San Angelo City Council 6-3-25

[0:00:00] Good morning everyone. Thank you for attending this morning city council agenda. It's Tuesday, June the 3rd, 2025. Um we're calling this meeting to order right now. And first of all, we'd like to start with our prayer this morning by Art Mavro, if we pronounced that right. Thank you. Let's pray. Father, we gather this morning as a community of your people to offer ourselves a fresh in adoration to you to conform our minds more nearly to the mind of Christ to receive the renewing gift of the Holy Spirit. We unite as your people in the company of Christ to do the business of our city and to dedicate this day and all that we are to your glory and service. Bless us now as and give us wisdom and careful attention to those things that will increase our community and stature. For I ask these things in the name of our risen Lord. Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Honor the Texas flag. I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas. One state under God, one and indivisible. All right. As we start public comment, Heather, do you have anybody signed up? Yes, sir. Um, Evelyn Smith, you know what? Let me read this statement right quick before you start, Evelyn. You're fine. Go ahead and come on up, Evelyn. Members of the public may raise issues or concerns not listed on the regular agenda during this time. To participate, please sign in with the city clerk prior to the beginning of the meeting. Speakers will be called in the order they are signed. When speaking, citizens must speak from the podium.

[0:02:02] Address all comments to the dis. Begin by stating your name and address or single member district number and limit the remarks to three minutes or less. Good morning. Evelyn Smith, SMD fine. Let the record state that on May 6th, the San Angelo City Council voted to shut down the opportunities for nonprofit organizations to apply for tiers funding three years after applying for it. On 2022, Mayor Brenda Gun stated clearly that nonprofit organizations are not eligible because they don't pay taxes. Two weeks later, it was approved by the TEI program and the city council that the north and south side would be combined and that the southside would not be eligible for nonprofit organization funds for tiers, but yet the north side would be allowed to apply. It is important that in the Texas controller regulation, there's nothing to disqualify nonprofits from tiers funding. The city council knew that nonprofit like churches do not pay taxes yet they allowed them to apply anyway. Gene Church submitted an application on August 22 uh 2022. Uh over the following three years, the TEI board reviewed and approved the application, but yet it was continually rejected by the city council. And I believe that's not a valid reason. The city council normally opened the door for nonprofits to apply despite their ex uh tax exempt status and yet they continued the process for three years. On January 7, the city council initially voted to approve gas cinema application, but yet mayor Brenda Gunther and city councilman Tom Thompson continue to object, repeating the same point that nonprofits do not pay taxes. And Tom Thompson also stated that this should provision should have been removed in 2017. Yet it remains, why did the city council approve the process for the nonprofits to apply in the first place if the tax exempt status was always going to disqualify them? was misleading, wasteful, and uh wasted taxpayers money. Since it was dead, the application was dead on arrival. This isn't about uh guest cine church being denied funding. It's the real reason is

[0:04:04] that the nonprofits were encouraged to apply and then ultimately disqualified for a reason that were already known when the process opened. This is gross and ne negligence and misuse of taxpayers money. Gene Church followed the process. Everything was done decent and in order. And I now believe that former mayor Brenda Gunther and now mayor Tom Thompson Ogene me church and uh uh and the city a apology. Now I know that may never happen but I choose to forgive them anyway for letting the application going through that was always dead on arrival. And I want to thank the city council that the continuing city council who did support the nonprofit organization. I want to thank John Mark Hog who uh was a director when this first started. And I want to also thank Mr. Van Noah who constantly diligently worked hard on this wasting his time. Thank you. Thank you, Evelyn. That concludes and that concludes public comment. Now we'll go ahead and move into item five, the consent agenda. Does anybody here? We'll start down here on the end with you, Mary. Is there anything you'd like to pull? No, sir. Karen, nothing to pull. Patrick? No, sir. Harry? No ma'am. No sir. Tommy may be right. Nothing to pull. No sir. With that items A through um what do we go at the wrong sheet here. Items A through I are approved. Need a motion. Oh, excuse me. I need a motion. So moved. Second. First by Tommy, second by Harry Thomas. Is there any public comment on any of the consent agenda? No, sir. With no public comment, we'll take a vote. All of those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? None opposed? Passes 6. 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

