City Council - Regular Meeting

Okay.

And we've got to read that. We've got to read that. And it'll be on the screen. We've got to read that for later.

Okay. Let's see. Carol Lynn. Let's see. It's hard. There you go. And that's all.

She'll go.

Nice.

one more kiss

What's your job?

I'm sorry.

I don't think it shows anything other than...

It didn't. You're echoing that, right? Yeah. See, I'm like...

In your bank, but it's not me.

I mean, I have a bunch of written inquiries. From 2025. I don't know what that means. And then others just say check in the check. Who's here for the parents?

I'm going to get to do all my things concretely.

energy to make it thank you We can have an entire conversation. Oh, really?

Just try to not frighten anybody. it's six o'clock and i call this regular city council meeting to order

At this time, thank you for joining us. And before we begin, let's take a moment for prayer. And Councilman Jim Ayers, would you please lead us in prayer? Sure.

Father, we thank you so much for this opportunity to come together tonight. We thank you for the love, the grace that you pour out into our lives every day. Commerce is a good place to live. It's a place with a lot of good things happening. Your hand is still on this city and we're so thankful for that and we look forward to the years coming where so many good things are going to come to fruition. We thank you for each member of this community that showed interest tonight in this meeting, all those online watching. We thank you for this council and our mayor that we strive every day to do the best that we can to meet the needs of this city and have its best interest in mind. Thank you, Father, for your son, Jesus. We pray in his name. Amen.

Joining us tonight is Whitney Vaughn. She's a teacher at the Commerce Middle School and we have the middle school cheer team. If you welcome these talented girls and coach, would you introduce them as they stand and they're gonna lead us in our pledge.

You don't need to push it, yeah. I just want to say thank you so much for inviting us here to do this. I have some of my 7th grade girls here and my 8th grade girls. Starting off down here with Chrislyn Williams. Then we have Hallie Marks. Maya Mims. Taylor Romans. Zoe Wesley, Cataleya Lee, and then Collins Norris and Amaya Gomez. So I'm super excited about this year. They've come a long way since summer camp, so I'm really looking forward to this season.

Thank you.

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. Honor the Texas flag. I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state, under God, one and indivisible.

Tonight we have a presentation of the proclamation for the Constitution Week. Whereas September 17th of 2026 marks the 239th anniversary of the drafting of the Constitution of the United States of America by the Constitutional Convention, and whereas the Constitution of the United States of America, the guardian of our liberties, embodies the principles of limited government and republic dedicated to rule by law, and whereas it is the privilege and duty of the American people to accord official recognition to this magnificent document and its memorable anniversary and to the patriotic celebrations with which commenced this occasion, and whereas public law 84-915 guarantees the issuing of a proclamation each year by the President of the United States of America, designating September 17th through the 23rd as Constitution Week, now, therefore, I, Stephanie Muller, by virtue of the authority vested in me as the Mayor of the City of Commerce, do hereby declare the week of September September 17 to through September 23 2026 is the United States Constitution week in the United into the city of commerce, Texas. We urge all citizens to study the Constitution and reflect on the privilege of being an American with all the rights and responsibilities which these privileges and votes. We also ask our citizens to reaffirm the principles the farmers of the Constitution intended in 1787 by vigorously protecting the freedoms guaranteed to us through this guardian of our liberties, remembering that lost rights may never be regained. And we're presenting this to the Texas Daughters of the American Republic. I have a representative here today. So, so much. At this time, we have presentation of the City Council by members of the public to be conducted as close to 6.05 p.m. as possible with a three-minute limit per person. The public comments will recede at 6.20 p.m. This period is reserved for citizens to discuss items not on the listed agenda, and the response to public comments will be limited to, one, a statement of fact or policy, Two, direction to take up the issue with a city staff member or an offer to place the item on a future council agenda. I have one card. Mr. Ford, if you'll come forward, state your name and where you live.

Good evening, City Council. Rob Ford, 1002 North Neal Street. I'm going to try to not be quite as passionate as I have been in the past. On the card, I wrote about the concerns of traffic on North Neal. And I've had discussions with Howdy at different times. Come January, it'll be four years since we had our initial discussion about the traffic, mainly the truck traffic. And I feel if other than a sign and a blinking light, if that's y'all's resolution, I don't feel I'm being heard. Y'all represent the city. I live in a coordinate that I have a concern about. And my neighbor, I live at one end of the street. He lives at the other end of the street. We communicate. I know last month there was a discussion about the police officers and we have reduced the number of officers on the streets now, going from three down to two. I understand it's a financial situation, but if I understood howdy last month, that we were gonna be getting some help from the college. If there's two police officers during the day, I understand they've got a lot of places to go. If there is a lieutenant or a sergeant that's on duty while they're on duty, I don't know if he has to go to every traffic call or things like that. but four years it really doesn't feel like we're being listened to it's like i can say it and by the time it gets there the representative of our city council it goes away y'all don't live there so y'all don't know what it's like And I know Frank and I are the only two that come up here and speak. I'm sure there's a lot of renters. They probably don't care, but we do. And the other thing I'd like to address is the amount of vehicle traffic going to work our street north neil should not be the employee entrance for bunker industries or legacy they have the same option that those trucks do now it may take some work getting with the the people over there at legacy and maybe calling their president or whatever but i think again that's something that should be addressed I can't, I don't have the numbers, but I would say 60% probably don't even live in Commerce, but our tax dollars are there to help fix that street and everything. So I hope y'all listen to me this time. It is a concern and it does need to be addressed.

Thank you. Is there anyone else that would like to present? Move on to item number six. This is the council comments pursuant to Texas local government code 551-015B. The purpose of this section is to allow the mayor and each city council member the opportunity to announce city events and community events or interests and requests that items be placed on the future council agenda.

I just want to thank staff for all the additional effort that they put into rolling out this year's budget. As far as to the citizens, social media, I think it's absolutely wonderful.

all questions have been answered so thank you okay and i'd like to thank um the east texas a m student government association for allowing us to take part in their fall retreat howdy and i enjoyed speaking with them about how the city of commerce government and budget are structured and about how students are welcomed as citizens of commerce We also appreciate the opportunity to discuss meaningful ways students can get involved in our community, and our hope is that when they graduate and begin the next chapter of their lives, they will serve not only as ambassadors of East Texas A&M, but also as ambassadors of the City of Commerce. They are a delight to meet and talk with.

Becky, you got anything? I don't have anything.

Tim.

I'll just take this opportunity to Let the public know that Waves of Glory is coming up in November, early November. This will be, I think, our sixth year to present this installation to the public, honoring our veterans and first responders. So November 7th is our opening ceremony. It's going to be a great event. So I just always like to remind you that that is coming. And if you are a veteran and want to be involved, you can go to commercerotary.org. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Hey, item number seven is the consent agenda. Receive that in your packet. If you'll review this, if you'll have any questions.

I move that we accept the minutes as presented. Second.

