[48:50] Commissioner Jeff Sanford

[48:51] >> here.

[48:51] >> Commissioner Sharon Nesmith

[48:53] >> here.

[48:53] >> Mayor Tom Watson

[48:54] >> yo.

[48:55] >> Commissioner Curtis Mager

[48:56] >> here.

[48:57] >> Mayor Pro Tim Bob Glenn

[48:58] >> here. Thank you. Item three on the

[49:01] agenda, 2026 2027 annual budget

[49:04] presentation. City manager Nate Pagan.

[49:08] >> I vote no.

[49:10] >> Short meeting a new record. Here we go.

[49:13] Uh well, mayor and commissioners, good

[49:14] to see you. Appreciate the opportunity

[49:16] to lead the staff as we present our

[49:19] proposed or draft 2627 fiscal year

[49:22] budget. Our format today will be like

[49:25] we've done in similar years. I'll

[49:27] provide a quick overview, some context

[49:29] with some relative stats and and uh

[49:32] numbers. The bulk of the budget is the

[49:34] second bullet point you see there, which

[49:35] is our proposed expenditures for next

[49:37] fiscal year. Of course, the budget is

[49:39] really our roadmap and how we deploy the

[49:41] resources that you provide for us over

[49:43] the next year. And so that's the bulk of

[49:45] the presentation. So that will be a

[49:48] little bit from me, but this is where

[49:49] you'll hear from the department heads

[49:50] and our managers. And you'll hear quite

[49:52] a bit more from our finance team today

[49:53] as well um in particular. And so this is

[49:56] where we present to you how we propose

[49:59] to spend the tax dollars that we're

[50:00] fortunate to to get every year. So

[50:03] that's the bulk of the presentation. And

[50:05] then we'll we'll end with a couple of

[50:07] brief slides talking about the revenues

[50:09] of course to uh support those

[50:11] expenditures for the services we

[50:13] provide. And then also we do a rolling

[50:16] five-year long range plan. So Angela

[50:18] will kind of just brief you on that as

[50:19] well as we do every year. Obviously good

[50:21] management dictates that we kind of have

[50:22] a sense of what we're doing and where

[50:24] we're going. And so we update that long

[50:26] range plan often. And so Angela will

[50:28] present a little bit of that to you at

[50:31] the end. Uh so this slide depicts the

[50:34] unemployment rate for Davis County,

[50:35] which is the lowest level that it's

[50:37] configured or compiled for. Um and so

[50:40] you you've probably recall these numbers

[50:42] that you see every year. Uh so the

[50:44] employment actually has spiked up over

[50:46] the last year. It kind of leveled off

[50:47] here more recently. I think a lot of

[50:49] this change is actually somewhat due a

[50:52] little bit to how they compiled the

[50:53] numbers to be honest with you. So it

[50:55] probably overstates the number of people

[50:56] who are actually um well it looks like

[50:59] the increase is probably overstating a

[51:01] little bit the number of people who are

[51:02] employed in Davis County actually. Um so

[51:04] I think there was a um a collection

[51:07] change uh to be to be honest but anyway

[51:10] the number of employed folks in the

[51:12] community is is holding steady. uh you

[51:14] see similarly the number uh the

[51:16] unemployment rate in the community you

[51:17] can see the spike there in 2020 20 and

[51:19] 21 which of course was COVID related

[51:21] other than it has been relatively stable

[51:23] I think the bigger takeaway from this

[51:24] slide is our rate is essentially the

[51:27] same as the federal rate but we are

[51:29] below the state rate so that's always

[51:31] good to see that we're you know we're

[51:32] beating the state average and then a

[51:34] similar uh thing that we talk about

[51:36] often I know mayor this is something you

[51:37] care about and track a little bit more

[51:38] is the workforce participation rate um

[51:41] and so it's good data to see as Well, so

[51:44] again, good to see that we surpass the

[51:46] state rate in workforce participation.

[51:49] Trail the federal rate just a little

[51:50] bit. Um, but again, good to see that we

[51:52] do lead the state. That's a meaningful

[51:54] statistic really. I think probably more

[51:56] so, mayor, as you point out, than the

[51:57] actual unemployment rate is is the

[51:59] actual workforce participation rate. So,

[52:02] good to see again that we are surpassing

[52:05] the uh state rate. I like to show just

[52:08] some of the statistics that that are

[52:10] compiled every year. uh specifically the

[52:13] number of housing units that are started

[52:15] that changes pretty drastically

[52:17] year-over-year. So you can see we're

[52:19] down a little bit this year compared to

[52:20] where we were last year. Last year you

[52:23] may recall is when JGO started their big

[52:24] neighborhood out in West 60. So there

[52:26] was kind of a big bump related to that.

[52:28] So there's usually a reason why these

[52:29] numbers are are what they are of course.

[52:32] Um good one in this slide is really the

[52:34] value of regular and commercial permits.

[52:35] So you can see there's been more more

[52:37] than a doubling of what industrial and

[52:39] commercial customers have invested in

[52:40] our community. So that's definitely good

[52:43] news. And then I also like to track the

[52:45] number of active business licenses which

[52:47] is the last column there or row in that slide. So and that's definitely

[52:52] continued to increase. Back during COVID

[52:54] we dropped down below 10,000 active

[52:56] business license and we've slowly crept

[52:58] back up uh to where we're almost at

[53:00] 12,000. I actually don't remember us

[53:01] ever hitting 12,000. Not to say we

[53:03] haven't, but I don't recall that off

[53:04] hand. So certainly that's a a good a

[53:07] good trend. Uh as well

[53:10] as we switch to the proposed

[53:12] expenditures, I wanted to first talk

[53:15] about what you won't see in this year's

[53:16] budget. Right? So some of these larger

[53:18] ongoing projects you're familiar with

[53:20] like the bluegrass fieldhouse, operation

[53:23] firehouse and and station three in

[53:25] particular, the pickle ball, the senior

[53:26] center, those are projects that are

[53:28] actually not in the budget we'll talk

[53:29] about today. Those projects are already

[53:31] funded. They're already under

[53:32] construction. and you know that when we

[53:34] did a recent tour for a trolley tour

[53:36] last month and so because those are

[53:38] ongoing and are not up for consideration

[53:40] now they're not in the budget so we

[53:42] won't really talk about those types of

[53:43] things again they've been vetted and

[53:45] approved already so these will be

[53:47] looking at the proposed expenditures for

[53:50] next fiscal year looking at some of the

[53:52] topline issues um you know you one of my

[53:56] roles I think as city manager is what I

[53:58] consider resource allocation you give

[54:00] sort of the high level priorities and I

[54:02] try to match up our staff and our and

[54:04] our resources with those priorities. And

[54:06] so this identifies a little bit of those

[54:08] always, including economic development,

[54:10] uh, community needs and infrastructure.

[54:12] So, we're proposing record spending on

[54:14] infrastructure and street maintenance

[54:15] this year in accordance with the

[54:17] feedback that you give me. Again, public

[54:19] safety, you often say, is kind of a

[54:21] typically a priority of all elected

[54:22] officials. And so, we continue to invest

[54:24] in our public safety efforts. And then

[54:26] really, you've always tked me to be

[54:28] conservative in in our posture. So we

[54:31] are proposing a balanced budget and we

[54:33] are proposing no tax rate changes of any

[54:36] sort in the budget next year. So again,

[54:37] conservative posture supporting things

[54:39] for growth. We'll talk about investments

[54:41] in the air park to help some of those

[54:43] sites develop. We'll talk about some

[54:45] initiatives in parks, but they're pretty

[54:47] limited this year. Um was pretty pretty

[54:50] tight fiscal year for us. Uh so we took

[54:52] a cur conservative posture as a result.

[54:55] uh but did try to align those resources

[54:57] that we have with the priorities that

[54:59] you've you've given us. I used to show

[55:02] this slide at the end of the budget as

[55:03] sort of a wrap-up and then the mayor one

[55:05] year said it'd be great to see that at

[55:06] the beginning. So mayor uh accordingly

[55:09] here it is kind of this is just a high

[55:11] level summary of where the funds go uh

[55:13] and comparing it to the current fiscal

[55:16] year both the original and the amended

[55:18] budget. And so really look at the bottom

[55:20] line. You can see in the current year we

[55:22] started with the $76.5 million general

[55:24] fund uh after rolling over various

[55:26] unfinished items. We ended up about a

[55:28] little over 86 million. And so we're

[55:30] proposing something is between those two

[55:32] numbers. So just over $80 million for

[55:34] the general fund. You can see there of

[55:37] course the biggest portion of that is to

[55:39] salaries and benefits. We're in a a

[55:41] labor intensive business and so there's

[55:43] a large cost for doing that. Um and then

[55:46] the various other items. Again, you see

[55:47] maintenance as being the second largest

[55:49] item. We are facility heavy. We have

[55:52] numerous facilities across our portfolio

[55:54] and so there's a lot of maintenance that

[55:56] we do a good job of doing. Um but it

[55:58] does come at at quite a cost for us.

[56:01] Yes, sir.

[56:08] » Yeah, that's a that's a good question

[56:09] and I'll Angela prepare to speak as

[56:11] well, but in large part I think that's

[56:12] for the internal service funds. Uh, and

[56:15] we'll talk about that a little bit later

[56:16] as well. So, like for example, the

[56:17] garage or the property maintenance

[56:20] facilities maintenance folks more so

[56:22] they track their time and they bill out

[56:24] to the departments that they work for.

[56:26] So, if one year our mechanics at the

[56:28] garage work 20% of their time for OPD,

[56:32] we actually bill OPD for that. And so,

[56:34] they pay OPD then pays the garage for

[56:37] those services. So, that's what that

[56:39] means by a transfer. We're just billing

[56:40] an internal type of of tracking and

[56:44] accounting purpose. Angel, is that

[56:45] correct?

[56:45] >> Uh well, to add to that, um the 202526

[56:50] amended is higher. Uh we did an

[56:53] amendment for transfer to transit and all that means is that it reflects

[56:57] the general funds match to the federal

[57:00] government's grant monies. So, good

[57:02] news. And then also the 2627 has an

[57:05] additional item in it and that's for the

[57:07] bluegrass fieldhouse which we not had

[57:09] before. So the a little bit of bump

[57:11] there in the 26 27.

[57:13] >> Thank you.

[57:13] >> Yeah, good question though. And a good

[57:15] comment about Bluegrass Fieldhouse.

[57:16] Obviously that's scheduled to open

[57:18] hopefully in July and so that'll be a

[57:19] new expense that we've not had in the

[57:22] past.

[57:24] There are several shared items that

[57:26] you'll see across the budget. So we just

[57:28] had typically addressed those one time

[57:29] at the beginning. Um health insurance

[57:31] costs went up by $145,000 for the

[57:34] general fund. That's not an uncommon uh

[57:37] consideration for us as us like most

[57:40] employers continue to grapple with

[57:41] increasing health insurance costs for

[57:43] our employees. We do fund a step

[57:45] increase for all employees. I'm sure you

[57:47] recall a couple years ago we redid our

[57:49] pay charts after doing a pay study and I

[57:51] know you have wanted us to prioritize

[57:53] our people and keep our rates at market

[57:55] rates to ensure we recruit and retain a good workforce. Uh we also funded a 3%

[58:02] cost of living adjustment for all

[58:04] employees. Uh the next column actually

[58:06] is is uh kind of a surprise and kind of

[58:08] good is that the pension costs actually

[58:10] went down for us a little bit. So the

[58:13] last couple years it hasn't been as

[58:14] challenging but for for many years

[58:16] before that our increasing pension

[58:17] obligations were were increasing at a at

[58:20] a rapid pace and so it was quite quite a

[58:22] large expenditure for us to absorb

[58:23] year-over-year. And we'll look at that a

[58:26] little bit in a second but it actually

[58:27] decreased for next year. So that was a

[58:29] nice benefit for us which ended up

[58:31] saving us what about a million dollars

[58:32] from what we had initially expected and

[58:34] then the when the actual rates were

[58:36] issued it it actually resulted in a

[58:38] slight decrease for us. Um so you can

[58:41] see there's a total cost to that uh as

[58:43] well. Um so again another shared cost is

[58:47] utility. I referenced earlier that

[58:49] you'll be hearing a lot more from our

[58:50] finance department today. Uh so in

[58:53] particular right now you'll be hearing

[58:54] from Carrie Haynes on our utilities and

[58:57] fuel which again we're have a heavy

[58:59] fleet and heavy excuse me facility load.

[59:02] So there does come with a quite a bit of

[59:05] cost for those. So Carrie if you would

[59:07] on this slide.

[59:09] >> Good afternoon. I'm Carrie Haynes and

[59:11] I'm presenting information on the

[59:12] utilities and fuel budgets for the

[59:14] upcoming fiscal year. The city acquires

[59:17] utility services from multiple sources.

[59:19] The primary provider is OMU which

[59:22] provides electric, water and fiber

[59:24] services. Regional water resource agency

[59:27] provides sewer services. And then due to

[59:29] some locations um we have certain

[59:31] facilities which receive utility

[59:33] services from Atmas Kery and Davis

[59:36] County Water Department. To develop the

[59:39] upcoming fiscal year's budget, we

[59:41] contact each provider to obtain

[59:43] information on proposed rate adjustments

[59:45] and we use current year expenditures to

[59:47] project usage for the upcoming fiscal

[59:49] year. Adjustments in are then made to

[59:52] account for operational changes such as

[59:54] the new facilities like the blueg

[59:56] grassfield house. The total budget for

[59:58] city utilities for fiscal year 2627 is

[1:00:02] almost 3.5 million, an increase of about

[1:00:05] $200,000 from the previous year.

[1:00:10] And next we have the fuel budgets. This

[1:00:13] slide represents total city fuel

[1:00:15] expenditures showing actual expenditures

[1:00:17] from 2425, forecasted expenditures from

[1:00:21] 2526, and then the budget for 2627.

[1:00:25] The fuel budget accounts for

[1:00:26] approximately 6% of the general fund

[1:00:29] budget. The city secures fuel pricing

[1:00:32] through a competitive bidding process to

[1:00:34] ensure cost efficiency. To develop the

[1:00:37] fuel budget, we analyze current year

[1:00:38] spending and incorporate pricing

[1:00:40] forecasts from the US Energy Information

[1:00:43] Administration to project costs for the

[1:00:45] upcoming fiscal year. We also consider

[1:00:47] recent national events that impact fuel

[1:00:49] markets. To account for potential price

[1:00:52] fluctuations, a 10% contingency is

[1:00:54] included in the budget. Fuel

[1:00:57] expenditures for the fiscal year 2627

[1:00:59] are projected to be approximately $1.2

[1:01:02] million. and I'm happy to address any

[1:01:05] questions you may have at this time.

[1:01:10] » So, I know Nate, you and I have talked

[1:01:12] about this. Um, we have the electric bus

[1:01:15] and we know there's but do we have any

[1:01:17] other electric vehicles or would it be

[1:01:19] in our interest that these fuel costs

[1:01:21] continue at this rate for us to look

[1:01:24] into more electric vehicles?

[1:01:26] >> Uh, other than the electric bus, I don't

[1:01:28] think we have any other electric

[1:01:29] vehicles now. I'll let Stephen comment

[1:01:31] when he gets here. Yeah, not that I'm

[1:01:33] aware of either. I know we've tried some

[1:01:34] in the past. The technology is really

[1:01:36] not there for us at the large scale type

[1:01:38] of vehicle that we need. You know, we

[1:01:40] have a lot of F250s, F350s, specialized

[1:01:43] public safety type of equipment and

[1:01:45] apparatus. And though their technology

[1:01:47] is just not not really there from a from

[1:01:49] electric vehicle perspective, I think

[1:01:51] it's something I'd be interested in the

[1:01:52] future to try to mitigate this fuel

[1:01:54] budget. You know, obviously we do have a

[1:01:57] huge fleet of vehicles uh citywide and

[1:01:59] so we do pay quite a bit in fuel. So,

[1:02:01] it's definitely something we'd be

[1:02:02] interested in the future as technology

[1:02:04] improves.

[1:02:05] >> Thank you, mayor. Thank you, Nate.

[1:02:15] » I'm sorry. Thank you, Mayor. The the

[1:02:17] electric bus is is it is it working now

[1:02:19] or is it

[1:02:21] >> I don't know, Commissioner. Maybe we'll

[1:02:23] bring up that question again when

[1:02:25] Stephen Franklin is here as he oversees

[1:02:27] comment. It's been off and on the road

[1:02:29] at times over the over the 10 year that

[1:02:31] we've had it.

[1:02:32] >> Yeah, I'd have to agree that I don't

[1:02:34] think it's as useful as I

[1:02:38] thought it might be. And then you have

[1:02:40] to charge it and then I guess that's the

[1:02:43] electric side looks like it's going up

[1:02:44] too. So anyway,

[1:02:46] >> yeah. And for us again having a heavy

[1:02:48] fleet, it's more the apparatus too. We

[1:02:50] don't have many typical passenger cars

[1:02:52] like we might have in our personal life.

[1:02:54] Our our equipment is typically very

[1:02:55] heavily uh Is the bus on the road?

[1:02:59] >> It is. Okay. Thumbs up from so it is

[1:03:00] back. It is back working. Okay. Okay.

[1:03:03] >> But to your point, it has been off and

[1:03:04] on the road a couple times during during

[1:03:06] this lifespan.

[1:03:09] >> Yeah, that's what that's what I was

[1:03:10] thinking too. Thank you. Thank you,

[1:03:12] mayor.

[1:03:14] >> Any other questions for Carrie?

[1:03:18] >> All right, Carrie. Thank you.

[1:03:21] >> Uh, next we'll be joined by Whitney

[1:03:23] Brown. and Whitney will present another

[1:03:25] shared factor which is our property and

[1:03:27] liability. Again, sort of a byproduct of

[1:03:29] having many many facilities is that we

[1:03:31] have to ensure those facilities and that

[1:03:33] was a particular challenge with our

[1:03:34] increase this year that that Whitney

[1:03:36] will tell you about.

[1:03:37] >> Hello, I'm Whitney Brown. I'm the senior

[1:03:39] accountant here with the city of

[1:03:40] Onsboro. Um today we're going I'm going

[1:03:43] to talk about the property and liability

[1:03:45] insurance that we have. As you can see,

[1:03:48] uh this is our four largest insurance

[1:03:50] categories that we have. The dark blue

[1:03:52] represents the current year's budget and

[1:03:55] the teal projects the increase for next

[1:03:57] year. Overall, these categories are

[1:04:00] increasing by $281,455

[1:04:03] or 26%.

[1:04:05] This change is driven by several key

[1:04:07] factors. In January of 2025, Kentucky

[1:04:10] League of Cities, also known as KLC,

[1:04:12] conducted updated appraisals of all

[1:04:14] city- owned buildings, ensuring that

[1:04:15] both interior contents as well as the

[1:04:18] exterior contents are updated

[1:04:20] appropriately for coverage.

[1:04:22] Additionally, the rising construction

[1:04:24] costs and inflation have increased

[1:04:26] rebuilding values. Uh, plus the city has

[1:04:29] expanded coverage needs by adding new

[1:04:31] facilities like the Walter Freeman

[1:04:32] Training Fire Training Center. and all

[1:04:35] of these have contributed to the overall

[1:04:37] expenses. Um, looking ahead, another

[1:04:40] impact on rates is expected in the 2027

[1:04:43] 2028 budget year and that's going to be

[1:04:45] driven by the March 15th hell storm. Um,

[1:04:48] on a positive note though, KLC does not

[1:04:51] anticipate applying a wind or hell

[1:04:53] deductible, which helps limits the

[1:04:55] out-of- pocket expense for next year's

[1:04:58] budget. So, that's great news to hear.

[1:05:00] Um, I have I can take any questions if

[1:05:03] you have any.

[1:05:05] Are you is KLC the provider of your your

[1:05:09] >> Yes, KLC does provide our our insurance

[1:05:11] for property.

[1:05:12] >> Good deal. Got to have some help there.

[1:05:16] Anybody else?

[1:05:17] >> And we do lean on on the insurance folks

[1:05:19] on a regular basis to provide whatever

[1:05:21] discounts we we can. It's a good

[1:05:22] relationship with them. A lot of us are

[1:05:24] very active in KC both on the insurance

[1:05:26] side and and not. So, they're but

[1:05:28] they're a good partner.

[1:05:30] >> Thank you.

[1:05:33] All right. Thank you.

[1:05:34] >> Thank you, Whitney. And I think we'll

[1:05:36] see you back in a later slide. Uh, so I

[1:05:39] referenced earlier again the the pension

[1:05:41] cost. We we've looked at these numbers

[1:05:42] closely over the years. And again, it

[1:05:44] wasn't too long ago where the annual

[1:05:46] increase was, you know, hundreds to

[1:05:48] millions of dollars every year of an

[1:05:50] increase that has stabilized thanks to

[1:05:52] some uh reform from the legislature. So,

[1:05:54] we definitely appreciate that. However,

[1:05:56] it is something we definitely still

[1:05:58] continue to track. You can see next year

[1:06:00] we're proposing or expecting a large

[1:06:02] increase. We are somewhat hopeful or

[1:06:05] optimistic that there'll be some changes

[1:06:07] from the pension board. So if you see JT

[1:06:10] maybe, you know, lean on him a little

[1:06:11] bit as well. Um because if we do have to

[1:06:14] absorb the full 1.4 million that we're

[1:06:16] expecting next year, that'll be a

[1:06:17] sizable increase. But hopefully that'll

[1:06:19] be mitigated between now and then. Um

[1:06:21] but still such a large expenditure that

[1:06:23] we uh that we face every year.

