Collegedale commissioners approve annual budget, interim tax ordinance and multiple contracts; several project approvals unanimous

The Collegedale Board of Commissioners on June 2 adopted its fiscal year 2025–26 budget, approved an interim general revenue ordinance and took votes on a series of contracts and project authorizations, including an emergency repair for Camp Road and a memorandum of understanding to obtain digital forensics access for police investigations.

The most consequential formal action was adoption of Ordinance 11-58, the city’s annual budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2025, which passed on a roll call vote recorded as Yes: Commissioner Baker; Yes: Commissioner House; Yes: Commissioner Johnson; Yes: Vice Mayor Sadler. Commissioners also approved Ordinance 11-59, a temporary general revenue (tax) ordinance setting an interim tax rate pending Hamilton County’s certified rate, by the same roll call.

Other approved items included: - Ordinance 11-160, an amendment to the fiscal 2024–25 budget to reconcile end-of-year expenses and several large expenditures (approved by roll call). - Authorization to retain Red Bank City Attorney Arnold Stultz to represent the city in contract negotiations related to the city manager (approved by roll call). - Declaration of an emergency and authorization to proceed with Camp Road emergency repairs using a time-and-materials approach; the commission directed staff to return with a final cost after completion (approved by roll call). - Acceptance of a single bid for the 2024–25 paving project (approximate total noted by staff at about $1.08 million); the commission approved proceeding with the single-bid contract and staggered billing across fiscal years (approved by roll call). - Approval of a land-lease agreement for the July 3 freedom festival with the same terms as prior years (approved by roll call). - Approval of a memorandum of understanding with a vendor to supply one year of access to phone-extraction “gray key” services to the Collegedale Police Department (approved by roll call). - Approval of Sky Boss project administration services for a state-funded grant; staff said the local match for the grant was already budgeted and the administrative fee is $38,700, 90% of which will be reimbursed by the state. On that item Vice Mayor Sadler voted No; the other commissioners voted Yes.

Several consent and routine items were also approved, including minutes for the May 19 commission meeting and the May 27 workshop meeting.

The commission did not take executive-session action on any of the above items; staff and commissioners discussed logistics for several of the projects and asked staff to return with final contract amounts and schedule details where appropriate.