City Council - Regular Meeting

Okay. Good evening. The workshop council meeting for the city of Coppers Cove, Texas, held February 3rd, 2026 called to order 5:45 p.m. Madam Secretary, please call the role. Mayor Yansy here. Christina Strous here. Rita Hogan here. Howard Hawk here. John Hail here. Dell Treadway here. Vana Hart here. Jack Smith here. All right. Full house tonight. We go to item C. Announcements. M. Stro. None for me, Mr. Mayor. None for me, sir. No, Mr. Mayor.

Ryan. Just a uh big thank you to mayor and council for your support uh in all the efforts that go into our team providing services to our residents especially during this past winter storm uh which which happened mostly without any major incidents. Thank you. It's good to hear. I have nothing nothing sir. Thank you. Nothing, Mr. Mayor.

Yes. I would like everyone to join me for celebrating Black History Month. our mayor will be presenting the proclamation at our next meeting and I know that the school district is having some um events that are happening and the library um typically has a display out as well. So hopefully we'll see a lot of community members um and residents here for next meeting. Thank you. No announcements. All right, we'll move to item D, public recognition.

Item one, proclamation optimist day. hair. City of Copper Cove Proclamation. Whereas volunteers working with young people who are our joy of today and are are hope for tomorrow are exubant exuberant res. Let me just start this all over. proclamation. Whereas volunteers working with young people who are our joy of today and our hope for tomorrow are exuberant representatives of the potential to be reached and dreams to come true. They are also unbounded in their enthusiasm to use their own talent, skills, and hard work to make a difference in other people's lives. Whereas members of the Optimus International will celebrate Optimus Day throughout the world, the first Thursday of every February to promote their efforts in helping and recognizing the young people that make a difference in their communities and who will encourage a greater exchange of ideas between young people and adults. And whereas there are 2,000 Optimus clubs with more than 40,000 members throughout the world that carry out more than 6,500 service projects that serve 6 million people a year. Now therefore, I Danny Yansy, mayor of city of Coppers Cove, do hereby proclaim the first Thursday in February as Optimus Day in the city of Coppers Cove. May this day instill pride in our city's optimists for all their accomplishments and for the impact they have to truly make a difference in others lives. [applause]

[laughter]

Mr. Mayor, city manager, council, thank you very much for declaring uh optimist day and uh our organization is actually is international established in 1919 and St. Louis and like I said back up in international Canada and the outlying uh little small islands have also almost as many members as we have in the United States. Our club here in Cove probably the youngest one. We celebrated our 20 years last September. We are small club but uh we try to make a a difference here. We give out about $10,000 every year supporting the hospital. We give out two $1,000 scholarship for graduating [clears throat] student. We g support uh families with sick children. And the newest program what we going to have is they realized that uh healthy children they need some help too. so they stay healthy. So we're going to start, you know, with the that one of the biggest thing is right now is a golf program that's going on for a long time. Uh we have qualification for that and the winners to go up to uh uh Florida and play up there. Die Woods was one of the winners up there in youngest day. So again I thank you very much for city let us uh uh tell us our story. Thank [applause]

There are no workshop items for tonight. So the time is 5:51. We stand adjourned. Regular meeting will begin at 6 o'clock. [laughter]

MC

Good evening. The regular council meeting for the city of Coppers Cove, Texas, held February 3rd, 2026, is called to order at 6:01 p.m. Please stand for the invocation by Miss Hart followed by the pledge of allegiance. Please bow with me in prayer. Dear heavenly father, just thank you. We we want to thank you for this beautiful day today and thank you for bringing us through the storm last week. We pray that all of families are seen uh peaceful at peace and um safe. Watch and guide our dis decisions that are made on the council. Watch our conversations and thank you for your blessings and your mercy every day. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Amen. Please join me our nation's flagg to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all and to the flag to the Texas one state. Please be seated. Madam Secretary, please call the role. Mayor Yansy here. [clears throat] Christina Strous here. Rita Hogan

here. Howard Hawk here. John Hail here. Dale Treadway here. Vana Hart here. Jack Smith here. All right. We go to item D. Announcements. None for me, Mr. Mayor. None for me, sir. None. Mr. Mayor, mayor, mayor and council, I just want to thank you for your support of uh our team members and uh the budgets that you approved because that is uh that leads to the services that we can provide to our residents, especially during the winter storm that we just had and uh we we came through that with uh no major issues. So, thank you. Okay. I have nothing, sir. Thank you. Nothing, Mr. Mayor.

