City Council - Regular Meeting

It is 6:30 and I'm calling to order the Elgen City Council meeting on March 3rd, 2026. We'll begin with our roll call. We'll begin with uh Deputy Mayor Pro Tim Love here. Pier here. Rodriguez here.

Crim here. Here. McShan here. Kasnovski here. Gibson here. Swain here. And Chuck giving us our Dear heavenly father, please watch our deliberations. Guide us into making the best decisions for our community. Continue watching over our ever growing community as and as we come out of winter and start our spring activities. Help us create festive and safe events as we need them. Please guide our our leaders all over the world and help them to deescalate tensions in the Middle East. Watch over our troops and first responders and bring them home safely every night. As our population grows, traffic is getting worse. More accidents can occur. Calm things if we wait on the Highway 290 expansion project in the next few years. Again, please help our community come together and also as we remember March 2nd as Texas Independence Day in 1836. In your blessed name. Amen. Stand for the pledge of

algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the standy force to Texas We have our public hearing on the ordinance amending the official zoning map. I'm sorry. Public hearing on an ordinance amending the official zoning map of the city of Elgen, Texas. was adopted in chapter 46 sess 46 section 463 revised code of the ordinances city of Elgen 2013 and making this amendment a part of said zoning map to it to reszone 30.785 acres of land from our one single family residential dwelling district to C3 highway commercial district located on parcels of land known by the bassrop county appraisal district as partial 15519 and 73869 located at 800 North State Highway 95 being described in exhibit Attached here to and providing for a savings clause and repealing conflicting ordinances. It looks like nobody signed up for for the Okay, everybody else public comment.

Okay, it is 6:33 and public hearing is closed. We'll move on to our public comment and remember that you have three minutes and the bell will ring and when you hear it would if you would please if you're still talking end your comments. Uh the first one we have is Marilyn Kub. I'm sorry I can't read the Uh, is it Kelbeck? Kelsey,

Kolinsky. There you go. I'm so sorry. Area and I know this relates, I believe, to agenda item number two where there's a proposal for engineering services for odor control system. It just seems to me like there could be a better place for that treatment facility. Litig is such a serene place and it has a lot of history connected with it and I think you know given the fact that at current uh situation most of the development seems to be north of 290 seems like most of the issues and the wastewater demands right now are going to be north. So, I just wanted to put it out there that I would really encourage y'all to to reexamine this location and hopefully find something that would be better suited for the community and for the the water there. Thank you,

Joe Mason. My name is Joel Mason. I live in Donaldsonville, Louisiana, but I own property in Litic. I must say this, Litic is a historical place. And 10 years from now, there will be a new generation of people. Now if you put that wastewater treatment plant there, this going to arise again. The truth that crushed the earth definitely would rise again. So that's going to be the new generation of people. These are going to be younger peoples with the same problem that you're having speaking about tear your place up that you're speaking about now. And I know you don't want to go through this 10 years from now. I'm speaking about the future. 10 more years from this day, Litic will be a hysterical property and you're going to have people coming from everywhere. Now, I guess you say, "Well, Mason, how do you know this?" Just mark my word because I'll be an older man. Everyone in here going to be 10 years older and you will have a new generation. So you better preserve litic before you decide to put a waste water treatment plant there because if you do you definitely going to have to move it again. So you don't want to go through that and this now is going to cost you more money. It can't be Travis County because it

won't be in Travis County. It's going to be in Bassrop County which is Elby. Travis County is lit. So that road divide both El. But I only have three minutes. Thank you,

Valerie NY. Maybe not.

Can you hear me? Good evening, Mayor McShan and council members. My name is Wanita Valerie Naidig and I have been an active community member and resident of Elgen for 30 years. I currently and have always resided in the litic community. I'm here to express my concerns to the proposed water wastewater treatment plant. First of all, it's very concerning that a comprehensive order odor control system was not included in the initial scope of work. Omitting odor control from the start suggests that its impacts on residents quality of life was an afterthought, not a priority. Whether following the law, the codes, the ordinances, this shows that litic, the city, the city of Elgen simply did the bare minimum for its community members, which is very disheartening. We were told that we would have an open dialogue when we met back in early December. Yet, after taking our contact information, the community has not been contacted at all. This development has moved forwarded without adequate communication. From my experience on serving on several boards, you look to trust those that bring information so that the mayor and the council can make the best decision for its communities. I am perplexed that the area chosen is a historic freedom colony. I don't just live in Elgen. I am a steward of its land. We have raised livestock on that property for almost 50 years. The initial lack of odor engineering isn't just an oversight. It's a direct threat on our land, our livestock, our health, our food, and the heritage of the people in litic.

