City Council Meetings

Page 1 CITY COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS AUGUST 4, 2020 MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL Wichita, Kansas, August 4, 2020 Tuesday, 09:00 AM The City Council met in regular session with Brandon Whipple, Cindy Claycomb, Bryan Frye, Becky Tuttle, Jeff Blubaugh, James Clendenin, and Brandon Johnson. Staff Members Present: Donte Martin, Assistant City Manager, Sharon Dickgrafe, Chief Deputy City Attorney, and Karen Sublett, City Clerk. Mayor Whipple called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. Approve the minutes of regular meeting on July 28, 2020. MOTION: Mayor Whipple moved to approve the minutes of regular meeting on July 28, 2020. Motion carried 7 to 0. I) PUBLIC AGENDA 1.) Celeste Racette - Funding for Century II. Celeste Racette stated you have filed a lawsuit naming Karl Peterjohn and herself as defendants individually and as representatives of Save Century II Committee. Stated this action is a slap in the face to 17,265 citizens who signed their petition. Stated there were thousands more who wanted to sign but lived outside city limits and were not eligible. Stated you gave money to Downtown Wichita, Greater Wichita Partnerships and Visit Wichita who all put their logo but not their names on a letter of opposition to the Wichita Historic Preservation Board protesting the nomination of Century II and the former public library for historic status. Stated City Manager Layton also wrote a letter of opposition to the Wichita Historic Board. Stated you have deferred maintenance on Century II for over 11 years and removed $22 million dollars from the CIP that had been budgeted to renovate and upgrade Century II. Stated you have given Visit Wichita $7 million dollars regardless of whether they met their performance objectives or not and they are wasting $300,000 per year of taxpayer money in rent for WaterWalk offices. Stated you have proposed privatization of Century II in the 2021 budget, which is outrageous and can end in a no-bid contract to a third party who will run the building down and misspend capital improvements. Stated the Ice Center is an example of privatization, Stryker Sports Complex no-bid contract went to the Wichita Sports Forum and the non-profit Soccer Association was kicked out. Stated you are turning the east river bank area from Kellogg to Douglas into a TIF District, which means you will be wasting more taxpayer money on projects in that area that we don't need and can't afford. Stated the current budget proposed to the City of Wichita to be voted on August 11th, is in violation of Charter Ordinance 221. Stated we received approval on Saturday for Century II in the former public library to the state of Kansas' Historic Places with the nomination now moving forward to the national level. Stated we have submitted to Mayor Whipple a draft for a Historic Century II Citizens Advisory Committee with a link to the State of Kansas tax credits and grants that are available to renovate Century II at no cost to taxpayers or the City. Stated we have filed legal defense in response to your lawsuit against Save Century II Committee, you have  Page 2 CITY COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS AUGUST 4, 2020 violated state law for open meetings and engaged in improper secretive meetings to file your lawsuit, hidden from the citizens paying your salaries. Stated the result is a slap in the face to every Wichita citizen and taxpayer who signed our petition. Stated you are operating behind a veil of secrecy and have angered thousands of citizens and we are standing up to your arrogance to registered voters. Mayor Whipple stated to sum up the intent of the petition is to have a vote on Century II? Celeste Racette stated yes, we want a vote on whether or building is saved or capped, an actual citizen vote. CONSENT AGENDA ITEMS 1 THROUGH 8 Vice Mayor Claycomb stated she wants to comment on consent item II-4, Neighborhood Improvements Funding. Stated she wants to highlight this project as an example of how individuals and neighborhoods can make a difference. Stated Mr. Baker spoke to us a few meetings ago about a stretch of McLean being dangerous to businesses and the Bicycle and Pedestrian Board have highlighted the same concern and she personally has received numerous emails from people who are concerned about speeding vehicles along this stretch of McLean. Stated WPD has been out there do work to calm traffic on a temporary basis and would like to thank staff for listening to these concerns and taking a first step to explore traffic calming, potential pedestrian crossings, and improved bicycle access along this corridor. Council Member Johnson stated he wants to highlight consent item II-6, HOME Program Housing Development Loan Program 2019 Funding Allocation, Power CDC, Inc. Stated he wants to highlight the Power CDC continuing to build homes in the community, helping to build folks American's dream and give opportunities for generations of wealth through home ownership. MOTION: Mayor Whipple moved to approve consent agenda items 1 through 8 in accordance with the recommended actions shown thereon. Motion carried 7 to 0. COUNCIL BUSINESS II) BOARD OF BIDS AND CONTRACTS 1.) Report of Board of Bids and Contracts dated August 3, 2020. Attachment: 08-03-2020 Board of Bids.pdf Hannah Lang, Finance Department reported on the August 3rd Board of Bids recommendations. MOTION: Mayor Whipple moved to receive and file report, approve the contracts and authorize the necessary signatures. Motion carried 7 to 0. IV) UNFINISHED COUNCIL BUSINESS - NONE  Page 3 CITY COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS AUGUST 4, 2020 V) NEW COUNCIL BUSINESS 1.) 2021 ANNUAL OPERATING BUDGET AND 2021-2030 CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM. Attachment: Agenda Report No. V-1.docx Shawn Henning Director of Finance, reviewed the item. Mayor Whipple asked staff to describe what the Policing budget technology item covers. Shawn Henning Director of Finance stated we have an IT fund and every department that utilizes laptops or computer services are charged departmental rates for services provided through the internal service IT fund. Shawn Henning Director of Finance, presented an overview of the CIP. Council Member Johnson asked what the budget dollar amount is for the motorcycle unit and what data do we have around traffic fatalities from when the motorcycle unit began and now and what traffic accident data do we have between 2016 and now and how many community policing positions are currently open in the department. Shawn Henning Director of Finance stated she will defer to the Police Chief and see if he has any of that information available. Council Member Johnson stated if he doesn't he can get it next week, he just wants it before finalizing the budget. Police Chief Ramsay stated he will have that data available for next week's meeting. Mayor Whipple inquired whether anyone from the audience at Century II wished to speak. 1) Mark Eby, President and CEO of KHS stated in 2009 KHS and the City of Wichita agreed to improve animal welfare in our City by joining forces building the Murfin Animal complex. Stated this state of the art facility gives animals a place to go during circumstances they find themselves in. Stated at the time our City was saving only about 50% of the animals that lost their homes, 10 years later the percentage of animals being saved and the number of animals getting helped, has increased every year. Stated for the past three years that number has been above 90%. Stated this is a remarkable turnaround and exactly what they envisioned when the complex was built. Stated as part of the MOU, the City of Wichita agreed to handle all stray intake while KHS would take owner-surrendered animals. Stated in 2019, KHS helped over 16,000 animals, around 6,000 of them came from Wichita Animal Services because they were not reclaimed by their owners. Stated this is the vast majority of the 10,000 animals that were brought in by citizens as strays and animals that were picked up by animal control but never reclaimed. Stated after they clear their stray hold and are deemed healthy, KHS brings these animals into our facility and adopts them back out, another 6,000 came from people who could no longer care for their animal and brought them to KHS so that we could re-home them. Stated we performed almost 10,000 spay and neuter surgeries for animals in our community and over the past five years invested significant dollars and added staff to work with rescues around the country to find even more animals homes and take this burden off Wichita Animal Services staff. Stated we understand City revenues are down and budgets need to be cut but  Page 4 CITY COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS AUGUST 4, 2020 animal welfare is not the place for these cuts and by not accepting the 6,000 plus strays from the public that were brought in last year, the City will incur more costs due to a substantial increase in calls for animal control officers to come get an animal. Stated how will this increase be handled if cuts are made to staff as well. Stated there will also be more animals running loose in our City, which will lead to more bites, more altercations with our citizens and their pets, the potential for rabies outbreaks if they are bitten by wild animals and more animals hit by cars on our roads. Stated none of these keep our citizens safer. Stated KHS has provided a list of recommended changes to the City, which includes increase in licensing fees, increased fines and increased enforcement of those breaking our laws and illegally breeding animals. Stated there are also cost saving measures for Wichita Animal Services and KHS is willing to work with them to provide advice and training any inefficiencies. Stated we have been an excellent partner for the last 10 years, KHS has found placement for almost 100,000 stray animals that came from WASP and helped improve the facility by expanding cat kennels and helping out with animals during the most recent COVID shut down. Stated we provided training for staff when asked and worked with WASP as partners to save more animals, it has worked and the number reflect that. Stated now is not the time to take our City back to where we were in 2010, now is the time to protect our citizens and their pets and provide quality animal care for those who are unfortunate enough to become lost from their homes. Stated there is no other space for these strays to be taken and placing the burden on KHS and others, simply isn't possible and hopes the City Manager and Council will reconsider this cut and look for opportunities that doesn't impact thousands of citizens and their animals. Mayor Whipple stated we spoke on the phone regarding the budget and possibly looking at changes and restructures. Stated you are open to helping us with an alternative plan that would still delivers these services. Mark Eby stated yes, KHS values this partnership, we have invested millions of dollars 10 years ago to try and make this even better for animals and we will help wherever we can. Council Member Blubaugh stated we have received several hundred emails about this, it is obviously a very important issue to the public and would like to ask staff if there is any way we could show how we got to this point and recommendation. Donte Martin Assistant City Manager stated he will defer to Police Chief Ramsay. Police Chief Ramsay stated at the Manager's request we put together a list of options and that was one of the options. Council Member Blubaugh stated he is curious how we got there. Chief Ramsay stated over the last several years there was a number of times where the issue of what we can do to be more efficient has come up and staff prepared a number of options for the Manager to consider. Mayor Whipple asked if this was more a financial decision than a service decision because of the current economic crisis that we are in. Chief Ramsay stated yes, the City was facing severe financial issues and this was an area that administration looked at.  