City Government - Regular Meeting

Welcome to the Tuesday, September 1st City of Laramie City Council regular meeting. If you will all join me if you would like to in the Pledge of Allegiance.

All right.

Um, city clerk, if you'll please call the roll. Bowling.

Here.

Freed.

Here.

Lockhart. Absent. Newman. Absent. O'Doherty. Here. Shumway. Absent. Vigil. Here. Richardson. Here. And Cumbie. Absent. That's five present and four absent, Your Honor.

Thank you, City Clerk. And just for the public, we have some folks out sick, some folks traveling with family. And so we are on a little bit slimmer crew than normal. All right. First, we have public comment on non-agenda items. And I know we have one person signed up. Crystal, if you are ready to come forward, please come forward. Thank you and if you'll state your name for the record that would be great.

My name is Crystal Montgomery and I am here because of the bed bug problem here in Laramie. Now I've given Ms. Bartholomew papers where they're going to have people coming in and out of every apartment in our complex this week to spread the joy of these bed bugs. We as tenants are expected to put the bill for the cost of everything but the the taking care of the bugs. So in the meantime, between my mom and I, we have spent almost $1,000 trying to get rid of these bed bugs. I do not have proper clothes tonight because we were told to put our clothes in storage until the bed bug problem has been taken care of. Now, I really would like somebody to help the tenants of Laramie to mitigate this issue. It should not be solely on the tenants except for the pest control guy. This is terrible. We spent all of our money trying to do everything that the landlord had asked us to do, which meant we did not buy food last month. So thank goodness we had enough food to last us a month. So I would appreciate if you guys could help us with this situation. And I know it's not just our apartment complex. It is throughout Laramie. You know, I am going to continue on with this. My brain is not spinning no more because, you know, the nightmares of having bugs crawling over you, you don't get much sleep on top of everything else you've got to do daily in order to mitigate this issue. So if you guys could help out, I will be in contact with you some more, as well as Cody and other programs.

Thank you, Crystal.

I wanted to bring this to your guys' eyes, how expensive this is through no fault of our own. We did not travel. We did not have any new furniture except what the landlord gave us. And she said she got the bed from a city councilman, which we know is not true. Yeah.

Anyway, thank you for your time. Thank you very much, Crystal. And we have your contact information. So we will be sure to circle back with you and try to kind of dig into this a little bit more and see what we can do.

And I gave you those papers where they're going to go into every apartment. They're in the hallways because they keep spraying the hallways. Please help us tenants is what I'm asking.

Thank you. Thank you.

You folks have a good night, and I appreciate your audience.

You too. Thank you so much for coming in. All right. Is there any other public comment on non-agenda items? Anyone? Anyone? All right. Anyone online? Great. Okay. Thank you. Next, we are going to consideration of changes in the agenda and setting the agenda. Councilor O'Doherty.

I have to get Zoom out of the way, sorry.

Vice Mayor?

Yes.

I apologize if you've already asked this, but were there any members of the community that wanted to request an item be moved?

Oh, sorry, I was doing that next. Do I have it in backwards order? Thank you. I'll do that and then I'll be ready. Yep, thank you. We will go to the community. Is there anyone in attendance or online who would like to request any items from the consent agenda be pulled to the regular agenda? Okie dokie. And any council members who would like anything pulled? All right, now to you, Councillor O'Doherty.

I move that the following changes to the agenda be approved to add the consent agenda item number 9M, temporary use of an Albany County retail liquor license within the city limits for Waikolo Lodge LLC.

Second.

Moved by O'Doherty, seconded by Bolling. Roll call on this. City Clerk? We can do voice to vote. Okay, all in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed? Okay, that passes. And then do I do D? Yes, please. If you would go on to D, that'd be great.

I move that the agenda be set as changed.

Second. Moved by O'Doherty, seconded by Freed. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? All right. And next we are going to move on to proclamations and public hearings. We've got three proclamations tonight. And so let me just get these lined up here. All right. All right, so our first proclamation is childhood cancer awareness. Whereas Jason's Friends Foundation is currently supporting over 184 Wyoming families who have had the misfortune of having a child diagnosed with cancer, brain and spinal cord tumors, and will continue to help these families until their child reaches 21 years of age. And whereas Jason's Friends Foundation has enrolled 15 new families so far in 2026 alone, compared to 31 total in 2025 and 21 total in 2024, this sharp increase is a sobering reminder of the ongoing need in Wyoming. And whereas Jason's Friends Foundation has expended over $9,400,000 directly to Wyoming families of children with cancer, brain or spinal cord tumors since its inception in 1996, preventing financial instability and relieving much of their financial burden. And whereas over 74 Wyoming children have lost their battle with cancer, brain or spinal cord tumors in the last 30 years. And whereas over 74 Wyoming children, sorry, that was a repeat, I apologize. Whereas cancer affects children and young adults differently from adults as their bodies are still developing and the side effects of the treatment alone can cause more harm to the maturing systems. And whereas September is observed internationally as Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. Now, therefore, I, Micah Richardson, Vice Mayor of the Governing Body of the City of Laramie, Wyoming, do hereby proclaim September 2026 as Childhood Cancer Awareness Month in this community and encourage our citizens to help raise awareness for pediatric cancer and to support programs such as Jason's Friends Foundation that give financial and emotional assistance to the victims and their families. a witness whereof I here into set my hand and cause to be affixed to the seal of the city of Laramie this first day of September, 2026. And we have in attendance Sabrina and Todd. Oh, Todd is not here, sorry about that. Sabrina and James, Sabrina Kennedy and James Montes. Welcome to you both. If you would like to say a few words, you are welcome to.

Thank you for recognizing Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. This means a lot to me and other kids and families who have gone through childhood cancer. I'm really grateful for all the doctors, nurses, families, friends, and people in our community who support kids with cancer. Thank you for helping bring awareness to something that affects so many families.

Thank you so much for being here. And if you guys, do you wanna say something as well, Sabrina? You guys are welcome to come up and have a photo if you would like. All right, our next proclamation for the evening is for the Daughters of the American Revolution, Jacques Laramie chapter. All right, so, and this is for restoration of a World War I Memorial. Proclamation for restoration and rededication of the Albany County World War I Memorial, September 20th, 2026, Whereas World War I, which began July 28, 1914, and was a war that primarily took place in Europe and concluded on November 11, 1918, in which the United States declared war April 6, 1917, and participated as a member of the Allied and Associated Powers. And whereas 53,402 Americans lost their lives in combat during the war, and another 62,114 Americans lost their lives in non-combat deaths from accidents or disease. And whereas in Albany County, our young men and women answered the call to duty to become part of the American Expeditionary Forces, AEF, serving in the war. And whereas on October 7th, 1924, a memorial was dedicated in downtown Laramie as a remembrance to those who served and made great sacrifices for our country in World War I, featuring the names of 32 men who lost their lives and over 1,000 men and women who served from Albany County, including students at the University of Wyoming. And whereas this community effort to memorialize the county's wartime contributions and sacrifices was led in part by Grace Raymond Hebert, a founder of the Jacques Laramie Chapter National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and Edward Ivinson, a local banker and philanthropist, And whereas the Jacques Laramie chapter NSDAR as part of the America 250 Wyoming observances proposed and received a grant to restore and rededicate this Albany County World War I memorial and restoration was completed in May 2026. Now, therefore, I, Micah Richardson, by virtue of the authority vested in me as Vice Mayor, City of Laramie, do hereby proclaim September 20th, 2026 as the official rededication ceremony of the Albany County World War I Memorial. And those of you who are here, who I believe, I know that Karen Langy is here. And Jan, do we have Tamsen, Kim? Are they all here? Okay, all right.

