Name: Bellingham City Council - Parks and Recreation Committee meeting, Jan 26, 2026
Start: 2026-01-26
End: 2026-01-26
Location: City of Bellingham

City Council - Parks and Recreation Committee

Mon, January 26, 2026

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City Council Parks and Recreation Committee — January 26, 2026

This was a brief committee meeting chaired by Council Member Skip Williams (Ward 4), with Council Members Dan Hammill and Jace Cotton also present. The sole agenda item was a proposed resolution to increase golf course green fees above the previously authorized annual cap.

Resolution Establishing 2026 Golf Course Fee Schedule

Parks and Recreation Director Nicole Oliver and Park Operations Manager Steve Janashesky presented a proposal to raise green fees at Lake Padden Golf Course by approximately 5% for 2026 — two percentage points above the 3% cumulative annual increase that staff can approve without council action. Mike Fosnik of Premier Turf (the contracted management company) also presented comparative data and revenue projections.

Why the higher increase? Staff cited state-mandated minimum wage increases, rising utility rates, inflation in fuel and equipment parts, and pressure on salaried positions. The course's four core salaried employees — a superintendent, mechanic, food and beverage director, and general manager — have seen their compensation budgets rise faster than the 3% fee cap can offset. This was the first year the course's payroll came in at budget rather than under it, signaling a tipping point. The 5% increase is expected to generate an additional $100,000 per year in revenue.

Financial context: The golf course operates as an enterprise fund with roughly $2.4 million in projected 2025 revenue against approximately $2.39 million in expenditures — meaning it runs close to break-even and is expected to remain self-supporting. Revenue has grown by roughly $1 million since 2020. Rounds played jumped from 39,000 in 2024 to 44,000 in 2025, aided by a favorable weather year. The course also collects a $6-per-round water conservation capital reinvestment surcharge (added in stages since 2023), which has accumulated $253,000 toward eventual irrigation system replacement.

Rate comparisons: Even after the 5% increase, Lake Padden's green fees — approximately $48 for 18 holes including the surcharge — would remain the lowest among comparable golf courses in Whatcom County. The Parks and Recreation Advisory Board approved the increase in November 2025 with the recommendation that junior rates not be raised, and that recommendation is reflected in the proposal.

Council discussion: Council Member Hammill asked about disc golf integration (described as a community benefit but not a significant revenue driver), visitor origin tracking (roughly 83% of 2025 visitors came from Whatcom or Skagit County, per Placer AI data), and the long-term funding plan for irrigation system replacement. Staff acknowledged the aging underground irrigation system is a priority but could not commit to a specific funding timeline beyond continuing to build up the enterprise fund. Hammill expressed strong support for the idea of better integrating the park's mountain biking community and trail users into the golf course's food and beverage offerings, calling the pro shop and restaurant "a gem" that many residents may not know exists.

Council Member Cotton asked about demand elasticity — at what price point golfers stop coming. Fosnik pointed to Premier's experience at Seattle courses (which have implemented 4–6% annual increases) and argued that keeping Lake Padden at the lowest price point in the county provides a buffer. He also noted that rental equipment rates would not increase this year.

A notable new revenue initiative was highlighted: the course plans to install Trackman driving range ball-tracking technology, which would be the only such system in Whatcom County. Similar "Top Tracer" technology at Premier-managed Seattle courses generated $668,000 in add-on revenue. Staff anticipate this will draw golfers and non-golfers from a wider geographic radius and complement food and beverage improvements aimed at the broader park-going community.

Vote: Council Member Hammill moved to approve; Council Member Williams called for a second (implied by the unanimous voice vote). The motion carried unanimously (3–0 among committee members present). The item was referred to the full Council for action at the evening's regular meeting.

Key Takeaways

Green fees at Lake Padden will rise ~5% in 2026, the first increase to exceed the previously approved 3% cap, driven by rising labor costs and inflation. Junior rates are not increasing.

The fee increase is expected to generate an additional $100,000 annually, keeping the golf course enterprise fund self-sustaining. Even after the increase, Lake Padden remains the lowest-priced golf in Whatcom County.

Trackman driving range technology is coming, which staff expect to significantly expand the course's reach and revenue — and could attract non-golfers for the first time as a regular audience.

Irrigation system replacement is a looming capital need: the $6 surcharge is building a reserve, but no firm funding plan or timeline for the full replacement was presented.

