City Council - Regular Meeting

Street.

Okay. And this this is Mr. James Hall. I know Mr. Hall. Yes, he does. Yes. Okay. So, that was his Yeah. This man right here. That was his dad. Well, okay. I know the family. Yeah. Okay. Okay. I had Yeah. That was just what he It was so quiet we couldn't hear. He needed a microphone.

Yeah. Good evening everyone. We're at this time we're open our council meeting. If you're not sure where you are, this is the city council Monday, May 20 May 11th, 2026 and it's 6 o' you are meeting and an invitation. Go ahead. Oh no. Oh no. Dear Father Neville, we thank you. We thank you for the opportunity to come together to be able to

just have the privilege of discussing the city business and making them and we ask that you give us the guidance and understanding to be able to make the right decision. We thank you for all of those who have so faithfully served on this council and have done so much to ensure that the what the people like is being reflected. And Lord, we ask that you continue to show us mercy, show us love, and forgive us for our sins. And we'll just be careful to give you the praise and the glory in Jesus name. Amen. Amen.

At this time, I pledge to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay, this all of you have your agenda before you. Um we would like to recognize and thank all of you for joining us today as it's an exciting day for all of us. Uh so thank you so much. Uh just a reminder on the public comments from the audience. At this time members of the public will be allowed to speak on city related matters only. No personnel matters or matters under litigation will be allowed. The length of time may not exceed three minutes. A coun city council members shall not speak under this item in accordance with the Texas Open Meeting Act. The council may not deliberate or take actions on matters except as properly posted in accordance with law. So with that being said, it brings us to our items of business. Item number one, canvas election vote.

Comments. Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot about it. We did have one. Where is it? Okay. It's not open. It's in the public comments there that you read. Oh, it wasn't. Oh, it was one and I hid it from myself. Cat, I I guess I picked it up and filed it with the press. Can't get rid of me that easy.

Uh, to mayor and city council and city manager, most of you know I'm Cat Cross. The only reason I'm I know you can't respond to me here, but um the city charter has been an ongoing issue. You had a lot of people who were extremely interested in getting this city together, and we still are, but the city charter has taken a very long time. We don't know where it is exactly. I mean, what phase are we in? Are we almost done? Are we not done? Are we close? Or is I don't know if there's a way to get the message out to people, but you do have people out here who are really interested in getting that city charter finished. So, um, or if you need help, holler at us. We're all out here waiting. Okay. All right. Thank y'all.

Thank you. Now, I don't think I hear anybody else's comments, right? I'm good. Okay. At this time, now we're up to item number one, the canvas of election return. I have the envelope. I don't know if you get a drum roll or anything, but I'm officially opening it. Just look at it. Pass it down.

And pass it down. the initial summary that was included in y'all's packets, which is in y'all's packets, the second page, and the one that's in the uh summary that was brought in by the uh elections administrator has been updated. So, the one you're reviewing now is the updated canvas.

This is amazing. accept their pleasure.

Okay. Uh council, you've all had an opportunity to review it. Uh what is your pleasure? I move that we approve the canvas of the election returns. All in favor? A second. Oh, I'm I'm sorry. Second. I'm sorry. Excuse me. I second.

Okay. Ready for a vote. All in favor? Oppose. Motion carries. At this time we have now officially canvased the election and been received. And it brings us to item number two and administration administer of oath of office to council members. We don't have any slow music to walk by. We need some music.

We need some music to walk by. Okay. I'll begin by doing the oath of office for members precinct 3, four and five and we will start with I guess

precinct 3 M if you don't mind coming down. Wait a minute. What do you mean?

The office. That's it. All right. Okay. If you will go ahead and raise your right hand and after I say I can start repeating after me. Okay. In the name of by the authority of the state of Texas, I Natrina Hicks I, Natrina Hicks, do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute that I will faithfully execute the duties of the office of

the duties of the office of council member precinct free council member precinct 3 of the state of Texas of the state of Texas and will to the best of my ability and will to the best of my ability preserve protect and defend preserve protect and defend the constitution and laws the constitution and laws of the United States of the United States and of this state and of this state. So help me God. So help me God.

You will come over here and sign this please. Signature officer Go ahead if you will. The mayor, if you Remember that Texas one in the name and the name and by the authority of the city of property Texas. This is to certify that at a general election held on 206 was duly elected council member precinct number three city of as I appear to sign my name to cause the great seal of the city of be at the city of this 11th day of May 2026.

Okay, next we will have Mr. Roy Simon precinct 4 if you will start repeating after Roy Simon. Okay, please raise your right hand in the name and by the authority of the state of Texas. I Roy Simon I Roy Simon do solemnly swear doly that I will faithfully execute faithfully exeute the duties of the office of duty of the office of council member precinct for council member precinct for of the state of Texas state of Texas and will to the best of my ability will to the best of my ability preserve protect and defend protect the constitution

and laws

of the United States of If you will come up here and sign this please for me officer. In the name of the city of Texas, this is the certified general election held on May 2nd, 2026. Council member precinct number four, city of testimony where I appear to sign my name to cause the great civil 11th day of May 2026. Come on.

