This is the Prairie Village City Council meeting recap for Tuesday, January 21, 2020. You can see the full agenda and board packet HERE.

Council members present at roll call: Herring, J. Nelson, Selders, R. Nelson, Limbird, Myers, Reimer, Runion, McFadden, Graves, and Gallagher.

Councilmember Poling arrived before the presentation portion of the meeting.

Here are the highlights of this meeting:

Presentations

Little Government Relations

Dr. Stuart J. Little gave a brief presentation about the services his firm, Little Government Relations, can offer to the City of Prairie Village for full-time lobbying in Topeka on issues important to Prairie Village as a consortium with other NEJC municipalities and individually. He currently works for Merriam, Kansas as well.

Committee Reports

Civic (Community) Center Ad Hoc Committee

Councilwoman Myers shared that the survey results are now public and available on the City website HERE.

There will be a special meeting to discuss the results next week.

Date: 01/27/2020 6:00 PM – 11:00 PM
Location: Meadowbrook Clubhouse
9100 Nall Avenue
Prairie Village, Kansas 66208

This meeting is open to all interested parties.

Parks & Recreation Committee

Courtney McFadden, Ward 5 and the new Chair of the Parks & Rec Committee, shared that the VillageFest committee will begin meeting soon and that they are still looking for volunteers!

Also, Dennis Patton, Master Gardener and Horticultural Agent for the K-State Research and Extension, gave a presentation to Parks & Rec on the plantings at Wassmer Park, the Master Gardener program, and future demonstrations.

Mayor’s Report

• The first Prairie Village Legislative Forum was a resounding success! Excellent Q&A with Becky Fast, BOCC; Ed Eilert, BOCC Chair; Stephanie Clayton, House Rep; and Jerry Stogsdill, House Rep.
• OsteoStrong in Prairie Village had a grand opening attended by Mayor and others.
• Major Roberson was recognized at the NAACP Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dinner and presented with the Law Enforcement Award.
• Coffee with a Cop will be Friday!

Staff Reports

Administration

Keith Bredehoeft, Public Works Director, reminded Council that the third and final Skate Park community forum would be Wednesday so that residents and area skaters could give feedback on the latest plans to inform the final design.

He also informed us that the neighborhood meeting regarding rezoning on Somerset for zoning clean-up around the new Public Works facilities was occurring Wednesday as well. Melissa Prenger would be leading that meeting while Keith is at the Skate Park forum.

Lisa Santa Maria, Finance Director, informed Council that just that day the City had received the GFOA Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting for 2018.

Wes Jordan, City Administrator, also recognized Major Roberson’s NAACP award and commended him on a great speech and representing Prairie Village well.

New Business

There was no New Business on the agenda, but Councilman Runion used this opportunity to ask and have confirmed that there would be an opportunity for retail/business owners in Prairie Village to give input on the proposed ban of single-use plastics that will be before Council in February.

Council Committee of the Whole

Discussion of Repeal of Breed Specific Legislation

During Public Participation, meeting attendees (residents AND non-residents alike) were given opportunity to speak for or against this discussion item. Due to the large amount of signees, twenty-six, each speaker was limited to three minutes. For Ward 3, there were at least four residents in attendance. Only one spoke at the podium – supporting repeal. Two speakers total were anti-repeal (pro-BSL); the other 24 were pro-repeal (anti-BSL).

After public participation, Councilwoman Nelson gave a 40-slide presentation (see pg. 166 of the Council packet) which she read to Council and attendees in addition to providing 96 pages of documentation in the packet for the pro-repeal position (begins on pg. 59). Councilwoman Myers also included about 10 pages of anti-repeal information in the packet (see pg. 155).

After discussion by councilmembers, the motion to repeal section 2-105 of the ordinance banning “pit bulls” was passed out of committee 9-3. Councilmembers Myers, Runion, & McFadden voted in the negative, and the remaining members in the affirmative. The topic will be on a February agenda for the City Council meeting and a final vote.

Exterior Grant Report & 2020 Consideration

Jamie Robichaud, Deputy City Administrator, reintroduced the recommendation to increase the Exterior Grant Fund to $68,000.00 for 2020, as well as three options for how to move forward with the program this year.

Ultimately, Council voted unanimously to go with the staff recommendation of Option 1: Keep the Grant program as is for now (with the increased dollar amount above), and start conversations about a new program specific to help residents who want to make environmentally conscious upgrades to their homes.

Upcoming Events

• January 23rd – Growing Days Ribbon Cutting
• January 24th – Coffee with a Cop, 7:00 a.m.
• January 27th – Civic Center Survey Results Special Meeting, 6:00 – 11:00 p.m.
• February 3rd – City Council Meeting, 6:00 p.m.
• February 7th – Coffee and Conversations in Ward 3, 7:00 – 9:00 a.m.

👋

That’s it! But mark your calendars for the first Friday in February from 7:00 am to 9:00 am, and for every month throughout 2020! My fellow Ward 3 council member, Tucker Poling, and I are trying something knew and will be having “Coffee and Conversations” so you can chat with us live and in person as your schedule allows. The first one is February 7th at Starbucks in Prairie Village Shops. Looking forward to seeing you!

Have a great weekend!