City Council - Regular Meeting

Excellent. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. I appreciate it.

Thank you, sir.

Proclamation designating May 4th through 8th as Economic Development Week. I will say this about our economic development department here at the city. How long have we had this department here in the city, Jason?

A little bit before my time, so I would venture to guess about six to eight years at this point, Mayor.

Six to eight years. I was going to think seven. And I can tell you what, since they've been on the job, they've done a lot for our city when it comes to economic development, the businesses that we have here, the amount of development that we have being put on the ground. And not only with big box stores, but I see them at ribbon cuttings encouraging businesses giving a card out and asking for communication to start between them and small businesses. I know that was something that Ms. Councilman Alvarado was really advocating for, and you all are doing a great job with this. I'm also going to say that part of this team, someone has been selected as one of the 40 most influential individuals under 40 here by the Baytown sign. Who is that? Yes, let's give a round of applause. That's impressive. So we have influential people working here in the city. Thank you for what you do. Proclamation City of Baytown Economic Development Week, whereas more than 100,000 economic development and related professionals around the world are dedicated to fostering... Got a good turnout tonight. We're good to go, right? Okay. I now call to order the Joint City Council and the Baytown Municipal Development District meeting on Thursday, May 28, 2026 at 6.30 in the Council Chamber, an announcement of quorum at 6.34 p.m. We will now have a pledge and invocation giving by Councilman Ken Griffith, District Number 3.

I pledge allegiance 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.

Honor the Texas flag. I pledge allegiance to the Texas, one state, under God, one and indivisible. Dear Heavenly Father, we come to you humbly thanking you, Father, thanking you for another week under your son, Father. Thank you for keeping our public servants safe, our public safety officials, and those who are running our operations throughout the city, whether it be parks or public works. or the Health Department, Father, thank you for keeping them safe as they carry out their daily tasks. And dear Heavenly Fathers, we sit down here to make decisions on how our city is to move forward. Father, give us the wisdom to guide our thoughts and our processes in a way that ultimately gives glory to you and for the benefit of our citizens. And I thank you for all these things, Father. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

Okay, we're gonna start off with citizen comment and we do have a few people signed up to speak. The purpose of citizen comment is to give all interested citizens the right to express their views. Everyone desiring to speak should have either signed the appropriate list in the foyer or emailed the city clerk. prior to the posted time of this meeting. Each citizen shall give his or her name and address in order to provide a proper record of these comments. The rules allow each person one minute to speak. A citizen may pass his or her time to another person who has requested to address counsel. However, no citizen remarks shall exceed the three-minute limit. except it be extended by a majority vote of council i encourage every person to be as brief and to the point as possible please keep in mind council cannot discuss or deliberate on items for which public notice has not been given on this agenda and up first with time conceded to them would be miss yvonne thomas Please state your address for proper record, and you're going to have three minutes.

Good evening. Yvonne Thomas, 4401 Country Club View, Baytown, Texas, 77521. So I'm here to speak about Park Run, and it's really for informational purposes. So the Park Run community started 22 years ago in the UK, and it has spread internationally to 23 countries. They all operate under the same rules. My husband, Oscar Chapa, a core group of helpers, and myself brought this free weekly 5K community event to Baytown. We meet every Saturday morning at Jenkins Park at 7.30. Participants can walk, jog, run, or volunteer, or simply come out to support others. The event welcomes people of all ages, fitness levels, and backgrounds, creating an inclusive environment focused on health, encouragement, and community connection. So far, we have had 48 events. We have had 457 people finish the course. We've had a total of 1,771 people finish. And we've had 76 volunteers, and the average finish time is 43 minutes. We've had an average of about 40 people per week. Having Park Run in Baytown provides tremendous benefits to our city. It promotes physical and mental wellness, it encourages families to spend time outdoors, and it helps residents build friendships and a sense of belonging. Because it is free and volunteer-led, It removes barriers that often prevent people from participating in fitness activities. It also highlights the beauty of Jenkins Park and brings positive energy and regular activity to one of Baytown's premier community spaces. Most importantly, Jenkins Park Park Run is helping create a healthier, more connected Baytown, one Saturday at a time. There are only four park runs in the Houston area. Parkrun tourism is a real thing, so we get many visitors from abroad who are trying to achieve goals. They get flags for attending Parkrun in different countries, and the J is an all-important and quite elusive and scarce letter in the alphabet challenge. Please stand if you've participated in Parkrun. Thank you. We think it's worth it for everybody to experience this, so we hope that you'll come out and enjoy Park Run for our anniversary, which is on June 6th, Saturday, June 6th. I've given flyers to Council. I have extra that I'll leave in the back if anybody from the community wants any. Thank you.

Thank you. Next, we will have Ms. Kimberly Kostic.

Thank you.

Good evening, members of council and city manager. I ask you prior to getting started, if I may have additional time. I have been experiencing a medical condition that makes speech difficult to do. And I would appreciate, I could have asked others to concede time to me. However, I would prefer to not manipulate the system in that measure and just request that in advance.

I'M OKAY. WE'LL HAVE TO MAKE A MOTION.

YOU WANT THREE MINUTES?

THAT SHOULD BE FINE. I ASSURE YOU I WILL BE AS BRIEF AND DIRECT AS POSSIBLE.

I MOTION TO YIELD THREE MINUTES.

SECOND.

ALL IN FAVOR?

AYE.

THANK YOU.

NO OPPOSED? PLEASE STATE YOUR ADDRESS.

5103 Ashwood Drive, Baytown, Texas 77521. THANK YOU. SO I AM APPROACHING YOU ALL THIS EVENING BECAUSE I WOULD LIKE TO PUBLICLY THANK OUR CITY MANAGER FOR THE EXTREME EFFORTS THAT HE TOOK TO APOLOGIZE TO ME VIA TEXT AND VOICEMAIL. AND OVER A PHONE CONVERSATION RELATED TO EMAILS THAT ALL OF YOU ALL WERE COPIED ON. AND I I WOULD LIKE ALSO THAT THE CONVERSATION AND WHAT TOOK PLACE WITH THE CITY MANAGER AND I, IT WAS PROVOKED FOR ME TO allow it to continue due to another citizen that reached out stating that my credibility was in jeopardy. And for that, I don't appreciate. And that my intent ever with the city or the school district is not driven my personal motivations, but integrity and doing right by our community, as you all know, THERE ARE MANY EFFORTS I PARTICIPATE IN THAT I HAVE NO BENEFIT FROM TO DO SO BECAUSE IT'S WHAT'S DOING RIGHT BY OUR CITIZENS. THE QUESTION OF THE RESIDENCY OF THE CITY MANAGER IS, AND I EXPRESSED WHICH I know he will correct me in situations. It was never a driven by weather contract and what have you. I appreciate Mr. Reynolds sending me his contract. And I look forward to more conversations about the spirit of the contract that it says. And the questions, though, remain that of all of our core values that we have, within the city that integrity seems to only be one that the police department puts on their shelf so to speak. I believe that there are many questions though that still need to be had about the the integrity of the location and whether or not what we would accept.

Hold on. Can we get a motion to extend our time?

I'm not sure. Do you have one more minute?

One more minute. I need a second. Second. You have one more minute.

Do you need to?

No, I'm sorry. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. You have one more minute.

THANK YOU. BUT I ALSO WOULD LIKE TO NOTE THAT THE STATEMENT OF PRIVILEGED INFORMATION WAS NOT PROVIDED. THERE WAS NOT ANY PRIVILEGED INFORMATION THAT WAS GIVEN AS I BELIEVE THAT WE ESTABLISHED THAT MY concerns were not at the integrity of any council member or mayor or city official that might have been present during any executive meetings that y'all had. I would, though, like that there are further conversations that are had on the spirit and what is expected within our leadership and what we can do to move forward. Thank you.

Thank you. Next, we will have Carol Williams. Did I get that right? Good deal. PLEASE STATE YOUR ADDRESS FOR POINT OF RECORD.

GOOD EVENING, EVERYONE. MY NAME IS CAROL WILLIAMS, 3310 ROLLING RIVER DRIVE, BAYTOWN, TEXAS, 77521. I actually stand here as a transplant to Baytown, and I just want to commend Park Run. I don't know if you've ever been in a situation where you don't have a community. Park Run is that. So I want to commend Park Run for providing a space, a community for everybody who feels like they need something to belong to so that they can show up. volunteer, participate, and just feel welcomed. I was told that Baytown is a big city with a small town feel. Parkland does that. Thank you.

Thank you. There being no one else desiring to speak, this concludes the citizen comment portion of the agenda. We are on to item 2A, Municipal Development District. Consider a resolution authorizing a professional service agreement with Ruben Brown, LLC, to perform audit services for the Hyatt Regency Baytown Houston project. Mrs. McKenzie.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. As you know, we just recently completed the 2023-24 audit for the Hyatt. So we're now trying to get up to speed so we can get back on track. So this is for the 2025 engagement. So I'm happy to answer any questions.

