San Angelo City Council November 19, 2012

[0:00:00] [Music] right good morning let's go ahead and call the meeting to order and uh start our day and our meeting off with prayer from Reverend David Smith of the word of Life church thank you Jesus for this day that you have made we rejoice in it today and we pray for this city council of St Angelo that you give them the mind of Christ today that they have wisdom concerning our our community and the surrounding area we pray for rain in the Concho Valley today Father give us grace and mercy and we thank you Father for the Peace of Israel that you give them peace over in the Middle East today Father in this conflict we thank you for this day Jesus that we have your mind your will father your anointing Holy Spirit for this day for this counsel in jesus' name amen amen sometimes Cilan Adams makes me feel like I'm doing the limbo back there he's trying to see trying to see if I can suck my belly in enough to get by I have a helper this morning Megan Thompson she's a kindergartener uh and she's the daughter of Juanita Thompson in water building and Steven Thompson in information technology and um unlike many of us adults she knows the Texas

[0:02:04] pledge so pretty good stuff you ready to help me all right Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all Texas flag I pledge aliance to the Texas one State under God one and indivisible great [Applause] job she just pushed you out of the way there Al I'll tell you what well I have two daughters a little older than that and I kind of liked those days so um okay we have one recognition today um is Mr Lada here come on up be joined by Ramon losada he's an employee of the koncho Valley Transit District for his effort in assisting a fellow citizen in his time of need outstanding let's recognize you special recognition whereas every day throughout Texas and the other and other cities across the ation citizens reach out to help others in need and whereas Ramon Lada was performing his duties as a transit driver for the kcho Valley Transit District on Tuesday November the 6th 2012 noticed an individual had been on a bench for several hours and whereas Mr Lada stopped his bus and encouraged the individual to get on the bus all the while recognizing that the individual was not feeling well and possibly having a medical emergency and whereas Mr Lada immediately drove his bus to a nearby fire station seeking medical attention and help for this unfortunate individual and whereas Mr Lada by observing his

[0:04:08] surroundings helped a fellow citizen in a medical crisis by getting involved in providing the needed assistance to prevent a possible tragedy now therefore I Alvin new mayor of the city of St Angelo Texas on behalf of the city council do hereby proudly thank and applaud Ramon for his effort in assisting a fellow citizen in his time of need outstanding okay [Applause] than public comment the council takes public comment on all items in the regular agenda public input on a regular agenda item will be taken at its appropriate discussion public input on an item not on the agenda or a consent agenda may be identified and requested for consideration by the council at this time the council May request an item to be placed on a future agenda or for a consent agenda item to be moved to the regular agenda for public comment so Council Mr Mayor I would like to remove item five six and eight to the regular agenda please okay others thank you Miss former for item number eight I was going to ask for that item also okay all right I have five six and eight removed to the regular agenda

[0:06:13] motion to approve uh sir I also would like to to table an item okay from the regular agenda and move it to a future agenda it's item number 12 the discussion and presentation on the water conservation credit program so if maybe you could help me with that uh motion to approve consent agenda excluding item 5 6 and 8 and can I include uh extending okay and additionally extending um not extending tbling item number 12 second okay me call for that vote then all those in favor please say I okay is there public comment this morning all right then let's move on to item number five Mr Mayor I do have public comment com a comment to make I I have been contacted by numerous individuals and I shared this with Mr Valenzuela but it seems like you know we've you hear all these crazy stories out there about water billing and going crazy and $14,000 bills and $10,000 bills and one thing that's been brought up to my attention and I I mentioned it right now so I don't forget for maybe we can look at it as a future item but uh the $25 uh late fee that's being applied to the accounts I'm not saying uh that we don't need late fees I think we do but I think the $25 I don't know where that amount came from but some folks feel that's it's kind of exorb maybe a 5% fee or a 10 I I don't know I don't know the answer but I'm just throwing that out there that some folks feel that that $25 is especially folks that have a various accounts I know one lady had two accounts paid two late fees and tried to get her due date changed couldn't do it so I just uh assured her that I was going to throw that out uh for discussion at a future meeting so I'm I'm doing it now so okay so thank you we

[0:08:16] can go through that as a future agenda item one of the things that I know is being done is a explanation of of uh oh the statistics behind how many problems there are with billing and and also I know some things are being implemented that are that are overdue but I'm glad to hear related to exceptions reporting where if a bill is below U you know is zero or negative it'll be kicked out and somebody will look at it and if a bill is 200 time 200% of normal uh for a meter it will be kicked out and looked at so I know we are making some some adjustments to how we're doing things to help stop these things from happening in the first place so uh but I appreciate you bringing it up we'll get it on as a future agenda item um I know that while we're in public comment I need to be sure that uh that I remind the council I I have a uh family related engagement tomorrow and I'll be unable to attend the memorial that will be held at noon uh but I'll remind everyone that that there is a memorial tomorrow at noon for the hunt for Heroes uh folks start at 12:15 just to note okay so it's scheduled at 12:15 correct kid Kids Kingdom right so it's to allow folks to get to the lunch hour and then get to the memorial anyway so I I bring that up for folks that are here and that might be might listen to this or what have you that it's at Kids Kingdom it's at 12:15 and and um I you know I was remiss for not asking Reverend Smith to think about that but but uh the you there are the uh the folks with hunt for Heroes that are that administer that and put that together and they're all hurting and need our prayers and our support and the City of Midland and and the folks involved there with that parade they need our prayers and our support and obviously the heroes uh need our prayers and support and their families and so I

[0:10:19] just remind everybody of that and that that's going to be tomorrow at 1215 at Kids Kingdom if you'd like to go show support for that group okay so any other public public input before we move to the item number five okay item number five this is consideration of adopting a resolution accepting the US Department of Justice uh fiscal year 2012 bulletproof vest partnership Grant and it was submitted by police chief Tim Vasquez and Miss farmer how about walking us through that okay five and six again we can consider it the same time with six being consideration of authorizing uh to apply for a grant from the Texas preservation trust fund the Texas historical commission right quick I just want to talk about the two of them I want to ask Mr DNE if any kind of auditing or accounting procedures have been put in place to track these grants there are audit procedures associated with our external audit uh and uh I I understand that I'm asking internally have we set up the program yet and I believe the answer is no you're correct okay what I would like to ask since the answer is no and I I I've been asking for us to do this for about seven months and we just it's high priority I understand but I've gotten to the point that's past high priority what I would like to do is for all of the grants that we have granted and participated in in the last two years I'd like to see those itemized on a list uh by Department the dollar amount the date they were granted the DAT funds were received and how the funds were dispersed and what they were dispersed on in this particular instance this is for uh bulletproof vests which I'm all for it's not a problem but I want to know when the be vest are purchased how many were purchased how many we have in inventory and this is nothing other than keeping up with the uh public dollar the Grant and uh how it's being spent and that it's being spent in a timely manner okay sounds good motion to approve item

[0:12:22] five and six okay I have a motion in a second on item five and six any further conversation or comments from Council okay any public input on these items call go ahead sir I would say that uh in regards to the bulletproof vest grant money uh the city pays for all the vest up front and then we get reimbursement for half of those vest uh from that Grant uh in order for us to comply and get that money all the officers have to uh we have to have a policy in place that says they will wear their vest and uh so basically that money comes to us and the check goes right into the account to cover the vest and you spend all of it I know you spend all of it up front you get reimbursed the money go back into that account for or does it get yeah I mean tracking of it where it goes I think it's the real accounting is what and that's what it's stemming from the last meeting too it's the same topic it's just the accounting of the grants okay and I'm not looking for any one item or picking on one in particular it's just all Grant okay um further further public comment okay call for the vote all those in favor please say I I any opposed outstanding item number eight second hearing and consideration of adopting an ordinance reestablishing a nighttime curfew uh hours for minors and related matters M farmer yes Mr Mayor I had received uh several phone calls and emails with reference to our not following policy on public meetings to allow the public to speak on this and it's a very simple process we can pull it from consent agenda and allow the public to speak we certainly don't want to keep anyone uh out of the loop and I contacted the chief and asked him to be prepared to go through it and then allow public comment thank you and I received a similar phone call uh with the same concerns as did I okay do do we want him to go through the presentation or just

[0:14:25] that that's part of the clarification is that there was a technical problem with the presentation in which the public could not view it and this is more detail I'm told than in the past and people would like to see it so they can comment on it could not view it like from our website right we were we had we had the paper version is that right or we had the we had electronic version but that's what it was but they they couldn't show it on the monitor which means they couldn't show it on Channel 17 and so the public at home could not see it and even in the audience it was just the council right and it's a lot of good information really it was very good okay we ready we're ready okay this up please as you know we uh we come back uh every 3 years to ask for the renewal of the ordinance and I remember we were looking at the date there was some confusion on the date the other day we got that figured out right okay um we first started the uh curfew in 1996 because of the amount of crimes that we were seeing involving uh people or children under the age of 17 uh we had seen an increase in gang violence uh as well as gangs uh juvenile gangs uh I'm not going to go through the ordinance unless you specifically want me to but there it is on the screen uh it tells you uh what the ordinance entails it says any person under the age of 17 when we enacted the ordinance in 1996 we also had a daytime curfew which uh we do not have the daytime curfew anymore uh currently the prohibited hours 11:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. Sunday through Thursday and 12:01 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. Saturday and Sunday um correct yeah Saturday and Sunday will you will you mention the defenses absolutely uh there are multiple defenses uh to protect uh uh a child under the age of 17 that's out and about number one uh they could be accompanied by a parent or Guardian uh they could be on an errand at the direction of the parent or Guardian uh without detour stop uh and I think that's self-explanatory uh involved in Interstate travel engaged in travel to and from work employment without detour stop uh involved in an emergency outside

[0:16:30] their residents they can actually be in the front yard uh after hours and be okay uh attending an official School religious or Civic function exercising their first amendment rights are married uh or or emancipated in accordance with Texas law um and then obviously before we take any action uh we have to determine the age uh and The Business of that minor uh in order to be sure that none of the defenses exist and I'm going to give you some of the data um you can see from 1995 5 to 2012 you can see some significant uh decreases in in crime one particularly was disorderly conduct 1995 420 cases and in 2012 uh 80 so far 85 uh the the ones that we're really really concerned about uh was the assault uh when we talk about the the uh curfew it's not just to uh keep the bad kids out of from being out at night but it's also to protect those juveniles uh the potential victims so we went from 375 assaults in 1995 to 157 um criminal mischief 256 to 68 uh deadly conduct uh which is drive by shootings uh basically or pointing a gun at someone uh we went from 16 to zero uh our runaway count went from 662 to 362 and theft uh which uh many citizens would be a victim of uh went from 447 to 102 here's our contacts uh in 2000 this is where we have as far back as the data that we have uh you can see we we made uh almost 1,200 contacts in 2000 compared to 500 contacts right now and this is during curfew hours um this is the type of inter interaction you can see uh which ones were victims offenders and and Witnesses or others involved again you can see a pretty significant decrease over the last 12 years uh in both uh the or in all three the offender Victor victim and uh Witnesses uh curfew citations in

[0:18:35] 2235 and currently 38 and I would say that uh it's because we had the uh the the curfew has been instilled in our in our community for so long that parents uh understand some parents may have even gone through the curfew when it was enacted now they're parents but they know that the this is the way s Angel operates uh contact uh to citizen the citation comparisons uh you can see pretty significant uh decreases as well uh we believe it's an effective tool it's helped us obviously the the numbers don't lie it shows you that crime has gone down juvenile crime we have less juvenile offenders and we have less juvenile victims uh which is very very important U and we haven't had any issues with the uh matter of fact I've been the chief now uh over eight years and have not filled it a single complaint where a child or a parent came in and complain that their child was detained uh inappropriately because of the curfew stop um and uh again we believe this is part of our neighborhood vision and that will do it questions in the presentation I've got one Chief what are we doing I know we're being we'll be televised and Matt Waller do his part but will you put the curfew hours in the standard times or qu ton we can we can do whatever we need to do we we can we can do a press release on it and say that it was a uh whatever yall decide if you choose to renew it and then we can do a press release on that and reestablish the the hours and the defenses and we can actually uh send out a pretty good press release on it motion to approve second okay I have a motion from Mr Adams second from Mr HFI to approve as presented um let me ask for public comment [Music] my name is Betsy Ryan and I want to speak to the temporary nature of curfews in Texas and the importance of this

[0:20:39] review process I'm glad Texas state law requires this process every three years it gives me hope that one day three six nine years from now we won't have a curfew in St Angelo that Stan Angelo citizens will feel safe enough not to need a curfew not to want a curfew Texas local government code section 3702 dictates that the city council must review the ordinance's effect on the community and the ordinance's effect on the problems the ordinance was intended to remedy and then decide do we need to abolish modify or continue this law recognizes that temporary nature Texas curfews are put into place until specific problem has been eliminated or reduced back to normal level then the curfews to be abolished and freedoms return to our young citizens so we've had the curfew for 16 years and so with six reviews this process can become just a formality time to renew the curfew rather than review the need for the curfew but formality or not this process serves a purpose this review serves as an accountability time for our Police Department a time when the department can show the real need for the curfew and how they can't get along without it I'm very happy to see the PowerPoint given during the past curfew review meetings over the years to help evaluate our City's crime problems I along with other citizens have asked the police department to provide more and more detailed statistics and they have responded I was in encouraged by these details and I got to see them because I um emailed the police department and they sent the PowerPoint to me right away so it was available but not um to the general public only somebody who's

[0:22:41] really willing to pursue that appreciate it being shown on certain slides uh there was the slide seven and since we've just seen it I'm glad you can remember that the crime is way down from that 1995 and an impressive chart for me would to see the 16 years because you could see that it's been down and it's going down and it's staying down I don't know that I haven't seen the exact but I have my uh PowerPoints from previous years and I can kind of watch that happen so to see really high and now low um I'm thinking of that temporary nature of a Texas curfew and I wonder will are we basing this current need on things that have happened in the far past what's what currently going on another helpful set of Statistics that the chief gave it was on slide nine where it did show the juvenile context by interaction and all of those were progressively going down it gave years when you get to look at the details for longer than just a minute that is the years we've reviewed the curfew and so I went ahead and emailed back uh assistant chief Fant and asked for the details between just the last section between 09 let's see what 10 11 12 and it did keep that consistent drop and so if you were to show those it would just tell us how well that's working I know that uh you can go either way on that it's working we need to keep it um it's done its job we need to be done with it and so I want to at least think through that process slide um let's see back to my notes Beyond this mere formality this process gives the police Department a chance to show they are handling the curfew correctly and I absolutely think they are handling it correctly that the writing of citations is not being overused we saw that on slide 10 and that no one's coming forward with a complaint um that's just something we're

[0:24:43] asking our our police to do as they are available to do that through the through those times finally this review and discussion is a chance for the police to inform or remind parents of the details of the curfew so I'm I'm glad for those you that asked that that this be uh publicized a little bit I think the curfew would be a more powerful deterrent if that's what we're using it for then I think it needs to be publicized either it's really useful and we tell people that it's there or or we don't and many uh parents and teens do not know the details and are not clear on how the curfew works because they see me do this every so many years and so I talk to people about curfew maybe more than most people and people don't know the ages they don't know the times U they don't know that parent and the child can be fined they don't know how much the fines are going to be um they don't know that the business can be fined and teens do not know what to expect what will happen to them when they are stopped we saw a long list of defenses These are times when maybe your 16-year-old is going to be out a person comes up to them suit clipboard I don't know what they're going to need and they come up and ask about a curfew now I I understand I've asked this before um our police are not going to handle it that way I'm talking about people that would fool our teens try and impersonate someone here's how I came to this um this topic when my son was of curfew age we are past way past this now he asked me how he would be able to tell a stranger approaching him was a police officer during doing a curfew check how's a 14-year-old to know I called the police department and asked that very question and the juvenile Sergeant's answer was the person will have a gun and a badge and that didn't really satisfy me our family policy was um you respond to a uniformed officer in a marked car otherwise do not assume that that person is doing a curfew check so St Angelo's

