City Council - Regular Meeting

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Hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey. Down. Down. You left them. Evening. Uh, welcome to the 6:30 city council meeting May 5th. At this time, we will stand for the pledge and prayer

by Councilman Lawrence. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Father God, your word says, Father, that the steps of a righteous man are ordered, Father. So, this would be for man or women, Father. So Lord, we at this time uh Lord do the due to the uh election returns, Father. Lord, we give thanks that you raise up and you put down, Father. Lord, I ask that you just guide Kim in her next endeavor, Father. That you would guide her and direct her, Father. Lord, that you would you would put her steps in the order which you would have her to tread, Father. And Lord, as Shelby comes on board, Father, we ask, God, that you just uh give her wisdom and knowledge. And Lord, we ask for this counsel, Father, to have your wisdom, your guidance, and in many cases, your deliverance of what we should do and what we should say and how we should do these things, Father.

So Lord, we ask up ask that you would just bless this community and bless those all bless all of those who have endeavored to enrich it, to raise it up, and to make it prosper. And Lord, we ask for perfect health to come into this community, Father. and Lord that you'd give us everything of which we need to do your will for such a time as this. In Jesus Christ's name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen.

At this time uh we have a proclamation to read uh declaring the week of May 3rd 2026 as municipal clerk's week in the of the in the city of Borger proclamation. Whereas the profession of municipal court clerks is essential to the effective functioning of local government in Texas, ensuring transparency, accountability, and the smooth operation of municipal services. And whereas the office of municipal clerk is the oldest among public servants. And whereas Texas municipal clerks have pledged to be ever mindful of their neutrality and impartiality while serving as the professional link between the citizens, the local governing body and agencies of government at other levels. And whereas Texas municipal clerks serve as the official recordkeepers, managing vital documents, conducting municipal elections, providing legislative support, and ensuring compliance with laws and regulations in cities across Texas. And whereas municipal clerks demonstrate exceptional dedication, professionalism, and integrity in their work, often going above and beyond to serve their communities and facilitate the effective governments of local government governments. Whereas the Texas Municipal Clerks Association represents more than 1,100 municipal clerks who contribute significantly to the success and efficiency of local government throughout the state of Texas. And whereas Municipal Clerks Week provides an opportunity to recognize and celebrate the invaluable work of municipal clerks, acknowledge their vital contributions to public service, and highlight the important roles they

play in the day-to-day operations of our cities. And whereas it is fitting that the city of Borger take the opportunity to honor and thank Stella Sauls and Michelle Burkhammer for their ongoing dedication, knowledge, and tireless service. Now therefore, I Karen Felker, mayor of the city of Borger, te Texas, do hereby proclaim the week of May 3rd, 2026 the municipal clerk's week in the city of Borger and encourage all residents to recognize the important work of Stella Sauls and Michelle Burkhammer and join in so celebrating their contribution to our community.

Well, get up, Stella. It is fitting that it's this week right after the election, right? Can you see me? What are you doing, Doug? Because I didn't want to be in the picture. Thank y'all for what you do.

I said they just got bit done with their busiest two weeks of the year with the election. And you know, I think anybody that participated in any of that, you know, was pretty easy. And you know, they they deal with a lot of a lot of issues, of course, all that. And you know, Michelle won't say it, but she's also serving as the regional treasurer for the municipal clerk's association this year. So, she's Thank y'all. Hitting the ground running, right?

Item five, questions and comments from any citizen that would like to speak if there is any. And I see none. So, we'll move on um to uh the election items. Item six, consider and take appropriate action on resolution R-012-26, canvasing the returns and declaring the results of the city's general election and special election conducted on May 2nd, 2026. Mrs. Sauls, she she's handed it off all to me here.

