San Angelo City Council 11-7-23

[0:00:00] city council meeting just a quick reminder if you did not vote the polls are open and ready for you to show up and make sure that you participate in the voting process today so thank you all for being here today uh we the meeting is officially called to order at 8:33 a.m. we will start with our chaplain prayer and pledges and we have Gary Jenkins here today to lead us in both please stand good morning mayor and good morning council members everyone here in the chamber we greet you with love in Jesus name will you pray with me precious Father in heaven in the name of Jesus we bow before you seeking your face and your counsel asking you for wisdom and guidance for our council members our city Administration we pray father that you bless St Angelo and father we thank you for living in a city that is a wonderful place to live and work and we pray father for Divine guidance lord to bless our counsel and help them to do those things that are pleasing in thy sight we pray God for all of our city officials our chief assistant Chiefs and all of the men and women of the Stan Angelo Police Department our fire department all of our First Responders and we pray God that something can be done so that our city will maintain the safety that uh it has uh at this time we pray God for peace we pray God for Israel we pray for the Innocents in Palestine or in the Gaza Strip and the Palestinians and Lord in war is always the innocent people that suffer the most so we pray God that there will be at least a temporary pause to get the hostages out we pray father for peace in the Middle East and we pray God that your Divine will be done in earth as it is in heaven and if you do these things we'll ever be mindful to give you and you alone the praise the Thanksgiving and the glory let everybody say amen God bless you will you repeat

[0:02:02] after me I pled Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all honor the Texas flag I pled alance to the Texas one state God one and indivisible thank you we will now move into the proclamations and recognitions for the for today and we will start with a national adoption day please come forward welcome welcome welcome good morning you're good you're good all children deserve a safe place to live and grow and each year many Texas Children find a forever home thanks to adoptive families in Tom Green County there are many children currently in foster care awaiting a forever family to bring them home during the month of November communities across the country come together to observe National adoption month to encourage and complete the adoptions of children and foster care and to celebrate the families who choose to adopt the city of St Angelo recognizes National adoption month in support of the adoptive families here in our own community and encourages others to open their hearts to children in need of loving and permanent homes therefore I Brenda Gunter mayor of the city of St Angelo Texas on behalf of the city council do hereby Proclaim November 2023 as National adoption month in s Angelo

[0:04:06] Texas and call on all citizens to remember the children and families who have joined their lives to the miracle of adoption open their hearts and Minds to the idea of opening their own homes to children in need and congratulate the new families to be formed during National adoption month who would like to receive the proclamation and speak please thank you um for this Proclamation for National adoption month we are very thankful for this opportunity to be able to spread awareness for um the foster children here in our community uh these are our children these are our kids in our community and we are very thankful for all of our homes here in Tom Green County and the surrounding areas that have been willing to um become foster parents or adoptive parents so this month we are just thankful that we're able to celebrate this and celebrate our families that are going going to be adopting soon thank you very much would anybody else like to speak our next Proclamation is for Veterans Day and I believe um Harry and Larry would like to come forward and join me in this Proclamation and any of you in the audience that are here to join please come forward the city of St Angelo is extremely pleased and honored to pay tribute to our distinguished Veterans of the Armed Forces and active duty reserve and

[0:06:09] National Guard Personnel of the United States of America for their service and sacrifice to our great nation these brave men and women in military uniform serve our nation With Honor distinction and dedication in war International conflicts and during times of Peace our nation's well-being prosperity and sense of peace is largely due to the sacrifices made by our men and women in the military the courageous veterans in our community have earned our Everlasting gratitude for serving our nation with devotion and love of country during their service and afterwards veterans and active due Personnel contribute to the S Angelo Community Texas and our nation by offering skills education leadership and dedication learned in the armed forces furthermore let us also honor the families of armed service members missing an action which continue to endure uncertainty of the fate of their loved ones unaccounted for finally may we praise the families of all those who have served quietly with little recognition for their undying commitment to and support of their veterans in celebration of this day as we proudly wave our flags watch holiday parades and sing patriotic songs let us stop for a moment to remember the sacrifices that our women and men in the armed forces have made for us so that we can enjoy the Privileges and freedoms of our great nation therefore I Brenda Gunter mayor of the city s Angelo Texas on behalf of the city council do hereby Proclaim November 11th 2023 as Veterans Day in St Angelo Texas and ask citizens to remember with eternal respect the service and sacrifices of all our former and current active duty Personnel of the Armed for forces of the United States of America thank you all on behalf of the veterans active

[0:08:16] duty personnel and their families in our community I would like to thank mayor Gunter and the citizens of San Angelo for acknowledging the service and sacrifices we have made to secure the promises of our forefathers the respect and support we receive in the city is one of the reasons many of the veterans decided to stay here for those of us who are fortunate enough to interact with students and Cadre from Goodfellow Air Force Base we always take the opportunity to sell our city letting them know what a great military Town San Angelo is this Proclamation is proof of that support and we are very thankful for it thank you let's go forward and have a picture come on Harry you want to stay down here our next Proclamation is America recycles day so all of you who are here and there looks like there's a lot of you please come forward

[0:10:30] come on around you can come on this way you can come up beside me and you can go further on down that way you come stand here you come stand here you can be right there okay on American recycles day we promote the benefits of recycling for our health environment and economy and we renew the efforts all of us can take to meet the obligations we have to Future Generations by manufacturing and packaging more recyclable products producing less waste and reusing precious resources we can cut greenhouse gas emissions and create a new good paint jobs America recycles day began in Texas to spread information about recycling in the state and encourage more people to recycle their waste they proposed the conversion of Texas recycles day to American recycles day and American recycles day was born where over 40 States participated thanks to the work by the recycling Coalition and the American recycles Day events recycling has increased from 7% in the 1960s to 32% today we all have a role to play and we must build an economy and environment that prioritizes reducing reusing and recycling materials as a community we can focus on Creative Innovation and encourage citizens to think outside the box and find new ways to reduce reuse and recycle let's all rally behind disposing of waste in the proper bins whenever possible reusing containers composting food and using products made with recycled materials s Angelo is a