Comments or questions?

Ms. McKenzie, I appreciate the effort the staff has made because my question was, is this the same auditing company that audits the city? And the answer was no. It's a separate and distinct and actually a very specialized auditing entity. And so I appreciated the effort to keep it separate as well as find somebody that understands that type of operation to do the formal audit for. So I appreciated the effort. Yeah, good deal.

Thank you. Anyone else? Good deal. I need a motion.

Motion to approve.

Second.

All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you, Ms. McKenzie. We will now move on to City Council Items 3A, Recognize City of Baytown Employees for Their Years of Service. Mr. Lopez.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor and Council. We have one employee to recognize tonight for her years of service.

Michael Johnson, Bawa, 30 years. Mike Johnson started with the city of Baytown as a laborer in May of 1996, where he was responsible for facility and ground maintenance at the Baytown Area Water Authority Plant. In 1998, Mike was promoted to water plant operator, a role in which he served for the next 15 years. In 2013, Mike became a mechanical maintenance technician at Bawa, where he was responsible for the preventative maintenance programs for Bawa's various pumps, motors, and mechanical equipment before returning to water operations in 2020. During his time at Bawa, Mike learned how to manually operate the plant from the start of the treatment process to the end. Mike's knowledge and leadership helped train and prepare past and current operators in troubleshooting and operations. In 2001, Mike assisted in implementing Bawa's first Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system, which allowed the plant to evolve from manual operation control to automation control. From 2001 to 2004, Mike served as a contributor to the Bawa plant expansion that saw the plant go from a max capacity of 21 million gallons per day to 26 million gallons per day. Throughout the years, Mike has been directly involved with several high-level projects, including major electrical upgrades, chemical treatment upgrades, and our new Bawa East plant. In addition, Mike has worked through several weather events such as Hurricane Ike, Hurricane Harvey, and the winter storm of 2021. Mike serves as a valuable member of the Bawa staff where he confidently and consistently performs the roles and responsibilities as a plant operator with great care and dedication. During his spare time, Mike likes to spend time with family, fish, and races 1988 Camaro at the racetrack. Thank you, Mike, for your 30 years of dedicated service.

Results of the 2026 Healthier Texas Community Challenge, which mobilizes the community to promote wellness and recognition of Baytown's top citizen champion, Sam Chopper. I'm going to give this over to Councilmember Alvarado.

Yes. So, Mayor, Council, as you all know that I've been the one on Council to champion the Healthy Challenge before we started with Bewell Baytown and then it had several alliterations after that. And I think it's just timely because, you know, Park Run came and discussed their initiatives and it just ties in what a healthy community, you know, challenge should be and just having different collaborative partners with it. But I did invite Ms. Amanda Kennington from Goose Creek to talk to us about the results. of this year's challenge in a minute. Thank you, Sam, for being here. We'll talk about Sam here for a little bit as well.

Yes, we're very excited. The Healthier Texas Community Challenge for 2026 was a tremendous success. We brought together students, our families, residents in a shared effort for this community challenge and civic engagement and participation. Out of hundreds of communities and school districts across Texas, the city of Baytown earned second place in the state and Goose Creek CISD earned first place for outstanding commitment to a healthier Texas. Thank you to everyone who participated and helped make this year's challenge impactful and inspiring. We're especially proud to recognize Sam as an employee of Goose Creek and citizen here as the top participant. Out of the 2,174,374 points for City of Baytown, Sam individually earned 325,000 of those points. So we definitely want to congratulate him and we're already looking forward to next year as we continue working together with the city to make you guys the number one city in the state for the Healthier Texas Community Challenge. That's right.

Now Amanda, I was asked, of course we all want to know, who consistently comes in second from the city because we have to beat them. WHO COMES IN SECOND? OR WHO AT LEAST CAME IN SECOND THIS YEAR?

IT'S NORMALLY FAR ISD. YES. FAR AWAY.

FAR AWAY. IN THE LAND FAR, FAR AWAY.

DID THEY COME IN AGAIN THIS YEAR? YES. OKAY. SO WE KNOW WHO TO BE AGAIN FOR NEXT YEAR, RIGHT? WE KNOW WHO TO BE. BUT YOU DO HAVE AT YOUR DIUS SOME T-SHIRTS THAT AMANDA BROUGHT. Very nice. So thank you, Amanda. And I'm going to ask Mayor to help me with a special presentation for Sam as he's been our champion for the past six years running. So he's held on to a specific title. Council is welcome to join us as well.

DOES THIS COUNT TOWARDS OUR BUSINESS? OH, YEAH.

Do we get points for coming up and down? Yes, absolutely.

We're going to count them towards next year's goal.

Okay. If we get points for the pictures, I'll take 100 of them.

We should have had some running for this. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

Oh, wow. Sam has been the six-time champion and as Amanda mentioned he has to continue earning these points to retain his title so Sam this goes to

I'll hold the box back here. I want that. All right. Here we go. Big smile. There we go. Fine? Get one more.

Awesome.

Thank you. All right.

Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much.

Now we are on to public hearing. The public hearing today is being held for the purpose of giving all interested persons the right to express their views regarding the subject of the hearing. Everyone desiring to be a part of today's hearing should have either signed the appropriate lease on the foyer or emailed the city clerk prior to the posted time of this meeting. Each participant shall give his or her name and address in order to provide a proper record of the hearing. The rules allow each person three minutes to present information. However, I encourage everyone to be as brief and to the point as possible. If you are a group of persons wishing to address the council on the same subject, please select a spokesperson to present the information. If anyone has any questions, please direct them to me. We are for a conductive public hearing regarding the proposed voluntary annexation of approximately 202.48 acres at 7701 John Martin Road. It is now 6.56 p.m., and I call to order this public hearing concerning the proposed voluntary annexation at 7701 John Martin Road. Mr. Y'all got to stop switching up on me. I have Mr. Abraham here, but I'm seeing Mr. Scribner.

Thank you, Mayor and Council. For the record, Martin Scribner, Planning and Development Services. As described, this is a voluntary annexation of just over 202 acres to the west side of John Martin Road, just south of East Wallaceville Road. You can see that it straddles Battle Bell Road and is north of Jones Road. Again, all to the west of John Martin. This is currently unincorporated area and As you can see, this is zoomed out just a little bit. You can see the blue area is actually the area that's within city limits. So this will sort of straddle the neighborhood there to the east. Not straddle, the blue annexed part kind of goes around the residential area to the east and heads towards the north. And you will see that this area is largely planned for residential, but there are some caveats around that. What I wanted to make sure everybody's aware of tonight is that as the – a couple things. As the applicant – comes in and is requesting annexation, they will also be requesting a rezone to PUD. We are working on the details of that PUD now, and you should have that before you in the very near future, which I'm going to kind of go over here in a bit. Understand that the reason we're doing a PUD will be for a light industrial use. The part that we have to keep in mind about that is that as that property is currently not annexed, THAT APPLICANT CAN DO ALL OF THOSE USES IN THERE RIGHT NOW. SO WHAT WE'RE TRYING TO DO WITH THE ANNEXATION AND PLANNING UNIT DEVELOPMENT IS, NUMBER ONE, PROVIDE A LITTLE BIT OF DIRECTION AND HAVE A LITTLE BIT OF CONTROL OVER KIND OF WHAT GOES IN THERE AND PROVIDE SOME SAFETY FOR SOME OF THE SURROUNDING AREAS, AS WELL AS EXAMINE THE POSSIBILITY OF ANY KINDS OF INCENTIVES LIKE PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE DISTRICTS, STUFF LIKE THAT. the timeline on that is obviously tonight they're here for the public hearing on june 25th we'll be looking at the first reading of the ordinance on july 21st will the planning and zoning commission will be looking at the rezone itself tentatively and then directly after that On the 23rd, we'll be looking at second reading of the annexation and consideration of the annexation here at City Council, as well as where to put that in terms of what council district does that newly annexed property end up in. All that said, that concludes my presentation. The applicant is here tonight and would like to present. We do have some slides for them, but I'm happy to answer any questions. Again, we're trying to keep this kind of high level because We will get a chance to talk about the rezone in the very near future. We're just not really at that point quite yet.

Good deal. Thank you. I do appreciate you all putting this timeline out so residents can be aware of the timeline itself. But right now, we do have two persons signed up to speak, Mr. Ryan Bumgartner, and we also have Mr. Mark Taylor. Taylor?

Taylor?

Good deal.

Mr. Ryan Baumgartner is the applicant.

Yeah. So I guess you are here for questions or you have information to give?

