San Angelo City Council 2-1-22

[0:00:00] 22 at 8 31 a.m in the morning and we will call this meeting to order we will as usual start with our chaplain prayer and pledges and today we have lorenzo hatch from our police department chaplain at the police department he'll come forward and lead us in both thank you very much let us pray dear wise and loving father first let me say thank you on behalf of all who are gathered here thank you for your many and abundant blessings thank you for life itself for sustenance and for friendship thank you for the ability to be involved in useful work and for the honor of bearing appropriate responsibilities in the scriptures you have said that citizens ought to obey the governing authorities since you have established those very authorities to promote peace and order and justice therefore i pray for our mayor for the various levels of city officials and particular for this assembled council i am asking that you would graciously grant them wisdom to govern amid the conflicting interests and issues of our times a sense of the welfare and true needs of our people a keen thirst for justice and righteousness confidence in what is good and fitting the ability to work together in harmony even when there is honest disagreement personal peace in their lives and joy in their task i pray for the agenda set before them today and please give an assurance of what would please you and what would benefit those who live and work in and around our beloved city of san angelo finally father please bless and protect our public servants of the departments of fire and place we ask this through christ our lord amen

[0:02:07] i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands honor of the texas flag today we have one proclamation so i would ask that michael hitchcock come forward as we read this parks manager michael hitchcock retired from the city of san angelo january 31st 2022 with 32 years of service mike began working as a parks ground keeper in 1989 and worked his way up to park's manager a position he has held for the past 10 years over the years mike has remained dedicated to the parks division and its mission to acquire develop and maintain parks that enrich the quality of life for residents and visitors alike and preserve them for future generations his work ethic enhanced knowledge and unwavering passion for safe and enjoyable sites are vastly displayed in our parks throughout san angelo mike's work history included many accomplishments a few examples include maintaining his certified playground safety inspector status improving the park's work order system continuing input into the park's asset inventory designing and implementing

[0:04:11] brentwood and unidad park renovations producing detailed managerial documentation conducting numerous park inspections and consultations and sustaining a safe environment for employees and the citizens enjoying our parks mike will be missed by many we wish to honor him for his service and congratulate him for this well-deserved retirement we are blessed to have had such a dedicated employee who remain committed to the service of our great city for over three decades therefore i brenda gunter mayor of the city of san angelo texas on behalf of the city council recognize and applaud michael hitchcock for his achievement and positive determination to make a difference in san angelo well you really haven't had a chance to enjoy retirement yet have you it's pretty official would you like to offer some words those are very kind words when i started a long time ago it was just a job to pay the bills but over time i learned and found a joy in serving my community and so thank you for san angelo for teaching me to love supporting my community [Applause] yes 32 years is a long time mike was a veteran when i got here in august of 2000 but he has always maintained a calm assuredness he always made sure that everything got done we would look to him for any to solve any problems related to the parks and he always could find the solution he was very thorough and accurate with his administrative reports all the inspections we've never had an issue with inspecting parks and playgrounds because of his thoroughness and accuracy

[0:06:15] in short he in the last years that he's been one of the key supervisors in the parks division he's been the glue that held us all together day by day week by week month by month and we greatly appreciate your service mike i will be very brief but mike's been here a little bit longer than me not a whole lot so he's been here my entire career and it has been a true blessing to work with mike um he's a get it done guy that's all i can say and you if he said he was going to do it it was done and you didn't worry about it anymore so just thank you mike for your service it was it's been a pleasure [Applause] which is very short we've been very blessed to have you on staff mike congratulations on your retirement hope to see you around and thank you for everything you did for the city and god bless you okay [Applause] mike just remember this just because you announced a retirement doesn't mean you have to stick to it you can always come back okay we will now move into the public comments section of our agenda issues or concerns not on the regular agenda may be raised by the public at this time citizens should speak from the podium address all comments to the dias begin

[0:08:18] by stating their name and address or single member district number and limit their remarks to less than three minutes is there anyone here today who would like to come forward and offer any public comment morning council just wanted to let everyone know that we have another fiber company in town that has begun work so we have frontier and we have vexus and we sent out that information to the media and posted it on our website and social media so if anyone has any concerns we have phone numbers and email addresses available to for both of those companies so i just want to let everybody know thank you good morning all ryan kramer uh fleet manager for the city of san angelo just wanted to announce real quick that we're having an auction starting for surplus equipment should be starting this week if all goes well it's been a little bit so i just wanted to make that announcement the information will be on our website in the fleet services section you can find the link there it'll be an online auction like it has been the last several years thank you thank you anyone else choosing to make public comment seeing none we will move into our consent agenda i will start with larry are there any items on the consent agenda you would like to have pooled ma'am lucy no ma'am harry no man tom me okay with that may i have a motion to approve the consent agenda so move by harry second and by lucy any public comment on any item on the consent agenda seeing none we'll take a vote all in favor say aye aye none opposed consent agenda is passed five to one i mean five zero sorry counting people that aren't here