[0:12:35] remarkable Community worth preserving and safeguarding where humans and nature can coexist in Harmony and Champion the sustainability of our environment therefore I Brenda Gunter mayor of the city San Angelo do hereby Proclaim November 15 2023 as America recycles day and together we can create a cleaner and Greener country that secures our future for generations to come you okay so Charlotte's going to speak and then we're gonna allow some of you to speak and then we'll have a picture okay sweet so we want to thank you uh mayor Gunter uh city council for your support um we just returned from the state of Texas alliance for recycling conference where we were recognized for their Tila award Wards which um uh we're very excited to share with you guys um we um brought back the extraordinary recycling event award for our work on our tire projects um Harry due to your inspiration and then we won the uh public information and Outreach award as well so uh a great um testimony to the community in San Angelo and we dedicate this to all the heroes that come out and help at all the events and everyone that supports reducing reusing and recycling especially the unsung heroes that pick up trash every day that we never know about so thank you thank you do you have who would like to speak would you like to speak okay so do you want to put it up here okay let's do this can you take my paper sure okay there you go and you're going to speak into this okay so we can hear you good morning mayor City Council and guest morning I'm cash cour president of the keep San Angulo beautiful Junior Ambassador youth advisory Council our

[0:14:38] mission is to create awareness and Inspire our community by educating and empowering the young leaders of St Angelo to foster a love for the environment we recently participated in the blacksher Heights family fall festival and inducted 35 new Kap Junior ambassadors who took the pledge to be Litter free I hope all students kindergarten through 12th grade join us tomorrow night from 5:30 to 7 p.m. for our very first youth advisory council meeting we will be watching five short films about our environment taking the pledge to be Litter free and there will be prizes we are also hosting our first event which is our recycled art contest the theme for the contest is Reduce Reuse and recycle all students kindergarten through 12th grade can enter there is still time to turn in your recycled Masterpiece at the North Branch library on chadborne starting today until Monday the 13th all art pieces will be judged on November 15th which is America Cycles day prizes will also be awarded today we want to share with you a gift that my third grade class gave me Charlotte it is a book called 26 ways to keep s Angela beautiful and she had it published so we can share our gift for the community of St Angelo these are hot of the press and we hope you enjoy them thank you very much would anybody else like to speak wait a second hi I'm Stacy I'm Ella's Mom this is Ella with uh Ella saves the oceans project and she wants to remind you to continue to recycle she just finished a project called recycle beyond the bag where she collected almost 800 lb worth of plastic film to be recycled and because of that achievement TX which is

[0:16:42] a company that uses um plastic to make um new and improved materials like decking and outdoor furniture they uh gave her a bench in her honor that's going to be placed at Fort koncho Elementary which is where she went to elementary school and that's how all of this started with a project called a tries project when she was in second grade and now she's in ninth grade so yes else who else wants to come forward come on you want to tell us your name Jacob okay Jacob you're on so today I am here to be talking about recycling um soda cans tin foil and even your pots and pans are made of aluminum you can recycle aluminum over and over again to make new products many Plastics are not biodegradable but they can be reused or recycled recycled Plastics can be used to make new bottles furniture and carpet recycling cardboard saves landfill space you can also reuse use your cardboard for storage your compost pile or shredd it for pet bedding recycling paper helps save our trees energy and water recycled paper can be made into new things like boxes newspapers and even notebooks recycled glass can be used for new bottles jars jewelry and even roads help save the Earth Natural Resources by recycling glass compost is a mixture of organic materials like wood chips leaves and vegetable scraps worms and other insects help to decompose the mix into nutrients for the soil good job thank you who else wants to come forward did you want to come forward you want to

[0:18:45] tell us what's on your poster what does your poster say keeps an Angelo beautiful okay and and your poster sir what does your poster say you want to tell us what that means no we get it then okay we got it yes ma'am you want to say something well come on okay there you go can you speak into this okay and your name is Casey Casey okay you're on it's scary isn't it yeah so what what are you thinking that we need to know we need to recycle yeah and does that help keep s Angel beautiful yes and how does that happen if if we throw our trash away after we use it yep so we want to make sure we reuse our trash right well thank you for being here today anybody else want to come forward are we done Harry you want to come forward thank you mayor had the opportunity probably five or six years ago to help Reser keep St Angelo beautiful did not realize how far this particular organization has come this group of young people here has produced a book that talks about recycling trash pickup the environment and and quite honestly I'm going to try to see if I can get all of the signatures of all the young people that were in there it's a great book cash has got one in his hand uh he was instrumental and making this work uh this is the next Generation folks of people young people that will help keep

[0:20:51] s Angelo beautiful keep trash off the street help recycle they got some challenges ahead of them but because of the early start that they've got I believe that they will be very successful and in 20 years this community will look better than it does today so thank you I appreciate everybody out there I know we've got some things going on uh with buts Recycling and and I certainly appreciate what Charlotte and her board has done uh we're going to make this work thank you thank you all right let's get together for a picture so come on all right we're going to tighten up a bit so everybody get very close and turn kind of sideways so everyone Willer you get us in thank you all very your pictures everybody good okay thank you so much everyone you stay here us for

