Good evening.

Welcome to the regular meeting of the Olatha City Council for Tuesday, September 2nd, 2025.

The first item on our agenda is Pledge of Allegiance.

Would you please stand with me pledge?

Pledge of allegiance to the United States of America.

We'll now move to special business.

Item A is a proclamation recognizing September as Deaf Culture Month.

Olatha is proud to be known as one of the most deaf friendly communities in the country.

An important part of that is fostering and celebrating deaf culture.

Joining us to accept tonight's proclamation is Dean Muzanski.

He's the athletic director for the Kansas School for the Deaf.

So Dean, would you join me up front, please?

Then you can have it, okay.

So I'll give it back to you here in a minute.

I'll read the proclamation and then we'll give Gene Dean a chance to talk, okay?

That'd be great.

So the proclamation reads, whereas the City of Olatha is proud to recognize and celebrate the varied perspectives, backgrounds, and cultures that make up our vibrant and diverse city, including the deaf community.

And whereas many deaf community members do not define themselves as one with loss or impairment, but rather as individuals with an alternative sensory and social experience who harness the power of visual language, and who also come from wide-ranging variations in onset of deafness, level of hearing, educational background, communication method, and cultural affiliations.

And whereas Olatha has been named one of America's most deaf friendly cities in recognition of the opportunities and programs we offer, as well as a culture that embraces our deaf and hard of hearing residents.

And whereas we are proud to be home of the Kansas School for the Deaf, the Museum of Deaf History, Arts and Culture, and the Olatha Club of the Deaf.

And whereas the lives of all Olathians are enriched by the contributions of our deaf neighbors, as well as this opportunity to recognize their achievements within our great city.

Now, therefore, I, John Bacon, mayor of the City of Olatha do hereby proclaim September 2025 as Deaf Culture Month in Olatha, encouraging all citizens to learn about and celebrate the values, culture, heritage, and language, languages unique to the deaf community.

Thank you, Dean.

Thank you.

It's been here since 1961.

We service the entire state of Kansas.

Some of our students live actually three hours west of here.

We focus on academics, athletics, student growth.

We want our students to succeed and enjoy the programs here.

We are building confidence, not just teaching athletic skills.

We're building skills that last even beyond K through twelve.

We have sports from K through twelve.

Indiana, Wisconsin, Missouri, Iowa.

And often we win league championships.

We beat them.

Future growth with our athletics program.

What we have on the agenda.

We're going to continue to grow esports.

Also, we're going to work on obviously sports skills, individual skills, and building strong partnerships with the city of Olatha.

And with Parks and Rec.

And developing our campus.

Again, thank you for having me come here today and speak.

So thank you, Dean, for being here again, and for all you the outstanding work you do in our community, and go jackrabbits.

We'll now move to public hearings.

Item A is a public hearing regarding the creation of a community improvement district and the levy of a community improvement district sales tax pursuant to KSA 12-6A26 at the Lone Elm and I7 or 175th Street CID.

This land was annexed this past April.

The developer is also pursuing rezoning for both the property within the CID and the adjacent property.

The rezoning will be at our September 16th on our September 16th agenda, and also will be followed by consideration of the ordinance to create the CID.

So tonight what we are thus public hearing is about is the creation of the CID, which is for the commercial piece of this property.

There have been several people that have asked to speak, or at least we have a couple.

We have one for this.

Thank you and welcome.

Thank you.

So regarding the community improvement district that you're approving tonight.

So here's the answer.

And the city for the property 146 in Lone Elm, 146 acres.

So that included public incentives, including a sales tax exemption, real property tax abatement, issuance of IRBs over time for each building, which is all part of tonight as well, and an 80% real estate tax abatement for 10 years.

So other terms included in the annexation agreement include the community improvement district sales tax up to 2%.

That's what this is.

So what that means is they're going to create an area on the corner, and if you buy something at that commercial uh development, you'll have to pay up to a 2% extra tax.

So if the tax is 9%, you'll pay 11 if you buy anything there.

That's what this is.

Land and buildings along the with IRB rights can be transferred, leased, and assigned to third parties without city consent.

So whoever gets this property can do whatever they want with it within the city doesn't have to approve it, should it should things change.

The de-annexation part clause of that agreement is if not approved within 180 days on April of April 15th, which is October 12 coming up, the developer has a right to demand de-annexation, and that's what the city does not want.

So what's already in progress?

The lineage cold story facility, we know that's phase one, phase two, four speculative warehouses, and a commercial district improvement, which is part of what this is and what what they're helping fund.

That district is going to cost 25 million dollars.

This tax will give them five million dollars to do that.

So again, um that's that's what this is.

The question in part of the answer is why is the city approving uh the IRBs and the creation of this district when the zoning hasn't even approved yet.

And they don't vote on it till later.

Kind of kind of if you put two and two together, you can probably figure that out.

The other thing is the truck traffic.

There's at least six hundred and fifty trucks per day on lone elm uh, which is currently cracking and crumbling with no road improvements budgeted or planned for years.

Um that'll be that will be on this once these two phases are completed.

So we are aware that lone elm from a hundred and I-35 to 167th, we've heard that's going to be widened.

That's not going to be completed until twenty twenty-seven.

So that's three more years, about the same time.

And there is no plans, there's no money budgeted to widen it from 167th to 175th.

So, other than adding a few turn lanes, that's what's going to be there.

So they're they're uh approving all this potentially with all that in mind.

If they don't approve it, they vote no on the 16th.

Um what that means is that Spring Hill could annex that property uh even though it's not adjacent to the city to Spring Hill because three reasons.

It's in the county, same county as Spring Hill.

The owner, the lineage must petition for written consent to the annexation, and the board of county commissioners must approve it by a two-thirds vote.

Um, what would happen if Olatha the board votes not to uh approve the rezoning uh lineage could go to Spring Hill before they go to Spring Hill, they have to go to the county commissioners, and they would have to approve it by two-thirds vote for it to be annexed by Spring Hill, they would go through the same process.

So I just wanted to understand explain, like I said, and the ask the question, answer the question, what's going on, what's good, what's this about tonight with the community improvement district and the IRBs?

It's all part of the plan to get this done in time so that uh lineage doesn't de-annex the property.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Is there anyone else that wanted to speak on this public hearing item a seeing none?

A motion to close the public hearing be in order.

Mr.

Mayor, I move to close the public hearing.

Second.

We have a motion and a second with the city clerk, please roll.

Mr.

Bacon?

Yes.

Ms.

Vogue?

Yes.

Mr.

Gilmore?

Yes.

Mr.

Schoonover.

Yes.

Dr.

Felter?

Yes.

Mr.

Vacus?

Yes.

Miss Essex.

Yes.

Motion passed.

7-0.

Item B, I would like to open a public hearing in consideration of ordinance number 25-30 regarding the creation of a community improvement district and the levy of a community improvement district sales tax pursuant to KSA 12-6A 26 at sec the Olatha Station North CID.

This proposed project involves improving the existing development as a first-class shopping center.

We have no one that has signed up to speak on the creation of this CID.

Is there anyone in the audience that would like to address the council on this particular item?

Seeing none, a motion to close the public hearing be in order.

Mr.

Mayor, I move to close the public hearing.

Second.

We have a motion and second with the city clerk, please call the role.

Ms.

Vote.

Yes.

Mr.

Gilmore?

Yes.

Mr.

Schoonover?

Yes.

Dr.

Felter?

Yes.

Mr.

Vacas?

Yes.

Ms.

Essex?

Yes.

Mr.

Bacon.

Yes.

Motion passes 7-0.

A motion to consider and approve or deny ordinance number 25-30 would be in order.

Is there any questions from any council members on this item?

Seeing none.

A motion's order.

Mr.

Mayor, I move to approve ordinance number 25-30.

Second.

We have a motion and a second with the city clerk.

Please call the roll.

Mr.

Gilmore.

Yes.

Mr.

Schoonerbert?

Yes.

Dr.

Felter?

Yes.

Mr.

Vacus.

Yes.

Ms.

Essex?

Yes.

Mr.

Bacon?

Yes.

Ms.

Yes.

Motion passed 7-0.

Item C is a public hearing pursuant to KSA 79-2929 and KSA 79-2988 to hear comments regarding the proposed City of Olatha fiscal year 2026 budget and exceeding the revenue neutral rate.

This item and the next one are both important steps in our process to set a 2026 budget today.

We'll hear public comment and then vote on intent to exceed the revenue neutral rate.

Staff has worked hard this summer putting these budget workshops together.

And uh thank you for all the residents that have taken the time to engage in the process.

Your input has been very important and it does have an impact on our decisions.

Before we begin the public hearing, I'd like to welcome forward budget analyst Ashley Wooten for a presentation.

Welcome, Ashley.

Thank you.

Good evening, Ashley Wooten, budget analyst.

Um tonight's presentation is for the 2026 public hearing for the proposed budget and exceeding revenue neutral rate.

Before we dive in, I just wanted to provide a brief agenda.

We'll start with the review of the 2026 budget process, then we'll talk a little bit about the revenue neutral rate, and then I'll provide some high-level budget highlights and provide a total budget recap, and then I will pass it back over to Mayor and Council for the public hearings.

In alignment with council budget principles and priorities, we begin the annual budget process with internal planning and preparation that consists of financial casting, review of economic trends, completion of CIP and focus area budgets, as well as review of budget addition and fee change requests.

Once the budget five-year CIP and list of fees are drafted, they are then introduced to the City Council through a series of workshops that cover our tax supported utility and special tax funds.

In mid-July, we also present to the council our intent to exceed revenue neutral rate, which we'll talk about in more detail here shortly.

Completion of the workshops has brought us to this evening's presentation.

Tonight is the public hearing and council vote on exceeding the revenue neutral rate.

The very last step in this process is budget adoption, where the city's elected officials will vote on adopting the 2026 proposed budget, 2026 to 2030 capital improvement plan, and comprehensive schedule of fees.

