San Angelo City Council 4-4-23

[0:00:00] on this April the 4th we will call this meeting officially to order and we will start as usual with our chaplain prayer and pledges and we have our police Chapel Lorenzo hatch here to lead us in both good morning please bow your heads with me [Music] good and gracious God we give you thanks and praise for all your blessings especially for the blessing of freedom Lord we ask that you bless this council with wisdom to discern your will and the courage to do it may they always be guided by the light of your spirit protect our brave men and women who serve our community as firefighters and police officers may all we do bless your holy name and I ask this in all things through your son our Lord Jesus Christ who lives and reigns forever and ever amen to the Republic for which it stands baseball 's deliberately Texas flag pledge allegiance to the Texas one State under God one and individually good morning everyone and we will start we have three proclamations this morning and the first one is going to be the month of the military child so those in the audience that are here representing our military families please come

[0:02:03] forward good morning thank you we'll end up moving to the front anyway so you're okay however you are yeah okay since 1986 the Department of Defense has recognized military children during the month of April the commitment and sacrifice of our military's youngest heroes in supporting the brave men and women of the U.S armed forces is worthy of honor and celebration the unique demands upon the children of our military personnel do not go unnoticed from often being the new child in school or the feeling of a missing a parent deployed while serving our country here in San Angelo we are blessed to have Goodfellow Air Force Base strong military families that call Our Community Home add so much to our West Texas Community today and for the month of April we will make a special effort to lift up our military families and to salute them and the contribution and resilience of our military children as part of this salute San Angelo ISD is partnering with the city of San Angelo to honor our military families and children the city and saisd invite our San Angelo Community to join in our salute and gratitude therefore I Brenda Gunter mayor of the city of San Angelo Texas on behalf of

[0:04:06] the city council and together with San Angelo Independent School District administrators principals Educators staff and students do hereby proudly proclaim the month of April as month of the military child and urge all the citizens of San Angelo to acknowledge the occasion of this month in honor and recognition of the outstanding strength of our military children and their families and in gratitude of their sacrifice thank you all [Applause] right you take the microphone all right thank you mayor Gunter and council members good morning I'm Molly Turk I'm the executive director of communications at San Angelo ISD here in San Angelo we are blessed to have a long-standing partnership supporting the men women and families of Goodfellow Air Force Base strong military families call Our Community Home and add so much to our West Texas community and our seisd schools as part of month of the military child we honor and recognize the commitment sacrifice and resiliency of our military's youngest Heroes for their role in supporting the United States armed forces in our nation in our district we have nearly 600 military connected students and are also proudly home to four tea purple Star campuses that's Bel Air Elementary Glenmore Elementary Glenn Middle School and Central High School the purple star designation recognizes Texas schools that show their support and commitment to meeting the unique needs of military-connected students and their families today we're joined by many special guests including members of the saisd school board members of saic administration including superintendent Dr Carl detloff many representatives from Goodfellow Air Force Base particularly training ring Commander Colonel Matthew rauman

[0:06:08] and we also have a very special guest with us today one of our outstanding military connected students Maisha Allen Maisha is a junior if you want to come forward Maisha is a junior at Central High School and for the second year in the row has been named the Boys and Girls Club of America at Texas Military Youth of the year he's been awarded this for his academics his character leadership skills and community service he is the first saisd student to win this award and also the first at Goodfellow Air Force Base so we're really proud of you and glad you're a part of our community so it's an honor to serve Goodfellow and our military connected students and to grow the hopes and dreams of military students and we hope that you will all join us in celebration of military children this month but especially on Friday April 14th for purple up day by wearing purple to support our military students thank you [Applause] all right photographs come on we want you up front come on [Laughter] okay the coordinator's position well usually it's a Well if you see public comment before we pull it remember you can't see the photography smart enough you're not in the picture are you sure go to the front there's a lot of short ones still in the back

[0:08:35] laughs [Applause] what grade was that young man yeah it applied for boy our next Proclamation is the fair housing month so those in the audience here to receive this award and support the fair housing month please come forward thank you the Fair Housing Act enacted on April 11 1968 and shrined into federal law the goal of eliminating racial segregation and ending housing discrimination in the United States the Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in housing based off race color religion gender disability familiar status and national origin Additionally the city of San Angelo is committed to the mission and intent of Congress to provide fair and equal housing opportunities for all economic stability community health and human relations in all communities are improved by diversity and integration fair housing is integral to the ethical commitment of members of the National Association of Realtors and the San

[0:10:37] Angelo Association of Realtors and is critical to the ability of all real estate professionals to serve their clients customers and communities acts of housing discrimination and barriers to Equal Housing Opportunity work against the goal of decency and fairness in housing practices therefore I Brenda Gunter mayor of the city of San Angelo deer who do hereby proclaim the month of April 2023 as fair housing month in San Angelo to establish the city of San Angelo as an inclusive community committed to fair housing and to promote appropriate activities by private and public entities intended to provide or advocate for Equal Housing opportunities for all residents in prospective residents of San Angelo Texas [Applause] morning y'all thank you mayor Gunter and esteemed council members for having us today we are so thankful to be here representing the San Angelo Association of Realtors I'm Ashley Hambright I'm the president of the association this year I also have with me members of the Realtor Association part of our executive team as well as uh the chair of our education committee every April Texas joins the nation in celebrating fair housing month Realtors take this opportunity to share their passion about their commitment to fair housing the federal fair housing act prohibits housing discrimination based off race color national origin religion gender family status or disability it is our duty obligation and privilege to be passionate about ensuring that the dream of home ownership remains attainable for everyone but our efforts do not stop being a priority at the end of this month this is a part of who we are as Realtors and we are proud advocates for protecting private property rights for all thank you for having us [Applause] all right

[0:13:10] our third Proclamation is alcohol awareness month and there are those of you in the audience supporting alcohol awareness month please come forward alcohol is a primary factor in the four leading causes of death for youth ages 10 to 21. almost 100 000 persons die each year from alcohol-related causes drinking and driving crashes other accidents Falls fires alcohol-related homicides and suicide approximately 15 million current drinkers in the United States are dependent on alcohol adolescents use alcohol more than tobacco or illicit drugs and young people begin drinking on average at 13 years of age young people who begin drinking before age 15 are four more times likely to develop alcohol dependence than those who begin drinking at age 21. alcohol abuse is linked to as many as two-thirds of all sexual assaults and date rapes for all these reasons the alcohol and drug abuse Council for the Concho Valley and the Concho Valley cares Coalition are asking the residents of San Angelo to join in recognizing April as alcohol awareness month therefore I Brenda Gunter mayor of the city of San Angelo Texas on behalf of the city council do hereby Proclaim April 2023 as alcohol awareness month in San Angelo Texas and call upon all residents of San Angelo to support efforts that will increase Community awareness and support for individuals and families coping with alcoholism in our community thank you all who's going to speak today you are fantastic thank you good morning and thank you mayor Gunter and our city council members for having

[0:15:13] us here today to Proclaim April as alcohol awareness month my name is Jennifer Flores and I work at the alcohol and drug awareness center for the Concho Valley as our Community Coalition Partnerships director today I have with me our CEO Eric Sanchez our prevention director Ray Valadez and our CCP coordinator Lee Jordan at adac we offer services such as prevention treatment whether that be inpatient or outpatient and recovery and detox our prevention Team Works tirelessly traveling from County to County working with schools and our Boys and Girls Clubs for the Concho Valley they provide education and life skills to help students and youth learn more about a healthy drug-free lifestyle and the dangers of Alcohol and Other Drugs at our cotton Lindsay Center and journey Recovery Center counselors provide one-on-ones education support and accountability with our clients and help them have the skills to be successful in their recovery Journey I encourage anyone in the community that is or know someone struggling with a substance use disorder or alcohol use disorder to give our office a call and to seek treatment I also encourage community members to help reduce stigmas associated with alcohol and substance use disorders by showing kindness and empathy towards those suffering with addiction and avoiding stigmatizing language together we can create a safer and healthier Community thank you [Applause] foreign

[0:17:39] we will now move into our public comment portion of the agenda issues are concerns not on the regular agenda may be raised by the public at this time citizens should speak from the podium address all comments to the Diaz Begin by stating their name and address or single member district number and limit their remarks to less than three minutes do we have individuals in the audience who would like to come forward and offer public comment if so please come forward good morning my name is Leah Barbie I live at 3517 Green Ridge and I have been asked to read these remarks to you today Madam mayor and council members my name is Craig Myers and I am a resident of single member district four I would like to make a recommendation and request based upon three irregularities in the handling of the agenda item in the last meeting regarding a funding request from Tears by Gethsemane Church the first irregularity was the abandonment of protocol and best practices by which meetings are conducted Brandon this is on the agenda so I don't think it's appropriate she make comments now but would you please advise us on that regular yeah so that's fine I'm good with that and thank you all you'll you'll be able to speak you'll come back during the regular agenda item and offer those comments I'm sorry I have a doctor's appointment well can you give it to somebody else to read or I'll be glad to read it for you other public comment [Music] hi Mike Mike Burnett single member district one Speaking today is my role as board chair of the Concho Valley homeless planning Coalition I just wanted to give you all an update from

[0:19:41] the winner now that hopefully winter has passed even though Easter has not passed yet and sometimes it freezes before Easter so uh this winter um the program into the warmth was activated and we had over 2 300 room nights at hotels this was approximately 190 unique homeless individuals we spent approximately 150 000 on rooms another ten thousand dollars on Transportation food and other services the Carl Ray Johnson rec center was activated 11 nights we averaged about 10 homeless individuals per night and spent an additional thousand dollars or so in goods and services at the rec center we also had over 3 000 volunteer hours to run both programs through the course of the winter at this last a couple of weeks ago Concho Valley Community Action Agency had a bridge Builders conversation where one of the topics that was brought up by members of the of the city residents of the city uh they spent some time talking about decriminalizing homelessness I ask that the city council placed on a future agenda the consideration of a homeless Bill of Rights which seeks to protect Central rights for all unhoused individuals these include access to basic requirement necessary for sustaining life including shelter sanitation Medical Care clothing and food able to move freely in public spaces in the same manner as other persons without harassment or intimidation have equal opportunities for employment receive emergency medical care exercise equals Civic privileges including the right to register to vote and the right to vote have personal information protected have a reasonable expectation of privacy on his or her personal property receive equal treatment by state county and Municipal agencies allow for access to resources for housing and Supportive Housing and I'm glad that the city recognized fair housing month for all residents including our homeless Neighbors the right to non-obstructively seek shelter Social Services legal aid and education and the right to feel safe

