City Council Wrap Up – Sep. 2, 2025

-Topics-

Work Session
City Council

-Work Session-

Attendance

Present: Mayor Slack, Councilors Barrientos, Blosser, Fitzgerald, Holsapple, Jantz, Schilling, Shein, and Spivey.

Absent: Council President Briggs

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Finance Department Annual Report

The Finance Department and Municipal Court annual update was presented to the Council by Cecilia Ward, the Finance Director for the city. Ward began by sharing the staffing of the department sit at 6 1/2 full time employees (the 1/2 represents a part time employee).

A Procurement Specialist was added to the team last year. Ward said this position has benefited the city. For example, when any purchase is made over $10,000 a purchase order is required to follow state law. A buy decision form also needs to be included which details how the items were actually purchased. If any changes are made to any part of the purchase order, a change order form is also needed.

All departments used to handle these orders and forms independently. Now the Procurement Specialist is the central source to track these items. Each Department head approves their purchase orders, and then the City Manager gives a 2nd approval. All of those orders and approvals are collected & tracked by the Procurement Specialist.

Let’s talk numbers
- Purchases in 2024-2025 FY
  - $13,500,000 – total of all orders
  - 111 Purchase orders
    - 83 completed
    - 19 carry-overs from another year
    - 9 voided
  - 105 total change orders

Councilor Shein asked if this process is a city requirement or state. Ward confirmed both. This creates a complete paper trail of purchases.

Ward also shared the city has 1,200 capital assets (property, plant, and equipment). In 2024-2025 FY, 38 assets were added.

Did you know? Over the last 5 years, there has been a 10% increase in water customers.

Ward highlighted the digitizing of the city bulk water station. The new system has been paid off in just 2 years due to the increased usage ($22,000 in 2023-2024 and $25,000 in 2024-2025). The new system was purchased with money from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.

Councilor Schilling noted the savings in staff time being freed by the digital system. Ward agreed, a lot of time has been saved.

Dallas Garage Sales
- Aug 2023 = 80
- Aug 2024 = 100
- Aug 2025 – 87

Pointing to accomplishments, Ward noted the annual audit was submitted on time, and funding was secured for the new Public Works Building.

There is a new accounting regulation which will require the budget to show the liability for city staff’s future paid sick leave and time off not taken. However the city needs to estimate those numbers for the full life of the employee. Ward shared training and discussions are ongoing to meet this new regulation.

Councilor Fitzgerald asked why this new regulation was in place. Ward shared the Government Accounting Standard Board (GASB) sets regulations. All public entities have to follow those rules. It is supposed to make the numbers more transparent for the public to see.

Councilor Shein joked that the public stays up late reading city financial budgets.

Councilor Spivey asked why the city is depreciating capital assets. Ward clarified assets under the Enterprise Funds are depreciated. The Enterprise fund is considered business funds, and therefore must be depreciated.

Councilor Barrientos asked for a follow up on the employee who is the only court administrator in the department. What happens when this employee goes on vacation? Ward admitted there is not someone who is 100% trained to cover. The employee has not taken much vacation over the years so it hasn’t been a big issue.

Switching to purchase orders, Barrientos asked if there are known issues with people trying to avoid the $10,000 limit for documentation. Ward said a few in the past but with the new specialist those things can now be monitored.

Councilor Shein asked who the part time employee is. Ward shared it is the Customer Service Clerk. Regarding the new accounting regulation, Shein asked how they asses a time frame for future employment? Ward said there have been some trainings and templates shared for averages that the city will use.

Councilor Hosapple inquired if there is a threshold for number of change orders on 1 project. Would too many changes flag the whole project for review? The City Manager noted construction projects generally use change orders the most. The city uses that contractor history when selecting for future projects. Change orders also require justifications so the city can judge whether to approve or not.

Councilor Schilling wondered what the limit is when the City Council needs to be involved. City Manager Latta confirmed for purchases, anything over $150,000 needs to be approved by the Council.

