City Council - Regular Meeting

[Music] Good afternoon. Welcome to the September 16th, 2025, 1:30 p.m. City Council meeting. At this time, we will stand for the pledge in prayer.

I pledge allegiance 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. Let us pray. Dear heavenly father god, we come to you today, father, praising your name. Father, thanking you for your great blessings. God, I come to you today with a thankful heart, seeing your word come to life. Father, you told us in your word that you actively use every circumstance in our lives, both good and bad, to achieve your perfect divine plan, a plan for a good and abundant life and good spiritual growth for for your children. Glory to you, Father. Father, we know you gave mankind the authority to bind and loose in lives. Father, I right now cast out the spirit of division, hate, and fear across this earth. And I call upon your name to bring your spirit of good, of love, joy, and peace into all hearts across this earth in Jesus' name and by his blood. In Jesus' name, I cast out the spirit of distraction and ask for your spirit of presence into every life. Father, let us lay down our phones and be present with the people that in our lives. Let hum humility and love for one another reign in our lives. Father, send your truth into the hearts and bless this earth with your mighty presence. I praise you, Father. I thank you father and I love you father in Jesus mighty name. Amen.

Amen. At this time we will have any questions or comments from citizens if there is any. And I see none. So we will move on to um a proclamation declaring September as national preparedness month. um the proclamation. Whereas the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, designates September as National Preparedness Month, encouraging families, individuals, communities, and businesses across the United States to prepare for potential disasters. And whereas the city of Borger and the Texas panhandle are uniquely exposed to a variety of natural and man-caused hazards including tornadoes, flooding, severe storms, and especially wildfires which have had significant recent impacts on our community. And whereas Borger has taken pro proactive steps to mitigate these risks through wildfire detection initiatives, prescribed burning partnerships, and other community resilient measures that exemplify our commitment to preparedness. And whereas the goal of this nationalwide campaign is to inspire residents to take proactive steps that protect their safety and well-being before disaster occurs. And whereas preparedness and awareness are essential in reducing personal injury, preventing the loss of life, and ensuring quicker recovery in the aftermath of disasters such as wildfires, tornadoes, floods, and severe storms. And whereas the 2025 campaign theme, preparedness starts at

home. Calls upon all residents to number one build an emergency supply kit. Number two, make a family emergency plan. And number three, stay informed about potential threats. And four, get involved in community preparedness efforts. And whereas the city of Borger values resilience and community safety and recognizes the importance of promoting preparedness as a shared responsibility. Now therefore I Karen Felker, mayor of the city of Borger, Texas, on behalf of the city council and the residents of our great city who hereby pro proclaim September 2025 as national preparedness month in the city of Borger. And I encourage all residents, we encourage all residents to take the necessary steps to prepare themselves, their families, and their communities for disaster situations. In witness thereof, Karen Felker, mayor of city of Borger, Texas, do hereby set my hand and cause the seal of the city of Borger to be afflicted the sixth day of May in the year of our Lord, 2025. And at this time, we will move on to the city manager's monthly report.

So, we'll start with our uh financial kind of review. We're we're down to just one month left in the uh in the fiscal year. Of course, that should be pretty clear since we've been doing all the budget and tax rate stuff. Uh I will say that uh when you look at the financial reports, you kind of need to pay attention to the incumbrance column. Uh we've been a little slow in getting credit cards posted and fixing some issues that came over with the uh financial transition to end code 10. So bank reconciliation I talked about this in the email a little bit behind. We're a little bit behind. The financials are still mostly accurate because we've been entering those POS for all the charges to make sure that they're encumbered so that we see them. Although they most of those are probably already expenses. So I just kind of want to you know make sure you're aware of this. a little probably a little bit of flexibility with their uh those aren't 100% accurate, but they're they're close. So, we're caught up through July now, so we're only uh month and a half behind. So, their finance is making good pro progress on that. We're still trending revenue over expenditures in uh general fund. So, we are still tracking to end the the the budget with a uh positive balance pretty close to I think what we've been projecting with uh uh we talked about lately after the last little bit of uh budget adjustments. There'll be an ordinance coming uh starting our next month to make the final year end budget adjustments. They should be fairly minor and should be uh centered on the o the other funds, the odd funds that aren't the main operating funds. You also see in water sewer, we're still back, you know, tracking good with revenue o over expenditures. Revenue is above our 5-year average. Expenditures right at our 5-year average. So, we're tracking pretty well there. Uh sales tax, and you'll see that we've kind of been talking about that. We still don't have our last month's payment. We're under just a little bit from what we budgeted. Uh looking like we're going to be about 1% under. we could still have a big month, but there again uh because we have seen some of

