Oh.

But she actually let you know that she wasn't?

Yeah.

That's impressive.

Or not text me, emailed me this morning.

Yes.

How are you?

Good, how are you?

Lovely.

This means I get to see you twice this week.

No, I won't be there Thursday.

I'll be out of town.

Hopefully for something fun.

Yes.

You don't want to talk in it?

Nothing.

Good are you?

Expecting a big crowd?

Yeah, extra chair.

I live too long for station.

We lost power.

Did you?

No, not very long.

Oh yeah.

Five minutes maybe.

At the quick trip.

And a huge lighting came down.

And then they lost power.

So it's like, uh oh.

A lot of big big lightning.

Yeah.

It was pouring.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Hey, I you know what I meant to send out.

I would I have to find that too.

Okay.

All right.

She must have recalled that.

Yes.

Thank you for that.

If they don't read it, yes.

Because I've gotten messages like those messages but recalled.

And it's still sitting there.

Like I still spirit.

You know.

Well, I think you can still see it, but I don't think they can.

No, as like the recipient.

Oh no.

I don't know.

It's weird.

I know I don't trust it.

Weird.

Weird.

Where is everybody?

Guess we have five minutes.

They are.

You did.

Oh, I didn't.

We didn't.

We just went with it.

Switch with morning.

One table's usually over, but still with it.

Yeah, you come in grinning.

I do know a seat.

Oh.

Hopefully it's something good.

Great.

Friday.

This is our entertainment this morning, JD.

Different table set up in the middle of the year.

Oh no, they also are so five minutes earlier, ten minutes late.

I guess we're first.

I see where I was.

They must be.

I love it.

Did you do this for me?

Well, that's how you normally are in there.

Thank you.

I like being at the end.

So I should say that again.

I don't think anybody.

I have two.

I know it's hot.

We're thinking about it.

I know.

Maggie, I'm usually where JD is.

Oh Mary.

Morning.

This is a different setup.

Yeah.

Oh my gosh.

I used to know I got a shot.

Yeah, save for the skateboards and choose.

It's incredible.

Where do you guys play it?

We played it.

Okay.

What's the name of the council plan?

Tell me what you're doing.

Oh well.

So yes, a dead community.

There's a majority.

I missed the one meeting and I get pushed down the line.

I I don't know what happened.

I'm not sure Maggie or Johnson.

I know some of the streets are pretty flood.

We also might be at the Chamber of Commerce, like this is the preview for Detroit.

Oh, are you going to that?

Yeah.

Only for a day, but either we're going to wait.

Oh, that's not a good one.

I saw you sent an email this morning on that.

Just sort of called you like it.

And then it taxes a lot of things.

Good morning, Wichita, and good morning to all of you who have joined us in person.

We will call this meeting to order.

Can you please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance?

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

One nation under God of liberty and justice for all.

Thank you.

Madam Clerk, can you please call the first item?

Approve the minutes of the regular meeting, September 16th, 2025.

Are there any items to be edited or removed?

I see none.

I move to approve the minutes for September 16, 2025.

Second.

Motion and a second.

Any further discussion?

I see none.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

All those opposed, same sign.

Motion passes 6-0.

Madam Clerk, please call the next 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 the 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 rules of decorum will be observed.

We did have a speaker, Faith Martin, this morning, but she emailed me an advice she will not be here this morning.

Thank you, Clerk.

We will now open it up for anyone in the community who would like to address the council.

You can just move to the mic, state your name, and you will have five minutes to address the council.

Okay.

Go ahead.

My name is Eric Hargrave.

I am with Fountain of Life Ministries and representing the Dad's Care 2 program.

I wanted to come and talk to you all about the Family Builders Conference, which is held this weekend on the 19th and 20th.

We were able to get together a lot of community involved leaders, other organizations that can provide support to our dads.

We have a program that has been working since 2008, where we have been addressing the needs of the fathers that are disadvantaged and can uh or people coming out of re-entry.

So we were able to talk about a lot of key subjects that are plaguing the city, uh kids going into foster care, people coming out of incarceration and not having a put forward.

So we have built a program that can bring together 501c3s and different agencies in order to address these issues.

So over uh a lot of fathers, uh, some service providers, educators, and policymakers sat and talked in discussions uh surrounding uh re-entry and fatherhood support, co-parenting and maternal collaboration, uh system change and agency readiness and trauma-informed care and mental health.

Uh the conference created space for collaboration for healing and commitment to building stronger family systems through father-focused lens through a father-focused lens.

Uh, through our father empowered fatherhood empowerment initiative, DASCAR2 delivers a 12-week trauma-informed program centered around fragile families curriculum with our partners out in DC, the National Partnership of Community Leaders.

Um, each cohort provides weekly classes facilitated by the certified uh certified peer leaders.

So we train all of our fathers that are mentors in trauma-informed, uh trauma-informed care, uh, and they are all certified.

We also have case managers for different organizations like the Bundes Joy of Therapy and other organizations that provide mental health counseling to our fathers.

We also have financial counseling, uh financial uh literacy classes that we offer to the people so that they can start to stabilize themselves financially.

Uh, we also have housing programs so that if they need housing or anything, we could partner with the MAC Center.

We partner with other housing agencies so that we can get them stable housing so that their kids have somewhere to come back to our system of care referrals also offer job training through the Trio program and other partners that offer free job training uh for people so that they can get skills needed so they can get adequate jobs for um taking care of their family.

Our intention is to serve those that are justice involved, unemployed, and underrepresented fathers, aiming to heal generational trauma and foster resilience.

As a look ahead in 2026, we want to include the council.

We want to include the city in our decisions as we move forward to take care of these issues and do them together and not in silos.

We include more citywide agencies and state-level partners.

We want to elevate the youth-focused content, expanding collaboration with our school system and USD 259 as we partner with Prime Fit, who's in most of the schools in 259, so we can provide mentoring mentors for those kids that are borderline that are failing in school and having some behavioral issues.

We host interactive solution labs to address re-entry workforce barriers and fatherhood policy reform so that we can begin to start working with these things through policy so that these people have an open door to re-establish themselves in Wichita.

We add mother and family engagement panels to foster unity across parent roles because we can't have the fathers to build up without those mothers supporting them and getting them stable so that they can be good fathers to their children.

We anticipate doubling our attendance next year and deepening the strategic alliance to create a true father-friendly Wichita.

How can you support?

We invite local leaders, funders, and city agencies to collaborate on our 2026 planning, sponsor cohort-based programs for justice involved and underserved fathers.

We want to help amplify fatherhood narratives across Wichita systems and join our system of care referral network.

So we work also with the uh the um homeless coalition with the um with uh United Way and try to collaborate more than uh just uh compete.

So having the 501c3s that are providing each of these services, it's key that we pull together to make this thing happen for fathers that are hurting within this community.

We want to draw down those numbers of kids that are in foster care and be involved to contact those dads when those kids are in this situation so that we can make sure that we put those kids not in a foster home but with their families where they belong.

Thank you.

Thank you very much, Eric, and I know that Dennis is here as well.

Um I was the one who asked the two of them to share.

Uh, Chief Sullivan and I both attended the family conference this past Saturday, and I just want to say thank you for hosting that workshop, which was free to the community.

So, my question really is uh centered around the 12-week program.

Can you share if anyone in the community can take part in this and what's the cost to the community member?

Yes.

Uh so we do hold the 12-week class at the Urban League currently.

The new class starts October the 2nd.

It is free to the fathers.

Uh, we do feed them, bring them in, have an hour and a half class going over different subjects, anger management, relationship building, things like that for the 12-week course.

Again, it is at no cost to the father.

Um we are gonna start October the 2nd, and we are looking to have 15 to 20 fathers in this next cohort.

And if people are interested, whom shall they contact and how can we learn more?

Um, so if you are if you are interested in it, you can go to our website, dadscare2.com to sign up.

We also have uh the number 5301723.

That is our contact number, and they can email contact at the fountainlife.com.

Thank you very much.

Appreciate the work that you guys are doing, and again um appreciate that this is a free service to community members who may want to attend these free workshops, um, and again for strengthening families, but more particularly fathers.

Thank you very much.

And again, thank you again for coming by and speaking with us.

Uh, that was very well received, and a lot of people enjoyed having someone there to listen to their issues.

So, thank you for talking directly to the dads that were there because they really really appreciated being listened to about their concerns in regard to being able to re-establish themselves here in Wichita.

