[{"_1":2,"_87":-5,"_88":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,75],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},"mediaId",6042960,"mediaKeyId","3654611-46cf30e464ded552b88d20c602615a62","parentId",3654611,"title","City Manager Layton previews May 13 Wichita City Council agenda; highlights $5M IRB, housing sales and park funding","audioSeconds",678,"startMs",12000,"endMs",690000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=3654611-46cf30e464ded552b88d20c602615a62&start=12&end=690","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/3654611-46cf30e464ded552b88d20c602615a62/thumbnail_12000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6042960/Wichita-City/Sedgwick-County/Kansas/City-Manager-Layton-previews-May-13-Wichita-City-Council-agenda-highlights-5M-IRB-housing-sales-and-park-funding","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6042960-969beae39e48614a95fcdedc214c9f0d/orig.mp4?Expires=1771139046&Signature=CNgH7QLgmZt5Sqe0WIPAm4nt7vXm6YkNZa5aJLmxeSpiEbmVYNK5QFaAeJxMJ1sqcgKK8KXYfRfJNGNBRjyYDLMdthwKAEVUk1mn5kCTSF0MtwRJAN7nVMjV3hPigV53RH1XNtxpd8LjGAPUrDlHCOdkJVHuKuadx3Ikr-s-Eu~Xx6YndIxGhRWFM~~lxMOjV-tL3JJaaj5sqih-zEM~8Bmc9A3mFG7pf3Zg8W~y3uewVfDBIOPDxUSN0FwXY3aaT33QEJ~ekwOcy0rUExwZ2tP9BN~2rYvJAwNO5IF~kxBwbMd2ePTC-kixb5xYna8737yuuUVkuG0kTHG0QyoACg__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","City Council of Wichita, KS","date","2025-05-10T04:52:43Z","article","City Manager Layton on May 13 previewed items on the Wichita City Council agenda, outlining a set of proposed actions and hearings for the council’s consideration and clarifying that these were agenda previews rather than final council decisions.

Layton said unfinished business would include a proposed $5,000,000 industrial revenue bond (IRB) tied to renovation of about 40,000 square feet of warehouse and manufacturing space on West Harry. He said the project had been amended from an earlier version and that the revised plan did not use the previously considered spec-warehouse program.

Layton listed other items that the council would consider: receipt and filing of actuarial reports for the city’s two pension systems; approval of the sale of 47 single-family homes formerly owned by the public housing authority and an allocation of $1,800,000 from the affordable housing fund to assist with rehabilitation of those homes; approval of $425,000 for improvements to O.J. Watson Park; and approval of a water reuse alternatives study contract and budget.

He said the agenda would include a 10% increase in planning-department application fees and scheduling of a public hearing for a community improvement district (CID) for a redevelopment project at Lincoln and Broadway; a council member noted that the CID’s 10% set-aside for public benefits was earmarked for the State Firefighter Memorial at Lincoln Park. The city manager described airport-related items including a proposed 85,000-square-foot hangar and educational facility lease with WSU Tech at Jabara Field and lease agreements to build two hangars at Jabara with Clemens Aviation.

Layton also previewed proposed contracts for on-call engineering services at the airport, approval of continued grant funding for an overdose-analyst position in the police department, funding for the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, and an amendment to a Continuum of Care agreement to reflect HUD funding for homelessness services. He said managers were finalizing names for several appointments that would be forwarded to the mayor and county chair for consideration.

Layton repeatedly framed these items as the council agenda for the May 13 meeting; the remarks were a preview and did not record formal motions or votes on the items. One council member announced during the meeting that they would abstain from a future vote on an item on the airport agenda, and another said they would still vote despite being on the board because they had not voted at the board level.

Separately during the meeting the mayor shared a video produced by the nonprofit Heartland Forward that named Wichita as one of three “secret sauce” cities. The mayor said no taxpayer dollars funded the production and that the designation highlighted Wichita’s entrepreneurship, aviation legacy and local innovations. The video included statements about Wichita’s biomedical campus and other economic-development points; those statements were presented in the video and attributed to the video’s interviewees rather than adopted by the council as findings.

