City Commission - Special Meeting

meeting. Today is Tuesday, April 14th, 2026. Time is 10:05 p.m. Um, it's a budget meeting, so I'm going to turn the meeting over to our city manager, Mr. Coffee. Good afternoon. Glad everybody's here. Um, this is our budget meeting for our next step in the process. We'll go to that next slide. Right off the bat, this is our really an update with where we're at after we heard the community agencies. We we've gone through our budget and done some some work. the department heads um spent some time with their budgets at at our our request and they've done a really good job of of trying to create u a little bit more flexibility for the commission. Um we we were able to move remember at the last time before we went through it we had a balance of about 207. We've moved that number a little bit u thanks to the the department heads um to give us a little bit more room. Um, and so right now where we're at, we're we're at the capital programming and economic development.

Sounds good. As we said,

Kevin,

we're all in blue. You're in orange. So, this is this is really an update with where we're sitting and and then to uh begin the discussion of capital programming and economic development. I want to revisit that topic. I'm going to take give Melanie a chance to to uh start to introduce uh the subject a little bit more thoroughly. U and then uh we'll see where the numbers lie and you'll get some some additional personnel insight and u so that's enough lead you have the floor. Uh, as Earl said, we're going to cover kind of um in a snapshot where we are after uh our department heads graciously did some furious adjusting for us. Um, you do have your big spreadsheets. We're not going to go through these today. The they do reflect the changes that staff made. Um, these are just to take home with you and to consider after we go through our capital program um to show funding requests. And um next meeting um we'll have those recommended capital numbers and then uh recommended changes based on the feedback we get during this meeting for our unfunded um initiatives. So um with that being said, you do have the big spreadsheets. They are as up to-date as they can be, but we're not going to go through them today. So, this is really going to be a um ask questions kind of meeting that you all have. Um ask questions of staff if you need to of their um capital requests. And um it's

not a huge long meeting. It's it's just a few slides to kind of um show you all where we're at. Um we also do have our capital request for the year at your medium size and a copy of your slides as we go through them. Um the way our capital requests are broken out, it's of course by fund and then um each department has given their capital request a priority and that's based on you know need of the department and their consideration of okay is this an initiative that I have to have or is this an object um that I have to have in the next year to continue you know operations or is this a oh this would improve operations um and it would be a good to have um but we could pot if we need to we could potentially dep prioritize it in the current year. So that's that's a little how that um is laid out. So before we get to the details of that, here is a snapshot of where your budget has landed after those changes. Revenue did not change. You are at operating revenue of $24,594,970. We did adjust in our um operating expenses. Total expenses are at $24,135,719, which leaves you a budget surplus of $459,251. So included in this 24 million expenses are your COLA for staff. Um 2.7% is the current year cola. uh plus this step on our scale to um maintain the personnel um policy that we have or the personnel initiative I should say that we have to

keep um our staff um going toward market um or as to to keep it as as at the same level away from market that we currently have it. What you still have unfunded in your current budget are any um allocations for community agencies, any allocations for shared agencies, and any new or additional staffing that is not currently on the books. Um we did make a couple changes last night, uh but that is included in your 24,135. $135,000. So, as a reminder from department presentations a few um several weeks ago, um we do have several requests from different departments on staffing changes. Um in total, the combined changes would be $632,000. All of those changes, all of these changes come out of your general fund. So, these are all fighting for that s 432 $450,000. Um the there are two that um Earl and myself have identified as we we strongly recommend. Um but these um that are highlighted with the asterric. Um oh, I haven't moved my slides. I'm sorry. Um the first one is your 911 staff. Um the changes in that department in their salaries compared to where the market is for telecommunications has changed more than the average say compared to finance staff. Um and so they the department as a whole is really

needing a um a market adjustment um to get them back to that four to 5% what we call a um gap that is um supplemented by our package compared to other departments

when Randy and I talked about that. So they are about 10.57 below the market. 10 point 10 10.57% below the market on average. And what so Randy and I not not really knowing you all's preference I tried to create a scenario where you could do that in two steps. So you would take in addition to the 3% then uh or the 2.7% for colon experiencebased pay. This year we were talking about adding an an additional halfway to that full t 10.57%. So the halfway mark is $36,679. If you want to take that whole step this year that we're in, which is probably manageable, you would just simply it would be 70 roughly 72 or $3,000 there to go all the way to the market for 911. We're recommending you at least take that half step this year and the other half next year. The um HR clerk is a reclassification of Ry's assistant. As we've increased training, we we want to specifically elevate that position a level so that you have room in the future as the city grows to have an entry level position underneath it. Right. In addition to that, we want to put more a little bit more of a tax on that employee. uh and and have more uh work assigned to them and and part of the compensation comes along with more responsibilities. Right.

So th those are the two things at the core we're recommending. Um and we we would defer to you obviously to your judgment on whether or not you you do the two years on on the 911 or or one year. We do think that and and we would have to work a little bit to get the other half in this year, but I think we could do it if we had to. That's the direction you all give us.

So, go ahead. What did you have a question, Kevin? Okay,

we we can remember back into the department heads. Each each person that identified a a specific position that we needed, you know, there was a basis for that and we can do a deeper dive. Some of the department heads are here uh and we can we can talk about those positions more if you want, but I would just suggest to you that you recall the department head presentations for the defense of each one in the short term. U the like I said the the uh telecommunicator market adjustment is not that that that's that's us identifying those positions as being slightly under the market and and we recommend an adjustment on those. And that's

for for a completely brand new position pretty close to it. uh which that includes their salary and their benefits, uh retirement, that kind of thing. But, uh, for a, you know, as you can see, an entry level firefighter recruits $100,000. A maintenance worker is pretty close to that, uh, $80,000. Um, so it's not just the the pay that they're getting per hour, their salary wage, it's it's uh benefits on top of that. So it's not inexpensive to add a completely brand new position. So we do have to um you all would have to consider each one carefully um and and let us know the priorities and direction you are interested in going.

Do you well probably ask you this earl but do you have recommendations on on the additions? I I don't know what I would suggest to you is is if you agree with adjusting u communications, you give us whether you want to shoot for the two years or one year, right? Then let's let's agree give us some direction on the HR clerk and then see see where you're at with some of your other u allocations, your community agency allocations, your shared agencies,

and kind of see where we're sitting on that at that time. I I I do feel like that I don't know that we have a lot of room u to to do cutting with the inflation the way it is right now. I'm a little bit hesitant to do to to really cut some of the departments deeper to be honest with you. No, I

um there the the budget is conservative on the expense side does account for some inflation but we We've asked them to whittle through it and they so so the 459 that was on the previous slide is already a whittleled through number right and and they we we've talked about that with them and they've they've worked amongst themselves and so so that is a refined number