Yes, sir.

Uh quick question.

Um, you had talked about kids who are in the foster care system having their dads alerted to any situations.

Have you had that dialogue with DCF and what's their thoughts?

I know they're pushing for the kinship.

I'm trying to make sure kids stay within kinship.

So what's their reception been to that ask?

We have worked closely with DCF.

Uh, I'm gonna allow my founder, Dennis Foneroy to answer that question if I can.

Yes, good morning.

Again, good morning.

And yes, we do work with DCF.

We worked on several projects with uh Director D.

We've over the few years that we have uh been doing this work.

We worked at KCSL.

Uh we worked on the statewide boards, the ICAP boards, St.

Francis.

We helped initiate the team decision making uh uh program within DCF, which allows for both sides of the family to sit down, mediate, negotiate, and uh work out a plan between the two families for those kids to go to either either family.

Okay, thank you.

You guys are doing great work.

I really appreciate the work you're doing.

Please reach out and let us know how we can help you guys in the future.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Would anyone else from the community like to address the council?

You may just come to the microphone.

Please state your name and the district you live in, please.

Steve Randall, District One.

There is a petition or I guess option two uh have a short-term rental at 226 South Pinecrest.

Um it was, I guess, put forth on the 9th of September, and it said that there would be a three-week time period there before it would be voted on, and apparently on the 12th, it was approved, and then from that, which was a Thursday, you have until the 26th to either approve or disapprove as a neighbor, which leaves very little time to uh submit this very formal letter that you have to do.

Uming that we have a new procedure based on an event in that same neighborhood, Crown Heights on Batten Street.

Apparently, this owner is the who's applying is the same owner of that house where the incident occurred.

And so I'm just curious of the fact that it says that it's going to take three weeks to approve.

It was approved in three days, and then now the owners have very little time to notify council members, city council on whether it gets fully approved.

And I understand that you know you all are talking about transparency.

This just doesn't seem very transparent and seems very convenient to uh quickly act on approving someone who clearly has a history.

So thank you.

Thank you, Steve.

Can City Manager someone from staff address how the rental program works and the procedure for this specific property?

Mayor, I don't see anyone from planning here.

Um the um the gentleman is correct.

The neighbors do have a protest period of time uh before uh short-term rental approval is uh finalized.

I will go ahead and circle back with uh the property owner if he could leave his contact information with uh the city clerk, that would be helpful, Mr.

Randall.

Can you please um provide your contact?

You can come up to the clerk and provide that contact, and the city manager will connect you directly.

Would anyone else from the community like to address the council?

I see none.

We'll bring it back to the bench.

I'll wait until the city clerk is ready.

Yeah, the Gmail.com Madam Clerk, can you please call the next item?

Consent agenda items one through eleven.

Council members, any items to be pulled.

I see none.

I move to approve consent agenda items one through eleven.

Second.

Motion and a second.

Any further discussion?

I see none.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

All those opposed, same sign.

Motion passes 7-0.

Madam Clerk, please call the next item.

Order is in contract dated September 22nd, 2025.

No, thank you.

Mayor, would you mind delaying this item so we move on to public approvements?

No problem.

Madam Clerk, can you please call the next item?

Petitions for public improvements.

Oh, sorry.

All right, thank you.

Good morning, Mayor, City Council members, Paul Gumfel and Public Works, and you tell us for record.

This morning I have a couple petitions for your consideration.

The signatures on the petitions represent 100% of the improvement districts, and the petitions are valid per Kansas statute.

Area 151 edition located in District 5.

On June 6th, 2023, the City Council approved water, sewer and sanitary sewer and paving improvements required for a new residential development.

The developer has submitted revised petitions with revised budgets to reflect current market conditions.

And clear creek third edition located in district two.

On June 6th, 2023, the City Council approved water and sewer improvements required for a new residential development.

Thank you, Paul.

Any questions for staff?

I see none.

I move to approve the petitions for public improvements.

Second.

Motion and a second.

Any further discussion?

I see none.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

All those opposed, same sign.

Motion passes, seven zero.

We'll continue.

Madam Clerk, can you please call the next item?

Council member appointments and comments.

We'll start with council member agenda.

Umber agenda items that council members would like to bring up.

I will bring up a topic.

Um this is one that I've been asking the city manager for updates.

The new or revised illegal camping ordinance went into effect January of this year.

It has now had several months uh in operation.

I would like to get a status report regarding this ordinance, how it's being carried out.

Uh in particular, I have a question regarding what is deemed as a safety hazard when it comes to sidewalks.

Just last week we had a conversation regarding the size of sidewalks.

Most sidewalks around the city of Wichita are around the four to six feet in what width.

Um usually wheelchairs are about three feet.

Um so I wanted to know what constitutes an immediate removal of a camping site that is blocking a sidewalk or what is considered blocking a sidewalk.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, if it's all right with you, what I'd like to do is have law department talk a little bit about the ordinance that you adopted.

Um I'll ask Sharon to to address that, and then ask the police department to talk about how they have been working with the new ordinance, and then I'd like uh park and recreation to talk about the actual encampment work that they have done, the cleanup work they've done since January.

So we'll start with Sharon.

Thank you.

In reference to your first question, Mayor Wu, we do have city ordinances dealing with loitering and blocking access to and from certain buildings.

Um to be given the opportunity to move or disperse.

If they fail to do that, then they can be cited with a violation.

Um the ordinances that were passed regarding illegal camping setup, as I think you know, a two-tiered system allowing for immediate cleanup in areas where it is more disruptive to the community on the sidewalks, ingress to buildings, um areas that it is unsafe to camp under viaducts in flood areas and those types of specific areas that were specified in the ordinance.

Um PD has been working on cleaning up those areas.

I think that there were, and I'm not going to speak for the chief, about 180 incidents where they made contact with campers, and I and I think there needs to be a distinction made between loitering, camping, and being there with your items for lack of a better way to say it.

Camping, there has to be an intent to sleep or to stay or to camp, as that term is defined by the ordinance.

Loitering would be the offense which would be most applicable to if they are blocking access on the sidewalk and there's not a clear pathway through the sidewalk.

And it oh, but quick follow-up to that question.

You had just said that a distinction needs to be made.

Does that need to be codified, or is that a distinction in terms of interpretation, or is that need to be codified in the ordinance?

I I think it's a expectation clarification.

I mean, that we are limited on what we can do.

Homelessness as a status cannot be criminalized.

It's not a crime to walk downtown or sit on a bench or even sleep on a bench.

However, once you get into the arena of I have items that I am blocking people's access, I can't get to the building, I can't use the sidewalk from an ADA accommodation, I can't get the wheelchair down the sidewalk.

At that point, then you are reaching over into an area where there are ordinances that would apply to those specific situations.

So more specifically, um, I actually was downtown on Saturday, and underneath the railroad tracks on Douglas, uh, there were several individuals with items uh with the intention to sleep.

And the question that I had was is that is our ordinance allowing that to continue.

Um we've seen multiple individuals underneath that overpass, um, and there was a fire that actually remnants of that fire were evident.

I have photos of this.

So that becomes a safety risk.

Um, and I know that our officers are already very busy working with actual emergency calls, um, but I don't want this to become a fire hazard.

Um what can we as a council do to make it more specific, especially in areas like that underpass on Douglas Street right next to NASCAR?

I think you have the legal ordinances in place because we do not allow camping under bridges or fiadox.

Um we allow immediate cleanup for those specific areas.

I think you're you're looking at an enforcement and staffing process as to how resources are allocated and and the chief or Captain Moses are going to need to address that issue.

But but the framework is there.

Um it's just a matter of getting those violations enforced, and PDE can't be everywhere all the time, um, and what is the priority for their resources?

But but the framework is there, in my opinion.

Do we also could there also be a more specific?

I think right now I'm I'm really talking about the downtown core, not necessarily other areas of the community.

Um I saw a mother with a baby stroller that was afraid to walk underneath there.

Thankfully, we were walking in a group, and so she kind of walked with us.

So that makes me that concerns me, knowing that people might feel unsafe, and so I want to know what we can do.

Could there be a more specific ordinance regarding just the central business district, the SMID, or just that core right there?

You could look at ordinances specific to the downtown core area.

You would need to establish some rational basis for treating that area different than others.

So is it a is there a legal or factual distinction walking under a bridge in downtown where there's people under it or walking in a bridge in West Wichita where there's people under the bridge.