Katie Morgan.

Okay, great. And Katie. And you guys are welcome to share a few words as well, please. Kathy Davis.

Good evening, my name is Karen Lange and I'm representing the Jacques Laramie chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution or DAR as a lot of you may know us by that name. I want to thank you for the opportunity to meet with Vice Mayor Richardson and members of the council and to join with us in declaring September 20th, 2026 as the official rededication ceremony of the Albany County World War I Monument in Laramie, Wyoming. We are here tonight to request your support by signing the proclamation which proclaims September 20th, 2026 as the day to celebrate the restoration and rededication of the World War I monument in Laramie, Wyoming. I also wanted to mention that the memorial was dedicated in 1924. It has never been completely cleaned or restored by a professional organization. So this is following 100 years plus that it has been restored. And I passed around some photos of the before and after of what that monument now looks like. So we're very pleased with how it turned out. And so I also want to request that you will be able to attend our celebration on September 20th. It will take place in the courtyard of the Albany County Courthouse. Following the ceremony, we will cross the street and go over to the Alice Hardy Stevens Center. And there, Kim Viner, a local historian, will give a presentation on the history of the memorial. And in addition, one of our DAR members, Jan Turkelson, has created a slideshow with photos and biographical information of many of those men and women who served in the Great War. The Laramie Plains Museum has prepared an exhibit of World War I artifacts. So I hope that you will be able to join us and thank you very much for this opportunity. It is at 1.30. I have one more question. September 20th.

Perfect. And then how long is the show at the museum up? Do you know?

The exhibit is just for that day.

Just that day. Okay. Okay. Great. Thank you. Well, thank you all so much. This is great. I'm excited to see it. And you all are welcome to come up and have a picture taken with us as well, if you'd like.

Do you have any other questions? Okay.

Counselor Doherty. Did they serve in the same unit? I know they used to do that back in the old days, like put... towns together?

No, some of them did, like 18 would go, 18 University of Wyoming students would go off and help with the Calvary. And so, but for the most part they were, and they were men and women. And Kim Viner's presentation will present some of these individuals as they went off to serve, so.

Awesome, any other questions? Sorry about that, council.

Yes, September 20th. And it's a Sunday, Sunday afternoon at 1.30 p.m. at the World War I Memorial in the courtyard of the courthouse. And then Alice Hardy Stevens immediately following that. Great. Okay?

Super. Anything else? Okay. Come on up if you'd like.

You guys come in the middle and we'll work

All right. Ready? One, two, three. All right.

Thank you.

I'm going to go that way.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, our next item on the agenda is for Hunger Action Month. I know we have a lot of folks in the house for this one. And so we'll have you all come up at the end as well. All right. hunger action month proclamation. Whereas hunger is a vital concern in Wyoming and where food insecurity rates are at a more than 10 year high, including one in every seven individuals and one in every five children experience food insecurity. And whereas every person deserves access to the food and resources they need to live a full healthy life. Yet millions of people in the US experience food insecurity. And when people don't have enough to eat, it impacts their health, education and future opportunities. Whereas the City of Laramie is committed to taking steps to combat hunger in every part of our community and to provide additional resources that are needed. And whereas the City of Laramie is committed to working with Food Bank of Wyoming to educate people about the role and importance of the Feeding America Network and how it stands alongside neighbors facing hunger to ensure everyone has access to the food and resources they need to thrive. And whereas more than 7,020 individuals in Albany County, over 18.4% of the population, are estimated to experience food insecurity today, and whereas Food Bank of Wyoming distributed more than 12 million pounds of food to Wyomingites experiencing food insecurity in 2025 through a network of agency partners, food pantries, meal programs, and other community organizations, And whereas the month of September has been designated Hunger Action Month to bring communities together to elevate the voices of people who experience food insecurity, and inspire everyone to take action in the movement to end hunger. And whereas food banks across the country, including the members of the Feeding America Network, will host numerous events throughout the month of September to bring awareness and help end hunger in their local community, now therefore I, Micah Richardson, Vice Mayor of the Governing Body of the City of Laramie, do hereby recognize September 26th as Hunger Action Month and encourage all citizens to increase their understanding and awareness of food insecurity and how it impacts our nation, state, county, and communities. In witness whereof, I here unto set my hand and cause the official seal of the city of Laramie to be affixed on this first day of September, 2026. And we have got here Shelly Spierkowski. Thank you.

I'm sure I butchered that.

Kaylee Goodenough. Denise, I have forgotten your last name. Yutz. There we go. Dr. Goldhart, Ted Kramer, Jenna Robertson, I saw Sadie in the audience, Claire and Don. I think that's everyone. If y'all wanna come up, come on up and whoever is ready to speak on your behalf or multiple of you ready to speak, we'd love to have you. Oh, they're gonna speak first.

All right. Thank you, Vice Mayor Richardson and to the city of Laramie for recognizing September as Hunger Action Month. Great things are not built alone. An ending hunger is no different. It takes all of us, neighbors, volunteers, donors, farmers, advocates, local organizations, businesses, and community partners coming together with a shared purpose. Here in Albany County, nearly one in five of our neighbors are estimated to experience food insecurity. And across Wyoming, those numbers are at a more than 10-year high, with one in five children experiencing food insecurity in our state. Behind every one of those numbers is a person, a child, a family or a neighbor who deserves the opportunity to have enough nutritious food to live a healthy life and a full life. At Food Bank of Wyoming, we're proud to work alongside communities, donors, volunteers and partners across the state to make that possible. I want to acknowledge the essential work of so many partners in this community, including Laramie Soup Kitchen, Laramie Interfaith, Polk's Pantry, Sensual Nutrition, and other partners at the University of Wyoming, Albany County School District Number One Food Service staff, teachers, counselors, administrators, and board members, the Wyoming Food Coalition, and Food Assistance Benefit Program Specialists. Last fall, when SNAP benefits were paused, I had the opportunity to meet with partners and many of you on city council to ensure that our neighbors did not go hungry when that essential program was shut down. This community has incredible people and organizations working against hunger. This Hunger Action Month, we're asking everyone to find their part because we cannot end hunger alone. Maybe that means donating, volunteering, speaking up, supporting a local food pantry, or simply learning more about food insecurity in our community. When we connect our efforts, those small actions become part of something much bigger, a movement working to build a Wyoming where everyone has access to the food and resources they need to thrive. Ending hunger requires all of us, so this September, we invite you to donate, volunteer, and speak up. Thank you for standing with your neighbors, and thank you again to the City of Laramie for helping us shine a light on hunger in our community.

Wonderful. Thank you. Questions or comments from council? Come on up and welcome. I should also note Carrie Murphy is here and a couple other folks I didn't note. And just want a quick shout out. I know I wasn't going to say anything, but quick shout out to the school district who opted to pay for all students' lunches and breakfasts, I believe, which is not something that every school district in Wyoming is doing. So something to be really proud of.

I know, I'm sorry.

All right, moving on to public hearings. Nancy, or city clerk, sorry, if I can turn that over to you for the public hearings, 6B-I and 6B-II.

Thank you, Vice Mayor. The first public hearing tonight is for paintbrush fifth edition final plat. Notice is hereby given that a public hearing of the Laramie City Council will be held at 6.30 p.m. on September 1st, 2026 in Council Chambers, Laramie City Hall, 406 Ivinson Avenue, Laramie, Wyoming. The public meeting... shall be held with both online Zoom and in-person option to take public comments on the following. Plat-26-0005, the owner, Ross Stone Development Inc. is requesting a final plat for the paintbrush first edition fifth filing final plat, which creates nine residential lots on a 3.075 acre site in an R1 single family residential zone district. The site is located approximately at the intersection of 23rd Street and Battle Street. All applications, plans, and specifications relative to these matters are available for review at the City of Laramie Planning Office at 405 Grand Avenue, Laramie, Wyoming. Anyone wishing to be heard should be present at City Council Chambers or via Zoom webinar 811-7858-9319, passcode 815376. Written comments may be mailed to City Council, care of City of Laramie Planning Office, P.O. Box C, Laramie, Wyoming, 82073. For questions or information, contact City Planning at the address above, by telephone at 307-721-5207, or by email at planning at cityoflaramie.org.

