Finance Director Shelley Goodrich chaired a meeting of the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) Committee on August 24, 2026, to review 39 proposed projects totaling approximately $14.5 million for 2027 and 70 requests over the five-year plan (2027-2031) totaling over $68 million. The committee discussed each project by department, assessing need, cost, funding sources, and alignment with city priorities. Individual committee members will rank projects using six weighted criteria (external requirements, public health/safety, level of service, financing availability, economic development, effect on operating/maintenance costs) by September 2, 2026, via ClearGov software.
Oh yeah. Oh wow. There's not much. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for being here today as we begin to review the proposed projects for the 2027 capital improvement plan. Before we get started, I would like to introduce the members of the committee. We have Mayor Rocco Yergin, Council Planning Committee Chair Jeff Noble, Council Finance Committee Chair Chris Humphrey, Public Service Director Valerie Wax Carr, City Engineer Paul Pickett, Planning Director Wayne Weathy, Fire Chief Jeff Funai, and I am Shelley Goodrich, the finance director, and I am serving as the coordinator for this capital improvement plan process. Today we are going to review the capital projects that have been submitted for consideration in 2027. We received 39 proposed projects totaling approximately 14.5 million in requested funding for 2027. While today's discussion will focus on 2027, these projects are part of the city's broader 2027 to 2031 capital improvement plan. Across the entire five-year planning period, departments and city council submitted 70 capital requests, totaling a little over 68 million dollars in total requested capital investment. Looking at capital needs over a five-year period, allows us to plan beyond a single budget year. It helps us anticipate major infrastructure, equipment, facility, and service needs, identify opportunities for grants and other outside funding, and determine when larger projects may need to be phased or scheduled based upon available resources. Projects will continue to be evaluated each year based upon priorities, available funding, updated cost estimates, outside funding opportunities, and the city's overall financial position. Today's meeting is a review of these proposed projects, not a determination that all projects will be funded. Um comprises a little over 6 million and is 41.75% of the requests. ClearGov allowed departments and members of City Council to submit their proposed projects electronically and to provide detailed information regarding the project scope, the justification, the cost estimates, the funding sources, and other relevant information. ClearGov will also be used for the 2027 operating budget. The software will allow finance and departments to evaluate different budget scenarios, more easily review and analyze information and make better use of technology throughout the city's budgeting process. This is our first year using ClearGov for these processes, so we will continue to refine how we use the system as we move forward. How will we review the projects today? I will display each project from ClearGov on the screens in council chambers as we work through today's meeting. We also have prepared printed project books for anyone who would prefer to follow along on paper. As we move from project to project, I will call out the corresponding page numbers in the book so everyone can easily follow along. We will review the projects by department, and within each department, we will begin with the most expensive project and work our way down to the least expensive project. As we review each project, this is the committee's opportunity to ask questions, discuss the need for the project, better understand the proposed cost and funding sources, and consider how the project fits within the city's overall priorities. Following today's discussion, committee members will individually rank the proposed projects using the established project scoring criteria. There are six criteria, each of which is assigned a weight based upon its relative importance. I'm gonna briefly run through that criteria so that we can keep that in mind as we are reviewing the projects. The first one is external requirements. Considers whether the project is required by law, regulation, or mandate, involves an agreement with another jurisdiction, or is otherwise externally driven. Public health and safety evaluates the extent to which the project addresses an existing or potential health or safety concern. Level of service considers whether the project preserves or improves an existing city service, expand service, or provide a new service to the community. Availability of financing. Considers whether outside revenues, grants, or other financing sources are available to support the project. Economic development evaluates whether the project may encourage investment, expand the tax base, improve employment opportunities, attract customers, or otherwise support economic development. Effect on operating or maintenance costs, considers the project's long-term financial impact, including whether it reduces, maintains, or increases ongoing operating and maintenance cost. Each project will receive a score under these criteria. These criteria are weighted so that factors such as external requirements, public health and safety, and maintaining city services carry greater weight in the overall evaluation. The scoring process is intended to provide the committee with a consistent and objective framework for comparing these different capital projects. Committee members will complete their individual project rankings electronically through ClearGov. Following today's meeting, finance will send the committee instructions explaining how to access the ranking portion of ClearGov and to complete the scoring process. Miriam and I are also here to assist if you guys need assistance during the ranking process. Once the rankings have been completed, finance will compile the results. Those rankings will help guide the development of the proposed 2027 capital budget as we move through the operating budget process, and we have a clearer picture of the resources available for capital projects. Before we begin reviewing the projects, I also want to recognize the significant amount of work that went into getting us to today's meeting. Thank you to all the departments for taking the time to enter detailed project information into ClearGov, including project descriptions, justifications, cost estimates, pictures, proposed funding sources. This information is essential in us evaluating these projects. With that, we will begin our review of the 2027 proposed capital projects. We're gonna start off with engineering and stormwater. Um and like I said, we're gonna go from the highest amount of the project to the lowest.