City Council - Regular Meeting

Mhm.

Mhm.

Morning Mayor and Council. I uh on behalf of the men and women of the Beaumont Police Department want to thank y'all for the proclamation and for recognizing [clears throat] Police Memorial Week and Police Officers Memorial Day. Our annual memorial uh recognition event is actually Wednesday of next week at 9:00 a.m. so hopefully that's on your calendars. And it's in the front of the station as always. This week holds deep meaning for us in law enforcement. Remember that it isn't just sworn staff but the professional staff that we have day in day out who are dedicated to serving in community. This week's not adjust about recognition though, it's also about remembrance. It's a time to honor both those who gave their life in service into the family members and the friends they left behind. Every time an officer works out the door, the family understands the risk that comes with the profession. And public safety is strongest when law enforcement and the community stand together and I'm very thankful that we're blessed in Beaumont to have the support of both the council and the community. We'll never forget those we've lost and we'll continue to honor them through service to our community and thank you all for standing with us.

[clears throat and snorts]

Now we have a proclamation recognizing May 3rd through the 9th, 2026 as National Hurricane Preparedness Week and accepting will be our very own Mrs. Shequena Noble, City of Beaumont Emergency Management Coordinator. Picture man. You're not going to get off that easy. If you all scoot a little bit this way and get you centered a little bit more, right there. Perfect. Okay. One, two, three. Sorry. Perfect. Thank you.

Good morning, Mayor, Council. Try as I might, I was not as prepared to run away from the camera as I am um pushing preparedness for hurricane season. Um as you know, hurricanes is no stranger to this region and to this area being a coastal community. And so we like to take this time to kick off what is coming in hurricane um season to remind our citizens to get prepared and now is the time um to be able to do so. And there are so many different preparedness tips um that the citizens and ourselves can do. First and foremost is having that family plan, knowing what it is that you're going to do and where you're going to go in the um event that we do have to have um some type of response to a storm um that's threatening the area. So,

[clears throat] that is pretty much where we um stand there. In my office, we have Jillian Cassidy and Taylor Martin who works full-time in the office um and we diligently work throughout the season just to make sure that we're consistently pushing that message of being prepared and staying prepared for um hurricane season, okay? And I would like to thank you all for your continued support. I know our office could not do what we do without the um blessing and the support that we receive from you guys every year, every day. And so we just want to take this time also to say thank you for that. [clears throat]

Thank you. And now we have a proclamation recognizing the month of May as Rotary Club of Beaumont month. Accepting will not be Mrs. Christie Young of Christie Young Consultants. It is LaDonna, sorry about that. Did I get you? Nothing spilled. There you go. Good? How you doing?

[laughter]

We got you coming up a little bit too, Jackie. I thought you were playing with me. I should I'm not going to thank you, then. Maybe just a couple more when I come on this side. Maybe Freddy, yeah, if you want. Balance it a little bit. All right. Can everybody see me? Ready and 1 2 3. Okay. Thank you. Mayor and council, thank you for uh this proclamation. Uh we have several Rotarians here both from the Rotary Club of Beaumont and the Spindletop Rotary Club. As you can see, we have quite a bit of representation from city employees and uh the mayor as well is in our uh the Rotary Club of Beaumont. Uh so, we appreciate the city's support. Rotary first came to Beaumont in 1913 and has played a significant role in making this community a great place to live and work. Uh the Rotary Club of Beaumont and the Spindletop Rotary Club partnered the last couple of years to create the pollinator gardens out at Tyrrell Park. So if you haven't been out there to see that, make sure you take a go take a look and I think very soon we've raised money for signage for education about pollinators. It'll be coming up going being put out there soon as well. Not this week but next week if you want to attend the Rotary Club of Beaumont meeting on Wednesday at noon, we'll be honoring law enforcement including a bunch of recognition for the Beaumont Police Department. So if any of you would like to attend as a guest, please let any of us know and we'll be happy to host you. Thank you. Thank you.

