City Council - Regular Meeting

What I thought it 13 to before seven

to do I don't want to have it where it's break the rules right up here with her new hair. I'm so jealous of her natural curly hair.

Excuse me, sir. Hi, my name is Regina. Regina. Hi. Hi. Nice to meet you, sir. Jim. Jim. That's easier to remember. Permanent. Um, I don't know. I think I don't know. For a while. Good to meet you. I go where I'm told to go. It's I think what I was trying to say. I go where I'm told to go. That's what most of us do. Yeah. I was going to say that's I've been married a long time, too. So, same to her. So, you said before number seven where I'm told to go. Yep. Yep. Yep.

I'm not sure. I will either. Yes. And for both just the two of us, that's kind of a Yeah, right. Literally, one of them is I am still president. I'm wrapping up my second consecutive

chasing her tail. But fun times. Yes, I kind of do a little less. I may have to be I'm still busy, but I just went to school for there in November in February and help pass out stuff to all the cute little kids. Lost my voice. Hi, we're Jamie. Hey, Jamie. Nice to meet you, Edwards. Here's my card. Thank you. I'll be Just kidding. Yes, she will. She's not kidding.

She's the brains behind the outfit. She's the brun to get it. That's why we so well together. Molly's the heart. I'm the muscle. Well, you could I thought she was going to go another way that you good. How about you? Fantastic. Janet Last I heard her, she was in surgery.

And it was not until um it was not until very late in the afternoon before I evening We was the surgeon got there about 4. She got there at 9:30 in the morning. Wow. She was in the ER the whole time. Everybody has to go and

it's time for you. I'm gonna turn mine off. Is that I don't think we met yet. My name is Regina Edwards. Daniel, Daniel, nice to meet you, Daniel. There's my card. Nice to meet you. I haven't verified it, but I saw

it was also got it. Oh, that was crazy.

It's such a And then Tony is doing the Perfect.

She's went in surgery. She was impreed. It's not going to be it for us. They're doing

what the guardiologist gave her We have no choice.

I saw the

sat And he probably won't call me for a long time because he doesn't want me and my mother at the same time. just get some session though. Just driving.

You still have those?

Okay. I'm not concerned. So keep your make no legal fees. Yeah.

Got a twominut warning. I was going to tell my love. She's the president.

Okay, I'll tell her. That was a fun project.

I love it. We just clean You should send me It is six o'clock and I call this regular city council meeting to order and we do have a quorum present and thank y'all all for being here today. Today we have two students from East Texas A&M University, Kayla Carter and Paige Morris. They're here to tell us about the big event which is right around the corner and then lead us in the pledge. Uh, Kaylin um, Paige, please take the floor.

Hi. Hello. My name is Jayla Carter. My name is Paige Morris. And we're students from East Texas A&M University. Um, today we just wanted to talk a little about the big event. So, the big event is a day of service that we do every year where we go around in the city of commerce and even on our campus and we just help out wherever is needed. Many of people around Commerce have signed up. So, as of now, we have about 44 sites outside of campus. So, yes, there are going to be a lot of students helping out this year.

Yes. And we just really want to thank y'all. Um without y'all, the community and the people of commerce. Um the big event wouldn't be possible. We wouldn't be able to do this every year. So, we really just want to thank y'all for the support. Um not only for the university, but like the love that y'all have. um for the city of commerce. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. And then stand for the pledge.

I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Honor the Texas flag. I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas. One state under God, one and indivisible. Thank you. Thank you very much. And Councilman Tony Henry will lead us in the invocation. Let us pray.

Heavenly Father, once again, we come to you thanking you for yet another beautiful day as you bless us to be a part of. We ask God this evening that you would just lead and guide us in our decision making for the citizens of commerce. We just ask that you would just continue to bless us. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen.

All right. The first item agenda number four is the consent agenda. If you will take time to read it over please and if you have any questions. Does anybody have any questions? Do I have a motion? I move that we approve the consent agenda. Second. All we have a motion and a second to uh approve the consent agenda. All in favor say I. I. All oppose? Nay.

Motion carries. Number five is uh presentation to the city council by members of the public. This is to be conducted as close to 605 as possible with 3m minute limit per person. Public comments will cease about 6:20. This period is reserved for citizens to conduct items not on the listed agenda. The response to public comments will be limited to a statement of fact or policy direction to set up uh an issue with a city uh staff member and offer to place the item on the uh future consent agenda. Do I have I have two cards, but we're going to move those to act because they're on the uh agenda. Does anybody have anything that they'd like to present? Okay. Number six is present to uh Texas local government code 551.0415B. The purpose of this section is to allow the mayor and any city council member the opportunity to announce city events or community events uh and interest and request that items be placed in the future council uh city council agenda.

Mr. Henry, I have nothing. Daniel, I have nothing for myself tonight. So, and I imagine Molly is going to talk about the um taste of commerce. Okay, I have nothing.

If I could, I'd like to mention that the Rotary Club, it's that time of year again where they will start the 2026 uh residential flag program that we've done for many years. Uh where we place flags in residential yards uh in honor of veterans. The money that is collected is used for scholarships for uh high school students that are moving on to college. And uh if you'd like to register for a flag, they are placed five times throughout the year on national holidays. Uh you can go to commerce.org, click on the uh the flag program tab, and there's a place right there for you to register and so forth. So uh it's a great program. and we've enjoyed it for many years and so that's kicking off again. Thank you.

Question on that. If you are current if you're currently in the program, do you have to reregister? You will be. That's a very good point. We are in the process of sending out invoices right now. So, you will be receiving a a letter in the mail that explains how to do that. Yes, you Yes, you do. So, all right.

Okay. And I'll back up just a little bit. Um the city hall will be closed on Good Friday, which is April the 3. So just make note of that. Okay, we're going to u move the agenda item number 13 uh up now. This is the vacant building registration ordinance. This is the second reading and we'll be cut uh holding a public hearing and discussion and possible action on an ordinance of the city of commerce repealing a uh chapter 22 building and building regulations. Article 9 uh reserved of the code of ordinances and replacing the new article 9 vacant buildings to regulate and provide standards for vacant buildings within city limits. providing for incorporation of premises, providing for amendment, providing for servability, and uh providing for repeal uh providing for penalty per day for each offense and providing for an effective date. Um before we open up anything, we have some comments or anything?

Sure. Mayor, council, thank you. Uh city manager Lizendy, want to kind of open up uh we took a little bit different approach with this ordinance. uh and regulation than what we have in the past. Um and we'll probably be following this pattern moving forward. Uh in that uh after the first reading in which the council indicated support for the program, we then began to put information out into the public so that they'd be aware of the program and solicit questions and feedback from the public and advance the meeting and then also invite members of the public to attend the meeting. Uh we believe that we make the best decisions when everybody's voice has a chance to be heard. Um and so I want to open up with just a few of the questions and comments that we received online uh about this program and then we'll open up public hearing for those that are in attendance. Um the uh first question that I want to address u couple of different individuals asked the question about there's a provision in the policy or the ordinance that requires property owners to have insurance. Um and the intent of that was to recognize that uh vacant properties typically introduce more risk into a neighborhood than occupied structures were. The question was asked one is it legal to require that and number two is it even possible to get that insurance. Uh so we spoke with some insurance brokers uh that we know and what we found out is uh it is almost impossible to find an insurance carrier that will write a building insurance policy on a vacant building. Secondly, it is almost impossible to find an insurance carrier that will write a liability policy on a vacant property. And so, if we put a provision in the ordinance requiring insurance and it's virtually impossible for the

