City administrator summarizes 2025 accomplishments and outlines 2026 priorities

City Administrator/Finance Director Lisa presented a year-in-review covering finance, recreation, community development, public works and short-term priorities for 2026.

She reported the city's transition to cloud-based financial software, completion of three fiscal-year audits with the final audit due in March, and a new fund-balance report to improve fiscal transparency. Recreation programs saw notable participation (several thousand registrants and nearly 15,000 estimated attendees at city events), prompting staff to consider program growth and potential nonresident fee adjustments. Community Development completed a 5-year comprehensive plan update and worked through a time-sensitive area-of-impact agreement with Kootenai County, which staff recorded on Dec. 31.

Public Works highlighted a major public-private partnership to complete the H6 gravity force main and lift station (projects described as roughly $20 million scope) and the purchase of Lakes Highway District buildings to house operations. Staff noted more than 30 projects since 2019 that affect the sewer GIS and modeling and therefore motivated the council's approval of a JUB Engineers GIS update. Street maintenance goals include an objective of roughly 19–20 lane miles of chip sealing per year to keep a 7–10 year maintenance cycle. Lisa also raised forthcoming items and priorities: McIntyre Park master planning, a capitalization update associated with recent infrastructure work, a space-analysis to study staffing/office capacity and potential impact-fee updates tied to master-plan timing.

Council asked clarifying questions about code enforcement numbers, missing street lights replaced on Government Way, and timing for the sewer master plan; staff provided clarifications and agreed to follow up on certain numeric details in the packet materials.