City Council - Regular Meeting

I will call this meeting order. It is um regular meeting for April the 9th, 2026 and it is 6 p.m. We will start with the invocation followed by the pledge of allegiance and um the Texas Heavenly Father, we thank you for this opportunity to serve. Guide our decisions with wisdom and our words with respect. Our Father, who art in heaven, be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Amen.

To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God indivisible for alliance to the one and indivisible. At this time, any person wishing to address the council regarding an item on the agenda may do so. Speakers are requested to state their name and address for the record. Public comments are limited to five minutes per individual. In accordance with the Texas Open Meeting Act, the city council may not deliberate or take action on any matter that is not posted on the agenda. However, the council may direct staff to place the item on a future agenda for discussion or action if appropriate. have any comments from anyone?

Good evening, Mayor City Council. My name is Speaker.

My name is Cody Hamilton. I'm here representing Carlos Cruz. You may have heard from our my constituent coworker who was here a couple weeks ago. They were here speaking on his behalf. But I'm just letting you guys know we are in a runoff coming up in May, right after the holiday, May 26th. So, we're still trying to get We're still trying to get support from anybody that we can, but we're just out here doing some outreach with you guys. And I know there's a lot of people out there that you guys could see your endorsements or vote for. But I want to remind everybody that Carlos is not an individual who's going to live like a lot of other people have. And I think that's just something that everybody should really think about for the community. a lot of times that the smaller cities like Lordsville and DC are often forgotten and he's not going to be one of those individuals who will forget you guys and so we're just looking to still get support and you guys can feel free to reach out to anybody on the team but you should be hearing from us here in the future. Thank you.

Any more comments from anyone? Go ahead. Does this My name's Paul. Does this mean that uh anything not on here I can't comment on? Like I want to thank you guys for not going deep in debt like our country's deep in debt, keeping bill balanced budget. I can say that, right? Okay. Thank you. I just wanted to clear that up. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Um anyone else about our council comments? Marissa may. Yes. Mayor, can you hear me? Yes, we can.

Mayor, for the record that the first comment, um, you couldn't hear it over the live stream. Okay. So, I don't I just wanted you to be aware of that. Thank you. Thank you. The first person that spoke from public comment, you couldn't hear it over the live stream.

Jake, he's not here. I'm here. Okay. But mayor mayor May mayor, that wasn't my comment. I was just making you aware. Okay. So, do you have a comment? Mayor May Mary, you're you're cutting in and out. Do you have a comment, Marissa? Can you hear me or I can't hear you?

Can you hear me now? Yes, ma'am. Okay, Mr. Fetus, do you have Mayor I was I was stating I'm sorry, mayor. I was stating that it's not my comment. I have a separate comment.

Okay, go ahead. Go ahead. Oh, thank you. Thank Thank you. I just wanted to u make a comment for our u our community um because there has been a lot of discussion about um data centers. And I just wanted our constituents to be aware that in coordination with our director of state and federal regulations with the Texas Municipal League, we did submit a letter on Monday to the Honorable Ken King, who is the chairman of the House State Affairs Committee of our House of Representatives. We submitted this letter letter um before their hearing today, which was at 10:00. It wasn't aired, so we don't know um what came of that meeting just yet, but it was a letter to um submit our concerns and ask for that when they do create committees to discuss um any um any impacts that they are looking for looking at studies or we're looking for any statewide um legislation in regards to data centers. We ask that they consider having um representatives from our local cities, our counties um to be um a voice for the constituents. Um and this is um going along the lines of the public utility commission as well. Um they are requesting sight specific information from data centers to help state and local officials understand the impact. And so I just wanted to spread that information um to let them know that we are trying to um have a bigger voice at the table um because I have seen um online and and people talking in the community that they're very

concerned about this even though this does not um directly mean that there would be one in the city limits. We are um hearing about one in our county and as we know with anything that happens there is a ripple effect and so um I just want the constituents to know that we're doing what we can to um make sure we keep an eye on this and be the voice of our our cities. I give you the floor mayor. Thank you.

Thank you Marissa. And yes, we've had several meetings in Stockdale and around the county. So, um, people are aware of that. But thank you. Moving on. Um, Phoenix, you didn't have a comment. I'm sorry, Miss Francis. Go ahead. Um, I'd like to make a comment. Actually, I'd like to make a request um to our city uh manager, Mr. Munoz, if we could maybe put it on the next agenda. I'd like to see about moving council meetings to another day um Tuesdays or Wednesdays the second and fourth of the month and if we can um put that in put that in after the May 2nd election so maybe the 14th Thank you.

Thank you. Go ahead. Mr. and I myself have no comments. Moving on to our city manager comments. I'll let you all right here.

Uh good uh good evening everyone. just to kind of give you a brief update of what we're working on. Uh as u I enter the six the 30th of the 60 days uh of my tenure here. I just want to give everyone a quick update on some of the projects that we are working on staffwide. Um the first thing we're looking at is we're working with the San Antonio River Authority. Uh we're also looking at the drainage issues that we have at the sports park, the sports complex. So we're working with the San Antonio River Authority. We're working with text dot uh for some storm warning signs, some flood warning signs along 97 in that corridor. We're also working with text dot on the intersection of 97 and business loop. Uh we're trying to get that to be a lighted intersection in the interim. Uh it's very dark. We have a one light at that intersection that's a couple hundred feet away from the intersection. So it's very dark. And so at the in the interim, we at least want to get those four-way stop signs blinking uh so that you're able to see a little bit better. and then eventually work on a partnership to bring light uh lighted intersection to that area. We're also working with Texot and and the county to update the county's thoroughfare plan. We'll also be working on our thoroughfare plan as well. And what that does, it helps us establish a transportation improvement program for next year's funding with text. So, what they'll do is we'll update those uh traffic plans, those traffic studies along with the county, and then we'll make comments of improvements that we want along our state corridors. 97 east west and then 181 and then business loop 181. So we're working on that. The tip should be released approximately in June at the earliest. So we're already working with staff to prepare comments for that. We're also working with text on increasing the number of culverts uh where the floodway is at uh with the loading branch creek crossing just south of southern the springs road on 181. Uh right now there's two 4x7 boxes that

