City Council - Regular Meeting

Welcome everybody to the City of Farmers Branch study session for Tuesday, August 4th. Our first order of business this afternoon will be public comments. I have one person to sign up to speak, David Santoyo. David Santoyo. Okay. Moving on. Next up is item C1, which is to review and discuss consent and regular agenda items. Councilwoman Gonzalez.

Mayor, I'd like to move J5 to the regular agenda item, and I want it to become L1 and move L1 to L2. Well.

We can move J5 to regular agenda. It'll become L2.

Mayor, I have a point of order to move it to L1, please.

What's the reason for moving it to first?

I would like to move it to L1, please.

For what particular reason?

Because I would like to move it to L1, please.

Is there a second?

I'll second.

All in favor of moving J5 to the first item on regular agenda? Or I should say, excuse me, is there any other discussion prior to us voting on this?

I'd like to make a comment. This is further example of how we are running a shadow institution here we're going to have three people that are going to vote for this clearly this was already pre-arranged um i don't see what the difference of making an item l1 and l2 or to l2 l1 has nothing to do with the special counsel legal services and they are one once again the undermining the place of the mayor any other comments

yeah yeah I just like to know if there's any other input from Council members, I understand Tina you second it is there any particular reason. No.

Okay. Okay it's just to show power.

i'll close discussion uh if you would all in favor of moving j5 to l1 and l1 to l2 please indicate your vote which you already have all right Councilman Bennett?

Nothing, sir.

Councilman Reed?

Nothing for me, Mr. Mayor.

Councilman Villafranca?

Nothing, thank you, Mayor.

Councilman Neal?

Nothing, sir.

Thank you. Next up, item C2, discuss and receive a presentation on the fiscal year 26-27 budget update, including fiscal outlook, revenue considerations, strategic investment areas, and ongoing budget development topics.

Good evening, Mayor, City Council members. My name is Jay Patel. I'm the Finance Director for the City, and today we'll be continuing our journey along the 2027 budget process. Tonight, I'll primarily be providing you all with an update on our certified property tax values for the upcoming year, what changed as it relates to our tax base, as well as how those changes impact our revenues, which will are plugged into your proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year. I do wanna begin with where we are in the process thus far. And tonight actually marks a pretty significant milestone in terms of we are officially shifted from the budget development phase of the process to the council deliberation, as well as the policy setting phase of the process. As you all are aware, the city manager submitted to you all the proposed budget for the 2027 fiscal year on July 31st. And going forward, we'll look to bring this proposed budget to adoption. We still have some critical milestones in between. The upcoming study session, we'll propose a maximum tax rate to be considered throughout the budget process. We'll conduct our town hall meeting at the end of this month, as well as our associated public hearings and ultimately the tax rate and budget vote in the months of September. There are two major items remaining for council discussion, which we discussed during our most recent study session, and they are both derived from our certified property tax values. You have your property tax revenue projection for the upcoming year, as well as the tax rate considerations. And both these items were looked to break up amongst this study session and the upcoming study session. This one will focus more along the lines of the property tax revenue projection. So we'll get a, complete understanding for the tax base, how that shifted from one year to the next, and the revenues associated with that tax base. For the upcoming study session, we'll go into the tax rates which are calculated by our tax assessor collector in terms of no new revenue rate, voter approval rate, our current tax rate, and where we want to set that tax rate for the upcoming year in terms of proposing a maximum tax rate to consider throughout the process. As I alluded to, the last piece of the puzzle to really put the budget book together and submit to your final budget was the tax rule. We received those on July 25th, which ultimately allowed us to update those estimated values with real numbers. We update our revenue projection for property tax values in order to allow us to continue forward along the process the tax rate discussions we'll have in the upcoming study session and then continue the public engagement throughout the town hall ultimately up until budget adoption as you know it's a year-long process so we'll go through it all over again As it relates to what increased on a year-over-year basis, in terms of what's driving revenue, ultimately the box you want to focus on is that taxable value. And what taxable value is, is your market value, and it accounts for all adjustments, exemptions, all appraisal caps. So the taxable value is ultimately what our revenues are derived from. And you'll see that year-over-year, taxable value is increased by approximately $436.9 million. or 4.3%. You'll see a considerable increase in new construction valuation as well on a year over year basis from $52 million to 148.9. And that's largely driven by new commercial growth. And we'll get into the breakdown and some of the slides going forward. But you'll see on the far right that general fund revenues only increased by 1.1%. And there's two parts to that. Revenues derived from property tax, property tax revenues increased by $1.5 million on a year over year basis. But our refunds, that are budgeted within that line, we're budgeting for $1 million in refunds to be issued in the upcoming fiscal year, which is consistent with what we experienced in recent years. In FY24, we issued $750,000 in refunds. So although we had property tax monies coming in the door, the increase in protest valuations actually increased our refundings and monies going out the door. In FY24, that number was $750,000. FY25, $950,000. We expect that trend to continue this fiscal year, but for the upcoming budget year, we budgeted $1 million in refunds in order to remain proactive and make sure we have a conservative budget that we can carry through throughout the year. Now, it's hard to get an understanding for what's shifting within our tax base in an aggregate sense. So what this slide is doing is helping us understand the seesaw effect in terms of what's increasing in terms of the tax rate and what's offsetting some of that growth. And you'll see that commercial value and residential value is ultimately what's driving that growth. Within that amount, You have the new construction, $96 million in new construction, which is incorporated into that commercial and residential value growth. And you'll see the less value held back by caps. And that's essentially your appraisal caps. That's creating essentially appraisals are increasing to market. So you're seeing more tax, you're seeing more valuations hitting your tax roll or becoming taxable valuations. And that's what's all of those factors on the top row in terms of the factors that are contributing to our tax growth on a year over year basis. Conversely, you'll see the bottom set of valuations, which are impacted by two primary areas. Our exemptions as a whole increased, so that offset that valuation growth by $268.5 million. Within that amount, the most major contributor is what we've been alluding to throughout this process, the business personal property exemption amount, which went into effect this fiscal year. It has a significant impact, but it is something that we're continuously watching in terms of we have a legislative session coming up, and any of these types of initiatives that have an impact on our city's property tax revenues and our ability to raise revenues, that creates a concern for our ability to grow and maintain our growth. Therefore, it's something that we make sure we keep an eye on throughout these legislative cycles. And you'll see the impact of our most recent adjustment here with these set of certified values. So what's ultimately driving the values? And you can see that in two major areas in terms of the growth. First and foremost, the business investment, that middle box. Commercial growth has largely driven that tax base increase on a year-over-year basis. And that's ultimately due to the steadfastness of our city management office, our economic development team to really keep up with these retention and recruitment efforts here in recent years. And we're finally seeing the fruits of those efforts actually hit our tax rolls as as the properties are completed and they actually hit the tax rules and not just in the development phase. So you're seeing a lot of the initiatives of our city management team, our economic development team, as well as the support from, quite frankly, you all throughout the process. So business development has been the most major contributor in terms of the growth on a year over year basis. Also the rebuild homes, we had a significant increase in residential property tax value growth that can be attributed to increased residential development as well as a successful demo rebuild program that we have throughout our city where a lot of these lower valuation homes are becoming replaced with the higher valuation and ultimately increasing our tax roll as an aggregate. Now those two factors are, this year have been conversely impacted by the new business property growth. So although we would have seen a higher increase in terms of revenue and valuation growth, you'll see that throttled due to some of these exemptions that are now hitting, that came to effect this calendar year. So the business personal property that went into effect this January 1st of this year, you'll see the net impact of that, which on your screen, new exemptions removed $170 million. from the tax rule. Now, I do want to make a plug at this moment, and that's for our upcoming budget town hall. The job's not done. It's a lot of our job in terms of staff to communicate the budget and really drive the budget to our community, educate our community in terms of what's incorporated within the budget. Allow them to ask questions and make sure it's a two-way conversation in regards to what's incorporated into the budget, what are their concerns, any questions that they have, and allow them the opportunity to ask staff questions, ask the council members questions, review our budget boards that we've created throughout this process. And at the bottom of your screen, you'll see a email address, and I encourage our residents to use that email address to ask any questions as it relates to the budget as a whole, because it's, The community engagement is something that we value throughout this process, and we want to keep up with, and we want to make sure that we're conducting it throughout the entire process in terms of answering any questions, addressing any comments on the budget, and making sure that residents feel heard and they feel included within the process itself. You'll see that the Budget Town Hall will be conducted on Tuesday, August 25th at 6 p.m. here at City Hall. So definitely encourage all of our residents to come, ask questions, and engage in the process. And with that, I'd like to conclude my presentation for this evening, and I'd be happy to answer any questions you all may have.

