I. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States
of America and to the Republic for which it stands One nation
under God It is the law with certainty and justice
for all thank you We're moving into our next items
on the agenda, which is the consent calendar.
What are Council's wishes ?
Mr. Mayor, I move that we consider items Eight through C
OK.
So it's a motion to approve items eight through C i'll
second of a motion to approve items.
Eight through C from Councilman Stone and Councilwoman
pierce Any discussion on that on those items Rachel
roll call vote Press read yes.
Yes.
Jason brown.
Yes.
Sherri vomer Yes Nathan Murray.
Yes.
Grayson stone.
Yes.
And Ruth pierce.
Yes.
OK.
Motion carries 7 to 0.
So we still have item three D, What is order
council's wishes Mr. Mayor?
For me?
Yes.
I have a really hard time giving an open ended
window to the release date.
Given the impact that this will have
on local families traveling to and from drum back and forth
traffic plans.
I would love to have a date certain
associated with this plan case a date
certain for an announce opening.
OK.
So this pertains ular item is just
we you know a couple of weeks ago,
we approved the traffic plan and the general item
moving it from August 2 to July 20.
But you're specifically asking for a more
specific day on when there when they're going to open.
That's correct OK.
Any other discussion by council or what?
And the fact that it's Go ahead, Nathan.
The agenda notice from August 2 to July 20.
So it's going backwards.
Yep.
But councilwoman Stone would you be i
guess what a smaller window be appropriate because, I
mean it's 13 days.
And I imagine they'll announce it a day or two before.
I don't think it's you can still plan ahead 24 to 48 hours
like with a small one to be acceptable is what
I'm asking Grayson, go ahead.
Yeah, go ahead.
Yeah Sorry.
Yeah Thank you.
Mr..
I'm used to talking to you.
I hear you're good.
You're good.
Go ahead.
My biggest thing is I know that the struggles that our families
are dealing with as far as planning ahead
and and so on and so forth.
But I think maybe a Five day window would be good
Would you be amenable to that, Councilman Murray?
I just I don't like thinking that this is going to I
don't think this is going to be a mess,
no matter how it plays out.
We all know it's going to be a mess the day it opens.
So let's have counsel and former speaker.
I think part of the reason why you want to not give
a specific date is something that's
going to be as popular as this.
And this is something that happens with a lot of larger
corporations So when you give an exact date,
you start getting people camping out
And I imagine the traffic could be a lot
worse anticipating that date.
Let's say it opens on a Thursday people start camping out
on Wednesday morning and that can cause issues as well
So I understand why they're not wanting to do a specific date.
And I understand that, you know, people want to be
prepared for that as well.
It's my understanding morning commute won't
be as impacted because they don't open until later I don't
remember exactly the times that they open,
but I can see where they would not want to give an exact date
Mr. Mayor, for me.
Go ahead.
So I think it's not just the families It's the surrounding
businesses, the have to prepare as well
And so I think if we're going to treat one business one way,
we have to give the same attention
to the other businesses to prepare
for what's going to happen Mayor You know,
I would agree with Mr. Stone.
And since we have not required every business when they've
opened the exact same, you have to tell us the exact same time
and date that you're going to be opening allowing
them to have a window of time.
I think this is perfectly acceptable.
And as soon as we're ready I'll make the motion
Councilor Ruth Yes So, you know, this
is not in announce First Rodeo.
And so i'm guessing they have really thought through this.
I am not excited about having a date certain
and people start camping out.
And I mean, that's really going to impede traffic
And it's I think they're fairly close to being ready to go
And they'll announce they'll give us some warnings.
So it won't just be this morning.
We're opening up at ten.
I'm sure they're going to give us a day or so
but I'm comfortable with giving them
this extended time as a state.
And the agenda other.
Oh, go ahead.
Mr. Mayor I've talked to Chief Brooks about life safety issues.
And if he's willing to come down and talk about life safety
issues revolving around this, are
you willing to come down Is there something specific
that you're concerned about And in my conversation with him,
there's absolutely conversations that
have happened without knowing this specific date Chief.
Good evening I'll say that again.
I think the conversations that we've had
have all been discussed.
I think in the traffic plan Obviously,
my concern is going to be the amount
of traffic that's going to be in the area
that's pretty much a given.
The other piece that I'm concerned about
is the wrap around behind the strip mall
behind Dick's Sporting goods.
If we were to have an event there,
we need to be able to clear that out
quickly so that we can have access
to those suppressions systems.
So other than that, we're going to treat it
as any other business, opening up
It's just going to have a lot more people Yeah,
but I'll stand for any questions.
Any questions for Chief I think there's no doubt.
I mean, the reason we're having this conversation
is because it's a highly anticipated tD opening.
There's going to be some issues and things that we need to work
through as far as I can see and look in the documentations type
of stuff.
I know that in and out group is going
to be there and try to help us respond
to those types of things.
But I mean, there's always going to be
a level of concern of trying to how do we navigate through that?
Do you in moving the date up does that do.
That?
That doesn't necessarily add to or eliminate
any of that concern?
Does it know we're going to work with them.
However, we need to.
I think they had 12 flaggers if I counted
that correctly on the plan.
So if we respond out there, we're
going to have to be just in good communication with them
to be able to clear out and just allow us access.
Perfect OK.
Any other conversations ?
Okay.
Councilman Reid I think you meant.
Yeah.
OK Got moved to approve consent.
Calendar item d, a request to approve an amendment
to the special event Grand opening
for In and Out Burger from July 20th to August 2nd, 2026.
The other way around july 20th.
Yeah.
Move it from August and back to July 20.
Is that what it is?
OK.
August 2 to July 22.
That can have a motion in a second
to approve consent Calendar item three
D, which is a request for buy in and out
to move their special event.
Grand opening from august 2nd to July 20, 2026.
Any further discussion on that item ?
Okay, Rachel, Roll call.
Vote, please.
Greg Hopkins Yes.
Jason Brown.
Yes Sherri vomer.
Yes.
Nathan Murray.
Yes.
Grayson Stone.
No Chris Reed Yes Yes.
OK.
Motion carries 620.
Thank you.
1062, one.
Sorry.
Yep.
Sorry Grayson.
I did again.
Then a 6 to 1 motion carries 6 to 1.
Appreciate the conversation session on that
will move into our next item which
is an action item to confirm the reappointment
of kendall Madison courtyard.
Randall Court Johnson, and jr. Taro toro.
I'm sorry.
I apologize.
Your first name Munoz.
To the impact and improvement reimbursement commission and we
have will Good evening mr. Mayor and council members.
We as a mayor brown just stated, we
have a request to reappoint Three members to our impact fee
and reimburse man committee.
This kendall madsen, Randall Court Johnson.