[0:21:44] basically these rights entitle our homeless neighbors a right that having a permanent not having a permanent or valid address is not requisite for retaining these rights I would like to invite you all to attend the next homeless coalition's general meeting on April 12th at 10 A.M in the Tom Green County Library this will afford you an opportunity to hear what local agencies a large number of them non-profit are doing to work with our homeless neighbors I also invite you to attend the monthly navigation day at the Concho Valley Transit Annex on Monday April 24th to see inaction the work of 15 plus non-profits working with our homeless neighbors providing services that very day now that winter is over it's the time to plan for next winter it's going to take a village to meet the need and I look forward to continuing the partnership between the city and this the city of San Angelo and the Concho Valley homeless planning Coalition perfect wrapped it up great right on schedule thank you Mike other public comment good morning my name is Nelda and Allen I reside at district one I come once again to thank you for the various venues and committees that you all have provided for those of us that have uh people that are impacted by disabilities to speak and make our wishes known to the city of San Angelo I've attended planning meetings I've attended the tourist meeting always with the idea that when you spend money please at least recognize that we have a disability community that needs some little extra things so thank you for that I want to also say that I am really impressed with the boards that you all have and I've since

[0:23:48] I've attended those meetings I see that they really do a lot of research into the issues and I want to remind you that those people work very very hard for no money so please when they come listen to them thank you Andre Essie Flay I live in district one I have a comment on the consent agenda do I do that now it will if somebody pulls the item then you can comment on it at that point in time so I don't know what item you want to comment on but it would need to be pulled in order to open it up for conversation okay I will do that for you Andrea so that you can comment hey no not till we go to the but you can come back up okay we're getting your steps in today everyone yeah any further public comment seeing none we will now close the consent I mean the public comment section of the agenda we will move into the consent agenda and I will ask each board member if there are interested in pulling an item from the consent and I will start with Larry C D and E Aaron k ay Lucy no ma'am Carrie oh man Tom that's in the pool Tommy all right we will do two things one we're going to move item 5G to the regular agenda and it will follow after six D so G is also not being considered at this moment in the agenda

[0:25:50] and I need a motion then to approve item a b f h i j l m and n may I have that motion Emotion by Harry seconded by Larry any public comment concerning those items at this point seeing none we will take a vote all those in favor of proving those consent to consent agenda items please say I hearing no nose the consent agenda has been approved with the exception of item c d e g and K so we will start with item C first is consider awarding W u-05-2-3 liquid ammonia sulfate to chameleon Industries and Univar Solutions based on the lowest bid and availability for one year with two additional one-year term extensions budgeted for purchase in fiscal years 2023 through 2025 and authorizing the city manager to negotiate and execute all related documents and you are on Andy good morning mayor morning Council Andy vaselio assistant director of water utilities CD and E all are for bids for chemicals at the water treatment plant so we may be able to handle all those together if permissible I apologize for not bringing up to you sometime this week earlier it's a simple question does the contract as it stands obligate those companies to provide those chemicals at the same or a lesser price than is currently in effect um yes with the exception that there are and we've seen this within the last couple of years there are exceptions to those with the price increases that are upside the typical control so there are limitations contractually of how much

[0:27:54] they can increase however with the way the Market's been recently the market trends have far exceeded that so I realize that's a very vague answer because of the market conditions have resulted in skyrocketing prices of chemicals and they just can't hold their market prices sometimes for the full year two years or three years and would it be wiser to essentially go out to other concerns for bids in the off years so the way we have it structured right now is for one year contract with the extension of one year or another year afterwards provided they will are willing to hold those prices I'm expecting to be back here next year because I don't think that they'll accept those prices for more than one year but we always hope that if the market does stabilize that we can maintain those contracts how do we ensure that they don't take advantage of quote market conditions so that we are held hostage the price increases that are over and above what would be considered normal increases there are two ways number one we can bid it out again next year or bid it even partially through the year the other ones is when they have an excessive increase they have to provide justification for that and that is reviewed by staff as reviewed by you know purchasing as well and so in general you'll see those market trends throughout and it'll be well documented in the news and other places as well in the industry all right so further questions Larry thank you very much um are we able to uh because he pulled Larry pulled C D and E are we able to take a vote on c d and e or do we need to vote on each individual vote on together all right so is there a motion to approve c d and e motion made by Larry seconded by Karen any public

[0:30:00] item concerning item C D and E saying none we will now take a vote all those in favor say aye aye are there any opposed seeing none opposed of item c d and e have been approved we will now go to item K consider resolution designating Teresa James as the Ada coordinator for the city of San Angelo may I like to make comment real quick um so this item was pulled Teresa James has experience in teaching special that she's really super knowledgeable in this field as far as the Ada coordination I did understand the concern that was expressed last time as far as her being attorney but she really truly is the most qualified person in the city and to this point she's been doing a wonderful job so it is my recommendation that we do appoint Teresa James as the Ada coordinator for the city of San Angelo do I have a motion to approve item okay so I'll move by Harry seconded by Karen wait no wait we we pulled that because there are people but we're going to have public comment I've got to have a motion on the floor first second to buy Lucy all right we will now open it up for public comment Andreas souffle district one today I'm asking all of you not to appoint the City attorney as the Ada coordinator no matter how temporary I'm also asking that the Ada coordinator be moved to another department or directly under the city manager not only is having the Ada person in the legal department a PR nightmare it's not a practice at all at any City governments nor does it resonate well with people with disabilities

[0:32:03] in this community for sure a population that has been marginalized and consid considered to be on the fringes and no doubtedly incur encountered tragic experiences do not feel comfortable engaging with a City attorney Plus at the town hall meeting two weeks ago the City attorney made it grossly insensitive comparison between her pushing a stroller with her children down a ramp excuse me to navigating a ramp in a wheelchair this offensive comment was made to be relatable however it demonstrated how out of touch she is with the disabled community while being outstandingly offensive she is not Suited for the task in the least bit not qualified not relatable and not approachable further public comment [Music] good morning Kim Henry service member district three and I also have some comments on that as well and I'm going to start with essentially a thank you because since we first brought up the issue of ADA compliance and accessibility in October of last year we have provided numerous tools and information to the city in various forms to support positive change in the right direction up to this point the city has succeeded in achieving what the city referred to as low-hanging fruit and while we're not quite where we want to be I would like to say thank you for those low-hanging fruits to show appreciation but also reiterate that we're not going against the city but rather trying to save it and make it a place where everyone is appreciated and

[0:34:06] included so thank you for the following one adding an accommodation request form to the Ada page of the city website where individuals can request accommodations adding grievance procedures to the Ada page of the website adding an ADA coordinator information to the water bills listening to all of our public comments hosting a town hall agreeing to wait to make the decision on Where the River Stage improvements until the disability community has given input making an attempt to understand what life is like for people with disabilities by referring to and sharing about your own family members and friends and to the city council members who have taken time to sit down and engage with us it's a very complicated extensive Topic in the bare minimum and Basics can be a great discussion that ensure decisions can be made in a foreign and data-driven manner I would actually like to invite each one of you for coffee or lunch but what we are still looking for is for the city to start off on the right foot especially with the bare minimum simple processes specifically this agenda item with the Ada coordinator and also the committee item which is on the regular agenda are two opportunities it's an opportunity to navigate through an ADA process learn from it with minimal mistakes work together and really set the foundation and expectations for the city and the city council however unfortunately let me give you an example why I would like this to be removed and not to vote Teresa James in that position these agendas is a simple process for city council agendas are actually required to have information on how to request accommodations to participate in today's meeting but that phone number just goes to the city clerk so my only way to request accommodations is through a phone number and it's not even the person designated as the Ada coordinator the calendar where all the meetings are posted that doesn't have that information at all and again these are I'm saying these because these are simple things that should have already been in place so we're making decisions and saying someone's qualified but they haven't even done those bare minimum pieces so if we can't get those if we can't get those two staple processes correct after already being formed by our team that they're wrong and they need to be updated I don't understand

[0:36:08] how we can vote on an ADA coordinator who's not even here today or again an ADA committee which I'll talk about later um so I thought would be my only public comment thank you may have that may yes a lot of what Miss Henry just mentioned a while ago the improvements that we've made and there's been some really great good improvements that was led by by Teresa James she she actually took the charge and she did a wonderful job those two items that you just mentioned a while ago that we've fallen short on we'll take a look at that but we'll get that corrected I still feel very strongly that first of all Teresa James as the Ada director would be directly under the CD manager you mentioned that a while ago that will happen but again the improvements that she's made to this point in such a short period of time really shows her qualification I still stand very firm in my recommendation that Teresa James should be appointed the Ada coordinator any further public comment we only allow one speak time to speak but is there anyone else who would like to come forward and make comment on Teresa James being made as the Ada coordinator yes sir please um I've seen this and I saw it got pulled and it kind of made me look at it once or so I looked over and as you would say when you bring these questions up and look forward I asked Teresa for her credentials on there and when when you roll through it she is by far the most educated credentialed trained person with the Ada that we have on staff there's no question about that she's actually also enrolled in schools in May and June and I can't see going any other way and being able to provide you the most intelligent person we have for these discussion topics now if there's personality conflicts I get that but I can't see going with anybody else other than Teresa just because of you know at least 12 to 13 courses she has taken the training she's had conversations with me over the past week so I will go and

[0:38:10] follow up with Daniel and follow suit that there is no one better suited for this than Teresa to represent the city is that emotion oh like a motion sorry then let me ask one more time is there any more public comments so and if you've spoken on this item already you cannot come back and add additional comment I have spoken with Miss James and I'm going to say that I don't simply say no but what I do say is I don't want somebody temporary I want you getting out there and finding the best person to hire in this position because there are people with the qualifications right now so do we have a timeline for looking for this type of person we don't have established in this budget a full-time Ada coordinator that is something that is discussed on an annual basis we don't create ft's doing this when this season of the year actually starts for the budget so at this point uh she is filling in in the coordinated position that's a topic that we discussed at a later time okay so we always do that as far as any ftes are created we're not creating a full-time employee at this point we're not she's just taking not added responsibilities uh in an area that quite frankly she spent quite a bit of time on again I emphasize she's doing a wonderful job I know that okay thank you thank you we allow only one time to the microphone to comment during public session or any regular agenda items with that there's a motion there's a second I'll ask one last time for public comment all right scene none we'll take a vote all those in favor of approving item k please say aye

[0:40:13] seeing none opposed motion passes seven to zero we'll move into the regular agenda items comments regarding items on the regular agenda may be made by the public when each item is discussed as outlined above applicants proponents and a pallets are zip from the time limit above and instead must limit their remarks to less than five minutes item a is considered purchasing 117.604 acres of land out of a part of C exec survey 645 abstract number 4212 and West bornhan survey 644 abstract number 1811 for a price of twenty thousand dollars per acre plus closing costs not to exceed four thousand dollars authorizing the city manager to negotiate and execute all related documents and amending the fiscal year 2022-23 budget to utilize 2 million three hundred fifty six thousand and eighty dollars from the general funds fund balance Jeremy you're on good morning mayor council staff Jeremy valgartz in the San Angelo Regional Airport director thank you for having me again this is another exciting day for us and this was a new one for me but we've got the unique opportunity to purchase some land around the airport this is over there off South Concho drive it's on the east side of the runways and I I'll show you a lot of maps and I'll kind of describe why we need this land about a year ago maybe a year and a half ago this land owner came to us and was interested in building a bunch of houses out in this region it's problematic because of where the runway sit those lands would have been within the runway protection Zone they would have been under the departure surface and they would have been under the approach surface so the landowner was gracious enough to come to us to make sure he was doing everything to help protect the city and to help protect the airport this may look confusing to you I'll need

