I'm going to go ahead and call the meeting for November eighteenth of the elate the city council to order.

The first item on our agenda is an executive session.

Do I hear a motion?

Mr.

Mayor, on item A, I move that you allate the City Council recess into an executive session for discussion of applicants for the position of city manager pursuant to the non-elected personnel exception provided by KSA seventy five dash forty three nineteen B one for forty-five minutes.

Second.

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

Mr.

Bacon, yes, Miss Vote.

Yes.

Mr.

Schoonover.

Yes.

Dr.

Felter.

Yes.

Mr.

Vacus.

Yes.

Miss Essex.

Yes.

Motion passes.

Six zero.

We are reconvening from executive session.

A motion be in order.

On item A, I move to authorized staff to proceed with the strategies as discussed with and directed by the governing body.

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

Yes.

Mr.

Schoonover.

Yes.

Dr.

Felter.

Yes.

Mr.

Vacus.

Yes.

Miss Essex.

Yes.

Mr.

Bacon.

Yes.

Motion passes.

Seven zero.

A motion be an order on item B.

And item B, I move that they allate the City Council recess into an executive session to discuss data related to financial affairs for trade secrets of a corporation pursuant to the exception provided in KSA seventy five dash forty three nineteen B four for thirty minutes.

Motion passes seven zero.

We'll meet back here in about ten minutes.

Yeah, yeah, sure.

But I think we just got to do that.

So I think it's hard to take place.

Good evening.

Welcome to the regular meeting of the Olatha City Council for Tuesday, November eighteenth, twenty twenty-five.

Uh the next item on our agenda is the Pledge of Allegiance.

Would you please stand with me for the pledge?

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America for which it stands.

With that, we'll move to special business with first item A is a proclamation recognizing November as Native American Heritage Month.

Native American history is felt all throughout Olatha in our parks, our street names, our traditions, even our art.

A new art piece recently opened to the public at Heritage Park.

That's actually in the county, but we claim it is Olatha.

The Fire Keeper's Circle Monument marks the spot where Native Americans camped while passing through on their march from Indiana to Oswatomy, Kansas.

So is this Mike on?

Can you hear me?

Is it good?

Okay.

The proclamation reads, whereas the history and culture of Native Americans have shaped our nation and Olatha.

And whereas the contributions of our Native American neighbors have enhanced the freedom, prosperity, and greatness of America today.

Unfortunately, we don't know where they're buried.

And that is our next task.

From there we went ten years later, we were moved again to uh a reservation literally just starting on the west side of Topeka and went 30 miles west.

But that's that's our story.

Thank you.

Bonjour.

Hello, everyone.

Angela and Djas, Shinote Neshnabe no Swin, Bodwe Wadmi Mina Kachimokman and Dow, Shishi Ben Yuk and Debendogwis, Shawnee, Kansas, and Data.

And that is my Pottawatomi greeting, introducing myself.

And I just said my name is Angela.

Chinoot is my Pottawatomi name.

I'm an enrolled member of the Citizen of Pottawatomi Nation, and I currently live in Shawnee, Kansas.

On September 4th, 1838, the Pottawatomies of Menominees Village were rounded up and forced to leave their homes in Indiana.

I have two great-grandfathers who traveled along with their family on that trail of death.

They made the long 600-mile, 200-mile uh walk to the Kansas territory.

It's just one example of the systematic removal of the Native Americans from their homelands during the westward expansion.

It was the execution of the Indian Removal Act.

During that time, Kansas became home to many displaced tribes as they were removed, making way for European settlers.

As we continue to repeat these atrocities around the world today, it's important to remember and recall what was goal is not to garner pity, play victim, but is to keep the stories alive.

Things like the Fire Keeper Circle.

Um that we can be better humans, we can treat people better, people who are different than us, treat them with kindness.

Firekeepers Circle at Heritage Park recalls the event and the place and allows visitors to interact, reflect, and learn.

The edge of educational value is immeasurable.

For this, I am thankful.

Thank you.

So thank you, John Angela, for coming tonight, and thank you for all your work on the monument and the uh fire keeper circle, and you saw a picture of it, which is uh I need to go see it in person, so I will.

We'll now move to item B, which is a proclamation recognizing November 29, 2025 as small business Saturday.

Small business Saturday is an opportunity for us to celebrate and support the small businesses that add to Olatha's quality of life.

Here to do actually, I think uh here to accept yes.

Do you have oh Jason's here?

Awesome.

Okay, great.

I didn't know if you're gonna make it, but thank you for being here.

So here to introduce our proclamation recipient is Susan Susie Carson, vice president of membership for the Olatha Chamber of Commerce.

Susie, please come up.

Yeah.

Hi apologized.

Good evening, Mayor and Council members.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak on behalf of the Olatha business community as we celebrate Small Business Saturday and the entrepreneurs who bring character and energy to our city.

Small businesses are the backbone of our economy.

They create two-thirds of all net new jobs, and they contribute nearly 40% of our nation's economic output.

They are absolutely essential to building strong, thriving communities.

Tonight I am honored to highlight one of our amazing businesses in Oetha, Pizza 51.

Pizza 51 is a perfect example of how small businesses create gathering spaces that bring people together and strengthen the local economy.

Their downtown transformation of a historic gas station into a vibrant community gathering place reflects the power of local investment and vision.

As the newest restaurant to downtown Olatha, they add energy, excitement, and momentum to our revitalization efforts.

Jason, thank you for investing in Olatha and for infusing new energy into our downtown.

Congratulations to Pizza 51 on receiving tonight's Small Business Saturday proclamation.

We are proud to have you in our community.

This holiday season, don't forget to think and shop local.

Let's support the small businesses that support our community every day.

Thank you.

So I'll read the proclamation.

The proclamation reads, whereas more than 270,000 small businesses call Kansas home and employ almost half of the working population in our state.

And whereas small businesses are owned by our families and neighbors and supply us with some of our favorite and most unique restaurants, shops, and services.

