The Wichita City Council met in regular session on January 7, 2025, at 9:00 AM in City Council Chambers. The meeting covered a wide range of topics, including a contentious second reading of ordinances related to illegal camping, an appeal to override a Historic Preservation Board denial of a demolition permit, approval of the 2025 Joint Legislative Agenda, contracts for library services and infrastructure, a donation for a new park, and renewal of the Housing First program. Extensive public testimony was heard, particularly on homelessness and the proposed camping ordinances.
The consent agenda (items 1-19) was approved as a block with the exception of items 10, 12a, and 16, which were pulled for separate discussion. Item 10 (sale of two Land Bank properties to Wichita Habitat for Humanity) was approved 6-0 with one abstention. Item 16 (zone change from industrial to multi-family at 37th and Greenwich) was deferred to February 11, 2025, by a unanimous 7-0 vote to allow for water pressure assessment.
Multiple speakers addressed the council on homelessness and the proposed illegal camping ordinances. Harold Schlechtweg (ICT Trees) spoke about tree canopy initiatives. Aaron Ferguson described his personal experience of homelessness and urged the council to view homeless individuals as people forced into their situation, not as criminals. Patrick Murphy asked for a delay to redraft the ordinance. Adam Greenleaf and Shawnia Alston (Grassroots Bridge Builders) shared negative experiences with the MAC shelter and Comcare, advocating for including homeless voices in policy. David Hodge (CEO, Union Rescue Mission) expressed cautious support for the ordinances but emphasized the need to match enforcement with shelter capacity, and described their transitional housing programs. Richard Harris argued the ordinances would criminalize truckers resting and could lead to deaths. Ben Davis presented polling data showing nearly 60% of Wichitans support the ordinance. Olivia Hayes raised concerns that homeless individuals were not compensated for their participation in a city-commissioned video. Phil Meyer (Baughman Company) requested deferral of a zone change due to water pressure issues.
Good morning and welcome to twenty twenty-five. Really uh looking forward to this wonderful year. We will now call this meeting to order. With us this morning is Minister Nina Shaw Woody with Kansas Family Advisory Network to provide our invoice. Following that invocation, we will have the Pledge of Allegiance, and we invite you to please stand for both. Father, we speak blessings over this mayor, these council people, and all those in the positions of authority in this place, so that they what everything that they do will bring you glory and put us on the map like never before. And to the Republic for Wichita stands, one nation under God and the visible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you again. Pastor Shaw Woody. Madam Clerk, can you please call the first item? Harold Schlechtweg, ICT Trees. I'm sorry. Approve the minutes of the special meeting December 16th, 2024, and the regular meeting, December 17th, 2024. Madam Clerk, before we do that, I would like to acknowledge that I believe Councilmember JV Johnston is joining us virtually at this moment. I am, thank you. Thank you very much. Madam Clerk, uh, we now have the special meeting minutes. I will move to approve uh those minutes if there are no further edits. Second. Motion and a second, any further discussion. Point of clarification, Mayor. Is your motion to approve both or just thank you? I will motion to approve both the December 16th, 2024 and the December 17th, 2024 meetings. Second. Motion and a second, any further discussion? I see none. Madam Clerk, please open the roll. Motion passes 70. Can we make sure that it doesn't say extension? Yeah. I meant to abstain because I was not here on the 16th. So we have 620 with one abstention by Councilmember Glascock. Madam Clerk, please call the next item. Harold Schlechtweg ICT Trees. Mayor Wu, members of the City Council, City Manager Robert Leighton. Happy New Year. Thank you for your service to the people of Wichita. My name is Harold Schlechtweg. I live at 351 North Fern and Delano neighborhood. I'm chair the board of directors of ICT Trees, one of Wichita's newest 501c3 nonprofit organizations. ICT Tree's mission is to make Wichita greener by doing what we can to protect and expand our urban tree canopy by distributing free trees to homeowners, businesses, and churches, planting trees, and through education about the benefits of trees to our community. Trees increase property values and lower utility costs. Trees improve air quality, and when planted in significant numbers, can lower neighborhoods outside air temperatures by as much as 10 degrees. We view trees as critical to our city's plans to mitigate the impacts of climate change. In short, we believe that expanding our urban tree canopy is a need and not a want. With the turning of the new year, now is a good time to look back on what we've accomplished together. What a year 2024 has been. In the spring, ICT Trees pioneered, pioneered in Wichita, a free tree distribution event with our partners, the Arbiday Foundation, Evergy, the Park and Recreation Department, ICT Tree Huggers, and the Wichita chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpa for zip code 67214 and 67208. This past fall, with the help of our media sponsor, KMUW, we sponsored a well-attended tree walk at Clapp Park, led by our tree experts, certified arborists, Roger Specsarth, and Samuel Aguisha. In between, we found time to set up a popular information table at Open Streets ICT.