City Council - Regular Meeting

Do you want to I mean do you want to start or how do you want to formally announce this? We can just jump right in. I was going to say this is not there's no action to be taken. So this is just an informal presentation by the city administrator. Yeah, it's it is the Andrew show.

Yeah. Well, with that, I'll just take it away. Mayor, thank you. And and council members, thank you for uh rescheduling this on short notice. I uh appreciate that. As I mentioned last Wednesday, the annual report can be found in its entirety on the city's website. If you go to the top, you'll see the departments tab. Click on that down to administration and it's at the bottom of that page. So, uh, folks are tuning in and they're interested in reading the entire report. That's where you can find it. I also mentioned last Wednesday that we haven't done one of these since the year 2000. That's the last one we could find. So, 25 years. But uh we're we're back on track and we intend to do this on an annual basis going forward. So um bear with us here as we transition, you know, having to create the document and having to input all the information the first time. And before I jump in, I just want to thank um all the department heads and staff that contributed to this and then of course Lynn who did 99.9% of the heavy lift putting this together and

uh both the report but also the slides as well. So, she deserves all the credit. I'm just up here stealing the glory. So, [laughter] yeah, you're just the eye candy, I guess. Yeah, [laughter] we know. I hear that all the time.

All right. Well, we we'll keep this informal. So, if anybody has questions or wants to interrupt me, feel free to do that. I'll run through the slides. Um, we'll go department by department. I think every department head or just about everyone is in the room and if they have anything to add they can certainly jump in as well. So we'll just navigate through and then I'll try to leave some time at the end for questions that you might have. So t speaking of eye candy this slide is the best one we got. [laughter] So our elected officials

but the greatest is in the last. [laughter] So, our elected officials for the year obviously uh you you guys know all of them and our elected officials in 2025 uh with some new faces had had had a renewed focus on a couple of things looking at policies, process, procedure, a renewed uh focus on partnerships and then probably uh and most importantly economic development. That was a very clear theme in the uh work that you all did and the conversations you had over 2025. Okay, I'm going to jump right into the the department in alphabetical order starting with administration. Um, we had, like I said, a new council at the beginning of 2025. So, we spent some considerable time with our new members uh with orientation and training. We hosted 74 meetings with all of you in 2025, which is a a really astounding number between all the um special meetings, work sessions, retreats, council meetings. So, a lot of interaction uh between the council and staff. We saw significant staffing changes with the retirement of some of our department heads, with the restructuring of some departments, with the departures of others. I'll touch more on those as we go through the slides. [snorts] Licensing was a unique and interesting challenge in the year of 2025. We saw the um the beginning of cannabis licensing which was uh quite the adventure and then we had a few challenges as as you all saw with tobacco licensing this year and uh alcohol has been a challenge as well. We hosted a communications intern in 2025 that did a really good job of uh getting ahead of a lot of things and and prepping forms and and uh other various materials that we'll be able to use now into the future. And then I just wanted to mention the city attorney. He sits through our meetings, puts a lot of time and effort into this. I don't have a separate slide on it, but wanted to make

sure that we just acknowledge Ralph and the work that him and his firm do. Joe being our prosecutor and uh the many many many year partnership that we have, which is appreciated. One thing I want to touch on, we have seen an increasingly engaged community over the last year. Our new website, which launched at some point in 2024, has over 200 2.5 million visits. And our YouTube views for the public meetings, your guys' meetings have more than doubled in 2025. And we continue to see uh good traction with that. So, we have people that are looking to be engaged citizens that are seeking out that information and that are paying attention. And one other note with the uh website uh views, the number one page that people are viewing is the city council members. So they're looking at ways to be able to interact with their members, see who's representing them. I'm guessing from there they launch into the minutes agendas type thing. But again, it shows that the public is very uh engaged and interested in what's happening at the council level. Yeah, looking ahead in 26, we are going to look forward to a number of elections this year, which is a a very significant amount of time and energy that goes into that. So, it'll be another election year. Community development, who is overseen by community development director Clara Beck, obviously does the bulk of the work as it relates to boards and commissions. She's the liazison for a majority of our boards and commissions. Oversees our zoning code. Cannabis again was a huge thing in 2025 which was significant work and Clara led us through uh the different zoning changes and and the work that comes with that. Sculpture walk uh was created in 2025 and and Clara had a significant role in that. And then as the Port Authority executive director overseeing the properties and leases there.

