Finance Committee

FINANCE Tuesday, November 18, 2025 – 6:00 p.m. Council Chambers – Olean Municipal Building Present: Members: Chairman McCall, Vice Chairman Crawford, Alderman Bennion, Alderman Keary, Alderman Forney, Alderman Robinson, and Alderman Anastasia . Others: Lens Martial, City Auditor; James Sprague, Director of Public Works; Eric Maurouard, Fire Chief, and Tiffany Taylor, Managerial Confidential Administrative Secretary. 1. Roll Call Alderman McCall called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. and asked that the record show that all committee members were present. 2. Approval of the Minutes of the Previous Committee Meeting (Tuesday, November 4, 2025) A motion to approve the minutes of the November 4, 2025 committee meeting was made by Alderman McCall, seconded by Alderman Anastasia. Voice vote, ayes all. Motion carried. 3. Unfinished Business a. Splash Park Update Director Sprague introduced Branden Riggs, Project Manager with Clark Patterson Lee who has been overseeing this project for us. Mr. Riggs explained the contract was awarded for $409,540 and there are currently about $40,000 in change orders, making the entire current contract value with PV Paving $449,099.25. He explained if we use the full field change allowance $490,000 would be paid. He explained the original estimate for the project was $1,257,128.54 and the next highest bid was for $2,582,900. He explained this project has seen significant savings. Mr. Riggs explained the project is about 90% finished and today the rest of the fence posts were done. He explained on the 21st the rest of the stamped concrete pad will be poured, and the splash pad concrete will be done on the 24th is weather cooperates. He explained the interior plumbing and fixtures should be done with all equipment removed before Christmas or the new year. He explained the next big task is obtaining Department of Health approval and for that we will need to wait for the weather to clear to turn the system on, hopefully in mid or late March. He explained it typically takes one to two months to work out any issues the Department of Health finds, even for larger, more experienced contractors. He explained we are hoping this will be complete and the park will be able to be opened for Memorial Day. Alderman McCall asked if the $40,000 was for one change order and Mr. Riggs explained that was the total for all change orders. Alderman McCall asked if there were any change orders over $25,000 and MR. Riggs advised there were not and change orders were all for smaller increments. Director Sprague explained he will ensure the summary prepared by Mr. Riggs is distributed to the Council. b. East State Street – Change Order Alderman McCall explained this came before the Council previously and the Council asked for some clarification. She explained this is on the agenda next week for approval. Alderman Bennion explained he will support paying the change order as the contractor did the work, but what needs to be discussed is how the change order got to where it is. He explained this is a single change order for $58,000 and the policy states that anything over $25,000 needs to have Council approval. He explained he believes change orders can be done by a Department Head up to $10,000 and by the Mayor up to $25,000, and all change orders are supposed to be placed on the Finance Committee immediately following that to be discussed. He explained none of the change orders for this project have been put on the agenda, and this isn’t the first time something like this has happened with the procurement policy. He explained last year we talked about a contractor putting up lights and it was not competitively bid. He explained we bought five cars and had State bid approval, but when they came in the Council had to find more funds for the purchase and at no point did anyone come back to notify the Council that the cost would be higher. He explained with the change soon in the Mayor’s office, he will be3 working with Alderman McCall to ensure things are not just signed off by the Mayor and Department Heads, but also by the Council President and Finance Committee Chair. He explained he wants to clear this up so this does not happen again. He explained he will support this if they did the work but he wants to prevent this confusion and these issues in the future. Alderman McCall explained we need to be mindful of the aggregate amount of change orders because multiple smaller change orders can add up and become an issue. She explained we need to not go by past precedence and what was done, we need to make changes and clean up internal processes. She explained we need to work with the City Attorney to come up with rapid changes to get back to the Council for review to ensure we are following our own policies and procedures to ensure we don’t have similar instances like this down the road. She noted she appreciates everything Director Sprague puts together so the Council can have a clear understanding. Ms. Taylor noted there is a time crunch to approve this change order to ensure the City is reimbursed grant funding, and explained we want to ensure the Council has all questions about this answered before next week. Alderman Bennion asked if the resolution includes where the funding is coming from, and Director Sprague explained there is already funding built into the project for contingency and change orders like this so no additional funding is needed.  