Thank you very much, Jay. Councilwoman Villafranca. I mean, excuse me, I'm sorry. Councilwoman Gonzalez.

Thank you Jay if you go back to slide five and you're speaking about the value increases over the year does that is that part of the issue of why we can't do a lot of the pay raises for our staff.

That was one of the considerations. So we actually, it was, we were looking at our budget aggregate. We were looking at sales tax, property tax, and in terms of where all of our revenue projections were not able to keep up with our cost increase, which is why that raise amount was, it was very closely We did our best to incorporate as much as we could in that raise amount, but these were one of the factors as it relates to our revenues. One of the primary revenue factors, because 50% of our general fund revenues is property tax, so definitely a major consideration, but we were looking at it in aggregate.

Okay, and then are we kind of thinking about maybe for the future what we can do to hopefully next budget we can actually give our staff more of a raise?

We are. We're making every consideration. So that's something that's absolutely front of mind throughout all throughout our budget cycle. So, yes, absolutely.

Thank you.

Councilman Bennett.

Well, that was one of my questions as well. So as we go through this and, you know, cost of living isn't just for the residents, it's for us as well. It happens. It hits. every company, every corporation, we're not immune to that. So as we think about this moving forward, knowing legislation is coming up and we did just sit through a legislative update and I have another one this week. How are you really functionally going to work through that if they if they do change the way they do property taxes? Have you considered that? I know last budget cycle I had been do presentations on it, you know, like it was before your time, you know, what if three different scenarios type of thing, but that what if gets closer and closer each session and we are in election season, so they're not talking about increasing sales taxes, so they're not offsetting it with that. Um, so I guess that's what I want you guys to be thinking about because it's coming fast and furious and they're already having the subcommittee meetings by November. It'll be decided if effectively. So that is a concern of mine moving into next budget cycle that we, you know, because this is basically two years in a row that were, I think at 1%, um, merit raisers, however we did it, we can't fall behind. So we need to figure that out somehow, some way. The other thing that's a concern of mine is if in 24 we gave $750,000 back and in 25 we gave $950,000 back and we're going on that same track, are we certain that $1 million is what we should be setting aside? Because that's not a $200,000 difference. That's a $50,000 difference. So are we certain on that number? Because I don't want to come up in a deficit.

We are. We are. Thus far, based on we're projecting this year, we feel comfortable plugging in $1 million. And it's a major step forward for just how we're budgeting in terms of making sure we're considerably budgeting to address the needs throughout the year. So, yes, we do feel comfortable with that number.

All right. Thank you. Absolutely.

Councilman Reed.

Hey, Jay. Could you give me an example of some of the business personal properties that that exemption would cover? Sorry to throw a curveball.

Gosh. Let me follow up with you. I don't want to lie to you.

And I appreciate that. I apologize, because normally I like to get the questions to you ahead of time, but that's just something that popped up. But an observation I made, and correct me if I'm wrong, it looks like with the business new construction and the increase in value for commercial property that seems like more the commercial side is taking some of the burden off the residential side for property taxes. I know, I think last, you know, the percentage of commercial property tax of the overall had dropped a couple of percentage points. Has that increased or?

We have the exact breakdown. I just calculated.

And again, I apologize. This is something that's just popping in my head.

We have it on the budget and brief, which we're going to be providing to you all this evening. So I'll perfect.

Um, it says 72% yes, yes, we just calculated that number this, uh, all right this week actually.

So that is the updated number.

Okay. So it looks like commercial is stepping up with. Values increasing more so than residential property and the increased, um. introduction of businesses into the city, that staff has done an incredible job, not only drawing new businesses in, but retaining the businesses that are here. So I just wanted to point that out, that the commercial business community is even more so carrying their weight and taking pressure off the residential side.

Absolutely. Thank you. Much of the increase can be largely contribute to the to the commercial portion of our tax base. So great. Excellent. Thank you.

Councilman Villafranca.

Thanks, Jay. Appreciate it. I continue to be concerned about the benefits and also the raises. We are the best city to live in in North Texas because of our city staff, because of our fire, because of our police. And I think it's really important to work toward making us competitive with other cities. I think that we are losing ground. We are the best city because of all of you. And so I don't know if there's a way to maybe put off some maybe unnecessary beautification projects or things that maybe would be nice but not necessary so that we're able to take care of of our staff. I'm not really sure what to do. And I do continue to be concerned about the benefits. I kind of would like to continue to maybe look at it a little bit more and see, make sure that we're not just offering, you know, emergency. I was just, you know, hospitalized last week. And if I did not have a good health insurance, it would be a lot of money. Thank you. Absolutely.

Councilman Neal.

Great job, Jay. One real quick question, if you could just clarify for those who may be watching and maybe some of us up here, you use the word refund multiple times. Want to make sure the residents understand what that means. Refund residents might start to feel they're going to get some kind of a refund. So, could you expand on that a little bit for us?

That's a great question. Um, so in context of refunds, that has to do with the appraisal process and the, and the protest process. So, in terms of once. Once residents get their property tax evaluations commonly, we go into a process where we protest those, those valuations, which, um. which is definitely encouraged. It's just, in terms of a financial standpoint, whenever we look at it from our city's finances, they come in as, they're detailed as refunds. So that's any monies that we've collected that are going out the door resulting in those property tax adjustments as it relates to those protest activities. Although it's not, us refunding property taxes. Right.

I'm just trying to avoid residents from starting to believe there's some kind of a refund coming their way. That's why I wanted that. That's all I really wanted to clear. I know. So it was a great question. Thank you, Jay. Appreciate it. That's all I have, Mayor. Thanks.

Very good. Thank you. Next up is item. Thank you, Jay. Thank you, sir. Next up is item C3. Receive an update on the garage conversion amnesty program permit for single family homes with unauthorized garage conversions.

Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor, members of Council. My name is Derek Hall, and I have the privilege of serving as the Director of Community Services. I'm here today to provide an update on the Garage Conversion Amnesty Program. By way of providing a little bit of background information on the origin of the program, Council approved the program in July 2024. The goal of the program was to assist property owners who may have purchased a residence without a permit to convert the garage into livable space to come into compliance with our code. There were also some general concerns relative to parking and some of the garages have been converted to livable space and would afford individuals to park on the street. The program was set to terminate on January 31st, 2026, providing a window of approximately 18 months for residents to come into compliance. During the presentation of my predecessor on June, I'm sorry, January 20th, 2026, a baseline of approximately 714 residences of unpermitted garage conversions were established across the entire city. At that meeting, council extended the program for an additional six months to terminate on July 31st, 2026. Over the last six months, the community services and the communications teams have conducted extensive outreach to notify residents of the extension to July 31, 2026, and to also encourage residents to comply, to come into compliance. To this end, the code enforcement team delivered over 400 flyers to residences across the city. Our customer success team made more than 250 phone calls to residents informing them of the deadline that was approaching. The communications team sent messages through social media networks to alert residents of the approaching deadline of July 31, 2026. The result of these efforts are highlighted in the table. I will note that before we get into the table, data is reflected through July 29th. The program ended on the 31st. We had to make sure that we uploaded the presentation and the staff report. So, relative to the table in front of you, as it relates to the applications that were completed, meaning those applications that were submitted as of January 20th, we had 211 within that 6 month period. We moved 187 permits. And again, that's across the city by July 29th. We had. increase that number by 55 to 242. I can tell you because I'm razor focused on making sure that we're getting some of our applications that are currently in process to get to an approval status since the publish of the agenda, we've had two additional applications that were approved. So we're now at 244 and just prior to this meeting, I checked to see if anyone else had been approved and they're still in process. So that number is also the same number that we have brought into compliance. There's an error in the presentation that 55 represents the number that we have received in between the 20th and the 29th of July. So the total number is 244. The remaining non-compliant properties are at the time of January 20th, 527. That number has been reduced now to 472. The overall compliance, as of the 20th of January, we were just at 26%. We've increased that number to roughly 34% and it's increasing daily. I would be remiss if I didn't mention that we have approximately 34 applications that are either recently submitted, they met the deadline of July 31st, that we are waiting to conduct inspections and we are reaching out to them to remind them to call in for their inspections and or we have submitted communication to them that they need to submit some additional items. So we expect at least half of those will come into compliance which will ultimately raise our numbers within the next 90 days. As with any initiative that we initiate, we do like to conduct program analysis just to kind of identify some of the lessons that we learn initiating a program of such. As you can recall, we did some windshield surveys to determine what the baseline was. There were some reductions in those numbers, and we eventually got to the 714 number. But as it relates to some program analysis, early identification of owner-occupied versus renter units As you know, this was a program that was created to address owner-occupied units, but those initial surveys that we conducted included both renter and owner-occupied. As well as permit data, we went back to Leisure Fish and as well as we changed a couple of permitting systems within the city. So trying to collaborate and look through and be able to successfully verify if people have actually went through the permitting process was a bit of a task. And then finally, just overall program administration deficiencies, looking at the overall goal, what the specific objective council gave to staff and to make sure that we were fulfilling the request. So what are the next steps? During the March 17th, 2026 meeting, council adopted ordinance number 3992, which in essence amended the comprehensive zoning ordinance by granting the extension through the 31st. Now that that extension has ended, staff is looking for direction from council on how to proceed. And as it is listed on the slide there, council may choose to continue to grant an extension of the program. Council may end the program and allow staff to continue following the existing ordinance that was adopted in March, or Council may provide additional direction. So with that, I will conclude my presentation and entertain any questions you may have.