Yes. Um, please join me in celebrating Black History Month for the throughout the month of February. Uh, the city just school district will be having activities and I know at our library as well, the mayor will be signing a proclamation for Black History Month um February 17th at our next meeting. Thank you. No announcements.

All right. Thank you. We go to item E, citizens forum. At this time, citizens will be allowed to speak for a length of time not to exceed five minutes per person on any item which is listed on the agenda and items not listed on the agenda. 30 minutes total has been allotted for this section. Pursuant to section 551.042 of the Texas Open Meetings Act, any deliberation or decision about the subject of inquiry, which is not listed on the agenda, shall be limited to a proposal to place the subject on the agenda for a subsequent meeting. All right. Is anyone here to speak during citizens forum? Anyone to speak during citizens forum?

All right, we will close that and move to item F, consent agenda. All matters listed under this item are considered to be routine by the city council and will be enacted by one motion. There will not be separate discussion of these items. If discussion is desired, that item will be removed from the consent agenda and considered separately. Item one, consideration and action on approval of city council workshop meeting minutes for January 20th, 2026. Lisa Wilson, city secretary. Item two, consideration and action on approval of city council regular meeting minutes for January 20th, 2026. Lisa Wilson, city secretary.

All right, council. Is there any item you wish to pull and consider separately? If not, is there a motion to approve? Mr. May I make a motion that we approve consent agenda item F1 through F2. Second. Motion made by Mr. Hog, second by Miss Hogan. All those in favor say I. I.

Any oppose. Motion carries. We move on to item G, public hearings and action. A governmental body shall allow each member of the public who desires to address the body regarding an item on an agenda for an open meeting of the body to address the body regarding the item at the meeting before or during the body's consideration of the item. Item one, the first of two public hearings to consider the Big Divide Investments LLC volunteer annexation request represented by Josh Welch of Welch Development consisting of a 36.55 acre track of land part of the J. Blakeley survey abstract number 1477 and J. Dunore survey abstract number 1647 generally located along the east side of Big Divide Road and north of Clayton Ranch phase 2 in the extr territorial jurisdiction of the city of Coppers Cove Lasses County, Texas. Bobby Lewis, development services director.

All right, the time is 606. We'll open the public hearing. Mayor Council on um Mayor Council on January 7th, 2026, staff received a voluntary annexation request from Big Divide Investments LLC, represented by Josh Wells of Welsh Development. This is the first of two public hearings required by the Texas Local Government Code to receive comments regarding the annexation request. The second public hearing is scheduled for se uh February 17, 2026. City Council is required to open the first public hearing and receive any public comments. With that, staff recommends City Council open the public hearing and receive any public comments. After closing the first public hearing, no action is to be taken.

All right, councelor. Are there any questions for Mr. Lewis? Anybody from the audience wish to speak on this public hearing matter? You know what? Come up and defend yourself, John. [laughter]

Thanks for that. Hi, uh Josh Welch. Um I'm the applicant here on the on the request. Um as you've probably seen in the packet, some of the items. This is a a piece of a much larger tract. There's a whole there's the whole tracks 340 acres. And for whatever reason, this as we were going through and talking through, you know, how to you know, different how to develop the property and what we're going to do with it and how to put a plan together. We come to realize that this piece was not annexed into the city yet. Everything else around it has been. Um, so I think this more of a house cleaning item more than anything else to go ahead and get this piece annexed and then uh we'll be bringing back um some zoning considerations here to P&Z and council her way to the spring. Be happy to answer any questions y'all have.

You have any questions for Josh? Okay. Thank you. You have any other comments, Bobby? Okay. The time is Anybody else? Excuse me. Anybody else wish to speak on this matter? All right. The time is 6:08. We will close the public hearing. This is the first of two public hearings. There's no action to be taken at this time. Right. We move on to item H. Action items. Item one, presentation and acceptance of the fiscal year 2025 annual comprehensive financial report. Velia Key, director of financial services.

Thank you, Miss Lisa. Mr. Mayor, city council, Mr. Havla. Um, I am happy to report that the audit has been completed. I would like to present Mr. Tat Puit. He is the partner in charge of the engagement and he is going to go over the results of the audit.

