Council received an updated the 2021 road program is underway and that hopefully will have more be completed during a warm snap in the coming week, though it is likely that some portions of the program will not be completed until spring of 2022. The Service Director and Council are both expecting that the 2022 road program will go much smoother and happen earlier in the year with approval of the budget in 2021.
There was initial discussion related to the 2022 budget, including expected shortfall of the court is expected to be between $700,000 to $800,000. In previous years the Court has been able to cover this shortfall with funding from their special project fund, however since COVID the case count has not reached previous pre-COVID levels, it is unclear if they will be able to cover this shortfall for 2021 or 2022. We are expecting the Court to come in for our next Council meeting on Wednesday December 1, 2021.
Council also received this past week initial emails and information related to the Council of Government necessary for the potential regional dispatch. There is a lot of information to review and Council will be inviting the County in to present on the issue and answer any questions once there has been adequate time for Council members to review the information.
The Planning Committee received potential legislation to create more regulations related the keeping of animals within the City from the Planning Commission. This information was rather dense and received no support from Planning Commission. Rather than moving this on to Council we decided that this would be better to send this back to Planning Commission for further discussion and feed back from the public. I believe this is an important discussion that needs plenty of feed back from the public before anything is put in place. I look forward to seeing this work through that process and see what is determined after plenty of time for feedback and discussion.
Council also approved the purchase of five vehicles on Thursday, this replaced 5 of the 7 vehicles approved earlier in the year after the City found out last week that all the vehicles approved from the state bid list were cancelled and those orders would not be fulfilled. These were in a comparable price range and packages as previously approved and Council was glad to hear the administration was able to source vehicles to maintain several of those approved for purchase in 2021.
Council also had a first reading related to the re-zoning of the newly purchased driving range property. I requested this legislation to re-zone this property to align with the zoning of other City owned parks and Fox Den as well. It will be re-zoned to “O” Conservation instead of “R” Residential. This item will require a public hearing that will take place at our first full meeting in January.
Last, but important to note, Council will meet next on Wednesday December 1, 2021 instead of on our previously scheduled date as there was a conflict that the City Center Holiday Light Ceremony had been scheduled the same night as our Council meeting was scheduled. It will now take place on Wednesday, with Committees starting at 5:30 PM and Council to follow.