Welcome to the January thirteenth um meeting of the city commission.

Um you please call the role.

Oh shoot, and I forgot what Jason said already.

Chelsea, would you call the role, please?

Mayor Adam Track?

Here.

Commissioner McCullough, yes.

Commissioner Fox.

Here.

Commissioner Morrison.

Here.

Commissioner Von Lentel.

Here.

Mayor, we have five commissioners present.

The quorum of three is met.

Thank you.

Um could you please join me in saying the Pledge of Allegiance?

I pledge allegiance of the United States of America.

And the Republic for which it stands.

Thank you.

Our first item on the agenda today is to appoint a commissioner to the Riley County Law Board.

This person will be uh completing the term of former Commissioner Matta.

And um we had a brief discussion last week.

The Commissioner Morrison is interested in this position.

Uh is there anyone else on the commission who is interested?

And Commissioner Morrison, can you um just give us an idea of why you are interested in this position and what your qualifications are.

Well, I was on the first law board in nineteen seventy, whatever.

Um practice law here for fifty-three years.

Have been involved with law enforcement for the fifty-three years in various forms.

I think I have an idea of what accountability and responsibility to the community is.

Um I think I can bring maybe some critical issues that need to be discussed.

So that's my plethora of information.

Someone pointed out something interesting to me today in that um there's sort of an inherent conflict of interest with commissioners, both county and city being on the law board, in that as a member of the law board, you have a fiduciary responsibility to uh be clear about their budget and uh and yet as a city commissioner you also have a responsibility to be concerned about our budget.

How will you handle those competing interests?

Well, I would I would assume the city commissioner's going to give me some instruction to what they think reasonable financial ability is.

At times I've even leaned to the fact that because of that issue, we ought to have three commissioners that can speak for the budgeting process for both rather than two laymen.

The lay folks there are doing a good job, and I don't see that's a time now, but and I do know it rotates and the next time around there may be two city commissioners and one layperson.

Um but um there are inherent conflicts in finances.

Yeah.

I I think next time around it'll be two city commissioners and two lay people appointed by the city.

We get go four and three back and forth.

Um I you know, I think that you you've expressed a lot of good reasons.

Um I would just say that would I think it'd be nice if we had more than one woman on the law board.

We um you know need to have some representation from the female too.

Well, I can tell you I'm not apparently the exception because I get a lot of women calling telling me what they think I ought to do.

I didn't, you know, I'm not trying to detract from your counteresse, I'm just saying we need to think about these things, and women do hold up half the sky, so is there anyone from the public who would like to make a comment on this issue?

I think we have to decide if we're gonna allow public comment.

Um tonight is actually a legislate a legislative meeting, so it's already on there that will have public comment.

Okay, so since this is a special city commission meeting for this specific item.

Yeah, but it does say if if allowed not this one.

No, I think it says is allowed related to the item is allowed.

Okay, it is if allowed, yeah.

Is there anyone who'd like to make public comment on this issue?

Commissioners, are we all in favor of appointing Commissioner Morrison to the law board?

I think we just need a motion.

So I would move that we appoint uh Commissioner Morrison to the Riley County Law Board.

To fill the unexpired to fill the un you know, to fill the unexpired term of uh Commissioner Mata.

I second.

Okay.

Chelsea.

Commissioner McCullough, yes.

Commissioner Fox.

Yes.

Commissioner Morrison.

Yes.

Commissioner Von Lentel.

Yes.

Mayor Adam Chak.

Yes.

Motion passes five to zero.

Thank you.

Um, our next item is to discuss commission appointments.

Uh type out there that I didn't catch earlier, uh, to external and/or city boards and committees.

Um, this is just an opportunity for us to express interest in serving on a number of the different committees.

There are several where we are required due to our position on the commission to represent the cities.

So, for example, the mayor is a member of the community liaison group for NF.

Um, I will also be a member of the uh library board of directors as a voting member, and a member of the board of directors of the chamber of commerce as a non-voting member.

Anybody?

I'd move the three that you have listed for yourself being the uh in Bath, the library and the chamber of commerce that you'd be appointed for those three or designated.

One second that okay.

I don't think this will be coming back next week.

I don't believe we need to take a motion, a vote on it at this time.

This is more an opportunity for us to share our interests and express our willingness to serve.

That is correct, Mayor Adam Jack.

Thank you.

Um so Commissioner Villintel last week you expressed interest in the um Flint Hills Area Transportation Agency.

Are you still willing to serve on that board?

Yes.

Okay.

Anyone object?

Okay.

Uh Commissioner Morrison, do you have interest in another board or uh well as a newbie I'm learning a lot here, and I think with the law board.

If it's critical, I'd be willing to serve, but I just assume keep those two intent for that.

Okay.

Um there are several you might just consider there are several boards where it's suggested we have an alternate.

So for example, I have occasionally sat in for Karen.

Um I did sit in for Commissioner Ophelt once last year.

So let's circle around back to that in a minute.

Perhaps you'd be willing to be an alternate.

Just this ensures that boards can make a quarrel.

Certainly.

Okay.

Commissioner Fox.

So a couple of them, like the housing authority board.

I've got a lot of experience with housing and residential subject over the years, so I'd be willing to serve on that board.

I'd also be willing to serve on the uh municipal audit board if you so chose.

We've got some experience with budgeting and numbers, and so if you so choose.

Okay.

Everyone acceptable.

Okay.

Commissioner McCullough.

Um I'm one of the as ex I'm on the visit Manhattan Steering Committee as Mayor Pro Tem.

Are you interested?

Will you maintain your presence on Regional Council?

Yes.

Okay.

I'm treasurer.

Okay.

Um so the one that is outstanding is the Flint Hills Metropolitan Planning Organization.

I was thinking I'd be interested in doing that since I'm doing the other.

Well, yeah, I think they I think it makes sense to pair them.

I think you're right.

Okay.

So Chelsea, do you have the list of um what time uh the MPO policy board meets?

It meets at 3 30 on the third Wednesday.

I just wanted to verify.

And that's that is one almost all of these meet.

Um it's possible to zoom in, even though that's not stipulated on our list here.

But well, thank you all, but appreciate your willingness to serve.

Um, the two where we would like to have, or sorry, I guess there's three.

Um, where we'd like to have an alternate would be the policy board, um, the metropolitan uh uh the ATA board and the regional council.

So I could I'd be an alternate to Andrew on the MPO board.

Okay, thank you.

And I can continue as an alternate on the Flint Hills Regional Council.

Um Commissioner Morrison, would you be willing to uh serve as an alternate on the transportation board?

The uh the at a bus, the Flint Hills area transportation.

Sure.

Okay, great.

You might ask the other.

Well, thank you all very much for um continuing your service to the community by uh learning about these organizations.

Is there any public comment on this subject?

Okay, seeing none, we will move on to our next item.

I've managed to misplace my agenda.

Uh yes, we will be hearing from uh Mr.

DeWitt about the wastewater uh treatment expansion plan.

Okay, good evening, Mayor and Commissioners.

Glad to be back here in front of you today.

Uh talk about this project once more.

Uh we were here uh well I'll get to that here in a second, but uh so first I want to talk a little bit about who we have here today.

Um obviously this is gonna be a little bit of repetitive information for Mayor Adam Chack and Commissioner McCullough.

A lot of this information is gonna be some just going back and reviewing uh some of the things that came to this date for the new commissioners.

I know that we had a nice tour of the facility and staff got to present some of the particular items that are within the scope of this project, uh, but we have the technical experts here to really dive into some of that if if need be.

Uh but a lot of the information might be repetitive, and I apologize.

But uh really just the last time we met, we were somewhere in between 30 percent and or sorry, the 60 percent, 90 percent uh development of the project, developing cost models for the project.

So that's a good point to come and reintroduce the project because we hadn't talked about it for some time at that point.

Uh we knew that uh in the sh in the coming future the next steps would be we were developing that 90% cost model uh going out and the and our CMAR contractor was gonna go out and solicit bids, start to develop that uh guaranteed maximum price, and dialing in that number, that cost, and then we would be coming back to you soon to uh approve that amendment to the contract so that we can start the project.

And so the other component of this work session items presentation is just to really outline some of the happenings since then, the processes we went through to get bids, and really what that what that dollar amount is we anticipate it's going to be.

So we have to have a draft GMP proposal from uh Crosslin or CMAR.

Um they're gonna tell you a little bit more about some of the factors that went in the developing that decisions we made over the course of the last uh month and a half, two months to to dial in that price to get it to be the most economical, the most valuable project for us.

So with us today is Corolla Engineers.

Garrett Sheehan is our project manager, lead designer.

He has been heavily involved with almost all the major plant expansion or improvement projects at both water plant and the wastewater plant recently, going back to the uh 2010 expansion and upgrade at this wastewater treatment facility, been involved in a couple with the water plant as well, also very heavily involved in facility planning that we did in 2016 or 2017, 18, 2019.

So very familiar with our plants.

He's a he's an expert on water and wastewater treatment, uh just a general expert in all all things.

He does work with these type of facilities all throughout the country.

So Corolla in general, we work with them a lot because they are one of the nation's foremost water and wastewater engineers.

That's all they do.

Uh so they are they are one of the top echelon consultants when it comes to water and wastewater.

Um also on the team is Mike Millius with Olson.

Mike's out of the Kansas City area.

Olson was brought in to help with some of the site civil at various locations in on the Bile Salds farm.

They also have a lot of experience dealing with the core, they were involved with the the levee project with any permitting as well as uh any utility relocations related to the levee, so they have a lot of expertise in dealing with the core and trying to get projects done and within that critical zone of the levy.

So they'll also be heavily involved when it comes to project inspections when we get into construction phase.

And then Joe Barnes is with Crossland Heavy, he's our project manager for the CMAR, the construction manager at risk.

So I was asked to give really a timeline of some of the history of this project.

Uh it's not something that's new.

This is something we've been working on for almost four years now, starting with uh soliciting uh request for qualifications for our engineering consultants.

Uh when we put that out, we got two respondents.

One was Corolla and the other, I believe was H an HDR team with Banesh.

Um so we selected uh Corolla.

We uh authorized an agreement with them in September 22, basically to do pre-preliminary design and help us with the CMAR selection process.

And fast forward to uh February 2024, that's when we we went out and solicited uh requests for qualifications, request proposals for the construction manager at risk, and we had a selection committee that got together, we reviewed uh four submittals uh for that particular part of the project, that team member.

We whittled that down to two uh two teams to interview and ultimately selected the uh the crossland heavy team.

Um they have obviously a wealth of experience both at water and wastewater treatment facilities, they have branches that deal with vertical construction.

Uh they're they're active here in town, they've got a lot of experience in the junction city water and wastewater treatments.

Uh if you notice uh the expansion that's going on in the hotel at Blue Earth Plaza, their vertical construction companies working on that big project as well.

So a lot of construction experience.

Um it was a qualifications-based selection, but they also had to submit cost proposals where they provided their fees for their pre-construction services, and then they had to list a percentage fee that they would take that would be essentially, I guess, an overhead and profit over the final cost of the project.

And so they weren't the lowest for as far as pre-construction services, but they were the lowest as far as the percent fee on the CMAR project.

Uh they were at 7.5%, the other one was at 10%.

So we proceeded to working with working with Crosslin as a part of our uh team from the 30% mark till now.

And then we brought an amendment to engineering services with Corolla in October of 2024.

And just as an upcoming item, we will have an amendment with them here in the next couple weeks so they can they'll be a part of the construction administration process.

And then Olson, as I mentioned, will be part of the inspection team.

Just to highlight just these numbers here to date, we've spent about 2.3 million dollars, a little bit more than that for design and pre-construction services with Crossland.

One thing I forgot to mention in the information I provided to you, we also did pre-procure a dredge for our biosolids farm.

That was a previously identified CIP project that goes well back to before we did a facility plan, and it's just something we've been putting off for years, knowing we were gonna have a bigger project that we needed to upgrade that facility as well before we brought that new dredge on.

We actually pre-procured that back in March at a cost of 382,000 dollars and some change.

So that was delivered.

We wanted to make sure that it was here and available for this upcoming spring application season because the dredge we have it's held together with band-aids and duct tape.

So most application season it fails, and we have to find some other solutions.

So that purchase was pre-paid was paid for with cash, but in the grand scheme of things, we will likely try to include that with any financing we do for the project.

So that's just a little background of of how long we've been working on this project.

I'll go through a few of the project goals, but I'll let I'll let uh Garrett come up here in a minute and really talk about some of the details.

But uh in our walkthrough with the plant, you know, we kind of reiterated this really isn't driven by any specific federal regulation like some of our last projects are, but is as definitely intended to help us to meet regulations in the future.

Uh the primary goal of this project is stated in that top line, it's to improve performance, redundancy, resiliency, and reliability.