I ask you to look within your policies on how this information is brought to you from your staff so that you can make the best informed decision for your community, for your people. This should have been included from the beginning. Placing a water treatment plant in the litic area, again, a historic Texas freedom colony and a black community is a textbook example of environment injustice and racism. It is unethical to sacrifice and burden our community with potentially compromising our land, our livestock, again our health, our food that we grow and the heritage people of that community of our community. I ask you to please stop not just on this amendment too, but to listen to the residents of Elgen of Litic and explore alternative locations that do not disproportionately impact historical communities of color. You have the opportunity to change systemic environmental racism and serve the residents that are here now, have been here, and will continue to be. Stop catering to the developers, please. Thank you, Abram Mack. Abram M. Hello, council. I am Abram Mack and uh I own property there in the city of Litic. Um my wife is uh was born there in the LIC. Um and um I wanted to piggy back on the afterthought of this project being

stationed right in Li not just the outskirts of it but backed up properly to residential properties there. Um um the older project which the the previous lady stated that was an afterthought. I also have another afterthought that the contamination of the uh water that's going to be expelled from that plant according to the creeks in the river that that it has to be um emptied into or discharge discharged into. If the discharge, if the plant was to be built, if will the water be discharged above ground or underground to the nearest creek or a river. If it's above ground, then it's it's a good possibility of contamination for the land there, livestock, animals, and and devils. um the um effluent water that would be discharged there. If the plant is being built, we hope that it would be uh pipe underground to keep uh the water from contaminating the land between the plant and the nearest creek. Uh if it's being built, uh it floods there quite often and let it And if the water is discharged above ground, then there is a great possibility of of of contamination to our livestock and the the houses that

are very nearby. So um um that was the point that I wanted to make on the project if it was to be built. I wish it would not be built there because of the close proximity of Ly. The uh the uh the attached land is only separated by a B water fence from the residential area and the contamination part of it uh uh will be devastating to that area. Uh I have worked at a u u wastewater treatment plant water district 17 Travis County for a number of years. I know how they are built and I know how they are designed and I know that the discharge has to go somewhere.

Time is up. THANK YOU Zach Bray. Hello council. I am here in support of the lighted community and the uh proposed wastewater treatment plant. Letting Thank you for the correction. Um, I think this is a horrible place to put this installation and it should be moved to an area with similar infrastructure already in place, possibly by landfill or um, you know, just not in this area. I'm very concerned about the detriment to the to the environment and the wildlife um livestock and really just the whole environment, everybody that surrounds it. So I ask you if you'd please find somewhere else to put it. Thank you,

Shelby Kobe Coberg. Good evening um Elgen City Council and Mary Teresa. I am here to support the members of Litic community and opposing the proposed wastewater treatment plant located right in the historic town of Litig. My name is Shelby and I am the programs manager with Wilberger Creek Conservation Alliance. Since 2008 2008, Wilberger Creek Conservation Lines has worked with nearby farmers and ranchers to help preserve their land through voluntary conservation easements funded by both private foundations and various local, state, and federal agencies. We also played a vital role in the past three Travis County bond elections, which has raised $450 million towards parks, open spaces, and conservation easements in Travis County. With the help of this funding in Travis County, we have preserved over 25 or 2,500 acres near Litig that will all be the Woolberger Creek Greenway someday. This park will rival in size with Rhymer's Ranch on the west side and will be open public space for everyone to enjoy, including Litig and Elgen and Mayor in Austin and beyond. We have the chance to keep this wildlife corridor wild and green and free of wastewater plants protected forever. With the rapid growth of development, I find it is our duty to be strategic in how we develop by being proactive in keeping areas natural and untouched. There are alternative locations for this plant closer to the development it is servicing that will not disrupt the litted community and the natural area surrounding it. Um, additionally, there are ways to reuse treated waste water that should be considered. We are all aware of the limitations in water and should do everything in our power to be

resourceful in its use. So, we are not watering our lawns with drinking water. We would love to invite you mayor and city council out to see all the land we have preserved around Litig. We think you will agree that this land is worth preserving. The property under discussion could instead be a park dedicated to the historic town of Litig and all of its descend descendants. Wouldn't that be wonderful? Thank you very much.

And Brockenbar. Hello. My name is Anne Broken Bro and I wanted to thank you for giving us a chance to speak tonight and listen to our concerns. I'm here to support the community of Litig and ask you to find a better location for your wastewater treatment plant that is not right next to the historic town of Litig. I live about three miles from the proposed plant. So, it is not going to affect me directly as as it does as much as it does the people who live in Litig. But this is my community. These are my friends and neighbors. I have lived here for over 25 years and developed strong bonds with everyone in this community. Together we've worked hard to preserve the land around Litig. Every spring we do a community cleanup along Litig Road and every fall we get together to clean up the historic Litig Cemetery. It is such a beautiful and peaceful place. And if you walk the streets of Litig like we did a couple weeks ago with mild Bill Jones, you can still feel that sense of peace he felt 80 years ago growing up there playing stickball on those streets. Litig has always been a safe place for a community that has been historically underserved, under reppresented, and underestimated. All you have to do is talk to Gina Gonzalez and her siblings and you will see the strength they inherited from their great great great greatgrandfather Jackson Morrow who founded Litig. Jackson Morrow bought 4,000 acres of land after the Civil War and donated 2,000 of those acres for the town of Litig. Think about what he did for his community. And over the years, that land has been systematically swindled and sold away from them. Let's not add to this to that injustice by putting a wastewater treatment plant on the land he once owned. Let's follow Jackson Morrow's generous example and do something nice for the town of Litig. You could turn it into a park in his honor or sell it back to its rightful owners, the descendants of

