2026-10-27 - City Council Workshop

02:26Thank you for joining us for this week's

02:29city council meeting. I call this

02:30meeting to order. Before we begin, we'll

02:33have our pledge of allegiance and we ask

02:35that you please stand.

02:39I aliance to the flag of the United

02:42States of America and to the republic

02:45for which it stands. One nation under

02:48God, indivisible, with liberty and

02:51justice for all.

02:56>> Madame clerk, please call the first

02:57item.

03:00>> Approve the minutes of the regular

03:02meeting dated October 20th, 2026.

03:06Council members, any items to be edited?

03:09I see none. I move to approve the

03:11minutes of the regular meeting October

03:1320th, 2026.

03:15>> Motion second. Discussion. See none. All

03:18those in favor say I.

03:20>> I. All those opposed, same sign. Motion

03:22passes. 70. Madame clerk, please call

03:25the next item.

03:32From the city's recent adopted civility

03:35pledge, the city council is committed to

03:37promoting civility. They stand united.

03:40They lead with respect and dignity, and

03:42they honor every resident in all

03:44communities. They are working to create

03:46an environment that values shared goals

03:48with increased empathy and genuine

03:50dialogue. Public agenda. We now come to

03:53public agenda. The public agenda allows

03:56for up to five speakers to have five

03:58minutes each to address the city

03:59council. Please bear in mind that this

04:02is not a period of dialogue with council

04:04or a question and answer period. This is

04:06your opportunity to address the city

04:08council with your concerns. I ask that

04:11you address your remarks to the city

04:12council as a body and not to any

04:14individual council member. No action

04:17will be taken relative to items on the

04:19public agenda other than referral to the

04:21city manager for information as

04:24necessary. Speakers will please speak

04:26into the microphone. Please state their

04:29name and address for the record. A time

04:31clock will display the speaker's

04:32remaining time to speak. Order and rules

04:35of decorum will be observed. This first

04:38speaker is Michelle Sutton, WSU Masters

04:41Program.

04:53Good morning. I'm Michelle Sutton. I'm

04:56taking my masters at WSU. My professor

04:58is Lindsay Banaka and she asked me to

05:00come and say hi. I live in district 4.

05:02What's up, Dalton? Uh

05:06um I am getting my masters in arts

05:08leadership and management and um

05:12that's my piece. Thank you.

05:18Thank you, Michelle. We have space for

05:21four individuals who would like to

05:22address the council.

05:25I see none. We will close public agenda.

05:28Thank you to Michelle for being our one

05:31public speaker. Madame clerk, please

05:33call the next item.

05:35>> Consent agenda items 1 through 11.

05:39>> Council members, any items to be pulled?

05:43I see none. With that, I move to approve

05:46consent agenda items 1 through 11.

05:48>> Second.

05:48>> Motion second. Discussion. See none. All

05:52those in favor say I.

05:54>> I. All those opposed, same sign. Motion

05:56passes. 70. Madame clerk, please call

05:59the next item.

06:02>> Board of bids and contracts dated

06:04October 26, 2026.

06:09Good morning, mayor, city council, Josh

06:11Lubber, Department of Finance. The board

06:13of bids and contracts convened

06:15yesterday, October 26, for the following

06:17items. For purchasing, we have the lamps

06:19LED traffic signal contract for GED

06:22sales company Incorporated for group one

06:24and estimated annual usage of $39,600

06:28and Mobile LLC for group two for an

06:31estimated annual usage of $9,900 for one

06:34year with two one years. We have the

06:37Street Sign Hardware contract for MD

06:40Solutions Incorporated for an estimated

06:42annual usage of 23,000 for one year with

06:45two one years.

06:47And we have the elevator maintenance

06:49contract for Kone Incorporated for base

06:52bid of $113,640

06:56and options one through six listed for

06:59hourly rates for one year with four

07:01one-year options to renew.

07:03We have the investment consulting

07:04services for Witto Police and Fire

07:07Retirement Board for Kalen LLC for a

07:104-year aggregate total of $674,151.

07:15We have the investment consulting

07:17services witchah employees retirement

07:19board for kalen LLC for four-year

07:22estimated total of $795,44.

07:28We have the janitorial services various

07:30buildings contract change order for

07:32Lamar Crowder doing business as

07:34Crowder's cleaning service LLC adding

07:37group 8 or the Witchaw animal uh shelter

07:40kennel cleaning services for $180,96.

07:45And for the airport, we have the Bobcat

07:47Toolcat UW56 for Whitar Machinery and

07:51Supply Company incorporated, a division

07:53of Berry Companies, Inc. for $89,75367.

07:59This is how to become a vendor with the

08:01city.

08:02This is our purchasing calendar of small

08:04business resource partners the city is

08:06hosting or participating in.

08:09And this is our open public

08:11opportunities out on the street today.

08:13And I'd be happy to try to answer your

08:14questions and recommend your approval.

08:18>> Thank you, Josh. Questions for staff?

08:20Thank you. Um I think it's slide four

08:23maybe.

08:27Uh yeah. Can you talk about how when we

08:30only have one bid, how the contract um

08:33the terms with the

08:35two to one-year options to renew?

08:38>> How did we establish the contract terms?

08:41Um so when we complete a a formal

08:43solicitation or a bid or proposal, we

08:45have the contract term length outlined

08:47in the document. So when we have the

08:50bids solicited um those terms are

08:53established and when the vendors or the

08:55interested proposers and biders return

08:57them back um the pricing will be

08:59finalized and then we negotiate the

09:01contract with those terms embedded. So

09:04succinctly it's based on historical past

09:08experience. It's based on the need for

09:09the department and it's based on what is

09:11in the best interest of the city.

09:14>> Yeah, good question. Mayor, if I may,

09:18>> Josh, can you go back to the slide with

09:20the Family Justice Center and thank you,

09:22city manager, for providing answers

09:24about this. Um, can you maybe explain

09:27RFP260244?

09:29>> Sure.

09:30>> And what that is?

09:32>> Uh, sure. So I'm not directly the buyer

09:34assigned but from my awareness of the

09:36project is the city is soliciting

09:39proposals for a consultant to provide

09:41the city services for how to design,

09:44build and implement a family justice

09:46center.

09:47>> Um and at a very high level can you

09:50maybe explain what that might be for

09:51those who are listening?

09:54>> Sure. Um, this is going to be dangerous

09:56because I don't I don't operate in that

09:57world as much, but my understanding is

09:59is a family justice center from our

10:01municipal court department is really for

10:04um sexual assault or uh domestic

10:06violence or or instances in the

10:08community where uh those seek safe

10:10harbor or passage. How can a family

10:12justice center alleviate those social

10:14services issues and best align the city

10:16to address those social services without

10:19being a public safety function directly?

10:21>> Thank you. And I don't know if I see is

10:23anyone from Okay. Uh the the last

10:26question I was going to to ask is how

10:28are we working with those providers who

10:31are already operating within this space

10:33from a collaborative standpoint. Um but

10:36that point has already been made. I know

10:38the city manager has already

10:39communicated with um those in municipal

10:41court. So looking forward to making sure

10:44that that happens and this is exciting.

10:45But I just want to make sure that our

10:47providers, Witchaw Family Crisis Center,

10:49WASAC, a couple of those who already

10:51operate in this space are part of this

10:53conversation because they are the

10:55experts in the field.

10:56>> Okay. Thank you. That's that's a good

10:58question and and just to maybe speak to

11:01the procurement process. So there's a

11:03fine line in in procurement people um

11:05for our industry is that um we we very

11:08much encourage our departments to have

11:09active engagement with the community to

11:10complete what's called their market

11:12research. Um really where it gets

11:14concerning in the contracting and and

11:17vendor selection process world is where

11:19you have what's called consultant

11:21developing specifications. So um the

11:23purchasing policy robustly really

11:25prohibits or has a firewall from

11:27consultants developing specs. Uh but

11:29that in no way shape or form prohibits

11:33the community engagement of this process

11:36or saying just something as a as an

11:38opportunity to say hey this is out on

11:39the street. We'd like to see your

11:41proposal. Um the only problem it comes

11:43into is if departments are prohibited

11:46under our policy from directly reaching

11:48out to vendors or consultants and asking

11:51them to develop our specs. Um we

11:53prohibit at that point to receive their

11:55submission because of that.

11:58>> Thank you. I appreciate that

12:00clarification.

12:03>> Thank you Josh. I see no further

12:05comments from colleagues. With that, I

12:07will move to approve the board of bids

12:08and contracts dated October 26, 2026.

12:11Second

12:12>> motion second. Discussion see none. All

12:14those in favor say I. I. All those

12:17opposed, same sign. Motion passes. 70.

12:20Madame clerk, please call the next item.

12:25Petitions for public improvements.

12:36Good morning, mayor, city council

12:37members. Paul Gunelman, public works and

12:39utilities for the record of one location

12:42for your consideration this morning.

12:45The signature on the petitions represent

12:47100% of the improvement districts and

12:49the petitions are valid per Kansas

12:51statute.

12:53Culter Ridge edition. Culter Ridge

12:55second edition. I apologize. Located in

12:57district 4. The project will provide

13:00water improvements, storm water drain

13:02improvements,

13:04sanitary sewer improvements, and paving

13:06improvements required for a new

13:08residential subdivision.

13:10It is recommended that city council

13:12approve the new petitions and budgets,

13:14adopt the new resolutions, and authorize

13:16the necessary signatures. And I will

13:18stand for questions.

13:20>> Thank you. Paul, can you go back to SL

13:23two slides? There we go. This is a

13:26pretty um large number. Is this typical

13:29of storm water improvements to be in the

13:31$3 million range?

13:33>> Part of I Let me see. Um

13:37I don't have the uh size of this

13:40development, but it is for the entire

13:42development. You can see there's

13:43multiple phases of water sanitaries here

13:46and paving improvements throughout. So,

13:51Thank you, Paul.

13:53I see no further comments. With that, I

13:56will move to approve the petitions for

13:58public improvements.

14:00Motion second. Discussion. See none. All

14:02those in favor say I. I. All those

14:05opposed, same sign. Motion passes. 70.

14:09Madame clerk, please call the next item.

14:13>> Council member appointments and

14:14comments.

14:16>> Council members, any appointments? I

14:19have one one and so does council member

14:21Johnson. Go ahead, council member.

14:24>> I'd like to point reappoint Lamont

14:26Anderson to the cultural arts committee.

14:33>> I have two appointments. I will

14:35reappoint Courtney Wages to the Access

14:37Advisory Board and I will make an

14:41appointment on behalf of Commissioner

14:42Jeff Blueb to appoint Brad White for the

14:46Witchaw Airport Advisory Board for the

14:48unexpired term of Brian Rolof.

14:52With that, I will move to approve the

14:54appointments.

14:55>> Second.

14:55>> Motion second. Discussion. See none. All

14:58those in favor say I. I. All those

15:01opposed, same sign. Motion passes. 70

15:04council members comments.

15:06>> Mayor, I just want to give kudos. Last

15:08night I had the opportunity to gather um

15:11precinct committee people from the

15:12Republican party and Democratic party

15:14that uh operate within District 1. And

15:16one of the questions I asked is what's

15:18something that's concerning you

15:19regarding the city, but um I want to

15:21focus on the positive right now. So I

15:24also asked them what are the things that

15:25the city is doing well and wanted to

15:27give a shout out. park and wreck and the

15:29utilization rates specifically at Carl

15:31Brewer came up. The Red Bud Trail and

15:34somebody had a suggestion to do open

15:37streets but on the Red Bud Trail which I

15:39think is awesome. Becky's going to make

15:41sure that gets done before she's done.

15:43Uh and then also um really talked about

15:46the trigoal meetings, Mayor uh which I

15:48give you credit for bringing those three

15:50governmental bodies together to talk

15:51about the overlapping issues. And then

15:54finally, shout out to uh public works

15:56because storm water drainage, improving

15:58roads, specifically on 17th Street came

16:00up as well. So, um I really appreciate

16:03bringing that diverse group of folks

16:05together to talk about the good things

16:06that are happening. Of course, there are

16:08areas that they feel we can grow in, but

16:10I thought it was good that they

16:11recognize the good work that's happening

16:13as well in the city.

16:17>> I just have two. Um, just want to say

16:19thank you to McConnell Air Force Base,

16:21all the airmen and all the volunteers

16:24and supporters who were able to host the

16:28air show this past weekend. This air

16:30show only happens every other year. And

16:32it is a big task for the base to be able

16:35to open up their home to 100,000 people.

16:39And so I really want to say thank you to

16:42our airmen uh for your continued service

16:44to our country but also this past

16:47weekend through the air show. So thank

16:48you very much uh especially to colonel

16:52um to commander rather uh Joe Wall. With

16:56that the second comment I wanted to

16:58welcome our new assistant city manager

17:00that will join alongside assistant city

17:03manager Dante assistant city manager

17:06Jenny. So, if you have a couple of

17:08things to say.

17:12Am I on ready? All right. Thank you,

17:13Mayor Woo. I am very excited. I think

17:15I've met everyone except maybe Mr.

17:17Johnston. So, I'll come around and shake

17:19your hand later, but um went through a

17:21full day of orientation yesterday and

17:24ready to dive in. Looking forward to

17:26working with each of you and on behalf

17:27of the citizens of Witchah.

17:31>> With that, I see no further comments. I

17:33will now move to adjourn this meeting.

17:36Second

17:36>> motion second. Discussion seeing none.

17:39All those in favor say I.

17:41>> I. All those opposed, same sign. Motion

17:44passes. 70. We adjourn at 9:16 p.m. Uh

17:48am rather. Yes. Now we will pass it

17:52over.

17:54>> Now we will pass it over to our city

17:56manager for the workshop.

17:58>> Thank you, mayor and council members. We

18:01have a robust workshop topics for you

18:03today. A lot of issues I know. Um,

18:05council members have been interested in

18:07getting some updates on. We will start

18:10with our annual, I'm sorry, our monthly

18:13update on our Witaw Water Works project

18:16and have Gary Jansen, our director of

18:17public works and utilities, come give

18:19you that update for our new water

18:21treatment plant.

18:23>> Thank you, manager, mayor and council

18:25members. Gary Jansen, public works and

18:26utilities. I'm going to be really brief

18:27on this first item. um our monthly

18:30update on Witto Waterworks staff

18:32continues to train within the facility

18:34operations are going well. Um the

18:37majority of the water that's being

18:39treated, the test water is still going

18:41to our existing plant to finish

18:44treatment and is going into the system.

18:46Uh we are down one staff member that

18:48we're trying to hire, but we've got 16

18:50folks there plus our supervisors.

18:53Again, everything's going well. working

18:54through different operational scenarios,

18:56different blends between uh surface

18:59water and groundwater. We still expect

19:01to be fully operational and online by

19:03next spring. So, a lot to work on

19:06between now and then. Uh final list of

19:08maintenance items we're working on which

19:10water partners and then ultimately we

19:12have to work with KDH to get a permit to

19:14operate the facility as intended. Uh we

19:17do continue conversations with W which

19:19water partners are ongoing regarding

19:22recovery of some of our costs related to

19:24chemicals and uh energy and and some

19:27personnel staffing costs um due to the

19:30delay with the clarifier repairs. So

19:32that's all I have for that for now. I'd

19:34be happy to answer any questions.

19:37>> I see none.

19:41>> All right. I'm going to ready for me to

19:42move on. Uh I want to talk uh give you

19:45an update on across all of our utilities

19:47today starting with water and sewer and

19:49then we'll move on to storm sewer. Got a

19:51lot of information. I know you've got a

19:52big agenda here on the workshop. So I'm

19:54going to move through this pretty quick.

19:56Please ask any questions as we go. So uh

19:59agenda for this item on the water and

20:01sewer side is a review of previous city

20:03council action utility updates for talk

20:07about projects and programs. what all

20:09goes into uh encompasses these proposed

20:12rate increases uh financial updates for

20:15the utility water and sewer again

20:18upcoming items specific to this and then

20:20next steps and then we're going to talk

20:21about storm water rates uh also a review

20:24of previous city council action we do

20:26have a revised rate recommendation I

20:28want to talk about today that we would

20:29bring to the council later this year and

20:30then next steps there also so in uh late

20:34last year the city council approved

20:36water and sewer rate adjustments for

20:37three years as first time that we had

20:39done this. I think it was a great

20:40suggestion

20:42um that we do this for some stability uh

20:46so that kind of folks know what is

20:48coming. So the council approved water

20:50and sewer rate adjustments for 2026,

20:522027, 2028 and requested annual updates

20:56regarding utility activities, finances,

20:58and emerging factors that might

21:00influence those future rates. So that's

21:02why we're here today. Uh nothing has

21:04changed. We're not recommending anything

21:06different than what was approved. uh

21:09last year, late last year. So if you

21:11look at the majority of our uh

21:14customers, 90% of our customers are

21:16residential. The majority of those would

21:18what would be in that low volume, that

21:20first line. If you So if you look at for

21:232026, the average monthly water and

21:26sewer bill is just over $66.

21:29the proposed rate increase that was

21:31improved by the council um from for 2027

21:37to 7.52% which would add just over not

21:40quite $5 uh to the bill for 2027 and

21:44then we're just under 7% for 2028 which

21:47would increase that another $4 or so. So

21:50we start at $66

21:522026 with the rate increases that were

21:56approved by the council. Again, we're

21:57not asking for those to change. Um, we

22:00end up at just over $75 in 2028.

22:04How this compares to other communities,

22:07uh, we've got I've got three different

22:08ways I'd like to show this to you. And

22:09this has evolved over time as we've

22:11talked about this um, as a comparison.

22:14So, on the left, we looked at regional

22:16cities. Um, these are just in Kansas

22:19only. I won't go through that entire

22:21list, but you can see uh, we we picked

22:23some of the larger regional cities. We

22:25are second from the bottom there as far

22:27as overall. So I might mention I just

22:30talked about uh the $66 a month for low

22:33user. The majority of our users when we

22:35look at this comparison it's for a

22:37mid-level user. That's where the data is

22:39available for other communities. So

22:41that's why it shows this higher at the

22:42105. If you if you go back to um where

22:47we were at here, you'll see that 10568

22:49midvol user. That's what we're comparing

22:52to. So for regional cities, second from

22:54the bottom, I35 corridor cities has been

22:57traditionally what we have looked at.

22:59Kansas City, Omaha, De Moines, Oklahoma

23:01City, Tulsa, Fort Worth, uh which is

23:03still and traditionally usually has been

23:06at the bottom of those. We used to just

23:08look at that only and there were

23:10questions about is that relevant? Does

23:12that make sense? Fort Worth is a million

23:14people. There were questions about

23:16whether we were comparing uh apples to

23:18apples. So that's why we added this

23:20other. And I've got one more to show you

23:21also.

23:22uh that we thought was important. So our

23:26um

23:28consultant that we use for utility

23:29financing uh has a lot of expertise in

23:32this area. They looked at the uh top the

23:36populations closest to ours, the 10

23:38above and the 10 below where the data

23:40was available. This is obviously not 20,

23:43but this is where the data was

23:44available. So you can see these are very

23:46comparable populations across the

23:49country uh in states across the country.

23:52So we still end up in that bottom uh

23:54half for sure comparably for

23:57affordability. We think that's a great

23:59place to be.

24:02Moving on from that, looking at key

24:04projects and those things that um we

24:07utilize these rate increases for overall

24:10outside of normal operations, we have a

24:13large system. We have a lot of fixed

24:14costs. We have impacts that we see every

24:18year uh related to inflation especially

24:20what we've seen over the last 5 to 10

24:22years. But there's a lot of things that

24:24happen within the utility that these

24:27rates serve to cover. So our BNR project

24:29all of you are very well aware of. We

24:31had an update on that here month or two

24:33ago here at the workshop. Project is

24:35progressing and on schedule. Uh we're

24:38still shooting for substantial

24:39completion late next year. Uh the

24:43a big part of this project is odor

24:45control. As we've talked about the

24:47primary clarifiers that we are putting

24:49covers on that work is expected to be

24:52completed here in October. It's going to

24:54be next spring before we see the full

24:56impact of those improvements because

24:58there's a lot that has to happen with

24:59the biological processes and the systems

25:01in place. We are starting to see a dis a

25:04a difference with already with the

25:07monitoring on site. We are seeing a

25:09change with odor. we will see a marked

25:12difference come next spring. So, we're

25:13really excited about that. That primary

25:15structure you see in that upper right

25:17picture, which is the main component of

25:19this BNR project, is mostly complete.

25:22Equipment's being placed in that. Now,

25:25uh another exciting thing that's coming

25:27on site, not directly related to the B&R

25:29project, is the bio gas project. You see

25:32in the bottom right, currently now our

25:34digesttors create methane gas. This is a

25:37normal process for wastewater treatment

25:39facility that is flared off into the

25:41environment. We have now uh we are

25:43working on a

25:46contract with a for a public private

25:49partnership for a team that we selected

25:51we expect to bring to the city council

25:53here uh before the end of the year. And

25:56what that would do is this group would

25:59design, build, finance, own, operate and

26:01maintain a gas process processing system

26:03at no upfront cost to the city. So they

26:06capture this gas, they utilize it,

26:07they've got an agreement uh with what

26:10could be multiple gas providers to

26:12utilize that. Um

26:15we will end up as part of that agreement

26:17assuming your approval that I will bring

26:19to you here before the end of the year.

26:21We will see uh revenue from that. That's

26:24part of the agreement. That's part of

26:26what we'll have discussion with and

26:27that's part of what our selection was.

26:30New revenue generated from that will be

26:32factored in the sewer rate model. We

26:33don't know what that's going to be yet.

26:35Uh but this is really, we think, a

26:37win-win for everybody. So, I'm excited

26:39to bring that to you next quarter. Um

26:41there's really no additional cost to us,

26:44but that additional revenue will be a

26:46positive input to our rates going

26:49forward. Waw Waterworks, I won't spend

26:51much time on it. Just talk to you about

26:52that. We took occupancy on September

26:549th. Staff training is in place.

26:56Operations are going well. Plan to be

26:59online in the spring. I do want to be

27:01very clear that the delays I've talked

27:03about this before and I'll say it again.

27:06Uh the delays have had no impact on

27:07rates. What you approved late last year

27:10um what we're talking about today the

27:13same rates are not impacted by the

27:15delay. There are no additional capital

27:16costs. All of the cost to repair the

27:18clarifiers the responsibility WTO water

27:20partners. We won't even see what those

27:22costs are. We're working through some

27:24cost recovery for operational but that

27:26still has no impact on the rates. I just

27:28want to be very clear about that.

27:30our main our main water treatment plant.

27:34Um, city council previously chose to go

27:37down a path to convert that to emergency

27:38use. We are working through that design

27:40now. Um, the concept was presented to

27:43KDHE just recently. Um, the design

27:47builder is working on the basis of

27:48design report. We expect to have 30%

27:50design next January. So, we hope to be

27:53ready uh to move forward with that

27:54project once Witto Waterworks comes

27:56online some period afterwards. probably

27:58take us a couple years to have all of

28:00that work done and be ready for that to

28:02serve as emergency purposes. And I will

28:04tell you too, as we've talked about our

28:07water reuse efforts, there is a chance

28:09we could use this facility for part of

28:10what we do in the future for water

28:12reuse,

28:15which leads me to that very project. Um,

28:17in July, city council, you approved $8

28:20million for the pilot project to be able

28:22to continue to move forward our reuse

28:23efforts. That piloting process will

28:26allow for continued public engagement,

28:28education, informing regulators and

28:30elected officials. KDH is currently

28:32working on regulations related to and

28:35allowing drug portable reuse. This will

28:37do about as much as possible to inform

28:40them and show uh the regulators and the

28:43public how this can work safely. We're

28:46expecting that project to begin early in

28:482028. current rate structure does not

28:50account for fullcale implementation but

28:53it does cover the cost of the pilot. So

28:55we are looking to the future what full

28:57scale looks like. We actually have our

29:00consultant and staff that are working on

29:02an economic analysis now um looking on

29:06return on investment how that might be

29:08funded in the future. We want to

29:10leverage outside funding as much as

29:11possible that is nowhere within our

29:13rates right now. on that.

29:16>> Um,

29:18>> when will this discussion start hitting

29:20full steam, you think, as far as looking

29:23at potential funding opportunities and

29:26making plans? Do we have to wait for the

29:28KDHE to get um fully staffed and fully

29:32up to speed on this?

29:34>> Um, I don't think so. And I don't think

29:36that we want to wait that long. as part

29:40of our water reuse master plan and what

29:42I talked about the portion that we're

29:44working on right now related to this

29:45economic analysis. We spoke with you and

29:48council member Tuttle about that uh and

29:50your thoughts and impacts and what the

29:52drought had on the community. We also

29:54spoke to some local businesses. We spent

29:55time with Greater Witsaw Partnership

29:58um trying to get their thoughts on

30:00future impact if we have water shortage

30:03in particular and looking to the growth

30:05of our community. But having said all of

30:08that, I think in the next uh 24 months

30:11likely we'll really start digging into

30:13what this looks like. As we get past

30:162032ish,

30:19we'll start to see um a lessening of the

30:23impact of financing our two big

30:24projects, Witto Waterworks and BNR. They

30:28will start to drop off past that point

30:29and I think we start looking at what

30:32future rates might look like. There are

30:34some programs through the Bureau of

30:36Reclamation on the federal side that

30:38could fund up to 25% of a project that

30:41size, which may not seem like a lot, but

30:44we're talking about potentially half a

30:45billion dollars for full-scale

30:47implementation. So, that's a pretty

30:49considerable offset. So, to go back to

30:52answer your question, because I still

30:52haven't done a very good job, we we need

30:55to continue working through uh these

30:57elements of our master plan. we need to

30:59get this uh pilot underway

31:03because what happens with that pilot

31:05more than anything is going to inform

31:07what full-scale implementation looks

31:09like the treatment processes in

31:10particular. So I think it's probably

31:13going to be um towards the end of 2028

31:15before we can really start taking an

31:17earnest look at fullcale implementation

31:20and cost impacts.

31:21>> Okay. Thank you.

31:25Um lead and copper regulations we've

31:27talked about some this is a federal

31:29mandate to remove uh lead from systems

31:32which we've been working on for a long

31:33time. We have a few lead service lines

31:36left uh in our system that we are

31:39planning to mitigate. This is more of an

31:41outreach um um opportunity for the

31:44public because there are lead service

31:47lines on the private side. city is not

31:50responsible to replace those but we are

31:52responsible to make sure that the public

31:54understands the future impacts of this.

31:56So there is some funding included in the

31:58current rate model um primarily for data

32:01modeling administrative expenses for

32:03program management replacement of public

32:05lines. So that's included here too.

32:07Highlights some uh bigger capital

32:10projects. We had $39 million in the CIP

32:13for replacement of large sanitary sewer

32:16under I135. Just a quick reminder on

32:18that. We have a one of our primary uh

32:22main sewer lines was built before I135

32:26was there, right? So

32:29highway ended up getting built over this

32:31sewer. It's been there long enough. It's

32:34gotten old enough. We replaced the first

32:36portion of this probably 10 years ago.

32:39Um the bottom half of it now the project

32:41is now complete. So, we're getting ready

32:43to abandon that and get that out from

32:44under the interstate because that's not

32:46a good proposition long term. So, that

32:48was a good investment for our rates

32:50within the CIP. We've got uh multiple

32:53wells within the Equipeds aquifer. We've

32:55got 75 wells um that are used for

32:59groundwater for um our our raw water

33:02supply as well as recharging the

33:03aquifer. And then we've got 16 local

33:05wells. We have considerable investment

33:07in the capital improvement program every

33:09year for making sure that those wells

33:11are maintained and rehabilitated.