I'll just give some information. Okay. Good evening, Mayor, city council members. Thanks for having me. My name is Ryan Baumgartner. I'm with Hillwood. We are the developer here for what we're calling Goose Crease Commerce Center. As Mr. Scribner mentioned, we are requesting annexation of approximately 200 acres here at Baytown. A little background on Hillwood. Hillwood's been in business for over three decades. We're backed by the Perot organization. We take a lot of pride in partnering with local communities to build something that the community can be proud of. We've been doing it for several years and it's what we do and we like to showcase that. We're also not new to Baytown. A lot of the residents may have noticed we are under construction with two buildings. currently what we're calling phase one of the Goose Creek Commerce Center. I've got a photo here that I'll show you, and that's on phase one of what will hopefully be phase two and phase three of a similar project if we're successful with the annexation. To share a little bit about what we're building, this is a master plan commerce center. Roads, landscaping, buffers are all part of the design. We're very intentional about how this comes together. We want to be, like I mentioned, something the community is proud of. WE BELIEVE THE SITE IS VERY WELL SUITED FOR THIS TYPE OF USE AND THE SURROUNDING LAND OR THIS SITE AND SURROUNDING LAND MAKES INDUSTRIAL AND LIGHT WAREHOUSE THE RIGHT FIT HERE. THE CITY CAN YOU KNOW THE CITY WILL GAIN A LOT FROM THIS TYPE OF DEVELOPMENT YOU KNOW OVER 200 MILLION DOLLARS POTENTIALLY WORTH OF INVESTMENT INTO THIS TYPE OF DEVELOPMENT TO CREATE A LOT OF PERMANENT JOBS A LOT OF TAX INCOME THAT SHOULD STIMULATE THE LOCAL ECONOMY FOR A PERIOD OF TIME. And as Mr. Scribner mentioned, you know, though we do have the option to move forward by remaining within the city of Baytown ETJ and building out our own mud infrastructure and developing accordingly, we do think it is in the best interest of both the city and us to continue the partnership they already have with Phase 1 into the future phases. You know, we are willing and excited to work with the city officials and listen to, you know, what you guys would like to see from this development and cooperate where we can with an open mind. So with that said, I appreciate you having us here and hopefully you see it the same way as I went.

Thank you. Mr. Mark Taylor. Please state your address.

So, for the record, I'm Mark Taylor. My address is 123 San Jacinto Street in Highlands, Texas. I am Commissioner on the ESD Board 14, and it overlaps with some of these areas. My comment is just to make sure that the City of Baytown has adequate emergency services to take care of this area. That's just my comment.

All right. Thank you. I'm going to ask, do we have adequate emergency services to take care of this area?

So we have not yet put together the public services plan. We're working on that now. We also have, if you'll remember sometime last year, you were presented with a new tool that we have been using kind of behind the scenes, which is a development fiscal impact analysis tool. We will also be showing you the results of our usage of that tool at the next meeting that we will have on this topic.

Excellent. Thank you. Mayor, I'll answer that question directly. Yes. If it's annexed, it'll be part of the city. It'll have the same emergency services everything else in the city has. And part of the planning process that Martin and the engineering team are doing is ensuring that the water capacity is there for fire hydrants and everything else. So the emergency services will be available.

Good deal. Thank you. Any questions or comments?

I JUST HAD A QUESTION, JUST OUT OF CURIOSITY.

WE EXPLAINED THE BENEFIT FOR THE CITY WHEN YOU ANNEX US AND THE POTENTIAL REVENUE. MY QUESTION IS, WHAT IS THE BENEFIT FOR YOU GUYS GOING INTO THE CITY VERSUS US, VERSUS JUST GOING THROUGH HARRIS COUNTY AND THE MUD DISTRICT?

We have built out, we basically have to build our own municipal utility district utility infrastructure on our own otherwise. And fortunately the site is big enough where we can justify that and have done that before, but it makes it a lot easier on us to utilize the existing facilities there, basically utilize utilities already there. So from a time standpoint and from a capital standpoint, it makes more sense.

Thank you for answering the question. Anyone else?

Comment. We've had similar issues in the past and I appreciate the comments and I appreciate staff working on it. It's one of those deals that it's going to happen even if we don't annex it because, as he indicated, they can do, they can move forward without us. So it's nice to be able to say they're willing to annex and that they're also willing to listen to us as far as we can gain some extra amenities within reason to protect that residential area and so forth and so on. We've worked with other entities and fast turned the bays where they're not facing that way. So it just behooves us to go ahead and annex them, add a few extra requirements. Otherwise, it just goes in and we have no control. Plus, you know, that's regardless of the tax infrastructure. That's just having a little bit more control of how it's situated and done. And my understanding, there's probably going to be some public road access to that that they will build and we will, you know, get as part of the deal. That's a positive. So, again, appreciate staff looking out that it's going to happen anyway. We can make this work and it benefits both sides, as my colleague had indicated, you know, We know the benefit we're getting. What's the benefit you're getting? It works. So I appreciate the efforts.

Staff has been working with the applicant for, what, 15, 16 months now, something like that. So it's not something that just came across the table. There have been ongoing talks for quite a while now.

Excellent, excellent. Thank you for pointing that out, Mike, and thank you for your comments also. Like you said, they can most definitely do it, so thank you all for... taking the opportunity and coming to us, asking to be annexed in, regardless of what other, I don't want to say restrictions or what other things we may add to you constructing the project. Anything else? Good. Excellent. There being no one else desiring to speak, I now close this public hearing at 7.07 p.m. On to 5A. Consider an ordinance approving the issuance of Certificates of Obligation Series 2026, Ms. McKenzie.

Good evening again, Mayor and Council. So this ordinance allows the city to issue $59.5 million in CO debt for the following water and sewer projects. This debt will be self-supported with water and sewer revenue. The cost of issuance is around $308,000. And the first debt payment is scheduled for February 27 in the amount of $2.6 million. The annual debt service payment will be close to $4 million, and we anticipate receiving the bond funds on June 25th at 26th. With that, I'm happy to answer any questions you have. We also have Jonathan, I mean, Joe Morrow from Hilltop and Jonathan Frails from Bracewell here to answer any questions.

Questions or comments? Nothing? Yeah.

I just see some D1 items on there.

Okay, I need a motion.

Motion to approve.

Second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. On to 5B, considering ordinance approving the issuance of general obligation bond series 2026.

This ordinance allows us to issue debt for 34.7 million in geo debt that the voters approved in November. We provided this timeline just to give some clarity or transparency on how long the process took. We actually started this process in March because we wanted to make sure that we completed the audit timely based on recommendations from our financial advisor, which is what we did. And so now we're close to the end. We are pretty much ready to, once you approve, to move forward so that we can start to begin working on receiving the proceeds for this debt. And the debt that we have here for this bond is related to the Proposition B that was approved by the voters in the amount of $30.4 million. And Proposition D, which is for Fire Station 4, design at $4.2 million. And I'm happy to answer any questions.

Questions or comments?

Yeah, I'm glad to see these come through. I know that this is a big thing that we've been pushing, going to the GO bond, and I want to thank the public for coming out and voting on these, and this is the result, you know, showing that we're looking at what you're asking us to do and making sure we're putting the needs of the city first. And I appreciate the voters who came out and voted and passed these bonds. I really appreciate that from them.

Anyone else? Yes, ma'am.

MS.

So since we are talking about the geo bonds and we're not ready to issue the series, at one point are we going to have the oversight committee?

MR. That was my comment, ma'am. MS.

All right.

I was going to let council know that you will be coming. We will be coming back with a oversight committee as Teresa laid out. The funds will not be here until June 26. It's our intent to start planning things, but it's actually meant to be an action piece of the FY27 budget. And so over the summer, we will establish the oversight committee that will be there to work with the council and staff and give feedback to the residents in the community as money is spent and ensuring that we are doing what we said we were doing. The council sets the parameters.

Excellent. Thank you. Anything? Anyone else?

I got just an additional comment. Go back to one slide to the timeline. Okay. And I appreciate these timelines, as the other timeline was going to. Because a lot of folks say, well, this thing passed in November. Why aren't y'all doing anything yet? It takes a lot of time to process a general obligation bond of this size. And this really kind of lays it out that this is the effort and the amount of work goes into these things. So it's not just you pass it, we start spending money the next weekend. There's a long, drawn-out process. And Teresa and her crew are doing a great job. as far as keeping us on tag. So I appreciate the effort and as in the other timelines, I like playing it out because we see this a lot and we get this a lot from staff, but this lays it out that the average citizen right out there can see it's like, oh, so they are working on it, it's just behind doors. And that's not behind closed doors, that's just the staff work. So I appreciate the effort.

