Wagoner council opens preliminary 2025–26 budget talks with parks, public works and public-safety requests

City of Wagoner councilors on April 20 held the first public discussion of the proposed 2025–26 city budget, hearing a range of departmental requests covering parks, public works, police, fire and emergency medical services.

Parks and recreation: Gary Recker told the council the walking trail at Maple Park needs repair; he gave a budget estimate of $67,800 to redo the trail surface and suggested bidding the work. Recker also presented multiple park requests: replacement playground equipment for Dunbar and Maple (quotes pending), fence repair at the Maple Park tennis court (quotes pending), and a Lincoln Park sign and landscaping package. The meeting packet lists the metal sign at Lincoln Park at $2,600 and a combined masonry/landscaping/irrigation total of $16,074 for the Lincoln Park entry.

General government: Rhonda presented a quote to replace carpet in high-traffic public areas (lobby, main hallway, and this meeting room) with commercial vinyl flooring. She described the estimate as roughly "close to $14,000" and said additional quotes would be sought if the council elects to budget the work.

Development services and museum: Jessica proposed moving one part-time museum position to the city office to handle phones and paperwork, increasing that position from roughly 24 hours to 32 hours at a higher hourly rate to reduce backlog in permitting and records. She framed this as a cost-neutral staffing reallocation rather than a new permanent full-time hire.

Police: Chief Haley requested replacement of an eight-year-old copy machine with a leased unit; one quote shown in the packet was a 60-month lease at $203.77 per month. He also reported two servers used for dispatch and department systems are failing; staff presented a server replacement estimate (amount not specified in…