San Angelo City Council 3-21-23

[0:00:00] and we will now call this meeting to order as usual we will start with our prayer and our pledges and we have Lorenzo hatch from the police department here to lead us in dear wise and loving father first let me say thank you thank you on behalf of all those who are gathered here today thank you for your many and Abundant Blessings thank you for life itself for sustenance and for friendship thank you for the ability to be involved in useful work and for the honor of bearing appropriate responsibilities in the scriptures you have said that citizens ought to obey the governing authorities since you have established those very authorities to promote peace and Order and justice therefore I pray for our mayor for the various levels of City officials and in particular for this assembled Council I am asking that you would graciously grant them wisdom to govern amid the conflicting interests and issues a sense of the welfare and true needs of our people a keen thirst for justice and righteousness confidence in what is good and fitting the ability to work together in harmony even when there is honest disagreement and personal peace in their lives and joy and their task I pray for the agenda set before them today please give an assurance of what would please you and what would benefit those who live and work in and around our beloved city of San Angelo and finally father please bless and protect our public servants of the Fire and Police Department we ask this in all things through Jesus Christ Our Lord amen I pledge allegiance to the flag of the

[0:02:08] United States honor the Texas flag I pledge allegiance to the Texas foreign this morning we will start off with our first Proclamation and so those who are here for with the developmental disabilities awareness organization please come forward how are you today figured out come on good come on up here don't be afraid maybe some of you would like to stand a little more over to the left okay and the tall individuals in the back since since 1987 the month of March has been recognized as developmental disabilities awareness month to celebrate and uplift those living with disabilities and highlight their many contributions to our society today there are nearly 500 000 children and adults living in Texas with a developmental disability through collaborative inclusivity within our

[0:04:13] community people with developmental disabilities can achieve their full potential as each person has unique perspectives experiences and abilities that can positively shape the development and future of San Angelo individuals that live in our community deserve the opportunity to learn grow and thrive individuals with disabilities can live independent and productive lives with the proper access to Supportive Services and when they are fully included in all aspects of community life in schools children Excel academically when they participate alongside their peers developing critical thinking and social skills when people with disabilities are included in the workforce they can be a part of a team and diversify businesses our city flourishes due to the diversity of people and we can all raise awareness about how we are a stronger Community when we support those with disabilities in collaboration with MHMR Concho Valley the local intellectual and developmental disability Authority leader we dedicate march to raising awareness about developmental disabilities and advocating for inclusivity within our community therefore I Brenda Gunter mayor of the city of San Angelo Texas on behalf of the city council do hereby Proclaim March 2023 as developmental disabilities awareness month and encourages everyone to learn about how create an equitable future for those with developmental disability improves and strengthens classrooms businesses and houses of worship foreign thank you mayor and thank you city council MHMR greatly appreciates your support and because we couldn't do what we do uh for folks uh in the community uh without your support we serve over

[0:06:18] 950 people with developmental disabilities annually that's uh of the 7 000 folks we serve that is a whole lot of folks in our communities long-term care and a lot of advocacy a lot of coordination of services a lot of residential supports and I always like to come and not only thank everyone but I like to highlight our wonderful basketball and cheerleaders the Concho Valley Bobcats this is our month [Applause] these guys they train real hard they work real hard and they've got pep rally coming up not this Thursday but next Thursday and then Friday is the big game Howard College in Big Springs where we play a whole bunch of other community centers they're awesome they have a halftime show with the cheerleaders the basketball team we play in the bracket that's more competitive and uh we're going to go after it again this year I've got so many I don't know if I can name them all but um I want to recognize coach Rita over at the end she's been doing this for quite some time and at the other end is Audrey um she coordinates all of the cheerleaders and routines so thank you so much for all you do thank you for supporting MHMR and what we do to help our community thank you so much mayor did you have would you like that okay well let's kind of get behind sure join me thank you

[0:08:52] our next Proclamation is for The state-supported Living Center those of you who are in the audience representing the school please come forward all right you probably want to stand right there you're perfect okay good San Angelo State supported Living Center was originally opened in 1912 as a state sanatorium to rehabilitate Texans suffering from tuberculosis in 1969 the facility was converted to a supported Living Center in a 1988 started their emphasis on intellectual disability care today the Living Center is home to 140 individuals with intellectual mental and physical disabilities residents range in age from 14 years to 95 years Young residents learn life skills gardening drawing painting pottery Woodworking and computer skills the younger residents attend public school and many residents hold jobs on and off campus founded in 1973 the volunteer services council is comprised of volunteers of the community that care about people with intellectual and mental disabilities and work to bring awareness to their mission of providing goods and services to enhance the quality of life for individuals living at the San Angelo sslc the BSC provides residents with birthday lunches outings in the community clothing Christmas presents and events on campus artfully able an Art Exhibit showcasing residence art and woodwork is just one

[0:10:57] of the community events hosted by BSC each year the VSC strives to bring joy to every resident's life and to share their abilities with the community therefore I Brenda Gunter mayor of the city of San Angelo Texas on behalf of the city council do hereby recognize and applaud San Angelo State supported Living Center and the volunteer services Council for bringing a quality life of care to individuals with disabilities that are are an integral part of our community who would like to come forward and speak today here's your Proclamation please thank you all for this we do love our job we love taking care of our residents we have a few that came with us today they participate in Special Olympics music festivals proms so they're excited to be here to see all you as well but thank you again [Applause] is that okay [Applause] the next recognition is to is for stavos Lamborghini lamb bread let me say this

[0:13:01] correctly I'm going to try Lamborghinis lamb radites say it louder there we go the European Union Ambassador stavos Lamborghinis has endorsed and promoted the cultural linkages between the European Union and the city of San Angelo Texas Ambassador lambradinas in a bulgester of international Goodwill opened the European Union's ambassadorial residents to award-winning art from the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts which include artworks that showcase Texas and American artistic creativity in styles from surrealism minimalism American regionalism and impressionism the city recognizes and applies the Ambassador for his unique approach to the promotion of Goodwill between the citizens of the European Union and San Angelo by utilizing the Arts and Humanities in a groundbreaking approach to International diplomacy therefore I Brenda Gunter mayor of the city of San Angelo Texas on behalf of the city council do hereby confer upon the European Ambassador honorary citizen in the city of San Angelo Texas thank you hmm we will now move into the public comment section of the agenda issues or concerns not on the regular agenda may be raised by the public at this time citizens should speak from the podium address all

[0:15:05] comments to the Diaz Begin by stating their name and address or single member district number and limit their remarks to less than three maintenance anybody here who would like to offer public comment today foreign souffle with district one um I just wanted to say uh that I wanted to ask the city council if they would postpone voting on number six in the regular agenda item a regarding the memorial River Stage changes or improvements Renovations because this afternoon at 4 there will be a town hall to discuss um the accessibility of river stage and other Parks and Rec items and so I was wondering if you could pull that from the agenda and wait to vote on it until you get feedback from the community on their needs because there are some issues with that facility then the second thing I wanted to say was I think that San Angelo advocacy for Access group has made strides with the city manager and his City directors um with the improvements for accessibility and I want to applaud them for doing so um but wait a minute we're discussing an item that's on the regular agenda so um are we supposed to even be doing this during public comment I think she's moved on from the river stage conversation but but that's not right because that's on the regular agenda right but as long as she's not continuing are you going to continue to

[0:17:07] talk about the river stage right now no okay she has other comments she wants to make I believe cannot be focused on the river stage okay do I get my um time back okay sorry I had moved on and two things this is number two okay so um do I go now okay so we've made strides right between uh discussions and changes for accessibility however I feel like we've made like four steps forward and maybe now we're making a couple steps back because um the because uh the City attorney has been appointed the Ada coordinator now Justin I know it's in a room because we're going to be hiring hopefully if you guys approve it in the next year's budget we'll be hiring an ADA coordinator which is great who will have the right qualifications and such but as you guys know things happen later on at least that's what I'm hoping for so you know it takes time to get that in on the books however having the City attorney as the point person for people with disabilities to make a complaint to the city is really not a best practice in fact it's not even a practice um throughout the disability world and it kind of causes people not to want to submit a grievance and so I'm just kind of asking if that could be changed and looked at again because um it's it's really not fitting for the City attorney to be the Ada coordinator whether it's in a room or not thank you for their public comment Publix quiet today I have a public comment okay we have a

[0:19:11] public forum as was mentioned this evening at 4 30 till 6 in council chambers right here in this room on the accessibility of our Parks and Recreation program that is part of our self-assessment process that we're going through right now we are seeking input on ways that we can better serve all of our citizens we're also taking comment through info cosatx.us if you're not comfortable coming to a meeting or you want to maintain some sort of confidentiality we don't require you to put your name on those comments but just put Ada comment in the subject line so we know that that is intended to be something that's addressed tonight at our meeting and they're also going to be a live stream tonight so if people just want to comment in the comments section on the live stream that is also appropriate the comment continues service member district number three I would also like to request that we pull the agenda item 6A regarding the river stage and I won't make any further comments on that except for the fact what Andrea stated that we are going to be having a town hall about it tonight and we were promised that the city would ensure um that they would refer to the disability Community before making any major decisions regarding projects like this I'd also like the city um I would like to encourage the city to review the Ada in regards to tickets to events I was informed and then I verified that to purchase successful tickets for the rodeo you must go in person and when you review the Ada you'll see that tickets to events must be available for purchase the same way that everyone else gets their tickets and before you say it's not your event or you're not responsible keep in mind City facilities and funds are being used for the rodeo so it does make you responsible and I would highly encourage changing that not that there's any tickets left but keep that in mind the Ada coordinator thing as Andrea talked about it is intimidating for a lot of people imagine all the phone calls if you were to get every day being a city council member if those all had to go through the city attorney how many phone calls would you still get because people are uncomfortable but I do appreciate the fact that she most likely is the