Jackson Morrow, who will work with Travis County to preserve it forever. There is a better place for the wastewater treatment plant that is not right next to the historic town of Litig. There are exactly 37 acres of land up on 290 at the intersection of Ballorstat Road that's for sale right next to a concrete batch plant where you could put your wastewater treatment plant and pipe the water into nearby Willow Creek. Or you could do a state-of-the-art plant that recycles and reuses waste water for all the new developments coming in to water their lawns with because we all know we're going to run out of water one day. Please do the right thing and put this plant closer to 290 and the developments it's servicing. not right next to the historic town of Litig. Thank you so much, Harlem Mighty. Good evening, Mayor McShan and city council members. As Mayor McChen said, my name is Harlon Nadic. I have been a proud resident of Elgen all my life. My wife and I have been a land owner in the Ly community for almost 50 years and lived there for almost 40 years. I am now a proud resident of Litic. The Litic community was there well before I was born and will be there well after I leave this earth. The wastewater treatment plant will affect everyone in or near the litic community. There are 75 residents within a three within 3/10en of a mile of the proposed plant plus two churches.

Everything around it is agriculture or ranch land. I have a couple of things I don't understand how the site was chosen. Stated previously, most of the development is north of 290 on Litic Road. The second thing is the communication there. When the property was annexed, legally you have to let residents within 200 to 250 foot of it, you have to give them notice. This was not done. The last thing I have to say is did we consider the litic community and its history when we chose the site? That question has been answered. It was answered at our town hall meeting at Shallow Baptist Church. That answer was no. Litic was not considered. Thank you. Gina Gonzalez about sick of me, huh? By placing this wastewater treatment plant in Litic, you will be implementing the exact definition of environmental racism and environmental injustice. Litic has never ever been served wastewater treatment. If the city is working to ensure quality of the life for future residents who haven't even thought about moving here, we ask that same level of care and protection be extended to the residents who are already here in historic litic. We heard and we understood when the mayor told us we weren't considered in the planning of this plant. We hope you consider us now. We aren't expecting anyone to prop up for us. We are asking for equal rights. Do future residents that haven't even thought about moving to Elgen have more rights than litic residents who have

been here for years? My family who has been here for 143 years. Do litic residents have less rights because we are we are on the south end of development that Elgen initiated without litic community engagement or benefit. This Texas the Texas Historical Commission asked for a second draft due to the lack of information which I helped provide information for that second draft. We have been in contact with Senator Sarah Eckhart who has expressed her support and genuine concern for constituents. She she wishes to protect our waterway in our community. She has asked for a meeting with TEQC. We are against we are not against Elgens progression but we are against discrimination and injustice. We would like to be included as a community. If you're here for lit, please raise your hand. All these people here live in Litic and we're all concerned. I get that you guys are in a situation where you've made a decision with contracts and developers and things. I'm asking you to please re-evaluate with this push. We're trying to show you you said, "Hey, nobody came to us. We're coming to you. We're coming to you and we're letting you know that our community would like to explore other options and if maybe we can have a discussion, not a meeting where you know you guys are telling us things, a discussion about what maybe some better options might be because right now we've been served no alternatives. This is what it is and that's how you guys are keeping it. I just want to protect my community, future generations, the children, the families in my community and also our historic church, our historic cemetery which historically marked and we look forward to the green belt that Travis County will be building which will be the 250 acres 200 2500 acres that will be less than a quarter of a mile from this plant. Thank you

Pamela Fowler. Good evening, Mayor Maxshan and the Elgen city council members. Thank you for allowing the members of the litic community to speak regarding the proposed wastewater treatment plant for litic. The litic community, as you know, is a part of Texas history. Litic is one of the oldest African-American colonies in Texas. Litic is also a part of Elgen's history. The concerns surrounding building a wastewater treatment plant in our community are unsettling and disturbing. We realize that growth and change in Elgen as well as many surrounding cities are inev inevitable and very much needed. But to place this wastewater treatment facility in the middle of litic in the residents homes without first discussing this project with them 10 years ago in a timely manner rather than just a few months is unacceptable. We are concerned that the way the residents were notified and told that a wastewater treatment facility was being built in lit without possible proper notification to all residents affected and the timeline of which it is being built. Well, you can understand if it were being built in your backyard, wouldn't you have major concerns? Litic has contributed much to the city of Elgen in terms of not just our business, but outstanding students and athletes way back when. They go back generations back that put Elgen on the map for many first respected citizens who became teachers, businessmen and business women, leaders of the community that have served on your boards and helped to build this city, Elgen, the town in what it is today. What does Elgen have to offer Litic? The residents of Litic. We cannot vote for the city officials that make decisions for Elgen. Do you provide water, electricity for Elgen up for litic? What about sewage and wastewater? Do you all provide that

