Board of Mayor & Aldermen - Regular Meeting

silence let us pray again eternal God we come seeing thank you

Thank you, Lord, because we realize that the earth is yours and the fullness thereof. We pray, Lord, for a very good meeting tonight. We pray that it's very constructive. We pray for the patience, Lord, and understanding of the citizens as we try to get the budgets together, as we try to make sure that this city is second to none. Then, Lord, we pray for our troops. that's in harm's way just to those in service. We pray for our veterans. We pray for those who have lost veterans as Memorial Day come around. We thank you again for this great city. We thank you, God, again for just the blessings that you've given the citizens of Springfield. We ask you, Lord, to continue to bless us, continue to keep us strong,

and most of all God please bless America thank everyone for their attendance this evening and we'll move right into our agenda item 1.3 approval of minutes from the regular meeting of the Board of Mayor and Alderman held April 21st 2026 have a motion by Alderman Hallman a second by Alderman Bradley any questions or comments If you aren't ready to vote, let's vote. Anyone care to change their vote? Would you tally the votes, please?

Motion passes 7-0.

Item 1.4, public comment period. We have no one here to address on public comment period. We'll move on to our public hearing. Item 1.5, item 1, ordinance 26-17, an ordinance zoning annex property at 3168 Old Newcut Road to medium density residential R15. Is there anyone here to speak to that ordinance? Seeing no one, we'll move to item number two, Ordinance 26-18, an ordinance submitting Title 20, Chapter 2 of the Springfield Municipal Code relative to temporary food vendor regulations. Anyone here to speak to that item? Seeing no one, we'll move on to item three, ordinance 26-19 and ordinance amending ordinance 25-24, correcting the retail electric rate for outdoor lighting. Anyone here to speak to that? Seeing none, we will close our public hearing period. Item 1.6, we have a presentation now by Mr. Colin Dratt with Fidelis Financial Consultants Incorporated. And if you'll look, you have his full study in your packet. Mr. Dratt, welcome to our meeting, sir.

