Welcome to Sorry, I'm excited.

Welcome to business session for February 26, 2026.

Our first item is approval of minutes for business session February 12th.

Is there a motion?

Second.

Been moved and seconded.

All in favor of approval indicate by saying aye.

All opposed.

The motion passes our first presentation today.

Actually, let's go somewhat out of order and go with ordinance number 260076, the Department of Community Safety presentation.

Good afternoon.

Hi, how are you?

Doing well, you good.

Great.

I used to be asking you how you do.

How are you doing?

How are you doing?

Triver.

One moment, banger.

Yes.

Having technical difficulties.

Oh, there we go.

And we will note and welcome to Lace Klein in a new role as assistant city manager.

Wonderful, and congratulations, and we look forward to hearing from uh both of our ACMs.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, Mayor, Council members.

Um, my name is Lace Klein, and I am the new assistant city manager over public safety.

And joined with me is ACM Kelly Postalweight, and we are presenting on ordinance number 260076, which was advanced from finance committee on February 10th.

So this ordinance creates a department of community safety that will have several core functions corrections and rehabilitation, re-entry services, and it will also institutionalize the multidisciplinary public safety task force.

The purpose of this ordinance is to coordinate and align the city's public safety infrastructure to provide uh which is necessary to unite public safety efforts across departments, ensuring consistent implementation, measurable outcomes, and community-centered intervention.

So, why create a new department?

Well, as you all know, on June 1st, the city's detention facility will open.

A new department is required to oversee the custodial and correctional functions.

This ordinance seeks to create a formal structure that integrates a restorative justice approach into a broader accountability framework.

Long-term safety depends on aligning all of our systems internally and externally to reduce future correctional demand.

As you all know, public safety is a vast ecosystem that extends beyond policing, prosecution, and incarceration.

The city provides many services that support public safety, health, and well-being.

However, historically, these functions have been spread across multiple departments, which has resulted in fragmented coordination and alignment.

Across the country, cities have created a unified department to organize the breadth of the public safety ecosystem.

And through improved coordination, cities are seeing sustained reductions in violence over time.

For example, across I-70, St.

Louis has a department of public safety that has several sub-offices that integrate with public safety, including corrections and other related departments.

By positioning custody operations into a broader framework that includes restorative justice, rehabilitation and re-entry, we will support sustained positive outcomes.

So the purpose and core function of this department will be one to advance correction and rehabilitation efforts.

It will also be to coordinate internal and external re-entry services to reduce recidivism and improve positive outcomes in our community.

And as mentioned, it would also be to institutionalize and sustain the work that the multidisciplinary public safety task force is already doing.

KCPD will still be responsible for patrol arrests and criminal investigations, enforcement, as well as emergency response under Chapter 84 of the revised statutes of Missouri.

Additionally, this new department will not collapse all public safety related work into enforcement.

So with respect to correction rehabilitation and re-entry services.

By providing a warm handoff to service providers and providing services within the department, we can reduce the amount of times that people enter the carceral system, which is a harm reduction mechanism.

Additionally, this would deliver and coordinate rehabilitation and re-entry services externally with our community partners that are already doing this work.

This department would also establish a central record for internal and external re-entry services.

It would also institutionalize the public safety task force.

So the public safety task force currently is comprised of, I believe, every city department, and they go out and they engage with businesses that have received 311 complaints, complaints that KCPD is made aware of.

And essentially what the task force does is they work to address issues that departments haven't been able to address on a singular basis.

So by strengthening this task force and providing them with a revenue source through the creation of the new department, they will be able to better operate long-term and it will create a sustainable task force.

It would also seek to centralize implementation and enforcement coordination authority so that we can ensure that there is follow-up on properties that are associated with repeated public safety concerns, produce centralized data tracking and reporting for public safety engagement so that we can assess what's working well and what needs to be improved upon.

And then now let Helly talk about the organizational structure and budget.

So Kelly Poles to weight assistant city manager.

So I'm happy to talk about any of the specifics related to the positions and the justification for those positions now, or happy to take those questions now or wait until the end.

Yes.

How many of these will be new employees and how many of those will be coming from other departments?

Yeah, so we will post all of the positions internally and externally.

Currently, the Department of Corrections has somewhere between 20 and 25 employees.

All of those employees will be placed in this department from the division that's currently in the city manager's office into the new position.

So I'm not great at math, but whatever 148 minus 25 is, those would be the new employees.

Okay.

And do we have within our budget adequate staff in order to hire 130 employees?

Yes, we've already started the hiring plan.

We've been working closely with talent acquisition to set up the hiring strategy.

And we have a pretty diverse and multi-layered hiring strategy that is already beginning to roll out in anticipation of this department being approved.

Fantastic.

Thanks.

All right, moving on.

So we can talk, we already talked a little bit about this.

Oh, yes, I am.

I don't have a chair.

Oh, yes, I'm so sorry.

Okay, can you go back to the chart?

So the community engagement intervention, or first off, what is the cost of all these?

Yeah, so the total budgeted cost right now is 26.3 million dollars.

The staffing cost is 11 million, 11.5 million.

Okay.

And the community engagement intervention, I just want to clarify like that's gonna be a new role, like we don't already have people doing.

We do currently have people doing community intervention, but not in the capacity that we're envisioning here.

So the community intervention capacity that we are envisioning here would help develop and coordinate strategies to strengthen connections between the jail, justice-involved individuals and community-based service providers.

So it's sort of in anticipation of the C C RC.

I think I'm getting that right.

Excuse me, that I get it wrong.

CRCRC.

I those always get me mixed up.

So it's in anticipation of the CRC.

And the idea is that we know that we only get our residents or inmates for about 14 days.

And so re-entry and intervention needs to happen the moment they step into our facility to be able to strengthen that warm handoff as they go quickly back into the community.

Um, and so that's what that position is envisioning.

Okay.

I just uh my challenge is like just duplication.

So the fiscal, the IT, the PIO.

Um I understand the um facility.

Um I understand the deputy director of operations and the new facility that we're opening, but I guess from administrative standpoint, I'm wondering are these duplicative?

Sure.

So um in the administrative vertical, which is like the middle middle one, um, we really took a look at what all other departments have.

So most other departments have a PIO who is responsible for their interaction with public information.

Um every other department has a fiscal officer who is responsible for their budget.

So that's really just the um the organization's structure.

Okay, councilman.

Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Mayor Pro Tim.

Um this is a very large department, and so um you said it was all it was a hundred and uh it's budgeted at 148 FTs.

So to repeat, how many of those are new FTEs?

Um I'm not about a hundred and twenty.

Okay.

So um 223.

Yeah, sorry, 123.

So just um from the manager's uh standpoint, we have a new ACM, um, and they are going to immediately supervise 100 people.

Um that's number one that maybe you can answer at some other point.

Um, no disrespect to to Lace, I'm sure you're fantastic, and that's why you got the promotion.

Um, but it does concern me that did you consider a phased approach into this department in terms of onboarding hundreds of people at once, and this isn't even the CRC, you know, which is gonna be also require a lot of personnel.

Um, and is this general fund um that we are doing this?

And um I'm also concerned about some of the duplication as well.

I noticed a public information officer here, and I thought we were doing some um retooling with our communication strategy, and so I'm wondering how that fits in.

