City Council - Regular Meeting

Today's invocation will be given by Paul Adipe, I'm sure I messed that up, of St. Jude Thaddeus Catholic Church of Beaumont. If everyone would please silence your cell phone, and if you so choose, please stand and remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance.

And now we have a City of Beaumont communication update.

Thank you. At the close of the meeting today, City Council will recess in the executive session for consider matters related to discuss or deliberate economic development negotiations in accordance with Section 551.087 of the government code to which specifically Project Oscar. Now we're going to move into public comments. Now's the time for any citizen who wishes to speak. You may make public comments on consent agenda and regular agenda items one through four or any other topic. However, items five through seven have already been heard in public hearing. Therefore, citizens cannot speak on t

Okay. No other public comments? All right. Thank you. Is there a motion and a second for approval of the consent agenda? That was Councilman Durio and then Councilwoman Sherwood seconded. Any discussion? Remove item D for discussion.

And I had a question about item F. Yeah, me too. We can remove... Can we move item F as well for discussion?

All right. Are you good with amending your motion?

Amended to remove D and F. Move D and F. All right, so there is a motion for the consent agenda, removing items D and F. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? The motion is carried. May we run into item D, please, that we have that reading.

What are we approving? I thought we had removed it.

For discussion to have this. Because it was asked to be removed. To be discussed. So we're going to get a motion and then have discussion on it.

I'll make a motion to deny the purchase of this vehicle and have staff look at purchasing a used cement mixer and the options for that.

ALL RIGHT. THERE IS A MOTION AND A SECOND TO DENY ITEM D. MAYOR? YES.

Yeah. We have a motion to deny right now. Now we can have that discussion. Right. Okay.

Well, I'd like to go first then. Go ahead. Yes. So if we're going to buy a new cement mixer at $220,000 and borrow money for 25 or 30 years... To pay that, there ain't no way a cement mixer is going to last 25 to 30 years. So that to me is a problem right there. I would rather us go out and I looked online last night. There's a cement mixer here in town for sale, a 2018 model for $70,000. I would rather us use a tax note or some other means where we're only borrowing the money to purchase that $70,000 for maybe five years as opposed to paying interest for 30 years. on a brand new unit. And aga

Councilman Durio, I'll get to you, Councilman.

What do we use that truck? Because I've seen local cement companies working on City of Beaumont projects. So what do we use the concrete mixer? I have to have our own concrete mixer. We're already using local cement trucks. What is it used for?

Yes, ma'am. You kind of answered it, but I just want to be clear. The current concrete truck is inoperable. It cannot be repaired.

But you just stated the last time we purchased one, we purchased a used truck. And I think we're buying the new because we have the bond money and because we didn't have the bond money before, right?

But you would agree with me you can purchase a used cement mixer and get a used cement mixer with a cost savings for the city that would work in this situation and get our needs done? Well, you can buy anything used. Anything out there can be used.

I get that. But you would agree with me, you can go out on the market and find a used cement mixer to achieve the needs that we need to get this done with the city and get something quality with a substantial cost savings to taxpayers.

And again, the last time you bought a cement mixer for the city, it was used?

Thank you, sir. Any other questions? Yes, Councilman Williams.

About how many hours a year do we put on our truck, the cement mixer currently?

Do you have any idea on the type of warranty that comes with a new cement mixer?

My question was if we bought it new versus purchasing the used one, the time frame on turnaround, right? Because if you need it now and it's going to take you three bids and so on and so forth, and I guess go and inspect the truck and make sure it's the time. Does the time frame going to be affected by you having to go and get a used truck?

Thank you. Yes, Councilman Durio, then Councilman Turner.

Is this a cement mixer? Is that something that can be leased? And would that be more cost effective leasing it than buying it outright?

Thank you, sir. Thank you. So right now we have a motion to deny the purchase of the cement mixer. Is there any? Yes, Councilman Turner.

Councilman Hill, you shared the warranty. I know there's a question about the warranty. And it says, the only warranties on this vehicle sold hereby are made by those manufacturers. Seller expressly disclaims all warranties either express or implied, including implied warranty on mechanical or fitness for purpose. Seller neither assumes nor authorizes any other person to assume presently or exist that may occur in the vehicle unless they are specifically covered by a written manufacturer's warranty or by a service contract with the seller. the described vehicle or component parts which deliver

Yes, ma'am. I feel better if I've seen that.