With this next slide, I'd like to briefly discuss where the revenue neutral rate comes from, what it is, and why the city provided notice of its intent to exceed revenue neutral rate in 2026.

Just to provide some background on the origins of revenue neutral rate, um, back in 2021, a truth and taxation bill was passed by Kansas State Legislature, requiring cities and counties to provide notice, hold a public hearing, and conduct a vote by elected officials on the intent to exceed revenue neutral rate.

So what is revenue neutral rate?

The revenue neutral rate is the tax rate that would generate the same property tax revenue as levied the previous year using current years tax total using current tax years total assessed valuation.

This means the city of Olatha would not be able to collect a dollar more of revenue than what was collected in 2025, and that presents challenges in addressing inflation, slowed sales tax growth, and expansion of city services to meet the needs of continuously growing population.

The pie chart on the right shows the breakout of taxing jurisdictions that receive a portion of a resident's property tax each year.

As a reminder, the city only has the authority to set the property city's property tax levy, which makes up about 20% of a resident's property tax bill.

As a reminder, the 2026 budget consists of three tax supported funds, which are the general fund, library fund, and fire levy fund.

The debt service fund no longer has a dedicated mill levy in 2026, but a debt fund transfer of about 27 million has been built into the general fund budget.

Shifting the debt fund mills to general fund assists the general fund in addressing inflation, provides a greater flexibility for uses of property tax, and it also enables the debt fund to return to the stated policy of 10 to 20 percent of annual principal and interest payments in reserves.

Overall, the mill levy remains stable for 2026.

Next is an overview of the 2026 proposed budget starting with the general fund.

The 2026 proposed general fund budget totals around 227 million with 147 million in operating, 31 million in transfers, and 49 million in reserves.

The transfers to other funds will provide support for capital projects as well as the layout the community center.

Overall, the total general fund operating budget is seeing an increase of about 5.6%.

The next slide is a more detailed breakout of general fund revenues and expenditures.

The majority of general fund revenues comes from a sales tax at 40% and property tax at 35%.

Other sources of revenue make up the remaining 25%.

As for the general fund expenditures, people remain our largest expense at 61%, with transfers following at 18%.

Next, let's talk about the utility funds.

The utility funds make up about 19% of the overall 2026 proposed city budget.

As you can see, last year was one of the largest CIPs the city has ever seen.

The proposed 2026 to 2030 CIP is about $741 million.

Some examples of the projects included in the proposed CIP are $11 million towards the continuance of the $119th Street and Woodland Improvements, $40 million in city funds toward the $114 million Santa Fe and I-35 interchange improvement project, as well as $244 million in water and sewer maintenance and improvement projects.

The table below provides more detail on how the city funds capital projects.

Outside funding sources for the proposed 2026 to 2030 CIP include federal, state, and interlocal funding, as well as grants.

Overall, the proposed budget remains consistent with the council's budget principles and continues to align with the city's strategic plan.

The program has provided about 426 rebates so far this year.

Lastly, during this year's budget process, there was an opportunity to revamp the utility discount program by expanding eligibility and bumping the level of assistance from a total discount of $8 to a total discount of $24 off of a water and sewer bill.

The total 2026 proposed budget is roughly $626 million, including operating and cash reserves, which is a 2.6% increase from the total 2025 budget.

That concludes this presentation.

Staff and I stand for questions.

Thank you, Ashley.

Um, questions of staff?

Anyone?

Councilmember Schoonover.

Thank you, Mayor.

I uh just wanted to follow up on one point.

We talked about the 6.5% uh increase in our uh water and sewer rates, uh if I'm uh remembering that correctly just just for the edification of everyone in the room because I know we have a lot more folks here than we did during the the budget meetings.

Um those numbers still are significantly below our peer communities, correct?

About 35 or 40 dollars less per month than say Overland Park or Lanexa.

Yes, I don't have the specific numbers.

in our uh water and sewer rates uh if I'm uh remembering that correctly um just just for the edification of everyone in the room because I know we have a lot more folks here than we did during the the budget meetings um those numbers still are significantly below our peer communities correct about 35 or 40 dollars less per month than say overland park or or Linuxa yes I don't have the specific numbers and we could fall follow up with that information again but yes um we do compare pretty well to other communities in the metro area certain thank you I don't see any other questions of staff right now we have a couple of individuals that have signed up to speak so if the uh city clerk would invite those folks up sure um our first speaker speaker is Meryl Jansen please go to the podium standard address for the record hello my name is Merrill Jansen I live at 16400 West 126th Street Olatha Kansas um in this presentation I didn't see anything on your efforts for budget cuts I didn't see anything on efforts for staying within the current budget and I didn't see anything on city council members raising their own salaries so it seems like there was some deficiencies there.

Do you want to share um what your salary raises have been or are going to be for the next year.

So we're we're we're inviting you to speak and we'll make sure that that information is available okay and where will that information be available?

It will be on the website.

Yeah.

Okay.

All right if you could give us more information on where that will be Olatha residents have three proposed actions asking the City Council to take and I'm addressing the 12 to 13 percent property tax raise for the next year.

We suggest that you reduce the proposed budget to increases of no more than 2.5 percent for seniors that increase reflects the increase of Social Security for seniors in 2025 and we ask that you not exceed 3.9 percent for employed residents that percentage represents the increase for working people's wages from July 1 2024 to June 30 2025 number two that you create a lower property tax for seniors given that they have already paid property taxes for four, five or six or more decades.

Their children are no longer in the public schools and their income is more limited.

I didn't see anything on that.

These are the constituents have put who have put you in your positions to represent them so I hope you're paying attention we ask we ask that you force your various agencies and departments to be more frugal to manage your projects better.

We see those of us who have been in business management see a lot of wasted money and effort and manpower out there in in city workers and the you cut there was nothing in your budget about your efforts to cut waste fraud or abuse and we know that is going on anyway if any of you agree with what I've just said would you please applaud and standard the next please our next speaker is John Smith please go to the podium state your name and address for the record.

Thank you.

My name is John Smith and I live at 1611 South Avalon Street in Olatha.

And for City of Olatha, the property tax revenue is slated to increase 6.51 percent, which is actually a bit higher, a little bit higher, than Johnson County as a whole.

And I think that's a benchmark to consider.

But I'll go on.

6.51 percent for the most recent data on U.S.

average increase in wages and salaries as of June 2025.

The average increase is 3.5 percent.

3.5 percent.

Um 3.6 percent.

So people's on average, now this is the U.S., I don't have the data for Johnson County.

I don't have the data for City of Olatha, but neither do we in this meeting are in this budget information.

Affordability, along the lines of the previous speaker, it should be a consideration for our budget in our city.

So if the um tax revenue from property taxes increases by 6.51 percent for Olatha, when incomes on average are 3.6 percent of an increase, that's 1.8 times the rate of increase of wages and salaries.

I'd like to see the Johnson County data, I'd like the city to provide City of Olatha data on wage and salary increases, so we can better know is our government affordable.

Um by this measure, though, it's not.

Now you can provide more data to the people about spending per capita, benchmark against other cities.

We may find that um City of Olathe is more cost effective than other cities, but we don't know.

And by the information provided to us, these PowerPoints, not the detailed budgets for each department, not the guidance that were given to the departments to develop budgets, to have a hearing on a 626 million dollar budget as one of 17 items on this agenda.

Nobody cares about affordability here.

I mean, it's just this is a check the box exercise because the state requires it.

Um I'd be much happier if the budget information said the city council provided guidance to the city manager and department heads to look at expenditures that increase in line with people's incomes, so that whatever income you increase you get in this room, you're not paying more of it to the City of Olatha and Johnson County and the State of Kansas, on and on and on.

But here we're talking about the City of Olatha and to the people who can do something about it.

So I just encourage next year that we get more data about what the goals are from the City Council on affordability, the measures that we can understand our spending Olatha for every service as compared to our peer communities, spending per capita on fire, on police, on streets, every department.

I think city services are good, very good, in fact, but can they be more affordable?

And understand the considerations that are taken to account to budget, how much of a decrease in road pavement can uh the city afford to do to save money.

Uh understand the balance you all, if you really are even looking at a balance of expenditures versus how much you tax the people in the city.

So uh I this is the first time I've come to a meeting, but I think I'm gonna come more often and really dig into uh the details and encourage more information for us taxpayers.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Those are the only two individuals that signed up.

Is there other people that would like to speak?

Yes, sir.

Give us your name and record and name uh address for the record, please.

My name is Dr.

James Lucas.

I live at 1243 South Sagebrush Drive in Olatha, a beautiful city.

We appreciate all of you for your service, and it is a gorgeous city, and we love it.

But not at any price.

I think that's the big difference.

People have already touched on some of the numbers.

I have 20 hours of college calculus that I passed, but you don't need that kind of math to look at the numbers.

One of the speakers already said Social Security people, many of you here today, I'm sure on Social Security, 2.5% increase.

To me, that's a benchmark.

You cannot do anything that hits your seniors, which property tax does that goes more than the 2.5 percent.

The rest of it, they can't set the only way they can pay anything more than that is to sell the house or find income somewhere else, give up eating, give up medical costs, and so on.

I think passing more than 2.5 percent for seniors is borders on criminality.

I really do.

I think for others, uh some one of the speakers mentioned uh that uh earners over the last year, people are sold in the work first, had an increase of 3.9 percent.

There's another benchmark.

Seniors 2.5 percent.

Everybody's working an average of 3.9 percent.

We're probably about average for the country uh on those numbers.

I think there's another benchmark that says, how can the city justify that?

One of the comments made by the presenter who did a very good job, by the way, is that operating expenses are up.

She said 5.6, the chart said 5.7 percent.

I do math.

Um but five point six or seven percent when the CPI over the last 12 months went up 2.7 percent.