Thank you. Thank you, city clerk. All right, on to announcements. Any announcement? Oh, wait, we have our second one, sorry. So, Vice Mayor, if we could ask for public comments on the first one. Oh my gosh, thank you very much. See, it's so good you guys are here to keep me straight. Public comment on the first public hearing. Okay, none. Now to the second public hearing. All right.

So the second public hearing for this evening is for resolution 2026-55, authorizing the submission of a community development block grant application to the Wyoming Community Development Authority to support right-of-way and other public improvements to advance the Labonte Square development. Notices hereby given that a public hearing of the Laramie City Council will be held at 6.30 p.m. on September 1st, 2026 in Council Chambers, Laramie City Hall, 406 Ivinson Avenue, Laramie, Wyoming, with an in-person and Zoom option to receive public comments on a proposed application to the Wyoming Community Development Authority, WCDA. for Community Development Block Grant, CDBG funding. The proposed project would fund right-of-way and other public improvements on North 4th Street supporting Labonte Square, a multi-phase development plan to deliver 120 to 200 units of affordable and workforce housing serving low and moderate income households. Northwest Real Estate Capital Corp will serve as a sub-recipient Anyone wishing to comment should be present in person or via Zoom. Webinar 811-7858-9319. Passcode 815376. Written comments may be mailed to City Council, Care of City of Laramie Planning Office, PO Box C, Laramie, Wyoming 82073. For questions, contact the City Planning at the address above by phone at 307-721-5207 or by email at planning at cityoflaramie.org. Thank you, Vice Mayor.

Thank you, City Clerk. Any public comment on the second public hearing? All right, seeing none, now on to announcements. City Manager.

Honorable Mayor, we have one announcement by Assistant City Manager, Chief Financial Officer Wade.

Welcome. Good evening, council members. So next week is our joint work session between the Laramie City Council and the Albany County Commissioners, where we're going to go over the People's Initiative, its impact, talk about property tax exemptions to date, and all kinds of information related to those revenue reductions that are already in place, what we're expecting for the future. And we'll actually have a special guest at that joint work session with the Wyoming Taxpayers Association present. And so it should be a really great night of information. And so what we'd like your help with is in recruiting people to attend. And so I'd love to believe we could get 150 people there like we did with data centers. So if you can think of a way to talk about that work session in a way that creates that interest amongst people that you may be connected to, Let's make sure we get people in the room so that we can talk about what's happened to date, present some great information, and then hear from all the folks that are going to be present. And so there'll be presentations from the Albany County Assessor, the Albany County Treasurer, myself, and the Wyoming Taxpayers Association. So hopefully we get a great turnout.

Thank you. Yes, Council Freed.

Thank you, Vice Mayor. Assistant City Manager, would you mind just on the record saying where and when next week it is?

Next Tuesday, September the 8th, 6 p.m. at the Municipal Operations Center. That was so hard.

Thank you. All right. Any others? That was it? Okie dokie. Disclosures and conflicts of interest by Council. Seeing none, we will move on to approval of the consent agenda. Councilor O'Doherty.

I move that the consent, sorry, I had to get the right line. I move that the items on the consent, I'm doing it in the wrong place, sorry. What's my spot? Okay, okay, sorry. No, you're good. Okay. I move that the consent agenda be approved and that each specific action on the consent agenda be approved as indicated.

Moved by O'Doherty. Second. Bowling seconded it. Got a little ahead of ourselves, but we'll take it. If you'll call the roll, please.

Bowling.

Yes.

Freed.

Yes.

Lockhart. Absent. Newman. Absent. O'Doherty. Yes. Shumway. Absent. Vigil.

yes Richardson yes and come be absent that's five yeses zero nos and four absent your honor thank you city clerk all right on to mayor announcements the a couple tonight when I just want to share the names of the youth council members that were just appointed Eli Havonison, Havonison? Did I get that right?

Havonison.

Okay. Thank you for that correction. Carl McLean, Isaac Kirsch, and Malin Alde. So congratulations to those new youth council folks. And it looks like you guys are building up a new youth council committee pretty well.

Yeah, and if I'm not mistaken, I'm all returning.

Oh, okay. Perfect.

Which is testament, I think, to the importance of it.

Yeah, great. All right, the other announcement that I want to share is the good news of city manager's new grandbaby. So congratulations on that, Brett.

Yay! It's not in the slide show?

All right, moving on to the regular agenda. Councillor Freed, 11A.

Thank you, Vice Mayor. I move that the Laramie City Council approve Resolution 2026-54, rejecting all bids received for the 401T3 well, piping and treatment project, and authorize the Mayor and City Clerk to sign.

Second. Moved by Freed, seconded by Vigil. Welcome, Director.

Vice Mayor, City Council, we'll see if I can't fight with this microphone today. So what you have in front of you is a resolution to reject all bids for the 41T3 project. And just as a quick reminder, this portion of the project is for the treatment facility and the building there. The well is already drilled. We received one bid and it was more than double what our engineers estimate was. So after staff looked at that and evaluated it, we don't believe it's in the best interest of the city at this time. So we would like to go back, do some value engineering and see what we can take out, how we can modify it and come back with a better cost. And for that, I would stand for any questions or with that.

Thank you, Director. Questions, Councilor Bolling.

Thank you, Vice Mayor. Thank you, Director. To my knowledge, this is the first time, at least come across the desk in my tenure, that we've rejected something. Was it surprising or unusual to receive only one?

Vice Mayor, through you, it is not surprising It's not typical, it happens on occasion. This one being more than double what our estimate was, was concerning to staff. And that made us go back and really look at our design and what it is that we need to try to get the best value, right? For that, and people are tired of hearing me say this, but for that impact on the citizens, right? The rate pair, what is the best value that we can get? And in this particular case, I believe we can go back, as the saying goes, sharpen our pencils and try to get a better product out for more, in our case, for what we said our budget was for this, for a more reasonable amount. So it's not common. To my knowledge, there's only been one rejection in the last three years, I believe. I believe that could be incorrect, somewhere around there.

Other questions? Council Fried.

Yeah, thank you, Vice Mayor, and thank you, Director Smith. So I fully support rejecting this and trying to go back and find a cheaper alternative or something that fits our needs a little better. So if we sharpen the pencils, like you mentioned, maybe reduce some of the scope or change it, at what point, if we still get higher bids, would we kind of change, I don't know, the... the methodology of trying to find more funding, or maybe that's just what the rate is. And what we just uncover that as we try to go through the next few phases of this thing.

Vice Mayor, through you. I think there's some money to find through value engineering. Going through and seeing, is some of this over-engineered? Is it really what we need for this size and for the production of this well? But I also think... Going back and taking a holistic view at this well station in general, because it's important. It's a news source, and that doesn't happen very often. The last time that that happened was 2000, roughly, for the Spur Wells. This is not a common thing. Going back, looking at that, and trying to get it to where it functions for what we need, that is still a good quality, but really what we need. And keeping in mind, like I said, and I know people are, public work staff is so tired of hearing me say impact. I cannot tell you how much they are tired of hearing that. But we're taking a view that way of what is the impact on the residents, on the community, and how can we get the greatest impact for the least cost?