And then Dorado Otto munoz.
These these three have served on the commission
for quite some time.
And they've been very influential
and provide a great discussion for us
to so learn and to keep the impact fee committee viable
And those rates.
But not out of hand as well.
So we'd like to thank them.
And then also with what title he has completed his
second term and the impact fee committee
in on july 7th of this year.
So earlier this month, we passed an ordinance
to allow for the council to the waiver to that rule.
The rule of you can only serve two consecutive terms
and and so we are requesting that first,
the council approves a waiver for otto
to serve a Third consecutive term.
And after we go through that process,
then we would request to appoint kendall
or reappoint Kendall and Court to the
for their second full terms.
So you're asking ultimately for two Two motions, one, waiving
the requirement for the third term and then an
appoint the other two.
Correct?
OK.
What are council's wishes?
I'm ready to make a motion.
Jason, go ahead.
I move to waive the term limits as outlined in Twin Falls
Municipal Code two dash 1-1 for Gerardo el Toro munis
and reappoint taro munis for a third consecutive
term on impact Fee and Reimbursement
Commission So I have a second.
I'll second that Kevin motion in a Second to waive the A geisha
to a to approve taro Munoz and waive the requirement or allow
him to serve a three year term in accordance with City code
2-1-1 which allows the council to waive the limit
and appoint him to a third consecutive
term any further discussion ?
OK, Rachel rourke.
Ruth Pierce Yes.
Reed.
Yes Erick Hawkins.
Yes.
Jason Brown.
Yes.
Harry Belmar.
Yes.
Jason stone.
Yes.
Nathan Murray Yes.
Okay.
Motion carries 720.
So we have one more item.
There is to appoint appoint Kendall and Court.
I'm ready.
OK, go ahead.
I moved to appoint Kendall Matson and Randall Court Johnson
to serve their second consecutive term on the impact
and Reimbursement Commission Have a second.
Second, I have a motion and a second to appoint Kendall
Madison Mad Madsen and Randall court Johnson
to a second term on the impact impact and improve reimbursement
commission.
Any discussion, any further discussion any Rachel
Roll call vote, please.
Nathan Murray Yes.
Grayson Stone.
Yes Jerry vomer.
Yes.
Jason Brown Yes.
Yes Yes.
Yes.
OK.
Motion carries 720.
Thank you.
You.
Thank you all four for participating
in that commission Okay.
Our next item is a further conversation
on the city city's f y 2627 budget
and particularly focus areas.
One Seven and eight.
And we have our deputy city manager Gretchen Hi.
We're really pleased to be here tonight.
We have quite a collection of folks to visit with you.
We're excited to present focus areas, healthy community,
which is number One, responsible community which is number seven.
And then the internal organized mission,
which is number 8 to you tonight Our agenda will
be a little bit different whereas last week when Travis
presented the depth of the budgeting
process, the financials and how we arrive at the space
that we're at tonight, we move towards the purpose
of what the budget does and hopes to accomplish
through both talking about the outcomes
that we want to deliver the tie into the strategic plan,
reporting on some of the things that we have accomplished just
to give you a little bit of feedback
and to report to the public as well So as by law,
we're required to balance a budget for your presentation
and for you to take action on.
We really try to translate our community priorities
into services We want to make sure that we are investing
responsibly, both in people in infrastructure and maintenance,
as well as public safety.
These are the hallmarks of providing an excellent community
for our citizens to enjoy a high quality of life In addition,
we need to plan for both today's needs and the future of what
the community will grow into Some of the stuff in front
of you in this particular slide talks about what the community
is doing now, how we grow, how we change,
what the impact of income and expenses
looks like for our citizens and that we budget accordingly
based on what our community can responsibly
and reasonably afford.
And wants, not just our needs, not just what we perhaps maybe
see for them moving ahead.
This is what the budget impact to bills that our citizens see
looks like.
So you can see that even though our tax rate will reduce
slightly that the monthly change that our citizens can
look for in the if this budget is adopted is about $3.51 more.
And then as you go down, we're looking at a 5% increase
for water and sewer a reduction in sanitation
depending on the contract that is awarded for a total change
for essentially a monthly average of about
$7.93 These are the hallmarks, the principles that we
budgeted for.
We want to make sure that our strategic investment in capital
is balanced with our long term sustainability We incorporate
citizen feedback as we try to drive our strategic priorities
We make sure that our citizens or collaborate or departments
are collaborating in order to provide most
efficient services that we can We do that
through long term planning.
We do that through our community groups that
meet on a monthly basis to advise our departments
and at the end, we end up with a balanced budget needs
to be sustainable more stable.
And as well as responsive to the environment
that we may find ourselves in And you'll
hear from other people that talk tonight about the other things
that are included there as well about being the employer
of choice in the organization of choice
This reflects the taxable value of the community.
We don't set what that value is.
It comes from the county assessor's office.
But this is what has been determined as our taxable value.
And you can see the change in that throughout last year
to this year And then you can see
what we expect to spend from the budget
based on what those values look like.
Our taxable weighted funds 65 million non tech supported fund
which are all of our enterprise, which are fee based, 37 million
included in the budget is the statutorily allowed 3% increase
in property tax the inclusion of 90%
of the value of new construction and then
a portion of the foregone balance
that's equal to 1% of revenue This is just
a little bit of a more history.
Look back at the taxable value of the city.
And you can see how we have grown where
and then a breakdown of where each of that value
has come from.
Included Sorry June two mental process right there Maybe
if I read the smart popcorn, I would
have had that answer immediately,
but I didn't do active course.
So there you go.
Your properties within the city have a value of about 700
million plus and you can see how we then
have grown as a city over the course of the last Six years
And again that then plays into what the tax rate is.
You can see that we have one of the lowest tax rates in Idaho
by comparable cities and how we have tried to maintain as close
to a flat rate as we can by controlling costs being very
judicious in how we budget and trying to perform to the city's
expectation in our communities Expectations So that kind
of concludes the overview but I can
done tell you a little bit about how
our budget is then distributed.
If you look at the total d of the $102.2 million budget,
you can see that these are the way these are broken out
We have the governmental funds, which are tax supported.
Add about 65 million enterprise funds,
which again, are fee based.
Those are processes in the city that
operate like a small business.
They spend what they bring in.
And then we have our other non major funds
that are on the small part of that transfers
and other areas as a service organization.
Obviously One of the largest cost for us to perform services
is are the people that perform them And on this graph,
you'll see that across all of the funds
are largest portion is personnel We have our maintenance
and operations as of the next piece Capital
is an equal amount.
And then any other debt service or transfers
to internal services that we have This budget
is a 1.1% increase over the prior years Budget.
