Meeting Events

Meeting: fj2m68swddo.finance_committee_of_the_whole_9_8_2025

Meeting date: 2025-09-08

Meeting type: committee_of_the_whole

This is a deterministic derived artifact, not official meeting minutes. Related records may be grouped for review while complete machine provenance remains in the JSON artifact.

Decisions and Votes

• Approval of the agenda — Passed

  • Summary: Motion to approve the agenda.
  • Evidence: “So moved. Second.”
  • Evidence: “Motion carried.”
  • Source timestamp: 01:49

• Approval of minutes from October 28th, 2024 and November 12th, 2024 — Passed

  • Summary: Motion to approve the minutes from October 28th, 2024 and November 12th, 2024.
  • Evidence: “So moved. Second.”
  • Evidence: “Motion carried.”
  • Source timestamp: 01:49

• Adjournment of meeting

  • Summary: Motion made for adjournment.
  • Evidence: “Seeing none I take a motion for adjournment.”
  • Evidence: “All in favor? Aye.”
  • Source timestamp: 28:02

Procedural Actions

• Quorum Confirmation

  • Summary: A quorum was established.
  • Evidence: “We have a quorum, Mr. Chair.”
  • Source timestamp: 00:19

• Upcoming Budget and Levy Schedule

  • Summary: The schedule includes going through the fire pension, police pension, library budget, tax levy, and abatement on October 3rd. The last meeting would be November 10th for a summary of changes to the 2026 budget. A public hearing is scheduled for November 17th, followed by council approval of the 2026 appropriations budget and capital improvement plan on the 17th. The first reading of the tax levy and abatements is set for the 17th, with second readings for the budget, tax levy, and abatements on December 1st. Adjustments to the 2025 budget will be brought for approval on the first reading and final reading on the 15th.
  • Attribution: Dovie
  • Evidence: “October 3rd, we’ll go through the fire pension, the police pension, the library budget, the and the tax levy and the abatement and then we’ll again at that time notice the public hearing so we’ll have essentially the last one of the last meetings here would be on November 10th and that’d be a summary on any changes that were necessary since we began the presentation of the 2026 budget so I don’t believe there’s on this oh there we go well so a public hearing on on November 17th. And then the council meeting on the 17th, we will approve the 2026 appropriations budget, capital improvement plan. We’ll have the first reading of the tax levy and the tax abatements. December 1st, it’ll be the second reading of the budget, second reading for tax levy and second reading for tax abatements and the 2025 reapportion or reappropriation. So just to follow up, we’re essentially going to be making some changes to the 2025 budget, basically looking at what reality worked out to what we had budgeted. We’ll make those adjustments and we’ll bring them to you for approval on the first and then final reading on the 15th.”
  • Source timestamp: 04:23

• Public comments on agenda or non-agenda items

  • Summary: A request was made to extend public comment time by five minutes.
  • Evidence: “Excuse me, Chair. Did you want a motion and a second to extend that to five minutes? Is that your pleasure tonight?”
  • Source timestamp: 27:38

Financial and Contract Events

• Finance department staffing and audit fees allocation

  • Summary: A small portion is added to cover 25% of a part-time person for Finance, and audit fees are being moved from the current location to Interdepartmental.
  • Attribution: Miller
  • Evidence: “So the finance director, deputy finance director, and city accountant added a portion of admin, but support will be shared with the clerk and HR. So we’ve added in a small portion here to cover, I believe, 25% of that part-time person we just discussed for Dovie. We’re planning to use about 25% of that person for finance. Also, audit fees moved from here to interdepartmental.”
  • Source timestamp: 13:10

• Credit Card Fees for Permits and General Liability/Cyber Insurance

  • Summary: The department recoups credit card fees for permits, and cyber insurance is being added to the package policy due to major data breach risks.
  • Evidence: “Then as well as 60-60 credit card fees for permits and etc. So we do recoup these on on the revenue side… General liability, cyber insurance, so that falls under $63.90. We are adding cyber insurance to our package policy that was recommended by our carrier and a lot of communities.”
  • Source timestamp: 22:17