And whereas these businesses embody the entrepreneurial spirit that drive our economy and make tangible evidence of what can be earned with dedication, hard work, and resiliency.

And whereas Small Business Saturday stimulates economic growth for small merchants by encouraging shoppers to buy local during one of the busiest retail seasons of the year.

And whereas Olatha is proud to celebrate our local small businesses and the contributions they make to our economy and community.

Now therefore I John Bacon, mayor of the City of Olatha, do hereby proclaim November 29th, 2025 as Small Business Saturday, and encourage all citizens to support small and local businesses and merchants this day and every day throughout the year.

Jason, thanks for being here.

Say a few words if you'd like.

Well, I the easiest thing to say is thank you.

Thank you to the council.

Thank you to the mayor.

Thank you to everybody that's welcomed us into Olatha.

I was telling somebody uh, you know, I I learned something new every day.

I wasn't from Olatha, but to learn the neighborhoods, to learn the schools, to learn the businesses around us, to learn things about Jefferson Highway and all the history that Aletha offers.

It's always been exciting and a new process for us.

So I really do uh appreciate uh being a representative of small business and in and representing and accepting on their behalf.

So we want to thank Jason for being here tonight.

And you know, uh I think about Jason and Tim.

They are the true pioneers in our downtown endeavor of bringing more restaurants there open, and we are working on some others to help support our uh vision for downtown.

So appreciate them being here for the the pioneer spirit of uh being first, I guess, or one of the first.

We'll now move to our consent agenda.

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

These 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.

Council members, are there any such items tonight?

Councilmember Vaucus.

Yes, sir.

Item N.

And as a Nancy?

Yes.

Okay.

Any others?

Seeing none, a motion to approve the consent agenda would be in order.

Mr.

Mayor, I move to approve the consent agenda with the exception of item N.

Second.

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

Dr.

Felter.

Yes.

Mr.

Vacus.

Yes.

Ms.

Essex.

Yes.

Mr.

Bacon.

Yes.

Ms.

Vote.

Yes.

Mr.

Gilmore.

Yes.

Mr.

Scanover.

Yes.

Motion passes.

7-0.

Item N is consideration of an agreement with NAB Holtz Construction for Design Services City Hall Parking Garage Project PN6-C-003-24.

Council Vaucus.

Thank you, Mayor.

As we're about to approve this, I asked Jack Hardy just to step to the mic for a few moments and overview the project for us for information.

Thanks, Zach.

Sure.

Good evening, Mayor, City Council Zach Hardy, Deputy Director of Infrastructure.

Today was a very exciting day.

We actually had a day-long meeting with our design build team, uh, Finco Williams and Navoltz, uh, just kind of an early talking about the project, what we'd like to see.

And one of the things that really came out of that was more meetings, right?

You know, we we want to have more meetings with uh we talked about our persons with disabilities group, our our art committee, um bringing it to City Council uh a number of times, you'll see it a number of times.

So um but we did really emphasize uh security, um aesthetics, and then maximizing uh the number of of parking spaces in the in the facility.

So um yeah, it was it was a good a good day.

Uh we've got some more meetings tomorrow, assuming this passes, and we'll uh we look forward to uh kind of what's next.

We will be um hoping and we'll be starting design uh here pretty quick and then um move into again more meetings that will inform that design and uh and working with uh additional city staff planning very closely, code enforcement very very close there to really kind of get make sure this project runs smoothly.

We've already started talking with communications uh because that's going to be a big piece, obviously, with uh not just city and county uh employees but also uh visitors and citizens that come to both sites.

So the goal is still to uh to open before old settlers of 27.

So it's a pretty quick timeline, which is what the design build um gives us.

So a lot of decisions still left to be made and in what uh this looks like and what the construction method is and things like that.

But um yeah, a lot more to come.

Thanks, Zach.

Thanks, Laura.

Looking forward to the improvement to our backyard.

Thanks very much.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor.

Zach, I had a quick question.

So the 375 spaces, is that the finished spaces available for the new uh parking garage total?

Three seventy, I told them today 379 is the minimum.

Um that's kind of what I told you all earlier when I was uh here several months ago.

Um so again, as we ma we look to maximize parking spots.

Um so we'll we don't know what the exact number is.

Obviously, design hasn't started at this point.

So um but again, maximizing parking spaces along with aesthetics and and security are the top top priorities for this project.

And then as far as the number of dedicated spaces for handicap county and city, do we know what that is?

What their request is for our partner in this.

So Tony Barron, um the uh facilities manager with the the county was in the meetings today and and we'll continue to partner with the the county.

Um he did bring that up as a topic uh as a concern, and we've heard that from the county before.

Uh so we uh again, what the exact number is, um it'll be more than we have now, um, and probably uh looking at um uh you know, really treating this as as a site um for both city and county, right?

So they have parking, they have ADA parking spaces at their north parking lot.

We have ADA parking here.

Uh but really looking at what are the needs of both facilities and putting that in or around our parking garage.

So build on one of Marge's great suggestions.

We need seven spaces for council members and the mayor.

So there we go.

Any other questions on this item of staff?

Thank you, Zach.

Uh motion be in order.

Uh Mr.

Mayor, I move to approve the agreement with NAP Holtz construction for design build services for the City Hall parking project.

Uh PN 6-C-003-24.

Second.

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

Miss Vote.

Yes.

Mr.

Gilmore.

Yes.

Mr.

Scunover.

Yes.

Dr.

Felter.

Yes.

Mr.

Vacas.

Yes.

Miss Essex.

Yes.

Mr.

Bacon.

Yes.

Motion passes 7-0.

We'll now move to new business.

Item A is consideration of ordinance number 25-47 authorizing issuance of the city's taxable industrial revenue bonds and an amount not to exceed 1,085,000 for PT property LLC, which is Pizza 51 South for the redevelopment of an existing 1,715 square foot building and an addition of 1,690 square feet.

The redevelopment redeveloped facility will total 3,407 square feet with an 880 square foot patio to house Pizza 51 at 200 South Kansas Avenue.