So this is a true capital improvement project.

We we are investing in our infrastructure because if you're not investing in it, you know, you don't do it now, it's only going to cost us more down the road.

But that redundancy, one of the major major major components of this project is redundancy.

We talked about the DAF system, and if it goes out, we're in trouble.

It was really only intended to be a system that we use for three months out of the year, and we've found that with the recent upgrades and the biological nutrient removal process, we have to run that thing 11 months out of the year, with the other month being when it's down for for maintenance.

So just reiterating that you know most of the project scopes, most of the scope items within this project, they came from a facility plan that was done in in 2019 that was an effort between city staff, Corolla engineers, and I believe Banesh was a part of that.

Um there are a few projects, like I mentioned the dredge that were CIP projects that either predated or came in after that that facility plan, talking about um SCADA system upgrades.

You saw the the screen and the system that that is basically the brains of the operation.

That server is many years old.

Uh every time the operators have to reboot that, they have to cross their fingers and do a special dance to make sure it's re reboots and starts up.

We're working on a temporary emergency solution, but this project is also going to include that scope about it's almost a half million dollar CAP project to replace those servers.

So projects like that where we knew we're gonna have a consultant on board, a contractor on board, so we're gonna lump these projects in.

So just just kind of trying to reiterate that that you know these are these are needs, they're not wants.

Um we talked about you know, extending the life of this facility, some other improvements that we worked into, we're actually gonna extend fiber to the facility.

And and just to note that we've also actually removed some major scope items from the project that you know over the course of 30% design, we we realized they weren't cost feasible.

So we intended to have a third lagoon at the biosolids farm.

We have two now.

A third we found out was gonna be pretty expensive and really didn't see realize the benefits from that cost.

So we removed it.

We know that down the road, if we need to, we can actually reprogram that in the CIP.

Uh and there's just a couple other smaller things that we've already done due diligence and try to evaluate the scope of this project and try to make sure it's we're only getting what we need.

So uh with that, I'm probably gonna turn it over to Garrett Sheehan with Corolla.

So come on up.

Thank you, Randy, Commissioners, Mayor, thank you for having me.

I'm Garrett Sheehan with Corolla Engineers in Kansas City, Missouri.

Um Randy, thank you for the gracious introduction.

It gets better each time.

But I do have a lot of history with uh wastewater treatment plant facilities, and I want to give you a bit of a history of how it's grown over time.

Um in 1974 was the first time the plant was built.

It was built with a capacity of 6.2 million gallons a day.

And for context, a million gallons a day is about 10,000 people.

So every time you see 6.2, that's 62,000 people.

Um at the same time, the bile solids farm on the south side of the Kansas River was built.

That's where the biosolids are disposed after they're processed in 1998 with the growth of Manhattan.

There was an expansion to 8.4 MGD where the facility grew to the east.

This is the last time that solids improvements were uh made at the plant.

Um that's the project we're doing today.

So it's been over 20 years since we've actually touched the 2004 improvement projects and upgraded those.

Um in 2013, we designed a uh a further capacity upgrade and also did improvements that complied with Kansas Department of Health and Environment requirements for nutrient regulations.

So there was a regulatory driver for this project, very big capacity regulatory and improvements.

So at this point, we have a plant that serves 110,000 people and meets all of KDG regulations.

The plant performs very well.

I would say it's in the top 10 of the entire state when you consider all of the different things it needs to do.

So a testament to plant staff.

Oh, Mayor.

I know we we got in trouble in about 1999 with the EPA with our sludge, and we had to waste um I wouldn't let Dr.

Durrard talk about any problems in 1999 about that.

But um I know in the past decade uh the Bios program has won many awards for its bile salads application program, a testament to the people that work the farm and Dr.

Durard and his management of that program.

So we got fined.

He is he's been doing this for 20 something years, so I'll be happy to provide you with uh more information about the situation, but you're right.

1998 uh we hit with the EBA action, and we had to pay penalty for that.

And um, but I'm happy to report to you that it would change course.

Uh, one of the main factors at the time we didn't have the land resources.

All we have is 99 acres.

Okay.

At the present time, we have 600 acres.

We have have more land to break with so we were putting too much on the acreage.

Well, and that we said the other day that from 1974, I was hired in 1995.

So from 74 to 95, there were a blank sludge every year, every year, and that those 99 acres.

Okay.

You can imagine what happened to the soil.

There was elevated num uh nutrients, and the groundwater is very shallow, about 10 feet.

So the groundwater also was contaminated because nitrate is soluble.

But uh we went through that.

It was not was not the best times, it was very hard.

But uh as you probably know, we won many awards here for the Basol Program of the Year by the Kansas uh uh Water Environments Association, and that's passed behind us.

Thank you, thank you.

Yeah, I just wondered if it it it really wasn't the plant issue, it was the where we were putting the sludge that was the biosolid, the by product of the process, yeah.

Sorry to bother you.

This is your presentation.

Um I I enjoyed the the tour that we took for the facility, and I just I think it's just really well run and just look everything looks clean and it smells good, and you're like it should smell worse than it doesn't.

So it's good.

Well, the plant staff works hard to maintain that, so they do a great job, and they've always done a great job.

So part of this project is the autonomy to give them the ability to keep doing that, keep addressing everything Dr.

Rard just talked about, giving a program that continue to be award-winning and keep Manhattan in the map is a very positive environmental steward.

Um probably should advance to the slide.

This was the slide where all the sludge that is processed at the plant goes, it's stored and then land applied across Dr.

Durrar said 600 acres.

Uh the city made the move to purchase the land versus lease the land.

So that again meets the autonomy goal of this, and so complete control of the biosonds application to make sure we're always compliant with EPA regulations in this.

Um when the RFP came out for this, as uh Mr.

DeWitt noted, we did propose in this.

What we did is we took the city's requests for what they wanted to see in a project and develop a roadmap so we could all be clear about what we wanted to see.

So this reflects the city's desires at the time.

Um fortunately, the city did select us to continue, so we took this as the roadmap, and um over the course of time as we developed this with the help of uh Crossland as our CMAR to help bring construction and contractor experience into the decision making process.

Um I'm not gonna go through each of these.

That's probably not time, and we don't want to go into those level of details, but we are touching so many parts of the plant.

Parts of the plant we haven't touched in 20 years, parts that if you saw the tour, some of them are starting to get at the end of their life at 20 plus years.

Just imagine your car for 20 years, things start to break down.

So we're trying to address those things to replace them, give redundancy and get resiliency and give the city the power to make sure they're always meeting permit and always complying with regulations.

So a lot of items here.

I'd be happy to discuss any one of them with you, but for the sake of time, we'll keep advancing and talk about improvements at the farm.

Mr.

Mr.

DeWitt already talked about the slug dredge replacement.

We originally had scope two, we're down to one that has been pre-procured and is uh on site.

Um there's other improvements around there just to make it easier for plant staff to do their job.

Um at this point, I'm gonna pass it over uh to Mr.

Barnes.

He's gonna talk about the uh cost model development and the contractor involvement in this project.

Question you said our we have a capacity of about 110,000 people right now.

Roughly an equivalent, 11 MGD, 10,000 people, yeah.

And we actually serve how many 54?

Yes, our population.

Our population.

We are a regional provider of wastewater treatment services.

So we do collect wise water from the very quickly growing area in Blue Township.

Okay.

Um every every year when we we provide information to the state, we actually we give them a just a population of you know our system, people that utilize our system.

Abdu, I think let's think it's about yeah, our service area, and it's well over 100,000, right?

For give or take.

Well uh we have the best number I have is okay.

Well, yeah, the so obviously between what we bring into the community from Walmigu and people that come and work, the people that we serve in wholesale districts, it's substantially more than just what the city of Manhattan population is.

Right.

So are we are we pushing the limits or uh uh as as far as bioslaws operation and our plant capacity?

No, we're not.

We have plenty of room for growth.

Okay.

Um this project really isn't about expanding our capacity so much.

So thank you.

Yeah, um, plant average flows are around six plus MGD right now, so people are using less water than they have in the past.

So some of those general rules of thumb of 10,000 people per MGD, they vary depending on water usage and the type of water and how they how that water comes into the plant from blue township or otherwise.

I'd have a question.

If I remember the chart fast enough when Randy went through it, it appears that your company's fees to design this a little over two million dollars.

Is that correct?

That's correct.

And even with your past experience, we start over on these kinds of projects because from what I understood you're doing, you're adding a big storage tank and you're updating several different processes.

Is that correct?

Yes.

Good evening, Mayor, Commissioners, Joe Barnes, Carlson Heavy.

Um be the project manager for the pre-construction phase, and I wanted to walk through you know what the pre-construction phase, what our services encumbered.

So our contract was you was with you, the city of Manhattan, right?

And we're partners with Corolla as as side teammates throughout this process.

Um so one of the tasks in the the CMAR contract is to go through and give the city cost models at certain design intervals.

So your contract with us was to give you a cost model at 30% design, 60% design, 90% design, and then at 90% design to give you a guaranteed maximum price.

So a cost to do the entire project that we won't come back to the to the council for additional funds.

So a couple other tasks that that uh we provide services that we provide is value engineering.

So we look at the the state of the design 306090 and offer you the city and the design team constructability feedback.

Um, a couple of them.

We rotated the dot digested sludge pump station to avoid some major electrical inter infrastructure.

Um we we helped uh facilitate you know where the the digester location is, how to preload that, some other constructability things throughout the the project.

Um we also provide um a construction schedule to help the design team and help you understand, you know, what is this process gonna look like, how long is it gonna take, what is the order that we're gonna we're gonna do these tasks, and then that helps the design team also on the the back side to develop how much time are they gonna need to provide for doing inspections and quality control on the project.

So as we mentioned the GMP, that's a uh a price and not to exceed, right?

And so since we're um we don't have full design drawings, we're entering into this contract with you guys to build this for a price standard practices to have allowance and contingencies.

Um so allowances and contingencies help us mitigate things that you know can't be quantified, things that you know haven't fully been designed, things that we may encounter in the project as as the project commences that nobody was aware of, right?

So tariffs are one that have been talked about you know a lot in in the in the past, price escalations.

Are there things that we may not uh foresee now that you know a year from now are gonna are gonna cause some issues?

So with these being built into the project, you know, we obviously won't have to come back and and request additional funds.

Um there's some allowances for items that didn't make sense to put in a specific bid package that us as the CMAR are gonna take care of.

Um and then obviously as the the design goes to 100%, there may be modifications in the design that we need to account for.

Um our stance on allowance and contingencies, we're always gonna ask and work with the project team to you know give detail of why they need to be spent, and then our philosophy at Cross on Heavy is at the end of the job, that's not money that we can take as extra profit.

We're gonna give that back to the city, and you're gonna realize that uh question.

Sure.

So let me be quick clear on the contingency.

It looks like it's about two and a half percent.

Correct.

Uh so unexpected expenses, eat that up.

Yep.

Then anything above that you guys eat.

Correct.

As far as yeah, we're we're taking the risk, right?

We're saying at 90%, we feel like this is the appropriate amount of contingency to take that risk to build the project for you.

Just be clear on that.

Correct.

Correct.

I I guess just kind of clarify it.

This is really our first experience with using CMAR for a utility project at one of these large facilities.

We've used CMAR projects in the past at other locations.

Generally, there become time where you might find a scope item that we've decided we wanted to maybe look at further and incorporate out of the project.

That would be more a time where you could potentially come as an amendment.

Um we've done this with various projects, such as probably the CCO park project, uh, the parking garage, or not maybe not the parking garage, but some stuff in Aggieville, you know.

When those when those bigger picture things come that are really changes of scope, that would then transition into like a change order type amendment where we're gonna come and present stuff like that to you.

The idea is hopefully we will avoid those, and that's the plan.

So I have an observation or a question, I guess, Randy, or Mr.

Barr.

When you took the statement and showed the other ballot, what would be exceptions, in other words, undiscovered.

I would assume with high-powered engineers, designers, and contractors, you've looked at the soil before you made a bid.

So I would think there should be very few, if any, change orders because of a design problem, because that's a design problem that you eat.

Is that a fair statement?

Sure.

There's obviously the the plant's been around a long time.

There have been upgrades, there have been you know repairs that have been done to the plant.

So there's there's always the risk that something has been placed in the ground that didn't get documented into an as built, which then the design team wouldn't have known to put that on the plans.

And so if it's an unknown, right, that's where we would, and we encounter it.

Um we would use our allowance or our contingency to take care of that, right?

And the other thing, your fee so the public knows that I assume public will never see the light of day of most of this, they can find it if they want, I understand, is million and a half bucks to make sure that Corolla knows what they're doing in the sub.

Did you take the bids from the subs?