the uh business development of Fergus Falls program lent out just shy of a half a million dollars in 2025 in various loans for businesses. So good to see some activity there. Um and hope that continues in 2026. Okay, next slide. And I'm going to roll fairly quickly just so we can get done with enough time to leave uh to to entertain questions. Uh economic development. You'll note that this slide shows uh Dr. Leone's report through January of 2026. He'll be presenting to you this evening at the city council meeting metrics through February of 2026. So, they'll look a little bit different than this. Uh it's just based on the time in which this was prepared versus uh when he supplied the next month's data. So, uh between the October and and January um he's actively engaged with 30 businesses. There's five active uh expansion projects that are in the works or in planning stages. He's met with 10 banks and financial institutions. We're looking at uh 60 potential new jobs created as a result of the uh expansions and engagements that he currently has. He's looking at working over $7 million in state and federal incentives for those projects. And then um he's uh worked three vacant or underutilized properties looking for new tenants and 15 retail small businesses uh has provided technical assistance to them. So again, he'll have updated numbers for you this evening which uh are impressive. That's been a really good uh change for the city and and I think Dr. Leone has done a remarkable job in the short time that he's been with us. So engineering, uh Kyle Meyer with more engineering as the city's engineer. Um this was a significant change in 2025 where we outsourced the engineering

department and created that partnership. Uh that restructuring saved the city just about $440,000 on an annual basis. More engineering jumped right in and they've been working hard on updating the capital improvement plan and getting us into a good place. So, we have uh good plans and projections, good numbers, and you see some of those things already coming to fruition and the work that you've done over the last few months. Highlighting our 2025 projects, we had the Fur Fryberg roundabout in partnership with Ottertale County. We completed the ground storage reservoir demolition. We did a reconstruction project on Junius Avenue from Union to Cascade. We will be doing the final lift of asphalt this summer after getting that winter of freeze thaw and some wear and tear. Scenic Drive, Shore View Drive, and then our annual mill and overlay and seal coat projects. 26, as you all know, is going to be a busy year for construction. We have our Lincoln Avenue alleyways and parking lot improvements, the trail being built on the dairy property, Cleveland Cavor and Douglas reconstruction projects, Dagon Park road work, the uh 210 bridge replacement and the three roundabouts out by the interstate which um James just held a meeting in here with businesses prior to this and there'll be ongoing discussions related to that. and then uh Milan Overlay on Pebble Lake Road and Fryberg Avenue as well. So busy summer ahead of us. That does not count the annual seal coat and milling overlay projects which will be in addition to all of these things. Um Lake Alice grit chambers a number of other projects as well. So lots of work to be done in 2026 but uh wanted to highlight the significant change that we had in that department in 2025.

our finance department which is uh led by our finance director Bill Sonour. Uh big year for them as well. Um the major kind of driver of the year was the transition from our old AS400 system to our new uh IT system Cassell which has been a work in progress and is ongoing but the bulk of that is done and and the finance system is operating uh as well as we can expect at this stage. tax levy committee worked hard to reduce the uh preliminary budget of 8.13% down to the final tax levby increase of 1.85%. I think that group met a couple dozen times and and spent a lot of hours doing that and we're pleased with where we landed. What you can see there on the right side was a tax levy of 8.7 million and a total budget of this for this year of 56.5 million. And then I want to mention [sighs] um Bill and the uh finance department was for the 34th year in a row and Bill has been here that long. [laughter]

