San Angelo City Council 2-6-24

[0:00:00] meeting and as usual we will start with our chaplain prayer and pledges so Gary you're here you're on come forward please morning mayor members of the council good morning everybody will you please join with me father in the name of Jesus we bow before you the author and finisher of our faith giving thanks to you first for this day we thank you for this opportunity to assemble together to take care of the business of this city we ask you to endow our mayor our city council members and all of those that are here with wisdom and knowledge to do those things that are pleasing in thy sight to glorify you with the office they hold we pray for every citizen of this city and every resident for every business we pray God that you bless our First Responders our firefighters and medics and we ask you Lord help us to be a community that's even better than what it is today in jesus' name we pray let everybody say amen and will you repeat the pledge after me I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all honor the Texas flag to the Texas one state God and indivisible there are no proclamations or recognitions on today's agenda so we

[0:02:04] will move into public comment 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 Diaz be Begin by stating their name and address or single member district number and limit their remarks to less than three minutes at this point I will open up the floor for any public comment come forward are you making oh okay hello good morning my name is Jackie Chestnut for 27 years my name was Jackie Chestnut Robinson and I was married to Dennis Alfred Robinson and I am here speaking publicly for a lot of things that have occurred in this city in this County in the past three and a half years of my life and my husband's life and the 35 years that I have lived here and my husband born and raised here and we have been valued members of this community for that entire time so couple of things I want to speak to please public speaking this is our right as Citizens and we were told though y'all don't like it we have the right to do it and I have three minutes to speak um it was indicated last time that because I'm not a member a a city citizen that I really didn't have a right to speak here but this is the county I live in and St Angelo is the

[0:04:06] county seat and it is the place where I spend most of my money it is where my business has resided for many many many years my husband and I lived for most of our Lives until 1998 when we bought a place in nickach which is in Tom Green County but this is the place where we have done our lives in San Angelo you're the county seat and there are responsibilities around me so I have a right to speak here so I would like for any of you that are interested to please refer to the Jackie Chestnut Story on YouTube Joe Hyde with St Angelo live was nice enough to do my story after three and a half years of the atrocity has occurred in this city over that time and I won't go into the details of that but it incurs the death and dismemberment of my husband and the attempted death of me and I am no longer interested in living afraid here in the community which I plan to reside for the rest of my life and my property has been threatened my life has been threatened my property has been taken and the Very property on which is my Homestead and my home the ranch I own in nickach Texas has been threatened over and over and over again by the people in this community and they are public people and they are lawyers and they are judges and other people and I will not stand for it now I will finish this conversation and those of y'all cuz I am not going to sit silently by and live in fear of people that do not respect the rights of the citizens of this County and this town I've been arrested I've been assaulted I've been abused in ways that are beyond my comprehension so those things will stop in season and I will be public about it and I'm not going to have it anymore so the next thing is sewer gas we have an entire city Jackie I believe your

[0:06:10] three minutes is up well I will pass this document to you about sewer gas in a town that is filled with sewer gas and every facilties I I go into which is a health and safety hazard I'll be back I give these to you you need to set sewer gas further public comment good morning mayor council uh Braxton Zella 720 North Buchanan Street I work for Texas Disposal Systems a company with deep roots here in St Angelo all the way back to the 1950s when the family ownership began Acme Iron and metal uh a foundation in the metal recycling business here in St Angelo led the ownership of TDS to explore various other means of hauling handling and recycling waste years of subsequent hard work and dedication led to a company that now has a large footprint across the entire state of Texas serving the residential curbside and Commercial needs of over 40 different municipalities as a reminder for you all the city of St Angelo has been in a contract with your current Solid Waste and Recycling vendor for the last decade excuse me my understanding is that later this year that contract is up for Renewal and if renewed the current contract makes provision uh for your current vendor to be your provider for an entire other decade the financial ramifications over the life of a municipal Solid Waste and Recycling contract for a city the size of St Angelo are monolithic competition amongst vendors forces Clarity and drives better options for your citizenry so I'm here today to ask you all to consider directing your city staff to consider a competitive bidding process TDS would love the opportunity

[0:08:15] uh to serve the citizens of Stan Angelo but we cannot unless you all find some consensus that competition amongst vendors is a good idea for your citizenry if this is something that you all would consider and if you haven't ready I'd encourage you to start the conversation now uh because effective transitions amongst vendors take time to accomplish with Excellence so we thought it important to convey that we'd love the chance to serve citizens of St Angelo and uh appreciate your time this morning thank you thank you very much further public comment good morning good morning uh my name is Richard Grievous uh I live at 806 Julian Street in St Angelo and I refer to it as the bario Estates I'm very proud of the bario and uh I'm sure we all are I've lived here in St Angelo for uh all my life going on 68 years my wife that I have now wanted to leave San Angelo I said no I'm not leaving to San Angelo because uh my roots are here and uh I was always I stayed here because with the in intentions of St Angelo was supposed to be a retirement community and I'm retired now so here I am but either way that's not why I'm here why I am here is with all due respect to you mayor G mayor Gunter and the city council uh I'm bringing up a concern of mine and others I have three sons Three Sons two of them have played basketball ball here at the recreation building the Southside wreck and the Carl Ray wreck they are both in their 30s now back then they were 8 and 11 years old back then there was a big problem with seating and overflow of people in

[0:10:18] the buildings now fast forward 25 years later we now have nine grand nine grandchildren grandchildren aging from 3 months to 14 years old we are deeply concerned over the safety of our children and our grandchildren during the games they are overpacked with adults children and infants and is there not a capacity to those buildings the exits are blocked with overflow of people standing in front of them and shouldn't the restrooms be clean and sanitized I know that public places like like venues restaurants halls and bars and Etc have strict guidelines that have to be followed for safety reasons if there was any type of emergency there there it would be chaos I would like to either have expansion or relocation of these facilities and the city should take this up and move on it do they ever do any random walkthroughs during the events because they do the businesses uh the kids I don't know why I'm so nervous well your message is good so just keep on going okay don't be nervous the kids are the future of St Angelo and we need to invest in them as well as the safety of the parents grandparents and the great-grandparents I believe there is future professional Talent here in St Angelo and I am going to quote mayor Gunter with all due respect and quote needs come before the wants I believe you said that just the other day and I was probably did and I I said you know what that's a good quote and I do truly believe from my heart that this is a need you know I would hate to see

[0:12:20] anybody anybody's kids grandkids get hurt in some way form or fashion and uh and thank you for giving me the time and the opportunity to speak thank you coming forward I'm asking y'all to consider it thank youall yeah I did I'm sure I did morning good morning Mike Stewart University heat and aoling I'm asking you guys to pull agenda G from the consent consent agenda please got it further public comment all right with that then we will close the public comment section of the agenda and we will move into the consent agenda we will pull item G as requested and then I'll ask Larry if he has an item he would like to pull okay Karen I'm G to pull item e Harry no ma'am Tommy no ma'am all right with that may I have a motion for approval of the consent agenda yes sir and it's seconded by Larry with that we will take a vote all those in favor of approving the consent to agenda with the exception of items e and G say I I motion passes 5 to0 we'll go into item e consider awarding w-01 d24 collection agency services to online Information Services for collection purposes in the amount of 19% of the collection balance and authorizing the city manager to negotiate and execute all related documents Shane if you'll just give us

[0:14:24] some background on the we call collection balance um is that what areas do these balances exist what's our history in terms of ability to collect and what is the remaining balance of monies that we need to collect okay this is from our Utility Billing that um we send out our monthly billing statements for everything from water sewer storm water you know all of the our normal billing procedures that we have and these are the past due amounts that have been defaulted on basically and so um let's see so that's where this uh or that's the the funds that are delinquent we're currently at about 1.7 million still it is out in delinquency and that is down from our last contract that we had with this same group uh from about $3 million so and how far back are these delinquencies are we looking at 1.7 million from 10 years ago is it basically a 5e Define the timeline this this company will actually go back six or seven years is to where most of them won't will only go back 2 or three years or maybe four years but this company is going back six or seven years and so but this is our linin accounts over you know the like the past decade and so uh but this company does they they reach back further than most other companies do and so they are um and the results so far have been with the the previous five years have been really I would think pretty excellent compared to uh to what what we're doing without without them so we are seeing some results or actually quite a bit of results so okay are there further questions from Council on this item Shane how often do we do this um we started with this one with this company uh I believe 5 years ago and then the contract has expired and so we went back out for we went back out for proposals again um and then again when we uh received our the responses uh this

[0:16:27] company really stood out so with their abilities and how long is this contract for um I believe we have it for one year with four one-year extensions okay that's what I thought I saw in there yes sir so we would just continue then over the next four years to use them to try to get that down even further below the 1.7 correct that's go continue to grow though so just because there's 1.7 today doesn't mean that tomorrow might not be 1.9 is that correct correct going to continue as as as we have those that we cannot collect or or have been defaulted on then that does go into collections yes yes ma'am so it it could grow but hopefully it it will continue yeah thank you any further questions or comments then may I have a motion for approval of item e so move second a second by Harry any public comment concerning this item e yes sir this is item G no it's e Oh e give me a minute seeing no public comment we'll take a vote all those in favor of item e say I I motion passes 5 item G is consider authorizing the city manager to reject all bids received for RFB fc-1 d24 HVAC unit Replacements at Chase State Office Building and you must be on not I'm on okay Bob is in Arizona uh this item is related to our systematic uh process to replace all the Aging HVAC units at the the chase State Building um we replaced 10 last year and