The city expressed intent to issue these bonds back in December of last year.

Is there a need for a presentation on this item?

Seeing none a motion be in order.

Mr.

Mayor, I move to approve ordinance number 25-47.

Second.

We have a motion and second one.

The city clerk please call the roll.

Miss Essex.

Yes.

Mr.

Bacon.

Yes.

Ms.

Vote.

Yes.

Mr.

Gilmore.

Yes.

Mr.

Sconover.

Yes.

Dr.

Felter.

Yes.

Mr.

Vacus.

Yes.

Motion passes.

7-0.

Item B is consideration of orders number 25-48 authorizing issuance of the city's taxable industrial revenue bonds in an amount not to exceed 23 million for LECC Building 5, LLC for the construction of a 200 200,194 square foot industrial facility on approximately 20 acres, located in the northwest corner of Lone Elm Road and 167th Street.

The city expressed intent to issue these bonds in August of last year.

Is there a need for presentation or questions of staff on this item?

Seeing none, a motion be in order.

Mr.

Mayor, I move to approve ordinance number 25-48.

Second.

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

Mr.

Bacon.

Yes.

Miss vote.

Yes.

Mr.

Gilmore.

Yes.

Mr.

Schoonover.

Yes.

Dr.

Felter.

Yes.

Mr.

Vacus.

Yes.

Miss Essex.

Yes.

Motion passes.

70.

Item C is consideration of ordinance number th 25-49, which is RZ25-0012 requesting approval of a rezoning from this CTYRUR County Rural District to R1 residential single family district and public dedications for a final plat.

FP 25-0031 for Lakeview Ridge, third plat on approximately 7.94 acres located northwest of West 143rd Street and South Lakeshore Drive.

Planning Commission approved recommended approval 9 to 0.

The applicant is preparing this land for single-family homes.

Is there a need for presentation on these lots?

Seeing none.

A motion would be in order.

Mr.

Mayor, I move to approve ordinance number 25-49 for RZ 25-0012.

Second.

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

Dr.

Felter.

Yes.

Mr.

Vacus.

Yes.

Miss Essex.

Yes.

Mr.

Bacon.

Yes.

Miss Vote.

Yes.

Mr.

Gilmore.

Yes.

Mr.

Schoonover.

Yes.

Motion passes.

70.

Item D is consideration of ordinance number 25-50, amending Title 12 of the Olathe Municipal Code pertaining to public utilities.

This ordinance would require utilities to locate facilities on a project within 30 days of the request to prevent any project delays or increased cost.

This item was a report at our November 4th council meeting.

Is there a need for a presentation or questions of staff on this item?

Seeing not a motion to be in order.

Mr.

Mayor, move to approve ordinance number 25-50.

Second.

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

Mr.

Gilmore.

Yes.

Mr.

Schoonover.

Yes.

Dr.

Felter.

Yes.

Mr.

Vacus.

Yes.

Miss Essex.

Yes.

Mr.

Bacon.

Yes.

Miss Vote.

Yes.

Motion passes.

70.

Okay.

We'll skip E and F as mentioned earlier.

When we'll uh go to item 9, which is general issues and concerns of citizens.

No one is signed up to speak tonight.

So we'll uh move, we'll convene a planning session.

Um we have two reports.

Report item one is a quarterly procurement report.

Any questions on that?

How about report two on the anec of the annexation application agreement with Stephen Mackey?

Any questions on that item?

Then we'll move to discussion items.

Discussion item one is a discussion of the Santa Fe Ridge View to Merlin.

Improvements project PN3 dash Cero two five one eight.

The largest project the city has ever undertaken to this date.

Nate Baldwin is here for a presentation.

City engineer.

Welcome, Nate.

Thank you, Mayor Council members.

Again, Nate Baldwin, City Engineers.

So uh just kind of a brief update for you tonight.

Um we're gonna talk about a tentative construction schedule.

And you're gonna hear me use that word tentative quite a bit tonight because we are a year away from starting on the I-35 work and two years away from Santa Fe, and I'll get uh explain kind of why it's still tentative and what we're working through.

But um so what we're gonna talk about tonight.

I'm just gonna go over projects overview again for you and anyone uh watching online.

We're gonna talk about project schedules a little bit, uh including the construction schedules for the two projects.

Remember, we've got work on I-35 and we've got work on Santa Fe, including the interchange, and then we're gonna talk about the Santa Fe construction phasing a little bit and then talk about project detours as we see them today for Santa Fe.

So just as a reminder, um you see this we call uh I-35 Santa Fe Ford.

That's what KDOT and the City of O'Lather are calling these joint projects, and um that's what we use the title for uh to go after it in for a federal grant, which just as a reminder, we had received ninety-eight million dollars in federal funding for this.

I believe that was the sixth largest award that was given, and the first one in the state of Kansas.

So the team is very proud of that.

And that allowed us to complete the entire project.

What you see here, and I'll go into a little bit more what that project contains later.

Um again, it's two projects, so we've got two schedules.

You've got the I-35 capacity improvements, the which K DOT is managing, and then you've got the Santa Fe interchange and corridor projects, which Olatha is managing.

So here's the project schedule.

So right now in 26, uh KDOT is still working on final design for those improvements to I-35.

They do anticipate letting and starting construction in the fourth quarter next year, 26.

Um, for the Santa Fe project right now.

Um we just started demolition yesterday.

We've been talking about that.

I think it was uh just a little bit ago, you awarded that contract.

So you're not gonna see a lot of action for the next couple weeks because they're inside some of those buildings doing what we call abatement.

So that's getting the asbestos and other things out that we can't take the landfills that they have to clean up.

But they did start on that work yesterday.

Um, so second thing you see there, so right away we anticipate finishing up first quarter next year.

Uh property demolitions and clearance are going to continue through late summer of next year.

Utility rollate road relocations are gonna start up next summer and go for probably about a year and a half, and those are really critical before we can get working on the Santa Fe improvements to get those done.

