City Council - Regular Meeting

of St. Andrews Presbyterian Church. If everyone would please silence your cell phone and if you so choose, please stand and remain standing for the pledge of allegiance.

Let us pray. Almighty God, as we gather for this city council meeting, we ask your blessing on our new city manager. Grant him wisdom, strength, and compassion as he begins this important work of leadership and service. We also ask you to guide our hearts and minds to work together in wisdom, humility, and grace. Help us to think creatively, serve selflessly, and seek the good of all our neighbors. Renew our vision, our unity, and our commitment to justice, compassion, and peace in our city. May our decisions reflect care for others, and hope for the future. We pray. Amen. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America with liberty and justice.

May I have roll call, please? Mayor West present. Mayor Pro Tim Turner here. Council member Durio here. Council member Hillyard here. Council member Williams. Council member Sherwood and Council Member Krenshaw here. Thank you. All right. We have three presentations today and [clears throat] the first one will be [laughter] Excuse [cough] Excuse me. I'm good. Uh the fiscal year 2025 annual. We're going to do communications first. Mayor, we're going to do Yes, please. So I can get my voice. communications. [clears throat]

Good afternoon everyone and happy Cinco de Mayo. We still need volunteers to join the mayor's coalition against violence. The goal is to bring our community together to support at risk youth and help prevent youth violence. The next coalition meeting is Tuesday, May 12th at 5:30 p.m. at the Lakeside Center Auditorium. We hope everyone will turn out and be a part of the solution. You're invited to join us for the 75th annual National Day of Prayer on Thursday, May 7th from noon to 1:00 p.m. It will take place inside city council chambers and will be led by Pastor Donnie Flippo of Gospel Center Church. Several of our community faith leaders will offer prayer throughout the hour and all are welcome to attend as we come together in reflection and unity. It's time to beat the heat for the summer at one of the two public pools in the city. Both Alice Keith Park Pool and Magnolia Park Pool will be open starting June 1st, Memorial Day weekend and will remain open through Labor Day weekend, September 8th. Great news for Bumont students. You can once again ride the city's zip transit system for free this summer. From May 28th through August 12th, students can hop on one of our city buses and stay connected to summer programs, jobs, and activities while school is out. High school students must show a valid ID and younger riders should be accompanied by a parent or guardian. We're proud to support our youth with safe, reliable transportation all summer long. [snorts] Looking for a summer job? The city is currently hiring pool managers, lifeguards, summer camp supervisors, summer kennel attendants, golf course aids, and summer recreation aids. Pay ranges from 11 to $18 an hour, and it's a great way to gain some valuable experience and build your resume. If you're interested, apply today at city of bowontjob.com. It's National Travel and Tourism Week and Bumont has a few fun ways for you to get involved. Starting today, we're encouraging everyone to eat BMT by supporting our local restaurants and it's perfect timing with today being

Cinco deio. There's a full list of fun activities all week long. Just check out visitbulmont.com. [clears throat] Movies in the park are returning in June. These free outdoor showings take place at parks all across the city. This year's series kicks off June 5th at Withering Heights Park with the Smurfs. Movies will continue throughout the summer at different city parks. And as we head into the weekend, we also want to recognize that Mother's Day is this Sunday, May 10th. We'd like to give a special thank you to all the mothers who serve the city of Bumont and those across our community for everything you do to care for and raise the next generation. And of course, don't forget to celebrate your mom this weekend. And that concludes this week's announcements.

Thank you. Now, we'll have the uh fiscal year 2025 annual comprehensive financial report by Patillo Brown and Hill. Welcome. Good afternoon. [snorts]

Uh my name is Chris Puit. I'm an audit partner for Patillo Brown and Hill. and we have completed your audit [clears throat] for the uh fiscal year ended September 30th, 2025. Uh I'd like to thank the council for giving us the opportunity to serve as your auditors this year. I'd also like to thank the finance department for all of the help that they provided during the course of the audit. Should have two documents, uh the actual financial report and a letter from us. Um the actual report um was gone over last week in great detail with your finance committee. Much greater detail than I'm going to go into today. Um I will say that your financial report is divided into three uh separate categories. An introductory section, a financial section, and a statistical section. Within that introductory section on page Roman numeral 9, you will find a copy of an award uh given out by the finance officers government finance officers association. It's a certificate for excellence in financial reporting. Last year was the 38th year in a row that the city received this award. This is a copy of last year's award and we feel that the uh report this year meets the criteria to uh receive that award again this year. So, you should be receiving another award in October or um September hopefully. Um the audit opinion letter is on page one. Uh that letter states that the financial statements are the responsibility of the uh management of the city. Our responsibility as your auditors to express an opinion on the financials. Uh you receive what we call an unmodified opinion. It's also referred to as a clean opinion. And what that means is that in our professional opinion, your financial statements are free of material misstatement and that they can be relied on by a third party. So it's the highest opinion that we can give. Uh, additionally, the letter to you, um, there are certain things that u I have to convey to you as your auditor. I've just chosen to put them into a written

format rather than verbally going over it all. But within the letter uh you will find our responsibility in relation to the audit ethic requirements. Um there is something on page two I'd like to point out. It says significant risk considered. There are certain things that we have to consider prior to the audit as we take a risk based approach to the audit. Um these are items that we considered prior to the audit and were not items that came up during the audit. So we looked at your management override of controls and your debt issuances because those transactions can be sometimes complicated. Uh so again I just wanted to verify you know and point that out to you that this was not something that came up during the audit. Rather it was something that we considered when making our risk assessment plan. Uh it's a big document. It's a lot of uh information here. And I guess at this time I'd like to field any questions that you might have over either document or the audit process itself. Anybody have any questions?

All right. Thank you. Thank you. Yes, sir. Okay. And now we have a uh presentation by Mr. Mike Harris on our wastewater treatment facility master plan. He is the city of Bowmont director of water and sewer operations. And you have a guest. Couple of guest. Yes.

Uh good afternoon, [clears throat] council, mayor, um city manager. Uh today we have John De Antonio and with Black & Beach and Jeff Beaver with SPI. They will be presenting our wastewater treatment plant master plan. Uh this plan serves as a roadmap for maintaining and improving our wastewater treatment plant to meet current demands and also preparing for the future. Uh our last comprehensive master plan was completed in 2016 and since then system conditions, regulatory requirements and capacity needs have continued to evolve. Uh this update reflects those changes and outlines the strategic path forward to ensure reliability, compliance, and long-term sustainability for our system. Uh many of the recommendations that you see are recommended projects that you'll see today are also incorporated in our community investment program uh which help align planning with funding and imple implementation priorities. So at this time I'd like to turn it over to John Danton with Black & Beach. Well, Mayor and members of council, it's certainly an honor to be here today to present the results of our master plan, which we basically completed in 2025, delivered the final deliverables in 2026. To start, I want you to understand the valued asset that you have in your wastewater treatment plant and the outstanding job that this current engineering and operations staff do in maintaining and sustaining that asset. In the [clears throat] upper left is the main plant itself. It was actually built uh originally in 1952 uh and is a 31.9

million gallon per day uh permitted plant. the because of of regulatory requirements or more stringent regulatory requirements uh the cattail marsh wetlands were constructed in 1993 uh to address uh ammonia removal. Now the plant today and that's that's the cattail marsh is shown in in the lower right uh with the the education boardwalk out into the march. This will become a popular destination for uh both citizens and tourism tourists uh for the city of Bmont plant today is running about 16 to 20 million gallons per day. Uh so you have plenty of capacity and I think the projections that we did looking at both high growth projections and low growth projections uh will says the plan will serve you for a number of years to come. We got together with staff as we were starting the master plan and and identified a number of key objectives or key success criteria uh for the master plan. One was future regulatory compliance understanding what future regulations could do to to the to the facility and then also understanding uh other other impacts of pending regulations that we'll discuss an ammonia solution. You're going to hear more about ammonia this in a little bit uh later in the talk. Uh ammonia is a big deal. It's a regulatory problem. Uh one of concern so we need to uh it was a key issue to address. Plant is approaching 75 years old. Uh so a lot of aging infrastructure and maintenance maintaining good operations and maintenance of facility is really important. So we need to address uh replacing aging infrastructure as they reach the end of their useful life. Cattail marsh uh future the cattail marsh operating a natural systems 558

acre wetlands is a challenge and it's been a continued challenge for the staff over the years. Uh and so uh part of the master plan was to look at what is the true future of the cattail marsh and obviously as [clears throat] Mike talked about you know giving you a prioritized list of projects uh for capital improvements for the city to consider as they go forward. Now, a large part of the project was looking at the existing facility, existing condition of those assets in the at the treatment plant and in the wetlands. And that's something Shawnburg and Poke really led for the team. And so, I'm going to turn it over to our partner Shamburg and Poke Jeff Beavers to to uh talk about that part.

Thank you, John.

Yes. As as John said, we looked at the um existing assets and determined the condition and the needs for those assets. As part of that assessment, we met with the city's operating staff out there and got valuable information from them on the history of the maintenance that has been going on out there. Um we combined that with a visual inspection of all 14 areas of the plant. Um and and when we say 14 areas, you have the influent lift station that uh includes mechanical screens and pumps. You have the clarifiers and trickling filters. All of those those two assets were originally constructed in the 50s. Um you have the two aation ponds. There's three two of them were constructed in the 70s. The third one was added in the 2000s. and then the chlorine disinfection, high flow and transfer lift stations. Um the result of those um inspections and assessment was to identify potential improvement projects. Um we were able to identify seven potential improvement projects that I believe the city is in the process of scheduling for your um community improvement plan. Those included um replacing old valves on each of the pumps and modifying the existing grain system at the influent lift station. Um repairing of the levy between pond one and pond two aeration ponds where there's some erosion um before it actually becomes a problem. Being proactive is is the is the goal. The grit removal systems were put in in the 80s. um they've reached pretty much their life and need to be replaced with either um current state-of-the-art type grit removal systems or similar systems. Um we also have miscellaneous pump

improvements that need to be looked at. Rehabilitation of the pumps at the high flow lift station and the transfer lift station. The high flow lift station handles the the excess storm water when we have the rains that we have here. And so it's it's critical to prevent water from backing up in the system. The transfer list station is what actually moves the water from the main treatment plant down to Cattail Marsh. Obviously, both of those are critical elements. Um we also looked at um rehabilitating the existing on-site transformers throughout the plant. They're they're operable and working, but they are beginning to show some deterioration. So again, that's a proactive project to um make sure we don't have a failure on any of those units. We also identified some miscellaneous improvements. The coating system in the primary clarifier number two needs to be um addressed. The sledge digesttor walls and the chlorine disinfection basin walls um have cracking and some other signs of age that need to be looked at and just again proactive improvements to those. And then the transfer canal between the main plant and cattail marsh. Um there's sediment that is has settled out in there that just needs to be moved out. Of all of these projects are needed. They're not something that has to happen immediately, but it is time to plan those and have a plan to uh proactive plan to take care of that. And how do I move to the next slide, John?

Oops. There we go. Um, as far as the assessment of cattail marsh, the wetlands, we um employed an aerial drone survey of cattail marsh that allowed us to go in and actually um identify in each cell those areas that um have emergent wetland vegetation, which is the um what we're looking for, what we need to have to provide the treatment. also identified open water areas, areas where trees have grown in and then areas that have are become covered in the invasive um water hyent. Um by doing that we were able to put together a plan for going in and correcting um each of those sales. What was proposed is um probably doing two sales a year either annually or or every other year until you um take care of those and get those all back into service. That's needed if cattail marshes continue to use for ammonia removal as the final phase of the treatment process. Um as John said, it was originally constructed in 1993. there were major improvements in um made in um around 2007209 out there and then it's been since then that nothing has really been done to um to do that and so that maintenance and that improvement is something that needs to be looked at. There's also um an outfall list station that pumps the water the the final treat at water across Willam Marsh by you to a natural wetland area. Um maintaining those pumps is also another area that needs to be looked at proactively. Um and again as I said these recommendations out at Cattail Marsh can can be scheduled on either an annual or a bianual basis to stay in front of those issues. [clears throat]

This time I'll turn it back over to John.

Thank you, Jeff. So, I said we're gonna talk a little bit about ammonia. I said, why are we talking about ammonia is NH3? It's a common constituent in domestic [clears throat] waste water. It's also uh toxic to aquatic life. So, the regulators, environmentalists are very concerned about elevated levels of ammonia. Now, what you see in in this graph right here is your current limit in your current permit. The limit is 7 mg per liter. And of course, we looked at at data uh from the end of 24 uh in our analysis. And you can see, you know, from the the summer months, which is the most critical period, you you would have been below the seven milligram per lead on on an on a daily average basis for the month. I'm getting a little close maybe at times, but but in compliance. However, you have a pending future limit in the current permit that during that same time period lowers the discharge of ammonia to 3 mg per liter. And again, as you can see, you would have been out of compliance every month during that period. that those limits are not enforced today, but they're in the permit. So, they are pending. They're hanging over you. So, why are we what what is what is the deal with ammonia? Well, first of all, the trickling filters that the plants were based on, the main plant really don't do a good job of ammonia. Back in 1952, people didn't care about it as much. It's been a more recent uh constituent of concern. So there is going to be a regulatory compliance challenge if the future phase permits are put in place. The wetlands can only do so much. They were installed to address ammonia, but they're currently overloaded and they can't handle the ammonia load coming from the

plant to meet these strict limits. Uh as we said, wetlands also present [snorts] an operations challenge. So we really needed a practical ammonia solution and that was really the focus of our process uh team to look at what can be done uh at the plant to practically remove ammonia. And so we looked at six different alternatives. They're shown here on the screen. Uh conversion to activated sludge which is another treatment process with suspended microbes uh to remove the the waste. uh enlarging or deepening the trickling filters that would have presented a big challenge though working with those existing structures. There's other couple of technologies I call these the acronym technologies the MABR which is a membrane attached biofilm which is a membrane that has a bofilm attached to it that you provide air to the bofilm removes the ammonia. Then MBBR which is a moving bed bioreactor. uh you can see the little plastic uh element uh that gets put into the wastewater uh microbes grow and attach to that and then that does the removal. We also looked at two sort of newer technologies uh attached algo growth uh attached growth algo system. Uh this is a fairly new technology. Again, algae grows on uh basically on belts and and removes the the the ammonia and then also a submerged attached growth uh reactor which is something we would build in one of the existing ponds. Both of these technologies are a little newer and maybe not as proven as the others. So, so we did an alternative evaluation, submitted a report, then we all got together, our our consultant team and and city staff and uh in in an alternative evaluation meeting is a great collaborative meeting where we discussed pros and cons of each one of the alternatives and the team decided

that the best alternative to solve the ammonia problem was the MBBR and we picked that one and again it it this represents a major investment at the plant obviously it's Uh right now it's a 20 to $25 million cost and that really only gets you through that's a 20 uh 24 MGD uh uh MBBR. We we base the evaluations on on the planning year which was 20 20 240. Um but it it's a it really has a it doesn't look like it but it's one of the lower capital and operating cost uh alternatives. Uh it's a reliable a very reliable technology proven uh again and it it's uh uh it really easy to operate and maintain and and very reliable. So I think this was the one that we felt uh was the best uh alternative and the staff felt was the best alternative going forward. If you look at the picture to the right, you can see that's what a typical MBBR unit would look like. It's an airrated basins with diffused air uh at the bottom. And you can in the little cutout picture, you can see the little uh plastic uh pieces elements uh floating in the in the wastewater. And that's where the bio mass grows and that does they do the job. So we also identified as as Jeff went over 13 other projects. Um and uh this really uh represented the the the recommendations of the master plan. Uh these total uh this total about 15 15.7 million over you know that could be spread out over 5 year or more period as Jeff indicated. And these projects ranged in size from $23,000 up to 2.8 8 million for some of the larger wetland projects. Finally, the the master plan concluded

with a future vision. Here are things for the for the staff and and operating and engineering staff to be thinking about as they move down the road. Uh maintaining plant capacity and there is a TCQ permit renewal that will take place. Uh uh we need to start working on it in the spring of 28. Uh so it's coming up ongoing conversations with DCQ about ammonia and about cattail the future of cattail marsh. Do you want to shift the discharge point from cattail marsh back to the plant discharge? That's a possibility. And then there are other future ideas that we put into the report for the to looking at more long-term planning in terms of asset management improve resilience and improve sustainability at the plant. So with that, we'll turn it over to questions.