[0:18:33] we want to replace 12 this year before it gets too warm and make sure that the systems all work at that facility we uh set up some bids and specifications bid out this project to replace 12 units we got the bids back we got five good bids and uh our we realized in evaluating those bids that our qual our specifications weren't quite what we we really want wanted and so at this point we are asking for rejection of the bids and so the bids we're rejecting are because we didn't we weren't clear enough and specific enough about what the need was in terms of these agac systems is that clear mayor may I yes it's not so much that we were unclear where you spec out what we're looking for mayor and so really what we got back as far as the bids Carl corrected me if I'm wrong uh wasn't what we were looking for as far as the specs that we sent out that's correct okay all right do I have questions from Council Larry uh how soon does the rebidding process going to start uh we hope within the month the uh description will be a little bit clearer on exactly what products we want ORS in terms of the specifications yes other questions or comments for Carl on this item okay seeing none all right then may I have a motion for approval of item G what yes I that make that motion may I have a second second second by Karen public comment please hi I'm Mike Stewart University Heat and the cooling I was the only local contractor that bid this job U I did meet with all three Representatives on the roof of this building we did all the contractors did ask questions to uh the representatives of what equipment

[0:20:35] they wanted they stated they wanted everything except a train unit and they also we also asked them how long they wanted the uh the bid how long would it take to do the job they told her they'd like to have it completed in the fiscal year due to the issue of equipment um concerns it's hard to get some of the equipment I do have three emails here where they awarded me the bid um I went and got all my stuff ready to go and then I got an email stating that we were going to be awarded I thought I was going to be awarded the bid today and yet I'm here saying that we're not going to get the bid today so I spent a lot of time and effort on this working this and I'm going to bid the same amount next month uh it'll be the same amount that I'm going to bid for the same equipment unless they State it's going to be they want train or or Carrier or or rud but I did everything that I was supposed to do for you guys you know to uh do the job and like I said I was the only local guy now they did state to me that they did give the job to a company out of Dallas and then I told them well we're going to have some issues guys if that's the case um and then I got an email stating they were going to reject the bids so I just think something and I told them that you know it's kind of kind of concerning to me the way that I was treated on business I wasted a lot of time and a lot of effort to do the deal but I'll be back I'll bid the same amount next next month if it's bidded and I hope they do put the bid out and it doesn't take the money and put it somewhere else well we need the unit so I don't I you but I have I have all three of the emails here stating what I bid and they awarded me the bid and um I got I got the runaround from three people may I see that those emails please sir yes's and then than issu some of my equipment I had all the equipment is all available except two units was going to be sometime after May so so so we did you know all the contractors on the roof did ask them what they wanted and what they uh how long we had to do the

[0:22:37] job thank you for coming forward and bringing this to our attention greatly appreciate it Jackie my name is Jackie Chestnut and I'm an engineer and y'all are in luck I'm the engineer that did the Ralph Chase Building and built the building so I know a lot about the HVAC in this building and I'm glad that we're finally replacing the units they are if those are the original ones we did back in 98 um for lots of reasons um the building I go into quite frequently um number one because I like it and it's uh I have business there one of the questions I have is I've heard you talk about how this project has come about um when you talk about specking the units and and specking out what you need one of the things that has changed in this facility is the offices and all have moved spaces within the spaces they've built walls and places like in the Railroad Commission and move things around from my original HVAC design which has ducks and everything to go certain ways and those have all changed now and were was that looked at as part of considering what you need to replaced was the duct work and all of those was that considered part of it and the other thing is back in those days the insulation and all and the efficiency of the units um were quite different so and then the maintenance of those facilities once they are put in place so my question is is how are you specking those because there's lots of changes internally in the building that affect the HVAC other than just the units themselves and were those included in the specs and does anybody know that because that's important for the long-term health of the building and that's your job and all is for us to maintain that for the state I don't have the we rent that out okay I don't have the answer to that I don't know if anyone find that out because that's the proper way to do the job as well because we have made many changes over 20 years internally in those

[0:24:39] facilities and it's important for the people and their health and safety and all the things that we are supposed to do is our jobs looks like we have some homework to do thank you and I'll be happy to help with that because that is my expertise thank you Jackie further public comment on item G yes Larry can we table this until we find additional information well we're not going to we're not going to um we're rejecting all bids and that's the what's on the table and it would seem to me based off of what's been brought to light today the appropriate thing would be to take a vote to reject these bids and start over again with the correct specs and information and make sure all the right engineering work that needed to be done was done in accordance with this with the specs May that's correct so on our end we just want to make sure that we rebid with the specs properly that we're requesting make sure that we get that response back so we will take a vote following this public comment unless there's more um so that it's officially rejected and then we start over on the process again of making sure we give vendors the correct information yes Steve well uh Steve Hampton uh single single District Larry is my man anyway I apologize having a senior moment here call me Larry uh and uh I think that does sound uh this citizen of St Angelo has gone through all the efforts and apparently his paperwork is uh is in uh is is good uh and I have a questions about that so let's not assume that it's good at this point well I mean you haven't said oh this is you haven't said any rejection statement yet so okay yeah there's some assumptions at this point so go Ahad anyway so I think he needs to be given some consideration for uh for his

[0:26:43] troubles uh when if if you do have to rebid it and I don't see exactly why but uh I think an official statement needs to be given to him and uh and uh his uh concerns addressed and uh he might even be said at the in priority because he's already committed so much uh time and energy to helping the citizens of this of this town thank you ma'am for yes Larry my concern is Mr Valen wh now has three documents down there we don't know what's on them there's M Larry the concern that I have it's it's really and I don't fault the gentleman I think if anything when it went out it's really convoluted there's no mention of there of an acceptance or rejection or anything on there and I do have certain areas that I've actually marked marked on there that there's it's a little bit confusing as far as what the email went out but again there's not a rejection or an Acceptance in in the email itself and that's what I want to discuss with the gentleman as well once uh we get past this item and also with my staff because it is a little bit confusing but again there's no rejection or acceptance on this email my concern with the rebid has has been explained cat's basically out of the bag everyone should be aware of of what these companies are going to bid so in the case of Mr Stewart uh it's obvious that's what his bid is so the other ones uh have got information that that could work against Mr Stewart well we we basically we bid this project back out he stated that he was going to bid the same amount um again on our end um regardless of what he he stated we still want to make sure we bid out it's Bas based on our specs to make sure that we get exactly what we're looking for uh in the replacement of the HVAC system we want the HVAC system to last as long as possible and again these

[0:28:46] specs for us are important so I want to make sure that when we rebid it regardless of what he stated what he was going to bid I would recommend for him to take a look at that and see what that bid is going to look like but but on our end um we just want to make sure that we get the best equipment the the the the specs done the way that we're looking for in order to make sure that we have a lasting system and it might also give him if the specs are different it also might mean additional costs which he would want to put into his new bid so if if there's enough difference between the specs that were originally given and the engineering work originally done versus new specs and reevaluation of the engineering you probably wouldn't put the exact same bid in if in fact there's a big enough difference I don't know that I don't know anyone on this Council knows that at this point but we've got to make sure we get the right product correct number one if I could just add mayor agree everything yall said but at the end of the day the staff is not saying we we did not put the specs out properly so that's that falls on us too but because we did that does not mean that that we shouldn't try to make make sure we get the right product for the building so that's what we're asking is for us to relook at those as far as uh cleaning those specs up to make sure they're exactly what needs to go in so that we don't put a product in that's not what we need at the end of the day and and yes as we change those it will probably affect uh their bids as to what they actually bid on the product well the reality is this is February and if we're going to um get the pro get the contract awarded and get the product installed summer's coming soon so we're not exactly that a lot of time here so we'll just ask that we get this done as soon as possible so that we don't go into summer with HVAC systems not working so whatever the time frame is let's do it ASAP get it right we'll do mayor okay so may I have a motion on

[0:30:52] item G to reject and it's and I think one of the issues is the way this is written it says to reject all bids assuming that when you read that you almost assume that there's a problem with the bids the language on this should be a little different in that we're not rejecting the bids because we don't accept what the bid amounts were we're rejecting the bids because we provided the wrong information to the people who were making the bids so it's kind of an issue with word but the wording is we provided the wrong information for the people who needed to uh put these bids in so we need to reject the existing ones because they don't meet specs may I have that motion there is a motion and a second oh yeah because we had public comments so then let's take a vote all those in favor rejecting yes yes sir I think I need to recuse myself on this vote if you recuse yourself then we can't take a vote because we won't have qum we have four here no we no there' just be three people there' just be there'd be there'd be four people voting that's not a quorum for us five is a quorum Teresa um if he chooses to recuse himself he has that right to do so um he to disclose he has a personal relationship that causes him personal conflict but there's no Financial conflict but it is his right to recuse himself if he chooses can we still take a vote to you do not have enough we don't have yeah so this pushes this out further already as the mayor said we're under somewhat of a time frame because Sumer will be here before we know it so if we we can't do it this time we'll have to do see if we can reject it next time which means that we're 30 days further out before we get the new bids in now we're into the first of April that is correct and we will have to bring it back for a rejection of