Most of that change is driven by the use of one time capital
This is the investment for the public
and what we intend to accomplish through these use of funds
and how it connects to the strategic plan
are the things that you're going to start hearing next
through the different focus areas So just
a brief introduction before we get into the focus areas
The strategic plan driven through all
of the different focus areas, drives the attention
towards specific areas.
Each of those 8 or 7 are accomplished through the work
of the people who work here, and that's the internal organization
As I mentioned earlier tonight, you're
going to hear from Healthy Community responsible community
and the internal organization,
Responsible Community i.t is really
about our public engagement stewardship of their funds
and trust in how we are delivering essentially
the accountability piece of what we have moving forward We
have purpose we try to put more in terms of reporting
and responsible community in these last couple of years
so that you really can see how hard we are trying
to be transparent in the efforts in both presenting
the budget and our efforts of engagement with the community
So the first slide that will come forward or the first group
is the healthy community.
And I'd like to invite gentlemens to come
forward Thank you, Gretchen.
And hello again Mayor Brown and council members
I appreciate the opportunity to come before you again
and present this time in regards to our requests
for this upcoming fiscal year in front of you
is the entirety of that list that made
it through long term planning.
All of which are up for a question
but not all of which will be elaborated through side by side.
So if you have any questions, maybe photographic memory
snapshot that next.
So now this is just an update from two weeks ago.
I was before You presenting project updates
But what we didn't mention is we're all that came from.
So it's kind of fun for the community.
I think to know that we use a variety of resources
to try to fund these public forward facing projects.
And so this is just a quick list of some of the areas where we
pull money from to try to make that happen largely
with your support, of course.
So that's all of our funds for Vista Bonita community
development Block Grant for City Park, A combination
of impact fees plus such a body donation
for canyon Trail Junction.
Elizabeth park will be impact fees We allocate a dollar
from the sale of the fire station so a variety of ways
to fund these projects.
The first request for this upcoming year
is going to be the tennis courts at Cascade.
These courts and all of our courts
are in a rotation to replace one at a time every seven years.
The last time the Cascades courts or resurfaced
was in 2020.
So we're right on schedule for this one.
The cracks and the images, of course,
I take to make it look worse than it
is If you really look at the crack pattern here,
it's everywhere.
There's an expansion joint on the concrete underneath.
And as as expected and if you look
at the same kind of beyond in the in the background
That's right.
On a line.
And really doesn't interfere with play as much
as if it were through the center of of the court.
So these are really in anticipated locations
And so we don't think the the slab is
in need of any repair or replacement simply just
resurfacing So good news Okay.
Back when House average house cost was 68,000, I think.
And we opened the Olympics in Barcelona and Bill clinton
became our 42nd president, the city of Twin Falls purchased
this beautiful boat, a loader We have used
it well it's time to retire.
And we propose purchasing a more compact skid steer unit
with some more versatile attachments such as an auger
and a grapple and a bucket We believe the auger is going
to help us with replacement or installation of bollards
and fence posts Maybe some signs the grapple will help us
with cleanup and brush clearing, such as a Rock
Creek trail and the bucket just for general purpose.
Loading and moving material With this request,
we also are asking for a tilt deck trailer
to load and transport this piece of equipment
to a different locations Chance.
Yeah.
What is the cost on that I imagine
we're going back to slide one.
Yeah, sorry I didn't have a photographic memory.
885,005.
Oh, that's not bad.
Yeah Yeah.
He has a photographic memory No, he's just looking at this.
He can have the slides up.
Thank you We're.
I'll just thank you with this.
I and he's out of favor and feisty
to one of those on these slides.
But you know it's more fun to go back We
at the Parks Department are pretty good at implementing
the First two hours.
We've reduced our expenditures by reusing old chemical barrels
as our trash receptacles and parks
I believe it's time for us to implement the third hour
and recycle all said barrels If we can also
implement a fourth hour and replace
them with trash and closures that would be much appreciated.
I think places like Sunway Shoshone Falls and Turkeys Lake
and Harrison and our Downtown main Street Corridor
all have these trash enclosures.
And I'll look better for it.
And I think this will greatly improve our spaces.
A especially starting in those spaces that are
like more prominent or popular, like City Park with a lot
of events and people attending.
So that's part of the request is just trash enclosures It
includes replacing sort of benches and tables,
though, as those fall apart and come into disrepair,
as well Switching over briefly to the golf course,
there's a few requests that the golf course the stucco
has been in disrepair for some time,
but recently, we've detected some leaks
near and around some windows and other locations.
So we think it's time to do these repairs
and make repairs on the stucco But when we do so,
if we could also paint the whole building
and re stain the underside of the soffit and balcony, that
would be along with the painting project If any of you
have heard Travis Hoffman's presents to the commission
he emphasizes that his new philosophy and model of the golf
course is improving service and value
and therefore, that will generate revenue.
And in support of that philosophy
I think if we can allocate some resources to enhancing the user
experience at the golf course, that that will in turn generate
some revenue, which we share Another item at the golf course,
this relic hiding in dark corners that seldom people see
is probably due for replacement.
We are some of you may know this, some may not that a golf
courses we use reels to mow the lawn
and makes more of a slicing motion and/or sorry a scissor
like motion instead of a slicing or chopping
motion with a rotary blade.
And those blades get sharpened every week
And so this machine gets used every single
week on multiple reels It was the president for this one
because their president I said, who it
who is the president for this one?
Right before Bill Clinton's.
I it's about the same age.
Okay.
So it's 1991.
This machine i think was purchased some
it's also due for replacement.
It's a special really tight and precise
calibration that happens.
And the new piece of equipment also
has some built in safety mechanisms, which you don't see
here, such as shields and guards or appendages
I'm the that that's it for our general capital request
that made it through long term planning.
The next two slides, you'll see are what we call priority twos.
This is council driven dollars.
So this is for you to consider adding to our allocation
for this upcoming year.
We add this one to the list because this playground
is 30 years old.
And most playgrounds have a life of 20 to 25.
And so it makes sense that right around age 25,
this thing started to fall apart.
Appreciate it.
Depends on exposure and the amount of use
And I think this playground as well loved
But in the past four years since I've been here,
it's been kind of one item at a time First it was the slide.
We couldn't find a replacement for it,
so we boarded it up The next was the bridge that
got vandalized and broken up.
We couldn't find a replacement, so we took it off.
And then the next thing we found through inspection
was a leaning post and the playground was deemed
well, that portion of it.
We decommissioned it.
And so now what you see in front of you
is half a playground that was, I guess,
still worth keeping there.
You know, just to provide the public something to use
But it doesn't look good.
And it really is just half a playground.