[0:21:14] most capable person right now within the city to manage the Ada and we want to make sure that we're doing it right however from the beginning we haven't been um but the Ada requires that there be a public announcement service announcement that the Ada coordinator has been designated or changed and that was not done so I encouraged again to review the Ada and do that as well if anything continue I'm going to continue to encourage the city be transparent about the Ada and share with the public that you understand that the city is behind and you're making efforts to address that Additionally the city website states that citizens have 25 days from the date of noticing a concern to file liquor events again I recommend reviewing the Ada it requires 180 days and I confirm that with a couple different Ada experts as well giving someone 25 days when they're already uncomfortable with a situation and have never before spoken up because there wasn't really a strong process and requiring or allowing them to only have 25 days is not reasonable but it's also not legal and the last thing we are working hard San Angelo advocacy for Access we have a trifold now so we're getting pretty serious um but we are working hard and we're working with members of the city we're working with businesses the chamber and other organizations um but we were told that one of our first recommendations which was to develop a mayor's committee on people with disabilities is not possible right now because we were told the city doesn't know what's needed for that committee but since then I have made a new friend um and he is a person who is deaf and he was actually on the San Angelo mayor's committee on people with disabilities he also was awarded the San Angelo person with disability of the year um not just within San Angelo but also for the State of Texas among other awards from presidents and governors so it is possible if we can do it 30 years ago then we can do it now and so I highly recommend to take our efforts and the people that we are serving seriously that's all I have thank you May I'd like to point out very briefly I know the request has been made by two individuals now as far as polling item a it's actually a direction item from the

[0:23:17] city council there will be a presentation will be made a decision won't be made from city council but it'll just be a directional item so I do recommend that we leave it on there for now I agree with you we will open it up for a presentation and not necessarily action so we can take action with ability to adjust any actions appropriately mayor I'd like to make two clarifications first I haven't been formally designated as the Ada coordinator that will happen at the next meeting it didn't happen at this meeting because spring break and all that happened but the information has changed on our website so I am taking those kinds of information and second we are planning on doing a committee um for looking for citizens to help us with these Ada issues and tonight at the meeting there will be a call for people who are interested for citizens who are interested to provide their information to me so we can set up that committee what we're not going to be doing is making a formal board that that's in our code of ordinances and that is you know has all the rules of open meetings and all of those sorts of things but we are still intending on doing a committee further public comment about Tom so just a little bit of reply I helped a lady you don't have to go in person you can actually call the box office at San Angelo's doctor on Rodeo 486-1400 and I purchased to help the lady purchase two handicapped tickets just this week so just to make sure that's clear I know that's not us it's not the city of San Angelo but I was able to call the number and I just verified the phone number they have a box office and you'll what you have to do it's better if you go in person because you can work around some companion seats to go with that but just so you know box office number for that is 486-1400. [Music] for the public comment seeing none we will move into our consent agenda are there items from the consent agenda that city council would like to pull Larry Karen Lucy Tom I mean Harry no ma'am Tom no ma'am Tommy okay may I have a motion for approval of the consent agenda so move a

[0:25:21] motion by Harry may I have a second second by Tommy any um public comment concerning any of the agenda items I mean the consent items on the agenda insane on hearing none we'll take a vote all those in favor say aye consent agenda approved 7-0 we'll move into the regular agenda comments regarding items on the regular agenda may be made by the public when each item is discussed as outlined above applicants proponents and appalents are exempt from the time limit above and instead must limit their remarks to less than five minutes item a is direction from City Council on proposed improvements and renovations to the bill ehlers senior Memorial river stage and we have our Civic events manager Sydney Walker here to present today good morning good morning mayor good morning Council good morning city manager here to discuss the bill aylor senior Memorial River Stage proposed improvements um so our ability senior Memorial river stage of course is named after Mr Bill aylor he was a music man in the city of San Angelo he was very influential and building having the river stage built and uh the river stage was built in 1987. so um I came here myself in 2002 as an Airman Goodfellow Air Force Base um in 2004 I started throwing concerts because I noticed there was a lack of concerts to come to San Angelo Texas in 2008 I was able to throw my first concert at the building memorial River Stage we had 1200 people in attendance the same bill aylor senior Memorial River Stage that we have today is what I dealt with in 2008 as well so we're definitely in need of Maintenance renovations uh coming up to code with ADA compliance

[0:27:24] all these issues will definitely get two with this presentation this is a chance for us to make sure that we can grow our River Stage into where we should see it in the future and this is that opportunity for us to make sure we can improve these areas too that we definitely need to take care of there's three sets of customers that we deal with at the river stage there's the promoter there's the artist and there's also the customers that come through the door those three customers whenever we talk about the needs for it these needs are going to hit one of those or each one of them so here's our River Stage that we have this is located at 16 East Avenue A as you can see on the left hand side that's our loading dock that we have our dressing room is pretty small of course but it's our dressing room a and then also on the side on this uh small corner right here these panels go in the back of the river stage the bottom is is rusted out so we haven't been able to put those panels back up as well this is what we're looking at moving forward with the river stage the actual stage uh staging area is adding an additional production office this will help out with the promoters expanding our green room as well will be something for our artists as well new storage Edition is definitely needed so we can be able to store the chairs and tables that we do have at our facility a new covered dock when whenever artists and bands are bringing in their equipment this is where they would be able to bring it in at [Music] um Ada accessible toilet as well as a new accessible ramp too as well in the front area and then in a new storage area too as well for any additional items that we need and then we do have our existing green room as well and then our mechanical room too some of the proposed Renovations that we're looking at is an interior remodel of the river stage itself and then additional new storage Wing that you see

[0:29:27] right there we're also looking at expanding the Terrace area too as well this would be in this area and then also the new irrigation that's much needed at the river stage also we're looking at expanding the ticketing and concessions which is located in this area uh right now it's just a real tight squeeze for us in in that area so expanding that will definitely help us out and also expanding the new entry Plaza and food canopy by the stage too as well where the initial entrance is we're also looking at adding multiple mini concession stands a new covered Dock and upgrading the HVAC as well fixing some of the drainage issues that we do have at the river stage and improving those sidewalks and relocating the fencing area some of the Ada improvements that we're looking at would you go back to that slide because one of the other things that I hear a lot about is the level drive for buses which is a major issue yes ma'am so the level drive for buses of course most artists that are coming into the city are coming on buses these days last year for March in our concert when Ice Cube came to the city he left us his muffler on his bus because he could not get down to to the area so did he autograph it it was I I I didn't think about it in time but when he did that was his first initial entrance to the river stage and I mean his bus driver was very upset at the time but it is an issue that we do need to look at due to due to the buses um it's it's definitely though a serious issue that we need to look at um it needs to be leveled off a little bit better due to that's how artists are now coming in these days they're not flying into San Angelo everybody's taking their bus sin yes get just for my benefit is is there a a key that you could give us to to what the different colors represent the red the the blue the um Brown Etc that that would yes so the bro so basically your red areas that we do have on there is all the additional

[0:31:30] areas that we're looking at trying to add to our River Stage the brown area is what's existing already for the river stage and we will talk about uh the other entrance in my next slide and stuff too as well I'll bring that up some of the Ada improvements that we're looking at is doing accessible walkways as well as improving accessibility to the stage and to the back of the stage we do not have that so far right now to be ADA Compliant as well as accessible elements in the dressing room uh bathrooms as well we're also looking to improve bathroom reach ranges and adding accessible toilet stalls and lavatories as well we're also wanting to modify the counter Heights at the ticket window in the concession areas and provide accessibility routes to the box office and to the concession areas for the river stage and also improve the viewing areas for a uh for Ada improvements as well any questions on that some of the proposed alternate Renovations that we're seeking is actually having a new bathroom building this would be located here on this on the west side right here those uh bathroom uh buildings right there would definitely be key for us whenever you do have people that sitting in that Terrace area or on the reserve seating area to be able to get to those a lot faster than having to go all the way back up the hill and go to the original bathrooms that we do have we're also looking at a new concession building that new concession building would be key too as well because right now we can only do hot foods in this area over here it would be great if we could do hot foods in another area all the mini concession stands those are just for bar areas we can't keep hot food in those areas and then a new main entry in ticketing this entry would be off of Avenue a would be coming down over in this area right here this is all conceptualized as well too um the plaza we would be sharing the use with the pool and this would be an accessible route to the plaza level as well and we would also be sharing a