[0:42:17] to explain it but if you picture a football stadium and the Blue Area would be the grass of the field everything outside of that would be the stands as they're going up so this is how we protect for our airspace the the rpz which is the runway protection Zone that is the airspace that the FAA is trying to own we're trying to purchase all that land which makes this project highly eligible for FAA reimbursement in the future they want to own all that land they don't just want to easement they want to own it all the way to the surface because this is where if an airplane was to run off the Runway or if it was to come in short this is where it would end up the red area there that's the the land in question and the yellow bars as they go out that's the height so that would be the bottom of the stands in the football stadium everything above that we want to protect for so you can count those lines and every line goes out 10 feet so you can see if you were to build homes in that area you would have to go out quite a ways before you could put a single or even a two-story house to get out there so Building Homes up against the fence was going to be problematic in this area and stop me if you have any questions on the maps um so why do we need it we we every time we sign our grants and we receive several grants from the FAA we're obligated to the FAA for the next 20 years and we re-up every time we sign those grants Grant Assurance number five preserving rights and Powers Assurance number six consistency with local plans Assurance 20 Hazard removal and mitigation and Assurance 21 compatible land use if we were to not protect for this area we would be violating all four of those grant assurances that we we sign each and every year I already talked about airspace protection we are not considering Runway 927 because that project is out for bid now we're looking to decommission that Runway so this is strictly from our primary Runway Runway 321 that has our instrument Landing system on it all my slides are to protect that surface and then of course airport development protection we signed the master plan in 2020 and the Airport layout plan suggests in the future we'll be taking the terminal and moving it to the east

[0:44:19] side of the runway this is the Airport layout plan that was signed by us you can see the purple area there that's proposed for terminal expansion the yellow everything in yellow is new it doesn't exist to this at this current time so that taxiway would be right up against our existing fence line and right up against those where those homes would be so in the airplanes taxing out to the runway it would blow the little kid's swimming pool off his backyard if homes were built that close you can see all the other lines that are extending out that's the approach and departure surface within the land in question eligibility as I said this is eligible for fa reimbursement I have talked to the FAA extensively on this item they are aware of it and they're they're excited as much as we are they obviously don't have the cash now and when they give us the cash for land acquisition um it's through our entitlement dollars and we get a million dollars every year for entitlements so it would plus we want to get all of our projects done that we have slated on our Capital Improvement program before we start dipping into that that cash fund balance so the FAA will only reimburse with entitlement dollars my CIP rcip has already got projects programmed for the next 10 years so it's going to take some time before we get a cash reimbursement from the FAA that next item there this is I don't like to call it a loophole because this is allowable in the FAA system I underlined May because it strictly depends on our project manager with the fa on if he's going to allow it or not but we can take the portion of that land we still own it as the city of San Angelo and we can just obligate it for airport use and we can use that as match money instead of an actual cash value what does that Air Force airport use described as um anything that we determine necessary the FAA now will allow non-aeronautical use as long as the non-aeronautical revenue goes directly to the airport for airport functions um if it's within the approach surface like we have now the FAA is going to

[0:46:21] deem it that it needs to be used for aeronautical use that can be a hanger that could be a flight school I mean it can be anything related to airport use we just can't put storage units out there the FAA will never own it it will always be ours it just becomes obligated at that point right now it's even if we purchase it today it is not obligated to the airport it's city land that will be given to the airport but it does not have to be used for airport use until we obligated here's the funding mechanism it's 117.604 Acres the price is twenty thousand dollars an acre plus closing cost knocks to exceed four thousand for a total funding of two million 356 thousand eighty dollars this just kind of shows the future development based off our master plan Airport layout plan everything to the left of the screen is where the terminal sits now where all the hangers sit now we're almost already built out and as you know we're putting in a taxi Lane now because we don't have a whole lot of room for expansion on that side of the runways the circle area up top that's between the two running runways that's very Prime real estate where we could do airport development and then after that we're kind of stuck with all of our development to the east side of the runways the blue area is the land in question so you can see this will help us open up some of that land available for development in the future the orange area is owned by another landowner and that will be for another meeting how is it funded we're looking at the general fund to fund this project and then the the asset will be transferred to the airport once it's purchased and then here's our recommendation which is the language that is in the agenda so any questions I have questions or comments for Jeremy go ahead Tommy Jeremy does this help with the FAA as they evaluate projects into the future that we in fact have this land under our control that they may look more

[0:48:25] favorably upon some of our projects as opposed to if we did not own that land not necessarily but what it does is it cuts about three years out of the process because if we did not own the land and we needed it for a project we'd have to go through the environmental review the historical review all the FAA process to get it so if we can get it now and it's available for development it'll speed up the process for sure further questions for Jeremy on this project any no okay should we approve his presented mayor there's a motion to approve is there a second a second by Karen public comment on this item say no hearing none we will take a vote all those in favor say aye with that it passes seven zero we will now move into Item B which is consideration of amendments to the tax increment reinvestment Zone called tiers t-i-r-z incentive policy regarding non-profit organizations John euron thank you um as you probably recall at one of your recent meetings you all directed us to take an Autumn for discussion back to the tears board regarding whether or not to continue to allow non-profits non-profit organizations to receive incentive funds in the north tiers the tears board did look at that at both their February and March regular meetings and have made recommendations here's the current policy I won't read through all of it but basically it says that non-profits are eligible for funding in the north but both the board and Council have to make a finding that there's a significant economic impact from the project and it does also require three-quarters majority vote by both the board and Council for that to be approved So at their February meeting the board

[0:50:29] did vote by five to three vote to keep the current policy their recommendation was to continue to allow funding for the North nonprofits at that same meeting they asked us to bring back an item at their March meeting and so I'll uh I'll come back to this slide in just a second but then at their March meeting they voted 6-3 to recommend an additional amendment to open up the South to non-profits I think their concern was that the policy be uniform between North and South I did point out to them that the reason that it was done originally was there's as you know a limited amount of funding in the South and so that's why the recommendation was not to open it up to non-profits in the South but given that at the time there was over two million dollars in the north the thinking was expanding it to nonprofits might be beneficial to help use some of that money let me come back to this is the rationale that they gave for not changing the current policy in the north basically that improvements to non-profit properties and buildings help improve the entire area and they likened it to some of the other projects that we funded like Street projects like chadburn that doesn't increase anybody's tax taxable values on property it's simply improving the overall area and the underlying capabilities of businesses similarly improving a non-profit property would help the surrounding area by basically improving encouraging revitalization so that was that was the basis for the board's recommendation that's really I'd be happy to answer any questions but that's kind of a brief overview again their recommendation is to not change the policy in the north and also expand to allow non-profits in the south Karen it looks like you have a comment I have a question for you John are you aware of any City in the state of Texas

[0:52:31] that currently has a tears program that that permits funding to non-profits you know that's something we have not looked into it wouldn't surprise me uh if that's the case but I we actually have not done that research looking at other cities you know if you take a look at the Texas legislature's policy in terms of uh when they created the opportunity for cities to create tiers programs the number one line on that says the following that in fact the money should be focused or is available for cities and counties to use it for a public benefit and infrastructure and infrastructure is the key word that they use and it's focused on areas that are let's just say areas that have seen a deterioration in terms of those districts that in fact by improving the infrastructure within those districts is a great opportunity for people to look at it and say now that they're investing in the infrastructure here making it a much better area we believe that businesses will start to improve their buildings as well as their facilities in terms of opening up a business but one of the things I want to I want to make a few comments before we go further on this first the issue of the for profit versus non-profit is a simple Financial conversation it is not a racial issue nor should it be an issue that is an emotional issue with lots of stories about the value of our non-profits and the stories that go with their services the Texas legislature when they created the program created a program to encourage reinvestment into blighted

[0:54:33] areas the first item was the opportunity for cities and counties to use the money to improve infrastructure which in turn should help develop an area I know the value of our non-profits non-profits already have the advantage over for-profit by the nature they do not have to pay property taxes or sales taxes non-profits already have been given a break and you need to use all the service and at the same point they use all the services the city provides including infrastructure Improvement and fire and police yes employees of nonprofits pay property taxes and sales taxes but so do all of the for-profit businesses non-profits have the greatest opportunity to participate in San Angelo gives in fact almost 2 million dollars last year was raised to in support of our non-profit organizations the whole concept of the program is to create development that puts more money back into the pot to be reinvested creating the tax increment Finance refinance program and that's a key word tax increment meaning increased tax revenue property tax revenue back into the pot tax is the first word in the program we cannot be giving money that does not create new revenue or growth in property tax values just because we can does not mean we should if we need to reconsider one zone one policy then we need to discuss that as well as we go down the road this managing two different tier zones with two different policies doesn't make sense and so if we need to adapt one that was probably not correct vote to begin with then we need to re-look at some of the the the whole idea of the tiers program maybe we need to eliminate

[0:56:37] the tiers program but what we cannot be doing is to go totally against the concept of this program from day one it's called tax increment refinance Zone meaning reinvesting creating new property tax dollars that fill the pot back up again to reinvest for someone else what doesn't make sense is that the South has said they wanted to borrow money from the North or use the north money because they never have enough money for all the projects that have been submitted that are eligible that are businesses as I said not non-profits but businesses so why we would open the door for additional people to apply for it we've already said we don't have enough money to fund the existing for-profit businesses again I say just because we can does not mean we should and perhaps we need to go back and re-look at the cheers program overall those are my thoughts today mayor yes um even of our own literature my whole point is we looked at this as a development of commercial and Retail establishments to tax and to grow we need to be consistent in what we do across both zones I get that I think by accident non-profits were left in the north Zone back from I think my second meeting in 2017 but I had a talk with Tony Villarreal yesterday and we we talked for 30 minutes about it and I certainly see the other sides and points but I think it's about consistency here I drove Martin Luther King Street this morning which I drive three to four times every day I went down there and probably counted a minimum of seven places that would be non-profits that could fall in there but I don't see the the real estate Miss item that could bring back to I think what the commercial part is I think you need to