[0:23:30] okay we will now move into the public comment section of our agenda if you choose to speak today please state your name and address or SMD area each citizen can speak just once per item unless asked to comment by counsel public comment is three minutes unless extended by Council or translation services a proponent or opponent may speak five minutes unless EX extended by Council or translation services Council has no obligation to respond to comments or questions from the public any response from a member of the city council to non-agenda comments is limited to a statement of specific factual information recitation of existing policy and directing staff to place a subject on a future agenda at this time do I have individuals in the audience who would like to come forward and offer public comment if so please do so now good morning my name is Nelda Nan I reside in uh Tommy Hebert's District uh one I'm here today to thank you because what a difference a year makes I'm I want to publicly thank uh our city manager Mr Valenzuela our Ada coordinator Teresa James for the great strides that have been made on our to better our disabled Community uh are we there yet no but we're on our way and so to our mayor and to our city council members thank you so much for your efforts number two the other priority I have is water

[0:25:37] and so I was at a city council meeting and I heard about the foresight that you had on securing water for St Angelo and I want to thank you for those efforts I want to thank uh councilman Larry Miller for explaining to me the project that what you're doing and West Texas how you're going to bring the water here and how you're going to secure it in the future because we can't exist without it finally because I read in our little paper uh that maybe we might have a little problem in another area I want to address my concern about security unfortunately I've had to call the police cuz somebody decided they wanted to come visit me without my knowledge in the backyard some of my neighbors up and down in this area have had to call the police and we must have them it's very important that we have that we can get people that want to join our Police Department that are trained well trained and that it's important that we keep those people uh it doesn't do us any good if we train people and then they leave us I know that funds are always short maybe we should have raised taxes maybe we should have done more but what I'm asking you today is everybody take a deep breath I know it can get contentious both sides uh but let's try to do what's best for our police department and see if we can't be sure that they want to continue living here thank you for your time thank you very much more public comment please come

[0:27:52] forward morning City Council Members mayor and city manager Valenzuela I'm Mike Bernett single member district 1 speaking to you today as chair of the cono Valley homeless planning Coalition since we are in November we are now in the midst of preparation and implementation of the end of the warmth inclement weather uh protocol to keep our homeless neighbors safe from our 20203 point in time count we have approximately 200 homeless individuals that we will need to try to provide some sort of shelter when the weather gets bad this winter our plan for this winter places more focus on the use of a congregate shelter in an effort to house neighbors more effectively and efficiently from the time I spoke with you at this time last year until now we've had quite a bit of inter agency cooperation providing resources for end of the warmth this also includes the city of St Angelo providing the Carl Ray Johnson rec center for use as a congregate shelter as we look forward to the coming winter we are glad that the rec center is still available and that we have had fruitful conversations about the temperature activation point to use it from our conversation and researches with with other regions we've agreed upon a new activation point 36° with a precipitation forecast of 50 uh 50% precipitation forecast overnight or 32 degrees with no precipitation forecast this should allow us to move more people into safety as the temperatures drop I would also like to point out that because of the city's involvement we've created a working group to move the Salvation Army emergency shelter back online sooner rather than later I think we all know the importance of this shelter during the winter and throughout the year it's because of the city's involvement that we the Coalition and the Salvation Army have a very workable plan to utilize this shelter at some point during the winter at the point when it comes online we'll be able to move the congregate shelter for for into the warmth from the Johnson rec center to the Salvation Army I feel like we've had some very honest and open conversations about the role of Salvation Army in our community and I'm glad to say that the current Salvation Army leadership agrees and is working to

[0:29:54] that end next week is the the annual Hunger and homelessness Awareness Week several of our partner agencies will be promoting awareness and advocating for our low-income and homeless neighbors cono Valley Community Action Agency has some events planned for next week including a homeless vigil and a homeless Roundtable which I hope some of you on the council will participate in just as we have seen the success of moving forward on the Salvation Army shelter having City involvement in our work to help our homeless neighbors is crucial we are still hoping that a homeless task force will be created and that the city will have a hand in that work of that body I hope that on the next Council agenda we can have a longer time to discuss the work being done in St Angelo for our homeless Community it is important for our community to work together in creating real solutions for our homeless neighbors a working partnership with the social service providers and with our local government will help make real change possible sooner rather than later I believe in the power of community working together and in St Angelo we have the opportunity to prove that thank you thank you very much and I have the list of the home hunger and homeless uh events and I'll just leave it with Teresa that thank you great thank you more public comment sorry I'm short good morning my name is Sarah neab I'm a member of single single single member district 6 less than 2 weeks ago I had such an a wonderful unique opportunity to see our government in action in the very best way I was able to tore the old Salvation Army emergency shelter along with city employees elected officials other citizens and I saw what happens when you have the right people in the room and what happens is things get done more than just conversations about how we're

[0:31:56] going to get the shelter actually open real action took place right there the people who needed to make the call about what absolutely had to happen they were able to be there and make that call the very next day we had those gas lines turned back on cleanup crews are hard at work as we speak Cuts have arrived HVAC systems are getting repaired and money is being allocated actions taking place and all because the people with the drive to get it done were in the same room is the people with the means to get it done now for the past several months we've been asking for a homeless task force to be added to the agenda we've met with some members of this Council we've had conversations with City's staff and we've explained what and why we want to have this task force it's because when the right people are in the room things get done our city has a homeless problem and we have to do something about it now we we super appreciate the shelter it's going going to help so many of our our citizens right here in St Angelo but the shelter is a Band-Aid solution to a problem that requires surgery for years our nonprofit Community has been working so hard to help our neighbors and we have had wonderful success stories but we are like Copus pushing that rock back up the hill only to watch it roll back down again because we need the right people in the room to get it done so I'm here once again asking to please please to put homeless task force on the agenda that's work together to create long-term solutions that work towards solving homelessness and poverty in our community I've seen it happen I know we can do it we just need to get all the right people in the room thank you yeah further public comment please come forward good morning good morning my name is