[0:26:47] problems of high crime and driveby shootings are in the past I believe other efforts by the police department such as the gang unit and the Dare program as well as Community efforts such as House of faith are responsible for our reduced crime I believe our police can maintain the peace without a curfew when you think Texas curfew I want you to think temporary and if you have any questions I'd be happy to answer them so am I correct to assume that your only issues are that the report that we received from the chief is not detailed enough as and and and that the information is not being given to the given to the public with reference to the uh um the curfew uh no I my point previous to it being reown was that if it wasn't reshon all my efforts to ask for statistics just go away and so I'm very happy with what they have presented and they have presented that crime is down and if the council wants to keep our curfew because crime is down then that's that's one way the logic can go and if our Council wants to keep it or wants to get rid of it because crime is low then I understand that I'm happy with the statistics I want them to keep at it I would like them to show a little bit more currency when we do this I'm happy with the police department okay I think the the main problem was is the public not having the opportunity to speak on the issue coming up last council meeting and it was on consent agenda this meeting and the public uh to have the opportunity to speak how they feel about it the purpose and how it's going which is going successfully and they're pleased with that just not having the opportunity to have due process is what this morning was about I missed the first one and so if I tell my friends other people interested come to this one well it's hard enough to get someone to come speak it's very difficult to convince anyone to do this

[0:28:49] and then to see it on consent agenda it's like forget it they're not going to be talking about it and so other people had there been anyone else interested they would have read it's on consent agenda let's terrific we'll give it three years okay may any other question thank you Chief I have questions for the chief okay chief fuscus please we go back to the defenses can you find that you got a you have a memorized um at the direction of a guardian I have I have six kids and and 14 13 12 and 11 here they come they're going to get their driver's license and they're at another house say and I direct them to come back to house at 11:30 on a Thursday night is that legal and and they don't stop at Town Town and Country I'll say that strapes or Al subs or whatever uh they come straight to my house I I would say by the uh um the letter of the law that they would have been in violation that they were out afterwards however uh at another kid's house yeah at another kid's house okay because it says that you can be at your house you can be out on the front yard uh but if it wasn't for any of the activities that that he had listed uh then they would have to present their case in front of the judge and the judge is the one that interprets the law okay so my uh 16-year-old is with an 18-year-old and I've designated the 18-y old as a guardian is that legal yes okay and so they can be with my child's friend's mom that's legal yes uh at their house and when I send them home they're technically not within law if they're with your a guardian like you just said they wouldn't be cuz they're 16 years old and they're driving home after doing home work or something at 11:15 on a Thursday night yeah I mean it's it's it's the same but I that are different than many other cities and um Chief is correct it would be a factual determination but these are not only um standards in San Angelo oh but I'm I'm worried about San Angelo and I'm worried about I would tell you that

[0:30:51] uh at that time of night you if you got the phone call from the officer and you said I you know my son or my child was over there uh studying and uh I told them to come home and and they they're coming straight home uh your child's probably not going to get a citation I mean obviously we wrote 32 I think what the number was for 2012 so we're not arbitrarily handing citations out without putting some thought process in them right and and even if you did I mean the likelihood that just Gilbert or whatever would say okay you were doing a research project yeah okay fact is dismissed I had a 16-year-old in my house the other night they were doing homework until midnight the teachers are stacking them with homework and they have extracurricular activities they do stay up late they do homework and they went the 16-year-old home I don't want them to get a ticket I don't think that's right they're under our care we're sending them from one house back to the other now if they stop at Stripes I understand that that's deterring from the course and then things can happen and that's what we want to avoid that's this is important to me so I want to make sure that I'm we're clear that that's considered and if it is then I Can Vote Yes if it's not consideration that a child is can be sent from one house to the other if it cannot happen that I would want to change the ordinance to make sure it's clear that it can't happen so we're good okay okay sir Mr Morrison if I remember your defenses Tim one of the defenses was if a child is in route on a parent direction that it is accepted so if the parent says come home now you're under the parents you're under the parents Direction so it would not be an infraction without detour that's correct that's correct so it's it's already covered Mr Morrison thank you Mr Alexander does that one of the defenses is on an Aon at the direction of a parent or Guardian without detour or stop so if I tell my child to come home and he's on the way home he's under my Direction so it's

[0:32:54] he's not in violation of the curfew which would be a defense to having been stopped and presenting the case because Dy def would have to be um presented because it was because the officer may have um issued a citation um based on the circumstan defense right it's govern I'm happy with the ordinance the way it is uh up yep okay I have a motion in a second I have any further comment from Council or questions do I have any further public input on this item me call for the vote uh Mr Turner come on up just a couple quick things this is not the first time this has been up this is a a ordinance that has been reviewed multiple times we've had some very serious discussions on it uh it doesn't need to be reviewed every periodically to see if it's still needed but it's uh so far is doing what it's required the second thing there does seem to be some confusion that has been highlighted by this and a few other issues on the consent agenda people think that because it's on a consent agenda it cannot have discussion that needs to be clarified numerous different different places until people get the idea just because it's on a consent agenda does not mean public has no input it just means we think this is probably not going to be a controversial issue but if you've got a problem with it it needs to be discussed get up and say I want this move so it can be discussed every item on the agenda is subject to public discussion without exception the only time you don't have public directly involved is when it's an executive session which is a very special case dealing with very special matters thank you Mr Turner I referred to you by name and then you you excuse me my name is Jim Turner for those who haven't uh

[0:34:59] don't recognize me and get it in the official record thank you thank you I have one other question and then I promise we can move on no Chief at what point when where would the numbers be in order for us to say as a city we don't need to curfew anymore I think or where should they be is there a threshold for that you know I don't think there's any kind of defined threshold I think that would be uh up to the to the council to determine if there is a threshold uh you know you can make a lot of comparisons and a lot of wh ifs I think it's proven uh that it's been effective uh for our community especially decreasing uh juvenile crime and juvenile victims uh but what is that number what is that magic number I don't have a magic number U I'm afraid that if we were to eliminate uh the curfew we're taking a very uh good tool away from our officers uh but you can tell that it's tool that's not that's seldom utilized because our community understands that there's a curfew I can respect that thanks Mr Morrison I just like to say that Betsy Ryan is well she is a consistent feature in this and I have total complete respect for you and I appreciate you see you in three years in October I'm going to watch it's you've always been very professional in your in your defense and I I appreciate you I look forward to seeing you be there okay call for the vote all those in favor please say I I any opposed okay I'd like to move us on to the regular agenda please this is item number nine this is the presentation and discussion of the city of St Angelo fiscal year 2011 comprehensive annual financial report by the city's auditing firm with a presentation by our city spit it out assistant city manager and CFO Michael DNE and the city's external auditing firm arms strong backers and company thank you mayor good morning mayor and Council we went

[0:37:02] through this uh few months back where we had a a lengthy discussion with the audit committee brought it forward to Council on consent we've had a request from a council member to bring it back for open presentation and discussion in this open session so that's what our attempt is today and of course we're available for questions and followup as requested so with that I'd like to introduce uh representatives of the city's external auditor audit firm um Freddy Moore and Gayla Thorton thank you Michael yeah I'm Freddy Moore and this is Gayla Thornton and we are the city's independent uh audit firm uh first of all we want to say thank you to the council it's a real privilege for us to be able to uh work for the city uh thank you for this opportunity and and also uh by thanks U and our appreciation to uh to Michael and to Bill and the uh finance department for all the work uh that they provide in assisting us uh this is a it's a huge undertaking of course to uh perform an audit of the size of the city and uh it takes a lot of of help from uh from city employees so we really appreciate that um we're going to kind of do this in a tag team I'm going to talk about the reports that we issue uh and gayla's going to talk to you about some of the findings that we have in some other matters uh the council has asked us to address uh the work that we do U as the independent Auditors uh winds up in in two essentially three reporting documents first is the uh is the comprehensive annual financial report to kaffer and the caffer of course is uh it is the city's financial statements it uh it shows what it its assets its liabilities its net assets changes in its fund balances and and uh and uh the balances in all of its funds uh the other document is kind of an audit related uh uh document driven by the Office of Management and budget and

[0:39:05] and many of its regulations and requirements that's called the single audit report and it deals uh uh with the city's uh handling of U of U Financial grants and expenditures of those and then there uh we do perform an audit of the passenger fee um uh that's assessed and required by the U FAA of course the uh the cfer 132 pages of of information um and and as I was saying our work is really our responsibility for this caffer is is to render an opinion I mean we're one page out of the 132 Pages um these are the city's financial statements it's U the finance department City Council of course are ultimately responsible for the mounts in here our job is to render an opinion on these financial statements based on our audits uh I'm glad to report that our opinion for on the September 30th 2011 financial statements is an unqualified opinion that means we noted no departures from generally uh accepted accounting principles from governmental audit standards there were no limitations on the scope of our work uh uh because information wasn't available or or are the powers that be restricted what we could do so um in the audit world that's the gold standard for audit opinions and I think that's a real credit to finance department of the city at large that they are able to uh produce a financial statement upon which we can render an unqualified opinion um the other document that uh is prepared or that we report on or our reports um uh end up in is uh the single audit report there are two reports that U that are in there the first is the internal control over financial reporting and compliance uh that report is the result

[0:41:10] of our understanding of the internal controls that the city has in place based on our financial audit uh we do not render an opinion on the city's internal controls uh if we note uh instances of non-compliance uh or defici icies we're required to report those there I'm glad to report to you that we noted no deficiencies in internal control from that report so uh or none that might be a material weakness nor did we issue a management letter reporting other deficiencies um the other report that we U uh that we provide there is the report on compliance related to major programs and internal control over compliance uh this is a report that's required by the Office of Management and budget and governmental audit standards we're required to go in and specifically test compliance items related to what we uh are identified as major programs these relate to the grants of federal expenditures we did uh we did find two instances of non-compliance uh that uh the standards require us to identify as significant deficiencies so those are reported in the single audit report there is a response from management uh as to those deficiencies and um Gayla is going to talk to you about what those are and she's also uh because of the volume the sheer volume of information that's in this caffer she's going to hit some of the uh what we would consider the financial highlights uh of the city's financial statements so I'll turn it over to Gayla Thornton good morning um I'm going to talk about your government-wide financial statements there's two different types of reports issued in the uh basic financial statements one being government-wide financials the other being fund financials the fund

[0:43:12] financials are what you guys are usually you usually see on a monthly basis uh reports fund balance for all of your funds the other one being the government-wide statement encompasses the government as a whole and the difference between the two types of presentation is that the government-wide statements include all of your Capital assets your infrastructure your intangible assets as well as your long-term liabilities so it gives a complete Financial picture of the status of your government at this time and it also includes your component units being fort koncho museum fermont Cemetery uh your net assets net assets being the difference between total assets in the government's liabilities at September 30th were $215 million um you had assets total assets of 494 million 260 million of those were uh non-current assets which includes all of the city's infrastructure and your water rights and some deferred charges your liabilities were 278 million of that 24 million is current due in one year and then the uh rest was 215 million of your net assets your net assets in increased $14 million over the previous year so that was a good increase I do want to bring it to your attention though that starting in fiscal year 2015 the gazb issued a requirement that all of your tmrs unfunded liability be book to your finances and um as of December 31st 2010 I'm Sor could you repeat that last part again uh your tmrs unfunded liabilities will uh be required to be booked as a component of the statement of net assets as of December 31st 2010 the value of those unfunded assets was $38 million so in fiscal year 2015 your net assets will decrease probably in the ballpark of that that changes every year can't give you a definite number but

[0:45:13] just know that that impact on your financials is coming um so that's that's the city's finances as a whole now I want to talk about our findings on the single audit we had two findings um on one particular Grant and both of them have a very common issue the findings were that in August of 2011 you received the whole amount of your grant money and as of the end of September you had only spent um a very small portion of that and the federal compliance requirement is is that you limit the amount of time between the time you get your revenue and the time you make your expenditures and if you get that Revenue in advance you need to be able to segregate that in your financial statement so that you can pay back to the grantor any interest earned on those grants well in this case it was all lumped into the city's pulled investment in cash funds and so there was no way to determine how much interest was earned on those funds that you reive so far in advance and um the cause of that was the people in charge of administering the Grant and the compliance requirements didn't have that accounting knowledge to understand the accounting component of that compliance requirement and um it was done at a department level and not by anyone with any accounting knowledge the other finding was one of the quarterly reports on this same oh go ahead let me excuse me let me stop you right there but when you talk about the whole Grant are you talking about one certain Grant or just grants in general it's a common occurrence with grants in general the previous two audits we've had the same source of findings that uh the accounting aspects the grants did not uh meet the compliance requirements um but this this year it was one particular Grant it was the grant related to the HVAC unit that you installed at City Hall that has to be spent by a certain amount of time the problem was is that you got the

[0:47:16] revenue well in advance of the time you made the expenditure so you held on to the the federal government's funds for an amount of time interest was earned on those funds and at the time of the audit there was no way to determine how much interest was earned on those funds the other finding was the same particular Grant there was a quarterly report filed with the federal grantor that did not um match the actual financial information in the cafer I think it's important to note that our our schedule of expenditures of federal Awards that's provided in our single audits we issue an in relation to opinion that in relation to you is to the caffer the information reported by the grants must be reconciled back to the information in your general ledger and in this particular instance it did not and so again you have accounting people non-accounting people at a department level monitoring the compliance administering the grants doing the reporting and they don't quite understand the counting components required by these grants so those are our two findings we also on our passenger facility charge audit had one finding and that finding was that there were um there was expenditures reported in the wrong FAL year and it again is an accounting issue because the um the date of the expenditure happened in one fiscal year but was reported in another meaning it was not accured properly and so it had to do with accounting being done by someone who doesn't quite have that expertise of of experience that is the first uh finding we've had in that since we've been involved so right that has been a not been an issue here right but but that's nothing malicious I mean it was just somebody that didn't know what they were doing right all three of these instances go back to having people in departments not being able to um totally meet the accounting requirements issued by these grants you have non- accounting people do that and it's

[0:49:19] decentralized too it is decentralized um I'm not sure that putting it in finance at this time is the answer because Finance is extremely underst staffed um we're getting ready to gear up for our next audit and um the pressures put on by us to get certain things for our audit in addition to all their daily activities I'm not sure that the answer is putting it in finance um I'm thinking a grant administrator maybe someone even um even com bond with an internal audit functions just to make sure grants are covered as a whole um that might be the answer but we do have that recommendation and I can't stress enough how important accounting is um having good competent help having enough help you know with all of the the things going on in the public these days having the people in charge of uh you know covering internal controls being able to have good solid accounting records being able to meet the grant compliance requirements it's essential to the health of this organization and to provide you you with the information that you need to run the city and that sounds something like what Miss Farmer's talking about you know I want to ask um of the criteria the cause and condition and the effect that you have described in these three instances you made a recommendation that what the city should do to prevent or to correct can you tell me if those recommendations have been met and put in place as far as I know they have not Mr Dane our recommendation was that we as that the city assign a staff person to oversee all of these grants um particularly the financial components of these compliance requirements m d and I have already spoken as far as uh how we can move forward on that to make sure that we do have an an accounting type person in that uh in that area of responsibility you just mentioned it the possibility combining internal control position