Thank you. But first of all, I'd like to thank uh the city for giving us the opportunity to perform the audit this year. And I'd like to thank uh the audit committee uh for their efforts. Last week, I met with the audit committee. I believe on Thursday we discussed the results of the audit in detail and I appreciate their time and efforts in that regards. And I'd also like to thank uh Velia and all of her staff uh that assisted us during the course of the audit. They really did a fantastic job of giving us the information uh that we needed in order to complete the audit in a timely manner. I know uh if you're like most people, you hear the word audit and the first thing that pops into your mind is, "Well, that sounds like fun. and I bet they had a good time. And while you're not wrong, uh there's also quite a bit of work that goes into the preparation of this report. You can see the city's annual comprehensive financial report has over 120 pages of information and that has to be assembled uh at a time when we're asking for a lot of documentation and a lot of questions and explanations and uh they really did a fantastic job. Uh the results of our audit are contained in three separate audit reports that I'd like to go over and then if anyone has any questions, I'd be happy to answer those. You may recall we were engaged to perform the city's financial statement audit. In addition to that, uh any local government in the country that spends over $1 million, this year the threshold is $1 million. Previously, it was $750,000 of federal grants in a fiscal year that triggers what's called a single audit. And in a single audit, you have in addition to your financial statement audit, you've got a compliance audit of your federal grant awards programs. The city did hit that threshold for this year. Similarly, there is a a state single audit, the same threshold, a

million dollars. The city did not hit the state single audit threshold this year. So, we had a financial statement audit and an audit of the city's federal grant awards programs. The independent auditor's report on the financial statements you'll find in the annual comprehensive financial report on page one of the financial section. That section follows the introductory section which is numbered with Roman numerals. And what this report basically says is that the preparation of these financial statements is the responsibility of the city. We can assist uh with the preparation of these financial statements and we do as as long as certain safeguards are put into place, but ultimately it's the city's responsibility to prepare the financial statements and it's your auditor's responsibility to express an opinion on the financial statements. You'll find our opinion there in the second paragraph on page one. I'm happy to report we've issued what's called an unmodified opinion. You'll often hear it referred to as a clean opinion and it's the highest form of opinion that you can receive. And all it really means to you as a user of these financial statements is that the financial statements have been audited by our firm and in our opinion they're free of any material misstatements and they're also presented fairly in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. You will also note in the very last paragraph on page three that our audit was performed in accordance with government auditing standards. Those standards require your auditor to do a number of things that go beyond just generally accepted auditing standards. One of which is to report on your internal controls and compliance. And you will find that report on page one of your separately issued single audit report.

And you'll see that this report uh split up into two sections. The first section on page one deals with internal controls over the financial reporting process. And what we're really talking about here, these are all of the policies and procedures that you have in place uh in order to ultimately prepare these financial statements. Your auditor in order to plan and perform their audit has to first gain an understanding of those internal controls. We do that so we can perform a risk assessment and we can tailor our audit procedures towards areas where we believe there might be more audit risk involved. If during that process we identify any deficiencies in those controls either in the way they're designed or the way they're operating uh that we think are significant were required to report them in this report. And as you could see there on page one there were no significant deficiencies and internal controls that were identified during the course of the audit. The second part of this report on page two deals with compliance. And here we're talking about compliance with laws, contracts, grants, and regulations. It's any type of non-compliance that we uh believe if we were to identify it could have a material impact on your financial statements. And as you can see in the very last sentence in the first paragraph, the results of our test disclos no instances of non-compliance with those standards. The third and final auditor's report that we've issued starts on page three and it is uh the report that contains the results of the audit over your federal grant awards. If you were to turn to page six, you would see a schedule called the schedule

of expenditures of federal awards. And you can see the city spent uh just under 11.4 million uh this year during the fiscal year of federal grant awards. Now, the way the single audit uh process works, your auditor doesn't test every program every year. We perform a risk assessment and we select certain programs for testing. Obviously, the selection was very easy. This year, we selected the defense community infrastructure program that was $10.3 million of the 11.3 million total. So, for that particular program, this report requires us to first express an opinion on the city's compliance with that program. And the federal government outlies uh outlines certain compliance requirements that we have to test for each program. Usually there are things like allowability um reporting. Uh often you have to have certain reports you have to file. We make sure that you file those timely and accurately. You might have a matching requirement. Uh if you pass money through to a subreient, you have some some monitoring responsibilities. There's up to 13 different compliance requirements that we might have to test. And I'm happy to report uh that we've issued an unmodified opinion. Again, that's often called a clean opinion. And what it really means that is that in our opinion, the city did comply in all material respects with the requirements of that program. The final part of this report there at the bottom half of page four deals again with internal controls. But here we're instead of talking about your internal controls over the financial reporting process, we're talking about your policies and procedures that you have in place in order to comply with that particular federal program. uh if we were to have identified any