A broader "destination" vision is emerging for the course — integrating mountain bikers, park users, and the food and beverage operation into a community gathering space, which staff and committee members expressed enthusiasm for.

AI-generated summary from voice-to-text transcript. Not the official record. Verify important details with the source documents linked above.

What happened at this meeting

A resolution establishing fees for the use of the City Parks and Recreation golf course

# Summary: City Parks and Recreation Golf Course Fee Resolution

Parks and Recreation staff presented a resolution to establish a 5% green fee increase (exceeding the previously approved 3% annual limit) for Lake Patton Golf Course, which Park Operations Manager Steve Janashesky and staff member Mike justified as necessary to cover state-mandated minimum wage increases for core staff, rising utility costs, and inflation. The golf course, with approximately $2 million in expenditures and $2.45 million in projected revenue, would generate an estimated $100,000 in additional annual revenue from the increase, with proposed in-season green fees of $48 remaining the lowest in Whatcom County; the increase is intended to sustain operations while funding new Trackman range technology and expanded junior golf programs, which the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board approved in November 2025 with a recommendation that junior rates not be raised. Council members also discussed complementary facility improvements including seating upgrades, food and beverage enhancements, and potential disc golf integration, with Council Member Hamill raising questions about fee elasticity, water conservation charges, and long-term irrigation system replacement funding. Council Member Hamill moved to approve the fee increase, which passed unanimously with all committee members voting in favor.

Agenda items (1)

Procedural (1)

24814ProceduralA resolution establishing fees for the use of the City Parks and Recreation golf course

The city is setting the prices that people will pay to play golf at the municipal golf course, including greens fees and other use charges.

What happened

Additional votes recorded in minutes

Recommend approval of resolution establishing fees for City Parks and Recreation golf course

aye 3

Daniel Hammillaye

Edwin 'Skip' Williamsaye

Jace Cottonaye

Verbatim transcript available

102 transcript segments indexed

City of Bellingham Parks and Recreation Committee minutes January 26, 2026, 1:45 PM Chair: Edwin H. "Skip" Williams Phone: 360-778-8200 Members: Daniel Hammill, Jace Cotton Email: ccmail@cob.org Web: cob.org/council City Council committee meetings Standing committee members receive reports and information, ask questions, and vote on a recommended action for consideration by the full Council at the regular meeting.

Good afternoon and welcome back to the Bellingham City Council committee meetings. Um the next meeting before us is parks and recreation and that committee is chaired by council member Williams. So I turn it over to him.

>> Thank you, President uh Stone. Today we have one item on our our agenda which which is a resolution establishing the the uh uh fee schedule for the use of the city parks and recreation golf course.

There is no public comment period during committee sessions. Call to order and roll call Council President Stone called the meeting to order at 1:45 p.m. Present: Committee Chair Edwin H. "Skip" Williams, Fourth Ward Committee Member Daniel Hammill, Third Ward Committee Member Jace Cotton, At-Large 24814 1.

Parks and Recreation is proposing to increase green fees by approximately 5% this year, which exceeds the 3% cumulative cumulative annual green fee uh um increases previously approved by the city council.

A resolution establishing fees for the use of the City Parks and Recreation golf course Summary: Steven Janiszewski, Park Operations Manager, and Michael Fosnick, Director of Operations for Troon/Premiere Golf, presented the resolution, which increases green fees by approximately five percent, exceeding the three percent cumulative annual greens fee increase previously approved by City Council.

Council Members discussed the resolution and asked questions. Action: Daniel Hammill moved to recommend approval of the resolution. MOTION CARRIED 3-0. Adjournment There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 2:13 p.m.

Uh this change is warranted to a increase revenue, cover increased operating costs, cover increases to the minimum wage, pay increases in utility rates, and keep pace with inflation. This increase was approved by the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board in November 2025 with a recommendation that junior rates not be raised.

I just want to point out something. The golf course budget is slightly over $2 million in expenditures with 2.45 in projected revenue. And uh if this um resolution is passed, it will increase revenues by an estimated $100,000 per year.

And I I want to uh point out that I'm joined by Council Member Hamill and Council Member Stone. >> No, >> Cotton. Oh, you're still here. Okay. [laughter] Okay. So, I'm going to turn this over to uh Parks and Recreation Director Nicole Oliver.

>> Thank you, Council Member Williams. Um we're here today. I also have um Michael Fosnik from Premier Trun is here. He's going to be part of the presentation. There he is. And we have our accounting um folks also from Premier.