[0:33:32] pavilion with uh with pool with uh record Parks and Rec as well new shade canopy which would go in this area right here this would be over the reserve seating area this would definitely help out on those hot sunny summer days that we do have at the river stage plus we would be able to increase the fee of our facility fee in that area too as well and then adding digital signage off of Chadbourne would help let people know what concerts what events we do have coming to the city of San Angelo and any other advertisement that we would like to put on that uh on that signage here's our proposed phases so uh in year one we're looking at the green area that will take care of the base of the river stage as well getting all of our ADA Compliant issues taken care of as well as adding the Terrace uh the the Terrace area for people to be able to sit at as well and remodeling the existing restrooms that we do have in at the river stage year two would be in the gold and that would be the additional of the alternate canopy and all the alternate routes that we're looking to add to as well and the concession in women's and uh adding the concessions and men's and women's restroom as well some of the uh the estimated project cost for us for the first year would be a million point six uh million point six and year one our proposed funding sources we would want to relocate reallocate our funding source for the convention center Renovations project from the Civic events fund to the hotel occupancy tax that's approximately seven hundred thousand dollars and then our Civic events fund balance over 90 days would be at 208 000 as well and having a contribution from the general fund would be approximately a hundred and sixty thousand dollars in year two the estimated project cost would be 3.7 million dollars and that would we're hoping the proposed funding for that would be from our

[0:35:33] potential General Debt Service fund and also from the future departmental Revenue as well that would include our facility fees that that we received that we put back into our uh facilities already too um our Civic events Advisory Board did approve of us moving forward with trying to renovate the river stage upon City council's direction for funding source if you all have any questions I'm open for discussion well what I'd like to say is the following is that the river stage is one of our greatest assets we are so privileged to have a river that runs through our downtown area we have spent money to really improve the river experience the walkways we've done a great job doing that what we've ignored for all kinds of reasons is this river stage and what I hear from people when they are putting on concerts or getting ready to put on some event there many of the issues that you just talked about have been addressed and our ability really maximize the river stage really requires us to make this kind of an investment and we know in year one we have the funding identified that can pay for those events I believe that the number of people who will continue to look at using the river stage will be dramatically increased based off of even year one improvements people continually complain about the dressing facilities that ramp buses cannot get down that ramp without destroying the undercarriage of the bus we do know that um the situation when you have 110 degrees day after day after day people don't like to sit in patches of stickers dry dirt and stickers and that's what we're asking them to do right now is sit and dirt and stickers we can't continue to call this an asset of the city if we

[0:37:38] don't make some investment in this asset and it is truly a great asset for us here in San Angelo and I've heard all the complaints from the bands the quality does not exist for them to want to be here people ticket sales are impacted by the lack of quality entertainment at the river stage so I think it's upon I think we as a council need to identify a game plan and start this process so I feel strongly that we need to approve this and start moving forward on making this the great facility that it can be yes ma'am yes um yes Harry excuse me sir no Harry I addressed Harry first start with me yes thank you I just want to say thank you Sid and Civic events for putting this presentation together uh you know when you got a a venue that's 25 years old 26 now you've got to invest some funds in it so 36. well I'm trying to I'm trying to take my age down a few years thank you uh what the mayor said is absolutely correct this is right in the middle of District three and I don't find and see a better way to utilize funds than to try to upgrade this facility for future concerts for the comfort of the people that come and support those concerts so I I agree with the mayor we need we need to do this the only thing I would do is is I would take another look possibly after tonight's uh session to see whether or not we've appropriated appropriately put all of the Ada stuff in there and I'm sure you have but I just want to make sure we do that but I support this Larry are you going to be available for

[0:39:41] the 4 30 meeting this afternoon yes okay because I know the community the Ada Community out there had some serious problems with still with access yes sir so thank you very much for being there no problem yes Tommy Tom my I mean well don't be so exasperated it was y'all look at this and you look at it tonight even in in the purpose and the scope of ADA we're not looking just to catch up we're looking to go for the next 50 years so please keep that in mind as and I'm sure y'all are I just I have said in situations where people make the step to this is good today this is great and in three years we're great but I mean you know we also need to have point of sale we need to have the same functions to do anywhere where as you see our populations move in the younger group to do all that just keep in mind our scope that we need to be thinking 30 years in the future Beyond this and we don't want to come back to it to make some really substantial because so I'm I'm not quite clear on the funding it's 1.066 million the first year and then three seven the second or is that the total is the three seven oh sorry it would be 1.6 million in the first year 3.7 in the in the second year the second year is another 3.7 so we're looking at nearly 5 million when we get off yes sir you know when you look at it and you do not invest in something for 30 some years the price tag grows dramatically and we either make an investment in the river stage or don't consider it an asset and stop using it as one people want this River Stage there are many cities who would love the opportunity to have the river as well as the river stage and I suggest that as part of this where we've taken a look at a lot of private Public Partnerships that we look at the opportunity for naming rights and look at public investment or

[0:41:46] interest level in this project so that we can we're certainly fine year one we've identified the areas where there's existing money but we're going to need to dig deep and find the opportunity for public-private partnership to meet the 3.7 million dollars and I know there's some naming rights that can happen here again it's a wonderful asset so we've got a little bit of time to invest in that and do it and I also look forward to hearing people's comments tonight about the Ada presentation that you're going to be able to talk to and um so that we all better understand that any further public comment or comment from City Council all right so do we need to take a vote on this today no just Direction at this point I think we've got from here and from city council members at this point I think we have our Direction it sounds like we really want to move forward we do need to listen to the Ada meeting this afternoon and ensure that we are incorporating uh those discussions into what we have in here as well but I believe we have a direction right now and we can start the process of looking for naming rights it looks like particularly in year two there's some facilities that would be ideal for naming rights and let's move forward with that concept okay awesome thank you thank you Item B consider proving the following items pertaining to the 2023 annual seal coat project one is consider entering into inter-local agreement with Tom Green County and amending the fiscal year 2022-23 budget for the corresponding reimbursed expense and item B2 consider awarding es-01-2-3 2023 annual Sealcoat project to Ronald R Wagner company in the amount

[0:43:52] of seven million 446 348 and 63 cents utilizing 100 000 from the hotel occupancy fund balance and authorizing the city manager to negotiate and execute all related documents okay you're on good morning mayor and Council this item is the final year of our of council's eight-year goal for City staff to Sealcoat every street in San Angelo um very proud very privileged to say that we have accomplished that goal at the end of this season so that was a huge commitment by Council and we appreciate that support in getting our street infrastructure the maintenance that it needed in these past eight years definitely have an agenda and a goal to continue that from stats perspective be a little proactive in that and continue to improve that infrastructure so I wanted to First say thank you to council for that support of making this happen um the reason that this is on the regular agenda instead of just on the consent was a to say that and B because this is the second year of our alignment with the uh the Tom Green County and to expand the scope of this work and hopefully to generate some some economies of scale between the two entities so we have done that this is the second year we did see some Fair very favorable pricing as it came down it did take up just a little bit from from last year's cost a couple pennies but a couple pennies over in today's environment is not that much so we were very happy with the numbers that came in we're going to final our streets as well as get the county some well needed attention to their roadways as well with this item there is a third component to this is the parking lot out here at the convention center that's where you see the hotel occupancy tax funds going to help improve this parking lot so that we have a sustained facility for parking outside this this building as well are there questions for Patrick seeing none may I have a motion that

[0:45:58] motion by Harry seconded by Tommy any public comment on this item seeing none we'll take a vote all those in favor of approving the regular agenda Item B please say aye with none opposed motion passes seven zero item C discuss and consider adoption of an ordinance authorizing the issuance and sell of the city of San Angelo Texas tax note series 2023 and enacting other Provisions related there too and Tina you're on on this one thank you mayor Tina dear ski Director of Finance I'm just a quick reminder on what the proposed projects are for this debt issue approximately 1.6 million dollars at the animal shelter and approximately 303 thousand dollars for a traffic light at Twin Mountain Lane and Knickerbocker so we're issuing approximately two million dollars I think the final actual number once we got in our bids was 1 million 995 for the actual number the note will mature August 15 2023 and this is a one-time funding source from The Debt Service fund the notes were offered directly to local and National Banks the bids were received on this past Friday and will receive the proceeds on April 6 and the winning bid came from JP Morgan at 5.781 percent we did have three bidders and they were the lowest bidder and that's all I have as far as presentation but if you have any questions we'll be happy to answer those as well questions for Tina I have a question so on the issue of available funds to use where was there any opportunity use any of arpa funds for investment in this project yes we could use arpa funds for this project but the funds that we're using can only be used for Debt Service and so that's why we're using those funds at

[0:48:00] this time for the questions from Council then may I have a motion for approval so move by Tommy second by Larry any public comment seeing none will take a vote all those in favor say aye with none opposed mentioned passes seven zero item D consider approving tax increment reinvestment Zone tiers incentive funding for a private project for a non-profit entity in the north tiers area for the property located at 1720 Martin Luther King Drive tolling 71 845 and you're on John thank you John James director of planning and development services this is another tears project request 1720 Martin Luther King Drive the funding requested as you can see there's about 71 000 they are providing the required match for the project um you'll see some pictures in a minute but the uh summary of the work is some Paving mostly facade improvements and a little bit of lighting um the north funds that are available this number is a little out of date but it's about 1.8 million with some of the recent projects that you all approved at a recent meeting that's down a little bit but it's in the ballpark of 1.6 1.7 million so plenty of funds we're trying to get projects going in the north and we've had some success as you saw we brought to you a number of projects a couple of meetings ago we've already got three more projects on the next tiers board meeting so we're being more successful at getting North projects to come forward this project nope here's just some existing pictures of the of the building and showing how it needs some pavement work some building facade improvements to help improve the appearance of both the building and the larger areas as you'll see was one of the discussions of the tiers board