Well, we've got a motion right now to deny it. So it could always be brought back or whatever motion could be brought back. But right now, the motion would be to deny the purchase. If there's not any other discussion, I'm going to call the vote. Were you turning your mic on? Okay. All those in favor of...

So what do we want to do if we want to table this? Make a motion. Do we have to first change the motion that's already out there, or?

I'm fine with tabling it. I would like for staff to research either a used or a lease or other options that would deliver some cost savings. That's all I'm asking. I think it could be achieved by either the vote to deny and they represent it, or we could table it. I'm happy with either one. I just don't want us going out tomorrow and spending a quarter of a million dollars on a cement mixer.

What kind of delay... With this cause, as far as actually being out there and pouring sidewalks and things that's part of the bond.

And lastly, with the table, can we just know the total number of costs and repairs that's been on this particular vehicle? You don't have to tell us today, but since we're tabling, I think there'd be some good information to know when you bring it back. We got a table. We haven't done that. Okay. Well, I'm just assuming. You're making a motion. Well, I'm making a motion to table it then.

All right. So we didn't need a second on that. So now we're just going to vote to table the purchase of a cement mixer.

So I'm a fair person to staff to Mr. Manager. What's a considerable amount of time for you to bring us back accurate information?

Okay, I would like a motion to make a motion to table it into the next meeting with the understanding that if necessary, it'll go to the following.

All right, with that, all those in favor of tabling the cement mixer, as Councilman Turner mentioned, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? The motion carries. Mr. City Manager, Item F, please.

Do we need to make a motion? We need a motion. So moved to deny. Second. There's been a motion and a second to deny. Is there any discussion?

I spoke to Chief some time ago, and since I've been on council in 2021, I know we're purchasing a new truck every year, and it takes at least two years to get the truck in service, correct? And I've been at three years. But I've been asking... At what point would it be that we wouldn't have to purchase a truck every year, especially with our budget being so tight this year?

Do we have any other station, maybe a reserve that we can supplement one year? I know we have several stations throughout the city of Beaumont and we have some reserves, but we're not saying permanently. We're just looking at some ways we can make it more efficient for this year.

Well, Councilwoman Sherwood, then Councilman Hilliard.

Well, that was my question about the reserve units versus active units. So, The reserve units are only used in emergency situations. That's what I'm trying to verify.

So just a clarification, if this was to be denied, there's not a savings in our current budget overrun of $4.5 million that would now only be $3.5 million. It won't impact this budget. And did we say earlier, even though I thought we had said this for 27, but in 29 we have some industrial abatement agreements coming offline that are going to

Yes, sir Okay, and but this was coming out of I thought when you read the proposition It was coming out of the capital fund for the fire department for this year. Is that not accurate? Future it's coming out of the capital fund for the fire department in 2029 future I

So today this wouldn't impact the 2026 budget whatsoever or the 2027 budget. It wouldn't hit the books to 2029.

Just one last point of question. At what point will you foresee versus every year? At what point will you foresee we will be at a place where our fleet would be more so functioning or maybe we can reduce it to every other year? Do you foresee it being every year from now to eternity?

Okay. All right. With that, with new information, our last motion was to deny this. Councilman Durio?

I just want to say that I used to ride Engine 10.

Most of my career. The one we're trying to get rid of. It's not as old as you, though, Chris. No, it's not. All right.

Thank you, Chief. Does that change the motion with the new information? All right, would you go ahead and make that change? Here's your motion. Okay. What did you mean? You still want a motion to deny the purchase?

My vote won't change, but I don't mind changing the motion for council. It's up to you. I'll make a motion to approve it for the sake of the conversation.

All right. It's been moved and seconded for the sake of the conversation. Any other... I'm feeling what you're saying. All those in favor of approval of the new purchase of a fire truck that will be at the 29 budget, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Nay. Motion is carried. Thank you. All right. At this point, may we move into agenda item number one?

Would anybody like to make a motion on item number one?

Make a motion so we can discuss it. I'll make a motion.

second there's been a motion and a second for i'm assuming that's approval of item number one uh and now we'll move into discussions and councilman williams um here on the sheet it calls it attainable workforce housing and earlier when the gentleman spoke he called it luxury apartments so which is it and and our our attainable workforce Housing units, typically luxury units, or can somebody?