I have a motion and a second to accept the consent agenda as presented. All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed nay. Motion carries. Item number eight is the FY2026 budget amendment. This is the first and only reading. It's consideration of an ordinance amending ordinance 2025-09-04 which adopted the fiscal year 2025-2026 budget, providing for the adoption of amendments to the fiscal year 2026 budget, thereto is set forth in exhibit A and providing for an effective date. Ms. Jamie Campbell.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. So at the end of the fiscal year, or almost the end of the fiscal year, we go through a process of what I call forecasting. I work hand in hand with the department heads to make sure that we're not missing anything large, nothing's outstanding. And then we review every line item to make sure that if there is some kind of anomaly throughout the year that gets included in our budget amendment. So we have two budget amendments in the general fund. In FY26, the library was notified that the passport services must be done through the local municipality. As this is a main revenue source for the library, the city decided to step in. And so we took on the expense of the contract workers and the offsetting passport revenue that goes with that. At the end of each month, we reconcile the expense of the workers and the revenue and whatever is net the difference, hopefully a positive difference. We send a check to the library as a contribution to the library. So this amendment is just kind of, I don't think anybody was expecting to have to take over the passport services. It's a $26,000 amendment to the line item for library contribution. The other amendment that I have in the general fund is related to insurance claims. It is common practice for us not to budget anything in the insurance claims or budget anything in the offsetting insurance proceeds. And usually we review that, and if it's large enough, we will include it. 26 was a large year. So we had 13 insurance claims, one of which being a substantial claim of having 25 vehicles with hail damage. It took a long time to get those vehicles fixed. It took a lot of coordination between all the departments, and I'm very thankful for their grace during that time period. And so we have an offsetting Proceed insurance proceed that will match the expense minus our deductibles And so this year the adjustment for insurance claims is a hundred and eighty thousand dollars But those are the only two adjustments I have in the general fund I'm still expecting us to finish in a positive light at the end of the year. This is just kind of truing things up Any questions on the general fund? Okay. So in fund two, or what is called our public utility fund, um, it's accounted for as if it was a private sector business, they have different accounting rules and therefore they actually record depreciation. Um, that is a non cash transaction. And at the end of the year, we just do a true up of the depreciation that we've experienced throughout the whole year. So over all three departments, which is water, wastewater, and distribution collections that have depreciation, it's a $483,000 adjustment, but it is depreciation only. Moving on to our debt service fund is we budget using estimates. when we're going to be issuing new debt. We estimate what the principal payment is going to be, what the interest is going to be. And last year, if you remember, we closed on the issuance of 2025 late in the year. And so the estimate that we have now, we've made all of our debt payments for the year, existing debt payments and the new debt payment for the first payment for the issuance of 2025. And so this just trues that up and the adjustment is $231,194. That's it for debt service. So moving on to our grant funds. So at the time of the FY26 budget, we were still waiting for grant awards or grant denials. And if we don't have a solid yes or no, we tend to not budget for it. And we don't budget the revenue either. We wait till the end and we do a budget amendment, especially because those grants usually come before the council throughout the year as we're getting them. In 2026, we were awarded three grants that had expenses that we had not previously budgeted for. The first one is called the STEP grant, which is for our police department. It is administered by TxDOT, and the expenses for this grant is $5,600. These are directly related to personnel expenses that's reimbursed. there are highlighted times or times during the year that TxDOT says if you do additional surveillance for impaired drivers we will help supplement some of your pay and so that's kind of what this is I do know that we have been accepted for the 2027 step grant but it's more of a continuous grant not just July 4th, Labor Day, it's going to be throughout the year. And the whole purpose is for impaired driving. So the following two grants that we're adding to this budget amendment are both related to fire and they are both related to equipment. Their equipment is for the wild land gear and also for the bunker gear and equipment. So this grant or the first grant is administrative through the Texas forestry. And that adjustment is for $28,230. And then the other grant is administered by FEMA. So it's a federal grant and the amount that we're budgeting for this is $402,120. one thing that you should know about the FEMA grant is we're actually the grant administrator for not just our community but for numerous communities in our area and so what happened is we paid all of the invoices we sent them all to FEMA we sent invoices to the smaller communities and they paid us for their portion and so It's all balancing out. It's a 90-10 split, I believe. But that has, we've already today actually gotten approved for our second revenue reimbursement for this grant. that's it for the grant fund so moving on there's two funds left the street maintenance fund um i don't know if you know this but we have bought some large pieces of equipment this year that were not budgeted for but they were much needed so we have a used lay down machine and also a new dump truck that's the appropriate size the dump truck i believe you'll see it later on in this agenda but i wanted to go ahead and be proactive with the hopes that you will accept the dump truck and amend the budget therefore. And then finally we have the recreation fund. The adjustment in the recreation fund is for $7,000 and it's for basketball fees that were incurred at the beginning of the year. These fees have already been billed back to the Boys and Girls Club and they have already paid that invoice back to us. This is something that, so it has that offsetting revenue. This is something we've done over the last few years that this will be our last time that we do that now that we're taking on the struggle ourselves. And that's all I have for budget amendments. Does anybody have any questions?

All right, thank you. All right, thank you. Do I have a motion?

I move that we accept the ordinance amending Ordinance 2025-09-04, which adopted the fiscal year 2526 budget, providing for the adoption of amendments to the fiscal year 2026 budget as set forth in Exhibit A.

Second. I have a motion and a second to accept the 2026 event A budget amendment person only reading all in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed nay. Motion carries. All right. Item number nine is the adoption of FY 2027 budget. This is the first and only reading. We received a report and conduct a public hearing and consider action on an ordinance adopting the fiscal year 2026-27 operating fund. How do you listen to me?