So we're talking about more than double uh an increase just on operating expenses compared to the CPI that all of us are dealing with when we go to the grocery store.

And so I think that it just moves it to another entire category.

And property tax is very unique because other taxes, you've got income, you buy something and whatever.

You buy a house and you're sitting there and it's the same house you bought maybe 15, 20, 30 years ago.

But arbitrary valuations, some bureaucrat goes in and goes, we look at three or four other houses in your neighborhood, and we think your property went up fifty thousand dollars last year, so we're gonna raise your tax.

And then you've got this other mystery number, the mill levy.

So even if the valuations whatever drop, if the housing prices will go down, you folks can just kick up the mill levy and still take in the same amount of money.

So it's a system that says you're locked into your property, but you don't ever really own it.

And if you're a senior at 2.5 percent and you're looking at a 12 percent overall increase, uh the county looking at 12 percent uh and so on down the line, where do you get the money?

How do you find the money to pay that?

Uh I run two small businesses.

Uh I saw that you're adding, you're talking about adding uh nine full-time employees, if I remember that correctly.

There's not many small businesses that can add any full-time employees.

They are having to cut full-time employees and move people to part-time or find other ways to do things, because if there's no money growing on trees in Olatha.

And so I just think that there needs to be a pause.

I think you folks, again, thank you for your service.

I know you work hard for the city.

We have a beautiful city, but I think before two weeks from now, when you vote on the budget, you need to take a look in the mirror and reconsider what all these people out here are facing right here.

And just to reiterate the numbers, 2.5 percent for seniors, 3.9 percent for everybody else, or a few people probably doing better than that year, but that's the average.

And a 2.7 percent inflation rate, 2.5, 2.7, 3.9, not 12, which is what you're talking about doing with property taxes here.

And I agree with the speaker who said, where's the waste and fraud and abuse?

Uh I managed major construction projects for Black and Beach and Hallmark cards back in the day.

And uh I will tell you, just looking at projects that are done here, do we end up with some good-looking projects?

Yes.

But I can assure you that we are spending 20 percent more on all of these construction projects than we should if they were well managed.

I can just guarantee that.

And they're probably all taking 40 percent longer, including the stuff right outside the door here.

The last time I came for six weeks ago, the same stuff was still sitting outside the door, the dumpsters and everything else.

So if the question is, is there waste, fraud, and abuse?

Uh uh, my answer to that is a simple one.

Duh, there is.

There is waste, fraud, and abuse.

So again, um, more than anything else, I'm frustrated.

I think I speak for a lot of frustration out here.

We're all struggling.

We're all struggling to pay bills.

I'm struggling to pay employees.

I'm struggling to keep up a few small businesses going, which also pays taxes to the city of Olatha.

I can't add full-time employees.

You want nine.

I can't increase my prices to my customers by 12 percent, but that's what you folks want us to pony up.

And I'm just saying, no, stop all of that.

Uh call in some people in the community.

Many of us are retired.

I've got a lot of experience to help manage these projects better.

Because you put it in, I'll just give you one example.

You watch somebody pouring concrete, last thought, and you see in the summer they're pouring the concrete, it's coming down the chute, and the person standing there with the hose, right, to make it go down the chute.

You just destroyed the value of that concrete.

Now instead of replacing it in 12 years, you're going to replace it in four or five years.

That comes right out of this budget.

So give us a break on September 16th, reconsider everything you've done, a nice long process, and give us a chance to get back into that 2.5 to 3.9% raise because we the people deserve that.

Yes.

My name is Doug Gorfler.

I live at 21834 West, 175th Terrace in Olaitha.

Um tack on to a few things the previous speaker said.

I too, I too look for the budget detail.

I used to be, I I I am a CPA, I used to be an auditor.

I audited cities, counties, school districts, and I'm used to looking at the full budget analyzing expenses and revenues, and that wasn't available.

All I could at least find on the web on your website was PowerPoints with a little bit of detail.

Um so yeah, that would be appreciated.

And I too, I'm sure all of us, we like the senior citizen discount.

We get it a lot of other places.

I think I think uh we're we're entitled to that here.

Um I'd like to petition for the Nottington Creek discount because all this that you're doing is and and we we get we get our tax increase the same as everybody else.

Um, but our housing values are not going up.

We have houses already in our subdivision that can't sell at all, and they're having to decrease and decrease.

It's because of all this stuff going around us.

And but you have determined that our property values keep going up and up and up.

And they're not, and they're certainly not going to be.

So if if we can if we can petition for decreases, uh, let's go for that.

Um I did want I was interested in the detail of budget, so I had to use Google AI to find out exactly what's going on.

Um, what road improvements does Olatha have in the budget for the next three years?

I think it was mentioned I-35 in Santa Fe.

We all know that's that's a big project.

200 million dollars is going to be spent on on that in the next three years.

Um that's at I-35 in Santa Fe.

Um black bob improvements, significant improvements there.

I was most interested in lone elm improvements.

So the city council approved 32 million in funding for two major projects on lone elm.

Uh one's at 119th, and then the other one is 159th to 167th.

So I thought the numbers on that and the timing on that was interesting.

Um, the scary praise we can.

Yeah.

Did I say Siri or Alexa?

Okay.

Um that's uh that is plan that's in design for 2025 and 26 with construction plan for 2027.

That's gonna cost 16,273,000.

So again, you know we're concerned about the roads.

You know, the planning commission was concerned about the roads.

We've been told there's no money for the roads, and there's not any plan for the roads for the rest of Lone Elm, which is going to be impacted exactly by this by this development going in, and and there's only turning lanes.

So sixteen million dollars uh out of your six hundred and twenty-six thousand dollar budget, maybe allocate some of that to finishing lone elm so we have some safety at our intersection where we all travel where many for many where many fa families travel.

People play sports at your at soccer at your parks.

We play sports at at the bay at the softball fields.

There are so many people, and there's thousands of trucks go by there every day.

The least you could do, allocate some of that money to that road, and that will go a long way into making that this a safer place to live and perhaps not decrease our property values quite so much.

Thank you.

My name is Nancy Halpin Sadek.

I live at 21889 West 177th Terrace in Nottingham.

I had no intention of speaking tonight.

I have nothing we prepared, so I will speak briefly.

I will continue on a little bit of what Doug said.

You guys have that we've discussed this evening this whole plan for the Northeast Corner of 75th and Lone Elm.

You have given or you are considering 10-year tax abatement on this company to come in.

You have no plans to spend money on the roads there.

You're increasing the taxes here, and yet despite this people who are adamantly opposed to this, you want this company to come in and you're going to give them a tax abatement, but you're going to make us pay more.

So just think about that.

That's all I had to say.

Anybody?

Yes, sir, right here.

Hi, uh, my name is Dan Nadon.

I live at 21793 West 176 Terrace.

That's also in Nottington Creek.

My question was actually on the uh presentation for the budget.

I saw that we were um moving the uh the uh debt service to just moving that up.

We we're not gonna have to have that for going, you know, like going forward for next year.

And it seems to me that if we're looking for maybe a way to reduce some of the uh you know some of the the extra burden that that's getting added on elsewhere that we might actually be able to take a little bit out of that.

I'm not a like an accountant or anything, but it seems like that would be a pretty good place to to look for for funding or way to maybe help out like the seniors and and and the um just the average workers here.

That's all I have.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Anyone else?

Yep.

Yes.

Yeah, I can't see.

Welcome.

My name is Janice Walters.

I live at 2151 West 177th Court in Nottington Subdivision.

And looking at the budget, I know, and we went to the meeting on uh 911, 811, and I know a lot of money and a lot of time and resource went into helping Lineage develop their proposal that they made to us.

I know, I mean, because at times it was hard to tell are these people working for the city or are they working for lineage because they did part of their presentation at the planning commission level.

Um you look at that property and if you live in that area, I would have preferred them at some point to cut bait and say, you know what, this is the wrong area.

Let's take the money that let's take the money that they put into trying to make it work, trying to force that square peg into that round hole, and let's find some of this other property that we have.

We have so much property that is for sale already in established industrial parks that have extremely wide lanes.

Um in fact, the current lineage facility that's in Alatha, if you go over there about nine o'clock at night, or you can pick any other time of day, sometimes there's 18 trucks parked illegally on the road, and they're not blocking much.

They're not blocking much of the road because it's a nice big wide industrial road that is intended for big semi-trucks.

Loneam was not designed for all of those semi-trucks.

We stood, or we sat at the red light the other day, and a truck came in from the left going straight, and of course he was all off the road and into the gravel because he's getting a big truck into a very small lane that is intended for cars and vehicles and maybe an SUV.

So you drive a little bit further, and you can see there's a big pothole all the way down the side of the the pavement where these trucks are just wearing and tearing on the road.

And I can't remember the number, and I wasn't prepared to talk to you tonight.

But it's something like 5,000 cars equal one semi in terms of wear and tear on the road.

That's pretty significant when you look at the numbers of trucks that Lineage is talking about bringing on our two-lane non-industrial, wasn't designed for it.

We got kids and people in parks trying to enjoy life on one side of the park, and we're a caddy corner to the to the park, or to the new uh location.

And then there are people that live behind us.

It's not just a Nottington Creek issue.

All those other people behind us are just as important as we are.

We all travel that road and we know.

You hate to say it, but we know we're gonna lose some lives because you're gonna have a car having an in a vehicle having wrecks with these big semis because it is gonna be a conga line of trucks flying through there, won't be flying very fast because it's gonna be such such a gridlock.

And if heaven forbid somebody, a neighbor needs needs 911 attention, they're not gonna be able to get down low now.

It's gonna be completely packed with trucks.

We're not gonna get good 911 service anymore because I mean there's no shoulders to drive on.

There's no way.

So we're compromising our health, we're compromising our safety.

And we haven't even talked about the whole lineage facility.