And I'm going to turn it over to Steve Janachesky, our park operations manager, to take you through the presentation. We are providing a little bit of background on where we're at with the golf course.

>> Good afternoon, council members and mayor Lond. Again, Steve Janashesky, park operations manager, here to present on a proposed greens fee increase for 2026. Just a short note that this presentation has been updated from the version in your packet.

So, just be aware of that. We made some improvements uh and hopefully explain things a little better. So, here's what we're going to be covering. Uh, I'm going to give you a budget financial overview first, then talk a little bit about where we've been in the past with our greens fees, and then Mike's going to come up and talk about greens fee comparisons as we compare Lake Paddin to other golf courses in Watcom County.

And then Mike has some additional information on revenue and expenses. And then we're going to conclude with uh some ideas that we have for additional revenue generation at the Course, which is really exciting.

So, here's the 2025 budget breakdown. And I wanted to show this because it shows you that the budget is actually two separate budgets. There's the budget that Premier has, and there's also the budget that the city has.

So, Premier's operating expenses are a little over 1.6 million. That includes their payroll, all their expenses, the management fees we pay to them. Then there's the smaller portion of the budget, which is the city's budget.

It's a little bit of my salary, administrative support. There's also um funding in there for uh things like water, sewer, storm, fleet, interfund charges, things like that. We also have 250,000 in the budget for non-C capital maintenance.

These are things that just break at the golf course. So, we're repairing buildings and facilities or we're repaving cart paths. So, think of that money as reinvestment money. And then we have 350,000 that's for inventory purchase for resale.

So think of the pro shop all the items we purchase and then resell. Same for the food and beverage operation. So that's that total. So all total in 2025 the budget was 2.385498. So I wanted to show here in this chart just the amount of money that premier collects from us.

So, uh, we pay their total monthly expenses. Um, last year it was 757,000. We also pay their salaries. That was a little over a million dollars. And then the management fees, like I mentioned, we paid um 185,000, just a tad over that.

And that includes not only their 10,000 approximately per month management fee, but we also give them a growth incentive when they hit a certain mark. and they get additional money for generating more revenue.

Speaking of revenue, um this is kind of the success story of the golf course. I wanted to show here 2020 through 2025 just the additional revenue that we've been able to generate at the golf course. It's quite significant when you look at 2025 to say we've earned a million dollars more.

Um it does cost more to operate um a golf course when you're generating more revenue. Obviously, it costs more. And Mike's going to get into some of those uh costs for you. This is a real a success story.

We'd like to generate more more revenue in the future as well. So a few years back, we started the water conservation capital reinvestment search charge that was started in July 2023. This is money in the enterprise fund that is earmarked for capital reinvestment.

So, I just wanted to show here the year-over-year, month overmonth difference in what we're collecting. Right now, it's $6 on top of a greens fee, and we accumulate around $100,000 a year. So, it's generated in in that time since July 2023, 253,3.95.

And we would love to use that for the highest priority capital reinvestment project. And our highest priority right now is to replace the irrigation system which is at the end of its useful life. So here's just a quick snapshot of what we've done with fees since 2018 when Premier took over.

We transferred from a lease over to a management agreement and we kind of kept the group fees frozen that first year and we even reduced it in 2019. And then you can see the progression through the years.

2021 we had an increase over the 3%. Anything over 3% we need to come to you to approve but anything 3% and under. Premier has the the freedom to look at the market and decide if they want to raise rates a little bit.

So you can see most of those years it was less than 3%. And the rates did go up in 2023 when we had a $4 sir charge. And then just last year, we came to you and requested the uptick from 4 to $6 in the water conservation capital reinvestment search charge.

So with that, I'm going to turn it over to Mike. Good afternoon everyone. Thanks for the ability to speak on golf. Um golf had a great year in 2025. What you're showing is our rounds growth from 23. 24 was not a great weather year.

Uh golfers don't really like to play in the rain and the cold and the snow and those kind things. But 25 we had a really good weather year and our rounds went from 39 to 44,000. So, a lot of that was local play.

Um, we still have a few customers coming over across the border from Canada. Not as many. Um, but we hope to have those back soon, but it's a very positive indication that the golf course is being thoroughly used as a recreation spot.

So, our green fee comparisons, we look at all of our similar um competitors, Lumis Trail, Avalon Lakes, Sun Valley, North Bellingham, and the top was where we rated compared to the others. And you can see it was pretty significantly lower.

