Olathe City Council Meeting – October 15, 2024
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Olathe City Council Meeting - October 15, 2024
The Olathe City Council held its regular meeting on Tuesday, October 15, 2024, at 7:00 PM in the Council Chamber. The meeting included recognition of the city's Storm Ready status, a public hearing on a de-annexation, approval of the consent agenda with one item pulled for discussion, several new business items including industrial revenue bonds for a Heartland Coca-Cola facility and land acquisition for the new animal shelter, council member announcements, a report on proposed traffic ordinance amendments, an executive session, and a late public comment period. The meeting adjourned at 7:48 PM.
Special Business
- The National Weather Service (Jonathan Kurtz) recognized the City of Olathe as a Storm Ready City. Fire Emergency Preparedness Coordinator Rob Cole and Special Operations Division Chief Toby Aldridge accepted the recognition on behalf of the Olathe Fire Department, highlighting the city's preparedness and partnership with the National Weather Service.
Public Hearing
- De-annexation (ANX24-0003): A public hearing was held on Ordinance No. 24-42 to de-annex approximately 186.22 acres located northeast of W. 175th Street and Clare Road. No members of the public spoke. City Attorney Ron Shaver explained that the de-annexation clause was not typical but had been negotiated in this annexation agreement. Councilmember Schoonover asked whether the city had failed to meet its obligations; Shaver responded that the applicant chose not to proceed with development. The public hearing was closed (7-0), and the ordinance was approved (7-0).
Consent Calendar
All items on the consent agenda were approved in a single motion (7-0), with the exception of Item O which was pulled by Councilmember Felter and considered separately.
- Items approved: October 1, 2024 meeting minutes; renewal licenses; resolutions setting public hearing dates for Indian Creek Crossing and Olathe Gateway projects (CID, TIF, STAR Bond, etc.); amendments to policies F-10 and PI-1A; resolution of intent for Cedar Creek Development bonds; investment policy; travel requests for City Manager and Mayor; consent calendar; Engineer's Estimate and contract awards for 103rd Street Lift Station and forcemain improvements; renewal of contracts with Haren & Laughlin Construction and Energy Tech Solutions; authorization for vacuum excavation truck repair; and authorization for use of opioid litigation settlement funds.
Discussion Items
- Item O – Black Bob #2 Recoating Project (PN 5-C-025-23): Councilmember Felter requested details. City Engineer Nate Baldwin explained that painting the water tower (both interior and exterior) is routine maintenance to prevent corrosion. Councilmember Vogt highlighted the cost: the low bid from Viking Painting, LLC was $1.4 million, and the engineer's estimate was nearly $3 million. She noted the importance of preserving city assets. The item was approved (7-0).
- Ordinance No. 24-43 – Procurement Policy Technical Correction: A technical correction to align the approved version with the proposed version. Approved (7-0).
- Ordinance No. 24-44 – Industrial Revenue Bonds for Heartland Coca-Cola: Authorized issuance of up to $350,000,000 in taxable industrial revenue bonds for construction of a 677,349 square foot industrial facility at 167th Street and Hedge Lane. The city had expressed intent in April 2023. Approved (7-0).
- Resolution No. 24-1062 – Condemnation Survey for Animal Shelter Project: Authorized a survey and description of land to be condemned for the Animal Shelter Project (PN 6-C-007-23). Councilmember Gilmore voted no. Approved (6-1).
- Ordinance No. 24-45 – Land Acquisition for Animal Shelter Project: Approved the engineer's survey and authorized land acquisition for the same project. Councilmember Gilmore voted no. Approved (6-1).
Public Comments & Testimony
- General Issues (after live session): Melissa Wagner, an Olathe resident, spoke regarding autism and playground fencing at Arbor Creek Elementary. (From minutes, item 10)
New City Council Business
- Councilmember Schoonover congratulated Mayor Bacon on receiving MNU's Copeland Award.
- Councilmember Gilmore announced he will not run for re-election for the at-large seat, having served 17 years in elected office.
- Councilmember Vogt invited the public to the MNU Homecoming Chapel on Friday at 9:30 a.m. and praised the Public Works department for improvements on Ridgeview Road.
- Councilmember Felter reminded that Civic Academy applications are online; noted the Fire Department's 13th annual EMS symposium; and congratulated the Solid Waste team on the 2024 Outstanding Solid Waste Project Award for the Compost Pad Project, noting a 51% increase in yard waste processed over the past decade.
- Councilmember Vakas acknowledged Councilmember Gilmore's service.
- Deputy City Manager Susan Sherman congratulated the Mayor.
