City Council - Regular Meeting

I don't know if they actually gave them.

Well, at the beginning, they'll have all the names. They had the dates for the month of Star Wars. I was a member of Williamson's.

It is now 5 PM. I called the City Council meeting to order. Let the record show that all Council members are present. The invocation will be given by Chaplain Dave Rasmussen of Abbott Health of Central Texas and the pledge of allegiance by Mayor Pro Tem Gonzalez.

Good evening, God. As we come together tonight to talk about business, we just pray that you will direct our thoughts, our words, and our actions to bring glory and honor to you. We thank you for this opportunity to serve in this city, in this country, and in this world. But we need your guidance. We need your love. Thank you for offering them to us. In Jesus' name, amen.

Thank you, Chaplain Dave Emerson. And thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. Council, I need a motion to approve the agenda. Council Member Brown.

Move to approve the agenda.

Motion was made by Council Member Brown. Second by Council Member Kendricks.

I second the motion.

Is there any discussion? All in favor signify by yes, all opposed no. Have all voted. Motion passed seven to zero. Thank you, Council. Madam Secretary, presentations.

Presentations. Item number one, PR-26-019, Killeen Starr Award.

If we could have Ms. Carolyn Brown come up and Mr. Cedric Moss. Yes.

I want to say, first of all, before we begin, let me just say this.

Thank you, Council Member Bass.

This is a time that we just take the time out in the month. Every council member gets an opportunity to recognize a resident. for their excellent work in the community. And this month, it is Councilmember Bass. And I'm going to let him introduce her again and read what you want to read, sir.

Mr. Cedric Moss contacted me a few weeks ago and said the Star Award is coming up, and he would like to nominate Ms. Carolyn Brown, and I was honored to pass that on up the chain of command. And Cedric, if you would like to read your nomination, this is really great.

I'm glad he printed it out, but I'll read it off my phone. All right. To whom it may concern, it is my honor to nominate Ms. Carolyn Brown for the City of Killeen Star Award. Known throughout the area as Killeen's godmother, Ms. Carolyn Brown is the true heart and soul of our community. As the founder and director of the E-Center in Killeen, she has spent decades, I know it may not look like it, decades helping families in need, guiding youth, local youth, and stepping in whenever help is needed. Her nickname isn't just a title, it reflects the real maternal care she gives to thousands of local residents, or she has given to thousands of local residents for over 30 years in this community. Under her leadership, the E-Center provides hot meals, clothing, job preparation, and much more. to anyone who walks through the door. When crisis strikes, Ms. Brown is consistently one of the first people on the front lines. During severe weather storms that shut down our power grids, she transformed the e-center into emergency warming hub for within hours. Without waiting for outside help, she organized hot meals, gathered heavy blankets, and personally delivered essential supplies to home-bound seniors and families without cars. Her fast action during local disasters, severe weather events, and economic downturns have repeatedly helped citizens throughout our city. Ms. Carolyn Brown is also a fierce advocate for Killeen's homeless community and young people. She regularly leads street outreach events that provide hot food, warm clothing, hygiene kits directly to those in need. For local youth, she organizes massive back-to-school rallies that supply hundreds of children with free backpacks, school supplies, haircuts, and other essentials. During the holidays, her annual give-back distributed Thanksgiving turkey dinners and ensure their children and families have a safe space throughout the holidays. I promise I'm coming to the end. Carolyn Brown represents the absolute best of Colleen and giving her this award celebrates a lifetime of selfless work from the woman who is truly Colleen's godmother. Thank you, ma'am.

It is an honor for me to present this to you. Thank you for all you do for our city, and I enjoyed the two events I've been out there.

Thank you so much. Thank you.

Would you like to say a word? Thank you.

because I had to write it down too.

Okay.

Thank you for bringing it down. I felt really short up here. Okay. Thank you to the city of Killeen, our mayor, and our city council for the incredible honor. Okay. It would help if I put my glasses on that I got in my hand. I proudly accept this Star Award on behalf of everyone who has supported me, Obsessions by Carolyn, Civilistic Enterprises, E-Center Colleen, and E-Community Colleen over the last 30 plus years of serving our community. My mission, passion, and purpose has always been to bring our community together through purpose, passion, and service. I would like to give a special thank you to my children, Alexa and Terrence. Thank you for your love and support and for always standing beside me. I share this special honor with both of you. I am also grateful for every volunteer partner, organization, friend, and community member who helps make our mission possible. I love Colleen, and I am truly honored to serve this community. Thank you. Thank you so much.

Again, thank you Ms. Brown, well deserved. Okay, now we will go into our work session. Discuss agenda items 9 through 15 for the September 15, 2026 regular session. No final action will be taken until the regular session. Madam Secretary, the first resolution, please.

Resolutions. Item number 9, RS-26-142. Consider a memorandum resolution authorizing a five-year sponsorship agreement with Rodeo Killeen for the Killeen Rodeo in the amount of $250,000.

Good evening, Ms. McNair.

Good evening. How are you?

Fine, ma'am. Good.

Good. So, Killeen Rodeo, organized by Killeen Volunteers, Inc., through its Killeen or Rodeo Killeen Committee, is one of the city's longest-standing annual events and has become a signature tourism attraction for the community. The event draws from across Central Texas and surrounding regions, generating economic activity for local hotels, restaurants, and businesses. The purpose of the sponsorship is to establish a long-term partnership between the city of Killeen and KVI through its Rodeo Killeen, continue supporting one of the city's premier tourism events, and key terms include the five-year agreement effective October 1 of this year through September 30th of 2031. The annual sponsorship amount is $50,000 for a total sponsorship of $250,000, which will be funded through the hotel tax funds. So the last event that was held was just this past May, and there were 17,000 visits, 611 rodeo contestants from all over Texas and 20 states. The estimated economic impact was $1.8 million. We had a lot of media visibility, and approximately 6,000 pounds of canned food was donated, and two scholarships were awarded to local students. Staff recommends that City Council authorize the City Manager or his designee to execute the five-year agreement with KVI for Rodeo Killeen in the amount of $250,000. Okay, thank you, ma'am.

Council Member Nashkeen.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor and Council. I think that this is a great honor. Brad and Amanda and the Rodeo Committee have done an amazing job ever since I've been on Council 2017. I had the opportunity to serve on the Rodeo Committee, which I love. And it gives a lot back to the community. Not only it introduced rodeo to some people that may have never been involved with it, but it also, the community service, it honors our men and women in uniform, and it brings in tours to our city to highlight the city of Killeen. So this is a great investment over five years, the $250,000. And thank you, too. Thank you, Mr. Mayor and Councilor.

Thank you, Councilmember. I do agree. It's been great. And in the times that I've been here, it's been a great event, enjoyable event. Councilmember Bess.

I went to the rodeo this year on the second night. It was fantastic. The first night, as I recall, was focused on our soldiers out at Fort Hood. And I drove by there the first night. And I saw all the military families walking up the street, all the kids real happy, all the kids wearing their cowboy hats. So I think that the Rodeo Killeen is not only a great thing for the city of Killeen, but it's very important for our soldiers and families out at Fort Hood. They really enjoy it. So thank you to Rodeo Killeen for taking care of our soldiers and their families. Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am. Madam Secretary, next item.

Item 10, RS-26-143, consider a memorandum resolution appointing members to vacant, expired, and unexpired terms on various boards, commissions, and committees.

Good afternoon, Ms. McGill.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Good evening. The item before you tonight is the annual appointments of citizens to the board's committees and commissions. The mayor and city council make annual appointments to various boards each year and throughout the year as vacancies occur. The following tables show members with expired terms, expiring terms, or resignations, and if their term is limited or if they're requesting reappointment as well. So we'll start with the Animal Advisory Committee. Subcommittee is going to be Council Members Bass and Brown. And we have one vacancy for a citizen representative.

Okay. Okay. Council Member Brown.

I nominate Jamie Carroll.

I nominate James Carroll. Jamie Carroll. Jamie Carroll.

Jamie Carroll.

Okay. That was just one?

Correct.

Okay. All right. Okay.

And Madam City Attorney, do we need to vote on that each time or will we just vote all at the end together?

No, so this is the work session portion. So if the names that you nominate now will then continue on into regular session, you can vote to approve those unless there are changes, in which case you can have more discussion.

This is just a nomination.

Okay.

Next up will be Arts Commission. And we have five vacancies. Three are going to be at-large members. One is going to be for music, radio, TV, tape, sound recording, and one is going to be for folk art, painting, and sculpture with various expiring terms. both Ashley and Vantonio have requested reappointment as well.

Yeah. Council Member Brown.

I recommend reappointing the two that, I'm sorry, reappointing Ashley and we have Monique Brand who is in TV since Vantonio fairly started I apologize. I lost my voice. Come a little bit closer to the microphone. So I would recommend keeping Ashley since she is not termed out and has requested reappointment. But for the TV, music, and radio, I would nominate Monique Brand since Fantonia Fraley is termed.

Okay, Council Member Nashke.

Yes, sir. The question is, thank you, Mr. Mayor and Council, are those probably the only two positions we can fulfill, or is it more positions?

No, ma'am. All five positions are eligible to be filled. The other three are going to be terms that have not expired yet.

Okay.

So at this moment, we would still have two at-large members and then a folk art, painting, and sculpture representative that we can fill.

Okay, thank you. With that being said, I would like to nominate... I think Tisha, is that Tisha Dix? I don't know, D-I-X.

D-I-X, okay.

Okay.

And that's for us at large member?

At large, yes, ma'am. And if no, any other position before I continue? Oh, okay, Mayor Pro Tem. Okay, thank you. If there's anything left, I'll come back.

Thank you.

Thank you. Okay, Council Member Brown. Oh, I'm sorry, Mayor Pro Tem?

Thank you. We have one that did apply but is not listed here. It's just been confirmed. But I did want to nominate Jamie Salter for Arts Commission. Jamie Salter.

And is that going to be an at-large member? Yes, ma'am, at-large.

Thank you.

Okay, Council Member Kendricks.

Yes, I would like to nominate Kimberly Johnson.

And that'll be for the folk art position?