Yeah. Councilman Williams, is there a chance that the the ammonia requirements could change between now and then? Are they kind of set in stone? Is it a political deal that changes every year or

anything's possible but these are pretty standard discharge limits for wastewater treatment facilities uh for ammonia. Uh you know they we've been negotiating the city's been negotiating with TCQ over the years. It's been a number of years. I was involved with this 15 years ago and and it's been a number of years that that that you've been trying to work out a deal on ammonia. I think the fact that these are in as pending limits in your current permit uh as future limits, I think they're here to stay. I I would wholeheartedly recommend that you have that dialogue and open those discussions to see if something could be done uh to to negotiate improved u improved limits that make it easier on you.

And what happens if a city fails to to reach that standard? Uh you become in violation of your permit. Uh you get a slap on the wrist first couple of times. then they start imposing uh uh fines and penalties and ultimately if you consistently miss those uh permits you wind up in an administrative correct order. Okay. Thank you.

Anybody else have any questions? So if you guys want a good night read, uh staff has copies of the documents along with the uh five technical memorandos that support it. Thank you very much. Thank you. I just wanted to say before uh we left, I just wanted to thank Black & Beach and SBI and water engineering staff and wastewater treatment plant staff for their hard work on putting this together. Thank

you. Yeah, thank you all. Appreciate it. All right. And those that are here for presentations and would like to leave, now's the time to do so. And we appreciate you coming. Now, we're going to move into public comments. Uh, now's the time for any citizen who wishes to speak. You may make public comment on the consent agenda or regular agenda items 1 through nine and 14 or other topics, but items 10 through 13 have already been heard in public hearing. Therefore, citizens cannot speak on these items. Citizens wishing to speak on items 15 and 16 will be given the opportunity to speak during the public hearing uh at that time. So if you want to stay around, you can wait. We're not going to let you speak on those issues twice. So you will get one opportunity. The city clerk will call your name when it's your time to speak when you approach the podium. If they have not if we have not called out your address, city and state, please say it. Uh you will have three minutes for public comments. The green light will come on when you approach the podium and the red light will come on when your time's up. Please be reminded that when you're at the podium, members of council, we cannot respond to your comments or questions uh unless it's a posted agenda item. So, but we will follow up with you and there is staff that may reach out to you before you leave the meeting. Uh Kevin, and I think that's Chance 932 West Lucas, Bulma, Texas.

Council and city administrators, thank you for the opportunity for me to speak. My sister Christina Nukem died March 17th, 2022. She was 63. She had had lifelong health issues which eventually led to her going on social security dis social security disability. Shortly before her death, we had encouraged her to seek out counseling for her mental health. Being on Medicare and Medicaid, she had limited resources to get help. She did manage to get an appointment through Spinaltop Center 30 days from whenever she said it. She died one week later. I can't really say whether or not if she'd been able to talk with someone sooner, it would have made a difference. It was only after her death did that we find out that she had fallen back into what had been a problem in the past, opioids. So, why do I tell you this story? My understanding is council is considering an agreement with Baptist Hospital to forego some fees and expenses Baptist would otherwise incur. [clears throat] And I would ask council to consider adding some requirements to that agreement to require Baptist surfaces to those people who can least afford it. If it takes 30 days to get an appointment with spinnop which is usually the last resort uh then there is uh it appears there's a lack of services locally available to to those who can least afford it. So I would ask all to consider that. Thank you.

Thank you sir. Adrien Smoke 2099 Don Road number 38 Bulma Texas. She is not here yet. Okay. Thank you. Uh I think it's KA Love it. Senior 5410 Mcanelli Drive Bmont Texas. Is it What's the first name? Ka. [clears throat]

Ka. Okay. So, mayor, I think it's important that you notify the public that if they're w wanting to speak on item 15, that the dialogue can only occur during the public hearing. During public comment, that's a time for people to just speak generally, but during public comment is a time that council can have dialogue during that public hearing item. So, I indiv. Yeah. So, individuals wishing to speak can speak now. Just council cannot engage because staff hasn't given their report, right? Go ahead. Yes, sir.

Good afternoon, Mayor U West and council members. My name is Kima Love, Senior, and I'm the owner of Love Trucking Academy, a local CDL training school serving our community. I'm here today to bring attention to an issue affecting my business and more importantly in in uh the individuals in the community in the community seeking a career opportunity and opportunity to change their lives. We have been experiencing ongoing challenges with the Texas workforce solutions. uh specifically when applicants expresses interest in attending Levit trucking academy they are being redirected to to the larger institutions such as Lamar Institute of Technology Lamar State College Port Arthur and Lamar State College Orange. This is even happening when the applicant has clearly stated their preference to attend our school as a licensed and qualified training provider. Federal regulations under 20 CFR 680.340 furthermore emphasizes that participants must be given the ability to choose an eligible provider and that the system may support that and not steer them away. This is not I mean this not only impacts small businesses like mine but also further access I mean I'm sorry but also limits fair access and opportunities within our local workforce system. We are simply asking for transparency, fairness, and equal consideration so that all approved training providers,

regardless of the size and the race, are given the opportunity to serve the students who choose to attend their school. That's it. That's all I have. Thank you, sir. Thank you, guys. Jerome Alexander, 1118 Avalon, Bulma, Texas.

Good afternoon. How y'all doing? Drone minutes on 1118 Bulma, Texas. Uh I came [clears throat] down here on behalf of the Love Trucking organization that the brother just got up here speaking about. It's um you got board members and uh that's a collective members and uh I ain't trying to put you on the spot, but I just have to say Mr. West that you one of board members and uh for the for the Texas workforce and I had a chance to talk to Mr. Lamkin at the uh the Southeast Texas uh line what it was the Southeast Texas impact uh meeting they had the other night. But this the issue is we go to the employment office like myself I went and I asked to sign up for the love trucking [clears throat] but they deferred me to go over here but they charge 20% over here at Lamar when he's giving away you know his his his business is free so I told him I don't want to go to LIT I want to go to Mr. love you. But they said, "We we we we ain't got no funds for for his for his trucking company." And it's not right because a lot of people that get out of prison and they go to his trucking company and they succeed and we trying to stop crime and all this and people get out of prison and they've been going and they've been sending them away. They trying to send them somewhere else and they don't have the money to pay the 20% to go to Mar. So they turn around, they go somewhere else. So then they might go back and sell drugs. They might go back and do crime. So we trying to stop that in the community. So I appreciate if you would get with Miss Melody and [clears throat] the rest of the committee, sir, and talk about this and get the issue straight because people getting out, they need they need to they need to move up further. You know, the crime rate is bad. So, you know, I'm trying to help people that get out, you know, to do things that's right. and he doing [clears throat] things that's right for the community

and as officials and the people that support him, you know, we should we should help him because he need to help. [snorts] I don't want to see people keep going back to prison when they trying to change and I appreciate if y'all would get, you know, help us out. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Albert Harrison, 1240 Ashley, Bulmont, Texas.

[clears throat]

mayor, city council, other city staff, and other citizens that are present. First of all, I'd like to thank uh I think her name is Mrs. Foot and also Mr. Mike Harris. Uh, Miss Put noticed a in Eve Street in 1100 block that the hills of dirt that was caused by the city putting in a new water line. And so the hills of dirt prevented such as mowing the grass in that area and walkways, driveways, you couldn't get in to them because of the heels. So, I'd like to thank him for correcting that particular problem. Next, I'm moving on to the corner of [clears throat] Eve and Forest and Eve and Yuing Street where the city also in putting that new water line tower the street up [snorts] across. Now there are protruding rocks, bricks from that area where they tried to ask for it or whatever the case may be. Also, right now there are potholes. I saw a young kid with a bicycle the other day. Went in that pothole busted the entire tire. Just so happened that I was able to fix it for him. Other thing I like to address is I keep on trying to tell you all my water bill says I'm receiving a senior citizen discount, but when I add at the previous reading and the current reading,

I don't see a discount. So, I I can't understand why I keep bringing this problem to y'all and it's not being corrected. The next thing is that I made a phone call to Miss Valeria Molly. Still had not received a phone call back. The other part of the water issue that they corrected was the walkway into my property. They still had not prepared it. Plus, a guy by the name of Walter says he not going to do anything to repair it. But he goes back to a picture that was taken I believe in 2012 and said that's why he not go do anything. But I have a picture of 2023 where y'all did do something and I came before y'all and said what y'all did is not going to be there. It's going to wash out. That's exactly what happened. [snorts] Thank you.

Thank you sir. Um, Adrienne Smok, 2099 Dallon Road, number 38, Bulma, Texas.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. My name is Adriana Smoke, and I'd like to speak with you all about how we can strengthen return on investment for our community in the neighborhood empowerment zone uh with Bumont 194 LLC. Um, even though the name says Bowmont, they're actually a developer out of Houston, which I'm sure you know. Uh, they have plans to build about a 400 home development near Point Parkway. We always hear about new revenue, which is wonderful, but there are some real impacts of this investment that need to be evaluated. For example, no doubt this will put a large demand on the roads, the drainage, our schools, our emergency services. So the questions abound, are the infrastructure costs fully accounted for in the reimbursement model or will residents and our taxpayers here absorb these long-term impacts? Do we have an accounting for the tax revenue that's being given up? I did some napkin math based on the article in the April 21st uh news article on KBMT news. It was reported there that it's an estimated cost to the developer of 23 million that they're investing. Uh 40% of the tax revenue generated from those homes from the taxpayers would be returned to the developer. That's an estimated $828,000 in tax revenue generated per year. Uh, and that's $3.3 million in tax dollars returned back to the to the developer over 10 years. So that's bolstering their profit based on their cost of over 14%. An additional 14% profit to them paid by

our taxpayers. This tax revenue is being circumvented from our precious city to Houston. We should be able to see measurable community benefits like infra infrastructure replenishment, investment, workforce development, and partnerships with local businesses. These should be written directly into the agreement. Equally as important, we should require public and verifiable reporting so that the residents here can see what they're getting in return. These agreements represent a public investment. It's only reasonable to ensure that these investments deliver clear and measurable return for the people who live and work here. Thank you. Thank you.

Larry Gothier, PO Box 200042, Bulma, Texas. Good evening, Mr. Mayor, city council members, Chris, congratulations on your new position. and also to to Miss Molly uh that uh was working on the transportation issue. Uh and I I didn't get a chance at the last meeting to say anything about it, so I'm going to bring it up, but if nothing gets done, oh well. Magnolia at Interstate 10 going north. The road has patches on it. Uh, numerous. Can't be helped, but at least they patching it up. [sighs and gasps] Uh, but it's very bad condition. Okay. And then uh Miss Molly, like I said the last time I was here that if people get off at 4:00 in the afternoon, they cannot be home by 200 p.m. slow down a little bit. Let the traffic flow. But most of the people want to drive 45, 50, 60, and all that kind of stuff. Uh next thing I spoke about dirty electricity in the city. Uh, I imagine they're doing something about that, but uh, I haven't seen it yet. And now we have stress has popped back up. Abuse. Abuse is if it is not solved or resolved by the abuser,

then it is still there centuries later. Thank you. And y'all have a good day. Thank you, sir. And that's all I have, mayor. All right, but we'll be closing public comments. Nobody else has signed up. Is there a motion and a second for approval of the consent agenda? Move to approve the consent agenda. Second. There is a motion and a second for approval of the consent agenda. Is there any discussion? All those in favor of approving the consent agenda, please signify by saying I. I.

Any opposed? The motion is carried. Welcome, Mr. Boon, to your first meeting as city manager. If we can may have the reading of item number one.

Thank you, mayor. Item number one is um a resolution uh council to consider a resolution authorizing the city manager to award a contract to Southern Trenchless Solutions LLC of La Faria, Texas with the citywide manhole rehabilitation phase 1 project. Uh the citywide manhole rehabilitation phase one project includes the repairing of damaged manholes and associated components and installing new manholes were necessary to improve systems performance and accessibility. Uh three bids were received for this project. Um and water utility water utilities engineering staff recommends this project be awarded to the lowest bidder southern trenchless solutions LLC in the amount of $348,235. Funding is available from water revenue bonds and the administration recommends approval of this resolution.

Is there a motion for item number one? Move to approve. Is there a second? There is a motion and a second for item number one. Is there any discussion? Molly question. You can absolutely ask the question.

Molly, I have a question on this one. Uh, and I I always cringe when we go with the lowest bidder because I see change orders coming. So, did we make sure we we took all the steps when we did the bidding in the bidding process to make sure that we omitted as many unseen possibilities as possible like loose dirt or un un even surfaces or, you know, anything else that could possibly go wrong that would cause us to have four or five change orders so that the lowest bid doesn't turn into the highest. So with it being a unit price contract, we do the best that we can to identify all the sur the existing conditions of the sites. Uh there are terms and conditions in the contract for differing site conditions and we do our best to work with the contractor through that. We also work through to do the background checks and make sure that the references that they submit check out and that the work that they claim that they did at other systems is was actually done and to that customer's satisfaction. Um, of course, not every project is perfect, but because it is a unit price contract, uh, a rising tide raises all boats. So there's not where the uh apparent low bid you start adjusting and you had to add quantities. All of the bids would have to be adjusted accordingly. So your low bidder is still the low bidder. Uh it's very very unusual that that ends up not being the case. Uh is definitely the exception and not the norm. Well, we've seen some cases where the low bidder ended up as the high bidder because there was unforeseen conditions under the road or there was stab unstability in the dirt. And so I just want to make sure that we try to close all those loopholes so that

the only price we pay is the one they bid bid or lower if possible. Well, yes, because I'd like avoiding these conversations. I'm going to be honest. Uh but yes, we do the best that we can, but uh you know, if this was work that was easy and straightforward, um you know, then we probably wouldn't be contracting it out. U but these are some very challenging conditions that we have to do the work in order to secure the sewer system, which is why we're asking for this contractors to perform the work. Thank you.

