City Council - Special Meeting

I'll call the special session for today to order. We will begin with, as we always do, with an invocation by Councilwoman Landis and the Pledge of Allegiance by Councilman Freeman.

You please rise. All right.

Let's bow our heads. Gracious God,

We thank you for the opportunity to serve this community. We ask for steady hands and clear minds as we carry out tonight's budget ordinances. Help us steward resources wisely, serve with integrity, and seek unity in our decisions. We also remember neighbors still recovering from the flood. Bring them comfort, strength, and hope as cleanup and rebuilding continues. Amen.

All right, bud? Yeah, how you doing? Hey, Ollie.

Hey.

Very good. We welcome all of you out there to the budget hearings meeting. And we'll ask the clerk to call the roll.

Councilor Turner. Councilor Harless. Councilor Dixon. I'm here. Councilor Freeman.

Here.

Councilor Wagner. Here. Councilor Landers. Here. Councilor Cole. Here. Councilor Newman. Yo. President Graham.

Present. Let the record show that we have a quorum and we can conduct business this evening. The first order of business will be to open a public hearing on the ordinance we're about to hear about tonight. So I do declare that open at 5.32. And I ask for Mr. Willem. Mayor, excuse me.

Okay, thank you. Good evening, council. Good evening, members of the public. We just have a small presentation on the 2027 budget proposal that we went through with you over a couple of evenings with the department heads back in August. So yeah, the purpose of this ordinance, of course, is to set appropriations for next year for those funds requiring appropriation and establishing the tax rates related to controlled funds. One of my primary jobs is to estimate revenue for the city and see what is available to use in a given budget. In this case, we use the following. The assessed value of growth quotient for property taxes, What was estimated to be $43.3 million is allowed to increase by 6% as allowed for by the legislature and the DLGF. We know that from experience and what we're estimating with the DLGF is actually estimating as well is that recent circuit breaker losses due to tax caps are estimated to be 38%. That's similar to prior years. uh... state source revenue such as motor vehicle highway distributions local road street distributions cigarette tax uh... alcohol tax and the like are all estimated by the dlgf uh... and i've used their estimates other local sources of revenue, such as interest earnings and other things, has been based on prior experience, kind of an averaging, or if there's a little bit of a trend, take that into consideration. It looks like interest earnings are probably going to be pretty stable over the next 12 months, maybe not changing one way or the other too much. And this is what the revenue looks like on a pie chart, including what we lose in tax caps. That piece of, that wedge of the pie that is in the red dotted lines there, that is what we lose approximately to circuit breaker, or what we call tax caps again. And then here's what it will look like once that tax, that is taken out. You can see the property taxes will be nearly half of our revenue, local income tax, another quarter of our revenue for our general fund. And I might point out, those being the top two sources of revenue, those two sources of revenue, not for next year, we don't have to worry, but that's something to be thinking about as we move forward because they are the target of Senate Bill 1. So those are our top two sources and that, so we continue to monitor that and legislative changes. Payment in lieu of taxes and trash pickup fees round out the top four areas of revenue. The fifth one then would be motor vehicle highway excise tax. Those are the top five sources of revenue. That sliver that's in green, other revenue, that includes interest. and other miscellaneous type revenues that go into the general fund like commercial vehicle excise tax and financial institution tax and the like. So this is what the budget looks like that we are proposing for the general fund. You can see the public safety again makes up the lion's share of this budget. Trash pickup is another large source of that budget. You can see $5.6 million there. The mayor outlined when he met with you in August what he wanted to do there. That's for paving parks and other important infrastructure and related projects. And then you can see there is the balance, about a fourth of the general fund is other things such as local funding for cats, street lighting, and some of the other things including the city council and the clerk and the like. The other funds, when we put all of the other funds together and put them in a pie chart, except the general fund, it looks like this. There's a pretty significant amount budgeted for economic development. That's based on a plan that will be set by the redevelopment commission later this year and posted online. The, I do want to point out the, of course, there's, again, a large amount dedicated to public safety, a $15.3 million amount that's there, but then there's another $15 million piece of this pie that is for street paving and infrastructure. 10 million of that, 15 million is to reappropriate the proceeds of the sanitary district bond that you approved to sell a couple of years ago. They're still working through those proceeds and using it in terms of the long-term control plan. So that's a part of that. But you can see those are the three primary areas of that, of the other funds. Because you've approved the budgets that have been proposed by the mayor over the last several years, we've been able to increase commitments to police and fire and public safety for salaries, equipment, and the like. We've also been able to make a greater investment in parks. I think you've probably seen some of the playground equipment and that out there and different amenities that are very nice. This is an actual spending over the last five years for paving. I thought it would be kind of good to throw this in here. This shows that there's an average over five years of a little over $4 million being spent on paving. And that would include the amount, any amounts that we would get from the state for the 50-50 program. And that $4 million is very similar to what we've got in this budget. excluding anything that we might get from the state. Outstanding debt has continued to be retired over time. Of course, it could go up. There might be a good infrastructure project or something that's worthwhile pursuing. You can see that, in fact, it bumped up there a little bit in 25, and that has to do with the sanitary district bond I mentioned a little bit ago that you folks approved and that allows us to do important improvements related to long-term control plan. So kind of some highlights at the end. The budget will provide funds for needed services and maintain sound balances at the same time. It includes $4 million for paving projects, just in city money. And then if we're able to secure something from the state, that would just be on top of that. It does include $2.6 million for park and other projects. It includes a 5% raise for all full-time non-union employees and elected officials. It does increase longevity for non-union employees to $150 per year, subject to a cap, and that would be going up from $100 per year, which it's been at that for some time, and inflation kind of tends to erode those things over time. It holds the line on health insurance premiums, and that's like for the 11th year in a row, so we're very fortunate to be in that position. It maintains funding to provide fire equipment. It maintains funding for essential police equipment and vehicle replacements. And there are lines within the budget within the Board of Works and municipal development in the slot budget to continue to make funding for unsafe structures and elimination of blight. As I mentioned in a previous slide, it does provide $1.6 million for local matching to serve for CATS to help us secure the federal funds related to fund CATS operations. In addition to that, but what is not mentioned here is there is an additional amount in the Board of Works budget to provide any 20% match that would be necessary for any capital improvements related to CATS. And so in summary, the budget is based on sound revenue projections. It's either balanced or funded for all funds. We do expect to end 2026 and 2027 with a positive general fund balance that'll cover roughly 41% of recurring budgeted expenditures. And it does maintain positive balances in other funds as we work toward trying to keep that somewhere in the 50% range of the subsequent budget. That's a nice place to be in. So that is kind of a summary of it, and if you have any questions, anyone, I'll be glad to try to answer those.