Is there still an at-large position open?

Currently, we have three recommendations, and we have three vacancies for at-large.

And what was the other position you just said?

The folk art painting and sculpture. To my knowledge, I don't know that we had anybody that met that requirement that applied. But if you know something different, I'm certainly welcome to that.

Uh, no, I don't know nothing different on that one. So I would like to just stay at that large.

Okay. And what was the name?

Kimberly Johnson.

Okay. Um, council member Brown.

I was just going to ask if we could reopen it for the Arts Commission so we can maybe get an application for someone that would fit that need.

Yes, ma'am. These are open year-round. They actually don't close. So we can monitor it. And when we do have someone that meets that qualification, that's certainly something we could bring back to council.

Thank you.

Yes, ma'am.

Okay. And I'm saying Council Member Kendricks? No. Okay. Council Member Nash-King? No.

Yes, sir. I just have a question for our city attorney. Have we ever been able to fill that position?

Yes, it was recently filled. So that person has resigned from the commission and didn't reapply for reappointment. So it has been filled. I have a question. Were there four recommendations for at-large? Yes, ma'am.

Okay, so I just wanted to come down to three.

I was going to, since Council Member Kendrick had a person, I was going to ask the mayor, could I take my name off the list for at large? Because we have four and we only need three. So I'll remove my name.

And that was Ms. Tisha Dix? Yes, ma'am.

Yes, ma'am. Yes, Council Member Nash King. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, ma'am.

All right, next up is the Audit Committee. Mr. Ralston is requesting reappointment, and then we have one additional citizen representative position vacant.

Okay, Council Member Bass.

I move to reappoint Mr. Ralston. He served on the Audit Committee and has the experience.

Okay. You nominate. It's not a move, but you're nominating him.

Yes, sir.

Okay. Council Member Nash King.

Yes, sir, and I'd like to nominate Phillip Brown. I'm sorry, Phillip Brown. There was only two positions open. Correct. Okay, thank you.

All right, if there's no other nominations, we'll move on. The Bell County Board of Health with a subcommittee of Council Members Williams and Bass. Mr. Sam Fiala has run as the representative for many terms and is no longer requesting reappointment. The alternative has been Amy. Amy has stated she is willing to step up and be the representative. She is also the only applicant for this board.

Okay. Council Member Nash-King.

Oh, no, sir.

I'm not on that committee. Okay. Okay. Council Member Bass.

How do we pronounce Amy's last name? Mersofsky. Mersofsky. I nominate Ms. Amy to step up, and we appreciate her doing that.

And again, this does remain open year-round, so if another applicant applies that is eligible for it, we can bring that back at another time. All right, next up is going to be the Capital Improvement Advisory Committee. We have one vacancy, and they are supposed to be within the real estate development or building industry.

Okay, Council Member Williams. I'm sorry, did you?

No? Okay. Disregard.

Okay. Is there any nominations? Council? Councilwoman Redbass?

I would like to nominate Mr. Jeffrey R. Jaggers. He lives in my district. I've met him after I was elected. He's a retired CW5, so his experience is military. So since his application is there, I don't know if he falls under real estate development or building industry.

City Attorney, you want to help me out with that one?

Let me take a look at the application real quick.

But I can say a CW5 has a lot of experience in many different areas.

I'm looking at the application to see if they checked off the box for real estate. Isn't there a box on the?

There's not an application. No, it's all based on what's in the application. And if I remember correctly, nobody had real estate in their application.

So just from the information we do have on the application and the resume that was attached, you have a lot of areas of expertise there. Yeah, it doesn't look like we have somebody that fits that category.

Thank you.

Okay, so we'll keep that one open as well, and if somebody applies, we can bring it back to you.

Okay.

Next up is going to be the Civil Service Commission. Mr. Cagle?

Yes, I recommend reappointing Kenneth Hawthorne. Okay. Okay.

Okay, next up is the Community Development Advisory Committee. We have six expiring terms, and they're all going to be citizen representatives.

Okay, Council Member Nashke.

Thank you, sir. The Community Development Advisory, I would like to appoint Tiffany Hall. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you, ma'am. Council Member Brown. Christy Wilbanks.

Christy Wilbanks.

Council Member Kimball. Thank you, sir. I would like to nominate Mr. Bear Jones. Okay.

Council Member Bass. I would like to nominate Ms. Delsina West.

May I quote Tim?

Ms. Scotty Hilder.

I'm sorry, can you repeat that one?

Scotty.

Scotty Hilder. Council Member Nashke.

Is that all five? I do have one more, but there are three on there that we're requesting reappointment. So if there's no more recommendations.

Which three? Miss Lavinia Sabree. That's okay. If they want to stay, they can. That's fine.

We will need to narrow it down to one. So which one? Which one? What are their names? Lavinia Sabree, Patsy Bracey, and Angela Galbraith.

I don't know Angela, so I will go with her. Thank you.

Council Member Kimball.

No, they can do more than one.

Okay, Council Member Bass.

Sorry, sir. I didn't turn mine off.

May I quote him? Okay. Council Member Nash-King.

Yes, ma'am. You said there's one more?

That's all six. Okay.

Thank you. And so...

That's it? Yep. Unless anyone else has any changes. Okay. Next up is going to be the Heritage Preservation Board. So this is where we started getting into some of them that are a little bit different. Mark Manning is a representative of KAHA, and he is requesting reappointment. We do have two at-large representatives that are both requesting reappointment and then a vacancy for a realtor.

Council Member Nashke.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor and Council. This committee is very unique, as you stated, of the expertise. All the three you named have done an excellent job. And I, when I went through the applications, I didn't see a realtor unless somebody else on here saw one to fill that one position.

I believe you're correct.

Thank you, but I would recommend to the council, because this is such a specific expertise like a heritage preservation board, that we should keep, if it's okay with them, to keep the three members because they have done an excellent job. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you. That's your recommendation. Thank you, Council Member.

Clean Economic Development Corporation. Mr. Todd Fox is a chamber representative. He is requesting reappointment. And Mr. Jose Guzman is a KIF representative. He's also requesting reappointment.

Council Member Nash King. I'm going to let someone else speak. I apologize. Okay. Council Member Bess.

I nominate Mr. Todd Fox for a second term.

Okay. Council Member Kendricks. Aye.

You took the one I had. What was the second one? Jose Guzman. I nominate Jose Guzman.

Wonderful. Thank you. Next will be the Killeen sister cities. Ms. Janice Anderson is an OSAN representative. She is requesting reappointment. Ms. Sandra Taiwan has not requested reappointment. That's going to be a citizen representative vacancy. And then the third vacancy on this committee is going to be a YAC representative, which is typically recommended by YAC. However, they were just appointed, so they have not been able to give their recommendation yet. So with that, we have the OSAN representative requesting reappointment and then one citizen representative.

Okay, Council Member Bass. Oh, sorry. Council Member Kendricks. Okay, Council Member Kimball.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I recommend for Janice Anderson to stay on as the OSAN rep.

Okay. Council Member Nashkin?

Yes, sir. If I understood correctly, Mr. Mayor and ma'am, it was one vacancy.

Yes, ma'am.

And I would like to recommend, and if I mispronounce his name, please correct me, Raymond A. Monaco? Monaco?

The next one is going to be the Main Street Board. We have three vacancies for citizen representatives. All three parties are requesting reappointment.

Okay. Council Member Nash-Kate. Thank you. I would like to recommend Ramon Alvarez. Thank you.

It doesn't matter the way it's done out.

Thank you for that correction. Absolutely.

May I point out?

I'm sorry, I just had a question regarding that. You said that there's three that are requesting reappointment. You said it doesn't matter. How do we know which?

In the sense of if you recommend, let's say, Mr. Watkins and she wants to recommend Ms. Ringgold, then Ramon Alvarez could take Mr. Pemberton's position.

Understood. Thank you. Council Member Brown?

I was just going to recommend that we keep the three people that are currently serving on that board and allow them to continue since none of them are termed out. This is a board that's just getting off the ground to try to reestablish her downtown area.

Okay, Council Member Nashke.

Yes, sir. The reason I recommended Ramon Alvarez, he has a business down there, and this committee, to me, for the Main Street Board, I would hope it would be committee members that have invested their time and money to ensuring the downtown is developed correctly as we continue to revitalize downtown Killeen, because it's predicated on their investment and to ensure that they give 100% and their input on downtown where they would most likely work daily, they should have that input on that. I respect Council Member Brown's decision, but Mr. Nye would ask the council to make a decision on that, and my recommendation would be Ramon Alvarez.

Okay, we can bring you to vote at the regular session.

Thank you, sir.

Yes, ma'am.

Next is going to be the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee. There are four vacancies. They do go by districts. The District 2 representative is requesting reappointment, as is the District 4 and the at-large position. District 3 is vacant, so there's no reappointment there.

Okay, Council Member Kimball.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I would like Emilio Fenderson to continue as the position two district two rep.

Okay. Council Member Kendricks.

I would like for Michelle Lammers to continue as district four.

Okay.

And that leaves us with a District 3 and an at-large position.

Council Member Nashke.

I apologize for that, sir. For the at-large position, I would like to recommend Damascus Y. Rouse. It launched.

Damascus. Damascus. I've got a list of them. And that leaves District 3, which is currently vacant.

And I apologize. I missed that this was my decision.

I'm sorry, sir. I think Council Member Nash-King, did you?

Oh, no, sir. Council Member Bass, District 3.

Council Member Brown, then Council Member Bass. Okay, there we go.

District 3.

Okay. Okay. Council Member Bass?

I apologize. I did not realize this was by district. But I do know that we have several applications from District 3. So I nominate Jamie Carroll.

Thank you, sir.

Up next is the Planning and Zoning Commission. There are three vacancies. All three are requesting reappointment, and they are at large positions as well.

I also move in Nash King.

Thank you. Mr. Mayor, can I ask a question about this position? Yes, ma'am. Thank you, sir. And I see, attorney, are they up, their position expired, or they just want to be?

Yes, they're all expiring at the end of this month.

All right. In that case, I would like to nominate for that committee Johnny Frederick.