the contractors come in getting ready for the uh turnaround couple uh starting August. So that might be reflected. Uh we'll just have to see. Of course, 1%'s a pretty minor minor fall. So still overall pretty good. It's still above our 5-year average, so we're still trending well on sales tax. A hotel occupancy tax is above our budget amount and above the 5-year average just a little bit. And of course, we continue that. expect that to continue strong into the first of next fiscal year with the projects going on. Uh other projects, there aren't a whole lot of projects going on now. We did finish our street maintenance program for the fiscal year this last week or two weeks ago. So the micro sealing uh microsurfacing that happened was the last. So we did the started with chip seal. Actually we started with some warranty work on Main Street between seven and 10th and third to uh see uh Wilson was the warranty work from last year's chip seal. Uh but then we did have this year's chipsill go in. So you've seen those streets uh that was Industrial Boulevard the residential streets out in Buuna Vista Moody uh some areas over in there. So that went pretty smooth and pretty easy. And then the microsurfacing was was the last step of that. So we're kind of testing that out. Uh there are three different kind of stretches of that. So of course Roosevelt uh the overlay on Roosevelt. Roosevelt was the best street and you know to the best way to keep a good street good is to treat it and seal it quick. So that got one coat of microsurfacing because it was still in pretty good shape, but you could see the cracks starting to form and and you know the asphalt's starting to dry out. So the micro sealing will uh add some more liquid, make the asphalt viable to where it can uh still be resilient and then add the new uh wear surface on top of that. Then on West Wilson from where the

state maintenance ends to Main Street, you know, that's that section that we've kind of had some problem with being really oily. after we did a bunch of chip sealing. So the the concrete that's in the microilling should help bond with that. So that should prevent that problem. And then from Maine to Florida, we chip sealed and then went the micro sealing on top of the chip seal. And so that's technically what they call a cape seal. So you get the you get the asphalt and the chip down to repair the road and then you put the microsurfacing on to give a final product. So we're testing that out. We're hoping that, you know, it holds up and works pretty good because, you know, the microsurfacing does give a finish that's more akin to fresh pavement versus the chip and it's a little more cost effective. So, this year we chip sealed at $3.19 per cubic yard. Uh microsurfacing is about $5 a cubic yard, but to mill and overlay to like actually mill up the old pavement and to put down fresh hot mix is about $19 a cubic yard. So, we're going to hopefully If that holds up, we can start doing some more of that on the higher traffic areas to get a little better better wear surface uh as we go forward. But, uh, they've started striping. They're working on that this week. So, it did have to Yeah, it does take you do have to cure it. You know, if you put the striping down too quick, it's not cured and it just sucks up the paint and you don't get anything done. So, they have started on uh Wilson and South Main Street and they'll get over to Roosevelt. Uh other projects, you know, of course, the still waiting on the screw to come in for the wastewater plant. That'll be uh hopefully in the next probably two months. I think we're hoping to maybe get that started by November. And we have executed the final contract for the well 13 replacement. So, that's just a matter of getting that scheduled now. So, we should see that hopefully maybe by the end of the year depending on Hydro Resources schedule. And of course,

we are starting to also get into that time period where weather might might impact some of those. Other than that, for the most part, all of our other projects are wrapping up. It should be a little more calm year coming forward after a couple years of catching up and having lots of projects going on. So, I'm not going to say I am upset about that. Be nice to catch up a little bit. Uh, as far as other offices, of course, finance, we talked about that. They've been working really hard to get everything caught back up. The auditor was here last week doing the preliminary uh field work. So, this is when they do their compliance testing. You know, pull those invoices, make sure we've got documentations for expenditures over $50,000, all of that stuff. So, that seemed to go pretty well. Uh you got your questionnaire from the auditor uh this week. So, uh we are still on track this year to have the audit approved at the second meeting in March. So, that will meet the uh six-month deadline. Uh, one of the laws the legislature passed this year is a requirement to have your audit done within six months. It's always been the law that you have to have an audit done in six months, but there's been no consequences. So, they amended that law this year, and if you don't have it done, you are forced to adopt the no new revenue rate. So, you cannot adopt a rate higher unless your audit is done. Now, I'm hoping that means that that gives cities some leeway between March and when you adopt the tax rate in August that in case I'm not for sure the legislature understands the workload of auditors and that not every auditor will do a government audit and especially I think some of the smaller cities that aren't used to doing that that could be hard to get done. Uh for us, I don't think it's a big deal. You you know we had the one time off where we had to switch auditors after that medical illness of the previous auditor. Uh but luckily this year I don't expect any delays that would cause any issues with the audit. But I did kind of just want to point that out. Uh HR of course has been busy. Uh we're getting close to uh insurance