Um, and and and overall, my concern is is of is a very fast um creation of a department with with you know it's it's hard to manage one person, no offense, DJ.

Um, but so I'm just hundreds of people, you know, is is um I think something that we all should be able to pause on, you know.

Um so did you think about that?

Council member Patterson has I I think um the charge from the council was to have uh a detention facility up and running by June 1 without having the personnel uh with the various disciplines that it requires.

I don't see any other way other than contracting out, and I don't think it would be uh in the city's best interest to seek out for profit detention center operators for our facility.

So I think for that reason, yes, it is passed, but it is only as fast as as as the council has the manager to be in the sense that you all wanted a facility open by you know by June 1.

I don't know if that answers your question.

I think we've had new programs come into existence across the city via ordinance, and even for 10 people is taking six to eight months, you know, to for for it to be operational and efficient, and so not that it's not it is necessary to create the department because we're doing something we haven't done in 20 years.

So I'm not saying that.

I'm saying did you consider you know the capacity to effectively have hundreds of people in a department that is brand new?

I think um what you're seeing here is also the full build out of the department.

Um obviously we gotta be able to occupy the facility as quickly as we can staff it up.

We're not gonna put people in danger, but not by not appropriately staffing it.

So yeah, this is the full build out.

This is one year's operations.

Is it gonna happen starting May 1?

Probably not.

It's gonna take a minute.

But it is I think when we present a plan to you, present try to present you the full plan with a full year's worth of impact, knowing that um it may not occur.

We know it's not gonna happen year one or day one.

It's gonna take it's gonna take a bit through to uh to structure up.

So uh so that the phase then approach is built into the into the hiring process.

I think it would be helpful to know what are your priority positions and how do you kind of go from there to build out the entire department because a hundred and something odd people is is a lot of people, and you probably mean you can't probably hire a hundred and something people at all at once anyway, just for recruitment purposes.

But I think having an understanding of how the department will come together, um, I think is something that even the public, you know, would want to know as we're cutting other departments and making a lot of um hard decisions about programming.

So it's almost one to one.

So, how big is the detention center on Front Street?

139.

Um person.

These are these ratios are recommended, right?

I mean, this is this is a 24-7 operation.

You know, uh, you need to have three shifts of people, or are we doing two shifts?

There are three shifts of people, so there'll be three eight hour shifts.

The industrial recommendations is a five to one ratio for the residents.

So that's why you see if you look down at the bottom, the COs, that's why the majority of the individuals who will be hired will be corrections officers, and that's because of the five to one industry standard.

Um as far as priorities go, I think the priority is to get a department director um hired in to that position, um, and that person can begin to build out all of the uh in internal structures that would exist, policies, which we've been working on already, but they can start implementing those policies.

Deputy directors, and of course, we cannot operate a facility without corrections officers.

And so, you know, a high priority is to get a number of correction officers in place so we can at least do the phased in approach that um city manager basquez is talking about.

The correction officers makes sense.

It's it's it's this middle management line that's a really long line.

So um it's just it's just the sheer number of people when um we've been talking so much about a structural imbalance financially, it's just it's just a sheer number of people.

Is I don't even think you can explain it away.

It's just it's a lot of if TEs when across the organization we're having to be lean.

Um so I think that's what stands out to me the most.

Understood.

Councilman Curls.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Uh I share the same concerns with uh my colleague from the third district at large.

Um and I I think that we had a conversation prior about the staffing of this, and we were I I thought we were gonna look at how we could kind of downsize that from 148.

Um, and has that been looked at or or are we still in the process of looking at that?

Well, we went back and took a look at the organizational chart that's presented to you.

And I think you know, the the major concern and priority in the city manager's office is that we establish a department that we can meet industrial industry standards, keep residents um safe, and then um and then come you know, come true on the promise that we've made to the community about helping with recidivism and um and a warm handoff for re-entry.

And so we did go back and take a look at the organizational chart.

I think that there are definitely some opportunities, especially in that third pillar with community intervention.

The public safety task force I think is critical, um, as well as the employee or the um community engagement.

I think that they are I think they're all critical, but I think if we had to pick that third pillar, is probably where we have room to make some adjustments.

Um but everything else is really in place to ensure that we are able to protect ourselves from a risk mitigation standpoint, especially that administrative piece, and and I hear your concerns, Councilmember Patterson Hasley, about um the number of people in that administrative role, but those people are really those folks who are gonna keep track of all the information and data so that if there is a critical incident that happens in the jail, we're able to support our um justify our behaviors and actions, which is going to be critical when when those sorts of events happen.

But it would it be possible.

I know you saying there's gonna be three shifts.

But you know, have maybe two 12 hour shifts or something as opposed to three eight hour shifts or something.

Yeah, those conversations, you know, three eights is is the best practice for reducing workers' compensation, burnout, and employee fatigue where injuries happen.

But yes, of course, we can evaluate shift um opportunities or shift uh scheduling.

Those conversations will need to take place with local 500 because the corrections officers are bargained for employees, and the union would have to be on board with that uh that change.

Yeah.

And then let's talk about uh because I had a meeting with the finance department the other day, and we were talking about the funding for this.

Yes.

Once again, let's talk about where this funding is coming from.

Sure.

So part of the funding is coming from the public safety sales tax that was recently passed by our community, and then additional funding or supplementary funding is coming from the general fund.

The finance department, who I think is standing behind me, hence everyone's eyes can probably speak more eloquently to that.

Or maybe they're not standing by sitting behind me.

Yes, sitting behind me.

Brenton's every deputy director of finance.

So funding for the department of community safety comes from the general fund, 19.1 million dollars of that about six million dollars was already existing in the city manager's office, and that was transferred to this new department, and then 7.2 million was from public safety sales tax.

And we're going to dedicate six million or how much of it every year from the safety public safety sales tax to this facility.

So all of these costs would be reoccurring ongoing costs for the operations of the department.

7.2 million would come from public safety sales tax.

Just right off the bat.

Yep.

Yeah.

Mr.

Mayor.

Well, uh, Councilman Duncan.

Uh more of a comment rather than a question.

You know, the the status on the rehabilitation and detention committee, the status statistician warned us that whatever the size of facility we're going to build, multiply that by three for operations and maintenance by three.

So again, I know people were calling me wild and crazy when I came up with a number of eight hundred million dollars for this what was going to be a 250 million facility.

But when you when you multiply the amount of FTEs, the maintenance for this to operations of this facility, this is how much it costs for a 24-7 facility that's going to hold 130 people.

It's just what it costs.

Councilwoman Robinson.

Um thank you.

I just had a a quick follow-up for uh Brent.

The okay, so can you just explain how the public safety sales tax with the allowable funds to use for um operations?

Because I thought it was for capital approvements.

So there is uh an ability to use for the operations and maintenance of a facility a capital project funded with public safety sales tax.

Um, and that's how the uh staff within the correctional facility would be funded.

Okay, so it's just the correctional facility size.

That's what we targeted was just the correctional facility staff would be funded from public safety sales tax.

So you said targeted, but are you segregating those funds in a way that so we sorry interrupt?

Sorry, yeah, yeah, we use the correctional facility staff on public safety sales tax.

So only okay, thank you.

Councilman Rogers.

So it is expensive, there's no question about that.

But let's go back to Miss Posweight.

So when you're figuring out how many FTs we need, you're talking about industry standards.

