All right, it is 4:30, so I'm gonna go ahead and call our June 15th, 2026 Columbia Pre-Council meeting to order.

We've got um two items on our agenda today.

The first is the fiscal year 27 capital improvement plan overview.

This is the intro into the public hearing that will happen at our next uh July council meeting, and then also be doing some interviews for some of our board and commission's uh vacancies.

As a reminder to council, we agreed with Matthew at the last one that we're gonna save our questions until the end of this one.

Uh so we have time for the interviews.

Um, if we have time, great, you can also submit them beforehand, but I'll try to make them stop at least so we can answer questions.

Maybe this is not the only time we'll get to ask questions on this topic.

Matthew, I'm gonna head it over to you.

Okay, yes.

So this is basically we we have a lot of council people with the new project in general.

So this is something like a overview of the CIP, why we do it.

Uh we'll have a look at a few projects that'll be included in the 27th uh CIP as well.

But this is this is a lot of informational things, and I'll try to get through.

Okay, so what is the capital improvement plan for the city?

So it's a multi-year plan uh that basically lays out the infrastructure facilities, equipment, different things like that for the city.

Um it addresses the challenges of future future and future needs with our infrastructure and different things like that.

Um the budget for the capital improvement projects have dedicated funding that is normally separate from the annual budget.

Um they can be tied together, but for the most part they're separate because it's a longer document.

We'll talk a little bit about that in the next few slides.

So, what are capital improvement projects?

These are things like roads, bridges, uh, utilities has a lot of different capital projects, things that include include drainage, uh, we got parks and break with recreational facilities, uh, also building and certain equipment.

Usually it is uh public works, bigger, larger type of equipment, and uh as well as fire trucks and things development.

Sometimes we even put uh police cards in if there's money available to those are so we get a lot of questions about capital improvement projects versus a capital expense, and so this kind of lays that out.

A capital improvement project is has a budget of 10,000 or more, it takes more than a year to complete.

So that's the most important part of this.

If it's less than a year to complete, it's usually going to be a capital expense, not an actual, not an actual project, even though there is some gray area there as well.

Um it is an investment in long-term stability and infrastructure, is has dedicated funding sources, and we do a life-to-date budgeting method on capital improvement projects.

Uh, life to date means that we put the budget up front, and that budget does not have to be approved each year moving forward.

So let's say uh we have a street project that costs 10 million dollars.

You approve the 10 million dollars up front, and then year to year, you don't have to keep approving that same amount of money.

A capital expense uh is something that can be completed within the same fiscal year.

Uh, these are shorter projects or services.

Uh, there's usually no dedicated funding sources.

Uh it's something that is within the fund budget, and they have year-to-day budget method, which means they're appropriated each year.

So, why do we have a capital improvement plan?

So, this it's important because it connects the uh development, all year comprehensive plans and the financial plans of the city.

Um projects within the CIP are intended to reflect the community's values and goals.

So these are things that are usually set by council, uh and they include existing city citywide long-range plans.

Um most of our projects come before you in things like the the CI capital improvement sales tax, where you look at uh some of these long-term uh financing and the way we do a lot of these long projects, these are things that are down the road most of the time, not things that are happening right now, even though sometimes we can have uh issues that are taken care of at this moment.

So the CIP is a blueprint for the physical evolution of Columbia.

This is where you can see future projects progress through the budget and through the CIP process.

So why is a capital improvement plan important?

It's important for infrastructure integrity.

Um fiscal responsibility is probably the main one, even though it's the last one on this on this list, and that's because you're planning out your projects.

Um these are usually projects that you have to save up money for, or we have to we have to store money away for because they are larger projects.

Uh, a lot of these projects are bonded.

Um it helps us sort of stabilize tax rates uh and the revenue that we receive by putting money away for these projects over a period of time instead of financing them all in one year.

Um has a lot to do with public safety, uh reliable emergency response, uh minor facilities, and we'll maintain transportation as well as economic development.

Um a lot of roads, utilities, parks, these these are all things that attract businesses to our community.

So some of the complications with capital improvement planning, uh just like why we have them, those are also can be some things that become complicated.

And uh planning projects, five to ten years down the road is a very complicated thing for us because you can never get the nail on the head, uh, you just like what we've experienced in the last five years with all the inflation on some of the things that we have purchased is just astronomical.

There's things that we could not have saw or foreseen when these things came up to now, and so construction prices uh change drastically, usually within the five to ten year period.

Uh, and then you also have to think about Missouri's prevailing wage laws, uh, these affect most of public works projects, uh make them more expensive than if they were something that was done in the private sector.

Um, and then we also have deteriorating infrastructure, sort of planning for that maintenance.

Um it's not as reliable to the public, and if the new construction projects and government body for the government bodies uh it takes some planning, and this is something that we have not been the best at in the past, but something that we definitely need to pay attention to.

We need to be able to plan that maintenance for these big projects that we have.

So now we'll go a little bit into the highlights from the 2027 capital improvement.

All right, so we decided to give you a few examples kind of across several departments of projects that you can expect to see in the 2027 budget in the capital improvement project section.

Um, this is not an exhaustive list, and um all of these projects are subject to change up until you see them, but we feel like this is a good representation of some examples of projects that we have.