Latest / WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio / Talk Line: Dixon Mayor Glen Hughes talks 2026 city budget, infrastructure and grants

Transcript

Talk Line: Dixon Mayor Glen Hughes talks 2026 city budget, infrastructure and grants · WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Good morning, Sock Valley. You've joined the Waking crew here
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: on FM ninety five one and AM fourteen sixty w
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: I XN. It's eight sixteen on your Tuesday, March seventeenth morning,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: and that means it's time for talk line. And I'm
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: joined in the booth once again by our good friend
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: and Dixon's own mayor, Glen Hughes. Glenn, how are you.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: I'm doing well. Happy Saint Patty's Day.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Happy Saint Patty's Day, Happy elections day.
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: Yes, primary elections today, So can't forget that one either.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: No, you can't forget that one. You got to get
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: out and exercise your voice. I see you've got your
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: your green on. You're well guarded. I've got my own,
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: my own color of green today.
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: So yeah, I don't know about olive drab, how how
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: well that qualified.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: I'll argue the pitch protection all day today. I do
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: like your pin, though, you've got the proper Paddy Day.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: Green on, I would say, yeah, I think so.
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: Plus I also just a little Irish American kind of
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: across American flag and the Irish flag, so that it's
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: a pin I received with our working with our Castle
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: bar Our sister cities community. So that's just thought that
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: was appropriate for today as well.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: So absolutely absolutely, And speaking of the color green, where
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: it kind of sets us off for where we're gonna
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: start is with the city's budget, right.
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: Oh okay, Yeah, that was a nice lead in.
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: Sometimes I'm smooth w ix and sometimes.
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: Actually, Yeah, there's a lot of what we've been doing
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: in the last couple of months has been budget related.
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: A lot of the activity we've had at the last
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: two council meetings have been budget resolutions, adjustments, moving some
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: money from one area to the other where you know,
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: we haven't spent as much as we thought in this area,
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: we're spending more than we thought in this area. None
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: of it is a matter of new money. We're shifting
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: within what's already approved. So we're fortunate that none of
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: this is risked, you know, having to look for additional funds.
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: We've managed to work within the budgets of each of
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: the departments, and the department leaders are very very good
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: at monitoring their budget lines and being aware and trying
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: to address those issues as we go along. So a
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: lot of it's been in the last couple of months
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: has been trying to get that kind of balanced. When
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: you're setting your budget, you know better than a year
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: before you get to the end, you know it's a
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: little hard. You try, you do your best to project.
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: You know what you're going to spend.
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: You look at the most recent year, you look at
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: the last two, three, four year trend, but obviously you
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: can't pin it right down. So a lot of what
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: we've been doing the last month or two has been
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: trying to kind of get that a little bit more
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: focused and get those monies exactly where they need to be.
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: The other thing is, I think everybody's aware that we've
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: been working on the budget itself for the upcoming twenty
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: six twenty seven year. We've put that as of as
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: of last night, we approved filing the current budget as
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: it stands. There's a couple of loose ends that we're
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: still looking at. We've put placeholders in, but we're pretty
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: much down to where we want to want to be
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: in the budget. So no surprises, uh, no increases from
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: what we were talking about to the public back in
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: uh November early December in terms of of levees, any
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: additional funds going out. We've we've managed to keep things
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: pretty well inside the the scope that we were that
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: we were projecting and and that we're looking at, and
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: the expectations of funds coming from the real estate taxes.
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: This next year.
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: And I mean, it's not an easy thing projecting that
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: far out and hoping that every single dollar is going
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: to go exactly as you wanted, right, I mean, I
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: you know, I save so much back for for gas,
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: electric and food. But I gotta imagine this is a
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: bit more complicated than my simple envelope system.