property owner to get that insurance, then we're writing a regulation that's from the very beginning hard to comply with. Um and so staff is recommending that we remove any requirement from insurance uh because it's not going to be feasible for property owners to comply with that insurance provision. The second thing that it indicates though is the question was how can we prove that vacant properties introduce risk to a neighborhood? The fact that you can't get an insurance company to write a policy speaks to the fact that there's risk there. Um, and so we believe that since no insurance companies will provide a policy, it validates our position that it does introduce risk to the neighborhood. But we want to remove the requirement to have insurance because you're putting property owners in a situation which they can't comply from the very beginning. We don't want to create a regulation that they immediately can't comply with. Um, and so that again goes back to the intent of the creation of this concept. uh when the city did a strategic plan and then subsequently a comprehensive plan, we hosted a series of public town hall meetings, uh we had focus groups uh talking about how we move this community forward and multiple times throughout those series of events. Citizens asked about vacant properties. Uh and so staff was directed to research and develop u programs and tools to add to our toolbox to look at vacant properties and the risk that they may or may not present to uh the neighborhoods and the public around them. Uh one of the questions that was asked online is don't you already have tools that let you do this? Yes, but there are loopholes. Um we have um code enforcement ordinances. If there's a large accumulation of rubbish and debris outside of a property that's visible from the public rideway, we can open a

code enforcement case. Uh if there's visible damage to a structure in which it appears dangerous or substandard and those conditions are visible from the public rightway, we can open a code enforcement case. Uh but if the property doesn't present any of those risks from the public right away, we don't have cause to start a code enforcement case. Um and again, there is the potential that vacant properties could be introducing risk. And so this is a tool to add to the toolbox to allow us to just do an annual inspection just to make sure that there is not any unnecessary risk uh introduced to the neighborhood around them. and and that is in response to feedback we got from the citizens through our strategic planning and our comprehensive planning process. So this is adding a tool to the toolbox hopefully so that we could mitigate risk. Um next question was what about rental properties that are vacant? Uh if a rental property is active uh in the rental market is just vacant and in between tenants they don't qualify as vacant as defined in this policy. uh if a if a property stays vacant for more than six months, then we'll start a conversation with the property owner. And if they're actively listing and trying to find uh tenants for that property, then again, we we would say that it's not vacant. It would be a residential structure that is not being occupied and there's no attempt to get it occupied. That would be considered a vacant property. um properties that have an active building permit. Maybe there's no one in it because they're renovating. If there's an active building permit, it's not vacant. It's it's active and wouldn't qualify as a vacant property. Um what about properties that are used for storage? Uh there's some language in the ordinance, the way it's written right now, uh that appears to ban or forbid storage in town. That's not the

intent, and there may be a better way to uh explain that. Uh but if you've got a property that is not being used for the purpose with which it was built and they're using it for storage and so an example would be if you've got a single family residential structure in the middle of the neighborhood that's being used as storage instead of used for single family dwelling that use is not consistent with the use in the neighborhood around it. It would be considered vacant. The the property owner say well it's not vacant. I'm using it. Well, you're using it for storage and in our land use program, storage is not an allowed land use in that residential neighborhood. So then it would be considered vacant and would still have to go through the inspection process once a year. For commercial property, some commercial property can be used for storage and is intended and created in that way. That's not vacant. It was constructed to use as storage. It's being used as storage. It's not vacant. Um, but if you have a commercial property that was constructed and a certificate of occupancy for some kind of retail use and you've now converted it to storage use, then there's a conditional use permit process that allows that land use in that commercial zone. Um, and so there's still a process the owner gets to use the property the way they want to. We just want to make sure that it's either consistent with the zoning or that we're making sure that we've um reduced the risk uh that it provides. And then lastly, some great comments online about the old Ponderosa reliable oak apartments uh that are behind uh the Dollar Tree. Um I won't say it's a unique property because it's been in that condition for over 20 years. Um and that was gone that there was a code enforcement case that structure was condemned. A demolition order was given on that property. Uh the property owner that had it at the time

of that process at that time I think the estimate was $300 to $500,000 was the cost to do the demolition because of the presence of asbestos throughout that property. the property owner at the time didn't have a half a million dollars uh to spend on tearing it down. And so, traditionally in a code enforcement, if you've got a violation, you're given an order and you don't comply, then the city will come in and perform the enforcement and then try to recoup that cost from leans. Well, the city didn't have a half a million dollars in cash at that time either. So, a demolition order was given. The property owner did not comply. the city didn't have the cash to then go do the enforcement and so it's kind of been a stalemate ever since. About three years ago, uh the property sold to a new property owner uh and he approached the city uh with a development plan uh to improve that site. Uh the city worked with him for about 3 years. Um unfortunately he had great plans and no capital uh and wasn't able to move any of those plans forward. Um, and ultimately, uh, there was a delinquent tax balance of in excess of $360,000 on the property, not from that owner, but from an accumulation of previous owners that had never paid property taxes. Um, and so the city initiated a tax foreclosure at the end of last year. Uh, and the owner was not able to come up with that $360,000. Uh so the city did get that property through a tax foreclosure. The city now holds ownership on that property. Um however, uh through a tax foreclosure process, there's a six-month redemption period. Um and so that six-month redemption period, city's not going to do can't do anything meaningful with that property in case the owner wants to

come back, pay the redemption price, and reclaim ownership of that property. So, we're giving that owner until this summer, uh, end of June, uh, to go through that reclaim process. If they do not redeem the property, then starting in July, uh, the city will start looking for development partners to make something happen on that property. Um, we've got a preliminary demolition estimate of about a million dollars. Uh so if 15 years ago the cost was a half a million dollars, uh the initial estimate right now is a million dollars uh to do the demolition on that property. Um with all of the infrastructure issues and all the problems that city staff has been trying to address for this community, that's not the highest and best use of a million dollars that we have seen. Um and so now that we possess the property, we're actively going to be looking for development partners. We want to see that property remediated and a new development happen there. Uh there's just some significant financial hurdles. Um but yes, the Ponderosa is a vacant building. Um and the city would have to treat it like a vacant building just like we do anybody else. Um we've done inspections on that property. We will continue to do so. Um but hopefully uh we'll see some demolition or development at that property in the next 12 to 18 months. Um, and so that's the majority of the comments and questions uh that we received online. I'm grateful that there are people here uh in person to speak. Uh again, we welcome all the feedback. Uh we need everybody's input in order for us to come up with the best direction for our community. Um and so uh the only action staff is requesting at this time is that we consider removal of the insurance requirements from the ordinance as drafted. Uh, and then I would recommend opening the public hearing uh to receive any other comments.

Okay. Before we open up to public comment, John, do you have anything to add? Well, just to piggyback off the the city manager here, um during the during the process of coming with uh with this ordinance, um staff recognized through the residential safety inspection, multiple years of conversations with uh landlords and property owners that uh I think initially what we saw from surrounding cities that do that that has this ordinance is it was 90 days for residential, but we realized that we are a university town. So that could go from April till start of school in August. So that 90 days would not uh would not cover it. So we added an an additional 90 days for 180 days um as part of the ordinance. So that way we did not have that issue of compliance when it was unnecessary. Okay.