Thank you. Thank you. I'm Colin Dratt. I'm a vice president with Raftelis. I appreciate you all having me here this evening and for hiring us to do this important study for you. And I'd also like to thank the staff, especially Benjamin and Ryan, for getting us the information we need to do the study. A lot of data goes into this, a lot of work getting us all that information and follow-up information. So we really appreciate everyone working with us on that. Man. Point to the screen. There we go. All right. So just a little bit on an overview of the process there. It's basically a three-step process. You could kind of think of it like your budget, but we're extrapolating that out over multiple years. So you have revenues, you have expenses, and then essentially we're forecasting both of those and comparing one to the other to see if the revenues are sufficient to meet the expenses. So we're going to go through the forecast of basically each of those steps. In terms of considerations, for gas specifically and a gas rate study, we focus on recovering the distribution system cost. So what does that mean? A large proportion of our costs are related to purchasing the gas and those costs are passed through directly to the customers. So as the cost of gas changes, we adjust the purchase gas adjustment or PGA to recover those costs. So we're not trying to, in this study, determine what that rate is because that rate just adjusts as it needs to. So if you take those costs out of there, we're really focused on the cost to deliver the gas via our distribution system, the cost of maintaining and repairing those mains, and for the people that do that. One other factor is just keeping in mind that adjustments to what I'll call the customer and volume charges have been relatively infrequent. We've done it about twice in the past 25 years. That's not unusual, especially for gas utilities, but certainly something to note in terms of the context for this adjustment. So in terms of that first step, we're talking about forecasting baseline revenue. So all that means is if we don't change the rates, what would we expect our revenue to be? And that's going to be a function of how many customers we have and how much gas they use. So there's really kind of two things to think about there. We've got the customers we have today, and we anticipate adding customers over time. So there's some amount of assumed growth in terms of customer accounts. And then on the usage side, there we're trying to forecast normalized usage, and all that means is we're assuming normal weather conditions. We can't predict the weather, so we do an analysis to look at usage as compared to, you know, what the winter looks like, and basically say, okay, if we have a normal winter, here's what the usage would be, knowing that it may vary from that somewhat. And that's a pretty industry standard way of looking at it. So in terms of that forecast, for the weather sensitive classes, those that use gas predominantly for heating, residential and commercial, we're doing that weather normalization. So looking at temperature over time and doing the forecast that way. In terms of industrial usage, where the use really isn't tied to the weather, we're not as worried about what the weather is going to be. It's more just what are the trends in those customers. And for that, we've basically used the most recent year. A couple of the customers, that usage has come down over time. So the current year is kind of seen as the most reflective year for those. And essentially to determine those baseline revenues, we're just taking the number of accounts multiplied by the customer charge and the usage multiplied by the volume charges. So that's that line. And basically what we're going to do over here with this graphic is, of course it's going to disappear on the screen on me, which is totally fine. We're gonna build up expenses underneath that line. So we'll be comparing our projected revenue under existing rates, kind of the status quo to projected expenses. So in terms of that next step, we've got operating expenses. And you can kind of see what I mentioned earlier in the stacked bars there. So that light blue is our operating expenses excluding purchase gas. And the dark blue line is the purchase gas. So you can kind of see there's a good chunk of our expenses that are directly recovered through that pass-through adjustment. So for all the other expenses, what we do is we start with your current budget. And then we need to make assumptions about what that budget will look like in future years. So there we make some assumptions on inflation. And you can kind of see those there for personnel insurance. And those are the two that tend to rise faster than inflation. And then for the rest of them, we've used some forecasts from a third party there that expects inflation to be in that 2% to 3% range. In terms of purchase gas, we're just taking the budgeted expense number, knowing that the revenues are gonna be adjusted to recover that. So those are basically one for one in the analysis, which I alluded to earlier. So you can start to see when you compare the bars to the line, there's a point where, you know, under existing revenues, the expenses are starting to exceed where that line is. And the next step we'll look at is projecting capital expenses. So in terms of capital expenses, we're actually including depreciation as an expense. And the reason we're doing that is You know, the analysis is really focused on what shows up on your income statement in your financial statements. So there's basically a requirement in the state to have a positive change in net position, which just basically means that revenues exceed your expenses. But on that statement, the expenses are depreciation and interest expense. So we'll be forecasting those as opposed to say cash payments for capital projects. So to meet that requirement, to have that positive change in net position, we have to kind of look at it in terms of depreciation. That forecast is based on a multi-year capital improvement plan, and that gets adjusted for construction cost inflation. And all that means is we know that if we're doing a project three years from now, it's going to cost more than what we've identified today. We have assumed cash financing for those projects, so no additional debt. You know, generally it's main replacements, main extensions, buying meters, regulators, vehicles. And for this depreciation forecast, all we're doing is making an assumption on the useful life of each type of asset. So how long is it going to last? And then we just divide that cost by the number of years and we build up that depreciation over time. So that forecasted depreciation gets layered on to the stack bars there. In terms of non-operating expenses, the other ones are interest expense and transfers out. The interest expense are a small amount of interest payments on previous bonds that are associated with the gas utility, pretty minimal there, as well as transfers out, which is just in a lieu payment that the utility makes to the city general government. Again, that's relatively standard practice. and a pretty small portion of the overall revenue requirement. But it does get broken out in this income statement way of looking at it. So we've broken it out there. And at this point you can see we've got basically all of those expenses stacked up there and that existing revenue line and uh... what we're looking at in terms of getting to a point where we have that positive change in that position again just revenues exceeding expenses we're looking at kind of a one-time adjustment for this year that will cover us for the next three years and then at that point you can kind of go back and take a look and see how things are trending and see if an additional adjustment is needed or how the how the rates are looking at that point uh... so That's kind of the way we've looked at it is tried to cover a couple years and then maybe come back and reevaluate and see if any additional adjustments are needed. But basically you can see where that solid line is. We're not really at a point where we're able to cover the costs under the existing revenues. So that one time adjustment, and we'll look at the impacts of that, should cover through 2029. And then at that point, you can see maybe how things are looking for 2030 and 2031. I have included an additional kind of bump there, but that's far enough out that you would really want to kind of evaluate whether or not that's needed. So in terms of impacts, and again, kind of bearing in mind that we're talking about one adjustment to cover, you know, a three-year period, you know, you can see the impacts there on the monthly bill. We've shown every month, so the bill's obviously, you know, current rates or new rates, it's much higher in the winter because people use more gas in the winter. So you can see that solid line and then the dashed line would be the proposed bill under that adjustment. So we're adjusting the volume rates a bit more than the fixed charges. There, so you see a little bit more of an impact dollar-wise in the winter versus the summer. But on average, it's about $8 a month for the average residential monthly bill. And then you can see an average commercial bill there. So higher bill, you know, a little bit more dollar-wise in terms of the impacts. So that's kind of at a high level what I've got prepared and is covered in, you know, greater detail in the written report, but happy to address any questions you might have.

