[0:07] To the flag of

[0:11] the stands, one nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all

[0:25] the regular meeting for January 20th, 2026 with the Harrington City Commission

[0:30] to order. Is there public forum?

[0:38] No public forum.

[0:44] Okay. Do we have a motion to consider the minutes from the January 6 regular

[0:48] meeting? We approve the minutes from January 6,

[0:52] 20 26 regular meeting. >> A second.

[0:58] A motion in a second discussion from any of us.

[1:03] Miss Lens >> I

[1:07] » I >> I

[1:11] have any additions or deletions that we're going to add to the agenda?

[1:16] » No. >> Um I do want to add in a 9

[1:20] a be a short recess

[1:26] probably be less than

[1:30] I'll make a motion we approve the agenda with the addition of 9A is short recess.

[1:35] » I'll second it. >> Motion and a second discussion.

[1:41] Miss Lens.

[1:44] » I I >> I

[1:49] have the consent agenda.

[1:53] I'll make a motion that we approve the consent agenda as written.

[1:58] » I'll second. >> Motion in a second. Discussion.

[2:04] » Miss Lance. I

[2:07] » I I

[2:12] no proclamations, but I want to make make a reminder that January 30th is a

[2:17] retirement ceremony for Lori Dorbush, who is retiring from the city of

[2:22] Harrington as our director for the Hilltop. So, I

[2:27] encourage you to come between 1 and 4 and show your support for her and her

[2:31] thanks for your service.

[2:35] Now have a discussion on 2026 insurance renewals.

[2:41] » Mr. Becker, how are you? >> Good evening. Thanks for the invite

[2:46] today. >> Uh yeah, I've visited with uh city

[2:51] manager Modi here recently. We do have the insurance renewal coming up. Uh we

[2:56] should start seeing numbers back for that in probably the next week or two.

[3:01] Um, it's always our goal to get it out to you guys plenty of time in that first

[3:06] week of March. So that way you at least have a first read and a second if that's

[3:09] what you guys decide you want to do. Um, feedback that I'm getting right now from

[3:15] from EMC from the information we've been giving them is that renewals should be

[3:20] fairly I hate to use the word normal, but uh more normal than they've been in

[3:26] the past few years, especially when it comes to rate.

[3:30] the staff and um everybody you have working for you has done a fantastic job

[3:35] the last couple years. Our loss ratio is down on just right around 30%.

[3:40] Which is really really good. Um that helps keep our rates rates low. This is

[3:46] still part of a dividend program. So um that meaning they take all the

[3:50] municipalities that they write in the state of Kansas at the end of the year

[3:54] if that is profitable they cut a check back to us. So um like the last three

[3:58] years we've pushing right up on $80,000 in total return premium that we've

[4:04] received from EMC. Um couple things to keep in mind. Um cities

[4:12] are are very limited in the markets that they have um to write it because they

[4:16] are so complex. I mean we have things like power plants and you know obviously

[4:20] um directors and officers and their program is is phenomenal when it comes

[4:25] to that. They have what's called a linebacker program. So it protects you

[4:28] as a board. It protects the management does ours

[4:35] and officers does our employer liability. So if we let someone go and

[4:39] now we're in the middle of a lawsuit or there's sexual harassment, it actually

[4:43] defends both ways. So it's the person accusing and the accused. So um tends to

[4:50] keep you know lawyer cost down and get to settlement rather quickly. Ly knock,

[4:55] we haven't had a lot of that in the last three years or actually any long had

[5:00] some good good luck with weather as well. Um, you know, obviously

[5:06] we do have some challenges coming up. We we know that um EMC has decided that

[5:11] they are no longer doing any habitational when it comes to a city.

[5:16] So, we do have some of that. Um, we will have options for you guys and and have

[5:21] that out plenty of time that we can over it with you as well. Um, it's nothing

[5:27] that the city has done. It's just a a class of business that they say,

[5:31] "Listen, we don't do it anywhere else. We don't do it. We don't write home and

[5:35] auto insurance." So, it's just we're not going to to do that as a as it was

[5:40] something they did at one time. So, um, the only other thing that I might tell

[5:45] you that you need to look pretty heavily into is a cyber policy. With with the

[5:51] way that things are changing in our world, it's nothing for for bank

[5:56] accounts to get hacked or locked up or froze. And we've talked about that in

[6:00] the past, but never um never really pursued it. So, we're happy to offer

[6:05] that as well if that's something you guys want us to do. We are coming up on

[6:11] It's a pretty tight window now. So, uh, Patrick and I discussed that we can

[6:15] always, um, if budget season rolls around, we really want to take a deep

[6:20] dive as a commission. We can sit down and do that. But I will tell you that

[6:24] the department heads that I've met with have done a really good job of trying to

[6:30] be cognizant of the taxpayers dollars. You know, if they're if there's

[6:33] something that they don't utilize or use anymore, that's going to surplus or they

[6:36] think it's going to go to surplus, they're trying to get rid of it. They're

[6:39] lowering equipment if uh they're aging out and then you know they're really

[6:45] trying to do the best they can as they're trying to add stuff. So um if

[6:49] you have any questions I'll do my best to answer them. If not we'll proceed

[6:54] ahead and and get the numbers out to you as quickly as we can.

[6:58] » Uh I was attending some meetings before and it talked about having issues

[7:03] ensuring the hilltop. >> Is that still an issue?

[7:07] » It is. It is because there's a we have housing in it. They they won't consider

[7:14] um insuring that building if we keep the housing in it, which you guys absolutely

[7:19] can do and we can put that building on a different policy and get get coverage

[7:23] for it. It just won't be on this policy. >> I mean, it it has been for years.

[7:29] » Yes. >> What changed?

[7:31] » Um honestly, it's something that they they

[7:34] haven't liked to do for several years, but we have not had losses. and we, you

[7:40] know, we fought to keep it on. They finally drew a line in the sand and

[7:43] said, "We're doing no exposures anyway." So, um,

[7:49] » so that'll include the hilltop and the apartments.

[7:52] » Yep. We should be able to put all that on one policy. So, um, you know, again,

[7:58] nothing that nothing that we did as a city. It's just where they're where

[8:03] they're going. I have looked into some other um carriers that are willing to c

[8:08] They won't do habitational either. even on an exception basis, even with our

[8:13] loss ratios being good, it's just they they don't mix municipality with

[8:20] » I will say that [clears throat] even on the housing authority and with Rhonda,

[8:25] we've kind of identified at Golden Age for example and that's not on EMC

[8:30] obviously, but the insurance costs are continuing to climb and it's our

[8:35] property management company has said it's it's really a statewide issue and

[8:39] they're struggling to find people to ensure uh like apartment complexes and

[8:44] things of that nature. So I don't think it's unique to see either. You look at a

[8:49] structure even like uh the Sunflower building in Abene, it's an extremely

[8:55] large building. >> To insure it to value is really hard to

[9:00] do because what would it cost to rebuild a brick building that's seven stories

[9:04] tall? And then could you afford the premium to do that when you're trying to

[9:08] keep rent at a reasonable rate? It's just extremely difficult to do. So, um,

[9:14] not unique at all, but something that we we can handle.

[9:20] » My question is about the Hilltop, too. Are we seeing premium change that it's

[9:24] not with the EMC and it go with a different company? Will we see a premium

[9:27] change? >> Um, well, obviously it'll come off of

[9:30] the EMC policy. So, that will take the EMC policy down. Where that lands on um

[9:37] the coverage they offer, what you guys want to do with it, and we're going to

[9:40] give you some options. could be up a little, could be down a

[9:44] little, but you know, it's gonna it's going to we'll have options for you guys

[9:48] to make some decisions. I think we budgeted up to 50 to up to

[9:54] 75,000, maybe closer to 50,000 by the time it was all said and done for that

[9:58] expected increase on the hilltop. But like Kyle said, we're going to bring

[10:02] some options on good, better, best coverage maybe or

[10:07] » and and the other thing that the other thing that we do have working for us

[10:11] currently is that we we brought some really high renewals the last few years.

[10:17] And it's not has done. It's just been industrywide with property. I think I'm

[10:22] sure you've seen it in your homeowners. Um it's nothing to see a 20 to 25%

[10:27] increase. Um the reason for that was, you know, this is I'm I'm ding it way

[10:33] down for me. Um there's about five reinsurers that insure the insurance

[10:38] companies and all of them got together and said, "We're not making any money,

[10:41] so we're going to ratchet it up, but we've got to make more money and you've

[10:44] got to take more risk." So that really has filtered everybody whether they've

[10:49] had losses or not. Um, all that to be said, it is starting to

[10:54] soften now. I would bet in your home renewals, you won't see the increases

[10:58] that you have seen in the past few years. Um, back to kind of that normal

[11:04] state. They were just they were out around for a little while think

[11:17] » okay well we will diligently be getting these back to you as quick as we can and

[11:20] working with department heads if you guys have questions in the meantime's

[11:25] got all my information free to contact me too

[11:28] » Mr. Becker personally I would like to see when you bring back quotes for the

[11:33] housing also go ahead and just bring back a quote for the cyber policies.

[11:37] » Sure. >> Just so that we can start looking at

[11:40] those earlier

[11:43] » we've been trying to coordinate with our IT company on on that as well. So I'll

[11:47] follow up. So yeah, I'll make sure we get that.

[11:50] » Thank you. >> Thank you guys. Have a great night. You

[11:52] » too.

[11:56] Let's have an update and presentation from Stanic.

