Good evening, everyone.

Um my name's Andrea Gartner.

I'm the chair of the government to um ad hoc budget hearings, and I'm calling this meeting to order at 5 06 p.m.

Um with me here at the Dais um is fellow council members John Laughinghouse, Mia Rykel Spain, Dennis Perkins, and Mike Coello.

And also in the ad hoc are various um department heads and the mayor's office.

And is corporation council also here?

No.

Okay.

So um I have submitted a little change of order from the the way the budget's presented, and this is really to help smaller departments not have to stay the whole time as we uncover things.

So Mr.

Volpe um purchasing is first.

So we're gonna start at night page 92 of the budget.

And um I will just open with some questions.

Um I have really nothing in regard to the budget, but just an interest in um hearing about how uh the change related to the purchasing city code, the thresholds that the change in that have impacted your department.

And then also I have a question about um just what it means to administer the procurement of the FEMA funded citywide emergency projects.

Thank you.

Uh they've helped quite a bit.

Um, noticeably um the main thing is we bought the uh brought the bid threshold up from 10,000 to 35,000.

So um uh there's a number of purchases we've made now that we didn't have to go out to seal bid and um saves time and money because you know we have to put the bid out, we have to advertise in the newspaper.

You know, it's a formal process.

So uh we're still required to get competitive pricing, but we can do that you know at a quicker pace and at less cost.

So that's been helpful.

Um the uh lower number, we went from 1,000 to 3,000.

And that was actually a big help too.

So as you know, we have a small department, so uh any uh help and efficiencies, it means a lot to us.

So it's been that was very helpful.

Thank you.

Um, does anyone have any questions for Director Volpe of the purchasing department?

Um overall, I was good.

I think I saw the bulk increase, it was about a 1.16 increase.

Uh no concerns on my standpoint.

Most of that coming from salaries.

Uh so no questions.

Um questions for my standpoint.

I I just really the increase was more or less salaries.

So that's it.

Any other ad hoc committee members have any questions?

I'm sorry, I also forgot to acknowledge my ex-officio council members who are here at the meeting.

Um we have councilwoman Diane LePine, Councilman Mike Flanagan, and Councilman Lucian Giordano.

Councilman, Councilwoman LePine, do you have a question?

You seem to have to hear okay.

Anyone have a question on the purchasing?

All right, then we are finished with purchasing.

Thank you.

Um next, I'd like to address the human resources department.

Um, for our purposes, that's on page 113 and the budget is on page 115.

Um I'll first open up the questions to any of my ad hoc committee members.

Uh while they're musing, I'll start.

So, first of all, I really appreciate that.

Um your proposed budget is the one that was accepted by the mayor's department.

So I think that really just spells a really close alignment.

Um, and from a uh council perspective, that's really nice to see.

Uh the only question that I have is um on the budget, which is the professional services and civil service, that those were just variances in the budget, even though your your department and the mayor's department got on the same page.

So that was um that's line items uh 530101 and 530104.

So just curious as to the request and then the final amount, the differences in those amounts.

Um so civil service is all of the uh civil service testing for um promotional open competitive um and we actually are this spring doing the bulk of the promotional test for police and fire, which will hit this budget as opposed to next budget.

That makes a lot of sense.

Thank you.

And the professional services that was reduced by about 26,000.

Yeah, those are those are some standard um EAP or clearing house for drug testing, those are some you know, just very standard um contracts that we have.

Okay, and they also being incurred this spring as opposed to putting it on the next year's fiscal budget.

Um EAP May, um, and then the next fiscal year, yeah.

Yeah, I'm just looking at the 26,000 dollar differential in the um projected expenditure from this year to the proposed budget.

Yeah, it just basically has to do with our contracts for those, yeah, for those um services.

I'm glad it favors the city.

That's me too.

Um any other questions from ad hoc committee members.

Testing through the chair, hi, how are you?

Hi, good, thank you.

How are you?

So it's a little hard to hear with the fan, but you were talking about the line item with regards to the civil service.

Was it attributed to the exams you said last year?

That was that so this spring we're doing the bulk of the uh promotional testing for police and fire.

So this week we have Lieutenant and Captain happening for fire.

Um, we're doing sergeant and detective.

So those lists are good for two years.

So with them, the the cost will incur this spring as opposed to next fiscal year.

So next year you don't see the same need for that?

No.

Okay.

Like I said, those lists are good for two years.

Okay.

Thank you.

Uh let it be noted that council president Peter Buzade has now joined us as an ex officio member.

Any other questions from the oh, and also Councilman Rylan Ryan Hawley, good evening.

Any other counts ad hoc committee members with a question for human resources?

I'll now move over to ad hoc.

Um, sorry, um ex officio members or any other councilmen with questions for human resources.

Okay, then that's it.

Thank you very much.

Thanks for your hard work.

Uh next, we're gonna go to tax assessment, which for our purposes is on page 81 with the budgets that we're looking on on page 83 and 87.

Good evening.

Hi I'm just gonna, I'm interested in some general questions um as part of your um your budget.

So I if you could just elaborate a little bit on the capital tax recovery.

I mean, these numbers are unbelievable.

I think it's incredible, but can you just go over the process of how that money is recovered for the city?

So um are you referring to like my monthly reports or um well, in total there's 755,000 and change collected.

That was part of your reports, yes.

Oh, yes, that was so kind of that process, because it's a it's a wonderful number.

Right.

So we started, I think our first bills went out in our first month, it was a very low number in July of 2023.

The whole process from beginning to end, once they scan license plates till bills actually go out, is approximately five months.

So the company that we hired scans the plates.

If we see a plate uh vehicle at a certain location more than three times, we start an investigation.

Um they'll track it to see if we can tie it back to the address.

They run a credit report on it to see if we can tie it back to that address once once we have some kind of confirmation that it's there.

Um we send them a letter telling them, hey, we found you at this address, prove to us why your vehicle is there and why it shouldn't be taxed.

If we don't get a sufficient response, then we add them to the grand list.

So obviously it's been a very successful program.

Yeah, and that 755,000 number, is that since inception or is that in the fiscal year?

That's since inception.

Inception.

Okay.

Yes.

Thank you for that information.

My second question is again around just, I guess it's um related to an ordinance that we passed for the elderly and um totally disabled tax credits.

So any updates on on that and how is that influenced your next year's budget?

Does that has that had an impact?

It it doesn't really have an impact on my department as far as uh work-wise.

Um the new program is very well received.

We've actually had quite a few people who have switched to the new program.

Um a lot of new applicants to the new program because it's more generous, uh, because we're only using half the social security.