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah, a little bit, a little bit, but but you know,
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: really the same type of thing. You know, you've got
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: to you've got to break down what you're gonna need
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: for the different departments. You've got to take a look
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: at what your reserves are. You've got to take a
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: look from the general operations to the capital improvements. You've
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: got to anticipate or look at if you have emergency needs,
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: where those funds are coming from. Fortunately, out of the
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: many things that the recovery funds from Rita's debacle, those
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: we've we've got some designations of funds. Those funds are
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: all pretty well spent, but included in there is we've
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: got some emergency and rainy day funds, So that's not
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: something that necessarily is going to impact the general operation
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: or our need to levy additional taxes. But yeah, working
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: with the budgets kind of interesting. But I do really
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: appreciate the fact that our department heads do such a
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: good job of trying to hold the line to evaluating,
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: as I said before, the last year, the previous two, three,
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: four years, to get a handle and then also evaluating
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: what they're hearing in terms of expected increases. So one
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: of the big increases we're looking at as a city
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: is the insurance cost. It's expected to jump substantially this year,
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: so we've had to make adjustments. We've had to make
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: adjustments for that and look at where those funds are
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: coming from. Yeah, it's been not the most interesting as
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: far as the public's concerned. Maybe you know, nothing dramatic happening,
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: no new bridges being built, no major streets being done.
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: A little too cold for that anyways, but it's you know,
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: even the workout gateways kind of slowed down during slows
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: down during the winter, but things continue to progress ahead.
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: And it's even though it's not as glamorous, it is
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: essential to know what our expectations and where we're going
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: with the budget this upcoming year.
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: I mean, and you guys, you keep on your toes,
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: You're able to pivot. It's like you said, some things
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: maybe cost you a little bit more, other things not
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: as much. Somebody finds a new source of money, maybe
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: a new grant or something that's out there, it gives
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: you some more money to play with to make that up.
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: And so to have the news that says, hey, we
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: don't need any more levies or anything else that's going
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: to weigh down on the common taxpayer. I mean, that's
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: good news for everyone. Yes it is, Yes, it is.
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: We you know, we're a tax cap county community, and
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: uh we try and you know we've we've got limitations
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: in the first place, but we try very hard to
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: work well within those those limits of what we can
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: do and understand what our tax structure is. So what's uh,
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: what's our timing for the first half.
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: Well, we got about another five minutes. I think, okay,
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: this is some time to move into city infrastructure.
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: Well, actually let's I'm gonna I'm gonna jump ahead. We
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: were talking about grants because I want to spend a
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: little bit more time on infrastructure, but grants is also
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: something looking into this upcoming year and the projects that
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: we need to work on, grants is also something that
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: we need to there. We're currently a dressing. We've submitted
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: some additional grants for a lot of culvert work that
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: needs to be done. Matt Heckman. I believe one of
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: the meetings when we were it might even have been
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: a budget meeting, was talking about some of the expectations
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: and the infrastructure work that we needed to do. And
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: so we're, you know, as a matter of trying to
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: find the money to address those. We are looking at
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: a grant to work on that. We're looking at an
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: additional grant to address the Bloody Gulch Park. We've got
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: one this past year to get things started on phase
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: one there. We're looking to see how much more we
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: can we can get to extend that or expand that,
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: both in terms of infrastructure work relative to the Gateway
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: to get rid of those detention ponds, the two detention
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: ponds that are up at the Gateway project and make
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: those more viable for development, but also to look at,
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: you know, our best utilization of those farm those funds
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: in terms of our development of the bloody Gulch Park. Again,
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: those opportunities, you know, move the burden away from the
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: real estate taxpayer. Obviously they come, you know, those moneys
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: come either state or federal. In this case, we're looking
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: at at federal dollars. But you know, everybody's got to
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: pay taxes. That's where that's where the state and money
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: the state and federal come from. Our position is, if
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: somebody is going to get it, we'd like it to
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: see it happened here in Dixon and and improve the
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: the life and the the liveability of Dixon and it
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: and uh it's citizens.
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, that's I mean, ideally, that's how you always
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: want these these things to end up when you can,
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: when you can make it possible. What are the what
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: are it kind of like the top goals as far
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: as infrastructure projects for for this year.
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: Okay, you're gonna have to cut me off because I'm
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: liable to I'm liable to get into a whole a
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: whole network of of things. Looking at at infrastructure obviously streets,
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: our general maintenance for this upcoming year, we're looking at
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: almost two point two million. We've generally been keeping in
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: the one and a half to one point eight million
• 11:58
  Speaker 3: the last several years, we're bumping that to two point
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: two because of particular projects we've got, but also looking
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: at the availability of the infrastructure funds that generally comes
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: from a half percent infrastructure tax on sales and the
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: motor fuel tax. In fact, last night we notified the state.
