City Council - Regular Meeting

All right. All right.

All right. Call this meeting to order. Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.

The Pledge of Allegiance is to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

All right. So thank you all for coming tonight. Will our acting city clerk please call the roll?

All council members are present. Council Member Avery is absent tonight, and City Attorney Vince Jones is present via conference call line.

Thank you, Samantha. Action to approve the agenda. Entertain a motion to approve the agenda.

So moved.

Are there comments from public on anything on our agenda for this evening? Council questions, comments? Please call the roll.

Duran? Aye. Hager? Aye. Niemeyer? Aye. Specker? Aye. Tiltonburn? Aye. Wendell? Aye.

Okay, so we're going to move right on to item four, which is the budget workshop number one. We'll be reviewing the budget overview, operating budget, and outside agencies. Paul Bracino, our city manager, will present this item. While he's coming down, the budget for workshop number two will be on September 22nd, and workshop number three will also be in October 13th, if needed. Hopefully, by that time, we'll have our budget set in place and accepted and voted in for next year's budget by November. Go ahead Paul.

Thank you mayor city council members And I apologize in advance for everyone who's here for proclamations and have to sit here through the in budget presentation So I'll try to move fast, but please make sure and ask any questions you have first and foremost I want to thank all the department heads and employees who helped put this budget together for you guys tonight Including Ashley who's done a tremendous job. She actually put this presentation together and I'm just I the voice of the budget. But she did a phenomenal job, as did Sam and Johnny and the rest of the department heads, including the employees who helped find the money to make these things happen that we're going to present tonight. So with that said before you, anyone who has questions about the budget, feel free to submit those questions to the city, of course, to you as council. All this information we're going to present tonight is online, including the budget detail. And of course, if they want to see any of the budget information from the past, that information is also online as well. So as we look at the workshop schedule for the next three to four months, once again, we've been working on this for about six months now. It's a nine-month process. September 8th tonight, we're going to go over at a very high level the three main funds, the general fund, the special revenue fund, as well as the enterprise fund. Next meeting, September 22nd, we're going to go over the capital improvement fund. And then we also have an optional October 13th meeting in case council wants to dive deeper into any other one topic or fund. I will also note that September 15th, this next work session next Tuesday, we have invited outside agencies to come and present if they should want to present their budgets to you as well to be heard throughout this process. That's something we traditionally do every year. Looking beyond that, we have tonight the first reading of the mill levy for the property tax levy. That's the first reading. Second reading will be held September 22nd. We'll talk a little bit about that tonight, what that means for us. The first budget ordinance reading will occur October 27. By then, I encourage Council to make any suggested changes to the budget by that timeline so that we can have the second meeting November 10. There are some contingencies built into this process. So if we need to extend it, we can extend it throughout that process and time even further. So you can take whatever time is necessary to get through this process. As we look at tonight's meeting, we're going to go over the budget highlights, comparisons as you're seeing this budget from 2026 to 2027. Once again, budget to budget. We're also going to review those three funds that I talked about, the general fund being the one that we spend the most time on because it holds a majority of our employees. It also contains the property tax and sales tax. We also want to talk a bit about that 10-year projection that we look at every year. Not every city does this. We do that just to make sure that the budget we're providing to you tonight is not only balanced, but also sustainable into the foreseeable future. And then we'll end with some outside agency discussion and recommended funding. As we look at every budget, once again, this is a nine-month process. We start with the city council's priorities. And that's always in back of mind as we're thinking about what items to fund, what items to recommend not funding. Programs, processes will move forward. And really, this budget once passed as a policy document to guide us for the next year, two years, often sometimes 10 years when we look at the capital improvement plan. And really, it's a document that is living, breathing, and can be changed, but at the same time, it sets the path forward for us as staff members as we continue to operate. Looking at the budget at the highest level possible, you'll see that the budget increased roughly $4.5 million. And I sure hope that's not what's published in the newspapers, because you really have to dive even deeper to really understand this budget. That $4.5 million increase is actually a majority of that is projects, very large projects. And for example, the solid waste fund, some TIF projects, and other projects that we're going to talk about tonight. If you dive really deeper into this budget, you'll see it's really a maintenance budget. If you subtract out the wage increases that we're proposing for next year, the actual increase in this budget for the general fund is about 1.4%, which means it's just a bare-bones maintenance budget. So we'll dive deeper into what the general fund looks like, the projects that we're talking about. As we talk about the general fund, we're looking at about a $700,000 increase compared to last year, roughly about $23.7 million. That includes a growth in sales tax. Very conservatively, we're budgeting roughly 2.5% growth compared to last year. Property tax growth of about 3.32%, which equates to about $146,000. Some of these revenues we're going to talk about tonight for next year, we're actually projecting either to stagnate a little bit or decrease a little bit. What that means, us as staff, we have to go back to the drawing board and take a look at our expenditures and making sure that if we're providing you a balanced budget, that the revenues meet the expenditures. The other highlights that we include is the wage study implementation. That occurs every three years. It's part of our union agreement and contract. We'll do that and then implement it. Roughly three years ago when we did it, that was an impact of roughly $1 million to our budget. But once again, we're going through high inflation years, about three years ago. So that would have been almost four years ago when they did the study. This year, we're not seeing as high inflation impacting us, but there are some positions that had to move within the overall organization. Some of those ones that saw the greatest jumps included our police officers, dispatchers, foresters and some of those other like positions that are doing the day-to-day work. Once again, as we present this, we hope that this is intuitive, and we ask you to ask any questions you have throughout this process. And most importantly, it's a balanced and sustainable budget. As we dive into the comparison of year over year, you'll see at the highest level, and I'll try not to get people lost or sick, look at 2026 budget, it's roughly $72 million. The proposed budget is $77 million, and that's roughly an increase of $4.5 million. As you look at each of these bars here, this represents each fund. We have four primary funds. Once again, the general fund, enterprise fund, special revenue fund, debt fund, and then the CIP fund. Those are the four ones that we usually spend the most time on. That CIP fund, once again, we're going to talk more about that September 22. But I will allude a little bit to some of that information tonight. As we look at the general fund, the largest increase really was that wage study that we saw with the wage analysis that we do every three years. That accounts for the largest increase. We'll go through each specific department within this presentation so we can dive deeper into what that looks like. Within the enterprise funds, these are departments that really should operate as a business, so a lot of your golf course, your solid waste, your liquor store, your airport as well. There we saw some increases, but a lot of those are all tied to projects, as is the special revenue fund. We have some major projects happening next year and for the year after that as well. The CIP fund, the largest increase we have there are not only TIF projects that are coming to fruition, but also the bond payment for the police department. So we'll talk more in detail on September 22 when we get to this capital improvement plan. As we look at the budget, we usually talk about four primary revenue sources. The first one is sales tax. As we always say in General Fund, that's our bread and butter. Roughly 46% of our revenue is sales tax, while property tax is one of the smallest revenue sources that we have. It is fairly significant, though, almost 20%. But compared to most cities, it's a much smaller amount for us as the city of Brookings. The other revenue streams that we talk about and spend a little bit of time on is the 3B. That's the 1% on every bed, booze, and boarding. That mainly funds our economic development agencies and programs that we have within the city. Once again, we'll talk more about that as we get into the outside agency discussion. And then finally, we have the Business Improvement District, and that's mainly your pillow tax, the $2 on every hotel room here in Brookings. That generates roughly $250,000. I know it's just slightly off, but we'll get to that page here in a minute. That primarily goes to what we used to call the Convention Visitors Bureau Visit Brookings, but now part of the Brookings Regional Growth Alliance. As we talk about the revenue stream, sales tax being the primary one that we'll spend time on, we're projecting, once again, about 2.5% increase off of last year. You'll see that equates to roughly $375,000. That goes directly to the sales tax. That makes up roughly half of that $770,000 increase that we're talking about next year. for our revenue sources. Once again, very modest growth. We're very conservative when it comes to sales tax, because that is our bread and butter once again. So it fluctuates quite regularly. This city council did put reserves policies into place roughly eight years ago. which I would say is more restrictive than most communities. But I would say it's most prudent and proper because we rely so much on sales tax. And that policy requires us to put 15% of our revenue stream aside, and then on top of that, an additional 5% in case we should really be impacted by negative sales tax. This city council has done a great job putting those reserves aside to make sure they could always fund the necessary programs that this community desires. Looking at property tax, we're seeing roughly about a 2.5 CPI and 0.827 in growth. This really is calculated not only by the CPI, but the county also gives us a growth factor every year. Now, what's unique this year is we're seeing roughly a $146,000 increase for next year based on that growth in CPI. In past years, we saw this revenue stream coming in last year roughly around $200,000 and the year before roughly $206,000. And so we're starting to see that just kind of flatline a little bit. Not concerning, but once again, this is about 20% of our overall revenue stream. And so once again, we want to be cognizant and aware that we're seeing slight decrease. Now on top of this, the state has added additional policies on cities to mitigate the growth in revenue streams, to mitigate the impact of property taxes. At the end of the day, that means less revenue sources for our employees and processes. As we look at how we compare to other municipalities, we often wear this as a badge of honor that we're probably the third lowest property tax mill rate across the state, appears our size. So that 2.2, the yellow bar that you see in front of you, that represents roughly $4.5 million. To put that into perspective, if we were like Yankton at 3.5 mills, once again, just about a mill and a half more, that will equate to $7 million, roughly $2.5 million more. If we were similar to Aberdeen, that would equate to about $11 million. Oftentimes, we talk about reduced operations with employees. We're about a third