Finance Committee

FINANCE Tuesday, December 2, 2025 – 6:00 p.m. Council Chambers – Olean Municipal Building Present: Members: Chairman McCall, Vice Chairman Crawford, Alderman Bennion, and Alderman Robinson. Others: Lens Marital, City Clerk, 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 except Aldermen Keary, Forney, and Anastasia, who were excused. 2. Approval of Minutes of the Previous Committee Meeting (Tuesday, November 18, 2025) A motion to approve the minutes of the November 18, 2025 committee meeting was made by Alderman McCall, seconded by Alderman Bennion. Voice vote, ayes all. Motion carried. 3. Unfinished Business a. Capital Funds Mr. Martial explained Capital Fund #230, Levee Reaccreditation, has a balance of $121,001.11 and the project is ongoing. Ms. Taylor noted there will be a report on this project during the next committee meeting night. Mr. Martial explained Capital Fund #231, North Olean Sewer Reconstruction, has a zero dollar balance and can be closed per Mr. Camp. Mr. Marital explained Capital Fund #233, Charter Review Committee, has a balance of $21,764.32 and is an ongoing project. Alderman McCall explained the project is almost complete, but we should wait until it is completely finalized before we close this fund. Mr. Marital explained Capital Fund #234, Bartlett House Roof, has a balance of $44,435, and noted Director Sprague is still working on the RFP. Alderman McCall explained the Council anticipates that this will not begin to cover the funding needed, so we will need to look into the next budget to see what we can do. Mr. Martial explained Capital Fund #235, Ash Tree Removal, has a balance of $48,216.He explained Director Sprague was looking into how many more trees we have left to remove. Alderman Bennion explained this fund was not to be a part of the rebate program and asked about the money that was spent. Mr. Martial explained a homeowner had an ash tree in the right-of-way, and Alderman Bennion explained the purpose of this fund was to remove ash trees in parks and other City-owned places. Alderman Robinson explained clarification is needed as to whether or not right-of-way trees on private property were included in the count of ash trees when this fund was created. Alderman Bennion explained he feels this should have come out of the other tree capital fund that was created to help homeowners with the cost of removal. Alderman Robinson asked that Mr. Martial provide information on this as well as the other tree capital fund, #185, to the Council, as well as what the differences are so the Council can have a better understanding. Alderman McCall asked that Ms. Taylor send the Council the minutes from when the capital fund was created, and Ms. Taylor noted she will work with Director Sprague when he returns to see if trees in the right-of-way such as the one being discussed were included in the original ash tree inventory. Mr. Martial explained Capital Fund #236, Communication Upgrades, has a zero dollar balance. He explained the first phase is done but there will be a second phase. Alderman Robinson explained he feels the fund should be left open to see what the City plans on doing with phase II. Mr. Martial explained Capital Fund #237, Gargoyle Training Facility, has a balance of $16,000. He explained he spoke with Chief Maurouard this morning, and there is still work ongoing. Alderman McCall explained she would like an update on what is left to do. Mr. Martial explained he will need more money than what is here to complete the project. He explained right now the project is being done in-house as employees have time, which is why it is taking so long. Alderman McCall explained the Council should know what the end goal is and what funding is needed when moving into the budget. She asked for an update after the beginning of the year from the Fire Chief. 4. New Referrals for Consideration a. Credit Card Payment Processing Mr. Martial explained he provided the Council a list of monthly charges due to credit card processing through the past year. He explained we used around $75,000 during fiscal year 2024- 2025 just for credit card processing fees. He explained we will be getting new credit card machines because we are switching banks, and he would like to see if when we make this move, if the Council wants to start charging a fee for credit card processing. Alderman Robinson explained he thought we discussed this before, and Alderman Bennion explained at that time the Council has questions about the legality of passing along the charge. Ms. Taylor explained the City Attorney provided an opinion that the City can charge this fee to users, but there needs to be a disclaimer on the bill that there is a higher total charge when paying by credit card so the user is aware they are paying more. Alderman Bennion explained he feels the Council still needs to discuss this with the City Attorney. Alderman McCall asked what percentage the cost is, and explained she understands there are cost to the City so she thinks this is something we should look into. Alderman Robinson explained he would pay the extra percentage for the convenience of using a card. He asked if there is a fee for using a bank draft to pay and Mr. Martial explained that there is not. He explained you can set this up online and there is no fee for that service. Mr. Volz explained when you do that, you do not have the option to choose the date the payment pulls from your checking account, and explained the City processes about $60,000 in these payments each month. Alderman Robinson explained this is where we need all seven members to be present to make a decision. He explained he doesn’t know if this is something that needs to be worked into next year’s budget. He explained right now taxes are paying this fee, and the City can’t operate for free. He explained we should recoup this money in order to function and operate. Alderman Crawford explained he feels the way to do this is to start building it into the next budget. He explained he agrees that this is a cost that the City should pass on to the user, especially since there are other free options to pay and no one is required to pay this cost if they use a free payment option. He explained this is a part of doing business and something that is happening everywhere as people pay bills online, and he thinks we need to consider this in the budget process. Alderman Bennion explained if it is a part of business, he would have thought this would have been built into the water and sewer rates. Alderman McCall explained Mr. Martial should look into what percentage the fees are and to see about working this into the next budget. Alderman Robinson explained he would like to know how many customers will be affected. Alderman McCall explained she would like to follow up in January. b. Buffalo Street Underpass RFP Ms. Taylor explained Mr. Camp recommends the Council award this project to CP Ward in an amount of $162,500. She explained the total cost for the project is around $280,000, while there is a balance in the Capital Fund of $377,408.61. 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 6:35 p.m.