Thank you very much. Councilman Gonzalez.

I'm going to pass it to Councilman Neill. It's his request.

I'm sorry.

Thank you. No worries. Great presentation. Thank you very much. I just, just to make a few comments, we initially gave a 12 month period for this program. Then, as much as we possibly could to sort of notify those that were maybe out of compliance, we then as a council decided to extend that for another 6 months. So we've had a total of 18 months and we're sitting at about 34 ish percent. Of compliance. I don't know what else we can do to raise that compliance level. I think we've done as much as we possibly can to encourage um to come into compliance with all those activities that you and your team has done so i want to thank you for all that work it's very much appreciated so i think if it's the will of the council that we terminate at this time and just let that ordinance go into play as we had previously agreed to and deal with any issues that may come up out of such things so those are really the only sort of comments i had thank you very much for all the hard work you and the team done thank you

Thank you my apologies there councilman Gonzalez.

I may be the only 1 that thinks this way, but I think we just need to leave it. I understand that we want our residents to have a safe home, which is why we want to go in and inspect their converted garages. Unfortunately, a lot of these residents do have. long working hours maybe they can't get here on time that's why they haven't been able to come make it i understand it's been 18 months but not everybody can ask for a day off or a half day it's also my understanding that you get a date of when the inspector comes and you have to sit there and wait from eight to four o'clock and now that's another day that you have to take off to make sure and wait for the inspector to come in So that's just my two cents. I think while, yes, it's a great program that we need to make sure that our residents live in a safe home, I just don't think sometimes it's not reasonable for everybody.

Councilman Bennett. Councilman Reid.

Councilwoman Gonzalez brought up one of the key factors is that we are looking for our residents to be in a safe home. So we want to be able, it's part of our responsibility as a city to strive to protect our residents. So I think it's important that programs like this exist. It also protects future homeowners. So if someone sells a home that has a garage that hasn't been converted, that passes that, or has been converted inappropriately, it passes that burden onto the new homeowner. So those are a couple of the key factors. With that being said, it has been two years. an extensive, extensive amount of resources and not only material, but staff activity, visiting homes, calling homes, creating and sending reminders. As much as I can appreciate someone's schedule not being conducive, perhaps to accommodate that, perhaps we could do something about Saturday visits from the inspector. But again, with all that being said, I think it's time to terminate the program.

Council Member Villafranca.

I agree with with Councilman Reed. I do empathize. However, once you get a ticket, you will show up and there's there's no other way. So, you know, I know people work, but we also make time for the things that are important for us. Can you just confirm for me once the program ends, then you will basically bring the hammer down, go to all of the homes that are not in compliance and they will be cited and be forced to either revert them back to a garage or to come into compliance? Is that how that works?

So what was discussed in the origin of the program was if there was not an extension of the sunset date, those properties would be flagged. And if there were any non-emergency permits that were applied for, the applicant would not be able to get a building permit until he or she brings up the property to code compliance.

Okay. And then can you also explain to me if a there is a new homeowner, if somebody buys a home that was not in compliance, would they be given an opportunity to apply for some sort of variance on that or would they be required to? bring the garage up to code or remove it. Can you talk to that?

Yes, and part of what we do and what I talk to the team about often is if we find that there are new property owners and they may or may not be aware of any past activities, permits, code issues, it's highly encouraged for them to request information on those properties and we're able to provide that information. but to the extent that we can give them a timeline, we certainly can, even if the program is terminated, we're willing to work with the individuals because the point was made, we all want to make sure that we are protecting the public and safety is our priority for not only the community service department, but for the entire city. So we will certainly work with those individuals to help them bring the property up to code by conducting and giving them a roadmap to come into compliance. And it might just be if they have access to build a garage, a second garage, to address the issue of conversion, but it may also be to just conduct an inspection to see how the construction was done and then take them through that process.

Great. I appreciate that. I think that it really is important. We've been doing this for two years now, but at the same time, we want to be compassionate and do all that we can to bring people in compliance. Thank you. You're welcome.

Do you know, is there a way for us to cross reference, meaning we have a new, a home is sold within the city, to kind of flag that and cross reference the database of the list we have of improper conversions and proactively notify the homeowner.

Mayor Pro Tem Reid, it's a bit of a tricky situation because technically we don't learn about people who purchase property, except when the new homeowner comes in and will request utilities and his or her name. So we can run this against our utility registration and see if the name has changed, but we also have to be careful because it could be a rental property and the name of the utilities could be in the name of the renter versus. But there are ways that we, there are different databases that we can run against to try and figure out and alert those individuals.

Okay. Yeah, I think that's something, if we can put that into action, would be great. Again, protecting the residents.

Thank you for that. I was actually going to bring up the water bill. You cross-reference with any change in water utilities. It doesn't matter whether it's a renter or not, because even if it's a renter and the house is non-conforming, that gives you a reason to go after the owner. So hopefully you all can make that change easy enough.

Sorry. Could you clarify? So if they're flagged, if this program ends and if they're flagged and they have to come into compliance, do you want them to convert it back to a garage?

Yeah, that was the original intent, is that if they do not apply for a permit within the specified amount of time, then the requirement will be to convert the garage back.

And if they don't want to do that, what is their recourse?

They will need to go through and obtain a permit to have the garage converted to livable space and then that will require us to conduct an inspection and they will be prohibited from any other building permit activity subject to it not being emergency.

Okay, and so trust the issue at that point if they come in to do that with that require a double permit fee since they missed it the first time and they did the work. Something to think about. That is something to think about.

So I just want to be clear. We're not. The city is not going after any resident who's not in compliance. Correct. So we're not going to go after people that we know didn't. Do their diligence to come in compliance. It's only if they choose to then come forward for a permit for some other activity that they'd like to do. That is the point at which we would. be aware that they weren't in compliance or change or change utility. Right. So I just want to make sure that the residents aren't afraid and we're not we're not coming after them in any way. I also want to I want us to be mindful about the people that did come into compliance. There's a group of people who did do their due diligence. And so I don't I don't want to penalize them in any way because they did what they're supposed to do. And if we're talking about letting the other people get by, then that's not quite fair to them. And I think it was Councilman Reed who mentioned some time ago or six months ago that it is incumbent upon the purchaser to do their due diligence with respect to any issues within the city. Should be between the realtors to discuss and iron out as well as any. Forget some sort of insurance is a title insurance or some other some other paperwork disclosure or something that is supposed to be provided that to which the, the new owner would would be able to have some recourse back onto the, the seller. Maybe if you want to help clarify that a little bit, but I don't think it's on the city. To have to manage that it's more on the purchaser.

No, but in the in the state of Texas, a home seller is required to fill out a seller's disclosure that they sign and the buyer signs. As part of the purchase process and. this gives the seller the opportunity to note whether a circumstance like this exists. And we've used exhaustive resources to notify the homeowners. If something comes up with that, the homeowner, the purchaser has the ability to potentially go after the

Right, but that's between the purchaser and the seller.