[0:34:02] Chris anthemum crenchaw I live at 2506 sweet Brier Drive in St Angelo and I've seen firsthand the effects of homelessness on our local businesses and community members including their children and their pets I have recently witnessed a homeless neighbor struggling with a decision of whether to eat lunch or to give their food to their dog I believe that no one should have to make this choice providing shelter is the start but it is not the Finish shelter alone will not feed the hungry clothe the naked nor will it Aid the ill homelessness is complex and its causes and effects are a study in themselves and every aspect of the serious issue deserves the attention of all of us in this room as someone who's experienced the loneliness and the desperation that comes from not having a safe secure and sanitary place to sleep and is someone who has lost a dearest loved one from the effects of homelessness I share the burden of my neighbors especially those out in extreme weather conditions I also understand that the weight of homelessness should not fall only on the shoulders of those experiencing it we all play a role in this city and we should all take ownership of that role I encourage everyone in this room to embrace their role with enthusiasm and pride because that is what really makes change it is my belief that by supporting our fellow community members experiencing homelessness we will be bettering St Angelo for everyone one way we can do this is be by prioritizing continuous dialogue about this extreme problem a homeless task force facilitated by this Council would ensure that these vital conversations take place together we can all be a part of the solution but that can only happen when all of our voices are heard thank you further public comment good morning uh my name is Sydney Timmer

[0:36:07] I live in h councilwoman Gonzalez's District um as you've heard multiple times uh homelessness is really important to us um and that's something that we really really would like your help on and so as uh Mike mentioned hunger and homelessness awareness week is coming up and so I did want to elaborate on why that is such um an important step that St Angelo is taking and that um it is a very simple and easy way that you can educate yourselves um and get involved I I know sometimes homelessness seems like a very insurmountable issue and the system can sometimes be so broken that you don't know where to start but um these are some easy ways that you can do that and so I wanted to personally invite yourselves as well as your families and other members of St Angelo to come to them um hunger and homelessness awareness week is a nationwide initiative aimed at raising awareness about the critical issues of hunger and homelessness that affect communities all over the country it does run from November 11th through the 18th um so we're just about a week away um and we are going to have a series of impactful activities and discussions and campaigns to try to educate educate and engage the community um it is a opportunity for organizations as well as communities and individuals to come together to address the pressing challenges that hunger and homelessness um present while also recognizing the efforts that are already happening um as you've heard between our work and Salvation Army things are are happening but we are hitting a wall of we need the the community support as well as city government um our week is going to kick off on November 13th that's Monday at 7 p.m with a homeless vigil um there was a study done by the University of Washington and the guardian that shows in the 5year span um deaths among homeless neighbors jumped by 77% um having a home is not just a luxury or convenient um it is actually life-saving um and so these are family members that are dying on the streets from very curable illnesses um just by being

[0:38:09] exposed by the uh to the elements um something that I think is very important for each of you to uh come to would be the homeless Symposium that's happening um on Tuesday November 14th at 9:00 a.m. this is going to be an opportunity for us to take a hard look at the homeless situation and our community and search for Solutions you will actually be able to hear from um neighbors that have experienced homelessness and that are experiencing homeless current homelessness currently um as we have recently um built a advocacy Board of people that have gone through this um to wrap up our week we're having a quiz for a cause at the Marshall pint at 7:30 where we're hopefully going to be able to raise some funds to mine those gaps of services and then lastly there's going to be a free movie showing um on November November 16th um at 6:30 p.m. at the brookson bites um and it's a film that shows a family of six um that were recently um uh their home was taken away from them and so it highlights a different view of homelessness so we hope that you'll join us that week thank you thank you very much further public comment yes I'd like to address something that Miss Nan brought up a little while ago uh first of all Mr thank you for the kind comments I do appreciate that we appreciate that uh you mentioned Public Safety uh Public Safety is Paramount to our community um and I I want to make sure that everybody understands that we really do hold um our firefighters or police office in very high regard with Council support I've been meeting uh with the the police office Coalition leadership for the past several weeks and we're very close to resolution uh we'll be returning to meeting confer here pretty soon and we feel that hopefully by January we'll have this whole thing resolved so I just want to make sure that I I I made that clear I know there's been a lot out there in social media but on our part we really want to get this thing done so we're very close and I just want to make sure that I that I made that very clear okay thank you again ma'am further public

[0:40:21] comment good morning my name is Tracy P Fox I have a licensed peace officer protected address as per the Tom Green County Appraisal dist District I'm also an owner of a business in the 2600 block of MLK and I'm here to speak to you I appreciate you Mr Valen well addressing the peace officer issue and that's my concern um we are facing a mass Exodus of police officers and we don't have until January because they're leaving soon they're leaving very very soon um I have officers that reach out to me on a daily basis and for members of the public who are not aware the police department has been consistently paid 10 to 12% under comparable cities for many many years and of recent years up to 20% and these officers who are set to leave are leaving to other agencies because they're seeking a living wage another concerning um thing about their Exodus is that many of those officers who are leaving are the ones that are providing off-duty security at seisd campuses and those campuses by law have to be protected by peace officers so my question is what is the contingency plan for Public Safety when the mass Exodus begins which is very soon and that we don't have until January and then also um Mr vuela you you did State the tax cap as being a contributing factor to the wage um issue that we have here in the city and and I do respect that but that particular 3.5 tax cap was put into Texas in 2019 um so I want to know what the excuse has been for the city from 2018 17 16 15 14 and and so forth we have to do better to