renewal time. So our insurance benefits are out to bid right now. So after I kind of thought we were going to get a good renewal, the renewals apparently based on our distribution like male, female, and age distribution, they came back with 20% increase. So then they started talking about, well, we could get that down if we change deductibles or change total out of pockets and co-pays. And so I, you know, I didn't want to change, you know, if we were going to change plan design, I thought we needed to go out bid and make sure that that price is, you know, what we want to do. Uh, our coverage is pretty good. We're at a 088 loss ratio right now, meaning for every dollar we paid in, they've only paid out 88. So, it's like any other insurance. They use all that number to try to predict your possible exposure, which I think is driving some of the cost, but we do have those out to bid. So, there is a 9% increase in the budget. So, we will see what the bids come back. And uh McGriff, our broker, been working pretty good with that. So we'll we can absorb some because I mean keep in mind that the budget still for the most part accounts for about a 99% staffing level for the whole year. So we're not full staffed all year long. So I mean I think as long as as long as we're in 13 or 14% it shouldn't impact the budget a whole lot. If it's more than that, you know, we're going to tighten down and be mindful of expenditures. I'm confident we can get it down within what you know, normally companies can be more aggressive in their quotes when they when they're up to bid. And so, you know, they're going to want to keep the business. So, I'm hoping that that will drive down the they offered 20, their

initial was 20, they we countered at 14, they countered at 19. And so, we went out to bed bid. So, we're hoping that we can get maybe uh how many other I don't know yet. [Music]

I don't know. Well, and and there's a we're also bidding like so right now all of our supplemental like uh hospital indemnity and uh accident and uh long-term disability are with another company. If we bundle those, you know, they normally give you some discount. So, we could be looking at moving those over to maybe I think the goal is is to maybe get UHC to bid at maybe 15% then bundle those other and get two or 3% which is gets us down to about 12%. Which could be absorbed in the budget pretty easily. So, we'll

budget n because we budgeted for nine. I I knew there was likely going to be an increase and if it you know in the HR threads and all that stuff you are seeing pretty much multi- you know double digit increases in a lot just how it is but I you know I don't I we the way we set it up when we changed you know two years ago with the with you know supplementals and digital envision supplementals separate from the HSA provider supplemental from the health is so that if this happened we could pick and choose and be a little more flexible. The nice thing is like we're not bidding out the HSA card. So, that was last time we made any changes. That was I I know what impacted the employees the most because we had that like nine that 30-day window where their funds weren't available and I think it might have even been closer to 45. So, we won't have that problem this year because we're not going to change who administers that. So, just wanted to kind of give you a heads up on that. I thought, you know, based on our midyear review, I thought the renewal would be a little more favorable than that. But since it's not, you know, the council might have to take action uh should we if we switch providers, you'll have to take action. If the current provider is the best, you won't have to take action. We'll just renew.

Will we? We'll see. I'm hoping not. Like I said, I think we can get it. I think there's going to be some other options. So, well, and we can still even even if depending on what the bids came in, if everybody's that high, we could look at adding a little bit to the co-pay or changing plan design just a little bit to, you know, I'm trying not to do that.

You know, those are the things that directly impact the employees. And I'm trying to keep, you know, coverage mostly the same. And I don't necessarily want to switch carriers, but I also want to keep the carriers honest. I don't want them, you know, milking us for every last less extra dollar,

right? So, we're just wanted to kind of give you a heads up on that. Uh, we're also in the middle of tied with that, Michelle's been working hard getting the deployment of our new benefit management software, the open enrollment software to fix some of the issues. We when we switched two years ago, we went with the basic because prior to that, Texas Health Pool, we used their online portal to manage all the benefits. And so when we switched providers, we didn't have a benefit management software. So we got the basic entry level one. We knew it was probably kind of limited features and that we would look at it after a couple years. And so we've had some issues with it. So we've got a better one now. Uh they do billing. They they they do a little bit more like they compare the bill to what's on our statements and and do reconciliation. They do the Cobra billing for employees that leave employment. They do the retiree health billing so that we can free up some of our HR time and and handle some of that stuff. And they check everything. They've got some automatic checking. So like our problems we've been having with the current one is it'll automatically send a file of some like somebody will make an open enrollment and it'll redo the whole file and then somebody will go to get treatment and they their dependent wasn't covered because it sent a wrong the file was wrong and it didn't tell us it was even sending it. So this will hasn't been a big problem but problematic enough that those problems take a lot of time to solve. You know there's only been like maybe five or six of them but they take like so this will take care of all of that. So she's been definitely uh busy working with that. We're also working on of course hiring that HR specialist as part of the new budget which will help us give a little more outreach to our employees on that as well. We've had 52 applications for that position. So, uh, little bit of work rating and getting those narrowed down. Uh, planning development, uh, Johnny Ladic, our code enforcement officer, has passed his state plumbing test and is now a licensed plumbing inspector. So, that's we're excited about that. Get a little more help as we get, you know,

some new houses, uh, going under construction. Again, we have talked about that they completed the two slab inspections on the first two homes. So, the slab is poured. They should be I haven't been out there this week, but they should be getting pretty close to going vertical if they haven't already. And we are still working through the uh permits for the next two. So those are in process. Also working with the college on uh we've got their plans yesterday for the new dorm that the college is building.