All right. Next up will be Mr. Hudson.

Mr. Mr. Dur, go ahead and repeat after me. I Hudson Durham in the name and by the authority of the state of Texas. I, Hudson, I, Hudson Durham, do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute that I will faithfully execute the duties of the office of the duties the duties of the office of of the office of council member precinct 5 council member precinct 5 of the state of Texas of the state of Texas and will to the best of my ability and will to the best of my ability preserve protect and defend preserve protect and defend the Constitution the Constitution the laws and laws of the United States of the United States

and of this state So help me God. So help me God, sir. In the name of the city of Texas, this is a jurisdiction held on May 2026. was duly elected council member city of testimony where I appear to sign my name because the great the city of the 11th day of May 2026 congratulations. Thank you very much.

All right, mayor. Next, we have a council member that we're going to present something to him. Mr. Marsh, if you don't mind for us. I want to present this plaque to you on behalf of the city of Crockett for your service from 2014 through present. That's 12 years of dedication. And so this reads presented to Mike Martown for your hard work, dedication and leadership shown with the city of Crockett to the staff and citizens of precinct 5. This plaque is presented with deepest appreciation. And then we also have a challenge going on the city. This is I just want to say thank you. It's been a pleasure 12 years trying to help this city. Thank you so much.

Thank you for break. Okay, we're going to return here. Everyone, we're going to take just a small break. We have cake, we got a cupcakes, um, punch, and some cookies, and we'll take just a small break for a few minutes to allow council members to step down, new council members to swap out seats and plies. All right.

This your opportunity to change seats and stay in your seat. You know, people when you get a new council meeting, you're not changing seats. If you wanted to change seats, this your opportunity sitting next to you get a chance to change them before they make a difference. to move around. Yeah. Yeah.

By default. Do what? No, you don't.

Just let it slide. Hello. Everything I can't Some of you are citizens of

Don't get You want something?

I say wash your legs. Yeah. Yes, sir. Hallelujah.

turn. I think that's supposed to Welcome. When you get tired, everything John

tell

smoothie place. I said I said just speak Ariana. I didn't see that. That's my daughter-in-law. That's Christian's wife. I thought you said your daughter. I said you when you get a don't you know I was I was at the wedge walking behind her tried to hold a dress so she wouldn't f that part's over John John that young lady right there in the in the sweater she has a question for you yeah but and I have a question

yes I did I put that using your connections as you Hey, I don't know where that came from, but whatever it is, I must have made a copy. All right. Uh, we will be calling to order in a few minutes. couple of minutes. Let's get this show back on the road. I can play all night. I got this to go.

So, don't copy that head to be old. That wasn't part of that new set. I said, "No, it was wrinkled." I said, "That's my computer has been changed since I ran that I thought I was looking at the wrong date. I'm looking at a March one and I'm It was in the in here. I said, "No, that was it. You ready?" Oh, no. Oh, I counled. Praise him. We're good. Huh? He's not here. Oh, he's not here. He's not here. Yeah. Oh, he went She say I thought he went there.

Yeah. Rain as I can ever be, I guess. I told you not you probably remember my brother Kyle was my brother okay

yes I'm the younger better looking smarter one that Kyle I knew that's who I knew I knew I was trying to wear okay our meeting is now in session did You think there was something else? Now you move over. I use this over where I get poked. Okay, that brings us to um item number three. Okay,

item number three. And once again, even before we start, it's so exciting to have a full row once again. Uh item number three, consider and approve award of sealed bids for approximately 14 feet by 65 feet mobile home.

Mayor and council, this is a mobile home that council declared a surplus a few weeks ago. Uh we posted the um the seal bids in the in the newspaper. We had a few people looking at it, but we um only received one seal bid of someone that was wanting to purchase it. And as you as we mentioned then, um this requires completely cleaning up the site, hauling all the the pertinances to the mobile home and and and hauling it off of our property. And the the one seal bid that we received, and I got all the copies in there, is uh Carlos Harris.

Oh. Yes, I do. You just pass if anybody wants to see the seal bid the envelope of the bid.

Oh, there it is. And we received this. The seal bid is for It's open.

It's open. It's for $300 for the mobile home plus hauling it off. That's pretty good. because he gonna do about several hundred worth of I mean clean that's a good for somebody to do something Do we accept it?

Okay. At this point. Okay. Has everyone had an opportunity? I said at this time we ask what is the pledge of the council? I make a motion that we accept the seal bid.

A second. Okay. It's been moved and second. Ready for the vote? All in favor? Motion carries. Okay. Brings us to item number four. Consider and approve appointment of member to library advisory board. Mayor and council, I have on your page four of your agenda um a copy of the um current membership of the library advisory board and uh member Ashley Young has uh has stepped down and the board uh brought a recommendation uh for Miss Melanie Hooks to replace Miss Ashley Young for the remainder of her term. Okay,

I move that we move that we approve Miss Melanie Hooks. A second. Okay, it's been moved and second. All in favor? Motion carries. Miss Melanie Hooks. Welcome to the Crockett Public Library Advisory Board. You've been appointed for three years. Okay, it brings us hope my Okay, at this time uh item number five, consider and approve appointment of alternate board member to the building and standards commission.