Okay, perfect. Works for me. So there is an envelope here, one for each of the polling places, early voting and the mail ballots and the other voting places. You don't have to open them unless you want. There is a summary sheet right here on this first one as long as you're okay with the breakdown on the summary. You can just sign at the bottom or the side of the summary sheet and then put it back in the envelope. If you want to look at the manual tally counts, they are back there in case you have a question. But all you need to do is is look at the numbers, make sure they look fair and and and uh appropriate. Initial and sign or you don't have to initial and assign. Initial or sign. I guess I can let you. We will let you.

Everybody might get up and leave if they did. I doubt it. Is it one per? No, you just have to if you're good with it. The others are just a supporting documentation in case you want to see the individual tally. Getting a little sugar. You can't do this.

Is this erasable ink?

I don't think so. I looked at this the other day. Guess So sweet.

Oh, that's the only way most singing away.

Sweet baby. Precious. Yeah. I'll meet you halfway.

The candy bowl. And so now he's coming forward. Now the resolution will officially canvas the results with these numbers. Oh, okay. So I'll entertain a motion. I move to approve resolution R-012-26 canvasing the returns and declaring the results of the May 2nd 2026 city of border general election and special local option election. Second

and all in favor and it passes. Um, at this time we would we want to recognize I'm sorry. We want to recognize our outgoing council member Kim Perez and we're so thankful for serving with her for these years and we love her and we wish her the best in everything she does. You ain't getting away that easy. I'm not I'm coming for you. Right, my lady.

Thank you. Oh, you want to go down there and get a picture? Bob, get up. Get up. Uh, what's with the gloves? So, you don't get fingerprints? Get fingerprints. You don't get fingerprints. That's why they got window cleaner.

That's for cleaning my fingerprints. I don't think so. I'm not going to take it out. Oh, there's a receptionist.

There's plenty of cake and stuff. So, uh,

you know, you're going to hug. I don't plan on being any different. I still expect you to walk through the door and you haven't got a problem. Oh, I will. I know how you are. I will be here. I love y'all. Thank you so much. Love you. Honor all your what you did. It's a good thing to serve. Hope to do it again soon. So, yep.

And then we'll move on to number eight. um administer administer a oath of office and present the certificate of elections to the newly elected officer. I need you because you're the canvas in authority. Okay. So you get to sign your own and then now you have to go down there and what

do I take? I take this one. Stand up there. Okay. Thank you. Okay. And if you will insert your names and repeat after me. I I Karen. Okay. do solemnly swear or affirm Do solemnly swear or affirm that I will faithfully execute

that I will faithfully execute the duties of the office the duties of the office of city council member of city council member two of city council member three okay of the state of Texas and will to the best of my ability preserve of the state of Texas and to the best of my ability preserve protect and defend protect and defend the Constitution and laws the Constitution and laws of the United States of the United States and of this state and of this state. So help me God. So help me God.

Signature and signature. Wow. Thank you. There you go. You may take your seat. Thank you. At this time, continue with item nine, conduct an election for mayor and mayor pro team for the election year 2026 2027. So, you should have your ballot in front of you if you just make your mark, fold it up, and then Stella's going to come get them and count them because I'm not going to be accused of uh we just read the proclamation that, you know, uh the municipal clerks are known for their impartiality. So,

I only got three ballots. Um, okay. For mayor, it was unanimous. Karen Felker. All right.

Question. Is this majority vote? Okay. Mayor Pro Tim Charles Loftess.

Okay. Okay, then we'll move on to the consent agenda items 10 through 15. If there's uh any discussion at this time and uh if not, I'll entertain a motion or it's item 10 through 16, I'm sorry. 10 through 15. Excuse me. Yes. I'll make a motion we approve consent items 10 through 16. Second.

And all in favor? and and it passes. Shelby, I don't normally say unopposed any any opposed because but sometimes I have to. Okay. Um and then uh item the next item is item 17, consider and take appropriate action on resolution R-013-26 authorizing an incentive agreement between Borger Inc. The Borger Economic Development Corp and Disco Inc. Miss Fesser. Hey. Hi.