[1:06:27] So, as we continue transitioning to some

[1:06:29] of the expenses, we we talk often about

[1:06:31] the funds of the budget. So, obviously

[1:06:34] all of our accounts are in some type of

[1:06:36] fund. Most of them we talk about today

[1:06:38] will be the general fund. That's the

[1:06:40] fund on the left that you can see that

[1:06:43] is the main operation at city hall,

[1:06:45] police, fire, those types of things. Um,

[1:06:47] we will talk a little bit about some of

[1:06:49] the other funds though, such as uh when Amanda's here, we'll talk about the

[1:06:54] recreation fund. Those are some of the

[1:06:56] programs in the parks department that

[1:06:57] generate revenue. We'll talk, of course,

[1:07:00] about sanitation. Sanitation is what we

[1:07:02] call an enterprise fund where it

[1:07:03] operates like a standalone business

[1:07:05] where the fees that our residents pay

[1:07:07] provide for the expenses for the

[1:07:09] service. So, again, just more of an

[1:07:11] accounting issue. But if you hear us

[1:07:13] reference various funds, that's that's

[1:07:15] okay. If you have any questions about

[1:07:16] that, be sure to um to let us know. So

[1:07:20] with that we'll transition to some of

[1:07:22] the individual departments now starting

[1:07:24] with uh the administration. Uh so for

[1:07:28] the admin budget we are proposing a a

[1:07:31] budget of increase of uh 5% or $88,000

[1:07:35] for a budget just over $2 million. Uh

[1:07:38] the bulk of that increase is for uh

[1:07:41] personnel related cost. You know

[1:07:43] employee salaries, benefits, things of

[1:07:45] that nature. We are expecting $16,000

[1:07:49] increase in supplies. That's

[1:07:50] attributable really to two primary

[1:07:52] items. Uh one of them being computer

[1:07:55] related replacements. So we operate on a

[1:07:58] replacement schedule for computers the

[1:08:00] last couple of years up in admin. Um of

[1:08:03] course the admin department is quite

[1:08:04] small and so we've not had to do any

[1:08:06] computer replacement this year. I think

[1:08:08] we have three. So that's uh you know an

[1:08:10] increase in in the budget. Not a not a

[1:08:13] annual increase. So it very well may

[1:08:15] drop next year. And then part of that is

[1:08:17] also attributable to software

[1:08:19] subscription increases as well. So we

[1:08:21] have a lot of software needs, technology

[1:08:24] needs, and a lot of those have, you

[1:08:25] know, built-in escalators in those

[1:08:27] contracts. So we're absorbing those

[1:08:28] costs. And then finally, in the other

[1:08:30] category, an increase of 18% or just

[1:08:33] over $16,000.

[1:08:35] and that is attributable to actually

[1:08:36] something that we're going to do for the

[1:08:37] parks department and that is some

[1:08:39] marketing and quarterly flyers that

[1:08:41] we're going to do in Owensboro parent

[1:08:43] magazine and things like that to try to

[1:08:44] really put our programs in front of the

[1:08:47] core target audience for those programs.

[1:08:50] Uh and so Shaye will administer that on

[1:08:52] behalf of the parks department so it's

[1:08:53] included in the admin budget even though

[1:08:55] it's largely an expense for the parks

[1:08:57] department and that's about $20,000 of

[1:08:59] that increase of 16. So really other

[1:09:02] than that one particular new item we

[1:09:03] would have had a decrease in the other

[1:09:06] uh other category for admin. So happy to

[1:09:10] answer any other questions should you

[1:09:12] have any questions.

[1:09:15] >> Okay hearing none then the next division

[1:09:17] of admin will be Tim Ross and uh public

[1:09:19] events.

[1:09:21] >> Good afternoon commission. Uh Tim Ross

[1:09:23] public events um as far as the forecast

[1:09:25] goes for the coming year. Um overall

[1:09:27] total budget for my group is down um

[1:09:30] pretty significantly there that you'll

[1:09:32] notice. Um a lot of that's just due to

[1:09:34] capital. Um we've invested the last

[1:09:36] couple of years pretty heavily in

[1:09:37] capital and we did some of that

[1:09:38] purchasing strategically um to kind of

[1:09:40] spread that out over time just with uh

[1:09:42] with purchasing power to try to invest

[1:09:43] in some things that we just haven't even

[1:09:45] showcased yet per se. But that's the

[1:09:46] majority of that of that decreases in

[1:09:49] some of the capital. um supplies uh are

[1:09:51] up just slightly and that's just uh a

[1:09:54] recind of categorization of of how we

[1:09:56] need some of the funds for the year. But

[1:09:58] as far as what to expect um from public

[1:10:00] events um ever since I've been with the

[1:10:03] city of Owensboro, I've been a huge

[1:10:05] advocate in partnerships. Um I think the

[1:10:07] city staff does a tremendous job in so

[1:10:09] many different areas. um what we do,

[1:10:11] Erica and myself, couldn't be

[1:10:13] accomplished um if the parks department

[1:10:15] didn't work with us and if public works

[1:10:17] and police and fire and they're they're

[1:10:18] all doing their part to help make these

[1:10:20] things happen. And so when it comes to

[1:10:21] groups like Friday After 5 or Wendle

[1:10:24] Foster with their half marathon or the

[1:10:26] symphony with their outdoor events, uh

[1:10:28] you know, all of our city departments

[1:10:29] pitch in and help out to to create

[1:10:31] those. and I'm a big advocate in helping

[1:10:34] those organizations do their job as

[1:10:36] fundraisers for these different events

[1:10:38] because they provide a great service to

[1:10:39] the community. So, um I don't think it's

[1:10:41] the city's position or responsibility to

[1:10:44] host everything for the community to do

[1:10:45] and we certainly don't need to fund

[1:10:47] that. Um but my my premise since I've

[1:10:49] been here um is that we do, you know, a

[1:10:51] handful of things, big signature events

[1:10:53] during the year. Um and then we partner

[1:10:55] with some fantastic organizations like

[1:10:56] the Barbecue Group and their board to

[1:10:58] help keep that event going and to help

[1:11:00] grow that. So, we've got these key

[1:11:02] partnerships that we do throughout the

[1:11:03] year. But, as far as our signature

[1:11:05] events, um July 4th, obviously this year

[1:11:08] will be a bigger celebration that we've

[1:11:10] talked about um recognizing America 250.

[1:11:12] So, we're going to have a a drone show

[1:11:14] in partnership with the Friday after 5

[1:11:16] folks on Friday night the 3rd and then a

[1:11:18] significantly larger fireworks show than

[1:11:20] we've ever done uh on Saturday the 4th.

[1:11:22] So, that's one of our signature ones. Um

[1:11:24] the air show will be back again.

[1:11:26] obviously a major event that draws folks

[1:11:27] from all over the place and Phil's

[1:11:30] hotels which is what our goal is uh

[1:11:31] right to draw visitors in addition to um

[1:11:34] hosting a great uh great events in our

[1:11:36] community for our local folks to enjoy.

[1:11:38] Uh and then Christmas we've got um a

[1:11:40] couple of things that we'll unveil this

[1:11:41] year at Christmas to new to further

[1:11:43] expand what we do on the riverfront. So

[1:11:46] partnerships with some key folks and

[1:11:47] then those handful of signature events

[1:11:49] uh will be our focus this year. So happy

[1:11:51] to answer any questions.

[1:11:55] So just for the public's benefit, so we

[1:11:58] do the air show this year and then next

[1:12:00] year we do illuminate instead. Is that

[1:12:02] correct?

[1:12:03] >> Yeah, that's our plan at this point be

[1:12:05] to alternate those year after year. Yes.

[1:12:06] >> Yeah. I thought Illuminate was cool. I

[1:12:08] mean the air shows knock it out of the

[1:12:10] park, but I mean I thought Eliminate was

[1:12:12] really interesting and different. So

[1:12:14] appreciate all your

[1:12:14] >> Thank you. Yeah. Our goal with that was

[1:12:16] to do something that felt very very

[1:12:18] different but still is you know inviting

[1:12:20] to lots of different demographic groups

[1:12:21] and we had just as many positive

[1:12:24] feedback from people around the country

[1:12:25] for that as we do for the air show. So

[1:12:27] kind of different strokes for different

[1:12:28] folks but it it hits two different

[1:12:30] niches and so our goal will be to expand

[1:12:31] that. Yes. In 27 and bring eliminate

[1:12:33] back again

[1:12:34] >> and the Thunderbirds is the featured act

[1:12:36] this year right?

[1:12:36] >> Correct. Yes. Air Force group.

[1:12:38] >> Okay.

[1:12:38] >> Thank you.

[1:12:43] U I just want to say just for the

[1:12:44] general public I have another hat with I

[1:12:47] have been involved obviously with the

[1:12:49] old barbecue festival and now the

[1:12:51] barbecue and barrels and just from a

[1:12:53] history um the I just want to make sure

[1:12:56] that people understand that that event

[1:12:59] allows our uh community to raise funds

[1:13:03] to take care of nonprofit things that

[1:13:05] happen. So, uh, I've always tried to

[1:13:08] advertise that people understand that as

[1:13:10] much as $60,000 a year was produced each

[1:13:12] year for the nonprofits alone. It's

[1:13:15] nothing that we paid or anything. as the

[1:13:18] time and the unfortunately the cooking

[1:13:20] teams uh did seem to age uh a little bit

[1:13:24] more uh that

[1:13:25] >> you resent that remark. I can say that

[1:13:28] because I'm one of those aers

[1:13:30] but uh if we had not had some city

[1:13:33] assistance uh and uh significant uh uh

[1:13:38] just things that you don't think about

[1:13:40] cleaning up the streets after it's over

[1:13:43] uh making sure that there's safety those

[1:13:45] types of things. So, I just want to let

[1:13:47] the parks department know that that is

[1:13:49] appreciated and it's actually um it

[1:13:53] doesn't make the festival feel like they

[1:13:55] don't have to raise money. We do, but we

[1:13:57] also appreciate having that help so that

[1:14:00] we could continue it. So, I just want to

[1:14:02] say thank you, Tim.

[1:14:03] >> Yes, ma'am.

[1:14:07] » What's that?

[1:14:09] >> Uh there's more than 40 distilleries as

[1:14:11] part of that bourbon experience, right?

[1:14:13] Then out on the streets, um I think

[1:14:14] there's over almost 70 um barbecue

[1:14:17] related barbecue food vendors and stuff.

[1:14:20] >> Commissioner Sampler,

[1:14:21] >> thank you, Mayor. Uh thanks, Tim, for

[1:14:24] all you do. I I love the partnership

[1:14:26] thing that uh we have going with all

[1:14:28] these different entities. I was going to

[1:14:30] ask you real quick about the dust bowl.

[1:14:31] Did we cut back the time frame on that

[1:14:34] or are they still doing it the week or

[1:14:36] didn't they do that at one time to

[1:14:38] >> Yeah, they cut

[1:14:38] >> shorten it?

[1:14:39] >> Yeah, they they scaled it back slightly

[1:14:41] just a little. It's still um it still

[1:14:44] covers two full weekends and then

[1:14:46] throughout the week. So, it's still much

[1:14:47] longer than we had talked to them. I

[1:14:48] know at one point several years ago, we

[1:14:50] talked about drastically cutting it

[1:14:51] back, but

[1:14:52] >> we provide the same services that we've

[1:14:53] been to that organization and it's still

[1:14:55] about uh off the top of my head, I think

[1:14:56] it's eight or nine days worth of worth

[1:14:58] of games.

[1:14:59] >> I I just know I want it to be

[1:15:00] successful, but it's hard to compete

[1:15:02] with all the travel stuff,

[1:15:03] >> right?

[1:15:04] >> And because it's changed since I played

[1:15:05] in it 100 years ago, it is nowund.

[1:15:09] >> Yeah, I'm too. Uh, but it's it's a great

[1:15:12] community event. I just want to make

[1:15:14] sure they they stay viable and uh just I

[1:15:17] just wondered on the timing on that. But

[1:15:19] thank thank you for all you do. You're

[1:15:20] doing a great job.

[1:15:21] >> Thank you.

[1:15:24] » Okay. Hot seat gone.

[1:15:28] >> Okay. Thank you, Tim. So, up next from

[1:15:31] the admin department is uh community

[1:15:33] development director Abby Shelton.

[1:15:39] » Good afternoon, mayor and commissioners.

[1:15:40] Thank you for the opportunity to present

[1:15:42] the proposed budget and program update

[1:15:44] for the community development

[1:15:45] department.

[1:15:48] This budget supports the salaries and

[1:15:50] operations of two staff members, myself

[1:15:52] and Evan Goal, housing and grant

[1:15:53] coordinator. The total fiscal year 2026

[1:15:57] 2027 request is $361,875

[1:16:01] reflecting a 3% increase over the prior

[1:16:04] year primarily driven by the supplies

[1:16:06] category and as as city manager

[1:16:08] mentioned before that is a computer

[1:16:10] request. Administrative fees generated

[1:16:13] through federal program management total

[1:16:17] totals $141,425

[1:16:20] and will offset the department request

[1:16:22] reducing the net impact on the city's

[1:16:24] general fund to $220,450.

[1:16:28] The community development department

[1:16:30] administers the annual city's annual

[1:16:32] federal allocations of $566,249

[1:16:37] through the community development block

[1:16:38] grant and $281,750,000

[1:16:43] through the home investment partnerships

[1:16:44] program. These resources support

[1:16:47] homeowner exterior re rehabilitation,

[1:16:50] commercial facade improvements,

[1:16:52] firsttime home buyer assistance, and the

[1:16:54] work of our certified community housing

[1:16:56] development organization, Habitat for

[1:16:58] Humanity of Owensboro, Davis County. We

[1:17:01] also manage key grant programs that

[1:17:02] advance housing, economic development,

[1:17:04] and public improvements, local community

[1:17:07] catalyst grant support, single family

[1:17:09] rehabilitation, new construction, rental

[1:17:12] rehabilitation, and the 5050 demolition

[1:17:14] initiative. I am pleased to report

[1:17:16] continued success within the Monarch

[1:17:18] NRSA. Since summer 202025,

[1:17:22] 72 project applications have generated

[1:17:24] $1.2 million in total private and public

[1:17:27] investment.

[1:17:30] Demonstrating strong community

[1:17:31] engagement. The NRSA will remain active

[1:17:34] through June 2030. As the city's

[1:17:36] designated CHTO, Habitat will serve as

[1:17:39] the primary developer and builder of new

[1:17:41] single family homes through the Greater

[1:17:43] Owensboro Housing Collab Collaborative,

[1:17:45] a partnership between Owensboro Health,

[1:17:47] Habitat, and the city of Owensboro. This

[1:17:49] effort is already underway. Owensboro

[1:17:51] Health has donated 17 parcels of land to

[1:17:53] support 15 new single family affordable

[1:17:56] housing units and the city will provide

[1:17:58] partial funding for each of these new

[1:17:59] builds through the home federal

[1:18:01] resources to max maximize impact and

[1:18:04] expand home ownership opportunities.

[1:18:07] Finally, the department continues to

[1:18:09] support other department city

[1:18:10] departments by providing grant writing

[1:18:12] and administration. This effort has

[1:18:14] already resulted in additional external

[1:18:16] funding and increased capacity to

[1:18:18] deliver projects without placing added

[1:18:20] pressure on the general fund. Mayor and

[1:18:22] commissioners, thank you for your

[1:18:23] continued support and your commitment to

[1:18:25] investing in our community. Your

[1:18:27] leadership allows us to leverage federal

[1:18:29] resources, expand housing opportunities,

[1:18:31] and strengthen neighborhoods across

[1:18:32] Owensboro. I appreciate your time and

[1:18:35] consideration of this request, and I am

[1:18:36] happy to answer any questions or provide

[1:18:38] additional detail on any aspect of the

[1:18:40] budget of our programs.

[1:18:45] Go ahead, Jeff. You're It's okay.

[1:18:47] >> Thank you. Thank Thank you, Mayor. Um,

[1:18:49] Abby, what is the percentage of rehabs

[1:18:51] in the Monarch area? Do you have any

[1:18:53] idea on the applications? Do you

[1:18:56] >> of the 70

[1:18:57] >> the rental the rental rehabs or the

[1:18:58] single family?

[1:18:59] >> Single family like for people to

[1:19:02] >> It's the better part of our our budget

[1:19:04] right now. I can get those for you. It's

[1:19:06] probably close to 75%. But we have a lot

[1:19:09] of um the single family rehabs and the

[1:19:12] rental rehabs are really big through the

[1:19:14] community community catalyst grant. Now

[1:19:15] through the federal side, of course, our

[1:19:17] exterior um homeowner exterior

[1:19:19] rehabilitation program is is the

[1:19:21] largest.

[1:19:22] >> Right. I've uh I think I've heard you

[1:19:24] say for every dollar that's invested up

[1:19:26] here, we get a return of around three.

[1:19:29] at the end of right now we're heavy

[1:19:32] loaded with our um federal funding

[1:19:34] because our exterior rehab program took

[1:19:36] off faster with applications and we just

[1:19:38] kept getting them and finally got a

[1:19:40] release for funding. So at that point um

[1:19:42] at this point that's really heavy but

[1:19:44] now the other side is really taken off

[1:19:46] people seeing word of mouth is is really

[1:19:50] tight between developers. The the

[1:19:51] question I would have is if we're doing

[1:19:53] that well then do you think there would

[1:19:57] be any um room if you wanted to do this

[1:20:00] citywide?

[1:20:00] >> I think it

[1:20:02] >> because there's a shortage of housing.

[1:20:04] We all know that and if you can take

[1:20:05] structures that we have that are

[1:20:07] uninhabitable

[1:20:09] >> and we we're getting a return like that.

[1:20:11] It seems that would only make sense if

[1:20:13] we were to invest local dollars to put

[1:20:15] people in houses, especially first-time

[1:20:17] home buyers, kids that are trying to to

[1:20:19] get something started and build equity

[1:20:21] and stuff like that. I think as a

[1:20:22] community, we would only benefit uh

[1:20:25] hugely, especially putting people in

[1:20:27] homes

[1:20:28] >> for sure. We um actually have paired a

[1:20:30] few of our those those rehabs, single

[1:20:32] family rehabs with our home partnership

[1:20:34] program for down payment assistance. And

[1:20:36] we do have quite a few first-time home

[1:20:37] buyers. I wouldn't mind seeing that

[1:20:39] going outside of Monarch and actually

[1:20:41] going across the city uh because there's

[1:20:43] a lot of dilapidated houses that could

[1:20:45] uh actually look pretty good and it

[1:20:47] builds it builds the neighborhoods and I

[1:20:50] think it builds pride where people live

[1:20:51] and I think it's something that we need

[1:20:53] to think about. That's just my opinion.

[1:20:55] Thank you, Mayor.

[1:20:58] >> Yes. Uh, so Abby, several years ago over

[1:21:02] in the Germantown area, I believe it was

[1:21:03] Wabuk took a MPD structure and turned it

[1:21:06] into apartments. Given our shortage of

[1:21:09] affordable housing, have you ever had

[1:21:11] any conversations either with Wabuk,

[1:21:13] another company, or even Habitat about

[1:21:15] going from the single house model

[1:21:17] because they're starting to go to

[1:21:18] neighborhoods. We know that with the

[1:21:20] Carter Circle thing. Um to maybe

[1:21:22] duplexes or even even a a modest

[1:21:25] apartment building like a two-story

[1:21:26] apartment building to speed up the the

[1:21:29] gaps and and capacity to house more

[1:21:32] families because that's that's the

[1:21:34] thing. The Habitat does a wonderful job,

[1:21:36] but it's only one group of four or five

[1:21:38] people at a time. And that we've got

[1:21:40] 3500 housing slots were short just in

[1:21:43] Davis County. So, I'm just wondering if

[1:21:45] you've had any conversations about

[1:21:47] Habitat or WAWK or anybody doing that.

[1:21:50] >> Sure. Um, if we had a magic bullet for affordable housing, I would hop on

[1:21:54] that, but we don't and I have talked

[1:21:56] with those developers and we do

[1:21:58] constantly look at infill and where we

[1:22:01] can place larger housing um

[1:22:03] developments. But that's those

[1:22:05] particular folks do focus on larger

[1:22:07] developments just because of low-inccome

[1:22:09] housing tax credits. Now, I have spoken

[1:22:11] with a few local developers who are

[1:22:12] interested in doing uh duplexes spots

[1:22:14] here and there and and within the

[1:22:16] Monarch and are safe particularly and

[1:22:18] that is a a high demand of course and

[1:22:20] something that we um are readily

[1:22:23] available to work with on developers if

[1:22:25] they want to.

[1:22:26] >> Okay. And then tied to Habitat again,

[1:22:28] have they ever thought about tiny

[1:22:29] houses?

[1:22:30] >> Oh, um yes, that has been a discussion.

[1:22:33] I'm not sure if we're we're um

[1:22:36] positioned to tackle that issue at this

[1:22:39] point. We're looking at accessory

[1:22:40] dwelling units our own PC is and I think

[1:22:43] that's the biggest the lowest hanging

[1:22:45] fruit that we have at this point but we

[1:22:46] have discussed the tiny home movement

[1:22:48] and what that could look like for

[1:22:49] Owensboro and Davis County.

[1:22:51] >> Right. Thank you for all you and Evan

[1:22:53] do. We appreciate you.

[1:22:54] >> Absolutely.

[1:22:54] >> Thank you ma'am.

[1:23:00] » Intermediate homes basically and it's

[1:23:03] hard to get them out once you get them

[1:23:04] in. That's the biggest problem because

[1:23:06] they finally have a home and I don't

[1:23:09] know the answer to that is I've been

[1:23:10] following these tiny houses for several

[1:23:12] years thinking that could work but uh

[1:23:16] it's it's tough sometimes to try and say

[1:23:18] okay you've had this long enough now you

[1:23:20] need to move on to the next level but

[1:23:23] appreciate I know that you all do a lot

[1:23:25] of work because every time I have to

[1:23:26] sign something you it takes about it's

[1:23:28] about that thick a document anybody else

[1:23:31] like a single page so appreciate your

[1:23:33] work. Thank you, sir.

[1:23:36] >> Okie dokie.

[1:23:37] >> All right, Abby. Thank you. Next

[1:23:40] department is information technology and

[1:23:42] IT director Jeff Bell will brief you on

[1:23:45] his proposed budget.

[1:23:54] Thank you, mayor, commissioners, for the

[1:23:56] opportunity to present the information

[1:23:59] technology budget for fiscal year 2627.

[1:24:03] Uh, today I'll be presenting the

[1:24:05] infrastructure and applications budget.

[1:24:07] Uh, Mr. Carpenter will follow up with

[1:24:09] the GIS budget. The proposed budget for

[1:24:13] infrastructure and applications total

[1:24:16] $3.2 2 million representing a 6%

[1:24:19] reduction in expenditures

[1:24:22] compared to last fiscal year. Over the

[1:24:24] past year, we've made significant

[1:24:26] progress on key initiatives. We are

[1:24:29] currently replacing aging servers and

[1:24:31] storage systems that support the

[1:24:33] executive network to ensure continued

[1:24:35] reliability and performance. I'm pleased

[1:24:38] to report that the new data center

[1:24:40] equipment has been installed

[1:24:44] and we anticipate full uh migration in

[1:24:47] the upcoming months. This new

[1:24:49] infrastructure is expected to serve the

[1:24:51] city for approximately seven years

[1:24:54] extending uh beyond our previous 5-year

[1:24:56] replacement cycle. In addition, we are

[1:24:59] finalizing the the deployment of a

[1:25:01] secondary redundant data center at the

[1:25:04] fire training facility. This investment

[1:25:06] strengthens our disaster recovery

[1:25:09] capabilities and ensures greater

[1:25:11] continuity of operations in the event of

[1:25:13] outage or emergency.