[0:50:03] itself so this is a non-profit organization a church owns this facility as you know our current policy you all have suggested that the tiers board revisit this policy which they've had some discussions already they wanted another discussion at their next meeting and so once once they finalize their recommendation on that we'll bring that to you all but under the current policy at least in the North Area non-profit organizations are eligible there are some stipulations to that which is why I included this language from the policy so it does require that both the tiers board and the council make a finding that there's a significant economic impact that will be created as a result of the project and also it does require a three-fourths majority vote of the entire board and the entire Council as you'll see the tiers board did vote this in a way they approved it with that three-fourths majority but it does require three-fourths majority of the council as well to approve it as I mentioned the tears board did recommend funding by a vote of seven to one which does meet that three-fourths majority requirement I will note that there was some confusion on an earlier vote of this at the tiers board but the policy does require a three-fourths majority of the entire board and so at that meeting we didn't have a full board contingent there and so while it was a three-fourths majority on the first vote it was three-fourths majority approved of the members there it was not a three-fourths majority of the entire board so this did go back to the board for reconsideration uh with more members and it did get that that vote but as you'll see the board has nine members one was still absent but again seven out of the total nine members is does meet that three-fourths and so the determination by the tears board regarding the significant economic impact they had quite a bit of discussion and at the end of the day they decided that improving a non-profit

[0:52:08] a church building uh helps basically improve the entire area so businesses around this area would um it would benefit the entire area basically by saying why would a business want to improve next door to a church that that looks like it needs much improvement and so by improving the church it might encourage adjacent Property Owners to also improve their properties and so that's the basic justification for the board voting to approve this funding for a non-profit that's really an overview of what the board recommended so this does come to you with the recommendation of the tiers board for funding this I would just add again that the current policy does allow funding of non-profits uh and so while I know you some of you have expressed an opinion about not funding nonprofits under the current policy that is allowed that doesn't mean you have to approve it but the the policy has not changed as of as of now Define what cheers what tears means what's it created from tax increment reinvestment Zone and so uh the the basic idea is that you funnel money into a specified area to help improve that area um well to ultimately to raise the property values and make improvements in those areas which results in an increase in taxes I will note that the board had a significant discussion on that because they're particularly the one board member who voted against it um did make the point that this does not create any new tax revenue for the City by improving it but again the boards at the end of the day the board's decision was this will help improve the overall area which will help further investment in a larger area and that's why they

[0:54:12] felt comfortable approving it I guess one final note the board did make an initial recommendation on funding for non-profits five board members voted to keep the allowance for nonprofits three were against it and the only reason I bring that up now is because they do want to discuss it more but there were two members who voted basically for eliminating non-profits but also voted for this project and so part of their thinking was under the current policy it's allowed they thought that there was a good case made for it so they voted for it while also not supporting funding future nonprofits so that I just wanted to give you some of that background of what some of them were thinking that they generally don't support funding nonprofits but because it's in the current policy they were comfortable approving it Daniel you want to make comment on what property tax dollars and sales tax dollars are used for in the city of San Angelo just for clarification I know that um so John touched on just a little bit um when you look at the tiers monies that do come in uh it's fun and tears is funded by property tax revenues there's a contribution that goes in there's a base amount that's established and then there's an incremental amount that that goes up on an annual basis based on values that incremental amount from property taxes goes into the tiers Fund in order to fund tiers the the argument has been that nonprofits do not contribute whatsoever to that tears fund because they don't pay property taxes and there's the rub with with many folks as well is that how can a group receive money if in fact that same entity is not even contributing toward the revenues of the tiers of the tiers monies so that's that's something to be considered I do understand as far as the the the view I'm kind of confused that you had three individuals that were were close to funding but yet I chose to fund this one that wouldn't have been the three-quarters majority in order for the city city council to approve this we would need six council members to approve this moving forward but again my

[0:56:15] concern is just that there's not a contribution from a non-profit and there's plenty of businesses out there that are contributing toward the tiers that would say hey wait a minute why are they receiving money when we we haven't received it yet especially let's explain in the bigger picture what property tax dollars and sales tax dollars are used for the city as a whole we need this especially for economic development we need it for growth we need it for to reduce the burden on our taxpayers as well so when you see a growth in the property tax revenues and sales tax revenues especially in contributions to tiers any monies that are invested that help leverage the growth in those areas help also to when you start when you when you start looking at property tax revenues as those revenues start coming in you want to grow your tax base you want to ensure that those monies are available what pays where do the dollars come from that pay for our police and our fire it comes from the general fund it comes from the from the taxpayers and and that's that's the the big issue so we do have our our and that's a good point because we have fire and and PD services that are provided uh yet uh when you start looking at non-profits in mind you nonprofits are there for a reason and we're very blessed to have non-profits in our community but we do have to take into consideration that uh the the monies that we do receive to to fund uh the public safety part of it does come from the general fund it does come from property tax revenues it does come from sales tax revenues as well I think the other issue that I want to make sure we talk about and um visit the conversation is that one of the reasons why the tiers money in my opinion should not be used for non-profits is exactly that reason they still use our far they still use our police we still have to do Street reconstruction we still have many issues within this city a general business a business for profit has no ability to apply for Grants such as the area

[0:58:21] foundation and there's a San Angelo giving or San Angelo Gibbs event coming up in May that allows non-profits to apply for this money business owners cannot apply to San Angelo gives only non-profits non-profits have already been given a great advantage by not having to pay for property taxes or sales tax dollars and the government has created non-profit status for those very reasons so that they cannot so that their funding supports their non-profit and they don't have to spend the money that regular businesses have to spend I'm a big believer that our non-profits add value to this community they add a great value to this community but they've also been given the advantage of no property tax commitment or sales tax commitment our greatest challenge in this city is coming up with the funds to pay for Street repair to pay for fire to pay for police Daniel the property tax dollar or the sales tax dollars are they eaten up by fire and police overhead they are mayor the monies that we actually collect we start looking at property tax revenues and mind you when property taxes came into being as really was to pay for Public Safety we can't even cover Public Safety with the property tax revenue that come in we had to supplement that with sales tax sales tax revenues so uh so no it's not even even the property taxes we collect run out is not even enough to pay for the public safety we have to supplement with sales tax revenues so we also have North chadburn which has a great need for being improved there was a request made to start utilizing some of the cheers fund which tears if you look at the language when you create a tears project is that those monies can be used to improve the infrastructure of

[1:00:23] a city many people believe that's the number one project that should be funded by tiers dollars because if you improve instead of picking winners and losers if you take a street Improvement project and it's multiple streets that the overall impact on that area will be the greatest impact for all businesses and all non-profits on all those streets when we start utilizing these Monies to fund non-profits we are eliminating an opportunity for all businesses including for-profit businesses that do put money into the pot both sales tax dollars and property tax dollars we have to look at this in a holistic perspective we need to make decisions that improve a district and improve the entire overall environment for all businesses in all non-profits the idea that this project would have a potentially economic impact on that district is questionable I'm not sure that that's valid it's certainly an easy thing to say it's a harder thing to prove this is not to say that this church is not an important part of that District it's it's a very important project for the people who attend that church is there signage or other things that exist for that church because I didn't see any signees any anything that even designates that building as a church I think the applicant could probably answer that better than I can but part of their proposal is to improve some of the lighting and signage for the building I don't know if there's consistently said that we cannot use we should not be using tears funds for for signage I mean it's been an overall part of the tears program that if a business cannot afford a sign then tears shouldn't be funding it and the same thing with Paving we have said that tears should not be

[1:02:26] pain for pavement or parking lots unless they is unless there is a plan for landscaping to improve that parking and those have been consistent in every single board meeting of Tears so what I don't like is doing is going outside the language and the conversations we've had on a consistent basis and all of a sudden change our perspective this is emotional and I know that they're going to be a lot of people who speak towards the emotional aspect of this but we've got to look at it from a fiscal fiscal responsible position and we as city council are responsible for making fiscally sound policies and making sure that those property tax dollars and sales tax dollars go to improving a district go to improving the overall City including the use of fire and police I'm sure if that building caught on fire there would be a lot of people who would be tickled to death that we have a fire department to put it out or if there's crime we already struggle we always struggle as a city to fund the services that all citizens use and utilize so I am registering I I support the church wanting to improve the facility I do not support the use of Tears money to do that with other comments Harry fortunately I have to agree with the mayor on this it wasn't many Council meetings before that we talked about another non-profit that we we really need to be focusing on the business that give back and I'm sure this church and their and the church members are very very good people and they really want to improve that particular area but I can't see

