City Council - Regular Meeting

That's amazing. Has always had kids that made it this stadium. We had some awesome athletes that come through.

[snorts] Oh, okay. Then I'll read out. Was really late today. Okay, I'm good. Good evening everyone. It is now officially 6 o'clock. We are opening our city council meeting for Monday, March the 16th, 2026. At this time, we will have an invocation.

Heavenly Father, we come before you this afternoon. We thank and praise you for this day. Thank you for the opportunity to uh gather here at city hall this afternoon pertaining to the all the business that's at hand. And we just ask your blessing upon this time. Give us wisdom, Lord God, in concerning all of the issues. And Lord, may we make the decisions tonight that would uh that would bring glory to you and for the betterment and the welfare of all of our city. We thank you. Give you all the praise. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

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

Sorry about that. I cut I cut that off coming in, but I don't know how I did. My my brother just got taken to the hospital. take care of your business. Once again, um thank you so much for joining us this evening. Uh we appreciate you taking out your time out to share with us uh and in support of what we can do best with our city. At this time, uh we're once again we're up to our public comments. We have Okay. Well, I needn't read the the statement. The statement is there for your reference. At this time, we have the approval of minutes. Regular session, March the 2nd, 2026.

I make a motion we approve the minutes from March 2nd. Second. It's been moved and second. All in favor? Opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. Uh, brings us to item number two, reports, the fire department monthly activity status report for February 2026. may have to hold council members.

Uh for the month of February, we had a total of 30 calls. Breaking those down, uh 17 was in the city limits and 13 in our county response area. There was no structure fires during that that month. And um I pray that we got the rain that we got and everything is greening up so we're slowing down a little bit. So

uh the there's The report in front of me, it breaks it down to uh further down. If y'all have any questions, I'll be more than happy to answer them for you, council. Okay, very good report and very brief. Thank [snorts] you.

At this time, it brings us to item number three, police department manpower and criminal incident report for February 2026. Good evening, mayor, council, city administrator, police department's manpower and criminal activity report for February of 2026. Total of 16 officers, worked 1,634 hours, responded to 344 calls for service, investigated nine traffic accidents, made 59 arrests, issued 343 traffic citations, completed 97 reports, and responded to 14 alarm calls. 13 of those were false alarm. Below that, you'll see a breakdown of our uh calls for service. I'll entertain any questions you may have.

One question, chief. Were there any um um assistance needed with uh with county or sheriff this for the past month? Does that total into the uh into the numbers for February? So on you talking about backing up like the county.

Uh so those numbers are not included in this because these are specific to the city. Okay. Okay. Uh, one thing I'd like to point out, um, I'd like to commend Sergeant Nathan Key. Uh, he a couple weeks ago he responded to a theft call at Tractor Supply and, um, he got right on it, got some information, pushed that information out of the suspects and the suspect vehicle to other officers. Uh, short time later, one of our local highway patrolman uh, saw that vehicle, so they made contact with him. As a result, he ended up clearing a little over $16,000 in thefts. The suspects had been going into Tractor Supply, Home Depot, and Lowe's, stealing DeWalt tools and other tools.

Wow. He uh he seized the vehicle, executed the search warrant, was able to recover all the property that they had stolen. So, that doesn't happen very often. So, I'd like to commend him on his work. He's well to be commended. Absolutely. That's a beautiful thing. Yes, I have.

Well, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Oh, I was going to ask some stuff, but I think it kind of cross-section what it was. I know I noticed that we we have other agencies that are doing traffic shops to a seem like more than we've had in the past with the department of what is highway patrol.