Any other questions or comments? All those in favor of approval of item number one, please signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? The motion is carried. Mr. Boon, may we have the reading of item number two?

Yes, sir. Item number two is a resolution to consider authorizing the purchase of one 10 MGD secondary recirculation pump at the wastewater treatment plant. Uh this 10 MGD pump is critical for daily operations but is currently operating inefficiently. Uh due to its advanced age, the pump has reached the end of its reliable service life and replacement is required. The total pricing for one Fairbanks Morris pump and motor is $225,000. Uh funding is available from water revenue bonds and we do recommend approval of this resolution. Is there a motion for item number two?

Move to approve item number two. Is there a second? There's a motion and a second for approval of item number two. Is there any discussion? Yes, Councilman Hillier. What type of warranty do we get with this? $225,000.

I'm not sure at this moment. I'll have to look it up to get you the exact warranty on. Okay. Please. You know, it does come with a warranty. I just like to know how long. Yeah. For for that kind of money. Exactly. Thank you, Mike. I'll check in and let you know. Any other comments or discussion, questions? All those in favor of approving item number two, please signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? The motion is carried. Mr. City Manager, may we have the reading of item number three?

Yes, sir. Item number three is to consider a resolution authorizing the city manager to award a contract to construction managers of Southeast Texas LLC of Bowmont, Texas for the Cattail Marsh wetland 72in outfall pipe platform project. Uh this 72-in outfall pipe platform project will provide a catwalk and platform to access the electrical box and pipeline hatch at the facility. Uh, three bids were received uh for this work and water utility staff recommends awarding the contract to the lowest bidder, Construction Managers of Southeast Texas LLC in the amount of $80,248. Uh, funds are available for this work in the water revenue bonds from water revenue bonds and we recommend approval of this resolution.

Thank you. Is there a motion on item number three? Move to approve. Second. There is a motion and a second for approval of item number three. Is there any question? Yes, Councilman Durio. So, I guess these last two items. Would this address some of the problems that uh was in the presentation that y'all made earlier? It's yours. Go. [laughter]

As Mike's coming up, I will and he may touch on this. We we are having a CIP uh community investment plan coming up soon and some of the items that we talked about today will be in that. Go ahead, Mike. That's correct. Uh the items that were basically in the presentation are ones that we have wrote into the CIP uh for future that we'll be discussing. Okay. uh this particular item here and the pump that we uh just discussed were actually in the CIP for last year. Okay. Um but like I said, they're not part of the upcoming CIP except for, you know, present year or Okay. Thank you, Mike.

All right, Councilman Krenshaw. Uh, Molly, can you please I mean is there can you tell us by the bids why there was such a stark difference between two Bulmont companies with such a broad difference in the bids? Yeah, that's a significant spread in the three bids that we did receive. Um, you also have to consider that they workload that the current contractor has. And so in order for them to be able to perform the work and adjust their schedules on other ongoing projects tends to raise the cost to the contract.

Have we done work with construction managers of Southeast Texas before? No, this is our first uh contract with them and uh but they did meet all of the criteria uh and the background checks and um so we are recommending a board to them. Okay. And is there um any limitations on uh additional uh work orders or anything related to this or

so we are limited um by the state requirements on any increases in costs up to believe we require no more than 20 or 25%. Um but also too there has to be justification to that. Uh this is a project that has been lingering out there for a couple of years and uh the wastewater treatment and the wetland staff need this access uh for safety and so that's why we're bringing it to you today.

Yeah. No, I I agree. I'm sure it's 100% needed. I was just curious if it being a brand new contractor if either our own guidelines or state guidelines provided that uh there was additional scrutiny or limitations on what could happen when you have a brand new contract. All of all of the above. Uh our terms and conditions on our contracts are pretty ownorous and so we we make sure that we adhere to all of them and that the contractor adheres to it as well. And if they don't, then there's recourses in that contract. Understood. Thank you.

Thank you. If there's no other comments or questions, all those in favor of approving item number three, please signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? The motion is carried. Mr. City Manager, may we have the reading of item number four, please?

Yes, Mayor. Item number four is to consider a resolution authorizing the city manager to execute an advanced funding agreement or AFA with the Texas Department of Transportation for the citywide school zone sign improvements project. Uh the scope for of work for this AFA will consist of the installation of uniform solar powered flashing assemblies with a cloud-based monitoring and management system and upgrading existing reduced speed school zone signs citywide. The total project estimate is 1.9 million with federal funds providing 1.8 million and the state providing $86,948. The city's match of $363,400 will be covered by transportation development credits and the city would be responsible for any cost overruns. Uh funds are available for this project uh in the capital program and we do recommend approval of this resolution. Is there a motion for item number four?

There is a motion and a second for approval of item number four. Is there any discussion? Councilman Turner. Thank you, Mayor. Yes, Mr. Manager. Can you just kind of give a little bit more detail for people who may not understand when we say school zones? I had someone call me earlier and asked, is it in particular school zone? I know you said school zones throughout the city, does that include our elementary, middle school, and high school? Yeah, I'll defer to Molly on details. If you look at attachment A in the uh in the report, you'll see a map. And again, the projects um are distributed really throughout the city. Uh but Molly, if you have any additional input on that.

Yes, sir. That it currently is our plan to start with the elementary schools and work our way up through the junior high and high schools. Okay. So, elementary be made the priority with the funding. that that is our intent is to start with those that's our most vulnerable uh school age and then work our way up to junior and high schools. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. You're welcome. Councilman Crrenshaw. Uh and just so I'm clear and anyone else that may not be clear, uh what are transportation development credits? How many do we have? And is it like a dollar balance or

That is something I will have to get more information on. I'm still learning the transportation credit portion of this. It's de you're good. Thank you. So, Text has the ability to issue out uh trans transportation development credits um as they see fit. Uh we just simply apply for them and they say yay or nay and then that essentially helps us with our uh match for grants. Okay. And so is this on a per project basis or do we have like a certain amount of credits we get every year that we get to allocate to certain projects? Per project. Per project. Okay. And so this is basically costing the city nothing. The city's match was completely provided by texttop.

Now that I will defer back to to Molly on that, but I believe how this is reading. Yes. Yes. The city's match is TDC's. Yeah. Even in the CIP our portion is is zero. Uh we are on the hook if there are cost overruns in the construction. Okay. And we don't have a a project. We haven't done the bid yet. No sir. This is this is allowing us to get started. Okay. Great. Any other questions or discussion? All those in favor of approval of item number four, please signify by saying I. I.

Any opposed? The motion is carried. Mr. City Manager, may we have the reading of item number five?

Yes, sir. Item number five is to consider a resolution authorizing the city manager to accept maintenance and authorize final payment to MK Constructors of Vider for the concrete pavement repair citywide phase 3 project. Uh, this project has been inspected by the city engineering division and found to be in complete found to be complete and in accordance with the provisions and terms set forth in the contract. Acceptance and maintenance of and final payment in the amount of 223, excuse me, $220,93848 is recommended. Uh the funding is available through cos and we do recommend approval of this payment and this resolution.

All right. Is there a motion for item number five? So move second. There is a motion and two seconds. [laughter] Uh any discussion? Councilman Durio. Then Councilman Hillyard.

Yeah, just one comment. I received phone calls about this particular company and if we could how good a job do we knew do of notifying the citizens when a big project like this is coming up cuz a lot of them said they just looked up and people were digging up their driveway and stuff and didn't know anything about it. Do we try to contact them and let them know that a big project like this is getting ready to happen? We are we do task the contractor with doing the notifications of the neighborhood. Uh and I think I understand the the situation that you're particularly referring to. Uh we had a very stern conversation with that contractor because they know better and uh so we have to uh require them to be good partners and good neighbors while they're working and so we are reinforcing that fact with them.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Councilman Hillyard, did you have a question? Yes. This total project was 4 million. Yes, sir. How many change orders were submitted and what was their original price? What was the original bid price for this project? Um, have to take a look at it. Seeing if it was in my folder, but it's not.

The Let's see. Sorry, I don't uh see the any addition any change orders that came about in this contract is because we had to add work. Uh one of the things that was ongoing is that felin was part of this contract and uh we started seeing a lot of deterioration of felin from the time the contract was awarded to the time that the contractor was starting to work on felin. So we had to add significant amount of panel repairs uh to Fel and Drive because the pan the pavement had shifted and we received a lot of complaints from the citizens and from council as well and we added that to the contract. There were a couple two locations in particular in neighborhoods where the panel repairs required additional work to ease the transitions to promote to keep water from piling up in the gutters. So the had we bid it and other contractors been awarded those bids as well would have been adjusted accordingly for those change orders. But most and I can get you the additional details to confirm all that information and sorry it wasn't in here. Um but yeah, as as we go through it, we find more work for this, especially the concrete repairs are extreme extremely expensive. And so that's where that additional work, it was needed. We stayed under the 25% limit, but tried to maximize the opportunity while we have the contractor to get the roads in as good a condition as we could.

Thank you,

Councilman Crrenshaw and Councilman Turner. Uh, and I'm unfamiliar with the issue that you're uh referring to, Councilman Durio, but I would like to and I'm sure it's completely justified. I would also just like to say a nice thing about this contractor. Uh, they did uh concrete work on the Crow Road uh improvement and uh that's on my daily uh route to uh Rayo's uh on um by Parkdale. Shout out to the tortoises. Uh and um that that crew did an outstanding job. Not only was it uh done quickly, the uh flag crew that helped direct traffic was extremely uh friendly and did a great job of keeping people safe while they were going through that construction uh area there. And uh I thought the quality of work that they did with the uh concrete was uh excellent. Uh, so I hate to hear that there was something a negative experience with uh, this project, but I would uh, just like to say that I thought the contractor has done a a great job with uh, some road projects in W one.

Thank you, Councilman. Councilman Turner. Yeah, just to kind of piggy back on Councilman Hillyard, out of curiosity, you know, I'm going through the itemized work within this bid, and is it possible to be too much of a strain to show on the bid the original price versus our final payout?

No, we can add that to the memos in the future. It's just a matter how, you know, what details y'all want to see. we'll be happy to include it. We have all the data. Uh I can provide you the report. We're just trying to um be mindful of how thick these packets end up becoming. But we have the data. We'll share it. Yeah. My my big concern, and it's not this company in particular, just any company in general. I just kind of want to see a pattern, you know? I just want to kind of be able to research the numbers of what we started at and what we ended off paying. I do understand things things do come up especially with concrete jobs and piping jobs but I just like to kind of see what we started in comparison to what we finished.

Well and when we when we present change orders to the council if it is a staffdriven uh change order we note that in the change order language. Uh but this is a final closeout that does not have a final change order attached to it. So that's why some of that detail is not included in here. Uh but we certainly will can provide that. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Durio. Still on item five. Five. Doesn't it says that the resolution the city council water contract to MK construction divider in the amount of 4.1 million? So that would be the starting price the 4,130,000.

Yes sir. That's the contract. Okay. This 220, 938, is that included in that 4.1 or is that in addition to it to close it out? No sir, that is the final 5% or the retainage of the contract, it is under that umbrella cost. Every pay invoice that they send us, we withhold 5% of what they invoice us and we save that to the very end. And once all uh work is complete sat to the satisfaction of the city, then we the the council votes to authorize us to release that final 5%. Okay. So this is a this is all part of the original contract. Yes, sir. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you.

All right. If there's no other questions or uh discussion, all those in favor of item number five, please signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? The motion is carried. Mr. Manager, may we have the reading of item six?

Yes, sir. Item number six is um a resolution for council to approve awarding hotel occupancy tax grant funding for FY27. In accordance with the hotel occupancy tax grant application policies and procedures which were amp implemented a couple years ago, the grant applications for hot funding had been submitted for review by the Bowont Convention and Visitors Bureau HOT grant or hotel grant um review and selection committee. Attached are the recommendations from the committee. The city council is being asked to review and approve the recommended funding for the hot grants, taking into consideration that the applications submitted were thoroughly reviewed, evaluated, and followed the hot grant fund policies and statutory requirements as found in the Texas tax code which resulted in these recommendations by the committee. U funds are available in the hotel occupancy tax fund and we do recommend approval of this resolution.

All right. Is there a motion and a second for item number six? There's a motion and a second for approval of item number six. Is there any discussion? Councilman Krenshaw. Uh just curious who is on the hot grant review committee?

Uh Freddy Rebecca, do you have a [snorts] on the hot um text hot occupy uh grant process. There are seven members uh myself, executive director, our chairman of the advisory board, a past advisory board member, someone from the ADV uh finance team, the legal team as well. Did I miss and Mr. Boon as well? Just curious. Thank you. Welcome, Councilman Turner.

Yeah, just just out of curiosity, just for staff, I've kind of had people reach out to me, whether it be CDBG BJ B CDBG grant funding or high tax funding, like with recipients. Some people kind of feel like they're either discouraged because they might not know about the process. Can we look in the future to do maybe some form of a training where we can see if new applicants could at least kind of walk through how to fill it out and to look at if it's a pattern of just the same recipients. I support what we're getting, but some people are saying they're discouraged because the same ones get it every time.

Yeah, I would ask maybe just to touch on if you could the orientation meeting we have, but yeah, there's always room for improvement in terms of, you know, announcing that the grants are upcoming and try to broaden that net. But yeah, if y'all could just touch real briefly on the orientation.

Sure. On the city of Bulmont's government page, Facebook page, um there is a link to the Bulmont Convention and Visitors Bureau. Um on that link, it lives information about the uh hotel occupy t tax grant. It lives there. Any updates are there. Each January we notify and upload that new information and it comes with a schedule of what's to come associated with the grant. One of which is a date that is given for orientation that is always posted there. The deadline is posted as well. when we actually submit and meet um to review the grant, that's listed. Also, everything is very transparent. And even when we're planning on coming to city council to have you all review it, all of those dates are listed on the website.

So, I think just following up on that, um it's all very transparent, but I think we could probably work on marketing it a little better for sure. I didn't have an opportunity to attend the meeting, but I generally do sit on the board and I would say um I can't speak for this year, but the last two years we did have new applicants that applied. However, one of the criteria for receiving high tax or occupancy tax is that you're going to fill hotel rooms. And so sometimes it's harder for new organizations who are wanting to bring in events because they don't have the data to show that it's going to attract outside visitors and they haven't had that proven data for that. So, and sometimes they don't they choose not to move forward with it. So, although the programming that's presented is interesting, it may be beneficial one of the strong criteria and I'm usually the mean one in the room saying, but is it going to meet the criteria of putting heads in beds? That's a very strong criteria for us to be able to award hotel occupy Zachs. And some of the repeat um uh recipients have had their events for multiple years. They have very strong data and strong evidence of outside visitors staying in hotels. They're essentially used to applying for this grant and so they know what data to provide and they know what information and because they've applied for it in the past, they have track of the data to show that they put heads in beds in order to qualify.