Good evening, council. And so, yes, we are asking city council to approve the incentive agreement between Disco and Borger, Inc. Um, and they asked us for assistance with a water jet machine, which is I'm not even going to pretend to understand all of their operations, but it's been a vital component, and they haven't had it for several years. So, they've been um contracting that work out and it's beginning to slow down their process and they're going to be able to bring more primary dollars back into Borger and they're even going to hire another FTE to um staff this machine. And so, they chose um they had two choices and one of them was like almost 200,000. It was like $196,000 machine and then the other was 317. And actually, they asked us to help incentivize the $196,000. So, we just wanted to ask um city council if you would approve this agreement. They've been a great um industry partner and they did a great presentation. And I didn't realize Jesse may have to remind me, have they been here since the 50s? Has Disco Disco has actually been a border business since the 1950s. So, that's kind of amazing that we have a business that's been here that long that's still growing and progressing. So,

do you have any questions for me? No, I don't think so. Okay, okay, perfect. Anybody have any questions or anything? Um, if not, then I'll entertain a motion. I move to approve resolution R-0013-26 approving the incentive agreement between the Borgot Economic Development Corporation and uh Diversified Industry Service Company. Second. All

in favor? and it passes. In item 18, consider and take appropriate action on resolution R-014-26 authorizing a commercial building incentive program agreement between Borger, Inc., the Borger Economic Development Corp, and Victoria Morraine doing business as Jackalopes Place. Miss Feser.

Yes. And so if you're familiar with the building, it's over there close to the 04 fabrication building. So, uh, Victoria has purchased that building and is wanting to turn that church into an event venue, a place where people can come in and use the kitchen. I think they've held a funeral there. um she has a lot of big plans for this space and so they're upgrading the kitchen, the sink, but one of the most important upgrades is um and I wish we would have had the pictures, but you remember the front of that old church has the huge concrete steps. So, they're going to enclose half of that and fill it with concrete and then put an ADA wheelchair lift so that now that building will have accessibility for um for everybody. And so that was a huge update for that building. And so, um, we kind of talked to her and she did a great presentation and we would like to incentivize her for 50% of the $100,000 worth of, um, renovations that she would like to do. And that's, you know, it goes towards putting a building that's been out of use back into purpose and getting some additional activity generated. And and y'all I mean they went through the whole process of like your the financials and everything where

Yes. And I actually almost brought all the financials if y'all wanted to see them. And because it was 48 pages long, I took that section out. Um but yes, she met with Spencer multiple times. They did the feasibility. I believe she is she's working because remember Steve Oas owned that building and so she's they've got a good agreement that's very within her margins. And so um she had actually asked for much more and in our discussions sometimes things get whittleled down to the like to do later um phase. So and and they I mean she I mean they'll have to meet all the state requirements and everything for so before they

so yes she'll have to have everything done and pay for it and then you know just like any of our other incentive agreements we reimburse 50%. But as far as um all of the due diligence that we do, she passed all passed that. So all the per I mean like permits or anything that that is going to have to be required like So she met with planning and development and then we will have to have copies of that, it's in in the incentive agreement. So before we issue that that check or anything, we have our requirements lined out for her. But she's already had an occupancy certificate I believe because we discussed that and she's already had a couple of events there

like we talked about. She's technically it's still an assembly use so the occupancy didn't change. That changes some of it. But I will just remind you that the this in the ED the incentive agreement with EDC does not change any city or building requirements. It doesn't dissolve her of any of those things. So she still has to go through all of our normal processes like any other building uh any other building improvement project would. So this is completely outside the scope of that. So if she doesn't get the certificate of occupancy because she didn't follow our processes, she doesn't get the reimbursement. Okay. And and that to get that I mean she'll have to I mean she has to follow all the permits and all that stuff to get the or you're saying she already has

that's not part that that is not part of the incentive agreement. The incentive agreement is not tied to the city process. The she only gets the incentive if the project is completed at the very end. So, if she doesn't go through our process, she can't complete the project. Okay. So, so it would be it will have to be up to the right. If she can't do if she goes and does work without a permit, then we're going to flag her for doing work without a permit. If we flag her for doing work without a permit, she's not going to get the project done. If she doesn't get the project done, the EDC doesn't reimburse her. Well, I I hope that it works out. So, all right.