Uh plan it's going it's going kind of on the hill somewhat between the classroom building and the current dorms. So it from what I understand area. Right. Right. So, it'll it'll kind of share the parking lot with the old dorms because I'm sure that at some point the plan will be to do something with the other dorms cuz they're not I think you know that's there's a reason they're building a new dorm. We'll just

No, it's it's actually in between the classroom and the current So, some of that's a hill. So, you have some crane and some dirt work, but that's from that's where it's planned. I've also done some finals some uh final inspections and some initial inspections for Aspire, which is the mental health facility and the old church off of uh McGee. And we've gotten the plans for the Dunkin Donuts that's going into the Walmart where the subway used to be. Uh, of course, we're still playing catch-up on the code enforcement side with weeds. um it has finally slowed down a little bit with the rain. So, we're maybe getting a little bit caught up, but you know, it's going to be a lot of the winter before we probably get that caught up. And of course, like I mentioned last time, if you look at your uh monthly performance measures, I mean, we are definitely sending out letters and and working on it. It's just, you know, there's a lot. So, we're going through all of that. uh in the fire marshall's office. Uh they've completed all requirements for the National Emergency Management Basic Academy. So they're working on some of the education there and as part of the prep conference, the Panel Regional Emergency Preparedness Conference that the Panel Regional Planning Commission puts on. Uh we were selected for the Emergency Management Jurisdictional Excellence Award this year in the Panhandle region. So we'll be receiving that this week. So we're excited about that. So that kind of reaffirms some of the things that we've got going on in emergency management. I know that uh you know one of our TML communication awards was based on emergency management communication. I know we've got pretty good outreach with that and based on the preparedness month. You know I do think we definitely lead in that group in the region. Um our new command vehicle will be over there on display for the other regions to see. So we're uh proud to show that off. Uh do have all the radios installed in it now and working on getting the computer softwares and stuff. So, it's almost fully functional. It's got telephones in it and stuff now and the satellite working. So, it's uh pretty much usable. You'll see it out at Boomtoberfest.

Probably be its uh first use. I know that uh Captain Sims probably super excited to have some place to sit inside, join a chair instead of standing outside at the back of the Tahoe while they're doing what they're doing up there. So, we're excited for that. And dispatch, we successfully completed our sieges audit. So they come in and and there are security audits for our criminal justice information system access. You know, are we doing the things appropriately? Are we safeguarding all that private information? So we did pass pass that. Uh Whitney Schultz has completed her EMDQ, which is the quality assurance certification on that. So part of our protocol software is they randomly select calls and so Sydney's been the only one that has been certified in that. So we we do QAQ quality assurance on that. So the software the protocol software we have randomly picks calls of every dispatchers over a month period and then the the quality assurance certif certified people they go in they listen to the call and they follow the protocol and they check off did they do what they supposed to did they ask the questions did they get all the information like they were supposed to and then you know each dispatcher is rated on what that is so uh she's going to be able to help out with that so we're excited about that and it's kind of good just remind you you know we do have those processes in place to make sure that the service we're providing follows those standards and is high quality. In it, uh we're still working back with Pantex having a few little issues on the weather radar that we've got our little joint partnership with. So, they've been helping get that fixed as we get out of this most severe weather part and kind of get into the winter weather. They've also been going around installing new cameras. So, you know, we we I think talked about that in the budget that that part of last year's budget. We bought cameras to replace some that are on the do not use or barred vendor list from some of the Chinese implemented legislation that the state did. So, we've got the court already switched over. They're working at the youth center and then they'll also hit police department and the city hall with some of those in the coming

weeks. Uh they have been also working like we talked about installing all the equipment on the new command vehicle and then uh they also did a lot of work uh I don't know if any of y'all got one of the uh emails from a compromised county email address and we had one email address kind of compromised so we got that isolated pretty quick didn't have any negative impact from it but uh I was a little surprised when the county when I got an email from the county emergency management coordinator asking for me to approve an expenditure and I was like oh You need me to prove that? Of course I I do. Is bad.

Well, never mind. I was going to say something that might not be appropriate. So, I'll just I'll leave it. And of course, emergency management is also we had several trainings at the dome during the last month. I know some of the council at those. We had the G200, the kind of the elected appointed officials training. Then we had dealing with volunteers and donation management training. So, we had some pretty good turnouts and got some good ideas coming back to that. uh and also working through some uh new policies and some outreach goals as we learned from coordinating with our uh volunteer organizations. The fire department of course they had their annual drill say of course not that you knew that it it was there but they did have their annual drill with Blackhawk out at complex. They've been teaching CPR classes again as well and they uh did go attend to and make an appearance at the St. John's summer celebration out at Huber Park. Uh when they did that and of course both the police department and a lot of our departments were involved in the homecoming parade. Uh they also uh taught fire extinguisher training to the 60 culinary students in Borger ISD. I kind of joked. I was like, were they afraid, you know, are they do they have the do they question their uh culinary abilities or of course uh it they made a good point is that and I I doubt a whole lot of people know but you know there's normally a silver fire extinguisher in your in a commercial kitchen which is a type K fire extinguisher and a lot of lot of those students didn't know the difference between you know an ABC and most people probably some of you haven't even ever seen a K fire extinguisher but a K is for a grease fire. So, so Chief, what about those blank? Those work cuz I have one. I'll just