And so the hope for us is to replace this playground
And in so doing, we hope to take the opportunity
to adjust the site to make it more accessible So this planned,
you chose switching the playground from an L-shaped
to just a rectangle, which allows us more
versatility in the future for replacement
And then also the sidewalk around it makes the playground
itself more accessible and provides access from the parking
lot to the restroom through the parking lot
instead of around the blue building
And if you have been there before the existing basketball
court is kind of impeding on the old playground
And this is a way to just kind of incorporate it,
and make it a part of the facility by separating
it with a short seawall.
And so the funds that we're requesting are $356,000 to do
all of this work, including the patch back of irrigation
and landscape to that construction and change
And the last thing we're requesting,
this little mower is really the only one
of this size that we have and it mows
in particularly the the pool.
So the grass near the pool, if we don't collects the clippings
through a bagging system, a lot of those end up
in the pool and our filters and you know,
that can wreak havoc on our system.
So primarily it's used for that, but it's
also just the ideal size.
It's in between the push mower size and our larger 72 inch
deck.
So this is a medium size that allows us to mow places
around the fire station at a police station
to the little triangles at intersections.
Sometimes the roadways strips.
If we have to get to those, you know,
this is just a different size, and it's small enough
to fit on most of our trailers and we can get
around pretty quick with it.
So the current Walker mower that we have is now not worth fixing
and we've taken it to the shop and kind of
deemed it is now going to go to salvage.
And so we currently don't even have an operable mower of this
size we're trying to make do with push mowers and I'm using
our large area mowers to get into places we probably
shouldn't be putting them So this
request is amended for 40,000.
I was going to say 35.
So whatever it says on there, I think, is the official number.
Am I right?
Gretchen okay.
Thank you.
So this request is 40,000.
And I believe that is all I have for if you can,
any additional questions for chance on those particular items
OK.
Thank you.
Thank you Chance Appreciate it.
Thank you Looks like Josh is up Exactly.
I appreciate the opportunity to talk to you about folks.
Area seven, an encouraging response by community and public
communication and our future of enhancing
engagement in the community.
So First off, TFA dot org, the city's website
is is significant.
We log over 460,000 visitors last year alone.
We have almost a million page views.
If we were selling advertising, this would be lucrative.
But we have a lot of people who do come to our website.
If you notice we have a lot of people who are not residents
of the city of Twin Falls who are using
our website specifically We do have a lot of people who
use it to find recreation services,
shortfalls and things like that from our site or area.
And then I also would highlight we
have a pretty high bounce rate.
We have a lot of people who do come to our website looking
for Twin Falls County information
when they don't find it, they bounce to Twin Falls County
Most of our visitors on our website are mobile
And in addition to that, I just pointed out that the top pages
is shown falls and that one always goes gangbusters
along with utility services specifically
people who are setting up turning off, trying to find
their bills And then city pool and recreation kind of picks
up the rest of the load there So with great reach
comes great responsibility.
So the city has made and will continue
to make substantial strides towards ADA compliance.
And so what that essentially is, is
that it used to be in April 2026,
but it got bumped to April 2027.
Is the FCC and alphabet soup of federal organized actions
are going to require us to follow wcag or guidelines
for accessing ability.
So in the corner, you can see there's a lovely
and a a we're trying to achieve both those.
And I will say that we have and the reason I highlighted in red
is our accessibility compliance is
a is a bar none above the rest, not only in just
the public sector, but industry So a lot of that credit
goes to Brett and also kathy Marcus, who
retired from right department.
They have been huge champions towards making our website
compliant and they've made a lot of those corrections and changes
that helps us to reach that We do have work that we do
have to do, though, and that's something
else that we pointed out.
We want to talk about.
So with our responsible community
we have in the 2040 strategic plan,
we have an initiative to enhance transparency
through clear communication, accessible information
and consistent reporting on city activities, service program
and performance and so we're going to do that We're expanding
our engagement to close the that loop as you've noticed,
we I think we do a pretty good job
of communicating with the community
and with people outside of our community.
But we don't always provide opportunities for engagement,
feedback and to get involved on the projects
that the city is starting when we're starting them.
Oftentimes as we will communicate with the public
and seek engagement after a design has been completed
or the projects already underway.
So reaching out to some other communities, that's
one of the things we learned was a shortfall
Communities that do engagement really well
are on the front end.
Get engaging with their citizens on decisions and projects
and they're following through with them.
And if they end, they're closing that loop
by coming back to those citizens and advising them
how maybe their input might have changed things
or with the final solution ultimately was.
But we do need to close that loop
and we need to report back to our citizens to do that.
We're going to rely heavily on technology so we have for about
4 or 5 years now have been contract iNG with Poco,
which is a digital survey tool.
It is the most robust and the largest survey tool
that I can see out there for municipal governments like ours.
What it does is it gives us the ability to reach, engage
and allow follow up or reporting back with those citizens so
citizens that verify their accounts with us
We essentially the way it works is they can have a projects
that they're interested in, that the cities working on
and they can follow those projects until the end
We provide the updates on that.
We also provide a very healthy amount of we're
trying to seek their feedback.
So we're sending out surveys and polls
and to get their feedback on it and then providing those results
back to the residents.
The reason that Poco is crucial to this
is because it is the software the only software that we have
that keeps those those residents, first of all,
verifies that those are residents.
Second of all, keeps them in touch with us and that we can
pull survey them in and seek feedback or engagement I would
like to say to that you know, thanks to council and staff,
this is already funded There was up to $60,000 allocated
for the expansion of the Poco services as well as other things
that we'll be doing in terms of in-person outreach
to get in touch with people and make
them aware of our Poco service.
But this has been funded and I very much appreciate that.
That's going to help us a long way.
The kind of ended of the slide here on the what
I call like wet milquetoast goals The reason I had those are
do seem a little small is because when the initial polls
that we released through Poco we only retained or were
able to verify i or only about a third will only about one third
of respondents would verify themselves I mean,
there are verified users.
We know there are resident of the city,
a twin falls and so we lose a lot of people who just do not
want to complete the verification questions for one
reason or another maybe a lack of trust,
but they're not filling those out.
What we've heard from Poco is as you develop, as we poll
and as we develop a citizen base that number will increase just
because people are becoming more confident
and hopefully having more trust in the in the city.
The other part of that is we need to retake those results
and provide them back to our citizens
so that they know that we're actually using their input
in our decision making process.
And then within that, hopefully we'll
be able to generate more verified users in.
Lastly, I'd like to leave on this is that so when we invite
more people to the conversation and earlier to the conversation
we may not hear what we want to hear.
That feedback may be highly critical of past current
or future services projects.
The public information officer But I think what we should not
do is view that as a failure.
All too often.
It can be an instance where it is.
So negative that the wall goes up and the system shut down,
and that's not what we want to do.
In fact, from what we've heard from other communities,
again the do engagement.
