Council holds public hearings on Capital Improvement Program

posted on 11/10/2025

The City Council will hold three public hearings on the proposed FY2027-2032 Capital Improvements Program at its Wednesday, Nov. 12 meeting.

One public hearing is on the six-year planning CIP document itself, which does not authorize or appropriate funding. Another is for authorizing and appropriating $4,604,492 for proposed FY2027 non-debt finance projects. The third public hearing is for authorizing $37,093,980 in bonding and appropriating that amount for FY2027 debt-financed projects. The City Council anticipates voting on these resolutions at its Dec. 10 meeting. This week, the City Council held a workshop to review proposed CIP projects.

The City Council will also hold a public hearing on a pending revision to the city’s dog ordinance following a change to state law. The ordinance revision will allow the city to require dogs deemed vicious under state law to be muzzled and/or restrained in public, regardless of whether the dog is leashed.

The City Council will also consider a resolution to forgive interest and late fees for water and sewer billing and miscellaneous service bills for active military and federal employees not receiving paychecks during the federal government shutdown. The waiver does not apply to invoices determined by state statute, such as property tax bills.

Also on the agenda are resolutions that would authorize:

• The contracting with Wright-Pierce for $682,600 to investigate and analyze infiltration and inflow (I/I) into the city’s sewer system and create a technical report with recommendations to reduce I/I in the system;
• Acceptance of a $10,000 gift for the Dover Public Library from the Carnegie Corporation of New York;
• The purchase of an “easement machine” to clean difficult-to-access sewer mains for $76,703;
• Replacing the city’s broadcast equipment at the end of its lifecycle with a TelVue system for $37,057;
• Awarding the bid to install a new HVAC system at Griffen Well for $67,615, to prepare for the reactivation of the well for backup use.

The complete agenda is posted online. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in City Hall’s Council Chambers. It will be televised on DoverTV and online, where it will be available on demand.