City Council - Regular Meeting

I will go ahead and call to order our September 25th city council meeting for the city of Long View. Thank you. Thank you all for being here with us tonight. Um our prayer and pledge will be led by Bella Haley. She is the president of Laterno Student Ministries. in here tonight. If you will please rise to lead us in our pledge in prayer. Bow your heads with me. Heavenly Father, thank you so much for just all of these men and women in this room that give their dedication and their lives to serving the community, Lord, and to fulfill your calling to love their neighbors. Lord, I just thank you for the love that they have um for Long View and for all of the people here who want to serve you and who want to fulfill that calling. Um and I pray for wisdom um and all of the ways that they are going to continue to love all of their neighbors and I pray that um you just continue to bless them and their families and all of the people who who are here today in Jesus name. Amen.

Amen. Okay. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you so much, Bella. Uh, next on our agenda is a presentation of a proclamation recognizing October 4th, 2025 as Walk to End Alzheimer's Day in the city of Long View. Shannon and anybody else with the Alzheimer's Association, come on up.

Come on up. All the way up. Um, I did not give you a heads up. Would you like to see something about the walk? You can do it on the cuff. Of course. Um, we would love to see y'all at the walk. October 4th, Teague Park. Opening ceremony starts at uh, well, event check-ins at 8 o'clock. opening ceremony at 9:00 and uh we would just love to have you. It's a really powerful event and uh we're raising money for research because um what we really need is we just need to end alls. That's all.

Thank you. Thank you. And I think Councilman Newstead has a team that he would love to have you join. So if you're looking for a team, look no further. Uh it is my honor now to declare October 4th, 2025 as Walk to End Alzheimer's Day here in the city of Long View. Over 55 million individuals around the world are living with dementia. In the United States, nearly 7 million people are affected by Alzheimer's and more than 12 million are providing unpaid care to their loved ones. The Walk to End Alzheimer's takes place each year in more than 600 communities across the nation. This event stands as the largest fundraiser dedicated to Alzheimer's care, support, and research. With recent advancements in treatments, it is more crucial than ever to participate in the Walk to End Alzheimer's, which invites individuals of all ages abilities to stand together in the battle against this disease. This event represents the largest fundraising effort in our mission to combat Alzheimer's. And now, therefore, I as the mayor of city, the city of Long View, do hereby proclaim the day of October 4th, 2025 as Walk to End Alzheimer's Day in the city of Long View. Congratulations.

Thank you. Yeah. We're going to [Applause] Thank you. Thank you guys so much for being here. Uh, next we have a presentation update on financial and actuarial status of the city of Long View firefighters pension plan. Mr. Will Herrell, you are up. Thank you for being here.

Yes, ma'am. Thank you. And it's good to be with you. Today I was asked to give a brief update on the performance of the pension obligation bond and a general update on the funded status and amortization schedule of the Long View Fireman's Pension. We'll start on um page one. Um actually, could you move to that other page? Ah, perfect. Thank you so much. Um so this is a little bit of history. Starting back in June 30 of 22, this top bullet point at as of June 30, 2022, the total pension assets in the firefighters pension was $42,82,67142. There was a cash infusion of $45,6,000 from the pension obligation bond issued July of 22. The total cumulative return for that pension obligation bond infusion as of August 30th, 2025 is a positive 37.05% net of all fees paid by the Long View Fire Pension. If you were to annualize that over just over three years, it comes to 12% just just north of 12% per year. Looking at the total pension fund, however, total pension fund has returned, pardon me, ragweed, net of fees, uh 9.36% for the trailing one-year period. That would be August uh 30 of 24 through August 30 of 25, 11.09% per year for the past three years, and 9.3% per year for the trailing 5-year period through August of 2025. And as a reminder, the target rate of return for the pension fund is 7.5% net minus a 3% inflation assumption. So really a 4.5%

net real target rate of return. And as of September 23rd, the total market value of the fund is 17,566,92389. As of the end of 2024, our most recent actuarial study um calculated that the fund is just under 69% funded for all of its future obligations and could pay off its current liability in 29 years for its amortization schedule. The pension review board in Texas um is very very adamant about keeping that amortization schedule under 30 years. And for the year through September 25th, January 1st of September 25th, the year-to- date return for the pension fund net of all investment related fees is 10.46% through u yesterday. Are there any questions?

You don't have any question. John, you're the financial man. No, Will and I have talked plenty of times on the um uh uh the returns are excellent. Returns are very good. Uh originally we were uh we were going to have a shortfall for several years and we kind of level out. Are we in that period now where we're leveling out? I mean, are we going to be secure for the foreseeable future?

Yes, sir. I would say given the funded ratio and the disposition of the portfolio you should be in good shape moving forward even given that frontloading of the contributions. So in in to be technical though you are in a negative cash flow position but that's been frontloaded.

So as those assets grow it offsets that negative cash flow. Yes sir. That's what I um Yes sir. Remember that the front load was going to be u heavy shall we say. Yes sir. Okay. Yeah. Well, how long have you been managing the fund now? Um, since 2017.

Okay. And I just want to say thank you for being here. We appreciate that. And also thank you to Colobby Beckham and Andy Parker. Um, and all of our firefighters here. Do you have a question? Oh, okay. Yeah. I just want to say thank you. It's been a long haul to get the pension where it is now. Um, so I just wanted to acknowledge the hard work that's gone into that by all of our pension board members and firefighters who have supported that along the way. Um those of you that were around for that remember all the steps that were taken. Uh the firefighters changed benefits and have different tiers and changed ages that they can retire and all sorts of reduced benefits um to get us to that point where we are now plus the pension bond uh and good management. So anyway, good job. Very excited about where we're at.

Yes, ma'am. You're very welcome. And the only other exhibit with this is just a current balance sheet. Okay. I have a question. Yeah, I did. Is it okay if I ask a question? All right. Because you kind of wrapped it up. I didn't know. Okay. I didn't know. No, not everyone has a financial background. And you said something about can you kind of just give me a deeper explanation of the 69% funded and the 29 years how that yes how that works.

If you were to take the liabilities of the total pension fund as a percentage of the total market value as of 123124 and then do a little um actuarial adjusting because they don't when it's not a straight line calculation. So, for example, if you have a $100 million pension and um you've got a $300 million of liability, it's not exactly 33% funded because the actuary does some some smoothing on an every three years basis. So, uh uh growth is is uh accounted for for uh every third year. So, you're taking say 10% or say a 9% rate of return. you'll recognize three, three, and three over the course of a three-year period. And that's in uh effect smoothing the actuarial outcome for the plan. So, it doesn't go up and down as much. And the 29 years is given the current discount rate of 7%.

Uh I'm sorry, 7.5%. Given that discount rate, the uh rate of growth of payroll, the embedded inflation assumptions, uh all those remaining constant, it would take 29 years to pay off this liability, if you will, and it's recommended to stay under 30 years.

Yes, sir. That's is it that's dictated by the pension review board of Texas. All right. Thank you. Yes, sir. Thank you. Also, I would just like to comment. I don't know what the right phrase is for that, but just to point out that Will's fees are paid for management and it's not because of what he's selling to the fund. So, your fees are independent of the things that you recommend, which I just think is a very important point for people to realize.

Absolutely. We are a family-owned uh highly independent investment advisory firm serving uh nonprofits, safety or oriented and public pension plans and a number of fire pension funds. Yes, ma'am. Eight now of the 42 in Texas. Excellent. How things have changed. I had a question.

Yeah, go for it. Um, can you elaborate a little bit more on the front loing when you're saying frontloading? Sure. Um, I don't have the exact numbers off the top of my head, but there was a certain amount that was going to be funded by the city into the pension fund every single year as a portion of their pay.

And forgive me, I I can't pull up those percentages, but the pension obligation bond basically raised that money ahead of time. So, that $46 million went into the pension fund. And then the future contributions for the for I believe the next 20 years or thereabouts uh have been discounted

from the city standpoint because of that front loing. So you don't have the numbers of the whatever was frontloaded would be the bond. No, it was the pension obligation bond. It was the $46 million that was in that was uh put into the pension. Yes, ma'am. Okay. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. So our citizens solve the problem for us in that one.