We would need to have a justification for treating the downtown differently than other areas.

Um we could look at perhaps some guidelines or some ordinances, especially ingress and egress, um, but but again, being is not a crime.

Being there is not a crime.

And I understand that we want folks in downtown Wichita to feel safe.

We just need to make make certain that we comply with those legal requirements and recognize what is and is not illegal.

But there but there are things that we could look at, especially ingress and egress to public businesses, private buildings that we could look at revising if that was the direction.

So what I hear you saying is that our ordinances are in place, but the enforcement of it may not be to the level that we're able to maintain and enforce the entire ordinances.

So the language is there, but the enforcement, it may not be there.

Yeah, I can't speak again.

I'm not quite sure that's what Sharon's saying.

What I'd like is Captain Moses to talk about two things.

First of all, since we're talking about downtown of this situation, I'd like him to talk about our general enforcement uh work and what um HOT and community police officers are doing on issues uh that impact the homeless, and then also if you would that uh after that talk about enforcement of the encampment ordinance.

Can I can I butt in really quick for a second?

I want to make sure too that we're considering that our footprint has been reduced right now at second light because of capacity, and so maybe you can make sure that we're addressing that correctly if we can't offer them a space at second light, they can camp at some capacity, correct?

Uh no, camping is still illegal.

So we would still be able to clean up a camp.

What we can't do is cite someone for a violation of the ordinance.

That's how the ordinance is written.

If there's no shelter space.

Now we're working closely with Second Light and other uh in United Way on some things moving into the winter season.

Um, specifically, like an application that our officers would be able to use that shows available shelter space across the system.

I just learned about that yesterday, so that's something that will definitely help us uh moving into the winter months.

Uh specifically related to uh in enforcement of the ordinance, the manager was correct.

We have uh 184 cases since April 1st, which is when we uh created this case classification to track this, where officers have uh engaged with and educated someone about or cleaned up or sent to to uh parks a cleanup request for a camp.

So that's 184 across the city.

Majority of those are in the downtown uh core area or along the river, uh, but mostly focused in the downtown area.

The homeless outreach team uh themselves in the last month have had 147 dispatched calls, 52 self-initiated calls, um, 486 unhoused person contacts and 98 911 hop requests.

Uh they've received compliance related to the camping ordinance 76 times, and that's something that I wanted to highlight is just because we're not citing people for violating the ordinance doesn't mean we're not out enforcing and educating about the ordinance.

We generally see voluntary compliance when it comes to the unlawful camping ordinance when we tell someone you are in violation.

Um specifically related to the concern downtown on Douglas.

I think it's important to reflect back on what uh Sharon said.

Just being is not a violation of the ordinance, and that's where our officers have to go out and make a judgment call.

Are is this person just being, are they just there with their things?

And if that's the case, then I don't think that's a violation of the unlawful camping ordinance.

Uh if they are there and they are sleeping, or if they are there and there is a tent or a box or some other evidence that they are intend to camp, then yes, that would be a violation of the ordinance.

Um, general focus is on tier one camps uh due to due to bandwidth and staffing, that's really what we're focused on.

Uh, especially the homeless outreach team is focused on tier one camps.

Um having a camp on a sidewalk itself does not make that camp a tier one camp based on my reading of the ordinance.

And I I feel well, I'll let the council make make the law, obviously, we just enforce it, but at this point, a camp on a sidewalk is not a tier one camp.

Um can you share what tier one is?

Just so everybody in the room.

There's a list, I have it on my computer.

There's a list in the ordinance that that talk about immediate removal camps, and anything under that list under immediate removal would be what we're considering a tier one.

Uh I think that also is an important distinction for us to talk about.

Immediate removal simply means we can, if staff is available, clean up that camp right then and there.

There is going to be a natural delay in getting those camps cleaned up as we coordinate with park staff to get them out there to clean up that camp.

But again, we generally see voluntary compliance.

The area around second light is a great example.

For a while, there were camps to the west of second light around along that sidewalk.

And the chief and I ourselves go out and check that area on a regular basis, and we haven't seen camps there in weeks because of the education campaign that we've been doing and gaining voluntary compliance.

Captain Moses.

So in my particular situation, this would have been Saturday evening.

This is underneath a bridge again between Navskill Park and Union Station, and the intent was sleeping as one of the individuals was sleeping, literally.

So in that situation, can you address how the council would how the council or any community member would then contact police should they call 911?

Should they call HOT?

I know that HOT is not a 24-7 team.

Can you address how we should be addressing these?

Yes, uh, mayor.

So there are multiple avenues in which to report an illegal camp, one of which is 911.

We've educated all of our officers on the unlawful camping ordinance and the case to case classification to use to track all of that and how to refer camps to the parks department.

So any officer can go out and investigate a report of unlawful camping through a complaint made to 911.

Now all of our calls into emergency communications are entered on a priority basis.

A report of unlawful camping would likely be entered as a suspicious character, which is a level three call for service.

So anything higher priority obviously would be dispatched first.

So there may be a little bit delayed response time and getting to check that camp, but that is one way to report them.

Another way to report them is through the C click fix app.

Those reports are referred directly to the homeless outreach team.

And they follow up on those based on essentially a list, and they focus on the what look like tier one camps first.

But again, there's an inherent delay there in when the homeless outreach team is working, uh, and and their capacity to get to those reports.

So there's really two distinct ways to file a report on an unlawful camp, and it would be to call 911 or enter a complaint through C click fix.

Thank you.

Um, and just so that everyone is aware, you mentioned tier one public property.

Uh the areas include in or under bridges, overpasses, andor highways within 50 feet of bus shelters, medians, roadways, highways, traffic circles, roundabouts, railways, bike paths, walking trails, wastewater delivery systems, water delivery systems, electric substations, or communication transmission systems, within 20 feet of any doorway, loading dock, elevator, stairway, or fire escapes located on public or private property.

Any land deemed dangerous by virtue of contamination, any land used for flood control, including the big ditch, within 500 feet of playground equipment schools or child care facilities, whether such playground equipment, school and child care facilities are located on public or private property, within 500 feet of property being utilized as the multi-agency center, within 500 feet of a public or private swimming pool, splash pad or private or public golf course, inside or within 100 feet of park pavilions, community centers or park shelters, or inside or within 100 feet of a public restroom.

Those are all deemed tier one properties.

I have a follow-up to that real fast.

This might be a sharing question too.

When we're talking about sidewalks, are we not defining sidewalks as walking trails or bike paths, or those codified differently in law?

So I would imagine a sidewalk is a walking trail.

The ordinance prohibits camping on public property or public right-of-way.

Public right-away is defined as the area from the property line to the property line, including I'm gonna skip some areas designed or used for vehicle or pedestrian traffic in the area between the roadway and property line.

Um it is the sidewalk of the sidewalk and curb would be within that definition of public right-of-way.

Okay, so that would be one of the tier one.

Yes.

Um enforcement.

I want to be careful how to answer that question.

So we're actively working on rebuilding the staffing within our department.

You all know that.

We're getting closer and closer to our authorized strength every day.

Uh the chief has had conversations, I believe, with each of you about what that means and what that doesn't mean.

Uh, our priority remains emergency calls for service when people's lives are in danger.

That's going to continue to be our priority.

Um I think there is an opportunity for a much larger discussion about what the right response to uh homelessness, unhoused individuals, and unlawful camping is.

Is that an immediate is that an initial response from a police officer or not?

Are there other resources that should go out and contact these individuals and offer assistance, transportation to shelter?

Probably.

Uh, we know that people don't take our office for help because we're in a police car and we're in a police uniform.

Um, you know, we put ourselves in the shoes of unhoused individuals, and you have a police officer who shows up.

Our job is to enforce the law, and we say, get in our police car, we're gonna take you to a shelter.

It's not the most welcoming response, right?

Um, so there's an opportunity for a much larger discussion there, I think, about how we're delivering resources to unhoused individuals and the right coordinated response to unlawful camping.

Simply enforcing the ordinance and citing people for violating the camping ordinance, I think uh is missing a key aspect of that of that community outreach aspect and offering resources to unhoused individuals.

Um it's not as simple as saying it's a resource issue.

We we have rebuilt the homeless outreach team to full strength as we've continued to recruit and have larger academy classes.

They can only go so many places at once.