Does anybody have any questions? And we do have provisions just so the council knows like clawbacks and pay repayments if there if something happens especially in the first two years and we have had people successfully you know have to pay some things back. Yeah, we just went through that with donuts open for so long or Yeah, she she got to keep it business. So any if if there's no questions if I'll entertain a motion. I move to approve the incentive agreement between Borger Inc. and Victoria R. Moran Villos. Thank you.

And Martin Moran, NBA, Jackaloupe's Place and Jackalopes Catering for improvements at the 2011 Deal Street. A second. And all in favor? And it passes. Thank you, Amy. Um and then moving on to item um 19, consider and take appropriate action on a memorandum of understanding between the city of Borger and the Canadian River Municipal Water Authority related to the future development of uh Crimwell 2. Mr. Spreadlin,

so I've got a presentation so that we can kind of go through this and get some more information out to the public. Of course, you know, the council, we've had multiple discussions over this over the last couple of years. So, Crimo 2, as uh Crimwell calls it, is the expansion of the Roberts County wellfield into the next phase. So, if you recall back in 2005, Crimo bought a significant amount of water rights from Boon Pickkins and the Mesa, what we called the Mesa thing. So, this would be extending the Roberts County into those Mesa water rights. So, right now, what we use the John C. Williamsfield was some of their original water rights that they got back in the early 2000s. So, thisou, it's non-binding. We're not bound to anything yet, but we are giving feedback. You know, Quimma's 11 member cities, right? So, in order to move forward and to plan, it's important to make sure that we get a little bit of commitment and that they know what all 11 member cities uh want. So, Kreml 2 is a proposed second pipeline from Roberts County to the Criminal member cities. It would increase Criminal Groundwater delivery capacity from 65 million gallons a day to 112 million gallons a day. For the city of Borger, that would increase our allocation by 3 million to 5.3 million gallons of water a day. So, this is actually an increase in allocation for us. That means that we can use more Krema water and less of our water or rotate our wells or have more uh water for additional uh economic development. It also improves redundancy for key sections of the 1968 and 2001 pipeline. Doesn't impact us that much. We'll show the map in a minute. uh we're already in a good position because you know we're the farthest north city. So we get our supply through two different pipelines that the other cities, all the other cities have to get it from the aqueduct, right? And so ours, of course, our lake line is a little older from the original, but we get uh our current wellwater comes from the Roberts County well line that was built in the early 2000s. So most of our water that we're using is tied to that pipeline, which is still in pretty good shape to where most of the other cities are getting their

water through the aqueduct, which was built originally back in the 1960s. So for them this uh reduces some of that. We'll see that in a minute in a map. Uh the shared planning target for CRM 2 is to be operational by 2038. So this is a it's a big project. Uh current planning assumes a CIP increase beginning October 1st, 2026 and a construction debt issuance in 2034. So, we talked about that that as the current Criml debt pays off, we're already paying Criminal that amount of money, they're going to keep collecting that amount of money and start putting it into a capital improvement project to start collecting money to do design and engineering on this so they can uh reduce how much debt they have to issue and also making other improvements to the system prior to the final debt issuance in 2034 because once Crimo is, we're looking at about a billion dollars in debt to fund this project. So once that debt is issued, it's pretty much going to have them locked in. So it's important between now and 2034 to do some improvements to the system. Our share of that will depend because the way capital improvements work with with uh Crimo is we only have to pay for the improvements that impact us. So like if they do projects on the main aqueduct, we don't pay for any of that because we're not serviced by the main aqueduct. So theou is non-binding, but it aligns member cities around the planning timeline. Again, we're looking at a 900 million to1 billion total project. Borger's share of that will be 43 to 48 million. And so it will provide more dependable long-term supply hander annual aotment through Crimo and better support for Borger industry. Uh if you remember, we talked that we had done they had done a feasibility for a uh dis uh dissolinization reverse RORO to use more of the lake. that was going to be up to $350 million and then three times the operating cost and it would not have increased our water allocation. So we have we would have been able to use more lake water but it would have increased our allocation. So everybody agreed that