Yes, ma'am. Yes. Okay. Any other questions for Will? All right. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. You're very welcome. Uh, next on our agenda is citizen comment. I do not have any speaker cards. Is there anyone that would like to comment and fill out a speaker card afterwards? Seeing none, I will move on to the consent agenda. Are there any items that council would like to pull off for further discussion or any questions? You raising Derek?

Yeah. First one is just on B. I just want to u with that grant just an explanation um with the drinking water. That's right. I'll get my gallon out. Any others? F and G. Okay. Any others?

K and L. K and L. All right. Mr. Gamble, we're going to start with I'm sorry, Sydney. What you got? I A. Yeah. Okay. Well, we're still going to start with Mr. Gamble because he's already up. So, we'll talk about consent agenda item B.

Hi. What are your questions? Oh, I just wanted to kind of get I mean, I think we all in agreement. We love the drinking water here at Long Beach. Thank you. And um just kind of understand the how the grant works and how that's going to help. Sure. So, we found a grant opportunity for $1.2 million to help us with security needs for the drinking water system. This is not for pipelines. This is for the actual computers that purify and push and pull clean water around the city. It helps us make our system less attractive to malicious actors.

Oh, okay. Interesting. Nice. Excellent question. Yes. Have we won anymore? Um, we participate each year, don't we, in a drinking water contest or we used to. I mean, uh, they got tired of us winning. I mean, that's really that we we were winning repetitively. So,

yes, I remember that and I was just wondering if we were still participating in that. I don't believe we participated in a while. I think they were they were a little aggravated. We kept winning every year. Well, I appreciate the explanation. Yes. Thank you, Josh. Uh, consent agenda item A, Miss Cohen.

Yeah. So, this is the annual adoption. It's required by the Public Funds Investment Act. So, we have the council review it every year and approve it. Well, I want to recommend the U. Excellent job you've done. Do you have a

Oh, thank you. Uh I'm not going to get too Do you have a particular investment policy that's over the years that you've used or is that uh uh this this is it and um there are specific items that we actually can invest in. So that keeps me I guess in line for the investments.

Yeah. Thank you. Okay. Uh FNG is Dwayne Archer and that is that you also Oh okay. Oh, KO is I'm sorry. Uh, any particular questions or just general?

Yeah, general information. And then I had a couple of questions. Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, I'm sorry. FNG. FNG. Okay. Uh, yes, ma'am. Tri-State Battery Supply and AT&T Corporation. So, on this um I understand that this a contract with uh Tri-State Battery. I was just curious. So, this is used for like which vehicles? Is it used on our lease vehicles? What are we

all of our all of our small vehicles that we end up having to purchase a battery for? It's used for those. It's all the It's all the batteries that we use in the shop. So, is it used on do we have to use the this contract with any of our vehicles that we're currently leasing? As far as the lease vehicles, they have full maintenance on them, but this is a wear item. So, if they if the battery fails, it will be something we'd have to replace.

Okay. At what mileage point? Well, we we the way batteries fail is they just fail and then we end up replacing them. It's not a certain mileage that would determine if the battery need to be replaced. Okay. And so on any say we start leasing a car right now and then the battery fails on it, then we have to replace the battery.

Well, a lot of times when we get the car, it has a a warranty on the battery and so we'll take advantage of that if we can. Okay. Thank you. Uhuh. And G, sorry, Dwayne, don't go away. You're still up there. Well, I think you just help us with this more. Okay. Okay. So, this is for the um 911 services, correct?

No. So, we have uh disaster recovery data center inside of the what it we know as the EOC or the AT&T building. This is to renew that contract. Ah, it's emergency operations. And so, we don't stand that up all the time. That's just in emergency situations, we would use that facility. But we do always have uh an active disaster recovery data center in that building. So we have technology there.

Okay. Thank you. That's I just wanted to clarify that. Okay. Thank you. Uh KNL is Dwayne Archer. Sean. All right. I'll take K. We've got a visual for this one. Um

so I just Yeah, I wanted to pull this off because um this is great things that coming to Mod Cops. just would like to show the public what's what's coming. So, appreciate it. Yeah. So, on uh the east side of Mod Cobb, um we're going to be constructing um a a pavilion. It'll be directly adjacent, but not connected to the building. It'll have uh a sidewalk door access to the there's a a walkthrough door on the east uh side of the main hall, but it'll also have a sidewalk to connect over to the idleman room, and it's directly across from the blind garden. And so our hope is that this will be something that we can utilize really for all three of those uh different rentable areas to enhance that. Um we do have people that utilize the gazebo and want to have weddings and special gatherings outside and this will allow us to better serve that for sure.

Awesome. And then how's this funded? So um we've been doing a lot of improvements um across the Columbia Convention Complex uh over the last several years and we utilize the hotel occupancy tax dollars. there's a 2% that's specifically uh designated for improving and operating uh convention center. So, we've been using that to cash fund improvements there. So, we've made a lot of improvements inside Mod Cobb. We just renovated the exhibit center as well. And so, this was one of the projects from our master plan um that we just keep marching along making improvements.

Okay. And so, this was part of the master plan that they've identified as Right. There was a within the master plan, it had a smaller pavilion, but when we were looking at um at that plan, uh we really felt like we needed to expand that to make it be a better use for the clients. Um we do have a lot of people that rent the the space that want to have kind of that indooroutdoor function and so sometimes they'll rent tents and do those kinds of things and so this will really allow us to meet some of those needs better we really believe.

And do you have an idea when it'll be open? I believe it's a threemonth construction schedule. Okay. I appreciate you and Gay as well for doing this and helping with that. I'm finish my question. And from somebody who's experienced this, when we've rented mod Cobb before, we were out there cooking. We had to bring our own tents and shelter. It wasn't enough. So, definitely it' be something that I know a lot of other people will appreciate.

Yeah, it's about 2,000 square feet, which is about about the maximum of what we're able to put there on the side, but I think it will really add to that functionality like you said. Wonderful. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Uh then L. Oh, that's exciting.

Pull you back up, Dwayne. Yes, sir. Awesome. So, uh this is the waterline relocation for Dillia Drive uh realignment project. So, uh if you'll just give a little bit overview on that project that we're doing, where we're at, and then what the uh next uh timeline is going to look like for that project to be completed.

Certainly. Yeah. Um so, this project has come in under budget by nearly $26,000. Um but it was re relocating water lines so that Dia could be relocated so that it wouldn't be hitting right at the intersection like it was before. Um and we have completed that water line. So now Tex takes it over and we'll finish up that project and get that finished and so we're excited about getting it done finally

and the estimated time on that early 26. Yes sir. Somewhere in there. Somewhere in there. Awesome. So uh great job on it. appreciate all the work that you've done on the relo relocation and realignment on that and uh also coming in under budget. Appreciate it. All right. Thank you, sir. Great work. Uh any other items for discussion or questions on consent agenda or do I have a motion?

Move to approve. Have a motion. Do I have a second and a second? All in favor, please say I. Any opposed? Consent agenda is approved. We will move on to discussion item. Discuss, excuse me, discuss options related to the purchase andor lease of fire apparatus. Chief Greg Grimes.

