Ep #1: Chalkboards to City Hall - A Historic Renovation in Progress

City Hall Renovation Project

February 20, 2025

Whitney: Yeah, we uh, we found these and we thought, ooh, we're gonna, we're gonna start tiny desk interviews, and I feel like I already regret doing this in these chairs.    

Whitney: Welcome to the Hall Monitors podcast. This is our first episode, and because the entire podcast pays homage or homage to City Hall, as it used to be a schoolhouse building, we wanted the first podcast episode to be over the history of city hall a little bit, and [00:01:00] then the upcoming renovation project.

Whitney: And today we have with us somebody who' ' s been through the stages of this building more than many people our Mayor, Rick Walker - so, welcome. 

Rick: Thank you. 

The History

Whitney: Okay, first, we'll go over a little bit of the history of the building. It was built in 1919 as a high school and then over the years, it just grew with the community and transitioned into a junior high building.

Whitney: When did you go - am I allowed to ask that? Sure. Go to school year, and then was it high school or junior high? 

Rick: Junior high. I came here in junior high in, let's see, that would have been '74? 1974? No, '73. 

Whitney: Okay. 

Rick: As a 7th grader. 7th grader. 12 years old. 

Whitney: It was 7th to 9th. 

Whitney: 7th, 8th, 9th. Yeah. 

Do you think that you ever sat in these desks?

Whitney: We found these desks in the dungeon, from the music department. 

Rick: Yeah, without a doubt. these were either in the [00:02:00] music trailer, music used to be in a trailer where the pool house, the pool bathhouse is, there was a portable trailer that was the music room or they were in the band room, which is where the Chamber of Commerce office is. 

Whitney: So this is actually a trick question, I thought, you told me the other day that you were a drummer, and I thought drummers never sat. 

Rick: We were waiting on the other parts of the band to practice, so we could sit down. 

Whitney: Oh, okay, is that how that works? 

Whitney: Yeah, we uh, we found these and we thought, ooh, we're gonna, we're gonna start tiny desk interviews, and I feel like I already regret doing this in t hese chairs. 

Whitney: And then the dungeon, is it always called the dungeon? I know it was right next to the student lounge, 

Rick: It was yeah, I think it was called the dungeon. It was the old basketball court, I think in the original construction. And then with a remodel, they um, split that room and made a library above it.

Rick: So the little piece of it that was more finished was a student lounge. It's also a civil defense shelter. So that's why it was built below, but um, [00:03:00] yeah, for, I mean, when we would go in there for tornado drills, I remember there wasn't even enough flooring on the part beyond the door in that dungeon, so it was just like

Rick: dirt and they would raise up clouds of dust when you're under there. So they'd yell at you to stand still so you didn't stir up the dust. 

Whitney: Can you remember a favorite teacher or call out your favorite teacher that you 

Whitney: had? 

We had some interesting teachers then. One of my favorites was um, his name is Ron Marsh. He was a professional boxer. He's taught PE, taught uh, science. I think I had him for both. But Mr. Marsh uh, played football with Gale Sayers at KU. He was a professional boxer, like I said. He just had a lot of interesting stories. Probably some P. E. stuff that you wouldn't do now. He brought in boxing gloves and let a bunch of 8th graders just wail on each other in the gym, you know. Well, with some instruction, 

Whitney: it's so funny that you bring this up because we actually reached out to Monica to see if there are any [00:04:00] Junior high gossip to share with us that we would have you tell a story on.

Whitney: And she said, have him tell you about the boxing teacher. 

Whitney: Mr.

Rick: Marsh in the boxing. It's, it was an interesting segment and in the junior high PE curriculum that year. 

Rick: Your wife, Monica, you went to school the same time, right? You're in the same grade, same 

Rick: grade. 

Whitney: Who was a better student? 

Rick: Oh, I probably, I probably was, you know. 

Whitney: You know, this is going to be public. I'm sure- she'll see this. We will tell her immediately after this, we're going to text her. 

Rick: Oh yeah, no, I, Monica was definitely um, more quiet than me, but um, she, she got good grades too... less trouble. 

Whitney: Okay. So after serving the community as a school building for about 75 plus years, in the late nineties, it was sold to the City. 

Rick: Ten dollars. 

Whitney: That was my pop quiz. How much was it? Ten dollars.

Whitney: Ten [00:05:00] dollars. Now, why was it so cheap? 

Rick: It was uh, essentially uh, when you transfer a property, there has to be some value assigned to it. It essentially was given away, but ten dollars was put in the deed. And I don't know if the school board ever got the ten dollars, but, uh. I assume the transfer of $10 actually happened. 

Whitney: That's good. Was it just costly to renovate too, right? 

Rick: Yeah, the school sat empty for a few years after it was no longer needed by the school district, so you know, there was some roof issues. Just there was a lot of ongoing maintenance stuff that needed to be taken care of and probably gave the Council that made the decision to accept it and head down that path. Gave 'em some questions as they were starting down there - when one of your first projects is replacing the expensive roof and then you're looking at a million dollar renovation and thinking, man, that's a big project.

Rick: This thing's going to take a lot of money. 

Whitney: It's a lot of money, and what were the biggest pieces of that? What did what was the biggest pieces, and what [00:06:00] was not renovated? 

Rick: Well, The renovation was, I mean, the initial money was just spent to make it weather tight and fix a roof that was leaking and update some heating.

Rick: This was all steam heat with boilers in different parts of the building. So it was, 70 years old and with a couple of building additions. So very expensive mechanical upgrades and then um, the windows uh, were all old wooden, double hung windows no air conditioning, just, just a lot of stuff.

Rick: But the renovation really was only to get one floor um, you know, available for offices for the City staff to occupy. 

Whitney: So just the main level or first level, was there anything done in the basement at that 

Rick: time? 

Rick: Sprinkler system and elevator, but more or less just knocking holes in the wall to let piping go through for the sprinkler system and plumbing stuff that was happening upstairs. 

Whitney: So expensive, but not, not a whole, not a whole building renovation. Certainly 

Rick: not. 

The Renovation

Whitney: Now 25 [00:07:00] years later, we're getting our first big renovation again, something that is covering the entire building. So why is this needed now? 

Rick: In 25 years, you know, our staff has grown from basically a City Clerk and a Utility Billing Clerk to adding the City Engineer and a City Planner and a Director of Communications,City Attorney, a Building Codes Official.

Rick: So our staff is growing as our community grows and it's just the need for more space to meet the needs of the community. Also, look at what could fall down on us, right? 

Whitney: We're risking our lives right 

Rick: now. 

Whitney: The lead pipe is right behind me. 

Rick: Yeah, I mean, and it's, you know, this has been an ongoing process, you know, if you were to see this room, you'd see that all the old tile that was asbestos flooring tile, those were abated and removed.

Rick: We've checked for asbestos and other abatement issues over the years in the past and kind of setting this space up for a renovation at [00:08:00] some point and now it's time to take it on. 

Whitney: While we're up here, so the second floor is the heart of this renovation since it was never done before. Can you walk us through some of the biggest changes happening on the second floor?

Rick: Sure. So right now we're in Mr Zimmerman's science room. I think this I'm pretty sure this was where Mr. Zimmerman held court with Earth Science. And

Rick: essentially what we're going to do upstairs is, refinish the space to create finished offices for our, our staff and allow us to spread stuff out downstairs where we're we're compressed into the space that we have 

Rick: so that we can put the administrative functions all together in one area and our financial group together in an area and our utility billing group together.

Rick: And then upstairs, likewise, we can do the same and create working pods for our building codes and building inspections and our um, planning group and communications and then have another big conference room where we can all get together directly above the Council [00:09:00] Chambers. 

Whitney: And then what's happening on the first floor? 

Rick: The first floor, we're going to convert that finished space that we already have and make it more usable for the functions that we have going on.

Rick: Move an office pod together for the administrative group, so the city administrator and assistant and city attorney will all be clustered together because their functions overlap and they work together -- group like functions and departments so that there's more, collaboration and more efficient workspace.

Rick: So the four quadrants of that floor, then where the office spaces are now will be divided up and reconfigured. So they allow that kind of departmental functions to happen. Some additional conference room to make sure we have space for the court so that the attorneys have space to meet 

Rick: and we have conference space during the day when we're using it for City functions. 

Whitney: What is going into the basement, also known as the garden level?   

Rick: So the terrace or garden level which is largely unfinished where we have the arts council has a room down there. We have one of the old classrooms is [00:10:00] storage and then part of it's been chopped out for an ADA ramp. 

We're going to rework that ramp so that we can get the office space or the open space adjacent to the windows and create some creative space there that is usable. R efinish all the floors, refinish the floors in the Arts Council room, get a uniform look on that floor. Add restrooms to that area so that those rooms and those functions will have restrooms available. And then finish the ceiling and give that a finished look that it's been lacking for the last 25 years 

Rick: And there's not just inside the building. What's going on the outside?

Rick: The outside, we're gonna add some landscaping in the front uh, uh, sprinkled areas. We started adding some art, so we're gonna enhance the landscaping to accent the art pieces that we've got going up.

Rick: Replace some of the sidewalk and just, a facelift to the landscaping on the front to make things more attractive. 

Whitney: I think I'm most excited about apparently, we get new lights that'll shine on City Hall and they're color [00:11:00] changing lights.

Whitney: And that way, if there's something we want to celebrate, we can change the colors. 

Rick: Yeah, that is a nice feature. We'll have those up light programmable LED lights. 

Whitney: Yep. You have high school graduation. 

Rick: Green. 

Whitney: Now when people actually walk into City Hall, what is it going to look like? What's the difference that people will see?

Rick: I think that's a good question Whitney. That's one of the things I'm excited about. we're going to be able to open City Hall back up to the public. We've had some security upgrades during the COVID time, to make the people that work here a little safer, 

Rick: but we're going to revamp that security so that those office suites will be secure and the public spaces, the hallways, will be open to the public.

Rick: So we can display art like we used to and have City Hall open to the public. They still have the walk up counter for utility billing questions and the like, but the entire common areas of the hallways will be available for public access. And that will, that will be a theme that's continued from the main floor up to the second floor.

Historical Preservation

Whitney: [00:12:00] A big part of this project is making sure we honor what the city hall building was prior and making sure we respect the historical pieces of it. So how important was it for City Council, you, and staff to make sure that we brought those pieces out of this renovation? 

Rick: For me, I, it was, um, important to maintain the historic look of the building um, wanted to preserve as much as we could of the, the way the building that the old bricks would work with the newer windows and that we um, you know, maintain the architectural integrity of that look as much as we could. So, uh, I was excited to see some of the elements in the architect's plans were to repurpose the old blackboards that are throughout all these rooms up on the um, second floor into accents in the new office suites that are going to be [00:13:00] created here.

Rick: I don't know that they'll- nobody probably will use them as a chalkboard anymore but they are there to pay homage to the school history of the facility. 

Whitney: Can you imagine in a just very professional meeting pulling out the chalk. 

Whitney: What part of this renovation plan are you most excited about? 

Rick: Maybe that, you know, that um, there's two folds. I like the idea that we're opening it back up to the public, that we're going to have more public space available throughout City Hall, and then I like that we're putting the nod in there to history, that we're going try and showcase the old blackboards and maintain the historical look of the building. 

Whitney: And then I heard a rumor that you uh, you'll actually get an office space in City Hall that is above 

Rick: 50 degrees. that's what I should be most excited about today because it's about, it is about 50, 60 degrees in that office that we've created for the mayor down there. 

Whitney: Which was the old...

Rick: teacher's lounge.

Rick: If you remember the building, [00:14:00] that's where I'm sitting now is in the old teacher's lounge and the heat's not working very good in there. 

Whitney: It's a concrete block. Yeah, it's 

Rick: block wall. I think that's a forties or fifth, early fifties edition that was built with the, the shop garage down there. 

The Budget

Whitney: So let's talk about costs. Approximately how much is this going to cost? Where are we getting the money from? 

Rick: So the city hall renovation has been in our CIP, our capital improvement program for, you know, been our five year CIP kind of planning it. And the money will come from bonds that we'll sell the to finance the construction. There will be no tax increase associated with the bonds because they've been planned into our spending program. The city hall project is going to cost about $3.3 million dollars, take about a year to complete, and yeah. 

Whitney: So we're looking to have this finished by maybe the end of the year.

Rick: I think so they'll be starting mid february and complete by mid [00:15:00] November. 

Whitney: Is there anything else you want to share with us? 

Rick: Now you have to do it out of order.

Rick: We're so 

Whitney: fancy with listeners. Yeah, 

Rick: with our listeners. Yeah, I do want to share I guess that for, like I said, this project's been in the CIP for five years. We've been talking about this particular renovation for at least two years. So this has been before the City Council at half a dozen meetings I'd guess.

Rick: There's been a uh, a very long design process with the architect to get us to this point. And I'm looking forward to the project getting started and more excited about seeing it finished. 

Where are you headed?

Whitney: Well, thank you for taking the time to chat today. Since the hall monitors job is basically to know where everyone's going. And honestly, it's the perfect job for people who like to be a little bit nosy. Where are you headed next? What are big projects that you're working on? And what are you headed to? 

Rick: A fun project that we've been working on and be excited to see it open this spring is our disc golf course. Been uh, working [00:16:00] to secure funds for that. We've had a number of donations to help make that possible. I'm very thankful for the support we've got from our business community to help us out with that.

Rick: And when do you think we'll see that open, Whitney? 

Whitney: I'm hoping by May. 

Rick: Yeah. Yeah, 

Whitney: You have worked your butt off getting sponsors on that project, so it is a fully sponsored course, , and we're building it ourselves as well. 

Rick: Yeah, self performed, donated labor for the concrete work from our local construction companies. Just a community effort to make this possible. 

Whitney: Okay, thank you for tuning in to the Hall Monitors first ever podcast. If you want to see the layout of the new City Hall renovation, those are available on our website. Stay tuned for more stories coming up. 

Ep #2: Extra Credit - Contain the Rain & Property Tax Relief Programs

Community Resources

March 31, 2025

I think we need a first address the elephant in the room. How do you feel about these desks? So I have to say I was pretty hesitant to come on this podcast just because there's no left-handed desk and I don't feel seen. I'm just letting you know. But as a good City employee, I'm gonna bear with it and I'm gonna power through this podcast, so I appreciate you inviting me.

You're very welcome. 

Intro

Welcome [00:01:00] back to the Hall Monitors. I'm Libby Johnson and we're joined today by Brandon Mills, who's our assistant City Administrator and City Clerk.

In this episode, we are talking about two City resource programs designed to help the community. One that supports sustainable landscaping and the other that just helps make home ownership more affordable. 

Roll Call: Mills, B.

Whitney told me that you have a highly specific skill in explaining government to seventh graders. so, Okay. Very interesting. Let's put that to the test though. Okay. You explain your two roles for the City and can you explain them like, we're in a middle school building like, I'm a seventh grader.