this was uh more important. Amarello's uh Amarillo kind of wanted this ASAP. They would have liked for it to be online in 2032. Lick's got a big uh Lake 7 project that they're about to start. They really didn't want it till 2042. So we all kind of came to agreement that the uh consensus and uh target date of 2038. So we we did come to all of that. So this is the uh kind of their system map right now. So you can see that that green is their current Roberts County aqueduct. All that blue up there is all the water rights. So green is the 2001 line 2001 or 2006. So we're on that. We get our we get our wellwater from that. It ties in just north of Amarello at the Amarillo regulating reservoir, which is if you come in on the fridge highway and go keep going straight like you're going to the boulevard, you pass that big kind of water thing. That's their uh regulating reservoir. That's where they uh blend the lake water and the wellwater to send down uh south. Uh then that main aqueduct comes straight from the lake and and meets the wellwater there. Then you can see that other gray line that goes from the lake through Borger to Pampa. So that's where we get our lake water from. So we only pay for the maintenance of that line, the our share from the lake to Borger. Pampa pays 100% from Borger to Pampa. So uh Pampa's water is blended in Borger and then sent through that pipeline to where we're on two separate pipelines. So we've talked about this a lot. This is why we get to choose our blend, which is why, contrary to popular belief, we have no lake water in our potable water supply and haven't since 2011. So, all of our potable water is uh wellwater. Uh lake was being sold directly to nutrient, but its salinity has gotten so high that it's hard for them to use. So, we're not using a whole lot of lake

water right now. So, that's kind of what these charts show. They're kind of little, but average inflow to Lake Meredith fell from about 130,000 acre feet between 1965 to 2000 to now we're averaging about 57,000 acre feet a year between 2000 and 2025. So the inflow has more than halfed. It's about 40% of what it was. Water levels and chloride concentrations have been blend have been made blending more difficult. So we talk about this a lot, but like the lake evaporates more water than we take out of it every year. And when it evaporates, it leaves the salt and the minerals behind. The only way to get that out of the lake is to pump it or to release water. So, we have not released water and we're not pumping as much because the salenity content keeps going up. And so, the drinking water standards is 300 parts per million. Right now, the chloride level is about 650 parts per million in the lake. So you have to blend that down. So the bottom two charts, you can see that bottom where it ves. So that's that's the the lake low at 23 feet back in the heart of the the the drought, right? And so you can see the chlorides. The green chart is the chlorides. So you can see during that same time it spiked.

Now the lake has come back up, but you can see that the chlorides never went back down to where they were before the drought. And so the lake is at 80 feet right now. The last time it was at 80 feet, the chlorides were in the 300 parts per million level. Now they're in this eight, you know, 750 to 800 parts per million. So unless we have some sort of tsunami, chlorides is going to continue to be an issue with the lake, which is going to continue to reduce the amount of lake water we can use. Now, I know that some people might think that that's a good thing because then we're not taking the recreation away, but keep in mind that eventually that becomes salt water and all your fish die and a lot of your recreation changes, too. So, I mean, there might very well come a point to where they need to release water just to get rid of some of the chlorides. Now, they're not talking about that right now, but that just kind of shows you why our investment in wellwater is becoming more necessary to make sure that we guarantee that supply. So our uh lake allocation right now is about uh 2 million gallons of water a day. So that's 2 million gallons of water a day we can't use of lake water because it's too salty for even the industry to use. So they're nutrient can buy lake water at $146 per thousand gallons. They're they're buying system water at almost $120 more per thousand gallons because the damage that the high chlorides do to their system doesn't outweigh the increase in the groundwater price. So we can't even sell the lake water now. So they are still taking uh affluent water but the lake water you know we're not really using. So that's a problem there. So you can kind of see the use charts here. So before 2001, all water delivered by Cranaw came from Lake Meredith. So prior to 2001 in the JohnC Williams wellfield, there was no well water. It was all lake water and then we blended it with our wellwater. The JohnC well uh John