What process did you use to determine that number?

Sure.

Our um we hired a consultant who are experts in um the construction and operations of a jail.

They provide us a staffing um outline, and in that outline was the five to one uh expectation or standard that they that they um established as the industry standard.

So either way, either a deviation with a lower or higher ratio would be different further than what is recommended.

Correct.

And then just it just back it up a little bit to the department of community safety in general, and this question could be for either of you.

Um is it pretty typical for a city of our size to have somebody in a role such as this?

Yes, so um a lot of uh cities of our size and larger, they have departments of public safety, and you know, we have a very unique structure in Kansas City because we don't have local control over a police department, but in other cities they house police, fire, corrections, they house um health for instincts is also a part of that.

So a number of departments also fall within that because there's so many different types of public safety is multidisciplinary, but other cities have that, and those cities are similarly seeing reductions in their crime, and so we hope to continue to see the reductions we have by further institutionalizing a department that um is restorative justice-minded, can provide services, um prevention, intervention, all of those different things.

Another um model outside of St.

Louis is for instance, Philadelphia, they've seen significant reductions, and they also have um the same type of model, but they also have again more departments under their umbrella.

And I would assume part of that would be an ongoing relationship with KCPD, but also the city prosecutor and the county prosecutors as well.

Yes.

And don't forget Platt and Clay County prosecutors too.

Yeah, and so now we do have you know a significant staffing increase here.

I assume there's a plan to find and train new officers for this.

Yes, uh, we have been working with talent acquisitions to build a multi-layered um recruitment strategy um and and and build out the department.

Um we also been in contact with uh a number of different organizations that provide you know training, all the types of different training that will be needed in the facility, and they are um prepared to come and offer that training to our um individuals as well as train the trainer so that we wouldn't have to have the ongoing cost of training from the outside.

We'll train internal folks to provide that training.

Uh I'll tell you something that's got a great deal of appeal to me is we're already contracting out for 110 people to be incarcerated, and so when we have basically the same amount of people, but they're here in Kansas City, we have a lot more control over where they get treated well, whether they get the physical health care they need, whether they get the mental health care that they need, whether they can see their kids, and so on and so forth.

So I think that there may be some costs associated with that, but it's also important that we're treating people the right way.

That's correct.

Thank you.

Council Braham.

Last year, Channel 9 did a pretty good investigative story after an inmate at a facility in Missouri had died, uh, and it was linked to the use of a restraint device.

I don't remember if it was a spit mask or something like that.

Um, and when they did that report, I thought it was pretty interesting because they highlighted the extent to which there are fatalities across the country associated with the use of those kinds of devices, and it was kind of a major red flag for me because you know, we want to make sure that we operate this way in a way this facility in a way that's safe and humane for folks, and so um you know, my question for the consultants, and I think it's probably Falcon who is involved in this, is uh the extent to which we are aligning the policies around enforcement and discipline and restraint in a way that's consistent with what I think our community's values are and what you would expect from this council.

And so I any update on how those conversations are going, and you know, we've we've got to create a whole new you know, body of policy and regulations that hasn't existed at the city for a long time.

That's right.

So uh this facility is based off of a direct supervision model, which is different than probably what we all assume would be happening inside of a jail.

So there are a couple different types of models.

There's direct supervision and then there's indirect supervision.

Indirect supervision is where the inmates are um in um the area alone, and the corrections officers are simply observing the behavior and intervening when necessary.

Um, a direct supervision model is different.

The corrections officers will be inside of the facility with the um residents or inmates developing relationships and um getting to know those folks so that they can't intervene sooner than later when there is um an escalation of behavior or some kind of a trigger that could result in a use of force, for instance.

But to your second point in that question is we are beginning already beginning to establish um policies, including a use of force policy, and like you said, we are modeling those policies off of what we understand the expectations from council be, which means use of force would be the absolute last resort, that there should be many other um interventions um before use of force would be engaged.

And then, of course, if there is a use of force, there would be an immediate review of that use of force to ensure that we are facilitating it in a way that aligns.

And how do you anticipate any of those policies would be codified?

Would it be administrative regulation?

Is that something you would eventually want to put before council?

And I guess the second part of that question would be how other communities codify those rules.

Yeah, so I think um, like many department, they would be considered departmental regulations, and so I don't think we've contemplated um whether or not they would come before council for codification, but they definitely would be vetted through you know the city manager's office, and you know, we're happy to engage with counsel if if necessary.

Yeah, I'd be interested to see um you know that document or the that part of the administrative regulations whenever it's complete and probably share that with several council members that would like to see that.

Sure.

Thank you.

Other comments?

I have a question for you.

Um and I'm sympathetic to the questions raised by Councilman Curls, Councilwoman Patterson Hasley, as I was in committee when we're in finance committee three weeks ago.

Uh and this question relates to when this needs to be passed.

Um I understand indication that suggests you need to hire people and all of that, although I imagine all of this would be part of the city budget anyway.

Does this ordinance need to be approved prior to passage of the city budget?

Is there any material frustration to your efforts to build up the department if we wait along with the budget process?

My rationale being that to the extent that there are some questions, particularly as it relates to the I think it's the previous well, the flow chart slide and some of the administrative steps here and and people, um, I I just may still have lingering questions, and so would love to know your feedback.

Sure, I think from uh the perspective of the city manager's office, um, it would potentially frustrate the the process a little because we're going to have a hard time hiring all of the folks that we need to in the division of the city manager's office, it's a lot of folks to expand a division of the city manager's office.

And so um I think from just in a a perspective of standing up um standing up a department, getting people in place um and making sure that they are hired into the right positions and administratively um it would be cleaner if it was from a department.

So do we can you just move?

I don't know if I have a copy of it.

Yeah, I'll just look at this again because I don't necessarily want to necessarily do position by position, although I guess we could.

I mean, when's our our next bite at the apple?

I think I heard in the discussion on the correct let's separate the corrections for a moment.

You're saying on the correction side, it's the consultant recommendation, these are best practices, and you'll hire all these folks.

All right.

Um, and I think these other areas, when would you suggest is our time if we approve this to ever come back to you and suggest that maybe we would look to not necessarily institutionalize all these positions forever?

Sure.

Uh I'm gonna answer your question maybe a little differently than you ask it, and if I don't get to your full question, let me know.

So the corrections officers are the positions that will require the most training, of course.

And so their hiring is the most critical for the stand-up of this department.

We would be proposing to hire that the vertical in the middle, um, the administrative vertical, much closer to the actual opening of the facility because they're not gonna need as much time to get you know trained and all of those things.

And so if you were gonna if you were going to uh phase in the hiring process, we would say hire that first, uh hire that first vertical, which is the operations vertical, hire that second vertical, which is the administration vertical, and then that third vertical would be our third priority for hiring.

Um as far as a bite at the apple goes, I think um if it if you were to hold this ordinance today, uh then I think you know we could talk about it and and move forward whenever if at the council.

Understood councilwoman Robinson.

Thank you.

Um, Mr.

Mayor, I'm curious about the committee hearing on this.

Did you all uh when you um went over the ordinance, did you um just talk about the balances in the public safety sales tax and how that all fleshes out in terms of how we're paying for this?

Is this I don't believe we did?

I I don't think so.

Okay I I think that we discussed it to some extent, but probably not to the extent that we probably should have, to your point.