We did, yes, as the construction manager, our task is to facilitate the bidding process, and I can walk you through that.

So we have a uh electronic platform, it's called CivCast, and it's a platform where we put the plans and specifications, we develop the the bid package that you see on the screen here.

Um we solicit that to the market, we call, we invite our trusted partners to bid on those, um, and it goes into this uh proprietary software CivCast.

And even though we are hosting that, we can't see any of the bids until the bid opening.

So it's a completely separated process, and we'll get into it in a little bit, but uh there were bid packages.

We're a self-performed contractor.

You know, we want we want some of this work, we want to do some of this work, and we have to competitively bid.

We have to put a bid in just like everybody else into the CivCast software.

So that that answered your question.

Well, two things.

One, I wanted to make sure the public understands it's a million and a half.

We're paying you to be a supervisor.

But I I'm told that's the seems to be a customary number we've learned to live with.

Is that correct?

Sure.

I mean, we we do this all across the Midwest, right?

And we're bidding against competition.

We have to evaluate the project, and we have to come up with what we think our fee is going to be before we even see planned specs.

And as you heard earlier, there was there was two bids, and our fee was significantly cheaper than the our competitor.

So when so of the subcontracts, how many is your company doing?

So we'll get into that.

We bid on, we put in bids on six of the bid packages.

How many are in your we only we only got two?

And we talk about conflict of interest.

Who's going to check you to make sure you do your good work because you're checking everybody else?

Sure.

Um, that's why the city has hired Corrollo.

They they've we we sent them our cost model at the 30%, 60%, 90%.

We sent them the GMP.

We've went through it.

Um we're fully transparent of how many lines are in our cost model, hundreds and hundreds.

It's a detailed cost model that you know we're not trying to hide anything.

I didn't say you were.

Okay, no.

Things can go bad.

The question is who's going to call you on the fact that you screwed your part of it up.

Sure.

Is that Corolla?

Or is that you guys had project manager in that part of your job?

We have to complete that scope of work for what we bid it.

It's in the it's in the the GMP.

It's a scope of work that we're going to complete for a set lump sum amount.

So we have to we have to do that scope for that amount.

Thank you.

Sure.

Um, so through the bidding.

Go ahead.

Sorry.

No, I would just point out that I've been involved in several of these type arrangements with the university with various construction projects up there, and I think it went very well.

I I think they work very well.

Uh your fee seems to be in line with the fees that we paid for various projects.

So and uh to your point of him overseeing construction, we always look to the architects to oversee the contractor.

Sure.

Uh and we even went as far as hiring our own consultant to oversee everybody.

So you're you're all kind of overseeing each other.

And yeah.

A lot of times these partnerships, you we would have Corolla be our design engineer in many CMAR projects.

You would you would have another consultant come on board as like the owner's rep.

In this instance, we really just we relied on Corolla to come back and be our owner's rep during the construction process.

Like I mentioned, we'll come back for an amendment to bring in Corolla to be our construction administration's uh engineer.

We'll have Olson as our inspector.

So that team, that collaborative team will continue, and and there will be checks and balances even between the city as the owner, Garolo as our owner's representative.

So there's really like Joe Joe mentioned, there's complete transparency through the process.

As the owner, as our as our owner's representative, we have access to every piece of information, and we can we can check it whenever we want.

So the 21 million dollars in the bottom dollar for the project, if we add Croller for being in the inspector in Olson, is that correct?

Yeah, that's correct.

Any idea of what those fees might be, or have you asked them?

Um well it I mean, there's just generally there's general percentages you can expect for a project based on the construction costs, like a 25 million dollar project.

You can expect between 10 and 15 percent design fees.

That's kind of what we when we're checking scoping fees from our various consultants, we're trying to make sure that it falls within that range so we know we're not being gouged.

Like I said, what we've what we've spent with Corolla to date is within that 10% range.

I think we're like 9%.

So you know our our ability to monitor that really goes back to our experience on other projects plus general industry standards where you know that you're looking for that general range just to make sure they're not out of line.

And you know, he said very similar with with CMAR fees.

I would imagine Joe can talk to a little bit about if this wasn't a CMAR project and if it was just a design bid, you know, we we accept bids, they're doing a very similar thing where they're the general contractor, but they're managing subs.

Anytime a sub has a cost, they're taking a percentage of that as overhead and profit.

And really, I think I would akin some of these CMAR fees to you know that's their that's their fee for managing all the subcontractors and you know overhead and profit.

I'm I don't want to speak for Joe, but that's kind of my assumption.

I'm assuming he would say it's not substantially different than a traditional design bid project, which we've done uh on majority of our large scale projects like this.

Yeah.

Can we jump to the pricing summary slide?

Is that on the rest of the yes we may sorry?

Yes, we may proceed through the presentation.

All right.

Okay.

So it was as part of our CMAR process.

Obviously, we we've got into this, but we developed bid packages and right.

We looked at the the scope of work and developed these bid packages so we could get the most participation, right?

We didn't lump a lot of scopes together so that another general contractor was gonna get these, right?

We're we're looking for trusted um very professional subcontractors to to do these scopes of work.

And so we we came up with 24 bid packages on on the the subcontractor side.

Now there's also equipment, there's major equipment that is gonna be purchased through this process.

And we wanted to separate that because we feel like the owner gets the best value by separating that.

You're not having another contractor mark it up, right?

You're getting a true price of what does that piece of equipment cost.

And you're seeing that, and then the other bid packages for the subcontractors, they're paying you're gonna pay in those bid packages to install that equipment.

Um so by doing this by separating these, um, you don't have funny games that um equipment vendors, you know, lump things together.

You're seeing you're getting true competition on each one of these.

Um Garrett pointed out we we say 13 equipment bid packages.

Um, under number six, there's actually two bid packages there.

So if the numbers don't look right, that's that's why.

Um and some of the some of the efforts we reached out to 300 contractors and suppliers for this project to get pricing.

Fifty-three of them actually participated by going into CivCast, giving a bid, placing a bid for for a scope of work or for uh a piece of equipment.

Um people are always interested about local participation, and uh we did a query of everybody, and there were nine um in the Manhattan area that that proposed.

Four of them actually um put in bids on there, and we already hit on this.

Um, us as the CMAR, we're not guaranteed any work.

We have to bid on that work.

We have to put in a proposal and and put put dollars and cents to a bid package.

So we put in on six of those, and like we said, we we were awarded two.

Um thanks, Joe.

Uh construction cost progression in June 2025.

I know uh a few of you weren't here at the time, but we presented our 60% design cost model that was developed by Crossland as a 24.3.

Um as progressions go, this was uh somewhat normal to expect it to climb up as we were getting there, we're trying to narrow it in on the certainty, narrowing in the scope of work, find things, find value engineering, find value engineering opportunities.

Uh but what traditionally happens is after 60%, and you get that number, you start looking at each of those line items, and like you said, there's hundreds.

You know, where is it that there's uncertainty?

So the CMAR will present some risk as a percentage and say, I bet 20% contingency on this item.

So we'll go back and say, how can we make it more certain for you?

CMAR model is about cost certainty.

So how can we, when we're certain about the cost, so not bid day, we're not wondering what it's gonna be.

We have a very good idea what it's gonna be and control that.

Um so our goal for um at the June 25 uh city commission work session was we need to be down within that range.

That was our prediction.

Um so what we did is we find the cost during that time.

We looked at different bid alternates for different things in the project that we'd like to maybe like to have, needs versus wants, um, and again built it in on all of the bids that uh Crossland put out.

So, what are those real costs?

Real cost from vendors competing for the work.

So instead of it happening kind of behind the scenes, everything's exposed in the SIPCAS platform.

And Cross then did give CROLO access to that, so we're able to review every single one of those bids, cross-checking with the cost model.

I was up at 11 o'clock last night sending him emails, he was sending them back because we need to refine this, we need to get this on the the next uh legislative agenda for an amendment normal agenda.

Um so we're going back and forth.

So there's lots of checks that are going on, and that's what the city hired us to do.

So that is happening, and there's a long email chain show that we did include allowances in here.

So as we go through each of these represent different things about you know how much shoring do we really need at the critten fine screening facility?

How much water we're gonna find.

If you go out right now, um you'll see Kansas River historically low levels.

So we're probably not gonna have to see a lot of dewater in there.

But there's been some years when the construction happened where there was so much water you didn't know what to do with it.

So we're putting in those allowances.

If they're not used, they're returned to the city.

So they're listed, they're clearly listed and quantified in that GMP value.

Um you can see the the results of our efforts as the cost models progressed, we were able to see a reduction in contingency.

When we first started, Crossland said we have 15% contingency.

That's a lot of risk.

So we worked with them and said, where is that risk coming from?

How can we define it?

How can we re refine it?

How can we reduce it?

And that's what we saw.

So a steady reduction of contingency values as we get to the GMP.

So this represents certainty.

And again, that's a CMR model is certainty with things.

Um as Joe had already mentioned, those contingencies allowances are included in that GMP price.

The city has a lot of input.

It's not just Crossland gets a decide to spend it.

It's kind of run by Randy and staff and commission if necessary.

Um and anything that's not spent is returned to the city.

So that 21.7 that was currently out there is a maximum.

But it could be less depending on many contingencies we don't have to use.

Um so where we ended, um January 2026.

Um it went more up in 90 than uh I think we all thought, but we worked with them to get that back down and say what can we do to get it within the price range that the city's expecting to be able to spend.

I know Randy's gonna talk about the cost funding and the wastewater fund balances and how this fits into it.

But uh with those efforts all working together, we're able to get down to 21.7 million dollar number that you've seen.

So we would consider that a success in getting into the goals that we talked about at the last work session.

Um as far as the project goes, um, we started in 2023 with that design.

Um in 2024, we did bring on Crossland to help look at our design.

I mean, they build it so they can take assumptions that engineers think they know about and like to think we know about, but the reality is if they're building it, they're the they're the ones that provide that input.

So they can look at the risk of it, the value engineering ideas, how can they build it better and uh again get that contingency down.

Um so um assuming everything goes as planned with the approvals and uh next steps, we would start construction here uh first quarter of 2026 and commission this in the end of 2027.

Um so in the short term, uh Crossland did submit a GMP in December 2025.

Uh reviewed the GMP with city staff.

We had discussions a day at the plant.

Uh we've had meetings already uh with all more city staff about those.

Um we would like to come back to you pending the outcome of the session uh with the GMP approval from the city commission and then be able to issue a construction amendment to Crossland.

They currently have a contract for pre-construction services.

It would be an amendment for construction services.

Um that would allow them to issue subcontracts and get the process moving.

Um and as Randy said, we're working on a construction services amendment based on what the final project is, um, and then mobilizing the project site in March 2026.

Um before I get to funding and handing that over to Mr.

DeWitt or any questions at this point, stop at key points.

I know you wanted to see the cost progression model.

Well, the pricing summary was the one I was um I think when it for when I first look at it, it makes me think that we're we're spending 21 million and then we're 24 million, and then you want to just look at it, you know, and so it's just it kind of maybe explain it for me and the public that you know it it it's the progression of you know where where do we think this project is, what elements have come up, what things that the plant have changed where we need to add additional scope, other projects that can get rolled into this.

So as you saw the design progression and we started to get more detail of it, we're more certainty about what the costs were.

And again, some of that that incline represents projects that maybe weren't in the project originally defined in the project but were added.

So that shows the progression.

Um and the ultimate progression is to get as low as possible by the time we get to 100%, but still meet the city goals that uh Randy reviewed in the beginning.

Yeah, and like what one of the things Joe mentioned that has really driven this cost project is so much uncertainty.

Just for example, you know, when we were in the 60% range, we yeah, we would hope that from from there on it would progress through, you know, in that estimated range.

You when when we were learning more about tariffs and all the equipment that we needed to procure, a lot of it coming from overseas.

There was a lot of cost or concerns that we were gonna end up paying 25%, 50% tariffs.

And we don't know an exact number, but I think Joe could tell you just in general that it it is affecting the cost of the project.

Um so that's that's why the this trend really probably didn't follow the the trend that we thought it would.

Uh but like Garrett said the the ultimate goal was to make sure that eventually we were within that that desired range, and that's where we're at now.

So I think you have the next slide.

Sure.

Uh so just uh just in general to talk a little bit about project financing now and how we're gonna finance and fund the project.

Uh you know, we we submitted a KDHE application for this project to include uh to be included within the 2025 intended use plan.

Uh that is just KDHE's vernacular for what year the funding would be approved at that time.

Uh KDHE had about 700 million dollars in that in that federal funding pool.

Uh we were not selected to be eligible for that intended use plan.