33:13So we also have to look at what we've

33:16done for conservation efforts and how

33:18that might impact the rates.

33:21We I mentioned before we have a large

33:23system to own and maintain. We have a

33:24lot of fixed costs. So our model

33:28includes revenue from selling water. So

33:30we have to have this balance of our

33:33first and foremost we want to conserve

33:34for the future. We want to create a

33:36long-term water supply, we have to be

33:38very cognizant of the impact of selling

33:40less water and what that does to our

33:43rate model. So the approved 2026 2028

33:48rates did not assume revenue losses from

33:50the permanent watering schedule adopted

33:53in late 2025 and so far the current

33:56project projections support that

33:58assumption and no future rate

33:59adjustments are anticipated because of

34:01this policy change which is a good

34:02thing. I mentioned that 90% of our

34:05customers are residential, but over 50%

34:07of our water use is on the commercial

34:09side. Um, so their use can vary as we

34:14continue to grow with commercial

34:16businesses in the community. We will

34:18still see uh somewhat normal

34:21consumption. So we we lessen the impact

34:23on revenue, which is a good thing. On

34:26the right side, uh I might just mention

34:28again, you know, our watering schedule

34:30is working. It appears to be working

34:32well. We never meant for this to be

34:34punitive. I don't have the staff to go

34:36out and monitor this. We try to keep an

34:38eye on things. We try to we want

34:40everybody to follow the rules. We try to

34:42the public keep themselves honest. You

34:44can see there hasn't been a lot from

34:46fines. This isn't about making money off

34:48of fines. We want everybody to get in

34:50line. Um on the water conservation

34:52rebate, uh we have issued credits for

34:56over $65,000. We do have some funds

34:58remaining with that. But all of this is

35:00done to conserve water.

35:03Just to kind of show you where we've

35:05been on water consumption. This is

35:07really an interesting chart to look at.

35:08I don't think I would have quite

35:09expected what we saw here, but 2019, I

35:13would bring your attention if you see

35:14how low that was. That was a record wet

35:17year in Witchaw. We had a lot a lot of

35:19rain. So less water being used kind of

35:21makes sense. 2022 being as high as it

35:24is, I think CO probably had some impact.

35:27most likely on people getting back to a

35:30little bit normal. I would assume it was

35:32a fairly dry and hot year, but you can

35:34see um that we started heading down from

35:37there. 2023 we were in stage one of our

35:39drought response plan uh which

35:42encouraged voluntary conservation. 2024

35:45we started getting into stage two and

35:46obviously 2025 was most of that. We are

35:49back up in 2026. Something that we want

35:52to keep a close eye on, but we are

35:54almost 221 million gallons lower than

35:57the pre- drought average in 2021 to

35:592023. This is something that we keep a

36:01close eye on. Our finance experts staff

36:05do a really good job of looking at

36:07long-term projections because we have to

36:09understand what the revenues look like

36:10versus expenses.

36:12So, getting to that point, I won't spend

36:14a lot of time here. The reason I wanted

36:16to show this was that there's a lot that

36:19goes into our operations for a utility

36:21of our size. This shows 2024, 2025,

36:252026, water and sewer utility expenses.

36:272026 is through September only. But all

36:31these different colors uh include salary

36:34and benefits for staff, commodities,

36:36debt service on previous projects and

36:38those that are coming forward. We've got

36:41other expenses, contractuals, capital

36:43outlay, and then we have our own

36:44internal payments to the city. I won't

36:46spend any more time on that unless you

36:47want to. I just wanted to show that this

36:50is part of the formula. When we start

36:52looking at necessary rate increases each

36:54year, this is where we start with

36:56expenses and then we move on to

36:58revenues.

37:00You can see the blue here. The majority

37:03of our revenues comes from rates. So, as

37:06we talk about rates every single year,

37:07we are funding the utility. This is not

37:10unlike other communities, especially

37:12those our size. User fees, which I'm

37:15going to talk about here shortly.

37:17Expansion fees are also related to new

37:19development for supporting what we need

37:22for new treatment facilities. And then

37:24we've got a few other things baked in

37:26there. So, I can come back to those if

37:28you've got any questions. I just want to

37:30show real quickly that this is part of

37:31of what happens um through a very

37:35complex

37:36um uh C of bringing all these numbers

37:40together and staff stays on this and

37:41does a really good job throughout the

37:43year working with our finance department

37:44too and always knows where we're at. So

37:47we also have some impact I talked about

37:49before that I'll hit on again real quick

37:52uh that could that is impacting revenue

37:54based on use reductions. The cities of

37:56Valley Center and Derby are both

37:58building their own water treatment

37:59facilities. They are utilizing water

38:02rights that they have that they haven't

38:04previously used. That's a good thing.

38:07Um, we're going to end up seeing an

38:08annual reduction of 400 million gallons

38:11of water use from those two communities

38:14that we had previously provided to them.

38:16But what that does correlate to is $2

38:18and.5 million in revenue, less revenue

38:22beginning this year in 2027. that is

38:26included in these rates. When I

38:28presented these rates to you late last

38:30year, our um

38:34our proposed rate increases did include

38:37this reduction in revenue. Um I think

38:39we've done a really good job of

38:40spreading this out over time. So that's

38:42included here. So it's a good thing to

38:44have um adding to our long-term water

38:47supply. With this happening, we did have

38:50to account for the change in revenue.

38:53We also look uh for any opportunities we

38:55can to save costs um overtime. Again,

38:59staff does a great job with billing,

39:02especially we've got 165,000 customers.

39:04We spend a lot of time looking at ways

39:06that we can save money. Some of these

39:09don't seem like a lot, but everything

39:10adds up. Some quick examples. We

39:14eliminated the customer deposit

39:16requirement this year. Um it's something

39:19that we were seeing no value from. It

39:21was a burden on a lot of folks. We think

39:24that's going to save us $9,000 a year.

39:27We had had a process previously moving

39:29on to the next line when someone moved

39:31out. We do not have a fully automated

39:34meter reading system. We still have to

39:36drive by them. So, we had uh an

39:39additional 16,000 trips that we're now

39:42going to save to get an additional meter

39:44reading. We've changed that process. We

39:46figured out another way to go about

39:48that. That saves over $70,000 a year. We

39:51also have converted um everyone to

39:53autopay, all of our customers to

39:55autopay. Some people still want to get a

39:57paper bill, which is fine. We converted

39:59everybody to autopay and then let them

40:01opt back into if they want to get a

40:03paper bill. I think some will do that.

40:06That's saving $120,000 a year because

40:08most folks don't do anything with that

40:10paper bill that they get. We thought it

40:12was time to move on past that. So, these

40:14all really start to add up and they do

40:16help long-term when we look at um rate

40:18increases, assistance programs. I've

40:20talked about in the past what we do uh

40:23to help with those who qualify

40:25incomewise

40:27um in 2026. So, the rate relief program,

40:30it used to be that we provided $50 uh on

40:33the bill. We doubled that to $100.

40:35That's the orange part. I think that's

40:37why you see that as so much more this

40:39year is because people have taken

40:40advantage of that. the H2O the H2O care

40:44program

40:48which is uh let me catch myself up here

40:50real quick. The H2O care program which

40:54is administered by Center of Hope.

40:55Sorry, I was drawing a blank on that. Um

40:58they have seen a lot less requests this

41:01year. You can see in the blue. We think

41:03that's likely attributable because we

41:04went up to $100. people are capitalizing

41:07on the rate relief first and they're

41:09able to use uh assistance from Center of

41:12Hope for other bills. That's what Center

41:14of Hope has said. They're using it for

41:15other utility bills. So, I think this is

41:17working out well to provide a balance. I

41:20think this is a great program. It's uh

41:22comes from customer donations and 100th

41:25of 1% of water and sewer rate revenues,

41:27which was earmarked by the city council

41:29in 2016. The customer of donations to

41:31the H2O program more than doubled after

41:34we introduced online giving options in

41:362024. So, this is still a really good

41:38program. Our staff does a wonderful job

41:41of working with folks, including

41:43providing the option for payment plans.

41:46Um, we want to work with people even if

41:48we provide payment plans regardless of

41:51qualifying income. We want to work with

41:53folks and I do think we do a really good

41:55job with that. That is all before I move

41:58on from that. That's all I've got

41:59related to rates. I want to talk about

42:01user fees. Now, also related to water

42:03and sewer, but again, nothing's changing

42:05from the rate increases were recommended

42:07late last year. Uh everything will stay

42:09the same there. Second part uh that I

42:12talked about is user fees. So, so when

42:15we talked about rate revenue, that's

42:16basic services to all customers. That's

42:18build monthly. And as we just talked

42:21about, the adjustments for 26, 27, and

42:2428 were approved late last year. User

42:27fees are specific services to individual

42:29users. They are build as needed to

42:32recover our costs only. They're adjusted

42:35every two years. We are at that point

42:37where we need the city council approval

42:39by ordinance to move forward with the

42:42next adjustment. So, I'm going to give

42:43you some samples of user fees including

42:45inspection charge. Uh when there's a

42:48customer request for inspection of meter

42:50or service, we hear that often that

42:53there's a high consumption. someone

42:55thinks maybe the meter's not working

42:57properly, they want to know if their

42:58service line, our service line has a

43:00leak, so we'll send somebody out. We

43:02have a standard grease maintenance fee

43:05uh where we do routine cleaning of

43:07manholes. I think as you're probably

43:09aware now, all new restaurants and those

43:11that need a grease trap, there are very

43:13very specific standards providing to

43:16keep grease out of our sewer system.

43:18There were some businesses that were

43:20grandfathered in. They pay a fee for us

43:22to do additional cleaning of the sewer

43:24downstream of that. And then another

43:26example is installation of a new 2-in

43:28water meter. So to just show you what

43:30these look like real quick and give you

43:31some examples, the inspection charge uh

43:34from meter inspections or whatever it

43:36might be or going up $2 per year, nearly

43:38all of this is impacted by just

43:40inflationary cost. The standard grease

43:43maintenance fee is actually staying the

43:46same. Our goal is cost recovery only.

43:49Sometimes we look at what the costs were

43:51and there's no reason to make any

43:53increases. It may have been that we were

43:54a little bit higher than we should have

43:56been in the current fee. New water

43:58service fee is going up about $350. That

44:02one is related almost entirely to

44:04materials costs and the impacts um

44:06there. So just a couple of examples. We

44:09will be coming back to you uh in

44:11December for approving this full list.

44:14Going on from there, um we are ready for

44:17our next cost of service analysis. The

44:20last one was completed in 2022. Industry

44:23best practices recommend a formal COA

44:25every 3 to five years. That's to ensure

44:27rates continue to reflect the actual

44:29cost of providing service. Again, I

44:32think we do a really good job of staying

44:33on top of this, looking to the future,

44:35projecting where we need to be, but it

44:37really makes sense to bring someone in

44:39from outside every three to five years

44:41and take a holistic look at what we're

44:43doing and make sure we're still headed

44:44in the right direction because over

44:46time, customer demand, operating costs,

44:49capital investments, regulatory

44:50requirements, and consumption patterns

44:52change. This periodic analysis uh helps

44:55verify that revenues remain adequate

44:58that rates continue to support the

44:59long-term financial um sustainability.

45:03So, we're planning to put an RFP out

45:05early next year, probably take 18

45:08months. We have somebody on board and

45:10then those coastal results will inform

45:13our next rates going forward beyond what

45:15you've already improved for 26, 27, and

45:1828. So, that'll be a good thing coming

45:19up. Wrapping up water and sewer. Just to

45:22summarize what's next. Uh water and

45:24sewer rate adjustments will not be

45:26considered again until late 2028.

45:29We'll come back to you this same time

45:31next year to confirm that we're still in

45:34a good spot and that the recommended

45:36rates do not need to change. User fee

45:39res revisions that I just talked about

45:42uh will be in front of the council in

45:43December.

45:45These fees which do have an impact on

45:48new development have been provided to

45:50WABA. So I've had a discussion with

45:52Tyler showing him what the increases

45:53were. We typically do that and then a

45:56cost of service analysis will be

45:57completed started next year and that

46:00will inform our recommendations in 2029

46:02and beyond.

46:04That's all I've got for water and sewer.

46:06I'm ready to move on to storm water if

46:07you don't have any questions with that.

46:11Okay. So, we're trying to get all of our

46:14utility on the same schedule. Uh, we

46:16hadn't done anything on the storm water

46:18side for quite some time with the base

46:21rate increase that you approved earlier

46:23this year. We want to try to get all of

46:25this in alignment. So, I want to talk to

46:27you about the discussion we had earlier

46:29this year and one change that we'd like

46:31to consider with that. So, in February

46:33of this year, city council was asked to

46:36consider three options for increasing

46:39our storm water utility base rate so

46:42that we could start trying to attack

46:43some of these neighborhood drainage

46:45issues across the community. The

46:47selected option increased the monthly

46:48base fee a total of $1 to 250 beginning

46:53April 1st and projected the need for

46:56annual O andM inflationary adjustments

46:58of 15 cents beginning in 2027. So at

47:01that time only the dollar increase was

47:03adopted. The annual 15 cent increase for

47:07O andM was projected and that city and

47:10you asked us to consider presenting

47:12multi-year adjustments in the future

47:14like water and sewer. So originally our

47:17goal today was to talk to you about this

47:1915 cent increase and consider doing this

47:22over three years for inflationary

47:23impacts. We've got something that's come

47:26up in the meantime that I'm going to get

47:27to on the next slide. to just highlight

47:29what this $1 is going to. Um that base

47:33fee increase expanded our capacity for

47:35drainage improvements,

47:37particularly in existing neighborhoods.

47:40We are finalizing an RFP to complete

47:42design for the initial projects. Um we

47:45expect to have that out the door soon.

47:47This is the 10-year project forecast. Um

47:50kind of highlighting some of the areas.

47:51These are neighborhood areas if you

47:54recall. we've kind of got them blocked

47:55in um across all the districts. It

47:59includes subsizing of some of our

48:00systems. It includes making improvements

48:02in neighborhoods. This is going to be uh

48:05a real game changer for us compared to

48:08where we've been to be able to start um

48:10impacting some of these long-term

48:12neighborhood drainage improvement issues

48:14that we've had. So if we look at the

48:16proposed 15 cent annual increase for O

48:20andM and renewal and replacement costs,

48:23this is what it looks like including the

48:2515 cents. So you can see uh if we look

48:28at expenses at the orange line, the

48:30revenue, the blue line includes the 15

48:32cents. I don't have the a chart to show

48:35you without it, but without the 15

48:36cents, there would be a lot bigger gap

48:38between these two. So, first and

48:40foremost, that's what we're asking for

48:42the 15 cent increase for, and we'd like

48:45to do that for the next three years.

48:49We do have a revised recommendation for

48:51you today. Um, what we'd like to do is

48:53consider adding 30 cents to that for

48:56funding for roadside ditch maintenance.

48:58And I'll explain to you about what this

48:59looks like and where this is coming from

49:01and why this wasn't discussed last time.

49:04So

49:06the we previously had roadside ditch

49:10maintenance as a responsibility in our

49:12street maintenance division. It kind of

49:14just ended up there. It was kind of been

49:16an orphaned program for years. It's

49:18never been funded. When it was in our

49:20street maintenance group, we had no

49:21allocated funding. So, when we talk

49:24about this dollar base rate increase

49:26that will help with neighborhood

49:28drainage improvements, I think most of

49:30you are aware because I've probably

49:32talked to all of you at one time that

49:34we've got some neighborhoods, especially

49:36as we get to the fringes and areas that

49:38have been annexed in from the county

49:40where we've still got ditches. Those

49:43areas may never get improved with

49:44underground storm sewers. Some of them

49:46aren't even paved streets. Ditch

49:48maintenance becomes a real challenge.

49:51It's something that we've tried to

49:53accommodate. We've never had a dedicated

49:55funding source for. We moved it into our

49:58storm water maintenance group. We set

50:00aside some funding and we're still not

50:03gaining ground. In fact, we're losing

50:05ground. So, I'll talk to you about the

50:06magnitude of what we're talking about

50:08here on the number of requests. So, due

50:10to the lack of resources, the current

50:12program has over 400 outstanding

50:14maintenance requests for ditch

50:16maintenance. Uh we have set aside

50:20$225,000

50:21within the current storm water utility

50:24which we really didn't have there. We

50:26hired contractors to do the work. We're

50:29not getting very far with this

50:31recommendation to add 30 cents per month

50:34to the base rate fee would add two of

50:37our own crews so we can take this on

50:40necessary equipment so that we can use

50:43$700,000 a year to really start making

50:45an impact. And I'll show you some

50:47numbers on the next slide. Insourcing

50:49the program would increase response

50:50capacity, address more annual requests,

50:52and significantly reduce the backlog

50:54over time.

50:56So this is just a good example of the

50:58things that we see. Um m the mowing of

51:02these ditches is a responsibility of

51:03property owners and they recognize that,

51:05but it becomes a real challenge to grade

51:07ditches.

51:09We see approximately 15 new requests

51:11each year. Um, examples include street

51:14flooding due to ditch blockage,

51:16overgrown vegetation restricting proper

51:18drainage, things you see like this. The

51:20current model, the $225,000 we're using

51:23with a contractor, this allows us to

51:26impact five to seven requests per year.

51:30Let me remind you, we have a list of

51:31over 400 and we're only getting to five

51:34to seven per year. This is years and

51:36years that we're looking at before we're

51:38going to get to some of these. Under the

51:41new model, it's projected that in-house

51:42staff could address over 60 requests per

51:45year. So, you can see we can make a

51:47really big impact here. We still got a

51:49long ways to go, but with 30 cents, we

51:52could really help ourselves. So, I would

51:53direct your

51:55attention to class to that first line.

51:58Um, the ERU is $2 per year. We're not

52:02going to mess with ERU. That has to do

52:05with the pvious area and the amount of

52:07drainage. We've got that stable in a

52:09good place. But if you look at the

52:11current 2026 monthly bill, $4.50.

52:15That includes the current ERU and the

52:17base rate fee that included the dollar

52:20increase from this year. What we're

52:22recommending now instead of just the 15

52:24cents for 2027 is an additional 30 cents

52:28for a total of 45. Go from 450 to 4.95.

52:32we can really start having a big impact

52:34on ditch grading by being able to hire

52:36our own crews. 2028 we would go back

52:39just to the 15 cents inflationary

52:42impact. So we go from 495 to 510.

52:45Hopefully that all makes sense. This is

52:47something we also would bring back to

52:48you yet this year for actual

52:51consideration a recommendation. Just

52:53wanted to have this conversation today

52:54so you understood where we're at.

52:56>> Would that include uh covert clearing

52:58and covert maintenance? It would um you

53:01know cover culverts are actually the

53:03responsibility by ordinance of the

53:05property owner just like driveways. But

53:07to be effective on this uh we at least

53:11will clean out the culverts and try to

53:13reset them elevationwise to where they

53:15work. To replace a culvert is actually

53:17the responsibility of the owner. We're

53:19going to do everything we can to make

53:21this right because we've got what's

53:22happened over time. Culverts have gotten

53:25set at the wrong elevations. We can go

53:27out and grade ditches all day long and

53:29the water's still not going anywhere

53:30because it can't get through the covert.

53:32So, thank you. That's a good question.

53:33That's a necessary part of what we would

53:35be doing.

53:35>> One question I have on here u because I

53:38know we're probably close to uh wrapping

53:40up on slides. Water rates we forecasted

53:44three years to allow more opportunity to

53:46project. Um and I think that was a wise

53:49decision the council did. Are we could

53:52we look at the same model because we

53:53know that this is going to be

53:54reoccurring costs. It's something that I

53:55hear from residents, especially on

53:57Southwest Witchto because we have a lot

53:58of uh these drainage problems. Um would

54:02that be something that we could at least

54:03consider as an option presented to

54:04council?

54:05>> Well, I think we are. We're just we're

54:07lagging a little bit because we brought

54:09that dollar base rate increase to you

54:11earlier this year. It went into effect

54:13in April. So, if you look at what you

54:16already approved for 26, we would be

54:17asking you to improve 20 approve 27 and

54:2028 and stop right there. So that late 28

54:24we can come back to you with all of

54:26these at the same time.

54:27>> So then it's still in the same cycle.

54:28>> Sure. Okay.

54:29>> I think that would really help a lot. So

54:31we're we're close to what this is still

54:33kind of on a three-year. But just to

54:35reiterate um we had talked about 15

54:38cents. We want to add 30 cents in 2027

54:41which obviously would be ongoing. From

54:43then on it would be 15 cents.

54:46Compare looking again kind of comparing

54:48to where we're at. This is a little bit

54:49harder to compare, but looking at the

54:51I35 corridor, we're still in that bottom

54:54area of that. There are some communities

54:56that do some different things with storm

54:57water drainage and they fund them

54:59different ways. I think even through

55:01property taxes and general fund, but as

55:03far as we can compare, I think we're

55:05still very comparable, very affordable

55:07in what we're doing. And 30 cents

55:10doesn't sound like a lot, but it can go

55:11a really long way to help us move the

55:13needle on this. Next steps with this is

55:17we would return to the city council in

55:18December seeking approval of rate

55:20adjustments for 27 and 28

55:23because you approved 26 earlier this

55:25year.

55:27Still kind of call it that three-year

55:28cycle. It aligns us then with water and

55:30sewer going forward. Um so that all of

55:34them would take effect in January of

55:362029.

55:37>> That was all I had. Happy to answer any

55:39questions.

55:40>> I have one last

55:41>> one last question just to make sure I'm

55:43on the same page as well. and just doing

55:45some quick math. And so that's sometimes

55:47dangerous on the fly. But if no change

55:51happens and we are able to do five to

55:54seven requests per year, this does not

55:56include new requests. So we'd be falling

55:58behind. It would take 66 years to

56:01complete all the current requests. If we

56:04were to move to this type of model, it

56:07would still take six years to catch up

56:09on requests. So it' actually be more

56:10delayed because you're adding 15 every

56:12year. So there'd be somewhat of a delay

56:13as well. So, six years for 66 years for

56:1730 cents

56:19per president.

56:21>> Fair. Thank you for doing the math. I

56:23should have provided that for you. I

56:24think you did a great job with that.

56:26It's it's a huge impact. Um, and I think

56:28what'll happen, our hope is as we if

56:32we've got crews doing just this, they

56:34start finding efficiencies, they get

56:35quicker at it, we probably start getting

56:37better at it, we probably knock out more

56:39each year. Um, it kind of depends on the

56:42nature of the request, but no matter how

56:43you look at it, we're literally going

56:45nowhere right now.

56:47>> Do we know what the number would be? So,

56:49this is still six years, which

56:51increasing 60 years is a really

56:54positive. Um, is there a way to I mean,

56:57so for example, when we took office, the

56:59tree backlog is about four years. That's

57:01still a long time for most residents.

57:03Six years is still a long time for most

57:05residents when they put in a request.

57:07How much would we have to increase from

57:10the 30 cents? Is it 35 cents to be able

57:13to catch up basically where we are right

57:15now with requests and then just be able

57:16to manage the 15 per year after that?

57:18>> I don't know if I know that number, but

57:20I could bring that to you next month. I

57:22think that's a really good question and

57:24if you'd like when we discuss this in

57:26December for formal approval, we have to

57:28come back to you for the user fees for

57:30water and sewer and this even if it's

57:32just for the 15 cents, I I can provide

57:34that number because

57:36>> um I don't know if we can necessarily

57:38split it in half, but even going to 50

57:40cents will really start to cut that

57:43down.

57:43>> Yeah. If there's a way that we can

57:44basically completely catch up and then

57:46just be able to manage the new requests

57:47per year, I prefer that type of model

57:49instead of still having a six delay year

57:51uh or six-year delay because that's just

57:54a substantial amount of time.

57:55>> I I appreciate that. I'll just be frank

57:58as you can imagine when people call we

58:00tell them I'll put you on the list. I

58:02don't have the u stomach to tell them

58:05how long that list is.

58:06>> Well, 60-year list is I mean there's not

58:08a list.

58:09>> It's it's not it's not a list. Um and

58:12but but but even to that point, uh it's

58:15hard to tell people five years.

58:18>> So, so I appreciate you asking that

58:20question. I'll bring you more

58:21information.

58:22>> Thank you, Gary.

58:22>> Gary, thank you for the presentation and

58:24for bringing this to our attention. I

58:26just have a quick question. It's very

58:28logistical and I don't need to get in

58:30the weeds. you are the content expert,

58:32but if we do the 30 cent increase, which

58:35I'm again I agree with my colleague

58:37completely with vice mayor um that you

58:40know it's we we need to do better and 60

58:43five to seven years is too long, 60 60

58:46years is way too long,

58:48>> but would the rate increase because your

58:50staff's already razor thin, right? So is

58:53the the 30 cents then going toward

58:56hiring staff to do this and then also

58:58the materials. So it's labor and

59:01materials. It would that be because that

59:03was my first thought too is is 30 cents

59:05enough. Do we need to bump it up even

59:06more? If you have to hire staff and you

59:08have to have the materials that can add

59:11up quickly because I know you don't have

59:12the staff right now to be able to do

59:14this. This would be new staff I'm

59:15assuming.

59:16>> I thank you. I probably rush through

59:18that too quick. we would hire staff or

59:20two crews and the equipment needed. So,

59:23obviously, we still got to get through

59:24that part and get people hired, but I

59:26think we can. Um, but it would be doing

59:28all of this in-house, but we do need to

59:30get the people. We do need to get the

59:32equipment, but that that's included. 30

59:33cents may not seem like a much, but it's

59:36projected to generate $475,000 a year.

59:39So,

59:39>> Okay. Okay. Thank you. And then like in

59:41the off months when they couldn't be

59:43doing this, they could maybe help with

59:44other things that you need in public

59:46works like we always hear we want more

59:47snow removal and you know all those

59:49things.

59:50>> New additional staff of snow and ice

59:53response is always good if we have the

59:55equipment but uh our system is

59:58continuing to grow with all new

59:59development that adds storm water. Uh

1:00:02we're not helping ourselves with our

1:00:04resources for that maintenance and stay

1:00:06on top of those. So we've got plenty of

1:00:08places we can be. Very astute question

1:00:11because there's not times that if we get

1:00:13enough rain, they're not going to do

1:00:15much ditch grading. So, we've got other

1:00:17places we can utilize them.

1:00:21Thank you.

1:00:27And as we uh just had a reference to,

1:00:30one of our other key interests of

1:00:31citizens is about our tree planting. And

1:00:34so we'll have Reggie Davidson as our

1:00:36director of parks and recreation come up

1:00:38and give you an update on our tree

1:00:40planting program because fall is the

1:00:42tree planting season. Mr. Davidson,

1:00:49>> good morning. Just want to give an

1:00:50overview of kind of where we are with

1:00:52our budget is our process of how we move

1:00:54forward with uh planting trees

1:00:56throughout the city. And I do have our

1:00:58uh parks uh and forestry and maintenance

1:01:01division manager here as well as our

1:01:03city arborist as well. So if there are

1:01:05specific questions be happy for myself

1:01:07or them to answer them as well.