Yes, Councilman Crenshaw. So are you competing with hotels? Are you competing with apartment complexes?

How do you reconcile Mr. Williams' question about luxury that you used the word earlier, and I don't see luxury in what's being proposed to us. What made you call it luxury earlier if your presentation to us doesn't use luxury?

And your proposal is to tear down the First Baptist Church? Yes. This would replace that? And Broadway around that area may be in one condition, but Broadway a little further down the road is a pretty rough road. Have you thought about and would you consider infrastructure improvements around the Broadway area in order to make this project work?

What other cities have you done an actual project as you're proposing here?

What other developments have you done that maybe not be exactly like this, but are in any way similar?

Would it be safe to say this is your first project of this type?

And have you pitched this to any other cities or where you're

Councilman Turner. Councilwoman Sherwood and Councilman Williams.

Go ahead. So, in this current phase, staff can jump in if maybe the question isn't attainable to him. In the current phase, if he doesn't move forward with the application process yeah we can probably approve it that doesn't mean the project would actually happen can someone explain how does work how does this work for people who are watching that maybe don't understand yes so i can let me just add that you know typically we look at housing tax credit projects in february of each year

I want that point of clarification. Earlier, staff made a presentation at a budget workshop that our median employment income salary was $46,000. Can somebody correct me if I'm wrong? For city employees. The median city employee income, right? City employees, yes, sir. So I just want to be mindful how we make comments about certain income levels. because that's the median income of our city employees. And we talk about the finances and how much certain projects actually cost in low income, because that's our median pay that we actually approve as a council to pay our own employees. So I just w

ALL RIGHT. COUNCILWOMAN SHERWOOD AND COUNCILMAN WILLIAMS.

SO IF SOMEBODY COULD SPEAK TO THE FACT THAT WE HAVE MORE THAN TWICE THE STATE AVERAGE throughout our city currently, are they consolidated to certain areas of town or is this all over the city? What type of properties are we talking about? Can we give locations or places that we know of that fit into this category? I need a little more information.

Okay. And so that brings me to my next question and kind of talking to Councilman Turner's point. People are calling me concerned that these are going to be projects, okay? I don't know if I need to break that down or if everybody understand what projects mean, but this is not a place where, now that I'm hearing a place of grace or abiding grace, these are not projects. These are apartment homes for people with a median income, which is in line with what our average city income, not necessarily a place for low income unless you consider current wages for city employees low income. I mean, unle

And so my next question is, can anybody tell me how long this property has been vacant or, uh, you know, been doing nothing?

Okay, so there's been no activity, no motion to buy, no motion to develop, nothing in the last 10 years at this location? Not to my knowledge. Okay, that brings me to my next question. Will the property builders be the property managers?

Now, can you speak to you said something about dedicated parking? I don't really see that on this rendering. But is there dedicated parking for these two hundred and?

Okay. And so based off, so I know these are just potential renderings or whatever, but are we talking about a property that will potentially look close to these renderings? Because we get things and, you know, it's like we don't want apartment style homes or we want cottage style homes or we want townhouse style homes or whatever. I guess we're pretty early in the

Thank you. Councilman Williams, your turn.

You have a proposed $60 million cost on the development for 220 units, and that's roughly... 270 grand per unit. That seems high. I mean, that seems very high.

Yes, Councilman Crenshaw, then Councilwoman Maduria.

When you talk about parking, I know where the church is, and then across the street from the church is the federal courthouse. Behind the federal courthouse is a very large parking area, and then there's the building that used to house, that's owned by the Austin family, I believe, that used to house several federal agencies. Is your purchase of this property, if this was to be approved, include that parking area that I'm talking about that's between the federal courthouse and the building that's owned by the Austin family?

The same owner. The same owner. Yes. So was that previously the same parking for the First Baptist Church? I'm assuming so. Okay.

the next building next door which once was a gym for the church if i'm not mistaken so that whole corner which was there okay and so your purchase of that three square miles is that what you said it was uh three yeah three acres yeah three acres three acres does not include the purchasing of the 300 uh unit uh car parking area that you're talking about Yes, it will. It will include that. Okay. So it's not just that three acres. Right. It's the parking area adjacent going towards the visitor's bureau. Correct. Okay. All right.