less than most of these communities of this size here before you. But we have similar populations or even more. But we operate with less employees, but we have such, I would say, nicer things. And that's because our employees are very committed to this organization, very committed to these operations. We also find deficiencies wherever possible, such as not mowing areas that aren't being used primarily by people throughout the community, really being cognizant of things that we're doing within the organization, and our employees really challenging us through that process. So once again, we wear this as a badge of honor. We're probably the third lowest of peers our size with property taxes. For those people that aren't aware where all your property taxes go, we often show this chart. Now, the $350,000 home isn't your average home in Brookings. This is what we're considering the assessed value. In all actuality, the county has given us numbers that average assessed home is roughly $282,000. They usually assess your property for around 80% to 90% of the actual value. um so without going too deep the reality is about 17 of your property taxes come to the city of brookings twice that amount goes to the county once again 17 to the city twice that amount almost 35 percent go to the county and i believe county property taxes the revenue source about 50 percent come from the city of brookings as well Roughly three times the city's property tax amount goes to the school system. And so this is just to help people understand where your taxes truly go as a homeowner, especially as we look to maintain streets, add parks and trails and other systems within our community. Looking at the bed, booze, and board tax, once again, this is that 1% on bed, booze, and boarding. That revenue stream has seen a much stronger revenue source coming in year over year. So we're projecting that to come in roughly 3% compared to last year. That would equate to roughly $84,000 increase. Once again, most of this goes to our economic partners and also our internal economic endeavors as well. as we look at the business improvement district this is at two dollars on every hotel room we've seen that one kind of flat line and actually dip a little bit roughly in 2025 and so we're projecting this one to be at that 261 000 as you look at the budget for those people at home maybe wondering and scratching their head why we increase this dollar amount the state has this weird rule that if this revenue source should come in higher than anticipated we can only keep and utilize the amount that we budgeted for. So we always artificially increase that dollar amount. But once again, all of these dollars go to the former Visit Brookings, now the Brookings Regional Growth Alliance, for those endeavors. So as we talk about the general fund, once again, this is the one that we spend the most time on. And that's because your property tax dollars go to this one. 1% of the sales tax goes here. But roughly 80% of our employees are funded out of the general fund. If you look at this at a very high level, it's roughly $23.7 million. Once again, it increased roughly $700,000. We are providing you, once again, with a balanced budget, which means revenues coming in equals expenditures going out. We adjusted. based on what we're seeing for the revenues and forecasting for next year. With that said, as I mentioned earlier, if you were to subtract out the salary increases based on the pay study, roughly this is a bare bones maintenance budget, only increasing roughly 1.4%. As we look at some of the largest I guess this just restates everything I just told you. But as we look at some of the largest increases within the budget, the impact of the general fund, the first thing that comes to mind is the impact of the city attorney. We are increasing that roughly $60,000 based on how we utilized the city attorney this last year. that with Vince as a city attorney and a whole bench of attorneys, we are utilizing them so much more and more regularly. And we have a lot of work that's occurring here in the community area within the city of Brookings. He's doing a lot of looking at land sales, TIF agreements, code rewrites, and contract review. Constantly from every department. We're trying to mitigate it as much as possible at the same time to mitigate risk It's critical that we do have the city attorney reviewing a lot of the work that we're doing within the organization Once again, the salary implementation is one of the largest impacts that we have within the general fund then there's minor operational increases including maintenance This year, we are recommending no additional employees within the general fund. It's the same thing from last year. For the foreseeable future, we are not seeing any new employees added to the general fund unless we see an uptick in some of the revenue streams. And we'll talk a little bit about that here in just a second. As we dissect the revenues coming into the general fund, first we look at the sales tax. And as we mentioned, that's 46% of the general fund revenue, our bread and butter, as mentioned earlier. People who are looking at our monthly retail analysis, and Ashley does a phenomenal job posting this on our website, people we see for the first six months, we saw about five months negative. and what we're seeing is that the retail pull is really strong retail dollars are really strong what we're seeing is slightly decreased in that wholesale and industry as well it's starting to rebound here most recently and this hasn't been made public we are we did receive a negative 300 000 from the state and it's because we had someone who paid too much in 2001 through 2023 Once again, very little information from the state, but you're going to be seeing that come out before too long. Once again, we've built reserves to make sure to withstand these little hiccups that we see throughout the year. Looking at the property tax, once again, this is 19% of your overall budget within the general fund. The transfers includes the RNT site, which will be gone next year, the BMU transfer, and the transfer from the landfill as well. fees I'm sorry departmental increases that includes fees golf course parks building those type of things and then the other includes markup for the liquor for liquor that are sold throughout the community as well as our money market account and then finally intergovernmental includes the market are the liquor tax as well so as we look at these just to dissect these down a little bit more and we understand the revenue streams Sales tax, we're projecting at roughly a 2.5% increase. That's very conservative and modest compared to most years. Property taxes, we're seeing a decline of roughly $50,000 compared to years past. And that's based on an analysis and information received from the county on our growth. Liquor override, we're projecting roughly a $45,000 decrease. And that's for every drink sold, 10% on beer, 11% on liquor. We're just seeing less people drink in our community, but I think that's happening nationwide And so we're projecting about a forty five thousand dollar decrease in preparing for that their liquor store We're seeing a decrease there as well Most of that is because of operations our rent is increasing substantially there as well as our overhead but once again with people drinking less it just is impacting the overall revenue and So we'll talk a little bit more about that here in a minute. The final revenue source that we are seeing decrease as well is the solid waste fund. We had a transfer when I first got here roughly 21% of the revenue stream. Our goal is to try to get closer to that 9% or 8%, which is the industry average for franchise transfers to the general fund. That just means a decrease of roughly $20,000 to $30,000. Once again, all these decreases, we now then go into our expenditures and adjust to make sure we can bring you back a balanced budget. So as we look at the general fund expenditures, we'll start with the non-departmentals. Most of this negative 14% is because of that markup that I just mentioned here just a minute ago. The transfers, you're seeing an increase of roughly $60,000. That mainly is for E911. When we look at that E911, a third of that is paid by the county. And a large majority, too, is also paid by that surcharge that we get from telephone and cell phones as well. So that comes into that pool, helps us pay for equipment as well as our relationship as we manage the E-901 fund. Appropriation subsidies, we are increasing those. We're increasing the Humane Society based on the CPI. And then, of course, outside agencies as well, making sure we're living within the city council's policy on outside agencies. as we look at the fire department that one is increasing roughly ninety eight thousand dollars majority that is because of personnel but also materials as well the library about seventy eight thousand dollars a lot of that is because of personnel but also materials they are getting more expensive every year as well administration vast majority that is the city attorney that we talked about earlier increasing that contract because of the use of services Finance, human resources, and IT. That is increasing roughly $97,000. A lot of that is personnel, but we're also hiring this year a risk manager consultant to help us take a deep dive to see how and where we can get better with our risk management. Parks and Forestry, roughly $183,000 in the majority of that personnel. These last three departments are your largest departments where we have the most employees and have the largest impact whenever we're talking about salary increases. Public Works, you are seeing a decrease But the main reason for that, and we really have to dive deep into this, is because last year we had a very large expenditure with the HVAC in this facility. That was last year compared to this year. It's not apples to apples, so you're seeing a decrease. If you took that out, you'll still see an increase in personnel costs with the wage study. And then finally, the police department, we are seeing roughly a $271,000 personnel increase in this. And once again, that's because of the pay study. Now, with this, we also have the SRO discussion that's currently happening. And I do have programmed in there revenue streams coming from the school in order to help offset those costs. At the highest level, what we're looking at doing is asking the school to have a more balanced partnership in this relationship. Right now, as we look at the current agreement, the school and the city, we have an agreement on the $240,000, which is just the salary and the benefits. What's not considered in this conversation is what it costs to truly have our school resource officers. And once again, I want to make it publicly known we are never going to get rid of our school resource officers. The question here is really, how can we have a more balanced approach on how we pay for those officers? So if we were to add the vehicles, equipment, and everything else, including training for these officers and the personnel and the benefits, roughly the cost for these two individuals is $371,000. With the current arrangement we have, the city is paying roughly 75% of these costs, with the schools paying 25%. For 10 months out of the year, the priority for these two officers is the school system. And so that's the discussion that we plan on having with the school as we continue to move forward with this budget that we're presenting you tonight. As we look at the 10-year outlook, this is one that we put together every year as we're doing the budget to really understand the changes and things that we're doing today and how it will impact us tomorrow as we move forward. The green line is, of course, the revenues. The orange line is the expenditures. You never really want those two to cross, or not cross dramatically, because that means you have to look at cutting something. And you want to make sure, as you look forward, that there is a little bit of a gap. And that gap usually means there's savings, and that goes into city council financial policy projects, so that you can then decide how we spend those one-time dollars, not on ongoing operational expenses. As you can see, the budget that we're presenting you today gets really close to each other, but really performs a little bit of a gap, and that's what we want to see moving forward. Just a little bit of a cushion. I will note that in that 23, 24, 25 timeframe, you see those big jumps. That was really due to COVID dollars coming to us through the federal government. And then we also had the derecho hit us as well. Those one-time dollars, we did use some of them, but we also helped our partners such as the school system for their early childhood endeavors, the Ivy Center, and then I believe there's some housing components with that as well. Moving