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Hillsboro administration reports staff hires, grants and software upgrades
Summary
Administration department head Danielle Bartle and City Administrator Matt Stiles reported on cross‑training, software conversions (including an AMI upgrade and a BS&A conversion delayed to Oct. 2026), a $750/month reduction in shutoff costs, a new water/wastewater hire, a forest‑service grant for wildland gear, and a KDOT traffic study grant for a daycare location.
Danielle Bartle presented the administration's annual department head report and highlighted several operational changes and upcoming projects.
Bartle said the city changed its convenience-fee model in January and has mostly smoothed that transition. She described moves toward cross-training staff, the adoption of WEX fuel cards that let the city track fuel use by vehicle and driver, and a new requirement that resident applications include lease agreements to prevent people from cycling through accounts to avoid past-due bills. On the utilities front, Bartle said the city streamlined its shutoff process and is now "recouping...750 a month" from reduced in-person letter deliveries.
Bartle outlined planned technology upgrades: an AMI (advanced metering infrastructure) upgrade for utility billing and a multi-step conversion from the current time-and-attendance platform to GWorks and then to BS&A. She said the BS&A conversion has been delayed and is now scheduled for October 2026, and the time-and-attendance migration will go live in late November this year.
City Administrator Matt Stiles reported staffing and project updates. He said the city filled the water and wastewater position with Trevor Ham, who started Oct. 6. Stiles also said the city received a 50/50 forest-service grant to replace wildland firefighting gear (six pairs) and that it secured a KDOT TEEP grant to fund a traffic engineering study for the daycare facility; the study is contracted to JEO and is 100% paid by KDOT.
Stiles also summarized ongoing community partnerships and projects: a strategic-planning launch video and an arts-and-crafts promotional video produced by Malibu Creative, participation in an asset-management training video with Wichita State's environmental finance center, discussions with Taber on shared-use agreements for sports fields, and plans for the Lincoln/Wilson street project (Wilson work expected to finish in November; Lincoln will be scheduled later). He said the utility will take up distributed-generation rule changes at a future meeting to conform with state law.
On consumer-protection issues, Stiles reported a local customer had problems with a sold solar system and the city has helped refer the resident to the attorney general's office and to Senator Marshall's staff for assistance. Stiles cautioned residents to seek city input before signing solar contracts because some installations can be overpromised.
Votes at a glance from the meeting: the council approved the consent agenda (vouchers and minutes), adopted Resolution 2025-13 (KPNF affiliation for future police service), authorized K Camp delegate and alternate appointments, moved the Dec. meeting to Dec. 15, and approved land bank minutes and vouchers.
What's next: staff will proceed with the software conversions and grant implementations, return any required implementation steps to council, and continue negotiations and planning for public-works projects.