Feels like it. No. For the 34th year in a row, uh they received the certificate of excellence in financial reporting from the GFOA, which is the Government Finance Officers Association. And uh we have a little silent celebration every year with Bill as he puts his plaque up. actually he does it when we're gone so we can't give him a hard time but uh they just uh received that award again um within the last month so congratulations to them and um as you all know our finance team does a remarkable job fire department u led by Chief Ryan Mukau had four new members join the crew in 2025 they awarded I believe it was two civilian awards to uh individuals that made a difference in response Couple [snorts] of uh major things that you all approved the purchase of a new ladder truck which was a over $2 million truck. That uh that's got the shock and awe factor. So I like to say that as much as possible. [laughter] Uh but that's uh that's been ordered and and that's a number of years until we'll receive that. But we're in queue. Um, Chief Makau absorbed the emergency management duties with the retirement of Chief Bergen and also the uh, building department was shifted under the fire department um to create some redundancy in uh, building codes and fire codes and some collaboration or in strengthening the collaboration that those two departments have together. Um, and then the fire department also within the last few years absorbed all of the rental registration duties and inspections, which is a significant lift in in a lot of work. And so just want to acknowledge their willingness to, you know, take more duties on, be a team player, and and and really work hard on behalf of the city. That's much

appreciated. The fire department in 2025 had 484 calls for service, 3,600 hours of training amongst the department, and then 13 community engagements reaching an estimated 8,000 people where we were able to talk about fire safety, fire prevention, and the good work that the department does. So, that's the fire department. You want to add anything to that?

Okay. uh building department. I mentioned they moved under the umbrella of the fire department. I also publicly want to mention that the building department is physically moving to the fire department or the fire the fire hall. Um that buildout is happening now and we anticipate within the next 3 to four months they'll be fully operational down there. Uh it's really a good move for for us internally. It allows these folks that work together just about all day every day to be in closer proximity to each other. So there's more synergy, but also it's a good move for the public as today that department is located within the basement of city hall and there's a number of stairs that's not real uh accessible for the public. And the way we're setting this up at the fire station, they'll have a dedicated entrance on the east side of the building with dedicated parking. It'll be a level walk into the building and uh much more user friendly. So, I'm really excited about the prospects of uh those [clears throat] synergies between the the fire department staff and our building official. In 2025, you can see the permit numbers there. We had 645 total permits totaling just shy of $25 million. Um about 11 million of those were residential permits and 11.1 million commercial permits. and uh just over million3 in plumbing and mechanical and then there are other smaller various permits that make up the the balance there. So another good uh and busy year within our building department HR which is overseen by Alicia Olphant here um a busy year. Alicia is new to the team in 2025 with the departure of our old uh human resources director. There was 115 new or returning hires in 2025, only seven of those being full-time, which really shows that we swell in the summertime with our seasonal help. Uh we had our aquatic

center for the first time, so we had to hire lifeguards and senior lifeguards and a pool manager and it just shows the kind of flurry of activity that we see within our department within uh our HR department in the uh summertime and leading up to that. We had four retirements across the city. And then for the first time, we held a safety training summit where we set aside um a half day and had all employees that needed to take some of our required OSHA trainings do those at the same time as opposed to previously we would either on a every other month or quarterly basis offer multiple sessions of training down at the fire hall and it was very disruptive to the operations. So, we're able to knock that out all at the same time and and get everybody in the same place and provide some good updates across the city. We're a very peopledriven organization. You can see that in the uh payroll numbers. We have over $10.6 million in gross annual payroll, which as you recall a few slides ago, the entire tax levy of the city was 8.7 million. So, our wages exceed the tax levy by more than a few million dollars. And then we have nearly 1,700 years of combined service across the city. So u that's 100 full-time 105 full-time employees and then 103 part-time and on call seasonal employees as well. And then uh this year will be a busy busy year for HR as our contracts with all of our labor unions expire at the end of the year. So we'll have to work on negotiating new contracts uh throughout this calendar year. it uh falls under our finance department but uh is this particular division is overseen by a staff of one and that's Dan Kudson. Dan by himself provides support to all departments and facilities and has really helped with the transition from the AS400 to Cassell. He's installed new