for us? No, you don't. Our infrastructures are not up to date. The roads are poor and the paving is being done in certain spots on Litic Road because the traffic on 290 is so bad that people are seeking alternative routes. This runs right through the town of Litic and these people have no regards to how fast they are driving on these roads. And what about flooding? When I grew up and was riding the bus to attend schools, if it rained more than an inch of rain, the only way we could get in and out of Elgen was to travel 290. Our bus would have to go back as far as they could and then the bus would have to turn around and go back towards Elgen and try to find somewhere to turn around and lit it because Dry Creek floods like nobody's business and it is flood it floods for days. So getting through there is a nightmare. You absolutely could not get through there without being swept away in flood waters. Can your infrastructure and the wastewater treatment plant that you're proposing to build handle that? And even though we're in a widespread drought, the rain is going to come because my grandfather told me that. And when it comes, it is going to be devastating to many of our residents. Litic may not be all African-American residents today because many of those residents and their descendants have moved away. But we are still a historic community and no matter what the outcome will be, we will always be historical. Alana Gonzalez.

Good evening, Mayor McShan and city council members. My name is Alana Gonzalez and my family lives directly next to the property where the proposed wastewater treatment facility is planned. I'm here tonight because this project will have a direct impact on the daily quality of life for my family and for other families who live nearby. I understand that infrastructure is necessary for growth. Cities need wastewater systems and I'm not here to argue against responsible development, but the location of that infrastructure really, really matters. When a facility like this is placed directly behind existing homes, the burden of that decision falls heavily on the residents who already live there. Wastewater treatment plants, even modern-day ones, bring quality, real quality of life impacts. These facilities operate around the clock. They involve mechanical equipment, pumps and blowers that generate noise. They often require truck traffic for maintenance and sludge hauling. They introduce industrial lighting at night and most importantly they carry the potential for odor complaints. But I know you guys are handling that. For families living immediately behind the facility, this is not a small change of just the landscape. It fundamentally alters the character of the place we call home. Another concern that has not been clearly addressed is the risk of future expansion. Many wastewater facilities are built in phases. What brings what begins today as a relatively small plant can become a much larger regional facility as the city continues to grow. Once infrastructure is established, expansion becomes far easier than relocation. So I respectfully ask the council to

provide clarity to the community. Is this facility intended to remain at its current proposed capacity? or is this the first phase for a larger long-term wastewater expansion plan? Families in our community made long-term investments in their homes and their properties far before this project was proposed. We simply ask that the city give equal weight to protecting the quality of life of existing residents while planning the future of growth. Thank you for your time and thank you for the consideration. Hillary McDonald. Hillary McDonald.

Hi. Thank you, uh, Mayor McShan and council for listening to the residents of Elgen. Uh, my family has had property in Litig since I was a little girl and uh, it is a beautiful community that I've been able to spend time growing up in. Um, I think that it's been stressed the historical significance of this town and this community. And it's also been stressed that you guys are putting this with no consideration to the residents right in their front yards when there are other proposed locations that are more of a commercial district right next like on a highway uh closer to the residents that it would be serving. it would not be serving this community at all. So, that's a pretty big insult. Um, I think that Miss Gonzalez made a great point that it is uh probably going to expand, which given that you didn't mention for 10 years that you were planning on this, you not likely going to mention your ideas of expansion. The part that really boggles my mind is that you haven't looked at you're using old data on flood planes and wastewater treatment dumps thousands of gallons per day into the creeks and it is known that litig for gener like multiple generations that this area floods. So why are you looking at an area that is in a lower elevation that already floods and you're looking at flood planes from FEMA that are not up to date, which I mean last summer we just experienced. We're we're no we're no strangers to just record-breaking

flooding that we know is going to only get worse. So you're impacting the quality of life on a daily basis, but also the like the life of the entire community if they have have to be evacuated in in a flood that hit Kurville last summer and that will that is coming. We all know it's coming. So the lack of forethought in protection of the people that already live there is is just blatant and the environmental impact in an area that already floods and the to do a wastewater treatment plant that is going to flood and is going that will cause problems. It's just I don't that it has not been fully thought out and you are not reaching out to your community that could help you resolve this and there's been stated there is there is land in other areas that is for sale and so I expect to see some changes made to this proposal. John Bill public citizens, fellow volunteers. Will Barker Creek has 11 existing sewage treatment plants and eight permits for new discharges. And the traditional technologies uh do not remove chemicals, plastics, pharmaceuticals, sulf sulfates, chlorides, or enough phosphorus.