Williams wellfield aqueduct began operating in 2001. So when the drought of 2012 and 2013 hit, they delivered 100% from groundwater and no lake water. So if we had not invested in the John C. Williams well field in the early 2000s we would have not had water between 2012 and 2013 at least from Crimo. So the current groundwater aqueduct is limited to 65 million gallons a day. That's the most that they can send south. Crimo 2 would expand groundwater delivery to 112 million gallons a day and improve s uh system redundancy. So this what you're seeing here are kind of each city's use of water. So the very top part of that top graph is how much the cities are supplying by their own supply. Then Crimwell Lake and then Crimwell well. So you can see, you know, Crema's still not supplying 100% of all the city's water. You know, every city, most cities have some sort of city source as well. And of course, y'all know that that we have about a 3.8 million gallon aotment of well water from Crimo a day. And we're going through 12 million gallons a day, give or take. So Crimo is less than a third of our total water supply. But that's an important third. We pay a fixed price for that water. So we try to make sure that we use a 100% of our cremeal allocation every year to save our own resources. Uh at that we did talk about in the uh work session that creme did a water uh supply study and if they used this year if they considered the water that was in the aquifer under their water rights as 100 at the level it is now if you count that as 100%. in 2070 based on their projections and and the impact of this we would still be at 60% of our supply level in0. So our investment in criminal is definitely paying off over the years and and has is has given us a good source of water well into the future. So this is kind of that chart that we

talked about with that proposed ramp up as uh debt falls off. So it's a borger's 4.8% of the ramp up. You can see in that chart it goes from 129,600 in our current fiscal year which is already budgeted for to 667,000 next fiscal year all the way up to 3 million a little over $3 million in fiscal 3132. At that point we'll have ramped up to what the full payments on the expected debt will be. So that gives us the 8-year six-year time period to adjust rates and to get that factored into our rate structure. Uh for fiscal year 3033, the annual ramp up portion attributed to border is about 3.44 million. After that point, the target transitions from ramp up to criminal debt. So at that point, it stays off because the one nice thing about debt is once it once you issue debt, the payment is fixed, right? Mhm.

And so it's a whole lot in that first year of the debt, but by that 20 years of the debt, you know, everything will have gotten more expensive, but that payment will stay the same. We do anticipate, and we've talked about this, uh, with the council, uh, what this does for our rate impact. So again, 43 to 48 million is going to be our debt share of that debt. Right now, our, uh, industrial customers are representing about 88% of our water use. So that means that it will impact the industrial rates much more than the residential rates. So you can see the impact between now and fiscal 2027. We don't anticipate any we don't anticipate this driving any changes on the base rate. That doesn't mean that the base rate won't need to go up for operational changes, but this debt won't drive the rate increases on the base rate of residential customers. It will increase the per thousand gallon use from $3 per thousand to 395 per thousand between now and fiscal 24 uh fiscal 34. The industrial wellwater will go from 317 to three uh next year to 395 by 2034 and our lake affluent price will go from $125 to $160. So next year what we're projecting next year is no change. Uh we're still working through the budget, but we expect to propose to the council on this budget is no change to the base rate, water base rates next year, a 5 cent per thousand gallon increase to the usage. So for every the average customer in the city uses about 3,000 gallons a month. So that'd be 15 cents more a month for the average customer. So not a lot. Uh we're anticipating raising the industrial water rate uh to 317 or 12 cents. So based on our distribution, so the modeled annual increase by 2034 is we need to generate another $477,000 from

