Waterloo finance meeting approves travel, pre-authorizations and budget amendments; staff says fiber project owes roughly $15 million

Members at a Waterloo finance meeting voted unanimously to approve a slate of employee travel requests, multiple pre-authorizations over $2,500 and several departmental budget amendments, and they voted to forward two large bill-payment batches to the full council.

The committee approved travel requests that included Detective Jurkerson to attend the American Association of Police Polygraphists seminar in Lake Tahoe, Nevada (May 4–10, 2025; not to exceed $2,516), Jacob Geller to attend a Shade Tree short course in Iowa (Feb. 19–20, 2025; not to exceed $310) and several other police, maintenance and administration trainings. The motion to approve the travel requests was made and seconded and carried on a voice vote.

The panel also approved a package of pre-authorizations to expend over $2,500. Notable items presented by staff included a $5,381 annual Digicast subscription for the airport, $37,965 to replace sliding entrance doors at the airport terminal, $13,967 for aviation general liability insurance plus a risk management fee, a $60,000 social-media marketing contract for airport service development (to be funded by a $48,000 Iowa DOT air service grant with a $12,000 local…