City Council - Regular Meeting

Regular council meeting for the city of Copper's Cove held September 15, 2026 is called to order at 6.05 PM. Madam Secretary, please stand for the invocation by Ryan, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

Please join me to pledge our nation's flag. 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. And to the Texas flag. Honor the Texas flag. I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible. Please be seated. Madam Secretary, please call the roll.

Here. All right, everyone's present. We move to item D, announcements. Ms. Rokas?

Thank you, sir. Thank you. I have nothing, sir.

No announcements. All right. We move to item E, Citizens Forum.

All right. Is there anyone to speak during Citizens Forum?

Is there anyone else to speak during Citizens Forum?

Anyone else to speak during Citizens Forum?

And to you, Hawk, if you can't handle your job... Sir, if you want to address the council as a whole, that's fine. Okay. But not individually.

Do you have a matter to discuss with counsel?

Sir, you've had your five minutes. Okay, sir.

I'm going to ask you to sit down. That's the third time.

Sir. All right, that concludes all the time for citizens forum. We move to item F, consent agenda.

Council, you have five items on the consent agenda. Is there any item you wish to pull and consider separately? All right. If not, is there a motion to approve the consent agenda?

Mary Ancy? Yes. I'd like to make a motion that we approve consent agenda. consent agenda items F1 through F5. Second.

Motion made by Mr. Smith, seconded by Ms. Hogan. All right. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? The motion carries. We move to item G, public hearings in action.

All right, the time is 9, excuse me, 6.45. We'll open the public hearing.

All right. Council, you have any questions specifically for Bobby? Is the applicant here? Yes. Would you like to speak? I would.

Thank you. Council, you have any questions?

Is there anyone from the public that wishes to speak for or against this item? All right, the time is 6.49. We will close the public hearing. Council, what is your pleasure?

Second. Motion made by Ms. Hart. I tried so hard to get you guys separated. Seconded by Mr. Treadway. We'll give him all the glory. All right. Council, any other questions, discussion?

All right. Anybody else? All right. We have a motion and a second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. We move on to action items. Action item number one.

Mr. Mayor, I just got three questions. First of all, thank you for the presentation. Appreciate it. So the 7%, if it's approved tonight or start again, you said 1st of January? Yes, sir. Okay, and there's no backdating on previous employees or anything?

Okay, thank you. The second question is, sir, when they get ready to retire, it's still the same process. They can pick which type of retirement plan they want, correct? Okay, now here's the big question because I've been asking this for several years when I work for another city. Have y'all thought about or looking at the future, not what the city invests, but what the employee, you know, comes out of their paycheck. Is there any future plans that they could put more into this retirement and draw the interest off of it? where they currently draw on what's going on there.

Any questions for Jeff? All right. Is there action to be taken on this item?

Mr. Mayor? Yes. I make a motion that we approve item H1, Ordinance 2026-31, approving the Texas Municipal Retirement System contribution rate level for the City of Coppice Cove, Jeff David, Director of Human Resources.

Motion by Mr. Hawk, second by Mr. Treadway. Any other discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed?

All right. Let's move to action item H2.

DAVID BURRAGE. Counsel, any questions for the fire chief? OK. Is there action to be taken on the site?

Mr. Mayor, I make a motion to authorize City Manager to execute an interlocal agreement with Copper's Cove Independent School District for emergency medical service training. Second.

Motion made by Mr. Treadway, seconded by Ms. Strophus. Yes. All right. Any other questions or comments? All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. We move to item H3.

All right. Council, any questions for Jeff?

Do you have any comments? All right. Anything else? All right. Council, is there action to be taken on this item?

Mr. Mayor? Yes. I would like to make a motion that we reject all bids and put it out for another bid. Second.

Motion made to reject all bids and re-bid the project.

All right. Second. And there was a second by Ms. Oh.

Me. This time. Well, I think Rita was in there, too.

So we're voting on a motion to reject all the bids and re-bid this project.

Yeah, and is it open for discussion now?

Okay. And I'm not sure what the process is, and I know that they work hard gathering these bids. This one seems high to me again, and it's the second one in the last month. And I think that the process or whatever we're doing to gather these bids, we may need the city building department to send out an email to all the builders that are registered in Copper's Cove or all the contractors that are registered and get more bids. Because I think this is on the high side for a 50 by 80 metal building with 200 amp service to it. I know there's concrete work and fence and all that but Just in my opini

You might want to hear that. We've got a motion.

I'd be willing to hear it, Mr. Mayor. Good.

TODD BANDUCCI- All right. Any questions specifically?

TODD BANDUCCI- Mr. Mayor, I have one question, but I guess basically for Jeff. Could we consider looking at a different location, or does it specifically need to be in that location?

I appreciate it. I was just asking. Thank you, Jeff.

So Mr. Mayor, I do have one other question. So this is going to be a complete turnkey where you're overseeing it and just got the local subcontractors coming to perform the work.

I would like to make one comment. Sure. Thank you. for coming up and speaking. And I thank you for also pointing out that the cost of things are increasing. I know you are also incurring increasing costs. Therefore, it is spread about. When people want a job done, it costs more. So thank you for coming up here.

KEN HOWARD JR.: All right, council. Anyone else? Do you have something, Jack? No. OK. All right. So the motion is to reject the bids and re-bid the project, basically. All right. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Nay. All right. Roll call.

Nay. What are we going on? I reject. Aye.

Mr. Mayor, I make a motion to award bid 2026-05-54, the athletic storage building project amount of $454,000 to Seneca Construction Management, LLC, an authorized city manager to execute a contract for the construction of the same.

Motion made by Mr. Treadway, seconded by Ms. Strophus. OK. All right. Any other discussion? All right, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Nay. All right, roll call.

All right. Counsel, any questions for John? All right. There are four applicants. One of them is with Mr. Martinez, who's already on the board and, if I'm not mistaken, has already completed the Open Meetings Act training. He has, yes. OK. All right. So you have four applicants. take nominations for name and specific position. Yes.

Mr. Mayor? Oh, I second. Excuse me. All right.

Mr. Mayor, I make a motion to appoint Ashley Lyons as the director of EDC for a three-year term beginning 1 October 2026. I second.

OK. Motion and second. Any other nominations? All right. We'll close the nominations. First one, Anthony Martinez for position five. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right. And position two is Ashley Lyons. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? OK. Thank you. Thank you, Sean. Thank you, Mr. Martinez and Ms. Lyons for volunteering. All right, that concludes all the action items for tonight. We do have reports from staff outside entities and advisory committees and boards.

Did you have a comment? You're not missing. Okay. All right. Thank you, Keith. Thank you all very much. Y'all have a good evening. Thank you. All right, we move to item J, items for future agendas. Strokas?

Strachan? Nothing, Mr. Mayor. Not at the moment, sir. Nothing, Mr. Mayor.

OK. All right, we do have one executive session item.

All right, the time is 7.45. We adjourn an executive session. Thank you. All right, the time is 7.59. We reconvene into open session for possible action resulting from any item posted and legally discuss an executive session. Council, is there any action to be taken?

I have a motion. I recommend the City Council approve the real estate sale contract repurchase of 447 Robert Griffin III, subject to the City Manager finalizing with the City Attorney's approval. Second. Second.

Motion made by Mr. Hales, seconded by Mr. Treadway. Any other discussion? All right, hearing none, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? The motion carries. All right, the time is 8 o'clock. We stand adjourned.