Council approves engineering study, architectural services and revised planning-director salary

The Decatur City Council approved a set of administrative resolutions authorizing preliminary work on multiple city projects and adjusting a personnel offer for the new planning director. The council approved a warrant-analysis engineering proposal from Morrell Engineering to study whether traffic signals are still warranted at Fourth & Johnson and Fourth & Grama (Resolution 25-207). City staff said the study is a routine step to determine if signals are justified and was requested following citizen input about traffic conditions. Council also approved a contract supplement to secure architectural services for the Carrie Matthews building under existing building and code analyses; staff described the contract as a flat-fee augmentation of up to $190,900 to supplement ongoing OMI work and to produce recommendations for rehabilitation under applicable codes. Separately, the council approved Resolution 25-209 to revise the appointment package and move the newly hired planning director, Chad Bowman, up one salary step. City HR staff said the change increases Bowman’s annual pay by less than $3,000 and does not alter his start date. City staff said the signal-warrant study, architectural recommendations and the planning director’s onboarding are preparatory steps: the traffic signal work will produce a warrant analysis that the council can use for future decisions; the Carrie Matthews architectural work will produce building-systems recommendations that could be the basis for later construction bids; and the revised appointment simply finalizes compensation before the new director begins.