[12:00] » I'm gonna kind of move over. So I'm in your way. just tell me how many

[12:04] » Yeah, a lot of this will be up on the screen just for reference. And good

[12:08] evening and thank you everyone for having us today uh to talk about the

[12:12] Harington area wide plan and the report that we'll be issuing here pretty soon

[12:16] in a couple weeks. So the plan itself um has been going on for about a year now,

[12:23] the entire planning process and we're getting ready to issue that as a final

[12:28] report very soon. Um, so we're happy to share this with you and to better inform

[12:33] you all about what to expect in that plan so that you can share that better

[12:37] with constituents and help champion that into the future as well. Um, so yeah, my

[12:42] name is Kate Paline. I am a landscape architect and urban planner with Sant.

[12:47] We also have calling in today virtually Caitlyn Woolard. She's with Sant as

[12:52] well. If you want to introduce yourself, Caitlyn.

[12:55] » Sure. If you can hear me all right. >> Yes. Um, I'm Caitlyn Mullard. Great. I'm

[13:01] Caitlyn Mullard. I'm a landscape architect and planner with Santech and I

[13:04] work on our brownfield revitalization team helping lots of communities just

[13:08] like Harrington uh work on site specific and areawide plan uh redevelopment

[13:13] needs. Sorry I can't be there in person but happy to be on the phone.

[13:20] Um and then from the city side, uh we've worked really closely through this

[13:23] planning process with that with Lisa from the rural champion role side of

[13:29] things. And um that's been a really good relationship to keep um us on track

[13:34] through this whole process and make sure that we understand uh everything from

[13:38] the point of view of the city as well. Uh we've also um another major partner

[13:44] in this has been the Flint Hills Regional Council. We have Jana um Jana

[13:49] Williams here today to represent the Flint Hills region and they've been a

[13:53] major part of the project in that it wouldn't exist without the Brownfields

[13:58] funding that we've been able to acquire through the Flint Hills regional

[14:01] council. So Caitlyn if you want to switch to the next slide

[14:06] or if you can. There we go. Uh so yeah today we'll just keep it kind of a brief

[14:10] overview of what to expect in the report but we'll talk about the project itself

[14:14] and how it came about. uh what we studied which were existing conditions

[14:18] downtown. Uh did community engagement in a market study and then we'll wrap up

[14:24] just by talking about what to expect in the design vision and the area wide

[14:28] recommendations as well as uh funding and implementation strategies that we're

[14:32] recommending. So you can switch

[14:36] to the next slide. Um so if you can see in the map up there that is the the

[14:42] planning area that we've selected for this plan. So we really looking at um to

[14:47] the north boundary the Flint Hills region or sorry the the future Flint

[14:54] Hills trail to the east we're looking at as far as East Street uh to the south as

[14:59] far as Trap Street and to the west as far as Lime Creek. So really just what

[15:04] you see in that dash white boundary uh within the larger boundaries of the

[15:08] city. But we did study the full regional context, but that's really the area

[15:13] where our recommendations lie within. Uh the project started in 2024 uh with

[15:18] Flint Hills Regional Council being awarded the EPA Brownfields Assessment

[15:22] Grant. Uh that grant program supports community revitalization through funding

[15:27] environmental assessment, cleanup, and redevelopment planning for not just

[15:31] individual sites, but also um larger areas like what we're studying here. Um

[15:38] impacted communities. So, Harrington was identified uh by the Flint Hills

[15:44] Regional Council as an area that could be in need of revitalization and some um

[15:50] engagement with the public to hear what they would like to see in the future.

[15:53] So, the plan goals are to uh host engagement events, identify

[15:57] redevelopment sites, illustrate design recommendations, and encourage and guide

[16:01] implementation. And like I said, we've been working on this since December of

[16:05] 2024 and planning to issue uh this coming month.

[16:12] Next slide. Um and so just a quickly overview of

[16:17] what we saw in existing conditions when we first walked the site to kick off the

[16:21] project. Next slide.

[16:26] Um what we saw in the within the study area boundaries uh really taking a at

[16:32] Main Street and Broadway as the major corridors both east, west, and north

[16:38] south through the heart of downtown. Uh we noticed that the intersection of

[16:42] Maine and Broadway uh as well as the intersection of Broadway and um

[16:51] Walnut, thank you. Those are two intersections that are pretty prominent

[16:54] for pedestrians to cross right now. They are marked for crosswalks, but

[16:59] potentially could be a little bit safer. They're really wide right now. you've

[17:02] got to cross out a stop sign and just want to make sure that there's more

[17:07] visibility there in the future. So, that was something we noticed. Uh we also

[17:10] took note of the street lights that are existing are kind of more vehicular

[17:14] scale. So, they're really really tall. And in thinking about uh creating a

[17:19] downtown that is more pedestrian scale, more comfortable for people who come

[17:23] here to visit, for people who walk through downtown every day. Um bringing

[17:28] maybe some lower pedestrian scale lighting might be thing to think about

[17:32] there as well as you know another thing that helps with scale is tree canopy or

[17:37] vegetation. So those are things that could really soften the spaces downtown

[17:42] and we saw some opportunities there to to take another look at. If you advance

[17:48] to the next slide too um I've got some pictures of Broadway Street that we

[17:53] took. Uh definitely noted that the pocket park is a great resource for the

[17:58] community and that that's um are evolving, but also that uh Broadway's

[18:04] got a lot of great murals and a lot of great art uh that could also be expanded

[18:08] on. Um something that we noted as well on Broadway is that the sidewalks are

[18:13] really wide. And while that's great as there's a lot of room for pedestrian

[18:18] activity, it also gives an opportunity for potentially um bringing more

[18:23] elements into the sidewalk, potentially barriers between traffic and parking and

[18:28] people walking on the street in the form of ers in the form of benches. So, these

[18:33] were things that we were starting to think about as we walk downtown.

[18:37] Um, oh, and one other thing to mention is in that middle slide, you can kind of

[18:41] see where Broadway intersects with the future Flint Hills Regional Trail. And

[18:45] with that being the trail being a major driver for this plan, um, that open

[18:51] space that's very close adjacent to the trail uh at Broadway is a site that we

[18:56] looked at as well as having a lot of potential. All right, next slide.

[19:03] So, as I mentioned, we did community engagement as part of this project. Uh,

[19:07] if you advance to the next slide, Caitlyn. Um, I've got some just stats on

[19:12] how that went and what we did. Uh, we started with a spring visioning

[19:15] workshop. So that was just to really bring the project maps um sites of

[19:21] downtown, enlargements of zoning, that sort of thing to the community and

[19:26] invited the public to share their thoughts on opportunities and challenges

[19:31] as well as help us identify priority areas that they would like to um maybe

[19:37] see improvements, see future uh changes to in downtown. U we listened to what

[19:43] people liked, what they would like to see more of, that sort of thing. And we

[19:49] had 30 participants at that community workshop and also offered everything

[19:54] that was offered in person as an online survey. So we had 85 responses for that

[19:59] which was a great turnout and we got a wealth of information from from all of

[20:04] that engagement there. Uh we also had a steering committee meetings. So our

[20:09] steering committee was made up of six individuals that were had a sample from

[20:13] the community. We had business owners and other community leaders uh joining

[20:18] us at three key meetings throughout the process. So they were also reviewing our

[20:23] plans and our uh studies along the way and giving feedback.

[20:28] And then secondly we had a summer design workshop. So after we took everything

[20:32] that we gathered from the visioning, we sat down as designers, looked at the

[20:36] area and uh the ideas that the community brought forward and saw what could fit

[20:41] um within the context of downtown. We brought some sketches to the community

[20:46] at that design workshop and we also brought those same sketches to uh two

[20:51] different student groups uh at the local school. We talked to middle schoolers

[20:55] and high schoolers both and wanted to hear from them what they thought of the

[20:59] proposed designs from a student point of view. Are these things that they would

[21:04] utilize? What's kind of missing? And also, you know, what would encourage

[21:08] them to, you know, feel like they wanted to stay in Harrington in the future?

[21:13] Like what things do they want to see in in the future that they see in other

[21:18] cities that they enjoy visiting? Um, and then lastly, as part of

[21:22] engagement, we did talk to six different stakeholders and do one-on-one

[21:26] interviews as well. Next slide.

[21:31] Uh, so we got a lot of takeaways from the engagement that we did. Uh, we heard

[21:36] a lot about strong community pride. We heard that the existing businesses

[21:40] downtown are very valued, uh, with a lot of potential for expansion and

[21:44] diversifying those offerings. Um but strategically we heard from the public

[21:50] that maintenance is a a major thing that they don't want to let slide in the um

[21:56] proposal anything new. They were very um adamant on existing buildings and

[22:00] existing parks uh needing to be maintained as they are or to be uh

[22:06] brought up to uh facade improvements that sort of thing for buildings. Um

[22:11] that was something that we heard. There was also talk of underutilized

[22:16] being an opportunity downtown and then utilizing the Flint Hills Trail as we

[22:21] talked about being a catalyst for recreational tourism in the future. Uh,

[22:26] next slide.

