City Council Meetings

Page 1 CITY COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS AUGUST 5, 2021 MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL Wichita, Kansas, August 5, 2021 Thursday, 06:30 PM OPENING OF SPECIAL MEETING The City Council met in regular session with Brandon Johnson, Jeff Blubaugh, Becky Tuttle, Bryan Frye, Jared Cerullo, and Cindy Claycomb. Absent: Brandon Whipple. Staff Members Present: Bob Layton, City Manager, Jennifer Magana, City Attorney, and Karen Sublett, City Clerk. Vice Mayor Johnson called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. VI) Consideration of the Business in the Order Embraced in the Call for the Meeting 1.) 2022 ANNUAL OPERATING BUDGET AND 2022-2031 CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM. Attachment: Agenda Report No. VI-1.docx Elizabeth Goltry, Finance Department, presented the item. (Mayor Whipple arrived at 6:33 p.m. and took his place at the bench) Mayor Whipple opened the meeting up for public comments. 1) Donna Wirth stated it appears that this proposed operating budget lacks the controversy that I have seen in prior budgets. Stated there is no one here protesting the defunding of City Arts or Cowtown, no library branches being closed, no fire trucks or crews being eliminated and no swimming pools being permanently closed. Stated I believe the American Rescue Plan Dollars (ARPA) are a huge reason why. Stated after reviewing the City's operating budget, I believe there are still reasons that this budget is problematic. Stated the budget document says it is crucial to recognize that the exhaustion of ARPA funds expected in 2024, is expected to renew general fund challenges beginning in 2025, thus a structurally imbalanced general fund. Stated then one has to take note that this proposed budget has actually reduced funding from some departments in operations even though the budget is "based initially on providing complete funding for budgeted activities and positions, a shrinkage adjustment is applied to several general fund departments." Stated certain departments have been given budget reductions that they have to fulfill. Stated shrinkage or budget reductions are to occur in the following departments totaling $8.2 million dollars: Cultural Arts, Park & Recreation, Library, Police, Public Utilities and services and other. Stated new debt services are increasing by $15 million dollars in 2023, temporary notes are increasing by $18 million dollars in 2022 and total expenditures exceed total revenues by $20 million dollars in 2022; that is a budgeted loss. Stated there is an $18 million dollar drop in the fund balance to only $2.1 million dollars in 2022 and only $1.5 million dollars in2023. Stated to me these figures are problematic. Stated  Page 2 CITY COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS AUGUST 5, 2021 the economic development fund is for tracking industrial revenue bond fees and property management. Stated it is showing a continuing operating loss and the statement made is that a higher level property sales would impact the fund balance favorably, so will we be seeing more taxpayer-owned property sold and will we see our properties sold at less than market value. Stated there are still problems with some TIF districts, which has a bearing on problems with the debt service fund. Stated there are a combination of operating losses, arears and deficits and debt payments and the potential need to repay millions to developers. Stated I ask that each of you pose the questions to staff to ascertain how they intend to address all of the unusual fluctuations in certain budgets and funds and ask questions about a large number of those fluctuations in areas only called other. Bob Layton City Manager stated there are two issues that Ms. Wirth talked about that come up frequently and wouldn't mind having staff respond. Stated one is the concept of shrinkage and what that means and how we refine that over the years and the second has to do with debt. Mark Manning, Director of Finance stated he will explain shrinkage. Stated she quoted the budget accurately, we do include shrinkage in the City budget much like the state of Kansas does. Stated shrinkage is an amount that reflects the fact that our positions are never 100% filled. Stated it can occur naturally whenever we have turnover and sometimes when we have turnover we hire people with lower wages than what the incumbent made particularly if they retire if they are a senior employee. Stated it is common to have shrinkage in budgets, the question is, is the shrinkage the appropriate level or is it too high. Stated is shrinkage gets too high it can sometimes force us to make decisions and ration the hiring of new employees but as was pointed out during the presentation, we are using ARPA funding in the budget in order to not have shrinkage at an onerous level, so we do not think the amounts in the budget will restrict our hiring of most vacant positions. Stated regarding debt, stated what she said is technically accurate but what she is missing is the nuance of how we budget the debt service fund particularly based on state statute. Stated we are required by the State of Kansas to appropriate almost all of our funds, which means that we have to budget all our funds, we cannot keep large balances in our funds. Stated that has some advantages, it provides the City Council and staff flexibility. Stated in the debt service fund payment for temporary notes basically doubles, that does not mean we are going to spend that amount of dollars in temporary notes in 2022; it means we have the flexibility to do that if that is the right thing to do at the time. Stated