That's where you're gonna see outside of the demolition a lot of impacts to the traveling public on the Santa Fe project, and then we're still working through final design on everything, and then construction for the Olatha portion, the Santa Fe stuff, we anticipate starting in fourth quarter of 27.

So again, um KDOT, you can see here in the red and the blue.

What that is is um they're gonna start on the northbound portions of I-35 in 27 or fourth quarter next year, really fourth quarter next year, they're gonna start gathering materials, getting the contract and prep, mobilize the site.

So you probably won't see a lot of action, but they're gonna do the work in four different phases as they go through there.

So they'll start northbound and they'll kind of start on the east couple of lanes, tearing those out, adding that auxiliary lane.

Remember, we've got an auxiliary lane that's gonna go from Santa Fe all the way to 119th in both directions, um, and that auxiliary lane is just an extra lane of traffic in between the two interchanges.

Um, then the old 56 I-35 bridge, um, councilmember schoonover.

I remember you asking that we push that up as soon as possible.

And so this is about as early as possible as we can get mid-year 27, because we can't open that second flyover until we push all that work over to the southbound lanes and really get working on that.

So again, very excited for that.

That is gonna have a huge impact to the traffic backup on old 56 uh in Olathe.

So here in that year one 27, you're gonna see for Olatha's portion a lot of utility relocation work, right?

I talked about that, you're gonna see that.

Then in 28, we're gonna work on the Santa Fe corridor improvements, and then in 29, we're gonna work on the Santa Fe interchange.

Next slide I'm gonna go to a little bit more detail on that.

Right now, this is kind of worst-case scenario.

What we're really looking at is trying to condense those two.

How much more can we overlap?

What incentives can we give to the contractor to speed those type of things up?

So those are things that we're still working through as a project team and working with on it with our project partners.

All right, Santa Fe um phasing here.

So phase one, you're gonna see that new Winchester Road, like that went through the old mall.

You got that, and then on the North Santa Fe, you're gonna see Winchester, and then you see a little blue right there in between Lindenwood and Winchester.

That's a lot of stormwater work that we have to do there.

There's some big RCBs we have to put in there.

We've had flooding issues down in that area, so we really need to get that work done first because everything else ties into that.

And then we're gonna work on phase two, which is spruce and linenwood right there.

Once we can get all that work on Winchester, spruce, um, Lindenwood done, that gives us the opportunity when Santa Fe is impacted for a lot of people still to get around in that area.

You know, we're gonna talk about detours, but a lot of people local traffic isn't gonna use all these detours to go around.

We still need to get them around to those businesses in those areas, so that's why we're doing those first.

And then phase three is that mainline Santa Fe work uh back from Brome all the way kind of up to the Clareborne area, and then the orange phase four is the um interchange and the work around it uh as well.

And then the orange phase four is the interchange and the work around it as well.

One thing that I don't think people are really aware of, not only are we building a new bridge, but we actually have to the new bridge is going to be about a foot to two foot taller.

So we have to rebuild a portion of Santa Fe on either side.

So during that phase four, that's when the bridge is going to be closed.

We're going to try to maintain access to the ramps as long as possible.

On the east side, northbound off ramp, if you remember, there's that Rogers Road tunnel.

So it's going to be harder to maintain access for that ramp.

But the southbound to westbound, we're going to be able to maintain for a while.

However, because we're raising Santa Fe, we're that we aren't going to be able to keep it open the entire time.

But again, we're working through those construction phasing um issues with the team because again, I'll remind you it says tentative on the prop bottom, right?

So we're working to speed this up, but no promises at this point in the game.

All right, Santa Fe detours.

So if you are trying to get across Santa Fe and that bridge is closed, we're going to detour you up Ridgeview, uh Kansas City Road, and then 127th Street, and then back down Merlin Road.

Right?

And then kind of opposite both directions.

And we do that because we're going to try to keep that separated from the traffic that is trying to get on and off I-35.

So we're going to push that out a little further.

Well, it's still on Ridgevie, but we're taking that all the way up to 119th, 119th over, and then 119th will actually take over to Black Bob and bring down and then back to them.

So that's for uh northbound I-35 traffic.

Southbound is a little bit different because it depends on if you're gett where you're getting off or where you're getting on.

So if you're coming down and you need to go to the western side of Santa Fe, we're gonna take you off Old 56, take you over to Parker K7 and bring you back up to Santa Fe that way.

If you need to go back to the east side of the road, we're gonna take you down to 151st Street, take you over to Merlin and back up that way.

So just kind of in summary quick before I stand for your questions.

Again, two projects, a little bit of an overlap.

K Dot's managing the work on uh I-35, including that uh flyover on Old 56, and then Olatha is managing the Santa Fe um main line work, including the interchange and the ramps for that.

So construction schedule I-35, we anticipate completed by the end of 28.

Santa Fe today we anticipate completion by summer of 2030, but again, we're looking for ways to push that up and condense that schedule.

Uh and again, there will be some overlap.

So Santa Fe construction phasing, access long Santa Fe will be maintained as long as possible.

Uh the outer street network, those first two phases will be completed before the interchange work, and then during the interchange work, that phase four, Santa Fe will be closed across I-35 because we are completely rebuilding that bridge.

It is coming down to the bare dirt and being rebuilt back up.

But we're gonna try to keep those I-35 ramps as open as long as possible.

So with that, I will stand for any questions.

Thanks, Dave.

Thank you, Nate.

Uh Councilmember Gilmore.

Thank you, Mayor.

Nate, thanks for this tentative update.

I appreciate that.

I'd like to ask a couple of questions, which are the things I hear from the community as we talk about this whole project or these two projects.

We were told early on, I think from you all that when the bridge comes down, it's two years.

Is that still everybody's thinking?

And I'm not putting you on the spot.

I'm just curious if if you're you talked about compressing some of the time.

Yeah, and again, we're gonna compress that time as much as possible today.

I'm gonna tell you you're looking at probably 18 months.

Okay.

Um and the other question I get is uh have all the properties been acquired that we needed to make this happen.