[0:51:22] along with reviewing um or compliance also in the financial aspects of the grants and that's exactly what we're looking at right now thank you and this part was just to let the public know out there that there is an external external audit that is performed and it is reported and it is reported to the public uh so that they can comment and it is also where we can ask what our deficiencies were and how they're being handled you know it's a big organization I want the the people out there in the public to know that it is huge and you know like Mr Silva says there's nothing malicious or intent mistakes can be made and they've been pointed out in these few instances and are being corrected and systems put in place so these same mistakes don't happen again thank you had a question how can we reduce our unfunded unfunded liability how for example the landfill has a $30 million liability because when we close it we have to take care of it for 30 years or something I'm I'm just guessing it numbers those are close I mean they're some they're reasonable so we have this liability so we're going to raise our fees to cover that liability so in when this landfill closes we have a coffer full of money to cover the liability because we start collecting that fee does that reduce our unfunded liability or do we have to actually get the money and put it in the bank those are those are engineering based on engineering estimates of what the closure costs are going to be in the future um and um I don't think that we can reduce that unfunded liability or that that future liability by generating current fees well forgive us please we have acted since the last audit and we have made changes in our rate structure with regard to solid waste and we've discussed the philosophy of beginning to collect fees and set those aside to generate assets to cover the uh liab that future liability compensating

[0:53:26] balance exactly we collect it first the question is the liability won't be reduced but the unfunded portion of that would be reduced by having offsetting assets that you have collected and set aside for that liability okay so it's going to take some years to work that $38 million down Absol I need to ask a question the followup the the funds that were invested through the city's pooled cash and investment accounts uh was earned interest uh have we paid that interest back to the federal government on those funds to date has that been done and was there a fine associated with not reporting accurately can you tell me that I don't I'm I don't know that I'll have to look into that I'm not aware of a f I think a fine would have gotten our attention because it would be an unbudgeted item so I don't you don't know if the interest has been paid back today no I don't we need to look into that because it is a recommendation of this group and C need to know the dollar amount on $867,000 I I too have deep concerns about I think there's more unfunded liabilities that that we've had to address number one was our retire insurance program completely unfunded and now it's it's still unfunded but it's kind of migrated into the system uh I mean think we've got one on the agenda later on I mean that is unfunded so I mean we have to control these get all this stuff under control you know and so the one that Gayla was talking about a few minutes ago is that's just one that's been that arose because of the governmental Accounting Standards Board implemented a new standard that these unfunded before this they've not they've always been out there but they've never been required to be put on the balance sheet now they are it's going to affect the city's net assets you're going to be uh your net assets will decrease by the extent that that liability is booked it's the the key though there is

[0:55:30] that the those liabilities existed in the past it's not a change in substance it's a change in the reporting that's true uh requirements well I'm I'm more to substance exactly that's and that's your point I want to make sure that the money is there to pay for that yeah and I think the first step in that is is to having our financial statements properly reflective of what we o if we know that then we can make a plan toward addressing that when those future liabilities come home one of one of my comments would be that that I I'm glad you guys came forward with all this and my hope would maybe again you you've kind of sens a little bit of concern on the unfunded liabilities if if you see hear smell any others we want to know them I would rather know today that we've got a problem potential problem coming up with this and make sure that it is funded I I believe we you know we we know what those are but to just remind all of us from a from an outside you know independent point of view would be very beneficial to all of us you know and and one comment that I think uh Gail and I wanted to make is that uh we would uh appreciate your input as to any issues that that U that you have a concern about uh you know we're just now in the process of planning for the uh September 30 2012 audit if there are things in there or matters that you feel or have a concern about let us know at this point we can build out tailor our procedures to address some of those things and get get you some comfort that you might not otherwise have because you know we we base our audits on materialities you know we're not going to look at a lot of smaller things but we can tailor those in there if if we think the council uh or department head has a particular issue I think okay well I mean I'll bring one up then and both of them are related to retirement accounts for two years I've talked with uh City staff

[0:57:33] about whether or not the expected rate of return uh makes sense in some of the retirement planning particularly in the firefighter fund where I think the re the required rate of return is something like 7.9% in a in a time where since 1998 I'm not sure that that's a reasonable expectation yeah so so I think you should look at that and and take a look at it and and force us to make some decisions uh but those two rates of return are of significant concern to me so I understand that and and of course mayor those those things are actuar determined uh uh and I'm I would think well and they're also State you know the tmrs is a state entity the city's not going to step in and at the same time uh if you take a look and and see a concern then you then you you have the opportunity to say something well thank you uh I think I think this is a good topic good exchange we have the audit performed to comply with legal and contractual obligations we utilize the audit as we navigate investment and debt markets but the audit is performed for you it's a product which is yours and uh it is uh your active participation is uh is terrific we we appreciate it and invited what's the amount of time what's the amount of time that the federal government uh gives local municipalities when they decide to change a criteria for an audit uh for example um you just mentioned how our City's um unfunded liability assets yeah would be would be affected how how much notice do they give uh give the local municipalities when they make changes like that it varies you're very lucky that this particular gby that's been issued isn't in effect until 2015 and some maybe a year maybe two years but when it's this substantial normally they give I would

[0:59:37] say three years would be a good estimate okay Mr Morrison my question is directed to Daniel you're the new one here you're stepping into this my question would be are you satisfied with the depth than the brevity of this audit or would you like to see a more indepth top to bottom audit so that you know exactly what you're getting into my question is are you satisfied with this level of audit I'm I as far as from what I've seen at this point yes I'm satisfied with the level of the audit that that we're seeing at this point and basically what's being pointed out right now there's anything in particular on your uh point of view that you like to see in there uh absolutely you know that's something that we like to take a look at um as far as the information that's submitt it uh there's standard procedure that is followed of course and and that's exactly what was done here but I do understand what you're saying and that there is an opportunity for you know to add or to take a look at other areas definitely let us know and uh we'd be more than happy to to work with you on that too we certainly would like to have a dialogue with city manager sure and I think I think you ought to be involved at this to a very great extent and I will be because if you want a more in-depth audit I'd be glad to propose it so I want to know exactly what's going on and I appreciate what you're doing but there's different levels of audit as we all know thank you okay further questions for them on the presentation or further discussion so what's our final grade you got an A got an A with with an her name minus no not even I would like to add that it uh was one of the most pleasurable audit committees for me to work with and I've worked with a bunch of them over the last 30 40 years and it it was pleasant as pleasant as audits can be I just don't see how you could have been on an audit committee for 40 years but I don't over the last 40 years I have been

[1:01:42] in many audits were you eight years old when you started or was that thank you what do you want mayor is there any public input on this item before I okay thank youall very much for the presentation and um let's call for a break right now and come back in about 15 minutes please call the meeting back to order and and uh start with item number 10 this is a presentation of the Chamber of Commerce third quarter reports uh related to Economic Development and the convention and visitors bureau good morning sir good morning Council I'm John di with the Chamber of Commerce uh in addition to what had already been sent to you I think she just passed out uh the spreadsheets for the uh marketing plan for 2012 and the draft for 2013 so you'll have those and you'll have that information uh and I apologize for not getting those in the original packet uh I've I've had a really busy month and have been traveling for the last three weeks so uh hope didn't realize that they needed to be in that packet and I didn't realize until today that they were not there that being said uh what you have in your packet is showing the normal activ activities that that we always show from the the Chamber of Commerce going forward you also have that marketing spreadsheet which is broken down by month uh it shows really an overview of uh the plan for the year which included the target Industries uh the organizations that we represent within and then the marketing by the month as we go forward uh you'll also see in the draft for 2013 that's being expanded as we move forward some of the things that you'll see on that and I'm going to give you kind of the highlights uh of that as we walk through kind of the Strategic plan piece that was attached to your packet this time what we want to make sure that the council understands is that we are using the Strategic plan and are moving forward with that as as we go there and what I've tried to do is give you brief notes on a lot of the information that that we

[1:03:45] have uh been assigned and it is broken down specifically by the activities directly from the Strategic plan itself and some of the things that are going on there and what we're we're moving toward uh what you'll see in that is the marketing outside the community which is the target Industries uh as you know uh what we try to do with a lot of our marketing efforts is go specifically to those Target Industries uh we're going to see some adjustments probably next year but uh as you'll see from a standpoint of the target Industries and very specifically going to uh specific organizations and going out for specific shows uh you'll see that uh this last year that we had planned for wind power 2012 which we attended uh we went to the world a show because that's also one of our Target industries that was in in California uh just came back from the SEMA show which is the specialty equipment marketing Association we had about 140,000 people at that show this year it was huge and we got a lot of really good contacts as we were going around the floor on that one and we think it's it's going to be a good show for us a lot of small manufacturers there and a lot lot of them uh are interested in Texas uh we also have a new one on 2012 I got the opportunity and uh have joined icsc which is the international Council of shopping centers because that gives our retail component that we've been looking through on the Strategic plan uh some efforts I'm looking for additional uh shows that we can go to I think what we may want to do is relook at wind for next year with the production tax credit in Jeopardy as it is then not sure that that's something that we need to be really focusing a lot of our energies on even though the Strategic plan uh basically shows that as one of our Target industries that being said the other thing that we've we did this year is we hosted the Lone Star solar Summit so we've had a solar show uh Summit here for the last two years brought in both manufacturers and also people that are leading in the industry we do believe

[1:05:47] that Alternative Energy will continue to parallel with our area and with what we've got available here and I think we need to continue to support report it but with the activity that we're seeing in the oil field right now I think from an energy standpoint we probably need to be focusing a little more on that and I think we're going to see some more short-term opportunities there and I'll talk about that in a minute on uh when we talk about the businesses that we're actually working with right now and going through uh our print marketing I try to base with the shows that I'm going to so if we're doing print advertising in specific types of magazines it's the magazine that's being handed out at those particular shows because that gives me a double shot at those folks and it also allows me to point back at the magazines that are actually in the booths for those folks so we're we're moving forward to support that uh again on the Strategic plan part of what the chamber works with is the support of Goodfellow uh as you know we make a trip to Washington every year we support Goodfellow in various ways uh Phil has worked very directly with with you and other uh folks within the community to help with the transit route and I think that's been very successful this year and we'll continue to do that and continue to work that as part of that uh strategic plan piece but also something that we've done for a long time anyway tourism support you're going to hear from Pamela in a minute on tourism and what's being done uh one of the specific pieces within the Strategic plan was working on lodging uh you'll see that the chamber has been working directly with about six different entities right now that have some interest in putting lodging into the community so that's out there that's working and that's that's available uh one of the other things that that the chamber has been very involved in is the support and continuation of the young professionals group we're trying to build the leaders of of tomorrow because that's where our econom is coming from so we're very uh very interred in doing that and we'll continue to do that as part of that we have worked this last year on uh Airline possibilities uh and

[1:07:50] have worked very closely with the city and those Partners to try to increase the airline activity within the community we also have been supporting the airport and again we'll talk about another uh company that uh is based out there that's that's looking at local expansion that has to do with the airport as well in just a minute uh medical is another piece within the Strategic plan that that we as the chamber support uh we take that kind of on a case-by casee basis and have been working very hard to to make sure that we understand what's going on within the community uh one of our local hospitals came and was looking at the possibility of some expans and I was able to help connect them with a different type of funding that they had used before now whether that will happen or not I'm not sure but I was able to help them set up meetings and uh get more information on that so we're we're working in a lot of various ways to try to support especially the local companies but also uh looking at those outside Mexico is another big issue that we have within the Strategic plan as you guys know uh City staff and I visited uh guara earlier this summer and have made some contacts there that we think uh can be very helpful as we look at businesses across the border uh they have some interest in doing more in the United States and we feel like we're in a great position for that because of where we're sitting and uh because of our proximity actually with that so we're continuing to work with that group and uh this particular group represents about 150 different companies in Mexico so we think there will be some future opportunities there uh we've been very active in reports to planes and will continue to do so not only do we support those events when they come here uh monetarily uh but we also try to make sure that we have uh either Phil or one of our Representatives at the majority of those meetings and I think we've made all of them this year going uh along with that uh the other thing that that we uh have been working with with Mexico is uh the uh toron uh kistra which is their their chamber uh has been up to

[1:09:54] visit with us and we uh basically hosted them about a month ago and we'll continue to work with that relationship we think we have some opportunities uh in toron uh with some of their manufacturers they also want to look at some of the things that we might be able to send down their way so we're trying to develop some relationships that we can continue with and uh we'll we'll look forward uh one of the other pieces of the Strategic plan of course is uh is looking at local businesses uh we're working very hard through the BRC and through the things that are going on there uh as you guys know uh they got their temporary CFO uh City staff has already moved in we see the other partners that will be moving in as we go forward what my plans are for for next year is part of uh our Brett program and I talked with the May about this and the possibility of him helping host uh one of the things that I've done in other communities and and that we've seen in other communities is actually hosting uh quarterly breakfast for local businesses to come in and not only talk with the economic development Partners but also talk with some of the city officials uh helps them get more comfortable with city government helps them gain knowledge and in our case it also helps us showcase the business resource center which we put a lot of money into and we need to be utilizing in the best way possible so we're going to try to host those there on a quarterly basis uh bring specific businesses in and really make sure that uh we're making connections with that business Community through that I'm also working sorry I'm also working right now on a new web portal for economic development for the city of St Angelo what we are trying to do is use the advanced St Angelo URL which was part of the initial strategic plan piece what we're building is a portal website that is kind of a rollover that represents all of our partners and what we would like to do is direct all of our Economic Development Partners as well as all of our marketing potential to www advanc and angelo.com right now I have a website city has a

[1:11:58] website spdc has a website Workforce has a website everybody has their own website when you start doing searches for economic development St Angelo Texas my page normally comes up through the chamber first uh we we have several others that come in behind it what we want to do is direct everything to this single page that will have connections to all of our websites and web pages directly so we can send everything there they hit one button and go to either chamber City wherever else but it's that One-Stop shop what it is kind of a virtual business resource center is what I want it to look like and so we're working on that right now uh Steven mlin is is doing some work for us on that and we're going to be actually talking with him next week on some presentations and what hopefully that's going to look like as we move forward we feel it's a Perfect Blend and pairing with the business ource Center itself it gives us the virtual piece as well as the physical bricks and mortar piece that we'll continue to do uh we'll continue with training support I'm going to move our Economic Development Council meetings which is part of the chamber and we do every month to the business resource center uh in for 2013 uh we've got great meeting space over at the chamber but I think it makes absolute sense to have our our partners and our Business Leaders going into the business resource center as much as possible so we're going to utilize it in that way and we've gotten that on the camera camera and we are on the calendar and we will have a large grand opening that that we'll be hosting uh after the first of the year we want to get everybody in and get everything moving and then then we'll we'll have that blowout for that so those are all the things that that we're working toward on the Strategic plan well they're the highlights uh the other information is is there in the packet so you can kind of take a look at it from a standpoint on very specifics what I have done has gone out and looked at year-to dat on what we're looking at uh after uh the last meeting and some of the questions that I had and as I said at the time I I don't think that we're