[0:42:26] have public safety and we've seen children here from schools represented they deserve to be safe your business owners your citizens deserve to be safe so what is the plan for Public Safety once this Mass Exodus begins I'd also like to say that I'm here representing other officers who cannot speak because they're in uniform and their spouses who are too afraid to come forward today thank you thank you Tracy hi um my name is Kim Spooner and uh I live in the Capital Heights district um I've I um I'm here to support Tracy and to support the police officers for higher pay um Public Safety is Paramount to me it's Paramount to my children who are now adults to my grandchildren um I work in a very busy um business and I always thank the police officers who come in um when they shop um I live alone I've had somebody break into my backyard I've had to call the police for that two doors down for me just recently I massive drug bust um at the corner house where I live and I police I appreciate the police officers who have provided safety in my community and and um when I had to call the police for the person who um broke in my backyard um I am concerned I saw these kids today you know just recently there was a threat to saisd which was then said to be an old threat but the reality is these crimes are being committed in our schools and against our children and Public Safety is Paramount you talked about how San Angelo you want it to be a safe place the best way to make it a safe place is to have Public Safety officers who are paid comparably to other cities in our um in our state to to let them stay and to protect us to protect the vulnerable to protect the homeless to protect um

[0:44:31] children to protect the elderly um to protect businesses I mean we had a crime that resulted in a in a murder at a business downtown a couple of years ago we need to keep our area safe and one way to do that is to keep our police officers and our safety officers here in San Angelo so um I I wrote to you I wrote to you and I wrote to my other uh I uh Tommy Hebert and I got a response from you so thank you for that um and you did say that you do keep the public um in high regard and one way to do that is just to pay them it's expensive it's expensive to pay rent to pay mortgage groceries diapers it's expensive keep them safe by paying them more and um it just would it would help all of our communities to pay them a little just to pay them comparable to other um areas in our state thank Youk thank you cim mayor if I may can I just feel like it just just needs to be addressed again uh when I say January this is in conversation with the police officers Coalition leadership and they they understand what we're doing nothing happens immediately uh we know that we go into meeting confer discussions here uh very quickly probably as soon as next week uh just to revolve some of the resolve some of the details that need to be resolved and I'm fa very confident that a deal will be done we'll have the contract completed um um it's not a matter of dragging feed it's just a matter if there's a process that is followed under meeting confer and again we do hope that everything goes very well I'm pretty confident well from the conversations that I've had with the police officer Coalition leadership so again um it is Paramount safety for our community is absolutely Paramount and this is something that will be resolved I know questions can be raised about the past why it wasn't something done in the past I know the city council uh we look at a budget every year and we want to make sure that we were conservative in the way that we do our budget and we have been doing that every year uh we've been trying to address pay

[0:46:34] along with uh infrastructure everything that uh the city is responsible for we work very diligently to make sure that we address but Public Safety is Paramount it will happen it's going to take just a little bit longer but again uh by January I'm very hopeful that a contract will be signed and we can move forward so thank you again for your comments and we do appreciate you further public comment good morning council members uh My Name Is Tashi lagon um I appreciate your words uh Mr Valena but I I came so I'm gonna still speak if that's all right um I am here to support um just the previous uh speakers and just uh the police department here in s Angelo um I am responsible for the social media famous cookie at this point um I'm a business owner here in St Angelo and um I have strong roots here I actually grew up in Houston but I've been here for seven or eight years um my husband moved me here against my will but I have grown to absolutely love this city um I don't think you could pay me to go back to Austin at this point um and I say that to say that um Public Safety of course is vital and important to all of us um I think that I I do want to address also that just the morale um of our police officers I anyone who is well compensated and feels comfortable getting to work every day and and just that they're supported by their uh their superiors and their Community is going to do a better job um they're going to have high morale and High um just job satisfaction and I think that if we have a police department and a fire department where people want to be um where they just you know have great co-workers um and feel well compensated uh I think that's just going to be better for for all of us here in St Angelo um I look forward to um our police officers and five Fighters being better compensated and getting to that

[0:48:36] that even Mark where um comparable cities are are paying their police officers um I do also want to share just a quick little personal story uh a few years back in Austin I was driving to work and just unfortunately passed by a very serious accident um and I won't describe what I saw was it was it still haunts me that was 9 or 10 years ago um and I just think about the First Responders that have to kind of walk into those situations um and that reminds me you know every time I have to you know think about calling the police or hear a siren um I just I kind of think about that and I just have a healthy respect for that job I think even on my best day I could not do what they do on their worst days so I just want to acknowledge them and um um and I'm looking forward to that um that pay increase and so that we can keep them here and keep them healthy and happy thank you very thank you further public comment seeing none we will I no if you're going to come forward come forward yes please hello my name is Margaret Mendes and I reside at 3652 Lake Drive I am a member of an officer that is for the S Angelo police department and I just want to let youall know that I mean I thank you and with much consideration I would hope and I pray that y'all do consider to give them a raise and keep them here I can imagine 20 officers trying to walk out when I was my personal one day somebody tried to break in my house and the first thing when I call 911 is when they immediately came wasn't just one it was three officers how frightened was I me and my children they told me get on the floor the person was trying to bust open my windows my children were scared I can't imagine an officer going into a house and not having backup while 20 more officers are gone and only one can attend is it fair for one officer to