[0:58:39] be consistent if we open up for non-profits all the way through there's you can just list the whole group that could actually legally apply for this from the largest you know from Shannon Hospital down to everything all the way down through the South Zone and so I'll just tell everybody honestly I think it's about consistency in the top to the bottom I don't think non-profits fit what this was designed for and they don't refill the pool back up and yeah I was very adamant with Tony yesterday and I told him I said I'm strongly against you know non-profits getting funding out of something that was designed not for them to give and there's there's some benefits there which the mayor covered um and so they brought up a question to me and I have talked to several people about if a non-profit does take you know government Municipal funds are they still eligible for a lot of the benefits they request and that brings a lot of tax questions up there too so it's my two cents worth on it y'all but I appreciate everybody's called and talked to me about it you know I I really believe strongly that the nonprofits bring a lot to the city and this is not to question what they bring to the city but this program was not com was not created I say it again tax increment reinvestment Zone we have had a discussion before about the south and and about the streetscape in the south there will be comments made that that program dramatically changed the environment for businesses in the South it was presented in a meeting to the cheers board several weeks ago or maybe months ago about using the money to improve the North in the same way we did the South in terms of a streetscape program Craig Myers was one of the first to bring up the fact that the South streetscape that's hard to say Street Escape program was beneficial to the South and should be considered for the

[1:00:42] North that could improve the entire District I heard comments about how dark it is agreed this being able to use tears money to improve the north is a great idea it will change the environment it will improve the overall area it will bring together the North and the South the idea that we even approved this is two different zones is really unfortunate because it keeps coming up the north versus the South and we need to stop that conversation yes Harry if I might I have a unique perspective on this because I have businesses in both the South and the north Zone and I will say this I want to be consistent I want to be consistent across the board on what we do I agree with the mayor I wish we didn't have two separate zones because that always I always feel like we're we're pitting one particular Zone against the other but I want to be consistent all the way through and you heard me talk about non-profits last time it had a lady come and and talk about being an executive director for a non-profit I get that when I was between board presidents between the executive directors at the Boys and Girls Club I ran that club I've been in a leadership role at a lot of non-profits in this this particular community over the last 30 years and in every one of those places we're always looking for funding but we don't necessarily look for tax funding we're looking for from individuals from Tuesday gives in May from foundations other those places and I will tell you that way this tears money was originally put in it was for businesses to increase their tax base so other businesses could take advantage of that so fundamentally

[1:02:46] I'm not in Pro in favor of this particular agenda item and I would say I will agree with the mayor I'd like to get consistency across the board on everything and take this out of non-profits altogether yes Lucy okay um how many oh where is he you wouldn't sat down James uh how many non-profit organizations do we have in the tier zones in both the North and South where it would um you would look at and say okay that one's a non-organization we haven't had those out and counted how many non-profits there are uh um Governor excuse me gal Velasquez executive director for downtown San Angelo I can only speak to downtown uh because we do look at every piece of property in downtown as far as the tax base and how those are are distributed in terms of what we do in Economic Development I will tell you from a percentage perspective and I have the number but I don't have it at the top of my head how many non-profit properties are in downtown San Angelo within the central business district there are over 52 percent of the properties in downtown San Angelo are non-profit organ owned properties um again I don't know I know we have 389 buildings within the central business district and I will tell you as when when I first started and we started tracking the vacant and underutilized buildings we were at 123 Bill buildings that were vacant or underutilized today we're down to about 49 buildings that have been transformed into businesses or

[1:04:52] some type of effect excuse me impacting economic development in relationship to the tax base um my other question my other comment is that if we have a tears board that came back and with a vote of approving that the North and the South stay in with the non-profit organization I would have to say that that's why we put those people in those positions on those boards is to let them do the heavy lifting for them to realize hey this is the way it is this is the policy and everything with them speaking that way I would think that they would have we would need to look at that and Trust what they say as far as coming up with their recommendation of allowing the North and the South uh non-profit organizations to be eligible for Tears funded I think we need to make sure our board members are fully aware of why this program was created instead of making an emotional decision we need to make sure that we understand the concept of the program and that we South and that board has consistently said we don't have enough money we don't have enough money we want money from the north open up the north money for the South because the South could use all that money so there's all these issues about North versus South again I say if this is going to be the consistent if we need to open up the vote again and reconsider whether the South can use the north money then we need to be doing that and that's really where this leads to if you want consistency let's create consistency go ahead Lucy the north dealing with their money and the South feeling of their money uh you know this thing about North versus South

[1:06:55] I'm against that just as much as you are I would just want to say that if the north has their money and their peers uh zoning and all that why would you want to make it to where we're going to be disagreeing constantly about not the South not taking the North or vice versa if if the rules were reversed what I'm trying to say is if the north has their money let them use it in their in their District let them use it in their in the north Zone whatever the South may have let them use it to however they want to use it on the south side that is what I'm trying to say that instead of trying to say oh let's just let's just all throw our hands up and put it all together that's not gonna be a good idea you know what I think we probably need to do is get emotion on the floor so we can open up for public comment and so because I know there are a lot of people here who want to offer public comments so we need to have a motion on the floor to be able to do that excuse me motion to die your motion deny the policy change to open up the South tiers for non-profits we would also need that motion to include what to do with the north the motion as you've just stated would not change it in the South but also wouldn't change it in the north we need a motion to eliminate non-profits from the North and the South to deny that I will make that motion motion to deny the North to the South for using the money for non-profits is there a second is there a second so what we did was make a motion to exclude all non-profits from tears funding correct is that correct that's correct the agenda item is very broad to consider

[1:08:58] well we're asking the attorneys for the second attorney we need a strong yeah I think the agenda item is Broad enough to consider both those amendments like John said the tiers board has considered both the North and the South and they've made a recommendation to you guys and so you can take action on those recommendations also so I will second that Amendment but I mean it still doesn't Rob anybody of their ability to come forward with what they want to talk about today no no that's the public comment will be in regards to that regardless whether you like it or don't like it or add comments so it will open it up for all public comment so I will second that motion by Harry there's a motion in a second we will now open it up for public comment Dell thank you I need to get to a meeting so I wanted to make this these comments first and foremost the tears zones were are the tiers program was initiated by downtown San Angelo Inc back in 2006. I was not a part of that at that point but the initiative was started because we had two city employees one was an assistant city manager and one was a director of planning and both of them had served as Main Street in Main Street programs in the state and were very cognizant of how tears was established in the state and so along with downtown San Angelo and the help of the city we established the tiers program or advocated downtown San Angelo Inc advocated for the program right prior to the approval of tears coming into play the city had received a grant in order to use that Grant it had to improve properties and that Grant was used it was a small Grant and I think only about four buildings in downtown San Angelo actually took advantage of

[1:11:00] the Grant and it was only for facades and facade Improvement they couldn't use it for anything else tears opened up the door for businesses to apply for Grants to improve their facades once that ball started rolling because of the previous grant that had been given to the city businesses in downtown started utilizing the tiers funds for facade grants and if you look at our priority list for tiers today facades is one of the highest priorities as well as health and safety issues which predominantly means sprinklers systems for buildings in downtown um was that right or wrong I don't know but the the program tears as it's already been stated was established by the state to for public Improvement projects and I I copied or brought the copy uh from the Comptroller's office the state of Texas who implements the tax increment financing Act tax code chapter 311 overview and I'm not going to read the initial part but it says it's to draw private investment to an area that's the motivation Economic Development tactical increment refinancing isn't a new tax instead it redirects some of the ad valorem taxes from property in a geographic area designed as a tax increment reinvestment Zone to pay for improvements in the zone future tax revenues from each participating taxing unit that levies taxes against the property are used to pay for the cost of improvements to an area each taxing unit unit made delicate dedicate excuse me all a portion of or none of the tax revenue that is attributed to increased property values

[1:13:03] brought about by you could wrap up those comments so the program was established to increase property values and to use the cities or the city and county to use those funds to improve those areas again Mike Burnett single member district one I am in support of the agenda item to allow non-profits in the South tiers Zone to apply even though I know there's probably some that view that since I'm executive director of the non-profit I would say he's just voting in that best interest no I'm voting in the best interest of non-profits as a whole uh the agenda item as presented as consideration of amendments to the tiers incentive policy regarding non-profit organizations the tiers board did not recommend that you get rid of the north non-profit being allowed to to apply so if you vote on that today you would be out of order we have an opinion from the lawyer and John can confirm this but the recommendation from tears was to leave the policy the same in the north the council can revoke or reject that recommendation and with the way the item is worded to amendments it's not limited to North or South so I would be comfortable with the council taking action on on both odd reading of the rule but sure whatever uh comments on focuses on businesses that give back comments on non-profits don't refill the pool multiple comments on how nonprofits don't pay taxes and therefore aren't entitled to tiers funds uh the two largest non-profits in San Angelo's Shannon Health and Angelo State I think they are giving back to the economic betterment of San Angelo I think there's a gross misunderstanding of the impact of a non-profit for instance my non-profit Concho Valley Community Action Agency funneled over

[1:15:06] five million dollars back into the economy of San Angelo last year through rental assistance when we provide rental assistance the money paying the rent for low-income neighbors goes to the property owner who pays the property tax and our utility assistance that money goes back into the economy by allowing neighbors to spend money in the in San Angelo our water assistance funds are paid directly to the city um and also last year our volunteer income tax program brought in over two million dollars to San Angelo residents in the form of tax refunds that our agency does not get a cut off like we operate for free to our people so that's over 7 million eight million dollars into our economy in the Concho Valley uh there's been a lot of conversations about uh because we don't pay taxes then we shouldn't be entitled to tax funds I would like to point out that consent item I today authorize the city to pay fifty thousand dollars annual to say Pac San Angelo Performing Arts Coalition a non-profit using hotel tax funds to support their Endeavors in managing the Murphy Auditorium in City Hall uh there are past conversations about allowing the South tiers to access the north tiers pot this is an implicit bias against the north side money raised in the north tiers needs to stay in the north to revitalize those businesses and non-profits I'd also like to call attention to the three-fourths majority rule that is in place for funding tears a three-force majority rule also known as a super majority uh hampers the efforts to respond to Problems by allowing a minority to block the preference of a majority also the rule reads that it's a three-fourths majority of all the entire membership of the board instead of those present in a quorum so at the last city council meeting it was stated that 5 5.25 individuals have to vote from city council meeting six that's a near

[1:17:08] impossible hurdle to to go finally I just want to close with the chief function of Community Action my agency is at all times to serve the best interests of people with lower incomes which in turn serves the best interests of the entire Community we're seeking to empower and Revitalize communities especially those in the north side impacted by both business and non-profits thank you Mike Harry go ahead before Tony talks let me get some clarification Brandon all right if it says three-fourths we've got a it's a board vote of six to three here that's only two-thirds so the three four Supply set proving projects themselves not for a policy change we need to be very clear on that Tony good morning and Council I'm here to support the funding for the non-profit applications that were submitted to our board I'm sorry I'm from smd1 also a tears board member I'm here to support that those two proposals that were submitted they were in in they had the criteria they met the criteria this is about changing the policy it isn't about whether we voted correctly on those two projects so keep your comments relative to this it is relative to that because you are changing the policy that non-profits will no longer be eligible to be voted on is that not correct that's the action that Council takes yeah yeah so what I'm saying is that these boards the policy right now states that they are eligible for these fundings so you taking them away and changing the rules halfway in the game is is not good for the community it says may be approved all right

