Bettendorf Council unanimously approves drainage, lift-station changes; hears FY25 audit clarification

The Bettendorf City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved an amended contract for the 33rd Street drainage improvements and a final change order for the Spencer Creek lift station, and adopted a consent agenda, the council announced at its Dec. 16 meeting.

The meeting also included a briefing on the city's FY25 audit, during which Finance Director Jason Shatt said the audit "accurately represents the financial activities and the strong financial position of the city as of June 30." Shatt told the council that some departments had been summarized under different state chart-of-accounts functions (for example, certain building inspection activity was recorded under public safety at the state level), and that several capital expenditures were rolled into operating summaries, which made year-over-year charts appear misleading until corrected.

"I think we completed a a really strong year in FY25, and the audit accurately represents the financial activities and the strong financial position of the city as of June 30," Shatt said.

Council member Jaeger flagged a chart presented earlier that "seemed to indicate a $10,000,000 increase in expenditures over two fiscal years." Jaeger said the corrected chart shows a much smaller change and thanked staff for the correction: "The corrected chart shows that it's really more like 1000000 enough million 4 over 2 fiscal years," he said (transcript phrasing).

On the consent agenda, council members voted without requesting separate discussion. The council then took up formal resolutions:

- A resolution approving an amended contract agreement for the 33rd Street drainage improvements project was introduced by Council member Sechser, moved and seconded, and carried in a roll-call vote with recorded ayes by Baden, Palczynski, Adamson, Jaeger, Brown, Flaherty and Sechser.

- A resolution approving a final change order for the Spencer Creek lift station improvements (bid package No. 1) was introduced by Council member Jaeger, moved and seconded, and carried in a unanimous roll-call vote.

The council took a moment of ceremonial recognition earlier in the meeting: the mayor acknowledged Erin Cruz and her mother, Stacy Cruz, as "mayor for the day" recipients from a Cancer Support Community Iowa and Northwest Illinois Gilda's Club fundraiser, and formally recognized longtime council member and police veteran Greg Adamson on his retirement. Adamson served in the Bettendorf Police Department for 31 years, retired with the rank of captain and as operations division commander, and served as a fourth-ward council member since 2010; his wife Sandra addressed the council.

Council also recognized the volunteer leaders of the "Yes to Public Safety" campaign — Anne Kapler, Jim Spellhaug and Pat Eikenberry — and the mayor noted the police-station ballot measure earned 74% of the vote, exceeding the 60% threshold cited at the meeting.

The meeting concluded after brief member remarks about ward succession and appreciation for colleagues; a motion to adjourn was moved, seconded and the council adjourned.