All right. All right. Now I'm going to at 619 open to public comment. And I have two cards. Um, Melissa Walker. Uh, good evening. Thank you for um allowing me to speak. Um, I oppose I've just learned about this ordinance. Um but I oppose uh the proposed ordinance regarding vacant uh buildings uh for really many reasons um may not have time to speak about or uh and I'll one of them was the insurance which I appreciate you know um dissolving that issue um and I understand you know that does imply that there is greater risk uh to from banking buildings um but I think it's kind kind of an overall uh national kind of issue uh of uh ensuring you know there are you know many other types of cities other than commerce um I don't believe that we uh that vacant buildings offer the same uh issues that maybe Chicago, New York or you know larger you know metropol metropolitan areas might pose but um at any reason I want to first ensure that Um we are uh very reasonably maintain our vacant uh properties um and care about their safety and and uh security. Um we try to you know keep them all you know uh closed tight and and all that. But um and we're constantly taking uh u on our bank properties to get them ready for occupancy. Uh obviously you know it's

an expense to us not to, you know, to have bigger properties just sitting around us paying taxes on them and and uh not getting anything back from that. So, but as well, we're trying to, you know, get them fixed as well and as quickly as possible. um while we're already complying with the RSIs, the residential safety inspections and associated fees, you know, on other properties and we do have a handful. Um but between tenants, we sometimes have vacancies, 30 to 90 days, and y'all are saying, you know, 30 days, it's deemed vacant. Um we have, I guess, 90 days, then we have to register. Um but we we uh often times it might um stay vacant a little bit longer because we have projects we want to do or you know some u improvements we want to make but we already have ongoing uh projects going on. Um, so every time we address a property, we want to improve it. Uh, and not just, you know, clean it up and, you know, uh, on to the next. Uh, we want to, uh, always try and improve, you know, what we have. Um, so I feel like, um, I would address, you know, kind of the incident of danger, harm, fire, that kind of thing. I don't uh feel like in general the city is really facing a lot. I understand uh concern of uh single family homeowners. Um but uh you know if there are issues then um you know I think we have things in place that you know can address those. see if there's a call that needs to be made for, you know, someone couple of girls coming out of a place or a vagrant, excuse me. Um, that type of thing. But

um I think in general I'm not privy to that kind of uh information that really makes it a huge issue right now for us to be required to have annual inspections, large fees on top of already, you know, uh rehabbing and then doing the RSIs. And we went through a lot uh with Miss Bridget um and um a lot of expense was you know put on us and time constraints and just it just didn't drive and it was really an a problem and I don't want to have issues with the city or um you know fight or have distress and all that actually cause physical health problems uh with my family. Um um at any rate, let me I'm sorry. Um so we are paying high, you know, property taxes that have services that will address uh issues that may arise. Um, in addition, I don't really believe that uh anyone has the right uh to access the property to inspect, document its state or its contents, you know, much less tell me how I can store things um that are no threat to anyone else uh or any business in the city. Um excuse me. Um often times people leave a lot behind if we evict or what have you uh or they um abandon. we have to hold prop hold their items. We need places to put those. Sometimes it's in a vacant house. Um and uh we do try to get rid of things as quickly as possible. Maybe try

to sell things. Um it's a little difficult. Uh but so yes, maybe we have uh furniture or appliances or something in a house. We don't want to keep it that way. We want to get it emptied out. and um you know get rid of the property that's there, but sometimes we have to hold for 30 days. You know, that's part of that process as well. Um uh and I feel like uh the ordinance will cause greater hardship on property owners. Um starting with paperwork, you know, there's a lot of information we have to provide. Um schedulekeeping um to keep up with in inspections on top of our normal duties and uh fees that have to be paid. It's quite it's really quite a lot. Um you know 500 and and risking um uh you know it takes time, money, manpower away from our already busy schedule of regular business in order to remedy any items that you may deem as a violation. I mean it's saving, you know, needs to be clean and sanitary. Well, if it was clean and sanitary, it's probably going to be rented out or something, you know. Um, we want to make it uh, you know, that I mean if you know hedges are not pruned like you'd like or you know we we try not to have trash and and debris, but if there's some trash inside a house um, not causing any harm or or or u u danger, you know, then of course, you know, we clean it up and do what we can. I just don't feel like I feel like it's an overreach for to have to have the safety inspections and uh on numerous properties that we may have um you know at different times and have to

keep up with oh this has been make it this long now we have to um register and pay the fee and and um it it's just really a lot um and I mean we'd have to hire somebody to even keep up with that kind of thing and that's another expense you know um I just feel like it's over and above you know what really is required and I don't feel like um I feel like things can be nitpicked things have been nitpicked in the past really badly um even on the exterior but um interior adds to that you know we're not going to have um utilities on you know if there's you you know, some kind of electrical thing, you know, yes, we're going to address it before we have it occupied, you know, when we're getting it ready, making ready. And we really do try to do a good quality job. And I I think some of the inspectors can, uh, uh, attest to that. Um, so I, you know, urge you to cease the passage of this ordinance, um, of having to additionally, you know, paperwork on our side, paperwork on your side, having to have inspectors to go in on top of the RSIs, um, of the vacant buildings. Um, you know, if we can communicate, uh, you know, have, you know, foster communication and understanding between the city and the property owners, you know, I think that would go a long way. Um, and just have some kind of middle ground there. Um, you know, um, I'm afraid that I mean, I unfortunately look at things that, you know, what you're proposing is, you know, more beneficial to the city as far as, you know, filling your bank accounts, you know, and yeah, there's

expenses and all that, but, you know, we're really paying a lot already in in different levels, and I just don't feel like there's a need for this. So, um I hope I've addressed this and of course there are online comments and support for my arguments as well. Uh I hope you will take those in consideration. Thank you very much. Thank you for Mr.

Good evening everybody. My name is uh Amir Rahman uh longtime uh property owner of this town. Um, President Benjamin Franklin said, "If you trade freedom for security, you will neither have freedom nor security." I feel like I am sitting around some Republicans who believe in big government and government overreach. It is really too difficult to do business in this town and the cost of doing business in this town is already too high. Both time and money. There are already ordinances in place to address all security and safety concerns. Why do we need new ordinances? talked about it. I understand um vacant properties are also generating tax revenue while not utilizing many of the services provided by the city. Why do we need additional fees? I guess it is a classic definition of double dipping. If I make any mention of high already high property taxes in this town, blame will be passed on to the university. I'm in process of reaching out to the university to ask what their take is on their role in high tax rate we are paying in this uh in this town. I wonder if this ordinance vacant

property is this quite unique unique in this area or any other cities are uh um utilizing uh this. And uh one last question is has city done any study to determine in this town vacant properties have um fire and safety incidents at higher rate than occupied properties than the occupied properties. I thank you all very much. Please u I'm of course against the ordinance and take uh my comments in consideration. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else? Yes, ma'am. If you'll state your name for us, please.

Uh Elaine Thomas. Um just some questions. I talked to Howie earlier today. He answered some of them. Um, one of them is like the 90day I think for commercial property that that's not a very long amount of time. And I think my question's more toward um if you were emptying a a commercial building out in in anticipation of selling it, then you put it on the market for sale. You've kind of sort of got a empty building sitting there, but it's on the market for sale. I think we all know in this town, commercial property doesn't sell in three months. I mean, it could sit for quite a while. So maybe to consider some wordage in there that if a property is on and maybe even for residential if it's uh on the market for sale that that doesn't apply as vacant. Um otherwise you're sitting there okay $500 you know while you're waiting or $200 I think it is for um

residential but just something maybe that you guys could consider um kind of adding to that if you pass this. I too do not like this. I kind of feel like it's a little bit of an overreach and the fees really like if you got multiple properties that can get pretty pricey pretty quick. So, um, and then again, I know how it kind of tried to explain, but maybe maybe y'all could explain again more like what is considered occupied versus vacant. It's like I kind of look at the print out for the meeting, but it's it kind of sort of gives a definition of occupied versus vacant, but still kind of have some questions like um I don't want to be considered vacant. I want to be considered occupy in my in my three establishments that I have on the square. So, uh that was my concern. Um I just want to make sure I'm complying, but I really would like this ordinance not to be put into place. So, um I guess that's my concern, but definitely the the if a property is for sale, maybe that's not running with the other. So,

thank you. Anyone else?

