Wichita City Council Regular Meeting – January 28, 2025
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Wichita City Council Regular Meeting
The Wichita City Council met in regular session on Tuesday, January 28, 2025, at 9:00 AM in the 1st Floor Boardroom, 455 N. Main Street. All seven council members were present (Mayor Lily Wu, JV Johnston, Brandon Johnson, Becky Tuttle, Mike Hoheisel, Dalton Glasscock, and Maggie Ballard). The council unanimously approved the Board of Bids contracts, the consent agenda, petitions for public improvements, and two travel authorizations. A budget workshop followed the adjournment.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No members of the public came forward during the Public Agenda portion.
Consent Calendar
- Approved unanimously (7-0) the Consent Agenda items 1 through 12, which included:
- Retail cereal malt beverage licenses
- Preliminary estimates for paving, sewer, drainage, and water improvements serving Bridger Pawnee Addition and Brookfield Addition Phase 2B
- Acquisition of a temporary easement at 3506 East Mt. Vernon Road
- Service Employees International Union Second Amendment to Memorandum of Understanding
- Agreement for Water Quality Monitoring
- On-call Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning services contracts
- Change Order No. 1 and change order limit adjustment for the Downtown Two-Way Street Conversion
- Partial acquisition of 2365 North Hoover for the Hoover Road improvement project
- Minutes of the Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Board (December 9, 2024)
- 2024 Drug Enforcement Agency High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force grant award addendum
- Weapons destruction list
- Second Reading Ordinances No. 52-618 and 52-619 (annexations) and No. 52-620 (reallocation of Hyatt sale proceeds to environmental at-risk testing and transit service plan)
- Airport Authority items: License Agreement with Kansas Fiber Network, LLC for exterior conduits/duct banks, and temporary construction easement for perimeter fence replacement at Jabara Airport
Discussion Items
- Board of Bids and Contracts: Josh Lauber (Finance Department) presented the report dated January 27, 2025. Council Member Ballard asked about bid discrepancies:
- Barkley's original low bid was $261,083, but the award was $289,300. Paul Gunzelman (Public Works & Utilities) explained the higher amount accounts for potential unknown conditions; the contract is a unit-price bid, so only measured quantities are paid.
- Roston Construction LLC submitted a lower bid but was not awarded because they lack a general contractor's license; the second-low responsive bid was awarded.
- Thrasher Systems withdrew its bid because the manufacturer's quote was higher than the bid allowed.
- Ballard praised vendor recruitment efforts; Lauber described outreach with resource partners, the Supplier Diversity Fair, and a Boots to Business program with McConnell.
- Motion to approve carried 7-0.
- Petitions for Public Improvements: Paul Gunzelman reviewed five petitions: Castaways North Addition (District 3), Rennick 4th Addition (District 6), Yellowstone Commercial Addition (District 4), and Yellowstone Addition (District 4). Each provides water, stormwater, sewer, and/or paving improvements for new developments. Petitions represent 100% of the improvement district and comply with Kansas statute. Mayor Wu confirmed these are funded by special assessments. Mayor Wu requested staff provide the number of potential infill properties within city limits where utilities already exist; Council Member Johnson suggested revisiting the Places for People plan, and City Manager Layton noted properties would be in the ECA (Eligible Conservation Area). Motion to approve petitions, budgets, and resolutions carried 7-0.
- Travel Authorizations: Council Member Johnson's travel to Black Legislative Day in Topeka, KS on February 17, 2025 was approved 7-0. Council Member Tuttle's travel to Topeka, KS on January 29, 2025 to provide testimony on HB 2024 (cancer screenings for firefighters) was approved 7-0; she noted Chief Snow provided transportation, so she would not request reimbursement.
Key Outcomes
- All motions passed unanimously (7-0):
- Approval of Board of Bids contracts and signature authorization
- Approval of Consent Agenda items 1-12
- Approval of Petitions for Public Improvements, budgets, and resolutions
- Approval of CM Johnson travel expenses
- Approval of CM Tuttle travel expenses
- Adjournment
- Staff to follow up on the mayor's request for infill property counts.
- After adjournment, City Manager Layton opened a budget workshop, beginning with presentation of the 2024 community survey results.
Meeting Transcript
Morning, everyone, and good morning staff. Good morning to our media partners. I will call this meeting to order for January twenty-eighth, twenty twenty-five. May we please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the fly of the United States of America. Thank you all very much. Madam Clerk and Mr. Clerk, can you please call the first item? Public agenda. The public agenda allows for up to five speakers to have five minutes each to address the council. No action will be taken relative to items on the public agenda other than referral to the city manager for information as necessary. Speakers will please state their name and address for the record. A time clock will display the speakers' remaining time to speak. Order and rules of decorum will be observed. We invite any of five community speakers to come forward if you'd like to address the council. I see none. This is how to become a vendor with the city. This is our purchasing calendar of any items that the city staff will be participating in or working with their small business resource partners. And I'd recommend your approval and try to answer any questions. Council members. Thank you. Thank you, Josh. I have a couple questions. I think it's on page or slide four. Maybe three. No. Oh, yes, this one. Um, I just wondered if you could explain um the price discrepancy or accepting the engineers bid. Yeah, uh, Paul, I'm gonna need you to help me with that. Paul Gunsman, public works and utilities for the record. Yes, we um Barclay's original bid was 261,083, which was the low bid. However, we are awarding it for 289,300. Um, just in case we well, once we get in to start construction, if we find anything unknown. Okay, awesome. Thank you. I have a follow-up question to that. So does that mean that the contractors know that our maximum is 289? So they have leeway to continue charging up. They that would we are a wardening for that amount, but we will only um only use that. That um we wouldn't go over that, um, but we would pay like the measured quantities, only what the work they need. Would you clarify that this is a unit price bid? Yes, it is a unit price bid. So um we'll take we'll keep track of the unit um the measured quantities that are utilized, and we'll only pay for that amount of the quantities utilized on the bid. Mayor the contract can't go up unless we approve additional work because it is based on unit price, not on a total cost for all the work. Thank you, both. Josh, I have a couple more questions for you. Sorry. Thanks. Thank you, Paul. Um, on slide six.
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