Yeah. And then previously, when a developer came to us, they were going to put affordable housing at Phelan and Major. and in order to justify that location was the fact that it was near a grocery store and that was a big deal to them and it helped get approval for the project by the state the fact that it its proximity there was to a grocery store uh i ultimately voted against that because i thought that it would create an even more difficult traffic area there. I don't think we have a real problem with traffic downtown, but I'm curious why Why you didn't, and I'm also happy to have things br

Ah. Ah, good information. Right. So you get a lower percentage and it doesn't require the...

And just as a point of information, Councilman Crenshaw, I don't believe that developer ended up making an application with the state for the property that you mentioned. So it gave them the opportunity to, but... Councilman, did you have... I'm going to get to you.

It was me. It was you. I can wait. I think y'all discussed it, but I was concerned. Did you have a price per door for these two? Because I'm concerned about it, but I'm concerned about these numbers. I mean, basically, like... per square foot. I guess maybe I'm not looking at it.

Okay, yeah, that's what I'm trying to get to. Right.

And the reason they're doing this 4% is that they're able to sell those, which will be able to offset that cost.

Yes, Councilman Turner. So I got some questions, but even if it's uncomfortable, it's best to ask to put it all out there. Currently, for staff, is this building red tagged?

So basically, what does orange tag mean? Explain to the public.

So basically, we're saying it's not in the minimum code standards currently? Okay, my second question would be, if it got to a red tag standard, since it's currently not in code to standard, roughly how much would it cost the city to knock it down?

much bigger building and just to put it out there because those are facts that needs to be discussed. My second thing is just to put it to bed because we're still dancing around this income thing. At this property, would you be setting housing vouchers?

Let me know if I'm going too far. Is that a stipulation you can put in if it is agreed upon to move forward with the application?

Yeah. And there's some misinformation in general. The city does not ever approve vouchers. That is done. The city has no say in whether people can use Section 8 vouchers.

The reason I asked, I just got a message about it and I did it.

There's a lot of misinformation because we've got to understand this is private property and this isn't city funds being spent on this property. So, you know, I know people have said to me, you know, we need to restore it. It's a historic building. The current owner, that would be for them to decide. The city has no intentions of purchasing that property. So what we're dealing with here is somebody that is looking to bring downtown living, which would be a number of people, which would also be on the tax rolls. I mean, it could be a Nez property, neighborhood empowerment zone, which could allo

And on that, Mr. Mayor, and it was also this point was brought up with Councilman Turner. And this is mainly maybe more of a question for staff. What is the economic impact? I could see where this could be great for downtown. So that makes me tend to want to support it. I also think about all the complaints that we get about downtown not having a police presence. and that it's not, you know, all the problems we have with all the buildings around here is because those building owners say that, you know, Beaumont police isn't actively patrolling downtown. And I'm not in any way saying that we're

And I understand that, and I'm not asking for a complete in-depth economic study. I'm just kind of hoping for maybe some ballpark figures here with, like you said, y'all had looked at similar projects in other downtowns. I mean, what are we talking about here just in tax revenue a year, 60 million times the 65 cents or 71? 414,000.

Right. And then have we looked at whether our infrastructure downtown could immediately handle this? Are we going to have to, like the project we just approved, over off of Northwest Parkway where it needs $12 million in infrastructure improvements that we're allowing the developer to get reimbursed after he spends the money. Are we going to have to do anything?

And there's currently a group of condominiums or townhomes right by the church, and it seems like it always has power. issues. They've had several power outages that have lasted several days and I can recall discussing that with energy. Have you looked at power problems in the downtown area and

Okay, Councilman Hilliard. Councilman Hilliard. Yeah, I...

So you have to keep these for 10 or 15 years based on the tax. Is it 10 or 15?

Okay. Thank you. Councilman Williams and Councilman Durio.

I just want to circle back to the per door cost. Are you saying that the 4% tax credit is what allows this to be a project that cash flows? It's hard for me to... Excuse me. To look at the rents and the amount of units and what you're claiming you're going to spend and see where this math – it doesn't math for me. Right, right. So that's – okay.

So it's 40. It's the value of the tax credit.

Okay, that makes more sense. And these funds were increased through the Big Beautiful Act last year and through the recent... passing of the Affordable Housing Act. That's where these monies come from.