We're actually in the process right now.

We have 200 letters ready to go out in the mail on Monday to reminders of people who have not yet applied for the program.

Uh the old programs in addition to the new program.

Uh, we're not required to do it by with a state program, we're required by statute to send out a certified letter to them.

We do proof of mailing just because the cost is so exorbitant right now.

Uh we're we're also doing it to people on just the local programs just to make sure we don't have to remove anybody because they're not sure.

We we did send out letters to everybody beginning of February.

So by statute, they have to get this letter as well, telling them it's your time to come in, and we're also doing it for those on the totally disabled veteran program and any of the local programs.

Okay, thank you.

Yeah.

Any questions from ad hoc committee members on tax assessment?

Yeah, good time.

Um again, the 755 is a great number.

Uh, can you just rem remind me from an inception, like what what year that was?

We we signed our contract, I believe it was in November of 2022.

So for the entire process to go through between getting enough um so we scan the license plate.

So by the time we have enough proof to send letters out to people and give them enough time to appeal our decisions.

The first batches, I think in the first batch in July, I think we only added like 50 vehicles just to make sure us adding them and getting bills out really worked in July's are normally our big billing as well, too.

So we we let that first billing go go by.

Um we didn't want to bog down with all of our regular motor motor vehicle billing.

So really it we we're averaging um you can confirm.

I think we're averaging we're adding between 20 and 30,000 dollars a month.

Um right now, because it's in the middle of the tax year, our numbers go down a little bit because we can't bill on the 25 grand list yet because we haven't sent out um 25 tax bills yet.

Those go out in July.

So in um July, we'll see a big bump in CTR billings because we've been holding on to them because we don't have a mill rate yet.

Okay.

So we'll see a big bump.

The numbers have been a little bit less the past few months because we're not adding on for 25 yet, but those numbers are definitely gonna rise in July and August.

Excellent.

Excellent.

Yeah, I mean I think my only follow-up question of that is there an opportunity for more based on just how successful it's been.

But I think we're outsourcing, so I don't think that's an opportunity.

There's really no way for it to be done in-house because we track these people at nights, weekends, early morning.

It's it's not something that can be done during the day because people are at work, and we don't have the resources either to run credit reports, you know, that kind of thing.

We just don't have the resources to do it in-house.

Um, you know, because most of these are picked up at apartments and newer complexes, we have a lot up at the reserve too.

And we do have permission any place that we go, we do have permission to do that.

Okay.

Um we just and because there's always continuous turnover at these apartments, we're always picking up new new, and we do a lot of neighbors complain.

It's me, me and I are gonna get out and do some sleuthing at night.

So yeah, anybody and we actually have a link on our website too for anybody who wants to do an anonymous complaint, they can.

Excellent.

Um, the only other I mean, I didn't really have any questions from a budget standpoint.

Five percent increase, 16 was salaries, 20K was bar time.

So um, I think I was good from a budget standpoint.

I was interested in just piggybacking on councilwoman Gartner.

So any other questions from ad hoc committee members.

Councilman Quella.

Thank you.

And through the chair.

Um what's the projection then again for 2627 with regards to what we're getting back from uh the third party company?

So we're we're averaging between 20 and thirty 30,000 dollars a month.

Okay.

So I would I would say if we 25,000 a month, I would say minimum 300,000 is a safe number.

Okay.

There's I guess legislated legislation that's at the state level right now.

So that's that's the number that would be affected if they in fact terminate.

Yes, is Farley still here?

I'm sorry.

You can share what you've done.

Yeah.

So he wasn't he just there.

I actually so probably don't know.

I'm I'm not too involved, but I like I hone in on things.

So I'm very involved in my assessors association.

It's not because I don't have a life, but I like really track things.

And it bothers me if I don't think it's some something's fair.

So I'm on the executive board of our assessors association.

So at last month's meeting, I had found this bill that was gonna limit the use of automatic license plate readers.

So I brought it to our executive board.

As part of our exec, they weren't aware of it.

So I brought it to the attention of the mayor's office.

I I sent it off to Farley, uh, the mayor and Taylor just saying that this new verbiage, while it wasn't the attempt for assessment purposes, this new bill that's being presented, which everyone supported.

There were very, very few people who didn't support this new bill, that it would decimate this program for us.

So and then I brought up it would also decimate the new um bus cameras, too.

So in working with, I know Farley contacted some people, I contacted.

So once I brought it to the attention of the Assessors Association, our lobbyist who happens to be Michael Rell, who I know is the same lobbyist as Dan Barry Proton, I contacted Michael Rell as well, just saying, hey, I got a couple other assessors involved with it.

Um the assessor from Bridgeport submitted testimony.

I submitted testimony.

I know nobody had a problem putting the bus cameras back in.

So there's an amendment for that.

Um there was I've never seen so much support for a bill.

It was like 98% approval for this bill as written.

So I've been hammering Farley.

Again, he's not in the room.

Hammering Farley, like we need we need something done with this.

This program is gonna go go away.

So is as last night, I think I hung up the phone, somebody from the Democratic Legislative Um their aide called me at 7 30 last night.

We were still working on language to try to allow verbiage that would allow assessors to use it.

The big hold up is us being able to hold on to the actual information.

So we think we we have a workaround with it that would allow us to hold on to the information as soon as this third-party company um turns over the files for me to add a tax bill on, they will they will give me all of the information.

They will no longer be storing it.

So there's gonna be verbiage, and we're hoping it has to pass through the committee.

Um we're hoping that this verbiage can be added so that way I would be the holder of the information as soon as the tax bill is paid, we would have to delete that information.

I'm I'm hoping the way I presented it, it would stay with the um the state library record retention schedule.

It doesn't look like that would happen because that's 15 years per statute for any other correction that we do.

And I was just like, well, if we put in there that it's for assessment purposes only.

Um again, uh till 730 last night.

I was working with him trying to get good verbiage, and I think we haven't.

I checked the bill all day today.

I don't see an update on the site.

I didn't know if Farley could give another update on that, but I am working on it.

Okay.

Thank you.

Do you know what House bill that is?

It was so minutes of the house bill if you talk to Farley about it.

It was 54 545, I believe, off the top of my head.

That I believe changed and now it's being worked into a Senate bill.

So there are three different bills proposed.

I think it's it's it's being worked into one Senate bill now.

Um I can I can get it for anybody who's interested in it.

Okay.

Is there anything we can do to help?

I I guess if it if it comes down to it, anybody who'd be voting on it from uh the city that as long as this amendment happens, or just even reach out to him saying, hey, we need this, one of the things working in our favor is one of the co-sponsors of the original bill is from Bridgeport.

