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<br />Mayor Heineman stated he is supportive of these requested positions since Staff worked on the <br />budget and made cuts to what they thought was not needed for 2026. <br /> <br />Councilmember Riley said that by keeping these Staff positions, they are pushing some of the <br />equipment needs to next or future years. He added that when they add new Staff positions to this, <br />it is also adding to the budget for future years, as they will need to continue to pay for this position. <br /> <br />Councilmember Specht thanked Staff for their hard work to make these cuts from the proposed <br />budget. He asked what the additional Parks Maintenance Worker would be responsible for. <br /> <br />Parks and Assistant Public Works Director Riverblood noted that this role would work at the <br />waterplay area, on new park and trail projects, and to help maintain the increased use of park <br />spaces. He added that the use of the athletic field is also increasing and requires additional <br />maintenance. He explained that with an increase in residents, there was a natural increase in <br />maintenance needs that they needed to keep up with. He noted that when they fall below the proper <br />ratio of Maintenance Workers to residents, one Maintenance Worker for every 1,445 residents, <br />they see a reduction in the quality of maintenance, and the residents notice and express concern. <br /> <br />Councilmember Buscher stated that Staff did exactly what was asked to get the budget to where <br />Council was comfortable, and she is in support of the proposed budget. She noted that if they do <br />not add new Staff positions this year, they would also just be pushing this expense off to later <br />years. She added that she is not supportive of removing the part-time Receptionist position and not <br />having someone at the front desk for residents. <br /> <br />Finance Director Lund noted that the estimated remaining balance in the HRA fund at the end of <br />2026 would be $2,200,000. She noted that if they use this fund to pay the balance of the fire truck <br />and the additional $440,000 to reduce the budget increase, they would then be looking at a balance <br />of $1,500,000 to be applied towards the 2027 capital equipment requests. She added that they will <br />continue to get TIF reimbursements back. <br /> <br />Councilmember Stewart asked if they would be able to get the fund TIF balances that they will <br />have written out, so they can see how much money they can anticipate being available for use. <br /> <br />Mayor Heineman shared that when he first joined the Council, he was confused about a lot of the <br />different funds as well, and he encouraged Councilmember Stewart to set up some time with <br />Finance Director Lund so she could give an explanation of each of these funds and how they work. <br /> <br />Councilmember Specht said he is not a fan of the part-time Communication Specialist role; <br />however, if they do move forward with this role, anticipating the Communications Director to <br />retire in the coming years, and this role would backfill that one, he would not be supportive of also <br />backfilling the part-time role. <br /> <br />Councilmember Riley asked if they would have decided that 7.5% would be a comfortable increase <br />if they had known that they would be able to utilize funds from HRA funds. <br /> <br />City Council Work Session / August 12, 2025 <br />Page 4 of 7 <br /> <br />