Pryor Creek council moves $150,000 into CD for future fire equipment, approves purchase of rescue training dummy

The Pryor Creek City Council approved two actions related to fire-department equipment financing and training and heard a financial update from the mayor at its meeting.

The council voted to allow the city treasurer to transfer $150,000 from the fire department capital outlay account (444455422) into a certificate of deposit to help fund future fire-equipment purchases. The council later accepted a bid from NAP NAPCO in the amount of $3,399 to purchase a rescue training dummy, to be paid from the same capital outlay account. Both measures were approved after motions were made and seconded and recorded votes were taken.

Why it matters: The transfer formalizes a city plan to reserve capital for future fire apparatus and equipment replacements, and the purchased training dummy updates a decades-old mannequin used for search-and-rescue drills.

During the meeting the mayor delivered a revenue and budget update and asked departments to curb discretionary spending as the fiscal year closes. "Numbers came in for this month, $874,003.16," the mayor said, and reported that, on a separate tally, "we're at $992,076.54 for last month," figures the mayor used to characterize near-term trends in sales-tax receipts. The mayor also warned council members not to be alarmed by a display error in the city financial software that doubled budgeted totals on paper; staff said the doubling affects only the displayed budgeted amounts and not actual expenditures.

Fire Chief Young described the transfer as part of a long-standing practice of setting aside funds for truck replacement. "We do this with the money we set aside for the fire truck reserve," Chief Young said, adding that the city buys trucks outright rather than leasing them. The chief said the reserve is intended to smooth the cost when apparatus need replacement.

On the rescue dummy purchase, Chief Young said the department's current training mannequin dates to about 2012–13 and is heavily worn. The new dummy includes programmable responses and monitoring features the chief said will improve training realism. Two other bids were listed in the meeting record: Western ($3,568) and Benjie's Fire ($3,657.85). The council accepted the lowest responsive bid, $3,399 from NAP NAPCO, to be paid from account 444455422.

Staff reported two operational items: a software/display glitch in the city financial system (referred to in meeting notes as "Casal/Cassell/Casselsoft" inconsistently in the record) that doubled budgeted amounts on the printed reports, and an ongoing payroll platform transition to Paylocity. The mayor said staff targeted an initial Paylocity go-live and data extraction and that the rollout timeline was being paced to ensure accuracy. The mayor recommended that hiring actions be deferred at least until July to limit new expenditures while revenues are monitored.

Votes at a glance

- Transfer $150,000 from fire department capital outlay account 444455422 into a certificate of deposit for future fire equipment: motion made and seconded; recorded votes in the meeting transcript include Tremont: yes; Shawshanks/Shawtshire: yes; Laurie Bradshaw: yes. Outcome: approved.

- Accept bid from NAP NAPCO for a rescue training dummy for $3,399, to be paid from account 444455422 (other bids: Western $3,568; Benjie's Fire $3,657.85): motion made and seconded; recorded votes include Shawtshire/Shawshanks: yes; Laurie Bradshaw: yes; other recorded affirmations. Outcome: approved.

Other business

The council approved the minutes of the March 11, 2025, meeting earlier in the session. The meeting concluded with a motion to adjourn and a roll call in which the presiding officer declared the meeting adjourned.

The council discussion distinguished between (1) formal actions taken today (the two approvals above and minutes approval), (2) staff directions and implementation work (city treasurer to make the transfer; finance and payroll staff to resolve the budget display glitch and continue Paylocity implementation), and (3) discussion and context (mayor's revenue update and recommendation to slow hiring and spending). No additional conditions or amendments to the motions were recorded in the meeting transcript.