[1:04:28] them using tears funds just I'm sorry but those funds need to go to improving a business that will increase the taxes to support the police and fire department because property taxes quite honestly don't do that we have to have sales tax in order to in order to make that that whole fund have that whole fund work so from my perspective uh sometimes I don't align with a mayor but I'm definitely going to on this one I I want want to support businesses and I'm sorry that we can't support the non-profit further public comment Lucy okay as far as I'm concerned I've been I've heard everything everyone has said we knew the definition of Tears before we went ahead and approved the north side to be the non-profits to be eligible for the funds I believe like the other people that are on the tears board that stated hey this is policy right now it makes change in the future but as of now we should be able to approve this uh these improvements in the north side we wanted to in in town hall meetings we stated we want the north side to use their money now is the time even though it's non-profit we're going to make it look better we're going to make it more inviting we're going to make it look like it's it's starting to get on the road of looking better over there I do not see why we cannot approve this yet we can owe it yet we went ahead and gave the South Side money from our tears of money on the North side so for that reason and I've read the letters that support this uh Improvement on the North side for the tears so I am definitely for them approving the the tiers money for the north side yes Tom a little just historical we've

[1:06:31] had this discussion before where we've talked about another church and I'm building on 14th but the reason non-profits are actually eligible is back in 2017 when we made the proposal I was under the assumption there would be some development groups that come in as non-profits develop hotels develop Senior Living Community things and then they turn them over to a private industry to sell for-profit that was the only reason and at that time you and I had a discussion and you took it to you know non-profits or non-eligible in the South Zone as a mistake I did not let that go forward but it was not under the pretense of what we're talking about and I strongly agree with the mayor and Harry with our consistency and how we've treated people it's we put something in where the economics pay back and we've had this in discussions with zonings also is non-profits don't hit this area that generates Revenue back for us so with that I'm going to fall back in line with you all three or their public Larry uh you mentioned the four other tiers projects that we approved before this Council every single person on here was very enthusiastic about the response from the north tiers and those businesses out there to use those funds I I know we were all happy about that and we certainly want to continue that but this to my mind is not the project to support all right with that may I have a motion for denying the use of Cheers money for this project second second by Larry and by Tom we'll open it up for public comment good morning I'm Reverend William J McClendon

[1:08:34] second pastor of Gethsemane Missionary Baptist Church GTG single member district number four um he talked about everything I had written down so I'm just going to comment on some of the things y'all brought up um you talked about the Police and Fire Department and the funds for them the church members pay taxes you pay taxes so the so the money is going back I don't understand why you open the door for us you actually sent us a letter back in 2006 or seven when the tears first stood up inviting us in so the door's been open and now all of a sudden when you see us coming you want to close the door I don't understand that somebody answer the question please well I'll be you just documented that as 2006 2007. in 2017 we cut off half of the non-profits and for the second one right we all pay taxes here I mean those of us at home we do and I get that and I get the mission you're trying to go but I'm saying for us to be fair and consistent with people we've already denied in the past I'm just sticking to that point that non-profits are not eligible in the tiers um it and mainly because they don't provide an economic incentive to come back I'm sure and I've got several calls about this pastor Mack but I have gone with we have to be consistent and this is a hard decision at the end of the day I'm sure both sides of this probably won't be happy but it's decision we make to be fair and consistent with what we do as a city well improving the church it will be a testimony to the other businesses on Martin Luther King

[1:10:37] do you want to use some of this tears money because now they're going to see oh the churches are beautifying the buildings in the Landscaping you have several businesses out there they're not doing anything they need a little bit of encouragement and that's what we're trying to do that's what the church does thank you crack Myers um single men that are District Four I've heard the words that seem to be almost contradictory the way they're being used holistic Fair Equitable all kinds of things um if you're going to talk about fairness you need to have a comparison downtown San Angelo which we're very proud of the people the city the businesses have done a marvelous job in recreating uh Historic downtown San Angelo there's a complaint because there's so much property the vast majority I think in terms of dollar amounts of properties that do not pay taxes downtown it's not for profit and so they get the benefit of the city's services and everything else without paying taxes but every business downtown has an advantage because of those every business is in the shadow of a not-for-profit or a non-tax paying building that is well maintained that is better than any other business in property in business downtown they are drawing crowds in because of the need to have medical care and

[1:12:41] services for City activities they get the benefit of these facilities that the people in Blackshear and Reagan pay taxes on to support their business well-being that's something that just they have been seen as not paying taxes not adding to tears but they are adding to the value incredibly in safety in security and stability and profit of every business downtown and they're being paid for other places but just in terms of what the churches in San Angelo on that side of the bypass do I think they do improve the business area and also take pressure off of the rest of the city I preached the 63rd anniversary of Galilee Baptist Church a couple of weeks ago and they're a church that has been there a long time they are a church like most the churches up there that are sustained by 100 around 100 members or less in many instances it's very difficult but they provide food for the people they provide counseling for the elderly they provide programs for the young people I was at the installation of the pastor at St Paul Baptist last week and they're a church that does the same kind of thing Gethsemane is across the street from a church called um excuse me Wesley Trinity Methodist Church there's a lot of concern downtown every time there's an effort to provide housing for homeless people downtown that that's going to hurt the business downtown if those people run around their Wesley Methodist provides hundreds of meals every day for those people so they can stay Uptown and not be down there bothering you these churches as not for profits are providing services that the

[1:14:46] city does not have to pay they are small entities and what they would take away from taxes uh is is just minimal in terms of the scope and the size of what's going to happen also they are the anchors you talk about uh it's it's not been proven that they make a difference in terms of property values and and business incentive you look at them they are the anchors in almost every block that they occupy they are the people who make sure that not just that building and that that facility and that parking lot but the whole block is improved you go on down where there are no churches you find substandard Residential houses there vacant lots and so as long as that happens tears is not going to help provide real incentive to attract business these churches provide a service from which the city directly benefits and one last thing when you're talking about fairness to everybody historic downtown is a good name and we're so proud of it historic Black Shear has another context of its history I served on the redress Committee of the NAACP for 10 years in recent years and 20 years that neighborhood has been defined by redlining by banks by contracts from Realtors and citizens in other parts of the town so that people won't sell to people who are in the African-American Community businesses that are not paying minimum wage and are not providing services so when you talk about fairness giving a break to a neighborhood that desperately needs it I think holistically is probably a really good deal [Applause] good afternoon again Kim Henry from

[1:16:51] number three and I uh I'm a social worker so I advocate for nonprofits of course and I do agree nonprofits do have advantages but I also really strongly believe in making sure that you're making informed decisions so I wanted to share some facts with you and one is yes nonprofits do get grants however those grants don't go to beautification and making the buildings look better or help the facilities they go to serve direct programs or Services there are very very few grants nowadays for General operating support which would include projects like this to the city also offers money to businesses in a grant form known as a business plan competition which is about seventy thousand dollars every year which is ironically the same almost near exact amount of what this project is proposing now I understand I understand the business plan competition is different than tax reinvestment I understand that it's supported by sales tax dollars yes so I understand it's a different process but I just I would like you to keep that in mind um also you know here's some numbers that I would again would like to share with you one in eight jobs across Texas are provided by non-profits so when you impact the workforce and you're impacting the property the taxes in the community and the non-profit yearly growth rate is about 10 percent and there are 216 billion dollars spent in expenditures from nonprofits and 110 billion dollars in annual gross product and this is just in Texas alone also there are 4.89 billion dollars in government dollars that are provided to nonprofits to help fill and Bridge the Gauss which I'll talk about in a moment um Texas nonprofits have 300 billion dollars in assets and that includes properties um again I know non-profits do not pay property I get that I understand that but I want to show you how nonprofits do really impact the economy it's extremely important businesses can also operate in a fiscal sponsorship which is essentially operating and working with the non-profit to do non-profit work for businesses can essentially get non-profit grant funding if they are partnering with the nonprofit to do a project or a program so they do have access in a way to those funds and at the end of the day as they've kind of

[1:18:54] already stated non-profits fill the Gap so whether it's covid or it's homelessness regardless mayor with all due respect you publicly called homeless people embarrassing to this city and I guarantee you the property value will be impacted if we do have the homeless people running around and not being put into a place or offered a housing or anywhere that they could go um so if you know if non-profits didn't have to fill these gaps again like covid homelessness disability rights the state Assisted Living there's so many different things that nonprofits do that fill the gaps if they didn't have to fill the gaps then they possibly would have the money they would most likely have the money to help beautify and work on their projects their facilities and their internal needs but again their money goes to directly serving the people when you serve the people the workforce the economy you are impacting the taxes that's all I have thank you very much good morning I'm going to pull the microphone down a bit so you can talk into it thank you good morning thank you for the opportunity to be before you today my name is Evelyn Smith I am a minister at Gethsemane missionary uh Baptist church and I'm an SMD 5. um I want to explain to you how I got involved in in the tears program I was here at a city council meeting July of last year for a totally different subject and I heard about the tears program so I came up when it was opened up to the public and I asked a question were there any funds for non-profit organizations to improve their area and they told me no and explained why so I sat down so the next meeting I came back to I decide I wanted to ask where is there any funds around to help non-profit organizations to beautify the area but I didn't get a chance to ask because uh it was already on the books again for non-profit to be approved to be determined whether non-profit could