Mayor, council, thank you for the opportunity to be here tonight. I have prepared some written comments. I don't generally like to read when I'm communicating to you or to the public, but I made promises that I wouldn't go for 30 minutes like I did last month. And so I'm going to keep myself to my written comments. But before I do that, there are only two changes from the budget you saw last month and the budget that's before you for final adoption. Those changes are not reflected in the numbers on your screen because they're relatively minor. doesn't change the bottom line of any of the budget anywhere and we recognized that the part-time airport maintenance worker had been cataloged and identified in the parks department and so we moved him out of parks and into community development general fund the general fund it doesn't change the bottom line it just corrects us misplacing a person And then the second change actually is a little bit substantial at $60,000. State law in the last legislative session added a requirement that every municipality in Texas that has a full-time career fire department has to offer free cancer screening to every firefighter that has at least five years of tenure. And so we've been working with local hospitals, figuring out the local hospital, figuring out what is required within those evaluations and then what the costs are. And so we've finally been able to nail down what the proposed costs. And then we looked at our staff and within our staff, all but three of our firefighters have five years of tenure. We chose to go ahead and make this available to all firefighters within our department, regardless of their tenure. And so this $60,000 makes that free cancer screening available to all full time firefighters within our department. It is their discretion whether they want to take advantage of that or not. But we budget as if all of the staff will take advantage of those screenings. And so that $60,000 has been added to the fire department budget that you see in front of you now. We want to thank you for the opportunity to present and bring this budget process to a successful conclusion. Tonight represents hundreds of hours of work by your staff to evaluate all the services and the activities that we perform on behalf of our community. As we say each year, every dollar in this budget is someone else's dollar. We take that responsibility very seriously, and it is our honor to present the proposed operating budget for fiscal year 2027. The budget before you is balanced. That simply means that for every proposed expenditure, there is either sufficient revenue to cover it or there is a strategic drawdown of an unrestricted fund balance. The budget before you is disciplined. Your city staff were notified in April that the appraised value of our community was decreased when compared to last year. The first step in this budget process was to ask staff to help trim, remove, or reclassify $350,000 in general fund expenditures from the previous budget. They didn't blink, they just did the work. Every line was reviewed, every dollar was defended, and every department felt the sting in some way. By putting in the work early in the budget process, we were ready when the final appraised values were given to us at the end of July. This budget provides the resources necessary to address every priority that was given to us by the elected officials. The budget before you represents a tax cut. At a time when the community's property valuation is declining, your staff has put together a budget that meets your objectives and improves service levels. All the while, according to the state's own determination, it presents a tax cut to the community. Finally, the budget before you recognizes the value of every staff member and their contribution to serve this community. We want to thank you for authorizing the independent compensation study, and we especially want to thank you for supporting the salary reclassifications and the compensation adjustments given to bring our city into alignment with market conditions. We are proud of the budget before you, and we are honored to serve this great community. I want to take a further moment of executive privilege and say thank you to our staff. As public servants, we live and we work in a time when it is increasingly acceptable to sow hate, to malign your character, and to eschew the truth for clicks, likes, and follows. And this year alone, staff has been told that they are liars, cheaters, and frauds simply because they choose to serve and work in the government. Some of our staff have been told online that they deserve to be hanged. And yet they still get out of bed, they still show up, and they still serve. In almost every case, staff does it for less money than they can make somewhere else, but they continue to serve. I am humbled by their spirit and their dedication, and I am honored to serve on the team with them. And most of all, I am thankful for every member of our staff. We couldn't do it without them. Mayor, we have fully presented the proposed budget for fiscal year 2027. We're happy to answer any questions or concerns you may have.

Does anybody have any questions before I open it for public hearing? Howdy, thank you very much, and you will pass on, please, our sincere thanks for everything you've done. If y'all have any questions, I'm going to open this up for public hearing at 628. Does anybody have any questions or comments? Mr. Ford, if you'll come to the podium, please. State your name and where you live.

Rob Ford, 1002 North Neal Street. My only question was based on the items that Jamie had brought up, is that added to this budget that wasn't in there originally?

Amends the current budget we're living in now and adopting the budget for next fiscal period.

Anyone else have any questions or comments? Okay, hearing none, I'm closing the public hearing at 6.29. Does anybody have anything else? Okay, this calls for a roll call vote after I have a motion.

This budget will raise less revenue from property taxes than last year's budget by amount of $118,278, which is a 2.2% decrease from last year's 2026 budget. The property tax revenue to be raised from the new property added to the tax roll This year is $114,005. I move to approve the ordinance adopting the fiscal year 2027 budget as presented.

Second.

I have a motion and a second to adopt the FY 2027 budget as presented. We have a roll call. Anthony Henry.

Aye.

Becky Thompson aye Daniel Starks aye Jim Ayers aye Stephanie Muller aye all opposed nay motion carries thank you very much so we'll move on to the next Okay, this is number 10 is the adopt fiscal year 2027 tax rate. This will be the first and only reading. We receive a report, conduct a public hearing regarding a proposed tax rate of 0.830600 cents per $100 of assessed value on taxable property within the City of Commerce. Consider action on an ordinance approving the 2026 certified property tax values, living and adopting the tax rate of 0.830600 cents per $100 of assessed valuation on taxable property for fiscal year 2026 and 2027. and provide an important interactive date. How do you listen, B?

Mayor, Council, thank you for the opportunity again to present. I want to call attention to a feature in the agenda this year that is relatively new as a requirement of state law. There is a table embedded within our agenda. Our agenda software is somewhat complicated, and our staff was successfully able to figure out how to put a table inside of that. And what that represents is the first line It's the current tax rate for the fiscal year 2026 that we're in, which is 0.830600. During the appraised values for the last period, the median homestead value was $184,611. So that means the city portion of the tax bill was $1,533 for the year. the state then calculates a no new revenue rate for us and that no new revenue rate was calculated at 0.852403 and the assumption there is that at that tax rate we would receive the same tax revenue as we did in the preceding year you'll notice that the median homestead value for our community went down to 181 345 but if we would have adopted the no new tax revenue bill would have gone up to 1546 and so this is an example of some of the confusing nature of what the state of texas does when it comes to property taxes and tax rates it's been said by me publicly and it's been stated by other communities that in these instances the state of texas asked asks us to lie to our community. And I stand behind that claim because if we would have adopted the no new revenue tax rate of .852403, we would have been required by law to tell our citizens that we did not raise their taxes. When in fact, we most likely would have. And so we have chosen to present a budget that is balanced, that is disciplined and maintains the same tax rate that we already have of .830600. So assuming someone has the median homestead value, their tax bill will go down in this coming year. And so as presented on the screen, maintenance operation and INS for current year is 0.8306. We are proposing to keep it at 0.8306. State worksheet gives us the no new revenue rate of 0.852403. and it gives us what's called the voter approval rate of 0.874266 the council is authorized to adopt up to that voter approval rate without any election or potential potential for a petition that's a tongue twister and so those are the options that were given to the city and we have presented a budget that keeps the tax rate the same represents a tax cut and so staff is recommending approval of that lastly we try to provide an impact statement so for the hundred thousand two hundred thousand three hundred thousand and four hundred thousand valuation the tax bill this coming year will be the same as it was in the current But for the median homestead value, that value went down. And so their bill will go down potentially about $27.13 for the year or equivalent to $2.26 per month. And so, Mayor, we're happy to present this tax rate recommendation and we welcome your questions or concerns.

It does call for a public hearing. Does anybody have any questions or open it up to public hearing? Okay, I open this up to a public hearing at 635. If anybody has any comments or questions, please come forward. Seeing none, we close this public hearing at 636. I need a motion, please.