Page 5 CITY COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS AUGUST 4, 2020 Donte Martin Assistant City Manager stated as we face the City's budget deficit over the next several years, we started looking at alternative service to remodel, staff looked at what our peer cities throughout Kansas are doing as far as animal control and services. Stated animal control has worked closely with KHS for several years looking at other options and we added some additional considerations to the table, so the proposal you have in front of you is the result of discussions with animal control and WPD as well as what we have seen throughout this region and other cities. Council Member Blubaugh asked if we have any benchmarks or know of any other cities that have done this and it has worked out for them. Chief Ramsay stated they looked at a number of cities throughout the state and looked at other models across the country and generally that partnership with the private sector or non-profits involves some type of city funding. Council Member Frye stated looking at page 240 of our budget proposal, it shows a difference in salaries and benefits of about $200,000 less from 2020 revised to 2021 proposed but does not see a difference in positions and full time equivalent employees. Stated what exactly are we doing and how did we get to that number. Chief Ramsay stated there are position cuts in there. Council Member Frye asked if they are somewhere else in the budget and not under animal control services. Elizabeth Goltry Wadle Finance Department, stated because the proposal for the changes at the animal shelter is contingent on ironing out details between now and when it is implemented, we have budgeted those savings in shrinkage. Stated shrinkage is in the same group as salaries and benefits, which is why there is a difference. Stated if you look on page 233 of the detail volume and that lists all of the positions, we budgeted all of the same 29 animal control positions that were budgeted last year, it is just that we added $132,000 in additional shrinkage in 2020 and then $400,000 in 2021 and 2022 and that is consistent with the tiered list of proposals that was presented on May 26th. Council Member Johnson stated Mr. Eby had mentioned proposed fee increases, would those proposed increases help reduce the deficit. Chief Ramsay stated there were a couple of options and thinks we arranged up to $170,000 in increased revenue expectations with a few changes. Council Member Johnson stated that would basically cut it in half. Mayor Whipple we sent out an email to the Council yesterday and met with Budget and with changes in the fee structure and changes in partnerships with KHS, there is a strategy where we can continue the service but make it look a little different where it would be neutral to our budget. Stated some of those conversations will be had within this next week, we have some research on that and staff is working on that right now. Council Member Clendenin stated his appointee to the Animal Control Advisory Board mentioned to him that what she has seen in the budget that we could have close to a $200,000 savings if we kept dogs only as long as our policy stated and try to get them adopted out quicker. Stated typically we could hold an  Page 6 CITY COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS AUGUST 4, 2020 animal 17 or more days over what our policy states, which comes at a significant cost and thinks that is something that needs to be looked into. Stated if we are holding animals a significant amount of time, more than we are supposed to be holding them, we are probably hemorrhaging money in that area and would like for that to be looked into over this next week as well. Mayor Whipple stated teaming up with KHS there are measures we could be taking to lower the cost, for example, feeding animals. Stated if we had a measured amount of food like the do at KHS, we would save about $20,000 a year according to Mr. Ebys’ estimate. Stated it is about three days statutorily to hold on to an animal. Council Member Clendenin stated he is not saying three days is the right answer and maybe longer is but some of the instances that he has heard about, we were grossly holding animals over. Chief Ramsay stated that has evolved over the years as a partnership with the rescues to raise that date. 2) Pamela Amar stated she is the board chair for the KHS and the comments made by the City Council sound very promising. Stated she wants the City safe for the animals and citizens, we don't have another alternative and doesn't anticipate that would be something we would have in the near future especially right now when we are all dealing with COVID. Stated KHS wants to be part of the solution and wants to work with the City. Stated she has two dogs and would pay more for their licensing if that would help. Stated many animals are dropped off in her neighborhood and she takes them to animal control and would not take them to KHS because they are strays and might not be vaccinated and may be ill, which would cause the other animals that are sheltered to be ill. 3) Toni Winner, President of Kansas Canine Rescue stated animal shelter and retired budget analyst for the City of Wichita. Stated budgeting has been difficult even back when she worked for the City and prior City Managers have not wanted to fully fund it and it is not a popular thing for the City of Wichita to fund. Stated the numbers being talked about as a reduction is a very small part of the general fund budget, so those monies could be found somewhere. Stated there are some increases in professional services and building and equipment charges and would like to know what those are for. Stated she wonders if the City will continue to take in animals from other communities and believes there are nine different cities that bring their animals to the Wichita Animal Shelter and are charged $70 an animal, however, Sedgwick County which brings in the most number of animals in only charges $45 an animal. Stated maybe that could be made more equal with the county. Stated she looked at the results of the budget online engagement for the budget simulator and you asked for the public's comments on this and you have ranked those 16 services by how much the public wanted to cut them. Stated the least cut was fire and medical response, but animal control out of 16 only ranked six with the public's comments, but when she looked at the proposed budget, out of those 16 you have animal control listed at 14. Stated the citizens said reduce to 4.19% but you have a 12.47% reduction. Stated what the citizens asked for, you didn't follow at all (gave several examples). Stated why are you asking for citizen input when you are not taking those into account when preparing the budget. Donte Martin Assistant City Manager stated Elizabeth Goltry can answer a couple of questions asked by the speaker as well as speak to how public engagement influenced the budget. Stated one of the questions asked by the speaker is if services would still be provided to the seven surrounding communities as well as Sedgwick County and the answer is yes under this proposal that would continue. Stated the speaker spoke to the discrepancy in fees charged to surrounding cities versus Sedgwick County, as we talk about looking at potential fee increases and evaluating fees that is one of the areas that staff will be looking at.  Page 7 CITY COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS AUGUST 4, 2020 Elizabeth Goltry Wadle Finance Department stated there was a question about the increase in professional services from the 2020 adopted to the 2020 revised budget and that is related to a new contract for emergency veterinary services, which is more expensive than the prior contract. Stated the increase in building and equipment charges, is an increase in fleet charges and is a technical adjustment. Vice Mayor Claycomb stated at this time it would be a good time to reiterate to the public that we are committed to working on changes to this $400,000 cut in budget and that we are looking at some options to that and wants to make sure that people understand, that we have heard from hundreds of people and that we are working on some additional options. Stated she thinks the budget simulator and town hall meetings are really important and we heard from almost 10,000 people but those are two pieces of information. Stated we get lots of input with emails and letters that go into our budget decisions, that is not the only thing that we use to put the budget together. Mayor Whipple stated folks might have come in today with the idea that this item was going to move forward as presented and thinks now that reality has changed where we are looking towards ways to save this service by making it look a little different but also maintain the services. (Mayor Whipple momentarily left the bench; Vice Mayor Claycomb in the chair) 4) Ellen Corr stated she is president of Pals Animal Rescue and Spay Neuter Kansas. Stated at the May 26th budget retreat, the budget officer told the Council that Wichita was the only city that ran their own shelter of this size. Stated on the contrary, Tulsa, Dallas, Fort Worth, Kansas City, Kansas, Amarillo, Texas, and Oklahoma City are just a few of the cities that run their own shelters. Stated at the July 21st, City Council meeting, City Manager Layton said that he wanted to model our shelter after Overland Park and Topeka. Stated she is not sure what he meant by that and contacted Topeka, Kansas to see if they take strays from citizens and they said yes, they take strays from the city. Stated they pick them up and they have a shelter that they contract with and the shelter also accepts strays over the counter. Stated they were a little concerned that we might think about turning them away from our shelter. Stated Overland Park, Kansas picks up strays and dogs from their citizens but work with an animal shelter, which charges them $415 per animal that is not reclaimed. Stated the state does not allow rescues to take strays, they have to be held at a licensed shelter and made available for the public during normal business hours to be viewed and rescues can only take those animals after they have served their time in the licensed shelter. Stated all the rescues together could not take in the number of animals that animal control takes over the counter because that is the majority animals they take in. Stated she understands that the City Manager has wanted to get out of the animal business for a long time but that is not what the citizens want to happen. Stated the Wichita Animal Shelter is an important part of our community in keeping our community safe and our animals safe. Stated there are ways to bring revenue into the shelter to help it be more self-sustainable and suggest that you table this and look into those areas where we can fund the shelter and maintain it as is with taking strays over the counter. 