Okay. Um, Alright. So. Um, I'll start with the City Clerk role. So if you're talking about like a seventh grader, I guess the easiest way to explain it is I am the document keeper for the City, so anything that the mayor signs, any ordinances, resolutions, which are our laws for the City, I'm in charge of making sure that those copies are maintained and accessible.

I'm also the main [00:02:00] point of contact for a lot of external organizations such as Johnson County or the school district. I'm the main point of contact statutorilyas the assistant City administrator, My job is really catchall. We have an administrator who is in charge of maintaining all the City functions.

He's over all of our departments and really my job is to back him up and do anything. He doesn't have time to do. So part of my jobs are, like this morning I was talking with our fleet management coordinator.going through our next year's budget process of which vehicles we're gonna work through.

And then about an hour later I was talking with our public works director about hiring someone. So my job spans lots of different departments and jurisdictions and different things and so different every day. That's it's, it's fun to, it's also hard to explain to someone, I feel like when you're like I did this and I also do that, 

Yeah. It's different every day. I think that's the thing I like about it. 

 along those lines, we actually have a listener question. Okay. Okay. And by that we definitely mean we reached out to your wife [00:03:00] and asked her if she has anything that we could surprise you with.

That's, yeah. Um, And get some insider information. Okay. So this question is from Russell, your best friend from high school. Okay. Can you share your favorite coach memory from track or explain what your track coaches mean to you? Because I honestly don't know what this means, but I know it has something to do with maybe how your career is going and how you approached your role.

Okay. Maybe let's, that's what, do you know what these people have some explaining to do? First of all, you guys did your homework. That's very nice. Um, um, I think, I think one of the things I learned about in track, and I'll back up. Russell and I were really good friends from high school where we started becoming friends running cross country.

I think one of the things you learn when running for hours is endurance and the grit to get through things. this job changes every day, right? you have adversities every day. whether that be running up a hill when you're two miles deep into a three mile cross country race or running into a roadblock due to some kind of [00:04:00] administrative red tape it's something that I've learned to develop and worked through as I've gone through my career.

Yeah. So in school when it came to class projects mm-hmm. were you more of a let's carefully follow the instructions or let's see what happens.

We'll figure it out as a go kind of person. Definitely. We'll figure it out as we go. I've made my career on saying we're building the plane as we're in the air. Um, Usually works out. But I'm definitely more of a go with the flow than a rigid strict rules person.

And I think having that tie into your career and like your role that is, it's kind of necessary to have that ability 'cause you don't know what's gonna happen. Yeah. Russel and I are gonna have a very long conversation about this sneaky guy anyway. Well, The good news is, is whether you like guidelines or you're the type where you just want, wanna go with the flow type of person Contain the Rain is one of those programs that makes that kind of easy.

Can you explain the program what it is and tell me about the history of how it got started? 

Contain the Rain

So the Contain the Rain Grant isadministered by [00:05:00] Johnson Countythe grant encourages property owners to put in sustainable landscaping whether that be rain barrels or whether that be planning native plants.

The goal is that we are reducing our runoff and improving our overall streamway health in the community. 

How long have we been doing Contain the Rain? To the best of my knowledge Johnson County has been having this program for well over 10 years. But we are on program year three, starting in March. 

How much of the projects cost does, the program help with?

So generally speaking it's about 50% of the overall program costs. So if you put in a rain barrel, those are about 150 bucks. The county would reimburse you and the City would reimburse you so your total reimbursement is 50%. Okay. Okay. Gotcha. So like, if I wanted to get a rain barrel, you would split that cost with me. Yep. that's a good deal. Especially we see a lot of people that are really interested in that. Or they want to plant a tree. And trees aren't cheap, so if you can get 50% off of it, it's not bad. And is Contain the Rain, a program that's open to De Soto businesses as [00:06:00] well?

Yes. So it's open not only to residential property owners, but it's also open to businesses. We haven't seen any yet. I'm hoping that this next program year we'll see some businesses apply, but the point is not just to reduce runoff in neighborhoods, but it's throughout the entire community.

Yeah. So if you are a business, please apply. What is the environmental impact of having these projects in place? 

When we talk about native plants um, plants that are native to Johnson County, generally speaking, have less watering requirements. So not only are we reducing

 the need to water which is good for the environment, but it also, by creating rain gardens and rain barrels, that allows you to reuse some of the water that's naturally occurring in the community. So, Yeah. Um, Overall it's great for the environment.

Yeah. I also saw something like,when the, the water ends up in those storm drains and it ends up in the ditch or whatever. Mm-hmm. There's, you know, there's bacteria, there's chemicals, there's debris. Yeah. And then it goes straight into the river or the stream or the lake. So there's a lot of benefits to it and also these projects are really pretty. Yeah, some of them are really [00:07:00] cool. Yeah. Some of the, some of the rain gardens that we've seen, we've had a couple come through in De Soto and they're fascinating. I'm not an engineer, but we have a couple people in De Soto that have done rain gardens the diagrams they have and how it flows off the properties and everything is really interesting.

Oh, I'll have to look into those. What are some of the projects that fall into those guidelines? 

 Yeah, some of the more obvious ones are native grasses or native bushes. Again, we're trying to encourage people to build sustainable landscaping so they don't need to water them as much.

But also what we're seeing isseveral businesses in the area that have kind of put together their own programs. It's a plug and play situation um, where people are putting in native trees. I mean, there are several businesses that understand the program and say, you know, this tree is native and this tree will get you the full reimbursement for the grant.

I would say talk to your local landscape company or your local um, nursery and they should be able to walk you through the steps of how to get the grant. 

What does the application process look like? So the application process is pretty simple. You can go to the City website and just type [00:08:00] in, Contain the Rain and search for that.

And it'll bring you up to our program page, and then you just click a link and it'll take you to the County page, which is where you apply. And it has pretty simple explanation of, you need to have your name, your address, where you live and then it'll have a list of all the top proper plans that are allowed. And then you just fill out the thing. So you could say, you know, I um, planted, type A tree. And then you basically submit your receipts and click submit it goes to the County. the County will vet it and send it to me. And then we will approve that and cut you a check.

Okay. So I saw somewhere that you have to apply before you start the project. Mm-hmm. Is that true in De Soto? Yes. Yeah. So you apply before and then afterwards they make sure that you planted the, the tree.

So it does take a little to get it, you start the program in March, but realistically we're not seeing applications until May or June. Okay. Is there a timeframe for a project like this? Yeah. So our program year starts in March and we accept our last applications in November. the idea is in March, really you're starting to see the ground [00:09:00] start to thaw, and then by November we don't really want you planning anything because we're not sure it's gonna make it through the year.

Part of the grant is that there's a commitment that you would keep whatever you plant for three years. And so we wanna make sure it's gonna survive the winter. Okay. That makes sense. How can people find more information, you said on the website, mm-hmm and then are you an available contact for people who have questions? Yeah. So on the website, at the very bottom, it has my contact information and you can feel free to reach out to me.

Also, if you have more detailed questions, especially if you're talking about rain garden design, I would refer you to the Johnson County Stormwater Management Program. They can give you all kinds of templates and tell you the best way to put those. I'm not an engineer, so I don't want to touch that with a 10-foot poll.

You're like, don't ask me about where to place it. Yeah. Don't ask me how to place it. I can walk you through the application process, tell you what to plant, but how to do the rain gardens. No clue. No clue. All right. At least you know your boundaries, you know your strengths, so that's important.

Property Tax Relief Program

All right. So now that we've covered how Contain the Rain can help with outside property improvements, let's shift gears into a program that can [00:10:00] help with relief inside the home. can you walk us through the Property Tax Relief Program and how it works?

 Yeah, so the Property Tax Relief program is a rebate program for certain targeted populations in De Soto. So, um, the first being low-income households, which is set by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

It's basically low income and it's done through Johnson County. they take an overview of the whole community and basically assign incomes based on the median household income in the county. And then also we were looking at veterans. The City Council just changed the policy and we're now looking at disabled veterans at 50% disability and then also we're looking at seniors as a targeted group.

So people over the age of 65 and those property owners are now eligible for a rebate of just the City portion of their property tax. Gotcha. And you said that it was recently updated to include a wider range of veterans. Can you explain what that difference was, [00:11:00] why it didn't work like that before?

Yeah last year was our first year, I probably should have said that. Last year was our first year as our pilot program. And we were still trying to figure out our guidelines we set it based on some peer communities. So we looked at Merriam, Roeland Park and Johnson County to set our guidelines.

And their programs were set at a hundred percent disabled veterans, basically. So what happens is the VA determines your disability based on certain criteria, so your mobility, other things. And so we set at a hundred percent, which was the standard throughout the county. However, when we went back to the Council, 

the Council actually asked us to reduce that amount to 50% to basically widen the amount of people that were eligible for the program because the goal is to expend the full $25,000. Mm-hmm. Well, And I think that's, I think that's awesome. Yeah. It's helping more people.

Yeah, exactly. I think the goal is to spend down, so at the end of the year, we have $0 left in the program. So the more people that are eligible, means the more people will be able to use the funds, and that's our goal. Yeah. And yeah, more people to help. 

the interesting thing about it, and I [00:12:00] want to give kudos to our governing body. Our mayor um, in the, what was this, in the fall of 2023 had an idea to start this program. and his thought process was not only just De Soto, but throughout Johnson County, we're seeing property values skyrocket. we have not only just low income, but senior um, residents who are experiencing just, you know, multiple uh, double digit increases in their property taxes because their home values are increasingthrough no fault of their own.

And what we're seeing is that their increases in property taxes are not being captured by their income. Most people aren't getting 10, 15% increases, not only in social security benefits, but just as a raise at work. Mm-hmm. And so, um, the governing body decided that they would like to offer a program to relieve them from those, double digit increases.

One of the peer communities we looked at, had um, a resident who was, well in their eighties, they purchased a house in the late seventies, and they purchased it for, we'll say [00:13:00] $50,000.

That house has now appreciated and it's well over $400,000. Oh my gosh. Um, And so it's kinda one of those things where their income can't keep up with the appreciation. They didn't do anything to it, they just lived in the house. And over that period of time, the home values have increased. Wow. these are things I haven't thankfully had to figure out yet.

I haven't bought my first home, but it's an awesome program to have. Yeah. So you said the program is $25,000? Mm-hmm. Yep. so that's for the 2025 year? Yeah. the Council allocated $25,000 in 2024 for the first year of the program, and we kept the program amount flat for this year. Where does the fund come from? Those dollars are coming directly from development fees or franchise fees that we're seeing as a result of the development in the south end of town.

So if we're thinking about Panasonic and Flint development, those those fees that the City's receiving is being directly put into the Property Tax Relief Fund. Hmm, That's awesome. It's, it's cool. It's one of those things where the City administrator always talks about, you know, development pays for development. This is development, paying to [00:14:00] relieve taxes. Yeah. On our residents. Yeah. Okay. How many people did it help last year and how much money was alleviated in 2024?

Yeah the total program was $25,000 for last year. And we awarded 55 total grants with an average award of about $452. Um, And so we allocated 98% of it, which don't, I'm not great at math, but it was somewhere around $600 left over in the fund at the end of the year.

We were really proud and happy how successful this program was to allocate those funds throughout the community. Mm-hmm. Yeah. That's awesome. 

 And then you said it would cover the City's portion of a resident's taxes. 

So first let's talk about the City's portion of property taxes and what that is. Yeah. So the City uh, if you think about your overall property tax bill, the City is approximately 13% of the entire bill.

Okay. Um, So , now that gets you streets, bridges, [00:15:00] roads, but also it gets you law enforcement and all other City services.

On an average home in De Soto, which in 2024 was about $370,000, that was $850 of property taxes paid to the City in 2024. Our rebate program is based off $500 as a cap why is it the $500 number? Yeah, so this kind of goes into some IRS regulations, so forgive me if this gets a little boring, but um, the IRS would consider this rebate income. 

And so the threshold for the IRS to account it as income to be reported as $600. So our thought process was we didn't want to tax a tax rebate. And so our threshold is $500. And that would give you some room in case there was a refund on a water bill or something like that, that you wouldn't be taxed on that full amount.

So let's say this is something that I'm interested in. Where can I find more information? So our City website, we just got our policy approved 

 We should have it up before the program starts on April 22nd. [00:16:00] Um, But you can always find my contact information on the City website and give me a call. I'm happy to walk people through the process. I know you said we can talk to you on the phone. Is there any way to talk to you in person? I know residents like that. I personally like that stuff. 

Yeah. So, when we start the program and we do hold open houses, we're not quite ready to announce those dates yet, but um, within the first two weeks of the program, we're gonna hold three open houses at the Senior Center. And so you'll have opportunities to come in and I'm more than happy to help make sure you have the required documentation and kind of walk you through the process.

So what usually does the timeline look like for this application process? How it works is we'll open the program and then the public will turn their applications. There's some documentation that we need. We're gonna need your tax documentation.

That's how we prove your income. We look at your adjusted gross income or your AGI. And thenwe make sure you paid your property taxes as one of the requirements. Takes us about 30 to 45 days to process the applications, just because they typically come in waves.

Last year we did 55 [00:17:00] applications and we saw somewhere around 40 of those in the first two weeks. Oh, wow. Yeah. So, Yeah, which was it, it showed how popular the program was. But um, it does take us a little bit of time to do that processing of applications. And then our goal this year is to get those applications and checks cut within 60 days.

So why were there so many applications in the first two weeks?

So the program is first come, first serve and people were very eager to do it. I wasn't here early that morning. I had an appointment on the first day of the application window last year, but I was told there was a line outside the door at 8:00 AM with people applying.

It was a flurry of applications that came in. 

 just briefly explain, 'cause I know it can get complicated how the rounds work and what do you mean by having rounds of the program? Yeah. So our program is set up um, in two different phases. So our first phase is for low income seniors, and disabled veterans.

Okay. Um, And that runs from April 22nd, which is the beginning date of the program year through August 1st. And then we have a second phase, which is open [00:18:00] to all residents under the age of 65, who meet the income qualifications and anyone else who would meet the qualifications in phase one.

That runs from August 4th, through December 1st, which is the end of the program year. when it opens up to the rest of the community, that's with the leftover the remaining amount, yeah. Yeah. So yeah, so any funds that are left over through phase one would then roll over into phase two.

I would note there's a special cutout of 20% just to make sure that we do have some funding for anyone under the age of 65. Okay. Um, To be able to apply for phase two. 

Yeah. Yeah. So can you share why a top reason might be that someone would be declined property tax relief in their application?

Yeah, for this next year one of the things we might see for people being um, denied the, their application being denied is we do have a one year residency requirement now. 