Anyone else? Good point. Good deal. Thank you for your comments. I need a motion. Motion to approve item 5B. Second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries on to 5C. Consider an ordinance authorizing the purchase of replacement and installation services for water meters and sub-meter GPS units from Amerisco, Inc. through the Purchasing Cooperative of America contract number PCAOD-365-22, Ms. McKenzie.

So, Mayor and Council, we're finally here to get your approval on the infamous water meter replacement project. This will allow us to replace all the residential meters. We will start with the data collectors first, of course. We plan to start mid-August, early September. It will be probably a 10- to 12-month project. We have Chad Nobles here from Amoresco to answer any specific questions you have about the project. because he will be the one managing it and ensuring that we get it done. So I'm happy to answer any questions if you have any.

I have one question for you. I have not seen you smile that big ever. Is this like Christmas for you that we're getting these new meters?

Yes. I can tell.

I can tell. Go ahead. Go ahead.

meters will be able to do.

These meters will allow first of all the city to have accurate meter readings and it will also grant the citizens real time access to their water usage. They can have notifications so they can be alerted if their water usage is over a certain amount. So it will be beneficial to both the city and the citizens. Yes.

So I know when Mayor and I first started here, that was what people were telling us. Like, at so-and-so city, people can look online. Mayor, can I make a... We're not there yet.

Mayor, if you don't mind. Go ahead. I know we're going to have sharpshooters pick words apart. Ms. McKenzie said accurate readings. I just want to make sure. The meters we have are accurate. Over time, they degrade and read less than what people actually use. So over time, it actually reads less of the water actually coming through the meter. And so people will have lifetime feed of the water going through the meter and just have instant access to what's happening. Thank you for the clarification.

It's accurate now.

I really wish you wouldn't have said that it actually reads less now.

Some do, some don't.

Some do and some don't. Mine is not one of those that don't.

I just don't need KPRC on door.

Jason, you just addressed the issue right there. I think... WE NEED TO PREPARE OUR CONSTITUENTS FOR A LITTLE BIT OF A STICKER SHOCK WHEN THEY'RE GETTING THE RIGHT METER AND THE RIGHT READING THAT YOUR METER IS ACTUALLY WORKING RIGHT NOW WHERE WE'RE BEHIND IN THE PROCESS OF GETTING THOSE METERS IN. SO IT'S IMPORTANT THAT THEY UNDERSTAND THAT YOUR METER WON'T GET AN ACCURATE READING, NOW IT IS, AND THERE MIGHT BE A LITTLE STICKER SHOCK ON IT. BUT IT'S BECAUSE YOUR METERS ARE FUNCTIONING RIGHT. I'M ALSO REALLY EXCITED, THANK YOU FOR, I KNOW WE TALKED ABOUT THIS IN FINANCE MEETINGS AND OTHER MEETINGS WITH GETTING THESE NEW METERS OUT AND I'M REALLY EXCITED ABOUT THE REAL TIME TRACKING OF THESE METERS SO PEOPLE ACTUALLY SEE IF THERE'S A LEAK UNDER THEIR HOUSE OR WHAT'S GOING ON, THEY COULD ADDRESS IT AND and fix it. So I'm really excited about this moving us into the 21st century and the way we read our water and check it out in our house. So thank you.

I do have to make a clarifying point just as Mr. City Manager did. It will not tell you where your leak is It'll just tell you that there may be a leak. Or that something's happening.

Yeah, something's happening. If all your pipes are not running and your meter's running, there's something going on.

That's a comment, and she's already smiling again. I appreciate Ms. McKenzie's comment that all of the residential meters are going to get done.

Yes, sir.

Because we continually have that conversation that not all of our current meters are readable. So I do appreciate that. Again, it's the new technology that's been around for 20 years, but it's new to us, so that's a great thing. I have property in North Texas, and if my water usage up there goes up, a couple hundred gallons a month, I get notified that your water usage went up. Is everything okay? So that's a benefit to the customer because, you know, it's like if it's a hidden leak and you don't see it, you don't know. But if it's kind of like the system sees that your usage has gone up, that you get notified. It's kind of like, okay, now I'll start looking for that damp spot or wet spot, so that's a good thing. But I appreciate that all of our residential meters are going to get done over about a 10-month process that's pretty aggressive. Chad's back there smiling. I'm going to hold him to it. So that's a good process to have.

So I'll be able to tell my grandkids back in the 1900s We used to have to read our meters, have someone drive out and read the meters. And y'all just don't know how blessed you are to have something you can look at right there. Will they be able to see it from their phone?

We can call Chad up here.

I mean, I'm just curious now. You can?

Yes, we will.

Wow. There will be an app you can put, yeah.

Oh, okay. Very nice. That's the way that's ever done. Thank you for that.

Yes, there will be a, the customer portal will actually have an access to either a website or you can download it on your phone and be able to see it as well. So they'll actually, and you can set yourself leaks, alerts, or continuous consumption is what we call them. Lots of different things that you can look at from there.

Wow, that is awesome. 21st century. That's right. Good deal. Well, thank you for that. Let's hurry up and get this approved.

Motion to approve 5C.

Second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Ten months? Start the clock. Start the clock. What time is it? 7-19 on May 28th.

Ten months from August.

Oh, ten months from August. From August. Okay, good deal.

Good deal.

On to 5D. Consider an ordinance authorizing a Chapter 380 Economic Development Agreement with Vida Mariscos. 7 Inc. for the development of a new restaurant facility. Mr. Moran.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Brian Moran with Economic Development. Tonight I'm pleased to present for your consideration the Economic Development Agreement with Vita Morisco's. for the redevelopment of the former Red Lobster building located at 4717 Interstate 10 East. This project represents a win for our targeted redevelopment initiatives as part of our ongoing effort to recruit quality operators to fill vacant commercial buildings along our key commercial corridors throughout the city. As you're aware, This property has remained vacant since May of 2024 and occupies a highly visible location off of the Interstate 10 frontage. Vida Moriscos is a high energy Mexican seafood and sports bar concept developed by the Cabrera family. And the founders are well known for their Los Cucos Mexican cafe chain, which has been in operation throughout the Houston area over the last 30 years. And most recently, they have expanded into different locations, including Katy, Rosenberg, and Webster with recent openings at the end of 2024 and beginning of 2025. For Baytown, this project includes the complete renovation and redevelopment of the existing 9,000 square foot building with architectural standings requiring the finished product to mirror the locations at their newer spots as I mentioned in Rosenberg and Webster. This is a performance-based agreement and in order for the new owners to qualify for the incentives, they have to maintain and at best at least a minimum of 3.5 million into the building. They have to create and maintain a minimum of 70 full-time equivalent jobs and they also need to begin construction by August 1st of 2026 and beginning operations by August 31st of 2027. If these benchmarks are met, what the city's obligations are is to provide a construction sales tax rebate not to exceed $15,000, an operational sales tax rebate not to exceed $300,000 over a five-year term, and then as well as a $100,000 redevelopment grant that's paid over two years with the first $50,000 being payable within the 60 days of the business receiving their certificate of occupancy from the city. And then the second $50,000 payable after their first year of successful operation with the total rebates being capped at $415,000 during the five-year term. What's also exciting about this timeline is that this redevelopment aligns with the ongoing Rooms to Go project, which is next door to this site. That project is currently moving through our permit process as preparing for demolition and then construction of a brand new building. So we're looking at a complete transformation of this entire area. We also have the ownership team who's here this evening. If you'd like to hear any more information about the restaurant, their operations, they may have remarks that they want to say to you. But I'm also here to answer any questions and specifics you might have about what the city's obligations are in the economic development agreement.

Any questions or comments? I'm just curious.

The building is now off the market. It's been empty for a couple of years now, and just wish the new owners much success.

I mean, we got people. It's like whack-a-mole up here.

I mean, we're talking about food, so it's pretty exciting.

Go ahead.

No, I'd like to hear what's your signature dish. Tell us a little bit about the restaurant. I haven't been to one yet.

You haven't been to one? I haven't either.

If y'all get a chance to go to the Webster location, it is lively. Like lively, lively, lively.

The food is delicious.

It's very good food.

Like Ryan just mentioned, we own Los Cucos also. It's a big authentic Mexican chain. We're famous for our fajitas. all our toppings on the fajitas, and we have a big menu selection. And this is our seafood concept, and we just want to thank you all for being so welcoming with us, and we want to, you know, look forward to work together with you.

We thank you for the – thank you for Investing City, and when's Los Cucos coming?

Well, hold on. I do want to hear what's your most popular dish. The fajita? No, no, fajita mariscos. Mariscos.

On mariscos, we have a big selection of shrimps and fish. We have those big parrilladas. They ask a little bit about everything. That's the most popular.

Oyster soup?