5) Christy Fischer stated she is the Executive Director of the Wichita Animal Action League. Stated we are a non-profit organization that has been in operation in the Sedgwick County area since 2013. Stated she is also speaking as a former law enforcement officer in Sedgwick County as well as an animal control for field operations and shelter operations supervisor in Texas. Stated she has seen firsthand what some of these proposed changes can do to a community and how it can have drastic impact on public safety. Stated this Department has been historically underfunded and to push these additional budget cuts upon them would be catastrophic. Stated making this decision would go directly against the City's focus area of keeping Wichita safe. Stated first and foremost the Council needs to consider public safety when considering this decision. Stated if the shelter no longer has the ability to take in strays brought in by the  Page 8 CITY COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS AUGUST 4, 2020 general public, there will be a huge increase of dogs running loose in the City streets. Stated due to budget cuts and personnel cuts, animal control officers will not have the ability to pick up these excess animals and what is going to happen, is these animals are going to pack up, which is normal animal behavior in these situations and there is going to be a drastic increase in bites, animal versus animal attacks and vicious animal calls. Stated due to the animal control officers being understaffed, their response times are going to be drastically increased and citizens are going to resort to calling 911 for WPD assistance. Stated WPD officers are not trained for these types of calls and should not have to respond to them because they obviously have bigger and better calls they should be responding to. Stated these changes are ultimately going to result in a much higher call volume for WPD as well, which needs to be considered. Stated this change would lead to animals suffering or their owners never being able to find them. Stated as call volume goes up for the animal control officers due to picking up all the extra strays and responding to bites, their ability to adequately respond to and investigate neglect and cruelty cases is going to decrease. Stated City currently serves as a centralized location for people to go to when their pets are missing, if that option is removed, pet owners are going to have very little chance of being reunited with their lost pets. Stated the City needs to consider other cost saving measures, some possibilities may include accepting some type of proposal with the KHS for taking on some if not all the animal care services currently at the shelter; charging rescues a daily care fee after the animal has been in the shelter for a certain period of time; passing an ordinance change requiring microchips to reduce overall shelter intake; and increasing enforcement of spay and neuter ordinances. Stated it is time that this community start looking at big picture ways to start decreasing animal intake. Mayor Whipple stated he wants to make clear that the proposal that is presented in the budget should be different by next week when we vote on this issue and that we are looking at ways to address this. 6) Regan Pointer stated she works with local rescues. Stated defunding animal services is not a viable option, this is an experiment done by Dallas animal control. Stated in 2010, in order to reduce euthanasia rates, the management of the shelter discouraged field officers from impounding strays. Stated in May 2016, a homeless veteran was mauled by a pack of dogs in south Dallas, the dogs tore one of her arms to the bone and ripped away most of her thigh resulting in her death. Stated public outcry led the city to bring in consultants who determined there were about 8,700 loose dogs roaming the city street, contributing to more than 1,600 bites in the city that year. Stated the dogs were almost exclusively found in low-income south Dallas neighborhoods where only 15% of them were spayed or neutered. Stated in three years after shelter overhaul by Dallas Police Department, an adoption of a mandatory micro- chipping law, a renewed push for spay and neuter and the hiring of a new director, Dallas managed to decrease euthanasia while increasing the number of dogs removed from the streets. Stated we need to learn from Dallas' mistakes, this proposal to stop picking up stray dogs and cats and to refuse stray and lost animals into the shelter, has already been attempted in Dallas and failed miserably; don't let this happen in Wichita. 7) No name given. Stated she is here to oppose cuts to animal control. Stated she has been attacked by multiple stray dogs in her neighborhood and the last instance took the life of her dog when we were walking up her driveway. Stated it took over an hour for animal control to respond because they were dealing with other attacks elsewhere in the City and only had one officer in the field. Stated a couple of weeks later, a woman walking her dog with a baby in a stroller was attacked by a stray and the next day the same dog was found shot and later died. Stated if you stop taking strays in from citizens, there will be more instances of this happening on our streets, if anything you should increase funds to animal control. 8) Maurice Evans stated he is here today on behalf of hundreds of citizens that he has spoken to in regards to this current budget and our City Council and City government leaders. Stated we the people are not  Page 9 CITY COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS AUGUST 4, 2020 happy with the budget, social media shows you this, email shows you this and the budget simulator shows you this. Stated we are not clear where all the money is going, there is a lot of hidden money, which is all taxpayer money. Stated there is millions of dollars that goes to Attorney Steven Pigg to not settle with the family of Andrew Finch costing citizens of Wichita more money than necessary. Stated line items are rolled into bigger numbers, there's millions of dollars for school officers, motorcycle traffic cops, tasers and cartridges. Stated you showed us that WPD has added officers and eliminated civilian police positions. Stated you claim things like de-escalation is making things better but yet racial profiling stays the same mostly because there are no consequences. Stated we are not a police state or city and what we need are less officers with better training and less officers going to non-enforcement calls, we should have responses by community services. Stated you say the budget is higher due to contractual wages so let's reevaluate those contracts and negotiate. Stated we have children who cannot afford breakfast and lunch, who need tutoring, parents who need childcare, we need an increase in our budget towards homeless outreach, prison outreach, mental health outreach and animal shelter outreach. Stated these items deserve the highest priority as they are pro-active changes to our City and need to be more proactive rather than reactive. Stated these problems with the budget are a small part of the larger problem, there appears to be a tone-death manner in which the City budget has been handled and favors the elite, which indicative of a greater problem, which is the City leadership seeming lack of attentiveness to the larger voting body. Stated City policy and procedure normally comes with penalties for non-compliance, instead Wichita City government seems to prefer guidelines and best practice allowing civil servants to choose whether they want to opt in and comply or just disregard and not participate, which leads to a potentially dangerous environment where backdoor deals and corruption can go unchecked. Stated we the people have serious concerns regarding this Council's habit of giving platitude publicly then ignoring citizen voter voices once you actually vote. Stated often citizens do not get any input into what is happening like Century II or the mask ordinance. Stated instead of listening to the people you work for, when they ask for change you explain why you unilaterally made a decision for us without our input. Stated when we get justifiably angry, then you ask for input but ignore it. Stated something has to change in this 2020 protest filled, COVID invested City, we the people are fed up. Council Member Tuttle stated we need to make sure we are getting everyone who is speaking name and address for the public record. 9) Andrew Hubbard 939 S. Longfellow stated we are in the middle of the worst pandemic that anyone has seen in 100 years, which happens to coincide with a major shift in social justice reform. Stated it is time for Wichita to join the right side of the movement, we have to invest in our community. Stated our City has a budget shortfall of nearly $10 million dollars and it is only going to get worse as this year progresses. Stated we see restaurants at half capacity, major industries in town are laying people off, the rent moratorium has ended, and people's unemployment has run dry. Stated now is not the time to give a nearly $6 million dollar increase to the police budget while our community suffers. Stated we are going to see a surge in homelessness and strife that the City has never seen before, we have got to put funds into programs that will address these issues head on. Stated we shouldn't be hiring 13 new officers, spending $300,000 on new I phones or over $60,000 on riot tactical gear that was only deployed once. Stated the police are obviously not here to protect and serve or to stop crime, if they were and the protesters were committing those crimes that WPD publicly stated, then they were not doing their jobs. Stated he is calling for the ending of the City Manager position of Robert Layton who is not a duly elected official and which will save taxpayers $200,000; let's fire Justin Rapp and stop spending $300,000 on his legal fees. Stated we have to renegotiate the FOP contract and begin defunding the Police Department and put those funds back into the community into homeless outreach, drug addiction and mental health issues. Stated if we address these issues head on, then we would see a dramatic decrease in crime.  Page 10 CITY COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS AUGUST 4, 2020 (Council Member Blubaugh momentarily left the bench) (Council Member Tuttle momentarily left the bench) 10) Celeste Racette 2239 N. Tee Time Court stated that budget simulator you keep referring to was extremely simplified, there was no choice for cutting Visit Wichita $7 to 8 million dollar budget when we only have 50% occupancy rate in our hotels; why are they still making so many millions of dollars in their budget? Stated why are they spending $300,000 to rent offices in WaterWalk, you could save that money tomorrow and put $300,000 back into the budget for the people who are speaking today. Stated there was no choice for using tax credits to renovate Century II, that is money on the table that wasn't in the budget simulator that you are ignoring from the state of Kansas to take care of this building right now. Stated City Manager Layton has a salary of a quarter of a million dollars that includes a car allowance. Stated let's cut his car allowance and save $6,000 to $10,000 a year; what is he doing for a quarter of a million dollars besides opposing the historic renovation and tax credits to be used for Century II. Stated where did the budget simulator include tax credits and the privatization of Century II. Stated she filed two KORAs asking about privatization of these private contracts and got a delay response due to COVID. Stated in 2018, 63% of the costs were covered by Century II fees, with the $10 million dollar economic impact created by events in this facility where we are today. Stated she didn't see that costing the City of Wichita money and yet you keep talking about privatizing and laying off people who work in this building. Stated a half a mill levy is being shifted from the general fund to support the debt service fund, property tax rates supposedly are not going to increase and yet in the budget you are counting on increased property assessed values to cover our debt limits, which means her assessed values are going to go up on her property and is going to end up paying higher taxes. Stated you are not listening to the citizens of Wichita, you have an overpaid bloated budget for the City Manager, for Visit Wichita who could save almost half a million dollars immediately by moving it to the former public library and yet you claim that the budget is hurting and you have to cut essential services. 