 So essentially what we're saying is you need to live in the community for one year, because we are rebating property taxes, so this is a rebate on taxes paid in 2024. Yeah. [00:19:00] Um, And so I think that might be one of, one of the main reasons we see any rejections is they just haven't been in the community for one year.

Another one is, we did see a couple people who just missed that income threshold. They were just slightly above it. And that income threshold is set by HUD as we mentioned before, but it also is based on how many people are in your household. And so we did, we did see the one application, they just missed that income threshold by, a couple thousand dollars.

I think it's interesting and it, it, it does make sense why you say you have to be in the community for a year. 'cause then at that point you'd be rebating property taxes that aren't from De Soto. Yeah. Yeah. They're, yeah. And it would be from a previous homeowner, right? Yeah. So if you, if you just moved in the community, the person you sold, you the house, you'd be getting their money back.

So that's the idea for That Makes sense rebating, 

Where's Your Hall Pass?

Thank you for taking the time to chat with me today. Since this is the Hall Monitors podcast we have to know where you're headed to next.

can you share some big projects or things you're working on next? Yeah. So some of the big projects I'm working on, they just. All happen to be parks related right now, but um, we're working on getting a contract [00:20:00] signed and going to Council with um, a river for a riverfest master plan project.

So we're looking at redeveloping that park. And we're gonna have lots of public engagement opportunities for the public to, ask what they want and let us know what kinda amenities they'd like to see out there. Another project that's gonna be starting soon is we're building soccer fields out at Riverfest Park as well.

And so we're gonna have parking and soccer fields and it's gonna be a really good project 'cause that is our most popular parks program. And then the other one that you guys may have heard of is we're asking the public if they'd like to see a community center. Oh yes. So I'm gonna go meet with our consultant and talk about some of the findings from that survey.

Alright. And we'll present that to Council in April. So lots of things to keep an eye out for the Parks department. Yeah. Very exciting stuff. All righty. That concludes episode two. Got it. Class dismiss. Class dismiss. 

Bloopers

Nice. It feels so uncomfortable. Close, but it looks right. Oh, the last time. 30 seconds. Does it look awkward that I'm wearing a vest? Is it like, is you're like, why is she wearing a [00:21:00] vest?

 how are they doing it at? So like how can you be that loud? Those are two floors above us. They're banging on. That's the wild thing about it. I was just thinking about that. Do we have you complaining on tape? Yeah, I'll bring donuts.

 I'll bring donuts. I don't care. Yes. Okay, okay, Lemme start that over. Now that we've can. A good all right. Third time's a charm. 

that? I think I just smeared a bug wing across my paper. Okay, good. When did you contact my wife? Do you feel like we're like, I feel betrayed in infiltrated. I feel betrayed. How did she uh, okay. That's okay. 

 It's complicated. Property taxes are complicated. It's so complicated. You've already I have juice on my paper now 

 into another change we didn't mention. That's a, yeah. Yeah. So you said miss Ma'am, you good? Tell that cough to Yeah. Calm down.

Like, okay, wait, so what do we, how do we explain this? Because it Yeah. It just goes, it really does go to show like, you are not an idiot if you don't understand some of these things.

Like even I try to ask you something [00:22:00] simple like, can you tie, explain the mill levy? Please don't right now, by the way. Don't.     

The New Kid on the Block (...is 20,000 sq. ft.): Sunflower Fire Station

New Fire Station

April 30, 2025

Intro

Chief Maxton: [00:00:00]

Whitney: Welcome back to the hall monitors. We are on a field trip today, not so we're not filming in our, oh.

Firefighter: Welcome back to the Hall Monitors. We are on a field trip today. We're not filming in our normal City Hall location, we are filming in what used to be the City Hall, but for decades now, it has been the downtown fire station

Whitney: We are interviewing today Fire Chief Chief Maxton Maxton. He started with a fire service in De Soto [00:01:00] when you were 18, and then worked up to fire Chief in 2018?

Chief Maxton: Yes.

Whitney: I have a question. So what does a fire chief do? Compare. So when I think about firefighter, I didn't. I didn't ask her, she,

Chief Maxton: What's the question?

Whitney: Like what does the fire chief do? A little different, but what, what do you even do? What do you

Libby: even do?

Chief Maxton: My fires are a little bit different.

Chief Maxton: I'm one of two eight-to-five employees because firefighters have an amazing schedule. They do work 24-hour shifts. It could be rigorous, sometimes not so rigorous, right. But the beauty of my job is, if we have a fire, I still get to go. If the meeting's not too important,

Chief Maxton: So, but you,

Whitney: Like recently, you, we, there was a grass fire on K-10. You went on site for that, didn't you?

Chief Maxton: Yeah. So that was the crazy Texas dust storm day where we had a high wind. That day I had to turn into the acting battalion chief because our fire [00:02:00] came out on K 10, we were in four different counties on fires at the time. We were in Douglas County, Leavenworth County, and on a mutual aid deployment request down to Gate Center on the fire that they had. So the, our Johnson County Fire, we had that come out. We responded to that. We still had a full complement of personnel because we prepared for the high fire danger that day.

Chief Maxton: Mm-hmm. And we brought in extra personnel. So yeah, sometimes I do get forced into action. Forced. You love it. I still am a firefighter.

Whitney: Let it be clear you do not just sit behind a desk

Chief Maxton: There, there is some proof out there that that is correct? Yes.

Whitney: Okay. So in preparation for this, we obviously wanted a little intel, so we asked some of your staff if they had any stories from you about you when you were in elementary school or in your school days. However, you've worked here so long that no one has those stories, but they have stories from when they were in elementary school, something [00:03:00] about a very tall firefighter, very heroic firefighter, doing a show and tell of a firetruck in elementary school. Does that ring any... fire bells for you? Uh,

Chief Maxton: That might ring a bell. Yes. That might be. That's it. That was probably it was probably Battalion Chief Shipman telling stories. Mm-hmm.

Chief Maxton: I can't remember what grade he was in at Countryside, but he wanted to see big red, not that one, but the red truck at the time. And then, years years went by, whatever equaled him turning 18 or 19 then probably because of that experience is why definitely he wanted to join the fire service.

Chief Maxton: Definitely. So, it actually is a cool story. It's a little corny, but yeah -he started as a volunteer firefighter. We were firefighters together down at our South Station. Mm-hmm. Now station 12 at 127th and Gardner and here we are all grown up and I'm in this role.

Chief Maxton: Brandon is a battalion chief. Yes.

Whitney: So thank you to him for giving us that story.

Chief Maxton: We've decided to rename our podcast, the Chief ToddCast, so welcome to the [00:04:00] ToddCast and Chief Maxton's stories. Thank you. Thank you. Okay.

The Station That's Served Us Well

Whitney: So when you started,

Whitney: What was the building like? What do you remember from the building? This building in particular.

Chief Maxton: I wasn't assigned to this building, this was the De Soto Fire Department up until 2010. I began with Fire District 3, which we ran dual response areas, so we were kind of integrated with everybody.

Chief Maxton: But none of the stations even that we currently have today, were designed to be lived in. They were built to store apparatus. And then this station is very unique too, because apparatus wasn't even thought of that much because the building needed to serve so many different purposes for the city's base point.

Chief Maxton: The City Administrator was based here, City Council meetings were on the second floor. Mm-hmm. The senior center and items like that.

Whitney: We're sitting in the part of the building that was added, I believe, in the 1970s. Okay. The main part of the building is over 80 years old. Okay. If you look at the [00:05:00] main part of the building under the Memorial Hall sign mm-hmm.

Chief Maxton: The, the bay window at the bottom, was the firetruck bay, which is nowone of the bunk rooms in the building. through all the different purposes this building has served, we've made it work over time.

Whitney: When I startedat district three, we only had one full-time person on duty at the time.

Chief Maxton: Mm-hmm.De Soto was similar as well. De Soto did not have a full-time employee in the fire service until about 2001.

Whitney: Oh, geez.

Chief Maxton: Yeah.

Chief Maxton: It's really, I say that's really not that long ago, but you remind me of when I started.

Whitney: I'm so sorry.

Chief Maxton: That's okay. But no, that was probably our biggest challenge though, going from the living conditions and, okay, we're protecting and sheltering the fire trucks. And then we started adding personnel. We were that predominantly volunteer fire department, which it was invigorating for all the members here, and there were so many members in this community that are still here, that were part of this volunteer [00:06:00] department.

Chief Maxton: We run across those people every day. Mm-hmm. I learned from a lot of those people. Most people acknowledge not being able to go to the fire station and jump on the fire truck to run a call - that's a major change in their life - when we went to more of a career service.

Chief Maxton: There was the sunflower plant. we had to have a contract with their contractor when they started phasing their fire department out. Mm-hmm. We needed to add personnel to provide better coverage in order to respond to the plant. So that's kind of what got things kick started for us.

Chief Maxton: Mm-hmm. And then the full-time numbers kept raising and then we got to the point. Where we needed to evolve and up the ante on the level of service that we were providing. We are an all career service right now supplemented by uh, it depends two to three part-timers

Whitney: Well, that's, so I had no idea. That's really interesting that you increased the level of staffing for the Sunflower Plant in first place, and then that is what is happening now, right? Is that, [00:07:00] is that what

Chief Maxton: in, in a way? Yeah. at least the destination is requiring that. Yeah.

Chief Maxton: When we started adding personnel we had to move things around, find living space. We also shared space at the time with the Chamber of Commerce. Mm-hmm. They were on the lower level. In roughly 2014, 2015 the building became ours. We actually don't own the building. The City of De Soto owns the building and we are a separate entity than the City. We're a fire district. But no, the building has served its purpose. Yeah. But the building's tired. Yeah. It really is between our mechanical engineering and plumbing issues that we try to address, knowing that, the infrastructure that's gonna be needed, especially the funding to put back into this building. We were kind of in uh, a holding pattern for quite a while.

Chief Maxton: So that's when we started looking for a replacement station. Even the footprint of this building this bay cannot accommodate the new aerial firetruck. Mm-hmm. It will not fit, it won't even come [00:08:00] close. Even out on our pad, we can't pull out. And there's also some safety issues with the pedestrian traffic as well.

Chief Maxton: So long story short it's been a great building for us. Mm-hmm.

Whitney: I just realized, I didn't say to the people what this episode is about.

Whitney: I just realized that.

Chief Maxton: I think the firetruck backing in kind of gave it away.

Whitney: there's a new station coming. They're building it. We're talking about that. Okay.

Planning

Whitney: We started this journey knowing roughly three years ago that there was gonna be an industrial focus and probably something mega manufacturing. We knew that. We had no idea what it was gonna be at the time. But uh, between EDC and the City of De Soto we had to do a lot of brainstorming mm-hmm.

Chief Maxton: And doing pretty much a rapid risk assessment because of the limitations that we had,

Whitney: yeah.

Chief Maxton: Resources and funding, we had to be [00:09:00] reactive instead of proactive. For once, at least in my career here, we were able to do something that was super proactive, even though it had to be done super quickly.

Whitney: Mm-hmm.

Chief Maxton: And that was evolving into what is now the Sunflower Fire Station. Mm-hmm. We looked at various models on what we could do. could we add a fourth station? The long answer to that between the infrastructure of this building and the upgrades that it needs, and the lack of a funding mechanism to keep a fourth station turned our model and the way that we were looking at it, and then we started looking at response times and maps. I'm not gonna claim that it's perfect, but we're confident that we're gonna be able to continue to meet our benchmarks running out of the Sunflower Fire Station. So that is a replacement fire station.

Whitney: Okay.

Whitney: So if you're replacing the station, how does that affect response times in the downtown area or does it impact response times?

Chief Maxton: A lot of people don't know this, but. They think [00:10:00] because the fire station's here, it's kind of hard to see. This truck is not always here.

Whitney: Yeah.

Chief Maxton: You guys have already seen it in the short time you've been here today. Uh, They've been on five calls today. Yeah. And the wheels turn on this truck on a slow day, probably 10 times.

Chief Maxton: Not always for calls. Mm-hmm. But they have company inspections, they have trainings they have public relations events whether it's doing a football standby at the high school or we need to be at the Kill Creek station for training.

Chief Maxton: We're always subject to call. We might not always be here. And then if they're at the grocery store or the gas station

Whitney: they

Chief Maxton: always take the truck with 'em because that's their toolbox.

Chief Maxton: They have all the firefighters with them at the time. They're ready to go at any moment. Our computer aided dispatch system, they know where every apparatus is in the county at all times. And we're gonna get there. sometimes we're gonna be close, sometimes not so much.

Chief Maxton: So are

Whitney: you saying that even if there's something downtown or close to the station, it's not always this engine then? [00:11:00] Correct. It's on site, correct?

Chief Maxton: The one thing that I don't like to hear, "man, it took you guys forever to get here." I don't like hearing that because we take pride in that. We're gonna continue to do that because you hear me talk about dorky fire chief things the National Fire Protection Association has, benchmarks.

Chief Maxton: We have to meet certain response standards within 80 seconds. 90% of the time they need to have wheels rolling. That's our turnout time. That's 24 hours per day. And in addition to that, you combine that turnout time and getting to the scene of something, 90% of the time, we need to accomplish that in less than five and a half minutes.

Chief Maxton: So we're a little bit above that now. Mm-hmm. Probably not 90% of the time. But we're also covering 70 square miles.

Whitney: Because you don't just serve De Soto , right? It's a little bit bigger. Correct.

Chief Maxton: Our department name sometimes is kind of confusing. You can still call us the De Soto Fire Department.

Chief Maxton: Technically, we are the Northwest Consolidated Fire District because we are covering approximately 70 square miles. Two thirds of our call [00:12:00] volume is in the city limits of De Soto but we also cover the unincorporated areas. we have the Leavenworth County boundary, which is the river. the Douglas County line, and we go all the way to hundred 43rd Street and, butt up against Lenexa and Olathe city limits.

Chief Maxton: So also the Station 2 station, we say three stations, well, that third station is not really De Soto." That is a very important part of protecting De Soto. Mm-hmm. Because of our simultaneous calls mm-hmm. That we have. Our latest figures have us at about 16% of the time, we have a duplicate call, simultaneous calls occurring at the same time, so we have to move our resources around. That South Station, they'll move their truck up into the area, normally around the Kill Creek station area.

Chief Maxton: So we're better aligned to forecast where the next call might be

Whitney: So the, the, was it bunker? Bunker to Bay time? That is really important. What is a round look like? You get a call, what does it look like [00:13:00] from the bunk rooms to here?

Chief Maxton: What it looks like could be considered chaos.

Chief Maxton: It changes a little bit based off the limited information we get at the time of dispatch. Mm-hmm.

Chief Maxton: There's adrenaline flowing and they go from dead sleep at 3:00 AM to needing to be here within 80 seconds and they could be going on a critical call. Transitioning that into going through doorways, areas that were not designed to be lived in and bunk rooms into the design work that went into the new station.