We have siete mare soup. It's, I mean, out of this one.

also yeah so thank you uh brian moran and your work you did to get that and make that happen over there uh that that um the old red lobsters being an eyesore and thank you for all your work and being creative and getting getting uh such a fine establishment to our city

You know, this is good stuff. I'm going to be happy to see it come in. Hopefully I can be one of the first persons to taste the, what is it called again? It starts with a P. Pariada. What is that?

Pariada.

It's a bunch of different foods together. It's like if you have a, like if you go to. It's a sampler. Yeah, but it's got all kinds of meats. Oh, really? It's got all kinds of different types of fish and everything on there.

Oh, yeah, we're going to do that. Good deal.

Do you have Spanish for a charcuterie, Morgan?

YOU'RE DOING AN AWESOME JOB, AND THANK YOU ALL FOR CHOOSING BAYTOWN. AS YOU CAN TELL, WE'RE HAPPY THAT YOU ALL ARE HERE, AND WE'RE LOOKING FORWARD TO YOU OPENING AUGUST OF NEXT YEAR SOMETIME, OR SOMETIME AFTER AUGUST NEXT YEAR. OCTOBER. OCTOBER? EXCELLENT. I NEED A MOTION. MOTION TO APPROVE.

SECOND. WE'RE HUNGRY. WE'RE HUNGRY.

ALL IN FAVOR? AYE. ANY OPPOSED? MOTION CARRIES. OKAY. WE ARE ON TO CONSENT AGENDA AND LET'S SEE HERE. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I got you. I was looking for it on here. Let's pull 6B, but let's go ahead and get everything else approved. Is there anything else that you all would like to pull?

Can we pull B?

Yes, we can. So we're going to pull B and D. I need a motion.

Consent items A through M? No. O. Save and accept.

B and D. B. B and D. Second.

All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. 6B. Consider an ordinance amending the lease agreement with Bay Area Heritage Society Mrs. Flint, I'm the one that would like to pull this one because I've had some conversations with some individuals and I found out that the Baytown Heritage Society has been operating the museum there for over 30 years. And the extension is for what, two years?

Yes, on top of the remaining portion of the contract.

Okay, with them being there so long, I would like to ask if we can actually extend it maybe five. Would that be possible?

This extension takes it through 2031.

And I was asking if it could go a little bit longer, because like I said, they've been there for 40 years, 30, 40 years.

Thank you. Clearly, I could not figure out how to turn on the microphone, but thank you very much, City Manager. So, I mean, essentially, that would require some input from the other party if they were interested in any sort of extension beyond that term. And so we have a contract term that has been agreed upon or negotiated with the other side at this point, which is what is being presented to you today. Prior to that, I believe this lease would have expired... Give me one second so I can pull the actual fleece.

I think so. Yes, it would have expired in 29. I don't remember the month.

And with this two and a half year extension, it will expire in 31. And so prior, I mean, anything past that 31, 2031 would need to be agreed upon between the parties. And so without that side here today, I can't, you know, we can't really. Ms. Pressel is here.

Yeah, they're here. They signed up to speak. Okay.

I was going to say, this started the other portion of what's before you is a change in the parking. And that's where our conversation started. In that conversation, Ms. Presley had asked for an extension of the two years and six months, the six months coming from, they have been closed for the last six months because we're doing some renovations on the building, including HVAC. And so she asked for that, and that's what the proposal is in front of you. So to Kristen's point, certainly willing to entertain that if that is desired by council and by the other parties.

Yes, sir. To extend it to 2031 gives the five years you're talking about I have some concerns. I knew that the health department was being renovated. I knew the facility has been renovated. I was unaware that that renovation caused the closure of the museum. So I found that out tonight. So I was unaware of that. So that's a major impact on the museum. I mean, especially during the school year, because they were shut down for the part of the school year. And there's a lot of our GSD. these students going through that museum on a regular basis, they didn't get that. And I don't know how much longer it's going to be closed down, but if there's not some major renovations or really significant reasons that that side of the building has to be closed, I personally want to see that thing get up and running as quick as possible.

Yeah, and I agree wholeheartedly with you. I've had some conversations with Ms. Presley about it, and she... That's one of the major drivers of foot traffic in that area, that Texas Avenue area. Like you said, school buses come through there throughout the whole school year, and they have been closed that amount of time. And when I asked why more time, she said, well, you know, I just threw the number out as two, but if we could get more, and I'm advocating for it. You want to approach? Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am.

Do we have an anticipation date for all the remodeling to be done so they can open and be fully functional? I can tell you when we'll open. I can tell you actually when we're going to open. Because I do stay in contact with Terry Presley, 3609 Law Reformer Boulevard, Baytown, Texas, 77521. And I am the director at the museum. And we should be opening next week. And we've pushed and pushed and pushed because Exxon is going to have a reception and we begged them to please let us open and get Exxon back into our building. And actually we've been doing some renovations ourselves. We're putting some of our funding into it and I and several other people, Chris, we've been painting walls and trying to tidy up and move things around and to make it look a lot different. So we're excited to open up again. But when we were closed, we didn't get the school kids. We lost money for that because we didn't get them for the spring session. And we've lost a lot of foot traffic and we've got a lot of negativity because we're not there to open the doors from the public. And as Carol said, she called me about the parking spaces because we have no parking anymore because the building next door has sold, and they rented that out to several different entities. So it stays full. We have no parking whatsoever. So I don't know what we'll do the night we have the Exxon reception on Wednesday, June the 3rd. But she called about the parking space, and at that time I asked her, could we please extend the lease? And she said, okay, how long? And honestly... I was caught off guard. And our lease, I think, expires in 2028 is my understanding. It expires in 2028. So I asked for, you know, two years and six months it would have been closed. But we would like to be extended, to have that lease extended longer. I mean, we're there for the community.

What is...

I had a quick question. Okay. Overall maintenance, who's in charge of keeping the building maintenance during the lease? Is it You guys, or is it the city?

By the lease agreement, the maintenance is up to the tenant.

Up to the tenant, okay.

Yeah, that's true.

Okay. And believe me, it needed some help, so that's what we're trying our best to do. I believe that, yeah.

It's the same as the art league, so it's up to them to maintain.

And we don't mind. We're putting some up. So far, we've put about $10,000 into it is what we've done, and our labor.

So the two years takes them to 31?

And y'all are wanting to, you want to be extended past that?

I would if it's possible. But that's going to be right around the corner soon, I know. And I would like for, I would like to, I've been there 17 years. We've been in that building for 41 years. I've been the director for 17 years. And I would like to say another 10 if I'm going to make it, if I'll make that. But I'd like to be there indefinitely, honestly.

Okay. Was that discussed with legal at the time of wanting to renew? No, it was not.

That has not been discussed, but what I would ask the council to consider. I'm not, I don't want to get involved in the... Yeah. I don't want to get involved. I need counsel to also think about if what Ms. Pressley is saying is true, that there's a very large parking problem and people can't come to use the museum, is that the right location for the museum, right? And if we are saying that there's so much foot traffic, is there a better location inside the Texas Avenue corridor that the museum can be? Or is there areas that you can buy parking TO PUT FOR THE MUSEUM. WE HAVE TO THINK ABOUT THOSE TYPES OF THINGS IF WE WANT TO REALLY CONSIDER THAT AMPLIFYING WHAT THE MUSEUM IS OR IF THERE IS THAT MUCH ACTUAL FOOT TRAFFIC THERE. SO I'VE JUST ASKED COUNCIL TO CONSIDER THAT. AND FOR YOU, LOOK AT THE EXPANSION OF THIS. BECAUSE FIVE YEARS RIGHT NOW, YOU COULD DETERMINE THAT, HEY, WE WANT TO PUT ANOTHER 10 MILLION AND ACTUALLY MOVE THIS SOMEWHERE ELSE ON TEXAS AVENUE. I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE... JUST CONSIDERATION POINT.

I HAVE ANOTHER QUESTION. If, like, let's say, I like nice even numbers, so if we go to 2035, or is that odd numbers? So 2035, if we go to that and we decide, look, they are having that much traffic, maybe we can get them a bigger building with more parking or However, we jointly do a consensus for, can't we just, like, in the middle of that, just kind of break that lease after the new facility is done or the new parking is done? I mean, that's something we can just amend and transfer those years to whatever new thing we decide. I mean, we can do that, right? Absolutely. Right?

Comments?

Ms. Attorney? Ms. Attorney? So, obviously, I would need to review the terms of the contract when it comes to what are the terms for termination of the lease agreement. Typically, yes, things in contract terms can be amended by agreement between the parties. However, definitively, I would need to look at the lease to be able to say that, and I have not... have the ample opportunity at this point to do that thorough review.

Yeah, so, sorry, just as a follow-up, so right now if we want to do the 2035, you're not prepared to do an extension right now? You would have to review?

