City Council - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. It is Monday, March 23rd, 2026. And uh we'll call our workshop session to order. And first uh one up is Miss Baxter regarding the hostess house. If you can come up, Miss Baxter. right here. Yes, ma'am.

Good evening. For those of you that do not know me, I am Kathy Baxer. I was the manager of the historic house and hostess house for a period of 18 years for the Daughters of the Republic of Texas. Uh I was responsible for opening and closing of the building for all the events and uh I opened my room tea room in January of 1998. We had the kitchen serving area only which served 16 people. The very next week we spilled over and went into the lower floor serving anywhere from 50 to 80 people a a day. I also paid for having the hostess house clean once a week, both floors if needed, and I paid for someone to take care of the grounds. Later in the summer of 1998, we we went to booking the corners club. We served there anywhere from 50 to 80 people every Wednesday. We also serve the local lions club. And we also uh to this day, I'm sorry, I'm not public speaker. To this day, I still have people asking me if I will open the Green Frog Tea room, which I would in a New York minute if the city would permit it and let me be their booking agent. The lower floor rented for $100 for 3 hours with $50 an hour after that. The upper floor rented for $250 with $75 an hour after that. We soon went to 100 to 200, I'm sorry, for the lower floor and $75 an hour after that. And we went up to 275 for the upper floor was 75 an hour after that. We gave them an hour in and an hour out to set up and clean up whatever they needed to do. Most of the time I cater the event, which was handy because that way they

didn't have to do anything. Uh in the 18 years that I was there, the DRG had many fundraisers and some of that included uh tea towels selling tea towels at the Brex T-shirts and we even had Sunday afternoon ballroom dancing. As far as class reunions go, we had Friday and Saturday night, one on each floor. During Saturday, we had three. with three upstairs, three downstairs. And we also had a family reunion that Saturday morning of spring hope. They were out by noon and by 1:00 that's when the reunion started between 1 and 2 and they went till 10 or 11 that night. Uh the uh we had many proms. We had my taxes, Lita, Cherokee, and we did all the prominating around the pool like we used to when we were in school. you were in school then. I think you probably met around the pool, Davis. Probably.

Okay. And we served dinner to some of them. Uh we also had um family reunions that ran 10 to 12 every summer, generally on Sundays, sometimes on Saturdays. We even served the local uh alcoholics anonymous on Sunday mornings for a period of two hours when they met. I was in charge of all the cleanup and uh if a party an event required alcohol, I went to the police department, got an alcohol permit and we had security guards for each event according to the size of the event anywhere from 1 to three yards. We had one party, one year Christmas party and it was for uh Alamo Foods. It used to be, you know, um

Wor.

Windsor. Yes. tank. I think it was laser then and we had five security guards at that party because they really tried to tear up the building, but they were fine. We made it. Uh, as far as when you drive into our quaint little city, the first thing, but one of the first businesses that you see is a historic house. And we used to have rockers on the porches. We had burns hanging and we had patio furniture where you can dine in and dining out and a beautiful, beautiful green lawn. And I see no reason why we still can't have a lawn as much money as you guys spent on that building. The DRT and I tried to get a sprinkler system put in many years ago and pack the water in from the swimming pool to water it. It needs new soil and it needs new grass. Let's please get back that gorgeous look and be proud of this historic house. Thank you. Any questions?

Yeah. Have any questions?

So when you were run cuz you were telling us the hour which was good. You were telling us that you run the downstairs and the upstairs like the three hours. So did any no one how did you handle because I think one of the concerns was handling like conflicting events different parties from different floors. I never had a problem. We had one class reunion downstairs and they ended up going upstairs because I had Elvis impersonator and I think it was in class of 58 and the people absolutely loved it and everybody we never had a problem period. Everybody got along. And back then we didn't have bathrooms upstairs like you guys have now. And uh you know they come down the staircase and go to the bathroom and go back up. We never had a problem. I did a lot of weddings on the grounds uh of the pool grounds also. We put lights in all the trees and a lot of times we have a wedding on grounds and then go inside for the reception. On the lower floor there would be food and then upstairs would be you know the DJ or the band whatever you know whatever they wanted. But I never had a problem, no conflict whatsoever. And when we had the security guards, they were absolutely amazing. You know, they would help me carry out the trash. And like I said, our nights went on for a long, long, long. My day started every day at 7:00 a.m. I was closed on Mondays. And it took till 4:00 in the afternoon to clean up the tea room. And then I had bridal consultations then. And a lot of our brides that we had came from other surrounding areas. I did 50 to 53 weddings and anniversaries a year and that's pretty much every weekend and we we never had a problem. You know, if we had a lot of times we had a wedding in like say Hawk or Temple area then we might have something going on downstairs but it was no problem. You know, everybody seemed to have got along just fine. But if if you want to make any money of this massive money you spend on

this building, you're going to have to rent it more than just, you know, you're going to have to write two or three events going on just like we did, you know, for spring ho. I had a 5year calendar and the 5-year calendar after each event was over with, they booked it for another 5 years. And I we we never had a problem with anybody. What year did you stop operating over there? Oh my gosh. Well, 1998 to 18 years is what? Two 16 years.

16. It was about 16, I think, because that's when I bought flower shop and I had both places there for a while. And then back in the probably in 2000, I think we had the Courtyard Cafe. And if I had a wedding at the hostess house, we spilled over to the Courtyard Cafe, which we had to do that several times. I had, like I said, a local man to do the cleaning once a week. We had a a big wedding one time and we had a flood upstairs. It just came flooding down into the kitchen area and had to have all that kitchen area reworked. I mean, as far as sheetrock and that kind of stuff goes. But your kitchen area right now is amazing. I'm telling you what, if you saw it and that's what I cooked in and I served up to 400 people easily. You know, we had grocerers maybe everywhere, but you know, you learn to adapt. You do what you have to do. But, uh, like I said, people got along. You know, it was just a fun time. And I just truly think you're going to have to, you know, book it more than just say if I'm on the lower floor, then nobody else can have me upstairs. You're not going to make any money. You know, you're not going to get anything on your return. So, that's, you know, that's just the way I see it. I've been there. I've toured it. And frankly, I was very disappointed because number one, the floor on the lower floor was solid map. Why would you come in there and put a no over it, you know, that looks like wood and then when you walk in from the area downstairs into the kitchen area, it's starting to curl right there at the door. And that, you know, didn't make a lot of sense. But the worst thing I think was the lighting upstairs. Who wants to dance with these massive black lights hanging down on, you know, that they change, you know, they want dark lighting to dance by and they want Christmas lights or they want chandeliers, that kind of stuff. But, um, it's it's a beautiful building and

it's something we should be very proud of cuz it's been here forever. The first day I opened, I had a little man walk up to me into the T- room. He had two 5gallon boats and he said, "Ma'am, I want to know where I can get to that healing water." And I said, "Okay." And I happened to have a key to the pool area. Why? I don't know. But I did. Took him down there and he got his two little 5gallon buckets of healing water and he was a happy camper. And we had people come up and want to go upstairs to look at the ballroom where they danced. You know, they were kids. I even had one guy say, "I ran down that roof line and jumped into that swimming pool." And I mean being there 18 years, you see a lot, you hear a lot. And you know, it's everybody was so crazy about. And the ballroom dancing was fun. People came out of the woodwork for that. And that was a really good fundraiser for the DRT before they got the money from the sisters. And God bless the sisters. But uh it's it's just a wonderful place and I really wish that besides pouring the money into it that you would take some pride in it and be proud of it because this little city is so quaint. It's not Fredericksburg. It never will be. But this is something to be very proud of. Anything else?

Thank you. You're welcome. My pleasure. Next item up discussion and presentation regarding county and rural rides park.

Hi, good evening. My name is Alexis. I'm with city roll rides. Um we were asked to come and do a presentation today about our transportation services. So, as y'all know, uh we have taken over Lassus County from the home. Um so, we are now the transportation provider. Um just a little bit about Central Texas Rural Transit District. We have um provided transportation since 1977. Um we were established as a rural transit district in 1998 under the Texas Transportation Code. Uh we provide transportation services to the rural residents in Taylor County excluding the city limits of Valley. All of Brown, Callahan, Coleman, Comanche, Eastland, Ira, Hamilton, Mills, San Salva, Nolan, Reynolds, Sherwood, Stevens, and Nland passes. We operate for the residents of our service area providing demand response transportation and curb to curb service. We do have doortodoor service tests available upon advanced request. We operate Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. We do have limited inner county travel um like from one county to another. Um we have established county schedules for each county that we provide transportation to because we are a shared ride service. That way we can transport multiple passengers to and from at one time. Those can be accessed through our website by calling our office. Um or we also brought brochures as well if anybody would like them. We do offer non-emergency medical transportation. Um this is transportation that's provided through medical transportation program brokers and approved by HHSC. Uh the members must contact their health plan directly to determine eligibility and schedule services. Those hours are