Thank you. Councilor Bolling.

Thank you again, Vice Mayor. Thank you, Director Smith. So assuming that we need to go, well, this is a very important thing that we need, but can you give us a sense of the urgency here, considering that we'll have to go back and there'll be another RFQ and there'll be another review period, etc. ?

vice mayor through you. So there is urgency with this one in particular. We have, we just received our extension request for the beneficial use of this well through the state engineer's office. It was approved. So there is some urgency there. There's also urgency with the more we push back a product, our project, it's taking on debt because it's going to be more expensive tomorrow than it is today. But for this amount of money over what our estimate was, That just tells me we really need to take a look at it, and it tells professional staff. We need to take a look at that, because someplace, something doesn't align with what we think, right? And taking time to vet that out, so to end, that was a long-winded way of not answering your question, but, So this fall, the plan is to have this, we'll call it a redesign, completed in the next month and a half, six weeks, two months, and then to try to go back out for bid pretty quickly after that and still try to keep on with the construction schedule of next year. And I'm sure I have engineering staff who's watching this who's like, but we are running a pretty tight timeframe on this one. And it is incredibly important. Another source in that zone is a huge deal for the city. It's very beneficial, but weighing that value and impact versus cost. And how do we fit those two together?

Great. Other questions? I am curious when the first engineering estimate came in.

So when it first came in, right when we had design complete, roughly this spring, sometime around there, so it wasn't that long ago.

So it wasn't cost of materials necessarily because that wasn't that long ago.

No, there's, and I'm obviously not an engineer, so I don't want to get too much in the details of the estimate, but there are some areas to where we assume costs for one thing and they turned out not to be something. I also think there's higher costs because of mobilization and some unknowns, right, that are dealing with this project, such as The street work that would be required, not to get into the details, but looking about pushing the building back so that street does not have to be restructured. That could save some money there and having some other things in place that I think would give contractors certainty.

That's great. Thank you so much. I appreciate y'all looking at this and recognizing that that just felt like too much and how can you quickly readdress it and try to get us down in numbers, recognizing it may not come down as low as we want to, but at least start working our way that direction. So thank you very much. City Clerk, if you'll call the roll. Mayor, public comment. Public comment. Sorry about that. Public comment on this agenda item. All right, now the roll, please.

Freed. Yes. Lockhart, absent. Newman, absent. Shumway, absent. Vigil. Yes. Bowling.

Yes.

O'Doherty. Yes. Richardson. Yes. And Cumbie, absent. That's five yeses, zero noes, and four absent, Your Honor.

Thank you, City Clerk. One of these times I'm going to remember the public that is sitting right in front of me in the room. All right. Next item, 11B, and that is Councilor Bowling.

Thank you, Vice Mayor. Sorry, I lost my window. I move that the Laramie City Council approve resolution 2026-55 authorizing the submission of a community development block grant application to the Wyoming Community Development Authority to support the right of way and other public improvements to advance the Labonte Square development and authorize the mayor and clerk to sign.

Second. Moved by Bolling, seconded by Vigil. Hello, Director Tamey.

Vice Mayor, Council, thanks. Tonight is a resolution for the ability for the city to apply for a grant to potentially fund the kind of ongoing 4th Street project that we hope to maybe get off the ground this year. I think as many of you know, the city has unsuccessfully attempted to get different funding sources for that project. and we are making one more attempt at that this year. Part of that is through CDBG funding. Our hope is that through that funding, if we were to be awarded that, if we're allowed to apply for the grant through this resolution, which is what this resolution does, that it will help support some of the infrastructure improvements in that area that we think will be needed as we start to see development to kind of correct some of the kind of ongoing problems we know in that area, specifically some of the stormwater management that we would like to take care of. We also believe that in that area some street improvements, sidewalk improvements, and things like that would come kind of in conjunction with this type of a project. And so This is very similar to the resolution that you all approved last year as well to allow us to do essentially the same thing. And so with that, I'd be happy to take any questions.

Questions? Council Fried.

Yeah, thank you, Vice Mayor. Thank you, Director Tini. I guess, so this is just the approval to submit a grant request. We don't have any funding numbers or anything that comes later. Is that correct?

Correct. Yeah, so that would all come through the grant process. And then if we were actually awarded the grant, that'll come back before here, before we can accept it or anything like that. Thank you.

Okay, other questions? All right, seeing no public comment on this agenda item. None that I see. All right, any closing comments from council? Go for it.

Thank you, Vice Mayor. Just want to say thanks to Director Tini and his staff for working on this because, I mean, to get funding for this project, to get it off the ground would be huge. And I know it's a big win and it's a project that a lot of city staff have been working on for a while. So, yeah, thanks for all your efforts.

Other comments? I will just echo that. I appreciate the additional effort. If it doesn't pan out, I am sure we will keep looking for sources and ways to make it happen. But boy, it would be nice to have this come through and really get us rolling. So I appreciate that. City Clerk, if you'll call the roll.

Bolling.

Yes.

Freed.

Yes.

Lockhart. Absent. Newman. Absent. O'Doherty. Yes. Shumway. Absent. B. Hill. Yes. Richardson. Yes. And Cumbee. Absent. That's five yeses, zero noes, and four absent, Your Honor.

Thank you, City Clerk. Moving on to 11C, Councilor O'Doherty.

I move that council approve the Laramie Fire Department to submit a Wyoming Rural Health Transformation Program grant to the Wyoming Department of Health in the amount of $2,200,000 for the purpose of strengthening regional emergency medical services.

Second.

Move by O'Doherty, seconded by Freed. Welcome, Chief Johnson.

Honorable Vice Mayor, members of council, in 2025, July 4th, under the big, beautiful bill, the federal government passed the Rural Health Transformation Program. State of Wyoming applied for funds through that program. and was awarded $205 million. They opened up a grant application period for subrecipients in the month of July. We had a narrow window to get the grant in, so this is actually a retro approval we're asking for tonight. The money, there is money carved out for the EMS for regionalizing EMS and the state. The application has been submitted. We have been contacted and verbally, this is not a grant contract in hand, but we've been verbally have a favorable application in. We received on August 28th a draft of the grant language, and then they subsequently sent a statement of work. Not with that. They are asking for our review of that, if there's any problems that we see with it. They've sent it out to everyone. They plan on awarding the grant to. They want to get our feedback before it goes to the AG's office for approval. There are some issues that we've uncovered in the grant language that we're getting clarified and one of them's already been resolved and it was with ownership of the ambulances. Another one are the timelines are really tight on this grant. There's not a lot of time managing this grant. And then they're asking for binding resolutions on committing subrecipients to maintain essential services. So I just need to get that defined better on a legal term by them what that means. That being said, my EMS chief is with us tonight. His name is Chase Bridgman. He did a lot of hard work on putting this data together to get this application. And I will turn the podium over to him to talk specifically about the grant. And he can stand for questions.

Welcome.

Thank you. Honorable Vice Mayor, City Council, Chase Bridgman, Army Fire Department, Chief Commander, EMS Chief. I appreciate the opportunity. A couple things through the grant. We are already regionalized a little bit with the county, as you guys are all kind of aware. We respond into the county. A couple of things the grant would do for us. It would help train LFD and more county responders. It would help upgrade some training equipment, upgrade a lot of training equipment. Part of the grant is for a new ambulance and upgrading some patient repair equipment. As you guys are all very well aware, equipment is very expensive in the medical field and fire industry. It would improve supporting technology, upgrading iPads, tablets, radios, stuff like that. One of the stipulations of the grant is to maintain and work on our response capabilities. We already have great response times, but we would commit to maintaining those as well as hopefully improving times in the county for first responders and having life-saving providers. on scene sooner, and then it would help increase cooperation between Laramie Fire Department and the Fire District as well. I can go more into depth if you'd like, but this is very preliminary. Like Chief Johnson said, we did submit the application and have been verbally approved for up to 2.2 million. Can I stand for questions?