- Mayor Bacon announced upcoming City Hall renovations (starting next week through summer 2025) with continued public services; two public meetings next week for the Quivira Road Project (143rd to 151st); and Halloween events: Trick-or-Treat Trail at Stagecoach Park (Oct 25) and Trick-or-Treat off the Street at Mahaffee (Oct 26).
Reports
- Proposed Amendments to Title 10 (Traffic Ordinance): Assistant City Attorney Bob Gallimore presented proposed changes. Councilmember Gilmore asked about definitions of street/highway (used interchangeably) and whether motorized bicycles require a driver's license (Gallimore said city follows state law but will provide a breakdown). Mayor Bacon noted that scooters are currently treated like bicycles and asked about clarifying conditions. He also asked about golf cart regulations; Gallimore noted the state is silent on golf carts, allowing city to set its own rules. No action taken; additional information to be sent to council.
Executive Session
- Motion to recess into executive session for 15 minutes to discuss data relating to financial affairs or trade secrets of corporations (K.S.A. 75-4319(b)(4)). Approved (7-0). The open meeting resumed at 7:46 PM.
- Upon reconvening, a motion was made to authorize the City Attorney to finalize and the Mayor to execute a real estate contract and development agreement regarding 200 W. Santa Fe Street as directed by the governing body. Approved (7-0).
Additional Items
- Mayor Bacon thanked the Mayor's Children's Fund board for organizing the first pickleball tournament, which raised $5,000 for the fund.
Key Outcomes
- All votes were recorded as shown above.
- De-annexation approved (7-0).
- Consent agenda approved (7-0) except item O pulled.
- Item O (Black Bob #2 Recoating) approved (7-0) with contract awarded to Viking Painting, LLC.
- Ordinance 24-43 (procurement correction) approved (7-0).
- Ordinance 24-44 (Coca-Cola bonds) approved (7-0).
- Resolution 24-1062 (condemnation survey) approved (6-1, Gilmore no).
- Ordinance 24-45 (land acquisition) approved (6-1, Gilmore no).
- Executive session held; subsequent contract authorization approved (7-0).
- Traffic ordinance report: no action, further clarifications to be provided.
Meeting Transcript
Good evening. Welcome to the regular meeting of the Olatha City Council for Tuesday, October 15th, 2024. The first item on our agenda is the Pledge of Allegiance. Would you please stand with me for the pledge? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. Liberty and Justice Raw. We'll now move to special business. Living in Kansas means weather can be pretty wild sometimes, even dangerous. As a city, we understand the importance of being aware and prepared for severe weather and ensuring our residents are too. Jonathan Kurtz with the National Weather Service is with us tonight, along with Olatha Fire Emergency Preparedness Coordinator, Rob Cole, and Special Operations Division Chief, Toby Aldridge. Would you individuals like to come up? Yeah. Thanks for being here. We don't have any complaints about the weather here. I'd love to have complaints about the first time. So for all of you in our area, you know that no community to be storm group, every community storm ready. So you appreciate the words of managers to see the way that we'll process review that certification. So awesome. Thank you so much. And if you would fire by talk about how we get storm ready. No, absolutely. Thank you very much, Jonathan. Uh it's an honor as a city uh to be able to not only accept your street sign here, but also to be able to renew our status as a storm ready community with you all for the next four years. Uh it's truly great to see just that all the efforts that we put in as a city uh to keep our community safe. Not only the citizens' lives and their property um is paying off, but also um getting recognized for it. Uh we very much uh value our partnership with the National Weather Service and plan to be even more prepared as we push into the future for significant weather events. So thanks. Appreciate it. Um yes, uh again, thank you. I appreciate everything that uh National Weather Service does. They support us for special events, they provide weather briefings, um, they help us when we exercise, when we do the city exercise, they provided a scenario uh when we did the community disaster resiliency uh exercise. They provided a winter storm scenario, so they are just fantastic partners, and I just really appreciate everything they do. Thanks. Thanks for being here. And where are the citizens? Where do they find out more about being storm ready and how they can participate? Uh you can find more at uh weather.gov forward slash KC, Kansas City Forecast Office. Where's the sign good? That's a great question. I I think uh I think that's being discussed between uh Chief DeGraf and Reed uh Mrs. Gay here. All right. So let's take a quick picture off something. Thank you all for being there and for uh all our uh employees that work so hard are making sure that we're prepared. So the police and firefighters in our community, we appreciate it. Uh we'll now move to uh uh public hearings. I'd like to open a public hearing in consideration of ordinance number 24-42, which is annexation 24-003 requesting approval of a de-annexation to exclude approximately 186.22 acres located northeast of West 175th Street and Clare Road from the corporate boundaries of the City of Olatha. Uh the property owner requested de-annexation according to the process outlined in the annexation agreement with the city. Um is there any need for uh is anyone signed up to speak? No, sir.
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