Chief Maxton: You say that's good terminology from bunker to bay. That is some of the terminology that we use. We try to use straight lines, try to reduce how far the bunk rooms are away. This is Queen Bee. We try not to go too far away from Queen Bee

Chief Maxton: I'm referring to any truck that's in the station. Yeah. And we need to get to it quickly. The fitness areas, we design on how quickly we can get to it, where the classroom component in the new building. The offices are [00:14:00] farther away because there's less of a chance that the personnel need to get on the rig.

Whitney: So that's a good segue into details about the new station. So how does it differ? What are we getting? And first, tell us where it is.

Location

Chief Maxton: Yeah. 102nd Street has been renamed 99th Street at Lexington. Mm-hmm. And for reference a hundred second Street back to the west, that leads to Countryside, which used to be Countryside Elementary.

Chief Maxton: on the east side of that road That's gonna lead you on 99th Street up to the new fire station.

Chief Maxton: Knowing that the city limits were going to change, they're gonna expand the city limits of De Soto. Yeah. Doubled in size. Yeah. Just in the past few years, right?

Chief Maxton: Mm-hmm. We needed to respond to that and have a strategically located fire station. Mm-hmm. And, and that's it. There's a lot of time and effort that went into the design knowing it was unprecedented on how it came about. And to be able to do that with the least impact, [00:15:00] especially financially on the constituents of our district, was at the forefront of our mind.

Station Details

Chief Maxton: It's gonna be three times the size of this.

Chief Maxton: It's gonna have four double deep drive through bays. This is pretty much two single bays. So just put that into perspective.

Chief Maxton: That's probably gonna be the most visible difference in the station as well.

Chief Maxton: It has a lot of safety aspects. It has a fire suppression system. We lose power in this building a lot, and the folks that live in downtown can relate to that as well. We don't have generator backup. New codes require every new emergency facility has to have generator backup.

Chief Maxton: Space-wise, We also cannot accommodate ten first responders. And those first responder bunk rooms are gonna be private, that's the modern thing in the fire service.

Chief Maxton: That's in a clean environment, that's probably one of the biggest ones as well.

Whitney: So right now they're in just one room and if there is a call coming in, everyone gets alerted.

Whitney: Even if it's in the middle of the night. Not everyone needs to go. Everyone gets alerted and woken [00:16:00] up.

Chief Maxton: Yes.

Whitney: How does a new station differ?

Chief Maxton: Good question. When it first opens, there's not gonna be much of a difference because we refer to it as a single company house. That station

Chief Maxton: is designed to house a second fire company as well.

Chief Maxton: To keep up when the call volume justifies it. Mm-hmm. And we could phase it in, whether that's an EMS squad on our end. And the one thing that we haven't talked about yet, the MED-ACT squad, that's based on Kill Creek. They will be moving to the new station as well.

Chief Maxton: And when budgeting allows, MED-ACT's plan is to place an ambulance there in the near future

Chief Maxton: So, in the bunk, in the bunk rooms, we talked about when, if it's the MED-ACT unit and they're needed on a call, or needed to move up into the system, we don't have to wake the whole firehouse up. Yeah. That specific alert can be directed into that bunk room.

Whitney: We also have some transitional buffers in there. Mm-hmm. As we try to focus on carcinogens and keeping the dirtier areas. Mm-hmm. Which, think about this, it's a garage [00:17:00] and what we might be taking back from a fire.

Chief Maxton: We're trying to leave that as much as we can in the bay. And then our support rooms right off the bay. We have a decontamination room some heavy duty extracting. We have a dirty shower room in case the firefighter can't make it all the way back into the clean part of the building.

Chief Maxton: In addition to that firefighters need to work out. it's actually required that our firefighters work out. So they're getting a, a fitness room. it's able to house the entire company at one time. Mm-hmm. And it's gonna have not only the cardio, but also strength equipment. And that's gonna be all new equipment for them as well.

Whitney: And then there was a training classroom in there?

Chief Maxton: Yeah, so there's an actual classroom and we try to focus on, peer to student, which typically it's not gonna be over 30. So that's what our design was. we got that just under 1000 square feet to accommodate a classroom style of training that could also be used for our board meetings and as a community room. It [00:18:00] does have a training component to the station in one of the mezzanines outside of the bay.

Chief Maxton: We took some ideas from KCK Fire Station 16 and Johnson County Consolidated Fire District 2 with some repelling features and the ability to do some ground ladder drills and propping.

Staffing

Whitney: you mentioned staffing. Is staffing in the future or do you have staffing planned right off the bat?

Chief Maxton: Good question part of the funding that came via the Community Improvement District, allows for six firefighters and our deputy chief position as well. Deputy Chief Mike Baxter, he's been with us for just a little bit over a year now. Yeah. And no. So all of those positions are fulfilled as promised. Even though we're gonna remain with three stations, it's gonna put more firefighters on the trucks in order for us to be able to bring more firefighters to the scene.

Funding

Whitney: You mentioned funding a little bit. How is this being funded, both the construction and these future firefighters you talked about?

Chief Maxton: Okay, so there's a few different components to it. Again,[00:19:00] primary goal, the least burden on our taxpayers, right. So we were able to do this through the City of De Soto's conversations with the State of Kansas and Johnson County Government through American Rescue Plan Act funding.

Chief Maxton: Johnson County allocated $7.5 million of county surplus funds towards this with the Community Improvement District. right now that's just Panasonic picking up the remainder, so $7.5 million from ARPA through Johnson County, and a little over $9 million for the station coming from Panasonic.

Chief Maxton: And then the other funding piece, is for the new aerial platform truck. That's almost fully funded by Panasonic. Their contribution was $1.8 million and the truck's right around $1.9 million plus loose equipment.

Whitney:

Chief Maxton: For the infrastructure development for the hard cost right now, it is [00:20:00] not impacting our taxpayers at all. Moving into a building that's going to be three times the size of this building. Yeah. Our utility costs are gonna be more. Yeah.there's gonna be a little of an impact, but nothing like the impact that would've cost us. The project would've to be bonded.

Chief Maxton: Mm-hmm. And that would have a significant impact on taxpayers raising... it would be another mill levy rate adjustment on a bond. So we have avoided that by taking the avenue taking a lot of work and a lot of parties involvement.

Chief Maxton: The seven positions that you talked about. Mm-hmm. The bulk of that is funded through a dollar amount that starts, at $700,000 per year. Mm-hmm. It has a 2% incremental adjuster each year for the life of the TIF.

Whitney: So workload might increase. Or calls might increase, but we're also getting operational costs to help with that.

Chief Maxton: Yes. And that's the main intent of it too. It's not just for [00:21:00] that area. You look at Flint. That's now the largest building in De Soto just a million square feet, but that's small in comparison to what's down the road at Panasonic, right?

Chief Maxton: Mm-hmm. So there's a lot of attention on that area. We're used to risk management. We talked about rotating our resources, trying to be there at the right time with the right resource. this just puts more emphasis on that. So it's not just for the Panasonic area.

Chief Maxton: Mm-hmm. Um, It also expands us into parts of the city of De Soto that not only have been recently annexed, but existing areas that have been annexed years ago. Now that station actually is closer to them within a five mile range.

Panasonic Specific Training

Chief Maxton: So you said it's not just for the development at Panasonic, But that development is a really important piece of this construction and the preparation that goes into it.

Whitney: So what have you guys done? What has your department done to prepare for this type of work? Is it different? Is it the same? Do you [00:22:00] treat these types of, you know, incidents are the same?

Chief Maxton: Any new development that comes into our district poses a different type of risk. Look at your 1 million square foot warehouse.

Chief Maxton: That adds risk, right? It's gonna add call volume with automatic alarms, what's gonna be stored in that building.

Chief Maxton: And then when we get into a higher risk facility depending on what they're producing, and Panasonic is a good example and we know that is, you know, a talking point in the community. There's a lot of unknowns but we can't lose sight of 75% of what's going to occur in that building is a manufacturing process.

Chief Maxton: That's not discounting the risk that's involved in it. I have learned a lot, especially from the parties involved in the design and construction from our partners in Storey County, Nevada, and Gigafactory One. The safety measures that we have learned about, it's, it's immense.

Chief Maxton: Whether that's fire suppression systems, it's [00:23:00] also a, a new thing in the fire service that we're getting acclimated to: thermal management detection. Mm-hmm. Things that are under automated watch at all times, especially if we're dealing with lithium ion containment. Containment is a big thing as well.

Chief Maxton: If we talk about the mega million square foot factory, it's not full of high risk materials throughout the entire building, so it's already naturally contained a little bit, and as what we learn with the thermal management systems, the suppression systems, what, what are we going to be walking into?

Chief Maxton: We've been working with Panasonic Emergency Management on muster points. How are the doors gonna be labeled? We've been taking tours throughout the construction process, the things that we learned from Gigafactory One, and like, okay, this makes much more sense here. this is what goes on in this area as well.

Chief Maxton: Transportation to and from the facility. [00:24:00] It's not just going to be what's in that facility, it's transportation.

Chief Maxton: We've also noticed that a, I can't say a slight increase, we've noticed a big increase in traffic volumes at certain times of the day. We totally understand the concerns. We're training regularly for it. We have access to one of the nation's subject matter experts on not only lithium ion batteries, but also energy storage.

Whitney: Yeah. Actually recently, I think your entire fire district, all staff. You had trainings at City Hall? Of course, I, my office is right next to so it's very interesting to hear some of the things like the way you respond to a fire is the way you respond to any fire and you get to the site assess the situation and there's always a process and you learn that process and I thought that was interesting.

Whitney: You, you

Chief Maxton: were actually learning. You, you, that's the only thing I heard you learn. Let her in,

Whitney: let her in. Hire me?

Libby: Was there anything else that we haven't talked [00:25:00] about that you want to mention or cover?

Whitney: Libby?

Rapid Fire

Libby: Just making sure that you got everything on your questions.

Whitney: Oh, no, the rest are just questions that Libby wanted to know.

Chief Maxton: We've already done Libby questions. Um,

Whitney: One more fun question. No, here's the question. I'll read it to you. Have you ever tried climbing up the fire pole?

Chief Maxton: Well, we don't have a fire pole.

Whitney: Have you ever tried climbing up? You've had a firefighter for so long, you've got have experience.

Chief Maxton: I've went down a fire pole. I've never tried to climb up a fire pole, unless it was on the jungle gym a "few" years ago.

Whitney: Okay, next one. I'm gonna read you all these words. Have you ever had to free somebody when they got stuck?

Whitney: Libby once got her (she wrote this in third person). Libby once got her head stuck between the railing posts -- of what? I don't know -- and almost had to call for help. "I was [00:26:00] like six."

Libby:

Whitney: She just wants to make sure that she is not. Weird. I Or this happens to other people. Right?

Chief Maxton: You said, I'm clarifying you were six.

Libby: I was younger.

Chief Maxton: This wasn't last year.

Libby: No.

Chief Maxton: I'm gonna have to think about that one a little bit. Some of them obviously, are more serious than others. There are ones that people are more afraid that they don't want to come to the fire station. They get their ring removed. I,

Whitney: I was just thinking that, thanks. I have done that. Yeah. Things like that. Yeah. Oh, oh, so you have gotten something? Yeah, when "I was like, 10."

Chief Maxton: But we, we have, we have had some serious ones with people entrapped in machinery. We train for those calls. It's tough to train for the same incident that happens twice because a lot of special thinking and equipment to free somebody in those situations.

Whitney: Like butter? Have you ever used butter?

Chief Maxton: Uh, We have never used butter. We you, we can use heat. We can use heat and cold, but

Whitney: I would recommend butter, [00:27:00]

Chief Maxton: Not butter, because that would probably lead to a complaint.

Whitney: Oh, well, at least their head was unstuck.

Whitney: Okay. Most useful tool on the truck that isn't actually firefighting gear?

Chief Maxton: Can I say a firefighter? Sure. It's corny, but

Chief Maxton: Okay. Firefighter would be my number one.

Chief Maxton: We carry extrication tools and those, those are getting kind of fancy as well. If you've ever been behind our Kill Creek station, we're not stockpiling a junkyard. Those are, those are training cars that we train regularly on.

Whitney: Okay. So

Whitney: before we wrap this up, where can people stay up to date on the project?

Chief Maxton: So McCown Gordon, our construction contractor, created a landing page. It's updated at least monthly. they try to get drone footage. That's kind of the cooler part.

Chief Maxton: When are you

Whitney: looking to have this thing done?

Chief Maxton: By the end of the year.

Chief Maxton: Occupied by the end of the year. So the timing of that. It's pretty good too because the new aerial platform truck, the plan [00:28:00] is to do a final inspection on that truck. It's being built in Snyder, Nebraska.

Whitney: Mm-hmm.

Chief Maxton: And we're gonna make that trip and do the final inspection on it.

Chief Maxton: And then that truck will be making an appearance in De Soto by Midsummer.

Whitney: Midsummer.

Closing - Hall Monitors

Chief Maxton: Well before we end even though we're in a fire station, this is still the Hall Monitors, so we're really nosy , of course. And we wanna know where you're headed next, what big projects you're doing. Obviously we heard about a huge project today, but is there anything else that uh, you're working on?

Chief Maxton: We have so many things going on and you know, I don't like the word busy.These are milestones. It's monumental to be able to add the firefighters that we're adding.

Chief Maxton: designing and building a new fire station and getting to open it and getting the aerial truck in one year. Don't you think that's enough?

Whitney: Listen, I had to ask, we just wanna know,

Libby: After we stop recording, are you gonna, are you gonna go and do a meeting. [00:29:00]

Chief Maxton: Uh, Yeah, I have a meeting. Yeah. I have a virtual meeting in 20 minutes.

Chief Maxton: Yeah, that's what we do.

Whitney: Virtual meetings become a fire chief

Chief Maxton: about the new fire station.

Whitney: Virtual meetings? Yeah, about the fire station. About the fire station. Big project.

Whitney: Well thank you very much Chief Maxton for sitting with us today.

Whitney: Ah, can't wait to see the new station by the end of the year.

Chief Maxton: You're welcome. Thanks for having me.

Libby: Bye.

Bloopers

 Okay. I can't, I'm gonna ask him questions backwards if, if he doesn't scoot up.. Are you speechless? Yeah. Can you move up a little bit? Your little little baby chair. Can you move this way? How far would you like me to?

Oh, well, so, oh my God, you're gonna break this chair.

Chief Maxton: You need to use a deeper voice.

Libby: You want me to this whole time? Don't use [00:30:00] that make you,

Chief Maxton: that'll make me uncomfortable.

 Beep. I know we need to get, okay. Get Sorry. Beep. Are they, is it gonna start beeping when they No,

But you're also getting some outdoor light. Yeah, because that's nothing beat and I'm not into photography, so I, he's an artist. Okay.

