City Council - Regular Meeting

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want the pop you bring no biscuit or something girl you know entire office because it is 6:30 and we're calling to order the elen city council meeting on March the 4th 2025 we will begin with roll call beginning with council member kah here Shan here kski here Gibson here SW here love here and council member um Dennis is ah head to work and we'll need a motion to excuse her I'll second and we'll begin with u mayor protim braer braer yes M Shan yes Kowski yes Gibson yes slain yes love yes we will have our invocation by council member Rodriguez as we come together to out before us let us for a moment reflection we ask for wisdom andity so that we may serve the people of Elgen with integrity and foresight may we be guided by a sense of justice compassion and a shared commitment to the wellbe of our community let's be mindful of the diverse voices that make up the city ensuring that every decision we make considers the needs and hes of all those we serve grant us pensions in our deliberation courage in the face challenges and humility to learn we always seek unity in our differences and work together for the common good remembering that our actions today will shap the future for generations to come as we move forward with Open Hearts and clear open minds when Inspire to lead

with fairness kindness and respect for all amen we stand for our I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all Al toex St indivisible next is our public comment uh you can come and address the council and you have three minutes no formal action will be taken by the city council on items that are not posted on the agenda items requiring public hearing will allow members of the public and opportunity to speak during the public hearing uh we don't have any public hearings but we do have public comments the first one is Terry St Pier did I say that right it's Tiffany St Pier I'm sorry Tiffany good evening mayor McShan mayor protm Bashar interim City man uh manager Turner members of the city council my name is Tiffany St Pierre and I'm currently running for city council for Ward three in the upcoming election in May I am here to comment about an incident that happened in Eagles Landing this past weekend late Sunday morning a call was placed to 911 regarding a backyard fire Travis County firefighters arrived on

scene expeditiously but they were met with an operable fire hydrants while the call was placed to the city's water department Travis County esd2 routed additional fire trucks with water tanks to the scene and had the situation under control before the water department arrived in total 10 houses were affected now I'm not interested in pointing fingers at exactly who turned off the water dep uh the water but I am here to ask the city council how do you plan to hold yourselves accountable for this incident for years we've expressed concerns over these developments expressed concerns over lot sizes and building codes concerns over poorly built homes with shoddy foundations made with cheap flammable materials we've even expressed our concerns for the events that transpired Sunday morning yet for years you've dismissed our concerns you labeled us peons on social media well I'm here to remind you that we are not peons we are your constituents we are hardworking taxpaying American families for years you've actively voted against our best interest voted in favor of large houses on time lots and never question the safety and quality of our building codes you sold us out for one-time payments by God's grace the situation wasn't catastrophic but it easily could have been and what would you have done if it was offered affected families thoughts and prayers as they face the unimaginable let this be a harsh reminder to the dangers that you have created for your constituents with the decisions that you have made your decisions have real conse quences and affect the hardworking members of this community thank you for your time Grace

[Music] gz hi I'm Grace I'm the program coordinator for the parks direct Department of the city of elen and I just wanted to personally invite all of city council the mayor and the interim city manager to our free spring break activities we have later in March um the first event we have will be Touch a Truck on Monday March 17th from 4: p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at Elga Memorial Park this event is where you get to explore different Vehicles talk to different organizations learn about them and we will have a low sensory hour at the beginning of the event the next event will be return to skate night this is the kickoff party for our skate night season um we're going to have a skills competition raffle live music and other things and you should totally come on March 18th and it's going to be from 4: to 8 at the elen recreation center and then the next event we have is a nature night on Wednesday March 19th we're going to have live animals crafts and other things that you can do at the event at the Elgen recreation center from 6:00 to 8:00 P.M on Thursday March n uh March 20th we will have the debut of night sky explorers this is an event we're doing with the Girl Scouts of Central Texas and we are going to do crafting fire safety Story Time and Camp mindfulness and so it's going to be a really fun event and we're going to have s'mores and lastly our grand finale will be our first ever Community potluck on Friday March 21st from 6: to 8:00 p.m. at Veterans Memorial Park we'll have games Fe food music and more and over the course of spring break we'll have worked with over 34 different organizations and I hope to see all of you there thank you Jay