Sure. Seem like they seem to be more active in our area. Is they are different? I think the result of that is you have a new administration at the sheriff's office. Uh so they um they have a little more requirements of of their deputies. Um uh you have a new area sergeant for DPS. You have a lot of younger newer highway patrolman

here locally. You know, for the longest time we were four or five troopers short for this county, but now we're fully staffed. So, uh, they work in the city, out of the city, and and all three agencies really work well together and and back each other up. So, okay. I was just wondering why the president was

One more question, Chief. Sure. Um, dealing with uh spring break, will there be increased traffic control patrols? So, anytime you have, I guess, a u an event or a situation where it's like spring break or something going on, a lot of times you will see an increased patrol. If we know of something specifically going on, we'll increase that patrol oursel and then notify our partner agencies that, hey, we've got this going on. If y'all don't mind, keep a keep a check on the city or this location or whatever. So, anytime we have an event like that, we do talk about it and we do increase patrols. Yes, sir. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Uh that brings us to item number four, report from city administrator on annual financial audit and special [clears throat] call meetings. Mayor and council, I just like to bring y'all's attention that we're still waiting on our uh financial audit. Um, this is done every year and it's required to be submitted and received uh by the city and recorded in the city secretary's office 180 days from the end of the fiscal year. So March the 30th would be the drop dead date for that. If we don't get it received um in time, we're going to have to submit something called a uh basically a draft audit. Once it's received by the city, um then we submit it to the state and update the records from draft to the final audit. Um, so I'm letting y'all know if we could if if our auditors are able to get it finished and presented back to the city next week. I would like to be able to meet at some point next week in a special call meeting to receive it to where we have it in our minutes and we can upload it. That way I don't have to go through a two-step process with the state.

Um, so I don't know y'all's schedule. Um, we, you know, that should be the only thing that we have. So if if y'all would prefer a noon meeting or a evening meeting or it's a specific day, um she did say so but the 30th is exactly 180 days. So us getting it in an evening on the 30th is already going to be too late. So I would really like to get it sometime in the middle of next week if possible and then call for if we can have a meeting.

They give a reason why they're late. They do all, you know, lots of cities and school districts and counties. So, as they're doing all of them, they all kind of get pushed. It seems like maybe we're one of the smaller, you know, smaller cities.

Put us in the back. Yeah. So, um I have, you know, we with the amount of of grants, grant projects that we have, we really need to get it get it done. Like I said that worst case scenario I will have to do something called submit a draft and then up update it with the final later.

So I'm So what days are we kind of considering? Well, if I can if I know by the end of this week and I call for a if I call for a meeting on a Friday, it it it can't be any sooner than Thursday really because I have to have Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday for the three business days after calling the meeting. So, I'm hoping sometime maybe Thursday. Friday is probably Are y'all probably against the Friday meeting?

No. Yeah. Do y'all prefer a noon or an evening? Noon. That's fine. Whatever. So, Thursday, it's Thursday or Friday. Like I say, hopefully if I know by the end of day on on on Friday this week

and I call for it, then we'll try to do something like a Thursday or Friday. So basically you're saying that the the the draft are not the original numbers. What are you saying on the I don't have we don't have the audit back. Um if it's not a final if it's not a final audit that's

done by then they'll they'll submit us their draft that's incomplete an incomplete audit. I submit at least those numbers to the state to where we don't miss the 180day deadline and then I update it with the final uh audit once it's received by the state

and it'll come back through the council to So have we done this before? Has this been done before or uh not a not a draft. We've ran down to the wire before a couple times. Yes. But not a draft, but we've not had to go through the process of submitting a draft then a final. But I've talked to our financial adviser and he did say that, you know, cities do that fairly often and he would work with me on helping put that submit that draft to the state at least to comply with the state and then I get the final in. And we can just probably put it on our first of the April meeting. If I have to go through the draft, I'm not going to call for a special call meeting.

Okay. You say who said? No. Who did you give you the financial advisor? Yes, ma'am. And who did you say our financial advisor is? I didn't say what did you say? It's Ben Rosenberg. Okay. Yes. Okay. Are there any other questions, concerns?

I keep y'all in the loop. Thank you. Thank you all. Okay. Okay. It brings us to uh item number five. Consider and approve a resolution of the city council of the city of Crockett, Texas, authorizing the submission of a grant application to the office of the governor for the event security and lighting enhancement through generator light towers project through the homeland security grant program. [snorts] Interpret mayor council. Uh this is a grant that I'm in the process of applying for. Uh what we're trying to purchase will be three lighting towers. Uh they're run off of generators. Uh they'll be Generrack brand lighting towers. They offer extendable light towers plus generator. Uh the reason I'm asking for it through this grant program because it helps cover events that that we have in the city, especially if it's in a later afternoon or nighttime. Uh right now we don't have much lighting to light the area. Uh so this will really help um enhance the safety around those events so we can see what's going on uh what's taking place and they're they're pushing real big on items like that especially what's called soft targets u smaller communities where event things don't always happen but we're you know we're at risk for those events. So the total project is $39,225. Uh it's not a matching grant. So if we're awarded the grant, they'll fund it 100%. Um so I'm just asking for that approval so we can finalize that uh that grant.