Councilor Jantz asked to clarify under the new accounting regulation, used Paid Time Off (PTO) doesn’t count for the liability, only unused PTO. Ward confirmed, vacation not taken in the future will have to be guessed. Councilor Shein and Ward noted there is a maximum number of vacation days which could be used to estimate numbers.

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City Manager’s Office Annual Report

The City Manager’s Office annual update was presented to the Council by the City Manager, Brian Latta. City records, human resources, as well as planning and implementing the Council’s policies are just some of the things the City Manager’s office does.

Noting last years federal budget not being passed, 2 projects from last year are now marked for this years federal budget, if it passes. The La Creole sewer project and James Howe water tank would be funded through grants in the federal budget.

The city completed transferring historical records to the state’s digital archive. This includes City Council meeting minutes dating back to 1874, ordinances also back to 1874, and resolutions dating back to 1901. The city will have access to these records online, and the storage cost is free. 4,000 documents will be stored indefinitely for the city.

City Manager Latta acknowledged several promotions were made to fill key roles across the city and noted that city staff shined even against external applicants.

Public outreach has been made using social media, newsletters, 5 opens houses, and mailing out an activities guide to all residents for the 2nd year. The city also just launched their new podcast: Dallas, Oregon Podcast.

Other items of note:
- Improved on-boarding system for new employees
- Police building
  - working on getting a value engineering report
  - maybe on the Spring 2026 ballot
- Community survey will be done this year
  - last survey done 2 years ago
    - will help track changes and mark progress over time
- Will begin work on 2050 Community Vision
  - to replace the 2030 Community Vision

Councilor Barrientos asked for clarification on the organizational chart and the relationship it shows between the City Council and City Manager’s Office. The City Manager explained that it is a horizontal chart, instead of the more common vertical chart, but still shows the correct relationship.

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-City Council-

Attendance

Present: Mayor Slack, Councilors Barrientos, Blosser, Fitzgerald, Holsapple, Jantz, Schilling, Shein, and Spivey.

Absent: Council President Briggs

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Introductions, Recognitions, Proclamations

None.

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Public Comment

President of the Friends of the Dallas Aquatic Center (FDAC)
- Shared how free passes work
  - Passes given to organizations to give away
  - Every 6 months, FDAC pays for the passes that were used at the pool
    - Recently paid a $770 bill for passes redeemed
    - Noted not all passes given away are used
      - If all were used, there would be a tightening of their budget
- Currently fundraising
- All lighting will be replaced
  - Working on a video showing the before and after of the lights
- Read a letter from a patron
- Raised $2,000 since beginning of Aug.

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The consent agenda is used to pass procedural items. Any Councilor can pull an item from the consent agenda to discuss.

What’s on the consent agenda?

Approve the August 18, 2025 City Council Meeting Minutes
Johnny Limbo Proclamation

What happened? This was approved unanimously.

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Mayor and council Reports

None.

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City Manager report

None.

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Ordinances

Ordinance No. 1912 – Amending Development Code relating to recreational vehicle parks in conjunction with a golf course

This will change the city code to allow an RV Park in a Parks and Open Space zone.

Want more information? The last Wrap Up has all the details.

What happened? The 1st reading of the ordinance passed. It will come before the Council for a 2nd reading on Sep. 15, 2025 and then vote for adoption. If approved it will become effective on Oct. 15, 2025.

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Ordinance No. 1913 – 415 Hawthorne Avenue annexation and zoning

This ordinance is to annex and zone the property at 415 Hawthorne Avenue. Previously, the Council chose to approve a zone of Residential Medium Density instead of the property owner’s request of Residential High Density.

Want more information? Get all the details on this topic from the last Wrap Up.

*Map showing the property to be annexed*, from a previous agenda.

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Ordinance No. 1914 – 11875 Orrs Corner Road annexation and zoning

In the last item for the meeting, the Council had their 1st reading of the ordinance to annex the Dallas Golf Club (11875 Orrs Corner Road) into the city and zone it as Parks and Open Space.