Anyone have any questions? Very enlightened. Appreciate that.

Sure. If I may, Mayor, these proposed increases to the rates are reflected in the ordinance that you'll take up later on in the agenda. So that's, if you remember, this is the need for the rate study was the comptroller's office when we submitted our FY26 budget. We triggered that. It wasn't exactly triggering the negative change in the net position for two consecutive years, but we were proposed to have a negative change. And that's when the comptroller's office said, hey, you need to go ahead and look at something in case you do hit that trigger. And so that was the need for the rate increase. We have a very healthy gas fund, but we are approaching a situation where expenses are going to exceed revenues. And we're already there in some instances. So that's the need for the rate study and the proposed rate increase.

Any other questions for Mr. Dratt? Mr. Dratt, we appreciate your hard work.

Sure. Thank you all so much.

Yes, sir. Thank you. We'll move into our legislative portion of our agenda, item 2.1. Discuss and possibly take action on Ordinance 26-17 on second and final reading in Ordinance Zoning Annex Property at 3168 Old Newcut Road to Medium Density Residential. We have a motion by Vice Mayor Harris, a second by Alderman Gregg. Any questions or any comments? Hearing none, are we ready to cast our votes? Let's vote, please. Anyone care to change their vote? Would you tally the votes, please?

Motion passes 7-0.

Item 2.2, discuss and possibly take action on Ordinance 26-18 on second and final reading and ordinance amending Title 20, Chapter 2 of the Springfield Municipal Code relative to temporary food vendor regulations. We have a motion by Alderman Hubbard, second by Alderman Holloman. Any questions or comments? Hearing none, let's cast our votes. Anyone care to change their vote? Would you tally the votes, please?

Motion passes seven to zero.

Item 2.3, discuss and possibly take action on ordinance 26-19 on second and final reading and ordinance amending ordinance 25-24, correcting the retail electric rate for outdoor lighting. Any questions? Any comments? Oh, we have a motion by Alderman Hopper, second by Alderman Bradley. Now, any questions or any comments? Hearing none, let's cast our vote. Anyone care to change their vote? Would you tally the votes, please?

Mr. Craig. Motion passes seven to zero.

Item 2.4, discuss and possibly take action on ordinance 26-20 on first reading and ordinance rescinding ordinance 23-19 in its entirety and setting a new schedule of rates and charges for sanitation service. I have a motion by Vice Mayor Harris, a second by Alderman Gregg. Any questions or comments? Hearing none, let's cast our votes. Anyone care to change their vote? Would you tally the votes, please?

Motion passes 7-0.

Item 2.5, discuss and possibly take action on Ordinance 26-21 on first reading. An ordinance adopting the annual budget and tax rate for the fiscal year beginning July 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2027. We have a motion by Alderman Hubbard, a second by Alderman Bradley. Any questions? Any comments? Hearing none, let's cast our vote. Anyone care to change their vote? Would you tally the votes, please?

Motion passes seven to zero.

Item 2.6, discuss and possibly take action on Ordinance 26-22 on first reading. An ordinance rescinding Ordinance 21-28 in its entirety and setting a new schedule and rates of gas service. We have a motion by Alderman Huffman, second by Alderman Gregg. Any questions or comments? Hearing none, let's cast our votes. Anyone care to change their votes? Would you tally the votes please?

Motion passes 7-0.

Item 2.7 discuss and possibly take action on Ordinance 26-23 on first reading. An ordinance rescinding Ordinance 25-09 in its entirety and setting a new schedule of rates and charges for wastewater service. We have a motion by Alderman Holloman, a second by Alderman Bradley. Any questions or comments? Hearing none, let's cast our votes. Anyone care to change their vote? Would you tally the votes please?

Motion passes seven to zero.

Item 2.8, discuss and properly take action on Ordinance 26-24 on first reading and ordinance amending Ordinance 25-24 and Ordinance 26-19 and setting a new schedule of rates and charges for electric service. We have a motion by Alderman Bradley, a second by Alderman Trotter. Any questions or comments? Let's cast our vote. Anyone care to change their votes? If you would please tally the votes.

