Good evening, which I'm good evening to all of you.

Thank you for joining us for this week's City Council meeting.

With us this evening is Reverend Ben Staley of Chapel Hill United Methodist Church to provide our invocation.

Following that invocation, we will have the Pledge of Allegiance, and we ask that you please stand for both.

Let's all pray together.

Oh Lord, we give you thanks for all that is ours, especially and including a great place to live.

We thank you for all those who help make our community a place where children get good care.

And with all these summer events, we pray for our children and for uh families and for all who watch over them.

And we're thankful that we live in a place that's safe and can get help.

We pray for our police and first responders.

We're a place where our economy is doing well, and we also ask that you would guide our business leaders to have integrity as well as be successful.

We're a place where people find good jobs, but we also pray for those who are out of work and who need financial help.

We're thankful for the sensitivity of this mayor and city council for the social concerns that we all have.

We have leaders like our mayor and city council members and staff, and we're thankful for them and their integrity.

Guide and protect them, give them the courage to do what is best according to the values that you care about with servant hearts, and Lord help us all to treat one another with love and grace.

And we pray it all in Jesus' name.

Amen.

And to your club life for a witch of stands, one nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you, Reverend Staley.

Madam Clerk, please call the first item.

Approve the minutes of the regular meeting, May 19th, 2026, and May 26th, 2026.

Council members, any items to be edited.

I see none.

I move to approve the minutes for May 19th, 2026 and May 26, 2026.

Second.

Motion second discussion.

See none.

Madam Clerk, please open the roll.

Motion passes seven zero.

Madam Clerk, please call the next item.

Awards and proclamations.

This week's proclamations are Pride Month and Gun Violence Awareness Month.

May I please ask Vice Mayor Dalton Glasscock and any council members who would like to come forward at this time.

Whereas Wichita recognizes the importance of equality and freedom, dedicated to fostering acceptance of all its residents and preventing discrimination and bullying based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Whereas the nation was founded upon and is guided by a set of principles that includes that every person has been created equal, that each has rights to their life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness, and that each shall accord be accorded the full recognition and protection of the law.

Whereas the City of Wichita's LGBTQ community are a vital part of all fields and professions and contribute to a stronger community.

Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Wichita City Council does hereby proclaim June 2026 as Pride Month.

May please ask Cure Violence ICT and its supporters to come forward at this time.

Good evening.

Good evening.

Good evening.

You can come forward.

The proclamation reads, the city of Wichita, Kansas, founded in eighteen seventy, whereas gun violence remains a significant public health and safety concern affecting communities across the nation, including the city of Wichita, and its impact extends beyond those directly involved, affecting families, neighborhoods, schools, businesses, and the overall well-being of our community.

Whereas gun violence awareness month, observed each June, provides an opportunity to honor the lives lost to gun violence, support survivors and their families, and raise awareness about the importance of prevention and community safety.

Whereas Cure Violence ICT project We Deserve initiative implemented by Destination Innovation works to reduce violence in Wichita through a public health approach that focuses on violence interruption, community outreach, conflict mediation, rather, and connecting individuals to supportive resources and opportunities.

Whereas building safer communities require collaboration among residents, community organizations, local leaders, and public institutions working together to promote healing, opportunity, and a shared commitment to preventing violence.

Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Wichita City Council does hereby proclaim June twenty twenty-six as gun violence awareness month.

Um thank you.

Even when the times is hard and it feels like the mountain is impossible to climb.

It's life that we we understand all too well, and it's life that we know that if the cycle isn't broken, where it leads to.

And so just speaking on today and spending some time with some young men and and hearing from them, understanding what it what their needs are, and some of the basic challenges that they're facing.

A lot of us don't even know what that feels like when they tell us I can't even get my social security cards so I can get an ID.

Because I want to do better, but because I can't even get that far.

So understanding that they need help and providing those resources are the way we break that that cycle, and we just thank all the organizations that are in this fight together.

We all need each other, and and good luck to us all going forward and God bless.

Business.

He's not here for the spotlight.

He's here for the outcome.

He doesn't love talking about Scott Schwindemann.

He listens to you, then gives you the kind of advice that only comes from having been there.

So if you're looking for a speech, you're going to get a story.

West Wichita, born and raised.

His father passed when he was 10.

And a mentor, R.

L.

McFall helped raise him, set the compass.

And Scott's been following it ever since.

It explains a lot, actually, because Scott's default setting is simple.

Show up.

He understands horsepower.

The kind that keeps industry moving.

And the kind that weighs a ton and somehow moves like a ballet dancer.

Forty years at lubrication engineers, working his way up through quality, RD, operations, and finishing 16 years as president and CEO, principal owner.

Retiring in 2020.

He built a career in niches.

High-end, specialised, precise.

Then he went home and built another niche.

Clydesdales.

Rare, recessive genetics, pedigrees studied like playbooks.

And for the record, Scott doesn't do any of it alone.

Janet's in the mix, too.

The kind of partner who doesn't just write shotgun.

She takes the wheel.

Wichita is where he applies the same rule.

Find what matters.

Make it better.

Deals still happen on relationships here.

Handshakes still count.

Scott likes that because he's built that way.

Not only does Scott open doors, but he also provides a space and encourages a space that makes way for people to give their voice, to give their opinions, give their expertise to demonstrate true leadership.

He is sincere.

And he truly believes in creating a better Wichita and beyond.

Most people walk into a room thinking about what they're gonna say.

When Scott walks into a room, he thinks about what he's gonna hear.

He thinks about what the room needs before he thinks about what he brings to it.

And that's the rare distinction between a good leader and a great leader like Scott.

Is that Scott?

He travels because the mission requires it.

But travel itself, nah.

He's the kind of person who wants to get there, get it done, and get home.

And when he does come home, he brings business, ideas, and a better version of what's possible with him.

The cool thing about Scott is he's the same person when nobody's watching is when everybody's watching.

Scott's humble.

Because for Scott, business success and community investment aren't two separate things.

They're connected responsibilities.

The best day for me is to be sitting on the front porch here at the farm, reading an article about somebody maybe I helped just a little bit to achieve their life dream or their goal of their business.

And to me, that is really what this community can do.

Greater Wichita Region Chamber of Commerce.

Again, those recipients were Scott Schwindemann for the Uncommon Citizen, Landon Hugheselig, exceptional young leader, Wichita Festivals for Spirit of Wichita Award, and over the year awards went to Cosine Memorial Group, Hunter Health, and Keeper of the Plains Award went to Empower.

And over the year awards went to Cosine Memorial Group, Hunter Health, and Keeper of the Plains Award went to Empower.

So again, congratulations to all the recipients, and we're grateful that they all call Wichita home for their businesses as well as their living.

We appreciate them, and thank you, City Manager, for highlight highlighting these during the awards portion.

Madam Clerk, please call the next item.

Public agenda.

We now come to public agenda.

The public agenda allows for up to five speakers to have five minutes each to address the council.

Please bear in mind that this is not a period of dialogue with council or question and answer period.

This is your opportunity to address the city council with your concerns.

I ask that you address your remarks to the city council as a body and not to any individual council member.

No action will be taken relative to items on public agenda other than referral to the city manager for information as necessary.

Speakers will please speak into the microphone.

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.

The first speaker is Barbara Myers, Highland Cemetery.

Hello.

So I am Barb Myers.

I live at 1322 Stagman Drive.

On behalf of the friends of the Wichita Pioneers, families of those who are buried at Highland Cemetery, and the volunteers who have donated tirelessly to the care of that cemetery.

Let's talk about its future.

Let's start with Memorial Day.

That day, volunteers held a flag ceremony.

I think I think I lost you there.

We guided historic tours of the mausoleum and the cemetery.

We helped over 50 families find their loved ones throughout the day.

We received at least six new requests for assistance.

We have also just completed the first of many planned research projects funded by grants through WSU.

With this grant, we have located the markers for 38 babies in Section 5.

We have scanned a large portion of Pottersfield.

And we are currently working on finding exactly where the family of Richard Robinson is.

Due to research by one of our volunteers, Darren Couch, we will be able to dedicate 25 military markers to previously unmarked graves at Highland as part of the state's America's America 250 events this fall.

And in six months, we have given tours to several groups.

Um as follows.

If anyone would like to come, um, the Wichita Historic Preserve Preservation Board meeting is this coming Monday, the 8th at 2 o'clock.

And the Kansas Historic Sites Board of Review is Saturday the 27th at 9:30, and that's a Zoom meeting, so anyone can uh be part of that.

So we have accomplished a lot over the last year.

We intend to do more.

We have no intention of stopping anytime soon.

We have a lot coming up.

My question to the city council is has the cemetery's budget been raised to accommodate for the mausoleum's roof repairs, rising costs of lawn care, and for the projects, including the camera that we've been promised.

And also, I would like to find more out in the near future about whether the city council is going to approve a cemetery board.

That's come up several times.

It's gone back and forth between the Historic Preservation Board and the City Council.

Um, it has been endorsed by the preservation board, and it's been discussed many times over the last year.

Um but again, I just want to say that we are all volunteers and we're very happy to do so.

Both uh both my team and uh the students and staff and and uh everyone from WSU is committed to the work that we're doing out there and the research that we are continuing to do.

And uh we would just like to see the city to excuse me.

We would like the city to continue to find the needs and meet the needs of our city's oldest cemetery because it is our history.

So thank you.

Thank you, Barb.

Councilmember Shepard.

Thank you so much, Mayor Barb.

Thanks for being here, and thanks for holding many of us to purpose.

Had the pleasure to get out to Island Cemetery in October of 2025 and learn a lot of the history, including A.

Press Woodard and his family being buried there and the victims of the 17th Empire crash.

Um you mentioned a name that I'm familiar with, but I'm wondering if you could maybe share a little bit of an overview of who Richard Robinson is for the folks who may not know, and I know that I can ask you this because you're a historian.

Yes.

He's the sole African American signer of the city charter.

His uh son was one of the first um African American captains on the Wichita Fire Department, and we know that his family for four generations has been buried in that area.

We know almost exactly where they are, but there's no markers for any of the family.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Barb.

Councilmember Ballard.

Thank you, Mayor.

Barb, thank you so much for being here.

Um, I really, really appreciate your work.

Um of our conversations have really brought to light uh all of the history at Highland.

So I think it's really the work that you're doing is really, really important.

And I would just ask the city manager if we could follow up on the questions that Barb asked about the cemetery um board and the camera and mausoleum repairs.

Thank you.

Thanks, Barb.

Vice Mayor Glasscock.

Thank you, Mayor Barbara.

I usually hold my comments, but I did promise you last time I saw you that I was by next time I saw you, I was gonna finish your book.

So I finished it over this week, over the weekend, and I learned a lot about the city of Wichita and our history in this, and I just want to thank you for collecting all these stories.

Um it was a quick read, too.

It was much quicker than I expected, but I appreciate the work that you do.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Barb.

Madam Clerk, please call the next individual.