[1:14:00] giving you guys all the information that you need in order to understand what we're doing on a day-to-day basis and that's why this is probably a little bit longer presentation today but also to give you very specific information I've gone back through records and year-to date currently uh I've talked with about 232 different businesses outside the community now that being said uh one of the things that that I have a real concern about and I've talked with the Costa DC board about this in the reporting that we do to them uh I I can give you guys very inflated figures because we do a lot of responses to State leads and you know there may be five or six hundred jobs attached to some of those uh we do a lot of those we talk to a lot of different groups what I try to do is really talk about the things that we think are really germine to the community and we think that we have a real shot at that being said uh I think year to date 2012 we've talked with about 58 prospects for the community with the possibility of coming here and uh as part of that and and just to share kind of the success stories of 2012 so far uh as you guys know one one major uh company is starting up here uh we have worked with them all of our partners have worked with them everybody has worked with metab you guys helped with the incentive piece on that one and we look in the future to not only a great great corporate Citizen and an enhancement to the community but also the potential of about 200 jobs secondly uh We've well second and thirdly I've been working with two local companies in the last year both of which have accomplished expansions both of which well one of which came uh for help through custody DC and unfortunately uh they did not choose to help because they were outside the city limits however that expansion has moved forward I helped connect them with additional funding sources through the state and

[1:16:04] had numerous meetings on those so I I'm out there working in the behalf of these businesses even though you may not see it through Costa DC or Costa DC may not see it uh we're we're working to make sure that those businesses are being supported we have another one that just finished an expansion moved into a new building and uh chose not to uh come to cost DC for any additional incentives at this time however we were able to use Cornerstone funding from the chamber to help them in their expansion and help support that as we've gone through I also did connections with them through the city we had meetings with them we talked with City staff about the possibility of incentives and they chose not to go in that direction so e even though some of these companies are not coming through Costa DC necessarily for incentive uh does not mean that we as uh with with in our day-to-day activities are not working with them and trying to get them moving forward of those three we've got 236 new jobs within St Angelo projected over the next five years so we feel like that's that's a pretty good shot for our community the other thing that we're seeing here is we're seeing an upturn in the economy overall if you look at our MSA we're about 1,500 jobs ahead of where we were last year uh non-iv I mean yes uh civilian jobs uh so looking at that and looking at the conversations that we're having with the larger employers within town uh on a twice a year basis because we work at that as part of our marketing materials we talked to the 19 largest employers within the community to find out what's going on where they are and what's what's moving uh we're in tell me what you just said that the jobs ahead oh I'm sorry which one500 on the MSA for that's basically Tom Green County right 1500 jobs ahead we have 1500 more jobs this time this

[1:18:11] year than we did this time last year and how many of those are alled uh quite a few quite a few but that being said as and that that was kind of my next next thing as I'm talking and as we're working with these these 19 companies and I don't have everything in yet but it looks like of the 19 largest uh employers within the community there has been uh a net increase in jobs of about 250 so it is not all oil related that's coming through we are seeing our our other services moving forward and that that's going to be natural because as oil related goes up those folks are spending money within our community there's more services required so we're going to see continuation of jobs uh moving through that uh Employments are up at the airport sales tax has been up for the last 26 months we know that that's that's moving ahead so all of those things are looking good for the community uh we have very little downturn I mean uh we're seeing construction up we're seeing all of those things moving in the right direction from that standpoint currently I've got 10 companies that I'm working with directly right now today have been working with over the last few months uh of those 10 I believe probably five will be here uh of those three of those five are oil related and we are seeing a huge turn upt and oil related companies looking at the community uh one of those companies has already bought property but they have positioned themselves outside the city limits so it's not something you will see from an incentive standpoint from Costa DC that being said that doesn't mean they're not here and they're not hiring people because they are moving to the community we are also helping them through Workforce we are helping them with uh the Partnerships whether it be uh to enhance their business plan through spdc uh whether it's something that we can do specifically at the chamber and we're having those meetings with those companies as they go uh we have another

[1:20:14] company that we feel like will come to Costa DC for incentives uh we think that that will will probably bring about 70 jobs within the community and we feel pretty confident because we've been working with this particular group for several months it is a startup but we think it's going to work well and we think that they will position themselves within the community is what we're we're understanding I'm also working with a company right now that's out of Canada uh it is all related but it's actually a manufacturing piece that would bring 70 jobs from uh Calgary to St Angelo two of these companies that I'm working with right now are very interested in the business park which would be wonderful for our community to be able to get some traction out in the business park and to be able to move forward so I've already talked with the Costa DC uh board about that and we're going to try to see if uh we can't entice them into that particular area both of them need to build buildings and both of them are willing to build their own buildings but if we can put them in that property it'll work thanks for semantics sake where is that I'm sorry for semantics sake where is that business oh I'm sorry Industrial Area the co owned city-owned Business Park okay out on the loop okay uh it it's out there right now we have an empty building and one building that's being occupied and then we have a large improved area that we have availability of if we can pull a couple of new companies into that area I think it will help jumpstart it what kind of products or what I mean what General Industry uh one of them very specifically is a water company that supports uh the oil bu however with what they do and the with the uh what they use they use very light equipment and that's one of the things that that is a little more conducive to the business part because we don't want really heavy machinery running over those roads all the time uh everything that they do they take out to the field they are working on a new uh well it's it's a new project that

[1:22:17] will help recycle the fracking water and they can actually reclaim and reconstitute about 60% of it so that's that's one of the ones we're working at the other one is uh it is a company that basically recycles and refits pipe uh and they have a a very specific patented process they've been doing for many many years in Canada and are looking at the possibility of coming down here with that particular uh industry because most of their business right now is in the west Texas so uh We've uh I've had them visit twice so far and we're continuing to work with them they have not met with Costa DC Andor the staff uh with that group because uh they're they're trying to convince their board at this point that they want to make this move and and they're not ready to move forward with that that being said uh with what we've got on the list and then the pipeline for 2013 we think there's a we're we're looking at the possibility of about 175 jobs uh and and we've got those five other companies that I'm talking to they may or M not uh make a move out here it may or may not be in St Angelo but my guess is even if they decide not to locate directly here they're going to be in one of the surrounding areas and those folks are going to be shopping here and they're going to be developing jobs for our our region so uh we think all of that is coming we have been very fortunate to have several of our local oil groups uh energy groups referring some of the businesses they're doing business with and then we work those contacts and and try to make them move forward so we've we've had a good year we've got a good pipeline going we think there are some things that are on the horizon that that we can can work and work better uh I think we have to relook at uh especially alternative energy right now as a community because of uh it it is very prominent within the Strategic plan but with what's going on I think we need to to really be cautious about that uh but that that also being said we do energy in West Texas better

[1:24:21] than anybody does it we've seen oil and gas for years years and we know that that product we also know that it it has Peaks and Valley so we need to be cognizant of that but it's going to have a huge impact on us uh as it's having on the perum Basin right now we're seeing more and more people looking in this direction because they simply cannot house their employees they don't have the products and services within these areas because they're being so glutted right now we're going to see an upturn I think in our real estate within the community and we're going to see an upturn again in our sales tax simply due to what's going on out in the oil fields right now and I've taken up a whole lot of time but I I really wanted to give you guys a little better overview of very specific cases of of some of the things that that we're working on and also wanted to make sure you understand that we're working diligently to make sure that strategic plan doesn't gather dust on a shelf uh we're we're trying to hit all of those pieces to make that work uh met with City Staff last week and uh we're we're actually working on uh kind of a new process that I think will help in the reporting on that so it'll make it a little clearer for you guys and for the boards that are working toward it that being said what what questions I answer what com I just really appreciate do working from the Strategic plan as a model or a base for forward movement and progress and measure of success or not that's why it's there that's right we spent 75,000 on it and I said that was going to be a drop in the bucket it's only Dro in the bucket if you guys use it the right way and it sounds like we're on the right course and and we will profit from it as a city we have between the Partnerships I mean I I have lead in certain areas city has lead in certain areas uh our you know spdc has lead in certain areas we've we've we've kind of gone through that process and everybody has is is working in that direction uh we've tried to prioritize the things that we think are going to be more loow hanging fruit and shorter term

[1:26:23] but that being said we'll continue to to get at all of those as we go forward one thing you said that's important to me that you talked about the wind energy and and how things may or may not change and how that would impact the Strategic plan the marketing plan and so forth one of the things I want to make sure and I it just sounds like you are and I'm I'm not challenging that you are I'm encouraging that you do uh for instance the world a Expo yes you know you attend that a couple of times and you you come up with something something great you keep attending you don't come up with something Go Fish somewhere else agree uh I don't want us to just be in the habit of going to something because it's there I and I'd want you to tell me well what what happened in at the world a a Expo in 2012 did we get any leads did what did the followup come up with was it worth going you're going again it's on your 2013 We Touch Spas with about a 100 different organizations from that particular show uh we did follow-ups after the fact to date we don't have anything that has come back and said we want to move to to westex so you wouldn't want to spend a lot more time fish but there are some opportunities there and I'll be honest with you that's the first time I had ever gone to that show so I think we do have some opportuni since that's part of what we need to do but I agree and that's one of the reasons that I'm saying I don't think we're going to do wind power this year unless something strategically happens I mean if if production tax credit comes up with another five years which I don't think it will I'm not saying you shouldn't go in 2013 I am saying you shouldn't schedule 2015 right right right no and and that's the thing with the Strategic plan I think what we have to remember or or what we have to to be aware of is things change within the economy and just because last year when production was on the Forefront doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be next year or the year after we we have to look at those things and we have have to be able to have an understanding

[1:28:26] that that that particular document needs to expand and contract as we need it and change the Strategic plan without question yes I did I had a thought just now you know at Texas Tech the research center that they have out at ree Air Force Base okay that's not just about wind energy it's about anyway just challenge you also maybe to think a a little broader about wind and opportunities related to tornado NATO damage control and some other things that still might make sense and we have a partnership with Texas Tech and work with that group and I think we'll see those opportunities question yes sir I've got a couple of questions uh you know you talked about the Cornerstone funding and providing yes and and we all got the report it's time clocks plus you helped in expand how does that work is it just a a chamber member only that applies for help like that or how do you uh work with outside businesses this case in this case because uh Cornerstone investment is really through the chamber we really look toward those chamber members to try to help them out in this particular case uh there there were some concerns from the company about publicity and anything that expanded and and uh so there were some concerns about actually going to covid for help so uh went back talked with Phil we talked with our board and they agreed that that we could help in a very small way frankly I mean uh what's what small way what uh it was about $11,000 okay what is our you I'm looking at your balance sheet right here but what is our year-to dat Cornerstone fund balance Phil any idea 90 yes oh no the what we raised this year we have nothing to do with the Cornerstone fund correct 6,000 we have nothing to do with the Cornerstone no that's chamber it's chamber but it

[1:30:29] allows us I understand that just saying that that's y'all's separate money that right yes sir and then the last one if you can elaborate what the development project you talked about on MLK can you can you talk about that what in your notes it says something about a development on MLK development project I'll have to look back cuz don't remember which one that one is that's unfortunately the fallacy of these reports being three months prior to I sometimes forget which ones are which yes it is and what is what I know what WTO but what is a project or what's the development just it we we went and worked with uh that partnership to how try to to help with that retail corridor okay and we're hoping to to move forward and assist them city was there as well and they're working with it so uh it was just part of the partnership to to move forward that's all I needed all right thank you just quickly I'm glad to see that uh you're you're you're being you're watching the wind industry very closely because I anyway we'll see how that all pans out right uh the um solar tax credit expires next year yes and we have no State solar so until we get to that point within the state and I don't anticipate that right it it's it's something that I think we need to keep on the peripheral and the good news is is if we can host the summit then we have people coming in they're spending money in our community so that works well for us and we can certainly uh help sponsor that and and move forward with it but until we as a state decide we want to set that as a priority we're probably not going to see that that being said however uh we actually had a meeting with a uh solar broker and I had that meeting with City staff and they are looking toward the

[1:32:33] possibility of a solar array from uh uh a company that would like to invest in the US now whether it will happen or not I I think it would be a very long shot but something that you might be seeing in the future from City okay thank [Music] you anything else okay thank you thank you good morning I'm Pamela Miller with the convention and visitors bureau giving the third quarter reports for the convention and visitors bureau we assisted third quarter with 26 conventions meetings sporting events or Motor Coach Tours the projected attendance was 9,615 people with a projected room nights of 30009 the average length of days spent was 2.5 days and there was a total economic impact of 1,562 500 on page 14 of your packet is our marketing efforts for the quarter we responded to 8,598 advertising inquiries that's for additional information from our adver vertising 35,6 195 web page inquiries 461 phone inquiries and we welcomed 2382 visitors to The Visitor Center as of the end of October our top three cities for supplying individual tourism at The Visitor Center were San Antonio number one Houston number two and Austin number three the top out of state um the top two as of the end of October were Ohio followed by New Mexico and our top International was Germany on page 15 of your packet is the

[1:34:36] most updated um for this quarter copy of the Smith travel report which showed our occupancy up for September 29.3% and our average daily rate up 12.4% our year to date up 18% 18.1 on occupancy and 9% on average daily rate I received at the end of the day yesterday the newest um report for October of the Smith travel report which has us up October was a busy month for us again and we were up 25.99% for the month and our average daily rate up 13.6% and I wanted to point out that this is the 22nd month in a row that occupancy has been up wow some of the uh the site tours that we hosted this quarter included the district and County Clerks of Texas we were wanting to get their 2014 conference first the uh convention site committee came in and then we had a second site visit by the full board we did get that piece of business it'll be here in June of 2014 about 400 people we also had a site tour for the Texas Cattle raisers Association for their 2013 conference uh we did not get that one that was about 200 people um Mr mofen even helped me with that uh site inspection the Narco terrorism conference we had their site inspection in July and they came in August about 150 of them and that looks like that's going to become an annual conference for us also Mr Ean klepper with Texas highways he came in for help to put together a story on art history and the fort and I did put a copy of that in your packet it's begins on page 33 if you didn't see it um it was eight pages plus back cover so very good for us also

[1:36:41] aurer alamina which is a German newspaper they're going to be doing a story on us which will run this spring also travel host came in to do a site they'll be doing a story on the 15th anniversary of the forts Trail which is next year July was a really tough month for us uh we had numerous occasions where we could not find rooms for both our groups and individual tourists two in particular the allstar girls fast pitch had provable room nights of 1135 room nights this is a com conference or a tournament that comes to us on a threeyear rotation and the planner talked to me that if it was going to come back and we have a possibility of bringing it back in two years we needed to do better at finding rooms for these girls or we were possibly going to lose it so we went and talked with ASU it was summer we were able to use dorm rooms and bring them here and um keep them interested in St Angelo for the future but we did use 187 more room night at ASU so more rooms we could have sold if we'd have had the hotels it happened again at the end of the month when we did Midnight Madness we had 290 provable room nights and we had to put a 100 more over at ASU we attended trade shows this quarter to include the North American Travel journalist conference and I had media appointments with media throughout the country again of interest to many of them is this 15th anniversary of the forts Trail and both Bo Bob Blart and I are on that marketing committee so we're already putting together our followup for these journalists we participated with the state the governor's office on tourism put together a Cooperative opportunity for the Calgary Stampede for its 100th year Alberta supplies a lot of