Well is once you release that valve on the pressure cooker,
it can get kind of messy.
But those that follow through with it
are the ones that retain the residents
not only as their confidence but as engaged
citizens in their community.
So our ultimate goal is, is not to approve every suggestion
that we have received through the polling service It's simply
we just want to make a more transparent response
and engage in community with that staffer.
Any questions, any questions for Josh Grayson?
Oh oh, thank you What other platforms are utilized ?
and other than the website?
Other than the website?
So we we have a total of eight social media accounts
across Instagram, Facebook We have one YouTube account
for the city the media accounts, the social media accounts are
across different apartments.
So police, fire historic preservation, the city of Twin
Falls grow, a Twin Falls, which is our economic development arm,
and i fly Twin Falls for the airport
So we have I think, a pretty robust social media.
And then in addition to that, I did kind of touch on it
is we're doing more in-person outreach as well.
And I think that's going to be critical to the success of this
as well.
So we've already lined up for things like well,
there's the national night out with the police department
and Latino Fest, September 11th event just any event
that we can get ourselves into.
We're trying to do that now.
So that we can just have a face there
and engage with the public answer the questions.
And I asked you that question not so much as a gotcha
question, but just to applaud your efforts from what
you're doing in the community.
So okay.
Can either questions for Joshua All right.
Thank you.
I'm over to appreciate it Mayor and council
It's been a very long time since I've had to come before you back
when we took over the Dale building was
the last you were just giving us batteries a minute
ago So how long ago?
So i get to talk to you a little bit about infrastructure
and we're going to brief you on a project that's going on.
And then what's coming up and plans for next year
So public safety communications is
one of the most important infrastructures
we have in the city.
Not only does it.
Keep our citizens safe.
But it also keeps our public safety personnel safe.
So this year we have went through the process
of purchasing new antennas for our two main towers
in the city of Twin Falls These tower,
these antennas that provide all the communication,
transmit and receive for all of our public safety communication
radio systems We have been through the process of the tower
study to verify that the towers can handle
the weight and the load, the wind shear
load to handle these new antennas
We've also gone through the planning and zoning process
to get that approval and currently,
we are waiting on some final quotes
for installation of these antennas
Antennas are replacing, as you well aware,
we have a tower at the police department
and we have a tower on the canyon rim
The antennas at the police department
were we're going to go back to the old discussion again.
These antennas were put in place when dispatch was brought
back to Twin Falls, and we built the dispatch center
in 2000, two.
The antennas at the tower on the canyon
rim They have been there since that built that structure
was constructed in 2014.
So they have served as well The antennas have
a coating of fibroblasts and for the most part,
industry standard is to replace them at 10 to 15 years.
We have done extensive testing to verify that they've
maintained through the years, but now we're
at the point where we need to get them replaced before or they
fail So if you notice, we have the police tower on the left,
and there is two sets of antennas set at the top, which
receives the transmission from the field and then a set
partially down the tower, which is our transmit
And out at the at the canyon rim, same thing.
We have two at the top receive and two further down
for transmit So coming up, look looking ahead we
need to begin the process of a rolling
replacement of our repeaters.
The Twin Falls has 14 repeaters in service eight of them
are on our digital P25 trunk system that we installed.
If memory serves, back in 2016 is
when we started that rolling install because we have 14
repeaters, we want to begin the replacement process so
that we're not too far out by the time we replace them all
in a rolling replacement plan So we plan on replacing
or repeaters on our primary tower and repeater
stack which is on the left.
You see that is the P25 digital stack
at the police department tower, and that
is in 26 and 27 budget year.
And that's $112,000 for those four repeaters.
The next year in 27, 28, we plan on replacing
the other stack out at the Canyon rim for another 112,000.
And then we'll finish replacing in consecutive years,
the one offs we can replace the analog repeaters one at a time.
If we need to.
And so that's our plan for the public safety
radio with a phased approach that will keep the system secure
keep the level of maintenance and the level of service
that the system must have to provide for our public safety
So then the next one that we have coming up this one
is infrastructure for you.
This is mainly for council Any meeting
that is in this facility the system that we are currently
using is was constructed when this building was built for us
and it's roughly ten years old.
It is out of production and is out of service.
So we've already had some issues where we've
had struggles trying to find replacement parts
and pieces for the system.
And as you probably have well experienced,
we're also getting glitches.
We have to do a lot of babysitting of this system
to keep it going So if we want to maintain the recordings
for our open meeting requirements
we are we did have this company come
and do a walkthrough with us.
We shared the things we liked about our system.
We shared the things we absolutely
dislike about our system And they
have provided a quote for us.
So that we can replace it and maintain the needed
reliable ability that you guys require This will also bring us
up to new technology It has integration into the Microsoft
Teams so that when councilmen are not here, but still need
to preside in the meeting, they can connect easier and have
a better success at being part of the meeting
when they're not here.
And at that I'll stand for any questions and any questions
The cherry So on this last part where
you received a quote, what was your process
on going through this company?
Was it.
The only company you chose or why did you choose this one
and why is this the only quote When we decided to look
at budgeting, we wanted to be able to maintain as much
of the system that is still good.
Our speakers are good the wiring is good,
so there will be pieces that will be remain in place
And this is actually the company that installed it.
It was under a different name at the time,
but they have been the ones who have helped service it,
help take care of it and we will continue
on the Crestron line brand of equipment any other questions ?
OK.
Thank you.
Appreciate it Takes us to our next focus area.
It looks like the focus area eight Good evening.
Council.
So I'm going to talk a little bit about one section
inside internal organization You may or may not
remember a few of you were here in 2024 when I came to the dais
and asked you if we could update our software.
We had an updated our software since 2002,
so it had been over 20 years.
And my request was is to help us educate our staff,
help us find something that's user friendly that we could use
And so you approved $348,000 that we then
encumbered into this last fiscal year, this current fiscal year.
And we are now almost all the way through the process
of transitioning.
There's been a little bit of hiccups, a little bit of bumps.
But what I do want to provide and show
you is the massive transfer the transformation in our staff
and how they're using the software
to educate to educate themselves,
to make educate iT decisions, and to ultimately
make better decisions.
For this for the city as a whole,
we did a survey that we passed out to all of our staff
to have them respond back and we had
an 83% positive where people are more satisfied
with the new software for us.
And I wanted to provide you with some of these numbers
because a few of you have heard some of the negative comments
already.
And what I would say is just wait
We have some very positive things
that are coming from this.
People are enjoying it.
Our city staff are liking it.
We've had a lot of good feedback from city and from citizens
as well outside in the community It's
viewed as a meaningful improvement in our
in our system This is also a visually visualization of how
the staff appears and they on happiness and user friendliness
in it's almost easy to look at this and say,
well, seven out of ten people like it.
