Over $20 million in federal money to improve roads and expand economic development in town may now be making its way back to the city after being paused this spring.

Assistant City Manager Zack Daniel said during Monday night’s City Commission meeting that the city heard good news regarding the project. He said they hope to see a funding agreement in front of the commission in the coming months.

Daniel said city staff met with Federal Highway Administration representatives last week, and they indicated funding should still be secure. There will be some amendments needed to align the application with new federal requirements.

The city plans to use the money to reconstruct a mile of road between 20th and 28th Streets, adding an additional lane and realigning 20th Street. The money was also going to help with traffic for the proposed STAR bond district/sports and entertainment venue, as well as infrastructure and stormwater improvements.

Daniel said city staff will submit the updates this week for review. There isn’t a timeline on how long the federal review will take, but the city hopes to hear within 90 days. After that, the commission would review and approve the grant agreement with the federal government by the end of September.

The city would then be able to spend money on the project that will be eligible for federal reimbursement, Daniel said.

In other business, the city heard last week that it received a Community Development Block Grant from the Department of Commerce for the full amount of $650,000 to make renovations to Pilla Park.

Parks and Rec Director Sally Pennington said this funding is big for the park and also for what it will bring to the entrance of the city in terms of signage, sidewalks and parking.

Pennington said this approval by the City Commission is the formal step in allowing staff to execute the next steps.

Design details will be brought to the commission for approval in the near future, Daniel said.

Daniel said it’s expected that site work will be able to start at the end of this year.

The city is finalizing requests for proposal documents for design services for the park and does not yet have renderings.

A rendering of a starting point design was included in the Parks and Rec master plan after hearing feedback from what the community wanted for the space and to make it complement the rest of the parks.

It includes an improved playground, zipline, veterans memorial garden, shaded seating and hammocks, seating, lighting and city welcome signage.

Also Monday night, the city received its audit report for 2024. Sean Gordon of Gordon CPA briefly took the commission through the report.

Gordon said the city was given the highest and cleanest opinion that can be issued for the city. This unmodified opinion reflects well on the financial and internal control management by city staff throughout the year, he said.

The report found the city had just under $11 million of cash on hand at the end of 2024.

After questions were brought up over the city code related to burning permits, the city approved a new resolution. Fire Chief Justin Lee said at a prior meeting that the city had a code requiring the fire department to inspect all residential fires, including recreational fire pits and cooking fires.

The new resolution allows residents to do such fires without needing an inspection. Residents do still need to get a permit for residential burn piles to dispose of yard waste.

In other business, Peter Grassl with the Charles Robinson chapter of the Sons of the American Resolution presented the city with a certificate for its patriotism. The certificate was awarded due to the city’s flying of the American flag both outside City Hall and on Main Street, Grassl said.

He also said the group would be honoring its ancestors by reading the Declaration of Independence at 11 a.m. July 4 at CPA Park.

The city also approved a new memorandum of understanding with the Convention and Visitors Bureau. The new memorandum will expire in April and will adjust the annual allocation to the CVB to be .75% of the total city sales and use taxes collected in the previous year or $2,500, whichever is greater. It also allows the bureau to be waived of special event permit fees and rental fees.

The city provided $2,500 to the organization in 2024 as stipulated by its agreement, but the city then charged the CVB approximately $2,000 for various permit costs. The new agreement will give the group a higher profit.

The city also approved another resolution related to the reinvestment housing incentive districts within town.

The new resolution will allow for newly annexed areas to also be eligible to use this type of district. New annexations have happened since the commission last approved a resolution similar to this one. The commission would still have to approve each private application for these types of incentives, though, Daniel said.

The possible area for the development of an entertainment district south of K-10 is included in this property, as well as the Livingood property to the south of town.

Daniel continued preliminary discussion on the city’s finances as it begins to think about the 2026 budget.

Daniel shared expenses coming for the rest of this year, as well as some plans in the 2026 budget.

Costs still planned for 2025 include up to $800,000 for water treatment plant design, up to $200,000 for Paschal’s Landing sewer upsizing and $855,662 for mill/overlay in the Shadow Ridge subdivision.

Some of the 2026 costs include compensation adjustments for merit and cost of living raises, $400,000 toward a water treatment plan project and $600,000 to $700,000 in projects for Winchester Substation and land acquisition.

During staff updates, Pennington said Parks and Rec just finished training six new water safety instructors, bringing them to 12 total. They have 65 people signed up for session one of swim lessons. She said about 65 pool parties have already been booked, which means there aren’t many options left.

The department has 28 lifeguards: 11 newly trained and 17 returning, she said. She said they have 320 people participating in softball and baseball and that the program is making progress.

City Clerk Kelly Delay said there are five mobile food vendors in town and 29 solicitors licensed in town. She isn’t sure what the higher solicitor numbers are due to.