on beyond the general fund, we'll move directly to the special revenue and debt service. Once again, this is about $16 million. You're seeing an increase of about $2 million to this budget. This is mainly project driven. I'll try not to spend too much time on this one. As we look at this, we have, first and foremost, the Dakota Bank Center. And you are seeing a decrease in here, but I encourage you to really dive deeper into this. Every year, we budget roughly $360,000 to $390,000 for the Dakota Bank Center. But what isn't very transparent through our budget process is we always do a true up. Of close to $100,000 this year, I think it's tracking closer to $200,000. So that real budget number is closer to 500, $550,000. You'll see in our outside agencies that we're recommending a budget of about $450,000, which is less than what we usually have with that true-up, but more than what we're budgeting. We're trying to be really honest and transparent of what we expect the first year of transitioning that facility into a hybrid facility will look like and to make sure that we can adequately budget for it. The TIF proceeds, you're seeing that increase there. That is really driven by developers and our agreements with the developers, but also projects that the city has identified as well. We have one major one that's going to start next year, and that's the Medarian 20th, one that we've been talking about for some time, and that's a massive project. It's going to take roughly two years to do. We're going to upsize the culverts underneath that road, do some substantial road work, as well as trail work to that area. And then we're going to do some work to the retention detention ponds and fish back soccer complex as well. So a lot of work. That's going to be a very expensive project. So that's going to impact not only your TIF, your storm drainage, but also your capital improvement fund. And so that's the majority of why you're going to see a lot of increases there. Year 3B, once again, that's an economic development-driven revenue stream. A lot of that money we convert back out to the Brookings Regional Growth Alliance as well as the research park, and then now to us as we transition that to Dakota Bank Center. That E911, as we mentioned, that's a partnership with the county. They pay roughly one-third, and then we have those funds coming in from the state. based on the surcharge fee for landlines and cell phones. Bid tax, you'll see it's slightly, I'll just call that flat for year over year. Special assessments, no change. Public arts is one we're probably allowed to just spend a second on. You're seeing roughly a negative 15%. Year over year, that revenue source is determined by how much we have programmed in the capital improvement plan. So if we had a large year last year compared to this year, you'll see a dip. But on average, it's right around $80,000 to $95,000 we put every year into that fund. They use it primarily 1 third for maintenance of art projects, 1 third for smaller projects, and 1 third they put aside for a large project like they're doing this year. The enterprise funds, as I mentioned earlier, these should truly operate as a business. And so you have the golf course, solid waste fund, which includes collections in the landfill. You also have the airport and the liquor store as well. As you can see, it's roughly a $21 million budget. Year over year, roughly $471,000 increase. As we look at this at the very highest level, I do plan on diving a little deeper into each one because, as I already mentioned, the liquor store, we are seeing increased operation expenses with the rent and overhead as well with reduction in revenues because of people drinking less. We're projecting that revenue stream to be flat. for the liquor store. Because it's flat, we're not going to be able to make the transfers that we've seen in the past to the golf course. So the golf course needs to become more sustainable with fees. Additionally, it also impacts our ability to have the scholarships for the foreseeable future as well. And so we're recommending not doing the scholarship program next year as well. And that's once again because of the impact of the revenues. Looking at the disposal and solid waste collections, John does a phenomenal job looking at the overall expenditures, the master plan that we have for that facility, and then programming in an increased rate. So that's really self-sustaining. In fact, solid waste also has a transfer to the airport at a tune of roughly $200,000 to help subsidize the airport. As we look at the golf course, once again, the golf course is not sustainable. It never has been sustainable. It depends on a transfer from the liquor store. But also this year, it'll depend on about a $300,000 transfer from the Capital Improvement Fund for improvements happening out there. Once again, as we look at those rates coming forward, we're going to recommend increasing those rates to offset the cost for the Capital Improvement Fund, as well as that money that we'll be losing from the liquor store as well. And then finally, the airport, roughly, as I mentioned, $200,000 subsidizing that facility from the solid waste fund, but also about $59,000 from the capital improvement fund. So as we look at those two specifically, because the solid waste and the liquor store, they're self-sustaining. The liquor store does transfer some money to the general fund, as does the solid waste. But as we dissect the golf course, you can see by this chart here in front of you, roughly 21% of the golf course is subsidized. And roughly 69% of the airport is subsidized. But that's just the percentage. I'd really encourage you to look at the dollars. From a CIP perspective, that subsidy means $312,000 to the golf course. Once again, it's not self-sustainable. And therefore, as a quality of life amenity, we do have to fund it with some capital improvement funds. As you look at the airport, that's funded about $209,000 from the solid waste and roughly $59,000 from the CIP. This next year, I might put John on the spot, we are doing a fee analysis out there at the airport to make sure that we're competitive and we're trying to get a return as much as possible at the airport with the operations in which we provide. Looking a little deeper into this, you can see the liquor store really flatlining. As I mentioned earlier, you can see the 25, 26, and 27 proposed. The solid waste and solid waste collections really adjust based on the rates and based on the capital needs for the 10 to 20 years, as well as money we're putting away for the landfill. And then finally, as you look at the Edgebred Golf Course, that one is just not sustainable. as operating on its own without some type of subsidy, as is the airport as well. You'll see that as one that has never been able to provide enough revenue. Now, I will tell you that people will tell you that there is an economic benefit to having the golf course as well as the airport, but when you look at dollars and cents, it just does not make enough money to pay for its own way. leading into the very tail end of this discussion the social service agencies will spend a little bit of time on that but just so that people remember who are at home we do have a process where we work with the United Way to help utilize a rubric and council setting the priorities for the community that process comes to City Council in January February as you look at that prioritization then ultimately impact report is given to you in late June July The other outside agency is roughly economic driven. We do ask for applications in that May-June time frame. We evaluate it through this budget. And then September 15, those entities are given an opportunity to present whatever they would like to to the city council. So as we look at the general fund entities, once again, we call these mainly the social service agencies. But there are more than that, because we have things like the Humane Society. You'll see from 26 to 27, for the example of Humane Society, we did increase that based on CPI. School district, we recommended the $195,000. Arts councils, this year they did ask for $60,000 to $65,000. They wanted to make their staff member a full-time person. We could truly only afford $30,000. And so that's our recommendation before council. The Humanities Council happens here every, I think, three years. I know there's some state changes happening there, so whether or not that'll occur here in three years, we'll have to wait and see. But because of that timing, every few years, it does artificially increase and decrease that percentage. And so, really, if you look year to year, take that out, you'll see it's increasing every year as a total outside agencies. Community ban, we left that at 6,000. Social service agencies, we did increase that. Once again, it's now at 282. So roughly 14.4%. Once again, if you adjust for that Humanities Council, you're right in that 13% total. This is the social service for the general funds. As we look at the three B agencies, there are four primary agencies we'll talk about tonight. First, the Brookings Regional Growth Alliance. We're recommending increasing them from 901,000 to 911,000. The research park, we did recommend decreasing from the $135,000 to the $75,000. They did request $175,000. We're once again recommending $75,000. Student visitor promotion, we recommend leaving that the same. And here's the change this year, and that's the Dakota Bank Center. Transitioning that to a hybrid facility, once again, we increased that to roughly that $447,000. Every year in the past, we've budgeted about $390,000 to $350,000, right around there, but we always have that trope of about $100,000 to $200,000. So this year, we're recommending bumping that up because we are looking at transitioning that to a rec facility, being honest about what that first year is going to look like. Our hope is that the second year is even better. But with that said, we want to make sure that we have enough funds there to make sure and do this right. And so therefore, you're seeing an increased recommendation for the Dakota Bank Center at $447,000 and the decrease in the research park down to $75,000, while still giving the Brookings Regional Growth Alliance an increase as well in this budget. As we look at the final outside agencies we fund, these are mainly through your capital improvement fund, at least the first two, the South Dakota Performing Arts payment. This is the 2027. This upcoming year will be the last year we're making that payment, as well as the one to the Brookings Health System. And a lot of people are already asking, what are we going to do with that money? The reality is some of that money is going to go to a bond payment for the police department. We have roughly $5 to $6 million left to come up with for that facility. And we'll talk more about that in the CIP when we have that discussion September 22. But that's a payment of roughly $550,000 a year. The rest is for projects that we've put off for the last five to six years. The Big Sioux Water Festival, that does come from the Stormwater Fund, a very minor impact to the overall budget. So in summary, we are providing you as a city council and the public a balanced budget. Once again, revenues in, revenues out. As we talked, there's a lot of major revenue streams that we're seeing dip or flatline a little bit. It doesn't concern us too much because we are able to adjust our expenditures. That doesn't come with some heartburn. This last budget year, we did cut roughly $1.4 million out of our budget to make this balance. And that was due to the hard work of our department heads. They did an outstanding job, and we'd like to recognize them here in this moment. This budget does provide maintenance of your core services and infrastructure that this community desires. We are still able to do great and wonderful things with this budget. And we do prioritize our employees through this process. Most importantly, we're encouraging council to continue to utilize your reserves that you've saved up over the years to really put the best foot forward for this community. Those reserves were built up for reasons, and that's when the time is right to make significant changes to this community. So we encourage you still to be bold in that process. Once again, as staff, we'll continue to evaluate revenues and expenditures as we move forward. If we see dips or major pluses within the sales tax and revenue streams, we'll make sure and share that with the public as well and the council. With that, that is my budget presentation for the General Fund, Special Revenue Fund, and Enterprise Fund. September 22nd, we will go over the capital improvement plan, but would be more than happy to answer any questions. We have a number of department heads ready to take on those very difficult questions you might have.