Motion passes seven to zero.

Item 2.9, discuss and possibly take action on resolution 26-08, a resolution authorizing community development partners, LLC, to provide administrative services for the local parks and recreation funds grant projects. We have a motion by Alderman Trotter, a second by Alderman Holloman. Any questions or comments? Hearing none, let's cast our votes. Anyone care to change their vote? Would you tally the votes, please?

Ms. Bradley? Oh, I'm sorry. My apologies. Motion passes seven to zero.

Thank you. Item 2.10, dispose and take action on resolution 26-09, a resolution authorizing compensation for volunteer board and commission service beginning in fiscal year 2027.

we have a motion by alderman holloman second by vice mayor harris any questions or comments i think it's fair to compensate people for giving their services to the city so i think this is kind of long overdue sir any other questions or comments thank you mr hubbard let's cast our votes

Anyone care to change their vote? Would you tally the votes, please?

Motion passes 7-0.

Item 2.11, discuss and possibly take action on resolution 26-10, a resolution ratifying private chapter number 2035 of the 114th General Assembly amending the municipal charter of the city of Springfield. We have a motion by Alderman Bradley. We have a second by Alderman Hubbard. Ron Martin, city manager, I believe you have something to share with us.

Thank you, Mayor. This is the third and final phase of the adoption of the charter amendment. Anytime we amend our charter, you all must first pass a resolution requesting that change from the General Assembly since we have a private act charter. Once they pass the private act and it gets signed by the governor, then it is required for you all to ratify it by two-thirds vote by resolution. So that resolution is what's before you tonight. This ratifies the amendment. So it's not a new amendment. It's nothing new. It's just the third and final step in the charter amendment process.

Mr. Hubbard? I think, you know, I'm glad we moved that direction. You know, I do really get qualified people to work in our different positions and stuff, so sometimes we have to go into a family situation.

Any other questions or comments? Thank you, Mr. Hubbard. Let's cast our votes. Anyone care to change their votes? Would you tally the votes, please?

Motion passes 7-0.

Item 2.12, discuss and possibly take action on Resolution 26-11, a resolution amending the City of Springfield Personnel Policy Manual. I have a motion by Alderman Hubbard, a second by Alderman Gregg. I believe City Manager Ryan Martin has something to share with us on that.

Thank you, Mayor. There's two amendments here proposed to you for our personnel policy. One is an update to our weapons policy. we found a conflict with state law. And so we just want to dress that up and clean it up. We always want our policies to be in compliance with state and federal law. And there was one change in state law that wasn't reflected a couple of years ago that wasn't reflected in our personnel policy. So we're just updating that. And then, The second aspect, and most importantly, the aspect that we're proposing you all to adopt a change to tonight is to our workers' compensation leave policy. Currently, and according to state law, those who are out on workers' compensation leave receive 66 and 2 thirds percent of their pay once the disability extends 14 days or more. That leaves a lot of employees in a bind. Several employers, including my former employer and several employers, will allow employees to utilize benefit leave to make up that difference between the two-thirds of their pay, make up most of that final third of their pay. We have had no such provision. And so we've had employees that have struggled to make ends meet when their paycheck drops by a third when they're out on an injury. So this change before you tonight proposes to allow employees to utilize benefit leave to make up the difference in their workers' compensation pay. And I'll be glad to answer any questions if you have any.

Questions? I think it's a very good, proactive... entity. Make sure we take our employees and our employees know that we care about them.

Thank you, Mr. Hubbard. Anyone else? If not, let's cast our votes. Anyone care to change their vote? Would you tally the votes, please?

Motion passes 7-0.

Item 2.13, Discuss and Properly Take Action on Resolution 26-12, a resolution amending the city's public comment policy adopted by Ordinance 23-21. I have a motion by Alderman Holliman, a second by Alderman Hubbard. City Manager Ryan Martin, I believe you have something to share with us on that.