So these lighting towers are they're mobile. Is that what you're saying? They're uh so I'm asking for three. Uh hoping that, you know, we get at least one or two, but they basically come built on a small trailer that you can pull behind a vehicle. Um you can move them to different locations. Uh they're all self-sufficient. Uh they run they're diesel powered engines and they like I said they operate as a lighting tower or uh a power supply.

Kind of like the one they use on interstates and stuff a lot of time. Yeah. So you have photos of these correct? Yes. What's that? You have photos of these? You have pictures? I do not have them with me. I can send those to you if you'd like to see them. Please do. Yeah. Okay. But the grant is the one that we're [snorts] voting to do. We want the grant.

Right. I move that we approve the uh move that we approve the submission of grant application to the office of the governor of the event security and lighting enhancement through generator light tower projects through the homeland security grant

second. Okay. Okay. It's been moved and second and second. All in favor you can. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Thank you all. Thank you. Item number six, consider and approve a proposal for the city of Crockett and the Crockett area chamber of commerce to host the Freedom of Crockett Independence Day fireworks show on July 4, 2026 and cover any funding shortfall not met by donations if necessary.

Mayor and council, um this will be our fourth year um with the city doing this fireworks uh show. We um we host it in in conjunction with the uh uh chamber of commerce. Uh finances are received through the chamber of commerce and they also can provide um tax deductible donation receipts um to to people that are sponsoring it. Um last year uh we did a $25,000 fireworks show. um with the event expenses and everything that we uh spent, we ended up with a surplus of 3466 3,466 that will go towards this year's project. Um uh a couple things are happening um with tariffs, with all all things going on and with this being the 250th year anniversary of our Independence Day, there's a huge and high demand for fireworks. So fireworks costs have gone up as well as the demand on people um that the pyrochnic groups that do these fireworks. So, I really want to if we're going to have one this year, we need a lock. Um, we have one that is actually offered to do it. The same guy that did it last year, that same group out of

Elcart. Um, they're offering they're holding July 4th for us. Um, good pending um us approving them. Otherwise, you know, [clears throat] they will bidder. So, um,

I reached out to a few others. I don't know um the layout kind of the landscape of people's finances this year. I know it I feel like more people will be willing to support this event being that it's the 250th. It's a it's a big event.

Um I did put in a higher I put in two options. He said for the same dollar amount um the cost for the two 25,000 um we ended up with a few less shells than we did last year. Just the cost of um the cost of fireworks this year. We did in include another um proposal for 35,000 if we were to receive additional sponsorships. not not this be uh being borne by the city,

but if we do have additional sponsorships, we have another contract in there for 35,000 if we're able to raise additional funds like we did last year. Um the uh Rebecca and the chamber, they are also reaching out to a few um u performers trying to get maybe as an additional concert, something something else to going coincide with this. They're moving the parade from a midm morning parade to an evening parade. That's

that way it's all people can follow do that do the parade end up at the end up at the park and the civic center and kind of have and not have a big break in the middle of the day especially if it's really hot that really wears people down. So they're going to have food vendors um a concert and and have a big So we may have additional costs that will be incurred depending on who they're able to find with the um to to put on the the concert. Um, so I don't know how the council feels feels about this. I I personally after talking about it with Rebecca, we feel like the the the dollar amount for this show would probably be sufficient, keeping it at the $25,000 mark. And if there's any additional funds received, put that towards additional add-ons, giveaways, ice cream, you know, um,

things during the parade, other that's going to be generated instead of um increasing the size of the fireworks and running that risk that we may not receive, you know, the additional amount of money from sponsorships because I don't want the city have to be put in a position to spend too much money on that.