keep you one. They're pretty cool. I mean, you know, just put it over the fire. It depends. I'm just wondering if they were, you know, it depends on the use. I mean, keep in mind, if it's a pot full of grease and you put it down too hard and it throws the grease everywhere, you might have done more damage than good.

If you knock the pot off the stove while you're trying to use it on a stove, that could create Oh, yeah. So that they have their use, but uh that's why you know some of when the fire marshals programs that they're trying to get funded are the the little kind of auto powder that you actually stick it up under the cabinet or under your vent hood. It gets hot enough it it'll just deploy itself. So those are a lot safer than the blankets. Not that the blankets are bad, but uh they also did school safety walkthroughs with all the crews before school started, making sure everybody knew kind of where everything was and and their way around the school. Uh Lieutenant Wy has completed his rope rescue awareness and operations course and certification. So that's the newer one and he's the first one in our department to have that certification. So we're excited for him in that. Uh Kevin Hardcastle, one of our paramedics, completed his hazmat technician certification. So that's a good example of some more of our cross training as we continue to integrate EMS into the fire department. And Tyler Miller has completed his four years of service which allowed him to obtain his intermediate structural suppression certificates. So lots of good training and continued development fire. Uh Archie and Kobe uh part of our mitigation team. They were both down at Tiffen Symposium. Uh we also do have an engine deployed down to Abene area right now for some fire preparedness down there. And then we're getting ready to burn the limb pile again. So the PC was out this week to do that. So we'll get some of that squared away. Public works, we already kind of talked about the micro sealing and of course they are striping. So you know it's going to take a little bit to stripe all that. We saved all the striping up uh till the very end of the program. So we've got lots of striping to do to keep them busy probably most of this week. Of course solid waste also helped. That's you know streets parks and solid ways to help support the homecoming parade and the uh United Way cookoff. So, always like when they can uh support our community events and they went through some of the TDM trainings. We also do have handrails uh on order for the new steps we're putting

in right there by the hair salon on 10th Street that we've kind of talked about over the so we've gotten final sign off from Pex. So, I I think I it's been a while since I talked to the council about that, but we didn't want to do anything until after we got the ADA inspection of the Pex sign off. So, we we're finally past all that. So, we're going to go in and get that last little bit cleaned up. Uh we also have a project uh parks have been working with Philip 66. So they've uh their corporate has done a big tree project across all of all of their locations. So we've got about I think 50 trees have been slated for the city of Border. So we've been going to be working with their vendor on that to put in some trees and throughout the parks.

So we're excited for that. Appreciate that. Actually, I think a pretty good thing from Phillips for us on that because, you know, that has been one of the things we get a lot of feedback on and have been trying to, you know, work on too is I think keep in mind that and people forget trees do not live forever. And so I know that sometimes we we we talk about the big nice trees downtown, but you know, some of these are getting close to their life expectancy. So, we are trying to make sure that we stay a little bit ahead of that. So, we got trees of different sizes. So, that is coming. Also, Wayne Hurst and Jason Anderson have completed their training for their solid waste license renewal. So, we're excited that they can can keep dealing with trash.

And the police department in animal services, uh Jared Harper has completed a few training this week, including urban wildlife. Uh you know, we do get Well, it's it's more than that. That's all the weird things that come in, you know, from the outside that end up in the city environment. So, there's definitely a little little bit to deal with that. And uh well, and it's not uncommon in some of those areas to have the uh bobcats and some other things. You'd be surprised what what they deal with other than dogs and cats. They also completed an interpersonal relations class. And then we are also getting ready. We just implemented a flee and tick on on intake for adoptable animals. So, we're going to make sure that they've got their flea and tick treatments to try to address some of that. You know, we had pretty good luck with the distemper vaccinations they started doing, you know, when we started having to outbreak to that in the So, the police department, of course, they've uh been busy with all the parades and we even sent our motorcycles up to the stet parade or the branches to parade. So, lots of it's parade season, so it's always good. Also, just in time for the parades, we did finally get our markings in for the new SRO cars. So, if you've noticed that, we've done a more uh school spirited version of our markings. So, they're they're red and they've got the school logo on the hood. So, I think they look pretty good and the school's excited about it. And you know there again as you try to do things like that to reach out to the school and to the school kids and you're wanting those SROs to be visible so that you know that that currents and so I think between you know what the city's invested in the SRO program and what the school has invested in the SRO program you know school safety is definitely I think a priority in this