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: It's kind of a process that we have to go
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: through that we were looking to use utilize seven hundred
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: thousand dollars of the motor fuel tax to go toward
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: our infrastructure this coming year. That's well within the range
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: that we're receiving on motor fuel tax, but we have
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: to give the state a notification on that, and we
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: just last night we passed a resolution to address that
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: for notification to the state.
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: Tied out on that. Okay, Department of Revenue. I guess
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: it is.
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: Sure everybody loves sharing that streets gets done. Yeah, so
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: you know what, this will give us a good a
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: good pause. Well we'll pause right here with streets will
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: come back with Dixon Mare Glenn Hughes's top hot list
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: for infrastructure projects and more in the City of Dixon
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: coming your way. Don't go anywhere you're listening to FM
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: ninety five one, fourteen sixty WI accent. Hey their Sock Valley.
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: You're back with the Waking Crew on FM ninety five
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: one and AM fourteen sixty WIXCN and we're back for
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: a more talk line with Dixon's Mayor Glenn Hughes. And
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: when we left, we were talking about everyone's favorite topic
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: when it comes to city, especially infrastructure. It was streets
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: and Glenn, you were kind of sharing the fact that
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: there is, uh, there is plans to do street work.
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: Yeah, as usual, and I talked about how much we've
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: been doing for the last several years, probably since about
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: twenty seventeen. We've actually gotten about forty percent through twenty five.
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: From seventeen through twenty five, we've got about forty percent
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: of the streets redone. So we're continuing on that path.
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: As I said, we're looking at two point two million
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: on general maintenance projects. However, that also includes at least
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: one hundred and possibly up to one hundred and fifty
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: thousand on sidewalks. Last year we were although we have
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: continued to do sidewalks as we could over the years,
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: as of last year we actually put a dedicated amount
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: targeted on sidewalks. And this is in addition to the
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: fifty to fifty split sidewalk program that's been going on
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: for several years, I think since two thousand and seven
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: something like that. I can't remember specifically, but last year
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: we or this current this current fiscal year, we had
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: dedicated one hundred thousand, specifically two sidewalks. This coming year,
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: at least that one hundred thousand, possibly up to one
• 15:35
  Speaker 3: hundred and fifty thousand will be part of that two
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: point two million dollar package. It's also also included in
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: there is a commitment to the crack ceiling. We've tried
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: to get that done as best we could over the
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: last several years, using the city staff to do that.
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: But that's a really dirty job. It's it's hot, it's sticky,
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: it's it's a it's a dirty job and it and
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: it takes some time, and you've got to have multiple
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: people on that project. So this year we're looking in
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: terms of our general maintenance bid, we're looking to include
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: the crack ceiling and see if we can't get some
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: efficiency of scale on that. Rather than taking three or
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: four of our people for an extended period of time
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: to work with the contractor to get that done. That's
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: one we in the infrastructure area, in our public works,
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: we try and do as much as we can within
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: the city parameter. But this may be one just because,
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: like I said, because of the type of work it
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: is and the equipment needed. It may be one that
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: that we may be better, you know, contracting out the
• 17:07
  Speaker 3: bids for the streets, sidewalks and crack seeling probably go
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: out route in the sometime in April and so may June.
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: We'll know what streets are going to get done and
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: we can announce well, we'll make a point of announcing
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: that to the public. Then I mentioned that we try
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: and do as much work as we can with our
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: own staff. In the last in the last five years
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: we have done water main installations. We probably save because
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: of the skill of our people in the city. We
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: probably save ninety to one hundred thousand per city block
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: having our people do the water main installation. With sewer cleaning,
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: we're probably saving about thirty three hundred dollars per city block.
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: Sidewalk installation roughly twenty three thousand per block. Total estimated
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: savings over the last five years was three point eight
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: million dollars.
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: I wish I could get that kind of saving on
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: my homework there.
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's you know, we are really proud of the
• 18:30
  Speaker 3: skills and our ability to do that with our own staff.
• 18:35
  Speaker 3: But it's a huge savings for the public. I think
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: I mentioned approximately forty percent of the streets were resurfaced
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: over the last eight years. In two thousand and seventeen
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: when we went to a specific program on the streets,
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: we had done some internal analysis before that. I think
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: Jeff Cohon was in charge of the streets prior to that,
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: and I know that as councilman he had done a
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: pretty extensive study of the streets, was mapping out. But
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: in twenty seventeen we actually to be as objective as
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: possible about the streets, not somebody thinking that, well, you
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: know this, this got done because so and so knew
• 19:29
  Speaker 3: a council person or a council person lived on the streets.