Great question.

So we still need um right-away and easements, but all the actual properties that um total takes have been acquired.

Okay, and last um could you just remind us again?

And I don't think you have a map of this, but what are the buildings that are going to stay after all this is done?

You know, Bank of America building, the restaurant next door.

Yeah, it probably best for me to get you a map and I can do that.

Um that's probably out on the project site.

Yeah, on the north side, pretty much everything um along the frontage road from the on-ramp uh down to Lindenwood, those properties um are gonna be uh have been acquired and will be gone after the project.

The widening of the road is on that side.

Um obviously the entire mall site is going.

Um the double nickel property is going.

Um then like the the goal uh pretty much everything in the parking lot of the um mall is going except Church's Chicken and Enterprise Bank.

Okay.

And then on the west side, everything except right at the corner of um Rogers and Claireborne.

But I'll I'll send out a map this week to help clarify that.

But that all has not changed since you've talked to us.

Nothing has changed, no.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor.

Okay.

Councilmember Felter.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thanks, Nate, for this presentation.

So the um the routes that you're gonna send everyone on on D tours, will that be on the website anytime soon?

I'd I don't want to put that anytime soon because again, this is a little tentative and early on.

Um, you know, we're still probably three years away from this detour being out there.

So um we definitely want to get people information, but I think it's a little preliminary at this point.

Okay.

I'm specifically thinking about the car dealerships on Santa Fe that will be impacted potentially by the uh detours.

Um can you go to one that would show how you're gonna route traffic?

Um this is for going across Santa Fe.

This is northbound traffic at I-35.

And then that's southbound traffic on I-35.

I guess I just need to study them.

Can you email us?

Absolutely.

I'll email everyone this presentation.

I'm directionally challenged, so I just need to ponder it a bit.

Yeah, and feel free to reach out and I can talk you through any questions that you have.

Yeah, but people will be like I'm thinking let's just say Brogdon's dealership right there.

There still will be access to it, correct?

Uh there will be access on Santa Fe, yes.

So um the limits of where we have to rebuild Santa Fe go just past Rawhide.

But Birch will be open, you'll be able to get in there.

Um just a reminder, we're putting a traffic signal at Ridgevie and Spruce, and that really is going to be the main access to get back to Rawhide Drive to get to all those businesses, and that's gonna be one of the first things that we do.

Okay.

Okay, great.

And then uh we've asked several times, several of us have about uh signage, you know, pardon our progress, things like that.

Is anything like that up yet?

We're not not yet.

We're we're still working on that and it's coming.

Um we just have to be very careful with our partners that uh they get very particular on signage for some reason.

Sure.

I've heard that.

Um I continue to get requests like that probably a couple times a week.

And so I'll just pass that along again.

Yes.

Okay.

And so it looks it looks really good.

I'm cringing to think about when it's closed, but it is progress.

So thank you very much.

It is gonna be awful, and then it is gonna be amazing.

There you go.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor.

Real quick on this particular the on the detours.

Yeah.

So Nate, have you had a chance?

You've actually sat down with businesses and they said we would need to know how our customers are gonna get to our business.

And that's how you arrived at this.

Or I'm thinking about uh the Volkswagen dealership or Harley Davidson, some of those.

How are their customers going to get they're probably gonna take 119th?

They won't want to go to Old 56.

So those specific um businesses, I mean, you'll sit down and say based on what or how are how did you arrive at this particular map?

Yeah, that's a great question.

And this are signed detours for really people who aren't familiar with the area.

Okay.

So that's the this is what we have to sign.

It doesn't mean anyone can't use any public road, and people are gonna find the quickest way, especially people who live in the area or have to go to businesses.

But this is a requirement that we have as part of this construction project to put the signage out to direct people who aren't familiar with this.

Now, we have not, again, this is a couple years away in alternative.

We've sat down with businesses, all of them in the area to talk about this project numerous times, but we haven't really sat down to talk to them uh about detours or or anything like that at this point.

Okay.

Okay.

Councilmember Sconova.

Thank you, Mayor.

And and my question was along the lines of the detours as well.

By the way, I think it's a great idea to go ahead and bump up the old 560.

I agree.

I think that's kind of uh with with regard to the uh detours, are there as as as we look at putting a lot more traffic on some already pretty congested roads?

Are there any type of infrastructure improvements or anything that we should be looking at on some of these roads to to plan for something three years out that they can handle additional traffic?

Is is there anything we need to be considering in that regard?

That's a great question.

And I don't think on any of these roads we have to do anything prior to it.

Um, we've got some wonderful people in our ATMS at traffic operations who are really gonna be busy for a few years uh monitoring those traffic signals and trying to push traffic through as as much as possible.

But these roads are going to feel the brunt of the additional traffic.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you, Nate.

Yeah, I can see trying to, instead of people going all the way to I-35 and coming south to get to Santa Fe, you might say, hey, if you want to go there, you might want to take K-7 down and come across.

So I don't know.

Learning curve here to see what's but we can always adjust things through construction or we will we'll continue to take a look at this.

You know, these detours are still about three years away.

Okay.

Councilmember vote.

Quick question.

So how does Google help our the transportation in these DTOurs?

How do you gather that information to them?

Because everybody uses their phone.

Yeah, that is a great question.

I believe we also provide it to Google.

I know every week we provide ways, updated street closures.

And if something like this, we would provide detour maps and things like that.

So we do communicate with those people on a weekly basis, not just for this project, but all uh traffic impacts that we have throughout the city.

I would think by then they would maybe even use more AI to show alternate routes than maybe even what you have put up.

Routes that we know of, shortcuts and such.

So yeah, I think those those maps learn from drivers, right?

And a lot of information from drivers goes into that.

And as things evolve over the next two to three years, you're going to see a lot of improvements in those type of things.

Well, direction finders on transportation is going to be pretty tough to get time.

And that's going to be great afterwards.

It's going to be awesome afterwards.

Thanks for the presentation, Nate.

Exciting project.