I move that the property tax rate be increased by the adoption of this. tax rate of 0.830600 for 100 dollars assessed valuation which is effectively a 2.56 2.56 percent decrease in tax rate over the new no new revenue rate second i have a motion and a second to uh

to adopt the 2027 tax rate at 0.830600 per $100 of assessed value. This calls for a roll call. Mr. Tony? Aye. Daniel? Aye. Becky? Aye. Jim? Aye. Myself, Stephanie? Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you very much. all right now we go into number 11 which is the adopt the fy 2027 cip plan this is the first and only reading we to receive a report conduct a public hearing discussion and possible action on an ordinance by the city council of the city of commerce texas accepting the fiscal year 2027 capital improvement plan howdy listen

Mayor, council, thank you for the opportunity to present our CIP plan for the coming year. You'll notice in fiscal 27 for the general fund, we are not proposing any new capital projects within this funding year. We have a number of capital projects that continue to be on our plate, and we're proposing that we take the time to complete those projects before we kick off any new ones. And so in fiscal 28, we'll get back into the routine of designing street reconstructions and then building those out over time. Now, there is within the utility fund two projects that we've added to the CIP that are purely grant funded. And so as Ms. Jamie talked about in our grant fund, We don't really budget the expenditures until we know we're going to get the grant funding. But we went ahead and listed those projects within our CIP for the utility fund. Our water master plan calls for some rehabilitation to our water treatment plant. We're currently working on our wastewater treatment plant, so it's easy to get them confused. The grant application has been submitted to the state of Texas in an amount of $8,329,000. If we get funded through that grant program, it would be 100% grant, no loan to be repaid. And so if we get that funding, we will begin the rehab and the improvements to our water treatment plant. If we don't get the grant funding, we will not initiate that project. And secondly, we have a major sewer line that crosses Highway 224 over by the high school and the new middle school. The portion of the line that goes underneath the highway and underneath the railroad tracks needs to be replaced. And so we're putting together an application for a grant with the state in the amount of $750,000 to fund that improvement. If we get the grant, we'll initiate that construction project. If we do not get the grant, we will not be starting that project at this time. So there is no capital projects proposed for the general fund in fiscal 27. There are no projects in the utility fund that are self-funded, but there are two projects that would happen if we get those grants. I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Is that a second grant, 224, 100% grant?

No. The Community Development Block Grant, there's a ratio that depends on several of the scoring factors, and we won't know that until we get further into the process. There is a matching component, but it's like 10 or 20%. It's not a major.

And when is that grant due?

We apply in 2027 and then we also apply in 2028. So you apply two years in a row and that grant application is due in early 2027. Thank you.

Does anybody else have any questions before I open it to public hearing? All right. So at 640, I open this up for a public hearing on the adoption of the FY 2027 capital improvement plan. Does anybody have any questions or comments? Okay. Seeing and hearing none. I close the public hearing at 641. Any motion, please?

I move that we accept an ordinance amending ordinance 2025-09. No. Excuse me.

Number 11.

Number 11. I can't keep up. That we accept a... have a possible action on an ordinance by the city council of the city of commerce, accepting the fiscal year, 2027 capital improvement plan.

I have an emotion and second to adopt the FY 2027, uh, capital improvement plan. All in favor say hi. All opposed nay. Motion carries. All right, item number 12 is the solid waste fees for 2027. This is the first and only reading. Discussion and possible action on an ordinance amending appendix C, fees, rates, and charges of the City of Commerce code of ordinances by repealing and adopting new solid waste fees to provide for updated rate increase for residential and commercial solid waste services to the City of Commerce and providing for an effective day. Ms. Jane Campbell.

Good evening, Mary Council again. So we contract with City Sanitation and within that contract they have asked for an increase to their rates, which I believe is a 3.5% increase in this upcoming year. And so in order to stay aligned with the rates that they will be charging us, we will be adjusting our rates to the customers mainly on the commercial side, bulk waste side. Our residential rate will not be changing. The residential rate will remain the same at $19.66, I believe. And so I believe you have the schedule where it shows how each one each year shifts.

All right. Does anybody have any questions for Ms. Campbell? Okay. I need a motion, please.

I move to adopt the modified city of commerce on the waste fees with an appendix C. Second.

All right. I have a motion and a second to pass the solid waste fees for 2027 on the first reading. All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed nay. Motion carries. all right um number 13 is fy 2027 water and wastewater rates this is the first and only reading this discussion and possible action on an ordinance amending chapter 94 utilities article i in general uh section 94 uh i think that's one it is rights for water and sewer services furnished by the city and amending article two water and sewer division seven water conservation plan within the code of ordinances to adopt modified city of commerce water and wastewater breaks for FY 2027. How do you listen to me?

Mayor, Council, last month in our budget presentation, we went into detail on the new proposed rates and the structure. So I'm not going to replay those details. But the results of this rate adjustment 70% of our residential customers stay within the first year of consumption, and those customers will see their average monthly bill go down by $2 per month. And so because of growth and additional customers, we're able to make some minor adjustments to the rates and continue to bring revenue sufficient to cover the budget. And so the rates have not changed since we saw them last month.

Does anybody have any questions?

All right, so I have a motion. I move that we approve the ordinance amending chapter 94 utilities. Do I have a second? Second.

I have a motion and a second to pass the FY2027 water and wastewater rates. On the first reading, all in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed, nay. Motion carries. Item number 14 is the fee ordinance amendment. This is the first and only reading. This is an ordinance of the City of Commerce, Texas, amending Appendix C, fees, rights, and charges of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Commerce, Texas, specifically utility fees, building and development fees, mitigation rates and park rec fees, establishing an updated master fee schedule for cost, fees, rates, and associated with services provided by the City of Commerce, Texas, providing purpose and intent, providing for the incorporation of premises, providing for amendments, providing for a savings and repealing policy, and providing, that's my favorite word, clause, and providing for an effective date. Someday I'll get that right. Ms. Campbell, y'all have got to come up with a better word.

Okay, so when we're talking about our schedule of fees, each department head is responsible for updating the fees in their departments. This year we had four departments with fee updates. community development, utilities, parks and recreation, and hazard mitigation rates. For the community development department, the addition to the fee schedule is in response to the new state law for new HUD code manufactured homes permitted by right in a residential zoning district. The fee mirrors the fee already in place for building permits for our new single dwelling units across the city. The cost covers the administrative zoning review and permit issuance. It does not include the third party fees, which will typically be in addition to this fee. For the utility department, the addition of a meter relocation fee for $100 is to assign a fee to a service that we have found that we need to provide the service not very often but it comes up and we don't have a fee associated with it at this time so this would just be covering the cost of staff to render that service for parks and recreation we added our new volleyball program registration fee as that sport was not previously included in the programs we offer we also propose removing the column for non-residents to pay a higher fee to participate in our programs as we welcome smaller neighboring communities whose children may not otherwise have the opportunity to participate in recreational programming. And we would love for them to participate in our programs. Further, the ability to exclusively reserve a city pavilion at the park has been $50 over the last 10 years. We are moving this fee to 75 with an additional $50 refundable deposit if the pavilion or facility is left as it was found after the event. Staff has found over the last few years that a $50 reservation fee does not adequately cover the amount of time staff spends preparing for large events or parties at our park pavilions and the amount of time staff spends at the conclusion of those events cleaning up afterwards. We are also moving our program registration fees from $65 a season to $75 a season. We found our registration fees to be one of the cheapest around. The cost of the jerseys has gone up and we are actively improving our facilities and equipment while keeping our kiddos in quality but cost-efficient jerseys due to the fact that we have not raised registration fees in over 10 years. For the fire and hazard mitigation rates, the city has an agreement with Emergifier to bill for those services. That agreement states that the rates increase by 1.5% each year, and the fee ordinance amendment includes any updates to the pricing and services that Emergifier recommends we make. Since most of these came directly from the departments, if you do have any questions, I would redirect that way.

mayor i will add there is i guess a request from emergent fire that we put in their language that it automatically increases each year over year and we are not complying with that request from them because the current council can't bind future councils to something and so each year the council has the opportunity to review and adopt those fees we're recommending that they go up but we're not putting an automatic escalation into the ordinance

Thank you. Anybody have any questions?