All right. I got one question right away, Paul. Go back two slides, the PAC payment. Is that the last one? Yep. Okay. So that's a huge one right there. And then I think Brookings Health System, is that the last one also on that?

Correct.

Okay. So the million dollars right there that we won't have next year, or in 28. So any other questions, comments? Council Member Wendell?

Thanks, Mayor. I just had a handful of questions. One of them was, as you described the sales tax revenue decrease, you had indicated that our retail category within our overall sales tax revenue has been strong and is trending upwards, but that wholesale was in a decline in 2026. Can you describe what types of transactions might be defined as wholesale?

I think it'd be better if I had Ashley come up and explain them.

I ask this question quite regularly.

And I would say it's wholesale and industry, so maybe she can give us a little insight on the both.

Maybe while Ashley's grabbing her info, I could ask another question that I think you could speak to. You spoke about the wage study we're conducting and that impact on some of our expenditures and the personnel investments we're making in various departments. Can you talk a little bit about how frequently we do a wage study and then kind of what that triggers in terms of our investment in personnel in different departments after we've done a wage study?

Definitely. We've done a wage study every three years. And we compare not only here locally, but also other municipalities in South Dakota, peers our size. In the past, as I mentioned, with those years that we were seeing large inflation, it impacted us dramatically. But as we're starting to get further and further away from it, it's impacting us less. What's most important is it's keeping us within market, making sure that we're competitive for our employees, paying a living wage for them as well, and then looking at those benefits whenever possible. So that does impact our budget roughly every four years, since we're doing it every three years. Since we're doing it more consistently, you're seeing that impact decrease every year because we're being more competitive and within the mark as well. Some communities wait and do it every five years, unfortunately every 10 years, and you see a dramatic swing. There's one peer city I know up north, and it was close to $2 million is what impacted them. And so it's critical that good departments or good cities do that as often as possible.