Can you go back to the one that had the matching projects for the cats, I think it was, the 1.6 million?

Yes, I'm sorry, I can go back.

You said something, and I think I just misheard you, so I wanted to...

That's okay. If I, if I, oh, gee, boy, I'm really missing this. All right, hold on.

We went all the way back.

We went all the way back. I went too far. All right. Just go slow.

Like the second to last slide, I think. It is. What did you say about the 1.6 for the local matching?

There is a 1.6 million budgeted for in the Board of Works budget. That has been in varying amounts, increasing over time, but it's been in the Board of Works budget every year for several years. that allows you to secure federal funds that match 50-50. So if we put in $1.6 million, we will get $1.6 million in federal funds that we can write a grant for.

You said something about 20%, though.

Yes, that's probably where you're confused. In addition to that, there's a possibility of securing a capital grant, like for bus replacement or other nifty lifts or what have you, and the matching for that is 20%. Where the operations is 50%, the matching for the capitalist grants are 20%. And 80% federal.

And we have that? That would just come out of the $1.6 million?

No, it's $80,000. It's in addition to the $1.6 million, and it also is in line in the Board of Works budget.

Thank you.

Dr. Willett. Doug, all right, please.

When I first got into this game, funding for police and fire amounted to about 67% of the general fund budget. What is that number this year? That is... Stayed relatively constant.