[0:50:39] come in or is it better for them to be more than one I think it's more to have them here and try to instead of them looking employment somewhere else I pray for my my family members that are in PD and all of them they've become my family and I hope in take consideration that y'all will you know increase their pay and he have them here because losing one you know they wake up every day facing crime and S Angelo has a lot of crime we just don't hear about it you know but there is and if we could try to keep our officers here and try to fund them better we would you know San Angelo is a great place I've been here most of my life and I want to tell y'all thank y'all so much for everything that y'all do and God bless yall and please take consideration of giving officers a better pay thank you have a great day thank you for coming forward further public comment saying none we will end that portion of uh the agenda so we will move on to the consent agenda I'll start with Larry would you like to pull an item from the consent agenda l l is being pulled Karen ma'am Lucy no ma'am Harry nothing Tom nothing Tommy with that may I have a motion for approval of all items on the consent agenda with the exception of item l so move second any public comment concerning item L which is considered res I mean all the uh consent agenda is approved 7 to0 we will move on to reading item L consider resolution approving paid time offer city employees who contribute a fair share or greater to the United weight campaign good morning mayor morning Veronica morning Larry did you have questions yeah we've had conversations about this a number of us were surprised that this came up so quickly and we had

[0:52:42] a uh actually we talked about some I believe improvements on how we can handle this and Teresa is pretty well versed in what we came up i' rather have her talk about it than me confuse the issue okay so the issue that was brought to me regarding um this item is that it it continues on until a resolution is passed to remove this from the rule and there's concern about the ongoing nature of it one of the proposals that we have to to solve that is to modify the resolution in the packet today to make it effective just for this fiscal year and then next year during the budget process we will put this a into the budget ordinance so that every year it gets a look from Council and approved at at that time questions for anyone okay so with that um I have a motion do I have a motion from you Larry a motion to approve um with the idea that it will go into budget session next year at this point in time the resolution will be approved only for one year one year only is there a second second second by Lucy any public comment Veronica did you want to add anything no I'm good thank you very much with that we take a vote all those in favor say I I motion passes 70 we will now move into the regular agenda comments regarding items on the regular agenda may be made by the public when each item is discussed as outlined above applicants proponents and appellants are exempt from the time limit above and instead must limit their remarks to less than five minutes the first item on the regular agenda is item a which is consider a resolution designating the number of votes to be cast for each nominee for the board of directors of tomren County appraisal

[0:54:44] district and Heather you're on good morning okay as y'all remember a couple weeks ago um talk louder okay uh Council nominated five individuals for the Tom Green County Appraisal District all of the other agencies um that contribute to the appraisal district have returned their nominations as well um with five individuals on the final ballot for vote um which were the same nominees that you Council nominated a couple weeks ago um so at this time the city has uh 1,349 votes to put towards those five candidates that are on the ballot um you can uh allocate your votes um however you wish um in the past we have done um where each council member gets a certain amount of votes um this year that would end up being each council member having 192 votes with a remainder of five um votes um that y'all can allocate either one to each candidate or however you wish um or alternatively you can distribute the votes evenly amongst the candidates um with the four uh remaining votes distribute again as you wish or you can give all of your votes to one candidate it's really just up to your discretion I would recommend that we um take the 1,349 available votes and divide by five giving everybody 269 votes and then with four left over um somebody can throw it in wh they want so Lucy who would you like to give those extra four to um let's see I'm candy all right so we have a motion to divide the 1,349 votes by five given 269 votes per person with the addition of uh four

[0:56:50] additional votes going to Candy second a second by Harry any public comment with none we'll take a vote all those in favor say I I I motion passes 70 we will move on to Item B which is consider resolution approving a request for a variance to allow the sell of alcoholic beverages beer and wine at 2635 Johnson Street appr property within 300 ft of a public school and Aaron you are on good morning mayor city council Aon Venoy assistant director of planning and development services got a property here at 2635 South Johnson Street uh it's a request for a distance variance to the uh rules that we have in our uh Commerce ordinance currently you're supposed to be 300 FT Property Line to property line from a public uh secondary school so this is on Johnson Street across the street is the Glenn Middle School and the St Angelo Stadium as well as pay schooled now they are a significant distance away from the actual buildings and where uh kids are at and so that's why this is coming forward it is a zoned neighborhood commercial which would allow a restaurant use with a bar as a secondary use not at primary use uh it is in District 5 Karen hessy Smith in the ASU college Hills neighborhood on this screen here you see this white building it's actually just and I'm not sure if it'll Circle or not but it's uh this property that says griggsby that is up for lease they are wanting to come in and put a little beastro restaurant in there that has lunch and dinner and then has a a bar that's associated with it that's just for use at that facility it would not allow the zon would not allow it to turn into just a bar type activity it would only be a restaurant as a primary use and then the bar as a secondary uh use so again that zoning allows the city

[0:58:53] to check the that out anytime that the some new tenant may come in and request a new TABC license we are able to review that through our city processes and approve or deny based on the zoning uh again the standard distance is 300 feet and in this case it's 100 ft and I don't know if you guys have been out to the property uh obviously the big large area there to the right of the screen is Glenn Middle School you can see the distance across the street is is literally 100 ft property line to property line but if you look at the distance to just the school about 770 ft and the distance to the front doors of the school is500 ft um so that's for y'all's consideration I do know that the applicant is here to speak as well just to kind of give you an idea of what they're looking at doing uh it is a for leas property and we have done this in the past uh for ASU itself that they had a request about a year and a half ago uh to do things on their campus and they also have the same situation and you think think about this property reaches all the way down to nickach uh to the South and there are properties across there that have um licenses as well and they are within that same distance but are a significant distance away from the schools that I have would you like to make comment it's in your District have a question yes ma'am I'm sure you've done it but just for the record can you confirm that parking has been determined to be adequate for that use and would not be on the street for example we would we would want them off that busy street and um I don't know if that that's a city easement behind that building is that correct yes there is a city easement behind the building um there is also an alternative parking that was approved with that building when they reconstructed it about 3 years ago and you can see that the angled parking that comes into the what we would call the rideway has been allowed and so we have checked that for adequacy for that type of facility based on the numbers that they've given us that they would have