and and so I it it's a little bit nervous in that you just really don't know the the really impact of inflation over given given the national environment, right? So my curiosity is before we try to try looking at those positions, each one is different. I would I would suggest that the firefighter recruit positions are are difficult to fill one. You need to fill all three because you've got three different days of the week. It's a 24 on, 48 off. So you need if you're going to do one to accommodate. There's no, you know, you can't say, "Well, we just want to add somebody on second shift." You really can't do that. it's Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, right? And so it it's not as easy as just adding one. You need to really add all three. So that's something to consider. Um but we do need to start trending that direction as a as a city. We we do need to start growing the department because we don't want to end up in where we've seen a growth uh over a few years and and suddenly our our call demand and now we need to we need to add three people. you know, I'd rather add them on our own pace rather than add them under duress, right? Where you where you have to have somebody. I'd rather rather not get there. And then there's some operational efficiencies achieved with four people on the truck. And Chief's done a good job with explaining that. Uh he did it during his presentation. You got three guys basically that show up on a truck. You you're supposed to have two in, two out, right? So So you're going to have to wait on that second truck or the support truck to get there before you can really, you know, You're you're typically what we see is that accommodating itself because we're we have we're arriving and by the time you get your truck set up then you you can get more people there and it it ends up you know being u workable situation. However, if you have

multiple emergencies going on at the same time, you can easily see how that can become a challenge. If we're going to be able to do fire station, we need people in that too. Does it affect I mean hearing him present, hearing the police present again all the departments, but you know yesterday we see the potential growth on the other side of on that side of town and it's everywhere. So, I mean, it just our staff's going to get thinner and thinner, you know, and talking to somebody at 911 last night just leaving. Just the, you know, I mean, just talking in general and hearing how busy they are during the day.

Um, you know, I think we have to watch that and like Kevin said, we have to get ready for it. So, I don't know how I mean, I know it doesn't if you put it in the budget, obviously you're not going to do a whole year of budget. I know you do next year, but it takes a while to get them. So, could you put half, you know, again, the money I know you have to have next year, but you're not going to get them hired July 1. So,

let's let let's um know we we do believe in controlling our destiny like we believe in in doing this work necessary on the front side, not waiting and reacting to it. We have a long history of that. I think that's still true in police and fire. If if you had just unlimited money, yeah, I would add the detective, I would add the code enforcement officer, and I would add three firefighters. No question. Um but we don't. And so, let's um go through the process like like we suggested. My my recommendation would be to go through the process trying to identify the the community agency shared agency allocation, see where you land on that and see see kind of where you're sitting before you proceed with what you do with with those extra positions.

I know for me, I'd rather um I know it's mean not give to the community agencies if we need more firefighters and police. That that's just me. But I mean, you could always treat them all the same and say, "I'm sorry, you know, but that's just me."

Well, we'll move we'll move to that just to remind you all um public works. So if if I could assign you all some homework mid meeting, we do need your allocations to those entities back um your worksheets for the community agencies and your recommendations so that we can um have a recommendation based on your all's wishes. um if you want to do that before our next meeting, we would need those in here by Friday um to have those populated. But as a reminder, um we do break out our um um agencies a little bit in some of our meetings to allocate to our um strategic initiatives. Um so we do have requests in um for related to housing and food insecurity from four agencies totaling 95 39,500 um community health and wellness for a total of $34,000. community and economic development for a total of 1094 $109,400 and your shared agencies which are um other than the senior citizens that are quasi um governmental agencies um or speeges for a total of $398,000. You do have two new applicants in the current um budget year. Technically, the homeless coalition is new to the um agency process, so we did include them despite us providing them um some funding in the current budget year. And Healing Families Together, which was

also called Altogether Recovery. Um uh they were a new agency as well. Um all the rest we've provided funding to for at least the last budget year. most have been with us many years. Um, and then your airport board, your development corporation, planning and zoning, uh, senior c senior citizen center, and your economic development authority. But if you all need an updated blank worksheet, Ashley can get you one of those um, to turn back in. Seems to me this that we should get the number from you all what we have spare and then we fill it.

Well, you do have the number from us. You have as as we said you have 459,000 and you have to decide between funding for these people and this slide. Okay. So technically you do have the number negative200. Uhhuh. Uhhuh. Uhhuh. Um yeah the reminder of the 26 allocations on there the 27 request. Yeah.

The ones new obviously show up as zero last year. Um and then then the totals for each. We I like the idea of of how they're categorized there. uh to to demonstrate what what we think that they're doing for the community and the community good that they're providing. Um and and a lot of times shared agencies are essential. Yeah. And we have agreements with them. Yeah. Some of those are less optional than others. the the economic development authority, so much of what they do is going to be dependent on what they do and how things play out and and if they have if they're able to close on a transaction,

you know, for five or six acres and they have a little bit of resources to draw from in in that fiscal year for for a little bit. So, and then a lot of the things they're actually going to ask you for is related to capital investment of them, right? And so that we understand how that's treated for the city's budget, but realistically those are capital investments that you should get a return on, right? And the development corporation um they might not have a director for a little bit, right? So would that number change as far as this year's need?

So their request is the 100,000. Um they would potentially be without a director for until until one is hired. Um So if if you last year their request was also 100,000 and we provided them 75,000. Um you could you could provide them less but I don't know what that would be. We would have to look in detail at what um your development director position salary is. and our fingers crossed it's not empty long, but hiring is is tricky and you want a good fit. Um, so

I I just remember we support it. I mean, I support it strongly. I just remember one time the balance sheet showed like a overage of maybe 350.

Yeah, they so maybe that could be they've had that around there a little bit more than that for a couple years now. Um but part of that they've recently approved to bring that down. Um part of their current um surplus would be or their fund balance um was Bole County fiscal court provided them a cash infusion to support um some potential projects. So, the board at the most recent meeting um last month they approved $100,000 to a project in Parville um and they also spent in the last year about $70,000 on wayfinding signs for Junction City. And so they've they've brought that down. So they're they're at a much more lean operating um balance or they will be in the very near future after that infusion depable

and we we obviously get a good return on investing in them. I mean it's good. So

okay. So, like we said, this your 459 is is what we are um the next step in our operating budget um to balance that between our revenues and our expenses. And um hopefully you all have an opportunity to share with Earl some feedback on the direction you would like to go between your worksheets for your shared and community agencies and then feedback one-on-one to him about personnel. Before we move to capital, do you all have any questions or comments about operating budgets, which is what is in your packets? No capital dollars are in your big spreadsheets to take home. It's just operations

where we sit today. Where we sit today based on the information we have. I think also I mean isn't it important like Marshall gave us a report last night on the PA coming in doing a report how it affects our citizens, how it affects the water and sewer, you know, in long term because they could come in and give us fines. So, we have to be careful to watch, make sure we're doing everything we need to do. Police and fire, I don't know, a long time ago, they used to have the rating, insurance rating, so for all of us in our homes, right? And I don't know how that is, you know, if we're in line or

we the chief has is has is um I guess taken those and recentered their operations and and trying to reconfirm um that we're we're checking all our boxes. We've not seen a and and chief, you're welcome to correct me, but you know, our our number our rating really hasn't changed for some time. And so what what we'd like to see is at least a trend in the positive direction so that we're not just stagnant. That's what I'm saying. It affects our insurance. So because it does have a direct homeowners insurance, right?