1:01:12So kind of want to give it a overview of

1:01:14what the budget is that we have for each

1:01:16uh fiscal year for uh planting trees and

1:01:19kind of give what type of trees we plant

1:01:21each year and we went back to 26 and

1:01:23moving forward to 2027 given a forecast

1:01:25of what we actually spending. So you'll

1:01:27see at the bottom just there we have our

1:01:30baron root trees that we're spending

1:01:31$146,000

1:01:33per year for and then bald and burlap

1:01:36trees and it gives what we actually

1:01:38spent the percentage for 2026 of the

1:01:40budget as well as uh what we're

1:01:42projecting for 2027. Just a little bit

1:01:45of difference of giving a reference of

1:01:46what those are. Our bare root trees are

1:01:48the ones that we actually store in our

1:01:50forestry uh greenhouse and we nourish

1:01:54those and be able to plant them out

1:01:55throughout the year and we're able to

1:01:57get more of those planted compared to

1:01:58the bigger trees that's the balls and

1:02:00burlap. So as a point of reference we

1:02:03typically can get four to five trees of

1:02:05the bare root trees compared to the

1:02:07birds and burlap that we actually

1:02:09purchase each year.

1:02:12So, next moving into our purchase and

1:02:14our planning timeline. Uh, as the

1:02:16manager mentioned, this is our season

1:02:18where we started doing a lot of the

1:02:20planning for uh the parks department

1:02:21throughout the city and other areas. So,

1:02:24in the spring of 26, we spent uh planted

1:02:2676 trees in the downtown tree pits and

1:02:29in various rightaways throughout the

1:02:31city. Uh the fall is 1500 of the bare

1:02:33root trees that we're planting. Also,

1:02:36we're doing 420 with volunteer planting.

1:02:39And then in the winter, we're doing uh

1:02:41120 of of the uh B&B trees. And in the

1:02:44fall of 27, 1,600 of the bare root

1:02:47trees. And our planning season is in

1:02:50November through the April time frame

1:02:51each year.

1:02:54So, next is kind of going into what our

1:02:56planning priorities are and of dividing

1:02:59those into the areas on how we mobilize

1:03:01our team to go out and plant those

1:03:03throughout the uh community. So resident

1:03:05request is about 280 outstanding in our

1:03:08rideways totaling about 403 trees. Our

1:03:12her urban uh heat island is another area

1:03:15that we actually work with uh through

1:03:16our study that we did with NASA uh

1:03:19looking at our tree canopy and seeing

1:03:21what those areas that we need to plant

1:03:22additional trees. Then also our downtown

1:03:25tree pit areas uh continuing uh to

1:03:28replacing tree empty trees in those

1:03:30pits. then also have systematic review

1:03:32on an eight-year basis cycle for our

1:03:35parks as well.

1:03:38And next uh mentioned about we have a

1:03:40rotation for the eight uh year time

1:03:42frame that we look at our different

1:03:43park. This is a breakdown of what we're

1:03:44looking at to review for our different

1:03:47parks that we are looking at where we

1:03:48need to make improvements or putting in

1:03:50trees that are there. And this doesn't

1:03:52necessarily mean that each of those

1:03:53locations with good trees, but we are

1:03:55reviewing it to see where there's a need

1:03:57for it or if things that we need to

1:03:59address by those locations. And again,

1:04:01we look at all of our our parks and our

1:04:03locations and then rotate on an

1:04:05eight-year basis how we look at that in

1:04:06depth on what we do with any trees that

1:04:08are needed.

1:04:23Yeah. So, yeah. So, resident planning

1:04:25requests are not fulfilled uh uh last

1:04:28year to water restrictions. So, that's

1:04:30one of the things that we looked at as

1:04:31well is that uh as uh uh Gary Johnson

1:04:35mentioned that we had some time frames

1:04:36where we had water restrictions. So, it

1:04:38it prohibit us from being able to plant

1:04:40some of those trees that we would

1:04:41normally plant each year. But one of the

1:04:43things that we found from that as well

1:04:45is our uh bare root treat system that we

1:04:48have with putting them in our

1:04:49greenhouse. We found that they can

1:04:51survive on a long-term basis and allow

1:04:53them to establish the root system and

1:04:55then plant them when we have less of

1:04:57those restrictions. So that was a plus

1:04:58from the time frame that we have

1:04:59restrictions on planting. We discovered

1:05:01that was another way to expand what we

1:05:03can do with planning in the future.

1:05:09So, one of the things that impacts us

1:05:10with moving forward as well in our

1:05:12planting operations and our staffing.

1:05:14So, I mentioned our green houses where

1:05:15we maintain a lot of those trees that we

1:05:17have and prepare them to go out to be uh

1:05:19planted throughout the city. And we have

1:05:21five of those nine positions that are

1:05:23currently filled. Uh we have recruitment

1:05:25challenges. We have two uh garden two

1:05:28positions that are available. One

1:05:29gardening supervisor position that's

1:05:31available. And the thing that we run

1:05:33into a lot of time with that is that we

1:05:34get people in, we get them trained, we

1:05:37get them to the point where they are

1:05:39efficient in what they're doing, and

1:05:41then the private market is able to hire

1:05:43them away just because challenges with

1:05:44being competitive with what we can be in

1:05:46our pay system. Our uh our benefits

1:05:50program is really attractive to a lot of

1:05:52people, but it depends on where they are

1:05:54in the stage of their life on whether

1:05:55they're looking towards that or just

1:05:57having a liveable wage to be able to

1:05:58continue to provide for their uh

1:06:00families.

1:06:02And also when we have uh our seasonal

1:06:05operations, we also look at reassigning

1:06:07staff that can help with uh different

1:06:09things that we need to get done to be

1:06:10able to be as efficient as we can with

1:06:12the available team members that we have.

1:06:15And we have experienced uh supervisors

1:06:17that uh coordinate the planning

1:06:19execution of those uh plans so we can be

1:06:21as efficient as we can with the

1:06:22resources that we have.

1:06:26So looking ahead in 2027 uh kind of

1:06:29shows what we're looking to plant for.

1:06:31Uh the bare root trees are 2,000 of

1:06:33those that we're looking to uh plant and

1:06:36having 125 uh volunteer plantings that

1:06:39we're planning as well. The B&B uh we're

1:06:42planning 350 of those for forecast for

1:06:44the downtown and the rightway and other

1:06:46projects that we have. And then the

1:06:48funding plan is $127,000 for the bare

1:06:51root and volunteer planning and then

1:06:5378,000 for the uh special project. And

1:06:57this will address residents request as

1:06:59well as missing trees and then targeted

1:07:01heat hour islands and maintaining park

1:07:03rotation as well.

1:07:06And the key takeaways for this is that

1:07:08we have a $225,000

1:07:11annual budget uh planned target towards

1:07:14requesting requests downtown heat

1:07:16islands and in our parks and staffing

1:07:19capacity is a key implementation uh

1:07:22consideration as well.

1:07:25And then finally, just kind of giving uh

1:07:27what we're actually spending and how

1:07:28we're using those dollars and where

1:07:30we're actually uh procuring a lot of

1:07:32those from as well. So, you'll see that

1:07:34Johnson uh garden centers here locally.

1:07:36Uh but we also work with the Kansas

1:07:39Forest Service to be able to get trees

1:07:40from them as well. And then we put out

1:07:42an RFP every year that we do look at

1:07:44getting buck trees uh for our uh bare

1:07:48root system as well and being as

1:07:49competitive as we can with that. Then we

1:07:52also have some of our anticipated

1:07:53purchases for uh 2027 for our volunteer

1:07:57tree planting as well as a bare root uh

1:08:00B&B for both the 27 uh for the rideaways

1:08:04as well as special request and projects

1:08:07and stuff for any questions you guys may

1:08:09have about it.

1:08:11>> Uh one of the things I've heard a lot

1:08:13about are some of the trees that we've

1:08:14planted dying. Um, I know I heard this

1:08:17along Mount Vernon. Uh, most

1:08:19specifically I and digging more into

1:08:21that that was more a failure on the part

1:08:24of the contractor and I think we are

1:08:26looking at um adjusting our policy

1:08:29moving forward to where we actually take

1:08:32um possession and care of those a little

1:08:34earlier in the process than uh what we

1:08:36did. So

1:08:39I I know what is it around 50% or so of

1:08:42the trees that you plant can be expected

1:08:44to survive. some statistic around that.

1:08:47Can you elaborate on that a little more

1:08:48and what we can do to bump that up a

1:08:52little better?

1:08:53>> Sure. And I'll speak a little bit about

1:08:55the Mount Vernon project that you're

1:08:56referencing as well. So when we have

1:08:58projects that have come in, we have the

1:09:00contractors that come in and do work and

1:09:01they actually maintain those until they

1:09:03turn it over to us. And this particular

1:09:05incident was one where it failed to

1:09:07maintain it before that time frame. So

1:09:08they replanted it to be able to go in

1:09:11and make sure they were healthy once we

1:09:12took them over. So, and I'll defer to

1:09:14John a little bit on the time frame on

1:09:17what we're looking at and some of the

1:09:18things that we're doing to make sure

1:09:19that we get a higher percentage rate on

1:09:21what we're doing. We're surviving as

1:09:22well.

1:09:28>> So, there were a couple of questions you

1:09:30had embedded in there. Um, I would say

1:09:32from a contractor standpoint, we

1:09:34probably see in the first year about 60

1:09:37to 70% survival rate and they have to

1:09:40replace about 30 to 40% of the trees.

1:09:43Um, the um on our side um we see

1:09:48probably 80 to 90% survival rate because

1:09:51we have a robust 2-year uh plan to

1:09:54maintain those trees and they're watered

1:09:56uh monthly um as long as they need it.

1:09:58And the bare root trees have proven to

1:10:01be much more successful in addition to

1:10:04their lower cost. They're more

1:10:05successful because they have a lower

1:10:07ratio of top to root system and so

1:10:10they're able to survive um a difficult

1:10:13urban environment better than a bald and

1:10:15burlap tree. The other question that you

1:10:17had about Mount Vernon, yes, those trees

1:10:20um they weren't even under warranty yet.

1:10:22The project had not been um accepted. Um

1:10:26I have worked um hard over the last year

1:10:29to 18 months um to

1:10:33um have a more more diligent and more

1:10:36hands-on approach to inspections during

1:10:40the acceptance of the trees, the

1:10:42planting of the trees, the maintenance

1:10:44of the trees. um on contractor projects.

1:10:47Um a huge problem is that the

1:10:50contractors will use an augur to dig the

1:10:53hole and they dig it a foot too deep and

1:10:55plant the tree a foot too deep and then

1:10:57the tree dies and then they replace it

1:10:59and they replace it in the same hole and

1:11:00the tree dies again and we're left

1:11:02without a tree. And so what I have done

1:11:05is in um and I have communicated with

1:11:09engineering on this is I have um I want

1:11:13to be there on tree planting day and I'm

1:11:15going to have a tree planting lesson

1:11:18with every contractor on the first day

1:11:20for how to properly plant a tree and

1:11:22that I want the root flare exposed and

1:11:24other details. Um, and I will reject

1:11:27trees that are planted incorrectly

1:11:29because that's the number one cause of

1:11:32trees dying when they're planted, excuse

1:11:34me, is because they're planted

1:11:35incorrectly. So, I'll outright reject

1:11:37them and they can bring me a new tree

1:11:39and replant it.

1:11:40>> I appreciate that. Is that why the trees

1:11:42along the um the water treatment

1:11:44facility have been suffer?

1:11:46>> They were all planted too deep and were

1:11:48not watered after they were planted.

1:11:50>> Okay. Um what

1:11:51>> unfortunately I didn't notice that until

1:11:53the the

1:11:55uh warranty period had expired. I didn't

1:11:56even come on until after that.

1:11:58>> Um yeah, on that note, what is the

1:12:00staffing in the forestry department like

1:12:02right now?

1:12:03>> Um so I lost a supervisor

1:12:07this week, so I believe I'm at

1:12:1027 out of 35 or 36 positions. Um, I

1:12:16could use 45 positions, but that's what

1:12:19I'm allotted right now. Um, so we're

1:12:23okay. We're we're going to have to go

1:12:25back down to one pruning crew since I

1:12:27lost that supervisor. Um, we're

1:12:29currently at uh one tree removal um

1:12:32supervisor and I'd really like to have

1:12:35four full crews. So, I'm at about half

1:12:39as far as crews go.

1:12:41>> Okay. Yeah, that's a I know we've had

1:12:43this discussion with the master parks

1:12:44plan and we'll have that uh discussion

1:12:47again further today. So, I just wanted

1:12:49to just see where we are presently with

1:12:51our staffing level. So,

1:12:53>> yep. And I do want to give my current

1:12:54staff ta staff some huge props. We are

1:12:57actually at a three-year low in our

1:13:00backlog. Our backlog is now half of what

1:13:04it was when I came on two and a half

1:13:06years ago. So, they have done a really

1:13:08good job of doing what they can do with

1:13:12the people that they have. So, they've

1:13:14done an excellent job.

1:13:15>> Yes, sir. I I do appreciate that. We've

1:13:17had um I've had anyways fewer people

1:13:20reach out about it. So, I do appreciate

1:13:22the work that you and your staff are

1:13:24doing to catch up on that backlog

1:13:26because it was a pretty sizable backlog

1:13:29there, but you guys are working hard to

1:13:31to cut that down. So, I appreciate

1:13:33>> It's still not small, but we're making

1:13:34progress.

1:13:35>> Yes, sir. Thank you. Yeah,

1:13:39>> sorry. You know, I have some questions

1:13:41for someone. Um, thank you so much and

1:13:44thank you to your staff for um, trying

1:13:47to catch up on all of the things and I

1:13:48know the storms last summer certainly

1:13:50didn't help the progress that was being

1:13:52made, but

1:13:54how can we maybe incentivize is not the

1:13:58right word, but encourage more private

1:14:02tree planting because it can't just be

1:14:04the responsibility of the city and I

1:14:07think we all know that but I mean we're

1:14:10like tens of 20s thousand thousands of

1:14:13trees just in the last 20 years just get

1:14:15caught up from what has been removed. So

1:14:18I love 2,00 you know trees being

1:14:20planted. I always joke around with my

1:14:22dad. I'm like we have grandpa trees and

1:14:25baby trees. We have like no teenagers

1:14:27because there's just been such a a large

1:14:30gap over the last couple decades of tree

1:14:32planting. So,

1:14:35I mean, I've seen some other communities

1:14:37like set a goal and they're like, "We're

1:14:40going to plant a million trees in the

1:14:42next 10 years and like create a road map

1:14:44to get there." Is there something that

1:14:47we can talk about and maybe that's part

1:14:48of the master um parks plan, which would

1:14:51be amazing. Um, I just am curious what

1:14:54the future of um, the tree planting

1:14:57looks like and what can we do

1:15:01um, that we're not doing. In

1:15:03kindergarten at Riverside, everybody

1:15:04planted a tree in a milk carton and

1:15:07those were the two trees in my parents

1:15:09front yard and they're still there. Um,

1:15:11well, mine had to get cut down, of

1:15:13course, but um, just like a year ago.

1:15:15So, I mean, but those are opportunities

1:15:18that are free through the schools to

1:15:21help provide, you know, trees to where

1:15:24it's not just all the responsibility of

1:15:26the city because the trees are very

1:15:28expensive and I appreciate that you're

1:15:30going to the um bear route. I think

1:15:32that's awesome and super creative, but

1:15:35what can we do to like double and triple

1:15:38and you know, all of that, not just

1:15:41using the city's budget?

1:15:43>> Sure. So just a little bit on some of

1:15:44the things that we've been doing over

1:15:46the last few years is that we've been

1:15:47working with ICT trees as well with

1:15:49getting some of those volunteer

1:15:50opportunities out in the community. We

1:15:52work with the school district on some

1:15:54larger plant projects that we're doing.

1:15:56Then I know that uh public works has

1:15:57also put in some tree incentives for

1:15:59individuals to be able to plant and they

1:16:01get some funding to help with cost with

1:16:02that. So, we're also as we rolled out

1:16:05our uh tree canopy policy in 2024, as

1:16:09part as we are tracking whenever trees

1:16:11are moved for projects so that they can

1:16:13be replaced as well as once we're going

1:16:15in and do new development, we're also

1:16:17working to make sure that that's part of

1:16:19the plan as well. So, we're looking at

1:16:21other ways that this is the funding

1:16:22that's here for the budget for the

1:16:23trees, but we're also looking at

1:16:25alternative measures that we can look at

1:16:26from development uh volunteer groups as

1:16:29well as grant opportunities that we get

1:16:31through working with ICT trees and other

1:16:33groups.

1:16:34>> And is the 2,000 trees that you're

1:16:36talking about, is that in addition to

1:16:37the 1500 trees that were going to be

1:16:39planted for the 250th?

1:16:40>> Uh, that's that's included in that

1:16:42actual number.

1:16:43>> Okay. Um, the other thing I was going to

1:16:46ask real quick is can you talk about the

1:16:49stump grinding? Um, I know that comes up

1:16:52a lot in Riverside. Um, can you just

1:16:54talk a little bit about how the process

1:16:56and the timeline for that?

1:16:58>> Sure. So, we're actually working with

1:17:00the contractor now uh that's going

1:17:02throughout the city that has uh that's

1:17:04targeting areas that he's going in and

1:17:06doing the uh the stunt removals. They're

1:17:08currently behind schedule on what we're

1:17:10doing right now. So, we're pushing to

1:17:11get that done. So we outsource that

1:17:13where we go in and they target by

1:17:15different zones and then they go in and

1:17:17remove the trees and then do the stump

1:17:19grinding as well. So we've been able to

1:17:20use some of the dollars that we've had

1:17:22in savings in other areas to be able to

1:17:24expand that. Uh we increase that number

1:17:26this year and we're anticipating that we

1:17:28may be able to increase it for next year

1:17:29with some other savings that we have

1:17:30also.

1:17:32>> So but when you take the tree out, do

1:17:34you have to wait is it like a year or

1:17:36you guys only take out stumps in the

1:17:39winter? I'm making all this up because I

1:17:41feel like I'm not saying the right

1:17:42thing, but you only plant in certain

1:17:44times of the year and you only do the

1:17:46removals and the stump grinding in

1:17:48different parts. Correct.

1:17:49>> Well, it it varies. So, we work with the

1:17:51contractor. John could give a little bit

1:17:52more detail on this. So, typically when

1:17:54we have a contractor that comes in and

1:17:55do it, that's part of the scope of work

1:17:57as well. They remove the tree and then

1:17:59they actually do the uh removal of the

1:18:00stump also. It requires different

1:18:02resources and different skill set. So,

1:18:05they may not do them at the same time as

1:18:08part of their plan.

1:18:11So, um, our stump backlog is the biggest

1:18:13of our backlog. Um, unfortunately,

1:18:17stump stumps do not rise to the hazard,

1:18:20um, that a dead tree or an unpruned tree

1:18:23does, and so they, uh, tend to fall to

1:18:25the bottom of the list. Um,

1:18:29the we do have additional funds next

1:18:32year that we are going to put out, uh,

1:18:33to contract um, directly for stump

1:18:37removals. Um, but

1:18:41with the staff that I have, we have to

1:18:43focus on the high-risk stuff. And so the

1:18:46um the stumps fall to the bottom of the

1:18:48list and I'm just I'm just we're just

1:18:50don't have the staff to attack it.

1:18:51Stumps can be ground at any time of the

1:18:53year. It doesn't matter what time of the

1:18:55year. Um planting is the only thing

1:18:57that's really seasonal. We can remove

1:18:58trees and prune trees at any time of the

1:19:00year, but um uh that's why our stump

1:19:04backlog is so large is because we're

1:19:07focused on um high priority stuff. If I

1:19:11look back over 2026,

1:19:13um our crew members have spent almost

1:19:1750% some in some months 60 to 70% of our

1:19:22manh hours on high and emergency

1:19:24priority stuff. and the times that we're

1:19:26focused on high and emergency

1:19:28priorities, we're not attacking the

1:19:30backlog and that includes the stumps.

1:19:31>> Okay. Thank you so much.

1:19:34>> Few questions andor Oh, Reie, I thought

1:19:37you were going to Were you going to

1:19:38answer something for Maggie?

1:19:40>> I'm sorry.

1:19:41>> I just didn't know if you were going to

1:19:42answer something else from Maggie. If

1:19:43not, I just have a few questions. Uh,

1:19:45first off, you guys do a lot with

1:19:46limited resources. Um, I will preface. I

1:19:49did not pay this amount, but I was

1:19:50looking at landscaping my front yard and

1:19:52was quoted at like $15,000 just for my

1:19:54front yard. This is 26. It's not apples

1:19:57to oranges because obviously there's a

1:19:59lot more that go into bare root trees

1:20:01than, you know, full landscaping, but

1:20:04just to look at what you're doing with

1:20:06the resources you have is pretty

1:20:07incredible. So, first off, thank you. I

1:20:09know that the council did put money um

1:20:11additional money towards catching up on

1:20:13the backlog. Could you just briefly

1:20:15remind us how much that will catch up on

1:20:17the backlog and what that total amount

1:20:20was? Okay.

1:20:20>> You know the top.

1:20:21>> So the the amount that you're referring

1:20:23to is going to get us about 25% uh of

1:20:25what we actually have for it. The total

1:20:28amount of if I remember correctly is

1:20:29about $1.2 million to get completely

1:20:32caught up and we're uh putting about

1:20:34$400,000 towards that to do it. And what

1:20:36we're doing is trying to look at those

1:20:38areas where we can have the greatest

1:20:39impact so that we have the groups that

1:20:41we can be as efficient as possible with

1:20:43those contractors to attack those

1:20:44particular areas and then establish a

1:20:46plan from there how we move forward.

1:20:48>> So when we talked about catching up on

1:20:49backlog of projects we just had a last

1:20:51presentation catching up on or talking

1:20:53about that to catch up on the backlog

1:20:55for trees. We're looking at an

1:20:56additional 800,000 that have to be

1:20:58allocated.

1:20:59>> That is correct.

1:21:00>> Okay. Thank you.

1:21:02>> I would like can I put one caveat on

1:21:04that please? is uh for the last 18

1:21:07months we have not done our dead tree

1:21:08inventory. Um and so that's part of the

1:21:11reason why our backlog has gone down is

1:21:13because we haven't been doing that

1:21:15normal practice of writing up every dead

1:21:17tree that we see. Um and so if I were to

1:21:20go out and do dead tree inventory right

1:21:22now um that backlog would increase. Um

1:21:26but I have been trying to get rid of the

1:21:28backlog so that when people call in and

1:21:30say I need this tree removed, I don't

1:21:32have to tell them I'm four years out.

1:21:35John, can you come back and kind of help

1:21:37the community understand, let's say,

1:21:40three years ago, what how many dead tree

1:21:43removal requests were out there versus

1:21:46now in October of 2026 and what you're

1:21:48projecting to give people a baseline.

1:21:52>> Uh, if you'll give me a minute, I'll

1:21:53look Can I look that up? All right.

1:21:54Thank you.

1:21:57And I think while we're at that, um I

1:22:00know that council member um Glascock,

1:22:03Vice Mayor Glascock had mentioned the

1:22:06tree removal even at your own home. And

1:22:08so I think sometimes folks may not know

1:22:12um the priority list of these dead trees

1:22:15if it poses a safety hazard. C can you

1:22:18kind of talk about the prioritization of

1:22:20dead trees?

1:22:21>> Sure. And I'll speak a little bit on

1:22:23that stuff. We uh we use a lot the we

1:22:25encourage people to go to our C click

1:22:26and fix app to be able to report it. So

1:22:28it goes directly to John and his team to

1:22:30able to look at what those are. If we

1:22:32get a report of there's a hazardous or a

1:22:34tree that causes any safety concern, our

1:22:37inspector goes out and looks at that

1:22:38immediately. And if it is, it goes to

1:22:40the top of our priority list and we

1:22:42address those first so it's not a safety

1:22:44hazard for the community.

1:22:46>> And I want to compliment your staff. The

1:22:48tree that was in front of my house, I

1:22:49was really sad to see it go. It's a very

1:22:51old tree, but it fell and total the car.

1:22:53So, you had to replace it at some point.

1:22:56And so, thank you for your staff coming

1:22:57out there. Um, they trimmed it to cut

1:23:00the um immediate hazard. They came back

1:23:03out there, they removed the stump, and

1:23:05then quickly after removing the stump, a

1:23:06tree was planted, and all of the trees

1:23:08that were replanted are doing um really

1:23:11well right now, or at least I'm assuming

1:23:13they're doing really well. They look

1:23:14good. And so, thank you for the staff. I

1:23:15think it was a really good uh turnaround

1:23:17and I showed that the process can work

1:23:19especially when there is an immediate

1:23:21hazard uh to the neighborhood and

1:23:22unfortunately my tree was an im

1:23:24immediate hazard. So thank you

1:23:26>> and I'll just say along with that as

1:23:28well with the team that we have that

1:23:29manage that process that John is there

1:23:32they're passionate about what they do.

1:23:33So they take ownership of that they want

1:23:34to make sure that once they do it they

1:23:36do it to excellence and that it's going

1:23:37to be a good product for the community

1:23:39and doesn't create any other safety

1:23:40hazards.

1:23:43Quickly to the mayor's question, um our

1:23:46inspectors, uh two two two of the our

1:23:48inspectors plus me are tree risk

1:23:51assessment qualified um through the ISA

1:23:53arburous association. And basically what

1:23:56that is is when we look at a tree, we

1:23:57give it a score u based on the risk that

1:24:00it poses. Are there targets? And what

1:24:03are this the likelihood of that tree

1:24:04failing? Um so oftentimes we'll get

1:24:06complaints from a customer that says,

1:24:08"My tree is completely dead." We go out

1:24:10look at it. Yep, it's completely dead.

1:24:12There's no targets and it's probably not

1:24:14going to drop any branches because it's

1:24:16an oak tree or because it's a a stable

1:24:19tree or because there are other factors

1:24:21involved where it's not a high risk. So,

1:24:23we may leave a dead tree standing in a

1:24:25park in a wooded area um where on a

1:24:28downtown street we may elevate the risk

1:24:31of that tree because there are targets

1:24:33and there's a high probability of

1:24:34failure. Um so that's how we target it.

1:24:37Back to your previous question, um, on

1:24:40removals, back in September of 2025,

1:24:46we had a high of 1,157

1:24:49work orders. As of last Monday, we have

1:24:53335.

1:24:55On our prunes,

1:24:58at the end of 2024,

1:25:02we had 1,864

1:25:04open work orders. And at the end of last

1:25:08week, we have 1,588.

1:25:11And when those are combined, our high in

1:25:14work, and I do not track stumps because

1:25:15it's it's just always high. Um, our

1:25:18combined work orders was 3,14

1:25:21open work orders and we are now at

1:25:241,923.

1:25:25So, we've reduced the backlog by about

1:25:2730%.

1:25:31And one of the other things that we have

1:25:33as well is we have our dashboard that's

1:25:35online that shows where we actually

1:25:37plant trees. So it gives us where the

1:25:39locations are, where they're actually

1:25:40being, what the cost that goes along

1:25:42with it. Also that's public facing that

1:25:44they can actually go online and see

1:25:46where activity is taking place. Also

1:25:51>> I guess I I I just have one question.