If you'll state your name, please. Good to see you tonight. Marcus Lane. Um, I think it was more just I didn't maybe catch or miss. Are buildings for sale considered vacant if they've been on the market for a long period, short period? I don't know if this is a question and answer format kind of thing, the first time talking to the council, but are buildings for sale considered vacant? Actually forgot to mention that in my opening comments that that was also a question that we received. For example, uh new home construction. A builder comes in, pulls the permit, completes construction, gets a CEO, puts it on the market, and then it sits on the market for more than 180 days. Is is that considered uh vacant? I and and staff would recommend no, that's not considered vacant. And I would I think we could clarify some language. If a property is listed for sale and it's actively on the market and no one has bought it, I don't think that meets the definition of vacant um and so would not come into uh play with this one. That's going to be staff recommendation

with commercial properties as well. Residential or commercial properties if it's on the market trying to be sold. Okay. Uh then that wouldn't qualify as vacant. I think it was that and um say we have a rental property of residential that we need work done. we need permits. With permits in place and that work being progressed, does that keep it from Is that what you're saying earlier? So, if it's if it's a residential rental property and and let's say it's between tenants, you've got 180 days or 6 months uh to try to find the tenant. And if you get to the end of that 180 days and you still don't have a tenant, we'll just have a conversation and and extend that. If you're actively looking for tenants, um then it wouldn't be

What about during that rehab time? If you've got an active building permit, it's not vacant. And an active building permit is good for 180 days. Beautiful. Uh and and so if if you're making improvements to a property, you've got six months. At the end of that 6 months, if you're not finished, we just extend the permit. Uh so as long as you're actively making improvements, it's not vacant. As long as you're actively trying to sell it, it's not vacant. If you're between tenants and you just haven't found the tenant, it's not vacant. It's actively being used for the purpose it was constructed. And if you're really trying to get a tenant, you're probably not stacking flammable materials in there. And and so it's we would not consider those to be vacant. Thank you. Thank you for your time. Also against Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else?

Mayor, if I may, Miss Walker, you raised some great questions. Um, if it's a residential rental property that's vacant between tenants, it's not 30 or 90 days, it's 180 days. Um, and if it's empty and you're making improvements, you've probably got a building permit, so that wouldn't be vacant. And if the property is currently going through RSI inspections, that by def definition means it's occupied and it wouldn't be vacant. So, you won't have a property with RSI and vacant inspections happening at the same time. Um and so that they would not be double dipping or overlapping in that case. So good questions.

Yeah. Um I was also uh curious some well now I've kind of lost my train of thought but um uh one of the things regarding what they were saying um sometimes in real estate if a property isn't selling you take it off the market for a little while. So, uh I mean I've dealt with real estate agents before. Uh u or maybe there's a better season to put something on sale for sale actively for sale. So that would I would uh um

so from the time that to be in consideration, but I don't I don't want it at all. I don't want anybody, you know, inspecting my property inside. you know, I'm I'm keeping I'm not, you know, using I understand your concern, but I I I feel like innocent and less proven guilty instead of guilty, you know, unless proven innocent in a sentence as far as what we're uh restoring. Um but uh so my first thing is I don't want anybody, you know, have I don't want have to deal with the inspections and the fees and the possible um uh violations, $500 a day u for, you know, not having something remedied. Um, I mean it's just to me extreme um and unnecessary and um I feel like you know there's other ways we can you know meet somehow uh rather than that just in general. But I did want to bring up the possibility that sometimes be something is going to be off market for a little bit um to find you know till like you wouldn't necessarily

so if it's listed on the market and you take it off that starts a 180day calendar 6 months if you choose to relist it within that 6 months it it's no longer vacant anymore and and so

I mean you know things happen things happen um I'm not the most uh organized person as far as scheding doing things or keeping up with some things, you know, um something falls through the cracks, you know, and then I have to pay, you know, violation fees or whatever because I didn't register something or what have you. But, um I'm just saying, you know, things like that happen and I just don't want to have to, you know, uh be faced with a lot of expense. Um yeah, I try to keep on on task and on track or whatever. or how to keep it scheduled, what have you. But like I said, I'm I'm not, you know, things happen. So,

thank you. Thank you so much.

Okay. Any other comments? I close the public hearing at 6:41. And do we have any additional questions or comments? I do want to clarify one of the comments or questions uh that came up about the business. Um I I don't want to take too much of a tangent, but uh property taxes are a form of general revenue. Uh and general revenue is intended to cover the cost of general services. Uh for example, police and fire. uh in our community uh the amount of property tax we receive doesn't cover 100% of the cost of police and fire. Police and fire is a general public safety service that's given to everybody in the community regardless of their use of that service. Uh I hope you go an entire year and never have to speak to our police department. Um you you don't want to have to speak to the police department. It's usually not your best day when you do. No offense police officers. they do a fantastic job. Uh you you typically don't want to deal with the fire department because if they're showing up at your house, there's probably something unfortunate happening. Um and so if you take the cost of those services and you only charge them to the people that use that service, no one can afford it and then you don't have a police department, you don't have a fire department. So those general services, the cost of providing that general service to the entire community is funded from a general revenue that is contributed by everybody in the community. And in commerce, property taxes basically pay pay for first responders. However, there are services in which we provide a direct service to a direct customer. And there's a very direct relationship between the time we spend providing a service directly to a customer and the

benefit or the use of that service that they render. So in those direct transactions, it's appropriate to have a fee because the cost of providing that service is directly tied to the person using that service. And so that's why we have permit fees. We have registration fees because our cost and our time to send staff to that address to do an inspection. We can analyze and see how much it costs to be there. And we want to make sure that that cost is covered by the fee. We don't want the general public paying the cost of services that are directly provided to an individual property owner in which it's just to them and we can track the cost to them. that is a more appropriate use of a fee instead of a tax. Um, and so the there are cities and we researched across the state that that have vacant building registration programs. It's not unique to Norththeast Texas. We did find a number of cities that their fee structure is what I would call punitive. If if it cost them $200 to do this process, their fee was $1,000. Um, we we we don't think that's appropriate. Um, and so we tried to uh determine a fee structure that covered our cost of that inspection and covered our cost of maintaining uh and reducing risk to our neighborhoods so that the cost of service is covered by the fee, but we don't have a huge markup factored in there. Uh, for commercial properties, it's $500. Commercial properties, a much more time consuming inspection, and we're probably sending fire. Fire department's got to be looking for fire hazards. fire department's probably not going to a residential inspection. Um, and so we tried to make sure that the fees covered our cost of providing that service. Um, and so, uh, great comments, great feedback. Um, we do, uh, again,

um, staff recommends removal of the insurance provision and I think we need to make sure that the language is clear that property that's actively on the market for sale would not be considered vacant. Anybody else have any questions? With that being said, uh could we table this to the next meeting? You're more than welcome. Table it and uh have further discussion on our next workshop which the public is invited to.

Don't be shy next time because the first meeting we didn't have any feedback and we have feedback tonight. So we if we table it tonight and we have it on the next workshop, please show up that way we can discuss it further. Yes. Any other questions or anything? So um I make a motion that we table. Second. Have a motion and a second to table number 13, the vacant uh building registration ordinance. All in favor say I. I. All oppose. Nay. uh ordinances tabled. Thank you.

All right. So, now we move on to number seven, which is the resolution accepting the FY2025 audit. It's a presentation, discussion, and possible action on a resolution accepting the financial audit for the fiscal year ending September 20th, 2025. September 30th, I should say. Good evening, Mayor and Council. Um, I'm going to turn over the podium to our auditor that is here with us, Miss Melody Chamb with Brookson Watson, and she will go through the audit with you. Thank you.