[22:30] And then one other thing that we did as uh kind of within this visioning phase

[22:35] of the project was a market study. We fantasy

[22:41] that uh we had join our team and they looked at the project in the the region

[22:48] as a whole. Um they looked at they have a wealth of data that they were

[22:53] analyzing for population analytics from recent years employment analytics and

[22:59] they took all of that information and kind of put it into their own market

[23:04] report of this specific downtown site area. Um and that is actually included

[23:11] in the report as appendices. So that's a whole another study that can be accessed

[23:15] as well that we'll share with the public. Um and basically this study,

[23:20] Caitlyn, if you advance to the next slide. Um it gave us some opportunities,

[23:26] constraints, um takeaways that they found that could then be uh layered into

[23:32] our design thoughts. So uh they talked a lot about the same things we were

[23:38] hearing from the public, but this was all backed up with the statistics that

[23:41] they were studying. So the stabil stabilized population base was something

[23:46] that they mentioned here in Harrington as compared to other neighboring towns

[23:50] and cities. Uh incomes rising comparatively to other towns and cities.

[23:56] Uh and talked about the critical mass of underutilized buildings. Key challenges

[24:01] on the flip side of that uh talked about the vacancies downtown. Obviously

[24:05] there's an opportunity in that as well. Um and they also mentioned the

[24:10] difficulty of attracting retail when there's a location like downtown is

[24:15] where you're off major highways. Uh it's not something that's visible from major

[24:20] roads. And so kind of started to recommend that looking at boutique

[24:26] companies like um or chain not chain retail but um more

[24:32] unique offerings for for restaurant for retail that sort of thing. Something

[24:36] that's more of a destination. Next slide please.

[24:42] And um I won't get too deep into this. This is uh the recommendations of the

[24:48] market study are a little more elaborated on in the actual report, but

[24:52] they broke down their recommendations into residential focus, retail

[24:56] restaurant focused, and downtown development focused. And the

[24:59] residential, especially in this area, was more um focused on modernization of

[25:04] existing units. There's not a lot of residential properties in the study area

[25:09] that are vacant right now. So, with the exception of a few places that we looked

[25:14] at or a few sites that we looked at, really recommended modernization and um

[25:19] helping keep up with market resiliency through that and cutting down on

[25:23] construction costs. And then as far as downtown development,

[25:28] really encouraging to work with property owners to rehabilitate downtown

[25:31] buildings. Um talking about bringing benefits of maintaining the historic

[25:38] character downtown, keeping rents affordable and increasing the supply and

[25:43] uh the space options for new businesses. Next slide, please.

[25:51] All right, so that brings us to the recommendations for the plan. This is

[25:55] more of a illustrative um a lot of illustrative maps and studies that we

[26:00] did throughout the design process and in the re recommendation phase that all

[26:05] kind of illustrate um in a in a three-dimensional at sometimes and

[26:10] sometimes a plan view uh visions of what the future could be for downtown

[26:16] Harrington and just different recommendations within that. So if we go

[26:20] to the next slide um a few of maps that you'll see in the report are uh looking

[26:26] at the area in plan view kind of from different frameworks. So this first

[26:30] framework is looking just at open space and looking at green space that's

[26:34] existing and thinking about what should be preserved, what we recommend be taken

[26:39] a second look at as potential um redevelopment sites and any sites that

[26:44] might be underutilized right now. So, um, the big takeaway from this map is

[26:50] you can kind of see it there, the orange dash line along Main Street is an area

[26:55] that we're looking at in this plan as being a really good opportunity to loop

[27:01] um, any future Flint Hills uh, recreational trail into downtown

[27:07] physically with like an on street bike lane is what we were starting to look

[27:11] at. thinking that this would be a great way to actually pull users of the trail

[27:15] into downtown. Have a place that's designated that that bikes can be parked

[27:21] and people can dismount and walk and visit downtown. Uh that could be done

[27:25] through some signage to indicate like at either end of the trail what to expect,

[27:31] but we've got some illustrations to show what that might look like later on. If

[27:35] the next slide, please.

[27:42] All right. This and this um framework map looks at the lens of mobility. So

[27:47] we're looking at the area just from like a vehicular circulation, pedestrian

[27:52] circulation point of view. Um, so as you dig into this plan, you can look at

[27:57] these a little closer, but the main takeaways from the mobility side of

[28:01] things were um that Broadway and Main Street are the main corridors as we've

[28:06] mentioned. But each of those circles that you see are major intersections

[28:10] that we flagged as having a lot of potential for um being made safer for

[28:15] pedestrians, especially like we said, Maine and Broadway and Walnut and

[28:20] Broadway. And then we also showed some future

[28:23] connections and layered those into this plan. Um such as the pink arrow to the

[28:29] north connecting to um the Harrington school system in the future. Next slide,

[28:34] please.

[28:38] And then one um point of mobility that we got a little more deep into on terms

[28:44] of recommendations is recreational tourism recommendations. We think these

[28:48] are um going to be good ways to to uh identify some like smaller, easily

[28:56] achievable goals uh to start looping recreational tourism into the way that

[29:02] um decisions are made into new grant opportunities. So, some of these ideas

[29:06] include bike friendly amenities. Uh looking for grants that might uh offer

[29:12] ways to uh do ebike charging stations or bike infrastructure. Thinking about ways

[29:17] that businesses could maybe start to offer incentives to bikers. maybe bring

[29:21] your helmet in and you get a discount. Um, and then also ways that promotion

[29:26] and wayfinding could be done. Um, if not through more formal signs, like in the

[29:31] meantime, maybe there's some more grassroot efforts that could include

[29:34] mural or street painting to to loop uh those who are using the Flint Hills

[29:40] Regional Trail into Harrington and just connect the two more strongly.

[29:46] Next slide, please.

[29:51] And then this last framework map, um it's kind of like a heat map actually.

[29:55] So this looks at um within our uh study area

[30:00] sites that have the most potential for revitalization. So the dark red are

[30:04] really those uh key sites that we've identified as having the most potential

[30:09] for brownfields funding, having the most potential for um maybe it's a a vacant

[30:15] site or a site that has um no development on it currently and has a

[30:20] lot of potential to be worked into this plan and into projects in the future.

[30:25] And you can kind of see as far as the colors go as they get lighter, it's kind

[30:29] of more of a lighter touch that we're proposing. But um definitely along that

[30:34] main street and Broadway corridors, there's a um a lot of sites we

[30:38] identified that maybe the site itself doesn't change, especially those

[30:41] residential sites, but flagging those as opportunities for streetscape

[30:45] improvements. looping and walkability, making sure

[30:49] sidewalks are all accessible and connected in those areas.

[30:54] Next slide, please.

[30:59] And the next three slides, these are what we shared at the uh design workshop

[31:04] event in the summer. So, that was the open house that we did to share our

[31:08] design ideas. Um, something to keep in mind with this is any properties that

[31:13] you see that may not be cityowned right now, they may have some proposed

[31:18] enhancements on them or ideas for the future. Uh just keep in mind that this

[31:22] plan is meant to be for recommendations for the future. And big picture ideas,

[31:27] big vision goals, and the goal would be to have those discussions later on. Um,

[31:33] if there's a specific property that the city thinks is a great idea to to do

[31:37] some improvements on or likes something that's recommended here, uh, we're not

[31:42] proposing that this be implemented as is shown. Um, it's big picture ideas and

[31:48] thinking about where it makes the most sense for open space and for parking and

[31:54] that sort of thing. Um, one thing to note from these plans is we are looking

[31:59] at uh, ideas for how we can get sh and vegetation onto Broadway and Main

[32:05] Street. So, what you're seeing here is Broadway, but turn to the side, but

[32:09] north is to the left. Uh, one idea that we had is keeping the

[32:15] street uh striping as it is, but maybe working into a few of the parking

[32:19] spaces, some some uh tree cutouts or even bumpouts around uh those two key

[32:25] intersections at uh Maine and Broadway and Walnut and Broadway. So, those could

[32:31] be way to uh increase pedestrian safety, but also take advantage of those gaps

[32:37] between the angled parking and the crosswalk zone that could become dining

[32:41] space, could become spaces that the public could use uh or could be planted.

[32:47] If you go to the next slide.

[32:53] Uh the next two slides are those same sketch enlargements we shared with the

[32:58] um two engagement groups that we did uh during the summer engagement. Uh this

[33:05] this slide as well as the next slide will show just highle sketches of those

[33:10] in orange. see buildings that were identified in that heat map that I

[33:13] mentioned as high priority redevelopment sites. Um, and the pink, as you'll see

[33:19] in the report, if you get into this closer, we're showing ideas for art

[33:24] locations, for signage, just different types of wayfinding and that sort of

[33:28] thing. If you go to the next slide.

[33:34] And so this is the west end of Main Street. Uh, we didn't again try to get

[33:39] too deep into to what uh sites might specifically look like, but knowing that

[33:43] that site uh to all the way to the west of Main Street where uh we're along Lime

[33:49] Creek and where the terminus of the Flint Hills Trail might be that that's

[33:53] going to be a space for parking, a trail head, and maybe a potential future

[33:57] connection of a recreational trail down along uh Lime Creek to the south.

[34:03] Next slide.

[34:08] All right. Um so this It's a little hard to see from here and definitely

[34:12] encourage everyone to like zoom in on this once uh the report's issued, but

[34:16] this is those three images that I just showed from plan view, but taken at a

[34:20] bird's eye view and really pulled out to see the plan as a whole with all of the

[34:24] recommendations layered into this plan. Um there's a key

[34:29] to kind of guide what those are and there will be text in the report too to

[34:33] kind of explain what these are. But the big picture is uh the big picture ideas

[34:38] are the bike loop and that connection along Main Street, that painted

[34:43] dedicated bike lane. Um the orange sites that we mentioned as high priority

[34:48] revitalization sites. And then some of the connecting ideas for um pocket park

[34:54] areas for um some some park space that connects to the Flint Hills Regional

[34:59] Trail, that sort of thing. Next slide, please.