That means three people don't.
What I want to remind you is that we are only six months
in how many of you gone through a transition in soft wear
as significant as this.
And seven out of ten of your staff
are happy with the outcomes?
I'm excited to say that this is money that was well spent.
We are continuing to use this as a resource
and to make better decisions going forward.
It's user friendly and I think it's a resounding success.
So with that, I'm going to transition
it to christine Good evening, Mayor and council.
I'm excited to be here tonight I'm
going to focus on the HR Budget which continues to focus
on one primary objective.
Investing in our people So the city
provides many different services, which you're aware
but every single one of them depends on one thing.
Our employees for every service that we provide
from public safety and public works
to parks and recreation the library and customer service
depend on attracting developing and retaining
talented employees.
At the end of the day h.R. Just isn't about policies
payroll or benefits.
It's about making sure that the city has the right people
in the right roles to deliver the level of service
that our community expects and deserves When those first laid,
I want to start by talking about our workforce strategy
and highlighting three key areas.
The first is compensation We're proposing a 3% performance
adjustment and a 3% salary table adjustment This helps us remain
competitive in today's labor market
but it also helps us attract qualified candidates
while recognizing the hard work and contributions
of our current employees the second is sustained benefits.
We're going to continue and investing in our employees
benefits by maintaining our health
insurance program along with contributing to employee's Veba.
Any hSA accounts One fun fact that I learned today
was that the Veba program gives our employees the option
to invest those funds for their future health care expenses
depending on their investment elections,
employees have experienced annual account growth anywhere
between 2 to 8% Further strength meaning their long term benefit
And then third is remaining an employer of choice
We're continuing to provider employee retention program
because we know that retaining, experienced
experienced employees is just as important as recruiting
new employees.
Our experienced employees bring institutional knowledge,
mentor our new staff and help provide consistent, high quality
service to our customers and citizens
Switching gears a little bit and talking about investing
in our employee well-being and wellness
I want to talk about our city gym
renovation As you may remember, this project was funded
through the F y 25 Capital Improvement program
and was intentionally designed with employees
at the center of the process.
Before any equipment was selected
we brought together employees from multiple departments
to help identify what was working, what could be improved
and what equipment would best support.
Employee wellness So our employees
feedback directly shaped the final layout
and equipment selection Our goal simply
wasn't to renovate the gym.
It was to create a wellness resource at our employees
would utilize So since reopening,
we've seen a 78% increase in gym usage.
So going from 180 to 320 door swipes from June of 2025
to June of 2026, which I think is pretty
cool The second example is our self-funded health
plan across the country Employers
continue to face increasing health care costs.
That's not a surprise to any of us.
According to Mercer's national survey,
employer health benefit costs are
projected to increase at 7.4.
Excuse me 6.7% this year, which is the highest
increase in 15 years.
In addition, I was at a local conference lately,
and it was highlighted that some local governments are
anticipating significantly higher increases 50% or more
for our health care I'm going to pull a Gretchen
and have a brain moment here A 50%
increase to health care costs.
So while we continue to monitor our plan closely,
the city remains in a stable position
But that stability didn't happen by accident.
It was the result of years of thoughtful planning,
ongoing monitoring and responsible management
of our self-funded health plan Transitioning
to a self-funded health plan has proven
to be a successful long term strategy for the city.
It's allowed us to continue offering a strong competitive
benefit while responsibly managing costs in an environment
where health care expenses continue to rise.
We're also continuing to strengthen our benefit package
by explore bring in introducing, introduce
additional voluntary employee paid benefit options.
One of those new options that we're exploring
is voluntary infertility coverage.
This benefit will provide employees with opportunities
and support during a very important stage of life
at no additional cost to the city.
So this is just another example of how we're continuing
to involve the benefit package to meet the changing
needs of our workforce So in closing h.R. Remains committed
to investing in our employees.
They're the ones who make our city services possible,
whether it's attracting talented employees,
retaining experienced staff supporting employee well-being
managing employee benefit at every investment
that we make is intended to strengthen our workforce
and ultimately the services that we provide to our citizens.
Investing in our workforce begins long before the employees
first.
Stay with us.
And continues throughout their career.
The first step in that journey is attracting the right people
to join our team.
And with that, I'd like to turn it over
to Evan, one of our HR Generalists good evening,
mayor and council.
It's always a pleasure to be here I that just mirrors echoing
that going a little bit.
But it's okay I apologize Like Kristin said, i'm
a generalist in the HR Department
and my main focuses are recruitment,
internal recruitment and internal business
Tonight i will highlight two main slides.
The first will be requested positions that were not funded
in the proposed budget And second are recruitment
and workforce movement activity from the past fiscal year
during the long term planning process, departments identified
several staffing needs that were reviewed for ultimately not
proposed in the budget In total, there
were ten full time positions requested representing
16 total requests within an approximate cost
of 1.0 million 1.07 million.
I apologize.
These requests covered several service areas,
including operations Infrastrata for public safety
and community services and legal support
and organization support.
The larger the largest staffing request was for to emergency
communication officer positions, which reflects the continued
importance of staffing capability capacity
in our emergency communication center
While these positions were not funded in the proposed budget,
I think it's important that we recognize
that they represent a real service need
identified by the department.
These are not just position titles or dollar amounts
They represent workload management response time,
emergency progression, employee progression, succession
planning and service delivery.
The key takeaway is that departments identify
additional staffing needs, but those requests were deferred
in order to maintain budget priorities
From a human resources perspective,
we will continue to track those needs.
Support departments with recruitment where positions
are approved and help evaluate workforce
needs as the organization continues to grow With that
in mind, I'll move forward from the requested positions
to the current workforce activity including recruitment,
new hires and internal movement for fiscal year
2627 from October 1, 2025 through July Sixth, 2026.
H.R. Has supported a high volume of recruitment
across the city During that period,
we have processed 75 recruitments
and reviewed a little more than 1000 applications.
Those efforts resulted in a 134 new hires,
29 full time and 105 part time or seasonal employees.
The full time hires help support long term staffing needs
across departments While the part time and seasonal hires
are critical for maintaining programs, seasonal operations
and service levels throughout the year we also had
19 internal movements, which includes promotions, transfers
and other career growth opportunities
That number is important because recruitment
is not only about bringing new employees into the organization.
It is about retaining and developing
the employees We already have that connects to One of our core
recruitment messages in organizations best recruiters
hearts and current employees.
When employees feel supported, valued and able to grow,
they become strong ambassadors for the city We also
continue to use targeted incentives,
incentives to support recruitment.
The city currently offers a $500 referral bonus for general
physicians and $8,000 sign on bonus for emergency
communication officers, police officers
and professional engineers.