Bridget E.B.

Corruption and City officials.

I'm here tonight because accountability means nothing if people responsible for providing it refuse to act.

I filed complaints, professional standards investigated itself, says it's the citizens review board says it's years behind, and they wrote down all of the laws that the police broke.

Um I was left with the message that no one would ever be held accountable.

The chief of police, I ran into him one day and he bragged to me after the city manager agreed to do an investigation.

The chief of police bragged to me that that will never happen, and nobody has the authority to actually hold him accountable.

That itself is sick.

That itself is sick.

Um who's holding leadership accountable?

Accountability delayed, is accountability denied.

Public trust is earned through transparency, not promises.

I have an email after the chief of police bragged to me one week after the chief Joe Sullivan, who came with a long list of concerns, bragged to me that we weren't gonna hold him accountable.

I got an email from the city manager's assistant.

Dear Miss EB, we have received your email.

As you are aware, these matters have previously been reviewed through internal affairs, meaning professional standards, and the citizens review board, who said professional standards lied.

And who's fighting like hell to help Wichita?

They are they told me that they are three years backed up on complaints, and that's a problem.

At this time, there is no active review related to these past allegations.

If you wish to submit any new information through this formal complaint process, you may do so by using established procedures.

I wouldn't be going to the city manager if the chief of police and professional standards in the police weren't so corrupt.

There's a there's a line of authority, and the police lied, okay, made a professional standards report, police standards report lied.

Even the professional standards, Tom Falcon, he told me that he didn't want to have to lie, that it was Carlos, another police officer that talked him into it.

Okay, so then uh after the professional standards, the next chain of command is the chief of police.

I when I reached out to the chief of police a year and a half ago, he told me that if I ever call his office again, he will arrest me for harassment.

Okay.

Then I started contacting the city council and the city manager.

The city manager did agree to do an investigation, and then they just sent an email saying, No, we're not going to.

You don't if I wouldn't be coming to you guys if the professional standards did their job, or if the chief of police wasn't so corrupt.

Now that brings me to the next thing.

I've mourning a child that I love more than God.

I love my kids more than God.

As I mean, I do.

I'm sorry.

And at first I thought I was fighting for my son's free will because you know.

And then I read this 123-page investigation done on WPD in 2023.

And you know what I learned in this investigation?

And I know because I've literally put myself in front of more cops than anybody, because I want to know who's keeping my kid from me, right?

Why is this happening?

In this report, this is the biggest and most thing.

In this report, out of all the police officers that were investigated or talked to, 81% of WPD says they don't like working for WPD because of the corruption.

81%.

We've got a guy.

I had a police officer, Heath Jones, and he tried like hell.

He's like, Miss Eve, how long has it been since you've been separated from your kid?

I'm like, a year and a half.

He's like, oh no, no, no, no, no.

He's like, I'm gonna make this police report in such a way that it has to get investigated, right?

The police, I body camped.

I bought a body cam too.

The police bragged to me that they turned every single police report into miscellaneous.

My ex, he owns a gun store.

Oh, he's rich and powerful.

They brag under oath, they brag that the police lied on their own.

I paid 225 dollars for a transcript because I got Richard Walker with the Supreme Court come down, and under oath, it's way too long to have printed out.

Under oath, he said this is criminal.

I just can't hold them accountable in this position right here, right now.

We're only here to talk about the BFA.

If the if the Supreme Court judge is telling me that what the judges and police did and my ex did is criminal, why are we letting it happen and why are we not investigating?

Why is the city manager refusing?

We are bleeding because of it.

I want to give you guys just one or two pieces of paper because my son meant everything.

And you talk about all rights and LGBT rights.

What about the it's a fundamental right for a parent to raise and love and teach their child?

And if the police lied, which they did, and they manipulated every police report, you can only lie for so long.

Data will always speak for itself.

Uh Bridget, can you please give that to the city clerk?

Thank you very much.

Well, what are we doing?

You're in district number six, uh, council member Ballard and city manager.

Can you please get back with Miss Eby?

Thank you.

Thank you.

Madam Clerk, please call the next individual.

Rachel Mejia, lack of justice for families.

Hi, my name is Rachel Mejia.

I live at 607 South Paddy.

I'm the grandmother of 14-year-old boy that was killed in a park.

I'm with this lady right here.

I got a police report right here.

That is bizarre.

I can't even believe it.

Now I learned to find out after I've scheduled this right here that the young man that killed my grandson did two years, two years, and walked.

What is wrong with our system?

Our DA flat lied to us.

Lied.

We begged for them to to try him as an adult.

Oh, we can't do that.

He's not had no priors.

But you got one sitting over here right now that ain't got no priors either.

But you're trying him as an adult.

You're trying to give him 33 years.

He didn't even kill nobody.

My grandson was brutally murdered, brutally.

He was executed by six teenagers.

I got a conviction on two.

I got parents that picked him up from the park.

And never the police never done nothing.

Like this woman said.

Lies, lies, lies.

That's all I got here.

I have gone to everybody I can go to.

I have called everybody I can call.

I have asked to talk to the chief of police.

I get nowhere.

So I have jumped over everybody's head.

I have gone to the FBI.

I have 52 photos of a young man that committed the murder out on bond as a juvenile.

Not with one gun, with five.

52 photos.

WPD told me, there ain't nothing we can do.

Nothing we can do.

We have a murderer out here on the streets with guns.

I get death threats daily.

I just got one three days ago.

I reported it all.

I ain't getting nowhere.

So my next step was I called Washington, DC.

I called the DOJ.

I have made several complaints.

I've called Topeka.

I'm not stopping.

The moral is the whole story is that if we would have cameras in our parks, we would have actually known what happened to my grandson.

I found out what happened to him in a courtroom because the detectives didn't even tell me.

Then they say, oh, well, what about um what about uh where they pay us for anything?

We don't even you won't even tell me what my grandson had on his body.

So how can we do any kind of anything like that?

Cell phone, never located.

Why?

You don't have the answers to a murder if you don't have all your evidence.

So where do we go?

What do we do?

The Wichita Police Department is not gonna help us.

The district attorney's office ain't doing nothing but lying to us.

So where do we go?

We have nowhere to go.

So I sit in my house wondering which one of these teenagers is gonna come shoot it up tonight because there's no consequences for these teenagers.

None.

They're doing two years in their walking.

He was supposed to be locked up till he was 22 and a half, and then if he got a DR, then he would do 25 to life.

He's walking the streets today.

This happened in 2023.

How would you all feel if it was your grandchild?

Because I know how I feel, and I'm very, very, very hangry with this whole community.

This city ain't safe to live in.

And I don't know where anybody thinks it is.

I hear crime went down 35%.

No, it didn't.

It went up 150.

So I don't get where everybody thinks crime's going down.

They took the police scanner from us.

Why?

Oh, that way we can't hear the 15 drive-by's and the five murders every night.

Because that's exactly what's going on in this town.

And everybody's brushing it under the rug.

It's not gonna get brushed under the rug because I'm not gonna go home and sit down and shut up.

Tomorrow morning when I get up, I'm on that phone, 8 a.m.

to whoever will talk to me.

That's guaranteed.

And if I have to pull an attorney from out of state to do it, like we did on the Andrew Finch case, that's exactly what I'm gonna do.

Somebody is gonna be held accountable for what happened to my grandson.

If we can't hold the people who did it, then we need to hold the ones that's gonna that's putting them away because we're not getting accountability, or I sure didn't anyway.

So, like I said, if we would have parks, if we would have cameras in these parks, we would know what's going on.

Since my grandson's been killed, there's been 53 people killed in a park.

Has anybody ever thought about putting cameras in them?

No.

What's under their radar?

Well, it sure wasn't the three people that killed that shot them people over there in the Riverside Park.

All of them, they were all wanted by Department of Corrections, all of them known gang members.

But they wasn't under our radar, were they?

No.

Now we got people dead.

You guys need to really do something.

Hold somebody accountability.

Thank you.

Thank you, Rachel.

You live in district number one, so I'm gonna ask council member Joseph as well as uh city manager to get back with you.

Okay, thank you.

Mayor, if I may Rachel, if I may, I'll be connecting you with mom's demand action as well as cure violence, so you can be informed about the work that they're doing to move some things forward on the legislative side of things, but happy to meet with you outside of that too.

Thank you.

Madam Clerk, please call the next individual.

Zachary Knopp, flock cameras.

Zachary.

Madam Clerk, please call the next individual.

Dylan Osman, Wichita.

Dylan.

I see none.

We have two spots for anyone who would like to address the council.

Please state your name and your address.

Good evening.

My name is Million Martinez.

I live at 1678 North Prairie Run Circle.

Uh so I am a resident of District 5, and I am here to support the repeal of backing in ordinance.

On 414, 2026, I was president at the Kansas Leadership Center Center pertaining to my duties within the Kansas Department of Corrections.

I parked my vehicle at designated parking stall near the KLC building.

I paid for eight hours of parking to attend my training, and as the day ended, I came back to find a citation on my windshield.

I opened the envelope and saw that I was given a citation for $50.

Section 1152020 of the city's municipal code provides that it is illegal to back into any municipal parking stall on street service law or garage.

I along with hundreds of Wichita citizens was unaware this law was in effect.

But the fact that fighting the ticket places an additional $81 in court fees for claiming your innocence.

Citing concerns over spending city staff time on parking issues when there are more pressing issues for the council to address.

Voting to not repeal doesn't end this.

Uh the next conversation would be how we plan to post signs and notify residents.

If we repeal the ordinance, we can move on and focus on these more pressing issues.

So let's do the right thing and repeal the ordinance.

And so I also want to give much appreciation to all the city staff of which all for being so responsive in our emails.

Um Maggie, I no means to kind of throw you under the bus there, but uh just saying facts from the comment section.

Um but thank you.

That's all I have.

Thank you.

Is it Luis?

Uh Emilio Martinez.

Emilio Martinez.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Madam, uh, we have one more spot for anyone who would like to address the council.

Hello, I'm Charles Gymnez.

I'm with the um uh A Bay of Kansas.

We're a motorcycle organization that um watches out for motorcyclist rights.

Uh I would like to speak on this uh parking thing, how it affects us.

Uh one of the things is um pulling out in the traffic off of some of the lots.

Motorcyclists a lot of times back into parking uh because uh one you're pulling out, you can see the traffic better.

Uh two, if uh some of them are sloping, and most motorcycles don't have reverse.

So trying to back out, pushing the bike backwards, and even if somebody's small, you know, they get they small people still ride, and they had trouble getting in and out.

You know, especially if there's slope.

And that's just two of the problems.

Uh supposed.

Oh I'm uh like to repeal this law to help uh the riders.

Uh I'm also the uh I'm district rep.

I cover uh 12 uh counties in Kansas, and I'm I'm from District 8 here.

Um we have representatives in uh Topeka, or not representatives, but um lobbyists and staff that look out for our rights, and so we work with state uh legislation and we also work with MRF, which is country, they're in Washington, and that's all for motorcycle rights.