So we will keep moving then. Um capital request. So, like we said, these are all outlined on your um mediumsiz sheets uh by department. Um we will go through um each department and um the projects they're looking at. If you all have questions about one, um feel free to ask. Um and then um question I had a question. Yes. The $400,000. Yes.

Does that does that include if we move the garbage and maybe save $120,000? So right now that does there's um so right now you have a transfer to your garbage fund of $50,000 and that will be necessary because there will be there will be some billing um cleanup in the FY26 budget. There's also $45,000 that we contribute to the recycling program. So that does not account for any changes of garbang billing. Garbage billing. Yes. Yeah. Right now it's it's it's

you have a fund a a deficit in your fund balance. So would you all ever consider um a part-time no benefit yet well- paid like code enforcement assistance? Um, a lot of retired people out there would love a part-time job like that. Yeah. Or even public works.

The consistency of training uh matters. Um, I I don't know. We've we've looked at that before and we'll we'll have dialogue about that and do have a better answer for you u at the next next meeting, but uh um I'll ask the chief and I we we'll talk about that. But we we you could do that. We did that on parking forever. We had part-time park code enforcement because of the the enforcement actions related to the offense. There's a lot of timely followup involved and there's a lot there's the chain of custody of that case set like that is is important. And so it's a little bit trickier in my mind to do a part-time code enforcement officer, but it's certainly we need to talk about that again and we'll we'll do that before the next meeting. Okay. Uh, capital request total in your general fund capital request considered as first priority is $882,550. Um your legislative um department has requested funding for audio um for the commission chambers. As you all are aware, we have quite a few issues with our audio sometimes. Um and it's it's uh time to get some of that updated and replaced. Um also some city hall flooring improvements. Um that includes some carpeting and um some tile grout repair that kind of thing. Um finance department um we are asking in either the current year in a future year um to look into some budget book and financial transparency software. Um that

is uh just you know that's a um I won't say it's it's it's not essential like a police police equipment essential. Um however it would be a um operating improvement um and efficiency for us. Um it is asking for a primary hypervision replacement. You just made that up. I Uhhuh. Uhhuh. That's not That's last year's

core networking. We don't need another hypervisor. How much? We're good on hypervisors. We've got all those we need. It's mislabeled. That's That's Well, that's my fault. Mislabeled. How much does it cost? Same cost. Core networking. Okay.

Networking. So, we'll just say that was that was Lee's fault for grabbing the wrong project title. And I will update that for you all on your online version. The police department has um in their priorities um mobile data computers as a second priority um tasers, video cameras. Um the police department along with the fire department um are jointly requesting a um drone uh for operational activities along with some other equipment. the fire department. Um, like we said, the drone um turnout gear, uh, replacement of bay doors at station two. If you all remember, we did approve, um, replacement of the bay doors at station two last year. So, we did some, we did half and half. So, we did a couple of the doors last year, um, a couple of doors in the upcoming year. Um HVAC at station two at station two needs a little bit of love. Um the um uh roof replacement station two u breathing air compressor um just some updated fire equipment. Um and then your fire station 3 potentially design and planning for a total of 160,000 in your priority one column. Chief, did

did you ask us about a grant that had that was going towards turnout gear or my did I get hit in the head? I'm not sure. We have aged

in 2031. large amount of our turn. So, we're trying to systematically every year replace it so that we don't have a large.

Yeah, we do typically approve at least a few a few sets every year. your 911 system. Um it is your first item that is highlighted with a um we try to note potential grant funded options. Um so they have applied for the grant um for a new recorder. We have not yet heard back um if we've received it or not. Uh but the 911 system has $147,550 as a first priority which includes a new CAD system, the new recorder, um and then is a lesser priorities replacement of PCs and radios. Your public services continues with 340,000 in um its first priority. Um, the largest purchase would be a dump truck um with a salt box and snow plow. Um, Josh,

was the last dump truck we bought? Um, the last dump truck we actually bought them was apparently 19 32. Um, but they they are due for a dump truck. Josh has been um requesting one for several years and it it's it could be time depending on y'all's wishes if for him to get that dump truck. Um did he say last year he was trying I mean trying to look at the I don't know looked at the used market. We've used Yeah. We've looked at the used ones. Um his problem with the used ones specifically for snow related stuff is the salt um makes um used ones um un

less reliable

less reliable um and so they've not found a used one but he's he's been looking um but they've not been able to to find anything successfully. Um his requests also include a boom lift um and um work toward city's facilities plans. Um he's got a lot of a lot of other um lower priority requests. Um but total request for the general fund for this fiscal year is um $2,550,550. Um first priority is $882550.8 $882,550 which is pretty close. Um I can't give you the exact from last fiscal year but it's pretty close to last fiscal year's general fund allocation. The

big the big number there that is hidden is the uh facilities plan. The last time we did that was was the 2002 34 era

and 20 years into it and we do need to update that. that should theoretically guide um the design development of your phase two or your uh um second third fire station, your fire station development. Um in theory, you want to you you would you would identify other things that may relocate in that building. For example, you could relocate dispatch into that building down the road. that may be more efficient than than continuing to to try to keep them shoehorned into this building down the road, right? Maybe you can include some police uh facility space in that structure. Um and and so all of those things you want to discover and really go through in a thoughtful way from with with a uh facility u manager mindset, facility manager, maintenance mindset. And uh so so that that number right there will result in in um capital proposals in the future.

What is the property wall?

That's the back behind this this property. We've never addressed that. When the property was developed, um we left the chain link fence and the combination wooden fence and it's grown up. the uh one of the property owners back there has reached out last summer. Um we we did meet with them. talked about it and and the idea is is do they their request was that the city help clean the wall up by um put installing a block wall down through there in the similar to the U wall between the police station and the main city hall specific um extending that wall east to west along the back property line from the the fire station side where the the the transformer is on the PD all the way to the to the property owner the dumpster or the the property line where the dumpster is. And and so that will do a couple different things. Number one, that will serve for a little bit of a sound attenuation by by keeping the garbage trucks, for example, at 6 o'clock in the morning or 5:'lock in the morning, waking some of the neighbors up. That that that that was where the origin of the request was. Then at at 8:00 a.m. there's this aundre of horns that beep as people leave their cars and lock them going into the building, right? coming to work, right? And and that that something I hadn't really considered, but they said it's not very fun when you got a 20-minute window of horns just consistently beeping and waking you up. And so it makes sleeping past 7:15 pretty hard, allegedly. I don't know. And so so we we certainly want to respect that and and so what Josh did, what we asked him to do is estimate that. So he's done that. the uh project would include buring and relocating those utilities and specifically because uh those homes and and the city hall and and the PD is served by the power line that's back there. It it makes that not very

efficient. Makes it makes it a challenge. So all those costs roll into the number that he's got presented for you. So it's not as simple as just replacing a a wooden fence. In other words,