It's gonna wet my whistle. Hold on.

This guy's gonna be, oh, if he's in the video, does he have to buy everyone steak?

Firefighter: What did I, steak? I don't, they never was steak. Don't, yeah, you just got filmed.

Whitney: You just got filmed. you owe us food. It's ice- it's ice cream.

Chief Maxton: They misled you. That's because they wanted steak?

Firefighter: Yes. I wanted you to buy a steak.

Firefighter: Yeah, Chief.

Whitney: I began with Fire District 3.

Whitney: Can I say fire department in De Soto though?

Firefighter: You can say whatever you'd like to say.

Libby (2): Okay, so you started a while back, like we said, God, that's a terrible way to start this,

Whitney: I like how he's sinking lower and lower during this whole [00:31:00] thing. I appreciate you. Sitting in our tiny desk interview chairs. But it is like you falling..

Libby: Yeah. He started out taller than you. Now you guys are about the same height.

Whitney: I love, he's so uncomfortable.

Whitney: This chair just makes me feel smaller.

Chief Maxton: it's not very comfortable. Ugh.

Whitney: Well, we don't do this for comfort.

Chief Maxton: How did your dad get his arms stuck at Wendy's?

Whitney: Why do you look?

Chief Maxton: Because it wasn't a good close.

Whitney: I don't know what else to say.

Chief Maxton: You don't know what else to say.

Whitney: I don't know what, what's that supposed to mean?

Ep. #4: Summer Syllabus: De Soto Events, Rooted in Community

De Soto's Summer Events

June 5, 2025

Whitney: We're gonna just go with it - are we? - roll with the punches. No.

Libby: Make like bread and roll. We're not using that. I bet it'll end up in one of these clips.

Whitney: Hello and welcome back to The Hall Monitors Podcast. Today, Libby and I are both hosting and guest guesting each other. Usually, we are interviewing a guest who is the subject matter expert on a project. But today that is us.

Whitney: So not only do we plan communications for the City, but we also do community outreach and community events. And we wanted to give you a syllabus of what all we have going on this summer season.

Libby: Yes. I hope you enjoy the birds 'cause we are here at Riverfest where we're actually on what is usually a stage for our summer concerts, but we've turned it into our makeshift studio.

Whitney: Oh yeah, yeah. Even though we're at Riverfest Park, we still brought these old City Hall school chairs. So usually, when we have a guest, we like to do some intel and ask somebody they're related to if they have any good stories about our guest in elementary school or just in their school days.

Whitney: However, your mom did not respond on my Facebook message. So, Tracy, I have no dirt on- oh my gosh. I thought she just messaged me. Um, I have no dirt on Libby, so I don't have any good stories to ask you about.

Libby: Well, you know what is funny is that in high school, I,

Whitney: we don't even have to ask and we get a story.

Whitney: Yeah,

Libby: I'm ready. In high school I actually planned school dances and events within student council, and I really loved it. So when I decided to go Journalism, I was kind of sad I was missing out on that, but this job's just perfect for that.

Whitney: That's really funny. Yeah, same. I did all the prom and homecoming planning.

Whitney: Yeah, same. And then still in college. And then now community events. I mean doing communications but then also getting to do community events is a really fun mix.

Libby: If you plan dances and you're wondering what you'll do in the future, this is it.

Whitney: Now that you've been here for a year, which event is your favorite?

Libby: I would honestly say some of my favorite events happen here at Riverfest. Mm-hmm. It's a tie between the 4th of July concert that got rescheduled, and the Halloween at the 'Fest, that's one of my faves. Just because we didn't know what to expect, and it really relied on a lot of people coming together.

Whitney: And then it was a surprise last minute thing where we had a whole photo booth area that Bowlin Farms donated and set up - that was amazing. And then they donated like hundreds of pumpkins and gave them out for free, which was just awesome. That was such a cool event.

Whitney: You know what I liked, too? We've done a trick-or-treat around the, the "peanut," the vendor area. But we had never done it in the forested area.

Whitney: And if you had walked through our new trail that we're building as part of the Disc Golf Course that was, I thought was so cool being able to walk through the, the forest. Yeah. Yep.

Libby: Tying everything back into the school theme, if you had to give yourself a superlative specifically for summer events and communications, what would it be?

Whitney: I feel like the, the people we work with will absolutely agree with this. Something about unnecessarily changing the name of an event just to make sure it has the perfect fit. Like, we've had the 4th of July event, then we had Freedom at the 'Fest, and then this year because of our Rhythm & Roots, we have Red, White, Rhythm & Roots.

Whitney: The entire name has changed just to make it cute. I mean, so most likely to unnecessarily change an event name to make it cute.

Libby: The amount of thought that you put into themes and titles. One could call it overthinking, but I call it thoughtfulness.

Whitney: Did you just have that in your back pocket ready to

Libby: I did. Well, because there's, there's so much creativity.

Libby: Okay. So if you had to

Whitney: pick a superlative for yourself, what would it be?

Libby: Well, I usually am walking around the camera and I don't know what it is, but I scare people a lot just because I pop outta nowhere and they don't see me coming or hear me, I guess.

Libby: So I guess I would say most likely sneak out with a camera. That sounds weird. Most likely. Most likely to pop outta nowhere. Yeah. Most likely to pop outta nowhere with a camera. Yeah. Usually

Whitney: an extremely large camera too. It seems like. It's like you're so tiny and then the camera is so large. It is.

Whitney: It is very funny. It's funny and endearing,

Whitney: hope none of staff, none of you get to comment on this,

Rhythm & Roots

Whitney: by the way.

Libby: No. No. Okay. Speaking of trying to pick a perfect name with the Rhythm & Roots Market...

Libby: That was not only to a lot of thinking about the name, but all the thinking that went into making that market.

Whitney: Yeah, so I guess let's start, let's start from the beginning of how this happened and how we got here.

Whitney: Okay so, every year for at least, since 2019, we have done a Summer Concert Series in the park. So we have three to four concerts every summer, and that's usually once a month. And then this past year our City Council really urged us to do a farmer's market.

Whitney: And it all just happened, like everything just happened where we're looking at doing a farmer's market. We get contacted by Steve Bowlin from Bowlin Farms, And he said, I'm interested in helping you with the farmer's market if you'd like.

Whitney: And then he said, we need to- Of course! And then he was like, we need to do it weekly. We said, no way are we gonna do it weekly.And then we need to do it on Fridays. And we thought, whew. Um-

Libby: Cause we already have a lot of our stuff happening on Fridays.

Whitney: It sounded

Libby: crazy. It

Whitney: sounded crazy. And then he said, you know what else? It would be really great if you could add music and beer. Okay. That's just over the top, Steve. I hope you hear this.

Whitney: We also wanted to make sure that it was downtown. Yeah. Because we wanted to make sure people could get to it. And it was easily accessible. People could walk to it. There was a lot of parking. And we wanted to make sure it spanned the summer.

Whitney: And then it just so happens while we were wrapping things up, Stone Pillar Winery contacted us and said: 'Hey, we've got an entire summer calendar full of bands and food trucks already booked every single Friday from May to September.' It was just a perfect storm, and so we thought, yes let's mix the farmer's market

Whitney: and this concert series. Let's expand our Summer Concert Series and just wrap it all up into one City event. That's how we came up with Rhythm & Roots. We wanted to make sure it encompassed the music portion, obviously, but then also tied in roots, both the farmer's market aspect and then just roots of our community.

Whitney: And this came from, so maybe this is you out there during our community survey, we get a bunch of comments and one comment said something like: 'We just really appreciate the way that you have stuck to your community roots.' And for me, that just like, oh, like I loved that. And I, that's just something that we've been trying to do is making sure we're very intentional with sticking with community roots.

Whitney: So it felt kind of perfect to name it Rhythm & Roots.

Libby: Something else that ties along with the roots is– with the farmer's market, it's really important to us that everything is either handmade, hand grown, locally produced. So not only are we having our local people come out, but everything there is also locally rooted, which I think is cool. Yeah. Yeah.

Whitney: And that's so true. It goes back to the community aspect of it. Stone Pillar came in and said, we, we have this calendar of events, but then Force of Nature also stepped in and helped coordinate this and Bowlin Farms. And then just the way everyone has worked together, the Chamber of Commerce also was involved.

Whitney: Like, we obviously couldn't have done this without this group of people trying to plan it. It all happened very quickly. But there's a lot of community support for this. And then even the sponsors. So Panasonic Energy is a sponsor, Stone Pillar, Force of Nature, and then Great American Bank.

Libby: You know, actually I'll quote, I don't know who said it but in our initial meetings, we were trying to figure out how to make this possible. Someone said this event will be a success because we're all in it together.

Libby: Aw. And I know, but it's so true - with as many people supporting. Yeah. Both by showing up and with the logistics. It's very helpful. Yeah. Very cool.

Libby: And also something that with it being Downtown too that's cool, is the Common Consumption Area (CCA). Oh yeah. Which, if you've been down there, you may have enjoyed it. You get to buy a beer and walk around to all the different tents of vendors. And what I liked last time I went I was able to grab a refreshment and walk down to Bailey's. Yeah, that was really fun to be able to do some sip and shopping. So I definitely bought multiple things on that on trip. I did too. I did. It's, if you haven't been, there's some cool stuff going on Downtown.

Whitney: Yeah, so we've done well at the time of filming, we've had four events and they're, like I said, every Friday, but I don't know, it was, it has been very fun and the community has showed up, I mean, hundreds of people every single time. And I cannot wait to see what crowd we can bring down to Riverfest Park.

Whitney: Yes. So there are 21 events: 17 of them are in Downtown De Soto, and then four of them are at Riverfest. Three of them are just larger scale concerts. And then one of them is the 4th of July event.

Rhythm & Roots at Riverfest

Libby: The only difference is the Riverfest events, they're just a bigger scale. They have a lot more lights and sound and a stage and more food vendors. Our first one in June is National Act: Missouri. And then we're excited that, like you mentioned the 4th of July event, Red, White, Rhythm & Roots is another tongue twister, we always host our 4th of July event on the 4th of July.

Whitney: So same event as the normal concerts, but at 9:45pm we do our fireworks display. And then this year we have Stolen Winnebagos performing music for that event.

Whitney: That's exciting.

Libby: Also we can have alcohol sales now.

Whitney: So, yeah. One of the biggest differences between Downtown and the Riverfest Park events, you mentioned the Common Consumption Area. Downtown, you can buy a beer from one of the establishments that are selling.

Whitney: Currently we have three: That's Force of Nature, Stone Pillar, and then Bam Bam Brewing. And you can't bring outside alcohol in, but you can walk around the area, on the street, with your drink. But at Riverfest, we've always allowed people to bring their own coolers and their own drinks.

Whitney: But this year at least, is the first time since I've been here, we are allowing alcohol sales. So those same vendors that are Downtown are gonna come to Riverfest Park and they're gonna be on site for alcohol sales. So we've got, you know, beer, wine slushies. Very, Very exciting.

Libby: So, what do you recommend people to bring to both the Rhythm & Roots Market, Downtown and here? There a difference there?

Whitney: There is.

Whitney: So I would say at the Downtown events, bring a chair. You don't have to bring a chair, but that's the whole vibe is bringing your own chair and in sitting in front of the band. And then a reusable bag, of course, for our market. And then the Riverfest Park events, are those same things, but then I'd also bring a blanket and definitely bring bug spray.

Whitney: We do spray the parks before every event, but you know, we're on the river, so there's a lot of mosquitos. You could bring your own cooler, but we will have stuff on site. And then, you could also bring your own snacks but like I said, we'll have food vendors here, so you can always buy from them as well.

Movies in the Park

Whitney: So all our music should be family friendly at the concerts, and kids are obviously welcome, but we have, oh yeah, we have something specifically for kids, and that is the Movies at Miller.

Whitney: But you don't have to be a kid. No, you don't.

Libby: It's once a month. There's one in June, July, and August.

Libby: We will go to Miller Park and we actually rent this big blow up screen and people can come and watch a movie. This year we have Mufasa The Lion King,Inside Out 2, and Wicked.

Whitney: Which you still haven't seen yet. I

Libby: know. Listen, I need to, I need to sit

Whitney: down and invest. Well, on August 15th, you can sit down and invest.

Whitney: Ugh. I love Wicked. The biggest change this year, usually we say the movie starts at dark, but this is the first year we are just standardizing the time. It's going to be 8:30pm for all three Movies in the Park. In the middle of the summer, it's a little bit lighter, but it gets people home earlier and gets kids home to bed a little bit earlier. That was our goal. Yeah. Make sure if it was kid friendly it's not starting at 9pm and then you go home at 11pm.

Whitney: and then every movie we have free popcorn.

Libby: And it, honestly, it's one of my favorite parts 'cause there's something about the smell of popcorn, it just makes you want some.

Libby: Okay, so for the people who have not been to a Movie at Miller, or movie at the park, what is your go-to movie night setup?

Whitney: What do people need to bring?

Libby: Okay. You definitely need a lawn chair. I like to bring a soda And then if you wanna bring a snack, I honestly just. Eat bags of popcorn. Eat bags of popcorn.

Libby: And then I would say bug spray, just, you know, just for extra measure. We also spray Miller Park but maybe a jacket and a blanket, too. It actually gets kind of chilly at

Whitney: night.

Whitney: Yeah. I actually really like that, that people bring their giant blankets and all the kids pile a lot of blanket. I think that's cute.

Libby: It is really cute.

State of the City

Whitney: Okay so, we have a new event coming up and it is the State of the City. So usually the State of the City happens during a Chamber of Commerce luncheon.

Whitney: And us and the Mayor this year really wanted to give the opportunity to the community to come to see the State of the City. Just hear all the things that are happening in De Soto, what's to come, and then, we even have an interactive element for the Capital Improvement Projects.

Whitney: So help us decide what projects you want us to focus on for the next five years.

Whitney: It's just a really good opportunity for residents to see the big picture of all the things happening.

Whitney: Exactly.

Whitney: State of the City will be at the end of June

Pop-Ups, Partners, & Parks & Rec

Libby: which kind of leads us into more exciting things with the theme: Popups, Partners, and Parks & Rec.

Whitney: Yeah. June is a packed month.

Whitney: So let's just go through all the things that we've got coming up. Alright.

Libby: So let's start with some upcoming Parks & Rec events.

Aquatic Center

Whitney: The first couple are the classics at the Aquatics Center. We have two Splash N' Play nights. That's where teens and tweens can come– it's at 8pm-10pm It's $1, and they could just do a night swim, which is really fun.

Whitney: So that is June 14th and July 25th. And then at night for the 4th of July, we have the big event at Riverfest, but earlier in the day, there is a 4th of July party at the Aquatic Center and they play a bunch of games like Sharks and Minnows.