[0:32:56] the bids or a word of of the bids if something happens in the meantime but yes it will need to come back to another meeting to reject and then we would have to rebid it all right with that said obviously we're not going to take a vote because Larry has recused himself so we don't have a quorum so at this point in time item G has not been rejected or approved move on to the regular agenda comments regarding items on the regular agenda may be made by the public when each item is discussed as outlined above applicants proponents and appellants are exempt from the time limit above and instead must limit their remarks to less than five minutes item a is an update on alt Tex irrigation and Supply LLC splashpad fundraising and direction from city council regarding the project Carl you're on a quick background on this item back a year ago uh city council adopted a resolution that authorized Altech to fund raise for uh two splash pads for the city at two different parks at that time in the resolution the overall budget for the two splash pads was 800 $50,000 with the first one being just under $400,000 Altex has raised the funds uh to do the first Splash Pad which is would be at Unidad Park and so at this point we are asking city council for concurrence to move forward to implement this first Splash Pad um if so this project would begin in April and uh expected completion would be by early June the the resolution also authorizes the city manager to negotiate and

[0:35:01] execute any agreements related to this uh we would likely have an agreement with the St Angelo area foundation similar to what we've done with Barracks three and four at Fort Concho uh to implement that project a quick look at the location uh for the first Splash Pad which would be at Unidad College Hills Park on the East End of the playground area some renderings at different angles of what this first spash pad would look like it has different spray elements coming out of the ground through different Play Elements at different heights um for all uh ages of children and abilities again this would be a recirculating system uh water would come in it would get filtered uh go through the the spray elements and return back for purification and as a reminder um since this uh first one is funded uh we expressed at the time the uh that the resolution was adopted that we would need to hire a technician to be able to inspect and operate and maintain the splash pads and the city pool um we so we would like to hire this technician the good news is we already have the FTE available we don't have to create a new FTE because the coordinator position for the Nature Center we could use that FTE but we would need the funds for the position the overall cost of for the salary and the benefits uh would be 63,360 we would like to bring them them on in April so they can get ready go through orientation make sure they have all the right certifications and training and become familiar with the

[0:37:03] pool and get it ready for the season and then come in and start maintaining operating inspecting the splash pad and the pool cost for operations um uh for this year with the one Splash Pad is $20,000 so the total cost for this year would be $1,650 Altex is here if you have any questions about the fundraising efforts I think Matt Lewis is also here he's been holding the funds uh to implement this project and if you have any questions we're here to answer them I've got questions uh on this information all right so you said that the FTE is approved so you have a body budgeted we have the FTE but it's not budgeted it's the coordinator position from the Nature Center so when we zeroed out those accounts for the Nature Center it's not budgeted but the FTE is there we don't have to add another ft to the city Workforce how do you budget for an FTE and don't have money for the person it's it stays on the books it just doesn't get budgeted to hire someone I need an explanation of that that doesn't make sense may we control position growth in two Fashions one is we control dollars through your approval of the budget and also Tina am I stepping on your toes all right uh we also specify in the budget the total number of FTE or full-time equivalents which are authorized by Council so there are two control mechanisms to restrict the growth that that might otherwise occur in total number of positions and the dollars associated with those positions so Carl's saying that one of the mechanisms has capacity to facilitate this he's saying he needs the other mechanism the dollar side he he needs the funding does that make sense a little bit not a lot but a little bit um so then the other question would be the following so the swimming we have a person who oversees

[0:39:07] the swimming pool the municipal pool yes and that person does that for a window of time because that pool is not open 12 months a year correct yes and it's it's existing staff that that does that it's a part-time position the the pool manager is a part-time position yes the seasonal for the pool but also existing Recreation staff help out yes so the splash pad requirement for a person what's the time frame needed for that person because the swimming pool is only x amount of months the splash pad needs for personnel is what time frame Carl can I talk a little bit on that the the time frame is not while there is a seasonal time when the pool and splash pad are running for you know the kids to play in the maintenance part of the pool never goes away the maintenance part of the splash pad never goes away so you still have water in that system you have to clean the slides you have to there's all these things that go with it so what we brought to council was that with the pool first off we were we were tasking staff like to go up there and do it who didn't have time to do that um we have one seasonal person who helps run it but then our director other people were having to go shock it do all these kind of things which is not what they are trained in or they have time to do because of adding to that capacity and the needs to make sure that it operates safely all the requirements are being met about the water and the safety of those things yet getting it prepped for the upcoming year once you add another system to that a part-time position was no longer going to be able to handle that so that's why then the need for a full-time person um to do that because it exceeds a part-time capability so what we have currently is a part-time person that we want to

[0:41:10] expand to a full-time person yes that's that's another way to look at it yes so it's not a new FTE it is taking a part-time person turning it into a full-time person correct it's taking a part-time job turning it into a full-time job we all agree on that was a seasonal position okay but the other clarification about that is there is the the operation of the pool the the the seasonal position that manages the lifeguards all that kind of stuff is going to stay as it is that person had more responsibilities than just doing that so now you're adding on to that the safety component of a splash pad which we've all talked about being of concern that it has to has to operate correctly so this full-time pos position would be to manage the water quality the maintenance of the pool keep the pumps running keep the filters clean all of that component you'll still have the seasonal position that just manages the operation of the pool meaning hires all the lifeguards gets them going train make sure they're there if they don't show up fills the gap for that all of those kind of things so we have 1.5 people correct you still have the half position I I was yes okay so the full-time person we have too right because they currently oversee the pool but then in offseason do something else the full-time person will be maintaining and prepping the pool and the splash pad for the upcoming so all the maintenance that has to be done when you're in the off season getting that done now I will say this if if there's for some reason downtime they've got plenty of stuff over there that they can do from a recreational standpoint so helping out with whatever programs we've got running at the time if for some reason the the pool is is not needing it well I do not question the need for making sure this person really oversees the splash pad

[0:43:13] because any issues that have happened in other communities uh we don't want to have happen here so we know the importance of this technical person over seeing the splash pads is correct so then the question mark becomes where do we find the money to do this so what is where what are we talking about where the where are the funds to fund the necessary people and uh chemicals utilities Etc that will come along with a splash pad because we knew there were going to be some yes ma'am uh Tina Dary Director of Finance uh we'll work with Carl and his group to find a funding source for this during the current fiscal year um like likely it will be cost savings um somewhere else in his budget that we would use to fund this cost for the remainder of the fiscal year and then we'll build it into next year's um budget from the beginning of the year because I don't want to not have a plan for this project from maintenance technical aspects as we get ready to open it it's obviously a big citizens request to have splash pads we are thrilled that Altex has stepped up and and dedicated funds and efforts to this project so we're thrilled with that private public partnership and the community who's contributed to this project it's great now we need to do our part to ensure the safety and the efficient running of this Splash Pad yes ma'am we'll work with Carl make sure that we get that funded appropriately okay further questions from Council now I know that the swimming pool has be maintained all year round but you winterize the splash pad do turn turn the system off uh we do have to check it from time to time and make sure it's safe have to inspect it make sure there's not any hazards that are left on the site that kids could stumble upon we do have to check it Carl do you want to talk about any of those maintenance items that you when you went to abene you know they have things that they have to do at the end of the season to prep it for the winterizing it and

[0:45:15] then prepping it back I mean there's a lot of General stuff do you want to talk about that any just leave that well he doesn't look like by his face he wants to the table the questions on the table so you're going to have to As I understood it when we went and toured some of these uh specifically in abene I think they've got three or four or they have five now um really at the end of the season there's there's various things from whether you have valves or you have fittings or things that may be loose things that need prepping as far as maintenance just so that you avoid having downtimes when you're in the season so that is just an important aspect that they'll go through through as far as taking and cleaning out the the water holding containers to make sure all that's clean for the upcoming year so it it it takes a little while to get all that done especially with just one person so what is the time frame that the splash pad operates because we have really good weather through September October unlike the swimming pool thing which we end on Labor Day weekend so yes definitely we could have an extended season so when it starts to become consistently warm can run it during the weekends during a set am of time good thing with these is you can program such that they have a turn on switch the kids can walk up and turn them on as long as it's set to operate during that time period so we could set it for the weekends uh during the when the warm season starts late April uh early may we not have control over that on and off because I I would assume we need some sort of security the onoff switch is just for the season when it's operating so that it doesn't run all day long if nobody's there so you can turn it on it runs and then it shuts down when no kids are there but yes when the season's over we shut that switch off right it it we'll have a program where it's set where it can only operate If somebody walks up to turn it on and so we could extend that into probably the end of September during the weekends I don't think we'd necessarily want to run it during the the week uh while school's