[1:20:57] be available those funds be available for them and I'm going oh praise God for that amen so that was passed on August the 16th of of last year the non-profit organization could put in an application um for the tiers of funding and so I was a little disheartened when I heard about that um it was being asked to walk back on that and we are not a church that's just trying to fix our church uh because we're trying to be self-sufficient we are now trying to raise money and funding for a 50 000 bathroom that we need for handicap to get Revitalize our bathroom for for handicap so we try to be self-sufficient um on our own but what we want what we want to do right now we're trying to make a significant impact in San Angelo and in the north side area we want to keep San Angelo beautiful on both sides and uh the South Side have really done a great job of downtown I'm originally from San Angelo I was raised here and I remember when downtown had um had Levine's and all the other little stores downtown and so to keep it up it's really been um has really been profitable for the community and I love it I mean I understand what you guys have have done there but again one of the criterias um for the project was to provide connection between activities which is already been stated by several of people who come up here already the things that we do as non-profit in the community that we don't really get any funds for and so um It also says improved pedestrian and vehicle in uh in infrastructure now we have a bus stop that's on the corner right on the corner of our church parking lot we had no idea

[1:22:59] that that bus stop was going to be put there but right now the parking lot is like a detriment to anybody comes and sits there we have people over there all the time walking across our parking lot waiting for the bus and there's there's um things on the parking lot that could be uh is non-safe for people to come and so that's for the public that's that's really not for us so we're trying to make these areas for the public It also says strengthen the focus area um identity we're trying to change that support the goals of making the area a cultural Leisure and uh tourist destination well we have people from the chicken farm in that area we have Franco's who have a lot of people over there and Rodeo people who who come through but you know what those people pass through they don't want to stop on the North side and that's bad for the businesses they because the area looks dilapidated and run down okay now you can have a business that's improved their building and the building looks good but that doesn't make people want to stop there if you have a dilapidated area and everything else looks run down they they pass through so how does that help a business if people don't want to stop at the business to do business so I have friends on the South Side who come to me and ask me you know that area over there because we have functions over there different all different functions not just at our church but different things going on and they ask me is it safe to go over there you know it doesn't look so nice over there so anyway um so the goal of the tears program is to fund projects that bring new business and positive impact into the area and that's what we're trying to do and help the business do and the more people that come into the area the church um you know the church people be more comfortable coming over to that area and make the area look more beautiful and

[1:25:03] there is a a lot of traffic on Martin Luther King uh Boulevard could you just wrap up your comments please I'm sorry what would you wrap up your comments please okay I also want to point out that in our packet that we uh submitted we have Western Skies and um Window Depot who also stated that it would improve their business if the area was improved um I also want to say that um that the north side um every time we do the non-profit use the businesses we get the uh the beautification of our area but the some funds the funds go back into the business like Window Depot we use them if all the other non-profit use them the funds go back into Window Depot that is a business and that is helping the business and also just wrapping it up real quick I want to say that we submitted our application that we want that we we believe we are eligible for each project criteria um incentive type and qualifying um award ranking uh requirements and we propose that the belated buildings in the area need to be improved for the overall fiscal impact we're trying to find out what is trying to make the significant impact of the area and it's not just for it's not just for our church so if we want to keep San Angelo beautiful let's try to do a a both side now I understand about the tier this program money but you know we do pay taxes we do support the businesses over there so thank you very much okay all right well thank you for the opportunity thank you Evelyn [Applause] readings greetings to all my name is Theodore Boone I am a sort of a CEO of a non-profit organization I think before we go any further

[1:27:09] I think we need to pause for a moment and look at non-profit organization as a benefit to society and to our community I think we need to look at them from a different View because many of them are the backbone of our community they provide services not only that they bring about creativity not only that but they care for people all of these non-profit organizations are not churches a majority of them that we're talking about serves your children as a matter of fact how many people out here are engaged in activities with non-profit organization that pays big taxes I want everybody that Hayes and support non-profit organizations to stand up you're a part of you support you donate to it go to it I want you to stand up how many of you do it how many of your children have been served by some place how many of you are relatives how many of your employees how many people in the city San Angelo isn't this a non-profit organization do you get paid do you help back up services

[1:29:13] I'm not talking about a church I'm talking about people versus Commerce Commerce is for the benefit of a small portion but non-profit organizations are for the benefit of society if we can take money and invest in bars if we can take money from whatever taxes and pay for activities that is not for the well-being of community and Society how do we have the nerve turn down non-profit organizations I am a part of one I have a house I pay taxes everybody go to these churches pay taxes if they have homes they contribute to society I'm standing here because I have a vision and my vision is to see an area that has been robbed of resources restored with the capacity to have identity you look at that Martin Luther King Drive I'm gonna start calling in the Martin Luther King corridor I call it a corridor because a long Martin Luther King Drive are probably more non-profit organizations and some of them are owned by the city but the problem in the area is it's dark there's no light

[1:31:19] so people don't come there because of fear what I think is time to change the story it's time to invest in some people who need some encouragement and resources to see somebody of ourselves that take interest in the community and are willing to make sacrifices to see a change come there is a cluster that started at a place where the community was divided nobody think about that there were plenty of black businesses in San Angelo before the freeway came through and severed it give us an opportunity seventy thousand dollars in a billion dollar business think about it think about it how much money have you been spending in that area how many of the tax dollars that come naturally into that area goes to improve it we want it improved I said I wasn't going to say anything but I'm going to say something and what I'm I'm going to say is three five years ago we started an initiative ourself we didn't go to anybody we didn't go to anybody trying to get resources uh to make an improvement in a facility we have brought it up we put in our own windows we paid our own money because we believe that if people can see positive changes they will participate in it and the quality of life will change because people have hope that their efforts are not in vain I hear it ringing thank you very much

[1:33:23] may I say one more thing one more thing that one more thing is that there's a culture on MLK that need to be Resurrected there's a culture in that side of the town that need to be restored there's a culture that if not invested in you will also be a part of the responsibility of not bringing back to past something that is going to die if the investment is not made there's a cultural one last thing already thank you very much thank you further public comment Shirley Spears single number District Five good morning Madam mayor Council this is a very interesting discussion and I want to uh first go back to last summer when some of us were walking in the heat in North Angelo trying to solicit those business owners to apply apply apply for Tears funding we also request a town hall meetings which you all graciously agreed to and we had those Town Hall meetings and we determined we being those of us who were involved that there was an educational deficiency in terms of them understanding how to apply in their fear of applying for those funds now downtown is part of the Southern cheers area and we know that there are a lot of non-profits primarily churches in the

[1:35:26] downtown area so we've had this discussion before but as pointed out non-profit does not necessarily just mean Church and I think perhaps that's part of the factor here that we keep honing in on this particular applicant is that it is a church there are other non-profits throughout the city and there are other business personally owned businesses and City facilities I question why it is in the seven years that I've been here there seems to always be a challenge when we want to do something on the North side except for when I saw the money that came through Department of Transportation and improve the streets in the northern area of the city I recall having a discussion um Mr Valenzuela with you about putting Park excuse me putting benches for bus stops we took care of that I remember that but the money that is being discussed here is seventy thousand dollars as has been stated I believe that what this particular non-profit I'm not going to call it a church I'm just going to say this non-profit will do to feed into positive energy that you've already heard can be done in that building it will start a whole idea a movement of others whether they are personal business owners or others you know we had a lot of issues trying to get approval last year with getting restrooms at Martin Luther King Park and I'm still waiting on that to be finalized because of the slow process that is used in the city for permitting and things of that nature people are asking and we

[1:37:29] raised our own money for that the community those non-profits those personal businesses citizens across the city we raised our own funds for that over two hundred and seventy thousand dollars and here we are a year later and we still don't have restrooms so I'm curious and I know that you don't have to answer because we're in this public comment period but I'm very curious as to why it is that we have to go through so much of a of a problem whenever we're trying to do things according to the process in the northern side of San Angelo I don't understand it and perhaps one day someone can explain it to me the current process for tiers dollars for North Angelo allows for non-profits it doesn't say churches Social Service organizations or any of that it says non-profits that the non-profits are eligible I think we also need to be concerned that this has been heard by another group of citizens that you trust their judgment on the tiers board who unanimously basically agree to this application and here we are before you asking you to vote your three-fourths or whatever the the requirement is and again I want us to understand and not just look at this applicant as a church that may be creating a problem for some of you because we want to keep church and state separate I get it but we need to make sure that we understand that this is an applicant that is a non-profit and the current policy allows for consideration of granting funds to a non-profit in that section of the city thank you thank you very much further public comment

[1:39:35] if you've spoken once you cannot come forward again each individual is only allowed to speak once see no public comment further public comment we will take a vote mayor I'd like to make one more comment um I wanted to just let you know that in the north tiers funds there's 1.8 million dollars that it would be a shame if we can use 71 000 of it on the North side to support this item that's what I wanted y'all to know thank you Lucy may I have a motion for denial of approving the funds for um this project made the motion you made a motion a second public comment all right we'll take a vote starting with Tommy no Tom hey harry yay no wait a minute this is denial denial yes denying it yes denying Tommy no Larry Lucy I mean Karen except and Lucy okay now let's get this taken care of correctly we're denying it correctly we're denying it so the vote Yes to deny it no all right it is denied um no so wait a minute then wait wait wait I do I support denying it I do not okay I wanted to go I want to prove it and I also am voting with Lucy all right so the most so it is a 43 vote which means it is four to nine using the money that's the final vote four to three all right we'll move on to the next item on the agenda