Um I raised a question about number one, it coming from the public safety sales tax, which I wanted finance department to reiterate again today that that's a dedicated source of funding from now on out, and the strains that we are putting on the public safety sales tax all the time.

We seem like we always are looking at the public safety sales tax.

Granted, public safety is very important and we need to look at it, but now we're having a dedicated funding source for that, and that's going to be contingent upon because we got to go back to the voters to ask the voters to renew this public safety sales tax at some point.

And now we're dedicating funding to that, which hopefully the the electorate will support it.

But when we look at other things that we want to attach to the debt to the public safety sales tax, then at some point, how much of a strain are we putting on the public safety sales tax with an already dedicated funding source that's automatically coming off the top of it?

Yeah, my contention is around the general fund dollars.

And um oftentimes I'll say on stay on the same note that let's not live with outs it outside of our means.

And so if the public safety sales tax is that okay, we have 7.2 million dollars we're subsidizing at 19.1 million dollars.

Does this action today, because I do want to move forward with hiring the corrections officers and getting ready for um the new center that's uh being built?

Um but does the action today approve these expenditures?

The the ordinance it okay, I'm getting that's well you tell me I I think you know that the department um is going to officially begin operations May 1 between now and May 1, you know, if you know the department when when it gets the department's going to survive on the six point whatever million dollars we have left in the city manager's office to do, you know, to operate, but we only have a month and a half before the end of the fiscal year.

No, May one is when this department would begin operations.

And are we capped at the 7.2?

That's a question for you all.

Sorry.

Are we kept at the 7.2 for the public safety sales tax?

I I can go back and double check and see where we were on correctional officers.

However, on public safety sales tax itself, I'll follow up with the fund balance on that as well in the budget book for the end of fiscal year 27.

Yeah, well, we didn't.

I know we're we haven't allocated all of the revenue that's expected from the tax, though.

Have we?

Uh in fiscal year 27, it is less than five million dollars that was into the ending balance.

Um part of that was a payment back to the general fund.

There were a couple of ordinances in fiscal year 26 that directed a payment back to the general fund.

27.

Uh so there's ordinances in fiscal year 26 that directed the city manager to include in the 27 budget a payment back to the general fund for expenses that were incurred this year.

Okay, so that that would be my question is A, if we can figure out if we pass the ordinance today that we can deal with the expenditures separately, and then B making sure that we can try to you know use the public safety sales tax for the operations of the of the um department as much as possible so that we're not so dependent on the general fund.

That's a hundred million dollar deficit.

Yeah, part of if I may, Councilman Robinson, I thank you for that.

Part of why I asked the question the way I did, I do read this ordinance as giving the authorization to the city manager to hire all the positions and spend all the money.

I mean, I I think the answer to our initial question is yes.

If we vote for this today, looking at these sections, you've created new positions, a whole bunch of them, and you're allowing unless I'm just reading my sections wrong, we've created a revision, we have the areas, we have the functions, and then obviously the budget ordinance puts money into all of those, but I I would think that the city manager has authorization forever until council changes it to fill these positions and execute what this ordinance is about.

Right.

I would agree with you.

And that's that was just kind of um sympathetic to her question and the points that are raised.

Because if we have more that we'd like to engage with, I would think we take that opportunity to do so.

Councilman Cruz, Ms.

Mayor.

So with that being said, if we don't pass it today, we've got what another month to have this discussion, and then we could come back, maybe.

I mean, I'm just asking.

I think if you oh go ahead.

Well, I mean, you're right.

I mean, we you know time where time is uh time is not important, we can wait for some however long we want, we will have a building that's finished.

We do need about six to seven weeks to train correctional officers.

So I mean you know, waiting until May, what what what's possible on paper?

Uh I'm as a matter of practice is probably not favorable because we do need the time to you know you know not just hire but train, and the training part is that that's the most the most um the most important council.

Like I said, about six weeks of training, I think and and and various disciplines, not just one one one, you know, there's uh you know uh CPR and there is you know cuffing and there's all kinds of different uh activities that take care that they take place in a facility like this.

So councilwoman, I'll go booth in fringe.

Okay, let me try to understand what passing this and passing the budget and passing everything.

I think what if I'm hearing what you're saying is the necessity for this ordinance is to create the positions.

You cannot hire a correction officer today because we don't have that position.

A little different than that.

So we do have corrections officers positions, the job classification, because we have corrections officers now, but we don't have a department director position.

We don't have when you look at that org chart, we don't have all of the we don't have a place for all of those people inside of our organization.

And so if we don't have a department, then this would get built inside of a division of the city manager's office, which is not designed to effectuate this kind of programming.

So do you have I think from the the point we because this ordinance doesn't allocate the funding?

Correct.

What you were gonna use between now and May 1st was the funding that you have in the city manager's office, correct.

Do you anticipate between now and May first to have hire more positions, have the need for more funding than you currently have?

I mean, I'm just trying to understand from that you know that timing standpoint, because I I think the the concern is you know how do you know we had a bit of this discussion earlier today.

What comes first, the funding, the ordinance change, and how do we effectuate the best um roadmap to do this?

So do we create the entire department and then have a discussion about the budget later and not fully fund it so that you can't fund these?

But as the mayor said, there's still the authorization at some point, or do we hold this, have a discussion and you know lob off a whole, you know, arm uh the department, and then correct the funding piece by the time we adopt the budget.

So I would I my answer I think would be that there is no um we are not going to be able to hire every single one of the positions in that org chart between now and May 1.

Many of those positions would get hired after May one.

If you all decided to fund it differently than what's been in the proposed budget, then we would make modifications as we had to um based on the funding strategy.

Um and so um I think I answered your question.

Did I not do you do you have the ability to hire the key people right now in the funds and the classifications that you have?

Uh we do, we would have the funds and we could hire department directors because those classifications exist.

We don't have a department to put them in.

Okay.

So we would be hiring a department director inside of the city manager's office, which doesn't make sense in our classification structure.

Okay.

Councilwoman French.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Um, Councilwoman Boo um brought up a lot of the the points that I was gonna bring up as well.

So if talking about priority prior prioritization, sorry, speak.

Um so do you have with the six point one million dollars enough in those funds to hire the key positions that we'll need as far as the correction officers training, maybe a deputy director, kind of start with that type of priorities prioritization?

Yes, we have enough money to begin the hiring process and to hire key positions.

Okay, because that's ideally what we need by May 1st, right?

Uh well yes, yeah, getting started, yes, to get it started to get it started.

But yes, okay.

Um, because that's what I guess we had talked with um city manager about like creating a prioritization and and how that would fall and how that would look uh within this department.

I understand need the need for the department and to place people into an apartment, but then how that lays out, and so that's we wanted to make sure that this ordinance here is kind of creating the structure of the department that doesn't actually allocating funds to hire people within that department.

That's part of the city budget.

Correct.

Correct.

So that's two separate things.

So we still have that conversation within the budget.

Right.

Is that separate from the six point one million, or is that in this ordinance?

That would be and in the city budget, you know, the the corrections division within my office, that that funding gets transferred to this new department.

So I no longer have you know corrections starting in twenty may one.

I don't have those folks in my in my office.

Right.

They're not part of the department.

The money, the funding for those positions comes with the positions to this new department.

There's no funding attached to this ordinance or even the transfer of that 6.1 million into this right.