Thank you. Council, any questions? Council Freed.

Yeah, thank you, Vice Mayor. And thank you, Chief Commander. Just curious, I mean, opportunities like this, we jump on them, right? Because this is probably hard to find funding to upgrade and repair and provide training like this. And so, I guess, could you speak to maybe this, you know, things like this, do they come around very often? Or, you know, is this something that we, you know, need to keep working on like you guys are right now and getting funding as much as we can?

sure honorable vice mayor through you that's a great point this is in my career my tenure I have not seen one with this With the stipulations of this, of this 2.2, there have been other grants in the past. This is a five-year grant term, kind of, and so we'd have to reapply every year. This 2.2 would be the first year, and then up to 1.8 million for subsequent years two, three, four, and five. So this is a great opportunity for the City of Laramie and the Laramie Fire Department and Albany County to benefit from this money from the Big Beautiful Bill. Yes.

Other questions? Councilor Doherty.

How do we increase or decrease response times in the north part of the county where it's so far away? I mean, is there any talk of putting an ambulance north of town or something like that?

Through you, Honorable Vice Mayor. Not to my knowledge, there's no talk of that. How we would increase our response times or improve that would be training more first responders in the Rock River area up to EMR or EMT level to be able to provide life-saving care. to respond sooner. And then of course we would respond from here as well. So no talk of that. Thank you.

Thank you. Other questions? All right. Public comment on this agenda item. No public comment. Council comment. Council Frieden.

Thank you, Vice Mayor. I'll keep them rolling. I just want to say thanks for submitting this on our behalf and thinking of the things that we can do to bolster what we do and provide a service to this community. I think it's a great thing and I hope it goes well. Thanks. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Freed. I will also just say thank you. The chief and I have talked about the turnaround time on this. The state had a very, very short turnaround time because they were trying to do negotiations. And so everything just rolled into really short turnaround time for all the communities so that you guys were able to hop on that while that very, very small window was available. I appreciate that. And so thank you for that work. Also recognizing that this is a big chunk of money but it has to be, you know, it's just like one time. So how we think about this is, you know, these one-time improvements for five years, but the sustainability piece on putting something up north and you have to think about that long-term. And I think that would be a lot more difficult. So anyway, just big thanks. And I am excited to see how we move forward with everything. Thank y'all. Roll call, please.

O'Doherty. Yes. Newman. Absent. Lockhart. Absent. Freed.

Yes.

Bowling. Yes. Shumway. Absent. V. Hill.

Yes.

Richardson. Yes. Cumbee. Absent. That's five yeses, zero noes, and four absent, Your Honor.

Thank you, City Clerk. Next item is 11D, Councilor Bowling.

Thank you, Vice Mayor. I move that the Laramie City Council approve the contract to buy and sell real estate with Albany County School District 1 for the 509 South 9th Street project. Authorize the mayor to sign and authorize the city manager to finalize this transaction. Second.

Moved by Bolling, seconded by Freed. Welcome, Chief Johnson again.

Well, Vice Mayor, Members of Council, a little background on this item. We had a feasibility study done of our current location. Davis Architect Partners did a study evaluating the station as it sits now and the current future uses. They came up with their best recommendation was for us to relocate out of that station They did look at remodeling the station adding to the station. We looked at sites around I've went with a city manager to a couple of sites looking and One of the things about relocating a fire station, most of the area is already built upon. So finding a suitable site was a challenge. The school district did have properties for sale. I did have the architect firm that did the feasibility study did a look at the suitability of that site with our response times and our location in conjunction with our other stations. They said it was a very suitable site. Through looking at it, we're very interested in it. City Manager Fieser started contract negotiations last fall on it. We made an offer. City Council approved us to negotiate with that. They did a counter offer, which has been accepted. So we are here tonight to get approval to close that deal on September 24th. I stand for any questions.

Thank you, Chief. Questions?

Thank you, Vice Mayor. Thank you, Chief. Thank you for the background. I know this has been long before my time that we've been really trying to work to get more facilities for our fire department. Will this replace something or currently would this be an addition to what we operate until we Do something different. Can you just remind me of what this building will be for?

Thanks. Through you, Vice Mayor, Councilor Free, this would be replacing the operational function of Station 1. So we're looking at keeping our administration in the main campus area still. On the upper floor and then this would all the engines the truck ladder truck and an ambulance Would in a shift commander would be located out of the new station shift commander would probably have an office downtown also for their divisional work But it would be an operational station Mike such as two and three are today Thank you.

Okay other questions Do you have a question, Councillor Boling?

Yeah. First of all, got speed get started we need it I'm just curious our ladder truck that is too large to fit inside any structure where is that currently?

Through you Vice Mayor, Councilor Bowling the ladder truck currently resides in the station one it's there and we keep it there for response to the downtown area plus response to the university that's where our multi-story

Maybe I'm misremembering.

I seem to remember there was an acquisition that was like too large for current structure Yes, the equipment keeps getting bigger when we pull the truck out to do its checks on it The tail board is at the garage door in the front end sticks on the street. That's how I've seen that it is Other questions

I just have a couple on the counter offer. A couple of things came up. The sale is contingent upon school facilities commission's approval. Has that already been approved?

This happened. Perfect. I do not have the date in front of me when that happened.

That's all right. No big deal. The other part of it, number four says closing date to be changed to or on before 12-1, but that closing date that's in the thing of September 24th, I think if I remember right, is the actual set date. Okay, just double checking all that. Great, thank you. Any public comment on this agenda item? Come on up, Mr. Schmeichel. Welcome.

Thank you and good evening Vice Mayor and most of Council, Grandpa. I'm excited because I get to do something tonight I have never done before. I get to speak as just a regular citizen because I do reside on the 500 block of 9th Street, right across the street from this building. And I have had an opportunity to speak with my three other property owners on that block. I'm very happy to report that we're all very much in favor of this project. One of my neighbors is involved with Albany County Search and Rescue. Another is a medical practitioner in town that owns the property and is leasing it out to their child. But my fourth property owner is my neighbor to the south, who is a longtime Laramie resident who grew up just a few blocks from this property, went to elementary school in this building, and he's excited this is going to be a fire station. We do collectively have a request that efforts be made to either preserve the building or at the very least preserve that beautiful facade, specifically the white and blue stones in the front. We think that this building has a lot of history, a lot of people and a lot of families have been tied to it. And we think it's worthwhile in trying to preserve some element of that moving forward. But absolutely, we need more fire capacity in this town. I think this is a great spot to do it. And we're really excited the sirens don't get turned on at our house. So thank you.

Wonderful, thank you. Other public comment on this agenda item? Welcome, come on up. If you'll state your name, that would be great.

Yes, my name is Samuel Buckwalter, council. I just have a question. Does a school district actually lose anything by not having this building, or is it an unused building for the most part for the school district already?

And I think we can go ahead and answer this. Do you want to come up chief? I saw you raise your hand.

And that's all I have.

Thank you. I think they're just shifting things.

Through you, Vice Mayor, Council Members, I actually had an opportunity to talk with the superintendent earlier this week on this specific issue. And they bought a property south of town. They'll be moving a lot of their school district offices too, and then they're going to use BIDAL as a training opportunity. So really this stems from the closure of BIDAL, where they repurposed a lot of their current structure using that building to that facility. Thank you.

Thank you, Chief. Other comments or questions on this agenda item? Okay, oh, comment to council.