It's unfortunate, uh well, at least unfortunate for us, but of all that money that was available, I think probably 70% of it or more went to three huge projects within Kansas uh large wastewater project in Wichita, a large wastewater project in Johnson County for water or for Johnson County Wastewater, and I believe another large project for uh Wynot County.

Um we were we were given an opportunity to apply for the next round uh the 2026 intended use plan, but by that time we we had heard from the state that the amount of funds being becoming available for that program on an annual basis is going to be drastically reduced.

Um the prior year it was so high because we there was I think there was a lot of BIL funds injected by the federal government.

Um now there's a lot of I think a federal I won't say earmarks by you know legislature legislators at the federal level to push their special projects that's really drawing down the funds that are available.

So we anticipate in the coming years there could be as little as 25 million dollars a year available for these type of projects, which is unfortunate because these are extremely low interest rate uh that we get we get for these type of projects when we utilize SRF funding.

Uh the downside of that is obviously you have to comply with BABA, the bi-american, um build American bi-american, American Iron Steel, Davis Bacon Act wages.

So there's a reciprocal increase to the project cost because you have to deal with some of that stuff.

So we are saving by not utilizing SRF funding, at least on the construction costs, financing costs, it would have been much better to be able to go do that.

I think typically it's prime minus one is what the interest rates are.

The last time we presented a loan, we were sitting around three percent.

So but a couple years ago it was less than one.

So uh that's a little bit of the history of the funding approach.

So since those funds aren't available, talk a little bit about how we actually will fund this project or finance the project and the timeline.

I mentioned today about 2.3 million dollars worth of worth of costs have been incurred.

If we include that dredge procurement, we're up a little bit more than 2.8.

Uh but in the next couple next couple pro next couple meetings when we bring the GMP soon after that, we'll come to you with Corolla's amendment.

At that time, we anticipate bringing that final GMP final project cost amount to you.

Uh we'll ask for author or project authorization to issue temp notes.

Um finance departments uh sells those temp notes uh two times a year.

I think the next sale is gonna be in June 2026.

So typically those temporary note costs are last three and a half to four years.

Long-term wise, we will we will convert those to geo bonds, uh similar probably in June 2026, sometime after the project's completed, we'll go out and try to sell those bonds.

Um we we plan for those those costs and the forecast using some pretty conservative percentages as far as projects, plus a little additional contingency, plus um you know, our our anticipated rates uh four years down the road, that's unknown, but uh finance department can help us out with a little bit more about what those planning rates we use.

But you know, we typically most projects that we bond are 10-year projects.

Something this large, we were gonna look at a large a longer term, like a 20-year-that would be a match of what the typical KDHE loan uh repayment period is.

So we were asked to go back and reevaluate what a potential 15-year geobond would look like as well.

So uh while we don't know those percentages, uh those interest rates, just based on working with the finance department and what we estimate those rates could be we look at potentially 2.5 million dollars a year in debt service payments starting in 2029 if we did a 15-year bond and then 3.3.0 million dollars if we do a 20-year.

So it's a lot of interest, but um we we certainly we've as much as we'd love to pay cash for this project, it's just not not reasonable for us.

So Randy, typically the shorter the bond period, the higher the debt service.

Looks like those are those reversed.

Why why is the 15 year not higher than the 20-year?

Uh I might have just got those, those are probably reversed, sorry.

So yeah, good catch.

So it would shorter higher annual debt service.

Yes.

Well, actually, yeah.

Yeah, you're right.

So 15-year bond would be three million and twenty would be 2.5.

So thank you very much.

Uh my favorite chart uh that you'll see many many times uh with me, and I'll just note this is this is projected with the 20-year bond uh payments factored in.

Uh so this fund balance chart represents our actual fund balances over the last uh almost 20 years plus uh what our what our actual fund balances are the green with the recommended fund balances at the time or red.

As you can see for many years we were well below that.

Uh we've been fortunate.

We've building been building up that cash reserve in anticipation of this project, and just through uh having a few good budget years where we were we were making a little bit more than we had projected, and our our costs were lower on annual basis, uh have a focus on that that dark line is the 2026 beginning fund balance.

Um I know there were some questions asked by Commissioner Von Lenthel uh last week about where we thought we were gonna land.

Uh budgeted, we were looking at potentially 12 million dollars for beginning fund balance for 26.

I think we were projecting 12 and a half, and the reality was it came in last last week when we started looking at uh year end uh finalizing some of those numbers, we're sitting at about 15 million dollars.

That is with the understanding that obviously we there were some big projects in 25 that we didn't do, but we still plan on doing some of those.

Those were cash projects.

Uh we also recognize that we had some extra cash, so that's why we decided to pay cash for that large piece of equipment we brought to you uh last week.

And so just just to reiterate, this is kind of what we're looking at for projections in the out years, even with this project.

You know, we're gonna kick in those first payments around 29-2030.

Um that a lot of that that change and that fluctuation has to do with that's also coincides with some of our debt from our last plan expansion is coming off the books.

So you're gonna see a pretty good dramatic drop in our recommended fund balance.

Um we also do project out unknown costs in our forecasts, so 2028 and beyond, we typically would include some unknown projects or unknown expenditures that we just we don't we don't know, we don't know what they are, but we know we're likely to expend those funds.

So we do account for a little bit of that in the out years, but just showing the projections for the next 10 years, you know, with this project on a 20-year note.

So we still look like we're gonna be pretty good.

So 15 after the 700,000 we spent last week, roughly.

Um so technically that money would come from 2026 because we'll be procuring those vehicles in 2026.

So you know, though there were funds set aside in 2025 and years prior for those purchases, or at least for in one instance we had intended it to be a lease purchase, so there was a large cash amount that was in those budgets to go to those.

But uh just for an example, typically in uh annually we do a half million dollars in sewer rehabilitation maintenance.

We just didn't have the ability to get to that last year, so a half a million dollars of that is that project, which you know we won't we will do that project in 2026.

Those are just funds that we saved.

So it it still seems like uh with this information I that I would strongly push for the 15-year bond.

Oh, absolutely.

Yeah, because that's really good news.

I was I was surprised to kind of see what the the difference between those two options were and take it for a grain of salt, those are very preliminary estimates.

We'll you know, in four years we'll actually put those out for sale and hopefully we'll get even better rates.

So uh I'm I'm right there with you.

And when I saw that 15-year note, I thought that's probably a better option for us.

So uh with that, you know, we can answer any other questions.

I know this is a discussion item.

Sorry, you got a question there?

Well, so you mentioned potential other projects.

Are there any other major things you're in these?

Outside of this, outside of this or oh, we'll have plenty.

We'll have plenty of projects, yes.

Plenty, okay.

Um a lot of that was detailed in some of the orientation slides, which we didn't get to go through a lot of that, but uh I would always be happy to sit down and talk about those with you.

I don't think it had prices though on it, did it?

Uh it had estimates.

Some of yeah, some had like CIP estimates or something, but you I could happily provide that information.

So uh just moving forward.

We originally hoped that we could have uh this GMP in front of you next week.

We will probably have the price, uh, but because of the time it takes to review the actual amendment document and make sure after this meeting and getting some direction and feedback from the commission, uh we will start working with Carol and Crossland to just dial that in, make turn that draft into a final document, which we you know we should have very soon.

So we should know the dollar amount.

We'll work with Corolla on that next amendment amount, but we we don't think that'll be until February.

Um but we we don't think we don't think we can get that actual contract document ready for the the next meeting next Tuesday.

So we've we've pushed that to February 3rd, I believe.

But um you know we would love to I'd I'd love to get just a consensus or just general direction how how everybody feels in the project.

So we know what to bring in the next couple weeks.

So I would just comment, you know, there are some projects that come before the group that people have experience with and uh some knowledge about, but I think in that with this topic uh we have to rely on uh the professionals to tell us what we need, and we we have to to trust that and uh go with it.

So it's a pretty important pretty important uh topic.

Randy, I think this was a very thorough presentation.

Thank you.

Uh when I reviewed it prior to in in preparation for tonight, I was very impressed and thought that it was very clear and laid out even for a layperson, the process that had been pursued over these last several years.

So kudos to all who were involved.

I mean, we've got a lot more technical information tucked in the back pages if you really want to see any of the details.

Yeah.

Garrett Garrett can geek out on some of that.

I know you would appreciate it.

Yeah, we're probably not gonna go out and start building our own.

Uh but um my only thought is that two and a half percent contingency is seems like it's pretty low.

I mean most of it is big projects, you know.

Do you feel comfortable with that?

Garrett and I talked about that.

I think typical range is three to five percent of a project like this.

Uh I think there's a level of comfort.

I mean, we're we're at five what five hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

Um obviously the overall goal is to not touch any of that, but we'll we'll probably find some things that we didn't think about that want to use that on.

Um, I think too, you know, if you get into it and there are things that really make things more efficient, but cost a little more money.

I think you should come back to us and we should listen.

If that's a direction that you you you think we should do, then you know I we're more than comfortable looking at a something closer to five percent.

This is it's a it's a process where we're constantly trying to reduce it.

We actually didn't set that number, it's not required to be any certain number.

That's what Crossland proposed, and I think that is just reflective of their level of confidence in the price that they provided.

And I would I would go back to Joe.

No, I think you know, I'm delighted that it's two and a half percent.

I just want to make sure we don't cut out something that will cost us more four years down the road.

Sure.

If there's something that comes up that is absolutely that important, like I said, we would probably come back and ask for an amendment to to justify it and explain why.

Thank you.

So I like the two and a half percent.

I think that's that's good.

2.6.

Yeah.

Uh also I would agree with Andrew that the 15 uh 15-year-old I'd prefer over 20 short.

Okay, that's why we presented it.

That was uh a suggestion of the city manager's office.

I think it was a good one.

I don't like the idea of doing anything over a tenth, just it's just not feasible.

Commissioners, any other comments or questions for Randy.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um Randy, is that adequate uh direction for you?

And I so really the only thing would be procedurally.

I mean, we have an option, I guess, to bring the GMP proposal in its final form to you next week.

We could probably push that.

We would just have to ask for this item is slated for February 3rd.

Thank you.

That's okay.

Uh thank you.

Is there anyone from the public who would like to remark on this item?

Okay.

Seeing no one approach the podium, we will proceed to the final item on our agenda, an update of activities in Aggieville.

Thank you.

Um Garrett, Joe, and Randy.

Appreciate it.

Good evening, Mayor, Commissioners.

Uh, wanted to take this opportunity this evening to dive into a few topics uh related to Aggieville.

We've been working on a number of these um over the course of several years, some decades, and we've reached a point uh where we want to provide you an update, an overview, and get some direction this evening.

Trash and our alley approach is our first topic this evening.

We will run into tax increment finance uh and provide an overview of where we've been and where we anticipate going.

Public projects, obviously currently under construction with 12th Street, gonna turn the corner here on Laramie soon.

I believe we have that closed to traffic and BHS is out there coordinating a lot of construction adjacent to the Hampton Inn.

Morrow Street design and construction schedule.

It is our final remaining significant project in Aggieville, and then parking.

Uh, I do recognize we could talk for two hours about parking.

I'm trying to create a bit of an overview tonight and gain some consensus from you in terms of just how we handle parking as we continue to be under construction.

Trash consolidation, we've had a lot of conversations.

This stems back even to 2016 and 2017.

Uh a lot of feedback we heard from the community via surveys and public meetings about making our alleys more accessible, uh, more healthy, cleaner, um, safer for our pedestrians.

Uh we had at one point in time seven different haulers running down our alleys, uh servicing 70 to 80 different uh trash cans.

Um so we hired a company early in the process to look at the district and find some recommendations uh for how we could approach trash in Aggieville.

We looked at a couple different options.

One option is about an 18 to 24 month process where you can as a municipality uh designate an area uh really under the municipal control uh to provide trash service to where we could isolate and have one hauler in Aggieville.

Uh there was some backlash to that.

There's some folks that would like to have their own uh service and want to continue to pay for that.

Uh we have to weigh that with the number of trucks running down our public infrastructure in those alleys and the wear and tear and the cost to come back in and fix those alleys.

Most of the alley work uh in the district is reaching a point where it's complete.

I would say the North East Alley between 11th and 12th Street between Morrow and Blue Mont is the alley that probably hasn't seen a lot of activity or action yet.

Overhead lines are still there.

Otherwise, we've removed the two alleys south of Morrow and have handled a lot of the infrastructure that is underneath that very uh thin, slim piece of roadway.

It is jam-packed.

I know BHS and and even some property owners and businesses are in the audience, they could speak to this in greater detail if you'd like.

Uh but there's a lot jammed into those email uh into those alleys in our in our district.

So Jason, can I interrupt real quickly?

I apologize.

Um, just wanted to let our folks who are watching at home or on um uh from their television that we know that our Comcast is not working.

Um, however, it is working on our website and it is also streaming on Facebook with the audio.

