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Council hears Community Services FY26 budget presentation; focus on pool, library, youth services and O'Brien Center
Summary
Community Services staff presented the proposed Fiscal Year 2026 department budget and highlighted operations at Myers Pool, library relocations for air-quality work, a vacant youth interventionist position, the O'Brien Center redevelopment, and a small community garden fund.
City staff presented the Community Services department’s Fiscal Year 2026 budget proposal Monday and responded to council questions about the Myers Pool, library temporary relocation for air-quality work, a vacant youth interventionist position, and capital projects including the O’Brien Center redevelopment.
Ray, Community Services director, walked council through department staffing and line items, noting that roughly 80% of the department’s costs are salaries and benefits and that staffing changes and health insurance elections produced upward pressure in FY26. Ray said the department planned no major new programs, aiming instead to sustain services while the council emphasizes capital and public safety investments.
On aquatic operations, Ray said 2024 attendance rebounded after poor weather in 2023 and that the pool logged about 17,000–18,000 visits in the season. He noted that open-swim day-pass sales are used heavily by nonresidents (about 70% of day passes) while season-pass sales include a higher-than-expected share of nonresidents (about 40%). Ray provided a per-day operational net cost estimate for open swim of roughly $1,600 when staffing and plant costs are included, and said the pool had 90 potential service days in 2024 and closed for seven of them because of weather. He also highlighted that 20 youth passed the facility’s deep-water swim test in 2024.
Library staff reported a strong fiscal 2024: 500 new library cards, in-person visits up over 20%, and substantially more programming and circulation. Ray and staff said work on indoor air-quality at the current library site has required temporary relocation and that the O'Brien Center redevelopment (in partnership with CHT) is moving forward; the meeting packet notes a congressionally directed award of roughly $1 million toward the O’Brien Center project.
Councilors asked about the vacancy for the youth interventionist position, which Ray said has served about 46 youth since FY22 with a typical caseload of five to six youth. Council members and staff discussed coordinating the role with the new district liaison officer (DLO) in the school district; Ray emphasized the youth interventionist is not a law-enforcement position and said the department will hold funding for the role in FY26 while the city and school partners clarify objectives.
Other items noted in the presentation included planned trail design work at Gilbrook, the community garden’s modest $3,000 special-program budget, Rotary Park improvements tied to a Better Places grant, and an RFP for a new pool concession vendor (responses due Feb. 14). Councilors and staff also covered routine budgeting details such as program fee revenue assumptions and the accounting of GovPay convenience fees tied to online customer payments.
No formal council vote was required on the presentation; councilors thanked staff and asked to follow up on several items.