11) Dale stated he is an artist and designer and is formerly homeless and read a section from a writer who thinks often about the U.S., our communities, the system we live in and the power of capitalism and white supremacy. Stated we have a war problem in America and in Wichita, peaceful protesters have been arrested and beaten with batons, tear gassed, shot at with rubber bullets, followed home after protesting, and threatened with arrest for asking too many questions. Stated why is this, what is the disconnect, why are we still in an economic, health and political crisis. Stated the distinctions are stark when comparing America with its nations' peers and Wichita and Kansas with its national peers. Stated we spend 18.7% of our annual input on social programs compared to an average of other countries and other states that average around 40%. Stated we live in a broken, patchy, inequitable system that leaves people without access to the tools and resources to be successful and even left for dead and asked why do we need more police officers and not more community resources, more social workers; what is the dire need for 13 more officers and an increase of $101 million dollars in public safety. Mayor Whipple stated he wants to make a distinction between the public agenda where people can talk about anything and the germane of keeping comments to today's budget. 12) Derrell stated regarding the budget, there is an item for other for $8,783 and asked what all falls under technology in vehicles. Stated the proposed budget for 2021 is not what the people want and when we look at the budget when it refers to policing, all we see is our City becoming more of a police state and you present that you want to build a bridge and relationship with the community but spending millions of dollars on vehicles, weapons, and adding more police instead of spending money where we really need it.  Page 11 CITY COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS AUGUST 4, 2020 Stated Wichita and Sedgwick County are the largest communities in Kansas, since the pandemic we have seen snap expenditures increase by $19 million dollars, which shows that we are experiencing an increase in food insecurities, we don't need more police. Stated we will soon be experiencing an increase in homelessness and need to spend money on safe and healthy housing, equitable housing, access to food and spend money building grocery stores in the food deserts that we have all over our City. Stated we need to spend money making sure our citizens are properly cared for and are healthy. Stated the Wichita Racial Justice Reform, each officer has a duty to intervene if another officer is using excessive force or escalating confrontation and may be fired if they don't. Stated filing a false report or planting evidence are grounds for officer's termination. Stated we heard that the FOP keeps shifting responsibility and accountability around and we have heard that what we need is reforms. Stated he is also concerned that community policing is a position and not the culture of our police. Mayor Whipple asked if staff could answer the question on technology in vehicles and the $8,000 for other. (Council Member Johnson momentarily left the bench) Elizabeth Goltry Wadle Finance Department stated there is a monthly fleet charge for vehicles related to the fleet fund for our police cruisers and other vehicles which include operating and maintenance costs for those vehicles and also pays for the replacement of the vehicles. Stated there is no funding in this budget to purchase additional vehicles. Stated regarding technology charges, includes all the IT equipment that is used in the Police Department. Stated regarding the other costs for $8,000, she could not identify an $8,000 line to research for you but did see in the traffic patrol budget that there is an $8,000 line in non- capital outlay, which might be what you are referring to. Stated non-capital outlay is for equipment replacement for operating equipment. 13) Kimberly Boyd stated she is here as a concerned youth with dreams of re-envisioning public safety. Stated Wichita is somewhere we can start change and we have always been a leader when it comes to doing the right thing and thinks we can keep this up. Stated a statistic that she saw on Face Book from the National Center of Women in Policing, statistics say that 40% of police family’s experience and report domestic violence. Stated she thinks the reason this gets shared so much on social media is because there is a big us versus them mentality between cops and civilians both from our end and from theirs. Stated we all know there are good cops, good people who put on police uniforms but get overshadowed by bad cops and systematic flaws. Stated we see bad cops with the system protecting their wrongdoing and we see legislative precedent that the police are truly not here to serve us the community. Stated police have a lot or roles and have a lot of things to do and a lot of officers are being overworked and spread too thin. Stated officers are wearing too many hats and responding to too many types of calls, we need more officers and the more officers we need the more we have to hire so more bad cops are going to slip through into positions they are not truly ready for. Stated she would highly suggest adding more officers until we can figure out how we are going to divide up our roles within our public safety courses. Stated it takes years for her to practice law and takes only 35 weeks for Wichita Police officers to enforce it. Stated defunding would reduce the number of cops needed so that we can hire highly trained professionals instead. Stated we know that the lives of officers matter but to compare blue lives and black lives is tone death to address everything that is going on outside of here. Stated we know effectively that all lives matter but they can't matter until black lives matter, which is why they support defunding because it will help everyone and help those serving and those served. Mayor Whipple asked staff if there is an increase in the budget for training.  Page 12 CITY COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS AUGUST 4, 2020 Elizabeth Goltry Wadle Finance Department stated there are no changes to the staffing levels for the training budget in the 2021-2022 proposed budget. Stated there has been a significant increase in the investment in the training bureau, since 2019 the staffing level used to be 14 at the training bureau and in this budget it is 20. Mayor Whipple stated the budget increase is for the training bureau for better training. 14) Gabrielle Griffie stated she is a small business owner and an organizer and activist with Project Justice ICT. Stated she is here to urge you to not approve the proposed budget increase for WPD. Stated young people particularly of color, believe that Wichita is really a city for the old, white, rich and conservative. Stated there has been much debate on the issue of police recently, and much question as to whether or not they keep us safe and whether or not the protect and serve and if they do protect and serve, who and what do they protect and serve. Stated last week on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday she and other constituents gathered downtown and marched for justice in Portland and in Wichita. Stated we marched against fascism and as they marched against fascism, they were met with more fascism. Stated people tried to run us over with their trucks and motorcycles, some hopped curbs trying to hit us, and some accelerated into vehicle blockades to hit us. Stated some pulled guns on us and called us names and racial epitaphs but for most people we were able to use our words and convince them to turn around and leave peacefully. Stated we handed out food and water to the homeless and picked up our own trash and litter left by others on the street. Stated yes, we put the Black Lives Matter flag on the clock tower but we did not leave it and left no trace and when we left, we were met the next day with intimidation by the police who staked out our homes and followed our family members and partners in their cars and a racist dog whistle of oppress released against us as though the crimes that were committed against us were committed by us. Stated not once did the police come and investigate them when they were downtown, which furthers their point that police do not prevent crime but only react to it. Stated she was arrested and jailed for a misdemeanor offense in the middle of a deadly pandemic in a filthy facility and while in the jail officers ignored their pleas for attention for a cell mate who was clearly sick. Stated they ignored our requests for soap and hand sanitizer with crowded cells, backed up plumbing and no toilet paper. Stated increasing police funding in the middle of a pandemic, which is five times as likely to affect black people, will only exasperate the ill effects of policing on our community who are already five times as likely to be incarcerated and six times as likely to be killed by the police. Stated we face unique and unprecedented times where unemployment has never been higher, poverty and domestic violence rates are increasing and division between ideologies are shifting but unprecedented times call for unprecedented measures and in the face of a disease which is killing our most vulnerable, the answer is not to pour funding into police resources which already kill and incarcerate our most vulnerable. Stated if the current FOP contract requires you to increase the budget, then it is time to renegotiate the FOP contract and do so before it expires next year. Stated if the way things are currently requires you to spend over $100,000 on riot gear and taser cartridges, and $300,000 on I phones for officers in the middle of a pandemic, then change the way things are in your system of government. Stated if the current system requires you to pay over $300,000 defending Officer Justin Rapp for killing innocent Andrew Finch, then address and change that system. Stated you as City officials are part of that system just as us on the outside are, we are doing our part by organizing our communities and our neighborhoods and it is time to do yours. Stated she on behalf of Project Justice ICT, recommend that you reduce spending on salaries beat patrol, overtime compensation, the traffic unit, the motorcycle unit, the mounted unit and the canine unit among others. Stated the reason why we want the funding to come from the police is because we believe in reparative justice for the communities that they harm and destroy and urges you not to approve this budget, to reassess the situation and come up with alternatives and fund non-policing solutions and to defund the police and defend our community.  