Howard good evening mayor and Council uh Jay Howard Texas Disposal Systems good to see you all um just wanted to come by tonight to say hello it's been a while since we've come by but I I know uh the city's contract for services is is going to be up later this year um and we just wanted to reiterate our interest in being able to compete for the city's business I think that there's a lot of value our company uh can provide for the city and we look forward to the opportunity to show you that so leading up to the RFP um i' would love the opportunity to have you all out to see our facilities and kind of see how we work and kind of see how some of the things we do that are different uh might be incorporated in what the city's looking for in the the coming uh RFP so anyway good to see you all thank you again for for your time this evening hope you have a wonderful one thank you move on to our presentation uh the proclamation designating April as their housing do we have somebody Pam could you have someone thank you good evening my name is Alison land um I am your project manager for various Grant projects um with the city of Elgen the fair housing Proclamation is one of your fair hous activities that support all of your federally funded Grant projects um and so this is one of your kickoff

proclamations and yearly fair housing activities U that demonstrates the city's um continued support of fair housing practices do we have someone to here other than okay all right so let's say proclamation of April as fair housing month whereas Title Nine of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 as amended prohibits de sorry y'all discrimination in housing and declares it a national policy to provide within constitutional limits for fair housing in the United States and whereas the principle of fair housing is not only national law and national policy but a fundamental human concept and entitlement for all Americans and whereas the National Fair Housing law during the month of April provides an opportunity for all Americans to recognize that complete success in the goal of Equal Housing Opportunity can only be accomplished with the help and Corporation of all Americans now therefore I Teresa McShan mayor of the city of Elgen to Proclaim April as fair housing month in the city of Elgen and do hereby urge all citizens of this Lo uh locality to become aware and have and and support the fair housing law in official recognition whereof I have here to set my hand and caused the Seal of the city of Elgen to be affixed the fourth day of March 2025 [Applause]

city manager report Madame mayor members of the council we have four items here one is a quarterly report from the board of adjustments the second one is the building Standards Commission quarterly report and uh Miss standerford is going to chat with you about uh item number three the strategic planning schedule hi everyone um so we have been attempting to get a date where you are all available for the strategic planning session and you have a little half sheet at your station um where it has all of the circled that paper um what I'm asking is is there any way that we could um make any adjustments so that we could all be present at one meeting just well we did great so I have six to seven of you for the e8th I have six to seven for the 29th is there any way I could get a full nine so that the eth is this Saturday this Saturday ma'am yes I'm happy to I would need to leave by 2:30 okay to go to a wedding but you're on on the 29th can we get Chuck and Al and Au to do the 29th what time Saturday not this week we're talking about the 29th

this I'll see if I can make it but I can't what time are we thinking on it says from 9:00 a.m. to 400 p.m. if we could get you for a majority of the time it's for what time 94 9 9 to4 yes we can uh if if it works we can we would deeply appreciate it if uh whatever day you decide we could at least get the full counsel for 2third of the time um I recognize this is very hard because you're very bu and there's nine of you so uh we could uh finish it out with the conversations with staff which is what I believe is going to happen that will probably be the last uh two hours of the of the session I'll get back with I can be there at noon on the 29th you can be there at noon Jer okay thank you it looks like it's going to be the 29th and so council member Swain I'll look forward to hearing from you definitively let me verify yes sir otherwise we'll look at the 29 starting at 9 o' somebody's got to talk to my wife not going to be me I will I will sue volunteers is tribute that is problem we got to get this done so she's had me alive I'm sorry it's still on me um Madame mayor members of the council I