So um reverse and get well, I said out of park getting out of parking spots is as how to help.

And thank you for listening to me.

Thank you.

Can you tell me your first name one more time?

Charles Gymnez.

Everybody calls me Mick.

Thank you, Charles.

I do have a card that uh we have a website that's A bit of Can A Bait K S Kansas.

K S.

Yeah, Aba Kansas.org.

And I would like you.

You could give that to the city clerk.

The website tell you all about it.

Thank you very much.

Well, yeah, one more piece of thank you.

Thanks to the five individuals who spoke during public agenda.

Uh council members, any comments?

I see none.

I just want to say that we will be talking about the parking ordinance in new business.

So I appreciate you talking now, but you have the opportunity to talk again if you'd like during the actual new business item.

Thank you.

Uh a lot of people just call me Mick, but my name is Charles.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you.

Madam Clerk, can you please call the next item?

Consent agenda items one through 22.

Council members, any items to be pulled.

Councilmember Shepard.

Thank you, Mayor.

I would like to pull item 4B.

4B.

Councilmember Hoheisel.

Thank you, Mayor I'd like to pull item six.

Any other items?

I see none.

With that, I move to approve the consent agenda without items 4B and 6.

Second.

Motion second discussion.

See none.

Madam Clerk, please open the roll.

Motion passes 70.

We will go in numerical order and start with consent agenda item 4B, acquisition of temporary construction easements from three tracks for the Bleckley Drive Drainage Improvement Project.

As they're making their way down for rationale for my colleagues.

I've heard overwhelmingly from the individuals in this area that they just want some clarity, and I assured them that I would be willing to pull this item.

And I want to be I want to honor that.

And so I'm wondering, Paul, if you can explain where we are in the process as it relates to phase one at a very high level overview.

Yes, thank you.

Paul Gunsleman, Public Works and Utilities for the record.

Phase one, we are nearing completion, and what phase one entailed was um re um building the drainage uh box there south of or the open channel south of Waterman uh down to Kellogg.

So that project is wrapping up.

Thank you so much.

And can you confirm the total cost of the overall project projected?

Approximately 39 million dollars.

Thank you.

And then would you be willing to?

I know that we've had several conversations about this from the moment that I was sworn in all the way up today.

You all have been very communicative with me, but I just want to make sure that we are on the same page that after the completion of phase one, we will look at what we did well, where there was some learning moments, and we will bring in the community to hear from them as well and apply their learning moments into phase two where we can.

Yes, we will have a another public information meeting um prior to beginning phase two, and that we will reach out to the adjacent property owners residents, and then we will also circle back with those that were impacted with phase one to see if there was anything that we need to uh address.

Thank you, Paul.

Two last questions for you.

I also want to affirm or hear a commitment from you all that we are going to do our due diligence to uh communicate with the residents when that meeting will be so that they have adequate time to prepare to be present at that meeting.

Yes, that is correct.

And then finally, um, again, as we've been meeting throughout the last couple of months, I've I've stressed the importance of one looking into saving the trees if we can, which I now know that that's not really a feasible option.

However, we are looking at design concepts to uh maybe mitigate some of the concerns that some of the residents has as it relates to the overall project, particularly I think it was the temporary road that we discussed, and that's what I'm hearing from residents in the Bleckley area that they're really concerned about, both the trees, which we talked about, and the temporary road.

I just want to hear a commitment that we are looking into alternative options that might work.

We have the temporary road, we'll provide access to those residents as we construct the permanent drainage project.

Um we have mod made some modifications after talking to some residents as they had um alternative access off of the side streets, so we were able to modify that access road, and yes, we continue to um look at those, however, um most likely those trees are gonna be removed, but we are doing everything possible to look to see if anything can be done to save even two or three of them.

So we're whether it's smaller, whatever.

Yes.

Thank you, Paul.

And I just want to reiterate how much I appreciate.

I know from the moment I've gotten here in January.

Blakely has been at the top of my list, and particularly saving the trees.

I also know that this is work that needs to be done.

Um the flooding is a concern, and I know many people have stressed that.

I remember eight years ago when my predecessor was running, that was a concern that came up in that area.

And now that the work is happening, um, maybe perhaps some of the priorities have shifted, and I always want to be mindful that we are trying to do our due diligence and working with the residents.

So I appreciate you affirming that even if we can save three trees, right?

Um that will meet at least the expectation that we are trying to meet residents where they are.

We are, and like you know, even if the access road, you know, close to the red zones, any of that could impact the trees.

So that's why we're really stressing that most of them will be removed, but we're taking one more close look at it.

Thanks, Paul.

Appreciate it.

Any other questions for staff?

I see none.

We'll open it up for public comment.

I see none.

I'll bring it back to the bench with that, Councilmember Joseph Shepard.

Thank you, Mayor.

Make a motion to approve the acquisition of three temporary construction easements.

Second.

Motion second discussion.

See none.

Madam Clerk, please open the roll.

Motion passes 70.

Consent agenda item number six is proclamation votes.

Councilmember Hoheisel.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um I just want a record to reflect this accurately.

Uh Pride month, I did vote for it on uh February 22nd.

I had waited for a little while to see if another person was gonna present a proclamation.

Um they did not, so I did vote for this one.

I had the email to back it up.

Um, sent to our new office administrator.

So I think there was some uh some something loss of translation there, but I did just want to make sure and reflect that for the record.

So I don't know, Jennifer.

Do we make an amendment here?

Do we come back and correct it later?

The motion council member.

The council member, you can make a motion at this time for that to be reflected as part of the record.

Okay.

Um, I make a motion to Councilmember Hohheisel, one second.

We have to open it up for public comment really quick.

I apologize.

Uh any other questions for staff.

See none.

Would anyone from the community like to speak on this matter?

I see none.

I'll bring it back to the bench.

Councilmember Hoheisel.

I make them think you mayor make the motion that the city council receive and file this report with the um correction that council member Hoheisel did vote yes for Bride Month.

Second.

Motion second discussion.

See none.

Madam Clerk, please open the roll.

Motion passes seven zero.

Madam Clerk, please call the next item.

Board of Bids and Contracts Contracts dated June 1st, 2026.

Good evening.

I told myself that three times before I walked up here.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council, Josh Lauber, Department of Finance.

Uh the Board of Bids and Contracts convened on Monday, June 1st, 2026 for the following items.

We have for engineering the 2026 Sanitary Sewer Reconstruction Phase 2 for Apex Excavating LLC in the amount of 93,271 dollars.

We have the 2026 outsourced pavement preservation program, CIP Mays Road for South Central Sealing LLC in the amount of 225,000 awarded from the original bid of 154,362.20 cents.

We have the 2026 outsourced pavement preservation program preservative seal for Pro Seal Incorporated, awarded to 590,000 from the original bid of 572,142 and 14 cents.

For purchasing, we have the wireless internet bench installations for Ideatech Telecom LLC and the amount of 70,000, 900.

We have the calcium chloride pellets, 93 to 97% for Humana Products Incorporated for 78,400 estimated annually.

We have the police records management system renewal for niche technology USA Limited for 249,438.15 cents.

We have the risk terrain modeling subscription renewal for Wichita Police Department for SimC Incorporated for an aggregate five-year total of 60,000.

We have the small business portal website renewal for quality incorporated for a five-year total of 250,000.

We have the security services for transit center contract change order for Smart Security Incorporated for an amended amount of 22,000.

We have the legal services related to the city's police claims change order for McDonald Tinker PA for the rates listed and amended.

We have the Flock Safety License Plate Reader Products Contract Change Order for Flock Group Incorporated.

Staff are requesting your extension to extend the contract, excuse me, six months while we work on a brand new master service agreement to replace the 2021 contract.

We'll be bringing that back to you.

We have the on-call plumbing repair services change order for Dean E.

Norris Incorporated requesting your authorization to extend the contract four months while we put out a new bid.

We have the budget CIP software change order for Planet Software LLC doing business as planet for an amended contract amount of 14,100.

We have the janitorial services, transportation facilities change order contract for EH Technical Solutions Incorporated, amended for 51,252.

And for airport, we have the airfield traffic line paint rebid for Crown USA Incorporated for an estimated annual usage of $32,640.

We have the airport baggage handling system service agreement for control touch systems LLC for a three-year total of $55,300.

This is how to become a vendor with the city.

This is our purchasing calendar, a small business resource partner events we're hosting or participating in.

And these are open public opportunities out on the street today with items opening on the 5th and the 12th and 19th.

And I'll be happy to try to answer your questions.

I finally got there.

Thank you, Josh.

Questions for staff beginning with Councilmember Shepard.

Thank you, Mayor.

Josh, thank you so much.

Did I see that we accepted a bid for one point?

I believe it was $1.4 or $5, but there was another bid for $500,000.

I'm just curious the rationale behind that.

And I apologize.

Can you tell me the prod project in particular or I thought I saw a blink up on the screen, but I may be wrong.

Next.

Nope.

Sorry.

Boom.

Full equipment?

Yes.

Yes, sir.

Thank you, Councilmember, for the question.

Great question.

The crawler bulldozer with landfill package was two instances of non-responsiveness.

And when we worked with the department to clarify the specifications, you know, why do you need this one?

First one was Murphy Tractor does not have a high drive, which is essential in keeping trash and debris from compacting in and around the track area.

That causes damage to the machine if you don't have it.

Central Power does not did not bid an electric drive.

Electric drive is the engine that the generators mounted behind the piece of equipment to operate the electric drive motors that propel the machine forward in reverse.

The electric drive will stop on a dime compared to the hydrostatic drive, which is essential to the safety of the operator and public while dumping at the landfill.

The electric drive system translates to 10% less fuel consumption and less maintenance and repair costs due to less moving parts on a traditional hydrostatic system.

Excuse me.

I'd be happy to get a department, but that's what we got, and we were good with it as it was responsive.

I appreciate it and understand being efficient with the fuel.

The gas prices are high.

With that, I move to approve the board of bids and contracts dated June 1st, 2026.

Second.

Motion second discussion.

See none, Madam Clerk, please open the roll.

Motion passes 7-0.

Madam Clerk, please call the next item.

Petitions for public improvements.

Good evening, Mayor.

City Council members, Paul Gonselman, Public Works and Utilities for the record.

I have a new and revised petitions for your consideration tonight.

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

Mid-Continent Industrial Park 2, located in District 4.

The project will provide sanitary sewer improvements required for a new commercial development.

Falcon Falls 4th edition located in District 1 on October 10th, 2023.

The city council approved water and paving improvements required for a new residential development.

The developer has submitted revised petitions with revised budgets to reflect current market conditions and to cover the cost of a private bid.

And veranda second edition located in district two on May 16th, 2023.

The city council approved water sanitary sewer and paving improvements required for a new commercial development.

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

And with that, it is recommended that the city council approve the new and revised petitions and budgets, adopt the new and amending resolutions and authorize the necessary signatures.