Presentations and Reports

• General Fund Budgets Overview

  • Summary: City Manager Boyer presented an overview of proposed schedules for various budgets including city council, communication, police department, fire department, and TIFs.
  • Evidence: “good evening everyone good evening I’d like to start out with our proposed schedule for the and I have a new budget coming up. So in general, this is everything beyond today is still subject to change, but this is pretty much what we have nailed down. So today we’re going to discuss the city council budget, communication budget, and you can see them there under the nine eight section there. Then on nine 15, we’ll be talking about general fund police department, equipment funds for police, drug forfeiture, and then fire department budget, Fire Public Safety Fund budget and fire improvement.”
  • Source timestamp: 02:36

• Budget Scheduling Details (October)

  • Summary: The schedule includes discussions on October 14th for public works items (street budget, capital equipment fund, airport, cemetery, forestry, animal control, traffic engineering, street lighting, Wrights, Motor Field Tax, and Street Improvement Fund).
  • Evidence: “October 14th, we’ll be going through public works, the street budget, capital equipment fund, airport, cemetery, forestry, animal control, traffic engineering, street lighting, Wrights, Motor Field Tax, and Street Improvement Fund. So those are all kind of grouped together in a like category.”
  • Source timestamp: 03:20

• Budget Scheduling Details (October 20th)

  • Summary: The schedule includes discussions on October 20th for utilities (water operating budget, sewer operating budget, storm) and capital budgets.
  • Evidence: “Then on the 20th, October 20th, we’ll go over utilities. So that’ll be the water operating budget, sewer operating budget, storm, then we’ll have the water capital budget, sewer capital, storm capital, and then public input again on the 20th.”
  • Source timestamp: 04:01

• Budget Scheduling Details (Future Dates)

  • Summary: The schedule includes future dates for fire pension, police pension, library budget, tax levy, abatement, a public hearing, and final approval meetings.
  • Evidence: “October 3rd, we’ll go through the fire pension, the police pension, the library budget, and the tax levy and the abatement and then we’ll again at that time notice the public hearing so we’ll have essentially the last one of the last meetings here would be on November 10th and that’d be a summary on any changes that were necessary since we began the presentation of the 2026 budget so I don’t believe there’s on this oh there we go well so a public hearing on on November 17th. And then the council meeting on the 17th, we will approve the 2026 appropriations budget, capital improvement plan.”
  • Source timestamp: 04:23

• City Council Budget Overview

  • Summary: The City Council budget is essentially the same as last year, covering all elected officials. There is a small bump in elected official costs from the previous year. Wage withholdings and education, training, and travel remain at $2,000, and supplies and other are similar to last year.
  • Attribution: Dovie
  • Evidence: “So there are no, this is the same budget as we had for last year, essentially covers all All of the elected officials, although there’s a small bump on elected officials from the previous year, those have been reflected here. Obviously all the wage withholdings and then education, training, and travel, that’ll stay at $2,000 and then supplies and other. So pretty much the same as last year.”
  • Source timestamp: 05:49

• Liquor Commission and Board of Police and Fire Budget Changes

  • Summary: There are no changes to stipends for the Liquor Commission or Board of Police and Fire. Education and training expenses were recategorized from education and training to medical services to more accurately reflect onboarding examinations for new police and fire personnel.
  • Attribution: Dovie
  • Evidence: “Liquor commissions and Board of Police and Fire. So essentially no changes to the stipends. Also a recategorization of the education and training to medical services to more accurately describe the expenses. So when we hire new police and fire, we have some onboarding examinations and things that we do. We’ve reclassified them in this budget so that it’d be more reflected to reality here.”
  • Source timestamp: 06:45

• City Clerk Department Budget Details

  • Summary: The City Clerk department includes one half of a full-time administrative person. A halftime support person is included, shared with the finance and HR departments, due to backlogged work needing completion for minutes. Medical insurance increased from $17,000 to $25,000 this year; efforts are underway with providers to potentially reduce this cost.
  • Attribution: Dovie
  • Evidence: “So this includes one half of a full-time admin person. So Dovie has requested some additional help to get minutes. A lot of backlog work that needs to be done. Not time critical, Co., but needs to be done. So a halftime support person is included and it will be shared with the finance and HR departments. So this will essentially one person portioned out into three different departments. Also, we had a significant increase in medical insurance this year and we’re working with our providers so we might be able to reduce it later. As you can see C. There. It went from $17,000 to $25,000.”
  • Source timestamp: 07:32