That has nothing to do with the city getting involved in managing and arranging that. So that's between them. It does not involve the city at all. But the point I was making in regards to the home purchaser, if there's a way that we can notify them, because we're looking at seven minus whatever, about 500 people left, give or take. There's 500 homes. It was brought up that we don't want the... you know the initial interaction with the city to be hey welcome you know when they come for the water you know change the water bill you know welcome the farmers branch did you know that blah blah blah it's not a it's not a positive interaction however you weigh that against that same person coming in, they want to redo a kitchen, they want to redo something in their home.

I agree. I wouldn't want to not turn on their utility, but they should be made aware that, hey, if you come for us and you need a permit for something, then we're going to need to address these other.

Exactly. I think, you know, It doesn't behoove us, it doesn't make us look good if we know this information ahead of time and we don't share it with the new homeowner. And you gotta wonder, from a liability standpoint, let's say they're a new homeowner, we know that the garage was converted inappropriately, and there's a fire. You know? What liability does that put the city? And I'm just throwing that out as something that just popped into my head. So I think it behooves us to be as proactive as possible in regards to this situation.

Thank you. Anything else? All righty. Thank you very much. Thanks. Did you get the direction that you needed on that? I just thought, I mean, I need to ask. Okay. Next up is item C4, receive an update from the mayor and council members regarding board liaison information from outside organizations and other meetings attended. Councilman Gonzalez.

I attended a back-to-school event that was hosted by one of our residents, Ms. Loretta. She was able to raise enough money to provide school uniforms. There was a whole set, so t-shirt and bottoms, to about 350 students. I also attended the CFB ISD Back-to-School Fest, and I had a wonderful conversation with our state representative, Cassandra Garcia-Hernandez.

Councilman Bennett.

I also attended the back to school event for Farmers Branch Cares, which is the organization that the resident has set up. I also attended the municipal Texas Municipal League Municipal Investment Act training, as well as Region 13, which is what we're part of the legislative update that was hosted by DeSoto and DeSoto with Mayor West from Capell.

Councilman Reid.

Okay, I had attended a meeting with a group of residents who had concerns about some construction in their neighborhood. That is not Myra. I also attended the MIRA meeting last night. It was a positive event. It was good to see folks coming out, expressing their point of view. And the representative from the developer did a fantastic job answering questions and providing information, eliminating some misinformation. And this past Saturday, I had the pleasure of attending the Golden Jubilee for the Maritoma Church here in Southwest Farmer's Branch. That means it was their 50 year anniversary. Excuse me. Fantastic event. It was highly, highly attended. I was able to speak on behalf of the city. Chief Latimer was there as well. And he was able he did a fantastic was a fantastic representative of the city as well, looked sharp in that uniform. So it was a fantastic, a great event, and they were appreciative of city officials being in attendance. That's all I have. Thank you. Councilman?

Thank you. I attended the Raise Your Hand Texas Listening Circle. I was in Mexico City for a MAPPA conference, Mexican American Policy Alliance, where I had the opportunity to speak to other elected officials and from Mexico as well as from other states in the country. It was really, really productive use of my time. I attended the Metrocritz Area Chamber Women's Social Charcuterie hosted by Metrocritz Services. I was at the boards and commissions orientations for a few minutes to say hello to everybody. I attended the Isabella Gonzalez Memorial Service. And if you know that name, she was a 19 year old young woman from Carrollton who was killed in the line of duty in Jordan. And I was touching to be there, to say the least. I was not able to attend the Myra Town Hall meeting. Unfortunately, I was hospitalized last week and I apologize for not having been present as as much as I typically am. I attended the branch connection first Monday breakfast. I invite everybody that's 50 plus to attend the first Monday 8 a.m. They've got great breakfast and get to talk and see all of the great activities that are going on at the senior center. And I am honored to tell you that I have been accepted to Leadership North Texas, and I believe I may be the only one from Farmer's Branch that was accepted. And I'm honored to be a part of that program. And I know that it's going to help me to be a better servant. Thank you. I would like to use the remainder of my time, if I have any, just for silence for Isabella Gonzalez, who lost her life for all of us.

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor. I did attend multiple resident meetings regarding the Myra project, including the one that was last night. And they had some separate ones individually in their local area that I also attended. I've also been attending District 5 dialogue meetings with my district residents every other week, which seems to be going pretty well. In addition to that, I did attend the bluegrass festival this past weekend, just for a short period of time on Friday. So that's it. Thanks.

Thank you. I'll report that I attended a mayor's breakfast. And ironically enough, we were talking about lawsuits and ethics violations. And so it was quite interesting to know what's going on in the other cities with respect to both those topics. There was a neighborhood meeting on On Brook Hollow that involved Brook Hollow Spur neighborhood and had to do with the zoning of a particular property on on that street. So we're working with neighbors there. Tended the envision employee appreciation lunch. Had a virtual meeting with CIVE, C-I-V-E, which is the project developer of the spot at MIRA, next to Dallas Medical Center. And that was a prelude to the meeting that we had last night here, the town hall that was held here last night. Close to 70 people showed up for that. Attended the document shredding and electronics recycling event. Had a meeting with Representative Hernandez, ATTENDED THE BOARD AND COMMISSION ORIENTATION. VERY INTERESTING INFORMATION THERE. THANK YOU MR. CITY ATTORNEY. for that. Dallas Medical Center hosted a lunch honoring our Farmer's Ranch Fire Department and our first responders for two particular saves that were of note. Attended the Bluegrass Festival along with Councilman Reed. I-58 Ministry did their food giveaway on Saturday and of course there's the same traffic backup, but fortunately it's only once a month. There is a new coffee and gift shop that has opened next to the State Farm office on Valley View, right across the street here at B Street. And so I was there on Saturday for that. Also attended the service for Private Isabella Gonzalez. And then I was at Envision today for another walkthrough with a perspective benefactor. So that is it. Next up is item C-5, review and discuss future agenda items. Councilwoman Gonzalez.

Nothing for me, Mayor.

Councilwoman Bennett.

I just have a request of the city manager. Knowing that Chief McCoy is kind of the third in line with our administration, after the issue that came up with the resident where staff did the right thing and told them who they needed to speak with. The resident was like, but that's the chief of police. And I had to correct them and say, well, yes, that's true. But two things can be true at the same time. Can we put his the other title out there? So when residents Google and see this, they know that staff isn't leading someone astray because I know that they weren't. It's just it was just kind of weird.

We will work on clarifying that. Thank you.

Councilman Reid. Nothing for me. Thank you. Councilman Villafranca.

Nothing at this time. Thank you, Mayor. Councilman Neill.

Nothing, Mayor. Thank you.

All right.

I do have a future item request, and this has to do with amending rules of procedure. I'd like to review and consider amending the city council rules of procedure to require that any future study or discussion item receive support of at least two council members before staff is directed to construct or conduct substance of research, analysis, legal review, or prepare agenda materials. The proposed amendment will preserve the city manager's authority to schedule approved items based on staff workload, operational priorities, legal requirements, and the complexity of the request. With that, I am going to read us into executive session. The city council will convene and close executive session pursuant to section 551.071, consultation with attorney of the Texas government code to seek legal advice to discuss with the city attorney the procedures for conducting public hearings for ethics complaints. We will recess to the city manager's conference room and be back out here at six o'clock. Welcome everybody to the City of Farmers France City Council meeting for Tuesday, August 4th. Our first order of business this evening will be our invocation and pledges, so if you would please join me. Heavenly Father, we ask for your blessing this evening. We ask that you give us clear thought, compassion, and the ability to look within ourselves as we have this meeting this evening. Help us to realize that we're here to serve our city and not ourselves, and help us to do what is right for all of our fellow residents here in Farmer's Branch. We also ask that you show your light on our first responders, our firefighters, police officers, keep them safe. They're truly doing your work every day. And help us in general to look beyond ourselves and ask what is right. We ask this in your name. Amen. If you would please join me for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. And now the Texas Pledge. In honor of the Texas flag, I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state, under God, one and indivisible. Next up are items of community interest.

