This week Council approved 2021 Budget Goals & Objectives and heard an update on the Exterior Grant Program which opened for the 2020 year on Monday. Check it out and see if the work your planning on your home qualifies! Read on!

This is the Prairie Village City Council meeting recap for Monday, March 2, 2020. You can see the full agenda and board packet HERE and HERE (2 parts!!).

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

Here are the highlights of this meeting:

Presentations

New Officer Swearing-In

Chief Schwartzkopf reaffirmed Officers Bui and Dittemore who, since joining PVPD, have successfully completed their field training and the police academy. They’ve each been assigned to patrol divisions.

Consent Agenda

Under the Consent Agenda, additional yearly City committee appointments were made. Here is a list of the additional appointments for 2020 since February:

• Kimberley Biagioli, Tree Board
• Jessamyn Cartwright, Arts Council
• Kathy Arthur, Civil Service Commission
• Jeff Anthony, Civil Service Commission

Thank you to Lori Sitek and Tom Brill who have served on the Civil Service Commission for 24 years and 15 years respectively, and are making room to give other Prairie Village residents an opportunity to volunteer. This is MUCH appreciated! 🙂

The annual committee volunteer application process runs from November through December, but committee openings sometimes pop up throughout the year, so if you’re interested, go ahead and fill out the PDF form HERE and email it to our City Clerk for the file!

ALSO – All City Committees are open to public viewing and participation. Check the Upcoming Events below for the next meeting.

Committee Reports

Planning Commission

Consider Ordinance 2414 to rezone 4820 W. 75th Street and the vacant lot directly to the east from R-1A (single-family) to C-0 (office).

Sharp Law Firm (currently of 5301 W 75th St, Prairie Village, KS 66208) has acquired two residential parcels from Prairie Baptist Church, and would like to build a small commercial building on a single combined and rezoned parcel. They came before City Council this week to present their project as approved and recommended by the Planning Commission and to illustrate how they have worked with the neighbor on the adjoining parcel to the west to ease their concerns. There was a good faith effort to make compromises, and follow the intent of Village Vision.

Council approved the rezoning 11-2 (the mayor has an original vote for rezoning, not just as a tie-breaker). Councilmembers J. Nelson and Selders voted against. It’s worth noting that at least one of the negating comments against the rezoning was in regard to the aesthetics of the architecture, and that was NOT within the purview of Council’s consideration.

Consider Ordinance 2415 to rezone the Public Works facility from R1A, R-3, and RP-4 to RP-1A.

This from the Agenda Packet says it best: “The Public Works campus was never platted and currently sits on several different lots, all with different zoning districts. During the process of designing the new facility, this issue was discovered as we tried to determine what the applicable setbacks for the facility would be. While the City is not technically required to go through this process like private property owners, staff felt it was important to follow the standard process and clean the property records up for this facility.“

Council approved the rezoning 13-0.

Arts Committee

I presented our Arts Committee update:

• The Arts Committee is working on their 2021 Budget to present to the Council in the coming weeks. 
• We are excited to welcome new member Jessamyn Cartwright. She will be joining Nancy Kalikow Maxwell and Sherrod Taylor, who were appointed at our last City Council meeting, as the newest members. Both Nancy and Jessamyn were in attendance, so Mayor asked them to stand up and be recognized.
• The R.G. Endres Gallery space will be switched out on Saturday, so these are the final days to see the amazing photographic artwork of Wendy Delzeit, Ken Sabatini, and Lauran Jackson. 
• Beginning Monday, you can see the artwork of Hasna Sal, Katherine Bello, Emily Johnson, and Lori Stanziola, and the Artists Reception will be Friday, March 13th.