One other thing I appreciate about the frequency that we've been conducting the wage study is that ideally it's also a retention initiative, that we're not seeking to fill open positions as frequently because hopefully we're wage competitive both locally and in the marketplace in the state.

Exactly.

Ashley, you ready?

So wholesale trade is basically your, like, construction materials and things like that. And then also there's one of the biggest ones that we have is called not elsewhere classified. So there's not really a lot of detail on that one, but it's mostly those kind of raw goods. Okay.

And when you mentioned the decline, that's really comparing performance thus far in 2026 to our performance in 2025, or is that comparing to what we budgeted?

That's compared to year over year. Okay.

All right. Thank you.

One of the things I would mention with the state, we just don't have very good information. Most states across the nation, you get a lot more detail to understand really how are projects impacting you, but more importantly, how do you budget for the future? We're a multi-million dollar business, and not having that good revenue data does not help us as we budget. And that's why it's important that we have the reserve program that you guys have, where you put aside 15% and that additional 5%. So I do appreciate Ashley, anytime she sees a little bump, automatically asking the state what's going on here. Help us understand so we can make sure to adjust if necessary.

Would you say that as a municipality, our ability to get that kind of granular information from the state would require some change in legislation through the Department of Revenue? Or what would that look like so that municipalities like us could get better data?

It would require a change in legislation and working with the Department of Revenue stream. Other municipalities actually depend on us for some of the information. Ashley does a phenomenal job. Peers our size, there's roughly eight of them across the state quarterly. We send them our sales tax information so at least they're not in the dark. And so we're leading the charge, but we always want more better information to make better decisions.

The only other note that I would make is just relative to the golf course. And as we're looking at revenues from the golf course, I know one thing we'll be mindful of as we consider any rate changes is what that may do to traffic at the golf course and that we're in a competitive environment. So of course I want us to be thoughtful about that. And I know everyone's trying to be mindful about, you know, although we need to generate more revenue, they're not pricing ourselves out of the market. As we move through that process, if we're making those considerations, I maybe would just make a note that I'd love to see good data around who the users of the golf course are. Are those folks in the community, outside of the community? What percentage of their users are 18 and over and 18 and under? I just think as we make decisions about potential rate changes, having a little bit more insight into who the current users are would be helpful, and I wanted to say it tonight so I don't forget as we get into that part of the process.

Definitely. As we look to move forward and bring those rates to you, we plan on providing you the comparisons of other municipalities. It's good to hear that you're interested in the ages and demographics as well, so we can provide that to you in those decisions. Thanks.

Councilmember Tilton-Byrne. Yes, sir.

Thank you, Mayor. I have just a couple of questions. One, I think you already touched on, Paul. You had mentioned early on in your presentation that we had a negative payment from the state on tax revenue due to an overpayment that had happened in previous years. You talked a little bit already about kind of the maybe clunky process that we go through with the state and understanding where this tax data comes from. And so just wondering if there was any indication as to where the overpayment came from that's now putting us in a negative number or are we just kind of in the dark on that?

Ashley asked that question last week. We hope to get more information from the state here in the next week or two. From what it sounds like, it's probably some fairly large industry. But they won't give us specific names. They'll probably just give us a little glimpse. But once we have that information, we'll make sure and share it with the council.

Great. Another question I had is on the Humane Society dollar amount that is being suggested. I think the agreement that we have with the Humane Society is a little unique compared to the others that appear on that list because we actually receive some sort of service from the Humane Society in their support through strays and other animals. So just wondering if you could talk a little bit more about that dollar amount, the increase that we're seeing in the suggestion for that, and just that relationship overall with the Humane Society.

Yeah, I believe the chiefs here who can talk a little bit more about that. Every year they do submit a request for that. This year it was flat at $50,000. I, as city manager, actually asked to bump that up based on CPI just because I know their expenses are increasing just as ours and everyone else's. So we wanted to make sure they're at least getting some increase. With that said, there is a true-up throughout that process, and then we try to get them as much money throughout that contract throughout the year. Chief, do you want to talk a little bit more about how that operation works? Yeah.

I appreciate the question. We have a great partnership with the Humane Society of Brookings, as you already know, based on your question. As the city manager stated, we always inflate it by the CPI, the Consumer Price Index. But really what goes beyond that is they're very responsive. They deal with all of our feline nature when we get to animal complaints. There has been an uptick in the need for animal services in the community. I think since COVID, we can all look at that granular data. and agree that uh you know pets are really more flourishing in our community and with that cost goes up right so when dogs run away or cats are abandoned those types of services go up and our folks can only do so much and with that partnership and sharing where we do have where we have hoarding issues or we have animals in distress or abandonment or found or lost All those costs tend to exponentially increase every year. So the partnership has been really good. We keep really good data on it so that we know that we're getting our money's worth and that the Humane Society remains a great partner with us than they have so far. And any questions about that, we make sure that we reconcile at the end of the year with the books and the way the data looks. So I think it's money well spent for the city to continue endeavoring into that relationship.

Absolutely.

I will add a plug real quick.

They're also running a capital campaign. So if anyone's interested that's listening tonight, please get a hold of the Humane Society. There's a number of people that would love to talk to you tonight.

As a follow-up to that, I would say obviously our relationship with the Humane Society has been fantastic. I think I've mentioned this perhaps in years past, but I do think where we see it in our budget tends to confuse me and maybe others a little bit, just because the other agencies that appear on that list, I don't know if you want to go to that slide that shows those agencies, but The other agencies that appear on this list certainly provide services for the community, but it's less of a kind of direct service, almost pay for service, right? Billing like we drew up at the end of the year and all of that. So part of me wonders if we shouldn't relocate that line item to something like the police budget or somewhere else within our budget, not to do away with it, but just allocate it somewhere else, since the rest of the agencies on this list tend to have a little bit more fluidity and don't necessarily have that same agreement with the city where there is kind of a, you provide us with this service and we will pay you a fee for it. I think it would be, in my opinion, a little cleaner in just how we see the numbers for this particular portion of the budget. And the last question I have is also related to this, and it's about that United Way process that we use in order to allocate the rest of the funds. Obviously, I've been through this process a number of times, but for some folks, this might be the first time they hear about that process, so I don't know if you want to provide just a little bit more information about What happens with that overall dollar amount that goes through the United Way process and how they run that?

Yeah, so every year we appreciate the United Way partnership. Heidi helps us out and her staff. Heidi works, and of course Mike's on the United Way board, which I appreciate as well. Every year we work with United Way, and what they do is they understand the non-for-profit agencies' needs here within the community. They take a separate pool of money that the city council allocates, but they also have a rubric process, which requires an application. And in that rubric process, they ask city council what the priorities are for you as a city council. But also, Heidi conveys to you as well what she's seeing in the community. In years past, it was the need for food. In the years past, it was the need for housing. There's just always a lot of need in this community That's just not seen with that US Council give Heidi prioritization on at least one or two items Which then goes into that rubric they receive applications a separate committee reviews applications Evaluates it based on that rubric and it provides a recommendation to City Council City Council has ultimate say and authority and what how that money gets spent and you take that action. Throughout that process then, roughly six to nine months later, you get an after-action report to you on how those monies were used throughout the community. Once again, they provide a much better resource and service than I ever could as a city manager, so I appreciate what Heidi and the non-for-profits do.

Council Member Specker.

Yeah, I have one clarification, and I just want to be sure I understand it right in my own mind, and I think it's also something good for people to realize with the property tax increases. Those, that's 2.5, is that statewide? Like, is that...