I'm good friends with the assessor in Bridgeport.

Um he wrote testimony as well.

Um so between my relationship with Michael Rell and him being a co-sponsor of the bill, and again, my conversations yesterday went on, like I said, into last night trying to get it done.

I'm hoping it can be.

But anybody who would be voting on this, you know, just to really push to have this amendment in to let us let us be able to do it for tax purposes.

Sure, I agree.

It's been a great tool, and thank you for everything you've done uh to make that happen from the from its inception.

So we appreciate that.

Yep.

And also the 730 calls at night.

So thank you.

Any other ad hoc committee members.

Um I also want to note that councilman McAllister has joined as an ex-officio.

And thank you, Director Murphy, for um your tenaciousness on routing those things out.

It really makes a difference.

I'll now go to ex officio members, any council members willing to comment on the budget.

Yes, Councilman Flanagan.

I'm not on.

No.

Sorry, I could yell.

Don't have to.

Um thank you.

You you're bringing in a lot of money, you're doing the right thing, and people should be paying taxes if they're gonna live here and park their cars on our streets.

My only question is, and just because I don't understand, is this third-party company that you've hired, do they get a piece?

Yes, that's the difference.

Um they do all the legwork for us.

Right.

Um, they get 40 percent of any revenue that we collect.

Okay.

And just not to pat myself on the back, but I was the first um municipality in the state to hire this company.

Um since then, they've actually taken over the old company.

Um they've took taken over most of the big cities because this company is so much easier to work with than the one company that had a stronghold over the over the thing, and he's now charging 50 or 55 percent.

But because we were the first, and as he always says, I'm his favorite client, uh, we're locked in at the 40 percent, and he has no intention of raising us to the four um from our 40 percent because I gave him the chance, and because I am so well active in our assessors association, he I told him point blank, I'm like, you know, you do a good job for us.

I will tell everybody, you know, how what a great job you've done.

And he's picked up a lot of business, but he's been amazing to work with, and I think that uh Sean can attest to how we have a shared folder on the website.

Anyone who comes in, I can go right to that um website and download all the pictures from everybody from all the times we've seen their vehicle there.

So it really so 40 percent is a lot of money, of course, but it's money that we would not have received because there's no way possible we would have the manpower or the tools to do this reach research in-house.

And I asked another question just because the the mechanics of this interest me.

So does he have a number of people that are riding around these parking lines as you you know, like after dinner and first thing in the morning and it must be quite a uh uh uh crew of people and cars out there doing this kind of work, I find that that's why the license plate readers are so important because he can just drive right through and then he's he has a software that can take the video and and break it down into pictures and then further take these pictures and organize it by by license plate.

It really is.

Yeah, it's amazing.

Well, thank you.

Thank you very much.

Any other ad hoc committee members?

Yes, uh Councilwoman Lepine and then um council president Business.

I'm I'm just wondering this whole subject.

Is this regarding contractual services and the difference in what the proposed by department was 85,000 and projected expenditure expenditures were 275?

Are we talking about that line?

No, this that is not included in that.

I think line items were changed because the 85,000, that number was bumped because of my personal property audits.

I think that was written in my report as well.

Uh and we don't have a field person in my office anymore either.

So that covers the personal the cost from personal property audits, and I think the number when I submitted my report was over 300,000 that we've collected from personal property audits, and then also um we couldn't hire a field person that is part um we we ended up doing away with the field person and got another clerk.

We tried multiple times going out to get a field person to do our inspections, and we just can't hire anybody to do that.

So it covers both of those.

Yes, President Pussi.

Thank you.

Um just a couple of questions following up on the motor vehicle situation.

Um in terms of their 40 percent, that's off the first year of collection.

Is that correct?

No, it's so what it is is if they add on three years, they anything we add on as a result from them, they get period.

They get it, yes.

If if it's added on because of a file that I get from them, they get the 40 percent.

And and going back to the personal property taxes, so currently um there is no field person working for the assessor's office.

Correct.

We've been doing the in-house, we've been doing all the um COs and new construction.

We've been doing minor ones, and we're trying to do as many as we can in-house, but we average over 300 a year.

Um we unsuccessfully went out twice to hire people to fill that role as part of reorganizing my office, which is in the works.

Um I'm working for towards more broad job descriptions.

So instead of being pinge pigeonholed into just doing one thing, number one, there'd be more room for advancement in the office for people starting out, but also it would be more cross-training.

So, as part of that, that field work being done by an outside company will end up being eliminated.

So uh Ms.

Murphy, when was the last time the assessor's office had a a dedicated field person?

Uh three years ago?

Three years ago.

And we've been unable to hire anyone since.

Correct.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Uh yes, Councilman Giordano.

Uh to Director Murphy through the chair.

Um so I realized uh that uh um you know uh this is regarding the um city the grand list uh um you say uh um defend the grand list and uh from our executive sessions and uh council meetings.

I understand now I'll only be speaking in general terms, obviously, but um you know that the issue that came up was um that uh you know there's a lot of commercial uh realtors that uh are um uh uh you know uh trying to think of how to say this uh but they're you know you could say they're cheating us out of uh tax uh revenue that we rightly deserve.

And um uh just from a general perspective, how are we doing our in that battle?

Are we winning?

Are we losing?

Is there any so go ahead in general terms?

My nemesis no longer works for the company.

In general terms, it's worse because now the new person who the tax rep company that mails every single commercial property owner, their major um, I went on the Minnesota Secretary of State's website again, uh not because I'm bored, um, but I went on their Secretary of State's website, and the new attorney that is replacing my nemesis is the 100% shareholder of the tax rep company, and he's representing all the claims now.

So I don't expect it to change.

I don't expect it to get better.

Um we are going out gonna be doing a revaluation again.

Um I don't think without tax laws being changed at the state level, it's gonna change.

Every assessor deals with it.

It's horrible, but I don't I don't see how it's ever going to change.

It's somebody's right to appeal their assessment, and the way the courts are structured.

It's you know, unfortunately, cheaper for a lot of times for municipalities to settle than go full blown to trial with a lot of these cases.

It's just how it's set up.

Is there anything we could uh be uh asking of our attorney general to uh help out in this situation?

I I mean I know there was a formal complaint made against the company once, and he there was a letter written because they made it seem like it was coming from the state, their letter that they were sending out to people, and they were formerly reprimanded for their letter, so they just changed the letter.

But they FOI every single municipality's commercial grand list when they do a revalve.

It's just what they do.

That's that's their business model.

I just I think it's it's uh um kind of a uh a backroom issue.