I would like to have the opportunity, yes, to review the terms of the lease to make sure that we're just doing everything according to what we've already agreed to do. Okay. Okay.

Okay.

YEAH, I WAS JUST GOING TO SAY, I'M HEARING A LOT OF NEW INFORMATION FOR THE FIRST TIME TONIGHT, AND I DON'T THINK I'M ONE WAY OR THE OTHER. I MEAN, I DON'T THINK WE HAVE ENOUGH INFO NOW TO REALLY LOOK LONG-TERM. I MEAN, WE HEAR THERE'S PARKING ISSUES, THE CONDITION OF THE BUILDING WE'VE TALKED ABOUT, TOO. I MEAN, I'M OKAY, I THINK, WITH JUST DOING WHAT'S HERE IN FRONT OF US, BUT I THINK IT'S BROUGHT TO LIGHT THAT WE NEED TO HAVE MORE CONVERSATION, AND WE CAN LOOK AT THE TERMS AS A WHOLE AND THE OVERALL what we're trying to do in the Texas Avenue area and what puts them in the best position, the prime location to get the most foot traffic. That's what we want. Make sure they have enough parking, all those things. So it sounds like it needs to be a much larger conversation than this one item pulled from consent agenda. But for tonight, I think, I mean, if both sides have already, they've already agreed to this lease agreement, I'm okay with it as written and then we can continue talking about it.

Yeah, I can agree with that.

It's five years. I mean, that gives us time to have more conversations.

Mr. Mayor. Yes, ma'am. So, Ms. Presley, I think you've heard that we do want to make sure that y'all have the facility that not only y'all, but we all as a city can be proud of. And so if you can just trust us that we, you know, we're going to work on maybe extending or a bigger and better place for the museum, then just work with our legal department and our staff to ensure that we get all the right information.

Okay, and all this did come up with the parking situation because I had contacted several of y'all about the parking. We've never, I mean, like I said, I've been there 17 years. We've never had an issue with parking until the building next door was leased out to so many different entities. And I politely walked over and asked them to please park on the back half because when the school children come, the school bus, it needs that front part. They park parallel. And they don't abide by anything I ask. But anyway, okay. Well, we appreciate all the help you can give us. Thank you. That's a question I've got.

What's that side street with the side parking? I can't think of the name of the street.

Gailiard.

With the parking that's connected to the museum, can it be dedicated museum parking only?

That was one of my questions.

And that may be something, again, I'm with my colleague. I think tonight we can go ahead and do the... what's proposed here but give direction to staff that we'd really look like to look at some options not necessarily in the immediate near future but don't let it fall off the page to come back as can we dedicate some of that parking so it's museum parking only in some other issues, extending the lease or whatever. But it's something that, again, the facility's been there forever. There's been a whole lot of folks go through it. It used to be part of that process. And if you've never been through it, I suggest you go through it. It's really a historical issue.

Yes, I am. Just to clarify, so the original lease had parking dedicated to the museum behind the building in the back parking lot.

Correct.

This is designating spots along Gell Yard for the purposes of the museum. So it's set up that five are singularly dedicated. The rest of them are available for dedication for special events by them placing signage out there.

My position would be there's only like about 10 or 15 spots anyway. There's not a whole lot of parking along Geller and

We were trying to be good neighbors.

I got it.

That facility has parking also on the side and in the back, and they do not use it.

Yeah. So there's parking available. There's just more readily available parking on Gators. So it's like, no, that's going to be my side would be that's for the museum. But, again, we're not making the decision. It's just something to look at. Can we do that? And if we can, maybe build it into the extension process.

Yeah. Thank you very much. Thank you. Good deal. I need a motion for 6B. Motion to approve 6B. Second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. 6D, the proposed ordinance authorizes an agreement between the City of Baytown and Pyro Shows of Texas for firework displays during the city's Juneteenth and July 4th celebrations. Mr. Clifford Hatch. Oh, man, you moved on me. He's trying to hide. He was.

Just here to answer any questions.

How much are we talking about for Juneteenth?

Juneteenth is about $8,000. Okay. Not much. No, not much. So Juneteenth is a cake show, if you're familiar with fireworks. A cake show is a prepackaged show that they bring out and they set up and they shoot off. They're much cheaper. You can put them a lot closer to the audience because the fallout zone is not as much. Like a 4th of July fireworks show, they hand pack on site and then you have to have a fallout radius for 100 feet per one-inch shell. We shoot up to five-inch shells in Baytown. So we have to have a 500-foot fallout radius, so that's why we shoot them at Goose Creek Park. Those are much more expensive than the cake shows. Cake shows are essentially what you can buy, you know, residentially, but put together and put on a timer and choreographed to music.

Have we always had the fireworks with Juneteenth?

Yes. Not always. The first year we didn't. Every year since then we've had it. It's over five years.

And the reason I bring it up is... This 4th of July is the 250th year, and it had been a significant amount of money. I was going to push hard that we need to move that to the 250th celebration. $8,000 is not that much. I'm just concerned we're having fireworks displayed three weeks in advance, basically, of the 4th of July. So we're kind of double dipping.

I would like to say that staff's already kind of... enhance the fireworks show on the 4th of July, not by Mission Creek, but by shortening the proposed time down to 14 minutes. It was two minutes shorter, so it was 16 minutes, 14 minutes now. That would allow us to shoot the same amount of fireworks, but get more bang for your buck, if you will, to have a greater finale at the end of it. That was a pun. Pardon the pun. That was pretty good. I didn't pardon it. It was good. But the... The grand finale has already been enhanced for the 4th of July as well.

So we're shortening it, but it's enhanced? That's correct.

Shorten it by two minutes. If you ever go to, so we actually, our fireworks show is bigger than Liberty now, supposedly, per our contractor, and we look at ways to enhance it every year. We felt that some years, Kind of relatively recently, the firework, you know, it would shoot a firework and it would be a second, and then shoot a firework, second, shoot. Now it will be a lot more shots going up a lot quicker. So their opinion was that it would feel like much more of a grand show. And it has an extremely enhanced finale.

You know, I'm going to say that if you haven't been to Juneteenth, Come out to Juneteenth and experience it. It's very enjoyable. And the fireworks show it's almost right in your face. I'm going to do like Jason and say, for the sake of words, it doesn't rain cake on you. That's just the term that they use, like pancake, right?

Yeah, it's a cake. It's a box. It's like a cake show. But it is. That's a term.

It's more up close and impersonal. I learned something new.

Cake show. Fireworks.

But it's something to experience. Yes, sir.

I know we've talked about this, and I kind of want to make a comment. I heard some of the complaints about last year's fireworks show that we moved it to Goose Creek Park and you couldn't see it. You couldn't see it from some parts of where you normally could. If you were farther down towards the bottom of the creek, a lot of people kind of sit more towards the end, you couldn't see it because of the tree line.

Unfortunately, we used to shoot them at Lee High School in between their softball field and their football field, but they recently turfed, and so we understand why they don't want Why they don't want us to burn their field up? Right next to their new investment. So we had to move to Goose Creek Park.

Yeah, we moved to Goose Creek Park. It does kind of block a little bit. You couldn't see it. I mean, from some of the areas, you kind of had to get, it was weird.

But that too is why we added more five-inch shells. Because five-inch shells, they go higher as well.

Yeah, that was kind of the, oh, some people, yeah, because a lot of people were like, wait a minute, and then they had to move around. Like, you could see it from the parking lot of the old Fools House parking lot, but you can't see it from Bicentennial like you used to be able to. Yeah.

Anything else? I need a motion. Move to approve 6D.

Second.

All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. We are on to appointments. Consider a resolution authorizing three appointments to the Community Development Advisory Committee. Mr. Scribner.

THANK YOU. YOU'VE BEEN PRESENTED WITH I THINK THREE NAMES. WE HAD THREE APPLICANTS. THANK YOU.

IT COULD HAVE FALLEN. THERE'S A CAP ON IT. IT'S PLASTIC.

SO WE ARE ASKING YOU TO CONSIDER THREE APPOINTMENTS TONIGHT. ACTUALLY, TWO OF THOSE ARE APPOINTMENTS. I KNOW THAT WE HAD A CONVERSATION WITH COUNCILMEMBER GRIFFITH ABOUT THE DISTRICT 3 APPOINTMENT THAT IS CURRENTLY THERE. SO I THINK, WAS ALL THE INFORMATION PROVIDED TO YOU?

EXCELLENT. We have the names, yeah. So let's look at this at-large position first.

Yeah, I'd like to nominate Cynthia Coker for the at-large position.

Good deal.

Sorry. Did I take one from you? That's all right.

Did you have a chance to visit with her?

Yes.

Okay.