And I will stand for questions.

Thank you, Paul.

Questions for staff?

See none.

I move to approve the petitions for public improvements.

Second.

Motion.

Second discussion.

See none.

Madam Clerk, please open the roll.

Motion passes 7-0.

Madam Clerk, please call the next item.

Amendments to 1152020, 1152 110, and 1152115 of the code of the city of Wichita pertaining to backing into parking.

Good evening, Mayor and Council members Gary Janssen.

Public works and utilities.

The item before you this evening is a discussion on existing ordinance related to backend parking and the prohibition on the same within public parking facilities.

So I've got quite a bit of information.

I'm going to talk about our parking program first.

Just a quick reminder of our goals with the overall parking program.

Challenges related to back end parking and why we believe it's important for the ordinance to remain in place.

Why effective and efficient license license plate reading is important.

So as we've talked about before, the purpose of our overall parking program is to is to be able to maintain our parking infrastructure through annual preventative maintenance programs for all public parking assets, including garages, surface lots, and on-street parking.

We were working our way in that direction.

I'll talk about some numbers and some data in a little bit.

But since inception of the formalized parking program last October, we are headed in a positive direction for being able to establish a self-support self-supporting program.

This would allow us to decrease reliance on the general fund and property taxes, which we are utilizing now for some of the repair work of our facilities.

We recently had to make some repairs to some pretty significant potholes and issues in some parking lots downtown.

We had to send our street maintenance folks out to do that.

That's not going to be sustainable long term.

So the ordinance itself was referenced just a little bit ago as section 1152.

States that it's unlawful for any person to park in a parking stall with the vehicle backed into the parking space.

It goes on to say that vehicles shall be parked with the front of the vehicle headed toward the front of the parking space.

So there's a nuance that I want to talk about real quick while we're on that.

I pulled forward through it.

And that's I just want to mention that because that's a clear designation.

And the question was asked.

Obviously, we don't have people there all the time watching what's going on.

Doesn't matter how you got there, if the back of your car is at the front of the stall, that meets the prohibition of the ordinance.

So I'll say that again.

The vehicle shall be parked with the front of the vehicle headed toward the front of the parking place.

It's space, it's critical for the efficiency and effectiveness of our program.

I'll talk about it more in a little bit about being able to read parking license plates electronically.

This is not a new ordinance.

We can trace it back all the way to 2008 and found some recent information.

It may have been before that, but we've got data back to 2008 that I'll talk about shortly.

It's being properly and necessarily enforced now, as I discussed as part of our formal parking program.

We have had signs in place in multiple locations for many years now.

We don't have signs everywhere.

You heard a conversation just a little bit ago about not seeing signage.

That's something we continue to work on.

We've seen back end parking on on street stalls, uh, or you wouldn't expect to see folks backing into parking.

I'm going to show you a picture of one here in a little bit that is a very serious concern of ours.

And it is a challenge to provide signage everywhere.

So as we move forward, if the ordinance stays in place as is, and I'll talk about this at the end of the presentation.

Uh we've already started looking at additional messaging through the parking app and through the ways that you initiate a parking session.

The pictures on the outsides are within our garages have been in place for years.

The one in the middle is actually in the large lot south of the Hyatt.

And the reason why I wanted to be clearly designated about that is we've heard some concerns about parking in there and folks saying they didn't know they couldn't back in, but the sign is clearly there in that lot.

So I only say that because I'm not sure that signage is going to be the answer here, although we'll do what we can.

That sign is clearly there, and there is still some back end parking that happens.

So if we talk about numbers, um, we initiated the parking program back in the fall of 2025.

And total parking sessions in 2025, basically the last quarter was just under 94,000.

122 backend citations were issued.

Uh we included a number for citations dismissed.

There's a variety of reasons why a citation can be dismissed, not just for back-end parking, but for other reasons.

Uh I'll come back to that in just a moment.

For 2025, the as a percentage for the total number of sessions, that was less than two tenths of one percent of the total parking sessions.

If you move to the right side of that in 2026, uh there was 77,000 parking sessions, and that was actually through uh the end of March.

Back end citations issue was 218.

Some of those were dismissed for a variety of reasons.

What I will say is none of those were dismissed.

If you recall uh when we had this discussion in the workshop in April, we talked then about moving forward with issuing a warning uh for the first violation.

We started that in late April.

None of these 21 that were waived had anything to do with that.

There were ones that were issued before then, or if they were issued after, it was some other reason.

And there's a variety of reasons that can be done, but it would have nothing to do with the fact that we're issuing an initial warning.

That's not why any of those were waived.

I just wanted to make that very clear.

But since late April, we have been issuing a first warning, and needless to say, we have seen a a lot less violations for back end parking because of that.

We're gonna continue that going forward.

But that overall number is still less than three-tenths of one percent of all parking sessions.

I looked at the number now, and we're well over 100,000 parking sessions for uh 2026.

Having started the program last fall, we don't have a lot of baseline to compare to, but it's obvious that folks are still going downtown and paying to park with that many parking sessions across the program.

So if you look to the bottom of this slide, since 2008, uh, when we know that the prohibition was in place, at least as far back as then, there's been almost 3,000 citations issued for back end parking.

That's about that's a less than 200 uh per year.

I will tell you through the COVID years, there was you saw almost no citations written, but it varied over the years, and so since the inception of the parking program, the total has been 340 citations issued.

So it's a relatively small amount.

I want to mention that because I'm gonna come back to that in a moment.

If you look at the overall parking sessions, there generally is compliance with the current ordinance that is not allowed back end parking.

So talk about um, I want to really focus on the use of electronic license plate readers on this slide, uh, what the value it brings and what we're seeing with the program so far.

So we've talked about efficiency and reading license plates.

We've seen other states and communities, or I should say communities and other states that have a prohibition on back end parking.

The first thing you'll see is related to the need for electronic license plate reading and the efficiencies and the effectiveness that come with that.

Prohibition on back end parking also allows for protection of public assets against backing and damage.

We've looked at some pictures before.

I'm going to show you again tonight and talk about the issues we've had with our parking infrastructure due to backend parking.

I mentioned that there is a low incidence of citations, and there is widespread compliance that I think we can attribute to the fact that we have effective enforcement.

Effective and a timely identification of stolen vehicles and other public safety concerns is another factor here that I've got a separate slide.

I want to talk about that in just a moment.

These next three slides will show you some pictures of the challenges that we face.

When car park they try to limit their staff for compliance checks, they try to get through all of our parking facilities four times a day.

Needless to say, when they have to deal with these issues, we're going to look at it really slows the efficiency.

It does not allow the program to operate the way it is intended to.

Some of the same here.

These two pictures in the center and the right.

I really wanted to highlight as a significant safety concern when back-end parking is allowed on diagonal parking going the wrong way.

This is going against the flow of traffic both times.

We see this happen.

We looked at these pictures before.

I wanted to highlight these again.

We do have additional information tied to these in general.

Some of them are eyewitness accounts.

Some of it's other information we have from videos that shows these damages did happen as a result of back-end parking.

We aren't always able to figure out the license plate number who did this and be able to recover costs.

But I can tell you some of these that were done the most recently, these were thousands of dollars in damage to our public assets.

One of the reasons why we would like to see this stay in place so that we can start to see more and more compliance.

Talk a little bit more about how license plate readers are used within our parking program.

We have an agreement with uh, it's just one example of a business of king of freight near the Kellogg Freeway at the river.

We have a data place database with plate numbers.

We count every plate number during the month, an invoice king of pro of king of freight.

If plates can't be read, there's less revenue for making the parking program whole again that we need to make sure that we can maintain our assets.

Uh, and it also takes away parking from others.

There's a lot happening down in that area, and we need to make sure that we're applying the program fairly across the board.

City Hall surface lot.

Uh, we're still working through some things on what happens with the city hall parking uh program.

What happens with the parking program at City Hall?

Same deal there if we have city vehicles within the database.

We don't want to charge a department a citation fee because somebody backed in and we can't read the plate.

So everybody's got to follow the rules.

We've got a surface lot just south of City Hall here between us and Epic Center.

Same deal.

We've got a data plate base of plates with our partners at the federal courthouse in Sedgwick County.

Need to be able to read those plates.

So we're consistently complying with these agreements between our county and federal partners so that the proper charges apply to the agreements we have with them.

I mentioned before one of the values too of the electronic license plate reading, what car park does.

Wichtaw Police Department maintains a database of stolen tag numbers.

The software that is used that CarPARC uses for the electronic electronic plate reading is configured, so an automatic email notification is sent to the police department informing them about the location of a stolen tag.

This this still works with back end parking as long as we can get to the plate.

Obviously, it still slows things down, but if we can't get to and read the plate, and you can see from some of those previous pictures, that's not out of the question, then we don't have the ability to even know necessarily if there's stolen vehicle there.

So I think that's an added value for sure.

I wanted to talk about some of the advantages, the disadvantages of backing in.

Normal traffic flow is disrupted, like I talked about with unexpected reverse movering.

This is things that we've seen across other communities who also have a prohibition on back end parking.

It has to drive a frustration and confusion about who has the right-of-way.

I heard from several different people leading up to this evening of something I actually hadn't thought about, and these were appearance of young kids who said when they pull into a stall and the car next to them is backed in, the location of the mirrors doesn't allow them to open their back door and get a car seat out of the backseat of the car.

And in fact, they've got a picture of one of those that shows they cannot get out of the back of their car because of the reverse direction of the car next to them.

So there's other issues associated with it, I think makes sense why we need to not allow back end parking.

Sidewalk hazards are an issue that uh and a concern that came to us from the Access Advisory Board when we had discussions with them about back-end parking in many communities.

Um kind of the general standard is an eight-inch spacing between the front of the curve and sign poles.

Uh, unless we want to have more of our sign poles damaged, we're gonna have to start moving those.

We're gonna have to start changing that spacing.

Newer vehicles, uh, even trucks maybe don't have quite the overhang that they used to.

But if you've got any type of hits and if you've got an older vehicle, they tend to have a lot larger overhang on the back.

We would need to change the regulations, the spacing, the design uh parameters for areas to be backed into.

We still have to maintain ADA requirements between sidewalk, restaurants, sign poles, and landscaping, everything that we've talked about continues to be a challenge, especially if the ordinance is repealed and we start to see a lot more backing in.

This is going to become a lot bigger problem even compared to the relatively small number of uh violations that we see now.

Um, one more disadvantage is a decreased right-of-way efficiency.

Uh, generally and Wichita for some time, our design standard is has been parking stalls are currently nine feet wide.

Umy communities that allow back end parking have established a standard of 11 feet wide, including in Tulsa, Washington, DC, and San Diego, because they've shown that you need a wider area to safely back into.

At some point in time, if we were to allow back end parking and it becomes an issue, and we have to start going uh safety becomes an issue, whatever might become an issue, and we need to go to 11-foot stalls.

