Brainerd City committee extends administrative grant‑filing authority, hires utilities director and approves broker agreement

The Brainerd City Personnel and Finance Committee on Oct. 20 voted to continue staff authority to file time‑sensitive grant applications, approved the hiring of a new public utilities director and authorized a 2026 health‑insurance broker agreement.

City Administrator Nick Broyal said City Council had granted staff authority earlier to administratively apply for grants that are time critical and asked for a six‑month review. "We exercised this authority twice for the traffic safety enforcement grant and the traffic safety officer grant," Broyal said, adding that staff back‑briefed the council after both applications and reported no issues. Committee members moved to continue the policy and instead have the next review in 12 months; the motion carried on a voice vote.

On staffing, the committee approved a conditional offer extended to candidate Paul Sandy for public utilities director. Broyal said the offer includes hiring at step five, a $10,000 signing bonus that must be repaid if Sandy leaves before 24 months, recognition of six years' service for vacation accrual, and a one‑time 40‑hour preload to cover a previously scheduled holiday absence. Broyal said the candidate's start date was set for Nov. 4.

The committee also authorized entering a 2026 service agreement with a broker to support the Better Health collective plan. Broyal told the committee that the broker helped negotiate reduced rates, producing about $150,000 in premium savings for 2026, and that the city's share of the broker fee for 2026 would be $11,000. The committee voted to retain Northwest Partners and approved the service agreement.

Staff notified the committee that HR Director Chris Schuber submitted a retirement notice; staff recommended accepting the resignation, approving an updated HR director job description, and authorizing an internal hiring process to backfill the position. The recorded motion set the effective resignation date as Jan. 24, 2026, and the committee voted to accept the resignation and authorize the backfill process.

All motions described above carried on committee voice votes. The committee adjourned after completing the agenda.