So, that's my recommendation is is that we enter uh that we approve um entering in with Wilson Family Pyro Techchnics for July the 4th. Um what I what I would have to say about that is I'm I'm in agreement with um

we need to make a motion first. Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. We do before discussion before any discussion. [snorts] Okay. I make a motion we uh enter into agreement with Wilson family. Wilson family.

Wilson family. I see. [snorts] Now you can proceed with the discussion. Um I'm in agreement with having the having the the um program the fireworks program because everything was really nice on that on the year that we had it and it was really um community based and I really enjoyed that. But I do recall on the last year is that we were not supposed to use taxpayers money monies to fund those programs. So you tell me how we need to move forward with using those type of funds for uh that type of event.

Well, like I like I just mentioned, uh we didn't use taxpayers money. We ended up with a surplus of 3,466 of sponsorship money. So we actually we raised more sponsorship money than even was required. So we didn't use any taxpayer money. Okay. So what I'm asking I'm going

this right here. Um, I'm asking about Okay. What I'm asking is it if if is it guaranteed that we'll Okay, that's why and that's why if if council does approve cuz what we're going to have to do is um if we do enter into contract now, they're going to have to go out and purchase um all of this and put them in storage for July. They can't wait until the last minute. Right.

So, what they request and as you see in that in the proposals is a 50% down. So that would require us writing them a check to to purchase the um fireworks and put them in reserve and then when the sponsorships come in, we refund, we reimburse the city that cost. It's not a guarantee. I can't guarantee that. That's why we have to get council approval. And if council approves to spend that money,

there's a lot of cities that spend they put it in their budget. They put a New Year's fireworks show July 4th is very much legal and allowed. Um my hopes and and what we've done so far pretty much every year is raise enough funds to to to pay for it where it did not come out of taxpayers money. So with that being said, so is it always up to the council to do that or does the chamber is the chamber able to take lead and move forward with

they don't they don't have the reserves or the ability to come up with a check for the 12,500 and hold it until sponsorships are coming in. So the chamber wouldn't be willing to do that. If the if the city is not willing to do that, then I mean we would be put in a position probably that we wouldn't be able to do it. We're basically backing the show and going out and seeking sponsorships because people don't, you know, our local businesses, they pay taxes, too. So, they're not wanting, you know, us to um to foot that bill if we're able to

the people out there watching it and spend taxes. Sure. And so it's it's a public benefit. It's very much a legal expense. Um it's arguably council needs to decide if if I put this in the budget every year, you know, council would need to decide every year, do we budget that kind of money?

It's not in the budget. So that's why I ask council, do y'all want to support this event and us seek sponsorships for it? But I do recall one year um I do recall one year I think um Mr. Ivy had had an issue because of the fact that he was like, "Well, do we fund a firework show or do we place those funds towards repair streets,

you know, and that's why that was that was during the time when we were doing a starting a lot of projects on the on the streets. I'm all for it." And and it's a concern and that's why I said and then I came back and said we ended up with not having to spend the nine the $10,000. I was asking for council support to back it because we have to lock these people down otherwise they're going to go to another city

and do the same thing. And so it's it's definitely a very reasonable concern that you have that we not spend taxpayers dollars and that but we didn't have to we didn't have to. Correct. Okay. Which is which was good and great but I'm I'm where Mr. Ivy was at that time. I'm looking at repairing streets and things like that in my precinct. Um that we have a lot of projects that we need to look at that we need to take care of a lot of properties that um need to be cleared off and things such as that. So

you know why that's Yeah. And it but one precinct versus the whole city. This is something that the city would enjoy. And there there comes a point that you can only repair so many street with 15 $20,000. I'm sorry. I mean, but I'm I'm the ma'am. Ma'am, ma'am, excuse me. You're talking while I'm talking.

