City Council met in special session on July 9, 2026, at 6:00 P.M. in the Council Chambers of City Hall.
Mayor Lester presided:
Councilmembers present:
Jared Andrews
Wyatt Perry
Amy Farris
Dylan Canaday
Gabriel Forsmann
Cody Edwards
City employees present: Public Works Director Mager, Chief Newman, Treasurer Rowland and City Administrator Kennedy.
BUDGET DISCUSSION AND QUESTIONS
City Administrator Kennedy explained the updated information to the Council.
Public Works Director Mager further explained the two proposed capital line projects and why he felt they were important for the upcoming budget. All sewer projects were left in the budget.
The Council looked at the library bathroom and found it dated and discussed whether it should be updated. It was agreed it looks dated and the project was left in the budget.
Wyatt – looks dated but it last forever.
The mayor opened discussion on the fire chief’s request for health insurance. Councilor Andrews disclosed he is the assistant fire chief and volunteer fireman. Councilor Perry stated his father is the chief and he will recuse himself from discussion and voting on salary and benefits. Councilor Forsmann stated he is a volunteer fireman.
Administrator Kennedy reported single only coverage for next fiscal year will be $1,050 medical, dental and vision. Kennedy worked with Attorney Jessup to determine if the council could legally provide insurance to the fire chief. According to state code the city can. Then Kennedy talked to III-A. As long as the city amends their employee handbook to state the fire chief gets coverage, they are ok. Mayor Lester stated he wanted to give it to him but when he looked at the numbers in the budget, he felt the city may run into trouble. Councilor Andrews felt in the near future, the city may need a full-time fire chief based on the workload. Council discussion appeared to be in favor of providing health insurance to the fire chief. To confirm, Lester did a roll call for each Councilor to state if they were in favor of providing health insurance. ROLL CALL: YES: Farris, Andrews, Canaday, Edwards, Forsmann. NO: none. RECUSED: Perry.
There was discussion on changing the property tax funds split between Recreation and Library. Kennedy explained why the library has less investments than recreation and the Council chose to leave the splits as is.
There were business license and mobile vendor permit discussions. This will be added to a future council agenda for discussion.
The meeting adjourned at 7:10 P.M.
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Wes Lester – Mayor
ATTEST:
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Tonya Kennedy – Clerk