I know that you're you all know what uh the Finley facility disaster.

I know you're all aware of that.

We've been sending you way too much information, and we apologize, but we do appreciate you reading it.

We work it and work it to try to make it small so that it doesn't take too much of your time when you're reading it.

But we do appreciate all of your time and paying attention to the things we're sending you.

If they weren't important, I wouldn't waste my time.

I've canceled two vacations trying to fight this because it's important.

It's important to save lives.

I don't want to be looking at these people and whoa, and they lost a loved one or two or three or a whole family because they got killed in a semi-crash.

I don't want my daughter who rides a motorcycle.

Obviously, I don't want that, but you gotta let your 30-year-old daughter do what she's gonna do, but she's very, very careful.

Doesn't matter how careful she is on that motorcycle, if she gets hit or involved in a semi-truck, it doesn't matter if she's in a truck or an SUV.

Semi-truck is always gonna win.

But it's that location.

I'm sorry, that location is not a good fit for this facility.

Nobody wants industrial in their backyard.

But you know what?

Bring us normal, bring us a normal industrial 55-foot, maybe not 24-7, maybe not so dependent upon semis that that's all they do all day long is they bring semis in and out of there all day.

That's their business.

That's intended for a road in a neighborhood, an area of town, an industrial area of town that has wide lanes and can accommodate it.

I appreciate your time.

I'm sorry.

Let me let me just remind everyone that the public hearing that we're in right now is on the proposed City of Late the 2026 budget.

So let's stay German to the topic.

Is there anyone else that wants to talk about the budget for 2026?

Seeing none, a motion to close the public hearing would be in order.

Mr.

Mayor, I we move and close the public hearing.

Second.

A motion and a second with the city clerk, please call the roll.

Mr.

Schoonover.

Yes.

Dr.

Felter?

Yes.

Mr.

Vacus.

Yes.

Ms.

Essex.

Yes.

Mr.

Bacon.

Yes.

Ms.

Vogue?

Yes.

Mr.

Gilmore?

Yes.

Motion passes.

7-0.

Want to thank all of you for your comments tonight.

We will our intention is to uh pass the budget at our next council meeting in two weeks.

Uh we'll now move on to item D, which is consideration of resolution number 25-1075 authorizing a levy of property taxes for the 2026 budget that requires a property tax rate exceeding the revenue neutral rate.

Uh this resolution does not establish the mill rate for the 2026 budget.

It only sets the maximum amount that could be levied.

The city council will vote on the budget at our September 16th meeting, which um and then the county will set the mill rate after that.

So is there any need for a presentation or questions on resolution 25-1075?

Seeing none of motion would be in order.

Mr.

Mayor, Mr.

Mayor, I move to approve resolution number 25-1075.

Second.

We have a motion and a second one.

The city clerk, please call the roll.

Dr.

Felter.

Yes.

Mr.

Bacchus?

Yes.

Ms.

Essex.

Yes.

Mr.

Bacon.

Yes.

Ms.

Vogue?

Yes.

Mr.

Gilmore?

Yes.

Mr.

Schoonover.

Yes.

Motion passes 7-0.

We will now move to the consent agenda items.

Uh these items listed below are considered to be routine by the city council, may be approved in one motion.

They may include items that have been reviewed by the city council in a prior planning session.

There will be no separate discussion unless a council member requests that an item be removed from the consent agenda and considered separately.

Councilmember Schoonover.

Item E, Mr.

Mayor.

Okay.

Item E.

Any others?

Councilmember vote.

Item H.

Same.

H.

Thank you.

Any others.

Motion to approve the consent agenda with the exceptions of item E and H would be in order.

Mr.

Mayor, I move to approve the consent of agenda with the exception of items E and H.

Second.

We have a motion and second with the city clerk, please call rolling the request for the acceptance of the dedication of land for public easements for the final plat for Olatha Animal Care Campus, FP 25-002 Spore, containing three lots on approximately 7.44 acres located northwest of East Santa Fe and North Ridgeview Road.

Planning Commission approved this plat seven to zero.

Councilmember Schoonover.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

I have uh let me let me say I have no problem with the uh the the rezoning of this of this land.

My my concern continues to be with the animal care and control facility itself uh and and the cost of that facility.

Um I know we're not voting on that tonight, but uh I think it it strikes me that animal care and control is a service that that perhaps the county would be better adept at handling than the city.

Um and um I I certainly would be in favor if the if the council wanted to ask that the city uh politely ask of the county is that a service that they can take on.

I'm sure that some of our other peer cities who currently outsource that service, as I understand we're the only uh city in in the county who actually has in-house animal control.

Uh I'm sure that that we would get some support from that from our other peer cities.

But that to me, I mean, a straight dog's not going to know if it's crossing from Olatha to Lanexa to Overland Park to whomever.

So my thought is, particularly as the county is engaging in the uh PSST upgrade uh, so to speak, that that perhaps providing animal control would be something that's better left for the county as opposed to the city.

And I would ask that we give our city manager direction to approach the county with that idea.

Do you want to think about it?

Is that that's you questions of staff or council member vote?

And I would say I would encourage them to ask again.

This has been approached in the past, and the county was not interested in being in that business.

So it will be maybe a new set of commissioners.

Uh we are a full service city.

I think we provide good animal care.

I'm always interested to see if there is the opportunity for all of us to collaborate, but there will be a cost, of course.

So I I want to make sure everybody understands that would require every city to agree to do that.

So again, I would I think it's always something to open up the conversation, though it has been uh addressed in the past.

I appreciate that.

Councilmember Felter.

Thank you, Mayor.

I would of course love to see the county take this on.

My understanding is I there's no interest.

I would say um I would love to see our team pair this down a lot, excuse me, allergy season.

Um there's no way on God's green earth I can support 25 million dollars for an animal shelter.

So I I know uh councilman schoonover has great concerns.

I know that uh amount has other things in it like land and um the other associated class.

We've got a uh presentation coming when?

Um so this easement is nothing uh uh not indicating affirmative votes on that, correct?

Okay.

All right.

Thank you.

Councilmember Scootover.

Just just to reiterate, I would I would say that if we do approach the county, I would be happy with the county putting an animal care and control facility where we have designated this spot of land.

I'd be happy for the county to do that.

Um my thought is is this would get a service off of our uh out of our budget, so to speak, other than paying the county perhaps for for our share of their services.

And you know, I think I think hopefully be a way that we can ultimately save some money, particularly as the county explores the public safety sales tax renewal.

That is a discussion that we will have, I'm sure, go uh in the not too distant future.

So we're looking forward to your presentation in two weeks that will give us a little more information as far as what the city sees and um we'll make a decision from that.

What you know, and we can petition to the county, absolutely, and see if their appetite has changed in this regard.

But generally speaking, it's uh been nonprofits that have taken on this and and uh they're limited sometimes, and I do like our animal uh control.

I do like the service that we provide as far as our animal control.

Um it's a little more broad spectrum than just dogs and cats.

So um and I and I think the citizens have appreciated over the years.

So we'll have that discussion soon.

Yes, thank you.

Um any other questions or concerns on this item?

So a motion to approve item E would be in order.

Sorry about the not hearing.

Mr.

I have a question.

Ma'am, this is not a public hearing.

This is not a public hearing.

This is not a public hearing.

Okay.

We uh the floor is for councilmember vote.

Mr.

Mayor, I move to accept the uh for us to accept the dedication of land for public easement for final plat for the Olathe Animal Care Campus FP 25-0024.

Second.

We have a motion with the city clerk.

Please call the roll.

Ms.

Essex.

Yes.

Mr.

Bacon.

Yes.

Ms.

Vote?

Yes.

Mr.

Gilmore?

Yes.

Mr.

Schoonover?

Yes.

Dr.

Felter.

Yes.

Mr.

Faucus?

Yes.

Motion passes 7-0.

Item H is consideration of resolution 25-1078 adopting the City of Olatha Safety Action Plan.

Councilmember Felter, did you pull that?

Oh, Councilmember Vot.

Both of you.

Okay.

You vote.

Go first.

So uh first of all, um I want to make uh make sure I thank you all for looking at that plan and including the projects that have occurred while that study was being made.

Um and that we don't just wait for study to be completed before we uh address some of the safety concerns with transportation in Olatha.

And I appreciate the fact that you have now added um page 42, which now addresses some of the completed and upcoming projects, as the study was uh looked at the 10-year period from 2013 to 2022, and of course it's 2025, and a lot of has happened since that.

And looking at um page 42 of the study, which is for the council, I believe it's uh page 188 of our packet, it now shows uh some of the completed projects, including those recently or are currently under construction and plan for 2026-2030.

And Nate, if you can address maybe a little bit more about this map here and the study itself.

Okay.

Thank you.

So Nate Baldwin, City Engineer.

Um Mayor Pro Temp Vote and I had a conversation earlier today, and if you remember um a couple um council meetings ago, we came and presented this plan to you.

And um one of Mayor Pro Temp Votes' comments was to show the progress that we have made and the commitments we've made to a lot of these studies.

Uh just as a refresher, um, and it was touched upon.

We looked at the crash rates of various intersections and thoroughfares from 2013 to 2022, because we started the work in 2023.

So you had to have a starting point.

Well, over that time, there were some improvements made, and we do have some plans.

So uh even though maybe uh for example, Santa Fe and Ridgeview in 2020 we improved, well, that was highlighted as needing improvements in the plan because of the crash rates prior to those improvements.

So we added this map to help clarify to the public that a lot of these concerns that are being raised in the safety action plan have been addressed or are going to be addressed.

Um one item that we talked about also was the Santa Fe um I-35 improvements.

Yes.

So in your packet, um it was the accident left off, is you can see kind of in the green in the center there where Santa Fe and I-35 are, that that was not a planned project in the map in your packet.

Is you can see kind of in the green in the center there where Santa Fe and I-35 are, that that was not a planned project in the map in your packet.