deficiencies either in the design or operation of those internal controls, they would be listed in this report. And I'm happy to report that there were no significant deficiencies identified during the audit of your federal awards grant program. So to summarize, uh you've got uh really what you're hoping for as a member of the governing body. You've got a clean opinion on your financial statements. You've got a clean opinion on complying with your federal grant program that was tested. There were no significant deficiencies identified either in your internal controls over preparing your financial statements or complying with that uh particular federal program and there were also no instances of non-compliance uh that need to be reported under government auditing standards. So, I congratulate uh the city on the clean results of the audit and if anyone has any questions about the financial statements or the audit itself, I'd be happy to answer those.

Council, you have any questions for Todd? Right.

Thank you, Mayor. I just want to say uh in terms of the grant, the $10.3 million, this is a DEP defense community infrastructure grant. That is the grant that provided funding for the ramps on State Highway 9 to Tank Destroyer and off of Old Georgetown Road. Um, and uh I I just want to say uh thank you Todd for you and your firm's support to get through the audit. Um but also recognize mayor and council uh the our financial uh services team uh which is led by Valia Key our director um but her entire team well less one [laughter] is actually out here in the audience uh with Stephanie Bana and Cynthia. Thank you all uh for supporting our community.

Anybody else? Uh I was in the audit committee during that day and when I see number I cringe and I echo and said I rather do something else than do what you do but I appreciate you very and your staff for a great job. Great job. Great job.

Council, is there action be taken on this item? Mr. Mayor, I make a motion that we approve item H1, uh, the annual fiscal year 2025 comprehensive financial report. Second motion made by Mr. Hawk, second by Mr. Hail. No. Oh, Treadway. Treadway. Well, you moved your hand, so I kind of out the corner of my eye. All right. Any other questions hearing? None. All those in favor say I. I.

Any oppose? The motion carries. Thank you, Todd. Thank you so much. Thank you. We move on to item H2. Consideration and action on authorizing the city manager to execute an interlocal agreement with the Hill Country Transit District for public transit services. Ryan Haval, city manager.

Thank you, Mrs. Wilson. Mayor and Council, this is an annual agreement. It's an interlocal agreement with Hill Country Transit District because the Hill Country Transit District is considered a governmental entity. Um this the agreement simply details what services they will provide to our community uh for transit services which is the hop or bus services. Um and just as a reminder uh we are now doing microtransit services except for the connector route between Coppers Cove and Colleen and Harker Heights. Um and the cost in this agreement is 85,000 which is what city council included in the budget. Uh which is a reduced amount from their initial proposal to the city. Uh and um staff's recommendation is approval of the end local agreement.

Council any questions for Ryan? Mr. Mayor. Yes. It's not a question, but it's just uh I just want to push the idea that everybody needs to download the HOP app. I know they're going to be they're looking at changing their name in the future, but it's a great way to get around town and it's it's inexpensive and it it works kind of like an Uber. You can order a ride. They'll come basically door to door to pick you up and take you where you need to go.

Bless you. So, anybody that needs a ride in Copper Cove, make sure you download the HOP app and use it. It's a great service. That app with whatever comes next will all be linked together, so it'll still work. And I I do want to make the comment that a lot of where we are on this particular situation is because of uh council action and question hard questions for Hill Country Transit uh several years ago. And u uh the bottom line of the deal is we gotten better service for a reduced price. And I think that's significant and I would encourage anybody that needs transportation. Uh it's it's to your door so it you can't you can't beat it. Right. Any other

I would like to also add um a reduced price with an increase of geographic um area too. They increased the geographic area as well. I think they're looking we did well. I think they're looking at that, aren't they? Uh they this year they actually did already increase the geographic service area within Coppers Cove. Uh we we continue to have conversations with them because we are not 100% covered in transit services for the entire city. Uh and that will continue to be a

involved dialogue with the transit district and it's all comes down to cost. All right. Is there a motion on this, Mr. Mayor? Yes. I make a motion that city council authorize the city manager to exe execute the interlocal agreement with the Hill Country Transit District. Second. Motion by Miss Hart, second by Mr. Hail Treadway. [laughter] Maybe it's just because I want Mr. Hail to make I don't know. All right, Mr. Treadway, did you get that, Lisa?