Yeah. And and I I totally understand. I'm not fighting the transparency of the processes. Even with a startup business, you want to at least if if you're giving people opportunity, even if it's on a smaller scale that a smaller percentage can be carved out for people who are starting up like and I understand you want to prove it and you want to have that analytical data show, but sometimes people can never show. They never have an opportunity uh to show what they can do or bring something to the table. So that was just something I talked to somebody about and I'm like look, you know, I don't mind asking and I don't mind asking up front. It's not a shot at you guys. It's just a concern that someone brought to us, you know, and it's not just this. It's even the committees we appoint with some of our CDBG funding and that's why I said I would ask and I think this is a good opportunity to kind of discuss it.

I will say that we have last year and this year we do offer a orientation training. It's highly strongly recommended but is not required because we understand and we did have three or four new organizations that we had never heard of before. Uh and but we go through and explain just like Miss Reed said what the criteria for the hotel oxy tax. It's very specific and outlined by Texas tax code. And so we went through that and then they realized that what they their project that they were looking for did not meet the hot grant requirements. I also fielded several calls from different uh nonprofits because they had heard about it, saw, you know, the announcements. And after we discussed that and we went over that same requirements, they realized, oh no, I just needed funding for a local event, no hotel rooms, doesn't meet any of the criteria. So, and I would rather have those conversations and be educational. Why waste your time when you're a grant writer? That's a lot of time spent for both them and for us for review. So, we did have a lot more applicants uh that decided not to submit their application because they didn't meet the criteria based upon who attended the orientation and the phone calls I received.

And is the money kind of standardly the same amount yearly or does it kind of deviate depending on what we

So, the money is based on how much you have to allocate and so different people ask for different things. um to her point, we have to issue the money in in requirement for state law. So like it's very clear that it could be a great program, but if it's not going to meet the hotel and beds requirement, then by law, we can't review it. And so that's the only reason why I'm in the room, but everybody else is in the room to evaluate some of their programming, some of the programming needs. And then it really just comes down to merit. How much money do we have? having the money, you know, if the money's a lot, the the asks get bigger every year, the money kind of stays consistent. And so we're looking at how do you award this limited amount of money to all of these great programming. And so that's where your citizens who are in the room kind of come into play and they advocate for um these different organizations based on their experience, the programs that they're that they're putting forth, how good or how great they were, and how how much want they want to repeat and see those in the community. But the amount established

roughly 300,000 and that's established through the budget. Yes, sir. Okay. Yeah, that was the clarity I was looking for is it looked roughly the same amount every year. It used to be a lot less. Mhm. Back in the 80s it was 100,000 and before it became a competitive grant. It slowly inched up 200 250 so forth. So this 300,000 is the maximum it's been since the competitive grant started. And well do you know about the last time it went from went got to 300,000? Had it been a few years? Does it need to be a little bit of pressure to get a little bit more like so 2020 2023 is when we establish the new policy and I think we set the new amount again as we go into the budget process this summer depending on the availability of funds you know it can be adjusted up or down.

Okay, that's what I was saying. How much do we have? 300,000. Uh no, but how much do we have like in the bank and hot taxes like currently? We would have to get that number to you. I I would have to look at that and get back to you.

All right, Councilman Hillier, then Councilwoman Sherwood, uh for those that weren't here on a whole another deal, will you tell us how much money was brought in to the city last year? According to the uh governor's office, and these numbers come out on an annual basis strictly from the governor's office, 48.3 million in direct spending because of tourism in Bulmont, Bulmont, Texas, which is up 63%. Um I think it was more like 4.6%. Okay. Okay. That's pretty awesome. Good job.

Thank you, Counciloman. I was going to ask um Attorney Reed. So it there's no wiggle room in um when you're picking there's no um like threshold minimums that you could change to include.

So let me like walk you through the process and I think after I do that it'll probably kind of help you either ask me the question in a different way or maybe answer the question indirectly. So the first thing we do in the room is we go through and look at whether or not before we talk about any money, whether or not this program is going to meet that one legal requirement for me, will they put heads in beds? And we separate them out. And so we we can almost always eliminate some of the new newer projects because either they're uh they haven't been proven to put heads in beds or they're not uh advertising to put bring people in from out of town or the program itself is very singly focused for the 409 area which means it will most likely will not attract someone from a Houston like charge or someone from out of town. Um there's there's no there's no outside draw. And so once we eliminate those individuals and we're down to just individuals who presented data and provided that now we start looking at how how much revenue they bring in in terms of outside things. How much money we weigh that against how much money they're asking for and how much money we have in the budget, right? So um you could have somebody who's asking for extreme amount of money, but that would mean that we would have to cut out a lot of programs. So now we start trying to distribute the money based on equity um programming um draw into the city benefit to the citizens and also meeting that criteria. So everyone who's who's been awarded money on the list will meet the criteria of heads and beds. Remember this is a recommendation to council. Um if council is is not satisfied with the the way the money has been allocated then council can adjust. it. The committee sits down and they really spend a lot of time thinking about how they can divide this money in the most equitable way possible to both meet the needs of the person applying but also what's going to be the return and the benefits of the citizens keeping in mind that top criteria that this puts heads and beds like what's going to draw in

that outside money to come back to the city. I just was that's that's kind of what I was wondering. Do is there any

I'm learning to read my input to change who's getting what? So, anytime um you have a situation where it's bringing to council, y'all, this is not a rubber stamp situation, that's why it's on the agenda the way it is. Council has the ability to to make adjustments. Um you do like everybody who's serving on that on that board advisory or whatever at some point was appointed by council. So, these are your representatives from the community. Um, and I think Rebecca does a really great job of dividing out for us and kind of outlining for those individuals who are in the room to make the meeting go smoothly because it is a long process of dividing out um what they did last year hotel-wise um what they're projected to do this year hotel-wise, how their programming has grown, what they're bringing in, what we've seen. And again, most of these are um repeat applicants because it does make the data easier, right? And so we have that data to talk about and discuss in the room. So what what's reflected in the recommendation is really um what that that group of people sat down and said this is what we feel is equitable and fair. Not everybody gets 100% of their ask. Um sometimes people are asking for less and so it's easier to kind of award that but you you have noticed that there have been um an increase and I think she has had an increase in what we've been able to award uh every year. Um, I can tell you that people were very dissatisfied with the awards we we made last year based on the fact that even though we gave money because we know that they put heads in beds, but they just didn't they weren't putting as many. Their programming was limited. And so we awarded money with stipulations. Hey, if you want to be considered for more money next year, show us that you're bringing more people into Bowment. And those are conversations that we have. We put that in our agreements um with them. So this is not just a rubber stamp like, oh, um, they bring in regular. We we're looking for increases in their program and increases in their ability to bring in an outside crowd.

And I will say nobody's getting 100% funding. We're not the sole funer and all amounts that were recommended is less than what the grant applicate asked for. Councilman Durio. So the uh the hot tax grant, the monies themselves, it come directly from the money that the city takes in on hotel taxes. Hotel tax collection. Correct. Okay. And so we are the one that sets this $300,000 for each fiscal year. They that's how they decide because I know we took in more than that per year, but that's what we set aside for the grant for the grant portion. Yes. Okay. All right. Thank you.

Next question, Councilman Turner. Is this grant something the nonprofit has to fund first and get back after the event? Is it a reimbursement or is it something they get up front?

We uh it it was established in sort of two paths for what if it's an ongoing like the museums that are open 365 days and they're doing exhibitions quarterly or special events and things like that. They get four quarterly payments. Uh their paperwork is submitted with the contract. They get the first payment. They have to provide quarterly reports telling what happened in that quarter because they're ongoing. If it is a festival or a one-time event, they get their money 60 days prior to the event and then they have to do a postevent report. all the following reports whether they're quarterly or postevent. They have to provide budgets, how they spent our money, provide the visitor statistics, where they stayed in a hotel, where did they have a room block. And when we do visitor statistics, we're asking how many local, how many out of Texas, how many international, state, you know, there there's a lot of reporting and data that they have to provide and plus copies of their uh how they're spending their money, the receipts, the copies of the ads, analytics, because in the contract, it's required that at least a portion and that's going up uh has to be spent outside the city. We are not funding local events. That's not that's was required by state. So it is this money is marketing to the visitor outside the area to bring them as Mr. Sheree said heads and beds and then it has to meet the criteria specified by state tax tax cut.

Did I answer your question? Yeah, you did. Portions and 60 days prior to for the onetime event. So yeah quarterly, right? And then they all had to do reports and u we review the courts. I make sure all the documents there you know we need more of this whatever and so it's all digitized and kept and again they have to spend a certain percentage on promoting the event outside of Bulmont at least 50 to 75 miles out because we want to bring visitors in. Thank you. Thank y'all. Thank you. If there's no other questions or discussion, all those in favor of approving item number six, please signify by saying I.

I. Any opposed? Motion is carried. Mr. City Manager, may we have the reading of item number seven?

Yes, mayor. Item number seven is to consider an ordinance amending chapter 22, division 4, section 22.02.149 of the utilities ordinance. Uh staff is recommending amending the sanitary sewer lift station ordinance to include paragraph E. Uh such requirements herein may be modified by the city council as part of an economic development initiative. And reading paragraph E is notwithstanding the provisions of this section. The city council may modify, wave, or participate in the costs associated with sanitary sewer lift stations and related impertinances as part of a written economic development agreement approved by the city council, including agreements authorized under chapter 380, the Texas Local Government Code. Any such modifications or participation shall be expressly set forth in the approved agreement. Staff does re administration does recommend approval of this ordinance. Is there a motion for item number seven?

Second. There is a motion and a second for approval of item number seven. Is there any discussion? Is this necessary for the um item we discussed earlier in executive session. It does allow for um participation through a through 380 economic development to uh to support such investments. Otherwise, it's prohibited. But yes, sir.

All right. If there's no other questions or discussion, all those in favor of item number seven of approval of item number seven, please signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? The motion is carried. [clears throat] Mr. City Manager, may we have the reading of item number eight?

Yes, sir. Item number eight is to consider a request to amend section 28.02.008D of the City of Bumont Code of Ordinances. Uh the 89th Texas Legislature enacted House Bill number 24, which took effect on September 1st, 2025. Uh the bill amends chapter 211 of the Texas Local Government Code and modifies procedures related to protests against zoning changes. Uh, previously when the at least 20% of the property owners would land adjacent to and within 200 feet from a proposed reasonzoning file opposition to a request, the city council was required to secure a supermajority vote in order to approve the resoning rather than a simple majority in an regular resoning case. Under House Bill 24, new provisions apply to certain resonings that increase residential development. In such cases, a protest must now be filed by 60% or more of the property owners with land adjacent to and within 200 feet from the proposed resoning. Uh, administration does recommend approval of this ordinance change.

Okay. Is there a motion for item number eight? There is a motion and a second for approval of item number eight. Is there any questions? Yes, Councilwoman. Because this was um organized by the Texas legislature, technically we're approving what's been done by the legislature. We don't really have a choice. Yes, ma'am. I just wanted to verify. I don't want

any other questions or discussion. All those in favor of approving item number eight, please signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? Motion is passed. Mr. City Manager, may we have the reading of item number nine?

Yes. Item number nine is to consider an ordinance amending the FY26 budget. Uh the city of Bowmont maintains a landfill for all the residences and businesses of the city and county. The landfill must meet TCEQ, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality standards and requirements. Recent data indicates that the normal yearly precipitate precipitation was approximately 62 in for Bowmont. Um the landfill receives an average of 1,26 tons of non-hazardous solid waste a day or 373,860 tons a year from about 150 customers a day or 56,940 customers a year. Um, leech uh is removed from our current disposal system uh and that's estimated to be 6 million gallons per year uh for the last two years. Lee is water that has been contaminated by coming into contact with the solid waste in the landfill. A total of one-third of the landfill has a leech collection and disposal system while twothirds of the landfill is does not. [sighs] Um, previous landfill practice for removing an any ponded water on the landfill was to dig a hole and let the water drain into the landfill. The new practice is to channel as much water as possible off the landfill to avoid creating additional leech. Based on the amount of leechet trapped in the landfill is recommended expediting the removal of leechet to maintain compliance with tcq requirements and reduce any potential environmental impact. A lie collections and storage system should have been designed and installed many years ago. Uh a leech storage area and disposal system is now being recommended at a cost of $477,490.

uh administration is recommending approval of this budget amendment to cover this cost. Funds are available in the solid waste fund. Is there a motion for item number nine? Move to approve.

There's a motion and a second for approval of item number nine. Is there any questions? Councilman Turner, then Councilman Hillier. just out of curiosity with a solid waste fund and our landfill fund. I understand that it is some form of a I would say I would I don't want to say business but it brings in a profit.

Out of curiosity, do we have multiple lines or is it just one line to bring in trash or whatever else you may be bringing into the landfield? I asked because uh some commercial developer asked me was it a commercial line and and was it a line for regular residents and I couldn't answer it and I seen this and I thought this would be a good time to ask. Okay. June is Fernando. He was, but he's Fernando was Oh,

and if we can't get the answer today, I think that might be something good because I like to be able to Okay. answer that because I was told that in Paralan it was two lines and we didn't have it and I said, "Well, I'll ask." Okay. We'll find out for you. Okay. Yeah. I'll have to look and see if it's broken out. If it's not broken out in the act, that does not mean that it's not specifically broken out in our financials. There's a lot of line items in the act.

Okay. I just want to be able to give accurate information people ask. So, thank you, Council Member Turner. When you say two lines, you're referring to maybe a commercial line versus residential. And that is true. We do have commercial customers as well as residents. As long as they show their uh like a water utility bill, they can dump for free at our landfill. Okay. But it is separate from commercial. Yeah. Companies. Yeah, that's what I was trying to say. I just wanted to see if they all entered in one line or was it two separate lines? You're saying other cities have two? Yes. Yes. Yeah. So So they do enter in one line and and their um [clears throat] their way.

Okay. the the vehicles are are weighed and that's how they're and the commercial company actually pays, right? Residential is free but commercial company pays. That's correct. Yeah. Maybe we need to get them in. All right. Is there any other questions or discussion on item number nine? [snorts] All those in favor of approving item number nine, please signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? The motion is carried. Mr. City Manager, may we have the reading of item number 10, please?

Yes, sir. Item number 10 is to consider an ordinance authorizing a resoning from RS residential single family dwelling district to RH residential multifamily dwelling highest density district for property located at 7825 and 7835 highway 105 and 7830 Tolliver Road. At a joint public hearing held on April 20th, 2026, the planning commission recommended 7 to0 to deny the request for reszoning from RS to RH for the property located at 7825 and 7835 Highway 105 and 7830 Tolliver Road. Uh, administration recommends denial of the ordinance.