These tools help us remain competitive especially in areas
where recruitment can be difficult.
The quote on the right reinforces
that the broader philosophy people are the center.
Our central to the success of the organization.
Strategies programs and services only
work when we have the right people to carry it,
to carry them out.
Overall, these numbers show both volume and recruitment activity
and the importance of investing in our workforce Human resources
will continue supporting departments
by helping attract qualified candidates,
encouraging internal growth and maintaining staffing processes
that support reliable city services With that,
I will turn it over to Nancy and talk about the rest
of our presentation Thank you Good evening
Mayor and city council members.
Thank you for the opportunity to present
on the future leadership and management development
and initiative in your folder.
The meetings tonight folder.
You should have a handout in there,
which gives a little directive of the progress that we've made.
What's next And then some of our expected outcomes.
On the back is the work that we have done.
It is a lesson plan of the committee working together
has created a communication and training for supervisors
as well.
So just a little bit of information for you.
So every organization eventually experiences leadership
transitions through retirements, promotion
and career advancements.
The City of Twin Falls is no different.
While many employees are promoted because they
excel in their technical roles, supervisors
are supervising people.
That requires a different set of skills
to do that rather than asking new supervisors to learn
through trial and error We want to provide them with the tools
to succeed in those transitions So this initiative directly
supports the strategic plan that the Council adopted
and helps translate those priority
things into meaningful action.
I'd now like to take you through each
of these strategic priorities and show how the communities
work is advancing.
The city's long term goals.
First, by expanding employee training and development,
we're creating structured pathway that helps employees
develop leadership and management
skills before they move into supervisory positions Two.
Strengthening their succession planning
by investing in our current employees
for building a stronger pipeline of future leaders and persons
who have preserving institutional knowledge.
3 The Employee Retention and Workplace Culture Employees
are more likely to stay when they see opportunity for growth
and develop And one city culture We're
creating consistent leaders ship expectations
across all departments.
So employees have a similar experience regardless of where
they work in the organization And finally, employee
engagement, a strong supervisors communicate better, recognize
employee needs, and build teams that are engaged
and motivated Ultimately this isn't
about offering more training.
It's about inspiring Same thing in our organization.
These strong leaders creating employees
engaged employees, provide excellent customer
service and excellent customer and service builds public trust.
In closing leadership and management development
is an invest in our people and in the future of the city
of Twin Falls By preparing today's employees for tomorrow's
leadership roles, we're supporting the strategic plan
and helping ensure our organization
continues to provide exceptional service for years
to come Thank you.
With that, I'll turn the floor over to Gretchen So just as we
are wrapping up in the current fiscal year,
these are the Council directed capital project in the 770,000
that the council was able to allocate with additional funds
that were committed through some other opportunities as well
so far tonight these are the four pieces that you've heard
for proposed council directed capital for the upcoming
year included into the funding.
That's a little bit more than it has been historically
in that the seven seven was also increased by the amount that
used to disturb it through the Pug grants
as the presentations move forward over the next couple
of weeks, there will be some additional assets
that come as part of this.
And then at the end of all of the focus area presentation,
you'll have the opportunity to review and ask additional
questions, propose other things whatever else the Council may
wish on that particular item This is the upcoming schedule
of meetings next next time that we meet on the 20th,
you'll hear on areas of 4 or 5 and 6,
which are accessible environment whole and prosperous And then
finally, if there are any questions the Council has from
any of the presenters or anything else,
we would be happy to answer those for you graciously.
I think he was mayor.
So on on question 38, on Slide 38,
when we talked about positions that we needed to fill how do
we prioritize those positions ?
So i, I just wanted to look to see if you want.
I didn't mean to be a gotcha question.
I was just curious on how we how we prioritize because that
spans three different kind of components of the community.
Right.
And so I'm just asking how we fill those
So I'll give you a brief response.
And then I will defer to the city manager
when departments start this fiscal year planning
and usually that begins in about October.
We ask ask the departments to submit any positions
they may be considering.
They go through a pretty rigorous process
in order to determine is this a new position?
Is this a newly described position?
We have those evaluated and then we put them all together.
So that we can allocate dollars We know exactly how
much each position may cost And then we
the executive leadership team, reviews those requests.
We have asked previously department leaders
to come forward, provide additional information
and answer questions, talk about what they need,
or to illustrate what the actual workload looks like.
And then we go through a deliberation I can tell you that
this year, there was some real reservations
about adding any additional staff beyond those that are
already included in the budget.
We have gone through some various processes in the past
for how we have arrived at this, but this is probably
the most efficient way that we've arrived at for determining
which positions to fund.
And I'll ask Travis, if you want to add So if you take a look
at the positions and the totality of them,
the $1,070,000 that is greater than your 3% revenue that you
will collect from property taxes And one of the things that we
want to make sure that we're doing is that when we bring
on a new position we want to make sure
that we can fund it long term.
And when we're taking a look at all the revenue sources that we
have and the revenue trends, we want to first make sure
that the employee group that we have is made whole
and they have the opportunity to grow, not only in position.
But also to be able to meet the needs of their families.
Being with us So we look at compensation We
look at our health care, the cost of health insurance
benefits and the other ancillary benefits
that we have across the city at the end,
the executive leadership team made a prudent decision
and the recommendation was only to bring
on two new positions inside of the city of Twin Falls.
One that was requested by the council that assists
in the management of projects.
First and foremost, they'll start with Park projects.
Then after that it'll transition to general projects
as we move forward.
We made that decision, as I shared last week,
because the volume of park projects
right now, as described by chance, not only this week.
But two weeks ago, is significant
And we want to make sure that that resources
available to the entire organization
as those project loads ebbs and flows.
The second is a school resource officer in which
90% of that cost is being funded by Elevate Academy
And that 90% figure was derived because they will utilize
that position 90% of the working year
So after we evaluated those two positions,
we started looking at a priority list of the others
and it really came down to a dollars and cents
and financial sustainability long term
we don't believe in adding positions because it
fits our budget today.
We want to make sure that we can absorb those costs long term.
Remember, one of the slides that was shared
is that this is one of the this is the last year that you will
be able to capture 1% of the entirety of the forgone balance
that has been a great cushion for us to be
able to grow and to expand those days as I shared last week,
are coming to an end.
And what we're trying to do right now
is before we find ourselves in a budget deficit
where we have to make painful cuts we want to make sure
that we're leveling out our expenses with our revenues
moving forward and not growing.
Our staff is one of the most effective ways
we can do it because we can't control the cost of fuel
at the pump.
We certainly can't cost control the costs of inflation
as it relates to capital projects OK Anybody else?
Council members.
OK Thank you very much.
Thanks for everybody.
The participated.
