Ben Garbacz/Daily Mining Gazette From left, Dean Woodbeck, Mandy Lounibos and Whitney Warstler listen to City Manager Mary Babcock's revenue and expenses review of the Hancock City Campground, one of the attractions that brings in a profit for the city. There is interest in upgrading water and electricity service on campsites.

HANCOCK — The Hancock City Council met Tuesday for a work session regarding the city’s 2025-26 budget. This meeting focused on the city campground’s revenue and expenses and requests from the city police department, department of public works, fire department and the Hancock Trails Club.

The meeting began examining the Hancock Recreational Area campground which produces a profit for the city. City Manager Mary Babcock said she would like to do some capital improvements for the campground by extending water and electrical services such as providing higher kilowatts for campers. Babcock also said by bringing water to more campsites, the price for staying at the sites can increase which in turn will help generate more revenue.

The council was in agreement that next year’s camping rates will need to rise, though not equally. Mayor Kurt Rickard suggested sites without services like water pay less for their stay.

Hancock Police Chief Tami Sleeman requested the purchase of a new patrol car calling a 2018 vehicle in “questionable condition.” Sleeman suggested looking into a leasing program for a new vehicle which she said she learned of from Dickinson County. According to Sleeman, the program allows a lease ranging from three to four years which includes the outfitting needed for law enforcement.

The next request from Sleeman was hiring of two full-time police officers. Sleeman said she believes this will assist in the problem the city has had regarding the amount of overtime police officers take due to personnel shortages. She said the amount of overtime does not just drain more city resources, but also effects the officers. Councilor Whitney Warstler asked Sleeman if officers would be happy having less overtime.

“Yes,” Sleeman answered. “And I will tell you what they do when I call certain people and I’m like ‘Hey I need help’ they don’t want to disappoint the department. So they come in, even though they’re tired and they bend over backwards.”

Sleeman said in a perfect world, Hancock would have eight officers , a lieutenant and herself on patrol to ensure the city has an efficiently run law enforcement.

John Diebel of the Hancock Trails Club was present for requests and projects for trails in Hancock, but more discussion will need to be had in order to understand what resources and expenditures will come from between the city and private entities. Once the boundaries are understood, the council and club will be able to formulate more concrete plans.

Another item of discussion included the state of the HoCo Arena. The city will contract with a Minnesota company to monitor and make repairs for the arena.

The budget for 2025-26 will be adopted on June 25, with a public hearing to take place on June 18.