Well, Barger Creek is becoming the most burdened with waste water in Travis County. I believe it is. Uh we have chronic problems, poor water quality, algae and dead fish floating in Willilberger Creek just downstream from where y'all are going to put the discharge into Dry Creek. You don't have to do this. I have here 28 permits in Travis County for nondischarge permits. These permits use irrigation and subsurface irrigation to dispose of the wastewater. We could do the same thing. Every single one of these is in west of Interstate 35. It's time to ask the developers to step up and reuse their wastewater. We want the eastern creeks to be treated the same as the western creeks. Regionalization has become really huge in the state of Texas, but just in the last five years, is there something that you could do to work out? You don't want to irritate people all over your community with all these little wastewater treatment plants. Let's have a real find someplace

not next to a historical community and and build a true regional wastewater treatment plant. Thank you. Christopher Scott.

Good afternoon, council. My name is Christopher Scott, a descendant of Jackson Marorrow. This wastewater plant is going to be in my backyard. I walk out my porch, I'm going to see this. I'm going to smell this. This is going to affect me directly. with this council. Y'all sign an oath. Y'all come on to, hey, we want to serve the community. Really nice prayer that you said earlier for the community. Hope guide this way. Give you this insight for the community. This impact, this wastewater plant is going to be placed in a community that clearly we do not want it. When joining onto this community, this council, there's ethics, moral values, what we live by, everyday decisions. You have to take that all into consideration on a daily, but also here on this council. Y'all's decisions are going to burden us. The decisions that y'all make are going to affect us, this community. Do you live there? Do you live there? Do you live there? You used to have family that live there. Do you live there? No. So the decision that y'all make today is affecting all of us. Our children, our livelihood, our livestock, all of that. This is a community that is supposed to be trusted by y'all. Y'all's decision affects us. Y'all join this council to help the community. But y'all's decision. He hears everything.

That ends the co public comment. We'll move on to announcements. That was it for signing up. You didn't get to sign up.

I'm still breathing right now. I'm new to this. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for what you said. I'm Gloria Lagunes and I live near the litic area and I'm so proud to be an Elgen person. No, I'm not in the city of Elgen. I don't get to vote for y'all, but I'm still very proud to be here and I'm just disappointed in y'all that y'all even thought it would be okay to put something like that in a historic place and knowing you history that your family was there too. They're turning in their graves that you would even think to put a waste management system on your historical beautiful land. Do something honorable for those people that were there that made that place a historic place. I know from history that you don't name a place historic just to name it. People had to have lived there to have made that place historic. Show some honor to those people, not by throwing a waste management system there. I was so proud when y'all put the ACC and I saw that y'all have teachers teaching students how to farm because that's dying. Why don't y'all put something out there that helps those farmers learn to grow? That's dying out and y'all know that. That would have been a honorable thing to do to that piece of property. No, I don't get to vote for y'all, but I do talk to a lot of people and they talk to a lot of people. Do something honorable to that property. Please don't don't let it go down like

this in his history. That's disgraceful. I ask this in Jesus name. Amen. AMEN. OKAY, NOW WE MOVE ON TO OUR ANNOUNCEMENTS.

Good evening, mayor and city council. Um, Heather asked me to update. It is not the Dr. Seuss and you are Christina Alvarez, main street manager for those who don't know and those watching at home. So Heather had asked me to update um it's actually Books and Bloom that's happening Saturday, March 7th. This is an outdoor event with vendors and outdoor activities. So they are watching the weather closely. There may be bad weather, so please keep an eye on the Facebook page or the website for updates on that. Uh Sip Shop and Soul Stroll is this next Thursday. I hope to see you all out. Um St. Patrick's Day festival is March 14th. thinks Celtic is throwing quite the party, so I expect to see you all there as well. And then we have Touch a Truck on Monday the 16th at Elgen Parks and Rec Center, 5 to 7:00 p.m. Thank you.

City Manager's report. Thank you, mayor. uh in your report in the agenda, I'm sorry, you will see your um board of adjustments quarterly report uh historic review board quarterly report and your building standards commission quarterly report. If you have any questions, please um I'll try to answer them. If not, that's the end of your city manager report.

Moving on to our consent agenda, we have the from February 17th and then the community Easter egg hunt uh to wave the fee for public works and and the police department and that date is a correction. It is March 28th, not April.

Thank you. Make a motion to approve. It's been moved and second and we will begin with council member St. Pierre. St. Pierre. Yes. Rodriguez. Yes. Crim. Yes.

Yes. Mcshen. Yes. Cases. Yes. Gibson. Yes. Yes. Love. Yes. Moving on to new business. This is in regards to the uh public hearing. We just had an ordinance amending the official zoning map of the city of Elgen, Texas. Adopted in chapter 46, section 46-3. Revised code of ordinances, city of Elgen, Texas, 2013, and making this amendment a part of said zoning map to it to reszone 30.785 acres of land from R1 single family residential dwelling district to C3 highway commercial district load located on parcels of land known by the Bassrop County Appraisal District as parcel 15519 and 73869 located at the 800 North State Highway 95. Just to clarify, mayor, this is the land next to the SPJST, correct?

