City presenter Adam Pappas told the Gunter City Council that staff are preparing a set of operational items for upcoming council action, including a streets project, contract-based animal control and code-enforcement services, and negotiations for a school-parcel parking site.

Pappas said the woods driveway-transition project — work to smooth transitions between concrete driveways and the asphalt road — is ready to be released for bid and that staff proposed placing the item on the Jan. 19 council agenda; he warned that inspections or holidays could delay the schedule by more than 30 days. "We are ready to release that for bid ... we have a proposed schedule that will put it on the January 19 council meeting," he said.

On animal control and code enforcement, Pappas said the city pursued a multi-city approach since August, and after one contractor fell through the city is moving forward with contractual (not full-time) services; contracts have been sent to staff for review and the item was anticipated for the Dec. 19 agenda with a potential Jan. 1 start. "What we're looking like what we'll do is we will have both animal control and code enforcement that is contractual," he said.

Pappas also said the school board authorized Superintendent Martell to negotiate with the city on a parcel behind the school and playground to serve as a future parking lot for the park and downtown development; Pappas said he had identified the parcel as necessary when he first arrived but did not provide a timeline for completion.

Why it matters: the driveway project affects local traffic and park access; contracting animal control and code enforcement changes how enforcement will be delivered and may affect response times and resident interactions; acquiring a parking parcel could support downtown development and park use but requires a negotiated agreement with the school board.

Next steps: staff expect to place the driveway bid schedule and the animal-control/code-enforcement contract on upcoming agendas (Dec. 19 and Jan. 19 were cited as target dates), and the superintendent's negotiations will determine next steps on the parking parcel.