City Commission - Regular Meeting

The workshop and we'll recess the workshop.

This concludes the workshop of the McAllen City Commission. Workshops are held on the second and fourth Monday of each month at 4 p.m. in the City Commission Chamber, located on the third floor of McAllen City Hall. The public is always welcome to attend or view online. Thank you for staying informed and engaged with the City of McAllen. And now from McAllen City Hall, a meeting of the McAllen City Commission.

Good evening, everybody. Welcome to tonight's City Commission meeting. We'll begin with a Pledge of Allegiance, followed by an invocation by Commissioner Michael Fallick.

Dear Lord, please guide our hands as we make the best decisions that we can for the city of McAllen. Please look out over everybody here in attendance, everybody that orders, and please provide us with the knowledge and the wisdom to make the best decisions that we can. In your name we pray. Amen.

Okay, and before we begin, I want to wish a happy birthday to our good commissioner, Joaquin Zamora.

Mayor, I just have one question. I demand my 55-plus discount. Where can I go? Got it. Thank you, everybody.

Okay, we have a presentation by Games of Texas, Games of Texas Medal Recognitions. Yeah.

Come on, come on. Give it up. Don't be shy. Come up front. A lot of medals there. Got a lot of clinkies. I like that.

I'm going to brag a little bit about City of McAllen, but we're going to be humble while we do that. Good evening. Today we are proud to recognize more than 670 TAP summer athletes who represented Team McAllen in golf, track, swimming, and tennis. During this year, Games of Texas State Meet was held July 30th to August 2nd in College Stations. The athletes that you see behind me today, and I'm sure some aren't here, delivered an outstanding performance, earning a total of 18 medals, with an additional 14 athletes finishing in the top eight. So let's give them a round of applause. To our athletes, thank you for your commitment, hard work, and dedication. Whether you earned a medal, achieved your personal best, or learned something new, we are proud of everything you accomplished this summer. To our parents and families, thank you for believing in your child and trusting us with the opportunity to be part of their growth and development. Your encouragement and support make these programs possible. And to our coaches, thank you for your continued dedication to teaching and mentoring our young athletes. The lessons you provide go far beyond sports. You're helping build confidence, discipline, teamwork, and character. Congratulations to all our TAF athletes on a successful summer. special presentation in a recognition of our very own Maddie Alonzo. Are you here? Come on up. It is our great honor to recognize an exceptional young athlete. Maddie's a fourth grade student at Gonzales Elementary who has already demonstrated remarkable dedication both in the classroom and in athletics. Maddie began participating in our TAF swim program at just five years old.

How old are you?

Nine, nine years old. And we have the privilege of watching her grow and develop into an outstanding young swimmer. Well beyond the pool, Maddie's a straight-A student, plays volleyball and piano, and has a love for theater. Through the years of hard work and dedication, Maddie earned the opportunity to compete at the 2026 National State Games in State College, Pennsylvania, where she proudly represented Team McAllen, our city, our region, and the state of Texas. Competing in several sewing events on the national stage, Maddie delivered an incredible performance, bringing home three gold medals, one silver, and one bronze medal. That accomplishment alone is something to celebrate, but Maddie has earned another tremendous honor. She has been selected as the Texas Amateur Athletic Federation Region Two Female Athlete of the Year, standing out among a region representing more than 3,500 athletes. So Maddie, congratulations.

I haven't read that till right now. Female athlete of the year. You know, this is amazing. So proud to have Maddie here. And you know what? The next park at Lark, we'll probably put a film.

Yeah.

Congratulations.

You want to do a photo here?

Yeah, I think we better up here. Yeah, because you want to come down.

Show off your medals. Show off your medals. All right, congratulations, everybody.

Okay, first we have public hearings.

Mayor, commissioners, good afternoon. The following items went to Planning and Zoning Commission on August 4th and the board recommended approval of five customer initiated rezonings and three conditional use permits and the city initiated rezonings. Item number one is rezoning from C3 to R3 located at 8401 South McCall. This is off of South McCall and Dicker. Item number two is rezoning from R1 to R1, located at 1321 North 8th. This is off of North 10th and NYSA. Item number three is rezoning from C1 to C3, located at 500 East Wichita Avenue, off of South McCall. Item number four is rezoning from C3 to C2, located at 11001 and 11201 North 10th, off of North 10th and Streg. Item number five is rezoning from C4 to C2, located at 4200 through 4400 Tres Lagos Boulevard. This is off of Northware Road in Tres Lagos. Item number six is a conditional use permit for a bar. This is bar 37. This is at 1101 Business 83. This is off of Business 83 and 11th Street. Item number seven is a conditional use permit for a church located at 801 East Cedar. This is just west of North G Street. Item number eight is a conditional use permit for a bar. This is Oak, Texas Bar located at 1200 Auburn. This is on the north 10th, just west of 10th on Auburn. Item number nine is city initiated rezoning. This is 602 parcels and this brings us to 17.5%.