Good evening. My name is Melody Chamish. She got it right. I am an audit manager with Brooks Watson and Co. This is our second year presenting the audit. Uh this is for fiscal year 9:3025 and uh Lewis wasn't able to make it tonight. We sent the red head for St. Patrick's Day. That was the plan. So um before I start, I just wanted to very quickly say that um Jamie has been amazing through this audit. She was great last year. Her and her team great again this year. They're very responsive to our requests. they have everything ready and organized and it makes the audit go extremely smoothly. So, the city is very lucky to have her and everyone else who works with her. Um, we appreciate it. We take a lot of joy in doing audits. It takes unique people to do that, but we love it and we love being able to present a good audit and help the cities reach excellence. So, we're excited to present. uh in front of all of you, you should have a bound copy of the audit report. You will also have a copy of the presentation that's going to be on the slides back there. As well as there are two loose uh communication letters that are required to be issued. We'll go over those at the very end. This will be quick quick and painless. I promise. Okay. At the beginning, we like to kind of give you guys a brief reminder of the audit process. There are three stages to every audit. Planning, fieldwork, conclusion, and reporting. We do perform the audit in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards. And that first step of planning, we're going to do an assessment phase. So, we're going to come in, we look at the city processes, your controls that are in place, um, and we evaluate those. We

use those to help us inform the next step, our riskbased approach. So, we're going to look at that information we obtain in the assessment. We are going to use that to help us look at what areas need more testing or less testing depending on what areas are more susceptible to risk. We do that approach fresh every year. We're not looking at everything we just did last year and saying, "Okay, we're going to do the same thing. We're going to evaluate that every year to make sure that we have a fresh approach every year and giving you guys the best coverage. Um, next we're going to move into that fieldwork. The first part of that is the compliance testing. This is where we look at rules and regulations. So, bidding requirements, whether or not the city is complying with public funds investment act, things of that nature, we'll look at and test. Next, we do our fieldwork. Uh, and this is really where we're going to come on site. We're going to look at all the invoices. We confirm balances with third parties. So, bank, debt, those types of things. We're reaching out to them and getting those balances confirmed separately. And then lastly, the concluding and reporting. We take all that information. We give you guys a nice audit report. This does go through several layers of review. That's what happens on the back end that takes a lot of time and is unseen but it goes through multiple people um including the partner and uh concluding your partner as well. So that is what gives you this nice quality report in front of you. Inside that report I'll just go over quickly the components of it. What everyone cares about the audit opinion page one. Next the management discussion and analysis. This is going to give you guys a really good overview of the big

things that happened during the year, changes that um and purchases of of assets and things. If you're not a financial statement person, give the MDNA a look. It's going to give you a really good snapshot of what happened. Next are those financial statements, governmentwide, fund level, and then the notes that are going to expound. So financial statements might give you a net amount of capital assets. Your notes are going to give you a lot of detail about that. Fi uh next we have the required supplementary information. This is our budget to actual. So that's page 78 which we will do a snapshot of and some additional pension schedules. And then other supplementary information is usually just your non- major funds. We did issue an unmodified clean opinion. That's what you guys care about. On vet page one, there are four types of opinions. Unmodified, qualified, disclaimed, or adverse. You guys have the green thumbs up. That's the highest we're allowed to offer. The highest level of assurance. Okay. Financial highlights. Uh fund balances for governmental. The city has three major funds. We evaluate all funds to determine which ones will be major. There are certain criteria. General fund is always a major fund. Debt service and capital projects. All three of those are major. They were major last year. Everything else gets lumped and falls under that non- major for governmental. That's that fourth one there. General fund had a fund balance decrease of 215,000. Debt service fund was slight increase. Last year it had a slight decrease. We expect debt service fund to generally remain about the same. That's what we're seeing year-toear. Capital projects, you had the 2.3

million increase that was due to the issuance of bond for capital projects. So next year you'll see that go down as those funds are used. And then other non- major slight decrease there. Nothing major. Okay, next. Like I promised that budget to actual page 78 of your report. If you look there, uh revenues had a positive variance of 230,000. Expenditures almost on the nose, guys. I never see that. I was shocked. Uh other sources and uses, those things are going to be like transfers in and transfers out. insurance recoveries very hard to budget for. Uh decrease of a variance of 186,000 uh deficit there. Overall uh your variance was a positive 48 from budget to actual. Your beginning fund balance was 3.3 million and name fund balance 3.1. Again, we discussed that general fund did have that decrease of 215,000. The city does have a goal, their policy, you guys want to maintain no less than 90 days or 25% in unassigned fund balance. Currently, you guys have 34% which is 124 days. So that means you get no more revenue starting today. You can operate for 124 days at the same level that you're already operating. So you're well within your policy on that. And then lastly, uh we like to highlight that proprietary fund. This is your water sewer fund. We expect this fund to be self- sustaining. Uh and it is. So your net operating income was 512,000. And then the overall increase in net

position. So after the nonoperating items, 145,000. So, you're you're well self- sustaining there on your water and sewer fund. Okay. And then lastly, I told you guys this was quick, communication letters. Um, those two that I pulled out and showed you, these are required audit communication letters. The first one is the communication with those charged with governance. That goes over just our responsibilities in regards to the audit. We always like to point out three things. We conducted the audit in compliance with all ethics requirements regarding independence. There were no difficulties encountered in dealing with management, but I would throw you under the bus if I had to, Jamie. I'm kidding. And then uh all audit adjustments were identified and corrected by management. And then that second letter is just a communication regarding internal controls. So if we find something that we think needs to be addressed, we're going to list it there. Uh and and I just want to point out that that's really short this year. Uh almost everything that we pointed out last year, uh the city addressed and cleared up and took care of and we were able to remove off of that communication letter. So, good job on that. That's all I have. I'm available for questions if there is any.

Does anybody have any questions? We had just received this. I know you did. So, um I know Jamie works really hard with y'all on this, but we would like to be able to have time to look at this. So, I I would like to move that we table this and give us a little time to look at it. But I also want to say kudos to Jamie Howdy. What was the recommendation?

Oh, yeah. City just received. We also received the distinguished budget award from GFOA uh in that uh the budget document that we present uh meets all meets or exceeds all of the industry uh standards and commerce for decades never received that award. This is now the second year in a row in which we received that award. So good budgets and good audits makes for a good time to throw up those numbers without looking at them a little tackle that. Okay. So I have a motion to table second. Have a motion and a second to table this item. All in favor say I. All oppose nay.

Motion carries. Thank you very very much. Thank you. All right. We'll move on to item number eight is the discussion and possible action on a resolution by the city council of commerce Texas uh adopting a set of financial policies. Jamie Campbell

get that you apologize that's a load off my shoulders right there. Okay. Um uh good evening again. So every year we go through and review our financial policies. Um this year is no different. Um we review our fund balance policy, our capital asset policy, our debt policy. Um the only change that I made in the policies this year was based on a recommendation from the auditors that we increase the threshold in our capital assets from 5,000 to 10,000. Um, and that stems from the state law changed their threshold for um, needing to have council approval for purchases from 50,000 to 100,000. So, just kind of following along with that, um, almost everything is expensive. So, what happens is we end up depreciating really small assets for at least 5 years. And this helps us kind of if it's under $10,000, no matter what, we'll just expense it all right away. And so that's really the only change that I made this year.

All right. Anybody have any questions of Jamie? And these are available on the website. If you go to the finance page, they're available um in our budget document as well. Thank you, Jenny. Do I have a motion? Move that we accept the resolution by the city of commerce to adopt these financial policies. Second. I have a motion and second to adopt um the financial policies. All in favor say I. All oppose. Nay.

Motion carries. All right. Number nine is a discussion and possible action on the approval of the publication of the quest for proposals for grant administration services related to the submission of grant applications on behalf of the commerce parks and regulate recreation and authorizing the city manager or his designate to execute any necessary documentation. Molly Jacobson.