Thank you, Mayor. We discussed this earlier or maybe via email. The state legislature has changed the public comment period statute that affects local governing bodies. It only affects local governing bodies such as the Board of Mayor and Alderman. That doesn't extend down to the Planning Commission and so on like the previous law did. The modification here that the legislature passed this year in public chapter 620 is changing the requirement that the public comment item be germane to the agenda to now the public comment item only must be germane to the jurisdiction of the city. So that opens up a much wider range of availability for public comment. So what you have before you tonight is a resolution that's going to be reflected in our public comment policy to make it compliant with state law. And so there's some wording changes. It does not change the amount and time frame for the speakers and the place on the agenda. It doesn't change any of that. It only changes the requirements, the prerequisites, that the items be germane to the agenda and makes that compliant with Public Chapter 620.

Any questions or comments? But it's only to this meeting? That's correct. So like Planning Commission or Beer Board?

Still must be germane to the agenda.

Just in their current agenda? Correct.

Any other questions? Let's cast our votes. Anyone care to change their vote? Would you talent the votes, please?

Motion passes 7-0.

Moving into our administrative section of our agenda, item 3.1, discuss and possibly take action on the adjustment of the retail electric rates due to the wholesale fuel cost adjustment by Tennessee Valley Authority. We have a motion by Alderman Bradley, a second by Alderman Hubbard. Electric Department Director, Mr. Terry Resha, what do you have for us, sir?

An increase of 3.0.

3.0. Thank you, sir. Any questions or comments from Mr. Resha? If not, let's cast our votes. Anyone care to change their votes? Would you tally the votes, please?

Motion passes 7-0.

Item 3.2, discuss and properly take action on the adjustment of the monthly gas rates. I have a motion by Alderman Hubbard, a second by Alderman Trotter. Gas Department Director Mr. Benji Davis, what do you have for us, sir?

Any questions or comments for Mr. Davis?

Let's cast our votes. Anyone care to change their vote? Could you tally the votes, please?

Motion passes seven to zero.

Item 3.3, discuss and promptly take action on an audit services contract renewal with Malden and Jenkins LLC of Chattanooga, Tennessee. We have a motion by Alderman Hubbard, a second by Alderman Bradley. Any questions or comments? Hearing none, are we ready to cast our votes? Let's cast our vote. Anyone care to change their vote? Would you tally the votes please.

Motion passes seven to zero.

Item 3.4 which does not require a motion is discuss and probably take action on the presentation from the Springfield Industrial Development Board regarding the progress of fire station number three. We'd like to recognize Mr. Mike Beshear if you would come forward Mr. Beshear. Thank you sir.