AND NOW WE HAVE A PROCLAMATION recognizing May 3rd through the 9th, 2026 as National Travel and Tourism Week and accepting will be Ms. Freddie Willard, director of Beaumont Convention and Visitors Bureau as well as other wonderful staff and we're grateful for all of it. Yes ma'am. Good to see you. Here we go. All right, maybe if you want to come on this side, it will balance it out a little bit. Okay, perfect. Make sure I can see Councilman Duriso. Actually step this way a tiny bit right there. Yep. There we go. Okay. And I'll have to zoom in the background but I guess that's okay.

[laughter]

Okay, ready? 1 2 3. Thank you. I was going to say that. No, no, you will. Good morning. I wanted to say uh thank you for your continued support, Mayor West, city council members, executive staff. Today we have our um director of marketing here and she's going to say a few words on behalf of the Beaumont CVB. Good morning. I first like to say thank you to our mayor, our esteemed city council, and all the executive staff members who play a part in making these special ceremonies possible. My name is Desiree Pete. I'm the director of marketing for the Beaumont Convention and Visitors Bureau, also known as the CVB. Our CVB is staffed by 16 hard-working, dedicated employees whose sole mission is to promote Beaumont as a meeting and tourism destination. From Kenneth Jason out at Cattail Marsh giving tours to Rebecca to Rebecca at Tyrrell Park Nature Center providing programming and educational activities for our visitors and our littlest nature-ists to the main office staff who answer calls, take meetings, attend trainings, and create the vision of Beaumont that we want the world to see, become familiar with, and love as much as we do. We work hard, y'all. But all that hard work is for a reason. According to Governor Abbott's Travel Texas research dashboard, in 2025, Texas saw 9. I'm sorry, 98.7 billion dollars in direct spending. 98.7

billion with a B. That's up 1.2% over 2024. So travel and tourism is growing in Texas. That spending accounts for everything from accommodations, food, gas, retail, and entertainment. And Beaumont is right there in that growth. In 2025, Beaumont saw 409.3 million in direct spending, which is up 4.4% over 2024. Tax revenue of 35.5 million dollars, which is up 6.3% over 2024. And 11.3 million of that, or 31.8% of that tax revenue, came from local tax receipts. The data also shows that travel and tourism supported more than 3,100 local jobs and 88 million dollars in job earnings. So, Beaumont is growing. And the CVB staff is here to support and push that. We want new meeting and event business to come to Beaumont because Beaumont has something for everybody. One of our marketing campaigns is we're all that and some lagniappe. Lagniappe is a Cajun French word that means a little something extra. Just a the cherry on top, right? That extra can be found in everything from our amazing hospitality provided at hotels and restaurants, to the scenic views you didn't expect to get at our parks and green spaces, and the food that will make you go to a local boutique and buy stretchy pants because you overate on your visit.

[laughter]

You always get a little something extra in Beaumont, and that's why we're working so hard to grow Beaumont one meeting at a time. One event, one tournament, one conference. Thank you for the honor of this proclamation, and we hope you can join us at our National Travel and Tourism Week event, The Sound of Beaumont, this Friday, May 8th, at For the Record, 999 Calder Avenue, at 6:00 p.m. We're [clears throat] showcasing live music and all the sounds that are happening around us that help to make Beaumont a premier travel and tourist destination. We hope to see you there. And as a token of our appreciation from the CVB and for the support of our mission, all of the executive staff and the council members will receive a little lagniappe after the meeting. Thank you. All right. Now we have a proclamation recognizing May 22nd as the 2026 National Maritime Day. Accepting will be Mr. Alvin Moberly, executive director of the Seafarers Center of Beaumont. Are And do we have somebody accepting on his behalf? I don't see him. All right. We'll just move along. Share that with him later. And lastly, we have a proclamation recognizing May 3rd through the 9th, 2026 as Public Service Recognition Week. Accepting will be a Miss Jackie Gunner, City of Beaumont Human Resources Manager. Oh, here you go.