[1:41:37] and that item is considered terminating the aquatic plant specialist agreement between the city of San Angelo and Mr Kenneth C Landon for the operation of the international water lily collection and Carl you're on Carl white Parks and Recreation we're seeking approval to terminate the aquatic plants specialist agreement also known as the water lily collection agreement the city entered into this third agreement with Mr Landon back in 2018 Mr Landon passed in July 14 2021 [Music] The Collection was then overseen by his estate primarily executor Larry jolly who passed who also passed February 23 2023 another executive Mr Atlanta landed as a state exists and this is Jennifer Jackson I believe she's here at the meeting today the existing agreement ends September 30 2024 it's unknown when Mr Landon's estate will settle staff recommends terminating immediately in beginning with the new agreement Mr Landon was an expert at many things especially running an international Waterloo collection he did have a fault he never wanted to talk about succession of running the collection when he passed there was no one to take over except for his estate thankfully Mr Jolly did work with Mr Landon for several years I've known him to work with Mr Landon for 14 years I've known him that long and Mr Jolly did a decent job of running the collection hiring some folks to maintain it and to to clean up the operations and get it going it was not at the level of what Mr landed did and uh but he did do a decent job we're at the point now since Mr Jala has passed that we need to terminate the agreement existing agreement and work towards the next agreement

[1:43:38] times of the essence thankfully we are in the dormant season but we must continue the collection get it set up and running for the this next season so we we don't have much time so when you are asking us to terminate what does that termination mean go through and maybe just the agreement with Larry jolly maintaining it or what are we terminating the existing agreement we had with Mr Landon Mr Landon yes so he's deceased so sort of automatic isn't it wasn't automatic it defaulted to his estate but I believe we do have grounds to terminate immediately apparently they were where the city was basically honoring that agreement that transferred to the estate and so the estate was maintaining and operating The Collection under that agreement but since so many changes have occurred you know we have concerns about that and it's time for the city to enter into a new Fresh agreement that gives true Direction and safeguards to maintaining that collection into the future well what I know is so many people have reached out and have been very concerned about the future of the international Lilly Garden it is a treasure and something that adds a lot to the city of San Angelo so I know that we need direction and a path forward to make sure that the international Lily Pad is protected and that there's a plan for continuing of support for that and that is part of what the second that my next item is okay so by terminating this aquatic plant specialist agreement it allows us to move forward to creating a new agreement with another person is that correct with authorization to

[1:45:42] negotiate and execute that agreement yes so this isn't a negative against the Lily Garden it is a path forward correct correct we we know it's an asset it is an attraction to the city and we also want to honor Mr Landon's Legacy he was a master at what he did and perhaps we can even name the collection after Mr landed at some point so we would like to do those two things continue on and honor Mr Landon all right do does anyone on Council have any questions or comments concerns just items just a couple I like you mayor have have had uh more than a couple of phone calls from citizens who are very supportive of the collection and uh it's an economic development tool for a couple of our developers here in town when they're trying to attract business to town they in fact use that as a a point of pride in showing one one feature of our community so in my opinion mayor um based on the timing if I understand correctly Carl we are in an open window now that things need to be happening for the collection to be able to be available to the public this year and if we don't do that then we could potentially not have the collection available for for the the public to use this year is that correct that's correct sir so mayor I am in support of terminating this agreement and moving forward with a new agreement just just to to get us where we need to be I'll make the motion to terminate the agreement any public comment good morning

[1:47:48] my name is Lori desello and I am a member of District Six and I also have served on the perks and Recreation Advisory Board I was there when we did the last contract for Ken Landon and the contract was given to a person that was experienced that knew what he was doing that had the education and the knowledge to produce a lily display now the executors of the estate at Ken Landon have tried to continue this they have done a job and produced a display but I believe that we should be able to see a better display for our tax dollars and in order to do this I believe that we need an experienced person to produce the lilies for us and in order to do that I'm in agreement with dissolving the contract and going after another one good boy thank you any further public comment my name is Florida Santa Ana I work for Larry for about 27 years a little bit so you can speak in and uh Mr Jolly did a great job on the lilies I don't want for the contract to be terminated because even after he passed that it hasn't been not even a month uh we have been working uh the people that was working for him in the past have still been working cleaning the pools the pools are clean at this time except

[1:49:52] for one and the one that the city needs to clean those are the only two that are not clean but we are moving and doing everything and keeping everything up uh continue if anything has to be done I think that we need more time um but everything is in place to put the lilies back in the pools uh Mr Jolly left everything and I mean safe and um I am involved because I'm in the I'm the one that translates for the Spanish lady that is involved in taking care of those lilies um and she did a great job for the past two years and he has been very much any further public comment hello hello my name is Jennifer Jackson I am the remaining estate executor I was also a Kenneth Lennon's goddaughter very hard for me um lawyer Lord is correct in the fact that the process of maintaining and caring for the lilies is still going on the workers have been down there cleaning the ponds getting ready for the transition to take place to get the new lilies in the ponds there are lilies that are going to go in I am not Kenneth Landon he is the one that could provide a first class Lily display as you guys requested for him to do I can say that we can do everything that we can to continue doing the lilies to provide as much as we are capable of doing with whatever help we can get I cannot 100

[1:51:57] guarantee you that it is going to be a first class production as Ken would have given you I do believe that those do not need to go away that was his dream that was his legacy that was his passion he wanted it to continue no matter what for visitors to be able to go and visit for the community to be able to go and have family time with their kids with their out of town family to show them what we have in San Angelo it was something that we didn't have before that was brought here because of him so I don't think they need to go away I do think that there's probably other paths that need to be considered um for it to be able to continue at the level that it has been before Ken did an awesome job he worked with a lot of the city parks Personnel along the way and they have experience many years of experience in maintaining the Lily ponds the area the the flower beds everything that's down there for everybody to see um I'm not a post you'll never be another Ken Landon and we understand that and you understand that but what we do want to do is to make sure there's a path forward that Ken would be proud of and that continues his legacy and his talent that he so willingly supported the city of San Angelo with and we thank you and I know it's hard and I know it's emotional but thank you for coming forward today and and we're going to do the best we can to make sure Ken would be proud for the public comments seeing none then we'll take a vote all those in favor of terminating item e please say I

[1:54:03] none opposed motion passes 7-0 we'll now go to item G first reading and public hearing of it oh sorry okay yes item F consider approving an aquatic plant specialist agreement with Mr Taylor Chase trimbley for the operation and maintenance of the international Wally water lily collection and authorizing the city manager to negotiate and execute all related documents again Carl you're on yes we're seeking just that authorization to negotiate and execute a new agreement with Mr tumbly chase tombly Mr tumbly has nearly 20 years of exp of experience working with the collection in Mr Landon I've I've been here 23 years I've seen him down there many times he definitely has that work experience with directly with Mr Landon um and he will also soon finish a master of science in agriculture staff has full confidence in Mr thomley's knowledge skills and abilities to operate the collection to the expected standards um and in a matter of terms we could work on a two or three year term agreement or it could be a shorter term maybe one-year agreement in which time we work on a a request for proposal that the call for other experts who may be interested in running the collection which could also be Mr Tommy Lee which would give the city time to do that as well as Mr Tommy time to to see if this is the what he wants to do for uh his future as well is he interested in in moving forward with an agreement yes he is and he's also present to Dave and in terms of compensation I think it should remain what is budgeted because uh he would have to purchase new fertilizers some additional stock and some other materials questions for Carl yes Tom so Carl going

[1:56:07] back to Mr Tommy what you brought up before and he can just can we make sure we have a B team in place too I mean whether that be uh assistant or somebody else in case of something that would happen we wouldn't be in a situation like this make sure they have a point somebody that's supporting staff that can step in should they be not able to fulfill the duties for a period of time yes staff can step in but also Mr Tomball is married to Melody and she also has more than 20 years experience worth working in Mr Landon there we've got two a teams yes good enough I'll shout out we're good any further questions or comments for Carl yes Gary go ahead I've heard plenty of stories about the care that Mr twombly has taken to the collection a lot of is voluntary as I recall in the past he's stepping into enormous shoes I think I would favor a one-year contract to see how this works out I have little doubt that that he will do a fantastic job but it allows us some flexibility in where we see the collection going it is what have is the contract that's being brought forward for us to approve is it a one year or two year we're at this point asking for authorization to negotiate and execute it so if you give us Direction in terms of the term uh we'll definitely take that as part of the negotiations well my concern talk about the work involved because this has to have an ongoing plan it cannot be start and stop and I don't think starting and stopping with multiple different persons or personalities is the right thing to do it has to stay focused and it has to have a plan and when you're talking about plants things like the lilies it takes more than just a

[1:58:09] I mean we're already in the month of almost April right and so that lilies are good from April to win when we start to pull them they they start blooming late April depends on when it starts warming up but basically late April through the end of September or even early October depending on the weather I'm definitely okay with going a longer term if that's the direction Council wants to give us I'd like to hear from other council members I want to hear what Teresa has to say but then I think I still have a question one of the options excuse me that we have is that we can do a one-year term with the option to extend for two to five additional terms and that way it's basically a long-term contract unless something goes off the rails and then we can terminate it after that first year usually with the notice period so that's an option as well okay that that answers part of my question do we have something in the contract Teresa that should there just be let's just call it neglect and not uh really taking care of the collection it may be a subjective statement in there but do we have a way in the contract that if something goes awry that we sense hey this isn't going well and we're not to the end of the contract that we can terminate that contract with 30 days notice 60 days notice it's actually 90 days notice if we just want to terminate if it's because there is neglect or somebody's not carrying out the required service that can be an immediate termination that we would bring to you I would like Mr tombly to please come forward and introduce yourself and make all of counsel aware of who you are and just talk about your background and and all the time and energy that you've invested in the international lilies at this point absolutely good morning good morning my name is Taylor twombly um I want to start by saying my wife and I did work with Ken for more than 20 years