Thanks for having me and obviously I'm the chairman of the Industrial Development Board. Tonight was to be a wonderful first for the Development Board and also for the City of Springfield. I guess technically it's still a first, but not so wonderful. And so I just want to bring you up to date with where we are, where we think we're going, and what we've done to this point. We hope to give you a virtual tour of the station and We can't do that because we don't have a station yet. This CMAR process that you voted to undertake, where you will do all your building projects through the Industrial Development Board, hopefully gains some flexibility for the city and also gives you a guaranteed maximum price. So no more change orders, no more cost overruns. The price that we would contract for would be the price and cannot go higher. So that's the reason for this process. They tell me that the process is going along as it should and it don't feel that way to Mike. So I'm a bit disappointed where we are. The committee is the city manager, assistant city manager, city engineer, Chief Godosky and myself. So you'll know who we are. So how did we get here? We started off, I guess, five months ago, meeting with our architectural firm, TM Partners, and our contractor, American Constructors. They both came highly recommended, and to a point, and maybe even to now, we've been very satisfied with them. They've built several fire stations together. They specialize in public buildings like police stations, fire stations, that kind of thing. They have a lot of experience and are very good at what they do. So we worked through developing our fire station. What did we want in it? And through the process, then the architect took our wants and created a fire station. At that point, in schematic design, it was turned over to the contractor to give us a rough bid. The rough bid came back at 7.9 million. And so we knew we were 900,000 over budget and began to cut. We cut 1,300 square feet out of our building with some other things as well. Something I considered to be a big cut. And at that point, both the contractor and The architect said, enough. You've done enough. We're there. And so we felt very good about the process. At that point, we picked out floor tiles, countertops, light fixtures, everything there is to pick out, handed it back over to the architect to finish up the plan, and then give it to the contractor. At that point, the contractor is supposed to give us our guaranteed maximum price. And they came back with a price of $8.8 million. So somehow our cutting out 1,300 square feet increased the price $900,000. Now, you're all staring at me and giving me the same look I gave them. How did it happen? Why did it happen? We got no idea. We've all got guesses. I think obviously they made a mistake in the first estimate they gave us. They're claiming prices are just high right now. I don't know that we don't have some subcontractors that have given us exorbitant prices. In fact, I know we have. And so at this point in time, all they tell us is cut, cut, cut, cut. And Mike's tired of cutting. And my theory is that... We cut and cut and cut, and I don't want to disparage anyone, but in order to make a point, maybe they'll forgive me. I don't want to walk you guys through a brand-new fire station and say, here's your $7 million, and it looked like we went shopping at Walmart. And so, in my opinion, we're getting close to that point where we're cutting so much, and we're cutting quality, and we're cutting utility, and I'm tired of cutting. And so where do we go? We have a meeting Thursday with both the architect and the construction manager. On the construction manager's side, our architect made a call to the owner of the construction company. The young man that's been helping us has been extremely nice. I'm sure he's quite knowledgeable, but he's kind of young. and requested a more experienced project manager from the construction company. They have agreed to put their senior project manager on our project. So he'll be here to meet with us Thursday along with them. So what do we talk about? We talk about engineering changes. We talk about possibly or not possibly requiring them to get some local bids. We can see where their bids come from, but there's not a lot of local bidding in it. We have some prices that are just way out of line, and I don't really want to get it. We can get in the weeds and talk about all that and take all night, so there's no sense really in going there. And so we've suggested things like instead of a concrete masonry wall around the entire building, why don't we use the apparatus base, use concrete block like they normally do, and let's frame the other like we do a house. Let's use aluminum framing and frame it like we would a house. And the answer was, oh yeah, that's a good idea. And so I don't want to be real ugly, but I guess I can't help it. So far, all the suggestions are coming from us. And I shouldn't probably speak for Chief, but when you mention the term value engineering to him, he smiles at me, but that's not what's in his heart. it doesn't seem like the people involved in the process have understood that as of today we have no fire station at 8.8 million we have no fire station now i know the city managers talk to you and we've talked and i have no problem coming back to you and saying we need another two three four hundred thousand dollars and don't let me give you a heart attack but I won't have a problem with that if we get to that. We're not there now, and there's going to have to be a lot of cutting and a lot of giving for us to get there. Can we do it? Yes, we can. How are we going to do it? We're going to have to give some. I think they're going to have to agree to contact some local people for bids, and hopefully we save some there. We've suggested changes that would require less heavy duty asphalt in places and fewer parking spots, and they've agreed to that. But I don't think we have prices for all that yet. The HVAC budget is astronomical. And so that's another place we hope to get them to check local people for possible bid. I've been asked why don't we cut them loose and get a bid from someone else. We're under contract with them right now. We can cut them loose, write them a check for $10,000 for what they've done and move on to someone else. Until we exhaust the process to the point where we're confident we cannot make it with them. We don't believe that's a good idea. At this point, the cutting that we agreed to do and the changes that they find through engineering and through other bids will get us to a point where we've got basically the minimum product that we're willing to deal with. At that time, if we decide to to do something, then we'd write them that check and move on and get other bids. Who are they going to be? Golly, we don't have any idea right now. My only concern in doing that is we know these people can build a good station. When you start going to other contractors, I would want to be absolutely certain that they can do the job and do a quality job. The worst thing possible happened was us cut them loose. and then get halfway through a project with another builder and then find out at that point that they don't have the confidence to do it right. So we're not going to put you in that situation. We're not going to put me in that situation. Is it possible to get there? Yes. Are we going to try our best? Yes. I want to feel just very hopeful, and I'm not yet. If you're a praying person, pray voice. We've worked hours and hours and hours on this and find ourself in a mess. And so I won't speak to the other members, but we've worked hard on this. And it's just disappointing to be where we are. So we'll have our meeting on Thursday with both the contractor and the architect. We'll see where that leads. We'll talk as a committee on which items we're wanting to cut and where we are going to stand firm. And then hopefully the contractor can get us to a point where we can live with. I think that's about all I can tell you other than answer any questions you might have.

Mayor, if you don't mind. Mr. Beshear, would you mind telling the board about the recent vote from the IDB to go ahead and move forward with closing the plan?