need to be maintained, but it also is a very low point for us for the drainage. So what ends up happening is when the river crest and it starts to backflow, uh well the reason it starts to backflow is because you have a large amount of water coming downstream and it kind of creates a dam with all the vegetation at the bridge crossing on 97. So it starts to backflow the water and it goes into the floodway and that's a a FEMA designated floodway. Uh sign say states the the Load Branch Creek that then flows east then south it crosses Southern Springs and then a couple of hundred feet it crosses 181 goes back east and hits the empty field where the the school is at over there and it continues to drain uh southeast of the city. Um to us that's a major issue because it does create flooding if we do have a big flood. It does create issues on 97 and trying to be able to leave the area as well as 181. So the only thing we have a corridor is safely to leave is south on 181. But if we do have a life emergency, the hospital is to the north of that. And so it does create significant safety issues for us. So we're looking at textile and working with that with the San Antonio River Authority. We're also working with Tedum and FEMA trying to create a resolution with the Texas Water Development Board to work on a grant to address that floodway. Uh right now at the deepest that floodway is probably about 4 ft. Uh it's not sufficient enough and we're at a low point right there at 181. So it creates a choke point for us. So we're trying to come up with some resolution for that. We're also working with textile on improvements along 181. One of the big projects is, and it should be completed by the end of the summer, as I understand it, and that is they are going to do an overlay project on 181 from the north down to the south. And part of that project is they're going to do the restriping as well. I know when you get around Tiger Lane and headed south, it gets a little bit darker and you're not able to see at night the the

striping on the road. So, they're going to restripe and repave as well. Uh and what we're also entering into a three-way agreement with Phelps and Tex is to bring street lighting uh along 181 as a first phase of lighting the the highways on business loop west 97 and 181 from north south corridor. We're not really moving on East 97 yet. Uh they're doing a road expansion project that should start in 2028 that's part of the TIP program. So we're kind of leaving that off a little bit. Uh we did hold a meeting with uh Texas executive commissioner Alex me. He did come down. He met with us with the San Antonio district engineer to discuss these projects. Uh and it just so happened to coincide we got u an email from uh an engineer with HRN Engineering out of San Antonio. They worked with Flood Basin. They worked with the city of San Antonio and Wilson County with their drainage master plans. And what they discovered is in 2012 when they were doing under state mandate the drainage master planville did not complete their drainage master plan. And so the Texas Water Development Board gave they had some additional monies from a project when they looked at the the the basin and the wershed they had some leftover monies and so they are going to create a scope of work and do a citywide drainage plan on our behalf. So they were awarded a grant from Texas, I'm sorry, from the Texas Water Board in the amount of $374,000. And so we're working with staff right now to put those projects together. Part of those projects, what we're looking at is that 181 crossing over at the Load Branch Creek as a high priority for us. We're also looking at the flood areas that were identified at the sewer plant, the wastewater plant, and the flooding in those uh adjacent neighborhoods as well as that on the park. We're also looking at the area back over here where the skateboard park is at and that area where we have significant flooding there as well. So, those what we're doing is

we're trying to get the the design engineering going on that project so that way we can become eligible for six grants that open. These grants are under FEMA and the Texas Water Development Board. They are scored high on a cost benefit analysis. Uh and so it looks very hopeful. We just need to complete the projects and get the design going and try to get them as shovel ready as possible for when the Texas Water Development Board releases those funds so we can apply. Uh in the interimm, what we're also working on is we're working with the attorneys on the coin operating machines. We're working with subdivision ordinance. We're working with your uh land use plan, comprehensive plan. Uh we're working on the starting doing the landscaping ordinance. Uh and next meeting we're looking to bring to you um the action under the ordinance and revised ordinance for the weed lots as well as public nuisance and abatements uh for um dilapitated buildings. So we're looking to bring that to you as well. So, those are just kind of a little bit of a couple of things that we've been working on. I just wanted to give you a brief update. Um, and I apologize that we're not working fast enough and hard enough for you. I'm kidding. Is kind of looking at me already. Uh, but no, we're doing a lot and um, you know, we just it takes a lot of planning. Uh, we're behind on a couple of these things. Uh we're trying to work with the RFQS and the request for proposals to get a grant team together, get our engineers on board. Working hard trying to find candidates for the parks and trying to find candidates for the uh planning director position so we can put these projects in full motion for the community. And hopefully we can go out and get the the available millions of dollars to help with a drainage plan. And then later, I believe next week, I'm hoping, uh we're able to kick off the budget season uh with you. So, we'll schedule the uh public hearings um and

public notices uh so that way we can begin discussing the the budget. We're also working with the the attorney's office on the articles of incorporation and the bylaws for the 4A corporation. Uh those need significant work as we move forward with the budget to get a better idea. Uh and we're also looking at uh funding mechanisms and how we're going to gen uh generate additional revenues for the event center and the sports complex. So there's a couple of things I just want to give you an update as to what we're working on.

Thank you so much for doing that. I know you're working real hard. I have a question though. Um I was going to ask you I know we just turned in a a grant for the second phase of the sidewalks on street. How long is that going to take for us to you don't know? I believe an email earlier this week. They were technically in technical review. So, we're hoping to hear back in the next couple of weeks uh if we need to make any uh changes, amendments to that or if they were going to require additional information from us. Uh we have worked, we have made communication with the GLO, everything right now looks good and so hopefully we'll hear in a couple weeks and we got that next phase of the grants. Thank you. I have a question. Yes, sir.