[2:00:13] my wife started in 2000 I started in 2004. um I guess what I'd like to do I I was going through some of my old documents last night just kind of reminiscing and uh Ken did a lot of things and one of the things that he did was he he really cared about the people that cared about him and I've really dedicated I've Desi I've dedicated a lot of my life to understanding Horticulture anything in the Botanical Sciences field so much so that I've pursued a master's degree in it um and in the pursuit of that master's degree I went to Ken and I actually I obtained a letter of recommendation signed by him illustrating some of my duties ethics and aptitude while working down there for 17 years it meant the world to me and it's also my goal not to just carry on his legacy and not honor him but I personally would like to see a path forward with the Lily ponds you know I see on the monitors that we've got nymphia Texas Dawn official state water lily of Texas now I mean I've given tours countless times talking about it to everybody telling them what it is but you know it's just to be able to look at that and say hey man I worked with that that's that's pretty cool so you know I can talk about my my experience I mean I can throw out some technical terms um but but really you know when you think about it from a big picture this is a jewel of San Angelo this is an oasis in the desert and I think it's important to not just look at you know the next couple years but where does it go in perpetuity that's that's my goal I'd also like to take a moment to if

[2:02:15] y'all have any questions what can I do what how can what can I answer for you mommy Mr twombly do you have uh some thoughts in mind for succession if the unthinkable were to happen so yes Beyond even your your your your spouse do you have some other thoughts that you could share with with the council here I do Um how my wife got involved in which is how I got involved Robert price was the biology teacher for Central High School that happened in 2000. what I would like to do is I like to work with the school districts to bring down some more students I mean I can't name any one person right now and there may be better qualified individuals moving forward but if we can work with not just any school district but all School District potentially Angelo State University I'd very much like to get the university involved I think it would be an awesome just opportunity to to really bring in the the scientific field and then look at potential candidates I mean think I mean you have a you have an oasis that is its own self-sustaining well not necessarily self-sustaining but it's it's known ecosystem right you have an opportunity to bring down anybody who works in the agricultural field or anybody who works in the Botanical Sciences field to train in this area and it also gives the city an opportunity to look at potential candidates moving forward I mean think about anybody who does any kind of um um trainings I mean everybody who goes to the Master's Degree has to undergo some sort of of not necessarily residency but um internship you know this this gives the city the opportunity to look at candidates in the future thank you comments from Council I like the idea that we would have a one year with the additional two-year window option on it I think one Year's too short on this because we're already

[2:04:17] mid-season on the Lily season if you will so I I think that's too short-sighted so I definitely would like to see the two-year within other one year with an option of two more years and um then at that point you might have a lot of new ideas for us in terms of other things that need to be done Etc and we want to keep that conversation open and we want to see the Lilly Garden continue to grow and prosper and continue to be the asset that it is and I know under your leadership I have great confidence that that's going to happen I'd move approval second second to buy Larry any public comment concerning this item yes two years one year was a two-year additional all right so with that Laura you want to come forward yes yes this is Lori desello again um the reason why I wanted to come up here is because that was one of the things when I first started um as part of The Advisory Board was to try to work with Ken to produce succession plan and it scared him but after listening to Mr tumbly I think that more people will be interested will be able to get that's exactly what we want if we can make it an educational thing it would be fabulous thank you any further public comment seeing none let's take a vote all those in favor say I'm an opposed motion passes seven zero we'll now go to item G first reading and public hearing of an ordinance to abandon the approximately 20 foot by 507 foot unimproved alleys in Block 39 and 40 miles addition between fourth and 5th

[2:06:22] Street and North Oaks North Magdalene and Pecan Street John your arm thank you John James director of planning and development services as you mentioned this is just a request to abandon two alleys that were planted basically probably 100 years ago and they were never constructed and so these properties are all vacant undeveloped and you can see here the two alleys between basically Oaks all the way over to Pecan and then between Fourth and Fifth Street so two blocks the full alley within two blocks again neither one of those have ever been constructed as an alley as you'll see there are no utilities or any other obstructions the South half of both is owned by the applicant and then you can it's a little hard to see but there's a little piece here that's also owned by the applicant the remainder at the north end of this block and the entirety of the north of that block is owned by the state of Texas there is a rail line that runs right through the middle of that property this abandonment of the alley won't affect that at all it's not within in the right of way at least on this portion TxDOT will be offered there half of that alley through the process that we go through once the alley is abandoned they're able to claim their half or not if they don't claim it then the applicant may claim the whole thing if if they choose to do that as I mentioned there are no utilities it is vacant here's an aerial photo of the area you can see the railroad track that runs through there but again that's not within the alley or the property to be abandoned so I won't read through all of these I think I've mentioned most of them already we do ask you know typically to find what is the public benefit of this basically it's removing the obligation for the city to ever maintain anything within that alley it also allows that to be incorporated into the adjacent

[2:08:23] property for future development that could become taxable in the future the question people have asked me is the following is that when we take what is city-owned property Alleyway for example and we allow for someone to ask to do what this is being allowed to do what do what do we charge them because it's obviously they benefit and they gain more property which increases the value of their property because they get additional land and have the potential to sell it for additional increase Revenue because the property is larger in fact benefits the development of that property in a much better way so what is it that someone has to pay the city or does any is there any fees or any expense for the person who's asking for this um property to be abandoned yes in fact one of the the first condition on all abandonments is payment of the assessment formula it's in the city's fee schedule so it's not it's not a straight purchase of the property but it's not a straight fee either it's not like a hundred dollar fee it is based on the value of the surrounding properties so it's it's basically a per acre dollar amount that is based on the value of the surrounding properties but it's not the full value because the property owner even as it being an alley they maintain the adjacent properties maintain some of the underlying rights off the top of my head I don't know what the exact calculation of that is but it is a percentage of the value of the property based on the surrounding properties and I ask it because we have a lot of requests lately for abandonment of Alleyways and once again it adds value to that property gives them greater abilities

[2:10:24] which is good because we want it developed but I just wanted what we asked the applicant to pay for and that's actually calculated after an abandonment because it it takes our real estate staff they have to go out and do property research on all the surrounding properties and values from the appraisal district so we typically don't do that at this point if this is approved that's the next step that they will go out and do all of those values and calculate what that fee is and so that's a number we don't have today but it is a it's not in substantial uh it is a based on the surrounding property values I'll add that our public work staff is generally in favor of abandoning these alleys particularly ones that haven't been constructed technically we're responsible to go out and maintain and mow those Alleyways and and all that so it it actually removes a burden from the city in terms of taxpayer resources having to go out and maintain those particularly one like this that there are no utilities no water lines anything within that that abandoned alley or potentially abandoned alley so it is something that comes as a recommendation from staff as well all right for the questions yeah go ahead my history I moved to approve as presented second of by Tom any public comment considering this item seeing none hearing none will take a vote all those in favor of approving item G say aye aye not opposed motion passes 7-0 item H first reading and public hearing of an ordinance to rezone properties from the light manufacturing zoning District to The General commercial zoning District being 0.951 Acres located at the Northeast intersection of West 4th Street and North Bryant and addressed as 402 North Bryant so again as you read this is uh rezoning from lot manufacturing to General

[2:12:26] commercial and I think that'll show better on a this is just a concept plan of what they want to do on the property basically retail kinds of things I'll just remind you what I always do when when an applicant presents something like this you're approving the zoning and anything allowed in the zoning you're not approving this particular layout but they are looking at a couple of the current proposal is for a couple of drive-through facilities I believe one's an oil change type facility and the other is a restaurant we did send out our notices 17 uh none none response no responses in favor or in opposition uh this is an area that historically was zoned manufacturing because of its proximity to the rail line uh however this Corridor of Brian as you know is largely commercial uh all of the things that are there currently even Within These light manufacturing District are commercial uh there is adjacent General commercial so it really makes sense it actually probably makes sense for a larger area to be rezoned but this is the applicant's request is a general commercial on that particular property questions for John move to approves we're good we're good all right so there's a motion for approval a second by Lucy public comment saying none will take a vote all those in favor say aye none opposed motion passes seven zero there's no closed session today so we will move into the follow-up and administrative issues um so we'll move to item a b 8 B consider approving various board nominations the animal shelter advisory committee Bambi Aker SMD uh five to second term ending January 2025 the fort Concho Museum board Penny Roberts smd5 to the first term Parks and Recreation Advisory Board Emily Jane Cowan smd1 to first term ending December 2024. do I

[2:14:31] have a motion for approval of those board positions motion to approve thank you Karen second by Lucy all those any public comments and there's nothing to hear public comments seeing none then we'll take a vote all those in favor say aye aye motion for approval of those board nominations is 7-0 and with that may I have a motion and seconded any public comment with that let's take a vote all in favor of adjourning say aye motion passes 7-0 this meeting is adjourned wrong

Captured 2026-07-26 · source: youtube.com/watch?v=PtntMS-lZ5g