All right.

Do we have a motion?

I make a motion that we adopt an ordinance amending Appendix C, fees, rates, and charges of the Code of Ordinance of City of Commerce. Second.

I have a motion and a second to amend the part... to the ordinance of the city of commerce amending the appendix c fees rights and charges all in favor say aye aye all opposed nay motion all right item number 15 this needs to be removed from the table

I move that we remove this from the table.

All right. All in favor of removing this, the dump truck purchase from the table?

Aye.

All opposed, nay. Can't get people to make motions, but they can say aye. All right, motion carries. All right, this is the Mack truck purchase. This is a discussion of possible action on a resolution by the City Council of the City of Commerce, Texas, approving the purchase of a 2026 Mack MD Series Cummins 280 HP eight-yard dump truck from Volvo and Mack Trucks of Waco in an amount not to exceed $130,000 and authorizing the city manager or his designee to execute any necessary documentation. Mr. Howdy.

Mayor, thank you. Last month we brought a proposed purchase before the council for a dump truck that was a 10 slash 12 yard dump truck. We requested that the council put that on the table. we reached out to multiple vendors to get quotes for that style of dump truck as our streets and maintenance team are actively working on street maintenance projects the current dump truck that we're using isn't built and capable of meeting up with the new lay down machine that we have And so it is a very inefficient process that they're using to load asphalt into the lay down machine and effective repairs. And so they're only doing small localized repairs because there's just no efficient way to load the asphalt. So, we need an appropriate dump truck so that they can directly dump into the lay down machine much more efficient, much more cost effective. And so, last month we reached out to vendors with a set of specifications. We wanted this style of dump truck with this style of bed and we wanted that size. And we wanted it on the lot right now so that we can buy it and pick it up and the guys can immediately go to work doing larger street mentioned projects. Only one of the vendors in the last cycle had a truck that met our specifications. So there was only one responsive bidder to that process. We asked for a little bit more time, so we went and talked to more vendors. There are a number of vendors that are available through statewide purchasing cooperatives such as by board. And so of all the vendors that we spoke to in this round, no one had the large 10 to 12 yard dump truck style the way we need it available now. The vendors that had them said they could build one for us, but it would be ready by the middle of next calendar year, which didn't meet our needs. And they were all more expensive than the one that we had proposed to council last time. however in those discussions we found a vendor through by board that had a smaller eight yard dump truck that met our specifications just a slightly smaller bed worked with our streets team and determined that an eight yard truck is still an adequate size for them to efficiently do the type of street maintenance project that we want to do And this dump truck was $130,000 instead of $167,000. Slightly smaller truck, still meets our other specifications. And so we're recommending purchase of this truck through the buy board vendor that satisfies all state purchasing requirements. Be happy to answer any questions.

Can we have this truck?

It's on the ground right now. They've already started putting the asphalt system on the bed. So as soon as it's approved, we can go pick it up.

Any other more questions? Do we have a motion? I move that we approve the purchase of a 2026 Mac MD series dump truck. Second.

I have a motion and a second to purchase a 2026 Mac MD services Cummings. All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed nay. Motion carries. Number 16, now it's the city manager's report.

