Fw: Citizen Advisory Council (CAC)

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From: Valley Park <valleyparkniatopeka@gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2025 1:13 AM
To: Henry McClure <mcre13@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: Citizen Advisory Council (CAC)

Henry, 

I strongly urge you to fill out an at-large member application for the Citizen Advisory Council. With the City's new website, it is difficult to find information and the content and usability is not necessarily improved. Once I find the form I will follow up with you. In the meantime, you may find the following information helpful in this endeavor:

In accordance with TMC 2.25.040 (2) At-Large Members. The three at-large members of the CAC shall be appointed by the Mayor, with confirmation by the City Council. At-large members shall not serve beyond the end of their appointed three-year term and, upon expiration of such term, the position shall remain vacant until a successor is appointed.

One at-large member must come from a low to moderate income (LMI) area not represented by a certified NIA or be an LMI resident of Topeka who does not reside within the boundaries of a certified NIA or hold office in a certified NIA.

Two at-large members must come from disciplines such as construction trades, architecture, appraising, real estate sales, public finance, mortgage lending, legal, real estate development, residential property management, commercial banking, construction material suppliers, fundraising, neighborhood planning, zoning, engineering, health or education.

To apply/renew for a mayoral appointment, please follow the Mayoral Appointment Process.

Susan W. McClacherty

2024-2025 Citizen Advisory Council Chair

On Fri, Nov 14, 2025 at 11:24 AM Henry McClure <mcre13@gmail.com> wrote:

Thanks for reaching out. I appreciate you thinking of me for this. I agree there's a lot of room for improvement with CAC's approach to housing and economic development.

A few initial thoughts:

• We need clearer, outcome-based metrics for all housing programs.
• The DREAMS project scoring rubric should be more transparent and better aligned with actual neighborhood needs.
• At-large positions should be filled with people who have practical, on-the-ground experience.

Happy to discuss ideas further or get more involved - just let me know what next steps you'd like from me.

Henry McClure

Time kills deals

785-383-9994

www.henrymcclure.live

On Thu, Nov 13, 2025 at 12:35 PM Valley Park wrote:

Hi Henry, 

Please consider using your talents to assist the CAC membership when it comes to addressing housing and economic development. There is value in having an experienced person, like yourself, providing neighborhood leaders with suggestions on how to move forward with promoting their neighborhoods, addressing affordable housing, and improving economic development. CAC membership votes on programs that use Community Development Block Grants. The membership needs people who can work toward changing the current outcomes of such programs. There needs to be improved measures for each housing program as well as the scoring rubric of the DREAMS projects. What are your thoughts to help change the status quo?

Mayor Padilla never filled all three at-large positions to be appointed by the mayor despite requests to do so. See Topeka Municipal Code 2.25.040 for more details. One at-large member must come from a low to moderate income (LMI) area not represented by a certified Neighborhood Improvement Association. Two at-large members must come from disciplines such as construction trades, architecture, appraising, real estate sales, public finance, mortgage lending, legal, real estate development, residential property management, commercial banking, construction material suppliers, fundraising, neighborhood planning, zoning, engineering, health or education.

There is a NIA representative position on the Land Bank Board of Trustees and the current person, ShaMecha King Simms, is stepping down at the end of 2025. Today, I sent out a soliciting email to the CAC membership and NIA President and Vice Presidents in an attempt to fill the position prior to 2026.

Sandra Batts is the representative on the Topeka Housing Authority Review Committee.

Susan W. McClacherty

2024-2025 Citizen Advisory Council Chair