Yes, ma'am. Are you out of order? Thank you. Uh so in my opinion I think that there needs to be some events that the community come together that everything you have to share other things with your community and this is if in the in the past not only did we had a lot of people that gave away a lot of free food that came together and it has to be some some avenue for flex in your community. You work hard you flex. I mean that's what we do. you you do things some things for entertainment but but this one is significant because it's open to everybody some in the whole community you can come you can enjoy you can fellowship and I think it's it's it's necessary oh you've got to have some place where the community can bridge and yes it's it's their money too it's not just one person money everybody's paying taxes so everybody's supporting the event it's not just one precinct that's paying taxes Everybody in the city pays taxes and I think this is an appropriate way for them all to and benefit from it

and I I definitely understand I definitely understand that. But when you when your precinct is pretty much my on my in my opinion um it's been neglected for a little bit there's monies that we need to recover so we can um infrastructure um do things in our precinct that's been lacking over the years. So, I'm speaking on behalf of precinct 3. I do want to see the city thrive as a whole and I do want to see but I believe that if we do the um power tech uh the firework show is that it should be done with um by donations

which is what and that's what he said. It's been a motion second. It's been in discussion sir. I'll make a motion we move on the previous question. Okay, motion is on to

a second. Okay, it's been moved and second. All in favor. Motion carries. Oppose. I'm sorry. Oppose. I'm sorry. Now we go back to [snorts] motion that's on the table. And now we go back to original. Right.

It's been a first and second and go back to original motion. So now we can speak again on the previous motion. No. motion. Okay. On the motion. Time to vote. All approved.

Oppose. [snorts] Okay. Motion carries. Thank you. At this time, we'll go to item number seven. [snorts] Consider and approve an electrical contract for energy supply for all city facilities effective June 1, 2027. Mayor and Council, I I [snorts] printed out uh to where we can see it in front of you. It's on a piece of paper as well as what I have on the screen, but just a a quick explanation of where we're at. Um in in 20 uh 18 in 2017 um we went in um to a contract

for electricity and we dropped at that time we dropped our um our cost. It was right at 10 cents per kilowatt hour and that was not for the delivery side but for the provider side. We went from 10 cents and in 2017 we locked in a contract for 0335 cents. So three and a third of a cent from 10 cents. in 2025. It know in 2024 we had the opportunity as we were nearing the end of that contract for a tag for a tagon contract or an add-on contract. At the end of our current contract at that time, we added uh two more years to that contract that was going to expire in 25. Now that contract is going to expire in 27. Since we added two more years, we extended that same rate. Electricity is going up.

Uh, it's coming down. Sorry, excuse me. the provider side of electricity. In 2025, May of 2025, our our brokers reached out to us at that time and said, "John, as we're getting up close to the end of your current contract, we really need to look at uh renewing that, you know, because we [snorts] can go out about two years ahead of time and lock in a good contract." At that time the the numbers that they were given were five, five and a half and six [snorts] um cents per kilowatt hour. Since that time in the last year, a little bit less than a year, [snorts] we have now creeped up and if you flip that page that you have there right here.

Okay, it is Kirk. Those are the rates as of. So, we reached out to three different brokers asking all of them to to quote the market just seeing what best numbers we can um bring in. Those are the best numbers that we were able to get in using three brokers. One of them actually he ended up backing out because um several of the markets that he was pricing um Take Five had had just recently priced. And so the Vega broker down at the bottom, they found a few of them that were a little bit cheaper. Um, so basically I highlighted in green, if you look at the length of term at the top, 12 month, 24, 36, and so forth, all the way out to 9 years, 108 months are the terms that we tried to price the market for to see what we could lock into. Um, and I highlighted the best prices per kilowatt hour for each of those terms. Um, this is a little bit similar to playing money on Wall Street trying to predict the market. Is it going to continue going up?

Is it going to go back down? It's not going up. It's coming down. You think so? I haven't seen I don't know what you've been watching, but it's been coming down. electricity coming down now. It's been coming down if you'll look uh it's been coming down and and and we're good through 2027, right?