What's up, man? All right. Hello. Hello. Nice to see you. Hello. Good morning. Okay. Good morning, lady. And I look okay. We got some This is the first one I ever had. Big step. Take a big step this way. A little bit more. Okay. They've been missing me. Okay, ready and 1 2 3. I had somebody ask me, they said, "Why you don't be in the proclamation pictures?" Good morning, Mayor and Council. On behalf of the employees of the City of Beaumont, I would like to thank you for your recognition of National Public Service Week. Public Service Recognition Week honors federal, state, county, and municipal government employees. This year our committee, which consists of representation across the multiple city functions, we have Crystal Garza from engineering, Rosetta Mahayag from IT, Francis Thompson, Communications, Lindsey Gilbreath, Community Development and Planning, Jennifer Payton, Events, Taryn Rackersfeld from Legal, Sarah Hall from the Library, Latasha Thaines from the CVB, and Larissa Ali from a um from Recreation. This year our team is girl power. So, um but we are so grateful for this opportunity because it allows us to honor our employees in the field, in field, in the offices as the City of Beaumont does employ the best of the best in their respective fields. So, this year we have tons of events planned. It kicked off yesterday with thanks a whole lot where

we started off delivering donuts at 7:00 a.m. to all city departments. So, that was a fun day. Um and we'll culminate the week with snow cones and a fun day over at the um at the Civic Center. And so, we're so grateful for this. Uh we're so grateful for our management to allow us to continue to do this because one of my bragging points when I'm around other municipal employees from other cities is that the great things that the city of Beaumont allows us to do. And they're like, "We don't do that." I'm sorry. Come to Beaumont. So we're so ever grateful for the constant support and allowing us to do this as well as your support coming to support the employees as well. Thank you. SO I DON'T HAVE ANY MORE PROCLAMATIONS. UH we are going to move into public comments. Now's the time for any citizen who wishes to speak. You may make public comments on the executive session item. Uh or any other item. Your uh city clerk will call your name when it's your time to speak. When you approach the podium, uh say your address, city, and state if it has not already been stated. You will have 3 minutes for public comments. The green light will come on when you approach the podium and the red light will come on when your time is up. Do we have anybody signed up?

No, sir, we do not. All right. The next proclamation and recognition presentation will be here. Well, then come on. Come on down. Come on down. Sorry. You're the next contestant. [laughter]

Okay, sure. Good morning. [snorts] My apologies for not being here early enough to be able to sign up. Okay. My name is Monty Morgan. I am a resident of Beaumont, live at 960 Goodhue Road. Uh I have lived in Beaumont myself since 1975. Um but I have a long history with Beaumont because my father was born here. My grandparents, maternal grandparents, lived here uh into the uh early uh 1900s. So I a connection to Beaumont. Uh and I do so because I've made a choice to live here. Uh [snorts] and uh I think it's important that I be able to express my concerns about what's happening in our community because, as I know from my own experience, young people are choosing not to live here. I have done everything in my power to get my 40-year-old son, uh daughter-in-law, and grandchildren back in Beaumont. But I can't do it because we don't offer enough for them. So, I'm here this morning to uh to advocate uh on my own behalf. I'm also here in uh as a part of a uh a campaign that you may be aware of it concerning tax abatements. And that is to bring this to the attention of the community the impact that tax abatements are having on our community. And it's my understanding, if I can read all the legalese, that that's something you're going to be talking about this morning is economic development. Tax abatements are a part of that. Uh I I'm making the presumption that you have heard from other people about tax abatements. So, you probably know the talking points, which is tax abatements means less money for schools and services, roads and drainage, emergency services, libraries and community services.

And that uh it it increases the community cost for uh class sizes and education, underfunded hospitals, slower emergency response, fewer public resources, safety and uh uh health needs, pollution, infrastructure strain, um and one of the things that really really affects us and in our everyday life is that we do community develop I mean we do economic development in order to provide back to the community that the community has an investment in that. But our tax abatements don't seem to provide those benefits. It seems to provide the benefits to the receive recipients of the tax abatements. And I think it's very important for us to consider that at point in time we need to look at that. We need to look at the impact that it's having on our community. You you can't make a good statement in in nowadays unless you draw it to your your religious faith. Is that the end? Yeah. [snorts] All right. But anyway, we hope you'll you'll consider our concern with what's going on. Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else sign up? All right, at this point we will now recess into executive session and we will be coming back at 1:30.