[1:19:11] um let me just go into what I'm here for then as well um by the city councilwoman Gonzalez I was asked to serve on the tears board before accepting the position I took the time to survey the area that I would be responsible to represent I also met with Brian Fox to get up to speed with the direction and goals pertaining to the use of funds for the north side after getting approval to serve I sought to go and get a survey in the business and to find out why there was a disconnect and hesitance for people to apply in the north side of town the very first business that I approached was the quick vehicle sticker on the chatburn as I was needing to renew my inspection sticker and get some empanadas from the bakery next door as I was explaining the to the owner of the building Mr Steve Ortiz the program and process to apply for the funding that he would qualify for he immediately cut me off and stated that he would not do any other project with the city of San Angelo his experience in the sidewalk project was a burn to him and with the disciplined results of the project he said that that he had came to the City Hall to file a complaint on the work that was done what work are we talking about Tony I'm sorry which ones uh chadburn project the South chairs the south north in the north around the Texas State Bank is that the project yes okay just to be clear as it would be he was told to contact the contractor who did the work and file agreements with him so he proceeded to do that and the contractor then told him that he needed to go back to the city hall for Relief since the project was already completed he then told me that he had approached

[1:21:13] the mayor and that he told him just to get over it that was not me just to be clear yes this is what we were facing out there this is the always the burdens that we have to overcome uh we want them to for the for that North Side just accept whatever they they uh can get but before proceeding to meet with any more businesses I reached out to the non-profit organizations which had had and were in the process of submitting an application I need to wrap up your comments which was eligible to uh to under the current tiers policies and rules and I thought that and though that was the case other board members and staff so I recruited Theo Evelyn and Ralph to create a resource to educate the north side business Community to utilize the opportunity following the meeting we have started a momentum to completing this thank you very much for your comments Tony I mean you took time away from me for five minutes so let me finish up in closing uh my position is that we have an area that is green need a revitalization it needs the whole Community working together to bring it back to life if we want to change where non-profits are not eligible that's your prerogative but right now they are eligible and we had a major super majority approved from the tiers board uh it would be a dis service to them and to the board for you to deny what is right for this process thank you very much morning my name is Sarah negovetich I'm

[1:23:22] a 3310 Cumberland Drive before I started like to say I appreciate if I can make my comments without interruption so I can have my full time first I'd like to say that I am opposed to the egregious change of the nature and purchase our purpose of the agenda item you have robbed your citizens in the general public of the opportunity to have their voices heard by changing the nature of the agenda item in recent weeks there's been a lot of discussion and heated debate over whether non-profit entities should be eligible for tiers Project funding on one side of the coin some have argued that since nonprofit organizations don't pay taxes they shouldn't be able to receive that funding the other side argues that a rising tide lifts All Ships an investment in non-profits can positively impact other organizations and businesses in our community in all of this discussion the focus has been entirely on the economic impact of the tiers funds to our community but I'd like to remind the city council of the exact mission of the tiers program quoted directly from the city website the tax increment reinvestment zone or tiers was created in 2006 to preserve the short and long-term Integrity of the economic and social investment in the designated area and to encourage additional new projects within that area allow me to read that again the mission is to preserve the economic and social investment in our communities it's quite clear that those who establish the mission of Tears fully understood that there is more to building a strong Community than just a robust economy they understood that a city or a zone is more than just the sum of its parts and that a strong social network was just as important as economic strength while it's true that non-profits don't pay taxes in the same way that a traditional business does it is also true that they more than make up for that with their

[1:25:24] social and economic investment in this city that we all love non-profit organizations here in San Angelo do everything from feeding and housing our homeless neighbors caring for those with substance abuse disorders to creating art and beautifying our Parks non-profits play a tremendous role in making San Angelo City we can all be proud of today's debate is if non-profit organizations should be allowed to apply for tiers funding but it really isn't a debate the mission is clear in order to allow for social investment non-profit organizations must be allowed to apply for Tears funding the voice of the city they're right here today and I'd ask you to listen to them [Applause] good morning I'm going to be reading this for somebody my name is Craig Myers and I am a resident of a single member district four there are three irregularities the first irregularity was the abandonment of the protocol and best practice about which meeting uh are conducted in all cases in the in this agenda item in question was a proposal for funding that was to be judged strictly by the standards given from the city council to the tiers board and any ruling or statutes that govern the issues at hand the existing law which was the only standard to consider this issue clearly states that the non-profit uh in the north tier Zone were entitled and to apply for the funding to be treated the same as the other applicants in every incidence and do due diligence due diligence determine if the applicant had

[1:27:27] met all the uh existing standards the board recommended was approval the city discussed discussion was to introduce with a length with a lengthy presentation about displeasures with the existing law this was out of order because the only standard to be considered was the existing rule not what they were discussing not on not one city council person uh presented a single flaw in The Proposal exist except it did not meet the standard that did not exist at all anyway and was not appropriate for the discussion the applicant would deny due process and any public comment uh speaking or feelings was not present at the time the second issue is that the inherence to the legal and accepted standards a citizen does not have the right to pick and choose which long to obey neither does the city council members if you want a different statue you should you should have it changed but until you do that you are bound by oath and ethics to abide by the current standards and a examination of the video of the meeting will show that almost all the discussion related to the items um items not related to the agenda items the third is in regards the lack of the presence of the tears board the city council has legal rights to override any decision of the board however members were recruited in good faith which on the charge which the charge that they would do carefully and due diligence in dealing with the businesses and grants for the tiers it was evidence that by the discussion and lack of discussion of the actual agenda item that the city council had either no interest nor a knowledge of the actual agenda item the board did they did their work and and it should be honored unless there is a specific reason under the Mandate that they were given that they had no flawed opinion for this reason I would

[1:29:30] recommend I would respectfully request that the city council revisit against sending me proposal using the rules and procedures that were operated at the time of the original you read that for Craig Myers do you did you want to make your own because yeah because you're ready for him you're I would allow you obviously to make your own comments so they would go ahead and state your name in your single member district and make your comments okay uh my name is Evelyn Smith single single member district uh five um I understand what you all are talking about when you said that the the um non-profit organization does not put any tax we don't pay taxes you don't put anything back in it so the tears is for the businesses who pay taxes to put it back in so you can raise their taxes but um what we're trying to say is that yeah the business can fix a beautiful building okay but if the people don't stop then what's going to happen to that business and I know you all know I'm speaking for myself when I go out of town and I go into an area that's a nice building but the area doesn't look nice I'm going somewhere else and that's what's going on with the tears program you'll be wasting your money if you give funding to a business and nobody stops there so what if the what if the people doesn't support the business and the business have to shut down the clothes so where is the where is the profit in that you have to beautify the area everybody has to work together if you want to support the business then that's a good way uh to to do that and the other thing is that uh when a non-profit get the fund and funds aren't going directly to them we it's an indirect impact uh investment but the money goes back to the business they get the they get the beautification but the business gets to work like the windows they put the doors on and that kind of thing um and my other question was when you open it up to a non-profit organizations what were your reasons for opening I don't understand now that you want to shut it down what was your purpose and open it in the first place and open it up to us I mean we wouldn't be here

[1:31:31] today if that was your idea to open it it was your idea to separate the North and South we had nothing to do with that we're just trying to be public citizens and actually helping the community and help the business even grow the business don't even want to come to that area because it you said you want business to open up business won't even come because of the way the area looked so my question is why did you open it up in the first place a non-profit organization and what did you expect what is significant economic impact and what did you expect I don't understand so Evelyn what I'll tell you is the non-profits in the north Zone were left in here by mistake and I did that in a council meeting in 2017. Brenda made a motion to exclude non-profits in the South Zone I thought there would be investment companies that would work for retirement communities and had been said that would be the only risk it wasn't for anything else she made a motion to not allow non-profits to get tears money in the South Zone that was the only motion that was made and because of that motion the north Zone was left open now what I want to point out was that was probably six years ago and in that six years it's been here we've never approved any money for non-profits they're in there in my opinion by accident because it is a tax investment Zone I drive Martin Luther King maybe three four five times a day I drove it this morning and counted the non-profits but what we also have to look at is what if you're talking about revitalizing a community if you look at where the non-profit is you also have to look at the surrounding area that you would think would grow with it well if that's residential that's not going to grow I mean you're going to improve it for sod on one but you're not going to expand the commercial retail all right and that's you know in our program and Sarah did a good job of Point some that out but I want to point out it's in our own literature you know we're looking to expand the commercial and Retail side of our business so it's in there in my opinion by accident it should have been removed um back in 2017 the fact that nobody has even brought this to the point you know

[1:33:33] in in six years kind of Shame On Us shame on everybody for not addressing it and cleaning it up sooner so for that I personally apologize but what I will tell you is we're looking to be consistent with how we handle this and I have had people come up to me and say I didn't pay tax dollars for you to decide where my non-profit funds go if I want to tie it to a church or I want to tie it to a non-profit I want that to be my decision not a city decision and I have heard that countless times the past couple weeks and you know I have to respect that position also okay thank you I understand but thank you very much for coming forward I don't think you answered my question because I understand what you're saying but when I came back here in July of last year I asked was there any tears of funds for non-profit organizations you told me no but then you open it back up August the 16th of last year and you approved non-profit organization to come back on the board regardless of what happened way back in the in the day you you reopened it up so I assume there was a reason why you reopen it back up to us the nonprofits again and that you were expecting some kind of change economic significant economic impact so I still don't understand why you reopened it back up and now you want to shut it down because you knew in the first place that we didn't pay taxes so why you keep standing while you keep standing on on that we're making a significant impact to the community and yes there are some residential areas on Martin Luther King but there are also a lot of businesses around in that area and they people drive through and the businesses don't get to support because of the way the area looks so can you answer a little clearly why did you reopen it again that's we didn't reopen it the policy was always there it was approved on August the 16th because I was I I know it was Repro it was brought back up again and it was approved again on August 16th and I called the the secretary for this board and she was

[1:35:37] going to send me the she sent me the paperwork and everything when it was approved again on August the 16th so it was brought back up rediscussed okay thank you okay you're not going to answer my question I don't have an answer for you I don't have the information that's my so I suggest you all before you shut it down today that you go back and revisit that why did you reopen it you we all wouldn't be here now why did you reopen that again Evelyn we're sitting back there in the fourth row and you were sitting there and you asked me you said I go to church can a church ask for these funds and I said in the north Zone non-profits are not excluded now I don't think that guarantees funding but they're excluded in the South Zone when they went back out and took all the brochures and everything it was not bringing it back up to policy it was current policy everybody just restated it it's not like we went back and reintroduced it as a new policy it was the same old policy that's been there so I don't want you to think that anybody here did anything wrong I remember speaking you specifically about that and saying it's been in there since 2017. it did but why did why August the 16th you re-voted again with the tears program because I was working with the tears program asking when is this going to be on the books when can we put in our application and August 16 it said that yes you can put in your application now to put an application all the way back to 2017. okay what was the significant economic impact you were looking for that you're denying us now I think they were looking for commercial and Retail establishments up and down North Chadron and Martin Luther King I just like to say you guys revisit this again before you actually um just shut the door you know there is there is some ways that we all can work together and I understand that you won't reinvestment and I believe if you work with us in the non-profit organization the whole area would be reinvested thank you very much [Applause]