[1:00:54] have adequate parking it would not allow a drive-thru under the neighborhood commercial so they couldn't add a drive-through that was one of our major concerns uh so a drive-thru would not be allowed but pullup parking and and food to go could be done just not a drive-thru okay uh would the applicant like to come forward and share with us her vision for um this restaurant bar good morning uh my name is Britney Davis I'm actually um the applicants representative I'm a realtor with ER real estate so thank you so much for hearing our case this morning um after a lot of consideration in different locations within the St Angelo um area we found this building we felt that the location being close to ASU close to downtown close to Santa Rita and other amenities um within our city was a great location um as far as um alcohol sales go that was something that we definitely addressed I just kind of wanted to break it down in a few spots um first before I got into that um as far as parking goes um the old Frontier building has adequate parking um if we were approved we were going to talk to them about doing a joint parking agreement over there um the owner that is um currently selling or leasing the building has allowed us to proceed as far as coming to meet with y'all and discuss um this as an option um after again a lot of research on potential locations traffic counts um you know easability and just where we felt that the majority of people would actually come and visit a restaurant again we kind of zoned in on this location if anyone's driven around St Angelo looked for potential business opportunity other than vacant buildings downtown unfortunately we're very limited as far as where you know those restaurants can go if you go towards Southwest side of of town near Sams where all that development's happening

[1:02:57] you're looking at 10 to $15,000 a month in rent and that adds up you know and easily can cut into profits and for a new startup restaurant um it's just not doable so um so with that being said budget and all things considered this was a great location um we've looked at the fire egress Etc the owner allowing us to do whatever necessary means we need to to the building so with that then we get into our alcohol sales and I understand the adoption of the rule and I understand having um you know St Angelo ISD close to the property you know that will raise some concerns now with that being said St Angel ISD is a very large property it goes um all the way to nicker Bacher and then both it touches both Johnson and Jackson couple things to consider would be the fact that roses is allowed to sell beer and wine and that is not that far you know if we actually you know and I think that's where the hangup has been for the applicant and also for City staff is the fact that there is such a gray area um in the ruling is it curb to curb is it door too um other cities such as abene they do door too which tends to make more sense um if we're doing curb to curb we are limiting potential business growth in our community and that's what we're striving for so roses is a great example if we look across the street we have Stadium Lanes and within Stadium Lanes napis is there well before Napolis you know that was uh Zentner's Daughter now after they shut down you would think with the TABC Li since it was only for that restaurant but the city allowed another restaurant to go back into that location due to the grandfathered law um the bowling alley again caddy corner so we're looking at a lot of businesses that are really very close but had un you know been granted the permission prior to the adoption of the 300 foot um

[1:05:01] so then I went did a lot more research and found out you know back in 2017 2018 before this um was adopted into um our code book that the old Cork and pig which is now where firest stone is was 119 ft if you went curb to curb um so we thought that that brought a valid case that we were able to come in front of y'all and say okay if that was allowed five six seven years ago why would this not be um so I did print some handouts so no as long as a City attorney has and you're good I can share with Lucy if you yeah um so on the first page it references the previous address of the uh the Cork and pig there which was 2201 nicker Bacher now is Firestone um again the second page just references that it was about 119 ft if we went curb to curb I feel bad for that middle picture they survived well finding some pictures from 2017 were a little challenging um and then if we actually flip to the last page um what I did is you know just logically thinking you know if we were allowing that ruling to come in from door too how would somebody actually proceed to the property would they be going as the crow flies or would they be walking a pedestrian path and so that's how that was measured out so we went from the front of the old griggsby's building across the street down Johnson and then across to you need to wrap up your comments sorry okay um so basically with that being said if we were going door Todo from the school or

[1:07:03] from the stadium that pushes us to over 1300 Square fet from the property essentially thank you very much thank you very much with that um do I have any questions from Council yes Larry excuse me that vacant area out there does does it have any purpose connected with the school well it is owned by the school we did reach out to the school and they said they did not have an issue with this they really gave us no no explanation of what they may have there in the future but it is school land and so they could propose something in the future uh we just don't know what that would be currently it doesn't provide any uh room for PE or anything else it's just vacant area there's a practice there some practice fields some athletic practice field there uh but that would be the only known use as of right now thank you any other Harry you said you did certainly I have a sixth grader that goes to school at Glenn she gets out on the south side of the campus good number of those people young people that don't get picked up walk right directly to that shopping center and that's where they get picked up from their parents I think the idea of a restaurant there is a great idea my concern is that you've got a lot of teenagers there and you're Ser serving alcohol the seventh graders get picked up on the east side of the campus and the eighth graders get picked up on the North side of the campus but those sixth graders come right across there so you've got 4 500 kids coming across that that area every afternoon Monday through Friday I would say the following that um number one the alcohol is served within the complex within the building it's not outside the building that number one and then number two the reality is the fine

