Commissioners press city over p‑card spending and question $2,399 treadmill purchase

During the budget work study session, a commissioner asked the department to review p‑card spending and identified several line items they described as inappropriate for taxpayer funds, including a $2,399.99 treadmill purchase charged to the water treatment plant and repeated purchases for snacks and lunches.

"It is taxpayers money that's going for this," the unidentified commissioner said, adding that the treadmill purchase and routine snack charges merited closer scrutiny. The commissioner noted roughly 91–92 active p‑cards and urged the commission to seek reductions to help close a projected $207,000 starting deficit for the 2027 budget.

City staff and HR responded that many of the small purchases support onboarding, job fairs and recruitment. Kim Vogel said some snack items are handed out at job‑fair tables and to new hires during onboarding; she said HR fields high volumes of in‑office visits and that those small commodity purchases are sometimes coded to her department's operating supplies. An administrator noted that some equipment in facilities originated as employees' personal items and that the treadmill replaced a worn unit used by staff.

The city manager described p‑card oversight: employees who receive cards sign a policy, receipts are collected and supervisors review monthly; finance audits p‑card use annually. He told the commission that p‑card expenditures for 2025 totaled $966,000 out of roughly $57,000,000 in purchases, representing under 2% of total spend.

Commissioners and staff discussed whether a tighter written policy on allowable p‑card purchases and more explicit rules for cross‑departmental gym access should be created. Staff said they were willing to implement a policy the commission requested and offered to return with clearer documentation on specific questionable charges.