we know carried on that it's important for them kids to associate with them or to get you know familiar with their well and we are the you know BISD is one of the few districts that has a a a sworn police officer in all the campuses. You know, a lot of those school districts have been a little cheaper and are are going with the security armed security guard route or the the school marshals. And so I think, you know, not that that's necessarily wrong, but I think, you know, having sworn police officers that are part of the local police department that have the same radios and go through the same training and help coordinate things, I think make it a lot better for a lot of different reasons. not not not even for what we hope never happens, but even just for daily operations and dealing with with ongoing issues. Having that, I think the way communications is definitely been good. You know, we get used to them in the summer. I think that's just a good cooperation between the school and the and the city. also sent several officers to the first annual Texas or chief might not want it to be annual but I think it's supposed to be annual but the Texas panhandle uh officers association had a conference in Amarello so regional training conference and so that's been a lot of work putting that on but we got some officers through there and actually Scott Gordon our uh kind of reserve officer swap medic actually taught a course over on that so getting some exposure there uh secretary in court city secretary in court. Of course, it's mostly been kind of normal work now that we're past all the election, but they have been supporting. Still has been getting ready for the alcohol option petition that's out circulating, making sure that we're prepped for that uh when we get ready to if any further action is needed on that. So, uh, keep in mind that if they get the number of signatures required, uh, the election has to be called 72 78 7 I don't know why I can't remember if 72 or 78 72 I always I always say 72 and then I debate with myself. So, I don't know what 78 or 8. You have to call 72 days in advance. That's already passed for

the November date. So, any election we do for that will be in May. So, we can't call an election with that for less than less than that. So likely if we get the signatures, we'll probably call it at the same time we call the general election in February. So just kind of a heads up, but but you'll get more heads up after we verify signatures and things like that. Dom Civic Center, of course, Nicole and Mackenzie went through a lot of the TDM training, too, as they're you know, the dome, as everybody knows from the fires, turned out to be a pretty good donation site, good place to run some volunteers through. So, they're working on making sure that they're educated and able to uh, you know, support that in a little better way. McKenzie completed her intro to admittance management training. And Nicole is just Did you finally did you finish it today? Thursday. Her 2025 supporting Main Street uh uh class. So, she's learning what through that. We also have been working I've been working with Nicole. We've gone through the first draft of our downtown support grant through the tiers. So, we're going back and forth through that. Hopefully, hope to have that maybe to the TEI board sometime in uh October, probably November, just with the events and everything. I think it's going to be a little rushed to get it in October. We are working through that and then we'll be able to have some tears fund going in to support downtown businesses and buildings. So, we're excited about that coming up.

Do we do we more people to the No, the appointments are still good. Good. Okay. Right. So, we we did that. They're good until next November. So, we just haven't had much to talk about. And we talked about that when we started the tiers that most tiers are very inactive early on while you're trying to

get money, right? And so, we're finally to the point, we've got a little over $500,000 and that fund now. So, we've got enough to support some of these things. And I know we've been hearing challenges on roofs, uh, and that being probably one of the bigger things. And there again, the the money in the tears comes from the district. And so, you know, if we can put that back into the building and prevent them from deteriorating or becoming unusable, that's kind of the goal of that to remove some of the barriers to the downtown bid build. So, we've got that coming once the TEI boards approve it. It it will be a standing program. So, it'll it will come to the council for approval as well. So, of course, some of the council's on the board and uh then the council have to get full approval. Uh Mackenzie's also been working. We do have the dome policies and procedures and the contract documents uh trans translated over into Spanish and we've got uh Sarah is proofing those to make sure we you know McKenzie's use of technology didn't create anything weird but we are hoping to kind of take out the uh last little hurdle to Oh, I didn't know I couldn't do that. U so they've also uh Nicole and Dedra met with Finding Eden, which is a local business that they're trying to help out and maybe find a place to get providing those assistance. Also supported the United Way cookoff. They were judges. So did are you tired of brisket now? And then in public engagement, uh I've been working, you know, uh they after going through that training, we've also been working now on trying to coordinate and maybe have a those good resources with the faith-based re, you know, resources and availability out there trying to get kind of everybody to come together and see that from a coordinated standpoint instead of, you know, all these little little things trying to get everybody to see kind of the bigger picture and then find a good

way to do that. They're also working with the school for what uh what started with Borgste is now looking like it's going to be a coordinated event with Borger French and Stanette on kind of a Chatter Dreams type project. They don't want to necessarily stick to like that. So they're what they're going to do is we're going to kind of do our own kind of like we do with the project shield and OEM, but they're going to call it the ripple effect. So they'll likely be some sort of a car crash and driving in a direct.