Um, however, it is working on our website and it is also streaming on Facebook with the audio, so apologize for that if um anyone I know they can't hear it, but just wanted to let folks know that there are other options.

Thank you.

So we have looked into different options.

Uh most recently uh we've been instructed to go out for a request for proposals looking for relationships to approach this infrastructure.

Um we did select the only uh participant in that request for proposals and howys, they were willing to join the BHS Olson City team to further this infrastructure opportunity.

Um we would anticipate this would take several months to get to a point where we could come back and recommend the uh necessary equipment and the infrastructure necessary.

Um preliminary BHS has looked at this several months ago and have forecasted anywhere between uh 1.4 and 1.6 million dollars to fully equip the district with compactors to the point where one is in within a half block uh of roughly everyone, and that would require us to put five of these within the district.

Um we're looking for feedback and reactions to that.

Um just a little bit more background on solid waste management.

Um as I mentioned, uh, we had a a study done some years ago.

Uh we have actually seven grease collectors today, four at that point in time.

Um, but we have several haulers.

We would really like to look at an initiative with Greece to convert a lot of hand carrying of grease to our alleys and to these direct pump through the walls.

Some of our businesses have done that.

We're looking for those opportunities as well, in addition to the trash themselves.

These are roughly the five areas within the alleys that we've talked about locating compactors.

Um of these areas uh we either own parking lots, we have a good relationship with an owner.

Um the alley number one is really to be determined, and we would rely on uh this next stage in the process to identify a spot potentially for a compactor.

Um I I I do BHS Olson, uh, they're in the audience.

Um they could elaborate if you have questions specific about this.

We are looking to take the next steps and identify what it's going to take again.

So that design and pre-construction services, we have a scope from Olson and BHS of 100,000.

We have Howie's that's agreed for the pre-construction services at 5,000, and again, looking at how we can approach uh our alleys and our trash in a more comprehensive, safe and healthier manner.

So that's the first item tonight.

Uh happy to take questions really at any point in time.

If I don't hear any, I'll move on to the next topic, and we can always address some of these at the end as well.

I'd have a question.

Been up and down those alleys for 50 years, and they probably do need attention, however, why do our merchants down there?

Because they're going to end up paying for it as I understand it through assessments.

So what's their response been?

There is too many cooks in the kitchen to come up with a clear answer.

I know the ABA is represented here this evening, they may have some reactions for you.

I'm not aware of anything recently that's really been asked of the merchants.

I do I would anticipate if we move forward with the design and pre-construction services, we're going to be able to provide them more information that they can react to.

If the governing body would like us to stop now and test the hundred so businesses down in Aggieville about their opinion before we execute 105,000, we're happy to do that too.

It has been a while since we've got comprehensive feedback on trash.

I re I do get back into that 1617 time frame.

Uh we've we've probably had turnover and we probably have different opinions.

Even expressing the alternative to our merchants in terms of businesses in terms of we're not going to force you to do this, but if it's part of your BID fees and it's part of an overall strategy on an annual basis to charge each of you, um, is that a service you're going to continue to also elect to have on your own, or will you have your workers walk that half block and utilize that service?

I I understand if we want to stop and go gauge that reaction, happy to do that.

We are at a position with a couple of these constructions occurring.

If we stop and we delay too long, we're we're more than likely gonna have to reapproach the Hampton and see if a compactor could could still fit based on what they're gonna choose to do because the compactor won't be done by the time they're ready to open.

I think we've talked about the trash issue again and again over the years.

And quite frankly, we're putting so much emphasis into making Aggieville a walkable, a pleasant place.

Um when I walk over there, quite frankly, the alleys are disgusting.

And um, you know, having the kids drag the trash out at closing time, that kind of thing is really not a good idea.

Um we've had um these issues with trash haulers in Manhattan.

We tried to have some curbside recycling, but we had 11 trash haulers, and no matter what we tried to do, it didn't make any of them happy.

Umys does do it now, but not only on a, you know.

Um I I'm fine with going forward with this and seeing if we can, you know, make fix this right once and and make really make it look, you know, attractive.

And I see lots of kids walking down those alleys, and it's messy and smelly.

The 1.5 million doesn't really fix it is it fit it's fixing the alleys and putting the trash compactor?

No, it it is just builds the enclosure and it buys the compactor and it goes through the process of actually installing it.

And that would come out of general fund or be out of TIFF.

Yeah, the TIFF, yes.

Sorry.

I'm tired.

You're good, you're good.

Um would we like to bring Dennis up to just address if he has what he has heard from business owners?

Good evening, thanks.

Um as Jason just said, you know, that we haven't gotten to the point to tell everybody this is what it's gonna cost you.

But the idea of the only negative pushback we we really got out of this originally from anybody was uh just the distance.

And they were concerned that oh, they're not gonna be there's not gonna be a compact in in my alley.

I've got to go according to another alley.

Well, that's not how this is planned out.

This is this is one where, like you said, uh no more than half a block.

And so the idea of uh of having something clean, safe, you know, because we've we've done a lot of work uh through this redevelopment of you know, like you know, taking down the the power poles and power lines and uh and and cleaning up all that stuff that that's that's back there, the the two pieces that really remain is uh is really cleaning up the the how we handle trash and how we handle grease.

And so I think uh it feels very positive for us to do that.

But we have not had had had a conversation with anybody about here's what's gonna cost you.

So Dennis, my question would be clearly some businesses produce a whole lot more trash than other businesses.

And it's and uh, you know, a few of them produce grease.

Certainly not all of them do.

So I mean, how do you equitably divide up that cost?

Uh that's that's that's a great question.

I know that there is a there is a we'd heard before there was some sort of formula about different types of businesses uh, you know, that yeah, they could kind of weigh that out.

Uh yeah, I suppose there's another way of looking at that is finding out what their uh what their current trash bill is as compared to to their neighbor, et cetera.

I don't know.

That would be that would be up to up to city and and tell us what direction you're gonna go.

But I do know, yeah, it's gonna be different based on not necessarily your square footage, but your type of business too.

No doubt.

Don't go far.

Um so and then how much uh how much what's the cash balance of the TIFF, Aggieville TIFF?

Um it's in the slide presentation.

We can we'll get there in a second.

2.8 million today.

Okay.

Yep.

And then when would this be hitting, like be hitting in a couple years if we push forward, or would it be one year?

With the the size of this, we could go down a path of temp notes, so it would give us three and a half years before we'd have to start making a debt service payment or a cash payment to avoid the bonding.

We would have that option to look at that before we execute the 1.5 million dollar expenditure.

So we get through the 105,000, and you're going to know where they're at, what their capacity, what we're looking at from howys in terms of service on a monthly annual basis.

We did hire a consultant.

We do have data of what some districts have done across the country and how they assess trash.

And it does depend on the type of business and the square footage of that business.

There are ways we can come up with formulas and work with the district to see if those would be equitable.

It would be my thought.

Since I understand there hasn't been any communication or interaction to any extent for some time, not spend the 105,000 until we do it.

Set a deadline.

Hopefully somebody in our staff who is familiar with the problem can come up with here are two ideas.

Here's what it's going to cost you, here's what you're going to pay, when you're going to pay it, and then take a survey of those, and then we can make a decision.

I think something needs to be done.

Most of the merchants there, I think, are conscientious.

They probably don't want grease and oil and want safety.

So they gotta buy into it.

But I think before we just say here's what we're gonna do, we ought to at least give them a chance to bark and bite a little bit on what the choices are.

So just explain to me here so installing five trash compactors, and then it says eliminate need for private trash hauler receptacles in Aggyville alleys.

Eliminate need for private trash haulers.

Did I see somewhere where you're proposing the city takes that over?

Well, the the the six or seven different haulers that are coming down the alley, we would eliminate the need for that with a centralized compactor.

And putting it out for bid to one.

And we did an RFP that also indicated that selection would likely receive the first five-year contract from the city.

That would obviously be up to you, but we forecasted if you're if you join us early and you help us set this up, we'd be looking at a five-year initial contract.

I certainly don't want to see the city take over.

No, and that's not the plan at all.

We were fortunate to get the Howie's.

Oh, that's if we that's if we, the city, are going to go do solid waste collection and management.

Oh we could still contract it, we can still privatize it, uh, Commissioner Fox, but we we could actually say no one else can even come down here.

That's that process.

That's why it takes 18 to 24 months, because you have to go through several notices, publication hearings, um, and and that's a that's an alternative that past commissions have said, let's not go that route, let's look at this alternative.

You still may have five compactors here, but you may have more than one hauler down there.

You could still have a business being like, I'm still signing up for my own trash because I don't want to walk a half block, I want to have it right here.

I have space.

There are areas in our district where you could argue they're in the right-of-way with their container.

You and there are other areas where people are paying an adjacent owner to put their trash can on their property because they have room versus they don't.

Maybe that's good.

Yeah.

So there's some things, there's some horse trading and some things going on in the district, but there's also clearly some some very skinny trash cans up against walls next in our alley.

Yeah.

Well, I'm sure this will get me yelled at, but I'm the you know, the the fewer trucks coming down there to collect trash, I think the better.

Yeah.

And and we haven't wanted to step on haulers' toes.

We've really just wanted to be efficient.

So we we tried to get out there, but not everybody's equipped to handle compactors.

We recognize that too.

Um this is a topic that I think early and and throughout, it's not it's not one that's it's going to be easy.

And if we desire an outcome, this is our opportunity.

If we get more done and we start exiting Aggieville, it's going to be hard to get back down there and do this.

I think too, um, it's not necessarily going to cost the owners of these establishments more for the compact or the oil pickup, you know, than they're paying now.

I mean, we don't know exactly what's going on.

In fact, the oil thing might be cheaper if it's, you know.

If they don't have to take the oil and dump it up, later what is it, whatever they're doing now.

So I don't think we should necessarily think that it's going to be that much more expensive to go this new cleaner way.

I I certainly anticipated, even if we spend $105,000, we're gonna have a debate in this room.

We'll be able to educate and really give you all a scenario, but we'll also be able to give the businesses the scenario, and they will come to you with the same information and give you opinions.

At this point in time, I would I would probably lean on our three partners to get a survey out to try to get as much information as we possibly could if we want to do that right now.

We're either doing it now or we're doing it after we spent the $105,000 and we know what it is and how much it's gonna cost, because Howie's has quoted it.

We know we can apply it in a number of ways, we can get that information out, then you can get reactions and see if it's really what you want to do.

If you don't want to spend the 105, I'll probably lean on those groups to do something within the managers' authority so we can at least have enough information they can react to.

We've spent $50 million so far, so what's $100,000?

Right.

Well, my my response is different.

I'd say we have capacity that gives some intelligent information to the merchants about cost design.

And then if it seems like even if it's a 50-50 draw, we can then make a decision what's going to be the best interest for all around, even though we probably could be wrong.

Uh I don't see any reason to pay anybody $105,000 to do a survey until we have at least given them our best information.

I I it's not $105,000 for a survey.

The $105 is effectively doing that.

It's designing the program, what's it going to be giving this cost?

And that, in my opinion, a survey that I think we can do initially to to take care of, but that's just one opinion.

If yeah, uh I'm kind of against this the survey, but if you can give me more information to kind of show what that what they would how they would add value.

I mean, but to me it's like cities should put it together and send an email out to everybody and what's your answers.

I mean, that's and just just to clarify, Commissioner.

Do you want us to engage with HWS?

I'm sorry, VHS, um Olsen, and and how we're to get 105,000 worth of information, or just get what we can and survey.

I if we can do like important stuff for 20,000.

Okay.

Gotcha.

I mean that yep.

That's the feedback I was looking for.

Appreciate it.

So this hundred thousand design and pre-construction, that's designing those compactors and and knowing where you're gonna put them and all that.

Yep.

If we can.

You know, it's it's gonna evaluate whether or not we think you know, we think we know where we're going.

Can we actually do it?

Do we have the space?

So until we know if the businesses are in favor of doing that, we're and we're fine taking information from all three entities, getting out there with the survey and seeing if this is something they'd like to do.

Yeah.

All right, Jason, do you want to move on with your presentation?

Tax increment finance.

Uh, we established a district in 2018.

Uh, we had that first redevelopment plan adopted in 2019.

Uh we have undertaken uh several public projects.

I would take this moment to just reiterate our tax increment finance district has been solely created and plans adopted and implemented for public infrastructure.

Tax income finance districts, even in Manhattan or across the state, have utilized TIFF revenues for a variety of purposes.

State statute allows you to incentivize and create other ways to use dollars, but primarily in the TIFF statute, there is a long list of public improvements that are eligible with those funds.

We have isolated those funds, we have targeted these public projects.

We have finished six of the seven on the list.

Uh we have committed and spent 47 million dollars within our district.

