City Council - Regular Meeting

I just didn't want to go home. They're like, we don't want to go. We don't want to go. And so we had to make them go because one of them had a doctor's appointment to get ready for school last year. Well, he's like, well, I'm not taking my stuff. But you need to because you might get home. Okay, where is home? At the time, it was in Keene by Cleaver. Oh. So it's a trip. It's a trip. And he goes, well, I'm leaving my stuff. I'm like, no, you need to take it because if something can happen, we're... You know, you might change your mind and work with your friends.

Nope, I'm coming back.

We talked him into taking it. Sure enough, he got home, and then his friends called, and his cousin called, and was like, okay, Grandma, I think maybe I'll stay here. They were good, though. They were good boys, both of them. Very good boys. They kept us on our toes.

No, it's not. There's nothing here.

Oh, yeah. Well... Thank you, Mark, Doug, and Barbara for attending our meeting tonight. We appreciate that. Let's get Doug to offer our invocation and open our meeting the normal way.

Heavenly Father, God, Lord, we give you thanks. We give you praise. We thank you for all you do for us. God, we ask that you be with those firemen that are out there today and keep the heat from getting to them and keep the fire at bay. Lord, we just lift these things up to you that our council would do your will tonight. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.

Please join me in the pledge. 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. All right. Tonight, on our agenda, we have items of community interest other than the fact that it looks like everything around us is burning to the ground. And the temperature was 108 last time I looked at my truck. I don't, do you guys, Stephanie, do y'all have anything coming up you'd like the public to know about?

Okay, then anybody else?

All right, let's move on past community interest and open the meeting with Burke's city manager report.

We're now in the process of putting together a hazard mitigation plan courtesy of a Nortec Regional Planning Commission grant. Kirk Higgins is taking the lead on this project. The hazard mitigation plan is a plan put together by our staff citing problem areas in the city, and the plan has remedies to fix the problems. By naming the problem, having a plan to mitigate the problem, we will be able to get grants to repair the problems if they are available. Without the plan, we cannot get the grant. As we work on the plan, I will bring copies of it for you, the council, to review. We will have to approve it, or you will. Last Thursday, we met with Matthews, West, and Huffines, our auditors, for the first part of our 25-26 audit. Austin Henderson and I went over what would be required from the auditors in order to get a good audit. The state of Texas requires us to have our audit done by the 1st of March, 2027. So we're starting early this year in order to meet the state deadline. Basically, without the audit, we cannot do anything with the state or federal government that requires financial assistance. The reason we're starting so early is not necessarily us, but it's Matthews, West, and Huffhouse. They had to really rush last year to get the audit done in time. so they they're getting they were here last week and went over a lot of stuff and gathered a lot of information they don't usually get until like you know in december or january so they're three or four months ahead of time we hadn't even finished a year and they're already here so that's a good thing on the agenda tonight we're finally awarding the bid for the rock and pillar street drainage project construction should begin in the next month or so after we have awarded the contract, I will have a timeline for completion of the project. Fortunately, the bids were such that we should be able to totally complete the project, including the alternate items, which will enhance the finished product. We finally finished the budget yesterday. Robert and I met with Rodney Dryden of Hub International, our insurance advisor, to discuss our employee's health plan. We came up with a plan that the city can afford, and we will allow the city to continue paying for employees' health insurance. Rodney will be at our next meeting to explain the plan to you and the reason for the difficulty of getting a plan. We will continue to insure with Blue Cross Blue Shield, but the plans will not be exactly the same as last year or any previous plan. If you have any questions about insurance, I will ask that you wait until Rodney is here. Robert and I can answer some questions, and Robert can do a better job than I can, because he has a lot more experience with the insurance, but we might leave you confused, so it would be better to wait and get an accurate description from Rodney. When Amon Carter Lake Level gets to 917 feet mean sea level, which is three foot below normal pool of 920 mean sea level, we will automatically go into voluntary water conservation. This is when we ask the water customers to voluntarily limit non-essential water usage and voluntarily limit irrigation usage. Last time I checked, today the lake level is at 917.02, so we're only two hundredths above 917, so we're about there. We'll be using social media and our website announced the voluntary conservation of land. Any questions?

No, but I have something to say. Rock and pillar, yay. It has not been closed nearly, nearly a fifth of the time that the other street was closed. And I'm hoping that this project goes even smoother than the last one and we're back up and running.

In fact, I might read the letter I got from Blaine Boswell, who's with Corbett, who's the engineer. The corporate approach to the board has reviewed the bids, submitted references, and verified the lowest responsible bidder's work history. Wall Contractors LLC has successfully performed seven year projects ranging from $650,000 to $3 million in and around the Metroplex. I recommend awarding this project to Wall Contractors. Depending on the city's budget, I would recommend awarding the base bid and either or both the additive alternative bid items. They come with glowing recommendations.

Somebody tell Rex that we're about to start on this project.

Because every time he runs into Mark at the grocery store, he'll ask him, are we going to fix it?

Are we going to fix it?

Mayor, my art director lives on that corner, and she said they've been there on and off the people for about a week. That's awesome. We don't always hear that about a contractor, so that's absolutely awesome. That's good. Wonderful.

All right, well, as you know, the public hearing is on the agenda tonight, so I've got to close this meeting at 6.06 and reopen for a public hearing at 6.06 for the 2026 tax rate. So let me read this to you. You guys in the audience, y'all pay close attention. The public hearing is to inform the public of the proposed tax rate of .5750 per $100 of property value. The meeting in which the tax rate will be adopted will be the September 8th city council meeting at 6 p.m. here in the council chambers. Do we have any questions from the public?

