libraries,
we're going to try and get there. Um I
[3:03:32] know it's not all at once. This is um
nobody looks at any budget that's passed
[3:03:36] and says, "Oh, this is exactly what I
want." But we are trying to get there.
[3:03:41] Um we did eliminate um a substantial
amount of money coming out of the
[3:03:46] stabilization fund. We also looked at
some other um investments that we we
[3:03:51] wanted across the board. um increasing
in dead tree removal as was spoken about
[3:03:56] earlier is one of them. Um just a number
of other issues as well. So no this
[3:04:00] isn't the perfect budget to our
employees. Um we are intent to work with
[3:04:04] you over the next year. We did see that
tuition reimbursement was at the bottom
[3:04:09] of um the the wants that you guys had.
We we got that survey here in the last
[3:04:15] week. So, uh we are dedicated to see
what we can do to help um help with your
[3:04:20] your lifestyle, help with the challenges
that you guys face because if we don't
[3:04:25] pay our own people living wages, then um
that's a bad look on us definitely. So,
[3:04:32] again, this budget's not perfect for
anybody, but um I think it's a good
[3:04:37] budget. So, I appreciate everybody's
work on this.
[3:04:41] » Council member Shepard.
>> Thank you, Mayor. Um, I also want to uh
[3:04:46] just acknowledge that this took a lot of
collaborative effort. And I know I say
[3:04:51] that intentionally because I think that
often times the narrative gets
[3:04:55] misconstrued that we don't work well
together. And while we have very
[3:04:59] different priorities at times and very
different outlooks on how those
[3:05:02] priorities should be should be handled.
Um I think that we were able to come to
[3:05:08] a healthy decision tonight on what does
it mean to invest in a witchaw not just
[3:05:13] for today but a witchaw for tomorrow and
for years down the road. Um yes the
[3:05:18] budget is increasing but our our needs
are evolving just as our families are
[3:05:22] evolving. And so I'm really grateful
that we, you know, when we first got
[3:05:27] this budget, the libraries had zero and
and we said, "City manager, can you do a
[3:05:31] little bit more?" And then he got us to
a little bit more. And then we decided
[3:05:34] to do our part to do a little bit more.
But I think that's not a testament to
[3:05:39] us. I want to be very clear. It's a
testament to Jamie Nicks and her staff
[3:05:43] and the incredible work that they do
every single day. Um, and the and the
[3:05:49] resources that are being provided all
across this community. Maya Angelou has
[3:05:54] a community garden in the middle of the
food desert. Seniors are there all the
[3:05:59] time working on their resumes, getting
job applications. The dignity and
[3:06:04] humanity that you see in every single
family, [music]
[3:06:07] including our unhoused neighbors, that
is to be commended. And we have to quit
[3:06:11] asking our staff to do more with less,
as if it's a normal expectation.
[3:06:16] It's not okay anymore. And we've got to
turn a corner. So, thank you for being
[3:06:20] the example of what it means to step up
to the plate. And tonight, I think we
[3:06:24] are showing that when you step up to the
plate to do more, we're going to meet
[3:06:26] you in the middle. Um, finally, I do
want to say thank you to the city
[3:06:29] manager. Um, it's no secret I feel
passionate about the things I'm
[3:06:33] passionate about, and I will fight for
the things that I'm willing to fight
[3:06:36] for. But the city manager has worked
with me to really help meet me in the
[3:06:41] middle, especially on paid family leave.
We didn't get it this year paid for in
[3:06:44] the budget, but we found an alternative
and I think that's important as well.
[3:06:48] So, to the staff who are listening, um
I'm not just going to say you're valued.
[3:06:52] I'm going to make a commitment that
we're going to continue to work to
[3:06:55] figure out how to build a stronger
culture in city hall, how to make sure
[3:06:58] you are valued, and how to make sure we
take care of the whole family. Because
[3:07:02] it's not just you that shows up here
every single day. Your family deals with
[3:07:06] the brunt of the work that you carry
back home every day as well. And this
[3:07:09] $50,000 is just a pilot to see where we
can go from here. With that, thank you
[3:07:14] colleagues for your support in making
this first year of my budget hearing a
[3:07:17] meaningful and pleasurable
[clears throat] one. I hope it happens
[3:07:20] again.
>> Council member Johnston.
[3:07:24] » Thank you, Mayor. I will echo that this
is not the perfect budget. Uh if I was
[3:07:29] doing it myself, this is not what I've
come up with. Um I don't like taking
[3:07:34] money from our reserve fund, $3 million.
I don't think that's prudent. I think it
[3:07:39] was planned that there was probably a
presumption that the economy would be in
[3:07:44] a recession by now and it has not been.
I think that's the reason it was planned
[3:07:48] for now. Um, next year I hope we do not
take that $3 million. Um, unless there
[3:07:56] is a severe recession and we need the
money. Um, I think one thing we need to
[3:08:01] address and it's the elephant in the
room is public safety.