No formal council votes on the items previewed by the city manager were recorded in the meeting transcript provided; Layton’s remarks should be understood as an agenda summary and staff briefing rather than final council action.","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","Wichita City Council Agenda Review May 9, 2025","oneSentenceSummary","City Manager Layton summarized items scheduled for the May 13 Wichita City Council meeting, including a proposed $5 million IRB for West Harry renovation, the sale of 47 former public-housing homes with $1.8 million for rehabilitation, park and airport projects, and several hearings and contracts to be considered.","taxTitle","Wichita City, Sedgwick County, Kansas","taxId",3735,"location","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":76,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":77,"_41":78,"_43":79,"_45":80,"_47":81,"_49":82,"_51":83,"_53":84,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":85,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":86,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},6042966,"Wichita presents first-year update on Cultural Arts Strategic Plan, cites funding gains and gaps",1748,645000,2393000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=3654611-46cf30e464ded552b88d20c602615a62&start=645&end=2393","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/3654611-46cf30e464ded552b88d20c602615a62/thumbnail_645000.jpg","/articles/6042966/Wichita-City/Sedgwick-County/Kansas/Wichita-presents-first-year-update-on-Cultural-Arts-Strategic-Plan-cites-funding-gains-and-gaps","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6042966-3d23d056a46c787a79b33637fa7f95bb/orig.mp4?Expires=1771139046&Signature=aww1lhz08TasiuecfEeoZwU4ZBd6Lek1i~p~8ttmGDUb4Jn4F4vG7pd5b7kMqYEJvAgOme0o60u3~geC882q6iDV4Njis-4FgIq4wVisNa-44VzlpNr9980pK59pFa4x6MNStqJ91urnsz3ZBWVtuQ~fSHA3vEOg7noIRyhotMnvyO55GMc1zONbnjZHSFBa3Fe-6H2pXPWCZD2uwS87TNXYK~ON8KKfyByX6vlFF2x4dikEVQbxSEkow0htQrt9W4xTRtU9f-x5yEE4cjhjVC5m7BJe00vpl~0yQaMFj2dlRPywRGzwIR9NRPmpMhu1sH7iknOskJwfjJxRAT4AmQ__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","City cultural services staff on May 13 told the Wichita City Council they are one year into a five-year Cultural Arts Strategic Plan and have established baseline data, expanded grant participation and documented economic impact — while warning that unstable public funding and a shortage of affordable performance and rehearsal space remain pressing constraints.

Lindsay, a cultural services presenter, said the division’s “mission is to ensure everyone has equitable access to cultural arts opportunities by activating and strengthening the creative potential of our community.” That mission framed the update on goals including access, facility needs, engagement with underserved populations, creation of new work and partnership development.

Jesse Cozza, division of arts and cultural services, said the department overhauled its grant application process and increased outreach, producing a sharp rise in applications: “We were able to increase that to about 26 applications in ’24, and now we’re up to 39 applications in 2025,” he said. Cozza told the council the city received a $75,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts that is being distributed as three $25,000 Arts Thrive awards.

Staff said 38 organizations received city funding in 2024 and that 13 of those provided ZIP-code-level participation data used to set baselines. Based on reporting from funded organizations, staff reported roughly 1.4 million total attendances in 2024, about 100,000 school-age children served, roughly 150,000 interactions with underserved audience members, and an estimated economic impact of $102,000,000 tied to about $5,000,000 in city grant support. The report also cited 1,400 local jobs supported and approximately 1,300 paid opportunities for local artists in the reporting cohort.

On public art, staff said the city issued nine RFQs in 2024 and received 536 applications. Of the public-art commissions paid last year, 58% were awarded to Wichita-area artists; staff said roughly $678,000 of about $1,000,000 in public-art spending went to local artists. The division also reported it has six works currently in restoration and that the city is using 10% of the percent-for-art fund for maintenance for the first time.

Staff identified several areas for improvement: the stability of public funding at state and federal levels, growing demand for grants without a matching expansion of the funding pool, and a persistent shortage of affordable performance and rehearsal spaces and studio space. The Kansas Arts Commission and national-level funding shifts were cited as sources of uncertainty for local organizations.

The division said it will require more consistent funding to expand grant award sizes and meet growing demand. Staff also described ongoing work to develop a “public artist toolkit” to help local artists compete in national selection processes and to include ZIP-code tracking in future grant contracts to measure geographic equity.

The 2026 cultural funding program will be tiered into three levels (cultural partner, cultural anchor and cultural institution) with initial placement based on an organization’s age and history of city funding; movement between tiers will be possible based on performance measures, staff said. Staff also said grant applications for the next cycle open May 9 and close Aug. 4.

Council members thanked staff for the outreach and for collecting stories and metrics that illustrate cultural programs’ local economic impacts. No formal council action on the strategic plan was recorded during the update; the presentation was an annual status report and discussion.","City cultural services staff told the Wichita City Council they set baseline data in year one of a five-year Cultural Arts Strategic Plan, reported growth in grant applications and economic impact, and flagged funding instability and space shortages as key challenges.","actionData","errors"]

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City Manager Layton previews May 13 Wichita City Council agenda; highlights $5M IRB, housing sales and park funding

Wichita presents first-year update on Cultural Arts Strategic Plan, cites funding gains and gaps