that is highly unlikely to happen but we have to do that in order to appropriate the fund balance based on the way the state budget laws work. Stated maybe a better representation of the debt service fund would be in the CIP and in the CIP we do a 10 year Performa for the debt service fund. Bob Layton, City Manager stated I believe we are using more cash in terms of capital projects. Mark Manning, Director of Finance stated yes, we typically aim for about 50/50 on debt and cash for the CIP but we are in a pretty good period right now and next Tuesday you are going to be asked to approve our next bond sale and you may notice in that resolution that the GO portion will be only for special assessments, in other words, we do not believe that we need to issue any GO debt this fall, which means that we are using our debt service fund cash to cover our obligations. 2) Robert Fenny stated I am a brand new Wichitan and lives in the Delano area and came from California. Stated I was involved in a federal program that I think the proceeds from this federal program would be something very interesting to Wichita. Stated he and his partner formed a business around a software product, a human performance technology that is used for businesses. Stated we built this project and product out of a federal initiative that I spent five years in clinical trials on. Stated we just took an office in Groover Labs in downtown and I get to talk to entrepreneurs all day long. Stated we took a tour of WSU and I listened and heard a lot of the same thing, there is something that has come up for me that I  Page 3 CITY COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS AUGUST 5, 2021 hear is missing and I don't think it is unique to Wichita but thinks it relates to the federal trials we went through with what might be interesting to Wichita. Stated what I see is missing is robust reliable data on what citizens really care about here and how connected they are or are not with City initiatives. Stated what the federal government did, it asked me and my partner to build a technology and we used grant money of a few million dollars to build an app to help citizens connect more effectively with government- backed institutions where there is a disconnect that often happens and sometimes a distrust. Stated what he would like to propose to Wichita is turning the data around to the people to see what their neighbors are doing. Stated they didn't empower the people to be able to take actions based on what they cared about or the other kinds of associations and groups that may support people to see that data. Stated my proposition is that there be a fund allocated for one million dollars to engage up to 20,000 Wichitans spread across various zip codes and districts so that it is representative for one year and collect that data and then play back to them the data in heat maps. Vice Mayor Johnson asked if your proposition of a million dollars come out of the community investments that we proposed. Robert Fenny stated I assume that it would be out of the community buckets and assumes that would be the way to do it. Stated we are in a period of recovery. 3) Virginia Merriman stated it appears on page 51, it says that 25% of my City's money is going to pay down debt and one probable way the City has decided to do that is to reduce services. Stated after looking at the shrinkage rates general fund deposits departments reports as published in the budget, I was concerned by the numbers and the departments. Stated those numbers and departments would indicate that the budget would be reduced, so money is taken away from for example the Cultural Arts and Park & Recreation almost $800,000; the Library almost one million; Police over three million; Public Works & Utilities over one million and other, almost two million. Stated I wish somebody would tell us what that other department is. Stated with those expected reductions, what does that look like for me and every other citizen in Wichita and why would you do that. Stated citizens want our city government to improve City service, not take it away and why are you shrinking the general fund when you are getting more in property taxes from us. Stated our property assessments keep going up, 30% of our property taxes are going to the debt services fund; what is the debt, am I paying for others mistakes or benefits? Stated why are the debt service fund expenses going to $93 million in 2022 from $70 million in 2021. Stated what are you planning to build, that is our money, we should have a say so and we should know what you intend to do because clearly you know; you have it budgeted and asked City Manager Layton how he can sign off on a budget that states the City is in compliance with administrative regulations 1.2 requiring review of large projects by an internal auditor when the City of Wichita does not have an internal auditor. Mayor Whipple stated we did reduce services quite a bit last year, we had to cut million from our budget just so it would balance giving the projects of COVID just like every other city. Stated my understanding is we aren't reducing services this year with this budget, we are actually increasing services that we had to cut last year and asked the City Manager to address that and to talk a little bit about the debt services. Bob Layton, City Manager stated the issues were addressed by the Finance Director regarding the speaker's comments. Stated what was just referenced had to do with the shrinkage in terms of reductions and budgets. Stated shrinkage reflects the period of time it takes to fill positions so we look at what happens in year in and year out and it accurately