[1:25:16] Looking ahead to next fiscal year, while

[1:25:18] we have no major capital uh projects

[1:25:21] planned, we will continue to to uh work

[1:25:24] on cyber security by adding additional

[1:25:27] layers of protection to further reduce

[1:25:29] and safeguard city systems and data.

[1:25:33] Finally, our applications team will

[1:25:35] begin redesigning our in-house revenue

[1:25:37] collection systems, improving uh

[1:25:39] efficiency, reliability, and the overall

[1:25:42] user experience. I appreciate your time

[1:25:45] and consideration,

[1:25:47] and I'm happy to answer any questions

[1:25:48] you all might have.

[1:25:58] » Sure.

[1:26:00] >> Just out of curiosity, Did you design

[1:26:03] the uh fishing email that came out last

[1:26:05] week?

[1:26:06] >> I did not.

[1:26:07] >> Okay.

[1:26:08] >> Well, you got me to say,

[1:26:11] mayor, you reached out to me and you

[1:26:13] were not able to uh call me, but you

[1:26:16] were in a very important meeting and you

[1:26:17] needed me to tell you something. You

[1:26:20] needed like 45 gift cards for something.

[1:26:23] >> I just want thought I'd let you know

[1:26:24] that.

[1:26:25] >> That's a fish.

[1:26:25] >> That was a fish. Anyway, that thank you,

[1:26:28] Jeff, because I appreciate that security

[1:26:30] thing just because of my other

[1:26:32] businesses I'm in. But, um, I think it's

[1:26:35] great how you've improved even just

[1:26:36] since I've been on a commission a lot of

[1:26:38] the the technology opportunities.

[1:26:41] >> Well, I appreciate my staff. They they

[1:26:43] do a wonderful job. Thank you.

[1:26:44] >> Will that data center that's proposed to

[1:26:46] come here, will that have any effect on

[1:26:48] what we do?

[1:26:49] >> No. No, sir. Should not.

[1:26:51] >> Good. Okay. Thank you.

[1:26:54] >> One quick question. Uh so a lot of

[1:26:57] cities and private industries have been

[1:26:59] held hostage, you know, had they call

[1:27:02] ransomware attacks. Yeah. Um and I don't

[1:27:05] want you to reveal what we do, but have

[1:27:06] we taken just in a general sense, have

[1:27:08] we taken steps to protect the city's

[1:27:11] files and essential information from

[1:27:13] those kind of attacks to the best degree

[1:27:15] we can?

[1:27:16] >> We absolutely do. We take that very

[1:27:18] seriously. My staff will tell you that's

[1:27:20] that is really priority number one with

[1:27:22] me. Yeah.

[1:27:23] >> Uh we are using some uh we're using

[1:27:26] Crowd Strike which is the leader in the

[1:27:28] industry. We're also doing backups uh

[1:27:30] where we send the backups off site and

[1:27:33] they can't they're what's called

[1:27:35] immutable uh so they can't be changed

[1:27:37] once they get there. If they were if

[1:27:40] ransomware was to hit us uh we could

[1:27:42] recover.

[1:27:44] I'm not sure how long it would take us

[1:27:46] to recover but we could recover without

[1:27:48] any any penalties.

[1:27:50] >> Would we have to pay the ransom? uh

[1:27:53] should not have to.

[1:27:54] >> Okay.

[1:27:56] >> But never say never,

[1:27:57] >> right?

[1:27:58] >> I've I've been told it's not if, but

[1:27:59] when so I don't want that to happen on

[1:28:02] my watch for

[1:28:03] >> We don't either. Thank you for all your

[1:28:05] great efforts and your staff. Thank you,

[1:28:07] Mayor.

[1:28:09] >> Thank you, Jeff. Thank you. And that was

[1:28:10] a good question. Cyber security is

[1:28:13] always a priority for us. So, uh, there

[1:28:15] are

[1:28:17] at least two cities I'm aware of in

[1:28:19] Kentucky in the last few years that have

[1:28:20] been subject to a sizeable ransomware

[1:28:22] attack. And so, um, even before then,

[1:28:25] and as Jeff said, it is always a

[1:28:27] priority. So, definitely something we're aware well aware of. Up next is

[1:28:32] GIS by manager Will Carpenter. And just

[1:28:35] as a quick reminder, GIS functions as a

[1:28:37] partnership between the city, the

[1:28:39] county, OMU, and RWR where we partner to

[1:28:42] provide Will and his staff and uh we

[1:28:45] share those costs, each paying one

[1:28:46] quarter of that cost. It's a good

[1:28:48] partnership for us. It's been in place

[1:28:49] now for what probably 20 years or a

[1:28:51] little bit more.

[1:28:51] >> That's right.

[1:28:52] >> Uh and hopefully continues for many

[1:28:53] years in the future. It allows us to

[1:28:54] have a better service than we could each

[1:28:56] have individually. And so they provide a

[1:28:58] lot of good data that we can we can

[1:28:59] share among those partners.

[1:29:02] Mayor, commissioners, thank you for this

[1:29:04] opportunity to discuss

[1:29:05] >> closer to the mic if you would please.

[1:29:07] It's on. I just

[1:29:08] >> just Okay.

[1:29:11] >> Get a little closer.

[1:29:13] >> All those fans we got at home, they will

[1:29:14] make sure they can hear you.

[1:29:15] >> That's right. That's right. Uh mayor,

[1:29:17] commission, and thank you for this

[1:29:18] opportunity to discuss the upcoming

[1:29:20] budget for the uh GIS consortium as led

[1:29:23] by the city of Owensboro. I'm Will

[1:29:24] Carpenter, the GIS manager. As already

[1:29:26] mentioned, the GIS uh is an enterprise

[1:29:29] fund uh with one quarter of the budget

[1:29:32] coming from the city and one quarter

[1:29:34] from OMU, RWA and fiscal court.

[1:29:38] Uh the primary I guess the highest

[1:29:41] profile uh customer of our GIS services

[1:29:44] is central dispatch, consolidated

[1:29:46] dispatch. Uh the the way that the

[1:29:49] dispatching works is uh the call is

[1:29:52] lands on one of the maps that we

[1:29:54] maintain. uh and that's how the that's

[1:29:57] how they locate and route the the best

[1:29:59] responder for your particular type of

[1:30:01] call. In addition, we support a number

[1:30:03] of uh of reference layers that provide

[1:30:06] more information to the dispatcher and

[1:30:08] to the responders about what the what

[1:30:11] additional information will affect how

[1:30:13] they respond, what direction they need

[1:30:14] to come from, and what other

[1:30:15] considerations they may have. In

[1:30:17] addition to to uh 911 dispatching, we do

[1:30:22] work with uh with uh the the other

[1:30:24] partners as well. RWA, for example, has

[1:30:27] an ongoing project of of uh improving

[1:30:30] the the mapping of their service taps

[1:30:33] into the main as they and that's an

[1:30:35] interesting project as it's a byproduct

[1:30:37] of their normal operations. as they are

[1:30:39] inventorying and and and inspecting the the mains, the locations of the taps

[1:30:45] coming can have a better location as uh

[1:30:49] on the map. So in addition to that, we

[1:30:52] do a variety of projects for RWR and

[1:30:54] fiscal court, especially with uh search

[1:30:56] and rescue and uh Davis County Emergency

[1:30:59] Management.

[1:31:01] Uh the budget has changed slightly uh

[1:31:03] where we have a an increase in our

[1:31:06] software maintenance. That's because our

[1:31:07] primary software vendor has changed

[1:31:09] their distribution model and the prices

[1:31:11] have gone up. Uh now to be fair to them,

[1:31:14] the price hasn't changed in about 15

[1:31:16] years. So they're kind of making up for

[1:31:18] lost time, but that will be a uh that

[1:31:21] increase will continue going forward.

[1:31:23] The other significant change is in the

[1:31:26] technical uh or under supplies under

[1:31:28] computer equipment where we're one of

[1:31:30] our staff members is scheduled for a

[1:31:32] routine replacement of equipment. uh

[1:31:34] being a small shop like we are with

[1:31:36] three full-time staff and one part-time

[1:31:39] uh a single purchase of a PC represents

[1:31:41] a bump when it happens. Uh with that,

[1:31:44] I'm happy to entertain any questions you

[1:31:46] may have.

[1:31:53] >> Thank you, Will.

[1:31:58] » Next, we'll hear from Chief James Howard

[1:32:01] of the Owensboro Fire Department.

[1:32:13] Hello everybody.

[1:32:17] Honorable uh mayor and city

[1:32:19] commissioners want to thank uh each of

[1:32:22] you for having me back again this year

[1:32:23] to discuss the resource needs of our

[1:32:26] fire department. We OFD uh continue to

[1:32:29] appreciate your support as well as the

[1:32:31] support of the Onsboro community as we

[1:32:33] go about the business of saving lives

[1:32:35] and protecting property here in our

[1:32:36] community. I'm proud to be here as fire

[1:32:39] chief once again to represent not only

[1:32:40] our members but also those we protect to

[1:32:43] champion a budget request that seeks to

[1:32:45] not only maintain progress but also to

[1:32:47] engage in continuous improvement to move

[1:32:49] our department forward.

[1:32:52] So our uh okay, it's already up there.

[1:32:54] our uh on this slide here to the left,

[1:32:56] you'll see that our projected total

[1:32:57] budget for fiscal year 27 is $18,50,850.

[1:33:03] And as you see on the slide, that's a

[1:33:04] modest 3% increase from fiscal year 26.

[1:33:09] Of the total budget amount, just over

[1:33:10] 81% of that goes to personnel costs.

[1:33:13] Obviously, the the vast majority of the

[1:33:15] funds go to pay for our people,

[1:33:16] salaries, and benefits.

[1:33:18] the 3% increase in the personnel costs

[1:33:21] uh from last year to this or from the

[1:33:24] current fiscal year to the next uh is

[1:33:26] the driver of the overall increase for

[1:33:28] our proposal for fiscal year 27.

[1:33:31] On this slide here you can see that

[1:33:33] there are a couple of other areas that

[1:33:34] are noted in our budget request

[1:33:36] indicated such as maintenance and

[1:33:38] capital. The increased funding request

[1:33:41] for maintenance is due to rising cost uh

[1:33:44] of tending our buildings and our fleet

[1:33:45] of apparatus. believe the city manager

[1:33:47] alluded to the the cost of those things

[1:33:48] earlier in the presentation. The

[1:33:51] increase in the capital expenses is due

[1:33:53] to rising costs for the replacement plan

[1:33:55] that helps us to cycle out older

[1:33:57] equipment and allows for new apparatus

[1:34:00] to be procured that meets the needs of

[1:34:02] tomorrow instead of yesterday. Uh other

[1:34:05] aspects of our budget that aren't aren't

[1:34:07] on this slide except included in the

[1:34:08] total budget amount include our

[1:34:10] supplies, our utilities, and other

[1:34:12] miscellaneous areas that you may have

[1:34:14] questions about here today. And if you

[1:34:16] do, I'll do my best to answer those for

[1:34:17] you. Bless you.

[1:34:21] >> Yeah, I think we all do.

[1:34:26] So, here on this slide, you see a few

[1:34:28] highlights uh for the fire department

[1:34:30] proposal for fiscal year 27. uh with a

[1:34:33] budget the size of ours, obviously now

[1:34:34] that we've crept over uh 18 million, you

[1:34:37] can imagine that there are a lot of

[1:34:38] details that are involved for us to be

[1:34:40] able to provide the services that we do,

[1:34:42] including fire prevention, first

[1:34:44] responder training, and a robust

[1:34:46] emergency response capability. Today,

[1:34:49] I'd like to highlight on, as you can see

[1:34:51] on this slide, just a few of the

[1:34:52] opportunities we're looking forward to

[1:34:54] seizing upon in fiscal year 27. So

[1:34:57] you're all aware that our fire

[1:34:59] department achieved accredited status

[1:35:00] from the commission for fire

[1:35:02] accreditation international recently at

[1:35:04] a conference in Orlando. Hope you also

[1:35:06] know that this was the culmination of

[1:35:08] five years of work and that our 2022 to

[1:35:11] 2027 strategic plan played a central

[1:35:14] role in that accreditation effort.

[1:35:17] Over the next year, we're looking

[1:35:19] forward to partnering with that

[1:35:20] accrediting entity to collaborate on the

[1:35:22] development of our next strategic plan

[1:35:24] using consultants from their technical

[1:35:26] assistance program.

[1:35:29] Next uh next bullet that you see there

[1:35:31] are uh I want to reference our training

[1:35:33] which is a critical aspect of our budget

[1:35:35] every year and more importantly it's a

[1:35:38] critical aspect of our culture on an

[1:35:40] ongoing basis at OFD. In August, we look

[1:35:43] forward to beginning to conduct the

[1:35:45] largest recruit class that our agency

[1:35:47] has seen for decades. When our talented

[1:35:49] staff will take what we expect to be

[1:35:52] most likely at least 12 and as many as

[1:35:54] 15 recruits and introduce them to the

[1:35:57] skills that will prepare them to save

[1:35:59] lives and protect property in this

[1:36:00] community for many years to come. Our

[1:36:02] budget request includes a learning

[1:36:04] management software that'll improve

[1:36:07] administration and credentiing for this

[1:36:09] effort as well as dynamic a dynamic

[1:36:11] movable wall system that'll challenge

[1:36:13] new and experienced firefighters uh this

[1:36:16] year and beyond.

[1:36:19] The third bullet there is in reference

[1:36:21] to our uh an aspect of our fire

[1:36:23] prevention. So last year, our new new

[1:36:25] fire marshal, Brian Roberts, who you're

[1:36:26] all familiar with now. He took the

[1:36:28] reigns of our fire prevention division

[1:36:30] has been looking to improve upon the

[1:36:32] three pillars of that division over the

[1:36:34] past few months.

[1:36:36] While he continues to make strides, and

[1:36:38] our department does in code enforcement

[1:36:39] and public education, our fire marshal

[1:36:42] is employing his passion for fire

[1:36:44] investigations to modernize our

[1:36:46] department's approach with the use of

[1:36:47] new software, evidence collection

[1:36:49] equipment, and the development of our

[1:36:51] shift investigator program. Lastly on

[1:36:55] this slide, but not least by any means,

[1:36:57] uh this last highlight concerns taking

[1:36:59] advantage of emerging technologies and

[1:37:02] rescue equipment to make sure that we're

[1:37:03] on the cutting edge of new developments

[1:37:05] in our industry. A couple of investments

[1:37:07] we're proposing in the coming year

[1:37:09] include a uh or include a set of battery

[1:37:12] operated struts for vehicle extrication

[1:37:14] that reduce the time that it takes to

[1:37:16] safely work in or near overturned

[1:37:19] vehicles and an underwater drone that

[1:37:21] could be deployed before or in addition

[1:37:23] to divers who respond to our water

[1:37:26] bodies to assist with searches for

[1:37:28] people and sometimes even objects or

[1:37:30] both.

[1:37:31] Uh so with those highlights uh noted, I

[1:37:34] want to thank you again for your time

[1:37:35] and let you know that I'll be glad to

[1:37:37] elaborate and give my best answer to any

[1:37:38] questions you might have for me today.

[1:37:40] >> Question, please.

[1:37:43] » I've got two. The first is uh and this

[1:37:47] is more about policy than the specific

[1:37:49] example. So we encountered two of your

[1:37:51] firefighters driving a vehicle back that

[1:37:53] I guess you've had a lot of problems

[1:37:54] with. I think it's a supply vehicle and

[1:37:57] they had to take it go pick it up in

[1:37:58] Ohio after it was repaired and bring it

[1:38:00] back. Does that ring a bell at all? Uh

[1:38:03] >> yeah, I'm very familiar with that.

[1:38:04] >> They referred to it as Satan. Okay.

[1:38:06] Because they'd had so many problems with

[1:38:08] it. And I'm just wondering, so the

[1:38:10] question cheap is not that. It's when we

[1:38:12] get a lemon or we get a vehicle that we

[1:38:14] purchase that doesn't, you know, doesn't

[1:38:16] work to the specs we need it to. What's

[1:38:18] our policy? How do we handle that?

[1:38:20] because it seems to me like you're being

[1:38:21] cheated out of equipment you need to do

[1:38:23] your job.

[1:38:24] >> Well, there's a process. So, sometimes

[1:38:26] you have a less than ideal experience

[1:38:27] with a vendor or it may not even be the

[1:38:30] manufacturer. It could be things that

[1:38:32] you do in the upfitting of the unit uh

[1:38:35] the unit that you referenced. We don't

[1:38:36] officially call it Satan, but

[1:38:39] >> sorry, but

[1:38:40] >> I was highly entertained. It is an

[1:38:42] apparatus that uh that we had delivery

[1:38:44] of that we've uh we've uh had some

[1:38:48] ongoing issues with to try to to get it

[1:38:50] on the road and is on the road now. And

[1:38:52] uh like any any anything that big that's

[1:38:54] on the road that has a lot of moving

[1:38:55] parts and does what our trucks do, it's

[1:38:57] going to have ongoing issues with it. Uh

[1:38:59] I'll say if you if you get a unit, I

[1:39:01] mean that's what warranties are for

[1:39:03] upfront as far as the unit itself. And

[1:39:05] uh I mean and this goes through any any

[1:39:08] purchase that the city has on that

[1:39:09] scale. uh whether it's a a sanitation

[1:39:12] truck, fire truck, police cars, any any

[1:39:15] kind of car, uh they're going to have

[1:39:17] some kind of warranty on them. So that

[1:39:18] that's your first uh first line of

[1:39:20] defense against those problems. Uh

[1:39:22] sometimes you run into issues that are

[1:39:25] kind of on the line there where it's not

[1:39:26] clear that it's a warranty issue and we

[1:39:28] do work with multiple vendors because

[1:39:30] there's upfitting in addition to the

[1:39:32] original uh manufacturer of the unit. Uh

[1:39:35] so I say it really depends on when the

[1:39:36] issue happens and and what the issue is.

[1:39:39] it. But I say warranties are what

[1:39:41] protect you from that and some of the

[1:39:42] issues that we're dealing with are not

[1:39:43] strictly warranty issues and I hate to

[1:39:46] go into too much more detail on that

[1:39:47] specific. And then the other question I

[1:39:49] have is there was a proposal you talked

[1:39:51] about a couple years ago and I think the

[1:39:53] training has begun where they're trying

[1:39:55] to and I don't know what it's called the

[1:39:57] official label but it's where the police

[1:39:59] go into a a live shooter an active

[1:40:01] shooter situation and there's enough gap

[1:40:04] that you can bring firefighters in to

[1:40:06] treat some of the injured while the

[1:40:08] police are still in the building either

[1:40:10] looking for the person or securing the

[1:40:11] site. Are we still going through

[1:40:13] training and that? I don't know what

[1:40:14] it's called. I apologize. I know there's

[1:40:16] an official name for it but Yeah. Uh

[1:40:18] mass casualty incidents and live shooter

[1:40:20] incidents are uh are a tremendous risk.

[1:40:23] Fortunately, very low low frequency but

[1:40:25] very high risk whenever they do occur.

[1:40:27] And our uh our training division has uh

[1:40:29] collaborated with the police department

[1:40:31] to provide training. We target a lot of

[1:40:33] that towards our paramedics now that we

[1:40:35] are a licensed agency and have medics

[1:40:37] and they are uh they are trained for a

[1:40:40] tactical response once again that is in

[1:40:42] coordination with the police department.

[1:40:44] Uh and you you've seen in the past and

[1:40:46] we'll be replacing these in the next

[1:40:47] fiscal year that we have ballistic vests

[1:40:49] and uh and our folks once again they're

[1:40:52] trained u especially to stop bleeding

[1:40:55] that's specifically from gunshots even

[1:40:57] high calibers. Uh so that's that's just

[1:41:00] built into the understanding of the risk

[1:41:02] that that unfortunately exists in our

[1:41:03] society and our community or or the

[1:41:06] potential for that. So so yeah, we're training for that. We're fortunate

[1:41:10] to live in a county where our county

[1:41:12] responders and our city responders are

[1:41:13] all in a forwardleaning posture with

[1:41:15] making sure that we're proactive to be

[1:41:17] working together between law enforcement

[1:41:18] and fire. And I'd like to say I believe

[1:41:21] that our police and fire department work

[1:41:23] together as well or better than they

[1:41:24] ever have in the in the history of this

[1:41:26] community and and pretty proud of that.

[1:41:28] And that's definitely a an area where

[1:41:31] you see that collaboration uh take hold

[1:41:34] and and where you understand that it's

[1:41:35] extremely important. And there are

[1:41:36] certain aspects of how that works and

[1:41:38] how you embed uh medics into that scene

[1:41:41] and what we're looking to do versus what

[1:41:43] the police department is there for. But

[1:41:46] uh but together that effort is to

[1:41:47] obviously to make that to make that

[1:41:49] scene safe and normal again and try to

[1:41:51] get out anybody that can that needs help

[1:41:53] and uh and then they investigate after

[1:41:55] that.

[1:41:56] >> Thank you for all your great work, your

[1:41:58] accreditation and thank you mayor.

[1:42:00] >> I appreciate it.

[1:42:01] >> Public safety elected officials number

[1:42:03] one job.

[1:42:04] >> I appreciate that as well. Thank you.

[1:42:10] » Arm wrestle for it,

[1:42:11] >> I'll tell you. Um, just a quick

[1:42:13] question. The 12 to 15 new recruits, is

[1:42:16] that uh I know that's in your budget for

[1:42:18] next year. Uh, is that an addition or is

[1:42:21] that taking care of retention issues?

[1:42:24] >> It's it's primarily retention. It's

[1:42:26] almost retention. Uh, the uh you know,

[1:42:29] we I mean, you've know because we've

[1:42:31] brought up and done the retirement

[1:42:32] recognitions in here and we're proud of

[1:42:34] those folks, but you start to lose

[1:42:36] bodies and it uh it puts a strain on the

[1:42:37] agency. So, uh so we're up to about 10

[1:42:41] vacancies by the end of this month and

[1:42:43] we expect another couple folks to leave.

[1:42:45] So, we're just creeping up there where

[1:42:46] that's just to replenish the bodies that

[1:42:48] we have budgeted. Uh there are no new

[1:42:50] positions budgeted in the in fiscal year

[1:42:52] 27 for the fire department. We uh we're

[1:42:56] finishing up this year with 100 uh

[1:42:58] uniform positions budgeted and that's

[1:43:00] what we're going to uh try to get back

[1:43:02] up to in fiscal year 27 as soon as we

[1:43:05] get this recruit class done.