Good evening, Mayor, council members, Mr. McY. Before I forget, I want to recognize Tom Whitmer and Brandon Cotton with Sins Martins are in attendance tonight. Uh they're kind of in the bullpen in case there's questions that I don't have the answers for. Uh they may are the subject matter experts on all things apparatus and financial. So, uh hopefully we can we can utilize them if needed. Um, so I wanted to discuss a little bit uh uh talk about definitions just to catch everybody up. Uh, we realized doing this uh firefighters have some lingo talk that a lot of people may not understand. So I just wanted to to start off by by reviewing some of these. Uh, a front line is what we use as our primary units and those are typically our newest apparatus. And so those are daily. That's what they the firefighters get on uh and respond to all the time. Uh with the exception of when they're down for maintenance or repairs. Uh and to do that, then we need a reserve apparatus. Uh which is a second definition. And those are obviously when you fill in a front line that's been down due to maintenance. Those apparatus are typically 10 years old or older. Uh not quite as reliable, but they still have some service life left in them. And so we use them in a limited capacity. um an engine versus truck. Uh so there's multiple names for these apparatus. A truck, the difference between an engine and a truck. Uh the truck has a ladder on top of it, the big ladder. Um the engine is also called a pumper. Uh and those are the ones that you see probably more frequently than the larger trucks. Uh trucks are more expensive than engines. Therefore, they don't uh run as often and they are a little bit more expensive than an engine is. So service life on an engine company uh is about 10 years. We try to keep it at 10 years. Uh and then we gives us 5 years in reserve. Um truck companies that since they're

bigger, a little slower, they don't run as much. We keep those for 15 years in the front line. Uh and then 5 years reserve status. And then their end of service life uh kind of the benchmark is the 15ear mark on an engine with 10,000 hours or more. Uh the trucks are 20-year lifespan with 10,000 hours or more. So it kind of balances out there. The trucks can go a little longer before they hit those hourly marks. Um the down at the bottom, engine 1, engine two, and engine six are typically our busiest engine companies and they reach their end of service life after 10 years. They have no reserve capability left in them due to the number of miles and hours on them. Uh so that's kind of the caveat there. Uh, I did want to take a minute to thank the apparatus committee for their hard work. Uh, fleet services, uh, finance, they've all just really piled in and and helped me get through this process. And, uh, the the whole, uh, director team has been great in supporting this, uh, presentation and and this replacement, um, plan. the committee put together a plan where we had mechanically sound uh and efficient apparatus that were cost effective uh and standardized that uh and they've really worked hard at getting this to this point. Um, we made some procedural changes uh to try to reduce the wear and tear to these apparatus uh so we can get more life out of them and reduce the mileage on them. And and examples of that that uh the lift assist fees that that will go into effect in just a few days uh we hope will will help reduce that or priority dispatching procedures that we have. We're looking at uh increasing a ambulanceon response instead of a fire engine chasing an ambulance every time it goes out the door. Uh try to uh increase those call types that the engine is not or the truck is not

required to go. Excuse me. Uh fire alarm response chains. We used to send five or six. I affectionately call them big red things uh because they they're all red and and really massive. Uh so we we usually send five or six on that. But prior to my arrival, they had reduced that down to one apparatus on a fire alarm response because roughly 99% of those calls are false anyway. And so it just didn't make uh good sense to use and put those extra miles on there when it was 99% chance that it was a false alarm. Um we've also standardized the engine and truck builds. The committee did that for us as well. uh again for being cost effective and and in that they reduced the customization which uh was you know had an obvious expense to that custom stuff. Uh so we've lowered that. The lifespan of an apparatus uh on top up there um lead times right now are about 36 to 42 months. Uh it looks like they're going to be coming down and we're in hopes of that. But when you order an apparatus uh an engine in particular at 36 to 42 months you don't see it. And so when it arrives uh at there in the green at engine delivery um we put it in service and then we have 10 years for that frontline life. Sometime during that frontier I'm sorry that 10 year uh life we need to estimate the lead time on the next purchase to replace that apparatus. and and so then you you start to stack uh payments on top of orders for the next round. And so it gets a little complicated on on trying to uh plan out that schedule and and we'll we'll review that in just a bit. Uh but once that order is placed for the replacement then and it arrives, our engine goes into reserve status. It's there for 5 years and then there at the red when it hits its total 15ear shelf life uh service life uh it is gone. It goes to auction.

Uh same thing for the truck. The I put a little bit more of a lead time on the trucks um because sometimes those take a little longer. Again, they have the 15-year uh front line. Uh we'd have to estimate the lead times. Again, they do stay in reserve status for 5 years and then when they hit their 20-year life uh span, they they are then sold. And again, I want to say kudos to Dwayne and Fleet Services and his team. They did a tremendous job. And Angela Cohen uh helping me with the figures and the numbers. they they were talking a lot of uh figures that just kind of made me glaze over and get numb. So, I appreciate their help. On the next slide here, so the Long View Fire Department has seven frontline engines and four reserves. So, a total of 11 engines in the fleet and then trucks. We have three frontline uh trucks and then one reserve. So, in total, we have 15 big red things or apparatus that will be required for replacement schedule. And the goal is to do a continuous rotation to avoid avoid these large financial uh burdens at any one time. Um this graphic kind of shows our frontline apparatus that are in need of replacement. And you can see engine 4, engine 2, and engine one. Uh they all hit their end of life in 2026. So engine 4 has not even been repa the order's not been placed yet for it. It's a 2011 model. uh engine two and engine one, those are a couple of the apparatus that have the high mileage and the high hourly rate at 10 years. And so uh their end of service life is 26. And then if you look down at engine 7, it's a little bit newer model, but with the lead times, if we were to order that engine tomorrow, it would arrive just in time for it to go into the reserve status where we could get the full 5 years out of it. Uh and then the same with engine three. Uh that one is is is only two years old. However, if we ordered it now

uh and on the next slide, this will make a little bit more sense, but if we order it now, it would go into reserve status a bit early. So, we would get an extended reserve life out of it. Uh and then truck 5 is our only truck that is in need of replacement. And again, if we ordered it now, uh it would be here in time uh for the reserve status as intended. And this is our reserve fleet. Uh, engine 17, it's it's been around a while and these engines and apparatus are tired. Uh, we got the oldest one at 22 years. Um, engine 11, that's the workhorse of the reserve apparatus. It is out usually out daily uh at some station running while another one is having maintenance on it and it's 19 years old. So, as you can see, none of our reserve apparatus are at the 15 or 20 year mark. they're exceeding u those numbers which makes it difficult uh to replace those or use those reserves because that's an unreliable fleet and uh there are times when we have no reserves going into the weekend where if we had a mechanical failure on a frontline apparatus we wouldn't have anything to jump into uh and uh fleet services has has bent over backwards to keep us in good working order but it's definitely taxing on them as well. So, um, so our finance and purchase program details here. This is for the three, uh, fire engines, aka pumpers, and one mid-mount truck. Um, and you can see there if we do the 10-year, uh, payment on that, we would order it and then roughly $741,74 U for those years. But I think we've got some updated numbers and and we'll get into that in a little bit later if if so if need be. Um and then our lease turnin, this is where our thought was we would

lease an engine for 10 years and then turn it in at the 10-year mark, which would be engine one and engine two, the busy ones that aren't have any service life uh left with them after 10 years, and avoid that balloon payment of 60691. And then we would need to reorder again. uh and on the replacement schedule. So the thought was the slower apparatus we could keep purchase at the end of 10 years and then they would go to reserve status. These however would go back to peers. And so finally the seed money requested for this project just to get us caught up for the six apparatus that we need desperately is $3.5 million. and that provides the ability to order the needed apparatus uh and fund the replacement plan for roughly 10 years. Uh and and we have a plan for even further than that. But those are discussions that we can do. Uh Miss Cohen with has some numbers I believe and then uh I'll answer any questions if you have them.

You raising your hands any Oh, go for it. Yes. Okay. Um I think the u ambulance only policy is very good. Uh sometimes you're in a situation um we had a situation where uh somebody had to be carried out on a what do you call it a cod or something? Stretcher. Stretcher. Yes. And uh

the question they said then was at that time and I could be completely wrong. There was only two people in the ambulance and two on the engine. Um, have we got a plan where we can I guess what I'm saying is, have we got a plan where we can put more people in the ambulance when we have an ambulance only? Occasionally we have uh paramedic students and EMT students and uh personnel that are that are in their field training program. So that puts three on a on an ambulance occasionally. Uh, I don't know. I wouldn't know the numbers exactly how that is, but we're also at a point where if the two on the on the ambulance cannot handle a patient due to the weight or the severity of the call or whatever it may be, uh, they can certainly call for an engine company or a truck company to come down there and help them uh, load.

No, I think it's a it's a a very good program. Now, u, I'm not quite sure here on this three and a half million. I think we had talked about part of the reserve for that or is that's a different program? No, that's what we're talking about. Okay. That we had talked about previously in the reserve.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Sure. Great question. Uh and I know we spoke a little bit and I know this come on the recommendation uh from the group that was put together. Uh the recommendation did any of it go out for bids? And reason I was asking you and I talked about this because I know you got we we discuss a Spartan, you know, E1, Ferrer and all.