credit card machines citywide which are more secure and more userfriendly. And then he continues to uh support and oversee the employee awareness training as um local governments across the state and country have to be very cognizant of cyber security concerns. Um we're a very heavy target for that and Dan does a good job of ensuring that uh everybody knows what to look for and stays ahead of some of those uh trends. And then 2026, the heavy lift will be the security camera upgrades that you guys recently approved uh at one of your meetings. And um then the annual um change out of computers and upgrades. That's kind of an ongoing project and we'll continue to do that as well. Landfill garbage and recycling. This is where we're going to get into some kind of dirty statistics here. Um, last year in 2025, thanks Lisa, [laughter] we had 8,360 tons of garbage, which is uh, if you're doing the math, that's 16.7 million pounds of garbage um, through the city. 126 tons of commercial recycling and 843 tons of residential recycling for a total of just shy of 970 tons. And that does not include cardboard recycling throughout the community. So, um, you know, 970 versus 8360, we certainly would love to see that recycling number continue to go up and the garbage number continue to go down. Um, but those are those are the statistics that we see. We had over 7,000 tons of municipal solid waste uh disposed at the landfill in 2025. And as you all know, in 2026, uh right away here as as road restrictions are off and the weather cooperates, you'll see uh the demo cell expansion project to really take off at the landfill uh to continue to to provide capacity for municipal solid waste as it's brought

out there. And then uh we had 5,100 tons of bypass sent to winter, North Dakota, and just shy of 9,000 cubic yards of demolition debris uh brought to the landfill. So busy operation out there. And I will say that it's not um it's not common of a community of our size to have an operation like this. Not a lot of communities have landfills of this magnitude and also operate their garbage and and sewer or garbage and recycling routes. So um they do a great job. It's a staff of three out there led by Scott Thel. So really a neat operation. Thank you. uh public library. Gail Hedstrom, our library director, oversees this department. And if you haven't been to the public library, I would strongly encourage you to go and check it out. There's truly a program, an activity, a place, an item. You name it, they have it. You'll find something that you're interested in. We host at the library five children's storytime sessions per week. In 2025, there were 201 children's programs with over 5,000 attendees. So, it's often crawling with littles and high energy and a lot of fun, [laughter] some people would say stressful, but a lot of fun uh things happening at the library. We had over 1,800 participants in the summer reading program last year, which was remarkable. And it's always fun to hear Gail uh share the statistics after kind of like the first day of how many kids sign up. It's it's like a race to get signed up and and it's it's fun to watch. We had just shy of 135,000 patron visits last year. Physical circulation numbers were just shy of 200,000. We had uh 41,000 digital collection uh materials checked out, 11,000 plus library cards, and there

were 1,400 new library cards issued in 2025. So really a impressive number and a lot of folks using the library. And then reference questions answered just shy of 8,900 questions answered. And I [laughter] I jokingly said at uh Rotary the other day, if you do the math and you divide that by the number of days the library is open, that's a lot of questions per hour. I mean, they're constantly answering questions and and assisting our uh patrons. Uh in 2026, we're looking at a reinvisioned front plaza with seating, workspace, art, and nature. As we have learned, uh in the seven six, seven years, there it is. 67. [laughter] I got to do got to do that in case the kids are watching. No. Um in that in that number of years, we've learned what really works and what doesn't work and and so looking at re-energizing and and reinvisioning that space. Anything you want to add?