We have one significant project remaining in Morrow Street from 11th to North Manhattan.

We had an initial forecast before the TIFF was even created, completed in 2017.

That initial forecast estimated anywhere from 17 to 20 million dollars being generated from the TIFF.

That has been modified recently with the growth and with the investment we had seen privately and publicly within the project area.

We have also designated half of that 70% of the half cent sales tax that was passed in 2023.

It's roughly 30 million, half going to North Campus Corridor in our education process in 2020 when that tax went on the ballot, and the other half coming here to Aggieville.

This is a visual representation of what we have completed, what is underway, and what is in the future.

The green was very impactful to the community and to the district.

North Manhattan alone, Blue Mont to Fremont, over $7 million invested on that one corridor.

The 12th Street Laramie Street project also over $7 million being invested currently in that infrastructure.

Two blocks of Moro.

We may not spend seven to ten million dollars.

You could, but we may not.

That's part of our process moving forward.

There's going to be a design element.

We have probably an Olsen's here and BHS are both here.

They could probably throw an estimate at the timeline on Moro.

It's going to be labor-intensive.

Every business along that street is going to need a new connection from a new water line that will stretch from North Manhattan to 11th Street.

When we did this on North Manhattan, the businesses on the east side of the street all also required new connections.

Fortunately, we're able to keep those sidewalks open to those businesses.

McCown Gordon managed that section of Aggieville, and BHS is doing a great job on 12th Street, maintaining service and access to those businesses, all the while making new connections with water lines.

So Morrow is next.

It's going to need some some time and attention.

This is the original TIFF study and analysis showing you in 2017 the district had a total value of just over $60 million.

That $60 million in value remains as the base for Aggieville TIFF.

That money remains to in a payment on an annual basis to the city, the county, and the school district.

And that stays that way, and it runs out through that 20-year period.

Anything we gain in increment over and above the base established in that initial year is what comprises the TIFF and that fund.

We've had a number of investments within the district itself.

So I don't think two and a half is too aggressive.

I think there's significant realization of growth in our Aggieville district.

That is five times the amount and two and a half times the amount of what we saw in downtown redevelopment between 2003 and 2012.

So it is the highest land values in our community, and it continues to be a very sought-after district and a piece of property.

Our Aggieville TIFF, as I mentioned earlier, has a balance today of $2.8 million.

We are realizing just over a million dollars now annually, and if you run 2025 out through 2038, we hope to realize close to $2 million on an annual basis in the near term.

The Hampton investment and the residential will add significantly to this, and we would like to see even more private investment within this district to help with that TIFF and that future debt service to those public projects.

This is a map that was created by community development.

I think it's very indicative of just when you see the darker blue colors and where they exist in the district, and also look back at this map in terms of what infrastructure is complete and where people have put their investments.

We do anticipate a darker shade appearing on the eastern side of this thing with the construction of Moro, but possibly even working with property owners in terms of how can we encourage and incentivize potentially more private development in the district.

It will only help offset the cost of the public infrastructure and possibly even relieve some of the burden on the sales tax that runs from 2023 through 2032.

There's some significant projects obviously underway residentially and commercially, and we would hope there'd be more on the horizon.

As I mentioned, 12th Street, Laramie Street under construction.

You do have members of BHS in the audience if you're looking for specific updates.

They have been meeting projected timelines.

Again, they are looking for a fall of 2026 opening of the hotel, which means they are targeting fall of 2026 for 12th Street and Laramie completion adjacent to that hotel.

Morrow, two blocks.

We have an estimated 80 parking stalls that are on Moro.

Just rough number of 40 business front facades that are on Moro.

This will be the again the most significant two-block stretch and intensity of businesses being impacted by a new Morrow Street.

We had a number of vision or a number of options in the 2017 Aggieville vision.

Olson has updated those.

Embrace and discuss.

There are a number of ways to approach this, but I wanted to make that clear because I do think I hear a lot from folks of hey, why don't we just go right back with what we have?

We do have a limitation with the fire code in doing so.

This is the option that we talked about quite a bit.

Put the twice uh 20-foot drive lane down the middle and make the rest, you know, from a pedestrian standpoint.

Um it's it's it's going to be controversial not having parking in front of our businesses.

Uh it's an option that surfaced and you know gained some traction.

The 20-foot drive lane, even if somebody said let's make it 100% pedestrian, that 20-foot drive lane would be necessary.

So I I want to make that clear.

We have to have a path for emergency vehicles and fire trucks.

So we couldn't encumber that 20 feet with amenities, so we're always going to have that 20-foot drive lane in our concepts.

This one allows for a 16-foot drive lane.

Again, we would need 20 on the angled stalls.

So you get into 12, 14-foot sidewalks, it's not necessarily going to work all that well.

We're gonna have to shrink those sidewalks if we want angled parking and a drive lane.

They'll have to go back down to that 10-foot in order to get us that 20-foot width for that driveway.

Conceptually, again, we're just trying to show you all the options.

20-foot drive lane, two parallel.

You still get 10 on a sidewalk, 12 on another.

Uh, something to consider.

Uh, and then here's one with just parallel and a drive lane.

Obviously, you start to really widen your sidewalks in that scenario.

There are parking counts on each of these, and as I mentioned, 80 in the existing.

You can see the numbers change.

Um, this one would would still have 65.

Um, and I think you're losing the stalls because Olsen has looked at this from an amenity zone just like we did on North Manhattan.

We don't have parallel, or I'm sorry, we don't have angled stalls in every one of the slots.

We took space to create flower beds, seating areas, streetscape landscape lighting, amenities.

Wouldn't have to, but they have, and they've brought those parking stall numbers down.

45 in this scenario over 80, 57 in this scenario, over 80, 32 in this scenario, over 80.

So in all of these, you you do see a reduction.

Again, you didn't have the streetscape, the flower beds, and the seating.

You could come back with something uh from a parking standpoint that's probably gonna be pretty close.

More than likely, if we get back into that scenario where we still want 80, we are going to need to shrink our sidewalks in order to give us the drive lane.

So we got some tough conversations to have.

What are we shrinking?

What are we growing?

What amenities do we want?

Um it's gonna take some time.

When this body is ready to make that call and give Olson that direction to go design, we'll bring 30% back.

Images will be available.

If you want two or three at that point time, we can have two or three options, and then you could decide after you see streetscape and the way these things lay out and give the district and the community an opportunity to weigh in.

Um so there's a there's there's a variety of ways we can handle this uh moving forward.

I think more information is obviously necessary.

Uh, if you want to eliminate one of the five or two of the five, no, and that that that narrows our focus and and direction back to Olson uh to create some concepts.

Um so tonight was just an introduction.

We can clearly come back, we can talk about it, you know, in February uh some more and get direction.

It's just when we make that decision, we got nine months of really time needed to finalize designs and then a GMP construction price would follow after that design.

So are we married to BHS and Olsen?

We're married to Olson for design at this point in time.

We are not married to BHS on the construction.

That'll be at your discretion.

Yeah, it seems to me whatever we do, what's going to be critical is that they in fact be instructed and required to fast diligence to get the project done, another year and a half, like or two and a half, Anderson or others.

I don't know why that ought to be, but we'll look to them for strategies to give us what you know what it costs to do a shorter timeline and what would possibly stretch that timeline uh either cost-wise or just resource-wise.

So we would look, I mean, having a group like BHS or McCown or really any contractor available early can help us realize cost and and timelines better than our engineering firm.

Do you feel like the c the parking garage discussion should also kind of be taking place at the same time?

Yep, it's next.

Yep.

So personally, I mean I go to Aggieville quite often.

I I would hate to see the parking eliminated totally.

I'm really not in favor of that.

Uh, but given that 20-foot lane, it looks like we either need to maximize either angled on one side or two parallel on each side, which whichever can produce the most spaces and uh easiest to use.

I I in some of these drawings I think we're placing an awful lot of emphasis on setting around tables out in the sidewalk, and I don't think there are that many businesses that would do that to put that much emphasis on having those widest sidewalks.

Um those are just a couple of things.

And I appreciate those in each segment.

We've tried to really concentrate on those businesses to get their reactions to inform you all of just where they're at.

Um I I think it's been a little bit to our benefit to deal with smaller groups in in other sections of Aggieville.

You got a big group here.

You're gonna have a lot of opinions on what should happen, what needs to happen, what must happen for them to survive.

Uh you know, I'd I'd sort of like to see us talk about the downtown amount of parking that we have because it's really quite limited, and it doesn't seem to be discombobulating people terribly.

Um perhaps those businesses, you know, that serve food and and we could we could have the sort of small jet outs the way you know they do on points.

Um I don't you know I I think the design could talk about that perhaps the success in my opinion will be speed and getting it accomplished, whatever you do is gonna I mean I think they can pour concrete and dig a water line a whole lot faster than levy and work every three days.

I mean, if they do it, the requirement is they have a crew there every dang day and they're working, and if they can't do it, we need to find the contractor in T at Kansas City will come and do it.

I think the salvation for Aggyville is to get it done, not to bleed it to death.

I Jason, I think we need to be clear that we're not simply replacing the street and the sidewalks, but all of the infrastructure that's underneath the streets as well.

I agree, and that's why I say I don't think we have a choice of doing it because if the water lines don't run the water, we have a bigger problem.

And so but I think if the requirement to do it is get it done that we get it done.

And I don't think it's going to be able to do one lane and then have to do the other side.

It's going to be one that's going to be kind of hell on the wheels, temporary sidewalks, what's going to be left, so they have some access.

But the test is getting it done and having it designed.

It it is part of the reason I put seven to ten million on here.

It's a two-block stretch.

No two blocks has cost us seven to ten million in that you know yet.

But if we're gonna put the gas pedal down and have people working like ants every day, that is the reaction I kind of anticipate from our contractor.

And and we'll know that.

Well, a contractor.

If we expect it to be done in six months or nine months, then they'll they'll shoot us price to get that done in that amount of time.

Well, I'm taking three to four months.

There you go.

I mean, realistically, tobacco doesn't take a month to dig a line from two blocks.

And I do I do think there's some some options on Moro that we haven't experienced in other places.

We have buried a lot of different infrastructure on North Manhattan in our alleys on 12th Street that is different than Morrow.

We're gonna need to understand what infrastructure that is and how we're handling it and what options we have.

We will definitely explore the least impactful scenario.

Yes, for me, it's C fast, and I know we have to spend a little bit more to go fast.

And well, maybe a lot more.

I don't know.

That's the thank you.

I do think that we should not be take doing this lightly when I think of the things that happened to us on points, and you know, we started doing water lines and things, and we found basements and um found water too at one point.

So, you know, this isn't simply digging a hole and putting a pipe in.

This is much more complicated than that.

And we realized this even on 12th Street recently where Fat Shack, Annie Mays, and Shaggyville all shared a water line.

That is not ideal for your businesses to um just pay a bill collectively.

Um most people like to meter and and monitor what they use for water and pay for that.

So yeah, we had to go back through, and BHS was a great partner to work with those, not only the owner, but the businesses themselves to get them set up with different infrastructure.

I don't know what we're gonna find on Morrow.

Uh some of these businesses may know more than we do right now in terms of how they're served and how they're paying their bills.

I guess are the old tracks for the trolley cars still there.

Do we know that?

They they might well some of the folks in the room crossed more at 12th Street, so they they would they may know what's what's there or at least east and west of there.

Let me let me throw one more grenade out there.

Um so would this be competing with the fire training facility on dollars, or this would be totally just TIFF?

Yes.

So Jason, on the on the financing, I would hope that you uh could come up with with uh kind of a cash flow summary.

I mean, I'm sitting here looking at we've got 50 million dollars spent so far, we're looking at maybe another 10 between the trash and the Morrow Street.

So 60 million.

Um we've raised 2.8 million to date on the TIFF.

Uh we have 13 years left.

If it goes, I mean, this last year was a million dollars we collected.

So if we look at two million a year times 13, that's 26 million plus the existing almost three.

So that's 29 million.

And how are we paying for 60 million dollars financed over 10 or 15 or 20 years or whatever it is?

So yeah, the the total revenues that we've forecasted, the 30 roughly in the sales tax that's out there, that that's a 10-year tax.

That money is obviously coming in a lot faster and accumulating in the bond and interest fund.

Uh the TIFF, obviously a little longer.

We have put six to seven million dollars in public infrastructure in Aggieville.

Um that's a conversation I've had with Brian and Randy in the last few days.

It's not an expense that I really anticipated needing the utilities to pick up if we have enough with TIFF and we have enough with the sales tax, then we wouldn't necessarily need to depend on our water or wastewater and our storm funds.

But those are the cushion I would anticipate for Aggieville if needed.

And as we start to bond these things and our bond and interest starts to realize that debt, and TIFF is progressing and the sales tax is progressing.