Is there a motion for item number 10? I make a motion to approve the denial. No, approve it. I think we should approve this project. I don't understand why it got denied in planning and zoning. I mean, all it is is going to be some a couple of nice town homes. I mean, how's that going to change traffic on 105? I second it. I All right. So, there is a motion and a second and instead of the denial, they would

Councilman Turner. So there is a motion and a second for approval rather than the denial. So to be clear, it is an approval of the project. Uh [snorts] is there any other questions or Yes, I have a question similar to Council. I'm sorry. I had a question kind of similar to Councilman Krenshaw. What was I did the did the u uh planning give any reason for the 70 recommendation of the denial? I'd just be curious to figure out what what were they thinking.

Yeah. So, the according to the comprehensive plan that's currently in place, I know that we're going through an update right now currently. Uh but the one that we have in place right now says uh that this area is a contemporary neighborhood design concept. This model allows for a diversity of housing types and convenient access to parks, schools, and shopping centers while still protecting single family residential areas from intrusion of incompatible land uses and vehicular traffic. So existing uses within the 200 feet uh because that and I use the 200 foot um area because that by state law those that's the area that we have to notify property owners. Um so it felt applicable. Um existing uses within the 200 feet of this site are single family homes and a church. Uh there is to the left of it a kennel that's been there but that's been there for about 60 years. Um so that's grandfathered under the zoning code. Um, so due to the potential high density that RH could produce, um, it didn't seem compatible in that particular area. Um, but of course it's up to council's discretion whether to approve or deny.

I'm not I have one second. So, [laughter] but [snorts] did any of the residents come or people come to talk about not wanting it or whatever the case may be?

We sent out 18 property owner notices. We did receive two in opposition and zero in favor. um [sighs] opposition and I apologize it's a little tough to read the um the handwriting but as a resident for the past 27 years I do not want multif family um housing next to my property um looked like they had some property management uh concerns uh thereafter once it's constructed um and then there was also another um concern of property management long term So, those were the two that we received, but there was some opposition. Okay. Thank you,

Councilman Turner. Just out of curiosity, and maybe my city attorney can help me answer this one. It is it possible that it can be a amendment to make sure it is town homes as presented versus apartments or no? Uh, no. Once you change it to RH, they would be allowed by right. Um, currently in RS, you could do town homes. that's through our cluster housing ordinance um which is in our special conditions of the zoning code. So they could do that by right so long as they um uh you know do the uh application meet the standards and whatnot. Okay. Thank you Councilman Krenshaw and Councilman Williams.

Uh well they could do apartments but uh this is a very small parcel of land. Correct. Yeah. I think it's just under an acre in total for the three. It's not big enough. So, it it wouldn't uh it wouldn't be I suppose you could have an really small apartment complex, but it it just it it wouldn't be feasible, would it? If they were to do the maximum amount of dwellings um in our ordinances, I believe it's 29 dwellings per acre. So, you know, scale that down just a little bit. And the developer was proposing uh town homes that he said were actually going to, you know, be nice where you have the garage at the bottom and the you the living quarters would be on top if I recall correctly from the presentation.

Yeah, but we've not received anything formal, so I'm not I'm not entirely sure. I could I don't want to bind them to that. Understood. Understood. Uh and then is there going to be access for the town homes on 105 or didn't he indicate that access would be from Toiver? in the site plan that I saw, there would be access on both sides on both sides. But again, there's not been a formal um building permit submitted for or anything like that. So, I don't want to bind them to that. That's just the preliminary site plan we saw.

Okay. And this is for a change in zoning. Could we uh just do a specific use permit for town homes? Uh no, but what would happen is um town homes would go under our cluster housing ordinance, which they're allowed by right in residential uh single family, which is what the property is zoned for currently. Um they would just have to meet the standards of our subdivision ordinance and also the standards that are within our zoning code. I think it comes down to um if I can recall right from the pre-development meeting, um comes down to uh meeting the subdivision standards. So would have to put in a road and and whatnot. Okay. Parking lot.

So could we uh require those as part as uh part of this resoning? You could not. A reszone is uh that would basically go back to or tie back to our permitted use table. And whatever is allowed by right or by a conditional use permit or not at all would then uh be what's moving forward.

Yeah. Just to clarify for reasonzonings because we see SUP specific use permits with a lot of condition. We'll see conditions. We'll see some of those later in the meeting. Zonings are different in that there is no conditions. So even though we try to get from the applicant a a plan in terms of what they plan to do with the property, they're in no way obligated to follow that plan and that's why once it's reszoned, it's reszoned. So just wanted to clarify that. Understood. Any Yeah, Councilman Williams, I think you already answered one of my question. So the current zoning doesn't prevent town houses from going there.

And is there any other multif family adjacent to this property or it'd be going further to the west along Highway 105 up towards um 105 and major intersection. That's that's closer to where the um apartment complexes complexes are. Okay. So to answer your question, there's nothing that prevents the current zoning from moving forward the way he has it now. The concern I think that was discussed at the meeting was like he could sell it and once you change the zoning, there's no restrictions that you can put on it. It's whatever is allowed by right under that change zoning would be allowed at that.

Okay. he the the the proposal that he's he put forth is something that's allowable in that area currently under the current zoning. Uh if he wanted to do something different for that property, changing the zoning would would allow for that. Any other questions or discussions? But ju just so we're clear that's we're only reszoning the one acre and if in the future anyone tried to do an apartment complex greater than the 20 units or whatever they would have to come back and get approval for that.

Well, you just wouldn't be you wouldn't be able to do um greater than 29 dwellings, which you'd need to scale that down because it's not exactly an acre with those three. Um, but in order to increase that, they would have to get a variance through the board of adjustment or or some kind of uh relief to the zoning code. They wouldn't be able to meet the parking requirement most likely with that many um units on that small of a lot. They wouldn't be able to meet the the parking requirement for parking per unit. They wouldn't be able to meet the ingress egress requirements for uh the firet truck um as well as some other requirements that would be put. So, so having an apartment complex at that thing at the maximum capacity or even at some capacity would probably not work feasibly. I think if you

the maximum overall height uh well, not overall but to the roof line or midway to the roof line that they could do is 35 ft in height. So, you know, so where you may not be able to spread out um this way, you can always go up. Okay. So, I guess I'm just trying to practically speak here. Even reszoning this, it it does not sound like this single piece of property could be turned into uh an apartment complex. It could just It always could. It just depends on their engineer and what what they can do to comply with the code, but it could. But it would be a very small apartment complex.

It could because there's always, you know, it's tough to say. It's tough to say because you there's only so much space you can go you can go out but you can always go up and that could add floors. So 35 feet you're probably looking at at least three floors. Um and it [clears throat] just depends on on the developer and what their goals are for return and and and all of that on their investment. All right. But you will agree with me what was presented at the planning and zoning was town homes. Uh the the their representative did say town homes. Mhm. But that's not binding. Just I do do have to disclose that. Councilman Hillyard.

So I I didn't hear your answer. Once if we were to change this, will it just be for that acre or will it change that whole area? It would be for those three lots, which is approximately an acre. A little bit a little bit less. Okay. So if he bought the kennel next door with the intent of putting an apartment complex, he would have to resone. He would have to reszone. Okay. Perfect. Thank you. Any other questions or discussion? All right. All those in favor of approving item number 10, uh, please signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? Opposed. The motion is

I'm sorry. [snorts] You got it. All right. Motion passes. [snorts] Mr. City Manager, may we have the reading of item number 11?

Yes, sir. [clears throat] Item number 11 is to consider an ordinance authorizing a specific use permit to allow a parking lot to serve a church within an RS residential single family dwelling district for property located at 3595 Grand Street on Hail Lane. At a joint public hearing held on April 20th, 2026, the planning commission recommended 8 to zero to approve the request for this parking lot with the following conditions. Number one, construction plans must meet all requirements by water utilities for water and sanitary sewer services, including any requirements of the city's backflow pre-treatment and/or fog program. No structures or impertinances may be placed on city property. Number three, an increase in pvious cover by more than 0.25 acres shall be compliant with the detention requirements by drainage district. Number six, all lighting installed shall be directionally shielded from the residential properties to the north, east, and south of the subject site. And finally, driveways shall be compliant with the IFC 2021 chapter 5 section 503 and appendix D with access width and radius requirements for emergency access. Uh the administration is recommending approval of this request with the same conditions.

All right. There has been a is there a motion for item number 11? So move second. There is a motion and a second for approval of item number 11. Is there any discussion or is there any questions? All those in favor of approving item number 11, please signify by saying I. I.

Any opposed? The motion is carried. Mr. City Manager, may we have the reading of item number 12? Sir, item number 12 is to consider an ordinance authorizing a specific use permit to allow a strip center to have restaurants, retail, professional services in a washeteria within a GCMD2 general commercial multif family dwelling 2 district for property located at 2845 North Major Drive. At a joint public hearing held on April 20, 2026, the planning commission recommended 6 to one with one abstension to approve the request for a specific use permit to allow a strip center to have restaurants, retail, professional services, and a washeteria at this location with the following condition. Condition one, construction plans must meet all requirements by water utilities for any water and sanitary sewer improvements, including any requirements of the city's backflow pre-treatment and/or fog program. Condition two is construction shall comply with the drainage district number six, drainage criteria. And condition number three, all lighting installed shall be directionally shielded away from the residential properties to the east and south. The administration recommends approval of this request with the same conditions. There is a motion for item number 12. This there is a second. Uh there is a question. Councilman Turner,

not a question. Just Mr. Manager, can you kind of let me know what area this is in? I'm trying to imagine the address in my head. What is it by? It's major just north of village. Okay, cool. Crystals. Right. Okay. Right. There's no other questions or discussions. All those in favor of approving item number 12, please signify by saying I. I. Any opposed?

Opposed. Item is passed. Mr. City Manager, may we have the reading of item number 13? Sir, item number 13 is to consider an ordinance authorizing a specific use permit to allow a duplex within an RS residential single family dwelling district for property located at 160 Sparrow Way. At a joint public hearing held on April 20th, 2026, planning commission recommended approval of this item with the following condition. Number one, construction plans must meet all requirements by water utilities for water and sanitary sewer services, including any requirements of the city's backflow pre-treatment and/or fog program. Uh, the administration recommends approval with this condition.

All right. Is there a motion for item number 13? Second. There is a motion and a second for approval of item number 13. Is there any questions or discussions? All those in favor of approving item number 13, please signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? Motion is carried. Mr. City Manager, we're going to do the uh public hearing. If you'd take us in on item number 16, please. Yes, sir.

And we'll be coming back to the work session. So item number 16 is a public hearing to conduct a public hearing to receive comments to develop a landscaped greenway project along Feland Boulevard at Don Road to be named Allison's Greenway. All right, the public hearing is now open. Is anybody signed up to talk? I don't have anyone unless Lori or did you want to speak? Yeah, now would be a good Lori Lester. Beautify Bulmont.

Yes, I'm Lori Lester, 1240 Wilchester Circle here in Bumont. I spoke [clears throat] with you all, excuse me, a few weeks ago about this project and it's uh to develop a greenway uh on the um west side of the intersection of Ding Dallon Road and Felen Boulevard. And the plan is to put up a sign and I believe you probably in your packet have a a picture of the amended sign and with landscaping around the sign and then um uh a one or two little landscaped areas with trees and flowers uh beyond that. And um do you all have any questions of me? C

Councilman Williams, is this going to be closer to the the intersection? I see it says at Don Road. So, is it going to be right there at the I believe so. Um I would like uh Kenneth Regette to give us some input on that. I think it depends on how the city's going to get their water truck in and do the watering on exactly where that will be. Okay. Any other questions? I don't believe so. Thank you. Anybody else for the any public comments in the public hearing? All right, with that the public hearing is closed and would you take us into item number 16?

Yes, sir. Item number 16 uh is to consider a resolution approving a landscape greenway and naming of the greenway as Allison's Greenway and the administration recommends approval. Second. There's been a motion and a second for approval. Is there any questions or discussion on item number 16? All those in favor of approving item number 16, please signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? The motion is carried. All right, Mr. City Manager, we're going to go back to the work session if you would and take us into the work session.

Yes, sir. The work session is a work session entitled uh to review and discuss the 2026 annual action plan uh consolidated budget. And we have Jess Prince who will make the presentation.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon. It is time again for the annual action plan. This plan, as you can see in your budget packet, covers the two entitlement funds that we receive annually from HUD. These are our community development block grant funds and our home funds. So, this is our consolidated budget for the action plan of 2026. Um reminder, our program year for this always runs July 1 through June 30th. And so we recently last year, if you recall, adopted an updated consolidated plan. This is a requirement with HUD. It's a five-year period where we do a great deal of stakeholder engagement to determine what we want our priorities to be for the next five years. And so an overview of that uh item number one provide decent safe affordable housing create suitable living environments and to provide public services for the lowincome low moderate households. So one thing I'd like to say to that point every single activity that we name in our annual action plan has to fall within the categories that we outline in our con plan every five years. So, in order for a project to be eligible for these budgets, it has to meet at least one of three national objectives that are identified by HUD. Those are to benefit low-income households, removal of slum and blight, and an urgent need. examples of this on our budgets. Obviously, all of our activities are benefiting low to moderate income households, but a um example of removal of slum and blight may be our clearance

and demolition program. It may also be um our minor repair program where we're working with homeowners predominantly. They are seniors and we're helping to mitigate something about their home that is unsafe. So, here is our consolidated budget. We brought this to you all for public hearing on April 7th. We are required to do a 30-day comment period. And so, we did a publication back in March. The comment period closed in April. And this is our budget that would be submitted for our annual action plan. As you can see, our total uh entitlement for CDBG is 1,345120. Our home funds total is 478666. Now, of each of these programs, we have some caps. We have the administration of these programs, which is city staff, um planning activities, those are all capped at 20% for CDBG. Our public services component, which is our CDBG reimbursement grant that the nonprofits apply for each year, is capped at 15%. And so I'm going to go over that program first, and then we'll touch on the home funds. But as you can see, this budget is very similar to our last year's budget. We always have funding for clearance and demolition, for our owner occupied minor repair program, for our public services, and we estimate our program income, and that's typically tied to our clearance and demolition program. So, that is just kind of a a moving figure, but it's not included in our entitlement. Um, of note this year we have had such an increase in interest

and in application for our owner occupied minor repair program that the last two years we've allocated more money to that program to address our weight list. Any questions on that so far? Yes. Council woman,

where you when you say we allocated more money to it from our program, where did that money come from? So, we get our annual allocation. In this case, it's the 1.3. In the past, there may have been more funds allocated to clearance and demolition or more funds allocated to our special project. Sometimes that's to be determined. Sometimes there's a specific project. Um, the last two years though, we've reduced clearance and demolition funding and put more toward the minor repair program because we have a wait list of so many residents that need that assistance. Yes, Councilman Turner, correct?