Oh, there you recently recommended approval. This is a zoning change for a piece of property that's been in city limits. As you know, when it's brought into city limits, it defaults to an R1. Uh the developer has put before C3 highway commercial which overlays with kind of what the future planning is for along the highway 95 corridor. Uh went before uh P&Z they recommend approval to council. Um just to preface with council again you are voting on the use of the property not a specific project. So, I won't go into details of what it's called, silo ranch, the specific project, but you're voting on if the best use of this particular property is C3 in this location for the city. Um, there was no opposition at PNZ for the change of this particular piece of property.

That's just a portion of the property. Correct. Um, it is the property. It's multiple parcels today. They're in the process of um replotting a couple of it. There is another portion of this development that just recently was annexed into the city. It is as it was recently annexed into the city. It is still sitting as an R1 zoning. I would imagine at some point in time they will come back again to change the zoning of that particular property. Um as they are looking to develop it more towards the commercial um retail space along there. Any other questions? No. I'll make a motion to approve.

I'll second. Love. Yes. St. Pierre, yes. Rodriguez, yes. Creme. Yes. Yes. Mcshan, yes. Kasnovski, yes. Gibson, yes. Swain, yes. The next one is a resolution of the city of Elgen, Texas, authorizing the city manager to execute a proposal for engineering services for an odor control system at the wastewater plant 2 project and making certain findings there too.

Evening council Michael Gonzalez, director of public works. Uh the item before you tonight is engineering services proposal amendment number one, order control system. um it's here before you tonight for a vote and decision and try to help answer some of your questions, but it's pretty straightforward. Um given this obviously it is pretty straightforward. Um I just like to make a little statement just regarding this particular item. Um majority of council did go to the litic meeting. um majority of the council does know what was stated at the litigating and how that meeting turned out. Um during that meeting the city engineer did um try to attempt to explain how this wastewater treatment plant will be. Um also during that meeting there were obviously a lot that was opposed but even those that were opposed stated that and I quote if the wastewater treatment plant is going to be built there are measures that can be taken such as odor control system. Another quote is, "I know this s this wastewater treatment plant is going to be built, but why don't the city take appropriate actions to mitigate the smell?" So I felt that in this particular moment to have this type of odor control system system which is something that we do not have in our own city at our own wastewater treatment plant is appropriate measures um to move forward and a proactive step in moving forward if we were to approve this tonight and to show that we are listening. We are here. We have been proactive in trying to mitigate um with the residents. And one of the things is and was that was spoken and as was spoken tonight was this odor control system that again it is not implemented in our own city for our own residents.

Any other comments we have? I'm sorry out of order. Um any other comments from the council? If we if we uh what we're discussing right now is just in this correct preliminary engineering or discovery. Basically, this is engineering services proposal number one and it's timely um right now with the design of everything that's going on, it's it's timely to to engineer with with the other plans that are going on.

So we if if we decided to do this, how would we pay for it? We collect impact fees and developer fees and so far this is this is covered in impact fees fully fully covered fully funded.

Would we go out for in the event they were to include this odor control system? Is this something that would just automatically go to the current contractor or Yeah, council um is going to receive competitive bids and they'll have another opportunity to look at this again. Um those sealed competitive bids will be responded to the RFQ that goes out.

Okay. And if I understand it correctly, we don't do this now later. Extremely absolutely. Yeah. Retro retro designing something can be done but it's it's much more expensive. Staff feels that this is a timely proposal brought in the design process. uh right now it's it retro uh designing something is is ultimately more expensive.

Does this in any way bind our hands in the event that council decides not to move forward with wastewater plant? No, this will just be the design only and so um a decision at a later time can be uh can be thought of by the council but this is just for the design services um for the odor control only. Any other questions, comments?

What? I'm sorry, you're out of order. Michael, I've got a question. Sure. Um, what is the what is the approximate cost of the odor control system? How would an odor control system like this be? Yeah. Do you want um built actual construction or this proposal right here? actual construction is gonna add about $4 million on top of whatever the plan is. Yeah.

Now, that's just the the engineer and staff's opinion. When we get sealed proposals, we'll present that to council. That's what we're projecting right now. If there's no other comments for this odor proposal system, I make a motion to approve the odor control system. I'll second.

We're actually just approving the the plans the engineering part. Okay. Okay. It's been moved and second and we'll begin with Tim Love. Love. Yes. I just want to state that I would vote this way regardless of where this plant is going to be put. So, St. Pierre, yes.

Rodriguez, yes. Crim, yes. Roger, yes. McShane, yes. Kaznovski, yes. Gibson, yes. Yes. Motion carries. The next is a resolution authorizing the city manager to execute a proposal for engineering services for West Wind and County Line Road lift station offsite wastewater project.