reflects a kind of savings that is in the budget because of staff turnover. Stated we have worked extremely hard in the last two years to make those realistic numbers so that we aren't to a point where we are reducing services and that was a concern to some of the department directors during the budget process. Stated ARPA has allowed us to be able to bolster our  Page 4 CITY COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS AUGUST 5, 2021 services to bring back some service levels that were not listed back in 2019. Stated in terms of debt, the Finance Director just addressed that. Mayor Whipple stated two speakers commented that we have either cut eight million or one million from the Police budget, my understanding is we are hiring two new community support specialists, we are completing phase 2 of the staffing study and we are adding four more proposed police stations so they can be modernized and more functional and quite a few other things and asked if that is somewhere else in the budget. Elizabeth Goltry, Finance Department stated I think her concern with regard to Police funding is related to the table about shrinkage that is on page 40 of the budget. Stated we budget shrinkage related to turnover, it is something that we track based on prior year data to look at how much turnover there is in departments so the shrinkage for the Police Department is $3.3 million in 2022 and $3.3 million in 2023. Stated you have to keep in mind the general fund budget for the Police Department is around $100 million dollars. Stated people resign or retire, which is a typical pattern in the Police Department and then they recruit employees to fill positions in a recruit class so there is a gap between those retirements and a completion of a recruit class and that is where the shrinkage comes in to the Police Department, it is not intentionally holding positions vacant. Bob Layton, City Manager stated even with shrinkage built into the Police budget, there is an increase from the 2021 adopted of $99 million and is proposed to go up to $102 million. 4) Danielle Johnson stated I stand before you today requesting that more money be allocated to affordable housing. Stated the addition of ARPA funding provides a real opportunity to grow affordable housing ultimately growing home ownership and repair programming. Stated we want to see and understand the importance of insuring that folks are not living in substandard housing within our community. Stated I have the pleasure of serving as the new director for Habitat for Humanity whose mission is to build homes, communities and hope. Stated our vision is that everyone has a decent place to live and thinks this is something we can easily wrap our minds around. Stated right here in Wichita, Habitat has been engaged in this mission since 1986 and because of this work, about 288 families have engaged in financial literacy, become home owners and they are leading in combating health disparities growing and engaging communities and ultimately the growth of economic development. Stated 621 children have and continue to grow up in safe and affordable housing and as of 2020, $199,802 has been generated in property taxes paid by Wichita Habitat homeowners. Stated there is no better example of this than the Rock the Block area that sits right in the heart of Ninth, Grove, 13th and Hillside. Stated each of you should have a handout in front of you that is our redlining map, I'm sure many of you are aware of the redlining that happened right here in our own community. Stated we are the third largest redline city in the United States and what we know is those places have historically and traditionally experienced divestment combatted by a lack of opportunity and a lack of wealth or generational wealth, growing health disparities and most recently highlighted by the new CEO of Kansas Health Foundation, a decline in lifespan. Stated we are seeing access to affordable housing being a priority and to invest in our people and community will make Wichita a better city. Stated the additional funding that you are receiving, ARPA if done right can rebuild and strengthen the foundation of building affordable housing as well as repairing housing, let's be intentional and work to chip away at the growing gaps that we have seen exposed during this COVID-19 timeframe from redlining to today we know we have an opportunity to truly invest every dime into something that many folks are striving to have, which is affordable housing. Council Member Blubaugh stated congratulations on your new position and asked Ms. Johnson to give him the boundaries of the areas that you are targeting right now.  Page 5 CITY COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS AUGUST 5, 2021 Danielle Johnson stated right now we are continuing to build the Rock the Block area, which is 9th Street, Grove, Hillside and 13th Street but we also have the opportunities to look at other spaces to develop hopefully with land banks. Council Member Blubaugh stated I agree there is a lot of substandard housing in Wichita that needs a lot of attention and asked if anything south of Kellogg is being targeted. Danielle Johnson stated we would like to and will wait to see what land bank is going to provide. Council Member Blubaugh stated he would be glad to work with you on that. Mayor Whipple stated I believe the last major build was in my zip code in south Wichita in District 3, which was great to watch prosper from when it was being built to where it is today and we hope to incorporate your organization as we look towards finding solutions for affordable housing. Council Member Cerullo asked the speaker if she is