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

You're welcome. Council Member Brunt.

I nominate James Stills.

Okay. Council Member Pro Tem.

Ken Wilkerson.

Council Member Williams.

Cindy Rowe. And that does give us four. You already have four.

There's three vacancies.

Okay.

Did you still want to nominate Ms. Cindy Rowe?

Yes. Can we just bring you to a vote?

Yes, ma'am. Mr. Mayor, I can remove Miles. Yes, sir. I don't want to have to do all of that. I'll just remove my name.

Thank you. Yes.

It makes it complicated. May I quote you?

Council Member Williams? Council Member Nash-King?

Yes, sir. I just requested to remove my... Okay. All right.

Okay, I believe this was our last one. Senior Sentencing Advisory Board subcommittees are going to be Councilmembers Nash, King, and Williams. There are five expiring terms and three vacant terms that are not expired. So we do have a total of eight positions. I do have three people that are requesting reappointment.

Okay, so we have three to meet the final...

Council Member Nash King.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. We will keep the three individuals that are requested to stay in that position, and I will refer to Mr. Mayor, Councilwoman Williams, for the five positions that's left to give out the names.

Council Member Williams.

Thank you, Councilwoman Nash. I appreciate that. The one I'm nominating is Vince Washington. Can you repeat the last name? Vince, V-I-N-C-E, Washington, W-A-S-H-I-N-G-T-O-N. Emilio Fenderson, E-M-I-L-I-O, Fenderson. Michelle Lammers. Misty Darwin.

What was the first name?

Misty, M-I-S-T-Y, Darwin, D-A-R-R-I-N. And lastly, Mr. Luis Rivera.

Thank you, Council Member Williams. Council Member Nashke? No.

Okay, and this is the last one. The TERS board. Representative Louie Minor is a Bell County representative. They do intend on taking that before their board at the 21st of this month. So tentatively, he's going to be requesting reappointment. Ms. Toni Ringgold is a citizen representative. She is requesting reappointment. And Mr. Rex Weaver is the Central Texas College representative. He's also requesting reappointment. And then this is a unique situation where we do have a vacancy for a council member as well. So I'm not sure how we want to handle that, but we do have a vacancy.

City Attorney.

Yes. For this, when we, when council. When council appointed its council members back in June, the council member Kendrick was appointed, but you were already a member. And so we still have one vacancy for a council member.

Okay. Council member Nashke.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor and Council. I recommend that we keep our three individuals that we have, and I would like to also serve on that committee as a council representative.

Okay, so you're nominating yourself? Yes, sir. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Council Member Brown. Okay. Okay.

All right, and that's the last of it. Our staff recommendation would be to appoint the individuals just discussed to the identified vacancies and expired terms.

Thank you so much. Will you help? Okay. Madam Secretary, next item. Sir.

Item 11, RS-26-144, consider a memorandum resolution ratifying the city manager's approval of the emergency procurement for the Avondestora emergency sewer repair and contract with TTG Utilities, Inc. in the amount of $146,700. Good evening. Ma'am, how are you doing?

Good evening, Mr. Mayor. It's good to see you again. Rachel.

Thank you. Good evening, Mayor and Council. Before you tonight, we have a preventative project that we took the initiative to go find out why we were having additional sewer overflows in a specific area. Our crews became aware of the situation after two sanitary sewer overflows, and in July of this year, they did some investigation as to why that was occurring. What we did find is that the length of pipe at the depth and slope of which it was was too much for our crews to do in-house and we needed to go externally with a contractor. This particular project conforms to city policy and satisfies the legal requirement for single source emergency repairs of a sewer line due to the preservation of public health and safety. On August 11th, the city manager authorized emergency procurement and executed the contract with TTG Utilities for this 200 linear foot of sanitary sewer pipe. Work was completed, inspected, cameraed, and accepted by the city on August 26th of 2026. and the final invoice was received on August 28th of 2026. This was an emergency procurement that the City Manager did authorize, and so we are recommending and asking that City Council ratify the City Manager's approval of the emergency procurement for the Aventasora Emergency Sewer Repair Contract with TTG Utilities, Inc., in the amount of $146,700 and authorize a city manager or a designee to execute any and all change orders within the amount set by state and local law. And with that, I'm available for any questions you may have.

Council Member Kimball.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. As an emergency procurement, where does that line, where does those funds come from to fix it?

So these particular funds for this project came within our water and sewer funds, within our operating budget. We just shifted some money around at the end of the year. We had other things that were put on hold in order to make this repair project.

So there were no projects. You didn't take money from another project to do this project, did you?

These are operational funds that were utilized for this particular project.

Okay. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Council Member Brown.

Can you explain what would have happened had we not done the emergency repair and how much that potentially could have cost the city?

Absolutely. So when we have sanitary sewer overflows we are required to report them to the state or the TCEQ as you may have heard in previous presentations and when that occurs the level of fines that are resulting from that depend on the amount of flow that goes out into a waterway or onto the surface of the land. In this particular spot it was a low area where we did have saturated soils and And that's one of the reasons why city staff could not complete this job within the week that we typically allot for a project. And with that, fines vary. It could go anywhere from $5,000 upwards of $25,000 for an event.

And we had already had two events at the same location? We did. So theoretically, if we had not fixed this right away, we could have piled up thousands of dollars each and every single time. And then there's the additional risk that we've got that raw sewage going back into the groundwater and into the dirt that could then contaminate it and make the people sick.

And any time the sewer overflows and gets into the environment, it is an issue for the state and for the city, and we try to prevent that as best as possible. So it is something that could have had repetitive fines on it from the state had we not taken measures to correct it. Thank you.

Any other questions? Thank you, ma'am. Thank you. Thank you. Madam Secretary?

Item 12, RS-26-145, consider a memorandum resolution approving a negotiated settlement between the Atmos Cities Steering Committee and the Atmos Energy regarding the 2026 Atmos Rate Review Mechanism filing.

Good evening, City Attorney.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council. This is your Atmos Rate Review Mechanism filing item. So a little bit of background on this. Cities exercise original jurisdiction over the level of gas rates charged within their boundaries. Colleen is a member of the Atmos City Steering Committee, along with 181 other cities served by Atmos MidTechs. So since 2007, Atmos and the Steering Committee have worked under an alternate rate review process referred to as the Rate Review Mechanism, RRM, as opposed to the statutory gas reliability infrastructure program. Amos filed a rate request on about April 1st, 2026, claiming it's entitled to additional system-wide revenues of $291.1 million, and that's based on a test year ending December 31, 2025, so last year. The steering committee consultants analyzed the filing and determined that the system-wide deficiency under the RRM should be $253.4 million. So the Executive Committee of the Steering Committee in Atmos negotiated a settlement and that settlement resulted in the request was reduced from the $291.1 million to $260.5 million. This does impact the average residential increase would be $13.37 per month or 14.15% increase and the average commercial user increase is $44.82 per month or 9.9% increase. Staff and Executive Committee of the Steering Committee recommend approving the negotiated settlement between the Steering Committee and Atmos Mid-Tex Division regarding the 2026 RM filing. I'm here for any questions. I also believe there's a representative from Atmos here as well.

Thank you. Council Member Kimball.

When it comes to the Atmos and... I don't know if you call it a rate increase or their request for increase. Is this done yearly? I mean, do they come every year?

Yes, they do. So they are statutorily, they have a statutory right to review and increase these rates every year under the grip formula. And we do have better rates than the city still under grip. But they do have, if we weren't under this, we'd be under grip.

So based on the... I mean, I guess for me and for citizens, what happens? Why the rate increase? What causes ADMIS? On their supply side, are they being charged more? They're passing on to us?

It's based on their capital investment made within the preceding 12 months. So the year ending December 2025, it's based on those expenses. Is the ADMIS representative here? Yes. She can maybe explain that a little bit better.

And I guess, you know, as, you know, for the citizen standpoint, there's, you know, everything increases, and we're just trying to find out why the atmosphere increased. I would like to hear that explanation and what difference, what goes on year to year to cause that delivery of gas to increase, you know, for the citizen.

Definitely. I would defer, yes. Thank you.

Hi, my name is Tammy Bowman, and thank you for allowing me to come up and speak. Our vision is to be the safest provider of natural gas, and much like the city, in order for us to be the safest provider of natural gas, we have to continue to invest in our infrastructure. So investing in and modernizing our infrastructure while continuing to invest in safety, innovation, and then environmental sustainability. Last in 2025 we invested. Roughly 1.8 billion into our system and 85% of that was in our infrastructure. So that is the reason why we're coming to you today and ask for our rates is because of our investment in our infrastructure to keep it safe.

Thank you, ma'am, for that explanation. Just one question. So as an end user, what difference do we see based on your capital improvement? What do I see as an end user?

Sure. I know here in Killeen we are currently doing some neighborhood replacements and modernizing our system.

So modernizing the system. Yes. modernizing the gas, the delivery system, the gas pipes. Right. Is what those rate increases are for. Yes. The modernization. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you.

Yes, sorry about that.

Before you walk away, what percentage of that $1.8 billion is in this general area of Central Texas?

Sure, that's a good question. And I have... For the city of Killeen... We have roughly 7,427 customers, 190 miles of pipeline. And for our capital investments and for fiscal year 25, it was $6,739,721 spent in 25.

Thank you. And my other question is for Ms. Clemmons. I know every year we have to go through this with Atmos and with Encore. Can you explain what happens if we don't approve this?

Sure. The rates, the higher rates would go into, we would have a problem because what we would need to do, the steering committee hires experts to go through this filing and go through the rates and that's where the negotiation starts and how this was reduced from the rates that they're, that they're are statutorily available to request under the GRIP system. So I would not recommend making a change for this year. If you were looking for something to do next year, if we wanted to change the system or try to do something different, we would need to do that ahead of time before because these rates are set to go into effect on October 1st.

That actually goes to my next question. How do we notify on such short notice those customers who are going to have higher rates starting October 1?

I don't know if Atmos does notifications. I would ask that their representative speak to that. All right.