Um, and like I said, our office patrol officers are going to continue to remain focused on uh violent crime, crime prevention, um, and ensuring the safety of the community.

Now unlawful camping does have the potential to cause danger through fires or other uh issues, but generally our our focus is gonna be on victimization of our community.

So that leads to one last follow-up I have, at least for now, um, is and this might be a question for Sally's saying if Sally is here, but where is housing in this?

Um do they go to each call that's made?

Um, what is the coordination between the police department and housing?

Because I would like housing to be at a lot of these calls to plug people in with resources, and so I don't know if Sally is here or not.

I do not see her.

She's higher, and Steve is here also.

Steve Burke, what I'd like to do if if if you gave the chief an hour, he would talk about the role of social services, about support services, and that the police are really kind of the last line of defense, so to speak.

So we this council has committed 8 million for the construction of second light, five million for continued operations, so that we do provide a much more comprehensive approach to dealing with the with issues for our homeless residents and the underlying causes and things that are keeping people from being successful in being rehoused.

Um Sally can talk a little bit if you'd like about what's happening in that realm.

I'd like Steve to talk about an approach, Steve and Sally talk about an approach that we think is going to make a difference as well.

Um, besides having outreach teams, this is we have a uh very specific pilot project that is having some success, and I'd like to talk about that as well because ultimately that's where we want to go in terms of getting people rehoused.

Well, and I want to thank you for saying that too.

We have committed significant resources and tangibly or anecdotally, I haven't seen change on the streets.

And so, with the amount of resources we have, I want to see hard numbers of if there are changes in the streets because if we're committing this many resources, I want to make sure the outcome is to get people off the streets, and I don't see that one down to it.

I'll just be honest, you're not gonna see it immediately, right?

Uh, we've got it's gonna take a while, we won't be fully operational until the end of the year at MAC, and even then only about 90% capacity, but then we'll have room for the agencies that are gonna be providing the services.

We still have this currently that we did not have prior to this.

Correct.

So we still do have additional beds.

Yeah, we're not beds.

We have shelter beds, and those are reduced today because of the construction, and I think uh council member Ballard uh referenced that.

But let me let me have housing address what I think is some systematic ways that we're trying to tackle this.

City manager, before we move to housing, can I just ask this simple question?

Um the intention is not to cite individuals who are unhoused with an additional legal hurdle.

The intention is not to cite individuals who are unhoused with an additional legal hurdle.

Can you just address how many actual citations have been issued since the revised ordinance?

I believe the answer is zero.

I'm glad that was brought up.

A lot of this conversation I was just listening is a bit troubling to me because when we talk about downtown, we know what happened with the emergency shelter in District One, and a lot of the conversation was a concern about seeing homeless people being homeless.

Um you talked about somebody being asleep.

Um while someone was scared to push their stroller by someone's sleep, we we this conversation from what I've gathered is literally we are still seeing too many unhoused people.

And I think that that's just a bit of a concern, as we even talked about codifying ways to get unhoused people off of a sidewalk, which is the public right away.

Our real conversation should be how do we get the legislature to invest resources into more of the things we need.

When we talk about open beds of second light, if you've talked to any unhoused people, oftentimes there's a distrust of going even into something like Second Light.

They haven't had positive experiences in shelters, or they may know that there's just too many people in there for them, or they may not want to be around a lot of folks, and until we can engage, like Officer Nate does, hold hands, let's talk, let's build trust.

This is a trust trustworthy space.

It doesn't matter that we put millions of dollars into a space if we haven't had that trust built yet, and we're gonna continue to see unhoused people until they feel safe enough until they have enough trust to go into a space.

It doesn't matter what resources we share if we don't build trust first, and there's not enough resources because second light is just one piece of the equation.

We've seen what 5,000 mental health beds lost since the 90s because the state legislature won't fund those things, and while they're trying to with the mental health hospital, that's only 100 beds.

I mean, there needs to be significant investment, and it's not just the city of Wichita that has to do that.

That's federally, that's state, and we're not seeing that, and until we collectively talk about that problem with our state partners, and not just we're seeing too many unhoused people.

Um I don't see a real solution there, even if we tripled the size of the homeless outreach team.

If the unhoused folks don't trust that, if they don't want to be in that space, there's going to be a few people who are going to move through that and go from being unhoused to housed, but so many people are one paycheck away from being homeless.

And I just feel like this conversation started with and currently lacks compassion for the humanity of somebody who is unhoused right now, and truly we need more of the resources to build that trust to try to find more spaces almost like a cure of violence, as Captain Moses talked about.

Cure of violence can connect to young people in ways that WPD cannot.

And outside of the homeless outreach team, we need stronger partnerships with the justice together or other organizations that are going to go out there and engage with our unhoused community and build that trust and try to walk them through these processes.

I didn't agree with the ordinance that we passed, but it is passed.

And I think any pushes to codify more specific definitions of sidewalks and all of that looks to criminalize homelessness.

While we haven't cited it, there's the opportunity to criminalize that and say that you can be cited for this.

You you have to do this.

Too many people see you sitting here tired or sleep on the sidewalk.

You need to move rather than what's your name?

What's your story?

How can I help you?

Let me get you to a place where you can get something to eat.

Let's start talking about some of the challenges you face and how we can help you.

There's not enough of that, and too many reaching out to us to further try to codify things to force people from being seen.

And I think being unhoused reminds us that the failures of society, and some people just don't want to see that, and I think we need to do more work to help and get more state or federal resources rather than look to codify our own ordinances or try to get police to not focus on what they're focusing on and try to get somebody who's sleeping to wake up and move so that other people just feel better about downtown.

Well, we have a law specifically that says you cannot camp.

That is not about not being compassionate about individuals who are facing homelessness.

It is about having public spaces that are open for the entire public.

If a mother and her child do not feel safe because someone is sleeping and blocking a portion of the sidewalk, that is a concern.

That is a concern.

And it's not because of seeing homelessness, but rather it is a concern for both the individual because the individual who's sleeping there, because I would love to connect them to Second Light and have that space for them.

Or this was a male, so they could have gone to Union Rescue Mission, which is our men's shelter here in Wichita.

So if that is not where we're at, then is the $13 million that we are investing into a shelter plus services really gonna work.

If if people are too afraid to go to a shelter, is this really gonna work then?

Then we need to ask, are we investing wrongly into this?

It's gonna work for the people that are ready.

And that needs to be a balance of the two enforcement of law and compassion bringing people to the resources.

If we're a capacity of 120 beds and it's full, where is it acceptable for people to go?

Besides union rescue mission, where is it acceptable for them to camp if we can't offer them a bed?

And I'd just like to jump in.

I'm on the Union Rescue Mission Board, and we had our board meeting last night, and this was a topic of much discussion because we are very worried as a board and staff that uh because of the la the less beds that we have at second light that more people will come to Union Rescue Mission, and they have a limited capacity too.

Um, they certainly want to serve everyone, but they also want to be more than a shelter, they want to serve people with program.

Um so this is a it's a community issue, it's not just you know shifting bodies from one place to another.

I just want to just add in my two cents.

Um last week, Commissioner Howell and I actually got to go to the uh Haven Fort Hope in San Antonio and tour the premises.

Um we were both struck by uh how clean the area was, how efficient it was.

Uh, sixty-five percent of people that go through the program do not return.

They get into stable housing.

Uh something like that is the goal, because until then, regardless of what we do, and I understand the safety concerns too, because I feel it in my district, I think, as much or more than anybody else on council.

Um, but we are just playing whackable, and we have to realize that uh with limited bed space, you can't if you force somebody into there, again it fills up the space, and there's still going to be people out there.

We don't have enough bed space for the people out there.

So the long-term solution has to be the investment into the MAC into Second Light, making sure we get as many providers in there as we can, making sure that that is as efficient as we can.

That way, when we do start cleaning up and um enforcing some of these campsites, there is an end solution for it as opposed to right now where it's people pick up and they move somewhere else.

I know every time we go into somewhere and we empty out encampments that are deep in some of the wooded areas, uh South Broadway, for example.

It just pops up so much more in areas like that in around my district, and again, it has to be about the long-term solution.

So, again, if we keep cleaning up campsites, and I am again I understand we do need to get to a lot of these that are public health hazards, but we have to keep our foot on the gas towards the ultimate solution here, which is getting people back into housing and addressing the underlying issues that they have.