Monday through Saturday from 5:30 a.m. to 700 p.m. We have not quite started that in lane passes yet. We are working on getting our vehicles and drivers approved through these MT broker MTP brokers in HHSP. Um but once we do have that approved then we will start that transportation in Lassis County. Uh requesting service is simple and easy. Res reservations can be scheduled in advance and are scheduled based based upon vehicle and seating availability. Um there is a misconception that public transportation is only for seniors, doctor's appointments or individuals with disabilities and that's incorrect. We have no limitations of who can utilize our services except they must be at least 15 years of age to ride on board a vehicle without an adult present. We'll transport you to your desired destination such as relatives, visit, beauty, a beauty appointment, work or grocery shopping. Um, it's as simple as just contacting our customer service representatives. Um, and scheduling that transportation. You can schedule as far as in advance as you would like, but next day scheduling has to be done the day before by 12:00 noon. We have a lowcost fair wait. Um, fairs are charged based upon a one-way trip. Um, individuals can have personal care attendants travel with them at no cost. We accept cash or check. Um, it is paid each time they board the vehicle. We unfortunately do not have the ability to accept debit or credit cards at this moment. Um, but debit cards can be purchased utilized over the phone to purchase prepaid passes. Um, I also have that fair chart included just so you can see. Uh, most local trips would be$1 to $2 each way. Uh, we offer two different types of prepaid fair passes. We have one that costs $20, but it comes with an additional $4, so you'd get $24 in value. We also have a $10 pass that comes with $12, so you'd get the

additional $2. Um, our drivers can validate the proper fair usage when you board the vehicle, and they can also be purchased directly from the driver as well. That concludes my meeting and uh or my presentation. And like I said, I do have handbooks or business cards if anybody would like anything or wants to schedule anything additional questions. Does anybody have any questions? I have a question. Yes, ma'am. There's a lady who contacted me that has no car and has difficulty walking. She lives in town, but she needs to get help with paying her bills or going to the bank. Is that something?

Absolutely. So, we have no limitations on where they're going. We don't control where anybody's going. Um, we unfortunately don't have any assistance in paying for their fair, but if y'all have like an organization in Lancast County that could help, we can definitely communicate that. Um, or if she absolutely does need assistance, then we can just not charge her. It's it's a dollar each way. We know we typically do that with people who are in situations that they can't. Um, now our assistance as in if she needs mobility assistance, our drivers can if she utilizes a wheelchair, they can push the wheelchair, but we won't go up steps or lift, push, pull, or anybody of that nature. And then if she needs assistance with anything beyond that, then she would need a an attendant to ride with her. Another question was about people who have medical appointments or other appointments in other cities such as Temple or into the Austin Can you provide those services?

Absolutely. So, we typically have those count schedules since Land Pass is new. Um, we don't know what the residents want. We don't know what their trend is. We don't know where they want to go. We're not familiar with the area. We just got here. So, right now, we don't have any limitations um other than it has to be within that Monday through Friday, 8 to 5. Um, and they can go. We've already taken quite a few people to burn it in Temple. Um, but we have no limitations. Once we establish a trend, then we will specify at specific days to specific areas. Um, just because we can't have drivers going every which way and not provide local transportation here too.

Of course. Anything else?

Thank you. Next item up discussion and presentation Roy associate regarding water supply alternative study. Mayor and council during and after issues of drought and service interruption in 2023. Council requested staff to research alternative water supplies for supplemental use. Subsequently, staff contracted Jones Associates to complete such a study. Jason Jones with her own associate is here with us in attendance to present the findings of this study. Um he's got more or less a summary of it. Uh the study in itself which I um I did place um it's fairly complex and it may take a while to get through um is tonight is just a summary. We may have to sit down in another session or workshop where council and staff kind of go more finite details. Um or we may be able to ask Jason to come back and give us another tidbit of information. Jason,

thank you all. It's always a pleasure to be here and an honor, too. First off, I just want to tell you all thank you for the trust you placed in me um to work through these these issues. Um we don't take them lightly and after working through the issues with your staff and Central Texas representatives and Ker Water Corporation representatives, I can assure you I'm not the only one that takes these things seriously. Um, so a water class and make bread communities. Um, and so we're here tonight to put us all on the path forward so that we're not breaking in and we're on the making in. Right. Okay. Um, this picture in the first slide here is something that I took when we first started the study, actually before we started the study in October of 23. And in October of 23, I don't have a map here, but Texas was in an exceptional drought. Uh so all the way from Hamilton County down south of San Antonio was classified as the highest drought category that can be classified as an acceptable and that that lasted for quite some period. Um and so generally stream flows are at their lowest whenever the leaves are out before they lose their leaves. And this photo was taken and these measurements were done on Sulfur Creek uh during this time in October which you would expect the stream to be at its lowest historical level, right? Um, and so what you see here is the channel dam that's just downstream of the hostess house and the swimming pool. And that structure is actually it's an engineered structure. It's perpendicular to the flow of the creek. And the shape of that weir there is a is a is a weird shape that's got an equation. So if you knew the depth of the water going over the top of it could calculate flows. And that's where we started here. And we started with the determination that you could supply up to about three million gallons per day on this creek here locally. And so want to show you guys a picture of that.

If I can get quicker to work it back. I might just ask you to advance this slide for me. I'll just point it.

All right. U so as Stephen alluded to this and and others have too. This study is a it is just that it's a kind of a 40,000 foot view of things and so it's to be used as a guide for additional work to be done uh to identify solid cost and time frames and direction that we want to go. Um, so that's that's really it's really a good start and part of what we recognized when we started the study it was it was almost all about alternative water supplies because the situation as we got into it I want to certainly recognize the importance of your current water supply and the importance of that is to the growth of this city and the future of the city. So we cannot forget about that. Um and so staff and I have been working through some of these recommendations for about six six months now. Uh we delivered the final report in January and so we're this this thing has been boots on the ground for quite some time and just so everybody is aware of that. Uh we're going to go through some of the history. I think that's important to talk about and we're also going to talk about some of the existing conditions. I want to focus a little bit tonight's presentation on your existing infrastructure and some of the issues that we've seen over the last few years and then we're going to spend a little time talking about some of the future water supply strategies we identified including the local alternatives and we'll wrap it up from there. So I'm hoping to wrap this up in within 30 minutes. So we'll be be pretty quick. So, there's a really good set of articles that the local newspaper published in September of 23 that I welcome anybody who's interested to read. It's a three-part series on the history of a water supply written by Jeff Jackson. And it really goes into detail on what happened before 1980 when the 100red-year period prior to 1980, the city was solely relying on the springs on Suler Creek for its water supply. Uh there were a number of

challenges with that local water supply including there's a lack of storage and so when the creek was not flowing adequately uh the city has challenged trying to keep up with it demands from the creek. There are flooding conditions on the creek. Um you guys are aware of nine flood control dams that are built up this location. Uh prior to the ' 50s, uh the city was hit with periodic floods, you know, and so that impacted your wash line in structure. After the dams were built, you kind of had an opposite problem. The intakes on the water plant were silting up and and you're having problems with siltation because you didn't have those flushing events flushing the flows down, right? And and the biggest challenge I think that the city had at the time was water quality in the creek. Uh there's a reason it's called Sulfur Creek and the high minerals, chloride, PDS, sulfates were causing issues with water quality concerns in the community. Um and lots of stories about clogged up water filters and water pipes and sinks and everything else, right? And and tackled that with aging infrastructure. I think the city uh made a significant investment in the 1980s uh shortly following in in a world of worlds the construction of Steelhouse Hollow Dam on the L Passage River. Steel House hollow dam was constructed in the '60s and it was first time it was full was in 1969 and in the 70s the VR had contracted with Central Texas Waterfly Corporations to build the first water treatment plant on Lakehouse Hollow which is the Lake Cliff plant. Uh you guys recognize that because that's where you get your water from now. And and in addition to the issues the city was having on Sulfur Creek, your neighbor K Water Supply Corporation was also having issues with its water supply. It drilled some wells and Lio Wells and Lazis River and other

wells in the county. Uh it recognized that those wells were not drought tolerant and and it was struggling as well. And so that that really was born of the partnership between Lamp Assets and Kimber Water and Central Texas Water Supply Corporation that's been in place for 45 years now. Go ahead and go to the next one. Um a lot of numbers here, but I think what I want to take away from this slide is this is just a snapshot of your existing service area and your existing demands uh in acre feet per year. Uh something to remember your total current demand is less than 2,000 paper feet in a year. And I thought it was also important to note that the residential customers in the city would make up about 3,100 of the 3600 customers are responsible for only about 46% of the water demand that you purchase from Water Supply Corporation. The rest is commercial industrial and a pretty significant amount of that water is is actually from flushing or you know parent losses and unmetered flutter uh things that go on the city's parks or city buildings that come from and the water that you put on the golf course. I'm sure you guys get lots of questions during grout years. How are we watering this golf course if you know we're under restrictions that's coming directly from the creek and that's a 223 acre foot a lotment. These numbers are a 5year average uh over a 5year period. Okay. Uh existing service water rights. This this is key uh being that you relied previously on Sulfur Creek and the prolific springs that we enjoy here in L passes. uh as early as 1914, the city secured its first surface water rights on the creek for 3,760 acre feet. And if you remember, your current demand is

2,000 ft. Uh the significance in 1914 is that research of the surface water rights in Texas River Basin. I could not find an earlier right in 1914 for municipal water supply. Um even the city of Waco I think is a little later than cities. Significance of that is that Texas allocates water rights during drought years when this becomes important. The earliest priority date is the first in right for the water. And so those Brazis River Authority is responsible for administering this system and they have the responsibility to tell the people with the younger water rights that they can no longer pump from the creek during drought years and the more senior water rights continue to have the right pump from the creek. Okay. Uh, still house on the lake is the is the other bucket of water rights, 5,500 acre feet, which is not insignificant either. And but these water rights have about a 1963 fire date associated with them. The unique thing about these water rides though is the 230,000 acret of storage instill outside the lake. The most resilient water supplies are those that come along with storage. And further we go on in this world, more we see droughts, the more we see floods. And so a lake of the significance still hollow um protects you against those extreme events. And that 230,000 ft of storage really makes that more junior water right um more resilient than the older water rights because your water's only your water right only as good as the creek float, right? Um something else here that's significant. You're currently utilizing about 7% of your local supplies for the golf course and about a third of your Steel House hollow lake supplies for municipal demands.