Uh May 31st, 2027. Yes. So, this contract would be June. I I wouldn't sign nothing right now. Don't sign nothing right now until it gets closer because it's coming down. the what I've been what I've been seeing it is is it was 10 and now it was nine now it's 8 and a2

are you looking so you're saying with delivery charges I I I'm the one that did this with you remember that I'm the one that got the girl that that did this so seriously so she's she's the one that presented us these numbers

so if you look at the one with the graph I I understand that Look, if if we're a year out, things are going to be different in a year with I I defer. I I don't think so. But

I do. I'm not going to argue that point. I don't know. Um I don't know the market. You sign something right now. You going you going to be regretting it come doubt a year from now? I doubt it. Seriously, I just just looking at um what's going on. Usually electrical markets follow oil with the dem the demand.

You think oil is gonna stay where it's at right now? It's not going to stay right now, but it will for a little bit. It's not going to stay there. It's coming back down. Oh, no. I hope so. I hope I hope you're right. So, I I don't know. I What I'm saying is this is the this is the market graph. If you look at the graph when we locked in that rate at 3 cents and it went in in 2021 and we've carried that 3 cents out, 3 and 12 cents out till current. Now the market rate um has dipped back down. You know, there's a small dip, but it looks like it's on a continued trend. That being said, if you going back to the numbers on the front on the front page, If you look at if you look at the total cost, we we we use about 2 and a4 megawws of energy a year. Our total charges right here right now we pay around $320,000 $350,000 in electricity from all city facilities street lights or street lights to city facilities and everything throughout the year. Right? This is only this is not the delivery charge. This is the provider charge of things. The delivery stays steady. Mhm.

So you're looking at if you're if you're basically doubling your provider charge, you're looking somewhere around $80,000 of an increase. If we were to re uh repric and go into contract right now, we'd be looking at about an $80,000 jump since we're under contract through next year. We won't see it this year, but we will be seeing it next year. So next year I'm going to have to start working on because that'll be the budget that we're coming up the budget workshops that we're coming up this summer. We'll have to kind of price that into our budget. You know, at least what the they're saying, these [clears throat] brokers are saying that the market's going to be at. Like I said, I I don't know that. I'm not a broker. I I can only go by what other brokers are telling telling us. Um

the the broker's wanting you to jump in right now because they they're making money off of just like insurance companies. They're they're making money that the cuz you don't we don't pay the broker. No electric company pays the broker. So they're wanting you to jump in right now

and get this high rate coming down. The only the only issue with with that, just to clarify, the broker, they their add-on charges are per kilowatt, not not per price. So, it's not a percentage of what we pay. So, if it if they can lock us into a cheap rate or a higher rate

is not going their price per kilowatt stays the same to keep them still looking out for us as well. not just looking out to try to get the higher cost, but they they're looking out for us right now and before this contract's up in 27, they're going to be looking out for us the same.

I agree. No, I agree. I agree. So, if council, like I said, I'm I'm I'm presenting this to council to prepare you for prepare next year, June 2027, our contract will go out. Y'all let me know. Do y'all want me to price the market now or ride it and wait for another dip?

I make the motion we ride it and not renew at this time. Nope. Second. Okay, it's been moved and second. We're ready for a vote. All in favor?

All right. Thank you, council. [clears throat] Motion carries. I'm telling you, it's going to come down. not going to come down. I hope so. It will report [laughter] of the night. Believe me, but anyway. Uh item number eight, considering approved declaring approximately 14 ft by 65 ft Fleetwood mobile home as surplus to be sold by sale bid. Mayor and council, I have a this mobile home that used to be the office building up front in front of the um the solid waste yard. Um this was the one that was up by the fence before um Pineywoods came in and built that office there. We moved this out to a piece of property that we have. At that time, we were thinking maybe we would use it as a fire uh prop where we would do some training exercises in it. um the fire the fire ch fire fire chief the fire department they don't believe that

substantial it's going to be used enough to be worthwhile. It's also on a piece of property that's not highly visible and it's all not always being watched. So doors are being broken in, windows are broken, uh there's lots of graffiti and stuff going on inside of it. We feel that it's in best the city's best interest to clean that piece of property up and sell it.

I agree. We've actually had a what kind of prompted this there were some people just calling asking about it and of course I'll have to put it on a seal bid. Um what's the address? It's a piece of property that we have on the corner of Stokes and

on that look. It's not really an address there, but it's on the corner of Stokes and Peas and you'll see it off of Stokes when you're driving down Stokes. You can see it off on the left. Um, and we'll so we'll if council declares it a surplus, I'll put it on the I'll put legal notices out and we'll receive seal bids for people to clean it up and haul it off.