[0:47:18] in session but definitely the weekends okay further questions from Council all right so with that this was just an update on the splash pad so are there do we need to take any action today it's consensus I we have to the action I know that we have to take is to find the funding so that's a number one issue is finding the funding it's just it's a direction item which I think we've given Direction on right now but we have alt Tex who would like to offer some comments so please come forward good morning good morning my name is Alicia olshansky I'm one of the committee members for the splash pad um wanted to come before city council this morning and provide an update uh with our fundraising efforts um as Carl had mentioned we have raised the funds to proceed forward with Unidad Park our efforts are now going into raising the funds needed to complete Kirby Park one way in which we would like to do that is to be able to utilize funds provided through the Development Corporation last summer we were approached by several current and past board members of the Development Corporation who educated us on our project's eligibility through for funds through the organization and who also encourage us to apply for assistance in October we were able to present our project and give them um our progress thus far as well as the requirements still needed to complete the project in its entirety while we do attend to approach them for an official funding request we do understand the significance of acknowledging that these funds are sourced from the half half cent sales

[0:49:22] tax therefore we do recognize the necessity of presenting this proposition to the council as it directly pertains to taxpayer funds all right so my question here is the following so kosad DC generally approves projects come to CAD DC they approve them then it comes to city council for approval so we haven't had that brought forward to city council for approval yet so as we discuss this this morning tell us what we need to do because we don't vote on conversations like this without direction from coad DC so I need to understand what we need to do here I think you just take it as a comment for today and let the process move forward with CC if that's where they're going to go for funding mayor we did we do have board members who see this project positively and uh we're advocates for uh consideration uh for funding and uh as we discussed it our interpretation of council Direction was that the fundraising should occur without the use of public funds and that the council would commit to operational activities and funding but not to um use public funds for uh construction um on that basis the board uh held back in considering an action item for funding pending council's uh allowance that that public money could be considered uh for funding in other words the board is holding out of respect for what uh what we interpret council's ruling was that public funds should not be part of this and if you lift that restriction um I think we have a board member who will be an advocate to put it back on the agenda and consider for funding so this is this whole conversation is about uh that board having respect for council's

[0:51:27] direction uh for no Public Funding at this time so the question mark Teresa from a legal perspective is the following because we don't generally um create the request for CAD DC CAD DC comes to us after they as a board have made a decision about a project and funding the decision by CAD DC is separate from the city of St Angelo's budgeting that's correct so I'm not sure that we have to alter what we have said because it's want separate from CAD DC if CAD DC wants to fund it it comes to city council and city council supports or rejects that request I don't see why we have to as a city council today make a statement about using City funds we're not using quote City funds we're asking co co DC is saying we like this project we think it is a valid project we would like Monies to go towards it that's their decision it then comes to us for a decision so I don't think we have to change anything we've said they have the right to say this fits into the categories of projects that we like we support and we would like council's consideration I think that's all we have to do but I don't I'm not legal yeah we can't take a vote on whether or not you would approve that money but I think they're looking for direction on whether or not it's an appropriate funding source for correct um Our intention this morning as to reiterate what Michael DNE was saying was that um it was more so after we did our pres presentation to Development Corporation it was brought to our attention um the past comments that were made um being tax dollars being used towards the splash pads and how um our requested development corpor ation could interfere with that comment and today we really just want to come before Council

[0:53:32] um and say that our intent to go to them was pure and for the purpose of receiving it as a grant I don't I don't want to set a president of this Council saying yes we want to fund this now COA DC you get it done mayor to your to your point let let let me say what you said in a little different way there is a process through which we we already have established if somebody wants to uh see if funds are available from kosa DC they go to kosad DC they make the presentation then it comes to councel and then to your point we get to vote it up or down let's just follow the process if they want to go to Costa DC that's their privilege and their right um and then if if if we like the project and it comes to us because it's voted out by Costa DC then we take a look at it ourselves so my thought is really again to your point let's just follow the process all right we needed to make sure that we funded the funds or found a way to fund it once it's operational and that there will be no hiccups because we don't want to delay making sure we do all the technical maintenance aspects and that we have a person ready to be trained and ready the day we want to flip the switch and operate it we agre so we've done the part we need to do as a city council now CAD DC needs to do their part and then it will come to us for a final consideration because I don't want to set a president of coming someone coming to council and say you need to tell CAD DC what to do no that's not what we do correct CA DC is a separate board with um the right to ask you to present and to consider and we will then react accordingly right we appreciate it Harry thank you

[0:55:35] mayor when we first talked about this a year ago we talked about public private Partnerships and I think that's the key to this now I don't disagree with the fact is that if Costa DC decides they want to do it and they bring it to the council bottom line from my perspective you're still using taxpayers money so we were looking when we first looked at this we were looking for private donations to get us to the spot where the city would commit then to operate this thing while we going to do that now from my perspective I think this is a great great opportunity but I'm not sure whether or not we should be using taxpayers money for that's my personal thought we know that when the uh house sales tax was created part of the U projects listed and that vote by the citizens was Community projects Community projects and I think this is a community project which fits back into the Costa DC line of if we think it's a community project yes it is taxpayer money but the taxpayers already approved the use of the house sales tax fund to be created and to fund and pay for Community projects so it fits correct Co DC's got to bring it to us we can't take it to them correct yes ma'am okay all right we appreciate it perfect thank you Jackie it's hard to be the engineer because you always bring reality in um I'd like to speak to Splash plads please um in a city again that is focused on being a retirement community one thing in a city that is definitely water short in a city that has already got huge

[0:57:39] problems with sewer and water um in a city that cannot maintain the facilities we've got and I brought a bunch of pictures but we couldn't get them up of the park facilities that we have the community specifically the splash Community facilities that we have and then um in our here but my question is and my concern is we're now going to put something else on city property paid for cons possibly by taxes and then private donations as well but then put on the city to maintain that with my tax dollars I'm I concerned about that a limited operation you have to shut it down bring it back up again I'm an engineer I run a ranch I have to deal with all these issues on my place all the time and you're going to put all this into the City and onto the city in a city that already has limited funds has many many many many more issues and I would say there are better things for our community funds of a half cent sales tax and also that would reach a larger group this is a very limited group of people that we use a splash pad certainly not us elderly and certainly not anybody else that's in any way handicapped or anything else these are going to be and it plus it presents lots of insurance issues and liability issues just like the skate park that they're looking at adding um in a couple of parks here I have great concerns about this you're adding big risk to the to the city and you already can't maintain what you've got so think about these things as you go forward and especially our water thank you further public comment Steve Hampton single member district six got it right this time uh I was name is Larry and Larry's man still still Larry and uh I was on the the Park and Recreations board uh for several years and uh uh this came up frequently and and and even when we did a poll on

[0:59:43] uh desire it was it was right at the top and I think I think it's a wonderful idea I think it is very worthwhile and very commun Community oriented and and want wish to have it um but there are two different kinds two different kinds of systems one is connected directly to the water system of the city and the other is a private uh uh recycle thing and um uh I was not for the recycle deal and and this is the very reason why because there's a continuing uh expensive cost uh that that the city has to carry the other is just the water and it can be turned off uh but U it goes back into the system is recycled down downtown where in the in the with the rest of it so um maybe uh in fundraising uh you should reconsider the type of system you chose and if you have not entered in any contracts or anything it can still be done I think in the long on in the long uh reach uh it will uh it will be much cheaper thank you further public comment mayor I'd like to add something real quick um first of all this is a celebration all we look at all TCH irrigation supply and the work that they've done it's it's incredible thank you guys for doing that uh that's $385,000 to create that uh that first splash pad with this community has told us we wanted and so I don't want to lose all this conversation that we're having the fact that you guys have really gone out there and done what you said you're going to do to raise those monies for the first spash plad so again this should be celebrated and I just want to say thank you uh for the work that you put in Altex and and congratulations for getting this portion of it done but to Steve Hampton's uh point when we did the master plan for the parks splash pads

[1:01:46] was one of the top items on that master plan that the citizens who replyed to that project or to giving us information for what they wanted in parks that was a key issue the city does not have the funds to create that the fact that a private business Altex stepped up and said we think we have a way forward we'll be happy to partner with the citizens on making this project happen they've done their part today we're doing our part providing the funding for the chemicals the utilities the the maintenance Personnel required so I think everyone's done their part of making this project happen I'm sure that we have done the research needed to be done to decide which system is the best system based off of our quality of water that needs to be done I'm sure Altex who does a lot of projects in this city knows which Splash Pad will be the the best splash pad for this city based off of our water quality of water Etc so again I think we should celebrate where we're at at this point in time and let's keep moving this project forward thank you Al Tex appreciate you okay so that concludes item a and we will move into Item B consider resolution of support for proposed development by the Overland Property Group for senior affordable rental housing at 3800 Green Meadow Drive named The Residence at Green Meadow as part of the 2024 annual lowincome housing tax credit that is lihtc affordable housing program and the presentation will be made by um is April here today no so Bob I think you are on good morning Council