A snapshot here of the system that was built in the 1980s from Stillhouse Hollow Lake, which is on the on the right end of this photograph or this this drawing. Um the two dots here you see the central Texas water plant location and the Kemper water supply plant location. Those two pump water to this highway 195 pump station. And through about a 40 mile network of water manes and there's 10 million gallons of storage along this network. There's only about 8 million gallons that are in service today. The takeaway here is we did a rough order of magnitude of the value of this infrastructure that was built in the 80s. It's worth over $300 million in construction cost if the city were to go undertake this project today. um the extensive network of this pipeline and the cost was also very expensive in the 80s and I believe that's why the partner the city partnered with water supply corporation because today this system combined serves about 10,000 customers whereas the city is only about 3600 customers that so there's a lot of value and economy of scale in this situation on the other side of the lake. Uh, Central Texas Water Supply Corporation. This is who the city's contracted through Kent Water Supply to get your water from. I wanted to give you a little overview of this system. Uh the takeaway from this map which is in Central Texas Wateride Corporation's master plan and document is that they've got two water plants on the lake. The Lake Cliff was the one that was built first and that's where the city's contracted with. It serves three wholesale customers on the west side of the system. Uh Central Texas built they call it the doc curve water treatment

plant that's pretty close to the dam on the east side of the lake in 2012 I believe. and it serves the remaining 17 customers of Central Texas Water Supply and Central Texas Water Supply is governed by a board of directors. They make their decisions based on the board of directors votes and clearly plant or water is voted here when it comes to its water supply to Lakewood water plant. And so this pipeline network extends uh significantly east beyond I35. Um those county boundaries are kind of hard to see there, but that's gray shading in this map on the east side there. Uh this is a summary of what you guys experienced over the last several years in 2023. What we remember most is the low low water levels in Still House Hollow Lake resulted in some pretty extreme rationing and restrictions. Um I'm an internal optimist and what really was going on is that lake was was not on the verge of empty. It was 56% full. And if you talk to anybody on the high lakes chain, Colorado River, 56% full Lake Travis is a blessing, right? Um, it's simply was a factor. The this lake had never gotten this low or it has very rarely gotten this low since these water plants were constructed. It's just not a very old lake. Um, and we weren't prepared for this water level. Uh the intake structure for Kendra Water Spot Corporation and Central Texas went that deep, but they had issues because of of maintenance issues with the lower the ability to get down that low and get the water as the lake. And then when the lake filled back up in

October of 23, the land pass not in October that didn't fill up the lake. The first major flood event during the drought period, uh, Lampasses River rose 30 ft and it took out the floating barge that central Texas was relying on and completely shut their water plant down. Remember that was when you contracted with Kimber's flat purchase water from them. And to make matters worse, after the flood event, uh, water quality was a concern. High maganesees and organics in the lake caused issues with water plants that were unprepared for that level of constituents in the in the lake waterfall in that flood. Uh and we all know all too well the issue of emergency repair water main breaks between here and the water source. Uh these things generally don't happen expectedly during the daytime. And so this photo on the slide is is along Highway 580 on the 24 inch main brake water supplies crew repairing. It's been my experience that these water main brakes are generally associated with fittings and taps and and valves along these pipelines. The pipelines are made out of a concrete steel cylinder that's you know wrapped concrete liner inside and out. And I I believe the 95% of the pipeline is in good condition. It's simply where you've got welded fittings and valves, that's where we've got the issue with corrosion. And what makes matters worse is a lot of the isolation valves along this pipeline don't operate. And so when we do have to shut the pipeline down for repairs, it's thousands of customers that are out of service because there's limited places where they can shut the pipeline. If you think about that map that I showed you first with the red dots and storage reservoirs, if this thing were this thing were set up to where we could isolate sections of this pipeline to

repair leaks and rely on those storage reservoirs to feed most of the customers, um that's simply not the case today because the isolation is not functioning. If you can see the yellow pins on this aerial photograph, it's it's locations of existing water treatment plants on Still House Hollow Lake. Uh central Texas there on the left hand side on the upper end of the lake. And down on the south end, I'm working from west to east, you've got Keer Waters plant that was built in 2010. And then Bale County WCID number one built a new water treatment plant literally right next door to Cam Waters plant in I think it was about 2020 time frame 21 that they started that plant up. And then there on the east side is central Texas second doc curve plant that was built and completed in 2012. And this is a little table here that wanted everybody to try and digest. It's it's an overview of lake levels versus intake locations. And at the top of the table, elevation 622, the lake is full. 230,000 acre feet of storage. Uh the second line in this table is the lowest level that this lake has seen in October of 23. It's 602 ft. It was 20 ft low, 55% full. Uh the third line is what I believe to be the low level of the Lake Cliff water plant stream bed, mostly adjacent to its intake location. And when that location is dry, the lake's probably about 33 ft low, 36% full. Like I said, in October 23, before that flood wiped out their intake, they were still able to withdraw water at that location. uh Kendra's water plant, their screen

elevation goes down to uh 43 feet low at a 25% full level of the lake. That's significant. And then the lowest intake on this lake is at the dam. And that's what the doc curve water plant relies on. It goes all the way down to 67 ft on this lake. And bottom of the lake is 515. It's 100 ft deep at the dam. Okay. It's an aerial photograph of the central Texas Lake Cliff water plant site. Um, this this plant was constructed in two phases. The north side of the picture was built in the 70s and the south side of the picture, the big clarifier, the circular structure that was built in the 80s and that's what I believe the city keer water went along with in the 80s when it originally contracted with central Texas. This is a snapshot of the Wake Cliff raw water intake site and takeaway here is a number of iterations of intake attempts um over the years. You've got a kind of a assortment of pipelines and a floating barge there. Uh it's literally on a cliff long walk down and you can see the photo here in the instead of the ladder. It's pretty hard to get to this structure. And that's the floating bar just down there in the lake that was wiped out by the flood. That bridge in the background is um is over the land passage river that came through and that water. Next photo here is the Ker water side of the lake. Um, I enjoyed a city staff and myself and representatives from Camper Water in Central Texas to these plant sites in July 24th. And it's my opinion that the future of the city's water supplies and Keer water supplies is on this side of the lake. Um,

again, it is it's my opinion that the future of the city's water supply and keer waters water supply is on the south side of the lake here. And and it's is supported by the fact that Bell County WCID number one invested millions and millions of dollars in this location too. And we'll go to the next slide. This is the intake structures for Kemper Waters Plant and Del County WC number one. They're nearly mirror images of each other. Um, those intake tubes are where the pumps are located down at the bottom of these intake tubes. And they've got a series of screens that can be opened or closed as water level drops. Uh, it's a proven design and it's resistant to flood and drought. And the key seal of any water plant is the raw water intake. That's that's really hard to change. So now we're going to kind of step into future and propose alternatives and strategies for the future. The uh this is a simple summary of your future water system demand. Uh based on your service area plus not a whole lot. Uh we expect the city to build out to 32,000 people with a total water supply demand of about 6,500 acre feet per year. Um that's about a four-fold increase from where you are now. And based on the growth rates of some of the neighboring communities in and around Austin, this is very very possible for any community that's got reliable water and wastewater service. That's that's what's going to be the attraction I believe. Not to mention the highway corridors that access city of land passes. The uh local supplies, as I mentioned before, are limited to approximately 4,000 acre feet per year. It's not

enough for the future. And your steel house hollow lake supply is limited to 5,500 acre per year. Either it's not enough for the future. And so we recommend a holistic water supply approach to ensure the future economic growth and development of the city of land, Texas. And I look at this as kind of a three-legged stool. Um, right now you're teetering on two legs and you got some disruptions, right? You need all three legs to work. First leg of the stool is what you've got now. It's maintaining and enhancing the existing still house follow treatment and delivery infrastructure that was invested in 45 years ago. Second leg of the stool is development of local supplemental supplies. I think along with number one we can overcome the challenges that the city had in prior to 1980s with the water quality and the water quantity issues in Sulfur Creek. Uh the two are symbiotic if you had both and any diverse water supply is a better water supply. And number three the third leg of the stool is important enough to list as a strategy its financing considerations. Clearly, if you don't have the money, you don't have the public resolve, you're not going to have your for number one, the still house all leg treatment and delivery infrastructure. The first piece of this puzzle is to figure out what needs to be done and when we need to do it, how much it's going to cost. So 1.1 is a joint city K waterfly corporation transmission system capital improvement plan. It's simply a closer look at the infrastructure uh do an assessment an inventory uh figure out what we've got so we can figure out what we need uh what future