[0:10:26] we'll move into our regular agenda comments regarding items on the regular agenda may be made by the public when each item is discussed as outlined above applicants proponents and appellants are exempt from the time limit above and instead must limit their remarks to less than five minutes item 6a consider accepting a duly certified petition in support of outlying abortion declaring san angelo a sanctuary city for the unborn establishing a day and time for public hearing of the ordinance and directing staff to publish the ordinance in the newspaper at least once prior to discussion at the public meeting julia you're on yes ma'am so back in november there was an initiating committee that picked up petition papers for um receiving signatures to support the outlawing of the abortion and declaring san angelo a sanctuary city for the unborn so they came and picked up all the papers they have now received sufficient signatures which was a minimum of fifteen hundred and twelve and and now we're just ready to move forward with the following steps that have to be done per the charter to get this onto a ballot okay so you wanna go through those steps okay so um today you'll be accepting the certified petition that was in the background it just certifies that we did receive adequate signatures and next you'll be setting a day or time for the public hearing based on that we'll get the notice in the newspaper it is 17 pages in english we're expecting to be that or more in the spanish translation so we'll need adequate time to publish that in the newspaper and then from there we'll have a public hearing at that public hearing you can decide to accept the ordinance as proposed you can make changes to the ordinance or you can reject the ordinance

[0:12:28] from there and if you reject the ordinance then the initiating committee has 20 days to send over a certified statement saying that they would like the petition to still be placed on the ballot either in the form that they originally submitted or in an amended form is there a recommended date for this publishing of the ordinance in the newspaper and we're we've reached out to lubbock to see how much notice they put in the paper i'm thinking that it would be probably about the same length as their ordinance just to see how much time because there's not really a standard set out by the state and there's nothing in our charter and i have not heard back from them i would think probably a week's notice would be minimum just because it's such a long document and to give people time to adequately digest it and prepare their thoughts for the public hearing i do suggest that we move forward with the public hearing at our march first agenda and that way we definitely have time to get it published in the newspaper so that's really all we need today is direction on the public hearing and from there we can back out the number of days for the publication in the newspaper so we're uh you're recommending that march first be the day for the public hearing yes ma'am do i have any objections from counsel on a march first date seeing no objections to do we need a motion on that yes we need a motion in a second and then we have folks here to make public comment that'll be fine okay so larry you want to make that motion you make the motion for march 1st to be that hearing may i have a second second by harry we will now open up for public comment on this item my name is ryan buck senior pastor

[0:14:35] emmanuel baptist and it's good to be speaking to you again mayor and city council you know we got louder uh definitely you know we know we're here today not to speak to the merits of this ordinance uh that has already been spoken to loudly by uh this referendum process is over 25 percent of the electorate have told you they want this ordinance uh i believe there's 18 days that these steps could be taken in order to get it on the may ballot uh our hope is is that we would not go forward with a march deadline for the public hearing that we could you know move that up so we can make the may ballot and we've uh but if we have to we'll we'll go as far as we have to when we will we'll be very loud and clear hopefully for maybe only four months but if we have to be loud and clear for eight we shall but um i just i just ask we've done everything that you have asked us to do along the way uh and we've hit barriers uh for whatever reason and we will continue to persevere but i just ask uh you know we'll we're actually going to provide a translation in spanish later today uh and uh you know there's i think there's 18 days 17 or 18 days that this could get done in order to get on the may ballot uh if we go to march first it'll be november uh and so we just are here to respectfully ask that if it's possible uh to within the rules and and you know we just heard our our city clerk say that uh you know we there's no really clear cut deadline in the city charter on how you do this just appropriate time to get it before the community i ask that you do it schedule this public hearing uh for the 15th uh let's get this in the newspaper next week uh uh there's no reason we can't move forward i thought we were also told that there was a concern that we've still got to see the council member here but that really has no bearing on this process and and it's not just getting on the

[0:16:39] ballot it's the city the citizens have said they want this ordinance and we're asking you to vote on it up and down if you don't very quickly the the uh the initiating committee will ask to put it on the ballot so we just respectfully ask that you be expedient and not do march first thank you very much council good to see you guys again my name is markley dixon director with right to life of east texas founder of the sanctuary cities for the unborn initiative and of course i was sued in the lawsuit over the texas heartbeat act which went before the supreme court of the united states and all nine justices believed that the abortion industry's case against me should be dismissed so praise god for that my heart is a little heavy this morning because according to the laws of the state of texas before you vote on something that's on an agenda you have to hear public comments and therefore according to laws of the state of texas the vote that you just took to affirm the march first date is not an agreement with state law and therefore invalid and so i request that you guys hear from the public before you make a decision on this matter there's a lot of benefits to going ahead and having this hearing scheduled for the 15th it didn't take lubbock very long to schedule a hearing it was involved in that whole process it was done speedily and it was put on the may ballots if this is put on the november ballot you're looking at a lot more time of just being at the forefront and the sooner this is addressed the easier people can can go along with other things that need to be addressed in san angelo so i just humbly request that you