Good evening, mayor and council. Uh you may recall about two years ago we came to you for permission to release an RFP for a parks grant administrator. Um we're coming to you for that again. Uh if you recall in your strategic plan, the city council has identified several objectives uh which include uh looking for other sources of revenue for the city as well as some beautifification efforts. And so our hope is to find a grant administrator that we can partner with to apply for some Texas Parks and Wildlife grants um to find some revenue to spend on those places and contribute to quality of life um here in commerce. When we went to apply a couple years ago, there were several key components that we've kind of checked off our list the last couple years. um including when you all adopted the comprehensive plan, you adopted a d um excuse me, not a downtown master plan, a parks master plan. Um and that's those sort of things. Um staff has been working on a parks maintenance plan, establishing that. Those sort of items that we can check off our list when we apply for parks grants, sort of make us more marketable um when we go out for those grants. So, we've checked some big items off our list. We'd like to go out for some parks grants again. Um, this will allow us to find a parks grant administrator to assist us with applying for those grants. And so, um, the RFP, if you approve it tonight, we would release it tomorrow. It will be published in the newspaper to solicit grants. Bids will be due Friday, April 24th at 2 p.m. So, if we um find a parks grant administrator, we would bring that recommendation back to council for you all to award a contract at that time. Okay. Any questions? Do I have a motion?

I move that we uh approve the request for proposals for the grant administrator for parks and rec. Uh we have a motion and a second for the authorization of publication of an RFP for grant administration services related to parks and recreation a grant. All in favor say I. I.

All oppose. Nay. Motion carries. Okay. Number 10 is a discussion in consideration and possible action on a resolution authorizing the selection of administration or project delivery service providers to pro uh complete application preparation and project implementation for the city of commerce Texas community development block uh grant downtown revitalization main street program administered by the Texas administration of agriculture and authorizing the city manager or his designate to execute any necessary documentation. Miss Jamie Campbell, there are

um so just like what Molly is about to do for uh the grant administrator for parks, we went out for an RFP for a grant administrator for the development block grant uh specific to our downtown and working within our downtown master plan to continue that downtown plan. Um, we have already uh received all of the bids. The bids came in March 2nd. We just opened the bids and scored them yesterday. So, I apologize for the delay. We really crunched this in quickly. Um, we only had one bid that came in for grant administration. We still went through the whole process of scoring, reviewing their packet, um, just as if we had received multiple. Um we have worked with grant works many times. Um and so we scored them with a total score of 255 points out of a maximum of 300. Um and so uh staff recommends um awarding this contract to grant works for the administration of this grant. Anybody have any questions of Miss Jamie? Do I have a motion?

I move that we uh accept this authorization of the selection of administration project deliverance service provider for the downtown revitalization main street program uh project. We have a motion and second for the resolution authorizing selection for grant administrator downtown uh revitalization main street program. This is for grant works. Um all in favor say I. I. All oppose nay. Motion carries.

Thank you. I got you again. Okay. Resolution authorizing engineering services for downtown revitalization and main street program. discussion and consideration and action on a resolution authorizing the selection of an engineering uh architectural and uh surveying service providers to complete the project implementation of the city of te commerce Texas community development block grant downtown revitalization main street program funded administr administered by the Texas Department of Agriculture and authorizing the city manager or his designate to execute any necessary documentation relating to this item, Miss Jamie.

So along with this grant, it's the exact same grant. So, if we're going to issue or go out for the grant, one of the requirements of that grant is that we have an engineer that would help kind of turn in a game plan, if you will, kind of like a high level of what um the plan is going to be for the grant. And so, just like with the RFP, the RFP has dollars associated with it. When you are going out for an engineer, you're not allowed to ask for how much is this going to cost. You're looking for qualification. So, the qualification of that engineer, is it up to par? Um, we received three bids, sealed bids. Um, we opened those bids again yesterday, went through the whole scoring process. um we had freeze and nickels, SPI and a third was GLS. Going through the whole scoring process, we have determined that SPI rated the highest at 279 with um possibility of 300 points. So, city staff is recommending that we use SPI as the engineering firm for this grant.

Sorry, Jenny. Who is SPI? Sham Sham Shamber it's it's lock in they're out of it's a really it's a good one the several offices around but they they do a lot of work in Northeast Texas and we used them before we've never used SPI before but I know several other principles one of the one of the scoring criteria is if number one they have worked on this grant which they have um and another scoring is if they are in this region So when we looked at the region, we really looked at kind of like centralized our region and so they scored pretty high on the both of those. I

think they're teres, right? Any other questions? Do I have a motion? a motion that we adopt a resolution authorizing services downtownization main street program and awarded to SPI.

Second. I have a motion and second to um for the resolution authorizing engineering services for downtown re downtown revitalization main street program and uh to SPI. All in favor say I. I. All oppose. Nay. Motion carries. All right. And we will move on to number 12. An ordinance counseling cancelling May 2nd, 2026 general and special election. Discussion and possible action on an ordinance of the city of commerce, Texas and Hunt County, Texas. uh repealing ordinance number 2026-01-01 ordering a general election for the purpose of electing two city council members each for a three-year term to serve as a council member for place one and place three and ordering a special election for the purpose of electing a mayor to serve on the city council uh the Commerce City Council for the remainder of an unexpired term ending in May of 2028 declaring Preclaring unopposed candidates for the offices of city council, place one and place three and mayor. Declaring each unopposed candidate elected to office and approving the or uh the order of cancellation to cancel the the general and special uh municipal elections scheduled to be held on May 2nd, 2026. providing for this ordinance shall be uh cumulative of all ordinances providing a variability uh clause and providing for an effective date. Molly Jackson, any questions? No. So, if you all recall uh in January you ordered a general uh election to run concurrent with a special election. The purpose of the general election being to

elect place one and place three uh currently held by incumbents Daniel Starks and Anthony Henry to a three-year term and then the special election would be for electing a mayor to a two-year unexpired term. That position was currently held by incumbent Stephanie Muller. We then opened the filing period consistent with the election code for 30 days that ran from mid January to Friday, February 13th. As of Friday, February 13th, the three incumbents for place one, place three, and mayor were the only three individuals to file for a place on the ballot. Texas election code says that the governing body of the municipality may cancel the election so long as there is no opposition to any of the candidates on the ballot. Um, which is also true for the school board. The school board has unopposed candidates, they'll be canceling their election as well. So there would be no purpose for taxpayers uh to fund an election as everybody on the ballot is unopposed. So um as a reminder, your terms won't officially start. You won't take office in your new terms until May. So at that point, we'll canvas the results of the election, issue your certificates of election, and do your oath of office. But tonight, you'll just be cancelling that May 2nd, 2026 election. Happy to take questions if you have them.

Anybody have any questions? I move that we cancel the May 2nd, 2026 general and special election. Second. Have a motion and a second to cancel the May 2026 general and special election. All in favor say I. All oppose? Nay.

Motion carries. Thank you. All right. Skip down now to number 14. Uh this is a second reading and a public hearing will be held and discussion and possible action on an ordinance of the city of commerce amending chapter 38 environment of the code of ordinances by creating a new article uh seven storage transportation and disposal of tires to regulate and provide standards regulated to uh to used and scrap tire management providing for incorporation of premises and providing for amendment, providing for severability, that's such a hard word for me today, providing to uh repealing um providing for a penalty per day for each offense, and providing for an effective date. Mr. Harper,

the uh scrap tire ordinance that uh is proposed is to regulate the businesses on how they store their scrap tires after they come off the vehicles. Um, scrap tires, uh, they have a public health and safety component to it. Um, whether it's fire or mosquitoes or rodents, um, if they're not stored properly, they can have all those issues come up at once. Um, the ordinance proposes how to properly screen the scrap tires when they're on the uh, property before they are properly disposed of. um and the means of which to store those tires. Um the ordinance also calls for all businesses, tire businesses to um remove their scrap tires from the ground uh within 30 days of passage of the ordinance. That being said,

all right, any questions before we open for public hearing? All right, I open for a public hearing at 7:17. Do we have any questions or any comments from the public? All right. Hearing none, I'll close the public hearing at 7:13. All right. Um, do I have any other questions or comments?