Um because I think if people look up Pierce, they're going to see the same thing I did when I first saw it. Cadillac of of vehicles. Correct. And uh you know I I'm like if if a Ford or Rama does or Ford or a Dodge does a job, why why do we need a Cadillac, you know, costwise? And I like you kind of speak along that line. And then if you would uh one of the things that we talked about was customization. You know, we talked about three different lines. Kind of describe that. I'd really like you to explain, hey, some of the modification and changes that you're talking about.

Uh because I totally understand when we're talking about engine power and uh what we're looking for there. And then uh the last thing I wanted to say and this is just comment not a question is I want to thank you for what you're doing to try and reduce the hours on these units uh help us with personnel and all like that. But uh the main one I guess is you know how did we come to Pierce? You know did we not go to a bid process on this? Where does that put us at? Uh cuz at the end of the day we're all looking at how we can wisely use taxpayers dollars.

Correct. Uh so in in the slide uh of our older apparatus, our reserve fleet, um and this is just me stretching back a little bit, I saw where 2003 was was the first the or the oldest model of Pierce. And so that transitioned to Pierce, I'm not sure what was prior to that. Uh that that happened back then. And so uh Sidens Martin puts together quite a service uh agreement and and really you're buying service when you buy Piers. um so much so that they built a facility just outside at Greg County Airport uh that specializes in and services those Pierce apparatus and it's a regional one. Uh I spoke with the Tyler assistant chief uh Chief Frost and they use Pierce and and that that shop as well. Uh and so one of the advantage to is with being with Pierce is that shop is available and it's in close proximity. Uh, I did a little calling around. Uh, I talked to the San Marcos fire chief and and they're 100% Spartan and uh, he had some very candid things to say that I can't say in public uh, about Spartan and the whole apparatus issue that's going on. However, I did ask him what a a standard engine, customized engine that would fit the build similar to ours. And he said his is one and a quarter million, which is right in line with with with Pierce. And the advantage of staying with Pierce is that we do have that service and our fleet services technicians are also trained to to work on Pierce as well. Uh I contacted Plano Fire, the assistant chief of operations. They used Rosenbower for a while and they've returned to Pierce because some of the issues they had with Rosenbower and that also relates to some of the service problems that they had. Uh Tyler, they have a few Spartans. they've gone back to Pierce and then they tried E1 and they're having really really struggled with E1 uh and their service. Uh so much so that they had to take legal action to get some warranty uh money back from

them that they claimed was not their responsibility. So uh it is challenging um as far as finding an apparatus supplier that can provide the service and the quality. Uh everything's going to break down and you certainly understand that. Uh, and I think where some of the customization has gone and the changes that the apparatus committee made, we're we're increasing the size of the engine or the motor in the fire apparatus. Uh, it was it was stated that our apparatus are underpowered, which is increasing the maintenance and repair issues. Uh, and I believe uh, Dwayne's group is uh, you know, they they've definitely had their hands under the hoods on those, and they're the ones that recommended that we up uh, scale the power on that. So, um, that's that's where some of that customization is, or at least it's optional. And then as far as the lines, the way the Pierce floor works, and please correct me if I'm wrong. Um, there's about three lines where you can order a straight out of the the factory. This is exactly what you get. It's a pre-build. Uh, and that's one of the lanes, and that's a pretty fast build, or you can do some modifications on lane two and customization, and then full customization is on lane three, which takes a lot more time. Um, so we're trying to get into lane two so we can have some customization, but not just a stock model where it fits the Long View needs, not necessarily just what fits uh their their engineer build that they put out as a stock unit,

right? And so in service on these companies, cuz I know we talked about that for you, they're on the other side of Louisiana. If something goes down, it's sure nice to have somebody here that's convenient and easy to get to. How often would we see them going there than regular than rather to over to our fleet services for repair? What what's that kind of been history-wise? Cuz that's something I don't know.

It really it depends on the the repair or the maintenance item that's in need. Uh generally I think all maintenance is held at fleet services. Correct. Yeah. All the preventive maintenance is there. Yeah. The preventative stuff. uh and just if it has a larger for instance we have an engine uh that is going to need an inframe rebuild and I don't know if fleet services is going to do that or if um I would imagine citizens is going to do that one uh so I believe they go uh I don't have that exact number but it they do travel outside the city uh but that's one of their more significant repair issues that are needed.

Okay. Um, and like I said, I want to thank you for what you're doing. U coming back to it. So, we're trying to stay with Pierce. Uh, and basically we're understanding we we went through it as a commitment or this is what they referred for purchase rather than bid. Correct.

Correct. And and part of that also is is if you start address if you start moving to a different provider then you have various apparatus in the field which causes in inconsistency. Uh when you have a firefighter moves or driver moves from one station to fill in at another and he's got an apparatus that he's not 100% familiar with. So there's among the service issues that are

in I'm thinking about Dwayne and his department when you start changing brands and things like that. So let me ask you the final question. And I've got some of the stock uh units that come off line one. Would they fit the need anywhere along the line for what we're trying to get to just to kind of get us ahead? Because the last thing we want to do is be making big huge purchases, you know, all at one time in this year and then we wait in 10 years and all of a sudden we're loaded with it again. Uh kind of to help get us in line somewhere down the road. Uh do you see that being an option? I can certainly check. I don't have that information for you uh tonight, but I can check and get back with you on that.

All right. And it it's like I told you and I'll tell anybody that is in a department with city of Long View, when you tell us what you need, we're going to make sure you've got it. The last thing I want you to do is go out with something that doesn't fit the bill for what we're needing to do. So anyway, I appreciate it. Thank you for that that time, coach. Appreciate it.

I think Derrick's got a question. Yeah, I just want to you mentioned we have 15 apparatuses. Can you kind of explain the the how you determine the reserve usage? The reserve usage. Well, the uh I sent uh I believe a memo out was it earlier this week or later last late last week that there was an excerpt in there and and I didn't print it off to think of but NFPA has a recommendation on service life for engines and for trucks which is a is is standard. It depends on the amount of call volume that they're involved in, but generally it's about 10 years for an engine and 15 for a truck. And then they have five years of reserve status. So ideally when let's take engine five for instance right now it's a frontline engine with 150,000 m on it in 15,000 hours. Uh so it would typically go to reserve when its replacement came in uh which is due next month. uh but it it has no service life left in it um because it's been in frontline for so long. Uh and so there there's also a resale point over or breakover point when they reach that 10,000 hour mark. There's really no market for an engine or a truck that has more than 10,000 hours on them.

What is your uh I mean as as as your department, what's your what's your determination? Hey, when do we go to a reserve? I guess is my question. Oh, we just well when it hits that 10 year life on an engine and 15 years on a truck. Um, but I mean like if you're you have a call, I mean, are are those only used in emergency?

Oh. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I I was I wasn't following the question. U So, if engine one has is in need of an oil change and some general maintenance, it goes to the shop. Those individuals will get on a reserve unit and back it into the station and run on it as an engine one, but it's technically one of our reserve fleets. Uh and then occasionally when we get in an overload and more more so on the ambulance side if we we jump into what we call backup med units. So if all six med units leave and are on calls and then we get another medical call then one of the stations will get on a backup med unit and take off and that's similar uh to the reserve status.

I just want to echo what Jody said. I was trying to make sure we want to have the best opportunity with best resources possible and how that work with resources. I want to go. Second question I have is you're you mentioned the uh lease option. Are there other uh cities that are using lease uh leased vehicles? Is that something to explore?