Okay. Anybody to speak against any of these items? Anyone against any of these items? If not, do I have a motion to approve?

Motion to approve 1A to 1.9.

All in favor? Aye. Against? Motion carries. And we have a motion to amend the zoning ordinance of City of McAllen.

Second.

All in favor? Aye. Against? Motion carries. WE HAVE CONSENT AGENDA ITEMS 2A THROUGH 8 WE NEED TO PULL ANYTHING NOT SURE TO APPROVE 2A 2H SECOND ALL IN FAVOR AYE AGAINST MOTION CARRIES LET'S DO ITEM 4A CONSIDERATION AUTHORIZATION FOR UNCOLLECTIBLES

good evening mayor council members city manager we're here on item 4a every year we take a detailed look at your delinquent tax roll and identify accounts that are ripe to be placed on an uncollectible account due to things like for business personal property the business is open and closed in a short term and we aren't able to track down those accounts A real estate account that has very little owed and is not ripe for a lawsuit. Same with mineral accounts and mobile home accounts. We have a detailed memo that Ms. Grimes prepared after reviewing the backup we provided for her. We'll be happy to answer any questions that you might have.

Questions? Anybody? It's just not worth going after.

That's correct. Say an account owes $50. The cost of a suit well outweighs that cost alone. Okay.

Thank you so much.

Thank you very much, Mayor.

All in favor? Aye. Against? Motion carries. Item 3A. Thank you.

Go ahead.

Thank you. Good afternoon. Mayor commission. This increase or supplemental agreement is for the contract amendment number 3, 2020. And we'll cover the consultant scope of services consisting of construction, administration, resident project representative. And construction materials acceptance testing. Throughout the duration of the total contract that's been overrun by the contractor. The original contract time was 415 days The contractors currently has got a completion date of September 25th, which is about 1,400 days so we're looking at total increased fees of nine hundred seventy seven thousand nine hundred eighty seven dollars and That is part of a multi-FA grant, grant 51, 55, and 56. And the fees are 90% federal funds with 10% local, matched with PFCs. The funds to cover these costs will be covered by the liquidated damages that we will be assessing to the contractor. Staff recommends approval of this proposed contract amendment. Any questions?

How do we get here? I mean, almost 1,000 days beyond? Am I missing something? Was there another? Just progress. Say again? Progress. Progress for what? Slow progress. Oh, slow progress. Yes, sir.

Is this the same contractor that we're extending and paying more to that has been involved this entire time?

No, we haven't paid any additional fees yet.

yeah but yeah we're approving more money going out because now you're covering you haven't told us what the liquidated damages are so is that covering 100 of it yes sir and what is the mechanism by which we're going to get to the finish line if we're already a thousand days over

They are about 97% finished. The progress is going to happen. The project will get complete, and we'll work our way through the construction contract and bring that back at a later time.

Are there additional liquidated damages that will be received if they again don't?

We'll be working to reconcile all of that. Yes, sir, and we'll bring that forward once we have that number together.

So they've submitted invoices totaling $977,000? No. No.

No, this is to recover funds that they have been working through on the extension after the 415 days that was originally awarded with this construction contract. Because the original budget was... The original budget was 1.248846, which is about a 78% increase, but the time is 258% on time.

Mayor and commissioners, if there's further detailed questions, I recommend that this be considered an executive session.

If there's issues regarding specialty liquidated damages.

I'm sorry, Mr. Santos, but I'm just not understanding. I mean, just even set aside the number of working days, I don't understand why is there a need to increase the budget amount by $977,000 if it already went out to a certain amount?

Well, they've been working. Their original scope, that $1.2 million covers the 415 calendar days of the contract.

Oh, we've been adding additional product or adding additional amendments?

This is for managing the construction, right? The construction contract is a separate contract that had 415 days tied to it. So the consultant scope put together was for that 415 days. Oh, now you're following.