Good evening, my name is Ariel Wallace, communications manager, and here are your items of community interest for the week. Join us for the District One Meet and Greet. Councilwoman Lupe Gonzalez invites all residents to attend the upcoming District One Meet and Greet on Saturday, August 8th, from 10 a.m. to noon at Vivian Field Middle School. This open community gathering provides residents an opportunity to hear city updates, share feedback, and discuss key district topics directly with Councilwoman Gonzalez. Summer Funshine Carnival. To celebrate the end of the Summer Funshine Camp, the Parks and Recreation Department is hosting its annual Summer Funshine Carnival on August 7th from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Community Recreation Center. Admission is completely free and visitors of all ages can look forward to an afternoon packed with carnival games, prizes, drawings, concessions, and bounce houses. For more information, visit fbrexcenter.com. Registration for the Spooky Dash 5K is now open. Registration is now open for the family-friendly Spooky Dash 5K and One Mile Fun Run on the city's website at farmersbranchtx.gov slash spooky dash. The race is part of a new festive seasonal lineup set for October 10th, which combines Halloween in the park and the Haunts and Houses experience, and features trick-or-treating, themed haunts, and activities for all ages. Community meetings are scheduled to discuss race logistics for affected neighborhoods on August 5th and September 9th at venue 1842 at the Historical Park at 5 p.m. Visit farmersbranchevents.com for additional details and updates. And as always, you can sign up for City E-News at farmersbranchetx.gov or by scanning the QR code listed on the screen. Have a great evening.

Thank you very much, Ariel. Next up are our public comments. I will remind everybody, when you come up to the podium, please state your name and address. There's a three minute time limit for all speakers. And as a result of filling out the form, we know that you agree to the city's speaker policy. So our first speaker is David Santoyo.

Good evening Council. My name is Davidson Toyo. I live at 2637 Greenhurst Drive here in farmers branch. This one. And I'm just coming talk in regards of the flock cameras that have been appearing all over the city of farmers branch. I'm asking the city council to cancel the flock contract and or not to renew the contract. There are multiple reasons AI powered flock cameras should not be utilized. I'll start with this quote from the current Pope, technology is never neutral because it takes on the characteristics of those who devise, finance, regulate and use it. There's an article by the Institute of Justice that reports on innocent people being detained, arrested or investigated to the flock hits. but the flock hits occurred due to either human error, machine error, or a combination of both. We should not be subjected to these errors. There are reports of police officers stalking people utilizing data from flock cameras. If there are flock cameras at every intersection, a route can be tracked. In Texas, a woman was tracked using data from flock cameras due to the concern of her obtaining an abortion across state lines, but they labeled it as a welfare check. I understand that Flock is advertising their AI-powered equipment as a tool to aid in solving crime, which is great. We can acknowledge that. But there is no peer-reviewed study that states Flock cameras have decreased the crime rate. In fact, the crime rate was already falling when Flock cameras were introduced. Mass surveillance to solve crime is concerning because this tech company and any government entity is not 100% trustworthy at all times. This data is being held in flocks databases for 30 days. This company was just fine in the state of Texas this year for not having the proper security license. Taxpayer money or grants funded by taxpayer money should be utilized for more training for officers and hiring more police officers or investigators instead of AI flock cameras, which by the way is part of the problem of needing these data centers that are taxing on Texas's power grid and damaging the overall environment. I would rather have more police presence so I don't walk outside of my house with my young child in the morning and smell a strong odor of weed or crack cocaine being smoked or just smelling it when I'm outside in my backyard. Calling the non-emergency line doesn't work and I have not seen any police presence patrolling my area. So no, I don't want this funded. I want different things funded and that actually help the citizen farmers branch.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Next up is Tim Ramsey.

Thank you. My name is Tim Ramsey. I live at 1735 Whittington place here in farmers branch. And 1st, thank you mayor and city council for all the good work that you do. I don't mean this. as anything other than a gentle nudge, but it seems like there's a lot of reciprocal ping pong ethics complaints being filed. I feel that that can only erode the public trust in the effectiveness of this council. And I would urge you to find a way to resolve this. Second, at previous council meetings, I have I've sat in the audience and after the invocation to a to a deity, I've heard citizens stand here and complain about the recognition of specific groups. and to call a couple out, the LGBT plus community, Islamic community, a farmer's branch, and asking why there isn't something for the predominant religion of the area. And that sort of made me shake my head in wonder. And finally, a last minute comment. I agree with the previous speaker about the flock cameras. They are a matter of concern. They are a way of, in my opinion, skirting around the Fourth Amendment using a privately owned company that is contributing the data. However, I would urge everyone to visit the Farmers Branch Police Department's website and look for the transparency link. There you'll see where the flock cameras are and also the flock drones, which I've also heard people express concern about. I would also recommend the Farmers Branch Police Department's Citizens Police Academy as a way of getting the police department's point of view. I know that some council members and mayor have attended that. I've attended it, and I think it is an excellent program. And if I mention that, then I also have to mention the Farmers Branch Fire Department's Academy, Citizens Academy. That is awesome. It is... When do you ever get to cut the roof off of a car using the jaws of life? And that's all. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Next up is Mike Harrison.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, City Council. My name is Mike Harrison, 3706 Ridge Oak Way, Farms Branch. I would like to cede my three minutes over to Vicki Harrison. Very good. Vicki Harrison?

Yes, I'm Vicki Harrison.

I live at 3706 Ridge Oak Way.

Hold it.

I don't want to get all my time. 3706 Bridge Oak Way. We've lived here longer than 30 years. There are several things I would like to discuss. One issue might be that the council seems to like make ethics complaints like they ate popcorn in the auditorium in the last election cycle. Well, you know, Really, do you want to eat your own? You can't settle differences. You want to. The. Behavior and language is unacceptable in most circles, and it shows a lack of respect for other council members. In particular, I would also like to address what I'm seeing personally in regards to Elizabeth Villafranca. None of you council members have lived here the time periods that we have. I want you to know, all of you that I feel like are maligning her, that you wouldn't be here, you wouldn't have a council seat. You wouldn't have a Hispanic council district whatsoever if it weren't for people like Elizabeth, my husband and I, call Ruben Rendon, call people that were followed, threatened, They stood up. She stood up. She spent countless hours working toward making Farmer's Branch a diverse community. And she deserves respect for that alone. because none of you, none of you have put that kind of effort into this city. She's given young people opportunity. She has businesses. Do I always agree with her? Oh my God, no, we don't. But she is due respect and she is being really, really, really mistreated. And I think it's disgusting. I call on the council to stop it. And that you give her the respect that she is deserved. Call Ruben Rendon. Call Ana Reyes' mother. We had people from the United States federal government in our house concerned about the treatment of Hispanics. And she was right there fighting. And so I believe that people are owed respect for what they've done and for what they've accomplished. And I'm not saying that that's not what I am seeing now. In addition, this business of the council, like forming these, in my opinion, groups that are marginalizing some parts of the city. So this power of four, I mean, three, excuse me, power of three. Yes, it's illegal. But the fact of the matter is you better start reading about it because it's used to the extent that a certain part of the city, those districts are being denied the right to have things in their district considered because a group of three council people summarily turn them down. It's not that they're considered. You don't get to consider them. No one sees them. If you want to make a proposal, pull out that power of three. Nope, not going to be heard. That is not meant to be used in that fashion. You are marginalizing people in this city. that have issues that maybe don't suit the other districts. And it seems to keep occurring in certain districts. That is not legal. So maybe you should stop and think about that. But most of all, the snickering, the way sometimes people dress, it is not appropriate for a formal setting. This is a governmental, it's a government entity. Would you go to your offices that way? Well, I don't know where you work. Maybe you do. But I don't think it's very appropriate. It's not respectful. And it has never been that way before. And when you set a respectful tone, it also affects children. You're setting an example to them. And when you're sniping between one each other to the extent is going on now, you're setting a disgraceful, despicable example. And it's embarrassing. Lastly, I would hope in the future people consider, before they run for city council, that perhaps they do need experience. I've heard it said you don't need it because the city manager handles things. The city manager does not handle everything. The council does have a say. And in order to interact with the city manager, it would be nice if they were knowledgeable of the law, if they'd voted. if you have been a voting citizen before you got on the city council in the United States. Things like that. It's a setting example for other people and taking this seriously. But all these ethics complaints, especially those that put them in, they come out. It's a waste of time and it's costing the city an inordinate amount of money. So maybe you should get busy with some of the business and talk to your citizens. Yeah.

All right. Thank I will do that. Thank you. So just so if anybody was curious as to why Miss Harrison had so much time, Mike Harrison had signed up. He ceded his time to Vicki Harrison. So that is why she had twice the amount of time. Next up is Alma hash.

