Council considered an application for a new electronic message board sign proposed to be installed at Woodland elementary school. This sign was required to go through our Planning Commission as well, and in that review, it was found that the sign did not meet several of our electronic sign requirements and therefore it was recommended that Council deny the approval of the sign. To overturn this recommendation, it would require 5 votes of Council to approve, however based on the recommendation of Planning Commission the sign was not approved and failed by a vote of 3-3, McIntire, Fiocca, and myself were all no votes.
Lt. Miller from the Police Department attended the Council meeting this evening and wanted to share in advance that the police will be training at the high school on two upcoming Saturdays, November 5th and November 12th. While no one wants to consider a need for this training, it is good to know our Police Department stays current on such training and makes sure all our officers are trained as necessary. This advance notice also lets our community know if they see an increased police presence at the high school those days it is just a training exercise and nothing to be concerned about.
Council approved a software upgrade for the financial software used in our City to be implemented over the next 12-18 months. This software will improve many internal processes within the City to make them automated instead of manual processes. It will also create a new online interface for our water billing system that will be more user-friendly to our citizens. The implementation timeline includes multiple phases of testing to ensure this transition is a smooth one for our water customers.
At the request of Mr. McIntire and myself, the Administration also provided an update on the upgrade of our City website and the implementation of a City-wide notification and emergency alert system. This process has bene underway for several months and is a much-needed item for both the website and alert system. This system is in the final stages of implementation and training users. It is expected to go live in early October 2022 and will be reviewed in October to work out any issues or problems with the system.
In 2016 City Council approved an increase in our Stormwater fee to perform additional stormwater projects throughout the City to improve overall stormwater management. There was also a project list included in the initial 2016 plan, which the City Engineering department. The 2016 legislation also stated there should be a 5-year review of the plans/costs. There has been an increase in projects related to this fund, but it was determined that the current rates and funds is adequate for the project needs in the City.
Council will have a Committee of the Whole meeting next Thursday September 29th to review the proposal received regarding updates to our Zoning Code in the City. Our next regularly scheduled meeting night will be Thursday October 13th with Committee times to be announced closer to the meeting date.