Glad to see this is moving forward.

Thank you.

Nate, will the city have surplus lots that we can rede or sell for redevelopment or make available for redevelopment after we are finished.

So after the project, we can't do anything until the project's done.

After the project, we'll approach uh KDOT Federal Highway and determine if there's excess right-of-way, and then that goes to a public sale.

That's great.

All right.

Thank you.

Excellent presentation.

Okay.

Thank you.

We'll now move to discussion item two, which is a discussion of the 2026 State Legislative Program Director of External Affairs, Tim Danenberg joins us for a presentation.

Welcome, Tim.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor, members of the council.

Just want to remind you it is 7.42, but it is really 912 according to your clock since you all have been here since 5.30.

So that's true.

This usually comes at the end of a very full agenda, so I thought that I would just remind you had you've been at it for a very long time already.

It's my pleasure to present a draft state legislative agenda.

Before going into it too much, I just want to share a couple of things with you.

When we hired Bob Gallimore uh from the state, uh we hired him as an attorney, not necessarily recognizing the incredible value he brings to our legislative efforts.

Bob worked in the revisors office.

And for those that understand the legislature and trying to read and make sense of a bill that may or may not have been written on the back of a napkin the night before it's the revisors role to draft those in a way that is understandable.

And uh Bob has not only become an asset to us in the city, but certainly to the league because we all think we know what something means and Bob certainly has insight.

We also welcome Amanda Stanley who's joined our legal team as well.

Amanda has served uh in uh a role working with the legislature in other capacities as well.

So uh it certainly it helps our effort, uh I would say going forward.

As a number of you heard earlier today at the chambers um B2G event, um, it's gonna be a fast session.

Um I believe they shared 90 days.

I've heard 75.

And that sounds great if you have to go to Topeka for 75 or 90 days.

It's good for us.

It's good because legislators have less time to find something that they think is a great idea and craft it into legislation when they're bored and then have us react and pray it doesn't get a hearing.

But it's also very, very challenging.

Um, in previous sessions, we would have days, even hours to draft testimony and get ready to react to something being proposed.

Last session in this session will not be any different.

We literally will have minutes to draft testimony and get it submitted and be in Topeka the next day.

I would say I say that to keep in mind the importance of this guide for us as we advocate in Topeka that it is a policy document that gives us guidance on how to address a myriad of issues that we can't possibly anticipate.

And in all, I I can't thank you enough for trusting staff over the years to know that we are in a position to nimbly react to bills that again our response time is very limited.

We do that primarily through uh what we feel are is the fundamental theme of our legislative effort, and that's local control.

Um I I this is something that Mike Copeland loved to say, and I I say it every year and try to get it repeated, but you know, my favorite numbers in Washington and Topeka are four of seven versus three of five thirty-five versus two of one sixty-five.

You're very you're better represented by that four of seven who live and work in your community and understand it.

I would say that if this governing body moved to Beloit, Kansas and attempted to govern the way you do, there would be a riot on your hands.

Just as if the governing body of Beloit Kansas came to Olatha, Kansas and attempted to govern in a similar fashion, there would be a riot.

We are different.

We have different needs and we explore different opportunities, and our taxpayers have fundamentally different expectations.

Um that is why local control is of such paramount importance to us.

Um this year's legislative agenda have we have made minor changes too.

We went through again again with Amanda's help and with Natalie and Natalie Bright and Marley Carpenter, our representatives in Topeka, um, and paired it, pared the language down some, you know, over the years it had had gotten confusing, somewhat confusing.

There were a couple of issues we thought may need to come off, but they are still lingering.

Um but all in all, I would invite you to look at this as you know, that fundamental guiding tool where we can evaluate legislation as it comes before us.

We can't by any means anticipate what comes up, especially on those last days, and if you're working working on the budget or a long issue, a late issue, and suddenly you've got 12 hours of sitting around twiddling your thumbs in Topeka.

Typically bad things happen when when that occurs.

Uh this gives us that policy guidance to react.

Um obviously the budget will be of uh paramount importance and that's where they will be focusing.

Um there are a couple of issues we knew that know that will come up and come back again.

Our ability, again, local control to regulate um home-based businesses.

You know, while we support small businesses, we also recognize that those businesses can have an impact on a residential neighborhood and want to as best as we responsibly can maintain our ability to preserve the residential character of those neighbors neighborhoods.

Um also be looking at economic incentives.

Uh hopefully it is in a positive way to re-evaluate what is available and see what tools we need to compete, but there's always that flavor that we shouldn't be providing any.

Um those are issues that that will come up and I'll remind you that it is an election year.

And that's one of the drivers that is going to shorten session, but it's also a driver that leads to unique legislation being crafted.

I I the thing also about an election year is you know, we're very fortunate to have a very effective lobbyist on the ground, and we can tell if there is a bill that is submitted simply to put on a pushcard versus one that has a chance of getting a hearing and seeing action.

And so we can strategically engage or not engage, you know, based on the relationship we have with leadership and committee chairs.

With that, as I said, for the most part, the agenda is what um what was approved previously, um, again, with some minor changes to language but not to substance.

And with that, I will gladly stand for any questions.

Thank you, Tim.

Uh Councilmember Felter.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thanks, Tim, for the um presentation.

Uh something came on my radar over the past few weeks about a state statute that basically dictates if a school district closes a school and doesn't repurpose that building, the state gets dibs on buying it first.

And I would like to bring that to the attention of this council because I believe that the City of Olatha should have the opportunity to have dips on having our name on the purchasing list for attainable housing opportunities, an animal shelter, perhaps, uh repurposing a building within our city versus the state, you know, being able to usurp our position on that.

And so I don't know if we would that's local control, but I don't know that we need to change your document, but to me that's important enough to raise the flag, right?

I'm not familiar with that, but um certainly we'll look into that and see if that has traction and if we have an opportunity to get ourselves a seat at the table as opposed to the small kids at the locates table.

We heard today I was with our city manager and our superintendent of schools at the inauguration of Dr.