Yes. Uh actually um it's a lease program that that PICE put together and I was I was just speaking with uh Tom out there and he he was saying that Plano has leased uh their reserve fleet. They're kind of in my mind they're kind of thinking backwards, but it's not a bad thing. They res they they lease brand new apparatus for reserves and then they bring those into frontline apparatus after a while and and but I don't that's the I heard of it tonight. That's the first time I've heard of that program. But

can we have that? Can we pull that up again? The cost comparison on the uh lease and then if there's any savings there because that you mentioned the with the u the T. So, uh there's well you can see in red there there's a total multi-truck discount, chassis discount, full prepayment discount. Uh and this is just on the two that we were discussing uh about pulling back to or using for 10 years and then sending them back. We do have the option after 10 years to purchase those at a balloon payment of 60691. However, if they're going to already be close to their 10,000 hour service life, we don't really have the ability to put them in reserve and be reliable. So we were going to give them back to Pierce and avoid that balloon payment and then we would lease another two engines or three engines however it would run at the time.

So when that with the 3.5 million that would cover both options is that with Yes. And so uh also this last question I have. So if we did lease that time frame of uh adding to the fleet like um you know you mentioned uh up to I guess 40 months or 42 months I think I can't remember that chart but if it's if we leased could could uh could we get a apparatus sooner?

No is a short answer to that. Uh again, those are going to be orders that the Long View Standard, the the the type of rig that that the committee built when we say and we order, let's say I went out there tonight and said, "Let's order these tonight." Uh the time starts then and so 36 to 42 months later, that's when it shows up regardless of whether it's a lease turnin or a lease purchase or finance.

Do you want I know um so this uh what you got on the slide here is the lease options through Pierce, right? if we were to do the program through them and I know Angela's been working hard on some other options. Do you want to talk about that? Sure, I can quickly go through that. Um, I quickly looked at some other financing options and those were taxexempt loans and due to our credit rating, uh, we were we could possibly get 2.75% and that would be tied to a 7-year note. The savings for that would be approximately about 900,000 in interest cost. We also were talking about the 3.5 that would take us through the 10 years. And since we're talking about fund balance, we wanted to see if there was a way that we could actually have a long-term sustainability because Fleet has really worked hard at looking and seeing how we could extend this. And so in doing that with the savings at 2.75% um and the seven-year note, if we increase the 3.5 to 5 million, we actually could have a sustainable long-term plan.

Okay, let me recap that quickly and you tell me if I did something wrong. So nothing would change about what Chief Grimes has proposed as far as our replacement. Um we have never as a council had a schedule for replacement of fire apparatus. Um historically we've just looked at savings and responded reactively and you see how we get in trouble real fast because we didn't do any purchases last year or this year. Um so now we're talking about you know needing needing to cover a lot in a small amount of time. So I think it is very important that council take seriously that we put something in place that will last for future councils and not continue to kick this can down the road. Um, so do I understand correctly that if we did the 3.5 that would not solve the initial seed money would not solve us long term but if we did five that would seed long term we wouldn't be without something going wrong we wouldn't be coming back in 5 10 15 years to talk about this then we could carry forward the schedule. Yes.

Um but then the financing piece let me make sure I understand that the lease that we've talked about here would be if we engaged with peers to use their funding program. So, kind of like if I were least to purchase a car, I'd be using their model. Yes. You can bring that in house where then we would actually own the vehicle. Would that be correct?

Yes. This would be for purchasing the four vehicles. Um, it could also, if we wanted to purchase the other two, we could look at that, too. But that rate is due to our credit rating. So, we can get that with a tax exempt loan, but we wouldn't need all the money to come out of reserves because of the 2.7.

No. And that's how it would become sustainable because if we increased that to five, we'd have the interest savings. We'd also have investment earnings and then we'd have increased revenues down the road. And one of the things that I'll tag on to that, this is based on increased revenue from our existing industrial district agreements. So, we have some industrial district agreements that we receive funding on and this so that's kind of baked into this schedule. We'll be counting on some of that revenue that's on the books to come in to help us make this down payment more affordable. And the the discussion about whether you lease a couple or you buy them all. Buying them all gives you some flexibility in moving apparatuses between different locations so you can get extended life out of them. So it gives you a little bit more flexibility in the long term, but it is a it's a larger down payment investment. You're you're speaking of an additional million5 on the purchase, but it would save us 900,000

in the long run. What we're talking about and you give me a I'm sorry I'm I'm I'm not fire department educated. So on our engines, not trucks. Uh some of those you're you're can get into for right around a million dollars. A little little more than is that was right. Million two maybe. Correct.

Something like that. So, we're looking at possibly saving the money if we go that route to have a to be able to get this in order and get it in line. Yeah, I'm turn around. See if they'll get that real quick. He's actually got that. He actually has that the way he did some calculations out in the parking lot in

and so let me ask this and I don't know if you've done any kind of numbers to it. you know, once you put some of these programs into place, you know, trying to not chase an ambulance with a a unit and all like that, um the hours and the mileage that we're putting on these vehicles, do you think, hey, we might see a 10% a 25% reduction in the hours, which buys us more time, which kind of gives us some leniency when you're talking about getting on a schedule to purchase these struct by by doing some procedural changes uh like you you're speaking of and and reducing those non-emergent hours on the apparatus that as time goes on we'll see we'll kind of realize those efforts later on and then we can make adjustments as as we see that happening and if we're getting a reduction in on all that the reserve life may go to 10 years or we may leave it in service longer it just it's number dependent and it's it's hard to to judge that right now

now there's a lot of those numbers I sorry the acronyms NASF in in a what did you say a while ago? I think Derek was talking to you. The the people who put the standards in place. Oh, uh NFPA. Okay. Uh that's kind of that's the numbers that they're going by correct as well. Okay.

All right. Has Aubrey had a question? Yeah. It's a quick question kind of separate though. Um so it appears with a lot of and this is not necessarily directed to you Chief Grimes but just a general question. So it appears that a lot of our city fleet now are all under lease agreements for the most part. Correct. Mr. Archer might be able

smaller vehicles are now. I I remember we sat and we did a big lease agreement with a lot of our our fleet our city fleet a while back. Yes sir. And when we did that we also eliminated a lot of our maintenance. Correct. That we were able to do in house. a lot with maintenance and downtime

and Yeah. I mean, I'm saying but we eliminated some of that staff as well. Correct. Yes. So, I heard Chief Grimes mention that if we do take this on even under a lease agreement, we will still be responsible for some of that maintenance with it. Yes. Yeah. There there's always maintenance even if you're leasing

that we are responsible for under a lease. So, that prevented maintenance would fall there. So some of our other lease agreements the maintenance is completely outsourced to the person that the lease sour. Correct. Not not all of it. I mean there's some preventive maintenance. There's some there's some durable items that we have to make sure that we're m that we take care of.

Sure. Much like the question about the battery. I mean, if you buy a new car, the battery has a warranty for a period of time, but once that wears out, that's a wear item. And then we'd have that was discussed when we when we did the agreement a while back, right? So, under this lease agreement with peers,

what part of this maintenance will they be maintaining? It might be good to answer that question because it is going to be the maintenance items, the regular maintenance items. I don't mean to call everybody up. I could have I normally just lean over and ask me fee all my questions.

So I don't mean to call everyone up, you know, but thank you guys for stepping up. Yes. Certain lease agreement. The maintenance is to the is for the city to do. It's a it's called a net lease. Okay. Yeah. So all the preventive maintenance is for the city, right? But that's also going to be an acrude cost to the city as well. Correct.

The maintenance. Correct. Which we we've eliminated a large part of our staff. Do we have the staff to maintain? No. I And when you asked that earlier, I apologize. We did not we did not cut staff. We we reassigned them to the heavy trucks because that's where we were seeing the issues where we needed more staff available.

My friend here has a comment. Oh, yeah. Well, one one things and I I've said that I can't remember. I've talked to a lot of y'all in the last little bit and I can't remember who I told and who I didn't tell, but the lease purchase when we talk about that for larger equipment. Um, that's not a lease like our our contractual lease agreements with with cars. It's it's it's not a capital lease or capital equity lease program where we This truly is, and nobody get offended for me, it's a loan. They call it lease purchase on large vehicles but it is all a loan. It is always a loan. And the name lease purchase when we as p personally a lease purchase to us means something much different. But in large vehicles it is basically a loan. And so we have a separate service agreement for the entire fleet for fire. And so that's that's just it in a nutshell. every time anytime you buy any of these, we bought sanitation vehicles on lease purchase. That's just a loan. It is just a loan.