Uh, just about three questions. Uh, for firsttime home buyers, does any funding come out of this program for our first-time home buyers? That's going to be in our home fund section, and I will touch on that. Okay. I I don't want to jump too far ahead. So, several slides. Uh, to be determined funding, that's something that's coming in the future, too? Yes. Yes. All right. Well, I'm I'll reserve my questions for the end, then. All right. You know, I watch the money.

I know you do, and so do I. So, our CDBG home, this is just a general picture. So, you look at our clearance and demolition line item 215, that's going to be approximately 52 structures that are being uh, you know, slum and blight removal. National objective, our minor repair program, that's approximately 25 homes that are going to be assisted with that funding. public services. We have a cap on that that HUD mandates. So, our $200,000 that we set aside for that. In the case of this particular budget and the approval or recommendations of the committee, our our CDAC that you all appoint, that's 15 agencies being funded. And then for our home line item that we are doing 10 houses for the first-time home buyer program, Councilman Turner, and the remainder would be for the development of affordable housing and that's approximately two units based on the dollars. Any questions?

Councilman Turtle, can we just get some feedback on the firsttime home buy program? I I know it has to be under a certain threshold. Can you kind of explain it so just the community and people understand how can you even qualify for it?

Yes. So obviously you do have to be a firsttime home buyer number one. Uh all of our programs have an income eligibility component and so our applicants whether they're the firsttime home buyer program or our owner occupied minor repair. We are collecting from them a lot of information. They're giving us bank statements. They're giving us payubs. They're giving us any benefits that they may receive on a regular basis and they're also attesting to how many people are in the home because if you've ever seen our website chart, HUD publishes each year what the income limits are and they're based on how many people are in your house. So what you're earning and then looking at the number of people in the house, we then determine your eligibility whether or not you are qualifying as low mod by HUD's limits. So that's number two. Then for our first-time home buyer specifically, you have to have completed a home buyer education course with whomever you choose. You also have to have been pre-approved by a lender in advance. And that means that your credit score and all of your finances have already been deemed eligible for a mortgage.

And so at that point, I'll tell you, a lot of times we have an applicant that may already be working with a realtor. They may have already identified a property, but we advise that they don't do that if they want to use our funding until they've actually gone through our program, been qualified because, as you know, a residential contract has a lot of dates that you have to adhere to. And if you're already under contract and we don't have funding and you rely on our funding to close, that may be a problem. And so we do advise that they wait to put a home under contract if they are relying upon our funding. Okay. Yes. Council woman.

Um so I'm looking at your line items. How what is the process for distributing this money? Who's determining how this is being distributed broken down this way?

A lot of it is again based on our consolidated plan. And so we have a large series of public meetings. We have stakeholders, we have um a survey. People are coming and they're saying these are the items. Are they activities or programs that we want to see funded? And that process occurred last year for the next 5 years. And so these do deviate from time to time, but for example, our minor repair project um is very very popular and it's very needed. And so does it get the same amount of money every year? No. Some years we don't have a weight list and so we don't need to put as much funding toward it. But in other years u maybe we've put too much in clearance and demolition. We don't have that many structures to do and so you know it's flexible in that way.

Okay. I have a question about um the development. So what when you say development of affordable housing because we get a lot of questions about CDBG grant funds and people think they can just do all sorts of things, right? when [laughter] or we can they call us as well. Yeah. So, can you give us a little uh snippet of the development portion and how this money is distributed? Yes. So, um do you want me to skip ahead to that part?

Okay. Okay. So, no. No. Um but to Councilman Turner's question, uh you had mentioned the to be determined line item in several meetings. So here are examples of CDBG funding that we have used for a public facility and improvement project. That could be increasing minor repair. It could be minor repair to um some sort of public facility that is with throughout the city. There's an example of the Avenue C drainage project. We partnered with public works last year to to fix some drainage in a neighborhood in the avenues with CDBG funding. The Charlton Pard Park um that you've recently approved a lease on for a garden project. We're using uh some funds for improvements to their parking lot uh that the there's a project in process that may work for bus stop improvements. Uh we've also done emergency food and security grants for example last year when funds were frozen and we had a lot of hungry people. That's something that you know is a to be determined kind of thing. Um also shelter facilities. We have the Salvation Army shelter facility. We also have family services and we have a new non- congregate shelter. In the event uh in the past we've had some improvements that were needed to maintain those facilities or increase capacity for example, we've allocated CDBG funds for that. Um potential CDBG funding that we could do in the future. You brought up tree removal.

Yes. I got some senior citizens that have been on me for years about this.

Okay. Well, [laughter] that is a potential project, but I'd like [clears throat] to preface that by saying it would be something that we would have to bid competitively. It would be something that is a reimbursement basis. It would be some an activity where we would have to income qualify them. And in the past, I'm not saying it isn't doable, but there would be components to setting it up correctly. It is something that is included in our existing consolidated plan for the next 5 years. But in the past, for example, there was a project that was proposed. I believe it had to do with a sewer line improvement. We had problems with that because the property owner does not qualify as low income, but the tenant did

and it's a reimbursement project. So that's something we would have to consider for any of these property owners that may hypothetically have trees removed. All of these things, the national objectives, the reimbursement, all of that would apply. And so it is a possibility, but we would have to build all of those regulations in public works, future um improvements to such as such as the drainage project we just did. That's a potential going forward. community gardens. You know, Charlton Per just got their project off the ground after a very long time. And Delilah Johnson has another project infrastructure to those facilities. Um, you know, they're they're serving low-income populations. They're in low-income census tracks. There are things that we can do for those projects and others. That's a potential. Um, additional bus shelters throughout the city are needed and helping transit with the installation of those shelters is is a potential project. Economic development pieces like micro grants or facade improvements or workforce development. Those are all things that you can do with CDBG potentially. And we do put a lot of flexibility into our consolidated plan so that we're having big picture goals and then we come back each year with our annual action plan and specify what it is we want to do with that particular program year funding. Does that make sense?

Yeah. Even if not the whole tree removal, just the limbs, you know, like that's kind of coming on their homes. But that's just one thing they've just been consistently asking about. Yeah. And like for example with our owner occupied minor repair, those homeowners are qualifying for up to $24,9.99 in improvements. There's a reason for that. There are thresholds to federal funding. So if you're granting up to 25,000, the affordability period is 5 years. If you exceed that, it goes to 10 years. And so, how long do you want to hold a homeowner in the affordability period for a project? Jess, can you explain what affordability period means?

Uh, yes. So, when I say affordability period, for example, our homeowner, firsttime homeowner program, that affordability period, because it is less than $15,000 that they're receiving in assistance is 5 years. That means that they have to reside in the home for 5 years. If they sell the home or they foreclose, they have to there's a recapture or resell provision that's making sure that they sell to another income eligible property owner so that the federal funding is still meeting all of the requirements. So specific to our CDBG reimbursement grant which is only for nonprofits offering public services to lowincome households. The process for that is an annual application. We open our portal November 1st every year and we leave it open through January 31st. It's a reimbursement grant. The cap for that project is $20,000. So, if you apply for 20, you have to have the means to spend that upfront in the program year and then be reimbursed later. Now, this is a pretty um it's a pretty robust program. We have had in the past a a very uh paper version of this program, but since 2023, we've gone virtual. We've had more time for them to apply. We've done a lot of marketing. We've done a lot of outreach. We have created an online survey for them to give feedback. And so, we also have orientation videos that are online. They're twice a year in person. And to your point earlier, Councilman Turner, when you say, "How do new agencies, you know, break through and learn more about

how the process works?" I uh receive calls weekly about this program. I spend a whole lot of time walking people through the website, but I also invite them to come up to the planning counter. We have computer monitors. We walk them through where the application is, what it looks like, where the orientation videos are on the website, which also walk them through every step of the process, through the program timelines. uh we do a lot of technical assistance throughout the application required documents that they're uploading and so it is a lot of one-on-one. I have a lot of meetings in my office. People come up and say, "Hey, we want to know more about this." They don't have an appointment. We bring them back. We walk them through it. So all year long we're we're talking with nonprofits, but we only accept applications November through January. that is really based on our HUD program year because we can't deviate from that schedule. So the projects once they apply are all screened for eligibility, meaning they've met one of the three national objectives and then we take those projects to the CDAC who you have all appointed. And so we had the scoring meeting for this year on March 23rd. On March 18th, we had a public meeting where all of the applicants were invited to come and present to the committee who sat where you're sitting now and they could present their project. They also submitted a video which you all received a link for uh that outlines their project. And so the CDAC scored them. And what does that look like? That looks like them uh reviewing the projects and thinking about what has the council expressed as a priority in the community. for example, homelessness or youth programs, reducing crime, food insecurity, community gardens. And then

they look at how many people are these agencies proposing to assist within the program year versus how much money they're asking for and 20% is the cap. So that's similar to the hot the hot tax. They're looking at impact and they're also looking at firsttime applicants versus someone who's been funded every year for 15 years. Okay. Now, I'm here. This is the last bullet point. Council is is adopting our plan. When we adopt this plan, we have to submit it to HUD. It's not approved because because of our resolution. They have to approve it as well. So any any questions going back to this CDBG process? I will tell you for this year we got um 28 applications. We had 11 firsttime applicants which is great. Um the agencies that are recommended to you for funding by your committee appointees are a total of 15, four of which are firsttime applicants. No one received their full request of 20,000. Any questions?

The CHTO funding that's reserved. I thought you were done. Nope. Just CDBG. All right. Got you, though. Okay.

CHTO fun. Oh, wait. Any other anyone else questions on CDBG? Okay. So, home funding CHTO activity examples. Now when you look at your budget packet which was this and and you had that in the beginning right here under home funds you see chto reserve that is mandated by HUD we have to set aside 15% of our home allocation every year for affordable housing development activities. Okay. What does CHTO stand for? Community Housing Development Organization. Not every developer is a CHOT. You have to be certified as a CHOT through the city and then you're eligible to bid on our RFP for the money. Okay. So, what are examples of those activities? We can do an acquisition, rehab, resale of an affordable housing unit to a eligible buyer. Does that buyer have to be our firsttime home buyer? No. But they they almost always are. Uh the other activity can be new construction of affordable housing for an eligible tenant or buyer. So for example, Tracy has mentioned the last two meetings we have the Habitat build that's coming up and we have um two new single family homes being constructed. This is our CHTO project for 2024. They were Habitat was awarded. They are building these houses on land that they already owned which meets a good requirement for us because the city is required to match 25% of our home allocation and so typically that's done through our CHOTO project. Okay? Any questions here now can a CHTO activity

fund the 15% can it be allocated anywhere else? No, it cannot. It has to be on the development of affordable housing in some capacity. Now, I will say if you saw the budget that the money right there, the 15% that's that's 80 well 72,000 we're rounding up. What can you do with 72,000 in terms of developing not much. So, what we can do is take this money and our 2025 money and layer it together and put that amount for out for RFP and get a bigger project that's actually feasible. Okay? Because our home funds have been reduced about $100,000 the last five years in a row. So, we're now down to not even half a million. Yeah. So, what does affordable mean? You hear affordable housing a lot. It has a lot of negative connotations. What does it mean in terms of HUD's definition? That means that the housing costs do not exceed 30% of your household income. That could be for rent. That could be your mortgage. It doesn't matter. If it's exceeding 30% of your annual income, it is not affordable by HUD's terms. Our CHTO set aside is always 15%. Now, can we give more? Could we give them the whole home set aside, the whole home fund? Yes, we could. But the 15 is the minimum that we have to set aside for that. And how are CHTOs selected? Competitive bid. We put it through RFP. It's up to us to say if we wanted specifically uh the development of cottage style units like we talked to our low-income housing developers about in our matrix, we could say that if we

owned a piece of property uh that was several acres and we wanted cluster style development like Demi mentioned earlier that has a smaller lot size, we could specify that. It's actually council's council's mandate but um but how they are selected and what we want to do with it has to go through RFP a question so with this CHTO fund money or the way this process works they help or incentivize with this through or is this not at the moment but hypothetically we could and so and we have in the past.

Okay. Yes, we'll check.

But it all depends on what our what we've said our priorities are in the consolidated plan and and what the project is doing. So if it if it is in alignment with that which is a planning process and there was something specific we wanted to achieve, we could plan five years in advance and say here's what we want to do. Okay. So, the requirements for these funds, um, again, they must be in the five-year consolidated plan. It's a reimbursement out-ofpocket expense upfront. Applicants have to be income qualified for every single project. And environmental reviews have to be completed on every single dollar. So, each owner minor repair that's getting repaired has to have an environmental review. Every home that's purchased for the first-time home buyer has to have environmental review. All of the nonprofits we work with, the streets project we did to be determined. The community garden, they all have to have environmental review. And that would show us if there's a flooding issue or something to be concerned about because you can't spend federal funding on on something that can't pass an environmental review. If the council would like to address a specific project in our annual action plan, which of course this year is this is it, but for 2027 for example, please just let staff know by October the 5th [clears throat] each year what that may be because this whole process started in July because of the way our program year runs and so we need advanced notice of anything that you may want to try to work out. the tree removal for example um that Councilman Turner brought up that can fall under a to be determined and that's why we have that line item in the budget but if it were a very very specific activity it we would appreciate

you know just let us know by October the 5th

it can't no do sewage but we can't do buildings no and the reason Why is because they have to qualify as low-income households and that's considered a a normal operation of city business. Okay. Jess, you also touch on the timeline of when we get notified of the amount we're awarded from HUD.

So that changes every year. It's very fun process. Um for example, this year we brought the public hearing to you guys with a preliminary budget. uh the council packet was all submitted and we had that meeting on the fourth uh the 7th of April. On April 3rd, we got our allocation letter that told us how much we're actually getting so that we could put the final budget together for for this meeting today, but in the past we may we may have gotten it 3 months in advance. And so it's a moving target. And last year it was so late that we actually didn't get to do this until June and they had to issue a waiver on our timeline. But uh this year it's due in May and so here we are. But that's it. That's that's the work session.

Thank you. Anything I did not cover you have a question about. Okay. Thank you. Welcome. All right. Would you uh may we have the reading of item number 14? Yes, sir. Item number 14 is to consider a resolution adopting the 2026 annual action plan and Miss Prince just covered that in detail. Um so administration recommends approval. Is there a motion for item number 14?

Second. There's a motion and a second for approval of item 14. Uh, any questions or discussions? All those in favor of approving item number 14, please signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? The motion is carried. Mr. City Manager, would you take us into the public hearing?

Yes, sir. This public hearing is uh to consider an ordinance to declare the following 50 structures to be unsafe structures and order the owners to raise the said structures within 10 days. If the property owner fails to comply within 10 days, staff is requested requesting rather city council's authorization to demolish these structures without further notification to the property owner or city council action. Additionally, if the property owner of a structure request and is authorized by city council to enroll in a work program, all delinquent taxes shall be paid in full or a payment plan shall be established prior to the enrollment in the work program. Enrollment in the work program shall occur within 10 days after the effective date of the ordinance. And we now need to open the public hearing.

