Owensville Parks and Recreation Director Angela Lairmore requested two purchases from the Board of Aldermen during Monday’s meeting — one receiving approval and the other postponed after a long discussion.

Approved was the purchase of a Dolphin Wave 120 Robotic Pool Cleaner and installation to replace the current one that has been owned by the department for an unknown amount of time — at least six years.

According to Lairmore, the item will pay for itself in 26 days as it costs $120 for one person to clean the pool manually and would require a minimum of two persons present due to safety rules. She also informed the board that the cleaner is double in size compared to the current one which she jokingly referred to as the pool’s “most used employee.”

The $6,515 purchase which includes caddy and remote control was approved by a motion made by a motion made by Board President and Ward 1 Alderman Dr. Cathy Lahmeyer, seconded by Ward 2 Alderman Matthew Kramme and passed with all in favor.

Regarding the potential purchase of a new recreation software and point-of-sale system, the board discussed various points. Concerns raised included whether reporting integration would be available with the city’s current municipal government software and whether a cheaper option was available.

The RecDesk software system proposed would streamline management for registrations, memberships, facility rentals and programs. Features of the program include online registration, barcode scanning for faster check-ins and real-time attendance tracking.

Lairmore explained to the board that it would allow her to reduce her time spent on administrative duties so that she can focus more on marketing and programming. She would also be able to delegate some lesser tasks to staff members due to the ease of use of the program.

“If we can pull a system in that allows (Lairmore) to use other people’s time…it makes more practical use of her time to benefit the parks,” Mayor Kevin McFadden said.

City Administrator Randy Blaske shared his research on the subject with the board. He advised that effective organizations use 2 to 10 percent of their budget on IT based on surveys of the business sector with types like construction on the lower end and banks on the higher end of spending for IT.

According to Blaske, the city’s budget is $5,145,769 and the current IT budget is 2.3 percent of that total. The park system’s budget is $932,494 and this spend would be six-tenths of one percent of that total.

In total, the cost would be $5,800 all-inclusive with no start-up costs or additional fees for training and support. An optional one-time fee would include a $1,500 financial extract.

In addition to the increased capacity of the OPRD director regarding use of city time, savings would be seen in paper, ink, admin costs and other areas according to Lairmore. She shared that with access to booking park facilities online, the city could see increased revenue within the parks system.

“Using the IT will enhance our overall program,” McFadden said. “This just makes sense.”

Lahmeyer asked about integration of financial records, referencing the company Neptune which has the ability to connect directly with the city’s current municipal software. Lairmore advised that Neptune is top-of-the-line software that costs nearly seven times as much. Details regarding integration were not available and the exact meaning of financial extract not known.

Breeden asked about other point-of-sale vendors such as Square or Clover which was met with discussion surrounding the additional features available with the specialized recreation software. He shared that he wanted to be able to justify the spend referencing it as a “perk,” referencing his experience with his business, Snowensville.

Blaske questioned the long discussion, pointing out the contrast between the questions being asked about the already budgeted request by OPRD and the recent $340,000 approval to purchase a street sweeper in regards to the return on investment. He shared his feeling that decisions like this should be put in the hands of the department head who should be viewed as capable and knowledgeable in their subject matter expertise.

McFadden asked the board multiple times if they wanted to vote during that meeting or postpone the discussion for an answer to the question of integration capacities and data sharing amongst programs. Kramme shared that while he didn’t feel the need to wait for more information to decide, he would hate for someone to go in not knowing. The discussion was postponed.