Yes, sir. Okay. [laughter] My apologies. Any other discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor say I. I. Any oppose? Motion carries. We move to item H3. discussion and direction on the general legislative policy of the city of Coppers Cove and potential interim charges of the state legislature. Ryan Havl, city manager.

Thank you, Mrs. Wilson. Mayor and Council, you all received an email from Senator Flores's office with the Texas legislature asking for topics to be proposed as potential interim charges that are uh shared or issued by the lieutenant governor. So, quick explanation on that. the Texas legislature meets every odd year. Um, and that's the only time they meet. So, they don't meet during even years. And we're in 2026. It's an even year. And so, uh, during the even years, this is when they do, uh, interim committee hearings and studies. And those interim studies are issued by the lieutenant governor for the senate and by the speaker of the house for the house. Senator Flores uh does represent Coppers Cove in our area and region. And so instead of uh city council each individually submitting topics to Senator Flores, it seems wise to have a discussion as a body u and make a unified recommendation uh to Senator Flores's office. Uh just a little bit of recap uh that's already included in the agenda item. um these interim topics generally lead to significant or major legislation in the next legislative session. Uh and so it's important one to be engaged during the interim period. Uh and I think uh we saw some of that actually apply to copper scope. While it didn't pass, it's the 100% disabled veterans exemption reimbursement. Uh it did not pass during this past legislative session. uh but I

was invited to come and provide testimony during the interim period in 2024 and during 2025 uh we actually had some pretty significant dialogue uh with certain legislators that have quite a bit of uh influence and control within the legislature. Uh again, we didn't cross the finish line with getting a more significant reimbursement. uh by any means. In fact, it went the opposite direction. We we ended up losing more uh of that reimbursement with the expansion of eligibility for the reimbursement. Uh but I would suggest that uh the general legis legislative policy that council has already approved which is attached to the agenda item has uh a number of specific topics in there. Uh, and if city council wanted to provide recommendations to Senator Flores's office, of course, I would recommend uh the reimbursement for the 100% disabled vet uh veterans exemption uh be one of those topics. Um I would also suggest uh while I don't have great faith that it would be taken is to study the impact of annexation uh current annexation laws on local services provided to residents and into the future and how that will impact our state particularly uh the the residents that live in local governments that receive the significant or uh the the greatest amount of services from those local cities. And so we're already experiencing some of those struggles. Uh and our neighbors are experiencing that as well. Uh and they've been experiencing that for years as well. So I I just want to open it up, mayor, and

whatever uh you and the council direct me to, I will draft that up. And uh I think the the direction should be that the mayor sign a letter uh with those topics to Senator Fors's office. Um, and I think that's the direction council should give. [clears throat]

Questions we talked about [snorts] specific legislation supports obviously disabled property tax exemption is what I would consider. There are several items. Creation of Central Texas Water Authority, continuation of economic development programs, restoration. Well, talking about the U local authority to manage city evolum tax rates and provide mental health resources to complement uh public safety services. Is there any other topic that you wish to have Ryan include,

Mr. Mayor? Yes. Um there is um one I was um actually looking at um there is an emphasis on mental health um and I've noticed that um here and also on the state level and in regards to a public safety services um I was looking at [clears throat] it more towards like a quality of life initiative if that could be something we can include um for how it's beneficial for it is of benefit for mental health as well. So, not only seeing it as public safety, but also as a quality of life. Okay. You expand that just a little bit. Yeah. Okay. All right. Any anyone else?

Okay. All right. You have any other comments, Ryan? Uh, no, sir. Okay. All right. Uh, so we have direction given direction to Ryan. Uh, before I close it, anything else to add? Anybody? Okay. All right. We will close that item. Uh, there are no reports from staff, outside entities, advisory committees, and boards. Items for future agendas. Nothing from me, Mr. Mayor. Okay. Nothing sir. Howard? No, Mr. Mayor.

I have nothing sir. Nothing Mr. Mayor. Nothing sir. Nothing. Okay. There is no executive session for tonight. So the time is 6:31. We stand adjourned.