Today's
Feature
Reviewed CIP
Lists.
The City Council
Budget Ways and Means Committee met Monday
evening in a regular session. The committee
reviewed the City Department’s 5-year
Capital Improvement Project lists.
Representatives
from the Police, Fire, Streets, Public Works and
Parks Departments were present at the meeting to
discuss their lists and answer questions from the
committee. City Administrator Tom Short told the
committee that the estimated total of the items
on the lists amounted to $16 million over the
five year period. Short added that some of the
items would need to be cut throughout the budget
process as the funding for the total would likely
not be available.
Discussions
focused primarily on the items for the upcoming
fiscal year budget. Several department heads
noted the difficulty in predicting prices of
projects and equipment five years in advance, due
to market fluctuation.
Priority items
listed for the Police Department included new
patrol cars, department issued handguns and
ballistic vests. Detective Sergeant Randee Kaiser
represented the department in the absence of
Interim Chief Barry Duncan. The department only
recently received appropriation for
department-purchased handguns, the amount of
which will supply guns to half of the officers.
The funding requested in the CIP list would allow
the purchase of the remainder of the guns,
according to Kaiser.
Fire Chief John
Cooper told the committee that new possibilities
had become available for a fire substation on the
South end of the City. Cooper did not mention
specifics but said that he would return in the
future with a proposal. Committee member Claude
Newport inquired what constitutes the need for a
substation. Cooper said that a substation should
be considered when the City has 30%
under-coverage, which has been since around 1998.
Equipment purchases listed by Cooper included
computer upgrades, new bunkers and air packs.
Street
Commissioner Tom Shelley listed two groups of
CIPs, half being Street Department equipment and
the other half being the multitude of streets in
consideration for contract paving. Equipment
listed for fiscal year 08-09 included a mower, a
mowing tractor and an ice machine.
As Public Works
Director Chad Wampler approached the table
Committee Chair Bill Johnson noted, "That
total looks scary," a comment which was
directed at the CIP list total cost for the
Public Works Department. Wampler agreed and
commenced to outline the projects, many of which
are intersection and road engineering and
improvements. Priority items listed by Wampler
included improvements to the Airport Drive and
River Street intersection. This project is to
coincide with the opening of the new school and
is estimated to cost $400,000. Wampler also
mentioned bridge maintenance and repairs to Baker
Street after it is closed as a truck route.
Parks Director
Alan Bull listed golf course equipment
replacement as a priority item. Bull had
previously spoken to the Public Services
Committee about the CIP list, and had outlined a
plan for a 5 year lease/purchase agreement for 11
new pieces of key equipment for the course. Bull
told the Budget Committee a tentative total of
$230,000 for all of the equipment. Bull also
noted roof repairs for the Golf Pro Shop and the
roller rink, and the possibility of a matching
grant for the dredging of Kellogg Lake.
These items will
be discussed more fully by the committee during
the fiscal year 08-09 budget hearings, which are
scheduled to begin April 28th.
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