uh we'll move on to municipal aid. Um Buffin Avenue, as you all know, that will roll into next fiscal year. That is um grant funded with a um 20% match from the city. Um the streetscape fund um is looking at some design funds for Walnut Street. Um and then going further, um your park and recreation fund. Uh total request uh for the park and recreation fund does still include um some potential funding for indoor wreck. uh total at 25,500 I'm sorry 25,ion5,000 um in your column one property. So, what we did compared to last year is move that 22 million from a first priority to a second priority um as a um to move 50,000 for the upcoming year for direct planning um and to keep that 50 uh 22 million on our capital improvement um list to continue those discussions. Um but for projects that we would like to get um in the current year um include some funding for the continuation of the Alen Springs Mountain Bike Park um Butler Park um playground. Um we have funding for um paving Jenny Rogers parking lot. Um the Lexington Avenue Park playground surface. Um, so we would like to install some rubber um

instead of mulch at the Lexington uh Avenue splash pad. Um some funding for the Millennium Park drinking fountains. Um the ongoing Millennium Park skate park improvement. Um Millennium Park signage and lighting for pickle ball courts at um the Millennium Park um development. Um in your column all the way to the um right is our Boil County fiscal court commitment. Josh and Tommy are tasked with bringing back the um I won't say 100% confirmed because I don't know when their budget will be completed, but some confirmed numbers for those projects that we split with the county um to get their commitment for the upcoming year. Um we have noted which projects we think um they will split with us. Um typically on a we plan for a 50-50 um split in this spreadsheet. Um the items highlighted are grants that we have um been extended. Um the two that are not budgeted for the current uh first priority are um projects that we've gotten funding for but we don't believe we'll receive in fiscal 27 um just based on the way um those land and water grants are coming in. Um Butler Park we got in 20 fiscal 22 I believe maybe fiscal 23 and we do believe we'll get those expended um in the upcoming year. the so talking about the uh u indoor indoor aquatics conversation indoor wreck and aquatics conversation. We uh expect to hear from the consultant that's that's

working on the on the expansion project on the indoor wreck. We expect to hear from them maybe the end of next week. And so hopefully uh you won't have any information from them that this coming week, but hopefully the following week we'll kind of start know we will have their finished assessment and finished report for the indoor wreck option that that we've been evaluating which was the McDow wellness center expansion and what that would look like between the city and the and and the uh hospital. The So what we are suggesting there is as we through the fiscal year that we're in developed a location, a finite location for the pickle ball courts and also the skate park. We went through the process of of designing the skate park. So now we have a finite boundary of the skate park and where that's at. And so now we have the space preserved uh in the future if you want to do the aquatics project. We we we believe we know where that that will go. And so what we're asking for is is the beginning the process of of understanding the uh proforma for an aquatics facility at that location. So that $50,000 in the budget that we're asking for moves the aquatics forward by evaluating um how many people do we expect to see and what revenue will be generated and then what will it cost to operate a facility that can service that many people and that that many people will be based on study. It would be based on your middle school age population uh in Boille County and younger and then those kids that would be serviced by the facility visiting the park on the weekends and so we'll go through that exercise that that will be a little bit laborous. Um so it does it it is not free because we don't have that information and we can't develop easily that information. So, we want to lean in

on our experts and and try to identify a vendor that will help us solve that that the fill in the blanks in that perform and and so this $50,000 helps you begin the process of officially moving the aquatics forward at that location. Um, now that we've gone through the the work, which is it's been a few months of of work, um, including um, the the surveys and and meeting at at our Jenny Rogers and Parable on the weekends with our consultant being there. And so, we've gone through an exercise. We'll get their their full report on the indoor. And so I believe while um we're we're not showing on its surface big expenditures there, I think you are getting to the point where over the next two to three weeks, uh you'll start to be able to make a decision on the indoor wreck. And and if that is confirmed as a good decision, then you'll be able to to have confidence that now the last question you have to answer is what do you do with aquatics? And then this $50,000 helps you begin to answer that question over the next fiscal year. Puts you in a situation where you can work on design development for the the indoor wreck over the the current fiscal year. If if that report's accepted, it also then gives you the chance then during that next fiscal year to do the study and to do the evaluation for the aquatics. So that this time next year, you're trying to make a decision on what do you do with aquatics. So, so you you it doesn't necessarily it's a little bit of a black box right now. I freely acknowledge that, but we'll know more over literally the next couple weeks. Um I know the consultant will be here this week meet meeting with us and then then um we'll we'll begin to get their reports on the indoor wreck. The second thing I want to make sure we point out is that the skate park is u we've gone through the full refinement of what that design will look like. it

the number blew up and it's been trimmed back and we met with the skate park community. Um, and so this design is wellreceived. It's well received by staff in terms of for maintenance uh for the geography of where it's going to be sitting. It kind of maximizes what can be built there long term. Uh, and also it builds out a complete skate park. This adds 200 roughly $200,000 to what you put in the skate park last year. Um and and so we we recommend that specifically because the skate park is very difficult to phase. Um pickle ball courts you you the the county has got their baseline. I'll talk about that here in a second, but it's easy to say you're adding a shelter or or a shade structure next year or you're adding, you know, additional whatever next year. It's in the same way the city uh had a baseline for the tennis courts when when we built those. We can easily add additional features such as a shade system or a seating area at the tennis courts if that's path you all want to go down in the future. Right. So this this that's the same thing. The skate park is not like that necessarily. You need to either build it all or wait. It's hard to scale it down. if you scale it down, then then you're not really going to have an escape park that's going to be widely used. So, our our recommendation very clearly is to go ahead and finish out the skatepark this year. Um, and build it to accommodate the demand that is out there. Um, the the the demand shaped the design both by by skill set and and number of people, number of skaters, those kinds of things. saying that then we moved on to we we uh did uh go through the process with the county in in the pickle ball design development. We sat in they were kind enough to let us participate

and and sit in and hear and understand what was being designed. Um and so so they are building uh right now that is out for bids is nine courts, six of which are lit. And so they've eliminated some of the some of the extraordinary work around it like additional sidewalks and additional paving to try to match the budget that they currently have. And so we will we will hopefully they the uh I think they have about 900,000 set aside to build the first phase of the pickle ball complex. And and hopefully they're able to do that and and it comes in money ahead. I we we don't know that. We won't know that until they get their bids in. But um in terms of what you would do next, um we we looked at it and and without asking them and without really taking too much leadership from them, the next obvious thing you would do is add the shade structure to the three courts that that are designed to have a shade structure. Um the shade structure that is priced is is a bluegrass rec recreation product. It is similar to the shade structure that is out there over the softball bleachers that we added a couple years ago. It it is a four it's a six post type design. Uh it does have a canvas canopy. Uh it's open air. It's not very elaborate, but it but it but it is a a canvas uh shade. And the the benefit of this though is it does have lighting under the shade system that comes in with the package. So it comes also with lighting for those three cords. So, that's something for you all to consider. We're not necessarily advocating either way, but we do think that that as you start to build that space um out if you if you're going to finish the skate park, you the pickle ball court's going to be there. as you start to de develop the aquatics, there are going to be things you're going to want to detail on the pickle ball area whether and and for me I I