Yeah, like the like we did it the last time that board did that was actually I was actually on council and then the OEM. I think it's in like 05. So you like stage a car crash, you bring all the kids out there, you know, all the emergency responders come in, you cut them out, you put them on stretchers and in that particular thing, you know, one of the kids dies and you take them out of school the next day and you, you know, there's a whole process to it to show the impact of what your decisions and so they're targeting that for March and then that will come before the reality check in May. So then that's just something else that we're kind of adding on. So, you know, here you need to be safe and drive and okay, so you survived the wreck and made right choices. Now, you need to know how you fund all that, how you live with with your own money. So, that is coming and they're working on that. Of course, we're finalizing all of the the last little bits for Boom Cobberfest. September 10th, 11th, and 12th, October 10th, 11th, 12th is already of September is already behind us. So, just blame it on my one year older I am now. So, just ignore that. Uh we also did complete our new north northuse cleanup. So we took another two about 2,000 pounds of trash and bulk waste off of the out of the northuse area again. So that was good. We are still continuing to get ready for our centennial. DJ's been working on the centennial book. Pretty soon I'm going to have a centennial logo for the council to look at. Make sure that you're good with it. Uh because about time to, you know, as as we order anything next year, I want to make sure that we use our Centennial logo. So that is coming up. And uh Dedra is actually presenting at the prep conference this week as well. She's got a session to present over there. And we have earned our music friendly designation. So that presentation will be at the next council meeting be virtual. They're going to zoom in. And so we are now with the governor's office one of remember how many. It's not very many, but we are a triple crown award winner now with the music friendly, tourism

friendly, and um film friendly. So, uh, definitely know our name and the governor's office as we embrace their initiatives as well. So, that's what I have for the month. Any questions? Anything else?

Happy birthday. Celebrate Garrett Day. Yeah. Don't have birthdays anymore. Okay. So, um, we'll we'll move on to uh the consent agenda 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11. Uh if anyone has any questions on any of them or any discussion and if not then I'll entertain a motion.

I move to approve consent agenda 7 through 11. Second and all in favor and they pass. And item 12 consider and take appropriate action on the second amendment to the solid waste agreement between the city of Borger and the city of Pampa. Mr. Scradlin. So, you know, since pretty much since we built the transfer station in 1992, we've been hauling most of our trash to the landfill in Tampa. Uh, as part of that, we've had over the years uh this agreement in place. So, it was last modified in 2016, which uh allowed a 50 cent increase each year. Of course, in last 10 years, 50 cents isn't what 50 cents used to be. And so, they've asked to modify this. the the changes are very similar to what we did with the industry to get their water rates up to par. And so if you remember, well, I'm not sure how many of you are on the council time, but we we did a multi-year to get them at a set rate below the retail rate. And so that's pretty much what this does is it's going to a dollar a year now instead of 50 cents until our rate is $1 below their retail rate. So we'll still get a dollar uh discount. Now, I will say in that same time period, those like the solid waste compactors, like we're talking about those big bulldozers they use to compact trash and landfills, those have gone from about $450,000 to over a million dollars a piece. Uh to open a new sale, the way that you have to line them and meet all the PCQ, that's almost $2.5 million now. So, I mean, there is lots of cost involved with operating a landfill and PAMP is taking that on and all we do is pay our monthly disposal based on uh tonnage. So I think it's I think it's fair it it if we don't agree to this and they charge us the market rate or you know we either then haul everything to Amarillo which we still do sometimes you know when we can't get into Pampa that's the nice

thing about having the transfer station is we can we have flexibility in where we go but a trip to Pampa round trips an hour and a half a trip to Amarello round trips 3 hours because you know the landfills way out there on the east side of Amarella so so this is pretty good. The cost of this is built into the rates that we passed as part of the 26 budget. That's why, you know, we we spread it out a little differently. We did the 50-cent increase on the residential rates and then we did a $1.50 on the the scale rate. So that that's generally where like your roofers come in when they do roofs. And so we're p that passes on a little more to the commercial people that are in business and then allows us to absorb a little less on the residential side. So it's factored in there. Like I said, I think it's in reality, PA operates that regional landfill for our benefit as well. So, I think it's fair and we are they are giving us a discount. You know, they could very well just make us pay what everybody else pays, but they do need our they need some of our revenue to offset it. So, Shane and I talked about this and I knew it was coming well in advance of the budget, which is why it was kind of factored in. They just got it approved with their budget, which is why the contract's a little later, but I'll entertain any questions.

There's no questions and we'll I'll entertain a motion. I move to approve the second amendment to the solid waste agreement between the city of Borger and the city of Pample. All in favor? And it passes. And item 13, consider and take appropriate action to authorize the city's participation in the opioid settlement with Al.