Mayor, we're going to go to the department updates, and I'm going to hand it off to Molly for the Parks and Recreation Department.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. I have. You've looked at enough numbers tonight. I'm going to show you some pictures. So on behalf of the Parks and Recreation Department, if you all recall a few years ago, you adopted as part of your comprehensive plan, a parks master plan. One of the things that was identified. Okay. One of the things that was identified for Centennial Park was the need to address the playground that is there currently. Additionally, the mention of replacing park signage was repeated across all of our parks as a need that we needed to address in our parks master plan. And then additionally, we addressed in our Eddie Moore 2025 CIP project, we addressed the feasibility of creating a drainage pond. So I bring this to your attention to let you know that we are using that plan as a guiding document to make decisions on behalf of our department. And so keeping that in mind, we applied in August of 2026 for a texas parks and wildlife grant to replace the playground equipment that is currently at centennial park which is consistent with our parks master plan so we submitted that grant in august and it would effectively replace demolish and haul off all of the existing playground equipment that's there and replace it with the rendering that you see before you Additionally, it would create a sidewalk that goes from the northeast corner of the Eddie Moore Sports Complex up to this playground so that we have ADA access as well as ADA playground equipment. So it would include all of the concrete work to complete that sidewalk and replace that playground equipment. so the question we've been asked probably the most about that grant we got over 50 letters of community support which was fantastic that we submitted with our grant application and so now i'm hearing pretty regularly well did we get the grant so just so everybody knows we won't hear about that grant until 2027 potentially early 2027, but most likely in the spring of 2027. So in the event that we are awarded that grant, we wouldn't begin designing and constructing that park until probably mid to late 2027. So we're looking forward to hearing something next year on the status of that grant for Centennial Park. For City Park, if you recall, the City Council did a CIP project several years ago that replaced playground equipment at City Park and Ivorymoor Park. When we did the City Park playground improvements, there was a portion that was turfed that's new playground equipment, and then we had an existing portion of the park that has mulch that was left as is. And so we are replacing four pieces of equipment out at City Park. Playground equipment, it's kind of like buying parts for a car. When playground equipment gets over 10 years of age, it gets really hard to find replacement parts. And it's even harder to find replacement parts that are cost effective. And so they usually recommend once you get to 10 to 15 years, you consider replacing playground equipment. So we're doing that with several pieces for the swing. We're calling it the swing update. We have two structures. Each has four swings. We're leaving the metal structure there, but we're replacing the swings on those out at City Park. So it'll be replaced with three toddler bucket swings, the four belt swings that you see, just new ones. And then we're also including an inclusive swing like the one that's out at Ivory Moor, which is a little bit nicer than that one and newer. So that'll be our swing update out at City Park. And then in addition to that, we're replacing four pieces of equipment out there. So the pictures I have for you are, excuse them being a little bit blurry, but these were taken from the catalog. So if you recall, we have this piece of equipment out there. It's about 12 to 15 years old. For this piece of equipment and then the next one right here on the left, For both of those pieces of equipment, initially we sought to replace the netting on those. If you go out there, you'll see it. And if you look really close, the coating on the metal has just worn off. That's consistent with wear and tear, but it's also consistent with the exposure to the sun that those pieces of equipment have. And so we reached out initially to parks vendors and asked them to help us replace those parts and leave those structures intact. And we were shocked to get an almost $20,000 bid just to replace the parts on that equipment. And so we're going to replace it with new equipment because you can do so for a few thousand dollars more. So these two pieces of equipment, this is our monkey bars, if you will. And we're replacing it with a similar structure. Again, you'll see the color modifications in a second. But the first part is just picking out what pieces of equipment that you want. And then we do some color rendering. this is the other piece of equipment we really loved this one because it provides a shade structure there's great trees out at city park but of course they don't they're not over the playground for safety reasons and so this is a shade structure so i think this is a huge improvement in the piece of equipment that's out there so we're proud of that one and then we have two smaller pieces of equipment You'll see right there, if you're out at City Park looking towards the pavilion, the single spring rider. So we got a motorcycle that we'll replace. That was one that broke off about a year or so ago. And again, when we reached out to try to get the replacement pieces, they didn't make it for that piece of equipment. So they're going to replace it with that motorcycle rider. And then this joke fell sort of flat with Jamie, but I told her I was going to buy another fire truck. Um, so we got, uh, this is a current dual spring rider, uh, and we're going to replace it with that piece on the right. So effectively we'll be replacing four pieces of equipment. It doesn't seem like a lot, but it's quite expensive. Um, and so we're really excited to do that. And at the completion of that, it'll take about eight to 10 weeks. Um, we were submitting payment this week, I believe. Um, and then it takes several weeks for that to come in and then we'll, um, coordinate installation. Our guys will haul off the old equipment, and so we expect by the end of this year to have that project complete. Once we replace that playground equipment, we also have a team that will bring in engineered wood fiber and will remulch that entire park. That's something that's been on our radar for a while, but we had to get these equipment pieces replaced before we laid the mulch down. So that's our city park project that we'll be completing by the end of this year. There is the colors kind of in keeping with that red and green and brown color scheme that we have out at City Park with the new playground equipment and the turfing area. We're keeping with that color scheme. And so there's that. The last kind of update I have from a parks perspective before we move on to recreation is improving park signage was an item again that was identified in our parks master plan across all of our parks. And so Jamie had some money in a park signage account that we didn't know existed, and she said, can you spin this? And I said, I can. So we are updating these. They'll get a facelift. You can see they're in much need of repair. So we're going to update our parks and rec logo. And then more importantly on the back of these signs are our park rules and regulations. so you probably all recall earlier this year you adopted modified park hours we moved it from 11 p.m to 5 a.m moved that 11 p.m time to 10. and so we'll update those park rules and regulations and then in addition we'll have a qr code at the bottom of our park rules and regulations that individuals can scan and access our park rules and regulations in spanish as well So we're printing those signs in phases. So we're starting with any more sports complex and Centennial Park, and then we'll roll out city park signs, hopefully in time for National Night Out. And then lastly, we'll wrap up with signs at Ivory Moor. There's two of those. There's field dedications and then the individual park signage. So there's two at every park, and you'll see those updated over the next month or so. From a recreation perspective, I just kind of cataloged for you guys our enrollment numbers for our sports programs. There's two things I should point out. One, we started volleyball in 2025. So that's a new program. We grew from, I believe it was 48 to 51 participants in our first year. So we'll be watching those trends, but there's not much of a trend yet for volleyball. And then in 2020, that was the year of the pandemic. And so registration didn't plummet, but it plummeted. So I'll be happy to get those outliers off when we're looking at numbers. But aside from that, I think everybody knows this. Baseball and softball has our highest participation rate from a recreation perspective. It's our largest overall enrollment. We went from 178 participants in 2025 to 194 in 2026. So we're seeing somewhat of an increase in participation in that sport. Basketball also grew from 126 participants in 2022 to last year, 171 in 2025. You don't have a 2026 number because that's the last sport we have of the season for 2026. And then soccer's remained relatively consistent. I think soccer is less participated in by our youth for several reasons. One, we do it in the fall. And in the fall, we have the competition of football and cheerleading going on. And then some folks play fall ball at other places. So there's just lots of recreational opportunities when school starts in the fall. So I think that contributes to the lower participation rate. And then there is no soccer program at the high school level. So I don't know that there's anything weird about that. But we've had relatively consistent participation in soccer since 2021. And we average about 130, 140 kids each season. So those are our recreation numbers, and that is all that I have for you. Does anybody have any questions?

Thank you very much. Animal control updates.