[1:43:07] >> Are our uh the people that are leaving

[1:43:09] are they retiring or do we have uh are

[1:43:12] we losing them to other places?

[1:43:14] >> Well, it's a mix. But most most of them

[1:43:17] are retiring. But like I said, like

[1:43:18] you've seen probably about a half dozen

[1:43:20] folks in the last four months that we

[1:43:22] come up here and try to say some nice

[1:43:23] words about them, wish them well. Uh and

[1:43:26] then there are other ones uh who uh

[1:43:29] probably about 40% of the ones that

[1:43:31] leave are either going to another

[1:43:33] department, getting out of the fire

[1:43:34] service altogether, uh or uh something

[1:43:38] happens that wasn't really in the cards

[1:43:40] uh going into the into the year. uh and

[1:43:43] uh that person or the or the agency

[1:43:45] needs to shift gears and they don't

[1:43:47] continue on with us. But uh but yeah, so

[1:43:49] it's a mix. It's it's mostly

[1:43:51] retirements, but you know, we it is

[1:43:53] getting to be more the case where you'll

[1:43:56] have more folks leaving at 3 years, 5

[1:43:58] years, seven years, 10 years where 30

[1:44:01] years ago when you hired folks, for the

[1:44:03] most part, you kept those people for 25

[1:44:05] years. Uh it's, you know, the culture is

[1:44:07] changing, the the fire service is

[1:44:10] changing a little bit.

[1:44:11] >> Yeah. Well, I agree with the culture

[1:44:12] changing because I I know when you got a

[1:44:14] job a long time ago, you hoped you would

[1:44:16] be able to retire from there and now I I

[1:44:19] don't have the exact news statistics,

[1:44:21] but people starting at like from age 30

[1:44:24] are expected to change jobs x number of

[1:44:26] times in in their career. So, just was

[1:44:28] curious about the addition. Thank you.

[1:44:31] >> Sure, Commissioner Sford.

[1:44:33] >> U Thank you, Mayor. You got quite

[1:44:37] a little further detail. Uh the 3% in

[1:44:40] your personnel budget, does that cover

[1:44:41] the new hires that you're going to be

[1:44:43] hiring?

[1:44:44] >> Uh well, that 3% is

[1:44:46] >> or is that just or is that like for

[1:44:48] raises or or is it a combination or

[1:44:50] >> uh that I mean that just constitutes the different amount that has to be

[1:44:55] budgeted to cover the cola and the steps

[1:44:56] for the employees?

[1:44:57] >> Okay. Okay. Thank you.

[1:44:59] >> Yeah.

[1:45:02] Anybody else?

[1:45:04] >> Okay. Thank you.

[1:45:06] >> Thank you, Chief.

[1:45:06] >> Appreciate your time.

[1:45:10] Elvis is in the building.

[1:45:15] » Thank you, Chief. Uh, you asked about

[1:45:17] turnover. We're actually we're compiling

[1:45:19] a report. We track turnover relatively

[1:45:21] closely. And so, we're compiling a

[1:45:23] turnover report now that we'll probably

[1:45:25] present that to you sometime in in

[1:45:27] summer.

[1:45:29] >> That'll be citywide too by department,

[1:45:30] not just not just OFD. Uh, next

[1:45:33] department to present will be the

[1:45:35] finance department. And of course,

[1:45:36] Angela Winger is the director of that

[1:45:39] department. Today, the briefing will

[1:45:41] come from Deputy Director D. Galloway.

[1:45:45] >> Hi, Mayor and Commissioners. D Galloway,

[1:45:47] deputy director of finance and support

[1:45:49] services. Thank you for the opportunity

[1:45:51] to present the finance budget for 2627.

[1:45:55] Finance is one of the support service

[1:45:57] departments that we provide services to

[1:46:00] the other city departments that make

[1:46:02] city operations possible. This budget

[1:46:05] supports an incredible team of 17

[1:46:07] full-time staff and three part-time

[1:46:09] staff.

[1:46:11] As reflected in the slide, our budget of

[1:46:14] $2.6 million is up about 10%.

[1:46:19] 155,000 of that is in our personnel area

[1:46:22] and as discussed prior it's the COLA the

[1:46:24] step increase in health insurance cost

[1:46:27] and it's also a budget for a retirement

[1:46:30] that we have in the finance department

[1:46:31] coming up this next year under

[1:46:34] maintenance we're up about $16,000.

[1:46:37] It looks like a large percentage but

[1:46:39] it's because the budget is typically

[1:46:41] very small. We have gotten purchased a

[1:46:44] new budget software system that will

[1:46:47] help us do the annual budget and prepare

[1:46:49] it. Um and that maintenance cost will

[1:46:52] kick in next year for that software. So

[1:46:54] that's where the increase comes. And we

[1:46:56] also have some upgrades to Adobe because

[1:46:58] the finance department leans very

[1:47:00] heavily on Adobe and Adobe Acrobat's

[1:47:03] use. The final category where you see

[1:47:06] the most of our increase is in the other

[1:47:08] which is up about $63,000.

[1:47:11] that increase is due to just a kind of

[1:47:14] culture change. We're seeing a lot of

[1:47:16] use of credit card to pay bills. Um, and

[1:47:21] of course the city pays a credit card

[1:47:22] fee. The good news is that there is an

[1:47:25] increase in the expense side, but

[1:47:27] there's also an increase in the revenue

[1:47:29] side for that because we do a merchant

[1:47:31] fee. So, we do recoup some of that cost.

[1:47:34] Um, and you would see that in the

[1:47:35] general fund revenue side. Um, that's

[1:47:38] the presentation for my budget. If you

[1:47:40] have any questions, I'd be happy to try

[1:47:42] to answer them.

[1:47:43] >> Questions?

[1:47:46] » D, we may need to go to Angela on this

[1:47:48] because she's the one that mentioned it

[1:47:50] in her in her wonderful video that you

[1:47:52] did. Uh, so you guys are talking about

[1:47:55] digitizing a lot of the the budget and financial information, which I think

[1:48:00] is great. Will that include the books so

[1:48:03] that we don't have will it all go

[1:48:05] digital?

[1:48:06] >> So that's why I'm looking at Angela.

[1:48:08] >> Yes, Mayor. Mayor Pro Tim. Yes. Uh it's

[1:48:10] uh Claregov is the vendor and uh we will

[1:48:14] have a different book but also uh with

[1:48:18] that um that program we'll have a new

[1:48:21] online budget book which will actually

[1:48:22] be uh ADA compliant and it will also be

[1:48:26] interactive so that residents can yeah

[1:48:30] they can search things they can um I

[1:48:32] believe they can even ask questions um

[1:48:34] and so we haven't uh started programming

[1:48:37] that process yet but that'll be

[1:48:39] something we take on soon. We'll have it

[1:48:41] maybe next year. We we'll we'll have it

[1:48:43] available for the next budget.

[1:48:45] >> Wonderful.

[1:48:45] >> Um and this is probably a Nate question.

[1:48:48] So our base step increase they get every

[1:48:51] year is 2 what?

[1:48:54] >> I believe for every year service the

[1:48:56] base step is 1.45%.

[1:48:59] >> And then the 3% increase is that on top

[1:49:01] of that step so they getting four or are

[1:49:03] they getting a total of three?

[1:49:05] >> Well, so

[1:49:07] yes. So essentially the paychart is

[1:49:11] where every year of service when you

[1:49:13] progress you increase at 1.45%.

[1:49:16] And then the entire chart is adjusted

[1:49:19] this year proposing 3%. So it is it is

[1:49:22] additive.

[1:49:24] >> Okay.

[1:49:25] >> So it's four or it's a total of three

[1:49:27] four three four five.

[1:49:29] >> Okay. That's what I wanted to make sure.

[1:49:30] That's kind of what I I just wanted to

[1:49:32] make sure. Okay. Thank you uh D and

[1:49:34] Angela and all your staff for the

[1:49:36] incredible award-winning work you do.

[1:49:41] >> You say anything about our raise.

[1:49:44] >> Well, you guys get the same as as the

[1:49:47] rest of us actually. So, it is supplied

[1:49:49] blanket across the the organization.

[1:49:53] >> Okay.

[1:49:54] >> Yeah. Actually, Angela has something

[1:49:55] she'd like to add.

[1:49:57] >> Yeah. I I think uh this might be an

[1:49:59] appropriate moment to recognize uh Da

[1:50:01] Galloway and Carrie Haynes and and

[1:50:04] others coming down the pike, but D and

[1:50:07] Carrie have obtained their certified

[1:50:09] government finance officer certification

[1:50:12] and that's a lot of hard work and seven

[1:50:15] I believe tests

[1:50:17] >> Deiana passed also. So there's three.

[1:50:19] >> There we go. and and so I just think

[1:50:21] that's uh something very worthy and I'm

[1:50:24] so very proud of them and that that's

[1:50:26] indicative of a lot of government

[1:50:28] accounting knowledge. So I just wanted

[1:50:30] to take this opportunity to recognize

[1:50:31] them for that.

[1:50:32] >> Well done.

[1:50:35] >> And that's part of the reason you're

[1:50:36] seeing more of them present here as

[1:50:38] well, right? Their expertise is far

[1:50:40] surpasses mine in these things. So I

[1:50:41] thought it was best for for them to

[1:50:43] present directly to you as well as a

[1:50:45] continued step in that development.

[1:50:48] Uh so thank you for that D. We'll move

[1:50:51] on now to Josh Bachmire. Josh of course

[1:50:54] is the uh will transition. He's been the

[1:50:57] HR manager and this year actually he's

[1:50:59] becoming the HR director and some

[1:51:01] restructuring we'll talk about at a

[1:51:02] later date but Josh if you would

[1:51:04] proceed.

[1:51:05] >> Sure.

[1:51:05] >> Thank you Nate. Good afternoon mayor

[1:51:07] commissioners. I'm Josh

[1:51:10] currently the HR manager uh I guess soon

[1:51:13] to be the HR director. uh and we'll kind

[1:51:16] of bring you an update on on some of the

[1:51:17] functional changes within with our

[1:51:19] department our department at a later

[1:51:21] date. So our our department consists of

[1:51:24] six full-time staff. Uh we handle safety

[1:51:27] and risk management, employee benefits,

[1:51:29] recruiting, training, payroll, records

[1:51:31] among many others. But uh the HR budget

[1:51:35] and staffing levels remain consistent

[1:51:37] with last year. uh overall increase from

[1:51:40] uh fiscal year 25 26 by 1%.

[1:51:45] Um

[1:51:46] the increases in personnel services

[1:51:48] which you've seen with the other

[1:51:50] departments uh in our department it's

[1:51:52] mainly driven by a couple of upcoming

[1:51:54] retirees who I'd like also to um um give

[1:51:59] some credit to Michelle Pucket. Uh she

[1:52:01] has served since 2002 and Elaine Timmel

[1:52:05] uh has served since 1997. and Michelle

[1:52:08] does payroll administration and we are

[1:52:10] currently training her replacement uh

[1:52:12] right now and then uh within the next

[1:52:15] few days we'll be interviewing for

[1:52:17] Elaine's position for her upcoming

[1:52:19] retirement. Both of them will be greatly missed uh and provided

[1:52:23] tremendous service to the city over the

[1:52:25] years. Uh on the expense side um

[1:52:28] maintenance is up uh 17% which Nate Nate

[1:52:31] alluded to as well as several other

[1:52:33] departments. um that is due to in

[1:52:37] software increases uh for we we also use

[1:52:39] quite a bit of software for recruiting

[1:52:42] applicant tracking um basically it's our

[1:52:46] his systems uh the other category um

[1:52:50] this contains uh many different items

[1:52:53] but but contains recruitment uh safety

[1:52:57] costs and training costs and some

[1:52:59] tuition reimbursement. The overall 10%

[1:53:02] reduction in this category reflects uh

[1:53:05] really just a fewer expected vacancies

[1:53:07] due to retirement that we expect over

[1:53:10] the next year. Uh so that reflects just

[1:53:12] a small reduction in in recruiting

[1:53:14] activity along with some uh adjustments

[1:53:16] in how we're going to allocate some

[1:53:18] advertising resources which obviously

[1:53:20] that's a big big part of our budget. Uh

[1:53:23] that's all I have. If I if you have any

[1:53:25] questions I'm happy to answer.

[1:53:28] >> Commissioner Glenn. So, EPS, employee

[1:53:32] assistance programs are designed and I

[1:53:34] assume we subcontract that out. But if a

[1:53:37] individual has an addiction or a problem

[1:53:40] where they need counseling, including

[1:53:42] some of our first responders, what is

[1:53:44] our policy particularly with addiction

[1:53:47] in terms of bringing them back is our

[1:53:49] inclination to go, well, we've helped

[1:53:50] you and that's good. We've helped you

[1:53:52] with your life, but we can't bring you

[1:53:53] back in your position. How do we treat

[1:53:55] that? And I know that's a really

[1:53:56] sensitive issue that you you may have to

[1:53:59] deal with a couple of times, maybe more

[1:54:00] than a couple times a year.

[1:54:01] >> We do. So So typically that happens one

[1:54:03] of two ways. Uh we either catch them

[1:54:06] through um you know, drug um testing,

[1:54:10] which which we do with all of our all of

[1:54:12] our departments and and some departments

[1:54:14] have different levels, you know, due to

[1:54:16] FTA requirements. Uh so we do have an

[1:54:19] EIP program. Uh it's administered

[1:54:21] through Owensboro Health. uh we can make

[1:54:24] referrals to that program or it can also

[1:54:27] be on a voluntary basis. So if it's

[1:54:29] voluntary, we know nothing about it. Uh

[1:54:32] we get basically um basically how many

[1:54:36] visits per month um you know what

[1:54:38] they're visiting for but really no

[1:54:40] protected health information. Now if

[1:54:43] it's mandatory and and we do this

[1:54:45] regularly as well. So, so you know, an

[1:54:48] employee tests positive for for a

[1:54:50] narcotic or drug. Typically, if it's

[1:54:53] first time offense, um we remove them

[1:54:55] from the workforce, um you know,

[1:54:57] especially almost all of our positions

[1:54:59] are safety sensitive. Uh we mandate that

[1:55:02] they uh meet with an EAP counselor.

[1:55:05] depending on if it's DOT or non-DOOT,

[1:55:07] they're they're treated a little bit

[1:55:08] differently, but really at the end of

[1:55:10] the day, we're taking the recommendation

[1:55:12] of the substance abuse professional on

[1:55:15] when they first they have to test

[1:55:17] negative and then they're allowed to

[1:55:18] return to work upon

[1:55:20] >> be like somebody driving a vehicle like

[1:55:22] a correct bus driver

[1:55:23] >> or or working with kids or Yeah. Yeah.

[1:55:26] >> Okay. So, the second and last question I

[1:55:28] have is we had the huge pay increase a

[1:55:30] few years ago in response to the the end

[1:55:33] of a pension. Uh, and I guess you're the

[1:55:37] best person to ask, has that stemmed the

[1:55:40] run to the exits to the private sector

[1:55:42] and and retirement? I mean, I just heard

[1:55:45] the fire chief indicate kind of no. Uh,

[1:55:48] or are we going to have to do another

[1:55:50] huge boost in pay uh to continue to

[1:55:54] address that that gap?

[1:55:56] >> Uh, I I feel the city is in pretty good

[1:55:58] shape relative to other public

[1:56:00] employers. Unfortunately, public

[1:56:02] employers don't don't often compete with

[1:56:04] private. We're always going to have a

[1:56:07] level of turnover. Um, most of our

[1:56:10] turnover is due to retirements, which is

[1:56:12] still a good thing. But, you know, since tier three was implemented, you

[1:56:17] know, at the state level, those folks

[1:56:19] just don't have the same reasons to stay

[1:56:21] with a public employer for near as long

[1:56:23] as they once did. Um, some of that has

[1:56:27] slowed down. uh pro that's probably more

[1:56:29] a function of of a little bit loosening

[1:56:31] of the labor market. Um but um um but

[1:56:35] with tier three, we really have to make

[1:56:37] efforts to to start competing with

[1:56:40] private to keep to keep good employees.

[1:56:43] >> Thank you very much, Josh. And again, we

[1:56:45] appreciate all the great work you and

[1:56:46] your staff do.

[1:56:47] >> And thank you all.

[1:56:52] » Any other questions for Josh?

[1:56:54] >> Okay.

[1:56:54] >> I didn't think there was

[1:56:57] Okay, thank you Josh. Next up is uh OPD

[1:57:01] Chief Art Elum.

[1:57:16] » Mr. Mayor, commissioners, good

[1:57:19] afternoon.

[1:57:21] >> Want to talk to you about our budget

[1:57:24] requests this year. Um, as many people

[1:57:27] have stated prior to me getting here,

[1:57:30] uh, our budgets up to nearly 21 million.

[1:57:34] Uh, 4% of that is due to, uh, there's an

[1:57:37] increase.

[1:57:39] The large percentage of our increase is

[1:57:41] due to personnel, cost of living, uh,

[1:57:44] our step increase. We too have some, uh,

[1:57:50] expected retirements this year. So

[1:57:53] retirement contingencies account for

[1:57:55] some of that as well.

[1:57:58] Also, you'll notice a increase in our

[1:58:01] maintenance vehicle maintenance and

[1:58:03] equipment. Uh as you know, officers have

[1:58:06] mobile offices that require a lot of

[1:58:09] work. They drive all the time. So with

[1:58:12] camera systems, maintenance to vehicles

[1:58:15] that that increased this year do in part

[1:58:18] as well to when we seize vehicles over

[1:58:22] the years. We used to use drug asset

[1:58:24] forfeite funds to maintain the cars that

[1:58:27] were uh turned over to the police

[1:58:30] department, but we've noticed over the

[1:58:32] years that that some of those vehicles

[1:58:34] are not up to standard. So they require

[1:58:36] considerable maintenance. So, we were

[1:58:39] fortunate enough to get approval to have

[1:58:42] uh facilities maintenance and um public

[1:58:45] works work on those vehicles from time

[1:58:47] to time for us. So, that that is a

[1:58:49] benefit as well, but that prevents the

[1:58:53] city from having to buy vehicles for our

[1:58:55] street crimes unit and for officers to

[1:58:58] work undercover details and such. So, a

[1:59:01] lot of times you might see somebody in a Jeep where we don't buy Jeeps for, you

[1:59:06] know, the department, but they might be

[1:59:08] in something that was seized and

[1:59:09] converted.

[1:59:11] Um, in the other other category, there

[1:59:14] was a 15% increase that was largely due

[1:59:18] in part to insurance that was discussed

[1:59:20] by several different people here. I I

[1:59:22] would like to add though about the

[1:59:24] insurance. Uh I heard uh KLC, the

[1:59:27] Kentucky League of Cities. We recently

[1:59:30] were approved for our accredititation or

[1:59:34] reacredititation. So with that is like I

[1:59:36] think I believe it's a 10% savings on

[1:59:39] our insurance and it's not just

[1:59:41] accreditation but every year they come

[1:59:43] through and they do a report card. I'm

[1:59:46] sure you've seen it, Nate. And to make

[1:59:49] sure that our policies, our practices,

[1:59:52] we keep our buildings up, our range and

[1:59:54] things like that. So, they make sure

[1:59:56] that, you know, OPD or other agencies

[1:59:58] across the state that they ensure are

[2:00:01] meeting the standard and we always hit

[2:00:04] 100% on that. So

[2:00:08] see

[2:00:10] but

[2:00:12] highlights I I'll say this OPD

[2:00:15] traditionally and didn't just start with

[2:00:18] me. I don't have the art elim wish list.

[2:00:20] Uh we asked for the things that we need.

[2:00:23] So there's nothing new. I mean most of

[2:00:26] the things that we acquired last year

[2:00:28] satisfied you know what we needed in

[2:00:31] terms of equipment and things like that.

[2:00:33] So we we this year we don't have many

[2:00:36] equipment requests. So with that I'll

[2:00:39] open it up for questions.

[2:00:41] >> Are you fully staffed?

[2:00:43] >> Fully staffed. We are currently 10 down.

[2:00:45] >> 10 down still.

[2:00:46] >> Yes. Yes. We have u five in the academy.

[2:00:50] We have interviews set next week.

[2:00:53] Wednesday uh we'll be interviewing 10 uh

[2:00:57] potential recruits. Um but we also open

[2:01:00] the process. It's constant. So we have

[2:01:02] 10. And we know that all the 10 that

[2:01:05] apply won't make it for a variety of

[2:01:07] reasons. The police department just

[2:01:08] won't take anybody. So there was a

[2:01:11] battery of tests that they have to

[2:01:12] complete, not just physical, but

[2:01:15] psychological drug screens and all that.

[2:01:18] They have to sit through an interview.

[2:01:19] We do uh our people are very diligent in

[2:01:22] digging into people's backgrounds

[2:01:24] because how you hire is how you fire and we try to do the absolute best that

[2:01:28] we can but as you all know sometimes

[2:01:31] people slip through the cracks and uh so

[2:01:34] when that happens yes I heard you ask

[2:01:36] about attrition um a lot of retirements

[2:01:40] but sometimes we get people that

[2:01:42] probably don't need to be in law

[2:01:43] enforcement and once we figure it out we

[2:01:45] move them on or they've moved themselves

[2:01:47] on. So,

[2:01:52] » Commissioner Sam,

[2:01:54] >> uh, what's the lifespan of a vehicle?

[2:01:56] Just the guys that's out on the street

[2:01:58] doing patrol. What's the average

[2:01:59] lifespan?

[2:02:00] >> Uh, that probably just depends. Some

[2:02:04] vehicles don't get the miles, but seven

[2:02:07] to eight years um, and sometimes even

[2:02:10] 10.

[2:02:12] Just depending on the mileage. I think

[2:02:13] the mileage point is probably about

[2:02:15] 80,000 miles. So, thank you.

[2:02:21] » I just got one.