John North at MNU and uh uh Dr.

Yeager, the superintendent of Olatha Public Schools was talking about declining birth rates and how folks in O'Latha are staying in their homes, aging in place.

And so our school enrollment is decreasing.

So we will see schools closing.

So let's be proactive and think about it.

Think about the World War II era homes.

That if you uh took a school that were was perhaps closed within that neighborhood, all of our elementaries are nestled in neighborhoods, and you did attainable housing nestled in their brand new housing, it would invigorate that neighborhood and bring attainable housing.

So I would say just putting it on everyone's radar.

Certainly.

To me, it's a uh a great opportunity, just ripe for the the asking, and I'd like for us to grasp it when that opportunity exists.

Certainly I'm certainly note that our our schools are nothing contributes to sense of community and neighborhoods like our schools do and appreciate that.

We will be watching for that issue.

Councilmember Scootover.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh thank you, Tim.

Um I spend far too much money at Costco.

And I every time I do it, I get angry that I have to go to Linuxa or Overland Park to do it.

I would much rather there be a Costco or a SAMS Club here in Olatha.

And I think we've talked about this at various occasions.

Um my understanding, not to put words in in the corporation's mouths, but they would be apprehensive to to bring more in given what our the state liquor laws look like and what they can sell and and can't sell in their various stores.

Do we ever uh uh take a look at at encouraging our friends in Topeka to change those laws so that perhaps we can encourage some some development of our sales tax base?

I would say there was an issue a number of years ago to allow beyond CMB sales and grocery stores.

And it's amazing how underestimated the retail liquor store industry in the State of Kansas is.

Um certainly when you look at small towns and that barely happened but by compromise.

Um I don't know that that would necessarily come up in this the current iteration of the legislature, but certainly based on that experience when there was an attempt to open up that market to the mom and pops, it was met with a very loud course of resistance.

Certainly under understand that.

I I I think though that if if the city can proactively encourage, I think I think the list we have here is a great kind of I understand it to be almost a reactive risk uh list where if something is proposed in Topeka, then then this gives us the ability to respond to that in line with these principles.

If there's anything proactive we can do in Topeka to put that on on the table of of anybody uh, you know, or or see if there's anything we can do to help uh spur that economic development here.

I think that would be a great idea.

I am delighted with the direction of the governing body to include language to that end.

Uh the other alternative to consider is if there is the slightest chance of momentum of something like that coming forward, we can revisit it.

Okay.

Is the state looking at registration or licensing for particular electric vehicles statewide that would um and I don't know if if the police chief wants to chime in whether he's so that would help us craft our legislation or our ordinance.

I am unaware that that's happening, but that certainly doesn't mean that it could be and certainly something that we can look in, look into and foster and we can work closely with Lego and PD on that.

Okay.

Because we don't we as a city, I guess we could require licensing of bicycles.

That used to be a thing years and years and years ago.

But we've since don't license our bicycles.

But um and I don't I would I don't yes.

I would believe my colleague Amanda.

Yeah.

My new best friend.

So the League of Municipalities is putting together a research group to look statewide at what might work at the state level, which may include legislation.

So they are actively working at that on behalf of the request of Olathe to get that started.

Um so they are starting that process right now.

So is that something we should add or just be aware of like these other things?

And if it is, we can chime in at that point or I think it's covered under your current um language that is in there right now when there's plenty of room to move in that area under public safety if that opportunity arises.

Yeah.

Well, I would encourage the state to do it.

Yeah, if we can.

Yeah, I uh uh I would for certain vehicles.

Wouldn't we do that?

Certainly put caveats because sometimes they do something that is on the surface makes sense, but then when you read the details, it may not make sense for Olatha.

But I think that we can say that that is something we can investigate and engage in if it is something that supports our community.

Councilmember Gilmore.

Thank you, Mayor.

Tim, thanks.

Um process question.

Unless we give further direction tonight, this is going to come back for adoption at our next meeting.

This will be adopted tonight.

We do not formally adopt this.

We traditionally get your approval with a nod on the evening that it's presented.

We are not taking a vote tonight.

We're just there's no objection.

If there is no objection, it will stay the same.

And I vote.

I want to follow up on Councilmember Schoonover's comment.

It seems to me, and I don't know that I fully understand all that issue, but we should be looking at any opportunity we have to expand our tax base.

And I you know, he brings up an issue that maybe I would like some more information on.

Uh even if there's pushback from other parts of the state, I would say let's push it and try to get this part of the state effective and let the rest be exempt however it would work.

But I just think if it's if it's a legitimate uh issue, we should pursue it.

So I appreciate that, and I would say I would support that.

Now I know there's heads nodding around the dives here, but that's that's dropping a bomb right here in the middle of this meeting versus something we developed, but you seem to know what the issue is.

Yeah, so I don't know if you know I have heard the that there's been some pushback with the Trader Joe's of the world or the Sam's Club that they're not going to build any more stores until our local liquor laws change in the State.

But I don't know if that's accurate or not.

That could have been just a rumor.

So maybe we need to kind of get to the bottom of it and see if that is really an objection to because didn't Trader Jones just announce a new store in Shawnee?

So I'm like, well, that's not doesn't quite fit the what I remember hearing.

So maybe there isn't anything to that.

Maybe Sam's Club would is just waiting to pull the trigger on a new store in Olathe, and it doesn't have anything to do with the liquor laws.

So let's try to find out from them first and then see if if if the laws need to be changed so that uh people will stop going across state line or uh to buy groceries or other things.

Um we need to be in that conversation.

Because it is sales tax are very important for our revenue here in Olatha.

So I would encourage us to pursue that a little bit more.

Okay.

Um we can look just to make sure I'm understanding the direction of the council.

Um you're giving us indic indication that you want us to pursue that and engage if that is a possibility to help us.

Is that any truth to the rumor?

I I don't know that that's an accurate assumption that that's the reason they're not building a store in Olatha.

So yes.

Maybe I let me clarify it this way.

