City Council Minutes 2014 10 28 SP

Home Browse Search

City Council Special Meeting Minutes October 28, 2014 Page 9 of 10 acceptable. Public Works Director Kowar explained the proposal was not anything out of the ordinary and other similar underpasses have been installed under railroads. He did not know why the project was pushed back. He explained the person the City was working with fell ill and was in the process of retiring. He stated the City has a new person on board and felt there will be changes. Council member Keany wondered if the flood had any implication of the railroad's decision on the box culverts. Council member Lipton commented that he learned a lot about the budget process, how it is structured and how it works. His goals were to enhance the ending fund balances and percentages of expenditures; to manage the growth of government spending at a local level, to be realistic on what the City can afford, and to take a hard look at the priorities. He felt good about increasing the fund balance. He supported moving the transfers from the Wastewaters Fund to the General Fund. He supported the adjustments to the staff needs, the reduced spending and from his perspective he was satisfied with the budget. He was concerned over the staffing proposals and hoped there would be opportunities to look at those positions in the first and second quarters Mayor Muckle voiced his appreciation for all the citizen involvement, staff's and the City Council's work on the budget. He agreed this is the most important document the City Council approves each year. He stated 80% of the budget brought forward by staff remains unchanged. He stated there are a number of Capital projects in the budget. City Manager Fleming noted there are more than 100 Capital projects each year in the 5 -year Capital Project budget. Mayor Muckle requested an update on the golf course. Parks and Recreation Director Stevens reported there has been a delay with the bridges at the golf course. The crane that is needed to place bridges is currently committed to highway projects, but the work should commence next week. This will connect the trail network with the golf course. All the greens have been seeded and covered. Covers were borrowed from another golf course to cover the practice greens. The turf is growing on all 18 greens. There are still concerns on some of the fairways. The golf course reconstruction is 92% complete. There is an extensive review with Landscapes Unlimited, which includes a walkthrough at the golf course and putting together a punch list of items to be addressed. They are winding down on the construction process and a lot of time will be shifted to the grow -in period, which will continue into the fall, spring and early summer. Mayor Muckle inquired if there were several tee boxes not seeded. Parks and Recreation Director Stevens explained the tee boxes on hole 1 have not been seeded and there is still some work to be done at the driving range. The driving range will also have some synthetic turf, which will enable year -round usage. There are a few areas where seed has to be put down, and some places where more sod has to be put around the tee boxes. He stated overall they are making great progress.