Mayor Pro Tim, you need to open the meeting, please. Public hearing. Yes, that's what I was going to ask at this time. Can we open the public hearing? Yes, sir.

I'll be out of here by Good afternoon. Um, the structures before you today have been found to be unsafe as defined by our ordinances. I do ask that we remove structure number 28, which is located at 2121 McFaten. A new owner assumed the building on May 1st, and as such, that new owner should be afforded their due process. So, I do ask that number 28 be removed from the ordinance. Thank you.

Hope not. Are we ready?

Um, I think it's Garnett Carrier, 1995 Calder Avenue, Bmont, Texas. Item number seven. Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen and mayor West. Um item seven.

It's So this is item number 15, but it's structure number seven on the staff memo. Okay. Is that the right one?

So what I would want to do, I've had several offers on the property, but I'm not sure. Kind of attached to the property because I waited until I was 70 to start my business there. and I've had the building over almost 20 years. So, I'm kind of undecided whether I want to rebuild or refurbish. So, what I h [sighs] I'm not sure still what I want to do. Um, I'm kind of partial to my building. Ma'am, I'm sorry. Could you say your name for the record again? My name is Garnett Wanda Carrier.

Miss Carrier. The options today is if you wanted the council to allow you to enter into a work program. Well, I'd like to work enter into a work program. Okay. So, let's just go through the staff questions. Are the taxes current on the property? All right. Thank you. If you don't have anything else to add, we'll move on to the next item. Yes, ma'am. Act like y'all want to be here today.

Uh Chad Harris, um 1255 Church Street and 4380 Congress, Bulma, Texas. And just as he comes to the mic, it'll be the same process. If you want to enter into a work program, that'll be your request to council. If there are any back taxes, council will need an affirmative yes that you're willing to enter into paying that off. And I'll turn it over. A second. So, as far as 1255 Church Street, I uh the taxes are current on it and I would like to enter into a work program on it. That's number eight. Councilman. Yes. I'm sorry. Item number eight.

And the gentleman said that the taxes are current and he'd like to enter into a work program. Does council have any questions? Any questions? All right. Are you gonna Are you gonna remodel this?

Yeah. I've owned the house for probably 23 plus years and unfortunately when I bought it, it had the contractor's version of Spanx. It had vinyl siding on it and it hit everything. um lady moved out and then we kind of went into it and I mean, you know, it's one of these you do a repair here, repair there, but you know, obviously the water had been leaking down inside the walls and the windows for years. So, we've already done the I pulled my permit, I did the demo uh with the city, and now I'm just going to go back with my work program, and it'll be brought up code.

Thank you. He also has a second property 4380 Congress item number 11. 40 item number 11. What's the address? Number 11. It's number 11. Yep. Okay. So, this one, same thing. Taxes are current. Uh, fire happened. I've just got a it's amount of amount a matter of time just to get in there and rehab I mean, it's a it's a very the structure is actually very sound for looking like it does, but uh the taxes are current. I do plan on entering into a work program. In our records, it looks like the taxes owed for 4380 Congress are $1,886.70.

Okay. I'll have to go back and check because I I send in one check every year for 80 properties. So, yeah. Would you be able to update if if Oh, yeah. I mean, I I'll I'll go down there tomorrow and pay the taxes cuz it should have been I mean, right? I pay $120,000 a year to Jefferson County, so we appreciate it. Oh, I don't. Yeah. Councilman Turner, for your for your two properties, I know you got several, but for those two, how long have they been vacant? Uh, the one on Church Street's probably been about eight months. Okay,

don't quote me on that because I mean I've slept since then. But the one on uh Congress, oh it was back in late 2025 because it actually happened during uh it was a Monday night football game the caught on fire. Mayor, just for the record, 1255 church, it looks like it was red tagged in September of 2024 and then um number 11 was red tagged in Halloween of 2025. So if church was red tagged in 2024 and was there a work program at that point?

Silus, could you come up? Probably. Silus Clutter, our demolition coordinator. Uh so church, yes, he did sign a work program uh on Congress. Uh on Congress, there was not Okay. But on church, so there was a work program. So we've already been down this road before. And [clears throat] what happened? Not there was not sufficient progress uh to be made according to the building officials which is why we brought it before council. Okay.

And I did fill out a work program just in my defense. I filled out the work program so I could demo the house. Neighbor acted like he was going to buy it. [clears throat] So I moved in a dumpster, tore off all the siding, gutted the inside, removed the HVAC, all the wiring, removed everything that you know basically would get stolen. and then the guy backed out on me. I've had I've tried to sell it to two or three different people, but you know, this is not something that you can go to a bank and get financing. You either got to have cash in hand or get a hard money loan. And you know, a lot of these buyers just don't know how to do that. So, I mean, if if my hands are forced, I'll rehab it. Like I said, I was just trying to sell it as is currently, but I mean, I'll enter the work program and start the work back up on it because obviously I don't want it torn down. So,

well, I'll extend it then. Yeah, he was talking about the dumpster. Yeah. But yeah, so you're looking at this time you had a different plan at that point.

Yes. Obviously, at the time, like I said, I I had to demo it. I wanted to get I I went down to the city, pulled my permit, moved in a dumpster, demoed all the stuff so a buyer could potentially come in and see what they were dealing with. But I' I've had several buyers that, like I said, just didn't come through. Had it on a contract, you know, just So, but yes, I would like to enter into a work program. I'll obviously I'll go down there and check my records for the taxes for Congress. I'll pay the taxes if they're due and then we'll enter into a work program on both of them. Items 8 and 11, 1255 church and 5380 Congress. Yeah. Turner,

can we require like proof that something's happened in 60 days or we have to come back? So, typically our work programs are structured where it within 90 days they need to dry in at least. So, that's like making sure the roof is is in place, the windows are there um and then from thereafter um they have to show progress on that. And Silus, if I've missed anything, 60 days. So, they have 150 days to complete the work program. But that applies even to people that have already had a work program before. I mean,

so I I just I just want to clarify because I think there may be a little bit of confusion. So when we red tag a property, the city red tags a property, they give them time to abate. If it's not abated, then we go into um basically the pro possibility of them entering into what's called a pre-counsel work program. So if you look on your staff report, it's the one of the one of the uh issues is or one of the things written down in the report is owner enrolled in a pre-consil work program. Sometimes that's confusing. So if you don't comply with the pre-counsel work program, which is an administrative action, then that's what bring and it's not repaired, then that's what brings it before council. And then now today, either we're going to tear it down by y'all's order or you could offer basically a post council work program. But again, going back to your question, Councilman Krenshaw, they've got 90 days to draw it in. uh if they are able to enter into the work program and an additional 60 days to get a CO. So they've got to have the entire project complete within 150 days.

And this doesn't come back to council if they fail to con to meet the conditions to either enroll timely into the work program, pay the taxes to be eligible to roll into the tax program. This ordinance allows the city to package it for demolition so it doesn't come back. Any other questions? Thank you, sir. All right. Thank you. Jim Stoke, 1662 Creekide Drive, Sugarland, Texas. Um 855 North Third Street. Number 34 on the list.

34. May West and Council, I'd like to uh get into the work program on this. I did have one last year, but I had a buyer that had some contractors come out and they didn't think it was really worth the expense of trying to rehab it, but that sale fell through. And I'm currently got a sale in line where they had budgeted replace uh improvements to the house in front of it. I I own two houses at Hazel and Third Street and this is the garage to that to 1912 and there's a garage apartment on top. So anyway, they they budgeted to rehab the whole thing. So I'm trying like to get it back into the work program to keep it from being demolished. So, you're you're not you're looking to sell it in that time frame and then have them finish that. Is that are you planning on doing the work?

Well, I will probably get started on it. Uh then we'll have to get another permit, I think, right? If uh it's sold, right? Because that's what they told me because I thought I was going to sell it a year ago. Uh but um but I plan to get that's why I didn't really move forward last time is because thought it was about to be sold but right but we'll go ahead and get get started on that. We've got some money budgeted for that. Okay. Any taxes I look like they're current. Okay. Councilman Turner. So for clarity, you're looking to redevelop it or you looking to sell it?

Post plans? Well, frankly, a bit of both. Uh selling it to a partner of mine that uh I will probably continue to be involved with it. But um what we're asking is we'd be giving you the work program for 150 days. is do you plan on completing it or not? I think that's what mean it would probably be sold before that 150 days is up. Now, I guess I'd have to they would have to get a new permit. I'm not quite sure. Just a point of clarification. Just by selling the property does not restart the clock. Oh, it does not. No, sir.

So, this is a public hearing which means the public is on notice that this property has been declared a public nuisance and it's being packaged for turnown. So, it's almost a buyer beware. So, if a buyer would purchase the property now, they'd be bound by the same terms as the 150 agreement. They're buying that that's going to run with the property. Um, gotcha. That that shouldn't pose a problem. I actually when I bought the property 25 years ago, it was red tagged at the time, so I had to step in and start fixing it up myself then. All right. We might see if it wins for the most red tags. [laughter] So, I hope not.

All right. [snorts] Any other questions? All right. Thank you. Thank you. Jimmy Jollet, 1685 LG, Bulmont, Texas. The property is 5745. I think that's Sunny Circle. Siri Siri circle Siri circle

Siri circle number 46 mayor council I'm Deborah Bernard I'm here concerning 5745 Siri circle and I'd like your consideration for a rope work program.

So, the home was I'm going to get it out. My son died in August last year unexpectedly. He had a stroke. Yes.

He was in ICU for 19 days unconscious and he wasn't sick or anything like that. He had been working on the home [snorts] and everything. If you can see from previous photos or whatever, he painted it, did what he could to the roof. He had full-time job. So, on top of that full-time job, he would come and make sure the house was he worked on it, as you can see in the photos, trying to get it in compliance because he did plan on moving into the home doing that. Um, and and I understand this is not an excuse session, but we're just telling you what's what. When he passed away, we at at this point, we have not found a will. He does have a daughter and she is in school. He paid for her to go through school and everything and she is of 22 23 years old. So these things are not something that she can just take on herself. [snorts] I work out of town. I work out of state. I work for the railroad. I have my own things that I have to do. My mother, she she's retired and we do what we can. We keep the property in compliance. We cut the grass and everything. And until we figure out what is what, we would like to do what we can to get it, you know, get an extension so we can be able to give it to his daughter, you know, the right way. And I know that this situation is not unique, not having a will and everything like that, but we're not trying to run a slum lord thing, take anything away from anybody, but the thing is he was in the middle of working on it and, you know, we're just trying to get an extension to do what we can to get it in compliance with the neighborhood. So, in other words, uh we're asking to uh get in the work program and finish what he couldn't finish. Uh he was uh employed with uh Williams brothers. They're the ones that do all the construction that we're all angry about. So, he come get off, try to go do some work. And uh a lot of times when he get

off uh they'd have him go back uh at midnight and his area was from Winnie Bat Orange. Yeah. The state line and uh they would put him up in the hotel when they work at night and they put him up in the hotels. It was real hard for him to get back and that bogged him down. And I feel like the stress of all of that in trying to do the house uh he had a fatal uh [snorts] Yes ma'am. You have a question?

Just just kind of come explaining the process if if it the work program is extended. Y'all do understand if it's tagged and progress isn't made, it still can be possibly knocked down in the future. I just want to make sure y'all understood that. Right. We're just trying to do what we can to get it in compliance so it's not out of compliance, you know, and I, you know, I don't live there. That's in [snorts] the north and I live in apparel. Okay. You know, we're not trying to, that's okay. Take away from the residents of that area. We have it there, respect them, you know, have a decent home in the neighborhood. Thank you. And taxes are paid. Yes.

Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, council.

Is she different? I'm sorry, Mayor. Just those were two green slopes for the same property, mother and son. Okay. And that's all I have. I was going to remind you to turn your mic on. Sorry. Okay. Thank you. So, we we had I know I stepped out for the first property. Mayor, we have seven that owes taxes, eight, 11 that owes taxes, 28 has been removed, 34 and 46.

Okay. Please keep in mind that any motion to include seven and 11 would also need to include that they comply with taxes. Pay their taxes. All right. So we have one, two, three, four, five, six properties. I thought it was five. Five for the work program and remove uh structure number 28. Yes. So 28 is just removed. Just making sure that that that was noted on the record. 7 8 11 34 and 46. Yes. 7 8 11 34 46. Yes, sir. Um,

oh, before Councilman um, Krenshaw does his thing, property 46 would also need a special condition. The, um, individuals, the mother and I believe the brother who spoke earlier said that they were speaking on behalf of the deceased during the probate process. Um, only only the owner of the property can enter into the work program. Um, it sounds like his daughter is an adult over the age of 18 if she's off at school. So that would need to be her unless she's a minor in which case it would revert back to his next of kin under intestate law would be his or his father. And he indicated she was 22. So we can follow up with that.

She's if yeah she's over the age of 18 that would be and if she is the only surviving uh child. They would just need to the stipulation would need to be that the property would need to go through pro rate to identify the legal owner of the property before entering into the work program. All right. Anybody like to make a motion?

It's I'll make the motion and I'm going to need some help probably. So, I'm uh I'll make a motion to approve with the um stipulations and removals and tax requirements uh as stated by the city attorney. Uh however, my motion does not include a work program for the two properties that previously had work programs uh that were not complied with. So uh my motion is to approve but not to include the church property and the north third property with uh an additional work program.

So that would be properties number 8 and 34. So, the motion would be for properties 7, 11, and 46 to enter into a work program with property number 11 having to satisfy a the taxes prior to being able to do so and property 46 being able to satisfy probate ownership requirements prior to entering into the work program. Is that correct? That is exactly what my motion is. All right. Is there a second on that motion? Second. All right. There is a motion. I'm sorry. Who second to I'll go with council member woman Sherwood.

All right. So, we now have a motion and a second which includes three properties. Correct. Yeah. 734 and 46 for 46. Um, we need the ordinance as it's written says within 10 days. Is there any extension of time for them to work out probate? I'm not sure what an appropriate time frame would be for something like that.

So, uh, probate takes a while. So, obviously, um, it depending on where they are, like he didn't have a will. So, if he died in testate, um, it's presumed that his daughter is the legal owner of the property. Um and so the city could take a uh affidavit of airship saying from someone to attest that she is the only heir uh that he doesn't have any additional children and that she is the lone surviving heir and the city could accept that um as a legal adviser. I would tell you that that is a legally acceptable document and then that would allow them to enter into the work program and also do the probate process um simultaneously. You think 90 days would be enough to do that

affidavit of airship uh can be done in a day if he doesn't have any additional children and I believe his his mother would know uh there is a posting requirement of notice for that. So if council wants the full shebang to ensure but there's nothing in our ordinance or in our procedures that said one of the property owners couldn't enter. So if she is his biological daughter, regardless if he had other children, she is still entitled to enter into the work program. So an affidavit of heir wouldn't be saying she is the lone heir. It would be saying she is an heir. And that would, like I said, still allow them to go through the probate process to do that. So that wouldn't that wouldn't encumber the 10 10day period. They could literally go to a notary.