So the construction was being delayed. The consultant still stays on board. And because the additional days the construction took, THE CONSULTANT, FOR LACK OF A BETTER PHRASE, HAD TO CONTINUE WITH ADDITIONAL DAYS, RIGHT? YES, SIR. NOW I UNDERSTAND.

THE UNDERLYING CONTRACTOR THAT'S DOING THE WORK, THAT'S THE SAME ENTITY THAT'S BEEN ON THE ENTIRE TIME AND THAT IS A THOUSAND DAYS LATE? YES, SIR. AT WHAT POINT DO YOU GET TO WHERE THE CONTRACTOR ISN'T ABLE

Well, we work with our legal department to determine that, but we put a charge for liquidated damages in the contract to protect any additional fees that we have to incur.

Do you believe that the liquidated damages that you have built in are sufficient? Absolutely.

I think if we discuss that, we need to go into executive. I don't have a problem with that.

Make a motion of recess into executive session on this issue?

If you all want to go, we can go real quick.

I think it's appropriate if we have to take action today.

Yeah. Let's recess into executive session. We're back from executive session. Okay.

Any other issues? My apologies for using the stern voice with you. I take that back, my apologies. Make a motion to approve the recommendation made by the airport department head. Second.

All in favor? Aye. Against? Motion carries.

Item? 4B. 4B. Here, item 4B is discussion of the 2026 proposed tax rate. Becky Grimes is here to discuss that with you. I did want to note before she begins her presentation that staff appreciates the hard work the Commission put in through the budget workshop process. This year, as we discussed, was a challenging year for municipalities across the state of Texas. We saw Reasonable growth. In the city, we anticipated a growth to the tax base at approximately 2%, but unfortunately due to. Exemptions and a certain category of valuation that 2% growth was reduced to a proposed levy increase with the current tax rate of only .06%. Having said that, the Commission. considered volumes of information in terms of what the city could accomplish for our citizens listening to their needs and sustaining McAllen's position as a leader in the valley in terms of quality for return on investment here in the city. And so we're proud that the rate we can recommend that you consider this year is a maintenance of the tax rate from last budget year at .4489.89 per $100 evaluation. And with that brief explanation, I'll turn it over to Becky to discuss next steps with you.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor and Commissioners. So this item before you is for the 2026 tax rate. This year's proposed rate is 0.448989, which is the same rate as last year. But because the proposed rate does exceed the no new revenue tax rate of 0.444778, a notice of public hearing on tax increase is required to be published. Again, I do want to emphasize it must read and notice a public hearing on tax increase, but we are not increasing the tax rate. A record vote is required today to proceed with the publication of the required notice and to set the public hearing. The proposed date for the public hearing is September 28, 2026. At this time, I am requesting a record vote to proceed with the required notice, set the public hearing for September 28, 2026, and schedule the adoption of the 2026 tax rate for that same meeting. The meeting will be in the same room at 5 p.m., and the adoption of the rate will follow the public hearing. Now, the governing body may consider and adopt the tax rate at the same meeting. That's what we've done in the last few years. So I believe that's what you all are agreeing to do this year again. So at this time, all I need is a record vote to see who's voting for or against the proposed rate so that we can move on with the publishing and also uploading that to our web page and the MCN channel.

It was excellent and actually with the commission and the mayor truly do appreciate also the staff's hard work. I know initially we were looking at a. Possibly, uh, an increase, and thanks to the hard work of staff and of course, the commission, we're going to keep it the same. And that doesn't mean that maybe next year in a couple of years, we may have to do the. The inevitable. But today, I'm glad to tell the residents of McAllen that we're going to stay the same. And yes, it's true. We have to advertise and say it's an increase, but it is not an increase. The tax rate will remain at .4489.

Yes, that's correct.

Excellent. But we need a record vote. All in favor? So moved.

Second. Okay.

Yeah.

In favor.

In favor. In favor. Aye. In favor.

In favor.

In favor.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I'd also like to echo the comments. Likewise, appreciate it, especially here my first time going through the budget process, all the work that city manager's office, city attorney's office, and all the department has put in. It made the process very understandable and appreciated all your work. Thank you all. Appreciate it.

Excellent. Let's see. What do we have? Future agenda items. Future agenda items. Anything?