I'm sorry, I forgot that. Another issue is the lot. There was a small adjustment that needed to be made. There are two creeks that enter the property from the north. They join and make one creek. And where we had the road going in crossed that creek twice. And so they made a request of us that we turn the road and that they only have to cross that creek one time. That is possible and doable. And the city engineer has done that. And at this point in time, we've given that over to the attorneys to write us a legal description for the new property. As soon as that new property is, as soon as that legal description is available, the IDB voted last week to accept the property. So right now we're waiting on attorneys to get the deed drawn, and then we will be accepting ownership of the property.

Any other questions? Mr. Harris?

I understand, if I understood you correctly, that you were at 7.9, knowing you were 900 over.

After skim...

design the first step we were at 7.9 and then you made cuts bringing it down to 7 no we made cuts bringing it up to 8.8 that's what I meant but you thought you were bringing it to 7 and they were telling you that they were there but they can't give you or haven't given you a definitive answer telling you that they're there and then all of a sudden it goes to 8.8 or 8.9 they haven't

I don't want to be too cynical, but there's a problem in the Strait of Hormuz. And we're now... Problem in what? The Strait of Hormuz. And we now feel like Iranian captives. No, I'm sorry. So there's been no definitive... Prices are higher. Okay.

That's what I want to make sure I understood.

And we're as disappointed as you are.

Before we could solicit other bidders, we would have to release them from the contract, correct? Which would cost us $10,000 to do that.

And to be honest, they've earned the money. I mean, this process is quite extensive. Them getting the bids, doing the work, I have no problem with paying them the money. The problem is we don't want to cut them loose until we think we've exhausted every other way of doing it.

We ought to have another company come back in 10 million. That's what we're looking for. Thank you.

That was my question. Do we realistically think we would get something substantially better from another company? Or is this probably what we will be facing across the board at this point?

My hope would be that we would find somebody local who would use more local subs that would bring the price down. Is what you're talking about possible? Yep. And so that means Mike comes back up here and I guess I'll wear a shield and a helmet and ask for 8.8. Trust me, I don't plan on doing that. And we're not. We're not going to be at that price. We're going to make cuts and we're going to make adjustments and we're going to get that number down. Where are we going to get to? I can't tell you. But yes, we're not going to be At 8.8, the city manager's not going to walk in here with 8.8, and I'm not coming back in here with 8.8. So we're not doing that.

I think you would be limited to the amount of cuts you want to make, would you not, to still have the quality and what we want as the final product?

That's my hang-up, and I'm probably going to have to eat some of that. I certainly appreciate the work you all have done.

Yes, thank you so much.

What is the number we want to be at? Seven million.

Seven million.

Mayor, if I may, $7 million is the total budget for the project. $5.7 of that is really the construction budget. $1.3 is going to be your extraneous costs, which are going to include the architectural fees, fixtures, furniture, and equipment, geotechnical work that's been done on the site, and just some ancillary costs. I'd like to echo, I want you all to know that the man standing before you tonight is a gentleman that has put many, many hours, of free work. He's not getting paid. He is just someone who has volunteered his time for many years on the Industrial Development Board, but now in a much greater capacity that we have leaned on that IDB for. And so I want to publicly thank you, Mike. I mean, Mike cares about this city, and as the gentleman standing before you tonight, you can see the disappointment in his face because he wanted to bring you a fire station tonight and show you that tour. So thank you.

And let me go back. The items he mentioned, we have listed at about 1.3. So if you take that off from 7 million, we were looking for the number from this company to be about 5.7. And it came back at 7.5. And so that's why our total is 8.8. Yes, sir?

You were correct by stating that the situation in that Gulf might reflect high cost of materials and stuff like that. I understand what you're saying. If we have to bite the bullet a little, then I'm for it. I just want a quality fire station.

Well, one thing I didn't mention, and you know this, better than i do we've got to have a fire station right now we should be building fire station number four and we're building number three we've got to have a fire station whatever that means and so alderman harris to your comment if mike has to get down and cut out everything under the sun that he doesn't want to what i'm going to do is come back and tell you we're down to 7.2, 7.3, and I don't like it. And I'll tell you that.

I appreciate that. I want to echo what Ryan said. It's obvious you have the city's best interest at heart. Thank you. Appreciate it.

You mentioned that possibly we're going to change to a more senior project manager. Is that an attempt to get a better price?

It's an attempt to get someone more experienced to look at where we are and what we're doing. And seeing if he recognizes ways to help our price, yes.