So I guess to you as a developer, whenever you are doing a project like this, and then I read, you know, Beaumont has more than twice the state average of housing units supported by tax credits. What makes Beaumont attractive to someone like you whenever we already have twice the amount of similar properties? And then also to us as a city, I mean, I'm not against growth, but what is the impact of continuing to add kind of these properties? Developments that are supported by tax credits.

And we just had a meeting where there is a housing demand. I can't remember the numbers, but we did have a meeting where there was.

I'm going to give Councilman Durio his chance now. You always got to go last.

This process here, If for some reason we was to vote against it, you would still be able to proceed. You wouldn't at all without that tax credit. Well, without your support.

Okay, well, every... I've heard it more than one time. If you bring people to downtown, then the businesses will follow. And it seems like this might be a help do that.

Thank you, Councilman. Councilman Crenshaw.

Back to that parking lot that you said with the 300... Well, you mentioned the gym. Does your purchase of this also include the building that's at gym?

parking lot parking spaces that can be provided as well okay but you're not going to own that parking lot you would just make an agreement to use it i'll own it we'll the project will own it okay and we'll own the parking lot across across the street right okay but is that in that's not in this right and that's where i'm confused because i'm trying to say well there's a street there and it's not on

There aren't 300 spaces on this, are there? And so in addition to 300 spaces here, you're going to have an additional parking lot across the street that you're not going to actually own, you're just going to have access to. We will own it. You're going to own that as well? Yes. And how many additional spaces is that other than the 369?

Lastly, I was originally probably going to be against this, but you're an impressive gentleman. I really do like the fact that you went to Lamar and you want to come back to do this. I'm a little uneasy about the fact that it's your first project, but hey, we all have to start somewhere. But anyway, you're an impressive guy. I appreciate you putting this and trying to make our downtown area better.

Any other comments? call for the vote all right thank you sir did a good job and appreciate it go Cardinals I love to see our alumni do well okay so we're now taking a vote on regular agenda item number one we're setting a record here at 325 all those in favor of approval of item number one please signify by saying aye any opposed Motion passes. Mr. City Manager, may we have the reading of item number two?

Is there a motion for item number two? So moved. There is a motion and a second for approval of item number two. Is there any discussion?

Councilman Turner. So under the underpass, is this going to alleviate the water with the heavy flooding and the rain, or cars get stuck sometimes?

All right, if there's no other discussion, all in favor of approving item number two, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion is carried. Mr. City Manager, may we have the reading of item number three?

Thank you. Is there a motion for item number three? Move to approve. There's a motion and a second for approval of item number three. Is there any discussion? All those in favor of approving item number three, please signify by saying aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Mr. City Manager, may we have the reading of item number four?

There is a motion and a second for approval of item number four. Is there any discussion? All those in favor of approving item number four, please signify by saying aye. Any opposed? The motion is carried. Mr. City Manager, may we have the reading of item number five?

second there is a motion in a second for approval of item number five is there any discussion all those in favor of approving item number five please signify by saying aye aye any opposed motion carries for passes item number six

All right, that is for item number Six. Six. And there is a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? All those in favor of approval of item number six, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? The motion is carried. Mr. City Manager, may we have the reading of item number seven?

Is there a motion and a second for item number seven for denial? Is there any discussion? Yes, Councilman Duryea.

Just for the information for the public at that meeting, he really didn't have a clear plan as to what he wanted to do with that property, and it's right in the middle of a neighborhood.

Thank you, Councilman. Councilman Crenshaw?

I would also add that He wants to basically do the same thing with the property that was previously being done when I was operated as a school by making it into a daycare whatever but the school previously was grandfathered in and not subject to the zoning laws of or the zoning requirements if I'm correct but then he waited. too long to lose that grandfather protection uh and uh it's unfortunate uh because he made quite an investment he spent a lot of money on that property uh but you know i i hate to say it but after listening to some of the issues that he's had with it uh he He really probab

So could he sell it to like a Harmony type entity that could get a specific use permit and restart the school?

yes sir so there are options thank you yes sir with that are we all those in favor of denying item number seven signify by saying aye aye any opposed the motion is denied would you please take us into the public hearing yes sir mayor and council the public hearing is to conduct

All right. The public hearing is now open. Mr. Coleman.

All right. Public hearing is now closed. Mr. City Manager, may we have reading of item number eight?

Is there a motion for item number eight?