We're gonna use again, like I said, uh between now and May 1, we're gonna live with the money that we have.

I guess we can't.

Okay.

So is that just is that part of the budget, or is that your call that you're just transferring money that $6.1 million dollars into the new department?

Is that city manager's call, or is that I think uh that is our that's our call.

I mean, that that in order to be able to effectuate this ordinance, we'll we'll be transferring funds.

We're probably doing it through a third quarter cleanup to make sure that you know I mean, Brenton, actually, let me I'm gonna let you answer that for sure.

So essentially, with if we pass if this were to be passed, then you have the authorization to transfer that money to get this started.

Let me answer let me give an example just to maybe get an idea.

We have in our code of order, we have an important ordinance of department that is called capital projects.

It is authorized, positions are there, zero delineated.

There's no money with it, so it doesn't exist.

There's no there's no people associated.

So if we don't allocate funding for the project, it would be you know, vote without sailors, you know, it would just uh there'd be nothing within it.

Right.

I I think you've stated it well.

So in the fiscal year 26 budget, uh corrections off office within the city manager's office, the last quarterly estimate, there was some unspent funds that were estimated to be in that that department or uh office within the city manager's office, those funds would be repurposed to support the startup hiring of these staff, and then for fiscal year 27, the decision before the body is uh the how much funding goes for the department operations overall.

Part of that is an offset from moving the corrections staff out of the city manager's office into this new department because the roles are functionally the same.

They would they they would fit within this new department as opposed to the correct uh city manager's office.

Okay, so essentially if we pass this, then there is funding to get it started.

Where are we gonna prioritize what positions?

Uh so I think the the priority is to get the department director hired because that person will be in charge of setting up all of the structure.

Um and then from there we would move down that first pillar, which would be the operations pillar, ensuring that we had folks hired to be able to open the jail uh on June 1, and then we will need obviously some administrative staff.

So that would that would the the priorities would be a department director um and then the operations, then the middle pillar, then that third pillar.

Okay, and not even looking at touching community engagements intervention, like I mean, if if you're asking me to prioritize, um you know that's obviously very challenging because they're all three pillars are critical to the holistic functioning of this department.

Um but if the expectation is to open a jail, then I think we have to prioritize that first pillar.

So Paterson has it.

Yes, um, I had a structural question.

So we have other public safety functions, municipal court, um, fire department, you know, and so how have you structured those in terms of what city managers dealing with the other um public safety?

Um so I'm thinking about it because I see the public safety task force here, and I know that we have a person that manages that right now.

And so I'm trying to figure out how are we incorporating existing staff into this new structure such that maybe there's some overlap where you don't maybe need um so many new staff members.

That's what I'm trying to get after because it is a pretty big department.

Um so how can we repurpose people that are doing some of this work anyway?

Yeah, I think that that you know is making the public safety task force uh a more formal entity, is what we tried to accomplish by establishing the department without a doubt.

Um the task force is still going to rely on the strength of in the functions of some existing departments, for example, and I go back to my you know to where I came from recently, which is city planning with we have a zoning inspectors, we have building inspectors that go out, and but there is coordination that occurs with public safety task force.

I you know, some of that would continue.

We wouldn't hire duplicative roles, you know, to do those same functions.

We would just rely on those departments, but I think the task force would be um strengthened, you know, by having an official role as it as opposed to it just being one man per one man show, which is what it is today.

Right.

Okay, thank you.

Ms.

Councilman Currels.

One last question.

Uh just curious as to in in regards to the organizational chart.

How involved has the uh current um corrections you've been involved in and is this something they participated in?

Yes, uh making case, I think is who you're referring to, and she has been um critical, and um I'll give her accolades here amazing in her coordination and alignment with um getting the city manager's office, um me, the new public safety ACM um Klein um engaged and um aligned with uh with everything.

So, yes, she has been a critical part of this and with it every step of the way and has done a remarkable job.

Thank you, Councilman Graham.

Are um current corrections officers um organized under local 500?

They are okay.

This will be a pretty large influx to their membership, and I'm sure they're gonna want to have a say over policies that are gonna impact the safety of their members, and you know, these are gonna be pretty hard jobs anticipate.

Have you all been in conversations with them and also discussing that angle?

Yes, so the local 500 contract um requires um a notification time frame uh to review policies promulgated by departments.

We of course will align what's the CBA.

Yes, we've been in conversations.

In fact, we have um a meeting scheduled with local 500 next week to continue those conversations.

Local 500 is also currently in negotiations, and the um the positions that would be impacted have been part of those bargaining conversations.

Okay, thank you.

Any further questions?

Very none, thank you.

We'll proceed despite the hour with the um next presentation on World Cup 2026 and the city's preparation at least a fundamental.

Oh, found it.

Hello, I am Sheree Honeycutt, the press secretary for the city, and I'm joined by Jeff Martin, our assistant city manager, and John Hildebrand, our website manager, to present the Match Ready KC brand to you today.

So why match ready case?

So Match Ready K C is a unified communications umbrella for infrastructure readiness, public safety coordination, business activation, beautification efforts, operational planning.

It's one brand, one coordinated message, and it essentially shows the public everything we are doing to be match ready for the World Cup.

So, what are we using to um show this brand in its framework?

We're going off of informing, educating, and celebrating.

So we want to inform, providing clear updates on projects and timelines.

We want to educate in how we are doing those projects and the processes and operations that go into that, and we want to celebrate the successes that the city has worked on and highlight those progress and partnerships.

So it is readiness and action.

Match Ready Casey highlights visible progress across infrastructure and mobility, clean, safe, and beautiful Kansas City, public safety operations, public health and language access, aviation, visitor experience, parks and community programming.

As an example, I thought this photo was great.

It's a tour we recently did of the 18th of Lydia Garage, which is in the 18th and Vine District, which will be a project ready for World Cup.

So we are working on a website.

Um John Hildebrand has been a huge help in this effort, and um we have put that together.

It's meant to be a hub, and you can see this is a screenshot of what it will look like on your mobile device where you can explore city projects, look at business resources, resident information, uh, and it's mostly meant to act as a as a hub in terms of linking.

So, like we will not create um a calendar for events.

We will essentially link to the KC 2026 website, but just making sure people find what they're looking for when they're looking for it.

Um so it's going to centralize all of our updates in one place, house our our policies timeline and project information.

It's gonna provide a single access point for residents and businesses in the media.

It's gonna be ADA compliant and mobile accessible and also designed for clarity, clarity, consistency, and ease of use.

So part of the aspect of this is our open for business brand, which is under the match ready case umbrella.

Um this uh goes right in line with the resolution that the mayor put forward recently.

So the open for business brand ensures that we prepare for this global event by making sure construction continues wherever possible.

The businesses have clarity they need to do the work that they're working that they're doing.

That investment remains strong and temporary policies are clearly understood.

Preparation and progress happen together.

And so I'm gonna let our assistant city manager talk a little bit about our special permit area policy.

Yeah, good afternoon.

So uh during this time, we want to really ensure there was uh open and free movement for pedestrians, vehicular traffic, the streetcar, the bus system while uh all these visitors are in town, seeing our great city.