[2:02:22] >> So, last year we had all the hail damage

[2:02:25] and I know that we kind of I'm looking

[2:02:26] at Nate here to make sure I'm saying

[2:02:28] something accurate. If I'm not, Nate,

[2:02:29] feel free to throw some at me. So, we we

[2:02:32] kind of patched up, if I'm correct, some

[2:02:34] of the police vehicles because we needed

[2:02:36] them. We didn't fully replace them

[2:02:38] because it would have been too

[2:02:39] expensive. Are we at the point now, a

[2:02:41] year in, that we're going to begin

[2:02:43] looking maybe at a a system to replace

[2:02:45] the hail damage vehicles, or is that not

[2:02:48] even a need given that maybe it's just

[2:02:50] aesthetics? I mean, I have two hail

[2:02:52] damaged vehicles and it's just, you

[2:02:54] know, pimples on the fender. But I a

[2:02:56] police car is different. I mean, you

[2:02:58] need you need to not only be able to do

[2:03:00] your job effectively, but you also need

[2:03:02] to look professional. If you got bunch

[2:03:04] of hail damage that didn't get repaired,

[2:03:05] I don't I don't know what you look like

[2:03:07] out there. as explained to me like I

[2:03:10] drive a Tahoe and they basically did

[2:03:13] line of sight repair. So anybody six

[2:03:15] foot tall uh stands back 10 feet and

[2:03:19] they look and what they can see that's

[2:03:21] what was repaired. So do I run across

[2:03:24] people that are 6'5 and 66 and like hey

[2:03:26] you got dents on top of your car. I can

[2:03:28] tell you that I can't see them unless

[2:03:30] I'm looking out a window. So, uh, but

[2:03:33] typically those the police cruisers that

[2:03:36] had those types of damage, um, it could

[2:03:39] be seen. So, those probably were

[2:03:42] repaired and they wouldn't have been

[2:03:44] repaired if they are due to be auctioned

[2:03:46] off this year or next year. It's just a

[2:03:48] waste of money. So, we try to do

[2:03:49] everything that we can to save taxpayer

[2:03:52] dollars. And aesthetically, you're correct. They don't look good,

[2:03:56] but at the same time, it would be a

[2:03:58] waste of money to try to replace those

[2:03:59] vehicles at this point. Okay.

[2:04:02] >> Especially with the higher mileage. So,

[2:04:04] >> yeah, absolutely. Thank you for all you

[2:04:06] do. Appreciate it.

[2:04:07] >> Thank you.

[2:04:07] >> How's the academy going?

[2:04:09] >> The academy is going great. It is uh

[2:04:11] truly a game changer for us. Uh I can't

[2:04:14] tell you we get recruits uh people that

[2:04:17] otherwise wouldn't have applied to be in

[2:04:19] law enforcement because still to this

[2:04:21] day, they don't want to go and be away

[2:04:24] from home. And that is in Richmond,

[2:04:26] Kentucky or even Madisonville at that

[2:04:28] point. So they come here, they learn uh

[2:04:30] the ways of OPD, our county judges and

[2:04:34] officials, uh prosecutors and things

[2:04:36] like that. So it is a win-win. It it's

[2:04:39] slow going, but you know, we get people

[2:04:41] in. We got a lot of dedicated people at

[2:04:43] the Owensboro Police Department that

[2:04:45] wanted to be successful. So everybody

[2:04:48] wants to be an instructor because it

[2:04:50] it's great. You bring these people in,

[2:04:52] you grow your own. So uh it was a

[2:04:55] wonderful move by you all. I thank you

[2:04:58] and can't express my appreciation

[2:05:00] enough.

[2:05:03] » Any else have anything?

[2:05:06] >> Keep up the good work, Chief.

[2:05:07] >> All right. Thank you.

[2:05:08] >> Years and years and years.

[2:05:10] >> Yeah. 35 if you remember our last

[2:05:13] meeting.

[2:05:13] >> 35.

[2:05:17] » Up next, also a division within the

[2:05:20] police department is uh central dispatch

[2:05:23] as we call it. So, dispatch director

[2:05:25] Paul Nay will present his budget. The

[2:05:27] wizard.

[2:05:27] >> Wizard.

[2:05:29] >> That's me.

[2:05:31] >> Good afternoon, commissioners. Mayor, as

[2:05:34] you see, my budget is 15% up for the

[2:05:37] total budget. Personnel 6% again, cola

[2:05:40] and step maintenance is up 65%. The

[2:05:43] biggest increase is that is we're

[2:05:46] migrating to a new platform of telephone

[2:05:50] system that is for the 911 system. So

[2:05:53] we're migrating to a newer version and

[2:05:55] replacing the hardware and the software.

[2:05:56] So that's a significant increase. It's a

[2:05:58] must has to be has to be accomplished.

[2:06:01] Um the reducing supplies accreditation.

[2:06:04] We were accreditated through Kentucky

[2:06:06] Chiefs of Police for the third time this

[2:06:08] last year and so that was part of the

[2:06:10] cost reduction of capital that we no

[2:06:12] longer need in this this this fiscal

[2:06:15] year that we were placed in this last

[2:06:16] fiscal year.

[2:06:18] Next slide is one of the biggest

[2:06:20] increase changes that we've done is AI

[2:06:22] powered NG 911 specifically for the fire

[2:06:25] department. So as a call taker is on the

[2:06:28] radio with the fire department, it

[2:06:30] transcribes the radio in real time and

[2:06:33] if they say mayday or officer down or

[2:06:35] second alarm, it highlights that in red

[2:06:36] so they don't miss that traffic and it

[2:06:39] keeps the firefighters safe. And we're

[2:06:41] and with this nearest budget, we're

[2:06:43] adding the NG 911 AS and two are

[2:06:46] incorporating to our budget.

[2:06:49] And you see we've we have animal control

[2:06:51] that we've added that's increased our

[2:06:52] calls around 2,000 calls a year that we

[2:06:55] dispatch animal control. And since the

[2:06:57] conception in 2010, we've had the Davis

[2:07:00] County School Police as a new police

[2:07:02] department within us that we dispatch

[2:07:04] for and now we have animal control.

[2:07:08] And that's all I have. If you have any I

[2:07:10] can entertain questions.

[2:07:12] >> So the county doesn't do animal control.

[2:07:14] >> We we we dispatch them as a department

[2:07:17] now. They're a division of the of the

[2:07:19] sheriff's office where they have animal

[2:07:21] control officers and we dispatch them to

[2:07:23] calls throughout the day and when

[2:07:25] they're called out on the weekends and

[2:07:27] holidays.

[2:07:28] >> Yeah. So the animal control officers

[2:07:29] themselves work for the sheriff's

[2:07:31] department. So they're not our people,

[2:07:33] but Paul's people actually dispatch them

[2:07:36] out. Now we track and so for those

[2:07:38] additional calls that Paul is now

[2:07:40] handling, we actually build the county

[2:07:41] for that. So remember, it's it's a

[2:07:45] shared service to where they're housed

[2:07:46] within the city, but then we pay on a

[2:07:48] prora share based on the call volume. So

[2:07:50] if 70% of the calls are within the city,

[2:07:52] we pay 70% of the budget. The county

[2:07:54] pays 29% and then we charge DCPS police

[2:07:58] 1% uh as well. So in that scenario,

[2:08:01] mayor, we're dispatching out county

[2:08:03] people to go to an animal control call.

[2:08:06] Okay, good deal. Anybody else?

[2:08:09] >> I got one real quick. So, kind of a

[2:08:11] similar question to the fire chief. I

[2:08:13] know that being a dispatcher is

[2:08:15] incredibly stressful work, ter sometimes

[2:08:18] bad hours, the whole routine. How are we

[2:08:21] doing with uh retention of dispatchers

[2:08:24] and employees in your office? Because I

[2:08:26] know that's a tough cell. So this last

[2:08:27] year we were able to have overstaffed by

[2:08:30] we were over staffed our staffing and

[2:08:33] that helped divide the stress by having

[2:08:35] more staff on which mitigated less

[2:08:38] turnover and so we lost a personal now

[2:08:40] we're at our minimum staffing of 25 that

[2:08:43] we have. So we're at 25 with seven of

[2:08:45] those in training. So we're we're we're

[2:08:48] making progress but we lost our overage

[2:08:51] by one. So, uh, we'll have to try to

[2:08:54] work on maintaining that.

[2:08:58] >> Thank you, Paul. Appreciate all your

[2:08:59] great work.

[2:09:01] >> Okay.

[2:09:02] >> Thank you, Paul.

[2:09:04] >> Next, we'll hear from parks director for

[2:09:08] a few more months at least, Amanda

[2:09:09] Rogers.

[2:09:10] >> Is she a quitter?

[2:09:16] » I told Chief made me look bad. 35 years.

[2:09:20] It's

[2:09:21] >> not too late. We'll we'll accept a

[2:09:24] We can do an addendum, too.

[2:09:26] >> You want to change your mind?

[2:09:30] » Can you all hear me? Wonderful. Well,

[2:09:33] thank you for the opportunity to share

[2:09:35] my budget with you all. Um, Orange Parks

[2:09:37] and Recreation Department. Our goal is

[2:09:39] to make Orange Kucky's number one city

[2:09:42] to live, work, and play. And to do that,

[2:09:45] we have 16 full-time staff, 180

[2:09:47] part-time intermittent positions.

[2:09:49] Typically we've got about 150 to 160 on

[2:09:53] board and we have some open positions as

[2:09:55] well. Um but we don't do that on our

[2:09:57] own. We do that with a lot of work and a

[2:09:59] lot of partnership and effort from

[2:10:01] Steven Franklin, Kevin D. Rosset, Kevin

[2:10:03] Kolan and the public works team. They

[2:10:06] help keep us they help our team keep

[2:10:08] things maintained and repaired and

[2:10:10] perfect for the community. U we really

[2:10:12] worked tire t tire t tire t tire t tire t tire t

[2:10:13] tire tously towards the department's

[2:10:15] vision of connecting people through

[2:10:16] parks programs and welcoming facilities.

[2:10:19] We have over 960 acres, 27 physical

[2:10:23] locations and we operate eight

[2:10:25] recreational facilities. We do this

[2:10:28] through two primary funds. Um within the

[2:10:31] general fund there's a parks division.

[2:10:33] Um within that we have administration

[2:10:36] Duke and best recreation center

[2:10:38] maintenance mothers sports and youth and

[2:10:40] in this upcoming year the changes in

[2:10:44] that fund you can see it's a little over

[2:10:46] five and a half million um which is

[2:10:48] about 3% increase from last year and

[2:10:51] we're down in personnel 2% that's

[2:10:53] primarily due to personnel changes um

[2:10:56] with with my retirement we're up in

[2:10:58] capital um a little less than 350,000

[2:11:02] and that's for two projects that we'll

[2:11:05] talk a little more about in the

[2:11:06] highlight section of my section of the

[2:11:09] presentation. And then in the other

[2:11:11] category, we're down due to a project

[2:11:14] that we had in last fiscal year to do

[2:11:16] improvements to the Rudy Mine Trail

[2:11:18] system. So that's everything in the

[2:11:20] general fund for parks. In our

[2:11:22] enterprise fund for recreation, that's

[2:11:24] where we house our recreational

[2:11:26] businesses and operations. So, it's Fin

[2:11:28] Halls, Hillrest, Edge, Fiser Park, the

[2:11:32] Orange World Tennis Facility, Merchant

[2:11:34] Center Court, um, and both of the pools.

[2:11:37] That budget is just over 4.4 million,

[2:11:40] and we're about 5% up due to personnel

[2:11:43] increases that, um, Nate has

[2:11:45] highlighted. We're also down in

[2:11:47] maintenance. That's primarily due to

[2:11:49] less buildings maintenance, repairs, and

[2:11:51] projects that are scheduled for the

[2:11:53] upcoming year. And then we're also down

[2:11:55] in capital and that is due to uh fewer

[2:11:59] capital style projects and repairs such

[2:12:01] as bridges, pipe replacement and those

[2:12:03] things that occur out in our park

[2:12:04] system. Um we have 16 full-time staff

[2:12:08] and they're split amongst the funds.

[2:12:09] There's six and a half employees in our

[2:12:11] parks general fund and then nine and a

[2:12:13] half in the recck fund. Um those are

[2:12:15] full-time park staff that help manage,

[2:12:17] operate and address customer service

[2:12:19] needs and program within those areas.

[2:12:24] Highlights for the upcoming year include

[2:12:26] the repurposing of Kendall Perkins

[2:12:28] tennis courts. Um, similar to what we

[2:12:30] did at Jugan Best, we had two tennis

[2:12:32] courts at that location. Um, we feel

[2:12:34] like that was an amazing uh, amazingly

[2:12:36] successful project with a lot of

[2:12:38] community input that's turned into a

[2:12:40] really hightraic location. We see a lot

[2:12:42] of soccer going on at that location, a

[2:12:45] lot of outdoor afterchool activity with

[2:12:47] the kids on the new obstacle course and

[2:12:49] in the Gaga ball pit. So, we're going to

[2:12:51] work with the neighborhood alliance and

[2:12:52] do some public input meetings and um

[2:12:55] work on repurposing that court. We also

[2:12:58] will be adding parking at Wayman Morris

[2:13:00] Park. If anyone's been out there during

[2:13:02] football season,

[2:13:03] >> you understand there's not enough

[2:13:05] parking at that location. So, we've

[2:13:07] worked with engineering to get some

[2:13:08] estimates put together and we'll be

[2:13:10] adding spaces at that location to

[2:13:12] improve that situation and improve

[2:13:14] safety. Um, sometimes, as you know, when

[2:13:17] there's not enough parking spots, people

[2:13:18] park wherever they can, which can become

[2:13:20] an issue when there's a safety issue and

[2:13:22] we need to get a fire truck in or a

[2:13:24] paramedic in uh for someone that maybe

[2:13:26] is overheated or had an injury at the

[2:13:27] football complex. We'll also be

[2:13:30] partnering with our public works team to

[2:13:31] replace Goose Egg Playground. Typically,

[2:13:34] our public works team will come in and

[2:13:36] pull out the old playground and get that

[2:13:37] site prepared for the new. and I will

[2:13:40] work internally with our playground um

[2:13:43] the gentleman we purchase playgrounds

[2:13:44] from and we'll do the design and the

[2:13:46] layout for that playground and then we

[2:13:48] work in a partnership to get that

[2:13:49] installed with public works and then

[2:13:51] we're also replacing all of the fencing

[2:13:53] there at Jackson Fisher Park the complex

[2:13:55] fishing fencing so outfield fence

[2:13:58] sideline fencing back stops all that

[2:14:01] fencing is due to be replaced and that's

[2:14:02] a fairly decent ticket item based upon

[2:14:05] the amount of linear feet that we have

[2:14:06] at that location.

[2:14:08] So that's all the highlights and

[2:14:10] information I'd like to share about the

[2:14:11] budget with you, but I'll be happy to

[2:14:13] entertain any questions.

[2:14:14] >> Did you get your batten cages in

[2:14:17] >> the at Wayman Morris or Dugan?

[2:14:19] >> Dugan.

[2:14:20] >> So Dugan, they're working on fencing

[2:14:21] now. It should be done pretty soon. Last

[2:14:23] week they had all the poles set and they

[2:14:25] needed to come back and put the fence

[2:14:26] fabric up. I did not go by there today

[2:14:28] or tomorrow to see if it's finished yet,

[2:14:30] but it should it should be finished this

[2:14:32] week, I would anticipate.

[2:14:33] >> That's wonderful.

[2:14:34] >> Yeah.

[2:14:35] >> Any questions up here? I've got one

[2:14:39] fishy question. So, several in several

[2:14:42] of our parks, including Wayman Morris

[2:14:44] and Hillrest Golf Course, we've got

[2:14:46] these ponds, Fisher Park. Do we stock

[2:14:48] them with fish? Because it looks like we

[2:14:52] you could fish there.

[2:14:53] >> So, um at Wayne Morris Park, we are part

[2:14:56] of Kentucky Division of Wildlife. We're

[2:14:58] part of the fishing in neighborhoods

[2:14:59] program. Um we do get stocked twice a

[2:15:02] year at that park through that program

[2:15:03] at no cost to us. So, it's an a

[2:15:06] wonderful opportunity for people to come

[2:15:08] to a city park and still get that

[2:15:10] outdoor feel. Um, be able to teach their

[2:15:12] children how to fish. Um, state

[2:15:14] regulations for fish and wildlife and

[2:15:16] licensing is required. So, those under

[2:15:18] the age of 15 can fish with no license,

[2:15:21] but anyone over the age of 15 should be

[2:15:23] licensed to fish at that lake in that

[2:15:25] location.

[2:15:26] >> And is it they can keep it or it's catch

[2:15:28] and release?

[2:15:29] >> No, you can keep it based upon the

[2:15:30] guidelines of Fish and Wildlife in the

[2:15:32] state of Kentucky.

[2:15:33] Well, thank you for all your great years

[2:15:35] of service, even though it's a little

[2:15:36] less than Chief Ela. Uh we appreciate

[2:15:39] you and we're going to miss you.

[2:15:40] >> Yeah. Thank you so much.

[2:15:45] » Does uh

[2:15:47] I'm too lazy to look it up. Uh

[2:15:50] subsidizing the golf courses. Where are

[2:15:53] we on that?

[2:15:54] >> We subsidize both locations.

[2:15:58] Let me get to those divisions and I can

[2:16:00] tell you.

[2:16:05] » So the bottom line at Ben Hall this year

[2:16:10] is

[2:16:11] >> I have those numbers up. Uh so I think

[2:16:14] for Hillrest we're estimating that it

[2:16:16] would operate at a deficit of $69,312.

[2:16:20] So that'll be a subsidy of a of a

[2:16:21] matching amount. And then at Ben Hall's

[2:16:24] $542,215.

[2:16:27] >> That's staying in the same range. You're

[2:16:29] trying to get them.

[2:16:30] >> That's exactly right.

[2:16:30] >> Playwise and I know we did a lot of work

[2:16:33] out at Halls last year during the summer

[2:16:36] whenever it was

[2:16:38] drive off that

[2:16:40] >> we have that bridge.

[2:16:43] We have and I I will take this

[2:16:45] opportunity to mention that we are

[2:16:47] hopefully going to have the driving

[2:16:48] range bay building out to bid u within

[2:16:51] the next week to two. We've got a couple

[2:16:53] of questions we need to get answered

[2:16:54] from the architect and we'll be ready to

[2:16:55] pull that out with purchasing. Um but we

[2:16:58] are very excited about the opportunity

[2:17:00] for revenue. That's going to be a big

[2:17:01] upside for us as far as generating

[2:17:04] additional revenue nights, weekends when

[2:17:06] weather's bad, typically things and

[2:17:08] times of the day and times of the year

[2:17:10] that we can't operate a golf course

[2:17:12] because people don't necessarily want to

[2:17:14] be where it's cold or they don't want to

[2:17:15] be in the rain with this indoor style

[2:17:17] driving range facility that will have

[2:17:19] heat.

[2:17:19] >> I didn't know about that.

[2:17:21] >> It's not completely indoor. It is open,

[2:17:23] but we will have heaters and it will be

[2:17:24] covered. Um, so we really anticipate the

[2:17:27] potential for for revenue to be

[2:17:29] >> So would you put Top Golf out there?

[2:17:31] >> I was just going to say top.

[2:17:33] >> It's not Top Golf. There's not levels,

[2:17:35] but we do have technology and there are

[2:17:37] targets and there are games as well as

[2:17:39] the monitor system. So if you want to

[2:17:42] play Pebble Beach Mayor, when we get it

[2:17:43] ready to open, you'll be able to go on

[2:17:45] that technology and choose your golf

[2:17:47] course just about anywhere in the world

[2:17:49] and play. Um, and as part of that, we're

[2:17:52] going to do leagues, activities,

[2:17:54] programs, rentals. Um, so we believe the

[2:17:57] potential for revenue for this,

[2:17:58] especially with that cost, um, upfront

[2:18:01] of being a small initial cost compared

[2:18:03] to a lot of our capital projects, we

[2:18:05] believe this will be a just going to hit

[2:18:07] it out of the ballpark with this as far

[2:18:08] as revenue for Ben Halls.

[2:18:10] >> Yeah,

[2:18:13] >> huge upside for that.

[2:18:15] >> Yeah, that was actually a project you

[2:18:16] funded, I think, two years ago now. It's

[2:18:18] just taken a little bit of time for us

[2:18:20] to figure out how to

[2:18:21] >> procure all the necessary pieces. There

[2:18:23] were different models we had to

[2:18:24] evaluate. So, it's taking a little bit

[2:18:26] longer, but it'll be a good addition.

[2:18:28] >> Super.

[2:18:29] >> Okay, boss.

[2:18:30] >> Thank you.

[2:18:31] >> See you down the road somewhere.

[2:18:32] >> I'll be around.

[2:18:34] >> Thank you.

[2:18:34] >> All right. Thank you, Amanda. So, the

[2:18:36] next department is uh public works.

[2:18:38] During this presentation, you'll hear

[2:18:40] from Director Steven Franklin. I think

[2:18:41] we'll also hear from Deputy Director

[2:18:43] Kevin Daset. But up first is city

[2:18:45] engineer Kevin Coyen, who will present

[2:18:48] the engineering budget.

[2:18:57] » Good afternoon, mayor and commissioners.

[2:18:58] >> Good afternoon.

[2:19:02] » Uh engineering budget total budgets 4.8

[2:19:05] million is down 2% from last year. Um

[2:19:09] personnel is up 4% due to salaries and

[2:19:12] retirement contingency.

[2:19:15] Uh maintenance is down. That's just due

[2:19:17] to uh rollover from resurfacing last

[2:19:20] year. Um and then just um supplies is is

[2:19:25] up due to timing of computer

[2:19:27] replacements.

[2:19:30] A highlight of the uh the street

[2:19:32] maintenance budget. The general fund

[2:19:35] resurfacing budget is um up 75,000.

[2:19:39] Um the 75,000 is to have a new pavement

[2:19:42] condition index survey done. So that's

[2:19:45] been five years since we had that done.

[2:19:46] So that'll rerate our streets. Um

[2:19:51] and the general fund and concrete

[2:19:52] streets. So that's that's for the street

[2:19:54] department. It's up just due to increase

[2:19:57] in material prices for concrete. YCV

[2:20:00] concrete streets. We have um a budget

[2:20:02] request of $750,000 there to do a

[2:20:06] contractor

[2:20:08] um concrete street rebuild. So we

[2:20:12] currently have a um a contractor that's

[2:20:14] going to rebuild a section of Morland

[2:20:16] Avenue from 9th to 12th.

[2:20:19] Um this 750 would allow us to complete

[2:20:22] Morland from 12th to Parish and then do

[2:20:26] another concrete street of similar

[2:20:28] length. And so we're just uh we're

[2:20:30] trying to

[2:20:33] do some uh get some more improvements

[2:20:35] done on our concrete streets.

[2:20:38] Um and then just the total there's 4.2

[2:20:41] million sidewalks. Uh still budget of

[2:20:44] 500,000 still in the Seven Hills NAB.