1:25:53It's maybe outside of tree planting. Um,

1:25:56I do get a lot of calls from uh people

1:25:59in my neighborhoods who maybe they have

1:26:01neighbors who have private trees that

1:26:04are overhanging or dangerous or dying

1:26:07within themselves. And so this might be

1:26:09more a question for legal. Um, what

1:26:14avenues do they have? Is that something

1:26:16we come out I I think maybe we can come

1:26:18out and check and see if it's a dead

1:26:19tree. But I'm just curious what options

1:26:23uh people with private residential trees

1:26:26or concerns of their neighbors having

1:26:29these big trees that kind of overhang

1:26:32and threaten their houses or their

1:26:34backyards or whatnot. What avenues they

1:26:37have to um

1:26:39>> that actually goes over the MABC. it

1:26:41becomes a zoning or either a property

1:26:43safety issue for them to actually send

1:26:45out one of their inspectors and be able

1:26:46to do it. We aren't able to uh do any

1:26:48work on private property itself just for

1:26:51uh the risk for the city.

1:26:52>> Okay. Thank you. Appreciate that.

1:26:55>> If I may, I'll add to that. If MABCD has

1:26:58a dead tree in the backyard, they call

1:27:00me. Um I go out and do a risk

1:27:02assessment. I tell MABCD that risk. Then

1:27:06they make the decision of whether or not

1:27:08to ask the resident to remove the tree

1:27:10or not. So we we are involved but we

1:27:13don't make the decision.

1:27:16>> Sorry. Do you know if MABCD has the

1:27:18ability to abate a tree and cut it down

1:27:21themselves and put it on the property

1:27:23taxes if it's they do?

1:27:24>> Yes.

1:27:25>> Okay. Thank you. Appreciate that.

1:27:27>> Reggie, quick question for you. Um and

1:27:29you may not want to go too far. Um, but

1:27:33I'm curious, and this goes to Council

1:27:34Member Ballard's point, and perhaps it

1:27:37isn't an incentive, maybe it's a rebate

1:27:39program or something of that nature. I'm

1:27:42curious, how do we assess

1:27:45the quality tree to plant that also

1:27:47doesn't require a lot of maintenance?

1:27:50like I'm thinking of someone like me.

1:27:52It's like, yeah, of course I want to I

1:27:53want to contribute to helping solve the

1:27:55challenge, but I'm really busy and so I

1:27:59probably don't have a lot of time to

1:28:01water it like two times a day, three

1:28:03times a day. What is what are we doing

1:28:06to, you know, assess what we can do to

1:28:09help with that? So we we always

1:28:12encourage the community to call in and

1:28:14reach out to John and his team and they

1:28:16can give some uh recommendations on, you

1:28:18know, things they may want to consider

1:28:19in the area. So we don't want to be the

1:28:21one to make the decision, but we want to

1:28:23point them in the right direction where

1:28:24they can have resources for it. A lot of

1:28:26the time some of the uh local nurseries

1:28:28here can provide some support for that

1:28:30as well to see what they can do as far

1:28:32as native trees that has a better

1:28:34survival rate in the environment and has

1:28:36least amount of care that's involved

1:28:38with it for it to survive.

1:28:40>> Yeah. So, are the trees that we're

1:28:42planting, what's the maintenance

1:28:43required for that? I I go back to when

1:28:46we were uh in drought and there were

1:28:48lots of conversations happening in the

1:28:49community about reconsidering to help

1:28:52with conservation um Bermuda grass or

1:28:55buffalo. Uh and so I think that that

1:28:58kind of that conversation kind of

1:28:59translates over to here too. Are are

1:29:02these trees that require low

1:29:04maintenance? uh the bear uh the bear

1:29:06root trees that we have that uh that

1:29:08have the better established roots

1:29:10requires less watering and support for

1:29:12us on it. So that's one of the things

1:29:13that we transition to those into some

1:29:15compared to some of the other ones

1:29:17because it has a higher survival rate.

1:29:18As John mentioned earlier, we with us

1:29:21actually maintaining with our team, we

1:29:23saw that we're in that 70 and 80%

1:29:25survival rate for those and that's based

1:29:26on us looking at what is the best one

1:29:28for the environment.

1:29:29>> Perfect. Thank you all so much for doing

1:29:31that work. Appreciate you.

1:29:44Next on our agenda, we do have the

1:29:46automated

1:29:48license plate reader program to give an

1:29:50update. We have Captain Duff to or you

1:29:53see Duff to come up and give us a

1:29:55presentation. And we have our law as

1:29:57well to represent the handout. We should

1:30:01have given you a handout at your um seat

1:30:04that may not have been included in the

1:30:06overall packet um to make sure you have

1:30:08that with you.

1:30:11>> Duff from the police department.

1:30:12>> Okay.

1:30:13>> Good morning, Mayor, council members. Uh

1:30:16today, Deputy Chief Paul Duff, I will

1:30:17give you a quick overview of our

1:30:19automated license plate reader or our

1:30:21ALPR program.

1:30:24So the first APR procurement began in

1:30:262014 with the first initial use

1:30:29beginning in 2015. The Witchto Police

1:30:32Department expanded use in 2020 with a

1:30:34pilot program and there was widespread

1:30:36ALPR use was introduced to the public

1:30:38beginning in 2020 with WPD attending

1:30:42numerous community meetings, district

1:30:43advisory boards, and a media campaign to

1:30:47get citizen input over a period of

1:30:49several years. And on April 6, 2021, the

1:30:52flock contract was approved by the city

1:30:53council.

1:30:56So what is APR? It is a technology that

1:30:58automatically captures and reads license

1:31:00plate numbers using high-speed cameras

1:31:02and optical character recognition. It is

1:31:04called OCR software. It operates 247 and

1:31:08the cameras are mounted on patrol

1:31:10vehicles, fixed infrastructure such as

1:31:12bridges, poles to scan passing vehicles

1:31:14in real time. It creates a searchable

1:31:16database, captures plate numbers, date,

1:31:19time, location, and the GPS coordinates,

1:31:21and often photographs of the vehicle and

1:31:23the surroundings. It is used by law

1:31:25enforcement and private entities, and

1:31:27helps locate stolen vehicles, give leads

1:31:29on suspect vehicles, enforce parking

1:31:31regulations, and that this is not new

1:31:34technology. It's actually been around

1:31:35for a long time.

1:31:37So, a little bit of background. A LPR

1:31:39captures a still photograph of a license

1:31:41plate when a vehicle passes a camera in

1:31:43a publicly accessible area. It is not

1:31:46always recording and it is not

1:31:48continuously tracking people and

1:31:49vehicles. The Witchto Police Department

1:31:52APR does not use facial recognition and

1:31:54our LPRs have no Bluetooth capabilities

1:31:57for tracking drivers cell phones. An

1:31:59ALPR alert is an investigative lead. It

1:32:02is not proof of a crime. People are not

1:32:05stopped and arrested. based on an ALPR

1:32:07hit. Additional facts must always be

1:32:09taken before any enforcement action is

1:32:11taken. In addition, ALPR prevents

1:32:14unnecessary stops by allowing officers

1:32:16to identify a specific vehicle and not a

1:32:19generic description. It ensures we

1:32:21remain intelligenceled and datadriven.

1:32:25ALPR is used to find victims of

1:32:26kidnapping, child trafficking, Amber

1:32:28Alerts, and Silver Alerts across

1:32:30jurisdictional lines. Responsible

1:32:32sharing of ALPR information is essential

1:32:34to allow law enforcement the opportunity

1:32:36to apprehend suspects and get victims

1:32:38home safely and reunited with their

1:32:40family. ALPR reasonable retention

1:32:42periods are critical because serious

1:32:44crimes are not always reported

1:32:45immediately and investigations develop

1:32:47over time. New leads can take weeks to

1:32:49develop, especially in burglary cases

1:32:51with the homeowner might be away on

1:32:52vacation. ALPR data is essential to

1:32:55criminal investigations, especially

1:32:57property crimes. A personal has no

1:32:59reasonable expectation of privacy on a

1:33:01city street. Just as any citizen may use

1:33:03a dash camera on their own vehicle, law

1:33:06enforcement is allowed the same types of

1:33:07technology.

1:33:10In terms of accountability, the WTO

1:33:11Police Department has a strong policy

1:33:13that is used. The system is audited for

1:33:15policy compliance internally through an

1:33:17audit assistance tool. The city of

1:33:19Witchto website provides a dashboard

1:33:21that documents the activity and we have

1:33:23a 30-day retention period. The data is

1:33:25automatically deleted after 30 days and

1:33:27it is not recoverable. Misuse of the

1:33:29system can result in discipline up to

1:33:30and including suspension, termination,

1:33:32criminal charges, and the revocation of

1:33:34Kansas sepost certification.

1:33:38In terms of our LPR coverage, the Witto

1:33:40Police Department has placed 191 cameras

1:33:42located in hightra areas and each one of

1:33:45those cameras can only cover one

1:33:46direction of travel in situations where

1:33:48there may be four directions of travel.

1:33:50ALPRs are not aimed at houses and they

1:33:52are not used for surveillance.

1:33:55This is a diagram of what one single

1:33:58ALPR location looks like. It is not mass

1:34:00surveillance and as you can see one on

1:34:02an intersection will get one lane of

1:34:04traffic.

1:34:06In conclusion, an ALPR is a powerful law

1:34:08enforcement tool that is datadriven and

1:34:10focuses attention on specific license

1:34:12plates rather than generic vehicle

1:34:14types. ALPR can quickly develop suspects

1:34:17from property crimes to homicide. and

1:34:19ALPR is minimally intrusive and focuses

1:34:21on publicly available tags rather than

1:34:23people.

1:34:25So, at this time, I would turn this over

1:34:28to Deputy City Attorney Steven Smar, who

1:34:30will discuss the actual contract

1:34:31extension with you all.

1:34:37>> Good uh good morning, Mayor, Vice Mayor

1:34:39Glascock, members of the Witchaw City

1:34:42Council. I'm Steve Smart, deputy city

1:34:43attorney. Um, the law department has

1:34:45been asked to provide you a brief update

1:34:47of the contract actions related to LPR.

1:34:50Uh, as Deputy Chief Duff just presented,

1:34:53uh, the city has had a contract with

1:34:55Flock since 2021. Uh, the original base

1:34:58agreement for that contract was for 5

1:35:00years. Uh, over the course of the past 5

1:35:03years, additional services have been

1:35:04added uh to the city through different

1:35:07service agreements. Uh, this spring, the

1:35:09city council extended the uh, base

1:35:11agreement uh, for six months. In

1:35:14November, city staff will present an

1:35:17additional proposed six-month contract

1:35:19extension to you. And that will be a

1:35:21simple one-page document uh that will

1:35:24continue the terms of the existing

1:35:26agreement through March 31st uh 2027 um

1:35:30under the same terms of the of the base

1:35:32agreement and it will consolidate uh all

1:35:34existing services under that extension

1:35:36for payment purposes. Uh at this time we

1:35:39anticipate uh that extension uh to be

1:35:42staffed and presented through uh the

1:35:44city board of bids and contracts. Uh

1:35:46staff will continue to provide

1:35:48additional updates uh as appropriate and

1:35:50as warranted. Um that's all the updates

1:35:52that we have for you at this time. Thank

1:35:54you.

1:35:59>> All right. I have a couple of questions.

1:36:02Um, so when this comes back before

1:36:04March, if it gets passes next uh next

1:36:08week, will that come back as an agenda

1:36:10item for discussion?

1:36:13>> Board of bids.

1:36:15>> We haven't scheduled through the board

1:36:16of bids and so that process you can pull

1:36:19it off or bring it back up just for the

1:36:22extension.

1:36:23>> Yeah. I I mean when if there's a

1:36:25contract

1:36:26um next spring?

1:36:28>> Oh yeah. So yes, in March. Yes. Yes, in

1:36:31March of 27 is when you can have a full

1:36:33robust.

1:36:35We are talking about different contract

1:36:37terms and um changes but more about

1:36:40syncing up different components of the

1:36:42contract. And so yeah, you can have a

1:36:44full review of the full contract and all

1:36:47the components in March.

1:36:49>> Okay. And in our current contract or

1:36:51current agreement, we have uh no

1:36:54agreements with the federal government

1:36:56as far as flock data usage.

1:37:01That is correct.

1:37:02>> Okay. And I know we're in a lawsuit now,

1:37:05so we can't necessarily

1:37:08um say a whole lot. Um

1:37:11if we did not have flock, I guess

1:37:14twothirds of the cameras that are flock

1:37:16cameras within our city are privately

1:37:18owned um HOAs and whatnot. So if we

1:37:23canceled our contract, that would have

1:37:24no impact on HOAs, the majority of flock

1:37:27cameras within our city. Is that correct

1:37:30as well?

1:37:32>> So we'd have to double check, but if

1:37:34they have if we have no contract with

1:37:36flock, we have no access to those

1:37:37vehicle.

1:37:39That's something we'd have to check on

1:37:40because I don't know the the true answer

1:37:42to that how that would work.

1:37:43>> Okay, I appreciate. has just seems like

1:37:45we have no ability to impact whether or

1:37:48not HOAs have flock cameras and private

1:37:51businesses and whatnot.

1:37:53>> That is correct.

1:37:54>> Okay. Um,

1:37:57so if we did not have access to Flock,

1:38:00let's say we have a license plate and we

1:38:03reach out and put it to our community

1:38:05partners be aware,

1:38:08would they be able to look through Flock

1:38:10to see any of the license plates that we

1:38:13put on their radar? As far as regional

1:38:15partners,

1:38:18>> are you asking me if there was, let's

1:38:20say, an Amber Alert or a missing child,

1:38:22you would want us to reach out to an HOA

1:38:24to see if it was in that location

1:38:25>> or or if we put out an Amber Alert and

1:38:28they have access to that, does that show

1:38:29up on um any of the surrounding

1:38:32communities who have flock cameras? Does

1:38:34that do will they run that Amber Alert

1:38:36through their flock systems?

1:38:37>> I'm not sure. But I mean at that point

1:38:39we're asking civilians to be law

1:38:40enforcement and obviously there's going

1:38:43to be sensitive information when we're

1:38:44talking about victims and seizures

1:38:46information and things like that. So

1:38:48that is uh to answer your question. I

1:38:50don't know if that would work in the the

1:38:52direction I think you're going with that

1:38:53one.

1:38:54>> Okay. Um

1:38:58I guess that's all I have right now

1:39:01while we are in a lawsuit. I would just

1:39:04say that I am interested. I have

1:39:07supported license plate readers. I do

1:39:09think that if we have the right

1:39:10safeguards on there, um my concern again

1:39:13with Flock, as I've expressed, is the

1:39:16data sharing nationwide and I know we've

1:39:19restricted it on on that as well, uh to

1:39:22a lot more localized. Um I also just

1:39:25would like to see what the other options

1:39:26are out there as well. So, as we develop

1:39:28through this process, um I know there

1:39:31are other ones, Axon has um license

1:39:34plate readers and whatnot. So, I would

1:39:36like to see what other options are

1:39:37that's a little more secure as far as

1:39:40data sharing. So,

1:39:42that's my part in of it until we I guess

1:39:46potentially hear it next year.

1:39:50I have a few questions, but if you can't

1:39:52answer, totally fine. I understand the

1:39:54implications and some of these questions

1:39:56are just for public consumption because

1:39:58I know that there were quite a few

1:40:00constituents who reached out. Um you

1:40:03mentioned that there is a policy that

1:40:04holds violators accountable. Grateful to

1:40:06see that. Um how do we how do we just

1:40:10skip past the possibility of a

1:40:13suspension or a termination and go

1:40:15directly to criminal charges? Do we have

1:40:17that authority as a local municipality?

1:40:21>> We do.

1:40:22>> No, you do not under the city contract.

1:40:24I mean, if if there's a crime committed,

1:40:27yes, but a policy violation is not the

1:40:30basis for a crime necessarily. Um, and

1:40:34you would have to look at the city's

1:40:36union contract to see what the steps

1:40:38would be for any sort of discipline.

1:40:42>> Thank you so much for that clarity. Um,

1:40:45so just so I'm clear, if a police

1:40:47officer does abuse flock, which we have

1:40:51not had,

1:40:53um, we would not have the authority to

1:40:56create a policy or ordinance that says

1:40:59we're not even going to think twice

1:41:01about a termination or suspension. We

1:41:03want criminal charges. That's something

1:41:05that would have to be considered through

1:41:06the FOP or union contract,

1:41:09and it's outside of our jurisdiction is

1:41:11what I hear you saying. the the creation

1:41:13of a crime is not controlled by the

1:41:15union contract and I'm sorry I

1:41:17misunderstood your your question.

1:41:20Yes, that the city could examine that

1:41:23process. Um you would you would want to

1:41:25make sure that you don't well we cannot

1:41:27conflict with any existing state laws.

1:41:31>> Thank you so much for that clarity. Um,

1:41:35also flock historically, not just in

1:41:37Witchaw, but nationwide, I want to be

1:41:39clear here, has historically targeted

1:41:41high crime areas. It makes sense,

1:41:42utilizing that data, which tends to

1:41:45trend towards black communities and poor

1:41:47communities. Um, I'm curious, how are we

1:41:49balancing trust with those communities

1:41:52as we utilize this technology to assist

1:41:54with clearance rates and crimes?

1:41:57Um, so what I can answer is is that you

1:42:00put them in hightraic areas, not

1:42:02necessarily in high crime neighborhoods,

1:42:04but mainly in so I can tell you some of

1:42:07the numbers. Uh, as you all know, we are

1:42:09divided in four geographic boundaries.

1:42:11Northeast, south, and west in terms of

1:42:12our bureaus, and in north side we have

1:42:1640, southside has 47, east side has 68,

1:42:18and west side has 36. So they're pretty

1:42:21well distributed across the city in

1:42:23hight traffic locations.

1:42:24>> Thank you. Couple more questions. Uh I

1:42:27have an opportunity to meet with the

1:42:28student body president and vice

1:42:30president of Witchaw State falls in

1:42:31district 1. One of the things that

1:42:33they're hearing from their student

1:42:34constituency base is about uh the flocks

1:42:38around the campus. But I I wanted to

1:42:40know do we oversee those cameras that

1:42:43are on the actual campus because they

1:42:45have their own separate law enforcement

1:42:48agency. Can you clarify that?

1:42:50>> Yes. Witchto State has its own police

1:42:53department commission through the state

1:42:55and so what they do on the campus of

1:42:57Witchto State and all their campuses is

1:42:59their security and it's it's their own

1:43:01protocols.

1:43:02>> So it's treated as a private

1:43:04>> it's it's treated as its own state

1:43:06property when it comes to university. We

1:43:08have nothing to do with that.

1:43:09>> Perfect. Um, I also wanted to ask uh

1:43:13what role, if at all, do you see a

1:43:15civilian law enforcement oversight

1:43:16committee playing in the use of flock?

1:43:20>> I think that's a much bigger question

1:43:22that we can have and we can discuss. Uh,

1:43:24and that's way too much for me to answer

1:43:26right now.

1:43:26>> Absolutely. I just think that this is a

1:43:28unique opportunity to um incorporate

1:43:31community policing model with using this

1:43:34technology that is helping solve crimes

1:43:36and uh again I've seen correct me if I'm

1:43:39wrong trends for clearance rates have

1:43:42gone up since we have started using

1:43:44flock or am I wrong

1:43:45>> 100%.

1:43:46>> Okay.

1:43:47>> Uh flock has been one of the main

1:43:48factors of us having higher clearance

1:43:50rates and reduced burglary crimes as

1:43:53well. So, uh, and just to go back to

1:43:55your previous point, we do have our

1:43:56citizen review board, which does review

1:43:57all of our policies as well, and they

1:44:00can review whatever they like. So, if

1:44:01they wanted to review our policies and

1:44:03get involved, they have absolutely every

1:44:05right to do so as well.

1:44:06>> Perfect. Thank you for that. Uh, final

1:44:09question for you. Um, so I've done some

1:44:13research and I've seen that there are

1:44:14some states like New Hampshire where

1:44:16they have like a gosh I want to say

1:44:18theirs is like a three they have to

1:44:20delete the data after like three hours

1:44:22or three weeks. Um, we have 30 days,

1:44:26right? Is that

1:44:28>> Yes, that is correct.

1:44:28>> Okay. I just want to make sure I'm

1:44:29right. How how did we come to that

1:44:31conclusion of 30 days? And can you also

1:44:34provide some context that we were we

1:44:37were actually like one of the leaders

1:44:39kind of deploying this technology out

1:44:42earlier than some other places before it

1:44:44became like a big popular topic.

1:44:46>> Absolutely. And and we we did put a lot

1:44:49of safeguards in and guardrails into uh

1:44:51our flock policy and our flock use as

1:44:53well. Uh in terms of the 30 days that

1:44:55seems to be the best practices. A lot of

1:44:57different states have a lot of different

1:44:59timelines and time frames, but for us,

1:45:01we thought the 30 days was plenty. But

1:45:03also in our burglary cases, I mean, like

1:45:06like I said earlier, somebody might be

1:45:08on vacation and they're not getting back

1:45:09for two weeks. Uh in a lot of the

1:45:11burglary cases, what we found is that

1:45:13one individual who commits a burger,

1:45:16it's automatic probation. Well, if we

1:45:18can go back over the 30 days and find

1:45:19that same individual who has committed

1:45:21multiple burglaries, we can put multiple

1:45:23cases together and now they actually

1:45:25will serve time making us safer, making

1:45:27our communities completely safer and

1:45:29we're clearing burglaries and because of

1:45:31the flock, one of one of the flock

1:45:33programs that we have is a technology uh

1:45:35we have actually seen a reduction in our

1:45:37burglary cases. So, this technology is

1:45:40making our community safer and it is

1:45:42working tremendously well.

1:45:44>> Thank you. Uh the final thing I'll add

1:45:47is is this. I know that this is a very

1:45:49uh interesting topic amongst the

1:45:51community and balancing the need to you

1:45:53know incorporate the 21st century

1:45:55technology into who uh all of our

1:45:57departments not just WPD but all of our

1:45:59departments quite frankly. Um we know

1:46:01that this technology is helping solve

1:46:04crimes. Um, it was just one year ago

1:46:06prior to my time actually on council

1:46:08where uh a friend of mine, his sister

1:46:10was involved in a murder suicide and I

1:46:12got that unfortunate call and I was able

1:46:14to contact my predecessor and say I need

1:46:16help and uh because of WPD and flock you

1:46:20all were able to locate the vehicle,

1:46:23give that family closure and uh make

1:46:25sure that they were at least able to get

1:46:27answers. I share that not because I want

1:46:29to romanticize trauma. Um there are some

1:46:32serious implications to not putting

1:46:35guard rails around data. Uh but I also

1:46:38fully believe that we need safety

1:46:40security and we need to help support our

1:46:42WPD to give them the tools that they

1:46:44need to do that in a reasonable manner.

1:46:46I think the question here is not whether

1:46:47or not we need the technology. The

1:46:49question is what does it look like for

1:46:51the community to have a voice in those

1:46:53guard rails. Every every local

1:46:55municipality should be given their

1:46:56community voice and what that looks

1:46:58like. I think that we have a unique

1:46:59opportunity to really embed community

1:47:01policing into this. And so I truly do

1:47:04hope moving forward before this comes

1:47:06back to us that we have a a clear answer

1:47:08on how we are um involving community

1:47:11oversight in this process because

1:47:13overwhelmingly I hear that that's the

1:47:15most concern as well as protecting the

1:47:17data. But I thank you all for what

1:47:18you're doing.

1:47:19>> I appreciate you sharing that as well.

1:47:20Council member Shepard. Thank you.

1:47:23>> Yeah. Um, I concur with uh, council

1:47:25member Shepard there as far as the

1:47:27public being involved and that stirred

1:47:29up another question. What do we have a

1:47:31policy as far as what we use flock for?

1:47:35I mean, obviously murder cases, you're

1:47:38referring to burglary, rape, and

1:47:40whatnot. So, does it get down to just

1:47:43some of the mundane things? Some of the

1:47:45things that I face in my district are

1:47:48um, illegal dumping, for example. Is

1:47:51that something that we look into? Is it

1:47:53just we use flock for whatever we feel

1:47:55is appropriate or is there a kind of a

1:47:57guideline there as far as what we can

1:47:59use it for?

1:48:06>> Um we do have policy and uh don't want

1:48:10to go real deep on on what we use flock

1:48:14for uh in light of the lawsuit. I will

1:48:16say though that to get a license plate

1:48:19entered on the flock, according to WPD

1:48:21policy, there has to be a supervisor

1:48:24that um allows the the plate to go onto

1:48:27flock. You don't have to have a

1:48:29supervisor to search it, but you have to

1:48:31have a supervisor to enter it onto

1:48:32flock, but beyond that, I don't want to

1:48:34get too deep into um where we where we

1:48:38use flock specifically.

1:48:41>> Okay. I appreciate that. Last question.

1:48:44I don't know if you can answer this.

1:48:46It's something I've been curious about.

1:48:48Do we know the number of hits from

1:48:50outside our community? I know that's one

1:48:52of the main concerns I've heard is how

1:48:54many people from outside of Witchah have

1:48:57access and have license plate hits from

1:49:00within our community.

1:49:01>> We definitely prefer to save that

1:49:02conversation for March if you'll allow

1:49:04it. I think that also is subject in this

1:49:07lawsuit.

1:49:08>> Okay. Thank you.

1:49:14Great. Thank you, Deputy Chief Duff and

1:49:16team. Appreciate that. And then yes, we

1:49:18will have more information for you all

1:49:20and work on those questions for the

1:49:21March presentation, but you will see

1:49:24this as a board of bids item just for

1:49:26the extension. So, you'll see that

1:49:28coming up next week. Um, our next item

1:49:33is talking about the emergency medical

1:49:35veterary services and we have Emily

1:49:37Hurst from our animal shelter in WPD.

1:49:45>> Good morning everyone. Thanks for having

1:49:46me.

1:49:48All right. Um, the animal service

1:49:51department works to provide public

1:49:52safety for people and pets throughout

1:49:55enforcement of state statutes and city

1:49:57ordinances. We do that through 247

1:50:00emergency response as well as non-urgent

1:50:03court and code code enforcement during

1:50:04the day. Our department manages an

1:50:07animal shelter that provides short-term

1:50:09housing for lost animals and hopes to

1:50:12reunite them with their owners as well

1:50:14as provide shelter for animals

1:50:15confiscated due to dangerous dog

1:50:17activity, rabies exposure, criminal

1:50:19cases, and more. It is our

1:50:22responsibility to provide proper care

1:50:24and a safe and clean environment for the

1:50:26animals. This includes medical care and

1:50:28in some cases loss or found stray

1:50:31animals are in need of emergency medical

1:50:33care. I have found at least as far back

1:50:36as 2011, animal services has contracted

1:50:39with the veterinary emergency and

1:50:41specialty hospital or veh as we'll refer

1:50:44to it. Um for citizens to be able to

1:50:47take found stray animals with a medical

1:50:50emergency to veh directly. fees at that

1:50:53time were up to $100 in medical care if

1:50:56brought in by a citizen through the good

1:50:58Samaritan option and up to 300 doubt I'm

1:51:01sorry $300 in care if brought in by an

1:51:04animal services officer. Around that

1:51:06same time, animal services stopped

1:51:08employing a third shift of animal

1:51:11service officers and relied on veesh or

1:51:14that contract for injured animal

1:51:16emergencies and placed our officers on

1:51:18call for other um other animal related

1:51:21emergencies that were not medical.

1:51:24Current day, we are currently contracted

1:51:26with vehicles

1:51:31into veh. This was 24 hours a day and

1:51:34the animal service department has an

1:51:36operational model that it was dependent

1:51:38on the contract provider.