You know, municipal golf is not supposed to be a money maker. It's not a private entity. It's supposed to create value for the citizens of Bellingham and Watcom County. So, we're very proud of the fact that we put out a very good product, but we don't pass that rate on to our our local golfers.

Our proposed inseason rates, we still will remain the lowest golf in town. Um, what you see in yellow is with the increase including the $6 charge, $48 would be the proposed rate increase without the search charge.

So, um, very competitive and still the lowest price compared to where you can golf in Watcom County. So, why are we asking for 5% versus our normal three? Um, the operating costs have grown significantly.

I have two slides after this that talk about statemandated minimum wage increases. Um, the utility charges, as Steve mentioned, have gone up and inflation, you know, everything is going up. um whether it's fuel uh replacement parts for mowing equipment, things like that.

So um it's a normally a 2% increase over what we normally would do. So this shows uh 2025 net operating income. Um the blue bars are the revenue and you can see we continue to grow exponentially in revenue rounds.

That's a good thing. Um, expenses are are creeping up a little bit. Um, that's the green line. Um, cost of sales is the merchandise that we buy for resale, whether it's a a Coke in the restaurant or a golf club in the pro shop type of thing.

So, those have increased a little bit as well. Uh, the blue line is what what is a little concerning. you know, it's the first year that we've actually shown less profitability and there's there's a good reason for that.

So, the state of Washington has mandated uh salary increases um for our salary employees. Our people are our best asset. Uh we have a superintendent, we have a mechanic, we have a food and beverage director, and a general manager.

They are the core four. Um all of the rest of our employees are seasonal minimum wage employees. If you'll notice, it's probably hard to read a little bit. Um, let me forward a little bit here. That's better.

So, if you notice from 23 to 24, fairly large jump, 57,000 to 67,000. Um, if you look at what it went from January 25 to 26, 69,000 to 80,000. Okay. the payroll has been jumping faster and higher than we can keep up with with our normal 3%.

So, it's really our best asset and we do a really good job I think of maintaining our payroll in regards to revenue. So, in 2023 our payroll was 39% with a budget of 45. That's way to go team. U 2024 it jumped to 40% on a budget of I think 48.

We gave them a little more because we had some projects to do and we still came in under budget. Last year was 44% on a budget of 44%. So what we're concerned about is we just can't keep up with the payroll to revenue.

So, our answer, let's grow our revenue. And we feel like our rate proposal is still very, very good because it's still going to give our customers at golf at Lake Patent the lowest price of golf in town.

But we have to get closer to our competitors because we have these expenses that we just cannot overcome with a normal 3% increase. We do have some exciting things happening at the golf course. Uh the Bellingham Lake pad and Bellingham golf course is a is a hot bed for junior golf.

We have PGA Junior Leagues which have gone to national tournaments. We have our lesson program has grown exponentially to where we gave over $100,000 in golf lessons last year. You can see the camps that we do, um the leagues that we do.

It's just a fun place to go watch, especially in the summertime. There are kids everywhere. high school golf, junior golf is flourishing at Lake Patton. [clears throat] What's really exciting for this year is we're introducing range technology.

So, if you don't know what range technology is, we actually have companies that provide range ball tracking. So, what they do is they will track the ball and you can actually play virtual golf on a driving range.

What's fun about this is we do leagues and events that will bring people golfers and non-golfers alike to the Lake Patton golf course. The Trackman technology will be the only thing in Wakom County we will have it.

So we anticipate a lot of growth, a lot of visits from people all over the county and maybe even some from Snomish County because it's really truly uh a gamecher for us. In our surveys, three out of four people prefer range technology and three out of four people will pay an extra$2 to4 dollars for it.

So, what we're going to do is we're going to open this up for anybody. We're we're due for a range ball increase anyway. So, we're going to have a nominal range increase to absorb the costs of this, but the overall generated revenue will more than pay for this.

Plus, it's going to create another uh event for people, non- golfers alike, to come to Lake Patton. You'll notice the uh the seating area upgrades, the food and beverage improvements. We want to be more integral with the parkgoers and the mountain bike community.

We want to create a gathering space, a warm welcoming space that people from the from the park specifically, mountain bikers can come down. So, we're looking to reimagine our new menu and reimagine our upgrades and our seating.

And any questions for us? It was a really good year for golf and Lake Pad. >> Committee, are there any questions? Council member Hamill. >> Yeah, I have several. Um I don't know if you want to go back and forth, but I can start with there's a few data points I just wanted to to clear up.