demands are going to be for both entities and what the bottlenecks are and what needs to be done first. Let me go back to that uh this new regional water authority concept. So I speak at length in the report about some of the concerns that we've got right now contractually with this contractual arrangement between Central Texas Water Supply and Kender Water Supply. Um, I'm not going to go into too much detail today, but I do believe that some of those contractual challenges are what led to the water supply disruptions that this city has been experiencing and water. Um, the existing contract, I think, is conducive to operation and maintenance of the pipeline and the water plants that were built 45 years ago. I don't believe that it's conducive to capital upgrades and expansion of that system. Um, there's a number of challenges that you guys have got to deal with when it comes to capital upgrades and expenditures because City of Lampasis has limited authority over Central Texas Water Supply Corporation and its decisions in its system. You're one of those 20 votes. Okay? And you're not contracted directly with Central Texas Water Supply Corporation. So, that's that's the number one biggest challenge there. um to overcome these challenges. One idea, one proposal is a new regional water authority. And so I've in the report, if you've read it, I've dubbed this the Steel House Hollow West Regional Water Authority. Uh really the premise of this is to set up an entity who could take ownership of a third party entity who can take ownership of the pipeline and the water plant between here and Lake House and have equal representation from the customers of

that regional water authority which the two main customers would be the city of landis and water supply corporation and the city would have direct control and voting rights over how that money is spent and the finances of that regional water authority would be transparent. It would be a costbased service and so everybody understands you know what the dollars are, what needs to happen and what the water costs are. Um the really it's it's about setting up an entity that we can all trust and we've all got an ownership of and a local stake in which right now I don't believe that it's the case. Okay. U this would take some time but I think it's a it's a direction worth investigating and talking about more clearly. Uh the third one on the list is the idea of a regional water treatment plant improvement. So what we've got right now if you take central Texas water kept water supply corporation they're own they own and operate three water plants on lake still house followed collectively and those operation and maintenance of water treatment plant is expensive and the most value to operating a water plant is economy scale the more customers you've got the more you can spread those cost out um if we can take those three water plants and invest collectively in a single water plant between us and the Kendra customers and whoever else wants to join this bandwagon. I think we've got a path to the future to get the capacity we need and the capital investments we need uh that's going to be the best cost for your customers and the rest of the customers in this system. So the the idea there I believe is is to invest in a single water plant location on the south side this week.

And how would that start? How would we start that? That's the that's the end. That's the end of the presentation on how we'll get this going. I think that Stephen alluded to it. There's lots of discussions that need to happen, lots of steps that need to take. And so, uh, clearly there's a there's a lot of players involved here. Yes, sir.

Mhm. But I I feel like, um, you know, I mentioned before the existing central Texas water plant, the Achilles heel that plant is its intake location. Um, you could you could pour enough money into that old plant to get it operating again. But the fact is the next drought that comes along, you're going to be back where you are, where you were. What does the central Texas Water Alliance what does that do for us that yeah there I think their focus is further east

and so a concern that I've talked to staff about is if you get too many cooks in the kitchen kind of back where you are now um the fewer cooks we've got in this kitchen I think the more control the city's got over it destiny and where that money is Any other questions for Mr. Jones?

This is a good place for questions. I got a couple more slides. I'm curious. Are you alluding to increasing our CCN area with this? Is that kind of what you're getting at all?

No. This the city would be a wholesale customer of this new regional water authority as would good Kent Water Corporation and so each entity would be responsible for its own retail customers. Um, the beauty of this type of an entity is it has two or three customers and it's got a long-term management structure that works uh because of the fact that it's got one job to do and it's not distracted by all the retail customer and the city could then focus on its service area can do the same. That's that is fundamentally I think the hardest part about this the pipes and the pumps are easy. Uh but if you can give somebody a a job in a kingdom that's your job is that plant and this pipeline and make sure water's flowing at that meter every day of the week, you know, 365 days a year and it's quality water. Um that's a job that just about anybody can handle if they're not flying all over the place with 10,000 customers treating that. Well, it's good to know that we have a good location for where we can get our water from the safety.

That is Yes. Thank you for saying that. It it cannot be um understated how important the investments um are that have been made over the years by both Kerat Corporation and this community. And what you've got is is valuable. Like I said, it's got a total construction dollars in today's dollars over $300 million. That's that's it just feels like that's unachievable in today's world. It's it's a good it's a you're in a good place. Very good place. You've got some ideas about Sul Creek.

Yes. Let's go to the next one. Local water supplies. Um, as I mentioned before, the some of the issues with Sulfur Creek were the water quality and and the storage. And if you can see the aerial photograph here, the old water plant site, which is still visible from Spring Street, is in the yellow pin. Um, what you see on the far right hand side here is the city's golf course and the creek as it crosses through the park. I think a prime location for an intake uh for this to support this water plant could be at that um downstream of T Avenue, actually at the Chestnut Street, the old Chestnut Street bridge. Uh it's the second downstream channel dam. Uh that would allow the water that's pumped out of the creek to continue to flow through the park and through the pools that we all enjoy. Um so we can pump that water back to this water plant site and treat it and distribute it. Uh, another value of this site is the 18inch water loop that goes through town from this still house supply that was built in the 80s. Uh, runs down Spring Street. So, it's right there on a key water man in the city that was not done accidentally. Um, it was done intentionally when that water line was put in because the city was relying on a water plant at that location at that time. Um the other value of this site is off to the far uh left hand side of the picture. There's a precariously close reservoir there. It's used for flood control and it's owned and operated by a landass county WCID. Um but any any risk of investing in a water plant here is when that day comes that you really need to water during a drought, the creek's not fun. And so if you got a place to store some water close to your water

plant site, that's key. Um that that makes that investment worthwhile. And so you you have that there is about flood control wise there's 1500 acre feet of storage behind that dam. It's about 30 something miles dam. The recommendation in the study is to take a look at what it would take to make the lower portion of that dam worthy of of storing some water for about 600 acre feet. 600 acre feet would get you through a full 12 month period at a half MGB or if you condense that down into a six-month period, you could rely on one MGB of storage out of that out of that site. There's some more value to that when it comes from a water quality perspective. We spent a lot of time on this project doing kind of a proof of concept. So one of the issues with taking the salt the mineral content the high tees out of the water is you produce a brine waste that needs to be disposed of and and so two sources of water to blend and the recommendation is to irrigate that waste back on the golf course. The two sources of water is your wastewater plant discharge and any offsite storage in the future. And so we could take those two sources, blend it with the waist strength and the water treatment plant and irrigate the golf course with it. What that does for you is you're not relying on water in the creek to irrigate the golf course. You could rely on water in the creek for your drinking water.

And so some of the other watering areas that we have, parks and that sort of thing can also water. Yes. I think the challenge is going to be you're not going to have enough planted water to water everything you want to water. But um someday absolutely you would you could develop that as a reclaimed water supply to water parks, golf course, ball fields. But the water we're using now is from a water stream, right? It's a it's a blend. The the only thing that goes on the golf from the creek, the raw water is only used for the golf course right now. Everything else that you water in the the ball fields and school is all your drinking water.

So there'll be some savings there. Yes. Yes. Absolutely. And you have a lot of communities in the area that already doing this Georgetown and some others. So I mean it's not a new concept. Mhm. Mhm. Yes. Yes. Absolutely.

So we go into some detail in the report about how all this work. Um the the what makes this Sulfur Creek water plant work from a water quality perspective is you're continuing to bring in the low TDS water from Steel House follow Lake and you can use that that's what's going to your through your wastewater plant and so you're using that as a blending source to blend down the condensed TGS water that's coming off the waist side of this water treatment and and the goal is to make the water that's going back into your pipelines from Creek compatible with what you're currently seeing from the let me go back to that real quick. uh Ellenburgger Sanava Aquares. Uh we we spent a significant amount of this study early on in 24 looking at your alternative groundwater supplies here locally and our conclusion was the Alber Sava is is a prime candidate or some wells that could produce up to 1 NGD. Uh the issue well the good thing about the Elmer Saba is you're not going to have to treat that water. It's it's clean drinkable water that comes out of the ground. So it's the most cost effective water source that you've got here. Uh it's also you're on the down dip in land passes. The the shallower part of that aquifer is west of here. The deeper part of the aquifer is L passes and not too far east of land passes. The aquifer under Lampasses is roughly 1500 ft thick. um which in the groundwater study they they estimate that you probably get 3 or 4 hund gallons a minute if you were to drill a well that reached the depth the full depth of this aquifer that's that's um there's some documented wells that are you know a couple hundred gallons a minute um most people don't need that much water so they don't fully utilize the thickness of this aquifer to get that kind of quantity of water because

it's expensive um the limitations for the Ber sand sava is the volume of water that you're going to be able to draw out of any given year. So there's a lot of people that rely on this aquifer on the on the shallow side. So if you overpump the beach side, you're going to lower the water table on the upper end and dry off wells in the west end of the camp. Um, so the recommendation is to limit how much you pump out of this aquifer. But if you did have a prolific well, you could put that well on during the periods that you're still hollow supplies down and extend your storage significantly at a relatively low capital cost. So,

so the does the B of first and newest? No.