[1:09:06] many parents take their kids out to dinner and order a cocktail beer or wine as their kids are sitting there dining with them so that's not unusual whether the fifth graders or sixth graders they've been around parents who've dined and ordered alcohol beer or wine and then the last thing I would say is the following is there's an obligation to check IDs and if the ID does not say you can serve in beer wine or alcohol there's not going to be beer wine or alcohol served to that young child so for me this is is um uh there's tremendous distance between that building and the school and I would support the opening of that restaurant I think it will enhance that community area and again I don't think that those kids it's not like they have not seen alcohol beer wine served in their life in their home or in a restaurant so I don't think it's going to influence them in a negative way in my opinion I yes just um and I I apologize I missed this as far as type of loc or type of restaurant it's not a sports bar or anything like that it is going to be a higher end similar to The Warf Cork and pig miss hatties you know serving a more prestigious menu um Etc so if that you know is something to take into consideration thank you very much further public comments none then may I have a motion for approval I'd like to make a motion to approve Karen has a motion a second of by Lucy further public comment seeing none hearing none we'll take a vote all those in favor say i i i i motion passes 70 we will move on to item C which is the first reading and public hearing of an ordinance amending chapter 10 traffic control article 10.03 operation of Motor Vehicles

[1:11:09] section 10.3.0 N1 oneway streets and alleys of the code of ordinances to assign a portion of how Street as oneway during designated hours and authorizing the city manager to negotiate and execute all related documents Patrick you are on all right good morning mayor councel um uh a while back staff was approached by tlca to help them with their traffic issues and congestion during mainly during drop off and pickup of the school the school has grown their numbers of students of in enrollment has increased to the amount to the effect that um during drop off and pickup times and even throughout the day um there is they're running into an issue with with traffic flow and just making sure that it's efficient and safe um we sat down with them and we worked through a process and we came up with um a one-way designation on house Street as a solution that would work both for the campus and for the the surrounding neighborhood as well as something that the city felt like um would would not impact negatively traffic um so what what we came up with is a one-way designation from the access road of the loop down to Freeland Avenue um right there in front of tlca we stopped it at Freeland so that we wouldn't impact that home that's right there next to it um so that they could go either direction on house Street and access their their home as well as the surrounding neighborhood so we limited it as much as we could but still ensured that traffic wasn't trying to cut across one another and back up and and create a safety and efficiency problem there so um with your approval this will go into effect our traffic Operations Division will install all the signage that's necessary for that and tlca um will be responsible for reimbursing the city for all of those costs including equipment costs material cost and labor cost I get very concerned when we do things like this the confusion people who are not used to being a oneway street unless there's

[1:13:13] really unbelievable signage and directing very nervous about that and then what happens if there's activities at that school that start at 6:00 at night is it one way is it not I mean I just find this to be concerning and confusing and cons that's all I understand the oneway designation will be during school days from 7 o'clock in the morning to 4:00 every sign that designates the oneway is required to have that as an additional sign right underneath so it communicate stall traffic if you're within those read signs you know that I can't force them to read we can do what we can to communicate it but yes it's up to them to to observe the the warning signs Harry did you want to make a comment yes ma'am there are several uh elementary schools in St Angelo Independent School District that we've done the same thing for uh for Concho probably four or five years ago I had the opportunity to to work with staff in providing uh one way for these hours uh in front of their school uh I know Glenn Elementary has the same thing Belair Elementary has the same thing so I don't think it's much different than what we've done in the past you're right A lot of people do not read the signs but they will get used to it because I can guarantee you the police officers will tiet them yes please Larry U how's fire and police what's their opinion on this so so the fire department doesn't use that road as their access point their their um their station is further back off of tlca way so that's not not an issue for them even if they did they would be coming down um into that neighborhood through that through the oneway via the oneway so um PD is we didn't necessarily reach out to them specifically on that

[1:15:15] but um like Harry suggested it's it we have one ways all over town and that's regulated as there normally are so usually it's the parent traffic and and the school district and the school there that abouts it that kind of enforces that um through their Communications and I know that tlca here they are um they did acknowledge that they would be communicating that through through their social media and through their communication um with all of their parents and students as well so this will be um very well broadcast and very well disseminated before it goes into effect what happens to Freeland Avenue does it pick does it end up with double the amount of traffic or what happens we do suspect that there will be an increase in traffic to Freeland most of the traffic already if they're going down that way continues down house Street and exits out onto Arden Road already so it's just those few people that are trying to turn left onto um house Street to get up to the access road those would be the ones that are accessing Freeland so there'll be a nominal increase we expect of traffic onto Freeland um but again it's the those that were trying to turn left on how to get to the access road would be the ones that would be using Freeland to to get back to that location har Larry further questions or comments no I'm fine thank you Karen did you have one anyone else make a comment okay so is there a motion for approval so move a motion by Harry a second by second Larry and the public comment opportunity exists right now seeing none we'll take a vote all those in favor say I I motion passes 70 thank you it looks like we are moving into Clos session and I move missing something no that's it okay so executive session of the provision of government code Title Five open government ethics subtitle a open government chapter 551

[1:17:20] open meeting sub chapter D exceptions to requirement that meetings be open under the following sections a section 551.071 consultation with attorney regarding Mark three border patrol Hangar Paving contract did I get that right Jeremy okay we will now be moving from here to close session on this election day November the 7th this meeting is called back to order with nothing to announce uh following our executive session so we will move into consider approving various board nominations and there is one which is the airport advisory committee for Sam Strahan smd5 to a first term ending October 2025 and uh may I have a motion for that approval so move Tom second second by Harry any questions concerning this appointment with none we'll take a vote all in favor say I I motion is approved or nomination is approved are there any announcements and consideration for a future agenda items let me just make an announcement that our next meeting will be on November the 21st I think Tommy you said you have a problem being I'm out of town for Thanksgiving already he'll out of town for that but the rest of us will all be here for that meeting on the 21st and with that may I have a motion for adjournment so move second so move second all those in favor adjourning say I I I great motion passes

Captured 2026-07-26 · source: youtube.com/watch?v=khwjaMkFz4Y