I'm not sure I'm going to direct these questions to you, but um there's um in recent years, the disc golf has been integrated within into the system. I just wanted to get a heads up on that and what that looks like and is that pretty well used and any any heads up for the future?

[snorts] >> Yeah, the disc golfing community has has embraced the Lake Patton golf course. Uh the thing about disc golf at Lake Patton is there is a fee and it's pretty nominal fee compared to what a green fee is, but there's still a lot of of free disc golf around the area.

So, it's not a a revenue major revenue generator, but it's still a really feel-good thing and it does provide more opportunities for non-golfers to use the Lake Patton property, golf course property for disc golf.

So, I would say it's it's a win. It's just never really going to bring in a lot of financial benefit compared to regular golf. >> Thanks. Um, sure, Jace. Did you want to Okay. Um I'm just thinking in terms of um users of the you know who comes to to the golf course.

Do you track out of county uh visitors via some system like zip codes or I'm just thinking of you know if we're attracting and we're making these investments um uh for future users. I I'm just trying to understand beyond um Bellingham and Wakom County golfers who else is using the system.

It's a very sophisticated system that we use. We we look at license plates. Um, a lot of Canadian license plates. I know there is technology out there now, and I'm glad you brought that up, that we would like to start to use where you track cell phone data.

That cell phone data tells you where people are coming from and who they are and and so forth. So, we're quite interested in that. Uh, the normal reach for a golf course like Lake Patton is about 7 to 10 square miles.

Most people are not going to travel farther than that. I think with the advent of Trackman, we're going to increase that reach to probably 2530 miles just for the driving range use alone because the technology, the the the information they're going to get, the leagues that we're going to run and the events are really truly going to bring a bigger reach than just your normal 7 to 10 square miles.

>> Council member Cotton. >> Yeah, thanks for this presentation, Mike. Um what um what have you seen in either other other golf courses you've managed or the history in Bellingham about the elasticity I guess of demand when you see at what level of fee increases do you start to see a decline in people using the Yeah.

You know we we we want to keep golf affordable. Um, and the reason we're here is just because these these statemandated increases. We just can't overcome those big jumps. Um, Seattle, for instance rates 6% 6% 6% 4% 4%.

So we're in the last year of a 4% mandated increase and that comes from the council to us. That is not our recommendation. So um, we still try to keep things affordable in Seattle as well. Um, we are not raising rates on any of the rental services this year.

Bellingham, we're going to have to raise the rates on the range balls, but just not too much. Not too much because we think the demand and the the reach that we're going to get is going to more than compensate and cover the cost of the the Trackman units.

And we built the Trackman units into the budget. So, we're pretty excited to see exponential increases in revenue. For example, we use Top Tracer in Seattle. It's a camerabased technology. Uh [snorts] this year we did $668,000 in top tracer revenue at three driving ranges and that's not range.

That's just the add-on. We're not going to go that route up here because the driving range is quite a few quite a distance away. So we're going to turn them on for everybody. So the benefit for that is also going to increase I think our traffic pattern.

We can cover the cost of that with the nominal range ball increase, but where we're really going to win is the volume of people. And we're really excited about what we can do with food and beverage as well because we think it's an opportunity for us to invite the parkgoers and the mountain biking community to find a home.

We need to make it more comfortable for them. We need to make it more of a gathering space. We've done our research. We've gone all over Bellingham. Where do people go? Where do they like to recreate?

Where do they like to to gather? So, we've got some really good ideas there. >> Hey, Council Member Ham. Oh, we have one more. >> Sure. And >> I was just going to Could I just offer one little bit of information?

I forgot to include this in the packet, but I had the I [clears throat] had our staff run the Placer AI report on Lake Paddent Golf Course, and I just did some quick additions in the LA in 2025. Um 83% of the people who came were from Watcom or Scaja County.

>> Um yeah. Can you give me more of a sense about um the relative burden of the state overtime exempt thresholds going up and then the Bellingham minimum wage and how much uh yeah is the total combined and yeah the um the state mandate the the four the core four I was talking about um very competitive opportunities for especially our golf course superintendent and our mechanic.

Um, I feel like our superintendent is probably being recruited right now for a job that's going to pay him 20% more than he's making right now. Um, same thing with our mechanic. Our mechanic makes a basic minimum salary.