don't necessarily I defer to you all on on who spends that money in the future because ultimately it's to the benefit of the community anyway. The the skate park project u got in our budget last year because it was on the list of things given to us by parks and rec on their list. Yeah. I'm I'm going to get asked that question tomorrow morning. So,

yeah, we the the amount of money that was budgeted last year was projected. We really we we started that process not knowing exactly when construction would start, but knowing that it would bridge two fiscal years,

right? And and and so we we always anticipated um requesting just a little bit more money. We thought that it would end up based on on some of the respondents in the RFP process somewhere around 650 total investment. When you look at it there there's some coloring of concrete they're doing that we really didn't understand. Um the ramps and some of the transitions are better to where it is multiple color so that you have the gray concrete on flat and you have a it's safer to have the slopes a different color. So that's included in this contract. So the the estimate went from about 650 to 830 plus the size of it changed according to the feedback that we've gotten to accommodate different styles of of features. So the the price of that ultimately did go up a little bit, but it was there were decisions that were being made to benefit the project.

We will see dirt toss for the new skateboard project and probably some dirt toss for the new uh pickball project sometime this spring this summer. The the uh cost of the skate park is fixed at at 8:30 total. Um and so so that's ready to go if if that that's total cost all in the um pickle ball you're they're they have funded phase one. They have 900,000 set aside to build phase one and that's really that's the limit. Um the county has 900,000 set aside. That's what I understand that they're from them. From them. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. I thought it was the six. That's what they originally said a couple budget cycles ago before they had any sort of estimate or anything like that. Um but they are opening bids soon and they may they may reject them. That's that's also a possibility. Um so they they have internally reserved. um 900 is what what we understood, but I don't know that that's on a budget document or any public documents. My whole thing is I wanted to be proactive and we wanted to to propose some improvement. We didn't want it to sit there and and so we

the thing that the next logical thing if if they're able to award that contract, get all the nine built and the fences are in and and six fields are lit, the next logical thing is the shade. So, we're proposing that just just because that's the right thing to do in the in the next budget. Yes. Yeah, I just want to see some dirt talk to we we've been talking about them spending some money on on the pickle ball courts, but nothing's been done. So, the city's not spent any money on the pickle ball course nor reserved any to this point.

I I feel like now though we have a path forward and what one of the things I have said is is that you all have the expectation that we move the conversation forward on the aquatics and on the indoor wreck. I think that we're we are we are doing that. Although it's hard to see today, you will know more in two weeks kind of thing. But but we uh we feel good that we've at least are are moving that conversation. We have a little bit of direction on the aquatics. Um and so we we feel good about our our positioning on the aquatics and indoor rec right now.

Jackson Park splash pad is a big thing. But on the skate park, um I mean that contract will have to come back to commission, right? Yeah, it will be approved. I I just don't have that final document. We we will have that. They concluded their their design I guess is they it had started through several iterations. They called it a fine. So they have their final design document with their price quote in it that will have to be accepted. And how much Is the county putting anything in? How much are they putting in for the skate park? Is it 430? Are they share?

They're they're batching. They're m they're they so that's Josh and Tommy are getting confirmed numbers. They put in last year they put in 250. We put in 125 and I believe they said it the total cost was 830. And so they would do 415 total. And then that would leave us doing 415 total. So our cost we would have those numbers before

you're you're going to have to approve that all what we are suggesting to you that's going to be the number. It's going to be a total contract of 8:30. I just don't have the finished document today. We we will have that literally could be Friday. But what I'm suggesting is is is this is the number that will be necessary for you to ultimately execute that when when that time comes because the deal is we're going to complete the skateboard project phase one in one phase. One phase, right? Yeah. The skate park will be done. And the pickle ball, we're just anticipating to see the county spend 600,000 900,000

and get something done. is phase one. Then we talk about what we can do to help complete the project from there. Yes. Um still waiting the skate. So I the skate park you have approved 650 in November for the design build. And I think what uh Earl is talking about with the changes in the concrete that we needed for safety and things like that would be an amendment from the 650 to the 830. Yeah. So, we have approved 650 in November um for the design build of the skate park already.

And in the pickle ball court, once the $900,000 is spent, phase two, phase three can it might take a little while. Yes. Yeah. There'll be no rush on it. Oh, there'll be a rush if we get a push from somebody. That's another thing I guess. Can we get or you all a map on this is where the aquatics would go. I I can I mean, you know,

well, that was what we showed you a while back and I freely acknowledge it's been a while and so so we yeah, we when I get the report on the indoor aquatics, I expect to have a presentation for you guys so that we get an update on on both of those subjects. I'm just communicating today that's what these dollars are represent in the short term. The capital program will necessarily change as we get further into the budget development. So, so this is this is what we're our baseline recommendation is, right, based on the information we have, and we do we we do anticipate a follow-up presentation on on some of these issues.

Yeah, we we've had too many outside forces involved in the pickle ball stuff, about the cost, and then about the location. To me, the professionals help determine the location, not city officials, not county officials, and surely not folks from the community. But we let the experts decide on the location for us. Well, I do think that's probably what took so long between when we started talking about it and where gotten um an agreed upon place at Millennium Park. So, I think I think that did take a little of your time of of the fiscal court's time. Yes, ma'am. We did.

But so, we will keep trucking uh cemetery funds. Um couple uh couple of small projects. Um the first priority is a fence replacement on the the west property fence replacement. That is um and uh potentially some roadway funding. Um uh first priority of $25,000 in the cemetery fund in your storm water fund. um first priority of $500,000 which does include um the East Main um Kentucky drainage um the East Main Kentucky area drainage improvements for $400,000 and um a mini excavator of $100,000 and some parking garage concrete repairs for $50,000 in your parking fund. And then uh last but not least is the utility fund. So on your utility fund um last page we are have a lot of highlighting going on. So the highlighting corresponds to your chart down here at the bottom which equates to funding. Um because utility is so big and there are so many different projects that do have so many different funding sources. Um each funding source has a subtotal at the bottom. But in general, your blue um line items are grant KIA and grant funds um which are grants um which are forgivable and your lowterest loans. Um green are projects that are funded by

the boil county ARPA funds that we have a MOA for. Your pink color uh or light purple is some funding that has been um slated for the city in the Kentucky legislaturator's line item budgets. Um yellow is potential bond issuance and the um salmon color is your utility fund reserves and I may have Marshall jump in and talk a little bit about some of his projects. Um but in total in your current priority um you have $24,412,038. Um, all of the things in your first priority are things that we have either got the reserve funds for or confirmed funding from a um a of the source below other than your potential bond issuance related to the US 150 pump station. um you have 7.5 um million that you will be able to um get to in the current fiscal year um in KIA grant funding um items that includes your Clark's Run sewer trunk replacement um and some lead and copper projects. your junction city Imperville um sewer system improvements are funded from the MOA we have with Boil County where they allowed us to use their ARPA funding for um utility projects. Um I forgot your Mox Creek pump station that is grant funded in your cleaner water grant. Um your we have some smaller items that you

are paying for out of your utility fund reserves including your um sledging the wastewater treatment plant um sewer infiltration project, your Aldridge Lane control valve, your streak painting, sledging the east main pond, um your um GAC replacement at the water treatment plant um which is granul granul ated activated carbon. Um some miscellaneous smaller projects. Um we also have um they have the Kentucky legislator has slated um in its line item budgets some funding for the wastewater treatment plant phase 2 um and the design for the US 150 commission. Um we've also received funding from fund C for the design of the wastewater treatment plant phase 2. Any questions on them? Why do you have such big numbers?