1:51:41In late July, we were notified effective

1:51:44August 3rd, the contract provider was

1:51:46discontinuing weekday services. Then

1:51:49October 14th, they notified us that

1:51:51weekend hours are now also limited. What

1:51:54we have experienced in day-to-day

1:51:56operations is that availability can li

1:51:59be limited even more so during from

1:52:01those posted times as we've experienced

1:52:04significant fluctuations in vendor

1:52:06availability for at least about a year's

1:52:08time. This has created significant

1:52:11operational and service gaps both for us

1:52:13and for citizens trying to navigate

1:52:15getting help for um to access vet care.

1:52:20We feel the current service model is no

1:52:22longer functional for its intended

1:52:24purposes.

1:52:26Staff reviewed a recent selection of

1:52:29nine months of treatment summaries for

1:52:30the animals that received care through

1:52:32this contract. 319 animals were seen

1:52:35during the reviewed period. Of those, 51

1:52:39were mercy euthanized. This was due to

1:52:42animal suffering or inability to be able

1:52:45to provide stabilization with the amount

1:52:47allowed per animal. 43% of those animals

1:52:52uh were came in for service during the

1:52:53time period that the vendor is now

1:52:55closed.

1:52:5663% of the animals were cats, 37 were

1:53:00dogs. Of the 319 animals, only 19 were

1:53:05reclaimed by their owners, effectively

1:53:076%.

1:53:08>> And context, this is for the vees

1:53:10contract. Just in case there's a

1:53:12screenshot of this and someone takes

1:53:14this out of context, this is not the

1:53:15numbers at our animal shelter. Correct.

1:53:18This is just related through that

1:53:20service emergency services contract for

1:53:22a 9th month period.

1:53:23>> I just want to make sure that's very

1:53:24clear. So

1:53:25>> absolutely

1:53:29>> for the 19 that were reclaimed by their

1:53:31owners, the city was reimbursed around

1:53:33$6,500

1:53:35for medical bills incurred per the pet

1:53:37contract. Over those nine months, those

1:53:40319 animals we paid $125,000.

1:53:46We estimate that at least about 60% of

1:53:49the animals that were seen during that

1:53:50time were not in need of emergency care

1:53:54um or did not receive a medical

1:53:56intervention beyond euthanasia.

1:54:00In 2025, the contract contracted

1:54:03provider build the city $28,000.

1:54:07We are currently operating off an

1:54:08allotted amount of $450 if the animal is

1:54:11brought in by a citizen for the good

1:54:13Samaritan program or $900 if brought in

1:54:18by an animal services officer for 2026

1:54:22um were likely on target for the similar

1:54:25spend.

1:54:26>> Do you know how many were brought in by

1:54:28um animal services officers

1:54:31>> during the reviewed period?

1:54:32>> Yeah.

1:54:33>> Yes, it was. I'm sorry. I wrote it down

1:54:36because now I knew these statistics

1:54:38would get me.

1:54:40>> Sorry about that.

1:54:41>> No, you're fine. Um

1:54:4440% were brought in by animal service

1:54:47officers, 60% by Good Sam or citizens.

1:54:50>> And would that be just after hours of of

1:54:52the shelter being open?

1:54:54>> No. The way the um good Sam option has

1:54:57operated over the last decade or so is

1:55:01that um the our contracted provider was

1:55:05open 24/7. So anytime whether we were

1:55:08open or an officer was available or not,

1:55:10if an citizen found an injured animal in

1:55:12need of emergency care, they could go to

1:55:14VESH. And so 60% of the animals seen by

1:55:18Vesh, which seems to trend over the

1:55:19years, came from good Samaritans or

1:55:22citizens. Um, and the other 40% came

1:55:25from an animal service officer. So

1:55:27really what that means is that if we

1:55:30were sent out on a call, one of our

1:55:32field officers or somebody brought

1:55:33something to the shelter or something

1:55:35incurred an injury at the shelter,

1:55:37that's when an animal service officer

1:55:38would have taken it.

1:55:40>> Okay. Thank you.

1:55:43>> I gota remember where I'm at. Sorry.

1:55:47Okay. So

1:55:50Oh, here we go. I'm going to go back.

1:55:53The allotted amount that 450 for

1:55:56citizens or 900 for animal service

1:55:58officers is intended to provide some

1:56:01stabilization to help the animal get

1:56:03through its strayold, which is typically

1:56:055 days in hopes to be reunited with its

1:56:08owner for the for its full medical

1:56:09needs. However, as we're finding, most

1:56:12of these animals are not owned. They're

1:56:15likely um discarded or neglected. um as

1:56:19we see that 94% of them um are not

1:56:22reclaimed by their owners.

1:56:24This to that point that further

1:56:27documents this significant cat and dog

1:56:30overpopulation that we face.

1:56:34So based on our review we believe that

1:56:36the current service delivery model no

1:56:38longer meets operational needs. There

1:56:40are significant gaps. uh it will add

1:56:43confusion and has for citizens on how to

1:56:45access help when finding an animal with

1:56:48a medical emergency. There are no other

1:56:5024-hour service providers currently to

1:56:52lean on for the previous model to which

1:56:54we have staffed our department.

1:56:58Therefore, it is our recommendation that

1:56:59we ensure the animal services department

1:57:01is appropriately staffed to access

1:57:03medical care for animals as needed and

1:57:06discontinue the good Samaritan option.

1:57:09Yes, sir. So, um, a couple questions,

1:57:12uh, based on the recommendation. Um, do

1:57:14we have situations where individuals

1:57:17where we know residents are taking their

1:57:20dog as part and taking advantage of the

1:57:23Good Samaritan

1:57:26policy.

1:57:27>> Um, there have been many reported

1:57:32situations. I would I can't I it's

1:57:35difficult to quantify many. Um, however,

1:57:38those are I wouldn't like to speak to

1:57:41those because they were not um tracked

1:57:43individually

1:57:45uh through animal numbers, so I couldn't

1:57:46defend it. But that I have had that

1:57:48information reported to me um through

1:57:50>> if somebody did that, is that an a

1:57:53criminal offense in any possible way?

1:57:55they're abusing the system to then be

1:57:57able to have their dogs taken care of

1:57:59and this and then basically the dogs go

1:58:01back to the animal shelter but then

1:58:03through humane society they adopt the

1:58:05dogs and they get their dogs back.

1:58:07>> It it would be difficult to track and

1:58:10prove amongst the other more severe uh

1:58:12criminal situations that I think that we

1:58:14face.

1:58:15>> Okay,

1:58:16>> so that was question number one.

1:58:17Question number two, it's not

1:58:19necessarily related to the veh contract

1:58:21itself, but it's related maybe to the

1:58:23animal shelters as a whole. this could

1:58:25have a component of that as well. One of

1:58:28the biggest barriers that we have at

1:58:30Second Light and all of our homeless

1:58:32providers is that they don't take

1:58:33animals. Um, that's I think a failure

1:58:37that the city hasn't addressed and

1:58:38that's something we've had a lot of

1:58:39really good successes when it comes to

1:58:42what we're doing in terms of investment.

1:58:43But what we haven't done necessarily is

1:58:46provide shelter space at um or kennel

1:58:49space at the shelter, which I know

1:58:51there's a lot of challenges, federal

1:58:52challenges with that. Could you talk

1:58:54about what the animal shelter has done

1:58:56to be able alleviate some of those

1:58:58concerns? And are there additional

1:59:00resources you need or do you see a gap

1:59:02where let's say individuals that are

1:59:04experiencing homelessness um that there

1:59:07could be an opportunity for the shelter

1:59:08to help in that way and what resources

1:59:10would be needed?

1:59:12>> Sure. Um, so the challenges around our

1:59:17animal shelter is that Witchah has an

1:59:20overpopulation of cats and dogs, stray

1:59:23cats and dogs specifically. And what

1:59:26that means is that we typically have an

1:59:28overcrowded shelter um at all times.

1:59:32There are moments where we have some

1:59:34space. We are also um funded in a way

1:59:38that is that is

1:59:42efficient I guess is the best way to

1:59:43say. We have very limited staff and

1:59:45resources and um boarding owned animals

1:59:51is very different than providing

1:59:53short-term care for stray animals. Um, I

1:59:56have been working with uh some of the

1:59:59employees and some of our partners that

2:00:02uh work with um trying to rehousing

2:00:05individuals just trying to figure out

2:00:07what we can do, how to connect other

2:00:09animal partners. Um, and what we find

2:00:13typically is that um these individuals

2:00:16while they're in temporary housing or

2:00:19needing long-term housing typically need

2:00:21longer stay care. So 30 days to 60 days.

2:00:26Our the way our shelter is built and the

2:00:28staffing model in which we have to

2:00:30operate to be able to provide those

2:00:32animals breaks outside of their kennel

2:00:34does not afford that um in a way that is

2:00:36healthy for the animal. So that's why um

2:00:39our our purpose is short-term care only.

2:00:42And so um I think that there are

2:00:45multiple opportunities uh if we enact

2:00:49you ordinances or um explore other

2:00:52opportunities to reduce that stray

2:00:54overpopulation. We could see that we

2:00:56have then the facility space and maybe

2:00:59the resources to address that. Um at

2:01:02this time our facilities and our

2:01:03resources um aren't really able to help

2:01:06much. We do try to help case by case

2:01:09when um we can with short-term care.

2:01:12>> Well, I know as the emergency shelter

2:01:14opens, especially on cold months, I know

2:01:17you offered that assistance last year. I

2:01:19just want to say you do incredible work

2:01:20the resources you're given as well. So,

2:01:22thank you. I think you're a great leader

2:01:23for the organization. I just know that

2:01:25that's one of the significant barriers

2:01:26and that's probably a larger question uh

2:01:28that we have to address um as we look at

2:01:30renewal of the second line contract and

2:01:32just how do we help? I know that was a

2:01:33huge barrier when it came to Chapel Park

2:01:35as well. So, thank you.

2:01:36>> Yeah, absolutely. And I and I can attest

2:01:38that it is a large barrier for trying to

2:01:40get citizens off of the street um having

2:01:42them a safe place. A lot of times they

2:01:44will not separate from their animal. Um

2:01:47so we're doing what we can to assist.

2:01:49>> Thank you.

2:01:50>> Yes, sir.

2:01:51>> Uh just a couple questions. Um first

2:01:54off, I agree spay and neuter is

2:01:56definitely the way to curb

2:01:58overpopulation in the future.

2:02:00I know working with a lot of our

2:02:01partners out there that that is

2:02:03something that we are keeping our foot

2:02:05on the gas for. So, thank you for your

2:02:06part in that. Um, when you talked about

2:02:10the reduction in weekend hours with veh,

2:02:12what are those hours that they're we

2:02:14have the option of dropping off now?

2:02:18>> The email that I received on October

2:02:2114th um I believe reduced it. It was uh

2:02:28gosh, it was very sporadic. Like, and

2:02:31I'm gonna I might quote this wrong, so I

2:02:32I hesitate to say it, but it was maybe

2:02:35there was a couple hours that were open

2:02:36during the day, Saturday morning, but

2:02:38then closed again for several hours, and

2:02:40then maybe open again in the evening,

2:02:42then closed again for a portion. It's

2:02:45just very uh it was sporadic um and not

2:02:48uh consistent with what we had been

2:02:50dependent on as an as a department

2:02:53previously.

2:02:54>> Okay. Yeah, that was a new one from the

2:02:56last time we were looking at this.

2:02:58>> And remind me, Vesh was the only

2:03:00respondent to the

2:03:02>> um Good Samaritan RFP the last time

2:03:04around,

2:03:05>> I believe. Um for many years, Josh, is

2:03:07that accurate?

2:03:09I think only one other time have we ever

2:03:11had a respondent and since it was um

2:03:14issued.

2:03:15>> Yeah.

2:03:16>> About about 15 or more years ago.

2:03:19>> Good morning. Uh just to briefly say

2:03:21yes. Uh the only context I would add is

2:03:24that staff in 24 and and over time have

2:03:27gone an extra step and we actually ced

2:03:30or pulled the state of Kansas veterary

2:03:33lensures for the entire region and we

2:03:35sent um all license holders for this

2:03:38area the opportunity to say uh please

2:03:41submit your proposal. No firm submitted

2:03:43a proposal other than uh one incumbent.

2:03:46>> Okay, thank you for that. Um

2:03:49is this best practices with other like

2:03:54sized shelters?

2:03:56>> Actually the good Samaritan option is

2:03:58quite unique. Um it is not uh it I

2:04:02haven't found other communities where

2:04:03that exists.

2:04:04>> Okay. Uh the last question um do you

2:04:08anticipate the youth rates to stay

2:04:11pretty static, pretty similar with

2:04:14bringing this in house?

2:04:15>> Um I I believe so. So, the goal isn't to

2:04:18reduce the um care um or access to care

2:04:23for the animals. It's really just to be

2:04:26able to adjust um to contract service

2:04:28providers and have our animal service

2:04:30officers be able to access medical care

2:04:32as that may vary um through multiple

2:04:35providers.

2:04:36Um the our our overall euthanasia rate

2:04:40right now is around 10%.

2:04:43um mercy euthanasia account for at least

2:04:456% of those already if not more. Um and

2:04:51so that is a that the percentage of our

2:04:55total euthania rate or the number of

2:04:56animals that um are mercy euthanized

2:04:59have increased over the years. Um and

2:05:01that's uh likely due because with the

2:05:04more stray animals you have animals that

2:05:06are a lot increased hit by cars um

2:05:08increased injuries from being stray

2:05:11emaciation things like that. Um so we do

2:05:15I anticipate until we address that

2:05:16overpopulation we'll see a small steady

2:05:18incline from that piece but from this

2:05:21decision um I would like to see that no

2:05:24other animals are euthanized from that.

2:05:26Yeah. And and state does have a hand in

2:05:28that as well with some of the

2:05:30restrictions they've put on us. So I I

2:05:33always want to

2:05:34>> put that out there too. So that way

2:05:36people can maybe press some of their

2:05:38state um representatives on seeing some

2:05:41changes in that department. So

2:05:43>> yeah, I would say the one that affects

2:05:44us is um the display of neonates

2:05:48throughout their care period is a is a

2:05:50large portion of youth in Asia for us.

2:05:51>> Yeah. All right. Thank you, Emily.

2:05:53>> Absolutely. Any other questions?

2:05:56Thank you.

2:06:03>> Great. Thank you. And then for our last

2:06:05one, we have the parks and recreation

2:06:07master plan. So, we'll have the director

2:06:09of parks and recreation come back up,

2:06:11Reggie Davidson.

2:06:21So I want to give a little bit of uh uh

2:06:24background information before we

2:06:25introduce the consultants that's leading

2:06:26our park master plan uh process. So our

2:06:30uh 2008 our parks and recreation open

2:06:32space pros plans was updated and it was

2:06:35done and it was updated in 2026 with 218

2:06:38recommendations addressing recreation

2:06:41facilities maintenance management and

2:06:43capital improvements. Some of the key

2:06:45outcomes from that were uh in recreation

2:06:48expanded the exclusive programming,

2:06:49wellness initiative, community

2:06:51partnerships as well as program

2:06:53evaluation. Uh we also have capital

2:06:55improvements that were there as part of

2:06:56national park renovations, aquatics

2:06:58upgrades, splash pads, dog parks as well

2:07:01as other park improvements and

2:07:04operational and management. We improved

2:07:06maintenance standards, staff and

2:07:07training, work tracking, communication,

2:07:09as well as public engagement and data

2:07:11driven decision making. So why we need a

2:07:14master plan? Now uh just giving a little

2:07:16bit of information about why we move

2:07:18forward with this process is just our

2:07:20changing need which involves involvement

2:07:22demographics, recreation trends as well

2:07:24as residents expectation and shift

2:07:26towards proactive planning. Uh financial

2:07:29stabil sustainability is another one

2:07:31that's important for that. Uh previous

2:07:34capital recommendations exceeded

2:07:36realistic funding cap capability and

2:07:38capacity and need to prioritize

2:07:40maintenance, replacement and sustainable

2:07:43funding and action to implement that is

2:07:46setting realistic uh goals and setting

2:07:49costs and timelines on how we can be

2:07:50measurable goals and progress reporting.

2:07:53And then finally, community priorities.

2:07:55Uh making sure that the updated data and

2:07:57the public input to identify underserved

2:07:59areas as well as improve accessibility

2:08:02and guide to future investments. And one

2:08:04of the other things that's is key right

2:08:06now as we're going through this process

2:08:08is looking at and addressing the uh

2:08:10potential land swap with USD 259 that

2:08:13has been something that has been

2:08:14discussed uh between the school district

2:08:16as well as the city. Some of the things

2:08:18we want to give on some of the

2:08:19background with that uh the proposed

2:08:21exchanges with the Calibine Park with

2:08:24the MLAN elementary and Claude Lamb with

2:08:26Adams Elementary, new schools

2:08:28constructed on the park land and then

2:08:30sites converted to parks. Uh the park

2:08:33board supported feasibility expiration

2:08:36in May of 2026 and no final land swap

2:08:39was approved. uh city council due

2:08:42diligence was which deferred from

2:08:44October 13th until November the 10th

2:08:46which is uh uh after the election on the

2:08:503. So just a little bit more information

2:08:52on some of the things that we've done in

2:08:54the process through the park master plan

2:08:56is that uh we looked at both parks and

2:08:58seeing where they are currently as far

2:08:59as cons condition assessments and

2:09:02they're rated through the park master

2:09:03plan of being on the level of zero to

2:09:06five. Both of these parks fall in the

2:09:08two range uh with uh needing existing

2:09:11amenities that are recommended to be

2:09:13replaced or either adding additional

2:09:15amenities to that. And why I'm bringing

2:09:17this up now is it's perfect timing as

2:09:19we're looking at how we invest in

2:09:21different properties and what we do

2:09:22moving forward. We'll be able to look at

2:09:24where those two properties are as far as

2:09:26their current conditions and how we look

2:09:28at investing in those as we move

2:09:29forward. And looking at that, we also

2:09:32want to look at providing some data. And

2:09:34you'll see that we've sent uh provided a

2:09:37copy view of the uses for each of the

2:09:38parks. And for uh Claude Lamb, we're at

2:09:412,000 annual visits per year. That's in

2:09:44the bottom 20% of our attendance. And

2:09:47Coline is 4,000 each year, which in the

2:09:49bottom third and approximately 140 park

2:09:53properties systemwide with about 17,000

2:09:56annual visitors. So, just want to give

2:09:58some context on where we are with that

2:10:00and what we're doing as far as moving

2:10:02forward and evaluating as we consider

2:10:04alternative ways that we use our park

2:10:05space and partner with the school

2:10:07district. And one of the other things

2:10:09that's been under question as well is

2:10:10the neighborhood access to those

2:10:12locations if we make any changes. Uh the

2:10:15exchange potentially with uh Coline and

2:10:18MLAN uh would only uh be in the area.

2:10:21So, it wouldn't impact as far as

2:10:23distance for the park itself. Something

2:10:25that we need to consider for claw lime

2:10:27is that we have other properties that

2:10:28are there and it's contingent upon where

2:10:30we actually make the location on what

2:10:32that impact would be. And then the

2:10:34longterm considerations with that is

2:10:37that we need to make sure we evaluate

2:10:38the condition uh the utilization capital

2:10:41needs as well as neighborhood access and

2:10:44long-term recreational use as well as

2:10:46not just simple acreage that goes along

2:10:48with that. So taking a holistic approach

2:10:50and that's part of what the consultant

2:10:52team is going to look at for all of our

2:10:54amenities and kind of get where we are

2:10:56now and a path forward. So with that

2:10:58I'll introduce our two consultants that

2:11:00are here. Uh Laura Peters who with PDG

2:11:03Planning and Design and then Brian

2:11:05Trusty with Pros Consultants that's

2:11:06going to go through our action plan.

2:11:16Good morning.

2:11:19We get to talk about parks and wreck.

2:11:21So, I know that after a long meeting,

2:11:23hopefully this will be uh fun. So, um

2:11:26great to see you, mayor. Uh council

2:11:27members, we appreciate the time today.

2:11:29Um

2:11:31so, again, I'm Laura Peters with RDG

2:11:34Planning and Design. We have offices

2:11:35around the Midwest. I am based in De

2:11:37Moines. I'll let Brian just

2:11:39>> Sure. My name is Brian Trusty. I'm a

2:11:41senior partner at Pros Consulting. We're

2:11:43based uh our headquarters is in

2:11:45Indianapolis, but I'm based out of

2:11:46Dallas.

2:11:48>> Um some other partners that we've had

2:11:50involved in the plan, ETC uh Institute

2:11:53out of Kansas City, uh administered a

2:11:55statistically valid survey for us. And

2:11:57then also Venice Communications assisted

2:11:59us with community engagement early on in

2:12:01the process and she's based out of

2:12:03Kansas City area. So I'm just gonna jump

2:12:06in. So, I think that Reggie teed this up

2:12:09fairly well, but uh for those that may

2:12:11not be familiar, what is a comprehensive

2:12:13parks and recreation plan? Um, so this

2:12:16plan is intended to be a framework to

2:12:20guide decisionmaking for all of you for

2:12:23the next 10 years. It lays out the

2:12:25strategy of how the community uh chooses

2:12:28to invest in parks and recreation. So,

2:12:31we were out assessing your current

2:12:33conditions. Um, we visited every park.

2:12:36Um Brian will talk a little bit more

2:12:38about recreation programs. We visited

2:12:40the facilities. Um so we got a good idea

2:12:42of what the conditions look like. Um

2:12:44through community engagement, we

2:12:46understand the community needs and what

2:12:48their values are and what they would

2:12:50like to see. Um so then the challenge is

2:12:52trying to bring those into alignment uh

2:12:54for you and establishing priorities of

2:12:57what that might look like moving forward

2:12:58so that you have that framework for

2:13:01decision- making.

2:13:04Um, a lot of data goes into uh

2:13:06collecting this information. So, in

2:13:08addition to the engagement and the

2:13:10inventory, um, Brian will talk a little

2:13:12bit about benchmarking and best

2:13:14practices against other communities, uh,

2:13:16peer communities of your size, talking

2:13:18about level of service analysis,

2:13:20recreation trends, metrics, financial

2:13:23analysis. So, this is a little bit about

2:13:25the process that we went through. And

2:13:27I'll uh start first with this kind of

2:13:29phase one discovery period, which is,

2:13:31you know, where are we today? Um how

2:13:34does Witchah compare to your other

2:13:36communities? Um what are the conditions?

2:13:39Uh how are the programs lining with

2:13:41demands? And then um also what are kind

2:13:42of the biggest challenges and

2:13:44opportunities?

2:13:46>> Sure. So a big part of this project in

2:13:48the beginning was really understanding

2:13:49how Witchah compared to a lot of the

2:13:51norm typical communities that you uh

2:13:53relate to. So we looked at a series of

2:13:56of eight other communities and so

2:13:58Witchah making the ninth including De

2:14:00Moine, Kansas City, Lincoln, Little

2:14:01Rock, Oklahoma City, Omaha, St. Louis,

2:14:03and Tulsa.

2:14:05There was a question in the beginning of

2:14:06this project is does does Witchah have

2:14:08too many parks? Is this is this a

2:14:10challenge? Should we be cutting back in

2:14:12our park inventory? As you can see on

2:14:14the table to the left, actually you kind

2:14:16of fall right in the middle of a lot of

2:14:17these agencies with 122 parks in total.

2:14:21And as you consider the percent of the

2:14:23population that's within a 10 10-minute

2:14:25walk to the park, you also are scoring

2:14:27around 51% of the population uh uh

2:14:30within a 10-minute walk and 3.7% of the

2:14:33city area as parkland. So compared to a

2:14:36lot of these other benchmark communities

2:14:37and 3.7% being the lowest of the nine,

2:14:41uh actually which it starts to appear

2:14:43that Witchah may be slightly underparked

2:14:45compared to some of these other cities.

2:14:48So here's looking at types of amenities

2:14:50across these various communities. Not

2:14:51all eight had the data available. So we

2:14:54included uh six of the six of the eight

2:14:56here, but you can see with basketball,

2:14:58sports fields, dogs, parks, etc.

2:15:01Generally, you're scoring either kind of

2:15:02right in the middle uh or slightly in

2:15:05the lower quartile of some of these

2:15:07other communities uh and some of the and

2:15:09having these types of amenities.

2:15:12We also wanted to look at park acreage

2:15:14per thousand. Uh you can see Witchah on

2:15:16the far right there. And so you have

2:15:1812.47 acres per thousand residents uh

2:15:21which is third from the bottom in terms

2:15:23of uh these other communities. The

2:15:25highest being in Little Rock where they

2:15:26had 29.3 acres per thousand. A lot of

2:15:29these communities that have much higher

2:15:30metrics like this have very large open

2:15:33space programs and that's what drives

2:15:34those acreages up as high as they are.

2:15:37Um, one question that the mayor brought

2:15:39up too in the process because she

2:15:41participated in the steering committee

2:15:43as did council uh member Hoheisle uh was

2:15:46how do we compare from a size

2:15:48perspective because do you know we have

2:15:50our maintenance teams trying to get

2:15:52across the community to manage these

2:15:53these parks? uh you and so the qu we

2:15:56looked at the size comparison by square

2:15:58miles and you can see there on the

2:15:59bottom right Witchaw kind of falls right

2:16:01in the middle uh Oklahoma City being the

2:16:04largest of the of the sized city and de

2:16:07mo being the smallest.

2:16:10We also looked at parks funding. So on

2:16:13the upper left you can see park acreage

2:16:15uh per $1,000

2:16:18uh $100,000 of the citywide operating

2:16:20budget, not just uh the park's budget

2:16:22but citywide. And so you kind of fall at

2:16:24uh you don't fall at the very bottom,

2:16:26but you're falling kind of right below

2:16:28median there. An annual park investment,

2:16:31you can see as also uh where that

2:16:33compares. And then park and recreation

2:16:35spending per capita.

2:16:40Uh we looked at city uh and staffing

2:16:42levels. So we looked at FTEEs per 10,000

2:16:45residents. And so actually uh Witchaw

2:16:47falls kind of right in the middle there.

2:16:49Uh and then we looked at uh operating

2:16:51budget uh total the total citywide

2:16:54operating budget and your acreage uh per

2:16:57$100,000 of the operating budget. You

2:16:59can see that data on the far right.

2:17:01>> Just a quick comment, not a question. I

2:17:04would love to share some of these graphs

2:17:06as well. However, just uh optically when

2:17:09citizens see I know this isn't

2:17:10alphabetical, but optically when

2:17:12citizens see which do at the bottom,

2:17:13that's where they're going to go to.

2:17:14They're going to assume it's at the

2:17:16bottom, not maybe that we're in the

2:17:18middle on something. Sure. Somewhere on

2:17:19the bottom, somewhere higher. Are there

2:17:21graphs that also show where we are in

2:17:23proximity, you know, a ranking of per

2:17:26capita? I know that the graphs on the

2:17:27left do, but the other graphs are a

2:17:30little bit challenging. So, could we

2:17:31maybe just have that in a different

2:17:32format as well?

2:17:33>> Certainly, as we move to finalize this

2:17:34plan, we can make sure that any of these

2:17:36graphs are uh organized thusly.

2:17:38>> Okay, that would just be helpful. Thank

2:17:40you.

2:17:40>> Of course.