[1:03:53] um we we have Miss April inrm here uh from the Overland Property Group uh to provide information on a tax credit project that's competing for 2024 tax credit projects it's a uh to construct affordable housing for seniors named the residents at Green metal and they are requesting a resolution of support April good morning Council mayor city manager uh my name is April I'm with Overland Property Group before I get into this project I just want to provide a quick update on Roosevelt Lofts um first of all again thank you so much for your support last year with that deal um things have been moving along really nicely uh you know with any historic building there are a lot of approvals that you have to go through and a lot of um you know engineering studies you have to go through uh so we've just been plugging along and we hope to start construction in the middle of March so next month uh our team our contractors are going to be there on the 15th they're going to install a coming soon sign so everyone knows that things are moving uh and they're also they're also going to be there to be doing like a pre-bid walk through with subcontractors so yeah the balls rolling on that one uh so about this development this would be called The Residence at Green Meadow and it's located at approximately 3,800 Green Meadow Boulevard uh I think you guys are already familiar with our firm so I don't want to spend too much time but and Property Group has been developing uh affordable multif family housing since 2002 across the Midwest Colorado Texas but we currently have our largest footprint in Texas and we've won some awards for our work here just a couple snapshots of our Texas properties so about this development it's 1.4 acres and it's currently in a residential like multif family neighborhood so so I actually really

[1:05:54] like this site so when the state tells us what's competitive and what's not oftentimes they lead you to places that don't necessarily make sense for housing one time the only site that I had that scored was a giant detention Pond for example uh so when I drove the site I was actually pretty excited because it is um I mean I think another affordable or sorry an affordable development would fit really nicely here with the fabric of the neighborhood and we would be doing about 30 units so 15 one bedrooms and 15 two bedrooms so it would be really like a nice we call it Boutique or neighborhood size development uh and then also too we have you know we'll have our general amenities so Clubhouse um you know we often times do like an activi Center a library I always really like to make sure that we do dog parks when we can uh and we're going to have like I said one and two bedroom units between 30 and 60% of the area median income for rents between $392 and $1,000 uh the other thing I like about the site is that it's really centrally located um so you have kind of everything you need within a close proximity um just highlighted here for reference and then just some of our standard development amenities uh you may have not seen this with Rosevelt loss because it was a historic rehab um but for our new communities we always have 30% stone or masonry uh we always try to have like a nice park-like recreational space um we always have on-site management so someone's always there and an onsite uh maintenance man we have monthly classes whether that's you know cooking classes Fitness CL Fitness classes um 30-year roofs so these things are really built to a high standard and then our unit amenities uh we do LED lighting enery star weighted appliances lvt uh floors um yeah so uh at the end of the day I'm here to ask

[1:08:00] for a resolution of support from the city council which would allow us to then go to the next step uh and continue to compete for these housing tax credits I think it's exciting that it's a brand new development uh we certainly need have a need for affordable Senior Living so I think it hits a part of our segment of our community that is looking for this type of a project so I'm excited about the potential of a brand new development for Senior Living so I'm gonna go over here and I'm going to start with Larry and see what questions or comments he has I wondered if you're anticipating having like a shuttle bus service you know that's a good question um I will write it down because M McDonald's is just down the street a little ways and also a beauty parlor massage facility right next to it but other than that things are a bit of a distance you know I know that we um have done those in the past or partnered with cities uh or municipalities in the past to provide a service like that I just didn't want to say like absolutely yes um but that's definitely something that we can look into and not without or not outside of the realm of possibility we do have a transit system that is an on call system that says the fine if you call and you need to go to the doctor's office from that facility you arrange that or if you need to go wherever it can be ar so whether it's there 247 uh or not there's definitely a transit system today it's reason they've bought smaller Vans versus buses to accommodate the on call Transportation needs of this city thank you I don't know that it includes McDonald's as an on call need but we all know it should if it didn't I will Lobby for that other questions comment the other side of the street is that uh single family dwellings or duplex you know I'd have to go back and look um I saw a lot of duplexes or what like Town H home sort of with garages a

[1:10:02] couple stories I see a lot of single family homes I think those right across the street right across Green Meadow are in fact duplexes and then it transitions back into the neighborhood I think this this would be a good transition um it works well it does yeah I drove over there and looked at it Karen yes ma'am thank you I just want to publicly thank April and the Overland Property Group for their inclusion of Green Space a a Parkland like area I think is how you described it in your in your programming we appreciate that so much and I'd like to see that Trend continue that that you consider the amenities that people so often ask us for providing outdoor space for people animals and so forth so it creates a neighborhood feel and I think it's great yeah thank you for thank you for for saying so you know I I lived in apartments growing up like in a low income family and uh for me with this job it's like I I don't want to just build Apartments I want to build communities um and things that feel more neighborhood likeee so thanks thanks for saying so Harry no ma'am Tommy any further no ma'am then may I have a motion what I'll ask what kind of fencing Walling do you have in mind so we typically don't have any planned our plans are very atic at this point very preliminary uh that comes down to you know what the city process and requirements look like and the zoning or PD requirements look like when we start working with Aaron and the team um but you know we we don't do anything without the city's approval uh and without following the city's requirements we couldn't physically even if we wanted to um so that's definitely something we could discuss I didn't see pickle ball courts out there pickle RS in all C if there's pickle ball courts I want Larry to be the first one on the new court okay okay noted you can be the captain team captain if they have

[1:12:05] captains I don't know any further questions or may I have a motion for approval of the resolution motion thank you Larry second by Karen uh public comment Jackie hello I love this uh project um I your name I'm sorry I'm Jackie Chestnut I'm a local engineer and Rancher and one of my things that I do as an engineer as well as I design assisted living facilities and I love this because we need these for our elderly because we are the majority of the population now we poor old people that are fading by the day um question I have I assume everything is ADA Compliant and I want to mention this because this is most forward in everything I do Did we tell people people and start making people aware that these senior facilities are ADA Compliant everything bathrooms all that so and let's talk about that that's important for all of us I've been through 27 surgeries in the middle of cancer and everything else so we need we all need to be make this open and then security do yall have Security in the buildings is that part of it as well we typically don't have um onsite security but you know often times we'll have cameras we have the you guys I'm the council's right here got speak to us yes so and that was my question is yes do we have sec is and just general question for these kind of facilities do y all have that as well CH night you're welcome to have a conversation with her outside of the council meeting if you interest started answering my question so I was just asking this is your time to provide comment to the council that was my question so very specific in how y'all want me to do this I know um so um yes so those are just questions I have is there's Security in it those kind of things for addressing because we're becoming more and more a nation especially as elderly of this is a problem for us us needing security so thank you yeah for the questions or comments from the public seeing none we will take a vote all those in favor of this resolution

[1:14:09] say I I the motion passes 5 Z thank you everyone I really appreciate your time thanks item C consider approving an agreement with kimley kimley horn and Associates Incorporated as part of an RFQ op04 d23 Safety Action Plan and Ada transition Plan update for the amount of $650,000 utilizing the solid waste fund balance and authorizing the city manager to negotiate and execute all related documents all right good morning mayor and Council um this is pretty straightforward y'all first saw this back well several month several times already but most recently in October of 2023 when y'all authorized us to negotiate with kimley horn on a scope and a fee related to an update to our current 88 transition plan as well as formulating a safety action plan in conjunction with a safe streets for all grant that the city was awarded so um what we're doing is we're coming back to you today just to allocate funding for the creation of those two plans or the the creation of the one plan and the update of the transition plan so that's why it's on regular because we are pulling this from fund balance um it's a total of 650,000 of City funds 550 of that is the update to the transition plan and 100,000 is for the local match part portion of the Safety Action Plan okay so my question would be the following it sounds like an odd area the solid waste fund balance to fund this but maybe I'm don't fully understand what this uh transition Plan update is about well and it and it is and the reason we're doing that is because this is a we're required to do this um we currently are being looked at by the fhwa and part of our comp or voluntary compliance with that is an update to this plan it was a PO a portion where we have funding available currently at the time we do have an obligation for that fund balance in the future but um it's

[1:16:14] not going to impact that fund the way it would impact the general fund or the Civic events fund or any of those other funds that would be going into the transition plan at this point so we we as staff were comfortable utilizing These funds um in the solid waste fund to do this as a Citywide um um purpose the transition plan does affect every citizen in St Angelo the solid waste fund is a fund that is contributed to by the entire entirety of the city so there is a Transit uh you know a relationship plan is a transition plan is is basically it looks like and Teresa may want to jump in here she does the Ada coordinator but I'll attempt it um it looks at our ADA compliance currently with the city and and what the state of that is and then it goes through and it it gives us recommendations on how to bring those deficiencies up into compliance and it looks at everything from our facilities to our RightWay improvements to our programs and services um as a city as a whole and and make sure that it's ADA Compliant very good thank you okay so I I want to make sure okay you mentioned that the 650 coming from the solid waste fund balance but it won't impact a project down the line that we already had obligated These funds to do is that what you said that is correct we we so how are we sure of that so we've looked at and as we develop the land or the concept for the new landfill expansion or the new land Landfield Green Space we've looked at those funds with our consultant we looked at our fund balance um our future Revenue Vues that are coming into that account and we're comfortable us utilizing this money um and not impacting that future so working with our Consultants we're confident that we'll be able to accommodate that without a burden on the city when it comes down to to permitting that landfill okay so council do you have questions for Patrick or comments All right so with that then I will need a motion to approve item C