Uh a lot of people don't even know that it's happening.

So it is.

They send a letter, you own real estate, commercial real estate.

You get a letter in the mail saying we're gonna save you money on your taxes, it's not gonna cost you a penny.

What are you gonna do?

You're gonna call the number.

Right.

Okay, well, thank you for your efforts.

Thank you, Councilman.

Um other comments?

I think Councilman Laughinghouse has final comment.

Yeah, I just had one quick comment comment.

Just to thank you for your help in regards.

I know we rolled out um or the uh council rolled out a few abatements and things like that, and I know you've worked hand in hand with some of those associations in terms of getting them ready and getting them ready for the the next tax year.

So I want to thank you for your work.

I mean, particularly around elderly services and some of the other credits that rolled out in just terms of making it uh seamless uh process for them.

So thank you.

Yeah, thank you.

That's it for the for tax assessment.

Uh next we'll go to item uh 4135 tax collector and constable.

Um, for our purposes, that's page 88, and with budgets on page 90.

So I will defer to my ad hoc committee members if there's any questions for the tax collector.

I want to commend that this is also another budget that was proposed and accepted, mirroring um and aligning with the mayor's office.

Um I'll go to ad hoc committee members if anyone has a question.

Also want to note that Councilman Ben Chianis has joined us.

Any question from ex officio members?

Uh Councilman Laughinghouse.

Sorry, uh Councilwoman's going a little too fast.

I had to catch up with my notes.

Um just in regards to the accomplishments you had from last year to this year, uh, a 414% increase.

Um from uh switching to a tool.

I just had some questions in regards to the tool itself.

Correct.

Uh if you could answer just some of that just because it was a bit vague in the description.

Yeah, definitely.

So um as a collect, we have multiple tools.

One of them is using the uh electable elected constables.

Um and they basically have a 15 percent fee they add on to anything that they collect.

Uh previous years we were putting liens on property, selling it off, and it had some bad press in other cities and towns because usually after a year, these other cities and towns, the companies he sold it to were foreclosing on these homes.

And we we don't want people losing their homes.

Strict enforcement, but finding that balance.

Um so using these constables and having someone show up to the door with a badge, uh flexible working out like somewhat of a payment plan.

Okay.

It's it's been very uh receptive.

Thank you, Councilman.

Any other questions from ad hoc committee members?

Councilman Quillow.

Thank you through the chair.

Again, thank you for all your hard work utilizing those tools.

Do you have a breakdown of the is there a number of constables that have had more success as opposed to others, and what can we do to help them?

Um I spread it pretty pretty evenly.

I try to be fair to each one that was elected.

Um and it is all depends who decides to pay to see what kind of percentage they're making off of it.

But I can give you numbers on what each constable has brought in if you want for reference.

And typically the percentages that they collect, which is well earned because I know they work very hard.

Very, very hard for it.

You know, we lost a great one in uh you know Louise McMahon, you know, maybe she rest in peace.

But um what is typically, you know, what what's their return on it?

Is it 15 percent or 15 percent added fee?

So we're not losing anything off the taxes.

Correct.

And how much did they bring in last year?

Constable's total, typical prior years.

We were only looking at a quarter of a million.

So it's one point three million.

Right.

Okay.

Thank you.

Mm-hmm.

Uh Councilman Sheenice.

Thank you.

Just following up on here, huh?

I myself.

Okay.

Um following up with Councilman Coelho's question on constables.

Now, is every what type of work do they get?

Do they just get personal property taxes or they get real estate and water and sewer as well?

Water and sewer, not yet.

We have a new software, so that's going to be coming soon.

But right now, real estate, personal property, and the occasional motor vehicle bill, if there's multiple years, like more than three or four, usually is the threshold threshold that we go by.

Okay, just a follow-up.

So the what so the water and sewer piece, that's gonna get go to them as well.

We're not gonna outsource that to a 30.

No, I want to try to keep it in house.

We've been do have a we've had great success with it, so I want to keep at it.

Okay, thank you.

Any other questions for Sean?

Yes, Councilman President Boots.

Thank you.

Um taxwriter.

Okay.

Following up uh in terms of uh personal property taxes, let uh I want to move on to to utility bills, sewer and water liens.

Uh who watches those and refers those for to the uh corporation council's office?

The liens in regards to water and sewer, yes, because they age out after 15 years.

They do.

So we have an Excel spreadsheet that we we follow, and this new software um ages.

We have like it's an aging report, so we can tell how close it is um to falling off and hitting that 15 year threshold.

Um but the oldest lien we have I think is 12 years, so uh we're not there yet.

Um, but we've been working in house.

We have another tool that we've been doing.

Um a lot of people that have delinquent water and sewer bills.

We've been cross-referencing to see if they have uh escrow mortgage on their property.

And anyone over 5,000, we've actually been reaching out to the mortgage company who've been paying these delinquent taxes for the taxpayer.

And I I'm assuming rolling it into the mortgage.

Um so we're getting paid, they're helping out their their client, and it's been a win-win.

Okay.

Thank you.

My pleasure.

Any other questions from councilman regarding to the tax collector?

Okay, thank you so much.

So much.

Thank you.

Have a good day.

Um, next we'll review information technology.

Um, for us, that's on page 77 with the budget on page 79.

Good evening.

Uh Director Gentile.

Um, I I don't really have anything, I just have a question on um the line item 54301.

And just kind of um background to the expenditures.

So the actual um the actual expenses for 2425 was around 780,000.

Projected expenses a year later are one point, I'm gonna say one point one two, one three, and then the proposed budget is one point um four eight.

So just what what is added to that expenses in two years of seven hundred thousand dollars.

And just so I'm clear, because I don't have the budget book in front of me.

What is the title of the uh maintenance and repair office equipment?

So what goes into that is every single piece of software, enterprise software that the city uses, we have to pay a license and or maintenance fee slash support fee for that software in order to keep using it.

So what happens is every year it there's an increase.

And those increases are typically five percent, three percent, and sometimes there are even more than that.

In addition to that, there are applications that are integrated.

Um during an integration phase, the year of an integration phase, that's a capital expense.

So once it goes into production completely into production, that then is migrated, that actual cost for maintenance is migrated to operations.

But before that, it's put into this line item.

Yes.

So basically the launch of any new any new um applications or software.

So we would, yeah, we would we would anticipate what that maintenance is going to be, and then it goes into that that year's um uh ask for a and have you added more programs because really there's like a 50 percent increase in the last since fiscal year 24.

Um here, yes, there are free to feel free to take my page if that has to be.

I have my I have my spreadsheet.