It's very close to that. You can see that it's very close to that. It is certainly well over half. It probably looks like there that it's probably about 60%. The one thing that has come along since maybe your time of being on this side of the equation is the Public Safety Lit Fund. Right. And that has actually allowed and enabled us to do more in public safety and so you know collectively we are investing more in that you can see for both police and fire over time but that does not include pensions no this well it this would include what we have to send to the public employees retirement fund for the current police and fire members because they're in the 77 Fund and that's part of their salaries and wages. And that amount, by the way, has gone from, in recent years, 18 to 18.5 percent to 20.3 percent to 23.3 percent, and next year it will be 26.5 percent. So this is going to be a little bit of a headwind that we're going to have to work through in the future. I mean, it may affect... uh some other areas uh you know uh as we go forward just depending on how revenue holds up and how we're affected by senate bill one does the senate bill one eliminate the public safety lit it does that's what i thought right we we're in it's really in flux right now of where we'll be at when it comes to um lit exactly. We've got some estimates. Right now it would be a pretty devastating loss. We continue to hope that AIM, which is our organization, Accelerate Indiana Municipalities, We hope they'll continue to lobby and work on our behalf. We're going through the must process, which is required. That's non-binding, however, and we're not sure what that will produce. But, yeah, we are working with the different parties to try to maintain what we have.

Go ahead. Sorry.

No, I was just going to say thank you.

Maybe this is not the time for this, but will it – assuming it goes away, but it will then end up in our hands differently in the past. How about that? Well, we can talk about that another time. If this is not the time, we can talk about that another time.

Yeah, the whole lit thing, even if I were to explain to you what they've got, what they're talking about right now, is probably going to change by the time it goes into effect. Yeah. But we could have that conversation at some other point.

Any questions? Other questions from the council? Councilwoman Harless has taken her seat for the record.

I got her.

Thank you. Any other questions from the council? Do we have any questions from the audience about Doug Woodham's presentation?

Thank you for hearing me today. Mike Garinger, I live in Norris Drive, just outside the city limits, and I had some questions. The controller mentioned DLGF, and a recent topic has been townships merging with municipalities, and I was just curious if there was any budget discussion about that.

No, we had two nights of budget hearings, and we never discussed that. They're talking about Fall Creek and Green, and what was the other one? Duck, I think. No, Duck's up north.

It was south, but no, I've not been in any discussions. Okay. The other question I have is based on a balance sheet. I was just curious what the assets are, the number for it, or if I could see a balance sheet. It's a good way to see the health of Anderson. and as well as owner's equity, which would be the citizens, and they own it, and then the liabilities as well. That's a general way.

That can all be public record.

Okay. Okay. And I was curious what percentage of the total budget is salaries and benefits.

Couldn't tell you that myself. Don't know the answer to that. That's what I was getting at when I was asking about the number. Because basically seven out of $10 of this revenue goes to public safety, high priority. So you have about 30% left roughly to do everything else. And those budgets have been cut over the last years. All of them have been. So there's not a lot yet to get.

As you can imagine, obviously we are a service, so we are heavily, uh, salaries, um, and so of the 48 million that is proposed for the general fund, just to give you some idea, 29.4 million of that is budgeted for salaries and benefits. So that also includes, uh, the Public Employees Retirement Fund, health insurance and the like, matching Social Security and all that. That gives you some idea of how much to say, just what it's budgeted for in the general fund, which is going to encompass most of the salaries and wages, is what makes up of that $48 million. As far as like Council President Graham stated, all of our financial information is out of our gateway. There are also, and that's where I would encourage you to look. There's also every audit report that's ever been done is at www.in.gov forward slash SBOA for State Board of Accounts. And then there's a link for audit reports if you're interested in that as well. Thank you, sir.

And I'll be very short. I'll wrap it up here. And not to be overly critical, but I just think it's important that a citizen says police and fire are absolutely crucial, but they're calling them an investment. It is an expense. It's an expense to the taxpayers. and then they receive a taxpayer benefit of their services. And so I just wanna make that clear because it's not an investment, it is an expense that produces a taxpayer benefit.