And what are we doing for the streets? Like getting getting calls that there's a lot of potholes. I don't know y'all taking a look at the streets down What what streets are you going to work on that may be take care of or I mean the the streets need a lot of maintenance too. So I know that uh I had a neighbor I said well I don't really like to get too involved in my area because the first thing they'll say is is on so that's why they're fixing it. But there is on I know that on blue blue bonnet there is a a major uh there's a little gift there and the and the man the city neighbor helped him out and he he paid for the whole drainage on his property. He he everything he's done curving he's done on his own and he says and I can't even get a little patchwork here you know I pay taxes I so I get a lot of that around town about it's good that we're doing everything else it's moving and it's positive but at the same time there's a lot of roads that that need uh attention so what are we going to do about the for the road or are you working on that

we're working on that and thank you for reminding me for that we are working on updating a list. There was a list that was created late last year, last calendar year, uh, by an engineer to look at roads that our crews technically don't have the capabilities of fixing in house. So, David right now and his street crews right now, they are looking and creating and updating those quotes for us on those schedules. Hopefully within the next 30 days, we'll bring that list to you and we'll give you the schedules on how we're going to roll out in-house paving as well as potholes and then what we're going to be able to itemize to put out for bid. Part of the process that we're looking at as well is trying to do the project correctly. And what I mean by that is we're not just going to go out and try to do overlay. We're going to look to see the drainage. We're going to look to see the quality of the street, if the face needs to be done, or if it's just an overlay or we need to do a complete reconstruct. But we're also looking at if we have to do curbing, if we have to do lighting, if it requires sidewalks and trying to give you a complete package for what that product is going to look like, uh, rather than just kind of going and peace mealing a little bit like we've kind of done in the past. And as I've driven around and looking at the streets with David and and his crew, um, and and we talked about this earlier, when somebody requests curbs, we they pay for the curbs, but we go and we pave a stretch in front of their house. And some of those areas have fallen into disrepair. But I'm going to tell you in Spanish, we're like the snake in the river just going side to side. And the streets are not complete streets. And so you have wide streets, narrow streets, wide streets, narrow streets. So, we need to put a plan together to where we address that as well. But what we're doing also on the infrastructure is we are putting a list together for the budget to get into a fire hydrant replacement program to help with the ISO, which is your insurance rating. We're also looking at

areas where we need sanitary sewer lines replaced, water lines replaced, manhole replaced, and so we're putting those schedules together for you that we're going to present during the budget. So, that way we know exactly the areas that we need to target first. and where we need to budget our money best for that. But right now, the priority for public works is doing those streets as quickly as we can get that list to you. But that's part of all the things that we're doing for the budget and we're going to be completely transparent on our approach of how we're going to attack this. Um, I did talk to the mayor earlier today on on one of the projects that the on grant that she asked us about on the Texas Water Development Board and I said, "Look, one of the things we're going to have to do is we're going to have to revise that ordinance from 2012 that created our drainage requirements. And one thing that we don't do is we don't have a drainage fee. We don't have a mechanism in place to be able to pay for these drainage improvements. And drainage is probably one of the biggest infrastructure uh requirements or needs of this community because we was very progressive after reading the plan back in 2012 was very progressive where you guys in the San Antonio areas and the surrounding counties were looking at the 100-year flood. And so when you look at the floods, you typically plan for the 25 or the 50 years because the 50 years back in 2010 and back in the day, those were very rare. They were very rare and so you had catastrophic flooding and so you looked at the number of houses, the number of structures and the total guesstimate of what it was going to cost in terms of property damage. But you guys were progressive back in 2012 and you were planning towards the 100year. And in that 100-year plan, the only people in the state that were doing that under state mandate were those along the coast where they faced hurricanes. But because you had hurricane uh Dolly and all these other hurricanes come in, you guys were very progressive in your approach. The problem is over time, it just kind of fell through the cracks with a lot of

our infrastructure. A lot of our infrastructure just kind of fell through the cracks. Previous administrations didn't have the money, so it got kicked down the road. And so right now, that's what we're dealing with. And so I'm trying to put a plan together for all of you. And budget lies on how we're going to do and start addressing these. So roads is one, fire hydrants is one, curbs, sidewalks, lighting, all of those things. We're going to put a plan together and we're going to try to come up with a funding mechanism for all of you.

And one last question that I I keep always asking about the high school road. You know, I don't know who needs to go into. They tell me that they talk to the school, the school says they can't do anything because of the water that runs down there. But somebody's got to get together and and you be the man to get together with the school or whatever because I forget what street that is that that when the buses come out and and there's people from coming from all kind of cities and the first road they see is the ugliest road that we have by the school. I don't know if you drove by it,

but that one they come to Florida said, "Look at this." They came. So I don't know. They say that the school doesn't want to budge and the city doesn't want to. We need to see if maybe you can look into that project and see if what can be fixed on that street because that street is terrible. Sure. Most definitely. I'll reach out tomorrow to the superintendent. Thank you. Mayor, may I ask a question? Of course.

Thank you. Um Mr. Mos, thank you for that update. I want to go back to your um information about the the Texas Water Board um you you round it off really quickly. I was trying to write down the areas that you talked about drainage. Did you because you were talking about areas that that have flooding. Um and are you specific to areas that are not on roadways or are you including areas that include our roadways for flooding? And the reason I ask is because um I didn't hear maybe I didn't hear it. I didn't hear you mention B Street towards the middle school as that area floods quite frequently and you know it it is the um entry and exit to our our school district or one of our campuses.

Sure. Uh what I had mentioned uh and I'll be a little bit more clear is when Wilson County did in 2012 they did their countywide drainage master plan uh and it coincided with the river authorities uh master plan and uh the water basin and watersheds master plans. Um they had received a grant from the Texas Water Development Board uh and HRN was the engineering company. And when they wrapped up those plans, they had a little bit of money left over. And back in the day, we just didn't complete enough information. So what they did is Wilson County kind of took the lead for us back in the day. And they identified with the engineers three projects that are eligible for Texas Water Development Board funding. Those three projects were uh and the the biggest one was the the floodway project. uh that one ranked number three uh with the Texas Watermelon board funding four years ago. The only problem is Dallas and Houston got the bulk of that money. So projects one and two were funded. Uh we would have been next uh for that infrastructure improvement and that's a three-phase project. Um so that was the primary one. The other one was number 14 which was the sewer plant uh with the the swell the drainage plant and using Katarana Park as a detention pond to help alleviate the flooding in that area. And then the third one which ranked I believe was 19 or 20. Um that was the skateboard park area going towards the school uh and going south. Uh those were the three identified projects that the county had identified through that drainage master plan. I am aware of the drainage issues on B Street going towards the middle school. We are looking at that because that's one of the projects we're looking at doing some some patchwork. Um so what we're going to try to do is because of the elevations, we're going to try to put in a drainage pipe from the middle school going back towards 181, but we have to

get a permit from Techtop to tap into their storm sewer. Uh because otherwise we'd have to find a detention pond and slowly bleed that out. Uh the only problem is there is an existing detention line by the middle school but it's at a higher elevation uh than what we can do and so that's why you have that standing water but we will address it.

