The Olathe City Council met on Tuesday, September 17, 2024, at 6:45 PM in the Council Chamber. The meeting opened with an executive session regarding the acquisition of real property for the Animal Shelter Project, followed by the live-streamed session at 7:00 PM. Major actions included the creation of a STAR Bond Project District for an ultra-accessible amusement park and arena, the establishment of a redevelopment district for Indian Creek Crossing, approval of facility renovations and a lease for temporary city department space, issuance of industrial revenue bonds for a truck maintenance facility, and a memorandum of understanding with the FBI for a new police firing range. All votes were 6-0, with Councilmember Schoonover absent.
Welcome to the regular session of the Olatha City Council for Tuesday, September 17th, 2024. The next item on our agenda is the Pledge of Allegiance. Would you please stand with me for the pledge? I Pledge Allegiance of the United States of America. Under God and Mystical Liberty and Justice Roll. We'll now move to special business. Item A is a proclamation recognizing September 22 through the 28th as Family Week. We know a strong family unit makes a big difference in the lives of young people. What we may not realize is that the simple thing we can do every day to strengthen those family bonds is to sit down and eat dinner together. That's part of the message the Olatha Communities That Care Coalition is sharing for Family Week. So to accept this proclamation, I'd like to welcome forward CTC member and Johnson County Community Prevention Coordinator, Jamie Shapp. Jamie. Testing. We're on. We're hot. So the proclamation reads whereas the Olatha Communities That Care Coalition established in 2008 is a collaborative effort by the City of Olatha, Olatha Public Schools, the Olatha Police Department, the Olatha Public Library, Johnson County Mental Health, and Johnson County to enhance community prevention efforts of underage drinking and drug use and to and to promote healthy choices for all. And whereas studies show that children in strong families who have frequent dinners together have a decreased risk of smoking, drinking, and drug use. And whereas CTC consistently encourages families to participate in important conversations about the risks associated with underage drug and alcohol abuse as a protective factor for young people in our community. And whereas coming together as a family, participating in fun activities together, and discussing the events of the day can foster open communication, provide opportunities to share concerns, and help guide children toward healthy decision making. Now, therefore, I, John Bacon, mayor of the City of Olatha do hereby proclaim September 22nd to the 28th, 2024 is Family Week in Olatha, encouraging all residents to dedicate time to their family during this time to strengthen bonds and engage in meaningful conversations. Thank you so much for having me. Thank you. And it's a privilege to get to work with Olatha CTC and so many amazing community partners that really work hard to help support our mission of connecting people to keep Olatha safe and healthy. So a part of that is, as he said, family meals. And so we actually have an event next week during Family Week. It's called Connected Conversations. We do that with Olatha Public Schools and Johnson County Mental Health, where we invite families to come in, have a meal together, we talk about the importance of having a meal together, and then we'll be talking about fentanyl awareness at this one. So that is on Wednesday, the 25th, from 6 to 8 at Olatha North. So I'm going to leave some things at the back for you guys that you can register for that. And then we also have our big family day, September 28th from 10 to 1 at the Indian Creek Library. It's a new location this year, so we're very excited about that. The library has done an amazing job helping us with this. We're going to have story time. There's going to be pumpkin painting, games, treats, everything to make a very fun day for the family. So come on out and see us next Saturday. Thank you. Thanks. Thank you so much. So thanks, Jamie, for being here and for you for what you do. And the and the story is it's just not next week. Let's do it the week after that, the week after that. So it's not just one week a year that we have family week and dinners together. We'll now move to item uh B under Special Business, a proclamation recognizing September 15th through October 15th as Hispanic Heritage Month. Each fall, we celebrate the achievements and contributions of Olatha's Hispanic community. From our businesses to our schools and churches, our Hispanic community is a big part of what makes Olatha such an exceptional place to live and work. Accepting the proclamation tonight is Dr. Marta Silva, a Spanish language teacher at Olatha North and sponsor of the Latina Leadership Club. Dr. Silva has previously been named the best world language teacher by the Kansas World Language Association and the teacher of the year at North Olatha North. She received the Educator's Award from the Olatha Public Schools Foundation and the Human Civil Rights Award from the Kansas National Education Association.