WCEDC Members Present: Mayor Ted Stolfus-Chairperson, Mayor Carol Marinovich, Mayor Woody Berry, Mary Ryan

Others Present: Bob Evans, Marcia Ashford, George Powell, Boris Sztorch, Weldon Padgett, Pat Brune, Marla Newman, Rick Yarnell, Susan Rohrer, Jackie Hampton

Mayor Stolfus called the meeting to order at 10:35 a.m. and introductions were conducted.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

The minutes of the March 17, 1999, meeting were unanimously approved by a motion from Mayor Marinovich and second by Mayor Berry.

CITIZENS PLANNING COMMITTEE UPDATE

A. Housing Subcommittee: Urban Land Institute Report- Pat Brune, chair of the Citizens Planning Committee (CPC), introduced Marla Newman from the Kansas City, Kansas Local Initiative Support Corporation (LISC). Ms. Newman explained that a group from the Urban Land Institute arrived on February 28, 1999, to assess the community and provide recommendations to develop a housing strategy for Kansas City, Kansas. A draft report from ULI has been prepared and previewed. The final report should be ready sometime in June for distribution. Ms. Newman said that this was a dynamic process, which strongly focused on the northeast district. One of the recommendations was to create a unified northeast district. If this works, the model can be replicated throughout the county. Meetings will be held with a consultant, the CPC and LISC to start the process.

Mayor Marinovich stated that she hoped that they weren't reinventing the wheel. She said that several neighborhoods in the county - Rosedale, Central Avenue Business District, Leavenworth Road Association, etc. - have been very successful in developing strong neighborhoods and that they might want to look at models that already work when developing a plan for the northeast district.

Ms. Newman explained that this process was not completed just for the northeast district, which is a unique area, but for the whole community. She said the consultant will help bring the community together and that the goal is to make this an inclusive and sharing process, and not just focus on the northeast district.

Mayor Marinovich was also concerned about keeping all neighborhoods connected and not isolating any one community. She was concerned as to how to get the northeast district involved in other parts of the community.

Ms. Newman stated that currently, the northeast district does feel isolated and that this process will hopefully help to eliminate this.

Ms. Brune said that the CPC will make sure that all players work together.

B. Self-Image Committee - Rick Yarnell provided a report on the Self-Image Committee. He said that he has served on this committee for over 2 years trying to implement a plan, that by the year 2000, Wyandotte County would be recognized as the center of ethnic diversity in the Midwest. He stated that in the past, Wyandotte County's self image has been negative. The focus on ethnic diversity has helped to shift the negative image to a positive one. He explained three ways that the committee is marketing the ethnic diversity campaign.

He distributed flyers that were developed to highlight ethnic festivals in Wyandotte County. These flyers were included in the Kansas City Star the last week in April. The flyers will be placed at the tourist information center on I-70. It was noted that copies should also be distributed to all libraries in the county and the three City Halls.

Next, he said that there will be an ad campaign for each festival event placed in the Kansas City Star in the neighborhood news section on Thursdays. The group is also developing a 10-12 minute video, which highlights the current ethnic events in Wyandotte County. They hope to have this completed by June. Another suggestion for publicity has been to run 30-60 second TV ads just before a particular event.

The third marketing project has been to develop a slogan, which is "Wyandotte County - Where Your Heritage Has A Home." The KCK Area Chamber of Commerce is working to place welcome signs at the entrances to the city, and the Self-Image Committee would like to include the slogan on the bottom portion of the signs. He said there hasn't been much movement on this project lately.

Mr. Yarnell explained that the CPC has typically jump started projects and then handed them off to a group or groups to take over. Therefore, once the marketing campaign is in place for the festivals, the committee will ask festival personnel to coordinate their own event.

Mayor Marinovich suggested that the Self-Image Committee discuss the marketing campaign to the Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) and maybe they could help with the coordination.

Ms. Brune said that they have talked with the CVB about the campaign and it seems like a natural partnership. When completed, the video will be shown to the CVB.

Mayor Marinovich stated that the Unified Government is also looking at signage. She said that the signage needs to be improved so you know when you are in Kansas City, Kansas.

C. Report on Transportation Plan - Ms. Brune provided a brief update on the transportation plan. The CPC is partnering with the KCK Area Chamber of Commerce to hold meetings to discuss what the big transportation issue looks like and to develop a plan for Wyandotte County. At the last meeting, Marcia Bernard from the Unified Government briefed them on the expansion of bus lines. Another discussion item was reformulated gas.