was taking notes M me m of the council um I'd like to introduce you to our new uh Community Services acting director M Stacy Osborne [Applause] you don't have to applaud it's a pleasure to be here tonight Isaac do you want to what how how would you like me to proceed or mayor how would you like you're the communications person I should have no just briefly introduce yourself and great tell what you've been doing for the last couple of weeks in like a sentence or two wonderful well I'm really happy to be here tonight thank you so much for letting me be here and for giving me this opportunity to serve the city of Elgen in a acting position um I have been in Communications most of my life I started in advertising in a busy advertising agency in El Paso Texas and then I've gone on to serve in various Industries including public radio um I worked in economic development for several years for the city of leaport and I've done a lot of independent work uh with various cities throughout the city or throughout the state of Texas uh most recently with the city of Taylor where I served as their acting Pio for several years for about years I was there and that's where I met Isaac actually when he was at the city of Taylor um I've also worked for the Boeing Company I was their communic I was a communication strategist for them working with all of their different business units the thing I really enjoy the most is working with Mission driven organizations to help them uh with their big picture strategies for communications and make sure that everybody's aligned with the same messaging so you all are on the same page and everybody knows what everybody else is saying so we so we don't confuse people and that's especially important in a city when you have residents you have the media you have your constituents and then you have each other and the staff everyone kind of needs to be on the same page whenever

there's an incident whenever there's something going on in the city um it's important that we have our messaging straight so I'm really happy to be here to work with you um I've had a delightful time getting to know the community services department over the last several years or last several weeks excuse me um I've really um gotten to know them and I'm looking forward to working with them and I'm happy to answer any questions you might have you ready I think so we'll see but I'm always available if you need anything if you have any um any if you need a talking points if you need help with messaging if something's not clear and you need some help clarifying please let me know you're always welcome to reach out to me we're glad you're here thank you glad to be here thank you okay next we have our consent agenda and if you will look through that and let me know if there's anything that you need to pull or we go for a u to make a motion to accept all of those is there anything we need to pull to discuss been moved in second oh did you have something CH no oh you're okay it's been moved in second by um Arthur and we will begin with council member rodri yes rer yes mshen yes kovski yes Gibson yes L yes love yes yes want to announcements I was ready I was like new business you were ready

okay okay all right new business appointment for two Representatives on the charter Review Committee it's our first thing and then we'll go over the charge a motion to oh the the two we just the two people uhhuh oh yeah I make a motion we approve okay no second the moving second we'll begin with council member love love yes M yes kovski yes Gibson yes Swain yes all right motion carries the next thing is the charge Mark all right good in mayor council city manager okay so you have I believe in front of you a resolution um that would be the charge it has an exhibit which contains uh some of the items that specific items council members uh brought forth along with some of the recommendations from uh uh Mr Zack when he did his legal review uh but essentially this this resolution uh charges the uh committee with doing a full review both legal and policy review of the charter uh it also instructs them to you know consider this is not these are not things the council has approved these are items some council members would like them to look at specifically um and so and then they would come back to you with a full report that then you would be to consider and decide uh if you want to put all or parts of their

recommendations to the to the city for a vote for amendments so any questions I can answer regarding the charter questions you overall or with a specific resolution I'm happy to answer those should we um put a timeline for the report I don't believe no I don't believe we have a timeline on that they will work with Mr Z they understand that this is you know shooting for a November election and so they will he will instruct them of their time to make sure that you have plenty of time to consider uh the report and get that on to the but it's not necessary to put in here I don't I don't think so I mean they they understand that that we can add that if if you'd like us to we can put something on there we'd have to look kind of back the dates up and put a specific deadline but they understand their working with the direction of moving it toward a November election but that's something we can add as well no problem right right so that's that's that we could just add something to that effect I think it would be nice just for clarity sake so can we can we maybe just so we don't have to bring it back if you would just if you want to vote on the resolution with that change and then I'll I'll make the change and get it to the mayor signature after the me I'll make motion to approve with that change I'll second it's been moving second we'll begin with council member CSK kovski yes Gibson yes s yes love yes