Otherwise, it's just gonna be north side screaming one day that gets cleaned up, south side screaming the next day, that gets cleaned up, downtown screaming, then west side, then east side, and it's just gonna keep happening in a rotation around the city.

Right now we just don't have those resources to get people in there and then into housing.

We have a limited amount of vouchers.

Um, our housing department's gonna be in trouble.

The Senate budget, I think they said 17% reduction in the housing staff.

Uh the house budget 43%.

So when these budget comes, our cut budget cuts are coming, especially with the vast majority of our housing department is funded uh through HUD and through the federal government.

When those cuts are coming, that's going to be even less resources that we have.

The only solution we have to actually address this long term, and that's our job here is not just short term but long term, is to keep the investments going into the MAC into the ultimate solutions that we have to get people back into housing and address those underlying issues.

I will I will concur on that.

The the bottleneck of this whole equation is housing.

Um there's just not enough room in all the resources we have to put all the homeless people in to temporary shelter.

The key word is temporary.

We do need more housing.

We have people in the community working on that uh very hard.

Um I think uh I'm I'm working on hard too, so we do need more housing.

Depends on who you talk to, we're three to five thousand units short of housing.

That's a lot of units, but you know, how do you eat an elephant?

It's one bite at a time, and you can't do it overnight.

So I think that that's what we need to focus on, and in the private sector too.

And there are community members that are stepping up in the private sector uh and doing something about it.

So I appreciate that, and I appreciate their leadership in that.

I would jump in and say it's not humane, it's not compassionate to let people live on the streets.

This council has invested more than any other council in terms of addressing this issue with beds and resources.

Yes, there's more resources to come, and I'm thankful for those resources, but we still have more resources now than we did previously.

And you know, for individuals in our community, still report encampments, report them to the city, report them to me.

I will make sure that they're addressed because the only way that we're gonna get people to help is by addressing those encampments, whether that be law enforcement going out there or a housing department going out there, they have to have a touch point.

And our job from this bench and the job for this institution is law enforcement.

Our job is to make laws and to enforce laws, and if there's laws in the books, they should be enforced and enforced to the full extent.

And we are pouring resources to also address that.

But when I have people reach out from Topeka or Kansas City that are challengers or more when I go to DC, when I go to Chicago and I see less people living on the streets than we are, I don't know if we're addressing this well, and that's a challenge.

I know we're continuing to make investments, and I hope we continue to move in the right direction.

I'm confident this council's committed to doing that, but we have to see more change because individuals have not seen change over the past year despite the investments that we made in this community.

And part of the challenge is we continue to want immediate results on the problem that we're a challenge that is not going to see immediate results.

The investment in second light was great.

This council, former councils invested in that, awesome.

We see community organizations coming to the table, awesome.

We see private sectors starting to make investments, awesome.

That does not mean by December 31st, you're not gonna see somebody unhoused.

It means that the foundation to help address the issue is being built, and it's going to take time, and we are still in the midst of that, going to see someone sleep on the sidewalk or against a building or at a pavilion.

Like it is going to continue to happen until we get to a space where all of that is laid, and as we every few months say where we at, I still see unhoused people.

You're you're gonna see them because the foundation's not done yet.

Second light is not complete yet.

Transitional housing is something we've talked about.

I don't think all those units are built yet.

Um there's a few folks in the private sector I know that are working to build some homes, they they haven't broken ground yet.

So again, it's we continue to see folks who are challenged and housed and face these things, but the foundation's not done yet.

The full infrastructure to support it is not done yet.

And truly, as the vice mayor said, if we are looking at housing, this body, not just making laws and enforcement model, should be looking at how do we address this issue.

We have the power of incentives, so how do we incentivize more housing or transitional housing?

I know we have a workshop coming up, but our focus should be on how we continue to build out that foundation to make this community better, empowered, and to see less instances of people losing homes, better paying jobs so they can stay in some form of housing, and then resources to pull people from homelessness into being stable again so that they can have a decent life.

We've talked about those things, but as we again, because this conversation started with ordinance and codification, as we focus more on that and less on those other things, we'll continue to have this cycle until that foundation is set, and we have to continue to build that foundation and lean harder on the legislature and the federal government, who right now, as Councilmember Hoheisel said, is looking to make cuts.

They should not be making cuts.

There should be more investment in this, and what we're gonna see is a sad and unfortunate trend like this legislature did decades ago when you start removing mental health resources and other investment, you find ourselves in a situation we're in now.

The federal government's doing that.

I don't see the state legislature putting any real dollars other than the little bit they've done so far into addressing this, and it's going to continue to impact us.

And this body will hopefully not, but then this body will look at what else can we codify to make sure that we don't see unhoused people and we can force them into a shelter that they don't legally have to stay in and may not want to go to because we haven't done the work to build the trust so that they know that we are a helpful hand and not something just trying to penalize them.

Bob, did you mention that Sally and Steve have a pilot project they'd like to tell us about?

Yes, I have a couple, just a couple of comments.

Umor's comment, you eat this elephant, a whole lot of people taking one bite at a time, right?

It's a it's a all it's awesome, our partner.

I will also note that you have made a difference already with your investment in Second Light.

There are this summer, there are 150 people that were in Second Light on a regular basis that would have been on the street otherwise.

So you have been able to bring people into a more permanent into a shelter arrangement, and then hopefully get them the kind of services that they need.

I'd like Sally to talk about the housing piece of this, um, which is goes well beyond the the shelter of trying to get people into a more permanent housing situation.

If I can before I transition over to Sally, I think I have a good segue for that as well, which is uh speaking of compassion.

I want to follow up on that.

You you all know as a council, and we've shared in the cold winter months the people that are out making contact about how does the individuals and offering them transportation to shelter are with the Wichita Police Department.

All of our office, all of our officers mobilized to go out and make contacts, hundreds of contacts in that extreme cold and offer transportation to shelter.

Now bed space is a challenge with that because we have to have somewhere to take them.

Second, uh, we've seen success as we shared last week with our ICT team model, a true coordinated approach to addressing challenges in our community.

And we would love to replicate that with our homeless outreach team and homelessness services.

In fact, that's something that I brought up, and the chief and I brought up to Second White uh just a couple weeks ago.

That as we move into the winter season, we would love to see when we have these cold, cold weekends or days, that it is the Wichita Police Department and homeless services provider in a vehicle together going out to make these contacts.

And I'll hand it over to Sally with that.

Mayor members of council.

Um yes, our team right now has resources, and we do go out into the you know into the field and make contact.

That's not their primary job responsibility, though.

Those are case workers who actually have caseloads higher than I'd even like to see, who carve out time to go out with a hot team, to go out with neighborhood, you know, with community-wide outreach.

Um, that happens once or twice a month.

In our normal circumstances, we don't have any funding to be able to do that.

We are launching a pilot program that's a little bit separate that um Steve is going to talk about, but we've taken advantage of some opportunities in the past few years to make that available.

So we, you know, through we had CARES funding that came through ESG and CDBG.

We went for the Project Hope grant, we had ERA funds that we were able to be creative to be able to deploy these type of resources.

But I'll tell you, Project Hope Funding ends September 30th.

ERA funding ends September 30th.

Um, so the positions that those funded would be eliminated on September 30th, but we've found a little wedge of C D BGCB to continue it till June 30th of next year.

Once that expires, we're continuing to look for additional funding opportunities to continue that, but we haven't secured any.

Um, it is unfortunate because the relationship we have with the hot team and our teams are our talking and meeting with the hot team several times a week, often, um, to try and engage people where they are.

Uh, so we will continue to work in that realm, but until we identify additional funding to continue that activity, which includes the social work interns, which to me has been one of the most fabulous programs.

Um, it helps us get at either master's or bachelor's level social work students at multiple universities and have them working hand in hand with our caseworkers as well as with the hot team.

Um, oftentimes we're getting permanent employees through that.

That is a great program.

Funding is going to go away for that.

So it means we have to be more creative.

We have to lean on our partners in the community to be able to do that outreach.

One of the challenges we have with the MAC right now, and it'll forever be the Mac in my mind is Second Light.

The original vision for that really was the multi-agency center.

This is resources.

This is how we connect people quickly to housing with shelter.

And it seems to have turned to shelter with services.

Okay.

So, you know, we we really need to be focusing on that exit plan because if we just continue to bring more and more people in, we're just creating a backlog.

We need to secure all of the resources necessary so that when someone does engage at Second Light, there is a path that we're getting them next step, whether that's rapid rehousing, permanent supportive housing, transitional housing, whatever that resource.