2:17:43Um, also looking at the TPL, which is

2:17:45trust for public land, they do an annual

2:17:48park score of some of the largest the

2:17:51hundred largest uh park systems and

2:17:53cities across the country. And they

2:17:55update this annually. And we looked at

2:17:57where you were in the 2025 scoring. They

2:18:00they look at acreage. They look at

2:18:02access. Access in in TPL terms is

2:18:05percentage of the population within a

2:18:0710-minute walk. the amount of investment

2:18:09that's made, amenities, overall equity,

2:18:12which is around distribution of parks

2:18:13across the community in various areas,

2:18:15both those that are privileged and

2:18:17underprivileged, and then an overall

2:18:19score. So overall, out of out of the top

2:18:23100 systems uh across the country in

2:18:252025, TPL found Witchah, Kansas to be

2:18:29number 75.

2:18:31And here's kind of an example what they

2:18:33also we also had the privilege because

2:18:35of the timing of this project to look at

2:18:38they updated that for the 2026 score and

2:18:41you also ranked uh 75th um in 2026 but

2:18:45you can see where you had improvements

2:18:47and and declining uh states uh across

2:18:50the system. So you did improve in terms

2:18:52of of acreage um out of acreage of 100

2:18:56point 56 out of 100 you went from 54 to

2:18:5956. You improved in score of access. You

2:19:02improved in amenities and in park space

2:19:04equity but you uh lost ground on the

2:19:07investment score.

2:19:10So as you can see in the benchmark

2:19:11communities on the far right of those

2:19:13that are included in that analysis for

2:19:15trust for public land because De Moines

2:19:17and Little Rock were not available.

2:19:19Lincoln, Nebraska scored number 25,

2:19:21Kansas City number 27, St. Louis 29,

2:19:24Omaha 40, Tulsa 63, and Omaha 6. Omaha

2:19:28Oklahoma City 96.

2:19:30>> So, is one the best?

2:19:31>> One is the best. Okay.

2:19:32>> Yeah.

2:19:34>> And these are for the 100 most populous

2:19:36cities.

2:19:36>> 100 most populous cities. So, and this

2:19:39is probably a better slide to look at.

2:19:41This is a summary of how Witchah scored

2:19:45on, you know, out of nine, how you

2:19:48scored across these benchmark

2:19:50communities on park acreage per square

2:19:52mile, park acreage per thousand

2:19:54residents, total parks per thousand

2:19:56residents, FTEEs per 10,000 residents,

2:19:58and park acreage per 100,000 of

2:20:01operating budget. So you can see on

2:20:03across the bottom how you kind of score

2:20:05it across those various categories,

2:20:09right?

2:20:12Um, as Brian mentioned, so TPL, um, one

2:20:15of their scoring metrics on access is,

2:20:18uh, living within a 10-minute uh, walk

2:20:21of a park and, uh, Witchah with 51%.

2:20:25This is a map to, um, help depict what

2:20:28that looks like. Um, so especially in

2:20:31district 2, uh, we can see that we have

2:20:33some, uh, gaps to parkland in district

2:20:35two that is is underparked. Um also I

2:20:39think a little bit maybe in um district

2:20:42uh four we have a little bit but

2:20:44generally in the urban core um I think

2:20:46where you shine is in uh your equity

2:20:49scoring that there is strong access to

2:20:52the parks um within the urban core and

2:20:54something in our um I think our very

2:20:56first um uh steering committee meeting

2:21:00it was Mayor Woo when we had asked about

2:21:01some of the um challenges and and

2:21:04strengths within the system. Um the

2:21:07challenge being the geography of when

2:21:09you have the rivers um the highways the

2:21:12your your creeks it's a very bisected

2:21:15community and so um you have a lot of I

2:21:17would say kind of leftover spaces along

2:21:19the river that lend themselves well to

2:21:22um having that park land um kind of in

2:21:25the core because of those. So

2:21:30um we as Reggie uh started uh to mention

2:21:33uh we visited

2:21:35140 parks all of your parks in the

2:21:37system. We gave a subjective score

2:21:41between one to five for each park. So

2:21:44one would be a park that's in excellent

2:21:46condition. Um five are your parks that

2:21:48are uh in the poorest condition. And

2:21:51it's a little bit of a subjective

2:21:53rating. We took a look at um overall

2:21:56maintenance um within each park, the

2:21:58quality of the amenities, the age of the

2:22:00amenities, the age of the playgrounds

2:22:02and and um other pieces there. Um we

2:22:05looked at programming of the park and

2:22:06whether we felt that the park was um

2:22:10serving the need that it feels like it

2:22:12was intended um to do. Accessibility

2:22:14certainly with ADA accessibility and are

2:22:17you do you have accessible um picnic

2:22:19tables for example? So, if you're in a

2:22:21wheelchair or pushing a stroller, are

2:22:23you able to access those? Um,

2:22:26environment. Um, landscape. I learned

2:22:28about stickers. I didn't know about

2:22:30stickers. Uh, but I I've since learned

2:22:32that, you know, the quality of the the

2:22:34turf is important for, um, being able to

2:22:37play and recreate and walk your dogs.

2:22:39Um, just overall enjoyment. Is the park

2:22:42a place that you feel that you want to

2:22:44just go sit and relax and visit it? So,

2:22:47we had dinner in College Hill last

2:22:49night. I went to College Hill Park and

2:22:50it was just great to see everybody, you

2:22:51know, just sitting and and enjoying the

2:22:54park. Um, and then opportunity. So, do

2:22:57we see that there are um

2:23:00is there more that could be done or

2:23:02potentially less that should be done in

2:23:03a park to take advantage of the natural

2:23:05features or um the neighborhood that

2:23:07might be surrounding the park? So, um

2:23:09those were our and this is where um we

2:23:13came in uh with the park. So, this is a

2:23:15list of all of your parks. Um, as you'll

2:23:17see, we had just a handful that we were

2:23:20giving the excellent rating to on the

2:23:22left. Um, we had significantly more that

2:23:26scored in that one or two range. The

2:23:28parks that are highlighted in yellow are

2:23:31the parks that have the greatest

2:23:33attendance. Um, so when we track the um,

2:23:36Placer AI data, we could see where that

2:23:39landed. Um, Sedwick County Park was at

2:23:43the top of that along with Striker. Um

2:23:45and then uh Clap Park. So we can also uh

2:23:49track attendance over time and see how

2:23:52for example Clap Park once that was

2:23:54remodeled how um attendance at the park

2:23:57shot you know way up because it's been

2:23:59remodeled and you have a new playground

2:24:01that everybody wants to come visit.

2:24:04Um and then early on I think we had

2:24:06heard some concerns about fairness and

2:24:07investment. So then we also wanted to

2:24:09map those conditions um just to see

2:24:12because I think what we had had had come

2:24:14into you know maybe thinking at the time

2:24:17was that all of the investment was

2:24:19happening happening out in the outer

2:24:20core and that your um more inner core

2:24:23neighborhoods were um in in more

2:24:26challenging conditions and we didn't

2:24:28necessarily find that to be um the case

2:24:30at all that that it seemed like um we're

2:24:33seeing investments that are sort of

2:24:35sporadic through each of the parks. So

2:24:37you're doing a little bit to kind of

2:24:39elevate each one um rather than um

2:24:42putting all of the all of your eggs in

2:24:45one basket in a certain park. So So

2:24:47that's just what that looked like. And

2:24:49then we also did this by um each council

2:24:52district and this will be in our plan

2:24:54too, but um again so we can see the

2:24:57condition score along with the service

2:24:59area and so you can see for example

2:25:01district two how that looks. So,

2:25:05>> okay.

2:25:07>> Great. So, aside from looking at not

2:25:10only how the parks were shaped and how

2:25:12they are performing and their condition

2:25:14on the on the ground, we also wanted to

2:25:16look at operations and maintenance and

2:25:18staffing, recreational programming. And

2:25:20so, what we're looking at today here on

2:25:23this slide is an analysis of your park

2:25:25maintenance budgeting over since 2022.

2:25:28also in contra in in context of the

2:25:31number of acres in which you the park

2:25:33maintenance team has to has to manage.

2:25:35So up on the top the table on the top

2:25:37actually shows that we have 33 point uh

2:25:403779

2:25:41acres of actual parkland that the park

2:25:43maintenance team uh maintains but as you

2:25:46all probably and likely know and as

2:25:47Reggie and Gary know a parks maintenance

2:25:50team is also the city's other duties as

2:25:53assigned department and they do a lot of

2:25:55other maintenance around the community.

2:25:57They do a lot of median and boulevard

2:25:59maintenance. They do uh maintenance,

2:26:01landscaping in and around most of the

2:26:02city's facilities that are So, we have a

2:26:05total of uh almost 2200 acres of

2:26:07non-park acres that the park maintenance

2:26:10team is responsible for coming to a

2:26:12total of 5,975

2:26:15acres that they oversee and manage on an

2:26:17annual basis.

2:26:19You know, one of the things that's

2:26:20really park a high quality park system

2:26:23is always a highly valued public

2:26:25service. People, this is something that

2:26:27people always want and expect in their

2:26:29community. Very few people actually

2:26:31understand what it costs actually to

2:26:33maintain a high quality park system. So,

2:26:35what we wanted to do in this analysis is

2:26:37help un shed light on that fact. And the

2:26:40way we typically do this in our planning

2:26:41is looking at how much it costs per acre

2:26:44per year in order to manage your park

2:26:47system. So, as you can see, your annual

2:26:49cost per uh acre per year in 2026 is

2:26:52about 2548

2:26:55uh dollars per acre per year. That has

2:26:57increased by about nearly 20% since

2:27:002022. So, that's good. We're moving in

2:27:02the right direction. Uh having done this

2:27:04work in a number of communities of

2:27:06similar size and complexity all across

2:27:08the country and especially in the

2:27:09Midwest, I'll tell you that on average

2:27:13uh we see most communities falling

2:27:15between 3500 acre $3,500 and $6,500 per

2:27:19acre per year. So you're actually below

2:27:21that average. As we commented earlier in

2:27:23the benchmarking, one of the things that

2:27:25we discovered in this process is not so

2:27:27much that Witchah is underparked, it's

2:27:29actually underresourced in its park

2:27:31department. We're going to talk about

2:27:33that a little bit more as we start

2:27:34getting into some of the recommendations

2:27:36about how you might be able to approach

2:27:37that issue. One of the other things

2:27:39we're going to bring light and we're

2:27:40going to start with right here on this

2:27:42slide as you can see at the bottom is

2:27:44the percent of um the percent of

2:27:46contract services that's a total of

2:27:49operate the uh the parks maintenance

2:27:51budget. So this is something that stems

2:27:54from uh decisions that were made in by

2:27:57in in 2009 and 2010 when the city was

2:28:00facing some pretty dire financial

2:28:02circumstances at the time and there was

2:28:04a desire to see more of the con more of

2:28:07the park maintenance activities being

2:28:09pushed out to private contractors at the

2:28:12time in order to reduce uh city staffing

2:28:14and city FTEEs in that line of work. And

2:28:17so as a result, what you see is in 2026,

2:28:20nearly 25% of the total parks operation

2:28:23budget goes to contracted services.

2:28:26According to the National Recreation and

2:28:27Parks Association, NRPA, which is the

2:28:30National Trade Association for public

2:28:32parks and recreation uh agencies, that

2:28:35percentage actually should be somewhere

2:28:37between 5 and 12%. And so we we have a

2:28:40heavy reliance on contracted services.

2:28:42We're going to come back to that in a

2:28:43minute as to how what that has created

2:28:46in terms of implications today in some

2:28:48of our recommendations as a result. This

2:28:50just shows graphically that same table

2:28:52that we were just looking at as a to a

2:28:54cost the total cost of your uh park

2:28:57maintenance budget uh including direct

2:28:59labor, contracted services, and all

2:29:01other expenses.

2:29:04So, here's some of our issues as a as a

2:29:07city and as a parks department,

2:29:08particularly on the maintenance team.

2:29:10you do struggle as a modernized employer

2:29:12of choice. You do continually, you kind

2:29:14of on average run about a 30% um vacancy

2:29:18rate on your open positions, your

2:29:19authorized positions. And a lot of this

2:29:21stems from this issue that I just talked

2:29:24about with the percentage of work that's

2:29:25being pushed out to contracted services.

2:29:28So, as a result of that decision that

2:29:30was made 15 16 years ago, it's created a

2:29:33very flat hierarchical organization

2:29:36within the maintenance team. And so

2:29:38there's very little depth to it uh

2:29:40because all those crews and crew leaders

2:29:42and all those other things that would

2:29:43normally create depth in the maintenance

2:29:45division is all going out to contracted

2:29:47services. As a result, you struggle to

2:29:50recruit and retain employees for any

2:29:53period of time. And we've run into this

2:29:54issue working with your team where

2:29:57oftentimes people are recruited into the

2:29:59city, they get trained, they get your

2:30:00excellent training, and then they

2:30:02immediately leave to go to the private

2:30:03sector. And this this churn this

2:30:05turnover has created a a real challenge

2:30:08uh in order to retain a workforce. So we

2:30:10are going to be making recommendations

2:30:12we'll talk about a little bit more about

2:30:14strategically maybe bringing some of

2:30:16those services back inhouse in order to

2:30:19build out your maintenance team a little

2:30:20bit uh more robustly and now you allow

2:30:23you to become much more of a modernized

2:30:25and desired employer of choice. Um, so

2:30:28as another example of how you're

2:30:30underresourced in forestry alone, you've

2:30:32lost 19 staff in the last 18 months.

2:30:35Gary was telling us a story yesterday in

2:30:37the steering committee meeting about

2:30:39this incredibly trained forester that

2:30:41they really really uh had pursued and

2:30:44had come on board just recently. He was

2:30:47willing to take the the cut in pay in

2:30:49exchange for the excellent benefits that

2:30:52you all provide as a city, as an as an

2:30:54employer. but realized after just a

2:30:56couple of months he was not able to

2:30:58afford that and has submitted his

2:30:59resignation as of yesterday. So this is

2:31:02something that again continues to be a

2:31:04challenge and if you're going to

2:31:05actually be able to resource this work

2:31:07over time you'll need to think about how

2:31:09that team is structured

2:31:11>> and that's who we brought up earlier in

2:31:13the meeting today. That was one of the

2:31:15issues with forestry, but that applies

2:31:17across the parks department. If there's

2:31:20no room to um elevate yourself to move

2:31:23up the ladder and more options to branch

2:31:25out on that does scare away a lot of

2:31:28employees or leaves them looking

2:31:30elsewhere.

2:31:31>> Correct. So, and again think suggesting

2:31:33strategically how you can do that over

2:31:36time phasing it up and we've got some

2:31:38ideas and suggestions about that. also

2:31:40continuing to improve the connection

2:31:42with the planning team. Again, there we

2:31:45have great individuals that are in that

2:31:47team and everybody wants to they operate

2:31:50in the spirit of collaboration. Uh but

2:31:52there's just not enough of them to go

2:31:54around. And when you are talking about

2:31:56all those contracted services, you have

2:31:59you know over $4 million in contracted

2:32:01services that require management uh and

2:32:04oversight. This oftentimes leads to a

2:32:07lack of staff that can monitor a a lot

2:32:09of the contractors doing design,

2:32:10construction, etc., which has

2:32:12maintenance implications. Also, your

2:32:14maintenance facility was built in 1927.

2:32:17You took possession of it 48 years ago

2:32:20in 1978 and it has only had one

2:32:23substantial capital investment in since

2:32:26that time and it was close to when you

2:32:28took possession of it. So, this is an

2:32:29aging facility that's also very

2:32:32difficult to operate within. It was not

2:32:34originally designed to be a park

2:32:36maintenance facility. It was a a a refu

2:32:39waste refuge uh management station and

2:32:41now it's been turned into a park

2:32:43maintenance facility. And so this is

2:32:44something that's going to need some

2:32:45attention.

2:32:47So how do we get there? So, I mentioned

2:32:49that we were a little over $2,500 an

2:32:52acre per year today and how we're

2:32:54investing in parks and from a

2:32:55maintenance perspective and that the

2:32:57average for communities of your size and

2:32:59complexity is usually falls between

2:33:01$3500 and $6,500 an acre. We're not

2:33:04necessarily recommending you get within

2:33:06that range, but we do make some

2:33:08recommendations that you start to stair

2:33:10step your way in that direction. And we

2:33:13just made some suggestions about working

2:33:15your way towards a goal of around $3,150

2:33:18an acre per year by 2030. That you also

2:33:22do that that would actually increase, as

2:33:24you can see on the table, that would

2:33:26increase your maintenance budgeting from

2:33:28uh where it is today by about $3.5

2:33:31million.

2:33:32That $3.5 million additional investment

2:33:35annually in park maintenance would allow

2:33:37you to internalize more functions. It

2:33:40would allow you to take more of a

2:33:42preventative approach to maintenance in

2:33:44the future and address some of the

2:33:46issues more proactively versus where

2:33:48your park maintenance teams are today

2:33:50which is operating from a very defensive

2:33:52position.

2:33:53>> And when you come up with this, does

2:33:55that also include the money that we are

2:33:58currently spending uh to contract out

2:34:00those services as well?

2:34:01>> It does.

2:34:02>> Okay. So that's folded in.

2:34:03>> It's all within that. Correct, sir.

2:34:04Thank you.

2:34:07>> This is what that looks like

2:34:08graphically. And so you can see while we

2:34:10were trying we're trying to recommend

2:34:12you getting from $2548

2:34:14closer to 3150 within the next three

2:34:18years or so, three and a half years. Um

2:34:20while that is an increase, we're not

2:34:22talking about a like I mentioned

2:34:24yesterday in the steering committee,

2:34:25we're not talking about a double black

2:34:26diamond ski slope here. This is this is

2:34:29actually somewhat manageable if you

2:34:30think about it. But I also understand

2:34:32your budgets are constrained overall.

2:34:34So, we're we're going to talk about some

2:34:36recommendations in a minute about how we

2:34:38can possibly make that resource pie

2:34:40bigger.

2:34:42So, we also looked at recreation

2:34:44programs. You have a a great recreation

2:34:46superintendent and Angela Buckner. She's

2:34:48just finishing uh her first year on in

2:34:50on the job. She's fantastic. You also

2:34:53have some great recreational providers

2:34:55in the community such as the Y. You have

2:34:57We work with YMCA in just about every

2:35:00community we work in. You have one of

2:35:02the most robust YMCAs I've seen across

2:35:05the country. They have nine facilities.

2:35:07Their statistics are that one in three

2:35:09Witchah residents are members. That's

2:35:11outstanding. Um and so one of the things

2:35:14we recommended, and you'll see this

2:35:16later, is also expanding upon and

2:35:17building upon that that partnership. So

2:35:20make sure we're not being redundant to

2:35:22each other. And Angela and Reggie are

2:35:24already working in that over the course

2:35:25of while we were doing this plan.

2:35:27they're improving upon that uh

2:35:29partnership and working towards that

2:35:30goal. But you know, a recreation program

2:35:33portfolio is very much like a rose bush.

2:35:35In order to get it to flourish,

2:35:37sometimes you need to make some

2:35:39strategic trimming around the edges. And

2:35:41so we do have some thoughts about based

2:35:43on our analyses areas in which you might

2:35:45be able to continue to evolve and

2:35:47improve upon the recreation program

2:35:49portfolio. And where you would start are

2:35:51in your core program areas that have the

2:35:53highest number of what we call value

2:35:55added programs as opposed to essential

2:35:57services. Uh as well as that

2:36:00intersection with core program areas

2:36:02that have the highest number of

2:36:03offerings that may be more in a state of

2:36:05decline or regularly canceled life cycle

2:36:08phase. So you know we we gave some

2:36:10direction in this in this plan around

2:36:12areas in which you could start to look.

2:36:15We also wanted to give Angelus and

2:36:17Reggie some latitude in this process. So

2:36:20we tried to make sure we flew at the

2:36:22right altitude of being not too

2:36:24prescriptive but being strategic to give

2:36:26them the opportunity to make those

2:36:27decisions. And you can see here the in

2:36:30these various core program areas those

2:36:32percentages of those areas that were had

2:36:34offerings considered value added and

2:36:36those uh percentage of offerings that

2:36:38were in that state of decline or

2:36:40regularly canceled. So when it when in

2:36:43regards to um I guess public private

2:36:46partnerships like with the Y does that

2:36:49how does access to people who don't have

2:36:52a membership or can't afford it figure

2:36:55in because one of the things with our

2:36:57parks program is anybody can go to

2:36:59Watson Park, anybody can go to Clap

2:37:01Park. So, um, realizing that there are

2:37:04barriers there for people who don't have

2:37:06memberships to the Y, what are

2:37:08recommendations and how does that figure

2:37:10into the partnership aspect of it with

2:37:13>> Sure, great question. And we did talk,

2:37:15we had met with the executive team of

2:37:16the Y and toured their facilities as

2:37:19well. Um, and you know, they do they do

2:37:22offer income assistance and scholarships

2:37:24for those that may uh are in financial

2:37:26need. uh but to your point that not it's

2:37:29not sufficient to meet all the needs of

2:37:31those that may be economically

2:37:32disadvantaged in the community and

2:37:34that's one of the role that's where the

2:37:35that's that complimentary role that the

2:37:37city can play right

2:37:38>> so really finding those things so we're

2:37:40not offering the same things to the same

2:37:43group of people being much more

2:37:44strategic it is and it's really a

2:37:47triumvirant um historically over the

2:37:50last few decades there in the past there

2:37:52was a very strong relationship with the

2:37:54Y that was about 20 30 years years ago

2:37:58and over the last two or three decades

2:37:59it did deteriorate uh just it happened

2:38:02between the personalities of folks at

2:38:04the city and folks at the Y there's a

2:38:07strong spirit of collaboration today and

2:38:09the triumphant relationship so the city

2:38:12and the school district USD259 have a

2:38:15strong relationship the school district

2:38:17and the Y have a strong relationship we

2:38:19needed to finish that last leg of the

2:38:21triangle and that's what Reggie and

2:38:23Angela are already doing is really

2:38:25strengthening the Y and the city

2:38:26relation relationship,

2:38:27>> right? They they do a great job and I do

2:38:29appreciate their partnership. Just again

2:38:31just wanting to make sure that um with

2:38:35our park system that every child that we

2:38:37can possibly get into programming like

2:38:40that is um is ventured. So

2:38:42>> absolutely absolutely. So from a

2:38:44directional perspective in the

2:38:46recreation recommendations again we uh

2:38:50provided in the action plan some very

2:38:52specific processes and a framework for

2:38:54annually evaluating your program

2:38:56offerings including developing very

2:38:58specific key performance indicators or

2:39:00KPIs and which can be used in that

2:39:02evaluation. So then you have a strategic

2:39:05strategic datadriven process for

2:39:08refining that portfolio on a regular

2:39:10basis. um really focusing on quality

2:39:13over quantity. Let's not necessarily

2:39:15just try to roll out as many program

2:39:17offerings as we can. Let's really focus

2:39:19on quality offerings. Uh and also just

2:39:21evaluating performance of programs, not

2:39:24just on what types they are, but how

2:39:26they're performing and how they're

2:39:27meeting the needs. So the first areas we

2:39:29suggested um for areas of looking into

2:39:32were art, athletics, cooking, nature and

2:39:34outdoors, performing arts, special

2:39:36interest, sports and technology. And you

2:39:38can uh you can see by asterisk areas in

2:39:40which the Y is particularly strong in.

2:39:43And again, these are not necessarily

2:39:44areas we're suggesting for cuts. We're

2:39:47just areas for evaluation and

2:39:48improvement. So in some cases, that

2:39:50could be reducing program offerings,

2:39:52evolving them, or in the case of nature

2:39:55and the outdoors from what we heard from

2:39:56the community and members of this

2:39:57council is an area we might expand

2:39:59programming.

2:40:02Okay.

2:40:05>> All right. So I want to touch a bit on

2:40:07the uh community engagement and what we

2:40:10heard uh from from residents from

2:40:12stakeholders of what they would like to

2:40:14see in the system moving forward. Um we

2:40:17kicked off last November with a series

2:40:19of leadership meetings. So uh we met

2:40:21with uh many of you uh in small groups.

2:40:24We also met with uh different

2:40:26stakeholders. We met with the um parks

2:40:28board with the uh Witchah parks

2:40:31foundation um greater downtown Witchah

2:40:34um some other groups and because we know

2:40:36that parks don't live in a vacuum right

2:40:38so to really understand kind of the

2:40:40needs of the park system we also want to

2:40:42learn the needs of the community as a

2:40:44whole and how um that work is

2:40:46integrated. Um so this was uh kind of

2:40:49the key takeaways from those uh

2:40:51leadership meetings. Uh number one

2:40:52community and uh vitality and

2:40:54prosperity. So understanding um several

2:40:57people said Witchah is really at a t a

2:40:59tipping point and we're starting to have

2:41:01more serious conversations around

2:41:03economic development and what you can do

2:41:06to advance Witchah uh within the region.

2:41:09Um we had also talked a bit about uh

2:41:12that access for all uh with that map

2:41:14that I showed and ensuring that we're

2:41:16providing services uh to everyone in the

2:41:18Witchah community. Uh we talked about

2:41:21infrastructure and um just managing the

2:41:24assets that you already have and

2:41:26improving maintenance. Um so that was a

2:41:29concern uh that we had there. And then

2:41:30as the community does grow, making sure

2:41:33that we're planning for those future

2:41:35growth areas with uh parks. Um

2:41:38partnerships and collaboration as uh

2:41:40Brian just mentioned, you know, teamwork

2:41:42makes the dream work there. And then the

2:41:44financial stability and sustainability

2:41:46uh which we'll get into uh here shortly.

2:41:48So,

2:41:50uh, overall we connected with about

2:41:521,300, uh, individuals through a variety

2:41:55of methods. Uh, we had an online, uh,

2:41:58map, um, that people were able to offer

2:42:01input on each of their parks. Um, on the

2:42:03right, you'll see this was an event at,

2:42:05uh, Brewer, um, community center during

2:42:08their, uh, big ribbon cutting. We did

2:42:10seven popups across the community. We

2:42:12tried to get one in each of the council

2:42:15districts. Um and then in the lower

2:42:17left, we were also at one of the um uh

2:42:21ICT uh I'm blanking on the name the the

2:42:24open streets event um that was up at uh

2:42:26the Witchah Shocker neighborhood there.

2:42:30Um so just a couple of slides on the

2:42:32statistically valid survey. So that was

2:42:34administered that was sent out December

2:42:38and January. So that over overlapped

2:42:41with another um statistically valid

2:42:44survey that you were doing uh citywide

2:42:46at that same time. Uh so one of the

2:42:50questions um that we asked that I think

2:42:52was uh really telling was you know which

2:42:55items are most important for you moving

2:42:59forward and far and away maintenance in

2:43:03parks and safety in parks um by far um

2:43:07was the top uh response there followed

2:43:09by maintenance and safety of trails um

2:43:13close. So, I mean, what that tells us is

2:43:15that's our real concern, our number one

2:43:18priority kind of moving forward. Um, and

2:43:20then everything uh down below from there

2:43:23in terms of park access, um, the

2:43:27recreation facilities and stuff are bit

2:43:29lower on the priority poll there.

2:43:31>> Yeah.

2:43:32>> Well, and even the number three and

2:43:33number four are the same as number one

2:43:35and number two, but just a different way

2:43:37to say it.

