Minutes - Council Work Session - 08/12/2025

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City Administrator Hagen said it would have to be unanimous among all Councilmembers. He noted that they will need all Councilmembers present on September 23 when this item will be on the agenda for adoption. The consensus of the Council was to direct Staff to bring these Charter changes back for a Public Hearing prior to adoption. 2.02: Continued Review of Preliminary 2026 General Fund Budget/Levy Finance Director Lund continued the review of the preliminary 2026 general fund budget and levy. She shared that the Staff has reviewed their requests and only left in what they feel is a need for 2026. City Administrator Hagen shared that Staff met and discussed how they could get to the 7.5% increase that the Council was requesting. He noted they removed the request for the Seasonal Building Maintenance worker, the Parks and Recreation Volunteer Assistant, and the Police Officer/Investigator role. He said they would like to bring on a part-time Evidence Tech role instead of an additional Police Officer or Investigator. He reviewed the other reductions that Staff were able to make from the proposed budget. Finance Director Lund explained that they will be putting an interfund resolution coming forward since it was passed at the legislature to roll the HRA funds from TIF improvements into other areas. Councilmember Buscher asked if the funds from where the original improvement costs came from are the funds that the TIF paybacks will go to. Finance Director Lund said yes. City Administrator Hagen added that the HRA fund is City money available for City expenditures due to other obligations in the COR district getting paid off. Councilmember Olson asked if using MSA funds would take from other road projects. City Administrator Hagen said no and explained that they have to designate MSA roads, and the State will send them money to do road maintenance projects on these roads. He continued his review of the reductions the Staff identified. He shared that one of their City Hall Receptionists has turned in their notice to retire, and while reevaluating the role, they are not sure if there is a need to replace this role. Councilmember Specht asked if not replacing this role would have an impact on early voting. City Administrator Hagen noted that the Receptionist roles help a lot with early voting; however, they could solve this by bringing in the Election Judges for a few additional days to help with this workload. He said that Staff feel strongly that they would be able to absorb all of the duties of the City Council Work Session / August 12, 2025 Page 2 of 7