Yes, there have been many ads.

So for example, we have a application that is being added um to manage the workflow within the um uh corp council office.

So that's gonna add around you know between 17 and 22,000 dollars in maintenance.

Um we ended up adding uh a new ERP system for payroll, HRIMS and uh fiscal um management, and then in phases that is added into maintenance as well.

So I think the the maintenance ad for that alone, which is um Munis um financials and payroll is approximately 274,000 right there.

Okay, and that's so and that's over the last uh two years.

And that's um basically around sort of municipal management and and efficiencies.

So um I I imagine there's also additional costs for cybersecurity because that's ever present.

And actually, right it exactly.

And actually for cybersecurity, um, it's approximately a 70,000 dollar ad because we had an integration of a software called Doc Darktrace, and that's um for email security and and also for network security.

And that software went from a capital expense to an operation this this next year.

Yeah, and then those fees are annually, yeah.

So once acquired, they they continue to carry forward.

It's an obligation.

What we try to do is do year to year with no obligation, but there's always a if we're not funded, you know, clause in all of these contracts.

Um, but m usually what we have to do is a three-year.

So we're then obligated for that type of software for three years, but it reduces the actual maintenance cost when we negotiate that.

Okay.

Um thank you.

Um I will now go to my ad hoc committee members with any questions.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Um Chief O'Brien.

If you don't mind, I just want to add one thing to the record because you did point out that this is a a generous amount of an increase in this line.

We did sit down with um director Gentile and go through what was in capital for many years prior, what really shouldn't have been in there softwares that we've had for several years.

So what you're seeing won't be the same next year.

What Frank mentioned was a five percent.

That's what we'd like to see.

It's obviously a more sustainable increase each year.

But we did take out things that have been working well for the city that really should not have been capital expenses for that many years.

We we pulled a big chunk of them this year, so that's what you're seeing.

Thank you.

Um less of a budget comment, more of just an overall comment in regards to the AI based software that's uh you know forthcoming.

Taylor, I know you mentioned last night that you're gonna be rolling out some AI specific policy and framework.

Um, you know, just from my perspective, uh just ensuring that we're not getting PAI information out there uh when somebody's using these and have it in a closed network is a is a great um tool to implement.

So thank you for uh getting that going and updating the policies.

I know in my work clients are deathly afraid of what information you're putting in these tools that are kind of open circuit.

So I appreciate you leading that initiative and getting the policies updated.

Thank you, councilman.

Any other ad hoc committee members questions for Director Gentiles?

Yes, Willow.

Um Taylor may have kind of answered this or to kind of diffuse it, I think.

So you basically move stuff from one column somewhere else into this from somewhere else in the budget into this, because it basically doubled in two years, right?

Pretty close to it.

So can you just elaborate a little bit on that again?

Sorry.

Could you let yeah, because I'm just trying to understand like what department should kind of mention Frank mentioned a bunch of them, and my concern would be even if it moved from one column to another, like where does uh you know the director see the next 10 years, right?

Yeah.

Uh I would, you know, even if we said the next five licensing agreements, whatever it may be, because that you know that's that's a pretty hefty uh number.

It is.

And so these are softwares that we have relied on many of them for several years.

So they were in capital and capital can go up and down any year.

Anyone who's you know doing a budget, you'll see by the end of it, we're looking at how much can we afford in capital each year.

So some of these programs, if we cut them, they're the a department cannot be sustained.

So we said let's move these into operational so that the council can accurately see what the IT department is paying for every year.

So if they were added to capital this year, you would just see more of an increase to capital.

Um but there are other things in capital this year that as you're going through, especially even for the IT budget that are more of a if needed, um, if something breaks, like repairs to a computer, that's more of a capital expense if we need to help with the data center and something shuts down.

But a software that our departments rely on, and we have an annual fee for.

I just fell as we were going through the budget this year, and Frank agreed that these should be in operations because without them, like we said, oh no, I'm not gonna fund this in capital, or another mayor comes in, I'm not gonna fund this in capital.

Or like, hold on, you know, the whole department can shut down.

So they're in the right place, in my opinion now.

Um, and with IT as softwares are if they change, like say that software's not working for us anymore.

Um tax collector just mentioned he's on new software's right.

So those were swaps.

Annual fee for I just fell as we were going through the budget this year and Frank agreed that these should be in operations because without them we said oh no I'm not gonna fund this in capital or another mayor comes in I'm not gonna fund this in capital or like hold on you know the whole department can shut down so they're in the right place in my opinion now um and with IT as softwares are if they change like say that software is not working for us anymore um our tax director just mentioned he's on new software's right so those were swaps you would see those not as like a new increase in capital but you'd see them on his operations like we went from one software to another it's not gonna make that big of a job when you're actually looking at that breakdown uh and that for Frank he carries the weight of our softwares in his budget so I just thought it would be more appropriate for you all to see it actually in his actual account versus hoping you'll fund you know one two three four five in capital because if we say oh that that seems like a lot why do you need all that well it's it's the whole city if that makes sense I think if I may just a follow up to that um sure and then I have a follow up no problem yeah so you had mentioned it and and I'm not sure if if it was Frank or if it was Dan what was that program the um you uh my God is it for the payroll or the tell me out UTS UTIS yeah it's clear correctly yeah correct so I know we we took a it took a while to kind of get that phased in right because obviously we're paying for both the transitioning from one to the other you know I understand there's a transition period there.

Do we have anything in that number right now or even in the future where you say listen once we're done with that transition I could see that number coming down or staying flat the uh number that's in the operations budget for the maintenance which is approximately I think 2800 actually I can get the exact number if you give me a second here.

So it's actually 274000 for a run next year.

That number is not going to go down from there because that includes um all of the packages it includes a financial management package the payroll package the HRIMS package the um vendor self-service package and the employee self-serve package all of that's in there um and unfortunately maintenance for software and software usage licenses just keep going up approximately three to five percent per year um my follow-up question is for you chief um so in in the reallocation of you know this particular line item you're doing that in hand in hand with the finance department right I mean that's yeah right so those are approved methods and accounting methods that are being followed in that reallocation sit down um between mayor's office finance office and then the department heads come in so we're Dan and I are always making sure everything aligns thank you any other questions for director genteel on information technology uh yes councilman sheanise if there's no other ad hoc committee members all good okay yes councilman she's through the through the chair a couple questions um you listed here as your accomplishments regarding the new setup of the chamber and the audiovisual so um where are we standing on our live broadcast of Comcast we've been working with Comcast for approximately six months and currently we're still waiting on a Comcast technical rep to come in and finish up so we've been putting pressure through um the public um administration uh contact and uh that's where where we are right now we're ready to basically go live at this point the technology's in place here for the for the connection we're waiting on Comcast.

