During Wednesdays Finance Committee meeting the introduction of the 2021 budget took place and Council also began the review of the Capital Projects requested by the Administration including Building and Parks Projects, Equipment Purchases, Stormwater Projects and Waterline improvement projects.
The budget for 2021 shows decreases expected in some funds, however in 2020 Council and the Administration were very conservative in our actions and we had a larger than normal carryover in to 2021 which will allow us to proceed with several capital items and projects that were put on hold in 2020 due to the uncertainty that COVID-19 presented. The Budget process will continue throughout the month of March and there will likely be some updates and changes at that time to the budget and the capital improvements and equipment as Council and myself continue to discuss those items with the Administration.
Thursdays Council meeting saw a continued discussion of the re-building of SKiP Park and current status. Right now the Mayor plans to go out and fundraise as many dollars as he can to build a new playground where the prior playground existed and we currently expect it to be roughly $500,000 to $550,000 for such playground equipment and installation. The goal of Council is to see this playground project move forward and be completed in 2021 as it has been 4 years since the prior playground was removed. We hope to have an update before the budget is complete on the current fundraising efforts related to SKiP.
We updated our Civil Service Commission Rules, these are the rules that create the hiring lists for the police department to give Civil Service Tests which then ranks potential hires. This new change allows for the creation of a separate list that can be used for lateral transfers of police officers from other departments. The lateral transfer list would only be available for use if the original civil service list is exhausted and does not have any more eligible hires that meet the requirements for Stow. This is a good change that gives some other options for hiring of officers, especially as we near the end of a list that has been around for the nearly 2 year period it is typically used for.
Council also approved the purchase of 46 new radios for our Fire Department that will be purchased primarily with grant money that Stow was awarded last year. I continue to be impressed by our Fire Department and their grant writing ability to continue to upgrade equipment for our Department and Firefighters.
I have several pending discussions with the Administration about budget items as well as Council will have several upcoming Finance Committee meetings for budget hearings in the Month of March. The next regular Council Meeting will be on March 11, 2021 after our Public Hearing and Committee meetings scheduled for the evening.