Mayor, Council, Alma Hatch 3302, Waterloo Court. Here we are again. First, I want to be very transparent. During the last District 1 election, I supported Lupe Gonzalez. I blocked walk for her. I financially supported her campaign. I share that because I believe transparency builds trust. I also want to share that I've been friends with Elizabeth and I have known her to be a person of integrity. Thank you, Elizabeth. I respect. Can I reclaim my time? I respect both of these council members, which is precisely why I believe we owe them and public a fair process. Political theater may be entertaining, but it does not bring us closer to truth. The key is determining what actually happened and not speculation, public opinion or social media commentary. It's the evidence and the testimony of the people who were present when this conflict unfolded. Facts matter. Witnesses matter. Due process matters. Why are we not able to hear from witnesses? The city manager was there. The attorney was there. There were tons of people we saw on the video. Why can't we hear from them? If we want our community to have confidence in this council, we must let the facts guide our conclusions rather than assumptions, emotions or political loyalties. Our residents deserve a council that is committed to fairness, accountability, and integrity. We may not always agree on policy, but we should all agree on the truth, should be determined by credible evidence, firsthand testimony, not by rumor or political theater or partisan preference. I want to thank all of you. It's a tough job that you do here, but you know what? You represent all of us. And what Vicki said, I wish I could have had the courage to say the same thing to you guys, but I don't. I'm too nice. But I just want you to know, we expect more from you than what you're delivering. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you.

That's all the speakers I have signed up for this evening. So with that, we will move on to our consent agenda. And there's been a request to move item J5 off of consent. Item J5 will become L1 on the regular agenda item.

Mr. Mayor, I make a motion that we approve the consent agenda less item J5.

Mayor, I'll second.

Thank you. We have a motion and a second. If you would, please indicate your vote accordingly. Motion passes, thank you very much. So next up is item L1, consider approving resolution 2026-107, ratifying the engagement of Hyde-Kelley LLP to provide special counsel legal services, including legal ethics consulting with a not to exceed limitation of $50,000 and take appropriate action.

Mayor and council, there's not a formal presentation for this item. Just to give a little bit of background from it that is within the staff report and provide some clarification from council questions that were asked. A lot of the questions tonight from the comments we've heard involve the word ethics, questions, why the process is. So the history of this one is, this item ratifies a limited engagement with Hyde-Kelley LLP to serve as special counsel and a legal ethics consultant to the city. This engagement originated after three council members requested independent legal assistance regarding the city's ethics process, governance procedures, due process considerations, and related recommendations. Staff did not treat the request as an action or policy decision by the city council. Rather, staff responded administratively by identifying outside council with qualifications relevant to the requested work and bringing the engagement to the full council for ratification. This is not a competitive selection for replacement of the city attorney services. So when you look at Hyde-Kelley, they were selected because their municipal practice includes ethics, government procedures, independent investigations, special counsel engagement, public meetings, basically fit to be able to answer the questions that were presented to us. Their report served more than 60 cities in the city of Texas. Under that, though, the client under the engagement is the City of Farmers Branch. The three requesting council members are not separate clients, and they do not individually control the representation. The engagement is limited specifically to the assigned legal ethics matters and does not replace or diminish the role of the city attorney. Tonight's action allows the entire council to determine whether the council should retain this independent resource and limits the city's financial exposure to 50,000. Approval does not endorse any anticipated legal opinion. determine the merits of any ethics matter, or commit the council to accepting any recommendation Hyde-Kelley may ultimately make. So basically the way it is, a request was made. Staff responded administratively. The engagement belongs to the city, not to individual members of the council. The full council makes the policy and spending decision in public as we're set today. So this is not the council merely approving something that's already been decided. Council can ratify, modify, postpone, or decline the engagement. SO YOUR DECISION TONIGHT IS NOT WHETHER HIKE KELLY HAS REACHED THE RIGHT ANSWER, NO FINAL ANSWERS BEFORE YOU. THE DECISION IS WHETHER THE COUNCIL SHOULD HAVE ACCESS TO INDEPENDENT LEGAL QUALIFIED ADVICE ON A SENSITIVE MATTER UNDER THE DEFINED SCOPE. WITH THAT, WE'LL LEAD IT TO COUNCIL DISCUSSION.

NEW SPEAKER THANK YOU VERY MUCH. I'LL OPEN UP THE FLOOR FOR DISCUSSION. COUNCILMAN GONZALEZ.

Um, yes, so I asked for it to be moved and then I just want to backtrack a little bit. So, um, during study session, you know, this question on why I wanted to move it. Well, back on June 11th, during a special called meeting Councilwoman via Franca said that we should not use power of three, but that we should ask mayor to. adjust anything on the agenda, that's what I did, and I got questioned, which is why I had to use the power of three, because he won't just let me do it like she said that he would. Secondly, I wanted this item because I have lots of questions of how this proceeding is going to happen. To my knowledge, this is the first time a council member has ever asked for a public hearing. There was no research, no one knew what to do, and I really wanted a second opinion. I want to be transparent with everyone, and I want to make sure that it's done correctly.

Councilwoman Bennett.

So I too had a lot of questions, but I had a lot of questions at the very beginning, and I will be transparent as well. I actually called Texas Municipal League and asked for their opinion from their legal department, and the legal opinion that I was given was different than what I had been given from the city manager, from the city attorney. It's nothing personal. It's just it was different. And everybody's entitled to their interpretation. So neither group actually does this specifically. So I really feel like we do need processes and procedures and we don't have that. And this is the truly the only way through to do that and to have it done correctly and legally.

Councilman Reid.

in addition to what was said previously. I just felt that we needed an expert, a subject matter expert, to review the processes and procedures that we currently have to make sure that we're doing everything appropriately, all questions are answered, and everything is fair and equitable to any participant who's involved in an ethics complaint. Council Member Villafranca.

Thank you, Mayor. Just for the record, I want to tell you that last week at our meeting, Councilman Reed requested this and was told to please request this at a future study session item because it was not an appropriate place on the agenda to request it. Once again, we have used the shadow government. Once again, we have used the power of three. Councilman Neill and I have been relegated to basically flower pots on the dais because we are not being given the opportunity to have a discussion. This could have been a study session item. We have a perfectly competent city attorney who could have consulted if he felt that it was necessary, but once again, undermining the council. There seems to be a lot of discussion about transparency, but there's only transparency when it's convenient to us. I don't think that that is the right thing to do. We're all about processes and procedures, and I do agree with that, but I don't believe that we should have used, just for the record, They used the power of three last week to put it on a consent agenda. Consent agenda means that there's no discussion. It goes on the consent agenda item, you cross your fingers and hope nobody sees it, and then it passes and it's done. And I think they got wind that we realized what was going on because there's, believe it or not, there is a leak somewhere in the city. And they got wind that we were going to request that this be removed from consent agenda. And so it was removed. They removed it from the consent agenda this afternoon. But just so you know, they put it on consent agenda with the power of three and then removed it with the power of three. So there seem to be council meetings that are going on without Councilman Neal and I. I mean, Councilman, yes, Neil and I. And so something is amiss. I don't have anything against the attorney. Did this go out to RFQ? Where did we find the attorney? We have a perfectly capable city attorney that is able to do the work. This is the beginning of another another game. We already played this game. We've already seen this playbook a few years ago. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman Neal. Yeah, just a few questions. I'm just taken back by the flowerpot comment at the moment. I did have a question for you, Mayor. Did you deny Councilwoman Gonzalez the opportunity to have this put on the agenda?

I don't remember denying anything.

Okay. So I guess there's a misunderstanding or miscommunication between Councilwoman Gonzalez and you then. Let me ask... the city manager a few questions, if you don't mind. Just for my clarification, you did not solicit any additional proposals from multiple firms?

No, an RFQ, RFP process wasn't utilized because the amount limited engagement.

Okay.

No, we did not use an RFQ or RFP process because of the amount.

And so Were there other firms considered, and how were they scored against Hyde in your evaluation?

There were three firms considered, the Knight Law Firm, Sheets and Crossfield, and Hyde Kelly. Each one was evaluated based on their experience and their ability to address the questions that were being posed and the very limited scope of topic.

Okay. Thank you for that. One of your comments you'd mentioned a few minutes ago was that the Hyde firm had demonstrated their, they had done independent investigations previously. Can you expand on how they demonstrated their independent investigations and how that might have been scored against other firms that you considered?

Mr. Hyde is here, and it would be better to answer those questions as far as the expertise of the firm, because ours was more of a research.

Okay, so you didn't ask such questions of the Hyde firm, but I could ask them now, right? Correct. Okay. I may get to that in a minute. And I don't know if this is a question for the three council people to put this on the agenda or the city manager, but I'd like to know how we determined that the cost would be $50,000.