The 2.5 CPI?

Yeah, that is determined regionally or statewide.

Ashley, you want to come on up? And maybe we'll have Ashley just explain this a little bit more. Because it is very in-depth, but it's pretty straightforward. A lot of the information we'll get from the state or the county.

But Ashley. It's my understanding that that 2.5, we have no control over that. The growth is actually the growth within the city. And the state has recently capped that at 1%. 3%. Correct? So in cities, and I think this happened to our counties, Minnehaha and Rapid, Pennington, they end up having higher growth than 1%, but their property taxes can only increase 3.5%. So it ends up putting them in a rather difficult situation because they can't depend upon those sale taxes, right? We are actually below where we would kind of want to be. I mean, the maximum we're ever going to get is 3.5. That's the biggest increase anyone's ever going to see in their property tax.

So it would be a cap of 3% on the CPI, and that's determined by the state each year, and then a cap of 3% on growth as well.

Oh, so it can actually go up to 6%. OK. Okay, that clarifies it.

That would add to your point, the things that you're seeing in communities that are growing really fast, especially for the school systems, they're not just able to add capacity, teachers, facilities for that growth that they're seeing. And so they just have to work within that budget.

Okay, thank you.

Any other questions, council? All right, thank you. Next one is on the 22nd. And we will move on once Paul's cleared out of there. And we have open forum. In order to provide equal access to all during the open forum and public comment portions of the meeting, each individual offering comments shall not exceed the allotted three-minute period. The podium light turns green, then to yellow. When there is one minute remaining, your time of comment is expired when the podium light turns red. Is there any member of the public who wishes to address the council on an item not listed on tonight's agenda? All right. We'll move on to Item 6, Consent Agenda. Action on the Consent Agenda. Entertain a motion to approve the Consent Agenda.

So moved. Second.

Is there any public comment on any remaining Consent Agenda items? Council have questions, comments? Please call the roll.

Hager? Aye. Niemeyer? Aye. Speicher? Aye. Tiltonburn? Aye. Wendell?

Aye.

Doran? Aye.

All right, so I've got a couple proclamations here, and I'm going to ask that I would assume Tara is coming up, okay, from United Way. And then eventually we'll have Kristen Gersthal just all to come up for the welcoming of new residents in the city. Okay, mayoral proclamation. Whereas suicide is one of the leading causes of death across the United States, devastating families and communities. And whereas in South Dakota, suicide is the 10th leading cause of death overall and the second leading cause of death for individuals ages 10 to 34. With the state reporting one of the highest suicide rates in the nation at approximately 22 deaths per 100,000 residents in 2024. And whereas Brookings is not immune to this crisis, and local leaders, schools, health providers, nonprofits, and community members continue working together to reduce stigma and expand access to mental health resources. And whereas research shows that connectedness, early intervention, trauma-informed care, and reducing access to lethal means can save lives. And whereas the City of Brookings supports initiatives such as the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, local behavioral health programs, and community-based prevention efforts to ensure that every individual in crisis knows that they are not alone. And whereas during Suicide Prevention Month, the community of Brookings comes together to remember those lost, honor survivors, support affected families, and commit to building a culture where seeking help is seen as a sign of strength. And therefore, be it resolved that I, Opeke Garrett Niemeyer, Mayor of the City of Brookings, do hereby proclaim September 2026 as Suicide Prevention Month. I call upon all residents to learn the warning signs and join our shared responsibility of preventing suicide and promoting hope.

Good evening, everyone. Thank you, City, Mayor Ope, and everyone here today and online for recognizing Suicide Prevention Month and for helping our community bring attention to such an important issue. September is a time to remind our community that suicide prevention is something we all have a role in. It's about checking in with the people around us, creating spaces where people feel seen, valued, and supported, and being willing to have the conversations that can sometimes feel really difficult. Because behind every statistic is a person, a son or daughter, a parent, a friend, a co-worker, someone whose absence leaves a space that can never truly be filled. This month, we honor those we have lost to suicide, those who have survived an attempt, and the families, friends, and loved ones who continue to carry those experiences with them. Here in Brookings, we have an opportunity to come together and make mental health and suicide prevention a community priority. Whether that means checking in with a friend, learning those warning signs, sharing the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, or simply reminding someone that they matter, small actions can make a very big difference. Sometimes a very simple, how are you really doing, or I'm glad you're here, can mean more than we will ever know. Thank you.

Call upon Kristen just all to come up We have friends All right mayoral proclamation whereas the city of Brookings acknowledges and celebrates that the United States of America is a nation of people with diverse backgrounds and our country's cultural and economic richness rooted in diversity and its promise of freedom, equity, and opportunity. And whereas welcoming a core part of who we are and who we always have been, Ann Brookings prioritizes a spirit of welcoming not just during this week, but year round. And whereas all residents, including newcomers and longtime community members alike, are invited to find common ground with their neighbors, seek similarities within our different cultures and perspectives, and deepen our commitments to one another. And whereas Brookings aspires to be a welcoming, inclusive, resilient community that fosters a high quality of life for all, choosing connection, courage, and love over division, fear, and hate. Now, therefore, I, Opke Garrett Niemeyer, mayor of the city of Brookings in the state of South Dakota, do hereby proclaim September 10 to 19, 2026, as a welcoming week. And encourage all residents to join together to build a stronger, more resilient community by sharing food, music, art, conversation, and more throughout the week.

So we are celebrating the first welcoming week here in Brookings, and I'm joined by representatives from the Human Rights Commission and the Brookings Multicultural Center. And as a part of this week, we will have a welcoming celebration at the Farmer's Market this coming Saturday the 12th from 9 until noon. And then we also have a new resident barbecue on Tuesday the 15th. So if you're a new resident to Brookings within the last few years, we have a spot for you at our table and would love to see you. And you can check out our... Facebook pages to learn more information. And yeah, we just love that Brookings is a place that welcomes all of our neighbors and is a great place to belong.

Okay, proclamations are done. We have a report, SDSU Student Association. I invite Jackie Mollison for the first time up here to present what's going on at SDSU.

Good evening, Mayor and council members. It is great to be back on campus. My name is Jackie Mollison, and I am the newly appointed SA Student Government Affairs Chair for our Student Association. And as students return to campus for this fall semester, we've been really busy just kicking off the year. Student Association recently had our petitions open back up for new senators at large to join. And so we will be expecting multiple new senators to be joining us within the next few weeks. As for events on campus this Saturday, SDSU will be playing New Haven at 6 PM for the Beef Bowl, which is an annual tradition celebrating our state and the state's beef cattle industry alongside, of course, the Jackrabbits home game. And then we also will be having, and I wanted to highlight, One Day for State this Thursday all day, which will be our annual fundraising event that helps support scholarships for students, academic programs, student organizations, and other initiatives that benefit SDSU and the student body as a whole. We will also be having our blue and yellow block party at 5 to 8 on the alumni green. And we would love to have anyone join us if they would be welcome to join. There will be the pride and, of course, free ice cream. And then before I conclude, we have one request on behalf of the Student Association that I'm presenting. We know that in the past, we've had city council people come and join us for a meeting once a month. And we just want to extend that invitation again. And if you would be willing, we would welcome a brief report from one of you. On a one Monday a month Which we meet at 7 p.m. In the Lewis and Clark room and in our student union and we would just love to hear from you guys as well So thank you for your time and that concludes my report But I'd be happy to hear and answer any questions that you have for me.

All right comments or questions for Jackie Councilmember during

Thank you, Mayor. I'll just respond. I would love to continue that initiative, and I'm sure I can gather some fellow council members to join me as well.