[0:06:07] above. To participate, please sign in with the city clerk prior to the beginning of the meeting. Speakers will be called in order they are signed in. Comments are limited to less than three minutes. Applicants, proponents, and appellants are exempt from the time limit above and instead must limit their remarks to less than five minutes. We'll move into item A. Bear with me. I have a better print out. Discussion regarding the plans of finances for the policy and bond issue presented. Presentation made by Public Finance Incorporated. Tina, you're on. Thank you, Mayor Thompson, City Council. Tina Deerski, director of finance. Um, with this being a new process for a couple of our council members, I thought this would be a good time to have Vince come and talk with y'all and walk you through the timeline and the bond process that we're about to go through and kind of give you a heads up on what you'll be seeing in the future. Um, so I'm going to introduce Vince Vial. He's the managing director with uh Specialized Public Finance Incorporated. Mayor, council members, good morning. For the record, my name is Vince V with Specialized Public Finance for the city's financial adviser. First of all, congratulations on the passage of your 41,660,000 in general obligation bonds for the Coliseum improvements. Uh, as Tina has indicated, what we're going to do with this, we're going to move this to the marketplace and issue these bonds in the marketplace. And hopefully uh timeline I think the council you may have in front of you. We should be coming back to y'all in July with the interest rates on these geo bonds on where they sold and the purchasers. And at that time you'll consider the ordinance authorizing the issuance of the co or the go bonds. At that time uh we will be obtaining a rating from standard and pores and fitch for the city. Uh currently the ratings for the city are double A and double A plus. So, we expect those ratings to be

[0:08:08] maintained. We're not looking for any changes there. Those are also very good ratings, by the way, for the city. Uh, if the council has any questions about the sale of the geo bonds or the issuance process, I'm more than happy to try to answer them. Vince, we've had some people reach out to us locally that want to be part of the that potentially want to be part of the bond uh or buy some of the bonds. Is there a process that they need to go through? There is, mayor. There are basically two ways that we can access the the marketplace whenever we issue bonds. Uh one is called a competitive bid process. That's what we've done historically where we structure the bond issue or the CO issue at that time. We put that in the marketplace and we solicit bids on the interest rate on the geo bonds from potential biders. Uh it's an open process for underwriting firms for banks to bid in that that way. uh if it is our desire to open up local market interest or make this bond issue where it's going to be available for local participants. The other method of sale is called a negotiated sale and we have more control on a negotiated sale as far as who the buyers are. Competitive bid, we have no control because it's all interest rate driven. Uh it's a very transparent process. We're just bidding the interest rate. We don't care who buys it. On a negotiated sale, we've got more control as far as we can establish with an underwriting firm that we would appoint uh as the underwriter on the bonds a local order period where the first hour or two hours of the transaction day where we're issuing the bonds in the marketplace would be subject only to people in St. Angelo or financial institutions in St. Angelo. after that initial order period runs, then it would be opened up to the rest of the marketplace to sell the remaining amount of the bonds. So, if it is our desire to try to round up local interest on this bond issue and local participation to make sure they are adequately provided with an opportunity

[0:10:10] to buy these bonds, we should do a negotiated sale as compared to a competitive bid sale. We are prepared to pivot and do that if that is the city's desire. uh so we can move in that direction. So let me ask you is there what effect would it have on the city either way as far as uh you talk about a little bit about transparency. None of us want to limit or hammer or hamper transparency but we sure would like to see some of our I mean local banks have said we would like to be part of this process. Whenever we're doing a competitive bid process, it's a very transparent process because again, what you're doing is you're throwing that instrument out in the marketplace and people are bidding the interest rate and you get those bids in. So, you can see who the biders are and the interest rates they bid and you sell those bonds to the lowest bidder. Obviously, again, a very transparent process. On a negotiated process, you're relying on your financial advisor to make sure that you get a market transaction. Obviously, we're in the marketplace every day selling bonds. So, we know where the marketplace is. We know where the marketplace would be for a San Angelo geo bond where it should trade. So, if we go in and we do a negotiated sale, you are relying on your financial advisor to bring you a market transaction at that time. Uh competitive bid, again, a little more transparent. A negotiated sale, you've got more control on who your buyers are. You can establish the order period for a local order only. and then it opens up to the rest of the marketplace, but you are relying on your financial adviser to bring the city a market transaction. How many years have you been doing this? Uh, a little over 40. Okay. So, and I'll open this up to council. It would be great to keep this in a community market with G and and have you go through I think the question we'll have is there'll be some people that are like, we just want to ensure there's transparency. We want to ensure we get the best rate. So with that in mind, you do have the ability to object a bid that you don't feel is adequate to cover. Absolutely. Absolutely. We're