Whitney: They have splash contests, they have penny and pop tosses, and then they also have prize giveaways. And I've heard some of the prizes from the last couple years are pretty cool.

Touch-A-Truck

Whitney: And then we have another family favorite coming up, which is the Touch-A-Truck. So on June 7th, before the Mufasa Movie in the Park at night, we have the Touch-A-Truck event. Andwe'll have the Fire Department and the Sheriff's Office come and bring their vehicles. And then I know there's a school bus coming and KDOT, we also have construction equipment and we even have a surprise. So last year if you came, we had

Whitney: a Ninja Turtles truck. And this year we're having that and a car is themed truck. So that's, that's gonna be a really cool addition. Parents as Teachers are doing some kids crafts, Kona Ice will be there selling some snow cones.

Whitney: And then they're going to be doing a lawn game ribbon cutting, and they'll have prizes and giveaways. and that, that's on the other side of Miller Park.

LearNature Summer Camp - Government Day

Libby: And then in July we have the LearNature Summer Camp, which if we backtrack, that was my first week that I was here, and it was really fun, super cute. Gives the kids an opportunity to come in, see City Hall, learn how municipal government works.

Whitney: Yeah, it was so cute. They did a mock City Council meeting where they each gotta go up to the podium and tell the Mayor why they think a certain ice cream should be De Soto's official ice cream flavor. And then they got to participate in the voting process and decided what the ice cream flavor was and it was so cute.

Whitney: And I just love this partnership because not only is it with LearnNature, it's a free summer camp and the kids get to learn about city government. There's also a fun partnership with Chills,

Whitney: to provide ice cream and do a couple of free ice cream days right after the event. So that is very cool. So thank you Chills for, for doing that. Yes.

Libby: We'll see what they pick this year.

De Soto Days

Libby: All right. And then to end the summer, but probably our, you know, biggest partnership of the entire year is De Soto Days. So De Soto Days is ran by a committee, but the City sponsors it and supports it and sets up for the event. And that is happening Labor Day weekend. It is August 28th through August 30th.

Whitney: And we just wanted to give a shoutout to the De Soto Days Committee and put that on your calendars, because it's the 61st year and always adding new things, new entertainment, and they've been a great partner to work with.

Libby: I love seeing that downtown strip just turn into a carnival.

Libby: Yeah, it is so

Whitney: cool. Yeah, it's very cool.

Questions

Libby: We just went through all the summer events, but out of all the events this year, which one are you looking forward to most?

Whitney: So I don't have a date for this yet, but I think the one I'm most excited about is the Disc Golf Course Official Opening.

Whitney: We've been working on building this disc golf course for the last year and we're finally coming down to the last... probably two months of it. So we expect a soft opening at the end of July, and we're hoping for an official big event in August. And ju just so exciting to, to wrap it all together and do a player's tournament and, and have food and very excited for that event.

Whitney: So what about you?

Libby: Yeah, I think the event that I'm looking forward to most would have to be the 4th of July. Yeah. I

Whitney: just love it.

Whitney: That is cool. That is our, by far, our largest event. There's uh, 1200 people were here last year. Very cool atmosphere. Just, I know I've seen this on. On social media before people just comment about how it's such a community vibe. It feels like that night during the fourth, 4th of July. Yeah.

Libby: That, yeah. It was really cool to

Whitney: see last year. I, we have a really good fireworks show, I will say.

Libby: Yeah. I mean, I'd say it's pretty good.

Whitney: So now that you've been here for a year, what do you think is the most stressful event? You just give people a little behind the scenes of how we're feeling the day of.

Libby: It is funny, the Halloween event, which was one of my favorites Yeah.

Libby: Was the most stressful because we're working with a new trail, different parts Oh yeah. Of the trail, making sure everyone gets there. But yeah,

Whitney: most stressful, very rewarding.

Libby: But you were dressed up as Joy, so no stress allowed. I was Anxiety, so I was like, I can be anxious all I want.

Whitney: Yeah. God, that was cute.

Whitney: So we've talked a lot about all the events happening, but where can people find all the info for the events they want to go to?

Libby: First one would be the City website. Yep. desotoks.us Yep. Which we have the calendar, we have the community section where it shows all the community events.

Libby: Facebook e-newsletter, which comes out every two weeks.

Where Are You Headed?

Whitney: Okay. So, yep. It's kind of weird asking you this because we're both hall monitors, but we have to ask it. So where are you headed next, Libby? Either today or what big projects are you working on?

Libby: Um, Leaving from this, going back to do some social media planning and posting. And then preparing for State of the City, making sure we got all

Whitney: that.

Whitney: Where are you going next or what projects are you working on today?

Whitney: Today– State of the City planning. And I mentioned this earlier, but the Disc Golf Course. Yes. So wrapping that up now that Public Works is finishing the construction of it. Now it's our time to shine. And a big project I'm working on is the logo design and all of the things that go into naming the holes and just making it an experience.

Whitney: So I get to do all the fun stuff. After they've done all the hard work um,

Whitney: Thanks

Libby: for listening to this episode. If you've made it this far, comment a cool emoji. 'cause you're cool. What's a cool emoji? It's the sunglasses. Sunglasses that

Whitney: obviously shows that I'm not cool.

Libby: So we will see you here in a couple weeks on this stage.

Whitney: Not us personally.

Libby: Thanks for tuning in and we'll see you next time.

Whitney: See you next time.

Bloopers

Whitney: Is it going? Yeah, yeah,

Libby: So no guests today, it's just us and

Libby: it's just us.

Libby: Today is a little bit different because usually Libby or I are behind the camera, but mm mm we're not. We've decided to switch it up today. We're here both in front of the camera,

Libby: One of my favorite moments from planning an event. 'cause at the end of the night you're super tired. I have this picture of her with her Santa outfit on, peacing out at like 11pm from our Mayor Tree Lighting.

Whitney: So that's, do you admit that? You liked that outfit?

Libby: I liked the outfit. Don't get her started. She

Libby: That was not only to a lot of thinking about the name, but all the thinking that went into making that market. I get what you're

Whitney: doing.

Libby: Um,

Whitney: I'm picking up what you're putting down a while. 

Whitney: What are we doing? What are we doing? What are we doing? We're sweating. I'm sweating. Oh my God. I'm getting, getting so burn right now. I can feel it.

Libby: All right. Thanks for tuning in. That's it. Oh no, for real though. Okay. Well

Ep. #5: Hometown Hall Pass: State of the City

De Soto's 2025 State of the City Address

July 2, 2025

Good evening, everybody. Welcome. I'm Rick Walker, Mayor of De Soto, lifelong area resident, and I am excited to be here this evening. First I'd like to uh, recognize and welcome our City Council members that are here. I saw Rob, welcome. Kevin, thanks for coming. Our soon-to-be City Council person, Rhonda Patterson. Welcome, Rhonda. To our visiting elected officials, I saw the Sheriff here. Thank you for coming. Appreciate you taking the time out to be with us. Chief Maxton, thank you. Appreciate you being here.

But most importantly, all of you residents– thank you for taking the time to come here tonight. Appreciate it.

We're doing things a little differently this year;often, cities and counties, De Soto included, hold their annual addresses during the day at a Chamber of Commerce, uh, lunch event.

We do have an outstanding Chamber, and we have incredibly engaged members, but having this event exclusively for our businesses and during the day might exclude some of our residents.

Our city's rooted in a sense of community. Our residents are why De Soto is such a great place–warm and inviting–to live.

And it's only fitting that a conversation that we're having here tonight would include everyone. Last year we held an event in the evening that we called Hometown Hall, an event that we presented to provide updates. And,

so that's why this year, we're combining the two traditions. We are welcoming you to the Hometown Hall: State of the City Edition, and it's a chance for all of us to reflect, to connect, and to look ahead.

 Uh, but before I jump in, I'd like to recognize the team that put this together and the folks that are behind so much of what you're gonna hear about us uh, tonight.

We have Mike Brungardt, our City Administrator here. Uh, Brandon Mills, our Assistant City Administrator. Uh, hold your applause till the end please.

 And our Communications and Outreach team, Whitney Lange, uh, and Libby Johnson, who put this whole event together. Thank you all for the work that you do all year long.

Quality of Life

I don't know about all of you, but I am having a good time with all the new activities that we have to do here in De Soto. Uh, a Sunday brunch at Leo's. My weekly dinner at Burnt Ends. Craft beers at Force of Nature. The Friday nights at Rhythm and Roots downtown. Just last weekend, Monica and I saw a band from our youth.

 Missouri was playing down at Riverfest Park and, you know, their, their hit song debuted in 1977, I think '78, uh, back in our high school years. So, um, it's great times. At every event, I see a lot of familiar faces and I see, new faces, uh, meet new families and everyone keeps saying the same thing.

"There is a lot to do in De Soto these days."

Riding the Economic Current

And they're right. That energy, that feeling of things happening, it's not by chance, it's the result of intentional development. When we plan well, businesses take notice, and over the past year we've seen that firsthand. These are just some of the businesses that have chosen to open in De Soto in the last year. We have a new Pilates studio, restaurants, a Montessori school, a nail salon, an urgent care center, and a dental office. More than just amenities, they're a sign of growing confidence in De Soto as a place to invest.

And without that new development, we wouldn't have the new restaurants and we wouldn't be able to bring, the Friday nights to life with a weekly music and market series downtown.

In fact, the development has literally made this possible. And I would like to give a big thank you to Panasonic Energy, who's here tonight, for being the sponsor of the entire summer entertainment for the community through this Rhythm & Roots Market. Thank you, Panasonic.

 And without development, we certainly wouldn't have been able to lower property taxes. This year, for the first time in De Soto's history, we were able to significantly reduce the property tax burden– cutting our property tax bills by approximately one third. That translates to an average savings of $200 per homeowner.

In a year when property values rose roughly 7%, we're the only city in Johnson County that accomplished that. So, you know, I was just curious. So I, I look back at some of the old tax bills that I, uh, had, and I saw that because of the lower mill levy, I actually paid less in City property taxes last year than I did back in 2017, which was my first year as mayor.

 On top of that, we are able to launch a property tax relief program that offers eligible veterans and seniors even more support on their property tax bills. There's a lot more to do, and we're paying lower taxes, so it's a win-win-win.

Economic Drivers

But that's just the start of our good news. In 2022, we announced that De Soto would be home to the largest economic development project in Kansas history– the largest electric vehicle battery manufacturing facility in the world.

And on July 14th, three years to the very day later, the Panasonic Energy EV Battery manufacturing facility will officially open. They've already proven to be an outstanding community partner, and I look forward to the day when De Soto High grads can begin their careers there. That's when we'll see our investment pay off in the most meaningful way that young people choosing to stay and build lives here have that opportunity. But, Panasonic isn't the only big investment we've seen recently.

Our longtime neighbor and partner, Merck Animal Health, is expanding operations with an $895 million investment in the De Soto facility. That's right. Almost $1 billion invested in our community. Merck Animal Health is a global leader in its industry, and this represents the company's largest expansion to date.

It includes a 200,000 square foot expansion, 2,500 construction jobs, and 200 permanent jobs when the, uh, facility opens in 2030. I'd like to highlight and thank the former Mayor Dave Anderson for his foresight when he worked so hard to attract Merck here some 20 years ago.

Dave and, uh, Marge Morris, who was our, EDC person at the time, traveled to New Jersey to, uh, visit and recruit Merck and and were able to convince them that De Soto was the right community to expand their operation back in the early 2000s. His commitment to the progress has contributed significantly to our city's financial stability all these years, so thank you, Dave, for that.

Retail Sales

 Investments like that mean our city can invest in initiatives big and small. Ask any business owner in town and skyrocketing sales are great news for their bottom line. The presence of Panasonic is already making a tangible difference in our local economy, and we can see it in the numbers.

In 2022, De Soto's average retail sales hovered around $7.8 million per month, but as the number of Panasonic workers on site steadily climbed, so did local spending. In 2024, that monthly average jumped to $18.4 million, and in the first five months of 2025, we've already climbed to an average of $19.6 million per month.

This is real. And it's a measurable shift in activity. More people are eating at our restaurants, shopping in our stores, and investing in our community. It's a sign that development, done right, doesn't just bring new people in; it brings lasting benefits for those who are already here. That rising revenue strengthens our city's budgets and allows us to give back more through services, infrastructure, and even tax cuts.

Streets, Sidewalks, & Infrastructure

It means we can improve our streets. We're spending $1 million more on street maintenance this year than we did last year. We're also investing $70,000 in sidewalk upgrades, including long requested replacements in the downtown area, which are a priority that has consistently ranked high in community feedback.

 And speaking of downtown. Revitalization and beautification are priorities we hear about often from residents. As part of this year's Capital Improvement Plan process, one of the proposed projects the City is taking a closer look at is refreshing the downtown streetscape plan to keep pace with the energy and growth that is happening around it.

Infrastructure Upgrades

And we're not just touching up the surface, we're building a stronger city from the ground up. While sidewalk repairs and downtown beautification will catch your eye, work is happening beneath our feet and it's just as transformational. Over the past two years we've been overseeing a $249 million investment in our infrastructure.

An effort that is not always flashy, but it's absolutely foundational. We're talking about utility systems that serve thousands of residents, roads built to meet tomorrow's traffic and facilities designed for resilience and growth. So let's walk through a few of these upgrades.

Water Treatment Facility & New Water Tower

First, we have significantly upgraded the water treatment facility and a new water tower, which will increase capacity from 2 million gallons a day to 8 million gallons a day. This is a $54 million project that would normally have been covered by taxpayers, or not done at all, but instead it's funded by the Panasonic project.

Wastewater Treatment Plant

Our sewer treatment facility is doubling its capacity. This means we will be able to keep up with regulatory changes and meet future growing demands. The $83 million cost is also being funded by Panasonic.

103rd Street Complete

One major milestone from this past year was completing the full reconstruction of 103rd Street from Evening Star Road to the K-10 interchange. What was once a two-lane, rural road is now a four-lane divided roadway with curb and gutter, sidewalks, dedicated bike lanes built to support the traffic demands of our growing community, Panasonic, and Astra Enterprise Park.

Energy Way

As a symbol of that transformation, earlier this month, the City officially renamed a portion of 103rd Street to Energy Way. It's more than just a new name. It reflects De Soto's growing role and powering a clean energy future, creating new job opportunities, and advancing innovation through strong public-private partnerships.

With this change, De Soto proudly marks its place on the map and in the national conversation about sustainability and economic growth.

New Fire Station & Aerial Truck

At the northernmost point of Energy Way, where it meets newly constructed 99th Street, you'll see the future home of our new fire station. I'm very excited about this project.

The Northwest Consolidated Fire District is moving from an 80-year-old building downtown to a 20,000 square foot state-of-the-art facility that reflects both the growth of our city and the evolving needs of our first responders.