Thank you, Molly. Mayor, Council, I'm going to be presenting an update on some of the numbers and activities that have happened at our animal shelter. As you know, we recently completed an expansion of the shelter to allow for the volumes of animals that we've been receiving. And so that construction project successfully completed and has been a welcome addition to our shelter. So I want to go ahead and... I didn't bring pictures, I brought numbers, because I'm a numbers guy, so my apologies. What you're looking at is a review of the intakes and the outcomes for the current fiscal year, starting in October of 2025, going through August of 2026. And so total intakes are going to be the animals that are received into the shelter. And so you'll see 94, 73, 52 as you travel across each month. Those are the total number of animals that came into the shelter. The next section of outcomes, those are effectively the animals that left our shelter. So 89, 67, 73, and so forth as you go through. But I felt it was more important to see where the animals are coming from and where the animals are going to, if you will. And so for the intakes, for the year so far, 51% of our animal intakes are owner surrenders. So that's half of the animals that come into our shelter an owner is bringing and surrendering those animals to us two percent are returns so what that means is someone adopted or fostered an animal realized they could keep it and they brought it back four percent are seized that means there's some kind of activity in which we have to go take an animal either for its protection or for people's protections 41 of the animals coming into our shelter are strays And so that's going to be animals at large, which there's no apparent owner. And we collect those and bring those in. And then occasionally, 2% of the time, we'll have a transfer in from some other agency. That's very rare. And so those are the intakes and kind of where they come from. The outcomes. For the year so far, 32% of the animals coming into our shelter are adopted out, meaning someone comes to our shelter, falls in love with an animal, and saves that animal's life, or you could argue the animal saves theirs. Within our shelter, 1% of them are transferred out to a clinic for some kind of health reasons. 5% pass away. Many times we receive an animal that's already injured or at a point of medical distress that they just simply don't survive. 40% of the animals that come into our shelter end up euthanized. I'm going to explore that number a little bit further. 7% are owner claimed. So we have an animal comes into our shelter and 7% of those animals, an owner steps up and says, that's mine. And they come back and claim. and then 14 percent are transfers out these are animals that are transferred to rescue organizations or other adoption agencies those usually represent animals that are highly desirable there's a great demand for that breed or that that style of animal and so those are the transfers out So you can see a net population of animal intakes and outcomes. We generally will see more animals coming in than going out, and then there'll be an adjustment because there's only so much time that we can keep an animal. Now, the other number that you'll see across the bottom is of the percent of animals that are coming in, the percentage of those animals that are euthanized, 36%, 42%, 65%, 28%. So there are going to be some months that the euthanasia rate is higher than others. But the important point is that next line, the vast majority of those euthanasias are for medical reasons. Meaning that animal came to us with a medical contagion that can't safely or effectively be treated. And we don't want that animal to then contaminate or cross infect other animals. And so those that are medically contagious, they are euthanized for the safety of the rest of the animal population and the community. or they come to us with some kind of medical condition that we're not able to effectively treat. We do have a veterinarian that comes once a week to our facility and assists us with evaluating and trying to come up with a course of treatment, but many times they come to us at a point of medical distress that we're not able to effectively get them to recover. So many of the euthanized animals are medically related. Two more slides of the intakes. The orange line are dogs. The blue line are cats. We consistently see more dogs coming into our shelter than we do cats. But it's sporadic. It's across the board. There's not any clear trends. But you will notice a slight gray in December of 2025. That is the other. We got a rooster. It was an exciting time in December. Euthanasias, again, this is not a number that we desire. Are we classified as a no-kill shelter? No, we're not. Is there such a thing as a true no-kill shelter? No, there's not. Every public animal shelter is going to have animals come in that are medically distressed and cannot be saved. There are going to be euthanized outcomes at every public animal shelter. We just try to minimize that as much as possible. So for the recorded euthanasia at our department, 50% of them are medical related, meaning there's some kind of unrecoverable medical condition that the animal just can't pull out of. 25% are what we call temperament. That means these are animals that come into our shelter that are not socialized. They don't play well with other animals and or may be leaning towards the side of aggression. Our staff works with those animals as much and as long as we can to try to socialize them, to try to get them to a point where they can be safely adopted. But at some point, we have to recognize that this animal cannot be safely adopted into a family, maybe a risk to elderly, maybe a risk to children. And so when we've reached the point where we can't change the temperament of that animal, we can't keep feeding and medicating those animals indefinitely and rescue organizations will not take them so those outcomes usually end up in euthanasia aggression animals are it's not a temperament issue they walk in the door mean aggressive dangerous and there is no form of socialization or working with that animal and so those are typically put down fairly quickly because they present a risk to the other animals within the shelter or a risk staff And then occasionally we will have feral cats that have to be put down. What that means is feral cat doesn't mean a wild cat that we caught. It's a wild cat that we caught that is so wild staff can't safely deal with that animal. Many times we are able to catch and release animals back into their neighborhoods once they've been dealt with. But there are occasionally those cats that come in that are just so aggressive and so wild that we can't safely handle those. And so that's the breakdown of how our euthanasia events lead. A couple of things I want to point out is the very, very top line calls for service. In the last Hunt County Commissioner's Court meeting, they approved an amendment that we proposed to our agreement with Hunt County. hunt county has a need for very specific animal service calls that are emergency situations they have not been able to find a partner within the county that would work with them and they needed some assistance in that so we proposed that in i think three cases that we would respond to calls out in the county The first call is the sheriff's department is making an arrest, and in the course of that arrest, there's an animal on the side of the road. There's an animal somewhere away from home that is unsecured, and they can't just leave it on the side of the road. So in that case, when there's arrest involved, we will respond to that location, take possession of that animal, and bring it back to the shelter. Second is a bite dog. If there's an attack or some kind of injury to a human from usually dogs, then we will go and pull that dog because state law has some requirements of what you do in those cases. And then the third one is suspicion of rabies. And so in those cases, Hunt County did not have any agencies or entities that were assisting them in those events. So we proposed a fee. And so the county will pay us for every one of those calls that we respond to so we're going to begin tracking those we had our first call today uh for a bite dog and so we'll be tracking those and so we hundred thousand dollars a year from Hunt County for our shelter accepting and housing animals from county residents the fee additionally above and beyond that is going to be for calls that we respond to and so we'll be tracking that number over time today was our first call out under that amendment and so and then also something that's not on here yet we've recently begun an in-house spay and neuter program as you're aware and That program is already in action. Right now we're averaging four to five procedures a week. And so we'll just continue to track how actively that happens. But that improves our outcomes for the animals that come in. The transfer out, most of the time the rescue organizations will not take an animal unless it is already received a spare neuter procedure. And we've not been able to provide that in-house and you can't outsource that to someone unless the animal is being adopted. So there are some of the temperament animals and some of the other animals that are rescuable, but they won't rescue them because of the spare neuter condition. And so we're able to provide that now and that program is off the ground and it's working well. And so with that, I'll be happy to answer any questions you have about animal services.

I would like to say, just to give an update, Our animal control, some of the animal control in the area, and we've heard that they will keep an animal for three days, and that is the limit. A lot of that's just their standard rules. Our animal control and our staff there work very hard. That is not a rule in commerce. Correct. They keep the animals until there is one of these needs that they have to be used tonight. So they do a great job there.

we spend as much time as we reasonably can especially with those temperament animals trying to get them socialized into a point where they can be safely adopted and in many cases we are successful at doing that they're just going to be some of those animals that we're not able to turn around great report thank you very much

Good evening again, mayor and council. We are wrapping up the end of our 2026 year with our clean commerce campaign. Staff is in production right now with our 2026, 2027 Clean Commerce campaign. So you can expect to see that very soon. But for the remainder of the year, we have Section B coming up in two Wednesdays from now. That'll be September 30th, 2026. So a reminder during Bodark Bash weekend is as soon as you can set your trash curbside if you live in Section B. And then pick up will be on that Wednesday. to move forward in the powerpoint here um we're also wrapping up mosquito spraying for the 2026 season so uh we are in our next week will be our last week of mosquito spraying um i will knock on wood and we haven't seen any west nile positive mosquitoes yet this season but we also haven't seen any rain this season so we will certainly be keeping an eye on that As a reminder, North Texas Giving Day is coming up. Commerce Public Library has had a generous donor step forward that will match up to $25,000 in donations. So if we can give the community $25,000 in donations to the Commerce Public Library through North Texas Giving Day, then that donor will match that amount.

Absolutely. Also, the Children's Museum has also had a novice donor that has stepped up. We'll match $25,000 on giving day. And on Thursday, I believe it's at 615. Ms. Monty, is that correct? Our director AM, our director of the Children's Museum sent in an application and was chosen to be on Channel 8 for Giving Day. Wow, that's fantastic.

There's lots of great organizations in commerce that participate in North Texas Giving Day. So you can go as soon as now to NorthTexasGivingDay.org and you can filter those organizations by location and see what organizations in commerce participate in North Texas Giving Day.

I will say we are biased, and if you can only give to one entity, we recommend the library.

And we're biased. We're biased. We recommend the Children's Museum. But regardless, that could be $50,000 of free money coming to these organizations.

Give to the funeral home. That's what I do.

We have basketball registration going on through October 19th. As you noticed tonight, those fees will be going up. We will make that effective October 1st. So if you haven't registered yet for basketball, do so now while it's $65. You can visit commercerecreation.com to do that, or you can stop by City Hall to register for the basketball season. That season starts in December and runs through February, but registration ends October 19th. I'm going to turn over all of these vote arguments to mayor and all your first. Well, okay.