[35:04] And in addition to that, we've got two um perspective renderings to really help

[35:08] you vision uh have a vision of what downtown could look like if this

[35:13] transformation were to take place. Uh and so this is a view of Maine and

[35:19] Broadway looking west with uh gathering grounds to the right. Uh

[35:24] this is the view Yeah. looking west. So you can see the the bike lane dedicated

[35:30] that. What's great about this plan is that there wouldn't be a big need for

[35:34] any kind of major road infrastructure changes. It could all be a restriping

[35:38] exercise basically of just lanes narrowing a bit and uh the bike lane

[35:43] being brought in. The bumpouts would be the most major recommendation in this

[35:47] view that you can kind of see those where there's some people sitting and

[35:51] eating. There's already been some art proposed in the sculpture in the bottom

[35:55] um left corner being what's proposed there right now. So uh there's some

[36:00] great ideas that are already uh coming to fruition and you can start to see

[36:04] that here in this illustration. Also talking about those wide sidewalks that

[36:10] I mentioned earlier that we saw like there's a lot of room for some planters,

[36:14] some benches, things that could be really easy to achieve and could involve

[36:19] the community. um but also provide some separation between cars and people on

[36:26] the sidewalk. Next slide, please.

[36:32] And this is our second rendering that we did to look at Broadway and Walnut

[36:36] looking north. So that's Broadway station kind of in the center of the

[36:40] image. Uh, another thing that you'll see in both of these are some ideas for

[36:45] bringing that lighting down to pedestrian scale and also thinking about

[36:49] some banners that could associate with directional signage. It could be

[36:54] something that's changed out seasonally. Uh, that's just another element that

[36:58] brings things down to people scale, pedestrian scale. And then the other

[37:02] thing to note from this image is that uh currently undeveloped property just

[37:07] across the street from Broadway Station. Again, noting that that's not a

[37:12] city-owned property right now, but just a big picture idea of what that could be

[37:16] if it were kept an open space and uh maybe there's a shade structure over

[37:20] that. Maybe it's a space that gets a lot of visibility from people passing

[37:24] through. The pocket park is a great space right now for gathering, but this

[37:28] could be a great site that like if there's streets shut down, a big event,

[37:32] if there's a outdoor movie night, there's a lot of opportunities for a

[37:36] space that size. Next slide, please.

[37:43] All right. And then lastly, in the plan, you'll see I'm not going to get into

[37:47] this deeply, but there's a ton of implementation strategies that we've

[37:51] identified as action items. Um, and listed in these tables like these

[37:56] screenshots that you see. So these range from very small easily achievable ideas

[38:01] to very big um would take a lot of uh cooperation and a lot of people working

[38:08] together to get done but things that were illustrated in the plan. Here's

[38:13] some bite-sized ways to get those done. And they're divided into four different

[38:17] categories of mobility, placemaking, parks, and land and economic

[38:21] development. And then each of those action items comes with kind of what the

[38:27] uh timeline for that, who might be parties that are involved, funding

[38:32] opportunities that are out there, and what kind of categories of funding it

[38:35] might fall under. And then also the level of investment that would be

[38:40] probably expected. And next slide, please.

[38:46] And those funding um icons that are in the implementation

[38:50] table relate directly to a funding strategies section of the report which

[38:56] is the final section and that is uh our team has come together and identified

[39:02] national and local grants that there would be a lot of potential to uh get

[39:08] and go after as a city or other organizations might want to go after as

[39:13] well. So it's calling those out knowing what they could relate to back in the

[39:17] implementation plan and kind of giving um teams that might want to go after

[39:22] these some steps that they would need to plan to take if they were to do that.

[39:28] And I think with that that is everything that's included in the report and very

[39:32] excited to share that with you all in the coming weeks. Caitlyn, if you go to

[39:37] the last slide. Yeah, we'll take any questions if you have any. I know that

[39:41] was a lot.

[39:47] Well, I appreciate you guys putting all that together and I look forward to

[39:50] actually being able to to look into a lot more.

[39:55] I'm excited to see what kind of funding opportunities are actually identified

[39:58] with those grants because it's we don't have a lot of discretionary funding in

[40:03] our budget, but if we can figure out a way to get those grants, those are

[40:10] greatly appreciated. And I hope if we put some trees on the

[40:15] sidewalks that we do better than we did last time because we had trees that

[40:19] uprooted all the sidewalk, you know. >> Yes, we were aware of that for sure. And

[40:24] that's why looking at those off the sidewalk maybe more in the streetscape

[40:27] and also identifying the right tree.

[40:33] » I think it's a great idea. >> Any other questions?

[41:02] I greatly appreciate that. >> Yes, we've needed that for a long time.

[41:09] » Look forward to seeing the written report.

[41:11] » Yes. Thank you. >> Uh this time, let's take a five minute

[41:16] recess.

[44:20] Call the meeting back to order. Oh, Miss Slman, you want to provide us

[44:27] your status report for the world champion program?

[44:37] » Thank you.

[44:56] Good evening.

[45:00] So, as you know, the world champion, I'm back. It's been a while. Um, I kind of

[45:05] want to fill you in on what I've been up to. Um, I'll start out with my grant.

[45:11] Um, it was awarded last October 24th, not last October, previous October. The

[45:18] part-time position was a $20,800 salary position. Um, the city put in 4,000

[45:26] above that as a match along with Dickson County as five brought in 5,000 and

[45:32] Visit Harrington brought in 3,000 roughly covering my office space, uh,

[45:37] laptop, computer, office the general things that this kind of job needs.

[45:44] Um that along with that I was to apply for a an implementation grant in June

[45:52] and that brought in an extra $25,000 for my project. We'll get into that later,

[45:57] but that's our downtown character project. Um of that 25,000 19 is focused

[46:04] on that uh the 6,000 remaining funed my last quarter. so that I could continue

[46:11] working for the last of the year. So, getting into that downtown character

[46:16] project. Um, it is a streetcaping project focused on North Broadway. The

[46:21] first block will be right out front here all the way down to Broadway station.

[46:26] Um, working on beautifification kind of like what we were just talking about.

[46:31] I'm actually looking into the same types of things, signage, benches, planters,

[46:36] bike racks, those kind of things. That's going to be a big part of it. Uh

[46:42] the other wonderful thing we got added to that is a street filter which you got

[46:46] to see an image of which side didn't get a close enough. Um that is funded by a

[46:53] $10,000 grant from our community foundation of Dickson County that was

[46:58] reported in August. The artist is Jim Bryant and he will be

[47:04] working on that I think starting in April and through August is the plan

[47:11] that completed. >> Where is that going to be?

[47:14] So by in my mind right now I have it envisioned on the corner here either on

[47:21] this side or that side of the street by and I kind of envision a bump out but

[47:27] it's probably going to be a painted bump out not necessarily a fully cemented one

[47:33] for that right now but I will be working on that.

[47:37] Um the next thing I worked on let's see is the commerce connections. So that

[47:43] came about through visits with the businesses and

[47:47] a lot of them were curious who's our city manager. We want to see him. We

[47:51] want to talk to him. So we put that together. And that and I sit down each

[47:56] month and meet with the business owners, talk about whatever their needs are. If

[48:00] there's ideas that they have for us to look into, then that's what we do. And

[48:06] we're working with uh Dickson County EDC as a potential partner to bring in a

[48:12] program, a storefront beautifification program for some of our businesses. And

[48:16] I just talked with her today again, Natalie, um about bringing in some

[48:20] training for our business owners, whether it be, you know, tax things or

[48:27] employee training things that they may need. So, we're looking into what other

[48:32] programs you can bring for them. Um the one of the programs that I came

[48:38] across through some of my networking was the um entrepreneurial conference which

[48:42] was connecting entrepreneurial communities. Uh that was uh

[48:50] last June. It was a conference in Kingman that I took three

[48:56] four of our residents too that are interested in becoming business owners.

[49:00] Um that was funded through 2000 or from Dickson County EDC and $1,000 from

[49:06] our city to match and that was scholarship for the conference and hotel

[49:11] stay. That was pretty beneficial. There was a lot of learning crammed in two

[49:16] days. Good time. The other potential thing

[49:20] we're looking into is creating maker space with some of our downtown business

[49:24] revitalization. There's some business, some buildings that we are looking into

[49:29] to kind of keep growing on that entrepreneurial spirit to give them a

[49:33] space to start out in that's not a full-fledged building with all the

[49:37] overhead, start out small, if it works and grows, then be able to move into a

[49:42] bigger building. That's something I think would be beneficial for us. Um,

[49:46] another thing that I worked on in June, June was a very busy month for me, the

[49:52] science grant, I applied for three businesses downtown, but because it was

[49:57] at the end of their funding cycle, I guess the end of the fiscal

[50:02] year, we were only awarded for one, and that was gathering grounds, they were

[50:06] awarded two signs, $5,175. And on the back, I have pictures of

[50:11] their beautiful signage on their facade and their plank sign. Didn't quite turn

[50:16] out the way they planned it, but it's still beautiful and it looks good.

[50:22] And currently the next round of signs is open as of January 1st and it closes

[50:27] February 28th. I am looking to apply for the hometown dental office, the wild

[50:33] flowers and Broadway station once more. We'll see if we can get some fun going

[50:38] for that.