yes yes motion carries thank you okay so the next one's number three authorizing the acquisition of certain property interests by agreement of imminent domain Mr Perry so before Council you guys have a resolution that was drafted up by the city's attorneys um for imminent M for piece of two pieces of property and this would be in relation to an extension of city sewer infrastructure in order to service the CCN territory and I here to answer any questions you may have specifically on this have we been in negotiations with them this is why it's going toward at this point in time multiple negotiations uh two offers have been made um first offer uh respondent and then a final offer they were based on a original appraisal and then the city did a new appraisal at the city's cost of the tracks of land and the offer was made just above that apprais value for this this would be for a permanent easement and a temporary construction easement this is not right away like what we talked about for County Line Road the city wanted not own the property the property would remain with the property owners but this would be for the right the city to put in um sewer infrastructure many of you who have been up there this is and reference this project has been on the books for a long time uh it's an extension of the Elm Creek uh sewer project um to service that part of town have they responded they have um their own legal

that has been going back and forth with the city's uh leg but there has not been a counter an official counter or any negotiations and as yall are familiar as we deal with County Line Road there's a very standard U process with timelines to essentially hit in order to move down this process we will continue to negotiate all the way up until it actually is but this will allow Council to move forward with ass signing it to the to the judge to actually go through with that process but we will continue to be in negoti all the way up into that time if if they decide and there is something to bring back to council to formally vote on for that M mayor I'd like to make a motion okay I move that the city council of the city of Elgen Texas authorized the use of the power of imminent domain to acquire the properties as particularly described in the resolution under consideration for the construction and operation of the project described there in specifically Wastewater facilities under and across those properties in Bop County Texas my motion includes approval of the proposed resolution and intends that the record vote on this matter applies to all units of property to be condu I have a second Mr knowing that we're going to move forward and continue doing what we're doing second okay we begin with mayor protim Breer prer yes M Shan yes kovski yes Gibson yes SW yes love no can you state why you did know please for the record um the way I feel about imminent domain I've had this conversation

earlier okay okay so it's on the record thank you thank you announcements we've already done spring break thank you yeah I don't think we have any okay that was it that was it okay we going toes oh you got there so quick you didn't know really I was prepared for hour and also Grace already did this and I think she did it way better than me but obligated well I'm here now so Elgen Parks and Recreation is hosting spring break it is amazing we host five events in five days it is a true feat we see thousands of residents come and attend and I really would love to see all of you I know I see about half of you there at mixed events but this year we have really focused on making sure that things are accessible and approachable and so we are introducing things like quiet hour at Touch a Truck Camp mindfulness at our s'mores event and the community potluck which I hope everyone attends is just that it's a community potluck so we are encouraging everyone to bring a dish that they are willing to share with the community and it's all about getting to know your neighbors a bunch of downtown businesses are already committing to bring dishes and so I hope you guys as individuals will too so excellent and please look at our um giant calendar that you have in your yeah in your packet this is lovingly put together by my new recreation center coordinator for you all but she's very proud of all the amazing things that happen in our facility and I would just like to highlight that so thank you all good job thank you

will hope some what was the time start else it is it is 7 o'clock and we are adjourning our regular meeting and going into executive session

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e e e and we are going back into our regular session and it's section 551.074 textas government code to discuss interim city manager assignments and duties and there was no action taken I do want to say publicly though that we appreciate everything that Mr Turner is doing and that he is doing a wonderful job and we appreciate his insight and his ability to to lead us forward as we move forward thank you and getting our agenda a day early is much help agenda is very open yes I just want to thank staff for

working on that to make sure that that got on on Thursday and uh Payton has uh been cracking the whip I guess or something I don't know what's going on but I really appreciate staff working to get that materials out and that that will be our new date to get it out on Thursdays to try to help you all have a bit more time to go through the agenda materials and all the Align uh align of uh announcements Thursday March the 27th elen will be hosting our tml forly meeting and we'll so when you see all these other people around town that's why because we hope they got to come in and bombard us and come see our wonderful town and enjoy evening of meeting and eating at firewall so if you see those extra people be nice and hi like we always do show them our elen Hospitality okay anything else it's 7:42 and we are a JK I I will be there e

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