[2:20:51] Uh and then also

[2:20:55] I think it's I think it's in the YCV

[2:20:57] budget. Uh but we have uh some money

[2:21:01] budgeted to look at some improvements

[2:21:02] for the intersection of 26th Street and

[2:21:05] Buyers Avenue. You know, we've had

[2:21:07] multiple complaints there about um

[2:21:09] safety and accidents and speeding. And

[2:21:11] so we're going to look at some potential

[2:21:14] improvements for that intersection.

[2:21:20] And I'll take any questions that you

[2:21:21] have.

[2:21:22] >> Questions?

[2:21:24] Well, I'm just going to let the cat out

[2:21:25] of the bag because I was that was my

[2:21:27] most entertaining moment watching Nate's

[2:21:29] videos. Uh was so what would be the time

[2:21:32] frame on a project at 26th and buyers?

[2:21:35] Would it be this year, two years from

[2:21:37] now? What do you think in terms of

[2:21:39] because that's a big deal. I mean, when

[2:21:41] you do what I mean, I hate to use the

[2:21:43] word. Am I allowed to use the word?

[2:21:46] >> Well, I think we'll we'll do the study

[2:21:47] and see what the study recommends. study

[2:21:49] to see if it's

[2:21:50] >> and then I think at that point my my

[2:21:52] initial plan would be once we get that

[2:21:54] data then we would have something that

[2:21:56] we could apply for a grant fund so I'

[2:21:59] you know say maybe try to find external

[2:22:02] funding either state or federal for some

[2:22:04] period of time because it could be a

[2:22:05] sizable it'll be a seven figure project

[2:22:07] I'm guessing so we don't often do

[2:22:09] specific street improvements of that

[2:22:11] expense so that's something I'd like to

[2:22:13] get the engineering analysis determine

[2:22:14] what the improvement would be once we

[2:22:16] have those plans then we would have

[2:22:17] something we could submit for relevant

[2:22:19] grants.

[2:22:20] >> But unlike Fair View Drive, it would be

[2:22:21] a city project. It would not like

[2:22:23] >> That's right. Because Fair View is a

[2:22:24] state route, whereas this would be a

[2:22:26] city street. And occasionally the state

[2:22:28] will fund some city street work like

[2:22:30] they're funding an improvement at uh on

[2:22:34] Carter Road for the for this year. So,

[2:22:37] it's something we could submit in that

[2:22:38] process. So, that's that's the timing

[2:22:40] now, I think, is to try to get it

[2:22:41] designed, figure out what we need to do,

[2:22:43] and then have that plan to submit for

[2:22:45] future funding. Yeah, I mean I agree

[2:22:48] with your comment. Roundabouts are the

[2:22:49] future. We're just going to have to get

[2:22:51] used to them because they they do speed

[2:22:53] up the traffic flow and if you know what

[2:22:55] you're doing, they're safer. So, I

[2:22:57] didn't agree with that till we went to

[2:22:58] New England last fall, but I do now. So,

[2:23:01] uh Kevin, thank you for all you do.

[2:23:04] >> That's good.

[2:23:08] So again, based on your feedback, when engineering requested an extra 750

[2:23:12] new money for street resurfacing or for

[2:23:14] concrete streets specifically, that was

[2:23:16] a pretty easy thing to say yes to,

[2:23:17] right? And you've said that's that's a

[2:23:18] priority. So that was one of the things

[2:23:20] that we were made sure to fund. So I

[2:23:23] appreciate Kevin and all his work. Uh

[2:23:24] now we transition to public works deputy

[2:23:26] director Kevin Di.

[2:23:29] >> Uh mayor commissioners, I'll be giving

[2:23:30] you an overview of street, storm water,

[2:23:33] and property maintenance. Uh the total

[2:23:35] budget for this year is 3,61,682

[2:23:39] representing a 3% increase from last

[2:23:41] year. Personnel costs are up 5%

[2:23:43] primarily due to health insurance

[2:23:44] adjustments. Supplies are down 13%

[2:23:47] mainly due to current inventory levels

[2:23:49] of technical supplies and reduced motor

[2:23:51] fuel usage. Capital expenses are up 13%

[2:23:55] due to schedule replacement of multiple

[2:23:57] vehicles.

[2:24:00] Uh some of our things we maintain 11

[2:24:03] thou over 11,000 signs. Uh we repaired

[2:24:06] over 826 this year and this year we

[2:24:09] filled 80 581 pot holes.

[2:24:12] >> How many did you miss?

[2:24:16] >> Well, hopefully we don't miss too many,

[2:24:17] but we'll see.

[2:24:20] >> Uh next is our storm water budget. Uh

[2:24:22] the total budget for this year is

[2:24:24] 667,582

[2:24:27] representing an 8% increase from last

[2:24:29] year. Personnel costs are up 6%

[2:24:31] primarily due to increases in full-time

[2:24:33] salaries and health insurance.

[2:24:35] Supplies are up 32% largely due to the

[2:24:37] purchase of an arrow board to enhance

[2:24:39] roadside safety. Capital expenses are up

[2:24:42] 69%

[2:24:43] uh due to the purchase of a remote

[2:24:45] control uh mower to improve productivity

[2:24:47] and safety. That remote control mower is

[2:24:50] something we're looking to put on banks

[2:24:51] that are real slloppy uh and keep

[2:24:54] injuries and things of that nature. We

[2:24:56] hope it'll help out a lot.

[2:24:57] >> I wondered how you mow those retention

[2:24:59] bases. They look like they're about 45°

[2:25:02] angle.

[2:25:03] >> A lot of times it's by hand weed eating.

[2:25:05] So, we're hoping this machine will take

[2:25:06] care of some of, you know, you can slip

[2:25:07] and fall and things of that nature. So,

[2:25:09] we're hoping this machine will take care

[2:25:10] of that.

[2:25:14] Uh,

[2:25:16] next is property maintenance. Uh the

[2:25:18] total budget for this year is 42,179

[2:25:22] representing a 12% increase from last

[2:25:24] year. Personnel costs are up 1%

[2:25:26] primarily due to increases in full-time

[2:25:28] salaries. Maintenance costs are up 265%

[2:25:32] primarily due to the implementation of a

[2:25:34] new code enforcement software. Other

[2:25:37] expenses are down 45% mainly due to a

[2:25:39] decrease in demolition funding.

[2:25:42] >> We need to get in the software business.

[2:25:44] Mhm.

[2:25:45] >> Uh some of our attributes in property

[2:25:46] maintenance. U we've received over 2,000

[2:25:48] complaints. Uh we've had over 1,500

[2:25:51] initial inspections. Uh we've done 20

[2:25:54] over 2,700 reinspections. We've gave out

[2:25:57] 205 notices of violations, 104

[2:26:00] citations, and we've had about $63,000

[2:26:03] worth of leans.

[2:26:07] » Those people pretty compliant with these

[2:26:09] citations.

[2:26:11] >> It depends.

[2:26:14] That was kind.

[2:26:15] >> Yes, ma'am.

[2:26:18] >> It's funny. I got a property maintenance

[2:26:19] complaint while we were sitting here

[2:26:20] about 30 minutes ago. Somebody texted me

[2:26:22] a picture. Turn this in. Get it fixed.

[2:26:25] >> And that's all I have for you. I'll take

[2:26:27] any questions.

[2:26:28] >> Questions.

[2:26:32] » You done good then.

[2:26:33] >> Thank you all.

[2:26:34] >> Thank you.

[2:26:35] >> All right. Thank you, Kevin. And then

[2:26:37] now Stephen Franklin will come handle

[2:26:39] the remaining divisions within public

[2:26:41] works.

[2:26:45] Good afternoon.

[2:26:46] >> Good afternoon.

[2:26:47] >> We're almost there. We got a few more to

[2:26:49] go through.

[2:26:51] So, first up, we have uh facility

[2:26:54] maintenance buildings. Buildings is an

[2:26:56] internal service fund which is

[2:26:57] responsible for the maintenance of

[2:26:59] public facilities and city buildings.

[2:27:01] They also assist in festivals, special

[2:27:03] events, and severe weather response.

[2:27:05] This year's total budget is

[2:27:07] approximately $1.9 million, which is

[2:27:09] down 27% from last year. Personnel

[2:27:12] increased by 9% primarily due to

[2:27:14] full-time salaries and health insurance.

[2:27:17] Maintenance increased by 3% due to

[2:27:19] timing of scheduled projects and capital

[2:27:22] decreased by 81% due to project timing

[2:27:25] and rollover of funds for capital

[2:27:26] projects such as the Thompson Berry

[2:27:29] improvements.

[2:27:32] Next is grounds. Grounds is also an

[2:27:35] internal service fund which is

[2:27:36] responsible for the maintenance of city

[2:27:38] grounds to include parks and

[2:27:40] recreational areas.

[2:27:42] They also assist in festivals, special

[2:27:43] events, and severe weather response.

[2:27:46] This year's total budget is

[2:27:47] approximately $3 million, which is down

[2:27:49] 3% from last year. Personnel increased

[2:27:52] by 5% due to full-time salaries, and

[2:27:54] retirement contingencies.

[2:27:57] Supplies increased by 10% due to

[2:27:59] inflation of agriculture related items

[2:28:01] such as fertilizer, grass seed, and

[2:28:03] plant material. Other decreased 24%

[2:28:07] primarily due to rollover of contractual

[2:28:09] service funds.

[2:28:13] And here you'll see a few highlights um

[2:28:15] of our plans for next fiscal year. Many

[2:28:18] of these are capital replacement items

[2:28:20] such as a replacement of HVAC

[2:28:23] uh systems at OPD, the roof replacement

[2:28:26] for the salt storage facility at public

[2:28:28] works. Um Amanda touched on this. We're

[2:28:31] replacing the fence at Jaxi Fiser

[2:28:33] Softball Complex as well as the

[2:28:36] playground at Goosek Park.

[2:28:41] Garage is an internal service fund

[2:28:44] operation which is responsible for fleet

[2:28:46] management and maintenance for city

[2:28:47] vehicles and equipment. The garage also

[2:28:50] assists with maintenance of vehicles and

[2:28:51] equipment for RWR.

[2:28:53] This year's total budget is $1.8 million

[2:28:56] which is up 3% from last year. Personnel

[2:28:59] increased 1% primarily due to retirement

[2:29:02] contingencies. Supplies increased by 2%

[2:29:05] due to inflation in auto parts and other

[2:29:08] increased 48% or approximately $10,000

[2:29:12] due to training and insurance cost.

[2:29:20] Sanitation is an enterprise fund which

[2:29:22] provides trash pickup and disposal to

[2:29:24] all residential and commercial

[2:29:26] customers. We also provide services for

[2:29:28] street sweeping, leaf and limb

[2:29:30] collection, and operate a drop off

[2:29:32] recycle center. This year's total budget

[2:29:35] is approximately 8.2 million, which is

[2:29:37] down 24% from last year. Personnel

[2:29:41] increased by 4% due to full-time

[2:29:43] salaries and retirement contingencies.

[2:29:46] Supplies decreased by 11% due to lower

[2:29:49] fuel projections and savings from mobile

[2:29:51] carts. and capital decreased by 83%

[2:29:55] primarily due to the timing of scheduled

[2:29:57] vehicles and equipment replacement.

[2:30:04] So here's some figures for you for this

[2:30:06] last year. Here you can see we collected

[2:30:08] approximately 248 tons and 819 tires

[2:30:11] through our annual neighborhood alliance

[2:30:13] cleanups along with some other figures

[2:30:16] for solid waste which is both your

[2:30:18] commercial residential yard waste um

[2:30:21] which represents your your limb pickup.

[2:30:26] And last but not least, we have transit,

[2:30:29] which is an enterprise fund, which

[2:30:30] operates eight fixed routes, one trolley

[2:30:33] route, and provides paratransit services

[2:30:35] through grits. This year's total budget

[2:30:38] is approximately $4.5 million. Personnel

[2:30:42] decreased by 52%,

[2:30:44] supplies had decreased by 45%

[2:30:47] and capital decreased by 56% primarily

[2:30:50] due to the timing of scheduled vehicles

[2:30:52] and equipment replacements.

[2:30:55] With that said, the figures are somewhat

[2:30:57] misleading. The primary reason for the

[2:30:59] decreases is that all available FTA

[2:31:02] grant funds at the end of the fiscal

[2:31:03] year are automatically rolled over to

[2:31:05] the next fiscal year. Our requested

[2:31:08] budget amount remains largely consistent

[2:31:10] with last year and there are no

[2:31:12] reductions in services or personnel.

[2:31:18] So, for last year, you can see we had

[2:31:20] about 275,000

[2:31:22] riders, which is a slight increase from

[2:31:24] the prior year. Um, we plan to install

[2:31:27] five new bus shelters in the coming

[2:31:28] fiscal year. And I'm excited to say that

[2:31:31] we finally received three new buses that

[2:31:34] we purchased back in 2024. So, it's been

[2:31:37] quite a while, but we finally got those.

[2:31:39] So, um, that wraps up my presentation.

[2:31:43] I'd be happy to answer any questions you

[2:31:44] may have. Mr. Glenn,

[2:31:48] >> um the question I had regards a couple

[2:31:51] of our bus shelters. So I understand at

[2:31:53] St. Ben's we had somebody decided they

[2:31:55] were going to camp in the bus shelter

[2:31:57] and they set fire to it. Does that ring

[2:31:59] a bell? St. Benedict's

[2:32:02] >> St. Benedict. Yes.

[2:32:02] >> Yeah. Is that factual? Okay. Uh so I

[2:32:05] guess our decision was to not replace

[2:32:07] the full shelter after that incident. So

[2:32:10] we just have a bench there now. Is that

[2:32:11] correct?

[2:32:12] >> I believe it's just a bench. I know the

[2:32:13] shelter's been removed. I'm pretty

[2:32:14] certain that a bench remains. Yes.

[2:32:16] >> Just for safety sake. Okay. And that's

[2:32:18] I'm not I'm not arguing that. I just

[2:32:19] wanted to verify that.

[2:32:20] >> Yeah. And it's unfortunate, but we did

[2:32:22] uh speak with um St. Benedict's and it

[2:32:25] was their desire not to put a shelter as

[2:32:27] well. Um they are quite expensive. So,

[2:32:30] it's unfortunate when somebody damages

[2:32:31] one because it's not like it's $500 to

[2:32:33] replace these. These are tens of

[2:32:35] thousands of dollars for each shelter.

[2:32:37] So,

[2:32:38] >> um they are expensive. So, we we we

[2:32:40] don't want to be wasteful with our with

[2:32:42] our funds. tied to that, uh, most bus

[2:32:46] shelters in cities that I visit seem to

[2:32:48] have a lot of advertising on them and

[2:32:50] that would seem to be a revenue source

[2:32:52] for the city. Have we are we either not

[2:32:54] allowed to do that or have we just not

[2:32:56] pursued it or

[2:32:56] >> We've really not pursued it. Um,

[2:33:00] there there may be some benefit to

[2:33:02] advertising, but essentially what

[2:33:04] happens is if any revenue you take in

[2:33:07] from advertisement, the less money you

[2:33:09] receive from FTA. So essentially, it's

[2:33:10] kind of a wash at the end of the day.

[2:33:12] Okay. It impacts your federal funding.

[2:33:14] >> Correct.

[2:33:15] >> Okay. And then the other shelter

[2:33:16] question, and Nate has alluded to this a

[2:33:18] little bit, is that the senior center

[2:33:20] shelter when the new senior center is

[2:33:23] built, we're going to put a a bus stop

[2:33:24] there. Where I wasn't clear where

[2:33:26] exactly you think you're going to put

[2:33:27] it.

[2:33:28] >> Yes. So staff are finalizing drawings

[2:33:30] for that, but uh there's a lot of

[2:33:33] utility conflicts in that little area

[2:33:34] and we're kind of surprised to it. So,

[2:33:37] we're trying to work through those

[2:33:38] challenges, but right now it looks like

[2:33:40] it's actually going to be on Carter Road

[2:33:42] and it's going to be probably just south

[2:33:44] of the entrance to the senior center.

[2:33:46] >> Okay.

[2:33:47] >> So, it'll be it'll be on the same side

[2:33:49] of the street as the senior center. Um,

[2:33:51] and it'll be just adjacent to the entry

[2:33:53] point.

[2:33:53] >> Okay. Cuz if you don't put them in the

[2:33:56] right place, I think we'll hear about

[2:33:57] it. That's for sure. So,

[2:33:59] >> yeah, they're not shocked. That's right.

[2:34:00] >> Yeah, they'll let us know. Uh, and then

[2:34:02] the last question I've got is I noticed

[2:34:04] during our winter storm, an unusual

[2:34:07] site, uh, two guys accompanying the

[2:34:09] driver of the sanitation vehicle up the

[2:34:12] hill and they were literally picking up

[2:34:14] the towers like they did in the 70s and

[2:34:17] pouring them in. And I I felt bad for

[2:34:19] these guys cuz they were out in the

[2:34:21] elements and of course the roads were

[2:34:22] still a mess, you know. Uh, do we have

[2:34:25] any alternative to going back to the 70s

[2:34:27] when we have a snow event? I felt

[2:34:28] terrible for the driver because now we

[2:34:29] have the robot arm but the guy told me I

[2:34:31] went out and talked to him he said the

[2:34:32] robot arm doesn't work real well in

[2:34:34] those weather conditions.

[2:34:35] >> Yeah. Uh when it gets extremely cold

[2:34:37] like that which we fought what was it 10

[2:34:39] to 14 days and they we never re broke 32

[2:34:42] degrees. When you when you see continual

[2:34:44] days like that with that yeah some of

[2:34:46] the machines and it's not just

[2:34:47] sanitation trucks but anything

[2:34:49] mechanical it's hard to function in

[2:34:51] extreme colds. Uh once they get warmed

[2:34:54] up you know that kind of alleviates some

[2:34:56] of those issues. Um, but I will say, I

[2:34:58] mean, I'm kind of glad you brought that

[2:35:00] up. That just speaks to to our our team

[2:35:03] that we've got. I mean, they they do it

[2:35:04] and they don't complain about. They know

[2:35:06] what they're signing up for and they go

[2:35:07] out there and they help in any way

[2:35:09] possible.

[2:35:10] >> Yeah. Well, I appreciate all the great

[2:35:12] work you do and and your team. Thank

[2:35:14] you.

[2:35:15] >> Appreciate it.

[2:35:16] >> So, you going to move the shelter on

[2:35:18] Fourth and Carter?

[2:35:20] >> Uh, we currently we don't have a

[2:35:22] shelter, so we're proposing to install a

[2:35:24] new shelter at Second and Carter.

[2:35:27] Second,

[2:35:27] >> correct? It'll be uh

[2:35:30] >> right in front of the new senior center

[2:35:31] >> kind of Carter where it's got that

[2:35:33] little extension to Thompson Burberry in

[2:35:35] the senior center. It'll be placed right

[2:35:37] there.

[2:35:38] >> Okie dokie.

[2:35:43] » All right. Thank you, Stephen.

[2:35:47] » Okay. Uh next slide just covers some

[2:35:50] non-departmental items. So they just

[2:35:52] don't necessarily fit very neatly into

[2:35:55] any of the other departments. Uh so in

[2:35:59] particular this has three projects. Uh

[2:36:02] we are doing an extension of Air Park

[2:36:04] Drive. Air Park Drive of course is runs

[2:36:07] the main spine north to south through

[2:36:09] the air park and it currently ends at

[2:36:11] Southtown Boulevard. There's about 88

[2:36:13] acres that are down there that right now

[2:36:15] run developed. As we've talked about, we

[2:36:18] have, I think, three or maybe even four

[2:36:20] different companies that have letters of

[2:36:21] intent or options to acquire property

[2:36:23] down there. And so, in order to make

[2:36:25] that accessible and develop and employ

[2:36:27] our local citizens, we have to do

[2:36:29] extreme extension. Uh, so we did budget

[2:36:32] $1.6 million in the economic development

[2:36:34] fund uh for that uh that that

[2:36:37] engineering analysis is done. We'll put

[2:36:39] that out for bid soon. I know at least

[2:36:40] one, if not two, of the companies are

[2:36:42] really eager to get there and break

[2:36:43] ground on their project. So, we're

[2:36:45] trying to make sure we stay ahead of

[2:36:47] them and so they can get their project

[2:36:48] done and they can continue their their

[2:36:50] course of business and grow and expand

[2:36:52] in the air park. So, it's a an expense,

[2:36:54] but it's a good project. Uh, so

[2:36:55] certainly something that we had been

[2:36:56] expecting. We knew that as that

[2:36:58] remaining 88 acres developed, we would

[2:37:00] have some expenses. So, this is

[2:37:02] something that we knew and expected. Uh,

[2:37:04] similarly, we've done for several years.

[2:37:06] Mayor, I know you like to go to the jail

[2:37:08] for the workforce initiative where we

[2:37:09] partner with the city, county jail, and

[2:37:11] the OCTC as for a re-entry program. So,

[2:37:14] we're continuing to fund that. It's been

[2:37:16] wellreceived. Uh, and then similarly,

[2:37:18] we've done for probably six or seven

[2:37:20] years now a downtown incentive program

[2:37:23] where we will either help a company

[2:37:25] downtown either buy down their rent or

[2:37:26] help with their capital improvements to

[2:37:28] renovate and occupy an empty building or

[2:37:31] a new business downtown. So, we're

[2:37:33] proposing to continue that program as

[2:37:35] well. Again, we've we've had probably 10

[2:37:37] or 12 different companies take up take

[2:37:39] us up and participate in that program

[2:37:41] over its life. So had a good good return

[2:37:44] on investment. So that is proposed to

[2:37:46] continue as well. So any questions about

[2:37:49] those projects? I'm happy to address

[2:37:51] them.

[2:37:52] >> Any questions?

[2:37:57] » Go ahead.

[2:37:58] >> Okay, good. Uh the next is uh about our

[2:38:02] tax increment financing districts.

[2:38:04] Whitney Brown is the point of contact

[2:38:06] who handles those on an operational

[2:38:09] basis in finance. So she will brief you

[2:38:10] on this item.

[2:38:13] Hello again. Um, I'm here to talk about

[2:38:16] the TIFF funds. This budget presents

[2:38:18] estimated revenues expected from the

[2:38:20] TIFF districts along with the relative

[2:38:23] appropriations. We currently participate

[2:38:25] in two tiff projects, the Gateway

[2:38:27] Commons as well as the downtown

[2:38:29] riverfront. Um, they are these TIF

[2:38:32] districts are economic development tools

[2:38:34] that support redevelopment and new

[2:38:36] investments in targeted areas through

[2:38:38] agreements with the state. A portion of

[2:38:40] these increment state revenues is

[2:38:41] returned to the city to fund eligible

[2:38:43] costs such as infrastructure, site

[2:38:45] preparation, and other public

[2:38:47] improvements. The city also contributes

[2:38:49] a corresponding share of local tax

[2:38:51] revenues um as part as this uh financing

[2:38:54] structure. This fiscal year, we received

[2:38:57] our seventh state reimbursement totaling

[2:39:00] approximately 1.8

[2:39:02] 1.84 million for Gateway Commons and

[2:39:05] 892,000 for downtown.