There is a motion and a second for approval of item number eight. Is there any discussion? All those in favor of approving item number eight, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? The motion is carried. Would you take us into the next public hearing, Mr. City Manager?

NEW SPEAKER THANK YOU. ANY QUESTIONS? Did we have anybody sign up to speak in the public hearing? No. Okay. The public hearing is now closed. Would you please read item number nine?

Oh. Is that the same thing about the books that I asked you about? No, ma'am. This is for students. Yes, ma'am. Sorry. I missed the hand. All right. Take us into the reading of number nine, please.

There's been a motion and a second for approval of item number nine. Is there any discussion? All those in favor of approving item number nine, please signify by saying aye. Any opposed? The motion is carried. Mr. Boone, would you take us into the work session, the first work session?

Just curious, did the 11th Street Cruise thing on the agenda get pulled?

So what if we threw another 10 million in collection in there with these numbers change I?

Is there any questions for those? Anybody have any questions or preferences for scenarios? All right, y'all want some direction on what scenario y'all would like to see?

the situation out in the south end near the jail and the prisons. And that caused significant issues for us. And, you know, I just feel like we should not raise rates at all on residential and small business. And I'm even fine with not raising it. On commercial, but I do believe that our rates are low on the industrial side, and those are the customers that can most afford it, especially with oil prices the way that they are and how a lot of these companies are making significant revenue right now. SO ANYWAY, I JUST THOUGHT THAT OUT THERE THAT I THINK OUR INDUSTRIAL RATES ARE LOW AND I WOULD L

Yeah, that you classified water bills that are residential and small business because the access that they have is a pipe less than five-eighths.

Yeah. So what's the next meter size that would, in my opinion, classify more as commercial?

Okay, so I am proposing and what I would be in favor of would be an increase in wastewater rates only for the one inch customers and larger up to industrial. No, I'm talking about wastewater and classifying those accounts. Because he said he couldn't classify small business earlier because they're not divided between commercial and small business.

We don't currently have our billing set up based upon the size of the meter or the 5-8s as differentiated between one inch?

WELL, I MEAN, IT SEEMS LIKE LAST YEAR WE ONLY INCREASED ON THE WATER SIDE. commercial and industrial. And it seems like we were told that that did not include residential and small businesses that had the 5-8 inch pipe.

All right. Well, I guess where I'm going with this, I... AM IN ZERO FAVOR OF INCREASING RATES ON THE WATER SIDE FOR ANYONE OTHER THAN INDUSTRIAL. ON THE WASTE WATER SIDE, WHETHER YOU HAVE TO GO BACK AND RESEARCH IT AND BRING THOSE NUMBERS BACK TO US AT A LATER DATE, I WOULD BE IN FAVOR OF AN INCREASE FOR THE ONE INCH ACCOUNTS ENLARGER ALL THE WAY UP TO INDUSTRIAL. I can't say that increasing wastewater rates on residential or small business are a good idea at this time. That's all I have.

And that's if the meters are being read right. I mean, I hate to keep harping on this, but if we come back to you and we're like, oh, we're sorry, we missed bill, we didn't bill over $10 million, all this is going to change. Everything that you brought before us is going to change. And so we have one person billing. We're not reading meters. We had two customers that were basically half a million dollars in unread meters. It's been going on for five or six years. So it's just like giving your accountant wrong information. I mean, you don't have good numbers to be able to come to us and say thi

ANY OTHER QUESTIONS? ANY OTHER DISCUSSION? ALL RIGHT. THANK YOU, SIR. THANK YOU. YOU'RE GOING TO BRING US BACK SOME additional numbers, is that correct?

Okay. Thank you, sir. All right. Well, now we're going to move to council comments, and I'm going to allow Councilman Durio to go first.

Thank you, Mayor. The young lady sitting right here on the front row, we're not eliminating any of the van rights, are we?

I just wanted to let her know that to put her mind at ease about it. Thank you, staff, for your presentations today. It wasn't as painful as I thought it was going to be, and I think Council might disagree, but we are able to work together, believe it or not, and get stuff done for the citizens of Beaumont. And, oh, happy birthday to myself on Thursday. I'll be 64 years old on Thursday.

I think that's all. I know that's hard to believe, but yeah, I'll be 64. Three of our concrete mixers.

Thank you, Councilman Durio, soon to be older Councilman Durio. You look good. Councilman Hilliard.