2:43:39>> These two things are inexplicably

2:43:41linked. So maintenance and the

2:43:43perception of safety are very closely

2:43:45related to each other. So let me just

2:43:47ask you a question. If you go into a

2:43:49park and the trash cans are overflowing

2:43:52and the restroom is closed because it

2:43:54doesn't work and the sidewalk is cracked

2:43:56and got holes in it, there's graffiti in

2:43:58places and there's no clear lines of

2:44:00sight. Do you feel like that's a safe

2:44:02place? That these two things are

2:44:04directly related. So perception of

2:44:07safety, maintenance is not just a safety

2:44:10is not just an enforcement issue. It's

2:44:12also about park maintenance.

2:44:18>> Um, one of the other questions that we

2:44:20had, we had asked people um, in the

2:44:22survey which amenities were most

2:44:24important to them. The the survey

2:44:25overall was like a seven-page survey,

2:44:27but uh, one of the questions here, what

2:44:28amenity is most important to you? And

2:44:30then they were also asked to identify

2:44:32whether they felt that their needs were

2:44:34um, being addressed or if they still

2:44:37have an unmet need. And so, uh, this

2:44:40chart here, um, which I realize might be

2:44:42tricky to read, identified in in red

2:44:45where there was the highest priority

2:44:46based on what people felt was a priority

2:44:48and then also had the greatest, uh,

2:44:50unmet need there. So, um, trails,

2:44:54restrooms, um, we had neighborhood parks

2:44:57wanting to see more investment in their,

2:44:59uh, local park, um, both lake and river

2:45:02recreation, so people wanting to connect

2:45:04with the water. And then I would just

2:45:05say some some basic site furnishings.

2:45:07You know, having picnic tables, going to

2:45:09the park and and feeling like it's

2:45:10comfortable because you have shade and

2:45:12you have a restroom and things that

2:45:14encourage you to stay in your park a

2:45:16little bit longer.

2:45:17>> I I know you guys kind of referred to it

2:45:19earlier. What is the number of restrooms

2:45:23like compared to other cities? Are are

2:45:25we comparable? Do we have more or fewer?

2:45:29Um

2:45:30>> I I feel like and I can um do a level of

2:45:34service evaluation on this, but I felt

2:45:37like we saw fewer restrooms in the parks

2:45:41than what we will see in other

2:45:42communities. And I understand I mean

2:45:44restrooms are difficult to maintain,

2:45:46right? I mean they just take more

2:45:48oversight. Um but in general I think

2:45:51that some of your larger parks that

2:45:53should have restrooms don't have

2:45:55restrooms or for example even beyond

2:45:58just restrooms. I I had mentioned like I

2:45:59was in College Hill Park yesterday. It

2:46:01doesn't have a single picnic table. Um a

2:46:03larger community park like that you

2:46:05would expect to have a shelter. Uh you

2:46:07know just maybe even just a small

2:46:09shelter. So some of these kind of basic

2:46:11amenities that you would expect to see

2:46:13in a park overall are just not there

2:46:16yet.

2:46:16>> And other are other communities having

2:46:19issues with vandalism in the restrooms

2:46:22like we are. And do they does that lead

2:46:24to them shutting down? I know one of the

2:46:26parks in my district, we had to

2:46:30essentially demo the restrooms because

2:46:32of um damage and vandalism that was

2:46:35being done there.

2:46:36>> Yeah, it's I mean even in De Moine where

2:46:38I'm from when they legalized fireworks

2:46:40now people like to go into the restrooms

2:46:42and you know literally blow up toilets.

2:46:44So it's I mean it it is tricky and I

2:46:47think it does get more into an

2:46:49enforcement issue. Um and we'll talk a

2:46:52little bit about park rangers too u

2:46:53moving forward because that I think will

2:46:55be an opportunity to

2:46:57>> Thank you.

2:46:57>> So a couple of things is and having

2:46:59worked all over the country trails and

2:47:01restrooms is always number one and

2:47:03number two and doesn't matter what in

2:47:05community you're working in and not

2:47:07every park is well suited to have a

2:47:09restroom facility in it. So that's

2:47:11something that's very important to also

2:47:13acknowledge. However, I think what I

2:47:15feel like that's coming what we heard

2:47:17from this survey and although and just

2:47:19seeing the conditions on the ground,

2:47:20this is not necessarily a survey results

2:47:23that indicate you need more restrooms.

2:47:25It's actually an indication that you

2:47:27might need to just improve upon the

2:47:28condition of your existing restrooms. In

2:47:31some cases, there could be some

2:47:32additional restroom facilities that are

2:47:34appropriate. But every community is also

2:47:36dealing with that same issue with

2:47:38graffiti, the challenges of the unhoused

2:47:40being in parks. Uh, doesn't matter if

2:47:43you're in Witchah, Seattle, Chattanooga,

2:47:45Boston, they're all dealing with it.

2:47:48>> Maybe this is an invitation to entertain

2:47:50more Portland.

2:47:52>> I will say that I my wife and I went

2:47:55bike riding Sunday. Had to go to the

2:47:57restroom really bad. A Price Wood Park,

2:47:59it was closed. Could not get into that

2:48:02restroom. So, do all these parks keep

2:48:04these restrooms open during daylight

2:48:07hours or

2:48:08>> no?

2:48:10Yeah. winterized. That's why it wasn't

2:48:12open.

2:48:13>> Yeah, I do think that I mean it would be

2:48:15sort of standard maintenance to see that

2:48:17um they get winterized, but perhaps open

2:48:21a little bit later um in the evening

2:48:23than than what they are. So, um last

2:48:26night I also tried to go after a

2:48:27steering committee meeting to OJ Watson

2:48:30Park and I didn't realize that OJ Watson

2:48:32Park closed at 4:00 and I think I got

2:48:33there at like 4:15. I was like, "Oh,

2:48:35it's a beautiful fall day. I didn't get

2:48:36there." Um but then I also walked around

2:48:38McAdams Park um a little bit and there

2:48:40was a restroom there um that was closed

2:48:42but I also know there wasn't you know a

2:48:44game going on at the time but yeah

2:48:47>> the community center is there it did I I

2:48:49did then go inside and and get to see

2:48:51the beautiful Brewer community center.

2:48:53>> I thought our Portland L restrooms were

2:48:55supposed to be extended even past a

2:48:58freeze to be able to be open. Is that

2:49:00not I remember that discussion back

2:49:02>> I'm finding out.

2:49:03>> Yeah, that's part of it. the public

2:49:05works managers is getting those in and

2:49:07we and the standalone restrooms on

2:49:08because they're not insulated, they are

2:49:10on schedule where they're winterized and

2:49:12they're closed at certain times

2:49:13throughout the year and is on the

2:49:14schedule for that. So the Portland Lues

2:49:16do have the capability to be able to

2:49:17stay open longer uh because they are

2:49:19winterized and don't have the same

2:49:21concern,

2:49:22>> but we winterized them and it was 75

2:49:24degrees. It's uh narrows down to the

2:49:27schedule that we actually have that we

2:49:28make some adjustments we need it, but

2:49:30it's based on what the uh staffing

2:49:32capacity is to be able to manage what

2:49:34that schedule is when we move forward.

2:49:42>> Okay. And I also just wanted to point

2:49:44out that if something fell like kind of

2:49:46lower on the priority list, that's not

2:49:48to say that that's not important. It

2:49:50just might be something like a a sport

2:49:52such as disc golf that has kind of a

2:49:54smaller uh user group and so therefore

2:49:57it maybe wasn't as popular in the

2:49:59response. But that's not to say that if

2:50:02it fell down in the green is a lower

2:50:03priority that that's actually not

2:50:04something that you should continue to

2:50:06invest in moving forward.

2:50:10>> Go back to that really quickly. So can

2:50:13you talk about the green portion? um

2:50:17because I see that

2:50:19>> for instance soccer is a very growing

2:50:22sport in our community but then I see it

2:50:24as low priority.

2:50:25>> This is a great question because um etc

2:50:28institute who administers the survey

2:50:30this is their an analysis they call a

2:50:33priority investment rating that's

2:50:35actually the crosstabulation of three

2:50:37questions on the survey. One do me do I

2:50:40or any member of my household have a

2:50:42need for this amenity? two uh how well

2:50:46are my needs being met and three how

2:50:49important is that amenity to my

2:50:51household. So they take the common the

2:50:53crosstabulation of those three questions

2:50:55and that develop this. So oftentimes

2:50:58what you see at the bottom like Laura

2:51:00mentioned this is not intended to be a

2:51:02sequential list of investment. So for

2:51:05example it's not to say you wouldn't get

2:51:07to soccer fields until after you've done

2:51:10everything above it. This is just this

2:51:12is one data point to look at how the

2:51:14survey results came back. But also those

2:51:16things that end up in the lower priority

2:51:18category oftentimes are things that you

2:51:21already do really well and as a result

2:51:23the community has rated that my needs

2:51:25are being well met in those areas. So I

2:51:28don't that therefore you may not need as

2:51:30much investment in those types of

2:51:32amenities than you may need in some of

2:51:34the others.

2:51:37you know, and I think too that um this

2:51:40is how your community members feel about

2:51:43that. But then as we talk a little bit

2:51:45um more about, for example, economic

2:51:47opportunities for um bringing in

2:51:49tournaments um and bringing in others

2:51:51outside of the community, while those um

2:51:54you know here say that that's being met,

2:51:56that's not to say that there's not an

2:51:58opportunity either to um grow a facility

2:52:01for an economic draw. So does that

2:52:05answer? Okay. Um here I just wanted to

2:52:09um pop up on when I said we had um the

2:52:12seven events that were across the

2:52:14community in each district. We did what

2:52:15was called a visual listening board. We

2:52:18had um images and people were like given

2:52:20a five stickers and they could choose

2:52:22five amenities that were most important

2:52:25to them. Um we didn't ask the question

2:52:27about whether it was being met or not.

2:52:29But uh what I thought was interesting,

2:52:31the the takeaway that I want to show you

2:52:32here is that I felt passive recreation

2:52:35and natural spaces um really came up

2:52:38high within uh the top seven. We had um

2:52:41soft service or like hiking trails or if

2:52:43you have like a kind of a mode trail

2:52:45through a prairie or through the woods.

2:52:46Nature play is a more informal

2:52:48playground that uses natural elements.

2:52:51Um we had natural undeveloped area,

2:52:54pollinator gardens and prairie. So, um I

2:52:57think it's important that we try to

2:53:00preserve uh natural spaces and green

2:53:02spaces and there might be opportunities

2:53:04in the parks too where rather than uh

2:53:07mowing large vast open areas, we can

2:53:09start to naturalize those areas because

2:53:12then we also have cost savings with

2:53:14reduced mowing. So,

2:53:18actually I think I had two slides in

2:53:20here duplicated. So, um jumping in.

2:53:22Okay, so we're going to move forward to

2:53:24how do we get there? we've heard kind of

2:53:26where you're at now, what the community

2:53:28would like to see, and what's the plan

2:53:30to, uh, advance parks and recreation.

2:53:33So, um, based on our conversations, um,

2:53:36with everything up up until this date,

2:53:40we worked with the steering committee

2:53:41and we have six strategic goals. Uh

2:53:44number one, reinvesting in existing

2:53:47neighborhood and community parks to uh

2:53:50increase the maintenance uh bring back a

2:53:53source of pride uh to those that live

2:53:55here. Um trails were important. So

2:53:57improving trail connectivity and access

2:53:59to parks and we understand that much of

2:54:02this actually kind of falls outside of

2:54:04um parks itself with uh public works and

2:54:06utilities. But I just want to make sure

2:54:09that we don't lose sight of the fact

2:54:10that trails were uh very important. Then

2:54:13elevating signature parks. So signature

2:54:15parks such as OJ Watson Park, Central

2:54:18Riverside Park that um people will

2:54:21travel from kind of far sides of the

2:54:23community to come to an event um to

2:54:25visit those parks, the natural areas and

2:54:28being good stewards of that land. Um the

2:54:30recreation programs and facilities uh

2:54:33that we want to address and then also um

2:54:36probably most important the expanding

2:54:38organizational capacity and funding.

2:54:41So, what does this look like uh for

2:54:44neighborhood parks? Um, again, I mean, I

2:54:46feel like I'm a broken record a little

2:54:48bit, but just making sure that they're

2:54:50clean, that they're safe, that they're

2:54:51wellmaintained, that they're accessible.

2:54:54Um, that people are able to use the

2:54:56parks and feel comfortable when they're

2:54:57there. Um, updating the amenities uh

2:55:00within the parks. And I have a slide uh

2:55:02to talk about the playgrounds here in a

2:55:04minute, but just making sure that

2:55:06everything is kind of in good working

2:55:07order that if you want to go and play

2:55:08basketball that um you can can play on

2:55:11that court and that you have those um

2:55:14comfort amenities that we mentioned uh

2:55:16earlier.

2:55:19So um

2:55:22twothirds of your playgrounds in the

2:55:25system, so 57 of 86 playgrounds are 20

2:55:30years or older. 40% of them are 25 years

2:55:35or older. So the lifespan of a

2:55:38playground is generally 20 years. Um it

2:55:42it depends a little bit on how uh how

2:55:45much use that playground gets. So, for

2:55:47example, at Pawnie Prairie Park when I

2:55:50had visited that, I just had kids all

2:55:52over the place. They love that

2:55:53playground there. And I know that some

2:55:55of those play um pieces have needed um

2:55:58some repairs and had to be sort of taken

2:56:00out while that's under repair because um

2:56:02that's so well used. So other

2:56:06playgrounds that you might not have as

2:56:07much attention um maybe that lasts, you

2:56:10know, pushes longer to the 25 years, but

2:56:12at a minimum a like a small scale

2:56:15playground, you know, you're looking at

2:56:17a cost of $120,000 and that can go all

2:56:19the way up into a larger um park where

2:56:22that can be half a million dollars or

2:56:24more. So you have $12 million in uh

2:56:27playgrounds that needs to be replaced.

2:56:30And as you can see, you know, so many of

2:56:32these are coming back from like 2001,

2:56:342002, 2003. So I think at that time you

2:56:37had a playground blitz. Uh, and you're

2:56:39probably approaching another playground

2:56:40blitz.

2:56:43So I think that Brian already uh

2:56:45mentioned this one, but maybe we'll talk

2:56:46a little bit about the rangers here,

2:56:48too. Or maybe we have that on another we

2:56:49have another slide. We'll just skip past

2:56:51that one here um for the sake of time.

2:56:53So, Signature Parks, I think, you know,

2:56:55this is a plan um Sedwick County um was

2:56:58working with our firm um for some

2:57:00additional consulting services and we

2:57:02developed a plan for Sedwick County and

2:57:05I think that uh continuing to do that um

2:57:08with some of your signature parks here.

2:57:10I think OJ Watson is is one that really

2:57:13comes to mind that I think is something

2:57:14special, but if you want for that to

2:57:16continue to be something special, um

2:57:18just thinking about um upgrading those

2:57:21amenities, but also just making sure

2:57:23that it has kind of a cohesive uh

2:57:25integrated design. So, and I think

2:57:27what's important to mention about

2:57:28signature parks is that you have the

2:57:30opportunity for partnerships, um

2:57:33sponsorships with these. So, uh you can

2:57:35help

2:57:37supplement, uh with some of the

2:57:39amenities that are there, um bring in

2:57:41income to help fund those improvements.

2:57:45Um with trails, you know, let's not

2:57:47think just about the your walking and

2:57:50biking trails, but like let's also think

2:57:51about blueways and water trails. Uh in

2:57:54De Moines, we're activating the De

2:57:56Moines and Raccoon Rivers. Um, and we

2:57:59have all sorts of people that come into

2:58:01town and and canoe those uh areas. And

2:58:04so I think that we have a real

2:58:06opportunity here uh in Witchah with your

2:58:08our Kansas and little R Kansas rivers to

2:58:11uh be a center of that. So

2:58:15>> Sure. So you know looking at your

2:58:18variety of community centers and that

2:58:19are also well loved and well used and

2:58:22very valuable to the neighborhoods.

2:58:24thinking about potentially over time

2:58:26evaluate u evolving these rec centers

2:58:28and these community centers more as

2:58:30community hubs. A good example of a

2:58:32community that does this really really

2:58:34well is San Antonio, Texas uh where they

2:58:36have 28 community centers and those

2:58:38community centers also operate as

2:58:40cooling stations during the summer. The

2:58:43local food bank uses it as its as their

2:58:45distribution centers. They provide a lot

2:58:48of community health care programming. I

2:58:50know that's an area also that the city

2:58:52of Chattanooga is moving into. And so

2:58:55what this does is introduce and there's

2:58:57some element of that's already

2:58:58happening, but we continue to advance

2:59:00how that works because that brings

2:59:02additional uses to those facilities,

2:59:04additional usors to those facilities,

2:59:07which could also help offset some of the

2:59:09operating and maintenance costs. as

2:59:11we've talked already, looking at

2:59:12evolving the overall recreation program

2:59:15portfolio, uh particularly focused on

2:59:17those that may be poorer poorer

2:59:19performing offerings, but also looking

2:59:22at growth in other areas such as

2:59:24nature-based programming, outdoor

2:59:26recreation, and again, these were things

2:59:27that would complement what the Y is

2:59:29doing because they don't do a lot of

2:59:30that. This is something that you could

2:59:32be a unique lane for you from an

2:59:35operational perspective. We've already

2:59:37discussed that strategy around

2:59:39stairstepping your way to possibly

2:59:41internalizing more functions that will

2:59:43not only improve the quality of services

2:59:46that's being delivered, but also the

2:59:48quality of the overall sites themselves

2:59:50and the improve your ability to be a

2:59:53modernized employer of choice. Uh, you

2:59:56know, you used to have a park ranger

2:59:58program and that eventually was absolved

3:00:01into the police department. We recommend

3:00:03you bring it back. This does not have to

3:00:05be law enforcement rangers. There's

3:00:07plenty of examples across the country of

3:00:09non-law enforcement park rangers.

3:00:11They're more ambassadors. They're pe

3:00:13their boots on the ground, eyes in the

3:00:15parks. They not only enhance the visitor

3:00:19experience, but they also are a great

3:00:20deterrent uh for you know nefarious

3:00:23behavior in the parks that sometimes

3:00:25happens and they can be your eyes also

3:00:27to help be improve your response times.

3:00:30Speaking of response times, we also

3:00:32recommend you evolve to a maintenance

3:00:35district paradigm. So, a decentralized

3:00:38maintenance program. Right now, you are

3:00:39operating out of that uh very old uh

3:00:43maintenance centralized maintenance

3:00:44facility. And as a result, because of

3:00:46the size of your community, the amount

3:00:48of windshield time that your crews spend

3:00:51moving in in trucks from park to park to

3:00:53park actually adds up quite a bit. And

3:00:56we did not do that particular analysis

3:00:58in this master plan. that that would

3:01:00require more of a maintenance management

3:01:02plan. We do that work across the country

3:01:04and given a the community of your size

3:01:07and complexity and the number of parks.

3:01:10I would estimate that you probably have

3:01:11an equivalent of somewhere around 9 to

3:01:1410 FTEEs a year that is accounted for

3:01:16just by crew members sitting in trucks

3:01:18driving from park to park. So actually

3:01:20creating a decentralized ma maintenance

3:01:23paradigm reduces the amount of time they

3:01:26have to spend to respond to go from one

3:01:27site to another. It does. It reduces

3:01:30fuel costs as well and it'll it would

3:01:33actually be a pretty interesting

3:01:34strategy if you wanted to invest in that

3:01:36centralized maintenance facility.

3:01:38Starting to activate satellite dis

3:01:40satellite sites could allow those crews

3:01:43to have a place to work from as that

3:01:44maintenance from the centralized

3:01:45facility is occurring.

3:01:47>> But to do that, you'd have to have a

3:01:48capital investment

3:01:50>> to put in

3:01:51>> Yes. or tack on to existing public works

3:01:55satellite facilities if they if they are

3:01:57out there. So also potential

3:02:00partnerships with the county or the

3:02:02school district, but in the end it could

3:02:04end up resulting in capital investment.

3:02:07It's possible.

3:02:07>> And have you quantified the the how much

3:02:10more it would cost to internalize the

3:02:14contracting like the mowing, how much

3:02:16because you only mow for seven months a

3:02:17year,

3:02:18>> right? How how much more would that cost

3:02:20to have people on staff for 12 months a

3:02:22year versus contracting for

3:02:25>> we recommend so we we made the

3:02:27recommendation about and this of course

3:02:29leads to our fourth point about an

3:02:31incremental increase in your overall

3:02:33maintenance investment every year. Uh we

3:02:35recommended that you strive for

3:02:37somewhere around $3.5 million more in

3:02:402030 than you what you're funding that

3:02:41function in 2026. I would say within

3:02:45that $ three and a half million dollars,

3:02:46you probably want to bring about a

3:02:49million million and a half in inhouse

3:02:51from contracted services. So, um that's

3:02:54what we would estimate. So, right now

3:02:56you're at you're contracting at around

3:02:57$4 million a year.

3:02:59>> Yeah. So, I know they they saved a

3:03:00million dollars a year when they

3:03:02contracted it.

3:03:03>> Yeah.

3:03:03>> Years ago. So, again, I'll ask you the

3:03:05question. Have you quantified how much

3:03:07more it would cost to do that to do more

3:03:10of it inhouse versus contract? He did

3:03:13not do that in this analysis.

3:03:14>> Okay. Okay.

3:03:15>> That would be a good question to answer

3:03:16though.

3:03:17>> Okay.

3:03:17>> As a maintenance management strategy, a

3:03:20maintenance management plan, that would

3:03:21be a great uh result of that analysis.

3:03:24This is just a parks and wreck master

3:03:26plan. But yes, I think that's a fair

3:03:28question.

3:03:28>> Okay. Okay. Thank you.

3:03:30>> You bet.

3:03:32Okay. So, looking also at organizational

3:03:35capacity and funding, different

3:03:37partnerships. So we already talked about

3:03:39the partnership with the Y and how

3:03:41that's growing already thanks to the

3:03:43efforts of Reggie and Angela and others.

3:03:45So working to expand those and looking

3:03:47at other potential public private

3:03:49partnerships that can be made made

3:03:50possible. I know in our conversations

3:03:52with Sedwick County even as recently as

3:03:55this morning uh things that they're

3:03:57looking at in public private partnership

3:03:58opportunities within Sedwick County

3:04:00Parks, those similar types of

3:04:02partnerships are available here. Um you

3:04:05have a great parks foundation. you do um

3:04:08and they participated in the steering

3:04:10committee process. They're have recently

3:04:12completed their strategic planning

3:04:13process or still within it. What we

3:04:15recommend is in is strengthening the

3:04:18connective tissue between the parks

3:04:20department and the parks foundation to

3:04:22make and to really elevate and increase

3:04:24their capacity. You have from what we've

3:04:26learned, you have a very

3:04:27philanthropically active community. So,

3:04:30we need to give the parks foundation the

3:04:32currency to raise great money on. Uh so

3:04:35it's not just about smaller pet projects

3:04:37or maintenance projects, but maybe

3:04:39giving them the opportunity to

3:04:40potentially raise money around larger

3:04:42capital investments. Uh but again, that

3:04:44requires very close connectivity and and

3:04:47coordination with that board and that

3:04:48group. Looking at the performance and

3:04:51fee structure of some of your revenue

3:04:52generating facilities is also something

3:04:54that we've do uh diving into in this

3:04:56plan and exploring potential dedicated

3:04:59funding options that have known to have

3:05:01great success and precedence. I know uh

3:05:04these it's easy for a consultant to

3:05:05stand up here and say, "Well, you should

3:05:07look at a dedicated sales tax." I know

3:05:09that's a difficult thing to pass. I know

3:05:11recently we've had challenges here in

3:05:13Witchah with those types of initiatives.

3:05:15You you've got a great example just down

3:05:17the road in Derby because I did Derby's

3:05:19master plan three four years ago and as

3:05:22a result of that master plan, Derby uh

3:05:24renewed their Derby forward dedicated

3:05:26sales tax that goes towards parks. This

3:05:29is these are things and we were we're

3:05:31providing some options here that we feel

3:05:33like are a good fit and show precedent

3:05:35uh across the country for parks and

3:05:38recreation. But at the same time, we

3:05:39also recognize this is not something you

3:05:41can pursue uh really quickly. This is

3:05:44something that takes time as you build

3:05:46the case and you really connect the

3:05:48value proposition to parks and parks

3:05:50funding with the community so that they

3:05:52come out to support these initiatives.

3:05:53Let me just give you an example. So,

3:05:55I've chaired the uh state parks board

3:05:58for Texas State Parks since 2013. Um, I

3:06:01should probably shed that

3:06:02responsibility. It's I'm going on like

3:06:0413 years. But starting in 2013, we began

3:06:07an initiative to get dedicated funding

3:06:09support for Texas State Parks. It took

3:06:11us six years. In 2019, we passed Prop 5

3:06:15constitutionally protecting the funding

3:06:17for state parks. It was completely out

3:06:19of the legislative process at that

3:06:20point. and it was all based on a

3:06:22dedicated sales tax that came from

3:06:23sporting goods. Um it took six years to

3:06:27build that case. And so we do recommend

3:06:29that's a a something that you think

3:06:31about that's you're not going to

3:06:33necessarily move into it just next year,

3:06:34but hopefully this master plan and this

3:06:36process can be the spark that starts to

3:06:39create some initiative. And we recom we

3:06:42have recommendations in the action plan

3:06:43about a potential working group or task

3:06:46force that can take this on and help

3:06:48build some momentum over time and build

3:06:50that case.

3:06:51>> Talk about a little bit about the the

3:06:54special park district county.

3:06:57>> Yeah.

3:06:57>> How those conversations go.

3:06:59>> So some ideas.

3:07:01>> We I mean just as of this morning we

3:07:03were talking with folks at the county

3:07:04about this. There's interest there. uh

3:07:07we know that there's been previous

3:07:08efforts to try to look at the

3:07:09possibility or the feasibility of

3:07:11merging these two systems and kind of

3:07:13fell short at the time. Uh you know

3:07:15there there you have a very large park

3:07:18system compared to them but there are

3:07:20excellent some of the best county city

3:07:22park district models are here in the

3:07:24state of Kansas with Johnson County. Now

3:07:26we recommen we recognize the economics

3:07:29are very different here uh than they are

3:07:31in Johnson County but there there are

3:07:33great precedent for how this can work.

3:07:35Um, one of the things that we kind of

3:07:37left it this morning and we're going to

3:07:39go back to the drawing board as a

3:07:41planning team and maybe make a

3:07:43suggestion to the county about

3:07:44developing an exploratory committee that

3:07:47can actually look into that a little bit

3:07:49and based on your unique circumstances,

3:07:52your unique economics, how would this

3:07:54work? How would this be successful here

3:07:56in Sedwick County and Witchah? We as a

3:07:59firm, we're working on this all over the

3:08:01country. Right now, we are wrapping up a

3:08:03project in Reno, Nevada, where we're

3:08:05taking three park systems and combining

3:08:07them into one larger park district. In

3:08:10Texas, we've been hired by the Texas

3:08:12Recreation and Park Society to help

3:08:14build an advocacy platform around the

3:08:16development of special districts locally

3:08:18as that organization is pursuing the

3:08:20enabling legislation for it at the state

3:08:22level. This is an issue that's happening

3:08:25all over the country. Our firm is part

3:08:26of a team that works with this. So, we

3:08:29do recommend that the county look at an

3:08:31exploratory committee to maybe keep that

3:08:33discussion moving forward.

3:08:35>> Okay. Thank you.