And then on the same line Mr. Moz because there there are going to be other areas as Mr. everyone on mentioned when people were talking about um drainage um what what is going to be your recommendation on um how you're going to decide as you know what's going to be covered by outside funding versus I mean aside from what you said those three those three um areas that the county identified but if we were to receive any other outside funding um what is going to be your process for deciding what other areas within the city would we need do you address next?

That's an excellent question. Um, so what we're going to do as part of the scope of work for the $374,000 grant that HRN received from the Texas Water Development Board for the development of our drain, our citywide drainage master plan is they're going to help us create that list and project areas and hopefully we have enough money where they can go and give us uh program and project cost estimates for the rehab of those areas. So, they'll provide a listing to list. That's great. Thank you. I mayor, I don't have any further questions. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Moving on to item 4 A, consideration and action to approve minute meetings for the regular council meeting on March 26, 2026. Do I have a motion to approve? Mayor, I'll make a motion for to approve meeting minutes for the regular council meeting on March 26, 2026. Do I have a second?

I'll second. Motion made by Morris, second by Mr. All in favor

44 and

actually he's listed on here. Yeah, he's there. I I I I think I voted I'm staying on that correction you have for the minutes but uh I don't remember when my mom passed away did I come that that I was here for that meeting then I'll go here well I'm sorry mayor um to modify the the

motion because the quorum only has myself. Oh, I'm sorry. No, he's on there. I apologize. He's on there. So, okay. I just wanted to make sure that I was hear that. So, you're voting for Okay. So, it's 54 and zero against. Thank you.

Moving on to presentation and discussion. City Hall photos. Uh, good evening, uh, mayor, members of council. Uh, I'm going to try to keep this brief, I promise. Uh, so what my attempt was, and let me just apologize to to anybody, uh, because I didn't make this very clear when when I first started this project, uh, starting with the the photos here at city hall. Uh so what we're trying to do, what I'm trying to do is as I've become familiar with Floyd, I have noticed that a lot of individuals are not aware of our history in terms of the city and we sent out the the survey and a lot of people multiple surveys and a lot of people are kind of like, hey, where's this at? Where's that at? What are you talking about? What's this about? And when we looked at the overwhelming question of where are you know who where are you from in photosville a large percentage were from the photo the city of photo and they don't really know the history of our city and so I came up with the crazy idea of let's start documenting our history and so I kind of went around downtown went around the city uh the county has done an exceptional job in trying to do uh preservation of its history uh other cities in the county have also done a very good job. Uh I'm not saying that we haven't done a great job in Fersville. I just haven't found a home where visitors and our residents can come and enjoy the rich history of Froersville. And so I know we don't have money. And so my attempt and my idea is to make city hall the museum for the city of Fisersville about the city of Fisville. So like we have the mural here in the chambers. We want to be able to continue to do mural and the open area

and the lobby and then continue with the history. So, we put out a request for the public to give us photos of photos of it and give us the explanation of your photo so we can post it. We can show our pride. And so, we're looking at display cases as well. We're going to work with the museum uh and the heritage council, the preservation council, and have them come in and give us artifacts so we can display and start talking about the history. And so when we walk in, the one thing that we had, we had the the previous mayors and then we had photos scattered of individuals that have passed away that have contributed in major ways to the city. And so my thing is when you walk in, we need to give credit to the people that are up there right now and moving this city forward and not just to the past. So we need to give credit to you and the council members, not just to previous mayors. So what I want to do, and I relocated the mayor's pictures, is as we start creating this, we want to give recognition to previous council members as well and put them up as well. And so we have basically a walking museum uh through through Fersville as we start and hopefully we can get enough support from the community that we can start putting murals throughout the city so people can see the rich history of what you have and start moving that throughout downtown throughout your hike and bike trail. Uh we were here a couple of meetings ago with the train depot and try to preserve that history. And that's all my attempt was. Um, one of the areas that we're going to do up here is we are going to put an area for those that have contributed to the city but have passed away. The thing I didn't like about it is all the photos were like in dollar store frames. They were different sizes. It needs to look better. It looks It needs to be more professional. And we just can't have them plastered all over the walls. we need to be able to put them in an area that everyone can uh see and that everyone can understand what their contributions were to this community. And that was my attempt with

the with the photos. And you know hopefully you guys will continue to allow me to do that to do the rich history. Uh now that we have our plotter um we can do some high quality resolution photos. uh and we can do mapping to show how has grown uh as far back from the inception of how the town started to where we're at right now. And so people can come by and they can see how their how their cities have grown. Um and so that was the attempt. There was no attempt to offend anybody or to to do anything of that nature. Uh and so I'm hoping that I can continue that project. Um I want people to know about Fisville. I want to learn more about Fotville. Um and so that's just my attempt. And so I just wanted to give you a brief update as to what I was doing on that project. And my apologies to everybody. Probably should have stated that from the very beginning.

Thank you so much for explaining that because uh we've had several calls, you know, but Sure. Thank you. Um I have a question. Yes. Go ahead.

Before you may Sorry, Mr. Mo, for making you walk back. Um ju thank you for that clarification and explanation. Um my question is you know you mentioned um not having a lot of money to u do the historical deep dive and once you start obtaining uh pictures and and the type of graphics that you would want to display um are are you considering maybe another possibility of it being a digital displays if you're trying to you know say you know use the funds that we have maybe just a consideration and maybe you can start asking Since we're going out for an RFP for the whole website design, maybe you know there can be some recommendations on what that could look like from a digital standpoint. That way information is always rotating and we won't have to worry about printing pictures and and getting frames and and so forth. Just just a recommendation.

That's a great re I hadn't got that far ahead. I was just thinking of wall colors and frame colors and gathering information. to be honest, I think that's a great idea. I think we can incorporate that and put that as part of the RFP process and thank you for bringing that to our attention. Yeah. And and Mr. Manuel generally came to my my head because I think about, you know, what do we do at home? A lot of families have those digital frames in their living rooms. And so, you know, something long, you know, larger scale, more professional uh for our city hall. So, um, if you can consider that that, um, I would appreciate it. Definitely. I like the idea.