I think we all can recognize we're going to start losing the number of parking stalls that are available, which will adversely impact businesses more than anything because the number of vehicles able to park on street and on surface lots would decrease.

Just a few more slides here.

Actually, this is the last one.

Um, and I do want to mention also, I talked about the couple uh folks that we heard from that had challenges with the car seats.

Um, and I do want to mention also I talked about the couple uh folks that we heard from that had challenges with the car seats, which saw state also, just so you know, prohibits back end parking on their campus.

Having said all of that, uh staff recommends that we continue to issue a warning citation for the first offense per license plate that went into place in late April.

We feel that takes care of a lot of the issues related to whether there's signage or not, because if even if you didn't see a sign that was right there, if you get a warning, everybody knows that you can't back into a parking stall.

We still would look at the installation of additional signage in locations where back end parking has been prevalent.

We can't blanket everything.

Um but we'd also add messaging to both mobile apps and pay station screens that back end parking is not allowed.

So I think we can do better and more notification, even above uh and on top of the first um violation warning.

One thing we added to that is not included in your agenda item is that given the newness, still relative newness of the parking program.

We are coming up on a year here this summer, and the limit and the limited number of citations that we're seeing again.

We believe that not everybody knows that it's illegal to back into a parking stall, but we're gonna we're gonna continue to issue warnings, and the numbers just really aren't that big.

So we think it makes sense to leave the prohibition in place.

Um, but due to that, along with the incorporation of the warnings, we would recommend taking no action today, but continue or considering to revisit this issue in six to nine months for further evaluation.

Uh we would be happy to.

I mean, we're still gonna track data, we're gonna see what's happening.

We're certainly going to look and see what would happen with impact to our public infrastructure from back end parking.

And with that, I'd be happy to answer answer any questions.

Thank you, Gary.

Questions for staff, beginning with council member Hoheisel.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, Gary, whenever we're looking at the violations, do we have a breakdown as to um are they the violations in the parking garage on on street or in parking lots?

I I don't know that I have that.

I know I don't have that breakdown with me, um, but I would tell you that I'm sure the majority of them are in parking lots.

Okay, do you know any on street parking where we have I guess perpendicular parking to the street?

To where it's a straight pull in or the closest land.

We do we do.

We do have perpendicular parking in a few areas instead of being on the angle.

It's it's still in our concern, in our opinion, it's as big of a safety concern, whether it's angle.

It's not a lot.

Most of the perpendicular parking is in the parking lots, and nearly all of the on-street parking is angled parking.

Yeah, so do you know of any that are in particular the on-street parking where it's perpendicular?

Um, not off the top of my head that I can think of.

It's either going to be angled parking or parallel.

That's that's what I've been going through too, and trying to see if maybe there's just a part of the city I don't visit much where that is happening.

Nothing comes to mind.

Okay, and also just for clarification, parallel parking is not back end parking.

If they're being observed doing parallel parking, that's not the action of backing in, correct?

Correct.

Okay.

Uh that's all I have for now.

Councilmember Shepard.

Thank you, Mayor Gary.

Thank you for this information.

Couple of questions for you.

You mentioned that there's a challenge to place signage everywhere.

Is that does that challenge derive from cost?

Is it staff capacity?

Well, I think if you look at uh where our parking program is implemented and you look at all the downtown streets, I think that challenge comes from practicality, even if even if cost was not a factor, um, we would have to have signs big enough that you can see them wherever you park.

That's just not practical, in my opinion.

And how we overcome that, and and to the point that we made, uh, if we see more back end parking in certain areas, we would start there based on our data.

Uh, we would start there with additional signage if we see folks backing in in certain areas more.

But again, the warning for the first violation takes should take care of the majority of that, and uh the messaging on the parking apps, we think is that's effectively signage in and of itself.

I I mentioned that lot that we showed south of the Hyatt.

There's very clear signage there that says you can't back in, and we still have people doing it, still see people doing it.

Thank you.

I I have a question about car park and the contract that we have with car park.

And is there something in the contract that would prohibit them?

And I agree with you that it is not efficient in my mind for them to get out and check the like license plates that are backed in, but is there something in the contract that prohibits them from doing that?

There's not, and I've seen them do it.

I saw them do it just the other day in the parking lot that I was in.

They had to do it because there were several cars that were backed in.

Absolutely not, and that's what they're doing now, and that's how they're issuing these violations.

Uh, is they're having to get out of the vehicle generally.

So, no, it can't, you know, I've had that question brought up, and I've heard people say that they're just being lazy and how they're going about doing their business, and that has nothing to do with it.

Um, it's it's not they're doing that now.

Uh, we it's hard to measure uh what the inefficiency will be, uh, but we know without a doubt that the they they've done this enough.

Car park has, this is their business uh to know, and and we can all recognize that you're gonna add inefficiency if you've got to stop and get out, not knowing how many people are backed in.

It's much more efficient to drive through a parking lot and be able to scan all of those license plates.

Are they scanning or are they manually entering?

It's an electronic reader, and that's what I talked about earlier.

The value of that electronic reading and the efficiency with that.

It's that same thing with that electronic reader that goes into that database and will recognize if a car is stolen.

Thank you.

That's all I have for now.

Vice Mayor Glascock.

Quick question for one of the parking goods, what is the net to the city?

All of it.

And that's $50, correct?

Correct.

So total we would have recouped about this year 10,900 as a result of the parking and citations issued.

Correct.

How and how much would all the new signage costs for all these locations as well?

It really depends on where we're gonna put them up.

Uh, we're gonna start first with messaging on our apps.

We're gonna look at strategic locations for uh we we've had the the back end parking you saw in that diagonal parking isn't the first one that's happened.

Uh I can't imagine putting signage there because no one should be backing into an on-street diagonal parking stall, but they are.

So we have to be strategic in where we put them.

We have to do it where it makes sense and where it's practical.

Um I I still believe, and we've seen, I don't have it with me, but since late April with uh issuing a notice for the the first violation, we've seen a definite decrease in citation since that time.

I have every reason to believe that's gonna make a big difference by itself.

The messaging with the apps will help.

I can't tell you why now right now what the signage costs would look like.

I have a question regarding the 2008 ordinance, or now we seem to think that it was even prior to 2008.

I'm a little concerned that we have thousands of ordinances, and if we don't know exactly when it was passed, I feel like I don't have a frame of reference of why it was passed when it was passed.

If right now we're literally saying it was prior to 2008.

Can you give me, or maybe law can give me um how our ordinances don't have a recollection of which council passed this ordinance because these laws were created by people, individuals.

Can you help me understand why we don't have an actual date of when this was passed?

We do have a date on we do have a date on that 2008 ordinance.

It's clear, and there's a record in the clerk's office.

The question is anything before that.

I don't I don't have a record.

Let me clarify something.

I apologize.

I didn't mean to create any confusion.

I agree with the 2008.

We know this ordinance was originated in 2008.

We were looking through some old information and found what looked like may have been an even older ordinance that's no longer on the books back in the 1990s that may have contemplated back end parking.

So I should have left that part out.

I didn't mean to create any confusion on that.

I agree this one is from 2008.

And I can look for records of repeal of any prior ordinances.

We haven't been asked to go back that far, but we can certainly go back and look for any.

Do you have the actual date of when this ordinance was how many council members at that time voted in favor?

I have I can find the the date, but I don't have I didn't pull the record from the clerk's office that can be gathered um from the the clerk's records.

Um it was in city.

I'll find it.

I think it's January of 2008 for matter of having historical data um available to residents.

I would like to make sure that we have the actual date that this was passed.

So January, what date 2008, and which council members at that time voted in favor or against it.

Um, I think it's important for community members to understand that ordinances here, since I've been mayor, it always takes at least four votes for anything to pass or fail, or sometimes even five, a supermajority.

Um, so I just want to make sure that that information is available for residents to understand how ordinances have been passed moving forward.

Mayor, if I may, it was January 9th.

No, no, no, that was not correct.

It was I'll get back with you.

I thought I had a date, but I don't.

January 9th, 2008.

No, that's not correct.

I was reading it wrong.

So it was January by 8, but I will find the date.

Thank you.

And the council members who voted in favor.

Thank you very much.

With that, I have no further questions other than one for the city manager.

Um, I did talk to police department and asked if this was a concern to them.

They told me no.

Can you please um reiterate is this a concern to which tell police?

It is not, as was communicated to you, they're neutral.

It's not been an overwhelming burden of issues.

It's also been a zero issue where people have expressed concern for get.

So it's been neutral or no concern.

Thank you very much.

Thanks, Gary.

Thank you, City Manager and City Attorney.

With that, we will now open it up for public comment.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council.

I'm Margaret Chabazz in District Six.

I am here today in support of repealing the 2008 prohibition on backing into parking stalls in downtown Wichita.

At its core, I believe this issue is about safety, personal choice, and common sense.

Different drivers have different comfort levels.

Some people prefer to pull forward into a parking stall, others feel safer backing in.

Unless there is a compelling reason to prohibit one method, residents should have the freedom to park in the manner they believe is safest for themselves and their families.

What makes this issue particularly interesting is that several studies suggest backing into parking stalls can actually be safer option and safer option.

Research published in the journal Accident Analysis and Prevention found that backing into backing in pull out method to or sorry, backing in pull out method of parking reduces risk associated with.

Sorry, my screen moves, sorry.

Other studies have found that a large percentage of parking lots collisions occurred occur when vehicles are backing out of parking stalls.

When drivers back into a stall, they can later exit by pulling forward into traffic with much clearer view of pedestrians, bicyclists, and approaching vehicles.

Many employers, utility companies, and public safety organizations encourage or even require backend parking because it reduces blind spots and improves visibility when exiting a space.

Now I am not here to argue that everyone should back into a stall.

I am here to argue that everyone should have the ability to choose the parking method by they believe is safest.

I also want to acknowledge that I understand there may be concerns related to Wichita's paid parking system and parking enforcement.

I appreciate the work that goes on managing downtown parking and ensuring the spaces are used appropriately.

However, many residents only became aware of this ordinance after receiving citations.

For years, people have backed into parking stalls downtown without realizing it was prohibited.

In fact, many of us did not even know about this ordinance, this ordinance existed until paid parking enforcement increased.

If the city intends to enforce regulations, residents should be clearly informed.

Yet many downtown parking areas do not have signs notifying drivers that backing into a parking stall is prohibited.

When people are receiving tickets for something they reasonably did not did not know was against the rules, and there is little visible notice informing them otherwise, it raises legitimate questions.

It is also worth remembering that this prohib this prohibition.

Sorry, this was adopted nearly two decades ago.

Technology has changed.

Parking systems have changed.

License place recognition technology has advanced.

Enforcement methods have improved.

If original purpose of this ordinance was to assist parking enforcement, then perhaps there are more modern solutions available today that did not exist in 2008.

At the end of the day, this discussion is not about parking.

It is about ensuring that our ordinance makes sense, that citizens are clearly informed of rules, and that residents have the freedom to make reasonable decisions about their own safety.