Okay. I made the same joke at Rotary, but I'm going to say it again. The only place busier than the library is the liquor store. [laughter] We had over 240,000 transactions processed at our liquor stores, the East and West, last year and over 300,000 shoppers with over $8 million in gross sales between the two stores. Brandon Curry is our liquor store manager and does a great job. Uh really knows the industry well and and keeps us competitive. We continuously are named one of the top 10 liquor stores in terms of volume in the state of Minnesota. That includes metro stores as well. So, we really are high-erforming, high functioning stores here in Fergus Falls. 100% [clears throat] of those profits go back into the community to reduce property taxes. And for the last 20 plus years, uh there's been over $500,000 given back through this and other uh methods in the community. And then we have the largest selection that you'll find in central Minnesota with over 3,300 varieties of wine, 1500 types of beer, and 2,700 types of liquor. So, I would argue like the library, you can find something for everybody. [laughter] All right, moving on. Parks, recreation, and forestry. The highlight of 2025 for the park and wreck department was the aquatic center. Um, we opened that for the first time back on June 2nd, I believe it was, and was [clears throat] just a remarkable summer, very successful, and uh, looking forward to seeing what year two of that operation looks like. We were uh, recognized as a Tree City USA for the 47th consecutive year, longest one going in Minnesota. We planted over 135 trees on the boulevards in 24 and 25. And we also had pickle ball courts in Broadway Park which were brand new for the first time and were very popular and

very heavily used. So, um, got a lot of good feedback from the pickle ball community that those were a great addition. They want to see more happen throughout the community. Um, I'm not a pickle ball player myself, but I was told that it was hard to even find time to get on the courts. They were so busy and and they have a way of reserving the court with their paddles. Once a match is going, they put their paddles in and then they're they get to use the court for the next match. There's like a a standard uh operating procedure in the pickle ball world, which I'm not fully up to speed on, but um what I was told it was it was hard to even be able to get onto the courts because of the activity. So, really great to see that. Our downtown splash pad had its second year of operation. We're still uh you know trying to get all the kinks worked out there. The contractor was back fixing some of the things and uh but I would consider that to be a success as well. We had good traffic downtown with our splash pad. We had 1,468 registered summer recreation participants over the nine activities that the city hosts. We had 600 adult softball participants. And then uh this this statistic really floored me. 585 games and 325 practices on the city-owned ball fields in a really short period of time as we have a small season. So very busy, lots of activity going on out there. Uh the SPE pavilion, we saw 74 private events and then the farmers market held 48 market events. So good activity downtown. And then uh we had over 2,700 activity hours at the community community arena in 2025. So, um, that place continues to to be busy and and be used by our user groups heavily.

Oh, yes. Thank you. The, uh, D Lagoon campground project was complete last year and, uh, that'll be open for camping. Uh, we're aiming for May 1st. The, uh, reservation system just got put into place and was active as of the end of last week. So, if folks want to reserve their spots, uh, it [clears throat] works. You tested it. Okay. Very good. So, we're up and running. If folks want to reserve their spot, that's available now. And, uh, we encourage folks to sign up early and sign up often. On that, I got asked a question whether we were doing like a grand opening for that. [snorts]

Uh, we it's not planned as of today, but yeah, we're happy to do that. But I think we should celebrate some of those things that the community supported and and the the good work that's gone into them. Um, we're in the process right now of uh recruiting a campground host and uh I think when that happens, we'll work with them to uh lay out some of the rules and procedures and then we'll get that planned. I think that's a good idea, mayor. And um maybe maybe we'll just plan for May 1. I don't even know what day of the week that is if I'm being honest, but Friday, Friday. Friday.

There you go. Tenatively, we'll put something together for for uh May 1st and c and mark the occasion and celebrate the opening. Okay. The police department, we have uh police chief Justin Paul with us. He was a great addition to the team in 2025 after the uh retirement of Chief Kyle Bergen. [clears throat]