Okay. If if council approves, I move that we approve the the surplus to be sold and sell it. I second. No deliberation. Uh you ready for the vote? All in favor? Motion carries. Okay. Number nine, consider and approve a resolution of the city council of the city of Crockett, Texas, selecting a grant administration firm to assist the city with the submitt of an application for funding and administration [clears throat] of a contract if awarded from the Texas Department of Agriculture, TDA, for the 2026 Downtown Revitalization Program, DRP, Main Street MS program of the Texas Community Block Grant, TGCDG program. Mayor and council, this is um this is one of our steps in uh going out and uh seeking downtown revitalization funds for sidewalks and infrastructure in our downtown area. Council approved us to um to apply for this by resolution already. Um one of our next steps is securing a grant administrator. We reached out to a few grant administrators. We only received one uh proposal uh by Trailer and Associates um for this one and our and the next grant project that we have um and so with having only having only received one um one response, the city is and I have it the letter right there of the city just um requesting that we um we enter into contract with Trailer and Associates.

Well, John, I thought we already have I thought we have a um grant writer currently employed. No, ma'am. So, what do we have? What do we What is his title? We've I've addressed that already. We don't have a grant writer.

What What does he do? What is his job? Your question was we don't have a We don't have a grant writer or a grant administrator and that's why we've used them in the past. We every one of our projects that we apply for for state funds, federal funds, we use

a professional. We use grant administrator. Are we still supposed to make a a motion before we discuss? Yes, sir. We not talking to the the city administrator. Okay. It's still a discussion. It's considered a discussion. Okay. Can we uh get a motion? I make a motion we enter into agreement with trailer and associate.

I see. Okay. Discussion. Um so um so what is the do we so once we enter into this agreement what is our cost? What is the fee for?

It's paid for. is paid for um through TDA and it's whatever that allotted amount that TDA pays for grant administrators they they implemented in their budget. I don't have that number. I actually I have access to that number because we went over but being that there was only one uh proposal. Uh we didn't compare the cost to any other uh bidder. Um it's I don't want to speak out of term, but I believe it's somewhere around four or 5% of the total project cost, but that's what um it's budgeted for by TDA to pay for grant administrators.

And so the city the city's part, you said this the city doesn't have a part in it. It's paid for through grant funds. Okay. Any other questions? Ready for the vote? All in favor? Motion carries. Okay. Item number 10. Consider and approve a resolution of the city of Crockett, Texas, authorizing the professional service provider section for community development block grant disaster recovery CDBG-DR local communities program LCP funded administered administered through the Texas General and land office GLLO under the 2024 disaster DR4-4781. one Texas severe storms and DR-4798 hurricane peril [snorts] barrel. Mayor and council, this is disaster recovery funds u for communities that were associated with hurricane barrel or the cold um Texas severe storms um that we had in 2024. This is essentially the same resolution, but the general land office required the resolution to be written a little bit differently. But basically, this is also selecting a grant administrator um for the disaster recovery um grant that council talked about applying for for all of our creeks um our creeks and um drainage systems that we've talked about. And so that's what we're applying for. This this will select the uh trailer and associates for the uh grant administration services.

I'll make a motion we approve the trailer and associate. I second. Okay. Any questions? Ready for the vote? All in favor? Motion carries. Okay. Brings us to item number 11. Consider and approve a resolution of the city council of the council of the city of Crockett, Texas selecting an engineering firm to assist the city with the supplemental [clears throat] of an application for funding and project implementation of a contract if awarded from the Texas Department of Agriculture TDA for the 2025 2026 Texas Community Development Block Grant Program- Community Development Fund TXDB. BG- CD under application number CDV25-00008. Mayor and council. Um this is the other program that we've applied for. It's a community development block grant for a million dollars for sewer systems repairs that um that we've talked about. We've passed a resolution to apply for. We're at the phase to select engineering for that project. Um, we received two responses on engineers, uh, engineering firms, uh, SPI, um, SPI and PEP Dawson. Pape Dawson is the company that bought out, uh, KSA Engineers. KSA Engineers being the ones that has worked with us on our previous projects. Um [snorts] and uh so receiving those two uh we and uh KSA is the one that has worked and submitted the proposals for the SSO program that included those same sewer lines that we're now trying to get funding for. So they're very aware of the project and um we believe them to be uh our recommendation for uh doing this project.