• City Manager Mayor Budget Status

  • Summary: The City Manager budget shows no major changes and includes wages for the City Manager, Mayor, and Administrative Assistant. There is a small increase from last year due to attendance at training and educational events for both the City Manager and the Mayor.
  • Attribution: Dovie
  • Evidence: “This is the city manager mayor budget. So not many changes here. It includes City Manager, Mayor, and Administrative Assistant. So those are the wages that are included in this one, and there are no major changes. There are, I go and attend several training and educational events, and so does the Mayor. So those are included as well, a small increase from last year. But overall, things are remaining flat in this, in 121, City Manager budget.”
  • Source timestamp: 08:55

• IMRF trends and health insurance costs

  • Summary: The IMRF is up due to wages, with the majority of increases tied to health insurance; future rates might flatten or dip slightly in 27-28.
  • Attribution: Miller
  • Evidence: “The IMRF is slightly up which is tied to wages and I’m seeing that consistently on the pages as I went through this and it’s if you’re looking at the bottom line that everything’s the totals are going up for each department it’s the vast majority of it is tied to that health insurance and yes what’s underlying a lot of that is I mean I would say the our insurance carrier is looking at our risk we had a number of claims several like two or three years ago we had quite a few claims and they’re the rates are kind of mirroring those claims however we’ve been doing much better on that and hopefully within another year or two those will be dropping off so we might see a essentially I’m saying that is we may see in future years or 27-28 we may see that either flatten level or dip slightly.”
  • Source timestamp: 09:58

• Communications department budget items

  • Summary: The Communications department budget includes $35,000 for printing the monthly newsletter and funds for new citizens’ engagement activities, supplies, and Fair Booth recruitment items.
  • Attribution: Miller
  • Evidence: “So this only encompasses the director currently Wayne so you’ll notice as we go through printing for the monthly newsletter has gone up a bit but we’re Miller. That’s what the $35,000 there is for printing. Also increase to support the new citizens’ engagement activities, supplies and Fair Booth recruitment items. These are there to give us the tools we need for community outreach at events. Other than that, status quo for the most part, outlying the insurance increases and a few inflation things tied and I do inflation.”
  • Source timestamp: 12:02

• Legal department status

  • Summary: There are some increases in legal fees, but otherwise, the Legal department is at status quo.
  • Attribution: Miller
  • Evidence: “Okay. Moving on to 133 legal. Essentially, we’re seeing some increases in our legal fees, but aside from that, pretty much status quo on legal.”
  • Source timestamp: 14:58

• Community Development budget changes (Grant Manager and Consulting)

  • Summary: The Grant Manager role has been removed from wages for this fiscal year, and consulting services now includes lobbyists and outside grant management.
  • Attribution: Miller
  • Evidence: “Okay. The next one is, I was ahead of myself, but now 149 Community Development. We have removed from the wages the grant manager in this fiscal year, and consulting services includes lobbyists and outside grant management. So if you’ll notice there at 6150, that would fall under and I want to address one of the questions that we’re getting with the organization about grant, or I’m sorry, consulting services.”
  • Source timestamp: 15:21

• Building code enforcement staffing (153 Building)

  • Summary: The main change under 153 Building is including an additional building inspector or code enforcement officer.
  • Evidence: “Under building, and this is, as Michelle quite directly pointed out, so this includes an additional building inspector or code enforcement, something to that effect. And that is the main change under 153 building. 153.”
  • Source timestamp: 16:50

• Hearing and Admin services (155)

  • Summary: This item covers Nicole’s charges for overseeing compliance hearings, with no real change noted.
  • Attribution: Miller
  • Evidence: “And with that, we’ll move on to 155, hearing and admin. This is essentially what Nicole charges for her services overseeing the compliance hearings. So no real change is there.”
  • Source timestamp: 17:45

• Human Resources staffing allocation (161)

  • Summary: The HR manager’s administrative support person time is allocated as halftime for Dovie, a quarter of the time for Finance, and a quarter of the time for HR.
  • Attribution: Miller
  • Evidence: “Okay. The next one is Human Resources 161. So the HR manager admin support person is the same person we’ve been discussing, halftime for Dovie, a quarter of the time for finance, and a quarter of the time for HR. So that’s included in item 5,000, which is an additional cost for an employee.”
  • Source timestamp: 18:25