I know they just just keep getting bigger. Did we just I mean did we just hear about the Kentucky?

So they are on they are in public documents that are um have recently been published um on Kentucky legislaturator's websites. It's time. And he always says, "Help us get started."

Uhhuh. Finish it up. Right. See, that's a trick. He gets it started. He did a good job with all his bridge. He did. That's a whole another budget. It's a whole budget in it of itself. Uhuh. His executive assistant can't come online soon enough. So that's outline of all the capital. Absolutely. The total doesn't add up to you for

general fund total is 8.82

last fiscal year in general fund capital spending you were approximately 850 to 950 in in general fund spending. Um, and as you'll notice next meeting when we come back and put the capital dollars into your big spreadsheet, your your parks is also a general fund transfer. So that general fund fund balance goes down quickly between the general fund capital and then the parks capital that also um comes out of there. So, um, but as you all kind of take these home and look at them, if you have any questions or thoughts or comments, please let us know. Um, like we said, also please give us your recommendations for community and shared agencies. Um and then if you have any thoughts or comments that you haven't already expressed publicly, please tell Earl about about staffing um so that he can coalesque those desires individually into recommendation. Um our last stop in our meeting today is economic developments.

Before we get to that though, yes. I got really excited because we started up. You said we had almost $500,000 some things with right to that other list. I said enough to cover. Uh yeah, there's there's always there's always more work that we can do than dollars that we have in the in the bank. So

that's why economic development is so important. And with that being said, Melanie Crossfield, ladies and gentlemen, I mean, I want to say thanks to the city for what we're trying to do on our own. I mean, not on our own with everybody, but to push it forward, I guess. Yes.

So, so you've so I've included on the um city manager report for a while, just a few sentences about economic development infrastructure. I want to specifically change our mindset towards what that means and and what or or try to define that. That's not necessarily a physical piece of infrastructure. That's more of the the um total total environment that we have that is that is providing this this enterprise of economic development. Right.

You just figured that out. Yeah. Well, yeah. We actually that the community agency day, the community agency shared agency department presentation. You probably did. I recommend that you go back and watch those.

I love Lee at budget season. She's just

Okay. Well, so we put this slide together just I think it's important that we kind of get back to the basics um of what economic is and how we are driving that in our community. We have a really strong uh director of the chamber of commerce now. I'm really excited to work with her. We are going to be selecting a new director for the development corporation. I think the EDA is working well with the city. So, we have a lot of moving pieces and parts. Um, but as Earl said before and from what I've learned going to other places and meeting other um, communities that are involved with economic development, particularly cities, is that we do kind of have to be that hub of information and that hub of um, data and, you know, we have infrastructure planning and um, we know where the homes are being built. we know what the plans are and so those are the things that will bring jobs to the community. So just on this slide I I like to put things into little categories. So when we focus on economic development our little icons at the top um are are are the basics of economic development, right? They don't go in any particular order because all of these things work together and I think Stephen said that even last night is none of these things happen in a vacuum but they do all happen in Danville. So I mean homes get built when the people show up and people show up for the jobs and the jobs come when we have schools that are creating a skilled workforce. We have inviting parks. We have a sense of safety and infrastructure that supports clean healthy living. Um, but somebody has to

tell the jobs about that. Um, and that foundation starts with good roads, reliable utilities, and a community that works hard. Um, but again, somebody has to tell the jobs about that. Um, and so then when the jobs do finally come, then the people come and they need somewhere to live and they need something to eat and they need something to wear. And so then we go out and we try to make sure that the restaurants and the grocery stores and the clothing stores that they know. Um and it's just this cycle and in the same way we have to be prepared with our water, our electric utilities, our roads. Um but I think my main point is that somebody has to tell these people. So, in my mind, economic development is marketing, which I am passionate about marketing. It's my background, so of course I'm going to say that. Um, but really, it's it's telling the story of Danville of Bole County, and who's going to do that? And if a business wants to relocate here, if a business from Germany wants to find a home in the United States and then they think, okay, well, I've heard a lot about Kentucky lately, what would make them choose Danville. Um, and so we have to be able to make that case and and it's not just one person. I do believe that it's all of us, but the way that we tell that story is that we provide clear datadriven communication um to attract and grow businesses. And so we do that locally, but we should also do that um outside of Boil County. Um and again, that does take all of us, but I think the city plays a unique role in that because we do have the water utilities. We are building those relationships with property owners, property managers, um prospective business owners are reaching out to us,

and then we're starting to meet with our major employers and say, "What do you need? What are what are you not getting here?" Um and also building relationships with developers, real estate brokers, um regional leaders and elected officials and crossing county lines to get information um about what's happening in their communities because we are again not on an island. Our our trade area is much larger than just the city limits of Danville. So being able to work with other counties and communities to get that information is is important. Um,

pause on that right there for a second. You said something really profound but really simple and I think it it is really really important to lean in on it right now with everybody in that when when she's saying um she made the comment that well you got to tell your story outward. If if you have 19,000 or or 32,000 people that live in Bo County and you you have a 3% unemployment, that means everybody has got a job and that means everybody or they own a business or they're active in in in the space of generating revenue for their household, right? Think about that for a sec. So if you're going to get new growth, if you're going to get new industry, if you're going to get new anything, you have to recruit that into your community from the outside world. So standing on the corner of Fourth Street isn't going to do that for you, right? You it is yes, you want to take advantage of people when they come to town, visitors for tourism or whatever. Um you know, center's expansion on the south side of campus. they have thousands of people that are cycling through our community now and and a lot of times we don't really see those but but so the the reason we go to we participate in in in with KED and I know I know we're talking about you you some of you are going to be in Hopkinsville in a couple months Josh specifically or in a few weeks the reason you go is because that's where you're going to get new growth from you're going to pull people into your community that currently isn't here. You're you because everybody here theoretically you got three and a half% unemployment, right? Like everybody's busy. So, how are you going to get new growth, right? You've got to understand that with that comes travel aggressive travel expenses,

aggressive marketing outside of this community and and and folks miss that aspect of it. and and and but that is a extremely simple but very profound thing that she said right um so anyway what the what the city's role is I believe is is being that information piece and being that kind of like I don't know you use the word uh what's the word word you use all the time it's not hunting dog but what is it bird dog we're the Bird dog. There we go. Bird dog. Bird dog.