Were you going to put her on on five? I mean, were you going to put her on? She's in six. Oh, she's in six? Oh, I'm sorry.

I didn't have a chance to visit with her, but we did. I'll support that. Yes. Did you currently have an appointment first? No, I was going to call her, but didn't get a chance and visit with her. I know she's been very active in other organizations, but if you visit with her, you're comfortable with it, I will support the nomination.

I apologize. That's all right. I will never do that again to you. My bad.

Yeah, he's going to kill me next time. Ms. Coker is just popular. That's what it is. Everybody wants to be cut. Yeah, I actually took a picture with her today.

Yeah. So I need a motion for the at-large position.

Motion to approve Council Member James' appointment of Cynthia Coker to the at-large position.

Second. Second. ALL IN FAVOR? AYE. ANY OPPOSED? MOTION CARRIES.

KEN? I REACHED OUT TO MS. WHITELEY. SHE'S HERE. I THINK THAT'S COOL WHEN COMMITTEE APPOINTMENTS SHOW UP TO BE NOMINATED. SHOWS THEIR COMMITMENT. AND I'LL BE NOMINATING MS. WHITLEY TO THE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE. SHE HAS A LONG EXPERIENCE SERVING ON COMMITTEES THROUGHOUT THE CITY, WHETHER IT BE THROUGH THE SCHOOL DISTRICT, AND SHE'S VERY EXCITED TO BE ON BOARD AND BE PART OF THAT TEAM. SO I MOTION TO APPROVE STEPHANIE WHITLEY TO THE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE.

SECOND.

All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you both for committing your time to this committee and to the city. Do you want to have him stand up? I don't know. They may not want to stand up.

Would you all want to stand up and be acknowledged? Hey, thank you for serving. Thank you, sister.

Thank you. I would just point out we still have a District 5. We still have a District 5 appointment that needs to be done. So if you know of anybody, please send them in our direction. We'll get them in the system.

I was going to say the same thing. Thank you.

I've got an opening, but no applications currently. So anyone in District 5 out there or watching online, get your application in. Reach out.

There you have it. Now we're on to the city manager's report, Mr. Jason Reynolds.

All right, Mayor and Council, at this year's National Association of Government Communications Conference, the City of Baytown received national recognition for several public engagement initiatives led by our public affairs team. Most notably, Baytown earned two first-place awards for the Baytown Listening Tour and Reynolds on the Record, programs built around our commitment to transparency, accessibility, and direct communication with residents. Jason Calder was a nominee for the Rising Star Award. This reflects our continued goal of making sure people everywhere have the opportunity to hear about Baytown and work happening in our community. And so a big thank you to Thomas and Jason and the team. And I think one of the biggest compliments they received at this at this conference was that somebody was actually ecstatic that they got first place over us and that Thomas and Jason actually took that as a very big compliment that they got second and somebody was bragging that they finally beat Baytown for the award. So great work that they're doing. I'd like to recognize Louis Torres with Parks Rec and Tourism for graduating from University of Houston with a bachelor's degree in media production with a concentration in digital cinematography.

Words, man. Like you put all that in on purpose or what?

Okay. Congratulations on this significant milestone and keep up the great work. So great photo as well. And I guess go Cougs.

Yep.

All right. I'd also like to recognize our PWE department on the following achievements. Giovanna Arguelles recently attended the Texas Water Conference and gave a presentation on the Progressive Design-Build Project on the Bawa East Expansion. So great job, Giovanna. Is she here today? Oh, OK. Well earned. Yeah. Thank you, DZ. All right. Several staff members attended the Hard Hats and Heels Benefiting Habitat for Humanity event. Great photo there. So thank you for doing a great job representing our city and please pass that on as well. And PWE staff also recently participated in a barbecue cook-off. Congratulations to PWE barbecue team for taking 14th place overall and a fourth place win in the dessert competition. So a special shout out to Donald Curry, Duck, for making the cheesecake on site. And great stuff. And I know you all love competing. And I... I want to give a shout out to Sharon. Sharon has stepped in for a bit in helping the public works and engineering team through the transition with the public works director search. And so this is Sharon's last day. She loved y'all so much that she wanted to come to one last council meeting to hear y'all. And so thank you, Sharon, for all that you've done for Baytown and leading the PWA team. I also want to do a shout out to the Parks, Rec and Tourism team. A few months ago, approximately, I guess late March, early April, some council members came to me and said, hey, I really want to do something with the 250th anniversary. for Baytown and Cliff and his team have always do a great job. And if y'all notice on the doors, there's like little notes for the 250th. You will soon see banners around the city along, I think there's a billboard planned as well And it's just Baytown showing our love. And, you know, I need the citizens to know that your council members are trying to represent. They hear your voice and they are working with the team to do what we can to really recognize Baytown and our nation. And so thanks to Cliff and your team for getting that done. And they look fantastic. And please check it out. The thing I love the most about that little note, it says love Baytown on the bottom corner of it. So it's pretty cool. And then I do want to know, there's been a lot of conversation about apartments and just the environment of apartments around the community recently. I do want you all to know that we have currently planned on the July 9th, July 9th? July 9th council meeting that we will have a work session here to discuss what the city can and can't do. I will say that the mayor asked me probably six or seven months ago, it might have been longer than that, Mayor, honestly, If we can have somebody come present what tenants' rights they have at an apartment complex, I don't remember why that was sidetracked, but something came up during this and was pushed. This will most likely, just for full transparency, this first meeting will probably be something that's in executive session because there are legal ramifications that we have to talk about. but we will try to put out what we can and can't do right after that work session for the public. But I do want the citizens to know that we are very aware of it. This is something that's been ongoing for quite some time, and we are going to have a work session here at council to discuss what the city can and can't do with apartment complexes. That's all I have, Mayor and Council.

Thank you. Next, we will have Councilmember Report District 3 from Councilmember Ken Griffith, who also as a library card carrying member.

As of last month, I'm a library card holder, and I'm proud of it. And thank you for bringing that up again to embarrass me. I'm going to wrap up my District 3 report, and I have a special District 3 spotlight afterwards, but I'm going to start with my report. Sam's Club, thanks for the pictures again. It's well underway, currently under permit for bakery, cafe, pharmacy and optical plus the fuel station. These are all nearly halfway complete. The main building in the center of the complex, which will host HomeGoods, Barnes & Noble, Harvard East, Burlington, Five Below and Ross is also nearly halfway complete. The northernmost building which will house Dick's Sporting Goods and EOS Fitness is also underway and nearly halfway complete. Utilities, landscaping, and other site work for the entire project are ongoing. Out on Garth Road, The contractors continue to stormwater sewer installation north of Texas Roadhouse and debris removal from existing pavement sanitary sewer installation north and south of the funeral home is scheduled to begin soon. The I-10 lift station construction continues as well. New educational murals by local artist Whitney Hayden are being added through the Baytown Nature Center to enhance the visitor experience. The murals are designed to add educational value and improve photo opportunities as a destination for outdoor recreation and nature tourism along the Texas Gold Coast. So I'm looking forward to seeing that at our Nature Center. The 2026 Wild Wheels Family Bike Ride was held May 16th at the Baytown Nature Center as a free family event promoting outdoor recreation, bicycle safety, and healthy living. A total of 55 riders participated. The event was a partnership between Parks and Recreation, Municipal Court, Police Department, Bay Area cycling and the one ride one through the office of Rodney Ellis. Thank you for all the departments who competed in that construction of the new greenhouse at the Baytown Nature Center has been completed. The project is currently awaiting final plumbing and electrical connections, which have been delayed due to recent weather. Once operational, the greenhouse will support educational programming, native plant propagation, and conservative efforts at the Nature Center. Another beautiful piece to add to that amenity. Which brings me to my District 3 spotlight. Last Memorial Day weekend, as many of you were aware, the Lakewood Pool Club held their annual their annual free day at the pool that's one it happens once a year and they offer free interest to their pool club to swim and sign up for a season pass for all the residents of baytown and beyond the baytown pool club has been in operation since 1948 that's as old as baytown 78 years old The pool is operated by James Springer, who we have here, and Frank McKay, who have volunteered countless hours to make sure that pool is operating through Can y'all come up?

Can y'all come up? Because I've got to ask some questions. Rain, sleet, or snow.

Yeah, rain, sleet, or snow. These two have brought that pool back to life through several hurricanes. As far as my understanding, after hurricanes, it becomes a sanctuary for a lot of the bay life, crabs and barnacles. Is that correct, Mr. McKay?

Absolutely. We had... We had oysters in the pool after Ike. In fact, we found a fiddler crab in the baby pool this week. So being on that diet, ditch right next to the bay. We have a lot of wildlife, otters, that kind of thing.