• Listing of city bonds payment details

  • Summary: A listing of all the city’s bonds, including amounts due every year broken up by principal and interest, is available in the back of the audit document and posted on the website.
  • Evidence: “So in the very back, there is a listing of all the city’s bonds. It’s also posted on the website. The city’s audit is on the website. So in the very back, there’s a page for every bond and there’s the amount that’s due every year, broken up by principal and interest.”
  • Source timestamp: 26:50

Metrics

• 5G Polls Tax Roll Status
  • Summary: The city will work with the county to get 5G polls removed from the tax rolls.
  • Evidence: “Let’s see here, 5G polls. So we’re working with the county on the real estate tax. You see there’s there’s an increase there obviously these are city-owned polls so we’ll be working with the county to get these 5g polls removed from the tax rolls then on bond payments item five that would be item 9,000 transfer to debt service”
  • Source timestamp: 23:44

Discussion

• Timeline for New City Clerk Personnel

  • Summary: The hiring of the new part-time support person is anticipated in the spring.
  • Attribution: Michelle
  • Evidence: “I would say that we probably hire somebody maybe in the spring. What do you think Michelle? Yeah Any other questions on me? Basically the spring so we’re looking at a part-time personal work in several departments We’d be looking to hire them in the spring 26”
  • Source timestamp: 08:38

• Health Insurance Cost Increases

  • Summary: The health insurance line item is consistently increasing across pages, and Social Security expenses and the IMRF are also slightly up. The increase in totals for each department is mostly tied to health insurance; this is attributed to the insurance carrier reviewing risk based on past claims, but rates are expected to potentially flatten or dip slightly in future years (27-28).
  • Attribution: Dovie
  • Evidence: “Yeah, the only thing I’m noticing again is the health insurance line item is consistently going up on every page of this, but there are social security expenses going slightly up. The IMRF is slightly up. The IMRF is slightly up which is tied to wages and I’m seeing that consistently on the pages as I went through this and it’s if you’re looking at the bottom line that everything’s the totals are going up for each department it’s the vast majority of it is tied to that health insurance and yes what’s underlying a lot of that is I mean I would say the our insurance carrier is looking at our risk we had a number of claims several like two or three years ago we had quite a few claims and they’re the rates are kind of mirroring those claims however we’ve been doing much better on that and hopefully within another year or two those will be dropping off so we might see a essentially I’m saying that is we may see in future years or 27-28 we may see that either flatten level or dip slightly.”
  • Source timestamp: 09:44

• Medical insurance rate increases

  • Summary: The city was fortunate in past years to have small renewals (three four percent at the most), but this year’s renewal is much higher, and work is being done with the provider for a January 1 renewal.
  • Attribution: Michelle
  • Evidence: “And Michelle, please back me up if you feel like, I mean, did you have anything you wanted to add on that? Just on the medical insurance, medical insurance rates are just going crazy, you know, the GLP ones, am I saying that right? And different things that are out there. The city was very fortunate in past years to have pretty small renewals and I think it’s all it’s kind of catching up with us I mean we were getting renewals gosh in the last four years of you know three four percent at the most and this year it’s just kind of crazy so like it like manager Boyer said we are working with the medic our medical insurance provider to see what we can do about that we have a January 1 renewal.”
  • Source timestamp: 09:58

• Interdepartmental cost allocation review

  • Summary: A request was made to allocate other costs currently in Interdepartmental, such as postage, back to the various departments instead of keeping them centralized.
  • Attribution: Miller
  • Evidence: “Yes, moving the audit fees, is that something that Lagerbach had suggested, or just a change in what you were wanting to do? That’s just me. So interdepartmental kind of is a catch-all at the end of all of our departments. It’s 101,163. It’s the last one we’ll be reviewing today. And I felt that the audit fees were better represented in the finance department. I’d like to look at some of the other items that are also in interdepartmental, such as postage or something like that, so that those costs can also be allocated to the various departments. Right now, it’s kind of in one spot, whereas I should know how much postage is Every department. So I’ll be looking at that as well. So that might come back as an adjustment back later this fall.”
  • Source timestamp: 14:23

• Community Development staffing needs (Compliance Officer)

  • Summary: A potential change being considered is adding an additional compliance officer to Community Development.
  • Evidence: “Just wondering, is the staffing enough for community development? I think what we’re looking at We’re potentially looking to make a change for as an additional compliance officer. But at the time we put this together, we hadn’t quite got there. This may be one of those changes that you see at the end.”
  • Source timestamp: 16:15