Mayor, there was uh we we posted this ordinance online uh to encourage discussion and feedback as well. Uh there was one there was a lot of discussion but there was one real question uh along the lines of doesn't state law already address this. Um and there are provisions in state law that talk about tire generators and there in uh businesses that operate in tires and there's a number of tires in which there's a threshold and if they're below that number of tires state law doesn't apply to them and some of the local businesses fall below that threshold. And so, uh, we wanted to add a tool to our toolbox that allowed us to work within our community, uh, and the businesses we have. And so, this closes the gap for a normal property, scrap tires laying around the yard is a rubbish and debris issue. We've got tools in the toolbox to handle that. State law for large tire generators, but there was a gap in between. We're closing that gap and loophole so that we can manage how tires are handled throughout our community. Anybody else have any questions or comments?

I have a motion, please. Make a motion that we pass on the second reading. Second. I have a motion and a second to pass the scrap tire ordinance on the second reading. All in favor say I.

All oppose. Nay. Motion carries. All right. Number 15 is the fee ordinance amendment community development. Second reading, an ordinance of the city of commerce, Texas, amending appendix C, fees, rates, and charges of the code of ordinances of the city of commerce, Texas, establishing a master fee schedule for cost fees, rates associated with city's new vacant building registration program and the city's new scrap uh tire program with services provided by the city of commerce, providing uh purpose and intent, providing for the incorporation of premises, providing for the amendment, providing for savings repealing clause, providing forability clause, and providing for effective date. John,

that was a mouthful. I'll give you that much. Um, okay. So, uh, the tire business license fee um is based off the square footage of the business. I think it goes up to 5,000 square ft before it starts triggering uh increments going up. Starts at $55. Uh the solid waste fee for citizens um if approved would be $2 a tire dropped off the service center. Similar to the brush drop off that we have twice a month at the wastewater plant. Uh pending approval, we would push out that um that uh I lost my train of thought that that information to the public if approved. uh on the details and logistics of drop off of tires at the servicer. Okay. Anybody have any questions? I do have one. Okay. Since we have fees for the uh registration of vacant buildings and since we tabled the other one, should we be tableabling this until we get that all figured out

since this issue has fees for both the vac building and the scrap tire. I would recommend tableabling this one as well. So, do I have a motion? Motion to table. I have a motion and a second to table the fee ordinance a amendment on the second reading. All in favor say I. I. Nay. Motion carries. All right. And now we're to the city manager report.

Mayor council. Thank you. Uh I would like to start uh by introducing Miss Regina as uh the new attorney uh from Messer Fort that represents us. Uh I first met Regina through Rotary Club. Uh currently serve as the president of our local Rotary. Uh she was the district governor uh for our Rotary region. Um, and an interesting and inspiring fact, uh, Regina has a program where they collect, uh, used books. Uh, and so our local Rotary Club, uh, did a service project where we collected local, uh, books, had a meeting at our library, presented a collection of books, uh, to Miss Regina. She just recently returned from Honduras where they delivered 20,000 books

uh to Honduras uh to help with uh reading uh and learning for disadvantaged uh youth in that area. And so we are honored to have Regina on our team and welcome you to our community. Um all public input was related to vacant buildings and so I have no other issues there. So I will hand over Miss Jamie for we already talked about the budget award. Um, so I was going to I was going to mention that here. So I will let her provide a finance update. We got the budget award. When does your raise kick in? It doesn't. I do that for fun. If you believe it, it's true.

Okay, so we're going to start with your property tax. I apologize for not getting this to you sooner. Um, I did take a few days off for vacation after I got the budget award. So, so I apologize I didn't get it to you sooner than today. Uh, when we take a look at our property tax, as of February of 2026, we have received 93% collections um for property tax, which translates to a little more than $5 million. Um due to a large refund in delinquent taxes at the beginning of our fiscal year, we don't have any positive collections when it comes to delinquents. So we have been getting payments, but all they're doing really is reducing that large refund that we had to give out. More than likely, somebody negotiated, somebody won a case somewhere somehow and we had to give those funds back. It happens every year little by little. But um that's it for property taxes. When we look at sales tax um as of February of 2026, we have received uh a little more than $785,000 in revenue. That is about 49%. With February being typically our largest collection month in the whole year. So, we're right at 50% before we're at 50% of the year, if that makes sense. Um, but we expect that when we look at the top 10 categories, um, you'll see a ginormous visual increase to this. It says administrative and support of waste management. Um, I can only pursue pursue I'm gonna just cut that one out.

Um, I'm going to assume that um, this is actually related to some large developments that we have here that include demolition, that include building. um it is related to one specific vendor and it and it encompasses multiple months that they paid for. It's very out of the ordinary. So, it's kind of an anomaly for us. The other one that you see that's kind of elevated out of the norm is utilities. There's nothing really um that stands out. This is composed of multiple electric and gas companies um and their earnings just being higher than they were the previous years uh in the month of February. Okay. When we look at retail as expected we see a shift in the dynamic in February where other kind of takes over. This is because we have a large vendor whom pays a substantial amount for the year in February. Um so we expect to see this um the this vendor pays subanually but February's payment is always higher. Um, so this payment compared to last year for this vendor was about 13% more, which tells me that the other retail vendors actually decreased because if you see February and 25 and February and 26 is actually a drop. So even though that one large vendor had a 13% increase, we're still seeing retail kind of hit have a hit. But I think we've been expecting that the last couple of years. When we look at um accommodation and food services, the

breakdown is very similar to what it was in February of 2025. Um I have sent inquiries in regarding some of our new establishments so that I can kind of determine what their true effect is on our sales tax. Um the confidential report that I receive can be kind of confusing because the names are not what you expect them to be, right? So it's who's ever doing business as of this business, that business? And so I have to go to the comproller and say, "Hey, this address, who is actually making that payment, and if they have made a payment?" So I've sent in a couple of inquiries just so I can make sure that we are getting the funds that we deserve. Um, we have not talked about the home program in a while, so we thought it was a good time to give you guys a recap update. Um, we reinstated the home program. This was part of your strategic plan um, resting the home program in 2024. As you can imagine, this is a very long process because you're dealing with a lot of federal grant funds, okay? and uh when it's at the federal level, there's a lot more red tape, a lot more hoops to jump through. So, we wanted to provide you with an update and let you know that when we first opened the program in 2024, we had 13 applications that arrived. We had five applications that were either ineligible or withdrawn. two of those uh five actually chose to walk away so that they could sell their property rather than rebuild and three were actually ineligible. And then so that leaves us with eight active applications in phase one. We are completing phase one. Um

they're on the third letter of information requests which was actually just sent out to these homeowners uh on Friday, March 6th. So there's they ask for information, they turn in all that information, they go through that, they ask for more. They go through that, they ask for a little bit more. Um, all of that is to make sure that everybody that participates is eligible and everybody that participates will get the home that we hope that they get in commerce. So that's my update for the home program. Does anybody have any questions about help guide them? I mean some of those applications can just be just over.

So within our grant administrator whom we actually use grant works uh for the home administration. They have a representative that is that is

that is their sole purpose um to answer the questions to guide them to have phone calls to have conferences. That's their sole purpose in this program. So there's always somebody there. Um, the last thing that I want to share with you, you guys have it on your DIS, is the budget calendar. So, the budget calendar, it's a lot more color friendly this year because I wanted to identify what meetings we're going to have as workshops since we're adding more workshops to the budget process this year. They're in purple. Um, and then our regular council meetings when we typically do things, those are in blue. Everything that's in black is kind of behind the scenes. It's an internal process, but I still want you to be informed of where we are. Um, as always, we have two options when it comes to adopting the budget, and we never know which option we're going to go with. Uh, one option would require an election, which means the deadline is pushed way up. And so, that one, you'll see that's in orange, and that's why you see the deadlines in August 21st. We have not um since I have been here had to use that option but because of that we want to make sure we full transparency right. Um our typical option is the one that does not require an election and that is the one that we would adopt at our regular council meeting in September. But I hope this helps you guys. Put it on your fridges and join us for budget meetings, workshops, and council meetings. Thank you, Matthew,

mayor. Based on uh the items that were tabled tonight as well as the audit, I would recommend that our April workshop be uh an opportunity to discuss uh the audit report as well as uh the vacant building registration and the associated fees and then we can take action in the regular meeting based on what we determined in the April workshop. Okay. Molly, calendar events.