I mean, I'm gonna disagree because I look at these guys back here that serve and like those two right there, we're investing in those guys there. So what we purchase and put towards them, is investing in their safety. So I would disagree in that point.

Well, this is a budgeting hearing. And I agree with you.

You brought up whether it was an investment. I didn't.

And it does a lot of other stuff besides that insurance-wise, all kinds of other things. We have the best. around both sides.

And I'm not criticizing the police force. The controller brought up that it's an investment.

Well, and they are investments because also we make money, like in the fire department, we do make money that goes into our budget on all of our runs and stuff like that. So that is also an investment. So that's why keeping our... ambulances up and those kind of things.

And generally accepted accounting principles, that is an expense. That's my point. I completely support the effort.

I think it depends on how you look at it. It's certainly an investment in our future to provide quality public services.

Right. The other thing that I wanted to mention is about the trash trucks. I just want to make point that in my research that the current best way trucks can carry 80,000 pounds which is the maximum limit on any roadway in the country and I'd like to make a suggestion because I've seen this in on the East Coast where they started doing ways of those trucks and looking at them through engineering every week to assure that they're meeting the weights that are on the road standards as they're built by the engineer. And then when they negotiated contracts, they had some sliding scales for finding if they're going over weights. And I just wanna suggest that, and it might be something that's really gonna relieve the taxpayer burden on the roads. I also wanted to mention some things about cats. I rode cats on two different days, couple hours each time. And it's a beautiful bus system. And the people that ride it, we're all very friendly.

And those people need it too. Because many of them have no other way to go.

Right. And I've spoken with some people and they brought up some questions. And I think it's good for me to just report them to you. Sundays, They'd really like to see service on Sundays. They'd really like to see them run later in the evenings because there are situations in some neighborhoods where you have to negotiate and barter rides. Okay? And so if you get somewhere after the bus stops and then someone says, you're not getting a ride home, you find yourself walking. And sometimes the neighborhoods might be have a change at night. They become more dangerous. And another individual who is retired mentioned and suggested a shuttle service to the Indianapolis airport as a possibility. And I just want to say, finally, with no accusation to any of you, I disagree with the 5% raise to elected officials. I think... That money, even though it's small compared to the vastness of your budget, could possibly provide for the Sunday bus service or something like that. Thank you for hearing me.

Thank you for your comments. Anybody else from the audience have anything they wish to say? Last chance.

All for the question. Oh, well, we haven't even read the ordinance yet. Sorry. That's good. Mom's moving along.

Very good. Yeah. I think at this point we could declare the public meeting closed at 6.55 p.m. 5.56. Okay. At 2. 5.56. Always have trouble telling time, you know. And now we'll move on to introduction of ordinances and start with Councilman Freeman. Mr. President? Yes, sir.

I'd like introduction of Ordinance 12-26. Second.

Ordinance 12-26, an ordinance for appropriation and tax rates.

Comptroller Whittem. Yes, sir. Thank you, Council President Graham. Yes, before you, you have Ordinance 12-26, which would set budget appropriations and tax rates for 2027 as previously described. Very good.

Any questions of the Comptroller on 1226? Any questions from the audience?

Call for the question.

The question has been called for.

Councillor Hartless? Yes. Councillor Dixon? Yes. Councillor Freeman? Yes. Councillor Wagner? Yes. Councillor Landers? Yes. Councillor Culp? Yes. Councillor Newman? Yes. President Graham?

Yes. Ordinance 12-26 has passed its first reading. Excuse me. Yeah, right.

Second reading. Second reading. Mr. President, I'd like to introduce Ordinance 12-26 for a second reading. Second.

Ordinance 12-26, an ordinance for appropriation and tax rates.

Very good. You've heard the reading. Anything further, Comptroller? No? Very good. Any questions from the council? Then the audience. Any questions on 12-26? Question. Question's been called.

Council Harless? Yes. Councilor Dixon?

Yes.