Page 13 CITY COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS AUGUST 4, 2020 Mayor Whipple stated you referred to the protest and asked if anyone was injured during that event. Gabrielle Griffie Executive Director of Project Justice ICT stated none that was started by them. Stated it was not presented that there were no physical altercations, it was presented that we defended ourselves and we still did a better job defending ourselves while still maintaining nobody got hurt, injured or killed. Stated we don't have a hundred million dollar budget or people to train them; the police do and that should be addressed. Council Member Blubaugh thanked the speaker for coming forth and speaking to us today, the demonstration he saw on social media looked like anything but a peaceful protest. Mayor Whipple stated cell phones have come up a couple of times and it is his understanding they are a grant that cannot be distributed into other areas. Elizabeth Goltry Wadle Finance Department stated yes. Donte Martin Assistant City Manager stated yes there is a grant that will provide funding for cell phones and also for ongoing collaboration with T Mobile to provide cell service resulting in a local savings to the general fund. 15) Walt Chappell 3165 N. Porter stated he is seeing you have a budget process that has been used for decades, which is you get various groups to come together from your administration and sit down together and ask what each of them wants and how do we put this all together in one pot. Stated he is amazed at how well City Manager Bob Layton has done this, he has done a good job over the years and still does. Stated the process is flawed, we have a major problem in front of us right now that is not going to go away. Stated we have a major problem within our economy and society, there are two basic storms coming and we have a calm before the storm right now for racial justice and homelessness. Stated there are going to be thousands of people that are going to be evicted from their homes in the very near future and we are seeing just the tip of the iceberg at this time. Stated he is suggesting that you take a look at the police budget, the traffic patrol unit that has gone from $2.9 million to $3.3 million. State they still have 28 full time employees, which only 18 of those are for officers that ride on motorcycles, the other 10 are sergeants and supervisors. Stated why do we need more traffic enforcement in the middle of a pandemic? Stated there are fewer cars on the road, there are people who are trying to get to basic needs such as the grocery store and pharmacy, and does not see any reason to increase that budget let alone keep it in existence what so ever. Stated in 2001, the former Police Chief got rid of the motorcycle unit because of the crashes the officers were in became seriously injured and are on medical disability at the current time. Stated there is no reason to keep that unit going, it doesn't help us with traffic enforcement. Stated a point Council Member Johnson brought up is that we have fewer accidents in Wichita each of the three years that our current Chief has been with us. Stated not only the number of citations are down but the number of accidents are down by almost 2,000 per year so there is very little need to justify that $3.3 million dollars. Stated we recommend those funds going hiring mental health professionals to go out on calls, homelessness and drug related cases. Stated there are other cities across America who have done this very successfully, they have cut their cost for the Police Department and their overall budget, they have reduced the number of injuries and people killed as a result of confrontations when the police are there and we don't have those people who are distressed going into our jails as a way to solve the problem. Stated the second thing we need to do is stop litigating these cases for officers who are brought forward in court. Stated you have hired Attorney Steve Pigg out of Topeka, there is millions of dollars being paid to him to defend our WPD officers who have been charged with excessive use of force or killing like in the Andrew Finch case. Stated that money needs to go to mediate and not litigate. Stated if we can put those  Page 14 CITY COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS AUGUST 4, 2020 funds to use to make sure that the families are whole again and we have some civility and kindness in our discussions with our citizens; mistakes happen and often officers respond in a very quick manner. Stated we shouldn't have to litigate and draw this out over years and years’ time. Stated those are funds taxpayers are paying for legal fees that should go for settlements. Stated we need to put more money from the Police Department into de-escalation training and bias-based police training. Stated right now officers only get two hours a year in bias-based police training. Stated we have found there are four specific zip codes in the eastern part of our City where blacks are disproportionately given citations and yet they don't live there, why is that? Stated we have a situation where we have 47 of the top citations throughout our City that blacks are twice as likely to receive a ticket for the same infraction. Stated each of these officers have discrepancy, when they pull someone over they can decide whether they give a ticket or not and in many cases, those are for non-moving violations for blacks, 50% of their citations are for those non- moving violations and that needs to stop. Stated we have priories in this budget, they speak to the heart of an organization and tell us what we want as a City and as a community to do with our tax dollars. Stated his recommendation today is that $2 million dollars come from the City's general fund and into a special fund for the City to use to help with water bills. Stated he talked with Alan King, Director of Public Works & Utilities and his staff, they are already disconnecting people's water. Stated when you have water disconnected, you are basically evicted from your home because you have nowhere to drink, shower or flush a toilet. Stated we have a major problem right now in Wichita, there are going to be thousands of people and families without a home and if we keep shutting off their water, we are going to push them out much faster than we would normally do. Stated he got a call from the Salvation Army this morning and their calls are up 300% for water and utilities. Stated they can do a onetime payment and set up a payment plan and help people with the City but that is only a limited amount of money and they are almost out. Stated he only sees $191,000 in this budget for homelessness, which is a pittance of the amount of money that we need to handle this tsunami that is coming. Stated if you spend more money in one area you have to transfer it from another and read page 56 of the budget and asked why does Municipal Court needs an additional $3.6 million; the next page 57 it talks about $177 million for sewer, water and Stormwater utilities and yet they are disconnecting people's water. Stated he is going to ask the City Manager to stop connecting people's water and don't force them out of their homes; page 60 talks about the office equipment and vehicle expenses, that is $11.6 million dollars for the year 2021. Mayor Whipple informed Mr. Chappell that his five minutes is over and to please wrap up his comments. Stated you have an important process here, we are trying to give you input but if you are going to cut us off it is your prerogative but is trying to make sure that you know where these numbers can come from, if you are going to make shifts, we are coming up with recommendations on where to find the money to reallocate. Mayor Whipple informed Mr. Chappell that he was in a meeting with them last week and has access to them. Stated this is the public forum where we keep it at five minutes and if you want to go line by line, he can come in and we can go over the budget line by line, which you have done before and will be happy to allow you to continue doing that. Stated there are other folks who also want to speak in this format. 16) Ashley Christie she wants to make it clear that the proposed budget is not something that she can support. Stated it is surprising not because there was a shortfall but because of current events and its lack of response to them. Stated great pains were made to make it look like our feedback would be taken into consideration but the budget proposal shows that is not the case. Stated KMUW reported City Manager Robert Layton saying, residents who responded to public surveys and participated in the budget simulator, indicated they don't want to see cuts to the Police Department, Fire Department or Public Works; this is disingenuous at best. Stated the only polling she could find was posted under the City of  Page 15 CITY COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS AUGUST 4, 2020 Wichita's Facebook page, there were five polls total and none of them asked anything about policing or the Fire Department. Stated in the budget simulation there were 16 options presented where the public could make cuts. Stated the data published by the City of Wichita shows that it is true, that the Fire Department were assessed the fewest cuts but there were four different categories of policing represented and only one of those categories, persons crime investigations fell into the top half of the 16 categories. Stated the other three, property crime, police emergency response, and traffic patrol were ranked 10th, 11th and 16th. Stated to say that this one category represents a mandate from the citizenry, is misleading and to use this data not only to not make cuts, but to instead increase the budget is unacceptable. Stated the cuts to the animal control budget at $400,000 and the library at $182,000 ranked at 5th and 6th, ahead of three-fourths of the policing options could be covered by less than 10% of the additional funding that has been given to the Police Department. Stated policing has come under increased scrutiny lately while at the same time the pandemic has created not only budget shortfalls for local governments but also a crisis among the citizens of those governments of which we are only beginning to see the effects. Stated because of these factors the proposal will not only not reallocate some of the police funding but actively increasing it without addressing these issues. Stated services that center housing needs, mental health, domestic violence, sexual assault prevention, job creation and substance abuse treatment would better serve Wichita than further funding the Police Department. Council Member Clendenin stated many of the things we have been hearing from the community for a while, we have been starting to address those things especially with the crisis intervention teams. Stated we finished our first pilot project and the second one is going now with ICT-1 which is some of the things the speaker talked about, we are finding here in Wichita as well. Stated it is encouraging that we are moving forward on some of those things but for our next budget presentation if staff could provide a compilation of things that we are doing as far as our homeless outreach and the things we are doing to fund homelessness even through grants and the Crisis Intervention Team to show citizens that we have been listening