[2:39:08] Um, moving forward to our budget for

[2:39:10] Gateway Commons, we're budgeting 1.7

[2:39:12] million in state revenues and about

[2:39:15] 493,000 in local revenues.

[2:39:17] Appropriations include the 2%

[2:39:19] administration fee along with the

[2:39:21] remaining funds allocated to approved

[2:39:23] public infrastructure and distributed

[2:39:26] among the development partners and

[2:39:28] agencies as outlined in our master

[2:39:30] development agreement. Moving to the

[2:39:32] downtown riverfront tiff, we are

[2:39:35] budgeting 769,000 in state revenues and

[2:39:39] 619,000 in local revenues. After a 2%

[2:39:42] administrative fee, the remaining funds

[2:39:44] are dedicated to debt service on

[2:39:46] approved downtown infrastructure

[2:39:48] projects. Overall, these tiff districts

[2:39:51] help drive a private investment,

[2:39:53] revitalize key areas, and fund public

[2:39:55] improvements by leveraging the future

[2:39:56] tax growth generated by these

[2:39:58] developments. Um, if you have any

[2:40:01] questions, we'll be happy to entertain

[2:40:02] those.

[2:40:04] >> So, you're comfortable with how we're

[2:40:05] getting reimbursed from the state on our

[2:40:07] tip.

[2:40:09] >> Um, as comfortable as we have to be, I

[2:40:12] guess, at this moment.

[2:40:13] >> Yeah, we're working on that.

[2:40:15] >> Yes,

[2:40:15] >> the problem. Thank you.

[2:40:17] >> Thank you.

[2:40:22] » Okay. Thank you, Whitney. Uh, next we'll

[2:40:25] cover the your community vision fund.

[2:40:27] That of course is a portion of the

[2:40:29] occupational tax paid within the city

[2:40:31] where that 33 is dedicated by ordinance

[2:40:33] to the YCV fund. It is a fund for

[2:40:36] capital projects and storm water related

[2:40:38] projects. Assistant city manager Leland

[2:40:40] Hancock administers that fund. So he

[2:40:42] will brief you on this section.

[2:40:46] >> Thank you Nate. This year we've

[2:40:48] allocated a little over $9.4 million

[2:40:50] towards European division projects. The

[2:40:53] bulk of those are storm water public

[2:40:54] works public safety projects.

[2:40:57] probably the bulk of the complaints that

[2:40:59] you receive are storm water related. Um,

[2:41:02] in that account, um, you'll see that the

[2:41:05] city maintenance crew, which is the crew

[2:41:07] that, uh, Kevin Daset manages that keeps

[2:41:09] the ditches clean. We've also got

[2:41:11] outsource projects that we use, RWR has,

[2:41:14] um, another crew that goes out there and

[2:41:16] helps with those repairs as well. Those

[2:41:18] are for street inlets and usually sink

[2:41:20] holes in the streets, minor ones, I'll

[2:41:21] put it like that, not a Frederick Street

[2:41:23] style, but some of the inlets and things

[2:41:25] that you get through the complaints you

[2:41:26] hear from citizens. So, there's a long

[2:41:28] list of those. They address those as

[2:41:30] they pop up. Uh, but there's a lot of

[2:41:32] work that goes into that. You've also

[2:41:34] got storm water debt service, which is

[2:41:36] from a lot of the projects that uh Joe

[2:41:38] Shepers initiated several years ago,

[2:41:41] which help eliminate that flooding in

[2:41:43] the city. But those crews help keep

[2:41:45] those ditches clean, which gets the

[2:41:46] water out of the city and into the

[2:41:48] county and ultimately to the river

[2:41:49] stream where it will end up. But there's

[2:41:52] a lot of work that goes on there, and it

[2:41:53] is an an extensive system out there.

[2:41:56] This year, you'll see two highlights.

[2:42:00] We've done some additional concrete

[2:42:02] street work, which um city engineer

[2:42:04] Kevin Coen spoke to, and we also have a

[2:42:07] beautifification

[2:42:08] project, which is one of our entry signs

[2:42:11] that I believe has been discussed

[2:42:12] previously. So, we've got one of those

[2:42:14] that'll go in this year as well. I'm

[2:42:16] happy to answer any questions you may

[2:42:18] have on your community vision.

[2:42:19] >> Questions?

[2:42:21] >> So, you've been around a while and so

[2:42:23] have I. And so, you remember the

[2:42:25] fairgrounds project, right? Yeah.

[2:42:28] >> And at least anecdotally, because I'm

[2:42:31] not an engineering expert, it seems to

[2:42:33] have improved things quite a bit. So,

[2:42:36] >> would you say that that was money well

[2:42:38] spent? Because I know it used to be

[2:42:40] terrible. They used to have raw sewage

[2:42:41] coming out of their yards and and we got

[2:42:44] a lot of complaints and that project

[2:42:46] seems to have helped.

[2:42:48] >> I would say it's money well spent and I

[2:42:49] know um our city engineer Kevin Coan um

[2:42:52] through several projects through you

[2:42:54] know the York uh basin, those types of

[2:42:56] things. Uh there's been multiple things

[2:42:57] over the years and and I feel like those

[2:43:00] have all made an impactful difference

[2:43:02] whether it be storm water related from

[2:43:04] you know drainage from rains or from the

[2:43:07] sewer related activities as well.

[2:43:09] >> Okay. And I agree with you. And so to

[2:43:11] that end, I hear some complaints

[2:43:13] recently about flooding near the uh

[2:43:16] Ownsboro country club when it rains

[2:43:18] heavily. Is that an area my concern the

[2:43:22] constituent I is that county or city? I

[2:43:24] guess it depends what street, but I

[2:43:26] mean,

[2:43:26] >> yeah.

[2:43:27] >> Is is the street that's I think it's

[2:43:29] Country Club Drive, but then it kind of

[2:43:31] winds into I think maybe V Road or

[2:43:33] whatever. I don't know. But is that an

[2:43:35] area we've looked at for any flood

[2:43:37] control or is that not within our

[2:43:38] pervey? Is it county or state?

[2:43:40] >> I can think of flooding that's occurred

[2:43:42] on buyers and probably an area in the

[2:43:44] beach. But Kevin, can you speak to that?

[2:43:46] >> Sorry, Kevin.

[2:43:48] There's a recent concern that was

[2:43:50] expressed by

[2:43:51] >> Yeah. Can you be more specific? Are you

[2:43:52] referring to buyers avenue or are you

[2:43:54] referring to

[2:43:54] >> I think it's like lead take Legion Park

[2:43:57] and then head toward the tennis courts

[2:43:59] at you know the the boundary of So it

[2:44:02] would be buyers. You're right. It would

[2:44:03] be buyers and uh I guess beach kind of

[2:44:06] in there. That's the sense I get.

[2:44:08] They're claiming when we get heavy rain,

[2:44:10] it floods there. I have not personally

[2:44:12] seen that, but I don't always drive in

[2:44:14] that area when it's rain.

[2:44:15] >> So the the section of Buyers Avenue

[2:44:17] between J.R. Miller and the Beach Road

[2:44:20] that's right there by the country club

[2:44:22] entrance, it it does flood sometimes. Um

[2:44:26] it's it's kind of one of the lower

[2:44:27] points of that system elevation wise. So

[2:44:31] it's a search charge point. Um there's

[2:44:33] actually been improvements done there

[2:44:36] already. Um it's just um it still floods

[2:44:40] there on on heavy rain events.

[2:44:42] >> Well, you get a hill. I mean when you go

[2:44:43] up

[2:44:44] >> Yeah. It's a sag and that's what I mean.

[2:44:45] People forget how bad it used to be, you

[2:44:47] know, before there was improvements

[2:44:49] done. But

[2:44:50] >> so we have tried to make some upgrades.

[2:44:52] Okay.

[2:44:52] >> Yeah. But we don't have any uh that

[2:44:54] thing actively planned for that specific

[2:44:56] location.

[2:44:57] >> Okay. Thank you, Kevin, and thank you,

[2:45:00] Leland.

[2:45:02] >> Mayor, if I could just add, I know

[2:45:03] there's been some discussion the second

[2:45:05] item you can see there now on that

[2:45:06] beautifification project. That was

[2:45:07] something that I think you guys wanted

[2:45:09] to see. There have been some articles in

[2:45:10] the paper about that as a as a good

[2:45:12] entryway sign that's quite attractive. I

[2:45:14] will say I asked Judge Casten to see if

[2:45:16] the county would contribute to that cost

[2:45:18] and they're planning to contribute

[2:45:20] $250,000 toward the cost of that

[2:45:21] project. So I think eventually we

[2:45:23] envision doing nice welcome to Owensboro

[2:45:25] Davis County signs from the east, from

[2:45:28] the west, and then from the south along

[2:45:29] the I165 corridor. So this is hopefully

[2:45:31] the first of three that we can do to

[2:45:34] have a nice design look um you know

[2:45:36] similar to things you might have seen on

[2:45:38] the interstates and other other cities.

[2:45:39] So I know we we've had some discussion

[2:45:41] about that and there's broad support for

[2:45:42] doing that. So we were able to include

[2:45:44] one of those signs in the budget.

[2:45:49] It would be cool if we get that bypass

[2:45:51] like it says welcome to Henderson. Have

[2:45:53] you seen that?

[2:45:54] >> Uh yeah, on on the parkway there. Yeah,

[2:45:57] I have.

[2:45:57] >> That is really cool. We could kind of

[2:46:00] start looking at how to welcome to OB.

[2:46:04] >> Y good idea.

[2:46:06] >> Okay, up next is agency funding. Uh, as

[2:46:10] you will recall, we fund various groups,

[2:46:12] both arts groups, other government

[2:46:14] agencies, and then social service

[2:46:15] partners as well, uh, within the finance

[2:46:18] department. Diana Glover is our staff

[2:46:20] contact for agency funding, so she will

[2:46:22] brief you on this particular section.

[2:46:24] >> Good afternoon, Mayor.

[2:46:25] >> Good afternoon.

[2:46:29] » Sorry.

[2:46:31] Um each year the agencies submit

[2:46:33] applications and per policy the agency

[2:46:36] is awarded the lesser of 2% of prior

[2:46:38] years of the awarded amount or the

[2:46:40] amount requested pending any specific

[2:46:43] request. Overall the total budget

[2:46:46] increased from approximately 2.14

[2:46:48] million to 2.5 million this year. That's

[2:46:51] an increase of about 382,000 or 17.9

[2:46:55] compared to prior year. In the arts

[2:46:58] department, we see a moderate increase

[2:46:59] of about 33,600 or 3.5. Within this

[2:47:04] category, the largest gain is for Friday

[2:47:06] after 5, which increases by over 25,000.

[2:47:10] This is due to an agreement to fund an

[2:47:12] additional 150,000 over three years. The

[2:47:15] goal is to help sustain and enhance this

[2:47:17] event. Other organizations receive

[2:47:20] smaller adjustments, both increases and

[2:47:22] decreases, resulting in steady overall

[2:47:25] growth for the art sector.

[2:47:27] Next slide.

[2:47:32] Um, in social services, the budget

[2:47:34] remains relatively stable with a modest

[2:47:36] increase of about 7600 or 1.4%.

[2:47:40] United Way received the largest boost in

[2:47:43] this category with a small reduction in

[2:47:44] capital funding for this community

[2:47:46] center helps offset those gains. Next

[2:47:50] slide.

[2:47:51] The most significant change comes from

[2:47:53] the government services which accounts

[2:47:55] for the vast majority of this growth.

[2:47:57] This category increases by roughly

[2:47:59] 340,000.

[2:48:01] This increase is primarily due to an

[2:48:03] additional one-time request of 395,000

[2:48:07] from the airport to assist in the cost

[2:48:09] of the design for the new terminal.

[2:48:11] Overall, the budget shows growth, but

[2:48:13] much of that increase is concentrated in

[2:48:15] the government services, particularly

[2:48:17] the airport. In contrast, arts and arts

[2:48:20] and social services see more modest,

[2:48:21] steady gains. Taken together, this

[2:48:24] budget reflects the city's continued

[2:48:25] commitment to support our community

[2:48:27] programs and services.

[2:48:30] And if y'all have any questions,

[2:48:35] » mayor, can I just add to the to the

[2:48:37] airport? As Diana referenced, that'll be

[2:48:39] a one-time increase that they requested

[2:48:41] to fund a local match. A lot of the

[2:48:43] funding for the new terminal design will

[2:48:45] be fedally funded. There is a local

[2:48:46] match. So they asked for a portion of

[2:48:48] that from the city and the county for a

[2:48:51] matching contribution to that. And then

[2:48:53] I know the airport plans to contribute

[2:48:55] $200,000 of their own funds as well. So

[2:48:57] that is a $395 I think,000 increase, but

[2:49:00] that is a one-time initiative for that

[2:49:02] terminal design process.

[2:49:05] >> Okie dokie.

[2:49:07] >> Thank you.

[2:49:11] » Okay, up next we switch to revenue. No,

[2:49:15] we don't.

[2:49:17] We uh sorry uh first is the uh general

[2:49:20] fund spending. I'd like to show this

[2:49:22] slide because this is not necessarily by

[2:49:24] department. It's by function. Uh so

[2:49:26] again as as we've referenced public

[2:49:28] safety is a priority. This slide just

[2:49:30] demonstrates that's where the bulk of

[2:49:31] our revenue goes or bulk of our expenses

[2:49:33] go toward provide providing uh those

[2:49:36] important public safety services. Uh

[2:49:38] again you can just see that in parks and

[2:49:40] across the board. Uh but it's sort of a

[2:49:42] summary slide because now we've heard

[2:49:43] from from all departments. So this

[2:49:45] concludes the expenditure portion which

[2:49:48] of course is the bulk of the

[2:49:49] presentation today. So any questions

[2:49:52] about the summary or sort of the high

[2:49:54] level and where our allocating resources

[2:49:58] are being proposed

[2:50:00] >> is that is that piece of that

[2:50:05] is that in this book on one page

[2:50:06] somewhere

[2:50:07] >> that is in summary I don't think that ex

[2:50:09] exact data is presented that way.

[2:50:11] Well, I'm pretty

[2:50:14] that tells the story, don't

[2:50:17] >> Yeah, it does tell a story.

[2:50:21] » I do know in the final book we have a

[2:50:23] version of that. I'm D's looking to see

[2:50:25] if we have one in this book.

[2:50:26] >> On page two, there is a kind of summary

[2:50:29] page for general fund. It's called

[2:50:31] general fund by appropriation category

[2:50:34] and it has the summary of all the

[2:50:36] departments broken down by the types of

[2:50:38] expenses, personnel, maintenance,

[2:50:39] supplies, etc. And then it also has a

[2:50:42] pie chart that kind of shows the

[2:50:44] distribution of the expenses. So it

[2:50:46] should be in in your budget book.

[2:50:49] >> A lot more complicated.

[2:50:52] >> I'm just going to get this printed out.

[2:50:54] >> Yeah, we can we'll have to provide a

[2:50:57] >> Would would this be online for the

[2:50:58] public? Just so it seems like it's easy

[2:51:00] to read.

[2:51:01] >> Yeah, we can do that. No problem.

[2:51:05] >> No problem.

[2:51:07] >> Anybody have anything else?

[2:51:08] >> I've got one quick question.

[2:51:09] >> Uhuh. You had enough.

[2:51:10] >> Uh, no. I'm way past my quota. I agree

[2:51:13] with you.

[2:51:15] >> Nate, this is for you. So, one of the

[2:51:17] criticisms we hear is that we spend

[2:51:20] double the amount on the arts than we do

[2:51:23] for human services and social work. And

[2:51:26] yet, I know we do work with habitat. We

[2:51:28] do a lot of things that may not been in

[2:51:30] that budget line item. So, how would you

[2:51:32] respond to that? Because I mean, you

[2:51:34] know, we're not going to cut the arts,

[2:51:35] but on the other hand, we have a deep

[2:51:37] desire to help people and in our

[2:51:39] community, and we do it through United

[2:51:40] Way predominantly. So,

[2:51:42] >> yeah, that's right. We do it through

[2:51:43] United Way. They have a much more robust

[2:51:45] structure for evaluating, reviewing uh

[2:51:47] and vetting those proposals or those

[2:51:49] requests. So, I think that's that's a

[2:51:51] good partnership we've had in place

[2:51:52] since well before I was here. I know

[2:51:53] it's probably been going on 15 years or

[2:51:55] so that we we've used that. Such a good strategy. I think something you

[2:52:00] said also is quite relevant in that we

[2:52:03] partner with either the housing

[2:52:05] authority but Habitat for Humanity

[2:52:08] substantially earn a substantial amount.

[2:52:10] Uh that's not reflected in these

[2:52:11] numbers. If you go back and add up what

[2:52:13] we've given them through Aby's

[2:52:14] department, either through vacant lots

[2:52:16] and properties or grants to help

[2:52:18] subsidize those lots and those houses,

[2:52:21] it would far surpass what we do probably

[2:52:23] to the art. So again, it's just

[2:52:25] reflected differently and that comes up

[2:52:27] more on an ad hoc basis. We may do two

[2:52:29] partnerships with with Habitat in a

[2:52:31] particular year and then we may go a

[2:52:32] year or two without doing it again just

[2:52:34] depending on availability of funds, but

[2:52:36] they're always a good partner that we

[2:52:37] can find a project with. If we're late

[2:52:40] in the year and have some money that

[2:52:41] Abby can deploy to them, we know that's

[2:52:43] a good partner. We're happy to do that.

[2:52:45] So I think that's that's a good

[2:52:46] perspective on on that that issue.

[2:52:50] >> Thank you. And thank you, mayor.

[2:52:52] You can always dip in your own pocket

[2:52:54] too and give

[2:52:55] >> certainly could

[2:52:56] >> that big check we get.

[2:52:58] >> So,

[2:52:59] >> okay, what's next?

[2:53:00] >> So, that concludes the expense side and

[2:53:02] now Angela Winger will present first the

[2:53:05] revenue and then when she's done with

[2:53:07] that, she can go ahead and move on to

[2:53:09] the uh long range plan forecast numbers

[2:53:11] as well.

[2:53:13] >> All right. So, now that we've spent two

[2:53:15] hours spending money, we're going to

[2:53:16] spend a few minutes talking about

[2:53:18] bringing money in. So um so for the

[2:53:22] first slide that I'm going to discuss is

[2:53:24] uh the one you've seen before. It's our

[2:53:26] top five revenues which are significant

[2:53:28] and make up a considerable u portion of

[2:53:31] the overall budget. And if you want to

[2:53:34] look at the revenues for other funds,

[2:53:37] you can see that on page one uh by fund

[2:53:39] in in your um book that your binder that

[2:53:42] we provided to you. So for the general

[2:53:44] fund, the total revenues budgeted are

[2:53:47] $80,153,872.

[2:53:51] This is an increase of $3.6 million over

[2:53:54] prior year revenue budget.

[2:53:56] We manage over 130 revenue accounts. So

[2:54:00] I want to break that down, but break it

[2:54:02] down at a high level. So we'll discuss

[2:54:04] the five largest revenue streams and

[2:54:07] those five streams make up 80% of the

[2:54:10] total revenue budget for general fund.

[2:54:14] So those five revenue streams include

[2:54:16] the occupational withholding, our

[2:54:18] property tax, our insurance premium

[2:54:21] license fee, the OMU dividend, and our

[2:54:23] net profit. And you can see on the slide

[2:54:26] representatively how much each of those

[2:54:29] uh five sections make up. That's the

[2:54:31] percent that make up of the total

[2:54:33] general fund revenue.

[2:54:35] So uh so the first item our occupational

[2:54:37] withholding obviously it's our largest

[2:54:40] revenue stream uh representing 32% of

[2:54:43] our total revenue. The occupational rate

[2:54:46] is 1.78%.

[2:54:48] 0.33%

[2:54:50] as we mentioned earlier goes to fund the

[2:54:52] community vision fund leaving 1.45% for

[2:54:56] general fund op uh operations.

[2:54:59] Occupational withholding is budgeted at

[2:55:02] $25,287,595.

[2:55:06] This represents a 1.5%

[2:55:09] increase over prior year. And I'm just

[2:55:11] trying to be a little uh conservative.

[2:55:14] We were a little aggressive with the

[2:55:15] budget this year for 2526.

[2:55:18] And so um just just monitoring the the

[2:55:21] market and in our actuals uh year to

[2:55:23] date uh we're going with a modest

[2:55:25] increase of 1.5%.

[2:55:28] The next uh category is property tax.

[2:55:32] Now that category is made up of six

[2:55:35] subcategories,

[2:55:36] but overall property tax is our second

[2:55:39] largest revenue stream. It's 19% of our

[2:55:42] total revenues and budgeted at

[2:55:44] 15,45,812.

[2:55:48] So to break those uh other categories

[2:55:50] down, uh real or advalor property tax is

[2:55:54] the largest portion of that total. It's

[2:55:57] budgeted at 11.4 million, which

[2:56:01] represents a 4% increase over the

[2:56:03] revenue of prior year. I'm budgeting a

[2:56:06] 4% increase in revenue because that's

[2:56:09] the maximum that we can do without going

[2:56:11] to referendum. Please note this increase

[2:56:13] assumes no increase in the rate and you

[2:56:16] all will decide the rate and adopt that

[2:56:17] back uh later in the year. I'd like to

[2:56:20] note that the preliminary 2026

[2:56:23] assessments from the PVA for the city

[2:56:25] reflects new property in the amount of

[2:56:27] 55 million. This is excluded from

[2:56:30] determining the 4% maximum which is

[2:56:32] going to be very beneficial and helpful

[2:56:34] to us.

[2:56:36] The next uh tax uh category is personal

[2:56:39] property tax. It's budgeted at 1.2 2

[2:56:41] million. This is pretty much in line

[2:56:43] with the prior year budget as well as

[2:56:45] the current year forecast. There's not

[2:56:46] much fluctuation there in that category.

[2:56:49] The remaining four categories of

[2:56:50] property tax include bank shares,

[2:56:53] franchise, omitted tangible, and

[2:56:55] vehicle. These are all budgeted with

[2:56:57] slight increases or decreases.