Councilor Coleman? Yes. Councilor Wagner? Yes. Councilor Landers? Yes. Councilor Polk? Yes. Councilor Newman? Yes. President Graham? Yes.

Yes. Ordinance 12-26 has passed its second reading of the council.

Thank you very much. Next ordinance. Introduce Ordinance 14-26 for its first reading.

Second. Ordinance 14-26, an ordinance fixing the annual salaries of elected officers of the City of Anderson for the year 2027.

Very good. Personnel Director Jake Brown.

Greetings. Thank you, everyone. Requesting approval for ordinance 14-26, fixing the annual salaries of elected officers. The numbers before you represent a 5% increase to salaries.

Questions for Jake Brown on 14-26 from the council.

Anyone? Is that the 5% he was referring to? Yes, sir. That's across the board. Yes, sir.

From the audience, any questions on 14-26? Question. Question's been called.

Council Harless. Yes. Councilor Dixon.

Yes.

Councilor Freeman. Yes. Councilor Wagner. Yes. Councilor Landers. Yes. Councilor Culp. Yes. Councilor Newman. Yes. President Graham.

Yes. Ordinance 14-26 has passed its first reading.

Mr. President, introduce Ordinance 14-26 for a second reading.

Second. Ordinance 14-26, an ordinance fixing the annual salaries of elected officers of the City of Anderson for the year 2027.

Very good. You've heard the second reading of 14-26. Anything from personnel director? No. Any questions from the council? Any questions from the audience? Question. Question's been called.

Council Harless. Yes. Councilor Dixon.

Yes.

Councilor Freeman. Yes. Councilor Wagner. Yes. Councilor Landers. Yes. Councilor Culp. Yes. Councilor Newman. Yes. President Graham.

Yes. Ordinance 14-26 has passed its second reading. We're ready to move to Ordinance 15-26. Councilwoman Culp.

Mr. President, I'd like to bring before the council Ordinance 15-26 for its first reading. Second. Second.

Ordinance 1526, an ordinance fixing the salaries of the appointed officers, employers, deputies, and assistants of the Anderson City Court and Probation Department of the City of Anderson, Madison County, Indiana.

You've heard the reading of 15, first reading of 15-26, Jake Brown.

Uh, requesting approval of 1526 ordinance, fixing the salaries of appointed officers, employees, deputies, and assistants of the Anderson city court and probation department. The salaries in front of you represent 5% increase. Um, as well, I should note, um, it also includes the 2027 minimum salary schedule for probation officers. Very good. As, uh, uh, pointed by state of Indiana probation officers in the city court. Correct.

Yes. Okay. Questions from the council for Jake Brown. Questions from the audience on ordinance 15-26. Question. Question's been called.

Council Harless. Yes. Councilor Dixon. Yes. Councilor Freeman. Yes. Councilor Wagner. Yes. Councilor Landers. Yes. Councilor Colt. Yes. Councilor Newman.

Yes.

President Graham.

Yes. Ordinance 15-26 has passed its first reading.

Mr. President, I'd like to bring before the council Court's second reading, Ordinance 1526, please.

Second. Ordinance 1526, an ordinance fixing the salaries of appointed officers, employees, deputies, and assistants of the Anderson City Court and Probation Department of the City of Anderson, Madison County, Indiana.

Very good. Questions from the council for Personnel Director Brown. Questions from the audience for the Personnel Director on 15-26? Question. Question has been called.

Councilor Harless. Yes. Councilor Dixon. Yes. Councilor Freeman. Yes. Councilor Wagner. Yes. Councilor Landers. Yes. Councilor Folt. Yes. Councilor Newman. Yes. President Graham.

Yes. Ordinance 15-26 has passed its second reading.

Mr. President, I would like to present Ordinance 16-26 for its first reading. Second. Second.

Ordinance 16-26, an ordinance fixing the salaries of appointed officers, employees, deputies, and assistants of the city clerk's office of the city of Anderson, Indiana.

Very good. You've heard the reading of 16-26. Council members, any questions for Jake Brown? Any questions for the personnel director in the audience? Question's been called.