That is an administrative cap to control cost and put a ceiling on any cost associated with it, which is common for us to do with different contracts for services to make sure we don't exceed. It's a cap, not an interest estimated total cost.

So has the Hyde firm given you information as to what the costs might be, such that you determined to utilize $50,000 as opposed to, I don't know, $5,000 or $25,000?

We have seen outside attorney costs range anywhere from $10,000 to $25,000, depending on the research. So we want to make sure there is appropriate bandwidth for any tasks that were assigned.

OK. Can you help me better understand again this may be for the 3 Council members who brought this forward for you then can you expand explain the. Council if if this is to move forward what can you explain to me the Council's imitate interactions or any limits of interaction. with such firm, like are there any boundaries? Can we call them at any time we need regarding ethics? I'm just trying to understand how this plays out.

The scope would be primarily assigned to ethics, especially any pending items that counsel had questions or has questions on. The access to the attorney would be restricted to that, but counsel would be able to reach out to the attorney at any time and ask questions related to the scope of work that the attorney, if potentially selected, is there for. okay and and you you briefly touched on this a moment ago but could you explain to me again what the deliverables are of the firm chosen so on the deliverables it would be as the other council members and please other council members if i'm summarizing incorrectly is to provide clarity on the ethics processes and the processes such as the public hearing that aren't as clear as there's maybe it's not a framework since it hasn't been done before and it puts it to where it's an outside non-stakeholder in the process. Since many of us were here when that happens for the public hearing as an example, this is to allow the council to have a second opinion that was currently unavailable. So an official second opinion should council have questions on ethics processes. We've heard from a lot of folks, there's questions about how the city handles ethics complaints from the very beginning through council action. This was designed to give council that additional utility so you can be well informed and ultimately make the decisions.

Okay, thank you for that. I don't have any objections to getting a second opinion at all. What I do object to is the process by which the Hyde firm was chosen as well as the calculation and math that was derived as to the cost of that. I'm just a little uncomfortable with that overall process and more even-handed evaluation across the board. I just don't think it's there. In addition to that, I would like to touch, follow up a little bit to what Dr. Bennett had mentioned. I too have been in conversations with TML on multiple occasions. it's been apparent to me after my conversations with tml that they clearly don't know farmers branch they don't understand farmers branch they seem to be more generic terms of a city of our size so. I don't always put great credence to the words and comments that come from TML. We as council members and mayor here, I believe, are more in tune with our city and our town. And while I understand TML does add great value, I think sometimes they sort of miss the mark a few times. So those are only comments I have at the moment, but I may have some additional.

Thank you. Councilwoman Villafranca?

Yes, Mayor. Was our own city attorney consulted on this before it was put on the consent agenda? Ben, city attorney, anybody?

I have absolutely no knowledge of this whatsoever.

So we so we'd like to say that we like to be transparent. And this is yet one more example, one more example of the shadow government. This is inappropriate in every way, in every way. And with all due respect, I'm sure that this is a wonderful company. This you know, I don't understand how this company was chosen. Did the the three council members that wanted to secretly put this on the consent agenda? Did they have any any voice into who was selected?

No, not at all.

So we are paying our city attorney who we trust and respect. And yet we are going around him to do the work of the city to do the legal work of the city that really just makes absolutely no sense to me. This is one more example. Thank you.

Go ahead, sir. Well, one of the excuse me, one of the driving factors was the fact that We wanted an outside expert to review what our process is. Someone who deals with this as part of their everyday practice, someone who has experience across multiple communities in regards to the processes, the ability to objectively review what our code of conduct, our charter and our ordinances are in regards to to ethics complaints to come in and take a look at the process, the overall process again, because we want to make sure that whoever is the recipient of an ethics complaint has a fair and equitable treatment and able to have a process that we all have faith in. Additionally, in regards to the power of three, it is something that has been used frequently. I go back to May 12th of this year where Elizabeth approached me via text requesting that I participate in the power of three to have a item changed on an agenda. Additionally, there was a time where we utilized the power of three to move a presentation on the agenda between Elizabeth Roger and myself. So it seems that it's a shadow government when it doesn't, align with someone's individual desires, but once it does not align with their individual desires, it suddenly becomes that shadow government. So it's a process that we've used repeatedly, and I guess it depends on which side of the three that you're on as to whether it's appropriate or not. Let me just

Let me weigh in here. I wanna make sure people know exactly what we're talking about. When the term power of three is referred to, our city charter is set up such that it takes four members of the council to make a quorum for a meeting. However, three members are a voting majority of the city council. Three members, as the quote power of three can direct the city manager to do whatever they want them to do and but it seems from my point of view as the mayor city of farmers branch that this power of three has been used to usurp the authority or circumvent the authority of of circumvent the authority of the mayor in order to determine agenda items, whether they're on or off or other discussion points. And so this is an issue. We have a charter review committee examining changes that need to be made to the charter. This was the number one list, number one item on my list that I submitted to the charter review committee. If three is a voting majority of the council, three should not be allowed to meet. And thus, our quorum needs to be reduced from four to three. That would only allow two members to meet and discuss an item, where it would still take three to be a voting majority of the council. But Mr. Kelly, I'm going to have you come up just a second. I just want to finish my points. I don't necessarily have any objection to you helping our city in this regard. I really don't. I think that it will take pressure off our city manager because we have the regular business of the city to worry about and not all this ethics stuff that's been going on. So that's number one. Number two is my big problem is the way this happened. And I have said this all along. If you want something on an agenda, all you have to do is call me and ask me. I don't know that I've denied anything. And I don't remember making any specific denial of a request about this. So that's number one. Number two, if this had been done properly, we would have discussion in a study session, And we would have been able to talk about what's the scope of the work? What do we want to see? What are the outcomes? How do we measure success? We haven't had any of that. We're trying to do some of that right now on the fly, and I don't think we do our best work that way. That's most concerning to me. To Councilman Reed's point, I'm sure some people have been on both sides of this, but no matter on which side you're on, this is a flaw of our city charter. If you wanna do business and be transparent, you need to do it out here. Bring it up out here, bring it up during study session, do it here where the public can see what's going on. To do it any other way and to manipulate agendas or any other discussion activities outside of this meeting You are not being transparent. You are cheating your taxpayers.

Mayor, I'd like to make a point of order that we're not here to discuss power three. We're here to discuss the selection of outside counsel.

Thank you. I understand that. But I felt like all of this weighs in on to why we're here having this discussion item right now.

Now... Mayor, I'd like to make a point of order.

Hold on. Let me finish my thought, please. So we're here discussing this item and an approval of an expense up to and not to exceed $50,000. Okay. The city manager could have done that on his own without bringing that to us. I appreciate the fact that he did. I just wanna know what do we expect to come out of this? Because I'm still not sure exactly what Mr. Kelly's firm will be doing.

I think most of us agree with that.

And I'm really rubbed the wrong way in that whoever started this idea didn't have the decency to even run it past the city attorney. to get their buy-in on this. I think that was a mistake, my opinion. So any other comment? Who had? Councilwoman Bennett.

I did. So did we go to RFQ for the current city attorney? Or was that made unilaterally, that decision?

We all decided unilaterally, the entire council. That was a council decision. Including the two flowerpots.

Okay. When Councilman Neal asked if we were going to RFQ for the current attorney, what was he told? Because he did ask that. He did want that.

Point of order. I always ask for RFPs on such expenditures.

All right. Go ahead.

I'd like to make a motion that we table this and put it on the agenda as a study session item. We need a lot more information before we're able to move forward with this.

Well, Mr. Kelly is here. I would like to hear any comments that he might have. I think it would be fair to do that.

Thank you, Mayor. You had a 50-50 shot. Oh, I'm sorry. My name is George Hyde.

Hyde. I'm sorry. I apologize.