[2:57:00] Our next revenue stream is the insurance

[2:57:02] premium license fee. This became our

[2:57:04] third largest revenue stream for the

[2:57:06] fiscal 2026 budget. This represents 12%

[2:57:10] of the general fund revenues. The

[2:57:12] insurance premium license fee is a fee

[2:57:15] assessed on the premiums charged by

[2:57:17] insurers. The insurance company then

[2:57:19] passes this fee on to the insured.

[2:57:23] This revenue has continued to grow,

[2:57:25] trending with higher insurance premiums.

[2:57:27] I am proposing a budget of 9,648,523

[2:57:34] which represents an increase over

[2:57:36] forecast of 2% but it's a 12% over prior

[2:57:41] year's budget.

[2:57:43] 4% of this revenue stream funds the debt

[2:57:46] service for the downtown revitalization

[2:57:48] fund. 6% goes to the general fund to pay

[2:57:51] for city operations.

[2:57:53] So for the fourth and the next largest

[2:57:55] revenue stream, it's the OMU dividend.

[2:57:58] It's the cash dividend. It's budgeted at

[2:58:00] 8,77,326.

[2:58:04] By agreement with OMU, this uh revenue

[2:58:07] stream increases $2.5% each year. The

[2:58:11] last then the fifth largest revenue

[2:58:13] stream is net profits. It's budgeted at

[2:58:16] $5,75,000.

[2:58:18] As you can see, the forecast is

[2:58:21] 6,500,000.

[2:58:23] And I budget this very conservatively

[2:58:26] because it's not as predictable as the

[2:58:28] re other revenue streams. It's it's

[2:58:30] based on how well a a business does in

[2:58:33] any particular year. And it's not just

[2:58:36] how well they do in Ownsboro. Uh say by

[2:58:38] example, McDonald's um or or some

[2:58:41] franchise that has a location here. The

[2:58:44] net profits that we get paid isn't based

[2:58:46] on just that one location. and it's

[2:58:48] based on all of their stores and so then

[2:58:51] it's allocated prorated down to the

[2:58:53] share that that gets paid here. So it's

[2:58:55] kind of unpredictable. So we do tend to

[2:58:57] be conservative with that to be sure we

[2:58:59] can uh cover our expenses.

[2:59:02] Another notable notable revenue stream

[2:59:04] that's not on the slide that I thought

[2:59:06] was worth mentioning is the interest

[2:59:08] income. We're going to budget interest

[2:59:10] income at 2.4 million. That's down from

[2:59:13] forecast but higher than last year's

[2:59:15] budget. Our current bank rate is 3.65%

[2:59:19] and it fluctuates with uh the federal

[2:59:21] fund target range. So as that fed fund

[2:59:25] rate goes down, so does our bank rate.

[2:59:27] So while we like to see the fund fed

[2:59:29] fund rate go down, it's not good for the

[2:59:31] city's investments. Uh but that

[2:59:34] concludes uh my comments on the top five

[2:59:37] revenue sources. If anyone has any

[2:59:40] questions or comments, I'd be happy to

[2:59:41] address that.

[2:59:44] >> Any questions? Hearing

[2:59:48] none.

[2:59:49] >> All right. So, uh, next we're on to the

[2:59:52] forecast for the general fund. And

[2:59:55] before I get started on on this slide, I

[2:59:58] just wanted to point out that we do long

[3:00:01] range plans on all our funds, basically

[3:00:03] all the significant funds. And um I'm just proud of the fact that Ownsboro

[3:00:08] does that because going to our Kentucky

[3:00:11] um government finance associ association

[3:00:14] meetings. You'd be surprised at the

[3:00:16] cities that don't do they don't do long

[3:00:18] range plans, not even for their general

[3:00:19] fund. So it's really surprising, but uh

[3:00:22] but we do it for lots. We do it for most

[3:00:24] of our funds. So I just wanted to point

[3:00:25] that out. We're very careful with with

[3:00:28] the the money that you all let us

[3:00:30] manage.

[3:00:31] Okay. So for this slide, the forecast

[3:00:34] for the general fund takes into account

[3:00:36] several factors.

[3:00:38] There's a lot of factors, but just to

[3:00:40] mention a few, uh we we consider the

[3:00:42] economy, uh the final financial effects

[3:00:45] of the two tiffs, the transit room tax

[3:00:47] and impending legislative changes, which

[3:00:50] you all are aware that there's been some

[3:00:52] change with the tiffs uh that we

[3:00:54] continue to address. Uh we also consider

[3:00:57] the cost of health insurance, state

[3:00:58] pension cost, and inflation.

[3:01:01] I want to say thanks to the diverse

[3:01:03] local economy and our wise city

[3:01:05] leadership that we do have a healthy

[3:01:07] general fund balance. And we need this.

[3:01:09] We need that so that we can weather the

[3:01:12] unknown unknown storms of the future uh

[3:01:15] such as pandemics, inflation, uh

[3:01:17] worldwide events and potential unfunded

[3:01:20] mandates. For the current fiscal year, I

[3:01:23] am forecasting an operating surplus of a

[3:01:26] half a million dollars. This is driven

[3:01:28] by higher revenues and offset by

[3:01:31] expenditures that were authorized by

[3:01:32] budget amendments. And they are for

[3:01:34] community investments such as developer

[3:01:37] incentive, project funding, and final

[3:01:39] payments to OMU for the city's

[3:01:41] contribution to the Hillcrest project.

[3:01:42] So you don't have to hear me talk about

[3:01:44] the OMU contribution anymore. We're

[3:01:46] done. We we've paid it all. The annual

[3:01:48] deficits are projected to start in the

[3:01:51] fiscal year 2028 and 29.

[3:01:55] This is largely due to conservative

[3:01:57] forecasting of the revenues as well as

[3:01:59] the expenditures. And I wanted to talk

[3:02:01] about the expenditures and how

[3:02:03] conservative the approach there when we

[3:02:06] budget expenditures we budget um the

[3:02:09] salaries at full staffing like we have

[3:02:12] to budget for full staffing even though

[3:02:14] that's not always what happens but it

[3:02:16] could. So we budget for full staffing.

[3:02:19] We also budget at the state forecasted

[3:02:21] pension rates and we have found that

[3:02:23] every year for the past several years

[3:02:24] they come back with a reduced rate that

[3:02:27] we'll get that in January or so as we're

[3:02:30] preparing the budget and that that that

[3:02:32] saves us a million or more every time

[3:02:34] they lower that. So I just want to add

[3:02:37] that so not to be too alarmed about the

[3:02:40] um deficits that you see up there

[3:02:42] because it does address those items.

[3:02:46] um this graph. Oh, that's it. Does

[3:02:49] anybody have any questions?

[3:02:51] >> So, do you anticipate a tax increase in

[3:02:55] the near future?

[3:02:57] >> Uh

[3:02:59] how soon are you talking?

[3:03:02] >> Let's see. I get out.

[3:03:05] No,

[3:03:06] >> as long as long as as long as we

[3:03:08] maintain uh the healthy fund balance

[3:03:10] that we have and um the transit room

[3:03:14] tax, you know, that's that's a good

[3:03:15] stream that we've added to our revenue.

[3:03:18] Uh I do not have any projected tax

[3:03:21] increases in any of my calculations

[3:03:23] here. This is all just status quo is

[3:03:26] what with what we have

[3:03:28] >> that as as Angela sort of referenced. I

[3:03:29] think in in the later years of the LRP,

[3:03:32] it typically shows a deficit and we can

[3:03:34] typically mitigate that before we get to

[3:03:35] it. So, this is not really an unusual

[3:03:38] number. In fact, some several years I

[3:03:40] can recall that we've shown two or three

[3:03:42] years of of a million dollar plus

[3:03:43] deficit. Right now, we're not showing

[3:03:44] that into till year five. So, that's not

[3:03:47] unusual. It's not terribly concerning.

[3:03:49] There's no fiscal cliff or anything that

[3:03:52] we're concerned about at a certain date

[3:03:54] in the future. So, you know, obviously

[3:03:56] things can happen. no one anticipated a

[3:03:58] pandemic or things like that and you

[3:04:00] know those types of things we're in a

[3:04:01] position where we can largely mitigate

[3:04:03] because of our large fund balance. Um

[3:04:05] however you know not what we know today

[3:04:09] there's no plans for any any tax rate

[3:04:11] adjustments that I'm aware of

[3:04:12] >> and I remember Matt telling us that we

[3:04:14] were as good a shape as anybody he's

[3:04:17] deals with or as the city has ever been

[3:04:20] in. So that's pretty strong on your

[3:04:22] part.

[3:04:23] >> Yeah. Yeah. That's an accurate

[3:04:24] statement. Um okay. So for um my last

[3:04:28] slide,

[3:04:29] >> Jeff's got a question.

[3:04:30] >> Oh, just real real quick, Angela. Okay.

[3:04:32] >> Do you factor in like teacher growth

[3:04:35] like since we've added uh the Massie uh

[3:04:39] industrial park? If we land something

[3:04:41] there, if we land something at the air

[3:04:43] park, if we new jobs, does I do

[3:04:47] >> I don't factor in grow jobs that have

[3:04:49] not yet been materialized.

[3:04:51] >> Okay. So, but we do factor in growth. um

[3:04:55] based on historical averages and so

[3:04:59] forth. So it's today it's growth on what

[3:05:01] we have not growth on what we could

[3:05:03] possibly

[3:05:04] >> of what we anticipate. That's correct.

[3:05:05] >> So if we can get some things

[3:05:07] >> then that'll just add to this. That's

[3:05:09] correct.

[3:05:09] >> Very good. That's why it's important I

[3:05:11] think we do those things. Okay. Thank

[3:05:12] you.

[3:05:12] >> Yeah. You're welcome.

[3:05:15] >> Okay. So

[3:05:21] » that's why we do those special

[3:05:27] back.

[3:05:29] So,

[3:05:34] keep

[3:05:38] add correct. Yeah, that's just part of

[3:05:40] my conservative approach that not

[3:05:43] budgeting for uh withholdings when the

[3:05:45] jobs don't yet exist because there could

[3:05:48] be uh delays um and you know hopefully

[3:05:51] unfort not um hopefully they wouldn't be

[3:05:54] cancelled but you know just to be

[3:05:56] conservative so that we don't find

[3:05:58] ourselves short on on the revenue side.

[3:06:03] >> You're welcome.

[3:06:04] >> Anybody else?

[3:06:07] >> Yeah. So we hear a lot about the tiff

[3:06:09] and you know so what impact is this

[3:06:12] these adjustments the state has made to

[3:06:14] our tiff reimbursement.

[3:06:16] What will that cause tremendous

[3:06:18] heartburn and problems balancing the

[3:06:20] budget going forward beyond this year or

[3:06:22] what do you what would you say?

[3:06:25] >> Well it it it does reflect us receiving

[3:06:28] less but we're not done fighting. We're

[3:06:31] still working uh with Commonwealth

[3:06:33] Economics and other cities uh to

[3:06:37] approach um the legislators again. So,

[3:06:40] we're not we're not giving up. We're

[3:06:42] still going going to address that. Um

[3:06:45] the change mostly affects the

[3:06:48] withholding. So, for the Gateway Commons

[3:06:50] TIF, it really is not going to have much

[3:06:53] if any impact there because the bulk of

[3:06:56] the revenues there are sales tax and

[3:06:58] most of the jobs are retail jobs. And so

[3:07:00] there's there's little to no impact

[3:07:03] there. Now for the downtown tiff, it it

[3:07:05] does make some impact and um it's really

[3:07:09] hard to predict what it's going to do to

[3:07:12] us. Um you know, I could do worst case,

[3:07:15] best case scenarios, but we don't know

[3:07:17] when the state plans to continue to

[3:07:20] reduce that withholding rate. So I just

[3:07:24] budget and forecast for what I know

[3:07:26] today and then and are hear from from

[3:07:30] any contacts we have. So it's kind of

[3:07:32] really um don't have a firm number at

[3:07:35] this point, but it will impact us. But

[3:07:37] we're just kind of playing that by ear

[3:07:38] as we go forward knowing that there'll

[3:07:41] be reductions. Yeah, it's quite

[3:07:43] difficult because there's a lot of

[3:07:44] variables to that. In particular, at the

[3:07:47] rate at which the state income or

[3:07:49] withholding is reduced going forward,

[3:07:52] right? So, it's sort of unknown. If that

[3:07:54] phases out very quickly, it's quite

[3:07:55] problematic because the rate gets lower,

[3:07:58] it becomes harder to meet some of the

[3:07:59] standards to rate to continue to lower.

[3:08:02] >> And so, that's the big variable, I

[3:08:04] think, because if and when in the

[3:08:05] current scenario, if that rate goes to

[3:08:07] zero relatively quickly, it's a it's a

[3:08:09] problem. That's probably not a very

[3:08:11] likely scenario fortunately because I

[3:08:13] think it gets harder to reduce it the

[3:08:15] further it's already dropped, right? So

[3:08:17] that's that's sort of the variability

[3:08:18] that's really hard to plan for because

[3:08:20] there's just so many variables regarding

[3:08:22] that in particular that make it make

[3:08:24] from a long range planning perspective.

[3:08:26] It's difficult. Now luckily that's going

[3:08:27] to be more than five years out. I

[3:08:29] suspect or I certainly hope um but

[3:08:32] because that's more of a long-term

[3:08:33] initiative.

[3:08:34] >> This is all driven by their elimination

[3:08:35] of the state income tax and reducing the

[3:08:37] rate. That's right. Okay. And we have

[3:08:39] good access to legislative assistance on

[3:08:42] that. We're yaking at them all time. So

[3:08:46] >> yes, I know you have been.

[3:08:48] >> So that you know, at least they know

[3:08:50] we're aware of it and maybe there's

[3:08:52] something they can do to help us and

[3:08:54] they will if they can.

[3:08:55] >> Yeah. Another item that really needs to

[3:08:57] be addressed is what happens when the

[3:09:00] rate goes to zero because there's the

[3:09:03] current legislation is silent on that the amendment that they did. So

[3:09:07] that's just another um item that that we

[3:09:10] need to take to Frankfurt and and see

[3:09:12] try and get some kind of direction or

[3:09:15] information from them like what happens

[3:09:17] when the rate ghost is zero. You know

[3:09:20] >> Petri won't tell us.

[3:09:22] >> I know.

[3:09:24] >> So I don't know if he knows

[3:09:25] >> it's a difficult battle from our our our

[3:09:28] end.

[3:09:28] >> Yeah.

[3:09:30] >> So it's actually nothing that we did

[3:09:33] wrong. We're being impacted by decision

[3:09:37] by our state legislator.

[3:09:39] >> That's correct.

[3:09:42] >> They have a pretty healthy general fund

[3:09:44] and road fund both right now.

[3:09:46] >> Yeah. And if their fund balance

[3:09:47] continues to be healthy above a certain

[3:09:50] level, they won't reduce the the IIT or

[3:09:54] state withholding. And so as long as

[3:09:56] they stay very healthy, I foresee no

[3:09:59] reductions to their withholding rate. So

[3:10:02] that's a good thing that they have a

[3:10:04] healthy fund balance. grains tip. They

[3:10:07] in the same position.

[3:10:09] >> They much, aren't they? They help us.

[3:10:11] >> They're exposed even more than we are.

[3:10:13] Far more than us.

[3:10:14] >> Yeah, they most they're mostly the

[3:10:16] withholding and it's a very large area

[3:10:20] and amount. So, yeah, they um in fact,

[3:10:22] they're leading the charge a little more

[3:10:24] boldly than what we are with the

[3:10:27] legislators, but we're we're there with

[3:10:28] them. And so, like I said, we continue

[3:10:31] just because uh this legislative session

[3:10:34] is over doesn't mean that we aren't

[3:10:36] continuing to fight. Uh I shouldn't say

[3:10:39] fight, but to

[3:10:40] >> Hey, we're fighting

[3:10:43] >> to work toward uh trying to get a

[3:10:46] different resolution because

[3:10:49] we're still we're just still working on

[3:10:50] that.

[3:10:51] >> Well, to me it was a contract. They

[3:10:52] agreed to the contract and now they're

[3:10:54] renegging on the contract. So yeah, I

[3:10:56] think you do need to fight and I think

[3:10:58] it's an abrogation of the responsibility

[3:11:00] to cities and counties and then you add

[3:11:02] in the elimination of the pensions and

[3:11:04] what that's done to municipalities and

[3:11:06] counties and I don't how much pain they

[3:11:08] want us to take but I guess it's a lot.

[3:11:10] >> Yeah, it it boils down to the semantics

[3:11:12] versus the intent um of the agreement

[3:11:15] that the state made with um the cities

[3:11:18] because the the original language is is

[3:11:21] that what was collected would be

[3:11:23] reimbursed. But the problem is is what's

[3:11:26] being and so we relied on 5%. As did

[3:11:29] everyone else and and so but the problem

[3:11:32] there in lies as they reduce that rate

[3:11:34] there's less collected so that that's

[3:11:36] their stand.

[3:11:41] » Well that reducing that rate affects a

[3:11:43] whole lot more people than the people

[3:11:45] here in Orange. That's the thought

[3:11:47] process.

[3:11:50] » Yeah.

[3:11:53] All right. Um, so if there's no other

[3:11:55] questions or comments, we can go to the

[3:11:57] last slide.

[3:11:58] >> Amen.

[3:11:59] >> Okay. All right. Here we go. Uh, this is

[3:12:01] our projected uh reserve. And this is

[3:12:04] also again the general fund only. And so

[3:12:07] the fund balance you can see is the

[3:12:09] bluish greenish bars u the balance of

[3:12:12] our fund balance. And the gray bar that

[3:12:14] goes across the screen uh is

[3:12:17] representative of the minimum target for

[3:12:20] our fund balance. And I say minimum.

[3:12:21] It's not the one we strive for. It's what we set to be the bare minimum.

[3:12:26] So I just wanted to be sure and clarify

[3:12:27] that because some people see that and

[3:12:28] they think that's where we need to be

[3:12:30] and that's not where we need to be. We

[3:12:31] need to be above that. So I just wanted

[3:12:32] to be sure and clarify that as well.

[3:12:36] So uh the bar that goes across there uh

[3:12:39] aligns with the policy that the

[3:12:41] government finance officers association

[3:12:43] sets out as their best practice which

[3:12:45] recommends maintaining a minimum fund

[3:12:48] balance of 17% or approximately two

[3:12:50] months of annual expenditures which is

[3:12:52] also the policy that we have adopted

[3:12:54] here. Uh thanks to consistent

[3:12:56] conservative financial management, the

[3:12:58] city is in a strong financial position

[3:13:01] described by our auditor as very strong

[3:13:03] as the mayor alluded to and and our

[3:13:05] auditor still says that uh for the

[3:13:07] fiscal year 2030-31 the last year up

[3:13:11] there the minimum fund balance per

[3:13:13] policy like I said it's based on

[3:13:15] expenditures budgeted for that year is

[3:13:18] estimated to be 15.4 4 million. And as

[3:13:21] you can see from our chart, even with

[3:13:22] the forecasted shortfalls, we are above

[3:13:24] that minimum threshold is which is where

[3:13:26] we want to be. So if anybody has any

[3:13:28] questions, I'd be happy to to answer

[3:13:30] them.

[3:13:37] » I'm brain dead.

[3:13:39] >> Well, that's that's a good time to be

[3:13:40] brain dead because that concludes our

[3:13:43] presentation. I'll just say thank you.

[3:13:45] One of the roles I think of what we all

[3:13:47] do but certainly of elected officials to

[3:13:49] be a community steward. And so I think

[3:13:52] this demonstrates good community

[3:13:53] stewardship both on your behalf and and

[3:13:56] your predecessors. We've had good

[3:13:57] leadership here historically. Hopefully

[3:13:58] that continues into the future. So thank

[3:14:01] you for your guidance and support and feedback. Again I want to thank our

[3:14:05] department heads and managers who start

[3:14:07] working on these documents what back in

[3:14:09] December probably in some cases. Also

[3:14:12] want to thank the finance department.

[3:14:13] You've heard from Angela. We've heard

[3:14:15] from um Whitney and Carrie Indiana.

[3:14:19] Also, we've heard from um

[3:14:22] D Galloway. And so D retires this fall

[3:14:26] as well. And so I wanted to take a

[3:14:28] moment to specifically acknowledge her.

[3:14:30] This is her last budget process that

[3:14:32] she'll go through. So I'm sure she'll

[3:14:34] miss these long meetings,

[3:14:37] but wanted to acknowledge her for her

[3:14:38] years of effort as well. So mayor, with

[3:14:41] that, we will sign off. Let's talk some

[3:14:44] more.

[3:14:45] >> So, you going run around with your

[3:14:46] sister full time now?

[3:14:47] >> I am. Um, I just want to say thank you.

[3:14:50] um, to you, commission, and

[3:14:54] the previous commissions. Thank you to

[3:14:56] management, um, and all the people I've

[3:14:59] worked with. Um, you guys, I know you

[3:15:02] all realize what an incredible team you

[3:15:05] all have at the city from top to bottom.

[3:15:08] Um, it's been a pleasure working with

[3:15:10] everybody. Um, between me and my sister,

[3:15:13] we have over 50 years of community

[3:15:16] service in Owensboro, our hometown. And

[3:15:19] I know, um, we don't take that very

[3:15:21] lightly. Before I came to the city, I

[3:15:23] worked for the housing authority for 12

[3:15:25] years. Um, and then I'll be here almost

[3:15:27] 15. So, um, it's been amazing career.

[3:15:31] Um, and I've just feel blessed and

[3:15:33] fortunate. So, thank you.

[3:15:34] >> We're going to miss that Yankee accents,

[3:15:36] too.

[3:15:39] I would just like to add she DA is going

[3:15:41] to be sorely missed. I I I we're going

[3:15:45] to be somewhat lost without her for a

[3:15:47] while, but we've got some competent good

[3:15:49] staff back here. Uh DA brings a lot of

[3:15:52] uh uh grant knowledge and experience

[3:15:54] from the housing authority and she is a

[3:15:56] hard hard worker. Hardest worker I

[3:15:58] probably probably know and so um can't

[3:16:01] replace that. But um anyway, I just

[3:16:04] wanted to pass that on and to thank her

[3:16:05] for her her time and service. Well, you

[3:16:07] have to get two then.

[3:16:10] >> We may talk about that later.

[3:16:15] » No argument here.

[3:16:17] >> Anything else? If not, I'll may make a

[3:16:20] motion to adjurnn. Could I have a

[3:16:22] second, please?

[3:16:23] >> Second.

[3:16:24] >> All in favor indicate by saying I. I.

[3:16:26] >> All oppose.

[3:16:28] >> Two hours.

Owensboro Board of Commissioners Special Called Meeting - April 28, 2026

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