Allow those who prefer to pull forward and to a stall to continue to do so.

Allow those who feel safer backing in to do that as well.

If there are if there are concerns about enforcement, let's find a solution that works for both the city and the public rather than maintaining prohibitions that many residents did not even know exist.

I respectfully ask that council to repeal the 2008 prohibition on backing into parking stalls downtown and allow Wichita drivers their freedom to park in the manor they feel safest and most comfortable.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Thank you, Margaret.

We will continue with public comment.

If someone backed into the stall and they had their tag right against the wall, if they had the ticket that they paid for parking, placed it in front of their windshield.

I know it wouldn't work for a motorcycle necessarily, but if they could prove otherwise that they had paid for that parking, it would seem like that would uh you know alleviate the need for seeing that.

Yeah, that was just my only comment on that.

Thank you.

Council Howdyell, Joseph Tex Dozier, uh 215 North Parkwood, District 1 dab.

I um I'm grateful you're doing an evening meeting because I showed up uh early last month when this issue I misunderstood thought was going to be on the agenda, and I think the mayor for bringing it up, I did not realize.

And so that that morning I came in here and you heard me speak on the Douglas diet and how looking ahead back in reverse angle parking could be an option and should be considered.

But I mentioned I was really wanted to talk about the back end policy in general with the lots.

Um, and so while I was here, a little methods of that is this is like my brain dump while in council chambers on the first thing I spoke to.

And then this was my brain dump a month ago, and I I have a life, believe it or not, outside of volunteering and civics things, um, did not get a chance to kind of put my thoughts into type until I saw there was an evening meeting, and I had heard Friday at Pacaderm, that there was a news story about someone who had a back end violation and was going to court.

And and I know the there's a mention by staff of only three over 300 cases in such a small percentage, but one of our citizens uh who's paid for their parking and backed in and is going to court is just unacceptable.

Um what I have here, and some of it may be outdated based on uh what staff has mentioned is a memorandum with some policy advisement, and the policy advisement could still be relevant, I think now.

Uh a month ago, I was wanting you all to do a moratorium on um the do on punitive um and warning, and not just for the first violation, but right now until the until things are figured out, which is in our confusing position with the implementation about parking hours, payment options, app use, even exceptions, and even whether it is illegal to back in.

Um Gary mentioned that the lot sign um about the lot sign being there, and I was worried until later in Gary's presentation when you mentioned the app and the kiosk.

You'll see a number of options you could consider.

But I believe that you need to have a warning only enforcement system until you have that communicated in the app in the kiosks and lot signage as well.

I know myself, I would not see off uh often a lot sign when I'm in the moment.

I've only used the kiosks and the kiosk themselves do not have a um a uh a a point of uh a pop-up screen or a transitional screen before finalizing payment to provide this information, where I even paid outside of ours on uh from what I understand now on on a kiosk machine because I didn't use the app, which I'm told does have that um ability.

Um but one thing I did do last month while I was jotting things down.

I had remembered that Miami Beach, I was I was there a while back, had uh license plate readers uh for their lots uh that weren't mobile, and and I was like, because I was parking in garages and they would scan on the way in and out and they would allow back in.

And so I called down to I think it was Alberto, who's in their parking department last month, and uh talked to them and turned out Miami Beach is a great comparative example.

They actually use park mobile and pay by phone.

They just don't use car park.

And what they do, um, because they brought it internal, is they use uh stationary LPRs at the entry exits of all their lots.

So I actually think there could be short term a hybrid enforcement option for y'all to direct staff to look into back in okay for parking lots, illegal on street, especially since we don't have reverse angle right now to allow practical backing on streets.

So back in parking lots where you could promptly implement LPRs, water walk lots, century two lots, city garages, larger surface lots, uh mentioned the the city surface lots, that's an option.

Um you also uh I also would say that you can lead potentially without having to wait on the state partisan politicians in the statehouse to uh put in for front license plates.

Um last month I mentioned Potstown is a great example of a city that uses reverse angle parking and parallel parking to increase parking and allow for more walkability and safety uh with preventing almost all accidents.

Post town also is in Pennsylvania where they don't have front license plates, but they allow a back end parking.

They use a triple hybrid model, which is mobile LPR for streets, uh stationary LPR for entry exit, and then they use I think it's a it's a QR on the front, or they basically came up with a city thing for their the residents to think downtown residents and workers could maybe have an option um with like a RFID tag or windshield barcode, long-term thinking, but short term maybe we can back up in the lots and long term um uh we can talk about the street.

But I was just really hoping a month ago, like this is an opportunity, I believe, for the city council to show that it's active and responsive on an issue of really roll-out errors and uh and and missteps.

And to I would also finally finally before I run out of time, say something you should also consider is because of the lack of information, auto dismissal or refund of any back end violation where the driver already paid and or where parking signage and app point of decision and rule nate notices were not available.

The point of decision notice is very important.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Would anyone else from the community like to speak on this matter?

I see none.

I'll bring it back to the bench.

Council member Hoheisl.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, I would just say I agree with much of what the previous speaker just said.

Um, with the exception of parking garages, I think that's one where um we can if somebody backs in up against the wall, there's literally no way to see a license plate, but I would be um in agreement.

It doesn't make sense on the roads, how we have them constructed now.

I would like to check into uh not bringing this up again.

We were in Tulsa recently and we had designated back end spaces.

So that might be something that we look into and consider moving forward.

Um parking lots, I I think that one to me is um let the people park how they how they desire in city parking lots.

Um still up to the private parking lots, Dylans and Walmart and whatnot to dictate their own policies, but as far as the city ones go, I am in support of um repealing the ordinance for city lots.

Council member Ballard.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh I still struggle with this in the same way that I did last time, unless we have a plan.

You know, we are implementing paid parking and nobody likes it or loves it for that matter.

But it's something that has been ignored for years, and we are finally um putting our best foot forward and uh trying to be as efficient as possible.

And I feel like repealing this is a step backwards.

Um intended.

Um, and so I will not be supportive of repealing this unless there is a plan moving forward on um somehow reading the plates, like Tech said, you know, as you go into the lot or something like that, but I don't feel comfortable repealing it without a plan in place.

Vice Mayor Glascock.

I withdraw.

Question actually for staff to answer your question.

Um currently, garages.

You actually tell me how the actual method right now is utilized in terms of paid parking in garages.

So our garages, the antennas for those to be accessed by gates, so the readers are at the entrance and the access to the garage.

We don't read the plates within the garage, they're not all set up that way.

It's gonna take us some time to get there.

Our primary garages outside of Old Town are currently set up that way, and we're adding it.

So but I will tell you, and so even though you saw a picture or two of a car backed in uh to a garage, so it's not necessarily a matter of reading the plate, but it is a matter of potential damage of somebody backing into a wall.

There was two different pictures there where the car was literally up against the wall.

That still is a concern, that's still problems that we've seen that seem to be more prevalent compared to pulling in forward.

But we wouldn't be enforcing it necessarily when there's gates at the garages.

So this is gonna primarily apply to surface lots and on street parking.

Thank you, Gary.

Councilmember Shepard.

Thank you, Mayor.

And I I just want to say to the previous speaker uh who is also the chair of my district advisory board, thank you.

Because I often tell people don't just bring us a problem, bring us a solution.

And you did that tonight.

And I and I'm listening to I've heard for a very long time about the concern about back end parking.

I think it would be uh neglectful to not mention the hundreds of emails that uh we have received from constituents concerned about this, while also acknowledging the staff expertise that uh identifies why this would be difficult, and I don't want to deny that either.

But if as I look at option five on this list, the hybrid enforcement option, um, again to Councilmember Hoheisel's point who mentioned you there is a way to um make this okay for parking lots, but illegal on streets and illegal in other spaces like parking garages that would potentially pose a significant risk to the infrastructure of the city.

And so I I'd be curious tonight if there is an appetite from other colleagues to maybe even support a hybrid option that would align with the mayor's uh desire to eliminate back end parking on the city surface parking lots and um meet the need of what I've heard from constituents as well as balancing what we've heard from staff as well.

Can I provide a comment to that if you don't mind?

And I appreciate that.

So a couple thoughts.

Uh and I don't know what they are.

There's thinking through our surface lots, there's going to be fairly considerable cost to look at this hybrid option because of the reconfiguring of some of these lots.

Uh, there are some lots downtown that there's not a very clear exit and entrance where you could even capture a license plate from a mobile reader.

We would have to rebuild some of the infrastructure so that you could make sure to do that because some of our parking lots are split on both sides of a street, and you basically can access it from anywhere.

So thinking through some of that, there's gonna be some fairly significant cost to implement this.

But what I would just say again is those pictures in old town of those damaged fences and those planners, those are real.

And we continue to see those over time.

It doesn't matter how you look at it, how the plates are red, that potential still exists for people backing into our assets and damaging the same.

That's always gonna be there.

Um we've seen it even I agree that newer vehicles have newer technology, not everybody drives a newer vehicle.

We've seen people with backup cameras that still run into stuff.

So I just don't want that to be forgotten that that would still be a concern of ours, no matter how you go about implementing this or how you read a license plate, that potential is still there.

So, Gary, can I ask you this then as we look at number six?

Uh preserving the enforcement for dangerous situations where vehicles create an accessibility, safety, traffic, or property hazard.

Any issues you can find with that or any challenges that it may present for staff.

And thank you for mentioning the infrastructure cost of having to re-look at that because that is a serious consideration as we even look at our budget projection moving forward.

So, my opinion is this if you look at the fact that um even someone's since implementation of the parking program, the number of citations for backing in relative to parking sessions is less than three-tenths of one percent.

If you look at the fact that even some since implementation of the parking program, the number of citations for backing in relative to parking sessions is less than three-tenths of one percent.

We've already seen a decrease in violations or uh citations because we're providing the warning.

I think we have the potential to really uh get to a better place just by the first warning alone.

The additional messaging on the apps is going should be a great uh a way for notification.

I I have a belief that we start to get to a pretty good solution already.

And and that simplifies the message, it become I I get it.

Uh it makes sense, especially when I said before, if you look at uh during the COVID years, there were no citations issued for back end parking because we did a lot of things different then.

So even though it's been a law in place for 18 years now, there were people that backed into parking stall before did not get a citation to get one now and say, gosh, I didn't know.

I think we have a great plan in place going forward to fix that, and we don't have to deal with any of these other issues, and we don't have to look at expensive license plate reader equipment that has to be maintained at every single one of our lots.

We don't have to worry about as much potential damage to our assets from people backing in.

My hope would be, and I think this is a good reason to consider seeing what happens over time here, is that we start to see compliance even more and more.

Um compliance isn't bad now when it's three tenths of a percent or less.

I think we ought to watch the numbers and see what they do with the what we have in place and what we're recommending moving forward with before we consider something else.

Maybe that conversation makes sense if we come back in six to nine months uh and we are seeing a change in the numbers of uh violations.