We have since added it, so that will be included in the plan.

So we will include that next plan.

Again, thank you for the clarification.

I appreciate having this.

I want people to know that we are addressing these safety concerns.

And I think this action plan is really important because it really helps, I think the council to understand where those projects, where the money tax dollars need to go to fix any kind of safety issues.

I appreciate that we are looking at complete streets, meaning we're not just looking at vehicular traffic, be it cars or motorcycles, but also pedestrians and also bicycles.

So I think this is really important.

I think it's going to help us as we move forward and staff to provide recommendations to the council regarding these are this is where the tax dollars need to be placed to make our city safer.

So I do appreciate it.

I do appreciate you adding this information.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilmember Felter.

Thank you, ma'am.

Hi, Nate.

Thank you.

I didn't even give you a heads up about this.

Sorry about that.

Um, this wonderful document.

Um you had a lot of stakeholder engagement putting it together.

Has it been presented to any of those stakeholders?

I'm sorry, ma'am.

Okay.

Have have any of the stakeholders that had input been able to see this?

Yes, they have.

So all the stakeholders have reviewed and uh given their approval for it.

Okay.

Um are we going to share it widely with the community?

That's my concern.

I don't want it to go on a shelf and just get moff balled point.

No, it will be posted to our website.

Okay.

Okay.

Perfect.

Any other presentations within the community, or is is that pretty much it?

If someone will request a presentation, we would be happy to talk to them.

Okay.

All right.

That's all I had.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Any other questions on item H.

Seeing that a motion be in order.

Thanks, Nate.

Thank you.

All right.

Mr.

Mayor, I move to approve resolution number 25-1078, adopting the City of Olatha's safety action plan.

Second.

We have a motion and a second with the city clerk.

Please call the roll.

Mr.

Bacon.

Yes.

Ms.

Vogue?

Yes.

Mr.

Gilmore?

Yes.

Mr.

Schoonover.

Yes.

Dr.

Felter?

Yes.

Mr.

Vaucus?

Yes.

Ms.

Essex.

Yes.

Motion passed.

7-0.

We'll now move to new business.

Item A is consideration of ordinance number 25-31, amending titles 8 and 9 of the Olathe Municipal Code pertaining to animals.

This item was our report at our August 5th and 19th City Council meetings.

Any need for presentation or questions on this?

Seeing none.

Motion be in order.

Mr.

Mayor, I move to approve ordinance number 25-31 amending titles eight and nine of the Olatha Municipal Code pertaining to animals.

Second.

We have a motion and a second with the city clerk, please call the roll.

Ms.

Vote?

Yes.

Mr.

Gilmore?

Yes.

Mr.

Schoonover?

Yes.

Dr.

Felter?

Yes.

Mr.

Vaucus?

Yes.

Ms.

Essex?

Yes.

Mr.

Bacon?

Yes.

Motion pass 7-0.

We'll now move to general issues and concerns of citizens.

We have several individuals that have signed up to speak.

One of the um, I'll just explain this for the group here tonight because this is a little different than a public hearing.

This is an item on our agenda where we let people come and talk and address the council and just talk about whatever is on their mind.

Um, but you have to sign up by 6.30.

So I won't ask if there's anybody from the audience on this particular item to if they want to speak tonight.

If you'd like to talk to the council, you'll have a chance in two weeks.

And just make sure your name gets on the list by 6.30 p.m.

So with that, I'm going to ask the city clerk to please invite the speaker up and then tell them how to uh the the rules as far as addressing the council.

Thank you.

The council has extended this privilege to allow people who live and work in Olatha to address concerns to the City Council.

Speakers must only address the council, and council members are not required to respond.

Please treat others with kindness and respect.

Unruly and disruptive behavior will not be accepted.

The council has allocated up to three minutes per speaker, and up to a total of 30 minutes total for this portion of the of the meeting.

We have eight speakers tonight.

Um so each one will get three minutes apiece.

Our first speaker is Kate Gimbelow.

Please sit go to the podium, state your name and address for the record.

And please speak into the mic because people are a few people are having yeah, thank you.

They'll hear me.

They'll hear you.

Okay, great.

Okay.

Uh hi, my name is Kate Gimbalow.

I live at 11236 South Ray Street in College Meadows.

My family has endured four floods, 2017, 2021, 24, and again this July of 25.

Each time water rose to four to five feet deep in our home, at our home at the site of a stormwater drain that is part of the City of Olatha stormwater system, pressing a lake against our house for hours.

For perspective, this is my house, and this entire room is this full of water for hours.

Each time it forces its way into our house by swamping the drain tile, filling our entire finished basement of over 1,500 square feet with water ankle deep.

For seven years, the City of Olatha told us it was our fault that our foundation had been poured too low.

Your stormwater manager admitted in front of the HOA after the second flood that should we repair our foundation and we still flood, it would be the city's fault.

So we spent thousands of dollars to waterproof seal and repair what you claimed was wrong.

None of it worked because our foundation was never the issue.

You paid HNTB to assess the issue, and they found four major design and build issues with your stormwater system that causes this issue.

You know it's your problem because you offered to pay $70,000 if we paid another $70,000 to build a levee mode along the entire side and back of our home and a five-foot-tall, 65-foot long concrete retaining wall jutting into our yard, a wall that would destroy our property value, turn our backyard into a bunker, and still not guarantee that our house would not flood.

Even worse, your own engineers admit it would simply displace the water, pushing the problem onto our neighbors.

You continue to insist that this is an issue for the homeowners to take up with the developer.

But is it the city of Olatha who had the business partnership with that developer, not the buyers of the homes?

The developer submitted plates, grading plans, stormwater designs, and you approved them.

This developer built that stormwater system and you inspected it and you signed off on it before the lots could be sold.

And then our builders submitted plot plans and house drawings, which you reviewed and approved, including elevation and grading, and you sent inspectors to check every single step of that construction and you approve them.

And yet only now, now after all these years and the public scrutiny that comes with press coverage, you've now changed your story.

You now contend that our home should have been built five feet higher in elevation than it was.

But your staff approved our plot plan and our build drawings before a single shovel of dirt was turned.

You cannot have it both ways.

You cannot approve our home at this elevation and now claim it should have been felt built five feet higher.

How about you just don't let five feet of water stand against my home?

Now you may not have fully understood the mistakes that were made in approving that stormwater system.

But the moment your own consultants at HNTB identified the flaws, the responsibility became yours to act.

And instead, your staff doubled down and admitted the flaws in the system and refused to do anything about it.

It's not about flooding.

It's about accountability.

Let's go.

Our next speaker is Max Cook.

Please go to the podium, state your name and address for the record.

Welcome.

Hi, good evening.

My name is Max Cook.

I live at 11252 Creststone Street here in Olatha.

My wife and I and our two preteen kids live one street over from Kate.

In 2021, our home flooded on the same day that Kate's flooded when the city stormwater system allowed the ravine beside our property to fill 15 foot deep and 50 foot wide.

It was a pond immediately next to our home, resting against the foundation.

The water pressed against our home, swamped our drain tile, and poured into our basement.

We flooded again this July at the very same time that Kate did.

That makes two families in two different locations experiencing the same catastrophic failure.

I am immediately downstream from Kate's flood problem.

It's even more telling that this is not an isolated incident, systemic.

And when you look at it, the fact that I'm just two blocks away in the newer part of this same neighborhood.

There is a stormwater system that includes a larger four foot by eight foot culvert that goes under the street for water to easily pass.

Picture in your mind there's two upper ponds that drain through two separate creeks to one big pond.

One creek drains through that nice big culvert.

The one that's next to my house drains through a pinhole, and it stops the water in its tracks, piles up, and floods my basement home, just like Kate's.

On the chance that they might flood.

Ours has flooded and no attention is made.

How can you treat Briarwood one way and college meadows another?

Where's the fairness?

The truth is developers cannot act alone.

You review and approve every plan.

You inspect every piece of infrastructure before a single home is occupied.

You are the safeguard between developers and families like ours.

As homeowners, we pay our taxes, we raise our families here, we buy homes in good faith that you will protect us.

We trust that you will make sure that we are not sold plots or homes that put our families and our property in danger.

The trust is the very foundation why people move into your city.

It's the largest investment I've ever made in my life.

And it is I I ask you, knowing what you know about my house, if you were looking to buy a house and mine was for sale, would you buy it?

There's not a chance.

Not a chance.

My property value is shot, and so is Kate's.

It's not our responsibility.

So that we ask you, and your city attorney who's on the books employed by you was the one who made the decision.

Right?

And so again, that's not accountability.

That's the city protecting itself while families like ours continue to drown.

I'm not asking you for charity.

I'm asking you for accountability.

You approve this neighborhood, you signed off at every stage.

You are responsible for ensuring our homes are safe.

Our next our next speaker is David Silverstein.

Please go to the podium and state your name and the address for the record.

That pump station should have been repaired years ago.

And you guys aren't doing it.

David Silverstein.

You're welcome.

Thank you.

My name's David Silverstein.

I live at uh one 11640 South Carridge Road in Olatha.

Um I'm a retired engineer and I offered to re review the flooding issues at Kate's home at no cost to her after seeing an article in the KC Star.

I bring decades of experience in stormwater and infrastructure design and construction.

And I can tell you with confidence that the flooding is a result of systemic design and oversight failures.

I reviewed the Asbuild grading and drainage plans and saw immediately that her home was placed in a location which should have been approved for residential construction.

A large inlet and 48-inch pipe were installed to convey the flows, but the pipe cannot handle the flow that it receives.

During the major storm events, the inlet and pipe are overwhelmed and water floods the entire front and backyards of her home up against the home five feet deep before flooding across Ray Street.

The result is a temporary lake that press presses against their occupied home, wrecks the yard every time it floods, and floods the basement.

Where in Olatha would this be considered acceptable?