for quite some time about these things, we are doing them and increasing our spending in those areas. Stated it may not be enough for many people but we are continuing to increase those budgets and working towards some of those goals and asked staff to provide that to them for the next meeting. Donte Martin Assistant City Manager stated staff will provide that list. Mayor Whipple stated another issue identified by Mr. Chappell is the amount of money in our budget that is allocated for homelessness, is our budget an accurate reflection of that or is there other money going to helping homelessness that is not part of that budget. Sally Stang Director of Housing and Community Services stated yes we have much more money going into homelessness than is represented in the general fund budget. Stated there is only $191,000 in the general fund right now allocated towards homeless issues but in addition to that we have $246,000 from Emergency Solutions Grants that are going directly to homeless service providers in our area, we have an additional $1.5 million dollars in CARES Emergency Solutions grants, a total of $451,000 for the Housing First Program of which $191,000 is allocation from general fund. Stated we have just over one million dollars in Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing for homeless veterans and almost two million dollars in the Homeless Preference Program. Stated we have just over five million dollars for homeless services this year, which is an increase of almost two million dollars from the previous year. (Council Member Frye momentarily left the bench) Council Member Johnson stated when we present this next week, in addition to what Council Member Clendenin said, if we could identify the sources of funding and the actual dollar amounts for each  Page 16 CITY COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS AUGUST 4, 2020 program, would be beneficial for the public and also Officer Watson's program and how much is budgeted for that and what the goals are. Stated he thinks this is information that will be good for the public. Stated our refocus on spending and Council's priorities for CDBG, we talked about certain areas of town, different issues that we wanted to see funding go to and believes that was in 2018 or 2019. Stated to put that back out there to show what we are focusing on and what the Council has deemed a priority going forward. Vice Mayor Claycomb stated something else that might be helpful, we leverage our partner services in terms of the mental health, substance abuse, housing and domestic violence. Stated it might be good to highlight those partners that we work with because we provide funding that makes their funding go much further. Stated we have had comments today in terms of community policing and someone said something she thought was very appropriate that is a problem, that community policing is a position and not a culture and would like Chief Ramsay to talk about that next week and thinks that is his philosophy too is that it should be a culture and thinks it would be good for the community to hear that from him. 17) Stephanie Yeager stated she is the state representative for district 96, south Wichita. Stated she has concerns about this budget and people have spoken to a lot of her points but the one that she is concerned about and has not heard mentioned is the amount of money given to the Fire Department. Stated when we gave public input, we asked that they not be cut and sees you did your best to make sure that happened. Stated what the people of Wichita do not understand is that they are already dangerously underfunded. Stated right now we should have 651 firemen and women in the City, we don't have that. Stated they are answering medical calls, seeing an increase in calls, and thinks the lack of firemen and women is why we have policies that are also taking place that are very strict with sick leave and the City has found itself exempting the Fire Department from the Families First Corona Virus Response Act. Stated this means while they go out and answer medical calls in the middle of a pandemic, of their wives or kids get sick, they can't use that administrative leave. Stated other City employees are not exempt from this policy, which makes no sense. Stated these are our first responders and some of the best that Wichita has. Stated they are going out answering these medical calls and are going to get exposed; they deserve better, we all deserve better. 18) Juanita Ridge stated she is here to talk about the City's funding and who they have funded and who they haven't and read off a list of her services to the City of Wichita. Stated she has been a problem solver in this community and hears about all of the millions that is spent all over the City but there has not been any investment into any of the programs that she has created to help with a lot of the racial issues and societal ills that we encounter in this City. Stated we are getting ready to host the Cops versus Community Cleanup Challenge where we are working to address social issues that hasn't cost the City and the City has not valued the services that she has provided. Stated we are now talking about more police and communities like hers are over policed. Stated we invest more in buildings and prisons than we do in our citizens and it is time now to pour love into communities that have been neglected, which should be the City's role. (Mayor Whipple momentarily left the bench; Vice Mayor Claycomb in the chair) 19) (Name inaudible) stated she is one of the members for racial profiling and is here about the budget. Stated the budget needs to go back to the citizens, we are in tough times right now and some of our citizens are losing jobs and cannot get unemployment and were not eligible to get the $1,200 stimulus check due to owing child support. Stated citizens need help with bills and rent and is asking the Council to help these citizens.  Page 17 CITY COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS AUGUST 4, 2020 20) Allan Trenary stated we don't need any more money going to the police, they are adequately funded and staffed and have everything they need to do their jobs and that money could very easily cover so many other things. Stated people that have are unkind and people that have nothing are very kind and would like to see that attitude change. Stated it is time that people stop amassing these enormous amounts of money and start giving back. Stated he is praying for a change in attitude. 21) Travis Cunningham stated he is a proud American and has been watching for the last three months, our country coming apart at the seams. Stated we are a competitive City and he is a proud Wichitan and loves this City and thinks it is a great City unlike most of the people who spoke here today and thinks we have good times ahead of us. Stated COVID-19 will pass, employment will come back, industry is always going to be here, and we are a good City. Stated he is not particularly happy with the leadership we have right now, a lot of things we were promised like transparency, we need to support our Police Department. Stated he doesn't want us to be like Portland, Oregon and doesn't want our City burnt down. Stated he agrees that we need to look after our pets but doesn't think we need to spend more money on homeless people; we are a free country and thinks many of them have chosen where they want to be. Stated he disagrees with de-funding the Police Department, we need to support the police. Stated we had three days of illegal protesting in this City last weekend, they were blocking the streets and were threatening people and there were not a lot of cars jumping the curbs trying to run over these people. Stated they were trying to go another route because the streets were blocked, these are crimes and is illegal behavior. Mayor Whipple stated when it comes to protest and first amendment rights, we don't issue permits. Stated if it is a first amendment issue and a protest, then it doesn't need a permit. Travis Cunningham stated he called Century II and if you are going to have a street blockage you have to have a permit, which costs $25, if you are going to have a parade, there is a $50 parade permit. Stated they are not issuing permits at this time due to COVID. Council Member Johnson stated part of the technical issues that we are facing there is probably due to the facility being outdated, which leads to a lot of the issues to the WIFI and other technologies. Stated although there are a few homeless people who choose that; homelessness is not a choice for everyone and sometimes it is circumstantial and we may see more of that because of COVID. 23) Chris Batta stated regarding the Police Chief's community policing, he said so much of the police time has to go to engaging with the community and not going to calls. Stated to get what the Police Chief wants, is also what they want when we defund the police. Stated we don't want the police going to calls they don't need to be going to. Stated we can get mental health people there to help with mental health calls, we don't need police there with guns. Stated we don't need police with guns giving out speeding tickets or stopping someone for their taillights being out or showing up at his house to do a wellness check. Stated we need people who know how to do these jobs, police have too many hats. Stated you can only do that by funding them and you can't do that when they police take up so much of the budget. Stated we have almost 600 homeless people in Wichita, we could give them a house if they want one along with food. MOTION: Mayor Whipple moved to receive public comment on the 2021-2022 Proposed Budget and the 2021-2030 Proposed Capital Improvement Program. Motion carried 7 to 0.  Page 18 CITY COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS AUGUST 4, 2020 RECESS Mayor Whipple requested a 10 minute recess. 2.) AMENDING THE COVID-19 RESPONSE MEASURES PROJECT BONDING RESOLUTION. Attachment: Agenda Report No. V-2.doc Attachment: Resolution 20-236 Shawn Henning Director of Finance reviewed the item. (No public comments) MOTION: Mayor Whipple moved to adopt the resolutions and authorize the necessary signatures. Motion carried 7 to 0. 3.) SALE OF CITY-OWNED NATURAL GAS DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM TO KANSAS GAS SERVICE. Attachment: Agenda Report No. V-3.docx Attachment: Contract to Relocate Gas Distribution Facilities.pdf Attachment: Bill of Sale, Assignment and Assumption Agreement.pdf Attachment: Assignment and Assumption of Real Property Interests.pdf Jeff Vanzandt Law Department, reviewed the item. (No public comments) MOTION: Mayor Whipple moved to approve the sale of the gas distribution system to Kansas Gas Service and approve the necessary signatures. Motion carried 7 to 0. 4.) 2020 COMMUNITY SERVICES BLOCK GRANT – HEALTH SERVICES CONTRACT. Attachment: Agenda Report No. V-4.doc Attachment: 2020-21 Project Access Contract-Draft2.doc Sally Stang Director of Housing and Community Services, reviewed the item. (No public comments)  Page 19 CITY COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS AUGUST 4, 2020 MOTION: Mayor Whipple moved to approve the 2020 Community Services Block Grant Health Services contract with Project Access contract and authorize the necessary signatures. Motion carried 7 to 0. 5.) 