[1:18:22] move to approve is presented and U Harry made the motion seconded by Larry public comment please seeing none hearing none we will take a vote on item C all those in favor of approving item C say I I motion passes 5 item D first reading of public hearing of an ordinance designating reinvestment Zone number 24-1 to be located at lot one block two Section 3 Southwest Plaza Edition also known as 2702 West Luke 306 Michael you're on good morning mayor and Council Michael DNE interim economic development director uh our purpose for this item is to create a reinvestment Zone the reason we want to do that is we we have talked to council Council will contemplate at a future meeting the approval of ax tax abatement agreement in order to do that in accordance with our ordinance we have to that that abatement has to be on a property located in a council designated reinvestment zone so the first thing we do is create the Zone the next thing we do is we come back to council with a proposed tax abatement agreement so today's item is just about is the first reading to create the Zone uh in order to execute control we our philosophy has been in to create zones only for the property we anticipate a baiting in other words not the whole neighborhood just the property that we expect to contract for a batement on so this zone is uh for the location of the former SEL building at 2702 West Loop 306 the owners plan to invest 3.4 million in addition to the purchase of the facility that amount will fluctu they're fighting inflation like everybody else who's

[1:20:25] building these days so I know they're struggling to keep it down the value of their abatement at this point is anticipated to be 60% of the net increase in taxable value so if they spend have to spend more the value of the abatement will go up and our tax revenue will go up if they spend less the value of their abatement comes down our tax our tax revenue will be less than the estimates but will still go up because they will we'll be receiving for the first seven years taxes on 40% of that increased value what is the time frame for the spending of that capital investment uh they have already started construction the agreement we anticipate will extend no farther than 5 years Beyond completion of construction but we're anticipating a seven-year agreement to give them time to execute construction move in and get things going and for that value to show up on the appr District tax rolls recall that they do that with a January 1st as of date do we have a map of this SL we do have we do have more slides great question the proposed zone is uh what we would see as the parking lot that contains the building uh rendering of what they anticipate it to look like upon completion uh we kind of hit the the highlights uh value at the assumed investment amounts we won't know that until they're through and and actually until it shows up on the tax rols that's the real deal they may invest1 million but if the taxable value only goes up 3.4 that's what is the contract debates So based on a a 3.4 million assumption um and some uh uh declining value for equipment uh we anticipate the abatement

[1:22:29] to be approximately 64,000 they'll pay an additional on those assumptions they'll pay an additional 43,000 in taxes than we receive on the property now over that seven years net 10-year benefit this assumes things like increased sales tax economic impact of uh positions and activity in the area business activity City benefit anticipated this is our economic development software talking 317,000 if you include the other taxing authorities the county and the school district 552 th000 uh we anticipate at these assumptions a payback period is 7.7 years the community benefit is is what economic benefit we yeah describe what that is the the wording is nice Community benefit but what is that this item is actually about the creation of the reinvestment zone and I'm assuming the with more detail would be coming forward yes ma'am yes so keep it don't go too much in depth into the discussion about the abatement because it's not being discussed yes ma'am uh the economic benefit includes other tax streams such as sales tax and um uh the estimated impact of the jobs being in the area but we're not discussing that today we're just discussing those boundaries I Stray and was brought back onto the straight and narrow yes on the straight and narrow go back to that slide that shows the actual uh border of this um reinvestment Zone that's the key is creating the the uh reinvestment Zone where we anticipate the creation of a an approval of an abatement contract thank you okay so put that slide back up that one the the the the one that shows the boundaries that's what we're talking about today are the boundaries of that reinvestment Zone there we go so that what we are approving today is the hard black bold lines in terms of this reinvestment zone so it's very

[1:24:34] specific to this project and this project only yes ma'am do I have questions from Council on this slide for this creation of this reinvestment Zone I see no further now Larry you always wait till I'm ready to move on and then you raise your hand so do it now don't bring it up speak now or forever hold your PE all right with that move move approval was presented man thanks Tommy second Harry by Harry public comment please uh Michael Looney VP of economic for the stt Angelo Chamber of Commerce just wanted to uh quickly add uh that the Chamber of Commerce and CDC have partnered on working with uh Snyder it and with vgi uh this project uh what it does is it it reinstates a a building that is uh been obviously abandoned by a contact center uh citel uh repurposes it gives it a new life and uh this also serves as a hub for the attraction uh and the creation of coalitions of New Technology based companies in St Angelo so not only will they these two companies be inhabiting the property but it will serve as a collecting point for other companies that are in advanced technology and uh software development and Technology Services Pro providing uh services not just to the immediate City into the region but also externally so we see this as a good move as one of our strategic plans is to try to assuage uh more technology um and the development of software Technologies and software as a service in San Angelo and it is growing um several members of our Contra Valley technology Alliance uh program which is similar to our

[1:26:36] manufacturers Alliance uh have expressed interest in inhabiting the the facility as well and that creates more of a an incubator type feel to the property so it's not just for these two companies but there are other companies in similar Industries uh that will also be inhabiting the property over time and we think pretty rapidly so thank you very much further public comment with none we will now take a vote all those in favor of approving item D the border of this reinvestment Zone say I I motion passes 5 item e is consider approving tax increment reinvestment Zone tiers incentive funding for Six South TI private projects totaling 377,000 end um but I do have six projects that went to the tear board and this is just kind of a summary page and we'll get into some more details um but you see 36 East tuig 40 West tuig 214 South chadburn 22 Martin Luther King what I would ask is that the addresses are great but I think we need to understand what the address is so ma' just looking at the numbers and the address doesn't show what the project is yes ma'am a little more context is helpful um so 30 East tuig that is the cactus Hotel 40 West tuig that is the spur building 202 Martin Luther King most people may not notice the building but it's a little uh used to be an old service station that was probably built in the 40s or maybe 50s uh there is a landscape company uh Jo Landscaping that

[1:28:41] has bought the building and wants to refurbish it and we'll get into some of those images 123 North chadburn that is the Blue Buffalo art gallery and then uh 44 uh four 41 Rio contro drive that's the Clarion Hotel along the river uh just next door to here okay 214 South churn is skipped oh I thank you for pointing that out that is the plateau Brewing on 214 South chadburn uh Plateau Brewing is that one so here you can see the the request that they um made and the amount that is recommended and we'll get into those just a little more specifically uh one of the benefits and and on this slide I want you to see that that total funding is uh 3,7 377,000 th000 left in the South TI fund after if these uh projects do get uh funded today so so let's get into the details again this is the cactus Hotel um they are matching at 51,8 43 the funding request was for 75,000 they are doing facade improvements uh with the historic preservation of the historic building they are restoring 18 awnings with metal material instead of fabric material that did go through the dhrc and they're replacing the door units uh with updated framework and an ADA entry system uh some of that information is in your packets uh you can see here on the left side are the samples that they provided to dhrc and to our teers board and you can see there on the right some of the current things that of course our West Texas wind from time to time uh does to fabric awnings uh dhrc did like the color and they felt that that was going to be a longer term solution and they

[1:30:43] approved it and our tear board also lik the idea I thought we'd approved the awnings before for do you I looked back through the tear board and I did not find anything that approved awnings in 2011 they did approve secondary ESS for funding in 2011 through the tear board I know dhrc did approve this and they did have some discussion of whether you know uh Fabric or metal um I don't recall that coming back to the council for that item but I'm wondering if there were maybe some discussions about the building when other things were talked about um about just the general maintenance and the and the look and trying to get them to to make that a little more has been previous funding given towards the awning not through the tears uh program no ma'am okay before I move on from uh the cactus from this project any other questions on the cactus and then the just keep going and then give everybody time to yes ma'am to think through it all this again is the spur building uh this one is actually um their match is 109,000 and the funding request is 75,000 um they do have a um modernization of an elevator that has not been functioning for many many years uh they right now their only access to second third floors are stairs and so this actually fell under one of the new incentive guidelines that the council uh voted on was for Ada uh a accessibility to the rest of the building um the ti board looked at that and thought that was a very good project because it does then make those two floors accessible uh and it allows them to expand uh offices up in those areas and have more use of that building so the parking lot would be available for only people in the building or I and yeah versus um additional parking