So within these these areas you see on the map here, we really have uh designated those as uh special permit areas uh to allow for us to uh restrict uh closures of lanes, sidewalks, uh still allow construction to go on that's under underway now, just not impact the right-of-way during that portion, so that we're not we're not blocking vehicular lanes, and these are really tied to the streetcar line, the uh vehicular movements, the bus systems, the uh the KC26 bus system getting to FanFest, getting to those those different uh park and ride hubs and getting out to the stadium to really ensure we have the movement around for everybody.

So we will have uh opportunities to allow for uh authorization of exceptions to this, obviously if there's emergency repairs that need to be done, uh, if there's public safety-oriented construction, we'll allow that to continue, but it's really then all also with the events, we'll continue to coordinate those uh through the KC26 uh event coordination as well as our staff to uh to authorize those as they move forward.

So it's kind of a quick overview on those aspects.

Thank you so much.

So, how we are going to communicate this.

We're going to publish a plain language FAQ outlining the timeline impacts and expectations for um the stakeholders.

We're going to launch an interactive map, which um shows you saw on the previous slide that highlighted section.

We're gonna use an ArcGIS map so people can search their address to know if their project falls within that area for the special permits, centralized information on the website, as I've mentioned, provide clear application requirements and contact information, conduct direct business outreach to contractors, businesses, and corridor groups, and make materials accessible through multi-language and printable documents.

So we'll have PDFs on the website and multi-language.

And the focus is predictability, clarity, and coordination.

So our intended outcome of the open for business brand is stakeholders will clearly understand how the temporary policy window works.

Contractors and businesses can plan confidently knowing this information.

Emergency and public safety rules will continue and are uninterrupted.

Uh economic activity will continue wherever possible.

Our operational readiness is protected during the World Cup, and Kansas City will remain open for business while ensuring safe and smooth execution of a global event.

As the mayor says, you can walk and chew gum at the same time.

So how are we going to share match ready KC online?

Um, beyond the um beyond the open for business brand, we are going to use that pillar format, the inform, educate, and celebrate for our social media.

And so this is just uh a view of what our post will look like.

You'll see the branding on there, it's got a different font, and um we're looking at doing a few different um a few different campaigns, one focused on infrastructure, one focused on obviously open for business, focusing on the employees who are doing the work behind the scenes to get us match ready.

And so we are just getting ready for kickoff, um, and we will continue working on that after our website launches, and I will take any questions you have.

Thank you, Councilwoman Robinson.

Um, thank you so much for this presentation.

Um, I am um curious about the how we're highlighting our neighborhoods.

I think the best benefit that we have are our neighborhoods and making sure that they're vibrant and making sure that we're navigating visitors to see the uniqueness of each neighborhood.

So I understand the economic focus on businesses, which is great.

Um, would you consider um a fourth campaign to really focus on the beauty and the uniqueness of our neighborhoods?

I think that's lovely.

I think that's a lovely suggestion, and I will get that, see if I can get that approved, and I I think that would be a wonderful way to show the world who we are.

Okay, thank you.

Councilwoman Boom.

Um so if someone applies through KC Event Hub, is that through the city?

So no, Casey Event Hub, I believe what you're talking about is perhaps the MARC calendar.

So the are you talking about like public events for the World Cup, like around the Metro?

Maybe maybe that's what it is.

So there is a um right now there is a MARC calendar that lives behind um a wall.

You have to get um access to it.

Um and that is getting ready to launch May 1st.

So I've been working hand in hand with the KC 2026 team and Mark, and um there's other things that I didn't go into here for for um lack of time or being respectful of time.

Um but as it relates to the um calendar, Mark is holding a calendar right now, and the goal for that is for it to be transferred over to the KC 2026 website and live there.

And so our goal is people are coming to us, maybe not thinking of KC 2026, just think you know, people find things all different ways.

If you post something on one website, people won't know it may be on another website or on a different channel.

So we want to make sure if someone's coming to our website and they're looking for information, even if we don't house it, they can find it.

Okay.

Well, and we have businesses in Waldo and other areas that are trying to host events and get permits, and I think it's they were applying and weren't being allowed to get permits, and we're trying to figure out you know who is not granting the permits and where is that you know coming from.

So it it sounds like maybe it's it's through Mark and not the city, but I think I know how to answer your question, but I don't think I have the information in my mind right now.

Okay so if you would have um if you would or Katrina can email me, and then I can get you the information about permitting for events.

Okay, yeah.

I think what we and I I won't speak for Councilman Duncan, but okay I can speak for him now.

Um is we want to make sure that especially in you know South Kansas City, Waldo, you know, Brookside area, where it's it's not as close to some of the fan events that we have the ability to continue to host events, to how do things that may be interactive with our our businesses, um, our residents that are not going to be limited because you know the these restricted areas elsewhere.

So I think that's what is important to our businesses is to make sure that there's some freedom to continue to have events and to host um gatherings.

Um and we are open for business outside of the the footprint of this.

Yes.

I didn't speak enough for him, so he wants to speak for himself.

Well, I have to know I have to throw, thank you, Mr.

Mayor, throw Martin City in there.

But also I think you know ensuring that we're that we're activating, right?

That our other business districts that aren't located in the zone and that they have, and I think I'm already confused, right?

So if I'm if I want to host a FIFA watch party in Martin City, do I have to get an application and permit through the city and then also through the Mid-America Regional Council and and Casey 2026?

How does that work?

I'm not sure on that.

I'll have to check into that.

So what the open for business is specifically for permitting for like construction work.

Um and so the event stuff, I think that's something we can definitely put together and make available to people, and I understand why that would be possibly a confusing process.

Some type of flow chart maybe or something.

Um would be nice.

And my follow-on question is similar to um Councilman Robinson.

Uh, you know, I know that we have a lot of events that are really kind of focused on watching the games, celebrating the games, um, that seem to be adult focused.

Um I think there are a lot be a lot of folks who also want to, you know, and I'm thinking, I hate to say this.

Mayor, forgive me.

Atlanta has a really good program for kids uh in regards to soccer matches for kids and thinking about how do we ensure that you know if you can't participate in a watch party because of alcohol or whatever, are there are there events, right?

And where do you find those?

I think that's a great question, and I'll definitely follow up with Casey 2026 to see if that's something that they're highlighting on their calendar, because perhaps um I'm not sure how they're going to structure it, but perhaps they have identifiers on those events to say, you know, maybe this is an adult only event or maybe this is a pet-friendly event or a child-friendly event.

So I think that's a really um good suggestion, and we can look at that.

Um just just to answer from a KC26 perspective, not a question, but for the mark, the Mid-America Regional Council that website, if we can make sure that those uh filters are in place that Councilman Duncan is talking about because they have the event, they're they're the hub where all the events are posted.

Yeah, and so like I said, they'll be they're posted there currently, but they're behind a wall.

And so what's going to happen is I think the date they're closing the submission for events is April 1st, and then May 1st it goes, well, it goes all to the Casey 2026 website.

Right.

So I'm just making sure the filters that Councilman Duncan is saying for kid friendly events with no alcohol, that type of thing, that they're in the mark, that they can filter it that way.

For kid friendly events with no alcohol, that type of thing, that they're in the mark, that they can filter it that way.

I will check.

I haven't seen it yet.

I've requested access to it.

So I have requested access, and I definitely know the people to make that request too.

So I will.

Okay that are generated from a few different items.

The first of which is just lived experience.

During the NFL draft, right, we received surprise notice to us that the Kansas City schools closed for two days.