I thought we had one of those audio. It doesn't show. Okay. Thank you. Moving on to uh, audit committee.

Good evening, mayor, members of the council. This is one that I know I promised you a while back and I'm still working on it. Uh I've been creating some questions for legal and the history behind this is your charter requires an audit committee uh to review to review your annual external audit. Uh and that's pretty much all it says other than you guys cannot select yourselves to be on that audit committee. There is no other detail in the charter. It doesn't give us any instruction. It doesn't provide anything other than that statement. And so what I'm trying to do is I'm trying to create parameters to be compliant with the charter. Um and so I'm putting a list of questions for the attorney to help me draft that. So hopefully at the next meeting we'll have uh the ability to continue to be charter compliant with the audit committee. The external audit uh has been submitted. It was submitted on time as per the new state regulation. Um and so I'm just putting those last bit minute details. Hopefully I'll have it to the attorney tomorrow and we can work on it rather quickly and get it to you as quick as we can so we can do that audit committee and then the eventual presentation to you as a full counsel. So I just want to give you a quick update.

Thank you. Um new business consideration and possible action to approve proclamation 2026-014 child abuse prevention month and South Texas. Thank you, mayor and city council for having us here on behalf of Kasa South Texas and Children's Alliance of South Texas. Uh we've done a collaborative event this year and the counties that we serve to come together and just bring awareness to this unfortunate situation we wish we didn't have to recognize every year um of child abuse and neglect in our areas. Um well both of our agencies get confused a lot uh for being the one and the same. Uh we both do very important work but uh sometimes there's crossover of children in case of two very different dynamic focuses. Um just to look out for the children's best interest. I'm going to read our proclamation for this evening. Whereas in fiscal year 2025, the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services confirmed 27,343 children in state custody due to child abuse or neglect, including 229 in our service area. And whereas child abuse and neglect are serious problems affecting every segment of our community, and finding solutions requires input and action from everyone in our community. And whereas our children are our most valuable resources and will shape the future of Texas. And whereas child abuse can have a long-term psychological, emotional, and physical effects that can have lifelong consequences for victims. And whereas children or sorry whereas

protective factors are conditions that reduce or eliminate risk and promote the social, emotional, and developmental well-being of children. And whereas effective child abuse prevention activities succeed because of meaningful connections and partnerships created between child welfare, education, health, community, and faith-based organizations, businesses, and law enforcement agencies. And whereas communities must make every effort to promote programs and activities that benefit children and their families. And whereas we acknowledge that we must work together as a community to increase awareness about child abuse and to promote the social and emotional well-being of children and families in a safe, stable, nurturing environment. Whereas prevention remains the best defense for children and families. And whereas the impact of abuse and neglect has long-term personal, economic, and social cost, therefore hurting Texas's future. And whereas courtappointed special advocates, CASA volunteers, are assigned by the court to speak up for a child's best interest to ensure a child's voice is heard. And whereas every child in foster care deserves a CASA volunteer, but roughly less than half of the children in care do not have a CASA volunteer. And we're at 6,991 CASA volunteers spoke up for the best interest of 17,431 children donating 324,820 hours of volunteer service in Texas last year. And whereas cost of South Texas dedicated staff, board, and volunteers work to ensure that our children and our community have a safe and happy future.

Now therefore, I, Mayor Goran, proclaim April 2026 as child abuse prevention month in Florville, Texas, and urge all citizens to recognize this month by dedicating ourselves to the task of improving the quality of life for all children and families. Thank you, mayor. I appreciate it. I have a request for you and the city council members is after um Cass reads their proclamation. If we could have a group picture together, we would appreciate it. Yes. Thank you. Mayor, do I make a motion? Yes.

I'd like to make a motion to approve proclamation 2026-014, child abuse prevention month. Do I have a second? I second. Motion made by Miss Francis, second by Mr. All in favor? 54 zero against

Can I ask for a volunteer? Thank you so much. One more. Okay. Good evening, mayor, city council members. My name is Cole. I am a therapist here with the Children's Alliance of South Texas. This is our mental health advocate, um, Samantha. and um super excited to be here tonight and got asked to read the proclamation. It's an agency um that I've thoroughly enjoyed working for. All right. The Child Abuse Prevention Awareness Proclamation, whereas an estimated 558,899 children were victims of abuse and neglect in the US in 2020, the most recent year for which there is national data.

No data. Whereas in federal fiscal year of 2023, um 3.8 million reports were made to child protective services and CAC's investigated 247,543 cases involving sexual abuse. Whereas in 2025, an estimated 2,000 children died from abuse and neglect in the United States, a number consistently on the rise over the previous 5 years. Whereas in 2024, children's advocacy centers around the country served some 372,613 child victims of abuse, providing victim advocacy and support to these children and their families. Whereas it is estimated that at least 350,000 children are in the welfare system in 2025 due to abuse and neglect. Whereas child abuse can have long-term psychological, emotional, and physical effects um for victims of abuse. And whereas in Texas in one in four girls and one in six boys will be sexually abused before their 18th birthday, 98% of the perpetrators are someone the victim knows. And whereas pro protective factors are conditions that reduce or eliminate risk and promote social, emotional and developmental well-being of children. And whereas effective child abuse prevention activities succeed because of the partnerships created between child fair child welfare professionals, education, health, community and faith-based organizations, businesses, law enforcement agencies, and families. And whereas child abuse and neglect are a serious problem affecting every segment of our community and finding solutions requires input and action from everyone. And whereas communities must

make every effort to promote programs and activities that create strong and thriving children and families. And whereas we encourage public awareness of child abuse and neglect through education, recommit county resources to the cause, and promote community involvement through local activities. And whereas we acknowledge that we must work together as a community to increase awareness about child abuse and contribute to promoting the social and emotional well-being of children and families in safe, stable, nurturing environments. And whereas prevention remains the best defense for our children and families.

Now therefore, I, Graham Rollins, proclaim April 2026 as child abuse prevention month in Floresville, Texas, and urge all citizens to recognize the month by dedicating ourselves to the task of improving the quality of life for all children on this day, April 9, 2026. Thank you so much for what all the work that y'all do. I know you'll have a hard job, but we appreciate you. Thank you.