And I appreciate you outlining budget for the upcoming year
So that brings us to our next agenda item, which
is the general public input Again, this is an opportunity
for the general public to address the city
council on issues that were not on tonight's agenda
Please state your name.
Whether you're a resident of the city of Twin Falls,
and you will have two minutes No, I'm not.
No I'm not.
I want to echo.
My name is Maria Hernandez, and i was born here
and told jason Brown and the rest of the bunch.
I just wanted to say real quick, raising Cain about in and out.
If there is too many people, people
can always Ihop over to Ihop.
And it's all about changes and i think
that's what we're looking at.
Fleetwood Mac plays a song Jane does Thank you,
Nathan, for joining me on that.
Yeah, and it's all about adapting and changes
but without it, we won't have growth as a city.
So we have to mature as a city So like a UFC fighter,
we have to roll with the Roundhouse is the punches.
The knockouts everything.
But we can't.
What we can't do is tap out.
We can't tap out on in and out.
We have to stay because there's growth
I moved this weekend for the purpose of downsizing
and for budgeting.
This is in My own personal journey.
And so I found a little bit of emotion
coming through me as I had left one area to go to another area.
And it's like, you know what Sometimes you just got
to do this So record all me and you are subject to the blues
now.
And the way you take a blues and make a song, you sing them out
of jams and just sing them out again So
songs and to feel like a will songs song, we blue thanks
Maria.
Appreciate it We're going right there.
Is there anybody else in the general public
tonight that would like to address the city council?
If you can top that Yeah, yeah, yeah.
We're going to require music at some point, right?
So, Casey seeing no one at this point
we'll move on to advisory board reports I'm a busy guy.
I shouldn't do green light.
Just make short of the green lights on for sure.
Make sure to introduce yourself light down.
OK.
Introduce yourself if you don't mind.
All of your.
And I'm annoyed Your name please.
I don't want to give my name.
Thinks appreciate that.
So I do live just a little ways away from here.
And it is hot outside.
And I walked and i'm tired.
Put in a whole day of labor before I did all
that And you guys are talking about budget and some of these
are very large numbers and I've seen a lot of very expensive
cameras attached to I owned by a guy who doesn't think
that the human race deserves to proceed or exist These floor
cameras are ridiculous.
There are afford them in violation.
And anyone who doesn't think so doesn't
belong on that side of the dais That simple
Any high school graduate?
My son is 14 and he knows he didn't even Google it He just
looked right at it, asked me one question,
Who's on the other side of those cameras?
And then he gets it.
That simple.
They don't belong here.
They don't belong anywhere Thank you.
Anybody else Hey, seeing down We'll
move on to our next agenda item, which is advisory board reports
buddy City manager's office Mr. Mayor,
we First, I want to thank the folks that presented tonight
If you were to jump online, you would see the city
manager's recommended budget.
But I think that this shows that really our organization
functions as a team and we want to make sure that the team has
the ability to provide direct input to the council
and answer questions.
So that you have a quality budget for your consideration So
hats off to the team tonight that
presented in next week's team as the bar
has been set high off that Thanks, Travis and i
think we'll all echo that.
Thanks for the budget presentation
tonight that brings us to our public hearing at this point.
And i'll turn that over to Jonathan.
Oh I need to read the rules I'm going to read out a land use
public hearing but it's still a public hearing, so sounds good.
Will open up.
So that the council will follow these Nine steps
for each request listed under the public hearing portion
City staff will present the request and analysis.
The applicant will then present their request to the Council
and ask questions of the applicant or staff
After questions have been asked The public hearing will then
be opened during that time, anyone in attendance
is given the opportunity to comment
or ask questions about the request being considered.
When giving testimony, please state step up to the podium
State your name and address, then present
your comments or concerns.
After giving testimony, please sign the public sign
in sheet, which is up at the top outside in the form in the lobby
with your name and address as well.
After the public comments concluded,
the applicant will be invited to answer any questions
and make closing statements.
Staff will then answer or clarify
any comments as needed Item eight
After the closing statement, the public hearing will be closed.
No further testimony or comment from the applicant or audience
will be allowed and number nine, the Council
will then have an open discussion
and take action of the request.
Okay There we go.
Jonathan, thank you.
Near Brown and members of the Council tonight's item
is the action on the 2026 Annual Action Plan.
That's what the federal government calls the annual plan
for the See the Big program or Community Development block
grant the entirety of the plan is in your packet.
I'm not going to go over it word for word.
And frankly a lot of these items actually come
straight from the federal government's website.
So we have some limited portion of what we change.
And then they just generate this annual action plan.
The key points of this plan or one, we will
receive $311,413 this year.
That is a decrease from last year
If you want the percentage will will be only a soda because i
told them we might want that.
And he said they won't.
And so if you want the percent then we will.
Then we'll have it.
Yeah.
Like that percent going on there You
owe us solid soda Will got set up a it is a decrease
and it's a we've been decreasing from like 340 ish thousand down
to 311.
The trajectory we're on is by the end of this next five year
plan will be below $300,000.
The reason for that is the program
is funded They just say through Congress
But the dollar number has not changed in years.
And as new cities come online, they're
just dividing the pie more.
So that's why we're receiving less money on a yearly basis All
of these funds we are devoting to be used
at the City Park Plaza project, that Park
Plaza project Tents alluded to.
We are finishing up the design of that with a lot of input
from all the city departments, and we
are going to be using Cdbg funds as well as believe it or not,
it's the last, I believe Covid fund money
we have to spend it by June.
So that those two funds combined,
all federal dollars, not any local dollars,
would be spent to accomplish that project.
So this request is simply to approve the program Year 2026,
Cdbg annual action Plan.
That's the project in a nutshell and I'll send for any questions
if you have any questions at this time for Jonathan
I don't have any Jonathan at this time
Well, open it up for public comment Okay.
See, nobody running to the podium.
We'll go ahead and close the public comment period E 2026
Community Development Block Grant Annual Action
Plan Jonathan anything else?
No further comments.
We just have a it's a simple majority vote on approving
the plan as presented.
Okay What is council will any questions, discussion on,
on the the action plan motion.
Go ahead, Chris move that we approve the previous year 2026
Community Development block Grant Cdbg annual Action Plan
Craig Hawkins I'll second Kevin motion in a second to approve
the key 2026 Community Development
block Grant Annual Action Plan any further,
any further discussion ?
Kevin Rachel, Roll call.
Vote, please.
Bruce Pierce.
Yes, Miss Reed Yes.
Greg Hawkins.
Yes Jason Brown.
Yes.
Sherri vomer.
Yes.
Grayson Stone.
Yes Nathan Murray.
Kay.
Motion carries 720.
That brings us to the conclusion of our meeting tonight.
We will be back next week.
Meeting is adjourned.