But once we, you know, that place is full, where else are we going to be placing people?

That's one of our bigger challenges.

So then I want to turn it over to Steve Burke to talk about and then you direct a housing initiative as a pilot project.

Oh, yes.

And project three, sorry, thank you, Steve.

Um project three on the campus over at Second Light is building housing.

We're able to use the proceeds from the sales of those public housing properties to build a 75 unit building.

Things are moving along great.

We are actually expecting uh to be able to break ground, have a groundbreaking ceremony in December with really moving dirt by February.

About a year to build, we're talking 50 units of permanent supportive housing, definitely studio apartments, about 360 square feet, and 25 units of non-congregate shelter that'll be focused at those that have the most critical needs for their health and safety.

So we're very excited that that's moving along and it's going to help the process.

But again, the idea there, just like I say for the shelter, is that's not a you know, we want people to move even from that housing, have them staying in that housing until they're stabilized, and then because we're going to be layering project-based vouchers on it, it gives them the right that once they're stabilized and been there at least a year, they can move on with assistance.

So it builds in that move-on strategy, that path, that bridge to the next step.

So we're very excited that that's coming along well.

Well, real quick, Sally, um, I know there were plans for an additional uh couple of units of housing built, maybe the close by campus.

Uh, do you have any updates on that?

We at this point we said let's make sure we get project one finished, project two, the shelter renovation done.

Project three going strong, but we are still talking about potentially a project four, which um is would be a low-income housing tax credit project off of North Broadway.

So we're still having conversations with Petra, who is our developer partner on that, as well as um Ascension via Christie and other partners are yes.

Thank you.

Sally and Steve, both this question.

Um, Councilmember Johnson, Councilmember Tuttle, Chief Sullivan and I all attended the United Way uh impact on the Plains last week.

And one of the things that they did was they've um within a minute and a half, they raised 20,000 for housing navigators.

I would like to know how those housing navigators uh work with the housing at the city of Wichita, and then in collaboration with our homeless outreach team to go and help these individuals.

If everyone has their own housing navigators, why are we not collaborating more or having a central unit regarding our officers being able to be with a housing navigator because I don't believe that police should be the first to have contact with individuals facing homelessness, but if everyone is doing their own thing, I feel like we're just fitting out the resources.

We are moving in that direction, Mayor and Council.

Um, the housing navigation model is that with which the person who is a housing navigator can connect somebody who's asking for a housing resource to that housing resource, help them identify a unit, and then help them move in.

So let me back up just a little bit because if you recall, uh Mandy Chapman Semple uh's model of Houston and how they reduced unsheltered homelessness in the downtown corridor of Houston was something that we grasped onto.

We had her team come and train us on this direct to housing model.

This direct to housing model has three case manager models, and this is what the United Way has leaned into as well as us in terms of creating this housing navigation model.

Yes, there are street outreach workers, and these are people who are tasked with going out and building rapport and making sure that people are safe and alive, and then there's that that connection case manager called the housing navigator that's primary responsibilities to connect them to a housing resource, and then a third level of case manager takes over.

That's a housing stabilization case manager.

If you've been living on shelter for many years and now suddenly you have a roof over your head, you're going to have some problems.

You're going to have some challenges that need to be overcome, and having assistance with that is definitely helpful.

So, what we've launched is this direct to housing pilot project.

We've chosen a camp.

Um, not gonna say exactly where it is, it's on South Broadway, it's on private land so that we could quickly um consolidate our resources and get that closed once we housed everybody.

And I'm happy to say that the camp has 12 individuals in it, eight households, and they all will be housed by 10, 10, and that camp will be closed.

We're currently communicating with city leadership, um, including um the police department as well as the hot team as well as the city manager about where are we going next?

So that encampment work is respectful of those individuals who don't or can't find their way to shelter.

We have to acknowledge that shelter may not be for everybody, but to drive everybody to make the assumption that everybody must drive through shelter in order to access services is something that we're investing a new lane in to see if this can work.

Obviously, this was a pilot.

We've got some bumps in the road that we need to work out.

It's taken us about 72 to 75 days.

We hope to move a whole lot quicker moving forward.

Sally, as amazing as she is, identified a home tenant-based uh rental assistance resource.

So we're gonna be working with our communities housing navigators.

We are walking in as the voucher holder.

We're not walking in to offer a bottle of water, we're walking in offering them a housing resource.

This is real.

This is true.

Also, the United Way has a uh landlord engagement process that they have stood up recently, and it is because of that program that we're able to identify landlords and open units and quickly connect them.

These are long-term homeless people, it shouldn't happen in 75 days.

These are people who have been out there for 10 plus years, and in 75 days we're getting them leased up.

That's extraordinary.

We're hoping to replicate the model at our next encampment starting as soon as next week.

That is amazing.

I just appreciate the work that you all are doing, and we need to see more of that.

Thank you.

Mayor, just in conclusion, um, this started with discussion and enforcement and police work.

Uh Chief Sullivan is here to be able to address any outstanding issues, maybe put his spin on this conversation as well.

Good morning.

Good morning.

So we gave you the number of context that we had per the ordinance.

The person voluntarily leaves.

We're not supposed to issue a citation.

Not quite sure what good it would do to issue a homeless person a citation that they don't have the money to pay, but the actions are being taken.

And I have been a very strong proponent since the day I arrived here, that there has to be a combination of police and civilian outreach.

I think we have one of the best mental health co-responder teams in the country.

And I just sent all of you the statistics to show that the new teams that we invested police on are actually producing more than those without police.

As my captain said, when it's five degrees below zero, we're out there trying to house people and we're out there alone.

And I've objected to that as well.

Enforcement is not the answer to this problem.

And we've seen around this country time and time again, too often tragedies that have occurred because of confrontations between police and unhoused citizens.

And we have done our best in the police department to make sure that our officers are trained to prevent those types of incidents.

But the best way that you prevent those types of incidents is to make sure that there are a body of individuals out there that we can call upon, just as we call upon the mental health outreach teams every single day to be the forefront of contact between themselves and homeless individuals, and we're there to support.

And that's the only model that I believe is going to work.

So I'm kind of disappointed in some of the things that I've heard today.

Um I'm kind of confused.

I look forward to talking to all of you more to find more of your questions, but hot cannot be the default answer to homelessness, nor can the police.

Chief, thank you very much for that.

And that is exactly where we need the actual resource, which is the outreach worker.

So I would like to know from housing.

Should we be calling housing instead when it comes to when we interact with someone in our community who is facing homelessness?

Is there a specific number?

Because right now it seems like we need to call 911, and I don't believe that that should be the number.

So who is the outreach team that we should be reaching out to?

Has that even been created?

If there is a group of one or two individuals, who is that person?

Because I don't believe that our community actually knows that.

And so I'd like to know from the city manager is there an outreach team?

Is there maybe whether it's a housing division outreach team or a united way outreach team?

Whom should we be actually calling?

That's what community wants to know.

We we don't want to confuse the public with another number or another set, another team.

What we want, what what the chief is outlining is there's not a problem with calling a hotline, whether it's 911, uh we don't have a direct call to the to the uh hot, but if it's 911 or C click fix, we have a system in place then where they will uh make sure that the necessary resources are available.

I think what the chief is saying is he needs people to come alongside his team that's that are doing the first initial review to try to provide the services through caseworkers and um uh other outreach folks.

I mean, that that's if we introduce new numbers, we're gonna confuse the public even more.

And I don't believe I can staff a team for 20 on a 24-7 basis so that if somebody called at two in the morning that I could get guarantee you I'd have an outreach team out there.

So that to that question or to that end when the chief needs more resources, who like who can we say today is going to be the person going out with them to be able to do this?

Yeah, I need Sally's help here because of the multiple parties that are involved in this.

There is no specific outreach team.

The folks that we have doing outreach, like I said, those are caseworkers who are providing case management services, and we ask, can you go out twice a month and do this in addition to your overloaded caseload?

We do not have a team about so when I asked the question earlier to Captain Moses about what resources, is there a plan that if you give us a plan tomorrow, we can allocate $500,000 towards this plan.

Is there a plan and a person that if we say yes today that we can move forward tomorrow on it?

If there was funding available, we could we just the problem is again we just don't have funding to fund people to just to be doing outreach.

99% of the funding that comes through our department is federal, and it is very specific on the activities that they can do.