[1:38:00] yeah but no there we go we would bring the microphone to you but it's not movable our apologies morning Mega Gunner and city council I am Deborah Butler and I am a former tears North board member I'm a former past president of the NAACP and The Stance of I'm here on behalf of the president of the NAACP Michelle Grooms read and she wanted to let you all know that the stance of unit 6219 is in support of Gethsemane uh Baptist Church getting funding and mainly also she respects the work the city council does and would hope that the city council will reconsider now one of the things that listening to all of the conversation there have been some great conversation I kind of hung on the comments that mayor Gunner uh voiced about it being such an emotional issue and I would hope the comment that you made mayor Gunner that maybe we need to eliminate the tears board altogether that having been on the tears board and seeing the work the beautification the positive impact that tears funding has done to many businesses in the North and the South

[1:40:02] in my opinion and this is not NAACP this is Deborah Butler I would like I would like that kind of emotion to be out of it our job here and I believe you all's job is yes to allow the citizens of San Angelo to come forth and voice their opinions and that's what I think we're doing and yes we ought to be able to do that without all of the emotions and without if things don't go my way maybe we ought to just eliminate it that bothers me thank you [Applause] good morning good morning I'm William McClendon singer member district six um I want to talk about the borders for the tears um for the south side starts around 4th Street in the ends around Washington Street and I've pay my bills up downtown I drive all over town I've never seen a lot of work done South downtown so most of the South money is going downtown why is that and why is the Border stopping at Washington Street when the north side goes from the Third Street up to 29th Street there are a lot of more businesses south of Washington that needs help you're not even looking at them but the money is staying downtown and then when you pull money from the north it goes downtown so why is that I will say that back in 2006 when the tears program was approved by city council they had to turn into the state at that point in time the map and that map is created based off of multiple issues for example it could only have X

[1:42:07] amount of residential it had there were requirements in terms of creating that cheers Zone so it was done relative to the regulations attached to tears and that zone was created and turned into the state at that point in time that was the district approved so why is residential considered when it's supposed to be for businesses it isn't considered and that was because one of the to better explain that there was a a point in time when we were asked to extend these Southern the South border further south and the comment that came back was we can't do that because of the high the larger number of residential in that Corridor and you can only have you know I probably ought to have Rick describe it better than me I'm sorry I'm totally exclude residential because you can't do this kind of stuff so you're only allowed to have so much residential it's geared toward commercial you have to try to avoid those residential areas as best you can without having this gerrymandered line right so it's geared towards commercial and you have commercial businesses down there so why not just do it why I don't understand why don't we just get rid of north and south and just have this one tears I said earlier absolutely and then extend the borders and let's be fair because really all of the South money is going downtown and the bad thing about it is if we do drop the borders it's still going to go downtown so that's the north sides a lot of communication they go there's a bunch of people on the North side that don't want to make it one uniform one because they think only the South will get it we don't seem to think that's true but it's whoever applies for it and gets approved through the tears board so the money that's being pulled from the north to the South where is that going well let me go you know we did let me just recap a little bit of what we did

[1:44:10] um last year was we believed that we needed to have Town Hall meetings at that point because the South the tears board had recommended that we do away with the north versus the South and I was very opposed to that and so what we did was we held Town Hall meetings at the bus station how many did we hold three town hall meetings to open up the discussion about whether we should do away with the north versus the South and what we needed to do to encourage more businesses to apply for the tiers money in the North and that was as I said three different town hall meetings to open up this discussion I believe strongly in the tears concept I do and I think it would be sad if we did away with it on the other hand we keep coming up with North versus the South policies and the lack of consistency between the North and the South and whether in fact we should have one or two and we voted I don't can't remember the month the week but we as a council voted then to not combine the North and the South that in fact we believe strongly that the South should remain the South and the north should remain the North and that was again I don't remember September maybe October of last year when that came forward and the council said no we're going to maintain the two different districts because we were nervous that because the South kept saying we don't have enough money we don't have enough money people keep applying for the money we don't have enough money we can't approve those projects and so they wanted the northern money and at that point we discussed and we

[1:46:14] voted as a council to maintain the north versus the South so I you know we're answering your comments and I don't want that to interfere with how much time you have so I'm kind of opening this up for broader than we've been allowed we're trying to get this question answer okay so I just want to make sure you feel like you're having an opportunity to voice your concerns and your issues without the time limit impacting your comments okay because I don't want to do that all right one of the thing is today your professionalism is much better than it was last time I was up here and you know all that was brought out to the city and throughout the state because all this went out Statewide so that's much better we all are conducting business today thank you ma'am we appreciate very much yes Larry and um until recently tears in the north was at a dead stop nothing was happening out there and money was piling up and only through the efforts of this Council as well as a number of other people who have been advertising this program in the north is it beginning to get some traction those of you who regularly attend these may remember that about a month ago four Enterprises applied for tiers money and they got it and we were as pleased as punch that somebody is making some move on this stuff so I know that your interest is in the non-profits but believe me this council is very much in favor of Dipping into that two million dollars and spending it on the North and I also based off of the comments from the last meeting about improving the district so it was as nice as the South we ask we the council ask the tears board to reconsider or to look at reinvestment in because we're getting ready to do chadburn street from Fourth Street no

[1:48:20] where does it start up from 19th Street to 29th then we ask that in because the city was going to be working on chadburn those blocks that we re-look at the lighting we re-look at park benches we look at all those things to help make it a much better environment because you keep talking about if it's nice people will come if it's not so nice they won't come we ask that that be considered at the tears board meeting and it was turned down because we know that those Monies two million dollars in that Northern tiers money could be used for streetscape improvements in the north making it a much better environment including lighting including benches including sidewalks that was what we had asked we were denied that good morning my name is Angela Haywood I am in Lucy's district and she and the city manager have been helpful on a couple of other issues that I won't go into today I am standing here because I have listened to you speak to how you feel and what you think that the tears means and that mission statement the mission statement clearly states investment and social well if you live on the North side is not that much Social we don't even have a grocery store on our side unless you consider that to be Walmart who wants to go to Walmart to get fresh vegetables you can't do it chadburn and Martin Luther King

[1:50:26] Boulevard are the only streets that this board has decided to try and do something with there are a lot of other streets that need to be revitalized and to make it more beautiful for the people that live over there but it is hard for us on the North to come to the city to get anything done because we don't feel like you are listening to us now the tears board was charged with based on the mission statement which included non-profits whether or not it was a mistake or not is still in there based on that criteria the current mission statement there are two projects that are on the table that all of a sudden the city has moved the line again we've met your criteria based on the current mission statement and then the line keeps getting moved and then you are standing you are here saying that you want more businesses to come to the North Area well why would a business come to the North Area if you keep moving the line we are asking you to operate in good faith we put you there to operate in good faith good faith means stop moving the line just stop moving the line I mean you want we want our community the entire Community to be beautiful for everyone that's coming in we've got a new highway coming in there are other businesses but they're all going to the to other parts of town the South wants the tears funding from the north because we have Walmart

[1:52:29] there are other little businesses there that are providing tax dollars to the city and we don't feel as though we are being heard by the city council thank you yes go ahead Tom so angel I appreciate your words there um I think what well first things first was a real cool little grocery right beside Icon Cinema it's got fresh vegetables I go there all the time um it's over there well but so let me go I think what's happened here is everybody keeps bringing up the word social and they think that commercial and Retail don't have social and they think that non-profits are the only people that have social commercial and Retail now and I don't mean to correctly once you come back up to the microphone so you you can answer the two of you can have a conversation together I know the owner of the grocery store and he's going to call me and said hey how come you didn't say I had a grocery store there on I realized that that grocery store is there however that grocery store does not necessarily have what everybody wants I mean it is specific to a specific culture of business of customers okay I don't always want to go and have chili rellenos I I mean I just don't want to do that I mean I would like to have fresh vegetables that don't that aren't just for one specific culture now granted I go to the store my grandmother went to the store or you know I know how to cook that that culture's food as do other cultures food however there's icon there is the grocery store further up the street there is a Subway that you don't really know if it's going to be open because one minute is open and the next minute is closed you're exactly right on that one you know I mean and then you've got the chicken farm up there you don't know

[1:54:32] I mean come on what what other businesses are we going to have when is the city council going to start investing in the North Area because it's downtown you cut off all of the businesses from sharp and on when you put that the loop 306 here I mean I'm not trying to be um rebellious or anything like that I'm not trying to but I'm very passionate about this I grew up in this town I went to Central I went to college here you know I mean the north deserves the same attention that you put into the rest of the city I mean looking at what you guys have done you have rezoned pretty much all of the north area for a commercial you've got a steel plant that produces nothing but dirt behind my house that's all I get in my house is dirt and Noise from that steel plant I mean I don't we have to stay on topic here and get that so I know the owner grocery store I know he would have said how come you didn't say hey there's a grocery store so I didn't mean that to offend you if it did I apologize your main point there was what's social and that the tears money is for social and I want to say commercial retail also do social business it's not the only understand that only non-profits do social I get your point I just say I've heard that brought up by several people today as that's the reason a non-profit should get funding because of the social commercial retail do that also whether you go to Palmer Feed or you go to Icon or all those things and I just I think somebody some people have exploited that content well I mean the reason why I brought up the social aspect of it is because the mayor said that non-profits don't do anything for the community basically I'm not paraphrase incorrectly well I said they had a lot

[1:56:35] of value to our community they may add value but they you said that they don't add tax dollars however I beg to differ because you've got Wesley Chapel that is across the street that provides value to the city because they feed the Homeless every day they feed the Homeless every day the homeless are over there every day that's something that the city does not have to deal with because you have non-profits that are trying to move along and get the people the assistance that they have we are trying to work with you we are asking you to work with us and then you want if if the tears board was put as a one unit single unit that two million dollars is not going to be spent in the tiers in the North Area and everybody in the north agrees with that because it's going to be downtown I mean I know that you want to re-butify Chadron Street and do this to MLK and all of that but look at it as a whole it's not just the people downtown the people who come here from out of town have to drive to the north just to get to the Coliseum how is that uh making it presentable for them I agree with you it's the reason I ask that we consider using that money to improve your District I believe strongly that we needed to reinvest many of those dollars into the Chadbourne Street program to uh because I do believe better lighting I do believe in in improving chadburn it changes the neighborhood Madam mayor it is not just the lighting that no I know there were other pieces of it okay it was a whole program that Shane Kelton presented to the tears board well I I would like to request that instead of the board voting on this item today that you table it and

