We started the evening with a public hearing relating to some changes to our code language regarding group homes to comply with federal law. There are also some terms that will need to be added to our planning code to address some of these changes that will be reviewed by our Planning Commission in the next several months.
In our Roads & Safety Committee there was recognition for retired reserve police captain, Ron King. Captain King retired in 2020 during the pandemic after 41 years of service to our police reserve unit. This is an amazing accomplishment, and the reserve officers play an important part with our police department, especially during large events in the City. Congrats to Captain King!
We also had several resignations in the City which resulted in promotions in both our IS and Finance Departments. Congrats to Sami Wagner who has been promoted Deputy Director of Finance, Income Tax and AJ Chase who has been promoted to Network and Security Administrator. This opened up two positions that were also approved to be filled. There is also an upcoming retirement in the fire department which will result in 2 promotions and the hiring of a new firefighter that was also approved. There was also discussion of the addition of a role proposed in our planning department that was discussed, this item remained in discussion to become part of our 2022 budget planning process. Council wanted to see the overall plan for employee count and potential growth and where our budget is before there is an addition of headcount to our employees. I believe this is the right thing to make sure we have a good understanding of the over all picture and employment needs for 2022. Addition of employees is a serious commitment as it is someone’s livelihood and there should be a secure plan and financial footing before decisions like this are made.
Mr. McIntire also requested approval to draft legislation that would put a moratorium on car washes in the City. Under our new legislative process, Council must have a majority of support prior to time being spent drafting legislation. This will now move to the drafting stage and Mr. McIntire stated he will work with the law department to get the legislation done and back before Council for consideration. This has been a subject of much discussion in our City and I believe after the approval of 4 car washes in as many years makes this the right time to discuss this.
Our Public Improvements Committee discussed the status of our parks master plan, improvements that are pending from the 2020 capital budget, and other items that have not come before Council. Currently we are undergoing a parks master plan process that is review our parks and rec department and resources to better plan the future of our parks and rec programs. There will soon be a survey available to our citizens to get their feedback on what they would like to see in our parks. We also received an updated on several items in our 2020 budget, such as new equipment at Sherwood Acres & Northport Parks and the cart path improvements at Fox Den. The new equipment for the neighborhood parks is starting and initial quotes have been received from one vendor, several more are expected, but the initial quote was very promising according to the administration. A large portion of the cart path at Fox Den was recently replaced, the path has been finalized to the correct size, grading has been completed, and council approved the purchase of new grass seed to be planted.
There was also approval for the initial steps to make stormwater improvements on Silver Springs Drive. This will be a large improvement for several neighborhoods in Ward 2 and I am glad to see this project moving into the design stages for those residents who are affected.
Council also received the initial draft of the 2022 budget on Thursday afternoon just prior to our Council meeting. This will allow our Finance Committee to being budget hearings in the next month and have the budget approved prior to the end of the year. This is a change from how the budget was done this year and which caused delay in several of our large capital purchases and programs going out for bid. Passing of our budget prior to the end of the year will allow us to start on these types of programs and bid requests as soon as the new year starts, instead of waiting until the 2nd quarter.
Council did also vote to support the passage of Issue 3 and Issue 4 that will appear on our November 2nd ballot.
Council will meet next on October 28th with our Committee meetings starting at 5:30 PM with the Council meeting immediately after.