We have a couple of presentations coming that you all have asked for. And as I mentioned, we've got the airport coming in a meeting or two to discuss all the improvements we have going on at the airport. We've scheduled the EDC and chamber to come give an update on some of the programming that they have there. And once we get through budget and into next fiscal year, I would anticipate scheduling a retreat probably in January to start going over some of the other conversations we had during the budget process. There'll be a lot of information coming your way in the coming weeks.

Excellent. Next, we have item number five. It was tabled before.

Jeff, are we ready to take action on that? Yeah, Mayor, I think that needs to stay on the table right now.

Okay. We have item 5A. B. B.

Mayor, we already take action on item 5B, and there is an agenda item comment for that item, so I recommend it be removed from the table.

So moved to remove from the table item 5B.

All in favor? Aye. Against? Motion carries. It's off the table.

Okay, Omar. All right, so this item was a variance to sidewalk requirements, so the applicant is here to speak for it. So we were recommending disapproval of the variance to give us sidewalks to Nassau and South H Street, and to waive the requirements to not provide sidewalks on Pine Ridge. And, of course, on this particular area, we do have sidewalks at Heights at McCall, which is on the north side of this project, Jackson Meadows to the northeast, La Silla to the east, and then we have construction of a new home along Nassau that also provides sidewalks.

Excellent. We have Ms. Kelly Vela.

Good evening, Kelly Bella and with reflex engineering or the civil engineering firm for this one And the owner is mrs. Antonia Piscina and unfortunately she couldn't make it this evening her and her dad both got kind of had a go at work And we kind of just wanted to point out a couple of things to you guys That's a little bit unique and different in this situation than your normal subdivision The main things that we wanted y'all to realize is one that this isn't a typical development the purpose of this is it's a one-off subdivision that's done by mrs. Piscina and It's on land that's been in her family and past and through several generations. She's specifically developing the property so that she can build her home on one of the lots and live close to her parents who already live nearby. The especially unique part, though, is that eight of the other nine lots already have interested buyers from very similar circumstances with other people who have parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. AND OTHER FAMILY MEMBERS WHO LIVE IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD AND WANT THE OPPORTUNITY TO BUILD THEIR HOMES THERE AS WELL. THESE ARE NOT PEOPLE UNFAMILIAR WITH THE AREA OR THE EXISTING CONDITIONS. MANY OF THEM GREW UP IN THE AREA AND AROUND THE NEIGHBORHOOD. THEY KNOW IT EXISTS TODAY, AND THEY ARE SPECIFICALLY CHOOSING THIS AREA BECAUSE OF THE FAMILY AND COMMUNITY TIES THAT THEY ALREADY HAVE HERE. THE SIDEWALK VARIANCE IS NOT INCONSISTENT WITH THE EXISTING INFRASTRUCTURE. I REALIZE THERE'S A FEW SUBDIVISIONS NEARBY. THE ONE NORTH OF US IS ACTUALLY A PRIVATE GATED COMMUNITY, SO THE SUBDIVISION COULDN'T ACT The others were more than 802,000 feet away. There is currently one home along Nassau Avenue that does have a sidewalk. However, several homes have been built since that time that do not. I mention this because regardless of whether this variance is approved, gaps in the existing system already exist on Nassau and H Street and the surrounding neighborhood, and those gaps will continue to exist. Requiring sidewalks for 10 individual lots creates isolated sections of sidewalks that don't actually connect to a continuous or usable network. Ultimately, meaningful connectivity will only occur when a more comprehensive sidewalk segment is actually built around the surrounding neighborhood. Is that my clock? Okay, so really the in the third item really is just to point out that the reality is for the variance itself. It's not actually cost the developer in this case because all of the lots front public roads, the lots are going to be paid for and the sidewalk built by the individual homeowners. The item that you'll have. There's an exhibit in y'alls. I know cost is not supposed to be a thing, and it's not a cost for the developer. We just want to point out to y'all that the cost that's going to be bared at this point will actually be by the individual homeowners when they build their homes, and the cost that's going to end up being needed and used to purchase to build these subdivision sidewalks that don't actually connect is roughly equivalent to what is currently paid in annual taxes on each of those lots so rather than have funds available that could go towards their homes that they're choosing to build specifically in this neighborhood for this reason it will at least go towards a home that they would be able to use on a daily basis we completely understand the purpose of the sidewalk we are okay if the variance does not get passed but that's the main reason for asking for it of the 10 lots nine are people that already live in the neighborhood and are looking to continue to stay there so they know what exists questions comments are we sure that Nassau is a street it looks more like an alley Nassau's a weird one um it actually has a variance that was granted with the subdivision to the north because it's a private subdivision so they did not dedicate the additional right of way I see that and they did not widen it and they did not put sidewalks on that side that's why I asked it looks more like an alley that's exactly why it looks that way our side has done and dedicated what needs to be there the northern portion was variance with that subdivision

Is that the only segment that you're challenging?

