The Madison City Commission unanimously approved the second reading of Ordinance No. 1682, a correction to the city's 2025 budget, and adopted Ordinance No. 1683, the city's 2026 budget appropriations, after staff summarized minor adjustments to retiree payouts, insurance projections and a $25,000 water and sewer rate study.

Jamieson, speaking for city staff, said the 2025 correction removes a $175,000 revenue wrongly shown in the second-penny sales-tax fund. On the 2026 budget he outlined three changes from first reading: roughly $32,000 added for expected retiree payouts; about $47,000 across departments to reflect projected insurance increases near 14 percent; and $25,000 to fund a water and sewer rate study split equally between the water and sewer funds. Staff told the commission the changes were not substantial and recommended approval on second reading.

The commission also approved a series of construction contract change orders: Change Order No. 3 for Madison Water System Improvements Segment 4 (Metro Construction Inc.) for $67,324.20 to repair a sanitary service line inadvertently bored through during construction; Change Order No. 4 for Segment 5a (Asphalt Surfacing Co.) reducing that contract by $274,089.39 as a final balancing adjustment; Change Order No. 5 for Park Creek Wall Site 2 (Keselut Excavation and Dirt Works) for a net increase of $877.25 (city share approximately 15 percent); and Change Order No. 2 for airport hangar taxi lanes (Sukup Construction Inc.) for $2,987.55. City staff said SRF (State Revolving Fund) loan capacity covers eligible water-related costs and that the Segment 5a reduction improves overall loan utilization.

On another agenda item the commission voted to proceed "with the intent to demolish" the out-of-service water tower at 504 Northwest Fourth Street, while directing staff to study timing and costs and to determine whether the work can be pushed into the 2027 budget cycle. Jamieson and other staff reminded the commission the tank has been out of service since January 2024 and summarized public feedback collected online.

A distinct proposal to amend the city's agreement with Heartland Energy to allow a demand-adjusted interruptible rate (the "DATA" program) was presented by Heartland's Nate Jones (chief operations officer) and Mike Malone (chief financial officer). After detailed questions about scale, financial safeguards, zoning, noise and water use, several commissioners disclosed potential conflicts of interest and said they would abstain from a vote. Commission members asked for legal review and voted to table the supplement to a future meeting.

Finally, commissioners amended and adopted Resolution No. 2025-25 to move the first monthly meeting to noon and keep the second at 5:30 p.m., effective beginning in 2026, and adopted Resolution No. 2025-26 assigning enterprise fund balances for reserves per Department of Legislative Audit and GASB guidance. The meeting ended with a motion to go into executive session under SDCL 1-25-24.

A full account of each passed motion, the associated ordinance/resolution numbers, and the change-order dollar amounts is recorded in the commission minutes.