Mayor and council, um we currently have five board members. We had two board members um that stepped down, but they were replaced with the alternate board members. that left us with no alternate board members. We uh we request that we continue to have several alternate board members.

Um due to in order to take any action through the uh building and standards commission, uh a quorum is actually four members of the five. So when an action is taken, it requires public postings and notices to go out, legal notices to go out um several day several weeks in advance. So it's it's really hard to reschedule one and it's very costly. So in order if if one of the board members for some reason can't attend after uh initially committing to it, we call an alternate board member to make sure we have at least five active members there to uh oversee the board building and standards commission. The Building and Standards Commission just shortly is a a commission of appointed uh citizens of Crockett that um that review actions taken by our code enforcement official. If he brings something to the uh before a an action to tear down or repair a building is taking place, it goes before this uh review of citizens to ensure that the code enforcement officer and the citizen is well represented and takes proper actions if they're telling the tear down a building that it really needs to be torn down and that type of thing. Um we had uh two applications. Um, I sent this out to council and I requested any uh application. Um, if anybody had recommendations, we received two of them. One is uh James Carter Hall. Um, he lives here in town. Um, I met with him. He is a a voter and resident of the city. And Miss Ba Harris, I met with her and she is also a voter and resident of the city. and both of them have said that they're willing to uh serve on this panel as alternate board members. Um this would be something that the the mayor would make

the nominations according to charter if she agrees to it be Carter Hall and Ber Harris. Okay. It's my pleasure to nominate uh Carter Hall and Bertha Harris for u a position the alternate position for the board or commission. Building and standards commission. I'm excuse me. I'm reading the wrong one. Okay. Which one am I reading? Building. Oh, building and standards commission for two years.

What's uh council? What's your pleasure? I'll make a motion that we accept your nomination. I second. It's moved and second. All in favor? Motion carries. We now have two alternates. Thank you, mayor and councel. Okay. Okay. So, that brings us to the approval of the minutes from April to 2026 and special session May 1, 2026. I move that we accept the minutes from May 1st, 2026 and April 20th. Oh, April, I'm sorry. And April both

and April. Yes. And April. May and April. I second. Okay. It's been moved and second. All in favor? Motion carries. Okay. It brings us to item number seven. A report from city administrator on recommendation from parks and recreation advisory committee on swim swimming pool project.

Mayor and council. Uh we met with the um advisory committee uh for our parks and rec committee and uh presented them council's request uh to review the swim pool project on what our next steps would be. Um it was recommended by the committee uh we have a deadline of August the 1st uh to submit this uh grant application. We have it largely prepared. We're wanting to we're wanting to meet one more time before the submitt uh to review just the design and go over with our engineer um any last minute uh statutory changes with the state, any uh potential uh savings on the market that might be out there with uh different items that we've designed this pool with and just to ensure that this is the design we want to submit um and get that submitted before August 1st. uh we would try to uh we would we would apply for the uh Texas Parks and Wildlife grant for a swimming pool for threequarters of a million dollars as the grant um uh amount. We would apply for that. We should get um those reviewed and answers back to the city whether we qualify and and are going to receive that grant or not closer to the end of the year, usually November or December. and then we'll bring it back to council if in the you know we we're not able to get the grant at that time and then we'll decide what to do with the current funds. Um we've also sent out reached out to uh there's seven cities that received the swimming pool grant last year and we've re we've reached out now that we're not competitors and they've they were submitted a a good application. and we've asked them for a copy of that application to also review and uh make any kind of necessary changes that we we find that are in those applications.

And uh that's about that's what I had on that. We're making progress. Does anyone have any special comments on I just on this on on the new business the report? I mean, did you have a comment on on the report? Oh, no, no, you did a long.

Okay. So, yeah, that's what we're looking for to get the most bang for our bucks and hopefully we'll be able to get a grant, get the grant out of and we'll be able to press forward. So, it's not a vote anything requirement. Okay, that was just for information purposes only. And now, uh item under new bit business consider future agenda items. New business items must be presented as a motion without discussion. If the motion receives a second and a majority vote, the item will be placed on a future agenda for deliberation and possible action. Uh did you you said you had a recommend you wanted to recommend an item? Oh, I thought that was what it was. So if it's nothing there one head once again, thank you our new council members. We're so excited. We're looking forward to taking care of the city just as well as it's been taken care of in the past. And even better, we're looking for even greater things because we have some new energies, so to speak. So, thank you so much. We're look uh and for all that you're doing and all that you're going to do. And thank you our community for such the support that you give us in so many areas. So, with that being said,

motion to adjurnn. I second. Officially. Oh, the athletic. Yeah.