We would I, for one, would like you to pursue it, but if you come back at our next meeting and say, oh, here's the thing and we misunderstood it and this is going to be a waste of time, then I'd like to know that.

But I would say otherwise it's pursue it.

I I agree with that.

Okay.

I think there's plenty around the dias here that we will um include that under potentially language that um off the top of my head opportunities to enhance um sales tax revenue in uh in order to be competitive with neighboring states.

Yes.

Would that be okay?

That covers it.

Yeah.

Anything else?

Thank you, Tim.

Sure.

We'll now go to additional items.

I'll start on my left, Councilmember Schoonover.

Thank you, Mayor.

Let's see.

Just a couple of items tonight.

One, uh Pizza 51, welcome.

It was great to see them tonight.

Great to uh have them in the neighborhood.

I had them for dinner twice this week.

So now you know something about me.

Um second thing I would say is is this came up with um actually a family member who's who's looking to buy um a golf cart here uh at one of the stores here that the that sells golf courts and there's been a discrepancy as as I understand it or an issue as I understand it in in our code on the difference between what qualifies as a golf cart, which may be allowed in on city streets versus what is a uh what what is it, a work site utility vehicle, which is not allowed on City Street.

And and the descriptions in the code, which I understand come from state law are somewhat overlapping.

And this sounds like a goofy issue, but for my family member who wants to go and buy a golf cart from an Aletha business but wants to make sure that it actually is legal to do so kind of is important.

So I was speaking with Ron uh about it a little bit.

Um I think it would be good to kind of have this come before council to see if there is uh an overlap there and if we need to change that language and all to facilitate that sale or at least make it clearer to people as they they are wanting to buy um some of these items.

So I think that's great clarification.

I thought utility uh maintenance was allowed.

They've got flashers.

I see them on Santa Fe on our major arterials, golf carts.

Everything 35 mile and under.

Correct.

So it's they're right next to each other in the code.

And you the council members who have been around for a little while might remember when we had this discussion about permitting golf carts and certain conditions on to be driven down public streets, not just across streets.

Yes.

And we didn't include work site utility vehicles, but we could.

The challenge that Councilmember Shnover is pointing out is certain businesses who sell these things now are selling things that can be classified as one or the other.

And that's awfully confusing to enforce.

And uh if you if you go to a particular retailer who is new in Olatha in 2025, right on Santa Fe Street.

You go down and look at the types of vehicles they have, and some of the vehicles could be classified either way.

Some are clearly golf carts, but some are not.

So that's the challenge that we're facing is when we we adjusted this code provision two years ago.

We didn't anticipate this particular thing happening.

And so it's just we think it's probably appropriate to revisit this code section to see if we need to harmonize it.

So we can bring some to the council here in next uh couple meetings.

Great.

Thank you, Ron.

Councilmember Essex.

Thank you, Mayor.

I just wanted to say today was a wonderful day for MNU to install their sixth president.

Um happened to be a classmate of mine, Dr.

John North, and it was a beautiful uh ceremony.

Many of us were there today, and some in our cap and gown.

Dr.

Felter was up there.

And just um the sincerity and uh the students, the faculty, the charge to the alumni.

It was just a beautiful time.

So wanted to welcome Dr.

John North and better or the best days are ahead, I believe.

So thanks.

Councilmember Gilmore.

Councilmember vote.

Just gonna wish everybody happy Thanksgiving next week.

Awesome.

Great.

Happy Councilmember Felter.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um I'll echo Councilwoman Essex comments about uh John North.

Congratulations to our sixth president of MU.

It's amazing.

Only six.

Uh yeah, he'll do great.

Um wanted to uh update everyone.

Um Kevin and Marge ha are on the Elevate Olatha Comp Plan Committee.

And we've made great strides.

The document is in uh review form, and I would say 90 percent done.

And it looks amazing.

And it's a heavy lift that they've done.

So uh shout out to Ken uh Kim Kim Hollingsworth and team.

Um yeah, it'll be uh long presentation when they give it.

And so brace yourself.

Maybe only schedule that that night.

And then I have to brag on President Aaron Vader, uh president of the Olatha Public Schools Foundation.

She hit a home run uh last Friday at the uh annual breakfast.

Uh they raised I think I got this right, Aaron, 34,735 dollars.

At least that was the last slide I saw.

Okay.

That's great.

That all goes directly into the needs of students and teachers in the district.

So thank you, Erin.

Really upped our game this year.

So very proud of you, Mrs.

Vader.

And um happy Thanksgiving to everybody.

Very grateful for everyone.

Councilmember Vacus.

Thanks, Mayor.

Um looking back to last Tuesday, Veterans Day, I was happy to have been invited to Black Bob Elementary to speak to 400 kids in an auditorium.

It's a good event.

It was a lot of fun talking to those kids about uh veterans and what we do to defend um our nation, our democratic freedoms.

And I'm always reminded how much I love kids, but how much they give me a headache at the same time.

Certainly I'd wish everybody a happy Thanksgiving also.

You know, despite all the troubles in the world, we have a lot to be thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving.

City Manager Michael Wilkes, anything.

Okay.

I have a couple of kind of housekeeping items.

So the council will not have a regular meeting of the city council here in council chambers on December the 16th, doing due to the upcoming holidays.

However, the council will be meeting December 16th.

And we uh for an update on the 2040 strategic plan.

And I um at this point I think it's probably gonna be somewhere other than here at the Eagles Landing, potentially.

So uh that means that our next meeting, December 2nd, will be our last uh regular council meeting for council members vote and Gilmore.

So we have a reception for Kevin that evening starting at 6.30, and we'll host an event for Marge a little later in recognition of her 28 years here on the City Council, maybe in January or sometime.

We'll we haven't selected that date yet.

So congratulations on our two new member council members, uh Jeff Creighton and Kevin Denalt.

Both of those individuals, along with um Councilmember Felter will be installed at our first meeting in January.

So with that, I'd like to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving.

Uh thank you all for joining us and being here and watching and have a good night.

We are adjourned.