The problem extends downstream to Max property where the ravine beside his house is fed by the same system.

The city approved the installation of the same 48-inch pipe and the road overtop during all major storm events.

The result was predictable.

It fills 15 feet deep, water floods his house, and the basement floods along with Kate's.

City staff has stated in the tort claim that the pipe and overflow system constructed by the developer is acceptable for local standards.

But the overflow is supposed to be limited to very infrequent storms.

That is not the case at this location, as I believe in the pipe and inland will not pass the 10% chance storm as required.

In addition, the overflow as designed requires the water to pond four feet deep before overtopping Ray Street.

This is not typical design of an overflow system within a subdivision.

I also affirm La Vita that that is not acceptable engineering design to allow such a large drainage area to flood across a road, especially within a subdivision.

Your own consultant even recommended replacing the pipe with an eight by four inch box culvert, near nearly triple the current capacity.

The flooding was also made worse by College Boulevard expansion from two to four lanes.

The road was designed efficiently to remove runoff without the consideration of any of the downstream impacts, and that decision has exacerbated the flooding these homes have experienced.

That road was widened after the subdivision was constructed.

It is not the homeowner's responsibility to fix mistakes in planning, permitting, and inspection.

That responsibility belongs to you.

The city personnel who approved the plans, set the standards, and are now fully aware of the failures.

And until you correct them, families here will remain in danger, and the value of their homes is severely impacted.

Thank you.

I'm here today, obviously, to talk about the lineage uh facility and proposal.

Uh it seems to me that shady stuff's happening all over within our own government in the United States.

It seems to me after listening here in this meeting, there's been some shady stuff going on here in the city of Aletha as well.

Um we have some amazing people in our HOA and they've done a ton of research into this lineage project, and for that I thank them.

Um they discovered the signed agreement that uh Mayor Bacon had that essentially sets the stage up to where we are as residents now.

That agreement was from 20 uh April 2025.

Um that agreement allows the owner of the property to de-annex if you guys don't approve, which in and of itself smells dirty uh to allow another city to annex the land and start the whole process over again.

We as citizens of the city should feel that the city's commissioners and planning committees should have the best interests of our citizens.

While I understand the growth and revenue are important, it should not come at the cost of our safety.

The bottom line is that the roads and current infrastructure will not support an additional 500 trucks in and 500 trucks out a day, period.

Lineage already has trucking issues at their current facility at 12067th Street.

You can't be naive enough to think that those issues won't happen at the new proposed facility and site.

We have tons of good information and videos of all the chaos caused by their trucks on 167th Street on our Nottington Creek neighborhood HOA Facebook group.

I would gladly give you guys all the password so you guys can join the group and actually see at your own hand what's going on on 167th Street.

We still haven't even discussed the added traffic of the 1 million plus storage facility that is still sitting vacant.

Approving this plan that caters to lineage jeopardizes the safety of myself, my family, my neighbors, and citizens that you're trying to help improve things, not make things worse.

We already get squeezed on taxes every year without getting anything in return.

We are the redheaded stepchildren of Olatha, we get that, but considering this uh this project that is directly adjacent to Lone Elm Park is ridiculous.

If you don't think feel like that's ridiculous, I'll gladly sell you my house right now.

In fact, in fact, there are plenty of lots that each of you on the committee can come join our community and see firsthand some of the serious issues that myself and fellow neighbors have brought up.

Lineages requesting 310 million in bonds and 10-year tax phase-in from our city.

If you're to approve this, you'll lower our values of our house.

It's really that simple.

You'll be hurting the city and the citizens that you're supposed to be working to make our uh great city better.

You would be caving to corporate greed, a company that made 5.3 billion last year, and this year first quarter made 1.32 billion.

There are plenty of other sites for them to build their 140-foot tall cold storage facility that will use hydrohocius uh ammonia that is dangerous to the community next to the houses in City Park that has the morning events that they do.

One last thing if lineage is health bent on on being uh building it where it's proposed, maybe they should negotiate in good faith with the subdivision and the surrounding homes as a buyout.

It's also been reported by our community and those on the HOA board that they've heard from one of our county commissions commissioners, Miss Essex, about a discussion about a monetary donation to make this all go away and get approved.

That has happened.

You have done it.

200,000 was the number that was thrown out.

And quote, quoted from you is that that sounds doable.

Little do we know that that money was going to be funneled from lineage, their project through through funds to to help replace trees and stuff.

That does nothing to us.

You can't throw them all the money you want at this.

It's not going to eliminate our concerns.

This just confirms to me and most in the room how dirty this whole thing is.

The right would would be to stand up for the citizens directly impacted by this and vote no.

Our next speaker is Wayne.

Can you remind me when we started the agreement?

Excuse me.

Can you tell remind me when we started the Citizens Open Forum?

What time was it?

Do you remember?

I thought it was right a little after eight.

We've got four more speakers.

That's not we don't have enough time for three minutes apiece.

So give them two minutes apiece.

We don't have a draw.

We're limited to 30 minutes unless we have a motion to extend.

We started at 808.

I can't hear order.

Yes.

City clerk.

We started at 808.

808?

We got plenty of time.

Sorry.

All right.

Next speaker.

We'll go quick.

Our next speaker is Wayne Paris.

Please.

I'm sorry, I apologize.

Please go to the podium, state your name and address for the record.

My name's Wayne Perzee.

I live at uh 21708 West 176 Terrace.

I'm gonna change a little bit of the way I want to talk about it because Brian, thank you.

That was unbelievable, and it was good information.

The information that has been coming has been fantastic.

I mean, everything from seniors, I am one, everything about flooding.

We worry about that because that is an issue that this lineage thing is gonna attempt to stop, but we've got that coming into our neighborhood.

We saw it flood 10 feet before we even knew this other thing was coming, and that water was coming from that farm.

So I'm gonna just real quick.

I've lived in Olatha for 20 years.

The last seven of them in my current residence out in Nottington Creek.

My wife did the work and she says it looks like it's residential, it looks like it's reserved residential, there is some farmland, and it eventually could be commercial.

So some of that was okay with us.

The goalpost has been moved three times since we've lived out there, and now it's hell bent to get everything out there industrial.

Okay, you guys have decided that, but are you really looking at why you annexed us in the first place?

We were down there, and some of the people that are been out there for 21 years, they were happy being at Joe Co.

They weren't necessarily happy about being annexed because but you wanted our tax money.

And since that time, our tax money continues to increase, and there is no doubt that our property values are gonna go down.

We have got two houses out there.

Now, I again I've been out there now for eight years.

We've got two houses out there that have languished for 120 days.

All the houses in the past have sold within the first week.

The the rumor mill is horrible.

Lineage is horrible.

The the uh the lone elm thing is horrible.

We can live with a lot of what we've lived with.

I don't think we can live with this lineage thing.

I hope you can't pass it.

I hope you can look at it and say, let's move it.

Move it up to 167 with the other one.

What gave anybody the thought that that was the right corner to do?

They're lazy.

I mean, lineage stood up here and would not take accountability for truck drivers, would not take accountability for the trucks.

They don't care.

They are a refrigerator or a freezer sitting over there.

You drive in, you drive out, we'll take your money.

They don't care if we get hurt.

They don't care if the roads go to heck, they don't care about coverage or any of that stuff.

So I really have a strong problem with that.

The traffic is miserable.

Lone Elm will not support it.

It just won't.

And when it won't support it, there's gonna be accidents, there's gonna be problems, there could be some anhydrous problems, and you're 16 miles away, 16 minutes away, excuse me, 16 minutes away, 10 miles away to get your hazmat to come and fix it, they're gonna die.

They're gonna die.

So listen to your planning commissioners.

They said, we agree with you, Lone Elm and Lone Elm Estates and the rest.

This is the wrong thing for that corner.

Said no.

Listen to them.

You paid them big bucks to do it.

They are giving you the advice.

Please adhere to their advice.

Our next speaker is Jeff Jeff Walters.

Jeff Walters, please go to the podium and get your name and address for the record.

My name is Jeff Walters.

I live at 21581 West 128th Court in Olatha, Kansas.

And I'm going to ask you and point out some things about the lineage cold storage facility.

I'm a former engineer.

In the lineage facility, they have a bulletin board for the truck drivers, and on the note, a notice on the board says, and I quote, for safety and space, there is no parking in or on the yard.

This is at the existing facility in Olatha.

Please park on the streets and or the local truck station.

So knowing that, here's the process that a truck driver goes through to pick up or drop off their uh load at uh lineage.

The first trip is they drive in and they leave the trailer.

They have to leave.

So they leave the facility and park somewhere and wait.

That's the second trip.

Then they wait for a notification.

They get that notification, they return to lineage.

That's a third trip.

Then they get their trailer and then they leave.

That's the fourth time they're on the road.

The traffic study estimated there would be four semi-truck round trips.

And five hundred of them.

Well, that's wrong.

Because each trip truck doesn't do one round trip, it does two.

So instead of 500 semi-truck round trips, now we have a thousand.

It's twice as much as what your planning commission thought they were voting on.

It's twice as bad.

It's not better.

So we have a thousand semi-truck round trips.

That's two thousand times each day that a semi is going to be on lone elm or 175th Street.

It's completely ridiculous.

That's every single day.

And that's only phase one.

There's phase two as well.

Another 695 semi-truck round trips.

The commit planning commission rejected the development based on 500 trips.

Little did they know when they rejected it that it's actually twice as bad as what they thought it was.

My second point is this.

The planning commission rejected the development because it exceeds obviously the infrastructure capabilities.

As a few hours ago, I went to the city website and I looked at the cost benefit study that was done on uh the lineage project.

There are no costs in that cost benefit study at all for any improvements to Lone Elm Road or 175th Street.

And that's a problem because you've already been told that improvements are needed by your planning commission.

It's also a problem because if the costs of the improvements are not included in the cost benefit study, it is a misrepresentation of facts by you, by the city.