So my question then and a gentleman from Pierce, if you don't mind stepping back up again. So then will you explain then the relationship with Pierce once we if we were to go through what Mr. McY just explained? What would that relationship be with Pierce moving forward as far as maintaining those vehicles? Well, the payments you see that is the capital cost of the equipment financed via loan. Uh, as far as the maintenance, the maintenance would still be the same as as the city has already has done as if they purchased the vehicles for cash.

Sure. There's not a maintenance plan included in that lease agreement. Okay. Thank you guys for coming up and speaking. You know, there can be a preventive maintenance plan included. There can be extended warranties included, too. So, if you want to buy it, I'm sorry. Yeah, if you want to buy it. Yes.

Okay. Yeah. Uh just just a a few comments with oh look back 40 40 something plus years experience in the heavy equipment business. U there's been a couple of things that I've found that are true. One of them is buy larger. Now you were talking about engine sizes and and you got an emergency.

No. No. Okay. He was filling me in. I just All right. I just uh engine sizes, drivetrain, and such as that. If you buy the minimum, you're going to have a lot more maintenance and you're going to have shorter life. And one thing that's very important here is the hours of usage. We talk about miles. You say, "Well, a car will run 100." Nowadays, it run 150, 200,000. But um that's on the highway and you get less wear and tear when you're going down the highway than you do u running a truck. It really surprises me that these fire apparatus uh can run u did you say 100,000 miles?

150,000 miles. I mean that's like 300 or 400 on the highway. I mean that's way up there. hours become much more important because that's when uh everything's running. But I think the um be sure that we get a a little more than what we what the minimum is because you're going to have stress periods and then the other thing I've always found is and I'll say this truthfully, buy the best you can afford. you know, when you start um we're looking at a 10-year life and as you mentioned some of these others when you say, "Well, we can save a little money here, we can save a little money there." And Pierce has been in business for actually I think they were uh they started building cars. Pierce Errol 100 years ago or how long has Pierce been in business? I think

116 years. How long 116 years they've been in business. So they've got um there and um the larger gives you less drivetrain stress. Uh the way I'm I want to ask Angela if on our financial statement our credit rating if we borrow the money and pay cash compared to going into the lease does that affect our credit rating um any way materially?

It it does. It goes against our debt ratios. um it wouldn't be material um especially if we make the payments. It's all you know how how you perform financially. But it does the the buy the the if we sold the bonds or whatever that would u increase our debt ratio where if we leased it we we wouldn't have to show that as an obligation.

No, it still has that would show up as a liability against the maintenance and operations. Okay. But it does so it's it's all a loan. All right. And it's all treated like if we uh in asking Pierce and they don't need to get up. If we paid cash for them, does that give give us any shorter delivery time?

Uh no sir. Um backlog. Okay. All right. Um I think that's um that's about it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, one of the things I want to say is had an opportunity to visit Dwayne and uh, I think there was four or five of our trucks over there for maintenance and uh, if somebody's looking at a fire, they sure don't want to be them sitting over at maintenance. And uh, last thing I I want everybody to know, we're not looking to buy a Hugo here. We want what's going to do the job and do it right. And I told you that that two weeks ago and you did and I firmly believe in that that we you get what you pay for. I don't go buy a cheap tool. I'm sure Sydney don't either.

Do you use tools? Okay. But anyway, I want the right tools for the job and uh I appreciate you to come tonight and explaining everything that you did. Absolutely. Shannon had a question. Can you go ahead and explain a little bit about the ambulance only uh policy?

So, our priority dispatching a priority one is a very critical patient and there's criteria that is met. uh if if there's active bleeding, if it's chest pain, difficulty breathing, unconscious, that's priority priority one. And so that would be an ambulance and an engine or truck simultaneously going. Um priority two is very similar to that, but it has to do with districts. Priority three is like um a less severe call, broken bones, um feeling sick all day and called, you know, to go to the hospital. Um I I I'm trying to think of a sprained ankle, something like that. Those are those very low acuity calls that don't require uh a large piece of apparatus and and the personnel and the staff to help support that patient care. It's completely handled by those two paramedics or three in some ca uh instances on the med unit. Uh and so we're looking at Dr. Mc Williams when he starts. we want to talk with him and discuss uh increasing those lower acuity calls

uh where we can send the med unit on its own more often. Um but they always have the ability to request that engine or that truck to respond. Even if they're just reviewing the notes before they even get there, they can say, "Go ahead and send me one." And those will arrive on scene.

Yeah. because I think that it would help on um you not sending out the bigger engines for if we all kind of evaluate those calls or whatever because I don't think that it's necessarily good for a fire truck to come out for chest pains and things of that nature. So, I always wondered, you know, how y'all decided and why we're sending out, you know, a fire truck and an EMS for somebody with chest pains.

Correct. Or whatever because they can't transport if needed be. Yeah. Uh where would where we would get into a little bit of a hiccup on that is if all six med units are currently assigned, we would send an engine company or a truck company because they can do treatment in at the house or at the incident location while waiting on another med unit to get there. And so th those are instances where you would see one going to a call that might not normally take an ambulance, not might not normally require an ambulance and an engine. It's just so that we ensure that we have coverage and care for those patients until we can get a med unit available for them. And so we we intend on expanding those lower acuity call priority threes if you will. Uh there are some agencies, my former agency, there is no priority dispatching. If the tones go off for a medical call, one of those big red things is going with it. Uh and and it's non-stop. So I I I applaud this this priority dispatching because I don't know how we could do it if we didn't have that.

Yes, I agree. Thank you. Thank you. I think it's a good change. Uh my question I guess will be to Angela. Can you kind of explain the whole um per doing the loan and is it the same amount with 3.5 million or is it not? Cuz I kind of got confused with the numbers that you were seeing cuz

I don't I don't have a schedule prepared. I'm I apologize for that. It was very short notice and I quickly looked into the tax exempt uh option. Uh the payments for the seven years it would reduce it from 10 years to 7 years and the payments would be 950,000. Um and on the 10 year it was 741,000 but in total interest savings would be about 900,000 for that.

And with the 3.5 with the lease purchase what would the payments be? uh it would be the 741, but the 3.5 would have to cover the front end. So, it wouldn't you wouldn't be able to go beyond the 10 years with the 3.5 reserve.

Okay? And with the um doing the loan, then there is no 3.5 at all. We don't have to do 3.5 million. Yes or no? We got to do five. Okay. Five. You do. and you still have the upfront cost to it, but you've got the three-year savings on the payments and then the interest savings and then that money gets invested and so on.

So that's take us past 10 years, right? Stacking all those loans for that many pieces of equipment in the 20 20 year replacement schedule is what she had to project out and that Dwayne had to project out with her on the on the lease. And the difference between those two plans being equal, one sustainable forever for a million and a half more.

Go ahead, Derek. So I appreciate you, Chief Grimes. This question I guess for Angela. So uh the 3.5 or 5 million we everything that's out of totally out of reserve. Yes. Yep. Yes.

Uh so I have several questions. All right. So a lot of this is like what you're looking at really is much like a pension is. So there's there's a base assumptions that are being made and those things are going to carry out. So there's some fluctuations that could be in there as well um as well. So keep that in mind on on this. So the uh several different things on the $900,000 in savings. Is that net of the underwriting cost? No, that includes the underwriting cost

and then so that savings is with with the underwriting cost already faced. So without that it would be a million. Okay. So that see $900,000 savings is over what time period? That is over that 10. It's it's in comparison to the 10year.

It's over a 10-year period. All right. I mean I would take a 60% return uh on that. So that's pretty good. So the net under cost and then on if we buy it and we do the loan that way then we're responsible for the resell instead of giving it back to Pierce.

And how how are we at handling that process? And I will pass that one off to Dwayne. We we do not do well selling fire trucks. I mean we just don't because the the service life is used up by the time we get rid of them. And so another agency is looking at that unit and they're saying there's nothing there and so our resale values are rel relatively low.