So, yes, notifications were sent out to our customers in their bill. And once the rates are in effect, then we'll send another notice out within their billing. But like Ms. Clements mentioned, you all are part of the ACSC coalition, which when we filed back in April, we met with the ACSC coalition. We opened our books up to them. It's a very open process. And they went on y'all's behalf to get the best rates.

In the future, I'd love to see that we can do it where any increases are proportional to the infrastructure we're receiving. So we're not paying for infrastructure going to some other part of the state of Texas. And then, Mr. Cagle, do we have any city buildings that are still utilizing gas infrastructure?

We have some, but not a lot. The gas in town's all in the north.

And I would guess that this has already been built into our FY27 budget?

Honestly, in all of our buildings that have it, these are really small numbers, but I would say no, this rate's not in there.

And I think you just said it, but we actually don't have any natural gas customers at all or natural gas lines north of I-14, correct?

I think they're all north of... I'm sorry, I meant to say south of I-14. They could verify that, but that's...

Yeah, so everything is just going to affect the north side. Yes. Okay.

I would also note that if the city is, if the council is looking at having this based on just the infrastructure based on the city, the reason we're able, with the steering committee, they hire the experts and we pool that money together to pay for those experts. If the city was going on its own, then we would be taking on those expenses. Thank you.

Council Member Betz.

So just for perspective, the average residential increase will be $160.44 per year, and the average commercial increase will be $537.84 a year. It's a big increase, but it sounds like If the council was to say no, it would be even more of an increase.

At this point. And we can definitely look at that for the future about doing something different. And we can have the representatives from the steering committee come explain a little bit better about how we go through that process. But if we decided to not be a part of the steering committee in the future, then the expense of challenging that would be solely on the city. So we've looked at going through the steering committee in the past. But we can definitely... Talk about that more in the future. And as far as those numbers, did you just multiply the numbers by 12? Because that 500 number, 45 times 12, I'm not sure about that. It's just I have the monthly figure.

Yeah, I just did it. Just to see how big of an impact. And it is a big impact. And a lot of these are older homes and older businesses. So it's a substantial increase for the customers. But it sounds like it's the best deal we have at this moment.

This is a greater increase than we've seen in the last few years. We completely acknowledge that, and I believe that it was good to have that representative up here to explain those increases. But, yes, this is a greater increase than we've seen in the past several years.

Thank you. Council Member Nashke. Thank you, Mr. Cagle. I just thank the council for the questions that they ask, and I thank staff and Atmos for answering them. But the item that's on the agenda that's up for vote is that we have met with other cities, we had experts to come in, and this is the best deal we can negotiate. This is what we will be voting on tonight. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, City Attorney. Madam Secretary, next item.

Item 13, RS-26-146, consider a new random resolution awarding RFP 27-11 to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas, BCBSTX, for an excess risk policy stop loss insurance for medical and pharmacy claims under the city's health insurance plan effective October 1, 2026, in the amount of $1,509,582. Good afternoon, Ms. McDaniel.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. As she stated, we're here to discuss stop loss insurance for this evening. Just a quick background. So as you know, the city is a self-funded health insurance platform, which means we need to protect ourselves from high claimants through the stop loss line of insurance. On August 2nd, the city partnered with Lockton and utilized the request for proposal process to select a stop loss insurance provider. What stop-loss insurance does is it protects us in two different ways. It protects us from individual claims of a specific amount, and it protects our claims as a whole. So as a whole group, if we exceed a certain margin, stop-loss insurance would come into effect in that manner as well. So our current individual deductible is $200,000, meaning any claim that hits $200,000 and goes over, stop loss kicks in and helps us pay that claim. The contract basis is on a 24-12, which means it's looking at claims that have occurred in the past 24 months, and they will pay them out in the coming 12 months. And the aggregate margin or the entire claims spend as a whole is 125%, meaning once their claims spend is 125% of what we came to you in June with, stop loss would kick in from an aggregate perspective. We received two bids when we went out for bid. Those were from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas and Voya. In coercion with Lockton Dunning, we reviewed and analyzed these bid proposals. They were reviewed on RFP format, fixed cost, contract maturity, services provided, and then renewal protection, meaning when we go out for bid next year, what is the maximum that that renewal would come back at from these companies? Grading resulted in the following scores. Blue Cross Blue Shield with a 93.4 out of a possible 100. VOYA with 74.2. Also, it should be noted that we actually cannot consider VOYA's proposal because their proposal did not include a firm cost, saying this is exactly what it would cost. It was subject to change and therefore could not be considered as a viable option. So, of the coverage options provided to us, we had three. The first option is to renew with the same contract format that we currently have. You will note one difference, and that's that the contract basis would be a 36-12, and it's because we've been in stop loss now that that look-back period and those claim payment periods is a little bit longer. Option two would be to increase our individual deductible to $250,000. This would mean the city would take on $50,000 more in risk for those high claimants, of which we average less than four annually. And option three would be to increase that deductible to $300,000, meaning the city would take on a possible extra additional $100,000 per high claimant before that stop loss insurance would kick in. It is recommended that we partner with Blue Cross Blue Shield as the viable option and consider coverage option number three, which increases our risk. There are multiple reasons for considering that, the health of the fund, what our performance has been in the past with regards to high claimants, as why that's coming forward as the proposed option. So I'm happy to answer any other questions that you might have.

Okay. Council Member Brown?

Not so much a question as a statement or an explanation. Southpaw is essentially then would be like an umbrella policy that a private individual would carry covers above and beyond what your primary insurance covers, correct? Correct. And I agree with option number three. I used to have an insurance agency. We don't have enough claims historically that hit that $200,000 mark. So warrant us having the higher payment or premium when more than likely we're going to save a whole lot more money by not doing that. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you so much. Madam Secretary, next item.

Item 14, RS-26-147. Consider a memorandum resolution authorizing the submission of a Defense Economic Adjustment Assistance Grant application to the Texas Military Preparedness Commission in an amount up to $5 million for the Restationing Facility Improvements New Fiber Backbone Project.

Good evening, Ms. Singleton.

Good evening. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Council Members. This item today is for the DEAG grant application installation of a new fiber backbone. At the background, the Defense Economic Adjustment Assistance Grant, DEAAG, supports infrastructure projects that enhance the military value installations. The Howard Texas Defense Alliance and Fort Hood identify a project related to the restationing of the 116th Military Intelligence Brigade, Hades. Restationing will bring approximately 200 soldiers and 1,800 family members to Fort Hood. City of Killeen will serve as the applicant project sponsor and the Ohio-Texas Defense Alliance is coordinating preparation of the grant application. The priority DEAG projects applications in 2016 and 2019, we did one with the rubber gray Army airfield, one for the radar approach control facility renovation, and one for the security surveillance systems, and with the aviation help. And in 2022, we did a WCID number one late Belton water plant backup power system. The project purpose is to install a new fiber backbone to West Fort Hood, support mission critical data flow for Haiti's operations, improve network capability for West Fort Hood, extend communications to the ammunition supply point, and support automated instruction detection capabilities. The project funding. The project cost is $13.8 million. The grant request will be for $5 million. And the cost share will be federal for who? $8.7 million. And the city of Tulane in kind will be $75,000. This is the mat where the system fiber line is and the new fiber line. The recommendation is that the staff recommend the city council approve a resolution authorizing the city manager or executive director of finance to submit an application to the Texas Military Preparedness Commission for up to $5 million in defense economic adjustment assistance grant funding for the restationing facility improvements project and authorizing the city of Killeen to serve as the project sponsor applicant. I will be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Council Member Brown. Well, okay, there are no questions. Thank you. Thank you so much, ma'am. You have the next one. Yes. Item 15.

Madam Minister. Item 15, RS26-148. Consider a memorandum resolution approving the Killeen Arts Commission grant recommendations for fiscal year 2027.

Thank you. Yes, ma'am. This item is for the Clean Arts Commission 2027 grant awards. Background, the Texas tax code 351-101 hotel occupancy tax requires hotel occupancy tax revenues to be spent in a manner that directly enhances and promotes tourism to the convention industry and the hotel industry. Authorizing municipalities to allocate up to 15% of hotel occupancy tax collections for the arts. The total for fiscal year 2027 grants to the arts proposed allocation is $75,000. That is approximately 4% of fiscal year 2027 budgeted hot collections. The grant award process started on March 2nd and it goes all the way to July 10th. And fiscal year 2027 proposed grant award recommendations are for the grantee Walnut Grove Community Services, $1,166. For the Innovation Black Chamber of Commerce, $6,270. For Beverly Arts Society, $39,858. For eCommunity Clean, $18,175. And the Premier Creative Collective Inc. is $9,531, with a total of $75,000. The alternatives is do not approve the Arts Commission grant recommendations or amend the Arts Commission grant recommendation or approve the recommendations as presented. And the recommendation is to approve as presented. I would be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Council Member Kimball.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Ms. Tangland, so I think it's no secret that we've had issues collecting the right amount of hot tax. based on information we receive from our auditor, things outlined in local media. I mean, how do we rectify making sure that, one, the correct amount of tax is collected and our numbers come balanced correctly? I think if we look back for the last few years, it hasn't been. I think the collection rate is... I don't know what that number is, I'll have to talk to Mr. Grady. But I mean, it seems like we're leaving a lot of issues, a lot of money on the table by not collecting the appropriate tax.

So the hotel collections have been steady, and we do have a huge drop in 2020 because of COVID. After that, we had two hotels that actually fell off the radar. One of them was the Hilton Garden because they have a fire. And then in 2023, we have the Red Lion that actually closed. So we did have a reduce on hotel taxes. What the city internal auditor was looking into was the STRs. The STRs we started to collect on those in 2024. And we, yes, I will agree that we don't have that many residents that are actually reporting the taxes as they should. But I think that's one conversation that we have this afternoon to see what we can do to get on compliance.

And as a follow-up, so if we, just help me understand this, so we have these entities that put on these events, but these are local residents, right? I mean, do we have data to say that we're actually putting heads in beds for these events? Because it seems like we have local people that come to the event, but that's not generating hotel revenue. So it is one of the... Well, I'm just going by our reporting. So, I mean, we'll get to that.