[1:38:46] Tourism from Canada to Texas so they put together a co-op and we met numerous people that were coming or had been to San Angelo and were returning and I would say ecoin oil and gas were probably the two biggest reasons we also attended Meeting Planners International where we had meetings one-on win oneon-one with numerous Meeting Planners in September with the help of the city parks and recreation department and the Lily conference or the Lily Fest committee we were able to add a day to lilyfest this year we wanted to do something to make it become a two-day event uh we actually did get a group this year of 40 they were all from out of state or International as far away as Japan and China and we had a night prior event the evening at the lies and for a first year event we had 200 people that participated so we'll probably be looking at continuing to do something along that line our advertising included see Texas first fall vacation insert that goes to every major newspaper in Texas and we've already got 1,600 requests from just that piece for further information also Texas highways Texas monthly travel host Texas Hill Country magazine Sports destination magazine Texas meeting planner and media guide the Texas state guide Texas events calendar Facebook and Google search on pages 16 through 25 of your packet I've given you samples of some of the advertising and also uh copies of some of the permission-based email blasts in July we also did cable that was on Fox News history travel lifetime food Discovery and Animal Planet we did did go ahead and drop the cable after

[1:40:49] July because we were full and didn't feel we needed to continue the cable I'm pleased to tell you today that our Sports funding application program won first place at tcce Texas Chamber of Commerce Executives conference this year for outstanding chamber programs it was based on quality and Innovation and economic impact of a program so this quarter funds that were allocated from the sports fund included $900 for the same Angelo storm Indoor Football West Texas Shootout the Bobcats versus California we gave them $3,000 the girls fast pitch tournament we gave them $3,287 and that was the amount of their loss for doing the event here and the Doug McCutchen tournament which is happening at the end of the month we gave them of $33,000 I also wanted to point out that last weekend uh we had the Catholic youth conference here in town this was uh just about the biggest conference we have ever had here the Jehovah Witness one was was bigger um we had 1450 high school kids from uh Texas Arkansas and Oklahoma and the organizer talked to me at the end of the conference to to express his Delight with the city he was amazed at the hospitality how well the convention center the Coliseum the fort the chamber and everybody that they came in interfaced with what a great job we did and we were hoping to be able to vote um to do the RFP process to have them vote to come back again in 10 years and we're pleased to say that they're going to look at us again in 5 years um you might have seen the the article in the paper yesterday they had some nice comments in there about the city but

[1:42:52] very pleased at the way everybody worked together in the community and we even had our uh CVB board Advisory Board volunteers that were there helping with just the sheer numbers of the conference and I I might add that October um is being really just like July as far as or has been in trying to find rooms for individuals and groups um we did have three groups we could not get group rates for they had to just go with uh whatever the rack rate was if they could come and um we tried to put some of the Catholic youth conference kids at ASU but because school is in session and they had already had to do that because the Lone Star volleyball tournament was in town the same days it was not a possibility for us but we are talking with um ASU about being able to do that in the future um when we can obviously filling the hotel rooms is always our first priority and we don't do anything until we've expired that I've attached the latest copy of the budget we're in great shape the um income continues to come in for occupancy tax we're in our budget and uh if there's any questions I'll address them Mr herfeld um I I guess on the Smith report regarding the uh the occupancy of the the hotels any idea what percentage of our occupancy is uh weekly you know is the uh versus you know the the typical overnight type thing it would depend on the hotel I know one of them that I met with recently said theirs is between 60 and 70 right now as far as oil and gas business um you know some of the hotels get that business and some of them

[1:44:54] aren't so it really would depend uh they have shared with us that they would be at 100% if it wasn't for Sunday nights so those are kind of The Quiet nights even the conventions generally we don't have a Sunday night stay Mr silvas Pamela I just I was looking at your uh the Lost business by both Jenny and Kimberly I see the reasons but is part of it also the lack of rooms is that is that plain a big part in US losing business um right now it is we're trying very hard to keep reputation strong with the Meeting Planners that we are working with uh because the rate basically it not that it's not there but if it is there the rate is too high in particular motor coach a motor coach operator right now can get a room on the Riverwalk in San Antonio for $79 and that same Hotel here quoted them $159 a night so where are they going to overnight that's affecting motor coach it's affecting meeting business we've told them to just hang with us you know we're we're going to get some more rooms here eventually and uh once you have more rooms the room rate obviously is is going to go down a little bit um the biggest reason like cattle risers for example um in their case they are used to a much nicer hotel and um when he walked out he said to me do you know the Overton and lck and I said I've been there and I saides and he said that is the kind of hotel we stay in and so the hotel was not adequate um and we're still running into that but now that it's getting up to full serve that's getting a little bit better and la and my last question is are we going to be okay as far as volunteers for the Christmas at Ford kcho is Bob lart going to we set out Hotel bids twice for Bob and the second time we did get a little bit better of a picture back um maybe a

[1:46:58] little bit higher of a rate than a lot of those volunteers wanted to pay but um you know you can get a room in San Angelo for $40 a night if if you want to stay in that property um but we we got some that averaged around 79 for him and we did get a note from Bob from one of his volunteers that said it was nice to have such a iety so lots different prices different properties and I guess really my the question I was asking is I know he depends on volunteers local volunteers to help him run the program or the Christmas out there so that I think I thought I heard a while back that they were struggling in getting volunteers or are we going to be okay as far as local folks to go out there and help run the I haven't heard that we that we're not so I would assume that we're okay I talked to to Bob pretty much weekly so okay and I might add that um the the conference last week that I was talking about um it did go to the Coliseum to the convention center and to the fort and we had to use the stable building at the Fort twice split the group in half because it was too big for anything we had all in one location so um it was also especially nice to have it the weekend before Thanksgiving that's generally a really quiet week when we can consider I noticed that um um San Antonio Austin and Houston seem to be pretty consistent with their coming to St Angelo and I'm just wondering what is it about St Angelo uh that makes them come here when you've got uh San jento which is a historical place you've got Gonzalez you've got sigin you of course you've got new bronsville so what is it that you think is bringing those guys here so on such a such a consistent basis to to San Angelo the surveys still continue to say we are a great place for a weekend getaway they want to get away from the traffic the people here are friendly we have unique shopping it's a great place to get out

[1:49:02] of the big city and you know you look at the populations in those three cities that probably has a lot to do with why they're on the top of our list but um it's generally just get out of the city and enjoy yourself and relax and the German paper that's doing the story on S Angelo and what city are they located in Germany it's in Northern Germany near hurg hurg okay okay I think it's great that we have the relationship with ASU that we have those guys have been uh real a real big helping in us with our tourism so I'm glad to see you guys working so closely with them we're working very closely and the new athletic director has been has met with either Phil or I pretty consistently since he's been here and one of the things we're looking at is you know being able to find rooms for these tournaments when we're going to be bringing them in but working very well with us someone said I've got room at the funeral home if uh extra bed you did at one point you've probably heard the story before but at one point one of our Volunteers in The Visitor Center had somebody from Italy stay in his home because he couldn't find a room here in San Angelo so we get on the phone we make it work great great thank you good job okay thank you very much item number 11 is consideration of adopting a resolution authorizing the city manager or his designate to exe execute a lease agreement with the St Angelo Performing Arts Coalition good morning again mayor and Council that is the substance of this item a resolution authorizing the city manager to negotiate and execute the contract and what I'm prepared to do is hit kind of Hit the high highlights of the contract for where we are at this point and get your feed back if you uh if any of these rub you the wrong way um so to begin uh parties to the agreement city of St Angelo and the St Angelo Performing Arts Coalition the

[1:51:05] property the West mezzanine area in City Hall approximately 1670 Square ft and of course access to common areas uh initial term 20 years with two optional uh 10-year extensions the rate $1 per year uh the permitted use general office use including performance of saac management obligations under the develop and op development and operating agreement recall that we have an agreement with them to develop and operate the auditorium this is the second uh agreement uh which allows them to occupy so that they to assist in fulfilling the obligations under that agreement tenant agrees to take the property as is that improvements to those prop to that property are there is there obligation uh tenant agrees that they will reimburse us for common type costs for example electricity water uh that kind of thing and there is a formula for allocating that cost contained in the agreement um the tenant will perform the obligations under the development and operating agreement it specifies that they com uh that they commit to do that in this agreement also lease assignment this is important that uh lease assignment is addressed uh they will uh not assign this list un except as permitted within this document uh farther down in the document our commitment is that we will not unreasonably withhold that assignment and in the event that assignment is made the St Angelo Performing Arts Coalition is still obligated to fulfill its obligations in

[1:53:10] this they are not relieved to the obligations within this lease or in the operating agreement that we've already executed now that's important because they are contemplating assignment of the occupancy portions the occupant to the symphony the symphony will occupy the space and through uh and so we are immediately contemplating occupancy by the symphony in a sublease or an assignment it's important that we're comfortable with that those terms so that that can occur uh tenant will prepare and deliver an annual report uh detailing uh their activity for the year in the event that there's a uh some sort of tragedy where the building collapses or is knocked down in some fashion there are Escape Clauses for both parties sorry back up to the assignment how broad is their ability to assign does it have to be someone associated with Performing Arts I mean could it be an oil filled company good question I think there is I the language that uh one or more of its member entities appears to be um on the top of page five it might be limited to that I believe that's the intention thank you good question one of the entities that may that are uh Partners in the Coalition or a part of the Coalition thank you uh there's a there's mention in here about default saac is obligated to satisfy the requirements in this lease and the operating lease and default in one creates default in the

[1:55:14] other our obligations include structural outside walls that windows that kind of thing but within that within those boundaries uh their obligations exist for maintenance and upkeep however uh janitorial might we might participate as partners in janitorial we have a service in City Hall already they might choose to utilize our service and then we would allocate that cost it depends on what they deem in their best interest unless I've missed something or unless I've not covered something you're interested in those are the highlights of the agreement and again what you're considering today is delegating authority to continue to negotiate and execute to the city manager and so that it's important if you have terms here that you think need to change now would now would be a good time for us to know it Mr Morrison the way I understand this Michael is that the city would be still be responsible for all insurance on the auditorium as far as the rest of our City City Hall so we would still be buying the insurance for the building well this agreement does not uh address Auditorium issues this agreement is strictly associated with the mezzanine except as it relates to sax obligation in that other agreement who would be paying for the insurance on the auditorium the taxpayers or saac I would have to look that term up but uh do Rick do you remember the taxpayers pay the insurance on the city hall they do now yes sir is the auditorium part of the city hall yes sir so would it would be would the auditorium be exempt from the rest of the city hall or would the taxpayers be responsible for the insurance on the city hall complex well this the taxpayers would be responsible for the insurance on the building but there are additional insurance

[1:57:16] requirements associated with activities within the building and that would fall to to uh sapac or and or to the people who utilize the facility that's the way that is now for example if we decide if if I decide to rent the facility and have a concert I am obligated to uh certain insurance requirements liability insurance not building insurance I'm curious about the the structural insurance on the building most likely the structural because the city still owns the building that would still fall under our overview of insurance which we have for all of our structures I also understand that we would be responsible for the maintenance for the soundness of the building for the soundness of the auditorium for the soundness of the mezzanine that they are renting for $1 a year we're still responsible for the foundation the roof all of the wall we're still responsible as a city for the mezzanine yes sir that's correct will they pay any type of a tax to us or will they still continue to enjoy a taxfree uh standing saac is organized as a nonprofit entity U the only payments that I'm aware of that they would make to the city are contained within this agreement and that is specified at $1 per year so we're still responsible for the building we're still responsible for the insurance on the auditorium and the mezzanine that they are renting for $1 a year we're still responsible for the soundness and if there's any problem we're still responsible to rebuild it but yet for $1 a year they get 1,600 foot of some of the Prime real estate in this city they get to run the auditorium they get to set all the fees they get to collect 100% of the money and we as a city have all the responsibility to take care of it for $1 a year Michael was there a clause in there about the setting aside of some of the funds toward maintenance there is that is a different agreement though that is not

[1:59:18] the what is in front of us today and so a couple of things first of all I'm not as prepared as I'd like to be to discuss the details of that other agreement but yet you act you expect us to make a decision I'm asking for direction on this agreement that's in front of us the complaint you have with that other agreement is a decision which Council has already made the complaint I have today is that we are living this to these people for $1 a year for all of these 20year periods we're still responsible for everything our taxpayers still have to pay for everything yet they get 100% of the profit ex and they set the charges except what they want to give back to us I've got a call in to a banker and also to a car dealer and I think I can get us $2 a year for this to give them this 1,600 foot I can double our lease would that be acceptable would it be a good idea for this item to be brought back and iel I'm just speaking for you you go ahead but to bring this item back in conjunction with that other agreement Dwayne because I think it looks like Council would benefit from looking at those together I think it's absurd that taxpayers build this building maintain this building taxpayers give us money on the half cent sales tax to restore this building and then we turn around and give it to someone for $1 a year all the profits the naming rights the selling of every seat every door everything they want to sell but yet the taxpayers are still on the hook for insurance maintenance Foundation all we do is pay we get nothing back and I think it's absurd I will not support this okay um I I don't think I can go back and and walk through the other agreement so I think to to be able to show how the the package works you really may want to bring it back so that you can explain some of the other things the the only way to really talk through this is to understand if they spend $2.5 million

[2:01:21] improving your building and it's still your building that's $2.5 million that that nonprofit is giving the citizens so somewhere in there there's a balance toward what you're getting for a lease and what you're receiving for the citizens but let's not I don't want to debate that without actually having some of those facts in front of me and being and kind of revisiting what the whole package looks like and that's how I feel is that okay with the rest of you for this 2 and A2 million that they are investing though they also have been given the right to sell naming rights in that Auditorium they are going to put forth 2 and A5 million but they plan to sell naming rights to recoup that 2 and a half million so you know let's let's let's keep all these facts straight okay it's not it's not a gimme it's they putting money forward and let's have the debate when we have all the let's have the debate when we have all the facts there's nobody that's going to give them $2 and5 million for the naming rights on the City Auditorium you got $660,000 for the Coliseum so let's not let's stay out of Hyperbole and get back to the facts and do that when we have the facts so I ask that you uh bring this back at a future date when we can look at this kind of in total because I can't remember the pieces well enough to to go with authorizing this part without kind of revisiting all of it okay okay thank you let's move to item number 13 you're still on the hook sir discussion and possible action on on costs related to the Texas Municipal Retirement System cost of living adjustment increase good morning Mary Council we had an inquiry from a council member about uh uh changing the benefit for in the retirement system up from the current benefit of 50% of cola to a 70% benefit to summarize what that means is that retirees subject to some computation methods that are contained in state statutes in general receive a

[2:03:26] benefit an increase in their benefits equivalent to 50% of the uh Consumer Price Index so if the Consumer Price Index goes up 2% someone in the pension system subject to the computation methods in State Statute would receive a 1% increase in their pension amount their monthly pension a few years back uh as our pension contribution rate began to increase continued to increase when we expected it to level off and even decrease we discovered we uh started tmrs started talking to us about where those rates ultimately might need to be at that time that those rates were contemplated to be as high as 25% and so we considered and acted on reducing the benefit level to help control the growth in those rates the first step we took was to change the benefit that we offer that we pay for and that uh employees and retirees receive through tmrs from a 70% cost of living adjustment benefit to a 50% and that helped bring that contribution rate down help slow that growth since then tmrs has done other things to help control that growth and we are in a relatively stable environment now where our rate is approximately 18.9 3% or our rate for 2013 which is 18.9 3% and so the question we had was what would it take to move us back to that 70% benefit level and uh and so what we've there's lots of possibility out there for discuss for discussion how the statutes control tmrs what the Actuarial result of various benefit changes would be so