[0:12:12] negotiating the interest rate with the underwriter. So we will make sure they are on market whenever we come back to the council in July when you consider the ordinance authorizing the issuance of the bonds. Uh you'll see the underwriter what the interest rates are on the bonds at that time. We'll also present the council with comparable uh comparable market issues that were done recently. So you can see where you can you sold relative to everybody else. So you'll have comparable issues to look at. Is there a change in the fee that the city would be charged to negotiate it either way? No, there's not. Okay. With that, I'll open it up to council. Anybody has any questions? Sure. Vince on. Okay. Um on historically, which one gives the city the bonds a better rate between those two options? I can't tell you that competitive is going to be better than negotiated or negotiated will be better than competitive. Again, it is your financial advisor's responsibility to make sure that whatever transaction the city gets into is a market transaction at that time. So, if we do competitive bid, you can obviously see who the biders are and the rates they bid. The only thing that is kind of strange about competitive bid is you're pegging a timespecific in the marketplace. Whereas if you do negotiated, you've got a little more flexibility on your timing. So whenever you do a competitive bid, you're subject to market at that time when the bids are due. Uh again, it's just a difference different methodology of how you sell the bonds. uh competitive bid, transparent, you see the biders negotiated, you're relying on your financial adviser. So, we don't have any um historical knowledge on which one usually ends up being cheaper to get there. There's not. I mean, okay, if we're doing our job, they should be the same. Okay. Um on the competitive bid, is there a way that it goes out uh for a better word, nationally as well, or does it just stay local? No. Uh competitive bid would be a national bid. Okay,

[0:14:14] that's all I've got. Mayor, is there is it possible to do kind of a hybrid if you had to do a negotiated uh short-term process just for say the local banks or the local or regional people and then at x period of time then go into the competitive? Can you do that without it being two separate transactions or incurring any additional fees? That would create two additional fees or an additional fee because that would be two separate transactions. Okay, Tommy, in your experience, Vince, I would assume in either or method, you have local folks that will participate in either. Is that a is that a fair assumption? So if if we went with u the the competitive bid, the the local folks have every opportunity to to jump into that process as well, but we just have a little more control with the negotiated process um from what you said. So, we're not excluding the uh local participation in any way really with either uh method of of of the transactions. Again, if that's what I'm hearing you say, that is a correct statement. If we go competitive, it would be open up to local banks and also national underwriting firms. So, we're not excluding anyone on the competitive basis. If we want more control over local people getting bonds to ensure they have an opportunity to do that, we would go negotiate it and that way they would have an opportunity in the first couple of hours of the order period where we could only take St. Angelo orders. So we would fill those St. Angelo orders on a negotiated sale. Then it would open up to the marketplace. Now once it opens up to the marketplace, if rates come in cheaper, then the underwriter will go back to the St.

[0:16:15] Angelo buyers and say, "Look guys, we got a lower interest rate. Do you want to match this or not?" And the St. Angelo buyers will say, "No, we can't match that rate." Or, "Yes, we'll match that rate." So, they have the opportunity to buy the bonds if they wish. So, again, it's just two methodologies on how you want to sell your geo bonds in the marketplace. Got it. Thanks. So, helping me here on this, Vince, it it can actually work either way. I mean each one of these kind of like Mary brought up is kind of a hybrid. So what I would like to do, do you need direction? Do we need to give him direction at this point with the follow? We're just hearing the presentation. Presentation. It's just discussion at this point. How do you get a list of who is available to bid from St. Angelo? We have got a a list of the banks that are in St. Angelo and the financial institutions that would be submitting bids if they wished. will contact them to make sure they have the bid specifications, all of the offering documents, disclosure documents necessary to put their bid in. Uh if it's local people, we will also assist them in putting their bid in if that is their desire. So, we have a pretty good handle on who potential biders would be in St. Angelo. We're also open if someone knows of someone that wants to submit a bid. We'd love to find out who it would be. We're not going to preclude anybody. Sounds to me like 40 years you you know what you going on here. I would encourage everybody that we're going to make some decisions here within the next week or two which way to go with this. And I sure like leaving it open for the local people because they voiced interest in it. They want to have skin in the game. It's a good way to carry on. And with that, if nobody has any more questions, Vince, thank you so much for your time. All right. Thank you all. Okay. Okay, we'll go on to item B, the first reading and public hearing of an ordinance amending the budget for the fiscal year beginning October 1st, 2024 and ending September 30th, 2025 for equipment uh for equipment replacement. Tina, you're on. Thank you, Mayor. Tina