Awesome. We so appreciate it. All right. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Jackie. Brookings' ex-official reports. Do we have one for Brookings Health? Okay.

I attended the Brookings Health System Board of Trustees meeting on August 26th. I wrote down some highlights. There was a lot of content that was discussed, but the first highlight was a presentation from the Ambulance Director, Megan Sinner. I learned a lot about the ambulance and EMS responses than I ever knew before. So there's been a 41.5% increase in the number of EMS responses since 2020. And when they are doing all of that work, they also still try to help surrounding areas, but that is with a relatively small staff and fleet. So here in Brookings, we have five ambulances, 11 full-time paramedics, two part-time paramedics, 13 who can be on call to help with various events like football games, and then four part-time EMTs. Ambulances are three years out, so any order takes a long time to actually get here. So one that was ordered in 2024 will be here in 2027. The EMS also keeps busy by providing trainings on things like life support and the Safe Sitter program for young people who want to babysit. And then they also provide internships for Brookings High School students. So a lot of ways of trying to get folks interested in a career in EMS. So beyond the challenges that I mentioned, it's just increasingly busy. It's harder for them to help some of the surrounding areas without receiving some additional funding to just try to help with the overall operation of our EMS. And then there's of course always the concerns of mental health, of being a first responder. Outside of the ambulance presentation, we also found out that Brookings Health System was named to Forbes Top Hospitals by State for the year 2026. Only five received this recognition, and BHS is the highest rated across all five of the quality measures that focus on patient outcomes, best practices, value, and patient experience. So that was really exciting. The foundation had a very successful Aiming to Inspire Health Sporting Clays fundraiser at the Brookings Gun Club that raised about $30,000. The funds will be used, of course, to help support BHS, but also to hopefully purchase a Lucas III chest compression system. And then since I always seem to be the one reporting about the transition on Epic, things are going well, just despite some challenges with transitioning to the different coding and billing under that particular system. But it sounds like patients are really liking that new portal, and so are the providers.

Thank you. Any questions for Lisa? So seriously, it's going to take three years to get an ambulance.

Yeah, I was shocked by that. Even though, obviously, sitting on the board, we heard a lot about how long it was taking, but it just seems to not be getting better, unfortunately.

I would almost make the comment that some of the equipment will be obsolete before they even get it to us.

Yeah, I mean, they did talk a little bit about how many miles are on some of the different ambulances within the fleet, and it was really mind-blowing to see that there's vehicles with hundreds of thousands of miles that just have to keep being put in use because, yeah, they're three years out to get anything new.

Wow. Councilmember Specker, you have a question?

There's nothing from BMU. Okay. Sorry.

All right. All right. I think there's a meeting next week, correct?

Right. Yeah. Because of the holiday.

All right. All right.

All right, Lisa.

Okay. And we'll move on to contracts and change orders. Item 8A, action on resolution 26-058, a resolution authorizing change order number one for 2025-11STI Capital Street and 32nd Avenue Sanitary Sewer Road Project. Charlie Richter, our city engineer, will present this item. Thank you.

Good evening. As your city engineer, I'm here tonight requesting approval of Resolution 26058 for a change order to the 2025-11 STI Capitol Street and 32nd Avenue Sanitary Sewer and Road Project. This project includes the installation of a sanitary sewer line along Capitol Street as well as the reconstruction and repaving of Capitol Street and 32nd Avenue from Capitol Street to 6th Street. The requested change order includes additional gravel placement needed to adequately stabilize unforeseen subgrade conditions, additional curb and gutter, and additional concrete approach replacement. The change order totals $60,253.81, which represents approximately an 11% increase over round construction's original contract amount of $517,533.99. Due to the proximity of this project to the marketplace project, additional time was needed to reconcile the final quantities before bringing the change order forward to city council. There are sufficient appropriations in the capital projects fund and economic development fund to cover the change order. Public work recommends approval of the change order with Brown's Construction.

All right. Entertain a motion to approve. So moved. Second. Been moved and seconded. Is there any public comment on this item? Council have any questions, comments? Did this still come under budget? Yes, it did. OK. That's the only question I got. Anybody else? Please call the roll.

Niemeyer? Aye. Specker? Aye. Tiltonburn? Aye. Wendell? Aye. Doran? Aye. Hager? Aye.

All right, item 9, all of our first readings. Item 9A, introduction and first reading on Ordinance 26-028, an ordinance certifying the 2027 City of Brookings property tax levy to the Brookings County Finance Officer. Ashley Wrench, our Finance Director, will present this item.

Thank you, Mayor, members of the Council. This is the first reading of Ordinance 26-028, certifying the 2027 City of Brookings property tax levy to the Brookings County Finance Officer. The proposed levy is $4,554,880 for the general fund. And state law limits the annual increase in property tax revenue based on the prior year's certified amount plus the allowable amount for growth from new construction and the consumer price index. For 2027, the calculation starts with our prior year certified amount of $4,408,219 and adds $36,456 for the 0.827% growth factor and then the $110,205 for the 2.5% CPI factor. Resulting in the total levy of four million five hundred fifty four thousand eight hundred eighty dollars This certification establishes the city's property tax request for 2027 and supports general fund objectives and operations The second reading of this ordinance will be on September 22nd, and I'll be glad to answer any questions.

Thank you Thank You Ashley. Is there any public comment on this item? Council have any questions comments at this time Ashley said we'll revisit this for our second reading on the 22nd item 9b introduction and first reading on ordinance 26-0 to 9 an ordinance authorizing budget amendment number 6 to the 2026 budget Barbara Sino our city manager will present this item Thank You mayor city council members budget amendment number 6 contains a payment of three hundred and seven thousand nine hundred twenty seven dollars for mutually agreed termination of the armory agreement with linchpin and

This reimbursement compensates the developer for specific work completed on city-owned property. The work addressed conditions the city was responsible for and would need to address regardless of who develops or redevelops the site. The reimbursement includes $120,330.25 for asbestos lead abatement, roof repairs, $157,596.00, 75 cents for mold remediation $30,000 for relocation of a gas line staff recommends utilizing 3b reserves for this payment Which has been set aside for things like this it does not impact property taxes or sales tax use Tonight is the first reading for this recommended payment second reading will occur September 22nd Thank you, Paul Is there any public comment on this item?

Council any questions comments Council Member Wendell.

Thank you, Mayor. I maybe just would make a comment because this is a little bit of an unusual action we're taking. A release was sent last week sharing our intention to terminate our agreement with Lynchpin. For those that have been following the potential development at the existing armory location, you know that we were really hopeful as we entered into that agreement with Lynchpin that we would be able to create together something really cool in the core of the community. It's unfortunate that the financing has not come together and we've had to move away from that. I don't think there's anyone to point the finger at. I think we were kind of the city and Lynchpin together taking a big swing here to do something really neat and ideally transformative for downtown, and it just didn't happen. But they took on some risk to abate some of the things that would have needed to happen at that property, as Paul just noted, and so this payment really reflects them taking on the front-end risk. us making an investment in cleaning up the property that would have needed to happen anyway. It's unfortunate that this particular plan is not going to come to fruition, but I do want to thank them for being good partners, and I think this just represents an investment that at some point in the process we would have needed to make anyway. I wanted to clarify that for folks that might have seen this as a bit of an extraordinary action. It's a bit different than our typical course of action.

All right.

