Trenton Council approves appointments, downtown contracts and several capital projects

The Trenton City Council on Dec. 22 approved a slate of appointments, consultant agreements and capital projects, moving forward on downtown programming and routine municipal maintenance.

Mayor (identified in the transcript) asked the council to confirm appointments to restart the Youth Commission and its advisory board; the council approved the list of youth commissioners (Jack Brownlee, Aaron Clark, Jacob Clark, Brooke Cunningham, Ryan Everly, Evan Garrett, Ethan Gilbert, Delaney Hale, Lily Hartnett, Caitlin Hornbeck, Evelyn Rennie, Anthony Sawicki, Cole Scrimenti and John Skinner) and advisory members (Mary DeLong, Ron Direoff, Melanie Elliott, Nick Scott and Andrea Thorne) for terms expiring Jan. 1, 2027. The motion carried with a roll call; Mayor Rezeppa recorded an abstention.

City Controller Miss Cooper presented the fiscal 2027 budget timeline and asked the council to receive the schedule, which outlined departmental packet distribution on Jan. 20, 2026, returns due Feb. 6 and a recommended budget planned for the April 6 council meeting, with final approval anticipated May 18, 2026. Cooper also described a proposed engagement with Plant Moran to provide Investment Tax Credit (ITC) consulting for the city’s solar PV installations and said the city would "engage Plant Moran to provide ITC related services for the city solar PV installations in an amount not to exceed $90,000." The council approved that engagement.

Cooper reported on a 2005 $65,000 advance from the general fund to the Brownfield Redevelopment Authority that had no TIF revenue available to repay it; the Brownfield fund has sufficient resources now to repay the advance. Council authorized repayment of the principal plus 2% interest, for a total payment of $91,000 to the general fund.

The Downtown Development Authority asked the council to approve several downtown initiatives. The council authorized a three‑year Placer AI Civic subscription to produce downtown visitation and demographic analytics (starting at $12,000 in year one and rising to $15,000 by 2028) and approved the Trenton Art Festival budget and a $45,000 contract with Mural People LLC to produce two new murals and projection mapping on existing murals. The DDA also received approval for a six‑month PR partnership with Guru Agency (maximum $36,000) to support event promotion and the Winterfest special events budget of $10,000 for a Jan. 17 event on West Jefferson.

Library staff presented a proposal to replace carpet at the Trenton Veterans Memorial Library (the building is roughly 21,000 square feet); the project includes estimated moving costs of about $42,000 to relocate shelving and materials during installation. Council accepted a proposal from Joe’s Carpet Service, to be funded from the municipal building bond.

DPW Director Mr. Sargent reported that the DPW building roof is about 35 years old with multiple leaks; the council authorized a contract with KJP Roofing and Sheet Metal for $320,000 plus a 10% contingency. Council also approved a $256,268 change order to the JS Vig storage building contract to complete phase two work, including demolition of old bays and construction of a 25-by-60 bulk storage structure.

Council approved authorized disbursements dated Dec. 22, 2025 totaling $2,068,427.33 and accepted a packet of department and commission minutes and reports. Nearly all motions taken during the meeting were recorded as unanimously approved in the transcript; where a roll call was recorded, the clerk read the yes/abstain responses into the record.

The council closed the meeting with holiday remarks and adjourned at 7:36 p.m. The next regular council meeting was announced for Jan. 5, 2026, at 7 p.m.

Votes and formal outcomes recorded in this meeting transcript were limited to motions to receive, place on file, accept contracts and to approve budgets; all such actions recorded in the transcript were approved as described above.