the we re-implemented the K9 program. You all got to meet Capo a few months back and and see uh how he the work that he's doing and hear about that. So, we're excited about that. Um they really got proficient with the exterior drone in 2025 and and you guys got to see just I think a real quick uh example of that when we were looking at the roof of the RTC. that was uh footage that was taken by our local PD with the drone and and the very qualified operators within the department. So, good technology to have in our in our uh back pocket and and certainly used as appropriate. They were there uh quickly when the when we had the issue with the bell tower and they were able to assess the uh the uh damage safely from the ground and uh that was very helpful that day. So, really appreciate that technology. Uh we've had four retirements within the department in 2025 and then we uh really [clears throat] strengthened and continued the partnership with Ottertale County for the mental health co-response which is just a remarkable uh program and partnership that I think is very important um in the community. The police department had 515 arrests in 2025, 405 citations and just shy of 12,000 calls for service. So relatively um busy uh department department 2026 [clears throat] officer recruitment and wellness will be a major focus of the chief and then uh there will be a sergeant promotional process that happens as well. So looking forward to that. Anything you'd like to add chief?

No sir.

Okay. Excellent. Public works. This is our uh largest in number department. We have 51 full-time employees. that balloons to 110 in our summer months with our um mowers, park staff, recreation staff, all of the above. So, you see all the different divisions within the department. I will touch on most of those here in the coming slides. Keep moving. So, streets, shop, and fleet. We're going to show share a lot of statistics because we all see what they do and and appreciate the work that they do, but really break it down by numbers here. Um, somebody asked the question, what does a average snowfall response look like to remove snow from the entire community? And so we had our our folks uh keep track and report back to us. Takes between 8 and 10 hours to plow and sand the streets, city parking lots, and alleys. So, it's a full day of work every time that we deploy the u the entire crew. And that's dependent, of course, on snow depth and conditions. We use about 700 gallons of fuel for every uh time that we plow the city. 5,500 tons of salt and sand mix. And then we've applied um 32,000 gallons. Let me back up. The 700 gallons and the 5,500 tons and 32,000 gallons were we kept track from November to December of last year. The 8 to 10 hours is per event. And so 32,000 gallons of deicer has been applied. um the public doesn't necessarily see that because it's in the middle of the night and it's typically before an event. So if you see the like the lines on the street after the snow has gone, that's that's a sign that the deicer has been spread and and uh it's been really impressive to see that work. So uh we have over 200 units that are serviced within the shop fleet and we

have uh two in-house mechanics and a fabricator. Am I missing anyone? So they they oversee the entire fleet. I wanted to talk about some of our fuel costs. In 2025, total fuel costs for the city were 285,000. They were lower than expected as we used only 81.3% of that budget. And [snorts] the the breakdown is 57,000 gallons of diesel and about 33,800 gallons of unled fuel. So significant uh fuel use, but less than anticipated. So that's good. And [clears throat] then uh equipment purchases are made for streets, parks, landfill, refues, recycling, and police squads within our fleet management department at the shop. You want to add anything? Good.

Yeah, Dan [clears throat] Gaines uh oversees a lot of that work and and does a good job. You guys met him a few weeks ago at a council meeting. So, our utility department, uh, they continuously are working at upgrading water valves and lift stations throughout the community. Uh, there's been a lot of work on lead and copper service lines as we, uh, do the inventory, as we completed the inventory and look forward to replacing of those lines. We had the new traffic cabinet installed at Lincoln and Union in 2025, which um was unfortunate timing with our pilot project downtown, and we had a lot of uh flashing reds and and chaos at intersections, but that that project was complete. And in 2026, uh we'll be looking at upgrading the Channing and Minnesota Motors lift stations as well. The Minnesota Motors lift station is a is a significant one for us. It handles a a large uh area within the community and is a one of our oldest lift stations. So, it'll be a much needed upgrade there. And then just wanted to highlight the number of uh commercial and residential utility accounts that we have. Um you can kind of see that there's a number that don't have sewer service that uh have that that pay a storm sewer bill and then uh slightly more are connected to water but still don't have that sewer service. So about 5,100 uh customers give or take or accounts I should say. The water plant, we have three uh operators at the plant that do uh everything with a total of 84 years of experience. Each of those has their class A uh operator certificate through the Minnesota Department of Health, which is uh not an easy certificate to obtain. So, uh, really experienced and advanced operators out there. There was, uh, 371 million gallons of safe drinking water provided to the community in 2025.