It features private bunk rooms, decontamination areas, improved ventilation and fitness and training spaces– all designed to support the health and wellbeing of our firefighters.

It also includes our district's first ever aerial fire truck and adds seven new full-time firefighter positions– expanding our ability to serve the community with faster, more capable response. The station is a major step forward and a powerful reminder that while our city grows, our commitment to safety and service grows right along with it.

Housing

And who is that new fire station supporting? More neighbors for one, because as we invest in public safety, we're also seeing a surge in new housing across De Soto. The growth is no accident. It's a result of years of planning and investment that's now coming to life through new neighborhoods, taking shape across the city.

Here's a snapshot of the develop developments that are underway and those that are on the horizon. We currently have four active housing developments under construction, and what excites me the most is the variety of housing types that are being built. That kind of mix is essential for a healthy, growing community.

And here's a quick snapshot:

The Residences is at Lexington is a $75 million apartment complex by Alcove Development, and it's well underway at 90th & Lexington. When it's complete, it will include 382 units across 13 buildings with a mix of studio one, two, and three bedroom apartments. Six of those buildings, totaling 136 units, are expected to be finished by the end of 2025, with the rest following in 2026.

Eagle Creek Town Homes, at the northeast corner of Lexington & Ottawa,MDP partners is adding 21 medium density units across four new town home buildings.

The Residences is at Eagle Creek All-In Enterprises is building 27 new single family homes at 87th & Penner Avenue.

Anderson Estates– Prairie Field Development is constructing 10 duplexes, 20 units in total, at west 85th Street & Kickapoo Street.

And we've got some exciting projects in the pipeline as well. The Rio Apartments, on the former public works site and water plant downtown, Alcove is planning a 59-unit apartment complex with rooftop views overlooking the Kansas River.

Flint Meadows East is an 80-acre development by Flint Development just west of Clearview City and across from the Panasonic plant. And it will include 207 single family lots and 125 townhome lots.

 And two more projects have zoning approval, but no finalized site plans just yet.

And those include Flint Meadows West– a 248-unit duplex community near the Flint Commerce Center and Limestone Development at the northwest corner of Kill Creek & K-10, which includes 78 single family homes and 350 apartments.

But altogether, we're looking at more than 1,500 new housing units coming to De Soto and bringing more options, more opportunities, and more folks to call our community home.

Community Engagement

And with more homes comes more neighbors. And with more neighbors comes even greater responsibility to keep everyone informed, connected, and engaged. That's why our approach to communication has grown right here alongside our city.

We've made it a priority to meet people where they are, whether that's online or at community events, or through tools that make City information easier than ever to access. Our 2024 Community Survey showed that residents appreciate the City's efforts to communicate, and they're eager for even more ways to stay connected.

That feedback has already inspired several new tools and platforms aimed at making information easier to access, understand, and act on. We have a new feature called the Hall Monitors, a monthly podcast by our comms team that gives you the story behind the story, diving into the people, the projects, and the decisions that are shaping De Soto, all while paying homage to the history of City Hall. We also rolled out the Mayor's Minute, which is a quick, bi-weekly audio update breaking down our City Council meetings in plain language. Many of our older residents have told me they appreciate being able to hear the updates in a format that works better for them.

And, for answers anytime, day or night, there's a new website chatbot– ' Ask Abbott' named after early De Soto Pioneer and Free State advocate, Major James B. Abbott. It's a modern way to serve our residents while honoring our past.

And while this isn't a brand new platform, I do wanna highlight the City's bi-weekly email newsletter. It's where people turn for timely updates on road closures, events, safety alerts and more, and earlier this year, it even won a national award for government communications.

Public Safety

 Timely updates matter, and that's especially true when it comes to safety. In partnership with the Johnson County Sheriff's Office, we've expanded law enforcement services to meet the needs of our growing community.

Our contract provides 24-7 patrol coverage, including dedicated deputy, assigned specifically to De Soto. And this past year we added a power shift deputy during peak hours, bringing an additional 40 hours of coverage each week when it's needed most. This upgrade was fully funded through the Panasonic Development Agreement, which contributes $100,000 annually toward policing and road maintenance.

The results speak for themselves. Between 2023 and 2024, citations and warnings nearly doubled, reflecting increased visibility and proactive patrols, particularly along K-10. Meanwhile, crimes against property and society declined and traffic related injury accidents remain low. Combined with our new fire station, these events make one thing clear. In De Soto, public safety isn't just a priority; it's a promise.

Schools

And of course, our schools remain a top priority, a cornerstone of our community. The USD 232 continues to rank among the very best in the state of Kansas. In fact, it was once again named the number two school district in Kansas. And in Johnson County, number two with the best teachers for students.

The district also stands out nationally, placing in the top 4% of all school districts across the United States. And it achieved all of this while reducing its total mill levy to the lowest rate in at least 31 years. That's outstanding leadership and smart stewardship of public resources.

Outdoor Recreation

I am also incredibly excited about the expanded opportunities for outdoor recreation taking shape throughout our community.

Thanks to Sunflower Redevelopment Group, Johnson County Parks and Recreation will soon add 2,000 acres of new parkland right here in De Soto– surrounding Astra Enterprise Park. Once it's complete Kill Creek Park will be the largest park in Johnson County.

More exciting Kill Creek Park News is that the County is working on an extension of the trail that connects Kill Creek Park all the way to 95th Street. And that should be complete by the end of 2026.

A new 10-foot wide paved trail is currently under construction along the east side of Sunflower Road, from 91st Street to 103rd Street. This trail will connect neighborhoods, open up safer pedestrian and bike access south of K-10, and create a key north-south link on the west side of our town.

While it will benefit nearby residents, including those in the historically disconnected areas like Clearview City, it's designed for the entire community to enjoy. This project is funded by a $1.06 million Transportation Alternatives Program Grant with a 20% match from the City of De Soto.

At Riverfest Park, we've kicked off an updated master planning process to reflect new ideas and new needs, and we're looking at ways to take a fresh look at and reimagine a bolder park, one that more closely aligns with our residents' needs.

And one of the most exciting new additions to Riverfest Park is the disc golf course.

A long-envisioned project, nearly 20 years in the making, this full-size, 18-hole course features dual baskets at every hole, tee pad names inspired by historical moments in De Soto's past. Even better. This project is entirely funded through sponsorship sponsorships and is expected to open next month. Thank you to all of our sponsors who have made this course a reality.

Community Center

While outdoor parks and trails remain a cornerstone of De Soto's quality of life, we've heard loud and clear that residents want more year-round options for fitness, wellness, and gathering. That's why we've taken the first steps toward exploring a new multi-purpose community center. Earlier this year, the City conducted a community center feasibility study, and the results are in: the study confirmed a strong interest in a facility that could offer amenities such as fitness areas, childcare facilities, walking tracks, and aquatic spaces. Now, with clear direction from residents, we're beginning the next phase– exploring funding options. This summer, we'll take that conversation deeper by engaging the community In potential payment and funding plans– an important step in determining what's possible and how we can bring this vision to life in a way that supports health, recreation, and connection for years to come.

City Hall Remodel

And speaking of the center of the community, our City Hall has been just that for more than a century. Originally built in 1918 as a schoolhouse, this building has seen De Soto through generations of change. While its charm and historical character remain, decades of use, especially upstairs, have taken their toll. That's why we're in the middle of a major renovation project. This remodel is restoring and modernizing the space while preserving the legacy it represents. When it's complete, City Hall will be more accessible, more functional, more usable, and more welcoming for residents, visitors, and staff alike. The space has always served the people of De Soto, and this project ensures that it will continue to do so for generations to come.

Southwest Growth Area

And just as we're investing in our historic core, we're also actively planning for what's ahead, especially in the Southwest Growth Area. Earlier this year, the City completed the Southwest Growth Area study, which is a major step in shaping De Soto's future. This long range planning effort focuses on the land south of K-10 and west of Sunflower Road.

It lays out a thoughtful approach for how we grow. The study outlines everything from housing opportunities and transportation networks to potential school sites and public infrastructure. And now we're turning our attention to funding strategies and implementation, so that when the time comes, we're ready to grow in a way that's responsible, connected, and community driven.

Transportation Connection

Supporting all the plan growth, particularly in the Southwest growth area and Astra Enterprise Park, requires smart, coordinated infrastructure planning. And that's where the Johnson County Transportation Connection Plan comes in. This study focuses on reconnecting key arterial roads that were previously blocked off by the Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant, and improving long range transportation links throughout that region. The plan is evaluating how to reestablish important east-west and north-south corridors between De Soto, Eudora, Olathe, Gardner, and the surrounding areas, while ensuring Astra Enterprise Park and developments are seamlessly integrated into the County's broader mobility network.

Because we build with connection in mind, from roads to relationships, we build a community that's ready for what's next.

All Eyes on Us

And while we're building for the future, people are paying attention. From regional news features to national and global industry coverage, De Soto has been seen in a whole new light. Whether it's a Fox 4 live Zip Trip broadcast, KSHB's weekly Powering Change development coverage, or highlights of our Rhythm and Roots Market, our story is getting out there. That kind of visibility matters. It brings pride, it attracts opportunity, and it reinforces what we already know: De Soto is becoming a city to watch. And while the headlines are exciting, the real story is what's happening on the ground, in our neighborhoods, on our streets, and in the everyday momentum that we're building together.

Community

 I want to ask, how many of you have been out to the Rhythm and Roots Market on a Friday night?

Good to see. If not, mark your calendars; there's one Friday night. It's a great way to unwind, grab some food, enjoy some live music, shop from local farmers, bakers, and makers.

You can actually see the impact on this graphic. Those spikes in foot traffic? That's Friday night in De Soto. Events like this, just don't fill up the calendar; they're bringing people together. It's a reminder that what we're doing is working: investing in places and programs that build connections.

That's why we're calling it Rhythm and Roots. The rhythm is the activity, the movement, the music, and the momentum we create when we come together. And the roots? While a play on the roots from produce, those are the things that ground us. They're our history, our values, and the bonds that we share as a community.

Because when we stay rooted in who we are, we make room to grow in ways that are thoughtful, connected, and uniquely De Soto.

With that, I'd like to thank you all for being here, and for being part of that growth.

Ep. #6: The Big Project Binder - The 3-ring rundown of De Soto’s Capital Improvement Projects

De Soto's 2025 Capital Improvement Plan Update

August 4, 2025

Pre-Intro

Libby: We're ready. We're ready.

Mike: Very good.

Libby: We're ready, and I have my vest on.

Mike: Okay. I didn't get a vest.

Libby: Ooh, we have an extra one. Should we? Yeah. Let's pause and get one.

Mike: Yeah. Yeah. I want a vest. Yeah.

Libby: Yeah.

Welcome

Mike: I'm Libby Johnson, the Communications and Outreach Coordinator, and I'm joined by City Administrator Mike Brungardt. That's right. Mike Brungardt, special guest. That's right.

Well, thanks for having me. I was wondering when I was going to get the invitation to be the subject of a Hall Monitor podcast, and the day has come.

Libby: Yeah, so, can you do a little bit of an introduction on what you do 'cause,

Mike: Oh, what I do?

Libby: You do a lot of things.

Mike: I'm not prepared to answer any questions about my roles or responsibilities really, if we could just avoid that.

Libby: How about how long have you worked for the City?

Mike: Okay. Yeah. So, I started for the City in 2000 as the City Engineer. And I was the City Engineer until 2016 when I was promoted to the City Administrator position.

So I've been the City Administrator since then. The easiest way to explain it is sort of the CEO of the City's operations uh, overseeing day-to-day operations and ensuring that the policy directives of the City Council are carried out in terms of budget administration and day-to-day activities of the City.

Libby: So you're basically the principal.

Mike: If you wanna put it in an education context. Yeah, the principal.

Libby: You know, we like to do that. That's good.

A fun fact about you that I wanted to mention is that you are a Swifty. Because I love that fact about you.

Mike: Oh, I'm a big Swifty. Yeah.

 So then you're familiar with her many eras? Her Eras tour.

Yeah I've, I've heard of an Eras tour,

Libby: Well, I don't know if you've noticed, but we like to do some sleuthing, get some intel from people that are close to you.

Mike: Okay? Yeah.

Libby: So, why don't you tell us a little bit about your Love Story Era.

Mike: Did you talk to my wife about this?

Libby: Um. She said you're quite a romantic.

Mike: Well, I try to hide that.

Libby: Okay.

Mike: The real question is how did you two meet back in high school?

We met in Mrs. Giles algebra classat Lawrence High School.And yeah, what happened was I convinced her to skip class one afternoon to go shopping or something, and the next day we came back in and she got called back to the principal's office.

She got detention for six weeks or something, and I, inexplicably, had no consequences at all. They didn't catch me. Our desks were literally right next to one another. So that's how our relationship started.

Libby: Mm-hmm. Hall monitor would not approve of that.

Mike: No. That's right. That's right.

Libby: No.

Mike: Jill brought that up, that it was romantic that she got detention and I didn't?

This is probably not the story she was thinking about then.

Libby: Alright, well I think that's enough Taylor Swift talk, back to what we're here for.

Capital Improvement Plan Overview

Libby: To start off, can you explain what a CIP is?

Mike: Well, in the simplest terms, a Capital Improvements Program is a long-term budgeting document– to identify what types of larger public improvements we want to implement over a certain timeframe and how we're gonna pay for those.

And so comparing it to a usual household budget or a municipal budget, that's sort of an annual thing we go through each year and look at it, we try to take a longer view of, you know, a multi-year approach to implementing larger projects. So, usually in a Capital Improvements Program, you'll have projects that take multiple years to plan and design and implement.

And you'll have to fund those efforts over many years. So usually it's things in the hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars that you just couldn't work into an annual budget.

Um, So it's, it's waterline replacements, it's roadway enhancements or reconstructions and things like that. So we try to overhaul, take a fresh look about every five years or so, but then each year you do need to adjust as any budget does.

You need to adjust timelines and funding expectations as well. The really important part of that is to take a longer view because a lot of these bigger projects takes multiple years to implement, and more importantly, we need outside funding sources to implement many of these projects. Applying for a grant, getting a grant, getting that program through– whatever it's a State or Federal or regional process– it's important to have this plan looking ahead five or maybe even 10 years, so that you can pursue those outside funding sources.

Libby: So what is, the biggest difference between CIP and City projects? Or how would you describe that difference?

Mike: Yeah, so, well, they're all kind of City projects, right? These are all projects that are either infrastructure or programs or quality of life, parks and rec, things that the City is directly in charge of. So, the biggest difference between what you would include in an annual budget, and something you need to really program, mostly it's scale, you know? Mm-hmm. It's, It's how much it's gonna cost and how long it's gonna take. Annual budgets end at the end of each year– with the CIP that fund bridges years. And so the main difference is that, yeah, it's the scale of the endeavor.