Yeah, so it's really amazing the amount of work that's required to get that pool back and running. That place serves as a point of pride for me because I grew up in that area and I used to, believe it or not, I was on the Baytown swim team and that's where we would practice every morning at the Baytown pool. So that place holds a A REALLY SPECIAL PLACE IN MY HEART. AND I'M SO HAPPY THAT WE HAVE NEIGHBORS IN DISTRICT THREE THAT HAVE A SENSE OF CIVIC PRIDE TO KEEP THAT RUNNING FOR THE ENTIRE COMMUNITY TO ENJOY. ALSO, WE HAVE JAMES SPRINGER, WHO'S WORKED COUNTLESS HOURS IN THE HEAT AND SWEAT. It's also managed by a young man named Holden Dunson who manages the pool during the summer months to make sure everyone's safe and everyone's paying. The pool gets revenue primarily through memberships, correct? There's a membership of $200. And for the, I think there's this membership discount for firefighters, veterans, and grandparents over 65 who need a place to take their kids in the summer.

Teachers, firefighters, policemen, grandma, just about everybody. Just about.

Yep. So they're... PRIMARY REVENUE COMES FROM THOSE MEMBERSHIPS AND CONCESSIONS. ALSO, THEY'VE TEAMED UP WITH A LOT OF OUR IDA, OUR COMMUNITY INDUSTRY PARTNERS. EXXON MOBILE HAS CONTRIBUTED AS WELL TO THE POOL. THEIR LAST, THEIR FREE DAY USUALLY GETS ACCOMPANIED WITH A FREE HAMBURGER BY BAYTOWN SUNBURGER. SO THIS IS A COLLABORATION OF A PRIVATE PRIVATE CITIZENS WHO HAVE GOTTEN THE COMMUNITY TOGETHER TO PIT SOMETHING, TO KEEP SOMETHING GREAT IN BAYTOWN FOR EVERYBODY TO JOIN, SOMETHING TO DO IN THE SUMMER. WE HEAR ALL THE TIME THERE'S NOTHING TO DO, YOU KNOW, THERE'S NOTHING TO DO. AND THESE GUYS ARE, YOU KNOW, TOOK IT AMONG THEMSELVES AN INITIATIVE TO KEEP THAT GOING. AND THAT JUST SPEAKS VOLUMES TO ME. SO WITH ALL THAT SAID, IS THERE ANYTHING YOU WANT TO ADD, MR.

You know, James and I, we've been doing this for 20 some odd years, and our kids are way past the age of swimming every day and working there, but we think this is such a strong part of Baytown and for the community, because Russell Hammond posted today something on the Lakewood Pool, and you would not believe how many people said, I grew up there and I had the best time in the summer. And we're building memories to these children. And it's a chance to get kids away from the phones and to do something outside. And so we think it's a really beneficial thing to our community and to the social fabric of our community. So that's why we're just so involved in it, because we think it's imperative to our community.

Excellent. And thank you for that. And as a special gift, I wanted to spotlight and give my token appreciation to all the efforts that you guys have done to keep that pool running. It's our community spotlight recognition from District 3. And this says, for your outstanding commitment to improving our community through its selfless contributions, leadership, and tireless work to enhance the lives of others, you embody the spirit of civic responsibility. Your dedication has made a lasting impact. AND WE ARE GRATEFUL FOR YOUR CONTINUED EFFORTS TO SERVE OUR COMMUNITY. SO I JUST WANT TO PRESENT THIS WITH YOU AND MR. SPRINGER. AND ALSO THANK SARAH GRAHAM FOR HELPING ME GET THIS TO COME TOGETHER.

YOU KNOW, WHILE THEY'RE GETTING READY TO TAKE THE PICTURE, I'M JUST GOING TO COMMENT AND SAY I'VE GONE OUT THERE. for about eight years now for the pool, the free day at the pool. And this year, when I went out, it was raining. And I remember saying, man, I don't know if anybody's gonna be here. Parking lot was packed when the pool, and it was raining. I don't know if they were there for the pool or if they were there for the hamburgers. I was there for the hamburgers. But they are doing an awesome job. To say that it was full during a stormy day speaks volumes about what they're doing. And the Sea Scouts took time to actually paint the place. I saw the pictures. You saw the pictures. Excellent job.

Let me just say, Ken's been coming out every year. He's always there for us. But Charles... He supported us financially. And I want to thank Charles for his help in supporting the waters and for opening day. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Ken.

Now, what you all have been waiting for, I would imagine she decided to stay for come to this last council meeting to hear what was going on at the library because she plans on coming back and visiting our library. Am I right? She's nodding yes. So we're going to start with, we're going to go through June and June 1st is on a Monday. So you have all weekend to plan to attend some of these activities at our wonderful library, the best library in the world. Monday, June 1st, 10.30 a.m., Baby Time, 2 p.m., Tween, Pokemon Play, and that's also the start of Summer Reading. June 2nd, 10.30 a.m., Pre-K Story Time, 6 p.m., Crochet Club, and 6 p.m. also, Evening Story Time. Wednesday, June 3rd, 10.30 and 11.30, Bilingual Story Time, 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., Seven sessions of HMNS Megalodon versus T-Rex. Is it like a cage ring fight? People are going to be dressed up in Megalodon costumes and T-Rex costumes? No, they will be fossils. That one got moved to the bed of T-Rex. Oh, okay. Well, hopefully it's changed online so people won't show up looking for a fight between T-Rex and a Megalodon. Thursday, June 4th, 10.30 and 11.30 a.m., toddler time, 5.30 p.m., adult craft night. Monday, June 8th, 10.30 a.m., baby time, 2.00 p.m., tween board games. June 9th, 10.30 a.m., pre-K story time, 6.00 p.m., teen architecture, Wiz Temple of Doom. June 10th, 10.30 and 11.30 a.m., bilingual story time, 2.00 p.m., firefighter craft day. 5 p.m., Tech Night, 3D Printing, VR and Robotics. Thursday, the 11th, 10.30 and 11.30, Toddler Time and Friday on the 12th, 10 a.m., Friday Morning Book Club. 11.30 a.m., Adult Coloring. 10 a.m., The Classics Club on the Saturday the 13th. The 15th, 10.30 a.m., Baby Time, 2 p.m., Tween Hot Wheels Play. Teens play with Hot Wheels? Okay. On the 16th, 10.30 a.m., Pre-K Storytime, 6 p.m., Teen Art Night, Dinosaur Skeleton Models. On the 17th, 10.30 a.m., and 11.30 a.m., Bilingual Storytime, 2 p.m., Bubbles and Chalk. On the 18th, 10.30 a.m. and 11.30 a.m., toddler time. On the 19th, 10.30 a.m., tech morning, 3D printing, virtual reality, and robotics for beginners. On the 22nd, 10.30 a.m., baby time, 2 p.m., twin stem airplane launch. 10.30 a.m. on the 23rd, you have 6 p.m., teen dinosaur trivia. On the 24th at 1030 and 1130 a.m., you have bilingual story time, 2 p.m., Public Works Fund Day. Are we going to have people out here filling potholes? What is that about? That's not the plan? But what is it? Okay, good deal. 5 p.m. Tech Night 3D printing and virtual reality on the 25th, 10.30 and 11.30 a.m. toddler time, 5.30 p.m., Diamond Dot Earrings. On the 27th, that's Saturday, 1 p.m., Hurricanes Get Ready. 29th, 10.30 a.m., Baby Time. On the 30th, 10.30 a.m., Pre-K Story Time. 6 p.m., Teen Game Night Board Games. And if you want to hear what's going on in July, show back up to our July council meetings and I will do you all the pleasure of reading what's going on at our library. Any questions or comments?

How much are library cards?

I don't know.

They're free.

So if it's free, my motto is, if it's free, give me three. It is 8.12 p.m., and we will recess into and convene an executive session pursuant to Texas Government Code Sections 551.087 to deliberate the purchase, exchange, lease, or value of real property and or to deliberate regarding economic development negotiations.

Thank you so much.

I know your name is Rita Cause your perfume is smelling sweet Since when I saw you down on the floor Stay with me. Stay with me. For tonight you better stay with me.

Yes. And we want to hear some Journey for karaoke and some Bon Jovi living on the prayer.

Stevie Wonder also.

Let's do it. But we want Journey Bon Jovi.

I now reconvene our open meeting of the Baytown City Council at 8.38 p.m. and announce that in accordance with Section 551.102 of the Texas Government Code, no action was taken in executive session. Having taken care of everything on this agenda, I now adjourn this meeting.

So, Chief, we're here in the Public Safety Center. Talk to me about this time where we're about to come into this building. It seems to be an exciting time for the police department.

Well, it's a very exciting time not only for the police department and the city government, but also the entire city of Baytown. This represents not only the professionalism of the job that our officers