familiar with the Stewarts Village Project. Danielle Johnson stated yes. Council Member Cerullo asked if that is a Habitat for Humanity project. Danielle Johnson stated yes and that final house was actually built last year. 5) Laticia Klingerman stated we actually live in Stewart Village through Habitat. Stated she is here to advocate that ARPA funds be allocated to support affordable housing and knows what it has done for our family. Stated prior to having a Habitat home, my family and I moved frequently, we often lived in crowded unsafe conditions, the rent was high and it just continued to get higher. Stated this all changed when we purchased our home in 2012 after partnering with Habitat and along with building our home we also learned many skills that have proven very beneficial over the years. Stated one of the things that was extremely important was the stability it provided for my children as well as myself. 6) Jane Byrnes stated I am a fan of active transportation. Stated it is safer to be inside a car than outside a car and I joined the third of Wichitans who don't have a car or are not in a car, which is children, seniors, folks who live downtown, the disabled and low income. Stated these people are at risk. Stated KDOT calculates the cost of serious injuries at a quarter of a million dollars and we need to be aware that folks outside of cars are at great risk. 7) Ann Patterson stated I currently serve on the board of Wichita Habitat for Humanity and our view of a safe and affordable place to live serves as a basis for a stable economy and community. Stated as City Council Members in charge of allocating the COVID ARPA dollars, you are in a unique position to deeply affect lives, housing especially in qualified census tracks is eligible for ARPA dollars at per interim rule on page 33 and 39. Stated as a member of Habitat, I have visited homes in the Wichita community that were in very poor condition. Stated reaching the goal of home ownership transforms lives. Stated Habitat not only transforms lives but it also transforms neighborhoods such as Rock the Block. Stated we urge you to work with us to develop programs that will increase affordable home ownership in Wichita.  Page 6 CITY COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS AUGUST 5, 2021 8) Brent Barkley stated after 24 years gone from Wichita, I've seen a lot out there in the big cities and is here to talk about the small to medium size business entrepreneurial block of the budget representing entrepreneurs and startups. Stated I believe that Wichita will not be able to fully innovate in the area of entrepreneurialism if it doesn't take on and embrace very quickly crowd funding. Stated equity crowd funding is a law that Security and Exchange Commission passed that allows the masses of people to invest small amounts into startup, non-public companies. Stated it democratizes investments and allows average people to actually have deal flow with startups but now we can be right there on the cusp of startups. Stated I think this is important for the City and the people to help us to activate this for the startups and it is really going to be a game changer and I'm proposing out of the budget, a million dollars that will be used to fund the ICT fund, which will allow the people to come together to a diversified port folium to invest in various startups. Stated with that million dollars we will be able to attract 10,000 crowdies of people and businesses at about $200 an average investment. Stated you could have 40 startups that you can get into the crowd and expose it to America and you can do it twice a year and at an eight to 10 percent rate, you are looking at maybe eight to 10 successful companies and now we just made a lot of wealth for people. Stated that is how we return the money back to the City with interest. Stated there are currently no deals here in Kansas and looks forward to working with you. (Council Member Blubaugh momentarily left the bench) 9) Chris Stark 720 South Hiram stated the ARPA can do a lot of great things for our district and the City. Stated there are a lot of areas in District 4 that are in need of help, we have no community center, no neighborhood city hall, we have sidewalk issues and lack of access for pedestrians and bicyclists and thinks this is something that can really help us on my side of town. 10) Kathy Leffler stated I work for Habitat for Humanity and is here today to request that the ARPA funds be allocated to support quality affordable housing by funding the new land bank. Stated some of the reasons for a shortage of affordable housing here is our City has an aging housing stock, the cost of lumber has skyrocketed, materials and labor costs coupled with low property values make it impossible to build a new single family home for what it will be appraised. Stated we can now add to this that the housing sales boom is going up and has raised housing prices here to something that we have never seen before. Stated the current housing inventory for entry level homeowners is non-existent, they are priced out of our market. Stated studies show when you have a home that is affordable and safe you are healthier, financially independent, your children do better in school, you are able to save money for emergencies, you can afford a reliable car and get to work and you create a community that has a support network. Stated affordable housing is also good for our City, it's a huge draw when you are working to attract new businesses. Stated I am asking today that the ARPA funds be used to fund the land bank that came out of the Places for People. Council Member Blubaugh asked the Manager if we have any