Any other comments, questions? All right. We will be reviewing that again. Second reading on the 22nd. On to second readings and public hearings. Item 10A, second reading in action on Ordinance 26-025, an ordinance pertaining to lost, unclaimed, or abandoned property in the city of Brookings, South Dakota. Lieutenant Jonathan Weinreich will present this item.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, City Council, members of the public, City Manager Paul Brasino. Again, every year the PD takes in about 100 to 200 items of lost, unclaimed, or abandoned property, mainly debit, credit cards, keys, clothing, broken phones, and items that are just no longer wanted, canceled, or no way of finding the owner. Again, our goal is always to return the items. We've been very successful with that Again, it's building up within the police department and we just need to find a way to either donate Donate it Destroy it do something with it. I We're setting up a 90-day window. We're proposing setting up a 90-day window after we have tried to return it via calls, texts, emails, or a certified letter. The most that we'd hold onto that is 30 days after the certified notice would be given out. After that, we would be able to, again, destroy it or get rid of it. We also are proposing a finder if they come in. They want it back. They have 30 days to do it. That way we'd be able to get it back to them if that's something they desire. That way we're not holding on to something or destroying it if it's not needed. Again, it was written by Steve Reitzman, former city attorney, reviewed by Woods and Fuller, and members of the police department are in support of it.

Thank you, Johnny. Entertain a motion to approve.

So moved. Second.

Is there any public comment on this item? Council, any questions, comments? When will this go into effect, John?

I guess that would be a city attorney question. I believe it would probably be 30 days after... 20 days?

Thanks, Mike. 20 days. All right. Okay. Council Member Duren.

Thank you, Mayor. I just had a couple of questions. So it sounds like this ordinance will help clear up some space. I was wondering, do we have a current dedicated space for this property? And this might be a great questioner, Paul, too. Is a dedicated space in the works and the design for the new public safety center as well?

Yes, I'm both Currently we move some things around to have a secure area to be able to put the lost and found in that way it's easily protected from public and you know after it's logged in we have a documented recording of it and With the proposal of the new building there be a separate area for that to go for the safe return of that property

Sure. And then my second question is, this ordinance covers what happens once the public interacts with law enforcement. Do you have any advice or guidance you would like to give the public when they come across a lost item or an abandoned property? How should they begin that interaction?

Just in general, they find something. Either give us a call at the non-emergency line or just go ahead and come to the Brookings Police Department. They hand it over. We get information from them just so that we know kind of who was the one who brought it to us. And then after that, all we do is we go out there and we really beat feet, try to return. Last week, we returned a wallet to a gentleman who had lost it. So we go out there and we try to return it to the best of our ability, and we encourage anyone, if they're missing anything, we get several phone calls a week, give us a holler. We would love to return your property. We don't want it.

Sure. So if someone finds something lost, what information would be helpful for you and the owner to know?

Understood. Where they located it, you know, it does help the geographical area and any sort of identifying items that they did locate within it. You know, normally we identify it through IDs. We can use NCIC in order to run serial numbers, different things like that. But, yeah, mainly where they located it just so we can kind of break down the geographical area of where it is. It could be someone on a long walk. More than likely it's somewhere that they're living nearby.

Sure. Thank you. I appreciate it.

All right.

Any other questions? All right. Please call the roll.

Specker? Aye. Aye. Tiltonburn? Aye. Wendell? Aye. Dorian? Aye. Iger? Aye. Niemeyer?

Aye.

All right. Item 10B, public hearing and action on ordinance 26-027, an ordinance for a conditional use permit to establish an office in a residence R2 two-family district, 1103 3rd Street. Mike Strucker, community development director, will present this item.

Thank you, Mayor and members of the council. The ordinance before you tonight is an ordinance to establish as a conditional use an office in a residence R2 two-family dwelling district. The property is located at 1103 3rd Street and the individuals interested in establishing the counseling office are in the process of acquiring the property and they wish to Have two office suites in there for their counseling services. The counseling services would be available during the Monday through Friday Their hours are limited to normal business Operational hours they have the appropriate off street parking They do satisfy the requirements of the conditional use it does come to you with the unanimous recommendation from the Planning Commission and with that would stand for any questions you may have Thank You Mike entertain motion to approve so moved second moved second is there any public comment on this item I

Council, any questions, comments? All right. Please call the roll.

Tiltonburn? Aye. Wendell? Aye. Doran? Aye. Hager? Aye. Niemeyer? Aye. Specker? Aye.

All right, item 10C, public hearing and action on resolution 26-057, a resolution authorizing the termination of the development agreement, including all addenda, with Lynchpin Corporation, and authorizing the execution of the documents to effectuate the terms and intent of the resolution. Paul Racino, our city manager, will present this item.

Thank you, Mayor, City Council members. Staff recommends mutual termination of the Armory Development Agreement between the City and Lynchpin Corporation. While the project will not move forward as originally envisioned, both the City and Lynchpin have worked very hard over the past several years to try to progress the project as much as possible. Ultimately, the developers informed us higher construction costs, increased interest rates, challenging lending environment for hospitality projects made the project no longer financially viable. As part of the termination, the city will reimburse Lynchpin $307,927 through separate action that will happen at the September 22nd meeting. Their agreed costs are associated with environmental remediation, roof work, relocation of gas lines on the city-owned property. This reimbursement is for work completed that benefits the city's property. Staff does recommend council approval of the resolution for termination as presented.

All right. Thank you, Paul. Entertain a motion to approve.

So moved. Second.

Move to second. Is there any public comment on this item? All right. Council questions, comments? Council Member Duren.

Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to echo Deputy Mayor Wendell's sentiments about the project and the partnership, but I also wanted to confirm that new options and alternatives or next step forward with this property will be brought forward by staff at a future meeting. Is that correct?

Correct. Hearing the desire and interest for this property, staff plans on bringing ideas forward as early as September 22nd. Perfect.

Thank you.

Any other questions, comments? Please call the roll.

Wendell? Aye. Doran? Aye. Hager? Aye. Niemeyer? Aye. Specker? Aye. Tiltonburn? Aye.

Okay, item 11, other business. Item 11A, action on resolution 26-059, a resolution dissolving tax increment district number 12 of the city of Brookings. Mike Strzok, our community development director, will present this item.

Thank You mayor and members of the council with your previous action to terminate the agreement with lynchpin We established a tax increment district number 12 with the creation of that particular project To date because the property is still in the ownership of the city No property taxes had been collected on that but as a formality with the termination of that agreement we would like to proceed with terminating the tax increment number 12 district. And so staff does recommend approval, and if approved, we will take care of the necessary paperwork and file it with the state and get that dissolved and off everyone's books. Staff does recommend approval, and I'd stand for any questions you may have.

Thank you, Mike. Entertain a motion to approve. So moved.

Second.

Is there any public comment on this item? Council questions, comments? Please call the roll.

Duran? Aye. Hager? Aye. Niemeyer? Aye. Specker? Aye. Tiltonburn? Aye. Wendell? Aye.

All right, that concludes all of our business this evening. Introduction topics for future discussion. We will talk about study session on the 15th. Presentation by BMU. And then P&R, e-bike scooters.

Yes. Parks would like to bring forward their suggested code changes for e-bikes and scooters throughout the community and on trails. All right. And something that's been requested for a year or so.

Okay. And also, other agencies have the opportunity to come in and talk about their services and their budgets?

Correct.

All right. And then we have September 22, our next stated meeting. We obviously have a couple of second readings that we had first on tonight. We will be talking about the 10-year CIP and fee schedule, presentation by the chief on the license plate readers. And then we will also have the progress report. Any other items the council would like to bring from future discussion? All right. I would ask for an entertain a motion to adjourn.

So moved. Second.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Meeting adjourned.