No. The local groundwater district regulates water usage from the aquifer. It's not regulated the same way surface water is. And so you would need to get a permit from the Saratoga Underground Water Conservation District for this use of the water. I think the easiest low hanging fruit permit would be to get is is an emergency use kind of situation. Uh but once you've established that usage established that there's drinkable water there. Um I would certainly recommend taking that as far as you can get it to see how much water you can withdraw off in any given year because the more you use that well the more economical the water is going to be. If you drill a five million, spend $5 million on a series of wells and all the infrastructure it takes to connect and plum and treat that water and you only use it a week out of the year. That's your most expensive water.

What is the estimated cost for one of those wells? We think there could be up to a handful of these wells, maybe five or so that would need to be drilled. Um, we had the $5 million price tag on that on that

for a 1 MGD one million gallon per day supply, which would be about your city currently uses about it's less than three million gallons per day. And so if you really tighten your restrictions back, you can probably get about two million gallons per day. And so if you were in a scenario where you didn't have water flowing in through the meter, you change the water supply and you had say a million gallons in storage here locally. If you could pop a million gallons per day into that storage reservoir, you could go from a 24-hour emergency to maybe a 48 hour 3 or 4 day emergency. Uh 1,800 ft is the bottom, but it starts at a couple hundred feet below the surface here in Lass. So like I said, most of the wells that are drilled are relatively economical because they don't go down very deep.

How many MGs could be used without affecting the shell of the small Not much. Not much. The modeled available groundwater, it's it's it's pretty fuzzy math in some of these things, I call it Aggy math. So, it's based on a hydraulic underground model of the of the aquifer. And you got a model available, groundwater limitation for the entirety of the county. Um, it's not as much water as you need in here for the whole county, for everybody relying on that water. So, it's it's pretty limited if you're going to go out and intend to pump that water 365 days a year. Okay. So, the third leg of our school, uh, it's just a little summary. Currently, Stephen and I did an analysis of what you've been spending on your current water supply. Everything from the meter back to the lake. And over the last few years, it's been less than $2 a,000. Uh, very economical water. In today's world, the you guys, I don't know of anybody else who's paying less than $2,000 for surface water, but that's 50 mi away, 40 miles away. That's that is very economical. Uh if you were to drill some local groundwater wells, the cheapest you could get that done is $2 a,000. Like I said, that number goes up, but the capital investment is pretty low. Number goes up if you can't use them all year long. Existing supply, rehab, and upgrades. This is a number that I honestly don't have a handle on, but if your current

infrastructure is $300 million, what we did is we said, "Okay, 25% of that total value. If we put 25% back into that system for rehab and upgrades, that would yield a cost of about $5,000. So that's that is a swag needs to be looked at. It's a rough order of magnitude dollars. So that's all in that's capital operating financing. The phase one of the silver creek water plant which would be a 1 MGD supply. It's the most expensive phase because it includes everything you need to blend and irrigate that water back on the golf course and it also is a footprint for ultimately a 3MD water plant. Uh total price tag of roughly $20 million. Uh if you were to pump that water 365 days a year, your cost there is $7 per thousand for that Sula Creek water plant. Pretty high because 1 MGD is simply not a big water plant. That's why people go in together and you get 10,000 customers to finance a 10 MG water plant, not a one water plant. Right? Put that into perspective. If I were to go out and buy 1,000 gallons of water from HV, it would cost me $1,500. And the reason I put this on the slide is because I think generally people are willing to pay for quality water. It's a simply a matter of public education and an understanding of the need. The worst thing we can do is pay $150 a,000 and not be able to run out of water supplies. That's the most expensive water in my opinion. So on your page 22 of your report,

you gave some numbers there these changes might cost. Is that correct? The public what might cost of what the water system financing might have to consider. Yes. Yes. Is that so? Could you go over? Let me get with you. So that's that's a summary here of that page 22.

Yeah. Yeah. So number two here comes with about a $5 million capital cost. And number three, we said $75 million in terms of a rough order of magnitude. And then number four is about a $20 million capital cost on that number. And as a matter of perspective, your current residential water rate, if you take the base monthly fee of $34.50 and the volumetric rate of $4.65, if I were to use 10,000 gallons in my home, water bill would be $81. But that's an all in, you know, local operations, distribution, capital.

If I could just clarify on page 22, you said $75 million capital investment in the shared water supply. Is that that's my understanding of capital investment to improve what we have now? Yes. To improve. Yes. Yes. And Yes. Yes.

Yeah. These are these are not not to be taken lightly, but it was a significant investment in the 80s, too. And I I feel like the city has enjoyed that investment. And for 45 years, you've relied on it. And that's why your water is so inexpensive now. There's a season for renewed investment. But the the more we can spread that cost around, uh, another recommendation in the report is a utility rate study. And I think your staff is already making progress on that. Um, and so it's a more detailed look at your commercial customer base versus your residential customer base versus what we can do as a shared collective effort with with more customer base. Uh, i.e. tend to wash Corporation and take a closer look at what that total picture looks like. We usually build a resial customer,000 gallons. You know what that would be?

So the base rate it's what's Yes.

So if we spend all this money, what would our water rates look like? Do we have any projections on that? I think that's kind of what he's given us a look at here because right now um if you remove the base rate from the equation, the city of Lancast is making $2.65 65 cents per thousand gallon for the cost of the water that's going out to through, right? But that's supporting the water distribution staff that's supporting the expenditures of of the water system. So, and I think there's a lot of hypotheticals to consider, too. We wouldn't go after a project like this without going through the water development board to see what kind of grant funding, low interest loans, etc. we would qualify for. I don't think um based on our median household incomes that we that the city would qualify for they call it an EDAB economically distressed area. Um our median household income is too high to qualify for that. we wouldn't get as much grant funding as some other communities do qualify for, but I think it could be 30% grant, 70% from the city. So, there's a lot of hypotheticals there on what that's going to do to our our rate. But the the bottom line is they'll need to increase if we're going to ensure that we're continuously providing quality water to our curious what that number

several hypothetical and I'm happy with those projections.

Yeah, I'd like to see that. I mean I have not drank lasses water 5 years bottled water because of that. But I mean I would be very happy. pay a little extra to have drinking water and ice. All that stuff, you know, that is not substantial. Yeah, I think this is a a really good review and gives a lot of thought what we need to do in the future and what people want to hear and see where we go. Thank you. Do you think we can get 7% from the city through low interest loans and 30% grants? That would be enough to do this project without going out?

I don't think so in its entirety without drastic raises to our rates. But again, I think there's a lot of we need to play with some numbers to see what we can. I certainly have to do that. But I I think, you know, currently our water system based on past bond and CO issues is making a million dollar debt payment off the top every fiscal year for the 2016 on the 22 bond. I believe it was 2009 prior to back. Um that's been refinanced. So we already are holding a a million dollar debt payment each year out of the water system. As that starts to taper off, I think it's smart for us to plan debt on that at least at a steady rate, if not slightly higher in the years moving forward. And that that debt will start dropping off over the next several years. So it's a good time to either be

Yes.

I think it's worth mentioning to the regional water authority would qualify comes from state participation loans. The state recognizes the issue that lamp assets and other communities have. And so if it's a regional project and it's identified in the regional water plan, which by the way the a lot of these projects are already identified in the ris regional water plan. This is this through the course of this study we've had that correspondence and you guys are in there you're identified. Um but what that does is it extends the lo it defers the principal payments on a lot of these loans to allow you to grow the rooftops. So the the payments are lower on the front end and they're higher on the back end. and you wouldn't qualify for that on your own. It's a good reason to consider uh the concept of working together in the regional concept.

Anything else, Mr. Jones? I don't know why. Oh, it's just a takeaway. Sorry. I was going to tell you where we've been in case you weren't paying attention. I guess everybody has to. I don't think he has. All right. Well, I'm good. I know you guys need to get on with your read. Thank you. Thank you.

Discussion regarding any items on the regular session for March 23rd, 2026.

An update regarding central Texas water being held on March 5th, 2026.