Anyone else? Any other questions, comments? Mike, we do appreciate all your hard work, and we know you're heavily invested in this. We can see it on your face, and it's something. We'll get it figured out.

It's probably not politically correct, but pray for us. Thank you very much.

Appreciate you. Our next item is item 3.5, discuss and possibly take action on appointments to various boards and commissions. I have a motion by Alderman Holliman, a second by Vice Mayor Harris. Any questions or comments? If not, let's cast our votes. Anyone care to change your votes? would you tell it the votes please motion passes seven to zero moving to our consent agenda item four point one electric department request for approval to purchase twelve hundred itron centron two meters in the amount of two hundred ninety three thousand seven hundred twelve dollars from westco distribution incorporated of nashville tennessee as a sole source purchase budget of two million dollar bond We have a motion. We have a motion. Motion.

Are we going to vote on these individually? There's only one. There's only one.

There's only one. A motion to vote.

Here we go. Thank you. I have a motion from Vice Mayor Harris and a second by, who is it?

Greg.

Who?

Greg. Who?

Jeff. Jeff. Yeah, Jeff Gregg. Okay, same Jeff Gregg. All right. Any questions or comments? Let's cast our votes. Anyone care to change their vote? Would you tell us the votes, please?

Motion passes 7-0.

Item 5.0, City Manager's Report. Mr. Ron Martin.

Thank you, Mayor. And I just want to echo, I know Mr. Beshear is calling now, but I want to echo. I am confident that we will get there and we will get a solid fire station without sacrificing the things that we need to have in a third fire station. So I'm with him. I'm confident. We're not there yet and we're all a little demoralized about it because we thought we were there, but it's... It's something that we'll keep working at. But I do appreciate Mike's time and his effort. You can tell he deeply, deeply cares about the city of Springfield and appreciate what he does. Sales tax receipts are running still slightly ahead of budget, about 2% to 3% ahead of budget, which is great news for our local economy. Again, it has nothing to do with how much tax we bring in. That's a bellwether of our economy. And when we see the economy performing year over year higher than the previous year, that's a good sign for our local economy. These folks are shopping local. As we have more commercial businesses open, that's great too because that cuts down on our retail leakage, which hurts our economy tremendously when people leave and go to Clarksville and Hendersonville and Rivergate to do their shopping. So as we get those commercial businesses to open here and folks to shop, that's what helps our local economy. That keeps the pressure off of our property tax rate. and allows our general services that the people desire to be funded. Bulky waste pickup, here's a number for you. 128 tons of junk was collected in the month of April by our Public Works Department. So, yeah, we're thankful to them. They do so many different things at the Public Works Department, and so that's one of them. April and October, obviously, we collect bulky waste, and that's a lot of junk. So kudos to them for getting all that collected in a 30-day time frame. First Friday, the next one's coming up on June 5th, so join us for that. We had a huge kickoff to the season in May. I believe, if I remember the number correctly, a little over 5,000 people attended the May First Friday event, so that was a big, big deal. I'm sure it had everything to do with the music, right? Is that what it was? That's what I heard. And then finally, we've promoted this. It was a long time coming. It took a while to get the transition and configuration there, but our new A municipal code service is live and on the website. Through Municode, you all approved that contract a year or so ago. Finally got everything swapped over. That's a great service for citizens, for folks doing business here that gets easily searchable. All we had previously was an uploaded PDF. And so now we have a searchable, clickable, web-based document that is updated when you all make changes, when there's ordinance amendments and things like that. And so that was a great move for the city as far as providing that transparent service to the citizens. That's one of the things that we really push is transparency. We want everything on the website. That's why we live stream these meetings. The development tracker, I think more and more people are using the development tracker tool that is on our website. They can go click, go to that development tracker, You don't have to go to HIP Springfield anymore to find out what's not coming to Springfield because it was wrong 99% of the time. You can go to the development tracker, click on it, you can even see the plans for the business, what the site plan looks like and all of that, and you can be the expert on HIP Springfield. Mayor, that's all I have.

National Public Works Week right here, Clayton. So everybody, you guys do a great job and the whole town appreciates you and everything you and your men and women do and thank you so much for what you do for our city and I'll give this to you if you can take it and hang it at your office if you like. Okay, good news. Alrighty. Yes, sir. Thank you. Thank you everyone for being here and we are now

I don't know how you want to put it.