[2:05:30] rather than try to cover questions that weren't answer we've gone straight to a uh an answer for this question and we'll consider if we need to go in other directions where we might go so the current T tmrs rate or the tmrs rate for the calendar year 2013 18.9 3% if we were to move to a 70% Cola tmrs would estimate that rate to be 22.2 6% that's the rate we pay on wages if we pay a dollar in wages we send 19 cents to tmrs as as the employer portion of the retirement contribution the employee also sends 7% if we were to change to a 70% Cola benefit that rate would change 22.2 6% that's an increase of approximately 3.33% and I've asked the budget folks to give us an estimate for what that would cost on an annual basis across the organization and across all funds that would be approximately a million $335,000 the biggest piece of that would be in the general fund and so the question what's the cost now at 50% what do we send to tmrs now mhm I don't have that number in front of me I'm sorry 3% is a million bucks so you can to some you can to six times that five times that would be approximately 5 million that is sent six times that would be approximately 6 million and so it thank you mayor that is probably in that neighborhood five to6 million doll a year that's the employer side the employees also send uh 7% or a little less than half of that I mean the program is set up to be

[2:07:34] seven and 14 isn't it yes sir 7% 2 to1 match and so what we'd like to see in the long term is a rate at or near 14 what we have is a going back 20 to 30 years an Actuarial method that did not prund some of the benefits that that that uh uh are in the current slate of benefits in other words you save now for expenditures payments you anticipate making L later the city paid all that tmrs said to pay the actuary working for tmrs um did not spot a trend ass associated with Benefits that would have resulted in uh suggesting that some of these benefits be prepaid those benefits were funded on a pay you go basis and about five years ago tmrs started looking seriously at this the rates continued to go up it was not a St Angelo phenomenon it was occurring that way across the state especially in mature cities cities which had been in existence at their current employee levels for an extended period of time where they continue to make the contributions but their unfunded amount or their needed their new contribution rate continued to increase and so they looked into it identified what the problem was and they've addressed that now and that's uh and that has put to bed that issue of uh not prefunding benefits that we anticipate to pay but we are still living with 20 to 30 years worth of not prefunding some of those benefits and so it's you know unless we take drastic action uh it's

[2:09:40] going to take a while for that to pay out but I mean sometime before I came on the council I I was here and witnessed it I think while I was running uh the the vote was made to increase this this uh rate to help offset that funding problem right there was a vote like that had that had to do with the fire pension um Council has not had to vote on this except to decrease this benefit and that may have been the the one you okay vote I just remembered them having to go to 20% or 21% or something like that for a handful of years to offset the the Miss on the actuary exactly we and and we were internally we were concerned about anything with a two handle on it we we we thought that two was going to be poisonous anything that 20% or greater would be poisonous and so we were trying to smoothly prevent that from occurring by taking early action not drastic action but early action and so we moved from a 70% benefit to a 50% benefit now one of The Oddities in the way tmrs calculates cost of living adjustments contained in those State statutes it's not a year-to-year computation they go back to the date somebody retired which may be two years back or it may be 20 years back and they recompute what the person should have been making what their raises should have been based on the current benefit now what that means is Rick retired 20 years ago let's say and he's been getting increases in that annuity each year based on a 70% benefit when we went and changed that to a 50% benefit that changes that computation when they go back and compute what he's going to get this year they recompute

[2:11:43] all those prior years and if that new recomputed 50% benefit does not exceed what he current then he gets no cost of living adjustment for this year and so that was that is the most difficult part of that change that was made is that uh for retirees depending on how long they've been retired they were affected uh some of them to the point where they're not going to get cost of living adjustments for an extended period and some what are the legal constraint RS on us uh related to doing this for people that have been retired for a certain amount of time and not doing it for everyone there you don't have that flexibility because all of that is contained in state statutes that flexibility doesn't exist you can't give a benefit to one and not the other okay uh one of the things we've talked about uh I'm a member of an advisory committee with tmrs the the cola adjustments was the Hot Topic what do we do when do we attempt to do during this legislative session to address Cola issues uh the constant theme we heard was that cities should have local control that those local decision makers should be able to decide what is uh in their community's best interest and so flexibility and local control was Paramount um obviously there are competing factions some want little control some want lots of control depending on U what their Viewpoint is for example employee groups want uh councils to be obligated to higher benefit levels and to have little uh discretion in changing that uh management groups want uh management and Council to have discretion to adjust

[2:13:45] their benefits according to the needs of the community and so they competing factions from that standpoint as you imagine you know we deal with that every year in our budget as we employees want the biggest raise they can get the finance director wants a balanced budget and Council wants uh priorities in the community addressed through the budget so um there are uh proposals which come up in the legislative season having to do with ad hoc type Cola increases where communities can uh the proposals would suggest communities can give raises that don't create uh this uh recomputed methodology those have not passed at this point and tmrs is uh has not the board has not yet made the decision for which direction they will go for sponsoring leg legislation or not it looks like they probably will not uh advocate for certain changes and uh but that board the board has not made that decision yet but cities do want the flexibility other cities other councils see that as an issue they see these older retirees who most need the adjustments uh being locked out when those when those benefit levels come down and other cities are facing this also as they face these um forward-looking rate increases they also adjusted those benefits down and to the extent that they changed the cola benefit uh their retirees were also affected so uh we are not unique in that in that I'm I'm confused Michael straighten me out tmrs board has not come out and endorsed an increase for the cola they uh why why wouldn't they is it because it takes

[2:15:48] money out of their operating and their existence the money's that they're taking from these retired employees no what they want is for you to have the flexibility to give the benefit that you think your citizens are willing to pay for so the tmrs board deals with there are 1,200 um municipalities in the state of Texas and most of those participate in tmrs so tmrs their mindset is one of administering benefits that others make decisions on and so that board is interested in you having the flexibility to award and fund the benefit you think is appropriate in this community and so what they have not taken a stand on is should a legislative change uh should they advocate for uh legislative change at the state level but they're they very much want you to have control and so you could change this you could go to a 70% Cola what we're saying is we're estimating that across the organization it will cost us approximately a million dollar a year to restore that benefit this year yes sir I mean not not over time because more people retire Etc but anyway well are there other questions for the gentlemen the thing I think we have to myself I just don't like us looking at little pieces of this without looking at all of this um when you're talking about a benefit that's suppos to be 7% payment by the employee 14% payment by the city City's currently uh paying 19% instead of 14% And the expected rate of return on these Investments by the tmrs is something like 7% and if you go back and look at 1998 coming forward you don't get there you don't hit 7% which puts pressure on on the city to continue to raise the amount you have to to put in the fund to to have have folks land

[2:17:51] where they're supposed to when they retire so I I feel that uh you know the the the fact is you really need to be looking at whether the 7% number is the right number the 14% number is the right number the 7% return on investment is the right number when you have interest rates since basically the early 2000s that are very low and then you have restrictions on what you can invest in um if you had a 100 % stock portfolio which would be highly risky for folks that are planning for their retirement you couldn't hit the 7% return over the last 10 or 15 years and so that's the point I'm I'm making is I think we need to be careful we would raise this rate which I you know I wish we could parse things somehow and he's saying that we really can't legally in other words if you've been retired 10 years or longer I wish there was some way we could help them uh without endangering ing everybody's retirement or or putting an undue burden on the taxpayer in the out years 5 years from now 10 years from now I think that this number is going to be a tough number to overcome and so I'm I'm worried about taking little pieces of this and acting on them without forcing a discussion and a look into the the whole thing uh because you're going to spend a million dollars to help make this happen uh but that million dollars is is the least this will ever cost you because each year you you're funding a 70% Cola with more people in the pool well that is true for the foreseeable future this number unless I'm mistaken includes an Amber that what you've done there when if you go to a 70% benefit you've increased your liability and in Computing this they have amortised that liability there's a current benefit impact and then there's a future benefit impact that future benefit is where that

[2:19:54] debt exists and you're amortizing that over some period of time they've probably Ed 20 or 30 years in here okay and beyond that time period you would be completely prefunding that liability and so that obligation would come down yes but that's 20 or 30 years out and um anyway are there other questions on this mayor I just have a comment I agree with everything that you said Mr Mayor and and I don't see that there's any way possible we can put this into effect this year I I I do want it looked at in our budget process for starting next year to see but I do want to look at the whole picture but I wanted to make the statement that you know we can only do what we can afford to do but the other side of that coin is the less that we do for our retirees we are forcing them into the programs the Indigent type programs and you know money that has to be made up there so we've got to seriously consider this and seriously consider as to how on a regular basis they need the our retirees can look forward to some type of increase instead of well maybe like you said the way it's calculated prevents them from getting something every year that I totally disagree with crazy well you're absolutely right that we force people into these Indigent programs uh cities without any kind of cola benefit uh are concerned that they're PR they are predictably putting their retirees into a poverty stricken situation if you don't have an inflation adjusted pension uh some sort of cola benefit then you are planning for 30 years down the road 20 years down the road that that pension will have half the buying power that it does today and so I think there's General consensus

[2:21:57] that some sort sort of cola benefit is appropriate the question is how do you fund it and uh and retain local flexibility local control and so uh and in addition mayy you talked about looking systemwide or not just looking at one term but looking at the our entire tmrs situation I don't whether you remember but a few months back you asked for a review of our pension systems both tmrs and fire pension that is still on the to-do list we haven't forgotten that so uh we do think that we will be having we'll having a discussion about both of those pension systems and U we can talk about it more oh and one other thing I absolutely think that it should be part of a long-term planning strategy what do we want that benefit to be and then work toward that through some kind of a long-term planning strategy we'll be we'll be talking about that a little bit later on as far as some of the plans that we have on a from a strategic U uh planning standpoint but also in this to address short-term plans uh for the next fiscal year but also into the future this is one of the items that uh we'd love to be able to discuss also and see how we going to be able to fund that too so and that's we'll discuss a little bit further I would like to see you and Mr DNE and other members be working on this for our budget Workshop sessions this I'm already into 2013 excuse me that's coming up so that we can have a better handle on wanted a better answer for our retirees out there well we're looking at a workshop actually uh mid Midway through uh in January that's what I want to discuss with all of you because I'd like to get at least a full day workshop from um from everyone and that way we can set some pretty good direction as far as what uh we want to do short-term longterm also okay folks this is a discussion and possible action we can move forward with no action or I I need to get the council's decision what they want okay Mr Morrison why couldn't we go with the 60% why would we have to go to 70 good good question that is not an option

[2:23:59] allowed at this point that uh those restrictions or those options exist in State Statute and that would for example be a legislative action that might be proposed or that someone might advocate for that we don't just want a 50 and a 70 we want a 60 so didn't the didn't the city pick up almost $2 million in property tax increase last year over the year before one 1 million 1 million and then but I mean then you voted in your budget a a accordingly that's what makes it hard to do things in the middle of a year you know I I mean I I feel like and I'm you remember the other day the dental deal I mean you know how the council takes these positions and says over time we want to reduce property tax rate as one of the count you know I believe that one of the things that needs to happen toward the budget process Mr Morrison is that you would say we want to you know we want to figure out how to get the dental plan made available to the retirees in a similar way to the way it's done for employees as part of the upcoming budget cycle and you would say we want to address this Cola issue and and you would as a council commit yourself to getting that done but you would do it when everything's on the table so that you're looking at how do you save money somewhere to to fund a million dollars for this or or you know when when the system's supposed to be 7% from the employee and 14% from the city and now it's about to be 22% from the city at what point is it 10% from the employee and 22% from the city or 10% from the employee and 19 from the city or I mean we should be look in my mind looking at this bigger so and I I agree with that that's all well and good but we we continue to talk about this and we continue to push it forward and we have workshops and our retirees continue to fall further and further and further behind so it's uh you know it's a it's an arbitrary thing for us we can talk

[2:26:03] about it and talk about it and talk about it but our retirees are having to deal with this when their water bill hits or their gas bill or their electric bill or their insurance or their Medicare increases and all of these different things Mr Mayor I would like to if I may make the motion that we form a committee the same as we did with the Gatsby 45 committee for these numbers to be worked up this this committee to meet uh to include our city manager and Mr Dain uh and people like you did on the Gatsby 45 to retired people out there who have done health benefits the first one that comes to mind is uh Charlie uh or Bond Charlie Bond who was an excellent help to us in the Gatsby 45 but some individuals out there to look at this to have for the council to have numbers and stuff at their workshop and get this started now so that it's not a continued talk about we'll be working on it and have a workshop in January as uh address it Mr Valen do I need to make that in form of a motion that's or just give direction that committee that committee had a couple of council members I believe that served yes let me just add it I'm I'm with you and the mayor and Dwayne because I think you know these retired folks that since I've been on Council we've I don't like to hear and I understand where they're coming from because when they talk about broken promises and broken and promises and promises you know man I feel for them so I think let's let's get something going I mean if it's next month at a work shop let's move forward let's not let's quit talking about it and and be as much support to them and our employees as we can so but at the same time in fairness to the stat to council to everyone involved you know you only passed a budget two months ago to then be saying we want to add a a million doll expenditure uh immediately it's like well why wasn't it part of the budget then you know it's we're not eight months into the New Year we're two

[2:28:05] months into the new year that's why I'm wanting to say this is a worthwhile issue but let's do it right and and move and then and then what I'm also asking for is you know when you say well let's not Kick the Can down the road or let's let's not let this fall off the the radar screen that's why I'm saying okay let's commit that we're going to deal with the dental issue for retirees and we're going to deal with the cola issue for retirees as part of the 2013 budget that we commit to make that happen so we don't let it go away we don't let it not be dealt with we just educate ourselves well do it as part of the whole budget and then make something happen on these issues that's what I'm asking us to do so Daniel would you anticipate that uh we might have if we wanted to cover should we cover more than one issue more than tmrs for example the dental ISS been a couple of issues have been brought up you know if we're going to take this uh again and we are going to take it to our planning workshop which again I had wanted a scheduled for mid January this will allow us to at least have those figures prepared but also uh in the planning process is to attach those funding mechanisms to um each one of these uh these plans that we have too so that's something that uh I think would be a great idea to actually address uh right now we've talked about dental and now we're talking about the tmrs issue is to come up with those figures those numbers so when we do present uh in in January we'll have an idea and as far as start looking at the funding mechanisms how how we're going actually going to do that and have some some recommendations [Music] also okay help me out does that mean work estimates and bring them to planning and then go with some kind of an action oriented committee or do we need to form this Committee in advance of your uh Retreat all we need to do is come up with figures uh the the deal here is that when we meet in January we'll kind of we'll discuss and especially we'll be discussing also CIP and priorities at that at that point too is to kind of determine how we're going to fund so instead of you mentioned

[2:30:07] instead of talking about it we really do need to plan and attach the funding mechanisms and that's what the strategic planning workshop is going to do for us in January good all right Mr would you walk me through while you're here the next item number 14 is that a number 14 is just a a reminder that while we have allocated monies um in the budget we have not for Capital issues we have not decided how those are going to be spent and so this is just a revisit that uh we are going to need to have those uh discussions and make those decisions so 14 is just a reminder that we have that process in front of us okay Mr Mr Mayor I believe we have some comments from the audience on 13 I'm I'm quite open to public input no problem okay I'm treating it as a discussion atem but so that based on what I'm seeing as I just didn't want us go on to 14 when we hadn't concluded 13 I don't mind at all I don't mind but uh I'm treating it as a discussion item based on what I feel is the consensus of Council in preparation please coming forward I'm Russell Smith retired police chief U Mr Mayor city council Mr city manager uh first and foremost I would like to tell you that one of the greatest concerns that this issue brought up in originally dealt not only with us here but everywhere is that they can make a decision in Austin and we can lose this retirement system so we need to be very careful this doesn't have to do necessarily what we're talking about right now but when we talked about making changes the Actuarial firm that was hired did not catch this for the 20 years that I was involved in studying that retirement system I talk to them I talk to the people in Austin and then all of a