You almost forgot it. with all the the questions and comments regarding the simple Texas water alliance. I just wanted to give you guys a little update from the last meeting they conducted on March 5th. Uh they heard petitions for new membership from the city of Lasses, Lampasses County, city of McGregor, city of Belton, the middle trinity from Bel County, WC number three, all of which were approved. Uh all new members uh including us requested have a representative in attendance for appointment to their board April 9th. Um I have volunteered myself to do that until such time as uh weekend city manager. They have sent a petition to the state legislature, sorry, to the legislature for water resource development act authorization of W word of funding. Um if approved, uh funds would be allocated for regional infrastructure assessment and improvement uh in central Texas. Uh WERA is that uh that vehicle to obtain the federal funding. However, it is extremely competitive. Uh, good news is they've already accepted the preliminary proposals. Bad news is it's still Congress and let's face it, it doesn't take forever till we see anything. Um, mayor, you mentioned during Jason's presentation, um, if the water alliance would be any of any help during this. Um, it's too early to say, but I'm going to I'm going to make it some some light assumptions here that possibly not. Um, they just completed their first phase of establishing that governance. Um they're now they're going to be working on their planning and assessment really trying to determine uh what projects they can you know accomplish as a regional effort. Uh Land Pass is probably going to be the furthest member to the east. Uh while we while we will have a a seat at the table, I don't see them really helping us out too much in terms of a regional development or effort. $5,000 investment into the water too. Is that

Yes. Uh that's a that's a million annual membership due we have uh submitted that and if we want to keep a seat at the table we'll have to do that every year as well every year every year. So and it's I mean they could very well have a project come across that does benefit us. Um any water they bring to central Texas could in one way or another benefit my assets. It's just really early to tell if what that's going to look like. that money go for for the water and do you know I think we get for

I think it fills the vending machines uh no light joke quite frankly um it looks like it's just supplying their their general budget this time I I don't see what they're getting in terms of projects from membership fees that's what they're requesting funding for. So this is membership dues is quite frankly appears like it's just what's going to keep this organization alive. Do they have sorry do they have staff?

They have board the board of directors which I believe are unpaid and then they have a GM that they are to some degree paying I don't know the amounts most of this uh efforts from all the members unpaid. Thank you. Discussion regarding any items on the record session 26. Discussion regarding any items not included on the regular session for March 23, 2026. consideration on future agendas. I actually be taken by city council.

Mayor and council, I'd just like to update that council that at last Wednesday's EDC meeting, the EDC board approved a proposal from the Cooper brothers for um both a short film, so I say the 45minut range, and a feature mini documentary, which will be in the 15 minute to 18 minute range. Um, so they did approve moving forward with that proposal in the amount of $30,000. Um, the brothers are scheduled to begin shooting next week actually. So, we have a meeting with them Thursday to make sure that the city facilities that they need access to are are lined out and in good shape. That it's not on tonight's council agenda. that will be on your council agenda for April 13th for approval of the expenditure as the city council is required to um approve any unbudgeted expenditures in excess of $4,000 and any expenditure in excess of $25,000. So because that expenditure is $30,000 that will be on your next council agenda for consideration and approval for EDC funds. It's not going to require a budget amendment as we're just making a line item within their budget line item transfer. I apologize. So, it won't require two readings of a resolution and it's not considered an economic development project. So, it also doesn't require a public hearing or two readings of a resolution. So, it's a shortened timeline because there are funds in their existing budget that would be moved around should council approve that project. So again, that'll be on the April 13th agenda unless council sees any reason otherwise.

I think there was discussion that night about whether it was marketing costs, it wouldn't have to be by the council. Is that the case? No. So there's certain procedural requirements. If it's an economic development project, there there's a requirement for us to publish it in the newspaper. There's a public hearing. There's a 60day waiting period before the funds can be released. and it would require two readings of a resolution at council. This is a marketing expenditure. It's not an economic development project, so it doesn't require the same formalities that an economic development project would. And they're starting their their project next on April 1.

That's my understanding is that they had scheduled it for that. Yes. So it's going to be on the next agenda item for approval by council to approve the funds. We have a discussion regarding that during that time period. Yes, the council has ultimate authority over ABC.

I just was thinking that we might be able to a special meeting if the council to have special meeting with food so that they can meet your timeline. 13th is good. 13th is good. All right. Anything else? Uh discussion regarding any items. not included on that one.

And so we will get a motion to adjourn work session. All in favor?

And uh do we need to take a five minute break? We need we have break here. Walk your little self right up here,

Councilman. All right, we'll call our council to order. All rise. Let us pray. Dear heavenly father, we're grateful tonight to be in this great place. We thank you for these good people that came out. Thank you for our elected officials, our employees and our citizens. We ask that you be with us as we exchange information, make some good decisions, all for the betterment of your community. We ask that you forgive us our sins, watch over us to safety till we can be together again. And as always, in Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Amen. Join us and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all the flagism. got an acknowledgement tonight of a of a 10year uh employ Mr. Richard Cops and he's not here with us so we'll get his certificate this week. I want to thank him. Um, we have a nominating uh Steven S to the board of directors of Central Texas Water Corporation.

We have a vote on that. What is that? Okay. Should we read this? Okay.

Resolution nominating cadet candidate for the election to the board of director central Texas Water Supply Corporation. Whereas the city of Land Passa City Council is a regular member of the Central Texas Water Supply Corporation as a direct result entering into a water sale and purchase contract with the Central Texas Water Supply Corporation. And whereas by bylaws of the Central Texas Water Supply Corporation stipulates that at annual meeting of the members, each regular member shall be entitled to nominate individuals to serve on boards of directors of Central Texas Water Supply Corporation provided that the nominee is not in violation of the Central Texas Water Supply Corporation conflict interest policy. And whereas the city of mine pass the city council has determined that it would be in its best interest to have such a voting member on the Central Texas Water Supply Corporation board of directors and does desire to have such a board member as elected on April 28, 2026 meeting by members of Central Texas Water Supply Corporation. Now therefore, be it resolved by the city council and the city of Lancastes that Steven S be and is hereby nominated for the election to the board of dire directors of the central Texas water supply corporation on April 28th, 2026 meeting of the members of the central Texas Water Supply Corporation. This resolution is passed by the city council of the city of Lancasters on March the 23rd, 2026.

Thank you, Mr. S. I don't think we have any public hearing comments tonight. So we'll move on to the consent agenda. And Miss Madame Secretary, would you please read discussion and possible action regarding approval of minutes of the special meeting held on March 5th, 2026. Discussion and possible action regarding approve approval of minutes of the regular meeting held on March 9th, 2026. Discussion and possible action regarding the second reading of an ordinance amending the Lentas code of ordinances regarding a request for a specific use permit to allow for an indoor commercial amusement facility in an area's zone central business district CBD described as mid 1/3 of block 7 block 11 of the oldtown edition more specifically known as 511 East third street when passes Texas and passes county town detailing restrictions related there to ordering a change to ordinance number 878 and the accompanying the city of Lassa's zoning map reflect the same and providing effective date discussion and possible action regarding the second reading of an ordinance amending the land's code of ordinances regarding a request for specific use permit to allow for a daycare in an area zone single family residential 6 SF6 described as 712 acres lot 1A of the Edwards edition more specifically known as 1415 East 4th Street Lassus Texas lenus county detailing restrictions questions related there to ordering a change to ordinance number 878 in the accompanying city of Lassa's zoning map if left unsane and providing an effective date discussion possible action regarding second reading of an ordinance amending the Lassa's code of ordinances regarding

a request to reszone property being lot 7 and 8 block seven of the LSC second edition lots 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 block 12 of the LSC second edition lot 7 and 8 block 13 of the LSC second edition Lot one of the 183 South Business Plaza and lot one book one of the Finn commercial edition passes Texas. Madam Secretary I move to approve the consent agenda. All in favor? Origin department reports council. I'm going to give the annual finance and utility building annual report. The finance department. Um we have Bessie White as an accountant. She's been with us for 11 years. Utility billing, we have Felicia Vallejo, accounting tech, utility billing, 14 years. Amy Katron, utility clerk, four years. Courtney Owens ran up the county tech accounts payable, three years. Sammy Irvin, utility clerk, two and a half years. And we also have our meter readers, Warren Sy, 14 years. And Mark Cleger with nine months of service. Utility connections. As of September 30th, 2025, we have 4,971 electric, 3,672 water, 2,910 sewer customers. Our utility billing team runs 36 billing cycles. That's three a month. Approximately 4,400 bills generated each month. And for FY25, there were there was 20,418,183.34 in utility and services build citywide.

Um for our finance functions, uh our main roles are tax payable, accounts receivable, and payroll. We issued 3368 checks in FY25 against 5541 purchase orders paid 5 8 individual vendors um to the tune of $28.1 million. For accounts receivable, we issued 351 invoices. That's primarily 30 aviation fund for hangover. Total revenue 1.34 million. And we paid 136 regular employees, 27 in seasonal employees, a total of 3,793 checks. We'll go to the next screen. This was a really quick annual because at our next meeting, you will receive our annual audit, which is a much more indepth review of our fiscal performance for FY25. So, I kept this one short for Davis and knowing that we would get our audit at the next meeting.

Good job. Not special. some meetings.

Mayor and council, we have a variety of meetings coming up. I won't pinpoint each one of them, but I did want to also point out I left it off the list on accident, but we are closed next Friday, April 3rd for Good Friday. All city offices will be closed. U April 10th is LC Steps Forward Day. They are doing a creek cleanup event and um April 20th through April 28th opens early voting and May 2nd is election day. discussion and possible action regarding a request from county Lasso Association for hot funds for redupo in the amount of $10,000.

This request was presented or given to us by Alexis Thompson. We did fund this in past years and we do have it is a qualified expenditure with funding tables.