I'm pleased with the position of this. It just feels like it's gonna be much more accessible south of town. I worry about south of town. And if you don't have to negotiate forth and grand and all of that in order to get south of town, this seems like a good opportunity. So thank you. Other comment from council?

I agree. This is great. And I would echo Mr. Schmeichel's note about if there's a way to save the facade, that would be fantastic. Just moving forward with it.

I think it's in the plans already.

Is it in the plans already to try to save the facade?

We've discussed it.

Don't know yet. I'm guessing we won't until we get in there. Okay. All right. So with that, vote, please, if you'll call the roll.

Viejo. Yes. Shumway, absent. O'Doherty? Yes. Newman, absent. Lockhart, absent. Freed?

Yes.

Bowling?

Yes.

Richardson? Yes. And Cumbee, absent. That's five yeses, zero noes, and four absent, Your Honor.

Thank you, City Clerk. On to 11E, Councilor Freed.

Thank you, Vice Mayor. I move that the Laramie City Council approve the contract to buy and sell real estate with Albany County School District number one for the 1,212 Baker Street property. Authorize the mayor to sign and authorize the city manager to finalize this transaction.

Second. Moved by Freed, seconded by O'Doherty. Welcome, Director Wade. Good evening.

That is perfect, that is probably what I feel most comfortable with still. Council tonight, let's just call this by what we've called it for months, the old Slade School property. How exciting is it that you're being asked to consider this agreement, the final approval for it, the signing by the city council and then the ability for the city manager to close out this transaction. As you know, we have been working on housing and really, if you want to be honest with it, City Manager Fieser, in his current role and former role, has been working with many other agencies in town to try to tackle the beast of an issue that is housing for many years. Mr. Schmeckel is here this evening. There are so many good minds in this community that have really devoted a lot of time and energy to how do we use what we have in creative ways in order to deal with this issue. And so the Slade School property very much represents that type of effort, even with support from the Albany County School District who agreed to sell this property for about $200,000 over its actual appraised value. And so really great win for our community. Let me remind you.

Can I interrupt you for just a second? Sorry, under the appraised value?

Yes, that's what I, yes. Under, sorry, I said over. Under, under the appraised value. It's a shout out to the school district, yeah. So remember, this project is, what it's going to do is construct deed-restricted attainable homes that are gonna be administered by the Albany County Housing and Land Trust. And so we at the city are gonna purchase this property. And then we're going to turn over that management to the Albany County Housing and Land Trust. And the different partner agencies are going to, I think all of this has yet to be determined the specifics, right? But the different agencies that are partnering on this project will be entitled to a certain number of units. For their employees and then the way this works remember is the land is commonly owned these units are constructed and then Owners are allowed to build equity in the property But there are some caps and the amount of equity that can be built and so there is some financial benefit in equity But it's capped because this this housing is subsidized in some way and we want to make sure that it remains attainable in the community And so that is my best rendition of the summary of the project. So I'd ask City Manager Fieser if he has anything he would add to that because this was his baby. That's what we're really celebrating tonight. And I think that we should give a shout out to all the work that's gone into it.

Thank you very much, Assistant City Manager. Any questions from council? I would guess not at this point. I think we've thought about this one a lot. Any public comment on this agenda item? Welcome back up in your more official role.

I completely forgot my name tag in the car. So, hello again. Yes, very much in favor of this. Thank you very much. We've talked ad nauseum about this. If you have any questions, I'm happy to answer any of them here, but look forward to working with you in the future and figuring out what this repayment is going to look like and finalizing those deals in the future and getting building on some houses. We're hoping we can break ground here as soon as this next spring. We've got a bunch of documents prepared with my board for review, and we'll be ready to go here as soon as we possibly can.

Wonderful.

So, and huge thanks to city manager Fieser over here. This is his baby. Delighted I kind of get to help carry it to term.

So, yeah. Comments by council. Councilor Bolling.

Thank you, Vice Mayor. Just to reiterate, so many people worked so hard on this to make this happen. It's, I think, an enormous step forward and will set a model for us. And I think that, you know, old grandpappy Fieser needs a round of applause for that, so.

Councilor Vigil.

Yeah, thank you, Vice Mayor. I just wanted to say this is the coolest thing. The coolest thing I think the city has done in a very long time. Not that we don't do great stuff every day, but this really tickles my heart. This is amazing and thank you, City Manager. Thank you to all of the city staff who made this happen and honestly like thank thank you to us right like we we named housing as a priority and and this is one really good step to this thank you uh mr schmeckel yeah thank you to everyone this is this is amazing

Thank you, Councillor Vigil.

Anyone else? Councillor Rodori. I guess we should thank the school district that they decided to let this go at a good price for us, and then they will get to have some of their employees live there too. So it's a win-win. Thanks. Councillor Freed.

I'll try to keep mine short. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Thank you to everyone who's involved in this. And I'm sad that we don't have more council members here in person because I know our mayor worked on housing coalitions and advocacy for years, like so many of us have. And I think this is supported by so many members of the community. So just thanks. And it's a great opportunity for the Albany County Housing Land Trust to come to the table and work with the city and all these other partners to really provide a needed critical infrastructure for our community. So hats off to everyone who spent so much time and effort doing this. So thank you guys.

Yeah, I echo all of those sentiments, and when I first came on council, I remember sitting around tables and talking about this. At the time, Mayor Harrington was, was he mayor at that point? Yes, Mayor Harrington at that point was at those conversations too, so it's this is a good reminder that sometimes it takes a long time for good things to happen and it's hard to be patient I think as people who want to see things get done but when we get to see things like this come to fruition and see the work of previous councils who put their time and effort into it city manager other folks who have been involved so thanks to the the school board to commute there are many community members too who were involved so just a huge shout out and Hooray. This might be for real. Oh, hop in, Councilor Freed.

Thanks, Vice Mayor. I just want to say I'm sorry that we only had four claps, four council member claps for our city manager because it didn't get that resounding sound. But if all nine of us were here, it would have been that way.

All right, City Manager.

Vice Mayor, I couldn't agree more with Councilor Bowling about we need a win, but my MO is not about praise or accolades. It's about getting the work done, and so we appreciate all the support that you guys give us, and it means a lot as we move forward. Executive Director Schmeichel, myself, Brad Enzi, we're all in on this project, and we're going to do our best to make everything happen and meet everybody's expectations.

Thank you all very much. Appreciate it. All right, if you will call the roll, please. Freed. Yes.

Bowling.

Yes.

Vigil. Aye. O'Doherty. Yes. Lockhart. Absent. Newman. Absent. Shumway. Absent. Richardson. Aye. And Cumbee. Absent. That's five yeses, zero noes, and four absent, Your Honor. Thank you, City Clerk.

Moving on to 11F, Councilor O'Doherty.

I move that the Laramie City Council approve Resolution 2026-56, amending appropriations for the fiscal year of the 2027 budget of the City of Laramie, Wyoming and making changes to full-time equivalent positions and authorize the Mayor and Clerk to sign.

Second.

Motion by O'Doherty, second by Councilor Freed. Welcome Assistant City Manager.