[1:32:50] overall that's a good question I'm not sure exactly how they if there's a contract with the parking lot or not but I know that the the parking was for the building um we didn't really look at that or discuss that on the ti item um it probably didn't need to but Teresa I think we do need to look at what was the contract on the spur building um I don't know I'm a little confused about what our contract was there that that being said I think the elevator is obviously necessary yeah it's yeah so now on to Plateau Brewing at 214 South chadburn uh their um match is 23, 355 their funding request is 56701 uh it is for some uh facade Improvement on the front but particularly for an addition of an outdoor patio space at the back of the of the property uh the outdoor patio space do is not front onto chadburn it's actually behind the the uh structure um so these are a couple of pictures of the back of that structure now you can see the Old Stone Wall um in fact um Mr Missour remembered putting that stone wall in so it's not as old as the building uh and so they're going to remove uh that stone wall and this is where the patio is going to be and you can see the brick there the red brick that is the back of the existing building um right now so they will have this outdoor patio it'll be kind of a metal structure um that will be wood clad around the back if you look at this bottom picture here that is the parking lot that is to the south of uh 214 South chadburn they have that wall that comes down uh and it kind of uh Jags down they're not doing anything to the wall they're keeping it as is as the way the wall was uh they are just adding on this patio that goes around and the and the cover so from the public view you won't be seeing a whole

[1:34:53] lot of this this did go through dhrc and did get approval the only difference in these images right here that you'll see is they've actually recommended a darker color than the lighter would to try to help with some of the fading with the sun and so that uh that is going to be coming forward as well uh we think it's a great addition downtown uh it will uh increase the size of their business and it is designed to be a Four Season outdoor space and so they're very excited about that 202 Martin Luther King that is going to be Jo Landscaping um it is going to be facade Improvement uh landscape uh installation and strengthen the visual appeal it is in the downtown district not in the historic district the match uh that they are doing is 41,0 340 uh and they requested 75,000 so here are some pictures of the older building now that you see the older building you probably recognize it if you've gone on MLK in that part of town um it's kind of a unique building that's got kind of a roof that was added after the fact and even some of those uh things that are different what they are going to do is match the building that's to the side of them you can see this here on the left side that is the building that they currently occupy and did get tiar funding for I want to say it was in either 2017 or 2018 they did purchase this building it's just to the left of this but you see on the right here that whole facade is going to change where they're going to have uh stone at the bottom they're going to have uh the wood siding and then they're going to have the R panel at the top they are going to do a a r panel that's very similar to this one that's very soft it does not have a lot of reflection uh causing any issues there here's their landscape plan uh Martin Luther King is at the bottom of your um uh screen and then West 2 street is to the right they do plan on Landscaping that area which will actually make that area very nice uh and much more inviting there are some vacant Lots in that area and so hopefully that is an instigation of Redevelopment over

[1:36:55] in that part uh of Martin Luther King 123 North chadburn this is the Blue Buffalo uh their match is 6,920 uh funding request was 2,760 they're doing some minor F facade Improvement uh and enhancement of the exterior of the gallery and they're recreating the U original awning so here on this side they're going to put this uh mural that they have come up with designs with and has gotten approved that will be as you come down uh chadburn heading south you'll be able to see that on the side of their building kind of a nice welcoming uh into our Historic downtown area they are they did get this approved through dhrc they have done most of the facade but you can just see there there is an actual um oning that they're going to read that's an original awning uh for that structure and so we do like that uh them going back to the originality of the structure and adding that awning and so part of this funding will be for that as well you know that building used to be one of the uglyest uh buildings in in downtown and look like it would never come back to life and to see what has been done to that building is incredible yes and to see these new additions that mural's wonderful and that really improves that blank wall yes I think that will will bring enhancement to that area and I really like all the traffic that happens around there now that Block's getting more and more traffic and I like that it's moving up chadburn as well so I think that's a great great thing so uh 441 Rio cono Drive the claron hotel uh their match is 52835 with a funding request of 75,000 uh so it is a pure facade Improvement they're going to repaint the exterior of the claron hotel uh which is a very big project most of us think oh repaintings that's not that big but it is a very large Hotel here on the left

[1:38:57] you can see what they have uh they're going with colors very very similar but they are going to be nice and refreshed and you can see them here on the right side they did go through the river Corridor uh approval since they are in the river Corridor but that is a a large structure to repaint uh and got some really great colors there so I think that's a great Improvement for it with that I bring us back to this slide um that has our addresses our funding request and our recommended funding amount the ti board did recommend unanimously to fund at 100% each one of those projects so that total came out to 377,000 462 and 42 C with that I'll be happy to answer any questions teres I have one question on 441 Ral contal drive it's not necessarily specific to this funding but there was at one point a large conversation in city council before all of us were up here about that covered walkway from the Clarion Hotel to our Convention Center that goes underneath the railroad yes yes was the C would you at some point bring that update to us on because again it was before this Council to remind us of what that conversation was okay because this is our convention hotel if you will and that covered parking was an important element connecting it to MCN and I'd like to better understand what was said and approved and done during that council member council meeting relative to this we will facility I also was able Sarah sent me the um agreement with the spur garage they contributed $1.7 million to reconstruct the garage for their their use of them and their tenants so there's no public requ requirement that they provide just general public parking Teresa I can give a general answer to the mayor's questions a while ago if you want me to or do you want that as a separate item to come back just well let's bring it back yeah that's better

[1:41:02] okay and then typically um because there was funding obviously there re the funding requests were approved although the matching requests were less than the funding amount because funds were available is that correct that's correct and the the uh matching funds uh had to be at least 25% of the project and some of these are significantly over 25% but they're all at least 25% match so that's the standard that is used at least that yes ma'am that number okay Larry do you have questions yes I had a previous conversation with Mr Venoy concerning Ada on the uh Cactus hotel and you've settled my question about that but I wondered about all the other projects because uh often times those older buildings bus have uh hurdles for people with Mobility problems to tackle uh curbs steps up to the building and so on and I I would hope that there's some investigation done before you know we let this money out to them to make sure that U it is uh feasible to have them Ada yes any of the projects that will require building permits they will be looking at that as part of the permit and the site plan process uh so for example the plateau Brewing they've already discussed of how to make sure that they they can get all the way through the building and out to the back patio and be able to circulate around the back patio as well as egress out of the patio if there's an emergency and how they can get out and where to go so they are improving most of that Concrete in the back uh so that they do have a way out uh that's safe our Fire Marshals teams always involved in in those types of things as well as our building permits team I don't remember seeing in that picture a back door door to get out of that patio do they have to go back through the building in case of a fire or what happens let me get back to it real quick here they actually have two gates they've got one here and they've got one

[1:43:05] here and then this is a larger gate because they do have their overhead door I know I've got too many circles on there they have their overhead door right back here where they take in their delivery so that they can have a truck back in there if they needed to uh but these will all have the um accessible exits uh so that they able to get in and out they uh don't really want this to be accessed you park around and walk through the back they're going to make people come to the front ISS for the safety but you are able to egress that way uh and they will be making sure that there's a a path back to the parking lot thank you you Larry was there anything else I interrupted on that no ma'am because I couldn't remember a gate on that when you brought up a no more questions okay Karen uh my questions aren't specific to the funding of these projects but they're related to this conversation do you want me to hold them till the end well ask it and we'll decide whether it's allowable see if I make it through the door um once a project is approved what's the time limit uh for the funding it does it does it start with initiation uh does it does it commence with when the project is finished how long do they have to spend the money that's being awarded to them in Grant form so once they get approved through Council if Council approves the dollars amount then we do a uh contract agreement with them our standard Agreements are two years and then after that two years if they have not completed the work then actually really kind of before that we start investigating to see if they're going to meet that deadline some projects come back and ask for an extension those extensions do go to the board uh the ti board uh with a staff recommendation of yes or no depending on what the circumstances are in fact at our last board meeting we had one that came forward for an extension because they had to have some more extensive engineering work done and so they haven't been able to find the right contractor and so we recommended approval for that typically we do a six-month uh extension sometimes it'll be a year extension depending on the circumstances of availabilities of

[1:45:08] contractors and things like that okay uh next question are firsttime applicants prioritized over repeat applicants that's a very good question I would have to dig into the incentives just to make sure um I know that there I believe there's a time frame if you were awarded that you can't come back but I'm I'm not 100% sure to give you a confident answer but I can certainly research that but Karen well I think the bylaws we at one point had submitted to tears I think that people who' receive funding for a specific project would sort of come to the bottom of the list and new projects would be first but I don't know I think in the scoring criteria there has to be some of that we criteria that we go through to rank the project is it giving economic value is it you know there's a whole list of things um in this particular case regardless there was way more money than there was projects requested so even those that may have received prior you know may have not scored at the top but they all are being brought forward as viable projects but we can look into that especially from the scoring aspect where it makes sure to give you know new ones more points for that versus one that's already received is that okay here thank you Tommy all right with that then may I ask for a motion for approval of item e move by Harry seconded by Larry public comment please welcome back thank