Evening council. I got another uh design proposal again for you tonight. Um this one covers um wastewater lines, main trunk system from the Westwind lift station and the Elm Creek lift station um and collecting uh waste water to those facilities. This would be the design and the engineering for new trunked line um to extend those services down to wastewater treatment plant number two. Um by design I made this graphic. It doesn't list any property in there right now. Um the study is going to secure that. The study will decide um the direct path of those those wastewater lines. So there's no properties listed on there just as a reference. It shows where 290 is in Caline Road. Anytime that we have um a lift station in service for the city, for the municipal system um that's meant to move water uphill, it's also a mechanical liability and we respond and we repair those pumps quick as we can. But anytime that you have those pumps in place, there's also the potential for that mechanical breakdown. And so, um those machines run on electricity. Gravity in in place of that pumping up is is free and it runs all the time. It's our preference to have gravity lines anywhere possible within the system. It's just the nature of the topography that you have to have lift stations. This one here, um, servicing both of those lift stations actually is an improvement to the system overall. Like I said, it uses gravity to get where it needs to go instead of the pumping mechanism. Um, likely we're going to use Elm Creek and sort of a um a valve system to divert most um either direction we can we can do that. some uh this will free up space at plant plant plant one for existing community and then um put it in a check put it in the opposite flow direction it can it can service other areas too. So the staff believes that this is improvement to the overall system um it's just for the design of where those lines are going to go. Again like anything else the

construction cost will be brought to you at a later time. And um Michael, in lay terms, can you tell us what a lift station is? Oh, I thought you'd never ask. So, like I said, wastewater will run downhill anytime that topography Say that a little bit slower.

I'm sorry. Wastewater runs down downhill. You got Oh, no. This is This is so great. He loves this. anytime that uh it'll it'll go to the lowest point, water does um collect it in a sistern lift station and then mechanically a pump through several series of pumps pump that back uphill to where the final destination where it needs to go which is fine. It works all over the all over the city. But anytime they have those we the staff not necessarily mean the staff has to get in there and repair those pumps and they could they could be stopped with all sorts of items. 35 years in the business some of these technicians have seen they still finding new stuff that happens in those. So um they're necessary to the system but anytime that we can replace that with the gravity line we try to do that.

Thank you. Any other questions? I know that we're doing this in conjunction with the plans for this treatment center but say if for some miraculous reason we can change the location. Do we have to start doing this now? like how long can we put this portion off? Do we need a decision?

Yeah, this is just for the design of those, right? But um but say if we do decide to change it, we're now going to have to spend more money for them to redesign it. So, I'd rather not allocate money and then have to spend more money on a scope of work to change things if we can put this off a little bit while we really have a talk about this. staff feels that this design is going to be beneficial to the system overall. Um, Westwind and Elm Creek will need to have long-term um, initiatives brought forth and this engineering proposal will cover that, but it's the council's desire.

So, and I do want to point out as well, so outside of the lit conversation for sure, remember that we are talking about the city as a whole. So, this does offer relief to the current wastewater treatment plan as well. And so, um, and and Also too, you just described uh I think pretty clearly why we should be eliminating lift stations. It's it's a very uh prudent practice that is followed in every city because you are going to suffer from mechanical failures. You want to follow gravity. That is your friend. And so by doing this, you're actually now relieving some abilities for wastewater treatment plant one. So um again for us all we can provide to you as staff is that we have a direction. We have a council decision that's been made. We move forward. We execute. You don't know any different. We can't do base decision off wishes or ideas that we want to do or personally like or dislike. That's not what we do. our level. So, we bring the best the most um detailed information for y'all to make decisions and then you decide because you're able to make those types of decisions. All we can do is provide all the information for you. And we're giving you the information based on engineers work, based on public works department history, even city management experience will give you that. So I can scrap out any sort of ties or emotion from it for sure. U but that doesn't say anything to what uh you all need to kind of look at. But going back to what Michael said in the question that was asked, I will say

that staff remains pretty firm in saying that we need this as a community as a whole. I'm sorry. So, um, we stand with with what we're providing you as as as we need to progress forward and not just for sake. This is just smart, safe u for the entire community. And I'm just not looking at one area. I have to we have to consider the whole area. And so this is all we're bringing to y'all. Y'all need to decide where y'all need to decide. We don't get into that. But that's why Michael's presenting the way he's presenting. Madam Mayor, I make a motion to approve business item number three.

I'll second. Yes. Mcshan, yes. Kasnowvski, yes. Gibson, yes. Swain, yes. Love, yes. St. Pierre, no. Rodriguez, yes. Crim, yes.

Motion carries. The next A resolution authorizing the city manager to execute professional services agreement with Stacy Ford Osbbor for continued public information and communication services for the city of El. Thank you, mayor. So before you you'll see a a renewed agreement with our um a prof professional services agreement with uh what we've come to now see as our public information officer comm community former comm or and communications services uh director just a whole bunch of stuff. So we're unpacking all of that. we're looking at uh really um Stacy and and and what we need as a uh community right now. And so we've looked at this uh unpacked it, reassigned certain things. And so what we ended up with and and working with Miss Osborne as well and where we're laser focused on public information, the office that that she maintains and she's going to help us with. And so we're going to carry that forward as we move on. And so we we've gone through a lot of back and forth on on some ideas that we continue to work on and especially with staff and how we're working back and forth on that. So I I I think this is a a good idea as we work forward. I will already also preface this by saying our intent at least administratively we have to have council buying without a doubt. We do want to assume uh bring a position before you uh a public information officer um that encompasses a a wide breath of of job duties and that makes sense. And if Miss Osborne has enough hours in the day and she'd like to apply for that position, we'd ask her to apply. Uh,