our commercial and residential customers and another $3.4 million from our industrial customers. Some of that might change. We have some debt paying off. So this is assuming none of that. So that's the high-end figure. I do think it will be less than that. So our key takeaway the criminal debt we have northwest wellfield. Oh okay. In the life of this additional criminal debt our northwest wellfield debt will pay off. So that will free up money in the utility fund to offset needed rate increases in those years. So I haven't modeled that fully because we still don't have final numbers. We're I'm trying to do the worst case here. Yeah.

So everything you're seeing is the worst case. So it it so the worst case and next year is pretty we're pretty locked in on that next year. Next year I think we're going to have to have the five cents per thousand but I think 15 cents per month per residential. I mean that's

that's pretty reasonable you know for I don't think that's much of a change and then the little more will be coming out of the uh residential but that does go up to about a dollar per thousand. So in 2034 the average customer would be paying $3 more per month. So that's even right now $3 per month is pretty reasonable based on some of what other rates are going. So by 2034 I think $3 per month is will be way reasonable. So I don't think it's big on us. We have not increased uh industrial rates in seven years. So this is going to drive some of that. But it also gets them access to a you know it's important for them to have stable and secure water sources. So I don't expect any push back from them. Every time we've had an opportunity to invest in criminal expansions, the industries have generally always supported that because they need that stability in the water supply. So, I don't expect that to be a problem considering that they've paid the same water rates for the last seven years when you know that their gas usage and their electric costs and all of their other input costs have increased. What we've given them has not. So, we're definitely being mindful of that. But also because of that, you know, they're when we did our last rate analysis, uh, industry was about 75% of our water use. Now they're about 88%. In this next budget year, it's time to do another 5-year rate analysis.

We will be doing that

that'll be funded in fiscal 27. So we'll see the fiscal 27 rates uh are the last of our current rate analysis. So we will do one next year to set the 2028 rates. Uh on the residential side, if you if you recall right now, they the rate analysis recommended no changes to residential water and sewer rates this year. So other than the 5- cent that we're going to have to do driven by Crimo 2, I don't anticipate on any other changes on residential water or sewer in this coming budget year uh based on how it's laying out. So approving this supports long range planning, but it does not approve debt or an immediate rate increase. it will likely drive it in the next budget and you will have to take action on a debt resolution when it becomes time in 2034. So, we're trying to get an MOU because council's membership could change between now and then. And it take, you know, this is this is a 12-ear project. So, we need some sort of, you know, legally, it's not completely legally binding, but they need to know that we want it and we know what the impacts are going to be to continue with it. Crare 2 is intended to increase available supply, improve redundancy, and better protect Borger's long-term water needs. Based on our current water usage, most of the modeled local rate impact would fall on our industrial customers. And we're lucky in that aspect. You know, a lot of these cities are going to have to push a lot more of the cost on to the to residential customers. Uh so that's also why it's important for us to have given as much time to some of the smaller participating communities so that they've got more time to ramp that up. Nobody, and I know this council feels the same way, nobody likes increasing rates a whole lot all at once. You know, it's a lot easier to kind of stream them, streamline them in. Uh future budget debt and rate decisions will return to the council as criminal planning advances and uh we'll take actually legally binding. So, that's where we're at right now. Like I said, this does give criminal law the feedback to proceed with it and to proceed with their budget and to make sure that everybody's on the same timeline. So why it's not legally technically legally binding, I think you need to think of it

as legally binding, but I don't think anybody here doesn't think we need this. I will say that when we first started talking about Crimo 2 back in uh 2015, the estimated cost was 300 to 350 million. So we've punted this from 2015 to 2025 and that cost is now 900 to a billion. So if we want to do this, we you know delaying things is never cheap. Other questions?