It is the it is the next source of revenue that we would be looking at and bringing forward as an area to provide that cushion.

That is the real question I have is what is the resulting debt service of all of this after we start.

Yeah, and it it staggers, right?

I mean it's we've got the garage out there that went basically first.

We've got 14th and and Laramie between 14th and North Manhattan that obviously went second.

But we can we can create that for you, the cash flow and the years and that annual debt service.

Happy to do that.

Jason, you want to move forward?

Last um last topic uh really um highlights on parking.

Um again, I think we clearly recognize how vital Morro Street in that two-block area is for our businesses, parking um as it exists today, um, and how parking will be configured moving forward.

There is going to be a period of time where that construction is going to impact the district.

This past June, we did shut down Moro for a month, and we also correspondingly took all charges and all registration out of the garage.

As soon as that was opened back up, we were approached, and we did agree to not charge in the Iraqiville garage Monday through Friday, eight to five.

You still had to register on the park mobile app.

In May, we saw a significant in June we saw a significant increase of the garage.

And as soon as we require people to start registering again, we saw a decrease, a decline.

So it's clearly a site and a resource that people will use.

They're obviously frustrated with paying and they're frustrated with park mobile.

We've always had a priority of keeping it safe and clean and secure, and that requires people.

It just it just does.

We have a great camera system in there.

We have RCPD with a substation in Aggieville, very responsive.

But our people walking around working peak times and monitoring, uh, do an excellent job of keeping it safe and clean and secure.

That has a cost.

And we we recognize that cost, and we also subsidize that cost uh tremendously in the general fund to operate our parking services.

We've talked about transitioning away from the park mobile lab and allowing the garage to be used like it was last June.

No charge, no registration.

We wouldn't need to keep the 48-hour rule, just like we do every other public parking stall, whether that's on street or in a parking lot.

Um we don't want them to be long term, and we'd like them to turn over, and I'm sure the businesses down there would like to see them turn over too.

Is that something we want to do sooner rather than later?

Um we are monitoring two-hour violations.

We do that in Aggieville and downtown.

You get beyond two hours during Monday through Friday to five, you know, you do get a ticket.

Is there a combination that you would prefer and how we address the the number of stalls that are available in Aggieville?

It's really the conversation we're trying to get to tonight.

Recognizing we have over 660 stalls, 450 in that garage.

Um we have that one remaining lot.

Um as I mentioned the two hour and the number of on-street expenses.

This is 2024, and you can see our total expenses.

This is all of our parking services.

So this crew is Aggieville downtown, they get into some colored zones.

Um they're out there with their license plate recognition vehicles.

We're no longer chalking tires.

We're driving by and taking pictures or at least registering uh your your license plates.

Um so we are spending just over a half million on an annual basis on people.

Uh we do some contracts, and obviously it takes fuel and other things to to run uh our services, and we're we looked at a 763,000 dollar actual expense in 2024.

We had to transfer just over 445,000 dollars.

Our our revenues from parking services uh were just over 35,000.

So the 763 is for the garage as as well as the on-street parking in Aggieville.

Expense-wise, yes, it's for everything in Aggieville and everything downtown.

And downtown.

Correct.

So, what is the cost for Aggieville ballpark?

Half of it.

Yeah, you could look at it that way.

The revenues aren't that way, but you can look at the expense that way.

And so our revenues that's for both places, also downtown and Aggieville?

We don't have parking fees downtown in 2024.

So that 136 grand is directly related to the garage.

So we're losing money being on guard and worrying about parking.

Oh, for sure.

For sure.

There's not money being made, but but again, I'll get back to safe, secure, and clean.

That costs money.

This is what we did in 25.

Just these numbers are fairly new.

Um, got these updated.

Um we spent just over 800,000, and we had 280,000 in revenue, and our parking fees went down, and our citations obviously went up a little bit.

But we generated a lot less revenue with the free 8 to 5 Monday through Friday and the free June in 2025.

Jason, yep.

Does this include the contract with the Hilton Garden?

No.

When does that go into effect?

It is in effect, and the revenue it may have one payment, Mayor.

I'm sorry.

It may have one payment.

Okay.

But it's not significant in terms of what we're looking at from a revenue standpoint.

Um again, trying to educate you, get you to a point where you realize what's going on in both districts.

The revenue streams that we did have at one point in time and have declined because of the relaxation.

Um, do we want to just go ahead and relax and get that district to a point where coming in and out of it is really not as burdensome?

Um, it's going to have an impact on our on our financials.

Um you did do a budget amendment at the end of the year, the two of you, three of you watched it and witnessed it.

Um we did move some transient gas tax out of the Transi Gas Tax Fund into the general fund to help offset some of these costs as part of that move.

It could be a source that we tap into to uh cover some of these costs.

When we adopted downtown or Aggieville, was there any perspectives and what the costs would be so we knew in the future, and are we even close to those projections?

Cost-wise, we're actually under what we anticipated.

We're we're not keeping it fully staffed like we fully envisioned.

Revenue-wise, though, we have made some concessions, and even in 25, you can see there's a there's a half of a revenue stream coming in.

But when we build it, did our consultants tell us it'd pay for themselves at least in maintenance and upkeep and safety?

No.

They didn't tell us that.

Oh, they told us it's not going to.

Oh, yeah.

We knew it going in.

So personally, I mean, we know we have a track record now of how much this is costing us as is.

I personally feel like we are inconveniencing and damaging the businesses so badly down there now, and we'll be even more than we tomorrow.

That this seems like a no-brainer to at least let people park free in the garage to try to get them down there.

So we don't have to worry about okay, do we need to be signing up, but we're not going to be charged.

I think that's part of the problem with the garage is you're not charging, but you still have to sign up.

Right.

And people don't are confused by that.

At least the old geezers I talked to are.

Yeah.

So they don't want to go in there.

I will I will send out a parking report for 2025.

It's glaring when we removed the restrictions and the park mobile app.

People will park in there.

Yeah.

Significant.

Yeah.

And if you know, you can just go in and not worried.

We we obviously tracked all the the daily visits and it sticks out like a sore thumb.

You remove those restrictions and those uh obligations and people will use it.

How often is it filling up?

Not very often.

Not very often.

Filling up with paid patrons or just filling up filling up when it's free even.

Uh I mean our our maxes are you know, Thursday nights, Friday nights.

I mean, that's when you see the the biggest paid user coming in.

There are events where we back off charging, and and the garage will fill up.

St.

Patrick's Day Parade, Aggieville Showdown, big events that are happening.

Game day weekends, but it it those are paid consumers at that point in time too.

Then the businesses don't care.

They're fine with it.

Jason, yes.

In the expense list, um, is the um the annual cost, you know, the debt debt service in there?

No.

No, it's not.

So that neither downtown nor Aggieville is part of our operational budget from a debt service perspective.

That's in the bond and interest fund.

Okay, so but we should in the back of our mind know that we are paying X amount of dollars to debt service for those two.

Yeah, and that's part of that 47 million we talked about earlier and TIFF and the sales tax, hopefully generating enough.

I think you know, just to be clear on parking service expenses, you know.

I do think it's very important that we have staff down there in Aggieville because kids get a little drunk and they are, you know, especially girls are um can be endangered in situ in parking structures.

So I think we do have to have you know somebody kind of keeping an eye on it.

We do have a good history behind us.

The the lighting, the cameras, the um even the arrests that have been made for um really nonviolent things, but RCPD has followed up, has a camera footage, and they have arrested quite a few people who are committing crimes down there.

Um so I do think that word is out, there's an understanding.

Um it's not an area you really run to to commit a crime.

Uh you're going to be very visible on our camera system.

Sure.

I just would hate to see us cut the personnel budget that's you know um I think you know it's really important that we as a commission do have a clear understanding of the costs of you know these things, and that's why it's sort of like the debt service in there too.

Okay.

The other concepts with the garage uh that came up and some conversations.

Uh we started meeting with Dennis and the ABA and a few other members in terms of okay, park mobile, we recognize uh the the cost, the charge to enter, obviously we recognize as well.

Some other ideas came up in terms of going to a 45 degree angle instead of the head in 90 degree.

Uh that would make those stalls wider.

Uh you would also lose a few stalls.

There's an efficiency with head in 90 degree.

Um but they are eight feet in width, and a larger vehicle or even smaller vehicles get really tight.

Uh, this would allow for angled to occur on the ramps.

It would keep the head in on the end.

Uh, we'd be looking at about an 80-stall reduction overall.

Um, and you you would have you know you'd be backing into the lane of traffic that's probably going to take you further up.

Um if it's empty, obviously you can back all the way out and turn around and move, but if it's full, you're gonna end up going to the top to to really charge around to find enough width to do.

So that's that's about the only inconvenience to go angled versus 90, you back out and you can head the other direction.

So this we could do in-house.

Uh talk with Brian about this, uh, our staff, our resources, pretty minimal cost under 10 grand to get this done, if this is something you all thought was a good idea.

I I think it's a I think it's a good idea, but um uh not until after Morrow is done.

You know, I don't want to I don't want to take away spots from the parking garage until it that'll that'll be about three years before we're probably done with Moro.

And and again, I'm just I'm just trying to make this place more accommodating, more easy to get in and out of.

But you know, if it if the rest of you don't want to do anything for three years, that that's fine too.

Well, obviously we're not using all the spots, so losing 60 isn't gonna make a bloom a bit of difference.

Right.

And it's gonna be better than nothing.

So I personally would be in favor of the angle.

I know I've parked in there with my pickup, and you got to do a three or four-point turn to get into a parking space.

Uh the other comment I'd have on our parking spaces is their widths.

I've had comments from other people, and I notice it they're barely wide enough for your vehicle.

Right.

Uh let alone opening the doors.

So if we were a little narrow on our parking spaces.

Yep, and we were we were trying to accomplish as many in this as we could.

Yep.

We knew we were impacting on-street parking.

Uh, we knew we were impacting parking lots in Aggieville.

Um, but again, feedback and and the opportunity to to do this.

Um, not that expensive.

First I'd be for doing it right away, not three years from now.

We can see how it goes.

I concur.

Okay.

That's three of us at least.

There you go.

I'm ready to move on if you are.

Um so yeah, just in in recap, trash.

Um we will take a step back from the 105 based on the feedback I I believe we got this evening.

We'll go do surveys, we'll get a little bit of information for less than 105 and see if we can get some reactions.

Uh Moro, not a lot of feedback yet.

If you want to take some time tonight, that that's up to you.

Um we can always come back.

You can let this digest and percolate and get some feedback from the community, and we can be back within two, four weeks and see if you've got some ideas and thoughts.

Uh parking, um, park mobile app sooner rather than later.

Okay with that.

Okay.

And then we'll we'll look to um repaint some of the on the on the trash issue.

Yep, um, how soon do we need to let the hotel know what we're thinking about?

Because I really want to see those compactors in the alleys, quite frankly.

Um I'll talk with the hotel.

If if they're not ready to move forward with the compact or without the city, um maybe they'd at least be willing to leave enough space for that compactor.

We built the enclosure over on little morrow in a way where we could put a compactor in.

We don't have one in there yet.

It's a bunch of wheeled dumpsters, and we we would expect the hotel would probably just be fine with the wheeled dumpsters until we make a decision, but we'll have that conversation.

Yeah, you know, one thing that you get in the alleys with all the trash everywhere is crows.

Yes, we do.

There are a lot of crows.

Migration every year to Aggieville.

Uh I I do think it's important to hear from the Aggie Vale businesses on both the trash and parking on Morrow, width of sidewalks, what what do they think is important?

Uh all those sorts of things.

We can re-engage on the design.

Um we can use this as the forum, and you can get that feedback directly.

If you'd like us to go create a small process, uh we can do that too.

It's gonna require resources and time.

Um I will.

Aggieville has been under construction for a long time.

Morrow is significant.

The sooner we can get this decision made, the sooner we can get it under construction, the sooner we're out of there.

I I say three years, Commissioner, just because I think this year is going to take a while for us to get to a decision and final design.

I would like this commission to execute the construction contract in 2027.

So we're not dealing with the new commission in 28, who seems to think you all didn't do it very well.

So I I really would like to aspire to get that contract awarded in 27.

I you know, I think with the compacters, if you could give the the inhabitants of Aggieville a clue as to what that would cost, it may not be much, you know, may not be more expensive than what they're paying now.

It's just the initial investment.

Yep.

We'll look into it.

One observation about Moro.

I do not believe it ought to be a pedestrian only.

So you can take one of them off the map and maximize the parking.

And I do know what the fire marshals rules are, but their trucks aren't 20 feet wide.

And I know they need to move hoses and they need to have connections and access, but I don't think that's an enforceable offense if we don't have it 20 feet.