kind of heat map or some kind of measurement that measures substandard housing, nuisance cases inside the 235 ring; what other kind of tools do we have to identify target areas. Bob Layton, City Manager stated we do have significant data regarding housing stock but is not sure of what we have in terms of nuisance cases. Stated as part of Places for People we looked at housing conditions and can provide that data. 11) Allan Trenary stated he is a member of the north Riverside neighborhood association. Stated I came here from Colorado to look after my mother who has emphysema, COPD from smoking, I've died two times due to drinking too much alcohol and is dismayed at the issue of money to do things with  Page 7 CITY COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS AUGUST 5, 2021 government while medical cannabis is illegal in Kansas but alcohol and cigarettes are legal. Stated I hope we can come to a place where we can stop spending money putting people in jail over something that is non-toxic. 12) (no name given) stated he is concerned about District 1, we have no grocery stores, gas stations, or laundry mats and I was told that there was some spare change that came from the selling of the Hyatt Hotel and asked why not use that money to better improve our community by putting some of those amenities that we need there. Stated we have plenty of police, we've got that covered but we want the basic human needs that everybody else has. Stated between 9th Street and 25th Street, you can forget it and that is sad because I thought that everybody living in a diverse City like Wichita should have those basic human needs provided for them. Stated my question is, when are we going to get something and doesn't want to wait until 2031 to get a grocery store, let's do something sooner than that. Vice Mayor Johnson stated there are actually several laundry mats in District 1 when you look at 21st and 17th streets. Stated he understands the comments about gas stations although there are a couple on 21st Street and one at 13th and Oliver. Stated we could probably use another one but the main focus that I hear from the community is around grocery stores. Stated there is a lot in the works and takes it your comments are that we should use some of the community investment dollars for grocery opportunities. Stated there have been several conversations some in the news and some not where we are working with local entrepreneurs and non-profits and those conversations are ongoing. Stated what we are looking for is funding opportunities that will help a plan that is real and that will be sustained so that it is not a onetime investment and in addition we are looking at what the ground work is that we can lay for the future. Stated as we do a both and approach some investment now to try and solve some of that issue and laying a ground work for federal funding that might be available in 2022 through FDA or EDA and going forward but plans have to be in place for that long term thing. Stated right now we have had several conversations with state level officials, our City Manager joined us for that, there is also the Kansas Healthy Foods initiative which is working with one of the folks right now to try to get them funding. Stated there are also some stipulations around what ARPA funding can do and we will be having a meeting tomorrow with another City to see what they are doing. Stated we are trying to learn everything we can right now to make an impact but all of those who are looking at opening a store, I have been trying to reach out and talk to them. Stated one of the issues we found with the property at 13th and Grove is that we can't get a response from the property owner and many people think that the company that closed there owns it and they don't, they were leasing. Stated the property owner has not responded to any of our inquiries to see if there is someone else that can go in there and there are multiple people who are interested right now going in that space. Stated grocery stores is definitely something I am looking at in District 1 and many of my colleagues are also interested in trying to help with that, there is no easy solution right now. Council Member Tuttle stated through the work of the Health and Wellness Coalition of Wichita and the Food Policy Committee, Vice Mayor and I have been working on this for many years and we have presented to the City Council and the Sedgwick County Commission of a 10-year master food plan, thinking long-term and about sustainability and would be happy to chat more with the speaker or have a meeting with him. (Mayor Whipple momentarily left the bench; Vice Mayor Johnson in the chair) Council Member Claycomb thanked everyone for being here this evening and appreciates all of the comments we received. Stated we hold these evening meetings so that people that can't come during the day time, have the opportunity to come in the evening, thank you for taking advantage of it.  Page 8 CITY COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS AUGUST 5, 2021 Vice Mayor Johnson thank you all for being here and speaking to us, we have heard over the years that the community would like to have an evening meeting and appreciates all of you who showed up. Stated your input was valuable and we all took lots of notes. Mayor Whipple thanked the Vice Mayor for spearheading us coming together and having an evening meeting so people can join and provide feedback. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Mayor Whipple moved to adjourn. Motion passed 7 to 0. The meeting was adjourned at 8:11 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Karen Sublett, MMC City Clerk