Finance Committee - Regular Meeting

04/13/2026. At this time, I'll start with a roll call. Alderman Thorpe? Present. Alderman Huntley is present. That gives us a quorum. Alderman Woman O'Neill should be here any moment. And first item on the agenda is approval of the agenda. Is there a motion to approve the agenda as written?

So moved.

I will second the motion. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. And next up is approval of the minutes from our last meeting which is what day Ms. Jackson?

April 1.

April 1 meeting. Is there a motion to approve the meeting minutes from April 1?

So moved.

Thank you. I'll second. All those in favor please say aye. Aye. Beautiful. That was quick. Only item on our agenda today besides those is Feet ten twenty six. 10. Right? 10? 26. F t ten twenty six, which is allocating a little bit of unused debt service funding that we're not going to need by the end of f y twenty six back to the mayor's office is to cover the deputy chief of staff position through the end of this fiscal year. At this time, I will I don't know. Does the chief of staff want to say anything on this or you're good? No. You're good. Alright. Alderman Thorpe, anything you want to say on it?

Yeah. I'd like to say a couple of things. One, this follows the process which I think is a very good indication to the public of the transparency of their government. When there's a fund, an expense like this to come through the finance committee to the city council to approve it. As for a process, I I applaud that that requirement, and I applaud the the mayor's office for pursuing it.

This is somewhat of a unique situation and that we're gonna get a budget today for next year. Right. But this by code is required to be done in order to fund the deputy chief of staff through the end of the fiscal year being 06/30/2026. We've had, significant discussion about the job. And in this case, as compared to when we debate the budget and the budget funds things that the city council may or may not wanna do, in this case, it's kinda the opposite in that we've debated significantly the position and now we just need to move the funds over to ensure that when the person's hired, that the city is able to pay them.

So with that said, Mr. Chairman, I move that we approve the fund transfer.

Wonderful. Well, yeah, I think I'm always reminded we make a favorable recommendation. I use Good point. Auto Roman Federation used to always smack my heart when I said it

the other way. Yeah, I mean, I'll just speak on

it very briefly to say I think this is an opportunity for us to where we are I always like to say, I judge everything by how many blocks of brick sidewalk could we be fixing here. And I think this is a situation where we're not taking away from something else. We're finding savings and being able to put those towards something that helps deliver on that customer service promise. So I'm looking forward to scrutinizing all of our expenditures when it comes to the full budget, but I'm comfortable with making sure that we have this through the end of this fiscal year. Auditor Roman O'Neill, I don't mean to put you too far on the spot, but we is there anything you want to say on Feet 10 '26?

No. I'm good. Thank you.

You want a second? Okay. I believe there's a motion on the floor. It has not been seconded. Is there a second to the motion to make a favorable recommendation to FT1026?

Second.

All those in favor please say aye. Aye. Motion carries. Is there any other business for the I guess normally we get a finance director update in

our finance committee meetings. I don't think we have that

on the agenda today. Anything breaking that we need to know besides what we're going find out in an hour, Mr. Palakal?

Just excited for this evening to issue the budget and show you guys that we're moving forward.

Are we getting physical budget books? No. Oh. Yeah. It's better be glad Alderman Arnett's not here. He would would tear you a new one for that. Okay.

We we we said we were gonna do an online version, and we will share how to do it, then the, CIP book is online as

well. Cool. Okay. Well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it in an hour. Alright. Unless there's anything else from me to my colleagues, I'm ready to adjourn. All those in favor of adjourning, please say aye. Aye. Motion carries. Meeting adjourned.

For time. Come on now. It would just for me for