So on these assumptions that you're making, are you factoring any value in on the resale value? Okay, great. That's what I want to make sure. Okay. Um the interest on this. So Pierce, and it's not a dig of Pierce, it's industry standard. Um I don't like the fact that you're paying interest on something that hasn't been delivered. And so the load times, you're paying interest on something for three, four years that you ain't got. Does that change the interest on how we do if we do it in house? Are we not paying the interest until we deliver or are we still having that lead carry time?

Okay. Um and I this is a question for Pierce too. What is the last like fiveyear property or price appreciation of fire apparatuses? Uh well you can take the data for 18 years prior to CO and it was 3% per year exactly when CO hit uh that's when uh inflation hit that's when supply chains were constrained that's also when ARPA funding came into the cities and they use that funding to purchase a lot of assets and so historically indust industry would buy 4,500 trucks per year and that's what the manufacturing capacity and the supply chain was built to supply after co the numbers industry went from 4500 to 5300 5700 5900 almost 7,000 back to 6,300 and so we've had conrain a constrained supply chain but Pierce we've increased our manufacturing ing footprint uh by over a half a million square foot. We've added employment at over 25%. Uh our supply chain, our suppliers are doing the same thing to catch up on the lead times. So, it's forecast that the lead times will improve, but the industry was hit with a with a tsunami of of orders and demand that wasn't anticipated. So,

so the price increases to answer your question. Yeah, to answer your question, um, the price increases, uh, I have to go back in the data, but one year it jumped up. I think 2021 was 7 and a half%. I'll have Brandon Yeah. do. But then, and I'm not going to hold you to these numbers. I just want to get

Yeah. In 2022 was when a year in which uh, material skyrocketed on everything. And so that price increase that increases that we saw material prices was like 22%. And that's where we saw the big jump in apparatus prices and now they've stabilized

but they haven't went down. Right. So no. And what what do you feel is a fair inflation number to apply to fire apparatuses going over the next 10 years? Do you have an idea what that um So that number like you said it has leveled off some. Uh that was a volatile question.

Are we back at 3%? I mean so you're no I I would say just to be safe as far as planning goes and um you know somewhere around that 6% mark um but we are coming in under that currently. I mean we we've had quarter percent or uh 3/4 of a percent price increase here and there but we've had some that have been three and a half or four. So

and it'll be it'll it'll fluctuate. It will. Yeah. Awesome. So then, Angela, what number did y'all use for y'all's assumption on price appreciation? Um, that we did not. Um, y'all didn't include a uh No, I wanted to clarify too on the you were talking about the interest um up front. We can work on that because I was speaking with John Martin and so we could look at shifting front loading or back loing some of that interest and the the 900 uh,000 is on the four that are the purchase that it's the same thing as the lease purchase that they are offering. It's just a seven-year note. It doesn't include the two that would be turned over turned back in.

Okay. So we have to like when we're doing this just as we do on a pension we have to adjust for a expected rate of return on the investments minus minus the inflation though from the deal. So do we include an inflation figure in it or so uh just to see the run the numbers on it.

There's an overall inflation factored in and the pricing increase of the vehicles overall factored in and we ran it in two different ways of 3 and 12% and 6%. So we ran them both ways and we feel pretty comfortable with the 3 and 12 and the five taking into account the additions of the interest we would gain.

Okay. Right. That was on the replacement. So the 6% would be like a stress test. So that would be a fair thing to do. And y'all that would still fit with the long-term sustainability at the 6%. Okay. Um and so at a 6%. All right. So then kind of going through it a little bit. Um, and this is be for Chief Grimes. Um, so in response to like having the engines that respond and all this stuff that y'all do based on priority and all that stuff. Um, a lot of this is driven through our ISO ratings, right? So there's requirements that we have to maintain for our ISO rating and right now we're an ISO2 which gives us the best insurance from the residential side but striving to get to an ISO1 rating which will help the best insurance on the commercial side and it's important to get to the ISO rating of one on the commercial side especially from an economic development standpoint because there's some businesses a lot of businesses that we want to recruit and attract to come here that require an ISO rating one to even look at the place to come here. And those are going to be your major uh u major corporations and money that spending that require like a very strong hazmat and all the different things that go with that. So, can you uh kind of give some other things about the ISO and where we stand? And

well, we've heard recently that um that it's been completed, the re review's been completed and we should know uh relatively soon. Uh if we're successful at getting a one, I am extremely hopeful. I I hopeful, that's not really the word. Uh I'm confident that we're going to gain a one.

Okay. And then if we were to have issue where we have one of our front lines in uh getting maintained, reserve goes out, we don't can't respond with the the vehicle, could that affect our ISO rating?

Uh well, it's a it's a 10-year look when you look at ISO. Uh I don't know that if a singular or a small fraction of of those p of those numbers over occurred over 10 years if that would have impacted or not. I'd have to go back and do some research on that. Okay. But fortunately, we don't run into that very often.

Okay. Good. All right. So, what we got to consider ISO rating when we're looking at the fire apparatus replacement. And so, then um what really we got to look at is okay. So, if we do the extra 1.5 million, so the five million instead, that's like I said, a 60% return over a 5year. Will can tell me the comp compounded annual rate on that. I don't know what that is off my head. Um, so to me that seems like a very it's a good investment return. The we can either stay behind and we keep having this conversation every time we have to pull money from reserves. We can see that if we buy them now, just factoring a 3 and 12 to 6% inflation cost per engine, we're going to be paying more for those same engines that we're going to require later. and we're running and we're pushing fleet to to run harder. We're having challenges with the the fire department on them having to have reliable vehicles to go forward on it. And really what I feel like as a council we need to be looking at is the long-term sustainability of our fire apparatuses so that way um we're we're here setting the precedent for future councils in the future that uh this problem has already been solved for them. So, I appreciate Angela. I appreciate Greg Chief Grimes and all the committee uh fleet as well, Dwayne. All the stuff that y'all do, peers for being here. So, thank y'all for everything that y'all done uh for this. Thank you.

Yeah, I agree. I'm just going to echo that. I really appreciate the leadership to set a schedule that will carry us in the future and I really apprec appreciate the creative solutions to save us money. So, excellent job and leadership, guys. I'm very pleased with those things. And the city would be very willing to help y'all lower your downtime cuz we got some industrial property if y'all would like to put a couple more lines in. So

the last analyst called looking the CEO came out and said we're actually buying more passive. So there you go. Good. Appreciate that. What was the question supposed manufacturer? It goes together. Um, are there any further questions of Chief Grimes?

No, just to come in. I just want to make sure that we all know we we're definitely here to support fire and to make sure that we're sustainable in the long haul. It's just a question of which way we're going to do it. So, it's not a doubt in our mind that we're we're going to make one of these decisions. So, it's just which way we're going to go. Yeah. Do you want to discuss that further? Because I am, just for council's knowledge, I am planning to put both this vote and the general reserves vote on our next meeting. Um, so we'll have kind of an overview of general reserves, but we've now discussed the need to increase up to 15% reserves, which we've learned is important because that's how we're going to maybe finance this, and then also move forward with uh the presentation tonight. Um, so do you guys want to discuss I I feel pretty strongly we need to do the 5 million seed that will solve it long term and will save us money. Uh, but I don't know if others have like discussion or want to talk about that further or tell me where y'all are at.

I mean, I just think the five million seed is the best option. Yeah. And with sustainability agreement. Okay. Okay. Yes. Great. I'm looking at red. Yeah. Okay. Congratulations because this is something that no other council's been able to get done. So,

yeah. Well, we didn't do it yet, but we'll vote on it next vote on it next meeting. Super excited. Uh, thank you, Chief Grimes. Appreciate you and everybody that's here from the fire department. Thank you very much. Um, we are moving on to items of community interest. Derek, you're up. Would you like to introduce your lovely wife, please? I don't think she'd like me introducing. Okay. All right. All right.

So, uh, uh, sorry. Pine Tree, uh, National Night Out, Tuesday, October 7th. Great night with I know there'll be a lot of options in partnership with the police department and uh, community. And, uh, from 5:00 to 7:00, there's three parties. Pine Tree High School, Church on Purpose, and Pathway Church. And then the second thing a pine trees got coming up is our fall festival on Saturday October 18th. Anybody's invited to this 3 to 7. It's a great thing. A lot of there's there's it's it's not really a fundraiser. It's kind of have fun and bring a cheap way to bring your family and have a great family uh day and there's free hot dogs and performances. So, uh anybody's welcome and great things going on in Pine Tree District 1. Thank you.

