Assistant City Manager Kent Johnson, HR staff and IT leadership presented staff and administrative cost centers tied to the proposed 2026 budget.

Board of Fire & Police Commissioners and recruitment: HR explained the professional‑services budget covers polygraph exams, background checks and other candidate processing for police and fire lists. Emily (HR staff) said one active list could include about 180 applicants and that completing both fire and police lists in full could require up to roughly 360 polygraph examinations over the life of those lists. The budget includes a professional‑services placeholder to support that volume. Council members asked whether it would be more efficient to insource polygraph testing; staff said the contracted model matches periodic workload spikes and that a full‑time employee would not be continuously utilized.

Human resources: staff summarized 2025 activity (about 71 recruitments across 323 total employees) and highlighted planned contract negotiations (fire and public works) and ongoing programs (tuition reimbursement expanded to some part‑time employees). The HR department said it will continue to coordinate hiring, onboarding and labor relations for the city and for library staff covered by the city plan.

Information technology: IT staff outlined ongoing initiatives and cost drivers, including a full‑year rollout of Tyler permitting software, a planned utility billing rollout (targeting early January 2026), continued cybersecurity monitoring subscriptions and expansion of municipal fiber to reduce recurring data circuit costs. IT noted a shift from capital purchases to subscription‑based software and an approximately 5% rise in subscription spending driven by Office 365, Tyler, Azure and GIS backup services; IT also plans upgrades to fire station cameras and squad‑car mobile‑data terminals.

Budget implications and timing: staff said some IT capital expenditures will decline in 2026 after completing multiyear projects in 2025, but subscription and maintenance lines will remain elevated. The Board of Fire & Police Commissioners’ polygraph and professional‑services line items are keyed to recruitment cycles; HR and council discussed timing and the legal requirement to process candidate lists. No formal budget decisions were taken at the meeting.

Ending: council members asked for additional detail about fiber schedule, the timing for the utility billing rollout and the possibility of adjusting fleet‑fund contributions; staff committed to circle‑back information where requested.