Yes, one of the requirements to apply for the Arts Commission is to actually have some receipts for hotels. And depending on how much money they requested or we granted, that's how many receipts they have to show that they have brought somebody into the hotels in here.

So we have high confidence that the people who are putting on the events... are saying that they're putting heads in beds during their events. We have high confidence that that number is correct and appropriate taxes being collected.

Well, I don't want to say we have high confidence because the actually receipts that we require is only one hotel for $5,000 that we give up, right? And I'm not going to say here that they actually bring a lot of people in because I'm not 100% sure. We don't have no way to verify that. But that's one of the things that whenever finance do evaluations, we go to our commission board and we recommend an amount depending on how many hotel resits they submit or depending on how they got with the expenses and if they follow the rules and regulations. So those are the rules or the procedures that we follow, the policy that we follow when we make recommendations. But how many actually beds are coming in, I cannot really tackle.

It's fine. I think I still have time. But I think I've heard the rodeo so that they can get a good number. Why can't we do this without all the other events throughout the city?

I mean, we can look into the rules and regulations. That's something that I can bring back to the Arts Commission Board and then have more discussion. I mean, maybe the requirements are how we counting or how we were doing surveys whenever people come into the event. Are they coming out of town? Are they staying in? Something that we can probably put into their rules and regulations.

If I remember the discussion, I think Council Member Brown brought up, you know, the museum and some other. If they're doing it, then we should be doing it for all events.

Yes, sir.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Council Member Brown.

Councilman Kimball beat me to part of it. We're giving money to the museum on Fort Hood that can't prove that anybody comes in or through Colleen. I've been to the Arts Commission meetings. I've seen all of the data that they have to return. I'm a huge supporter of putting that into these programs. But I do notice that it looks like we have fewer programs that are recommended this year. Is that because we had fewer applicants or just because there were fewer that actually qualified?

We had fewer applicants this year.

I see that the several that Ms. DeBree used to put on are not on here anymore. I think she got out of the event business. But I appreciate everything that she has done to bring people to the community. And I know that even if it's just the performers and the entertainers, they are coming in from out of town and they are staying in the hotels. They are bringing their family members with them. And they're telling all of their friends, this is where I'm going to be doing this. This is where I'm going to be performing or this is where I'm going to be setting up and doing my next whatever it is that the organization is doing. So they are bringing people in from out of town and this helps us help our local agencies grow. and become bigger to make sure that our local agencies and organizations can be the next big thing that are drawing in thousands and thousands of people. But without that little bit of help to get them started, it's really difficult. And also, Ms. Finley, this is all on a reimbursement basis, correct? That's correct. And what is the percentage that they have to actually invest themselves into each one of these programs to be qualified?

They have 50% match of what they're asking for.

And we don't give them anything until they turn over receipts showing what they have actually paid, and they only get half of that back up to this limit, correct? That's correct. And I will tell you that in my experience with the Arts Commission, most of these organizations are paying a lot more than what this would equate to, even at 50% of what they're putting from out of pocket.

Thumbs up, ma'am. Council Member Brown, Matt Bass.

Regarding the hotel tax, what I recall from the audit committee briefing, we have a third-party contractor that actually collects that for us. Is that correct?

That's correct.

And what I recall from the audit committee briefing, they're doing a fantastic job collecting the hotel tax. We don't really have a big problem in that area. Is that correct?

That's correct, sir.

The hotels are paying up. We're getting good income from that. And what we're going to discuss in number 21, though, is the big problem is the short-term rentals, and we will discuss that tonight, correct? Yes, sir. All right. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Okay. Okay. It is now time for citizens' comments. Citizens will have three minutes to speak with one minute time allowed for City Council to respond with a statement or explanation without engaging in dialogue. Madam City Secretary, please call the first name.

First speaker is Ramon Santiago. Okay. Second speaker is Michael Fornino.

Good evening, sir.

Item number seven was not discussed, but $137,000 for asbestos abatement and demolition in Moss Rose. That's a failing that blends into the committee assignments and all that. Current committee chair there for KHA has got to go, Mr. Mayor. I sent an email to all of you and the only engagement I got in return, it's on the agenda. Item number seven. That's why I pre-ambled with it was not discussed, but it is on the agenda.

Continue, please, sir.

Based upon that, that blends into committee assignments and all that. I sent an email to you all, which the most engagement I got in return was received, so there's no back and forth. The man and his tenure with KHA, three years now, has been an absolute embarrassment, inefficient, all the things discussed in that email. So I'm surprised he was not on the agenda for here. The man was appointed. He got some pushback, resigned, and then was inexplicably reappointed to KHA. And what has he done in all that time? He's canceled meetings. He's frustrated people off the board. And what has gotten done? Nothing. We're no closer to moving KHA forward three years ago than we are today. Further with committee assignments, I think it should be a matter of record why I think that this is highly inappropriate. For one Ken Wilkerson to be nominated for any board, I mean, he has famously in this chamber demonstrated his inability to make good decisions, especially with assessments of situations, et cetera. Plus, the man resigned from his council seat in shame. In shame. And in secret, apparently. We still don't know what exactly happened with that resignation. But I would ask the council... When it comes to these committees that are supposed to be made largely up of the citizens, making decisions on behalf of the city for very specific areas of concern, don't override them. Don't pack them with your friends and family, so to speak. I'll use that term very loosely. With the Board of Adjustment, they made a judgment call based on back and forth. They had an actual conversation with people. They addressed the issue. They didn't say received. You folks need to start answering your emails, getting on the record. The Board of Adjustment, you don't like what the citizens came up with, so you're suing the citizens? That's not representation. That's another example of this council ignoring the people and the true will of the people. You block it off and bracket us to where we have very little options to have a say or any influence on the town. November's coming up pretty soon for the elections, and you might be reminded of the boss-employee relationship if you don't consider that.

Madam City Secretary.

Next speaker is Joseph Smutkowski. I hope I didn't butcher your name too badly.

Good evening, sir.

Greetings, Mr. Mayor and city council members. My name is Joseph Shimkowski. I've been a Killeen resident since 1981 when I came off the border in Germany. I'm here to give my opinion on data centers that want to locate in or near Killeen, Texas. I'm against the data centers unless they recycle their own water and not deplete Belton Lake with their demand for water. I recently heard that these data centers want to employ micro nuclear reactors, which I am totally against because of the harm that could cause the residents of Bell County. Data centers could be a good thing if they recycle their own water, and I'm deeply troubled about the notion that they will employ micro-reactors. More investigation is needed on this matter, and residents need to be kept up to date on its finding, and Council does do a good job on this. I appreciate that. And I hope common sense prevails on this matter so that we can have a safe environment. That's all my comments. Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Next speaker is Jamie Salter.

Good evening, ma'am. Good evening.

I hope you're all well tonight. My name is Jamie Salter. I'm the executive director of Central Texas Theater at the Vivlaze Art Society. You asked for data, so I'm going to throw some stuff at y'all since I only have three minutes. I'm begging y'all to stop cutting the Clean Arts Commission funding. It's killing us, and we're doing our best out here in the streets. Last year, we sold 11,500 tickets over the course of our season, which started in September and ended in August. 44.76% of those were from outside of the city limits. 1%, which I know seems tiny, but it's still 120 people. We're from outside of the state of Texas. I know personally people ranging from Houston, Dallas, Austin, Abilene coming down here to clean to see our shows. We also are bringing actors from Waco, Austin, and surrounding areas to us. They come in four or five days a week for rehearsal. They are spending money. National data indicates that an average ticket holder to a play that goes out on the town spends $38.46 every time they go out if they are local. If they are from outside of the city, that number jumps up to $60.67 every time they go see a show. If there is a thriving arts district, that number jumps up over $100.00. That's 11,500 people spending that much money every time they go out to see a show at VLA here in Killeen. And again, that's 44.76% of them from outside of the city limits. Nearly half of our ticket sales, which I just told you all about, and fully half of our corporate donations are from outside of the city limits as well, which means that money is coming back and being spent here because we have a pledge to spend as locally as possible. We can't always do that. We have highly specialized equipment that sometimes needs to come from outside of the city, but we do spend here as often as we can. We employ people that live here in the city, and we have over 70 contract employees that are all local that are spitting that money back here in the city as well. What the City of Killeen Arts Commission grant allows us to do, also, that I am incredibly passionate about, I was an educator for Killeen ISD for years, is keep our children's program free. The parents of our kids, and there are at least 50 kids in every children's theater production that we do, they don't have to pay any money. Temple Civic Theater charges $250 per kid to be in every one of those shows. Waco charges $225. Georgetown Palace gets up to $1,000. We do three children's productions a year with at least 50 kids in them. We are working hard. If we lose more funding from the Clean Arts Commission, we're not going to be able to continue to do that and keep the doors open. Please, please stop and help us. Thank you very much.

Okay, Council Member, I mean Mayor Pro Temp.

Thank you. I just want to say thank you for making that statement. When we traveled to NLC, which is the National League of Cities, it did come up in conversation about how cities can generate revenue and tax base. One of the things that we talked about here are we struggle with our revenue generation for our city. A lot of communities across the nation are using their arts district in many, many ways. And so that is what they're concerned. I wouldn't say low hanging fruit because it is difficult to get it going. However, cities are using it extremely well across the nation to generate as a revenue source for their community. So something we should keep in mind, and I'm sure we'll have conversations on that at a later time. Thank you.

Council Member Nashke. Thank you, Mr. Mayor and Council, and thank you for your presentation. I was there this weekend for trolls. Yes, ma'am. I am a big advocate of Vila Arts Center. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. And supporting that. And this is not only for our youth. They have young adults. They have people in my age range still seasoned. And the types of plays that they have, it's a variety. It's just like people love the rodeo, but there are those of us who love the arts. So for the city of Killeen, we are so diverse and to have the Vela Arts Center and your passion, but what gets me is it free to our youth, to come in our babies, to come in and learn a talent. Everybody will not play football, softball. Everybody's not academic. But to act and to just show your true talents, that is where it starts from. So I commend you for your presentation, and I would hope the council will continue to support the arts. Thank you, Mr. Mayor and Council.