Our superintendent is a little more than that, but they live in Bellingham. This is their home. This is their community. and our food and beverage director. They work so many hours during the season that, you know, we've done the math.

If we turn them into hourly employees, are we going to keep them first of all? And two, are they are they going to make is it going to make sense because they're going to work more than 40 hours a week and the overtime on top of that, where's the tipping point?

So, we work very very hard to make sure that our budgeted payroll stays right there. And this was the first year we have not been under budget. Our GM works counter staff right now hours. Uh went out there today on the way in, you know, we had one employee.

Um but the golf course continues to grow and thrive and it still needs that that attention. So, um, it's always that balancing act and we [snorts] feel like with the advent of the new revenue streams and the fact that we have been able to control our payroll, um, the rate, the extra 2% is really going to help us come back next year with the same great story.

Council member Hamill. >> Yeah, real quick. Um I just wanted to clarify on your greens fee comparison schedule. Um you've got $46 listed and then you compare them with the other kind of you know the local um golf courses.

That's based on 18 holes. Is that correct? >> Correct. >> Is that what most golfers play as 18? >> Yes. Yeah. >> Okay. So that's >> we do we do have nine hole rates. Um a lot of golf courses don't have nine-hole rates anymore, but we still do.

Um and our annuals, we have quite a few popular, it's a popular program, our annual memberships. Um we have raised the annual membership this year and we use 50 rounds to basically determine how much of the water conservation fee should we be charging them.

And it's that 50 round. Well, most of our annuals play way more than 50 rounds. So, their average cost per round, if you're on a fixed income and you play a lot of golf and you pay right off the bat, you can lower your green fees down to 12, $13 a round.

[snorts] So, it's the other thing about that though is is we lose the ability to get more of that water conservation fee. So, Mr. Jatvski's slide showed the June, July, August number where the water conservation fee was was lower than last year.

We had a lot of our annuals, a lot new annuals playing. So, we weren't able to capture as much. You'll notice September, October, that's when the $2 increase went up. So, we started to come back and catch some of that a little bit.

Um, it's it's it's necessary. You know, we're kind of limping along with this irrigation system. We all know that. Um, and this is going to help us move positively towards um taking care of some of these deferred maintenance projects.

last to you real quick. Um, and I'm I want to get to the irrigation real quick, but I wanted to I I think your um your vision on integrating the mountain bike community and the park users is spoton. Um, I've been to the to the pro shop and the and the restaurant there.

That is a gem. It is beautiful setting and it would be great if we can get more people into this public amenity that largely maybe don't know about it. Um, however that happens, I think that that's a a great plan.

Um, there's a a parking lot down the the road towards Galworth Lane right there that was redeveloped a few years ago and there are a lot of use users that park there and, you know, probably could use um some food or a drink um after uh mountain biking as well as the folks that utilize Lake Paddent.

So, I'm very supportive of however that manifests. And then my irrig my that's a comment, pardon me, my irrigation system question is what funds out of what funds will be used to replace that system eventually?

I know that there's some user fees here, but really where are the funds are are going to replace it? >> Yeah, I don't I don't know if I can answer that question. I know that our water conservation efforts right now are are at once.

We've added 200 300 new more high efficiency uh sprinkler heads that are more effective in the effluency of the water where we're not wasting water. Uh we do water testing every year. The water leaves the golf course cleaner than it comes in.

The other thing is we want to reduce the amount of water output. So we're putting a lot of that money to work right now. Now the system itself, it's basically what's underground. uh the new piping will last a hundred years.

The old piping is is failing. So um when you have a failing irrigation system, you have water leaking essentially. So the idea is to be able to be more efficient in our water output um without overt taxing you know the water basin so to speak.

So and our team does a really really really good job of of putting down water efficiently. we've reduced our our output quite dramatically. Um, one of the years I think it was 25% less water, but we also had a lot of rain that year.

So, [laughter] we we like the help from mother nature, that's for sure. But, um, you know, as far as a long-term project, you know, council member, I don't know if I can answer that question. I would say that um our our intention is to try and build up continue to build a revenue stream so that the enterprise fund can handle the enterprise um maintenance and improvements.

That's our intention. >> Okay. Any any further questions from the committee? Okay. Other council members? Seeing none, um I will entertain a motion. Oh, Council Member Hamill. >> Yeah, I would uh vote to approve.

>> Okay, it's been moved to approve the um the recommended increase in fees. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say I. >> I. >> Okay. All oppose. Motion carries and that will be reported at tonight's meeting.