Um and we would need to get around not around that through that.

So that we're the you know, if we're the taxing jurisdiction, and we can allocate resources, we can allocate additional resources, and so that is what is the missing piece.

What is the amount that is needed?

Depends on what kind of like like the manager said, are you looking for 24-7 coverage?

We would have to sit down and figure out that type of schedule.

That would be a great opportunity to match those, because I don't want to lose the the social work intern piece because funding is going away, because we are building up future caseworkers.

We have a lack of case workers across this community, but that would be a fabulous opportunity to leverage if you had designated outreach teams who then could have the also the assistance of and the of um social work interns students would be fabulous.

We'd have to sit down and put the numbers against it to see um you know what it would cost to be here.

So one of the things I do agree with Councilman Johnson on today is that we can't rely on the federal government and the state government.

We have to address this ourselves, and we have to address it uh aggressively, and so I'd be interested in what resources is needed needed to make sure that we're partner with law enforcement on every call, that we can make sure we're going out there.

Sally, go back to the also second light.

And when second light is fully operational, what is their role?

The agencies that are part of second light, what is their role?

You know, uh honestly, that's not being shared with us by the second light board.

Yeah, I see the concept when we put it up together.

The concept was that you were to have social, you'd have those wraparound services that'd be able to support police, the police would have a single place to go to take people or to come alongside them.

That's the concept.

Also, I don't I'll remind you right now, you're the only ones that have put significant resources into this.

I don't know where what it's gonna take to get the remainder of the provider community to come alongside what you're doing.

That's a challenge for the second light board right now.

They have to find continuous funding past your five million dollars.

But that five million dollars is supposed to be more than just running a shelter, it's supposed to make sure that we have uh support services in that building.

Um I would like to tag on to that too.

I I agree with that.

That was that was the intention of Second Light from day one.

Not just to be to shelter, not just to have everybody work in that shelter, but to have navigators to help people find housing.

And the pilot program that Steve and Sally are doing is fantastic.

Uh, I think it navigators to help people get to housing by the way, not even go to the shelter.

That should be a function of second light, also.

So we need to hold their feet to the fire to make sure they do that also.

I I completely agree, and I've spoken with several of the board members, and and they know that they understand that they also are hoping that people who are not unhoused, but maybe the working poor who are that one paycheck away from being on housed will also use second light so that they're not in the situation where they need shelter.

Perhaps they can you know be preventative of that.

So you know, we we all need to support the second light board as much as they can we can because I think they really understand that's their mission.

I just want to add really quick when I'm out in the community talking about mental health in our community.

I always talk about the four lights to the stool, and it's biomed, expanding the crisis, the multi-agency center, and the state hospital.

You know, we have gotten into you know the situation that we're in this mental health crisis over like several decades.

And while we are all extremely impatient and totally be judged on what's going on on Broadway, we we never celebrated successes that we have, and so I appreciate the data that everyone has shared.

We are making incredible strides in our community, and unfortunately it's not fast enough, but we are really laying the groundwork for projects that have been talked about for decades and for areas that have been cut for decades, and we are literally trying to pick up the pieces for our community, and it is going to take some more work, and we are not done, but we are doing incredible work, and we are helping people and the numbers are showing, but the encampments that we're still seeing are really difficult, but we can't just continue to bulldoze them.

And you know, I don't understand what the purpose of a citation would be either.

It's just kind of exacerbating the same issue.

So I appreciate that nobody has given a citation.

I think the hot team hasn't either in as many years as they've been working.

So I'd also just like to celebrate and say thank you to the good work and the foundation that is being laid, and unfortunately, it's still gonna take a little bit longer for us to feel all of the benefits of all of these different programs, but we should be really proud of ourselves because we are doing work that has been put off for decades.

I think one of the questions that um both council members right here are sharing is resources, dollar resources.

Um, and just recently, a few weeks ago, we actually uh increased the mill levy for the downtown SMID.

So downtown Wichita is going to implement a clean and safe program.

So maybe this would be the opportunity for this outreach group.

Um, because I really don't believe that police should be the first to interact with individuals who are facing homelessness.

And so, is there an opportunity there for maybe this new clean and safe team to be the first group that sees and interacts with these individuals as we've seen them around our community?

If they're asking for a job, I'd love to give them a number or a person that they can connect with.

If they're looking for a specific item, we want to connect them to those resources.

And again, the whole point is that this council has invested $13 million into second light, and that's just one portion of this big challenge, a community-wide challenge.

So now we also have downtown Wichita with the clean and safe.

That's an additional dollars that we've been allocating.

So can we maybe now come together and really stop these silos?

Because what I'm seeing is just too many silos, and if we don't know what the left hand is doing and the right hand is also doing the same thing, we just need to come together.

And I think that this discussion proves it right here.

Um, if there is no such thing as a specific outreach team, and it's just a couple of people, maybe twice a month that are going out to outreach, that's a problem because we are seeing individuals who are right now in the very streets of Wichita needing that help, and they don't even know that Second Light exists.

And that's a problem.

So maybe it should be the outreach team.

So I would like to see that as more of the priority to help connect individuals to those resources, and it should again not be law enforcement as the first barrier.

Two issues there, Mayor.

First of all, yes, I think we can do some work with uh downtown development uh regarding the role of the safe and clean team.

Uh I I we're just having a conversation with them uh with I think with Jeff Floor late last week about that, and so um I want to make sure that there is proper training for that team and that they are connected to our police department as well as Second Light and our housing department so that they have they are aware of our resources and our issues.

Um then the second piece of that is I think we uh need to further engage with Second Light regarding the services that they're gonna provide and our expectations of Second Light as primary funder, and uh the role we'd like to see the providers play as originally uh intended, and we I have no problem at all having that conversation with second light representatives.

I think a great follow-up would be the next workshop, which would be October to come back with Second Light and have that conversation.

I think it needs to be in public.

Um I believe that we need to set that expectation.

Um, if it is an expectation from this body, it needs to be in public.

Mayor, I don't disagree.

In fact, I have it scheduled for the November workshop because um there had been the vice mayor had asked to have uh a status report in November, we'll know much more about where they are, not just in terms of construction, but what our full operations are gonna look like, and I think we have a pretty meaningful conversation because by then you'll know what providers have committed and what providers will be in and what services they're gonna provide.

Does this body is this body okay with delaying, I guess, two months to get this report rather than in October as we're getting near to that winter month?

I'm good with delaying it, and again, uh honestly, I think if we're serious, it's not just a conversation of a second light.

We need to talk to the COC.

I mean, there's so many partners at play, and if we truly want to bring people together around one common cause, that's what we should be doing.

We can demand all we want to a second light, but you still have your other organizations to the COC and other nonprofit providers that may not be at that table, so it should be a more of a collective conversation together and trying to figure out goals and objectives, strengths and weaknesses, and see how we can meet those.

But I'm fine waiting two months because I think more comprehensive work should be done.

I'm okay with uh November again.

If we add the additional COC, so that's the continuum of care for those that don't know, um Second Light as well as the housing department that's all we had.

I Reggie was going to report that we're on target to probably have about 400 encampment cleanups by the end of the year.

I just have one quick question for I'm not sure who it is for, but um if second light is at capacity, I think their capacity is 120 right now.

Where can folks go?

If you're a woman, you can't go to Union Rescue Mission.

I don't know about Salvation, like where are you allowed to be?

Yeah, Captain Moses referenced that right now.

The um director of Second Light is pulling together all those resources and then trying to put together an app that will show as close to real time as we can where beds are available on a daily basis.

That's been requested by the chief and his staff.

So I don't know all of those, they are identifying those that are available.

I think we all know about AG Rescue, but there are other players as well.

Well, I was just curious.

So, mayor, like when you saw the people under the bridge, did you talk to them or did you call the police?

I just I know how other some other people handle it or the email me.

I'm just curious how I guess how everybody's handling it.

Yeah, so I actually was going to call 911 as that is the number one thing that we're asked to do, but knowing that is not necessarily blocking a sidewalk.

I wanted to get understanding of this ordinance.

So you're not blocking the sidewalk as long as a wheelchair can go through.

And in this situation, a wheelchair can go through, so therefore 911 would not be the appropriate call.

Therefore, I'm bringing it up.

I brought it up to the city manager.

What really prompted this was just yesterday as I was driving here to City Hall, I saw a man on Central pull down his pants and start defecating on the street.