That meant that thousands of parents were asking us why.

And then our answer was at best a mix of we don't quite know slash, well, we issued all the, you know, we permitted the closures in a given area.

And kind of similar to a lot of the answers I'm hearing now.

We said, well, we're gonna trust the sports commission to plan it all, we'll give them access.

And it it sucks for the people.

I'll be quite honest.

We have these great events.

The taxpayers of Kansas City, Missouri put 15 million dollars in to this, far more than the million bucks from the richest county in this region, Johnson County.

And what we're kind of telling people is either we'll figure it out, it's gonna be hard to have your event up, maybe be more candid than Councilwoman Boo, because you could sunshine and find the email too.

The Waldo people were like, can we be part of this?

And I don't think it's acceptable for us to just say, well, figure it out, or here's the right email and all that sort of stuff.

We need to completely reshape how we do these events.

Instead of telling everybody it's just gonna be the biggest thing in the world, it's not really for you unless you can get tickets and we'll have a drawing for it.

And yeah, team will be practicing in Swoke Park, but you probably won't get to see them, but maybe you'll get a chance.

Let's actually find some way to share to people how this will be good for normal people, not good in a trickle-down way.

And I can do trickle down with the best of them.

But the hotel will be full and everything else and everything else.

Maybe I'm thinking about this as a parent.

I got like I will have a five-year-old kid this summer.

Who is telling them where I can take my five-year-old kid during the day so that the World Cup isn't just for the people who will be at Arrowhead Stadium or the people with a golden ticket at one of the base camps.

That's that's like priority one.

Priority two is we have to stop telling people, and if we're gonna be a big city, we have to do this.

We we can't like suggest to everybody like things are being shut down.

And so appreciate match ready.

I'd almost rather just have like open for business.

It's cliched, but like just do it that way.

Of no, we're open, still come downtown in this magic blue area.

Like, yeah, still come.

We don't want to screw over midtown and half the east side and downtown and a part of the north land, and saying that, you know, yeah, you happen.

I mean, dear business on Stadium Drive, who probably actually kind of wants the business, you don't want people saying we're closed for business.

I want them to go to Avon Wall, uh on Wilson Park.

I want them to, you know, kind of go through all the steps.

So I like a chunk of it.

Uh, but what I would ask is even more than the particular businesses and people can get here or there, or even relying on KC2026 to do it for us, and God bless our board members, and God bless them.

But uh I think we are we're on our own in some ways.

I would hope that we actually go through the work, just tell people the city is open.

Frankly, almost everything's gonna be exactly the same, except for you know, this one time you can do this.

If you are in not to just pick on Waldo, but that's the email I saw, which got me to introduce an ordinance.

If you're in Waldo, right, then this should be additive to you, and less like you need to go through these steps, dear people of Waldo instead.

Oh, yeah, there are all these different ways that we can actually help you be part of it such that you're liberated to tell every other neighborhood group.

That's that's where I think we we desperately need to be and soon in terms of what we're doing.

I also have concern, and Modot and K Dot have already been hit with it on the construction side, and our friends, the heavy constructors and others have given comments about this fear of lots of people being sidelined during the whole time, too.

And so I would hope that we find a way to make sure construction work that we're sharing that there still will be construction work happening, that the trades aren't harmed by all of that.

Make one final point on events, because understood that this is a construction, or at least that's what Mr.

Martin described.

In the blue areas, this is the special permit area policy.

So on this, you need events and event permits.

So I mean, I guess the question is what is the universe of things that need an event permit?

I happen to live in this blue area too, I think.

Or maybe just outside, but let's just for the sake of argument say I do.

Um if we are putting event together in a park, um, when would I need the event and at what size and all of that?

So that we can also tell the people who want to do a good neighborhood thing on the 4th of July.

And are they still able to?

What's the story there?

Yeah, so so with that, they would go through the the typical process.

So if it's in the park, they'd reach out to the park department, uh, the park department would then coordinate uh through conventions and KC2026 on that area and ensure that it's not being utilized uh for another event already, and then uh then they can move forward with with those events.

So essentially the the events in that area go through our our review process within uh within conventions and then through uh KC26.

And what I want to make sure of, I appreciate that is that if let's say our friends in name your park somewhere in this area, say yeah, we're doing our our annual Fourth of July event.

So this last year they would have called the parks department and just said we're doing this and let us set up tables.

Now when they call parks, parks is gonna check with KC 2026, which seems like a potential for bureaucratic morass, but nonetheless, and then they will let them know what we will not just see as kind of a blanket ban unless the you can get to the public works director and email city council and kind of get it fixed.

We're not yeah, so what's those uh once those requests are received, we've already been receiving some of them.

So the parks department reaches out through uh through myself and uh assistance manager blinkly, we then coordinate up uh through conventions and then through uh KC26 on those on those events.

And what's conventions doing with or is it just that they have to have to get the do they do our events anyway, or what's their role with this services or so it's it's my understanding that they're they're overseeing as conventions and entertainment is overseeing the the the kind of the hub for those events is there they're the kind of the the ultimate gatekeeper for everything coordination wise for that.

So why are we creating additional gatekeepers for events services?

Dan like one not wanting to like close a street or a sidewalk, but like if I'm if I'm in neighborhood and I want to throw an event for FIFA and I try to do it the right way, and then I have to like jump through a bunch of administrative hoops, I'm just gonna do it anyway because it's I know for a fact the city's not gonna have enough resources to stop me.

So we should be making it easier to do events, not harder.

I think Director Gilmore just jumped on to see her there, and she would be a great person to answer these questions.

Go ahead, Director.

Uh hello everyone, Kamiko Gilmore, executive director for convention and entertainment facilities.

Um it is um uh it's I just want to make uh this clear.

Convention is not the hub for uh outdoor events.

KC Event Hub is the place where anyone would go to um um to uh to uh get permits and and all of those types of things.

The only thing that's different this time is that um because uh because there's going to be such a uh pressure on the uh first responders, they'll uh all the all the events will just have to put together a security plan.

It will be vetted by um PD, and then that would be um you know that would that then they would get the approval or not.

That's the only thing that would be different.

Um but it does not go through convention, but thank you, Jeff, uh, for that.

Um it it just the KC Event Hub is the place where everything will get um get vetted just as it has been over the last several years.

I I hope that creates some more clarity.

I mean, yeah, still some confusion, but you have we have more questions.

Councilman Ray.

So on the same line of questioning, and I'm a little more confused now.

I thought I'd heard the answer, uh, but I just want to make sure I understand because you know, Roanoke throws a really big Fourth of July party that they've done for years and they get all the stuff for it.

We do it on our block.

Uh the West Side, the entire West side is shut down, and I couldn't tell how much of the the West side is in the map, but probably parts of it.

Uh and they've done this for decades, and so I think that's something that we probably want folks from around the world to stay and participate in Fourth of July block parties, it's a very central American experience.

So what is the process for a neighborhood that wants to do their annual Fourth of July block closure, closed down the street, not a park.

Um, usually you got to get your signature 75% of the neighbors or whatever that is.

Is that process changing at all for them?

That process is not changing.

But so in essence, uh maybe their application isn't, but I'm hearing other steps.

But correct us if our so Roanoke neighborhood, I don't live in that one, but I go to their park a lot, right?

So they will apply for their annual Fourth of July with parks.