Um and and it's because we just in this building alone, we can tell you the permitting process for anything you want to do in Danville. We can we can tell you how many utility customers we have and we serve regionally. Um we can tell you a little bit about the projects that are coming up. So, we have a lot of information here, but it's also the way that you present that information and the way that you present your community to the rest of the world. Um, you know, someone from across the nation may not know where Danville, Kentucky is. Um, but we can tell them and but somebody has to tell them. So, it's and it it's not just going to happen. Um, and unless we get like another turtle man or something that really puts us on the map, um, it's it's really we have to be the ones to do it. Um, so I I know he mentioned last night I I hope to go into more depth about the things that I've learned over the last few months, especially working um with other cities and going to the ICS conferences and meeting with um retailers and brokers and just understanding that world a little better. So, I'm hoping to be able to share more about that with you um next meeting. But I I think first and foremost we have to get to a place where we all communicate so well with each other in the city and the county and the CVB and the developed Danville and chamber that it does not matter who a business contacts that we all are on the same page and we all have the same information and we all have the same materials and we're all selling the same thing, right? um because really it will it will benefit all of us to see job growth and a little bit more housing growth in the community as well. So I will you have any questions?

Okay. Well, I hope to share next time just some of the materials we've taken with us and some of the things we use because again it will it requires all of us to tell the story. So hopefully I can equip you with some things to take with you when you are out and about or wherever.

Well, it's a little it's a little bit it's a little bit of both and and I will I will get into that in a much deeper level, but it's kind of in this particular conference it's everybody. Okay, so it's your retailers, but oftentimes that they have built a relationship with the developer who has built a relationship with a broker who knows different areas, but maybe not this area. And so it really is about understanding or learning, I don't understand it, but I'm learning um what each of those parties needs from you. And so it's having the good information. I mean, we know what the city does, but we're needing to get information from all of our surrounding counties. That's why this whole regional regionalism conversation has been such a big deal. I mean, even on the retail and commercial level, that's a huge that's a huge selling point for our community is to know we have these commuters coming in and there's a lot of housing growth in Garrett County. There's a lot of housing growth in Lincoln County. So, anyway, we I can that I can Yeah. Um but we we just have to approach them all with what they need and none of them have time for us to waste their time. So we have to come prepared.

The population of Damble, you know, is 195 whatever it is. But our metro area is close to 60,000 in in in the dense metro area. That tells a much different story than telling a story of town the population of 195. When you look at our that's our trade area. The trade area is much different than your corporate limits, right? And the the the resources that are are trying to draw on your community is your trade area. And so we have to have the resources inside of our corporate limits to to react to that demand that's in your trade area, right? And so our one of the things we're communicating is is what that trade area is. and so that the retailers that we're trying to to to locate within our footprint understand what they're buying into on their side better and raise awareness of our trade area.

Talk to more about what you anticipate us doing at the at the conference in Las Vegas. you you're gonna have and she'll go like like I said she she'll she I want her to have a good presentation for you, but at the end of the day, you're gonna have You're jumping the gun here, mayor.

You're going to have you're going to have a the the biggest warehouse on that that you can imagine with every retailer from from Firehouse Subs to the developers that that develop um Home Depot, right? And and so we're going to be we're going to somebody's going to be meeting with those individual vendors and and and you're talking about thousands,

not not not a handful, literally thousands. So you're going to somebody's going to have to be meeting with them, bringing them back to a table where then Melanie is the liaison with with the chamber and and you and welcoming them to the community. then then the chamber will then take that as a handoff to to follow up with down the road. Right. But but so so your Melanie and your your role will will ultimately be to to welcome folks to the community to do business here. questions. So you all I mean again I get questions all the time about retail about okay we need clothing and my son's got this on Friday and I had to go or I need this for my husband especially men's clothing

well shoes and there's just not anything here right so you all are doing that right trying to do that

well we're doing our best um but I think one thing that has been important to learn is that we don't never know who I mean you know who you're talking to but sometimes you don't know who you're talking to at this conference and so someone connected some of these developers have uh created relationships with several different retailers so they may be discussing one thing with you but they have eight other retailers that they are closely connected with and they're looking at not just our location but kind of the state as a whole especially if you are headquartered in like the southeast or just midway west, whatever. And you're trying to start moving stores into Kentucky, it doesn't make sense to just drop one. You've got to get freight there somehow. So, you're going to try to look at that transportation. And I think we've got a good story to tell as far as transportation goes. Um, but that's why we go as a group, right? Like we go with a group of other cities because we can tell you along this path. Like if you put a store here and here and here. Look,

these these are five five metro areas in Kentucky you need to be in. We believe you'll be successful in all five of these. So the difference in in just for dollars money we're talking money develop damble what's their role? So, so that's what I was mentioning last night and the city of

and and that's a great that's a great question that what we were talking about last night is how the space of economic development has been shifting for years and years and years and it's not stagnant and it will continue to change today with where you're at folks are doing retail commercial devel awareness of it Before then, everything was done through your economic development really person, right? But but the Cheddar's incident out there on the bypass is when we learned really to the extent these developers are looking at these cities to answer all their questions because there's water, there's sewer, there's transportation, there's state rightway access, all the things that and and planning and zoning, all the things that come along with local. So once you get inside of the city, the the the commercial, retail and and entrepreneurial space is really highly dependent on a functioning city with a functioning chamber now. So so not ha not not having developed the chamber over the last 15 years to advance was probably a deficiency in our part. But remember in in the 20079 era, we embedded that inside of the EDP, right? That was that was probably correct at the time. But since that move was made, the chamber really is is and and the reason the chamber has has has gathered that positional uh responsibility is because the state continues to fund workforce development initiatives and and and small business loan programs and things like that through the chamber through the state chamber. So it for us to be effective in that space, you have to be able to to have a community development director in your city that that is in touch with your businesses and that is the liaison

between your your water and sewer utility, your city engineer, all the things that come along with just taking a lot and making it a usable parcel, right? And so so the city has to be effective, the chamber has to be effective in those spaces. the the larger space of industrial recruitment is still the responsibility of that individual economic developer, right? However, there's a nuance to that. It has changed at the state level so that you you have you have a consolidation because of efficiency into these larger sight selector companies. So, it's it's it's significant to have relationships with those site selecting companies. We we refer to them as site selectors almost as much as it is with the state. So when I when I say it like that, these site selectors have already narrowed in three options for these companies before the state ever hears of their companies a lot of times. Now, now that's that's not always known. the the the site selectors are approached by a company somewhere and says, "We need a 100,000 square foot facility and we would like it to be in the southeast." Well, these site selectors will say, "Well, we've got the top three sites that meet all your criteria. We have one in South Carolina, one in Kentucky, and one in Tennessee." Right? Or or you know, is are these satisfactory? And some of those companies will say, "No, we want Georgia instead of Tennessee." So they'll pick the highest best one in in Georgia and then they'll say are these okay and then these companies will look them say yes. So then that's when they reach out to the cabinet for economic development and start looking at what makes your site the highest based site out of these three. So by the time the state issues the RFPs that we used to rely on as the epicenter by the time the state's getting the RFP the decisions already narrowed into Kentucky. They're not

looking at different sites necessarily within Kentucky and you're no longer competitive if you're just responding to the RFP. You have to have a relationship with the site selectors on the front side to make sure you're competitive whenever they're picking a state for that company. I just think that like the communication part develop econ all of them and with the city and the county. I mean, everybody has to communicate and each person know where we are versus just one person knowing. Yep.