We'll have a workshop on Tuesday, April 7th. It's at 5:30. So, uh, we've talked a lot about hosting that workshop, but just so everybody knows, Tuesday, April 7th, uh, the council workshops on the first Tuesday. Um, and we move those to 5:30. So, it will be in the executive conference room,

usually in the conference room, unless there's a crowd, then we'll go on here. So, we have links currently posted to our social media as well as I think we have some flyers up front, but currently Hunt County is developing their previously the 2020 hazard mitigation plan um or their hazmat plan and they're redoing that plan. And so, they're going through a process right now where they're collecting feedback um for what what um hazards you want to see addressed. Um, so these are natural hazards, just to be clear on that, like floods, storms, wildfires, those kind of things. Um, so that survey is available. There's a QR code, like I said, it's on our doors. We can certainly email you a link if that's easier. Um, and we're in the period of collecting feedback on that. Um, and then we will also do um a public meeting at our May council meeting. Uh, let me pull that date up for you, just so that you know. Our May council meeting is May 19th and that'll be at 6 PM. So you can also provide feedback and weigh in on that plan uh during the public hearing at the May 19th council meeting. This weekend we have coming up the taste of commerce which is um hosted by the school district and so that'll be going on this weekend in the grass null right here downtown from 2 to 4. I believe they have approximately 19 restaurants that have signed up to participate. Um, so you can get tickets for that and there'll be live music this year and bounce houses. So they'll have entertainment and food, lots of things for the family to do. Uh, we discussed at the beginning of the meeting that the big event would be taking place next Saturday or the Saturday after Taste of Commerce, March 28th. And so um, the QR code for that is still available should you need to sign up for a project or to volunteer. We're hosting our second annual Easter egg hunt. This is the City of Commerce Parks and Recreation in conjunction with

our police and fire departments. And so that will be this year Saturday, April 4th, which is Easter weekend at 10:00 a.m. at Centennial Park. It'll be for kiddos from birth all the way up to 2 grade. And so it's completely free. Uh we're going to try to add some fun activities this year. Um there'll be pictures with the Easter Bunny. So, the Easter Bunny will be there as well. We did this for the first time last year and had a tremendous turnout. And so, we're going to go a little bit bigger, have more Easter eggs, so bring the kids out, get pictures with the Easter Bunny, um, and do an Easter egg hunt with us. Why are there two handouts? I'm just curious. Uh, because we made two. I'm just showing you what we can do with our marketing abilities.

Um, it's the it's the same flyer. Um, and then our farmers market season is kicking off for 2026. As a reminder, the farmers market season runs um over on Bonum Alley from May all the way through the 2nd to last weekend in September um up until the Bodark Bash. And so right now we're taking applications um we've digitized thanks to Miss Jamie that form this year. And so uh we still have the paper applications that some people are just comfortable with. Uh but we also created an online application that's available on our website. So you can visit our commerce tx.org or and the parks and recreation department um and click on farmers market and submit your application there or we have paper applications available as well. So right now we're collecting vendors. We'll do that through approximately the end of March. Um get with our vendors, let them know if they've been approved. Uh we'll let them know that in April and then the season kicks off um the first Saturday of May, which this year will be May 2nd of 2026. We have youth volleyball registration going on now. This is our second year of doing youth volleyball. It was very well attended and participated in last year. It's for uh girls only, third through sixth grade. And so that registration is going on now. You can register kiddos at city hall or go to commerce recreation.com to register. Our clean commerce campaign section D is coming up uh this next Wednesday, a week from tomorrow on March 25th. So that's for section D. As a reminder, you can get bulk trash curbside as early as the weekend before that pickup. So, this coming weekend would be a good time to do some spring cleaning if you're in section D. And then finally, uh a reminder that the College of Business at East Texas&M has partnered with Vita, which is the volunteer income tax assistance program. This is a grant-f funded initiative for

low to moderate income families. the household income has to be under $67,000 and they will prepare your taxes for free. Um they also accommodate individuals with disabilities, uh Spanish speaking families and the elderly. So um it's a completely free service. It's at McDow administration building. Um they have certain hours u but the eligibility is just the household income is under 67,000. So, we have this flyer available at the front at city the front of city hall um and also posted to our social media if that's something you know someone who would benefit from. That's all I have.

One more thing, Molly. Um the CLI is gather uh getting in gear to have their annual garage sale and they are having drop off dates on March the 21st, April the 18th and May the 16th. and I believe that will be at the city gym um here on Panon Street and the sale is June the 6th. This is a big fundraiser for our community. It's it's very much needed by a lot of people in our community. Uh so instead of throwing those things out or putting on the curve or if if there's anyone you know that you think that could use that, you know, save it, take it to the gym and let's see if we can help out some families and see.

Thank you. Mayor, I don't have any personnel project updates, but I do have an intergovernmental uh update. Um been having conversations with Hunt County uh specifically related to animal control services and the contract that we have uh with them for animal control since 2005. Uh there's been an interlocal agreement between the city of commerce and Hunt County uh in which our animal shelter will receive uh animal drop offs from Hunt County residents um at a reduced rate uh because we have one rate for citizens, we have a higher rate for people outside of commerce that want to surrender an animal to our shelter. Um and so we have a three- tiered rate system, citizens in commerce, um Hunt County residents, and then people outside of Hunt County. there's three tiers of cost if you're going to drop off an animal at our shelter. Uh and that agreement has been in place since 2005. Um last year, Hunt County approached us. They were looking at uh requesting a higher level of service uh from our shelter. Uh and so we put a proposal together of of what level of service they were requested and what the cost of that service would be. Uh they chose not to engage us at that higher level of service. So, we're still operating under that 2005 agreement. Uh the 2005 agreement uh has them paying a prorate of fee based on the number of total number of intakes in the year. Whatever percentage of intakes come from Hunt County residents, they pay that percentage of our annual operating budget. And for years, we've charged them basically a flat $75,000. 70 or 75

$70,000 a year cuz that was a third at some point in the past. Uh we reran the numbers and they continue to have about a third of our intakes come from Hunt County residents. Uh and so with the new budget and the new operations, we increase that annual contribution from 70,000 to 100,000. Uh Hunt County is refusing to pay that bill. um uh and uh heard from the judge that they are now looking at potentially other vendors to provide their animal services. Uh and so we'll have a follow-up meeting with them next week. Um but I've maintained that if you're going to continue to operate under this 2005 agreement, you need to honor the terms of payment within that agreement. At this point, they're refusing to make that payment. Uh so we'll update you as we keep those conversations going. If they choose to back out of this agreement, um we may have to look at how we operate and how we fund our animal shelter, but we'll we'll know more after our meeting next week. Uh we do not have a need for executive session.

Okay. Um, one thing before we close, uh, on behalf of the council, I want to say thank you to the city employees for, uh, listening to the council and asking for, you know, we ask for, uh, transparency. We ask for more information out to the public. We are getting that uh out to people so they can look at the ordinances, give us feedback and we are not just doing this in um our little shell I guess I would say. So that requires a lot of work on behalf of our uh our city employees. And so on behalf of the council, thank you very much for that. And so on that note, do I have a motion to close?

I move that we close. second and we will close this meeting at 7:38. Thank y'all.