And that is not indicative of this community.

That is not a healthy community.

A healthy community is compassionate and would allow this individual to get inside to utilize a bathroom or to have a phone number where I could connect him to the actual resource.

And that's what I'm asking from this conversation.

We if we don't have an outreach team right now that we can call upon and say, I just saw an individual literally in some sort of crisis because he just pulled down his pants, and it should not be 911 where I'm asking an officer to attend to this individual.

I want someone who's compassionate that can go and interact with this individual and say, this is not what you're supposed to do.

What do you need?

Do you know that there's a shelter literally a few blocks away?

That should not be law enforcement that I should be calling.

It should be a number I should be calling, and any community member should feel comfortable calling.

So is it the 988 number?

I don't know.

And that's why I'm asking for this conversation because that is what prompted the actual conversation had being had at this moment.

It is that individual yesterday on Central that then I sent an email to City Manager Leighton.

And the last thing I'll say about this is despite our conversation today.

The one thing I know we all universally agree on, we have a lot of disagreements from this bench, is that we want to address homelessness.

That we want to address this in a compassionate way.

And I think every single person on this bench is committed to that.

I know you are committed to that.

I know the managers committed to that.

I know all of our staffs committed to that, our communities committed to that.

And often people get frustrated when they don't see tangible change.

Um, and I know things are slow, but we put investments in there, and I think the community wants to see change as well, and they want to see change, not just for you know their personal gain when they're trying to do a downtown, but I think we have a compassionate community that wants to make sure people get help.

And so, despite maybe our conversation up here, I know we all universally agree on this.

We're pushing the right direction.

We put our money where our mouth isn't invested in this, and I think councilman Johnson's point, we have to be met with the state partners, county partners, federal partners as well in this.

And if they're not going to help us, then we have to figure out a way to have an outreach team that we can address it and fix it ourselves, and we can't rely on other institutions to come in and save us from it.

Thank you, Sally.

Thank you, Chief.

Thank you, Captain Moses, Steve.

Um appreciate the information.

I think we're sitting, actually, Madam Clerk, can you please call Josh?

Sorry.

Oh, sorry.

Uh we still have four days.

Okay, call point.

But Josh wishes it was on that.

Okay.

Okay.

Board of bids and contracts dated September 22nd, 2025.

Thank you.

For the following items for engineering, we have the construction of concrete path at Sycamore Park for PPJ Construction Incorporated for an aggregate bid total of 124,170.

So we have the South Oliver waterline extension from MacArthur to 47th Street South for PSC contractors LLC for 1,285,270.

For purchasing, we have the 31,000 gross vehicle weight restriction cabin chassis flatbed winstruck for Omaha Truck Center doing business as truck center companies for 316,648 dollars.

We have trash cards and collection services for housing and community services, waste connections of Kansas Incorporated for 17 a cart.

And the service and maintenance water extraction remediation wells for hydro resources mid-continent incorporated for base bid of 14,784, uh requesting your authorization to accept the base bid and the optional tasks listed that will be found in the um field work as items are found.

We have valve boxes, lids, and rings, water work supply change order, core and main LP for an amended amount of $88,000, 225,000 per year.

We have water work supply, groups two, three, four, five, and six change order for corn main LP.

For an amended amount of 737,876 and 40 cents.

We have the employee condition management services change order for Dario Health Corporation doing business is Dario Health for an estimated $340,000 annually.

We have the Citizen Survey Services Software Rescription Change Order for Policy Confluence Incorporated doing business COLCO requesting authorization to amend at a $4,500 expense annually.

And we have the process server contract change order requesting authorization to extend the contract for one year with red spade investigations incorporated.

And we have a legal dumping cleanup contract change order for HD Mills and Sons Incorporated requesting your authorization to extend the contract 60 days while staff work to bring that back to you for presentation for a new contract.

We have the pre-employment physical examinations and substance abuse screens contract change order for work safe physical therapy incorporated requesting authorization to accept additional rates not previously contracted and amend the contract.

This is how to become a vendor with the city.

This is our purchasing calendar of small business resource partners we're interacting with or we're hosting.

And this is our open public opportunities out on the street today.

And I'd be happy to try to answer your questions and recommend your approval.

Thank you, Josh.

Questions for staff.

I see none.

I move to approve the Board of Bids and Contracts for September 22nd, 2025.

Second.

Motion and a second, any further discussion.

I see none.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

All those opposed, same sign.

Motion passes 7-0.

Madam Clerk, can you now call council member appointments in common?

Council member appointments and comment.

Council members, any appointments.

I have an appointment.

Uh appoint John Oswald to uh transit advisory board.

Any other appointments?

I see none.

I move to approve the appointment.

Second.

Motion and a second, any further discussion.

I see none.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

All those opposing sign.

Motion passes 7-0.

We'll now move to council member comments.

Any comments, Councilmember?

Councilmember Johnson.

Thanks, Mayor.

Um not to be the dead horse, but you know, I've often talked about what we should be investing in as a city government, local government.

And earlier this year, I made the comment that I'll repeat today.

So that we made some cuts to our budget that resulted in losing 2.3 million dollars.

And this conversation to me is again looking at what the investments in quality of life mean.

The pilot that Sally and Steve are operating out of housing.

It's amazing.

And being a federal funding may dry up, I can think of 2.3 million reasons why we probably could support those types of efforts to address the challenges that we're talking about today.

So as we continue to look at the challenges we are going to face, that decision's made, the money's gone, but I just feel that over the next several months and years, this body is going to continue to see opportunities that we could make some strategic investment to improve the situation here, whether it's our in-house community or programs like that to really continue to make Wichita better.

And today, to me, as I listened to the conversation as we heard about the programs and opportunities, I just continue to think about the dollars that we no longer have.

So we don't know what will come out of the conversation with the COC.

Um, second light and others.

There was opportunity there that now is going to be uh hopefully our community coming together to fund those things, but we have some real opportunities, and today just highlights again the impacts of those decisions.

Mr.

Manager, just uh councilman Johnson's point as well.

I know when we had the conversation about reducing the mill levy for the first time in 39 years, there's it had passed this council, but we also had a conversation about uh the possibility of looking at a sales tax referendum to go out to the public uh next year.

Is there an update or maybe when we could expect a referendum or a vote to come to council?

Councilman Russell need to have some conversations with all of you regarding your desire to move forward with that and what the timetable would be.

What I understood the preliminary discussion uh to be was that you were looking at a spring referendum.

I believe it's March by code.

Is that right?

By the state code, Jennifer.

That sounds correct.

I think it's I believe March is your opportunity, either that or um in the primary in August or November.

So those are the three options that the council wants to pursue.

And when when would we have to vote on that to allow it on a March ballot?

So 90 days.

I don't remember.

I think 90 days.

I can circle back to get an answer about that later.

Yeah, I believe you will I I believe the council needs to make that decision.

Well, from a practical standpoint, you need to make that decision this year.

Okay.

And I I just am super curious about this whole process because I was in three different meetings last week that were talking about potential sales tax referendums.

And I I'm just not sure how, as a community, not just the city of Wichita.

I know the county's interested.

I know there's a couple other um organizations, you know, interest groups that are interested in it.

There's some for-profits that are talking about things that could be done.

Uh I'm not sure of the process of how we coordinate everyone so that it's um strategic.

Um, and it's something that the city can't lead.

We can't be the ones who are advocating for it.

It has to be community-driven.

So uh I'm just curious if maybe there can be some sort of thought put into how do we do this in a coordinated manner?

It can't be one council member wants this and one council member wants that, and the county wants this.

We have to be strategic.

Do you have thoughts or suggestions of how we try and move this forward in a methodical way?

I'm not I'm not sure how to do that.

Okay, I put you on the sky.

Let's say can we think about how to do it in a methodical way?

It's it it'll it will take leadership from each organization that's considering uh some type of voter action next year to get on the same page regarding what that looks like.

Um I too have heard about two other jurisdictions that are considering some kind of um referendum next year.

So um something to put some thought into for sure.

Yep.

Any further comments from council members?

I see none.

I will move to adjourn this meeting.

Second.

Motion and a second.

Any further discussion?

I see none.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

All those opposed, same sign.

Motion passes 7-0.

We're ending at 1038 to start the workshop.

Uh city manager lady.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um let's start with fireworks.

Um prepared to brief you on the 2025 uh fireworks program.