I would like to say, again, welcome, Laura. I'm excited to have you. We've worked together in the past, and I think you're a great addition. I think we've got a great team. Molly, I've got to ask. Train horns.

And I just want to give a big shout out to Mike. I had a chance to take my nephews from out of town to see the Cactail Marshes. And that's quite an engineering feat. So I appreciate you allowing us to look at that. And if you haven't gone out there, I highly recommend you do and see the good things that we are doing and the eco life that is all out there. And happy birthday to you, Early. And I would like to wish my wife a happy anniversary. She's put up with me for 28 years. And so I'd like to say happy anniversary to my wife. Thank you, sir.

Councilman Turner. Happy anniversary, Ms. Hilliard. And happy birthday to my brother, my father-in-crime, Chris Durio, my boy turning 50. I appreciate everything you do, man. But one thing I kind of want to speak about is controlling what we can control. And I think maybe we need to have a workshop on the water meters because I kind of find it hard to complain about the county's collection rate if we as a city aren't collecting at the rate we need to. And if I can get a second on a workshop with the water meters, I appreciate it. There you go. And another thing I wanted to see is can we visit

Do we have a contact on a property owner? Is it something maybe one of the council members can help with?

All right. And lastly, to our city manager, I just want to... encourage you. You have my support. Just be honest and let us know what we really need as a city. The last thing I want to do as a council member is handicap you guys to be efficient and effective to give the best service to our citizens. But if we don't know what's needed and what's requested, we can't help that much. So I don't want you to feel like I'm just against certain things. I just need it to be effectively communicated. And if it makes sense and I can see it and it's something I can live with explaining to constituents I j

Councilman Williams? First, happy birthday, Councilman Durio, and happy anniversary, Joey and Shanoa. That was a long day. I know. I just want to circle back to this morning and the budget talks and taxes. I just think it's really important that we look inward first before we place that burden elsewhere. I'm not saying we haven't looked inward. I know that everybody in this building is working hard to do that. And, you know, city manager, I did mention the idea of a efficiency study before. I'd like you to look harder at that again. I just think this is a very serious deal for, you know, for o

Thank you. Thank you, sir. Councilwoman Sherwood.

Most of my council members have addressed a lot of my concerns because I was concerned that we were cutting rides, but I'm glad that we're not. I want to know if there's a homelessness enforcement that we can do to maybe help Ms. Barbara or partner with them. I don't know what we can do or why they feel like law enforcement isn't policing downtown or I don't know what's going on there. Some type of help would be good. If we could look into the speeding on Avenue C and our inmates being affected by the issue that we had, is that something that we're not aware of? And I was going to bring up the

Yes. Thank you. Let me start by saying thank you to our water department employees. They had a really tough weekend. I was told that the water main that busted near the county courthouse, water was not available to the inmates at the downtown jail that housed federal inmates. And I think there was about 300 of them. And they were within hours of being required to move the inmates out because of the lack of access of water. And that could have been a real problem. So thank you to our water crews that got out there and got water restored. And then a few hours later, we had the incident over at E

Can we look at that beautiful new road? And the road previous to this was rough. I don't know if anyone's... I'll take that shortcut to get to the freeway leaving Rayos by the mall. And you go right there behind Best Buy. You were teasing us, Tina. No, I'm not going to get it.

Well, we'll get it up when we can get it up. We'll continue on with the attorney.

Oh, there it is. Oh, yeah. Isn't that nice? So thank you, Molly and the contractor. Yeah. Smooth as can be. Not a pothole in sight.

I need you to get the comptroller down here to come see us so we can talk. No, I'm just playing. No, I'm serious, though.

Thank you. Yes. Do you know of any impact that moving the bond, I'm sorry, moving the reserve balance from 20% to 19% would have any real impact? I mean, is 20% some bright rule with these lending?

The gap you're talking about, the deficit spending that we've been doing for five years? Yeah, okay. Seeing none.

Thank you. And I want to thank the city staff and I think from a council standpoint, and I want to thank everybody on council, you know, whenever your finances are difficult, it can be difficult with a husband and wife. And then when you, you know, those are just hard conversations. So we appreciate the fact that y'all are working hard and making the city as efficient as possible and keeping taxes down. And I certainly appreciate what each council person brings to the table because we're talking to a lot of constituents and we're here to, to meet the needs of the city there. And I want to know