Thank you, May. And thank you, council members. Item B, discussion and possible action to approve the use of go deals on online government auction platforms for the disposition of surplus obs and salvage city- owned property and to authorize the city manager or designate to execute any necessary agreements. Finance. Good evening. So this is a um online platform that the city would be able to post items to sell that are that we need a salvage disposition. Um there's no fee to the city to post the item to sell. It is all done online. Uh we upload pictures. The fee is paid by the winning bidder. Um there is not a contract and we do not have to have a minimum of what we have to sell. you can sell whenever you have something that is up for sale. Um, we do have quite a few items that are salvage items that we have in storage, things we need to get rid of that we can't just throw in the trash can.

Do I have a motion for this? I have a question. Go ahead. Can you give us some examples of those items just out of curiosity? um monitors, old phones, um I think oh desk, chairs, um iPads outside there's some nonworking items that we have. Mayor, may I have a question? Yes. Hold on. Go ahead.

No, no. I I just wanted to add that this just allows us to post online for the auction. So, as we create a list of items that are ready for disposition, we have to bring that back to council for your approval for authorization to dispose of those, document them properly, and then load them up uh onto GV deals. And if they auction, we come back and we let you know what was and what wasn't uh on on our financial records. So, this is not asking you at this point to declare surplus. This is just for us to be able to use uh the online platform versus doing a local auction. Yes, that's a good idea. Go ahead, Miss Human.

Mayor, I was only going to ask if there is documentation provided for this item because I didn't have any in my packet. No, actually that's not Go ahead.

No, I actually was on a phone call um with her name is Heidi. She just gave me bullet points. Um, but you can go to govdealss.com. That's the website that we're looking at. Um, and again, it's just an online platform. Um, but the information she did give me about the website was there's no fee to us. It is to the highest bidder, no contract. Um, that we can have as many um, department heads or whoever we want to designate to post items once they are approved to sell to do that. um we have full control and uh there is comprehensive reporting on there so we can go as far back how much have we sold in the past 6 months or we can run reporting at any time.

Thank you. Is there any more questions, Miss Manis? Uh, thank you.

Do I have a motion for this? Mayor, I'll make a motion to approve the use of Gov Deals, an online government auction platform for the disposition of surplus, obsolete, and salvage city owner property and to authorize the city manager or designate to execute any necessary agreements. Motion made by Miss Flores. Do I have a second? I'll second. Second by Mr. Canu. All in favor is Jake. He's not on there. Okay. So, it was one

two 4 Z. Motion passes. Moving on to item C 6 C. consideration and possible action to cancel the April 23rd, 2026 uh meeting due to early voting for the city election and reschedu to another date. City secretary.

Yes. Uh good evening, mayor and council. So, um the early voting will start on the week of the 20th. So, this whole council room is used for our elections. So we either usually we have to cancel that date and we can either reschedu um I know we had the 16th deadline maybe. Uh so just just so everyone will know if we do the 16th tomorrow I will have to post. So if y'all have anything y'all want on the agenda y'all can tell me tonight email, text or tomorrow and then I'll work on it. Get it to the attorney as soon as we can and then I'll have to post for that. Is there Okay, go ahead. No, I'm sorry. Go ahead.

No, I was going to ask, is there something that we have to have?

Well, I'm requesting that we hold the meeting, mayor. Um, right now we have the RFQS pending for the engineering services. Uh, if we don't have that meeting to qualify those firms and to begin price negotiations with them, we lose 30 days and our conservation water plan, uh, we lose 30 days in trying to get that, uh, approved by the state and submitting in time. So, we short ourselves about 30 days. Also, we want to be able to bring to you, as we found out this week, um a list of Wedi lots. Uh according to the ordinance, I'm required to bring those and enforce Wedi lots. I was not aware of that. Uh and so, I want to bring to you a list of Wedi lots because there is public notice requirements to be able to do that uh over the next 10 to 30 days. We also want to bring to you a list of areas that qualify under the ordinance for public nuisance and dilapitated buildings. Um that again under ordinance I'm the number one person to to begin that process or a designate right now we don't have a designate for that. So staff right now is identifying properties for you. I want to be able to come to you and give you a better idea of the properties we want to begin targeting. I don't say targeting, I'm sorry. uh approaching um to abate these items. The dilapitated buildings is a little bit more complex because we have to go through legal requirements, postings, legal notices, has to be certified mail. Um in order to abate the property, we have to go to district court. We have to file. So there are additional court costs. We need to bring those to you. Uh but also it's got to go through board adjustments and it's a much lengthier process to do that. And one of the five top comments that we received from the survey was we need to address public nuisances, dilapitated buildings and we lost and clean the city. And so that's why I had staff go

back and we discovered that um I'm responsible for initiating those. Uh and that's what I want to be able to do because we need to get that addressed as quickly as we can. Also, as part of that process under the ordinance, the city secretary is required to create a rotation list of landscaping companies um to address those weedy lots. And so, go ahead. What's what type of lots are those you that you're saying? I can't understand. Uh well, the ones that the the weeds and vegetation are overgrown and create a potential health hazard to its neighbors or to the surrounding areas. Uh we want to be able to address those that have been long outstanding. Uh and then you have public nuisance where you have a lot of people with stuff in their yards. Um a lot of things that probably shouldn't be in their front yards, backyards, visible from the street or from their businesses. and that we have a multiple amount of dilapitated buildings where they're falling off by themselves. Uh we have squatters in those and people are just complaining about those and so you have to go for those. It's a little bit leier process because you have to find the the property owners and you have to do the um notification process. The weekly latch you have to put in the paper and then you have to send them a a certified letter. So there are processes. It just doesn't happen from today to tomorrow. So, we want to begin to initiate that process, especially as we progress through the year. I know right now it's raining and so you have all of that and it can help deal with mosquitoes and everything else. And so, we just wanted to start addressing those those areas.

Is there any way we can shorten the length that they have to respond to these issues that you know sometimes are kind of long?