Hopefully, we're seeing little to no damage to our assets.

It could be part of that discussion then.

Councilmember Hoheisel.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, Gary, a couple of quick questions.

Sorry, I should have asked this when we were on questions.

Um so are you indicating that if we did repeal that we would have to go to license plate readers in the parking lot?

The entrances and exits.

Well, not necessarily, but we have to see what the impact is to where we've been so far.

Um it's here's the hard part about it, right?

The parking program's been in place since last August.

This is designed for electronic license plate reading and the efficiency and effectiveness that comes with that.

It's kind of hard to say what our loss efficiency is going to be, and and I don't like to reference lost revenue, but that is a part of what we're doing and trying to build this program so we can maintain our assets.

I believe if this is repealed, you're gonna see a lot more people bar backing into parking stalls because they know there's no it's not a violation anymore.

We are going to lose considerable efficiency and time.

We're gonna see our revenues start to decrease, um, and we're gonna see an impact to how this program was built and the effectiveness of being able to read license plates that we're gonna lose.

To your question, it could be uh that maybe we find we need to invest in license plate readers coming in out of parking lots, but I would tell you again, there's some parking lots that are gonna take some pretty significant investment in infrastructure to make that work.

So that would be the plan is if we did repeal, we would immediately go to we would we would still have them drive through for at least a while, right?

Uh yeah, well that won't stop.

They're gonna continue to do that, but what they're gonna do in a lot of parking lots is they're gonna drive up to a parking lot, they're gonna have to get out and walk the entire parking lot.

I mean, that's just where it's gonna go.

Now now we do have certain parking lots where we do allow back end parking in the city.

Um parks, for example.

Um, we have one in my district that is back in only because it's next to a school, and that way when people pull out, they'll be able to see the kids in front of them.

So it's sort of a dual-use parking uh parking lot.

Is that something that we had to opt out of, or is that within city policy to the city?

No, I think with the within those specific areas.

Okay, within I think that's still within Title 10 likely that allows that to stay in place.

Because you're right, there are some places that it makes sense from a safety perspective to do it.

Okay, well, I I appreciate that.

Also, anything important ever happen on the the 2nd of June?

It's his birthday.

I appreciate that, Gary.

Thank you.

Vice Mayor Glascoster.

Thank you, Mayor Gary.

I have no questions.

Uh going into this.

I didn't have strong opinions either way.

And my philosophy is if I don't have strong opinions, I'm gonna choose liberty in that aspect and let people make the choice themselves.

Um I think we should keep it simple.

I think the more complex it is, the more confusing it is for our constituents.

And so whatever we do, I think the simplified approach is how we should do it.

Um interesting the presentation is that enforcement has just upticked since we uh have started um with car park prior to that.

It did not, and so for me that's not a safety issue, that's a revenue generation issue.

And I think we're conflating both of those things because historically if it was a safety issue, it should have always been an issue.

It shouldn't have been an issue just since we implemented car park.

And so um, I do appreciate the previous speakers um ordinance language, and I definitely think um having that ahead of time.

I think we should look at maybe some some of those considerations for the future.

But I think right now, keeping it simple in repeal.

We do a lot from this bench where we keep pushing these things further and further and further, and we um usually suspend making a decision sometimes, and so I would prefer to make a decision today and move towards repeal of the ordinance as well.

Councilmember Tuttle.

Thank you.

Um, no questions for me, Gary.

Great job, as always, just a few comments.

Um, I did a little um checking, and WSU does also have a no parking rules, no back end parking, and it's for the exact same reason it's for safety of their infrastructure, and then also so that their license plate readers, the license plates can be read.

So I thought that was interesting.

Um I I came here this evening and I didn't want to kick this down the road.

I think we spent way too much time on it.

Um, I don't think that it's really helping our city to move forward, it's not helping us grow our economy, it's not helping us to keep our community safe, it's not helping us to create conditions for living well, it's not helping us to build dependable infrastructure.

Um, I think this is a distraction.

But after this discussion, I would and and Tex, thank you very much for your work on this.

I greatly appreciate you helping us with our homework.

Um I think that if we're going to do some sort of hybrid, we shouldn't repeal it today and then come back with another option.

That's just gonna be more confusing.

If we need to, you know, work on it and see if any of these options seem to make the most sense.

I like the idea of maybe pushing this back and it doesn't have to be six to nine months, maybe it's 60 to 90 days, just so we can look at this, do a little bit more thinking into it.

But if we do think that we want some sort of hybrid, it doesn't make any sense to me to repeal it and then come back again with the hybrid, that's just gonna confuse people more.

So um I I would like I said entertain putting this back just a little bit so that we can come up with a better product, but otherwise I'm not gonna be supportive repealing.

Councilmember Balor.

Thank you, Mayor.

I just think it's really interesting that Gary mentioned we had like a hundred thousand parking sessions when we've had about 200 tickets, and that this has just drug on and on and on and on.

I mean, it's such a small amount, and I maybe to Vice Mayor Glasscock.

We haven't enforced it as much as we are now, but um I don't know what the uh how many employees we used to have for parking attendance and all of that, and how long it's been since it's been fully staffed and um but I just think it's interesting.

I mean, that is a lot of parking sessions and such a small point to nine uh percent of tickets, and I think you said maybe 10,000, you know, if everybody has paid their ticket, I just can't believe that this is such a big conversation when we have so many more things to be working on, and um I appreciate all the speakers, the suggestions, all the emails.

I really appreciate the community engagement.

I just think this is wasting a lot of time and energy and efforts.

Well, thank you very much to the council as uh as well as staff for the presentation.

I'm gonna start off with thanking the very first individual who took up one of the four spots in public agenda.

Um, Emilio Martinez actually was the person who spurred this conversation.

On April 15th, he emailed us talking about this concern, and from that moment on you mattered.

Your voice mattered, and I wanted to make sure that your voice was heard, and then others came right behind you saying that they also wanted to be heard.

So I want to start by saying thank you to the hundreds of individuals who commented on social media, but also that took the next step, which is what I asked, which was email the council.

Nearly 40 people sent emails to DL City Council members at Wichita.gov.

And I'm grateful that you gave your specific concern, your specific opinion, and your voice was heard.

Margaret, you hit it right where I have been thinking since the very beginning of all of this, and that is about freedom and common sense.

This is a choice, and I believe that our residents have the opportunity to make the right choice when given just the freedom to do so.

And so for me, this is about making sure that I'm listening to residents and their concerns, and making sure that as a council, we're the ones that can make and change policy.

And in this situation, the voice of the people was heard loud and clear.

And I'm not going to delay this.

So I'm going to move to repeal ordinance number 1152, section 29, um, regarding backing into a parking stall.

Motion second discussion, see none.

Oh, see none.

Some council member Hoheisel.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, I'm wondering if you would consider a friendly amendment maintaining the ban on back-end street parking on streets or back end parking on the streets.

I don't I get a little concerned that we have angled parking.

And somebody could with a three-point turn essentially of their truck back in to the angled parking, and when they pulled out, they would be going against traffic.

So that is a little concerning.

So I believe that back to simplicity and just making sure that we have an ordinance that is clear for people backing into parking spots anywhere in the city would be legal.

Um, so I will not take that friendly amendment.

Um, but council or vice mayor Glascock has a comment.

Thank you.

I just want to make sure the motion is fully comprehensive.

It would it be, and this would be a question for Jennifer, is it amendments to 11.52.020, or is it amendments to 020115?

Well, as the as the agenda report is drafted, it is all three.

It's 5.52.02 zoo two zero parentheses 29.

And then 52.115 and point uh 52.110, if that's the intent.

So would would the mayor take that friendly amendment to be able to include those provisions and any other provisions of the city code of which to operate to back and parking?

Yes.

The repeal applies to three ordinances.

The motion was just for one ordinance.

Was it your intent to have a my intent is for all sections of all municipal codes to allow for backing in or polling into a parking spot to be legal?

Second.

Thank you.

Motion second.

Councilmember Shepard.

Thank you, Mayor.

I just I have a question because this is important to me, and I um want to make sure that we're thinking about our friends with um who are not physically able to necessarily navigate the way some of us are.

Um, is there something already in place that addresses uh if someone impedes a sidewalk?

That is a concern for me as I'm looking at the communication that just came in to us about those with disabilities.

Maybe someone has a truck and they're backing in and they impede a sidewalk.

I also received an email today from a mom who expressed some concerns about being able to get her child out of the passenger side of the car.

Um diagonal parking.

I I want that, and that's why I wanted to support Councilmember Hoheisel's motion, is because I think it is actually more inclusive when we think about who's navigating our streets, but particularly do we have something that holds folks accountable who impede sidewalks?

The challenge with the ADA part of that requirement.

You can't be held accountable if you've got a truck with a bumper that blocks half the sidewalk, you're legally parked.

That's one of our concerns.

That's one of our challenges.

The very reason why we had that as part of this discussion, there are a lot of different situations of islands within parking lots that service sidewalks.

You could get not to sensationalize this, you could get trucks backed up against each other, and effectively you don't even have room for wheelchair anymore.

Would council member Hoheisel's friendly amendment address that?

Well, it would where uh there's on street parking, it would help.

Certainly would help.

Most vehicles, even no matter what type of vehicles you look at, are gonna have significantly less potential for overhang if they're pulled frontward into the parking style.

Okay, mayor hearing that.

I'm gonna ask again, would you be willing to accept the friendly amendment offered by council member Hoheisel given that information?

So again, I think staff is making this situation greater than what it actually is.

I I believe that residents and drivers make reasonable decisions, and you are not going to there may be individuals that choose to be that individual that doesn't want to provide access to a sidewalk, but I do believe many of our drivers are considerate and backing into a parking stall and allowing still access because there's a sidewalk.

I believe that residents will make the better choice.

This the choice of being reasonable, and so adding this extra jargon will just confuse the driver.

And I again it's just like sharing of the road.

We all share the road, and we ask that people are respectful, abide by the green light and the red light, but some people don't abide by them.

And then again, we can't be at all places at all times, and we we want to make sure that again it's a simple, easy ordinance that people understand you are allowed to park or back into a parking stall in Wichita and make reasonable decisions, especially when it comes to sharing of a sidewalk.

So I I won't be taking that um friendly amendment.

Councilmember Johnston.

Thank you, Mayor.

This issue has heightened my awareness of backing into parking stalls.

Every time I go into a parking lot, I look to see who's backed in, and a lot of trucks are backed in.

And to council members Hoheisel's point, I did see just today, somebody back in to a uh angled parking going against traffic.

So I see that as a problem.

So in this case, I do agree with councilmember Hoheisel, and I I don't think it really confuses it.

Um I don't I think it's still simple, it's legal everywhere except on streets.

Um so if someone wanted to make a uh amendment to that or amendment, amended motion, I would entertain and second it.

So thank you.

Councilmember Hoheisel.

Thank you, Mayor.