Ms. Brune stated that the transportation committee is concerned with getting enough citizen input on this issue. One study that was generated only involved input from 14 citizens in the county, and the committee is concerned that this may not be a good representation. Ms. Brune said that focus groups may need to be formed to gather more citizen involvement. The group is also centering their research on statistical information generated by the Mid-America Regional Council. One concern of this group is that they stay connected with the metro-wide transportation issue.

Mayor Marinovich said that a focus group meeting was held two years ago, and suggested that Marcia Bernard be contacted about the outcome of that meeting. She also added that we need to be careful about Wyandotte County's interest regionally, such as financing and reverse commuting. We need to protect business interest in our community so that we are not bussing people out of our community and hurting businesses. Also, suburban areas need to look at mixed income housing for the work force in their community.

Boris Sztorch stated that we need to become more proactive with the Wyandotte County delegation of legislators regarding the transportation issue, and suggested that a designated group discuss our needs with them.

REPORT ON NAITCP 5TH MAYORS SUMMIT

Susan Rohrer reported on the NAITCP's 5th Mayors Summit to be held September 22-25, 1999, at the Reardon Center. Four communities are hosting the event and working very well together - Unified Government, St. Joseph, City of Belton/Cass County, Overland Park. Four hundred rooms have been reserved in Overland Park hotels. They are expecting 500 people in attendance.

The event schedule is as follows:

Wednesday, September 22 - Host reception at James P. Davis Hall at Wyandotte County Lake Park.
Thursday, September 23 - NAITCP Summit at the Reardon Center. Three forums have been scheduled - academic, business and government. The group will be taken to Station Casino in the evening.
Friday, September 24 - Mayors Summit at Reardon Center. City of Belton hosting evening event.
Saturday, September 25 - Closing event will be held at the Marriott in Overland Park. The Bank of Belton is hosting an evening event.

She stated that transportation is a major factor in planning this event, and that Overland Park and Johnson County are arranging transportation needs. A summit web page has been set up.

Mayor Stolfus inquired if all the money from registration fees is going through the WCEDC account. Ms. Rohrer responded yes, and that she and Bob Evans will be working with Boris Sztorch to deposit the money and pay bills.

REQUEST FOR FUNDING FROM MIDWEST RESEARCH INSTITUTE

The board reviewed a letter from W. Ronald Sagraves, senior economist from the Midwest Research Institute, that proposed the development of a more in-depth prototype trade directory system using Wyandotte County as an example. The cost to conduct this project would be $12,000.

Mayor Stolfus explained that Mr. Sagraves had a prior commitment and could not attend the meeting to make a presentation to the board. Mayor Stolfus recommended that this item be tabled until Mr. Sagraves is available for a presentation. Mayor Berry made a motion to table this item until Mr. Sagraves is available to make a presentation. Mayor Marinovich seconded the motion, and it was unanimously approved. Mayor Stolfus said that he will draft a letter to Mr. Sagraves regarding today's action.

TREASURER'S REPORT

Boris Sztorch presented the treasurer's report as of April 30, 1999. The balance of the Wyandot Development Corporation account is $64,836.29, which reconciles with the bank statement. He pointed out that there is a $3.00 difference between the bank statement and the cash accounts. A check register was provided which showed activity since January 1999.

He reported that several checks had been written during May resulting in a balance of $227.00 in the regular checking account. He requested that money be transferred from the money market account into the regular checking account. Mayor Stolfus suggested that he determine what is needed and transfer that amount into the checking account.

Mayor Marinovich made a motion to approve the treasurer's report and directed Mr. Sztorch to transfer funds from the money market account into the regular checking account. Mayor Berry seconded the motion, and it was unanimously approved.

OTHER BUSINESS

A. National Civic League 50th Anniversary, Philadelphia, June 24-26, 1999 - Mayor Stolfus announced that the All-America City celebration will be held in Philadelphia during June 24-26. He was under the impression that All-America City alumni were going to be invited to display their logos at this event. However, he has not received good information that this is actually planned. If it was planned, he was going to request that a couple of representatives be sent to this event.

Mayor Marinovich said that she was invited to make a presentation at the Institute of Urban Design at their cost. Her presentation topic was improving the entranceways into the City of Kansas City, Kansas. She said she got a lot of good ideas that will be very beneficial to the planning process.

B. Future Agenda Items - Ms. Rohrer said that she will continue to provide updates on the NAITCP summit.

She also reported that a metropolitan leadership task force is being formed, which will hold a summit in February focusing on education, neighborhoods and transportation. There are over 40 leadership organizations in the metro area.

C. July 21, 1999 Meeting Host - City of Edwardsville.

The meeting adjourned at 11:28 p.m.

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