What about the notice requirement? That only applies for the probate process. So as the as a surviving heir, she can go to a notary republic and get a affidavit of airship done saying that she is his daughter present her birth certificate and say that she's entitled to inherit from him. Once they enter into the probate process, other heirs could come forward, but that wouldn't prohibit her from from doing rehab on the property. It would just mean if she ever sold the property, she would have to divide it amongst the other surviving years.

All right. I I still would like to give the the those people at least 30 days to get that done. I just, you know, 10 days is is quick and seems like the air may be out of town and uh at school. So, let's at least give them 30 days uh to to get that done, please. So, do I need to amend my motion? Yes, sir. So, my uh I amend my uh motion on property 46. Yes, sir. to uh include 30 days to provide the affidavit of affidavit of airship. Good with that, council woman. I had a question. Yeah.

So, I just did probate and a affidavit of airship and that probate took 90 days. I I filed on the in February and I closed I mean in November and I closed it in February. So, it took all and all the heirs are here. But you can do the and I did do that affidavit of airship online uh with an attorney. So that was just just to let y'all know that. And I'm fine with the 90, but it sounds like it can get done because it doesn't have to be probated. It doesn't have to be the heir. It just has to be a air. So uh but I I'm not opposed to the 90 days, but I think 30 should be fine. So

I think the 90 days would be to for probate to be complete. And if that's something that council wants is for a complete probated process. But what I'm what I'm telling you is that there's nothing that says that an individual heir, even if there are multiple heirs, aren't allowed to enter into a work program. The ordinance just says a owner. So whether it's one owner or multiple owners, a owner can enter into it. And so with an a with a document stating affidavit of airship, she the surviving heir or heirs should be able to enter into a work program with that and it it doesn't take like I said it's it's a form online. It doesn't take long, but I think 30 days is sufficient just to

allow them to make those arrangements. Thank you madam city attorney and council duria. Does the uh do we also have to put in there uh in the motion we're going to let these three go into uh work programs, but don't we have to put on that the rest of them be demolished?

So that's that's a that's a given. So the approval of the ordinance is so Councilman Krenshar's motion is to approve of the ordinance with the exception that these properties be entered into a work program. That is the that is the recommendation before council. So all the all the motion does is pull out items 7,1 and 46 and give them special consideration under section three of the ordinance that they be allowed to enter into a work program. All other properties will be demolished within 10 days unless they file a TTRO or some other protective um documents. They they can get a TTRO.

They can get a TRO. They can sell the property. They can do any any any anything to prevent that, but it takes a while for us to package it. So they do. So uh De or So you think so this will be how many properties we supposed to be demolishing within 10 days.

So the how it goes is the property owner that that property owner has to demolish within 10 days. If they fail to do do so then the city will mobilize. So what that means is we have to go out for RFP. We have to follow our processes. That's a that's a few months down the line. So they have time to demolish and if they wanted to uh bring it back then of course they could seek a TTRO and they can go through a work program through the district judge. Thank you.

Any other questions? Everybody clear on the motion? All those in favor of uh item number 15 as amended, please signify by saying I. I what we have was structure number 28 removed from the ordinance. Section 28 has been removed from the ordinance. It was stated on the record and it was mentioned in the thing says this the approval of the ordinance does not include And I wasn't telling the mayor to hold up, by the way. Everyone else, sorry. The the the recommendation does not include 28.

All right. Did we close the public hearing? No, we didn't. Yeah, we did. We just did. Okay. Close the public hearing. Just making sure. You haven't said all any opposed. Yeah. Uh yes. So, all those in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion passes. All right. Thank you. Now, with that, we're going to move into uh council member comments. And I'm going to let uh I'm going to let Councilman Williams go because I know he's got a little league game for

Yeah, I'll keep it short. Um, we've been up here as this new council for a year and it it's been a u long year [laughter] but but it's been challenging and rewarding and and fun and um I look forward to the next year. So that's it. Thank you, Councilwoman Sherwood.

Um yes, happy oneyear anniversary. um living with Ladonna. So then there's that. Um happy Cinco de Mayo. I'm um excited about that. There's a prayer um a community prayer happening at the Harvest for Lost Souls on May 7th. That's Thursday at 6:00 p.m. Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers we make away. [sighs] Um, congratulations to Bumont on being in good standing and resulting in a clean audit. Um, I'm excited about that. And maybe staff could speak to I don't know what our jurisdiction is as far as Texas workforce or if we have any uh standing with them or connection with them or collaboration with them on what they're doing as far as offering trucking services or whatever. I don't know if that's inside of our wheelhouse, but

I can look into it. I I think we do. I I'm not familiar with Okay. You were talking. Yeah. I just, you know, like to make sure that people are getting an opportunity, particularly small businesses, to be considered if they're offering a class that is in fact credentialed and meets the requirements to be considered. Um they they should be considered. Um there's another great day in Bulmont. Um go out and celebrate, Cinco de Mayo. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Krenshaw.

Uh yes, thank you, uh Mr. Mayor. Uh all the talk today about red tags reminds me there is a uh a home uh on East Circuit that uh is in a work program, I believe, that uh has that entire neighborhood up in arms. uh and uh all this talk today about red tags, uh I would just like to uh uh ask that staff uh take a look at that work program uh and maybe we could have a uh compliance uh update that uh uh things are are happening there. In particular, I believe it's caused a rodent infestation for several neighboring properties. And uh I they're very upset, the neighbors are, and uh understandably so. And so I would like to be able to let them know after they saw the council meeting today of all the red tag discussions that uh we are following up on that East Circuit home and we will give them an update on that. So I'd appreciate that. Also, someone mentioned um the Baptist uh the new Baptist behavioral health facility and the um opioid uh uh issues that were caused by that. I had previously asked that the city attorney look into whether uh the funds that we have set aside from that settlement can be used for that Baptist behavioral hospital. And it's my understanding after the research by legal counsel, which I do appreciate you doing that uh attorney uh Reed, that uh that was in fact uh a viable and approved uh source. So after the request today, I would ask that uh the council uh look at donating uh $100,000 out of our uh settlement fund uh to uh be given to Baptist Hospital for uh the uh planning and uh building of that

facility uh in particular for their uh remediation and um uh services that would be provided to those with opioid addiction. Uh, also, uh, happy Mother's Day coming up. I'm about to take my dad to watch, uh, show Otani, uh, pitch tonight with the Astros game. And, uh, congrats to our new city manager. Um, and, uh, it's great, uh, having you, uh, uh, with us today in that role. And we're excited about, uh, the future of our city with this council and, uh, and you as our city manager and all the other great job that our staff is doing. So that's all I've got. Mayor,

thank you. Councilman Turner. Thank you, Mayor. Uh just on that water bill, I don't know if we do have senior citizen line item where it can show the reduction. But if we can or if it's possible or if it's something we could do to address that, you know, I I understand we do issue it, but it's just something where we can verify it just to kind of satisfy that gentleman and some of the seniors.

Yeah. So, our system, as you know from previous council meetings, it is um a little antiquated and it's not able to put a a negative number on a bill. So, you can actually see the discount that you're getting. It's input as a whole separate rate structure. That's how our system has to handle it. Um, but the specific person that had come up, he was the same one last time, I do believe, and I did look into it, and he is on that senior citizen rate structure. Unfortunately, there's just not a way for us to explicitly show the discount as a negative amount or as a percent amount. um moving forward whenever we get a new ERP that is something that we might be able to do. It couldn't be like a notation on the bill and say something like this bill includes a rate reduction of $10 for uh senior

it says that it's a rate reduction but with the um whenever we adopted the last rate structure that froze all aspects for senior citizens that's not uniform anymore. How about anyone that is got that rate applied to their bill just has a notation that says senior discount applied without the u a dollar amount? I do believe that we have made that change. If we haven't if that hasn't come through yet then it is underway.

Okay. So, future bills because that's one thing people say, "Hey, will you check my account and be sure I'm getting the the senior discount?" And, you know, I think it would be very helpful if the bill actually notated that so that there's no confusion and then those that don't see the notation know to call in to to ask for it. Yes. And I will follow up on that.

Yeah. Just any kind of way we can really get a solution that'll be appreciated. You know, because I just he's been up here quite some time [clears throat] consistently. I just want to address it if possible because it's probably more than just him. Uh the second thing with the lovey trucking school being denied, that's a real concern of mine, especially if it's something the city can do. If if that's taking place, if it's something we can look into, I prefer we do so. And I kind of like an update to know what went on and or or what can the city do or what are the steps to assist that gentleman if that's true. Uh thirdly, happy Mother's Day. Uh fourth, congratulations Chris Boon. you know, feel good to see you up here to my right. And and last lastly, I'm just looking forward to, you know, possibly having a tax abatement discussion with my colleagues upcoming uh just to see how people feel about them and what can we do to make sure is beneficial for industry as well as the city. So, thank you.

Thank you, Council Councilman Hillyard.

Well, I I will say it's pretty awesome that Cinco de Mayo Falls on Taco Tuesday. So, that's [laughter] a that's a that's a that's a bonus. And also, Embracing Freedom is having their uh crawfish boil fundraiser, and it's an amazing organization that any kids that are trafficked. Before, they would just be turned over to protective services. Now, there is a net to catch them and to give them the needs and the mental health help that they can get. And so, if anybody can, it's at 5980 South MLK Drive. It's a really neat organization and they're just kind of getting off the ground and I'm really excited about it. Uh, also I would like to say, you know, one of the things that you don't hear about is is that Bulmont is is cleaner thanks to Kenneth. And so I've gotten a lot of phone calls for the positive. And I just wanted to give you a shout out and say thank you for what you're doing. And and uh uh I got a lot of good feedback at Acorn on the lots being kept up with and that uh I'm not getting as many phone calls about high grass. So I just want to say thank you for that. And uh again, Chris Boon, excited to work with you. Uh I still think we need to adjust this the height size here on the council, but uh anyway, and and a happy Mother's Day and uh a big special prayer to those mothers that have lost a child. And uh we'll be mourning that child this time. So, uh you know, let's remember them, too. And uh that's it.

Thank you, Councilman Durio.

Uh yes, just uh tell everybody again getting ready to start hurricane season. So, let's everybody get prepared. Uh, also I didn't realize that they still need volunteers for the mayor's coalition on violence and traffic signal at Cardinal and Fenet. Yesterday, one person was on FET road headed south and uh another person was on Fet Road at right at Cardinal heading towards BU. And when the one going south, his light turned green and the other guy turned left right in front of him and said he had a green arrow. So they the police didn't give either one of them a ticket. So could y'all just just check that. [snorts] Okay. Thank you. That's all I have. Mayor,

right after this. All right, madam city attorney.

So of course I have to say happy Mother's Day to my mommies. So happy Mother's Day mommies. Um and yes, I do call my mommy's mommy. But um the United Way has issued uh or has announced their Makea-Wish Day of Action Assist project and there are 14 amazing organizations that you can assist with a wish um this year. So I definitely encourage everyone to visit their website and to donate to those projects. There's some um amazing organizations, the ANA House, Girl Scouts of America. um some ways that we can positively give back to our community and make a good impact in improving our our community. Thank you, Bill.

Thank you. Uh first I'd like to say happy Mother's Day to all the moms, godmoms, grandmoms, mother figures uh in our families. And I do want to thank uh John Pippens, Cesar Garcia, Mike Harris, Theren Brown, uh and our two um resident experts, Jeff Beaver and Dr. John De Anton for the hard work that they did on the wastewater treatment plant master plan. Uh very collaborative. Uh could not have put together a better dream team of city staff and um and consultants for this. That was quite a bit of work and uh very pleased uh with the work product that they presented. And also there is an upcoming meeting uh notices will be going out for the bond facilitation committee uh May the 14th at 5:30 p.m. at the Lakeside Center multi-purpose center. Multi-purpose room. I'll get there. I'm sorry. [laughter] Thank you.

Thank you. Um, I just wanted to, well, first of all, I wanted to respond to Councilman Krenshaw. You asked about the bank balance in the hot fund. Our fund balance was $465,680 at fiscal year in 25. It's projected to be a little lower than that at the end of 26 per last adopted budget, but that this is a fund that kind of that goes up and down a lot. Um, and then I also wanted to address the audit report that we just got that was clean and I wanted to say thank you to my staff. They've they've left. They've gone back to their offices. Um, [laughter]

but I can I cannot overstate what a good job and how much they pulled together this year to get this audit done and and and so quick. Um, Katrina Jones, our new controller, Angie Breeden, uh, Angela Breeden, our senior accountant. Betty Strong, our accountant, Bailey Thompson, Janice Ridley, Amanda Hill, she's our new assistant CFO. Um, Amy Franklin, Amy Schmidt, Dana Guest, Debbie Mo, Greg Williams, and Helma Wil Hursten Wilson. They really all pulled together and were a fantastic team to get this done and [snorts] worked with our audit team with us.

Thank you. Just wanted to say happy Mother's Day uh specifically to my mom Renee Laney and my mother-in-law Leslie Ingman. They're wonderful people. Um and congratulations on your first day on the das. Chris, just a happy Mother's Day to all the mothers. Of course, it's always a sad time for me since my mom passed away. But of course, I'll visit her like I do every week and bring fresh flowers to her. And Chris, welcome to this side of the room with me and Demi and Bridget. It's going to be a fun year. What's left of it anyway, but congratulations and happy to have you over here on our side.

Mayor, council, I know it's been a long meeting, so I will be brief. Um, I again I just want to um express my appreciation for the confidence put in me and I look forward to working continuing to work with the council um supporting y'all and supporting moving this city forward. Um I think it's been a long agenda but I think it's been a great agenda because if you look at you know I'll echo what Bridget said about the audit and the tremendous work they did but if I start going down the list I'm going to miss somebody but just a lot of great work by a lot of our our dedicated city employees. Um, and so this is public services week as we talked about this morning in proclamations. And so sometimes, um, as we can appreciate, sometimes we're blamed for everything and thank for nothing. And that's okay because I do believe that public service is a calling in many respects. And so just wanted to shout out to our our dedicated city employees. But again, look forward to supporting them, guiding them as we move forward. But again, thank you for the confidence shown in me. I look forward to working with y'all. Thank you, Mr. Boon. And also, happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there and my wife and daughters that are mothers. Uh Lamar softball is playing uh the best of three games this weekend for the conference uh championship. So, they've done well and that's first time in many years that they've been there. Uh the board of managers and BISD, the new superintendent were all named. They're having their first special called session in 50 minutes. Boyy's Haven Crawfish Festival is this Saturday. Uh and uh certainly welcome Mr. Boon and look forward to working with you and appreciate all the work that you've done and uh productive first meeting and mayor. Uh May 12th, next Tuesday, we have another uh mayor's coalition against violence that will be at the event center and we invite you all to be there. Mayor, before you adjourn the meeting, Yes.

I would like to say in my father's will, my daddy's birthday is tomorrow. Happy early birthday, Daddy. Now go do the thing. Now we're journed.