[50:42] Another thing I'm working on with uh Wendy Jones is a project that we took on

[50:49] for the community, just a way to get out word about events, uh church services,

[50:56] you know, just things going on in general that happen month to month. Um

[50:59] the community really really spoke loud about the tabletop calendars. I did not

[51:03] bring one with me, but I'm sure you guys have seen them around. That is something

[51:07] that we decided to bring back from the dead and it has been widely appreciated.

[51:12] So, if you're out and about, I'm sure you'll find something you want

[51:17] to do. And last but not least, I'm kind of a

[51:23] conduit, if you will, or connector for our fun committee, our visit Harrington.

[51:29] I'm the secretary this round. Don't know why. I guess I like to take

[51:34] notes. [laughter] Um, I also am a member of the Harrington

[51:38] Creatives Guild, which is our new group that started in August, I believe.

[51:44] And I've been, you know, members of churches. I I get around with all of our

[51:50] organizations, Revitalized Arington and many, many others. Yeah. On the back

[51:57] side, if you want to look, there's a picture of all 14 of us lovely gals,

[52:02] rule champions that started out October 2024. There's some images of some of the

[52:08] ideas I have for our downtown character project. There's also an image for our

[52:13] street sculpture that is I don't know if you can read it very well, but that's

[52:17] going to be about 7 feet tall. Not very wide or deep per se, but about three

[52:22] feet wide. And then of course a flyer for our

[52:27] commerce connection, which got another one coming up here.

[52:34] Are there any questions? >> Is is this a program that

[52:40] can continue on from the Department of Commerce or

[52:44] » the only the first year was funded for the Department of Commerce and of course

[52:50] the program is meant for your world champion to find a project and my

[52:55] project was more of a program I guess you could say which is not uncommon as

[53:01] in in my memory and I

[53:05] I think it's county.

[53:11] Oh, Graham County. They're the only other

[53:15] rule champion that started as a program and his program was a little bit more in

[53:20] depth than mine, I think. But I started small and I'm just I just keep myself

[53:25] busy. That's not hard. There's a lot to do.

[53:33] I thank you for all of your hard work. Uh it shows I went to the one uh

[53:39] commerce connection. Yes. >> And uh I was disappointed of the shell

[53:44] people showing up but uh I think it's a great idea. I you know we we need

[53:51] someone coming with Thatcher and giving him ideas and helping him.

[53:57] » Sure. Uh, and you know, you still have people say that business owners, we've

[54:03] never seen Thatcher, but they never go to the business connections either. When

[54:07] they have an opportunity to do it, they want him to come to the helm, you know,

[54:12] but u I think you've done a great job

[54:16] » and I will say, you know, we we did go out and vis visit quite a few businesses

[54:20] personally before we kind of were setting up the commerce connections and

[54:23] going to get back to that in the future. Um, you know, I think has done a really

[54:28] really wonderful job in the last year, year and a half on developing this

[54:33] program and making this position something beyond I think even what it

[54:37] was you know set out to be by commerce. So I I think she's gone above and beyond

[54:42] there and certainly excited to see uh the project rounded out with the

[54:46] community community character project. That's important. But I I just say, you

[54:51] know, when I arrived here, our chamber had been shortly disbanded shortly

[54:56] before that. And that's not all that uncommon in small towns. Uh it's getting

[55:01] tougher and tougher to operate a chamber without basically the city funding it.

[55:06] And then, you know, I think a lot of our business owners kind of had a sour taste

[55:10] from what happened with the with the prior chamber. So just re-engaging those

[55:15] business owners has been, I think, really helpful. And a lot of the owners

[55:20] I would say maybe didn't even know each other. So hopefully we can continue to

[55:24] build on this program and uh as we round out the project I think you know we'll

[55:29] have to talk about during budget season what where do we see this going you know

[55:34] um I like to think that this program has kind of filled the void of what our

[55:39] chamber left behind at you know what I would say is a fraction of the of the

[55:44] cost uh for the city but as well as someone that's able just with those

[55:49] smaller grants that I'm not able to keep an eye on uh at all times. So, I think

[55:55] it's been a really good program and I thank Lisa for her hard work and you

[55:59] know, I just hope that we can continue to build on this in 2027 and beyond. So,

[56:06] you know, I I was the director of the chamber years ago. I know how hard it is

[56:11] to get people to come and volunteer and help you do things and uh it's sometimes

[56:18] like pulling teeth, you know, but you know, with like Ronda and them with

[56:23] their revitalization committees and everything going out. I'm glad that

[56:27] we're connecting everything together there and

[56:31] like the army slowly, we're a community of one, [laughter] one big family.

[56:39] And I wrote,

[56:59] » right?

[57:05] and

[57:21] built

[57:27] » [laughter]

[57:40] » and all the business.

[57:56] Right.

[58:14] So,

[58:32] season.

[58:49] Is that

[58:55] for us.

[59:15] » Well, I noticed in your memo there was a question. Uh oh. Yeah. Yeah, there was.

[59:22] » That question is does the city commission want the real champion to

[59:26] update them on the program benchmarks obtained

[59:29] at budget season? Personally,

[59:34] I understand that your program no longer is funded.

[59:38] However, I would hope that you would continue to keep the city staff to task

[59:44] and maybe participate more in those discussions come by the season.

[59:52] questions are coming. Did a great job. >> I would like to see it continue.

[1:00:01] » Maybe there's a way we could fund that. Maybe uh some other funding. We do have

[1:00:05] » taken out of commissioner salary. >> Wait a second.

[1:00:10] [laughter]

[1:00:15] » Give that a second. See if >> Hey, Brad. on speaker here.

[1:00:25] » Brad on the phone here. Brad, are you are you doing all right?

[1:00:30] » Yeah. Yeah, I'm feeling a lot better these days. So,

[1:00:33] » I think we're getting there. >> That is good to hear. Um, so this first

[1:00:38] uh the first item on the agenda is the update for the Idea Tech franchise

[1:00:43] agreement, >> right? Were you able to go back through

[1:00:46] the the edits that they were looking for and see if there was anything that was a

[1:00:52] concern or >> Yeah, based upon the the most recent

[1:00:56] one, at least I assume that's what I've got and I can double check that. But u I

[1:01:01] had made some suggested changes a significant number of those all of which

[1:01:07] uh council had addressed I think um and ultimately put together an agreement

[1:01:12] that I think had redlined uh most of those changes. So so the short form

[1:01:17] answer is yes. I think it uh it was including unless they were not looking

[1:01:22] at the right version uh all the suggested changes I had as well.

[1:01:26] » Okay. I I noticed that this is a non-exclusive franchise. Is that

[1:01:30] correct? >> Yes.

[1:01:32] » So, can you kind of explain for us what the difference would be if it was an

[1:01:36] exclusive versus the non-exclusive? >> If you grant an exclusive franchise in

[1:01:41] certain circumstances, particularly within the municipality, uh what you're

[1:01:44] doing is saying that you are the only game in town, so to speak. if um if we

[1:01:50] and sometimes that's by default you know you'll have certain types of providers

[1:01:55] like an Evergy in the state of Kansas or in certain parts of the state at Kansas

[1:01:59] Gas uh or um oh even a trash service and there's competing ones around here for

[1:02:05] example Newton has their own uh but then there's a company called Nisley out of

[1:02:10] Hutchinson that does a lot of smaller cities but also competes in the market

[1:02:15] um and even in those instances where the municipality has its own unless they in

[1:02:20] some way shape or form and it's difficult to do uh grant an exclusive

[1:02:24] franchise um to particularly with an independent

[1:02:28] provider um that allows it's it's the others are free to involve themselves.

[1:02:35] So, you know, you can have a Vive, you can have different other entities who

[1:02:40] provide similar or same services who can also come into town and if they they

[1:02:44] provide the uh uh the necessary infrastructure or piggyback on someone

[1:02:50] else's and you pay wheeling fees, um they can all compete within the uh the

[1:02:57] uh jurisdictional limits of the city. Uh the only way that that doesn't occur as

[1:03:02] I said is if you do an actual exclusive and those quite frankly anymore are

[1:03:08] very much exceptions to the rule. There has to be some tremendous advantage

[1:03:12] that's presented uh to allow one particular competitor in a marketplace

[1:03:19] um to uh to serve exclusively in terms of providing services within the

[1:03:24] community. where I've had it happen over the years, for example, is uh if they

[1:03:28] did all of the infrastructure extension and have this massive expenditure and

[1:03:33] they were the only one initially who was willing to provide to like a western

[1:03:37] Kansas town uh or some of these really small cities that are not along a a

[1:03:43] major trunk line uh for cable or for internet or whatever it may be. Um but

[1:03:50] they were willing to come in um advance all the infrastructure costs, put it in

[1:03:56] place so that there would be local service. Um sometimes an exclusive was

[1:04:00] granted for a period of years so they could at least reclaim their overall

[1:04:05] initial investment at least some portion of it. Um without necessarily having to

[1:04:10] worry about okay now we provided all this and we are compelled usually by

[1:04:13] state statute to allow others to use it for a fee. Um but then we lose customers

[1:04:19] to these other services and they don't have the startup expense that we had. So

[1:04:23] even their cost structure is uh is more advantageous to the consumer. Uh that's

[1:04:29] difficult. So in order to induce uh in some cases you'll use an exclusive for

[1:04:34] that reason. So probably getting into a lot more than you were really looking

[1:04:37] for. But uh the short form answer is non-exclusive means that competitors

[1:04:42] have the freedom to come in to the jurisdiction and offer their similar or

[1:04:47] same service. Exclusive it would be a situation where only one and the one you

[1:04:51] grant it to has the ability to provide that particular service to the

[1:04:55] community. >> Thank you.