Mark, you good?

If we have no, if we have no questions, I'm gonna close the, I can't do it at 6 0 6. I'm sorry. You're gonna have to wait. You're gonna have to wait 6 0 7. Give it a minute. Close it at 6 0 7. All right. Let's move on. Public comment. Do we have any public comments from the audience? This is probably the slimmest meeting I think we've ever had. Yeah. All right. We're gonna move on. You're good. All right. Consent agenda items for the, um, August the 11th, regular meeting minutes. They are in your packet, but also, um, as a utility and the library write-offs, if you've had a chance to review them all, I would entertain a motion to accept as presented. So moved. Thank you, Ms. Post second whole stone. I feel like I should move this, uh, Sproles. Aye. Post. Aye. McEwen. Aye. And Hellstone.

Aye. Thank you very much.

Sorry. I gotta get, I gotta get on down here. All right. Next item on the agenda is the resolution 2026 27, a resolution setting a date for adoption of the fiscal year 26 27 proposed city of Bowie operating budget. I know I'm, I'm, I'm trying to give them a chance to take a look at it. So it's not an ordinance as a resolution, just setting the public date. So I'd entertain a motion to accept the resolution as presented.

So moved.

McEwen. Do I have a second?

Second.

Post. Sproles. Aye. Holstein. Aye. McEwen.

Aye.

And Post. Aye. Next item on the agenda is that Ordinance 2026-29, an ordinance adopting an annual budget for the city of Bowie for the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2026 and ending September 30, 2027. Adopting a referenced document as said budget and establishing appropriations for the various activities and functions of the city, establishing an effective date and repealing all ordinances and regulations in conflict herewith. That was also in your packet. Can I entertain a motion to accept as presented? Aye. Okay, second. Holstein? Motion. Sproles on the second. Post? Aye. McEwen? Aye. Sproles? Aye. And Holstein? Aye. Thank you very much. All right, our next item is Ordinance 2026-10, an ordinance levying an annual ad valorem tax rate for the City of Bowie, Texas for the tax year 2026.

I might have to say it just like this.

Whoever wants to make the motion has to recite it here.

I'll make a motion to accept ordinance number 2026-10.

Okay, let's see if it was read exactly like she just did.

I make a motion. I move that the property tax rate be increased by the adoption of a tax rate of 0.5750, which is effectively a 5.89% increase in the tax rate.

Thank you.

So she made the motion, and Holstein seconded it. Sproles? Aye. Holstein? Aye. McEwen? Aye. And Post? Aye. Thank you. Our next item on the agenda is to award the bid to wall contractors for the rock and pillar drainage project. I would entertain a motion to offer to award the bid. So moved. Sproles, do I have a second?

Second.

T.J.?

Is there an amount that's mentioned? 1.3 million. I don't have the exact number in front of me.

He doesn't have the exact number at all.

I have it back in my office. Okay.

All right. I get it. Thank you.

Sproles? Aye. Holstein? Aye. Post? Aye. McEwen?

Aye.

Uh, next item on the agenda is ordinance 20, 26 dash 11 and ordinance of the city council, the city of Bowie, Texas amending chapter 10 traffic control article 10 dot two stop signs established by adding D regulating traffic flow around kingdom construction subdivision and Bowie, Texas establishing stop sign traffic control devices, repealing any conflicting clause providing for a severability clause and establishing an effective date.

I'm sorry, where are those again?

Kingdom construction is the new subdivision that's been built over behind the elementary school. Okay.

And some of these are actually in phase two and phase three, but we decided just to go ahead and do them all. And that way, when they go into those spaces, they'll already be in place.

Yeah, absolutely. So I'd entertain a motion to accept ordinance 20 26 11. So moved post. Do I have a second sector? Whichever one you TJ Sproles post Holstein and McEwen. Thank you. All right. The last item on the agenda is to cast votes for the Texas municipal league intergovernmental risk pool board of trustees election. Um, you want to go over that?

No. Did you happen to bring that with you? I have some recommendations that I've marked. on the ballot. I hope you agree with me because most of the people that I recommended or marked, I would recommend. Place one is Carrie D. Neal, city manager of Seagoville. Place two, Emily Crawford, and I know Emily very well. She's the city manager of Abilene. She went to Abilene from Brownwood. I've known her several years. Sharp lady. Next one is Andy Jostens, city manager for the city of I know Andy vaguely, but I do. He's a good guy. And the other one, or the other two, I don't know which it is, is James Hottop. He's the city manager of Weatherford. I know him through the Texas Public Power Association. He'll be a good member, too. So that's who I recommend.

So, I would entertain a motion to cast the votes as presented by the city manager.

So moved. I don't know any of them, so I'll take your recommendation.

Holstein, Sprouls? Second. Post. Aye. McEwen. Aye. Holstein. Aye. Sprouls.

So you'll understand the Intergovernmental Risk Bullets, PML, IRP, which is our insurance care. They're the controlling board.

Hotop is going to be a great addition to that. I know him personally, too. I think he'll be a great addition. All right. So at this point, at 614, I'm going to adjourn.

Okay. Since we're adjourned, do we have... information on who's actually running for city council?

Yes.

Yeah. Precinct one is Levi Bailey and Valerie Thomas.

Is anyone?