So, uh, a significant operation. They do a great job of maintaining that plant. The the plant is relatively old, but the, uh, maintenance and repairs that they've done and and kept ahead of really will keep that thing functioning well into the future. So, really appreciate the work that they do out there. and Chad Lingren is our supervisor at the water plant, wastewater treatment plant. Um, this is the one we call the new wastewater plant. It's 42 years old already. And uh, they also, this is not a typo, they also have three operators with 84 years of experience. So, really neat, ironic that they have the same uh, number of operators, same amount of experience, but really experienced uh, operators that do a really good job. Led by Matt Limy out there. Uh we have 93 miles of sanitary sewer pipeline that flows to the plant and the plant received and treated more than 500 million gallons of waste water. [clears throat] You you'll ask, well, how did we only use 371 million gallons from the water plant, but we treated 500 million? We brought in uh the 2.1 million gallons of waste water from outside the city, which generates additional revenue. That would be through either other facilities or um haulers like uh emptying septic systems or septic tanks. And then you'll always see a bigger number at the wastewater plant versus the water plant because any infiltration or anything else that happens to be dumped or gets into a line that didn't originate at the um water plant would ultimately get to the sewer plant to be treated. So it would be included in those numbers. The grossest statistic that I'll share is that 1.7 million gallons of bioolids were land applied in 2025, which is 297 semi truck loads that were uh placed on farmland for beneficial reuse. And I won't provide any more detail than that. [laughter]

So beyond the departments of the city, we wanted to touch on some of the city amenities and and what really makes Fergus Falls a great place to live and and Lynn created this word cloud based on just a number of uh things that department heads threw out as things that they really enjoy about the community and and assets of the community. So you'll see uh a lot of things that are familiar, healthc care, parks, you name it. um it's on there. It makes the city a great place. So, I'll talk about some of those amenities. Now, the first being uh the Bigwood Event Center, which is city-owned and operated. And uh just wanted to share that uh for 2026, we have 51 events that are already on the books. That includes eight weddings, 36 uh meetings, two elections, four expos, one holiday party, and a class reunion. and we're always looking to fill the space and looking for more events on top of that as well. So, uh we're happy to uh have our staff help you with the corporate meetings, weddings, trade expos, any sort of event that you can uh imagine. Uh we can make the space work. So,

a huge wedding on Saturday. It was a big big number for gross. Good.

Excellent. Good. Uh the senior center, they had a busy year. They uh had 8,342 uh folks attend their general events. Over 2,000 uh individuals attended classes and seminars at the senior center. They served over 20,000 meals through their nutrition program. 439 members at the senior center and over 950 hours uh from from volunteers to make that uh a success at the senior center. their two uh annual fundraisers or their big fundraisers are [clears throat] the spaghetti feed and the bake sale which are a lot of fun and they do a great job baking. You got to get there early to get the best stuff. So, you'll see us walking down from city hall to take part in that. And uh they have a couple of exciting things. They had a new lift that was um installed in 2025. They continued to uh connect with the community through the adopt a park and adopt a class programs. They maintain downtown flower planters in front of the senior center and they've done other service uh oriented events like the closing food drives that they put on in 2025. [snorts] And Kim Sheay is uh the director of the senior center and has been with us for a long time and and does a great job. Couple golf course, you guys heard these numbers uh two weeks ago from Kevin Swinson, the director of golf out there. um had over 25,000 rounds of golf played. They were open for 186 days, 286 season passholders. Um I don't need to repeat all that, but I will say that in 2026, we're uh looking at what a new clubhouse might potentially look like and a partnership on that. And then looking for long-term lease agreement as we've done one-year kind of limp alongs over the last couple years, looking for a more permanent solution there.

and um amenities that were emitted. We either didn't get uh a response or they're contained in other areas. So, we didn't uh forget anybody or leave anybody out, but uh lots of things going on. And I just want to acknowledge the great team that we have at the city. Um those 105 full-time and the other 100 part-time employees do a great great work across every corner of the city. And I think that's evident in in some of these numbers and statistics. And uh want to thank them for a great year. I want to thank the city council for a great year. And uh we have already started to compile data and information for the 2026 annual report and we'll do that throughout the year. So looking forward to making it uh as robust if not more next year and uh doing this on an annual basis. So questions. I have no clue what time it is.

