Councilmember Ron Nelson and Nickie Lee, Finance Director, presented the initial use of TGT funds as approved by the Finance Council. The bulk of these are expenses that we already have or already have budgeted, but qualify for the parameters of this new revenue stream, thereby freeing up those general funds for use elsewhere or, presumably, consideration of a mill tax levy reduction in the near future.

Items not necessarily budgeted for, but already an expense that we have due to COVID cancellations and previous partnership agreements:

Funding additional VillageFest event expenses ($15,000)
Funding additional JazzFest event expenses to replace sponsorship dollars ($25,000)
Funding the Holiday Tree Lighting/other holiday expenses ($3,000)
Sponsoring Johnson County Park and Recreation’s Event at Meadowbrook Park ($10,000)
Funding an event near the Meadowbrook Inn to be determined in coordination with Vantrust ($25,000)

Future funding considerations include, but may not be limited to:

Funding the City’s annual allocation to the Arts Council (Current allocation: $14,500)
Funding the City’s annual allocation to the VillageFest Committee (Current allocation: $20,000)
Funding additional VillageFest event expenses ($15,000)
Funding the City’s annual allocation to the JazzFest Committee (Current Allocation: $10,000)
Funding additional JazzFest event expenses to replace sponsorship dollars ($25,000)
Diversity Committee (Current allocation: $10,000)
Funding the Holiday Tree Lighting/other holiday expenses ($3,000)
Transferring 2% of collections to the General Fund for administration of the program allowable by the Charter Ordinance (Estimated $5,600)
Maintain a minimum fund balance of 10% due to fluctuations in collections (Estimated $28,000)

The following items were not specifically recommended at this time but may be considered through the 2023 Budget Decision Package process or through another funding source in the future:

Funding potential partnerships for future events
Diversity Committee Interpretive Panel Project ($5,000)
Drone Light show ($25,000+) for VillageFest in lieu of or supplement Fireworks display
Movies in the Park or Pool ($10,000)
New (Parks) Brand identity universal design and Signage program ($105,000+)
Install Polo Club Historical Marker and Play feature ($25,000+)
ADA inclusive Play elements into Park network ($200,000+)
Historical Element inclusive element at Weltner park for Santa Fe Trail 9 mile marker ($40,000+)
Creating a public art fund ($5,000)

Ad Hoc Housing Committee

Councilperson Graves updated Council that the final meeting is coming up on Thursday, April 7th, where we will tie up some loose ends regarding non-zoning issues/opportunities and then we will present both zoning and non-zoning options for consideration to City Council shortly thereafter.

Ad Hoc Civic Center

Councilperson Graves also shared that Thursday, March 30th will be the first meeting for this resurrected committee post-pandemic (sort of).

Diversity Committee

Councilperson Selders shared again that the Diversity Committee’s Housing Panel Discussion event (unaffiliated with the Ad Hoc Housing Committee) will be Sunday, April 3rd at Meadowbrook Park.

Arts Council

I shared that the Arts Council hosted about 45 patrons at our first artists reception at Endres Gallery in two years for our March/April exhibit with artists Katherine Bello, Randall Bennett, and Hasna Sal. Johnson County Commissioner Becky Fast also joined the reception!

The Corinth Chair in Corinth Square Call for Entry is STILL open! The deadline is April 1st.

Mayor’s report

The official 4th quarter finance report for 2021 is now published. It shows that our expenditures came in at 93.3% of budget and our revenues were 107% of projection with an end-of-year budget surplus well above target.
We do have about 8% inflation for City costs and a very competitive market for staffing, but Mayor still recommends a serious look at a mill levy rate reduction for 2023 based on the excellent position the City is in right now.
COVID-19 statistics continue to fall in a good direction.
- Don’t throw away all of your masks yet, though. There is still some risk of another variant, but we appear to be close.
Mayor congratulated me on my appointment to JoCo Co-Chair of the Mid America Regional Council First Suburbs Coalition.
YMCA has booked Meadowbrook Park Clubhouse for a community meeting to discuss the future of the Paul Henson YMCA in PV. Mark your calendar for April 13th at 4:00.
An event honoring Buck O’Neil with local artist, Phil “Sike Style” Shafer, has been rescheduled to March 29th at 1pm at PV Hy-Vee. Mayor plans to be there (as do I).

Staff reports

Grant Programs Update

Jamie Robichaud reported that the opening date (today) for the three annual grant opportunities (Exterior Grant Program, Sustainability Grant Program, and Exterior Grant Program for Trash Container Screening) went well and there are still several opportunities available. Be sure to visit the new Public Works facility to apply.

Consider approval of the vacation & discontinuation of a public utility easement at 4415 W 89th St

Approved unanimously.

Consider approval of design agreement with Affinis Corporation for the design of the 2022 residential street program

Approved unanimously.

Agenda Packet for your reference

Some things you may have missed:

PV has a trio of grant programs available (as mentioned during Jamie’s update above) through the Community Development Department beginning March 21:

Exterior Grant Program
Sustainability Grant Program
Exterior Grant Program for Trash Container Screening
also, still
Property Tax Rebate Program, still ongoing:

Infographic for new Property Tax Rebate Program. Details at link.

Closing

So that’s it for this week.

Some things I’ve been up to:

Met with the Finance Committee to discuss how to allocate the Transient Guest Tax funds for 2022 and the 2023 budget cycle
Completed UCS’s Racial Equity in Communities program with the 6th and final workshop where we brainstormed possible practices to move forward with.
March PV Arts Council meeting with all of our new and re-appointed committee members
Ad Hoc Housing Committee meeting
Spring Break! To Colorado and back via I-70 visiting as many small town art centers as we could along the way: Goodland, Hays, Lucas, Salina… I recommend the trip! 😊