Hi again, Vice Mayor and members of the council. So this is a great example of a budget amendment where there's a lot going on but the dollar amount involved is actually pretty negligible. That doesn't mean that there isn't a lot going on and one of the things that you know is important to us is that we're out in front of you talking about significant changes that we need to disclose and this budget amendment is a really good example of that. There are three separate personnel items on the amendment this evening, and I have quite a few notes to make sure I don't forget the key points, and so bear with me if I glance at my computer a little bit more than normal. So the first part of this amendment is reallocating my former position of administrative services director to support a couple of things. First, funding from that position is reallocated to support the three person executive team that was implemented on July 1st. So remember this model, what it really does is it clusters reporting lines to this three-person executive team and it eliminates some of the bottlenecks that were persistent in the model where every director in the city more or less reported to one executive. There were some exceptions to that, but there were a whole bunch of positions reporting to the city manager, very few positions reporting to the assistant city manager, and operationally it just didn't work very well. The other piece of that organizational chart that didn't work very well is the clusters weren't, they didn't make a lot of logical sense. And so I'll just talk only about my position this evening. And so now in my role as assistant city manager and chief financial officer, I'm also, I'm over finance, of course, I'm over IT and I'm over HR. Those three functions are very similar. They're administrative functions and they create value in similar ways. And the way that they operate, logically, it's about the same paradigm, honestly. It's just different expertise. And so it makes a lot of sense to have one person over that cluster. No different than public safety operations, right? And so the way that we've got this organized now, it should help move things along so that we can be a little faster, more nimble, and that's what we're hoping to achieve. Because, of course, my position creates ripples as the chief financial officer. There is no administrative services director anymore. Some restructuring in finance was also necessary. And what we really focused on in that finance function was having better role clarity and expanded capacity. I'll tell you just based on my own experience in the past couple of years, there was not nearly enough clarity between my former role and Jen Malmberg's former role. And so with the controller's office, it's really clear that Jen is responsible for accounting, financial reporting, grant compliance, the oversight of business systems for the city. That's not something I'll be worried about. It's not something honestly in my former position that I was worried about, but those roles weren't really clearly defined and it did create some confusion and some operational inefficiency. Secondarily, what we've done is try to make sure we expanded capacity. And so, I believe most of you have met Billy Yaritch. He is now the Deputy Treasurer. And he is going to be actually helping me expand and actually bring to maturation our investment function at the city. And I'm really excited about this because with the same, actually fewer positions, right, because my position is half executive and half functional, we're able to achieve even more in terms of that value and return on public funds. Spencer Katori's role. You all know Spencer. His role is being refined. He's going with me to the city manager's office. And his role is going to focus on transparency and public information and some of those council goals that we hear you all talking about a lot. And so we're able to, through this reorganization, enact some of that expanded capacity and have clarity around those roles. Now we have a whole uphill battle to get it implemented. Some days I feel like I bit off way more than I can chew. Today was one of those days if I'm being entirely honest. But again, that vision always we want to be doing more with less and making sure that where we can reallocate and be more efficient that we do that with the public's money. What we're also able to do with this reallocation of resources is get a little bit better capacity in human resources. And so for as long as I've been here, human resources has been strapped. They want to achieve things they can't quite achieve. And what we're able to do is take some of the money from my former position and allow the HR function to hire a manager to better support the director. And so that's gonna be a higher level position with lots of HR experience that can really build out that HR function to meet our modern business requirements. To us as a leadership team, that means recruiting that is modern and is proactive to make sure we get the best people for the jobs, retention, training, and then good solid performance evaluation systems And so we have the bones of these things in place right now, but just not the staff to be able to pull it off citywide. And one of the things that Director Webb said as he was leaving is, you know, when he went to his new city in Florida, I call it Paradise, Florida. I don't think it's actually Paradise. But he said, you know, it was really nice because HR had the bandwidth to invest. And they took me around and they gave me all this onboarding. They taught me about these policies. And that's just not something we have the ability to do right now. And so again, kind of an uphill learning curve to get that implemented, but this additional capacity, so we're not adding any more positions, we're just reclassifying a position, and we're gonna recruit for a higher level so that we can get those skills in-house that allow us to grow that way. And then finally, the remaining bits of my position, are going to fund additional public communication, specifically in purchasing some better videography skills than we have in-house to be able to really focus on social media and the ways in which the public is getting information now. This idea came from our public information officer slash management analyst, Owen Schilt, And the last little bit of this money is gonna go a long way toward helping him feel like he can actually execute the vision that he has and not be kind of bound by some of the limited tools that he works with. And so all of those changes are just a redistribution of funds from my position. But what you're also seeing is a reduction in full-time equivalent positions. So what we're not gonna do is go reallocate all this money and hold my position because that would be disingenuous. And so you're seeing that FTE fall off. and the funding be fully reallocated to administrative functions, which candidly was what was important to me in my role, is to make sure that those resources were deployed in that way, because honestly, we're very thin administratively, and we want to make sure that we get those funds reallocated into those functions. The second item on this amendment also has no impact to the budget. As you know from our budget work sessions together, we did not recommend any compensation increases for the 2027 budget and none were approved in the 2027 budget. However, as the three person executive team has met, talked about our vision for the coming year, talked about our current system of compensation management, what we mostly don't like about it, and considered every other factor. We're coming to you now to tell you that we really believe that these merit increases will be invaluable to city employees in this next year, not only in terms of maintaining trust in a time where everything is changing underneath their feet, but to allow us the time to be able to build a system for compensation management that we like better. meaning a system that's a little bit more truly performance-based. It's a little bit more innovative, more modern, and not this every other year you're eligible for 2% model if you just meet expectations. But pulling that out from underneath people with a change in executive leadership and all of the things that are going on, just does not feel to us like the right choice at this time. However, what we told you in budget doesn't change at all. We are concerned about our ongoing sales and use tax collections, particularly in retail trade. I continue to see those trends into July. We're concerned about property taxes, and so what we're recommending to you is that we actually move money around in the existing payroll budget to be able to fund these merit increases for the year. I have been able to mostly find that money through some of the additional positions that you authorized in the budget, not being hired at the salaries we budgeted, because we tend to budget around midpoint in case we need that, and also taking cheaper than expected health insurance. And so, as you all know, family health insurance coverage can be about $24,000 a year. $25,000 a year. So if someone comes in and takes single coverage of about 12, that frees up $12,000. And then if you multiply that by a couple of times, you can end up with a fair amount of resources just from those things. And so for the funding sources for the merit pay increases, what was really important to me is that these be funding sources that were sustainable and were from like cost, meaning they're ongoing costs. We're also transferring money from some savings from warm property and liability insurance premiums coming in a little bit cheaper than expected. Enterprise operations, the impact to those operations are going to be funded just with operating transfers. So again, no increase to the budget, no ongoing costs that we're gonna have to be paying for in a year that we're not expecting. And so we're asking for your approval of that and also your understanding about all of the different changes that we're navigating and the reasons we feel that we need to recommend this change at this time. And then finally, the one item you're being asked to approve this evening that would increase budgetary appropriations is a temporary full-time equivalent position in the water fund for a three-year term for the water meter division. And I just want to tell you a little bit about this division before I tell you about the request because the city manager and assistant city manager, public safety chief and myself, those titles are gonna kill me one day. We actually had the pleasure of going out into the field and spending some time with this crew last week. And the meter supervisor, Dan Klein said something to me that I think really captures the spirit of this crew in a way that no one else could say. And so here it is. He says, the fun part is when we help someone find a leak. And really, If you look at this request, which is for an additional person to be able to make sure that smart meters get implemented for this crew and their mind, that is what this is about. So it's about serving the public and making sure that these smart meters get deployed citywide and that All of our residents have the ability to monitor their consumptions carefully if they choose to do so. People have different reasons for that, but more importantly, that our water teams are available, can go in daily and see what that consumption looks like and then get out ahead of those leaks really quickly. And so, That helps, of course, with consumption for consumers because if they get on top of that leak quickly, guess what that water bill looks like when that leak occurred? Not nearly as big as if a month goes by. So with these traditional radio read meters, that's a once monthly upload, and that's the feedback that we get out of that data system. When we go to smart meters, it's daily, and that information comes back and forth. Our team went out and looked at the cost of actually contracting for this service. And in the spirit of full disclosure, it costs the same amount of money. However, what I know from our team and what they told me is we just can't rely on a contractor to provide the same level of service to our community that we can rely on our crews to deliver. And I know that to be true based on what I observed, not only in the field, but also when you're talking to folks about the work that they do. So the smart meter project got just a little bit behind because of the lead and copper project. I'm sure council is well aware. And so what I get the sense is this team just really wants to make some headway. They want to do some good work and they want to get us on a system that costs the same amount of money. So these meters cost the same amount of money as radio style meters. That is just so much more efficient and responsive and safe for the public. So with that, I think I've gone over the big items in this amendment and I'll happily answer any questions that you have.