Madam City Secretary.

Next speaker is Erin Riddle.

Hello, City Council.

Good evening, ma'am.

Hi. My name is Erin Riddle and I was born and raised here in Killeen. Some of my earliest childhood memories are walking through the doors of the Viva La Arts Theater to see a show. More than two decades later, I have watched this theater change lives, including my own. Theater taught me how to stand in front of a room of people like this one and speak. It fostered confidence, creativity, leadership, collaboration, problem solving, and taught me how to work alongside people whose lives and experiences were different from my own. Because theater is not simply entertainment, it's a community of people coming together to create something that none of us could create alone. I've painted sets, designed graphics, sewn costumes, sung and danced, and made lifelong friendships there. I have watched children and adults walk through those doors, find their people, discover abilities they didn't know they had, and become more confident versions of themselves. And in a military community like ours, that sense of belonging matters. The theater has welcomed generations of service members, spouses, and military children. For families who arrive in Killeen knowing very few people, the theater gives them a place to build friendships, find community, and feel at home. It also gives people a reason to come to Killeen. They eat in our restaurants, they stay in hotels, they fill up on gas, and they spend money in our community. I understand that budgets require difficult decisions, but this theater has already weathered funding cuts and potentially losing another $60,000 isn't just a line in a budget. It affects what this organization can produce, who it can reach, and whether something Killeen has spent decades building can continue to thrive. I am asking you to preserve funding for the Killeen Arts Commission so that the next kid who walks through the doors of our community theater has the opportunity to discover what I did. And this year our theater is celebrating its 50th season. The traditional gift for a 50th anniversary is gold. And after... Sorry. After half a century of giving to Colleen, the Central Texas Theatre deserves better than to celebrate its golden anniversary with another funding cut.

Thank you. Madam Secretary.

Next speaker is Heather McMillan, and she is virtual.

Good evening, Council and staff. Good evening, ma'am. Thank you for allowing me to speak remotely yet again. I'm speaking today on RS 26142, the sponsorship for the rodeo for five years of $250,000 for $50,000 a year. I truly feel this should be increased to the same amount that we give the Mounted Warfare Museum. That would be $80,000 a year for a grand total of $400,000 for a five-year contract. The reason I suggest giving the rodeo more money is the rodeo offers so much more to the whole city. Many of you spoke of how it's great for veterans and military night, but let's not forget they also have Killeen City staff and KISD nights along with the donations to the food banks. It's not only an opportunity for the city to say thank you to so many citizens, but it also has brought in way more proven tourism revenue than the museum. I would also ask for you all to consider using some of the park and recs funds that were allocated to the Rosa Hartford Community Center, since it's not even open and there's no opening date, to be utilized for the rodeo grounds to add more bathrooms and grandstands for additional seating at the rodeo grounds. The rodeo has a great opportunity to become bigger and better to add more additional resources and revenue to this city. That, in return, will bring in national notoriety with rodeo attendance from all over the world. And this will give this city a great family-friendly event for all citizens. Give them more money. It's a great cause, and they have a proven track record to give the money back to the city and to the citizens. Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am.

There are no more speakers, Your Honor.

I'm going to take a 10 minute break. I'm going to call this meeting back to order. We will now go into our regular session. Madam Secretary, consent item. Consider agenda, please.

Consent agenda, item 2, MN-26-027, consider minutes of regular city council meeting of July 7th, 2026. Item 3, RS-26-136, consider memorandum resolution authorizing the award of bid number 27-01. FY27, water and sewer annual supplies to multiple vendors based on awarded unit prices for aggregate expenditures in an amount of $1,040,000 in fiscal year 2027. Item 4, RS-26-137, consider memorandum resolution ratifying a meet and confer agreement with Killian Police Employee Association, FOP Lodge 32. Item 5. RS-26-138. Consider a memorandum resolution accepting the fiscal year 2025 BJA Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistant Grant, JAG Grant, and approval of interlocal agreement with the City of Temple and Bell County to administer the grant. Item 6, RS26-139, consider a memorandum resolution granting operating authority to Ambience Limousine and Executive Transportation, LLC. Item 7, consider a memorandum resolution awarding RFP 2626, Demolition and Abestos Abatement, 202 North 24th Street to RMDI Companies, Inc., in the amount of $137,690. Item 8, RS-26-141, consider a memorandum resolution approving a fireworks display application from Big Dog Pyro, LLC, on behalf of Advent Health Medical Center.

Council, I will entertain a motion for consent items. Council Member Bass?

Mayor, I make a motion to accept the consent agenda.

This motion by Council Member Bass is seconded by second Council Member Nash King.

Second Mr. Mayor.

Okay, is there any discussion? Okay, Council Member. Okay, there is no discussion. All in favor signify by yes. All opposed no. Okay, motion passes 7-0. Thank you, Council. We will now go into our regular session resolutions for individual consideration. Madam Secretary.

Resolutions item number 9, RS-26-142. Consider a memorandum resolution authorizing a five-year sponsorship agreement with Rodeo Killeen for the Killeen Rodeo in the amount of $25,000.

Okay, Council Member, Ms. McNair has reviewed. Would you like to see the presentation again? Okay. All right. Then I will entertain a motion. Council Member Nashking.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'd like to move to approve RIS-26-142.

Motion by Council Member Nashking. Second, Council Member Bass.

I second the motion, Mr. Mayor.

Okay, is there any discussion? Council Member William? Council Member Brown?

Just clarifying the record that it's $250,000 for the five-year agreement, but also asking the question that should we be in a better situation next fiscal year, could we decide to add money on to what we're giving to the rodeo? And for the record, Mr. Cagle's nodding his head yes to that, so thank you.

Okay, if there's no more discussion, all in favor signify by yes, all opposed, no. Motion passed 7-0. Thank you, Council. Madam Secretary, next item.

Item 10, RS-26-143, consider a memorandum resolution appointing members to vacant, expired, and unexpired terms on various boards, commissions, and committees.

Okay, Ms. McGowan has went over this. Would y'all like for her to? Council Member Neske? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. There was one that was still up we hadn't decided on, and that was Council Member Ramon Alvarez was my recommendation, and Council Member Brown, she recommended keeping the same people, and my statement was that he has a business, and that's the one we have to decide. Yes. Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am. So we will, can we, City Attorney, the names again for that Was that the Main Street Board?

For the Main Street Board, yes. The recommendations were to keep the three current members, Daniel Watkins, Tony Ringgold, and Joshua Pemberton. And then there was also a recommendation nominee for Ramon Alvarez. So we have four nominations for three positions that council will need to address before making a motion to approve the item as a whole.

Okay, so we suggest that we just go down each one. Okay. Okay, so let's just call the names out. Recommendations were? Council Member Brown, you recognize?

Thank you. I know that Ms. Ringgold owns a business in downtown. Do either of the other board members currently own a business in downtown that we know of?

Off the top of my head, I wouldn't know that information.

Ms. Messier.

Excuse me, Ms. Messier.

It's my understanding that all three currently own a business in downtown.

And I thought that was part of the requirement for these businesses, was that they had to have a business in downtown for the main street board.

It's not a requirement, but my understanding is that all three do.

So, again, I'll go back to you since all three of these individuals... have businesses in downtown because they have started this board. It's new for that sense of stability as they're getting everything going. I would so recommend that we maintain the three representatives that are there. They all have that equal investment.

Okay, so... All in favor? Council Member Nash.

Thank you.

I'm sorry. It's first Council Member Brown, then Council Member Nash-King. You're sorry? Okay. Well, I'm looking at this. Council Member Nash-King.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor and Council. I understand my colleagues... perspective on keeping all three of them, and I don't really have a problem with that, but also I think having Mr. Alvarez on there with the knowledge that he has, not only in the business, not only being a fellow council member, but also I think more so than anything, his family, he grew up on that area.

Okay. Call the meeting back to order. Madam City Secretary.

Thank you, Councilman Bryant.

Item 11, RS-26-144, consider a memorandum resolution ratifying the city manager's approval of the emergency procurement for the Evan DeSero Emergency Sewer Repair and Contract with TTG Utilities, Inc. in the amount of $146,700.00.

Council, Ms. Ramirez went over this. Would you like to see the presentation again? Okay. I need a motion. Council Member Kimball.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I move to approve RS-26-144 in the amount of $146,700. Motion by Council Member Kimball.

Texas BZBSTX for the excess risk policy stop loss insurance for medical and pharmacy claims under the city's health insurance plan effective October 1, 2026 in the amount of $1,509,582. Council, would you like for Ms. McDaniel to make the presentation? Okay, may I get a motion?

Okay, I'm not seeing anything. Council Member Kimball.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Excuse me, I move that we approve RS26-146 under the medical and pharmacy claim under the city health insurance plan effective October 1, 2026 for an amount of $1,509,582. Motion by Council Member Kimball. Can I get a second?

Council Member Williams. I second it. Okay. Is there any discussion? There's no discussion. Signify. Yes. All opposed, no. Motion passed 7-0. Thank you, council.

Mr. Mayor. We have another request to take a recess for just a moment. We're having some technical issues.

Okay. Council, if you would please stay near. We'll only take a second. Recess. We'll call the meeting back to order. Okay, we were.

Resolution item 14, resolution RS26-147, consider a memorandum resolution authorizing the submission of a defense economic adjustment assistance grant application to the Texas Military Preparedness Commission in an amount of $5 million for the restationing facility improvements new fiber backbone project.

Excuse me, but did we complete 13?

Yes.

We did get the vote. Okay. Okay, Council, would you like to review the presentation again? I need a motion. Council Member Kimball?

Mr. Mayor, I move that we...

Move Resolution 26-147 for the DEGAG, the Defense Economic Adjustment Assistance Grant, for the amount of $5 million.

Okay, second. Council Member Nashke? Second, sir. Okay. Is there any discussion? There's no discussion. All in favor signify by yes. All opposed, no. Have all voted?

Okay.

Okay. City Secretary, should we vote by hand raising?

Mr. Bass voted and Mr. Kendrick voted. Mr. Kendrick, there you go.