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: To be as objective as possible, we went to Willet
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: Hoffman to assess assess our streets, and in the twenty
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: seventeen eighteen year we only had eighteen percent of our
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: streets that were considered good to excellent and about nineteen
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: percent that were satisfactory. We had six percent very poor,
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: twenty seven percent poor, and thirty percent fair as of
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: the end of this last year because well Hoffman was
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: out and did and they do an assessment of approximately
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: every two to three years. But last year, with that assessment,
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: we were at forty six percent from up from eighteen
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: percent forty six percent from good to excellent. We were
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: at thirteen percent satisfactory. We were down to one percent
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: very poor, seventeen percent poor, and twenty three percent fair.
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: So we're trying to keep on top of it. We're
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: plugging away, you know, if you if an individual street
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: isn't the one that gets done this year. There's a
• 21:02
  Speaker 3: method to our madness, and we can't get it all
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: done at one time. But we're trying to be as
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: objective as possible, you know, dealing with that. So just
• 21:14
  Speaker 3: kind of an update that wanted to give to the public.
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: I can't I can't take credit for all.
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: The information I have for those who were saw the
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: council meeting last night. This was actually part of a
• 21:31
  Speaker 3: presentation from our incoming public Works Director, Matt Hewitts. So
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: he did a good job of putting this together and
• 21:41
  Speaker 3: I thought it was real important and in a good
• 21:45
  Speaker 3: time to be talking to the general public about, you know,
• 21:48
  Speaker 3: what's been happening with our with our infrastructure the last
• 21:52
  Speaker 3: several years and what we're looking at coming up this
• 21:54
  Speaker 3: next year.
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: Now that's carefully documented, that's transparent. It's as a parent,
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: that's really the kind of report card improvement where I
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: might have given you your video game privileges, but I mean,
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: I mean, but seriously, you made it. You made a
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: great point. I've seen this during my time covering Sterling
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: as reporters that you guys, you there is no way
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: to get every street project, every road one hundred percent
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: in a given year. It requires careful planning, budgeting, working
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: within programs as as you said that you're a part
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: of that, some some of those providing some of that
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: some of that funding, which also stipulates how you have
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: to do certain planning. So it is a very massive
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: jigsaw puzzle for anybody who who isn't getting that reference,
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: go pick up a thousand piece puzzle at the Goodwill.
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: You'll get it after about an hour. Uh, It's it's
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: not as easy as it sounds. It's not as easy
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: as as it looks. But you know, good on you
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: guys for being able to take that and get those
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: improvements up and to have the kind of long term
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: plan that's going to set you up for success the
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: same way that you guys are doing your budgeting and
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: able to sit at stay within the goals that you
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: set for yourself. So that's just terrific news for anybody
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: that's a part of Dixon.
• 23:18
  Speaker 3: We think, so we're we're real, we're real happy with
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: you know, what we've got going, what we've been doing
• 23:25
  Speaker 3: for the community. It may not be enough for some people,
• 23:32
  Speaker 3: but you know, again, it's a it's a matter of
• 23:35
  Speaker 3: working within the constraints that we have, utilizing the tax
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: cap funds that are available to us, and trying to
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: maximize what we can do. And as I said before,
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: we've taken significant advantage of grants and we will can
• 23:54
  Speaker 3: and we will continue to do that to help bring
• 23:59
  Speaker 3: those tax dollars that our citizens paid out to the
• 24:03
  Speaker 3: state or federal government bring them back into this community
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: to enhance this community.
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, And like you said, it is a great point.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: Maybe it's not enough for some folks, and I think
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: there's always some of those folks out there in every community.
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: And as I always say that everyone has an opinion,
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: and if you have one, craft it into an actionable
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: plan that can be a shaable PDF, and make sure
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: to include your research and share it at your next
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: city council meeting. Otherwise leave it to the professionals.
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: Well, the other thing.
• 24:39
  Speaker 3: That I'd like to remind everybody this is this is
• 24:43
  Speaker 3: an open line you. If you have a question about
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: what's happening in the city, please either send it on Facebook.
• 24:53
  Speaker 3: I know Brandon's got a preference for that, or give
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: the give the station a and I am more than
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: happy to try and answer it. If I can't, I
• 25:06
  Speaker 3: will I will look at getting that information. If it
• 25:11
  Speaker 3: tends to be a little specific, I well, when you
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: get off air, you can leave your or you can
• 25:18
  Speaker 3: leave your phone number and I will get back to you.
