Agenda - Council - 08/10/2026 - Laserfiche WebLink

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installations from both the 2027 budget and future capital plans. Remaining capital projects would be funded through a combination of fleet replacement funds, the Capital Equipment Fund, and approximately $1.17 million from the Housing and Redevelopment Authority core fund. She also reviewed the budget worksheet's color -coded categories, explaining that blue items represented contractual or essential operational expenses, red items reflected proposed personnel reclassifications and new positions, and purple items remained under Council consideration. She noted that while the proposed street maintenance position had been removed, market -rate employee compensation adjustments remained included in the proposed budget. Councilmember Specht asked for clarification regarding the proposed purchase of police and fire laptop computers after noticing that only twenty-four units were currently budgeted even though forty-one had originally been requested. Finance Director Lund explained that staff intentionally divided the purchase into two phases to spread replacement costs over two budget cycles rather than replacing every computer simultaneously in the future. Under the current proposal, seventeen laptops would be issued to the Police Department and seven to the Fire Department during 2027, while the remaining seventeen would be requested through the 2028 capital budget. She noted that the Fire Department was also pursuing grant funding to offset part of its purchase. Police Chief Bluml explained that the proposal to assign individual laptops to each police officer originated with a department employee and, after further evaluation, staff determined it would improve efficiency while eliminating numerous duplicate desktop computers. He noted the department's current squad laptops were approximately eight years old and often required 15 to 20 minutes to start, delaying officers at the beginning of their shifts. Under the proposed system, officers would use a single assigned laptop that could move between squad cars, offices, court appearances, and training while remaining connected through docking stations. The department could implement the project over time. He stated that completing the transition at once would simplify implementation if funding became available. Councilmembers discussed restoring funding for the remaining laptops. Finance Director Lund advised that doing so would be paid from the Housing and Redevelopment Authority fund balance and would not increase the proposed 6.13 percent property tax levy. Councilmember Specht commented that replacing computers after eight years appeared reasonable and asked whether completing the transition in a single year would provide a significant operational advantage. Police Chief Bluml responded that the Police Department could make the phased approach work because only thirteen laptops were immediately necessary to equip the department's current patrol fleet. However, he indicated that Information Technology staff would be better positioned to determine whether completing the rollout at one time would simplify installation, training, and long-term management. City Council Work Session / July 28, 2026 Page 4 of 12