I'll make a motion to approve the Texas Community Development Block Grant Program. Second. It's been moved and second. Any discussion? Are you ready for the vote?

Favor. Motion carries. Okay, that brings us to item number 12. Consider an approved letter of support regarding textile demolition and construction of overpass at Northwest Loop 304. Mayor and council, I'm going to show you real quick on a map. I know y'all are aware of of where Willie Josie's used to be on the loop on the north loop.

Uhhuh. So right here, I wonder if I can do that. So as the loop goes around at at 19 north, you're going to see so 19 [snorts] 287 north here down to the left, the Health and Human Services Commission office. Then it then there's an overpass that goes over the railroad track. So that that bridge has reached its um [snorts] its life,

its end of life. Texot has budgeted for replacing that bridge. There's two technically two se two options on replacing a bridge. building another one alongside it and then demoing the old one [snorts] or demoing this one first and rebuilding a new one right where it stands. [snorts] They prefer rebuilding building a new one right where this the current loop stands.

Um it's going to be significantly cheaper to do so. Um, and the loop, they're not going to have to deal with easements, additional easements, um, um, moving over rightways, as well as having your loop have a jog in it

and then come back over. So, for several for quite a few reasons, they would prefer doing this. They do realize that due to the length of time of this construction, this is at least 6 months up to a year depending on how they go about this project. So, um the other and as it's mentioned in that letter, the other um issue there is the um if they can demo and go into construction on the current location, they they believe they can get it in their 27 budget. If not, they're going to have to roll it into their next banium budget, which will be probably 2829, maybe even 2030. Um they're asking for letters of support from the city. U we're also going to take that to the county and ask for them to support it. Um we talked with fire, police, public works. It's a it's an inconvenience, but we don't believe it to be um harmful to our, you know, to the safety of our uh

services, you know, gaining access to people getting there since everything is centralized from the middle of the city and going out. It will be an inconvenience if if there's already somebody out on the loop and has to go around it. Uh it's just something to consider and be aware of and and and work through for the next, you know, they'll be in charge of detours of traffic and blocking roads and message boards on the road and everything like that, but they just want to know before they shut this bridge down and and detour traffic for several months,

maybe even up to a year, that [snorts] council's aware of it and supports the project in that manner. Please, we won't we won't have to worry about providing any traffic control. Y'all handle that? Yeah, they do the whole project. Yes, ma'am. It's just they're cutting down a, you know, a significant thorough affair. Yes.

And um that we're going to have to deal with, you know, detours through the inside of the city and stuff like that. But they'll take care of the the leg work on that. Okay. Cuz I was just concerned that we was going to have to provide No, ma'am. Okay. So they were just asking for some type of a, you know, so we drafted that letter of support just asking

Okay, I'll make a motion we approve a letter to the state that that approves the uh demolition of that bridge. Uh so it would save them money. If it saves them money, it saves me money. Yes, I Okay, it's been moved and seconded. Any more discussion?

All in favor? Motion carries. Okay, brings us to item number 13. New business consideration of future agenda items. New business items must be presented as a motion without discussion. If the motion receives a second and a majority vote, the item will be placed on a future agenda for deliberation and possible action. Do we have any new any future agenda items? I move that we place um on our next agenda to discuss um city swimming pool. Second.

We discuss what? City swing. A second. Okay. It's been moved and second. All in favor? Oppose? That is I'll make a motion we

Oh. Oh. Oh, that was a motion for you to vote. Oh, okay. That's what I said. I didn't That's what I didn't see. I didn't know what it I thought he had it in twice up. I couldn't figure that one. Okay, that's good. We're on our way. Oh, this is for work and warming,

man. All right, you got some cool stuff. It's still daylight with it.