[1:58:40] let's get together with the people who are here and are passionate about this issue to try and work through something that will be a compromise for all people on both sides instead of just and tabling it down right now and and you have the community on the North side that are fighting tooth and nail just to live on that side of town we had three town hall meetings last year which the attendance was very weak there were three town hall meetings last year because it's not very publicized Plus you know it is hard for the people on the North side to even come to city council because they have to work this is the only city that I know of that I know of that has a city council meeting very early in the morning we're in members of the community can't come in and provide input because you're having it in the daytime instead of in later in the evening I get everybody has things that they want to do but how are you going to have your constituency weigh in on on choices for the city if they can't even come because they can't take off work thank you further public comment [Applause] [Music] and I'm a representative of the bridge on Martin Luther King Drive I sit I've listened I understand and I want to thank the city for some things you have done I went back to the building I saw the sidewalks

[2:00:46] I went back to the building and I saw some lights but not enough lights and if not now then when if not right now with two million dollars available to start a process if not now when we have a plan to make a difference in the area and we're asking for crumbs we're asking for crumbs two organizations one totally non-profit another one a church both contributing to the economic social and spiritual aspects of what's going on in our community and the group that we presented our proposal to was again selected by you if they believed that we were good enough for seventy five thousand dollars why should you object wait please I'm just smacking my lips they're dry sorry but I'm asking that question because we're not waiting for someone to hand out something to us we have begun the process we have work going on right now but when it was said that someone was going to do something on the outside we were already doing something on the inside so we came because an opportunity to receive yes I understand about all the agencies that

[2:02:49] will give grants but they don't give it to everybody most of those grants are given for specific social as well as health reasons but it don't trickle down to the places sometimes where the funds are needed I don't want to operate out of passion today I want to operate out of purpose we've begun a process to impact to Martin Luther King corridor it's more than 15 businesses down there there's more than 15 non-profit organizations we have a cluster of non-profit organizations in a five block area that are operative we have a building that we're wanting to open up as a hub to help one another in that area two experience fulfillment I'm an ex-employee of Verizon I'm a pastor who's retired I believe that I'm on a mission and my mission is to make a difference my mission is not just to make a difference but we have so much conflict in our community that at some point in time we have to stop thinking about ourself and start thinking about one another and so I think it's time to begin to invest in healthy relationships you can start right here you can start right here because this the two million dollars is already

[2:04:53] allocated for the area I would like to see a a committee come together and look at how can we make this an attractive place this street a attractive place that would cause the people not only in the community of the neighborhood that they're in feel good about someone is investing in change that will be good for everyone thank you very much all right for the public comment go ahead not now [Applause] I'm Stan jointed I live on Palo Duro drive I'm not sure which district that is that shows you how ignorant I am politically um I'm a member of NAACP unit 6219 but I'm not speaking for them today my sympathies are very much with the speakers who have spoken about the needs of the north side Reverend Craig Myers is one of my personal Heroes very much think that the tears money ought to be available to non-profits but one thing troubles me and that is the issue of separation of church and state um when you're allocating money to churches that's using State money to support religion which personally think is a danger to our democracy so I would hope that that the board and the council will take that into account in their deliberations thank you very much further public comment we're not trying to cut anybody off

[2:06:58] short I'm just trying to make sure we live by the rules and I've broken them multiple times already so my apologies please get your comments out good morning my name is Sydney Timmer I am in Miss Gonzalez's District um I did want to address a couple of things that have come up uh council member Thompson I know you you were very adamant that yes commercial businesses also contribute to the social environment and I don't think anyone here would deny that at all I just think that the economic impact of our nonprofits keeps getting thrown away yes property taxes we all understand that but I just want I mean you heard it yourself my agency has contributed over eight million dollars into the City and back into the pockets of our neighbors that work and play and live in all parts of San Angelo Galley CDC builds affordable housing and I think affordable gets thrown around a lot but it is it has affordable housing to where those neighbors are not paying more than 30 of their whole income to go straight to bills and they're not having to make those hard decisions of food or lights or whatever the case is La Esperanza provides Medical Care to low-income families so that they can work their kids can go to school that is contributing to the economic status of the city of San Angelo Workforce Solutions is also a non-profit that works hard to put people in jobs that also fuels the city also MHMR and West Texas counseling and guidance help people um learn to cope with their with what's going on so that they can function as working playing citizens of San Angelo and those are just enough just a few there are over 200 possibly close to 300 non-profits in San Angelo and all of them impact the city not only socially but um financially as well um also I I I do want to mention that if you're wanting to make this have people

[2:09:00] go out and and go to these different parts having a nice front a new location does wonders our organization recently made a change and from going from a dark dungeon where people are going to have to come and ask for help in the secret to a place that has Windows and natural light it has done wonders um it is helped fight that stigma of asking for help and going to places it has really contributed and the number of factors and I do want to end saying that the tiers board the tears board the people that you entrusted with a lot of this has still not recommended eliminating non-profits from consideration your decisions and opinions that we've heard from you today you're not listening to those that you've trusted to give you information those opinions and those thoughts that you've been sharing are solely based on your own because you are not listening to your constituents and you are not listening to the tears board and their recommendation for you the tiers board asked us to do away with the north versus the South so just so you know those are the same people and we as a council said no we want to maintain the north versus the South I understand that I I still think that it just needs to come back in thank you I'm going to conclude public comment at this point in time Theodore you've already spoken once my dear so at this point in time there's a motion on the floor there's a second we've had public comment we are now going to take a vote the motion on the floor is to um make sure I say this correctly that the motion on the floor is to eliminate non-profits for consideration in the north and in the South zones is that correct that's the motion on the floor I'm going to go one by one and ask for the vote Tommy no you do not support the motion on the floor I do not support the motion Tom I vote in favor of the motion on the

[2:11:01] floor Gary I'm in favor of the motion on the floor mayor I'm in favor of the motion on the floor Lucy not Karen no Larry not so the motion is four to two non-profit consideration um four three so it is Harry Tom myself and supportive eliminating non-profits and the four of Tommy Lucy Karen and Larry all vote in support of allowing non-profits to receive tier funding is that correct I just want to make sure this is correct I'm not sure Larry is that what you wanted I would like the uh the current policy to remain meaning the north gets non-profit and the South doesn't correct that's not the motion on the floor Karen but hold on wait a minute this is surprise so the other one so we've already taken a vote so wait a minute where could I think people are confused and we'll work through this so let's just get everybody on the same page and we'll make sure it's done correctly so we've already taken a vote so at this point it is up for I mean he can make a motion at this point yeah correct yeah so the motion failed um and we could take additional motions now so now we will entertain in a new motion I'd like to make a motion that we retain the current policy so the current policy is to allow the non-profits in the north to apply and in the South to not apply I said get that motion Lucy seconds that motion it is now open for public comment now because it's a new motion you may come forward and add new comments I want to make a suggestion

[2:13:05] what has been approved has been approved I know what has been established approve it let us get started get a council look at what the needs are let's together make a difference but what has been approved it doesn't need to go back through an agency that has already approved it they have approved it and they recommending it to you and we're going to say let's that be a starting point and then get your counsel and decide what you're going to do going forward that's my suggestion thank you Theodore for the public comment no further public comments so yes go ahead Tom just to be clear and changes so everything in the existing rules for how to deal with non-profits still apply so that comes as individual items that they will have to seek approval for individually and then code of the tears board and then from the tears board come to us and Council would still have the right to vote or deny but so I I think a vote here to keep it keep the policy as is is helpful because since tears has made a recommendation um it's clear what the outcome of that is for the minutes and the record and and all that but I mean if no motion passes either way today it would still say the same I just need everybody to be clear I don't want somebody to leave here I'm automatically included because they're not and that misconception doesn't need to leave here because that could hurt somebody's feelings really bad still comes with a final vote to Counsel on anything presented to tiers board for approval it then comes to council Council can choose to support or deny

[2:15:08] even if it does say non-profits can be applied so Council has a final vote but that being said I think what I have heard is that what you would like to do and we'll do this again is we had three town hall meetings last fall season to open up the conversation for ideas from the north about what they would like to see happen in terms of improvements in the tiers district with the available funds so we will make an announcement at a future city council meeting we'll figure out how to make sure everybody's aware of the meeting as I said before we had three meetings last fall season with the exception of the individuals who are on city council or on the cheers board few public people attended the meeting so we need an opportunity for all of you to show up and add your comments because we did three of them and we protected the North this last Town Hall meetings we protected the North and said you get to keep your funds we're not going to consolidate them with the South and we voted to do that now let's get back together again need your input to decide how best to improve using those tiers funds okay Lucy that's okay no I was just going to say ask y'all okay so what you're saying Larry is that you want to leave policy as is correct correct I just wanted to make sure that the north maintains non-profit opportunities in the South does not yes opportunities not guarantees I know I said opportunities is everybody clear on that yes go ahead please it's been correctly pointed out that we serve at your will and that we should be responsible to

[2:17:12] that commitment and I think if you've been following this discussion over the past year in fact you'll note that this Council has indeed done that very thing and so given that we need your help to Rally your community there are some of us who last year walked door to door in your neighborhood carrying Flyers speaking to business owners and asking for participation which we didn't really get so now we are answering you again yes we are here and we are listening and we are trying so some people have said we have not Been Told that there were meetings we have not been told that there was an opportunity to represent but there was so going forward we would ask you please to do what you can to speak to us to ask for our help before we end up here again we want we want to do the right thing for the city for your neighborhood and that is a firm commitment but you must be responsible as well Angela made a great point about we we need businesses to support The District in terms of types of businesses I will say the fine that most of the funds that are in the tiers Fund in the north were contributed because number one of Walmart which is a vacant piece of property that was purchased and the Walmart was built on it so it funded the northern tiers first and foremost number two many of the businesses and the major again large dollar amount that has gone into the tiers fund are those businesses that are on 87 North of 306. their investment north of 306 has contributed a lot of money to the tier Zone and there's some additional businesses looking at doing that as well it might not be directly in your neighborhood but the amount of development on North 87 over the past 10

[2:19:17] years has been tremendous in fact in the past five years has been tremendous does it solve all issues does it hit all everybody's wish list probably not but if you look back on what North 87 looked like five years ago you'll see a dramatic difference dramatic again it doesn't answer all issues doesn't do all the things that you need it to do but with that said we really want to make sure we will announce it Town Hall meetings we need a lot of participation we need a lot of input it's your chance to help us make the right decision and we will have Shane Kelton there to once again explain what he believed was the correct strategy for improving the north Chadbourne Corridor to make sure that there was plenty of lighting that the sidewalks were good that the things that you needed to enhance your community we want him there to present that to you so you see what his vision was for that we know it's a corridor we know they go from the south to the North and North of the South it's one big Corridor and we need it needed to look like one big community Lucy I just wanted to make a comment and that's to thank each one of y'all for coming out this morning and stating what you really felt what you wanted in your community that means a lot when you stay unified together and you stand together and you say we know that this is the way it is but this is what we're asking and you wanted your voice to be heard and I want you to know that it was thank you so much for coming all right so okay there's a motion was there a second on that I've lost track already sorry Motion in a second public comment has been had we'll now take a vote so those in favor of leaving the north tiers um available for non-profits and taken away or not allowing the southern tiers to fund non-profits that is that the