Okay and we and and the to pay the Comcast bills through your budget?

The Comcast um uh Wi-Fi backup Wi-Fi TV all of that yeah that's true my budget so maybe we should just hold back until they come here right um I'm willing to do that if um that'll help I I I'm not sure because they're two different parts of Comcast actually okay if I can give a couple of other questions if I may in your thing you said you're gonna purchase another 100 computers correct is that currently an operational or is it a capital expensive that's that's capital.

And is it currently budgeted in capital?

For next year yes.

Okay.

And the last question I have is regarding the software I know in the past we had software we didn't use we were paying for it but we're waiting for something to expire but we had basically two softwares one we were using one we were waiting to use so currently are we using all our software that we have in place.

Yeah yes we are if there are situations where we're not using software it's because we made a decision to replace the software and but we're still obligated to utilize and you know pay for the old software until the contracts are up and sometimes we do that instead of you know saying we don't have any funds and and looking at a non-appropriation clause for really two reasons.

One reason is we have data in that old software we need to pull out right and then the other one is we want to maintain a good business relationship and reputation.

And how much do we have how much does that cost us for that software um there are currently no packages that we're not you know using that we're paying for okay but we still have the software but we're not paying for it.

Okay, but we still have the software, but we're not paying for it.

We are not currently there's no maintenance dollars going to software that we're not using.

Okay.

And the the last question, if I may, regarding scanning, because we mentioned it.

The scanning of the documents, you mentioned you were doing planning.

Has and we're not done with that yet.

Is that currently in your budget or is that somewhere else to scan the documents we currently have?

Um the bulk of that was actually in a different budget that was in the planning budget.

Um the maintenance for the software where that's all you know kept is in my budget.

Okay, so you do the software and they do the the actual cost of scanning it.

They've they they have the funds to actually do the actual scanning, and then um it's it's hosted on servers in our in our data center and then backed up to the secure cloud.

Okay, thank you.

Uh thank you, Councilman.

Any other questions from uh ex officio councilwoman LePai?

I keep asking about the building department records, um, because I get a lot of people who are asking if there's any way that the city can speed up the process for you know, realtors, attorneys, title people to get the file on complete file on real estate.

Is there anything that um your department is working on to um start to scan all those records?

Are we talking about the building inspectors?

Or are we talking about um zoning or both?

Um there's towns that have complete files where you have um assessor information.

You have septic, you have building permits, zoning, entire records on mostly get residential properties, is what I do.

And there's definitely a lot of people asking me.

So I'm um so right now, if you go to our viewpoint system, um there are records in viewpoint right now.

So we we do have our um zoning inspections, our building inspections, a lot of that is in open goviepoint, which is in a secure cloud.

And um folks can actually, you know, residents and business owners can file for permits online.

So that's been uh something that uh was put in place at around late 2019 and it really helped during the pandemic because it allowed um business owners and residents to do a a you know, touchless paperless start to their to their process to actually get a permit.

I think that's a different I think that's a different thing.

Oh you want me to jump in?

Um last day, councilwoman LePine, just for those who aren't here, we had uh Mr.

Shuler come in and we did talk about scanning.

Um but as Frank just mentioned and and Jim Shillery mentioned as well, in 2019, all the records became digital.

So uh he does have a staff person who tries to um scan a little bit more and keep more digital files.

But as Frank mentioned, we do have digital files, we just don't go all the way back in our history yet.

Um there is not currently an allocated amount of funding for the building department to do scanning right now.

We're working on planning and zoning and health.

Thank you.

Um any other questions from council members.

Okay, thank you, Director.

Uh next item is 4140.

It's kind of a one-off it's labor negotiations on page 98.

Um that's actually uh corporation council, but I didn't have any questions, so I don't know if any ad hoc committee members have questions.

Yes, Councilman Cuello through the chair, if you could just maybe explain what it's for.

Yeah, so we do separate out on professional services for labor negotiations.

So um in the upcoming year we have DMEA.

We just closed Teamsters out um fire happened.

So I think we settled last year now, right?

And then we are um working through police.

So that covers the uh legal fund for those.

So DMEA is what we're prepping for.

Um at the 250.

Grievances.

And the increase in the lighting is basically 20 percent there'll be 20% more of negotiations.

Yeah, I mean, uh a budget is of course what we are anticipating.

We're just trying to prepare for it.

Um and I just forgot to mention we also cover uh grievances as well.

So the firm that helps us with all of our labor.

Labor grievances and negotiations is in that budget line.

Does that answer your question, Councilman?

Yeah, you said something about NEA I didn't hear D M E A?

Um union.

Yeah, so we are opening with them very soon.

Gotcha.

Thank you.

Any other questions around labor negotiations line item?

Yes, Councilman Sheenice.

What about the again through the chair?

What about the police?

Are they in here too?

Or that's another line item.

Um we are pretty much getting close to closed with uh the amount of work the lawyers have to do for that.

So I don't expect too much after July 1.

Um, but again, we're waiting for the courts right now, so we'll see.

Okay, so that's not really much in here then.

I would say no.

Yeah, we're planning this budget for DMEA.

And then obviously any grievances that come.

All right, thank you.

Okay, thank you.

Any other questions around labor negotiations?

Okay, thank you.

Um we're gonna move on to uh contingency and financing uh item line items 9800, 9900.

Uh that budget's on page 230, it is the last page of the general fund budget.

And I guess I'll just have a general question for the finance director, if you could explain these categories.

Uh contingency, I understand.

Nice to see that we didn't have a can any contingencies in this fiscal year.

Um, but uh other financing uses.

And to be clear, that's an expense.

That number is an expense to the city.

Correct.

So this is um you see the first line there for $337,000.

Uh that's a transfer out to animal control fund.

And the three million dollars is a transfer out to capital fund.

Could you just repeat that?

Just I'm gonna absorb it.

So uh the 337,525, that's a transfer to animal control fund to fund you know the operations in that fund.

And then the three million is to transfer out to capital fund.

Okay, thank you.

Any questions from ad hoc committee members regarding contingency or other financing uses?

Page 230.

Any questions from ex officio council member?

I do want to note that Joe Britton has also joined us.

He's been here for about 15 minutes.

Sorry, Joe.

Okay, then um, I think we'll move on.

Um the next item is uh risk management.

This is items um 5002, 5003.

I made notes to the ad hoc committee members that um not all the the summary there's I'm sure director Garrick will explain, but not all the numbers foot.