So I would just leave you with this last thing to think about before you vote next yes next week.

Public officials who knowingly misrepresent facts, even within the scope of their official duties, are not protected by sovereign immunity.

They could face personal liability in both state and federal courts for f and misrepresentation.

So my recommendation to you is to ask the city attorney and then get your own attorney and ask him to.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Dalton Radar.

Please go to the podium, state your name and address for the record.

Dalton Radar.

Didn't see him.

The next one.

Our next speaker is Julie Brundes.

Please go to the podium, state your name and address for the record.

I'm Julie Brundys, 11236 South Ray Street.

Olatha, Kansas.

I live with Kate.

I feel like I've been swept under the rug of government bureaucracy.

My home floods when there are flash floods in our neighborhood.

And I would like to know why Olatha will attend to other neighborhoods but will not take care of ours.

The tort claim was a waste of time.

It was 120 days wasted.

We can't afford a lawyer.

Lawyers are 254 a minute or whatever they charge.

It's an unbelievable cost.

And we've already been told Olathe will stretch it out for it to cost even more.

And that's a sad thing to hear.

I've lived in this in in Olatha for 14 years.

And this is starting to wear on me.

I'm 66 years old.

I can't keep cleaning up these floods.

It's just really.

We'll now move to our planning session.

So we have two reports.

Is there's a need for questions or on report one?

No.

Report two is a request by Lineage Logistics LLC and the signs for an issuance request for industrial revenue bonds.

Questions on that or need for presentation from staff on this item?

No.

We'll now move to discussion items.

Item A is a discussion on neighborhood parks update from Johnny Brockis and uh Mike Cerner.

Welcome.

Yeah.

Yeah.

All right, Mayor Bacon, Council, uh Johnny Brock is Park Superintendent.

Thank you for having me.

Uh I just want to talk about the uh City of Olatha neighborhood park update.

Uh this is a plan that I kind of wrote up in uh in May, and it was recommended that I uh present it for city council.

So uh let's talk about the classic classifications of parks.

Uh we have regional parks, these are your large parks, 50 to 100 acres, specialized recreational areas, usually often serves the entire city or county.

Uh these are your lone elm parks, your Lake Olathas.

We have community parks that are mid-size.

They are serve people one to three miles away, uh, contain organized activities like athletic fields, uh serves as a central hub for multiple neighborhoods.

These are your black bobs, your uh prairie centers, your two trails.

And we have neighborhood parks.

These are your small local parts within walking distance from for residents.

They offer basic amenities such as playgrounds, shelters, uh open space for organized activities, and that's what we're really going to talk about today.

Uh our Olatha neighborhood park system.

Uh we can we have 27 neighborhood parks.

They range from one to 15 acres in size.

Uh they're usually in a neighborhood setting for residents to utilize.

Uh a half-mile walk from all residents is our system goal.

So I will I will touch on that later as well.

So our priorities for our neighborhood park plan, uh vitalization and improvement of our parks, uh, expanding our neighborhood green spaces, where where we're growing and going, uh, and embracing a unified identity, uh, making our parks a branded brand of park so you know you're in a city of Olatha Park.

So let's touch on revitalization and improvement.

Uh this was a top citizen priority from the master plan.

Uh when surveyed, improving existing parks received 77% support from citizens.

Uh that's the third highest supported action from the survey from the master plan.

Uh we're going to focus on beautification.

Uh landscape improvements, uh, adding color to the playgrounds.

Uh just really making the the planting more trees, making it more beautiful.

We're going to focus on sustainability.

What materials are being used during construction that will last longer that will lower our maintenance cost long term.

And then functionality.

Then performance metrics.

What is success when once we perform these?

Is it citizen positive citizen feedback as it increased visitors visitations to our parks?

Really, really looking at how this was a successful project.

So here's our five-year revitalization and improvement schedule.

This schedule is based on priority rankings.

We have an internal rating system of park amenity conditions.

These have been identified as the lowest ratings in the park system.

They all have playgrounds over 20 plus years old.

The average lifespan of a playground is 20 years.

After that, it's very hard to get parts.

So we are prioritizing these for park improvements as well as the shelters and other uh amenities in the in these parks.

Uh these are funded by the neighborhood depart neighborhood development annual CIP project.

Uh that is 450,000 annually for park development and improvements.

Uh this comes from the special parks and rec fund.

So those that's the revital revitalization and improvement part of the uh neighborhood park plan.

Uh let's talk about expanding our neighborhood green spaces.

Uh from the master plan survey, this was the top 10 actions citizens were most likely to fund.

Our green spaces encourage physical activity, boost mental health, lower stress levels, support child development, and create spaces for the community to gather and meet with each other.

Future growth initiatives.

In the north, we're going to uh develop Pioneer Park in 2026 into 2027.

In the west, Fire Station 8 in 2029, that is at 148th in the Lakeshore.

And then in the south along the Coffee Creek Corridor in 2030.

I have to leave because you wouldn't let me speak, but I do want to say this one thing.

That is at 167th to 175th corridor.

You just want to kill other people.

Yeah, we'll be doing this in conjunction with the Coffee Creek Trail, developing pocket parks along there for people to enjoy as they use the trail.

Uh these will be uh funded by the special parks and rec fund.

Uh connectivity and access improvements for land acquisition.

How do we connect trails and neighborhoods and the whole system together?

How do we connect neighborhoods?

Just really strategizing how we connect everything together in our entire system, as well as the different neighborhoods together so they can meet each other and enjoy themselves.

Uh a future dog park.

When surveyed, what is the most important facility amenity to Olatha household households from our master plan?

Uh the dog park was in the top four.

So it's currently in our 2027 CIP, and we plan on uh finding a location for a dog park and installing dog park in the near future.

And then park walking.

And then uh Johnny has a floor.

Utilizing park walkability maps.

Uh these are our main tool for identifying land acquisition.

Here's the uh an example of a park walkability map.

This shows every park in our system.

Uh the green ring is a one-half mile radius or a 10-minute walk to each park.

Uh this shows some gaps in our system.

I look at them as opportunities for growth.

So these are the areas we're gonna target and really identify.

Our master plan also discussed the integration of other service providers as a component of the larger Olatha Park Show.

So let's see what that looks like.

So, this is if you add schools and our parks into the uh park system.

It fills our gaps, both are supported by citizens paying Olatha type.

And I look at this as an opportunity to work together with the schools to see how we can create a better system for all of our children and families in a latha.

Let's look at HOAs and parks.

So this shows a shift in neighborhood communities in the recent year, recent years, but I'd look at it as an opportunity to build relationships with developers and get in at the ground level and really find areas where we can put parks in the developing neighborhoods rather than have them do it every single time.

If you put it all together, we really have minimal gaps throughout our system.

Let me go back to this slide.

And uh we this is the most important one to me.

How can we maximize our own system to fill these gaps without utilizing everything else, but still paying attention to what is happening around it with schools and HOAs at the same time?

Um accessible and increase community health.

Uh and trust me, our parks team is working hard to identify identify strategic land uh acquisition.

Uh we currently have a couple of uh things in the works, so we're really excited about it.

And if if it comes through, we'll let everybody know.

Nottington doesn't have a playground there, do they?

Okay, so these are just with playgrounds.

I've been out to Nottington.

I I have talked with the let's talk about embracing a unified identity.

Uh we've been working on a uh signage and wayfinding project for the past year.

Uh benefits of consistent signage and wayfinding park systems, recognition, visual harmony, a cohesive look through your parks, uh simplified maintenance, you're using consistent materials.

Uh and then community pride.

You know when you're in Olatha Park, you feel proud that you're in Olatha Park that you're supporting.

So let's look at examples of local communities with unified park systems.

You can tell you're in a Linuxa park on the left, you can tell you're in a JCPRD park on the right.

They have consistent ID features, and you know where you are.

Let's look at our system.

Uh it's pretty inconsistent, and you don't know really if you're in Olatha Park sometimes.

Some of our larger community parks don't even say City of Olatha when you when you come in.

So we're going to try to fix that.

Uh after multiple rounds of stakeholder environment involvement, it has led to this design.

Uh I presented this in early March, I believe, and everybody kind of got to see this.

So our larger community and regional parks are on the top, and the uh neighborhood parks will be on the bottom left.

Uh and more wayfinding options as you enter the park.

Uh implementation will take many years, so it won't happen overnight.

Um we're starting at the manufacturing costs, but once we find that out, we will we will share that information.

Uh this is a new sign versus the old sign, Mahappy Pond here.

You don't know you're in Olatha Park, it isn't very welcoming.

Look on the right with Frontier Park, says Olatha.

It has I'll zoom in here.

It says Olatha, it has an address for emergencies, it has big bold letters that let you know you're in this park.

It also has universal park symbols to inform users of of park amenities, which is a nice nice thing as you're driving by.

Uh we're still bidding the manufacturing costs, like I said, but we plan to start replacements coming soon.

Uh this will be funded from the park sales tax that uh that everybody pays into.

And uh we are starting a pilot project this coming winter at Frontier Park.

So we will uh introduce all different types of signs there, and everybody can come out and take a look.

So we're really excited about that.

In conclusion, this plan addresses that we what we we take care of and improve what we have, expand in strategic locations to maximize our system's reach, as well as unify our park system together and create cohesion throughout.

So that is my presentation for today.

Thank you for uh thank you for letting me let me speak today.

It's exciting stuff.

Thank you, John.

Um questions of staff on none.

So um have we done a utilization study on some of our neighborhood parks?

Do we know what parks are maybe not being used as much as they were at one time?

You know, we have that any repurpose.

We have data that that talks, you know, suggests which parks we should spend spend more time and effort in.

You know, our larger community parks, so they're obviously gonna get more funding than a neighborhood park just because of the usability and and more people going there.

As far as our neighborhood parks, they're all pretty equal.