[0:18:43] guys hear the public first before making a decision and following the laws of the state of texas thank you theresa would you like to make comment in reference to his implications that we are illegally um discussing this item today i don't believe you voted on this item i believe that there has been a motion made on the item and that we're having public comment now and then you'll vote upon the conclusion of the public comment any more public comment well good morning i'm pastor bobby rogers calvary baptist church here in town and i understand y'all haven't voted yet and i appreciate you letting us say something first but we would like to urge you to get this done as quickly as possible and as pastor ryan said we'd love to get it done within this 18-day window and and get her done and let the public decide in may how this is going to turn out and we just pray pray that god will help you all to do that if at all possible thank you for working with us and you have a blessed day good morning my name is jerry peters i'm the pro-life director for the diocese of san angelo uh i would really strongly recommend that you be expedient and getting to get this on the may ballot i also represent the knights of columbus in the area as well and uh at our meetings we're definitely pro-life we would like to get this done and get this on the may ballot this is a very strong concern to me and uh in in the nights as well

[0:20:45] and i know you've seen the casey's around our area we are very very strong and pro-life and uh we just we we can't wait till november this is this is just uncalled for please reconsider and get this on the may ballot thank you thank you very much good morning my name is stephanie sohan i am the pro-life coordinator for the deanery of san angelo we have worked so hard these people many people in san angelo have worked so hard getting these signatures and we had to recoup some and when we recouped some we got even a thousand more it's my understanding that if this goes to the november ballot it will actually cost san angelo almost 20 000 more i think it would be a lot more beneficial for san angelo and for the citizens if you can go ahead and do this in may thank you good morning to all thanks for having us and i just want to say simply that there's more i don't know than i do know in life but the one thing i do know is that god is in favor of life he's in favor of life from conception until natural death and i just wish we would do things that would be in accordance with his belief on that thank you sir could i get your name

[0:22:48] please there's further public comment please come forward as we will move to a vote good morning madam mayor council my name is john barrio i live at 2323 wilson street here in san angelo uh you've heard my testimony on abortion before my mother was advised to abort but decided not to and i survived i have a very strong opinion on this you all know me as well as serving on the economic development board i am not here in any capacity relating to that board but it is a reference at this point several years ago when tommy hebert was on that board he shared with us a mantra that lives on beyond his service on that board that this city needs to do things at the speed of business not the speed of government i think that is the the precise issue that we're facing here now we have a situation that is literally life and death if our ems services here in san angelo were to decide that they got 9-1-1 call but could not respond for two hours i think the people would be alarmed similarly if we as a government do not act with haste on this lives will be lost pre-born children will die in abortions this is not a matter that could be shelved for the matter of convenience to be put not on the may ballot but the november ballot i will encourage you to act with the

[0:24:50] haste warranted in this emergent situation thank you and god bless you good morning thank you for allowing us to be here this morning my name is delana herring i live at 3005 clearview drive i am on the initiating committee for the sanctuary city of the unborn and it's been a ride it's been eye-opening and it's been satisfying and the city clerk has has been very beneficial in helping us on this as we've come through this process we've hit some stumbling blocks so we've had to learn but we've done the work we've met the requirements we would just ask of you at this time that you allow us and reward us for going through the system and meeting those challenges and that you would allow us to get this on the my ballot it can be done i know time is of the essence but we're willing to put the work in and i think if y'all will meet us halfway we can certainly get that done and we really appreciate y'all's help and cooperation in making that happen and i thank you for listening to us today and allowing us to come thank you with that we will take a vote all in favor of march 1st as the date please say i'll go larry what what did you say we are i'm asking for your vote aye lucy a name yay for me harry motion passes four to one it will be on the november ballot

[0:26:56] we will move into closed session the executive session on the provision of government code title v open government ethics subtitle a open government chapter 551 open meetings sub chapter d exceptions to requirement that meetings be open under the following sections section a section 551.072 deliberations about real property regarding 2.3762 acres fisher and miller survey 0173 abstract 0205. we will at this point move into closed session am we are back from our close session there are no announcements to be made from our close sessions so we will move to item b on the agenda which is announcements and consideration of future agenda items are there any mayor yes ma'am just a reminder next wednesday february 9th we will have the official canvassing of saturday's um votes and we do have two council members that have offered to be there so if anybody else wants to join us though it will be at 8 30 on the 9th thank you and then we'll have um barring any sort of changes based on any remaining votes for the early voting board and then we would have the swearing-in of um miss karen hesse smith on the 15th okay thank you with that may i have a motion for adjournment please so move by tommy seconded by larry voted on i i i i passes five zero get out of here

Captured 2026-07-26 · source: youtube.com/watch?v=tUfMTYGm28E