2020 COMMUNITY SERVICES BLOCK GRANT CARES APPLICATION. Attachment: Agenda Report No. V-5.doc Attachment: CSBG RC Minutes 7-9-20.docx Sally Stang Director of Housing and Community Services, reviewed the item. Vice Mayor Claycomb stated on the un-allocated, will the review committee come back to decide how that is allocated once we get applications. Sally Stang Director of Housing and Community Services stated yes they will come back with recommendations. (No public comments) MOTION: Mayor Whipple moved to approve the 2020 Community Services Block Grant CARES Application funding application and authorize the necessary signatures. Motion carried 7 to 0. 6.) DESIGN CONCEPT AND FUNDING FOR EMPORIA STREET FROM DEWEY STREET TO CENTRAL AVENUE. (DISTRICTS I AND VI) Attachment: Agenda Report No. V-6.doc Attachment: Resolution 20-237 Gary Janzen Engineering Department, reviewed the item. Council Member Frye stated he has projected some traffic count increases with it being two-way; is that not a concern with the crosswalk being eliminated and having traffic coming from two directions at the arena? Stated now with it just coming from one direction, is sure there is quite a bit of jaywalking with that light there but once you have traffic coming from two directions and probably increase of traffic, is concerned that it is not going to be there. Gary Janzen Engineering Department stated the increase in traffic is going to be mostly driven by future development. Stated one of the things that typically happens when you go from one way to two way, it actually slows traffic down. Stated with the signal still being there, would think such close proximity at William and Emporia, you still create gaps in the traffic. Stated they talked to WPD and the Arena about people crossing and not using the signal and especially because of the proximity to William. Stated they looked over a period of time to see how often the push button was utilized and it was very minimal. Stated for the cost to place signals in the opposite direction, thinks it is still going to be underutilized and not worth the investment. Stated it is something we could put back in later if we find there are issues but  Page 20 CITY COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS AUGUST 4, 2020 taking in all the input we could from everyone, especially the Arena and WPD; he is still confident that this can work especially being only 160 feet from William. Council Member Frye stated the infrastructure would remain, just the poles would be gone? Gary Janzen Engineering Department stated the structure would remain so it would be fairly easy to retrofit in the future. Council Member Johnson stated rather than a light, could it be beneficial to have those flashing pedestrian lights during an event. Gary Janzen Engineering Department stated that is something they could look at. (No public comments) MOTION: Council Member Johnson moved to approve the design concept and budget, adopt the resolution and authorize the necessary signatures. Motion carried 7 to 0. 7.) GRANT APPLICATION TO THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS’ OUR TOWN GRANT PROGRAM. Attachment: Agenda Report No. V-7.docx Attachment: Fact Sheet NEA Our Town 080620 (1).pdf Attachment: The Front Porch Project Summary (1).docx Scott Wadle Director of Planning, reviewed the item. Council Member Tuttle thanked staff for doing this work and is excited to see this and thinks it is going to bring more vitality and vibrancy into our community. Council Member Johnson congratulated Scott for his new promotion. (No public comments) MOTION: Mayor Whipple moved to approve submission of the grant application, authorize proposed project staffing toward the required in-kind match contribution, and authorize the necessary signatures on the grant application. Motion carried 7 to 0. COUNCIL BUSINESS SUBMITTED BY CITY AUTHORITIES PLANNING AGENDA  Page 21 CITY COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS AUGUST 4, 2020 VI) NON-CONSENT PLANNING AGENDA 1.) RECONSIDERATION OF PLANNING CASE CON2020-00007. (DISTRICT I) Attachment: Agenda Report No. VI-1 Attachment: Memo to MAPC and City Council_CON2020-00007.pdf Attachment: Map Attachment: CON2020-07 WCC Agenda Report Final.docx Attachment: CON2020-07 Excerpt Minutes of May 2020 MAPC.docx Attachment: CON2020-07_MAPC_Staff_Report Ancillary Parking.docx Attachment: Resolution 20-238 Scott Wadle Director of Planning, stated this item was considered by you at your July 7th meeting but unfortunately, the Planning Department made a mistake and incorrectly reported that DAB I recommended denial of the application, instead recommended approval by a vote of 8 to 2. Stated the recommended action for this item is that you consider a motion for reconsideration of a specific Council rule 2.04.340(e) to allow for reconsideration of the case. Stated if you vote to reconsider the item, he can provide an overview of the case. Council Member Johnson stated he thought the motion that was made at the July 21st meeting was for this and does he need to make that motion again? Sharon Dickgrafe City Attorney stated you need to make a motion to reconsider the planning item first, staff will do a presentation and then you can vote on the planning item. Council Member Johnson stated he thought that is what he did on the 21st because we made an exception to Council policy to rehear this case for today. Sharon Dickgrafe City Attorney stated that motion got it on the agenda. MOTION: Council Member Johnson moved to reconsider this item and suspend Council Rule 2.04.340(e). Motion carried 7 to 0. Scott Wadle Director of Planning reviewed the planning item. Council Member Tuttle asked for clarification on what we are doing, are we sending this back to the Planning Commission? Sharon Dickgrafe City Attorney stated the motion needs to contain which of the three options. Mayor Whipple retracted his motion and recognize Council Member Johnson since this is in District I.  Page 22 CITY COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS AUGUST 4, 2020 Council Member Johnson stated he doesn't agree with putting a parking lot between two houses and thinks it is harmful to the neighborhood but the DAB approved it. Stated he received a few voice mails from residents who support it because that lot has been empty since 1992 and they want to see something there other than grass and what we just saw but personally does not agree but will take the advice of the DAB who is responsible for neighborhood input. MOTION: Council Member Johnson moved to adopt the findings of the MAPC and approve the requested conditional use and authorize the necessary signatures on the resolution. Motion carried 7 to 0. HOUSING AGENDA VII) NON-CONSENT HOUSING AGENDA 1.) PUBLIC HOUSING AUTHORITY 2020 PROJECT-BASED BUDGET APPROVAL. Attachment: Agenda Report No. VII-1.doc Attachment: PH Board Resolution - 52574.PDF Attachment: PH 2020 Budget Compared to 2019 Budget (7-21-2020).pdf Sally Stang Director of Housing and Community Services, reviewed the item. Vice Mayor Claycomb stated in light of our discussion on the budget today that we are going to highlight these kinds of things. Stated she knows this is CARES Act funding and not money we get every year, but to let the community know in a budget situation, these are the dollars that are going towards homelessness prevention and housing, which are things we heard about this morning. Mayor Whipple stated he had asked earlier if we could get a breakdown on the awesome things you guys are doing so that we can talk about that more and thinks the public would be interested to know more about what your Department is doing. MOTION: Mayor Whipple moved to approve the 2020 PHA project-based budget including supplemental CARES Act funding, approve the funding allocations and recommendations, adopt the related HUD resolution and authorize the necessary signatures. Motion carried 7 to 0. AIRPORT AGENDA VIII) NON-CONSENT AIRPORT AGENDA - NONE  Page 23 CITY COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS AUGUST 4, 2020 COUNCIL AGENDA IX) COUNCIL MEMBER AGENDA - OFF AGENDA ITEM Mayor Whipple stated instead of going on to the next item, would ask that we spend some time on the Council Member Agenda. Stated it was requested by Legal that we look at this item and take some action. Stated in a fund raising email it appears that the Save Century II Coalition has accused us of violating state law and "taking secretive action by no vote of the Council Members" when we were advised by Legal with the legal concerns of the petition. Stated there is a legal action taken by that group, therefore would like an update from our Legal staff. Sharon Dickgrafe City Attorney stated she recommends that you make a motion to take up an Off Agenda item before staff presents the actual item. MOTION: Mayor Whipple moved to consider an item to be placed under the Council Member Agenda. Motion carried 7 to 0. OFF AGENDA ITEM - CONCERN OF THE LEGAL ACTION THAT HAS BEEN TAKEN AGAINST OUR CITY FOR THE LEGAL ACTION WE HAVE TAKEN IN RESPONSE TO THE SAVE CENTURY II PETITION. Sharon Dickgrafe City Attorney stated Legal staff is asking that you consider an off agenda item that being a ratification of the declaratory judgment action that was filed by Legal staff on July 29th. Stated there are special circumstances which is why we are bringing this matter forward as an off agenda item. Stated the petition was filed on July 29th, Council prior to that filing had been advised by herself and well as Jennifer Magana regarding the legal issues and the petition process and how the petition process would go through either the court or placed on a ballot for question. Stated there has been a motion to dismiss file that there was not the appropriate action taken by the City Council to authorize that filing, therefore is asking you as an off agenda item, to ratify the filing of the petition that was filed on July 29th. Mayor Whipple asked if it is normal procedure to have us vote for Legal to pursue a legal response. Sharon Dickgrafe City Attorney stated historically, we have not asked for that vote to occur in a public meeting. Stated under the assumption that that is a direction from the Council to the attorney, which would be subject to the attorney-client privilege. Mayor Whipple stated he wanted to open this up as an opportunity to take this unprecedented step for the sake of transparency to talk about this and to make this motion. Council Member Clendenin stated he wants to make is clear, in our Executive Sessions and this one in particular, we do not and have not taken a vote. Stated we do not and have not taken a vote on anything secretly. Sharon Dickgrafe City Attorney stated that is true, there has not been any kind of vote regarding this particular issue to take any binding action.  