So if it's 18, that might be okay.

But I'm just saying it has to have some parking and traffic through there.

I I do not think that's a very good example to set for other businesses or individuals in our community to have the city violate the fire regulations.

Well, we have a number of those that don't comply with those requirements now on our public streets.

We do.

And I wanted you to be aware of it tonight.

I I really don't think we're gonna bring you all options that violate the fire code.

We might be able to come up with scenarios that are leaning into maybe it's not 20 everywhere.

Maybe we're majority 20, but we not you know we may not be everywhere.

Uh we'll we'll work with them.

We did work with them on Laramie.

We got some, I think some really good options for Laramie, but it was the same conversation.

You got to have that width.

The outrigger's got to have a place to go.

You gotta be able to serve those businesses that are not sprinkled on either side of Morrow for the most part.

Some of them may be if they've renovated, but yeah, we we gotta keep them safe.

I I think there are many of us in the room who were here living here when uh that fire did occur in Aggieville.

I know it's probably 20 years now, but uh given the construction of those buildings, given the age of those buildings, that could be an absolute catastrophe.

And so I think anything we can do to ameliorate that situation, it's incumbent on us to do that.

Um I don't think we want to spend a lot of money on surveys, and we certainly don't want to take a lot of time on it, but I'll bet Dennis uh and his folks can come up with uh who's a good questions and who is the person who's been doing like the Aggieville updates.

I'm yeah, I'm blanking on her.

Access Aggieville.

Yeah.

Um would that be a vehicle where we could contract with them for something small, manageable, a few number of questions.

We have a uh a fixed audience here, it's not we don't need random surveys, etc.

etc.

I would love 50 emails saying which I which ABCD and then also do you want to do a pause on the Aggieville construction or do you want to go?

And those I would just that's what I would think about.

I again I Andrew, I would uh not put a question out on pausing construction, given that we have the funding now, given that we are six of seven projects through.

I know the businesses have been hugely impacted, but kicking this can down the road is only going to make it more expensive.

It's only going to make it more susceptible to uh pipes breaking and causing significant uh damage and cleanup rather than being proactive in keeping this project on schedule.

I under I understand your position.

I I still would like to hear that feedback in case but it might be it might be 40.

If I get 50 emails, it might be 40 that say go like go go go.

You know, it might I don't know.

I think you'll get that feedback.

I really do.

We do still have an opportunity for public comment.

Uh certainly there are I recognize the number of Aggieville business owners here tonight.

Is there anyone who would like to get up and make your opinions known now?

Uh Cam Ward, I'm with the ABA board and um I'm at the Alms Group Real Estate at 1202 Morrow Street.

A couple quick things.

I think I hear this, but I would appreciate it if the commission did not consider any options for Morrow Street that eliminate all the parking.

We have a lot of businesses that depend on that.

Um on those two blocks that we're talking about, there are currently four ADA stalls that we had to request to get added back after last rounds of construction.

Um so that's a concern I have as well.

Those stalls are always full seven days a week.

So we have to have accessible parking.

Uh we need parking on the street, but sounds like you guys don't want to consider that.

The other quick thing I wanted to address, um, and that this is a personal opinion of mine and not reflective of any other business or ABA, but I understand the concern with how we have to bid out these projects with different construction companies.

What I'll tell you is just feedback from my experience working in Aggieville for the last eight, nine years.

And knowing that those dollars that our businesses and our you know property taxes are raising to go into the TIFF, knowing that those are local folks working down there and that that income is going to Manhattan families is really important to me.

So I understand you have to do something that's cost effective.

And I don't work for BHS, and they didn't ask me to be here tonight, but I've seen so many different construction projects, seen different companies that are a huge pain for us, but they've been great to work with, and I think that the commission needs to consider that piece and how we move forward with making sure that uh we're working with the construction company that's accommodating, keeping our businesses open, communicating, and supporting Manhattan families.

So thanks.

Thank you for your comments.

And Rustin, do you have do you have thoughts on widening the sidewalks and having seating areas?

Um I don't, because it it doesn't impact my business, so I don't think my opinion on that matters, but parking and especially accessible parking is super important to me.

So thanks.

Thank you.

And I appreciate your feedback about BHS.

I think uh I think there are times when people hear the same names of construction companies and contractors coming up repeatedly, but in part that is because we are uh trying to engage local uh companies and keep the those construction dollars here in Manhattan.

Yes.

Evening, commissioners.

I'm Vincent Tracy.

I'm a permanent resident here in Manhattan, uh, 304 Knoxbury Drive.

And my reality is there's damn few times when I go to Aggieville, I can park anywhere close to the business I'm going to.

I'm having to walk two and a half, three blocks in order to get to that business and then back again.

So I don't believe a pedestrian only close the street completely will ever work.

But I do believe you can put a 20-foot drive down one side of the uh street and swap to the other side that gives the fire department.

I am a retired fireman as well, an opportunity to be able to put more than one piece of apparatus at a fire if it's needed.

Our problem is we don't want to walk.

People want to be able to just drive in with the uh swap from side to side, or even just a 20-foot down the center.

You can always put a cutout for the ADA requirements so that for each half block there's a parking space that ADA people could be able to use.

Kansas City, a couple other large cities that I was fortunate enough to be in.

The parking garages, if you made a purchase at the business, your parking was free.

You didn't have to register.

There was somebody at the gate when you're trying to get out to either collect your fee for having been in the parking garage, or to go, yep, you purchase something in town.

Have a nice day.

You're not gonna solve it all today.

But hopefully you'll open this up to not only the businesses that are there, but the permanent residents that use those businesses here in Manhattan.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Um would you sign in at the podium?

And Cam, did you did you sign?

Okay, thank you.

Alan Riza with the board and Coltstone Creamery.

Um I just wanted to talk about what you guys are deciding with the parking and park mobile.

I think a really important thing is whatever decision you guys come to, you try to stick with it because I go to all the Aggieville lunch meetings, meetings, board meetings, and all that.

And I feel like around that June time it was I get customers come in and go, hey, what do I do with a parking garage?

It's like, well, I think it's free.

No, it's only free nine to five.

It's very confusing, and even a well-informed person doesn't really know what's going on.

So let alone a person that comes to Agville once a month or something.

Um then, yeah, just on the parking on the street, as much stalls as possible because back when I was in college, I'd drive through Agville, no parking.

I'm gonna go somewhere else for dinner or something.

So thanks.

Thank you, Ellen.

Sign in.

He did already.

Hi, Scott Sieben, uh, Kite Sparn Grill, uh 1908 Indiana Lane.

Thank you to the new commissioners.

Thank you for jumping into this with us.

Uh I've owned kites since 2018.

Uh we've been dealing with construction since 2018.

So obviously, don't put a pause on anything you guys are doing.

I know it's I know it's a lot, uh, but this is what we need to get done in this district.

Uh it's obviously needed these improvements for longer.

Um and then we're just now getting to it.

So please don't stop what we're doing uh down in the district.

We'd like to get through this as as quick as we can.

Uh and like I said, I appreciate you guys' time on the board, and thank you.

Thank you, Scott.

Anyone else?

Yeah, I just like to uh Dennis Cook with the Aggie Vill Business Association.

Um just to re recap on all those show, the uh the the consult uh consolidated trash that that that just kind of puts the the the great emphasis on what we're trying to do down there.

I mean, we've spent, as you talked about, you know, the the how much money we've spent down there already, and then to leave it kind of unfinished, I think would be it would be a mistake, and this is something that we could that would really help us out.

Um obviously uh Morrow Street, uh the the completion, uh I would agree that uh the sooner the better.

We've been through enough, and uh the sooner we can get back to just doing the things that we do, and I can tell you know, I've been the director for six years, and what we've tried to do is um uh we work really hard at keeping up uh all of our occupancy, you know, and we're running you know over 95%.

Um, but you know, these things do take a toll on people, it really hurts them.

Uh and uh and virtually uh you know the the bulk uh the huge bulk of our businesses in Aggieville are local, and you know they're not you know, not changed from someplace else, and so it it's very important on what we do.

Um, you know, now there is that one option that I've talked to Mark Bashap with Olson about that we just haven't gotten this in here yet, that we don't need parking on on Morrow, but we do need the moving sidewalks and the dome.

So uh if if you if you if you get to work on that one, that would be great.

Andrew says no.

Okay, okay.

Well uh it is important, and uh that we that we make sure everybody has a has uh has a way to get around in one parking garage just on one end, uh, even as we as we start to uh uh as we consider what we're gonna do on Morrow, the other thing we've got to be thinking about is uh in their original vision was a parking garage at both ends.

Something we need to talk about too.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Dennis.

Oh Dennis, I do think we need your help and Scott's help back there.

We're at this trash situation figuring out what the best way to handle it is because don't worry, we'll we'll we'll push everything we need to do.

Thank you.

Anyone else?

Amber Starling, 408 Houston Street.

Um I own a business downtown in Manhattan.

I regularly work walk two to three blocks to get to my business.

Um it doesn't really bother me.

Uh A, it leaves room for more tacos.

Uh B, it is not that much different than when I have to park in the middle of the Walmart parking lot and then walk all the way back to the milk.

It's about the same distance.

Um I have very questionable hips, mostly titanium, but I do have two working legs, and I understand that walking to shops is how urban centers work.

Businesses need appreciate and benefit from foot traffic.

Um, even so I'm not a proponent of getting rid of all of the parking.

Um, but I I do want to challenge us to look at some of the other options that include less parking.

Uh here's why.

Why did we keep the downtown dining platforms after the pandemic, even at the cost of parking?

It's because more seating equals more sales tax revenue.

Um, you know what doesn't generate sales tax income?

Free street parking.

Uh it actually only costs money.

There is parking in Agaville that does generate revenue for the city, and that's the garage.

So while I will happily concede parallel parking and even learn how to do it, and very happily concede ADA parking, uh, I think it would be unwise to prioritize free premium parking spots when we already have a mostly empty garage.

Uh the garage issues.

The app sucks.

Um, I am not a Luddite.

However, I hate the app.

I don't want to use it.

I speak for many of your constituents when I say that.

The issue is not the price of parking, it's the friction in the process.

Um have we considered, perhaps, or discussed an automated ticket system.

Have we considered a sticker permit that I can just go and get and slap on my vehicle?

Um, the free eight to five parking was uh unfortunately flawed from the start.

Uh those that were impacted the most from the parking garage fees were people who work nights and weekends for tips.

Um, so an employer validated free parking uh would be much better tailored.

It would lose less revenue and actually solve the problem that it was meant to solve.

Um and I would caution you, uh, Commissioner Morrison.

What is reckless to say as a citizen is dangerous to say as a commissioner.

Fire codes exist because people died.

Thank you, Amber.

Anyone else?

Name's Ed Climack, and uh hey, I used to be up there.

Uh welcome you new commissioners.

Um so you might be wondering, no, I'm the head of the Westhoop West Side Business Association, so why the heck am I concerned about Aggieville?

Well, full disclosure, I am on the ABA board, but also the importance of Aggieville to the community.

It's it draws people in to Manhattan.

Our visitors want to go to Aggieville, and it is certainly a uh huge plus in our quality of life for all of us to go down and have restaurants and that sort of thing.

But the key to Aggieville is, and Dennis mentioned this earlier, most of our businesses are local, locally owned small business.

And we have to also make sure that they can have a cash flow.

And that's not a bad thing.

We got to keep those businesses in place.

So when you're looking at changes in Aggieville and when you're looking at Morrow Street.

But you've heard uh comments about um closing morrow and uh keeping it open.

I would suspect, and I can't tell you for sure, but I suspect that most businesses want to have that parking there because that's what we're all about.

Human beings, we don't want to walk.

Uh love to park right in front of the door.

So anyway, lots on the table.

We've done some great things for Aggieville, and uh much uh much greatness is coming, but we have to keep Aggieville affordable for those businesses to make sure they're successful.

Thank you.

Can I just some kudos for being the chair of our sister city in Czechoslovakia?

Yes.

And we got a Christmas card in tech.

We are not quite sure what it says, but I'm sure it was well meant.

Anyway, thank you for doing that.

And we do need one more person on that board if anybody's interested.

Thank you for mentioning that, and that it's my pleasure.

We added a uh sister city to Manhattan when I was mayor of this fair city, and uh it's kind of a special thing.

Appreciate your support for that too.

So did someone else have a comment for it?

Okay, thank you.

Okay, going once, going twice.

Anyone else want to make a remark?

Thank you all for being here.

Thank you for uh your support and your uh input.

I'm sure we'll be continuing to meet with the ABA and with other business owners.

Please feel free to contact us through our emails.

Call if you want to have coffee, let us know.

Uh is there a motion to adjourn?

So moved.

All in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Thank you all.

Good night.