Capital Improvement Plan Projects

Libby: That makes sense. You talked about some of the different projects that it includes. Let's talk about some examples of previous projects just to kind of give an idea.

Mike: Okay. Yeah.

Libby: One of them– the construction.

Mike: So we're, we're, we're going through it right now. Yeah. Aren't we? Yeah, yeah, Yeah. Well, and it's, you know, it's in the CIP mm-hmm. it still is. Mm-hmm. Um, the, the City Hall remodel is something that we've been thinking about for three or four years already. You know, there's a lot thought goes into planning that. And really about a year and a half ago, it initiated the architectural design and started those discussions with the City Council about how much it would cost. And so now we're in the middle of construction. And we hope to be in the new office spaces here by the end of the year.

Other projects uh, that we've done in the past um, that are complete– Ottawa Street, north of 82nd Street, you know, the reconstruction of that down to Riverfest Park. it was over a million dollar project there. We'd known for a while that we wanted to provide better pedestrian access from downtown down to the park area. We'd known that the railroad crossing wasn't the best, that there were some drainage issues that needed to be fixed. And so process took a couple years to implement that. And of course, planning and designing, permitting. There's a year of that. Mm-hmm. And then construction's about another year.

The other big ones we have going on right now, you know, just in terms of magnitude, are the biggest ever for the City. The Water Treatment Plant expansion, this Wastewater Treatment Plant expansion, and some water infrastructure extensions as well as sewer. About a $100 million represented there. Those are being fully funded by Panasonic, and are a direct result of Panasonic, but won't just serve Panasonic. There's additional capacity built in both the water and the sewer projects, and those were done on a very accelerated timeframe. And really helped out by the upfront funding of those. Normally if the City had to fund something like that, we would have at least a year of discussions about water and sewer rates and about, you know, City's debt financing structure and the debt service levels. There would be very hard and very, you know, very lengthy decision points to make before we even started. We were able to completely bypass that whole process with Panasonic's commitment in our community to fully fund all those. So we were able to hit the ground running.

The water treatment facility has been up and running for about a month now. The sewer treatment we're within a couple of months of bringing that online too.

That's a very quick, yeah, that was about 18 months and usually. A $100 million worth of improvements takes a lot longer to implement than that.

Libby: Yeah.

Mike: Had Panasonic never happened and we had to. We would've had to expand the sewer treatment plant. We would've had to modernize the water treatment facility. We would've had to have done raw water diversion improvements over time. It would've taken 20 years, you know, to program all those things out.

That would've been something that would've been in the Capital Improvement Plan for 20 years, likely.

Libby: Yeah.

Mike: You know, there was also the roadway improvements. Lexington Avenue you know, south of K-10 all the way out to Evening Star Road– KDOT actually initiated that.

That's about $80 million worth of public improvements. Johnson County chipped in some funding as well. We had in our Capital Improvement Program before then about $2 million to improve that roadway. Wasn't anything near the scope and scale of what was done. Mm-hmm. So we contributed about $2 million to that project of capital improvement money.

Of course what ended up happening was far in excess of anything that we had contemplated. We were thinking a pavement enhancement and some guardrail improvements on the two lane road - Yeah - that was there before. So that was kind of programmed into the Capital Improvement Program as well.

CIP Overhaul

Mike: How often is it updated and why are we looking at it right now?

Yeah, so it's good to completely overhaul a plan like this every five years or so.

You know, you don't have to, there's no set rule on when you have to overhaul it. You could look at these annual reviews as a complete overhaul and some cities do, but, um. You know, the time felt right to take a completely new, fresh look at the CIP for all the reasons that we know, we're taking a fresh look at the comprehensive land use plan of the City.

We're taking a fresh look atthe zoningand planning uh, efforts, you know, with future growth at hand - Mm-hmm - with Southwest Growth Area Plan, the City's Strategic Plan, the strategic guidance of the Council– we've overhauled that within the last year. So it just only made sense to do a capital improvement overhaul as well.

Libby: How do these projects get on the, like roster of how did they get chosen and how do they make the cut?

Mike: Yeah. So every city's a little different in how they do that.

You know what we've done in the past is just start off with some engagement of not only staff and elected officials, but the community in general. And we just ask what, you know, just give us a laundry list, give us a wish list of what you would like to see.

So the things that come to the top of mind for us um, community center you know, that ranks very highly on public opinion surveys, even before we started the CIP overhaul. It's been a focus of those discussions and so it was an obvious candidate for inclusion and, you know, consideration of a long-term plan.

Another thing are traffic enhancements, traffic improvements. We've just done a corridor study on 83rd street coming through town. And as it turns into Lexington Avenue, we know traffic will increase on that. We know that's a demand that's gonna happen in the future. So that's another obvious one, but then what you often do get are quality of life items, you know, trails, parks, amenities, soccer fields, playgrounds, swimming pools, those sorts of things are often what comes out of those. Then the next tier under that would be what you might get from department heads specifically from the utility departments or, you know, if you have a fire department or if you have a police department, they will identify a need for a new facility or for enhancements to their existing facilities.

From an infrastructure standpoint, you know, we have people who know the condition of, the systems we have in place and we know that we're gonna have to do some enhancements there just from a maintenance standpoint.

And so that's kind of the next level. And really those are the ones we've identified several of them as mandatory. Yeah. You know, we're gonna, we absolutely must invest from from a holistic standpoint in this infrastructure that we have in the ground. You know, we have hundreds of miles of water and sewer pipe that we know need maintained and replaced over time. Those are the sort of mandatory projects that you start to build the pyramid with. And then you look at your funding level, then you go to the next step. Yeah. And you just see how much your dollar can stretch and how much you can do.

Libby: Yeah. I'm like, oh, you're just telling me to come up with all these things that I want in the community. But then you're like, okay, I guess I need the road to hold up and I Yeah. Yeah. Those things that aren't as fun. Yeah. But you know what's not fun is some big infrastructure issue that...

Mike: Well, so right now we're doing, we're redoing City Hall, and they're working on the water line service and we've been at City Hall without water all morning.

Yeah. And you don't realize how important it is till you don't have it.

So, um, it is interesting, and it is interesting too to see the difference in prices, and as you were saying, you have the bottom of the pyramid and then is that when the pricing kind of goes into play as well?

Well, pricing's always in play. Okay. For everything. And, you know, the, the landscape on costs of public improvements is dramatic. Has been for a long time.

Stuff just costs a lot more Oh my gosh. Than it used to. It's expensive to maintain infrastructure.

Libby: Well, I mean, that, that was one of the things I took away from starting here. I was like, oh my gosh, things cost a lot more than you'd think. They would add a couple zeros to the end, and that's closer to the number than you thought it would be.

Mike: Yeah. Yeah. It's probably the most difficult part of compiling a capital... You know, it's easy to identify what we need. It's easy to identify what we want. It's easy to kind of prioritize those things. It's hard to fund things but it's even harder to have a really accurate knowledge about what they're actually gonna cost when you go to implement them, because some of these are two or three years out.

Right now, actually this month we're in this process where we've gotten the wishlist, we've gotten the laundry list, we've compiled that list, we kind of have an idea about what all those things are gonna cost, and right now what we're doing is we're seeking input from the public about where their priorities are.

Libby: Mm-hmm.

Mike: Uh, in terms of general areas of investment, but also specific projects that are on the list. That's up on our website now.

So we're gonna take that input back to the Council and then prioritize that list. At the same time, we're trying to decide how much money we think we're going to have to implement some of these. Uh, So it kind of, that relates to the budget and revenue projections going forward, its impact on property tax, and other services that we can or can't provide or want to provide. Yep. So, so that's the other piece of it. And so it's sort of all a puzzle right now. I think we have all the puzzle pieces on the table right now, and we'll be putting them together here in the next several months.

Grants, Partners, & Outside Funding Sources

Libby: How do partners or grants factor in to these decisions?

Mike: Yeah, well, very heavily . Most big infrastructure projects have multiple funding sources. It's very rare that you just issue bonds or have one funding source. So, what we like to do is look to the programs that we know about. Grants. Some of those are annual, ongoing programs. So there's funding programs through the County.

There's funding programs through the regional planning authority– MidAmerica Regional Council. There's State programs through Department of Transportation and Department of Health and Environment, and then there's Federal program grants that come out every couple years or so. There's also, you know, the private sector if if a particular capital improvement would benefit an adjacent property, in terms of future economic development, we like to engage with that discussion as well and be able to capitalize on common goals. We have a goal of, we need to improve this road.

Um, And maybe the adjacent property owners would like it improved for their own benefit or for the benefit of future economic development. So, there's local partners involved as well.

Libby: Yeah, so it's like you have the list, you can kind of identify, okay, here's some potential partners,

 Yeah. 'Cause you don't wanna pick something and then be like, oh crap, who's gonna pay for this? Right.

Mike: Right. Well, and it's it's sort of part of the reason why things take so long.

Yeah. You know, I talked about the Panasonic example where, you know, 24 months ago, we had no idea we're gonna do a $100 million dollars worth of stuff. Well, now it's done. That two years, that is, that's no time. It never happens.

Normally, it would take two years to figure out, to get the stakeholders involved, to get outside funding sources identified, to have these discussions about rates and impacts and all this before you even start really into the actual construction of the project. Yeah. And so when general public hears that the City's thinking about improving 83rd Street?

Yeah, we are. We have been for a couple years now. But it's still at least a couple years out because we have to have the rough plan of what we want to do, the rough idea how much it's gonna cost. Then we have to engage with these outside funding sources.

So it's really that's the time commitment to it. But it's really the reason why it's so important to do long range planning, really in all aspects of municipal government. You have to long range plan for land use, for staffing requirements, you have to have a long range holistic plan about utility asset management, pipes in the ground and pumps and stuff, roadway improvements.

For all these reasons, it's important to look long term because these pipelines, they take a while. So within our current CIP, we have several projects that are of this long-term variety. We calling 'em kind of pipeline projects. Actually, we, you know, the 83rd street improvements, it's more than $40 million if we fully improve 83rd street all the way through town.

That'll happen in phases, but it's a pipeline. So we do need to spend some money– planning for that, writing for grants, seeking outside funding sources. We have to take some time to do that, Yeah, in the next couple years. So that money's budgeted. We're not gonna budget $40 million in five years for it, but we do have to get started.

Same thing with the community center. It's a big investment. You know, it's, you know, it's in the tens of millions of dollars. We've got to spend some money now, design, maybe some land acquisition potentially, some preliminary design. So, you have to get these things in the pipeline.

Libby: Yeah. Yeah, definitely.

Community Feedback

Libby: What role does the community play in giving feedback on the CIP list. Yeah. And what they want?

Mike: Right. So we're in the phase of the CIP planning process that we're asking for a specific community input on a number of different aspects.

If you go to the City's website, there's a 2025 CIP page there. You'll see the projects that we've identified. There's a really nice interactive map. You can see where they are and generally what the scope of the projects will be. And then there's a survey that asks for the community's opinion on a certain category of those.

Explained a little bit before about how some of the projects related to maintenance and upkeep of infrastructure are kind of mandatory, so we're not really asking about those, but we are asking about this next level of projects that might be prioritized by the community or might not be.

Mm-hmm. So it's things like park improvements and trails, and the community center is on there, things like that. We'll be compiling those results and then taking them back to the Council for further consideration.

Libby: Yeah, I took a peek at the, listen, there's some pretty cool ones on there.

I'm like, I, if I could pick, I would just choose all of them. Yeah. And that's the point. It's,

Mike: Well, we wish we could do all of them.

Libby: Right. Which is why people need to weigh in a little bit.

Mike: That's right. Let's hear it.

Libby: Is there one project that you're personally excited to see in the next few years?

Mike: I tell you the new water and sewer plants they're out of the public eye.

You don't see them driving by anywhere, but they're pretty impressive when you take a tour. And I can't wait to be able to show people around the new water treatment facility, just absolute state-of-the-art facility there. I'm just so, happy and pleased for our water plant operators. You know, they've been operating the Sunflower water treatment facility for more than 20 years. And that facility was built originally in the 1940s and upgraded in the seventies.

And it was old technology, and they've done a great job at operating that over the years. But the new state of the art I'm excited for that Mm-hmm for those uh, for our operators there.

And the water tower too.

If you've driven by Panasonic, or even by K-10, you can see this concrete column that rises up a couple hundred feet. And we're currently waiting on the steel crew to come and weld up the actual tank on top of that. So, that'll be a very visible, probably the most visible public improvement project you could ever have is a big 2 million gallon water tank uh, sticking up there in the air. Yeah. So that'll be exciting to see as well.

Libby:

Outro

Libby: So, we like to ask everybody, what they're doing next, where they're off to, because we're The Hall Monitors, so we have to know everything.

Mike: Oh, what am I doing?

Libby: Yeah, where are you headed off to?

Mike: Right now? I'm gonna go back to my office and close the door and turn off the lights.

So people think I'm not there and I'm gonna get some work done.

Libby: Alright. Honestly, it works pretty well. 'cause I'll look over and I'm like, oh, he's, I don't know where he is at.

Mike: It's tricky. No, you know the thing. So, my office has a motion sensitive light switch and if I'm behind my monitors too long, the lights will go off on me.

So that's how I know when to get up and get some steps in. And

Libby: That's a good indication.

Mike: Yeah. It's better than a tracker watch. Alright. Nice job, Libby. You didn't need to be nervous at all.

Libby: Oh gosh. Thank you.

Mike: You're making me nervous, but...

Libby: Seriously, thank you for tuning in and if you made it this far, congrats.

Mike: Yeah, thanks for sticking with us

Libby: There's been some, it's been some fun stuff. You know,

Mike: We'll see how the editing comes out. I do have some editorial oversight.

Do I not? No. Oh, okay. 

Bloopers

Libby: We used the lab mics.

Mike: You running this through a high pass filter or what?

Do I get a Wawa pedal?

Libby: I don't think your hair looks bad.

Mike: Well, I mean, that's what you think. Good. But reality is not always what you think.

So you're gonna tell me when you start, right? There's none of this. Oh. Clip in these initial little unguarded moments into the Hall Monitor podcast as a way to try to personalize me.

Whitney: You need help with that.

Mike: Yeah, we do need help.

Libby: I did hate having those on my face.

Mike: What did you have on your face?

Libby: Badges. Badges.

We have no badges.

Mike: And so now I'm afraid to post anything on TikTok for fear that these 25,000 followers will see what I'm up to and think they're not really interested in that.

They want to see a plasma gun.

Libby: He's a loser now.

Mike: Yeah.

Libby: Well,

Mike: just a little boring. I wouldn't say loser. It's a little rough.

Libby: Sorry.

Mike: Less exciting than the plasma gun.

Libby: There are wolves at the door. As usual. Does, I mean like. well, kind of, it's, I don't, golly, what the heck just happened.

Mike: You're making me nervous, Libby.