Yeah. uh on the public nuisance and on the the lapitated buildings. Unfortunately, we can't on the wedi lots. We possibly can shorten that, but right now you're just looking at a 5 to day 10 not a 5 to 10 day notice uh for the wedi lots. And what really is the the the difficult part is we have to post in the local paper. So, we have to meet their publishing dates for them. It's not sufficient enough just for us to put it onto a website. and we have to s I have to sign certified letters and mail those out and wait for a response. And so we want to be able to come to the first meeting in May and and say, "Look, these were the individuals that responded to us. They're evading this. They want additional time." And so part of that process is they can ask for that additional time from you, the council. And so we want to make sure that everyone gets adequate time, but we start addressing u these issues. So those are the three things that I would like to approach uh on a special meeting for next week

and that would be next Thursday on the 16th. I'm proposing next Thursday. The engineers I believe are Tuesday and we gives us some time to qualify those and to put the list together for you to present um at the Thursday meeting. So, do I have any questions from the council? Do I have a motion? Mayor, I'll make a motion to cancel the April 23rd, 2026 meeting due the early voting for the city election and to reschedu to April the 16th.

2026. Um, Mayor, I have a question before you take a second. Go ahead. Mayor, I was going back to um council I'm sorry. Go ahead. Go ahead. Thank you. I Yes, ma'am. Uh thank you. I was going back to um councilwoman's um comment where she asked about a different date. Um it is the Thursday going to work or would it be possible to do Wednesday since she mentioned asking for a different meeting date? Wednesday, I think it's going to be the hike and bike. I don't know if they have the meeting here.

I believe that's correct. Yeah. The problem Oh, sorry. I'm sorry. Uh, Mayor Pertin and Mayor the the problem is that um the earliest you can have the meeting is the 16th because you have to post tomorrow is the posting date. You she would have to post No, tomorrow for the Thursday. Yeah. Oh, yes. Posting date. Tomorrow is for the 16th. She'd have to post tonight in order to to do it for Wednesday.

Okay. Well, I'm okay with Thursday. It works for me next week. That's fine. I made a motion. Oh, there's a motion on the floor for April 16, 2026. Do I have a second? I got a question. Oh, what to do now? But, uh, since we're talking about having meetings on whatever days y'all said earlier, Tuesdays and Wednesdays and Tuesdays or can we put that on agenda to to vote on that? Yes, we'll bring that. I believe the request was to bring it back at mid May the first meeting which was the 14th if I recall correctly.

We can bring it in since we're having a meeting. We can bring it in. But the motion was made. Yes, I made the I'll bring in paperwork tomorrow. We'll put it on there anyway. So it doesn't matter. Go ahead. Can we do that? Yeah, we can do it. I can close what I want. No, no, no. Well, go ahead. No, we made a motion just what we ordered right now.

Okay. In fact, I'm sorry. I want to just address the comment. And part of the reason why I made the motion uh to change days for the following month, the first uh meeting of that month is that also gives, you know, possibly a new council members, right, that opportunity to make that decision as well. So, just wanted to state that. I didn't think it was a motion. I thought it was just direction. It was a request. Yes. Request. Yes. Comments. Yes. Hi.

So, mayor, the motion on the floor right now is for moving the April 23rd meeting to the 16th. Yes. Do I have a second on that? Okay. Motion made by M. Miss uh Tor, second by Mr. Canu. All in favor? Three. Four. 540 against. Thank you. Uh item D6, discussion and possible action to authorize the attendance of council members at the Association of Hispanic Municipal Official Council scheduled for May 20 22nd, 2026.

Master on the agenda because I get confused with all these uh rules. We got to we got to do whatever the what do you call it the not rules it's a yeah the council passed the policy it's a policy that's the word I'm looking for policy

and u I just wanted to make sure I mean I might want to attend I'm not for sure yet that I'm going to attend but I wanted to come through council now and if whoever wants to uh attend this is the time to go ahead and vote but I I would like love to attend uh to the armor. A lot of people don't some of my federal counsel don't uh I guess there's a lot to learn from those uh conferences. So I want to attend and uh I just put it to the table to see if it's it would pass for me to attend and if anybody else would like to go this is the opportunity for us to go out there. Thank you. Do I have any uh comments or discussions on this?

I do have a question. I did not see any paperwork attached as far as for projected cost.

We can get that for you. U if you want to go ahead and we'll table it and we'll put it on the agenda for the 16th too. So that that's not a problem getting you that information. Uh, I don't know what what would be a reason not to attend. You know, regardless of the money cuz we're out there to learn, we get paid $75 a month. These are the opportunities, the trainings that we can that that we have available to to be able to attend. So, this is my my thing to to learn more as a as a councilman. So, if y'all don't just want to hold back just because of a few dollars and y'all don't have a problem spending and making motion for for spending extra dollars for for things that might not be necessary. So, it's all up to y'all. I'll put it on the agenda with an attached paperwork and what the cost would be.

Thank you, Council Member Lorenz. I I I just want to, you know, again, back to my comment that I made earlier. I mean, we do need to recognize that this council may change after May 2nd. So approving travel now would bind a future council to a decision they didn't participate in. You know even through even though the conference takes place after the election. So I would really like to um move that we go ahead and you know defer this request till the first regular council meeting scheduled for May 14th, 2026.

I have another question. And so we wait for the new council to come in just like we're waiting for the new council to make decisions on uh dates when the city of Florida knows that the second and the the second and the fourth Thursdays uh are the regular meeting to try to confuse the people just because we're going to try to uh accommodate other council people that that's not the right thing. But my thing is that conference is I think it's on the 20th. The council and we change meetings and all when it's going to come and we don't have the authorization for me to go out there and if y'all don't like to go out there just just say why y'all don't like to go. I know this y'all have problems with AMO, but you know, that's that's my opinion. But to to go ahead and try to strike me not to attend a conference to learn and to be a better councilman here for the betterment of the city of Floresville, I think y'all are wrong. But you all do as y'all please.

Council member uh I this is not to stop you. My motion is merely to just defer till the beginning of May. Again, you'll have ample time. At that time, we're also bringing forth the change of the date, so that shouldn't affect anything. But I I do want to bring up a couple of things, and I'll I'll just say it out there. Um, this conference is organized by individuals who are currently on the ballot in Floresville elections. Even if the intent is for professional development, that overlap creates a conflict of interest, optics or perception that cannot be ignored. So, you know, the agenda item lacked basic details including the conference location, lodging expenses and a total projected cost. Um, council was not provided, you know, sufficient information to evaluate the request. So again, for all of these reasons and the most prudent and transparent action is to defer this request until after the election and after new council is seated and with complete financial information provided.