10 plus 5. Okay, we're we're good. Okay, 20 20 minutes of questions. So, yeah, fire away. If not, that's fine, too. Laurel, how do the safety numbers I don't think the number of incidents that are on here is very high with how many employees we have and the type of work many are doing. How does that compare to other years? Not that we is it trending up, down, does it stay about the same? Um, compared to last year, we're we're about the same. Um we are up a little bit compared to five years ago. Um but we're hoping with the safety summit and ongoing safety trainings that we will reduce that amount.

The mod factor did decrease though over the last three years. Okay. Which ties to our workers comp rates and you've seen a reduction in those. Yeah. Any other questions, Vendor? Absolutely. SC, with the move of the engineering department to outsourcing and with the move of the building department to the fireh hall, has there been any conversation about what to do with the space that's now open here in city hall?

Yes, your honor, Council Memberwami, there's been conversation, but I don't think there's been any decisions. We are looking at uh creating an additional uh meeting or conference space for internal use in the bigger area at the end of the hall down there. Um that's one thing that we often find is um the gold room which is the meeting space we have up behind uh in the administration area is often used and sometimes this room is maybe too big for a meeting or you know isn't as conducive for a meeting. So having an extra meeting space will be very nice. [clears throat] Beyond that um no plan for the offices at this point in time, but um we we know in city government things can be cyclical. So you never know if there's going to be the desire to uh fill those offices, add different staff or areas. And so uh we will leave them kind of just in their existing state and and see what happens over the coming years. that more comfortable.

Yeah. So, the what uh guy was just saying is the the conference room that I just explained at the end of the hallway will also double as a storm shelter. That's where if there's a tornado warning or something of the sort in city hall where our staff is responding to or or is meeting at. And um we'll have the ability to have um communications or television so people can see what's actually happening as opposed to just being locked in a room and having no idea what's happening outside. So we're going to equip that to be uh a a comfortable uh storm shelter space as well doubling as a conference room.

I since our last meeting I've had a couple of inquiries about safety in this room. Has that been talked like asked if there were metal detectors here and things like that? I don't know that that's a need at this point, but that has come up um from people that have viewed online. Yeah, I mean my response would be just opinion based, right? Um I I will say that folks that have a a permit to carry can legally carry firearms within city hall. We can't restrict that. And um so there there could be legal concealed carry permit holders that have firearms. So I don't know that a metal detector is practical or helpful question came up.

But um you know we do have law enforcement presence in the room. We have other law enforcement close by. We're very mindful and cognizant of uh what's happening in the room around us. We h I don't feel and and I maybe speak for the chief as well. But we don't feel there's anything that's additionally warranted today, but that could change in the future. You want to talk at all about that, your thoughts or

Yeah, I think it's just one of those, you know, ongoing discussions on, you know, best practices. [music] Is there um, you know, the ability to to vacate this room and, you know, kind of quickly get get out? So, I'm certainly happy to have any uh further conversations. Sorry, that's why those are unplugged.

And my other question was on the building permits, how many of those commercial and residential permits are actually in occupancy certificates at this point or is there some carryover in that for things that were issued like November, December that are actually happening this year? Do we know or is that a Jason question? Yeah. Uh there's probably that's a Jason question. There'd be some of that. I mean this is permitted work in 25. There is certainly some carryover work but that would be reflected every year. Right. Okay. Yeah.

Any other questions? If not, thank you. And I think it's a good idea, as you say, to make it annual. I think it's a good way to kind of keep residents informed about and and also touch on the services that we actually do because some people use one and some people don't use and they forget they exist. So absolutely.