Uh there isn't really one that you is utilized a lot more than the other.

And so we just use that data, and then we use the you know the uh rating system to prioritize where we uh where we work on.

So um you had a list of priorities, and I noticed the the North uh park had two years of 450,000.

So as far as prioritization of your going through and and swapping out playground equipment or whatever it is, how did you determine the prioritization of that process?

You know, we want to we want to uh build a truly inclusive playground in Olatha, and we thought using two years of that to form that in a location that really needs some some some assistance.

Uh but that was 900,000 on one park, right?

Correct.

Correct.

Okay.

This would be a truly inclusive area with a fence around it and and something that we don't have through in our park system.

So it would be a totally different change for from what we are.

Uh we we have a total prioritization system and in our cartograph system.

And but these are the top five for the next next five years that we're going to really focus in on in making improvements.

All right.

Thanks, Johnny.

Uh council member vote.

Yeah, tough act of everybody.

But you got applause.

You did great.

You did great.

Um I I just want to comment on some of the comments you just made about making sure that those parks that were renovating are inclusive and we recognize that.

And I think this will be the one of the first parks that includes an area that will be fenced in as some of our citizens have indicated their children that may be autistic, have a tendency to run.

And if you have this type of feature within a park, a family can go there and save feel safe and still include all their children to be able to play in a park.

So I appreciate that you have listened to the citizens.

I appreciate that you have listened to the council making sure that we are moving in that direction.

So thank you much.

I look forward to more in the future.

You all did a great job at Black Bob Park.

Uh that's a great example of an inclusive type of park.

Thank you to you and your staff.

You know, we we we the citizens drive all of our decisions through the master plan and their comments and and the and phone calls to us.

And we utilize that and then try to make the best decisions and improvements that we can.

Councilmember.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um Councilwoman vote um kind of uh touched on it, but would you, Johnny, differentiate between accessible playground, which is black bob and inclusive playground?

So yeah, accessible isn't a hundred percent inclusive.

It has uh uh accessible uh play features at it and inclusive would be uh everything in the entire playground would be an inclusive uh uh uh play feature that anyone can use of of all disability or all abilities and and uh ages.

So no barriers uh um no matter what your ability is.

And uh the fencing is what is the big differentiation uh uh to parents that we're hearing from local residents is I want to be able to sit on a park bench and allow my child to play freely and he or she runs and there's for example Black Bob, which is accessible 151st Street right there.

I mean, the parents cannot relax.

And so I am thrilled to see the inclusive playground coming our way.

Yeah.

And I mean that's an important difference, which I mean many people do not know.

You know, I didn't I doubt it, right?

I think you see the two years of the 450,000 dollars, and we if we're gonna do it, we want to do it.

It makes a difference and an impact, not something not a small little project.

We want to really make a major impact and have this be a destination people want to come to.

It's exciting, especially especially our inclusive um development coming up at 119th Street.

So looking forward to all that.

Thank you, Johnny.

Well done.

You did great under pressure.

I don't see any other questions.

Thanks for the information.

Great.

Um we'll look forward to these improvements.

Okay, thank you.

Awesome.

Thanks, Chairman.

We'll now move to an executive session.

Uh motion to recess into executive session would be in order.

Mr.

Mayor moved at the elite city council recess into an executive session to discuss personnel matters of non-elective personnel regarding the city manager position pursuant to the exception provided in KSA seventy five-4319 be one for fifteen minutes.

Second.

We have a motion and a second with the city clerk, please call the role.

Ms.

Yes.

Mr.

Skinover?

Yes.

Dr.

Felter?

Yes.

Mr.

Bacchus?

Yes.

Miss Essex?

Yes.

Mr.

Bacon?

Yes.

Miss Vote?

Yes.

Motion passed seven zero.

Is there a motion?

Yeah, I got a move.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

That's fine.

We are reconvening from executive session.

I move to authorize staff to proceed with the strategies discussed with and directed by the governing body.

Second.

Motion and a second where the city clerk please call the roll.

Mr.

Schoonover.

Yes.

Dr.

Felter?

Yes.

Mr.

Bacchus?

Yes.

Miss Essex?

Yes.

Mr.

Bacon?

Yes.

Miss Vote?

Yes.

Mr.

Moore.

Yes.

Motion passes seven zero.

We'll now move to additional items.

I'll start on my left.

Councilmember Scott.

Nothing made for me tonight.

But I know we had a lot of uh citizen engagement this evening and and certainly that is a good thing.

I would encourage more folks to be involved and to to come to uh city council meetings more often.

I know we did discuss throughout the budget process a lot of the issues that were raised here this evening.

Um particularly as it relates to affordability and some of those other issues.

And and so I think that those those meetings are always very educational for everybody involved.

Uh somebody had mentioned that they plan to come to City Council meetings more often, and all I can say is good.

Welcome back.

Councilmember Essex.

Yes, I just wanted to ask staff if it's easy to find our property tax rebate program information for our seniors and for our veterans that we've we've offered.

Is that something easy to find or I don't know?

That that's just something.

I don't think your mic's on.

I don't think your mic is on.

I can't hear you.

Yeah, we'll cheer.

Yeah, thank you.

Thank you.

Uh yeah, yeah, I'm pretty sure it's pretty easy to find, but we'll check it.

All right, thank you.

Make sure it's pretty intuitive.

But I'm pretty sure I I think it is.

Councilmember Gilmore.

Thank you, Mayor.

Jamie, you can keep moving mosing this way at budget questions.

Um we heard from one of our speakers tonight about seeing the budget information on a per capita basis.

I know I asked for that a long time ago.

Is that part of the materials that are out on our website?

And has that been provided to every council member?

Uh Jamie Roboshaw, Economy Director.

It has been provided to every council member.

It's been in the QA's that we provide the council.

In the QA's.

Okay.

Yep.

After each meeting.

I do not believe we have posted we don't typically post the QA's on the city website.

What we post is the public presentations from the meeting.

So that information has not been provided, but we can certainly include it in whatever format the council would like us to communicate that out on it.

Sure.

And so I'd like to see that in the in the section of the website on the budget.

And the other question I have, Jamie, is the material that we receive tonight.

Is this now out there on the website or it will be there tomorrow, or what's the updated sheets?

As far as the green sheets.

Yes.

So we will post the full budget book after adopted on the city website again.

We post the city press the public presentations because as you know, the documents are changing throughout the process.

So historically we haven't published the your whole binder that you all receive is not published on the city's website.

Okay.

Thank you.

Councilmember vote.

I'm just gonna tail on uh what uh councilmember Schoonover said.

I invite everyone to come and listen.

I I was kind of disturbed a little bit when there were people saying there wasn't enough detail and I wanted to go.

We've had many budget sessions that are open to the public, and I wish that they could have been there, and I don't know what we can do in the future to put it either on the on our website front and center.

That's the first thing they open up so that early on in the process, we can get the the kind of input that we got tonight making it what they want, and that is the details because they were there and they were given and my old frustration, but it tells me that we're gonna have to do a better job to get more detail out.

That's all I've got.

Councilmember Felter.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um it was nice having a full house and felt a little rowdy at times.

Reminded me of my school board pandemic days.

Except for there was nobody out front, you know.

There weren't mobs out front with pickets saying let them play and all that.

Um thank you for recognizing the Kansas School for the Deaf, John.

That was a great um proclamation and important one.

They are uh great partner in our community, and I loved um getting to hear the uh athletic director's vision for the future and he mentioned the campus and all of the neat things and especially the uh online sports, the I think he called it esports.

Yeah, I was like, oh my word, who even knew?

But especially for students who struggle or to hear or cannot hear, that would be a really cool venue, I think, to be able to have uh e-sports.

So I learned something new.

So thank you, Mayor, for that.

And that's all I have.

Councilmember Vacas.

Thank you, Mayor.

So you know I'd mentioned we have uh tossed around before the idea of property tax relief for seniors, and we've talked about it as something we could initiate at the city, or should it be a county initiative, or more likely should it be a state initiative?

And really, state is the answer.

So I I would think that this is something we might want to add to our legislative agenda as uh as a priority, Tim, that we consider asking the state to take this on.

Because certainly the idea of of seniors on fixed income being taxed out of their homes, I mean it's a real issue on people's minds.

There's no doubt about it, and we've got to be sensitive to that.

Uh and I don't think we have the flexibility here within the city, and I don't think the county has the flexibility, but there's a problem statewide.

It would be helpful if we could address that.

You know, to the topic of the budget workshops, I appreciated the frustration in the room, and I guess that's to be expected, but you're right.

We had three high-quality budget workshops.

We never had more than five residents there.

You know?

And we had detailed conversations.

Many of the comments, catty comments people wanted to make, we talked about those things in the budget workshops.

And if some of these people had been there, they might have had a different attitude.

Who knows?

You know?

I'd mention to everybody, though, that the Olatha Citizens Academy applications are open, and we encourage people to apply and get involved with local government.

You know, it's a team of teams.

We're all in this together, and the more citizens that we have that take the time to get familiar how the government works, the better off we are.

So that's all I've got tonight.

City Manager Mike Wilkes.

Anything further this evening?

Nothing this week.

Okay.

I've got a couple of things.

Uh just wanted to mention that old settlers return to downtown Olatha this weekend.

Activities run Thursday through Sunday.

Be aware of road closures during this time for the booths, the carnival and the parade Saturday morning.

We will be at the parade, so if you want to see the council come out, uh we'd love to see you Saturday morning.

Um and then the Olatha Arts Festival is just around the corner.

Join us downtown October the 10th and the 11th to see work by local and regional artists.

Um there will be activities for the whole family, live music and food, and there's more information about our Olathe Arts Festival on our website at OlatheCS.gov.

That is it.

Thanks you all for being there.

Um thank you all for coming and being a part of it.

Have a good night.

We are adjourned.

All right.