So on item number 5002, there's three budget line items on page one's on page two twenty-eight, page three oh eight, and page three eleven.

I'll say those again.

228, 308, 31.

And it's those same numbers for 5003 with the addition of um a line item on page 313, which actually when put together do cover the line items as presented under risk management.

So I'll let our director take it from here.

Thank you.

So unfortunately, as you mentioned, this is a combination of uh all those departments that flow through several different funds.

Um the best way to look at this is on starting on page 308 is the internal service fund.

Uh currently is is uh fund 14.

Uh the new new fund will be 7,003.

Those other departments on those other pages that you mentioned will flow from somewhat like we just talked about transfer to capital fund.

It'll be a transfer to internal service fund.

Um so the first one is for employee benefits and insurance, um, also known as risk management.

Um so that that total in that fund is uh the request is uh 26,728,676.

It's increase of 3.8 million dollars or 16 uh 16.64 percent.

The big chunk of that is uh health insurance.

Uh we discussed this at the um the presentation last week, and also at the uh the workshop.

Uh health insurance is going up about seven percent plus any uh new full-time employee.

Obviously, we need to add in uh funds for for their benefits.

Um then liability insurance is also going up about five percent next year.

So all of that adds up to the the 3.8 million dollars.

And then if you flip a page uh two pages uh to 311, what is currently fund 15?

That is our workers' comp fund.

Uh that is going up uh to 3,314,000, an increase of 55, uh almost 56,000, a two percent increase, and that is really a f factor of uh the increase in salaries.

And then fund 16 uh begins on the next page is revenues, the expenditures are on page 313, and that's an increase of just over four million dollars.

And this is for retiree benefits, both uh health insurance, small amount for life insurance, uh small amount for dental, and then OPEB, which is other post employee employee benefits.

Um it's kind of odd that they put employees in there, but it's really retiree benefits.

Um, and that is an actuarial number right now.

Uh it'll be like our pension funds once we get this fully funded, then that fund will fund the actual benefits.

So we're not having to f to uh fund as much for the actual benefits.

Um but our policy is increase that by $500,000 each year.

So between the health insurance rates going up, as I mentioned before, and the uh what they call the ARC for OPEB going up 500,000, uh that is going up by uh four million.

And also pension is in in that fund.

Uh there's another big piece of that.

Uh pension is uh 2.7 million dollars alone.

Thank you, uh director.

Any questions from ad hoc committee members regarding risk management and employee benefit numbers?

Uh councilman Quillow?

Sure, thank you through the chair.

If I could um Mr.

Garrett, with regard to the um whatever 18, 19 percent.

I look back at some of the other years.

Where do you see that tracking for that?

You know, say the past decade or so.

Uh for health insurance?

Everything in general, because I mean health is eight percent.

This is like an eighteen percent comp you know increase, but uh obviously there's attributing factors here.

That you know, this is not a number we're gonna be able to maintain.

Right.

So like um, can you give us a comparison to the last decade or further back, right?

To where we are now, and okay, if the health is driving this at 8%, I get it, right?

But what is next year look like and beyond that?

Because this is something where it's gonna have a you know a big impact.

I don't know if it's sustainable.

We haven't doubled our employees, right?

If I had a crystal ball, um I say fortunately, unfortunately, uh unfortunately, this is one of our largest increases on health insurance.

We uh switched to a self-insured plan back in 2011, 2012.

So almost almost 15 years ago, we switched to uh self-insured plan.

This is one of our largest increases since we we went over to a a self-insured plan.

I believe we had one other year that was around nine percent.

Uh previously to that, uh probably the the 10 years before that, we were having double digits increase every year on health insurance.

So the self-insured plan has worked out out for us very well.

Uh another thing that that factored into this, we were doing so well on the self-insured plan uh for the current year for 2526.

Uh we budgeted, I believe it was one and a half million dollars uh use of fund reserve.

We're not doing that in the coming year, so there's uh not an increase in expenditure, but an increase in what we had a fund from the general fund.

Um so fortunately, you know, it helped out.

It was a nice help in 2526, but now we're having to make up for that uh that increase.

So there's another increase there.

Um so overall, um we're doing fairly well.

We when I heard seven percent, um, I was uh I don't know if upset is the right word, but uh didn't like the seven percent, and then I'm hearing uh surrounding towns having 15% increases across the that was my next question.

You know, what of our some of the surrounding towns have yeah, so we're we're half of what you know the other towns are are uh having.

Uh I don't know if they're self-insured or fully insured, but uh the nice thing about this self-insured is it's really the claims that are driving it.

That's what I was about that that was my next question.

So it's claim driven.

It's so it's it's claims driven.

I mean, obviously there is an administrative piece that we pay, but that's not what's what's driving the the increases, it's it's the claims.

Uh we've had very uh very low increases over the past several years.

So um I don't know, some of this could be a boomerang effect from COVID where people weren't going to the doctors for a while.

Uh it seems like we're pretty far out from that, but it's it's possible some of that is still lingering.

Do we have any suggested say cost control strategy on that for the next X?

I mean, it's a considerable increase.

So it is.

Uh you know, I guess it if we see this continuing, we'll we'll have to look at either uh um possibly you know negotiating different benefits, a different pay structure.

Um there's there's a few things that uh we have a outside consultant that that'll help us with that.

And uh um but uh seeing seeing that what the other towns are going through, I think it's just a factor of uh where where we are with um you know actual claims and and uh sadly 7% is on the on the good side of things.

Okay.

Thank you.

Any other question from ad hoc committee members?

Um any questions from ex officio council members?

Uh yes, Councilman Sheenice.

Thank you through the chair.

Just a few quick questions.

You I think some of it was already answered, but this may be a stupid question.

Who's our wicked risk manager?

Who is it?

Um I also act as the risk manager.

Okay, so my next question would be is the 105,000 salary, is that you?

No, that is uh my goal is to get that filled um as soon as possible.

It's just been on hold with all the other projects that that uh I'm sorry, is this related to risk management?

And yes.

Oh, it is okay, thank you.

So um, yeah, that that that is not I do not draw on that whatsoever.

Okay.

So when you do is that advertised now or it's not.

I have to uh it's been so long since we had a full-time risk manager.

I need to rewrite the job description and work with uh HR on that.

But we do the chair, but we do have an HR coordinator, the other line item.

Uh benefits coordinator.

Yes, she is full-time.

Okay.

And my my next question is again, and you might have mentioned it, but our risk of loss, which drives the insurance premiums, obviously.

But over the last few years, do you see that drastically increasing or is it leveling off or because that's going to drive the next premiums?