[1:47:19] you Zan white district 6 mayor You' ask um about or you had mentioned that you believe that the awnings for the cactus had already been uh approved they actually were uh at a dhrc meeting on January 26th of 23 uh that's the last thing that I could find in all of the da the te agenda archives and the dhrc review commission archives that's all for 2023 that I could find uh relating to that okay so the last meeting and I really encourage you guys to look at the video very very carefully on that meeting because the issues that I've got are serious legal issues that are going to come back and bite kosa if you don't address them now um there were misstatements made by planning staff uh misrepresentations intentionally or otherwise made to the dhrc board uh legal uh I'm sorry sorry um yeah legal legal made some misstatements as well inaccuracies and because of that and because this is a $75,000 contract uh any of that even the language if the languages wrong that should void the contract I didn't see any severability Clauses I'm not aware of any maybe there are but these are matters of terminology structural terminology at the core of it

[1:49:24] is canopies versus awnings the uh planning representative mentioned that there was a department of interior uh allowance for cloth I'm sorry for metal uh canopies and that based upon that that the metal awnings that pluger was requesting uh were acceptable based upon the department of interior guidelines which are listed on the dhrc uh website um even in the even in the regular agenda meeting agenda that was posted uh on January 26 23 it has down uh 36 D Tu a request for certificate of appropriateness for replacement of canopies and repainting of doors and window trim there is no replacement of canopies uh there's a structural difference between canopies and awnings and that alone should wipe this out I'm encouraging you to go back start from scratch uh cross your teeth and Dot your eyes and then come back with it for Mr fluger because if you don't and this is litigated from someone in the public and Mr fluger is going to be forced to repay that money back to the back to tears or back to the citizenry and he's not going to be happy about that this is one situation where I couldn't find any irregularities on Mr fluger part in the application so therefore that would fall back on the city for him having to cough that money back up so and I think we know probably what would happen

[1:51:27] there uh so that's that's the main thing as far as specifics on what's allowed and what's not according to the Secretary of the Interior standards for the treatment of historic properties the standards for restoration guidelines and restoring historic buildings materials and features from the restoration period will be retained and preserved that's that means fabric awnings the removal of materials or alteration features spaces and spatial relationships that characterize the period will not be undertaken that's the removal of materials will not be undertaken each property will be recognized as physical record of its time place and use which was 1929 each property will I'm sorry distinctive features materials finishes and construction techniques or examples of craftsmanship that characterize the restoration period will be preserved deteriorated features from the restoration period will be repaired rather than replaced where the severity of deterioration requires replacement of a distinctive feature the new feature will match the old in design color texture and where possible materials that means fabric awnings not metal period designs that were never executed historically will not be constructed again this is on the dhrc website in the guidelines from the Department of interior uh and then just to I've got some more information making distinctions between the uh canopies and the awnings but I think I'm pretty clear on that so far um there was a situation

[1:53:33] in where there was in 2021 there was a dhrc staff report where a local downtown uh requested some a canopy and it makes the distinction in that report that at dhrc report the distinction between canopies which are metal every time you see canopies you see metal or glass and that was the primary statement that if you look back at that video you'll see that the planning representative mentioned that there was an allowance for metal canopies and and there are but that's not what fluer applied for we're talking fabric awnings to be replaced by historically inappropriate metal awnings Teresa comment on that um I think that the important term that has been used is those are guidelines and it is Direction that's given to the dhrc but they do have discretion to make their own determinations on what's most appropriate for our downtown so I think the important thing to note is that the process to go to the the dhrc for approval that is what occurred they gave their approval based on their professional um knowledge and experience and understanding of what's appropriate for downtown and so that paved the way for Mr fluger to come forward to apply for this to years funding my question would be the department of interior which oversees historic Redevelopment R dhrc would be allowed to create lesser standards than the department of interior for historic project those are not adopted standards they guidelines and they are pretty General in the way that they are written regarding color and what is I mean there's always lots of discussions do you paint brick or don't you paint brick if you read those guidelines they would say don't paint

[1:55:34] brick but there are some instances where we allow that to happen so um it's not the same as an adopted ordinance where it's a rule that staff and the board has to follow it's just information given to them on how they should consider their decisions and about the subject of awning versus canopy I don't have any knowledge of that I we can certainly look into that if you think it's important but again um generally generally what is presented at the dhrc and we could go back and look I guess at that meeting but there are pictures that they request of what exactly is going to be um installed they don't take just general I've never seen them take just general descriptions of anything they won't even paint samples so I would assume that um they knew that these were going to be metal and that the distinction for them between a canopy is is was not relevant enough to to deny this request but of course that's just my assumption but it is not a basis to deny the tier funding they did seek and received approval from the dhrc you'll see if you review that video uh that again there were many this business of uh it's it's vague it's not it's not specific what I just read you is specific and yes it does apply uh the interpretation is really convenient when it comes to Mr fluger Lee fluger uh and this is a pattern that's gone on for years and you can go back two years which is how long I've been back in town a little over that and you can look at all of the dhrc meetings in which fluger had something going on at the uh cactus hotel and the your your husband John James who was the previous planning manager uh got really creative and really interpretive and it was always in favor of Mr fluger you know that

[1:57:37] everybody in town knows that there's been a lot of things that were uh just completely blown off you've got three floors of windows at the cactus that weren't approved the canopy one of the pictures that you're talking about about canopies that were submitted there weren't any paint uh chips nothing there were the two pictures that were here previously those were the only pictures that were shown to tear also there's a completely this this uh question here for approval about 33,000 of that speak to the about 33,000 of that was for the uh just for the awnings the rest of it was for Ada compant security entrances and painting repainting on the exterior uh along the storefronts there was no discussion in that since January 20 a year ago over a year ago that I can find and if it's not on the website then that's an open meeting situation uh or a um failure to disclose to the public what's going on on so as far as what tears had before them if you'll look at that video which was just about a week ago I believe all they had presented to them from dhrc from a year ago was the two photos that you had earlier one with the cloth tattered Dawning one with the metal Dawning there were two two pictures of that side by side that's all they got also Mr fluger said that the uh color would be green and then he he did show them a picture of something that was gray there were two different designs on the canopy Styles one of them was gray so we don't know whether it's going to be green whether it's going to be gray it's sloppy it's lazy it appears to be corrupt the the entire process as as it goes with the dhrc

[1:59:42] approval and I'm not necessarily blaming the people on the dhrc board I believe they've been manipulated primarily maybe with an exception or two they've been manipulated by planning and they've been manipulated by legal to push these things through it's sloppy sort of like Aaron here earlier uh you know and this has been going on for years you know I don't know that's a good question I'll have to get back to you and then that's the end of it and then there's executive approval or administrative approval at the planning level which the public doesn't have access to nothing it's a setup for people that want to get things done planning and legal make it happen and the oversight is atrocious it's almost non-existent and may his time has been exceeded and he's kind of off topic right now I don't know how that's off topic please speak to the talking about planning and the the way that the deficits in the planning situation and the dhrc and the tears I don't know how that's off topic thank you Zane thank you questions comments challenges issues based on the comments provided I'm I feel uncertain uh about voting in favor of 36 C Tu I'd like a chance to review some of the materials that were referenced can we remove that item and approve the remaining five I believe you can and if there's specific information you'd like us to research like pulling that uh data from prior applications we can pull that get that information for you and bring this item back a couple of people uh from Council have asked that specific question so that one for sure and um the information suggested that referenced historic preservation oversite in the rules and regulations about materials

[2:01:46] and colors and whatnot I I'd like to know personally it it may be a small thing to and I'm sorry to delay a worthy project but I I'm not comfortable voting on that one today those items we can show you what was presented but I can guarantee you it's like they said the the dhrc has reviewed you have the right to change it if you want to but we can bring that detail back well I think what has been brought up is one of the things that I do have concerns about and that is in order to have a true historic uh District which we've created a historic district overlay we need to not have so much if you will leeway on approving what is historic what's not what is allowed in a department of interior over historic buildings we can't just leave it up to personal opinion or else we give up what is truly a historic district and the the need and the desire to truly have a historic district we can't be kind of a historic district with exceptions to that we either are or we aren't so but with that we had a motion I believe in a second so we would need to um deny approval of that motion before we then move on to address what Karen is asking for or Harry could amend his motion if he so chooses Harry would you like to amend your motion I will amend the motion to just have five properties 40 West two 14 South chadburn 202 Martin Luther King 123 North chadburn and 441 real consol drive and improve those TI request okay so the motion has been amended excluding 36 e tug at the moment any further comment on that change in the motion seeing none we'll take a vote on that those in favor of the new motion on the floor please say I I motion passes

[2:03:52] 5 we now move into a closed session which is not happening there are no items in the closed session so we will follow up with the uh administrative issues consider items discussed in executive session which again is zero announcements and consideration of future agenda items which is to consider dates and scheduling for the next strategic Workshop Daniel mayor I'm going to ask that we move that to the next city council meeting for discussion since we're being we're Lo we're missing two City Council memb so this is go and hold off then may I have a motion for adjournment by Tommy as seconded by Harry Brenda Harry I wait for Tom but he's not here yeah all right with that all those in favor of adjourning this meeting at 10:36 a.m. please say I I meeting is officially adjourned

Captured 2026-07-26 · source: youtube.com/watch?v=zH2W_zTNnNw