Council Harless. Yes. Councilor Dixon.

Yes.

Councilor Freeman. Yes. Councilor Wagner. Yes. Councilor Landers. Yes. Councilor Polk. Yes. Councilor Newman. Yes. President Graham.

Yes. Ordinance 16-26 has passed its first reading.

Mr. President, I would like to present ordinance number 16-26 for its second reading. Second. Second.

Ordinance 16-26, an ordinance fixing the salaries of appointed officers, employees, deputies, and assistants of the city clerk's office of the city of Anderson, Indiana.

Very good. Are there any questions from the council on 16-26? From the audience? Question. Question's been called.

Councilor Harless? Yes. Councilor Dixon? Yes. Councilor Freeman? Yes. Councilor Wagner? Yes. Councilor Landers? Yes. Councilor Kolb? Yes. Councilor Newman? Yes. President Graham?

Yes. 16-26 has passed its second reading.

Ms. President, I'd like to bring before the council Ordinance 1726 for its first reading.

Ordinance 17-26, an ordinance fixing the salaries of appointed officers, employees, deputies, assistants, and departmental heads in the city of Anderson, Indiana.

DAVID BURRAGE. Mr. Brown. DAVID BROWN. Thank you. Excuse me. requesting approval of Ordinance 1726, Salaries of Point Officers, Employees, Deputies, Assistants, and Departmental Heads of the City of Anderson. As the others, this ordinance represents a 5% increase. In addition to that, the $150 longevity that Mr. Wooden spoke of a few minutes ago, and has included an exhibit A, B, C, D, and E, which represent the pay schedules for all job classifications.

Questions for Jake Brown? Questions from the audience? Question. Question's been called.

Councilor Harless? Yes. Councilor Dixon?

Yes. Councilor Freeman? Yes.

Councilor Wagner? Yes. Councilor Landers? Yes. Councilor Colt? Yes. Councilor Newman? Yes. President Graham?

Yes. Ordinance 17-26 has passed its first reading.

Mr. President, I'd like to bring before the council 17-26 for its second reading.

Second. Second.

Ordinance 1726, an ordinance fixing the salaries of appointed officers, employees, deputies, assistants, and departmental heads of the city of Anderson, Indiana.

Very good. Questions from the council on 1726? Second reading. Questions from the audience? Question. Question's been called.

Council Harlow. Yes. Councilor Dixon. Yes. Councilor Freeman. Yes. Councilor Wagner. Yes. Councilor Landers. Yes. Councilor Polk. Yes. Councilor Newman.

Yes.

President Graham.

Yes. 17-26 has passed its second reading. Mr. President. Councilman Newman.

I'd like to introduce bill number 18-26, please. Second. Second.

You can have it. Ordinance 18-26, an ordinance fixing the salaries for the executive staff of the Anderson Police Department.

Okay, you've heard the reading of 18-26. Mr. Brown?

Questing approval of 18-26, ordinance fixing the salaries for the executive staff of the Anderson Police Department. As with the others, this represents a 5% increase in salaries and $150 longevity. Questions of Mr. Brown from the council?

Questions from the audience? Question. Questions have been called.

Councilor Harless? Yes. Councilor Dixon? Yes. Councilor Freeman? Yes. Councilor Wagner? Yes. Councilor Landers? Yes. Councilor Polk? Yes. Councilor Newman? Yes. President Graham?

Yes. 1826 has passed its first reading.

Mr. President. I'd like to bring 18-26 up for the second reading, please.

I second that. Ordinance 18-26, an ordinance fixing the salaries for the executive staff of the City of Anderson Police Department.

You've heard the reading of 18-26. Jake Brown.

I request the approval of, we're on 19?

18.

Sorry, I have nothing more to add. We're hurrying.

Sorry about that.

Do you have anything to add? I do not. Okay, questions of Mr. Brown? from the council or from the audience? Yes, sir.

I'm just curious how many executive positions that this is affecting. Can you help us with that one, Jake?

One chief, three assistant chiefs, and a major. So a total of five.