Uh if not then I'll entertain a motion. I move to I move to approve the memorandum of understanding between the Canadian River uh Municipal Water Authority and its member cities regarding the development expectation for Crimwell 2 and authorize the mayor to execute theou on behalf of the city. Second.

And all in favor and it passes. Um, and then item uh 20, consider and take appropriate action on resolution R-015-26 suspending for 45 days the effective date proposed by Texas Gas Service Company, a division of One Gas, Inc., the TGS or the company in its application filed on or about March 10th, 2026 pursuant to section 104.301 301 of the Gas Utility Regulatoratory Act. Mr. Splin,

so Texas Gas has filed a this is what they call a GRIP proceeding, which is a gas reliability infrastructure program. Uh this is similar to what on the electric side you might hear as a TCRF or a DCRF. That's where they invest in their distribution or their transmission lines. On the gas side, it's a grip. So they are allowed twice a year to come in and recoup the cost of capital projects to improve their gas reliability. So this is replacing gas lines and things like that. So this will be a search charge going on your gas bill. The way that the law is set up is we cannot fully intervene with this. We it it's a more of an administrative proceeding. Uh, however, we can have our consultant review the filing and make sure it's technically correct, but we can't dispute the dollars. So, we're uh asking as part of the Alliance of Texas Gas Cities to adopt this resolution, which will suspend the effective date of that rate for 45 days to allow us time to make sure that it is technically correct and uh appropriate. But like these just like the the the DCRFs and the TCRFs, they those get uh balanced in the full rate cases whenever they come. This will get balanced in the next full rate case as well in case there wasn't something appropriate. But for now, this is the action to do. This is separate from the action that's still pending for their consolidation of their service areas statewide. So, as we've talked about, they the railroad commission has approved that. The Alliance of Texas Gas Cities and the city of El Paso have appealed that decision based on their determining factors because that is likely to push $30 to $60 million of cost onto the West North service area that is currently being solely born by the Austin area. And so we are a little concerned with how a statewide service area is going to impact our

rates up here because at that rate we will have the same gas rates that they have in Austin because they will be set statewide. And so I don't think it you know we'll have to see how that plays out. But I know that a lot of y'all and myself have already gotten feedback uh from the changes in gas rates. uh you know, we don't control that and this is just kind of a reminder that we are doing what we can to try to make sure that they're accurate and appropriate, but we're not the Railroad Commission and we don't have the final say in that. We can just make sure that it's appropriate. So, questions?

Yeah. If uh if we pass this and it puts it on hold for 45 days, if it goes ahead and passes, does it retroactive 45 days for us? I'm not 100% sure. On the electric side, yes. But that's through the PUC. On the gas side, I don't think so. But I think yes. If they find it if they find it appropriate, the search charge will be adjusted to compensate for the revenue that they would have made during that 45 days plus interest. No, they don't get to collect interest on it. Okay. I was interested.

That's the one thing that's on the consumer side. Anyone else? Anyone else have anything to ask? Or if not, then um I'll entertain a motion. I move to approve resolution R that's 01526 suspending the effective date proposed by Texas Gas Service company a division of one gas incorporated to increase rates under the gas re real liability in infrastructure program for 45 days. Second.

And all in favor? And it passes. And at this time, we will um uh in compliance with chapter 551, Texas Government Code open meetings, uh the council will retire into executive session related to SE related to section 551.072 for discussions regarding the purchase, exchange, lease, and value of real property. and section 551.074 for discussion regarding personnel matters. Um just to discuss property located in section 22 block Y AMV survey Hudson County, Texas and the property located at 405 North Main Street. Discuss upcoming appointments of the board of directors of Border Inc. the Border Economic Development Corp. And so we're we will the time is 7:23.

Sorry. Take me.

We are returning from executive session where no action was taken. And at this time we will move on to uh item 23 consider and take appropriate action to adjurnn. I'll make a motion we adjourn. Seconded. All in favor and it passes. Thank y'all for coming. Thank you'all for staying. Is this I wonder if Kim's