That's what's driving the increase.

Are you talking about on the risk of loss?

Uh, on the liability side or on the the health.

The health.

The health.

Um I'm not sure exactly where that's going.

Um, you know, I need to do a deeper dive with our consultant to see if um you know what the trends, if they expect that to continue, or um if this is a you know one year blip again one more through the through the chair.

So at this point, there's nothing on the horizon that we kindly know about that's gonna drive it.

No.

No.

No.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Councilman Sheenis.

Any other council members wishing to ask the director of finance any questions about the budget?

Okay, about risk management and um, so we're moving on to the final set of numbers, and that is the finance department, independent audit, and city treasurer.

So for our purposes, that's pages 73 through 75.

And line items uh 4119, 4120, 4137 are the departmental.

Any ad hoc committee members have questions about these last three budgetary items?

I want to note too that the risk management employee benefits, both those budgets were in alignment with the mayor's proposal, and also here the finance department's um budget is in alignment with the mayor's office.

Uh any questions from ex officio council members regarding finance department, independent audit, or city treasurer.

Yes, Councilman Sheonese.

Again, do the through the through the chair.

Regarding the independent audit.

Yes.

At the last time the audit committee met, we we decided we're going to go out for bid for this upcoming thing.

And that's still gonna we're still on target to do such a because you gotta do it before June 1st, correct?

So we're we're putting that out to bid as soon as possible.

Uh I'm hoping to get that out this week.

Um we've talked to uh one firm that we thought was a strong candidate, uh, and they they don't have the capacity, so I'm not sure how successful we'll be on on getting other firms, but um we agreed to put that out to bid.

So we will be putting that out to bid.

Okay, there's that many.

There's like three, maybe, maybe four.

Right.

Right.

Um, so again, so the on the line item that's currently budgeted, that's only the city side of it, correct?

Correct.

There's the board of ed side of it.

Uh there's the board of ed, uh, water and sewer, and then uh pension also pays a portion of that.

Okay.

And one more question.

Just correct me if I'm I may be mistaken.

Because I know last year as a budget, we made a motion to increase the treasurer's salary by three percent.

Doesn't it this also gets increased three percent for July 1 of 26?

Yeah, I think that's a whopping 358 dollars.

Is it the same rate to 2948?

Is that the same rate as last year?

Or do we have to add another three percent to that?

Uh tiny, but I don't know why it's showing the 24.

I believe 29,488 is is effective December, correct?

Yes, please.

Yes, your honor.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Through the chair.

Uh the three percent was uh it started as of July of 2025.

That's why it's already reflected here.

You mean the three percent was voted on by the council before that July?

So it impacted here.

So this present rate is already reflected the three percent increase you were speaking of.

Uh okay.

Just don't want to shook you guys.

No, I just thought we did it for three percent for the next two years.

Yeah, typically that happens in December and then and then the following July.

Yeah.

That's it.

Are you good, Councilman?

Sheenis, yeah.

Uh Councilman uh Hawley has a question.

Thank you.

Um so if I draw your attention to the table of organization, I just have two questions through the chair to the director of finance.

The first one is uh do we have a grant writer and are they a volunteer?

Why is it zero?

Uh we we do not have a grant writer, and that's why that's showing is zero.

Okay.

We didn't want to cut the head count.

We eventually want to fill that, but uh this was not the the year to do so.

All right, great.

Thank you.

And again, through the chair to the director of finance.

Um I see there's a dollar difference between the grant compliance coordinators uh present rate and proposed budget.

Is that a typo or is that a intentional?

There's uh there's some rounding that you'll see throughout throughout here.

Okay, sounds good.

Oh, nice.

Great, thank you.

You're welcome.

Any other council members with questions for the director of finance regarding finance department independent audit and city treasurer?

Councilman Coello.

Thank you through the chair.

So uh I know that um Cara has been doing a lot of the grant applications, correct?

So technically we don't have a grant writer, but she's doing multiple jobs.

Am I incorrect or correct?

Right.

So she she oversees uh you'll see the assistant director of finance um for budget and grants.

So she oversees our grants team, and then she has two people that work closely with her.

Um the grant compliance officer, and I'm looking right past um the other one.

Um the accountant, yes.

Well, I just want to take a minute to recognize and acknowledge the work that your department and CARES specifically and others that are in there helping us get that money.

It's not lost on anybody on this council and uh obviously our taxpayers.

So thank you very much.

Do you want to ask that question?

Uh Councilman Laughinghouse.

Yeah, I just um one quick on the um the account uh group summary.

There was a just one increase of about 25 percent.

Um 27, 400 for purchasing services.

Just yes, is it so that's uh an outside service that we hired um for uh FMLA?

Uh a very specialized uh task that uh HR is handling right now, and it's it's consuming uh one of their employees almost uh full day.

Um so instead of hiring another person for 27,000, uh which is cheaper than that we we we'd pay for benefits for one person, we're able to have this firm uh do this, and they um really know all the ins and outs.

So there's there's no training, it's uh uh very quick uh um approach to uh getting this done and much cheaper than hiring uh staff to do it.

I appreciate the outside the box way of looking at it.

So thank you.

Any other questions from council members regarding these last items?

Any other questions?

Councilman Quillo.

Or when what's the expected?

I know we might have talked about it at the council meeting the other night, but I forgot what you mentioned as far as a projected due date for that.

Uh so we're we're anticipating that to be done sometime in June.

Um that's that that is our goal.

Uh we're pushing hard for that.

Uh we've got a few road bumps here and there, but uh still looking.

I know you met with them today.

Did they make any comments?

Is that the same thing?

I just want to say that the mayor has a different date maybe than you guys working really hard to get it done as soon as possible.

Thank you.

Any other questions from council members regarding these last items okay?

I think we can say that we are in agreement with uh government to departmental budgets.

I want to thank my fellow council members and everyone here.

I'm unclear, does there need to be a motion to accept the budget?

Yes.

So I would like to entertain a motion to accept the government to departmental budgets as presented.

So John Laughinghouse, Councilman Laughinghouse has made that motion, and Councilman Spain Reichel has um seconded.

Is there any discussion on the acceptance of these budgets?

Hearing none, everyone in favor, say aye.

Are we in you unanimously accepting this, Councilman Quillow?

Are you an aye?

Oh, you did.

Okay, did not hear you.

Sorry.

Okay, so that sounds good.

Okay, yeah.

So uh sure.

So we are in uh uh unanimously approving this budget and uh motion to adjourn.

So made by Councilman Reichel Spain, Spain Reichel, and seconded by Councilman Perkins.

We are adjourned.

Thank you.