• 25:21
  Speaker 3: Otherwise I will make sure I will address it at
• 25:24
  Speaker 3: the next talk line.
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: So you go.
• 25:28
  Speaker 3: I am more than happy to try and address the
• 25:32
  Speaker 3: answers of the constituents of this community.
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: So there you go, multiple ways to get your your
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: questions answered. I always encourage people, if you've got an
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: opinion or a question about your city, go to your
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: city council meeting. That is one of the best ways
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: to be able to not only hear the information uphand
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: first person, but every person has There's those moments in
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: every city council meeting whereas a or of the public,
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: you can get up and you can ask questions and
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: address them in a kind and courteous and informed manner.
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: And if there's any you know, way else, what's the
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: best way.
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: To get a hold of you going, just call city Hall.
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: I'm I'm in city Hall pretty much every day at
• 26:19
  Speaker 3: one point or another. I've got some regular hours, But
• 26:27
  Speaker 3: just give a call because if I'm not in, I'll
• 26:30
  Speaker 3: get I'll get back to you. The other thing I
• 26:34
  Speaker 3: was going to say is for those that don't want
• 26:36
  Speaker 3: to take the time or don't have a statement to make.
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: Uh.
• 26:40
  Speaker 3: We also have on Facebook live our council meetings, so
• 26:44
  Speaker 3: you can you can pay close attention to and follow
• 26:49
  Speaker 3: what's happening with the city council on Facebook and the
• 26:54
  Speaker 3: and those council meetings are the first and third Monday
• 26:57
  Speaker 3: of the month, unless there happens to be a holiday
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: on that Monday. But those council meetings are regular, They're
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: at five point thirty and they can be followed. They
• 27:11
  Speaker 3: can be followed online as well.
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: There you go. You can't make it easier. Anything else
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: you want to share this.
• 27:17
  Speaker 3: Morning one, Yeah, we talked about a couple of things,
• 27:23
  Speaker 3: but I'm drawing a blank. What have you got about
• 27:26
  Speaker 3: our notes that I haven't covered already?
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: Well, you kind of went through the list. We started
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: off with our you know, the city's budget. You continued
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: with the utilization of some of the grants that you
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: guys were out there finding, and we spent the rest
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: of the time talking about city infrastructure.
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 27:41
  Speaker 3: The only thing I would add to that, if we've
• 27:45
  Speaker 3: got a minute or two more, is everybody's watching what's
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: happening out at the Gateway project out there toward the interstate.
• 27:56
  Speaker 3: We are continuing to work and have had inquerries and
• 28:01
  Speaker 3: are you know, have had regular communications with different companies
• 28:07
  Speaker 3: who are continuing to take an interest in in the
• 28:13
  Speaker 3: Gateway area, whether it's the formal gateway project on the
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: west side of the twenty six Gleen Avenue, or whether
• 28:24
  Speaker 3: it's that area that we've got on the east side
• 28:27
  Speaker 3: that's still available for development. Things continue to percolate and
• 28:33
  Speaker 3: we're still we're still looking at a lot of different
• 28:37
  Speaker 3: options on there. And are very pleased with the interest
• 28:42
  Speaker 3: that we've had so many companies looking. And then that's
• 28:46
  Speaker 3: not just the retail commercial side, but also out in
• 28:49
  Speaker 3: our industrial park. We have been having a variety of
• 28:53
  Speaker 3: inquiries and we see some real good options for future
• 29:00
  Speaker 3: benching out there in the industrial park as well.
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, things just continue to develop along here in the city,
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: so it's always exciting to see what's going to come next.
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: As me personally, I'm always waiting to see what's going
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: to be my new spot for lunch. So I know,
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: I know it can't all be restaurants, but a man
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: can dream for a few.
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: Anything else.
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: No, I'm good, Glenn, Thank you so much for coming
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: in and sharing all the updates, and we look forward
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: to you to the next one from me, sir, it's
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: my pleasure.
• 29:33
  Speaker 3: You have a happy Saint Patti's Day, and those of
• 29:37
  Speaker 3: you out there in radio Land don't forget its primary
• 29:41
  Speaker 3: election day as well.
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: That's right, get out and vote.