I moved um, I'll make a substitute motion that we repeal ordinance pertaining to backing in on sections 11.52.020, 11.52 11, and 11.52115 with the exceptions of on street parking.

Second motion second discussion, council member Tuttle.

I just have a clarifying question, Gary.

Um and thank you, Councilmember Holheisel.

If someone pulls into the garage, their license plate is red at the gate and not in the space, correct?

Correct.

So this option wouldn't affect people.

Um the infrastructure is would then be the bigger concern rather than the revenue.

Is that correct?

Yes.

I do I just want to make sure I understand.

Okay.

Thank you.

Councilmember Shepard.

Vice Mayor Glascock.

Thank you, Mayor.

I just want to I think correct something that SAS said.

So maybe this might change some clarification.

Municipal code 10.04.125 under obstruction of streets, sidewalks, and public right away.

It is unlawful to instruct any street alley, public right away or sidewalk by a uh list of prohibited actions that continues to list them.

It says your vehicle may not extend onto or block the sidewalk.

Parking that impedes Kansas blocks a sidewalk, and that's also codified in state law in KS81571.

I might clarify just for clarity.

I might clarify just for what it's worth.

That's impossible to enforce.

But it is illegal, correct?

Sure, it is, but that's never going to be enforceable.

And I should have probably said that to begin with.

So we we don't we don't have the reason why this parking program is in place and why car park is part of it is in and the reason why safety we couldn't focus on before is because we didn't have the resources.

We do now.

Uh and and you're you're right, and I apologize for not being clear.

It's just not gonna be enforceable.

People are gonna park there, they're gonna block the sidewalk, and there's just not much we're gonna be able to do about it.

That is the reality, but but you're correct.

Thank you.

You're correct.

So again, uh law, it's already illegal for someone to fully back into a parking stall and block a sidewalk.

Is that accurate or not?

Well, one ordinance says it's illegal to park a motor vehicle on a sidewalk in a sidewalk area.

I'm looking at the 10-point one to I'm not familiar with that one off the top of my head.

I need to look.

I believe it's there if it's been cited.

Yeah, there is a different one in section 11.

So again, there's already an ordinance, and this would not be affecting that ordinance, which already makes it illegal to block a sidewalk.

So again, it goes back to that friendly amendment that was asked, it already is part of another law that again was created by council.

Councilmember Tunnel.

Thank you.

Um I was gonna make a substitute motion, but council member Hulahes will beat me to it, so I'm not sure I can do anything.

But again, this discussion just reinforces to me that we're probably not ready to move forward.

And if we did just repeal this this evening, do we have a plan to communicate this to the public so that then they know it's not illegal?

I mean, I just and again, I I want to get this taken care of more than anything in the world so we can get back to the business of being an exceptionally well-run city, and I don't think this is doing that at all.

I think that again, this is a distraction from growing our economy and all the other things that we need to be focused on.

But I also don't feel like we're I mean, we could probably sit until midnight and make sausage from the bench, but we're still not even discussing how we're gonna communicate this to people.

What are the unintended consequences that could possibly come from this?

So I I know there's already been a substitute motion.

I don't know how it's gonna shake out, but I still would like to go on record saying it's gonna be really hard for me to believe we can come up with the best product tonight at this bench doing it this way.

I'm ready to make decisions, and I believe that several council members do too.

And so it would be I I have a question, a friendly question to the current substitute motion um leader and second.

Given that the new information was just provided that any sidewalks are already illegal to be obstructed.

Does that change your opinion?

No, my concern is not just that.

Um my concern is also people pulling out at an angled into oncoming traffic, blocking traffic while they attempt to back into angled parking.

Um I think it's something we can come back and visit later if we decide to do back in parking designated areas.

Again, like I saw in Tulsa, but at this time I'm not comfortable with that.

I think it clarifies it more for the people if we frame it up this way instead of having referred back to a state law.

Okay, so this ordinance for simplicity's sake will allow for backing into a parking stall except for on street.

Correct.

Councilmember Shepard.

Thank you, Mayor.

And I just want to affirm what council member Johnston just said for me, and and I understand the the practicality in enforcing some of these things, but I think it's critically important that we show every member of our community, especially those with disabilities that we are thinking about them when we're crafting these laws, and we are making sure that we are creating a city that is built for everyone.

Um again, I understand the practicality of enforcing it and and making sure that what you all are doing is the a good use of your time and going out and looking uh for eight hours a day on who is impeding the sidewalk is probably not the best use of time, but I think making people see feel like they belong in this city is ensuring that we are having conversations at the bench of how to think about them when we're making policies, and I want to just affirm councilmember Johnston's thoughts on that.

And I appreciate sorry, Vice Mayor Glascock wants to speak.

Oh, you can I want to say thank you.

Um, because of that, because of its simplicity's sake, and again going towards action so that we can move on.

I am willing to, after hearing this conversation, go to a yes on this substitute motion so that residents can understand that it is legal to back into a parking stall except for on the street.

With that, Vice Mayor Glascock.

Thank you, Mayor.

I was gonna say the same thing.

I would support full repeal, but I also know how to count to four, and I don't think there's four votes on that.

So I'll take the compromise and get to this.

I think this is still when towards simplicity, and I appreciate the work that goes into this.

I think every ordinance that becomes before this body matters, and especially removing regulatory burden on individuals in this community and ordinances, I think is a good thing, and I think is a function of this body and this institution as well.

So thank you.

With that, we have a substitute motion and a second.

Madam Clerk, please open the roll motion passes 70.

Madam Clerk, please call the next item.

Approved that pursuant to section 204090.

Councilmember Tuttle's travel expenses as estimated on the travel authorization and expense form to attend the National Civic League's All American City event in Denver, Colorado, June 25th through June 29th, 2026 for the purpose of attending and participating in the National Civic League's All American City Conference consistent with AR 3.1 be approved upon return from travel.

Actual expenses shall be reported to the controller's office.

I move to approve that travel.

Second.

Motion second discussion.

See none, Madam Clerk, please open the roll.

Motion passes 7-0.

Madam Clerk, please call the next item.

Retroactively approved, Mayor Woo to fulfill a public appearance request to attend and speak at the women's conference hosted by Hutchinson Reno County Chamber of Commerce in Hutchinson, Kansas, on June 2nd, 2026.

A city vehicle will be utilized.

Second.

Second.

Motion second discussion.

See none.

Madam Clerk, please open the roll.

Motion passes 7-0.

Madam Clerk, please call the next item.

Council member appointments and comments.

Council members, any appointments?

We'll go council member Shepherd.

Thank you, Mayor.

I would like to appoint reappoint Lori Lawrence to the Sustainability Integration Board.

Councilmember Tuttle.

I'd like to appoint Julie Collier to the District 2 advisory board.

Councilmember Hoheisel.

Thank you, Mayor.

I'd like to appoint Marco La Closer to the Airport Advisory Board.

I see no further appointments.

I move to approve all stated appointees.

Second.

Motion second discussion.

See none, Madam Clerk, please open the roll.

Motion passes 7-0.

Madam Clerk, please call the next item.

Councilmember comments.

Thank you, Mayor.

I now that is we had an evening council meeting today, and so she is officially no longer the city as of three hours and 15 minutes ago.

But I just wanted to uh say from the bench uh well wishes to Brooke Kalchuk.

Uh Brooke served as my community service representative for my entire time on the council, and prior to that, served for councilmember Blue Baugh.

She was an incredible asset to the city, and in speaking with every with any resident that interacted with her, there was negative, there's never a negative reaction.

She had served thousands of residents, and I think a testimony to her service to the community was said from a resident just a couple weeks ago.

I think that was actually the same day I found out she was leaving us, and it was the day that he complimented her from the bench.

But I wish her well.

I know that Brooke, hopefully, you're not listening because you're not with us anymore.

But I oh yes, you are with us.

But um there is always the opportunity to come back to the city.

We would love to have you.

Uh we wish you best on your next endeavors, and thank you for having a heart of service uh for people in our community.

Councilmember Ballard.

Thank you, Mayor.

I just wanted to tell everyone I will be absent next Tuesday and will be riding my bicycle across Kansas, so pray for me.

But that is why I will not be at the next meeting.

How many miles is that?

525.

Councilmember Hoheisel.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, so can we get your thoughts on some of the more controversial issues now?

Or yeah, no.

Um, I did want to say I echo those sentiments with Brooke.

Uh all RCSRs, they're all great.

They all work harder than um than should be expected.

And also on the topic of staff, we did have a birthday today, I believe, Gary Jensen.

And he skipped out of here early, right after his topic was done.

But I did want to say I appreciate all his work for the city, like I do all of our staff, and um happy birthday, Gare Bear.

Council Member Shepherd.

That threw me out.

The gear bear threw me.

So on the topic of CSRs, District 1 does have a CSR.

Super excited about that.

I won't spoil the moment, but just know that she keeps me in line, and I think I need that.

And so I'm really excited about that and looking forward to the opportunity to working alongside her.

I think the announcement will be made formally on Thursday.

And so out of respect for uh her supervisor as well as her, I want to give them the opportunity to announce it in the way they see fit.

Uh again, Brooke is amazing.

I actually recruited Brooke to Wichita, Kansas from Ohio.

And uh she has done an amazing job since arriving to the city of Wichita.

Shout out to Vice Mayor Glasscock and I.

We took fourth place in the egg toss at Riverfest.

I will say the only people that beat us were police fire and EMS.

So I consider us still the winners at the Egg Toss.

Happy Pride Month, Wichita.

And then last but certainly not least.

Um want to thank uh housing for coming in on June 6th to our district advisory board breakfast at 9 30 a.m.

It will be held at the Carl Brewer Community Center, and we will be talking about the critical work that the city is doing for homelessness and housing.

Um we are doing uh a lot of work, and I think I take pride in the fact that regardless of our diverse views up here, one thing I I say proudly out in the community is that you will find a united vote 7-0 on housing and homelessness.

And I think we are all fairly committed to that.

And so come out on Saturday, 9 30 a.m.

to hear from Director of Housing, Sally Stang, on the great work that's happening through the city of Wichita for housing and homelessness.

And just a quick one, I wanted to say thank you to Wichita Area Sister Cities, uh, specifically the French committee.

Uh they went to Orleans, France, and uh the mayor and the delegation from France uh gave the City of Wichita this book, which will be proudly displayed in the sister cities um case in the future.

With that, uh we cannot leave because we have an executive session.

So I will read this motion.

I move that the city council recess into executive session for 20 minutes to receive information on real estate in the city of Wichita, pursuant to KSA 75-4319B2 for the preliminary discussions of the acquisition of real property.

The executive session is required to protect the city's right to the confidentiality of a negotiating position and the public interests.

The executive session will begin in a few minutes, so I'll I'll give it some time.

Second.

And we will return to the chambers.

Motion second.

Uh Madam Clerk, please open the roll.

Motion passes 7-0.

Thank you for joining us for this quarter's evening time meeting.