I'm not Caroline Kelly, who is my law partner. Good evening. I want to thank you for the opportunity to assist you all with this project. First of all, I don't know really where you want me to start. In 1989 was my first year as a police officer. I spent 24 and a half years commissioned. I started in a small department of seven people and I left with almost 40 as 3rd in command. In the middle of that, I had a passion for the law, and so I also went to law school. And so for about half of that time, I was also an attorney. I was in San Antonio. My very first case, nine months out of law school, I was representing the local government for the Fourth Court of Appeals and birthed a local government because they had never been determined yet. And so having grown up in municipal law and having grown up as a city employee, I found passion in assisting cities. I've been claims counsel for the TML IRP for over 20 years. I've been actually... I've testified as a expert in municipal law in both state and federal court. I've been accepted by the courts as an expert in that area. I'm not board certified because there is no such thing in Texas. They don't have a certification for that. My firm and myself, I've been actually a member of the Merit Certified by TCAA, the City Attorneys Association, in municipal law since it existed, from the time it existed. And my whole firm is actually also merit certified. So I am also a member of the Texas Bar College. which is a group of attorneys who have elected to participate in a much greater avenue on education and continuing legal education. We have a three times the regular amount of training and continuing legal education requirement than regular attorneys. And I've done that by being a Instructor through continuing legal education the text of municipal human resources association the Texas clerks association and the Texas city attorney's association I've taught ethics. in almost every year that I've been providing services related to ethics since 2011. I've written a number of different ethics opinions. I've represented city council members before the Texas Ethics Commission. And so I have a very robust Practice and 1 thing the city attorney I'm sure will agree with me on is that when you work in a municipal organization as a city attorney, because I've been I've been city attorney in over 25 cities in Texas. It's almost, you know, like, taking the bar exam every day. because you do contracts, you do property, you do municipal, you do constitutional law, you do use of force, you have civil rights, you have all of the, you know, we tax, we do all of those things together on a daily basis. So, you know, I'm here because I'm, you know, I used to make a joke. If I'm from 150 miles away or farther, I'm automatically an expert because I'm not involved. And I'm not involved. I'm here to provide you with specific, non biased, non connected legal advice with regards to some issues that you have had some significant problems with, according to my brief information that I've gotten up to this point. I think that there are opinions that I have that a great deal of number of the council members will appreciate. And I think I have opinions that you will not appreciate. And that's because I'm not making these opinions in order to keep my job. I'm not going to play favorites. I tell all my clients this and I'll do it in a public forum. My wife and I have four children. They're all adults. They're all off the payroll and out of the house. So I feel blessed. But every one of them we wanted the best for. We wanted them all to do it as best as they could to do whatever they want to do it, do it right and do it well. But did we have that experience with our children?

No.

There were times that our children misbehaved, they did misconduct, they didn't do as well as they could have on a test. All of those things that occur is the same way as a parent that a lawyer needs to have that relationship with its client when its client is ran by multiple constituents. is that I realize when you're working with a board that not everybody's going to agree. There's going to be, you know, conflict and differences of opinion. But if there is a means by which to ensure that I'm treating all of you equally, because like my children, I love my children all equally, even though they may not agree with me on something or they may not agree with my opinion, I'm still going to want that for them. And so that's the duty An attorney when they represent an organization like a governmental entity under the Texas rules of professional conduct rule 1.13. When there is a concern with regards to the conduct of counsel, one of the first things that it tells a lawyer to do. Is to get a second opinion. And that's under our rules of disciplinary conduct. And so if there is a question with regards to the advice that your attorney is providing, one of the first things that we're supposed to do is to ask for a second opinion. And I've done this from, well, I guess, Denton to Laredo. and give them second opinions. I've provided legal assistance as special counsel just in this area alone for Plano, for Addison, Little Elm. I'm trying to think more. I was City of Watauga City Attorney for almost four years, all from Austin. And doing that was the reason why Fort Worth So I'm here in order to be a servant to this board. I'm here to provide that independent legal advice to hopefully create some truth and reliance on your existing council as well as the law, because that's what you all did when you took this position is you raised your right hand and you promised And you took an oath that you were going to support and defend the laws of the state and of the Constitution and the Constitution and the laws of this country. And so without good guidance and don't get me wrong, everybody makes mistakes. I do, too. But without that good guidance, without that correction, if you get off just one degree. and you go 100 miles, it takes you forever to get back in place. And so we're trying to find a way to collaborate and provide you with some good legal advice that may be able to get you back on track and work with this issue on ethics in a way that would be successful for everyone.

Council, any questions, comments? Councilwoman Bennett, I'd like to ask you, so is it your intention to have him go back and review all ethics allegations that have been filed, or would he just be working on business from date of hire forward? Hmm? Oh, date of hire forward. Okay. All right.

Yeah, I understand that I'm coming in looking at the current conditions forward and then trying to provide you with legal recommendations with regards to what you can do to improve your ethics rules and responsibilities and those other rules that fall into place. And then based on that recommendation, the city council and city administration will develop that scope. And that's kind of why if you want something that's larger, then we can likely do that within the financial issues. But, you know, but if you want something small as well, that's it's it's your choice. And we need your decision before I can give you the scope that you want.

OK, go ahead. Council now.

Thank you, Mr. Hyde. Your firm sounds to be very well qualified. I was going to ask, and you just alluded to the scope of work. Are you familiar with what's being asked as to the scope of work?

I've been given a preliminary scope of information that has been provided to me with regards to your ethics. And one of the things I first initially did, just in the situation we have today, we have a complainant who is on the council. We have a respondent that's on the council. And while in your existing ordinance, it has a provision in it that says that the non-offending person if on council is excluded from your original initial evaluation of that complaint, okay? From being able to vote. But it doesn't have that same language In the proceedings associated with after a investigation is conducted and after that investigation has been presented, it doesn't. It says the City Council, it does not make a distinction that the people that are in or principally involved in the complaint are not excluded under the provisions of your ordinance from being able to vote. And so this is the equivalent of saying, I'm going to take the defendant and I'm going to take the victim and I'm going to put them both in the jury and let them deliberate about what's going on with the rest of the group and let them vote on a issue that they're intimately involved in. And from a transparency and from a sense of impartiality, which is a bedrock in our judicial system, having the people that are actually involved is not a recommendation that I think is appropriate because it places internal.

Point of order. I don't think that I think that we're going into a whole other topic.

I'm talking about your ethics audience. Yes. I think what he's saying is somewhat relevant to where I think we're trying to figure out what is the scope of the work to be done.

I'm trying to get to the scope of work, and my follow-up question was going to be if you could have an estimated time and or cost to reach that scope of work. But if you're not familiar with the scope of work is, then I think us as a body need to define and determine what that scope of work would be. Right.

My understanding right now is that I would have a relatively... It's going to take a few hours to review your existing circumstances and provide recommendations. And then based on those recommendations, you will decide the scope of work that's necessary.

Okay, thank you for that.

Point of order. I mean, it's 658, so. I know. Hold on.

Can we make this a future agenda item for the next meeting? This doesn't seem appropriate today. So that all of us can weigh in on it.

You can make a motion to do that.

I'd like to make a motion to table this to the next study session.

We have a motion. Is there a second?

Sure, I'll second it.

Okay, all those in favor of moving this to the next meeting, which would be October 18th, I mean August 18th?

Transparency, friends.

Please indicate your vote accordingly. Motion does not pass, all right. Council, is there any other discussion? Seeing none, do you have something?

She just signaled it.

She just signaled it. Mr. Mayor, I make a motion that we approve item R2026-107.

I'll second.

We have a motion and a second. If you would, please indicate your vote accordingly. Motion passes. Thank you.

Mayor, I would like to request to go into executive session per section 551.071 of the Texas government code to receive legal advice from the city's independent legal counsel regarding legal provisions in the city's ethics code.

Okay, we do have point of order. Is there a second for that?

I'll second.

All right.

All in favor of going into executive session, please indicate.

Can you clarify everyone going into executive session or District 1 Councilwoman?

No, everybody.

She requested an open hearing. Let's do it.

We could do this in public, but then we're gonna be embarrassing our city attorney.

Quiet, please. There is a public hearing scheduled right after this meeting.

Now we're going to executive session though.

but right now there is a motion that has been seconded so there is a vote on to go into executive session or not i think i think that passed i never saw it flash up so it passed all right all right um we're going to take uh time to uh recess to executive session and we will be back out here just so we can if staff starts to set the remote yes And we are back. Thank you very much for your patience. Next up on our agenda is item L2, consider approving resolution 2026-108, authorizing an agreement with an independent contractor to perform construction management services and timeline remediation efforts for the Valwood Park housing replacement program with Dallas County for an amount not to exceed $50,000 and take appropriate action.

Mayor, can we table this for next meeting, please?

We can. Any objection to table that?

That was a motion. Motion.

Second.

I'll second.

Thank you. All in favor of tabling it? Thank you the item will be table. That will conclude our regular meeting so folks I need your patience for about 10 minutes or so as we reset in order to end one meeting. There is no action to take as a result of executive session, so we will adjourn our regular city council meeting at 828. Again, I need...