are you saying that that will that's a full-time position that we will have? That's Yes, ma'am. And I'm sorry to cut you out. I didn't mean to. No, no. Yes, ma'am. In the budget uh discussion that we'll have um pretty soon uh that will bring this as a full-time uh equivalent FTE as as that. Um Miss Osborne in a PIO position. she'll be running with us, you know, until, you know, the start of of uh next year, which would be, you know, um 101. Uh but by that time, we'll have a comp study that should tell us where we actually sit comparably. So, we'll have data behind it and then we can work up and she can uh definitely help, Miss Miss Osborne can definitely help mold that into what that can kind of look up look like because there's still a lot of pieces wherevious it may not obviously public information u but it could be under the public information officer's role to do just a little bit more. So um she's going to help us through that and I put that before you.

So if I understand it right right now the primary responsibility would be just just public information. Uh yes laser focus on that for sure and what we've done was unpacked uh the community services director split that out. So we're working right now Osborne to do not only uh what was done traditionally, but also doing some stuff that will be um more forwardlooking, let's say. I don't want to call it promotional stuff, but forward looking to where we can capture a lot of what we need to be saying. Also, where it's not reactive in a sense to where there's also a community services department that you're tending to as well. So, I think there's a benefit to it as well. Um, Southburn's great at at PIO type work. Um, but we need to get on the ball ourselves

to get this stuff done uh during this time frame because we need and I've already talked to HR. We're putting it already ready to go. And but what we're agreeing to now is a is is basically an hourly rated job. I mean, yeah, there's a max hourly rate. And so we're working with Stacy and you know submitting hours and work and that kind of thing. Sends it to me. Um so pretty much stays close to what we've done in the past except we're extracting a couple things and then we're adding a little some stuff on the PIO side. community services director in team whatever that is taking that

I think a big major part of that hadn't we just recently uh had to cut out the PD from PI well so interesting you say that we just had a meeting with chief and we understand the requirements with state law and so we'll be discussing how that works with us because I think now and not just because of that act I do think traditional in a traditional sense police department and their PIO systems are different and I've worked with them in that sense. So it

which is pretty clear and we'll be working through those pieces. But yeah, tonight's really just asking me to change it where we have a 9:30 kind of um stop date on that and if Stacey if we end up we're still trying to work through some pieces we'll ask you can help us but those are major ideas and changes we're going to be a lot of stuff so you have any ideas or things that we need to know process with she's all I make a motion we we pass this resolution to execute a professional services agreement with Stacy point It's been moved and second by council member

Crim. Yes. Razer, yes. Mcshan, yes. Kaznowski, yes. Gibson, yes. Yes. Love, yes. St. Pierre, no. Rodriguez, yes. Thank you. All right. Number five, consideration and possible action to approve an ordinance deanexing approximately two 283.115 acres of real property previously annexed for limited purposes by ordinance number 2021051813 removing the property from the corporate limits of the city of Elgen and returning the property to the city's extra territorial jurisdiction. I was like, who's on this?

Leave us hanging. We were all looking there's no par. I was all like, well maybe maybe at least on my version I guess. Um before before council this is specifically the the track of land is Harvest Ridge that we're discussing. Um as we've kind of spoken over the times with a lot of these development agreements some of them progress over time. These are master plan communities. So, we're talking a decade, two decades from start to finish, generally from the time they talk, just from the size. This particular one with the SBA, the way it's written, there is some vagueness on there as far as the collection of sales tax across the entirety of property versus it just being for commercial and industrial. And based on that phrasing, the way it's wording, um, we feel that it's best to just that limited purpose annexation, which the intent has always been by council and by staff that it be annexed for sales tax for commercial or industrial properties only within these developments. For this particular development, there is no commercial or industrial. The forefront thought was originally where the school site is going to go and the school did close on the property and built the school there. So obviously there's not a sales tax component of that particular one. The other piece of the property was the public safety site in which case they did deed it over to the city. Worst case scenario it would be released back to the developer if the city is not able to deed it over to public safety or to do something itself on the project. Obviously council has said that they do wish to do something with that particular property for over there. Thus, there's not a real reason for the SBA from a sales tax on a commercial and or industrial for the entirety of this property. And so, we'd rather resend and just disanex that limited purpose annexation. It leads to a lot of confusion, especially with am I in city limits, am I not in city limits, so on and so forth for this particular development.

I tracked Bo down during his lunch today. Make him explain Yes, I'd like to make a motion to accept this.

Council member Swain. Swain. Yes. Love. Yes. St. Pierre. Yes. Rodriguez. Yes. Crim. Yes. Frasier. Yes. Yes. Yes. Gibson. Yes. Thank you. Okay. Anything else?

It is 7:40 and we are journ