[0:18:18] Derky, director of finance. Um, this budget amendment is to pull some funds out of the uh vehicle maintenance fund balance to pay for police vehicles um to avoid a price increase that was coming up if we didn't meet the deadline. Um, so we're pulling that $377,000. Well, actually we paid for it with current year funds and this budget amendment is to pull that out of fund balance to replenish those funds within that fund um in in the equipment replacement fund. Anybody have any questions over this? We took advantage of a I say avoiding a price increase. Does anyone if I could get a motion? So move second. First by Tommy, second by Harry. Any public comment? No. With no public comment, we'll take a vote. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? With that motion passes 60, we'll move on to item C, first reading and public hearing of an ordinance for PD25-02, request for a zone change from the general heavy commercial zoning district to a planned development zoning district with a base zoning of RM1. This is to allow modified setbacks for multif family development beginning 2.68 68 acres located on Jackson Street in Tana Country Drive, block two. Presentation by Aaron Venoy. Thank you, Mayor, City Council, Mr. Valenuela. Aaron Venoy, director of planning development services. This morning, we have a plan development over here uh off of Jackson Street and Town and Country. Uh you can see it here just to the north of Jackson Street. You can see the red AO that comes through here and Bryant is somewhere just over in this area over here. Um, this area has been general commercial, heavy commercial for many years, but just really hasn't developed in that way. Uh, although it is close to to high transportation areas. Uh, it just has not developed that way. There's a local developer that, uh, knows that we do need additional housing. Uh, they've looked at this spot and believe this is a good spot for housing. Uh, as some of y'all know, there's a lot of commercial over here on Bryant. Uh, ASU and Nickerbacher is back to the west.

[0:20:21] There is another larger apartment complex further down. These are going to be the smaller style. Again, uh it will have an a underline of RM1. So, a low um a little bit lower density and also a lower height. It won't be the high-rise type multif family. So, this is in district 1, Mr. Tommy Heert. Neighborhood is Rio Vista. Uh current zoning, you can see the property is 2.680 acres. So, here's some of that uh zoning right now. You can see most everything around is commercial in some way. Uh there are some heavier uses back here as far as contractor yards and uh things like that like best techs and and some other things. There's uh a couple of other things that uh there's a hotel. Uh there's uh a small restaurant. Um the children's advocacy center is there. And then as you go down uh Jackson to the west, there's smaller general commercial properties there and the apartment complex. Here on the right, you can just see that there's it's really just a vacant lot at this point. Um it has not been developed and is ready ready to have something placed on it. This did go to our planning commission uh in May. Um they did look at this did look at the modified setbacks and the reason for the modified setbacks are to uh help with some density in there but also with the and let me get back to the map real quickly here on Jackson Street. It will allow some structures to be a little bit closer because that's kind of the front yard, but they will be using that area right there as the front of the complex, if you will. If you have been down Houston, um particularly on the west side of town, u you've seen the same developer, but they will be putting up a a stone structure there to help with noise and traffic safety as well to protect those uh properties that are back there. um that they will actually protect that off of Jackson and there won't be any access onto Jackson. And so they're being very mindful of the uh the traffic rate that's on Jackson. Um this