Mayor’s Report

• Home appraisals came out and the average across Prairie Village was about 8%.
• Staff and Commissioner Fast are working on a community forum with Beau Boisvert, the new County Appraiser, to introduce him to the community and allow residents to ask questions and learn more about the appraisers office.
• A Tax Lid repeal passed the senate and it requires notification any time a change is made to the tax rate. We’ll see if it makes it all the way through.
• The bill on preemption of plastic bag bans made it through the turnaround, so it’s still alive.
• 2020 Fitness will have its soft opening on Friday.
• Council and Staff paintings of the snow-covered Meadowbrook Park landscape, from our Feb. 15th work session, are now hanging at City Hall for your viewing pleasure, and you can VOTE on your favorite!
• National League of Cities conference is this coming week, and Mayor, Jamie Robichaud, Piper Reimer, Inga Selders, and I will be attending.
• Captain Dan Stewart will be retiring after 23 years, and Mayor and Council thanked him for his service.

Staff Reports

Police Department

Coffee with a Cop in conjunction with the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office will be Friday, March 13 from 7 – 9 am at Starbucks in Prairie Village Shops.

Also, the major accident study for 2019 has been published, and the accidents along Mission Road from 71st all the way to 83rd have increased. See map below.

PVPD will be devoting additional resources to enforcement along this route in an effort to educate and reduce the accidents.

Yes, MOST of them can be attributed to “inattentiveness” – i.e. Texting While Driving!

Administration

Jamie Robichaud, Deputy City Administrator, let us know that that on the first day of the 2020 opening, the Exterior Grant Program had already received 24 applications, and even if all of those are approved, there is still budget (because it was raised for 2020!) to allow for 4-5 more applications.

Doing some work on your home this summer? See if it qualifies for a grant HERE.

Also, watch for a public input meeting around the 2nd week of April for Village Vision 2.0. More info to come.

Wes Jordan, City Administrator, let us know that all NEJC municipalities have been, and will be for the foreseeable future, in contact with the County in regards to Coronavirus Disease 2019/COVID-19. Please refer to KDHE, JoCoDHE, and/or the CDC for official information and recommendations.

New Business

Harmon Park Skate Park Construction Schedule

Council approved an amendment for the final design documentation of the Skate Park, and updated us that the construction will start in March 2021, so that it doesn’t run into JazzFest 2020 this year.

There is also a plan to have a memorial to Jake Shepard. I asked who Jake was, and I learned that Jake was the young PV resident who championed the skate park back in 2001. The park as it is today was completed on June 7th, 2005, Jake’s 17th birthday. Unfortunately, Jake died March 5, 2003, two years before, from cancer. The park is called informally, Jake’s Park.

Online Municipal Code Hosting Services

Council approved an agreement with MuniCode to house our municipal code to make it easier to search, update, and more. Several other local governments use this service, including Johnson County. Check a few out HERE to see how it works.

Council Committee of the Whole

2021 Budget Goals & Objectives

Lisa Santa Maria, Finance Director, and Wes presented the 2021 Budget Goals & Objectives. Council approved the document as well as the addition of ‘Environmental Sustainability” to Budget Goals.

Meadowbrook Fireworks Display

Council discussed using future transient guest taxes from the Meadowbrook Inn to fund a fireworks display in coordination with VanTrust at Meadowbrook Park. The first $25,000 from this tax HAS to be used for some type of community event or program.

There were (mostly) good arguments on both sides of this surprisingly divisive idea. Mayor Mikkelson had to break a tie to approve the event concept and allocation in funds. Now Staff will work to secure a pyro-tech quickly to ensure the event could even be scheduled on July 3, 2020. Staff will return for final Council contract approval and a more comprehensive report of event details & logistics. However, ALL of this has to be approved by the JCPRD Board of Directors before it can happen. I’ll keep you posted!

Upcoming Events

• March 6th – Coffee and Conversations in Ward 3, 7:00 – 9:00 a.m. at Starbucks in Prairie Village Shops
• March 11th – Arts Council Meeting, MPR 5:30 – OPEN TO PUBLIC
• March 11th – Parks & Rec Committee Meeting, Chambers 6:30 – ALSO OPEN TO PUBLIC
• March 13th – Artists’ Reception with the Prairie Village Arts Council
• March 16th – City Council Meeting, 6:00 p.m. CANCELLED
• March 25th – Environmental Committee, MPR 5:30 – OPEN TO PUBLIC
• March 31st – JazzFest Committee, MPR 5:30 – PLEASE JOIN! 🙂

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Thanks for reading to the end! 😉 Have a great weekend!