So, um, if you haven't figured out that the bash is coming up and that will be next weekend, not this weekend, but next weekend, September 25th and 26th, uh, it is really a great thing this year. They have, uh, filled every vendor booth. So it's going to go all the way down Main Street and on Washington and even up into Alamo. We have people waiting to get in to be a part of this. So it's a wonderful thing that's happened this year. The t-shirts, instead of them just printing a bunch of t-shirts, if you want one of the red, white, and bash t-shirts, those are $20 each. And they'll make an order. Um, and hopefully we'll have some of them ready for the bash itself. Um, something else is the five K run. This is the bash, uh, dash, and that will be on, um, September the 26th on Saturday morning. The actual run starts at eight o'clock. So be out there and be yelling for all your, uh, runners or walkers. or draggers whoever wants to whatever you want to do whatever whatever motivates you and then also we are asking that everybody sign up for the bash parade which will be at 10 o'clock it's 10 o'clock right um on uh september the 26th and let me do another one i'll let you do this one those two

Okay. This will be the third year that we have a kid manure and it will be out here in the green area beside mugs. And it is such a blast to see all the kids that have to make their own product, all their signage and uh that that actually they want to be here all day they have the option to be here all day but they're required to be here uh i believe until one until 10 o'clock till one o'clock you know some of the parents are probably glad that we do let them go home and not have to stay all day like the match we also have uh really Can't wait to see this one. Years ago, we had a duck race in commerce, and I think the fire department built an elaborate runway for the ducks, but this year, that was a lot of trouble. This year, we're having a great big tank out there, and they're going to fill it with water, and they've come up with a way to swirl the water, and we have ducks in there, and then we're just going to pluck a duck, And Howdy is going to pluck a duck, and Howdy has this suit, so that's going to be something great to see. That is $10 a ticket. There will be two $500 ducks plucked. Say it that fast. Nope, please not.

That's at noon, so you've got to get over there just to watch Howdy in that suit.

All right. And then.

Oh, this is me again. All right. So at the bash this year, there's going to be a scavenger hunt. And so if you go to the chamber booth, you can get the sign up sheet and where you're supposed to go and what you're going to be finding. And there will be the top three teams will get a prize. I'm not sure what the prize is. It's a guess. Maybe you'll know whenever you find it. I don't know. You've got to find it, I guess. And in the class of 2026 of the Commerce Leadership Institute, they have an outdoor adventure package that they're selling raffle tickets for for $20. prizes and everything or all the things that are there is about an estimated $1,500. And if you'll see over on the right hand side that it shows what who has put in the different items and everything. So I think there's a fishing trip. There's golf. It's worth just buying the ticket and there's a lot of Christmas gifts right there that you can just start placing them out.

So three of the things happening at the bash.

We've got cow patty bingo.

essentially what that is is there's going to be a grid out there of 225 spots you can go online to the chamber websites and buy a spot for 25 and we're actually partnering with commerce ffa they're going to have a cow they're going to bring out and when that cow does its business wherever it does its business whatever number it lands on wins a thousand dollars So, I know, pretty great. So, the Cowl is going to come out, I believe, at 12.30, I think. But you can find the information on that at the Chamber website. And it's over when it's over. And it's over when it's over, that's right. But you can buy your spot online at the Chamber website as well. There's also a cornhole tournament. There's two levels for this. This is not a cornhole tournament for those who are, like, really, really, really skilled. like professionals, but there is an intermediate and a beginner level. So if you'd like to do that, you can also sign up there at the Chamber website for beginners or for intermediates, and it'll be out here on the lawn right across the street from us, and that'll be ongoing throughout the day. There will be prizes for that as well for each category. You see that there, first place is $500, second place is $300, and third place is $200. And also, if you haven't heard, the headliner for the event is Straight Country. It is a George Strait tribute band, and his name is Howard Decker. He looks just like and sounds just like George Strait. It's going to be a really nice concert. It's going to be a lot of fun. But we're offering VIP wristbands for that. It's going to be right up front by the stage. wristbands that light up and kind of bounce to the music with that you'll get of course seating near the stage you get the wristband you'll get access to a vip only beverage tent and then also opportunities to take pictures with george straights right after the concert is over so if you'd like to buy that you can also buy that at the chamber website That's it.

And one more thing about the badge. I want to give thanks to Karen Starks, which is our new badge director. She is a one-person employee, made lots of changes. There's been a lot of volunteers that she's reached out at meetings, had volunteers come. So I really, really appreciate this. It is going to be a big step up, I think. You can see there's a lot of fun activities. But once the bash is over, everybody's just kind of glad it's over. But I want to thank her because she has done an outstanding job. And she only works three days a week.

But right now I have a feeling it's more than she's taking vacation from her other job to be here full time.

So thank you to Karen Starks.

This coming weekend is the last weekend for Commerce Farmers Market. The vendors for our farmers market will not be here the weekend of Bodark Bash. But you can also check out the library's website. They're going to extend the opportunity to the vendors associated with our farmers market to do kind of an indoor over at the library and over at Authors Park. And so that will extend into the fall. So if you have some favorites from our farmer's market, hopefully you can encourage them or follow them over to the library come the fall season. But our farmer's market in downtown, this will be the last weekend from 8 to 12 p.m. For the November 3rd upcoming election, just a reminder that for any election 30 days prior to that election day is your deadline to register to vote. As someone who works elections pretty regularly, we see people come in often and they're there to vote and they're there to register to vote. You cannot register to vote on the same day that you vote if you are not already registered. We see that particularly with college students. So we like to remind the college students, you have to be registered in the county that you're voting, which you can check your voter registration status at VoteTexas.gov. And you have to do so if you're not currently registered in the county you live in to vote 30 days prior to that election date. So for the November 3rd election, the 30th day prior to that election day is October 5th. I'm going to turn National Night Out over to Ms. Ashley.

Good evening. Yes, National Night Out is coming up October 6th from 5 to 8 out at City Park. National Night Out is a joint effort with Commerce Police and FIRE put on an event just so we can meet the community we serve. The community we serve can meet us. We're going to have a lot more raffle prizes, raffles, games, pumpkin painting. The pumpkin painting will be broken up into age groups, so each age group has greater chances to win prizes. Those are yet to be announced, but some of the ones that we have gathered so far are pretty cool, if I do say so myself. So we hope to see all of y'all out there. It is, I think, probably one of our most favorite events that we put on throughout the year, and we love to see the community out there and get to know y'all. Thanks. Thank you.

And then as we enter the time of year, um, one between hurricane season and especially weather conditions, uh, in the winter, we like to remind everybody, if you're not already signed up to sign up for hyper reach alerts, it's the city's mass notification system for emergencies. emergency road closures, power outages, water outages, and then anything related to storm damage or storm-related closures of city facilities.

So if you're not signed up, you can visit our website.

You can scan that QR code. We have this poster posted to our doors. Or come see anybody at City Hall, and we can help make sure you're signed up to receive those emergency alerts. That's all I have for you.

Mayor, I do want to point out, we skipped the finance update this month. Because the meeting is early in the month, we did not receive the sales tax data from the state in enough time to do the analysis and prepare everything. So we'll include these numbers in next month's report. For project updates, we did go through an RFP and bid selection process for the contractor that's going to build the community center in the old Inwood Bank building. we're currently negotiating the contract with them we'll be bringing a contract for that to the council in next month's meeting as well and so all of our projects are going along i'll already give you the update for the intergovernmental amendment to the agreement with hunt county for animal services and so we have nothing else to address in this report happy to answer any questions we do not have a need for executive session tonight all right

Does anybody have any questions or any comments before we have a motion to adjourn?

Move. Okay. All right, we adjourn at 7.32.