Mayor, council members, good afternoon. Um, yeah, we want to talk about rodeo. So, coming up on the season, um, we've got our event coming up again this year. Uh, it'll be held, it's a 4-day deal. Uh, it'll be April 22nd through the 25th. Um, like I said, uh, this was approved, uh, last year and, um, we're trying to build off of the momentum that we had. We had a really successful event last year. Uh, it's been going through kind of a building stage, but we're getting better and so we just want to try to keep that ball rolling. U, hopefully y'all have some questions for me. We've got some stuff that we could go over. We've got some numbers and things and, uh, we're pretty excited about it. to put some new things in for this year and just trying to get the community involved and get some more support for it. So,

what are some of the new things that you plan? Well, the first thing is we're uh trying to do a special kids rodeo that'll happen on Thursday. And so, that's a really neat event. A lot of people have done that. We've kind of looked at that and copied that from some other events and uh we're pretty excited about that. So, that'll happen on Wednesday. Um we're doing a uh senior class sponsorship for Cat Scramble this year. So trying to get some senior kids involved uh get some money to donate to them and just trying to get more community involvement as a whole. So that's just a couple highlights.

So how exactly are you using the $10,000 traditionally I know I know this is traditionally it's used for advertising to bring people from outside. So how are you using the $10,000? Well, it would be for that. It would be for advertising. Um we had about um somewhere around 200 contestants, just contestants uh last year. Um we're hoping to get about 300 or so this year. Uh then of course we want to see we have an issue with seating. We're trying to sort that out, but we want to see about 5,000 uh seats filled. So we're looking to do that. So yeah, we're going to try to promote this and um and use the funds for I'm asking how do you plan on using the funds?

It would be through several different advertising methods. So, you know, things like the banners, the social media, the the promotion toward the contestants. Um, lots of different lots of different avenues. Is all the 10,000 going to be used for advertising or is there going to be some that's used for general expenses? Uh, no. It would all be toward a promotion type type expense. So, yeah, we we're donating a lot of our own toward that. We're bringing some sand in. doing a little things for the grounds, trying to get those up the up to par. We've been working on that quite a bit, dragging it off and getting it watered, getting it kind of back into shape. But no, as far as the 10 grand, that would be toward promotional type expenses only. So

So this year, will you all bring back a breakdown of what y'all spent? Sure. Yes, ma'am. We can provide you with some documentation if that's needed. Absolutely. Happy to do that. Is there a way to track kind of beds and heads? I think we've ran into this over the few years. So, just so I mean, you know, everyone has the same question. How are we tracking this? How are

Yeah, Wayne and I were just talking about this trying to look at kind of holes in our in our deal here. I think that's one of them. I think we just need to get with the hotels and with some of the people and kind of get a better way to do that. As of right now, we don't have good data on exactly who's checking into a hotel and staying there and that kind of thing. But it it is bringing in a substantial amount of people from even out of state. Um there's a lot of tourism that comes with this. Uh I think I think it's about 40% of the contestants were actually from out of state. And of course it's sort of a a deal where they've got their own fans and they follow them. And so yeah, but um you bring up a good point, a little bit of a hole. We need to work on that. We need to get a way to get some data that will show where they're staying and how much is there. That

I saw on your application that y'all were doing online sign up, I guess, and you mentioned on that app that y'all are going to send out a survey at the end of it, right? Right. That was one of the first ideas we had to try to start tracking that a little bit better. Um, and then for the tickets, we've we've Alexis has done a lot of work to try to get it where we can track where they're coming from and u a little more information about who's purchasing tickets for uh just viewership. So, I talked to one of the hotels today actually and they said that there was about 30 people per night at the one of the one of the hotels in town. I don't know if they didn't say if that was up or down, but they're saying it was about 30 per night on that last year's weekend that Okay. So, sure. Um,

and then just to interrupt you real quick. Sorry to do that, but there's a lot of just additional stuff that comes with that. Just a lot of uh they're bringing a lot of money in towards for vendors, bed and breakfast, food, things of that nature. So, yeah, I definitely understand that. Um, one thing I had a question actually this is on our policy. I just saw this when I was reading through this last night. It says the application needs to be submitted 60 days before the event and then it it was submitted on March 2nd. Yes. Um, but we've historically for several events, I mean, I think even Springho and some of the events we approved earlier this year, it's just to make sure that they get it considered and processed by time. Is there like a verbiage we can change in that policy?

Yeah, absolutely. But I like I don't want to, you know, do it for some groups and then not other groups. It just doesn't seem fair. Absolutely. I talked about increasing your contestants by 100. Is that part of what you see for the heads up? I'm sorry. What do you mean by that? Yeah, we expect to see more contestants coming. We're hoping this grows and that would uh should directly result in more heads on bets. Yeah. Do you know that they're coming out of town or out of state?

Most of them are. I mean, if we go off of previous data, about 40% of the contestants are from out of state and very I don't know that I think we only had about four contestants from local areas, very few locals last year. Almost none. Now, I know this is budgeted, but how much did we budget fund for stuff pops up? 25,000. We currently have um assuming Springho applies for the same amount that they traditionally do, we currently have about 13 and a half of that allocated. So that leaves us with 11 and a half to consider.

Any other questions? Is there a game plan like longterm plan like where y'all are just fully self? Yes, I would hope so. Yeah, like I said, this has kind of been a building process and we can see it going that way. Uh, if we get some more sponsorships and build some momentum here, yeah, I I don't think this is a something that would be an every year ask, but uh I think it's going in a good direction and and right now it would be uh pretty crucial on the success for this year's road. Absolutely. I know with y'all joining in, it's definitely made at least a little more organized all teaming up now. I appreciate you saying that. Is this the second or third year out at our rodeo? City rodeo. This is four.

I think it's technically number four, but it's had some ups and downs. Had some rebuilding years trying to get things back you clarify. Um when groups apply for funding, they don't necessarily have to use it for only advertising. They can use it for other things. Correct.

They do not. And that's identified in our application. There are several different uses. While yes, advertising is the more traditional use of hot funds. It can be used for convention and visitor center. That's why the chamber gets a portion of it. And one of them is specifically expenses including but not limited to promotional expenditures directly related to sporting events in which the majority of participants are tourists who substantially increase economic activity at hotels and hotels within the city or its vicinity. So that way it does not have to strictly be advertising. I'll make a motion to approve hot fun $10,000 of the county of one passing rodeo association hot funds around our rodeo.

Second. Any other discussion, questions? All in favor?

Thank you guys. Thank you. Hope to see you there. 4.2 discussion of possible action regarding modifying the city land passes approved 20 26 holiday schedule to include June theme and council at the last meeting you were approached by uh Judge Cordell. He was requesting that we modify our approved 2026 calendar uh city holiday calendar to include June. So this is the action item to follow up on his request.

I move to approve to modify the 2026 city calendar to include changing. I have questions

and concerns. I have talked to some of our members in our community or black population and they are people I've talked to have more concern about getting recognition through education and awareness more than our city holiday for our employees. I have concerns that city simply giving a day off with pay for employees is really not bringing out the spirit and the intent of having this holiday. It's an important holiday, but I'm really concerned that um since it was approved in 1979 for the state of Texas, we haven't acted on it. I don't know why we haven't approved it previously or if it has I believe it has come forth or we haven't taken action on. So, I I'd like a little history on what that was and how come we haven't done anything before this. It is it is a state holiday and I think in most cities it's a

it's county as well and the county as well county it's not it's not he said it is no I called yesterday county I did contact several other cities and almost everybody does have it in their in their schedule they have it in there. They do. I mean, I I think it's something that we need to come to the times and let let them have it. There's other ways to do education on top of it. But, um, it's even a photo now,

right? So, it's not just state and so I'm What is this? What does it cost the city and should we write to a budget? Um, paid day off for the city with salary and benefits is approximately $46,000.

What happens if we get over time for emergencies like they're paid time and a half? Um the fire department will receive a full shift, a 24-hour shift at time and a half plus I believe it's either eight or 10 hours at regular pay. and then um on duty police officers and dispatchers receive half

and then if utilities are used or emergency in other areas that would be an additional cost as needed. Um, I don't see utility usage increasing, but anyone that's called out, for example, there's an electric outage, anyone that's called out to respond to the electric outage, a water issue, whatever, will then be a time and a half in addition to the eight hours. The 46,000 that you said that includes that already includes the fire department, right?

That's at straight pay. It doesn't take into account the time and a half for the 24 hours. I I ran that based off of a payroll period that did not have a holidaying in it. So that's not included in that figure. So it's slightly slightly higher best estimate without getting super deep into that.

I suggest discuss it during budgetary time and maybe look at taking another day away at this. I would also like to see a survey done by the staff because I not sure that I was able to find all of the holidays that were approved by other central Texas to see how many holidays we're looking at in other cities um and whether we're actually any other questions.

There's a motion on the floor. need to call for. Okay. All in favor? I

I discussion and possible actions regarding the approval to declare a 2020 2012 Chevrolet 2500 as a surplus fleet allow staff to dispose of according to state mayor and council this 2012 Chevrolet 2500 was replaced this budget here. I'm just asking you to simply allow us to place it on our deals at surplus.