In both departments?

Oh, this is just fire.

I'm sorry.

But it is the same for fire also.

Yeah.

Yes, sir.

Thank you. I believe they should be paid well. We need great leadership in this area.

Thank you. Any other questions from the audience?

Question.

Question's been called.

Councillor Harless. Yes. Councillor Dixon.

Yes.

Councillor Freeman. Yes. Councillor Wagner. Yes. Councillor Landers. Yes. Councillor Culp. Yes. Councillor Newman. Yes. President Graham.

Yes. Ordinance 1826 has passed its first reading.

Mr. President.

I've been called, Boris.

Go right ahead. I'd like to bring forth 18 days 26 for the second reading.

I second that.

Oh.

No, no, you're on 18. Second reading on 18. My apologies.

I did that. I'm sorry. I put it out there earlier. Okay.

Yes, you did. I'm going to say it was.

We made a movement.

Ordinance 18-26, an ordinance fixing the salaries for the executive staff of the Anderson Police Department.

We've done the police department.

Question for questions from the council.

This is for fire. I think we have done two. This is for the fire. We've done two. Yeah, we've already done two. Okay, we're ready for 19? Yes.

First for 19, very good. We should be at 19.

Mr. President. It should be Robin. That's why it's not everybody else.

I'd like to bring forth 19-26 for the first reading, please.

Second. The ordinance 19-26, an ordinance fixing the salaries for the executive staff of the City of Anderson Fire Department.

It's confusing, isn't it?

You moved over there, you threw everything off.

Very good. Jake Brown.

Thank you. Requesting approval of Ordinance 19-26, Ordinance Fixing the Salaries of the Executive Staff of the Anderson Fire Department. It, as the others, the salaries before you represent a 5% increase in $150 longevity.

And it's how many chiefs?

Any other questions for Jake Brown from the council? Or from the audience?

Yes, sir. For clarity, is that for the firemen?

No, for the executive staff.

Oh, the staff executive. The executive staff.

Yeah. The firemen and the policemen and women are all union.

Right.

Question? Question's been called on 19-26.

Councilor Harless? Yes. Councilor Dixon?

Yes.

Councilor Freeman? Yes. Councilor Wagner? Yes. Councilor Landers? Yes. Councilor Polk? Yes. Councilor Newman? Yes. President Graham?

Yes. Ordinance 19-26 has passed its first reading.

I'd like to bring forth 19 days, 26 for a second reading, please. Thank you.

I'll second ordinance 19 dash 26 and an ordinance fixing the salaries for the executive staff of the city of Anderson fire department.

Questions from the council on 1926. Second reading questions from the audience. Question. Question's been called.

Councilor Harless. Yes. Councilor Dixon. Yes. Councilor Freeman. Yes. Councilor Wagner. Yes. Councilor Landers. Yes. Councilor Polk. Yes. Councilor Newman. Yes.

President Graham. Yes. 19-26 has passed its second reading.

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Very good. All right. Anything else come before the council tonight? I would just like to say just a couple things if I can. In answer to this gentleman's question, I do know You questioned the 5%. I do know that one of the reasons that that's the way they went is that we have found that we are not competitive with similar jobs in private sector or similar jobs with other communities. And that, well, in particular with our police and fire departments, we have lost good, well-trained firemen and policemen to other communities. because we just weren't where we should have been pay-wise.

I think he was questioning not the general 5%. I think he was questioning the 5% for just the elected officials.

Oh, just the elected officials? Thank you. Very good.

I missed my public comment part about the 5% of staff in that area.

Gotcha. Okay. Very good. Anything else, council? If not, we will have a special meeting controller with him. Do you recall the date? October 6th. October the 6th at 530 to consider third readings on these ordinances. And so put that on your calendar. October 6th, 530. On Tuesday?

Here in Chambers. I just want to make sure. On Tuesday?

Yeah. Any other questions?

At what time?

530. 530. Sorry, you said that. 530. Chairman? Yes, sir. I'd like to move for adjournment. Second. We're moved and seconded, and we are adjourned.