[1:05:01] Where does and Brad you may this may not be a question directly for you but where

[1:05:07] does the franchise fees go in our budget

[1:05:13] so it's not like you're marked for any specific thing like that?

[1:05:22] Yeah, I think I can remember when I was on the commission before we had some

[1:05:26] exclusive like I think years ago AT&T used to have an exclusive in Harrington

[1:05:31] when we couldn't get no one else. Uh but that's since changed a lot with all

[1:05:36] these other companies coming in. I think the state statute says something along

[1:05:40] the lines. It's, you know, to be used can be used for rightaway acquisition,

[1:05:46] you know, maybe funding some of the city operations it takes to keep up with some

[1:05:51] of the infrastructure is mainly where it's used for. So, they have to go out

[1:05:56] and locate lines and stuff. >> Sure.

[1:05:58] » Yeah.

[1:06:02] Um, all that aside, Brad, is there any reason why the commission shouldn't

[1:06:07] shouldn't consider this agreement? >> Not not that I'm aware of. I think you

[1:06:11] can always do it and I oftentimes will advocate for that just to compare notes

[1:06:15] like with that as well since I've been kind of out of pocket for what amounts

[1:06:20] to almost two months. Uh, you know, I don't always like to rely totally on my

[1:06:24] memory. So, you know, subject to confirmation by staff that all of the

[1:06:28] requested changes were made. Um, and I'm pretty certain they were because before

[1:06:33] that all was pretty much done before I even um was absent. And so, um, I don't

[1:06:40] and I recall going back through it multiple times, um, and making notes on

[1:06:44] various types of potential changes and they've been always been pretty good in

[1:06:48] my experience with other communities and trying to meet the expectations of each

[1:06:53] of the jurisdictions in which they do business. Um, so I'm I'm not inherently

[1:07:00] um overly concerned anyway. And they have generally been again in my

[1:07:04] experience with these different communities pretty good partner uh in

[1:07:09] terms of I I'm not going to necessarily sit here and do a bandwagon advocacy for

[1:07:14] Idea Tech, but of some of the ones we've experienced over the years um who

[1:07:20] underdel um haven't necessarily found that to be the case with them. uh they

[1:07:26] uh they tend to do what they'll tell you they're going to do and they also tend

[1:07:29] to be a good neighbor terms of being participatory many times in the

[1:07:33] community. So, as an aside, um they uh they have not caused any of the

[1:07:39] communities that I've worked with to really regret having them there. uh the

[1:07:43] agreement itself by the time you know I'd noted some of those changes they

[1:07:47] were small things few instances where I I wanted some more assurance from them

[1:07:52] as to what they were going to do how they would restore property in the event

[1:07:55] of you know infrastructure extension that would require them to uh uh disrupt

[1:08:03] um different things whether it's a you know roadway ditch u you know going

[1:08:09] through or crossing even if it is a directional boring under a street. Um

[1:08:16] you know, any of that sort of thing. Um kind of made some some noted changes to

[1:08:22] that and I believe those were all included in the last u uh revisions to

[1:08:28] the agreement. So, but I wouldn't mind, you know, if even if you I don't see a

[1:08:33] problem with taking action on it if you leave that because I then I, you know,

[1:08:37] uh, one final time, you know, I can I'm happily willing to go back through and

[1:08:42] just make sure there wasn't anything missed, but I I don't know of anything

[1:08:46] at this point and I know it was a pretty thorough review when I last did it.

[1:08:51] » Anybody else have questions for a motion? I make a motion that we

[1:08:57] approve the idea tech franchise agreement with pending staff's reook

[1:09:02] with the next uh ordinance number >> and authorize the mayor to sign

[1:09:11] » a second a motion and a second. Is there discussion?

[1:09:17] Miss Lens

[1:09:21] » I

[1:09:26] If staff can review that, just let me know and I can come back in

[1:09:30] and sign it. >> Um Brad, before we open up this public

[1:09:35] hearing, I I do have a quick question. Do I have to keep the public hearing

[1:09:39] open while we consider the actions in it or do we open it? No.

[1:09:43] » No. the public hearing basically based upon how the notice is done in that

[1:09:48] instance, you're allowing public input before you take formal action because it

[1:09:52] is city property in essence in these instances where we're vacating and we're

[1:09:56] doing so um on a permanent basis. We do always statutoily reserve the right for

[1:10:04] easement use, you know, if we had some line that needed to go back in and that

[1:10:07] was I don't know ' 80s7s when that was last amended. And the reason for that is

[1:10:12] you just never know what your needs are going to be in the future and land is in

[1:10:15] essence forever. Um we have a pretty good idea in most cases when we vacate

[1:10:20] that wow there's just not any likelihood or even a remote possibility that we're

[1:10:24] going to uh grow that direction anymore need that kind of infrastructure

[1:10:29] extension through that area. We have another good alternative that we now

[1:10:32] have acquired and use. It can be any number of things, but you know, um, at

[1:10:37] some point you look at it and city's obligations with regard to maintenance,

[1:10:41] that sort of thing are, uh, are really just outweigh the the advantage of

[1:10:45] owning it is outweighed by all of that cost or or time spent. Um, and and other

[1:10:51] instances where you've got private development uh, that really can use it

[1:10:56] far more effectively to achieve a greater good for the community than what

[1:11:01] we have now. So, uh, the hearing is to, you know, always give the opportunity

[1:11:06] for the public to come in and say, "Wait, have you considered or I object,

[1:11:09] I think that there's always the possibility or in in rare instances

[1:11:13] where someone feels like they're directly impacted because it's the

[1:11:16] shortest distance to their property um, for purposes of u whatever it might be,

[1:11:22] you know, like we've just been talking about like fiber optic, which may not

[1:11:25] yet be in installed, but that would be a great place to put it, they think." Um

[1:11:30] and then you consider all of that. That's the whole goal is before you um

[1:11:35] jettison or vacate a a property right in that regard uh in particularly with with

[1:11:42] surface rights ingress egress that kind of thing. Um to make sure that the

[1:11:46] public has had the opportunity as taxpayers to come in and voice their

[1:11:50] opinion if for any reason there's an objection. Uh and again many of those

[1:11:54] objections are that I the example I just gave on the fiber optic. We hold um in

[1:11:59] the reservation and the the final uh vacation order um the ability uh because

[1:12:04] it's statutoily required for us to do so uh to be able to enter on those premises

[1:12:10] for that purpose. Um but everything else in terms of like get rid of an alley and

[1:12:16] um and you know the surface rights, the the public right of way or the ability

[1:12:20] for the city to to um freely go across it um and it's not private property per

[1:12:26] se, uh goes away with a vacation. Uh, and if you don't specify, you know, if

[1:12:32] we don't sell it, um, and do something in that fashion, this is the most common

[1:12:37] way we get rid of property we no longer believe we will ever have need of,

[1:12:41] practically speaking. And then the law sets in and if it's bounded on both

[1:12:48] sides um by private property, one half goes to one side, one half goes to the

[1:12:54] other. We do not necessarily have to go ahead and deed those over. But in this

[1:13:00] instance, they've sent over a quit claim deed having acquired all the contiguous

[1:13:04] properties so that it will go to one owner who has has a need and a purpose

[1:13:08] for it. Um the quit claim deed, there's nothing wrong with doing that as well.

[1:13:12] It's just a, you know, it's a an an extra step that definitively establishes

[1:13:17] no, we have in fact vacated this and automatically by law it would go to

[1:13:22] these these property owners. But if they'd like a quick claim deed, all

[1:13:26] we're doing is saying whatever interest we had um we've quick claimed away to

[1:13:30] whoever is the proper and rightful owner. Uh and that's the contiguous

[1:13:34] property owner and it's filed a record. So

[1:13:40] » this time I'll open up the public hearing regarding the Union Pacific's

[1:13:44] petition for Ryway Vacation. Is there any comments from the public that would

[1:13:51] like to be

[1:13:57] hearing? None. We close the public hearing.

[1:14:00] » Yep. We'll move to consider a petition for

[1:14:05] the vacation of a portion of the street rideway from the city of Harrington to

[1:14:08] Union Pacific Road. >> I just want to cl this is the property

[1:14:13] that is at the end of South N. >> Yes, correct.

[1:14:21] » Should be an attachment in your packet that exhibit A reflects that.

[1:14:27] I make a motion that we approve the petition for vacation of uh proportion

[1:14:33] of the street of rightway in the city of Harrington to the Union Pacific and

[1:14:37] authorize the mayor to sign. Second motion in a second. Is there further

[1:14:42] discussion? Miss L.

[1:14:48] I >> I I

[1:14:55] moving on to consider the order. We have not heard any public objection.

[1:15:02] Staff have anything else that they want to present?

[1:15:06] Uh, no. It pretty much lays it all out. I think Brad laid it all out perfectly.

[1:15:13] I think the one thing that I would suggest and I know I talked with

[1:15:15] Thatcher about that briefly today is we will do a double check because he asked

[1:15:20] me and I looked at it but you know again if you glance at that legal uh that is a

[1:15:25] combined and it and it should cover everything but I always like to do one

[1:15:29] last once we approve it and say okay we're going to file a quick claim deed

[1:15:34] uh that they have produced um we compare to make sure that we're not giving away

[1:15:39] something that we didn't actually vacate or property that really we don't have

[1:15:43] any right to to don't vacate. And more importantly from their perspective,

[1:15:47] don't forget to include the entire track that we intend to to vacate with the

[1:15:53] approval of the petition in order.