Thank you, Assistant City Manager. Questions? Council?

I have a water meter question, so it's probably Director Smith. Go for it. So it's a shame that the mayor isn't here to... to praise the water meter crew because we had some interactions with them when we were looking at a leak down near the mobile home park. And we all know that they're excellent. And now do I remember my... Oh, so would having those smart meters, would it... Would it help with something like that leak on South 15th? Would we be able to catch that sooner? Or because it's a mobile home park, where does that fit in with where do the meters go? Dr. Schnepper.

Vice Mayor, much like the Assistant City Manager, still not used to that. So it will help with situations like that. At that master meter, you will see those change in flows, right? That change in consumption. It gives a level of transparency to both the resident and the city to try to get out in front and be more proactive and less reactive in those situations. I'm gonna do a shameless plug here right now. So they had a competition to see how many meters they could get in a day, and it was pretty amazing. That crew, I went out just the same as the executive leadership, and when I spoke to them, there were a couple crew members while I was standing there, they were like, hey, we really appreciate this, but we gotta beat Justin, one of the crew members, so we gotta go, okay? We gotta go. This is a really, really, really great staff. They are. The amount of work they do and the work orders and what they really care about is that word that everyone's tired of hearing me say, the impact on the residents, right? Just much like the quote, being able to get out and help. But yes.

Other questions? I've got a question for you. So we talked about just a couple of things. So we know that these overall save on drive time and we're thinking about this as a three-year term. So is the idea that once these are all installed, we will no longer need whoever that person is hired and will they be hired knowing that? Or is there enough work that we bring this person on, we reevaluate it three years and if the workload is still as it is today, that person could be used. Maybe we're looking too far into the future and that's why three-year term is noted, but just a thought on that if you could share.

Vice Mayor, it's kind of exactly what you said. The workload now is huge, but part of what the meters crew is doing is they've already told me that they're ahead of schedule on meter replacement and they're hoping to force me to come back with another PO to get more meters already. But they also have a massive amount of work when it comes to meter pits, curb stops. There's a lot of work there to be done, too. So as far as past that three years, I couldn't honestly right now tell you what work they would be doing. But I know there's so much maintaining and maintenance work. And then just we also just to keep in mind what some of the other things this crew does. So door hangers for nonpayment. talking to customers about whether it's pressure issues or it's leaks or working with plumbers when they have work going on there too. So this is an area that has a massive amount of work to be done just on typical maintenance.

Thank you. City Manager?

If I could respond a little bit about the temporary positions. Remember, the positions are temporary to make sure that we have budgetary controls to make sure that we're processing and capturing and not incurring long-term costs over time. All these positions have some re-evaluation when it comes time for those positions come to an end. much like the lifeguards up at the recreation center that created such a buffer for us and allowed us to get through a certain point. Those have been reauthorized. I would assume as long as these positions are showing value to the city and good value and the budget, the financial conditions remain similar or get better, improve over time, that you'll see request to continue on these positions. Each one of the term limited positions are supposed to be hired with the knowledge that it's term limited position unless financial conditions change.

Thank you. Other questions? Public comment on this item? I don't see any. Comment from council? Councilor O'Doherty.

Thank you. I would just like to reiterate that I am so grateful in this time of drought to really be paying attention to water. I mean, there's no point in having water just be wasted. I don't think anybody would like that. So I really appreciate this. And also just hats off to the water crew. They're pretty amazing. And I just wish... Mayor Comby were here because she would go on and on. So just imagine that. Welcome back.

Vice Mayor, you are never getting rid of me. I'll just hang out up here. Councilor O'Doherty mentioned something and then the city manager poked me and reminded me. So we've done some change in operations. So during the month of June for the aquifer specifically, our usage and production from the aquifer has decreased 36% total.

Fantastic. That's great news. Other comments? Council Fried.

Thank you, Vice Mayor, and thank you, Director Smith and Assistant City Manager Wade for the presentation. You went through a lot, and I know these changes and moving things around and the way you can present it to us is, we say it all the time, but it is just so fantastic to have you in our city, in addition to all of our city staff, but really the way that you can break things down that are very complicated and find ways to to really find solutions and still keeping the considerations of our city staff and the wellbeing and safety of our community as we're making those decisions is incredible. So I just wanted to say thank you for walking us through this and all the work that I'm sure behind the scenes has to go in to make some of these reallocations of positions and fundings and the recommendations that you did. So thank you.

Other comment? I will just say to all of the executive team that I appreciate that you've looked at what's been done in the past. And that is not just in finances and the way that we've approached different things, but in all of the systems across the city and stopped and said, let's look at this let's look at this more closely do we want to change things do we want to update and then when you do see something that you feel like needs to be tweaked and changed when you are able to just jump in and change it in the moment you do it and when you recognize when you recognize it needs time to be thought through and think about how to approach things differently in the future you're taking that time and so i really appreciate that with this um amendment that you've you've recognized both things that Something was in place. It needs more thought, and you're really considering how it can be done differently in the future, and I just really appreciate that. And yay, water team. Look at them go. They're pretty rocking. That's awesome. All right. Roll call, please.

Bowling. Aye. Freed.

Yes.

Lockhart. Absent. Newman. Absent. O'Doherty. Yes. Chumway. Absent. Vigil. Aye. Yes. Richardson? Yes. And Cumbee? Absent. That's five yeses, zero noes, and four absent, Your Honor.

Thank you, City Clerk. On to public comment on non-agenda items. Mr. Schmeichel's got nothing. And no one online that I can see? There are a few, but no hands raised. No hands. Okay. Great. All right. Consideration of future council work session topics. Any thoughts? Councilor Bowling.

Thank you, Vice Mayor. I just had a thought when we were... getting our presentation on Hunger Awareness Month. We have on our list an action item for requesting establishing an emergency fund, which is something that came out of those joint agency meetings, so to speak, after SNAP benefits were cut. So I'm just curious if, and I don't need an update right now. But if that's something that we want to look towards scheduling, because it doesn't have a date, we don't have a date for it.

City Manager, thoughts on that?

I would second that, Councilor Bowling.

Honorable Council, Honorable Vice Mayor, Council, through you. You know, one of the discussions we had about that when we were working on that at the beginning is, you know, funding something like that isn't necessarily worth... we can make that decision when it happens, right? We were trying to establish this fund, but I think the statement that we came up with is if council deems that it's a priority that we can find that funding and make that happen. And so that's one of the reasons that the work session never really got scheduled is because we believe we can step through that door when the need is there and it's time to happen. That's all I needed as far as

So do we feel comfortable then removing that from the list of future work sessions, knowing that these conversations have been had and if there's an emergency that arises, we can address to the staff and say, hey, let's think about allocating emergency funds to something.

I would second that.

The removal?

Removal.

Okay. Anything anybody want to add? Okay. Moving on to number 14, Councilor Doherty. I move we adjourn. All those in favor? Aye. Second. Seconded by Mel. We'll give it to Mel. To Councilor Vigil. All those in favor?

Aye.

Adjourned.