c. Capital Funds Mr. Martial explained Capital Fund #221, Buffalo Street Underpass, was started in May 2022 and has a balance of $377,409. Alderman Robinson asked if that work has been completed and Mr. Marital explained it has not started yet. He explained we recently went out to bid and received responses last week, so the Council will be approving a contractor soon. Alderman Robinson asked if we know why the Council was asked to do this and put the money aside if it was going to take this long, and Ms. Taylor explained this is a project that was previously bid out but had not bidders. Alderman Robinson asked if this is the original amount requested by prior DPW Director Ring, and Alderman Crawford responded that it is. Alderman Robinson asked if this will be enough to complete the project. Director Sprague explained if he recalls correctly, we may hit under this number. He explained he has a scoping meeting with the low bidder on the project and he anticipates having a recommendation for the Council two weeks from today. Alderman Robinson explained he hopes we can get this project done and not need additional funding. Mr. Martial explained Capital Fund #224, Forness Park Lighting, started in September 2022 with $400,000 in grant funding from Cattaraugus County. He explained there is not a balance in the account although there is still some work to be done. Alderman McCall asked if everything has been purchased and Alderman Bennion explained he believes it has been. Alderman McCall asked if the only cost remaining is in-house for City Electricians to complete the project and Director Sprague explained there may be some cost for equipment rental. Mr. Martial explained this has a zero balance and can be closed out. Mr. Martial explained Capital Fund #226, Homeowner Sidewalk Rebate Program, began in May 2023 and has a balance of $27,235.40. Alderman McCall explained she would like to look at the application period and allow more time for residents to apply for this program. She explained she does not think this is utilized as much as it could be. Alderman Bennion explained it was also recently opened up to rentals, and Ms. Taylor noted it was open to rentals that are not owner- occupied, but only residential properties. Alderman McCall explained the Council opened up this program in the hopes that we can continue making changes that are needed, and she would like to revisit when the program opens and closes. Alderman Bennion explained some of the issue is that people have shown interest but have been told there are no funds available. He asked if part of the issue is the workload for our Engineer Mr. Crandall, as his Junior Engineer who is no longer with the City used to do this work. Mr. Martial noted the Junior Engineer position was taken out of the budget and Alderman Bennion asked if Mr. Crandall has too much on his plate. Director Sprague explained that is definitely part of the problem, HE explained part of it is on his desk to be redistributed, but there is no one to distribute it to. Alderman Bennion explained we need to look at a way to get that part done if there is a log jam in the workload. He asked if he isn’t using the program and he gets a permit and replaces his sidewalk, if Mr. Crandall goes out to do an inspection when it is done. Director Sprague explained he feels this topic warrants more discussion because he feels someone needs to look at the sidewalk when it is complete to ensure it meets our engineering standards. He explained he believes they are currently not being inspected when the work is complete. He explained there is an issue in distributing work across the City, and not only in his department, so this is an issue to discuss later. Alderman Robinson explained he wants to discuss this again prior to the budget, especially since we have a balance in this account. Alderman Bennion noted this was previously discussed in City Operations. Mr. Martial explained Capital Fund #227, iWorQ Code Enforcement Software, began in May 2023 and has a balance of $1,375. He explained the project is done, and starting this year they began paying for the annual subscription fee from a Code Enforcement line item. Alderman McCall asked if there is anything this funding needs to be utilized for and Mr. Martial advised there is not. He explained we can close the capital fund and move the funds elsewhere. Alderman Bennion asked Chief Maurouard to provide an update for how iWorQ is working via email to the Council. Alderman McCall suggested moving the funding to IT Upgrades since this was originally for software and the committee agreed. Mr. Marital explained Capital Fund #229, Well Refurbishment, began in May 2023 and has a balance of $45,250. He explained there were three wells to refurbish and two have already been done. Alderman Robinson asked if an email was recently sent regarding the third well and Director Sprague explained this is correct, well M18 Is down. Alderman Robinson explained he hopes to get this one done. Director Sprague explained they are working on that, and are trying to determine if they should repair the stripping tower or remove it and replace it completely. He explained they are trying to determine if the repair costs are worth it or if we are at the point that we should put improved technology into the well. Alderman McCall explained she appreciates Director Sprague looking into this both ways to see which would be better in the long-run. d. Capital Project – Bartlett House Roof Director Sprague explained he has continued gathering information about the Bartlett House Roof. He explained he has finally found all of the past information people have put together and he is getting ready to put this out to bid. He explained he did learn this has never gone out to bid and an RFP was started but never finished. He explained we do have a quote from a local roofing contractor that he has been working off of for the bid, and explained he has the tech specs now for all of the pieces. He explained he has one more question and then he can write the RFP. He explained he would like to put out the RFP in the off season to obtain a contractor who can get started next spring. He explained the quote he has from December 2024 is considerably more money than we have in the line item. He explained once we have bids we can look into the additional funding. 4. New Referrals for Consideration a. Tree Removal Contractor Director Sprague explained we have taken bids for a new tree removal contractor and did the same analysis as was done with the first bids. He explained he tried to place weight on the items that are used the most in the bid, and his recommendation is to award the contract to Scutt Stump Grinding as the bidder we could probably get the most work done with, with the money we have available. 5. Committee Reports None 6. Adjournment A motion to adjourn was made by Alderman McCall, seconded by Alderman Bennion. Voice vote, ayes all. Motion carried. Meeting adjourned at approximately 6:40 p.m.