Excellent. Miss Moore, uh I just want to congratulate G. Floyd on always participating in city and local government, coming to every meeting possible.

We appreciate you for always being involved in city government and we thank you. Yeah, good one. That was Mr. Wade. Yes, ma'am. First up, on the morning of October 4th, I encourage everyone to join Long View Paws for a wonderful celebration of life of Nenah Leah Allen out at the beautiful Campbell Woods. Long View Paws and the Long View Animal Care and Adoption Center are hosting a 5K nature run, a onemile walk where you can bring your four-legged friends, and a fun nature scavenger hunt for the kids. It's a f it's a fantastic way to enjoy the outdoors with family and raise money for our shelter. And that is on Saturday, October 4th. So, we hope everyone can participate. Second, mayor, if you don't mind, community recycling day. It's big time. The same day from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., be sure to swing by the Long View Mall for the free community recycling day hosted by Interstate Batteries and Keep Long View Beautiful. You'll be able to recycle everything from tires to batteries, shred paper, and donate items like canned foods, coats, and even give blood. So, everyone, please come out and enjoy that. And that's on October 4th as well. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Mr. News. Yes. How you doing? So, my Is your dog? Okay. We're talking about Ray's puppy that he's supposed to have photos. Supposed to have photos for us this time. I'd like to thank Miss Hubard for assisting me in adoption of a puppy that was a stray. No.

And it's a cute little puppy and I have a picture for it the next time. So, thank you guys. I'll keep holding you to it. All right. So, I have my third annual uh District 4 town hall meeting coming up on Thursday, October 2nd at 5:30 p.m. It's at the event center on Alpine, which is also where the East Texas Builders Association is. I've held it there every year. They've been great hosts. So, if you're looking for a place to rent your event, I highly recommend them. And so, come out, see uh what all the city's done in the past year, what it has with District 4 and what we are doing and like talk about fire apparatuses and other different things that the city's planning. And so, come out for that. Food is provided. So, come hungry as well. So, hope to see you there. The um on the Saturday, October 4th is also the walk-in Alzheimer's. The check-in is at 8:00 am the um and then 9:00 am 9 uh am's going to be the uh event where they're going to talk. So then the walk will follow after that. It's at Teague Park this year again. So last year is at Teague Park. Um so that was moved due to the uh parking facility at the courthouse, but Teague Park is overwhelming. Everybody loved it there at that event. So uh thank you to the parks department for putting helping put that together. They do a great job with it. So come out, help to support walked in Alzheimer's Alzheimer's. And if you're doing uh if you're going to the 5K nature trail run, you can come to this first, do that. Just be there for the event and then you can head over there, too. So you can hit both of them. You don't have to do one or the other. So uh come out and support uh walked in Alzheimer's. And then also I had the uh privilege to go and speak to the Hudson Pep fourth grade class. So I want to thank Miss Clark and Miss Bledsoe. uh the kids have an interest in the city politics and so what I did is uh went there and I did a little workshop with them where I elected some uh city council members there and they put together their own like comprehensive plan. So we just like our had our housing study right just other night and so they kind of did the

same thing. It was uh their favorite food. So I thought that would hold their attention and money was money which was we have to use. We got to pay taxes for some of these things. Um that was candy. So, I use that as that. And so, I think all the kids had a great time and understood uh at a better level of what we do. And so, appreciate uh all the stuff that Husband Pep's doing there to help promote uh community involvement, community leadership. So, thank you again. Thank you.

Awesome, Mr. Barry Hill. All right. Uh neighbor uh national night outs coming up and we don't have the list of everybody yet, but I want to let you know that Spring Hill High School is going to be hosting a national night event themselves. It's going to be held at the baseball field. So, I encourage you if uh anybody that's out and about in District 5, show up at Spring Hill. Uh excuse me, once we have a list of all the other parties. Uh I don't think we'll be back in time to be able to tell you where they're at, but I look forward to trying to get out and visit with as many people as I can that night. I got to beat I think it mayor, you were you were the winner last year.

No, Shannon. Oh, Shannon was the winner. I'm sorry. So, um I'm looking forward to that. Uh the other thing is I wanted to recognize a lady. Uh she's not here in the crowd, but she's definitely very special. Um 60 years of marriage to this guy that sits next to me last Friday, and I think uh Anna Lee and Sydney both, that's a great example of what should be. That's awesome.

Well, I'm glad you said that because National Night Out, my wife has a family retreat and I will be out of town that night. You better be. You've been married 60 years. So, that was a good leading. I appreciate that. But u u when uh when I was on the council before I I'll tell you one of the things I enjoyed was the police department on the national night out riding around with a officer in the car really was u good. It we learned about the police department. We learned about their responsibilities. We got to meet uh a lot of the participants in their activities. And I would definitely, if any of y'all have been thinking about it, would encourage um riding with the police department on on the different places. And um

I'm not going to be here. Well, excuse you. Happy annary. Happy anniversary. Anything else? Congratulations. 60 years. It's been Yes, it's been fine. Yeah, it's been fun. Good. I have a couple of things tonight. You've already heard about National Night Out that is coming up Tuesday, October 7th. Please, please, please participate. There are 88 parties currently registered. There is one near you and you can find it. Or if you can't, you can register your own party at long view.gov/no. Please make sure and participate. Thank you to everybody that participated in the peanut butter challenge. Today was the last day. Um that is a friendly competition that we have with Tyler that supports the East Texas Food Bank here in Long View and goes to our other food banks. We're currently in the lead. We will find out on Monday if we won, but very much uh appreciate everyone that participated. Um last year we raised 18,000 peanut butter jars here in Long View. Um and this year they're doing it by pounds, which I cannot figure out how to convert it, but I think we're doing very well. So, good job collecting things. Um also happening on Saturday, October 4th from 3 to 6. So, you can do all of the events October 4th is the Great Pumpkin Roll. That's happening at the top of Center Street. Um pumpkins are not included. you need to bring your own or they will have some there for purchase. Um, but please come out. That's a really fun downtown event uh that kids enjoy and you win if you roll your pumpkin the furthest down the hill there. So, um I think is the trick a smaller pumpkin. Isn't that the trick? Are you not giving out the tricks? I'm sorry. No tricks. Okay.

Yes. But I think I saw last year was a small pumpkin. So, find the smallest pumpkin you can find and come out and enjoy. Not the smallest. Too small. There's there's a perfect size. Okay. John will be there. I judge I judged one year. So So I had all the I got the inside scoop. Okay. So if you need it, I'll I'll take bribes.

Uh I want to thank everybody who was involved with our housing meeting this week. Uh Dietrich and Chativa did an amazing job. Richard and his team getting the word out. We had over a hundred in attendance at our first housing study open house. It was very informative. Had a lot of great feedback. If you missed it, don't worry. Those surveys are now available online and you'll see that link there. long view.gov/housing survey. And Shiva told me today that they will be doing smaller uh meetings now around the community. So if you wanted to attend one in person, the information there was very uh informative and I think people enjoyed participating. Um several people I've seen ask what we hope to gain from the housing study. Um so just real quickly, what we hope to gain is some actionable items that the city could take. That may mean changing some development or building codes that would allow builders to build on smaller lots, smaller houses, different materials, other creative options that would still be appropriate for Long View. We would hope maybe to have some data that would allow grants for nonprofits and maybe incentivize investors to see what our need here is for housing that is more affordable. So, it's very important. Um, and we're very excited to be undergoing this as a community and look forward to what the results will be. Uh, last but not least, please join us tomorrow between 4:00 to 7:00 to celebrate our water rescue team that deployed to Kurville during their disaster time. We're so proud that our fire department was there to support them. Um, in between 4 to 7 at station 5, we will come out, honor, celebrate, and thank them. So, come bring some cookies, bring some cards, whatever you want to bring, but come and celebrate them and uh just be proud of the first responders that we have in our community. Uh, that's it. Thank you guys and we'll see you next time.