I got a question on this one. Um I mean so it needs repair, but I mean trucks are expensive. Repairs are not I mean they're expensive too, but I mean how much you talking about repair? Cuz I see air conditioner blows cold. And

staff didn't specifically go get an estimate for what the repair would cost. It's roughly estimated at about $3,000. So that's just a very rough estimate from staff. this truck is up for replacement. If we want to keep it in the fleet, we'd have to just we'd have to maintain it or we can put it declare a surplus and and try to make some money off of it while we can. Um, professionally, I'm in the habit of trying to cut loose some of our trucks while we can still make some money on them if we if it's been replaced.

So, a couple of information on this truck. 2012 Chevrolet 104,000 m 6. So, that's one of the best engines they've made. The new stuff coming out has active fuel management which is major issues and can replace it too. They're having major recalls on transmissions on the newer stuff. So my recommendation would be just fix this older truck. It's only got 100,000 miles on it. I mean I say how much is a new truck new 2500. We're going to spend $40,000 over a $3,000. Probably at least I mean the one that we just bought I think was a little more than that actually. Yeah. I mean my recommendation is is to fix it. I can't imagine spending 40 grand on a truck for only $3,000 in repair.

I think cost would be a good start. We did actually uh vote during budget to replace this truck. So a new a replacement has already been purchased. So at this point it's surplus anyways. would be maintaining sign that we're not losing on a daily. We can go ahead and get an estimate to repair though affairs.

Can we transport to the cemetery or some other place that possibly needs it? Like I said, for only $3,000, you're not going to be able to buy a decent running truck with AC. And like I said, this is a good vehicle. I mean, knowing these vehicles, this is a good vehicle. estimate and repurpose or estimate and come back to council. What would you prefer?

Well, I mean definitely an estimate of repair and then I mean find out where I work where to complete because I mean something else is going to go down. I mean only $3,000 to have a back vehicle. I mean it seems silly to me. So, we're going to this one and coming back. What would you think the value of that would be? Edward, sir, what would you think the value of the vehicle would be once it's repaired? So, I mean, I look up value of this truck, not county utility is around $9,000. That's traded, not not private part. Okay.

So, I mean, I the only thing I saw on there, he had a door panel kind of jacked up. You know, it's got some normal wear and tear, but I mean, for a work truck, you don't take utility beds up and you'll sell them, right? Y'all sell them their fleet, leave the beds on. Utility bed is what, five grand? Well, it depends. I mean, we've paid substantially more for them. But we've we've found over the years the utility beds, taking the reviews that they get a lot of times by the time they're looking at replacing their in significant need of repair as well, you know, in terms of the doors, engine slash, and such. But we don't sell problem.

I also want to include this number that you're looking at, that anticipated sale price. That just is our minimum. We're not going to take anything under that. We can always change that when I list on deals. If you prefer that we don't take less than 15,000, I can I can Yeah, definitely. $4,000,000 repair. I mean because in that case, you know, fix it and then auction it off with a fully running vehicle makes more sense to me. Is a 14y old truck something that would be in your mind fixable enough to make it another 10 years or 5 years?

Oh, I see a very biased person, but yes, 100%. I drive I drive I drive and correct. You drive like 02 14 not check. All right. So we're going to table this one. Is that right? Is that what I'm hearing?

All right. Let's move on. Uh discussion and possible action regarding the approval to declare a 1999 Ford F800 as a surplus fleet allow staff according to state law. Uh same thing as the last one. This one's been recently replaced not this budget year want to see previously. U it's trucks not being used. It's kind of a specialty truck. electric department would like to to cut this one loose and potentially budget for uh possibly use much stuff in the next budget year to something that's rated to lift the uh the heavier transformers that they're purchasing. So, this one's 27 years old. I'll make a motion to declare 1999 Ford F800 as surplus fee and allow staff to dispose of as state law allows.

Second. Any other discussion? All in favor? All right. Now, we're going to consider the selection of the winner of the city's website photo contest. And who will give us a motion? We got this one.

Oh, yeah. for a motion for anybody else. Okay, we've got a motion for entry four. Second. Second. All in favor? Oh, that's good. No

discussion and possible action and approving the first reading of ordinance to modify the city land passes code ordinance chapter 82 utilities article 3 sanitary sewer system division 4 building sewer adding section 82-216 sewer system maintenance

mayor and council We'll just give you a little history on this ordinance. It's the way it's written. Um customer responsibility for private sewer line is from the structure to the right of way or the property line, which is uh pretty typical in most scenarios. Um we're we revised the ordinance um to simply extend their responsibility to the public CMA. Uh staff's run into some numerous issues over the course of the last few years, but frankly with private sewer lines crossing other private property um customer responsibility, city responsibility and a case by case basis, uh general sewer line clearing in regards to homeowner responsibility with regard to uh things put down the sewer lines that shouldn't be put down the sewer lines and uh uh also isolated issues of new private sewer lines with lifting elevations to the public uh service. I move to approve the first reading of an ordinance to modify the city of Passes code of ordinances, chapter 82, utilities, article 3, sanitary sewer systems, division 4, building sewers, adding section 82, 216, sewer system, main.

Second. Any other discussion? All in favor? I

4.7 discussion possible action to approve the change order for the CD23-0267 otherwise known as a community development block grant CDG project in the amount of 29,447,000. Mayor and council, this is simply just a change order. The CDBG project, the the grant in itself doesn't cover the change orders. Uh engineering and staff has discovered a few things in the field that need to be remedied while contractors are on site. Um this is simply a change order to remedy those issues. I would like to point your attention to item number five, the addition of 24in culbert uh to the Spring Street crossing. That is to alleviate the issue that uh Mr. Atkins expressed during the last council meeting in the public comment. And this helps the stream.

Yes, ma'am. How how much is left in this capital outlay fund? We really haven't touched it. We we t council tabled the fifth street reconstruction project. So the maj the vast majority of those funds are still readily available on probably in excess or right around 300,000. We've joined a lot of concrete out there for the drainage to improve. Yes, ma'am. I make a motion to approve a change order in relation to the CDPG project for amount of $29,447. Any other discussion?

And there is none. All in favor? 4.8 discussion and possible action regarding the approval to declare a 2018 Chevrolet 1500 as a certif,000 for replacement.

Was this one already voted on last time too for replace or is this new? Now, this vehicle belonged to our building official and it was taken out of service prior to his resignation. It for lack of better terms was completely right now. No, it's not up for replacement in that position. Make a motion to declare 2018 allow staff to dispose of another question. Second question. I mean, so like rag I mean like I said I'm saving money here. So

rag engine my cost here is uh I have it written down here 9 9k to install engine that's installed for your warranty,000 mi. How much? I'm sorry. 9,000. I was the 12 to the $12,000 number came from a dealer. The $13,000 number came from a local mechanic shop. Yeah. LH does all the stuff with Jasper engines and I mess I got here. Uh but still is that is that more worth it than $50,000 truck? I'll be 100% honest with you. There's no telling what this truck endured other than that engine $75,000 save

$75,000 truck. 75,000 miles out. We're putting bandaids on here. I don't think so.

We got a We got a We got a motion and a second. Any any other questions? All in favor?

Any ns? Thank you. 4.9 discussion and possible action regarding the amended terms of development agreement by construction LLC developer and the city of Lancast city for consideration of a decrease lot and extension November 2021 agreement. Mayor and council, in 21, this agreement, what November of 21, this agreement was signed. The five-year agreement to build um 12 lots over off Badger Lane for expiration in November of 2026. The um developer has come to the city with a request to make lot seven and eight into one lot for total of 11 homes instead of 12. I think it will allow it's a little bit of an awkward shape, so it'll allow for a better building on that lot. They're asking um due to the current market for a 2-year extension to that agreement as well. So extending the agreement to November of 28 with 11 homes rather than 12. Can you scroll down, please?

Yes, sir. Make a motion to approve amending the terms of development agreement buying between construction LLC, the developer, and the city of L passes for consideration increase in lots extension of the November 2021 agreement. Second. Any discussion, questions? All in favor? I

city council of the city of Texas will meet and close executive session government code chapter 551 section 551.087 087 economic development to receive and evaluate financial information received from business to discuss same and or to deliberate regarding commercial or financial information that the city has received from business that the city seeks to have locate state or expand the city in which the city is conducting economic development negotiations and or to deliberate any offers of any finan financial and any other incentives to any business prospects described above. Sweet project, sweet dreams, heads. Section 551071 consultation with the city attorney to receive and or receive legal advice legal counsel for the city concerning pending contemplation settlement offers on matter in which the duty of legal counsel to the city council to advise the city gentleman body regarding such matters pursuant to the state law statutes including the Texas disciplinary rules of professional contact State Bar of Texas in compliance with Texas Open Meetings Act. And at this time, we'll get a motion to adjourn into executive session. No.

All in favor? All righty. We got uh one item coming out of the executive session tonight. I'm making a motion to approve economic development and chapter 380 agreement between the city of L passes and L passes hotel holdings LLC for various incentives to be provided for the construction of a hotel consisting of approximately 84 rooms.

Second. Any other discussion? All in favor? And we'll move to ajourn. Second. and go home.