Everyone voted? Could you repeat the vote, please?

The vote was 7-0. Okay. Carried unanimously.

Motion passed 7-0. Thank you.

Next item, item 15, RS-26-148. Consider a memorandum resolution approving the Killeen Arts Commission grant recommendations for fiscal year 2027.

Council, would you like to review this? Can someone make a motion? Council Member Nashke? I'm sorry. Okay. Council Member Brown?

I'd like to ask a question before I make a motion, if I could. Okay. Ms. Tinglin, do we have any additional money left in the hotel occupancy tax fund from FY26 that we might be able to use towards the arts for next year?

The fund is actually very tight. I will have to look into the funding because they need a lot of operations. I mean, I don't even know if we have a 22% reserve fund balance in that fund right now. So I will have to look into the expenses.

If that does prove to be that we do have anything available, we could do a budget amendment later, correct? That's correct.

Okay.

And with that said, I move to approve RS-26-148. Is there a second?

Council Member Williams?

Yes. I second.

Okay.

Is there any discussion? There's no discussion. All in favor? Yes. Signified by yes. All opposed? No. Motion passed 7-0. Thank you, council. Okay, Madam City Secretary, public hearing.

Public hearing 16, PH26031, hold a public hearing and consider a request submitted by Rachel Shanks on behalf of Quantum 195, LLC, case Z26-13 to rezone approximately 4.88 acres being lot 1, block 1, Walnut Creek Estates, phase 6, from A, Agricultural District, to B3, Local Business District. The subject property is generally located northwest of the intersection of White Willow Court and South Fort Hood Street, Tulane, Texas.

Good evening, ma'am.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. This item is a request to rezone approximately 4.8 acres on White Willow Court and South Fort Hood Street to B3. Ms. Shanks has submitted this request on behalf of Quantum 195 LLC to rezone the property from a agricultural to b3 with the intent of developing the property as a fuel station and Associated restaurant and retail space the red star on your screen indicates the location of that property This is an aerial of the site You can see it's currently undeveloped and is located on the north side of Whitewillow Court and the west side of South Fort Hood Street. This is a view of the subject property from South Fort Hood Street. This is a view facing north and facing south. This is a view facing west on Whitewillow with the subject property on your right and a view of the adjacent property to the south. And your screen is the proposed concept plan for the proposed development. As you can see, it would include a convenience store with fuel pumps and a proposed retail and restaurant. Properties currently zoned AG. The properties to the north and south are zoned AR1. Properties located within the control growth area on the growth sector map and designated neighborhood commercial on the future land use map. We notified the nine surrounding property owners and we've received three responses in opposition. So on this map you can see that all three of the adjacent property owners have submitted letters in opposition. The opposition on this map constitutes 58.1% of the 200 foot notification boundary. If approved, the proposed development would require an 8-foot masonry screening device along the western and northern property lines in accordance with Chapter 31. Staff does find that the request is consistent with the comprehensive plan and that the proposed development is compatible with the plan's vision to provide neighborhood-scale commercial uses and services to nearby residents, including fuel stations, restaurants, and general retail. We are therefore recommending approval of the request to rezone the property as presented. The Planning and Zoning Commission on August 10th recommended approval of the request by a vote of four to three. There were three adjacent property owners that spoke in opposition to the request during that public hearing. Commissioner Sabree, Jones, and Moss voted in opposition to the motion and noted that they concurred with the neighboring property owners that this is not a suitable location for the proposed use. As I said, the opposition comprises approximately 58% of the notification boundary. And therefore, in accordance with the local government code, approval of this request does require the affirmative vote of three-fourths of the governing body. So I'm happy to answer any questions you may have.

Bill's amendment, Brown.

I understand that one of the major points of contention for one of the neighboring properties is that the developer is trying to share a driveway.

It's my understanding that, if I can go back to the location map, there's some question about the access opportunity from Fort Hood. And so the proposal would be to take access from White Willow and... potentially share a driveway. I believe the applicant is here tonight and can speak more to that.

So I can tell you that I cannot support it if we're going to tell a private citizen that they have to share their driveway with a fuel station. I don't think that is something that we should be imposing onto our citizens.

So the request tonight, as you know, is just for the land use of the property and the development of the property would be determined.

If you want to go that way, then I don't think B3 is what we should be putting down 195 when it's prime industrial manufacturing corridor. Thank you.

Council Member Kimball.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I think, Mr. Minister, we started to talk about driveway and sharing a driveway before you ended your conversation. What were you going to say about sharing a driveway?

Just that the item tonight is for the zoning and that the site plan would be reviewed separately from the zoning. Okay.

Okay. Thank you. No more questions, comments? Okay. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you so much. We invite the applicant to come up. Make any comments if he or she is here. Good evening, ma'am.

Good evening, counsel. My name is Rachel Shanks. I have a presentation. I don't know. I don't want to overly repeat what staff had said. We originally brought this property to them while we were evaluating it and had it under contract on whether or not this use complied with the land use in the area and whether or not they would be in support of this use. And after discussions with them, we moved forward. I know there's kind of two big points I wanted to hit. On this track, I think, one, I've been sitting in this council meeting. There's the request for more revenue in this area. And just to give you an idea, if this project does develop out its taxable base, the entire tax revenue would be about $700,000. And to the city of Killeen would be about... 100 to 200 broken up between property and sales tax. The other item is, you know, I'm a local Texan. I've born and raised here. I have met with the landowners. I spent almost an hour with them after the PNZ meeting to hear their concerns. I've met with the northern landowner, and she's here tonight to speak about the driveway miscommunication that's kind of blown up. And where we're at today, we've reached an agreement understanding with her. She can relate to that. I've also spoken to our property owner to the west and his concern. So we're here to be good property owners. owners and neighbors were also here to comply with what the city wants for this area and why they have basically annexed along 195 for tax revenue and comply with that so that's that's where I'm at again I don't want to repeat much of the staff's presentation At the time, I had sent out letters because I hadn't heard back from anybody at PNZ. I have since then spoken to them at this meeting. I am, I guess, proposing two options in talking to Rafael, which is my Western neighbor, is to postpone any sort of vote. He would like to have more time to discuss with me the project and fully understand. And so that's kind of... For tonight, I'm more asking for a postponement. I think it is so important that the neighbors around us understand that I can hear and address their concerns. With Lydia to my north, she had concerns about her dogs and fencing. And screening requirements, we worked with her. We made sure that we would have an agreement acknowledging notification and anything of that nature. And with Rafael, I want to be able to do the same, understand his concerns, explain the project and the process. And so while I hadn't spoke to him before coming here tonight, And that's why I have these two options. I really am leaning more towards I'd like to postpone any sort of vote. I'd like to give more time to the property owners and hear their concerns and address anything that we can reasonably.

Okay. Do you have any questions for the applicant?

Thank you. Ms. Shanks, you are class act. You know, very seldom, like I stated before, I've been on here since 2017, and I can only recall one other developer or builder that came before us, and the residents were not happy, and they postponed it until they got 100% agreement. And that tells me the character of you, what kind of person you are. I thank you for that. That was a class act right there. I like that. I like that. But great move, great move, because I had my fellow councilwoman, my sister down there, Brown, and my concerns was those concerns. I thank Mrs. Mesher for bringing us back on the agenda item. in reference to it's not about what will be built, it's the zoning of it, and I thank her for that. But postponing it will be a class act until you get all approval. Thank you.

Okay. There's no other questions. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you so much. Okay. I'm now opening up the public hearing. Public hearing is open.

First speaker is Rafael Garcia.

Good evening, sir.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor. Good evening, Council. My name is Rafael Garcia. New things for me is this, you know, being the forum before, but not like this for the Army. It's completely different. I'm opposed, one of the name I'm opposed of this project, as you have in your folder, we have three Paso Fino horses. They are critical at this point. We are only 2,500 in all war. We lucky we have three. The point on this one is the construction can affect the environment. How can you say it's lucky when you're in the war, everything around you is different? That's gonna be happen with the horses too. We try to keep this breed alive. With this construction, by the way, put in the side, it's a gas station, and you know from 195 to the end of 195, we have eight gas stations. So this one's going to be nine, plus two in Florence, it's going to be 11. In the 40-minute drive, this is on the side. But our horses are our love. We have those horses forever. Twelve years. The mayor is six years, and the boy, the little one, is five years. We call the little boy. We take care of them. We don't hire anyone to do it. We feed in the morning, in the afternoon, night, we're grooming, we do everything. Because we try to keep our heritage, that is the horses, alive. It's not easy to say Appaloosa, Mustang, or Cole, that's the horses, American horses, and we respect them. But they have plenty, hours only, 2,500 in the world. We try to keep it that way. And my wife is not here. That's my support. She's working. But I know she's going to be with me in this one. The second point is the drainage that we have in our house. I'll give you a photo right there from the side, from the top to the bottom. We're living in the end of the court sack. When we buy the land, we don't know anything about that. We don't know, we are naive about lands, all that kind of stuff. So now we know it's a little bit flourish, every time it's raining a lot there. We made a French drain on the side of the house because a little water there can be affect the foundation. Now with the new construction, the water gonna find the way no matter what. And we need to avoid that. We want to avoid that. It's a warehouse. And the property is beautiful. When you get there, you realize outside, you see all different animals go back and forth. Something that we're dreaming when you retire. This is my space heaven there. I'm fighting for this one. My wife too, plus the animals. It's really heavy for us. I appreciate you listening to me. Any questions, please let me know. That's all I got, sir.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you.

You have a wonderful evening. Thank you. Council Member Brown? Sir. Sir. Sir.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Go ahead. Mr. Garcia, the applicant had indicated that you were willing to sit down and speak with her. Do you foresee that happening and being something you might change your mind over the next two weeks?

It's not changing my mind. It's not changed my mind. It's, of course, I need my partner to make the decision. 40 years marriage, I don't know you guys, but I cannot make it on my own. Thank you, sir. I can. But we're still strong to save our animals. We're really strong about that. And she was right. She talked to us. She sent a letter to us. A little bit late came the mail. It's no problem with that. And she postponed it. I agree with that so I can talk to the First Lady and start talking back and forth. Are we going to be on the NGS or not? I cannot say that now.