[2:32:11] sudden we have this issue our issue is comound by the fact that s Angelo did not pay its employees they paid 40 to 50% lower than other employees in the cities that you Benchmark yourselves against now for your current salaries so what happens is you have those retirees prior to 99 that retired making these much lower salaries in the beginning that puts them in poverty level if y'all remember some of you the statistics I brought for it I believe there were about a hundred of our employees that made 500 00 or less retired so when you talk about a dental issue that cost $500 think about this and these were the people main I mean throughout the city I mean we have policemen retired at these at terrible rates CU but the but the thing is is we die you're going to lose this issue I mean you won't have us but you need to remember that because every time you raise something $10 what's $10 to some of y'all is real money to these people and it and it affects them so from the retirement standpoint the retirement system standpoint be very careful about endorsing any changes down there in Austin because many of many companies had problems in their pension systems and we need it so that if no matter what happens and that's what I'd like to say first second is about this those are big monies and don't think we don't understand that and we do understand it but those people at the bottom are the ones not getting paid they don't get any extra money so the ones with $500 don't get any don't have the ability to ever get a cost of living raise and so the people that retired yesterday can this doesn't make any sense so I think holistically looking at your retirees as M Farmer's done by bringing these two issues

[2:34:16] forward that when you start I mean let me just tell you this out of that that committee on the on on the issue before not one positive thing happened for the retiree you hurt the retirees and in one year you took away their their Cola you took away their you made the took away the pharmacy and and for us that was a great benefit and the insurance company getting involved made it go up 10 times more than what it was or eight and a half whatever it was but uh on the retirement health insurance coverage somebody designed in one year in one month that the retiree would have to pay as much as 10 times more than the than the current city employee for the pendent coverage in one month that's it looks like to us and we're just we're not just country bumpkins as y'all know I mean some of you but we we understand what that all that was that was designed to hurt us it did hurt us so when you're talking about a cost of living I'm just expressing that a lot of these people aren't ever going to get one but you got to be careful what you do with the system because we don't want to lose the whole retirement system there was a lot of changes that Happ they tried to implement before Enron and Worldcom and I went to Austin and I lobbied against some of those the history of that so we didn't have that in the Texas Municipal Retirement System what the school teachers had that loss but anyway we understand and I I wasn't I only came because somebody called me this morning again I'm sorry and uh but that's kind of how I look at it is that we've given these people a certain thing and they think they're getting it every which way they think they're getting hammered Every Which Way the retirees especially the older ones one thing to bear in mind that y'all may not be remember or know about the city of St Angelo the police and the firor

[2:36:18] are only ones that were two to one 7% prior to 95 and when Steven Brown retired they raised it so all the city employees got that so many of these retirees I'm talking about do not have the 7% it's a sad deal I'm embarrassed by it well then we're not able to parse it which is very frustrating I mean listening to what he said just now' be nice to be able to say let's go in at the year 2000 and take anyone retired before that and do it X would cost less it would be anyway mayor I mean I understand it mayor and I understand this issue probably as well as anybody up there because I studied that system for years but holistically if you look at everything wow just think if you were one of them guys on $500 thank okay other public input good morning morning good morning morning sir first of all I'd like to thank you for allowing my wife and I to enroll in the dental insurance it it makes a big difference the crown and a root canal two grand that's hard to come up with when I started for the city of St Angelo I'm a retiree my name is Greg Macky I started in 77 I started for $33.50 an hour and the contribution was 3% if I'm not mistaken on there so cost of living makes a lot of difference to people I haven't had a raise since 2009 cost of living raise on there so any consideration would be appreciated but thank you for what you've done thank you sir will Chief Smith be invited to work with that committee once we formed it yes no reason not to for sure okay let's move now to item number 14 and this is a discussion and

[2:38:23] consideration of fiscal year 2013 budgeted capital capital funding good morning I have a brief presentation for yall to go over uh the capital planning coming in 2013 uh recall we're we're starting the CIP process to prepare the 2013 2018 plan uh but as uh Mr DNE stated we do have um funds available in fiscal year 13 to allocate towards towards projects so recall that the CIP is required by Charter um it's a planning document not a funding source so as we start uh making these plans we'll have a a list of of all needs in the organization it's an annual plan that we update every year with a 5-year Horizon and it includes improvements um as stated uh we have a a brief calendar before you one thing that's important to note in the city Charter it states we have to start um discussions about the CIP in a timely manner and that would be five months before the budget is adopted so that would be April of 2013 uh you'll see here that we are talking about having it adopted by February it's a it's staff's recommendation that it's a better use of staff's time to get the CIP uh really finalized lots of detail in it and completed so that all staff time can be spent uh thus on the budget preparation so we're not dividing our resources and we have two really good documents to move forward with so that's the reasoning for this this calendar before you uh recall that in 2012 we had uh almost $1 and 3/4 million available for um capital projects we funded several items we do have an update on those um if you so desire but in the 2013 budget largely the same amount uh budgeted for for future needs in the past in discussions we've talked about the um the projects that that need immediate funding that could be eligible for that $1 and 3/4 million uh Street reconstruction recall we did the three millon overlay streets in 2012 uh drainage remediation recall that we had the the Avenue um P drainage

[2:40:27] remediation project on there partially funded we've also talked about adding Fort Concho improvements to that as there's a great need there and U as city council gave Direction during the parks uh master plan discussion we added South cono Park um as discussed at that time and recall that there was also an item for an emergency response task force uh to deal with brush fires and anything that might come up like that um information that will impact um how we prepare our CIP in the coming year is any revisions to the hotel occupancy tax um that could impact what funding is available for for CIP also changes in the um the mandates for storm water fees and uh recall ambulance fees as discussed with city council um fees were raised but could be used for a variety of things could be CIP could be it's at the council's pleasure so just some information on that okay go back to slot on okay how does uh the hot Hotel occupancy tax how does that affect the uh CIP where I'm trying to think where would affect the CIP it could be used for historical preservation for example at the Fort it could be used for um maintenance at Texas Bank Sports Complex okay and recall that we have adopted a budget with um an anticipated change in the revision of Hotel occupancy tax the state law allows us to use it on things our city ordinance is more prohibitive so as there are revisions made it will free up money that could be used for CIP could be used for other things okay storm water how could it be used at storm water because that's a quality issues I'll let Mr danne speak to that we we've been hearing talk about uh should stormw water questions like should storm water fees be funding storm water related capital projects quantity pardon me quantity capital projects all any clarify right now we can't use storm water on on quantity we can only use it for quality improvement we can't use it for Quality we can use it for quality improvement not quantity handling we we

[2:42:29] can't because our we didn't well I think I think that way the problem that was point being pointed out was that right now storm water projects are being funded with general fund monies which might be otherwise used for streets and should we examine or try to find a way to make those storm water projects funded more with storm waterer dollars and uh so for us it's it's a question a puzzle to be solved uh or a solution developed or Alternatives developed for Council that uh those storm water projects are are less competing or not competing for general fund dollars because we have done something different with our storm water fees in other words I heard a council member Express dissatisfaction that we were using general fund money for projects that had to do with storm water and and so our attempt will be to examine what what we collect for storm water how it is utilized and are there opportunities for utilization of those storm water dollars for projects that would otherwise be competing for general fund dollars okay it we don't have the answer yet but it and the thing is is that we'll have a list of priorities as far as when we do have a workshop um projects that we like to take on and we'll also have the possible funding sources that would be available and at that point if you feel that that's something that's not justified or should it shouldn't be going toward that we can discuss that at that point okay you're new and so there's a history in the past in which I think it was Kendall and I again identified problems with the storm water fee how it's used it's used for mowing and I mean and then I mean it's just it's it's not real clear it needs to be examined I mean from top to bottom how we use that fund and and it it just is not clear there's some look at it closely you'll see bring up some questions we'll take a close look at it so we need to look at it very

[2:44:31] closely and that's why I was wondering some had some questions there um I appreciate it absolutely so and my perspective is also on that same slide though remember that there's some there's definitely a desire From council's perspective as you're moving forward with this that while some of these fees are going up that there be a thought process about the tax rate going down so when you're looking at hotel occupancy tax revisions storm water ambulance fees those are all here's some money but you also need to be thinking through well what's the impact of reducing the rate uh on this Capital Improvement project process because that's going to be something the council is very interested in in this next budget cycle is if we're going to increase these fees then let's reduce the tax rate and so be sure you're thinking through that when you're when you're doing this work well I'm very excited about the possibility of having a long-term planning session having some goals out there to shoot for uh and for us it makes it much easier to do that that what is that next step okay and with that we did have a brief project update for fiscal year 12 was the first year we were we set aside that 1 and 3/4 million for capital projects recall that there were the three Mill and overlay projects at 19th Street 14th Street and Main Street and the uh drainage remediation at West Avenue P all of those items are um lengthy projects and are currently in the design phage phase and so and recall that Avenue P only had partial funding uh to begin so that's where we are on the 2012 funding as we move forward into the 2013 funding we wanted you to be aware of that why are those moving so slow that is a small department and uh the engineer with primary responsibility for that activity uh no longer works for the city so they have a vacancy in that department and have had one for a number of months okay so that's what we have for you

[2:46:33] today I think the the the biggest the meat of this presentation is to know the 2013 projects that that staff has heard uh from the city council to bring forward for funding not necessarily any action today but just to to brief you on it as we start moving through the process I think the big thing here of course is um we are going to have to come up with those the priority list and also not just um use it as a just the planning part of it's fine you know um and you can come up with a actually what amounts to wish list if you don't have a way to fund it and we need to make sure that we address those priorities and come up with a a mentioned a wgo funding mechanism how exactly are we going to fund these projects uh and that's something that again that we want to make sure we address during our workshop and that way we have a pretty good idea of how we're going to go about uh funding uh these different programs and uh we go from there okay I have a request um I just can't remember dates that well when I see that many dates you just showed a bunch of dates I do know that somewhere in February February 19th we approved the CIP so when a citizen comes to me and says I got this idea what's a capital project I said we the idea right now is to get it on the CIP because if we put on the CIP then we prioritize it and maybe maybe we get to that project but it has to be in the CIP there's a public meeting on January 24th and 29th I need a calendar item I I need the most important dat sent to me as a calendar item or that that meeting maybe you don't know what time it is but you can guess at it um so that I can go refer to these things and help citizens uh work with the CIP and as well as myself I just that would help me greatly absolutely yes sir and and you just whoever wants to be a part of it I don't you know just accept the request I guess we've had increasing participation in the uh the public meetings associated with CIP process so we welcome your participation the mayor attended last year and and uh uh I think the people that the citizens that were there were glad to see him there um and uh so You'

[2:48:36] be welcome also and uh I think these dates are probably going to be pushed back if we allocate our monies after we've set the priorities uh if we set those priorities in January then these meetings will these dates will have to slide back so I wouldn't I wouldn't pencil these I'd pencil these in don't do it in ink because I think we want to spend those Monies pursuant to a priority setting process or I hope we do absolutely and so while this is the process that meets checks all the boxes from a you know a compliance standpoint point if we're going to truly spend the money where the priority is we need to set the priority and then determine where to spend the money so pencil these dates don't don't put them in ink please Morgan if I may uh and mayor you ask a very good question but can I get uh Clinton Bailey to come up here and just give us a two-minute summary on the even the the drainage issue that we have out there just for the sake of transparency you know it's been over a year that we're we've been talking about it and just Clinton if you could just very quickly just tell us give us an update sure on the Millan overlay projects and the Avenue P project we're probably 95% complete with the design on those projects as Michael mentioned we did lose the engineer that was responsible for that design we've also lost a couple of design folks that were in the process of replacing but those projects will be under construction in early 2013 um both of the mill and overlay and the Avenue P AG project yes ma'am I have a a question in general it might be for Daniel or for Michael um one of the joys of moving you move boxes or pull out things that you hadn't seen in a while and I happened to pull out the CIP projection project that was

[2:50:40] given to us 2007 to 2012 and I'm looking here at 2012 now to 2017 uh of all of the projects that were presented to us in 2007 that were in this nice book and this presentation kind of curious as to how many of those projects have been completed what was actually spent versus what was projected I mean I kind of like to see what you guys sit out and you project that we're going to do you're out there working and doing but we never see okay we can mark this off the list this off the list or nothing's been done we're just still talking about it and we're going back and now I'm talking about from 2012 to 2017 I want to see the history of the projects now the first pictures that I pull up is the bank stabilization I can visually look and see what's been done as far as that I I can see that uh if I look hard enough I can see some street light you know replacement and stuff but the public is not necessarily looking at that they want to know so these comparisons you know this proposal that was put out in 2007 and listed all the streets and listed everything the projects you know more projects than we had money for but of those projects I would like to see what has been completed or is in process I think it's terrific and I think Daniel touched on it and I heard it but if you hadn't been in our discussions you might not have heard the importance of it and that is a sign a potential funding source to each of the projects that's the difficulty we have and that's why we continue to emphasize that this is a planning document it helps us determine priority but it's not a commitment to funding and until the funding is identified and matched with the project the projects languish in the planning document so it is an excellent excellent observation uh we probably need you to move at once every couple of years so you can bring these up the public needs to see it it needs to be on our website

[2:52:43] uh what was planned how many dollars that it took you know you talk about faith from the citizens and the transparency out there this is an excellent tool it is a good question and there are projects out there that were identified and were funded and have moved along to some extent some to completion uh but there are projects which were identified and funding was never identified and so those projects still continue to show up on the list so that's what I want to do I want to take a realistic view of of those projects that have been discussed over the years and realistically which one on of these can we fund and how are we going to fund them and what we what do we want to do to make sure that we free up those monies that would allow us to to fund these projects also so again I think that we have a we're going to have a lot to discuss during our our Workshop we have a lot of ground to cover so again we're very hopeful we can get U get that done through a a day day workshop actually maybe even two but it just depends on your time okay okay this is a discussion item really and so I would uh ask that we move forward uh it's 12:15 do you want me to keep fighting through the agenda do you want to go to Executive session and come back okay time out all right let me take us into executive session now it's uh 12:16 and we'll come back and take care of items 15 16 and 17 at 12:16 we're moving into a executive session under the provision of government code Title 5 open government ethics subtitle a open government chapter 551 open meeting sub chapter D exceptions to the requirement that meetings be open section 551.071 o00 and bring us back out of executive session and uh call the meeting to order and start with item number for uh item number 15 correct

