The Olathe City Council met on June 17, 2025, at 7:00 PM in the Council Chamber. The meeting included a Juneteenth proclamation, service awards, recognition of student state champions, approval of consent agenda items, and new business items regarding bond issuances and a downtown parking garage project. All votes were unanimous among the five present members (Bacon and Essex absent).
Good evening all. I will now call this meeting to order. Good evening to all of you and welcome to the regular meeting of the Olatha City Council for Tuesday, June 17, 2025. Thank you all for being here. What a great crowd. First item on the agenda agenda is the Pledge of Allegiance. If you all stand and say the pledge with us. One nation. The next item on the agenda are some special businesses tonight. Many of you are here today to celebrate some of those uh special business. First item is a proclamation. Um recognizing June 19th, 2025 as Juneteenth. Juneteenth recognizes the emancipation of slaves in the U.S., it allows the opportunity to celebrate the contributions of our black neighbors within our community. Joining us tonight to accept this proclamation is Pastor Kenny Stokes of Nexus Church. There you are. Would you join me, please in the middle? Come on over here. All right. Whereas on January 1st, 1863, President Lincoln issued the emancipation proclamation declaring that all persons held as slaves within any state shall be then thenceforward and forever free. And whereas more than two years would pass before the news reached black Americans living in Texas, when on June 19th, 1865, Union soldiers spread the word that slavery had been appolished. And whereas June 1th was celebrated the following year and continues to be celebrated today, to acknowledge a period in our nation's history that still shapes and influences our society and to honor the principles of the Declaration of Independence. And whereas the City of Olatha is committed to fostering a community that recognizes the value of each resident that is strengthened by our diversity, and that celebrates the varied cultures and backgrounds that make up our great city. Now, therefore, I, on behalf of John Bacon, mayor of the City of Olatha, do hereby proclaim June 19th, 2025 as Juneteenth in Olatha, urging all citizens to recommit ourselves to work of equity, equality, and justice in making Olatha a better place for all to call home. Do you have a few comments that you'd like to make? Go ahead. I'm gonna try to be as quick as possible, but I felt like these words needed to be said. Um good evening, everyone, Mayor Pro Tem, Council. Tonight we gathered together to honor the history that lives in our hearts. Two days from now, it will be Juneteenth, a day when freedom rang louder than chains, and the American promise echoed a little closer to home for all of us. On June 19th, 1865, the last of our enslaved ancestors in Galveston, Texas, finally heard the words that should have been theirs from birth. You are free. Those words carried on, the hot winds of Texas of a Texas summer, lit a fire that has never gone out, a fire of faith, family, and freedom. Juneteenth is not just about what we were freed from. It's about what we were freed for. We were freed to build strong families, the bedrock of our community, free to worship without fear, faith in Christ being our enduring compass in every storm, free to work with dignity, to dream without limitation, and to achieve not because of handouts, but because of hands lifted in hard work and heart-rooted hope. Let me be clear. It is one of victory. From the cotton fields to the Capitol, from the business owners to the brave soldiers, from the pulpit to the podium. Black Americans have not only contributed to this country, we've helped shape it. And we did it with grace, with grit, and with God. In a time when many want to divide us by race, status, or ideology, we must remember that unity doesn't require uniformity. What we need, what we need is shared respect and a shared responsibility from responsibility. Freedom comes with duty. Opportunity comes with action. Let us teach our children that their history is rich, their potential is unmatched, and their future is not defined by what this country was, but by what they choose to make it. Let us turn to faith in our Lord Jesus, the same faith that kept our ancestors singing in the dark and remind ourselves that no matter the headlines or the hardships, Christ has not brought us this far to leave us now. On this Juneteenth, we celebrate freedom, not as a finish line, but as a foundation. And with that freedom, may we walk forward proud of our past, clear in our convictions, and committed to lifting every generation higher than the last. May God bless you. May God bless our community, and may God continue to bless the United States of America.