[1:15:58] Okay. I make a motion that we approve the order to vacate portion of the

[1:16:03] rideway for the Union Pacific Railroad. Authorize the mayor to sign

[1:16:10] and uh pending further staff review if needed.

[1:16:14] » Second motion and a second. Is there further

[1:16:19] discussion motion?

[1:16:25] I I

[1:16:31] So, regarding the quick claim deed, that one probably we probably should

[1:16:41] approve pending staff review. >> That's what I would suggest. You know,

[1:16:45] you can go through the kind of the same motion process with it authorized

[1:16:48] signature but pending staff review. And the only reason again the format of it

[1:16:53] is fine. It's just a question of let's make sure that what they expected to

[1:16:58] have happen contiguous with all the property they've acquired and what we

[1:17:02] have taken action on uh absolutely mirror each other. Uh I don't anticipate

[1:17:07] a problem with that, but I've learned the hard way to right before we go to

[1:17:13] the process of filing it that we check all of that just to be certain and that

[1:17:17] they're in agreement. So, >> okay. I'll make a motion that we approve

[1:17:22] the quick claim deed uh between the city of Harrington and Union Pacific.

[1:17:27] Authorize the mayor to sign attending staff review.

[1:17:31] » Second. >> It's a motion and a second. Further

[1:17:35] discussion. Miss Lance.

[1:17:39] » I >> I

[1:17:43] um I think is Brad needed for any more or

[1:17:47] » uh No, that's it. I think Brad. Thank you. Brad, do you have anything?

[1:17:50] » Okay, you bet. >> Do you have anything else since we

[1:17:52] haven't heard from you in a while that that you need to impress upon the

[1:17:54] commission? >> Nothing that I can think of right now. I

[1:17:58] I'm kind of in the process. Today was really kind of the first full day that I

[1:18:02] actually been able to be in the office and [snorts] I'm trying to play a little

[1:18:05] catchup and go back over everything. I'll uh I'm certain I'll sit down with

[1:18:10] Thatcher also and kind of cover everything we've got outstanding because

[1:18:13] there's some areas there that probably have kind of hung while I've been

[1:18:17] absent. But nothing that that screams out at me right now or that I need to

[1:18:21] address this moment. >> All right. Thank you, Brad. And feeling

[1:18:25] better. We look forward to seeing here in person.

[1:18:28] » Thank you very much. >> Thank you, Brad.

[1:18:34] » Megan, I'll wait to sign the order until it's been reviewed.

[1:18:41] » All right. Consider 2026 goals and objectives.

[1:18:45] Uh >> well, city commissioners, we typically

[1:18:49] have this discussion usually around the first or second meeting of the year. Um

[1:18:54] I will say this year the focus was kind of to get through yesterday our budget

[1:18:59] workshop and and I encourage the commission to think about that a little

[1:19:04] bit more. And so I haven't tasked you so far with with the homework portion of of

[1:19:10] this, which is um to read our comprehensive plan, go back through

[1:19:15] that. Um maybe go back through our strategic plan along with our capital

[1:19:20] improvement plan and a couple of those documents are too large to send via

[1:19:24] email, but they're accessible on the website. And I'll send anything else

[1:19:28] that you don't have if you don't already have it. Um but I guess annually I

[1:19:34] assign a little homework to the commission and say, "Hey, run through

[1:19:37] those documents, identify the goals sections and then uh merge that with

[1:19:42] maybe some of your individual goals that you've had in the last year and bring

[1:19:46] that to our attention." And so I'd say at this point given we don't have a full

[1:19:51] commission here and we had quite a long day yesterday of maybe it's good to go

[1:19:56] marinate for a couple weeks and then come back on February 3rd hopefully with

[1:20:00] a full body and I'll instruct or ask the other few commissioners to review those

[1:20:06] critical documents and come back so we can have a positive uh kind of

[1:20:12] discussion to start the year of okay what do we want to accomplish before

[1:20:16] budget budget season. What do we want to accomplish during budget season? What do

[1:20:20] we want to accomplish after budget season? What do we want to accomplish in

[1:20:24] the next year and the next two years? Uh so on and so forth. So um another

[1:20:30] document is there is the lake master plan. And then I'll I'll come back on

[1:20:36] the on the third and and maybe reference some of those prior goals that have been

[1:20:40] brought to my attention or those outstanding projects that are kind kind

[1:20:44] of already on my list. And then we'll kind of shuffle things around and and

[1:20:48] see what we have time for. It's kind of at a point in the year where we can make

[1:20:52] a big push to get a few things done kind of before budget. Um or we can identify

[1:20:58] the things we want to talk about, whether it be projects or proposals

[1:21:01] during budget season and then uh keep some other things on the back burner for

[1:21:06] once we're wrapped up with the budget and we have a little bit uh have a

[1:21:10] little bit of runway to to get some of these projects handled. So, you know, if

[1:21:14] there's there's anything you want to talk about tonight, I'm happy to do

[1:21:17] that. But I'd love to give you a break and give you a chance to marinate on

[1:21:21] everything we talked about yesterday, read some of those key documents, and

[1:21:24] then hopefully come back on February 3rd and and have a good discussion as a

[1:21:29] group. Last year, it was streets and that was pretty much the consensus and

[1:21:33] that was it. We're in a good position there. We're going to talk about streets

[1:21:37] as we approach budget season and how we want to, you know, utilize the sales tax

[1:21:42] and our city budget to to start to tackle and plan for some of that. So,

[1:21:46] that's coming. Um, but any of those other smaller projects or things that

[1:21:51] you've thought of or that we've talked about in the last uh year or two or we

[1:21:56] identified in the comprehensive plan, strategic plan, um, feel free to list

[1:22:01] those. if you want to, you know, if it's too much to remember, you want to shoot

[1:22:04] me an email, I'll reference them during the meeting if that's easier or if you

[1:22:08] want to just show up uh with your short list at the meeting and kind of have an

[1:22:14] and it's your chance to get out your individual goals and then a chance to

[1:22:18] set our mutual goals. So, it's it's a good opportunity to do that because and

[1:22:23] then we'll identify, you know, what's first, what we have time to do, what's

[1:22:27] the mutual priority, and go from there. So,

[1:22:32] When does the planning commission meet next to review the comprehensive plan?

[1:22:37] » So the planning commission meets on January 20

[1:22:44] next next Tuesday. Um and we'll probably actually on February 3rd the planning

[1:22:50] commission will be here to present uh some of their recommendations based on a

[1:22:55] study group they had for the zoning regulations rewrite. So that might be on

[1:23:02] our list of goals without you guys even bringing it up but uh that was

[1:23:07] identified in our comprehensive plan has been one of the major initiatives that

[1:23:10] the planning commission has worked on for the last uh six months. Um so want

[1:23:17] to get planning commission representative here and obviously we'll

[1:23:21] invite the entire planning commission as it sits and um we'll have fire chief

[1:23:27] here with his inspector hat on and his planning zoning regulations hat on to to

[1:23:34] help us work through that conversation. So, and then based on that, we can we

[1:23:40] can decide if we want to set up a eventually a joint workshop with the

[1:23:43] with the planning commission and the city commission down the road to maybe

[1:23:47] discuss those zoning regulations. >> Sorry, that was a long answer to a short

[1:23:51] question. >> You're you're absolutely fine.

[1:23:55] I think it's a great idea because you know we've developed these program or

[1:24:00] the comprehensive plan everything we need to keep looking at it

[1:24:04] » and see what's changed and what we need to do and I think it's a great idea

[1:24:09] » and actually as early as next year I'd say 2027 or even late 2026

[1:24:15] um it'll be that conversation of okay we're three years into the plan

[1:24:21] and it's you know you're typically around that three year mark, you're

[1:24:26] slated for a really in-depth look at your comprehensive plan. And and

[1:24:30] somewhere between that three and fiveyear mark, you're you're actually

[1:24:34] tasked with going in and saying, "Okay, what have we accomplished? Where where

[1:24:37] are we at on our goals list?" So on and so forth. So yeah, the intent of this is

[1:24:43] just to keep that conversation going, keep that document alive, and we're

[1:24:47] really early into it, but it's easy to to let the the work we did on that slip

[1:24:52] away and, you know, goes up on a shelf, so to speak, and that's what we're

[1:24:56] trying to avoid here with these conversations. So,

[1:25:00] » you know, any other committees that we have? I don't think we have any other

[1:25:03] boards other than the planning, but of course we'd like to have Lisa there to

[1:25:08] get some of the things that she wants to do and stuff too

[1:25:12] » and have her input. My opinion,

[1:25:17] you know, the more people that we can get their input and buy in to help, you

[1:25:22] know, some ideas. >> Yeah.