[2:54:53] correct this is a first public hearing consideration of introducing an ordinance amending the 2012 2013 budget uh based on how things happen from one year to the next presentation from our budget manager Morgan trainer good afternoon before you you have an amendment it's a a large Amendment uh primarily due to uh projects that span multiple fiscal years and uh this is our big one of the year it always falls um about this time so um on page four which lists your city of sanalo proposed budget amendment additional information uh that's where I'm going to start I think it it it gives the most information there for you uh the first item listed there is budget carryovers uh that's what I'm referring to it's about $23 million um grants are $419,000 of that um for example the riovista park Grant uh downtown facade Grant those kind of items citizen contributions these are restricted donations made for potential projects uh of 311,000 restricted items these are items that have some law or um ordinance attached to it that restrict the use of those funds and so that is uh over $1.1 million capital projects uh largely the the city hall project Water and Wastewater items uh that span multiple fiscal years almost 20 million dollar just for capital projects and then the remainder there of budget carryovers is incumbrances these are P Po's uh purchase orders that were issued before October 1st but the goods were not received until after October 1st so we'll we'll keep those funds allowed with that and of course this is only for for sizable POS That Couldn't just be absorbed in their budget so that's $1,421 so that's the total for Budget carryovers then we have some uh new items uh redesign of City website um and supporting technology uh that is it stated it's general fund it's actually communication fund fund balance this is money that was earmarked for the new website and so that will be uh brought into the operating budget so we can take on that amount yes sir may we talk about

[2:56:55] that sure I remember that is $40,000 how did it get to be $90,000 that's a good question Mr uh Morrison um the contract with the uh for the Professional Services to redevelop the website is the number that you rem remembering um the we ALS there are also some hardware issues that that uh go with that so I think I think uh one or two servers I'm not up on what the technical needs are going to be but the uh contract to develop the website was the $40,000 amount there are also Hardware software and training issues that go with that and that's but we vote to appropriate $40,000 to this and now it's $90,000 the vote was to uh go award the to begin negotiations with the uh with that company up to $40,000 and now it's 90 you know there's $50,000 more in this than there was and we voted on it you did not vote for a budget of $4 some, uh you did not assign a budget do you have the minutes on that Alicia I'd like to see the minutes on that because I remember $4,000 when do we know when that was it's been six or eight months ago it was in May May May I remember 40 myself that's all I remember CU well and that was the award of the contract yes that was the anticipated cost for that that contract but now it's 90 no that contract is still anticipated at that level although the contract is not complete yet that got hung up when we lost the old public information officer the new public information officer has taken up that and I think is nearing completion on the contract but the amount for the contract has not changed we had always set aside $90,000 to deal with all aspects of a new website I never I don't remember 90 I do

[2:58:59] remember the 40 for that's because you never you never had you you did not have $50,000 worth of the project brought to you you only voted on you didn't see all of it that's what he's saying you didn't see it all you didn't realize it was a $90,000 we have too many deals like that where we approve something and then we realize that we only got half of it yeah that that that's that's kind of a problem pattern I'm seeing well that was money eligible to be spent in a prior fiscal year that that we that was uh that departments did not um spend and so we had it set aside to deal with the technical or the uh hardware and software and training issues um and I'm somewhat stepping out of my realm but it's a company that doesn't sell servers there is some support equipment necessary to support the new website that the the contract we're referring to is I believe just for design just for soft cost not for any anything to complete out the project you know it would have been nice though when we talked about this if they said no we want 40,000 just for this design but there's going to be another $50,000 worth of heart equipment that goes with this so you're actually voting on $90,000 because what we voted on was 40 Morgan did we know about it then no it's not May did we know about we talked about the 40,000 did we know about the additional 50 I'm sorry I wasn't involved in that I Michael did you know then we didn't talk about it I good I knew but it was it was not uh it was not one of my areas at the time what the discussion entailed was what are we getting for $40,000 and I said over there on that side cuz we were reversed and I said I have confidence earlier than that that with that money they will create a good website they don't they can't know exactly what the Design's going to be you you need you need to know how much you're going to spend first and so the uh creation of the the project as

[3:01:05] a need goes back into before that into the last fiscal year or possibly even another one before that uh it was something when Tai came to work he said I've always been dissatisfied with the usability of the city's website and so Tai began working on us right away for the need to improve that website and what I I might suggest is um I believe the city clerk's having trouble it's not pulling up as it should right now um but we can adopt this with the adjustment that we only approve 40,000 at this time we can make the uh the motion to adopt this budget amendment less $50,000 I I would suggest uh I think this just this the contract alone is more than 40 okay so but anony I thought I remembered it pre I looked up in May and I couldn't find it looked up in April and couldn't find it and the the one I've got cuz in March I got a new computer so I don't don't have the agenda so I was thinking it was right around the first of year that it was up and and well Mr mor Morrison is correct in uh that is how I remember also but that is for only that aspect of the project that the the hardware and software and training that needed to go with it was not included in that number so I think the 45 probably was discussed as part of the the development of the website who would have presented that item I mean that I think it was Ty was Ty and um Miss grind staff so you think I don't remember I mean I've slipped in s but nothing was mentioned about the additional is that

[3:03:07] correct I don't remember when that first came to council but the idea that we needed a website goes back at least two years I suspect were setting that aside with budget over time they cover of well it still doesn't make it comfortable to vote on you know when you're tacking on more we can remove that item entirely and bring it back another time we're having trouble finding so if it's the council's pleasure I can move forward with the other items and and i' I'd like to pull that come back with it and give us some uh when you find on the agenda put that in there with it so that we know what we voted on certainly yes sir the next item is the fire training Grant recall last meeting we um approve the acceptance of the $1.2 million in Economic Development Administration Grant so this is to budget for that item um the next item the fourth item is rent and utilities for nursing office recall that there was a $20,000 um emergency Grant from rlss and so that will fund uh rent and utilities for our nursing division uh landfill gas collection and system debt this is for the gasification system out at the landfill as a result of raising uh the rates that city council recently took action on we'll have those expenditures associated with that uh the next to last item is twin but South poool pumping project recall that we have approved the 2012 funding for that project this is putting it into effect also for 2013 at an amount of $370,000 from water fund fund balance and the last item there is neighborhood revitalization roof and neighborhood Blitz program s these are items from the um type B sales tax the Development Corporation portion for affordable housing $570,000 um to budget for on the city Side uh that to administer those programs so a total amount of over $26 million in um expenditures uh but of course many of those have designated funding sources and have to be carried forward Morgan let me ask you on that

[3:05:11] item there where does the 100,000 from the health Foundation that was already budgeted that's the e the fall is it included with this amount no this is just Development Corporation portion of those programs I believe there was 100,000 from Development Corporation and 100,000 from s Angelo Health Foundation okay the other item is already budgeted okay I think what I'm hearing is that we need a motion uh that approves this with the exception of the website funding okay I have a motion for I'll second that okay I have a motion to approve this with the exception of the website funding and a second is there any further question or or debate okay do you want to she found it I'd like to see what it says okay it says approval of of a recommendation from the evaluation team to award the website contract to Vision internet in the amount not to exceed 40,000 for design of a new custom website for the city and authorize the city manager to negotiate and execute a contract Bingo say anything about NY so again what it is is that they my motion stands okay yes ma'am what was the date May 1 May 1st 2011 I think we we all probably will concur we need to do something on that but it may be I mean unfortunately going back to square one and kind of redefining and figuring out the whole program because I agree I this is kind of a surprise because as the we had a Furniture deal work like this couple of months ago too and it's as I say I'm begin to see a pattern here we're not getting everything before we make our decision and that it makes us look foolish well I to the extent that we didn't make clear that that was only one aspect of the project I think you're probably right and so I think that uh it

[3:07:14] would be appropriate for us to bring back an agenda item which fully discusses what the new project manager anticipates would be appropriate and uh now is a very good time as he's trying to finalize that contract and if we don't want to move ahead with that contract now is a good time but if we if council is not fully aware of what staff anticipates the total cost to be now is a good time to either come together and move ahead with a project or go another Direction so I Anthony do you see a problem with play this two weeks were the servers are the servers usable for other services other than the website in other words does it help our city email system personally I think we need to have this as a full-fledged discussion item on the entire scope and the topics and everything that's on there so we can kind of go through it I don't want understand but I don't want to PE this thing let's talk about this and that so so even to the point you're making Mr Alexander if you get a full a full version of it you will for a yes or no just a but you will get the rest of the story if there is a rest of the story that's that's what you were asking so all right I have a motion to fund everything except the website uh funding and for that to come back to us and and I have a second so let me go ahead and call for that vote all those in favor please say I I I any opposed okay and then we'll look for the website funding piece to come back and maybe be fleshed out a little further okay let's go then to item number uh 16 this is the first public Hearing in consideration of introducing an ordinance amending speed zones on US Highway 87 Frontage roads we have jurisdiction yes we do uh mayor council this is a routine uh speed limit request through text Dot text. did the

[3:09:17] engineering analysis um for the speed zone North St Angelo just the front edge roads as you can see right here from 2105 roughly to Humble road on the east side and then the west side of the roadway roughly from Lake Drive to Humble proposal is for 45 mph speed limit which is typical of Frontage roads in this type of situation around St Angelo and as I mentioned a speed study was completed by uh text Dot um and it was included in your background information what's the speed limit now uh believe the speed limits actually posted at 35 and as as we've moved through some of these things we found that sometimes those speed limits are posted without the city ordinance and we're trying to identify those um but this is one that they've made a formal request for the establishment of the 45 mph Speed Zone on motion to approve Clayton I'm trying to get my bearing straight am I headed north there on 87 yes sir this is uh OC Fisher Okay Reservoir right here and then of course you have the Walmart got back down here 29th Street Coliseum back U just to the to the right so that humble Road I mean that area that you're look looking at the access road is that goes along where the Knights of Columbus Hall is is that yes sir I believe that is right there the little white spot down there is the KC Hall way down further down right there right there that's Casey Hall okay that's the Casey Hall got you okay I heard Mr hfield and Mr Morrison motion and second and to accept this as presented Is there further discussion okay may call for the vote all those in favor please say I I I any opposed I was I was only going to vote for it if

[3:11:19] they would allow two-way traffic on the way to Howard College but anyway item number 17 good afternoon mayor council city manager um I'm here today to talk about holidays and as you're aware um the holidays are set by policy that you have approved and each November Human Resources takes a look at at the next uh calendar year and um after analyzing where the holidays fall we put out a list of the um holidays for the next calendar year um if a holiday happens to fall on a weekend then if it's a Friday uh if it's a Saturday holiday then we celebrate Friday if it's a Sunday we celebrate on Monday uh since 2006 there have been two different occasions where New Year's Day fell on either a Tuesday or a Thursday and Tom Green County closed their offices on the day that attached it to the weekend so uh both of those times we came before Council and asked permission to grant for that one year only that extra holiday uh we're faced with that same scenario for 2013 New Year's Day falls on a Tuesday and Tom Green County is going to close on December 31st of this year to make it a 4-day weekend and a number of employees have come to us and asked whether or not we were going to um do the same thing as the county and the only way we would be able to do that would be with your permission to do so now if you recall when we were talking about the last holiday change that we made um the only financial impact is in productivity we pay the same whether or not the employees are working or whether or not they're off on a holiday so it it comes down to a productivity issue and whether or not we um are willing to give that day up what what what yeah for the hour mhm mhm they're paid 8 hours holiday pay or 8 hours work whichever one so it's the

[3:13:23] same cost okay it's just that they're not here working if they if if Monday December 31st is a work day and they don't show up do they get paid no unless they take vacation time or sick leave but I'm saying if it were a work day or a holiday it's the same cost okay I got you it's it's a question of whether we pay them to not doing anything or no no I got you okay if I work for the city of St Angelo and I had to come in and work on that Monday I'd be a little irritated with the city of St Angelo and the city council because uh just it's just a tough I mean you just just goofed up a 4 Day weekend and there won't be a lot of productivity that day anyway okay and so I'll be open my shop will be open all my employees will be working and if they're not then they'll be take taking a vacation day or not getting paid um in my my place it be a clean your office up kind of day I mean it's just it's just low productivity at that time of year uh hit it hard on Wednesday and get going that that's what it' be but it's just a different kind of office we're service and your manufacturing so here when you're in service you start calling people you start making phone calls to your customers and they're not there they're on they're holiday and so our employees are going to run into some of that when they work with people in the city of San Angelo and make calls they're going to be on holiday for the sake of discussion I'll make a motion that we uh allow this closing of the city offices on Monday December 31st and uh Tuesday January the 1st second okay I have a motion in a second to to authorize this and so is there further discussion on the item okay we will call for the vote all those in favor please say I I I opposed nay nay okay Nay it's a three to three vote so it's four three eyes three Nays so at this point you would not move forward

[3:15:25] that way all right thank you very much items uh now we'll move into followup and administrative issues item number 18 consideration of matters discussed in executive closed session if needed none of that 19 consideration of approving various board nominations by Council and designated council members um the fort Kum Museum board I'd like to make a motion that we accept James duk as um as sponsored by single member district 6 and Paul Stanley sponsored by myself uh and seek a second okay uh call for that vote all those in favor please say I I any opposed okay and now we go to announcements and consideration of future agenda items obviously add the website thing Mr Mayor I have a a couple of things okay I would like to request that um our city manager and uh chief of police and Committee of their choice pulled the report on the police new police facilities that we got a couple of years ago the feasibility study that was done while those figures are still fairly current and accurate I think uh the year that we got them was the year that we were facing a deficit in our budget and it kind of hit us all as shell shock at that particular time but I think it's a good time uh for the city manager uh Chief Vasquez and a committee of their choice to pull this report get back together look for ways of funding and what consolidation can be done in with sheriff's department or other facilities and let's get moving back on this report okay or even not NE necessarily adopting uh anyway if you I mean my position would be that that's committee work not necessarily not necessarily Council work I want it to be high

[3:17:28] priority and not set aside what this study was done and the figures that were proposed hit us in a minus year and they grow they're growing dust and we spent good money and time yes ma'am but I mean we we were we also thought that they would be under operating under one set of oaces and they come back with a number that was almost twice as much as right you know how can be scaled down to be an operable deal but if if you would do that and then set a time to uh you know it's going to be fitting in with the stuff of budget and proposals as to how to pay for this I want it done the CIP part especially so whatever that timeline is this should be part of that yes okay and the other thing I wanted to mention um I don't know that it's an agenda item but I want to caution us that you know we received some good rain we've got two years worth of water but we're still in a drought situation and I really would like to see you know the Billboards out here on nicker boach that says things for the city just notification uh please understand drought level one and enforce you know just signs everywhere across the bottom of the TV the Scrolls and stuff that we've done in the past Channel 17 or whatever we're still in drought stage level one and we need to be constantly reminding our folks of water conservation and making that really high educational items uh so that it's it's not forgotten and taken for granted okay other item Mr Morrison I've got 42 emails this last week from citizens asking on a petition to audit the water department and after seeing 42 of those things I feel that there may be may be something to it so I'd like to get that on the agenda next time and let's let's discuss cuz it may be it may be time to do that on the water conservation kind of

[3:19:38] picking back in on on that remember I had one that I brought up last time want it on the agenda doesn't enough to be again on the next one I just don't want it to be forgotten about conservation methodologies and uh incentives and some of the funding and things like that kind of okay is the whole package and mayor I want to reiterate on the idea of discussing that uh water billing late fee uh where that came from or how did we arrive at $225 and if we can maybe charge percentages of what the bill is instead again I'm just throwing that out for discussion purposes and see what we come out of it you can go back on the minutes and find answer that for him as well because we went through that 2005 and 2009 both it was initiated and then re kept and when it was looked at in 2009 as to that's good memory the well the it it was something that I brought forward so so I can remember it other items okay can I get a motion for to adjourn okay second I think Miss farmer might have nudged that in there all those in favor please say I I I okay any opposed we're adjourned thank you

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