The audit report summarizes matters that need to be brought forward. PV received an “unmodified accounting opinion” which is the best opinion you can receive as a city. For more details, see the link to the agenda packet below.

Committee Reports

VillageFest Committee

VillageFest and Independence Day are in less than a week and a half. See your Village Voice newsletter which arrived in your mailbox last week for more details.

Diversity Committee

The Diversity Committee met last week to discuss the J.C. Nichols racial restrictions memorial plaque. They plan to collaborate with PV Arts Council and the Parks & Recreation committee on this endeavor. Marianne Noll with the PV Foundation joined the Diversity Committee meeting to talk about the Mayor’s Tree Lighting event and how to make it more inclusive, and the committee also discussed how to be involved in Jazzfest 2021. They hope to have an implicit bias training for staff and council recommendation soon. Lastly, Chief Roberson is pulling info on PV traffic stops to share with the committee for discussion.

Arts Council

First annual Prairie Village Art Walk! These photos don’t show just how incredibly hot it was on our rain-out date for the PVAW Kickoff on June 18th. It went over 100 for sure! But the skies were blue, people were happy, and we got to see faces live and in person that we hadn’t seen in well over a year!

We hope you’ll check out the Prairie Village Art Walk this summer!

Thank you to Meghan Buum, Assistant City Administrator, who pulled everything together for the ribbon-cutting with the donor, the sculptor, tents, water, and more! We definitely couldn’t have done it without her.

EXTRA: Native Garden Tour Invitation!

My Ward 3 neighbors on 71st Terrace, Sarah and Jayme, are really passionate about native gardening, and they want to share their new native garden with you!

“We feel strongly about native plants and how they attract and sustain so many species of birds, butterflies, and bees, many that are endangered. Native plants rapidly become self-sustaining, unlike lawns that necessitate weed-killers, insecticides, fertilizers, mowing and watering. Even a modest conversion of lawn to native plants would have a considerable impact on our local fauna and also on our water quality (all those noxious chemicals end up there, after all).
“We’d like to host a neighborhood (or the entire Village!) garden visit, providing information on native plants and with several native plant experts to provide advice and information.”
Sarah & Jayme

Please join Sarah and Jayme:
Sunday June 27th
2:00 PM
2107 W 71st Terrace, PVKS

I hope to see you there! 😊

Mayor’s report

COVID update
- 47.6% of JoCo resident 12+ are fully vaxed; in PV it’s over 50%
- % positives, deaths, hospitalizations very low…
- Still trying to get to at least 70%
- Easy access to all who want it.
ARPA (COVID-relief) funding – The State of Kansas has now confirmed that ONLY cities will get ARPA funding, not townships who were being considered as of two weeks ago (townships generally do not provide the services that PV and other “cities” provide – many don’t even have staff). If townships had been included, that would have cut PV’s apportionment by ~35%. Our lobbyist, Stuart Little, and others around NEJoCo went into action to avert that happening, and we are thankful to them.
Climate Action KC will be at the First Suburbs meeting with MARC on 7/16 for a presentation.
Our next City Council meeting is NOT 7/5. We will meet Tuesday 7/6 instead due to the Independence Day observation on Monday.

Staff Reports

Wes Jordan, City Administrator

Wes’s topics for future Council meetings

Climate Action KC – 8/2, in person or moved later
Legal review of marijuana enforcement – 7/6
Court diversion costs same night – 7/6
UCS Housing Study and tool kit presentation – 7/19

Keith Bredehoeft, Director of Public Works

Keith shared his appreciation for everyone’s support and understanding during the adult and lap pools shut down and repairs. The bigger issue was with the lap pool, not the adult pool as originally thought. Staff is happy to have made the repairs, and we hopefully will not have any issues the rest of the season. They will be looking at options to discuss with Council to move forward for long term concerns about the pool.

Bird Scooters Discussion

This type of permit isn’t something that would typically come before Council for review, but because of the high-visibility nature of these proposed scooters throughout the city, staff wanted to bring it forward for discussion to get a feel for where Council members landed on the issue.

Several council members shared some valid concerns about the scooters, including underage use, clutter on the sidewalks, safety and culpability, but nothing that wasn’t either answered by the applicant or couldn’t be resolved during the pilot program, which I was the first to come forward and recommend that we allow to happen.

The pilot program will be 9 months long, and it will allow us to see what the demand for the scooters is, how they are used, what the education process is like and how successful it is, and if it’s really something PV needs or wants the hassle of. I for one am looking forward to seeing them, and I have faith in our PV residents that they’ll learn the proper use, care, and etiquette for this new addition to our outdoor spaces to get our residents out and about if they aren’t already. 😁

Council unanimously approved a motion to set staff to work on the details of the pilot program (which I’m sure they were already doing anyway) for Council to review and hopefully approve at an upcoming meeting.

Miscellaneous

Council approved the following unanimously:
- Alcoholic Beverage ordinance changes to conform with recently changed state law – we do this almost every year because the laws change every year. Plus some recommendations from MuniCode for general clean up.
- Establishment of a separate non-budgeted federal grant fund for ARPA funds
- Design agreement with GBA for 2021 drainage program