You didn't have a problem, Miss Flores, when we went to the conference in forward didn't ask how much we were going to pay out there. Nothing. Now you're concerned because Excuse me, Mario. Excuse. No, no, no. I'm not excusing nothing. I'm talking. Okay. Because this is I'm not I'm not being disrespectful. This this program started you want to call it Migory. Really? No. You need to have a more patience.

No, I have the patience. I I'm just saying here just because this group here started in a in a motel room and they have grown and they teach you stuff. Now, if y'all don't like this group, you don't have to go. Y'all are here trying to hold me from going to the conference. just a few dollars, but you go to all kind of other conferences or other meetings in the city of Fort and and I have no questions to ask of that. It's just that we just passed the policy. Did we just pass? Well, that's why that's why I'm here trying to get it passed to change. You want us to change? No, I don't want you to change nothing. I want you to approve for me to go to the Amo conference. That's all.

But y'all have a problem with it. I didn't have a problem going to to the conference in Fort Worth, did y'all? at all. Y all win. We all win. So, we're going to defer it till the You got to have a motion first. Did you Was that a motion that you made? Um I'm I I'm just asking that. Yeah, we made a motion to defer it. I'm not not to deny it, but to defer the request till May 14th. Well, you're you're denying it. It's the motion to table. Is that what you're asking? Yes. To just table it till the 14th. Do I have a second? I'll second it. All in favor?

One against two against two. And um I'm going to um vote to defer it. Sure. I could I couldn't hear. I couldn't hear anything you said. I said it was two against two. You didn't vote. Did you remember? I couldn't hear. Okay. I couldn't hear you.

Okay. Well, I asked if uh who was for it to defer it and uh Miss Flores and Mr. Canu voted. Um did y'all hear me when And Jake, you voted? Correct. I voted to not defer it. Okay. And and Mario vote not to defer. And I'm I'm voting not to defer it. Mayor, since uh Maurice, aren't you a member of Hama? Isn't that a conflict? Mayor Mayor Mayor, I'm going to clarify. Yes. Go ahead,

Mayor. I'm going to clarify for the audience. Uh, since I didn't get to say a point of personal privilege because councilwoman Flores did not say my name, okay, but we know who she's talking about in the room or online. So, that would be the same thing as me saying you can't go I can't participate in TML because I'm the president. But everybody went to the conference. I went to the conference. I am a past president of this association. I'm not even going to be there. I'm going to be at the small cities conference in Bashrop.

So, this is following the procedures that we had voted on. And the information was emailed to all U members of TML. So, everyone has information if they would have looked at it. Um, but Mr. Mononis, I mean we can provide I you can get that information online and and send it to anybody that's asking. The only thing about deferring as it is with any registration for any conference is there are deadlines for early registration and later registration and with that comes a price increase. So, that's the only thing to consider with deferring, which is why I do not make a recommendation to defer the decision any further because it would be a price increase. And we're we're having discussions about money and and being conservative with funds. So, I mean, that's something to consider.

Yeah. But Miss Royce just wants to know how much the hotel is going to be, how much the gas, so we can uh budget it. So, we'll know. That's the only reason she's doing it. Why didn't why didn't Miss Roy want to know how much how much was it in Dallas? Because when we went to uh TML, you know, because we didn't know. Yeah, we didn't know it was going to be that much and we didn't know how many people were going. So that's why we made You knew how many people were going. Mayor, I did not. So, um that's Mayor, you sign you signed all of the checks. Mayor, you signed all the

Yeah, I signed all the checks. Yes, I did. But I did not know how many people had registered. I didn't know. Okay. Go ahead. So, as I understand what's happened so far, there's been a motion to table this item that failed. That failed. Okay. And so you a motion to approve the item to be considered. Okay. Or or some other motion. I don't I don't want to presume what

So, do I have a motion to approve without knowing how much we're going to spend? Let me let me just clarify. Mayor, you you worried about some pennies and dollars. Let me tell you, you went to Fort Worth and signed 40 checks. Now you No. Yeah, you did. 40 people went to the conference. Okay. 40 people went to the conference, right? Excuse me. Go ahead.

Uh, Mayor Council, if I if I may. Um I I believe uh council member Morones is requesting that at this point, correct me if I'm wrong, Councilman, uh that your participation be approved and then we can bring the item back at a later date uh for the changing if there is a change after the elections. Right now, I think you're just requesting that your attendance to the conference be approved. And I still might not go. I I don't know. I wanted to get it approved and and and like like Councilman Himemenz said there's a cost savings by doing it 30 days early.

Sir and my thing is it's not here about that I'm trying to spend taxpayers dollar. My my thing is now we're worried when we weren't worried over one person going to a conference and it's just because to me they want to block it or or they want to do whatever they want to do. That is not right. It's not fair. Now my thing is how much can a hotel cost? No. No more than what she spend in in in Fort Worth. No more than that. So let's go with an average common sense. Okay. Um all in uh do I have a motion to uh approve mayor discussion for you

before we make a motion you know there will be you know if this is approved there there's going to be a full transparency expense report to the public and to the council. So it's not going to be hidden or anything out there. So if we approve this item there's nothing we're doing wrong. Go ahead and if you want to make a motion, go ahead and make it. All right. I'll make a motion to approve the item to send u a council member or member to the office. You get that? Do I have a second? I don't know if you heard that or not. Okay. Motion made by Mr. Lumber. Do I have a second?

I second. Second by Mr. Morones. All in favor? Motion passes. Three four against. Two. 3 4 against. Motion passes. Moving on to executive session. The C the city council will move to close session pursuant to Texas government code section 551.0. 071 to consult with its attorney in section 551.072 deliberating about possible acquisitions of real property. Item B, the city council will meet in close session pursuant to Texas government code section 551.074 personnel to discuss the performance of interim city attorney Lee Rim and the possible appointments of Lee Rim as city attorney. C action following execution. Executive session.

I'll make a motion to go into executive session. Do I have a second? Do I have a second? I'll second. Motion made by Mr. second by M. All in favor? 54 zero against and we're going back at 717.