Yeah. I think that's why it's important for us to be able to share that information with them. But even on the retail recruitment side, knowing that a manufacturer was looking at Danville would be a huge selling point. And so, we need to be able to ask those questions and get answers. But we're also willing to be a good teammate and and share the information we have in a format that is presentable to a developer. Yeah. Our logo and our brand needs to look the same whether we're recruiting to a site selector or we're recruiting to a developer that only deals in the retail space.

And you got to get past the ter stuff in our community. Uh, if the city does it, bring it back to all the other economic development groups in the community, that's great. But if this one over here does it, bring it back and share it. Don't try to That's what I'm saying. Share it and keep everybody in the loop versus they may know something you don't know. And it just we we use confidentiality a lot of times to say Donna knows something mayor doesn't know. That's the wrong way to be.

If the mayor knows it, Donna needs to know. Donna knows it. The mayor needs everybody else. If we're working confidentially, we got to trust each other. That's how we get some of these things. We haven't had the trust factor in our community. Well, we're working to try to reestablish.

Yeah. That that's that's just you got to be comfortable. Bottom line is with trust, you got to be comfortable in your own skin.

And you gota you gota know that that you you know I'm here to support no matter what that is. And and I know that today I got to wake up and think about something. And if somebody asks something of me that's outside of that scope, I'm going to try to try to serve them and and help them execute whatever questions in front of them. And um you know over time your your goal is to develop those relationships internally so that you're effective. And Kevin, sorry about you not knowing about vacancy, but uh the uh the

the application uh time frame is still open. So it's not too late.

Nothing's been done yet. Other questions or comments from the commission? Questions or comments from the staff?

Uh, your next meeting is next Tuesday at 1:00, April 21st. um where we will have an updated draft with the recommendations for um dollar-wise for our priorities for capital along with the recommendation for Sheridan Community Agencies um provided that we get that feedback from you all um in by the end of the week. Um and then Melanie will be presenting a is that correct? A short I was going to do it at the regular meeting.

At the regular meeting, Melanie will have a regular meeting in our next commission meeting on some of the stuff that she is working on. Um so the next budget meeting will be your draft first draft presentation um in full with operations and capital along with all of our additional initiatives. And and Ashley's going to need your community agency sheets. actually need your community agency sheets by Friday. Um, and also you have a special called meeting at 11:00 a.m. on the 21st as well. Just as a reminder, you have two that day.

Commissioner Holland just shared something, but I want to sort of share it out loud. It was the uh unfunded ask $1.2 $2 million and you started off with that almost $500,000 today. So, you got to get So, your c your capital, remember, your capital comes from your fund balance and not the 452. The 452 is your operation surplus, which is considered for community and shared agencies and additional staffing. Your capital is separate. Yeah, we're in a good place. I decided to plug all these in, right? which of these we're going to do.

So, the cap the capital will plug in, but that comes from your fund balance and doesn't count against your 452. That comes from your fund balance, but that's why we've put them into the your priorities first is things that are truly necessary that we really have to do in the current year. In the case of Marshall, it's things that we already have funding for or the thing and the your first priority is what we are will be recommending in your budget. If there's something on this list that you see

that you want to adjust, you want to remove something or you want to bump something, then you should bring it to Earl's attention um so that we can do that. But this is your your management has your your department managers assign a priority when they give us the list to say, "Hey, I really need this in the upcoming year." Or for me, like my instance, I would like us to have budget book and transparency software. I think it would be a benefit to the commission. I think it would be a benefit to the community and I think it would be an operational efficiency. But do we have to have it? No, we don't have to have it. But do I think it's a great idea? Absolutely. If we have enough money in in the current year or in the next years, um then if we don't get it this year, I'll ask for it again next year. Right. That's that's where I have it labeled because that is um from a a bottom dollar perspective, it's not a requirement. It's it's a want. Um it's a good want and it provides a lot of benefit to the community. Um but it is not essential. And so essential is included in your first priority and that goes against your fund balance. But your 452 is your decision making the decisions you need to make between your um staffing and your community shared agency slides. So 452 against 632,000 in staffing changes and then

I should have did the total math but you've got 580 580 or so in shared community agencies. So about 1.2 million for the 452. So that part is is the arguably the harder part than the capital. So the capital you are going to put the first the first priority in. Yes. And then if there's something we see or we if there's something that you you need that you have feel strongly about or um want to dis us to consider further then let us know

and so we can we can adjust that. But this that that those numbers are essentially myself um looking at it and saying I'm comfortable with us spending this dollar amount in these funds in the current year. And then especially for somebody like public works and parks where they have so many moving pieces and it's not police where they have a standard set of equipment that they need to get every year prioritizing. That's why we have a dump truck in the current year and a few less of the smaller items. Um because a dump truck is expensive and I was comfortable with that dollar figure as a bottom dollar out of the general fund.

I appreciate you taking the time to do first, second, and third so that we can make sure we get all the first priority items hit. So, thank you. I mean, and my my comfort level is just our starting point at the end of the day, you know. Um, that's that's just a good this is kind of where we were last year. This has been able uh um a bit conservative, but knowing that some things may cost a little more than than we anticipated. Um or in the case of something like parks, um Tommy's ball field rehab, if you all remember, we budgeted 150,000 for that. Um and so it came in at 75. It came in in half of what we had budgeted. And so he's kind of thinking outside the box and exploring should we fund this additional initiative that was on a second priority list or something that's came up mid year. Um and then he would then take that to Earl and say is this something we should move forward with and then come to you all as necessary.

The remember the first uh meeting we had when we started talking about our overall philosophy this year really given given the state of the economy and all the things we are suggesting you know generally a flat reaction to to the external factors that impact our budget. And so you're in a good spot with the the baseline operating that's in front of you. The staff changes, you know, our recommendation, frankly, is is probably if if you ask for my targeted recommendation, I would say don't do anything on your staff other than take care of the employees you have, which is your 911 and you your HR clerk. So, that's that's why we recommend that. Now, if you all want to do a deeper dive and and and challenge us to try to try to be a little bit less conservative with with adding staff, I just feel like in the fiscal year we're in, the recommendations that we've been given externally was just get through this year and make staffing changes next year. And and so that's that's why we recommended that on the staffing and we're comfortable that the 459 would would can achieve the community agency objectives that you typically have. So, we feel like you're in a good position operationally and on a capital perspective for the budget you're in now.

I was thinking one, two, three, four, five, six. Six additional positions. All right. Then other questions or comments? Nick want to make a motion to adjourn. Is there a motion to adjourn? So moved. All right. First and a second. All those in favor say I. I. I.