Actually, we were asking for it for all three seats, Nassau, 8th Street, and Pine Ridge. The city staff is agreeing with Pine Ridge, especially since there is a subdivision to the west that was recently granted a variance, and there's no sidewalks on Pine Ridge in either direction. We're about 800 to 900 feet away over on Jackson. 8th Street has no sidewalks at all on either side going all the way south. The only sidewalk in the area is that one home on Nassau that's in the middle.

the next sidewalks over are over on mccall road and they're actually on the west side of mccall h somewhat looks a little bit more like a street not much more not much more yes okay i got your group

are all of the other family members in the same do you have something written by that all of those uh lots are wanting the same we could we could i could definitely ask for that she's not under contract with any of them they've actually looked at developing this property a couple of times and there's actually some funky stuff on the city's gis map from previous attempts And the reason they didn't finish at the time is simply because they didn't have enough money and enough people involved. So now they do.

But you're saying that these are all family? Right.

It's family. It's children of people that currently live there. So it's not necessarily all related amongst themselves. They're related to adjacent property owners. So like her parents are next door, the parents, friends, their children, that situation.

on the on 8th street mr sotelo on the east side of south 8th street is there already a requirement to have installed sidewalk because i came across only one property well now we don't have properties that seem to have sidewalks already they don't have any but they don't have it right they're not connected either

The only possible connection would be right now you all are doing the park on El Rancho Road. Eventually, there will be a sidewalk on El Rancho Road, and they'll connect to the one on the west side of South McCall. So they would have to cross. Once they do that connection, the subdivision to the north does have the sidewalk along the east side of McCall, and they would either have to go north on McCall or cross over onto South McCall to the west side of McCall.

to go down to that new park on el rancho road i'm with i'm with you with nassau i mean i don't think i don't see it h maybe and i think for the other reasons already spoken about pine ridge if we didn't require the other subdivision across the west then what would require concrete's not cheap

Can we hear again staff recommendation?

We recommended a disapproval for Nassau and 8th Street and approval for Pine Ridge.

Did P&Z uphold that recommendation?

Correct.

So overturning that recommendation will require supermajority.

Y'all letting me know? I'm going to make a motion.

Nassau is a little tiny. If you look on Google. No, but what they have to do as a sidewalk is just a little part.

There's only one lot that actually fronts Nassau, so they're the lucky corner lot. So they're actually the most expensive because they're looking at having to do sidewalk on Nassau and 8th Street. So it's looking about $5,000 for the sidewalk on those two corners.

How about the other ones on the other ones are smaller so they're about 1500 ish Make a motion to The other way to look at this if there's different views of being Instructed by city attorney on how this happens. There's three separate portions of it members of the commission have different ideas on any of the individual components they can be broken out and voted on one by one but would it require a super majority correct well yes or no because it depends which side you'd be on all right because the commission the pnz voted to approve one and to deny two so the others would

Are you in a hurry on this one, Kelly? Yes.

Well, in reality, the fact that it's taken them like literally 10 years, like another meeting is not a problem.

I just want to go ahead and drive it again because this is in my district. And I want to drive it again just to visualize it and table it one more time.

Absolutely.

i just want to make sure to do i hear a motion to table before we get before we get to the tabling i think when it comes back it might be something that we address each of the streets individually instead of as a whole i agree because otherwise we're gonna i think we may have trouble getting to consensus

All in favor? Aye. Against? Motion carries. Thank you. All righty. Then we have executive session items.

Mayor, with regards to items 6A, 6B, 6C, and 6E, I recommend that the board entertain a motion to authorize the city manager and city attorney to proceed as described in the session. Second.

All in favor? Aye. Against? Motion carries. And that was it. Yes, sir. There being no further business, this meeting is adjourned.

Regular City Commission meetings are held on the second and fourth Monday of each month. Meetings are broadcast on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays on the McKellen Cable Network.