City Council Budget & Finance Meeting (December 3, 2025)
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City Council Budget & Finance Meeting (December 3, 2025)
The Budget and Finance meeting held on Wednesday, December 3, 2025, was convened to review and approve a detailed expenditure list totaling $740,936.73. Commissioners and Director Hassler discussed specific line items regarding vehicle purchases, guardrail repairs, sludge handling contracts, and consulting fees. The meeting concluded with a unanimous vote to approve the expenditure list, followed by an immediate adjournment.
Consent Calendar
- No specific consent calendar items were listed; routine approvals were handled within the discussion of the expenditure list.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No public comments or testimony were recorded in this session.
Discussion Items
- Commissioner O'Leary inquired about Claim #4361 ($30.00?/Page 37) regarding a guardrail repair on Continental Drive, asking if a reimbursement was expected from a vehicle incident.
- Director Hassler explained that recouping funds for guardrail replacement is near impossible as it is difficult to determine who caused the damage and it is not considered an preventable accident, so it is not claimed on insurance.
- Commissioner O'Leary inquired about Claim #4200 (Page 57) regarding a community development contract.
- The speaker identified this as part of a regular annual contract for collecting loans from businesses and general administrative work.
- Commissioner O'Leary inquired about Claim #4300 (Page 91) regarding tipping fees under Metro Sewer.
- Director Hassler clarified that this is not a transfer but a contract where Metro Sewer's sludge byproduct is taken to the landfill scales, delivered to Western Reclamation, and treated at a rate of $19.50 per ton. Hassler noted that while costs can reach $15,000-$20,000 monthly, externalizing this sludge is less expensive than treating it internally at the landfill.
- Commissioner Shay inquired about the Adams Consulting study commission project (Page 58, Claim #4349).
- The response confirmed the total project amount is $40,500, with a requested payment of $10,000 (interpreted from "ten lists" likely meaning a tranche/percent or typo for ten thousand, but context suggests $40,500 total).
- Dr. Hassler noted that a significant portion of the claim run involved the purchase of Fire Rescue vehicles, which are ongoing capitalization projects where parts are added incrementally after the initial truck order.
Key Outcomes
- Approval of Expenditures: A motion to approve the expenditure list for December 3, 2025, was made, seconded, and passed unanimously with a vote tally of 5 to 0.
- Total Approved Amount: $740,936.73.
- Attendance: Commissioner O'Neill was absent and excused. Present were Commissioners Thatcher, O'Leary, Walker, Boyle, and Shea (5 members).
- Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned immediately following the vote.
Meeting Transcript
Okay, I'm gonna call budget and finance to order uh for Wednesday, December third, twenty twenty-five. Tonight we'll go over the expenditure list. Um Commissioner O'Leary, we will start with you. Do you have any questions on the expenditure list? Thank you, Chair Thatcher. Uh I had a question about this is uh claim forty-three sixty-one on page thirty-seven. This was a guardrail repair on on Continental Drive. I was just wondering if that's um something that Beatsover was expecting like a reimbursement on. Was it a wreck that happened, or do we do we know? Um that's uh sorry. Uh Commissioner O'Leary, I am not sure on that usually. Um in my experience when there is guardrail that needs to be replaced, people hit it and they go. And so trying to determine who hit it or um try to recoup any sort of uh reimbursement for that is near impossible. So it's not something that we would claim on our insurance. It's not an accident or anything that could have been prevented, but just something that you know we repair is needed. Yeah, I did see some early. This is uh claimed forty two hundred on page fifty-seven. Commissioner O'Leary, this is just part of their uh regular annual contract with the um community development. I believe that this is the um collect loans that we have through, you know, different um businesses through town. I think it's just general administrative uh contract work. Uh so the last question is claim 4300 on page 91. This is the tipping fees under Metro sewer. I'm assuming that this is just a transfer between uh the solid waste side and metro sewer. Um thank you, Commissioner Larry, for the question. This is um what we metro sewer takes their sludge material, which is their byproduct of their operations, and um they take it across the scales at the landfill, and from there it is delivered to Western Reclamation, who then we pay, I believe it's $19.50 a ton to take the sludge and they use it in their operations for their composting, but it's it's not a transfer. It's a contract that the Metro sewer has with Western Reclamation to take on that sludge. Um we've had many questions about this in the past because it seems I mean some of those are you know it's $15,000, $20,000 a month, but if we had to take on that sludge and if we had to treat it with Lyme out at the landfill, it would be more expensive. Thank you, Commissioner O'Leary. Commissioner Shay, do you have any questions? Just generally um the Adams consulting for the study commission. Um do you know what the full amount of the contract is? And and this isn't even something you really need to answer right now. Page 58, claim 4349. Yeah. I believe it's on the input. Oh, is it? Okay, I could just take a peek at that and that probably answer all my questions. I'm just curious. 4349. The total the total project is uh forty thousand five hundred dollars. So we would like to see ten lists. Yeah, any other questions, Commissioner Shay? Okay. Commissioner Boyle, do you have any questions? Commissioner Walker? No. Um I don't either uh Dr. Hassler, did you have anything else that you'd like to note in here? Um no, just that there were um a good portion of this claim run was um made up of a couple of vehicles that are being purchased, so um fire rescue vehicles for the fire department, and those will be ongoing projects. They order the truck and then they add to them so you'll see parts and pieces that'll go into the capitalization, but that's a good portion of the cost of this.
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