Page 24 CITY COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS AUGUST 4, 2020 Council Member Clendenin stated we have those so that we can provide guidance and when the lawsuit was filed, it became public and wants to reiterate, we absolutely do not take votes as we have been accused of doing behind the scenes. Mayor Whipple stated we are publicly ratifying that there are problems legally with the language of the petition, which was admitted by Karl Peterjohn when he came here a few months ago, that he expected a court challenge of the language. Stated he doesn't think anyone should be surprised, however, given respect to the 17,000 plus Wichitans who have signed this petition; himself and Council Member Frye have been working on a way to have an election in regards to the future of Century II. Stated while he makes this motion which was confirmed earlier by Celeste Racette that she quoted "we want a vote on Century II," that was the main basis for their concern. Stated he is going to suggest in this motion that we not only ratify the action so that legal proceedings can continue but also bring on the agenda for August 18th a discussion and proposal to allow that Century II and the future of, will have a vote if something was to be planned for Century II that would involve the demolition or replacement of. MOTION: Mayor Whipple moved to ratify the filing of the declaratory judgment of action in Sedgwick County District Court by the City Attorney to determine the legality of the proposed ordinance and the validity of the petition filed with the City Clerk on July 10, 2020 by the Save Century II Committee. I further direct the City Manager to place on the August 18, 2020, a proposed policy calling for an election in the future, prior to any demolition of Century II or the former City Library. Council Member Clendenin asked legal staff if it is appropriate for us to have a conversation concerning putting something on the ballot when we have this lawsuit that we are engaged in with the petitioner. Sharon Dickgrafe City Attorney stated you would be talking about two different types of elections. Stated the City Council could on its own call for an advisory election but part of the issue with the petitions, the way it is written, is that it is asking for the City Council to call for binding elections in the future, which she does not believe is allowed by state statutory law. Mayor Whipple stated we are working with Legal to ensure that the legislation that will be presented, debated and discussed on the 18th, met the legal standard that Legal believes the current language doesn't meet. Council Member Blubaugh asked if we could get the exact language that is on the petition and have it on the screen so that everyone can read the language to see exactly what we are discussing. Council Member Frye stated he wants to clarify the Mayor's motion, the second part when you are talking about having it on our August 18th, and the proposed policy. Stated you just said election, do you mean advisory election because you missed that word. Mayor Whipple stated part of the discussion on the language that the word election doesn't say advisory election would be not appropriate. Stated a part of the negotiation of the language is if we had Century II tied to like a once cent sales tax increase for development of that whole area, that technically wouldn't be an advisory election, it would be a binding election. Stated he thinks there is still some discussion on the word election and in the future what could possibly be our options. Stated he didn't want to narrow it about that line as we are still developing the language before it is ready for prime time.  Page 25 CITY COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS AUGUST 4, 2020 Council Member Johnson thanked the Mayor and Council Member Frye and anyone else who worked on this. Stated this is a way to again show that we are committed to the public having a vote and said that from the beginning of this project. Stated there is now another opportunity to tell this group that there will be a public vote on the future of Century II and the Riverfront. Mayor Whipple stated if this were to pass, it is a result of the success of the petition. Stated we will be putting into rules what they are seeking to do, which is having a chance to vote and this will allow that to happen and hopefully avoid a large legal fight. Council Member Tuttle stated she is confused why the second statement is in there to direct the City Manager to place it on the August 18th agenda; does that have to be part of the motion? Stated we can just direct staff to put it on there and has questions as to whether it should be a proposed policy or a proposed resolution. Stated she is fearful of getting committed to anything and do we have to have the second sentence or can we pass the motion with the first sentence and then direct staff to bring it back to us on the 18th, which is cleaner. Sharon Dickgrafe City Attorney stated from a legal standpoint all Legal staff is asking is for ratification of the petition that was filed. Mayor Whipple stated if it is on the agenda it doesn't matter if it is an ordinance rule or a resolution and thinks that is part of the discussion we need to have while we hammer out the policy. Stated he has already spoke to the City Manager and wants to make it clear to the people who will be watching this. Stated he quoted a salacious email that was wrong and wants to make sure that the people who are interpreting this that we are committed to furthering the idea of getting a vote because as we ratify the advice of Legal, to go through the legal process with a petition language that the organizer admitted was flawed, out of the respect of the 17,000 folks who signed this, we recognize their right to get a vote on Century II by marking a day when they can come and talk towards our legislation. Stated that was the intent that if we put it all into one, it makes it very clear that we are trying to find a more holistic result. Vice Mayor Claycomb stated maybe we could point out in the motion where you said a proposed policy, that that is a little "p" policy. Stated it could be resolution, it could be a Council Policy depending on where we get in the next two weeks and then calling for an advisory election or calling for an election; doesn't think it matters in the motion as much because we will bring it back to discuss what we want. Stated you are trying to give as much flexibility to our discussion on the 18th as possible. Mayor Whipple stated that is correct. Stated he is asking staff to put on the calendar the discussion of whether it be policies or it could mean ordinance or resolution or Council Rules. Stated policy is roughly what we go by and is trying to keep that somewhat flexible so that we as a Council can work with not only our team and each other but also the public can come out with a satisfactory resolution. Council Member Frye stated he thinks this is fine the way it is, we do have the option to discuss this on the 18th and to revise it and make it reflect our true intent whatever that may be on the 18th. Stated it would be cleaner if it didn't have that in there but understands the Mayor's point and why you are doing it and agrees with it. Council Member Blubaugh stated he wanted us and the public to understand the difference between what was actually in the petition and what the motion is we are proposing today.  Page 26 CITY COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS AUGUST 4, 2020 Council Member Johnson stated when you look at the language on the petition, it goes much further than Century II and the public library. Stated one of the examples is when you look at our Aquatics Plan, there is no real definition here of who decides what is historical and what is not and he could make a strong argument that the McAfee pool now is historical because of who made it. Stated if that were the case then, we would have had to put a hold on the Aquatics Plan for at least that one pool and put it out for a public vote to where the citizens of Wichita would then decide whether or not we can renovate that pool and we know our pools need renovation. Stated the language here says that and would force us to do so and his issue was that went above and beyond Century II, added in the library and went above and beyond that as well. Stated that was his personal issue with this. Mayor Whipple speaking with one of the organizers, one of the reasons why they needed to create a larger net with utilizing language like all buildings of historical importance or architectural significance, instead of zoning in on Century II and the former library is because the way our system is set up, it has to be a legislative action that gets to the ballot and not an administrative action. Stated if they were to target just one or two buildings that lessens their chance of it being considered administrative if it were challenged versus legislative where it is more of a blanket policy. Stated that is one of the biggest concerns of the critics of this language is that it might be overarching, however, we are not bind to such restrictions if we do a policy from the bench and clean up the language so that there are less unintended consequences. Stated it is not the intent that we are trying to avoid which is a vote, but thinks a more technical aspects of it which is the unintended consequences of what this might have on other buildings that the City owns. Motion carried 7 to 0. X) COUNCIL MEMBER COMMENTS AND APPOINTMENTS 1.) BOARD APPOINTMENTS. Mayor Whipple appointed Ellen Abbey and reappoint Dorsha Kirksey, Darryl Kelly and Jason Gregory to the Wichita Transit Advisory Board and appointed ShaQiyla Banks to the Wichita Airport Advisory Board. MOTION: Mayor Whipple moved to approve the appointments. Motion carried 7 to 0. Council Member Tuttle reminded everyone to go out and vote today. Council Member Blubaugh stated he appreciates the Council for taking time to pause to remember Lou Schwechheimer this morning. Lou had a one of a kind enthusiasm for life just like he did for baseball. We all got to know him and thinks we are all glad that we got to know him and appreciate him sharing his passion with Wichita. Lou didn't know a stranger and touched so many lives in Wichita over the last couple of years. Prayers for his family and the whole organization and the whole City. We appreciated everything you did for us Lou.  Page 27 CITY COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS AUGUST 4, 2020 ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Mayor Whipple moved to adjourn. Motion carried 7 to 0. The meeting was adjourned at 1:27 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Karen Sublett, MMC City Clerk  Page 28 CITY COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS AUGUST 4, 2020 ATTACHMENT 1 - CONSENT AGENDA ITEMS 1 THROUGH 8 II) CITY COUNCIL CONSENT AGENDA ITEMS 1) Applications for Licenses for Cereal Malt Beverages: a.) Applications for Licenses to Retail Cereal Malt Beverages: Attachment: CMBs for August 4, 2020.docx 2) Agreements/Contracts: a.) Encroachment Agreement with Southern Star Gas Pipeline for Chalet Ridge Addition. (District II) Attachment: Agenda Report No. II-2a.doc Attachment: Agreement.pdf 3) Design Services Agreements: a.) Supplemental Design Agreement No. 1 for Improvements to Fontana 5th Addition. (District V) Attachment: Agenda Report No. II-3a.docx Attachment: SDA No. 1.pdf UNCATEGORIZED ITEMS: 4.) Neighborhood Improvements Funding. (District VI) Attachment: Agenda Report No. II-4.doc Attachment: Resolution 20-239 5.) Agreement to Respread Special Assessments: The Ranch 2nd Addition. (District II) Attachment: Agenda Report No. II-5.doc Attachment: Agreement.pdf Attachment: Ordinance 51-331 Attachment: Summary Ordinance 51-331 6.) HOME Program Housing Development Loan Program 2019 Funding Allocation, Power CDC, Inc. (District I) Attachment: Agenda Report No. II-6.doc  Page 29 CITY COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS AUGUST 4, 2020 Attachment: Power CDC 2019 CHDO Agreement.doc 7) Second Reading Ordinances: a.) Second Reading Ordinances (first read July 28, 2020) Attachment: List of Second Reading Ordinances 08-04-2020.docx II) CONSENT PLANNING AGENDA ITEMS - NONE II) CONSENT HOUSING AGENDA ITEMS - NONE II) CONSENT AIRPORT AGENDA ITEMS 8.) Transportation Security Administration, Use of Space and Cost Reimbursement, Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport. Attachment: Agenda Report No. II-8.doc Attachment: ICT Other Transaction Agreement.pdf