[1:25:26] And, you know, I don't want the commission to shy away from, you know,

[1:25:30] if you've got kind of an individual Whether it's a little project or

[1:25:34] something related to parks or a sidewalk or pothole, you know, this is I like to

[1:25:39] open up 15 20 minutes for us to express that. And you know, what we decide as a

[1:25:45] group is is kind of where we we go. But um you know, depending on what kind of

[1:25:51] time it's going to take, uh how much of a priority it is, we can obviously set

[1:25:55] those goals and kind of manage expectations on how quick we can get

[1:25:59] them accomplished, whether it's, you know, two week thing or a two-month

[1:26:02] thing or a twoyear thing. So, but I encourage the commission to bring up

[1:26:08] anything that they that they think they want to try to get done in the next

[1:26:11] year. So, >> it'll be a spirited discussion of the

[1:26:16] next [laughter]

[1:26:21] all that aside, um I like paper form. Can you just print those whole plans out

[1:26:28] for me and I'll come pick them up when I sign these documents?

[1:26:32] » Sure. Thank you. >> I look at enough screens all day long.

[1:26:38] » I've already I have them in my notebook. I've printed them already.

[1:26:42] » So, yeah, just whenever >> Sure.

[1:26:44] » you ask me to come in and sign documents for sure.

[1:26:50] » All right. City comments. Anything other than that?

[1:26:53] » Uh, I'll just run through a quick Again, reminder of Lor's retirement. Encourage,

[1:26:58] you know, folks to stop by for that. It's going to be a come and go, but um

[1:27:03] you know, celebrate her and celebrate 20 plus years of dedicated service to the

[1:27:09] to the Hilltop and a lot of the especially the senior population of our

[1:27:13] community. So, encourage everybody to show up if they can. Um

[1:27:18] had a budget workshop yesterday. I'll be sending out some follow-up documents

[1:27:22] from that pretty soon. So, keep an eye out for that on some of what we talked

[1:27:26] about. Uh potentially get some of that uploaded to the website here soon and

[1:27:31] hopefully uh use that as a building block for our budget season this year.

[1:27:36] Uh continuing to schedule apartment

[1:27:41] showings at Homestead Hilltop, trying to work on getting units filled back up.

[1:27:46] Um, city crews, city staff going to be

[1:27:51] preparing for extreme cold, potential severe weather. It looks like some of

[1:27:55] it's cleared out, but we're going to keep an eye on it either way and try to

[1:28:00] get into some of our public buildings to make sure they're prepared for extreme

[1:28:05] cold weather. Encourage everybody to be safe this weekend.

[1:28:09] uh working on starting the plan for some of

[1:28:13] the outstanding airport projects we want to complete uh now that we're done with

[1:28:17] our major FAA projects. So few do those on the radar still or the fire station

[1:28:23] uh potential uh new hangers and uh hoping to utilize potentially some FA

[1:28:30] uh CIP funding for maybe some asphalt improvements out at the airport. I know

[1:28:35] that's been brought up in the past and After we've gotten a big huge project

[1:28:40] from the FA like we just did, we we don't get another one of those for at

[1:28:43] least a few years, but we get a little bit of yearly funding in from the FA,

[1:28:48] about $150,000. So, we're working with our engineers at Lochner to figure out

[1:28:53] how we can use that hopefully on some asphalt improvements.

[1:28:56] Uh still working through the process of the CDBG application for the potential

[1:29:02] lake shower station. Um getting some ideas of that. I'm going to try to start

[1:29:08] exploring what's available from the CDBG side at least to start uh for that

[1:29:13] potential project. Uh, and real quick, I should have

[1:29:17] included this after the presentation earlier, but I just of course want to

[1:29:22] thank Stantech, but especially want to thank Jana Williams, and she's kind of

[1:29:26] been behind the scenes on the Brownfield stuff, but that was I don't know if

[1:29:30] anyone remembers a million half dollar grant and they are starting in

[1:29:34] Harrington and eventually within the next four years going to move on to

[1:29:38] Junction City and Manhattan. But they've done they did a lot of leg work on that

[1:29:42] for us to even get us to this point and have done a lot of leg work on uh the

[1:29:47] buildings and getting people signed up for the assessments. So um just want to

[1:29:53] point out that Jana Williams and Front Hills Regional Council has been a really

[1:29:58] good asset, really good partner, not on just on this project but other some of

[1:30:02] the other small grants we've we've done. So, um, thanks to JNI.

[1:30:08] I think that's all I had.

[1:30:12] » Mr. May, your comments. >> Uh, I want to thank Zapter for doing the

[1:30:16] budget, uh, workshop for us. I think it was very good. I want to thank him for

[1:30:22] taking me on the tour of our facilities. Uh, learn a lot about the buildings.

[1:30:27] I've lived here for quite a while, but still learn a lot about the the

[1:30:30] buildings and things. I'd suggest anybody

[1:30:34] doesn't like to see them, see what's going on in the buildings and stuff.

[1:30:43] » Um, I was just wondering how our board numbers are now that we've had some

[1:30:47] changes. >> Um,

[1:30:49] » and the planning commission. >> Well, luckily on the housing authority,

[1:30:52] we're at a full board now, so that's good news.

[1:30:56] » You got a full board with you still on it?

[1:30:58] » Yes. >> Um,

[1:31:01] and I'm, you know, my goal is to stay on it as as long as I'm needed or until we

[1:31:06] get a you know we find a proper replacement. But I'm I'm happy to be

[1:31:10] there. It's been good so far. Um CVB I think we're close to a full board less

[1:31:15] one two um

[1:31:22] » right but Ron's worked really hard to get the

[1:31:25] CVB filled back up and then um planning commission is where we need folks. So,

[1:31:31] need an atlarge person which is within three miles of the city limits but not

[1:31:36] in the city limits. Um, need one more of those. And then I think two potentially

[1:31:42] two other open positions. So, you know, someone that's passionate about that or,

[1:31:47] you know, has a planning background or even just cares about Harrington, it's

[1:31:52] it's at most one hour, sometimes two hours a month, uh, middle of the day

[1:31:56] around lunch. Um, so you know, we've already taken our planning commission

[1:32:02] down from 10 to seven uh by redoing the charter ordinance when I first got here.

[1:32:07] So, you know, we really it's a hard board to fill. It's it's a hard job, but

[1:32:11] we try to make it as concise as we can. Meaning, we meet once a month. We we

[1:32:16] pack a lot of business in. We try to be conscious and respectful of everyone's

[1:32:20] time. Some people only have an hour and so we do the best we can and but we

[1:32:25] really need uh board members on the planning commission. So

[1:32:30] » you don't have one person show up. You will have qu

[1:32:33] » pretty much which you know if we're just talking about the comp plan or zoning

[1:32:37] rags that's one thing. We can still kind of have a workshop session where we um

[1:32:43] informally have a discussion on those things. But you know as soon as you need

[1:32:47] a a variance or uh you know any sort of land use zoning

[1:32:54] change you're kind of hamstrung and can leave people waiting around for that. So

[1:33:00] uh we're tight on quorum. We definitely if we can even get one more we'd be a

[1:33:04] lot better off. So, we posted it to the website and Facebook

[1:33:09] a few times, but I think it's going to be a word of mouth

[1:33:13] thing, unfortunately.

[1:33:18] » To piggy back on that a little bit, I know you're still working on website

[1:33:23] updates. >> Yes.

[1:33:24] » And setting up departments and pages and whatnot.

[1:33:28] » Does all the boards we have, do they have a separate page that links to their

[1:33:33] board? And if not,

[1:33:40] » uh, so I have accounted for all of what I would say the city related boards, so

[1:33:46] planning commission, um, land bank, um, I'm thinking CVB, building and trades

[1:33:54] board, anything that we have to point to so

[1:33:59] that it puts it further out into the community, that board is there.

[1:34:04] Yeah, we can we can work on that. Um, you know, probably be mostly just basic

[1:34:10] facts or whatever, but >> doesn't have to be a lot, just

[1:34:14] something. >> Yeah,

[1:34:16] » rather than just a every once in a while a news article on or something.

[1:34:22] » Um, the other thing is recently started reattending the library board meetings,

[1:34:29] sitting as mayor in the exeicial capacity. So, I will be continuing those

[1:34:35] attendance for meetings and the library board will start well after they approve

[1:34:42] their minutes the following meeting the commission will see it but if there's

[1:34:46] anything that comes up of importance to them it will be

[1:34:50] communicated through me during commission comments. So right now their

[1:34:55] biggest concern as we are aware is their budget. Um and that's still a learning

[1:35:01] track for both sides that is

[1:35:06] we'll look forward to getting more regular involvement communication with

[1:35:11] library

[1:35:14] other than that cemetery software is it ready to go or are we close to it

[1:35:23] [clears throat] >> as far as I know

[1:35:29] unfortunately The military training is a lot like

[1:35:38] they will not walk out of it.

[1:35:46] You know what I mean? >> But unfortunately a little bit

[1:36:12] Speaking of tit, >> how are we we've completely transferred

[1:36:17] our software yet? >> No. So, we are

[1:36:22] next weekly.

[1:36:39] And then

[1:36:43] as well. But then

[1:37:01] unfortunately, we were supposed to have

[1:37:07] the end of the year, but we lost our Here

[1:37:33] you go. Have a nice day. [laughter]

[1:37:43] The reason I was the reason I asked that and brought that up because I was going

[1:37:46] to ask if the commission can start receiving

[1:37:49] monthly general ledgers.

[1:37:53] » That's why I was wondering where you're at.

[1:37:55] » Yeah. And

[1:38:05] » I won't hold you to it. Maybe by summer.

[1:38:10] » I won't hold you to it. I don't have anything else. So, anything

[1:38:15] else for the good of the community? >> I make a motion we adjourn.

[1:38:19] » Second. >> Miss Lurren.

[1:38:22] I

City of Herington - City Commission Meeting 1/20/2026

Transcript