[3:08:07] Public safety is very important. There's
no doubt. Everybody tells us that we
[3:08:12] need to fund public safety. I think the
question is how much. If you look at our
[3:08:18] palm card, which is outside the room
there, public safety this year is 64%
[3:08:24] of our budget. Next year, it rises to
67% of our budget. So, at what point do
[3:08:32] we say
public safety? Yes, but we also have to
[3:08:37] invest in libraries and parks and and
amenities of life that can help reduce
[3:08:43] violence and and ed educate people and
and really help fund uh some of the
[3:08:49] disadvantaged neighborhoods. I think
that's important. Um what I hear from my
[3:08:55] district is
they they want to see more police
[3:08:58] officers in the district on the street.
um and maybe not so many uh softwares
[3:09:06] and programs and things. So, that's what
I hear from my district. Um it may be
[3:09:10] different tomorrow when I wake up and
see emails. Who knows? But uh I'm just
[3:09:15] glad we did get a budget approved and
it's not 11:59. So, thank you,
[3:09:21] » Vice Mayor Glass.
>> Thank you. But I will call the question
[3:09:24] in a second and there's just one thing I
want to highlight and I really want to
[3:09:27] thank the work of council member Hohis
on that and that's the home the
[3:09:30] homeowner property tax relief program. I
think that's one of the best things to
[3:09:34] come from this budget. We hear often
about property tax relief in this
[3:09:38] community and this is a very targeted
way to provide property tax relief to
[3:09:42] those that need it the most. And so I'm
thankful for his leadership on this and
[3:09:46] his passion for this because if he
didn't continue to advocate it for it,
[3:09:49] it wouldn't be in this today. But I
think the 100,000 is a really good first
[3:09:53] step toward that. And hopefully we
continue to offer more targeted property
[3:09:58] tax relief because that's I guarantee
you the number one thing we hear from
[3:10:01] residents up here. And so with that,
I'll call the question.
[3:10:05] We have a motion and a second. Any
further discussion? I see none. Madame
[3:10:09] clerk, please open the role.
[3:10:15] Motion passes. 61.
Mayor with a motion to approve the use
[3:10:21] of local funds derived from property
within the corporate limits for the
[3:10:24] Witchaw State University Board of
Trustees and our local agreement between
[3:10:28] the city and the county.
>> Council member Tuttle.
[3:10:31] » Thank you. Due to a conflict of
interest, I will be abstaining from this
[3:10:35] vote.
>> I will add my comments. Um I'm a board
[3:10:40] member of WSU Tech, but I get no
financial gain. It is also on my
[3:10:45] statement of interest. Uh so therefore I
will be taking a vote on this. Madame
[3:10:51] cler or we have a motion.
>> Second.
[3:10:55] » Second. Any further discussion? I see
none. Madame clerk please open the role.
[3:11:08] Motion passes 60 with one abstension.
Madame clerk please call the next item.
[3:11:15] Council member appointments and
comments.
[3:11:20] C.
>> Uh, we'll start with appointments. Any
[3:11:23] appointments, council members?
>> I have one and so does council member
[3:11:29] Ballard. We'll start with council member
Ballard.
[3:11:32] » Thank you, mayor. I would like to
appoint Michaela Ramirez to the library
[3:11:35] board and uh Jeppi Hammer to the
sustainability board.
[3:11:42] » Council member Johnston.
>> Thank you. I'd like to appoint Josh
[3:11:46] Shepus to District 5 Advisory Board and
to the Park Board of Commissioners.
[3:11:53] » And I would like to appoint John
Frederick on behalf of Commissioner Jim
[3:11:58] Howell to the Witchaw Airport Advisory
Board.
[3:12:02] I see no further uh appointments. I move
to approve all those appointments.
[3:12:08] » Second.
>> Motion second. Discussion. See none.
[3:12:11] Madame Clerk, please open the role.
[3:12:18] Motion passes 70.
Madame clerk, actually we can start with
[3:12:23] council member comments. Any council
member comments?
[3:12:25] » Mayor, I just want to say
congratulations to our vice mayor. He's
[3:12:31] an engaged man now, y'all. So,
congratulations on your engagement. I'm
[3:12:36] really excited for you. Uh people know
that council member or vice mayor
[3:12:40] Glascock and I kind of grew up together.
Um, and I'm so excited for this next
[3:12:44] phase of your life. Maybe I get to be a
flower boy.
[3:12:48] » I think uh, council Tuttles already
called it. It's been a very [laughter]
[3:12:50] busy week. Right on. I promise that.
>> I see no further comments from the
[3:12:58] council members. With that, I will move
to adjourn this meeting at 9:35 p.m.
[3:13:05] » Motion second. Discussion. See none.
Madam clerk, please open the role.
[3:13:10] » All those in favor say I. I motion
passes