I would just say all of those. Refer to the agenda. Refer to the agenda. Authorize authorizing the city manager to execute any document needed to the same. So, you know, we've done a couple of these now. So, you know, the this this goes back, you know, over the last couple years, the state's been doing a lot of those class action lawsuits against the opioid manufacturers for some of the opioid use. This is just some more all all they've reached settlement agreements with all of those. And so, this will allow some more additional funding to come into the uh opioid fund that we can then use for grants for specific items.

I did have someone question me about that, you know, that money. I I don't know if it's been I can't It has not. Yeah. Uh like is that something uh like a um like a apartment building that is they're maybe going to open up for um that type for drug recovery or something. Is that something that that money can be used or any or not? I don't know.

One of the one of the areas is what they call a warm hand and a Yes. But it has to be tied to a recovery program. So it it can assist with housing as part of what they call like a warm hand program to make sure that they're staying in recovery and things like that.

So uh Rico that's helping that Councilman Lawrence knows helping with drug court. He he did come in to see me this week. I gave him the list the uh the because the the settlement terms that everybody reached to provides what are acceptable options and so I did give him those. uh you know he asked what I thought it it's cuz like it it the main categories one is like uh Narcan so it'll buy Narcan. Uh I don't really want to use it for Narcan. I think that that's a Narcan has a shelf life. Uh we're required to carry it on the ambulances anyway. A lot of bigger places are putting it in police cars. Using the money to put it in police cars. There are free resources to do that and we don't have a need for it that much. I think we'd be buying Narcan and it would go out of date and we'd be throwing it away. And in our community, luckily, a police car is not getting there very much sooner than the ambulance gets there. So, if they need narcan, the ambulance can administer it. Now, yes, in a big urban city where the ambulances could be 15, 20 minutes out, that might make sense. For us, it doesn't. It'll also pay for drug assisted rehab. So, we don't have any of those programs that are medication assisted in facility treatments. uh the warm hand stuff, which that's that's all the coordination to to get them into rehab and to keep them into rehab. So that can be uh housing, transportation. One thing that Rico and I talked about is maybe maybe we buy a vehicle for the drug court to use, you know, so they've got that can be a hard thing. I've heard feedback multiple times from drug court participants that transportation could be something that's really lacking. So right now the volunteers are using their own cars and sometimes they're going as far as Witchto Falls or some of that stuff. They get reimbursed for fuel but they're not wear and tear on the car. So we've got about $50,000 in there. The like a little Equinox like what we have

for our pool cars. Those are still about $29,000. We could buy one of those. Uh reimburse the city for the insurance cost on it. You know, use pay use fuel. We could pay for that to be the fuel. So that might might be a little easier to get a volunteer to drive somebody if they don't have to use their car and it's free. So that was an idea I threw out. Uh we did talk about the housing assistance if somebody needs rent assistance on depending on what it is. They just have to be be you have to have some sort of assurance that they're in a recovery program. And so what I've generally been telling to is anything that we do, the council will have to approve, which is why I think it needs to be some sort of one-time expense that can be used multiple times or some sort of program that has uh me performance measures that can be reported back. So, you know, normally I've been telling people if you get some of this money, the council's going to want to know that it's doing good and and want to keep renewing the program. The nice thing with like a vehicle is that's something we got the money right now, you buy it once. I mean, that vehicle could last for 10 years.

I think that that we don't have a steady stream of unlimited money coming out of this. So, I I generally don't want to support salaries or things like that because okay, we we do one year salary, then next year it's gone. So, I think there are other ways to to do that. So, those were some of the things that that we did talk about.

You said that the county has some similar the the county the county is the taxing jurisdiction that gets settlement money as well. And from what I understand, I think the hospital district is getting settlement money as well. Of course, the hospital district has they have costs of their own that could fund that. I mean, you know, because they treat

the drug overdose or the and so I I expect that they might, you know, without knowing could have already encumbered some of those funds because they do have, you know, they're the easiest one with actual expenses. We don't have really any expenses. So, but the I did give uh Rico has the settle the the authorized project types and he was going to take it up to the drug court and and they were going to start

Mosa made that drug court graduation the other day made mention about it. Yeah. So, I I would expect as we talked through that there might be some sort of project coming, you know, to line with those funds. I don't think we're ever going to get more than about $110,000 total, you know, so we get a little bit of it upfront and then you get a little bit each year. I think this year was like four grand in supplemental payment.

Yeah, it's it's it's not a lot. As far as I know, I have not heard of any more coming after this between all that we've approved. Like there can't be that many more drug manufacturers and distributors because this I think this brings the total settlement up 22 or something like that. So

there's no no other discussion then I'll entertain a motion. Go ahead. I move to authorize the city manager to execute the combined participation and release form for the national open art secondary manufacturer settlement on behalf of the city of Borger. All

in favor and it passes. Item 14, consider and take appropriate action to adjurnn. I'm a second. Okay. All in favor? And we we and Pete, are you in favor of a journey? Well, call you out. Okay. Thank y'all for Thank