3:08:37>> Oh, I think I have one more. Oh,

3:08:40anticipating the mayor's question, we

3:08:42decided we would actually look at some

3:08:44of these others benchmark communities

3:08:45and how what some of their funding

3:08:47models were because we figured Mayor

3:08:49will you were probably going to ask us

3:08:50that if we didn't actually go ahead and

3:08:52frontload it. So, you know, some of the

3:08:54better examples of of those communities.

3:08:56This is not just these are just of those

3:08:58eight communities that we looked at in

3:09:00benchmarking. So Kansas City and St.

3:09:02Louis have some of the best uh models of

3:09:06dedicated recurring park taxes.

3:09:07Actually, we are just about to start a

3:09:09project for the city of Kansas City

3:09:11parks department around looking at their

3:09:13cost of service and optimal staffing as

3:09:15they really try to uh make sure that

3:09:17they are properly positioned within that

3:09:19funding source. Voter approved capital

3:09:22sales taxes. Oklahoma City by far is

3:09:24probably the best example. They are

3:09:26currently and that's what they call

3:09:27their MAPS program. They're currently in

3:09:29the fourth MAPS um initiative. They're

3:09:32about to they're assembling their fifth

3:09:33package. They have invested hundreds of

3:09:36millions of dollars in their community

3:09:38through the MAPS program. And the the

3:09:41their success is hinged on the fact that

3:09:43the community has seen success. They've

3:09:45seen wins. They've seen how those

3:09:48investments have delivered community

3:09:50impact. And so every time they go back

3:09:52to the voter base, they get approved.

3:09:54foundation-led fundraising. Some of the

3:09:55better examples amongst your benchmark

3:09:57communities are in Lincoln. Large-scale

3:09:59public private partnerships were in

3:10:01Oklahoma, KC, and St. Louis. And then

3:10:03the municipal funding with grant

3:10:05leveraging Little Rock, De Moine, and

3:10:07Lincoln. I will tell you, while there's

3:10:10great opportunities with grants,

3:10:11particularly as Laura mentioned, around

3:10:13trails, wonderful opportunities for

3:10:16grants and trails, even in water trails.

3:10:18I I shared an example uh yesterday with

3:10:20a steering committee, the city of De

3:10:23Moines and the Icon Water Trail, Central

3:10:25Iowa Water Trail Initiative. Uh they

3:10:27they got $25 million from the US

3:10:29Department of Transportation build grant

3:10:31program for their water trails. So,

3:10:34there's some great grant opportunities

3:10:35out there, but relying on grant

3:10:38opportunities um to augment municipal

3:10:41funding is not e it's not always the

3:10:43most successful uh because you can

3:10:46grants are unpredictable and they're

3:10:48competitive. And so, you do I know in De

3:10:51Moine, we're actually also starting a

3:10:53project in De Moines where they are not

3:10:55able to get the funding they need to do

3:10:57their work and they're having to instead

3:10:59of repair playgrounds, they're removing

3:11:01them. And so their leadership is having

3:11:03to go to neighborhoods and say, "I'm

3:11:05sorry, we can't repair this playground

3:11:07or we can't replace it. We are we're

3:11:08removing it." Um, and so adjusting

3:11:11levels of service to budget realities is

3:11:14also a form of a funding model.

3:11:16Hopefully that's something we can avoid

3:11:17here in Witchah.

3:11:22>> Okay. So, uh, right now, as I mentioned

3:11:25earlier, we're kind of at that 90% mark.

3:11:27we've um been formulating our

3:11:29recommendations and so uh right now

3:11:32Brian and I are going back to our

3:11:33offices and putting our heads down and

3:11:35developing our uh document that we are

3:11:37going to share out with the community.

3:11:39Um so uh we're going to be working with

3:11:42the staff um to get that pulled together

3:11:45and a month from now we are going to

3:11:47have that document posted up online that

3:11:50uh anybody from the community can can

3:11:53access that and read that. And I think

3:11:55to um your point, Councilman Glascott,

3:11:58we just want to make sure that that's

3:11:59highly visual, engaging, like easy to

3:12:03read that it's serving staff and elected

3:12:06officials, but it's also uh serving your

3:12:08residents um as well. So, we'll have

3:12:11that online and when it goes online, we

3:12:13also have um a form that goes along with

3:12:16that. So, if people have comments um in

3:12:19each in those recommendations, we'll

3:12:21have like a park by park recommendation.

3:12:23And so I imagine people are going to be

3:12:25looking and saying like, "Oh, hey, what

3:12:26are we doing at Steerman Park or

3:12:28something?" Um, and they can see and so

3:12:30they can offer their um comments and we

3:12:33will come back as staff to review those

3:12:36comments. Hopefully we'll avoid any sort

3:12:38of major pivots. If there is anything

3:12:40that we feel that we, you know, are

3:12:42hearing that we got wrong, we'll come

3:12:43back as a steering committee. Um, but

3:12:45we're also we'll be going to each of the

3:12:47dabs and uh promoting that um the

3:12:50document online at each of the dabs

3:12:52talking a little bit about what we've

3:12:54done. Uh, and then I think we'll be

3:12:55coming back in January for approval with

3:12:58the board of park commissioners uh and

3:13:00and with you as a city council. So,

3:13:04we've been talking a lot. If you have

3:13:06more questions,

3:13:07>> I I have a question. I have another

3:13:08question.

3:13:09>> Yeah.

3:13:09>> Um, did you look at at uh

3:13:12>> Well, let me back. The closest park to

3:13:13our house is Brown Thresh Park. Um,

3:13:16pretty well utilized. Uh, playground

3:13:19equipment, I'll give the parks and recck

3:13:20big kudos. It's 2,000 installed, but you

3:13:23do a great job of maintaining it and

3:13:26it's in good shape. So, I see a lot of

3:13:28people using that. Uh, sidewalks were

3:13:31just put in that within the last decade

3:13:34and you see a lot of people walking that

3:13:36sidewalks.

3:13:38I know residents around uh Red Barn Park

3:13:41would like to have a sidewalk around it.

3:13:42>> Yeah.

3:13:44>> Did you look at sidewalks around parks

3:13:46or

3:13:46>> We did many I think our most common

3:13:49recommendations in the parks are replace

3:13:52the playground and add like a walking

3:13:54loop. Um, so if you're a parent and your

3:13:57kids are, you know, you that you can you

3:13:59can just uh walk around and um one of

3:14:02our um recommendations in the action

3:14:05plan too is to especially focus on

3:14:07neighborhoods that maybe don't have

3:14:08sidewalk access. So where I would start

3:14:12on those walking loops, if you don't

3:14:13have a sidewalk, that's going to be a

3:14:15higher priority for putting in that

3:14:17walking path in a park,

3:14:18>> which is the case in both neighborhoods.

3:14:20>> Yeah.

3:14:20>> Brown Thresh and Red Barn. So

3:14:22>> yes. Okay. Thank you.

3:14:24I have two questions if that's okay.

3:14:27Thank you for the presentation. Great

3:14:28job. Thank you to our park and wreck

3:14:30team for all that you do and for being

3:14:33forward thinking, wanting to come up

3:14:34with the plan. Just two quick questions.

3:14:37Um, is there and and I'm looking forward

3:14:40to getting the draft document and

3:14:42thoroughly enjoying it. Is there a one

3:14:44of the things that we've asked from the

3:14:46bench for the last couple years, maybe

3:14:48even more, is some sort of plan for

3:14:51recreation centers in terms of

3:14:54maintenance and upgrades and how it's

3:14:55prioritized? Is any of that included in

3:14:59the plan at all?

3:15:00>> Yeah. like is there what are the like

3:15:03you know it's like how how do we decide

3:15:06which districts

3:15:08recreation centers get upgraded get you

3:15:11know more more robust maintenance if you

3:15:14will um what does the the prioritization

3:15:16look like for that will that be part of

3:15:18the plan

3:15:19>> yeah and that's a great question we do

3:15:21have a map that's pulled together that

3:15:23shows what the service area is of each

3:15:25of your recreation centers and so

3:15:28typically that's between one to three

3:15:29miles depending on size. Um, so I have a

3:15:32map that has a two-mile radius and we

3:15:35can see areas where that have that gap

3:15:38um to an indoor recreation facility. Um,

3:15:41and then we also just have a pinpoint on

3:15:44that map of where the YMCA's are. So we

3:15:46can start to identify um areas that may

3:15:49not have access to an indoor facility or

3:15:52areas where there could be some overlap

3:15:55um for those. But I mean, all of those

3:15:57indoor facilities that you have were

3:15:58kind of built in the like late 60s,7s.

3:16:01Um maybe the latest one was Boston in

3:16:03the early 80s. And it's safe to say that

3:16:06they're I think all due for um some

3:16:09major, you know, renovation because they

3:16:11all have ADA accessibility issues and in

3:16:14more modern amenities as we're seeing at

3:16:16Brewer, you know, have more flexible

3:16:18space that you can use in other ways

3:16:20that your other centers don't have.

3:16:24>> Thank you. my my next question if that's

3:16:26okay and and if I missed something I'm

3:16:28very sorry I know Reggie came to our

3:16:30dabs and did a great job kind of giving

3:16:31us a preview of what was going to happen

3:16:34but I I absolutely love our parks I love

3:16:36our facilities but one of the things

3:16:38that I love equally or maybe even a

3:16:41little more is the programming

3:16:42initiatives that we do to be able to

3:16:44have lowcost nocost activities for our

3:16:47community members I say all the time

3:16:50that there are people in Witchah some of

3:16:52our community members who going to our

3:16:54splash pads or their summer vacation or

3:16:56enrolling in summer camps or holiday

3:16:59camps is what keeps kids out of trouble

3:17:00or you know it provides cultural

3:17:03activities that they might not other

3:17:04otherwise have access to. So in this

3:17:07work was programming considered at all

3:17:09or was it actual just review of the

3:17:12facilities and the assets that we own?

3:17:14>> No, we looked at all of your program

3:17:16offerings. You have a very robust set of

3:17:18programs and we looked at all of them

3:17:19and how they were performing. We looked

3:17:21at all the various age segments that

3:17:22they were serving. We looked at where

3:17:24your programs were in within their own

3:17:26life cycle. Uh were they brand new

3:17:28programs? Were they uh mature? Were they

3:17:31or were they in a state of decline? We

3:17:33looked at all your various pricing

3:17:35strategies, how your programs were

3:17:37classified as either essential services,

3:17:39important services or value added, all

3:17:42the various marketing communication

3:17:44strategies you use to push awareness on

3:17:46them. So, we evaluated all of that and

3:17:48all of that's in the plan.

3:17:49>> Okay. We just didn't cover it today

3:17:50because I'm sure we could have been here

3:17:52till like five o'clock tonight if we

3:17:53talked about everything right. But I'm

3:17:55really excited to see that and and I

3:17:57think that for many of our community

3:17:59members, you know, they they see the

3:18:01parks, they see the facilities, but they

3:18:03forget sometimes the great things that

3:18:05we do to activate those facilities, you

3:18:07know, is is something that our park and

3:18:09wreck team does and I think

3:18:11exceptionally well. So, thank you. Thank

3:18:13you. Great information.

3:18:16>> Just just a couple of questions that I

3:18:17have for you. um again

3:18:22in your recommendation. So I think the

3:18:24city manager said this uh when he first

3:18:26arrived, but what are the small things

3:18:28that we can do today? So a lot of the

3:18:30things has a price tag to it, which I

3:18:32appreciate and I think we should be

3:18:33investing in financially, but surely

3:18:36there are some small things we can do

3:18:38today. I liken it to when a nonprofit is

3:18:40getting ready to go into a community and

3:18:42reinvest. They've been maybe disinvested

3:18:45for a while. They do things called

3:18:46activations to just bring awareness that

3:18:50the asset is there. Are are you all

3:18:53including that in your recommendations

3:18:55to us?

3:18:58I think a

3:19:01so so um I have for each park we have a

3:19:04recommendation for each park and one of

3:19:07my observations is that I think that

3:19:09some of the parks are just maybe

3:19:10underutilized or having more eyes in the

3:19:14park can help with um address maybe some

3:19:17of the activities that are taking place

3:19:19there. And uh so when you see these

3:19:22recommendations, some of them I'm like

3:19:23even just having some disc golf baskets.

3:19:25Like disc golf is a really inexpensive

3:19:28activity and in terms of putting in some

3:19:31baskets versus a playground. Um but it's

3:19:34also an activity that engages people of

3:19:37all ages, you know, whether you're five

3:19:39or 50 or above. Um and so so from a

3:19:42programming standpoint that is something

3:19:45that I look at is like even if it's just

3:19:47a couple of baskets that can that can

3:19:49help activate a park in the short term.

3:19:52>> Yeah. And I you know in addition to

3:19:54having park by park recommendations so

3:19:56it's not just big broad sweeping

3:19:57recommendations very specific. Uh we've

3:20:00got a really a framework of

3:20:01prioritization like because we know that

3:20:03you're not going to be able to get to

3:20:04all of this necessarily within the next

3:20:0610 years and there will be other thing

3:20:08is about a park system is there's going

3:20:10to be maintenance requirements and

3:20:12issues that arrive that arise between

3:20:14now and 10 years from now that are not

3:20:16even on the list just by weather events

3:20:18or use or various other things. So we do

3:20:21have a prioritization framework and one

3:20:23of those frame one of those criteria is

3:20:25around visibility the visibility of the

3:20:27project. you do need to start to build

3:20:31wins in the community to get to build

3:20:33their support over time. And so the

3:20:35visibility of a project uh whether it's

3:20:38large or small or just even an early win

3:20:40is something that's part of the

3:20:42prioritization framework.

3:20:43>> Yeah, thank you so much and I appreciate

3:20:46that. So I'm curious in your um time

3:20:49doing this work, not specific to

3:20:52Witchaw, but you mentioned something

3:20:53about the foundation and it being an

3:20:55incredible asset. I tend to agree, but

3:20:58we're finding outside of governmental

3:21:00spaces that operating two separate

3:21:02entities and not necessarily working

3:21:04together can also be a major barrier and

3:21:06it can create more bureaucracy for parks

3:21:09to actually get things done. So, for

3:21:12example, each entity has their own chain

3:21:14of command. Each entity has their own

3:21:16process in which they have to seek

3:21:17approval. I'm not saying that that's how

3:21:19it works here, but I'm curious from your

3:21:22lens, how can we ensure that efficiency

3:21:26and innovation is working better by

3:21:28maybe eliminating some of the barriers

3:21:32that

3:21:32>> spot on. You're you're absolutely right.

3:21:34So, seven out of 10 communities when I

3:21:36visit Reggie's colleagues and I ask,

3:21:39"Oh, do you have a parks foundation?"

3:21:40I'm they respond with a rolling of the

3:21:42eyes. They're like, "Oh, yeah, we got a

3:21:44parks foundation." But it's not really

3:21:46working for us. they kind of do their

3:21:47own thing. That's not necessarily the

3:21:50case here. The Park Foundation is a

3:21:52value ad asset here. It's not a

3:21:53criticism of Witchah, but you can

3:21:56improve the connectivity of that of that

3:21:58relationship. We make very specific

3:22:00recommendations in the action plan about

3:22:02how that can happen. It's about yes that

3:22:04you have two organizations, but it's

3:22:06about getting making sure you're singing

3:22:08from the same song sheet.

3:22:09>> Uh thank you so much. I'm very

3:22:11interested in that. I think anytime we

3:22:12can remove red tape regulations that get

3:22:15in the way of progress, we should

3:22:16absolutely do that. And then my final

3:22:18thing um if I could council I want to

3:22:21speak to that just a little bit on some

3:22:23of the things that we've done just from

3:22:24the initial uh conversation with uh

3:22:27Laura and Brian is that we uh have

3:22:29representative from our park uh board

3:22:32that sits on the park foundation and

3:22:35we're looking at ways that we can

3:22:36connect the gap between the two of them

3:22:38to share what they're doing with their

3:22:39strategic plan and what we're doing with

3:22:41our master plan and having communication

3:22:43on how we can work better together and

3:22:45leverage each other's resources to make

3:22:47a bigger impact. Uh we're also planning

3:22:49for our first uh in December, we're

3:22:51going to be hosting at Brewer where

3:22:52we're going to have a joint meeting

3:22:53between the parks department, park

3:22:55foundation, and the park board to begin

3:22:57those conversations on what that looks

3:22:59like and how we roll out the master

3:23:00plan.

3:23:00>> That's awesome. Thank you. Thank you so

3:23:03much. So, uh and also on page 89, the

3:23:06park score index, park space equity. Um

3:23:10my colleagues know this. I'm I'm always

3:23:12going to be the guy that brings up

3:23:13equity and how important it is, but I

3:23:15think, you know, contrary to popular

3:23:17belief or what some might believe,

3:23:18equity is not just for a specific

3:23:20population. It's for everybody. And so,

3:23:23something that really makes me

3:23:24uncomfortable is District 2 lacks in

3:23:27parks. District 2 also lacks in

3:23:30libraries. And that is a major issue for

3:23:33me because I think it sends a message to

3:23:35that community. And I and I don't think

3:23:37it sends a message of equity,

3:23:40diversity, or inclusion. And so, like,

3:23:43how can we solve for some of that

3:23:47outside of spending a lot of money for

3:23:50doing that? You said 120k would create a

3:23:53new playground in an area.

3:23:55>> That's for a low-level um a very small

3:23:58playground that maybe you have an

3:24:00existing park and you're just putting

3:24:01the playground in. But I think to create

3:24:04a master plan and a new park um in

3:24:07district two where you might already

3:24:09have some land, you know, that's

3:24:10probably going to be like a six 10. I

3:24:14mean, kind of depending on the

3:24:16amenities, you know, that's like a $10

3:24:17million and frankly, you need a couple

3:24:20of parks added in district two. Um, so

3:24:24you have land for one, but we need to be

3:24:26looking for more.

3:24:28>> Yeah. And thank you so much. I truly

3:24:29appreciate that. We do have some land

3:24:31that, you know, we've just been sitting

3:24:33on and I can't tell you the number of

3:24:35times that I've had folks who want to

3:24:36buy that land from us and I have been

3:24:38steadfast in saying no that will be a

3:24:40park. Um, you know, our our budgets are

3:24:43tight, our budgets are lean, we have to,

3:24:45you know, manage what we have, but

3:24:47there's still a hope and a dream that,

3:24:49you know, maybe that part can come to

3:24:51fruition at some point. So, thank you.

3:24:53Thank you for your support.

3:24:54>> No, that needs to be a priority.

3:24:55Absolutely.

3:24:56>> Yeah. Have you seen uh functional

3:24:58consolidation between like departments

3:25:00within a government using a park for

3:25:03obviously the traditional park and

3:25:04recreation parks and recreation space uh

3:25:08but as well library like libraries

3:25:10coming together and maybe having some

3:25:12sort of library on that space as well.

3:25:15Two separate departments operating

3:25:16within the same place to serve a a a

3:25:19major gap in a community. Well, and I

3:25:21think that kind of goes too to the

3:25:22community hub that Brian was talking

3:25:24about that I mean you could have a

3:25:26community center that's also a library

3:25:28and within a park and part of what's

3:25:31magical about Brewer, right, is it has

3:25:33more of that indooroutdoor connection

3:25:36and um so I think uh doing that is

3:25:39important. Um Edgemore Park, Edgemore is

3:25:41right next to the library and so our

3:25:43park recommendations there are to try to

3:25:45like strengthen those connections

3:25:47between the park and the library. So,

3:25:49absolutely. I think looking at um

3:25:52building all of that within within one

3:25:54geographical location makes a lot of

3:25:56sense.

3:25:56>> Thanks so much. I appreciate it. I just

3:25:58I want to reiterate my support to make

3:26:00sure every community has access to those

3:26:03basic amenities. It doesn't matter what

3:26:05their medium income is. I think we make

3:26:07a lot of assumptions about people

3:26:09because of many things. I've certainly

3:26:11experienced it in my district. People

3:26:13have con misconceptions about parts of

3:26:15the neighborhoods in district one. um

3:26:17just because someone comes from a higher

3:26:19socioeconomic status doesn't mean that

3:26:22they should lack access to things that

3:26:24impact the social determinance of health

3:26:26or literacy rates etc. So I'd be a major

3:26:29champion in making sure that that's

3:26:30possible.

3:26:32>> Just brief comments. I want to say

3:26:34you're speaking my love language with so

3:26:35many of the things in this presentation.

3:26:37I look forward to seeing the final

3:26:39recommendation specifically when it

3:26:40comes to safety, maintenance of the

3:26:42parks and uh natural trails and outdoor

3:26:45space. Uh anecdotally, that's what I

3:26:47hear from residents and I'm glad that's

3:26:49supported by data as well. Uh the top

3:26:51three priorities. I'm really excited

3:26:53about the idea of more outdoor space and

3:26:55I like your uh concept about how do we

3:26:57maybe use natural grasses, car spaces

3:26:59out there, encourage more trail access.

3:27:02Um closest you can, you know, deeply

3:27:04hike is um the tall grass prairie. And

3:27:08so there are definitely things that we

3:27:09can uh do here. And I know Pony Prairie

3:27:11Park does natural trails really well. So

3:27:13thank you for the presentation. look

3:27:15forward to everything else, but uh this

3:27:16was really enlightening

3:27:21>> and again thank you um for having both

3:27:23council member Hohisel and I on that

3:27:25master plan committee. Um I'm going to

3:27:28go back to slide number 93 and talk

3:27:31about your top park conditions. Um, this

3:27:35to me was actually something that I

3:27:38think would be a good takeaway from our

3:27:39council members that each of those

3:27:42council members has a park in the five

3:27:45rating. So, we have it as 93, but I

3:27:49think it's a little couple of slides

3:27:50back.

3:27:52One more. There we go.

3:27:55So, district five, district 6, district

3:27:572, district 3, district 1, district 4,

3:28:00and district two had those um parks in

3:28:04condition number five. Can one question

3:28:07I did have though so that everyone's

3:28:10using the same language and that is

3:28:12pocket park, community park, signature

3:28:15park. Um, parks are classifi class

3:28:18classified by their acreage. And so a

3:28:22pocket park um is going to be your

3:28:24smallest park that typically is just

3:28:26kind of a maybe a playground,

3:28:29not much of a lawn space, maybe has a

3:28:31lawn space. You wouldn't expect to have

3:28:34um a shelter there for example. But then

3:28:37as you move up into the neighborhood

3:28:38park, you're going to have a few more

3:28:40amenities that are uh offered there. And

3:28:43then as you get to the community park,

3:28:45those are your community park is going

3:28:46to be a park that um starts to bring

3:28:49people from across Witchah. So your

3:28:51neighborhood park might be just more,

3:28:53you know, kind of your surrounding um

3:28:56neighborhood or within your district

3:28:57that people are coming to. Um but then

3:29:00as you have your community park, you're

3:29:01going to have more of those unique

3:29:02amenities that are offered in those that

3:29:04people are coming to. And then

3:29:06absolutely your signature parks are kind

3:29:08of also your regional parks. Then um

3:29:11your your overlap there. Um Glendai Park

3:29:14is another that'll be a regional park.

3:29:17Um Crystal Prairie Lake that is just

3:29:19starting construction now. Like the

3:29:21intent is that that's going to be a

3:29:23regional park. So does that help

3:29:26clarify? Yeah.

3:29:28>> Not just size, but use types of uses.

3:29:30>> Yeah. Yeah. Not just size, but type of

3:29:31type of use. Typically the type of use

3:29:34is somewhat related to size and

3:29:38availability.

3:29:38>> Yeah,

3:29:39>> the mayor, thank you for bringing this

3:29:40up. I have this bookmarked as well

3:29:42because one of the questions I had is

3:29:44what's the core theme amongst all those

3:29:45that are uh in the five. I see couple

3:29:48couple of them had private investment.

3:29:51What other core themes did you all find

3:29:53with that? I find that ironic that one

3:29:56there's not many in the five category

3:29:57but of those who that are in the five

3:29:59category I mean they had some private

3:30:02investment which probably means that you

3:30:03know they could maximize the vision a

3:30:06little bit more to make it more

3:30:08appealing or accessible to folks.

3:30:10>> Yeah. So like Prock Wetlands Park for

3:30:12example scored a five but you know

3:30:15there's still an opportunity to close

3:30:16the boardwalk loop on that and really

3:30:18make that something um stellar. So, um,

3:30:22yes, they just have, I think, newer

3:30:25amenities, more investment,

3:30:27um, a little bit more vision, uh, in

3:30:30each of those, but again, like, you

3:30:32know, Country Acres Park with a dog

3:30:33park. It's the cutest little dog. So, I

3:30:36mean, this can happen at all scales,

3:30:37right? Um, but that has public art

3:30:40that's integrated into it with the

3:30:42little dog sculptures, and it just feels

3:30:44unique and special when you're there.

3:30:46Yeah.

3:30:49So my last comment is because I grew up

3:30:52by OJ Watson Park and that happens to be

3:30:54in district three and seeing the number

3:30:58for that uh condition uh really is sad

3:31:01because as I've gone to Tulsa and seen

3:31:04the gathering place, OJ Watson has a lot

3:31:07of the same features um that could be

3:31:10maximized. Um and it re really is it's

3:31:13getting a lot of improvements this year

3:31:15at OJ Watson Park. Um, and so I I feel

3:31:18like that's a hidden gem in our

3:31:20community and knowing that it's at a

3:31:22level two condition um, makes me sad.

3:31:26The other one is the Cedric County Park

3:31:29that also is at a level two that also is

3:31:32a signature park um, and while not a

3:31:36city of Witchah responsibility attracts

3:31:39a lot of Witchans.

3:31:41>> Yeah. Yeah. No, absolutely. And I I

3:31:43agree. I think O.J. Watson Park can

3:31:46really be something special. I think the

3:31:48city staff would like to have the money

3:31:50to invest in it, you know, as well to

3:31:52make it something really special. But

3:31:54just with the um, you know, limited

3:31:56funds that we have across all of the

3:31:58parks, it's it's been difficult to make

3:32:00that work. But um, as we develop the

3:32:02plan, the challenge will be for, you

3:32:04know, all of you to look for those

3:32:05funding strategies to elevate OJ Watson

3:32:08Park and our other parks uh, to get

3:32:11those all up to a five.

3:32:14Yeah,

3:32:14>> you know, you referenced the gathering

3:32:16place and you've brought that up on

3:32:17several occasions across this process.

3:32:20You know, I do think there's a lot of

3:32:21possibility and potential at OJ Watson

3:32:23Park. You know, the gathering place, I

3:32:25was familiar with that site when it was

3:32:27a 78 acre very blighted industrial

3:32:30pasture basically. But they had a vision

3:32:33and with that grand vision came $400

3:32:36million in private philanthropy with

3:32:38made that happen. It was the vision that

3:32:40led inspired that philanthropy. And you

3:32:42talk about activating that relationship

3:32:44with Witchah Park Foundation. Let's give

3:32:46them something bold to raise money

3:32:48around. And I think that's something

3:32:50that's how you make something like that

3:32:51happen.

3:32:57>> Okay, no more questions. That concludes

3:32:59our workshop presentation and all of our

3:33:02topics today. So, thank you for your

3:33:03time and enjoy the rest of the week.

3:33:05>> Manager, I just want to give a shout out

3:33:07to uh my District 1 board appointment

3:33:09who's here, Kate Webb.

3:33:12She's probably behind a pillar or

3:33:13something.

3:33:14>> She is. Yeah, she is.

3:33:15>> Thanks for being here and thanks for

3:33:16your engagement as well in the marks uh

3:33:18the parks master plan.

3:33:19>> And we do have uh lunch options for you

3:33:22in the back.

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