[2:21:21] correct motion on the floor maintaining maintaining the present policies that's correct okay all right Larry your vote hi yes Karen aye Lucy aye Brenda I I can support this I [Music] motion passes six one we'll move on to the next agenda item first reading and public hearing of an ordinance approving standards of care for Recreation summer camp held at recreation centers for ages 5 through 13. Brent Casey you're on welcome up Brent thank you sir good to see you again good morning mayor council members uh Brent Casey Recreation manager so we are the recreation division is required to get a waiver for us to host summer camp every year one of the requirements for us to get that waiver is for us to get an ordinance approved by city council for standards of care for the recreation programs the ordinance covers things like the inspections that must be done for our facilities registration requirements training for staff all the way down to suspected abuse and what must be done if that is brought to our attention by any staff member so because we have so many people looking for uh safe and affordable summer areas for other kids to go so they can continue to go to work then we're requesting that Council approved the first reading of the ordinance of care for recreation programs you want to read that the whole thing are there any changes are there any changes yeah between last year and this year no sir no changes phone to approve area motion to approve second abide second of Tommy public comment seeing none we'll take a vote all those in favor say aye aye those opposed none opposed

[2:23:23] we'll move to item D first reading and Pub yes first reading and public hearing of an ordinance amending the budget for the fiscal year beginning October 1 2022 and ending September 30th 2023 for projects Tina you're on thank you mayor Tina dearski Director of Finance I have a couple of uh I think three budget amendments this morning for you the first one is to budget for a portion of the proceeds of the short-term term debt issue that you approved in a previous council meeting the 1 million nine ninety five thousand that will be for animal shelter improvements and a traffic signal at Twin Mountain Lane and Knickerbocker Road this portion is um budgeting for everything except the signal because the signal is going to be the next agenda item and we already have a bid and an actual amount for that and this next one is for the opioid settlement monies that you also have seen in previous Council meetings and approved to receive this is the portion that the city has already received we are expecting to receive somewhere around 1.4 million total over a number of years through that settlement but we've decided it's the most conservative way to budget for that since we don't know the actual amount at this time is to budget as we receive the funding and so we are working with police fire Health Department neighborhood and Family Services a handful of people internally to kind of bring together what a program would look like and how we could use this under the eligibility requirements and we'll be bringing that back to you probably sometime in May so you can kind of see what we could do with with the funds that are available sure um Tina what was it that you were I know that you were talking about having a committee come together but what what exactly can that fund show I mean what can we use it for just there are a number of different things but a handful of the things that we could use it for would be like training education Narcan for firing police vehicles Narcan for the general public just anything that really combats or helps with mental health issues with

[2:25:26] opioid addictions and things like that mental health issues for police and fires that also deal with these types of incidents and so there's there's a whole bunch of different things it's a 12-page document that we've kind of started met with police and fire in those other departments yesterday and we're just kind of getting a conversation going so that we can present something to you to kind of give you ideas on how we can use it this isn't the final settlement is that correct yes ma'am this is just the first portion we've been notified so far that we should receive just over 1 million but the total that they expect over those number of years is about 1.4 okay and this is the budget for audit fees for hotel occupancy tax fund we just are finishing up our first uh our first round from last year of Hotel audits that yielded about 240 000 in additional Revenue to the hotel tax fund so we are looking at going out and using an additional forty thousand dollars to further that audit process with about 20 more hotels as well as short-term rentals so we'll be talking about airbnbs that'll be included under the short-term rental audience yes ma'am and that's all I have for you as far as the budget amendment do we need a motion for approval sounds like I have a motion motion second all the way down that left hand side absolutely public comment see none will take a vote all those in favor say aye motion passes 7-0 we are now going back to what was item G and the reg and the consent agenda that item is as follows consider warning op-02-2-3 traffic signal installation at Twin Mountain Drive and Knickerbocker Road to Willis electric company LP in the amount of 269 071 authorizing the city manager to negotiate and execute all required documents and amending the fiscal year 2022-23 budget for the corresponding expenditure and revenue from the

[2:27:28] short-term debt proceeds good morning mayor and Council this item was pulled from consent because of that last statement right there to accommodate the budget amendment that pays for the installation the purchase and installation of this signalized intersection the city went out procured bids through its normal bidding process we had one respondent and the the pricing actually came in under our OPC so we're very excited about that 269071 is what we're asking for your approval to spend this morning the time frame on installing it we'll work with the vendor on that but we expect to have this installed within the next 90 to 120 days by who Larry public comment seeing none will take a vote all those in favor say aye aye motion is approved 7-0 there's no closed session so we will follow do item eight discussion oh sorry I missed that riding over sorry I missed that so item is discussion and possible action nominating citizens to an ADA advisory committee and Heather you're on for that this is just the advisory committee that we as Citizens to talk louder and in the microphone to volunteer four at this time we have seven members of the community that have volunteered um so this would just be your approval to put those uh individuals on the committee we do want to make note that we are leaving the option to add additional members to the committee to make sure that we get representation from all areas to be represented so this is just the initial group of individuals who volunteer to be on this and it will still be open for additional people is that right correct okay is there a motion for approval or discussion on it okay a motion for

[2:29:34] approval second second by Lucy any public comment Henry again with number three um a couple things that I wanted to say about the committee um this is a process that's supposed to happen and so I have a question that I would like to ask one how was that publicized to be on the committee um well basically I think it was done if I'm not mistaken Kim at our town hall meeting the other night that number one so I think a lot of the names came up from that meeting okay I don't know have we posted it anywhere else but what we do know is this is just the original committee it is not closed to these people so we can go out and do a better a better job of advertising I don't know if you want to call it advertising but promoting the opportunity for citizens to be a part of this committee so how do we know that all disabilities are represented or not represented if we don't have any sort of application process or um vetting process so this is not a statutory requirement as far as this uh this committee is being established by the city council it is a committee at this point in conversations with you and meetings that we've had that we said that we need to commit this we need to get this committee put in place so we can start getting that input as soon as possible as expressed a while ago it can be expanded again as far as advertising it's not a requirement to advertise I understand where you're coming from we can definitely do that but right now we have this initial committee that volunteers that we can put together to start getting that immediate input we would help Kim that the individuals that have already put their names forward is that we can help we'll utilize them to help us recruit other people that might fill holes that we think are you know things that are missing in terms of total representation so we'll

[2:31:37] also use the committee to do that has also gone out to several agencies for those spots for challenged people that haven't volunteered yet so it is happening to a degree okay and so I have a question on that as well um I don't I mean I don't disagree with some of the people that are on that list um they actually let me know that they were on that list but the only Town Hall announcement that was made is that hey if you're interested just email me Teresa James but I also know that Teresa James reached out to specific individuals so again my concern is that there's not a process and it is required by the Ada to make public announcements about anything changing in the Ada coordinator in Ada Committee in the Ada situation going on with you but uh or that your your opinion on that so we'll we'll get clarification on that but my understanding right now is we're following the exact process we need to to make the appointment for this committee so there doesn't need to be an ordinance established this isn't like a formal board like Planning Commission or anything like that this is a working committee for the benefit of counsel to give them advice and recommendations and serve you know at the council's pleasure so it's much like the mayor's police committee that you put together a couple years back there so right and I understand the significance of it I'm sure I'm sure happy to hear that but the concern is that again we were told back in November last year that there has to be an ordinance to establish a certain committee like this and now we're being told in February at your meeting by you and Teresa James that there is not an ordinance and we're not going to move forward with a committee because we don't know the expectations even though we provided that all to you which is extremely frustrating and offending for you to say that Teresa James has done all these great things where does she get the information to do those things well again we've tried to work in good faith with you we really have we've had multiple meetings with you uh hoping that we could work together not as adversaries but to really work together because we care about making the changes with the ad community that we need to

[2:33:39] and for some reason it hasn't clicked in working with you anyone with Andrea and that's disappointing and I'm going to leave it at that but again on our part we really would love to be able to work with you not as adversaries but in a manner to be able to move forward together and help the community well agreement but all of we're asking for is to have a legitimate publicized and inclusive process before making any votes and decisions on who's going to be on this committee regardless of if they're a committee an Advisory Board whatever the case may be having the City attorney say hey just go ahead and email me to a town hall as the mayor said everybody who applied or those seven people were at the Town Hall what about the other 16 000 people living with disabilities um you know and this committee is extremely important I think that I mean we've it's one of the first recommendations in October that we asked for was to establish a committee but we don't mind working with you but we're finding out updates after I make a public comment and then I go sit down and everybody wants to share what their thoughts are those comments those that information is not being shared via email the processes aren't being shared via email we're not being responded to and again I'm not even able to share with my Outlets with the disability community on what the process is to participate so I just want to express my concerns that you're about to vote on something that really didn't have an established process and if this is something that's going to save the city from being you know play a role I should say in Saving the city from being sued for hundreds of millions of dollars I think that there needs to be an established process for that this is what I'm talking about you know you assume that this is the only reason why we're doing this and that is wrong that is completely wrong so at this point the volunteers that volunteer to be on this committee care a lot about the Ada Community okay so what we're doing right now is making a recommendation to the city council to go ahead and move forward with this committee we can expand upon that committee we can do a lot more with that but right now we'd like to move forward to get input we've asked you for input in the past when we've had our meetings what is it that the people are concerned about you so you can't give us that information they don't trust you guys so we need a committee that we can start working with that can start giving us that information we'd love to be able to

[2:35:41] start doing the things that we need to to start improving things for the Ada Community I have those meeting notes that I'll go ahead and share publicly so everybody can see what was discussed but we did tell you that we provided you information on how to establish a committee what the guidelines the agendas the minutes all that thing the only thing we didn't provide was names which you requested we're not going to provide names unless there's an established process and again we don't mind providing you that information but you're also not using that information I can also assure you that as far as the the minutes that you provide we don't agree with a lot of what you sent us as far as the minutes and I'll leave it at that other than that city council we do make a recommendation that we move forward with the appointing the committee is there a motion on the floor yes yes and there's been a second on the floor and we'll ask for additional public comment seeing none will take a vote all those in favor of approving item e say I I are there any opposed motion passes 7-0 now we will move into item eight follow up on administrative issues consider proving barriers board nominations of public housing authority Barbara Brown to the second term Jamie Colvin to a third term in West Masters to fifth term all ending April of 2025 do I have an motion for approval public comment on the names that were just listed seeing none hearing none we'll take a vote all those in favor say aye aye motion passes seven zero announcements in consideration for future agenda items are there any hearing none we will now have a motion for a German we adjourn second take a vote all those in favor say aye seven zero we are adjourned officially at in fact 1108 A.M

Captured 2026-07-26 · source: youtube.com/watch?v=nMcLwP-2y4A