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Public services and economic development ask for staff, equipment and due‑diligence funds
Summary
Public services requested engineers, inspectors, solid‑waste staff, SCADA redundancy and equipment for winter maintenance and pavement marking; Economic Development asked for due diligence funds to act quickly on acquisition and tax‑increment financing opportunities.
Public Services Administrator Jordan Roberts and Economic Development Director Joe Giant presented complementary requests to increase city capacity for capital projects, site assessment and economic responsiveness.
Roberts outlined personnel requests (two private development engineers, a capital projects engineer, a construction inspector), and investments to bring handwork pavement marking in house, upgrade traffic‑signal video infrastructure, expand testing for emerging contaminants and add winter maintenance equipment to service a growing protected bike lane network. He noted a single‑analyst dependency monitoring SCADA at the wastewater treatment plant identified as a security and operational risk and proposed mitigation staffing.
Giant said economic development will remain downtown at City Hall and requested modest funds for due diligence and site assessment (topographic surveys, geotech, appraisals, environmental reviews) so the city can respond quickly to opportunities like 415 West Washington and Brownfield proposals. He argued that small upfront due‑diligence investments can yield outsized tax‑base returns and strengthen negotiating positions.
Roberts also previewed plans to bring a renewal of the street, bridge and sidewalk millages to the ballot this spring; amounts and language will be provided later.