Thank you. Council Member Nesky.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Oh, sorry. My question is for Mrs. Mesher, our city attorney. Thank you. Thank you. Is that okay with you, Mr. Mayor? Yes, ma'am. You're welcome. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Thank you. So the applicant stated that she may be postponing it. So once the public, the mayor closes, Mayor Solomon closes the meeting, when do we know if she's going to postpone it before we vote tonight?

Is she already told you she wants to my understanding that she's requested to postpone action so you would still hold the public hearing and then you could Postpone action or table the item until the next regular meeting Yeah, thank you.

Yes. Yes, ma'am. I

Yes, I think that course of action would be, if the council wants to postpone the item, continue the public hearing, close the public hearing, and then the council can take action, including to postpone the item, if you want.

Yes, ma'am. Thank you both. Thank you, Mr. Moore. I just needed some clarity. Thank you.

Madam Secretary, any other names?

The next speaker is Michael Foligno.

The dimension of basically an endangered species, that's something that I was not aware of. When we consider preservation of heritage, we're all talking about this Main Street stuff and all that. First off, I mean, with this downtown nonsense, in my opinion, you know, this historic district, I don't think you could find 10 people within a mile that could tell you what any of the... I'm making a point, sir. Where you can find 10 people within a mile of here that can tell you why any of these buildings are historic or significant. Meanwhile, I mean, I just found out tonight, 2,500 left on the planet? I mean, with this town, we waste so many opportunities for everything. And largely, that comes from anybody over the years who has sat up here. We've lost Toyota. We've lost Dell. Several other opportunities. As Councilwoman Brown pointed out, that land along 195 is prime industrial. How many gas stations do we need in this town? Another one on the 195 corridor? to remind people, hey, quick stop for fuel for your jobs that exist outside of Killeen, Pflugerville, Georgetown, Austin, some even in San Antonio. I mean, where's all this forward thinking? Every time I say this council over the iterations of the years, oh, we have lots of forward thinking. Where is it? I'm not seeing it, especially not with this. Then you add in the dimension of a very rare horse breed. I just looked it up on Wikipedia and just did a lot of quick reading. I see that one council member finds that very humorous. What do we preserve in this town? What do we save? 195 corridor, that's the last place that we can build anything that can produce real jobs beyond a gas station, a chicken joint, or the odd vape shop. Yeah, they're small businesses on paper, but that's not paying the bills around here. Not for the people. Well, you can get an assistant manager's job at a gas station, and I guess you could do all right. But for crying out loud, knock it off. I'm not against somebody earning a buck, but how flooded in a certain market share do we need around here? Fast food joints. We have articles in the paper celebrating a new chicken joint. I mean, this is small profits, quick returns. That's not a long-term sustainment plan. Use the resources that we have and work around it. I mean, the gentleman here, do you want to be the council that presides over helping to extinguish a species on the planet? I'm not known to be a tree hugger, but I really hate waste. Wasted potential, wasted thought, wasted money, wasted effort. This is a very unique opportunity. I mean, again, I have nothing against anybody earning. I don't know the applicant personally. I don't know anything about her. But come on, use common sense. I would like to see that for once. Anything other than this is a more workable option for the citizens of Killeen, and not just one or two people.

Council Member McKendrick.

Can I address the same action?

Yes, you can. Yeah, no. City Manager, I want to know how much land does Kalia own down 195?

Well, as far as own, we don't own any, but I think you're asking what's in the city limits?

Yes, sir.

Well, it's a 1,000-foot strip from the middle of the highway, so... I don't know what the total of that would be. As you saw on the map, it's a very narrow strip. The reason behind that narrow strip was, I mean, the political landscapes changed tremendously. The idea at that point was to annex the strip and push your ETJ out as far as possible. Lots of cities did it. It was a very effective tool in the past when cities could annex. don't have that ability anymore. So unless someone voluntarily wants to come into the city limits, that is not going to expand.

All right. That answered my question. What I wanted to know basically in a nutshell is we don't control it.

Not outside that 1,000-foot strip.

Thank you, sir.

City Secretary.

Next speaker is Anca Nadeau.

Thank you, Council Mayor. I was contacted by the owner of the property just north of the subject property, and there was a concern about the share driveway. At some point, the developer wanted to somehow convince the owner of the property to the north, that it would be fine to share her driveway. She's completely against that. So for that reason, I was against. And I contacted two of the council members. It was confirmed that she's not obligated to share her driveway. And apparently this situation has been resolved. Now that the horses are being brought up, I don't even know what to think. But I do appreciate the fact that the applicant is willing to pause it and discuss, and that means that says a lot. As it is, like, for me, I'm for it. I think we need the development, but I do appreciate the developer pausing and talking to the neighbors. Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am. Madam Secretary?

No more speakers on this item. She's signed up. Yep.

Let you freeze...

Thank you, Madam Secretary.

I apologize.

Good evening, ma'am.

My name is Lydia Fries and I have been living 26 years, no, sorry, 22 years on that property. We moved out so I wanted some rooms for my dogs to run, to roam. We got six acres and we fenced it well and due to the dogs, I did not want to share an entrance. Now that was cleared up. I knew from the beginning on because we had that wide frontage that eventually we would be commercialized. That it's always been in the United States, left and right of the highways, the major ones. You have to the north, you have Copper's Cove to the west. You have Haka Heights to the east. You can only go south. There's 30,000 cars going by every day. It's getting loud. But I knew that. I got that property so if nobody could complain if my dogs bark. But like I said, we were aware that we had that extra wide stretch in front of the house. I mean, of the property. So we were aware eventually it would happen. And when that happens... Like I said, I'm dead set against sharing any kind of entrance. But I'm moving on. And I find another property in the country for my dogs. And this time I will not be next to a highway. So... Yeah. That is... I talked to Ms. Schenk. She is very gracious about paying attention when they build a fence or something, that it's behind me, that my dogs do not, cannot get underneath. And so I'm fine with that. And... I wish her luck. I hope... The other people, I feel sorry for the horses. I tell you that. Because they're not on the highway. They're behind. And that is very hard. And I'm an animal lover. You know? I see how hard they work to keep their animals happy, their horses. I mean, they work hard on it. And my heart is a little bit bleeding, you know? But... Due to the size of the frontage, I was aware that it will happen. And Kyleen has only one way to grow, and that's house. And that's 30,000 cars passing my property every day. It's going to be like Clear Creek. When I first came in 2000, there was nothing. But look at it now. And it's just gross of a city. And I come from a major European city, so I'm used to it. And, yeah, I just hope everybody gets a little bit out of it as much as they can for themselves. And I wish everybody well in the progress. That's it.

Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you. Thank you so much, Council Member Brown.

Question for Ms. Messer. So this entire proposed B5 strip mall would be on septic? I believe that's correct, yes. We don't have any... How far is it from the proposed tract to the nearest sanitary sewer line?

I would have to defer that question to perhaps Mr. Zegers. Off the top of my head, I don't know.

I mean, you can roughly say up to Chaparral, pretty close. The cost to do that, it would probably, it's going to require a lift station would... far exceed the value of the property plus improvements. Feel served to that.

Yes, so that brings other concerns to me. As far as that and then the water service out there is their home.

We don't have a CC in that area. I don't know exactly who it is. It's either West Bell or it's Georgetown. And I think that area that Georgetown has out there is about to transfer as well. But it's not City of Killeen that would be providing water service. And no one has a sewer CC in that area.

And there's no storm water, storm sewer infrastructure out there. No. I think that one of the primary things within our 2040 plan was making sure that before we start going to an area, we have the infrastructure already in place for it. We've told the state... that we're actively working on ensuring that we have zero septic tanks within the city. So to start adding septic tanks for more commercial properties, especially large ones. I understand this is a zoning case, but as a B-3 that wants to be a gas station, that's a lot of toilet flushes. And so I'm a little concerned about that. And again, I do not want to see our 195 corridor become a tract full of gas stations and strip malls. I think the value of it is in the ability to market it for manufacturing and industrial. The more lots that we put as B3 and B5, the less opportunity we have for manufacturing and industry.

Thank you. Council Member, your time's up. Council Member Nash-King.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor and Ms. Mesher. The issue we're discussing, Mr. Mayor, we've got to stay on the agenda. It's zoning. I don't want to say anything, and I have the utmost respect for Councilwoman Brown, but we're voting on zoning. We need to stay on zoning. Anything about how it developed after that is not an agenda item. The nice lady has already stated that she's taking it off the agenda, which she's going to postpone it. So I'm just asking, Mr. Mayor, for any item moving forward, that we stay on the agenda. And if we're talking about public hearing, it's zoning. It has to be zoning. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Bishop. Madam City Secretary.

Now there are no more speakers.

Okay. There's no more speakers in public hearing. It's closed. Okay, Madam City Secretary. Next item. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. My apologies. Council Member Nesky.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I move to approve postponing the council voting on PH-26-031 rezoning.

Is there a second, Council Member Kendricks?

I second it.

Is there any discussion? Yes. Council Member Pro Temp.

To council member Nash-King, it was recommended to postpone to the next council meeting. Is that the recommendation, ma'am, to be included in your motion?

No, ma'am. Ms. Mesher, no, the applicant gave a date. Did they give one? Yes, ma'am. I'm sorry. Next council meeting?

That was the recommendation. I can confirm that, but that was the recommendation.

Okay. Kendrick, rescind, please. Thank you, madam. No, thank you for being positive and pointing that out to me.

I'll rescind my motion.

Your second.

I rescind my second.

And I rescind my motion. So Mr. Mayor will say it again. Thank you. I'd like to move to approve postponing RS26-031 until our next council meeting, which is on.

What date is the next council meeting?

October 6th. October 6th.

Well, I think it's better if you say the next regular council meeting because you've got an agenda item tonight where you're talking about changing the date because of the conflict.

The next regular council meeting. Thank you, Mr. King, because you're right, that is on the agenda.

Okay, so a motion by Council Member Nash-King. Is there a second? Council Member Kendricks.