• Timing for Community Development staffing hires

  • Summary: The hiring for a new community development director is in process, leading to a hold on decisions regarding additional staff like the code enforcement officer until that person is placed.
  • Evidence: “So are we looking for it, like, looking for someone now, or are we waiting till the new year? Well, I think right now we’re in the process of hiring a new community development director. So we’re kind of holding off until that person is placed.”
  • Source timestamp: 17:28

• Hearing and Admin Fees (Item 155)

  • Summary: Discussion regarding the frequency of compliance hearings for Nicole’s services.
  • Attribution: Dovie
  • Evidence: “OK, and with that, we’ll move on to 155, hearing and admin. This is essentially what Nicole charges for her services overseeing the compliance hearings. So no real change is there. How many times a month does she, she does, is it twice a month or? Two hearings per month.”
  • Source timestamp: 17:45

• Human Resources Support Staffing (Item 161)

  • Summary: The HR manager admin support person will be split halftime for Dovie, a quarter of the time for finance, and a quarter of the time for HR.
  • Attribution: Dovie
  • Evidence: “So the HR manager admin support person is the same person we’ve been discussing, halftime for Dovie, a quarter of the time for finance, and a quarter of the time for HR. So that’s included in item 5,000, which is an additional cost for an employee.”
  • Source timestamp: 18:38

• Technical Services Funds (Item 65-40)

  • Summary: Additional funds are needed for recruitment services to account for changes in the next fiscal year.
  • Evidence: “And then also other technical services, if you go down to 65-40, it includes additional funds for recruitment services as we will be seeing a couple of changes here in the next fiscal year. We wanted to make sure we accounted for that in this year.”
  • Source timestamp: 18:51

• MIS Department Staffing and GIS Mapping

  • Summary: The MIS department is looking to add a halftime person shared with the water and sewer department to improve field efficiency using better GIS mapping and GPS units.
  • Evidence: “So, we’re looking to add a halftime person to be shared with the water and sewer department and I think Kurt could probably fill us in but what Kurt you had some very specific ideas for that individual would you mention that right now? … So, Curt mentioned GIS. That’s essentially the maps that we have that identify the location of all of our infrastructure. So water main, storm infrastructure, waste water, manholes, meters, services.”
  • Source timestamp: 19:33

• GIS System Importance for Infrastructure Management

  • Summary: Having accurate GIS systems is crucial for future savings when building new infrastructure or changing existing components.
  • Evidence: “And bearing in mind that these are the better our GIS systems are and the more we’re able to keep and maintain their accuracy as we build new infrastructure, put new water main in, change manholes, change the condition of things out there. This is huge savings for us in the future.”
  • Source timestamp: 21:01

• GIS System Benefits for Lead Service Line Program

  • Summary: Without GIS records, programs like the lead service line program become nearly impossible and cost significantly more during construction.
  • Evidence: “Oh it makes the programs nearly impossible and costs a lot more money up front cost all right not up front but in construction. When you don’t have records of the infrastructure that’s buried usually they end up getting hit which becomes a project cost and a project repair.”
  • Source timestamp: 22:17

• Interdepartmental Code 5-225 Group Insurance Adjustment

  • Summary: There is an adjustment to the city’s share of retiree medical insurance based on projected figures.
  • Evidence: “So code 5-225 group insurance, the city’s share of retirees medical insurance. So you’re seeing an adjustment based on what we think was coming forward.”
  • Source timestamp: 22:17

• Bond Payment Structure

  • Summary: Bonds pay interest halfway through and principal and interest are paid six months later.
  • Evidence: “So bond payments work a little bit differently than like a mortgage you know where you pay every month. Bonds pay interest halfway through so six months into the Berke, I’ll tell you about all the bonds you’ll be able to pay interest in the first period you’ll pay interest and then six months later you pay principal and interest.”
  • Source timestamp: 25:48

Attendance

• Roll Call for Finance Committee Of The Whole
  • Summary: Confirmed attendance: Mayor Miller, Klemm, Johnson, Parker, Shadle, Sellers. Absent: Simmons, Stacy, Sanders.
  • Evidence: “Mayor Miller? Here. Alderpersons, Klemm? Here. Johnson? Here. Simmons is absent. Parker? Here. Stacy is absent. Shadle? Here. Sanders is absent and Sellers? Here.”
  • Source timestamp: 00:08