[0:22:24] actually gives these folks here a better way to get over to this uh intersection there if they're heading into downtown or if they're coming here again back to a light that goes back on Bryant. Maybe they're going to the base or if they come back this way going to ASU. Um, so they're being very mindful about this development. Uh, it's not just going to be a lot of of homes coming in, but again, modifying those setbacks are important for them to get the right amount of density to make it a a viable project for them. So, this did go to planning commission. Again, like I said, they did recommend approval with a uh I believe it was a 40 vote. Um and city and staff is also recommending approval to change this to a plan development with the underlying base of RM1 um with a 5-ft setback on the sides and a 10-ft setback uh from Town and Country Court and a 10-ft setback uh on the rear from Jackson Street. With that, I'll be happy to answer any questions. Aaron, as we look at how many units is the builder thinking of putting in there? Well, with since it being two acres, they could put up to to 50 units based on our our current zoning, but they're looking around 20 to 25 units because they still have parking requirements. They want to have some little yards for the for the units. Uh, but they're looking around that range to see how it all lays out and fits in. Okay. I think this is a great use of some property that is set latent for since I can remember. So, any with that, I'll open up. Does anybody have any questions? Got a couple. Mayor Tommy um reiterate for me if you would where the ingress egress is for the property. It's not on on Jackson whatsoever. That is correct. And so this is Town and Country Court right here, which is a culde-sac that comes in. So they're going to have their their entrance there. Okay. They may have two of them, maybe one in the in the in the bulb of the culde-sac and one down there. that they kind of bring in and bring a U-shape to to service those along Jackson. They're not proposing any access to Jackson and they're going to

[0:24:27] have the the stone fence, if you will, um back there to help with with noise and screening and things like that. There is a an alleyway here, but as of right now, there's been no discussion of utilizing that alleyway for any options at this time. Uh, in fact, uh, talking with our operations department, they'd probably have to improve it to where it's a good paved surface, and that's probably a little cost prohibitive at this time. I have I've had no calls on this one way or the other. Um, I noticed in our background, Aaron, we had one in opposition. And do do we know was that written, telephone call, email? It was a written uh, from the notices that we sent out. Uh, one of the this property right here is Armstrong Electric. Uh, they were concerned about uh, safety for children. Um, and I wasn't real sure if that was safety for children here, but again, the children's advocacy center is over here. Maybe that was their concern. Um, I do believe the developer here is trying to provide as much safety as they can for the housing um, in that area. Uh, it is out of the the the flood way and it does have small amount of flood plane that they're already taking account on that area. And so I think this is a a good project for the area. Will you just uh said something that triggered a question. Will they have to do any retention detention? They are they are looking at doing some detention. Uh that'll probably be within their parking lot areas as well as along this area here. Um as you recall maybe um last council meeting, the council meeting before, the council accepted an easement for this area over here to help uh do some maintenance in that area. But yes, they will have that uh requirement from their plat process that they did back in April. Have they done their study yet or are they required on on this? They are required to do a drainage study and that'll be submitted to the engineering uh department and uh they will work through what the requirements are from that study. Fair enough. Mayor, with with that since I've had no no comments on this, um I'd make a motion

[0:26:30] to approve as presented. Second. I've got a first from Tommy Heert, a second from Harry. I'd like to ask a couple questions. Yeah. Patrick. Hey, Aaron. You said it hasn't been developed. Has this property been for sale? Has it changed hands recently? Well, I know they just recently purchased this property. Uh the the current developer has. I don't know if it's been for sale for a long time or not. I know had been under town and country ownership for many many years. Uh but I don't know if it was been for sale for the last 5 to 10 years. But it was Town and Country before that. I believe it was. Okay. Um, do they have they so with residential properties, banks don't like to loan on them if they're in commercial areas? Not if it's zone commercial, but if it's in commercial area, predominately commercial like this is. Have they looked into that at all? Do you know if they've brought that concern forward? Normally, this developer, they finance themselves. Um, and so that really hasn't been an issue for them in the past. There are times that the banks will reach out to us for what's called a zoning letter. We write the zoning letter. Of course, this being a planned development with the RM zoning, which is kind of a a residential zoning for for low low-rise multif family, but it also offers single family, two family. We tend to write that letter for banks for particularly smaller developments, and they they seem to accept that as the underwriter of, okay, this really is residential and it could come back residential in the future as well if something happened. Okay, thank you. Any other questions? Mary Karen. Yes, sir. With that, I got a first by Tommy, second by Harry. Any public comment? With no public comment, we'll take a vote. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Vote passes 51. With that, we're through. We're complete with the regular agenda. There is no closed session. Um followup in administrative issues will nothing from executive session will go into item B. Consider approving various board nominations for public art

[0:28:33] commission Elaine Stribbling SMD6 to a third term ending 2027. Need a motion. You need a motion. We got a first from Mary. Second. Second from Carrie Karen. Whatever her we got it. We're a little relaxed here today. With all of that um that information, all those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? With that, we'll adjourn this meeting at 9:01. Sweet.

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