And parks will then send it to convention?

No.

No.

So what does it do?

They do not send it to convention.

Um they'll go through parks, the parks um process.

They don't have to come through us.

The only thing that we need to make sure that we have a an eye on is the the amount of security that may be needed for that.

And that's only because during this time there's gonna be limitations on KCPD and then and ambulance and different things like that.

So if that if that event is not if it's not a a event like a huge event, there's probably not going to be that concern because they're not going to need as much security.

So to the councilman's to the councilman's question of who makes that determination.

So I'm um remember the source of our problem is the Waldo issue, where yes, they reached out and said, and sorry, Cindy, yeah, you're a great neighborhood, though.

We love you that much, right?

Where they say we want to make sure we can invite people who live kind of far from some of the activations to this thing.

So they all apply, and then someone it is it just somebody sitting at parks who will uh if it's a park, but who will say yes or no?

Or I guess public works for the Waldo situation.

I mean, who who is making the determination that you articulate now?

If the event is going through KC event hub, all of those determinations will be made through that system.

The security event hub.

That's our event our outdoor event permitting process system that we were with um where we do races, um, outdoor festivals, different things.

That's that is the that is the start of the process.

You they that's that's where all of the um the permits and all of that, they will walk those events through that and then come together with all of those permits so that they can have an event with all of the with that has gone through all the processes to be a permitted event.

I'll turn it over to Councilman Punch.

I'll just I'll just point out this one concern.

I fear that in some ways we're all sitting with different policy perspectives, although I guess we're the policymakers, so we'll decide it.

Right.

I could see a case.

If you if you were thinking from the law enforcement perspective, or perhaps the Casey Event Hub perspective and all of that, and you want no distractions, then you would have few events.

I I understand the logic.

You would say, I want all the stuff focused on Arrowhead Stadium and the World War One Museum, that's where resources are, and thus all these other things are a distraction and can become an issue.

If you're a neighborhood person, or if to the I know before, if you're somebody who wants your five-year-old kid to go to a place close to you, then you may want more events.

I'm not yet seeing how we resolve that conflict, and I'm not sure we have set that up yet, other than there is a structure by which someone can apply.

But I will just warn you all now, as was already happening for us, too.

City council and others will get a lot of outreach from people who say we do this every year to Councilman Rayo's point, and why can we not?

What is the process?

What are the steps?

Councilman Bunch?

Um one thought I think block parties uh as an example.

So let me go back.

The the exceptions here are listed.

Party seems like one that could be added to this list of exceptions.

Um block party permits were carved out of traffic control permits.

Uh or I don't know what the history of it is, but we're similar to traffic control permit, but not quite like a full traffic control permit because it's like, well, why don't you just give us make it easier for us to have a block party?

Can we just add block parties as an exception?

So it seems like that's a big big point of contention for one, but I have a follow-up to that.

So so yeah, we we we can list that on there.

I think we do want public works to review and vet those before approval.

To your point, we we don't want a a block party to shut down, you know, grandpa.

Well, that's already that's already in the block party permit.

You can't shut down brand, it has to be like it's limited to like collector streets or something, isn't it?

Right, no.

That's a good point.

But we just want to be mindful of it within within these areas.

But to your point, yeah, that this is not really intended to to uh impact block parties per se.

So it could be added in here.

Okay, and then are there uh just one more follow-up?

Um I'm thinking of like you know, your local 5k races.

I think there's one on the 4th of July, or at least there used to be one in uh uh loose park, maybe it's not anymore within this window.

What's gonna happen with those?

Are we just saying no to yeah, running races and things?

No, they're they just have to go with the additional review process, and uh director Gilmore can jump in if she has the initial information.

So there's a okay, I understood there's the process to review it.

Thanks.

I'm sorry, Councilman Robinson.

So thank you.

Um so with this particular map, the blue areas, are they uh related to um any street closures?

So the the blue areas are intended to not allow street closures during this time.

Okay, so to not allow street closures during this time, so people will have access to the okay.

So this long line that goes all the way east, it looks like to the stadium.

Is that Lynnwood?

Uh it's uh it should be 31st in Lynnwood, is what what it encompasses.

So essentially the the east-west connector uh heading over to the stadium.

Okay, I'm trying to make sure people aren't landlocked and that they can get around the city.

Um, and so can you speak to any row closures from especially from Fanfest to the stadium?

Are there going to be row closures for um like you know, caravans and things of that nature?

So uh at this time I do not believe that KC2026 plans on having any road closures for their transportation routes.

There will be some limited closures around the fanfest area and also around the stadium itself, but the intent of these areas marked in blue is to uh ensure that they actually stay open for vehicular traffic, not only for the buses but for those residents who live in that area who travel through there um on a daily basis.

Okay, all right, councilwoman French, uh going back to construction and the the open for business.

Um, how are we working with other jurisdictions like Modot and and other entities?

Um, because they want to be open for business as well.

But how are we coordinating and working with them so we don't have um major closures or bottlenecks or you know, working on major bridges and shutdowns specifically in the northland and people coming from airports and right, yeah.

So uh so we've been coordinating with uh with with Modot um throughout the entire process since it was first announced.

So uh I believe the vast majority of the MODAP projects actually have a clause in those contracts where they'll actually uh have the uh the thoroughfares open during that time.

There are obviously gonna be some exceptions, you know, the emergency bridge closure on on 169, which was just not planned.

Um, but but their contracts are structured so that allow the those access points open to allow free flow as well.

So thank you.

Councilman Rogers, yeah.

Just a reminder on the uh NFL draft, there was so much excitement around that, and then we funneled everybody into Union Station, and most of the benefit went to out of state vendors, and that was fine.

It's still a great event and made our city a spotlight city, and that was a good thing, but there's a lot of disappointment afterward, and we know that now, and now we've got hundreds of thousands more people coming to our city now than we had for the NFL draft, and that's a wonderful opportunity for our city.

So to me, and I'll add to that, my friend Lindsay or councilman French and I is friends in the Northland and and other smaller municipalities, they're chomping at the bit.

They want people to come to their city, they'd probably let them have a parade every day there if they wanted to during the World Cup.

I imagine our friends across the state line are the same way.

So I think this is a really good opportunity to say hey, there's and and the 650,000 number is probably low with these great base camps we've got coming, and they're gonna stay here longer.

And I I heard actually speaking of parades, I heard the Dutch that's all they do is walk around and breeds for fun.

So this is a really special opportunity for our city.

And if the Dutch want to have parades, and I'm saying that halfway silly but halfway serious.

I hope they're doing it in our city in the in the denser part of our city and not going across the state line or not going to some of the municipalities.

So to me, we ought to say, you know what?

We're so glad that you're here.

What can we do to make your neighborhood the place people are coming to enjoy Kansas?

Amen.

Any further questions or comments?

Thank you also very much.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

There's a request for a closed session.

I believe the motion would probably be personal to sections one, two, three, and twelve.

Is there a motion?

Um mayor, I moved we go into closed session pursuant to 16th outlum of the five sections in Missouri of sections one, two, and twelve.

Second.

Harry None the clerk called the role.

Raya.

Aye, bunch, curls, who Duncan O'Neil?

Willett French?

Aye, Rogers, Patterson Hasley.

Hi, Robinson.

Hi.

Lucas.

I close session briefly.

Yeah.