Council discusses Cassell migration, payment options and a 4% garbage-contract increase

City officials on June 16 briefed the council on administrative changes intended to centralize services and streamline transactions.

Mayor (S1) said the city will move to Cassell online to eliminate the need for a new server and gain unlimited dashboard logins for departments, which he said will allow staff and council to see fund-level activity and reduce mid-year budget overruns. He said the city received a roughly 20% discount on the service and expects similar or lower costs for payment processing through Cassell.

On payments, S1 described Cassell's ability to host forms and accept card payments with portable card readers that could be used at events (rodeo, fireman's breakfast) and would automatically route receipts to the correct coded accounts; pricing and final integration decisions were still pending.

The mayor also reported the city's garbage contractor notified a 4% increase under contract terms. He asked the council to confirm whether prior action set a fixed customer fee or allowed automatic contract pass-through; the mayor said staff will add the billing/fee treatment to the July agenda for clarification.

Other brief updates: Councilmember (S3) said the state water inspection went well and the library hired a part-time employee; S1 described a fire-department extrication training session that cut the tops off six cars using new equipment.

What happens next: staff will return with pricing details on Cassell payment processing and the council will decide how to treat the garbage-contract increase at its July meeting.